Notes to Myself

Privacy Filter

The last time I was in Japan I was looking for a 'privacy filter' for my PSP. They're basically the same as the plastic sheets you can buy for keitai in Japan - they stop you being able to see the screen unless you are looking at it more or less straight-on. But the only one I could find was 1200 yen - what a rip-off!

But after a further six months of annoying people sitting next to me peering at my PSP screen on the train, enough was enough. So this time I shelled out the £6 for this wonderous piece of privacy kit!

I have to say it works pretty well, though it does obscure the screen output very slightly. I'm sure I'll get used to it and take satisfaction in blocking out those unwanted viewers.

Mario Kart Wii

It so happened that soon after my arrival in Japan Mario Kart Wii was released last Thursday. I was surprised to find that it was released just one day later in the UK - and from what I can see it doesn't seem to be sold out. The US IGN website says there are still 10 days to go until the game is released - what's going on there, then?

The game here is readily available but the steering wheel, or 'handle' as the Japanese call it, is sold out. I wonder how good the game will be with these controls. Also, I can't help but wonder if it's going to be too similar to previous games.

I've watched the intro video a hundred times in Yodobashi but it's hard to tell how good a game is without actually having a go for yourself. Have any of you bought it yet? Any impressions concerning the controls or the games in general?

Charged Up

When preparing to travel I often think how packing clothes takes little time compared to getting all of my electronics in order and charged up.

This is definitely overkill - time to leave a few bits behind.

Mobile Phones

I came across some old phones the other day and had to take a photo of them before throwing them out (left in the picture). The old Nokia 3210 weighed a ton!

In order to compare the size of them I took a picture with two relatively 'modern' handsets (to the right!). On the far right is a Nokia phone from work. The menus are pretty sluggish and the reception is poor - not recommended.

The Sony Ericsson w850i is my current phone, though I'd really love an upgrade. Now that I have a dedicated mp3 player I no longer need a Walkman Sony Ericsson phone. I'm waiting to see what the next Cybershot phone is like. You could say that I have a camera so don't need a Cybershot phone either but I don't always have a camera on me.

Play.com Live!

Here are a few photos from the Play.com Live games exhibition that was held at Wembley over the weekend. It was the first time I'd visited Wembley Stadium so it was good just to go to see it! A freezing wind and drizzle didn't make for ideal conditions so it was straight inside to see what games were on show.

On arrival there weren't that many people but the place soon filled up. It was held over three main floors, though the third was pretty hard to find and contained the 'over 18 area'.

It was a shame that most of the games there are already available in the shops. A few previews were on display, though. A Sega tennis game was playable on both the 360 and the Wii. Though the controls on the Wii might end up making for a better game the 360's high resolution graphics made the Wii version pale in comparison. Other than the tennis game, there was very little on show for the Wii - predictable but disappointing. The show was dominated by the XBox 360 and Playstation 3.

There was also a playable version of the Soul Calibre 4 and the new Gran Turismo game. Apparently Ron from Harry Potter was lurking near one of the games machines being pestered by children.

Capcom's showing was sorely lacking: just a video being played back on a large TV. The video itself however was stunning, showcasing the upcoming Street Fighter IV and Resident Evil 5. It was the first time I'd seen SFIV in motion and to some extent I wasn't that impressed. While it looked great I wasn't convinced by the interaction of the characters. Resident Evil looked absolutely incredible and the footage has apparently yet to be released online.

Upstairs next to a sci-fi shop a 'race queen' posed on a Ducatti motorbike. Around the corner was the 'over 18s' area. It turned out to be a little more than a load of already on release shooters, mostly for the 360. There was actually one red ring of death (XBox 360 in meltdown)!

A massive queue had formed for some kind of Farscape 2 exhibition but we didn't bother waiting.

I came away from the event thinking one thing - I need to get a high-res TV and then something to plug into it...

Wireless Photos

Do your photos stay on your digital camera or computer without you having time to upload them all to share with your friends and family? I certainly have that problem. Is the following the answer?

Blog Photos Directly From Your Digital Camera with Eye-Fi

An intriguing piece of kit! I wonder how well it would work in practice?

Although I wanted to keep all of my photos on my website itself, I am now considering moving my day-to-day photos to a service such as Flickr or Picasa. I've used Flickr in the past but not Picasa. Which would you recommend? Or are there other services I should consider?

Fibre Optic?

Have any of those of you in London/UK noticed Virgin's new fibre optic broadband service? Have fibre optic broadband connections finally become a reality? I would be about time, but all is not what it seems.

Thinkbroadband has an article on the subject entitled ASA rules on Virgin 'fibre optic' broadband claims

Apparently the service isn't fibre optic all the way to your computer which is a little misleading when you read the adverts. A 100% fibre optic service is called fibre to the home (FTTH).

In any case, I should be changing my current ISP as its 8Mbps connection provides quite poor performance during peak hours. I've just been too lazy to get around to it. Also, I do worry that if the transfer didn't go smoothly it would disrupt my night shifts and any possible over time.

Many of my friends all moved to Be a while back - I wonder if they still recommend it?

Powerballs

Powerballs are quite popular at work and apparently we've got one of the UK's top record holders! I've recently joined in the fun by ordering my own Neon Powerball.

Basically, Powerballs are powerful gyroscopes which once started you accelerate using just your wrist. The interesting part is that the faster it spins the more force it exerts on your arm.

Supposedly, Powerballs can be used at low speeds to reduce the risk of RSI and I can see my powerball help to strengthen my forearm for tennis. To be honest though, most guys (including myself) are purely interested in hitting the highest speeds possible. Personally, I've only managed 10,700 RPM. As a point of reference the world record is 16,553 RPM!

Sony NWZ-A818

Though I've been content with my Sony Ericsson W850i Walkman phone as my mp3 player for some time I've fallen in love with another device, the Sony NWZ-A818 Media Player. Look how small and slender this piece of kit is!

Last year my heart wavered slightly and I considered buying the ever-popular iPod or iTouch but there was one thing which bothered me about them - the fact that you can't control them easily without taking them out of your pocket. Call me fussy, but being able to skip tracks and control the volume through my pocket is one of my main requirements for an mp3 player.

Things were great back in the days of MD players which had those neat remote controls which you plug your earphones into, but for some reason that's gone out of fashion.

Though you can check out the specifications of the Sony NWZ-A818 on the Sony website some of the key features are:

-Transfer media via Windows Media Player or drag & drop
-2.0" QVGA (320x240) screen
-30 fps video playback + JPEG viewer
-8GB capactity
-Plays MP3, AAC, WMP and WMA
-Plays MPEG4 & AVC (H.264) Baseline video
-Battery life of approx. 33hrs music!

The player can play your music from folders on the device - unlike the w850i and I suspect iPods, too. This is great as you have the best of both worlds. If you've got your mp3 tags sorted then you'll have access to your music by artist, genre, year etc., while if you don't you can still simply drag and drop your music onto the player and play it with no problems without all the tracks being listed solely under 'Untitled'.

In short this is a fantastic media player!

Mario Galaxy

I bought Super Mario Galaxy on a friend's recommendation and so far it hasn't disappointed.

The controls feel natural after a few minutes of play. You've got all the usual Mario moves plus an additional spin attack activated by a brief shake of the controller. The ability to point at the screen adds to the game, too.

On top of the controls, it's the quirky 'hyper 3D' graphic worlds and and great Nintendo presentation that really impacts your experience. Jumping around on tiny planets and flying between them constantly changes the flow of game, even if you are chasing stars within the same galaxy.

The only downside I can find in the game so far is that it's easy. Mind you, I've only just started playing so perhaps the difficulty gradually increases. Also, I think that Mario Sunshine suffered from being too fiddly and time consuming. Maybe gamers these days really do require quick satisfaction or do I just have a decreasing attention span?!

Though the game is only just unfolding I can still already say one thing of Mario Galaxy - creative genius!

ShopTo

A special note must go to www.ShopTo.net who held up to their promise of 'Shop late - play tomorrow'. I ordered at 5:20pm and Mario Galaxy arrived the next morning - with free registered delivery!

160 Megapixels

Now this is a camera!

http://uk.gizmodo.com/2008/01/19/the_160mp_digital_camera_its_a.html#more

The Seitz 6x17 is supposedly capable of capturing images at up to 160MP! That means one full resolution wouldbe 900MB in size. Is this a hoax?

40D PC Control

Instead of using my USB card reader like I usually do, I decided to try plugging my Canon EOS 40D into my PC via the USB cable.

The file manager software I use failed to pick up the camera, probably because it wasn't designed for XP. In Windows Explorer the camera appeared under 'Cameras and Scanners' instead of a removable drive. That wouldn't bother me except that you can't see any of the folders on the camera. This is useless if you want to manually drag and drop files, though the Canon EOS utility included with the camera allows you to view each of the folders.

Although I wasn't impressed with all of this I did uncover some other camera functionality. While plugged into the PC you can control almost all aspects of the camera. You can scroll through white balance settings, shutter speeds, apertures, ISO ratings, well you name it! As you change the settings you can see the display on the camera update in sync.

Why might all of this be useful? You can also take pictures via your PC using the camera's Live View functionality! Using this you can save photos straight to your PC as well as the camera.This is probably of use to professionals in studio environments but realistically of limited use to amateurs like me.

While fiddling with this software I once again felt that the manual focus in Live View (manually controlled via the software) lets the camera down slightly. Then again, if you were doing studio work I imagine you'd normally have time to use manual focus.

In summary, some cool features that I'll probably never use. In fact, I may go back to using my card reader for ease of use in copying photos.

Microgel Prestige

Head's Migrogel technology line of rackets has been out for some time now. As is always the case the Prestige version is always released after the other product lines. However, the time of the Microgel Prestige has come!

I'm a Prestige fan owning several models including the Prestige Classic 600, Prestige Tour 600, i.Prestige and LiquidMetal Prestige. A thin 19mm constant beam and classic look, particularly the Classic/Tour 600s, make for attractive rackets, probably beyond my game.

You have to take these new technologies with a pinch of salt, especially when you hear of how many pros are really playing with their old rackets painted to look like the newly released rackets. Also you have to wonder when one technology completely phases another one out.

Lots of skilled players are constantly looking for rackets which feels like old classic such as the Prestige Classic 600 or Pro Staff 6.0. If those old rackets are so great then will a newer racket material really make a better racket? Maybe.

Here's the sales pitch for Microgel:

Rock-solid feel and touch: With the lowest density of any material, HEAD MicroGel™ is a revolutionary new silicone-based material. HEAD has combined MicroGel ™ with stiff and strong carbon composite fibers to create a racquet with incredible responsive qualities. On ball impact, MicroGel™ uniformly distributes the impact load around the frame to provide the most rock-solid feel and superior touch ever achieved in the game.

Having voiced my doubts about new technologies, I am still eager to try out the new Microgel Prestige to see how it plays. They are already up for sale on eBay...

Receiver

I happened across a BT phone in a pretty sorry state. It makes you wonder how it ended up like this considering it's inside a book shop!

The insides of a telephone receiver are quite underwhelming, wouldn't you say?

Wii Mii

Meet Mii Darren! What a good looking guy and already a Wii Sports 'pro' tennis player!

I haven't been able to create a fantastic likeness - the choice of beards/facial hair for a start was somewhat underwhelming. Then again, after joining the Mii Contest Channel I was amazed at the creativity of some people. Snoopy, Darth Vader and Mr T from the A-Team are particularly good. The most recent competition challenges Mii creators to make a Mii for 'someone who's just won the lottery.'

It's great how your Miis are accessible in games and how your friend's Miis can migrate and wonder into your Mii Channel. It makes games like Baseball in Wii Sports good when all family and friends' Wiis make up the line-up.

Wireless Remote

With no inbuilt IR receiver Canon have designed the Canon 40D and presumably other EOS models to use their Wireless Controller LC-5. A mere £350! Compare this to my sister's simple UV transmitter for her Nikon D80 which set her back a few quid...

I came across a slightly more unofficial looking version of the LC-5, simply named 'Wireless Remote Controls.' This pretty generic looking device was delivered from Hong Kong for a very reasonable £15 inc. p&p. and it works a treat!

Wireless remote shutter control! So it's a cable release without the cable. Simply press the button half way to focus and all the way to take the shot, just like having your finger on the shutter but without the camera shake.

This will be great for low-light photography once I get a tripod. I can also see this as being useful for group shots where you want to jump in without running around from the back of the camera after setting the timer.

Wii

I've finally got a Nintendo Wii!

It's great fun, perhaps worth buying just for Wii Sports! Ok, so I've only played it for half an hour so far but I'm already sold on the idea.

Christmas Wii

Yesterday seemed to be my lucky day. Firstly, I secured a nice bit of Christmas overtime which should go some way to making up for an expensive December. Secondly, one of my colleagues has a Nintendo Wii going spare and agreed to sell it to me!

A brand new Nintendo Wii just before Christmas? What are the chances of that? This colleague pre-orded a couple of Wiis and managed to get them both! Is that possible a week before Christmas? Things which seem to good to be true often are, but you've got to take these opportunities when they present themselves.

It's true that because of Wii stock being so scarce (though things seem to have improved slightly) being offered one makes you go for an impulse buy. After all, was I trying to buy one throughout the year? No.

We'll see if it actually comes off but it would be pretty nice to have a new console for Christmas. Just like the old days... R.C. Pro A.M. on the NES. Classic.

Update: My colleague forgot to bring the Wii in! That's the end of that, then.

Extreme III 4GB

As the price of memory continues to fall 4GB memory cards are very reasonably priced. I've just bought a Sandisk Extreme III 4GB Compact Flash memory card for use with my Canon EOS 40D. Currently available online for approximately £35, this card is cheaper per megabyte than a 2GB Extreme III card!

'Ideal for demanding photo shoots under severe weather conditions-heat, cold, wind, rain, snow, etc. It is built to perform in the most extreme environments and temperatures-from -13º F to 185º F , -25º C to 85º C. It has a minimum 20MB/second sequential read and write [133X speed].'

-25º C to 85º C - that is pretty extreme!!! (III exclamation marks... oh nevermind)

Although there are even higher spec cards available this one is more than fast enough for my needs. The maximum write speed of the Canon 40D is probably somewhere less than 10MB/s. The higher speeds would come in handy if you were a serious photographer wanting to transfer large numbers of images to your PC in the shortest amount of time possible. To do this, you'd need an expensive card reader in any case.

At the time I purchased my 40D I bought a 1GB Ultra II card which will probably just start gathering dust, now. As I noted last year, memory card prices are surprisingly significantly higher in Japan so I settled on a smaller card as a temporary measure.

Now it's time to start shooting simultaneously in RAW format and L-size JPEGs. Let the fun begin!

Canon 40D

Digital Single Lens Reflex Camera

My yearly digital compact camera upgrade went a little differently this year with my decision to move to a fully featured digital SLR. Though I'd actually planned on buying a Nikon D80, I soon changed my mind after arriving at Yodobashi in Shinjuku (Tokyo, Japan). A few days later and I'd purchased the recently released Canon EOS 40D.

Canon EOS 40D

Canon 40D key features:

• 10.1 MP APS-C CMOS sensor
• 6.5fps, 75 JPEG image burst
• High precision 9 point AF
• 3.0" LCD with Live View mode
• EOS Integrated Cleaning System
• DIGIC III processor
• Image Stablisation lenses

Lens Kits

There are two lens kits available but the more expensive kit, the Canon EOS 40D + EF-S 17-85 f/4-5.6 IS USM Lens, provides you with a superior lens and greater flexibility with increased zoom compared to the 18-55mm non USM lens kit (appox. £850 online). To top things off I was actually given a second lens by an acquaintance, a Canon 200-300mm telephoto lens!

Fabulous Features

When you try out the high speed shooting mode you get blown away. Although it depends on the lighting and so on this camera really can shoot a lot of high quality pictures in no time at all - useful for say, Wimbledon, for example.

The other special features are the Live View mode on a massive three inch screen, where you can use the LCD screen to take pictures like on digital compacts and the inbuilt anti-dust cleaning system. When you also consider the image stabilisation lenses, you have all the latest popular DSLR features.

With ISO settings up to 3200 I simply can't get over you can take such great photos in low light. Of course, the IS lens helps with this, too. Very nice.

One thing I did notice was that images are not that sharp compared to my other cameras. Although you can change the settings via Picture Styles, the default settings don't give overly-crisp images. Presumably that's because a greater level of post-processing is anticipated.

The build quality of the camera is excellent. It feels heavy and rugged, with waterproofed seals and great ergonomics. One thing I would say is that this isn't a small camera and can feel heavy when carrying it around all day.

PSP Lady

Surprisingly, PSP players are quite rare on the Tube. In an average month I see perhaps a handful of people at most. Imagine my shock when a middle-aged smartly dressed office lady got her PSP out on the Central Line! That's the first woman I've ever seen playing a PSP. I think she was playing Puyo Puyo Fever.

Java HttpUnit

HttpUnit emulates elements of web browser behaviour and allows you access to web sites through your own Java programs. Cookies are automatically handled and you can easily perform common browser tasks such as clicking links or filling in and submitting forms.

Used in combination with JUnit, you can write programs to test your web sites with ease. How about a simple program to test for broken links or even your own web spider to follow links across the Web?

Here's a few lines of code, taken from the HttpUnit site to show how easy it is:

WebConversation wc = new WebConversation();
WebResponse resp =
   wc.getResponse( "http://www.notestomyself.net" );
WebLink link = resp.getLinkWith( "about" );
link.click();

This is just what I've been looking for! In my case, I'm tinkering with a program I wrote a while back to enable it to directly upload graphics to this site.

I know I could use macro programs or even Visual Basic, but I prefer this elegant solution, particularly because I can easily integrate it with my old Java code. The only down side, you might argue, is that you can't follow the browser visually without further output from your program.

Win XP Vs Vista

Six months after its release, how many people do you think use Windows Vista compared to Windows XP?

In terms of Internet Browsing do you think more people use Windows vista or Mac OS X?

To find out the results according to my website statistics click below to see the results.

Boggle Applet

'Instead of playing Boggle on my DS, how about programming it?' I thought. So I've started to knock up a trial applet version of Boggle, pictured here.

Though far from complete, the mechanics for creating the grid and grid selection are all in place. Each word you spell out while holding down the mouse is printed in the corner of the screen.

Currently the words you spell are not yet stored or spell checked. I wonder if you can download text dictionaries which include plurals? Another piece of the puzzle is to add a timer, which I've never done before.

It's been quite fun tinkering with Java. If I get my applet running to a decent enough standard I'll upload it so that you can try it out in your browser.

Logitech MX 518

Up until yesterday I had been using an old Logitech 3 button wheel mouse. I never made the move to optical mice for one reason or another. I was never that impressed by the fact that they don't work on certain surfaces and they tend to pick up movement if you lift the mouse but hover to close to the mouse mat. However, I decided my wheel mouse was getting a little old - it literally sqeaks going in one direction!

Meet my new mouse, the Logitech® MX™518 Gaming-Grade™ Optical Mouse. It's a high-spec mouse and its had many positive reviews by gaming sites.

You can vary the resolution of that the mouse works at up to 1600dpi via two small buttons near to the mouse wheel. This is supposedly ideal for games where you want to be able to fine tune your movements/aim.

There are two buttons for near where your thumb rests and another more centrally located on top of the mouse. Using the SetPoint drivers you can assign these buttons to different tasks and I've noticed that the two thumb buttons perform 'back' and 'forward' in internet browsers.

The build quality is excellent and the rubber feel around the edges of the mouse is very comfortable. I'm not overly keen with the shiny plastic casing over the top of the mouse. It's not too great if your hands are sweaty. Apparently each mouse has a slightly different pattern which makes the mouse appear to have bumps and ridges.

The movement of the mouse is incredibly smooth. I'm not used to optical mice at all! I am experiencing the hovering movement as I thought, which is a little distracting at times, but I'm sure I'll adjust soon enough.

So far, I've found the MX518 to be a great mouse. The MX518 retails for around £30 on the Internet. Recommended if you don't mind paying that bit extra!

Markdown

Have you heard of Markdown? It's supposed to be a simpler way of formatting your text, which then gets converted into HTML for you. This functionality has now been built into TypePad.

A couple of examples which I'll copy and paste here are:

*italic* or _italic_
**bold** or __bold__
***bold and italics*** or
___bold and italics___

The * and _ characters are basically your 'tags' but look a little simpler. There are other types of syntax in Markdown such as simple ways to create links, lists and block text.

It's an interesting idea, but I wonder if it will take off. Although this could be useful for new bloggers who don't know HTML I have a feeling it might just start confusing people who dare to look at their code.

> Markdown on TypePad
> More information about Markdown

50 Windows

Since building my new computer and installing Windows XP SP2 everything has been running pretty well. There is one strange thing which happens, however, when I click on mailto links. My computer appears to freeze for a few seconds before opening about 40-50 Internet Explorer windows, all of which are blank! Have you ever had this problem before? I suspect my default mail application settings aren't quite right...

New Outlook

Since using Microsoft Outlook so much at work I've become attached to some of its features. After building my new PC I thought it would be a good opportunity to try changing my mail client from Thunderbird to Outlook.

I found a web page which detailed the process, which is rather long-winded. Using a program called IMapSize you can convert Thunderbird mbox files to Outlook Express eml files. Next you create the same folder layout in Oulook Express, then drag and drop all of your e-mails from Explorer. Finally, you export from Outlook Express to Outlook.

Things didn't go as smoothly as I had hoped. Firstly, a number of e-mails appeared to get corrupted. They lost their subjects and they displayed oddly, with headers appearing in the main mail body. In the end I just deleted these.

The worst part of the conversion appeared to happen between Outlook Express and Outlook. While most Japanese mails appeared correctly in Outlook Express they became unreadable in Outlook. I spent a few hours fiddling with Outlook's font settings with no success (these are for mail composition, not display).

A test e-mail I sent to my work e-mail address appeared correctly. Then, after downloading new mails to Outlook my home computer Japanese appeared correctly. So the problem was the export from Outlook Express to Outlook.

My final shot at converting my e-mail was to use my Japanese laptop, on which I repeated the entire conversion process. My reasoning was the Japanese mails should be supported under a Japanese OS and by the export from Outlook Express. To my delight, I was right.

Finally, I copied the outlook.pst file from my laptop to my desktop. All of my Japanese mails finally appeared! I hope this helps if you are trying a similar mail conversion.

New Silent PC

Let me introduce my latest project, 'Silent PC'. A friend of mine built a PC a few months back and claimed that its noise output was incredibly low. With thoughts of over night downloads without the whirring of PC fans in the background, I soon saw the light!

In total all of the components cost somewhere in the region of £800 (monitor not included). This system isn't cutting edge in terms of speed, but is certainly no slouch. With both quietness and performance in mind, I chose components ideal for quiet PCs and also left my options open for overclocking. My specification includes:

Intel CPU Core 2 Duo E6300 1.86GHz
Scythe Ninja-PLUS Rev B Heatpipe CPU Cooler
2GB Crucial Ballistix memory
Sapphire Radeon Ultimate X1950PRO 256MB PCI-E
400 Gb Samsung Spinpoint T hard drive
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme sound card
Pioneer DVR112DB x18 DVD burner

Over the weekend I put my new PC together and marvelled at the size of the Psythe Ninja CPU heatsink (which can run in fanless mode), PCI-E graphics card with Zalman fan and attractive Crucial Ballistix ram. One of the most impressive pieces of kit is the case itself, an Antec Solo. It comes with various features to reduce noise - for example, deadening sound panels and a clever hard drive suspension system.

The system booted up on the second attempt and before long Windows was being installed. The installation of software takes far longer than hardware assembly - I'd forgotten how long it takes. I still haven't finished installing all the programs I use but most of it is now set up.

PXC 300

I've had my Sennheiser PXC 300 noise reduction headphones for a couple of weeks now so it's time for a mini review.

As can be seen in the photo the headphones fold up pretty small. A very snug fitting case is provided which protects the headphones while they are in your bag.

So as to save space, there is a separate housing unit for two AAA batteries and, presumably, the 'NoiseGard Advance' circuitry. Although a little bulky, it does come with a useful belt clip. One annoying thing to point out is that you cannot disconnect the headphones from this unit.

Also provided are two adapters that enable you to connect the headphones to an airplane seat sockets and home audio systems.

Sound Quality

I'd say these headphones have better quality sound than my Sony Fontopia ear-phones, particularly for vocals. You'd expect superior sound for £80, but surprisingly the bass is lacking - or do Fontopias over-emphasize bass?

NoiseGard

Before buying these headphones I had read a comment on Amazon which said that reviewer could hear everything on the Tube - people chatting, announcements and even music coming from other people's headphones.

I have to say that the reviewer was spot on. 'Deep-noise reduction' is probably a better description rather than 'noise-cancellation', but to be fair the noise cancellation effect is explained fairly accurately on the box.

With NoiseGard enabled you can hear most things around you except low rumbling sounds. Switch off the noise reduction on the train and you'll suddenly hear a loud deep grumbling sound. This means that while lots of the train's noise will be cut out other sounds, such as talking will not.

Another thing I should mention is that you don't need to turn up the volume so high when the noise cancellation is on. As well as low pitched noise being cut down, the battery unit amplifies the sound somewhat.

These headphones would definately work well on an airplane, especially if you are near the wing in economy like I always seem to be. But as for higher pitched sounds, these will not help.

In summary I'd say these headphones are pretty good, just don't expect a world of silence.

> Amazon - Sennheiser PXC 300 noise reduction headphones

One Segment

After posting a picture of my new Sony Ericsson W850i, I thought it would be interested to dig out a couple of pictures I took in Japan over Christmas.

How about this for design? Featuring what is called 'one segment' in Japan, people can watch TV for free on their keitai or mobile phones. According to my friend, 'one segment' refers to the fact that one segment of the digital broadcasting is reserved for use on keitai (please correct me if this is wrong).

Those Japanese folk are so lucky. Not that I watch much TV, but that's beside the point!

Sony W850i

At last I've upgraded my phone! After owning my trusty Sony Ericsson W800i for nearly 18 months I've chosen the W850i as its successor.

After listening to advice from various people I called up to cancel my Orange contract. Instead of having to pay £130 for the upgrade in an Orange shop, I was offered the phone for free, got a bundle more texts and a magic number (free calls to a designated number). Not a bad saving.

The phone came by courier today and I've only just telephoned Orange to activate the new 3G sim card. Sony Ericsson W850i review to follow soon.

Update: 1st February 2007- Initial Impressions

It was probably bound to come: complaints and grumbles as I missed my old W800i's features. On the W850i there is no play button on the side of the phone - it's going to be a lot harder to control the walkman features without taking the phone out of your pocket.

The most annoying feature is the way mp3s are organised on the phone. It appears that the W850i uses the mp3 tags to organise songs into artists and albums. This means that if your tags are not right your songs will be all over the place, regardless of whether they are in the same folder on the Memory stick Duo or not. It was so easy to just copy a folder of mp3s onto the W800i and play them. Not any more.

Now for a few positive comments. The sound quality is excellent - noticeably better on the W850i than the W800i (though the maximum volume seems severly capped). The sliding mechanism feels solid and the number buttons feel good. Also, the screen is slightly larger and looks much better quality.

MicroSD Card

Were you impressed the first time you saw a microSD memory card? How about a Sony M2 memory card? MicroSD cards are tiny! The last time I checked they came in capacities up to 4GB!

Pictured here you can see a Kingston MicroSD 1GB memory card and an SD card adaptor. The adaptor is is useful if you have an old card reader and want to copy files from your computer to the MicroSD memory card.

Nintendo WFC

Following a few unsuccessful attemps to get my Nintendo DS Lite connected to the Nintendo WFC via my wireless router last night, I spent this morning updating settings and upgrading the firmware on my router.

My hopes weren't too high after reading that many router firewalls are not compatible with the DS but after some fiddling it all started to work, even with WEP enabled!

I logged on and selected a continental race. Within a few minutes I was racing three other people including one skilled person from Germany. Great fun!

Then I hooked up with a friend (by entering 'friend codes') and had some great races. Obviously I still need more practice though...

The last thing I want to try out is playing via the various 'Hot Spots' around London. Bring on the challengers!

DS Lite

For Christmas I got a beautiful black Nintendo DS Lite accompanied by the greatest of games, Mario Kart DS!

Having a DS Lite is great for travel and really helped to while away the hours on the long flights to and from Japan. I was delighted that the battery lasts for absolutely ages!

Multiplayer

One of the most exciting reasons for getting a DS was obviously to play wireless muliplayer games such as Mario Kart. I'd already tried with friends on their DSs and it's great fun.

Next, I'll have to find time to set up my DS with my wireless router - then I'll be able to challenge friends while we are all at home or take on people from across the world!

Educational

While I was browing the extensive Japanese DS game selections at many of the large electrical stores, I came across many educational games. For example, there are titles on learning English, cooking, learning how to play the stock market, quiz games and best of all kanji learning titles!

I invested in one such kanji game, as pictured here. It tests you on stroke order, total stroke count, kanji readings and writing kanji at various grades. Do well and you even earn coloured orbs. Do poorly and a little cartoon character berates you!

You use the small pen or stylus to write your answers on the touch screen. The kanji recognition is pretty impressive, although to be fair is a little too forgiving at times.

The game itself is great for study and is great for a quick review session on the way to work!

PS3

It was the first day of my holiday in Japan when I paid a visit to Yodobashi Camera, Akihabara. Damn, that place is huge!!!

On the games floor there was a sign which read: "DS Lite - sold out, Wii - sold out, Playstation 3 - now in stock!

A long winding queue and a stack of PS3s behind the tills heightened the urge to splash out. My pulse quickened and before I knew what had happened, I was walking out of the shop holding my prize.

To accompany my monstrously heavy Playstation 3 (what on earth have they put in it?!) I later purchased two games with glowing reviews, Resistance: Fall of Man and Ridge Racer 7. Talk about heavenly graphics!

Having spent in excess of £1100 during just two weeks in Japan, I am considering selling my brand new unopened PS3. I had a feeling I might need to recoup some of my holiday costs, so I deliberately resisted the urge to open it and plug it in.

With the effort it took getting it home, the fact that you can't yet buy the PS3 in the UK and considering the sale price in the UK on release will probably exceed £400, I wouldn't sell it for any less than £350-£400. So it looks like I'll be putting it on eBay pretty soon - unless somebody makes me an attractive offer. Go on, you know you want to...

Noise Pollution

Could the PXC 300 headphones be the answer to my dreams? In a noisy world I could do with some silence, particularly on the way to and from work. Can you imagine blocking out the noisy sounds of the Tube, the noisy kids and the loud people?

The PXC 300s from Sennheiser have a fantastic sounding noise a noise reduction system and are significantly cheaper than Bose headphones which feature noise cancellation technology. I haven't tried it but would love to hear from anybody who has.

This reminds me, have you seen the advert for Sony's noise reduction mp3 player? It has a man on the Tube but his body is invisible and you can see nothing but his clothes and his earphones. I love that ad!

> Sennheiser.com - PXC 300

Orange Phones

Last year in August I got my Sony Eriksson W800i on an 18 month contract with Orange. It has served me well but now I have the chance to upgrade, my thoughts of getting a new phone are getting the better of me.

The Orange website claims that new and old customers can get the same deals, but examine the small print and you will find that this is only referring to tariffs and not the phones on offer.

Just the other day I popped into an Orange shop in Kensington and asked about the fabulously featured Nokia N73 and N80.

'That would be free on tariffs of 35 pounds or more,' the sales assistant explained. When I told him that I was an existing Orange customer and asked how much the phone would cost me as an upgrade he chuckled and looked up the price - a staggering 150 pounds!

"Great deals shouldn't just be for new customers"

...or so the Orange marketing says. However, there appear to be no loyalty benefits with Orange and I am better off signing up with another provider in order to get a new phone for free or heavily discounted.

What I want to know is should I do nothing, what will happen once my contract terminates? Will I be on the same tariff for another 18 months or will I be switched to another tariff. This is something I have to find out.

My phone upgrade will have to wait until some time in the new year.

XBox Bargain!

A few weeks ago a colleague was telling me that Argos was doing a great deal on the XBox. For £79.99 you could get the XBox with one controller and 4 games (Forza, Halo 2, PGR2 & Fable 4) for just £79.99.

He snapped one up and has been buying classic XBox games which are now going for between £5 and £10. Quite a shrewd guy, I thought.

This week there has been a further reduction and you can now get this special offer - XBox with 4 games for an amazing £49.98!!! I nipped down to Argos this morning and bagged myself an XBox, something I never thought I'd do. With it's back-catalogue of great games and at that price, it's an opportunity you can't miss!

To order online (you can reserve online and then pick it up in-store to save on the postage), first add the XBox itself to your basket, then add the four game bundle which should then register as £0.00!

Does anybody have any game recommendations for the XBox? I'll have to get my hands on an extra controller and get Top Spin Tennis.

Of course, I won't be opening my XBox until at least next Sunday - after the Japanese Proficiency Language Test. Resist the urge!

Jet Li

Try this fantastic face reconition/famous look-alike site for a bit of fun! Simply upload a JPG image of a face and see which famous faces are close matches.

I'm not quite sure how but I came out as Jet Li - well he was the coolest of the matches I got ;)

Eclipse

With my Demon broadband, I maxed out at 0.5Mbps, but since changing to Eclipse last week, my speeds have been much much better!

When I've run speed tests, the results have fluctuated quite a lot, but with the slowest so far being at least twice as fast as my previous connection, and my highest speed clocked at 3.9Mbps, I'm overjoyed!

If you decide to make the switch to Eclipse, please enter "DARREN" when asked for a referral code ;)

Digital Sport

At last my family has invested in a digital set-top box with freeview - free digital channels! The main reason I was excited to get this set up was that I was able to watch the French Open tennis on BBCi, which wasn't on Terrestrial TV. So I was hooked on that pretty much every day for two weeks.

When the French Open finished, the very next day Queen's Club kicked off the grass court season and of course, I had to watch lots of that too. Actually, I'd planned on visiting the event on Thursday but had to cancel because of the cold I had.

Queen's finished yesterday (congratulations to Hewitt), but the World Cup is also in full swing. With only a week until Wimbledon starts it's just getting too much - when will all this great sport end? See you at Wimbledon!

Air Conditioner

The increasing summer temperatures are starting to make my room uncomfortably hot at night. It's the hottest room in the house and when I walk downstairs in the evening I'm sure there's at least a 5 degree difference in temperature. If anything, my room gets hotter when the sun sets - as if all the stored up heat in the loft turns my room into a mini oven.

So today I got out the huge air conditioner I bought last summer. This thing is about a metre in height and is makes an unbelievable amount of noise. It wasn't even cheap!

I miss my Japanese air-conditioner which was attached unobtrusively to one of the top corners of my room. It was smaller, out of the way, quieter... and probably cooler to boot! Still, I am happy to be reuinited with my oversized air-conditioner. What a blessing!

Live Tennis

According to the BBC website, this year's Wimbledon Championships will be broadcast live on the BBC Sport website. Nice!

The service will be available to UK broadband users and will mirror terrestrial and interactive coverage. Three-minute highlight packages rounding up each day's play will be available to a global audience.

How do you suppose they will enforce this? Via IP addresses or site registration?

Orange Rubber

How could a piece of rubber so small make such a difference? It just doesn't feel the same anymore. My poor phone!

Train Movie

You get your fair share of PSP users on the Tube, but the guy sitting next to me today got out a fairly chunky portable DVD player and started to watch a film. I've never seen that before. A bit embarrassing if you ask me.

Top Golf

Now, I've been to golf driving ranges before, but Top Golf is something slightly different. It feels like a cross between golf and ten pin bowling in which you are awarded points for hitting the ball near to flags placed in different positions on the driving range. Effectively, the greens themselves are gigantic holes which catch incoming balls and register ball distance and give appropriate scores. Scores are automatically displayed on a bowling like screen after each shot. This is possible thanks to a tiny microchip inside each golf ball!

It is definately fun, but it doesn't seem to be a game of skill - balls can bound and bounce past one hole an on to another; you don't specify which flag you are aiming at and so on. I suppose that for really good golfers it could become a game of skill because points are awarded depending on how close to each flag the ball lands. In other words to score highly, you have to hit balls directly at the flag (unless you had a very lucky bounce before the 'green'.

Apparently Top Golf is set for international expansion so it might appear in a town near you soon enough.