Blizztivision

Blizzard, owners of Warcraft are merging with Activision, owners of... some stuff... umm.. ooh, they make a lot of the Star Trek Games, oh, and Guitar Hero.  I'm sure they do lots of other things too but they're the only ones that come to my mind.

Combined, they're still smaller than the industry giant EA, but both Blizzard and Activision have solid fan bases and very very very lucrative franchises (WoW being chief amongst them), this merger is certainly setting them up to take at swing in EA's league.  It will be interesting to see what happens to the Blizzard franchise set though - in the past, Blizzard have stood their fans by not messing with a good thing.  Over the last 13 years (13ish?), they've sported only 3 main brands (Warcraft, Starcraft, and Diablo... and Starcraft is really just Warcraft with a a different backdrop), which they've not messed about with because the fans have loved them as they are.  Activision on the other hand are more the 'Let's do something completely different' kind of company, experimenting with hardware and game types, putting a new title on every production.  While the franchises will no doubt remain independent in many ways, in time, we might see a joint ethos shape their attitudes closer together.

To read more:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7123582.stm
http://blizzard.com/press/activision-faq.shtml
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Phil

OASC

I just got back from OASC (pronounced Os-ack for some reason).  It stands for Officer and Aircrew Selection Centre, and is involves 3 days of extensive mental testing.

I'll blog about it in more detail shortly, but for now, I'll just say it seemed to go well - I got to the end of it and now I have to wait 3 weeks to hear the final result.

Eek.

Anyway, thanks for all those who prayed and supported me in preparation of this, it really made a huge difference.  Course this is not the last I'll be needing of that, as there is still the physical testing portion to come!

That's all for now - will tell ya'll about it more depth soon :)
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Phil

Bap bap badda ba! Bap bap badda ba! Bap bap badda ba! Ba!

Start spreading the news, I'm leaving
today... I wanna be a part of it – New York New York!

Sorry this is a little bit short notice
everyone, and sorry I haven't had time to let anyone know
individually – I'm just hoping people who notice I've disappeared
will come here for clues and read this :)

I'm going to NY with Caleb for a
spontaneous (as in... booked it last night) adventure. 8 days in
Manhattan, with no sane explanation that I can offer. Only this –
We're living the dream.

Be good! Have fun! Read all about it
when I get back! :-D
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Phil

Nuu Pee See!

I have a new PC.  An Acer Aspire GemStone 5920G.  It is beautiful and does everthing with Core2 Duo (2GHz), 2GB of standard RAM and 1GB of Intel's new TurboRAM, an NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GS, which has 1GB of dedicated memory and runs Dx10.  250GB HDD, 15.4" Widescreen, Dolby's 'Virtual Surround Sound with Subwoofer'... whatever that means on a laptop, and thier Home Theatre System, including a HD output connector for HD TV's, and a HD DVD Drive.  In built mic, cam, bluetooth and wifi.

Tis Hot.

My only wish is that it had a 124 pin MiniPCI socket, because without one I can't use the docking station I got in a bargin purchase under the hope it'd work with it.  Ah well - there's always ebay for that.

It's smooth as silk, though I have managed to make it struggle for a few moments when I ran a second screen at max resolution, WoW on highest video settings, Napster, MSN, Yahoo, 3 browsers with a good number of tabs in each, one on heavy .NET pages, and voice recognition.  When I did that, WoW got just slightly less smooth, so it does have limits.

Yeah ok I'm showing off - but I'm allowed :-P  Nuu Pee See!
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Phil

Normally, I only ride Epic Mounts... but... let's talk

I got me an Epic Flying Mount :-D  It's a Golden Gryphon in Green Armour Plating, and it's beautiful.  On the ground it travels about 60, 65% faster than I can run, and in the air it travels about 260% faster than I could run with the added bonus of avoiding obstacles (for you WoW'ers who are confused by those figures, they're less than what you expect not cos I got a dysfunctional gryphon, but because I can run faster 30% than the average bear... and person).

 

I took it for a quick spin last night from ShadowMoon Valley to Shattrath and I sware I felt tingly feelings in my stomach.

This is sad I know.  And it's in fact, 30% sadder than it would be for the average bear... and person, since I fly in real life and *still* get that excited about the Gryphon.  The very same day in fact, I'd been up in the microlight from St Micheals Airfield (North of Preston) to Caernafon in Wales (West of Snowdon) and back again, following the coast, over the mouth of the Mersy with the city scape spanning the river a short way in land, and between and over the beautiful Welsh hill tops to have a big fried breakfast in the airfield cafe as we chat with the other flyers, families who've come to see the planes fly in and out, and to the RAF boys who'd come to sit about the club house.  As an added bonus, one or two of the airfield staffers were *hot*.  I'm talking diet coke ad hot - everything went slow motion.  We had a look round the air museum and I spent a while getting tips from the RAF crew about passing selection which is going to be very helpful indeed.  I've asked service men of the RAF for tips before but wearing a normal business suit.  The answers you get are 'Be yourself', 'relax in the tests', 'do your best', etc etc.  This is useful, but when you ask whilst wearing a flight suit, you get much different responses, 'In the interview, they'll ask [this] - and it's a bit of a trap cos most people say [this], but it's much better to say [this]...' and 'In the hanger exercises there's a bit where they do [this] and they'll be observing you not for [this] and [this] like you'd think, but in fact, they watching [this] - the situation is all just enduced to make you drop your guard in [that] way', etc etc...

Woot.

Britishness

Political subject today.  Actually no... political material - no blog post really.  I'd really love to hear your thoughts on these articles form the BBC Website - honest thoughts as they come, and I'll maybe do a blog about it soon after reading any comments I get back.

The first one is about the Union Flag.  Apparently there's some plan coming in to fly it more often.  Scotland will be opting out of this activity.  From the article:

"SNP leader Alex Salmond, now first minister, previously said Britishness "went bust long ago" in Scotland."

"Culture Secretary James Purnell said: "The Union flag is a powerful symbol of both our heritage and modern, diverse Britain. It brings us together in solidarity and shared identity."

And here's the link to the article - It's pretty short (the article that is):
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6920895.stm

Next up, Britain's Asian Culture.  It's entitled "Many Asians 'do not feel British'"

From the article:

"38% of the UK residents of South Asian origin polled felt only slightly or not at all British."

"84% were satisfied with life in Britain and almost half thought they have more opportunities here."

"Half of the South Asians and nearly two-thirds of the white people interviewed agreed it was too easy for immigrants to settle in Britain."

"Three-quarters felt their culture was being diluted by living in the UK and nearly half believed white people do not treat them as British."

"Many British Asians consider themselves to be British but at home they are more in touch with their cultural and ancestral roots."

And the link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6921534.stm

So whatever ethnic origin or nationalites you have, any thoughts?  Email's, phone calls, or grabbing hold of me to discuss in person are all welcome if prefered to comments, but it'd be interesting to see thoughts bounce of each other.
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Phil

More Interviews To Come

The interview on Friday went well. I had good answers to the questions and everything I saw of the place and the people there reassured my impression that it's going to be a cool place to work. There is a second interview where I will continue to square off with another applicant, this time to test my technical aptitude.

The questions I'm told will be vague and mostly none language specific. In a sense I'm confident that I'll come through this interview quite well - much better than if they were asking C# specific questions where my experience is very limited. On the other hand I'm worried my rival candidate will also interview very well in this stage, having university fresh in his mind and a placement year working with application development not to far behind him either. It's fair to say my OOP skills will be a little rusty after 2 years of ASP development. But the guy seemed very appreciative that programmers don't hold all their skills in their heads at all times, and as long as they understand what they're doing they then find the syntax as and when they need it, and I'm guessing this is what he meant they account for when he said it wouldn't be very specific questions.

Anywho...I'm gonna brush up :-P

They'll be in touch on Monday/Tuesday to arrange an interview time for the late week. This is the last interview they're planning on, so after that, it comes down to the decision.

BOM BOM BOMMMMMMM!

If I get the job, I'm going to help the other guy with his CV and stuff and to find another job. If he gets it, I'm going to move into his house until I find a new job. Sounds fair to me :-)

After the interview I dropped in on Caleb (tis on the route home), and played some Halo. I usually figure I'll get 0-2 points in a halo game against people who play more often. It's one of those games where familiarity and past use has a direct relationship with the points you'll get, but only in one of the matches did I suck like that - in the others I got 6pts and 8pts, etc (first to 15 with 3 - 4 players per game), coming in 2nd and 3rd. I still got it :-P

I also had a chippy, with, wait for it - gravy. Yeah - Pudding and Chips with Gravy. I'd almost forgotten what that's like. So bad for you, yet so good.

Anyway, that was my Birthday, I'm now an ancient 24. I'm off to pull and 18 year old to reassure myself I'm still sexy.
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Phil

All Things to All Me's

So I've been getting more than my regular dose of the church lately.  Over the last few months I've been going to the Boiler Room in central London, who have become a staple Christian community in my life if you're keen to see things that way.  It's mainly about prayer with these guys.  We don't come together to get a preach or follow a pattern and sing songs, not that I mind any of that - but boiler rooms are geared more for just coming together, praying, and being part of your every day community.  See me trying to define what it is now is proving a little hard cos it doens't fit into my words very well.  But there are people there from across the spectrum on theological beliefs and traditions, and it toally doesn't matter, because we all come together to pray, and at the risk of sounding soppy, to love each other.

I mentioned the Philosophy conference a little while back.  Not Christian in allignment or anything, but it enevitably questions some of the same things, and has a certain culture of practice that I guess stays in my head as a contrast to the church culture - something it very much did to the boiler room the following week when we decided to have a little study of the bible and debate for the first time in that setting.

 

In addition to the Boiler Room, Event Season has begun.  Not working for e8 anymore, I wont bare a brunt of this period but I wont miss it completely.  Youth Rally kicked it off a few weeks back, and I slotted in a Youth Councils last weekend to keep it going.  I was only at the Youth Councils to help my freind Paul Brearley, who was responsible for bringing the tech together on the day and did a brilliant job might I add.  I just tried to take a few of the time consumers out of the equation on set up and pack down, and took care of addition jobs during the event.  It mostly allowed me to take a step back and enjoy the day a bit more than I would have done working on it proffessionally (first person to mention Sam, Tom, or any like them get's a smack).  Anyway, it was interesting to see that bit of Church life happening and speak the Christian language for a few hours straight as a stranger to the group.  My friend Carl's brother also made for suitable play when I got bored, so thanks for that Craig.

 

This weekend I was of course in Hedge End with Suz and the good people at her church, the Gap.  There were a good range of people there to, and Suz and I managed to get some Rob Bell in, which was a good little experience to round off an several hour discussion about faith that went on till 4am.

 

Last night we had more debate at the boiler room and it got a lot more meaty than last time.

 

The effects of all this has been a lot of thinking about faith and God and Chruch and stuff.  Through it all I've met new people and they've asked me some questions I've not been asked for a while - like, 'Are you a Christian?' and 'You a bible basher?' that... I don't really know what to say to.  I mean I know what to say... to the first man, 'Yes', and the second, 'No'.  But the first wasn't really asking if I was a Christian and I knew that.  He was asking if I was his kind of Christian and the answer was 'No'.  The second wasn't asking if I was an evangelical nut job, he was just asking if I had faith in God, and the answer to that was yes, but needs a bit more opening up.  Then people have asked 'What church do you go to?', and I can say, 'London Boiler Room' if I want to just appease them, but I don't think of it as 'a church' and it's not what they mean.  The truthful answer is, 'There is only one Church', but then that's seen as being awkward I guess, so then my answer could as easily be 'None', which will trigger them to worry and pray for my soul (good luck to 'em).  I guess with regards to church what I've realised is that I'm now an outsider of sorts.  I can speak their language, but I don't think in it anymore.  I'm not sure what I'm meant to do with a church service.  I mean... I do - I know *exactly* what you're meant to do with a church service, better than most people who regularly attend them in some ways, but I just don't have much of a desire to access that, or do anything with the experience.  I also know some people who might read this are thinknig 'See he's got all his understanding in his head - all that logic and knowledge but he doesn't have God in His heart and that's why he feels nothing in church' but seriously, guys, take it from me just this once - I got it, I do.  I'm not talking about that.

 

At the same time as being outside the church culture, I'm still valued inside it.  And with my outsider vision goggles perhaps valued even more by some now.  And I continue to have a strong faith, and an expanding knowledge of it that speaks more than any membership can do.

 

I don't have a point by the way - I'm just thinking out loud.  I usually try to construct my blogs with some points in mind but hey, I guess I might not publish this one.

 

More questions I'm asked - Do you beleive the bible?  What do you do?  Is the Salvation Army ok with you being gay?

 

The middle one's not so much about Church but it is about identity and this all mixes in.

 

What are you thinking about?  You think X - Y - Z.  You like A - B - C.

 

The last two aren't so much questions as much assumptions - this is about people telling me their perception of my identity I guess.

 

Ok now I'm just rambling.  I guess to bring this to some point is that I'm not in much of a hurry to box myself, and a lot of people seem keen to box me right now.  Which makes me think maybe I box others too and shouldn't be so sure.  Maybe I too box myself sometimes when I shouldn't even be so sure of that.

 

I'm Phil.  All the faith, power, failings, knowledge, skills, opinions, and weaknesses that are ever changing, and ever strong, is unique to me.  I'm nothing but myself.  That's how I'm feeling right now anyways.

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Phil

Not alone...

Many of you will know that my friend Suz has been with me a lot over the last month or so.  It all seems a bit blurry in hindsight and I'm not sure what to talk about, but because she's made it quite clear she wants this known, I'll start by saying the blog about me being on the Bridge in London should be altered, because I was not in fact alone on that night - Suz was with me as well.  Hasn't that changed everything for you?  Ok ok, being less cheeky now, in all seriousness it's been really good to have all this time together - it's not often you get spend so much time with a close friend like this and we've had late chats into the night, laughter, tears, rants, and Jon and Suz have had more than one musical number.

 

Last weekend I went to Hedge End where Suz lives right now and met all her friends there, who are all largely crazy, but all the right kinds of crazy :)

 

I really don't know what things to pick out and talk about from the last few weeks or even the weekend... I'm just going to say that I'm glad I was here at the right time and Suz, I love you loads - I'm very glad you never let me go.

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Phil

Bye Bye Blackbird 3/4: Work

Blackbird, singing the blues all day,
Right outside of my door.
Blackbird, why do you sit and say,
There's no sunshine in store.
All through the winter I hung around,
Now I begin to feel onward bound,
Blackbird, gotta be on my way,
Where there's sunshine galore.

Well to cut a long story short, for those who don't yet know, I'm leaving the elucid8 team. So much has changed in my life over the past 3 years and maybe no more than in the last 4 months. Through it all a part of my identity has been in found in my work. For a while, last year especially, it was about all I placed my identity in, so to leave it fills me with a deep sense of loss.
People have asked me about my timing - why leave now? What's changed this month? Etc etc. I think it's probably easier to ask what hasn't changed, but even so, the decision isn't out of the blue - it's been on the cards for a year in a way, and when I had to move from Carshalton my rent went up significantly so it comes to mind with greater frequency.

Work aside, It's not been all that well hidden to most that I've felt pretty depressed these last few months. Not without due cause, which I won't go through just here, but yeah - it's been a gauntlet, and I wasn't in a great place at the start. Now we're here, a new year, in the aftermath of my life. It continues to be hard; I can't find energy or passion for my daily tasks, and that impacts my quality and abilities. Right now, elucid8 needs a keen workaholic skilled energetic young programmer with few needs, and I'm not so much that guy. I've also not been immune to seeing friends I shared a graduation year with being promoted and getting on with there careers. It won't be the reason but it adds in. So as much as the flexibility, workmates, and projects have made it worthwhile before, the situation's not going to work for anyone soon enough. The shake needs to happen before e8's losing out and for me, it's now time for many reasons, including lifestyle, money, training, and perhaps something as fickle as my mood and atmosphere.

I'm happy to say the memories I take of e8 are fond and warm. I've been with elucid8 for over two and a half years now. I've had 4 desks, 2 offices, and 5 computers. That means I change stuff more than anyone else in the company, but hey - I like new things :)
It's not always been easy, there's been more than a few late nights and hell, more than a few all-nighters spread over the many months. A lot of people don't really get why I don't mind working in such a way. That's because they don't understand creative work I guess - you get into it, your mind starts seeing the text and code differently - it's like an engrossing story or puzzle, and you can't always switch off and go home when you're pumped on it. It's been a place that at times, I've thrived on the way we work, and that's very rewarding.

I'll miss my workmates, and the guys at ALOVE. It's been a privilege to work on projects that go towards making the world a better place, and to make a difference to at least those people that make a difference... If you follow me. I know a few people are even envious of the position I've had here, the work I've done and the contribution it makes. It really has been an honour for all that and I thank the people who gave me this time.

We've laughed, we've cried, we've lost consciousness from prolonged exhaustion. It's been a hoot... Now I gotta be on my way.

'Where am I going?', I'm sure you're eager to know. I have not a clue. Could be anywhere in the world I guess... Footlose and fancy free I think the phrase is. All I can say is watch this space, and think of it as an adventure!
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Phil

Bye Bye Blackbird 2/4: The Boy

These song bits are getting more tenuous and coming in reverse order best I can tell... Ah well, I started with the theme so I'll go on...

Pack up all your care and woes,
Here I go, singing low,
Bye Bye Blackbird.
Where somebody waits for me,
Sugar's sweet, so is he,
Bye Bye Blackbird.
No-one here can love and understand me,
Oh what sorry stories they all hand me,
Make the bed and light the light,
I'll be home late tonight,
Blackbird, Bye Bye.

One month ago, The Burning Crusade came out, and I decided to spend the weekends at home. As well as the direct result of my character being level 64, this decision has had several knock on effects. I broke up the newly designated recreational time with West Wing box sets and socialising, which soon resulted in the presence of a man in my life (the socialising more than the west wing).

 

He's a real nice guy, has terrible taste in jokes, but he cooks so it's forgiven. I think I'm still trying to mask the random craziness that lies beneath my calm exterior, but sooner or later I'm going to need to open up a bit more. Anyway, it's early days and right now, we're just good mates. He makes me smile, and it's nice to feel that way with someone again.  

So he's been what's kept me off WoW, expansion pack or not (there's a good opportunity for a joke here I'm sure), and I've loved every Real World second of it :-D

 

What'd be great, is if I can get him hooked ont he old WarCrack too :P
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Phil

Bye Bye Blackbird 1/4: Car

 

Bluebird, bluebird, calling me far away
I've been longing for you.
Bluebird, bluebird, what do I hear you say?
Skies are turning to blue, I'm like a flower that's fading here,
Where ev'ry hour is one long tear.
Bluebird, bluebird this is my lucky day.
Now my dreams will come true.

 

Well... I sold my car.  Bluebird, the two seater Smart car is currently in West London, supplimenting what is now a small fleet, previously made up of two vans in a builders family business.  The verse above is part of a song called 'Bye Bye Blackbird', and if I'm really clever, I'll be able to link each verse to one of my 4 part blog posts because... it seems appropriate.  Bluebird is the positive in the song - it's home, family, freedom, and love.

 

I was sad to see it go, the car once belonged to my Grandfather and was his pride and much joy towards the end of hs life.  That car's since taken me round the nation on work and social trips; gigs; holiday; demon slaying; relocations; and more.  Smarts are great cars for those people who when they're honest, have lifestyles that call for nothing more - they're nippy, responsive, comfortable, cheap to run and just no hassle.

 

When I first brought the car home, I ran up to the loft and started digging through boxes of old toys and stuff.  I was looking for a small red box that you held infront of your eye.  Inside, a negative sat against the white base, which you held up to the light so it would illuminate the picture and you'd see the photograph of my grandparents inside.  They were at a meal, looked like a ball room dancing kind of occasion, and they're eating a very english meat and two veg in their poshest clothes.  They both look really happy there, it's just how I remember them being when ever I go see them.  I found it amongst the Visionaries and Ring Raiders - I probably used the little angled red object as an extra fighter plane in my air armada of Manta Force toys at some point and it ended up in that box.  It since lived in my car, in the draw below the ash tray and when no-one's looking and I'm sat waiting in a carpark or some place... I often sneak a look and spend a few moments remembering my Grandad.

 

So yeah.... I'm sad to see it go.

 

The money is helpful, because it gives me a little to live off while I look for another job.  This is important, because I quit my job.  I really really want to spend money on a new computer - I've been telling everyone who will (or wont) listen for about a year now that Feb/Mar 07 is the *best* time to buy a new PC, and definately not before.  I've been holding my PC together with gaffa tape to stave off replacing it, and shared the dreams of computers I'm drooling over when I saw their 'Coming Soon' publicity.  My predictions on hardware have been bang on the money so far, and I still think now's the time, but I've waited this long, and while a PC bought now will get the most time out of it, personally speaking it's no better a time to be spending for anything, let alone a top spec PC.  As soon as I'm hooked up with a source of income, a new PC is my only goal but I'm keeping the card in the wallet for now - the car will go to feeding and sheltering me before anything else. 

After that, it'd be nice to start making some savings, start a pension, and pay off debt - it's time I started having grown up finaces.  

I know I know... I'm getting old.

 

So while I didn't want to sell Bluebird, ever, it would have to happen one day, and it's not going for the sake of a computer - I'll need the savings for the next month or two to live, and I'd stopped driving a while ago because the cost of insurance was just too much and I don't really need a car anyway.

In a month or two... or three or four... I'll buy that flagship computer and on it, I'll place the little red view peice and remember Grandad when I sit down at the end of each day to join my friends online.  And I'll still miss my little car :)

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Phil

Big Changes

Appologies for the lack of blogging lately.  Everything is going on and there's no time to write about it.  Just so you know I'm alive though (and Amanda I will return your call today to assure you of that by phone - sorry to not have done it sooner), the plan is that there will soon be 4 entries posted.  One will be about my car, one will be about my work, one will be about my 'love life', and one will cover everything/anything else.  And then you'll all know why it is no-one's heard from me for a week or two.

It wont be tonight though, for tonight I'll be down at the 24-7 London Boiler Room till too late to blog :)

 

In the mean time, something to ponder...

 

If you could wake up tomorrow with one of the following abilities, which would you choose:

 

a) The ability to hear people's thoughts (someone will wonder if this ability has an on/off toggle.  Let's say they're generally quiet unless you focus on them)

 

b) To remain permanently in top physical shape for your age without effort, giving you not superhuman, but peak human physical abilities, a lot of energy, and of course - a damn hot body.

 

c) The ability to understand & speak any 4 languages fully and fluently. (if so, which languages you gonna go with?)

 

Until next time!

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Phil

"I may not agree with what you say..."

"... but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

 

Ok, in fairness I'm probably not willing to die for this cause... but I'm willing to make a blog post about it at least, and that's something eh?

 

Catholic adoption agencies have threatened to shut down if they are not made exempt from the sexual orientation discrimination laws.

I've been known to say the Salvation Army should just pull it's services where the government are making unfair demands.  It's a constant tension between putting up with rules and regulations that cost you, make things harder, and that you simply may oppose, against the desire to help those you're really trying to provide the service for.  In this case, the Roman Catholic church want to help orphans, but at the same time, wont place a child in a homosexual couple household.  The latter would strongly conflict with their beliefs, but if they play hard ball, it may well be the orphans that suffer.

 

To start off with, I think the Catholic position on 'no gay adoption' is wrong, and that homosexual couples should continue to be able to adopt.  I'm not saying I support their decision, but I do respect their opinion, and think as they're providing a service, they shouldn't be forced to go against their beliefs to do it.
They're not aggressively opposing gay adoption - they're not directly suggesting that is should be made illegal (not in this case at least).  Having accepted the state will allow it, and that it's not their decision to say otherwise, they are only asking that they not be forced to assist, that their religious beliefs be held with the same level of respect as other peoples social beliefs.  This is a conflict not easily resolved by all.  But in this case, there's room.  This would be a valid application for exception.  *This* is the sort of thing I get really quite mad a those fundamentalist evangelical nutters who gathered outside the Lords last week, who've destroyed most good chance groups like the Catholic Adoption services have of being treated as reasonable people.

 

I hope this case is considered, and that the children are considered by both sides.  I realise the church can't go around flexing it's muscles to bend parliament to it's will, but likewise, for the state to do the reverse is over the line, and more than a fight, this needs to be an understanding, adult agreement. 

 

For my contribution to the level of maturity in this debate, I'm going to step up my 'suppress fundamentalist morons' campaign and start ear flicking stupid people if they suggest something like a protest.
Catholics - you can thank me later.
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Phil

Operation 'PEACEMEAL'

Every now and then, I'm awake in the morning while the birds are still singing their tunes, and the HGV's are still taking shortcuts through the suburbs before the commuters come to gridlock those small open roads.

On such glorious mornings as these, I like to have a leisurely breakfast at José’s café.

Little did I know, stepping through the understated gateway into this hallowed hall of purest coffee and fry ups, that today the dynamics of staff and customer would forever change.  A bit.

José... Or whatever his name is took my order as normal, penning down a list of indistinguishable marks as I specified my breakfast content. Now normally, his faithful wife would be leaning past the partition eager to take the order and begin the process that ultimately leads to my contented stomach, but today, she stood at the far end of the kitchen, scowling through the hatch.
José continued with his routine though, making my foam topped cappuccino and smothering the soft white peak with chocolate powder, offering the caffeine loaded cup across the counter and gesturing me to sit.  I took a table and looked up, noticing my order was still on the front counter.  José turned to speak to the woman lurking in the back, waving my ticket at her with a despairing tone. She was quick to reply, showing unusual dislike for the jolly café host, and while I could not understand the language, gun to head, I’d guess she said "Well how am I meant to make it if you don't *pass* me the ticket? I'm not physic!"

What a change though eh? Until today, these people who'd made my breakfasts for over 2 years had simply been bacon vending machines to my dull, sleepy, morning ritual. But here they were - undeniably real people with passion and everything! More importantly, what a crisis! My order was still in José’s hand, and I wasn't getting any fuller. The situation was out of control - the crisis had spread to involving my very state of nutrition. Was I to starve over the Great War off José’s café? Collateral damage in a senseless conflict. No, I must intervene. Like a UN task force, I had to break my uninvolved position and act to bring peace between these two great powers so that the stability of the wider café could be restored.

Operation 'PEACEMEAL' was about to whirl into action. I'd first find an entry point - some trivial unguarded conversation piece that I could casually drop in, ideally something in the vicinity of harmony or love, so I might quickly go on to make a unifying sweep across both fronts, employing the 'Personal and sincere compliment' tactic, reminding the duo in a two step conversation what a great team they make, and belittling their troubling fall out problems under a greater purpose.

The plan didn't quite execute like it did in my head, turning out as more or a smile with raised brow, accompanied by a slight nod... possibly there was a murmur of some kind too, but otherwise failing to develop into words. As it happened, they returned the wry smile and nod, stopping their argument to proceed with making my breakfast. So ok... No great peace making... But it did get my hunger back on the priority table at least... so a partial victory right?

 

The fry up was great.  The coffee excellent. And off I went to the office. 

Just to think though - I could have been their champion of peace, breaking through the week on week of silence that coated our irregular contact.  I could have become part of those peoples lives, become real to them, shared in their stories and learnt of their lives. 

 

Ah well.  

 

Maybe tomorrow.
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Phil

iPhone

I know the iPhone is like.. so last week - but I've been busy, and besides... it's taken me this long to figure out my opinions on it. For those of you who've not heard of it - here's my take...

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I... just... don't know what I think about the iPhone. On the one hand, I have a natural slant against the Mac grain. But on the other I recognise they do make some top quality gadgets. Some of the services offered with the iPhone are really cool, but some of functions.. I just wonder if they'll work at all for real people.

What winds me up a bit is people thinking this device is ground breakingly new because it's got everything in one and it's a touch screen and all that jazz. This statement is a good example:

"The phone includes Mac OS X, making it the first mobile device to run an operating system. It uses Safari as its browser and is compatible with any IMAP or POP3 e-mail services. Yahoo will forward your e-mails to your iPhone for free!
Jobs said that the iPhone used software that was at least five years ahead of any phone, and there seemed not a soul in the room who didn't agree.
"We have reinvented the phone," Jobs said, and we all nodded in unison.
Oh, and did I mention? The iPhone also a 2 megapixel camera."
...
"A few questions were left unanswered, such as whether the iPhone ran Microsoft Word, and whether the new product's surface would scratch, a flaw that plagued the first generation of iPod Nanos.
But the product was so breathtaking in all aspects and included so many features never seen before in one digital mobile device that all seemed to be ignored or forgiven for the time being."

First phone to run an OS? First up.. pretty much every phone runs an OS. Secondly, I've been using phones with desktop style OS's for coming on 3 years now, and mine wasn't the first by quite a way. This is not new. Niether are phones with all those protocols or having emails sent to your mobile. It's been in common use for years. And a 2 megapixel camera?

Some people have said to me, 'It plays video! A phone you can watch DVD's on!'

But you can't blame Apple for playing the plebes. It's gotta be done and they do it well - it certainly doesn't take away from the fact that it is a very nice gadget. To avoid backlash from the geeks, and even MacGeeks can't fail to notice there's very little new technology being presented here, Steve's been careful to use words, however ambigious and hidden in the tone, that he's talking only about some of the software when he speaks of the 5 years jump. Again, it's not his fault the press have taken the revolutionary software bits, and immediately after, continued the list with fairly available technology without adding a line break in, making it look like Apple just invented mobile internet connections and touch screens.

Let's get to it. The iPhone.

It's smart. I'm told it knows when you've made a spelling mistakes and corrects it for you in txts and other typing scenarios. It detects when your face is aginst it and shuts down the screen so you don't hang up mid call by brushing your cheek in the wrong place. It adjusts it's operations to what your doing to save on battery power. It knows when you've touched the screen but didn't mean to press there, and ignores you.
If this all works - I'm very impressed and it's great to see them lifting the bar on mobile interface technology. If it doesn't work as flawlessly as claimed - it's going to be pretty damn annoying.

It's sleak. It's the thinest PDA out there. 11mm or so? My XDA wasn't much more than that, and I'm pretty sure the Pearl was thiner and techincally has PDA functionality, though I'm happy not to count it as one. But it's thin. It's not small. It's a large pannel. My SPV M3100 is a lot smaller by height and width, only thicker by depth. It's a way thicker in fact, but I still recon it's easier to fit into small pockets, and more importantly, get out of your small pocket when you hear a call. And don't say buy big pocketed trousers - that's not where the solution should lie.

But the iPhone looks smooth, and because it makes good use of the screen for viedo play - I'm happy that it's the size it is.

It's all touch screen. No (at least, very few) buttons. This is cool, and looks great. I'm not sure I like it though. I'm thinking about the real world for a moment and thinking... I put this in my big pocket and realise my keys are in there too - the poor thing wont stand a chance of not being scratched, which for a touch screen is not a good thing. So you put a case on it... but then... it's a lot thicker all of a sudden and looks nowhere near as cool. I'm just trying to think realisticly about the device. I've been using PDA Phones for years and I know how they fit into your life, I know the day to day quirks of use. Sticking to buttons for just a minute, a few nights ago I got a call late at night. I'd already gone to bed, and was able to answer the phone without even opening my eyes. Why? Because I can feel the answer button. Same reason I can return a call without taking my phone out of it's sleeve (using the hands free to talk through). Physical buttons aren't bad. There's a place for them I think.

I can also use my phone with my gloves on (both the buttons and the screen actually). It's winter. I wrap up when I go out. It's very cold and very very windy here today. Should I be an iPhone user I would not remove my glove to start or skip a track as I walk down the street. And answering a call for that matter - I don't want to have to remove my glove on an icy cold day to answer a call. I'm just thinking - these are my day to day experiences of phone usage, and they're issues. The iPhone is great if I was always at my desk or in a nice environement, but I go outside from time to time and that's what a mobile is for.
I also don't need the computer to decide what it thinks I'm trying to say, because my keyboard works with my nails, which the iPhone presumably wont. The mini keyboard on my SPV is great - I don't know what the line 'No more annoying little keyboards' is refering to. Perhaps thumb boards - they are annoying. With PDA phones, you type with your thumbs, and my thumbs are larger than Steve Job's it would seem. I worry anyone who doesn't have small thumbs will find it less accurate. specifically on the iPhone you have to use the flat of your thumb, and there's no way you can hit the right key on that touchscreen with any accuracy. So it looks at the cluster of letters you pressed, assigns weighted liklihood to each potential target based on distance from centre, and then looks at what the word could be so far, adding more weighting to the selection before picking the one with the highest percent. It may be far more clever - it might learn you're typical touch offset and vocab.
This is not what I'd call 5 years ahead if that's all it is. It's a problem no-one's (actually I bet someone has, but no major company) bothered to solve because it's a problem that keyboards don't have anyway... and it is at most, a week ahead, not 5 years. But if it works - I do like it.

160dpi. Now this is nice. It's a very high resolution screen for very sharp images.

Multi-Touch. Here we go! This is the coolness now. Nothing bad to say about this at all. Using two fingers, the actions you make in unison signal different commands. It's something Mac already uses to limited extents else where and very few other people do - it's easy, responsive, and proportionate control. By putting this out there, it raises the bar for other touch screen devices. Again, it's not a leap into the future but something from the recent past being used well.

4GB - 8GB Storage Space. Nice. Again, not something of the magical distant future - any other company can do this at will - but nice. If it had a slot for some kind of SD too, allowing you to add 2-4GB swapable cards in at will like my current all in one mobile does... then that'd be great. It'd be an especially good addition to the 4GB model, which as it stands, no-one should ever ever ever buy. Ever. Don't be stupid. Get the 8GB model. Trust me on that. Just pay the little more and get it. Good.

Swooshy Sounds and Floaty Motions. Not to be made fun of! This is important too. It's all about having a nice user experience - decreases stress with the mistakes (not that any can happen on apple interfaces) and makes you feel like the device is really part of you.

Third Party App's. Oh dear oh dear oh dear. This is where it all falls down for me. Up till now, the iPhone is every other all-in-1's equal, with a lot of polish and some nice bonus features. Up till now, I'd dare say although reporters are stupid, and nothing here is all that new - it is still the best example of this device type. And then... they ruin it. This even turns a lot of Mac fans off. Apple have made it clear they do not intend to allow software to be loaded onto the device, that was made by a 3rd party (not Apple). The reason? Same old reason Apple always have for this kind of rule - they want their reputation to be 'It never crashes!'. Indeed you better hope it doesn't, as without a stylus I'm guessing resetting it isn't as simple as pressing a button. But they want the forums on the net to be full of smug people saying 'It's never crashed - it's perfect!' like they did with the old iMacs. And they'll succeed. The main reason crashes occur is conflicts. Unexpected conflicts between programs that weren't expected to run at the same time as another unknown program, or programs that weren't tested enough under all conditions. To solve this, they ban all unknown factors, much like saying, 'We hope you enjoy our 100% ultra safe swiss army pen knife. We pride ourselves on the reputation that no-one has ever cut their finger with this product. Please note all sharp features of the unit, while remaining present for asthetic value, have sealed shut. Enjoy your £300 nale file. Jack ass.'

But then - they're not after me I guess. They're not after the people who say 'I just want it to make calls', nor the people who say 'My phone is like a full PC! Last night I added a cool app that makes...". They're after the people who want a cool phone, that can play videos and music, but don't want to have much else on the one device. It's the high end mobile users who are just about ready for a bit more than their camera phone. I'd say there's a significant market for that - and in such a catagory, the iPhone is without doubt the best.
Meanwhile, I'm eagerly waiting on the SPV manufacturers to integrate a few of these cool features (the multi-touch and the 8GB storage especially), and upgrade as soon as they do.
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Phil

CORRECTION: Order of the Consoles

It's been brought to my attention that Sony haven't yet hit the 1'000'000 mark in the sense that I was meaning.  When I used the word 'sold' I should have used 'shipped'.  It's believed that Sony had not breached a million PS3's into consumer households by New Years.  It's a shakey start for the Consumer Electronics giant.

Order of the Consoles

This is slightly late news... was more yesterday and I haven't been on the net since writing it but... I wrote it so... it's getting published :-P

...

OOTS has been awesome lately. I'm really enjoying the Elan-centric plot and the action sequences. Bard's rock.

In other news, Sony have announced again that it is *they* who have won the console war.

To recap, MSN News reported the 360 was Master of All at the end of November, based on two key figures:

a) There were more 360's sold World Wide than Wii's and PS3's put together.
b) The 360 had sold in greater number even exclusively looking at November sales.

'a' was due to their being 360's available for about 12 months already, though I found 'b' genuinely surprising. Still, at that stage of the game it was perhaps a little early to call victory.

After Christmas sales came and went, Sony announced they'd won, because while there were a little over 10 million 360's sold, and about 4 million Wii's sold, Sony had sold over 110 million units. Yup - a clear victory. This seems like a remarkable jump until you spot that this was not a claim of PS3 success, but of PS2 success. That's right, Sony publicly announced their own previous generation console beat their new one. I don't understand what the point of that announcement was - the PS2's success is well known without needing to remind us, but the PS2 is not a contender in generations line up. Having said that, it wasn't entirely off topic - they point out that the PS2 is still so popular that it sold better even in the last 2 months than any other console, shipping over 14 million units. With regards to it's popularity over it's younger cousin the PS3, it's probably due to there being games available for it, which so far seems to be a weak point of the Blue-Ray HD super machine.

But how's the PS3 doing? Well that'd bring us up to date, with today's news sprinkling 'PS3s massive success' over my homepage. A little reading and I discover Sony have sold 1 million consoles in the US, and tell us the PS3 has reached this figure faster than the PS2 did, thus, will sell better than even the PS2 in the long term.

I'm.. not sure how they apply that logic without noting the PS3 was still outsold by everything else, leading us to ask... will all the others not therefore sell better too? I also doubt the PS2 fell short of a million units by it's first Christmas sales due to anything other than a late release in the season and massive understocking on Sony's behalf.

This doesn't mean the PS3 is not going to win, but it's a joke to claim it's even near the lead just yet. It feels like a desperation cry more than anything else, and I'm pretty sure Sony's target by New Years was meant to be 2 million. In March, Sony open the PS3 to Europe, after which they expect to hit the 6 million mark. Now... if the US reaches 1 million... I'm thinking the EU... on an even later release... having by then had the 360 for a year and a half... will have less sales. And even if it does sell well - we're aiming to sell 115 million in 5 years to claim the same market share as the PS2 did. Is the low sales purely due to understocking? If Sony put 50 million units in stores tomorrow would they all be snapped up? Speaking of all being snapped up, what I don't understand is why I know lots of people who've bought a next gen console, but the sales figures are less than 10% of previous gen sales across the board. Some weird maths going on here. Maybe Europe do by the lions share of the games consoles. *shrugs*

Moving from the US, Japan has had all 3 consoles for a while now too. In the last generation, the X-Box made almost no appearance in the market - Sony and Nintendo shared dominance of the island. This time round, the 360 has put its foot in the door - while only capturing a small market share, it's massively siginificant for Microsoft to even have one, and while I don't think it will massively grow, it should make for an easier PR battle in the next generation - until now, the US developed console has lacked familiarity to the consumers over there.

Any of you guys bought a next gen console?  Think the PS3's a sure bet still?
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Phil