Black and white

So not only have Apple released both black and white versions of their new MacBook, it looks like Nintendo have had the same idea for their DS Lite.

It's going to be released on 23rd June and will be available in the standard glossy, Apple-esque white model, and a new gloss black version as well.

So this creates the same problem that I have with the MacBook. Both colours are fabulous. SO which one should I get?

White matches the iPod, which is always good. But black is sleek and mysterious. White is clean and sophisticated, but it shows the dirt. Black is understated, but it's a bit ubiquitous.

So which is it to be?

It's... so... pretty...

Must..... buy..... new..... shiny..... thing.....

:o)

Are we nearly there yet?

"It's like a week of Christmas, but worse, because it brings only the hopes and dreams of presents to come."

It's E3 week again. Seems to have been ages since the last one (even though it has only been a year, obviously) but it's finally here. Time for the annual merry-go-round of hyperbole and oneupmanship of the Electronic Entertainment Expo.

I haven't been genuinely excited about E3 since the year they were announcing the Gameboy Advance. Since then, it has all been a bit ho hum. There have been some interesting products, but nothing that has made me sit at my computer, logged on to all the gaming websites and continually hitting refresh every two minutes.

However, this year might be different. Unlike the technical hiatus of the last few years, we're about to be treated to some hard-and-fast facts about these new next-gen machines - namely the PS3 and the Nintendo (I can still barely say it) Wii. Yes, we know stuff about them already, but not that much. Nintendo have the most secrets to divulge, and they could just steal the show if they have some truly exciting stuff. And if that happens, I'll even stop caring about the stupid name...

And Microsoft? Well, they've already shown their hand. Last Christmas in fact. Everyone knows about the Xbox 360 already. Mind you, MS won't let E3 pass without a few announcements of their own. And, almost certainly, there will be news of the one thing that may get me to buy a 360, providing the it's enough of a crowd pleaser. And what's that?

Halo 3.

You've got to be taking the wii...

I was really excited about the upcoming Nintendo Revolution console.

But now they have destroyed my enthusiasm in one fell swoop. So what could they have possibly done to ruin this apparently amazine console? I shall tell you...

They've decided to drop the name "Revolution" (this was just a working title apparently).

The official name is the Ninteno Wii. Which, when written down, looks kind of cool. Very short, snappy, graphical, has all sorts of connotations with wi-fi and iPod and similar tech-sounding gadgetry.

But when it's said out loud?

We.

Which, when spoken sounds completely identical to "wee".

I can see it now: "So what console have you got?". Answer: "I've got a wii."

Oh. My. God.

Burning a hole in my pocket?

So I've been away on my holidays over the past week, and I had promised myself that I'd buy a new gadget as a reward for all the long hours I have been doing at work. I had a Sony PSP in mind (see previous posts) but when I was in the shops, I couldn't bring myself to part with over £250 for something that only seems to have a library of "been there seen it done it" games available for it. Yeah, okay, the multimedia aspect is great, but first and foremost it's a games machine, and if there are no games that grab my attention, it'll rapidly get very boring.

After doing some extensive browsing around, I could find far more games that I wanted for the Nintendo DS than for the PSP. Problem is, the DS Lite is just around the corner, and I couldn't bring myself to buy something that would be obsolete almost as soon as I'd bought it.

This led me back to thinking about the Xbox360. A beautiful machine for sure, but the price of that thing is just astronomical. £280 for the console itself, and then £50 per game?! You've got to be kidding me. Particularly when I don't even have a high def television.

So what could I buy? I had promised myself a gadget, but I couldn't find one that I wanted. Or at least, not wanted badly enough. I even started thinking about a satnav for the car, but again, after finding out that the one I wanted was £300, I couldn't justify the expense.

After thinking about it for over a week, I've come to a decision. I'm going to buy some games for my two existing consoles (as there are some great games I've never played which are now available very cheaply) and hang fire until the DS Lite is finally released in the UK. I'm also very taken with the Nintendo Revolution, which looks like it's shaping up to be an awesome console, and may well be more deserving of a place under my telly than an Xbox360. Roll on E3 so we can all see what Nintendo have lined up.

So despite all the marketing hype and the "high definition multimedia wireless next-gen" bells and whistles, I've opted - for once - to keep my cash in my pocket and wait for the thing I actually WANT, rather than just buying what the magazines say I should have.

How's that for progressive thinking?

Oh, how we laughed. Not.

I did a huge search around the web trying to find out some more about this rumoured "PSP 1.5" - the one with dual analogue sticks - in order to ascertain if, and when, it was coming out in the UK. Try as I might, I couldn't find anything about it anywhere. Not even any posts in forums about it. Which was more than a little strange.

So I began to wonder... is this really true? Would Sony really bring out an updated PSP so soon after the original? Why is no-one else reporting the story?

And then I realised. It's April.

I went back into Smiths, and found the magazine where I'd first read the rumour (It's called 'Pure PSP' if you're interested). Sure enough, I hadn't imagined it. There was the article, complete with a photograph of the new model. But then I noticed it. At the bottom of the text, it said "turn to the bottom of page 97 for more information". So I did. And there it was...

"APRIL FOOL! There's no such thing as a Sony PSP 1.5. We made it up, and photoshopped the image."

How stupid did I feel?

But at least that makes the buying decision a little easier, knowing that there's no imminent update to the PSP in the pipeline.

Wait! There's more!

So, following on from my brief and slightly random post about the PSP/Nintendo DS Lite dilemma, I thought I'd follow it up.

Whilst flicking through magazines in Smith's the other lunchtime, I read a report that reckons a new, slightly revised Sony PSP is due out soon. It's almost identical to the existing PSP, but it has a second analogue stick on the right hand side of the unit to match the one on the left. This should make it much easier to play things like first-person shooters on the console, because you'd be able to replicate the control setup of larger consoles. I don't know whether this is true or just a wild rumour, but it would seem to be a bad time to buy a PSP right now just in case a new one really is in the pipeline.

However, the PSP has a lot going for it. There's no doubt that it's a sexy-looking gadget. Its price is a bit steep (over £200 for the Giga Pack) but it does have a host of multimedia capabilities. The idea of watching one of my DVDs on it does have a certain appeal. I've also found out that it plays AAC files, which is what I've encoded my music collection as. The games - which are obviously the important thing - are really pretty good, and I can spot at least five that I'd really like to own.

But then we come onto the DS Lite. It's not available in the UK yet - and there's no release date on the horizon - but from what I've seen of the Japanese units, it's a very desirable little console, and a huge leap forward from the slightly dodgy design of the original DS. It doesn't have the multimedia potential of the PSP (so movies and music are out of the question) but the games are intriguing. Plus the fact that it should - hopefully - only cost about £80 when it hits the UK.

So does that make things any simpler? No, not really. Neither the DS Lite or the "new" PSP have official UK release dates yet, so my plan of getting one over easter seems to have been scuppered. I could go with the ordinary PSP, but I'll be kicking myself if Sony release the new one about 6 weeks later.

This is getting a bit tricky. I can't seem to decide. Any thoughts?

Another Earth-shattering dilemma!

So then... it's a matter of great importance. It's up there with such existential old chestnuts as "Is there life after death?", "Why am I here?" and "Where do all the odd socks go?".

So the question is... Should I get a Sony PSP or a Nintendo DS Lite? Or perhaps neither?

It's got me stumped for sure. There is no easy answer. This may take some time...

Soundbridge Over Troubled Waters...

Just taken receipt this morning of my second Roku Soundbridge. I've been so impressed with the one that I bought a while back that I thought it was time to invest in another. Turns out that it's an updated model with built-in wi-fi (rather than it being an add on with a compact flash adapter) and it has its connections on the back of the unit as opposed to having them under fiddly end caps. Both are definite improvements over the original design (which was almost perfect to start with).

The other nice thing is that Roku are very good at releasing firmware updates to give the Soundbridge new features, which is a great idea. Well designed, genuinely useful, and works seamlessly. All in all, an almost perfect gadget!

Barmy Origami

So then, it's here. Microsoft unveiled its mysterious Origami Project at the CeBit show in Hanover earlier today.

After all the hype (which naturally I've been completely taken in by) I have to say that now it's "out there", it's not actually that exciting. It is, in a nutshell, a tablet PC. It's got a slightly revised version of the Windows XP operating system, with some enhancements known as the "Touch Pack" to make it easier to operate through a touch screen, but other than that, it's just a fairly bog-standard machine. Which is a bit dull really.

Mind you, it might make a nice substitute for a laptop, and it'd be a bit more usable than a Pocket PC. I dare say it'll fill a certain niche.

I'd still rather have an Apple version though. I can just envisage a beautifully designed and made tablet Macintosh. Mmmm, lovely. I hope the rumours of such a machine are true. There are allegedly a number of patent applications submitted by Apple for a touch-screen device. These may just be for some kind of touch-screen video iPod, or maybe (just maybe) for a tablet computer. That really would be something.

Keep us hanging...

Just as I suspected... the Origami Project website has a bit more information, but nothing concrete. Just some more teaser stuff, and a closing comment of "Find out more on 9th March".

So we have to wait at least another week to find out just what this confounded contraption is!

The art of paper folding...

So then, what exactly is Microsoft's Origami Project? There seems to be plenty of speculation about it on the web, but at this point, no-one is entirely certain. It would seem to be some kind of connected handheld computer. There's a piece of video doing the rounds which allegedly shows the Origami. According to Microsoft the video is real, and was comissioned by them, but shows "old hardware" and not actually the Origami itself. There are some still images here if you can't be bothered to watch the video.

There's a date of 2nd March 2006 on the Origami Project site (which is tomorrow!). Whether that means the device will be fully unveiled, or just more teaser information will be released remains to be seen. I'm hoping they're going to tell us exactly what it is, along with specs, prices and release dates, because it looks genuinely intriguing.

Working at height

We went geocaching again today. There was a bit of an "obstacle" between us and the cache though...




The photos don't quite reflect how steep and high it was! We peaked at 1350 feet above sea level.

Despite the climb (the view was worth it at the top) we found the cache, plus one other that was nearby. So that takes the total to eleven. Not bad. We're aiming for 30 by the end of the year. Problem is, we're rapidly running out of ones near our house!

The mobile has landed...

After much procrastination and research, I've finally got myself a new mobile phone. Drumroll please...


It's the Samsung SGH-D600 (to give it its full name) and - on initial impressions - it's a fairly sexy bit of kit. Nice matt black casing, an awesome screen and nicely laid out operating system.

My only reservation so far is that it doesn't work with iSync on the Mac. Not sure why not, but allegedly a fix is in the pipeline. Not that it's particularly important. I can still bluetooth contacts to and from the phone, along with pictures and music, so all is not lost.

So there we are.

The great outdoors... with a gadget

Just got back from our first solo Geocaching trip. I finally got round to buying my own GPS unit this week (after a year of using other people's!) so I thought we had better try it out. We went on a very nice five mile walk around Beningbrough Hall, and found the geocache on the way. So that takes our total up to five, but it's the first one we've done on our own. I'm pleased to say that everything worked just as it should have (despite starting the route at the opposite end to the one that we thought).

And if you're interested, here's our Geocaching profile:

It's not gadget-related, but...

I found this meme over at Dooce.com and I thought it was kind of interesting, so I thought I'd add my twopenneth... I'm slightly concerned that I can't think of four answers for some of the categories. Does that make me boring?

Four jobs I’ve had:

1. Sales assistant in a toy shop - a great job for reliving your childhood
2. Pallbearer - I fear that having this in my CV may make me a little strange, but I have my father to blame. He's a funeral director.
3. Primary school teacher - for two years.
4. Museum education officer - which is my current role, and one which I'm trying desperately to escape from (although I fear I never will...)

Four movies I can watch over and over:

1. Star Wars - A New Hope (although if I'm allowed to have the original trilogy as just one choice, then I will)
2. Heat - starring Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, directed by Michael Mann. It's an awesome film. Makes me goosebumpy just thinking about it.
3. Raiders of The Lost Ark - action adventure at its finest.
4. A Few Good Men - "You can't handle the truth!"

I wish I could have more than four, because I'd really like to include Ghostbusters, Top Gun and The Usual Suspects. Although if I'm allowed just four, I suppose the list stands.

Four places I have lived:

1. Holmer Green, Buckinghamshire - the house I lived in for the first 18 years of my life
2. Cambridge - in a variety of grotty student houses
3. Cambridge - in proper houses after I was a grotty student. My favourite has to be 62 Ditton Walk... it was lovely on a Saturday morning in the sunshine. Sheer bliss. I'm going to move back to Cambridge one day, just because it's so damn beautiful.
4. Harrogate, North Yorkshire - my current residence.

Four TV shows I love:

1. "24"
2. “Without A Trace”
3. “Cold Case”
4. “The X-Files” (I know it's not on any more, but I have it on DVD)

Four places I’ve vacationed:

1. Cornwall - all over the place
2. Les Gets, France - skiing
3. New York
4. Bristol

Four of my favorite dishes:

1. Pizza Express Quattro Formaggi
2. Take away curry from Asda (but it's only any good on a Friday night)
3. Subway Melt
4. A pasta dish that Mrs Lacey makes with fennel and pepperoni in it... dunno what it's called

Four sites I visit daily:

1. BBC News
2. eBay
3. Wired
4. Flickr

Four places I would rather be right now:

1. Cornwall
2. Cambridge
3. On the sofa
4. In bed

And all of the above would be made infinitely better with Mrs Lacey

Four people I am tagging:

1. OliTee
2. Tim
3. Tom
4. Rich

So there you have it. As I said, nothing to do with gadgets, but I don't care. Feel free to respond with your answers - either on your site or by leaving a comment.

Still on an Apple theme...

It would seem that my initial lack of enthusiasm about the new Intel-based Apple machines unveiled at the Mac Expo may actually be backed up by some hard facts according to this Wired News article.

In a nutshell, it says that at present - due to the fact that there are very few applications that are written specifically for the new Intel based system - the stated speed increases, in the main, don't exist. Worse still, if you want to run something like Aperture, Final Cut Pro or Logic Pro (and I think that would apply to a huge number of Mac users) they won't run at all at the moment.

In some cases - for example in Adobe Photoshop - the whole thing runs SLOWER on an Intel mac than it does on a G5...

Obviously, that won't be the case forever. Things will get updated and everything will be optimised for the Intel/Mac experience. However, I really like the quote in the Wired article that sums things up quite succinctly: "The Apple faithful are coming to terms with one troubling fact -- the whole platform has gone beta again".

This might explain it...

So, according to this post, there was a very good reason that Steve Jobs keynote speech at the Mac Expo was so uninspiring. Allegedly - according to "an anonymous source" - Steve was unable to talk about the "very, very cool stuff" due to the fact that is wasn't quite ready to unleash on the world at large because of a shortage of Intel Core Duo chips.

So, maybe we should take it with a pinch of salt, but I can't help but feel more than a bit excited about whatever it is that Apple has lurking just around the corner...

I'm trying to suppress a yawn...

So then... the Mac Expo has been and gone. And, to be honest, it was really very uninspiring.

Yes, they've put an Intel chip in the iMac. Yes, they've got a new laptop to replace the Powerbook, again with an Intel chip. Yes, they've updated iLife and released a new app called iWeb (but it only works with a .mac account). Yes, there's an incremental update to OSX 10.4. Yes, Garageband now does Podcasting and iPhoto can support more pictures. Ooh, and don't forget the remote control for your iPod.

SO WHAT?! COME ON APPLE! Where's all the cool, innovative, "never saw that one coming" stuff? Where's the media hub version of the Mac Mini? Where's the PVR update to Front Row? Where's the new iBook? Where's the updated Shuffle? Where's "Asteroid"?

Frankly, I'm disappointed.

Expo-nential

So, it's that time of year again. The time when Apple afficianados the world over start getting giddy about what delights lie just around the corner. Yes, that's right. The Macworld Expo. This is the annual event where Steve Jobs stands up - and with consumate showmanship - unveils an array of goodies that collectively turn the IT world upside down once more.

For those of us who love all things Apple, it's an exciting time. Last year, we were treated to the Mac Mini, the iPod Shuffle and iLife 05. This year, it looks like we'll have updates to all three (including some kind of media hub/PVR functionality for the Mini and a new app called iWeb which looks to be some kind of web design program). It's also likely that there will be the first of the Intel-based machines on show, likely to be a newly-redesigned iBook.

So, we all wait with baited breath. The keynote starts at 5pm GMT. Updates to follow...