Movies on the move

You know, using a connected device using something like satellite network access would mean that you could watch streaming video anywhere you wanted. I don’t know what the connection would be like if you’re using it while watching in a moving car. But hopefully thanks to pre-caching you should be able to get a decent stream.

I’m sitting on my sofa watching Hercules with Arthur and thinking about our forthcoming trip to the UK. You see, we have a 4 hour drive and it’s going to be interesting keeping him busy through the voyage. The problem is that we have 2 six month old babies so our attention is probably going to be on driving and the babies. So, we’re looking for something for him to watch videos with. An internet based device would be ideal.

Would be fun to see if it works.

What's on TV?

It's Saturday evening and the kids are in bed. So it's time to watch some TV and we felt like a movie tonight. So we picked up on Braveheart and are watching that.

Yes, I know I watched it a few years back, but we're settling down to watch BraveHeart today; a film directed by Mel Gibson in which he plays the lead role. It's a story of a Scotsman named William Wallace who leads the Scots into victory against the English. One thing I wonder though is, didn't the Scots feel cold running around in skimpy kilts. I wouldn't go out in this weather dressed only in a couple of lab coats; just too cold.

It's the weekend!

I always love weekends and this one is promising to be excellent. The weather is great and we're planning on taking the babies to swim for their first time this afternoon. I also have a couple of projects I might get underway in the meantime. I swear I have more websites I manage than that orange county web designer I met the other day. But then, it is what I enjoy doing, so I really don't mind.

So, how are you spending your weekend?

Pervasive Internet

You know, the more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that mobile satellite should really be more pervasive than it is today. If you live in a city, you tend to assume that you're going to have an Internet connection wherever you go. You could be close to Wifi, or have a 3G connection. Things are a bit different if you have to move to a more rural area. This is where satellite internet comes in.

I guess however, the reason it hasn't taken off as much as it should, is that there are fewer people living in those sparse areas. It's a matter of supply and demand I guess.

Use WiMax on your phone

Image via Wikipedia

I just read that Sprint are launching a 4G handset in the US which uses a WiMax connection if one exists. Although network coverage is still incomplete (around 10% of the US and missing some major cities) introducing a device that can use the technology is a great way to kick start the adoption of the technology. If they catch on, network coverage will increase. I wonder if there are any cheap phones that let you use an internet satellite connection for data, or to make VOIP calls.

Anyone out there planning on getting one of these phones?

Playing again with Fonera

Image via Wikipedia

I have my Fonera up and running again, which is nice considering I had dropped off the map. If you've never heard of Fon before, it's a network of people who use their routers to offer an open Wifi hotspot for other people to use. Other people on the network can use it for free, while guests have an option to pay for the service. The router owner gets a cut of the hotspot cost.

I've only set it up as an experiment really. Until high speed satellite internet becomes more ubiquitous, then it's not so trivial getting a connection online when you're far away from home. I do have a 3G connection also but you can just imagine what the roaming costs are like.

In the meantime, I quite like the ideology behind Fon. Let's hope it goes on and on.

Check out my new toy

Image by avlxyz via Flickr

Well, I’m pretty pleased with this one. I’ve got myself a new phone, the Google Nexus One; well actually Camille got it for me for Valentine’s day. It’s an awesome piece of kit that runs Android and has a pretty powerful engine under the hood. It has a 1GHz Snapdragon processor and a 5 megapixel camera with a flash. And that’s besides all the other goodies, like a 3G connection, GPS, Wifi and tons, tons more. One of the advantages about having a technical background is that I’m happy to mess around with gadgets like this; I don’t need any Orange County computer support or anything like that. I’ve already rooter the phone and unlocked the bootloader, so I can do anything I’d like to do with it. I love having a new toy to play with.

Fireworks!

Image by derailedbydtrain via Flickr

It’s that time of year again, when fireworks light up the sky and kids sit around street corners collecting money for fireworks. I don’t think we’ll be going to any public displays this year. Navigating around with 2 newborns is a bit tricky and we may just opt for an evening with friends. After all, lighting your own fireworks is more fun than watching someone else doing it for you; I’m sure Arthur will love the experience.

I’m not actively taking part in Kempton Fireworks this year, but I’ve helped them put their website up and tickets are now available for sale. It’s on the 7th of November and promises to be one of the most spectacular fireworks displays around London. One day, I’ll get someone to deploy one of those live video casting solutions so I can watch them from all the way from the Isle of Man.

Lovely weekend

It's great when we get nice weather on the weekend; and it's particularly appreciated now that autumn has set in. And I almost had to get myself a pair of men's sunglasses it was so bright today. I took Arthur to the gym and ran some errands and it was just great to be out and about in the nice sunny weather.

Tomorrow may be different, but I have my tax return I need to finish off, so maybe it would be better if the weather was a bit dull. We'll just have to see.

Astronomer Joke

We haven't had a joke in a whole, so here's one:

A theologian and an astronomer who used to work for a commercial satellite company were talking together one day. The astronomer said that after reading widely in the field of religion, he had concluded that all religion could be summed up in a single phrase. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," he said, with a bit of smugness, knowing that his field is so much more complex.
After a brief pause, the theologian replied that after reading widely in the area of astronomy he had concluded that all of it could be summed up in a single phrase also. "Oh, and what is that?" the astronaut inquired. "Twinkle, twinkle, little star; how I wonder what you are!"

Happy Birthday to me

Image by Tambako the Jaguar via Flickr

Well, it's my Birthday and I'll cry if I want to .. erm .. don't really have anything to cry about though, so I guess I won't. Twins are doing fine, mummy's doing fine, work is doing fine, so everything is looking hunky dory. I might just get a webpage to shout it out to the world, or employ am Irvine web design company to build one for me, who knows!

If there was one thing I could wish for though, I'm getting to a point where a night of uninterrupted sleep might be something worth asking for. Now, where's that fairy godmother ...

Wired House

Well, the HomePlugs seem to be working nicely which means I can literally connect anything I like, wherever it is in the house, regardless of whether it's wireless or not. I haven't got my Dreambox yet; which is why I got the HomePlugs in the first place, but it should be here soon. The plugs are quick enough for me to experiment with live video streaming services too, if that's what I want to try.

The only problem now is that I don't have anything new to play with tomorrow; but I'm sure we'll find something to do. I have DIY to do, I have work to do and oh, I still have to do my tax return. Sounds like I have tomorrow all figured out huh?

Time for some geek play

Seeing it's the weekend, I have some time to play with my latest toy. I've just got myself a set of Homeplugs which let me use my home network over power sockets. Why would you want to do that do you ask? Especially as I have a Wireless LAN. Well, not all the devices I have are Wifi, and while I could buy a Wifi adapter for each one, this is more cost efficient and it allows faster speeds that Wifi. And it I was playing with live streaming casting solutions for example, I would probably want the fastest speed I could get.

Anyway, onto playing; I'll let you know how it fares.

It's the weekend !

That's what Arthur shouts when he wakes up on a Satursday morning, and yes, the weekend is here. The weather's been pretty good all week, so I'm hoping that the weekend will be just as nice. I know it's September, but we just might manage one last barbecue for the year. You know, crack out the charcoal, bring out the sausages, even get a pair of men's sunglasses out for Arthur (he's really cute in sunglasses).

We'll see what tomorrow holds, based on the fact that it's been a pretty good week, it's probably going to be thunder and storms. Sod's law huh?

Internet Everywhere

I've really got used to the fact that I can access the Internet everywhere using 3G on my phone. I mean, it's not rocket science once it's set up, and if you didn't have 3G, you may even find a satellite internet provider who can give you access anywhere you like in the world.

It's actually pretty cool that I can just whip my phone out and look up anything I like. What's the capital of Nicaragua? How much should I tip? What's the weather like tomorrow? Well, an Internet connection can help me answer that question and more. How do you get online?

New theme on the Honeypot

I’ve moved onto a different theme on Ugh!!’s Greymatter Honeypot; not that I was unhappy with the the theme I was running before, but I wanted to try out the latest and the greatest new theme from FreshPress themes. It’s called Freshtweet and is as nice and clean as you would like a theme to be. It has some funky features too, like some cool AJAXy features and integration with social networks.

I like the cleanliness of the theme, something you don't tend to find on most themes nowadays. They're a bit too busy with slideshows and carousels. Now it's fine if you get some sort of Orange County web design firm to do it for you, but too many people try to fudge around themselves and end up making a complete hash of it.

Happy I found this theme .. it works for me.

Loving my HTC Magic

Image via CrunchBase

Ever since I got my new Android-powered HTC Magic, I've been more in touch with everyone and everything. The device is a joy to use, letting me access music, video and content anytime I want to (thanks to Wifi and my data contract of course). I was using a Windows Mobile powered device before that, but I must say that this is miles ahead. It's much easier to use, has more devices built into the phone and just gives you access to so much more functionality.

Thanks to my connectivity, I don't really need access to a satellite internet provider, but it's nice to imagine that if I wanted, I could get the same sort of access anywhere in the world. I wonder if there's an Android device with the sort of built in capability yet.

What makes a good website?

So, what's your favourite website? Do you like ones that are strong on graphic design? Ones with your favourite colour? Or just ones that have all the information you need (like Wikipedia, I love Wikipedia). It's great to see the vast variety that's available online, sites of all shapes and sizes. And it doesn't matter if they're built by an Irvine web design company or a teenager coding alone in his bedroom; anyone with the right skills and passion can come up with something compelling that people will visit.

And it's these visitors that help the site grow. Whether it's by providing opportunities to monitise the site, or by providing a vibrant community that attracts more people to the site .. the people who frequent it are the life blood that pumps through it's virtual veins.

Getting all your streaming media

Image by Roo Reynolds via Flickr

Streaming services come in a variety of shapes and forms. Youtube for example, allows you to watch videos that people around the world create and upload. BBC's iPlayer for example, lets you catch up with TV that you may have missed. A professional live video streaming service will allow you to publish a stream in real time, as soon as it happens; which is something quite powerful and useful.

Have you noticed that videos and streaming TV are getting more and more predominant on the Internet. It's partly due to the fact that people have more bandwidth than they ever used to, and to the fact that the technology to make streams available is getting more and more common. This reduced barrier to entry results in the spread of this technology with more and more people getting comfortable and, dare I say, dependant on it.

How's your internet connection

Are you happy with your Internet connection? Is it too slow, too expensive, too .. what? You're not still on dial-up by any chance are you?

If you are, there are a bunch of options you way want to consider. First of all, there's ADSL. It's quite commonly accessible, available to most people through their phone line. If not, there's cable. Most countries have some sort of cable network available, through which they can get high speed internet. If none of those options are available, have you considered satellite internet? There are a number of options for a satellite service provider which cover different areas around the world.

Just look at all the options you have, look at the costs and the service you get. It's nice to have so many options, isn't it?