Microsoft Zune Loss

It seems the only way Microsoft can compete with rival companies these days is to lose a lot of their money. The only way the original Xbox console could compete with the Sony Playstation 2 was by losing money on each sale, something Microsoft have openly admitted.

And with Microsoft about to release their portable media player - the Zune - in two months time, they have once again admitted that the only way to compete with Apple's iPod and iTunes is by matching their pricing system, thus forcing them to lose money on each sale. I suppose they've managed to find success with their Xbox360 console in getting it out before Sony and Nintendo's next generation systems, but there's only so much you can do with a media player and Apple seem to have already perfected it. Microsoft have virtually copied Apple's design on that as well.

Anyway, I'm not lying out of my back teeth here, check out MacNN.

Power League

After months and months of trying to worm my way into a Football team, I've finally done it and with a bit of luck our season will start next week. I've been granted the number 10 shirt, a number I've had in teams since I was a young lad, so that's put a little smile on my face.

I've been playing with the lads since the beginning of summer now, but the actual team hasn't played together properly at all so the first few games we'll probably be really shady. I'm going to give it a 110% though and see what comes of it. I can't wait.

Love Issues

I think I'm probably going to be one of those people that will never get married. I'm only 20 so I'm possibly being over-dramatic at the minute and I've not had anywhere near enough experience with the opposite sex on an adult level to even justify my previous comment. However, after my ex and I split up some time ago I've not once had the passion or drive to get back into a relationship again.

Don't get me wrong, I've met many fantastic women, but everytime I consider taking it to the 'next level', I panic and decide against it.

I've been partying hard all weekend with some friends of mine, two birthdays infact. On one night I met a lovely woman, a few years older than me, who I instantly connected with. The whole night I spent talking to her and her friends, none of whom I've ever met before. We ended up sharing a kiss before the night was up and I figured that was that. I spent the night at someones house only to find the next morning she had come round to offer me a lift home, as I had said the night previously I wasn't sure how I was going to get home. Really sweet of her.

I took her up on the offer and the whole way home we spent chatting in the car. We got back to mine and I invited her in for a cup of tea and spent the next four hours after that chatting, but it really didn't seem like four hours - the time just flew by. She decided it was about time to go, so I walked her to her car where we spent another hour chatting more. The whole time just bonding and completely understanding each other.

I'm not one to jump the gun and say "yeah, sweet, she'll do for me" because relationships shouldn't and don't work like that. I've got to admit though that she's the first lady I've met in a while that I've actually had an understanding with... and I'm still frightened to make anything more of it.

There's an obvious physical attraction between us both, but at the minute I'm just far too protective over my own feelings to want to do anything. I'm not sure if I'm emotionally scarred from a past relationship or whether I'm just one of those guys who doesn't want to put any committment in. Perhaps I'm enjoying being single too much? It's not like I sleep around either so I'm still trying to work it all out.

Anyway, I'll no-doubt post my thoughts up here if anything should come of it.

Phone Upgrade

So I recently decided to upgrade my mobile phone on my phone network. I'm not going to name the name of the network.

I've been with them for three years and have not once had a problem with them, until last week of course. Phone upgrades have always been free for myself and everyone else I know. However, the other day when trying to upgrade they wanted to charge me £79.99 for the phone. I told them that they had surely gotten something wrong as my cousin, uncle, aunt and father (who I all told to go with this particular phone network in the first place) have all recently upgraded, for free, to the latest phones. After much debate I told them I wanted to cancel my contract...

...And it's here where you get your deals ladies and gentlemen.

The moment you tell a phone company you want to leave their network for a rival company because that other company is offering something your current phone company aren't, then they suddenly want to do everything in their power to please you. Which goes without saying really, but it's a shame that it takes something as much as "I want to stop giving you my money now" to do that.

Unfortunately and fortunately for me I didn't get the phone for free, I still have to pay £79.99 for the upgrade. But because I threatened to leave the company they have offered me the next 12 months of my contact (and my contract is 12 months anyway) for half price, which saves me in roughly £180 throughout the year.

Now let's question that for a moment. The phone company didn't want to give me the phone for free, because they presumably wanted the £79.99. However, they'd much rather literally give me £180 instead and keep me connected for another year, thus they've lost around £100.01. Now I'm not complaining because although I have to splash out extra cash now, I've saved £100, but isn't this a bit stupid of the phone company?

The reason I'm not mentioning the phone companies name is because up until this point they've been incredibly good to me with not one complaint from yours truly in the three years I've been with them.

Anyway, after some system errors and about 10 phone calls later, my phone is finally on its way and I can at last get rid of this ageing Nokia I've had for some time now - it's slow, big and ugly.

Sony Ericsson K800i here we come!

Personal Issues

Unfortunately for yours truly I've hit a rough patch. Things haven't gone the way they should have in the past couple of weeks and today has proven to be a bit of a low one for me. There's plenty worse things happening out there so I am grateful on that front. However, all belief and confidence I had has just been smashed into a large brick wall - with spikes n' stuff.

I'll post more when I'm happy enough to face everything.

Generosity For A Day

I run a Katie Melua forum elsewhere on the internet - so I'll admit that I'm a fan of her music. I'm used to receiving kind gestures from forum goers who appreciated my quick set up of the forum after her official forum was closed through petulant reasons. But today I was offered a gesture that goes beyond kindness.

A forum member offered me a ticket to her concert in December, which I've gratefully accepted. I think it was out of thanks for everything I've done for the fans of Katie. There's many members on the board and over 40,000 posts, which I think is more than the official forum (has now been re-opened).

Anyone interested? I won't be naming the site up here, but a quick search on Wikipedia should bring you to my message board.

I might not be the biggest fan of Katie's latest album, but I'm still fond of her earlier stuff and so can't wait to go to the gig. Should be a blast to meet up with other forum members as well.

Gaming Revolutionising?

It's console makers like Microsoft and Sony who seem determined to stop computer gaming evolving into something else. Rather than innovating ideas, they'd much rather stick to high end graphics, fast game play and well, that's it. I've finally realised why I get bored of computer games so much now and it's because they're all the bloody same. No one seems to want to make anything different these days, but with software developers it's down to what they can do, not what they want to do.

For example, the Xbox 360 has a bog standard controller with nothing particularly special about it, except for the wireless thing. Sony's upcoming PS3 controller is just the same as before but with a minute motion sensor built in. Neither of these controllers will allow anyone to do anything outside the norm of gaming.

Enter Nintendo Wii. A bit late with the news, I know, but Nintendo (who I'll admit to bashing for years) have finally created a computer console with a controller than can be deemed a little 'out-of-the-norm', and for the evolution of computer gaming this is the way to go.

The Nintendo Wii's controller doesn't follow the route other controllers run down. The controller comes in two parts - the 'remote control' and the 'nunchuck'. And their selling point on the controller? Motion sensor.

I love how Nintendo are trying something different from Microsoft and Sony. After all, hardcore gamers will surely be getting bored of the traditional games out there now, right? I know I am. I used to be an avid gamer but after buying a PS2 I just wasn't getting my kicks anymore. I figured the XBox 360 and PS3 would bring something new again, but they're just the same old consoles with a bit more power. It's about time they realised that graphics might look pretty but don't equate to making a great game. What's so funny about this on a personal level?

For years I bashed Apple Computer for making rubbish computers, despite their innovation. Until the iMac G4 was released I just wasn't impressed, but they finally did something that stood out and made me (and millions of others) take notice. However, it wasn't until their latest home desktop computer, the G5 (now been updated with Intel processors of course and simply called iMac) that I changed my opinion of Apple completely and purchased one of their machines. After years and years of bashing, I ditched my PC for a Macintosh.

Come the last quarter of this year, I think I'll be ditching my PS2 as well.

Godfather Fever

One of the first things I did upon my return from the Isle of Wight was to check my e-mails. I had over 30 e-mails spread out over three days just sitting in my Inbox wating to be opened, but 28 of those e-mails were Spam. Okay, so not exactly a lot compared to most, but I almost never receive Spam. So to be away for three days and return to find 28 crappy e-mails sitting there was a bit of a shock to the system - and of course, a let down that none of my friends or family had e-mailed me.

Anyway, the Christening was lovely although at times I felt a bit out of place as I'm actually an athiest, so becoming a Godfather was a little bit hypercritical, right?

Here's a small gift from my sister as a thank you. It's nothing official (that's left for the Church of England apparently) but it is a little reminder of my duty to my nephew. It was fun spending some time with the family and I'll hopefully be doing it all over again in just over a months time for my 21st birthday.

Oh and by the way, the other two e-mails were newsletters - Mr Pop You Lar, I think you'll find.

Apple Computer's Pet Leopard

I've come across this blog of someone running a few previews of Apple's next OS, due in Spring next year, called Leopard.

I'm pretty sure it's breaking a few copyrights, especially as the blog owner admits to downloading an illegal beta copy of the operating system through Bittorent. Still, it's an interesting read, especially if you're a Mac owner.

I'm liking some of the new features of Blogger Beta version x.something, or whatever version it is, but I'm still finding errors when trying to comment on other blogs when signed in under my Gmail account username. Unfortunately I can't sign in on my other username anymore as I made the transition to the new blogger. Hope they get it sorted soon because I want to comment on a few blogs I read (check out my links bar).

Going away for the weekend now for a Christening. I'm Godfather for my nephew in the Isle of Wight on Sunday. Spent a lot of time rushing around trying to sort out a nice suit, only to be told it'll be casual wear over anything else. Pain in the arse or what?

Anyway, would like to get a few pictures and post them up, but I shan't for anonymity reasons.

Pluto Shambles

Before I begin, I should probably apologise to a few people who have left comments on my blog and not seen them appear. I'm still pretty new to Blogger and until I updated to the Beta today, I didn't realise I had any comments awaiting moderation. They're all up now though and I'll have anymore e-mailed to me in future.

Anyway, it's a complete shambles that Pluto has been taken off the Planet list. I can't see how it would make a difference anyway, it's not like it's actually leaving the solar system. All this scientific rubbish annoys me at times, no matter how much of a space enthusiast I am.

Update - In response to some comments left by a few readers, I've tried to comment on your blogs regarding posts you've made and, unfortunately, this new Beta blogger doesn't like me making any comments - I got a horrible 404 error after trying to reply.

F.Y.I to one, I find that if you're in the middle of cocking up dinner for guests, it's best to cock it up completely, rather than just a little bit. Come Christmas, you can all laugh about the time you completely cocked up dinner for everyone. Try it, it's kind of fun.