I Can't Stand The Rain and Security

The continuing snow rain of the last week has caused a leak in the front bedroom requiring professional curtain cleaning and me to ascend the ladder at some point to check out the situation. This will probably require someone who knows what they are doing to sort out the situation , though employing people to do things in areas where you don't normally go , you wonder whether they cause more damage than the fix. Oh I also managed to get BT to finally come and remove a ten year old unused telephone wire that had damaged my guttering after many ping pong phone calls between them and Virgin , everyone denying responsibility. I was about to just cut the thing myself but the Openreach guy who came out was prompt , efficient and courteous. This is how things should be.

The we have Google's annnoying security. I have a Panasonic Blu-Ray player with internet access which includes Picassa and Youtube applications. While trying to access my account it kept telling me by credentials were invalid. Then I get an email / warning from Google saying that an unauthorised attempt to access my account has been made. I clicked the stuff and it tells me I have to access the device in ten minutes to authorise . Well i'm sorry I'm off to work. Whikle I know we need security , you shouldn't suddely stop access that I've had for two years becaus you are changing your systems.

Connectivity, Eclipse and a First Time For Everything

Last night I watched via the internet , facebook , and Panasonic solar technology , on the recomendation of a very good friend a solar eclipse in Queensland Australia. Apart for the images and the event being spectacular it was amazing to see how connected we can all be in this digital age . Instant video feeds from 9000 miles and 10 hours away while being exactly in the same moment. How many thousands of us shared that . An event that even ten years ago could not have happened. People watch on their TVs , computers and phones , took and shared pictures . Absolutely amazing.


It reminded of seeing Bill Bryson a couple of years ago relating a story of a guy who organised a scientific expedition to India to watch a similar event a few hundred years back. The guy spent years preparing and was thwarted by thick cloud cover. Last night was good because of the twin feeds from Port Douglas and Fitzroy Island , making sure we had at least one clear view.

This brings me on to the excellent new advert for EE featuring Kevin Bacon selling the concept of total connectivity in todays digital world . Kevin Bacon is still a top guy and is excellent in the advert, telling us about the connectivity which the Eclipse event was made for. By the way Tremors is one of my favourite all time films:


And then this morning I relented in my Starbucks boycott to pay for my first coffee with my phone using their rather efficient app. That was fine only slightly marred by me being confronted by three beardy beggars demanding 40p as a walked out of the shop . I was bigger and scarier than they were so I made my way to the train to enjoy my coffee frappacino!

Blu Rayed and HD'd

Following the demise of our old CRT TV on our return from Dublin , we replaced with a new HD Samsung model , upgrading to a Virgin HD box and getting a Panasonic Blu Ray Media Centre, see here.

While HD is hardly a quantum leap in quality , the Blu Ray player has impressed me as it handles DVD upscaling, DIVX , Music and internet access in it's stride . Most Blu Ray players are in fact media centres which makes watching and sharing stuff extremely easy.