Since I hung up my gig-going camera lens, I’ve hardly published anything new on my flickr account. The reason why should be glaringly obvious! However I still love the site and photography in general, so I’ve decided to try and attempt a 365.

For the unitiated a 365 is where you post a photo everyday for a year; it could be themed, artistic, well thought out, or just a simple documentary shot. The latter is what I’m aiming for, mainly photos off my iPhone, probably won’t be outstandingly interesting or well framed, just a document of that day.

Chances are I’m going to be taking photos of people who won’t want their photos on the internet and many things I do with friends and family are those that I’ll probably choose to keep private, so access to this project will be limited – only for those contacts I deem friends and family. So if you’d like to follow my year in grainy photos, please feel free to add me as a contact via my flickr page (ID: rocktographer) and send me a msg. I might not give you access, but please feel free to ask.

OH! and finally.. happy new year to all! Can’t believe it’s the start of a new decade, I feel old!

Tonight I’m really loving this song.. no real reason why, it’s just really suiting my mood at the moment.

Cradle me
I’ll cradle you
I’ll win your heart
With a woop-a-woo
Pulling shapes just for your eyes
So with toothpaste kisses and lines
I’ll be yours and you’ll be

Lay with me, I’ll lay with you
We’ll do the things that lovers do
Put the stars in our eyes
And with heart shaped bruises
And late night kisses
Devine

So you may have noticed that 3Mobile released the first MiFi product in the UK this week. I was lucky enough to have had a trial unit on loan a couple of weeks back… here’s a brief rundown of what I did and thought of it. If you’re un-inititated in what MiFi is, think of a mobile broadband dongle, but instead of using the USB and software to provide your laptop with an internet connection, this standalone device will connect to multiple devices – laptop, phone, games unit… anything that has wifi built in.

Unboxing

Yup a boring unboxing video.. give it a view if you want. The unit is about the size of the palm of my hand. Quite sleek to look at. Display has five LEDs, to signify things like power, connection to GSM network, 3G network strength and whether the wifi is active. It’s quite clear what LED represents what. What isn’t as clear is the buttons on the side, they could’ve been more labelled more clearly, I also seemed to need to press them in for a few seconds in order to get them to activate.

The device charges an inbuilt battery via USB or mains to give you usage on the go. There are many leaflets in the box, each with a clear bit of simple info about the device on.

Connection

Once active and on the 3Mobile network, you can turn on the wifi. The unit will have it’s own unique name and secure key. I found connecting uncomplicated and it worked pretty much straight away.

First usage

I failed to do a speed test, however I found it adequate enough for quick loading of most the websites I would want to visit on the move – BBC News, Digitalspy, IM and Twitter apps. As you’ll see, the video didn’t load as smoothly as I would’ve liked, but then I wouldn’t have expected it too have done so.

After the initial use
I rarely take my laptop out and about in London, so decided to do most of my playing from that point on with my iPhone. I turned data roaming off and used the MiFi to give me a data connection.  I noticed no difference in times that pages took to load, or videos, or data for apps. The killer for me was being able to use Skype on the go. Those who use iPhones know that its Skype app has quashed the ability to make Skype Calls over 3G, it will only allow it on wifi. Well, now my iPhone had wifi, albeit mobile connection from inside my bag, but crucially, its still wifi. So I was able to walk around making Skype calls. OK. So I’m not going to buy a MiFi just to do this – the extra cost isn’t justifiable… but if I had one for other purposes, I’d sure find it a great added bonus.

Another notable test, I took it round to a friends one evening and hooked three phones and two laptops upto it simultaneously. Obviously, it was useless for media related streaming, but we were all able to do basic browsing. Sadly I neglected to film this experiment!

This is a product I wouldn’t buy for myself unless I was going on a substantial holiday, it’s just too expensive to justify for casual use – HOWEVER – I am considering reccomending the school I work at invests in one to allow groups to use offsite on trips, so that updates can be communicated back to base and students with wifi devices can get a few free minutes to catch up.

What I really really prefer about MiFi over the USB sticks we’re so accustomed too, is the lack of software I have to install in order to manage my connection. Every stick I’ve previously tried has completely screwed up and wanted to dominate my internet settings, causing me countless headaches. MIFI has no software, just a wifi, which makes it a product that’s instantly a thousand times more preferable.

…and thats about all I’ve got to say. If 3Mobile make the device cheaper, I’ll certainly consider getting one.

Random post. This entry, especially the video will only make sense to the person that it’s intended for. Anyone else, well, you’ll probably find it an example of how silly and borderline crazy I am???

Happy Birthday to you. You’ve made this year far more bearable and worth getting through. Thank you.

…I have…

- Finished my current ebay auctions. Packed and labelled the ones that have payed tonight.
- Cooked and eaten dinner (courgette and garlic sauce with Penne)
- Watched Gadget Show
-  Filled in a provisional drivers licence application with the wrong coloured pen
- Drafted my blogs on 3 mobile’s MiFi device that I had on loan for a week
- Drafted other catch-up blogs
- Converted loads of Mp4s into DV format for editing for the dayjob
- Wrapped presents for a friends impending birthday
- Written (maybe a little too much) is said friends birthday card
- Had a quick online search for jobs, not that I need, just always looking to keep my options open
- Seen a pretty good job advertised at great wage… tempted, even though its at the polar end of London
- Played a few songs on my guitar
- Started to write a new life plan… things have been changing with what I want in life.

Not a bad evening.. on top a fairly productive day at work too.

You’ve probably seen on the news, Central Perk – the coffee shop in iconic TV sitcom Friends – is open for business.. in London! Warner Bros have constructed a replica of the location just off Carnaby Street to promote the 15th Anniversary DVD Boxset of the show. The coffee is free with a voucher that’s available on this website – http://www.warnertv.com/friends/ – and the store is full of memorabilia from the show, including THE sofa.

Whilst the boxset doesn’t interest me much – ‘unseen and extended’ footage in the episodes, all of which are from the US boxsets that have been out and on my shelf for years – you can be damn sure that you’ll find me in the queue fighting over a space on that sofa for a posed photo! See you there!

Oh dear. It seems as though I’ve run out of rubbish to spit out on the internet lately.

In reality I’ve just not been very talkative. I’ve had to personal things to deal with and over the weekend another minor stomach bleed, which is now going to be investigated further. So whilst stuff hasn’t been brilliant, I’ve not been online as much. Don’t know why I need to explain this, doubt anyone is reading this page regularly.

Things are picking up though and I have been out and have things to write about; some video interviews that are almost complete for What’s On Stage, Coldplay at Wembley and going to watch John Barrowman in La Cage Aux Folles.

I’m also thinking of doing a weekly column style post. Just no idea on what though.

Well I for sure am. Of course Brown is probably expecting this, hence the ending of the show where he joked his way through an elaborate method for rigging the machine.

Let’s look at the draw itself again. Brown deliberately riddled the broadcast with little droplets that could be woven into a conspiracy theory.

• The wide angle shot – that everyone thought would bring a huge reveal of a second person or locked off camera (not handheld as we were lead to believe)
• Introducing the idea that he legally wasn’t allowed to show you the lottery result – obviously at that point in time it was actually a prediction.
• The wobbly handheld camera work that almost seemed too wobbly to be true.
• The hand over the mouth during the draw – many feel he was mouthing the balls as they dropped to a third party to do one of the following..
• LED display balls, the numbers are programmed onto an LED display on the balls
• The numbers are projected onto the balls
• The numbers being burnt onto the balls via laser thru a mysterious black gap in the backdrop (which can be seen)
• The sudden static nature of the camera for a brief few seconds whilst Derren writes the numbers, before he walks over. This would allow a split screen to come into play.

So many routes to conspiracy, its almost as if all the seeds have been deliberately planted – with one of them actually being true. I do reckon its the latter.. check this great video showing even a chap could set it up in his living room.

Then there’s the reveal show. The opening two thirds are loosely woven together under the pretence that it’s about predicting people’s choices – which has nothing to do with predicting lotto numbers. As Brown then pointed out, it was about predicting what a machine will do. He then suggests that will power may be able to play a part – as in the whole nation was willing the machine to choose his numbers. But he discounts this all himself, revealing the coin ‘trick’ he demo’d.

But look again, the first demo was about building fear in a woman who didn’t like mice, asking her to put her hand in three of four covered boxes, knowing a mouse is in one of them. Of course there was no mouse, it was about building a fear and belief that something was going to happen. Then a stunt with a knife under one cup in a grid, would this poor chap thrust his foot onto a knife. Of course not – there was no knife, a more extreme example of the same concept.

Then the coin film, I felt it had no place in the proceedings unless of course it was to continue with the theme of presenting something to the World that he wants you to believe, but actually isn’t. Could this have been a staged film?

And finally the big reveal. The concept of a group using their collective unconscious minds to successfully predict the next numbers in the sequence of the year’s numbers. But of course there is no proven deep maths behind the lottery sequence, it is completely random. There is an element of believability in the theory presented. But it also seems highly implausible. Were the members of the group actors? Were they duped? Was the bloke who couldn’t do automatic writing a stooge who led them to lead them to believe they were on course? Was this an example of getting the nation into a state whereby an idea or thought is presented and we all believe it, as with the mouse and knife/cup, whilst of course in reality it isn’t there?

I’m convinced that the reveal show was again designed to provoke questions and conspiracy from the viewer. But why would he go to this much effort if indeed it is the case?

The result of both shows is that we are all talking, blogging, flaming forums about it. This is pushing his name out to the entire nation and promoting the form of magic as entertainment once again – is that the reason for this? Or is this combining with the other events to lead to a huge reveal at the end of the series, after all the series is about misdirection. Or have we all already been duped – next weeks show is ‘how to control the nation’ – a subliminal film that will stick us to our chairs, but broadcasting subliminal messages is illegal, so is the trick that we were all glued to last weeks show? That the lotto stunt controlled the nation?

To me the questions raised set this up to be a great series of shows, real event TV. I’m convinced the whole series is linked, as suggested through the advert (lotto balls on the crossing post, something to do with football – manchesterunited.com on the billboard – rigging/betting on a match?, sticktoyoursofa.com on the bus stop and red and black on the truck – think casino) – the whole series appears to be about gambling, there must be a point to prove at the end of it all. Derren, bring it on!

• Just been in work for a few hours. Strange being both back there and having the silence that comes with few staff and no kids #
• …oooh the Apple online store is down. Wonder what they're adding.. snow leopard? #
• apple store back.. introducing snow leopard… just £25 http://bit.ly/PrdKh #
• Steve Lamacq's final R1 show on air in a few… tune in. #
• Michael Jackson died from lethal levels of propofol – LA Times discovers from search warrant http://bit.ly/3aw1WH #
• up earlier than I have been of late… of to the docs for a check up following last weeks bleed #
• back from checkup. all's fine.. no further tests for now, just some meds. fun fun fun. cooling after a 5K walk. #
• i see the UK Gov are planning to cut off the internet of persistent illegal file sharers… well thats 3/4 of the country cut off then! #
• awesome, my new video light system has arrived. Gonna pull it apart before I plug it up, just so I know how to change bulbs, etc #
• RT @LondonMarriott: Want 2 win a 2 night luxurious stay @LondonMarriott this bank holiday weekend? RT to enter the contest! #
• into work again today.. slowly getting myself up earlier and earlier to ready the 8am start time next week :/ #
• coding up the new information displays for work. Got 'events today/tmr', birthdays + school news done in one day.. photos + video to do.. #
• been playing the guitar in bed for the past hour – so much fun. off to sleep whilst listening to 5Live now, filming GCSE results in the morn #
• up, showered, dressed leaving for work… filming kiddies getting their GCSE results, lets hope for more smiles than tears! #
• results filming all done. now to prep for tmr.. I'm snapping and filming a wedding in just over 24 hours *fear* #
• MJ Fans attempt to break World record for largest thriller dance – hyde park, Noon, Saturday http://bit.ly/TMBqo #
• Apple approves Spotify app? http://bit.ly/JzMYA #
• all my batteries are now charged and ready for the wedding tmr. Just got to give vid cam and my nikon a quick check before I pack them #
• in 9 hours I'll be snapping and filming a wedding for the first time… *mega fear* #
• Logged into apple to track my snow leopard delivery.. 5-10 days???!! Can they not get it to me today? #useless #
• Wedding going well, very relaxed affair… More documenting than 10000001 group photos.. I like #
• Wedding done. Fun and tiring. #
• Rip oasis.. You bought me so much joy in my teens (though far less in recent years) #
• DL'd the photos from y'days wedding, they look good, though a few balls ups. Will get onto post production later today. #
• Was a far more relaxed wedding than Im used too, registry office, few handful of family. V.enjoyable. Also got a video to do too. #
• now my mind turns to lack of snow leopard, not waiting 10 days for delivery.. will have to buy from apple store and return online purchase #
• quick shower, then off to lakeside to pick up my copy of snow leopard. #
• Installing snow leopard, 53 mins remain… What happened to that magic 15 minutes apple promised?? #
• now on snow leopard… took half hour to upgrade, not too bad. To Sir With Love was on Ch5, so watched that whilst waiting. #
• #SnowLeopard install note – apple promised aprox 7GB freed by the upgrade. WRONG.. more like 21.5GB!! WOW! http://twitpic.com/fpja7 #
• Reading?? Nah.. Carnival?? Nup… Indoors away from the rain watching the f1?? Hell yeh. #
• whhhhhaaa…channel4 now…. scrapheap challenge without @bobbyllew ????? noooooooooooooooooooooooo!!! #
• Reading Friends Like These by @misterwallace.50pgs in&find I'm alternating between laughing+nodding in agreement of his take on life aged 29 #

Apple promised the snow leopard upgrade would free 7-8GB space on the hard drive. How wrong were they… before 71.06GB available, after 92.66Gb available.

That’s a whopping 21.5GB of space reclaimed. MASSIVE SCORE.

Also. Boot up is quicker. Software loads faster across the board. Aperture just whizzes through everything, gone is the lag to full screen view. Stacks appear faster, no lag.

So far five massive positives out of five. More thoughts as I notice.. not much time to play, working quite a lot of things for the next few days, so I’m sure much more will come to the fore.