Congratulations...

...to my Sister who got engaged today!! Now all I got to do is convince them to have a Hello Kitty wedding at Sanrio land, Tokyo!!



Sugoi wedding desu ne...

Nic.

posted by Nic @ 10:00 PM 1 comments   

I've not had a good week...

I've been through a lot emotionally this week and I really don't want to write about it... so here's a track I just knocked up that towards the end pretty much represents my current mental state.

Have a listen to my mind HERE.

Nic.

posted by Nic @ 11:02 PM 2 comments   

My new phone...

Well - maybe in 20 years time...

Nic.

posted by Nic @ 3:22 PM 0 comments   

"Old friends... sat on their park-bench like..."

It's good to get back in touch with old friends, and while going through my address book on MY NEW PHONE (jeeezzzz - enough already Nic!!!) I came across Tony Daniels email.

Tony did the character design on Orchid for us and it an all round pretty damn amazing artist.



He's penciling 'Teen Titans' right now and here's hoping we get to meet up when I trip to Chicago next month.

So here's another blog to bookmark:

http://tonydaniel.blogspot.com/

Never thought to look to see if he had a blog... I wonder if my Mum has a blog???

I'm going to see Tujiko Noriko tonight with Wayne (Ploom2) at The Scala in Kings Cross...



...so if you want to kill me - you know where I'll be.

Nic.

posted by Nic @ 10:23 AM 0 comments   

File under 'Idle Hands'...

It's fake... but it's fun...









...but then - I guess Tecmo have a lot of time on their hands too...




In other news (YES - PHONE NEWS)... I got some emulators running on my phone over the weekend, so I can now play SNES, Megadrive/Genesis, PC Engine, GBA, GB, GG/Master System, and NES games on my phone.

Also - I might have slagged the HTC Universal off a little on this site, but there is nothing better than sitting on a tube next to someone who has a BlackBerry and 'whipping it out'. Oh the PHONE ENVY!!! :) Worth every penny cos I HATE those stupid BlackBerrys.

Nic.

posted by Nic @ 5:26 PM 1 comments   

Stuff...

I went paint balling this weekend. Never been before, and to my surprise - it was a lot of fun. It was my ex-girlfriend's, cousins birthday (if you can follow that) - so what better way than to run around a forest shooting each other.



Me and Rav (woman who's house I'm invading at the moment) got there a little late and the group had already had a few games. There was our 'party' and some 'hardcore paint-ballers'. These guys had their own high powered, super accurate, stupidly expensive guns. One guy even had a mask with fans in it to stop the visor from misting up. I mean really!!

They were taking it pretty seriously (yet always seemed to be the first guys out) where as we were their to have a good time.

A few matches in, it was lunch and another group arrived for the afternoon session. And what a group. It was about 10, 12-14 year old boarding school girls!!!

Imagine, me - in a field, with girl dressed in camo... Surely that's a BIG mistake.

Anyway - they made the afternoon a lot more fun as they were taking it about as seriously as we were.

Oh - and I look so gay in Camo.



Notice that I had really thought about what to wear. I had a YELLOW top on that poked out at my extremities, and ORANGE trainers!!! I am SO GAY!!!!

In other news - I might be in my new house sometime in the next month. I saw the guy I'm buying from and everything is moving along very swiftly... Looking forward to setting up Medulla Corp HQ V2.0 (release candidate).

A couple things caught my eye on the webinet.

Some guy has 'recreated' the Nintendo Revolution controller from off the shelf parts and set it up to play Half Life 2.





And his conclusion is that the Nintendo Revolution controller is going to be AMAZING!!! I never doubted it. There is a video of him playing Half Life 2 HERE.

This will be my next webcam...



(from Akihabara News)

It's nice to see that New York is keeping 'the scum off the streets'. They arrested 'Nullsleep' and 'Bit Shifter' (2 GameBoy musicians - you should try and find some of their stuff cos it's kinda cool) for putting up flyers.

Fucking hell...

Here they are in jail...





We can all sleep safer at night now... Here's Bit Shifter's BLOG.

That's it for today...

Nic.

posted by Nic @ 10:16 AM 1 comments   

More phone crap...

I REALLY need to find something else to blog about - but everything else going on at the moment in my life is kinda 'hush hush' so I'm left with moaning about my new phone...

The HTC Universal goes back to T-Mobile today after it got stuck in 'headset mode'. It took me a couple days to realise - I just thought I was getting a couple of dead calls. All I know is it was working on Sunday - and not working by Tuesday.

I'm still getting just random weirdness with the phone. Maybe a 'fresh' model will be a little better.

T-Mobile have been great in sending out a replacement and I still don't regret getting this phone - YET. I do HATE that it is all I blog about.

Nic.

posted by Nic @ 10:48 AM 4 comments   

More Mobile Blogging...

Just testing a program called Pocket Blogger. It's a free app for pocket pc that gives you a very simple interface to 'blogger'.

Sorry all my posts are about phones right now. I have another blog to write about Skype soon... but hopefully I can find something less geeky to write about soon :)

Nic.

posted by Nic @ 12:32 PM 0 comments   

More Windows Mobile 5 problems...

The phone crashed on the way home and decided on restart to do a fresh install and lost 50% of my settings, including the Themes that I had finally figured out... (thanks to some 3rd party software)

Jesus Microsoft... I've always stood in your corner (okay - XBox is a piece of shit and the games you developed put on the piece of shit are even worse) - but for PC's, I would never move to Linux or buy a Mac... now you do this to me!!!

DON'T BUY A HTC UNIVERSAL UNLESS YOU WANT TO BE A SUB-BETA TESTER!!!! This OS is so under developed it's a joke!

Nic.

P.S. Dabs - there are mobile Linux devices... and more on the way... I just am not THAT GEEKY!! :)

posted by Nic @ 11:03 PM 1 comments   

Problems with Window Mobile 5...

I've been playing with my new phone quite a bit over the last few days, and while there are many positives to talk about - there are some serious negatives too.

Windows Mobile 5 is VERY unstable. I (on average) have to reset the phone between 5 and 10 times a day, dependent on what I am doing.

The main problem area seems to be mobile outlook. Often the menu to switch accounts screws up, and sometimes it gets very confused with the order of the messages.

Today on the train I wanted to reply to a work mail, it too 4 attempts and 15 minutes to finally get the whole mail. Okay, some of this is to do with the cell network coverage on the trains, but not all.

When I did finally have everything I needed to reply, I felt that it would be just a better idea to wait and write it when I got into the office.

Now - I've emailed before on the train and it has been fine. Today… nothing but problems.

Other problems. Themes. Why can't I change the colour of the text from within Windows Mobile? I had a quick look for a PC side program to change the phone's themes last night but only found an old version that 'kinda' worked. I messed with an existing theme to get black text (cos I have a light coloured background). All the today screen text is fine, but the drop down menu is still white text and I can't read it cos of the custom background.

IE has problems too. Sometimes websites that worked fine one day don't seem to work the next.

Transfer rates over USB to the phone are still VERY slow. I've resorted to using a card reader instead of direct to the phone.

Finally ActiveSync 4 is a royal pain in the ass. If you don't have outlook as your main mail client it freaks out. At work I don't even have outlook installed and instead of just syncing to the phone as a guest (like ActiveSync ued to do) I have to go through the 'Hey - I can't find outlook on your machine' install crap every time I plug the phone into the PC (to just charge the battery for example).

So there is a lot to dislike (at the moment) with Windows Mobile 5 (and it's ALL the Microsoft layer - not the 3rd party). That being said, I'm still mostly happy with the phone.

Crazy things like running Skype, Agile Messenger, TCPMP (DivX Player) all run great. I love the way it will use pretty much any means it can to connect to the Internet. I like the fact that I am typing this critique on a phone.

It's a great phone, and when Microsoft sorts out the issues with the OS and Office tools (and fucking ActiveSync 4) it could all fall into place.

Nic.

posted by Nic @ 10:33 AM 2 comments   

Quick 'catch up' blog...

Went to the UK B-Boy Championship at the weekend with Ploom2.



Was really good fun. Korea won for the 3rd year in a row. Thing is, I thought Australia were better then them, Japan were better than them, and France were better than them. They were still amazing, but maybe I'm missing something...

Still - want to see what the Korean B-Boys can do... click HERE.

Also - I was watching 'Weeds' on the way into work today on my phone. Spppoooookkkiiiieeeeeneeeessssss because a friend of mine is in it. Jeff Morgan who did some work for me on Orchid. The guys so cool, gotta love his voice - just wish he wasn't playing the DEAD father!

But double spoooookkkiiiieeeeeee - I got off the train and there were people handing out free cookies...



Weeds starts tonight on Sky One in the UK.

Nic.

posted by Nic @ 10:05 AM 0 comments   

Test Blog...

Just seeing if blogger works on the new phones web browser.

Nic.

posted by Nic @ 5:12 PM 2 comments   

Geeky Stuff...

Yesterday I finally got my much anticipated new phone, the HTC Universal. Originally I was going to get one of these from Orange, then O2, but I ended up going with T-Mobile because they were the first to offer it over here, AND they have a good deal on data. You get 40meg a month transfer rate, which is hardly flat rate, but for personal use it's about the best deal in the UK.

So here it is...



It's more mini-laptop than phone with a full QWERTY keyboard (that's not too shabby) and stylus. It can connect to the internet using a PC (either as USB or Bluetooth - I think), 3G network (that's your 40meg option), or Wi-Fi.

At the moment it's connected to the Wi-Fi at Medulla Corp HQ Version 2.0 BETA and works really well. 3G is also suprisingling speedy too. You can use the phone as a modem if you ever need to get online with your laptop, don't have a connection, but do have a 3G signal. Very handy for visits to see my Mum.

The screen twists 180 if yuo want to use it like a regular PDA...



...and there are 2 camera. The main cam is 2m/pixel (with flash) and the second is a low res cam for video calls.

Making calls, as you would expect, is a little more complicated then on a regular phone - but pushing the number keys automatically takes you to the dialing screen and you can setup voice activated dialing. I've paired it with a Bluetooth headset so I don't have to hold the brick to my ear.

Software wise is comes with mobile versions of Office (Word, Power Point, Excel), Outlook for you emails and SMS/MMS, and Interner Explorer. All the usual Microsoft things you would expect EXCEPT MSN! I have MSN on my old Smartphone, so not sure where it has gone. No big deal though as I always used Agile Messenger cos it does Yahoo, MSN, AOL, ICQ in one package. That works fine on the Universal.

It comes with Windows Media Player and will playback MP3s and some video...



...and there's an SD slot for your memory cards (you geta free 512meg Mini-SD and SD converter in the box)...



I picked up a 1gig card for less than £50 and I'll start to fill it with things to watch on the train on the way into work pretty soon.

Video playback for DivX is very good (much better than media player but you need to install TCPMP)...



...it does struggle a little on high data rate 640x480 (the screen is VGA 640x480 - forgot to mention that!) movies, or maybe it's Kawaii meter goes off the scale, I'm not sure ;)

I suspect this is more a data transfer rate problem than a processor/software problem.

Importantly to comes with a full size headphone socket, not one of those micro sockets so you can plug your fav headphones in, making it more useful as a mobile movie/mp3 player.

I've had it lock up a few times. For example this blog crashes IE (some script on the page freaks it out). Sometimes the home (sorry TODAY) screen freezes up a little. But on the whole it's working pretty well. It's easy to reset the device with the stylus anyway.

In fact, the only BIG problem I've found is ActiveSync 4. If you have Mozilla Thunderbird installed - you're going to have REAL problems syncing your contact list. I'm sure there will be a work around for this soon. I did manage to get it to work - just the once.

So - if you want your phone to be less of a phone and more of a pocket laptop, I highly recommend the HTC Universal in one of it's many guises.

I'll let you know if I find anything else good or bad with it and if you have any questions about it, put a message in the comments and I'll try and answer.

Two things left for me to do... 1 - try and install Skype on it... 2 - try and blog from it :)

Nic.

posted by Nic @ 4:25 PM 4 comments   

Skoolin' God...

So - the other day Suanie YM'd me to say:

"You're English... help me with some grammar"

to WHICH I replied...

"Yeah - but I'm dyslexic."

WHICH leads me onto today's blog.

I was walking into work this morning and I noticed some 'graffiti' that made me laugh out laugh.

My work is flanked on all sides by churches. Real - old - 'oh that's so quaint' churches. Today - I noticed this...



Okay - so it's a REALLY blurry phone picture of a really old engraving. But you see that white smudge on the bottom left hand corner... I have a close up.



YES - some fine ENGLISH grammar freak decided to 'skool' those old fool engravers in 'proper English'. They are right. WHICH should not be used in this context. It is indeed 'that is....'

Who can trust the word of God after such an elementary mistake?!

Nic.

posted by Nic @ 12:29 AM 1 comments   

Jesus Built My Breakfast...

I was doing a search this morning to see if Blueberry Muffins really ARE healthy or not. I chomping on a 'skinny' one from Starbucks right now. A couple links in I found this.



http://www.naturalphysiques.com/cms/index.php?itemid=156

Genius... Biblical Nutrition!! Religion AND weight loss... this guy must be a multi-millionare cos it ticks the two most important boxes in America to day.

JESUS WANTS YOU TO BE THIN!!!

FYI: 330 Kcals and 4.2 grams of fat in a Starbucks 'Skinny Blueberry Muffin'.



That's actually a little more than I expected. Maybe Jesus can guide me to a better muffin.

Nic.

posted by Nic @ 10:32 AM 3 comments   

My new desk @ work...

I think all I really need is one of these...



Hey - You're in my seat ;)

Is it just me - or is there something overtly sexual about the way the advertisers have posed this 'desk'???



...or is my mind TOTALLY WARPED!!!

From Akihabara News.

In other news, this is something I've been doing for a while on my Smartphone, but those pesky PSP owners have gotten savy and started collecting subway maps as JPGs so they can get their PSP snatched while being a tourist.

Personally, I'll stick to using my phone. But if YOU want to get your PSP stolen while trying to work out how to get to Notting Hill Gate, follow these links at Engadget.

Nic.

posted by Nic @ 9:26 AM 2 comments   

Transient weekend...

So I moved house (as I think I mentioned about 200 times already)... I did it under cover of darkness...



As you can see - I was only moving the essentials (computers, music equipment, CDs, DVDs, Games Consoles, TV [not shown])



...and off I went.

I'm staying with a friend until the new house I'm buying (Medulla Corp HQ version 2.0) is vacant. I have a room that's away from everything with it's own bathroom etc. so it's great. Means I won't drive my friends crazy - and somehow I managed to fit all those essentials in the room.



The 'mothership'...



My baby TV with PS1, PS2, GameCube and DVD player kicking it underneath. (XBox and Dreamcast are up in the main lounge along with the 'grown up' TV). I'm hoping my time in this room will allow me to catch up on lots of movies and games I've never got around to playing/watching.



The 'drones'. That wallet has my CD collection in it. There's another wallet the same size with my DVDs in it by the baby TV.

So - great practice for if I ever move to Tokyo ;)

I went into Milton Keynes today to try and buy a new cell phone (HTC Universal). O2 shops don't have it in yet. Orange had a display model only- so I've ordered one online. Hopefully it will be here this week.

While stomping the shops I came across 'Geek Fest 2005' (erm.. or something).



300 Stalls of geeky merchendise. It was about 50% people selling autographs (never understood why you would buy an autograph of someone famous), 25% Star Wars, 10% LOTR, 10% Doctor Who. There was 5% interesting stuff there...



...but it's so much more expensive than Japan so I didn't buy anything...



I was temped by this 'Cloud and Bike' from the original Final Fantasy VII game - but at £180 ($350) I soon walked away. Besides...



...I had to save my money for that RARE 'Tuckers Luck' 1984 Christmas annual. FINALLY MY COLLECTION IS COMPLETE!!

There were B-to-Zee List celebs signing stuff...



...I tell you - the guy who played 'Buck Rogers' has really let himself go. They did have the girl who plays the Cylon in Battlestar Galactica (new one) - but it wasn't the cute Asian girl, or I might have been tempted to jump the security try my luck with a marrage proposal.

After the excitement of being in the same room as the evil Nazi from 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' I went shopping for games... I found this!!!



Can we say 'HOLY SHIT - SYSTEM RUSH IS OUT!!!'. No one tells me anything! Where's my copy???? Or do I have to buy it!

I did a bit more digging and found this...



...'Powerdrome' for Xbox. I didn't realise they had even released the XBox version over here. I used to play this in a pre-Alpha state when I was back at the old company (the game was developed by Argonaut Sheffield). It's a solid, stupidly fast racing game. Never found an audience. I don't think System Rush will either on N-Gage... but maybe when Nokia open up their phones to play N-Gage stuff a few more people will see it.

That was my weekend. I'm shattered... I need sleep.

I'm sorry if you've emailed me recently and I haven't got back to you, I'm trying to catch up on all that stuff right now - but I feel sleep coming on...

Nic.

posted by Nic @ 6:36 PM 1 comments   

Mobile Gaming...

The BBC have interview our (Ideaworks3D) Biz Dev Director. If you ever wanted to know a little more about what I do/where I work... have a read:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4295504.stm

As you can see - it's a little more advance than 'snake' :)

Nic.

P.S. 1st post for the beta version of the future Medulla Corp HQ. Yes - I'm moved!

posted by Nic @ 3:27 PM 3 comments   

Last Broadcast...

This is it. I move out of the Medulla Corp HQ V1.0 in a couple of hours. I'm moving into a 'Beta' Version of the new Medulla Corp HQ.

It's a very insestuous move. I looked at a whole bunch of places in three different locations. In the end, I'm buying a house next door to my friend Kae, and directly across the (small) road from my friend, Rav.

In fact, I'm renting a room at Rav's until the V2.0 HQ is vacant. I've managed to combine my 'home office', 'music studio', and 'movie room' into a room you couldn't swing a pussy in.

Anyway - the next post will be from the beta HQ. Till then...

Have fun, stay safe.

Nic.

posted by Nic @ 8:08 AM 1 comments