Cool websites

Cool websites seem to have died down as of late, I haven’t seen anything in a long time that’s made me think “wow”. Although that probably mean most people are starting to stick to the rules provided which means less of a soup for the web. Last cool site  i have seen was an intelligence consultancy called Olton at www.olton.co.uk

Seems as though they have just re-branded and its very “eye catching”. Then again I’ve always like the simplicity of sites like google as well- i mean its just a white background but its so effective and draws your eye straight to the search box. What more do you need?

World Cup so Far

Its been interesting – Switzerland produced the shock of the tournament but then didn’t do enough to qualify. Spain will gain confidence from their two following wins and they have avoided Brazil early- giving them time to further find their feet before they face the samba boys. This being of course if they can get past the Portuguese.

0-0 7-0 0-0. Odd score lines- but they are through. Now they face the small challenge of the pre tournament favourites. Its an odd conundrum- Portugal’s strength is their attack- although they must miss Nani taking the pressure off Ronaldo. Therefore they need to attack Spain- sitting back with result in Xavi and Inestia breaking them down. Attacking spain may leaves holes but  i think they have to take the chance. Can’t wait for Tuesday!

Still on for a Brazil  spain final though!

Broadband Woes

I recently tried to set up broadband for a new flat and I simply cannot believe the struggle it became. No online wizards would work forcing me to finally succumb and ring one only to be held on the phone for 24 minutes and being informed that according to the post office my postcode didn’t exist and needed to be validated. Odd that seeing as mail has been successfully delivered there for the past 9 months….

Also fibre optic is out because apparently I’m not in a fibre optic area…believe me I am.

Are we really still in the dark ages of internet technology in the UK? The plans for everyone to have broadband by the government have a long way to go to catch up with some European countries who have speeds we can only dream of

Random Thoughts…

So its been a while since I’ve posted for various reasons. Couple thoughts floating round in my head I should probably put down though.

Bill gates joining twitter made me laugh- half the world seemingly has nothing nice to say about the man and yet his followers increased faster than the number of Chelsea players who were revealed to be having affairs. The guy has done so much for the tech industry and if people can look past the jealously/fanboyism his opinion on things should obviously be given weight.

And speaking of fanboyism - the Itablet..no Islate… no..Ipad. that the one we are going for? The fact apple were generating hype over the name of the product before it was even released is another compliment to their seemingly ‘all powerful’ marketing department. As one of my colleagues even made me aware of the fact respected betting agencies were taking bets on the  tablet’s to be name.

However despite all the flash words, the buzz, and the pretty casing (as all apple products seem to have) one thing repeatedly kept leaping out to me . No multitasking… Seriously? This device to which the best description i can give it is halfway between a laptop and a smart phone cannot multitask. That means i can’t have two windows up at once? So I’d have to shut one current app to copy something into another (assuming one can copy and paste from the start this time apple)

Stephen Fry’s quizzical remark that we should all try the ipad and we will love it made me chuckle- i’m supposed to fork out the £400 with the reassurance that it will be worth it despite anything new here? A phone fits in my pocket. If ineed something bigger i take a laptop. If i wanted a smaller laptop i’d buy a netbook- not something that can only do one thing at once for the same price. It baffles me. But at the same time Apple are there to make money and I’ve got to hand it to them. Their ability to release current technology and dress it up in that “omg this had never been done before (except it has…years ago..)”packaging is brilliant.

Other interesting things that have jumped out for me include the leaked emails between Microsoft execs on the subject of  itunes. Microsoft seemingly admit internally they were caught out and left red faced with gates himself seemingly complimenting apple’s resourcefulness. Exactly what did happen to the Zune- it never really took off huh.

Enter the new Windows 7 phone; named some might say to take advantage of Windows 7′s success even though it seemingly is based on the zunes interface. Thought it was funny to see Microsoft take a stab at Apples lack of multitasking on the iphone- this could be a great phone or another disaster… I wait with baited breath.

Sad reminder of those who lost the war

 

seriously its just sad

Japan Police try something new??

After a hit and run incident in Kanagawa, Japanese police have put up a wanted sign to try and catch the culprit. Nothing particularly surprising there until you find out that the wanted sign contains a picture of a Mii instead of a artists drawing of the suspected driver. Yes a Nintendo style Mii…

 

This has to be a joke right….

 

 

Source http://www.neowin.net/news/gamers/09/02/01/police-want-to-question-mii-in-relation-to-hit-and-run

Youtube goes widescreen

its about bloody time

 

 

thats all

Microsoft’s new store…

Microsoft have launches a new online store selling their office products in the UK and several other countries. The US version of the store also gets games ad other 360 related media to purchase.

 

But why? Its not like Microsoft are competing with their retail partners on price (all prices are RRP on the new site)and the ‘safety’ factor of buying direct from Microsoft isn’t really going to appeal to the web generation , the majority of who are going to avoid this store.

So what is the plan? are Microsoft going to start chain opening stores to rival Apple on the high street? or is this just some weird idea concocted by a Seattle employee trying to make a name for himself.

Game Bonanza

I get the wonderful feeling that we are going back to the summit of gaming wars. The days that brought us the legends of Sonic and Mario when Sega and Nintendo duked it out. The recent array of good/great games on all platforms has been shocking. 360 alone in the past few months has add

1. Force  Unleashed
2. Far Cry 2
3. Fable 2
4. Gears of War 2

And from the arcade

1. Braid
2. Castle Crashers
3. Geo Wars 2

7 games that I will happily buy to play without a second thought- not to mention the recent launch of the annual sports titles or rock band esq games. Hopefully with Sony and Microsoft both trying to get their noses in front it will spur developers to keep banging out these titles!

Even the best…

So news broke this week in the wake of Bill Gates’ final few days of an old internal email chain he started regarding trying to simply get ‘MovieMaker’ working in Windows XP

http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/microsoft/library/2003Jangatesmoviemaker.pdf

Link to email chain.

I found these internal emails so interesting as it highlights the problems of working in a large software team, its hard for one person to take responsibility or be able to seize the reins and change something. I’ve noticed in organisations of any significant size when something goes wrong for the consumer its generally not one persons ‘fault’. Most people are limited in power in a company and unclear as to how to act when a problem arises that is not specifically within their job description.

This scenario seems to be held true in this email chain as the recipients try to organise who is going to fix which part, but it is difficult. Do they cross into someone else’s territory? Do they ask the other person to fix their end? What if that person is of higher rank? , are they going to hold a grudge that could affect your job security.

I admit  I often get annoyed when one thing made by the Windows team does not work with another part flawlessly, “its the same team  I scream hopelessly at my screen”. Even though the reality is that the two teams of developers under the umbrella of ‘Windows’ have probably never even met.

Of course its so amusing in this case as the consumer is actually the boss of the entire company suffering at a system which he believed would be of a higher quality and co-ordination better than it actually is. Many people have many different views of Gates. I personally am going to miss him from having a figurehead role at Microsoft, especially if he is constantly calling out the developers internally like this as I do dream for that one day that everything in my house is beautifully compatible and synched with everything else. Sigh a boy can dream ..