1. It’s quicker.
2. It’s Webkit based, so it helps when working a lot with mobile Webkit stuff
3. My phone runs Webkit
4. The release of 2.2 includes some cool stuff for “cloud-to-device” work, and I suspect a chunk of that will be in Chrome in the near future.
5. The developer stuff is just a bit smoother and neater than firebug

I’m now pretty much a Google boy – I use Google Mail and Calendar, and I have a Google phone, which integrates everything nicely together. Talking of the Desire, I picked up a nasty bug (not sure of the source) which caused the HTC Sense Launcher to repeatedly die, which required a complete wipe of the phone. Luckily, all the magic backup stuff kicked in, and the only stuff I really lost was the connections between my phone, google and facebook contacts, which only took about 30 minutes to restore. (I do really need to sort through my contacts and cut them down – a lot of them are horribly duplicated, and my first phone couldn’t store multiple numbers for a single person, so I have loads of entries for all the different numbers and stuff).

Other than that problem, the Desire is a fantastic phone. I’m enjoying having a “smart phone”, and I suspect that by not having previously had an iPhone is a bit of an advantage. I don’t particularly feel any iPhone envy, and while I appreciate the appeal of an iPhone and the way that Apple handles it, I’m still a big fan of the open nature of Android. While it leads to a proliferation of crap available for the phone, I do believe in the long run it will increase the potential and quality. (Much like the internet). And the price was right.

Oh, and I can’t wait for 2.2 to arrive for my phone – latest news slates it for June 23rd.

mrBen

Here’s what I would really like:

• something that can (at least) mimic the functions of the video recorder, ie recording and playing back shows from TV
• something that can handle our library of DVDs
• something that can give easy access to online video content, ideally iplayer and seesaw as they now cover most of the stuff I’d want

Other items (picture viewing, other video plugins, etc, etc) are a bonus that is a consideration, but not a deal breaker.

So I started to look around at some of the current popular offerings. As far as I can tell, MythTV is still the one to beat for straight PVR, although there’s a certain amount of confusing online as to whether or a not a Revo could handle it as a combined backend/frontend. (The dual-core model seems like it might, unsure about the ‘bargain’ box).

When it comes to the online content, there are 3 big boys out there – XBMC, Plex (which is only for MacOS) and Boxee. I’ve looked at all three, and here are my conclusions:

• XBMC – the code upon which the other 2 are based, but seems to be nice. The interface is usable and looks a lot like plex. However, the browsing for plugins is rudimentary, and the list of plugins only had a couple of things I wanted. A search online seemed to come back with a lot of ‘this can’t be done because of DRM’ replies, and yet the plugins exist for Plex, so why not….?
• Plex – pretty nice, although it did have one or two annoyances, not least the reliance on OSX which would make the Acer Revo a more difficult prospect (if a prospect at all)
• Boxee – the new kid on the block making a lot of noise, but, in my opinion, not yet delivering. They need to sort out getting more plugins in there, and it needs an interface to MythTV too It had a whole load of “social” stuff built into it, but, frankly, I don’t think I want/need that. (Reminds me a bit of the Flock browser)

I _want_ to like Boxee, but I find myself leaning towards XBMC more at the moment. Alternatively, there are a load of plugins for MythTV itself, so maybe that is a better option?

I’d love to hear from anybody who has similar needs, and also anyone who’s running Myth on a Revo.

mrBen

The happened for me with both linkpot.net and fosstr.org (both of which I handed over to a friend when I realised that I wasn’t going to be able to maintain them). In both of those, I took the option to choose a new name and get a ‘decent’ domain. However, it’s happened to me again, and, in light of the recent hubbub from ReadWriteWeb which seems to indicate that a significant proportion of the web use Google rather than actually type in addresses, am I better off keeping the name I like and having a longer TLD, or is there still value in having a short TLD?

Thoughts welcome (although let’s not have a discussion about whether someone in the UK should be using .***.uk rather than a US TLD )

mrBen

After a certain amount of internal debate, I chose a rough compromise – I would have 2 blogs, but I would post regular summaries of links here to posts on the other site. This has the additional benefit that the other site will likely contain posts from multiple people involved with the project over time.

And so, at long last, I am pleased to officially announce (meaning it happened a while back, but I didn’t get around to posting before) the life`boat project. If you want to read the posts regularly, you’ll find them there, otherwise there will be summaries here every now and then when I remember (I hope to get something automagic, but haven’t found a plugin to my liking at the moment).

Summary of all previous posts from life`boat:
First post (7th July)
Ships and the sea (17th July)
Back from CLAN (26th July)
Tasks for the next couple of months (4th August)
More from CLAN (10th August)
Influences (Part 1) (13th August)
Brief Update (6th September)
Influences (Part 2) (15th September)
Influences (Part 3) (23rd September)
Balancing Act (30th September)

Comments, as ever, welcomed, although I realise this won’t be everyones cup of tea

mrBen

And then I found this.

It was the b-side for Sentinel, the single released for Tubular Bells II. I always thought it was a remarkable piece of work, much better then anything that was on the album.

So, check it out and enjoy it for as long as it stays on You Tube before the copyright nazis get it removed.

BigAl

mrBen

My friend Innes put a huge amount of effort into designing the site – everything that looks pretty is down to him. Everything that looks a bit clunky is down to my implementation of his design

It’s built on (badly written) Django, and there are still loads of ideas and plans in my head on what else to implement. But hopefully it’s now a little bit better than the one-page excuse for a site that’s been up since 2007.

mrBen

1. You don’t need to believe anything. You don’t even need to believe that prayer does anything.
2. You do need to commit to praying daily for the same thing until Sunday April 12th. (If you really want, you can skip Sundays, because traditionally the 40 days of Lent don’t include the Sundays)
3. Your prayer cannot be for yourself, or for something that would profit you most. It must be for someone else.
4. Your prayer must be measurable in its result.
5. Your prayer must be “local” in its scale – for someone you know or a situation that is personal to you (bearing in mind condition 3). World peace is not an option here (maybe next year).
6. At the end of the challenge there will be a simple survey for you to fill out to collate the results. (Said survey will not reveal names or identities)
7. This is a viral challenge – post it on your blog, or on your facebook, or where ever, and challenge other people to be involved.
8. Like it or not, I am a Christian, and this is a Christian challenge, so your prayer needs to invoke the name of Jesus.

My commitment is this – whatever the results, I will definitely publish them.

Are you up for the challenge?

mrBen

If you like your detectives hard-boiled, and your dialogue fast-paced and witty, then look no further than Black Jack Justice from Decoder Ring Theatre. 30 minute audio dramas taken from his case book sees Jack and his partner, Trixie Dixon, Girl Detective, deal with all the usual fray of your $35-a-day (plus expenses) gumshoe. The banter between Jack and Trixie is worthy of Joss Whedon in places, and, while hilarious at times, the series avoids being a full parody of the genre. Worthy of a place on your audio player.

The Scott Sigler machine continues to rumble on. Contagious (sequel to Infected, of course) has hit the New York Times Hardcover Bestseller list, but is continuing on as a free audiobook. If you haven’t listened to his stuff from when I’ve pimped it before, maybe now is the time.

Alternatively, if you prefer graphic novels, then both Siglers’ The Rookie and the first episode of Black Jack Justice are being serialised as comic books over at Addictive Comics.

Oh, and Classic Yak topped 700 overall downloads on Friday, and got 30 hits in a week for episode 7. Movin’ on up…

mrBen

Gah!

It seems that the daily episodes aren’t accessible online on a regular basis.

What use it that?

Where else will I get my regular dose of Jeremy bullying drunks, drug addicts and the mentally ill?

It’s enough to lose you faith in the internet…

BigAl