Happy St Andrews Day

Google Instant: Wasting my time

I don't get the need for Google latest search innovation 'Instant'
The idea goes that Google can predict what you are looking for before you have finished typing it, saving you valuable seconds and sparing you the trauma of hitting the return key.


Assuming that was a noble cause, I don't think it works.

Choosing the best phone: Waiting for the next big thing...

My G1 gadget Pain has been recently helped by the fact that, unknown to me it was still under guarantee! So the good people at T-Mobile have taken it away to their Bunsen burner filled laboratories to tinker with it and once again give life to the little Android that could.
Another miracle however has landed, my contract is up for renewal which means I'm due a new phone!

But which one??...

Subliminal Disaster Mongering

In support of 'posting any old shit' what's with the Emergency Exit Sign?!?

In the event of an emergency, important safety folk always encourage you to leave in a calm and orderly fashion right??
Yet Mr Emergency Exit man can clearly be seen sprinting for the exit on many variations of said signage.

Accidental mixed message or secret subliminal disaster mongering??

You decide

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You've gotta have the patter...

Back in the bygone days. Back when I had a social life that didn't require me to complete an application form in triplicate and schedule around kid's birthday parties, swimming lessons and the like - I used to frequent the University Union with @D0ppelganger and play pool. We were the dugs baws. At least, in our own heads we were.....

Firefox 4 beta 3 Initial Impressions *UPDATED*

With Firefox 3.6 causing my leg to burn from the heat of my overtaxed laptop with all the seemingly random CPU usage, and Chrome leaving beta on the mac, I was quite happy to avoid Firefox 4 entirely. However with Chrome starting to misbehave and even starting to hog my CPU I once again got restless and started looking for another browser.

Wave goodbye to Google Wave...

It was like email but better, no kinda like IM but more powerful...no wait it's like Docs but more more collaborative...fuck it, today the best software in the world that nobody really understood has been laid to rest. 

That's right Google's undefined game changing dooda, Google Wave has been given until the end of the year to vacate Mountain View. 

However fret not Wave lover! Some of the technology for yanno, making email more powerful and more awesome is open source so will presumably be revolutionising the way we think and underwhelming us at the same time in some open source experiment sometime soon.

Still not sure what Wave was? Have a look at the best explanation we could find HERE 

So long brother, we hardly knew you mate...

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Source: [The Google Blog]

Youtube having problems on Chrome?

So after finally feeling like Chrome was all stable and worthy of a full time move away from Firefox, I find myself increasingly frustrated with Chromes performance.

Gadget Pain: T-Mobile G1

My Gadget pain continues this week with My T-Mobile G1 being the latest gadget to cause me anguish.

Gadget Pain: Sony DSCW70

Can a Sony W70 camera survive a 200ft drop??

HTC Evo 4G vs iPhone 4

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Like Mario?

Got an Android 2.1 Smartphone?

All that extra battery life getting you down?

You need this!


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Mac Mini: What am I?

Another day, another Apple post.
Mac Mini gets an update with HDMI!
Great headline but the second you investigate further you become sadly disappointed.

Safari 5: Initial Impressions

Another day, another browser update, another reason the Browser War is back on!
After a few hours of playing around with Apples latest browser, Safari 5, I have to say I'm pretty impressed....

Safari 5 released! (sort of) UPDATED

Well it wasn't worthy for the WWDC keynote, however Apple have just released a press release announcing Safari 5.
Highlights include:

• Safari Reader, a utility that reformats webpages by detecting articles within a page and only displaying the text.
• 30% speed improvement over Safari 4 (and faster than Chrome)
• Extensions!!! Hmm Safari just got interesting!!

Apples website still has Safari 4 at the moments but keep clicking refresh if your still feeling all warm and Appley after the iPhone fun earlier.


Update: And it's out, get it here

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WWDC 2010: It's all about the gyroscope

Ok, so Steve Jobs just finished the WWDC 2010 keynote speech. Did it meet our expectations? Did it make our eyes bleed? Read on...

5 things I'd like to see at WWDC 2010 besides the new iPhone

Apples World Wide Developers Conference kicks off tomorrow and Steve Jobs is set to woo the world once more with a keynote speech worthy of song. While he will inevitably announcing the not so secret iPhone 4G set possibly for a very quick release, it got me me thinking about other things I'd like to see announced. So here are my top 5...

Steve Jobs at D8 Conference: Reality Distortion Field to Max Strength

The All Things Digital 8 conference is happening at the moment and last night Apple CEO Steve Jobs was interviewed.

His famous 'Reality Distortion Field' has never seemed so strong as by the end of it i found myself no longer wanting a Google TV , not caring about Flash on my phone and really wanting a Jesus Phone. He is clearly a skilled presenter and a cunning linguist.

Check the videos out for yourself....must resist urge to buy all things Apple.

Google Chrome for Mac and Linux leaves beta

The title Pretty much says it all, Google Chrome for Mac and Linux has left beta and I have to say I'm pretty happy.

I used Chrome for about 3 months when it first came out in beta for Mac and was instantly blown away by the speed. More importantly for me it didn't use anywhere near the resources Firefox uses, however even when features like the bookmark manager and extensions started to appear, it still felt very much like a beta release (even for Google)
Eventually the speed couldn't save it and I went back to Firefox.
Funnily enough today as my leg was cooking with the seemingly random 98% CPU usage in Firefox I loaded up Opera and then Safari.
10 mins of browsing later fate steps in and I find out that Chrome has left beta.
I have to say so far so good.
With Chrome looking so good and Firefox becoming a serious CPU hog, Mozilla will really need to step up its game if it doesn't want to be beaten to 30% market share by Google.

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Source [The Google Blog]

3D Porn: Making the 'money shot' far more frightening

I can't say I'm a fan of 3D.

• You have to wear ridiculous glasses
• If you have a friend, they too have to wear ridiculous glasses
• In most cases it adds nothing to the experience
• It gives me a headache like DLP 

Unfortunately with the release of the first 3D porn flick 'Kama-Sutra' from European porn director Mark Dorcel, it seems the technology is hear to stay.

Google I/O Day Two: Google TV

So is this Marty Mcfly Junior's vision of T.V. realised??

Kind of...

Google I/O Day Two: Froyo

Didn't I tell you day 2 would be better??

Ok First up Froyo, What's new?:

Google I/O Day One: It's all about Day Two

So Google IO has kicked off and day 1 is a little disappointing, here's the rundown:

• Google Wave goes public, dozens rejoice.
• Latitude get's an API: Gets serious about location
• Google Buzz also gets an API, Seesmic and TweetDeck integration imminent.
• Google opens up the VP8 codec in the form of 'WebM' for 'truly open' web video, h.264 & Flash cry.
• HTML5 mass adoption cements future of internet salvation
• Chrome Web Store (for chrome) opens it's doors in dev channel, destined for Android convergence...maybe. 
• And according to Larry Page, if your Android device isn't lasting a full day then there's "something wrong"

Yes it all points to a friendly open web, where we can all hold hands and talk about how great life is when we all work together, however it isn't quite as exciting as the rumoured Google T.V. and Android's latest release Froyo.
It seems the shop stoppers will definitely be making an appearance tomorrow, however for now you can watch the opening days keynote here.

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Who says Games aren't Art?

Our friends over at That Guy's a Maniac (including yours truly) are doing a themed week exploring the memories of gaming incidents that have inflicted both emotional and physical pain.

While the 'Games as Art' debate remains unsettled, there can be no doubt that emotions portrayed in these posts were very much real.

The theme continues all week, check it out here

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Froyo: Quick as a Flash

Well well well, what have we here?

A couple of things actually:

Thing the first:

We have Adobe's Flash running very nicely indeed. In fact so nicely that it looks completely useable. While there has been a lot of debate around the future of Flash and it's relevance in a future HTML5 dominated mobile world, one thing that can't be ignored is that while Flash indeed may be one day usurped by HTML5 (especially for video), the reality of today's web is that Flash is everywhere.
So until the HTML5 utopia becomes a reality, yes I want Flash on my mobile browser and yes I want it to run well.
Given Steve Job's recent open letter of condemnation and in particular this line, Adobe must be feeling pretty good right now:

 "We have routinely asked Adobe to show us Flash performing well on a mobile device, any mobile device, for a few years now. We have never seen it."

Well you have now Steve, so how about putting it in the iPad and living up to that self appointed 'The best way to experience the web' moniker.

Thing the second:

It's Froyo baby

Sure there is a new App launcher, tutorial and Global Search bar, but I'm way more interested in the findings of the Android Police that are reporting with the new JIT kernel in 2.2 (Froyo) that the Linpack benchmarking tool is showing a 450% increase in overall speed over 2.1 (Eclair) on the Nexus One. This would certainly help to explain why Flash is running so well and will hopefully be an indication of the kind of performance boosts other Android handsets may receive.
However, I doubt the the patient Hero users out there still waiting for a (now Q2 release) 2.1. upgrade will be as excited.

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Yahoo in denial that Google Owns my Soul

Yahoo spent $85M dollars on this ad campaign, man someone should have really told them about iGoogle
They also mock the fact that you go to Google's minimalist homepage 'so you can leave' which to be honest is exactly what I want from a search engine, one that knows exactly what it is without trying to be everything at once. Yahoo by contrast is saturated with information and intrusive flash advertisements.
If however information overload is your thing, iGoogle at least isn't littered with annoying flash ad's and is completely customisable.
Yahoo seems to really be on the offensive at the moment (at least in theory) as the CEO Carol Bartz recently criticized Google for 'only being known for search'
Sure google is synonymous with search, but it seems like every day Google is releasing something new.
When you consider:

• Google Doc's
• Google Maps
• Gmail
• Wave
• This Blog
• Chrome
• Android

Not to mention future initiatives like Google TV, Chrome OS and Recorded Future, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find a part of my life that Google isn't in.

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Facebook security causing trouble for Opera Mini?

It seems facebook doesn't play well with Opera mini, at least at first.
A security feature from facebook which locks out your account on mobile devices if it detects 'an unfamiliar location' and directs you to a desktop browser to prove your identity is causing problems on the mobile browser. This security feature is all fine and well, even quite prudent, however one of Opera Mini's selling points is it's server side decoding and compression of webpages. This of course results in the above image stating i was kicking it on facebook in Norway (Opera are Norwegian)
It seems that after verifying Norway as a 'familiar' location the two services co-exist peacefully now, however I'm not sure to what extent facebook would have locked down my account, if (like most people) I hadn't known about Opera's server side compression.
With the current uptake of Opera Mini at the moment, i suspect many users are being locked out of their facebook accounts, hopefully to no greater extent than I was.

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How should you vote on Thursday?

Having watched the majority of tv debates over the past few weeks, much has focused on the dreadful state of the public purse and the huge deficit our children and grandchildren will be paying back in the decades to come. This is quite rightly at the forefront of everyone's mind. But one area of the economy that hasn't been subject to tv debate is that of the digital economy.

Twitter for Android: Robots like to share too.....

  ...yanno as long as you have Android 2.1...




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Chatroulette: Speed Painting

So the Chatroulette news keeps coming (no pun intended) Thankfully most of it recently, has been alternative uses from the standard cock and awe offensive. Like the Chatroulette Pianist and Guitarist before, today we have the Chatroulette Speed Painter! The attention to detail in some of them is unbelievable, get involved and have a look.

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It's Official Google Read Digital Aneurysm!

 It's official, Google's Erick Tseng stopped by last night to get some ideas on what to put in Froyo and yanno, just chill.

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Android, Froyo: What needs to happen??

So Android has been out for around 18 months now and has had 3 major revisions in that time. While many of us are left waiting for 2.0, 2.1 or even 1.6, I've found myself thinking about the next revision Froyo, or indeed Gingerbread. With Froyo expected to land at Google IO on May 19th, I thought I'd explore what's good in Android, what's bad and what needs to happen??

Super, not duper. Its Twitter, but shitter?

Twitter for Blackberry. Is it 'officially' great?

No Courier today folks... Microsoft launches Kin "It's nice to meet you"

Twitter goes official, but at what cost??

Well well well, on the day Twitter launches an official 'twitter for Blackberry' app, they acquire Tweetie, one of the most popular iPhone clients, planning on making it the official iPhone app.  So what's next for twitter? Official clients for Android, Web OS and Symbian??  More importantly how will this effect the end users where choice is king??

Blackberry: What needs to happen??

RIM face some tough commercial decisions for the rest of 2010. Will they keep up with the Jones', or will they stick with their core demographic - the business user? We've seen the software race with various OS's (Android, iPhone, Web OS) dominating debate and market share over the last 12 months. But with Windows Phone 7 coming soon, the hardware race is back on - and if RIM are not careful they could be left behind.

iPhone OS 4: Does it tick all the boxes?? (Updated)

So all the drama of the iPhone OS4 announcement is over, lets have a look at the 7 major features 'tentpoles' and see if non-believers will be swayed...

Apple and Microsoft: The battle of one-upmanship

So the iPad landed in the states on Saturday and every tech blog is saturated with news of Apple's latest technological savior. This all came after Microsoft took MWC by storm by announcing Windows Phone 7 (official new name). However, just when the news from Cupertino & Redmond looked to be slowing down Apple and Microsoft have both announced press events in the next week....

Chatroulette: Fail

Seriously is there any worse humiliation?? Apparently my image is too harsh for the penis dominated world of chatroulette. I shouldn't care but I really do!!

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Apple becoming the company they were born to hate??

On April 3, 2010 Apple will introduce iPad. And you’ll see why 2010 will be like 1984....

OSX: Fail

So 10.6.3 dropped in to our software update yesterday and I was greeted with the above message.

5.2 GB ?!?! for a 438.7MB update??? 

When did update requirements get so harsh and system intensive??

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The Chatroulette Pianist is still funny

This isn't a new video, but 2 weeks later it still makes me laugh.


As most will be aware Chatroulette is an example of the social web gone wrong. The idea is you are randomly connected to videos of penis's other webcam users and have engaging rewarding chats. If you are tired of that penis person you can just hit 'Next' and talk to another penis someone else.
So in a (chatroulette) world of hairy men with their junk as the focal point of the chat, it's awesome to see this dude out there, dubbed 'The Chatroulette Pianist' on there doing off the cuff funny songs based on who he is chatting to. 
Bravo Man


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Confessions of an Apple fanboy: Why Microsoft doesn't suck anymore (updated)

Microsoft has never been a company I have liked. I have found most of their products and platforms quite frustrating and living in a Microsoft world, was forced to endure them on a daily basis. However with the many impressive product/platform launches recently, I find myself completely re-evaluating the company...

Secret diary of a smartphone newbie

Around 6 weeks ago I took delivery of my first ever smartphone. My cherry was broken and my life may never be the same again. I am now the owner of a Blackberry Bold 9700 and boy am I glad to have taken this step.

As a new contributor for Digital Aneurysm I will attempt to outline my experiences of owning a smartphone, of discovering my latent tech geekery and espousing a somewhat layman's view of digital convergence and how that fits into my life. So strap in folks, here comes my first post...

Finally! A GoogleWave tutorial that makes sense.

While I'm still perplexed at exactly what Google Wave does well, at least I now know what it doesn't do so well!!

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[College Humour]

Windows Phone 7 Series: Too little too late?

MWC 2010  is over and the big news this year was undoubtedly Microsoft's re-invention of it's mobile platform with the announcement of the catchily named 'Windows Phone 7 Series' Like Palm's announcement of Web OS at last year's CES, they have a very promising OS with it all to prove...

Google Buzz: Failed to create Buzz

Well Google's answer to Twitter is out, Google Buzz...

iPad, the Wii of the personal computer world??

Well the dust has settled on the most recent 'game-changer' from Apple and there are a lot of mixed views out there. Is this device 'insanely great' 'magical' or is it just a big iPod Touch. While these are the questions being asked at the moment, it got me thinking that perhaps most of us are missing the point and this 'third category' of device is exactly that, a new category.
From my last post on Nintendo, it got me thinking that there are many similarities in the business model of the Japanese gaming giant and Apple...

Why Nintendo lost me as a customer

Since I was a kid, gaming has always been synonymous with Nintendo. Here was a company that for me had awesome graphics, huge libraries of games and timeless franchises. However this relationship unfortunately ended with the Game Cube and while the Wii has been a runaway succes it got me thinking why did they lose me as a customer?

Why I don't have a Jesus phone

Why I don't have a Jesus Phone

As another overhyped Apple product launch approaches, where the mythical tablet is due to be announced, most likely forever changing our lives and making them better in ways we didn't know we wanted; I thought it would be a good time to stand against the Jobs 'Reality Distortion field' and explain why I don't have a Jesus Phone and what needs to happen in iPhone OS4 to not only catch up with the competition, but make me want to buy one....

And so it begins.......

Hello, I am said Welsh contributor and like Doppelganger I too imagine that the entire internet is eager to hear my thoughts on what's great and what's not in the world of tech. So join me dear readers in what I'm sure is the start of a very fulfilling relationship.
Just take your shoes off first..

Illusion is the first of all pleasures...

Welcome,

Welcome to Digital Aneurysm,

Welcome to an outlet for a technology starved enthusiast...