Sun is Shining... Life is sweet

Thought I'd share this one. The sun is beaming down in the Dirty Old Smoke today, and it's noice!!! On top of that, the forecast is sunshine for the next 5 days! I know it's not hot pants and bikinis just yet and definitely not South Beach, but here in London Town we've got to make the most of it.

So listen to the music and tell your boss to chill. And if you're watching the football, "Go Ghana!!!" :-)

Fake Copy n Paste on IPhone/iTouch

iPhone Copy and Paste from lonelysandwich on Vimeo. In my previous post on the iTouch upgrade, I failed to mention the other glaring ommissions Apple left out. Like a nice little Office suite or viewers for Word, Excel and Powerpoint, and a little PDF viewer for eBook reading. Come on Steve, this thing is OSX so it can run any Open Source Office app! Another crucial little gem which has been bugging me has been the lack of copy and paste on the iPhone. Why not? Some standard mobile phones have this, why not on this device which essentially a mini MacBook. Apple gets it so right and yet they get it sooooo wrong.

Not So iPod Touch Heaven

This guy really needs to take a chill pil and take stock of things. Kill the arrogance and start listening to your customers. Says me, one definitely pissed customer right now.

Well there I was last weekend mosing around London town when I decided to pop into the Apple store on Regent street, just to see what the latest was. The guys in the genius bar told me they knew nothing about any upcoming plans for the Touch or iPhone, and they were geniuses! It said so on their t-shirts! They added that even when Lord Steve visits them they are not permitted in his presence, and they have to leave the store. I asked if he was God, they told me it seems so. In any case, they advised me to at least stick with my original plan and don't hack the device just yet, as this would void my warrantly and the new third party apps will require official certificates. I left somewhat a little bemused.

Anyway, a couple days later I check Google Reader to discover that a new update is available for the Touch. Entitled version 1.1.3, it enables movie and TV programme buying via the iTunes store for later viewing on the Touch. In addition you require this version in order to add the new mail and weather apps etc, but wait for it, at a fee of $20. That's £12.99 to us Brits. Yes I heard you gasp, so did many journalists at Apple's keynote speech when Jobsy announced it. Aparently, he still kept a straight face. It seems the price may have something to do with Apple's accounts reporting. Some complex Sarbanes-Oxley compliancy or whatever.

Well like all the other poor sods (sucker for the Yanks) out there I handed over the cash, only to get a few apps, and a customisable home screen that jiggles like jelly. You wonder why, well I still cherish that warranty, the only reason why I haven't hacked the damn thing yet. So I plan to persevere for the next few months until Steve shaft's me proper next time.

What you get? A pretty cool mail app that can support IMAP, but no landscape browsing or search. It's a shame as Google's mobile web offering is pretty cool now, with full optimisation for iPod Touch and iPhone screens. In consolation, the beauty of the Touch email client is that you can switch off the WiFi and still read email, which is a must as WiFi eats battery power like a cookie monster. So not that bad, but would have been much happier if it were free Steve!!!

The Future Global Landscape

Caught this one in Tim Ferriss's blog, in a piece curiously entitled as How To Negotiate Like an Indian. Well I was intrigued, as despite priding myself on possessing some natural business acumen, I've always had a tough time when it comes to business with my Indian counterparts. There have been some good straight-forward deals, but more often than not we've had to walk away from the deal as we would both be bargaining from a tough position of strength, each one trying to maximise the deal.

What was interesting about the piece was the reference to the film 2 Million Minutes. Which considers the economic global landscape to come in terms of what is currently happening to the minds of our young in classrooms around the world. A strong work ethic is an advantage, but those who can innovate and have rich established networks will flourish. It's gonna be interesting indeed.

Tune Out, Switch Off, and Drop Out

I know what the original guy meant when he said, "tune in, turn on and drop out", but these days it seems we are tuning in to the wrong points. Yeah those all prevalent devices that dominate our lives like futuristic demons. You can really view this as one man's version of hell where human contact can only be mediated via a device or some artificial interface.

Getting the so called 'balance' right is not easy. I've managed to claw back precious time by remembering old work habits before the digital age. That is to always work in batches of tasks or windows as I like to call them. This way you ignore the incessant stream of mail and phone interuptions and return to a more civilized and sedate mode of work a la the ancient answer machine way. Yes remember those days when you got on with your life and actually talked face to face to people and got home to be greeted by those reassuring little LEDs. Then you'd put aside 30 minutes or so to catch up with messages and friends. Great unh? Well here's a nice piece from a fellow blogger telling you how to do much the same.

Miami Nice Yeah Twice :-)

Spam AllStars Miami New Year's 07/08

Add to My Profile | More Videos Yeah sorry for the poor quality, but only had my poxy phone with me at the time and was enjoying the night not out to do a reportage, but just had to take a memento. Seems like the guys had some heavy new tracks and the bass was off the scale.

Goes well with mojitos too..

:)