Showing posts with label iPad. Show all posts
Showing posts with label iPad. Show all posts

Saturday 5 August 2017

Fire


I'm quite surprised that people have stopped reading the blog. I will keep posting but it looks like I must have managed to offend everybody. My last post got ten hits, and that was probably just robots.

Anyway, this was just to say that I am pleased that I swapped my iPad for a Kindle Fire. Although I've hardly scratched the surface with it , I am using it to play music and watch TED talks and some YouTube videos, and it certainly is easier and outperforms my iPad Air (which is now, as far as I am concerned an ex iPad).

I thought I was doing well on Google searches but it turns out that if you have posted about what you are searching for , and you are logged in, it will bring back your posts, giving you the false impresssion that your search engine optimisation has been very successful.

Although I was going to go to bed early again , the internet has kept me awake, continually looking for ideas and stimulation.

The EFL kicked off and Preston won their opening match for the first time since 2008 , nine years back, against one of the expected promotion hopefuls. As with most seasons the Sky pundits see Preston as cannon fodder for the big clubs like Sheffield Wednesday. Next week it's Leeds, who turned us over severely last season, so it will be interesting to see what happens.

I was having a problem transferring data from my phone to my PC. My phone is a Sony and it turns out is you don't use the SONY USB cable (that's UNIVERSAL Serial Bus) then the connection may not work. So the question is why can't you use a generic cable to connect the two devices ... unless SONY want to make you pay more.

Anyway it's later than I thought so I'd best go to bed, and what better song than The Cure's "Let's Go To Bed"




Friday 21 July 2017

Fire


On Wednesday I ditched the iPad and got a Kindle Fire. Basically the iPad was an excellent device but tried to tie you into Apple and some non Apple apps didn't behave the way I wanted including YouTube and TED. I originally bought it because someone showed me GarageBand, but while that was great to play with, and I managed to record a couple of things, it forced into such things as defining the length of your song before you recorded it, and it took me six months to export my first MP3 after having recording the song. I think it was a space issue and on someone's advice I deleted a load of apps and it finally exported.

I recorded a couple more but, for me it was awkward. So eventually Garageband became something I dabbled with every now and then, and all I was really doing was keeping it charged and updating IOS.

So I got the Kindle Fire and it doesn't like Google apps so can't really use the Google Play Store or Google Docs or NOW TV (which uses some Google Framework). There are ways of circumventing this but I like life easy. I've not yet connected it to Social Media, but have installed TED and managed to print via Bluetooth to my Canon Pixma Printer. It was the first photograph I took with the device , which only has a 2 MP camera, but it was late at night and I wasn't sure what I was doing when taking the picture, but I took it and printed. That's one thing I never did with the iPad (although I never tried).

I've downloaded a Music Studio, which gets good reviews, but will check that out in the coming weeks.

I then played some YouTube stuff using my Bluetooth soundbar for sound and that was good.

Then the biggest plus' which in my opinion has mad the purchase worthwhile already , was the installation of BubbleUPnP which connected to my DNLA Server meaning that my whole digital music collection is available to me. I am now seriously thinking of giving away big chunks of my CD collection.

So far, so happy.

It's Friday, so we need a "fire" related song and the ones that spring to mind are Arthur Brown, Bruce Springsteen and The Pointer Sisters but as usual I'm going a little further afield with Nick Cave's take on "Fire Down Below" from Johnny Depp and Gore Verbinsky's pirate song project "Rogues Gallery".


Wednesday 19 July 2017

The iPad is Gone

It's grey and rainy and I am have hust been watching Ripper Street and Taboo, lots of grim , 19th Century violence and machinations.

Yesterday morning I had a dream , I think I was in Edinburgh, in some Polish shop but I had to go back to get a codec for a video but the only way out was via a hardboard catflap blocked by a China man on a trolley but I had to go out via side door into somewhere I had never been before , lots of high dark streets, then the alarm went off. I know this makes no sense but it was a dream and I can still remember some of it, so that's why I've written it down here. Some psychiatrist will probable get some insight into my psyche from that, or maybe not .. who knows.

Anyway for the last year I have probably used my iPad to charge up and update IOS and that's about it. I'd originally got it to play with Garageband and basically I just doodled with Garageband. I find my TASCAM portastudio and Audacity far easier to produce music with so I ditched the iPad and bought a Kindle Fire 8. All I've done with it so far is charge it up, but I  hope I will get more use out of it than I did the iPad. I just tried to install the Google Play Store but that wasn't successful and Alexa has talked to me.

I only have sixty thousand steeps to no to hit my million steps in three months in the Million Step Challenge, and after that I pledge to do 340K each month. It's a good way of keeping fit without the boring drudgery (as I see it) of gym membership,

Anyway I thought I would tell you about my dream and how I am no longer infected by Apple but we shall see how the Kindle performs. So a suitable record would be on of the Osmonds goodies, where they try to take on the Jackson 5 leaving you with "One Bad Apple".

Sleep well my friends.



Sunday 15 January 2017

Time


It's weird, over the last couple of months I seem to have less time to do what I want, often missing out on things so that I can have some me time to recuperate from the exertions of whatever I'm doing during the week. I haven't attended a gig since November and I've forgotten last time I met someone socially, the nearest being dropping in on my friend Krista at her KOTA place in the Grainger Market.

Tomorrow I go to the Freeman Hospital for a Liver Biopsy coincidentally the same day as a friend of mine is there for the start of his chemotherapy, hardly the best conditions for social interaction.

So what do I do , I set up another blog to give out free horse racing tips here. So I'm still looking for things to do, I'm also still trying to sort out recording possibilities with my set up, having discovered how to use the arpeggiator in GarageBand on the iPad, as well as catching up on TV and listening to music, at the moment "Queen" by Perfume Genius , followed by the stunning "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo" by Pere Ubu , both stunning records.

I hope this doesn't sound as though I'm complaining, I am making plans to do things and will be definitely more active in the new year. Sometimes I wish I didn't have to sleep and had 30 hour days not taken up with 8 hours of work, but don't we all feel like that.

I'm lucky that work is a pleasant place to work with some brilliant people there, and they also do a great job that I am glad to be a part of.

So what temporally themed song should I choose "Time" by Pink Floyd or David Bowie? I will probably shock you by choosing Coldplay's "Clocks" but the Buena Vista Social Club version.

Have a lovely night my gorgeous friends.

Thursday 8 December 2016

Is That A Christmas I See?



Three years ago I posted a seasonal song of the the day every day in December, obviously there's no point in me doing it this year but you can sample it here. Christmas is two weeks on Sunday and we'll get bombarded with pleas for goodwill to all men and looking after those less fortunate than us from people like Gary Barlow, who , if they paid their taxes, would go some way to alleviating the suffering caused by poverty. Sorry I went of track there. The point I really want to make is we should spread goodwill and help EVERY DAY and not just at Christmas. I once had a boss who was a miserable spiteful git throughout the year (his introductory words to me were "If I was allowed I would sack you on the spot" ... I replied "and nice to meet you too"), then at Christmas he was everybody's friends. That doesn't work for me. You can always be supportive and friendly.

On a separate not , it's been a good week and on holiday I learned how to use an option on Garageband which I had bought a keyboard for. The keyboard can go back now and I will produce something at the weekend hopefully. with my iPad.

Last night going to sleep I used the iPad to play my copy of "Timewind" by Klaus Schulze to drift off to sleep too. Technology is brilliant at times.

Anyway we're in December now and maybe I will include a seasonal song and I have decided to go with two Public Service Broadcasting songs Elfstedentocht Part One and Part Two . Here's the story:

" In April 2013 we were approached by the organisers of the Explore the North festival in Leeuwarden, Netherlands. 

They asked if we would use some footage of the Elfstedentocht (Eleven Cities Tour), the world's biggest ice skating race, and write some songs around it. 

So we did. "

Have a brilliant Thursday my friends

Tuesday 1 November 2016

Nothing About Samhain and All Hallows - #ALifeInNumbers #43



I’m obviously a bit on my guard after the data drain caused by the Windows 10 update. The main “enhancements” see to be trying to make me log into OneDrive every time I connect to the internet and telling me I need to upgrade my copy of Microsoft Office (I’m on 10 but obviously I need their rented version) . I still like having some control Microsoft.

Similarly Apple did an update that forced me to add a credit card so I could use Apple Pay. I don’t think I will ever have an iPhone, and I won’t use my iPad to pay for anything, but it was a dead end, give us your credit card details or you can’t use your device. Very nice Apple you have really gone up in my estimation.

Anyway it lookslike yesterday I used about .7 Gb of data. My usual use is maybe 1 Gb a week, but that is in environments where wifi is often available, and this week I am in an area where wifi and phone signals are seen as a form of magic only practiced by “outsiders”.

Anyway we are up to number 43 of #ALifeInNumbers on this beautiful sunny 1st of November. I thought it was unusual that 39,40,41 and 42 could have been represented by those numbers as the song titles. I didn’t use 42 for reasons explained in my last post.

Number 43 I have no such qualms about , and I am going for “Made-Up Love Song 43” by The Guillemots, one of those bands I haven’t really followed but always enjoy hearing, they are just a casualty of there being so much great music to listen to in my musical universe.

Anyway enjoy your first day of November,Today is either All Hallows Day or Samhain depending on your belief system. Enjoy and and celebrate.

Sunday 30 October 2016

When You Take You Eye Off The Ball - #ALifeInNumbers #41



Today something happened that shouldn’t have happened to me. I’m in a low connectivity area so I’ve been using my phone for tethering to give me internet access. I have a contract that gives me 4Gb a month which is usually plenty of data.

This morning I was doing a couple of blog posts and the laptop required what I thought was a routine update. Then all of a sudden web sites were not available. I looked at my phone and there were messages saying I’d used 80% of my data then all of my data. I thought my phone company have screwed up again, then I checked and saw that according to the phone it had used up all the data in background tethering.

So it wasn’t my phone company, but I noticed the iPad had connected, so that was the next thing to blame because Apple products are always downloading stuff in the background. So I bit the bullet and bought 10 Gb of data, and the download had finished then it said it was 50% complete.

I disconnected the tethering but the laptop continued to update itself, for the next two hours. It was that massive Windows 10 Update that happened on my desktop a couple of months back.

The thing is that I have experience of IT and mobile phones so I should have realised what was happening. But that is a lesson learned and it won’t happen again to me … I hope.

Though we cannot foresee everything no matter how much information we have at our disposal.

Anyway we hit number 41 in #ALifeinNumbers and the song I’ve chosen in #41 by Dave Matthews, an artist who doesn’t get enough exposure.

Here is some excellent guitar playing for you to enjoy, and for me to enjoy too. There are another 18 songs to go, in the sequence so we will hit the end probably in mid November.

Last month over 3,000 people visited my blog, that’s 100 people a day. It’s not a great number in the scheme of thing but given the number of visits I got for my first posts it’s nice to know that people return to look at what I have to say. So enjoy Dave Matthews and enjoy your Sunday evening.

The next one is 41 which everyone knows, because Douglas Adams told them, is the meaning of life.

Wednesday 28 October 2015

Another Day Another Software Update - #30 - 1986 - Hollywood Beyond - What's The Color Of Money


Another day and software update on the iPad. I mean these are getting weekly and I spend more time updating the damned thing than actually using the damned thing. And it still asks you for passwords after it has updated , though Windows isn't much better. I've been waiting for Windows 10 on the tower for three months , yet Windows 8 is still updating , while my laptop went Windows 10 a month back. I'm sure it will come at some point.



Money Go Round
The musical Odyssey reaches year 30 and I've chosen Hollywood Beyond's The Color of Money , I could have chosen The Damned's Eloise but this edged it.just because it's original and a one hit wonder.

So have a brilliant day , apart from Lee , you have a great night .

Wednesday 29 July 2015

The Order Of Disorder


Last night I watched an episode on Odyssey on catch up TV. I'm also reading "A Brief History Of Time" by Stephen Hawking and today discovered what a quark is . I knew the name and know it's a vegetarian filler food but I didn't actually know what a quark was. This started me thinking and I recalled an incident from twenty years back after taking a psychometric test....

...after the test the guy told me I had a problem , but it could possibly be corrected. I asked him what the problem was. He told that my problem was that I always wanted to be right! I didn't see this as a problem, and asked him didn't everybody want to be right , as an example didn't he want to be right in his assessment assessment of me? His assessment was correct , but I didn't see it as a problem and still don't see it as a problem. I still want to always be right, but that statement unqualified does not show the full picture. I WANT to be always right BUT I am often WRONG, and when I am wrong I want to be told how I am wrong and to be shown how to get it right. I know that I'm not infallible , I would just like to be .... especially when I put a bet on the horses! At the time I was working with a manager who took me to one side after I's questioned a situation and told me "You might be right ... but I'm in charge" ....   though that was was true I knew he was wrong and I was right but there was nothing I could do about the situation. I was right but not in control.

And this sort of brings me to the next part , is that in general we want to be in control , but not be controlled although we may need and want direction. When I was watching the TV last night I was thinking before the option of recording we were very regimented by TV . You had to be at your set at a particular time or else you missed that program , and god forbid there were clashes , yet people still complained about repeats (yet most digital stations serve nothing but repeats these days), but now I very seldom watch live TV, I let my recorder build up what I think I want to watch and watch it in almost chaotic fashion. Whatever I want whenever I want and with apps like BBC iPlayer and my Samsung Note 4 Phone and my iPad and Laptop wherever I want. So is that disorder or the control I want ?  I think it's latter , I feel I have tools to manage my disorder and allow me to order my situation as I want.

Need Control
I do think it's good to be right , but you have to also be open to new ideas and the fact that you may be wrong. We are at our most vulnerable when we lose control and are reliant the power and ability of others to help us get it right. I always try to be there for others , and part of that is that I want others to be there for me if I need their help.

Given the tone of this post , what else could I choose but Joy Division's She's Lost Control.





Incidentally this is post 911 given my last post was about numbers.

Anyway I didn't think I would finish this , but I still want to be right , I still want to help people , I still want to be there for my friends and family , I sill want to be in control and I still want to have a wonderful time. So everyone have a fantastic day.




Monday 23 March 2015

A Complaint Or Two


I tend to keep this blog positive and try not to moan about things. Although one thing I have moaned about is that positive things seem to get little or no coverage , whereas gripes, moans and complaints  seem to capture most of the proletariat. Always wondered about that, I would love to get on the bus and overhear something generally nice or positive that had caught someone's fancy. Having said that , most of my friends are positive and usually have good things to say about things, or tell me about good things that have happened or are happening.

Anyway here are my three life complaints:

iPad
  1. Shrink wrap on CDs, Biscuits and Weetabix. Why are they almost impossible to get into, sometimes damaging the content as you try harder and harder to remove the packaging , sometimes resorting to blades to do so , potentially cutting the CD or it's cover.
  2. Radio and TV Adverts where someone reads the Terms and Conditions but it's speeded up, meaning you can;t really take it in anyway. This is the aural equivalent of the unreadable small print that you have with your mobile phone contract , or Apple or Android apps. I just updated my iPad and there was a 37 page Terms and Conditions document that I was supposed to agree to before I could do those essential updates.
  3. People  who refuse to watch films if the have subtitles or are in black and white

Anyway after saying that the Tyneside Bar and Cafe is showing Amelie as a freebie tonight. It's French and it is one of the greatest feel good films ever. It really is a must see. Watching films like this lifts your spirit , and does talking to great friends , laughing , smiling , enjoying yourself. There is so much good in the world take advantage of it. Have a brilliant day. I'm going to include Eddie Izzard's iTunes Terms and conditions routine and the trailer for Amelie for you to enjoy and to make you smile and laugh.

Sunday 25 January 2015

Ain't Friends Just The Best



This post is not about anything in particular. You may know that I am a "man of leisure" at the moment (for leisure substitute volunteer work, interviews, traveling , networking , organising things, and generally not having a lie in but managing a bit of catch up TV, and possibly finally getting my Garageband / Alesis Dock / iPad set up so I may be actually be able to record something in the spare time that is taken up with everything else in this list) . The thing is having things to do does make you appreciate sometimes having some time to yourself.

Yesterday was really special though, a sort of leaving do that turned to an extremely chilled and brilliant catch up with five really great friends I've worked with over the last seven or eight years, and a commitment to doing more of these with the friends who couldn't make it. Starting off with a trip to a couple of record shops with Chris we bot visited Reflex and RPM but didn't get time for Beatdown and bought stuff by newish bands such as Panda Bear and Alvvays. Jon got a seven inch vinyl single by White Lung who I've never heard of as well as some nice beer glasses.

Dat Bar Decor
We then met up with Darren, Neil and Jon is the Central Bar before a leisurely visit to a few Newcastle pubs including The Town Wall, The Forth, The Stand , Dat Bar (where Neil sample some 7.2% lager that they wouldn't sell in pints) and finally finishing at The Head Of Steam. Darren told me that I was getting a subscription to Rough Trade as a leaving present from my team and colleagues (plus an Amazon Voucher , because like 'em or loathe 'em you can't go wrong with an Amazon Voucher and Steve and Sara's has already gone towards my new Samsung soundbar / subwoofer).





It was just amazing to spend a day doing nothing in particular, enjoying each others company, catching up and committing to doing this on a monthly basis. One of the great things about social media, email and mobile phones is that it is very easy to keep in touch these days if you want to. Next week I have my dad's 80th birthday and his present is going to be to get him online, so that will be great fun.

Oh and the cheery on the top of yesterday's cake is that my phone is temporarily reconnected while they sort me out with a proper tariff.

I was trying to think of a decent piece of music to go with this and the Steve'N'Seagulls just presented itself, uplifting , great fun and impressive , sort of like yesterday.

All in all and absolutely brilliant day and looking forward to a lot more like this

Thursday 1 January 2015

Twelve Hours Into 2015



Well it's now 2015, after a great New Year's Eve Party at Mark and Helen's managing to catch up with lots of friends and people I haven't seen in ages, talking about all sorts before a round of Auld Lang Syne to ring in the New Year.

Built On Glass
The first album I've put on this year is Built on Glass by Chet Faker recommended by a great friend, which reminds me of Brian Eno and Van Der Graaf / Peter Hamill smoothed down , just wondering if the name is a nod to the great Chet Baker , that's a lot of musical references I wasn't expecting to make in my first post of 2015. They are all worth following up as well as the excellent Chet Faker album.

I'm sure this year will find me liking lots of new music, just like last year and every year before that. There will be books to read, films and plays to see, people to meet, songs to write , my book to finish , which is now two months overdue, this blog to keep going , songs to write, and to try and get Garageband to work properly with the Alesis connection deck on the iPad.

So it is going to be a busy and brilliant 2015, I am so looking forward to it. It's my dad's 80th Birthday in January so there's a surprise party for him and I will have to think of a suitable present to get him. So without further ado I'm going to wish you all a Happy New Year and going to enjoy the rest of my day.

I've include some fireworks from Newcastle / Gateshead last night . Happy New Year again.

Wednesday 31 December 2014

Nearly New Year

Happy New Year - spelt out in CDs
Well it's the last day of 2014, and I've been working today, but will glad to be finished. 2014 has been very good with lots of great things happening. I've posted in various blogs the ups and downs of the year and really there have been a lot more ups than downs.

Have met and socialised with lots of wonderful people, been up and down the country on various premises , had some great holidays , seen some great places and done some great things. I read books and listened to music, been to gigs , been dead on my feet from various things and always bounced back.

It's a big thanks you to all my friends and family all over the world and close to home, and I think 2015 is going to be just amazing for me and I hope for all of you. Life is often what you make it although there are times when it tries to knock you off your feet , or so it seems, but often it's how you approach situations that determines what you make of it.

I find joy in lots of things and seeing and talking with a friend means so much to me, better than any physical possession. Was talking with a guy from the car hire place and was saying that since they were kids my girls have had £30 spent on them , and they have always appreciated that, and I do feel for families who need to top last year's £400 iPad for their 6 year old.   It's people , hugs , love and fun that make life good. Possessions are are only good if they make sharing better.

 
 
Anyway this is just a short Happy New Year to you all. I'm including my "Happy New Year in CDs" picture , and possibly my favourite single of the year , "What" by Broncho.

Happy New Year to all of you!!


Saturday 30 August 2014

Saturday Morning 2:30 AM and an unprovoked dig at Apple

Martin and Dave
Wide awake , although feeling slightly tired, but as it's still effectively late Friday night , very early Saturday morning after a manic couple of week both at work and socially and the fact that I 'm going to see two of my all time heroes Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick next Saturday at The Tyneside Irish Centre, I thought , what the hell , I'll just get up and go and write something and see what's happening in the world.

I've just realised that this has taken me 45 minutes to put together though I've managed to learn a few things, and put another smile or two on my face. I do love the way how one thought can lead to another and if you don't reign in your mind who knows where you will end up.


It's quite funny how online spelling checkers keep tryting to tell me it's "center" not "centre"  , but when I'm using the HTML tag it's <CENTER> not <CENTRE> in one of those rare situations where you get conformity in the name of standards , though I can see Apple trying to change HTML tags just because they are Apple to something like MIDDLEIZE and then patenting the word and their users defending it on the principle that "there must be a good reason for it". Oh and by the way I do have an iPad, which I bought because of Garageband , which, when it decides to work and not hide necessary controls is brilliant, but there's probably a good reason why it does that. As this is just text I'm not going to put in a smiley face or say "LOL", but I am obviously saying these things with my tongue firmly in cheek.

The fact that I was able to write that paragraph means that my mind is obviously wide awake even if my body is not quite there. Though tonight is the first time in ten days I've gone to bed without bandages on my arm, and I can't tell you how good that feels. Having them on was neccessary but , getting them off is brilliant. While I'm not sure I'll be able to play the intro to AC/DC's Thunderstruck just yet I am feeling absolutely great now.

The other thing I'll be able to wash and shower without trying to keep my left arm dry. God bless the NHS.

Anyway everybody enjoy your weekend and this gives me an excuse to post this video as well, by Finnish band Steve'n'Seagulls which really is impressive.


Saturday 24 May 2014

Here Comes The Weekend



Well the skies are grey but it's a three day weekend with lots of things happening , including me doing Good Day / Bad Day on Steve Lamacq's show on Radio 6 on Monday.

Also I've finally got my guitar , iPad and Alesis dock working so hope to be able to put some more music down assuming Garageband wants to play.

The rain is well and truly here with a vengeance but that just means that the garden is getting watered.

I've got my ticket to see the Eagulls in October at the Cluny with my friend Gillian. But even better, last night saw my mate Tom Tierney for the first time in ages who was effusing about the new Wolfenstein game and on absolutely top form. He told me about the version of The House Of The rising Sun in the game which I've included here, what if the Nazis had won?

Anyway enjoy the rest of the weekend fmy friends

Monday 7 April 2014

Amazon 90




Over the weekend I bought a Google Chromecast. While the concept is clever it doesn't really give me anything extra to my viewing experience, and took an age to set up, was invisible to my iPad and then on day 2 I had to reset it up again, so against my better judgement I decided to return it. I packaged it up and when through Amazon's return process and first they offer an instant refund, and an option called Collect+ where they offer "alternative" collection points where you can drop the item off.

This turned out to be my local Nisa store which opens at 6 am so I went round and dropped it off. I'm sorry to bypass the Post Office in this way but because of working hours I couldn't drop the package off at my local Post Office til Saturday.

On my may back I got talking to to a 90 year old ex railwayman (original from Byker) , who was eulogising about being out enjoying early mornings and gushing with positivity , and really great old guy, and he's the reason I chose the Kinks song for this post.

So this morning I've had a lift from the old and the new, so that is a fantastic way to start the week, which bodes well for a brilliant week ahead. I hope yours is going to be as good as mine.

Saturday 5 April 2014

Time To Yourself, Folk Coincidence and Three Ways to Spell Angie



This weekend I am thoroughly relaxing, not pressured to do a thing. This means no shopping , no planning , just doing what I want when I want, and it's certainly done me good today. I am lucky I can actually do that, because it gives you the change to recharge, think good thoughts and just feel good about life an everything.

Two great friends got married today, I wished them well, but didn't go because I know they would have a lot of friends there adn I know they had a fantastic day.

I had my own fantastic day, just being able to relax, and decide how I'm going to spend this week.

Ralph McTell - Spiral Staircase
Fore some reason the song "Spiral Staircase" had being going through my head. It#s my favourite Ralph McTell song, though I was always struck by the album's beautiful cover. Yesterday I decided to try out a Google Chromecast so ordered one using Amazon Prime and it turned up today. It seemed a bit temperamental setting up , and my iPad refuses to acknowledge it's existence but my Samsung Note is fine with it, but I tried a Youtube video which was fine, then a BBC iPlayer program about Bert Jansch and the first performer was Ralph McTell playing Davy Graham's Angie (or Anji or Angi as it's sometimes listed), which once you can play that you can play guitar. I can't play it by the way.




Anyway that's another coincidence, but it has been a great relaxing day, and I hope your day has been good too.

Friday 21 February 2014

Friday Is Here



I know it's not the last working day of the week for everyone but it is for me and a lot of others. The Arctic Winter and Bulgarian Invasion forecast by the redtops and tabloid rags never appeared, so generally life is good, and thought it was time I posted something.

I do intent to do a blog post by talking into my phone and maybe I'll do that this weekend, and I also need to do some more recording. I have in my head an idea for an album, although I can't say a thing about it as the title will give it away, although it's probably already been done but not by me , yet. The old Apple iPad with Garageband will be my recording studio for that.

I've also keeping up writing my book , with an October finish target and that I will hit. Anyway I'm drinking Lemsip to stave off my cold and will soon be leaving for work. There are lots of Friday related songs but there's only one I'm going to leave on here for you , The Cure's Friday I'm In Love (again).

Have a great Friday everyone, I certainly will.

Thursday 7 November 2013

Keep Taking The Tablets



I'm surprised at the number of advertisements for tablets and the horribly named "phablets". Tablets are gret for looking at things generally, but not that brilliant for keyboard based creativity. I have an iPad and mainly use it for watching downloaded programs on BBC iPlayer and TED.

I actually bought it because a friend showed me Garageband on it, and I've manged to create two pieces of music on it and actually put one on commercial sale just to see if I could do it, so it's brilliant for apps that are customed towards it's strengths, the Artrage app is another good piece of software that is great on the iPad.

I also have a Samsung Note 2 phone which allows me internet and other access as well as having a screen that allows me to watch downloaded programs.

So it just strikes me as overkill the amouth that these devices are being pushed at us, maybe it's the run up to Christmas, but I now just see another tablet. Is it my attention deficit disorder and I want something else to stimulate me? I'm also worried about young children who have these and then ten minutes later are bored. Which is why I thought the Raspberry Pi was such a brilliant concent as it would get kids (and adults) into actually doing things rather that passively expecting to be entertained.

Anyway that's enough and I'm sure a lot of you will have tablet's on you Christmas shopping list for either yourself or your loved ones. And I'm sure you will find a use for yours. Below is a video featuring  my first published piece from Garageband.

Tuesday 5 November 2013

200



This is my 200th blog post this year, so I can still obviously use a keyborad. At some point I want to try and dictate a post into my phone on some microphone and put it up unedited to see if it makes sense. I've still got around sixty days left this year so possibly expect to finish on 240 or 250 posts.

I was hoping to do the Pickering to Whitby steam train run , but just checked the timetable and the winter one kicked in this week, which means no midweek trains. C'est la vie.

Either Facebook or Google have stopped allowing the use of Youtube or embedded images when I post a link to Facebook, which is annoying. I didn't want an image of me for each post, I wanted something relevant to the actual post. I will research into why this is happening.

Anyway, the holiday is continuing with much relaxation, watching The Wire, Game Of Thrones and Boardwalk Empire. I now have lots of technology at my disposal so I can download stuff off BBC's iPlayer so I caught up with the excellent Orphan Black on my iPad as well as a program on The Who's Quadrophenia.

Orphan Black
As I type this I'm listening to the J Geils Band using my Samsung Note phone as a music player, though just switched it to the wonderful Penguin Eggs by Nic Jones, an album that should be in everyone's collection.

The thing is where I am in Ampleforth I don't have a mobile signal, so that means another form of total relaxation. It's sometimes nice to just cut yourself off, although I'm obviously posting this, and keeping abreast of the times using the BBC site and posting on Instagram as well so people can see what I'm finding interesting. Well I'm going to put an image on here and a John Cooper Clarke song that I loved from the first moment I heard it, with some great lines and a soft porn soundtrack, take a listen. Everyone have a wonderful day everyone.