Cookie-Doe Keith

SUUUUCCEEEEEEEESSSSSS

2012-01-26T19:09:00.001Z

This is a follow up to last weeks post.

I have taught myself to use Pro Tools again!

Haven't tried any mixing yet, and I need to get the BFD sorted out.

Otherwise, we're all set! Got me a MIDI keyboard this time round as well. Sahweeet!

Which reminds me, I really must make a start on my distance learning course...

Well this is a little embarassing.

2012-01-19T21:29:00.001Z

Before this blog was started, and before I started working where I am now, I was a college student. I was studying Music Technology. I.e. the uses of technology in the creation/reproduction of music. Everything from synthesising, mixing, mastering, recording techniques, studio techniques, live sound and performance.

I wasnt top of my class but I was pretty good. I got pretty good at using the software, Logic Pro, and I migrated onto Pro Tools on my own. I used the software for two years solid. I got to know the ins and outs of the software and I got pretty adept at using it.

Two years later and i've reinstalled Pro Tools onto my iMac. Pro Tools LE 8 to be specific And I was just sat infront of it and realised that I couldn't remember how to use it! This is going to be a bit of a difficult journey remembering how to use Pro Tools. It feels a bit like i'm starting from new again.

Wish me luck!

I do support, but alas I cannot act.

2012-01-18T22:30:00.001Z

There's this thing going on today regarding the US Senate and some bills that a party are trying to get passed regarding shutting down websites without due process.

Now while i'm all for free speech and democracy, i'm afraid I cant do anything to help your cause.

You see, i'm based here, in the little old United Kingdom. And you're all the way over there in your big old group of states. And thats where these bills would be confined to if passed. The legislation would only apply to websites owned, based and operated in the USofA. If a chap starts posting anti-congressional twaddle from a blog here in the UK, the US would have to sit and whistle, or take it on the chin, because we're not part of the US' jurisdiction regarding these matters.

Go free speech.

Go democracy.

Dont shut down websites because you dont like their content.

Unless of course theyre related to terrorist activities in which case, do it!

Well that failed...

2012-01-08T10:46:00.001Z

July 11th 2011

I told you id write again soon about what Jamie Woon's 'Mirrorwriting' is like and 6 months later here's a new post!

Ive got to be honest with you on two things here. Firstly, 'Mirrorwriting' was a little underwhelming, with 'Night Air' most definitrly being the stand out track of the album.

Secondly, the lack of posts since July 11th of last year unsurprisingly coincides with the purchase of a new phone. As some of you may know I used to write all my blog posts in an email on my blackberry and mail the blogs in for instant upload. Now ive got an HTC and things arent so simple. Not because i dont have email, and not because there isnt a Blogger app, because im using it right now. But its because of this sodding touchscreen, which i loathe!

All that above has taken me about ten minutes to write. On my blackberry it would have taken half the time. I miss hard keyboards. Im thinking of selling this HTC.

Anyway, excuses excuses.

Ill try to be more attentive to your needs again, readers.

Ciao for now. Coffee time.

I think I might need help...

2011-07-11T07:43:00.001+01:00

All last week I was listening to BBC Radio 3 at work. Don't ask me why, I guess I just fancied something a lot more chilled out and presenters that are a lot less in your face (not that i'd mind Fearne Cotton in my face...) but anyway, I thought that was okay until yesterday when I found myself browsing the classical music section of HMV! The cashier must have wondered what the hell I was on because my shopping basket for the day comprised of Jamie Woon's album Mirrorwriting, Kanye West's Late Registration and three classical albums - Philip Glass - Violin Concerto and Low Symphony, Vivaldi's Four Seasons, and Gershwin's Rhapsody In Blue.

Hopefully I shall be purchasing some new speakers soon too, so i'll have something a little more modern to listen to these classical and modern wonders on. I think I might take my old speakers apart when I get the new ones, and maybe spend a little money on upgrading them.

Anyway - I shall let you all know what Jamie Woon's Mirrorwriting is like and i'll keep you up to date on my classical music purchases... or should that be my purchase on classical music? Haha

Haven't posted in 10 days!!!

2011-06-26T23:55:00.001+01:00

That's enough for some people to go to rehab, 'get better' and start gigging again. Unless you're Amy Winehouse who thankfully wasn't ANYWHERE on the bill for this year's Glastonbury. Some of you may have heard or even seen footage from a gig she did last week where she sang so dreadfully out of tune that she was booed off stage! Good. I'm glad. Arrogance isn't excellence and she excels at being arrogant.

I'm happy to write that, while I didn't watch as much footage of this years Glastonbury as I'd have liked, I did watch all three headline acts and a handful of others. U2 performed a respectable set, albeit somewhat toned down from their usual eyewatering mesmerising live shows. Coldplay were brilliant live and Beyonce, well she impressed everyone by bringing a good sense of reality to her set. For a woman known for singing to electronically produced beats, she sure sang her heart out and proved that she has soul.

I also watched Paul Simon, Everything Everything, Kaiser Chiefs, Bombay Bicycle Club, Two Door Cinema Club, Biffy Clyro and Mumford And Sons, all of whom i thought played excellent sets! I was a little disappointed by Pendulum this evening though. They're not the band I went to see three years ago. It seemed like a lot of noise and it was far too distorted.

Haven't finished yet though, I intend to watch all the highlights packages this week and hope to see a couple more bands like the Barenaked Ladies.

Until next time - peace

Hugh Laurie - Let Them Talk

2011-06-15T21:30:00.002+01:00

Thank you Mr Laurie, I will talk!

So for those of you who dont know, comedian and actor extrordinaire Mr Hugh Laurie has released a blues album. That's right, a blues album. He hasn't started a pants rock band. He's put his love of the blues and his piano playing abilities to good use with some of the finest musicians in the south of America, to record an album of blues standards in the holy city of New Orleans.

Let me start by saying this, so I can get it out of the way - he hasn't got a great voice. What he does have is fingers like feathers, an adequately gruff voice to pass for a blues singer and a fantastic backing band. For a man who has spent most of his career acting and being a funny man, Hugh Laurie isn't the first name that would spring to mind if someone were to ask you which actor/actress you think would be most likely to release an album. But according to the insert book his piano playing stems back to the age of 6 when he learned in primary school.

The album is entirely made up of cover tracks, there is no original material here. Some of the songs you may have heard before. Some of them you will know quite well if you are a big blues fan. I am not. I mean, I like blues fine. But you're more likely to find me in the alternative section of HMV than the Blues section. I've said it already and i'll say it again, he has some really good musicians in his backing band! The music is well executed and there's a lot of soul behind the songs. Hugh puts a lot of effort into performing the piece. The album is well recorded too, plenty of feeling of space, and the piano is perfectly clear. The double bass is recorded perfectly and offers so much in terms of warmth and it fills out the bottom end of the sound spectrum beautifully, while still allowing the mellow, woolly punch of the bass drum to emerge through.

All in all, a fantastic album. I'd recommend it to everyone, even if blues isn't your thing!

HMV Wish list

2011-06-13T22:50:00.002+01:00

So much like amazon.com, hmv.com has a wish list feature. It's a place for you to easily 'bookmark' albums and dvds you want to buy. I checked mine last night. At the bottom there is an option to add all of the items to your shopping basket and pay for them. Twenty-two albums on my list and the total cost was a fiver short of £200 !!!!

Empty my bank account for lots of great music? I wish I could.

Another year, another year older!!!

2011-06-11T10:42:00.001+01:00

Twas my birthday yesterday. 20 years old. Shot - where has the time gone? Seems like not so long ago I was turning 18... Then I got a job... And now I'm 20. Ah well - 21 next year and then I'm a fully fledged adult and the world is my lobster... Oyster? Pasta? Whatever. Anyway - thanks to all who got ne cards, gifts or even just said happy birthday. It all means something :-)

Another update!

2011-06-10T07:59:00.001+01:00

So its safe to say that I'm more than happy with my HTC Sensation. Battery life isn't as good as a blackberry or iPhone, it doesn't have push email, but it has a beautiful screen, It's blindingly fast and its comfortable and easy to use. And its for those reasons that I'm happy to spend a bit of time getting used to Android OS and a touchscreen!

All in all I'd give the handset 8/10, bought down from full marks by battery life but hey, in this day and age everybody has half a dozen chargers with the same micro-B type USB connection in place.

So far so good...

2011-06-09T08:03:00.001+01:00

So I've had my HTC Sensation for 3 days now. So far all is good! Slight hurdle on Monday night where i couldn't download any apps but that was solved by a quick reboot and now I'm happily blogging from the Blogger client app and browsing through an encyclopaedia of cocktails with the Mixology app.

Battery life has been the one concern for me. I've not been using it every minute of every day, but i didn't do a great deal with the handset during the day (one or two calls, 2 or 3 dozen text messages, a little Facebook and some eBay browsing) and by the time I got home I was down to 35% battery (downloaded an app for that too) so if youre thinking of going for an HTC Sensation then I'd recommend keeping a spare charger at work or buy yourself one of those 'emergency' chargers which take double or triple A batteries.

Another blog in a few days.

P.S. I bought Aloe Blacc's album and Tom Vek's new album so expect a blog in a few days reviewing these two!

Test post from my new HTC Sensation!

2011-06-06T21:34:00.001+01:00

This is a test posting from my new HTC Sensation which arrived today!

So far so good! Just thought id see if there was a Blogger app and low and behold there is! I'll keep you updated with my thoughts on the new HTC/Android flagship handset.

Willard Boyle, man who revolutionized digital imaging, dies at 86 (Copied from Engadget - RIP)

2011-05-19T22:20:00.000+01:00

*id like to make clear that this is not plagiarism, just me passing on the sad news of the passing of Willard Boyle. We have him to thank for a lot of the things we take for granted in daily life*

We have some sad news to share with you today: Willard Boyle, the man who created the imaging technology behind everything from digital cameras to barcode scanners, has died at the age of 86. In 2009, Boyle shared a Nobel Prize in physics for inventing the CCD, which allowed people to capture images in digital format for the first time. It all began way back in 1969, when Boyle and his future co-Laureate, George E. Smith, started laying the groundwork for the CCD while working at Bell Laboratories. Building off of Einstein's photoelectric effect, the two eventually came up with a way to locate and quantify the electrons that are knocked out of orbit every time light strikes silicon. Boyle and Smith used this technology to create their own digital camera in 1970, as well as a TV camera in 1975. Prior to his groundbreaking invention, Boyle spent two years working for NASA's Apollo program and helped develop both the ruby laser and the semiconductor injection laser. The last three decades of Boyle's life were spent in Wallace, Canada, where he grew up and, on May 7th, passed away after battling kidney disease. He's survived by his wife, three children and an indelible legacy.

Willard Boyle, man who revolutionized digital imaging, dies at 86 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 May 2011 15:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Los Angeles Times | Email this | Comments

http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/19/willard-boyle-man-who-revolutionized-digital-imaging-dies-at-8/

--
This article was sent using my Viigo.
For a free download, go to http://getviigo.com

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Portal 2 and new music!

2011-05-19T21:02:00.001+01:00

Okay so I got Portal 2 off of my girlfriend last night and i've completed it already. It only took around 4 hours in total. Not baaaaad! Got a load of the achievements so far as well!

I also had a good listen to the Yeasayer and !!! (Chk Chk Chk) albums that arrived yesterday, today. Yeasayer's 'All Hour Cymbals' isn't, in my opinion, as good as 'Odd Blood', but its still not bad. Who knows - it might take a few listens first! And Chk Chk Chk's album 'Strange Weather/Isn't It?' is bloody good actually. I bought it off the strength of track 4 which was their first single from it, called 'Jamie, My Intentions Are Bass', which Huey Morgan played a lot on BBC 6Music when he was filling in for Lauren Laverne before and after christmas. The album is really good, I enjoyed this one more than Yeasayer's 'All Hour Cymbals', thats for sure.

Peace y'all.

My bass guitar!

2011-05-13T21:09:00.001+01:00

This is my pretty bass guitar. Its for sale at the moment if anyones interested or knows anyone who is! It's a Warwick Rockbass 5 string in trans. blue over woodgrain. Beautiful finish. Near perfect condition. The strings on it are largely UNPLAYED! Needs a new home as i'm saving for car insurance. Contact me for more info.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

I HAVE SOME NEW MUSIC

2011-05-13T21:02:00.002+01:00

Take 'new' to mean what you want but I got paid the other week and I instantly went on hmv.com and spent some of my wages. I bought 5 albums:

- Stevie Wonder - The Definitive Collection

- Elbow - Asleep In The Back

- The Streets - Original Pirate Material

- Mark Ronson & The Business Intl' - Record Collection

- The Naked And Famous - Passive Me Aggressive You

Firstly i'd like to point out that my purchase of Elbow's 'Asleep In The Back' completes my collection of all 5 of Elbow's albums.

Secondly i'd like to point out that I was inspired to buy The Streets' 'Original Pirate Material' after I heard that they'd disbanded.

I've always liked Stevie Wonder and I pretty much bought this album for the first five tracks, which include my two absolute favourites - 'Superstitious', and 'Masterblaster (Jammin')'. So this was a bit of a must have for my CD collection.

The Naked And Famous have been getting a hell of a lot of airplay on BBC 6Music and now also Radio 1 on the alternative shows. Their album 'Passive Me Aggressive You' is pretty fucking fantastic, and very different. Definitely one of the better albums of the year. Also - when it arrived in the post, it was a larger than usual package. I was confused at first but when I opened it I found a limited edition 7" picture vinyl with some song remixes, so I was pretty pleased with that!

I haven't heard Mark Ronson's first album, but I bought his second - 'Version' - as soon as it came out and thoroughly enjoyed it. His twist on indie favourites was very enjoyable. I bought this album off of the strength of the first two singles - 'Bang Bang Bang' and 'Somebody To Love Me'. I hate to say it but the rest of the album was pretty pants. Nothing to write home about.

So to sum it up - buy The Naked And Famous if youre after some new exciting music. And buy Stevie Wonder if youre after some funky soul classics!

UPDATE: Just after writing this blog I went on the HMV website again and bought three more albums! Much more alternative stuff this time. ChkChkChk (pronounced as it's written, spelt on the album cover as ! ! !) released an album last year, from which they released a single called 'Jamie My Intentions Are Bass' which I bloody loved and Huey Morgan played it at least once a day when he was covering for Lauren Laverne on 6Music. Check it out HERE!

So I bought their album. I also preordered the upcoming album by Tom Vek. I first heard Tom Vek on the 'Radio Broker' alternative rock radio station on GTA4. Odd, I know, but I heard his new single 'A Chore' on 6Music yesterday and I thought it was excellent. I also ordered Yeasayer's first album 'All Hour Cymbals'. Just before I started writing this update to the post, I finished listening to their second album 'Odd Blood' which I blogged about HERE! just the other week. I love the album, it's so different and weird and new and fantastic. I'm hoping that their first album will be equally as listenable and enjoyable. Fingers crossed.

Coooooooooooooool !!!

2011-04-15T20:21:00.001+01:00

I have ten followers =] Not something I look for regularly. If you enjoy reading me then great! The hit-counter on my page is really just for me to see roughly how much interest my posts generate so I can have a clue as to what to bias towards in the future. But 10 is cool! I'm happy with that =] To all my followers - HAVE A HAPPY WEEKEND! There you go, just a little weekend/TGIF happiness for you.

On another note - i've been tidying my room today. I hate tidying. Mainly because it's something i'd really rather not be doing, but also because I know i'll find things i've been looking for for frickin' ages! And low and behold I HAVE! I found the camera tripod (my bargain basement £20 one admittedly) that I lost a few months ago and replaced with a much more expensive one. And I also found my pair of travelling headphones. They're of the sound-isolating type and they're by Ultimate Ears who make earphones I would vouch for a million times over, considering I also own a pair of their rather expensive 'SuperFi 3' in ear monitors which I use for drumming practise. The pair I lost cost me only £12 and theyre bloody good. When I lost them I replaced them with some SkullKandy Smokin' Buds which are alright, but not as good as the Ultimate Ears.

Back to tidying. Enjoy your weekends!

Big fat gypsy wedding to be aired on royal date

2011-04-15T12:41:00.000+01:00

*nice - channel 4 has balls*

Channel 4 is to screen a one-off special of My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding on the evening of Prince William and Kate Middleton's big day later this month.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/entertainment-arts-13093554

--

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Just a few things

2011-04-14T19:44:00.001+01:00

New glasses today! Went for an eye test last week, got "conned" into two very nice new pairs of glasses (specsavers buy one get one free...nice!). Im wearing one of the new pairs right now and everything is like it's in HD again! haha.

Another thing - I've been listening to a band alot lately called Yeasayer. Pronounced 'Yay-say-er', they're a four-piece outfit from Brooklyn, New York and they play a kind of experimental-ey synth rock kind of sound. I've only got their second album, 2010's 'Odd Blood'. It's a short album at only 37 or so minutes, but it's an excellent little adventure in it's own right! I'll definitely be buying their first album, 2007's 'All Hour Cymbals' very soon. My two favourite songs from Odd Blood are their first two singles taken from it, which are 'Ambling Alp' and 'O.N.E.' but the entire album is excellent. Definitely a group to be looking for good things from in the future!

...i want a new camera =[

CHOW!

10th Chili Peppers album to arrive this summer - most stupid album title in history?

2011-04-08T20:21:00.000+01:00

Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis has been announcing the bands' latest project recently, notably sporting the long hair we've gotten used to on Anthony... As well as a moustache that most middle aged men would be envious of!

The band's tenth offering could be the most wackily titled album in existance. Kiedis has said the album's current working title is 'Dr Johnny Skinz's Disproportionately Rambunctious Polar Express Machine Head'.

I hope for the sake of all the record shops out there that the band decide to shorten the name.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

'Thief' is trapped in recycle bin

2011-04-05T23:06:00.001+01:00

*this guy deserves a Darwin Award*

A would-be thief becomes trapped in a clothes recycling bin for four hours while trying to steal used clothes at a shopping centre near Bristol.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/uk-england-bristol-12936103
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Texas Instruments to acquire National Semiconductors for $6.5 billion in cash money

2011-04-05T12:49:00.000+01:00

*that is a LOT of cash changing hands there, surely Texas Instruments will be the biggest component manufacturer after the acquisition is complete?*

As the saying goes, everything's bigger in Texas, and that includes Texas Instruments' (TI) share of the semiconductor market. The Dallas-based firm announced today that it will pay $6.5 billion for National Semiconductors. With the acquisition complete, National will become a branch of TI's analog segment, which is now positioned to make up 50 percent of the company's revenue. According to a joint press release, TI held the biggest chunk of the analog semiconductor market in 2010 at 14 percent, and with the new addition that number's bound to get even bigger. Full PR after the break.

Continue reading Texas Instruments to acquire National Semiconductors for $6.5 billion in cash money

Texas Instruments to acquire National Semiconductors for $6.5 billion in cash money originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Apr 2011 03:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Texas Instruments | Email this | Comments

http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/05/texas-instruments-to-acquire-national-semiconductors-for-6-5-bi/

--
This article was sent using my Viigo.
For a free download, go to http://getviigo.com

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Also...

2011-04-02T01:56:00.001+01:00

Elbow are my new favourite band, I went to see them at the O2 on Tuesday night and they were f*****g fantastic. I went with Lauren and we arrived sufficiently early to run right to the front of the arena and stand at the rails. For the whole night we were never more than a few meters away for the maestro himself, Mr Guy Garvey (who, by the way, is my new hero!) They performed a blinding set of material from The Seldom Seen Kid and their brand new offering, Build A Rocket Boys.

It was without a doubt the most amazing gig i've ever been to... aside from The Mars Volta at Somerset House.

BIG UPDATE TIME

2011-04-02T01:48:00.001+01:00

I'm officially addicted to Popz Salted Microwave Popcorn. There's something magical about sticking a bag in a microwave, firing the ol' girl up for 4 minutes then getting a big bag of salty, soft and crunchy goodness back. Then you go upstairs and watch a great film (something like... The Hurt Locker or any of the Bourne films) and relax with your nice big bowl of popcorn. Sometimes, if i'm feeling particularly greedy, i'll push the boat out and melt some butter on the stove, and drizzle it over the popcorn. Ohhhh heaven.

Anyway. Now off to watch a film (yes i'm aware it's 01:48 in the AM but who the hell cares)

Physicists predict the 'end of religion'

2011-03-22T18:22:00.001Z

Okay so some nerdy science guys in the USofA have been running research into predicting the end of religion. Using census data from up to a century ago, which queries people's religious affiliations (No doubt Jedi and Sith have been steadily growing...) and a physics model, they believe that they have accurately predicted the 'end of religion'.

Now, before you judge me for being anti-religious, DONT! Because i'm not. While I think it's a fair, and relevant piece of research (although... a cure for cancer would have been a better use of your time, guys) i'm also open to letting people believe what they want. Unless what they want to believe is that Hitler should be reincarnated through the generations and that white people should reign supreme - those kinds of people (i.e. Neo-Nazis) need shooting or locking up.

The reason i'm posting this is because... frankly, it's true. Religion is dying out. I dont know that it will ever actually die out. Look how many religions still exist despite maybe only having a few hundred followers. Scientology being a fair example. Religion WONT die out. It has been the backbone of the last millennium of evolution and even if one or some of the current 'mainstream' religions were to shrink to such few numbers as if to be considered not a religion, no doubt within a few years a new religion would have been formed to somewhat take it's place.

Anyway... just my two cents there.

101st Post!

2011-03-18T19:57:00.001Z

So last night I posted my 100th blog! And it was a rather pointless one.

I'm hoping to finish the aforementioned uber-blog soon, so i'll try to make number 102 the really special one!

Im thinking of starting a new awareness group

2011-03-17T21:28:00.001Z

It'll be called 'Keep The Album Alive'

And it will stick it to all the bullshit talent show winners who have all their music written for them.

People who work hard at their music career and actually WRITE ALBUMS deserve the credit they get.

These talent show winners are all looking to release single after single after single. They're not bothered about writing one continuous work of art, a masterpiece, their own 'Pet Sounds' or their own 'Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club'

Currently on - the TRON:LEGACY soundtrack by Daft Punk. Hook a subwoofer up to this and get ready to feel your insides vibrate.

Currently working on - pictures for this blog and writing a BIG blog about my personal favourite albums.

Peace

Radio 1 - Chris Moyles' Marathon

2011-03-17T20:13:00.001Z

I believe congratulations are in order for Mr Chris Moyles. Not only has he managed the 37 hours to beat Simon Mayo's previous Radio 1 record. Not only is he going on to beat the WORLD RECORD at 50 hours, but he's also raised ONE MILLION POUNDS for Comic Relief. So congratulations Chris. You've impressed me. I take back most of the mean things i've said about you. STAY AWAKE FOR 12 MORE HOURS!

Faithless Announce Breakup

2011-03-17T08:05:00.001Z

So im listening to my alarm clock radio this morning. Radio 1 is on and Chris Moyles and Comedy Dave are into their 26th hour on their one long continuous show. And its announced that in the hour between 6.30am and 7.30am, they pulled in a whopping £40,000 of fundraising. GOOD NEWS!

Get out of bed, shower, dress, open laptop, BBC news page.

Bad news page.

"Dance act Faithless to split up after a 15-year career"

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Now i'm not a big dance music fan. Im actually rather picky. And I went off Pendulum almost as soon as I got onto them.

But Faithless have been one of my consistent favourites throughout the last 10 years of my life, the ten years in which i've been discovering music.

If you dont know who Faithless are, just take a look at almost any dance compilation by MOS or any of the Ibiza clubs and you wont be hard pressed to find one, if not two of their songs on board.

With hits like 'We Come 1', 'God Is A DJ', 'Mass Destruction' and 'Insomnia', Faithless will always be that dance group that took things to the next level, and produced hit songs like noone else.

A lack of new Faithless material will be missed. But I will always have my copy of Forever:Faithless, and tonight, when I get home from work, it will be on and it will be LOUD!

Congratulations, thoughts and prayers.

2011-03-13T23:28:00.001Z

First off - congratulations are due to Elbow for their fifth studio album, 'Build A Rocket Boys'. I bought it yesterday and listened to it from start to finish on the train this evening. Its much more mellow and sweet than anything they've written before, and it lacks the upbeat feel of The Seldom Seen Kid, but it is nonetheless a brilliant album. 'With Love' would be my anthemic track from the album and 'Lippy Kids' the best written. Overall a very good album. Very impressed and here's hoping for another Mercury Prize nomination and/or win!

**UPDATE** -> 'Build A Rocket Boys' got to #2 on Sunday's album chart. Congratulations to the lads.

On the other hand, my thoughts and prayers go to those who lost their lives or are missing in Japan. Some of you didn't even have a chance and for that, you have my sympathy. Fingers crossed for things to go back to normal as soon as possible.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

2 Week iPad rebate offer - £100/$100/€100 back in your pocket!

2011-03-06T01:33:00.001Z

So it was announced that Apple will be offering a rebate of £100/$100/€100 to ANYONE who has bought an iPad (1st Gen) in the two weeks leading up to the announcement of the iPad 2. This means that if you bought an iPad between the 16th of February and the 2nd of March, you are eligible!!!
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Lasers can act as 'tractor beams'

2011-03-03T12:01:00.000Z

*this is pretty damned cool in my opinion. You never know, by 2100, we may all have a gravity gun a'la Half-Life to help us do mediocre chores like collect the mail and pick up litter and zap the headcrab (read: cat)!*

Research predicts the science-fiction mainstay of "tractor beams", showing that precisely-shaped laser beams can draw small particles backward.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/science-environment-12620560

--
This article was sent using my Viigo.
For a free download, go to http://getviigo.com

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Playing with my SB-600

2011-02-28T21:06:00.001Z

So my boss (very kindly) bought me a Nikon SB-600 FlashGun for christmas. I started playing with it christmas day. Found it VERY useful, as the flash built into a standard D70 is... pants, lets be honest, any built in flash is good for anything within minimum focus distance of a 50mm lens, but that's about it.

Anyway, just the other evening I found a handy little article on kenrockwell.com about the SB-600, and I was informed that, because I have a D70, I can use the SB-600 as a wireless flashgun. Its simple really. Make sure your menu options on your D70 are in 'detailed' mode. Go to the flash settings (menu option #19) and select 'Commander' and then 'TTL'. On your SB-600, hold down 'Zoom' and the Minus button for a few seconds. You should get a new set of menus shown up, one of which will say OFF and then a little squiggly-arrow logo underneath. Press 'Mode' once so that it says ON with the squiggly arrow underneath. Press the 'ON/OFF' button to go back to the main screen on your SB-600. MAKE SURE YOUR BUILT IN FLASH IS UP!

From now on, when you depress the shutter button to take a picture, the built-in flash will fire, and a command signal will be sent to the receiving eye on the SB-600, which will in turn make it fire. This system is FANTASTIC for alternative lighting setups where you want to get a little creative. It also makes your photography a little more economical. You get a flashgun for portraiture and a surround lighting alternative for home/studio arty creativeness.

Palm is dead... Long live the HP Pre UPDATED

2011-02-10T10:18:00.001Z

HP Pre 3. No surprises there, the Palm Pre 2 existed for all of... The blink of an eye.

So HP have had their way with the smartphone that everyone was unsure about. What we know so far is that the screen is of a very high quality (although probably no rival to Apples Retina Display... Ho-hum, at least the Pre has gorilla glass!) And that the build of the phone as a whole is very solid, and that the keyboard is very nice for typing on.

Let's hope for good things for this third incarnation. The release date of end of Q2/beginning of Q3 means it is now sitting on my shortlist of upgrades, as my contract expires in June/July.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

**UPDATE**

I've just read that the Pre 3 will have a 1.4GHz Qualcomm processor, a 3.6inch WVGA screen and will be a 'world phone', i.e. it will support HSPA+ and EVDOrA. It also features up to date WiFi standards and will have 512mb RAM (same as the Pre 2)

Finally, what the Pre should have always been!

Electric Proms cancelled by BBC

2011-02-01T23:33:00.000Z

*well this totally sucks. I'd thoroughly enjoyed the Electric Proms for the last few years...sigh*

The BBC axes its annual Electric Proms season after five years, citing cost issues as a reason behind the decision.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/entertainment-arts-12321615
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Scientists build double-floating-gate FET, believe it could revolutionize computer memory

2011-01-23T18:45:00.000Z

Look, we get it, you want DRAM that behaves like flash, flash that behaves like DRAM, and everything in between -- speedy computer memory that doesn't lose its data when the power goes off, and lasts for years on end. Well, it looks there's a new challenger about to enter that ring -- double floating-gate field effect transistors, currently in prototype form at North Carolina State University. Whereas the single floating-gate variety is currently responsible for the flash memory in your USB keys and SSDs, the second floating gate lets bits of data stay in an active, ready state, but the computer can also apply a higher voltage to "freeze" them in place. Since the memory can switch between static and dynamic modes in a single cycle and the data never disappears in between, researchers imagine the new tech could lead to instant-on computers and power-saving techniques that shut down idle memory banks. That's the consumer take, at least -- find the technical deep dive at our more coverage link.

Scientists build double-floating-gate FET, believe it could revolutionize computer memory originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 23 Jan 2011 13:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | NCSU | Email this | Comments

http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/23/scientists-build-double-floating-gate-fet-believe-it-could-revo/

--
This article was sent using my Viigo.
For a free download, go to http://getviigo.com

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Anti-Berlusconi tweets swamp feed

2010-12-17T21:41:00.000Z

An attempt to show live tweets on giant screens at an EU summit in Brussels is hijacked by critics of Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-europe-12022835

--
This article was sent using my Viigo.
For a free download, go to http://getviigo.com

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Founder returns to Bebo business

2010-12-09T22:55:00.000Z

*this is pretty funny... He's still $840mil up. Although what he'll do with such a shite social networking site is anyones guess...*

Bebo founder buys back into the firm he sold to AOL for $850m which AOL sold for $10m this year.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/technology-11944611

--
This article was sent using my Viigo.
For a free download, go to http://getviigo.com

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

World Cup

2010-12-03T19:04:00.001Z

So it was announced yesterday that Russia and Qatar would be hosting the next two football World Cups. To be honest with you, I could care less that Britain didn't get it. We had David Cameron, David Beckham and Prince Andrew as our 'delegates' (not a great start...) And then David Beckham had the nerve to say that the football world cup was the 'greatest sporting event in the world'.

HELLOOOOOO??!!! WE'RE HOSTING THE 2012 OLYMPIC GAMES!!! ARE THEY NOT IMPORTANT ENOUGH FOR YOU??!!! Twat.

I'll leave you with this more light hearted note:

When asked by a disgruntled british journalist who his favourite Qatar player was, Sett Blatter replied "Jimi Hendrix?"
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Big Surprise

2010-11-29T18:15:00.001Z

Hey, y'know, it's no biggy, it's just a bit of snow. And the whole country comes to a bloody standstill!!!!

Dear Students...

2010-11-25T18:32:00.001Z

While I respect you for holding up your beliefs and staging a demonstration, that doesn't give you the fucking right to trash the damn city!

You have the right to a peaceful protest, not to riot.

Getting a criminal record as a result of an arrest will look very bad on your CV, and therefore will make you available to half as many jobs, once you're out of university. Which pretty much pisses on the reason you went to university in the first place.

Grow up.

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows - POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!

2010-11-19T23:22:00.000Z

So I've just been to see the new HP film, The Deathly Hallows (Part 1). It was actually bloody good! The acting was the best of all the films so far, and the story (by that I mean the way the book was recreated in the film) was spot on.
At 2 hours long, its a bloody long time to sit down for, and the seats in the Showcase Cinema in Peterborough are fairly old and not very arse-friendly. But the film was gripping enough to make me just shuffle a bit and put up with the pain in the arse.

Daniel Radcliffe has, thankfully, stopped trying so hard to act. And by chilling out a bit he's actually shown himself to be a better actor. In fact, the same can be said for Emma Watson and Rupert Grint too. They've learnt to relax a bit on set and they've stopped forcing their emotions so much, and as a result, their emotions and expressions are much more believable.

There are a lot of flashbacks to Dumbledore's untimely demise from the previous film, and there are a lot of sideflashes to the scenes of Voldemort interrogating various links. So if fast movements like that aren't your cup of tea then... still go see the film, but shut your eyes.

There is one astonishingly sublime piece of animation in the final third of the film, which a moving illustration of Hermione telling the story of 'The Three Brothers' and the relation to the Deathly Hallows. The animation is simply fantastic and would work so well on its own.

It is definitely, without a shadow of a doubt, the best Harry Potter film so far. Under that criteria I'd have to give the film a solid 9/10.

But when you consider it from a 'just another film' kind of perspective, I.e. Forgetting about it's alignment in the rest of the series, I'd have to give the film 7/10. Something feels missing. It feels unfinished. Why? Becuase it's only half of the book. It is simply a stepping stone to Part 2. They clearly felt wanted to make a big big deal of the last film, and thus chose to make it in two parts. But by doing so, they've made the film feel as though it ends abruptly. There isn't a good enough hook to act as a cliffhanger and generate some serious excitement for the next installment.

I am by NO means saying it is a bad film, or that you shouldn't go and see it. Be prepared to be amazed by some stunning visuals and some pretty decent acting. But also be prepared to say out loud "Oh..." in a disappointed tone when the credits roll.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Emma Watson

2010-11-12T22:20:00.000Z

Probably my first 'celebrity' crush (aside from Hayley Williams from Paramore and, more recently, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, of Die Hard 4 and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World fame), it's nice to see pics of her in the papers today following the premiere of HP7p1 last night. Looking more mature and grown up than I've ever seen her, she looked great in that lacy number. I'd bet she was bloody cold though!
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Mayor unveils new London routemaster

2010-11-12T21:11:00.001Z

*wow that's a really impressive design. Nice to see that the City Of London is piling so much money into new buses (of all things) to impress at the 2012 olympics*

A model of the new, fuel-efficient, routemaster bus has been unveiled in London.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/business-11746769

--
This article was sent using my Viigo.
For a free download, go to http://getviigo.com

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

US Jack Russell dog traps mountain lion up tree

2010-11-12T21:09:00.000Z

*i had a chuckle at this*

A mountain lion meets its match when a Jack Russell terrier traps it up a tree on a farm in eastern South Dakota, US.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-us-canada-11747293

--
This article was sent using my Viigo.
For a free download, go to http://getviigo.com

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

iPod foils potential kidnapping attempt in the hands of quick-thinking child

2010-10-31T18:35:00.001Z

*Good girl! Clever, quick thinking!*

Apple's iPod touch can't make cellular calls -- at least, not without a special case -- but it did look enough like the similar iPhone to foil one would-be predator. A Delaware suspect asked a 12-year-old girl to get into his van in front of her middle school, but quickly fled the scene, when the girl reportedly put her iPod against her ear and told him she was dialing police. The local authorities did eventually get called and are still looking for the suspect. If you see a "white male, 35-45 years of age, with a dark crew cut styled hair" suspiciously eying the headphone jack placement on devices in your local Apple Store, perhaps you'd best stay away.

iPod foils potential kidnapping attempt in the hands of quick-thinking child originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 31 Oct 2010 08:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink Cult of Mac, Gizmodo | ABC News | Email this | Comments

http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/31/ipod-foils-potential-kidnapping-attempt-in-the-hands-of-quick-th/

--
This article was sent using my Viigo.
For a free download, go to http://getviigo.com

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Living the high life

2010-10-31T18:23:00.001Z

Sort of...

So after much rooting around on the internet I found that for £7 LESS than my usual fare, I could get from Peterborough to Stoke On Trent, First Class! Albeit a 1 hour longer journey on the friday night.

Here are the upsides:
1: Comfort. The seats on the CrossCountry trains are a damnsight comfier than in standard. AND they recline. AND you get a table. AND the tables are huge. For example the tables you get in front of your row-seats (I.e. Not a 2 facing 2 table seat) are the same size as the tables you have to share between four on the 2 face 2 seats on, say, FirstCapitalConnect or LondonMidlands trains.
2: Volume. I don't know if the walls/glass are thicker in the 1st Class section of the trains, but its considerably quieter. There's a lot less 'outside' noise (I'm talking wind rushing, sound of the wheels on the track etc.) Also, because there fewer people, there's less talking noise, phone noise etc.
3: Feeling. It actually makes you feel important! I know I'm not important. I'm just sensible. The reason standard class is usually so busy is because people don't shop around for their train tickets. They get to the station, buy their ticket, and then get on the train, and usually complain when its busy!

Anyway. There are plenty of benefits to first class. I'm loving it, and as, because I said earlier, it's £7 cheaper than usual to go first class, ill be doing it for the rest of the 2 years that Lauren is at university. Its £7 more of an incentive to take the train and not drive!

Back to feeling important... For now.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Avatar sequels release confirmed

2010-10-29T21:27:00.000+01:00

The first sequel to blockbuster hit Avatar will be released in December 2014 with a second to follow 12 months later, 20th Century Fox announces.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/entertainment-arts-11642318

*Thats a little far away isn't it? Ho hum. They'd best be worth the wait!*
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Apology over Take That gig chaos

2010-10-29T21:24:00.001+01:00

Take That's concert promoter apologises after fans were forced to battle major technical problems to buy tickets for the group's next tour.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/entertainment-arts-11651436

*Doesnt that just go to show how popular Take That have gotten since they reformed a few years ago. They've broken the same record twice in a row now. Hey, even I like them! *
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

File-sharing site shut down in US

2010-10-27T18:26:00.001+01:00

*this is a fucking big one. This is the elusive filesharing site that managed to wriggle its way out of so many lawsuits due to its multinationality. About time too...*

A US court order has closed down one of the net's biggest file-sharing sites, LimeWire.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/technology-11635320

--
This article was sent using my Viigo.
For a free download, go to http://getviigo.com

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Ex-Warner Music UK boss suggests £1 albums would beat piracy!

2010-10-15T19:43:00.001+01:00

At a conference in Manchester today, ex-boss of Warner Music UK suggested in his talk that dramatically dropping the release price of an album to around £1 would bring an end to piracy.

During his talk, he made reference to the fact that when he was at Warner, chart albums were selling for usually no less than £12.99, and that nowadays brand new chart albums were selling for £6.99, or even less!

He believes that reducing the release price of an album to £1 would dramatically reduce piracy because "...fans would not think twice about buying an album on impulse and the resulting sales boost would make up for the price drop".

My reason for bringing this up? Well in some ways I agree. £1 albums would mean that for the cost of one newly released album, the consumer could by TEN newly released albums, thus increasing music sales by at least, in theory, tenfold. (That's based on five times the amount of people buying brand new releases than currently, and each person now buying at least five albums for £5, instead of one album for £10)

On the other hand, I'd be willing to bet that the majority of pirated music downloaders are downloading movies primarily, and music secondarliy. As a result, they're more likely to download the music ANYWAY because they're already browsing and downloading movies.

As a result, I think for this £1 per album plan to work you'd have to bring down DVD prices to half of what they are currently. Frankly, £13.97 for the '2 disc special edition' of Kick-Ass from Tescos is far far too much. I honestly believe that all DVDs should be released in two variants: the first would be just the movie on a disc. Minimal if any special features, and simple packaging. The second would be a two disc edition with tons of special features, fancy packaging and some sort of fancy holographic picture on the front or something. The first could be sold for £4.99 as new release price, and the other could be sold for £9.99 as a new release price. Let's face it - all the money that was given to the producers and directors to play with was aimed to go into the movie, not the nob with the handycam standing on the edge of the set.

Anyway, I'm off track. I'm all for £1 albums, and I'm definitely all for destroying music piracy. If someone thinks its okay to obtain for free, something that a hard working musician put 6 months of their life into, then they need a giant slap round the face and a jail term.

If its going to be done, it needs to be done properly.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Guns N' Roses have set cut short

2010-08-28T19:19:00.001+01:00

American rock band Guns N' Roses have their Reading Festival set cut short after starting their performance an hour late.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/newsbeat/11120697

Pricks.
--
This article was sent using my Viigo.
For a free download, go to http://getviigo.com

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

XFactor - 21/8/10 - NO LONGER A TALENT CONTEST

2010-08-22T11:23:00.001+01:00

So I decided to watch XFactor last night. I had my girlfriend over and we were just gonna watch it for the lols. See how many pathetic tryouts there were.

And when the program ended, I was fuming so much that I wrote a complaint to ITV.

Reason? AUTOTUNE

There was OBVIOUS use of autotune in at least three of the performances. The first I noticed was in Gamu's performance of Katrina & The Waves' 'Walking On Sunshine'. She seemed really good to start with, had a lot heart, personality, and a good strong voice. But then there were the hugely obvious metallicy robotic edges to some of her notes. Anger level at 25%.

The second was in the G&S performance. These two... people... who were so called because the lad was gay and the girl was straight. They tried to do a rendition of Journey's 'Don't Stop Believing' (which is getting all to regularly MULLERED these days). The guy started off... and missed his cue. He finished his 4 lines accompanied with some terrible dancing to lead into the girls part. And straight away, she sang true... until again, the obvious use of autotune could be heard edging on her notes. Anger level at 50%

And then we found, as a friend of mine put so well on facebook, Daft Punk's rendition of Mercy. That's not strictly true. It was a woman called Shirlena Johnson, who looked like a native indian woman who had been plucked from her tribe and put in some SERIOUSLY garish clothing. She sang her own 'arrangement' of Duffy's 'Mercy'... and never before have I heard and seen so much grunting and thrusting before the watershed. She was seriously weird. And very very VERY TERRIBLE! Yet on some of the 'notes' that she held, they had tried to autotune, and it was obvious that she was singing so badly that it was confusing the autotune as it didnt quite know which direction to pitch her voice. Anger level at 75%.

Shirlena Johnson got three yes'. Anger level at 100%.

Complaint time.

So I wrote a strongly worded email to ITV, complaining about the use of autotune. And stating that by using it, it's no longer a talent show. Nowhere near one. Autotune should be left for use in a studio, and even then, very sparingly. But not live on stage for 4+ million viewers to see. Especially on a talent show.

I'll be interested to see how many other complaints they recieved. It was a trending topic on twitter last night, and there were also a few questions on sites like 'Yahoo Answers' etc.

Slap on the wrist for ITV? Yes... with a bondage paddle.

Autobiebography

2010-08-03T21:39:00.001+01:00

I'm not kidding. He's writing an autobiography.

Yes, the 16 year old balls-havent-dropped-yet little wanker is writing his autobiography.

I say that... I mean that there's a 99% chance that he'll write the (very) basic outline and someone else will be paid to pad it out.

I'm 19, and fine, I haven't toured the world, but I'm a fucksight more interesting than that prat.

</rant>
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Album Recommendation - Speech Debelle "Speech Therapy"

2010-07-18T23:12:00.001+01:00

So I finally bought Speech Debelle's album 'Speech Therapy. She was the winner of last year's Mercury Prize and damn right too!

For the first time in a long time (in fact, probably since The Seldom Seen Kid by Elbow, another Mercury Prize winner) I've had my attention held by an album from the first. 30 seconds.

It is ASTOUNDING.

Its no secret, I love a bit of jazz, I love a bit of rnb, I love a bit of hip hop. Speech Debelle fuses all this together in a wierdly wonderful way.

Its such a shame that her album sold so poorly. It apparently only sold 10,000 copies in the four months compared to the 300,000 copies sold of The Seldom Seen Kid, the previous year's Mercury Prize winner.

Top tracks from the album are Spinnin', Daddy's Little Girl and Finish This Album. All great tracks. Some strong lyrics, and some strong language. Some quite moving stories.

All in all a very worthwhile purchase.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Tweet, tweet, twiddly-diddly-deet.

2010-07-12T17:54:00.002+01:00

Yep I've joined Twitter.

http://www.twitter.com/@CookieDoeKeith

Check me out.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Why did Justin Bieber cross the road?

2010-07-05T12:25:00.000+01:00

To get to North Korea?

Only joking. But incase you haven't heard, the chaps over at 4Chan have virally spammed Biebers website poll which was a vote on which country Bieber should tour next! Half a million votes rolled in before the guys running Bieber's website noticed an odd trend and the poll was pulled from the website.
Needless to say, I don't think Shieber will be playing North Korea in the near OR distant future. But one this has been proved - don't mess with 4Chan addicts. They're like an army!
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Apple sells 1.7 million iPhone 4s through Saturday, June 26

2010-06-29T12:49:00.000+01:00

There you have it. 600,000 pre-orders turned into 1.7 million iPhone 4 sales through this Saturday -- the Sunday sales haven't even been counted yet. One more reason for Steve and company to look smug. That eclipses the 3GS' pretty phenomenal 1 million units sold over a weekend, and stands pretty much head and shoulders above any other launch the mobile world has yet seen.

Continue reading Apple sells 1.7 million iPhone 4s through Saturday, June 26

Apple sells 1.7 million iPhone 4s through Saturday, June 26 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Jun 2010 08:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | Comments

http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/28/apple-sells-1-7-million-iphone-4s-through-satruday-june-26/

--
So there you go - 1.7 MILLION iPhone 4's, 1.7 millions customers pissed off cause they've been told they're holding It the wrong way :-P

Ho-hum. Looks good - I've yet to try one but I will do soon.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

I Am Not A Legend Yet/Almost A Legend...

2010-06-28T21:34:00.000+01:00

Any other funny ideas for titles for this? Let me explain to you.

I'm watching I Am Legend (great movie - one of my faves) and I search for the Wikipedia entry for it. I find on this page a note that says that Warner Brothers have given the green light to a PREQUEL!
It should be good. My guess is it'll show you the week or two leading up to the evacuation of NYC.

Any thoughts? Feel free to comment!
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Glasto'10 Friday Night

2010-06-25T22:46:00.001+01:00

So tonight I've watched Florence & The Machine, Dizzee Rascal, Vampire Weekend, Ellie Goulding, Snoop Dogg and a bit of Kele Okerere, and I'm currently watching Gorillaz.

Gorillaz are a very worthy replacement for U2. They"ve definitely upped their game since I saw them perform on Later With Jools Holland. They sound good, their video-visuals are excellent and they're playing really tightly! I'm thoroughly enjoying them.

I also enjoyed watching Florence & The Machine earlier, and I can safely say that her cover of Fleetwood Mac's 'The Chain' has to be my second favourite cover next to Editors cover of Feel Good Inc. on the Radio 1 Live Lounge.

Looking forward to tomorrow night. Muse should be excellent!
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

A review of the iPhone 4 by Ben Taylor

2010-06-24T23:15:00.001+01:00

A good friend of mine, and fellow tech-geek Ben Taylor, was one of many to queue for hours today to get the new iPhone 4. He's kindly submitted a review for me to post up, and here it is:

So today I queued for over 2 hours to get my hands on the new iPhone (32GB black), and £209 later it's all mine. Although it wasn't. I then had to transfer my SIM to micro SIM which unfortunately required O2 Customer Services. 4 long and iPhoneless hours later, I could actually enjoy it.

And enjoy it I did. The new 'retina' display is just gorgeous, making everything you do on it so crisp and clear that it's probably better than my laptop display. This is most notable in messages and mail making this the first phone I can say is a joy to read anything on, even with just a 3.5" screen. However, while native apps and all text are nice and clear, icons in 3rd party apps now seem quite pixelated, the only downside with the new higher resolution display.

Onto the overall design, which is considerably different to any other apple product. The black glass with steel surround has really given this phone the classy, executive look. The new square shape also gives the phone a much sturdier look and feel, so you won't be constantly afraid of breaking it as I was with my 3G. The new glass also seems more resistant to fingerprints than the old screen and the old plastic backing, so it now looks newer for longer.

Hidden under this sleek exterior and attached only to the steel surround is the true power of the iPhone 4. Sporting the lovely Apple A4 chip, same as the iPad, and double the memory of the 3GS or iPad the performance of this device is incredible, especially if you're moving from the iPhone 3G. Apps open in a second, 10 - 15 apps can be running in the background without impacting performance and there is never any keyboard or audio lag. With this new power, there has to be power that is the new, larger battery. This battery keeps the phone running for longer and after a full afternoon of use and testing, the battery is in no way drained.

The location services have also had an overhaul in this new device, with Google maps able to find my exact location (indoors) in around 4 seconds which I have never seen on another phone before. Along with this, the in built compass is on the whole, useless, but very accurate apart from the repeated 'interference' warning, this app just does a nice job of showing off the GPS accuracy.

And finally, onto the much talked about camera upgrade. I have a Nikon Coolpix S1 that is nowhere near as good as the new iPhone, despite them both having a 5MP sensor. I'm guessing they've got a real professional in for this camera, most likely Carl Zeiss or Leica from the quality of the images. It takes pictures quickly, without motion blur and in fantastic focus even in low light conditions where the LED flash kicks in. The flash is only a few mm in diameter but is almost laser like in intensity and will be perfect for even the dimmest shots. Not only can you get 5MP snaps, you also get 720p video which, like the still camera, is brilliant. Thanks to the 30fps framerate, everything is always clear and sharp something YouTube will not be used to.

So to conclude:
If you've got it, well done.
If you have an iPhone 3G then it's like going from a Nissan Micra to a Veyron.
If you have a BlackBerry, then you have to accept you've lost the smartphone war and it's time to get an iPhone 4.

N.B. Some eagle-eyed readers may note this was posted from a blackberry. The reason being that I (Cookie) love my blackberry very much and in terms of an email device (which is exactly what I use it for) it cannot be beaten. That and the iPhone doesn't have a hard-QWERTY keyboard. When Apple release an iPhone with a hard QWERTY keyboard then ill have one.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Other music!

2010-06-24T21:58:00.001+01:00

Two other things.

Biffy Clyro's 'Only Revolutions' is an excellent album. BUY IT!

Also - I've been listening to dubstep this evening. Good stuff :-)
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Three album recommendations!

2010-06-23T19:09:00.001+01:00

I've bought a lot of albums in the last month, but three that have struck me are these:

1. Ellie Goulding - Lights
She debuted with her song Under The Sheets which got her some recommendations from Radio 1 DJs. Then her follow up single - Starry Eyed - gained her a huge amount of airtime on both national and local radio, and internationally. Her current single - Guns And Horses (my personal favourite on the album) is also doing her many favours in terms of popularity and airtime. Her sound is that of a kind of electropop (think similar to Metrostations, just well written, and good, and lacking in Trace Cyrus, which is the bit that makes it good) with a lot of folk influence. Definitely a goer if you're after something easy to listen to!

2. Fyfe Dangerfield - Fly Yellow Moon
If you think you've heard of the name Fyfe Dangerfield before, think Guillemots and you're spot on. He was the founding member of that band. Now he's gone solo, and is producing some really beautiful music.

I'm not usually a big advocate of indie singer songwriter types. Most of them sound the same to me. But there's something about Fyfe's music which really caught my ear! The song which did so was his cover of Billy Joel's (another favourite of mine - Piano Man has to be the best song ever written) She's Always A Woman. It appeared in a John Lews advert earlier this year and I had to find out more. Anyway, long story short, this guy is a one of a kind singer/songwriter - he's GOOD! And ORIGINAL! Hit him up if you get a chance. And buy his album, always support music! None of this ripping it off of youtube bullshit. Some really lovely, easy listening songs on the album.

3. Stornoway - Beachcomber's Windowsill
I first heard these guys on Radio 1 (incase you hadn't guessed I listen to it a lot - its the station on my alarm clock radio and its on in my car and at work) with their first single 'I Saw You Blink' and to be honest, my first thought was 'Uh-oh, another Mumford And Sons or another Fleet Foxes'. But it really started to grow on me! It's a very catchy song and the lyrics are quite pretty. Their second single, 'Zorbing' is also a very pretty and catchy song. So I went and bought the album and gave it a good listen. I instantly fell in love with it and would definitely put it in my 'music for when I can't decide what to listen to' category. (Others in that category include Jay-Z's 'The Black Album', Tracy Chapmans 'The Collection' and The Barenaked Ladies 'Gordon'). This is definitely an album worth buying,

All of the albums I've bought in the last month or two have been good albums - these are my favourite three. Discover them on iTunes or Spotify or Youtube, but if you're on Youtube then please don't do the nasty and use some third party site or software to download the audio. That's just plain wrong. Enjoy!
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

New iPad Figures!

2010-06-23T07:10:00.001+01:00

So it came out yesterday that Apple have sold a total of 3 Million iPads in the space of 80 days. This is a figure based on sales worldwide, not just in the USA.

Pretty impressive, especially when you look at the graph released by Apple and you see that 1 Million of those were in the last 20 days!
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Happy Birthdays and Hairy Firefights

2010-06-14T07:56:00.001+01:00

So it was my birthday on thursday. I'm now 19 years old... Joy. It was a pretty samey day to be honest - I guess that's a sign of getting old! Work was a similar 8-5 day but the upside was that I got to wake up next to my beautiful girlfriend, whose presents to me were three excellent compilation CDs, a wonderful painting that she did for me, and a day out paintballing on saturday!

I'd never been paintballing before, and I was kind of nervous. I'd seen lots of Jackass videos where they shoot each other and I was apprehensive as to how much itd hurt! It wasn't bad actually, its a hell of a shock when one hits you. They make a rather loud pop when they strike you. It didn't hurt all that much though :-) All in all I enjoyed the day, and would definitely do it again and again! But I'd probably only go for half days in future, as both myself and lauren woke up on sunday morning completely seized up!

Peace x
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Internet Explorer 8 Second Demo - Parody

2010-06-02T20:26:00.001+01:00

"So you've been looking at child pornography and you don't want your wife to find out, just turn in InPrivate Browsing in Internet Explorer 8, do your thing, clickety click and noone knows what you've been up to. Your secret's safe... *corny music* I'm a PC and... Ooh hello dear"
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Current iPad Figures

2010-06-01T08:27:00.001+01:00

Okay so we got an update yesterday from Apple, who announced that they've sold two million iPads, internationally, so far. Quite impressive, and it shows that they're as in-demand as the iPhone was upon release. But figures aren't quite as strong as the iPhone - well that would be because of the price tag and the fact that despite the inclusion of a SIM card in the WiFi + 3G model, you can't actually make or receive mobile calls. The only way to do it would be to hook up to a WiFi port and use Skype with a set of earphones which have an in-line mic.

Anyway. Strong figures. They'll shoot up past the 3 million mark by July, I bet.

iPad hits the UK

2010-05-30T15:52:00.002+01:00

So the iPad hit the UK on Friday. There are plenty of reports of huge queues outside Apple stores, but most notably there was an almost mile-long queue outside Apple's flagship store on Regent's Street, London. The BBC reported about a 17 year old who was the first in the queue and had waited from 12 noon the previous day!

There was also chatter on Engadget that a lot of people who preordered the iPad got theirs a day early! Lucky sods. That just goes to show that a) preordering can be worthwhile and b) TNT or UPS can't obey rules laid down by Apple.

Anyway, i'll blog again in a few days when we get some figures back about sales and numbers of iPads shipped, but my guess is that UK sales alone will be a good rival to those of the USA.

Take it easy.

iPhone 4G/HD

2010-05-25T19:34:00.001+01:00

It's all go!

Various reports are coming in that the iPhone 3G is missing it's 'Select' button from the apple website. This cant simply be a mistake so close to the supposed launch event. This combined with the increasing numbers of iPhone '4G' pictures floating around the geeksites (namely Vietnamese and Californian) would suggest INCOMING!

I'm willing to bet they'll name it the iPhone HD. iPhone 4G implies it's going to have 4G/WiMAX technology in it - which I HIGHLY doubt. The reason for my iPhone HD prediction is because in one of the Vietnamese tear-downs of the device, they revealed it has a display which has TWICE the resolution (960x 640 to be precise) of the current iPhone 3GS but in the same size display. My guess is they'll try to bring it back to HD television and movie watching.... with their extortionate TV and Film prices on the iTunes store...

Either way, it looks like a seriously sexy handset. Im looking forward to having a play with one. However, I cant get one until next year as my Vodafone contract doesn't run up until next summer.

Lost Finale

2010-05-24T19:52:00.001+01:00

Okay so I Sky-plussed the simulcast this morning, i'm a huge fan of Lost, but I also had work today so there was no way I was getting up at 5am to watch it. I was quite happy to wait until after work.

Initially, after watching the end of the two and a half hour geek-marathon, I thought to myself "Ive just wasted 100+ hours of my life". But then I sat and thought for a bit - I thought about what an extremely cleverly written drama it was!

Im not going to give any spoilers, sorry, but all I'll say is if you've dropped out of watching it for one or two series', then I thoroughly suggest you go back and watch all of it all over again, because there's no point in watching the last series without watching series' 3-5 first.

All that's left to say is this - Lost is without a doubt the BEST drama on television in the last decade. Nothing has so tightly gripped so many people in such a way before. It has to have been the most regularly captivating show on television ever. I would even go so far to say as it's the most widely speculated about television show of all time. Congratulations to Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse for creating this world of Lost, and again for keeping most of the world in the palms of their hands.

Go watch, people.

Is Dora the Explorer 'an illegal immigrant'?

2010-05-22T11:42:00.001+01:00

Cartoon heroine Dora the Explorer is dragged into the debate over illegal immigration in the US.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/americas/8698065.stm

--
This article was sent using my Viigo.
For a free download, go to http://getviigo.com

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

We're all going on an...

2010-05-12T11:42:00.000+01:00

Early holiday!

Early meaning we leave on the 16th May

'All' referring to myself and my good lady.

Holiday meaning DISNEYLAND PARIS!

Yup, myself and my good lady are spending 5 days in the theme park. We got a cracking deal on the holiday (5 days, 4 nights for £470) and we're both really amped about going!

In other news - anyone looking for an External Hard Drive should take a look at the LaCie Quadra D2. I purchased one the other day for £115 (bloody bargain) and its a great little drive! I say little... Its a 1 Terabyte affair, and very cleverly built too - the entire drive enclosure is a heatsink so there's no fan - the only sound you hear is the very low-dB, muffled sound of the disc spinning up! And with Firewires 400 and 800, eSata 3.2gbps and USB 2.0 on board it's fully flexible for all your needs. I've got it hooked up by Firewire 800 (or IEEE 1394b for the nerds out there) and it is LIGHTNING quick - we're talking a 3.5Gb file transferred in 22 seconds!
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

SPOILER ALERT

2010-05-02T19:43:00.001+01:00

Went to the cinema this afternoon to see Iron Man 2. Not a bad film - more on that later.

I made a point of staying to the end to see if there was an epilogue and there was!

SPOILER ALERT!!!
Agent Colsson (from S.H.I.E.L.D) is sent to New Mexico to work on something else and there's a rather large hammer stuck in a boulder.

EPIC THOR TIMES AHEAD!!!

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Just a small item...

2010-04-30T22:08:00.001+01:00

LAUREN'S HOME TOMORROW!

Home for a whole five months :-D home from t'up norrrrff.

In other notes - I just played through Halo 3: ODST again. I think I actually prefer it to Halo 3!!! Great storyline, great gameplay style, and its now down to £18 brand new in Tesco, so GO BUY IT IF YOU HAVEN'T GOT IT ALREADY!

Also - two albums I've been listening to a lot lately which I'd like to recommend to you. The first is The Script, with their self titled debut album. Sure its been out a while but it really is a great album! Some lovely lyrics too! The other is Seasick Steve's 'Dog House Music'. Such a raw sound, bringing delta blues into the modern age. Excellent sound. Well worth a listen and available now on play.com for a fiver!!!

Just one last thing - there's a little poll thing to the left - if you wouldn't mind answering I'd be most grateful!

Peace out and hope you're all okay.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

HP buys Palm.

2010-04-28T23:49:00.001+01:00

Well I certainly didn't see this one coming!

Struggling ex-PDA giants Palm announced last week that they were putting themselves up for sale. There was a lot of speculation as to who would buy them - Apple, Dell, Nokia, HTC etc.

But no! It appears that Palm have been bought by Hewlett Packard! For $1.2 BILLION !!!!!

That's a lot of money changing hands!

Anyway, let's hope they can turn Hewlett-Palmckard around!
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Minister fined over mobile in car

2010-04-25T23:02:00.003+01:00

Children's Secretary Ed Balls has been issued with a £60 fine for driving while
using a mobile phone, it is disclosed.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/uk_politics/election_2010/8643321.stm

'Ed looked in his rear view mirror, saw the unmistakable flashing blue lights and 'ECILOP' but this time the right way round. He looked in his hand, the phone still reading that the call was in progress. "OH BALLS" he exclaimed!'

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Ready for something really random?

2010-04-25T10:26:00.001+01:00

I'm officially endorsing Gilette Fusion razors.

I say officially... And I say endorsing... I don't mean in the way that Thierre Henry, Roger Federer and Manwhore Woods are... You won't see me on the TV drumming while shaving...

But I can safely say that Gilette razors are much better than Wilkinson Sword razors.

I don't buy into all this 'supervibromatic' technology. Frankly, dipping a razor which has a battery in it, underwater, doesn't seem completely safe to me. That and I'm not 100% convinced it works or has any benefits.

But this morning I had a better shave with the new Gilette, than I did the first time I used the Wilkinson Sword one.

There you go - consumer advice. Its my new job.

The only downside? REPLACEMENT BLADES ARE SO FUCKING EXPENSIVE!
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Disney announce Monsters sequel

2010-04-23T12:03:00.001+01:00

Pixar film Monsters Inc - about monsters who scare children for a living - is to have a sequel, the Disney studio announces.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/entertainment/8639142.stm

AWESOME :-D
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

iPhone 4G/HD Part 1

2010-04-21T21:56:00.001+01:00

The iPhone 4 SDK has been out for 2 weeks now and yet I've only just taken to looking at its innards.
Interestingly, I found a reference to Grand Central Dispatch, the multi-core thread manager built into Snow Leopard, under the iPhone 4.0 SDK. Now consider 2 things:
- Snow Leopard only works on dual-core+ systems
- GCD is not included in OS 3.2 (iPad)

As we know, the iPad is a single core A8 CPU which leads me to now conclude that the iPhone 4G/HD will be carrying the new ARM A9 Cortex CPU giving iPhone the major edge over any other smartphone.

More to come, June 22nd
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

OH! What's Occurred?

2010-04-12T00:07:00.001+01:00

So I've been a busy little (big) bee lately. The last three weeks have been preeeety amazing! On the 26th of March at 1.30pm Lauren came home from uni for her easter break. Half an hour she was whisked straight back out the front door to a place she didn't know she was going to!

Okay so it was our anniversary and I'd planned a very special outing to Ipswich to go and see the wonderful Derren Brown and his new touring show called 'ENIGMA'. I drove us there, we parked up, walked into the town centre, had a look around then sat in Costa coffee for an hour. Then we went on to a chinese buffet place (admittedly not the most romantic, but nice nonetheless) and just before we ate I gave her the option of opening the envelope with the tickets in so she could know what I'd dragged her to Ipswich for. She almost exploded with excitement right then and there. The show was excellent - so many brilliant planned and executed tricks, and the finale trick which he'd been building up to throughout the show was astounding. Then there was the long drive home.

Saturday was a nice easy day. We mooched around, went for lunch and then went to hers.

Sunday was the day of our anniversary, so we relaxed during the day then I took her for a meal at a restaurant in Stamford called Candlesticks. It was a beautiful meal. The restaurant was lovely and quite tiny but the atmosphere was very warm and friendly. The service was impeccable and the food was even better. Try the Cheesecake!

Monday through Thursday I worked, then Thursday I drove over to Laurens and we went to her friend Bens and had a lovely curry with him and his girlfriend Emily. Friday we went into Peterborough with Laurens mumsie to go shoe shopping for Lauren an I'd decided I was going to treat myself to a watch. So we went in a dozen shoe shops, as well as the chinese supermarket and I went into H.Samuel and fell in love with and subsequently bought a seriously gorgeous Accurist watch. The price tag was a little heavy but its definitely worth it!

Saturday we all (Lauren, Lesley, Eamonn and I) went on a day trip to Wells-Next-The-Sea and we went for a long walk, had fish and chips and looked in a few lovely little shops. Then on Sunday we went over to Laurens Grandparents' for sunday dinner which was lovely. I had monday off thanks to the wonders of national bank holidays so I took Lauren back to mine and we played xbox and played with Lego all day - it was mega fun! Monday night my mum did a home-made chinese food night. We had crispy duck and pancake rolls, stir fry noodles and crispy shredded chilli beef. It was AMEZZIN!

Lauren stayed all day Tuesday while I was at work and in the evening we got fish and chips. I took her home wednesday morning and worked wednesday, thursday and friday. Then on friday night we went to Lauren's friend Emily's 19th birthday party at the huge indoor kids playground place in peterborough. It was really really fun but it made me realise how unfit I am... OH WELL. Then Saturday Lauren went with her parents and nieces to a zoo near Sawtry while I went into Peterborough to test drive a Citroen C4. And today (Sunday) we mooched around the house, I helped her pack, we had lunch then she was whisked away by her mumsie back to Stoke for a few weeks.

But ill soon have my baby back :-) for a whole 5 months! I can't wait.

So that's my life lately... How are you?
Xx

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Election Ludo

2010-04-08T11:00:00.001+01:00

Okay so I've devised a new, considerably less boring way to elect a new Prime MInister.

I was chatting with my girlfriend about the colours of the candidate parties, Lib Dems are yellow, Conservatives are blue, Labour are red and the Green party are... well... green!

Now, think in your mind, of a childhood game that involved the four colours - red, blue, yellow and green. Chances are you've come up with ludo, yes?

My suggestion is this - we create a huge game of Ludo around the houses of parliament, each party has three members as 'pawns' and the first party to get all three 'pawn' party members home (home would be the houses of parliament) wins the election!

Much more fun. That'd be guaranteed to get more watchers on tv than a glorified tally-chart.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Time flies like an arrow...

2010-03-31T23:39:00.001+01:00

Fruit flies like a banana...
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

I don't know if I mentioned...

2010-03-31T00:29:00.001+01:00

After going to see the wonderful pixar release 'Up' with Lauren, I decided to start a scrapbook of all things Keith & Lauren. There's photos, drawings, xmas and birthday cards and ticket stubs from films/shows we've been to see together.

Well tonight I stuck in some more bits - stubs from seeing Avatar together, her valentines day card to me, her anniversary card to me, and the tickets for the Derren Brown show we went to see on friday evening which was my anniversary present to her.

I'm happy to say its starting to look like a proper scrap book now :-) lots of bulging pages from the thick stick-ins.

Lots of happy memories in there.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

I don't know if I mentioned...

2010-03-31T00:28:00.000+01:00

HURRAY! I'm popular!

2010-03-30T00:21:00.001+01:00

Found out this weekend that I have at least one regular subscriber to my blog.

That, in my opinion, qualifies me as being 'interesting'.

On another note, I watched the latest Star Trek film this evening. Very enjoyable and very well made, even though the plot is a little tangled...

Peace x
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Three times in a row!

2010-03-16T22:26:00.000Z

Okay so I don't usually gloat, but in the last three days I've had the same conclusion about something - I was right!

Friday evening I gave a friend advice on BootCamp or Parallels setup for running XP on his mac. He emails me sunday night with the subject header "You were right".

Monday evening, after work, chatting to a different friend who had just broken up with his girlfriend. From the get go I (and many others) told him how much of a manipulative bitch she was but he was totally blinded by 'love' and he didn't take our advice. He starts off his conversation on monday night with "I owe you an apology, you were right..."

And today, at work, I'm listening to the radio and the news comes on. News of JEdward being dropped from their record deal with Sony! Check back, readers, to a few blogs ago, where I bitched about Sony signing JEdward and how it was only going to be a loss making venture. Well... Again I was right. It didn't last.

God I love being right.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

First for a while... First RANT that is.

2010-03-14T19:53:00.001Z

So I'm on my way home from Stoke. As usual, its a flawed journey. It works one of two ways:

1. Stoke to Derby is flawed, cocks up the rest of my journey. I get pissed off, start craving coffee and start chuntering to myself about how fucked up the british rail service is.

2. Stoke to Derby is fine. Derby to Nottingham is fine. Nottingham onwards is flawed, I get pissed off, start craving coffee and start chuntering to myself about how fucked up the british rail service is.

I'm currently experiencing option 2. I'm at Nottingham, taking a train to Grantham, expecting an unknown-length wait thanks to some fucking 'engineering works' past peterborough. I'm craving a coffee like you wouldn't believe and I'd be willing to bet any amount of cash that when I get to Grantham the Pumpkin coffee shop will either have just closed or be in the process of closing. As for the chuntering... I've already done some of that! Swore loudly on Nottingham station. Then my train turned up and I didn't have time to get coffee.

For want of a coffee machine in my bag...
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

I AM.....

2010-03-11T20:23:00.001Z

Still alive!

Yup... Still alive.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Wow - a lot's happened

2010-02-21T02:50:00.001Z

So much so infact that I've barely had any time to myself!!

On top of work being so busy that I've been pretty much working double-time, just to get product built and out of the door. As a result of this I've had hardly any time to myself and I'm surprised I've managed to keep the rest of my life in order!

But - a few things have happened:

Thursday 4th Feb - my new camera (the replacement for the faulty one) arrives. I'm super-happy.

Friday 5th Feb to Sunday 7th Feb - stayed with Lauren in Stoke.

Sunday 7th Feb (Evening) - find out my replacement camera is faulty too. The next day I arrange for a refund and pick-up of the camera.

Wednesday 10th Feb - camera gets picked up.

Friday 12th Feb - at work the container arrives with our parts (metalwork etc). Spend the day decanting that. In the evening I drive over to Whittlesey because Lauren's come home to spend valentines day with me! I'm very happy to be with her.
Saturday 13th Feb - Lauren and I hold our valentines day a day early, as we wouldn't have all day sunday together.

Sunday 14th Feb - spend half the day with lauren. Bid on and win a Nikon D70 camera on eBay - mine for £280. Go into work in the afternoon.

Tuesday 16th Feb - Nikon arrives. Thoroughly happy with it.

Saturday 20th Feb to Sunday 21st Feb - my first full weekend off in a few weeks. Did nothing. Except went to Pboro with dad to look for a new car for me. Decided on the Citroen C4 - its comfy, roomy, affordable to run, tax, insure etc. and it looks good too.

So yeah... that's me lately. With the exception of this weekend, if I'm not at work or at home having dinner, then I'm sleeping!

Hope you're all well.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Yeah whatever

2010-02-07T20:35:00.001Z

So I'm in a foul mood at the moment - it makes me not care that I haven't written a blog in a while... Unless of course you're a regular reader of my blog and are saddened by a lack of daily blog, in which case I'M SORRY! (Actually... If you ARE a regular reader and want a daily blog... Message me at cookiedoekeith@googlemail.com to tell me so, and ill add your email address to a widget that automatically emails my blog to your inbox)

Anyway. This week went fine really. Plenty busy at work - done a lot of overtime and I'm looking forward to a nice healthy paycheque at the end of the month again. Thursday was a GREAT day - good day at work, followed by a slew of parcels arriving at home for me - one of laurens valentines day presents, a cd I bought from play.com (La Roux - actually pretty good) AAAANNNNNDDDDDD my replacement camera turned up. So all is good. (And yes the camera shoots true now).

I stayed with lauren this weekend. Was wonderful. We cuddled lots, she made curry on friday, and we made enchiladas last night. We went shopping in Hanley yesterday - I spent some money in HMV, bought some clothes from Primark and I bought a tripod for my camera from Jessops.

But tonight has been disasterous. My usual 17:35 train to Derby turned into a 17:33 to Uttoxeter with a bus replacement from there... Which got me into Derby 90 mins later... The train takes 50 mins in total. So I'm at Derby at 19:15 and the 19:41 train to Nottingham (the next train) is delayed by 20 mins! By this time I'm fuming and hankering for a very strong drink or some VERY unhealthy food.

Managed to get the 20:44 to Peterborough. Got into P'Boro at 21:46. Takes the piss really. But half an hour is better than 2 hours.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Mr Cole... I sentence you...

2010-01-29T11:33:00.000Z

To four months.

FOUR MONTHS?

If that wasn't Ashley Cole doing 104mph in a 50 zone, the driver would have had his license revoked, been banned from driving for 5+ years, and probably ordered to pay a large fine and attend driving safety classes.

But no, Ashley Cole, football superstar and clearly an utter pillock, is banned for 4 months.

Something tells me that the Judge was a football supporter.

N.B: according to the law, being caught doing twice the speed limit results in an instant ban for at least 2 years.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

This is a case of name stealing, not name calling.

2010-01-29T00:49:00.001Z

So just over 24 hours after the headline-grabbing press release by Apple, in which they released their brand new touchscreen slimline portable, dubbed the iPad, and they're already in trouble with it!

Yes, it turns out that not just one, but THREE other companies have products named the iPad. First up is Mag-Tek, with their line of PIN number entry keypads, called IPADs (note: all upper case). Mag-Tek have this name patented. Secondly there's the oddly named 'Coconut Grove' lingerie company with their padded bra called the iPad. Also a legal product name.

Then we have Fujitsu-Siemens who have, for eight years now, been selling their iPad. Now in terms of patenting, this is the closest Apple come to patent infringement... But wait, what's this? Fujitsu don't have a full patent for the device name, the US Patent Office still have the name patent listed as Pending, which means in all real terms that Apple can use it all they like. But if the patent for Fuji goes through by the end of Feb (oddly coinciding with the time Apple will be shipping their iCanstealaname) then Apple will most likely be forced to rename their product.

So what's going to happen? Well my guess is that Apple will take a nice chunk of their $3 Billion profit, slip it in Fuji's top pocket, and ask that no more is said.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Oh and by the way...

2010-01-27T19:51:00.002Z

Congratulations to Avatar for beating box office records. I've seen the film myself and its bloody good. I'm glad its gotten so far.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

So

2010-01-27T19:51:00.001Z

I think its safe to say Apple have done something extraordinary. They've managed to release a touch screen, ultra slim, ultra light portable media device, which also functions like a fully fledged laptop. And what's more is the price! $500? That's madness, that'll roughly translate to £400 over here in the UK. That, quite frankly, is astonishing.

Kudos to apple. Big big kudos. Now we have to wait 6 months for their Q2 sales figures to see if they've done the financially unimaginable. I think its safe to say they'll be posting more record breaking profits this time next year.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

And...

2010-01-27T18:32:00.000Z

It would appear that apple are developing their own chips. The new iPad has an 'Apple A4 1GHz processor'.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

As predicted

2010-01-27T18:23:00.001Z

Its a tablet. Cleverly dubbed the 'iPad'. Looks very swish. Imagine an iphone front (menu button and all) and a macbook pro aluminium back. Interface looks verrrryyyy nice.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

OH! What's occurrin'... At Cupertino?

2010-01-27T18:05:00.001Z

So as of 4 minutes ago Apple were starting a press conference to release their new products for this half of the year.

Speculation has been rife about a supposed 'iSlate' tablet device, bridging the gap between iPhone and Macbook.

Any smart man would bet money that this isn't going to happen because let's face it - Apple are one of the most secretive companies in the world with regards to releasing new products.

Ill email up another blog in an hours or two's time when the new product gets unveiled.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Beats

2010-01-25T20:34:00.001Z

I noticed a few months ago, the release of some new headphones, manufactured by the company 'Monster Cable', called 'Beats'. They come in various shapes, sizes, colours and guises, but the series is based around being endorsed by musicians.

The first pair to hit the shelves were a pair of in-ear, noise-cancelling earphones, simply called 'Beats by Dr Dre'. For those of you who don't know, Dr Dre is a hip hop artist and rapper. They were, in fairness quite attractive, in their black-with-red-trim casing, and small form factor (especially considering they were noise cancelling in-ears). But as with all in-ears, positioning them was difficult, and as a result, sound quality was poor 99% of the time. And even when you got them nicely placed, they weren't all that. Not a great way to spend £130.00.

Then, following those were the 'Beats by Dr Dre' on-ear headphones. Of circum-aural design (I.e. they sit over your ears instead of on them, or in them), they were big, bulky, uncomfortable, and again, not that great. The bass was too prominent (as though there was some sort of artificial EQ circuitry built in) and the treble wasn't as smooth as a pair of same-sized Sennheisers costing half the price. That price being just a whisper over £200.

And then not so long ago, to coincide with the re-release of her album 'The Fame Monster', there appeared a new pair of in-ears on the shelves, endorsed by Lady Gaga itself. (No that wasn't a typo). These are the most eye catching design, as the casework styling is that of a large-ish diamond shape, encrusted with diamantes. Big and chunky, and somewhat garish looking. Not sure wether they're a serious piece of audio equipment, or a fashion statement... either way I cannot comment on the sound as I haven't tried them, nor do I intend to.

So what's next? A pair in the shape of a lightning bolt sponsored by AC/DC? A set of headphones where the cups are shaped like nude breasts, sponsored by Janet Jackson? I'm not sure. All I know is that some rival, low budget company have cottoned on to the fact that wannabe audiophiles will happily spend money on a set of headphones endorsed by one of their favourite popstars. Where this low-budget company ARE hitting the right note, however, is in the pricetag. Currently $20 in the USA (and if they come over here ill reckon about £18)

So... do you really want to go spending between £130 and £250 on a set of headphones endorsed by your favourite popstar? Oh wait I've just had a GREAT idea, how about buying a pair of headphones endorsed by your favourite blogger. I'm currently listening to The Mars Volta's 'The Bedlam In Goliath' through my pair of Bang & Olufsen Form 2 headphones. They're a supra-aural design (I.e. They sit on your ears) and they cost me a wallet melting £90. They come with a 3 year Bang & Olufsen warranty, which is pretty comprehensive, and they sound EXCELLENT. I'm listening through one of the more musically-accurate portable media devices - an iPod. I've never heard this album sound more open, even and studio-master-like on any other headphones, and trust me I've listened to this album on a lot of headphones.

They look good, they sound excellent, and for £90 you can say you own something made by Bang & Olufsen that isn't a set of coasters or a bottle opener, and DIDN'T require you to remortgage your house!

Gripe with Grantham

2010-01-24T20:42:00.000Z

So I'm sat at grantham trains station, patiently waiting for my connection train. However, being a through station on a main line, you get a lot of long, fast moving trains. Usually the ones that go from London to York, Glasgow, Edinborough etc. They go very fast (probably about 80mph) and are very loud and displace lots of air, causing turbulence.

I dislike those trains.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Soda? Like... baking soda? Cream soda?

2010-01-24T20:00:00.000Z

And here we are again, visiting the morning of the 24th of January. Myself and Lauren were sat in her uni room, discussing my impending trip to San Francisco. She asked what I planned to do there, I said visit the Golden Gate Bridge, ride a cablecar, visit some great shops etc. And I'd go to a supermarket and find as many american drinks as I could. I vowed to her that I would find -

1. Mr Pibb/Pibb X

2. Coke with Vanilla

3. Dr Pepper (american version is made with a high-fructose corn syrup instead of sugar)

4. Dr Pepper Cherry

5. Mountain Dew

6. Mountain Dew variants

She then mentioned that a drama student friend of hers had found Mountain Dew in a corner shop on College Road, so we set out on an adventure. After searching google we found a few online stores selling US sweets and fizzy drinks in the UK, but most were selling Mountain Dew for £1.20 or more PER CAN!! So imagine our surprise when we found 400ml bottles for 60p each! Needless to say, I bought more than one.

And its lead me to ponder on why some of these aren't stocked in the major chains. For example - certain corner shop chains stock different energy drinks. I read on the Mountain Dew wiki that the company tried to bring it to the UK between '96 and '98, but it met low sales. I personally think its delicious! Its much more flavourful than Sprite or 7UP.

The only other drink from the above list that I've tried is Coke Vanilla, when it was released in the UK. I thought it was bloody delicious! Such a shame they cancelled it.

I personally think tha Coca Cola should offer an online purchasing system, where they can keep a set number of cases per month in a warehouse and you can sign up to receive one 12 pack per month. They could make a fortune on it! If you think that you pay around £6 for a 12-pack of coca cola in Tescos, that's tescos price. Coca cola will have sold that 12-pack to tecos for considerably less than that so that Tescos could make a margin. Coca Cola could probably import and sell a 12-pack of Coke With Vanilla for £6 + p&p from this to-order type website, and make the same margin as they would by selling a 12-pack of regular coke to tescos!

Just a thought...

Cookie-Doe Keith

SUUUUCCEEEEEEEESSSSSS

Well this is a little embarassing.

I do support, but alas I cannot act.

Well that failed...

I think I might need help...

Haven't posted in 10 days!!!

Hugh Laurie - Let Them Talk

HMV Wish list

Another year, another year older!!!

Another update!

So far so good...

Test post from my new HTC Sensation!

Willard Boyle, man who revolutionized digital imaging, dies at 86 (Copied from Engadget - RIP)

Portal 2 and new music!

My bass guitar!

I HAVE SOME NEW MUSIC

Coooooooooooooool !!!

Big fat gypsy wedding to be aired on royal date

Just a few things

10th Chili Peppers album to arrive this summer - most stupid album title in history?

'Thief' is trapped in recycle bin

Texas Instruments to acquire National Semiconductors for $6.5 billion in cash money

Also...

BIG UPDATE TIME

Physicists predict the 'end of religion'

101st Post!

Im thinking of starting a new awareness group

Radio 1 - Chris Moyles' Marathon

Faithless Announce Breakup

Congratulations, thoughts and prayers.

2 Week iPad rebate offer - £100/$100/€100 back in your pocket!

Lasers can act as 'tractor beams'

Playing with my SB-600

Palm is dead... Long live the HP Pre **UPDATED**

Electric Proms cancelled by BBC

Scientists build double-floating-gate FET, believe it could revolutionize computer memory

Anti-Berlusconi tweets swamp feed

Founder returns to Bebo business

World Cup

Big Surprise

Dear Students...

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows - POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!

Emma Watson

Mayor unveils new London routemaster

US Jack Russell dog traps mountain lion up tree

iPod foils potential kidnapping attempt in the hands of quick-thinking child

Living the high life

Avatar sequels release confirmed

Apology over Take That gig chaos

File-sharing site shut down in US

Ex-Warner Music UK boss suggests £1 albums would beat piracy!

Guns N' Roses have set cut short

XFactor - 21/8/10 - NO LONGER A TALENT CONTEST

Autobiebography

Album Recommendation - Speech Debelle "Speech Therapy"

Tweet, tweet, twiddly-diddly-deet.

Why did Justin Bieber cross the road?

Apple sells 1.7 million iPhone 4s through Saturday, June 26

I Am Not A Legend Yet/Almost A Legend...

Glasto'10 Friday Night

A review of the iPhone 4 by Ben Taylor

Other music!

Three album recommendations!

New iPad Figures!

Happy Birthdays and Hairy Firefights

Internet Explorer 8 Second Demo - Parody

Current iPad Figures

iPad hits the UK

iPhone 4G/HD

Lost Finale

Is Dora the Explorer 'an illegal immigrant'?

We're all going on an...

SPOILER ALERT

Just a small item...

HP buys Palm.

Minister fined over mobile in car

Ready for something really random?

Disney announce Monsters sequel

iPhone 4G/HD Part 1

Palm is dead... Long live the HP Pre UPDATED