They could be on to something here...

I'm fairly certain that this would - after about thirty minutes - become incredibly irksome and you'd be begging to have your old, tried-and-tested desktop back again, but IT JUST LOOKS SO FRICKIN COOL!

New, new DS Lite

I took the DS Lite back to Game. I showed the shop assistant my dead pixel. Fortunately, the gods of videogame shops were smiling on me. He was sympathetic to my cause. He said he wished he had the money to buy a DS Lite, and that if it were his, he'd want it to be perfect too. He went and got me another one.

He handed it over (without even looking at the receipt or ringing it through the till) and said "Better luck with this one". I was sorely tempted to get it out of the box there and then to check for BIG NASTY DEFECTIVE ANNOYING PIXELS, but the growing queue behind me made me think otherwise.

I got the new DS Lite home, and (whilst praying to the mighty Miyamoto to spare me yet more torment) unpacked it. I pluggged in the Tetris cart, and switched it on...

Perfect. Pristine. Lovely.

My faith in gadgets has been restored. For now, at least.

Pixellation Fixation

After months of waiting, today was DS Lite day! I went and collected it at lunchtime today, but only had a brief chance to play with it. I switched it on, did the initial configuration, oohed and aahed about how pretty it was, and then put it back into its box. It was not until about 10.30pm that I got a chance to fire up a game. I bought two games - Tetris DS and Metroid Prime: Hunters. I opted to play Tetris first, so I slotted the cartridge in and prepared to play.

I had been playing for about two minutes when something in the corner of the screen caught my eye. What's that? There was a small red dot in the upper right corner of the touch screen. How odd, I thought. Maybe it's a programming glitch. I quit out of the game, and went back to the selection screen. But sure enough, there was the red dot again. Fearing the worst, I interrogated the internet. I went to Google, and with some trepidation, typed the fateful words "Nintendo DS Lite dead pixel".

It would appear that I am not the only one to have a rogue pixel on my shiny new DS Lite. Inevitably, for any device that has an LCD screen (or two in the case of the DS), there are going to be some pixel defects. The old DS was noted to have them, and not even the mighty PSP is immune. In fact, the PSP seems to have had far more complaints about it's defective pixels than the DS. Apparently it's not uncommon for the PSP screen to have five or more dead or stuck pixels.

But I digress. My beautiful new DS Lite was defective. I kept trying to convince myself that it wasn't that noticeable, and that it was only on the edge of the screen, not in the middle. Surely it wasn't that bad? But now I KNOW THAT IT'S THERE it's bugging the hell out of me. According to the internet, Nintendo are being very good about the whole issue and repairing any faulty units under warranty, but really I don't want to send my brand new handheld off for repair! I want a new one.

God I'm petulant.

Decision made

So I've spent all this time contemplating what colour of Nintendo DS Lite to get. Fortunately I got to see both of them in real life today, and at that point the decision got a lot easier.

There's no doubt that the black one is nice, but it has to be the white one for me. It looks really slick and sophisticated, and there's that crisp, clean air of Apple about it. It'll match my iPod and iMac quite nicely.

So, Friday is release day. Not sure exactly what games I'll be getting with it yet. We'll have to see what's what then. I reckon Tetris has to be a given, and as much as I hate to admit it, Nintendogs looks really good. I'm looking forward to playing the less "mainstream" games on it - and let's face it, that's what owning a Nintendo machine is all about.

Full report and "grand unveiling" photos on Friday.

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.