XLCR's tech blog

When the iPad was first announced, I really didn’t see the point. Like a lot of people, I was hoping for a tablet-style version of a MacBook; surely it wouldn’t be too hard to take a MacBook Air, put a touchscreen where the keyboard is, and sell that? But Apple had other ideas; iPhones have been so successful largely because they are so easy to use, so they decided to build on that instead.

So is the iPad simply “a large iPod touch”? After my first day of use, I’ve got to say that yes, it is-and yet, it isn’t… It’s all the good stuff we’re used to (apps, touchscreen, browser, email, ease of use) plus some extra good stuff (speed, larger screen area, better keyboard, increased battery life). There is a small amount of added bad stuff: it’s a bit heavier than I’d like; I can’t hold it in one hand for as long as I can hold my E-reader, for example. It only has one speaker, despite it being billed as an ideal way to watch movies on the go. And the dock connector is in the wrong place for using the iPad as a video player or photo frame- would it have killed them to put a second connector on the side so it could be docked in landscape mode? The last bad thing I can think of is the price- I know first versions of products do tend to be more pricey, so hopefully we’ll see the price drop by £100-£150 or so in the future.

All that aside, though, I’m pleasantly surprised by the iPad. It’s a fantastic way of surfing the web, doing email and updating a blog whilst on the sofa. I’m not convinced that it will make a good ereader- I’ve tried some sample books and as I expected, the screen is nowhere as good as the one on my Sony ereader. Add in the increase in size and weight and the dedicated ereaders have nothing to worry about.

I’ll post another blog once I’ve had some more use out of it, but so far, I’m impressed. And yes, this was written on the iPad, using the Wordpress app.

You're not tied to O2

My iPhone 3G contract with O2 ran out a few weeks ago, and while I wait for the next model to be announced, I thought I’d see if the other networks were any better. Now that O2 is no longer the only network for iPhone, there’s the opportunity to switch provider – O2 has been ok, but sometimes texts are delayed, calls don’t reach me, and 3G performance has not been great.

Fortunately, O2 have made it quite easy for iPhone owners to switch provider, so anyone can give it a try. And, since I’m not actually ready to switch provider just yet, I’ve got a couple of tips if you’re thinking of staying with O2 after your contract has expired.

Read on to find out how you can set up your iPhone with another provider, or switch your O2 contract to something cheaper. continue reading…

iHome IP99 clock radio

Looking for a decent clock radio that is iPhone 3G certified? So was I. So my wife gave me one of these for my birthday – but is it any good?

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I’ve had a chance to try out the Ear Force X41 wireless 5.1 headphones for a while now, so here’s what I think of them.

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Turtle Beach Ear Force X41

Surround sound is good. I like my surround sound system. My neighbours, on the other hand, aren’t so fond of it! So, to be neighbourly, I’ve been on the lookout for a decent set of wireless surround sound headphones, and at long last I think I’ve found the ideal solution.

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Professor Layton and Pandora's Box

Today’s a great day for Nintendo DS owners – a new Professor Layton game is out! Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box gives us another dose of the charming gameplay found in the first game, Professor Layton and The Curious Village.

The games basically involve you solving lots of puzzles whilst investigating a mystery. The actual story itself is pretty much irrelevant, and only serves to move you from puzzle to puzzle, but it’s a nice change to all the frantic action games that seem to make up most of the charts these days! In addition to the puzzles, there are also places to explore and items to collect along the way. The game is presented in a hand-drawn cartoon style, with voice actors playing the various characters, and the occasional animation clip for key scenes.

The puzzles range from the amazingly easy to the mildly difficult, and if you do get stuck there are hints to nudge you in the right direction. As with many Nintendo games, it’s clearly aimed at entertaining all ages. Younger players will still be able to solve many of the puzzles on their own, with or without hints, and older players will get just as much satisfaction from getting them right first time, or without any assistance at all. We had great fun playing three or four puzzles a night for a few weeks, although some of the trickier puzzles can end up in tussles over control of the stylus for “just one more go, I think I’ve got it this time – oh, no, I haven’t, just one more go”…

Amazon currently have the best prices – the first game (Professor Layton and The Curious Village) is around £18, and the new one (Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box) is around £28 – everyone else seems to be doing it for £30+ as of 25 Sept 09 – even Play, which was a surprise.

I thoroughly recommend both these games! Buy them! NOW!

There’s been a steady increase in interest around Ebook readers in the UK recently, and since I’ve switched back to reading instead of watching video on the tube to and from work (no, really, I must be growing up or something), I decided it was time to have a proper look and see what’s what.

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One problem with having a love of gadgets is that you’re always in need of batteries. I’ve been “upgrading” my stock of rechargeables with better ones from Aldi (high capacity, low price), but all my chargers were old, slow, and designed for lower capacity batteries. So the hunt began for the perfect new charger – and I found it! continue reading…

I have been trying to figure out how I can stop my iPhone from launching iPhoto every time I connect it. I love that it comes up when I slip in a memory card from my camera, but the extra time it adds on to an iPhone sync bugs me. The only solution I could find previously involved Applescript, but annoyingly it would only work with USB connected cameras – not memory cards in the MacBook Pro’s ExpressCard slot.

Finally, though, there is an answer. Get it here: http://www.flexibits.com/

Cameras, a preferences add-in, does exactly what I, and many, many other Mac users, have wanted. You connect a device (such as a camera, card or iPhone) and it will ask you what you would like it to do with that device in the future. If you want it to do nothing when you plug in your iPhone, but load an app (such as iPhoto or Aperture) or perform an action when you connect another device, then it will handle it for you.The best bit is it will even recognise the ExpressCard34 slot, so if you’re like me and have an SD card reader in there, it’ll work just fine. It can’t tell the difference between different cards (which could be useful if you use SD cards in your camera but MS Duo in your camcorder) but quite frankly I don’t care!

Download Cameras from the Flexibits website now.

Previously, I’ve blogged about the issues I’ve had getting 4Gb of RAM to work successfully in my unibody 15″ MacBook Pro. For a while, I ran with 3Gb using an original 1Gb and one of my new 2Gb sticks, but it wasn’t ideal for running Windows under VMWare at the same time as other stuff. In the end, I’ve given in and just bought the 4Gb RAM upgrade from Apple – not cheap, not ideal, but at least now it’s – so far – working. I definitely think that Apple should have taken more ownership of this problem, as it’s been reported and discussed at some length on their support boards, though.