Jan 2007
RapidWeaver Tip: Set the Base URL Correctly
Wednesday 31 January 2007 Filed in: Rapidweaver Tips
A while back, I set up this RapidWeaver tip category yet didn't really fill it with as much content as I'd like. So, here's my tip. Set the Base URL correctly.
What IS the Base URL?
The Base URL is the web address that you would type to access your RapidWeaver site when online. The Base URL for my site is http://www.nikfletcher.com
Common Mistakes
What IS the Base URL?
The Base URL is the web address that you would type to access your RapidWeaver site when online. The Base URL for my site is http://www.nikfletcher.com
Common Mistakes
- People often forget to start it with http://
- It's sometimes incorrectly entered.
- People don't know it exists.
- It's a little known fact that it auto-fills to your hompage.mac.com/username account in the Base URL box if you've got .Mac set up in System Preferences.
- People confuse it with the site path in the publishing dialogue.
In short, the Base URL generally refers to the folder you're uploading the site to - be it a domain name, a subdomain or subfolder.
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RSS Me!
Tuesday 30 January 2007 Filed in: Website
I've called this out before, but will do so again for I don't want people to miss out! Whilst you may like simply reading the site via the web (and clearly appreciate design) you're missing out if you don't subscribe to the RSS feed (in the box to your right!). Any new photos I Flickr are included in the feed, and each day you get a del.icio.us bookmark update for any links I've saved. In fact, consider the website the 'light' version of the site. You get a bunch of cool links, and perhaps some cool photos for your viewing pleasure. No ads, the same content as the site, just with extra Web 2.0 goodness.
Dance, Monky Boy, Dance
Monday 29 January 2007 Filed in: Amusing Forwards
Flickr-rs Invade!
Sunday 28 January 2007 Filed in: Photography
There was a little Flickr meetup this weekend, in celebration of the arrival of Mike. Sadly I wasn't able to make it, saving pennies for the D80, Technicals being a little over a week away etc. But others were, and so have posted their photos. Check them out. Some terrific shots.
Adam's, Danny's and Mike's. The question is, when are the Flickr staff going to allow us to favourite an entire set? I find myself favourite-ing too many of Mr Franklin's photos!
Adam's, Danny's and Mike's. The question is, when are the Flickr staff going to allow us to favourite an entire set? I find myself favourite-ing too many of Mr Franklin's photos!
Tick Tock
Sunday 28 January 2007 Filed in: Rapidweaver Tips
Just a quick reminder for any RapidWeaver addicts out there looking to score a bargain: Your time is running out. I've mentioned it previously, but here it is again:
Offer expires on 31st January, so if you want to score a bargain, don't walk - run over to the site and grab the bundle of 7 themes for the killer price of $35 now!!
Thumbs Up to...
Saturday 27 January 2007 Filed in: Photography
The Digital Photography Book. I took the iBook in for its MOT yesterday (it passed ;) ). I've never seen anyone tell me about a book as excitedly as the staffer who told me about this book. I was told to run and buy it now, regardless of whether I was skint or otherwise. Haha. So I did. The book's full title is 'The Digital Photography Book, by Scott Kelby'. RRP £14, but Amazon sells it well below that price (all the links here are affiliate links). I've read it cover to cover already, and I can't help but throw my full weight behind how great that book is. If there's one book you buy on my advice, make it this one.
Thanks for the tip Stuart!!
Thanks for the tip Stuart!!
Love it or hate it.... Pah. I hate it.
Friday 26 January 2007 Filed in: Technology
Windows Media Player and RealPlayer are here to stay. Mainly because all Beeb content is in either format. But will I install them? On the MacBookPro? You must be kidding I'd rather gouge my own eyeballs out with a red-hot poker before I install either of these horrible pieces of media software on my laptop. I haven't seen any Beeb content on the net since well before Christmas, so I'm officially saying that for 2007, I'm giving up RealPlayer and Windows Media Player. But the DMGs are here for posterity's sake. Universal or not, I hate these two pieces of software.... as demonstrated previously. :)
Downtime
Friday 26 January 2007 Filed in: Photography
The Manchester Eye / Wheel of Manchester / MEN Wheel has sadly been deconstructed over the last few weeks. It's weird going into Exchange Square without the wheel being there. The Manchester Flickr Group seems to have a particular affection for the wheel (just check out this tag in the group pool), so I thought I'd post again a particular favourite of my own photo stream. Here's to hoping the wheel is back sooner than we all expect.....
The Joys of Tech. Resolved?
Wednesday 24 January 2007 Filed in: Technology
Back in April last year (was it really that long ago?!) I moaned about how I hated the extra cables I had to take with me. I didn't like having to take tonnes of cables everywhere with me, and still don't. My ideal product was a Nokia large -> small adaptor that meant I would be able to not worry about taking the 6280's small charger everywhere with me.
Since then, I've been contacted by a number of people about the aforesaid Nokia adaptor. Now, I did look around Manchester for one at the weekend. And failed, but one person managed to find an adaptor on the web. If you need such an adaptor, get it here! (Note: This is not an affiliate link).
Thanks for the link, Lucy!
Since then, I've been contacted by a number of people about the aforesaid Nokia adaptor. Now, I did look around Manchester for one at the weekend. And failed, but one person managed to find an adaptor on the web. If you need such an adaptor, get it here! (Note: This is not an affiliate link).
Thanks for the link, Lucy!
Messing in Aperture
Wednesday 24 January 2007 Filed in: Photography
I ought to have a 'Photography' category really, but until then, I thought I'd share the results of my playing in Aperture. I'm really pleased with it, although Flickr seemed to dumb-down the reds in the version I exported. A quick bump in red saturation seemed to fix that.
This is a 5 year old JPEG, which had too much green (original here) so I thought I'd try out what I could do in Aperture.
dSLR Guide
Monday 22 January 2007 Filed in: Photography
For those of you who don't visit through the wonders of RSS, and so miss out on the combination of blog, Flickr uploads and del.icio.us links each day, here's a link so useful I couldn't exclude aforesaid RSS-less souls from.
dSLR Guide is well worth your time. Well written and full of useful tips. It's done in iWeb and hosted on .Mac, so get the kettle on as it's quite a graphic intense site (it's choking up even my own net connection which, as previously stated, is not slow), but other than that, it's a great site that I'm reading rather avidly. Thanks to the staffer who pointed it out to me.
dSLR Guide is well worth your time. Well written and full of useful tips. It's done in iWeb and hosted on .Mac, so get the kettle on as it's quite a graphic intense site (it's choking up even my own net connection which, as previously stated, is not slow), but other than that, it's a great site that I'm reading rather avidly. Thanks to the staffer who pointed it out to me.
Panoramas
Monday 22 January 2007 Filed in: Photography
Some of you will know that I have a passion for Panoramas. I love taking 4 or 5 shots, throwing them into a piece of software, crossing my fingers, and seeing what comes out. I know there are some genuinely great tools for manual tweaking, but hey, they cost money - and why buy something when you can do it for free?!
So, here's a neat little link to some software. It's actually from HP (of all people), and whilst it's meant to ship as part of their drivers, if you want to create panoramas, I'd strongly urge you to ignore the 101MB download size (I kid you not) and install the stuff. Delete everything you don't want or need, but keep HP Photosmart Stitch. You can grab the software here - it can be found in 'Step 3 - Obtain Software'. If you want to see the latest one from my flat window, here it is. I'm really pleased with this one: 4 shots and you still can't really tell:
So, here's a neat little link to some software. It's actually from HP (of all people), and whilst it's meant to ship as part of their drivers, if you want to create panoramas, I'd strongly urge you to ignore the 101MB download size (I kid you not) and install the stuff. Delete everything you don't want or need, but keep HP Photosmart Stitch. You can grab the software here - it can be found in 'Step 3 - Obtain Software'. If you want to see the latest one from my flat window, here it is. I'm really pleased with this one: 4 shots and you still can't really tell:
Snow / Mist / Beetham
Sunday 21 January 2007 Filed in: Photography
Tonight we saw snow in Manchester. For the first time in, well, a year. It's hardly the snow Mike gets, but it was snow. For all of a few minutes. Either way, I ran back from work rather quickly to try and capture the mist surrounding the lights atop the Beetham Tower. Sadly, the rain / sleet / snow had left some droplets on the window, meaning a less than stellar shot, but this is the best of the dozen I took.
As for having an obsession with that tower? Quoting someone I know recently 'We all do, Nik, we all do'. Glad I'm not the only one.
Jetsetting
Saturday 20 January 2007 Filed in: Life
For a couple of reasons, I was almost NOT going on a free family holiday this year. I know. How terrible. But, there is good news. I shall be. Yes, it's freakin' awesome. Because we're off to.... California! W00T! Now, when I say California, I of course will be visiting Cupertino. If we're going 3000+ miles around the globe, we're damn well going to Cupertino. We head south to LA for the last few days of the holiday too. And yes, the MacBookPro will be heading out there with me. I can't imagine not taking the MBP, especially if I'm shooting anything like the number of photos I took in Sweden or Paris - particularly as I will have the D80 with me.
Talking of Paris, I will not be Apple-Expo-ing there this year. It's clashing with Freshers' Fortnight (The Third). That IS a shame as I really enjoyed 06 (a week of Expo followed by Freshers Fortnight was just insanely great). Why am I posting this rather excitedly? It's a rare day in Manchester where the sun is shining. Too bad Sale are losing in the Heineken Cup at the moment. Argh!
Talking of Paris, I will not be Apple-Expo-ing there this year. It's clashing with Freshers' Fortnight (The Third). That IS a shame as I really enjoyed 06 (a week of Expo followed by Freshers Fortnight was just insanely great). Why am I posting this rather excitedly? It's a rare day in Manchester where the sun is shining. Too bad Sale are losing in the Heineken Cup at the moment. Argh!
'So how is it?'
Friday 19 January 2007 Filed in: Life
That question is the one being asked by lots of people today. No, seriously, it is. Apple fever has hit all time record levels here in the flat. So, anyway, onto answering the question once (but maybe not for all)!
The 17" MacBookPro is obviously a very well made laptop. The casing is just awesome, and it's simply the epitome of everything Apple. The screen is gorgeous, and the speakers are not bad at all. I'm still using my JBL Duets on this machine, but I'd happily travel without them from now on. The iSight is neat, and has been put to use already (over Bonjour networking amazingly). As I've said before, the speed of this brute is a force to be reckoned with. It's just a powerhouse to behold, and (wait for it) has exceeded even my own expectations of what the laptop would be like.
Before I moved to the MBP, I installed Lightroom Beta from Adobe on the now-retired iBook G4. A graphic intensive application such as Lightroom has no real place on the iBook, but for purely reference purposes, I played with it. When you launch Lightroom on the iBook, the screen does it no favours. Absolutely none at all. 12" just isn't enough for photos (or, I dare say as a big-screen snob, anything else). So, I launched Lightroom on the MacBookPro. Woah. It just 'clicked' why 17" was just the right model. Perhaps 15" would have done, but boy oh boy am I glad I chose the big-bad-mutha-of-all-things-macbook. It's just a dream. Full screen mode (even in iPhoto :P) rocks. FrontRow just looks astounding. I'm really running out of superlatives to impress upon you all JUST HOW SMITTEN I am with this new laptop. Surpassing even my own expectations is not something I anticipated. If you hadn't guessed it already, this thing damn well rocks.
The reference to Lightroom may bring about a bit of discussion, on my part more than perhaps any other. Truth be told, I don't own a dSLR camera yet (that is without a doubt the next item on the Geek hitlist), but I've been playing with Lightroom, and today in-store during ProCare, Aperture regardless. These tools are clearly what I will be choosing between when I get a Nikon D80 (yes, I know that already), so it makes sense to see what they're like. Lightroom is good. It's free (at least in beta, more on that later) and is a well-thought out product. It sure doesn't feel like a true Mac app (if I were being blunt, I'd say it looks and feels like a big-old Flash / Director programme) but that isn't my main gripe with it.
Basically, my gripe with Lightroom is this: I don't want to be hold to ransom to work with my photos when the beta expires. Sure, educational pricing may apply, but do I really want my photos left at the mercy of Adobe's marketers? Er, no. Sorry Adobe. Sure, you could argue that if I needed the tool enough, I'd pay whatever I had to, in order to get hold of it. But I wouldn't. I'd swear, curse and switch to Aperture. Apple offers a truly generous educational discount, and it would take quite a lot for Adobe to under cut it. Incidentally, they're pricing Lightroom (on its own) between Photoshop Elements and Photoshop itself. Elements (Mac/PC) is roughly £60 on Amazon. Photoshop full (Mac/PC) is £550. That's quite a chasm of difference in price. Of course, all this is speculation, and doesnt factor things in like including Lightroom in CS3....
Since I started playing with Aperture, I've come to realise that I love Aperture. It rocks, and I'm going to run out and buy it very, very soon. I've been working with it the last couple of days, and it simply rocks. Editing tools, the awesome full screen mode, the HUD, tagging, EVERYTHING just 'clicks' for me. Plus, with FlickrExport available, it fits quite nicely into my workflow of Take. Shoot. Flickr. Blog. Perhaps I will try Lightroom one day, but for now, I'm sticking with Aperture.
The 17" MacBookPro is obviously a very well made laptop. The casing is just awesome, and it's simply the epitome of everything Apple. The screen is gorgeous, and the speakers are not bad at all. I'm still using my JBL Duets on this machine, but I'd happily travel without them from now on. The iSight is neat, and has been put to use already (over Bonjour networking amazingly). As I've said before, the speed of this brute is a force to be reckoned with. It's just a powerhouse to behold, and (wait for it) has exceeded even my own expectations of what the laptop would be like.
Before I moved to the MBP, I installed Lightroom Beta from Adobe on the now-retired iBook G4. A graphic intensive application such as Lightroom has no real place on the iBook, but for purely reference purposes, I played with it. When you launch Lightroom on the iBook, the screen does it no favours. Absolutely none at all. 12" just isn't enough for photos (or, I dare say as a big-screen snob, anything else). So, I launched Lightroom on the MacBookPro. Woah. It just 'clicked' why 17" was just the right model. Perhaps 15" would have done, but boy oh boy am I glad I chose the big-bad-mutha-of-all-things-macbook. It's just a dream. Full screen mode (even in iPhoto :P) rocks. FrontRow just looks astounding. I'm really running out of superlatives to impress upon you all JUST HOW SMITTEN I am with this new laptop. Surpassing even my own expectations is not something I anticipated. If you hadn't guessed it already, this thing damn well rocks.
The reference to Lightroom may bring about a bit of discussion, on my part more than perhaps any other. Truth be told, I don't own a dSLR camera yet (that is without a doubt the next item on the Geek hitlist), but I've been playing with Lightroom, and today in-store during ProCare, Aperture regardless. These tools are clearly what I will be choosing between when I get a Nikon D80 (yes, I know that already), so it makes sense to see what they're like. Lightroom is good. It's free (at least in beta, more on that later) and is a well-thought out product. It sure doesn't feel like a true Mac app (if I were being blunt, I'd say it looks and feels like a big-old Flash / Director programme) but that isn't my main gripe with it.
Basically, my gripe with Lightroom is this: I don't want to be hold to ransom to work with my photos when the beta expires. Sure, educational pricing may apply, but do I really want my photos left at the mercy of Adobe's marketers? Er, no. Sorry Adobe. Sure, you could argue that if I needed the tool enough, I'd pay whatever I had to, in order to get hold of it. But I wouldn't. I'd swear, curse and switch to Aperture. Apple offers a truly generous educational discount, and it would take quite a lot for Adobe to under cut it. Incidentally, they're pricing Lightroom (on its own) between Photoshop Elements and Photoshop itself. Elements (Mac/PC) is roughly £60 on Amazon. Photoshop full (Mac/PC) is £550. That's quite a chasm of difference in price. Of course, all this is speculation, and doesnt factor things in like including Lightroom in CS3....
Since I started playing with Aperture, I've come to realise that I love Aperture. It rocks, and I'm going to run out and buy it very, very soon. I've been working with it the last couple of days, and it simply rocks. Editing tools, the awesome full screen mode, the HUD, tagging, EVERYTHING just 'clicks' for me. Plus, with FlickrExport available, it fits quite nicely into my workflow of Take. Shoot. Flickr. Blog. Perhaps I will try Lightroom one day, but for now, I'm sticking with Aperture.
Frappr is a Suckr
Wednesday 17 January 2007 Filed in: Website
I used to love the Frappr map that was part of the site. It centered on Manchester, UK, and was a Javascript map that worked really well. Sadly, they went the way of the Flash, and turned out something I was less than pleased with. But now, oh dear god there's a new hideous Flash map. And I can't stand it. Much as I love showing people who's visiting, and from where, if thats what's going to be shown, I want none of it. It's frankly hideous. Anyone got a suggestion / alternative?!
Look at Me!
Tuesday 16 January 2007 Filed in: Apple
Swiped.
Tuesday 16 January 2007 Filed in: Apple
Today was a very weird day. As I sit typing here on the iBook, I can't believe that everything fitted into one day. Practice, lectures, photo-shoots and shopping. So, in prioritised order:
Susan has already posted about the MacBookPro. Insane.
- The Shopping. MacBookPro. Bought, Loved, setup and ready for Flickr duties just as soon as I've got internet sorted for it (I need to de-activate the MAC ID for the iBook and nominate the MBP as my computer to satisfy some IT desk jockey's duty at the Uni). It's worryingly easy to simply enter your Chip'N'Pin Pin in the Apple Store, I should know. Especially now.
- Photo-shoot. Friend's jazz band. I'll be Flickr-ing some of the shots soon. They're in the workflow, as well as being moved to a new machine. Expect them sometime soon.
Susan has already posted about the MacBookPro. Insane.
Quote of the Day
Sunday 14 January 2007 Filed in: Life
(From Apple's Think Different Ad Campaign. Thanks Seb!)While some see them as the crazy ones, We see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.
(Thanks Susan!)A photographer went to dinner at a friends house. After a lovely meal the hostess complimented the photographer on some of his photos. She said "The photos are gorgeous, you must have a very good camera?"The photographer said "Your meal was lovely - you must have a very good oven?"
Joy of Tech: The iPhone
Saturday 13 January 2007 Filed in: Amusing Forwards
Useful Little Things & Service Message
Friday 12 January 2007 Filed in: Technology
A while back, Griffin launched a neat little ExpressCard 34 memory card reader. This is one product I'll certainly be snapping up once I've got the MacBookPro - frees up another USB port on the hub and the laptop - plus it seems to be blisteringly fast!
Service Message: Couple of brief items to note:
Service Message: Couple of brief items to note:
- RSS has seen a significant upgrade. I've turned on a whole plethora of Feedburner options that allow:
- Flickr. Any new photos I post to Flickr will appear in the feed, up to a maximum of 5. I use Flickr quite a bit, so expect some fairly heavy traffic there.
- del.icio.us. Every day, anything new I post to my del.icio.us bookmarks account will be added to the feed in the form of a post with all the links in it.
- If you don't like this then please get in touch with me. I'm interested to see what people think of adding more content of mine from around the web into the RSS feed.
- Linkage. If you want a link to your site, then also contact me. I'll review each one, and all I ask is that in return you link back to me in a similar fashion.
Download the Keynote. Now!
Friday 12 January 2007 Filed in: Apple
This really is the last post about the iPhone. For the week. It seems Apple has, for the first time, released the Keynote (as a 1.2Gb podcast) download. W00t indeed! It's a widescreen video (although I've not had a chance to see if it fits on a 5.5G iPod - purely as I don't own one!) and it really does require your attention! ;)
iTunes Store Link - the movie is from Apple directly, so no worries about copyright etc!
iTunes Store Link - the movie is from Apple directly, so no worries about copyright etc!
Widget-y Goodness
Friday 12 January 2007 Filed in: Website
Dashcode Beta meant that I could knock up a quick and easy widget to read the blog. It's hardly the epitome of slickness, but it's fitting for the design, and does what it says on the box. What more could you ask for?! :) So, if you're a dashboard news reader more than a NetNewsWire / NewsFire person: Get your download here! (155k .zip)
(Sidenote: I'm mighty impressed with Dashcode, and will be playing more with it soon. DownloadSquad had a good look at how to use it and create your own cool widgets.)
(Sidenote: I'm mighty impressed with Dashcode, and will be playing more with it soon. DownloadSquad had a good look at how to use it and create your own cool widgets.)
More Groovy Offers
Thursday 11 January 2007 Filed in: Rapidweaver Tips
Anyway, so in my quest to walk around Manchester as many times as possible (joke) I visited Waterstones today. Nope, I didn't go into the Apple Store (must be a first) purely because that trip is for Monday (details coming soon. Perhaps). Anyway, so lo and behold they were offering me the chance to pre-order Harry Potter: The Seventh (known from now on as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows). Well, I would, but Amazon are normally cheaper, deliver it prompter (sometimes before they're meant to. Ooops) and you don't *actually* have to go into town to collect it. Genius. Amazon link for you here! It's £13.99 at the moment there (I presume that's not a saving on the price, but I wouldn't be surprised to see Amazon undercutting the high-street. I know where I'm going to pre-order it. Once I've blown all my cash on a certain laptop :)
Thanks also due to Susan for sending me not just iBook stickers (woohoo!) but some prints of my favourites from her Flickr stream. Woohoo. They even include blue Smarties!! P.S. Doesn't this just look awesome. Shame it's not quite what I'm getting. Yes I'm excited. New Mac. Soon. Just not soon enough.
Shameless Plug
Wednesday 10 January 2007 Filed in: Personal
If, like me, you dugg Casino Royale (perhaps the best Bond film - I've seen them all too many times), then you'll be delighted to know you can now pre-order it on Amazon. And yes, that is an affiliates link, but if you're buying it, it costs you nothing, and pays my bandwidth bills :) I've got that and Borat on order. My love of DVDs is an addition I really ought to cure, but hey, they're two of my favourite films from last year!
Oh, and if you're awaiting the iPhone launch, this site is for you! (Thanks Susan!).
Oh, and if you're awaiting the iPhone launch, this site is for you! (Thanks Susan!).
iLust
Tuesday 09 January 2007 Filed in: Apple
So it wasn't quite the Stevenote we all expected. I was hideously inaccurate (hideously being an understatement) with my predictions. And the one thing I thought would not feature, sadly, took up almost the entire thing.
So. The iPhone is coming. And buying it I will be. There's a size comparison compared to other smartphones, plus Apple has put a really slick site online for the phone. I'm looking forward to seeing the stream. Fraser Spiers' comment during the keynote was perhaps the epitome of everything to do with the iPhone. It's not coming til Q4 here in Blighty. My contract to the less than satisfactory Nokia 6280 is ending in September (yes, cunning planning on my part that shall be explained in a later post) so iPhone at any price. I'm not kidding. I want that bitch. Gestures, and such a slick outfit? I'll take one at almost any price given that it syncs perfectly with Mac OS X. And if there's FlickrExport somewhere down the road, then I'm buying it. No questions.
My only qualms with the Keynote were that there was little Mac stuff (my thoughts being iLife 07 relies on Leopard), and I really don't like the new Apple ads. The iPod ads frankly ruin a very excellent song by a favourite band of mine: The Fratellis. I love the original silhouettes, old-skool cool! Ah well. iDrool. Yes. That is my next phone.
So. The iPhone is coming. And buying it I will be. There's a size comparison compared to other smartphones, plus Apple has put a really slick site online for the phone. I'm looking forward to seeing the stream. Fraser Spiers' comment during the keynote was perhaps the epitome of everything to do with the iPhone. It's not coming til Q4 here in Blighty. My contract to the less than satisfactory Nokia 6280 is ending in September (yes, cunning planning on my part that shall be explained in a later post) so iPhone at any price. I'm not kidding. I want that bitch. Gestures, and such a slick outfit? I'll take one at almost any price given that it syncs perfectly with Mac OS X. And if there's FlickrExport somewhere down the road, then I'm buying it. No questions.
My only qualms with the Keynote were that there was little Mac stuff (my thoughts being iLife 07 relies on Leopard), and I really don't like the new Apple ads. The iPod ads frankly ruin a very excellent song by a favourite band of mine: The Fratellis. I love the original silhouettes, old-skool cool! Ah well. iDrool. Yes. That is my next phone.
Aunty Spreads the Word
Tuesday 09 January 2007 Filed in: Apple
BBC News Frontpage item about Stevemas:
In 5 years watching Apple events, I've never be so unsure of what's coming. As MacWorld quotes Shawn Wu, Apple seems to have really stopped the leaks this year, all adding to the mounting speculation....The annual Apple-fest is something of a cult among Apple fans. Steve Jobs can be guaranteed to provide plenty of surprises and entertainiment and his band of loyal supporters are likely to cheer even the most mundane announcements. "Apple is incredibly good at keeping things under wraps. Steve Jobs will definitely make it a good show and there will always be that one last thing that no-one expects at the end,"
The Return
Tuesday 09 January 2007 Filed in: Workout Diary
So first Gym session proper today and it strangely felt good to be back. The more I ran and cycled and weighted, the more I came to realise just how much the 'right' songs can help you get into the workout. (iMix to follow). By the standards I used to do before heading off to Uni, it wasn't much. Just a 2k treadmill (1% incline) run in a little over 10 minutes, which is a start, followed by 4k cycle in 10 and a bit minutes. Then just some pyramid weights sets working on upper body. My shoulders will ache in the morning. Not too bad a start, but still plenty more to do. My targets are forming in my mind, but I've not really set any at the moment because I just want to make some visible progress first!
RealMac and YourHead MacWorld Discounts
Tuesday 09 January 2007 Filed in: Rapidweaver Tips
Twas the Night Before Stevemas
Monday 08 January 2007 Filed in: Apple
I'm no poet so I apologise for this! Highly predictable rhymes, mixed with dubious-at-best-alliterations and rhythm await you. Oh, the ability to speak French quickly is also helpful to ensure the lines work. Ish. And so, without any more disclaimers (although plenty more ought to be added) I (definitely not proudly) present:
The Night Before Stevemas - A Poem by Nik Fletcher
Twas the Night Before Stevemas.
And the stage was set.
For MacWorld was now ready,
and we'd all made a bet.
From phones, to Macs, to software,
Mac Rumors had it sussed. (C'mon, ThinkSecret just isn't acccurate!)
They knew of every item
that would whet Apple fans' lust.
Apple told us all to wait,
for 2-k-7 we would not hate:
"the first 30 were just the start" they cried,
"Windows - Dell - they'll all be fried
For we've got more than iTV -
Bill's Urge has only MTV!"
And so we move on to the day,
where Steve and Co blow us away....
The RD field was set to go,
just after Steve started off the show:
we'd all be hitting our favourite pages,
to see new sources of Apples wages.
"And Boom" he'd shout,
with calm, cool, clout,
"It ships today
So order away!"
"We've got these Stores,
they're no Dell bores,
they're just so great,
openin' up at such' rate.
"It's shame France shows us no amour:
pour nous-ne-desirez-pas-un-magasin-a-Paris - anymore"
But not to worry, we've got a plan,
For I'm Steve Jobs. And I'm the man."
"I invented the friggin' iPod, ya know
but this is not the iPod show"
So let's get on with the talk of the day,
and do computers the Apple way."
iLife 07, iWork too,
they're some of stuff that Apple had new,
HD, videos, music, and more,
filled to the rafters was the iTunes Store.
MacBookPros with an all new case,
that push the Mac Pros when they race,
without a doubt the computers flew,
but all we asked was 'What else is new?!'
Of course there was just one more thing,
the keynote wasp now had it's sting,
"In Leopard, brushed steel windows died"
and around the world, no-one cried.
Of course, twas no keynote without a game,
and one lucky user found quicktime-stream fame,
their H.264 shout of "Bingo!"
brought about by iPods signed 'Ringo' (Ouch!!)
And so, with all the visitors thanked,
A-A-P-L really tanked,
for it was not the show Wu had hoped,
all around, the Mac web moped. (Not the motorcycle, duh)
But still the Macs and Pods were sold,
the story of MacWorld oh-seven was told....
for never was there a tale of such glow,
than that of Apple, and her Keynote show....
Alternate Ending: "Into the valley of Moscone ran the six hundred (plus)...."
Truly terrible but a little light relief before MacWorld is just what I needed. I might be in self imposed isolation until after the Keynote as I really don't want to know what Apple will bring us until the stream is up - so have a great MacWorld! Credit to those who get any of the few references in it. I'll start with the obvious ones: As far as I recall, Apple stock fell immediately after the Steve Jobs keynote at MWSF06... and Fake Steve still deserves soo much readership!
The Night Before Stevemas - A Poem by Nik Fletcher
Twas the Night Before Stevemas.
And the stage was set.
For MacWorld was now ready,
and we'd all made a bet.
From phones, to Macs, to software,
Mac Rumors had it sussed. (C'mon, ThinkSecret just isn't acccurate!)
They knew of every item
that would whet Apple fans' lust.
Apple told us all to wait,
for 2-k-7 we would not hate:
"the first 30 were just the start" they cried,
"Windows - Dell - they'll all be fried
For we've got more than iTV -
Bill's Urge has only MTV!"
And so we move on to the day,
where Steve and Co blow us away....
The RD field was set to go,
just after Steve started off the show:
we'd all be hitting our favourite pages,
to see new sources of Apples wages.
"And Boom" he'd shout,
with calm, cool, clout,
"It ships today
So order away!"
"We've got these Stores,
they're no Dell bores,
they're just so great,
openin' up at such' rate.
"It's shame France shows us no amour:
pour nous-ne-desirez-pas-un-magasin-a-Paris - anymore"
But not to worry, we've got a plan,
For I'm Steve Jobs. And I'm the man."
"I invented the friggin' iPod, ya know
but this is not the iPod show"
So let's get on with the talk of the day,
and do computers the Apple way."
iLife 07, iWork too,
they're some of stuff that Apple had new,
HD, videos, music, and more,
filled to the rafters was the iTunes Store.
MacBookPros with an all new case,
that push the Mac Pros when they race,
without a doubt the computers flew,
but all we asked was 'What else is new?!'
Of course there was just one more thing,
the keynote wasp now had it's sting,
"In Leopard, brushed steel windows died"
and around the world, no-one cried.
Of course, twas no keynote without a game,
and one lucky user found quicktime-stream fame,
their H.264 shout of "Bingo!"
brought about by iPods signed 'Ringo' (Ouch!!)
And so, with all the visitors thanked,
A-A-P-L really tanked,
for it was not the show Wu had hoped,
all around, the Mac web moped. (Not the motorcycle, duh)
But still the Macs and Pods were sold,
the story of MacWorld oh-seven was told....
for never was there a tale of such glow,
than that of Apple, and her Keynote show....
Alternate Ending: "Into the valley of Moscone ran the six hundred (plus)...."
Truly terrible but a little light relief before MacWorld is just what I needed. I might be in self imposed isolation until after the Keynote as I really don't want to know what Apple will bring us until the stream is up - so have a great MacWorld! Credit to those who get any of the few references in it. I'll start with the obvious ones: As far as I recall, Apple stock fell immediately after the Steve Jobs keynote at MWSF06... and Fake Steve still deserves soo much readership!
News Reader Resolution
Monday 08 January 2007 Filed in: Apple
I've finally settled on a news reader. For now. NewsFire. It's taken me a while to configure it to a way I find most useful. I really love the sorting by most unread in the source bar. It's a shame that my OPML groups weren't respected in the import, but I think I'll cope with the 'Unread' smart feed. RSS. Resolved. Now onto the slightly more important things!!
Dear Apple...
Monday 08 January 2007 Filed in: Rant of the Week
I've been back and forth to the Apple Store twice to get my iPod working. And it now seems there is infact a bug in the firmware. So, despite it being MacWorld tomorrow (and an obligatory trip to the store required on Wednesday), I've got a deal. I'm coming in to spend £1500+ of my money on a MacBookPro (ideally a newly designed one). I had planned to do that on Wednesday. But I'm not sure I will. Partly as my wages from last month are unlikely to appear soon. And also because the iPod Nano is still not fixed. So, here's the crux of the deal:
I will purchase my MacBookPro once the issue with the Nano is resolved to my satisfaction.
Here is the error message again, for those who have not read the post previously:
In the Beginning
Saturday 06 January 2007 Filed in: Workout Diary
So today I finally had a gym induction. And ran, rowed, biked and stretched. And ached. But that's beside the point. I've started the running diary as part of the blog for numerous reasons.
That's it for now. I'll post once I've got links for all the iTunes tracks. I've got 2 playlists at the moment that I'll share with you soon. iMixes are neat.
- I want to chart my own progress.
- I want to find recommendations for running tunes
- Share my own running playlists to help others who are perhaps in the same boat as me and wanting some running motivation.
That's it for now. I'll post once I've got links for all the iTunes tracks. I've got 2 playlists at the moment that I'll share with you soon. iMixes are neat.
Free Classical Tunes (via Digg!?!)
Saturday 06 January 2007 Filed in: Music
I love free music. Any free music (although the iTunes Singles of the Week don't always encourage me to love free music). However free Classical music, via Digg of all places, DID suprise me. Check it out here.
Of note also is the fact that this week's free iTunes Single of the Week is The Kirov Orchestra playing the Nutcracker Overture.
Of note also is the fact that this week's free iTunes Single of the Week is The Kirov Orchestra playing the Nutcracker Overture.
Logic. Or lack thereof
Wednesday 03 January 2007 Filed in: Life
Today saw me heading back to Manchester prior to the start of term (Monday 8th). Sure, it was a little early (the opportunity to earn ££ presented itself rather nicely during the week) but I like to head back to Manchester early to ensure that I am really in the mood for the term and that I hit the ground running. Arriving on Sunday afternoon just doesn't afford you enough time to get settled in my view.
The title stems, not from my illogical early return, but more to do with our great British railways. Before I question the railway logic, be aware that the ticket prices I quote are for those with a Young Person's Railcard. Example. Cheap Day Singles from Guildford to London Waterloo are £5.95. This morning saw me pay £2.05 more to travel before 9.30am. I'm happy to do that, purely because I have a train at Euston to catch (and am now sat on it after having drunk enough free drinks and eaten enough free mini-cheddars in the First Class lounge :D). The tube, however, is the point of this hideously over-long entry! A single on the Tube costs from £3 for any zones I've ever used, which is pricey IMHO. However to add tube to my £8 ticket from Guildford to Waterloo was just 70p extra. I didn't see the logic in it costing 70p more, but threw my Maestro card into the ticket machine before it changed its mind!
I'm not complaining about the pricing, especially not the £18.50 price for my single First Class ticket (Euston to Manchester Piccadilly), so let's just consider this a rant between friends ;)
The title stems, not from my illogical early return, but more to do with our great British railways. Before I question the railway logic, be aware that the ticket prices I quote are for those with a Young Person's Railcard. Example. Cheap Day Singles from Guildford to London Waterloo are £5.95. This morning saw me pay £2.05 more to travel before 9.30am. I'm happy to do that, purely because I have a train at Euston to catch (and am now sat on it after having drunk enough free drinks and eaten enough free mini-cheddars in the First Class lounge :D). The tube, however, is the point of this hideously over-long entry! A single on the Tube costs from £3 for any zones I've ever used, which is pricey IMHO. However to add tube to my £8 ticket from Guildford to Waterloo was just 70p extra. I didn't see the logic in it costing 70p more, but threw my Maestro card into the ticket machine before it changed its mind!
I'm not complaining about the pricing, especially not the £18.50 price for my single First Class ticket (Euston to Manchester Piccadilly), so let's just consider this a rant between friends ;)
MWSF Predictions
Monday 01 January 2007 Filed in: Apple
It's started. The countdown to MacWorld SF. If you're thinking "MacWorld WHA?!", then check this post from a similar time last year :) So, what am I predicting? Note, if we're scoring this afterwards, please ignore the bracketed comments. Everything from Wildcard down should not be considered - I'm throwing fuel on the bonfire that is rumour-mongering. ;)
Update: This post marks post number 300 even thought it's internally known as post 369 to Haloscan and RapidWeaver. I'm suprised I've reached that number of posts, and have now realised why RapidWeaver can be a bit slow to export and re-upload the entire site - it's effectively doing a 350+ page site export with 512MB of RAM. Ouch.
- Dead Certainty iLife '07 and iWork '07.
- D'uh Available same day or within the week following MWSF.
- Logical Progression iPhoto '07 will be a better little brother to Aperture. The likes of the Nikon D40 mean that an affordable RAW setup is much needed with the huge cost of Aperture to newbies, and iPhoto's RAW handling has to be better anyway. (I don't have a dSLR, however after having played with a few sample RAWs on my iBook - yes, slooow - it has to be improved!).
- Not Holding my breath iWeb 2 less tied to .Mac (which maybe will finally be worth the moolah - although I doubt it). It should be noted that I don't use iWeb, and have not since January last year.
- Makes Sense API for iWeb plugins.
- iWork will finally ship with Numbers or a similar spreadsheet programme.
- Dead Certainty Shitloads of iPods sold last quarter. (FWIW I'm going with John Gruber's prediction of 24 million. Especially given the Red Nanos, and the uber-popular Shuffle.)
- Almost Certain A Feature Complete description of Leopard with demo - (with a 'still on track to ship this quarter' message. I don't think we'll have a date, but Steve might hint towards 24th March as it's OS X's
5th6th anniversary of launch - I'm still in 2006 mode!) - Almost Certain Roz Ho will embarass the hard-working folks from the MacBU by opening her mouth. (But hopefully, we'll be too busy oooh-ing and aaah-ing at the MacBU's implementation of the 'Ribbon' from Office 2007 and then wow-ed by the rest of Mac Office 2008 to care. Until after we've seen the stream.) Yes, I'm no fan of Ms Ho. I just cannot stand her.
- Almost Certain iTV will fully unveiled (Perhaps be way more than SJ showed it off to be - Flash HD for buffering for example). I would say 'definite' but iTV was Q1 2007, and whilst that may mean MacWorld, it could just as easily mean an Apple event later in the quarter.
- Probable More Videos available on iTunes US, with a re-iteration of the 'hopefully International this year' message.
- Out on a Limb Firmware update for Intel Macs to enable 802.11n on Airport Extreme for iTV.
- Wildcard (No more brushed metal in Leopard.)
- Wildcard (New designs for MacBookPros and perhaps iMac)
- Wildcard (6th Generation iPod.)
- Purely Wishful Growl be incorporated into Leopard.
- Purely Wishful Finder Re-write. Quicksilver is now Apple IP, and is in Leopard.
- Hmmmm iPhone. Much as I'd love it, for sooo many reasons, I just don't think we'll see it.
Update: This post marks post number 300 even thought it's internally known as post 369 to Haloscan and RapidWeaver. I'm suprised I've reached that number of posts, and have now realised why RapidWeaver can be a bit slow to export and re-upload the entire site - it's effectively doing a 350+ page site export with 512MB of RAM. Ouch.