Author: jamesclay

Posted on

Installing Windows 7 on the Q1 Ultra

Though I initially had problems with the Samsung Q1 Ultra I have grown to like the UMPC, the main benefit being the five hour battery life (even longer with the powerbank).

Samsung Q1 Ultra

However the operating system has always been a bit of a pain, yup you’ve guessed it, it runs Windows Vista. Though the Q1 Ultra has 1GB of RAM, this really isn’t sufficient for Vista, and as a result boot times are too long, and there are performance lags which I blame on the OS.

I was seriously considering downgrading to Windows XP and to see if that would improve the performance. Now though I am thinking I might install the Windows 7 beta and see if that could improve the performance.

If all else fails, I will install Ubuntu!

Posted on

Installed Windows 7, but not all is well…

Having downloaded the Windows 7 beta I installed it in a virtual machine (VM) using Parallels 3.0 running on my Mac.

Though the install worked fine, the installation of the Parallels Tools failed (either automatically or manually).

According to Downloadsquad it will work if you are running Parallels 4.0, build 3810.

So guess what I am downloading now?

Posted on

No BBC iPlayer with JokiuSpot on the iPod touch

If you have an iPhone and want to watch BBC programmes using BBC iPlayer, you need to be using a wifi connection, it’s not possible with a 3G (or EDGE) connection.

Of course the iPod touch only has wifi, so in theory you shouldn’t get that problem.

Oh look!

Hmmm.

So how did I manage to get that with the iPod touch?

Well I was using wifi, but I was using JoikuSpot. What JoikuSpot does is basically turn your 3G wifi mobile phone into a wireless hotspot. So the Nokia N95 connects to the internet via the 3G network and then allows wifi clients connect to it via the 802.11 wifi.

Well the BBC must know that I am accessing their server from a 3G connection and serve me up with that error message.

Posted on

Dragging images into Keynote 08

One of the nice features of Keynote is the ability to drag a series of images in from Finder and for Keynote to add them as individual slides.

If you are dragging lots of images into Keynote, unless Finder is in column view, Keynote will “mess” with the order.

If you forget and Finder is in list view and you drag the images into Keynote, changing to column view doesn’t appear to fix it and your images will still be in the wrong order. As well as changing from list view to column view, change from the image folder to a different folder and then back to the column view. Now when you drag the images into Keynote, they will be in the correct order.

Don’t know if this dragging issue is still the case in Keynote 09 as I haven’t yet purchased a copy, but will check once I do.

Posted on

EyeHome Replacement

Since my EyeHome stopped working, I am guessing it was the transformer again, I have been thinking about a possible replacement.

Choices are limited, Elgato no longer make the EyeHome or any type of replacement.

You can buy uPnP devices, however my experiences with the PS3 make me wary of purchasing a uPnP media streamer.

I am supposing the obvious choice is the Apple TV, however I am not sure if I can connect it to my TV. I don’t have an HDTV, so the connectors won’t really work with a SCART television.

So do I upgrade my television so that I can use an Apple TV?

Decisions.

Going to try and see if I can find an EyeHome power replacement.

Posted on

No joy with Sony PSP and JoikuSpot Premium

Last October I mentioned that I had tried to connect an Nokia N810 to the internet via JoikuSpot Lite running on my Nokia N95 with no luck.

Well, no I couldn’t. For some reason though it could  connect to the JoikuSpot wireless network, it would not get to the JoikuSpot launch page and as a result no other internet access was possible.

I have since then upgraded to JoikuSpot Premium and have been very pleased with it in regard to using my laptops and the iPod touch.

The other day I tried to access the internet using a Nokia N810 with no luck.

I have now tried with Sony’s PSP and get a similar experience to the Nokia N810.

Basically it wouldn’t get an IP address from the N95.

As I said before I suspect that though the N95 is acting as a wireless router, it is still “seen” by other devices as an ad hoc wireless network rather than an infrastructure wireless network and for some reason the PSP like the N810 doesn’t like this and therefore does not get a valid IP address.

Just as an aside I also tried with a Windows Mobile PDA, and no luck, but then I always have real issues with connecting a Windows Mobile device to any wireless network!

Posted on

No joy with Nokia N810 and JoikuSpot Premium

Last October I mentioned that I had tried to connect to the internet via JoikuSpot Lite running on my Nokia N95 with no luck.

Well, no I couldn’t. For some reason though it could  connect to the JoikuSpot wireless network, it would not get to the JoikuSpot launch page and as a result no other internet access was possible.

I have since then upgraded to JoikuSpot Premium and have been very pleased with it in regard to using my laptops and the iPod touch.

Today I tried to access the internet using a Nokia N810 with no luck.

Nokia N810

Hmmm.

Basically it wouldn’t get an IP address from the N95.

I suspect that though the N95 is acting as a wireless router, it is still “seen” by other devices as an ad hoc wireless network rather than an infrastructure wireless network and for some reason the N810 doesn’t like this and therefore does not get a valid IP address.

Of course I can use a Bluetooth connection to use the N95 as a modem and get on the internet that way with the N810, but without using JoikuSpot only the N810 can get online and I (and anyone else) can’t use the connection.

Posted on

New Bluetooth Headset

For the first time in ages I am trying out a new Bluetooth headset, a Nokia BH-101.

I have charged it and it paired fine with my Nokia N73, though I still need to check it works when I make a call or someone calls me!

I never had too much success with Sony Ericsson headsets, this is my first Nokia one, so will be interesting to see how it performs.

Biggest surprise was the price, which was £15, I remember paying nearly £100 for a headset only a few years ago!

Posted on

Sorry, this programme is currently unavailable

I am a great fan and user of BBC iPlayer, great for catching up on what you have missed and for watching things again (especially when repeated on BBC Three at an unsociable time).

I will often use an iPod touch to watch programmes, either in bed or more often then not connected to my TV. However now and again I get the following message.

Sorry, this programme is currently unavailable

You can see this in the Christmas edition of Doctor Who.

Sorry, this programme is currently unavailable

This means that you have to use a computer to watch the programme. I get the same “error” with the comedy Outnumbered episode seven (but not with the previous six episodes of Outnumbered).

I believe that the error (it’s not really an error, but I think it is) is a rights issue. In other words the rights holders have not allowed the programme to be made available to the iPod touch (or the iPhone).

Why?

Well I suspect that the issue is the way in which BBC iPlayer works on the iPod touch and the iPhone. Basically the BBC serve the iPhone with a DRM free MOV version of the programme. On the iPhone you can’t save this file, so it is not an issue, however a quick Google search provides various ways in which you can get your computer to pretend it’s an iPhone and as a result are able to download the DRM free version of the BBC programme.

Of course I don’t know for sure if this is the issue, or it is a technical problem and the programme just hasn’t (yet) been encoded for the iPhone and the festive break is the cause of the delay.