BREAKING THE LAW?!


Apparently anyway according to Facebook, although it could well be a click of the "Report" button on a video (haven't tested what happens with that as yet).

I've asked them for details as to what the actual problem is, currently waiting to hear and as of this time, the video that they say has been removed, is still listed under My Videos.

The video in question is a showreel, so it'll be interesting to see what comes back from FB as the precise issue.






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Me Meme

In response to Mike....




1. Take a picture of yourself right now.
2. Don’t change your clothes, don’t fix your hair…just take a picture.
3. Post that picture with NO editing.
4. Post these instructions with your picture.

Do it. I did and (as you can see) I'm tired, haven't done much except sat on my bed and opened my laptop since I got in about quarter of an hour ago and I don't even know what a 'meme' is!

Comic collection


Testing out Blogger integration with Shozu on my iPhone by posting a random picture of my comic collection (minus one just out of frame and a few in the loft).

It's growing, just read the first trade of Proof, which was awesome, also started reading 'normal' comics, currently following Wolverine with the Old Man Logan storyline, Marvel Apes, Kick-Ass and I Kill Giants, all very good.

Verdict on Shozu just before posting is that it's a tad slow and unresponsive, let's see how the posting goes...

Posted by ShoZu

[edit]

Okay it seems that didn't work so well, in that ShoZu posted to the wrong blog (it dawned on me that I hadn't been asked to specify while it was sending), so I've copy and pasted here, not sure how the geotagging went down there either.

[more edit]

Ok have now rectified the situ via ShoZu's web page, hopefully posting from the iPhone will go straight here now.

Busy Busy


It's been little over a month since I last posted on here, not that I'm that regular with posting anyway, but still..


Been a busy month so far, and subsequently I'm fucking knackered! (there's no pleasing me!) Been good fun though and tomorrow, all being well, I'm off to Brussels for the final few days of this part of the BT job I've been on. (which reminds me I must check the train time for getting to St Pancras!).

As I've been busy, the comic script I've been working on has had to go on back burner for a few weeks, not a bad thing really, need to come up with some new stuff for it as it was too short, and as I had a pretty tight story worked out originally, it's hard to come up with something to extend it without just adding "stuff", I'll get there tho.

Couple of other projects bubbling under as usual, waiting for something to kick off. BTW anyone been watching "The Wrong Door"... Brilliant!

On the iPhone front, things are going pretty well and I'll chuck up another "Up and Running" post soon, maybe in a bit if you're lucky ;)

White Star Liners



myspace.com/whitestarliners







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Ok, let's start with the native apps..


Gone from the phone now are both PhoneSaber and Labyrinth Lite.

Added to the phone is:

TubeStatus
TubeStatus is a simple app that's pretty much Ronseal, gives you the (I'm presuming) current status of the various London Underground lines. Having just installed it a few minutes ago, I haven't tried it "in the wild" yet, but I will and we'll see how that goes. To be honest, I don't usually worry about "minor delays" and stuff, because of the pretty poor nature of the tube anyway, but it's possibly handy to know about any major problems before getting to the station, or even setting out on your journey.

What would be good to see is DLR info in there as well and at least a link to an online tube map if they're not allowed to include one (of course TFL could always buy him out and include a map then ;) I'm not gonna stop carrying my trusty paper tube map just yet, but it's a start maybe.



Now onto the WebApps.

Referring back to a previous (pre-iPhone) post, where I'd been looking at some WebApps to see what I'd potentially use, only one of those is currently bookmarked on my home screen.

Depth of Field Calc
Instead of having a circular piece of card or plastic that costs around £1m give or take, there's a handy little web app for doing something similar. You pick your camera, which should then give you the correct sensor size, then give your focal length and subject distance and the app calculates and displays your DoF. It's video only, not a problem for me as pretty much all of my work is on video at the moment, and despite having smaller cameras like the HVX200 and EX1, it's missing others that may be useful, such as the Sony DSR-450/570.

Again, I've not tried this out properly yet (will post when I do), but it's certainly an interesting app and I know a couple of people who've had it installed on their original iPhones.


Before I deleted PhoneSaber, I installed an update for it (no major changes), played about with it and randomly decided to tap on the info button. This displayed who it's by; TheMacBox with a "Tap here for more apps" button... so I did. It seems they've got some pretty good stuff going on!

UK Train Times
nationalrail.co.uk on the iPhone is a bitch! Okay so Safari gives you the 'real' web, but some sites are still a bitch to navigate with it, National Rail being one. So this app sounded really interesting.
It seems pretty good, great clean interface (although all these standard colours are getting a bit dull now, not this particular app's fault though), seems to work well, I'm guessing it queries the National Rail site and displays the results in a more iPhone friendly format.
Only complaint so far, can't select Arrival time, which is what I normally use.



Cinema Times
From the same guys comes Cinema Times, type in the film and area, or just the area, give a date and tap search and it returns, first the various cinemas around there, tap one to get the times, tap the film to get links to it's IMDb page, trailer if available, where else is showing it and the ability to mail the details to someone.
You can't book online, but it does give you the phone number for the cinema (which you can obviously call from your iPhone!) and a Google Maps link showing the location, although this is a web based Google Map link rather than invoking the iPhone's Maps app.
I think the last time I actually pre-booked tickets was for The Phantom Menace (and we all know how that turned out!), so the booking doesn't bother me, I'm liking the look of this for quickly finding out what's on though.


I know I've been crap with hyperlinking the various apps, but the UK Trains and Cinema apps are on TheMacBox's site and I've linked that above ;)


So part two (or as the observant have notices, part 'b' and technically part 3, but hey..) on iPhone apps that I've been trying/using. Previous post covered the ones that I'd tried and removed, now for the ones that are still on the iPhone, for now at least.


Twinkle (free)
A location aware Twitter client, apparently Twitteriffic is location aware as well, but I couldn't find that in the version I had, plus I prefer the interface on Twinkle.


AIM (free)
When Apple's push server is up, this will rule, as would any other IM client hopefully, and with any luck significantly reduce the amount of SMS texts I use each month. The interface isn't brilliant, but it does the job, haven't checked out the Online/Away/Offline side of things when you go back to the home screen yet tho, so not sure how good that is.



Cube Runner (free)
Quite an addictive game, simply (uhuh) fly your craft through the blocks for as long as possible amassing points on the way, very simple premise, controlled with the phone's accelerometer, I haven't played it in about a week tho, so it may come off soon.(I have managed to get a higher score than 12 btw)


PhoneSaber (free)
I tried to resist, I couldn't, this was one of the first apps i downloaded to the iPhone, it's great for showing off your new iPhone to all the people who haven't got one, but that's about it, the novelty wears off and I've shown it to pretty much all the people who's be impressed by PhoneSaber now, so it'll probably come off soon. Not yet though, just in case.


Tap Tap Revenge (free for now)
Another game, yes, a good one though (although could do with some sort of better feedback when you tap), I'm not gonna bother to explain, it's a rhythm game, it's doing very well for itself and is definitely worth getting.


Facebook (free)
The Facebook app is getting there, still needs a couple more features implemented, video of example, more detailed friend feeds, but it's pretty good for a "mobile" app, haven't tried the chat on it, but the Mobile Photos part is a very very good idea.


MySpace Mobile (free)
MySpace is a bit of a has been now, true it's still pushing forwards with the music and stuff, but it's all about marketing now rather than a pure social thing, i've got the app anyway, as I'm still on there and I still use it.


Labyrinth Lite Edititon (free)
Another addictive little game, simply one of those puzzles where you have to maneuver a ball bearing around a course, avoiding the various holes. Not impossible, but a couple of the courses took a few tries. I've got one left, not sure if I'll upgrade and pay for more, but it's worth investigating.


Pownce (free)
I've got a Pownce account, but it hasn't seen much use yet. Transferred a couple of files, got Twhirl linked up to it, but it's still in early days yet, got the app tho cos I would like more use from it.


Remote (free)
Finally buckled and downloaded this today. It's AWESOME, at the end of the day it's a simple principal, but the fact that, I'm downstairs typing this, my PowerMac (which had my iTunes library on it) is blasting away upstairs (listening via the staircase, oh for an Airport Express) and I can change tracks using my cocking PHONE is AWESOME!


Dizzy Bee (£1.79)
Ok, finish up the post with the first app that I decided to pay for. Is it some uber-productivity app? Something camera or video related? No it's a cutesy little game featuring a bee who has to recuse fruit. Another accelerometer based game, with which you could easily tie yourself in a knot or dislocate something, you roll around resucing fruit, collecting flowers and dropping it all in a hole. As the levels go up, so baddies are introduced who squish your fruit and pop your bee. It's brilliant, especially for only £1.79!


So that's it for now, 5c will cover the web apps I've looked at and the ongoing adventure that is the iPhone 3g (?), the only other thing app related at the mo, is a complaint.

I don't have any stocks, I don't currently want to purchase any stocks so I sure as hell don't need a stupid Stocks app on my phone! Can I get rid of it? No, it seems I bloody well can't! (And no I don't want to Jailbreak my phone thanks), just to uncheck it in the settings somewhere or something.

Ok, Blogger's formatting restrictions are REALLY pissing me off. I JUST WANT AN IMAGE NEXT TO EACH ONE!! WHY IS THAT SO FUCKING HARD?!?!? Fine I'll put them below, FUCK YOU BLOGGER!


Okay and here.. we.. go. A rundown of the various apps I've have or have had on my iPhone 3G. I'll do this in two parts, starting with the apps I've tried and have removed. 

ToDo
This little app by Erica Sadun, will be leaving my iPhone shortly, as a) I'm not using it and b) it takes like 3 taps to even get a ToDo up and running, may suit some. Not me though.


Google
It would probably be good, if it was actually quicker then me using Google in Safari and didn't have a nasty habit of rebooting my iPhone. You are the weakest link. Googbye. (see what I did there.)

Sim Stapler
You tap the stapler, it staples, every 10 is says something to you.
Funny at first. Not any more.


Jared
God Awful! I don't even know what to say about it, it's terrible, a total waste of a download, despite all the "positive reviews"


Bubbles
A cute little prog to demo the touch screen, but that's it, I downloaded the free versio (obviously), apprently there's a paid one?!?!?


Twitteriffic
I gave up using Twitteriffic on the desktop, favouring Twhirl, now I've switched on the iPhone as well, to Twinkle. Seems camps are split by these two, I like the loction based tweets in Twinkle, hated the Twitteriffic interface.


Ok that's those, next post the stuff that's still on there... for now MWAHAHAHA! :/

This morning I downloaded my first PAID FOR app from the iTunes App store! It was a game. Damn.


So much for "steering clear of stuff like that". I'm gonna post soon about the apps I've been using/trying out on the phone, but just thought I'd share on here rather then Twitter, dunno why. ;)



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Cuil

I had a look at this new search engine today... Cuil


Obviously the first thing I decided to search for was me, see what profiles and sites of mine came up and how high in the rankings. It took a few term variations to find my stuff (not good for starters) and then when I did, there was something not quite right about the results where my actual website was listed. Namely the accompanying pictures.




Right... So in illustrating my site, we've got a picture of what appears to be maybe a hotel of some sorts and the logo of The Portland Hospital for Women and Children, ok.

So I have to say, thus far I'm not overly impressed with Cuil, the webserver that my site's on is undergoing an upgrade of some sorts at the moment, this could be throwing Cuil's results off a bit, so I'll be checking again, when I know that my site's back up, and if it's not back up soon getting onto Fasthosts to find out why!

Odd, nonetheless.

YES PLEASE!

It's awesome, watch it! and if you're in the states BUY IT in iTunes (cos we can't over here in the UK :(        )








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Short showreel update

I've uploaded a slightly updated short showreel to my various profiles (YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, Ovi etc) as well as to my main website, www.mattgrover.me.uk. The one on there's iPhone compatible too! ;)









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HURRAH, after only 3 days of owning the iPhone, I've actually made a call!! Albeit to O2 customer services to transfer my number from Orange, but still a call has been made.


It's pretty phone like, the ear speaker's not too tinny, I had a slight moment of panic when the O2 automation asked me to press a number, only to find when I took the phone from my ear, nothing was there!

It's ok though, I'd forgotton about the fact that the screen turns off when it's next to your face, and it quickly came back, I then figured out to tap the "keypad" button and I was away!

Debbie at O2 was very friendly and helpful, number will be transferred on the 16th and we had a quick chat about typing on the iPhone and how it takes a fair bit of adjustment.

The main thing so far (apart from tapping the wrong letters), is the preditction. All the "AMAZING MATHS" that goes into predicting what you're typing and it corrects correct words.

Example: I was typing "ported" into a tweet. iPhone was suggesting "porter", i typed ported, pressed space to go onto the next word and iPhone changed "ported" to "porter", I then had to go back and change it back again.

No while this is not the end of the world, it does slow down the typing process somewhat. The fact that pressing space accepts the suggestion and tapping the suggested word declines it, could be a bit backward. It's not suggesting every word like T9 or something, only odd ones, so it would seem better to tap the word to accept?? Have to see how that one goes.







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...so today was the first real, proper like, test of using iPhone 3G's Maps to navigate my way somewhere. The somewhere in question was Radlett (for work I assure you).

In this instance, I didn't have any backup printed Google Maps as my printer had decided to run out of ink. Thanks. So I was relying TOTALLY on the iPhone (well I did have a road atlas in the car, and the A-Z may have helped, but I'm not sure if Radlett's in there), today helped in the fact that I don't have a 'known' route (as with yesterday), but knew I needed to go round the M25.

One of my concerns with navigating by iPhone, is that the thing keeps going to sleep. Luckily if you have the iPhone in 'tracking' mode, whereby it's using the AGPS to constantly monitor your position, this doesn't happen.

The next 
problem I discovered, is that after I'd got the route (as straightforward as normal GMaps), and pressed start to kick off the first step, the phone came out of tracking mode, I put it back in tracking mode and skipped forward to around step 11 or so, which was which junction I needed to come off the M25 at (the bit before this is easy ;), again the phone came out of tracking mode.

This happens pretty much any time you do anything, although i was able to zoom in and out (although I don't think you can zoom right the way in when tracking) without it losing me, but each time you advance a step in the directions, you have to re-engage tracking again. Thus it would be rather nice if it recognised each waypoint on the journey and updated itself.

Signal wise, which was my main concern prior to getting the phone, it held up pretty well. The thing with this is that the maps aren't stored on the device, so each time you scroll along, it has to download the next bit. If you're in a no-signal area, you'll lose the maps and just get a pulsing blue dot on a grid. Not very helpful. So far, I haven't had a problem, but I'm sure it'll crop up before the TomTom software's out!

A couple of things that helped with the whole satnav side of things are a couple of purchases I made yesterday from Carphone Warehouse in Tonbridge (as the O2 store and staff were SHITE)
, being a Griffin in-car charger and a holder. Tried it first in the centre of the windscreen, didn't like that, moved to to the right.. much better (as above).

An iPhone view of the world

So I eventually got to the location okay, reasonable straightforward, couple of unsure bits and brief wrong turns but all was well. I still needed to navigate my way back out and to the M25 th
ough. C'MON iPHONE SHOW ME WHAT YO GOT!

Again, I made it okay (I know you were all worried there for a moment!), signal held up okay, as it should in a built up area, GPS tracked okay, what confused me a couple of times going this way though was the map.

The map stays compass orientated, rather than orientated to your direction of travel as a standalone satnav would do, this created issues on a couple of roundabouts, as not wanting to keep tapping buttons on the iPhone as I was driving, I opted for the "follow the blue line" approach. Which was reasonable successful, but a couple of time where it looked like I was going straight across the roundabout, I wasn't, I wanted the next exit over. A quick double back and I was sorted, but this was a bit of a niggle.



All in all it was a pretty successful first test.

Main points

  1. Tracking works fine
  2. Until you step through the directions, then it gets switched off.
  3. Data signal holds up well enough for the maps on most of today's route, built up and motorway, O2 needs some more 3G coverage tho!
  4. When you do lose signal, you're fucked.
  5. Have to think about the directions, due to the map orientation.
  6. Not bad for a basic feature, needs improving though.




























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Up and running 2

First Blogger post from the iPhone typing with 2 thumbs in landscape mode.

Main thing so far is having to type in HTML mode rather than compose, will try again in a bit. Gotta work now ;)





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