Showing posts with label Apple. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Apple. Show all posts

Monday 9 November 2020

On Pins


To get to this point I had to enter a PIN for my computer and password to get to this site, I also had to enter a PIN for my phone as well (though that's not related to this). When I was at Littlewoods in 1980 we had to use a swipe card and enter a pin. These days it's often just a swipe card, even for payments, so if someone picks up your card they can use it.

I still maintain that the only safe place for a pass key is in your head. People extol the virtues of password keeper systems, but come on , would you give your house keys to a nameless entity, and what if someone cracks the password you use for that.

Then there's fingerprints and retinal scans, a friend of mine emailed work telling he'd sanded off his fingerprints so couldn't get into his iPhone , so what could he do. I think there was a work round but again corporations are always supposedly saying they are increasing security by making things less secure. How often do websites and Google suggest them remembering your password? So if someone walks up to your computer and you are not logged out they then have full access.

Also too complex passwords are no good because people write them down, I see so many people go into notepads to get their password for whatever they are accessing , so I know where THEY keep their passwords.

The other thing is more that four passwords, is a security risk, because people start to write them down.

My passwords are variations on unmemorable phrases like say fishandchips or kilburnandthehighroads , though needless to say mine are nothing like that.

As I mentioned Kilburn and The High Roads (Ian Dury's old band)  , I found this live take of "Vidiot" for you to enjoy, though it was only ever performed live, I have been unable to find a recorded version.

Sunday 8 September 2019

Streams


On twitter I keep seeing a poll for what is the best streaming app, Spotify , Amazon or Apple Music (or whatever it's called this week). There are lots of other similar more genre specific apps like Pandora, and people often want to share their Spotify playlists with me.

I don't do Spotify or any other music streaming service. Someone makes a lot of money from streaming and, unless you're Ed Sheeran or Adele, it's not  the artist. Daft Punk's "Random Access Memory" was the biggest selling album of that year and they made about £13K from streaming which might have paid for a lunch break.

People often like the "if you like that you'll like this" option, but that is so open to abuse, and let's face it payola has been around since records were first sold.

Most people listen on mobile devices and the unseen cost for that is streaming uses data, so if you are not on free or unlimited wifi you network provider can start coining it.

Also if you expect your streaming service why not listen to a radio station and trusted DJs and shows. The last I heard artists got paid £50 if their song is played on the radio. I don't know if it's the same now or the same on all stations but it's a damned sight better than streaming rates.

Also given that often today's youth can't listen to more than 20 seconds of a song how do you remunerate for part streams? Many years ago Peter Gabriel was involved with a company call "WE" who's plan was to set of a system where you paid a nominal small fee to listen to a song. I objected to this as if I like music I want to buy a single or album and play it in perpetuity.

Youtube seems to be OK, it's generally free with on ads, and I don't hear artists complaining about it so they must be getting adequate recompense or you would see music being continually pulled. However video uses a lot more data than music does so this can be another money spinner for mobile phone companies.

I done several posts related to this (click on the first Spotify link to see) but this is my own history of recorded music and this talks on how music should be rewarded.

Last week I heard Sam Fender for the first time, yesterday I ordered his debut album and this is about how I heard it on the radio.

If streaming is your bag that's fine but I will stay with radio, visiting record shops , gigs and enjoying music I buy.

Sunday 21 October 2018

Did Digital Nearly Kill Music ... And is Vinyl Bringing It Back To Life?


Three years back I wrote a history of music media in a post here, and at the weekend I nipped into Vinyl Guru and got talking with the lady in there about how when you buy vinyl you feel you have actually got something. You have sleeves, booklets and picture discs. I'm sure I did a post that said CDs were the McDonaldisation of music, all of a sudden you could skip songs , program the order , and the CD jewel cases are not something that look good, though they are very functional.

MP3 became even more dismissive of musical content, and a lot of the iPod generation can't even listen to a full song. When you wanted to record a tape for someone it had to be done in real time, even from CD, but now it's all Spotify and Deezer playlists which, lets face it can be done in thirty seconds, although a well done one can take time to put together.

These days I see a lot more people browsing the vinyl sections of shops and Newcastle now has a lot of shops where you can buy vinyl and this post has a list of them. One thing is there don't seem to be that many impressive covers such as Jethro Tull's "Thick as a Brick" newspaper cover, or Hawkwind's "In Search Of Space", although "Space Ritual" is a available in it's full six square foot fold out. I was in Reflex and noticed  "Faust Tapes" was £25, when I bought the original release it was 49p !

Vinyl provides more than just music, and the shops often provide coffee and food while you browse. People still complain about the cost of music, but remember if albums had kept pace with inflation you would be paying £80 for an album.

When I was in Vinyl Guru I spotted a 12" copy of Biko by Peter Gabriel, which I mainly wanted for the "B" side "Shosholoza" which I don't think is officially available digitally, but I found this lovely rendition of it for you to enjoy.

Wednesday 19 September 2018

I Think I'll ......


How many times do you decide to do a trivial task and it turns into a hell of a lot more than you expected. Today was bin day so I thought I'd just empty the bin in the bedroom last night, this then turned into every bin in the house before dragging out the bin to the the street for the binmen's convenience.

Then there was a couple of days washing up to deal with and one small fabric wash turned into three biggish loads which have to be hung to dy after they've finished, but to make room had to take a load of towels off the drying racks to make room.

Then dug dug out my only two unripped Cracker albums, "Kerosene Hat" and "Redux - Greatest Hits" and I use iTunes to rip CDs. Remember in the early days of Java, when every time you wanted to use a Java enabled app you had to download and install the latest 2 Mb installation and this was pre broadband, it was bloody painful. Well that's what iTunes (and probably all other Apple updates) is like today, 250 Mb to give you the same as you had before with probably more advertising.

The I start ripping "Kerosene Hat" and find it has a hundred tracks on it, most of which are blank spacers, decided it would be quickest to rip and then delete.

So taking a lot longer to do things I expected to do yesterday and today.

ALso my lurgi (I'm off to the docs tomorrow) is causing me to fall behind on my walking targets, so September maybe the first month where I fail tohit the 340K target. It's not bothering me too much as I think it's maybe taking energy that should be going towards recuperation, but we shall see.

So I'll leave you with another Cracker song "Low".

Enjoy your Wednesday


Tuesday 7 August 2018

Three


This was going to be the third post I posted yesterday for #August50 ,which I think I've decided will probably be impossible without resorting to one line posts, which plenty of bloggers do. The other alternative is Vlogging but I doubt anyone would want to see me, and hear me talk, it's bad enough me actually rambling on in single words.

Today I don't want to walk into work, I don't want to mow my lawn, and lots of other things but they have to be done so I will attempt all of them. Obviously the black cloud is still floating aroundbut I don't have to let it cast it's shadow over everything.

I also need to change the music on my phone, although there's probably a lot more on there than most people have in their music collection because they now subscribe to Deezer or Spotify or Apple Music or Amazon Unlimited or YoutubeMusic and it plays exactly what the want to hear. Think about that for a second. Why not get a radio?

Music like BBC4 is a sort of bane of my life because you put them on and then you're happy to stay watching or listening until you are forced to switch off. 6Music has provided me with todays music, "Pool Hall Richard" by The Faces.

Enjoy your Tuesday.

Sunday 7 January 2018

Straws


It's 9:30 on this Sunday night and iTunes is still importing my music collection. It started at around ten am this morning. I don't know how far through it because I can't query it without stopping he import. Also as it imports it starts randomly playing songs from album playlists, it never plays a complete song and the songs it plays are random and unless I stop the import not of the buttoms work. Typical Apple rubbish programming. I'm just hoping iTunes will work when it has imported all the songs.

Anyway today we went for a nice brunch at the Tyneside Bar and Cafe and were treated to "Close Encounters of The Third Kind" (now a thirty year old Steven Spielberg classic) . While at the bar we got talking about the plastic straws that were in my mang smoothie and I asked about if it would be more eco friendly to use paper straws. They said they were often not actively providing staraws but leaving them in a cup on the bar so those who wanted them could take them. One guy also pointed out that paper straws are often laminated like paper coffee cups therefore probably can't be recycled. Here's one campaign to make a difference, though there are a few. If you go to a pub or restaurant state you don't want a straw BEFORE they serve you , not after they've brought the drink with a straw in it.

So what should I leave you with at the end of this weekend, I suppose "Think For A Minute" by The Housemartins really instructs us how to approach the problems of addressing small changes to look after our environment.

Monday 1 January 2018

One One Two Zero One Eight


Happy new year and an obvious song to welcome in the New Year would be U2's "New Year's Day", but that is a bit obvious, and I'm currently working therough "Songs of Experience" their latest album which I was completely unaware of until my friend John Scott mentioned he was listening to it. It's a follow up to "Songs of Innocence" , the one they deposited free into everyone's iTunes accounts that people then couldn't easily get rid off which turned a lot of people into your typical red top readers being offended by something that , at worst , was just an annoyance.

The new album is very listenable all though there it's nothing that hits you like a hammer and the first ten songs have very low key production although toward the end you begin to hear U2 signatures such as the duplo guitar and Bono starting to actually stretch his vocal chords. My favourite song so far is "Lights of Home" which sound more like an old blues song with a wonderful guitar sound and ruff.

Today I've seen a rainbow, and been out to the Co Op and it's another month to start my steps but I don't think I will hit my 11K today.

So it's a  start to a New Year and I have just found another reason to hate iTunes , tryied to play the beautiful "To Ohio" by The Low Anthem then I had to log in to play it, then it told me my computer wasn't authorised, so I had to autorise it (two logins to play one song), I do hate Apple, they may look good but their systems are full of holes and stupidity.

Anyway I found a live version of "To Ohio" and that I think is a great start to 2018. Start having a good New Year now.



Sunday 17 September 2017

Emerald City Binge


I never binge watch but this weekend has seen me watch seven and a bit episodes of Emerald City, which looks great and has pulled some great characters out of the hat (Toto is an Alsatian and the Tin Man is a Steam Punked Steve Austin) , the Wizard is possibly the least convincing charater but even he is more than passable. I'm surprised NBC have cancelled it but I assume it'll join  the likes of Firefly. I am looking forward to the final episode but it has been a great ride.

The iPod I found turned out to be completely dead and Apple manage to be complete arses again by asking me to make an appointment, it's a bloody shop not a surgery , so I went to CEX who checked it out and said it had been water damaged and was completely wrecked. I was going to hand it in at the Police Station on Westgate road but that has been closed down and replaced by one that only opens 9-5 Monday to Friday, that's progress isn't it.

Today's #AlbumoftheDay #1 was Vampire Weekend's "Contra" which owes a lot to Paul Simon's "Graceland" and Sounth African Jit. It is a great album but at times you think you are listening to Paul Simon.

I then put on Fairport Convention's "Babbacombe Lee" their concept album about John Lee the double murderer who survived several attempts to hang whne the gallows assembly failed to work.

Two excellent albums and now it's time for 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".


Thursday 4 May 2017

So Much For May Songs

Games For May - 1967

I was going to post a tune a day in May but I thing two songs in four days has scuppered that idea, although I will maintain the May theme if I can, and today's will be "See Emily Play" by Pink Floyd which features the line "Games For May" the titles of summer events Pink Floyd were involved in around 1967.

This week has been a little fraught to say the least, starting the Million Step Challenge then my Samsung Note becoming unreliable, replacing it with a Huawei P8 that wouldn't run the Barclays banking app (this has been the situation since January with no resolution in sight. Huawei blamed Barclays, Barclays pretend nothing is wrong much like Apple. EE gave me a refund on condition I bought another phone. I pointed out it wasn't actually fit for purpose and they replied "we just sell the phones"


Anyway I ended up with a Sony Xperia XA which was much cheaper and isn't too bad, apart from slow start up. I'm also worried it is not recording my steps properly . What I was sure was 4K steps recorded on the Samsung (home to Denton Burn) was recorded as less than 2K steps. Tomorrow I will walk to the Post Office Depot to pick something up and that should be about 2.2K . If it's less I will know I have a problem.

Anyway if I post another May Song tonight I could be back up to speed tonight, though I am feeling very tired.

So that;s what's happened this week so far, I'm sure it's not finished yet.

Tuesday 11 April 2017

I Have A Theremin And I am Going To Use It


For some reason I decided I wanted a theremin, then found this theremin app on Amazon. If you want I'd suggest you get the free version and I use the play store as Amazon decided I didn't own a number of apps I'd downloaded from them. Suggestions were made that I could deinstall go and do something online and then reinstall and then they might work. My time is worth a lot more than the the few pounds I've lost, so I use Google Play Store, as my Samsung Note 4 is Android (although BlueTooth doesn't work now and Google & Samsung like Apple won't acknowledge that the problem exists, so I have to use wired headphones).

Anyway I'm still playing with my Tascam home studio and the theremin will be great fun to add to the recordings. My phone also has a great drum machine on that I paid for from the Play Store (Rock Drum Machine) so along with my guitars, keyboard and voice I have everything I need to do what I want apart from the ability to play or sing properly, but it's amazing that now you can have a full studio effectively in your bedroom.

Apparently the theremin was invented accidentally (it was meant to be an alarm) but Leon Theremin (Термéн) patented it in 1928 (see here)and it's been a staple of many science fiction soundtracks and even Midsomer Murders!

I've included "Noises For The Leg" by The Bonzo Dog Band so you can hear a theremin in action, and a live take so you can see a leg theremin in use in Brighton. Have a great Tuesday everybody.

Thursday 15 December 2016

Totally Wired


This week I bit the bullet and got some wired headphones for my Samsung Note 4. Some update or app has caused Bluetooth to crash settings, meaning I cannot add or access any new device. One of the solutions was to clear Bluetooth data which means it has in fact become unusable. Others are factory reset, uninstall apps one by one (there's about 300 on the phone half a dozen of which that I use).

A couple of months back someone posted that Apple were screwing their customers because system updates were causing devices to slow down forcing customers to buy new devices. Apple aren't, everybody does this. Often new apps require more resources and more powerful processors , it's generally how these things progress although I would like it if I could get my Bluetooth to work again. But whether it's Android, Apple , Microsoft , you will hit these situations. It's not built in obsolescence , it's progress. Yes lots of the software is bloatware , but in our hand held devices we are heading towards Star Trek territory.

The thing is with wires is they always get tangled up and you spend all your time untangling them, though it has enabled me to start watching TED talks, films and listen to music on the move again which is brilliant.

The only song can be "Totally Wired" by The Fall , although I also found a version by The Last Shadow Puppets as well so you get two versions of this amazing song.

Enjoy my friends and have a great Thursday.


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.

Sunday 8 May 2016

Control and Football



A weird thing. I am not at home and am using my laptop on Windows 10 and the wallpaper is reflecting the slideshow on my home desktop PC. The only vague connection is that they are both connected to the internet and Windows 10 wanted my email address. This is slightly worrying as it's doing something that I never asked for and I don't actually want. I want control of my stuff and I don't want Google , Microsoft and Apple connecting everything I do and potentially sharing it with anyone who pays them.

It's like the iCloud situation where Apple delete personal files and put copies in "The Cloud" which you can access if you pay them money and have an internet connection (see here). The guys personal recordings were stolen by Apple and he was basically told "tough". It amazes me the arrogance of corporations who put things in very small print and then say it covers them for anything they want to do. Mobile phone companies are like that too.

One article says they wont delete your stuff (see here) , but I have had dealings with them and they will never ever admit there is a problem. Your iPhone could explode and burn your hand off and Apple would say it is performing as required.

I thought She's Lost Control by Joy Division is appropriate because our reliance on technology , sees technology doing more and more things we didn't expect.

Fog From Claybank
I still don't know what's happening with my laptop.

On a lighter note Leicester were crowned Premiership Champions and had a massive party. The media generally hate it because they would rather cover Arsenal , Chelsea, Manchester City and United, in fact anybody with money and no soul. Money is the new religion you would think. To me it's a necessary evil but not something to be worshiped and put on a pedestal. It negates the need for barter , that's all. The problem is when the big clubs win , it's just about collecting shekels , they don't give a damn about anybody else , they are perfect corporate material.



Leicester have provided The Premier League with a shot in the arm and a great deal of fun , and the combined technical genii of the "big clubs" still can't get near them, and anyone with any sense is loving it.

Anyway I am enjoying the sun and quiet and I don't have to get up tomorrow morning.

Enjoy your Sunday everybody


Tuesday 10 November 2015

Put A Smile On Your Face - SIX - #44 - 2000 - Len - Steal My Sunshine


Well Monday is over and Tuesday is here and the week has started better than expected and is going to keep getting better. No major events but after The Wedding Present gig on Saturday finishing last week , this week has a lot to live up to and I think it will be great , I am sure but I will have to do lots of good things and I will. Watch the video and this song will put a big smile on your face.

The Odyssey reached the year of The Millennium , and there was the huge panic about the Millennium bug and how the world would come to a halt. This confused me apart from being a ploy to rip people off. I started programming in 1980 for Littlewoods and the first line of the program I wrote checked whether it was the 20th or 21st Century . If I was doing that then why weren't Microsoft , Intel , IBM and Apple doing it in the run up to 2000?

Go On Smile


Well the Odyssey reaches year 44 , the year of the Millennium and good music was sparse , but good music is always there. I could have chosen Beautiful Day by U2  , and Who Let The Dogs Out by The Baha Men was number one (as I say not a classic year) but have decided to go for Len with Steal My Sunshine which always brings a smile to my face , and anything that makes me smile is a great way to start your day.

Put a smile on your face and have a brilliant day.


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 .

Thursday 9 July 2015

Quietly Raising Hell


This week has been back to work , I saw the Grateful Dead's last gig at the cinema with a friend I hadn't  seen in years and sort of signed up to do an introductory presentation at  work , while discovering the problems of support teams who use the Apple model of pretending there is nothing wrong and the problem is with you , like ordering steak and being served bacon and then being told that's what you ordered !

A Puzzle
Still these are the challenges that make life interesting , and it is pointless getting angry , I just see it as a puzzle to be solved , and talking of puzzles I've almost finished the latest Clive Barker book The Scarlet Gospels , and we all know how the Cenobites are summoned ....... I've always been fascinated by the puzzle box since I first saw Hellraiser , but wouldn't dare have one in my house. The book however is up to his normal standards though not a Weaveworld or Imajica. So I've done an Amazon carousel with some of my favourite CB Books below.





Anyway summer is continuing with good weather interspersed with showers, and I'm listening lots of good music. I have been mightily impressed with Ezra Furman , but the slideshow I did for One Day I Will Sin No More is banned in a lot of countries for copyright reasons by Youtube , although I believe my antipodean and American friends enjoy it here. , the guy has talent. It has had almost fifty views so far , so that's not too bad given the audience limitation.

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.

Saturday 18 October 2014

An Apple A Day



Just noticed that Apple is my second most tagged item after Newcastle. While I love Newcastle , Apple I can take or leave, and in fact some folk think I detest Apple. I actually don't , but anyone who tries to get complete control of me in any way whatsoever, I tend to give short shrift to. So that includes , Google , Microsoft,  Sky, BT , Virgin, Politicians and almost everyone who wants me to follow their line.

Then I started thinking am I just whingeing on this blog? If you look at Twitter and Facebook the things that get picked up on are where people are complaining or laughing at others' misfortune, and that is no way to be, but is the may of the world unfortunately.

Social Media can be good or bad , I hate things like Fail Army , but it can mean that you can quickly encourage people and offer them support and spread good news, which is the way I always try t do something. I always try to make my posts positive and have something good connected with it.

So I'm going to have the Onion's Apple Device review on here, which is a fun ridiculous dig at Apple.

It's the weekend and a grey day but there are lots of ways to have fun, if you can read this you're connected , and if you're connected , connect with others positively. It will make you feel better and them feel better.

If something annoys you try and deal with it , instead of moaning, bring sunshine into people's lives and they will usually return it, and you will feel good.

Right that's enough ne age do goodery for today, I 'm going to take some serious drugs and continue having a brilliant weekend. YOU enjoy yourself , lookk in the mirror , smile and say "I am wonderfully happy" then keep the feeling up throughout the weekend.

Have a brilliant day everybody.