Life

Airport Extreme with BT Home Hub

BizTalk Visionary — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 10:29:53 GMT

I recently purchase an Airport Extreme to get the 'N' coverage my Home Hub doesn't provide. As I have BT Vision (works very, very well) I couldn't scrape my Home Hub.

I have a number of computers that need to hang of this not least my XBOX 360 and PS3 (bluray player not games machine note) so I approached this with a little trepidation. My computers are a mixture of Wintel PC's and Laptops + 3 MAC's (note each also runs Vista).

Advice from my friendly MAC shop was just to use the supplied Airport config program.

This worked a dream allowing me to setup both my hub and new Airport Extreme auto configuring bridge mode and giving me the option of shutting down my Home hub wireless.

In the end I selected the option for my Extreme to just support 'N' and the Homehub to support the rest.

All worked first time.....

Re-booting my MacBook Pro into Vista mode I was immediately able to connect to my Airport Extreme. All works a dream...

Thanks Apple for making it so simple.....

Fun at the expense of a footballer (and diver!!)

BizTalk Visionary — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 06:06:46 GMT

After it was confirmed by Chelsea Manager Avram Grant that Didier Drogba is not a diver the staff at Stamford Bridge have decided to call in the police for tonights match against Liverpool to locate the sniper who keeps shooting Mr Drogba. This decision is based on the facts that as defenders aren't knocking him down and he isn't diving then someone must be shooting him!

In an interesting turn of events last night Didier has been offered the part of Jacques Cousteau in aa ne film to be made this summer. A spokesman for the production company said "we have spent sometime looking for the best diver in the world for this part and on all accounts Didier is our man"

BT Vision & NBC Universal

BizTalk Visionary — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 07:44:09 GMT

A deal has been struck to bring the latest movies to BT Vision form the NBC Universal stable. Also looks like series such as Hero's may get aired on BT Vision in sync with US. Watch this space...

Vista or XP?

BizTalk Visionary — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 09:46:57 GMT

With the less than estatic response to Vista it struck me that what is needed is a common sense approach to this...

Vista in many ways is 'where its at' as a developer there are a lot of features that are already there for you to use - .Net 3 for instance but it feels that unless you have a very good machine of vintage two seconds ago it runs like a dog!! This means to a great extent your productivity takes a bashing! The other issue with Vista with less than cutting edge kit is the problem of drivers or rather the lack of them!

So the answer, I think, is dual booting - if your Vistaed up the have a look at VistaBootPRO 3.3 (About VBP 3.3) to help you solve the booting issues.... - so you dual boot XP and Vista and have the best of both worlds.

On of the clever things to do of course is when re-installing Office, Visual Studio and the like is to install into the directories of the the other boot...for example install all the apps you need in Vista the boot to XP and re-install but in the Vista program locals.

This reduces the footprint of the install whilest making it all available in both modes.

Good booting!!

Kmart has decided not to carry Blu-ray players

BizTalk Visionary — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 16:36:03 GMT

Kmart has decided not to carry Blu-ray players due to their high prices, instead focusing solely on HD DVD this holiday. While it may no longer be the bastion of discount stores it once was, Kmart's move highlights the problems facing Sony's format as HD DVD continues to get cheaper.
The HD DVD Promotions Group said that Kmart's decision to go exclusive wasn't related to an end-cap purchase (where vendors can buy specific shelf space and lock out competitors), but rather because the cost of Blu-ray players are more tailored to home theater enthusiasts. HD DVD meanwhile, will have players under $200, with even deeper discounts after Thanksgiving.

Posted by terabyte on Yesterday, 03:17 PM

Game Console Sales Chart

BizTalk Visionary — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 21:14:25 GMT

Apple TV

BizTalk Visionary — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 04:52:19 GMT

Having moved away from an IPod to a Zune for my portable music source and having also discovered the joys of the Itunes US store for TV shows - downloading all the latest shows to my IPod for viewing I sort of hit a strange state of needing both.

Now the interesting point here is that I live in the UK and yet I'm still able to download from the US store! (For info on that little trick go to Using US ITunes store in UK)

The content I download is various TV shows - Lost, Heros, Jericho, 24 - and of varying quality but all watchable from my ipod via a component cable. Easy to do but not very user friendly. And then came Apple TV!!!

I must be one of the few people in the UK to purchase one as there's no content yey in the UK. In use the system is easy....

Apple TV puts your iTunes library — including music, music videos and podcasts — plus movie trailers from Apple.com on your TV. And your digital photos from iPhoto on a Mac or Adobe Photoshop Elements or Adobe Album on a Windows PC appear in high definition, so you can put on a stunning big-screen slideshow. it's as simple as that!!

Using the HDMI connector I have wired it up to my Sony 32'' LCD screen and the result is great. It runs in two modes in our house:-

Synched - content is store on the boxes 40 gig hard drive
Streaming from one of 5 iTunes libraries around the home network.

Using the cut down OS X interface is a dream and the result is a happy family watching various TV shows.

The downside? Well it's not HD. But then maybe the next one will be....

A must for gadgeteers that can think out of the box!

Tales in the key of Zune!

BizTalk Visionary — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 01:09:00 GMT

So I'm in Chicago, attending the Microsoft .Net PAC, it's -8C, it's nearly Christmas and I take warmth shelter in Virgin..... and then I find the Zune section! 5 minutes later minus $270 I'm the proud owner of a Zune (Well 2 actually I got one for the Arch BizTalk Hacker as well!!!).

Rush back to the hotel, discarding packaging as I go and then.....Vista! I have an Acer 4000 64 bit running 64 bit Vista and....64 bit XP. Try to install Zune software....Vista not supported.....reboot....XP 64.....try to install Zune software....You haven't installed XP SP2 so no install...but this is XP 64 there is no SP2!!

Hit the web.....try everything but still no luck. I'll just have to wait till I get home and borrow my wife's Laptop!

On my web hunt I did discover some great stuff:

IPOD video/audio/TV cable is useable with Zune - Pin out comparison

Non-64 bit Vista can be made to work with Zune - Zune of Vista

XP Pro 64 bit working with Zune - 64 bit Zuning

Zune repair and MOD guide - Taking apart your Zune

That's all for now!

Blu-ray v HD DVD

BizTalk Visionary — Sun, 06 Aug 2006 15:51:00 GMT

Finally, after months of apples-to-oranges comparisons between the two formats via different discs from differing studios, a direct head-to-head analysis can now be made using identical source material. As the first Warner Blu-ray titles hit stores, we at High Def Digest are proud to roll out the web's first in-depth comparisons of all three discs.

Review can be found @ Round one to HD DVD

2006 Predications Re-visited

BizTalk + WWF Visionary — Sun, 28 May 2006 18:12:00 GMT

We aren’t the Champions!

At Christmas I predicated the Premiership Table for the end of the season. A foolish thing to do. So here it is again with the ‘real’ one along side!!

1. Chelsea 98	Chelsea 91
2. Liverpool 85	Man U 83
3. Man U 84	Liverpool 82
4. Spurs 72	Arsenal 67
5. Bolton 69	Tottenham 65
6. Arsenal 66	Blackburn 63
7. Wigan 65	Newcastle 58
8. Man City 57	Bolton 56
9. West Ham 55	West Ham 55	---- Got it right!!!
10. Newcastle 53	Wigan 51
11. Blackburn 51	Everton 50
12. Charlton 49	Fulham 48
13. Boro 42	Charlton 47
14. Villa 42	Boro 45
15. Fulham 40	Man City 43
16. Portsmouth 36	Villa 42	-----Right points
17. Everton 34	Portsmouth 38
18. WBA 30	Birmingham 34
19. Birmingham 27	WBA 30
20. Sunderland 13	Sunderland 15

An interesting exercise! I managed to call the Winners (no real doubt) and the three relegations. What is interesting, though , are the indications of form changes for the seasons second half.

Man City feel apart, Wigan although losing form or dropped down 3 places. Villa got my expected points – everyone else just did better!

My calls on Chelsea, Man U , Liverpool and Aresnal were all pretty point close! Spurs, Bolton and Wigan just threw it away!

Finally West Ham did just what I predicted. Ah well better luck next season!