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Saturday, 26 June 2010
Wednesday, 25 February 2009
Internet-less
Well, its been more than a month since I last wrote something. Partly due to laziness, but I will blame Telstra, and TPG, and all companies related to my internet connection. I have been without it at home for more than two weeks now. It is rather frustrating.
So the story goes:
1. Internet went down.
2. Do isolation tests, try different modem, try different wall socket.
3. Time to call TPG, lodge request.
4. TPG comes and plugs in cable shark, determines there's a problem.
5. TPG calls Telstra to check line.
6. Telstra checks line at Network Boundary Point, gets connection at 5.5Mb. (I usually get around 2Mb)
7. TPG calls to tell me to fix my private line.
8. Call up Telstra to fix line, get told I'm not with Telstra for phone.
9. Find out I'm with ACN, so call them to fix line, they won't.
10. Have to search for a telephone technician now to fix line.
All of this happened in 2 week time period, admittedly, most parties seem to have done what they're supposed to in a reasonable manner, but it begs the question of who really is responsible for this kind of thing. Further, why do we have such slow internet connections in the first place (in Australia)?
I don't think the new Conroy filter is going to help, and the National Broadband Network is just talk. I did read recently that we could just order a few ADSL2+ services, and they will aggregate, this seems like a reasonable way to increase speeds at moderate costs. Internode also just released fibre to the home plans. Hopefully this is the start of true Broadband.
So the story goes:
1. Internet went down.
2. Do isolation tests, try different modem, try different wall socket.
3. Time to call TPG, lodge request.
4. TPG comes and plugs in cable shark, determines there's a problem.
5. TPG calls Telstra to check line.
6. Telstra checks line at Network Boundary Point, gets connection at 5.5Mb. (I usually get around 2Mb)
7. TPG calls to tell me to fix my private line.
8. Call up Telstra to fix line, get told I'm not with Telstra for phone.
9. Find out I'm with ACN, so call them to fix line, they won't.
10. Have to search for a telephone technician now to fix line.
All of this happened in 2 week time period, admittedly, most parties seem to have done what they're supposed to in a reasonable manner, but it begs the question of who really is responsible for this kind of thing. Further, why do we have such slow internet connections in the first place (in Australia)?
I don't think the new Conroy filter is going to help, and the National Broadband Network is just talk. I did read recently that we could just order a few ADSL2+ services, and they will aggregate, this seems like a reasonable way to increase speeds at moderate costs. Internode also just released fibre to the home plans. Hopefully this is the start of true Broadband.
Wednesday, 14 January 2009
Happy New Year
Well, I haven't written anything for quite some time now. No, I have not abandoned this blog. I have merely been busy with the holiday season and all.Tasmania trip went fantastically well. In the next few weeks, I'll write up another blog site dedicated to the trip with photos and comments. For some unannotated photos from Tasmania, see here. Other then that, I have also completed the Pre-leaner Stay Upright motorcycle course. So off to a flying start in 2009.
Saturday, 20 December 2008
GIAC'ed
I got my GTI chipped today, which basically means that it got a software upgrade for the engine computer unit. Also called a re-map, basically the parameters for engine management got changed so that the car is running a lot more aggressive! So I chose the GIAC version, mainly because its a lot closer to where I lived, but also a few hundred bucks cheaper!
What does this mean in real life? Well, now I feel the turbo lag a fair bit more, because when the turbo comes on, it really is a shove in the backside! The amount of power is just amazing! There were a little bit of engine pinging at the beginning, but I was told this could be because it was a bad batch of petrol and the ECU is stil trying to adapt to the higher boost. Plus, this was done on a 30-degree-plus day with air conditioning on. After this initial adpation phase, the car is now running perfect. Even without pushing the car, the amount of power just makes driving it so much easier!
Tomorrow, I'll be starting my travels to Melbourne and Tassie! This will allow the car to stretch its legs out, and hopefully I won't fall in the speed trap, expecially seeing as it will be double demerit season!
What does this mean in real life? Well, now I feel the turbo lag a fair bit more, because when the turbo comes on, it really is a shove in the backside! The amount of power is just amazing! There were a little bit of engine pinging at the beginning, but I was told this could be because it was a bad batch of petrol and the ECU is stil trying to adapt to the higher boost. Plus, this was done on a 30-degree-plus day with air conditioning on. After this initial adpation phase, the car is now running perfect. Even without pushing the car, the amount of power just makes driving it so much easier!
Tomorrow, I'll be starting my travels to Melbourne and Tassie! This will allow the car to stretch its legs out, and hopefully I won't fall in the speed trap, expecially seeing as it will be double demerit season!
Monday, 15 December 2008
Pooki Box for Her
Bought the Pooki box from Catch of the Day out of pure curiosity. So what did I get for $33? Here are the contents:
2x Australia Blush set
20 Christmas Cards
Alarm clock
Cold Wax
2x BBQ Cooking DVD (including Jamie Oliver!)
Seacret skincare set
Her Tools 31 piece hardware set.
So, was it worth it? It's probably all up worth more than the amount I paid for, but I probably could have spent the thrity odd dolllars elsewhere.
Venturi Mini
The Venturi Mini is absolutely awesome. I bought this little gadget a couple of weeks ago, and have been meaning to do a little review, but haven't had the time to upload the photos for it. I still don't have the photos for it yet, maybe a bit later.
So, what is it? It's a bluetooth receiver + fm transmitter + usb charger that plugs in to a 12v plug in the car - the complete in-car solution. This little gadget allows me to fully connect my N95 to my car. It's about the size of an iPhone Mini. Mine came in a sleek all black casing. On the top surface, there are four back it buttons - Music, Phone, Play/Pickup, Stop/Hang up. Wedged in between them is the bright white LED display. Just beneath this is the built in noise-cancelling mic, and below that a scrow wheel similar to one you find on a mouse but wider. On the left of the device are two 3.5mm audio jacks for in and out by wire, and a FM frequency selector. On the right there's a settings button and a usb type A female plug.
Setting up was a breeze, just plug it in, and follow the instructions display. The device plugs in quite snug, and then to keep it in place, there's a locking ring. Nexdt, set up the FM requencies. There are 4 channels you can set, and the range goes from 88.1Mhz to 107.9Mhz, incrementing by 0.2Mhz. After this, its time to pair with the phone. Pairing with the N95 is straight forward as well. Pairing only needs to be paired once. Venturi also allows you to download 100 phone book entries to the Mini, but this did not work with the N95.
So how does it work? I enter the car, turn car on, and the Venturi connects automatically. I press the music button, and then press play. Music is now streamed from my phone to the car audio. When a call comes in, I simply press the pickup button again. The music is crystal clear as are the phone calls, keeping in mind my car has a modified shorter FM antenna. The music does however skip every now and then for half a second, but I haven't isolated the problem yet. If I need to charge the phone, simply plug the phone into the usb charger. Perfect.
One curiosity, although a nice feature in my book, is that despite selecting one radio frequency, the Mini seems to be transmitting in at least 3 frequencies at the same time. This is actually quite convenient sicne I can just switch the radio in the car when there are interference without touching the Mini.
Definately one of the best in car solutions I've come across! 10/10.
So, what is it? It's a bluetooth receiver + fm transmitter + usb charger that plugs in to a 12v plug in the car - the complete in-car solution. This little gadget allows me to fully connect my N95 to my car. It's about the size of an iPhone Mini. Mine came in a sleek all black casing. On the top surface, there are four back it buttons - Music, Phone, Play/Pickup, Stop/Hang up. Wedged in between them is the bright white LED display. Just beneath this is the built in noise-cancelling mic, and below that a scrow wheel similar to one you find on a mouse but wider. On the left of the device are two 3.5mm audio jacks for in and out by wire, and a FM frequency selector. On the right there's a settings button and a usb type A female plug.
Setting up was a breeze, just plug it in, and follow the instructions display. The device plugs in quite snug, and then to keep it in place, there's a locking ring. Nexdt, set up the FM requencies. There are 4 channels you can set, and the range goes from 88.1Mhz to 107.9Mhz, incrementing by 0.2Mhz. After this, its time to pair with the phone. Pairing with the N95 is straight forward as well. Pairing only needs to be paired once. Venturi also allows you to download 100 phone book entries to the Mini, but this did not work with the N95.
So how does it work? I enter the car, turn car on, and the Venturi connects automatically. I press the music button, and then press play. Music is now streamed from my phone to the car audio. When a call comes in, I simply press the pickup button again. The music is crystal clear as are the phone calls, keeping in mind my car has a modified shorter FM antenna. The music does however skip every now and then for half a second, but I haven't isolated the problem yet. If I need to charge the phone, simply plug the phone into the usb charger. Perfect.
One curiosity, although a nice feature in my book, is that despite selecting one radio frequency, the Mini seems to be transmitting in at least 3 frequencies at the same time. This is actually quite convenient sicne I can just switch the radio in the car when there are interference without touching the Mini.
Definately one of the best in car solutions I've come across! 10/10.
Monday, 8 December 2008
Teaching old N95 new tricks
Nokia launched their new flagship N97 last week to much fanfare! This however did not mean much to me as I just got my phone repaired. However, I did discover Ovi. Ovi allows Nokia owners to sign up and sync remotely with their server both contacts and calendar. This is a really useful feature, and provides a good way to back up things. This is one area I liked about the iPhone - integration.
More importantly, they have also been progressively releasing a suite of new software that will integrate nicely with the N97 and Ovi. There's the new Nokia Music application and store - a direct competitor to iTunes. It's not as polished yet but it does the job. Then there is Nokia photos - to compete with iPhoto. This is a nice piece of software, and allows you to organise your photos by timeline as well as location, using the geotagged information from the phone. Also, you can now upload directly onto Ovi any photos of videos you took on the phone, and share it with your contacts, and even link Ovi with your Flickr account!
The biggest most useful feature however, has got to be the new email program or Nokia Messaging. Although it is still in beta, I see alot of potential for it. It's a two part systme. Firstly, you sign up to the service online. Nokia provides a service where it links up your email account, be it an ISP or internet mail such as Gmail, and pushes any new email straight to your phone. The second part is the cool application installed onto the phone. Although you can already check email using the messaging program, now you can get emails pushed onto your phone. So Nokia doesn't actually provide you with an inbox, more of a redirection. The data cost is pretty minimal (I use about 400kb per day skimming about 15 emails and reading about 3 or 4 in full). You can link up to 7 email accounts to one phone and the whole system works seamlessly!
So now my phone does everything an iPhone does in terms of integration, I don't feel so compelled to upgrade my phone any time soon! The biggest selling point of the iPhone for me is now adequetly covered by the N95. (The touch screen is nice, but not a must have). Good on you Nokia!
More importantly, they have also been progressively releasing a suite of new software that will integrate nicely with the N97 and Ovi. There's the new Nokia Music application and store - a direct competitor to iTunes. It's not as polished yet but it does the job. Then there is Nokia photos - to compete with iPhoto. This is a nice piece of software, and allows you to organise your photos by timeline as well as location, using the geotagged information from the phone. Also, you can now upload directly onto Ovi any photos of videos you took on the phone, and share it with your contacts, and even link Ovi with your Flickr account!
The biggest most useful feature however, has got to be the new email program or Nokia Messaging. Although it is still in beta, I see alot of potential for it. It's a two part systme. Firstly, you sign up to the service online. Nokia provides a service where it links up your email account, be it an ISP or internet mail such as Gmail, and pushes any new email straight to your phone. The second part is the cool application installed onto the phone. Although you can already check email using the messaging program, now you can get emails pushed onto your phone. So Nokia doesn't actually provide you with an inbox, more of a redirection. The data cost is pretty minimal (I use about 400kb per day skimming about 15 emails and reading about 3 or 4 in full). You can link up to 7 email accounts to one phone and the whole system works seamlessly!
So now my phone does everything an iPhone does in terms of integration, I don't feel so compelled to upgrade my phone any time soon! The biggest selling point of the iPhone for me is now adequetly covered by the N95. (The touch screen is nice, but not a must have). Good on you Nokia!
Christmas Dinner
Last Saturday turned out to be a huge success. We picked up the Turkey and Ham in the morning, and Anica spent the rest of the afternoon preparing the food. Eventually I came back to help as well.
So, in typical Christmas tradition, we prepared a full meal with roast stuffed turkey, and roast ham. This turned out to be around 8kg of meat, and took about 4 hours to cook using 2 ovens. The recipe can be found on Taste.com.au. The mains fed about 12 people, and we had left overs! Everything turned out really well. Pictures will be up as soon as they're processed!
So, in typical Christmas tradition, we prepared a full meal with roast stuffed turkey, and roast ham. This turned out to be around 8kg of meat, and took about 4 hours to cook using 2 ovens. The recipe can be found on Taste.com.au. The mains fed about 12 people, and we had left overs! Everything turned out really well. Pictures will be up as soon as they're processed!
Monday, 1 December 2008
Kayaking in Sydney Harbour
Sydney Harbour is one of the most beautiful harbours in the world, and what better way spend a Sunday afternoon padding around on a sea kayak.
There are kayaks for hire at Rose Bay, costing from around $30 an hour. If you bargain a bit, and bring a large enough group, the operators might be kind enough to rent the kayaks for much cheaper. We ended up with about 20 people, at around $20 per person, for 2 hours. There are single and double kayaks for hire, so make sure you drag along someone to paddle for you if you're not too comfortable. They also provide you with a life jacket, and if you're lucky enough, some $300 worth of carbon fibre paddles.
The water within the bay is reasonably calm, depending on the weather conditions of course. As you paddle into the harbour, the water becomes much more choppy. It is often very fun riding the waves generated by a myriad of sail and power boats flying past you.
If you ever fall off and capsize, it is a royal pain to get back onboard, so unless you have about 3 other kayaks to help you get back inside, I strongly suggest you don't go for a swim.
There are some nice quiet beaches on the eastern side of the bay, and a 40-60 minute paddle will get you to Shark Island in the middle of the harbour. Get off here for possibly one of the best places to take in the views of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House!
There are kayaks for hire at Rose Bay, costing from around $30 an hour. If you bargain a bit, and bring a large enough group, the operators might be kind enough to rent the kayaks for much cheaper. We ended up with about 20 people, at around $20 per person, for 2 hours. There are single and double kayaks for hire, so make sure you drag along someone to paddle for you if you're not too comfortable. They also provide you with a life jacket, and if you're lucky enough, some $300 worth of carbon fibre paddles.
The water within the bay is reasonably calm, depending on the weather conditions of course. As you paddle into the harbour, the water becomes much more choppy. It is often very fun riding the waves generated by a myriad of sail and power boats flying past you.
If you ever fall off and capsize, it is a royal pain to get back onboard, so unless you have about 3 other kayaks to help you get back inside, I strongly suggest you don't go for a swim.
There are some nice quiet beaches on the eastern side of the bay, and a 40-60 minute paddle will get you to Shark Island in the middle of the harbour. Get off here for possibly one of the best places to take in the views of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House!
Monday, 24 November 2008
The Coast Track
I'm still recovering from my weekend trip to the Royal National Park, completing the Coast Track. The track starts from Bundeena and ends at Otford, traversing as you might have guest, along the coast. We started the day brightly from Cronulla at 8.30am. The ferry was delayed for about 10 minutes, and we sat on the bow of the boat. THe trip is $5.40 per person one way. Arriving in Bundeena by 9am, we set off to the first track on our left. Having thought that at least someone in the group would know where we're going, we didn't even bring a map or question our directions. The heavens soon split open and we were greeted with some refreshing but large rain drops. This was to be the beginning of a very long day!
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