I can resist everything except temptation

I knew it would just be a matter of time. Despite my best efforts to convince myself that I was completely happy with my G5 iMac, I knew deep down that I really wanted a new one. And over the last few days, I caved in. However, there was of course the perennial problem of how to pay for it. There was no way I could stretch to (or accomodate!) the 27-inch model, as that would just have been too much, but I thought that the entry-level 22-inch might be within my grasp. I knew that I would have to make sacrifices in order to meet my target.

Taking a leaf out of Olitee's book, I set about scouring the house for things that I could flog on eBay. I decided I'd have to part with my EeePC, and I knew I had a buyer lined up for my current iMac so already I was almost halfway there. I figured that seeing as I'd used the telephoto lens on my camera twice in the five years I'd had it that it could probably go, and then there was an assortment of quite decent computer bits that I didn't need any more. After much faffing with photos and descriptions, it was all up on eBay and to my pleasure it all sold first time.

The money that I made from all this was more than 75% of the way to the new iMac, so using tried-and-tested "LaceyMath" I thought I could justify the purchase bearing in mind the massive upgrade it would give me for what was now relatively little money. I went with the bog-standard 22-inch configuration, no messing about - 3.06GHz Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM, 500GB hard drive, wireless keyboard and magic mouse. Pretty impressive specs for the entry-level machine really.

I ordered it on the Thursday afternoon, and it had been delivered by Friday afternoon. Getting it out of the box, I simply wasn't prepared for the comparative size difference between the existing 17-inch and the new 22-inch. It seems absolutely massive. I can only imagine what the 27-inch is like.

Anyway, the upshot is that I now have a beautiful new iMac sitting on my desk in front of me and it really is very impressive. The new LED screen is quite something, and the performance is superb. Where my old G5 used to take about 12 hours for Handbrake to encode a 2-hour DVD, this new machine can manage it in under an hour! I got nearly five years of use out of that old G5 (and it's still up and running nicely with its new owner) so I'm reckoning that this one will do me until about 2015!

Piping hot

As you will almost certainly be aware, I don't have an iPhone. And you will also be aware that I really want an iPhone but can't afford one. So I'm making do with a Nokia E63 smartphone instead, and the biggest frustration with this solution is that I can't avail myself of some of the really useful apps available for the iPhone.

I like the fact that you can upload photos and text to a variety of sources through the iPhone - apps like Evernote, Flickr, Twitter and so on. The iPod Touch (which I love) doesn't have the camera nor the "always on" connectivity so although it has the apps, it doesn't have the hardware.

I've found a fairly decent solution for my Nokia via the wonders of Pixelpipe. You set yourself up with a free account, download the software to your phone and then set up your "pipes" - essentially which services you want to connect to. I've enabled Twitpic, Facebook, Flickr, Evernote and Blogger. You can write text items or attach photos to individual posts and then select their destination. You can upload to all your services simultaneously, or select which pipes you want to use by using a simple tagging system. Once you hit the upload button, your post appears as if by magic on the internet. It all works very well.

Highly recommended for those of us "slumming it" in the land of Symbian...

Map me up

Just a quick post to mention this Memory Map iPhone app that I was emailed about this morning. As a long-time user and big fan of Memory Map, I'm very interested to see how this will work. I'm hoping that it will use your pre-installed OS maps, and that there will be some way of selecting maps in the desktop software and then sending them to your iPhone. Two caveats - hopefully it'll also be iPod Touch compatible, and hopefully it won't be too expensive (or require any ongoing subscription). I shall eagerly await more news.

2010 - The year we make contact?!

So it's customary around this juncture to say things like "Happy new year", so erm... HAPPY NEW YEAR!

In the past, I've liked to tell the world my new year's resolutions on this blog (here, here and here), but to be honest I don't really have many this time around. Nothing important or interesting enough to share with you all anyway.

I have decided to do a bit more of this blogging malarkey though - apologies for being a bit lacklustre recently.

Things are largely the same here, with the addition of some new gadgets courtesy of Santa: A very nice pair of Grado SR80i headphones, and a 22" Samsung LCD television for the bedroom.

My purchasing plans for the coming twelve months are modest (not as much spare cash floating around when you've got children) but I do have my eye on an Apple Magic Mouse, and if the predictions about the Apple tablet computer come to fruition I may have to do some serious saving to get my hands on one.

But for now, that's about it from me. We'll talk again soon, yes?

Airport extension

I've sung the praises of the Apple Airport Express before on this blog, and recently I've got myself another one - this time, the newer 802.11N version.

Although it's essentially the same, in upgrading it to "N" Apple have introduced a bit more functionality to the unit at the same time. Whilst tinkering with it, I've found something very useful - something which you can't do with the old "G" revision.

I've had a few problems with the wifi reception around my house - quite a few dead spots, and patchy signal strength - so I'm now using the Airport Express to boost things up a bit. It's widely publicised that the Express can lock onto the wifi signal from an Apple base station and then relay it to extend the coverage, but I don't have an Apple base station. I've configured it slightly differently.

I've taken an ethernet cable out of my existing Netgear wifi router (which is still on main wifi duties), and plugged this into the ethernet port of the Airport Express in another part of the house. Using the Airport Utility on my Mac, I've then set it up to rebroadcast the signal it's getting via it's inbuilt transmitter. All quite mundane so far - but the clever bit (as far as I'm concerned) is that the Express can use the same SSID as the existing network, so your client wifi devices only see one single network name in the list of available networks. Your wifi device - laptop, iPod Touch, phone, whatever - will use the strongest signal in any given place, and switch if necessary, all completely seamlessly.

I've now got a decent, strong signal virtually everywhere in the house - a clever solution from a VERY versatile Apple gadget!

If you want to know specifics about the setup, just ask in the comments.

Joi to the world

If you follow my Twitter feed you may have heard me mention a little application that I downloaded for my Nokia E63 called Joikuspot. It's a very clever little program that uses the phone's 3G connection and wi-fi to create a little personal hotspot for you to use to get internet access.

I'm pleased to report that it works incredibly well, particularly bearing in mind that it's free. There is a "premium" version but I'm quite happy to look at a landing page in my browser when first logging on in exchange for not having to pay!

As you might expect with plain old 3G, you're not going to set the internet alight with amazing download speeds (I'm getting about 256kbps) but when you're without a web connection, then it's a very neat option. It's essentially doing what the Three Mi-Fi does, but at very little cost. My phone network (Virgin) gives you 24 hours of unlimited browsing for just 30p, so for the few times I need to jump on the web away from home its perfect.

In fact, my Eee PC is connected via Joikuspot as I sit here and type this in a local (wifi-less) coffee shop. There's not many times that my budget Nokia phone option gets one over on my iPhone using friends, but this is one such occasion.

Decision made

After much faffing (i.e endless hours of internet research and many visits to shops) I've finally decided on my new mobile phone. And the winner is?

This one! (I'm going to make you click this link in a vain effort to create some suspense, rather than just telling you outright).

I've gone with the tried-and-tested Nokia/Symbian S60 platform, combined with the convenience of a QWERTY keyboard, which for an old man like me makes texting, emailing and web browsing considerably easier. Wifi too, which is nice.

I've previously gone on at some length about why I haven't got an iPhone, so don't start asking me about it okay? I know your phone is better than mine.