Ok, Ok, so “somehow” is a little white lie… I’ve wanted an iPhone for months and with my old T-Mobile contract up for renewal I jumped at the chance to make the switch. The iPhone is an outstanding piece of hardware and I can safely say its the most advanced and feature packaged mobile device I’ve ever owned. Those who know me well, (and followed my old blog full of  technobabble), may recall I’ve owned a number of portable devices over the years. I started off with an HP iPaq 2210 which, to this day, is still a remarkable and powerful piece of kit with its 400Mhz processor. I then moved onto an MDA Vario II as this was a more powerful, more compact Windows Mobile device that I flashed with an official Version 6 ROM and to boot it had ‘unlimited internet’.

At this time my needs were wide and varied. I needed to be able to VPN in to work and use Remote Desktop as well as being able to connect to FTP sites and to even go as far as running a web server in my pocket… yeah no kidding, I did it and I had my reasons But since then I’ve focused my efforts more on my desktop MacBook and found my portable requirements had changed. I still need VPN in my pocket but the iPhone offers that now, along with push email and remote desktop functions via the App Store. Yeah, its certainly safe to say I flipping well love this phone and will probably stick with it even after my 18 month contract is up for renewal. Well, I might upgrade the iPhone but I doubt I’ll switch… unless Android gets even more tempting?

I really do love Apple. They make some amazing products and I’ve really started to build a collection. I have a 4th Gen iPod, a MacBook, a Wireless Mighty Mouse, the latest Apple Keyboard and now an iPhone 3G. Because I use my MacBook with OS X almost all the time these days, the iPhone goes hand in hand with it. A word of warning though… the App Store for the iPhone in iTunes can be very addictive as I’ve found out

Oooook Sean reel it in…. not everyone is here to listen to your new found iLove affair. So where am I with the book at the moment? Well I’m happy to report that the second chapter is complete and I plan on starting the third chapter as early as later this afternoon. I was down in London a week before Christmas and spent some of the return journey proof reading my last few pages to make sure I was completely happy with it.

I did make a promise that I would upload sneak peeks of the book in progress and I wont disappoint, so stay tuned for a page or so preview coming early in the new year. As always if you have any questions for me drop me a line or fire off a comment below. I love hearing from you.

Until next time!

I’m often told that I have a rather dry sense of humour but surely I can’t be the only person who would find this funny…

I travel to London, (and other places), by train an awful lot and I’ll admit I’m one of those people who gets their laptop out and clicks away the entire journey. I find having my computer with me all the time very useful so naturally I’m glad we can buy such powerful machines in tiny form factors.

Having said that, I would pay a lot of money and laugh very, very loudly, (even in Coach B… the quiet coach! Shhh!), if a lady or gentleman sat down calmly at a table seat and after a few moments of reading the morning paper… opened a large duffel bag, pulled out a ZX Spectrum and hooked it up to an old CRT portable television to while away the time!

I loved those things, and you can bet your last penny I’d be the first up to grab the second player joystick. You can keep your Sony Vaio or your Dell netbook; the spectrum would be the real crowd puller

Tell me I’m not the only one who would love to see this happen! Sound off in the comments.

I am about to eat my own words as I don’t use an OEM mouse of any sort at home or at work. In fact for as long as I can remember I’ve always owned Microsoft mice. I’ve found them reasonably comfortable and reliable pieces of equipment, yet due to the job that I do I’m always jumping onto machines with those brick-like, cheap, bargain basement mice, (some with the dreaded trackball even!) and they’re not nice.

OK, sure… they get the job done but they’re by no means perfect. The old phrase ‘you get what you pay for’ usually applies to mice that ended up costing you pennies at retail value and they’re never ergonomically designed either. As I’m someone who spends a lot of time in front of a computer with my right hand clamped to one of these rodents for regular extended periods of time I’ve started to think about upgrading from my assortment of Microsoft Mice to something a little bit special

I’ve discovered a simply fantastic mouse manufactured by Logitech called the MX Revolution. It’s by far their most technologically advanced and ergonomic mouse but of course with that comes a rather high price tag that many people couldn’t justify. I mean lets be honest here, you can get many well designed ergonomic mice for very little online but I’ve justified my decision knowing that I will get a lot of use from it.

You wouldn’t buy the most cheap and nasty, uncomfortable chair available if you had to spend all day sitting in it would you? It’s more than likely you’d invest a little more to get one that was comfortable and it makes sense.

I’m not going to finish off here with a soapbox debate about RSI, (Repetitive Strain Injury), but I can pretty much guarantee I’ll suffer from it in some degree when I’m older in my right hand/wrist. That’s why I’m doing something about it now.

Seriously, even if you don’t want to go over the top like me I’d strongly suggest you consider getting a newer, more wrist friendly rodent if your current one is a little awkward to use or not shaped ergonomically.

I finally sat down and cracked open Microsoft Word 2008 on the Mac to begin my book today. The idea for The Garden of EDEN has floated around in my mind long enough and I thought it was time to put my ideas to paper. I’ve got a fair few drafts of parts of the story and a whole plan written out but every day I was thinking ‘I really want to get on with the book…’ and yet I never started anything!

I’ve posted a little insight into what the book is about on here; you can visit the dedicated The Garden of EDEN page to read this and to find out more. As the novel develops I’ll post exclusive excerpts of the various chapters and would love to hear what you think. Whether your feedback is good or bad it doesn’t matter. I’m open for criticism and find it helps me put together better work.

Stick around guys - this should become rather interesting