Wednesday 25 March 2009

Real World events

Well what a week - I have my Visa for Australia and I am off to pastures new on the 16th April. And not a moment too soon it seems.... Apart from being with GAB I might stand a chance of getting some work.

Agencies are not exactly beating down my door this time round as I stare 'end of contract' date in the throat! A first in my expereince so I hope Melbourne treats me kinder. The GFC hits (Global Financial Crisis! not Geelong Football Club!).

Coming up on an important 2 year anniversary; had a mini-celebration early of that in SL....

Thursday 19 March 2009

Gadget Envy

It's that time of the month (some would say week) when I want a new gadget. Or at least fill my spare time comparing. So Nokia E71 or iPhone? OR do I try forcing Android onto my HTC Touch WinMo? Or just sort out my iPod 5G to talk to the Advent! (OK a freind got a E71 and its dead sexy!)

Certainly the last needs to be addressed and an iPod backer-upper looks a good idea (TY Mr GAB!) So thats task 1.

With a (Oh God I have everything crossed) move to the other side of the world a possibility should I be looking at phone tariffs and the tech they offer. iPhone are improving but I actually think I like the keyboard rather than touch screen - and i am not an Apple fan - So GAB; prepare to see a E71 in my grubby little hand at some point!

Wednesday 11 March 2009

Cognitive Linguistics

A cognitive linguist by the name of George Lakoff has done some fascinating (and no doubt grueling) empirical work on metaphors in English literature. He has shown, for example, that we often conceive of the abstract in terms of the concrete: anger is an overheated fluid in a sealed vessel, emotional states are locations, relationships are repeatedly portrayed as journeys in a shared vehicle, and fascinatingly, we don’t just talk about things in this way, we may also reason using these metaphors.

Plagiarised from 'Bad Science'
hence 'Looking California but feeling Minnesota' . The name comes from the Soundgarden song "Outshined" from the album Badmotorfinger (Don;t you just love Wikipedia)

Wardrobe

Since I have to pick mine up and shift it 10,000 miles I have been pruning, planting and weeding mine somewhat; including considering a vaguely different climate! Finally some sensible help came along with this website
Full of useful advice, nice pictures and local info (well near as dammit!)

raison d'ĂȘtre

No not a mis-spelling of raisins - the 'reason to be' of this website.... For a while there I thought I had lost my way - was this about technology or Second Life or my life. Well actually (apparently/ allegedly) its about the inter-connectivity of all things. Particularly those linked by tech.

So games and web sites, gadgets and the effect they have on my life; and the effect they have on the lives of others. Is my scope to wide? Who cares.

So this badly spelled and gramarised site will continue as my online diary and record of my electronic life. Interspersed of course with organic world experiences!

Tuesday 10 March 2009

Advent

Well this is the beast I have gone for - more chiuaua than pitbull.

The 4213 has all the features of other Netbooks, but with the added benefit of an embedded sim, so connects to mobile broadband without the need for a dongle.
Intel Atom N270Processor - Energy efficient
(1.6GHz, 533MHz FSB, 512MB cache)
Genuine Windows(R) XP Home
Memory & storage - 1GB Memory & 160GB HDD
Portable - 10.2" Widescreen Display & 1.4KG
The Ultimate mobile broadband solution! I will let you know!

Friday 6 March 2009

Netbooks

Since my laptop imploded and my joy with 'blinkenlight' and pokenfinger und mittengrabbed has paled. I have been looking at getting a netbook as a replacement. The reasons are manyfold - not only that I like a small machine that works with a girly bag!
  • I am not so enamoured of Vista that I could not retreat back to XP....
  • Using Linux - but unsure as to its support of my phone syncing etc.
  • That my PC is generally a link to mail and skype and connections rather than a gaming machine
  • Will I get WOW on it - do I care??
So - gonna get myself a Advent 4213 Netbook - 1Gb RAM, 160Gb HD running XP - the sim card from the dongle goes directly into the machine, its got wireless (my library is a free hotspot - HGIT!) - Having grabed most of my fav software for the crappy lappy I am ready to install and prune Windows as I want it.

And TBH - the joy of a new machine; shiney and with a pristine HD....

Tuesday 3 March 2009

And thats enough of that....

No more Koala's for a while - back to our regularly scheduled Technology gripes.

So just as the Dongle is performing to maximum capacity; First my WoW account runs out of pennies and I am too poor (at the time) to pay for another month... and just as I am about to lay my £8.99 down - my laptop implodes.

Well not literally but the monitor is not talking to the rest of the beast. So its a manual and a screwdriver but.... the manual is a pdf.... on the web... that I cannot access because I cannot see my screen......grrrrrrrrr.

Right borrowed a laptop - put manual on USB key at the library (from whence I am writing this - good huh!) and now off home to hit laptop (mine) with a bigger hammer.