Occasional Observations

According to UPS the PDA will arrive tomorrow, 1st August. Time to fine-tune (ha ha) that list of artists and albums. Should have included Elvis Costello on the earlier shortlist, for his seminal 1983 album Punch The Clock. Hey, almost slipped into rock journo prose there, sorry 'bout that.

I'm open to suggestions on anything fresh from the last 12 months - ideally from a new talent who deserves to muscle their way on to my 1GB card.

With adding my del.icio.us tag cloud came a realization that it's terribly messy and unordered. Life is too short to order my bookmarks, although I did go through and prune out a few that I'd added in the short seconds before my interest peaked. One of the more useful 2.0 Web services.

According to my weblogs, or blogs, for this blog, or weblog, someone from Moab in the USA has visited. I didn't know there was anywhere called Moab outside the Middle East, but Moab in Utah looks like a rocking place. It's set in the fabulous Canyonlands, and close to Four Corners, which is very high indeed on my remaining "must visit" list for the US. Yes, I shall of course be playing Twister with my hands and feet in different States, darn right it's a cliche but some things just Have To Be Done.

Check the Moab website as linked above for a wealth of info - gas prices, highway construction info and some wonderful photos. Maybe it was the Moab Tourist Board visiting - in which case, good job.

Difficult choice here - which songs / albums make the cut and merit inclusion on the 1GB SD card that's coming with the PDA?

The initial artist shortlist (obviously, some further filtering is needed):

* Air
* Radiohead
* U2
* Led Zep
* Rolling Stones
* Madonna
* Gwen Stefani
* Echo & The Bunnymen

Not quite sure whether Plazer is a social networking tool or a monstrous invasion of one's privacy? Or both?? It's certainly a hangout for über-cool cosmos right now, and isn't fooled about my location by my VPN connection.

Build the software into an operating system, set it to connect invisibly by default and couple it with cellphone signals and internet connections and you've got a pretty good idea of who's where, when. All these wifi-enabled PDAs of course provide even more location-based info.

How long before advertisers could use this information to to target individuals at specific locations?

Just back from lunch at the Wies'n - on the Oktoberfest grounds. No, the Oktoberfest does not open for another few weeks but there's a canteen there for the workers putting up the tents.

Caught this lovely sign still on the just-installed door of the Augustiner tent - "wegen Überfüllung geschlossen" which means "closed due to overcrowding". A taste of things to come...

After a bit more window-shopping, both in brick-and-mortar and online stores, I've actually made a decision on the new MP3 player.

It's a bit of a surprise call. First clue is that the device itself is the same weight and a tiny bit bigger than my outgoing iPod, so not the lightest or smallest - but it's got way more functionality.

In the end I went for a PDA - no hard drive inside to get shaken up again. No navi either but I have a portable device already. No GSM functionality, as I just didn't want to spend the extra money - a couple hundred Euro, while trade-in options for my 8-month-old Razr were laughable... and I like it.

I narrowed it down to a spec that went as follows:

Minimum RAM 32MB, minimum ROM 128MB (thanks for this checklist, Microsoft)

Wireless LAN (although it's only B, it'll do)

Bluetooth (as my notebook and the Razr both have it, may as well use it)

Windows Mobile 5 for the mobile office functionality

Screen resolution of 480 x 640 pixels (cheaper models have a 240 x 320 display)

So when it came to buying, here's what happened.

In the stores there was an overwhelming selection of MP3 players but a disappointing choice of PDAs and although I know people steal the stylii, it would have been nice to have a touchy, feely play, even if there were strings attached.

Online: A lot of price comparison shops and lots of old models, not even at trouser-dropping prices. I did some extensive searching via Kelkoo and Geizhals, two price comparison sites.

I was just about to buy a nicely-specced Acer device when I saw a banner ad for Dell, and wondered ... way back when, I actually attended the Comdex where the Axim brand was launched, I think it was the last-ever Comdex.

The winner: This Axim, which meets all the spec requirements. What really sealed the deal was that they had a special offer on a 1GB SD card for ?1 (just one, unfortunately), and they offered a special 10 percent discount on the gross price (not that big a deal since it takes in the SD card), possibly because I kept clicking to-and-fro on the options to get the price and spec I wanted. Total damage: ?410. Delivery: 7 days but maybe they'll surprise me.

Now I have to start compiling my first 1GB of "must have" tunes.

A detail from Francesca's goodbye picture for her kindergarten assistant, who is going to have her first baby soon. Note the baby is almost fully-formed, with hands, feet, hair, and of course a belly button.

They know more than we think.

The full masterpiece is on Flickr.

Oh boy, am I bamboozled following the lunchtime trip to check MP3 players in my local consumer electronics outlet. There's more choice than I ever imagined, and a surprising number of 256MB MP3 players. Although some of them are tiny, that's still not a lot of storage capacity.

Confirmed my doubts about the iAudio X5 - the joystick is obtrusive, and I couldn't live with that stupid "Color Sound" logo beside the screen.

The 20GB Sony Walkman may be cheap - but it's also plain ugly, and bulkier than an iPod. Now I know why it's heavily discounted. Also it has the most basic of basic functions ... off my list.

The 30GB iPod was looking good ... and its screen was bigger than I realised - videos would almost be watchable. Or would they?? So for under ?300 I could have another style icon, but ...

It was the PDAs that caught my eye. Prices starting at ?200 for a Windows Media system (let's go with the flow here, OK?) and a 4GB SD card now under ?100, it's a serious option.

Evidently, more investigation is required.

Just over a year ago, it was a no-brainer - the iPod was so far out in front, unless you wanted to Think Different, in which case you'd buy a Creative Zen.

Today, there's certainly plenty of choice out there for anyone looking for a portable music player, even if you narrow it down to models with 6GB and more of memory.

The price range for mobile music itself is truly enormous: cheap import shops would be delighted to sell me a no-name cassette player and headphones for around ?5 - although this would definitely be a retro step too far, since my cassette collection has been gathering dust since I threw out the tape deck in the mid-90s. So after the brief honeymoon period I reckon this would hiss me off.

I could even save more and get a cheapo FM radio and 'phones for around ?2 ... thanks, but no.

Next? I still have a battery-chewing Panasonic portable CD player from the early 90s, with a massive three-second anti-shock memory, but it's too bulky, and it was always a tough choice to pick 10 or so CDs for an autochanger or a carry wallet.

This is also why the idea of a PDA plus 4GB- or more's-worth SD cards doesn't really fly. I could get a couple of 2GB SD cards for ?40 each or a 4GB model for ?90 but as an "upgrade" path from a 20GB hard drive model this sucks. The Motorola ROKR phone also looks quite nice, as do some Sony Ericsson models but they too have a limited on-board memory. Even though a bulkier cell phone plus 4x SD cards would take up less space than a stand-alone player and my current phone, I like the Razr very much indeed - and I don't want to juggle SD cards. BUT, since card prices continue to fall, perhaps I'll take a listen to the sonic quality of a couple of phones in MP3 playback mode.

The iAudio X5 is without a doubt a decent alternative to an iPod, in price, performance and almost in looks, and as a bonus, it plays Ogg Vorbis files, but I'm concerned about the joystick on the front ... and I want a device for playing music, not watching video: the laptop is for that. As for the "what if" scenario about not having a laptop handy and wanting to watch a movie: that happens once a year, at most. And no, I don't see it starting to happen more often ... so ?345 for the X5L (the "L" denotes longer battery life) is just a bit too much. And before you ask, I don't like the look of the iAudio 6, nor is 4GB enough ...

The 30GB iPod is truly excellent value. Not only does Apple set the bar for features, but also it's a style icon, and the obvious choice here. The hardest decision is: black or white? The black looks more stylish but tends to show fingerprints more than the white. The cost of 5G iPod 30GB ownership, in either shade, is ?275 online - some ?45 cheaper than in the stores. This puts some distance between it and the X5L. Incidentally Amazon cheekily lists a ?600 Mac mini as an ideal iPod accessory - is that tail wagging the dog, or what? But once bitten, twice shy...

The 20GB Sony Walkman NW-A 3000-x (the x changes according to which colour) is ?100 cheaper than the 5G iPod, and is the most obvious replacement, right now. Not only does it look nice but also the price is keen - especially for a Sony, where I once heard that you pay 10 percent of the price for the name alone. No doubt Apple's also on to this level of mark-up - or more - with the iPod these days too. I'm surprised the NW-A is so keenly priced, especially as it's relatively new, so the only conclusion is that it's not selling / has been overtaken by technology ... and if everyone who is anyone is getting a colour video player with their MP3 player, I need to rethink once more.

Decisions, decisions ...

On the day I finally heard the news about Syd Barrett's demise, here's a clue that somebody up there likes him.

RIP Syd.

A weekend of window shopping to work towards a conclusion on the iPod replacement question.

Right now there appear to be four choices:

1. A straightforward replacement my 4G iPod - a player with circa 20GB and a mono screen

2. The next step up, by spending the same money again as I did 13 months ago - which currently buys 30GB and a colour screen

3. What about a PDA and a couple of 2GB SD cards?

4. What about a cellphone which plays music, and a couple of cards?

Most of my music is in MP3 format, and I don't have any DRM-protected files ... because of concerns about when a device fails.

I'll post some further thoughts later.

So the iPod is dead. The quote for repairs listed "multiple component failure" and a cost for components alone that would cost more than a new 30GB color screen model. Grrr - of course the device is one month out of warranty. Much as I loved it, the reliability concern is holding me back from going staight out to buy a new one. I'll be thinking carefully about the replacement, since I don't use itunes anyway, and especially because ?300 a *year* is too much for mobile music.

Actually a couple of weeks without any soundtrack has also been refreshing. The iPod backlash starts here.

Even more reason to shred your waste paper: the Fake Name Generator. In addition to the obvious nefarious use, perfect for authors struggling to find plausible-sounding names for their stories.

Regards from a condo in Boca Raton, Florida, your correspondent Peter M. Kuster. Or wait a minute ... I mean my name's Melvin J. Wadsworth and I live in Louisville, Kentucky.

Building work started today on the first tent - more than two full months before the Oktoberfest opens. With a steel framework, these are "tents".

Perhaps it's being iPod-less that's made me notice more and more people
driving with their headphones in. If you argued that it's no more
dangerous than listening to the radio while driving then I'd disagree.
Although I haven't checked traffic law, common sense surely dictates
that you'd take the 'phones off while driving?

My iPod has malfunctioned, at the age of 13 months. What started out as an occasional freeze turned into a full-blown infection, with the 'Pod seemingly suffering from a loose connection and unable to spin up its internal hard drive. It's been turned in for repair - my local electronics outlet is shipping it to Apple, who will contact me with a diagnosis, and an estimated cost to put right.

Mine is the 20GB 4G model, which cost $299 - and it's a limited edition HP model. The same money today buys a 30GB color screen 5G iPod and I'm tempted. Anyone want to make me an offer for a recently repaired 4G collectors' item?

Funny that the title of my earlier post was Flying Machine ... since this evening's sojourn in our wireless-enabled beer garden - aka the terrace - was suddenly interrupted by the sound of excited chatter: we had visitors.

Turned out they were only passing overhead and were shortly out of our airspace again. A safe landing ensued about 500 metres away, and the end of another champagne flight. Cheers!

This is the first local landing (AFAIK) this summer but there will be more. Meanwhile more photos on Flickr.

There's a German word which says it all about my new dual-core S-series Lifebook from Fujitsu Siemens Computers: begeistert, which means delighted, or enthralled. And once I've added a second 512MB module I expect to have a flying machine on my hands.

About time, too.

Seven months ago I lashed out on a highly-specced Toshiba Tecra A4 (why do I always want to say Toyota??), with a single-p Centrino and 512MB memory, for business use. Frankly, I've been disappointed. The system ran slowly from the off, despite optimising (ie closing down running) services, defragging, and the occasional threat / plea to please-hurry-up, I-am-really-sick-of-staring-at-the-hourglass-icon ...

In fact the wonderful XVGA widescreen monitor and a pair of pretty good speakers were the Tosh's only saving graces. Yet the monitor evidently couldn't handle life on the road and started to show a one-inch band is discoloration down both sides after four months, so the lappie was sent for warranty repairs. When it came back, it was complete with a new hard drive and mainboard too - only the case and the keyboard were the originals. This didn't, unfortunately, make the system run any faster.

What's happened to the Tecra? It's been redeployed for use by a colleague, who in turn is delighted with the performance against his legacy machine, which has gone out to grass.

You might argue that putting the Tecra A4 up against the Lifebook S7110 is comparing apples with oranges, but I disagree, since they're both positioned primarily as business machines, for people on-the-go. The Tosh's widescreen was just a bonus. I am more than prepared to forego that in exchange for a business laptop that finally, finally meets my price/performance expectations. The Lifebook is my eighth notebook in 11 years, and the first I'd truly think of as a worthy desktop replacement.

After years of anticipation, a month of festival atmosphere, then 120 minutes of deadlock in the final, the World Cup suddenly didn't matter any more.

A penalty shoot-out is hardly the way to win - or lose - the World Cup itself. It's time for some new soccer rules.

Perhaps the teams could be ranked by the number of fouls they committed, or the number of yellow and red cards? Or maybe we should bring back the Golden Goal - and make 'em play until someone scores ... they will eventually!

Despite the wishy-washy finish, the World Cup tournament has been a true festival and has done wonders for community spirit and a sense of pride in general in Germany. About time, too. Let's hope that this is the boost that helps the German economy finally recover from the shock of integrating the former DDR.

It all started as a joke between friends on holiday, nine years ago this month - and three years since we decided the joke wasn't funny anymore, there are still footprints all over the web.

Alcohol intake was part of the curriculum on the night my friend and I decided we'd pretend to be in a rock band. Like thousands before us ... and many since, except that we took it a bit further. After a few days the band had a name, Erdbeerseestern (which I'm not even going to try and explain) and a record label, Beed (ditto) followed shortly thereafter.

After a website lurking on user pages somewhere on Pipex, the band finally got its own domain, www.ebss.de, in 1999. Thereafter the site was the perfect outlet for our surplus creative talents: by mid-2003 there were 30-plus pages, covering a back catalog of 16 albums and as many singles, complete with artwork and lyrics. We even had a blog. Every song was an in-joke between a couple of friends who had grown up together in the same village, and then grown apart: by 1999 we were living on different continents, and we'd both left our home country, probably for good in both cases.

To make the lyrics more obscure, and because it was funny, we enlisted the help of internet translation engines - translating from English to another language, occasionally then into a third language, and then back into English. We'd then have trouble making sense of the lyrics ourselves, and can hardly imagine that anyone else in the world would get it.

Although we're not sure if anyone believed us or not, ebss made it into lots of directories listing alternative rock bands, and there are still 80-plus results showing up today in Google. For a few glorious days in 2003, our single Roof Rafters was the first result returned by MSN's search engine for a search on those words, and the site was topping 100 hits a day.

But all good things come to an end. We'd taken it to the max. There were no lucrative reunion tours to keep the band going, so we broke up ebss in October 2003, with a final in-joke ("it's not funy anymore", deliberate spelling). The site disappeared for good in February 2004, when the hosting ISP went broke, with the very last entry (plus many earlier ones) preserved for all time in the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. So we were as surprised as the next air guitarist when someone in Poland took over and put up a site that was even more wacky than ours. Today, the URL still exists - as one of those many pages offering links to other pages.

What started as a joke became a passion - and to this day reminds me not always to trust anything you find out there on the wild web.

The previously-mentioned hardware arrived and I'm on my fifth Windows XP Pro machine in a year. This time I finally tried the Transfer My Settings wizard and it did a good job - way better than my expectations. To get the max performance, install all your software then apply the settings. Combined with the Office wizard I saved a couple of hours ...

Can't help but notice how each PC vendor's versions of Windows are different - this time Diskeeper didn't want to start until I'd tweaked Component Services ...

Despite the new machine (a dual-core Intel Centrino Duo, but only 512MB RAM until I can get hold of another 512 module), it's close to a whole week since I saw a new Windows error message. I've seen a few old favorites though.

The most annoying factor of this round of upgrades: the new flat-screen monitor. After opting for a widescreen model I'm ruing the day, so far, since its max resolution setting simply does not work with two different graphics cards - ATI and Intel. I'm hoping to obtain the drivers tomorrow from the monitor vendor, whose helpdesk had closed by the time I found the number today.