Gadgets » MaFt's Musings

Music Streaming in the Wake of Spotify Lockdown

Android, iPad, iPhone, Music, Software No Responses »

May 192011

Here’s the scenario: My music collection is on my main Windows PC on the middle floor of my house. I do 99% of my work on my MacBook Pro either on the ground floor or the top floor of my house. I like my music but hate iTunes (only use it for syncing iPhone/iPad apps and backups) so using Home Sharing was out of the question – I cannot trust iTunes to look after my music collection properly plus MediaMonkey is so much better with regards to features and functions.

So, how do I listen to my music while I’m working? MediaMonkey doesn’t work too well in WINE, it’s OK in Parallels but running a 2nd OS solely for music isn’t ideal…

The Latest Rumour Is Actually Just News Of A Rumour Of Some News…

Gadgets, Random Musings No Responses »

Mar 242011

It must be a tough life being a tech blogger / tech news reporter. I mean, there’s hardly any new technology or products being developed at all that can be written about. No one even uses existing technology for anything interesting and newsworthy either. Things are so bad on a daily basis that they must start to report rumours as news. Oh, wait, hang on. Actually, there are a tonne of new developments that could be written about… But that would be too much hard work, right?

Instead we get to see stupid rumours about Apple things that have so little substance that they are laughable. It doesn’t happen with any other company – I’ve never read a blog/news post about Company A sending an email to Company B therefore Company A must be developing product XYZ but that’s what I see on an almost daily basis with so called news reports for Apple.

Why I Don’t Do HD

Gadgets, Home, TV / Film 4 Responses »

Mar 182011

I’m sick to death of having HD shoved down my throat. Everywhere you go it’s ‘HD this’ and ‘HD that’ even to the point where people make up new meanings for what HD actually is. I overheard a salesman telling an old woman that she needed a HD-ready TV so it will still work after the digital switchover – the poor old dear only wanted a 14-16inch TV for in the kitchen!!

A friend of mine (@echoingsounds) asked if I’d seen ‘Abatoir‘ (I may have misheard him though) to which I answered “yes’ – because I have an I didn’t see the point in lying about such a trivial thing. He then said “Oooooohhhhhh, wait until you see it in HD!” to which I responded “Why? does it make the story better?”. Completely missing the fact that I wasn’t overly impressed with the film he simply said “No, it just looks amazing”.

10 Things i Hate About My iPad

iPad, Random Musings 2 Responses »

Nov 212010

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Game Center – the best and worst social network… ever!

iPhone No Responses »

Sep 082010

So, with the launch of iOS4.1 and Game Center I thought I’d write a brief blog on my thoughts so far.

Why Game Center is the worst social network… ever:

You can’t send/receive annoying/amusing messages to your friends
You can’t see any information about your friends
That trumpet sound when friend requests are received
There are no games for it (and hence no way to see what animal your friends have just rescued on their farm)
There’s actually no networking or social aspect to it (meaning you are unlikely to spend much time skipping work to ‘just check Game Center’)

And now for the good parts;

Why Game Center is the best social network… ever:

You can’t send/receive annoying/amusing messages to your friends
You can’t see any information about your friends
That trumpet sound when friend requests are received
There are no games for it (and hence no way to see what animal your friends have just rescued on their farm)
There’s actually no networking or social aspect to it (meaning you are unlikely to spend much time skipping work to ‘just check Game Center’)

Congratulations, Apple, on pleasing everyone – those who love, and those who hate, social networking!

The EULA Will End All of Apple’s Woes

iPhone, Random Musings No Responses »

Jul 162010

With the on-going ‘saga’ of the iPhone 4′s reception issues (if you’re not aware then, sorry but, where the heck have you been?! Mars?!) Mr Jobs is giving a Press Conference later today about it.

Lots of people are talking about product recalls or free bumpers (cases for the iPhone 4 that, because they stop direct contact between sweaty fingers and the phone’s antennae, stop the ‘reception issue’ from showing as much). However, my theory is quite different:

When you update the firmware on the iPhone you are given a great big End-User License Agreement (EULA) that no one ever reads. Ever. Yesterdays iOS 4.0.1 release will likely have said something along the lines of:

…by installing this iPhone software update you are hereby acknolwedging that there are no issues with the iPhone 4′s antennae and there is no reception issue. Ergo, you cannot sue us or complain any more. Ever. About anything. Love from Mr Jobs.

So, later today, when Mr Jobs stands up in front of the worlds media and blogosphere he will stand there all smug and say “Well, 4 million iPhone 4 users just updated to 4.0.1 and, by doing so and agreeing to my terms, have confirmed there are no issues. Please go home and relax. Good night.”

There you have it, how many times have you been told to read everything before you agree? Now you know why.

Simplicity – Friend or Foe?

Android, Gadgets, iPhone 4 Responses »

Apr 232010

Going back a couple of years I used a T-Mobile MDA Compact III (HTC Artemis) as my main phone. It ran Windows Mobile and was pretty slow and clunky at times; but it worked. It had mobile internet (although no 3G), it had GPS, a Micro SD slot for expanded memory (although you had to shut it down and remove the battery to access it). I actually liked the phone – it was my first PDA / Smart Phone which brought me out of the world of Samsung who I had sworn by for the years leading up to my switch. One thing I loved about it was it’s customisability (is that a real word?!) – the sheer number of programs (they weren’t called ‘apps’ back then) you could get, the majority of which were free. Great programs that ranged from registry editors and media players through to screen capture and satnav’s. You could just… fiddle with it! Continue reading »

iAndroid

Android 4 Responses »

Nov 132009

Since my iPhone was stolen at the recent Green Day gig in Sheffield I thought I should actually use the T-Mobile G2 Touch (HTC Hero) I was given back in August. Up until last week I had only used it at home, on WiFI, to check email, play with the browser and grab some freebies from Android Market. You can’t really test a phone like that so, after sticking in my replacement O2 SIM, I thought I’d actually use it as my main phone for a bit.

Sadly the phone was locked to the T-Mobile network… So that scuppered my plans until I came across a link at the XDA Developers forum to Unlock Now, a site dedicated to unlocking Smart Phones. It was reasonably priced and within 20 minutes of placing my order I had the SIM Unlock code waiting in my inbox. Needless to say it worked (they buy the codes direct from HTC) and it is now an O2 G2 Touch! Continue reading »

The Week So Far

Android, Family, Gigs, Home, iPhone, Life, Work 1 Response »

Oct 282009

I would dearly love to show you some video from Monday’s Green Day gig at Sheffield Arena however my iPhone was stolen and was last ‘seen’ in Liverpool, near Kensington Gardens…

On Sunday night my car was broken into as well. Nothing was taken but it did mean I had to pay for a replacement window and the hassle involved.

Geocaching Around Thornton

Family, Gadgets, Geocaching, iPhone 1 Response »

Oct 052009

Geocaching.com Those who follow me on Twitter will already be aware of my antics this past Saturday afternoon. Me and Mini-MaFt went geocaching – now if you don’t know what it is then check out the geocaching website but, put simply, it is a GPS/SatNav-based treasure hunt. You get a set of coordinates from the website along with a title and a clue and you have to find the ‘treasure’. Groundspeak, the company behind the geocaching website, recently released an iPhone app which links to the geocaching website allowing you to find local caches, see the hints and read other peoples reports on how they got on.

Armed with my iPhone, a couple of goodies (you can leave items for other geocachers in some of the larger caches or do swaps for items already in the box) and a thick coat (it was blowing a gale, but at least the rain had stopped); me and Mini-MaFt headed out across the field towards our local alpacca farm for our first ever cache. Continue reading »