Newton Abounds - Sat 30/1

Just spent the last couple of days messing around with the Newton, simply because I hadn't tried any new software out for a while. This quickly turned into the Newt becoming the email client of choice - until the iPad broke it (but more of that later). Recent try outs include

BackDrop Plus - just for a wee change from Avi's Backdrop, although I'm liking the dock buttons
Stationary Construction Kit - for designing some custom stationary for a rack audit/rewire job
Writer's Calc - this cunning thing lets you write a calculation out, then have Assist work out the answer.

Have been very impressed with the support from Stand Alone Software-they issued an incorrect code for SCK and supplied a correct code within 15 minutes of my email.

So the Newt was all set to be the email client of choice until the iPad was launched - then, the sheer volume of emails on NewtonTalk simply swamped the poor wee beastie! Have to admit to being somewhat underwhelmed by the iPad so far - I suspect I'll have to wait to try one, but I suspect also that it'll be a few revisions before it becomes really interesting to me. I'm not minded to drop 500 pounds or so on a device On the possibility of what it *might* become.

To other things... went to an excellent "Scottish Night" (kind of like a Burns Night but without a couple of the formalities). Was lotsa fun, even when yours truly was used as a prop for the reading/performance of Tam O'Shanter!

Have almost got the MGB back into running trim - however I suspect the alternator is not sending charge back to the batteries as the car eventually runs to a stop having drained the booster battery flat. Now I simply have to work out how to get the bonnet to open, make sure the multiplug is properly attached and all should be well (crosses fingers!)

Well here we are - with a little Newton workstation ! This keyboard is a bit new, so needs typed in a bit to make it a little more responsive - at the moment, it's very clicky and some of the keys need a firmer smack than others !

UK IUA Trip - Wed 10/6

Jaunt down to London for the uk Ingres Users Association Conference. Several excellent talks, some good catching up and good (if brief) chats with Roger B and Bill M. Alfresco presentation in particular very good.

Still not a big fan of London though. Always seem to end up sweating profusely for some obscure reason, and even when I think I've left loads of time I end up feeling rushed. Having someone nearly take your eye out with an umbrella is never likely to endear a place to you though. Once in a while is fine, but I couldn't live down here I don't think. Glad to be heading home!
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Sent from Tony's Newton - the greatest gadget *ever* !

Blah Blah Blah

Blah blah blah. Let's see if we can post this with nBlog. Otherwise, it's back to emails.

Turns out, it was back to emails :(

I suspect something strange going on with the Blogger 1.0 API, since the Newton can't even retrieve the list of blogs attached to my account anymore, which it could previously do even when posting blog updates seemed not to work. Oh well, not to worry...

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Sent from Tony's Newton - the greatest gadget *ever* !

Reasons To Be Cheerful, part ... ?

OK, so Animals Weekend seemed to go pretty well. April featured three weeks annual leave out of four, during which nothing of what I was supposed to do got done, but I had a thoroughly lazy time which was still most handy :)

May has involved a trip to Southampton for work, and lots and lots of this and that for work. Still managing to come second in the pub quiz, and still managing not to win the lottery either, but hey.

With all that said, this is quite a good weekend ...

- starting another week off work with a *thoroughly* lazy day today... lovely :)

- finally getting a little time to play with Logic Express, the Audiofire 2 interface and a guitar. Oh *my*, that's a good combination !! Add in Sooperlooper, and I think quite a lot of my outboard gear might be disappearing whence it came (that is, eBay-wards...)

- Accies ended the season with a win against St Mirren

Only downer is not seeing a certain someone this weekend :'( Still, good things come to he who waits...

Here Comes The Summer...

Confusion runs riot. Or rather, it doesn't. Not for the principal players, anyway! Petruchio and Katherina are fairly clear :)

Managed to get tickets for U2 in Glasgow in August sorted out fairly easily. Kinda gratifying to see 30 quid tickets listed a few hours later on websites for over 120 quid each! This summer so far I've got Cirque de Soleil and U2 sorted out, which is a fairly low set so far - will have to arrange another couple of outings at least.

Next weekend is Animals Weekend with Cathy, and the week after that will mostly be work around the house I suspect.

Got a couple of weeks off work coming up - might try a run down to Hadrian's Wall for the day, or maybe across to East Fortune - depends on the weather probably. Be nice to do something other than stuff in the house while I'm off, and everyone else is at work :)

In other news, the Newton is back to playing silly beggars for doing blog posts again. Who knows why... but I have to admit I'm suspecting Blogger more than the Newt TBH, as problems seem to be time of day dependent (i.e. after 20:30 seems to be problematic, but before is fine... hmmm...)

Phew !

Ok, left it for most of the day-are things back to normal now?

Yes, it would seem so! Woohoo!!!

Ahem. I should probably explain. These blog entries are handwritten on an Apple Newton (in Notes) then published using Adam Tow's nBlog software - literally, write, push a button, blog. It's awesome (dood!) when it works. Which makes it all the more annoying/scary when it stops working like it did last night. Still, at least I took the opportunity to check if emailing the blog entries in would work - thanks to Simon Bell's Mail V and fastmail.fm, it sure does!

Coming soon - a real blog about real stuff!