Sometimes, I feel like I’m stuck in the middle of America! Wait a minute. I am in the middle of America (as I’m in Kansas). But even from here, I’m learning about the next great invasion of English music. In the past week, I’ve been introduced to the music of five superb bands. These include:
Arctic Monkeys
Kaiser Chiefs
Hard-FI
The Subways
Bloc Party
These bands all got their starts in the indie/Brit/post-punk movement that is flourishing north of London. And boy, do these bands rock! I may take the time to do reviews on these bands. But for now, I’m thrilled that so many stellar indie bands are starting to emerge.
But how did I run across these bands? Well, I ran into a story about the Arctic Monkeys. From there, I checked out the related artists as listed at the iTunes Music Store. And that’s where I ran across the other four bands. Technology sure is wonderful. I might never have heard of these bands. But within moments, I’ve heard them, seen their websites and seen collaborative artist reviews on Wikipedia. I’m grinng all over!!!
When you combine these bands with the other big Brit invastion (Doctor Who on Sci-Fi), it’s shaping up to be a great invasion.
-CyclingRoo-
*Update* I forgot to add two other great Brit bands that are making a big impact. They are Maximo Park and Robbers on High Street. And while I love these Brit bands, there are also some great indie bands from the States (e.g., She Wants Revenge).
Month: March 2006
Sprint PPC-6700 Gets an Upgrade
I am in love with my new Sprint PPC6700. I loved this device when I first saw it in the R&D labs at Srpint. And I’m enjoying it even more now that I am a user. I won’t bore you with a review. There are dozens of those around the web. And the device is a few months old. So if you want the absolute “latest” features, this may not be the device for you. But after two weeks, I can truly say that I love this phone.
And the phone just got better. A new firmware update has been released. This new update is available from Sprint here (and select Windows CE as the OS). The upgrade includes a couple of nice improvements. First, the Messaging & Security Feature Pack now supports push technology. That means that mail arrives on your phone when it is available on your corporate email server (assuming your server supports this feature). Second, this firmware provides support for A2DP (Advanced Audio Distribution Profile). That means that stereo Bluetooth headsets now function appropriately. Woot! Finally, there are a bunch of performance improvements and bug fixes.
This upgrade is well worth the effort. If you want to perform the upgrade yourself, then you should backup your data or have access to your computer in order to perform a total resync – as this upgrade will wipe out your existing data. I had little problem performing the upgrade. But the whole process took about two hours (flash + reload of data and apps). It was worth my time. But if you don’t have the time or the technical confidence, just drop by a Sprint store. They will do the upgrade for you.
-CyclingRoo-
Tags: Sprint PPC-6700
Another Vista Refresh???
I’ve been using the February Vista CTP for a couple of weeks. And I’m loving it. But I’ve stumbled through a numberr of minor annoyances caused by my tablet. In particular, I’ve had to cobble together beta and legacy drivers to get the device to its full utilty. And that has been a challenge – mostly because of the configuration I’m running.
I am currently using a dual-boot configuration. Why? That’s simple. I have to give presentations to clients. And so I need a system that can demonstrate our current product suite. At the same time, I need to demo Vista and the new Office 2007 system to other customers. So the solution was to build a dual-boot configuration. But that poses one key problem: the Toshiba M4 tablet I use requires different firmware for XP and Vista.
Does the system work with only one firmware load? Yes, and no. Apparently, if I use the Vista firmware with XP, I lose the ability to display my monitor to an external source (like an LCD projector). And if I use the XP firmware for Vista, I cannot enable Aero Glass. So I’ve had to cobble together a process whereby I boot to a CD that selects the right firmware to flash before I boot to the OS I want to run. Yuck!
But I heard rumors that more recent Vista builds would ease some of my hardware-related challenges. So I started to shop around for which build to exploit. Then I learned that build 5342 would meet my needs – and it might well be a publicly-available build (see Paul Thurrott’s recent article). So I grabbed 5342 from the nightly build servers. I just finished loading it up on my tablet – and I like what I’m seeing. 🙂
First, the install process is even easier than before. I’m still having driver challenges. But it seems easier to resolve them this time around. [Of course, that’s because I know what I’m doing this time.] Second, I’m seeing a lot of fit and finish improvements. And while I do have Aero Glass running, I haven’t gotten around to turning on transparent/transluscent effects. Everything else looks great. Now I just have to re-install my apps in the fresh partition. I’ll post some more info about the refresh for Office 2007 System sometime later this weekend. But for now, I’m trimming the sails and heading out!
-CyclingRoo-
Tags: Windows Vista
Achieve – And Then Exceed
The SMS Lady Raiders won their Kansas State 6A quarterfinal round yesterday. It was a classic inside-out game. The other team knew my daughter’s stats – so they keyed on her. That left the outside open. One of the sophomore girls stepped up – big-time. Peyton Whetstone buried five three-pointers. So what did that do? Yep, it opened up the middle. So my daughter got to work inside. And she went 7 for 8 from the line in the second half. It was a lot of fun.
So with this victory, my daughter has achieved all of her pre-season goals. She wanted to lead the team this year. At the beginning of the year, she was voted team captain. And she has led the team in their joys and challenges. She wanted to be the fifth Lady Raider to break the 1,000 point barrier. Her career total now stands at 1059 – and still going. She wanted to be in the top five of the all-time lead scorers for the school. She is now #3. She wanted to land a NCAA D1 scholarship. She will start her career at SIU one week after she graduates from high school. Finally, she set a goal to lead her team to the state final four this year. With this last victory, she has achieved that dream.
But it is now time to adjust her vision. When you meet your goals, it is time to broaden your vision – not just rest on your laurels. She now has the chance to expand her dreams beyond the limits she previously set. She must now reach for a vision that was beyond her dreams just a few months ago. She must now dream bigger. The SMS Lady Raiders will play the #1 team in Kansas. And they can win it if they fully believe in themselves.
So now is the time to dream big dreams. Go Raiders!
[My daughter was the focus of a great feature article in the JoCo Sun this morning. This kind of stuff makes me bust out with parental pride!]
-CyclingRoo-
Tags: SMS Lady Raiders