A few days ago I downloaded Fluid which enables you to create Site Specific Browsers (SSBs) to run your favourite web apps as a seperate desktop app for your Mac. I didn’t know such a thing existed until I happened to be looking at Twitter just before sleep a few nights ago and Chris mentioned it. Sometimes it really does pay to be a nightowl

I set up Hahlo (like Chris) in Fluid and it looks great as a desktop application.

If I wasn’t such a big fan of Twitterrific then I’d be using that as my desktop Twitter client. I use Hahlo 3 on my iPod touch, so it’s a very familiar interface not to mention clean and uncluttered - two very important things to me when it comes to desktop apps.

At the moment I haven’t got any other SSBs set up in Fluid, but when sites such as Socialthing! extend their services and sort out the problems with their existing ones then Fluid is going to be absolutely perfect for that.

Last weekend I was browsing the Apple Store looking for a way of watching/recording TV on my iMac. I found the Elgato EyeTV range which I have heard others talking about over the past 6 months. After asking around for the best model to go for, I ordered the EyeTV for DTT Stick on Monday for £38.95. The features sounded perfect for what I needed, with the extra bonus of being able to access my recordings via Wi-Fi on my iPod touch.

This morning it arrived so once unwrapped I plugged it into my iMac, stood the antenna on the desk, installed the EyeTV software and let it search for channels. After the first scan it turned up 6 channels, all of which were very flaky. I tried moving the antenna in various positions but it didn’t help with the signal at all. I read through the reviews on the Apple store and pretty much everyone said that the antenna supplied is next to useless. They had to either opt for a digital indoor aerial or attach it to their existing roof aerial. We have three Freeview boxes scattered about the house at the moment, two which are connected to the outdoor aerial but the bedroom one is connected to an indoor aerial which has always provided a pretty strong signal. I didn’t expect to have any issues with the EyeTV antenna.

So, since paying someone to clamber all over the roof would be the last restort, I headed to Argos and bought a Digital Amplified Antenna for just £12.99. I did an extensive search through the channels after attaching it and it found around 120 channels with the signal strength being very strong. It’s a great piece of software - and I’m rather liking the TV Guide provided by tvtv which gives me the schedule for the next two weeks. I like being able to plan ahead and used to be a subscriber to DigiGuide when I was a PC user. However, I cancelled my subscription when I switched to the Mac and they (rather rudely) told me that they had no plans to develop the software for Mac.

At the moment I am recording Futurama on SKY Three, courtesy of EyeTV. The recording process is extremely simple - bring up the tvtv guide, click the red dot next to the programme listing. Done. My next purchase will be Roxio Toast 9 Titanium so I can burn my ‘creations’ to DVD and watch on my TV (unless anyone knows of a cheaper alternative, haha!). Currently we don’t record any TV shows via any other hardware. We have a VCR but we never got around to tuning that in so we can record…and to be honest it seems old skool buying VHS tapes anymore. We never got into DVD recorders but I have looked at set-top boxes with built-in hard drives as an easier alternative - and of course AppleTV which is on my to-buy list for later in the year. One of the cheapest HD recorders I’ve seen is an 80GB for around £85. Since I have near 200GB left on my iMac then a £38-95 device sounded much more fun to play with.

If you’re looking for a TV recording solution then I would recommend the Elgato EyeTV, but would also suggest you look into purchasing an alternative to the supplied antenna. I just wish I’d bought this earlier as I could have recorded the new series of Family Guy on BBC Three which started airing a few weeks back.

Now that Spring has finally sprung wonderfully in my part of the world this week, I am looking forward to spending more time in the garden with my PowerBook to do some gentle work during the day, then moving to the home office which will be cooler in the evenings. One of the problems that comes with nice weather, for me, is my phobia - wasps. Over the past couple of years there seems to be an increase in these bothersome insects which means my garden time is severely reduced as they chase me into the house.

This week we have bought a new gazebo for the garden which has netting all around it meaning I can sit inside and stick my tongue out at the wasps and work peacefully without having to run indoors every 2 minutes. However, there is sometimes a downside as they can lurk around the entrance near the zip, waiting for me to come out (seriously, this isn’t just me being paranoid, haha). This is where my new purchase will come in. Enter the Waspinator.

One of my Twitter friends pointed me in the direction of it yesterday so I promptly bought one, costing just £9.95. As you can see from these photos, it mimics an enemy nest so they leave the area for somewhere safer. No traps, no poison, just fooling the wasp into thinking enemies are nearby, leaving me in peace to enjoy my day. Last year we bought a portable insect killer (the Wasp Sunbed I liked to call it) which means the insect would be drawn to the blue light and meet a sizzling end. However, I was always quite put off by the fact that you would see the dead insect and worse still have to clean it out. Plus, wasps give off a scent when they’re dying which means other wasps could come and investigate and I’d have a load more to contend with. We don’t want that.

I’m really looking forward to this arriving so I can sit in the garden, outside of the safety of the gazebo netting, get a tan, work on my PowerBook/browse the net without being disturbed. I’ll also be able to hang it beside the window in the bedroom, home office or kitchen so I can let fresh air into the house without worrying that I’m going to come face to face with my fear. I’ll let you know how I get on with it when it arrives and see if it really does do what it says on the box

Image courtesy of Waspinator

Thesedays there doesn’t seem to be a week that goes by without some new social network site being launched with an invite only while in private beta. One I’ve been hearing whispered around the web for a week or two is Brightkite.

Of the gadgets and technology that excite me so much, game consoles have never been amongst them. I do remember buying a Sega MegaDrive many years ago and spending hours playing my favourite games, Super Hang-On and Wipe Out, but it wasn’t long before I became bored and sold it on. When I got my PC the only games I’d play were things like After Dark Games which challenged the brain and London Racer - again a driving game because I’m so damn good at it…and in reality aswell

When the Nintendo Wii was released I eyed it up for a bit. The attractive thing about the Wii is the physical element of it because at the same time as having fun you’re getting a workout, which is no bad thing for someone like me who works from home!! Being able to play tennis and ten-pin bowling with Wii Sport tempted me for a bit, then I just forgot about it as I do with all other gaming consoles. I have looked, on occasion, to see whether the price has been reduced from £179…but it never has.

Then a few weeks back Mario Kart for the Wii was released in Europe and many of my Twitter friends were talking about it…and challenging eachother with a game using their friend code. Once MKW was released elsewhere last week then I’ve seen the MK tweets triple. Twitter is tempting me to buy a Nintendo Wii and Mario Kart because of the interaction with others, wherever they are in the world. That’s gotta be fun.

It’s funny because if Apple released something I was interested in tomorrow with a £200 price-tag then I’d have no hesitation in buying it. Why? Because if it was something I wanted then I know with Apple I will get so much use out of it. There isn’t a single thing I’ve bought in the past few years, by Apple, that hasn’t been used to death. I am hesitating over the Wii because like I said I’ve never been big into gaming and I’d hate to spend that much money on something that may end up collecting dust. But at the same time it may be something I use a lot. I guess I’ll never know until I bite the bullet and buy one.

I’m going to wait until WWDC08 has passed in June before making any firm decision on buying a Wii, then of course the following month is my Birthday so any money would go towards the purchase. I don’t know what Apple have planned for that and I suppose nobody else does, apart from this 3G iPhone we keep hearing so much about. I’m not in line for one of those…well, unless o2 let existing customers make the switch seamlessly to the iPhone without having to enter a new contract…and if it was £20 a month then fair enough, but, we all know that won’t happen

Anyone else out there with a Wii who previously wasn’t much into gaming but bought one anyway?

I’ve been admiring photographs taken with Lomo cameras for a while on Flickr and this week I bought my first Lomo - the Fisheye. I’d seen it a couple of weeks ago at the Baltic Contemporary Arts Centre shop in Gateshead, priced at £40. I got mine for just over £22 on Amazon (store/seller: gadgetepoint) on Sunday night. It arrived Tuesday morning sharp.

I bought a pack of two FUJICOLOR C200 (36 exp) 35mm film for around £3 and popped a roll in. This week I have been a bit pushed with other things so hadn’t really planned on going anywhere special to take some photos. I did manage to pop out on Thursday afternoon for a couple of hours. I must admit it all feels a bit strange to take a photo and not have immediate playback on an LCD screen to see how it turned out. Plus having to wind the film on after I’ve taken a photo is something I’m having to remember. And there was also the weird self-conscious feeling of using a camera which looks and feels a little like a Fisher Price toy!

I popped the film into ASDA Walmart yesterday lunchtime and had a few options. I didn’t necessarily want the photos printing as to be honest I had few expectations of these photos, given it was my first time with something quite different - and I’ve learned positioning is rather important for a camera with a 170 degree field of vision!! A few photos had my sleeve in, knee in and even my hair in! So, I was given the option to have the photos scanned to disc, no printouts. This suits me as it’s just going onto my Flickr stream anyway and if there was anything worth printing I have a couple of photo-printers at home. There were, as expected, some ropey shots - but a few did turn out okay. Best part is it only cost 97p to have the photos developed/scanned to disc in 1 hour.

You can check out six of my Lomo Fisheye photos, here. Those were the best out of the lot. I had to take some random shots to use up the last of the film as clearly I didn’t take many when I was out, but was keen to get it developed. This isn’t a camera I will use a whole lot, but I do like the way it really enhances the clouds in the sky. I will be taking this on some of my photo walks as it takes quite interesting shots.

If my Fuji S5700 Digital Camera was feeling out in the cold after the arrival of the Lomo Fisheye then it needn’t have. Yesterday it got some attention with a new wide angle lens.

I bought it last week for around £10.50, plus £13 shipping from Hong Kong, through eBay. It’s good to have a wide angle - really liking it’s effect. Hoping for a dry and sunny day next week to go and experiment with it.