Archive for October, 2007
o2 Broadband
Oct 31st
Up until yesterday I had been getting my broadband from BT Total Broadband for 16 months. When I joined it was around £22 for up to 8mb speeds with a useage limit of 4GB per month. Because I wouldn’t call myself a heavy downloader I was happy with the package. Recently the price came down to around £20 and a useage limit of 8GB per month. However, I was experiencing some problems and poor speeds a couple of weeks ago so I was considering making a move quite soon.
One evening I went to the o2 website to look at the mobile phone handsets as I’m due an upgrade shortly. I was just about to click on the ‘Shop’ button when I noticed o2 were now offering broadband. I’ve been an o2 mobile phone customer for several years now and have had no isses at all. Infact I’ve often said I wish that o2 would supply broadband! The packages are as follows…
Standard: 8mb speed, unlimited useage, £7.50 per month for o2 Pay Monthly customers (standard price £17.50)
Premium: 16mb speed, unlimited useage, £10 per month for o2 Pay Monthly customers (standard price £20)
Ultimate: 20mb speed, unlimited useage, £15 per month for o2 Pay Monthly customers (standard price £25)
I opted for the Standard package as it was the only speed my line is capable of. Since I’m already an o2 mobile phone customer then I get it for £7.50 – a saving of £13 per month compared to what I was getting with BT. Plus, since they only just launched their broadband service 2 weeks ago they are not only giving customers the usual 14 day cooling off period but also an extra 100 days in which you can cancel and get your money back if you aren’t happy.
o2 sent me the o2 wireless box on Monday, which is a Thomson 780 router. My broadband with o2 was activated yesterday so I swapped my Netgear wireless router for the o2 wireless box and I find this a much better set-up – and my speeds have increased. I also like the admin panel for the o2 router which gives far more detailed statistics about the devices which are using my connection, as you can see here
So, I’ve been up and running with o2 broadband for 24 hours and it’s been plain sailing so far. The £7.50 price tag was one of the attractions, but also the UK based call centre and the other features of the package including 10 e-mail accounts (and POP3), 100 free texts to send to any mobile via your PC or Mac and o2 e-mail to mobile (free).
If you’re looking for a new ISP then I would definitely recommend that you check out o2 Broadband. Since you have the extra security of the 100 day money back guarantee if you sign up before January 2008 then it’s well worth a try 
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...
iMac 20in – Initial Thoughts
Oct 30th
My new 20in Apple iMac arrived today. After unpacking I started it up, then installed Leopard which took around an hour. Once that was complete I hooked up my Mac Mini to the iMac via firewire and migrated my user accounts, files and folders and applications to the new machine. That took half an hour or so which was quicker than I anticipated.
I haven’t even touched on half of the new features in Leopard since today has just been about setting up and making sure all my info is in place. I have a lot to play with tomorrow after a good nights sleep. But, the Migration Assistant is an absolute godsend. It’s a new computer yet it’s familiar as everything I had on my Mac Mini is now on here…and with the most minimal fuss of getting it across.
So, just a quick entry – my first from the new iMac and Leopard. I’m sure I’ll have more to say in the coming days when I’ve settled into it all. It’s a gorgeous machine – so quiet, so sleek. The one thing I was a little concerned about was the glossy display given I hadn’t touched one before. I’ve read about how some people thought the glare was too much for them. But, for me it’s a non-issue. When the computer is on and you’re sitting infront there is no glare/reflection whatsoever. Believe me, the last thing I want to see when I’m looking at my screen is my own reflection. So, no problems here for me at all in my environment I’m happy to say
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...My 3rd Apple Mac
Oct 26th
This evening I ordered myself the 20in iMac from the Apple UK Store. I originally ordered it around 6 weeks ago but due to a shipping delay I decided to cancel and wait it out for it to ship with Leopard.
So, this is my 3rd Mac in two and a half years. My current set-up consists of Apple Mac Mini 1.25GHz Power PC G4 purchased in June 2005 and an iMac G3 purchased from eBay for around £90 in April 2007. Both of these run Tiger and surprisingly the classic iMac runs it rather well.
I will, of course, be hanging on to my classic (there’s that word again) iMac G3 but I have plans to sell my Mac Mini in a month or so as I don’t have the room for it. Yes, I know that sounds crazy since the Mac Mini is so tiny, but I won’t have any monitors to hook it up to once I sell my Samsung 20in widescreen display. Plus, it will be nice to get a little money back for what I’ve spent on Apple goodness recently. With the new iMac and iPod touch I have spent a whopping £1,000 just in the past 3-4 weeks alone. But, I’m sure it will be totally worth it and I am so looking forward to getting to grips with Leopard.
So, shipping is between 26th-29th October and is estimated to arrive between 29th-31st October. So very excited about having a new and more importantly faster machine on my desk than anything I have had in the past few years I hope the migration process is as smooth and easy as I’ve heard it is. I shall be making some notes over the next few days of what I want to pass over to the new machine. See you on the other side…or maybe before then 
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...
Addictive Game: Bubble Trouble
Oct 17th
I knew it was a matter of time before my finger would make it’s way to the Games section of the Apple Web Apps page for the iPod touch. Now that it has I’ve fast become addicted to Bubble Trouble.
The aim is quite simple: Pop the same colour adjacent bubbles, in blocks of three or more. The more bubbles you pop in a tap equals more points. My highest score so far is 3407 3515 (as of 19 October). See if you can beat that on your iPhone or iPod touch
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...iMac and Leopard
Oct 16th
Mac OS X Leopard was officially announced today and we can expect it in our hands on Friday 26th October. I will be ordering the new 20in iMac next Friday when Leopard will ship with it. For those who bought their eligible Mac’s between 1st October 2007 and December 29th 2007 they will be able to get Leopard for £5.95 ($9.95 US)
I actually placed an order for the new 20in iMac, early September. However, due to a shipment delay I was starting to think “Shall I wait just that little bit longer, for Leopard?” and I promptly cancelled it. I then purchased the iPod touch touch to keep me entertained and I must say it’s done a good job of it so far
So, expect an exciteable entry when I’ve ordered the iMac and an even more exciteable one when I’ve taken delivery of it. My Mac Mini, current Mighty Mouse and aluminum keyboard will then be sold on to a good and loving (I hope) home. It’s served me well for over 2 years and it’s still going strong
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...
Commenting issue
Oct 15th
A friend alerted me to a problem while commenting on this site. I was able to duplicate the problem earlier today but it seems to have sorted itself out now. The error was this after commenting…
So, still not sure why that was appearing as clearly Graham nor myself were posting in quick succession. If you have this problem when trying to make a comment then please e-mail me via the contact page above. Another workaround I found was to click on the X on the toolbar underneath the comment box before pressing submit. That seemed to work but obviously I’m still not satisfied. I’ll look into it more and post an update.
UPDATE: Removed the coComment script and all seems to be working well.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...iWPhone Wordpress Plugin
Oct 13th
Thanks to Mathew, I’ve just discovered a very cool plugin for Wordpress which automatically reformats your blog’s content for viewing on Apple iPhone and iPod touch. Install the plugin and follow the directions from ContentRobot, then point your Safari browser to your blog on the iPhone or iPod touch. See it in action, here.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...
Apple Web Apps
Oct 11th
Today Apple launched their new Web Apps page for the iPhone and iPod touch. You can access popular social networking sites such as Facebook, keep up with news sites like Digg and get the current weather for your area, aswell as games and productivity tools. I for one will be keeping a close eye on this page and look forward to it’s development when more apps are available.
One of the Social Networking apps which is featured on Apple Web apps is Hahlo which is a Twitter client for the iPhone and iPod touch. I discovered this yesterday as I searched for an alternative to PocketTweets which was taking quite a while to load for me over the past few days. Hahlo has now become my number one choice for the iPod touch. Gorgeous UI but more importantly it loads much quicker than the others I’ve played around with recently…
I’m also looking forward to seeing some Instant Messaging apps making their way to Apple Web Apps. I have been playing with JiveTalk for iPhone today, by beejive. This is a really cool little app that makes staying in contact with your AIM/.Mac, Yahoo, Windows Live, Google Talk, MySpace, ICQ and Jabber buddies on the move an absolute breeze. I tried this out today with my .Mac account and found it to be really slick and I particularly love the iChat interface. Typing on the iPod touch on-screen keyboard is a little more fiddly than it would be if you’re at your Mac, but it’s so nice to have an app like this for those moments when you want to catch up quickly with someone, especially as the iPod touch doesn’t come with a Mail client.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...
Mailplane
Oct 7th
I’ve been using the desktop Google Mail app for the Mac, Mailplane, for about 2 months now, since receiving a beta invite. I wasn’t sure whether I would use it that much as I just have the one Google Mail account and I was already using the Google Notifier in my menu bar to keep up with mail going to that account.
Mailplane takes the pain out of checking my GMail and since using this I’ve actually handled my mail a lot better. I reply quicker than when I was having to open my browser to get to the GMail page. Growl also notifies me so I can quickly read a snippet of the e-mail when it comes in without having to disturb my workflow.
Once out of beta Mailplane will require a license. The price was announced last week – $24.95 for a single user license. It was a little more expensive than I was expecting so I decided that once out of beta I would just go back to my simple little GMail notifier. However, an e-mail from Mailplane today reveals a new introductory offer of $19.95 for all 1.x updates. This is a little more tempting to me and I’d buy it in a heartbeat, but I have a little concern about how much it will cost to renew when v2 comes along, especially if it arrives within 6-12 months.
So, I’m going to think about it a little longer. I think it’s a great product and I’m sure people with several GMail accounts will really find that it takes the pain out of checking. But, for someone with one account which mostly gets notifications rather than e-mail that needs urgently replying to then I’m just not sure. If Mailplane were available as an app for the iPod touch then I would not hesitate in buying a license
I have 1 invite left for Mailplane beta. If you’d like to try it out then simply leave a comment here and I’ll get one off to you
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...
iPod touch Wallpaper
Oct 5th
If you have an iPod touch you may want to change the default wallpaper. The touch has 28 built in wallpapers for you to choose from, but if that isn’t enough then how about choosing from these fun character faces at Gizmodo.
There’s also lots of other iPod touch wallpaper resources popping up on the internet. To save these to your iPod, simply download them to your Mac, then open up iTunes with your iPod attached, click on the ‘Photos’ tab and then sync with iPhoto and choose the library where you saved your wallpapers. Then from your iPod click ‘Photos’ in the dock, select the album you saved the image(s) to, click on the image you want to use then select the bottom left icon which will ask you if you’d like to set this as your wallpaper. Done.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...
Recent Comments