Withdrawal Symptoms...

I really don't know why, but every time that I'm away from home (without my laptop) I get withdrawal symptoms.
It's stupid and ridiculous and all those other things that sound like that, but I get them nonetheless.

I'm off on a skiing holiday later today and whilst I am very excited by this (I do love skiing - possibly even more than I love technology ) I still have that nagging feeling that I will be 'offline' and it fills me with a little bit of fear!

I'll still have my iPhone and have already investigated the Wi-Fi hotspots where I'm going (God I am sad aren't I?!) but I'll still have that itching feeling that I'm missing out on something when I'm not connected.

I suspect that proper geeks never have this issue as they don't get out much (except in "Second Life", but that doesn't count does it).

Ah well, I'm sure I'll cope somehow, and possibly end up annoying my wife by having to check my emails every 5 mins just to see if CDWow have sent me yet another £1 off voucher (things must be bad - they're almost a daily occurrence now).

That Friday Feeling...

Oh what it would be like to be in a job which you enjoyed so much that the 'Friday feeling' would actually be one of sorrow (because you weren't going to be working for 2 days).
Unfortunately, I don't fall into the category of being in one of those fantastic jobs. I fall well and truly into the "please get me out of here" on a Friday!

But it does make me think about the whole "live to work" / "work to live" argument and also the fact that I probably have at least another 20 years of work to go through before I could officially retire...damn, that Friday feeling is receeding already.

At least I know I have another 20 years of pension contributions to build up my fund to a full £10 worth. That'll buy me the equivalent of a penny sweet I'm sure!

Sync sync sync...ZZzzzzzzzzzz

OK, so I know its boring (well to most people)...but the world of backups (read 'sync') is a really important one to everyone, whether they realise it or not.

So on that topic, I've just found out that the wonderful Google (you've gotta love them for their brilliant ideas!) have now got a free 'over the air' sync mechanism set up for contacts & calendars on the iPhone. I think its been around for a while on other platforms (e.g. Crackberry) but only recently been released (in Beta form) for the fanboy loved iPhone.

http://www.google.com/mobile/

I currently use a lovely piece of software on the Mac called "Spanning Sync" which does a fantastic job of synchronising my contacts & calendars between the Macbook & my Gmail account. But I then have to ensure I plug my iPhone into the Macbook to then get that sync'ed up. Using Google's new mobile sync will 'hopefully' mean that this won't be necessary.

I'm sure I'll probably be eating my words when I actually get around to trying it out and realise that its completed f@cked my contacts & calendars, but hey, good on Google for trying to help me back my sh1t up.

Sync It Up...

So this issue has bugged me for a while and I never got around to sorting it out for myself.

I have multiple machines at home (Mac & PCs) on which I want to have the same files.
My primary option is a NAS box, but the tree hugging hippy in me feels bad about leaving it running 24x7 (it may be only 25W, but its 25W more than I really need to run).
Of course with a NAS box you just ensure you're always updating the NAS based file rather than a locally based one.
However, the downside to that is that you can't really take the files out and about when you go without sorting out some sort of sync program for when you get back home.

What I stumbled across last night (whilst reading some obscure technology post) was that Microsoft have introduced "Windows Live Sync" (albeit fairly quietly I think)....and the best news is that they've made a Mac client as well! (No sign of Linux unfortunately).

Essentially you run the client on the multiple machines you want to share across and log in using your Hotmail/Live account. You use their web interface to manage the sync'd directories on the specified machines (you can also 'share' directories with other people).
The software then ensures that you have the latest version of the files (in specified directories) on your multiple machines.
I've only done initial tests on this, but so far I'm quite impressed - especially considering its free!

So for anyone struggling with managing files across multiple PCs/Macs then this might be worth looking at.

Friday 13th (2009) - Geek Style

OK, so today is an important day for geeks around the globe.
Today is the day that the UNIX timestamp hits: 1234567890
(I know, you're probably now in shock...don't worry, it will pass).

Basically, at 23:31:30 today (GMT I hasten to add! That bit's important...apparently) that's what the UNIX timestamp will be. 1234567890.

For those not in the know (how could you not know such a thing?!!) that timestamp is the number of seconds since 00:00 on the 1st Jan 1970 (where the hell do these guys come up with this sh*t?).

For those who want to work it out for themselves, I salute you for finding something to help with the insomnia, but there's a website for it:
http://www.unixtimestamp.com/index.php

This is right up my street...

I think this could have been made just for me! :D



The only question is, where can I get one! :D

Houston we have a problem...

I can honestly say that this week has been one of the most traumatic and emotional weeks of my life (so far).

I won't go into the reasons why (on here at least) but suffice it to say it's going to take a while to get over it.

In the meantime, the geek in me lives on.
I'm trying to come up with "geek treats" to buy to cheer myself up, but so far all I've managed to order is a gaming mouse (fear me now HL2 playas!).

I'm still waiting for more details on the Nvidia Ion platform (and potentially in a new Mac Mini)... because I'd be very tempted by one of those. Now I've got the wife hooked on my Macbook I might even be able to swing it past her ;o)

I'M ON THE TRAIN

This particular geek is finally dragging himself into the mobile data's 21st century... blogging from my iPhone!

However, I'm still old school enough not to shout out my phone conversations on the train. I wish the same could be said of my fellow travel companions. You'd think that headsets might have improved people's phone conversations, but it has in fact made things worse. I think that there are far too many people who are oblivious of the fact that they have two headphones in their ears and that they're shouting into the attached microphone.

Thank God for geeks, who mainly just IM or email! (Facebook is for people with friends ;o))

Electric (Wet) Dreams

Every week I read about a new technology that always amazes me and leaves me thinking how much I want it.

This week was the turn of Nvidia's Ion platform with the promise to deliver great power from such a small machine.
This video from CES 2009 in Las Vegas shows the platform in action and just makes me want it now!


Of course I don't actually need it, but that's not the point.
I'm a gadget/technology whore pure and simple. I'm lucky enough to be in a decent job with no dependents (yet) and can afford to treat myself every now and again. But I'm also lucky enough to have that little voice of reason (aka 'The Wife') asking whether I should be buying that gadget or not...otherwise I'm sure I'd be completely broke already.
Still, I can always dream ;o)

EDIT: A detailed look at the Ion platform is available over at Tom's Hardware (an awesome site for the geek in us all link here

In the land of the stupid, the four-eyed geek is king

I'm curious...why are there so many stupid people among us?
Is it inbreeding? Is it too much Jeremy Kyle viewing?
Or is it not stupidity, but a general lack of care for their (& everyone else's) wellbeing?

I've been watching out of my kitchen window (Neighbourhood Watch stylee) and viewing the world of moronic drivers. Those who thought it not necessary to clear their windscreens of snow (who needs to see where they're going eh?) and those who drive like its a perfectly dry sunny day (30mph on snow/ice with cars parked on both sides - great driving!).
Surely these same people will have (at some point in their lives) walked on snow/ice and realised that it is in fact a little slippery and pretty opaque?!?!

Do Geeks Like Snow?

Personally I LOVE the snow...but usually only on the mountain slopes!

Being only a pretend geek, I'm not averse to a little exercise (especially skiing) but I'm sure that the majority of proper geeks will still be sitting in their (parent's) basements, blissfully unaware of the travel chaos and imminent fun that will be had out in the snow.

However, where are all those geeks when we need them to solve the travel chaos that a little frozen precipitation causes us in the UK!
Is it because they don't like it that they don't want to spend the time analysing it?!

For those who might be interested in the science behind snow (what are you doing reading this?!)..then head over here

Geeks Anonymous

Hello my name is Milo and I'm a geek!

There, I've said it...it's in the open and I'm free to express my 'geekness' in all its four-eyed, pencils-in-pocket, lab coat wearing glory!

Actually, I'm not a proper geek, not in my eyes anyway.
I'm sure compared to your average Joe Bloggs (sorry to use you as an example again Joe, it must really piss you off that you are Mr Average) I'm probably a complete geek. But as soon as I start looking into anything technical in detail I realise that I am merely brushing the surface of geekdom.
Of course, to my friends and family I am simply Mr Geek - who is called constantly with questions of "why did my computer do this?" etc. etc. However, what they don't realise is that my real talent lies in knowing what to type into Google and analysing the results very quickly!

I also read a lot of technology news sites so when people ask about a new technology I appear to have already owned it, stripped it down to core components and rebuilt it even better than the manufacturer did in the first place...but then I'm only a pretend geek really. As soon as I meet a real one in person I'm shown up as a fake!
Of course this very rarely happens because veryone knows that geeks never go out! ;)

The picture below is a perfect example of that! (It's not me by the way...my underwear is never that clean)