Got a slice of Raspberry Pi

1TB Hard Drive, 8GB SD Card & Raspberry Pi

This morning, I brought something I'm quite intrigued and excited about - The Raspberry Pi. This is a small, credit card sized mini PC intended for pure experimentation. My base purpose for this little machine is to be a basic home theatre PC via the 1TB external hard drive you see above.

For months I've been hounding for the ideal set-up when it comes to my media. The Xbox 360 was simply a laughing stock when it came to handling outside media; the PS3 improved this experience nicely - despite PS3 media server not playing nicely on my network and having trouble with filetypes - the 'ecosystem' just didn't connect fluently. Fluency is what I was really searching for when it comes to managing my home media. It was for these reasons that I didn't opt for an Apple TV, Roku, Boxee etc. streaming box. The aforementioned devices each have great elememts; but all just lacked something.

I would have loved to have just purchased an Apple TV; jailbreak it; plug in a USB hard drive and away I go. Alas, in Apple's ideal world; you're locked down to their ecosystem, where your media brought from iTunes is stored in the iCloud and controlled by your iPhone to watch on your Apple TV. Want to take it elsewhere? Fuck you. Want to switch devices? Fuck you. Want to watch it without a network connection? Fuck you.

With the Raspberry Pi, I have a significant amount of freedom compared to a pre-bundled set-top. In an ideal world; I'd have a machine similar to this running Android 4.0+ (albeit there is an Android port for this - though very unstable). Maybe in the future...

To extend on previous posts; I am going to be using my Nexus 4 as a remote for this device and plan to integrate NFC tag use in this automation. For instance, I'd like to have a tag on my wall that, when scanned will enable the remote app, wake the Raspberry Pi up and start playing any random media I have.

I'm looking forward to tinkering with this, I do have high hopes for it but I have to remember that while it can handle 1080p media, it is only a £20-30 device; so I'll have to meet some limitations halfway. I'm also looking forward to making it look nice, I'm going to make a custom case for it. Perhaps hollowing a Tardis, a niPod classic, maybe an old Gameboy. Who knows? I'll be making a blogpost when I decide!

But er, I forgot to buy a USB WiFi adaptor.

Tech & Life

It's no doubt that in the world of 2013, smartphones have become even more prevalent in our lives. For years, we've been sold the idea of 'constant connection' in terms of socialising and information online. While I do think this is a great concept, I certainly feel the power of the smartphone has been greatly underutilised by the masses.

Since the integration of Siri into Apple's iOS 6, it seems to be that the focus of smartphones has now become more than the already established 'communicating' element and now, marketing domination is now being fixated onto the 'assistance' element of smartphone. As in, your smartphone is not only a tool to communicate, but your very own assistant. Google Now is a brilliant example of this. I referenced how Google Now operated in a previous post - but the brilliant element of this is automation.

Automatic assistance is the thing which, I honestly believe is going to propel this year within the smartphone environment and is something which I am currently looking into integrating more in and around myself now. Android apps like Tasker - an app which revolves around automation based on situation (e.g. If WiFi on, turn sound up) am going to seriously start looking into and utilising more.

As the Nexus 4 is NFC capable, I am going to be buying a few NFC tags and utilising them around my house along with Tasker, just to make things more and more convenient. Eventually, I want to work my way up to create some form of ecosystem between Android, Windows 8 & the PS3. Specifically for TV & Films and what not. I haven't quite thought of the most convenient way to automate this, but it'll come.

Something I honestly can't wait for is NFC payment in-stores to become a mainstream thing. You just have to hover your phone over an NFC tag at the store and you've paid. I can see myself wasting a lot more money when this comes into play. Something else that I think would work wonders is NFC and public transport. Flashing your phone on a tag at the station and a list of ticket options appear on screen to instantly buy

I'm going to London at the end of the month for two days with Charlotte, I'm taking her for a 10 month anniversary present and I cant wait! There's going to be a lot of photosphere's and Android utilisation. We've already made our own Google Map to load onto our phones with places we want to go, so Google Now should recognise that and direct us!

While we're down there, I guess we plan to "see the sights" and we want to go on a lil' shopping trip, so there'll be a "London Pickups" post very soon!

The Nexus 4 is fantastic

Nexus 4 & it's box

If you're aware of the Nexus 4; you're more than likely aware of how much of a struggle it has been for the majority of people (me included) to obtain one. The original release in late November definitely flopped, leaving so, so many people disappointed. Fast forward to December 4th. The UK was having a second release!

I geared up at 4:30pm on the Play Store, passing time and F5ing slowly, the closer to 5pm, the more rapid the refreshing. Eventually, I managed to get through to the checkout after quite a few server crashes and successfully copped a Nexus 4 16gb at 5:07pm. Fantastic, or was it? Multiple errors?! Turns out Lloyds TSB were blocking the transaction on account of 'fraudulent activity' - are you kidding me? Weeks of anticipation and this is what happens?!. So, after nearly an hour and a half on hold with the bank and many new curse words later, I finally had the transaction authorised and was able to pay Google (pending transaction!).

Upon reading that many people were stuck in limbo from Google, with no acknowledgement of payment, shipping - any information at all; like many others I had no idea what was going on. Some were shifted to 5-7 weeks of waiting for the phone; whereas some were having their phones delivered despite being quoted 3-4 weeks. Unsettling, my patience is truly being tested here.

So, fast forward to Saturday 8th December. A day off work and I awake to a phone call from Meg at work. Our Birmingham store has a Nexus 4 in stock, it's on reserve for me. After initially crapping my pants, I rushed and dragged my girlfriend out of bed to head to town and God bless Charlotte for doing so (I think I paid her back by buying her a Harringtons jacket). I rushed down to our store, brought the phone and traded in my broken HTC Sensation. £257 after discount for a mint condition 16gb Nexus 4? I'm game. We had to rush home immediately to cancel the transaction on Google and I was preying it hadn't gone through. But all is well!

The phone itself is absolutely phenomenal. It just feels so good in my hands and I haven't even used it outside of my home yet (I'm waiting for my case to arrive!). I keep picking it up and just looking at it. It's so nice to look at. It feels like one of the more finely polished Android phones in recent years, I think this is a very good sign to the prospected future of Android (alongside the Galaxy S3). I wish I could write a more detailed review of actually using the phone, but hey - this is a blog. There are plenty of dedicated websites for that.

The long and short of it is: if you've ordered one and are in limbo - the phone is absolutely worth it. I haven't come across one of the complaints I've been reading online (battery? Over 24 hours of use here and I just hit 15% writing this..).

life - the nexus 4 and a little consumerism rant

Before I kick this off, I'd like to state that I'm more than aware of the irony here, considering the majority of my posts so far have been about clothes I've brought...

 So the Nexus 4 plan kind of fell through, dramatically and very unexpectedly. Even with barely any prior promotion, Google sold out of the Nexus 4's within ~5 minutes of availability - and that's for a phone that went live at 8am (who puts a phone on sale at 8am?); what's more is that at 8:30am while I was travelling back home from Charlotte's I received an e-mail from Google telling me 'The Nexus 4 is now available for purchase'. Hilarious, Google.

After frantically heading into Carphone Warehouse on both release and post-release day - I was told they're not selling contractless for 'a good few weeks'; and the O2 store are selling the phone at a hilarious £399. So I guess my plan is to either wait until the Play Store restock (???) or if my own store gets some, cop one.

The reaction of the community who were unable to nab a device has been very disappointing. I can totally understand that people are pissed that they weren't able to buy one right away; but this suffocation of consumerism and the thirst for false-needs are evident all around. People tend to be SO outraged simply because they didn't buy a phone on release day. Sure, I have submerged myself in materialistic needs before and was disappointed I didn't get a Nexus 4 right away; but I'll accept it. It'll come, as with anything else.

People seem to have the idea that it's a right they have to have this phone, when frankly it's a privilege.

That goes for any sort of materialistic element one may obsess to possess. It's not what you want to hear, but you're not a priority to receive anything, the world doesn't owe you any favours simply because you exist. I get this more than enough while serving customers at work - there are more than a fair share of arrogant consumers who feel the need to get irate when something we have isn't in stock, to their price liking or that we won't take their item for trade & give them money (or that we're not giving them as much money as they'd like). I can empathise with the irritation, I can. But consumerism to this extent is optional. I'll repeat; optional. If you don't like how much money my store has to offer you for your device then simply don't sell it. I really don't have to spell it out. There are times where I really am sick of being yelled by a fickle customer who doesn't understand that it's not something I control. I guess with a good workforce and community my attitude is better but hey that's a tangent.

I'm not saying consumerism is all bad, there are many great elements to it - the satisfaction, the community, the even the sense of belonging. I think its definitely overshadowed by the obsession and thirst for instant gratification that the western world seem to possess.

Take care.

supreme x comme des garcons pickup

Yesterday was a pretty big day. Just over a fortnight ago, I purchased the below t-shirt from a nice guy on the internet super-highway. After being delayed by the hurricane in New York and being held by customs (I'll get to that...) I was able to pick her up.

Supreme x Comme Des Garcons SHIRT Polkadot T-shirt S/S '12

This particular t-shirt is one of my personal holy grail (most sought-after) items from the brand. I've always thought it was absolutely gorgeous in photographs and to be honest - in person, it's even more so. It's a size medium - which proved irritatingly hard to find on the internet amist a sea of size S, L and XL - and fits absolutely beautifully. The tags on her check out, and the guy was nice enough to supply a Supreme NY bag.

The collaboration between New York's Supreme and Japanese giants Comme des Garçons brand comes is a fusion of two significant design focus points from the two brands. On Comme des Garçons end - the polkadots are taken from what I can only presume is their CDG PLAY line of polkadot T-shirts and of course, Supreme's notorious box logo. I love the polkadots on this - although I do like the CDG Play shirts, I think the actual dots are too big and intrusive. The design on this shirt is nice and spread out. Noticable, yet subtle.

I woke up on yesterday morning to a notice from Parcelforce regarding a customs fee. Annoyingly, yet expectedly, I would have to pay it to gain access to my item. It seems customs held it for 5 days before notifying me I had to pay. I thought, sod that. I'm not paying online and waiting 5 days for it to process and deliver, I'm going to pick it up, so that's what I did! I phoned up Parcelforce and spoke to an insanely depressed sounding man, which lead to this tweet from Parcelforce.

I have to give huge credit to Android & Google Now here - online, I entered the postcode to the Parcelforce depot, north of Birmingham and set on my way to the train station. Shortly after, I received a notification from Google Now on my phone. It displayed the quickest way to reach this location, provided all the information about directions, platforms etc.. as the image displayed. It did all this while tracking where I was in real-time and adjusted the information accordingly. Even with turn-by-turn voice navigation!

I was insanely impressed and fanboyed out a lot - simply because this is the first time I had experienced true Google Now on my barely functional and modified HTC Sensation. Today should be one of the last days I am using my Sensation - as it's Nexus 4 release day and I am hoping to cop one in about an hour or so! I'm pretty stoked to experience pure Android. I could go on, but that's a story for my next post...





I enjoyed my day yesterday - sure, I could have paid the fee online and waited for a later delivery, but my impatience and lack of things to do provoked me to enjoy a long train journey to the otherside of town. Besides, who doesn't love a long train journey?