Archive for January, 2010

31 Jan 2010

blu ray dvd player for €1.05

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Posted in Work | 8 Comments

That’s right… pixmania are kindly offering the Philips BDP 3000/12 Blu-Ray player for €1.05. Fantastic deal ;-) Only downside is that there’s a €15 or so delivery charge.

UPDATE: link has now been taken offline at around 9am on 1stFeb, but as you can see from the screenshot below, the price was genuine ;-)

pixmania blu ray player €1.05

I’m sure the good people at pixmania will be appreciate me spreading the word about this generous offer…. as always i’ll do a full review of the product (and pixmania) once it arrives, which i’m fully expecting it to.

30 Jan 2010

ipad humour

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Although most new products from a big company will always take a bashing, the ipad is getting quite a roasting… One of the most flawless launches i can think of was windows 7 – it was a really good example of what initial positive publicity does – it leads to more positive publicity and more hype, ultimately more sales. You really don’t want to launch something, get a negative reaction and try to dig your way out of it… just look what happened to vista.

YouTube Preview Image

Although these videos are made for the craic and nobody really cares how the ipad does, i’d imagine this is all damaging the ipad’s reputation already and will perhaps sow seeds of doubt in to the minds of potential buyers.

It’s flaws are getting highlighted time and time again and unlike the iphone or ipod touch, this is competing directly against netbooks (i think that was a big mistake jobs made when launching it) so apple are facing a backlash from netbook owners and microsoft lovers because this is seen as an ‘invasion’ or attack on technology which people already like and have in their ownership. People can get very defensive over technology in their possession which is only natural, but apple seem to have really hit a cord with the ipad.

This could all be positive of course for sales – maybe the extra hype and publicity will work in apple’s favour but judging by the reaction around the web from people on the street and tech journalists, the ipad isn’t going to ‘fit in’ to people’s lives…. yet.

Anyway, although i have a big problem with this ‘war against netbooks’ apple has started, the ipad is still a very attractive piece of kit. I just think apple have sold it completely wrong. They’re almost selling it as an alternative to the netbook but both devices are not similar in any way…

29 Jan 2010

Chrome Extensions

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Chrome has now replaced Firefox for me when it comes to web browsing. The only reason i now use Firefox is for development and design purposes (when i’m working on websites). The reason i’ve made the switch is because Chrome is noticeably faster and less cluttered than Firefox. Of course it was always that way, but the latest Chrome version 4.0 now gives us extensions which take things to another level.

I’ll run through some of the extensions i’m using right now;

Google Mail Checker Plus

google mail checker plus

This allows me to read, archive and compose plus it alerts me when i get new gmail. I still use google talk (desktop application) but this little extensions for chrome is hands down the best and easiest way for me to manage my email.

Install it here

Chromed Bird

chromedbird

Nice little twitter extension that i find myself using quite a bit.

Install it here

Chrome SEO

seoplugin

Quick SEO stats. Some still under construction but this has massive potential!

Install it here

LastPass

lastpass

I used lastpass with firefox to store my passwords / usernames for quick access to all websites. It’s not so much for my own accounts, but for other peoples.. when you’re looking after websites and email accounts / stats etc… you’ll quickly lose usernames and passwords if they’re all on paper or in your head. Lastpass remembers everything and speeds up logging in to all accounts.

Install it here

Google Bookmarks

google bookmarks

I used a google bookmarks extension for firefox and eventually came across this one from chrome which does the job perfectly.

Install it here

TurboSearch

turbo search

Again for firefox i was used to that drop down search menu where you’d get a variety of different search engines to choose from. That’s one thing chrome doesn’t have. Although i only use google for regular searching, having the ability to search sites like youtube and wikipedia without having to go directly to them is very handy. Much more efficient.

Install it here

Ultimate Chrome Flag

ultimate chrome flag

I had a similar extension for firefox yet again. Basically this extension will tell you where the site you’re on is hosted along with it’s IP and some ranking / trustworthy data.

Install it here

One of the major advantages chrome extensions has over firefox add ons is that the browser doesn’t have to be restarted for the plugins to be installed. It was always a pain in the ass updating / installing new firefox addons – especially if you have loads of tabs and windows open.

28 Jan 2010

ditching the clutter

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Posted in Work | 2 Comments

I’ve started work on a new theme for this blog and i’ll be putting a huge emphasis on simplicity. The content must come first.

I / O
Creative Commons License photo credit: sbfisher

It will be white, it will be easy to read and clutter free. There’ll be nothing on the homepage that doesn’t have to be there. Once it’s up and running i also hope to make some big changes to this blog.

It has sort of stood still since i started back to college in september, but i’m eager to kick it up another level now. It’s always better to do these things NOW (early in the year) rather than leave them any longer.

Although it sounds stupid, i’m already thinking about December 2010 and those ‘what have I achieved this year’ posts. I don’t want to end that month without maintaining year on year growth particularly on this blog.

27 Jan 2010

apple ipad – the netbook killer?

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Posted in Work | 3 Comments

Today apple announced the ipad. Looking past the ridiculous hype and hysteria, it’s basically a giant iphone only without the phone functions.

Apple iPad
Creative Commons License photo credit: nDevilTV

Steve Jobs started off today’s presentation by taking a pop at netbooks saying they ‘weren’t better at anything’. So he’s implying the ipad is an ‘netbook killer’ which is way off the mark i feel.

The device has no web cam, no sd slot, no multitasking – all features which are almost standard on netbooks these days.

The whole point of a tablet is that the keyboard is replaced with touch sensitive buttons on screen but to me i couldn’t possibly buy a portable computer without a keyboard. Not at this stage. There are just too many convenience and speed issues.

For example, plenty of people like to have two hands on a device at all times… chances are one of your hands is hovering over a keyboard or mouse right this second, brushing some of the keys. How frustrating would it be to have to remove both hands and all fingers from the ipad any time you want to see anything on screen.

The risk of hitting something accidentally is huge. Granted, that’s simply a learning curve and as humans we can get used to things like that but i feel the ipad is out of touch with reality. You have to ask yourself who will buy this and why? Ok, if you read plenty of ebooks and are constantly showing pictures / videos to people then it might be of use, but at $499 can you afford it?

To me, it’s a fancy luxury that yes, i’d like to have, but i know i would rarely use it because it’s just not practical for web browsing and writing which is what i spend most of my time doing. The ipad is a nice idea and it is revolutionary but at the same time it’s a cross between an iphone and a kindle and i’m not sure the market is big enough for it to be successful, not today. Remember, the iphone came out a few years ago. Today things are different and people think very differently when parting with ~$500.

If this were built by anyone other than apple, we’d all be laughing at it or assuming it’s from some of those crazy japanese manufacturers. The fact it’s a new apple device will already have people queuing at apple shops right now… even though it’s not available for another couple of months.

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