Pies!

In a cunning demonstration of my inverted priorities, I've devoted a number of blog posts to microscopic evaluation of my latest flawed electronics purchase, while ignoring entirely The ACCESS (and associates) Christmas Party, which occurred last night.

Mike, Tim, Diana & Andy, Marc & wife¹, Stephen, and I went to Sweeney & Todd² in Reading. It's a pie shop with a surprisingly large restaurant nestled inside; I tucked in to venison and boar pie with peas and cauliflower cheese, followed by a gorgeous rhubarb crumble swimming in cream. Lots of ales to drink (Tanglefoot, Adnam's, 6X, and more), and great value — food for 8 came to £84, which is a bargain. I'd definitely go again.

Of course, Mike, Tim, and I visited a couple of pubs beforehand (a pint apiece in the Upin Arms and the Lyndhurst, which I intend to visit again!), thrashing out an idea of mine which may yet become a startup venture. Another pub afterwards (amusing called “The Horn”) topped off the night, then I crashed at Tim's. Decent.

¹ I've been told her name before, but I have an appalling memory for names. Sorry, Marc and nameless wife!

² Here is the Reading Restaurants page on Sweeny & Todd; their telephone number is +44 118 959 6466, and they are at 10 Castle Street in Reading, postcode RG1 7RD.

Posted at 2004-12-16 14:08:10 by Richard • Link to Pies!
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Blunkett

Well, if you put it like that:

After all, it's not like he started a war on false pretences or anything, is it?

No, I wanted to see Blunkett resign over the introduction of imprisonment without trial, the end of the right to trial by jury, the introduction of ID cards, and generally being a fascist the most authoritarian home secretary we've seen in half a century.

From Small Values of Cool.

Posted at 2004-12-16 10:15:20 by Richard • Link to Blunkett
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Goodbye, cruel phone

It's going back. Curiously, it took less than an hour for them to kill the new SIM, after taking over a day to switch it on.

The D500 was close, but no cigar; I could have lived with it, but I don't think I'm its intended audience. I'd managed to get file transfer to the Mac working, and I'd found the message receipt option, but the difficulties with contacts and calendar, and the lack of little things (like voice recognition!) were too much. The sheer comedy of a currency converter that only worked for Lira, Escudo, Franc, and other continental European currencies made it all worthwhile, though — no Pounds Sterling option. Classic.

On my list for my next phone, though, is definitely a MP camera. And I miss the little, slidey bugger already. It's definitely got charm.

Posted at 2004-12-16 09:17:28 by Richard • Link to Goodbye, cruel pho…
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More on D500 images

No EXIF data…

$ jhead Marc.jpg
File name : Marc.jpg
File size : 108952 bytes
File date : 2004:12:16 15:20:26
Resolution : 1280 x 1024
Jpeg process : Baseline

No good at all, particularly as Bluetooth file transfers, just like from the P800, lose the time and date information.

Now why does it have to be such a sexy little device? I want a V800.

Posted at 2004-12-16 07:24:56 by Richard • Link to More on D500 image…
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I hate phones

So, I have this nice, shiny new handset. With several fatal flaws.

• Sending files from it doesn't work. At first it outright fails; now, even worse, it lies, saying the file has been sent when it hasn't. The iBook doesn't even prompt for receipt, though the D500 shows a progress bar and reports success.
  Update: the Mac seems to be receiving data (according to fs_usage), so I don't know what's happening…
  Update 2: Bizarre! The files are being transferred — but to /Users/Shared, which is the location that the Mac will allow other devices to browse. Transferred files should go to my Desktop. I call foul.
• It can only receive single vCards. I beamed a JPEG, and it failed to display it.
• It can pair with my HBH-660 Bluetooth headset, but can't do voice dialling, which renders it a bit useless (and illegal).
• It can't set receipts on SMSs.
• Back to Bluetooth: it claims to be able to be browsed over Bluetooth, but doesn't return a file listing. Furthermore, it won't accept any transfers from here.

So close, and yet so far. Now I'm going to see if I can get the problems fixed, or return it.

I hate technology.

Posted at 2004-12-16 05:22:57 by Richard • Link to I hate phones
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