Awesome Uggs for cold weather

Awesome Uggs
Originally uploaded by TheScream.

Despite being, to a large extent, an anti-fashion item, I still like Ugg boots.

Adelaide has been particularly cold the last few days and these have kept my feet toasty warm. They also have a proper sole on them so you can wear them camping!

I get my Ugg boots from Jumbo Ugg Australia.

Mirror's Edge

A recently announced game by DICE (creators of the Battlefield series of games) and EA called Mirror's Edge looks to be one of the most interesting games to be released in the last few years.

You play the character of Faith who is effectively a courier. These couriers are specifically used to avoid interception and eavesdropping by the totalitarian government. They evade government monitoring by using the city's rooftops and skyways to get from one point to another.

The movement in the game is synonymous with Free Running or Parkour.

One of the questions I've seen on numerous sites has been "where can I get those shoes?!?" referring to the unique split toe/tabi style footwear that Faith uses.

Some have suggested it is based on the Nike Air Rift or Nike Ikoi, others have suggested it is based on a Puma Parkour concept design.

The original trailer for the game had the brand "Loggo" on the shoe on the intro sequence, despite being of slightly different design and colour to the one actually in the game. Loggo has no such shoe or even any with a split-toe design.

So I put it to the Interwebs, what can you find that is the best match for this shoe?

Intro sequence:

Top and sides:

Sneaky cat

Sneaky cat
Originally uploaded by TheScream.

My 19 year old Burmese appears to have immediately snuck in and occupied the warm spot I vacated in my bed this morning.

I guess she thinks because she's old she can get away with it.... and she can. :)

iPhone 3G - Two Days In

iPhone 3G
Originally uploaded by TheScream.

On Friday, I relented to my temptation and upgraded from an i-mate JasJam which has served me well for 2 years to a new iPhone 3G on Telstra.

Being fairly passionate about technology, i've followed the ups and downs of the iPhone since its v1 announcement in February 2007. I was well aware I could obtain a version 1 model and use it in Australia but I had a requirement to be able to use Exchange Activesync. (this is a Microsoft server technology that pushes email, calendar, contacts etc to your phone) The iPhone v1 software is not compatible with this technology.

So back a couple of months ago at Apple's World Wide Developer Conference 2008 they announced the rumored version 2 software and 3G hardware along with support for Exchange Activesync, I made my decision.

Fast forward to now, I've had my white iPhone 3G 16GB for two and a half days. My thoughts?

Interface

Brilliant. The only point where it fails down is where you want to quickly switch between two applications as you have to go to the home screen every time. Also, there is no cut/copy/paste functionality which can become tiresome.

Applications

We've gone back in time to the heyday of Palm where only foreground applications are actually active and running. This is a fairly frustrating point and I understand why (speed) but disallowing developers to even have a very limited background widget to perform notification tasks or retrieve data in the background is a major step backward.

There is a "push" service coming later in the year that will allow developers to utilise an apple server to push notifications to which will then allow a very small subset of actions on certain events mainly surrounding notifications.

This means that the chances of any true IM applications is slim. Sure, there will be foreground apps like AIM which is already available but switch to another app and it signs you out.

I want to be able to have an app which will wake up my phone to tell me I have an instant message, just like SMS messages.

Physical Characteristics

The phone feels slippery in my hands and I have not yet got a comfortable way of holding it in portrait orientation while typing. Getting a case for it will certainly help but I'm looking at Vaja Cases which take over a month so I'll have to find something off the shelf in the meantime.

One of my favorite "little touches" is the little switch on the left side which instantly switches to silent mode. I have heard, however, some 3rd party apps don't honor this switch and still play sound so be cautious.

Why did I choose white? The back of the 3G is made of polycarbonate. If scratched, this material will show light-gray or white coloured scratches. By selecting the white version, it will continue to look good for longer.

Maps and GPS

Fast lock-on, even indoors, live updating of your position, simply brilliant. However, it can not really be used as an in-car turn-by-turn navigation system with the existing software.

Battery

It look like if you're not doing much with the phone it could last for days without a charge. However, heavy use of the device does seem to drain the battery quickly. I'm going to put this in a category of "sitting in a charging dock when at your desk". Given my usage patterns, I'm going to estimate no better battery life than my Jas-Jam which I charged every night.

WiFi, 3G and Bluetooth

The WiFi is very quick, as is the 3G, in fact, I noticed little difference in speed between the two.

Bluetooth on this device is extremely limited and you can only use it for a headset profile. No syncing, no bluetooth modem, no file or contact transfer.

No file system

Just like the old Palm OS devices, there is no file system as such, well, not one that the end user can access. You can save photos to the photos app and access them when syncing back to your Mac or PC but nothing else. This feels limiting and weird to me.

The Telstra Factor

So why did I pay more and go for Telstra? The iPhone 3G can connect to the mobile network on GSM/EDGE at 850, 900, 1800 and 1900 MHz and the UMTS/HSDPA 3G network at 850, 1900 and 2100 MHz.

Optus, Three and Vodafone use 900, 1900 and 2100MHz for their 3G coverage and most of that is on 900MHz towers, which the iPhone can not use.

Telstra's NextG network runs at 850MHz and covers nearly 98% of the population meaning I'll have 3G coverage where the other carriers will be lucky to get a signal.

Some may argue that you leave the metro area so infrequently it isn't worth the Telstra price, I do go on camps, hunting, etc so I want that flexibility.

I did the calculations of what it'll cost given my usage patterns with Telstra vs Vodafone and Telstra came out $10/month more expensive but with much better coverage. A no-brainer for me to choose.

Summary

Overall, I am very impressed with the device despite its limitations. As more 3rd party apps are released (there are already over 500, 1/3 of which are free) and the Apple Push service becomes available, the iPhone 3G will continue to get better and rectify some of the short-comings I've detailed here.

nvidia GTX280 in a Shuttle case

As promised, my report on if, and how, you can install a nvidia GTX280 card in a shuttle with a P2 chassis and 450W PSU. I have only been running for about an hour with the new card but no issues and a pass with 3DMark Vantage showed it could handle the load.

NOTE: Do not attempt this mod under any circumstances due to complexity, stupidity, warranty risk and general ass-coverage by me.

As you can see by the picture below, the only reason an 8800GTX will fit in a P2 chassis is that the heatsink’s shroud only covers 2/3 of the length of the card and the P2 12V connector is literally right next to the PCB.

If you take a look at this comparison image, you will see why you can not just swap it out for the GTX280.

With this modification, I purchased a P2 12V extension cable to perform the mod on rather than risking the warranty of the shuttle or the video card.

I first removed the pins from the end that plugs into the motherboard. If you do not know how to do this, research it as a special tool or a very very small flat-head screwdriver is required. I then reduced the length of the connector so that only 3mm of the top section remained. (this is for structural integrity) I used a craft knife to cut the plastic, it was quite soft.

Next, I used heatstrink tube to insulate the now exposed metal of the connectors to prevent shorts from occuring, the inserting the pins (IN THE CORRECT ORDER DAMNIT!) back into the connector.

Now plugged in, you can see how much vertical space has been saved.

With the GTX280 installed, and the cables routed to the sides rather than straight up, the card sits parellel to the motherboard… and there was much rejoycing.

When undertaking this, I was very careful to ensure the thin metal used in the pins did not break where they were bent to a 90 degree angle from where they normally sit.

As you can see from the completed installation, you have the modified P2 12V mobo extension, the 1 to 2 x 6 pin PCIe power connectors and the converter of one of those 6 pins to an 8 pin, all neatly packed away.

The iPhone Travesty

So, some bright spark from Telstra made two particularly unpopular decisions regarding the iPhone. I'm certain both were motivated by profit.

1. Only one Telstra shop in Adelaide selling iPhone on launch day
   
   That, and they only had 5 staff. When I got there 30 mins early there were over 40 people in queue. By 9am I'm told there were over 100. Given what I know of how long it takes the Telstra shop sales drones to process someone, 15 mins x 100 divided by 5 staff = 5 hours minimum.
   
   In addition, I'm told the Telstra sales system went down, meaning nobody could buy any phones.
   
   
2. Price gouging the iPhone
   
   I was expecting it to be expensive. However, given the extremely late release of plans by Telstra, it gave little time to compare on the day. Having sat down and compared the plans, they are effectively charging double for the iPhone compared to the other carriers.
   

People often think I'm crazy for wanting an iPhone with Telstra however there are some good reasons behind it:

• Best overall coverage
• UMTS 850 coverage

What does this mean? Well, the iPhone only supports 3G (UMTS) on 850, 1900 and 2100MHz. Optus, Vodafone and Three only do UMTS on 1900 and 2100MHz and even then, only in the metro area.

If I was to get an iPhone on any network other than Telstra, i may as well have just got the 1st generation handset because 3G would have been of very little benefit.

So what am I going to do? Wait for now.

Update: I've waited long enough, had a chance to evaluate my options and went to the Telstra Shop at Westfield Marion (SA) only to find that, despite having plenty of iPhones, their computers had been down all day and the only people to walk out of the store with an iPhone bought it outright!

So now, I wait until they've processed my manual forms. *sigh*