My Random Blog
Snippet Posted: 3 months ago
Steve Job 1955-2011
Star Wars in HD is Here! I’m not watching it because…
04 months ago
If you’ve read my blog before then you’ll probably have seen my Star Wars rant. If you didn’t, basically, I wanted to watch Star Wars, I am a geek after all, but there was no way to watch it in HD at will, via the internet, legally and I was right pissed off.
Anyway, today marks a big day, the Star Wars Blu-rays have come out! Hell, I even held the box in my hand at lunch time in Morrisons. It’s 100% real. So why am I here blogging about why I’m NOT watching it this very second?
Well, where to start. First, I have to admit, I think I’m over physical copies. I have a huge amount of DVD’s in my living room. Several hundred, but really all they do is take up room. I probably haven’t watched any of them for years, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them haven’t been played for the best part of 10 years. So as I look at my growing blu-ray collection I feel it happening all over again. I love the blu-ray quality, but I’m over having a disc and a box. Recently having switched to Mac, having all my browser settings in the cloud, I was setup in second, having all my music with Spotify in the cloud, again, I was setup in seconds. Recently an update to the comics app on my iPad wiped all the downloads I’d already got… but they where all stored on the cloud for re-downloading and on my fast connection it was a very quick and painless process. With the iCloud coming in a few weeks, buying it on iTunes and having it re-downloadable would of been the perfect solution right?
My DVD collection, busy collecting dust.
No, for me iTunes still isn’t the answer. HD films generally cost more than the blu-ray, and are at much lower quality… and Star Wars isn’t on iTunes. The same goes for all the other big download services, maybe on Zune/Xbox the quality thing isn’t an issue, I did watch Harry Potter 7 though it recently and was pleasantly surprised by the blu-ray like 1080p quality.
But all in this isn’t why I’m not watching Star Wars. So what next?
In the last few weeks as certain press people have been given access to the blu-rays, people started to notice George Lucas has been up to his old tricks. These are “Special” “Special editions”. A CG Yoda in Episode 1, no real problem with that (that turd needs all the polishing it can get), improving the brightness of Lighsabers in Episode 6, so they don’t look like they are going through each other… fine, not a biggie. Adding dialogue to Darth Vader, in probably the most pivotable moments of cinema history? Han still shooting last?
Someone needs to tell Lucas to stop. The scene with the added dialogue is the worst for me, as it was one of my favourite scenes and being near the end of the entire saga I’m going to be transfixed on that moment coming up throughout.
So am I being a hardcore geek and boycotting these versions of the films I love because George Lucas has ruined my childhood memories?
No. The reason why I’m not watching Star Wars right now is, I’m a bit skint until the end of the month and the day I’m getting paid I’m picking up the tarnished versions, in a format I really don’t want because I’m a geek and it’s still Star Wars.
And Evil old man Lucas will probably collect from me again when a proper Digital version is available.
Ashley.
Snippet Posted: 4 months ago
Got thinking last night about reclaiming my living room. Stripping it all out and have a just big sofa, big TV, gadgets (Xbox, blu-ray, Sky HD, speakers etc) and some nice art on the wall. I’d also change my bedroom to just a bed and TV, no xbox, no blu-ray, no surround sound, no other furniture except may a bedside table.
But I thought about it more and research what stuffed I’d need/want and it’s getting expensive, and I don’t want to do it on the cheap. So I think I’ll have to wait for a while and save, and by a while I mean like a year.
Snippet Posted: 4 months ago
Everything gets a Hitler Downfall video now, the new Star Wars Blu-ray are no different.
via @MJDodd
Snippet Posted: 4 months ago
This is my new “Snippet” thing, it’ll let me post little things smaller than a full blog, like a tumblr and a bit more than twitter. Snippet post will look different to big blogs. I might use it for storing things I want to read later too. Feel free to browse them with the “Snippets” link above. So to kick off, here’s a Skrillex video.
Hello. I’m Ashley and I’m a Mac.
04 months ago
Anyone who’s read my previous blogs won’t be surprised to learn that I’ve gone Mac. Those who knew me before 2008, might be.
First some history, beyond computers mainly used for games during my childhood (mainly consoles and an Amiga 600) my first computer was a PC. Running Windows 95, 133 MHz, 4 Mb Ram Packard Bell. It was huge, slow and very offline. Since then my home computer has always been a PC, 1 x Windows 98, 2 x XP and an Alienware water cooled beast running Vista in 2007. But that’s not to say I’ve lived a Microsoft sheltered life, I’ve also used Macs at every job I’ve ever had starting with pre-candy-coloured macs with biege boxes running OS 7, 8, 9 and OS X. Sometimes they were just machines in the office, others they were my main working machine.
Macs did use to look like this.
As I moved more into the programming side of things, using a Mac made less and less sense, and for the past 10 years most of my work has been on Windows, and I got very comfortable doing so. To me Windows is that old pair of trainers, falling to bits, but the perfect fit, slip on in seconds and look right with anything. Macs never came into consideration when replacing my home PC, I had Mini Mac as a HTPC in the living room, rarely used, never even considered using it for much beyond playing videos and testing the occasional website.
What changed? Why have I gone Mac? I guess it started in 2008, with a purchase of a certain new phone, the iPhone 3G. It was a revelation, computing isn’t ment to be this easy. I didn’t need to know about file formats, .dll’s, drivers… I hate to say it but it was strange to have a gadget that “Just worked”. The App store took the risk out of buying/installing software, the apps were very well priced and very well supported. I’m now on my second iPhone, the 4, and the experience has only got better with each new version of iOS.
Pleased with the iPhone, I was sold on the iPad as soon as I saw it. No, I was up-sold from the iPhone. Again the iPad revolutionised my computing. My PC was falling out of use at home. Turning it on became an effort compared to sliding open my iPad. The only time I used it was when I had something “big” to do. Some Programming, writing a long blog, editing some photos, sorting out a new Spotify playlist… Even though it was an Alienware PC gaming was too much of an effort (have you got the latest drivers, the latest directX etc. etc) compared to firing up something new on the iPad or resorting to the Xbox for a proper game. Don’t get me wrong. An iPhone and an iPad cannot replace a PC in my usage case, I imagine it can for some, but as a power user no way can I go PC-less. The comfy trainer was fine, but I was starting to get tired of getting wet feet though the holes.
So a few months ago my beast of a PC starts to take a few tries at booting up, slowing down for no apparent reason, then the network card stopped working… you get the idea. Lots of progress bar not moving and the feeling that multi-tasking is best avoided. So the search for a replacement started and thanks to the iPad and the iPhone, Apple where in the race. Again I’m not a Mac n00b, so I had a better look at the work Macs to see where OS X was, and it had come a long way since I last used it. Not soon after was the announcement of OS X Lion, with the key idea being that Apple are looking to bring what they’d learn’t from the iPhone and iPad to the Mac.
This was all I needed to hear. A few month later new iMac’s arrived and soon after Lion got released. Luck would have it that my PC took a turn for the worse a few days after Lion had come out. Well not really luck, I was planning to save for a few month before purchasing but when my PC couldn’t keep alive for more than 5 minutes at a time my hand was forced.
So I’ve had my lovely 27″ iMac for a few weeks now, I’m going to leave it a few months before putting up my thoughts about how successful the switch has been so I can get past that “justifying you’re purchase” thing. But so far I’m loving it, it just works.
Ashley.
Quick Catchup!
04 months ago
by Phlashman
in Random Posts
Hello, I’m still here!
Yeah, I’m busy, I’m lazy. I’m afraid you’re just going to have to live with it.
Anyway, I wanted to quickly post a new blog as I’ve updated wordpress and the theme quite a bit. Plus hopefully I’ll have a few new blog posts coming up as there’s some things I really want to write about and get my thoughts out. Mainly on my new iMac, Apple and Steve Jobs (he’s retired if you didn’t know), the Star Wars blu-rays (Lucas is up to his old tricks) and the state of play at Leicester City. They’ll all need their own blog, so I’m going to use this one to just update you on what else is going on.
Work, obviously I’ve been very busy. But I’ve been cranking out some good stuff IMO. I’m really loving HTML5, the last year has seen far better adoption (Chrome’s now the UK #2 browser, AWESOME!) and with tools like jQuery and Modernizr using the new features is a lot less risky as you can easily make fallback solutions. Got some good praise from friends in the same line of work which is always nice. So I’m feeling good and positive about that side of things.
Wedding, my older brother Simon is getting married at the end of September and I’m really pleased for him and his girlfriend Vicky. They’ve been together for years now, so we all know her very well, she’s really already part of the family and it’s about time it was all official and everything (not that you have to be married). But I’m also his best man… well one of his best men, Wayne (my younger brother) is also a best man. So it means stag party arranging, best man speeches and dressing smart. Anyone who knows me will know I’m not great at 2 of those thing (stag party arranging/night outs and dressing smart), I can manage the speech fine, well in my own mind. The stag do is in a week, we’re going to the city away game at Barnsley first and then on to Blackpool for a night out, to be honest I’m quite nervous about the night out, I haven’t been out for a night like that for years and could end up freaking out. Hopefully I’ll manage to survive, I’m sure I’ll be fine (maybe), Wayne is a party animal so I might need to rely on his skills a bit there. The speech is about done, I wrote it for myself and Wayne (he’s still got to add a few personal bits) therefore we only really have half a speech each which makes it easier for both of us. The dressing smart should be do-able, we’ve got rented posh clothes and we’re all matching so it should be fine, I’ll post a picture after, you can judge for yourself.
Other stuff, not really much going on except I’ve got a bit less lazy and got some around the house jobs either done or underway. Which is good.
Erm that’s it then. Hopefully new blog about normal stuff very soon.
One login to rule them all.
010 months ago
by Phlashman
in Technology
Logins are not one the sexy of topics on the internet, but it’s fast becoming one of the most important. Your username and password is one of the most valuable piece’s of information of your digital existence, and not in a identity theft sense. The real value is who you log in with, there’s a good chance if you’re a tech savvy person you’ll have an account for all of the big web services. Google, Facebook, Twitter, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft (LiveID) and Yahoo! are the gate keepers to vast areas of the internet. If you don’t have an account with any of these the things you can do on the internet will be extremely limited and it’s only going to get worse.
I’ve experienced this recently with some of my favourite sites which have switched to the Facebook comments system and as I don’t have a Facebook account this locks me out of commenting on sites and stories. In fact, I actively block my browser from loading anything from Facebook.com both for increased browsing speed and privacy. So I no longer even get to see what other people are saying. I can see why blog owners have done it, commenting with the new system produces a wall post on the users Facebook profile with a link to the original article. So it’s a great source of new readers. I have no beef with the website owners. The problem is you have to have a Facebook login to use it (ok, you can use Yahoo! but who has one?). Apparently the other login providers (namely Twitter and Google) pulled Facebook’s access to the API. What this shows is the battle for a single exclusive login has begun.
From a simple users point of view it makes much sense. One set of login details to remember, login into systems once and everything is ready for you, your data, your preferences, all just as you like it, just as you left it. For companies it makes sense, login to their system, use their services, their devices, their software, their shops, generate premium quality advertising data and of course take a small cut when you process the payments.
The problems though are hidden but very serious. Let’s say Google, Twitter and Apple also make comment systems and also make them exclusive. Then there will be 2 options for website owners, support one and hope you pick the winner, or sniff out what login people are using and present the relevant one or a choice. The problem with picking is the winner it’s how do you judge the winner? Do you go with the social impact of Twitter, the sheer numbers on Facebook, the search and advertising of Google or Apple’s coolness and knack of actually producing money? The problem with using them all is you dilute your community in to smaller groups, so your individual impact will be less.
The next problem with these large login systems is that you very quickly get locked into an ecosystem. You bought an iPhone or an Android phone right? you spent a fair bit on apps? now what’s you’re next phone going to be? are you going to throw away all the money you’ve spent on apps? really? Then look into the future where iOS and Android offer large scale cloud storage for all your data, all your game saves, all your schedule, all your documents, photos, videos… sure you could download them and re-upload them and re-organise them and re-buy the apps if they exist on the other side. But you’re going to need a damn good reason to do so.
So as this battle gets going what are the sides and where are they coming from, where are they going?
Facebook
Facebook brings the numbers. 600 million, 50% of America has accounts, 30-40% in the rest of the developed world. They have well detailed profiles, they have your friends list and they have a near ubiquity across the internet. They want to carry on as is, if the current trends continue they will be the one login. Everyone else is trying to stop them. Privacy is the major concern, it’d be hard to trust Facebook in the dominant position.
Google
Google bring the technology and the openness. The fact that they make apps for iOS shows they aren’t interested in total lockdown. The problem is they’ve never expressed a united vision. Many Google products are worlds apart in design and very loosely connected together. Many don’t feel personal or simple.
Twitter
Twitter is an odd one, it’s much smaller than the competition but really punches above it’s weight. More people use Twitter than Gmail and activity per user is higher than Facebook. My guess is that it will be gobbled up by one of the bigger companies. Google, Apple and Microsoft would all be good suitors. Apple would be my bet, they’ve worked with Twitter before (iTunes links) and have a huge cash pile to buy them with. I also think there’d be a good demographic match.
Apple
Apple have great momentum across many parts of the tech industry, they are leading the show in every area except one. There online strategy goes little beyond apple.com and iTunes. MobileMe isn’t anywhere near the scale of Gmail or Hotmail/Microsoft’s online services. But they have a huge datacenter ready to role and are surely going to show their hand soon. 200 million iTunes accounts with credit card details attached and even more without, could be a huge factor.
Microsoft
I wasn’t sure if I should put Microsoft in this list. But 370 million Hotmail users is no small matter. Indeed before the advent of the social networks Microsoft’s .net ID’s were there most used online login system. Add in the 30+ million Xbox Live users and counting them out is stupid. Again the problem here is they haven’t got an overall united vision but worse than that, they are too slow to react. Apple was on iPhone 4 before the MS entered the market with WP7. There is still no response to the iPad in sight, you could argue they still haven’t even taken on the iPod properly. But if you look at Xbox Live they do have the ability to innovate and change the market completely.
So there we have it. I’m sure 2011 will be a huge year for all of these companies. Yeah, we’ll all probably continue to use several logins for many years to come. But the day you’ll actually need to are numbered.
Ashley.
iPad 2, iPad 3 and then…
010 months ago
by Phlashman
in Technology
Yeah, 2 blogs in 2 days. Didn’t see that one coming did you?
So last week after what seemed like an eternity of rumour and speculation, Apple showed off the new iPad 2. The first revision of a device that has had a huge impact on the tech industry. Laptops, Netbooks and even PCs have all taken a hit in sales thanks to the iPad. 15 million were sold in the first 9 months, far more than anyone predicted, making it the fastest selling consumer electric device of all time. Competitors are rushing to compete with it, with limited success. 
Google’s Honeycomb version of Android is just hitting the shelves, reviews are good but the words ‘unfinished’, ‘beta version feel’ and ‘not quite ready’ keep popping up in the product reviews. Steve Jobs gave a prime example during the iPad 2 press conference showing that the iPad has over 65,000 apps designed specifically for it, then pointing out that Google’s market place had 100 apps ready for tablet devices. Then there’s the price, which none of the competitors have been able to beat and in many cases they’ve not even come close.
So it’s clear the iPad is a success. The question is where next. The iPad 2 is more of a refinement than a ‘from scratch’ redesign, 33% slimmer, better processor, better graphics, better sound, gyroscope and front/rear cameras. All at that same unbeatable price. For me as a person who is routinely asked which gadget someone would buy it’s extremely hard for me to recommend anything but the iPad 2.
But, I’d always have to offer a bit footnote. Rumour has it that an iPad with a retina display, like that on the iPhone 4, might be available in September. It makes lots of sense for many reasons. Apple could want to move the iPad yearly refresh to September to make the most of the big pre-Xmas sales period, at the moment people are going to start expecting new iPads just after Xmas, so will hold off buying one.
Another reason is because a retina display is inevitable, Apple tout the iPad as a great reading device (and it is) but if they are true serious about it, the iPad will need a retina display, you can bet the competition is thinking about it. They see the tablet wars differently to Apple and are trying to beat the iPad on specs, ignoring the user experience. So, all the more reason for Apple to get in there early and set the standard high enough that again the competition can’t match it. Lastly it gives Apple the chance to introduce a premium iPad line, maybe as an iPad HD or iPad Pro. Then they are free to compete on two fronts, the regular iPad at the low end and the iPad HD at the other.
For many people the iPad 2 will be plenty, my advice would be to jump on now, it’ll do you fine for the next couple of years until a retina display becomes standard. For iPad 1 owners I’d say, as you are probably an early adopter, you’ll be best of saving your pennies and sitting on your hands to see how this retina thing plays out. If you make it through to September you’ll make it to next March if the rumours don’t pan out. The retina display iPad is happening, it’s just a matter of when.
So sorted right? Well yes, but all this got me thinking. What are the next steps? What about iPad 4? iPad 5? Sure there’s one or two more things on the horizon that would warrant upgrades (LTE 4G mobile internet) but you start to look down the line, would an upgrade to 3D really be worth it? a faster processor, better graphics? In a world where connections are getting faster and more reliable, more and more heavy processes can take place in data-centres. It’s just a matter of time until economics forces the issue. Are we soon going to reach a technological celling? In mobile devices, I think we might be.
Ashley.
It’s the future now, Damn it!
110 months ago
by Phlashman
in Technology
So earlier tonight I was a little bored and got the sudden urge to watch some Star Wars films. Not a too unreasonable urge given my geek nature. I was even willing to part with actual real life money to see at least one in HD probably 2 and I’d probibly watch a third tomorrow. So as it’s 2011, I have a 50Mb internet connection, I have a Xbox 360, PS3 and HD Sky Box surely somewhere some how some combination of these couple of years old technologies would deliver some of the most popular movies of all time in to my home.
No. No Star Wars on Zune, No Star Wars on Lovefilm streaming, No Star Wars on iTunes (except clone wars, which is awesome, but my Sky Box has a few episodes on it), not even a desperate search to see if it’s being shown on ITV4 or something bought anything up. How is this possible in 2011?
As we all know Mr. Lucas hasn’t made anything of note since The Last Crusade in ’89 and has spent the last 20 years trying his hardest to bleed as much money out of Star Wars as possible. Which is understandable really, because his cut of the $2 billion original trilogy box office couldn’t of lasted him long, good job he got all that money from the toy and extras because it was quite a while before he made the prequels, which made a pityful $2.5 billion at the box office. Never mind the video releases, eventual DVD release, cinematic re-releases. So you’d imagine being so poor he’d be desperate to take my money for an internet HD version? Obviously not.
This is a prime example of the movie industry making the same mistakes the music industry have been making for years. Sticking to old world measures to restrict customer choice rather than letting the customer choose how they’d like to consume your content with a wide range of options as some people want different things. Again lets look at Star Wars to see the real world example. Let’s take the HD original trilogy (the films I’d like to watch) they were first shown on Sky HD on Jan 1 2007 (more than 4 years ago), in 2010 they got shown on ITV4 HD, the blu-ray release is scheduled for release in September 2011. So it’s going to be nearly 5 years from the first showings to the first chance to actually own it.
And then they are shocked and outraged when people pirate films? In any business if you treat your customers that badly, you shouldn’t be surprised that they don’t want to do business with you.
Luckily, we’re coming to a crunch point. Netflix in the US has set out the blue-print for the future, a monthly fee for access to a huge streaming database of movies. Spotify is doing the same for music and the tech giants are taking notice. Amazon bought Lovefilm (regularly called the Netflix of the UK, I wouldn’t go that far), Google are looking to move their youtube brand in to the movie market and Microsoft’s Zune service is available but they are doing a great job of not telling anyone about it (Example: my brother got a new HDTV the other day, not yet having any HD content to play on it I said why don’t you just watch a few trailers on the Zune Marketplace as they’re HD and on his 40Mb internet will be blu-ray quality. He said ‘what?’ he plays on his Xbox for hours almost every night and didn’t know about it).
And then of course there’s Apple. iTunes accounts for 70% of music sales, but total sales have stalled. They have the largest number of people with an internet account linked to a credit card, for one click purchasing. 200 Million people according to Steve Jobs on Wednesday. They have a huge data-centre ready to light up. Maybe 2011 is the year AppleTV stops being a hobby?
So things are looking good for the future. But the future is now, Damn it! Every day that consumer choice is stifled piracy will increase, these services have been technically achievable for years and not being able to watch Star Wars in HD tonight has really pissed me off.
I’m off to have a bath and then watch an episode of Clone Wars. I think I’m going to need a rest before I digest the news about The Phantom Menace being converted to 3D and re-released in Feb 2012.