Its Like being back in the land of the living ...!!

Ok ... now that I am back in the gloss and glam state of iPhone ownership, I've given up one addiction:

Brickbreaker for Blackberry Phones

For another!

Oh the Tile-clacking faceted stone wonder that is Bejewelled!

Another pair bites the dust

Ok ... this is ridic ... I've just busted another pair of earphones ... or rather another pair don' quit on me!! Thats like 4 pairs in the space of a year and a half ... I know we're in a throwaway consumerist society abnormally obssessed with the bottom line ... but surely things should last a little longer than that. I'm slightly suspicious ... I'm sure its the new economics ... ensure QC levels are maintained so that products last just a bit over the warranty period and like clockwork ... pow! they die.

What really grates is the fact that its not the audio quality that is the problem .. its the damn cables that give out ... either one side dies ... or else the wires at the join deteriorate and it sounds like you haven't fully engaged the jack ... either way it basically stops working ...

So I can't rely on reviews to aid my choice because I want to know that they're going to last and that they're going to withstand some reasonable amount of wear and tear ... I mean these earbuds are meant for portable devices after all!! I'm not prepared to spend hard-earned on some whizzbang sennheiser/shure/v-moda/koss/etymotic or whatever the going brand of the moment is  just to have them die in a few months time.

Anyhoo, I had a cheap arse back up pair of TDKs just for the replacement earbuds (which my Logitech LE earbuds costing 80% more than the TDKs did not come with!!) which I keep at work. I've not had cause to use them as I've always managed to find the missing earbud in my bag/under the collar of my shirt/down the side of the car seat/on the street - quick blow and you're ready to go!/you get the picture.

So faced with the prospect at having to shell out another impulsive 100 due to music deprevation (and I can't walk out in public without my security blanket!!), I decided to check and see that the earbuds were indeed at fault and not a worn socket ... so using the newly opened TDK pair as a tester, I plug these in with trepidation (as the alternative would really suck!!) and guess what?? These cheaparse $16 numbers are not bad ... not bad at all ... comfortable and with a reasonable sound ... and you know what ... I bet they last a whole lot longer!!! Now watch those hipsters give me the side-eye when they see the TDK label ... and you know they're looking out for it!!!

I can put up with it not having an iPhone compatible remote for the time being ... at least when I'm a little more solvent ... or when prices come down a little!!

Hip to the Hop

Ok ... I've finally succumbed and paid for an app - the Hipstamatic - which I have mentioned previously. Its an app that drenches your photo in a retro sheen ... most people have been extremely pleased with the results ... but I have come to the sobering realisation that if you aren't really a hip beauty in the first place, no amount of appletastic filtering will change that ... and even my cat seems to think so ... or maybe he's giving me the whatevs because I stuck an iphone in his face:

But anyways, I've ddecided to give my feet a makeover and the head shots have been wisely trashed.

Faster Pussycat!! Kill! Kill!

Ok .. I love you ADSL2!!

Are you ready boots?

Ok ... I've just severed ties with my Mobile service provider after being a loyal direct debit paying customer for nearly 10 years!

 

And why? Because they couldn't answer me a simple question.

 

"How come I'm paying an unbundled service fee for both an account that wasn't bundled with another service in the first place AND an account that was???"

 

The answer: "No sir, we are not unbundling your service, but we cannot offer you a bundled service on the plan you are currently on?"

 

 

Addendum - mark the date 21st December 2009 - have received sim card from new provider - have activated sim card and am now on a new network with zero downtime!! - thats a very good start indeed.

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Comments:

 

dan cope wrote:

 

???

17 Dec

Rant over ... now for some inspiration

Ok ... now that my rant is over and out of the way (sorry all - I needed to exorcise it, it was neither clever nor amusing!!!), writing about the new camera, I'm feeling all inspired. My good friend started a Flickr page (I have one but god knows what my login is!!) and took these amazing photos. I think he even had a blog at some stage, and everytime we hung out, you'd lose him for a second coz he's found some random juxtaposition  (a bit of coloured detritus  amongst grey concrete .. that sorta thing) and is snapping away.

 

Anyhoo, I've always wished I had the inclination and energy to have found a career in design. I do appreciate beauty (well my version of anyway) and like nothing better than flitting through an art gallery, or flipping through a design related zine, whilst sipping*insert beverage of choice* and watching the cool young things drift by.

 

But sadly that does not translate into the real word of contracts, super and income tax. Its nice to appreciate nonetheless. If you are lucky enough to be involved in a creative process of some description, you might come up with something like this:

 

Crazy Cool Barcodes

 

 

thanks again to jeansnow.net for the heads up and pic and designs courtesy of www.d-barcode.com

 

Cool yah?! I especially like the kwik-kopy-esque man holding a heavy load ... thats the orange one in the middle-ish. Who knew that there were design firms out there specialising in the design of barcodes for commercial purposes .. how are jobs like these advertised? "Do you have a talent for design and an appreciation of barcodes"??? Its crazy how there's all these niche-filling industries out there .. filling niches you never even knew existed.

 

 

But I guess commercial design is where the monay is!! M's surgeon's son is a commercial designer. Although I'm not really au fait with the so-called busts of his scattered around his father's waiting rooms. He'd be working to the client's brief for the most part I guess .. which is just as well and you'd agree if you saw those copper objeks dee art. Here is an example of commercial design which I believe is pretty much entirely based on self indulgence. You'd need a large modern white space for this. Presenting Yuki Yamamoto's SPICA speaker (oh ... wait .. yah .. boom boom!)

 

 

 

In other happy arrival news

Ok ... so the lovely TN recently accepted delivery of her brand spanking Nokia N97 and we got a call to say that our Samsung ST500 Digital camera had arrived and was ready to be picked up:

Discerning readers will note that for both of these I have linked out to cnet.com.au - I go here for all my entertainment recommendations and reviews - I never puchase hardware before a quick check on cnet and/or logging into Choice magazine via the local library membership.

 

And why have I lumped these 2 things together? Well they both have LCD displays on the back and the front, so if you want to take a photo of youa nd your mate, you can hold the camera up in one hand facing your ugly mugs, view the screen on the front to focus and frame, then click away. No more begging doubtful strangers to help take a photo and maybe make off with your snazzy new digcam, and no more unfocused snaps with just a bit of nose or half an eye.

 

 

And yes it is a bit of a novelty item which is so unlike me ... but I wanted a 3" LCD display and we were able to try the touch screen menus out and M was happy with the feel. And I'm sure the HD vid will come in handy ... although I have to try and remember not to talk ... I hate the sound of my voice!!!

 

Oh and we don't even know what colour we're getting so its going to be a bit od a surprise ... here's hoping its either black, silver or red.

Of Rogues and sneakthieves - rogue anti-virus software

Ok ... so we were hit by some kind of rogue anti-virus software ... and hit Baaad!! It basically shut down our internet connection and as we later found out registered a password change with our ISP!! (it changed a single letter of our password - Bastards!!)

 

But we have learnt that the IT support of our ISP comes in two flavours:

 

(i) Useless

(ii) Not as useless

 

AND!! Still no sign of ADSL2 capability i our street!!!! The damn cable must be snaking round the whole of the western suburbs before it reaches us!!

 

 

Big Screen Madness

Ok ... going from this:

Back to this:

Is like driving without power steering, and then driving with power steering, and then going back to driving without power steering

 

Me Sad ... but I did do a good deed as a result ... so props to me .. yay!!

Come to the Supermarket in old Peking!!

Ok ... so you know what they say about Hong Kong ... you can get anything there!!

Well presenting the i-fone!!!

Helpdesk!!

Ok ... picture this!! A hot balmy Sunday night - with 40% humidity - I sit at the dining table under the pale deco light while the piano mocks me with my own ineptitude as a light stale breeze casually flicks the pages of Ravel's Tombeau Le Couperin ... i am typing this on M's laptop as S the cat casts a baleful look as he jingles his way through the half opened window ... and why does this simple act of typing on a laptop warrant such a ridiculously ott and totally laughable paragraph ??? well because this household is now wireless!!! And I'm pretty damn chuffed about it as I purchased the router and set it up all by myself!!!!! And at $50 a steal, I don't believe it was too much of a risk banking on my so-called "IT" skills ...

What did I get? - Netcomm NB504 - it was the cheapest at Officeworks (I also checked out JB who didn't stock it and Dick Smiths).

All I did was plug in the various cables as instructed - modem into WAN and PC into LAN, powered the modem back on and restarted the puter .. and then logged into the router and checked configs and set up security settings .. too easy!!

Should be the same for everyone, unless of course you have a USB - firewire connection on your modem like T & K ... in which case a call to Netcomm support or an adapator is in order.

Now I can access the internet on my iPhone (YouTube videos are fucking fantastic!!!) and also on my Wii ... although it timed out doing an upgrade due to the neolithic speed we are on!! Seriously ADSL2 ... when telstra when????!!!! The west is inhabited!!! Its not farmland and livestock out here. If only Joan Kirner was still the premier she would have sorted this all out quicksmart!! After all she's a Willy girl herself.

wii oh wii

Ok ... get ready to shake head in dismay and roll eyes!!

I just figured out that when you play the tennis game thingey on wii, you can play both players ... erm ... not just one!!

It opened up a whole new world peops ... someone get this monkey off my back!!!

Oh and wii-fit ... I don't understand the damn instructions!!! What am I meant to be doing with the blue bits and the red bits!!! Oh no! my wii fit age is 75!!! *clicks off button in disgust and walks away*

with an i in front life is fantastic

Ok ... peops .. this is the same post as previously but lovingly illustrated by my old school kodak digital cam.

(i) Optus says Yes, Singtel says Hello!!! The bag it came in ... but you know we've all been guilty of putting that target rag in a Paul Smith box before ...

(ii) Little Bubs just out of its packaging:

(iii) Didn't know what this was for until I downloaded the instrutionies ... its the little key to eject the SIM card slot:

(iv) went out and bought a cover quicksmart ... coz I'm hell with these sorts of things ...

(v) Current screensaver - first thing I did was txt the bro with a big brotherly thanks and a "shouldn't have" ... bloody hell you you should-ov!!!

Ok .. so thanks to the generosity of my Bro C, I am now the proud owner of an iPhone ... and I'm still on my cheaparse mobile phone plan which enjoys staff discounted rates to this day ... already I have noticed a few annoying quirks but at gratis, these are small complaints indeed. Obviously I can't access any internet related functions so am unable to comment on microsoft apps and how they fare in the iPhone environ ... nor do i have a "ended up on the set of deliverance" story about the iPhone maps ... but I will say this ... why oh why will the damn thing not let me select an existing ipod mp3 file as my preferred ringtone ... and why does my itunes (ver 8) not let me convert an mp3 into an aac file?? And why does the damn thing keep dropping out of itunes ... and as a result has me unplugging and plugging the usb cable in several times in order to complete transferring files across!!

Having said all this ... it does feel a bit big and heavy in the hand ... but oh its so sexy!! And the sound is great and I'm now never going to miss a call (well not deliberately) anyways for not having heard or felt it ringing while my headphones or one ... it does a little fade out of the music before the ringtone kicks in ... nice!!

Happy early birthday to me!

Oh and Dad started opening up about his past ... so have a few stories to tell!! More of that later.

Would you like to see my Macbook

Ok .. this is too funny .. but I still think the Macbook Air is way sexy!!!