Software, technology, startups and video games

Last weekend was a bit of a film-fest for me. I managed the grand total of 3 films in 3 nights. Lately, I have struggled to find the time and desire to watch movies. I record them on my Sky+ box, and they sit there for 3 months until I either force myself to watch them or delete them to make more space for newer ones.

These days, I have a very small window of opportunity for entertainment/hobbies. So, its not easy to sit down for 2 1/2 hours to watch a film when you have so many other things vying for your attention (PS3, learning, working, blogs, surfing, exercise, photography, Heros, etc etc).

So on Friday night, I decided to watch Shooter (Mark Walhberg). Its a good old fashion action movie in the mould of Rambo/Jason Bourne. An ex-army sniper, recruited by a government agency to help foil a Presidential assassination, but is set up to take the fall. He goes on the run and sets about clearing his name and getting bloody revenge. If you like action films then you should definitely check it out.

On Saturday night, we picked another film that had been on the planner for a while, Lords of Dogtown (Heath Ledger). The film portrays the group of kids from Venice, CA who revolutionised Skateboarding in the 70s and went on to become superstars overnight. It is a fascinating look into the origins of extreme sport as we know it. Ledger was excellent as the hippy surf shop owner and mentor of the kids, but its the skateboarding that steals the show. I wish I had heard of these guys when I was a kid

On Sunday night, I finally got the chance to see The Dark Knight (Christian Bale, Heath Ledger). I don’t think I need to explain this one. I thoroughly enjoyed the film (though maybe not as much as Batman Begins). Ledger portrayed a darker and ultimately more sadistic and believable Joker than Jack Nickolson. I would have liked to see his character developed more though. I also think the film could have used a bit more of a storyline, especially with Bruce Wayne. The love triangle between Bruce, Harvey Dent and Rachel dawes didn’t exactly set the screen on fire. The emergence of Two-Face was a real highlight of the film but was almost a side story.

So 3 nights, 3 great films. I am in the process of changing how I get my movies. Now that I have a BluRay player, I am going to trial the LoveFilm.com rental service instead of Sky Movies/Extra Vision. They have a bigger selection of BD titles and are possibly a good trade off between the convenience of Sky and choice of a video shop. I will let you know how it goes.

Last Friday I got my hands on a brand new 80GB PlayStation 3, having traded in my troublesome Xbox 360. As well as the PS3, I bought GRID, Metal Gear Solid 4, Gran Tourismo 5: Prologue, an extra rumble controller, HDMI cable and a rented BluRay Movie. Here’s how I got on: Continue reading →

At the start of the month, I wrote about the launch of Sony’s sexy new eBook Reader. I managed to get my hands on one of these for 5 minutes while in the US last week.

Its very slim and light, while still sturdy. Great for throwing into a bag when travelling. The display was really clear and very readable. The non-backlit display meant that it was very similar to reading a real book with very little strain on the eyes. There is no scrolling, so if you zoom in, it repaginates the book. There were 3 levels of zoom, the middle one I found to be the most readable. The only minor issue was the response lag, taking a second or two to respond to a page turn or go back to the menu. Its a slow transition too, with a fading effect from the previous page to the next. Though, once you are used to it, it doesn’t cause any major problems. I heard rumours that colour displays are not that far away, which would be a major bonus, especially for reading non-fiction books such as text books.

For my 2 cents, these things are going to have as big an impact as mp3 players did a few years back, maybe not this Christmas but definitely in the next year or two. The question is, are Apple going to get in on the act?

Last night I went to see my first baseball game, the Texas Rangers at the 2007 World champions, Boston Red Sox. I wasn’t really sure what to expect. U.S. sports are known for being a bit stop and start, tactical, long and boring and with Texas not being one of the better teams, I wasn’t expecting this to be anything special.

I was as much interested in the experience and atmosphere as in the game itself. Boston’s Fenway Park is probably the oldest (built in 1912) and most historic of baseball stadiums and still has most of its original features. It was the home of famous Babe Ruth, before he got traded to the New York Yankees in 1920, causing the Curse of the Bambino where it was 84 years until they won another World Series. Its a bit decrepit now, the seats have hardly any paint left and there are lots of pillars blocking the view but it is a fantastic arena. I felt really close to the action and there was a great carnival atmosphere.

As for the game itself, it was fantastic! It was as much a show as a game, rock music would blast out each time a new batter stepped up to the plate, dozens of people were selling Fenway Franks, drinks and pretzels and most of the spectators had a beer in each hand. People were very friendly and only too happy to explain  what was happening and why.  I had a fair idea of the rules of the game but it was hard to keep up!

I actually missed the first 5 minutes of the game and the first home run. I just made it to my seat for the next one. Boston raced to a 10 run lead in the first of 9 Innings with their star player, David Ortiz, getting 2 3-run homers (home runs to you and me). It looked like it was going to be a cricket score. It was much faster than I expected. The next few Innings flew by. Then Texas started their come back from 10 runs down to take a 15-14 lead in the 6th Innings. The atmosphere became a lot more hostile and people were booing the players and getting more and more drunk. It was fascinating. The Innings started to take a lot longer and the game was becoming more tense and tactical.

Then came the 7th Inning Stretch. 40,000 people stood up and started stretching all at once. It was one of the funniest things I have ever seen. This was followed by chorus’s of Sweet Caroline with thousands of people singing and dancing in the stands. It is something I’ll never forget and that would only happen in the U.S.

After drawing level, Boston’s Kevin Youkilis hit a 3-run homer in the 8th Inning to take a 3 run lead, much to the delight of the nervous fans. Texas got one back but the Red Sox held on to win 19-17.

All sorts of records were set:

• The total 36 runs equaled the highest ever total set back in 1950.
• Texas’ 10 run come back matched their biggest ever comeback against the Sox in 1989.
• Ortiz’s 2 home runs in an innings was only the 54th time in MLB history.
• It was also only the 30th time the Red Sox scored more than 10 runs in an Innings and the first time since 2003.

The game lasted more than 4 hours and was described by nearby Red Sox fans as one of the best games they have ever seen. Click here for more details. I absolutely loved it and will definitely be keeping an eye on the Red Sox results from now on.

Just coming to the end of my first day in the Cambridge office. Totally gobsmacked by the views of Boston. It is great meeting the people I have been working with in person. Everyone is very friendly and welcoming.

Unfortunately, the weather hasn’t been great. I was caught in a heavy thunderstorm last night. The rain hammered down for three hours with no let up. I found shelter in a nearby Abercrombie and Fitch store which became a living hell after an hour. Ended up having a Clam Chowder Bread Bowl then onto a great little bar where a pint of Bud was $1.50 so it wasn’t all bad.

I will be going to my first baseball game tomorrow night to see World Champions Boston Redsox take on the Texas Rangers. Its a hard job but somebody has got to do it

So I did it. It took a bit of courage and a lot deliberation but I have sold my Xbox 360 and all its games. I started by deleting my gamertag. Once it was gone there was no going back. I reformatted the HDD, stuffed it into my old Gears of War Limited Edition box, traded it in for £130 (including the wifi adapter) and put my name down for a spanking new 80GB Sony PS3. It isn’t due until the end of August but I can make do with my Wii and Crysis on the PC. I had 10-12 games to trade in but Game were only offering £30 for the lot so I brought them to Extra Vision who offered me £65. All I have left is a spare controller that I will use for my PC and a dodgy wireless headset. I still have 5 months of my Xbox subscription and 1500 Xbox points but I guess that doesn’t really matter.

So its goodbye Microsoft and hello Sony. I am really looking forward to getting the PS3. I think the hardware has much more potential than the Xbox for the next few years. I will finally be able to watch HD movies on BluRay, which was one of my original reasons for buying the 360 before HDDVD borked. There are also some interesting games including MetalGearSolid 4, KillZone 2, Little Big Planet and of course Gran Turismo 5. Most of all, I am looking forward to having a console that doesn’t refuse to play my games (fingers crossed!).

After 1 and a half years, I have finally lost patience (and interest) in my Xbox 360. So am planning to sell up and replace it with a brand spanking new 80GB PS3.

I bought my first 360 just before Christmas 2006 to go along with my new 40″ LCD TV. The first few days of hi-def gaming with Gears of War was fantastic.The graphics were awesome and the Gears cover mechanics really added to the realism. Unfortunately, the Honeymoon didn’t last very long. The ear deafening roar from the noisy 360 itself was disappointing. Then I had to replace the 360 after less than a week’s worth of service, spoiling my Christmas games fest. This was my first introduction into the world of pain surrounding Microsoft’s dodgy hardware.  Then I had to replace my spare controller and both of my rechargeable battery packs a week later. The wireless headset was complete and utter rubbish. My second 360 has been a royal pain in the backside. I have had to deal with constant interruptions to gaming sessions due to “unreadable” disks, all of which were brand new and completely unblemished. My 360 had a habit leaving strange concentric rings of crud, which took ages of gentle rubbing to clean off.  Then last Christmas, as I was planning another annual games fest, the console suffered the Red Ring of Death (RRoD) and I was left without a console for three weeks. Actually, I bought a Wii to cover the loss so it wasn’t all bad. Since then, it has been used less and less. I would play once in a blue moon, often interrupted by the “Unreadable” disk error. Then, the other night, as I settled down for a rare hour on GTA IV, it happened within 5 minutes of starting up. The final straw.

It is sad because I still love the console for all its faults. All of my brothers have 360s. The controllers are the best of any console, Arcade was great for a quick blast of Geometry Wars and online play was second to none. With big changes to the menu system, Gears 2 coming out this Christmas, and the brilliant Microsoft only PGR series, it would be tempting to stick with it for a while longer, or even just go for a new 360 in the hope that they have sorted the issues out.

I would love to hear from anyone else with similar experiences, particularly those who traded in for a PS3. How did you find the switch? Any regrets??

Sony’s new Reader is now available for preorder on their UK Store for £199. It is a lovely looking piece of kit capable of storing 160 eBooks from a library of thousands of titles available on Waterstones.co.uk. Its thin, light, sleak and uses a special 6″ screen that acts like real ink and is easy on the eye. I want one.

*Update – the price is £199 + VAT with free delivery.

I recently bought a book (Exposure Photo Workshop) in a local Waterstones shop at the reasonable price of £15.99. In the back of my mind I knew I was probably paying more than I would online at Amazon or Play.com. Having just checked, Amazon.co.uk have a massive 35% discount on the book. Ouch!

I thoroughly enjoy rummaging around bookshops when I am in town. I much prefer sitting down and leafing through a book than using dodgy Look Inside features or the Comment minefield. The problem is, when I see a book I am interested in a little voice whispers in my ear “Its probably cheaper on Amazon”. So I usually set the book back planning to look it up online, which I usually forget to to anyway. Is the “in store” experience and convenience worth the extra markup? How many times do you buy a book online only to realise its not quite what you were expecting? It is definitely worth more but maybe not 35% more! I think bookstores should take a leaf from the likes of Tesco and declare the difference in price compared to the major etailers. At least that way, I could make an informed decision on the spot, and unless there is a massive markup, I’d probably buy it there and then.

The sad thing for me is how good IT books are a dying breed in bookstores, being replaced with smaller collections of terrible “Dummys Guide to …” and crud like “How to use Excel” and “Ebay hacks”. No doubt this is due to Internet savvy IT pros buying their books online or increasingly reading ebooks. I guess we have only ourselves to blame.

Congratulations to Padraig Harrington for being the first European to defend his Open Title in 102 years. I really thought the wobble on the front nine was going to end his challenge, especially with Ian Poulter on a charge. I was too nervous to watch so I went for a bike ride. I got back in time to see his eagle on the 17th (what about that approach shot!!). To win one Open is a fantastic achievement but to win 2 in a row surely will put him up with the greats of European and World golf (apart from Tiger and Jack of course). Hopefully the majority of Sports Journalists will avoid mentioning the “luck of the Irish” tomorrow and give him the accolades he quite rightfully deserves.