A brand new D-Link USB Bluetooth dongle worked out cheaper from Amazon than from eBay too. Instructions included consisted of about six pages for Windows - and 3 lines for OS-X!

Managed to get a new 512Mb MMC card for my Nokia 6230 for less than on eBay, and that included postage and, of course, a warranty. Works fine in the phone - now stuffing it full of MP3 files.

Arrived at work this morning to find that we'd been burgled. A number of LCD monitors, plus one G5 Mac, had been stolen. No sign of forced entry...

"US President George W Bush has said that the sacrifices being made to fight insurgents in Iraq are vital to the future security of the United States. ... "We will stay in Iraq as long as we are needed - and not a day longer," he said.

Perhaps me means "beyond the end of my term so that it becomes someone else's problem"?

BBC NEWS | World | Middle East | Bush says Iraq sacrifices 'vital'

Legendary American IT guru (and general Microsoft annoyer) Bob Cringley made some interested comments in relation to Apple's recent announcment that it was going to switch from IBM PowerPC CPUs to Intel:

"Question 2: What happened to Apple's 64-bit operating system?

OS X 10.4 -- Tiger -- is a 64-bit OS, remember, yet Intel's 64-bit chips -- Xeon and Itanium -- are high buck items aimed at servers, not iMacs. So is Intel going to do a cheaper Itanium for Apple or is Apple going to pretend that 64-bit never existed? Yes to both is my guess, which explains why the word 'Pentium' was hardly used in the Jobs presentation. Certainly, he never said WHICH Intel chip they'd be using, just mentioning an unnamed 3.6-Ghz development system -- a system which apparently doesn't benchmark very well, either (it's in the links).

So is 64-bit really nothing to Apple? And why did they make such a big deal about it in their earlier marketing?"

Good point. Is the main bulk of the personal computing world going to move over to 64-bit anyway? It certainly doesn't appear to be in a hurry to do so. I guess given that all the 'Mac' software is going to have to be rewritten (again) to work on the as-yet unnamed Intel processor, they need to make that choice. And if they choose 32-bit, and the market moves to 64-bit, there will need to be yet another rewrite - and we'll all be made to pay again. Except that "we" doesn't include me because I don't have a Mac - and now am even less likely to be inclined to buy one.

"Question 3: Where the heck is AMD?

If Apple is willing to embrace the Intel architecture because of its performance and low power consumption, then why not go with AMD, which equals Intel's power specs, EXCEEDS Intel's performance specs AND does so at a lower price point across the board? Apple and AMD makes far more sense than Apple and Intel any day."

Yes, would make more sense to me too. Using Intel smacks of defeat.

If you're a Mac fanatic, its well worth reading the whole of the article...

PBS | I, Cringely . June 9, 2005 - Going for Broke

Just completed the galleries from the weekend's shooting of a big polocrosse tournment, hosted by the Liscombe Park club who ran the National Finals for the last couple of years. Fortunately for me the vey hot weather we'd been having all last week had turned to grey skies, otherwise I'd have been burned to a crisp. The sun did come out for the hour or so of the Grade A final and even with a hat, I got a little sunburned - goes to show just how sensitive my skin is.

I'd bought a couple of fast 1Gb Sandisk compact flash cards (via this eBay shop) for the 1D but lack of storage wasn't the issue - it was that the camera's battery couldn't manage more than about 200 frames before dying - even with doing the bare minimum of 'chimping' (reviewing images). Had to return home for an hour each day to recharge - must find a way to recharge in the field...

"Japan is beginning trials of the newest and sleekest version of its Shinkansen 'Bullet Train' ... The latest model will travel at up to 360km/h (233mph) ... The train, expected to be in service by 2011, is a highly-developed version of the original Bullet, launched in 1964."

I bet the Japanese engineers have a good laugh at our expense. Just compare how far their trains have advanced in my lifetime (I was born in 1964) to ours. 233mph service speed and its not often we can manage 120.

BBC NEWS | World | Asia-Pacific | A bullet train... only with ears

The problems I was having getting GPRS to work with my Nokia 6230 were, at least in part, down to GPRS not having been activiated on my account (I assumed it was). I phone their customer services line and it was very straightforwardly enabled, allowing WAP to work that evening. But not only did they provide excellent telephone-based support, they also responded to an email I'd submitted to their website (and tied it to my phone call) but they also called back and, finding my phone off, left a message on my voicemail. Considering I'm not even on an account, I count that as pretty impressive service.

My brother is at Glastonbury this year - and is now getting wet. He texts me to say he hasn't taken wet weather gear...

Was taking photos at the annual citischool graduation ceremony this evening, again finding that Canon's E-TTL flash metering is absolute pants. With +2/3 stop dialled in to both ambient and flash metering, I still set some (not all, because its not even consistant) results like this. Take a look at the levels - how can a professional camera that cost over four grand make such a botch of metering? Here's the full EXIF:


File: IMG_66130.JPG
File size: 1,627KB
Image Serial Number: 000-6130
Camera Model: Canon EOS-1D
Camera serial number: xxxxxx
Firmware: Firmware Version 1.3.0
Owner: Chris Valentine
Date/Time: 2005:06:23 20:12:27
Shutter speed: 1/125 sec
Aperture: 4.5
Exposure mode: Program
Exposure compensation: +2/3
Flash: External E-TTL [ 550EX with StoFen plus CP-E2 battery pack ]
Flash exposure compensation: +2/3
Metering mode: Evaluative
Drive mode: Continuous (low): frame 1
ISO: 800
Lens: 17.0 to 40.0 mm
Focal length: 32.0mm
AF mode: AI Servo AF
Image size: 1648 x 2464
Rotation: none
Image quality: Fine
White balance: Auto
Color matrix 1: sRGB natural-looking hue and chroma

"Egg boxes are to return to craft lessons at an East Sussex school after they were banned over health fears.

The head of Wallands Primary School, in Lewes, said he had been enforcing the ban, believing the reason was a risk of spreading salmonella."

Another fine example of the nannying/political correctness that is spreading around this country like, well, salmonella. Sounds like those involved are all backpeddling in this particular case, trying to say that there never was a ban in the first place.

"We have even been advised to put signs on the flat roofs, warning thieves who try to walk on them that they might fall off and hurt themselves."

Yes, this sort of thing is really happening here!

BBC NEWS | England | Southern Counties | Egg boxes return after school ban

"If patent law had been applied to novels in the 1880s, great books would not have been written. If the EU applies it to software, every computer user will be restricted, says Richard Stallman..."

Every computer user with an ounce of sense knows this already, of course. But since when have politicians had an ounce of sense...?

Guardian Unlimited | Online | Patent absurdity

Useful GeoTagging thread, especially for UK users:

GeoTagging the UK via StreetMap.co.uk - New GeoTagging Scripts

Interesting article on grid road systems from a US website.

"Milton Keynes, the English new town 40 miles northwest of London, provides a good example [of grid system roads]. There, planners developed a terrain-constrained grid of high-capacity arterial streets at approximately one kilometer (0.6 mile) intervals. Inside of the grid, streets generally follow the modern suburban style of cul de sacs and loops. Milton Keynes has a very high population density for a new development--at 8,400 persons per square mile, it is 20 percent more dense than Los Angeles or Toronto. Yet, the Milton Keynes roadway design has kept traffic flows comparatively favorable."

Of course whether the roads continue to flow after dipstick Minister Prescott forces in thousands more houses remains to be seen.

The Heartland Institute - Cul de Sacs, Grid Street Patterns Both Have a Role to Play - by Wendell Cox

Finally got the D-Link DBT-120 to work under Windows 2000. It required me to completely uninstall the driver software, then reinstall it, entering some enormous code I had to be sent via email from the D-Link website.

Managed to synchronise between my Outlook 2003 contacts list and the phone. Some slight complications because the phone's contacts list does not have separate fields for things like Christian and Surname and the individual parts of addresses - so its not strictly adhering to the vCard format (not that Outlook does anyway). You also appear to have no control, when using the Nokia PC Suite software, as to whether the contacts go on your SIM card or just into the phone - it looks like it can only store them on the phone itself.

On the Mac, there is PhoneDirector which enables a lot more control, but its not free and although it can export as vCard, you run into the same data incompatabilities - which I think are basically unavoidable.

"Rail passengers could face congestion charge-style price hikes at rush hour to combat rising passenger numbers."

Looks like I spoke too soon. Rush hour commuters already pay more - sounds like just another New Labour stealth tax. This is actually the same article that I blogged earlier today, but they've updated the story.

BBC NEWS | UK | Rail 'congestion charge' proposed

Fun and games trying to get BlueTooth networking operational between various computers and my Nokia 6230. D-Link DBT-120 USB dongle worked immediately on the Mac (OS-X) with no drivers needed whatsoever. Different story completely under Windows 2000, where even with drivers downloaded and installed from the D-Link website, still cannot see the phone.

"Trains on some rail routes could become very crowded over the next few years, passengers are being warned."

So when can we expect a congestion charge? Just goes to show this government has no sane, thought-out transport policy whatsoever.

BBC NEWS | UK | Rail overcrowding 'to get worse'

Chuffed to bits, so far, with my Nokia 6230 mobile phone that I bought second-hand via eBay. Very small compared to my ageing Philips C12, its got enough features on it to keep me busy for hours. I've already bought the optional data cable for it and will be getting a Bluetooth dongle and a bigger memory card for it next - its built-in MP3 player is brilliant! OK, so its picture quality is prety naff, but I would never expect much from a camera phone. I went for a Vodaphone pay-as-you-go SIM card as their coverage is (allegedly) the best of all the UK networks, plus they also run a lot of networks in Europe. Next challenge is to move the number from my old phone, which is under O2.

Looks like the feed from AudioScrobbler has recovered - t'was a problem with their server, almost certainly down to the rate at which their service is being taken up by geeks like me.