Prototype of a Person

Items now in my possession.

Thanks to Eirn at Celestial Ring I’ve got this brand spanking (and still shiney, as you can see from the pictures below) star tattoo on the back of my neck. It’s my first (emphasis on the first! I’m planning my next one as we speak) tattoo and I really enjoyed the experience. It’s healing really well, the only trouble I’ve had was a slight allergic reaction to the surgical tape I was using to stick the clingfilm-cover onto my skin. I’ve learned my lesson, next time I’ll choose something less irritating… blue-tack perhaps.

The other item now in my possession is a Retro LED Watch. I’ve had my eye on one of these ever since I saw one in a gadget shop in Dublin City Centre and thanks to my new addiction to Ebay, I managed to snap one up for half price. It’s a really simple watch - it tells you the time and date, that’s it. It also lights up, really brightly. I like how uncomplicated it is, I don’t NEED it to do anything else, but I also love how much it reminds me of the Cylons from Battlestar Galactica. It’s so 1970’s, I just love it.

5 Minutes to Fabulous?

If there’s one thing about “chiq” fem-phones that I’ve hated in the past, it’s that they are often feature-filled yet lack the ability to expand the memory. Take the Nokia 6111, great looking phone, fantastic features like bluetooth and a megapixel camera – yet, what’s the point of a megapixel camera phone if you can only take about 20 photographs at its highest resolution? The new Benq-Siemens E51 is a big change to this annoying trend. From the outside it appears to be the successor of the popular Siemens CL75 (the “poppy” phone) but there are some major differences, for instance the 1.3 megapixel camera instead of vga, it’s bluetooth enabled and also has a micro-sd slot so you can expand the memory. Siemens haven’t launched a new phone in a long time, the reason being that it was bought out by the Taiwan based Benq group. Rebranded as Benq-Siemens, and with the launch of the E51 into the Irish market also comes the E61, a “music phone” which boasts a 512mb miniSD card and dedicated music buttons. Both of these models are due to launch on the O2 Speakeasy range and will retail at approximately €150.

I had the opportunity to play around with both phones during the week, both phones have the same user interface which seems straightforward enough, easy to navigate, but with it’s bright colours it’s probably more suited to the teen market. Personally, I really like the style of the E61, its slick black with red/orange stripe reminded me of the A-team van. The dedicated music buttons are easy to use, and although it only has a vga camera I can definitely see this being a popular alternative to the more expensive Sony Ericsson “music phones”. With regards to the E51, it’s nice to see a phone that’s being marketed towards women that has excellent features such as bluetooth and a micro-sd slot. It borrows from the CL75 quite successfully, with its integrated compact mirror but also comes pre-loaded with a “5 minutes to fabulous” java application that shows you how to do your make-up in five easy steps. It’s this feature that made me take 5 steps away from this phone. I’m sure it’s not for everyone (me included) but it’s a nice gimmick and along with its low price, and with Christmas fast approaching it’s sure to be a big seller.

In personal news, I’ve had no feedback yet from Google about the Adsense position. So don’t ask. I’ve been told it will be sometime this week, possibly tomorrow, before I hear anything. At least in the meantime I can distract myself by trying out the “5 minutes to fabulous” java application to see if it can turn a butch like me into a pretty chiq girl… the odds are pretty slim though.

Photography: New Hobby?

For years I’ve had an interest in digital photography but have never had the money to purchase my own digital camera, I’ve always borrowed everyone elses or used my god-awful vga camera on my mobile phone. I’ve been thinking that it’s about time that I purchased a digital camera of my own. Of course, when it comes to me and technology, I want the best there is to offer. I had my hopes set on getting a digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera - the difference between a DSLR camera and a standard digital camera is the ability to view the picture you are taking via the lens rather than the viewfinder, giving you a truly accurate image. Unfortunately, even a 6 mega pixel DSLR camera is about €600. Which is definitely outside of my budget, for now.

The traditional digital camera market is completely saturated, and I’ve found it rather difficult to choose one (hence why I still don’t own one!) as my own terrible greed for “features” makes it impossible to stay within a reasonable budget. However, upon investigation I found an alternative to a DSLR camera that’s within budget. The Fuji FinePix S5600 Zoom: it’s only 5.1 megapixel, however it boasts 10x opitcal zoom. That’s impressive for €300, and it looks quite cool too. It has some wonderful features, for instance, movie recording in .avi format and the ability to change the lenses (I already have my eye on a fisheye! - ha ha).

The only drawback to buying a Fuji digital camera is the fact that they only take xD-Picture Cards, which is annoying considering I have plenty of MMC cards just lying around from old digital cameras and phones. If I’m to buy this camera I’ll have to purchase at least 1gb, which will set me back another €60, double the price of a standard MMC card. For now I’m not going to make any decisions, until I actually have the money. What fun it is to procrastinate.

The Creative Zen V

I just had the wonderful pleasure of doing some market research with a representative from Creative, who let me play around with their new range of Creative Zens, the Creative Zen V. It’s basically a mini Creative Zen MicroPhoto, but they will also have a version that can play video. On a screen that small, I can’t see why they would include that feature…

It looks like Creative are targeting the iPod Nano market with this little number, and if they market it correctly (and Apple don’t release a new type of Nano) they’ll be onto a little winner. Emphasis on the little.

It will come in 1gb, 2gb and 4gb. Creative have removed the FM Radio feature, which will only feature on the V Plus model (for an extra €20), I think this is an error on their side as one of the benefits of owning a Creative Zen over an iPod is the ability to switch to the radio function. It looks cool (it’s completely black this time, no white battery cover this time thank god) and it feels nice and snug in your hand - and it definitely feels more sturdy and reliable (if you per chance drop it) than the iPod Nano.

Instead of the touch pad there is now a small joystick, which reminded me of the joystick on the Nokia 6600, it’s soft under your thumb, unlike other joysticks that feature on mp3 players such as the Cowan iAudio X5. They’ve added a volume control button to the side of the player, which definitely makes it more user friendly in comparison to the Zen Micro Photo.

A stand-out feature is the abilty to rotate your screen to orientate it to your preferred viewing point. It also features line-in encoding (so you can record music directly from a CD player or other playback source with the supplied line-in cable) technically you don’t even need a computer to store your music, and of course they’ve included the voice recording facility.

I do have some negative feedback, however.

4gb is not enough, personally I like carrying a full 8gb (or more) worth of music with me. The headphones you get with Creative mp3 players are horrible. They’re just so 90’s. They don’t fit into your ear snuggly and the sound quality is dire. Also, asking consumers to pay an extra €20 for a radio and video function is laughable, not many people are likely to want a video function on a screen so small and with a player with such a small capacity. The extra brings the price closer to the price of an iPod Nano and some people may opt for the iPod because of their popularity and “reputation”. Despite these drawbacks, it’s a possibility that I will actually buy one, or buy one as a present.

It’s set to hit the Irish market just on time for Christmas, but with the 1gb model retailing at around €100 it should be a fast seller.

Windows Media Player vs Winamp

I just started investigating the features of the new version of Winamp. Version 5.21. Available to download for free from www.winamp.com

I’ve always been a huge fan of Winamp, but more recently I had managed to convince myself that I would have to use Windows Media Player 10 in order to update my Zen. That is until Winamp 5.21.

If you own a Zen - download this new version. It gives you the ability to create playlists in Winamp and then move them to your Zen. It’s faster at transfering files then WMP 10. It will tell you when a file in incompatible with your Zen (like .ogg), so you can go do some conversions… for those of you familiar with downloading torrents, occasionally your files turn out to be .ogg rather than .mp3, which can be annoying with WMP 10, as it doesn’t recognise .ogg, at all! wont even play .ogg… and I digress… but above all the features of Winamp, THIS has always been my favourite the “Remove missing files from media library” option, hallelujah for that! there is nothing more annoying that re-organising your music library only to find that WMP has decided there is 2 of everything on your computer and you must manually rectify this.

For those of you reluctant to switch from WMP - let me tell you this - it’s faster than WMP, it will run in the background while you have 10 other pieces of software running, and it will not crash and burn on you. It looks cooler too, has lovely colour schemes and skins, skins that you can create yourself. It’s free, so try it. What’s the worst that could happen? Oh, and did I mention that the free version will Rip and Burn CDs? and play all your lovely videos too.

Winamp. It’s just cool.

Finally - a zen I can relate to.

I’ve been on the search for a new MP3 player since my ‘ol faithful (and most wonderful) Sony MP3/Discman player died on me - the Discman element of this contraption did have it’s benefits, it meant I could buy a C.D and just pop it in to listen to it on my way home, the only downfall of this was that even if I only had 1 C.D with 1000 tracks - the Discman required a bag, if I wanted to bring it out with me.

Since my Sony crapped out on me (for no apparent reason - it just WONT play mp3’s anymore) I’ve been on the lookout for the perfect MP3 Player. At first, I was thinking of getting a Nokia N91 - which would combine every single thing that I wanted - Mp3 Player, Radio, 2mega pixel camera phone (the phone part is only slightly important!).

Unfortunately the N91 wont be coming out till sometime next year, and will carry a hefty price tag (probably about €800). I really dont want to be carrying around something that expensive with me every single day. I would be completely crushed if it was stolen or broken accidentally. Besides, my Nokia 6600 is still working, and as much as I crave buying a new phone (working in a phone shop makes me want to buy a better phone all the damm time) I dont really NEED to buy one. An Mp3 player is definitely NEEDED though (what will all the traveling I do!)

So, whats the problem? I hear you say. Well mp3 players are UGLY. Very ugly. The Apple iPod is very pretty, but I sell them, and I wouldnt buy one because I know how often the battery just dies on people (and can only be replaced by sending it away for a couple of weeks - and it will cost you about €100). The warranty is only 1year - so any other problems you have with your iPod, if they happen after 1year you’re screwed (and random things DO happen to iPods all the time). I got my brother a 15GB iPod when they first came out (in April 2003) and the battery is totally destroyed on it. What other electronics item DOES this? Practically speaking if you were going to spend €300/€400 on a new TV, but then you were told it would cost you 100 every 3years to keep it working would you buy it? Of course not.
iPods the Worlds biggest fucking scam. (even the accessories are riiculously priced - an iPod sock?! a SOCK!? €40! It’s a piece of WOOL you morons! stop buying this SHIT!)

What I really want in an MP3 player is something with a sleek look, a usable interface, good ergonomic button design, a radio, and some features of customisability that dont require me to spend money. When you say the words radio and mp3 player in the same sentence most people direct you towards Creative Zen which I agree are reliable products, with the absolutely paramount option of replacing the battery. The only problem with Creative Zen? Again, they’re ugly to the max. Every Zen Ive ever seen has made me recoil with disgust. At least that was until today…

It’s not available to buy over here yet (typical! it just came out 2days ago) but, this will be MINE. Its a beauty. And Ill be taking it in the GREEN please (it comes in white, black, green, blue and ewwww pink). The asking price in the States is $330. Bargain for a 30GB. Features wise its equivalent to the Apple Video iPod (with a longer battery life in video mode, however) except it comes with the usual Creative Zen features too radio, voice-recorder, and replaceable battery. It WILL be mine. Thank you Creative for finally designing something pretty for me.

*update* I was unable to purchase the 30GB (I couldn’t get it anywhere for months), and ended up buying the 8GB Creative Zen Micro Photo, I did get a discount, so I wasn’t too disappointed. I love my new Zen. The software it comes with is god awful though - don’t use it, try Winamp instead.

My remote control kettle

I was doing some reading today on current trends in Ubiquitous Computing a.k.a. Ubicomp - which integrates computation into the environment, rather than having computers which are actual objects.

“The promoters of ubicomp hope that embedding computation into the environment would enable people to move around and interact with computers more naturally. One of the goals of ubiquitous computing is to enable devices to sense changes in their environment and to automatically adapt and act based on these changes based on user needs and preferences. Some simple examples of this type of behavior include GPS-equipped automobiles that give interactive driving directions.” Source: www.wikipedia.org

Well, after reading a few more journal articles on ubicomp, many of which were stating the benefits of using PDA type technologies in learning environments etc., I started thinking about my own environment. The first thing that came to mind was how much I would love a Remote Control Kettle. To be honest though, I really wouldn’t want a kettle that would “decide” when to boil, a life of its own really (scarey!)… but that’s not really the point of ubicomp… it’s not to give technology a life of it’s own, it is to make technology more accessible to us, work harder for us, and interact continuously with it’s technological counterparts.

So, my Remote Control Kettle idea… when I really thought about it I realised what I wanted was a Kettle that would boil if you sent a text message to a sim-card inside the kettle. I doubt this would be a very difficult product to manufacture, and with the lowering costs in mobile phone technologies, it wouldn’t be that expensive either.

I know what you’re thinking… but yes, I googled “remote control kettle” but, none exist. But dear god I wish it did.