Monthly Archive for September, 2007

Scottish Parliament

Published on 28 September, 2007 in Life, School and Technology. 0 Comments

Well today has been different. Instead of attending school like I usually do on a Thursday I went to the Scottish Parliament building with my schools Modern Studies department. I was one of the few who went because I am currently studying higher Modern Studies.

It took ages to get up there on the bus as the driver actually got lost and we were left asking taxi drivers directions which was a bit of a hassle, an hour and a half late we finally arrived at the building which looks quite cool in an abstract sort of way. Once we all got sheets and the information handouts etc we finally left the bus and went into the building. Due to the high status of the building the security was very tight and we had to go through many things including an X-Ray, metal detector and a frisk search.

Once we past the security we went and got out lunch which was good as I was starving. Lunch was very brief as we were already late as it was. We then went into a presentation room and got shown a presentation on how the parliament works and how new laws and bills are brought in. We also got shown a bit about each party and their aims.

After the presentation was over a MSP from SNP came in and took questions. He pointed out some good points that made me change my view on politics and what party I supported but I will keep this out the blog because to be frank its my business. Once that was over we then went into the actual chamber and watched a debate which wasn’t really exciting but was interesting to see the process that they went through.

All in all a worthwhile experience made better by the fact that it got me a day off school. Nothing else has been happening this week except a little accident with my laptop concerning water but its fine, just some behind the screen but it’s slowly drying.

Another Week

Published on 23 September, 2007 in Life, School and Technology. 0 Comments

Well this week has been pretty uneventful, just the normal school stuff.

Today we went and got Jamie’s Mac Mini which he plans to use as a HTPC. While we were up at the Apple store I also purchased the Apple Mighty Mouse which l love.

Its real nice to use and the scrool wheel is ace. The squeezing of the mouse brings up the dashboard which is also cool.

Got Monday off from school so some extra sleep for me!

New Laptop!

Published on 13 September, 2007 in Life and Technology. 3 Comments

OMG! Yes you read correctly, the laptop has finally been replaced.

After a 2 and half month long saga Acer & Comet finally admitted the laptop was a write off and that I could go and choose a new one.

I went over to Comet but there on display range was very overpriced so I decided to have a look on their website and then I saw the HP DV6552ea, this was very good specification and was a good price. I choose this one and went over to the store to collect it, after some problems with the insurance policy it was finally all sorted and I was given my new laptop.

I got home and unpacked it and was greeted with a nice looking laptop, it is very sleek and finished in a high gloss black coating just like the Apple MacBooks except black. This is called the “imprint finish” by HP and the designs on the lid are very unique. Mines has some nice swirls and I think it looks cool, its all to their own though, you either love it or hate it.

I turned on the laptop and went through the Vista setup screen confirming that I was indeed English (ever notice the screens asking for your language are always in English, what happens if you weren’t English) and inputted my name and password, choose a display picture and then some networking settings and we were ready to go!

Then the Vista performance checker ran and gave me a respectable 3.0 which isn’t surprising because the laptop has integrated graphics. Finally got into the desktop, checked all of my 2GB of RAM was there and also that it was the correct processor and HDD. All was present and working. Connected to my network and ran Windows Update, while this was running I took the time to remove all the shit that HP thought I would like for example “AOL 9″.

After using this laptop for a day or so, I really like it, the keyboard is nice to work with and the touch sensitive buttons for volume and play etc are brilliant. HP are also nice enough to include a Media Center remote that fits into my express card slot which is a nice touch. The laptop has good built in options such as the memory card reader, web cam, lightscribe drive and the excellent speakers which actually have bass.

Here is a picture I took of the laptop (sorry about the shit quality):

HP Laptop

For more pictures please visit my Flickr.

Also my new Aluminum keyboard arrived and is amazing to use, the keys are very well spaced and the feedback is perfect. Just another great product produced by Apple. They did muck up on the support though, to get the special features of the keyboard (media keys, dashboard button, etc) you had to install a 34MB software update which is a bit hefty to map a few buttons but it worked fine after that in both OS X and Windows XP.

Here is a picture of the keyboard:

Mac Keyboard

For more pictures please visit my Flickr.

TorrentFlux

Published on 10 September, 2007 in Life, Technology and Website. 1 Comment

Just a quick post.

I know its late but I couldn’t sleep. Was bored so I decided to give TorrentFlux another go. This time it worked perfectly and I got it installed without any problems.

I have been running quite a few torrents and they are working fine. I just wish they would bring in some sort of scheduling.

Here is a little screen shot of the TorrentFlux web interface that you use to control it.

torrentflux.jpg

On the other hand the laptop is still getting “repaired” and I have to wait until Comet get it back from Acer before I get my new one. Hopefully this should be before the end of this week, but as you have read its not always this simple!

Fingers crossed!

OS X is fun!

Published on 8 September, 2007 in Life and Technology. 1 Comment

God, having spend over a week now with OS X I can say that I am transformed. Everything works out the box and so beautifully.

I have mucked up some things but OS X is so easy and quick to reinstall compared with Windows. I have installed BootCamp and tried Windows which runs blistering fast, for a mobile processor it certainly packs a lot of punch. The only thing that is letting this system down is the hard disk as it only spins at 5400RPM. This said it still runs amazingly fast.

The brushed metal didn’t look too good but a simple search on Google revealed an application that can remove it and it now looks much better and less dated. Leopard will have it removed but I tried the “feature complete” developers build and it was still rather buggy and could not be used every day.

I am happy with the Mac Mini and it was well worth the purchase, I was unsure at first how I would cope with a completley new operating system but its so user friendly you cannot go wrong. If you are thinking the same my advice is go for it! You won’t look back.

And before you ask, no there is still no laptop.

Here is a picture of my skinned desktop with the brushed metal removed and some icons changed.

OS X Skinned

New Mac Mini

Published on 5 September, 2007 in Life and Technology. 0 Comments

I have finally bit the bullet and bought a Mac Mini. I had been thinking about it for a while but when the time came to purchase my next desktop computer I thought Apple. Unfortunately at the time the only thing holding me back was the fact that the Mini was the only Mac in Apples product line that had not been updated to the Intel Core 2 Duo processors. This was soon fixed mid-August when Apple finally updated there Mini.

So on Sunday I went up to Glasgow where Apple has just opened a new flagship store. Had a browse and saw some other stuff that I would like but managed to refrain and just buy the Mac Mini. I got a cool Apple bag to keep the tiny box in. When I got home I was surprised at the stuff they had managed to cram in the box including the nothing but small power supply brick.

I connected my Apple Keyboard and Mouse that I had already purchased and my Dell 2007WFP. I booted up and was greeted with a welcome video and then entered some details and finally I got onto my OS X desktop. Even just looking at it made Windows look ugly and bloated. I installed my applications that I acquired and then had a play about. So far after a few days I am really impressed. The machine is so powerful when you think of its physical footprint. The only thing that is holding this baby back is the integrated GFX but this is fine for playing HD movies in full 1080p but is useless when it comes to games.

Everything is so easy to use including installing applications and setting up things like the network and firmware updates. It took a couple of hours to get used to after using Windows machines for years but after that it was much better and made me never want to look back. Unfortunately this isn’t and option for me as I still have a few applications that are only available for Windows. I downloaded and installed Bootcamp and installed Windows XP Professional. The Bootcamp installer burned a driver disk for me which allowed the built in ethernet, sound, display, wi-fi and bluetooth to work perfectly. Even the included Apple Remote works with iTunes under Windows. The performance is good and much better compared to many modern PC’s today.

I have since ordered the new aluminum Apple keyboard which should be here Thursday or Friday.

Here is a little picture of my desktop for you to drool over

On the laptop side things aren’t so good. The laptop had to go back to Acer for it to get evaluated before an RMA number would be issued. I handed in my laptop to Comet in Irvine last Friday and was told it would probably take no longer than a week. I phoned today expecting the laptop to be back and to go and collect the replacement laptop but god was I wrong. After an initial “give me a minute and I will go and check” speech, the assistant returned and told me the machine had never went because there had been a mix up with the courier. So the laptop had sat in their shop since last Friday and no-one had thought to even rebook the collection. To see I am angry would be an understatement. I then spoke to the manager who agreed the wait was “ridiculous” but he blamed the courier company. Surly such problems can be fixed in less time than 10 working days. Now I have to wait until Comet send it back to Acer and then for Acer to send it back which is most likely going to be about another week. Meanwhile I am missing money and my laptop. I have to say the customer service and attitude shown by Comet and Acer are shocking and a laughing stock when compared to other companies such as Apple & Currys which have great after sales service.

As always I will keep you up to date on further advancements.