View from the bus stop

Regards

Phil Ferris

This message was Handcrafted on the HTC Touch HD phone

Just ore of the same general musings

This time I am writing on my Touch HD with my Stowaway Bluetooth Keyboard. I should use this more often; it's so convenient and very comfortable balanced here on my lap tray. This phone does have everything one would need to get stuff done. I am currently typing into Mobile GBlogger but could be surfing with Opera or Twittering with PockeTwit, collecting emails with Flexmail 4, recording notes in OneNote Mobile or my current favourite - EverNote - notes that synch automatically with the cloud and any of my other computers. Yes a larger screen can be good but for grabbing some quick content or carrying out a swift action this HTC Touch HD can do it and do it well. (I don't subscribe to the Windows Mobile doesn't cut it school, especially when it allows me to do so much.) I'm off now to cook down some onions to go with the frankfurters and baked rolls for tea (or dinner, as some posh people say over here and abroad). I hope you have a good time with whatever you are about to do and thanks for stopping by.

A brief, if unexciting, catchup on what we’re up to

This is going to be one of those rambling-mostly-of-no-interest-except-to-the-writer blog posts.  I write it because I am fed up getting the urge to jot things one moment and then losing the desire by the time I get to the computer.  It’s sad really and entirely my own fault, since I have so many ways of recording my thoughts and posting to the internet.  I am going to try to avoid the whinging pom ppost in this, in tribute to my most excellent antipodean friends who occasionally peruse this site and whom it was great to see at Christmas.

First off is a look forward to we have in March.  I find that it helps in winter particularly to have what our friends Chris and taff call look-forward-tos.  We will be celebrating a special birthday with them and combining it, all things being equal, with a long overdue visit to Winchester, to visit the Cytronex bicycle location.

I had posted enthusiastically last year about sorting out an electric bike via the UK Government subsidy scheme. Cathy persuaded me that going into winter was not the best time to purchase a bike and I should wait till spring; an added complication was when I had the incredibly kind offer to purchase a car from a friend at well under market value.  It was the correct decision, as for the end of last year I had to make a load of trips to our North Cornwall office 70 miles away. 

We are going to have a day in Winchester while up seeing our friend and so I will arrange a trial ride. (I was also contacted via my post last year by a couple near Hayle who have Cytronex bikes and I haven’t ruled out taking them up on their offer to see the bikes in action.)  Recently the car has been off the road with a heater matrix problem and I have been walking the 30 minutes to the office from where the bus drops and the 45 minutes in the evening to the bus station.  I have enjoyed the walking but the bike will give me more scope.  I have joined Morrab Library following my visiting to take part in a genetic People of the British Isles but it takes a little over 30 minutes to walk there from work, not practical at lunchtime but perfectly feasible if cycling.

On Monday Cathy and I are excited to finally be going to archery classes.  We have fought shy of doing so in past years as the adverts we saw were for evening classes starting in Setpember and we would miss half of them through holidaying then but then we saw the advert for February and jumped at it.  I am not convinced that I will be any good but that’s what the 6 course is all about.  I like the romance of the thing but you won’t be seeing me parading about robed in Lincoln Green.

Our friends from London are down at the beginning of March which is always good and I am hoping we will get some good weather like the blue sky and sunshine of today.   Talking of which, I need to be off and in the shower as I promised to head out shopping wit Cathy.  It’s good to be able to get out after all the flu and chest infection (slept in a chair last night due to ciughing but hoping that was just a bump on the road to recovery).

 

Stay well kind reader and most of all, remember to have fun.

In defense of my vice: Internet use

My vice is the Internet, if vice is something that takes one away from healthier alternatives.

Today is the Day That I Happily Refuse to Purchase and iPhone by Tim Samoff (timsamoff)

I started when training at a training company. I couldn't help myself. It was just so easy to access.



i had always loved writing to other people and exchanging ideas with people outside of my social circle. I didn't travel that much so didn't encounter other geeks like me.



The Internet is my vice. I have no doubt I spend too long on it but I find it such a source of interest for my brain. I love learning as well as interacting with people who see things differently to me. I still live in the village I grew up in and my family live within doors of me; this makes for a great support network but isn't conducive to moving outside one's comfort zone.



My time on the net allows me to learn new stuff every day, to delve deeper into new things I might come across (I love researching things), to interact with people who have similar interests to me, to rediscover things that had meant a lot once but had faded out of my life.



I use a tablet PC these days and it enables me to be in the room with my wife and enjoy conversations but still be able to dip in and out of the net when she is otherwise occupied, say watching television. I am conscious of the need for social interaction in relationships so make an effort to be a part of conversations, see friends, etc. but I still get a special buzz from all that knowledge out there I can tap into within a few clicks.

If I had easy access to a helicopter, I'd fly to Oxford this weekend

Take me to the city of Dreaming Spires

I love the city of the Dreaming Spires. I get such a buzz standing in college quads and almost hear the neurons buzzing. The Bodleian Library is amazing and Oxford University's connections with people I admire sparks all sorts of ideas and imaginings.



I never made it there to study myself but I like to sit in a pub or cafe look at people and imagine what their life might be like, what it might have been like if I had made it there.



It's not just about the gown either; the city has some great shops and architecture but it is definitely the academic side that draws me there.

Trevarno

Regards

Phil Ferris

This message was Handcrafted on the HTC Touch HD phone

A Family Boxing Day

Regards

Phil Ferris

This message was Handcrafted on the HTC Touch HD phone

Blogging from the Touch HD & Stowaway BT Keyboard

I usually work through lunch to allow me to insert breathing spaces throughout the day. Sometimes I will go and look out the window, or pop down to chat with the people who make come by making/selling sandwiches; I went out today and found, yet again, that the day was really too nice to be spending it indoors at a desk. Today I decided to put some of the time aside to jot down a few lines for the blog. Nothing momentus, just a capturing of what's going through my head. My friend Alan has blogged int he past about how ideas come and ideas go, not least the ones that make for blog posts; these come at awkward times, such as when he's on the tube and unable to post. For me the problem is seeing great photographic shots but unable to capture them as I am in a stream of fast moving traffic.

Blogging from the Touch HD

This is a test blog post using my Stowaway Universal Bluetooth Keyboard. The 2710p is versatile but what I need sometimes is an altogether more portable and less power hungry option. When out for a stroll I would like to be able to stop and write up mmy thoughts. With this setup I can easily charge the phone back up, from the Expasys portable power supply I have, to give me a greater amount of useage; the 2710p will last a long time with the extended battery and, theoretically, I could charge from the car power outlet, but not in my pocket as I walk. I carry the tablet whenever I am out and have it with me, I don't leave it in the car for instance, I am used to the 3 or so pounds in a backpack or bag; still, it's nice to go light sometimes and still have the option to type more than a Twitter post. I find the Full Querty keyboard very easy to use and am impressed with how it distinguishes taps from my less than boysh finger tips. I have also loaded the Cailligrapher programme to be abe to wrte anywhere on the screen, from constant tapping on my Dell Axim I saw how it wore away on my screen protector. I have found it to work well though I use it most in character recogniser mode at the moment till I can get into the swing of writing in a slightly tidier hand. Another programme, or programmes rather, I have been experimenting with are SPB Mobile Shell and Pocket Plus. I have found I can run both and have a set of 5 small tabs and 4 larger ones on which I can hold all the shortcuts I need. One thing to note, there is a bug at the moment that prevents me choosing additional programmes on the phone screen; this means I have to run a small free programme to display my phone on the computer and then run down the list of available items that I can add to the tabs. I enjoyed using TouchFlow 3D for a day or two but it didn't give me enough control over it's display. - I found out I could edit the Weather Database and cities more relevant to me but the tabs were, on the whole, fairly rigid. The SPB software coupled with Pocket Informant and Flexmail 4 has given me a huge advantage in how I can quickly access and interact with information. I am finding the phone a joy to use, though the neat onscreen slider to answer a call took a little getting used to. Other software I am using includes CeBit for Twitter, a quick and easy option with reasonable displays of posts and extras like TwitPic insertion. My RSS reader is the inbuilt one. I seem to have corrupted eReader on the phone but also have Mobipocket installed so am OK for reading material. Windows Media Player works wella nd allows me to catch up on BBC programmes I have downloaded. I would like to thank Pocket Watch Software for their GBlogger software. I am using the free public version at the moment and will be buying my own copy of their Pro version next week after payday; I am very grateful that they have taken the free route as an offering for users, it has given me the chance of a proper trial of everything except picture inclusion, only available in the paid for Pro version of GBlogger. That's it for the moment. We turned in early and while Cathy caught up with the BBC 1 spy show Spooks on the 2710p, I thought it a good time to give the phone and keyboard option a try. - Posted using Pocket Watch Software Mobile GBlogger.

Versatility of the human voice - Flying Pickets

I do love the versatility of the human voice and a cappella singing demonstrates that

 

Yes, another Desert Island disc.