Lego porn....er, BLOCK STRUCTURE

I note with amusement that Drew's amazing Lego Porn series has been
renamed BLOCK STRUCTURE PORN. Hopefully no lawyers benefitted from
this change...
http://drew.corrupt.net/bp/

Phone trumps

The Nokia 6230 is without doubt the worst phone I've ever owned. It switches itself off, has increasingly piffling battery life, has stopped vibrating and won't even sync with my PC. ALL I WANT IS TO BACK UP MY CONTACTS!! And, worse still, my friends are now outdoing me with better phones!! THIS HAS NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE. Everyone's got a SonyEricsson K750i. EVERYONE! With its two megapixel camera, fantastic screen and good looks, it's unthinkable I haven't got one. You see, part of the problem is that I've always been loyal to Nokia. However, I can see I have to change. Nokia's phones just don't cut it anymore, not least because they can't seem to last for more than a few months without showing multiple signs of increasingly poor build quality. Never mind, I shall regroup when I am due a new phone in the new year and return to bash those K750i's with NEXT YEAR'S EVEN TRENDIER MODEL. Take that, friends!

Apple magic

You know, you just never know what's going to happen next. A train and a tube from Bath, my colleagues and I were ushered through the bowels of BBC Television Centre in Shepherd’s Bush to join 600 other toffs, well-to-dos and journalists at Apple’s latest launch. What other company could dress up a half-decent product refresh of two lines into a global event?

See, this is what Microsoft lacks; any kind of sense of occasion. Indeed, Steve Ballmer might try, but Microsoft lack a Steve Jobs. I already know what Windows Vista’s launch party will be like next year. And it won’t have any of the sense of drama and sheer anticipation of last evening (and that was just the bit before Lampard scored the winner. I digress).


Apple’s problem is that now, every time, it has to top the last announcement. The last time that Steve Jobs got on stage in California. The last product he unveiled. Last night’s launch was about something much bigger though. It wasn’t just about the new iMac G5 with its new thin shell and remote control. It wasn’t about it’s new Media Center-aping Front Row software (why don’t they put that on the Mac Mini? It’d sell bucketloads). Hey, it wasn’t even about the 5th gen video iPod – simply an enhancement of what’s already out there. And – let’s be honest – it's pretty much what other manufacturers have been doing for ages, but in a more agreeable package. Nope, it was about a genuine and pioneering attempt to get downloadable video on demand. And nobody else has even come close. Well done Apple – early days it may be, but nobody else will manage to make portable video so prolific so quickly.

Above: Studio 3 at BBC Television Centre where we were served three different types of beer. I opted for the Grolsch.

Below: Journos get hands on with the new iMac and iPod under a banner showcasing the new Apple ad campaign.



Could the fact the launch was at the Beeb be an omen for future content on iTunes? Let’s hope so, cos at the moment, there’s not much to cheer from this side of the Atlantic. Unless you’re talking about Frank Lampard and Ledley King in central midfield, of course...



Above and below: The new iPod. And yes, the pictures are a bit dodge. Do you know how hard it is scrumming with the rest of Europe's technopress?

Wind and rain

One of the most illuminating things I've discovered about Blogging since I rediscovered it is that you can post the rather pointless little pictures on your blog that you would otherwise not put on a website because they're too crap, or you took too few to really make an event out of it. Take, for example, our trip to see my friend Alex's band Super08 on Wednesday at the Louisiana in Bristol. My camera took a quick exit from my pocket at the end of the evening and Lo! there were suddenly a few pictures. Shame there weren't any of the actual band. My friend, the King of Westbury, John McAllister, asked me why there weren't any pics of Alex actually drumming. What's the point of taking a camera somewhere WHEN YOU DON'T ACTUALLY TAKE ANY PICTURES OF WHAT YOU ACTUALLY WENT THERE TO SEE? He has a point...

nano nano

We've had two iPod nanos in the office so far. They're very nice. Trouble is, I'd break one. Or at least scratch it - our review samples showed signs of wear and tear after only a couple of days. Still, this chap sends Brasso to the rescue!
http://todd.dailey.info/archives/2005/09/27/restore-your-ipod-nano-to-new-condition-with-a-4-can-of-brasso/

Carnival carry-on

A gas leak caused last week’s Wellington Carnival to be called off. Apparently, there had been a smell of gas at the bottom end of Mantle Street for weeks, but nobody had thought to do anything about it. Clever.
Click here to read more

It's been a bad day

Today started off well. I raised my head from the pillow, wrote a page about the history of Microsoft Word, then put it back down again. Trouble was, I didn't really do too well with getting up in time for the WALK TO WORK. Cue hurridly waiting at the bus stop at 9.28am. Eeek. You'd have thought the first indication of a bad day ahead would
come with a bus not turning up. But it did. It was, however, filled to the rafters with OAPs and shopping trolleys, tots and jumble sale mums. Gah. Then, I got to work and, well, nothing worked. My MP3 player started to kick up. My PC was creaking. Picassa no longer seems such a handy tool since it started making my PC crash. Problems. problems. And I still haven't even finished the letters page...