National Bike Week

Just a reminder that National Motorcyle Week will run from 12th – 18th July 2009.  15th July 2009 is Ride to Work Day. Any excuse for a scoot.

Twikini Tweets

Apparently most users abandon Twitter after only a month. So I stunned myself this morning when I found out that I have clocked up almost 9 months as a user. A large part of this is due to using mobile Twittering software to post. On the iPod I have Tweetie and on the iPaq (windows mobile 5) I have been using Twikini.

Of the 2 bits of software, I have to admit that I prefer Twikini by Trinket Software, for it’s simplicity (I didn’t have to update Microsoft’s behemoth .net compact framework gubbins for it to work properly either). Posting is quick, updating tweets seems to work quicker than Tweetie on the iPod too. All the features you need are there. Looking up fellow tweeters, direct messaging and searching for hash tags. You can even choose from a few different colour schemes too, which is a nice touch.

Twikini’s simple posting interface.

Twinkini’s Cupcake theme, my personal favourite. And no, I don’t follow Britter’s tweets, I still can’t manage good screenshots on my iPaq. I must do something about that.

A Walk In The Woods With A Canon A470

As the sun was shining this afternoon, I went for a walk in our local wood to see the bluebells. I took my Canon A470 and managed to forget the tripod again. I quite like the few pictures I got in macro and supermacro mode, even though it was quite windy.

How To Lose Customers & Alienate People

There we were. Indulging in a pre-shopping cappuccino & a very expensive muffin in the Sainsbury’s cafe in Milton Keynes, when all of a sudden the fire alarms goes off.

“This is a test of the fire alarm system”. Then a loud piercing Siren! “All staff prepare for an emergency announcement!” “Evacuate the building!” Above the deafening sirens, staff looked on apologising to customers as they thought it was only a drill. Too late for us, after half an hour of this cacophony, I had a pounding headache, and what was left of my muffin in a napkin. We left without shopping. As someone had switched off the escalators we had to walk around the front of the building and back inside to get the car in the underground carpark.

Sainsbury’s loss, Waitrose’ gain.

I do appreciate that stores have to put safety first, but for so long and so loudly. I thought my head would explode.

</rant> </spleen> </victor meldrew moment>

My Vairy Godmother

I was in town today and thought I would take a look at the Orange Vegas in the Orange store. I thought it was quite a dinky thing, especially in pink (they didn’t have the black version in stock). Though they wouldn’t allow me to try one first, I decided to take the plunge. I am good at impulse buying, it should be included in the 2012 Olympics.

Buying one was not as simple a task as you would expect. The chap instore took all my details then got on the phone to HQ for some reason (upgrading the sim??). He waited and waited. “I’m in a queue” he said. What seemed like an awfully long time passed,  I asked for the details that he had written down and left the shop.  As we had to walk right past the T-Mobile store, I popped in to take a look at their version of the same phone, the Vairy. This time I was given a look at the phone before I bought it. A much simpler task, 2 minutes later I was on my way.

Once home I charged the phone up and popped the sim in. I spent the next half hour playing.  I can say that though this is a very simple phone, it is actually very good for it’s sub £50 price tag. A 1gb micro sd card was already inside. The handbook is on a small cd but didn’t have any nasty surprises. A phone is a phone is a phone after all. Call quality is excellent. Texting is quick, though the “handwriting” feature is a bit misleading (unless I am being thick and can’t make it work properly) the onscreen qwerty keyboard is tiny but useable. Bear in mind that this is NOT windows mobile the functionality is just not the same.

The touch interface is a very pleasant surprise. Very like the HTC Touch in fact. You can use the stylus or your finger to swoosh about in the 3D menus. The screen is clear and responsive. The stylus is fiddly though. Very small and it collapses like the TyTn or Clie styli.

I’m off to play some more. So I will write more later.

Up against an HTC Touch, dwarfed, actually

And the reverse view. Like mini me

Taking Field Notes

Feeding my insatiable stationery fetish with some Field Notes goodies. These notebooks from the USA are a utilitarian alternative to my Moleskines. Quirky but fun.  Available in the UK from The Paperie Ltd, Chester. www.thepaperie.co.uk Much cheaper than buying direct ($33 dollars postage to the UK!!!!) See the Field Notes site here (a cult in the making, I think). Now, will they take fountain pen ink well? Off to get my favourite Pelikan pen.

My Latest Reads

My local library has a graphic novel promotion on at the moment, here are the 2 graphic novels I picked up. By Neil Gaiman & Mike Dawson. Both enjoyable.

—- 
Sent using a Sony Ericsson mobile phone

- Posted using MobyPicture.com

White Leica M8

Found something special in the May issue of Black + White Photography. A very sexy looking Leica M8 in white. OMG! Want one

—- 
Sent using a Sony Ericsson mobile phone

- Posted using MobyPicture.com

Free Magazines

I am quite a fan of digital magazines, for some time I have used Zinio. Today I found another service which by good fortune is offering free magazines as a taster for their service. MagazinesOnDemand.co.uk have most of the bases covered, men’s, women’s, gadgets etc. So for your chance to get 3 free magazines read the instructions here and enjoy!

All Twittered Out

Not one to miss a good bandwagon, I joined Twitter a few months ago. I had thought it rather a good idea at the time. I liked the fact that there were real life people just streaming away. A voyeur’s dream. But some “issues” began to bug me.

Do I Twitter just to be followed by others? Am I there simply to stalk the famous? Am I tempted to pretend to be a celebrity? Twitter is perfect for that.

I still run my Twitter. I follow people I like hearing from. Jason Bradbury and The Gadget Show Gang. Robert Llewellyn and QI are a pleasure to follow. I catch up with the news sites like Sky News. And I may be the only person on Twitter who actually stopped following Stephen Fry.

I think Twitter will eventually fizzle out like all fads. It doesn’t quite have the urgency of instant messaging or texting, it doesn’t quite fill microblogging needs.

Maybe the sheer weight of users will crush Twitter. I have noticed more bugs, delays and service outages recently. Maybe time will tell.