Monday - Up at 4am do some emails and stuff and then hit the hotel restaurant for breakfast.
Now in the evening the whole hotel restaurant and bar (Asia De Cuba and the Redwood room) are one of the town's coolest locations to hang out in, but at breakfast time it is all quiet. Very weird. The food though is excellent. Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon is a top choice and very filling. I can see why there is a lot of over weight Americans.
Boss had rented a Nissan 4x4 thing to take us to the office which out of SF across the bay so like tourists we were snapping away at anything that resembled Americana.
At lunch the CEO took us all out to a brew pub (micro brewery) for some more deep fried crap to clog up the arteries with. I tried to be healthy and have a TBA (Chicken, Bacon, Avocado type sandwich) with fries. ;-)
Then at 4pm we all jumped back in the car and drove off to the Golden Gate Bridge for some more tourist action. It was at this point I was kicking myself that I did not have the big camera, but I managed to fire off some shots on a colleagues camera. It was an amazing view and thankfully amazing weather, very clear.
Driving around in SF seemed all too familiar and then I realised that I too had driven these streets in Grand Theft Auto - San Andreas and almost felt compelled to start doing driveby shootings and going to the club by the GGB to do some missions. It was so familiar that I was actually able to give directions and remember and see the real locations. Was very spooky.
Got back to the hotel and decided to have a quick teatime cocktail on the roof terrace of Macys in Union Square. Shame so did loads of other people. Shame that the bar is actually a chain of Cheese Cake Factory and shame they dont know how to make a Mojito and shame that they decide it decadent to put blobs of squirty cream on an already over sweet cheese cake (mine was White Chocolate and peanut butter). I managed to eat half before realising that this was not good.
The rest of the evening was spent at the hotel meeting other fellow colleagues as they flew in from various US locations.
Bed at midnight.
Up at 5:30am deal with some calls to the UK
Ready to go!!!
Perhaps I might just go downstairs for some breakfast.
14 August 2007
13 August 2007
Any Given Sunday
Burrrrp
Its not big nor clever.
So I woke up on Sunday at 4am and then at at 6/8am.
Did some stuff on the laptop and had breakfast in the hotel restaurant.
You will be surprised to know I order eggs benedict on a bagel. Nice.
The rest of the day was spent showing a colleague around SF.
First beer was at 11:30am. Lunch was a serious mexican at place which served over 250 types of teckila.
Sorry pissed atm.
Need sleep and its only 10:30pm.
Photos to follow and congrats to Andy and Hazel on their new arrival.
Sorry cutting short this blog as I have just found myself sleeping upright at the laptop in my bedroom. Time for bed
Blimey
L8r
Its not big nor clever.
So I woke up on Sunday at 4am and then at at 6/8am.
Did some stuff on the laptop and had breakfast in the hotel restaurant.
You will be surprised to know I order eggs benedict on a bagel. Nice.
The rest of the day was spent showing a colleague around SF.
First beer was at 11:30am. Lunch was a serious mexican at place which served over 250 types of teckila.
Sorry pissed atm.
Need sleep and its only 10:30pm.
Photos to follow and congrats to Andy and Hazel on their new arrival.
Sorry cutting short this blog as I have just found myself sleeping upright at the laptop in my bedroom. Time for bed
Blimey
L8r
12 August 2007
Downtown SF

Taxi pulls up at the Hotel. The entrance is very minimalist, in fact you would not recognise it apart for the topiary outside the windows, get into the "dark" low lit lobby and are hit with the fact that this a cool, trendy hotel. Darkwood floors, funky art sculptures in the lobby a huge giants chair sits off centre.
Check in was a little slow, a bit of a queue. This is certainly a not a secret hotel and I certainly cannot work out the clientèle. It seemed to be a mix of the middle class young, the older couple, and the completely out of place holiday inn couple. I was basing this on how people were dressed, their luggage and their body language. But then again I had stumbled in pulling my own baggage wearing knee length shorts and a stripy tee, having traveled across the world sitting next to a nutter to get here. So nothing special in the check in. No Four Seasons personal service of taking you to your room by the person who checks you in, nor any funky present or recommendation for a refreshing cocktail or "do you want reservations to Aqua de cuba?"
The Room
Its ok. I walked in with no pre-conceived perceptions, and that helped. Its a small room don't get me wrong its larger than your standard UK Travelodge and larger than most other standard rooms, but just a little cramped in the main room and in the bathroom. What I did like was the huge mirrors behind and in front of the bed that create the optical illusion of a tunnel, plus I imagine it is good for bedroom antics.
Pro/Cons List
Pros:- Mirrors, the purple smarties the turndown maids provide, the cool orange perspex bedside tables, the designer tap in the bathroom, the bathroom goodies, the minibar, the decor on the whole.
Cons:- The fag burn in the carpet next to the bed in a non-smoking room, $10/day WiFi charge, not enough table space to spreadout all of my stuff (gadgets mainly), I forgot my USB cable to plugin a external HD for music.
The Bar (Redwood Room) http://www.clifthotel.com/clift_hotel_redwood_room.asp
Man it was like we had arrived. Again all low lit, full wood panelling bar down one side, funky furniture, maitre d service to tables. Huge selection of booze from floor to ceiling all with backlighting. Huge 6ft tall electronic picture frames with cool art range from art to slow moving portrait photos (like out of Harry Potter but less animated). Started on the Blackberry Margarittas and then moved to the Clift Bellini's. It was lively at 7pm. Come 10:30 when we arrived back it was a hive of beautiful people just having a great time people buying bottles of champagne and vodka and just chilling. There were no ego's on show, no Fareham Chav, no fights just happy people. By 11pm I was boxed and ready to hit the sack. Subtle issue, perhaps its the £/$ thing but the rounds were costing a lot. The last round a double Remy and a Belinni cost $48. Gulp
Dinner
We met up with my work colleagues 2 friends from Rome who were over on a 3 week holiday of doing the west coast. We had reservations at Aqua De Cuba but canceled and went to Little Italy and a fine traditional restaurant that immediately gave us the VIP treatment as 3/4 of the party were Italian and we ate some fine simple Italian food. I follow the lead and had this seafood soup which was killer. Big pile of shellfish in a lovely
24hr party people!!!!!
Flying into SF

Phew I made it!!!
Taxi picks me up @ 6:30. It arrives early, Great!!!
Arrive at Heathrow Terminal 3 - Not a nice terminal especially as they are rebuilding it, the car drop off area is a mess.
Check in to Virgin Atlantic was a breeze, it was as easy as BA used to be and a delight (I had checked in online the day before which changed which area I dropped my bags off) They even now have check in kiosks. Mate these small details are there to take the stress out of getting you to your location.
Security - Wierd it was not too busy, I was through in 10minutes, but they do now have a separate area for you to take your shoes off and have them x-rayed
Get on the plane - Tip and this is a gamble and depends if you have roll on. If there is a huge queue and you are not flying posh class then let everyone else get on board then you can stroll in and not get stressed with queues and people being idiots sitting in their seats. Virgin staff fab, great, amazing, love em to bits.
Sit next to my colleague and also a lady (approx 38) called Beanie (not short for Sabine I hasten to add) who seemed friendly and pleasant at first but at the end of the 12hrs I was throughly tired of. Watched a few films, Shooter (good liked that, Mark Walberg, excellent), 28 Weeks Later (nearly shit my pants in the first 10 mins of the film) wow this is a great gritty nasty editing take on zombie movies. Although strictly speaking the zombies are not zombies because they are not dead they are merely infected with "Rage".
Food onboard was so so. I was not impressed, but then it is rare that airlines on economy get it right.
So I took to my seat the following items:- Laptop, Book, iPod, earphones, phone, Blackberry. So what did I end up using? ipod and earphones. Could not open the laptop as the seats were terrible, never got the nerve to read the book, oh and I left the Blackberry on all through the flight with no crashing of the plane, and the juggling act that happens every time you need to put your table down or you need to get out of your seat. Note to self, cut it down and keep it simple.
Arrive at SF - Yessssssssssssssssssssssssss. Thank god for getting off the plane at the end of it I was feeling quite queezy, sick and had a headache on the Harvey headache scale of 5/10
Dunno what is going on but this is the 3rd time where clearing US customs has been fairly fast and easy!!! This time queued at the the "And all others" queue to then be told to shift to "US Citizens" as the queues were less. RESULT YESS big up for US Customs!!!!
Done!!!
14 May 2007
My New Crackberry
So here is the skinny. Just arrived at my 12 months with O2 on my Blackberry 8700. It has given 12 months of pleasure using it. The device just works. Not only does it work, it does not crash. Not only does it not crash but it lasts approx 5 days if not longer!! So what do I do. Go get another.
Yep that's right. After reading rumours, release dates of other models and seeing a colleague's 8800 I decide to plum for the Blackberry 8800.
I talk to:-
Carphone Warehouse (My fave mobile retailer) - Well we will be doing that model soon but our shops are not trained yet.
O2 Shop - Sorry mate, can do you Pearl but not the 8800 you will have to call O2 to get that.
Orange - Great help upfront and honest. Had the model in stock and were keen for me to sign up.
T-Mobile - I could not find a contact number on their website to call them.
So I call Orange and see what they can offer, based on what the colleague did after I advised him to call Orange asking for his PAC number (they offered a lot to him to stay). Lady was helpful and I was on the verge of going for it.
Called O2 just to give em a chance. Asked to have my PAC number get transferred to the retentions dept and get asked why I want to leave. Tell the guy that I had seen a great offer on Orange and hey presto he betters the deal.
So I get my 8800 - Unlimited Data/email (cough is that BS or what 75meg fair usage) and a relatively small voice plan. All very easy.
So 8800 awesome. Lovely slimline device, glossy. I set up my emails very quickly. The sync app on my laptop had an easy 2 use transfer wizard to transfer my info from the 8700 to 8800. The web front end that does all the pushing of emails to your Blackberry had been upgraded so that it would reconcile my GMail & Yahoo & even my work email. Brilliant. I can even look at my Flickr account.
Blackberry Love it.
Yep that's right. After reading rumours, release dates of other models and seeing a colleague's 8800 I decide to plum for the Blackberry 8800.
I talk to:-
Carphone Warehouse (My fave mobile retailer) - Well we will be doing that model soon but our shops are not trained yet.
O2 Shop - Sorry mate, can do you Pearl but not the 8800 you will have to call O2 to get that.
Orange - Great help upfront and honest. Had the model in stock and were keen for me to sign up.
T-Mobile - I could not find a contact number on their website to call them.
So I call Orange and see what they can offer, based on what the colleague did after I advised him to call Orange asking for his PAC number (they offered a lot to him to stay). Lady was helpful and I was on the verge of going for it.
Called O2 just to give em a chance. Asked to have my PAC number get transferred to the retentions dept and get asked why I want to leave. Tell the guy that I had seen a great offer on Orange and hey presto he betters the deal.
So I get my 8800 - Unlimited Data/email (cough is that BS or what 75meg fair usage) and a relatively small voice plan. All very easy.
So 8800 awesome. Lovely slimline device, glossy. I set up my emails very quickly. The sync app on my laptop had an easy 2 use transfer wizard to transfer my info from the 8700 to 8800. The web front end that does all the pushing of emails to your Blackberry had been upgraded so that it would reconcile my GMail & Yahoo & even my work email. Brilliant. I can even look at my Flickr account.
Blackberry Love it.
17 April 2007
TV Catchup
Ooo Oooo
I am finally catching up with Prison Break Season 2. My fave hybrid quality American drama.
Worth watching!!!
I am finally catching up with Prison Break Season 2. My fave hybrid quality American drama.
Worth watching!!!
16 April 2007
The Weekend
So how was it for you. Sunny Southern England was fantastic with 24 degree Celsius temps, I spent Saturday chilling with the daughters and then onto a Bar-B-Que at some friends, where my first drink I downed like it was water.
Sunday morning was spent down the beach with toddlers galore which was good.
Have found a cool website which is making my blogging and nano blogging great. www.jaiku.com
I picked it up from a CNET blog which was highlighting that Jaiku was potentially a competitor to Twitter.com which I have tried. I like Jaiku as I can add my flickr, last.fm and other blogs into the one place which then shows the photos, blogs, nano blogs in a time line. Nice
Next Dilemma
my Blackberry 8700 is near its contract exit date. Now what shall I do? 8800 (GPRS, and GPS) or wait for the rumoured 9xxx (possibly 3G) apparently due in Q4 should you believe the rumour sites.
Sunday morning was spent down the beach with toddlers galore which was good.
Have found a cool website which is making my blogging and nano blogging great. www.jaiku.com
I picked it up from a CNET blog which was highlighting that Jaiku was potentially a competitor to Twitter.com which I have tried. I like Jaiku as I can add my flickr, last.fm and other blogs into the one place which then shows the photos, blogs, nano blogs in a time line. Nice
Next Dilemma
my Blackberry 8700 is near its contract exit date. Now what shall I do? 8800 (GPRS, and GPS) or wait for the rumoured 9xxx (possibly 3G) apparently due in Q4 should you believe the rumour sites.
10 April 2007
Easter Chocolate
Just completed devouring all of my Linte mini eggs.
Yum.
I think that coupled with 5 days of American living (food and excessive boozing) I need to be on salads for the next 5 weeks.
Well that went to pot as I went for breakfast in Giraffe (pancakes) and lunch in Slug by the river (duck salad).
Managed to get some shortbread instead of Easter eggs. They were from the Prince of Wales brand. Well recommended.
Yum.
I think that coupled with 5 days of American living (food and excessive boozing) I need to be on salads for the next 5 weeks.
Well that went to pot as I went for breakfast in Giraffe (pancakes) and lunch in Slug by the river (duck salad).
Managed to get some shortbread instead of Easter eggs. They were from the Prince of Wales brand. Well recommended.
Jet Laaaaaaagggggggg
Urgh
Back at work in blighty today and suffering from the dreaded jet lag. I dunno if it gets worse as you get older. But I have 2 waves of exhaustion one in the morning (first thing) and one at teatime, coupled with being quite brainless. So only another 4 days to go for recovery.
Back at work in blighty today and suffering from the dreaded jet lag. I dunno if it gets worse as you get older. But I have 2 waves of exhaustion one in the morning (first thing) and one at teatime, coupled with being quite brainless. So only another 4 days to go for recovery.
03 April 2007
Casino Royale
Ugggggghhhhh.
The morning after a night at the loaded tables.
Drinks were served at 5:30 by the CEO who lost a bet, dinner at 6:30-7 and then we hit the tables. We were given $5,000 in chips and had 3hrs to make as much money as we could in that time on a plethora of casino games.
I stuck with blackjack but was a little rusty. I soon got the hang of it and switched tactics to betting the max bet and let the dealer help you out. In no time I was just shy of a million when, max bet limit was lifted, and the firm rules were in play. Suffice to say I lost it all, which I did not care when I heard that some fellow Brits were doing $300,000,000 on the crapes table.
Anyway as I bust I got some raffle tickets and managed to redeem myself with a $50 amazon voucher.
A good night of fun free booze and free gambling.
Roll on the Baseball tonight. Foam fingers at the ready!!!
Might go shoot some guns on Thursday at the local gun range near the Microsoft Campus.
The morning after a night at the loaded tables.
Drinks were served at 5:30 by the CEO who lost a bet, dinner at 6:30-7 and then we hit the tables. We were given $5,000 in chips and had 3hrs to make as much money as we could in that time on a plethora of casino games.
I stuck with blackjack but was a little rusty. I soon got the hang of it and switched tactics to betting the max bet and let the dealer help you out. In no time I was just shy of a million when, max bet limit was lifted, and the firm rules were in play. Suffice to say I lost it all, which I did not care when I heard that some fellow Brits were doing $300,000,000 on the crapes table.
Anyway as I bust I got some raffle tickets and managed to redeem myself with a $50 amazon voucher.
A good night of fun free booze and free gambling.
Roll on the Baseball tonight. Foam fingers at the ready!!!
Might go shoot some guns on Thursday at the local gun range near the Microsoft Campus.
01 April 2007
Hotel Heaven
This all may seem trivial but when you have just stepped of the plane, have been up for a long time, last thing I want to do is waste time. Cocktails are waiting for me at the Hotel.
Oh the Hotel!!!!
Oh Yeah Baby!!!!
Now I am not going to blow my own trumpet about where I have stayed historically. All I am going to say is this hotel is NICE!!!
Nice from a sense I am in the middle of an Amercian city where Hyatt's, Crown Plazza's and Hiltons are probaby de-rigour, but this hotel beats them easily.
Hotel1000
Check-in - Have not got a room with Kingsize room ready, did I want 2 x Queen? No I will go to the bar and you tell me when I can go to the room. 4 Cocktails later. Room Ready!!
Room - Cisco IP phone, Sony 42" Plasma with on-deman Movies (yey snigger), bath to behold as no taps in bath (water exits from the ceiling in a straight beam of lit water) awesome shower a glass wall from the bathroom to the bedroom with a flick of the switch kicks in a motorised blind. Complimentary Wired magazine, free wifi, lush bed yada yada yada. You get the gig!! Its nice. Asian styling with the American plushness. Its not quite the Asian Zen I you could have as its got the touch of brash American money! But it works for me.
Hmmm hungry now. Room service.
29 March 2007
I'm Tired
But not that tired to see the trailer for 28 Weeks later on Apple's trailer pages. Oooh in 720p HD as well. Worth a look at, some of the camera angles are interesting.
Anyway its a short one today as I need to go feed Georgia in a sec.
So spent the day at Vinopolis on the South Bank in London. There was an event going on with a free tour afterwards and I imagine a lot of booze after that too. I had to depart after the final speaker (speakers were talking about IBM, Managed Objects, AlarmPoint and a few other things), and peg it back to Waterloo.
London - You need so much money to really enjoy London. Its really unfortunate.
Signing off sleep well
r
Anyway its a short one today as I need to go feed Georgia in a sec.
So spent the day at Vinopolis on the South Bank in London. There was an event going on with a free tour afterwards and I imagine a lot of booze after that too. I had to depart after the final speaker (speakers were talking about IBM, Managed Objects, AlarmPoint and a few other things), and peg it back to Waterloo.
London - You need so much money to really enjoy London. Its really unfortunate.
Signing off sleep well
r
Labels:
AlarmPoint,
IBM,
London,
Managed Objects,
Vinopolis,
Waterloo
27 March 2007
Getting excited
Well here I am watching BSG Season 3 on Sky One when the adverts came on. Specifically an ad for "Bones" which had Stephen Fry guesting on it. What is going on?
So 3 days to I step on a BA plane to Seattle. Not good in one respect that unlike Kosso on his trips to the US I am travelling in Economy. The other depressing thing is that after flying Virgin to SF I am worried that BA's in-flight entertainment system might not be as good, specifically the 50 movies on-demand option. However after the investment in my first iPod on the last trip and the earphones as mentioned earlier the pain might be lessened. Perhaps I could transfer some movies onto the new laptop that should be appearing in the office tomorrow.
So Seattle on Sat. It still is mad to me that I fly on Sat afternoon and arrive on Sat afternoon, but on the otherside of the world. Which leaves Sat afternoon and evening and Sunday to lord it around Seattle. I am staying at what looks like a nice hotel www.hotel1000seattle.com but I will reserve judgement until I leave.
Tonight is my shift to stay up and feed Georgia at 11pm, which allows me to catch up on trash TV I have recorded on Sky+. BSG, Lost and 24. They are not really trash. I have probably named at least 2 of the best ground breaking dramas to hit our TV screens. On that note I am trying to get into the Dresden Files, but I am not sure of it.
I had a call from Carphone Warehouse customer service today, checking if everything was alright, which it was until I found out how much per minute it costs to call the States from my mobile. The call ended with me parting with another £3 to reduce the call rates by 95%. But it got me thinking about a new mobile phone, but I am apparently 5 months away from an upgrade. I did see some details of a new SE 5megapixel camera a few weeks back, hopefully some new tech will appear in 5 months. All I want is long battery life, fast OS, small form factor and reliable.
Off to Vinopolis on Thursday.
So 3 days to I step on a BA plane to Seattle. Not good in one respect that unlike Kosso on his trips to the US I am travelling in Economy. The other depressing thing is that after flying Virgin to SF I am worried that BA's in-flight entertainment system might not be as good, specifically the 50 movies on-demand option. However after the investment in my first iPod on the last trip and the earphones as mentioned earlier the pain might be lessened. Perhaps I could transfer some movies onto the new laptop that should be appearing in the office tomorrow.
So Seattle on Sat. It still is mad to me that I fly on Sat afternoon and arrive on Sat afternoon, but on the otherside of the world. Which leaves Sat afternoon and evening and Sunday to lord it around Seattle. I am staying at what looks like a nice hotel www.hotel1000seattle.com but I will reserve judgement until I leave.
Tonight is my shift to stay up and feed Georgia at 11pm, which allows me to catch up on trash TV I have recorded on Sky+. BSG, Lost and 24. They are not really trash. I have probably named at least 2 of the best ground breaking dramas to hit our TV screens. On that note I am trying to get into the Dresden Files, but I am not sure of it.
I had a call from Carphone Warehouse customer service today, checking if everything was alright, which it was until I found out how much per minute it costs to call the States from my mobile. The call ended with me parting with another £3 to reduce the call rates by 95%. But it got me thinking about a new mobile phone, but I am apparently 5 months away from an upgrade. I did see some details of a new SE 5megapixel camera a few weeks back, hopefully some new tech will appear in 5 months. All I want is long battery life, fast OS, small form factor and reliable.
Off to Vinopolis on Thursday.
26 March 2007
2 PS3 or NOT 2 PS3? That is the question
On my way back to the office from an off-site meeting I walked past HMV which had a small laser printed sign in the window stating it still had some PS3's in stock. I had several feelings at this point.
Firstly MS get their next gen box out first amongst lots of BS marketing and hype.
Secondly Nintendo look like they could have won the war with their ever so simplistic but lovable wii. Which seems to be hyped beyond belief but can you say it is a next gen console. Should people buy the wii and not the 360 or PS3 does that mean development of future consoles that can produce photo realistic games be in trouble, based on people wanting a console which they can be more sociable with (the number of times I have heard friends stating that their partners have got hooked video games on the wii. Something that those same partners have chastised and ridiculed in the past)
Thirdly Sony appear to be getting an absolute slating about everything on their console, from it costs too much to retro compatibility to release games. But if you look closely at what Sony are trying to achieve it is so much more than either a DVD player or a games console.
Its all a bit sad really.
At the end of the day I will probably plumb for PS3 unless in 1 year there are still very poor games and blu-ray has lost the battle. Don't forget the PS3 is the only console that will pump out 1080p HD pictures. So don't forget to get your HDTV with 2xHDMI sockets (or a HDMI switch) and 1080p.
Meanwhile I have God of War II on pre-order for my PS2 and I have Vice city Stories to get through on my PSP if I ever get the chance to play it.
- How come they still had some in stock? Was it not a successful launch?
- Ooooh should I get one?
- Should I wait?
Firstly MS get their next gen box out first amongst lots of BS marketing and hype.
Secondly Nintendo look like they could have won the war with their ever so simplistic but lovable wii. Which seems to be hyped beyond belief but can you say it is a next gen console. Should people buy the wii and not the 360 or PS3 does that mean development of future consoles that can produce photo realistic games be in trouble, based on people wanting a console which they can be more sociable with (the number of times I have heard friends stating that their partners have got hooked video games on the wii. Something that those same partners have chastised and ridiculed in the past)
Thirdly Sony appear to be getting an absolute slating about everything on their console, from it costs too much to retro compatibility to release games. But if you look closely at what Sony are trying to achieve it is so much more than either a DVD player or a games console.
Its all a bit sad really.
At the end of the day I will probably plumb for PS3 unless in 1 year there are still very poor games and blu-ray has lost the battle. Don't forget the PS3 is the only console that will pump out 1080p HD pictures. So don't forget to get your HDTV with 2xHDMI sockets (or a HDMI switch) and 1080p.
Meanwhile I have God of War II on pre-order for my PS2 and I have Vice city Stories to get through on my PSP if I ever get the chance to play it.
New JMJ album
So I had it on pre-order on iTunes and his morning at 05:30 I logged onto iTunes to have it grab the new Jean Michel Jarre album Tea & Tao. It had some making of video's included with the rest of the audio tracks. But this is my second purchase from iTunes that is actual DRM'd music.
Now my question is how does the 128kbps AAC format purchased music compare in quality. I am normally ripping CD's at a minimum of 192kbps in an MP3 format.
All this stuff bothers me, because should I just buy the CD and rip that as the CD is the best quality format thus I in theory can make a better rip.
This of course is ignoring the fact that it is apparently illegal for us to rip our own purchased CD's and put them onto our iPod's. The only legal way is to buy the tracks from places such as iTunes as they have negotiated with the music companies a license that allows the transport of those tracks onto 5 machines and ipods.
You may ask why bother, but I seem to be one of those people that can hear the high frequencies (the mosquito devices bolted onto Spar convenience stores) even at the age of 34. Does this mean that ripping at a higher rate means that I can hear the higher frequencies potentially not included at lower bit rates due to the compression.
Errr anyway. back to the album. It sounds good, very Euro, very Jarre but with a new modern slant. Great to see him still pushing out the work. For fans its probably worth a peek.
Now my question is how does the 128kbps AAC format purchased music compare in quality. I am normally ripping CD's at a minimum of 192kbps in an MP3 format.
All this stuff bothers me, because should I just buy the CD and rip that as the CD is the best quality format thus I in theory can make a better rip.
This of course is ignoring the fact that it is apparently illegal for us to rip our own purchased CD's and put them onto our iPod's. The only legal way is to buy the tracks from places such as iTunes as they have negotiated with the music companies a license that allows the transport of those tracks onto 5 machines and ipods.
You may ask why bother, but I seem to be one of those people that can hear the high frequencies (the mosquito devices bolted onto Spar convenience stores) even at the age of 34. Does this mean that ripping at a higher rate means that I can hear the higher frequencies potentially not included at lower bit rates due to the compression.
Errr anyway. back to the album. It sounds good, very Euro, very Jarre but with a new modern slant. Great to see him still pushing out the work. For fans its probably worth a peek.
M3 Motorway
So my commute to the M3 this morning was its usual mundane drive. I think that M3 stands for move over to the 3rd lane ASAP. Cruising at 65-70mph on the inside lane I approach a junction's exit slip (cars joining the motorway) and see a BMW 5 series picking up speed (on the slip road) and then has to break cos I cannot move over for him. Next thing bang you guessed it, he has done a digital lane change into the 3 lane in 2 split sec's.
I love the M3 I swear my life expectancy has dropped since traveling on the M3.
Oh I also saw a new Volvo C30. It looks a bit odd, the boot window in the middle drops lower than the sides. Very odd looking. Not my personal taste really.
I love the M3 I swear my life expectancy has dropped since traveling on the M3.
Oh I also saw a new Volvo C30. It looks a bit odd, the boot window in the middle drops lower than the sides. Very odd looking. Not my personal taste really.
25 March 2007
Wonder Pets
The passifier for Olivia seems to be WonderPets http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonder_Pets . Don't get me wrong I am not sure I approve. Its a photo animated story about a duckling, a guinea pig, and a turtle who same other animals in distress. Hey at least I get some time on the intaweb.
24 March 2007
New Earphones (Etymotic 6i)
So 2nd post. Thought I would say that my first week with the new Etymotic 6i earphones has been great. I have been using for years a pair of £25 Sony earbuds with the rubber flange which have been my die hard pair of earphones. They have survived through thick and thin, on my PSP, PC, laptop, and recently the ipod. But after doing a little research on www.ilounge.com and a few other websites I managed to pick up a pair of the 6i's for approx £40.
1 week in and I am blown away, I can suddenly hear the music. I was starting to think that the ipod was not cutting the mustard but these new earphones have suddenly added a new dimension to the music experience. As with everything read the friggin manual. You need to push these babies right into the ear canal and it appears to work that you moisten the flanges too. This creates the seal in your ear canal and gives you the base and also cancels out the noise from around you. And this is the thing you notice when you plug them in. Suddenly you cannot hear the outside world. No really. They are that good.
Anyway take a look at them at http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/er6i.aspx well worth it.
R
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