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<channel>
	<title>Ian McShane</title>
	<atom:link href="http://www.ianmcshane.org/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://www.ianmcshane.org</link>
	<description>All my stuff in one place</description>
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		<title>Reseting the LogMeIn client remotely</title>
		<link>http://www.ianmcshane.org/2010/09/13/reseting-the-logmein-client-remotely/</link>
		<comments>http://www.ianmcshane.org/2010/09/13/reseting-the-logmein-client-remotely/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 13 Sep 2010 20:17:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ian</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Mac]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Software]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.ianmcshane.org/?p=190</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ [...]
Related posts:<ol>
<li><a href='http://www.ianmcshane.org/2008/03/18/cisco-vpn-client-on-osx/' rel='bookmark' title='Cisco VPN Client on OSX'>Cisco VPN Client on OSX</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.ianmcshane.org/2007/07/15/remote-mac-access-without-vnc/' rel='bookmark' title='Remote Mac access, without VNC'>Remote Mac access, without VNC</a></li>
</ol>]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I use the free LogMeIn.com to manage my MacMini server remotely.</p>
<p>Today, after using it to reboot my router (via its web interface which is only accessible from my LAN) the logmein.com website kept reporting that the connection to the client was timing out or being disconnected.  I couldn&#8217;t get the damn thing to connect up at all.</p>
<p>Luckily, I can actually SSH to the Mac Mini remotely too.  So, in order to reset the logmein client, run this from the terminal:</p>
<p>1.  cd /Library/Application\ Support/LogMeIn/update<br />
2.  ./preupdate<br />
3. sudo ./postupdate</p>
<p>That&#8217;ll unload and reload the client completely, freeing up any timed out resources.</p>
<p>Related posts:<ol>
<li><a href='http://www.ianmcshane.org/2008/03/18/cisco-vpn-client-on-osx/' rel='bookmark' title='Cisco VPN Client on OSX'>Cisco VPN Client on OSX</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.ianmcshane.org/2007/07/15/remote-mac-access-without-vnc/' rel='bookmark' title='Remote Mac access, without VNC'>Remote Mac access, without VNC</a></li>
</ol></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>VMWare Fusion &#8211; Network Bridge error finally solved</title>
		<link>http://www.ianmcshane.org/2010/03/12/vmware-fusion-network-bridge-error-finally-solved/</link>
		<comments>http://www.ianmcshane.org/2010/03/12/vmware-fusion-network-bridge-error-finally-solved/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:34:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ian</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Mac]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Software]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tech]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[VMware Fusion]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.ianmcshane.org/?p=184</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ [...]
Related posts:<ol>
<li><a href='http://www.ianmcshane.org/2007/12/13/vmware-fusion-and-network-bridging/' rel='bookmark' title='VMWare Fusion and network bridging'>VMWare Fusion and network bridging</a></li>
</ol>]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>A couple of years back, I posted <a href="http://www.ianmcshane.org/2007/12/13/vmware-fusion-and-network-bridging/">this thread about an annoying problem in VMWare Fusion</a> which occasionally stopped me from being able to run an image as in bridge mode.</p>
<p>Well, looks like I&#8217;ve finally sorted this one out.  I don&#8217;t know if it&#8217;s the inclusion of new functionality in v2 or v3 of VMF but after doing the below, I&#8217;ve not seen the problem occur for a couple of months now.  I can still easily reproduce this issue so I&#8217;m guessing it&#8217;s some kind of defect in the adaptor autodetect code [or a problem with my config somewhere].</p>
<p><span id="more-184"></span>To reproduce the problem, firstly the environment:</p>
<ol>
<li>My MBP is connected to a wireless network only, running WPA2.</li>
<li>I&#8217;m running VMWare Fusion 3.0.2 (232708) on OS X 10.6.2 (Although this occurred on VMF v1 and v2 as well as OS X 10.5).</li>
<li>The VM is Windows 7 Ultimate (although this occurred with Win XP also).</li>
</ol>
<p>Here is a screenshot of the VM network settings that cause the error message &#8220;The network bridge on device /dev/vmnet0 is not running&#8221;:</p>
<p><img class="alignnone" title="VMWare Fusion Network settings - autodetect" src="http://img.skitch.com/20100312-fmfiwwpg47qph7kkqmbirn74hk.jpg" alt="VMWare Fusion Network settings - autodetect" width="610" height="449" /></p>
<p>Choosing auto-detect breaks bridge networking every single time.<br />
Fortunately the workaround is very simple.  Setting it to use a specific network adaptor fixes the problem immediately.</p>
<p><img class="alignnone" title="VMWare Fusion Network Settings - Specific adaptor" src="http://img.skitch.com/20100312-k1fmike5tnkakswnbhc8cewpyg.jpg" alt="VMWare Fusion Network Settings - Specific adaptor" width="608" height="446" /></p>
<p>The down side to setting the specific adaptor is that when I&#8217;m in an environment without wireless and I need to use ethernet, I have to remember to change it in here.  I know that&#8217;s not a serious problem but it is irritating when I realise my MSN client has been disconnected for hours.</p>
<p>There have been a bunch of people commenting on the older post and it&#8217;s actually now my &#8216;most hit&#8217; entry (finally overtaking the Outlook 12 beta one) so hopefully this will be of use to some people.</p>
<p>//ian</p>
<p>[Update: March 12th 2010 17:00ish]  Well, I got an <a href="http://twitter.com/vmwarefusion/status/10381138138">@ from @VMWareFusion</a> this afternoon saying &#8220;@<a rel="nofollow" href="/ianmcshane">ianmcshane</a> BTW, we tried to repro this internally with your steps and it works just fine for us. There is something else missing here.&#8221;</p>
<p>So I guess YMMV but selecting the specific adaptor has certainly allowed my VM images to run in bridge mode.</p>
<p>Related posts:<ol>
<li><a href='http://www.ianmcshane.org/2007/12/13/vmware-fusion-and-network-bridging/' rel='bookmark' title='VMWare Fusion and network bridging'>VMWare Fusion and network bridging</a></li>
</ol></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
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		<title>How I started running (again)</title>
		<link>http://www.ianmcshane.org/2010/03/08/how-i-started-running-again/</link>
		<comments>http://www.ianmcshane.org/2010/03/08/how-i-started-running-again/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 08 Mar 2010 09:29:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ian</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Health & Fitness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Running]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[c25k]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[runkeeper]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.ianmcshane.org/?p=178</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ [...]
<b>No related posts.</b>]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I had signed up to the <a href="http://www.greatsouthrun.org">Great South Run</a> last year but I broke my foot in August which seriously impacted my already-a-long-shot training schedule.<br />
In January, I decided that I wanted to start running again.  Definitely NOT as a New Year resolution, as I think that&#8217;s a load of tosh.<br />
I wanted to make sure that I didn&#8217;t try and go in too much too quickly, so I decided to follow the <a href="http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml">Couch To 5K plan</a>.<br />
If you don&#8217;t know of it, it is based on simple and slow introduction of run/walk intervals with the end goal of running 30mins without stopping. All in a 9 week program.<br />
It&#8217;s almost universally recommended as it stops you going all out too soon, injuring yourself and quitting.</p>
<p>Now, the first thing to keep me interested in something is for it to be a challenge.<br />
I wasn&#8217;t super fit by any stretch but neither was I super unfit and I simply found the early stages too easy.  So on January 11th I started at week 5 and it didn&#8217;t take long to rediscover that I really enjoy running.<br />
I get to listen to some awesome music, run a quite pretty coastal route and of course there is the &#8220;runners high&#8221; which gets better and better each time I beat a previous record.<br />
The progressive nature of the c25k program really worked well for me. I need to see results or I get bored quickly. Seeing my distance and times increase with each session (I use <a href="http://runkeeper.com/user/ianmcshane">Runkeeper</a> to track my stats) was the best motivation I&#8217;ve ever encountered.<br />
I&#8217;m finding it incredibly difficult to take rest days and I&#8217;m always reading online articles about training schedules, methods and crazy success stories (<a href="http://www.marshmallowman2ironman.com/">this is my favourite coach to IronMan one</a><a href="http://www.marshmallowman2ironman.com/">)</a>.</p>
<p>On February 20th, I completed the final 30 minute Couch to 5k session and could consider myself a &#8220;c25k graduate&#8221; (I promise not to use that phrase again).</p>
<p>Three days ago, I went out for my longest run in probably 15 years. I ran just a couple of hundred yards shy of 10km in 1hr 5mins.<br />
You can&#8217;t imagine how pleased I was with that.<br />
Now, I know that is certainly no earth shattering pace but now I at least have a target and unofficial PB to chase down.</p>
<p>As I pulled out of last years event, I&#8217;m already registered for the <a href="http://www.greatsouthrun.org">2010 Great South Run</a> in October.  I also signed up for the <a href="http://www.eastleighrunningclub.org.uk/marwellold.htm">Marwell Wildlife 10k</a> at the end of May, giving me 10 weeks or so to work towards a sub-1hr time.</p>
<p><b>No related posts.</b></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Finally found my name</title>
		<link>http://www.ianmcshane.org/2010/03/07/finally-found-my-name/</link>
		<comments>http://www.ianmcshane.org/2010/03/07/finally-found-my-name/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 07 Mar 2010 20:51:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ian</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Web]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.ianmcshane.org/?p=173</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ [...]
<b>No related posts.</b>]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Back at the beginning of time, internet wise, anonymity was the preferred medium.  These days, I&#8217;d rather use my own name as opposed to a pseudonym.  For example you can find me on Twitter <a href="http://twitter.com/ianmcshane">@ianmcshane</a>.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I’m cursed with the same name as a fairly famous actor so, aside from a domain lost due to a <strong>massive fail</strong> by a UK based DNS host, I’ve not been able to get a name based domain.  Until now.</p>
<p>My existing and rather poorly updated blog domain (<a href="http://blog.maccarocks.com">http://blog.maccarocks.com</a>) is going to be retired.  I have quite a few fairly popular posts on there so I’ve done my best to migrate them here and hopefully Dreamhost will mirror correctly to keep the old URLs all working.</p>
<p><b>No related posts.</b></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Rage against the ma.. oh, wait&#8230;</title>
		<link>http://www.ianmcshane.org/2009/12/17/rage-against-the-ma-oh-wait/</link>
		<comments>http://www.ianmcshane.org/2009/12/17/rage-against-the-ma-oh-wait/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:34:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ian</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rage Against The Machine]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.maccarocks.com/?p=171</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ [...]
<b>No related posts.</b>]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">This started as a comment on &lt;insert blog link&gt; but escalated to a full on post of my own.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">Firstly, I don&#8217;t watch usually watch X-Factor.  Of course, I&#8217;ve been at friends houses when it&#8217;s on but I don&#8217;t watch it of my own accord.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">Secondly, I don&#8217;t listen to the radio in the UK (other than the occasional Planet Rock and Kerrang) and thus have little interest in what track is number one and even smaller awareness of what is being played all the time.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">Thirdyly, Christmas number ones, as far back as I can remember (with the exception of Cliff Richard), have been these so called &#8216;novelty&#8217; records.  I can&#8217;t remember specific examples but I&#8217;m sure there was a Mr Blobby one or some form of celebrity rehashed Christmas carol.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">I do tire of hearing about X-Factor all the live long day but it&#8217;s easy to tune out/block Facebook friends/stop following tweeters.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">So, why am I so interested in getting RATM to number one?</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">Is it the &#8216;F you I won&#8217;t do what you tell me&#8217; element?  I&#8217;m not sticking anything to The Man with this, really.  No-one is &#8211; except for RATM swearing on Radio 5. <img src='http://www.ianmcshane.org/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' />   I see a lot of people putting that line to mean everyone saying &#8220;hey, F you Cowell&#8221;.  I don&#8217;t think that&#8217;s true at all.  If that were the case, there some more relevant tracks in RATMs back catalogue &#8211; infect I think Take The Power Back would have given a more obvious call to action.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">Is it the &#8216;F Simon Cowell, he&#8217;s a C..&#8217; element?  Nope.  Does anyone really think this is going to stop X-Factor next year or mean that Mr C will have to sell one of his myriad houses?  Of course not.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">The whole thing is interesting to me from a social and technological view point.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">Virul campaigns have been around for years but this is different.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">This was started by one ordinary guy.  Some chap who created a Facebook group most likely for a laugh.  I&#8217;ll bet he didn&#8217;t think &#8220;I&#8217;m really gonna go out on a limb to stop this X-Factor guy&#8221;.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">Of course, it&#8217;s not the first time this kind of thing has happened.  Crowd-sourcing is really taking off in a huge way.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">Crowd-sourcing news at Reddit and Digg, Software companies using it to aid their development roadmaps, even using Twitter to track breaking news instantly.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">That&#8217;s why it&#8217;s interesting.  However, ordinarily, I wouldn&#8217;t have bothered getting involved with this but the fact that this kind of unimportant &#8216;battle&#8217; can also be used to motivate people to donate to charity made me change my mind.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">Last Friday, they&#8217;d raised almost £2k.  Today, the current total is over £50k with gift aid.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">Am I going to listen to the chart show this weekend?  No way.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">Am I really going to be annoyed/interested if X-Factor kid is number one?  Not at all.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">However, I spent £0.99 and a donation to charity to be part of something both interesting, useful and certainly something that will be a kind of folklore in geek history.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">Either that or someone will stumble across it on wikipedia.. <img src='http://www.ianmcshane.org/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_razz.gif' alt=':P' class='wp-smiley' /> </div>
<p>This started as a comment on Pauls post at <a href="http://blog.bloodonthemotorway.com/2009/12/17/rage-against-mediocrity/">Blog On The Motorway</a> but escalated to a full on post of my own.</p>
<p>Firstly, I don&#8217;t watch usually watch X-Factor.  Of course, I&#8217;ve been at friends houses when it&#8217;s on but I don&#8217;t watch it of my own accord.<br />
Secondly, I don&#8217;t listen to the radio in the UK (other than the occasional Planet Rock and Kerrang) and thus have little interest in what track is number one and even smaller awareness of what is being played all the time.<br />
Thirdly, Christmas number ones, as far back as I can remember (with the exception of Cliff Richard), have been these so called &#8216;novelty&#8217; records.  I can&#8217;t remember specific examples but I&#8217;m sure there was a Mr Blobby one or some form of celebrity rehashed Christmas carol.</p>
<p>I do tire of hearing about X-Factor all the live long day but it&#8217;s easy to tune out/block Facebook friends/stop following tweeters/ignore people.</p>
<p>So, why am I so interested in getting stopping some most-likely-to-be-a-one-hit-wonder kid getting to number one?</p>
<p><span id="more-171"></span>Is it the &#8216;F you I won&#8217;t do what you tell me&#8217; element?  I&#8217;m not sticking anything to The Man with this, really.  No-one is &#8211; except for RATM swearing on Radio 5. <img src='http://www.ianmcshane.org/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' />   I see a lot of people putting that line to mean everyone saying &#8220;hey, F you Cowell&#8221;.  I don&#8217;t think that&#8217;s true at all.  If that were the case, there some more relevant tracks in RATMs back catalogue &#8211; infect I think Take The Power Back would have given a more obvious call to action.</p>
<p>Is it the &#8216;F Simon Cowell, he&#8217;s a C..&#8217; element?  Nope.  Does anyone really think this is going to stop X-Factor next year or mean that Mr C will have to sell one of his myriad houses?  Of course not.</p>
<p>Is it because I don&#8217;t want some kid to get rich off of the back of some crappy TV show?  Ridiculous, he&#8217;s already going to have made a fortune and this whole deal is only going to make things more lucrative for him.  I doubt more than 10% (very conservative number) of RATM purchases were originally going to buy the X-factor single.</p>
<p>The whole thing is interesting to me from a social and technological view point - Virul campaigns have been around for years but this is different.</p>
<p>This was started by one ordinary guy, not some big brand with a marketing budget and some scenster in-charge.  Some chap who created a Facebook group most likely for a laugh amongst his friends.  I&#8217;ll bet he didn&#8217;t think &#8220;I&#8217;m really gonna go out on a limb to stop this X-Factor guy, whatever it takes&#8221;.  Let&#8217;s be honest here, he hasn&#8217;t done much at all.  Don&#8217;t get me wrong, everything starts somewhere but let&#8217;s not put this up as some one man crusade to stop the tyranny of a televised talent show.</p>
<p>Of course, it&#8217;s not the first time this kind of thing has happened.  Crowd-sourcing is really taking off in a huge way - news sites like Reddit and Digg, software companies using it to aid their development roadmaps, even news agencies use Twitter to track breaking news in real time.</p>
<p>That&#8217;s why it&#8217;s interesting.  However, ordinarily, I wouldn&#8217;t have bothered getting involved with this but the fact that this kind of unimportant &#8216;battle&#8217; can also be used to motivate people to donate to charity made me change my mind.<br />
Last Friday, they&#8217;d raised almost £2k for Shelter.  Today, the current total is over £50k with gift aid.</p>
<p>Am I going to listen to the chart show this weekend?  No way, at least not on purpose.</p>
<p>Am I really going to be annoyed/interested if X-Factor kid is number one?  Not at all.</p>
<p>Of course, it would be very cool for kids to get exposed to (via the radio friendly version <img src='http://www.ianmcshane.org/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_razz.gif' alt=':P' class='wp-smiley' /> ) some decent musicianship for a change.  Maybe they&#8217;ll even pay heed to some of the causes that RATM have campaigned for over the years.  Honestly though, I&#8217;m really not bothered about the outcome.</p>
<p>However, I spent £0.99 and a did a good deed in donating to charity to be a very small part of something both interesting, useful and certainly something that will be a kind of folklore in geek history - Well, at least there&#8217;s a good chance someone will stumble across it on wikipedia in years to come.. <img src='http://www.ianmcshane.org/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_razz.gif' alt=':P' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p>I can also hope that RATM will follow this all up with a UK tour next year!</p>
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		<title>Social Networking Integration != Gaming 2.5</title>
		<link>http://www.ianmcshane.org/2009/11/19/social-networking-integration-gaming-2-5/</link>
		<comments>http://www.ianmcshane.org/2009/11/19/social-networking-integration-gaming-2-5/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:15:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ian</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Gaming]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[PS3]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[XBL]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.maccarocks.com/?p=161</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ [...]
Related posts:<ol>
<li><a href='http://www.ianmcshane.org/2009/10/02/x360-or-ps3/' rel='bookmark' title='X360 or PS3?'>X360 or PS3?</a></li>
</ol>]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>Firstly, yes I am a bit of a X360 fanboy.  Actually, that&#8217;s not true, I&#8217;m an XBL platform fanboy.  I do REALLY want to like the PS3.  I&#8217;d love to be able to get rid of the noisy, hot, unreliable, X360  - but as yet I haven&#8217;t found a compelling reason to do so.  Perhaps the next time I get the RROD&#8230;..</em></p>
<p>This week, both Sony and Microsoft released updates to their consoles adding Facebook (both vendors) and Twitter (X360 only) integration.  Whilst both platforms have different levels of integration, the same problem is common to both vendors &#8211; IT&#8217;S A PAIN IN THE ASS TO TYPE ON A CONTROLLER!</p>
<p>Yes, yes, yes, both the PS3 and X360 controllers have mini-keyboard add-ons available but that still makes it only slightly more useable than an old school mobile phone. I guess you can also use a USB keyboard if you really want too&#8230;<br />
When I was checking out the X360 integration and my inner monologue was moaning about this problem, it suddenly dawned on me that I was thinking about the whole integration thing in the wrong way&#8230;.<span id="more-161"></span></p>
<p><strong>I DON&#8217;T actually want to use console based Facebook or Twitter in the same way I do on my computer.<br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;">I&#8217;m not interested in communicating directly FROM my console TO Facebook or Twitter.  If I&#8217;m online on either console, I&#8217;m likely to be too busy fragging enemies or searching for treasure than watching for a tweet reply or checking out how long someone&#8217;s baby slept for last night.<br />
</span><span style="font-weight: normal;">I just want to let people know what I&#8217;m playing, when I&#8217;m playing and how they can join in the fun.</span> </strong></p>
<p>My IDEAL Social Network -&gt; Console world looks like this:</p>
<ol>
<li>Cross-platform support (PSN-&gt;XBL).</li>
<li>Selectively post updates to my friends relating to game status.</li>
<li>Identify and consolidate contacts.</li>
<li>A new type of friends list for the &#8216;Outer Circle&#8217; (Friends of friends).  Facebook has had this idea for a while.</li>
<li>Ability to &#8216;prefer&#8217; my different circles of friends in online play.</li>
</ol>
<p>Let me step back for a moment to give some context to my thoughts.  I own both a X360 and a PS3 and posted a few weeks ago about the dilemma of choosing games between platforms.  I prefer the PS3 technology for the Blu-Ray player and native HDMI output but I prefer the X360 for gaming due to the level of maturity (in a tech sense, not the average user age <img src='http://www.ianmcshane.org/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' />  ) of the Xbox Live (XBL) network vs Playstation Network (PSN).<br />
I currently have 2 (two) contacts on PSN who I have NEVER seen online.  In contrast, I can turn my X360 on at almost any time and will see at least one of my twenty or so friends online playing something.  I don&#8217;t mean a &#8216;friend&#8217; in the Myspace sense of the word either &#8211; actual people who I have actually met and am actually friends with.<br />
Now, I know for a fact that at least 4 of my XBL contacts have a PS3.  All for the same reason as me, the Blu-ray player.  I only bought my PS3 because I had some amazon vouchers from work and because it was the only Blu-Ray player that I KNEW would continue to get firmware updates if standards changed over the next year or 2.<br />
The main hook on the console front is that the XBL is simply much more advanced than PSN.  It&#8217;s just easier and more fun to play online with Xbox 360..</p>
<p>To get  back on track, let&#8217;s look at the new <strong><em>Facebook Integration</em></strong>.<br />
Whilst both platforms now have a native Facebook integration, one is an order of magnitude better than the other.</p>
<p><strong>PS3</strong>: Post your purchases to your FB timeline, Post your Trophy acquisition updates to your timeline.<br />
<strong>X360:</strong> Full FB application on Dashboard, update status, read newsfeeds (split per your actual FB feeds), photos, find XBL users on FB, find FB users on your XBL friends list.</p>
<p>PSN appears to have missed the point completely and just adds a &#8216;check box&#8217; item to it&#8217;s platform.</p>
<div class="thumbnail"><a href="http://skitch.com/ianmcshane/neruu/fb-psn-app"><img src="http://img.skitch.com/20091119-8121pp5ijwpn923repga6dd1dx.preview.jpg" alt="FB_PSN_App" /></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Lucida Grande, Trebuchet, sans-serif, Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 10px; color: #808080;">Uploaded with <a href="http://plasq.com/">plasq</a>&#8216;s <a href="http://skitch.com">Skitch</a>!</span></div>
<p>Yes, it&#8217;s all well and good posting updates to my timeline bragging about how I just completed <em>*this*</em> level or got <em>*this</em>* trophy or achievement but that doesn&#8217;t actually add any value, except for the distain of those who&#8217;s newsfeed I&#8217;m polluting.<br />
I want to use social networks to expand my gaming experience, not just shout about it.</p>
<p>Using Facebook, XBL can now feasibly work out who I know and who my &#8216;friends of a friends&#8217; are and use this &#8216;trusted reputation&#8217; information to have an extended gaming circle.  You could go so far as to start mixing this into a reputation based friends list &#8211; &#8220;I know this guy very well and he&#8217;s very unlikely to have idiot friends on here so let&#8217;s add them to a second friends list&#8221;.  Kind of like the way LinkedIn shows how many &#8216;degrees&#8217; you are from someone else.<br />
For example, when playing, Modern Warefare 2 or FIFA 2010 online, I&#8217;d much rather play with people who aren&#8217;t likely to be racist, sweary, 14 year old douche bags &#8211; or at least be given an option to do so. Currently on XBL, you can &#8216;rate&#8217; people you&#8217;ve played against online to prefer or not prefer them in the future.  The trouble with this is that you have to experience playing with these fools before you could block them.<br />
Anyhow, I digress &#8211; This kind of online matchup doesn&#8217;t exist today but XBL is a ways closer to my utopia than the PS3 version is.</p>
<p><strong><em>Twitter Integration</em></strong></p>
<p>Given that Twitter is almost entirely designed as a one-way, one-to-many, communication medium (&#8220;What are you doing&#8221; versus &#8220;What do you want to talk about&#8221;) there is pretty little scope for this integration to be useful.<br />
Other than letting my followers know that <em>&#8220;Ian is playing this game&#8221;</em> and <em>&#8220;Ian just got his ass kicked&#8221;</em>, <em>how else can it be useful</em>?<br />
<strong><em>No, really.  That&#8217;s an actual question for you</em></strong>.<br />
I can&#8217;t think of anything other than bragging rights.</p>
<p>Perhaps Playstation got it right this time by avoiding a native integration and leaving it up to the game developers to use Twitter ala Uncharted2 &#8211; Twitter is best used for self promotion after all.</p>
<p>So, what&#8217;s my point?</p>
<p>Well, integrating with the current or next fad or phenomenon just for the sake of it isn&#8217;t enough.  Also, trying to create a NEW one hasn&#8217;t worked favourably for Sony either &#8211; how is Playstation Home doing?<br />
There is so much potential and power behind the social web and ideas like crowd-sourcing but both console vendor focus just seems to be in the wrong place right now.<br />
For a typically closed door company, whom people berate for not listening to customers (which is B.S by the way) and whom people love to hate, Microsoft are surprisingly open with the X360 and XBL.<br />
Don&#8217;t take my word for it, follow <a href="http://twitter.com/majornelson">@MajorNelson</a> (Director of Programming, Xbox Live) and compare that to the impersonal PSN and Playstation twitter accounts and <a href="http://blog.eu.playstation.com">blogs</a>.  Just another reason why I find XBL warm and friendly and PSN cold and boring.</p>
<p>You can find me on Twitter as <a href="http://twitter.com/ianmcshane">@IanMcShane</a> and on PSN and XBL as maccarocks.</p>
<p>Related posts:<ol>
<li><a href='http://www.ianmcshane.org/2009/10/02/x360-or-ps3/' rel='bookmark' title='X360 or PS3?'>X360 or PS3?</a></li>
</ol></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Amazon international Kindle ships, buyers remorse imminent?</title>
		<link>http://www.ianmcshane.org/2009/10/19/amazon-international-kindle-ships-buyers-remorse-imminent/</link>
		<comments>http://www.ianmcshane.org/2009/10/19/amazon-international-kindle-ships-buyers-remorse-imminent/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:08:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ian</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Hardware]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kindle]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Books]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tech]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.maccarocks.com/?p=147</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ [...]
Related posts:<ol>
<li><a href='http://www.ianmcshane.org/2009/10/12/moving-to-ebooks/' rel='bookmark' title='Moving to eBooks?'>Moving to eBooks?</a></li>
</ol>]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">I got the notification that my Amazon Kindle order shipped today, with delivery expected in a couple of days.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">In my excitement, I hopped over to the Kindle book store (accessed via Amazon.com as opposed to the .co.uk) to queue up some books and previews ready for its arrival.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">It&#8217;s accurate to say that I&#8217;m left a little deflated and disappointed by the titles available right now.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">I  was initially surprised to find that there isn&#8217;t an obvious way to see any of the popular Best Sellers listings, be it NY Times or perhaps anything else localised for the UK.  All I could do was list _all_ of the Kindle books and sort by &#8216;Best Selling&#8217;.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">Top of the list was Glenn Beck with &#8220;Arguing with Idiots&#8221;.  Maybe I should know more about him but other than him being on FOX and maybe talk radio, I don&#8217;t.  I decided to get queue up the &#8220;sample&#8221; of his book anyway.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">BTW the list price of this book for Kindle is $13.79 (or £8.44) including VAT &amp; international wireless delivery via Whispernet.  Match that against the Digital List Price and Print List Price of $29.99, as well as Amazons price for the Hardcover ($16.47) that&#8217;s a pretty decent saving.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">Scrolling down the list, there wasn&#8217;t really anything on their Best Selling list that took my fancy.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">I remembered that Dan Brown had a book out recently and thought I&#8217;d grab the sample of that too.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">Unfortunately, it seems that none of his books are available on Kindle.  Let&#8217;s clarify that, none of his books are available on Kindle for UK customers.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">The explanation from Amazon is &#8220;Due to copyright restrictions, certain Kindle Titles are not available everywhere.&#8221;</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">I bet this is going to become a talking point as Kindles are shipped around the world.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">I decided to go through the New York Times best seller list (http://www.nytimes.com/pages/books/bestseller)</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">Hardcover Fiction</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">1. THE LOST SYMBOL, by Dan Brown</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">2. A TOUCH OF DEAD, by Charlaine Harris</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">3. THE HELP, by Kathryn Stockett (yes)</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">4. THE PROFESSIONAL, by Robert B. Parker</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">5. THE LAST SONG, by Nicholas Sparks</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">Only one of the top 5 were available to UK buyers.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">Of the UK Sunday Times best sellers list for paper backs (http://tinyurl.com/d9av7f):</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">1. Cross Country, by James Patterson</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">2. The Gift, by Cecelia Ahern (yes)</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">3. The Private Patient, by PD James</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">4. Once In a Lifetime, by Cathy Kelly</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">5. Arctic Drift, by Clive and Dirk Cussler</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">Again, only one of the top 5 were available to UK buyers.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">This could make for an interesting couple of days.  There are at least 3 books on those two lists which I&#8217;m unable to get at present.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">Additionally, I looked for books by Max Brooks (World War Z, Zombie Survival Guide) and found that they aren&#8217;t available to me either.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">Of course, let&#8217;s not forget that Internation Kindles have only started shipping today.  There is plenty of time in the next 48hrs for Amazon to iron out the copyright issues that they use to explain the titles that aren&#8217;t available.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">Perhaps they should at least have a &#8216;notify me/download sample when this title is available&#8217; mechanism, I hope they are working this through now.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">It&#8217;s not all doom and gloom, there are of course many titles available right now.  At least I was able to get a sample chapter of &#8220;Pride and Prejudice and Zombies&#8221; <img src='http://www.ianmcshane.org/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif' alt=':-D' class='wp-smiley' /> </div>
<p>I got the notification that my Amazon Kindle order shipped today, with delivery expected in a couple of days.<br />
In my excitement, I hopped over to the Kindle book store (accessed via Amazon.com as opposed to the .co.uk) to queue up some books and previews ready for its arrival.<br />
It&#8217;s accurate to say that I&#8217;m left a little deflated and disappointed by the titles that are unavailable for UK buyers right now.  This could make for an interesting couple of days worth of tech news.</p>
<p><img class="aligncenter" title="Unavailable" src="http://img.skitch.com/20091019-d14bx5t8tkhbpwkrgwd1p6tr2k.jpg" alt="" width="588" height="138" /></p>
<p><span id="more-147"></span></p>
<p>I  was initially surprised to find that there isn&#8217;t an obvious way to see any of the popular Best Sellers listings, be it NY Times or perhaps anything else localised for the UK.  All I could do was list _all_ of the Kindle books and sort by &#8216;Best Selling&#8217;.<br />
Top of the list was Glenn Beck with &#8220;Arguing with Idiots&#8221;.  Maybe I should know more about him but other than him being on FOX and maybe talk radio, I don&#8217;t.  I decided to get queue up the &#8220;sample&#8221; of his book anyway.<br />
BTW the list price of this book for Kindle is $13.79 (or £8.44) including VAT &amp; international wireless delivery via Whispernet.  Match that against the Digital List Price and Print List Price of $29.99, as well as Amazons price for the Hardcover ($16.47) that&#8217;s a pretty decent saving.<br />
Scrolling down the list, there wasn&#8217;t really anything on their Best Selling list that took my fancy.</p>
<p>I remembered that Dan Brown had a book out recently and thought I&#8217;d grab the sample of that too.  Unfortunately, it seems that none of his books are available on Kindle.  Let&#8217;s clarify that, none of his books are available on Kindle for UK customers.</p>
<p>The explanation from Amazon is &#8220;Due to copyright restrictions, certain Kindle Titles are not available everywhere.&#8221;<br />
I bet this is going to become a talking point as Kindles are shipped around the world.</p>
<p>I decided to go through the New York Times best seller list (http://www.nytimes.com/pages/books/bestseller) for Hardcover Fiction:</p>
<ol>
<li>THE LOST SYMBOL, by Dan Brown</li>
<li>A TOUCH OF DEAD, by Charlaine Harris</li>
<li>THE HELP, by Kathryn Stockett</li>
<li>THE PROFESSIONAL, by Robert B. Parker</li>
<li>THE LAST SONG, by Nicholas Sparks</li>
</ol>
<p>Oh dear, only one of the top 5 is currently available to UK buyers, The Help by Kathryn Stockett.</p>
<p>Perhaps the local market would be better so I went through the UK Sunday Times best sellers list for paper backs (http://tinyurl.com/d9av7f):</p>
<ol>
<li>Cross Country, by James Patterson</li>
<li>The Gift, by Cecelia Ahern</li>
<li>The Private Patient, by PD James</li>
<li>Once In a Lifetime, by Cathy Kelly</li>
<li>Arctic Drift, by Clive and Dirk Cussler</li>
</ol>
<p>Again, only one of the top 5 were available to UK buyers &#8211; The Gift by Cecelia Ahern, not my cup of tea at all.</p>
<p>There are at least 3 books on those two lists which I would be tempted with if I was bored at an airport, alas I&#8217;m unable to get them to my Kindle right now.<br />
Additionally, I looked for books by Max Brooks (World War Z, Zombie Survival Guide) and found that they aren&#8217;t available to me either.  At this point, I&#8217;m starting to get serious buyers remorse so I&#8217;ve decided to stop looking for the moment.</p>
<p>Of course, let&#8217;s not forget that Internation Kindles have only started shipping today.  There is plenty of time in the next 48hrs for Amazon to iron out the copyright issues that they use to explain the titles that aren&#8217;t available.<br />
Perhaps they should at least have a &#8216;notify me/download sample when this title is available&#8217; mechanism, I hope they are working this through now.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s not all doom and gloom, there are of course many titles available right now.  At least I was able to get a sample chapter of &#8220;Pride and Prejudice and Zombies&#8221; <img src='http://www.ianmcshane.org/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif' alt=':-D' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p>Related posts:<ol>
<li><a href='http://www.ianmcshane.org/2009/10/12/moving-to-ebooks/' rel='bookmark' title='Moving to eBooks?'>Moving to eBooks?</a></li>
</ol></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Moving to eBooks?</title>
		<link>http://www.ianmcshane.org/2009/10/12/moving-to-ebooks/</link>
		<comments>http://www.ianmcshane.org/2009/10/12/moving-to-ebooks/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 12 Oct 2009 11:36:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ian</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Hardware]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kindle]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sony Reader]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.maccarocks.com/?p=140</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ [...]
Related posts:<ol>
<li><a href='http://www.ianmcshane.org/2009/10/19/amazon-international-kindle-ships-buyers-remorse-imminent/' rel='bookmark' title='Amazon international Kindle ships, buyers remorse imminent?'>Amazon international Kindle ships, buyers remorse imminent?</a></li>
</ol>]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><span><span style="font-size: 24px;">bibliophile</span><span><span style="font-family: HiraMinPro-W3;"> |ˈbɪblɪə(ʊ)fʌɪl|</span></span></span><span style="display: block; margin-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em;"><span><span style="font-weight: normal;">noun</span></span><span style="display: block;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">a person who collects or has a great love of books.</span></span></span></p>
<p>I travel a lot for work and quite often my flights are longer than just a couple of hours.<br />
This means that my MBP battery life isn&#8217;t long enough to sustain the entire flight and besides, I don&#8217;t often get to fly First Class so space is quite limiting.<br />
I therefore usually carry a book or two in my carry on luggage.  Ranging from business style ones (Crucial Conversations, anyone?) to fiction, they can add substantial weight to my bag.  Not forgetting the expense of course.  If i&#8217;m bored at the airport, I&#8217;ll check out the bookstore there.  For example, I bought a whopping book from Dublin airport last week which wouldn&#8217;t even fit in my bag.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ve coveted the Amazon Kindle for a long time now, pretty much since it was released and especially since they launched the Kindle DX earlier this year.  I know I&#8217;d need a US mailing address to open a US account and get it delivered but that&#8217;s fine.  The only thing that has stopped me getting one yet is that I am concerned at not being able to buy books for it.  I just don&#8217;t know if you can purchase books &#8220;off Kindle&#8221; &#8211; i.e buy them on my MBP and transfer them to the Kindle via USB.<br />
The last couple of times I&#8217;ve been to the US, I&#8217;ve had the Kindle 2 in my &#8216;shopping basket&#8217; about to hit the &#8220;order&#8221; button but backed out at the last minute.<span id="more-140"></span></p>
<p>Given that, you can imagine my excitement last week when I heard via @derrenbrown that the Kindle was finally being launched outside of the US.  I went straight off to Amazon and pre-ordered, despite the $40 import tax on top of the quoted $279 ordering price.<br />
Now a week has passed since I ordered and now I&#8217;m really starting to think this through.  A lot of noise has been made over the last few days about the cost of books to the UK market being higher than the US one.  It&#8217;s not that which bothers me so much, I&#8217;m more concerned about whether it fits MY purpose, not the markets.  I&#8217;ve started to wonder if I&#8217;ve just fallen for the media hype.  Other than the Kindle, my other option is the Sony Reader which is available in the UK right now.  It&#8217;s also the chosen format for Waterstones.</p>
<p>I need/want to be able to do the following:</p>
<ol>
<li>Carry books with me without over burdening my back/bag.</li>
<li>Be able to buy new books instantly over the web and move to reader easily.</li>
<li>Read PDFs and Word docs.</li>
<li>Occasional annotating and ability to find the notes quickly/easily.</li>
</ol>
<p>I don&#8217;t need web browsing &#8211; I have my iPhone when in the UK and my work BlackBerry for when I&#8217;m roaming.</p>
<p>Kindle International scores the first 2 but apparently doesn&#8217;t fair so well at number 3.<br />
The Sony Reader Touch Edition hits 1,3  and 4 but doesn&#8217;t have integrated wireless for instant download.</p>
<p>People have suggested getting the US version of the Kindle DX which has much better PDF support apparently.  However, I think I then lose the wireless aspect.<br />
Now, there is supposedly a new Sony Reader out in December, the Daily Edition.  A larger screen and wireless (3G I think) access to the Sony store are it&#8217;s main features.  That could well hit all three of my requirements, if it&#8217;s released in the UK.<br />
However, if we are talking about waiting for a new release, the Kindle DX is being touted for a 2010 Q1 release internationally so perhaps I should wait on that one?</p>
<p>Price wise, the Kindle International racks up at ~£218.35 including the import tax and shipping from the US versus £250 for the Sony Reader PRS-600 Touch Edition.  (It doesn&#8217;t surprise me that the Sony is more expensive, it&#8217;s quite the norm for anything on their brand.)  There is, however, a smaller Sony Pocket Edition at £160 which has fewer features and is basically a bare bones eBook reader.</p>
<p>What am I to do short term?</p>
<ul>
<li>Leave my Kindle order and hope that it&#8217;s either good enough for my needs or that the market for used Kindles is good in a month or so.</li>
<li>Go with the cheaper pocket Sony reader and wait for the International DX release or the newer Sony Daily?</li>
<li>Forget about all of them for the moment and see if this is just a fleeting &#8216;want&#8217; and not a need?</li>
</ul>
<p>Let&#8217;s see&#8230;</p>
<p>Related posts:<ol>
<li><a href='http://www.ianmcshane.org/2009/10/19/amazon-international-kindle-ships-buyers-remorse-imminent/' rel='bookmark' title='Amazon international Kindle ships, buyers remorse imminent?'>Amazon international Kindle ships, buyers remorse imminent?</a></li>
</ol></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>X360 or PS3?</title>
		<link>http://www.ianmcshane.org/2009/10/02/x360-or-ps3/</link>
		<comments>http://www.ianmcshane.org/2009/10/02/x360-or-ps3/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 02 Oct 2009 10:58:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ian</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Gaming]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[PS3]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[x360]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.maccarocks.com/?p=136</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ [...]
Related posts:<ol>
<li><a href='http://www.ianmcshane.org/2009/11/19/social-networking-integration-gaming-2-5/' rel='bookmark' title='Social Networking Integration != Gaming 2.5'>Social Networking Integration != Gaming 2.5</a></li>
</ol>]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">I own both (as well as a very underused Wii).</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">Historically, i&#8217;ve invested far more into the X360 than the PS3 both in terms of buying games and actual game time.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">Most of my friends also own X360&#8242;s so back when I had lots of free time for gaming, I spent time playing online over the fantastic Xbox Live network.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">There is also the small matter of the ongoing gamerpoint competition.  It seemed ridiculous back when we all started out with X360s a couple of years back but we ended up getting hooked into trying to beat out each others scores.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">This meant that when a game is multi-platform (as most are these days), I get the X360 version because of the achievement points.  Sad but true!</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">I have only four games for the PS3 (2 downloaded from PSN), Metal Gear Solid, Little Big Planet, Zombie Apocalypse (PSN) and Wipeout (PSN).</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">However, having since gotten an even MORE time intensive job as well as marriage, my game time has slipped dramatically.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">Over the last few weeks, I&#8217;ve been contemplating moving to the PS3 as my sole gaming entertainment provider but I&#8217;m not sure I&#8217;m ready to take the plunge.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">With todays release of FIFA 2010, I&#8217;m tempted take the chance and go with PS3.  However that means limiting my online play to strangers and my 360 owning friends pull further away on the gamerpoint front..</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">Decisions, decisions..</div>
<p>Yes, I know this is an oft talked about topic but I don&#8217;t mean it in a &#8220;Which is better?&#8221;, fanboy way.<br />
I own both (as well as a very, very under used Wii) but historically, i&#8217;ve invested far more into the X360 than the PS3 both in terms of buying games and actual game time.<br />
I&#8217;m trying to decide if I should continue with the almost 100% support of the X360 platform or whether the time has come for me to start moving over to PS3&#8230;<span id="more-136"></span></p>
<p>Most of my friends also own X360&#8242;s so back when I had lots of free time for gaming, I spent time playing online over the fantastic Xbox Live network. (XBL, gamerpoints and marketplace really are the differentiator between the two platforms but I&#8217;ll save that commentary for another post..)</p>
<p>There is also the small matter of the ongoing gamerpoint competition.  It seemed ridiculous back when we all started out with X360s a couple of years back but we ended up getting hooked into trying to beat out each others scores.</p>
<p>This meant that when a game is multi-platform (as most are these days), I get the X360 version because of the achievement points.  Sad but true! Contrast the 30 odd games I have for 360 (my total games played count is around 70) with the fact that I have only four games for the PS3 (2 of them downloaded from PSN): Metal Gear Solid, Little Big Planet, Zombie Apocalypse (PSN) and Wipeout (PSN).</p>
<p>However, the last 18 months or so have seen me get an even MORE time intensive job as well as marriage, meaning my game time has slipped dramatically.  I don&#8217;t think I&#8217;ve played online with anyone I know for nearly a year.  We used to regularly hit Rock Band or Guitar Hero online, FIFA and PES (before it sucked) along with the co-op story mode features of GoW and Halo 3.</p>
<p>Over the last few weeks, I&#8217;ve been contemplating moving to the PS3 as my sole gaming entertainment provider but I&#8217;m not sure I&#8217;m ready to take the plunge.  With todays release of FIFA 2010, I&#8217;m tempted take the chance and go with PS3.  However that means limiting my online play to strangers and my leaving my 360 owning friends to pull further away on the gamerpoint front..</p>
<p>Do give it a go on the PS3 and just see how often I find my self thinking &#8220;I should have stuck with X360&#8243; or should I stick to what I know and keep the PS3 for exclusives only?</p>
<p>Decisions, decisions..</p>
<p>Related posts:<ol>
<li><a href='http://www.ianmcshane.org/2009/11/19/social-networking-integration-gaming-2-5/' rel='bookmark' title='Social Networking Integration != Gaming 2.5'>Social Networking Integration != Gaming 2.5</a></li>
</ol></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Clearing the BIOS password on a Dell D610</title>
		<link>http://www.ianmcshane.org/2009/10/01/clearing-the-bios-password-on-a-dell-d610/</link>
		<comments>http://www.ianmcshane.org/2009/10/01/clearing-the-bios-password-on-a-dell-d610/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 01 Oct 2009 16:54:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ian</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Hack]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hardware]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dell D610]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.maccarocks.com/?p=130</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ [...]
<b>No related posts.</b>]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">Seeing as I work in technology, that obviously means I&#8217;m the first port of call for friends/relatives with any kind of computer issue.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">A couple of weeks ago, one of my wifes friends asked if I could take a look at her lappy &#8211; a Dell D610.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">She hadn&#8217;t used it for a few years as she got a newer lappy, now couldn&#8217;t remember her password which left her husband SOoL when he wanted to take it with him whilst he&#8217;s away with work.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">As here were a bunch of photos on there of their kids when they were younger I couldn&#8217;t simply reinstall the OS and go.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">Getting the pics off was pretty easy &#8211; Installing the OS was not.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">I managed to get the photos off with my trusty 3.5&#8243;IDE-&gt;USB adaptor.  Took the disk out, hooked it up to my MBP and copied them off.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">Well, it wasn&#8217;t quite that simple as I didn&#8217;t realise OS X wouldn&#8217;t search an NTFS drive (probably something to do with spotlight writing the index but being unable to write to NTFS natively).</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">After a bit of drive wrangling, I managed to get the device to show up in Windows 7 under VMWare Fusion and quickly found the pics.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">Right, just the OS to go.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">I burned an iso of XP with SP3 slipstreamed in and went about trying to get the lappy to boot from CD.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">Once I realised that the boot menu was having no effect, I checked out the BIOS.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">Yup, completely locked out with an admin password.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">This meant I couldn&#8217;t change the boot priority or anything.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">Bugger.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">A bunch of Googling turned me on to a method of wiping the BIOS completely by shorting out the EEPROM.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">It took me a while to work it out and I absolutely refused to pay the jackass with the youtube video promising to show you how to do it for a fee.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">So, in the interests of freedom of information, here is how to clear/reset/remove the BIOS password on a Dell D610.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">Notes and disclaimer:</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">This worked for me.  If it doesn&#8217;t work for you, i&#8217;m not responsible for that.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">You will be cutting metal from the casing.  You need to be careful not to leave any residue on the motherboard incase it shorts anything out.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">As part of the process, your machines service tag details will also be cleared.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">1. Get your BIOS locked Dell D610.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">2. Get a paperclip or safety pin.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">3. Get a phillips or crosshead screwdriver and some metal cutters (heavy duty wire cutters should do it).</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">4. Remove the power supply, battery, CD drive and HDD.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">5. Unscrew pretty much all of the screws on the bottom of the D610.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">6. Remove the bottom case.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">7. With the rear of the laptop closest to you, you should see a white label covering the modem on your left.  There should be some black plastic covering which stops the CMOS from touching the motherboard.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">8. Just above that, there are some holes in the metal casing. You need to access a chip underneath that area.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">9. CAREFULLY remove the metal.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">10. Take your paper clip and prepare to short out the two pins 2nd from the left.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">11. Power on and short those pins for about 5 secs.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">12. If you are doing it right you&#8217;ll hear the fan kick in.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">13. This message will show on the screen.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">14. You can either press FN+x or let it reboot.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">15. Now you will be able to go to the BIOS and make whatever changes you need.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">It&#8217;s actually a pretty simple process once you know what chip is where, although you must be extremely careful when cutting the casing.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">I hope that helps someone and saves them a few bucks.</div>
<p>Seeing as I work in technology, that obviously means I&#8217;m the first port of call for friends/relatives with any kind of computer issue.</p>
<p>A couple of weeks ago, one of my wifes friends asked if I could take a look at her lappy &#8211; a Dell D610.</p>
<p>She hadn&#8217;t used it for a few years as she got a newer lappy, now couldn&#8217;t remember her password which left her husband SOoL when he wanted to take it with him whilst he&#8217;s away with work.  To make things a little less straight forward, there were a bunch of photos on it of their kids when they were younger, so I couldn&#8217;t simply reinstall the OS and go.</p>
<p><strong><em>Getting the pics off was pretty easy &#8211; Re-Installing the OS was not.</em></strong></p>
<p>I managed to get the photos off with my trusty 3.5&#8243;IDE-&gt;USB adaptor.  Took the disk out, hooked it up to my MBP and copied them off.  Well, it wasn&#8217;t quite that simple as I didn&#8217;t realise OS X wouldn&#8217;t search an NTFS drive (probably something to do with spotlight writing the index but being unable to write to NTFS natively).  After a bit of driver wrangling, I managed to get the device to show up in Windows 7 under VMWare Fusion and quickly found the pics.</p>
<p>Right, just the OS to go.</p>
<p>I burned an iso of XP with SP3 slipstreamed in and went about trying to get the lappy to boot from CD.</p>
<p>Once I realised that the boot menu was having no effect, I checked out the BIOS.  Yup, completely locked out with an admin password.  This meant I couldn&#8217;t change the boot priority or anything at all.</p>
<p>Bugger.</p>
<p>A bunch of Googling turned me on to a method of wiping the BIOS admin password completely by shorting out the EEPROM.</p>
<p><span id="more-130"></span>It took me a while to work it out and I absolutely refused to pay the jackass with the youtube video promising to show you how to do it for a fee.</p>
<p>So, in the interests of freedom of information, here is how to clear/reset/remove the BIOS password on a Dell D610.</p>
<p><strong>Notes and disclaimer:</strong></p>
<p><em>This worked for me.  If it doesn&#8217;t work for you, i&#8217;m not responsible for that.<br />
You will be cutting metal from the casing.  You need to be careful not to leave any residue on the motherboard incase it shorts anything out.<br />
As part of the process, your machines service tag details will also be cleared.</em></p>
<p>1. Get your BIOS locked Dell D610.</p>
<p>2. Get a paperclip or safety pin.</p>
<p>3. Get a phillips or crosshead screwdriver and some metal cutters (heavy duty wire cutters should do it).</p>
<p>4. Remove the power supply, battery, CD drive and HDD.</p>
<p>5. Unscrew pretty much all of the screws on the bottom of the D610.</p>
<p>6. Remove the bottom case.</p>
<p>7. With the rear of the laptop closest to you, you should see a white label covering the modem on your left.  There should be some black plastic covering which stops the CMOS from touching the motherboard.</p>
<p>8. Just above that, there are some holes in the metal casing. You need to access a chip underneath that area.</p>
<p><img class="alignleft" src="http://img.skitch.com/20091001-f4aw3s6a3t3qh87dtcy5aui8ft.jpg" alt="" width="385" height="513" /></p>
<p>9. CAREFULLY remove the metal.</p>
<p><img class="alignnone" title="After cutting" src="http://img.skitch.com/20091001-jnbabw14if4e1jfughepqy39ey.jpg" alt="" width="385" height="512" /></p>
<p>10. Take your paper clip and prepare to short out the two pins 2nd from the left.</p>
<p>11. Connect the power supply and power on whilst shorting out those pins for about 5 secs.</p>
<p>12. If you are doing it right you&#8217;ll hear the fan kick in.</p>
<p>13. This message will then show on the screen.</p>
<p><img class="alignnone" title="Success!" src="http://img.skitch.com/20091001-1d51pwujfa5t5b9p5m9q196aa8.jpg" alt="" width="512" height="384" /></p>
<p>14. You can either press FN+x or let it reboot on it&#8217;s own..</p>
<p>15. Now you will be able to go to the BIOS (Press F2) and make whatever changes you need.</p>
<p>16. Reassemble the case</p>
<p>It&#8217;s actually a pretty simple process once you know what chip is where, although you must be extremely careful when cutting the casing.</p>
<p>I hope that helps someone and saves them a few bucks.</p>
<p>//ian</p>
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