Its funny you know, I look back and see the last post of mine was in June, and even though each week since the post I’ve said to myself “I really want to write another post”, I’ve always found myself at the end of the day without achieving that goal. So here we are, at the end of October with a new post, long overdue but probably not long awaited LOL.

A lot has happened since June, and all that has happened has of course contributed to the delay in a new post here, things connected to the wedding have been taking a lot of my time, a home purchase and move, work & all sorts! So in this post I’ll try to cover what’s been going on, and you never know you may get a wise word or two (unlikely) LOL.

So with baited breath here we go…

Preparations are a go for the Big Day

Well as announced on a previous post on this blog in March Rachel & I got engaged to be married, and as you can imagine since then preparations for the big day have been in progress, with decisions on venues, times, guests etc. needing to be considered.

As you’d expect these preparations have taken up a fair few hours of my free time since March and plans are now nicely fitting into place. Of course a lot of this has been down to Rachel & her mum’s planning and actions whilst I’ve needed to be at work, so a big shout out goes out to both of them of course for all the work they’ve put into it 

I’ve been doing my part where I can and I’ve created some things to help with the management of guests for the day and also to aid guests to obtain the information they require for the day, and I just hope they come in useful for those attending.

Even though the event itself was over a year off in March, as with most wedding things, if you leave booking things too late you will most likely lose out to others and possibly missing out on that “touch” to the wedding you were really chasing.

After all before I know it the big day will be upon us and Rachel & I want to do all we can to make it a great day for everyone attending and ensure the day is full of memories we wont want to forget :-).

A House To Call Our Own

You know, sometimes there comes a time in your life where you get tired of not having a single place you know you can call your own. For about 14 years I have every year, without fail, had to move all my possessions into another room / another property, effectively meaning I never really had a long term address.

Well earlier this year I decided enough was enough and started to look into the feasibility of getting a house. As it turned out, after some searching it was found there was a possibility of getting a home at the equivalent costs that I was currently paying in rent per month. So of course I started thinking, what would I rather? Paying the money per month towards something I own? Or pay it to some landlord who could end up using the money on stuff not even relevant to me.

Well to me it seemed an easy answer, so I went ahead and took a plunge… After an expensive mortgage application administration fee of over £700, numerous phone calls, postage of needed documents, costs of the solicitors and a lot of waiting, Rachel & I finally had a home to call our own.

So again that whole process took a lot of my free time, but in the end it really seems worth it even with consideration to the current financial climates. After all the outgoings remain the equivalent of what I was paying in rent, but now we have a home I can really call our own and that is a really good feeling.

Now of course I couldn’t tell you about the home without pictures so here goes… Bare in mind however that these pictures were taken soon after we had moved in, so as such our actual furniture isn’t present. But at least you’ll get the idea:

I haven’t had a chance yet to upload up to date pictures to the gallery, but if you keep an eye out they should be on there sooner rather than later!

Say Hello to the New Member of the Family

In September a new member of the family arrived, Ruby, a 9 week old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, and ever since has been lovely company. Even though, as with any puppy it’s been hard work house training her and getting her to understand what she is and isn’t allowed to chew on, and also where she is and isn’t allowed to do her business, however, she’s learning quickly

If you click the thumbnails above it’ll take you to a gallery containing videos and pictures of Ruby for your enjoyment… and no before you ask you can’t have her! LOL

Problem is, as you can imagine you can’t really stay mad at her for long either she just looks at you with those eyes and your smitten! lol So yes, she’s a bundle of joy and over the coming blog posts you’ll probably get a mention or two of a Ruby, so now your introduced

Website Development & Design Complete

Back in March, in the same post I used to announce Rachel & I’s engagement, I had also mentioned about major development to the main section of SpikedEffect.com. Well a while back those changes were actually made live.

You can view the new main part of the website and have a browse, register and get involved. Let me know your thoughts on the new layout and design as well. It took a great deal of time to get use to the new system that is in place as well as designing the template from scratch, so apologies for the time it took to do it, but hey hopefully you’ll think it’s worth it

Another tale closes…

Well, I think that covers it for now, hopefully its not another few months before the next post, and even though I can’t make any promises I will do what I can to get back to writing here soon! Take care of yourselves and keep safe!

You know, I’ve not as yet written about this year’s football season just past, and that is quite surprising considering I’m an avid Manchester United fan lol. So as such I’ve decided to dedicate this post to the world of football (or soccer for those who call it as such).

So regardless of whether England didn’t make it into the European championships, another nation close to my heart has, and that’s of course the current European champions… Greece. So I will dip into my thoughts on the championships as well.

So without further ado, here goes…

An amazing season, a let down by the Council

The Barclaycard Premiership 2007/08 season proved to be one of the most exciting yet, with close finishes both at the top of the table and the bottom, it kept many on their toes until the last day of the season. On top of that this years FA Cup proved to be one of many shocks, with it being the first time in a long time that one of the “top four” didn’t reach the final, and finally but not least it was the first ever all-English Champion’s League final.

Through the early stages of the Barclaycard Premiership season Arsenal FC were touted as favourites with their early good form, with Manchester United being in similar form but with some of the opinion they didn’t have the same sort of flow and consistency to their play, and with José Mourinho being sacked as manager of Chelsea FC early in the season people were of the belief Arsenal FC had it in the bag.

It seemed the thoughts of Manchester United’s critics sounded justified when they suffered a humiliating defeat in the Carling Cup 3rd round against Coventry City FC. Even though the team that was put out that day were a young side not commonly seen together in United colours, Sir Alex Ferguson made his feelings known by the resulting exodus of players (sent out on loan / sold) who played in that game.

However, disaster struck Arsenal on the 23rd of Febuary, 2008, when Eduardo da Silva suffered a horrific leg break against Birmingham City FC, it was this day that a lot of analysts say “broke” Arsenal’s form. It seems the experience was too much for some of the Arsenal players, and it began to show in their form, most obviously against Manchester United in the FA Cup 5th Round when they lost 4-0. In the weeks following the injury Arsenal lost the grip on their top spot position in the league.

Manchester United gained top spot from Arsenal, but the team that was written off near the start of the season as possible champions (Chelsea FC), were proving critics wrong by making the most of the slips of the top two and becoming real contenders for Premiership champions.

By the time the last few weeks of the season arose Manchester United had been knocked out of the FA Cup by Portsmouth FC 0-1 (the eventual overall winners) in the 6th Round, and Chelsea got knocked out of the competition by Barnsley FC 0-1 at the same stage. Chelsea also suffered defeat in the Carling Cup Final to Tottenham Hotspur 1-2, but as with Manchester United remained in the running for the Champion’s League and Barclaycard Premiership titles. With Arsenal being too far behind to realistically win the Barclaycard Premiership it was down to Manchester United and Chelsea to fight it out for the honours.

The Champion’s League semi-finals came along soon enough, and the strength of English football was easy to be seen with three of the four teams being from the Barclaycard Premiership there was a very real chance of an all English final for the first time in the competition’s history. Chelsea FC faced Premiership rivals Liverpool FC, whilst Manchester United faced FC Barcelona, Chelsea overcame Liverpool over the two legs (1st Leg: 1-1, 2nd Leg: 3-2 [aet]) and Manchester United overcame Barcelona over the two legs (1st Leg: 0-0, 2nd Leg: 1-0). The stage for the first all English final was set, and it also meant the same teams that were fighting for the Barclaycard Premiership title would be the same teams fighting it out for the Champion’s League title.

It came down to the fact that one team could quite easily end the season empty handed with no silverware to show for their efforts over the whole season, a outcome that would be unthinkable to both teams. With a loss at Chelsea, Manchester United had a lot still to do, the destiny of the Barclaycard Premiership title was in their hands, as long as they kept their performances up and not concede any points to Chelsea the title would be theirs.

Along came the last day of the season, Manchester United on top due to a superior goal difference but on the same points, a close game at the JJB stadium against Wigan Athletic FC and a win for Manchester United meant they secured the title in one of the closest seasons in it’s history. A last minte goal for Bolton Wanderers against Chelsea meant that they held Chelsea to a 1-1 draw, ending the season for Chelsea two points behind Manchester United.

Chelsea were left in the position knowing that a loss in the Champion’s League final would mean an empty handed season, making them desperate for a win in the crucial match. On the 21st of May 2008 at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Russia the 2008 Champion’s League final was held in a make or break game for both Chelsea and Manchester United.

As expected it was a close knit game between the two teams, Cristiano Ronaldo gave Manchester United the lead on the 26th minute, only to have Frank Lampard equalise for Chelsea in the dying minutes of the first half… As if I hadn’t already had a near heart attack whilst watching most of Manchester United’s games this season, as expected they were giving my heart another roller coaster ride. It wasn’t eased by any standard as Manchester United and Chelsea played out the full 90 minutes as well as extra time to bring the game to penalties.

I have to say I really don’t like watching penalties, especially when it comes to one of the biggest games of the season for the team I’ve supported since I was a kid… When Cristiano Ronaldo stepped up to take his penalty, little did I know that the player who had many a time helped United pull back games from the brink would in fact be holding his head in his hands after having his penalty saved… At this point I had a sick feeling in my stomach knowing that odds were now heavily in Chelsea’s favour, but as each additional penalty was taken I held as much hope as I could muster… It came to the final penalty, John Terry stepped up, and all he had to do was score his penalty and Chelsea would have been Champions of Europe…

I could pretty much hardly look, but when John Terry’s penalty hit the post I just lost it with happiness and then eventually when  Edwin Van Der Sar saved Nicolas Anelka’s penalty to clinch it for Manchester United I just couldn’t believe it, it was fantastic… Even though I felt for Chelsea because they would be finishing the 2007/08 season with no silverware, I was just so ecstatic that United had successfully completed the double…

This is where my gripe lies… after a very memorable season Manchester United should have been given a memorable welcome home back to Manchester, but the Manchester City Council decided to cancel the parade due to the events of the previous week when Rangers’ fans clashed with Manchester police… What I don’t understand is that Manchester United have had a parade in the past, notably 1999 when they last won the European Champions League, at which no trouble occured…

Why should fans of a totally different club suffer because of the behaviour of those involved with the UEFA Cup final, I think it was a huge let down after a tremendous season for Manchester United. The fact that the team were hidden just to peer from a closed confines of a coach with their newly obtained silverware and not allowed to share the moment with their loyal fans disgusts me… Even Stockport County FC had a parade to celebrate their play-off final win, which just rubbed the salt into the wounds even more considering they are part of the Greater Manchester area.

The Manchester City Council and the Greater Manchester police in my opinion really let down Manchester with the decision to cancel the victory parade, and to be honest I don’t ever think I’ll be able to look past that decision…

A look to the European Championships 2008

So, onto other things before I lose my cool… It’s not a commonly forgotten fact that non of the home nations didn’t qualify for Euro 2008, so as the majority of the football loving fans of the home nations “adopt” a country for the championships, I turn to a country close to my heart… The current European champions, Greece, whilst I know many pundits and commentators have said Greece have no chance of winning it again this year, this isn’t going to make me abandon my roots…

Having just finished watching the first game of the Euro 2008 campaign for Greece I can’t help but still feel pride for what the country achieved four years ago in Portugal. Even if Greece didn’t perform particularly well tonight, they showed faint signs of what took them to the final four years ago and I’m still proud of them, will they get past the group stages? Who knows, but to me that doesn’t matter as long as they give all they have got then I’m happy

That aside, who do I think will win the championship this year? Well even though I have the naive hope that it will be Greece, realistically I believe it will most likely be Spain, on paper they have probably the better all round team and whilst I think it’ll be extremely close between the favourites my money is on Spain I would think, with a small bet of faith on Greece too of course

A Final Word on the Cristiano Ronaldo saga…

Already a firm favourite for the FIFA World Player of the Year this year, Cristiano Ronaldo’s role in club football next season has overcast Portugal’s lead up to Euro 2008, but what do I think? Well I personally believe that Ronaldo will remain a Manchester United player next season, however, after next season I can’t be sure.

Ronaldo seems to have the art of keeping press attention on him by being extremely cryptic with his answers. Is he doing it to deliberately mess around with them? Possibly, even though he has made clear his desire to one day play in Spain he has very recently iterated he is happy in Manchester.

So is he confusing the press as a way to say, “I’ve had enough of giving you serious answers so I’m just going to tell you whatever I feel like telling you to keep you busy”? Again, who knows. Ronaldo as a player still has room to grow and develop and I personally believe that under the guidance of the back room staff at Manchester United he will flourish to the best of his abilities…

Whether Manchester United have Cristiano Ronaldo on their books or not, I still believe United will be just as strong as a team, Ronaldo is a fantastic player, but he doesn’t make the team and that is that really. I’d love him to remain at United, but I am not going to lose sleep over it, loyalty is the key here and I think it’s time for Ronaldo to show he has the loyalty in him.

So that’s it for this entry, sorry I have babbled on, but hopefully for those into sport and football it has been a good read. So for now I bid you a fond farewell…

Hello out there to the people (or person, as it’s more likely to be) reading this entry, first off an advance apology to those not really into the “technical” side of computing or computing in general… This post is going to (at least in the first instance) be a post to do with computing.

But for those of you intrigued none the less but don’t deem yourself computer “savvy”, don’t worry I will attempt to make this post accessible to all, but if you do wind up thinking “What the…?” leave a comment and I’ll try and clarify things…

So you bought/built a computer 4 or 5 years ago, as with a lot of electronics, it seems to be experiencing signs of “ageing” and doesn’t seem as effective as it once was (yes believe it or not electronics can have the same traits as humans, without the hair loss or girlfriend problems lol)…

What do you do when this comes around? Is there a cheap way to bring a new burst of life into your PC which has served you well over the past years? Well it’s come to the point where I am posed to asked myself the same questions…

You see, I woke up this morning after finding out last night that my PC system’s motherboard (technobabel translation: The motherboard is like the capillary and vain system in a human body, it is what acts as the transport system for all the information your computer needs.) may be on it’s last legs, as it seems to be having problems routing power properly to all it’s internal components…

This prompted me to backup things fairly promptly, even if chances are it will remain functioning for quite a while, touch wood *touches wood*, I thought it’s better safe than sorry. Then this morning out of pure curiosity I started looking at the costs involved with upgrading my PC in an aim to resurrect a bit of life into it…

The biggest problem I face though is one of the most expensive components in my current PC is the graphics card (technobabel translation: the piece of hardware that outputs the image to your monitor) uses an old interface method that has been phased out in the last year and a bit (technobabel translation: a computer interface is the method used to connect a component to the motherboard).

The interface in question is the formally very popular AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) which has now effectively been replaced by a PCI-E (PCI Express) implementation for graphics cards… What this pretty much means is, should I want to upgrade my motherboard to support newer and better features that are now commonly used (Like PCI Express, SATA II and Higher Speed RAM..) I would be forced to buy a new graphics card that uses this new interface…

Why? simply because at the beginning of 2007 the companies that make the motherboards have made the decision to concentrate on releasing newer motherboards supporting solely PCI-E. One option of course is to buy a cheap PCI-E graphics card and wait for the time I can afford a card with slightly more power, but it would still give me a spare graphics card that when purchased cost a fair amount of money…

So the first piece of hardware is considered… what next? Well I’ve actually already mentioned it previously, it’s the motherboard of the PC, fundamentally, this is the piece of kit that needs to be replaced, however, it seems silly to spend £80+ on a new motherboard that has no “expandability”. If you want to keep your upgrade path open for at least a couple years the motherboard is the hardware that needs to be up to the very latest standards, which is a task within itself as new technologies are constantly being released.

An up to date, and technologically “in-tune” motherboard that has suffice connectivity to meet my requirements (technobabel translation: when I say connectivity I refer to things like the number of USB “sockets” e.g. where you plug in an iPod / MP3 player, the number of interfaces on the motherboard to plug extra add-on hardware into etc.) costs anywhere between £90-£200 (depending on your requirements).

So that’s another £100-£200 on top of the cost of the graphics card, and we’ve not even considered the CPU (technobabel translation: the CPU is the “brain” of the computer, it basically does all the thinking and is a huge factor in determining how quick your computer runs). A mid-range CPU costs in the regions of £80-£140… So the costs are quickly mounting up here…

The final hardware that needs to be upgraded to give that life back to my current PC (as the rest of my current components could be reused in the time being) is the RAM (Random Access Memory) (technobabel translation: RAM is like the short term “memory” of a computer, it’s a place where your PC stores it’s temporary thoughts / paperwork, for a computer it’s quicker to get commonly used information from RAM than from your Hard drive (where data is permently stored)).

Today’s recommended RAM amounts is either 2GB (technobabel translation: GB = GigaBytes) for normal non-power users or 4GB or more for people who do graphic work or play games, the latter meets my requirements, so I would be looking at around £100 for 4GB of decent memory…

So I would be looking at around £400+ to bring life into my now aging computer, and that’s just because of the need to change the motherboard to allow for future expansion…

So is the cheap PC upgrade path dead for someone who hasn’t already hitched onto the PCI-E bandwagon? I think it’s faily safe to say yes, nowdays it’s actually a lot cheaper to start from scratch whilst maybe “borrowing” some parts from the old PC, e.g. your hard drives and disc drives. Unfortunately though it’s a fact of life that technology continues to move on, so even if you do get a top of the line PC you may find a need to burst life into that PC 3 years down the line…

So fundamentally, when looking to build yourself a new PC, be realistic and think what you actually need from your PC, don’t go for top of the line components for the sake of it, go for components to match your requirements, and then when it comes to needing to upgrade you haven’t paid over the odds for something you hardly used the potential of…

Hello to the world out there, I’m back… even though in reality I’ve been here all along, I’ve been back for the past few weeks quite intensively working on things behind the scenes and behind closed doors.

There’s been a lot going on both with the development of www.spikedeffect.com and my life, and to be honest there is so much to catch up on that I wont be able to cover everything in a single post, unless I really want to bore you to utter death.

For this post I’ll cover the two major things that have happened (or is happening in the case of development) in the recent past / present and without further ado… here goes.

Some big news on the life front…

Before I go too much into this, if you are reading this news for the first time and feel a bit miffed as to why you only found out this news by reading this blog even though you know me, don’t take it personally. Things have been crazy busy for me that I may not have had the chance to e-mail / contact you on-line, and what makes matters worst is that for some odd reason on the night the big news happened I have recently discovered that not everyone received the news I sent in an SMS, so you may have been one of those people who didn’t get the SMS they were meant to.

So, what exactly is this news? Well for those who didn’t know, I have been dating someone for nearly two years now which mounts up to be the longest relationship that I have had… Rachel has somehow managed to put up with me and my antics for this long, and must be mentally insane to have done so, but none the less I’m happy that she did and at the same time feel lucky that she’s has not given up on me after all this time.

In light of this, at the end of last year I decided I would start saving up for an engagement ring, a decent engagement ring that Rachel would appreciate and love wearing… So, along came 2008 and with Rachel dropping hints left, right and centre about rings she liked :-P, eventually in late February we found a ring that was brilliant in elegance and a good price without compromise.

Therefore, at the beginning of this month I ordered the ring in her size and waited for the call to let me know it had arrived… Without Rachel knowing (even though I’m sure she had her suspicions), during my lunch break on the day the ring arrived, I went to go collect and pay for the ring (and empty out my wallet… :-P), I then proceeded on to the restaurant where Rachel and I had our first ever date. At the restaurant, I spoke to the manager on duty and explained what I wished to do that night in the restaurant and to see if there was any way they could accommodate the occasion. The manager said she could arrange to have a table set up in the upstairs area of the restaurant where we could have some privacy for the occasion and also arrange the candles I had brought in on the table to enhance the mood.

I let Rachel know that that night we were going to go to the cinema, but that I’d booked a table to have a meal before hand as I hadn’t eaten and just to meet me in town in time for the booking. I’ve always wanted to make the occasion as much of a surprise to Rachel as possible, so even though she was aware I had ordered the ring she had no idea when I was going to propose nor when I would pick up the ring… So after I finished work, Rachel and I went to the restaurant and were led upstairs; the table had been set up with the candles, two wine glasses and a purchase till open for our sole benefit upstairs.

After the meal, nervous as I was, I told her how much she meant to me and that I felt really lucky to have her, I then got down on one knee and asked if she would marry me… She must be mental because believe it or not, she actually said “yes” :-P. So ladies, gents, dogs, cats, aliens and so forth, the big news is that I am now engaged to be married I feel lucky to have someone in my life who will accept me for who I am and any way I come, and I adore her for everything she is, and I look forward to sharing my future with her

As I said, don’t feel offended if you are learning of this news for the first time and feel you should have known earlier, chances are I’ve not been able to catch you on-line or e-mail you as of yet because of how busy work has been and the fact that I don’t really want to have to sit by a computer when I get home after being in front of one all day at work

For those who want to see it, I have uploaded some pictures of the ring to the gallery, to see the pictures just click the thumbnail picture of the ring.

Recent (Major) Development Work

For a while now I’ve been going on about moving SpikedEffect.com and all it’s related websites to a new dedicated server, and for those who’ve been checking up on the site of late may have noticed a bit of down time recently… If it didn’t click at the time what was going on, that down time was due to the domain being transferred to the new server.

So for about a couple weeks now you have in fact been viewing this blog on the brand new server… So, that’s the good news, the bad news is that the main SpikedEffect.com website has now been re-classified as “In Development” and I feel it would be a good idea to explain why.

I have decided to make a major change to the main part of the website and it was in no way a case of just moving the old code to the new server. The backend that powers SpikedEffect.com has been changed and it’s a major change from the old system and works in a completely different manner, so it wasn’t just a case of changing a few lines of code to get it working… Due in part to this I decided to take the plunge and totally redesign the site which meant a long time of development and testing.

Now in actual fact the design and template are pretty much complete, and it’s working in the production system. However, due to the inability to integrate the gallery and forums seamlessly into the new backend it’s at a stage I am waiting for 3rd party developers to finish some “bridges” (code that synchronises user log-ons to the gallery and forum).

I’m currently in two minds on whether to make the new site live before the final releases of these “bridges” (one of them is currently in “release candidate” stages but has been for the past couple of months), as there is no set release dates for the final versions I’m not sure if it’s worth holding out until that time.

One option for now is to of course open up access to the new site but keep registrations disabled until I can get at least the forums integrated, or just to keep it inaccessible for now until it’s been implemented. This is where you come in, leave your comments and tell me what you think, would you rather see the new site live even if you can’t really do that much on it yet? Or would you prefer to wait until I’ve managed to get the forums up and running at least? Let me know your thoughts on the comment form for this post.

For now however I have attached to this post a few “teaser” sneak peeks of the new design, to see the full versions just click the images below.

As you’ll probably notice the design is a whole lot “slicker” then it use to be, and I’ve spent a lot of time trying to ensure that the design looks right to most, if not all web users regardless of the browser they choose to use. However, in some cases, due to Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) and below being a right pain in the backside some things may not look 100% right, I have done my utmost to make it as compatible as possible, but I had to draw a line at some point as I was getting sick and tired of “fudging” things to make IE6 behave.

Feel free to give your thoughts on the design sneak peeks as well, hopefully in the long run the design will prove to be a lot more visually “impressive” than the old website was. You may also like to know that the new design is actually a “fluid” design, in web development terms this just means that the design will “stretch” to fill your screen width, meaning unlike the case with this blog, if you view the design on for example a PS3 on a HDTV where the dimensions are a lot bigger than a standard computer screen it will not just be a “block” in the centre of your screen.

There is still a bit to be done on this new server and as time goes on more features and development will happen as time allows, but for now let me know your thoughts on the sneak peek and also what route you’d suggest I take when it comes to access to the new system…

Cheerio I’ll be back soon…

So there you have it people, once again sorry for the whole lack of updates for what is nearly a year now, with this whole server update being planned for quite a while now I was reluctant to make any updates to the site as I wasn’t totally sure what I was doing with the site once it had been moved.

I’ll be keeping you all up to date with any further developments when it comes to both life, spikedeffect.com development or just my general thoughts and opinions, it’s good to be back and you’ll hear from me sooner rather than later

It’s been, well let’s just say “a while”, seems that things this year got chaotic and as with everything in life part of the blame must be mine, along with other aspects in life.

Last time I wrote here was many years ago… or at least that’s how it feels, unfortunately commitments in my personal life and university life have stopped me doing as much as I would have liked on www.SpikedEffect.com and this blog.

I’m sceptical about how many people will still be reading this blog, but just in the odd chance that I have a solitary fan out there that has been waiting so long for an update, this entry is for you.

I’m currently sat on a train to London Euston as I draft out this blog entry (which may actually end up being finished on the return journey to Manchester), and it seems the perfect time to let you know about what’s going on in my life apart from it being totally chaotic. So with baited breath I start my ramble…

So Long and Farewell University Life…

This week I finished my last exam at university, that’s right, I’ve come close to the conclusion of my university days. Four years I’ve been the “poor” student and now comes the time where I wait nervously to hear the final result of four years of torment lol…

It’s an odd situation though, because for the past four years (bar the year I worked a year in industry) I have been craving the feeling of achievement of doing something that contributes to the real world rather than just re-implementing something that has been done before.

Yet, now I’ve reached that step, there are downfalls to the working life, unless you are a teacher or work at an educational establishment, the term “holiday” now holds a totally different meaning, 20-25 days per annum versus 5 months, it’s a different kettle of fish. Kind of ironic really considering your now making the money needed to go on holiday… Also the days of 10 hours of lectures a week turns into the old 9am to 5pm syndrome (if you’re lucky in avoiding overtime that is), a situation that a lot of workers dread but is yet an accepted part of the working life.

However, I look at it different, ever since my first job, I have matured, I have learnt, and I have seen that working 9-5 isn’t necessarily a bad thing… just so long as what you are doing during those hours inspire you. During my gap year for university I had that, I was working for what could be deemed a “smaller” company which specializes in web based promotion and general public relations. During that year even though I was officially a student, so the pressures weren’t that same as what a full time worker would experience, the fact I was doing real world work and contributing towards a final goal and that is what inspired me.

Every morning I would wake up and actually think about what had to be done at work, rather than actually dreading it. So now comes the times where real life work is all I’ll be doing and whilst it’s daunting in a way, it’s also a real thing to look forward to. Web based promotion and website work can be quite challenging with all the different possibilities of how you can bring a page to life, the avenues you can take to make a website appealing and user friendly are yours to pick and that makes it quite interesting.

So it has come to that time in my life where you say goodbye to learning in a classroom environment full time, and hello to the real world problems you have been preparing for, and all I have to say is, “Bring it on”.

We’re all going to Wembley!

So, Wembley stadium is built and usable, a year later than originally planned with the tax payers money of this country paying for it, so has it all been worth it? Well, apparently the development of Wembley stadium and the proposed development plans for London in general are what won London the 2012 Olympics, which is always a good thing for a country… On top of this the now well known “Wembley Arch” has become a new landmark and it can be seen from quite a distance way, and even though it’s as useful as an inflatable dartboard it seems to be wowing passers-by and causing a stir in the tourist side of London.

So the hype pre-ceding the completion is well documented, but what is it like as a stadium? The first thing I must say though, and this will be the only mention of it as I’m talking of the stadium here and not the ticket costs, but what were they thinking with the ticket allocation and pricing of the final?

Anyway, I was lucky enough to be present for the first FA Cup final at the new Wembley when Manchester United played Chelsea, so had my chance to find out… Upon approaching the stadium on the motorway you could see the arch from a mile in all its glory and even though a fairly big waste of money, as it’s just an aesthetic feature, it does help you know you’re on the right track towards Wembley. The outside of the stadium itself is really just like any other, so won’t go into too much detail, but it’s a big stadium, and it’s an oval shape that pretty much all you need to know.

What about the insides? Well the concourse areas seem pretty well thought out, there’s plenty of space and plenty of food & drink spots across the concourse areas (even if they are a complete rip off with a burger and chips with a drink setting you back £8). However it seems, at least in the top tier stands of Wembley, that they seemed to forget that there are males that come to Wembley on match days, as all the toilets are in fact designed as women’s toilets with no urinals to be seen, but in general seemed pretty decent. On top of that the interiors of the concourse areas will match many other grounds, with no extra cost being put towards the aesthetics of the concourse areas, but then again you’re not there to stand in the concourse areas are you?

The seating areas of Wembley are well thought out with even the back rows of the upper tiers having a reasonable view of the pitch. There are two big screens each side of the stadium behind where the goals are on the pitch which are pretty clear from wherever your sat in the oval stadium. The pitch… hmm, well, considering the cost of the stadium was far below what you’d expect from a national stadium, it looked like it had been played on all season and been tired out, when really all it had hosted was 4 or 5 matches.

However, and this really is a big factor to me, but the acoustics of the stadium were terrible, and the PA system wasn’t anything to boast about either. Half the time you couldn’t hear what was being said through the microphone, and also the sound of the crowds didn’t travel well, what sound there was anyway… This is a huge factor to me, as I think in a lot of ways the memory of a stadium lays in the atmosphere on match days, and the stadium doesn’t do anything to help it, and this should always be a major factor of consideration for the design for a stadium.

So, of course this is by no means a detailed review of the stadium but just a brief overview, but the main thing to note is that to the general public the billion pound price tag associated with the Wembley development doesn’t seem justified… Most of the money seems to have gone into the development of the executive areas of the ground (as well as most of the match tickets for the final) but how they can justify taking it out of the general tax payer’s wallet is beyond me, especially as mostly they can’t even afford to go to the events… But then again its country pride against practicality, they wanted a landmark that doubled as a stadium and that’s what they got… Let’s just hope in the long run that people aren’t wishing the two towers of Wembley were never torn down and replaced by the Wembley arch…

We are the champions! A word of Congratulations…

Having touched above on Manchester United, after an exciting season and a dull cup final, the football season in the UK has come to a close… Manchester United were crowned the premiership champions, Chelsea crowned Carling cup and FA Cup champions and Liverpool losing out to AC Milan in the Champions League final.

But this snippet of my blog is congratulations to Manchester United for a good season of football, and showing they still are amongst the world’s best football clubs. With most critics at the beginning of the 06/07 season predicting a 3rd or 2nd place finish (at best) for the team; they came out all guns blazing to show they had what it took to compete at the highest level.

With a champions league record result (7-1) in the knockout stages against AC Roma, I think they sounded out an alarm to all teams in Europe that they shouldn’t be taken lightly and that were as hungry as ever for success. A second leg poor showing in Milan proved to be the end of United’s European conquest against the eventual winners but intensions were shown this season and that is what matters.

I want to also take this opportunity to say congrats to Wigan Athletic football club for staying up, and I just hope that Chris Hutchings continues Paul Jewell’s brilliant work at Wigan, they are a great team to have in the Premiership and I hope they remain there (and Manchester City go down :-P).

I’m going to solitary confinement…

Yes that’s right, the inevitable has happened, they are locking me away for good due to mental insanity… lol Na, over the past few months visitors to SpikedEffect.com may have noticed that the reliability of the server has been “questionable” at best, and the good news is SpikedEffect.com is finding a new home soon on a dedicated server, which means it will no longer be sharing a server with other websites.

This should mean an improvement in the reliability of the server as well as your personal experience of SpikedEffect.com and this blog, and it also means I have more control of what the server can actually do. So, over the next few weeks you may see some changes happening, as I take this opportunity to bring SpikedEffect.com to life on its new home.

Depending on how long it takes to get the new server set up and working as expected, I may take the opportunity to do some development on the main website and add some new features and aesthetics.

So for now just keep an eye out on SpikedEffect.com and bear with me as I am to improve the “spiked” effect experience.

The Arabian Homies Invade London!

As expected at the beginning I am finishing this draft on my return to Manchester Piccadilly from London Euston after a reunion of my close friends from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia that I had growing up. Mona, seemed to use the phrase “Arabian Homies” to describe us, and I thought it was brilliant as that’s exactly what we are… We are the group of friends in the good “old” days when the westerner population was rife in Jeddah, who terrorized the Arabian Homes compounds across the city and in fact Jeddah itself.

It’s a accepted part of life that as you grow up and get older you make friends and then grow apart as you move on in life to the next step you have to take, and in most cases you lose that bond that you once had. But there is something about how Jeddah was during the years I was growing up there that was the exception to that rule, we formed a relationship as a group of friends who shared many moments together as any group of friends do, but 12 years down the line when we all meet up again it’s as though nothing has changed.

Obviously with us all spread out across different parts of the world, finding the time, money and organization to get us in one place is not easy, so it doesn’t happen often, but when it does its again moments I cherish.

Even though I had to return to Manchester earlier than originally planned I at least managed to spend time with most of the people who made it (I missed two people Andrew & James who came later on the day I left) and it was good having everyone in the same place again and even though it was in a different country, it was as though we’d never been apart.

So I just want to say to my “Arabian Homies” out there, thanks for a fantastic weekend, the pictures I took will be up soon and we’ll have to sort out another reunion soon!

Everything has a beginning and an end

So I’m 2,245 words into this post and I think that’s a good sign I should really stop babbling on. But now that University has finished you should be hearing from me again soon (and I have no excuse this time to go against that lol). So until next time to my solitary fan out there who still reads this blog, I hope you enjoyed it! Lol

Take care all, and look after yourself, and until next time, Mafi Mushkila & Salam Alekum!

Hi there all, after a bit away I am back, I apologise for the delay in writing here again, things have been tight in time as of late and certain things really didn’t help either, for this post as there really is a lot to cover, I’m going to split it into sections as I have done previously when I have had a lot to say.

I’ll cover DDoS attacks on the server, development on SpikedEffect.com, the PSP homebrew scene developments and links to promised pictures of concerts, So hold tight… and here goes…

DDoS Attacks Targeted at the Server

Recently the server hosting both this blog and SpikedEffect.com got attacked by a distributed denial of service attack (DDoS) equalling about 10GB of data hitting the server per second… as a direct effect the hard disk drive(s) (HDD) of both the server and the backup server that was taking daily backups of the websites hosted on the server were fried. This compounded with the fact that my local backup of my website was corrupt it meant that the website and the blog were brought back alive from a backup taken in October 2006.

This obviously meant that I had to try recover what I had lost (including all my e-mail), especially from the blog, which unfortunately took up time that I was hoping to spend on other things, including updating this blog. It just irritates me to hell, do people not have anything better to do with their time? What’s the purpose of bringing down a server which hosts several websites? I’m not sure what their motives were, nor who exactly the attack was aimed at, but none the less there is no reason for it, if you have a grudge against someone how bout grow up and deal with it sensibly?

Ah well, what’s done is done now and all seems back to normal now, I’ll just be taking backups more often just in case the same happens again, which I hope it doesn’t… But I thought I’d let you guys know, just in case something is missing, that is why…

Recreation of the SpikedEffect.com Landing Page

Just recently I updated the landing page of www.SpikedEffect.com this was due to some of the information being out of date, and also because I felt it needed a bit of a makeover. Originally the start page didn’t have any mention of this blog, but I have now added a link to it.

However, I don’t think I am quite finished with it, what I may do is add the blog’s latest post title underneath the “SE’s Blogorama” and possibly, what I may do is also create the image for the main site link dynamically using the GD library for PHP and change the image within the “Gallery” polaroid to a random image from the actual gallery. It just all depends how much time I have to spend.

Yes, I know, its only a start page but think of it this way, like an interview it’s the first impression that counts and what I want to do is create a start page to create interest to entice further clicks. Hopefully, its a simple but affective way to gain a bit more interest.

The PSP homebrew scene growing strong day by day

It’s been an exciting time for the PSP homebrew scene, with particular interest coming from news which was released 2 nights ago… What news is that you say? Well officially confirmed 2 nights ago team noobz have released a firmware v3.03 downgrader, that’s right the most up to date firmware from Sony is able to be modded to support homebrew applications, and in turn it allows you to downgrade the PSP to firmware v1.5 using a homebrew application again supplied in the team noobz package.

What good is that? Aren’t you going to lose all the neat features found in firmwares v2.0 onwards? No, your not, downgrading to v1.5 allows you to then further upgrade to a custom firmware… Which custom firmware should you use? I’d highly back Dark_AleX’s custom firmware v3.03 OE-C… OE? What does that mean? It actually stands for Open Edition the ‘-C’ is just the revision of the firmware… So what advantages does v3.03 OE-C offer over Sony’s original v3.03 firmware? Well lets list the advantages:

• Runs almost all firmware v1.x Hombrew (does not need to be kxploited to run)
• Runs all firmware v2.x (PRX) Homebrew
• Run games with plainprx files
• Runs almost all ISO Backups (Some can be run without a UMD in the drive)
• Hide Corrupt Icons (from kxploited homebrew)
• Run non-kxploited Homebrew
• Browse ISO Backups via the Game Menu in the XMB
• Recovery Menu to avoid Soft-Bricks
• Load custom PRXs (Modules) from the Memory Stick at boot
• Create your own PlayStation 1 games (created from your originals) to use with the official Sony PlayStation emulator that was added in firmware v3.00+
• Allow non-Sony licensed MP4 AVC videos to run at the full resolution the PSP is able to play (480×272)
• Removes the bit rate limitation of 768 Kbps from MP4 files (limit now is 16384 Kbps)
• Allows you to run games and/or your PSP menu at 333MHz (quicker loading times)

The disadvantages are:

• Compatibility Issues with some 1.5 Homebrew (not many)
• Uses up more space on flash0 (this is one part of the PSPs on-board memory)
• If you modify your boot screen then run an update it could Soft-Brick your PSP (due to limited space on flash0)
• VOIDs your Sony warranty if it bricks (e.g. will no longer start-up)
• Due to space restrictions on flash0 Korean fonts and location free player has been removed from the functionality

As you can see the custom firmware increases the functionality of the PSP by enabling homebrew applications and also extends the functionality of the standard features, and this can’t be a bad thing especially as it gives you more reason to own one of these brilliant machines. In fact it probably helps Sony sell more of the PSPs due to these abilities and even though there is functionality present that could aid in piracy, just know I do not condone it, as piracy just hurts the PSPs view in eye of developers…

I’m not just saying this to cover my back either, to be honest think about it, the games industry is a business, and it takes a lot of time an investment to create the games for whatever format it may be, and if the sales of the software are not significant then it means it becomes financially unviable for companies to continue to develop for the format, and therefore the format dies… So having said that even though the custom firmware enables you to play backups of your Games in the format of ISOs, don’t forget that every game you buy aids the lifetime of the PSP and also goes towards encouraging bigger and better games for the PSP…

As a little treat for those v3.03 OE firmware users, who also use CloneDVDMobile to create thier videos, the following is what you can add to your devices.ini in your CloneDVDMobile program folder to enable creation of videos that take advantage of the now available 480×272 resolution found in v3.03 OE:

[PlayStation Portable (Full AVC/H264, Firmware Version 3.03 OE-B+)]
PixelLimit=130560
ResUnit=16
ScreenRatio=16:9
Manufacturer=Sony
Res1=480×272
ResAna1=480×272
VCodec=h264
ACodec=aac
ARate=48000
ABRate=64
Volume=400
Format=lavf
lavfopts=format=psp
lavcopts=aglobal=1:vglobal=1:vcodec=h264:coder=1:acodec=aac
FileType=MP4
; Uncomment the two lines below for firmware < 2.6
;NTSCFrameRate1=29.97
;NTSCFrameRateDeinterlace1=29.97
PALFrameRate1=29.97
DirPath=MP_ROOT/100ANV01/MAQ1
Quality=15
useMencoder=1
SubTitle=1
MaxVBitrate=768
ThumbNail=THM
AllowChapterFiles=1

That should allow it to create videos of the right resolution, be aware though I have kept the max variable bit rate at 768 kbps in the code clip above, but feel free to change it if you so wish just change the line “MaxVBitrate=768″ to whatever bit rate you wish to use as your maximum.

So for now that’s all I’ll say in regards to the PSP, but go ahead take the reigns and enjoy the possibilities… VNC into your PC from your PSP… stream music from your PC to your PSP… Welcome to the world of homebrew…

The PlayStation 3 (PS3) IS coming to Europe in March… Finally

As you are probably all well aware Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) released an official statement last week confirming that the PlayStation 3 (PS3) is being released in Europe on March 23rd 2007 and retailing in the UK at £425 for the 60GB version (which will be the only version available at launch), with the 20GB version maybe heading to Europe at a later unmentioned date.

Major developers have backed the announcement finally being made as it puts to bed a lot of rumours stating that the PS3 could have been delayed again for the European market, which would have been commercial suicide for the PS3 and SCEE.

A lot of people are still criticising the price of the PS3, and labels of “Rip Off Britain” are accumulating… But I think what people fail to realise is what they are actually getting, considering Blu-Ray players are retailing for around £500-£600 on Amazon UK, I think its a very good price for a system that brings you a Blu-Ray player, an extremely powerful gaming machine and a fully networked home entertainment system all in one.

If you also consider the fact that the PS3 development is still maturing and also take a look back at how the PlayStation 2’s games line up progressed over it’s lifetime, you can expect a lot to come from the PS3 and developers utilizing more and more of it’s power. This combined with the PS3’s ability to openly support Linux and be used as a personal computer, the possibilities are endless…

So I for one am eagerly awaiting the moment that HMV start taking their pre-orders because I will be one of the first in line to place one… Bring on the PS3!!

Things long gone, but not forgotten

In November last year (2006) I went to go and see P!nk (Pink) at the Manchester Evening News Arena (M.E.N. Arena) with Rachel (my girlfriend for those who don’t know by now) and I mentioned that I was going way back in April last year… Oddly though I never mentioned the experience here, nor uploaded the pictures from the concert…

Well good news, the pictures are now up from the concert (click the picture to the left to see them) and what a concert it was! The “I’m Not Dead” tour is obviously in correlation with the release of the album of the same name, however, she did in fact sing some of her popular songs from her previous albums including, family portrait, god is a DJ, 18 wheeler, Don’t let me get me, just like a pill and most obviously the grand finale for the concert with Get This Party Started.

It was a very well put on concert and P!nk is a fantastic entertainer and if I got the chance, I’d be happy to see her in concert again, as P!nk’s attitude stands her out from the rest of the female singers out there and it shows in the way she presents her songs. If you get the chance to see her live, I’d recommend it, it’s definitely worth a watch!

Just on another note, whilst I am talking about concerts, I never actually posted the eventual link to pictures for the Orson concert I went to at the Manchester Academy 2 way back in May last year, so I think I owe it to you all to link to it, even though you most probably have come across it browsing SpikedEffect.com. Be aware any future concerts I go to will have it’s pictures in the same sub-section in my gallery so if I mention a concert that’s where the pictures will be

Limited time, yet lots to do…

So, a lot has been going on, but you’ve not heard much from me on here, that’s mainly due to the fact that when I do have time to myself I tend to go out and go somewhere to relax and just get away from things for a bit.

Exams for university have been and gone, and well I’m not sure how I did really, but illness during one of my exams surely didn’t help. I also have my final year project to continue work on in the coming weeks.

I don’t know though, I’m finding it hard at the moment to find incentive to concentrate on my work, you see, in today’s world there is only so much theory can get you by on, its experience that people tend to find more appealing when it comes to hiring you for a job. But none the less, I do try and keep my head down and keep on with it, I just can’t wait to get out into the real world and do something of real worth to today’s society.

And Finally My Day Ruined…

Well I am going to finish this post for today on some down news, I came into University today with my Laptop and powered it up to use in one of the labs… What do I get? A Blue Screen Of Death (BSOD) and my laptop restarting on it’s own accord on load time. I turn on my Laptop again and it presents the options to me shown when Windows failed to load… So, I choose “start up using the last known good configuration…” It loads… and then BSOD…

The thing is, this exact thing happened last October (2006) and it was a problem with a faulty IDE controller on my laptop’s motherboard which was meant to have been resolved… Obviously not…

The laptop I have is a Pegasus Ti from RockDirect, that I bought it in December 2004, and since I got it it’s been sent back for repair 5 times (not including the forthcoming one that I am expecting)… that means I have had to send my laptop for repair at least once every six months on average and that’s just crazy…

The thing is I was told was that RockDirect was a reliable manufacturer of decent laptops, and with a standard collect and return 3 year warranty and some very well specified machines, it looked to match its reputation on the surface… But it seems in my particular case I’ve had nothing but problems since day one

Maybe I’m just unlucky, but regardless I have written an e-mail to the technical director or RockDirect about my grievances and am now just waiting to hear back from him…

So for now, I’m going to sign off on this post, but I’ll keep you up to date on the laptop and any other news in my life… Thanks for sticking with me through this very long post… ciao for now.

Considering I’m not as huge a musical fan as my missus, I have decided to hand over to her for this blog posting, as I’m sure what I have got to say about the musical simply wont do it justice in her eyes So without further ado I hand over to Rachel for her opinion on the performance.

—————————

The “AMAZING” Sound of Music starring the winner of “How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria” Connie Fisher

Alex and I had the opportunity to go to London on the 17th November to watch Connie Fisher (Maria Rainer) and Alexander Hanson (Captain Georg Von Trapp) star in this superb musical. From start to finish it was a pure joy to watch.

The scenery was complimentary to the show and used extremely well throughout. I won’t spoil it for anybody who is planning on going to see the show, but the opening scene is brilliant! The Sound of Music is my favourite musical and I voted for Connie several times to win during the BBC 1 show. When she won, I HAD to go and watch this at the London Palladium. I was a little nervous at first before it started as I love the film so much starring Julie Andrews that I didn’t want them to change it too much or even worse ruin it. However when the curtain went up and Connie started to sing and move around the stage, all my doubts had gone. Connie definitely suits the role extremely well for the part of Maria. Andrew Lloyd Webber definitely solved the problem

Before the show started there were a number of setbacks that could have delayed the show from starting on the date of release which was the 15th November. The role of Captain Von Trapp was originally meant to be played by Simon Shepherd but left on even terms as he didn’t suit the role well. He was replaced by Alexander Hanson who had just NINE days to fit into the role of the Captain. However he is a man of stiff-necked naval rectitude who slowly melts under the benign influence of Maria and does it well. There was also the problem of the understudy of Maria, Emma Williams dropped out after the BBC 1 show finished as Connie wanted to perform all eight shows a week and wanted to prove to critics that she could do it.

There are seven children that star in this musical and each one of them deserves their role. There was Dora Gee who played five year old Gretl, who at the age of six has an amazing voice and confidence to sing and act in front of a large audience. This is Dora’s first acting job, but I can’t see it being her last. Emily Lane plays six year old, nearly seven year old Marta who at seven herself plays the role extremely well. This is also her first professional role. Olivia Gould plays Brigitta really well. She adds humour to the role and has a lovely voice. This is her west end debut. The role of Kurt was played by Michael Parsons a twelve year old who has starred in the film “That Summer Day”. Michael is a fantastic actor and a great singer who can indeed hit the high soprano note in the well known song, “So Long Farewell”. Louisa was played by thirteen year old Christine Tucker who is no novice to the stage as she has also played the role of Jemima in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang also at the London Palladium. Thirteen year old Joe Cooper played the role of Friedrich who has also performed in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang as a sewer kid and has starred in the role of Gavroche in Les Miserables. Sophie Bould has an amazing voice and she plays sixteen year old Liesl she has starred in a number of theatre roles and has also appeared in the hospital drama “Holby City”. All the children are a delight to watch and in parts I felt myself tear up.

Operatic singer Lesley Garrett singer takes on the role of the Mother Abbess. She certainly has the voice for the part. During “Climb Every Mountain” she made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. She also sings “Raindrops on Roses” which is a fantastic performance by both Lesley and Connie which is performed later on by Connie and the children.

There are a few new songs they have added to the script which I enjoyed, Ian Gelder and Lauren Ward (Max and the baroness) also sing which shows a softer side to them. The way that the Baroness is portrayed in the theatre version is a lot different to how she is seen in the film. In the film she is portrayed as being somebody who dislikes children and can’t wait to send them off to boarding school. However in the theatre version she gets along fine with the children, and they seemed to like her. The reason the captain doesn’t marry her is because she believed that Captain Von Trapp should accept the regime from the Germans instead of fighting it. However both versions made perfect sense.

I love going to the theatre to watch musicals, I have seen quite a few now in London, Manchester and in New York :-). My top five favourite musicals on the stage are:-

1. The Sound Of Music
2. The Producers
3. My Fair Lady
4. Beauty and the Beast
5. Grease

I definitely recommend that if you like musicals you have to get tickets to watch all of these shows, especially the sound of music. My mum also loves musicals so for Mother’s day I have bought another 2 tickets to take her to see it.

Connie was the one that suited the role best compared to the others in the tv show “How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria.” However I wish the other’s luck with whatever they decide to do in their future and it all works out for them.

I wish all the best to Connie and hope that she’s in the theatre business for a long time as she thoroughly deserves it.

—————————

Well there you go, a better review then I could have written and I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend as well, shame about the week that followed it I hope you all enjoyed the review, and I have to back Rachel up on her words, even though I don’t follow musicals half as much as she does, this is definitely one to watch

So that’s it for this post, but no doubt you’ll hear from me again soon, now don’t go demanding Rachel writes instead of me each week… I try my best lol Take care for now and will be back soon.

To make up for the lack of posting for so long I am going to make this entry pretty long, as there are quite a few things I guess I have to have a say about (what’s new there hey?), so I will try and break this entry up in a manner that is easy to follow and read.

So read on about the Cyril Paciullo (Patchou) MVP Saga, Sony’s possible mistake(s) with the PS3, PSP Homebrew developments and my gripes with EA Sports and particularly problems with Fifa 07…

The Cyril Paciullo (Patchou) MVP Saga

This first matter on my mind has to do with the presence of the Messenger Plus! logo in the caption image for this entry as some of you may or may not have heard, Cyril Paciullo (otherwise known as Patchou) was awarded an Microsoft MVP (Microsoft Most Valuable Professional) award for his contribution to the MSN/Windows Live Messenger community at the beginning of October as announced by Patchou himself on the Windows Live Messenger news section. However, soon after the award was revoked by Microsoft due to various statements made by other MVPs who questioned the award due to adware that is bundled as an optional add-on to Messenger Plus! (Sources:The Register, Vitalsecurity.org, Messenger Plus! Forums).

Even though I understand what the MVPs who opposed the award are saying, people are quick to write off the true reason why Patchou was indeed considered and eventually awarded the MVP status, his contribution to the messenger community cannot be missed. His messenger extension has done nothing but help attract more users to use MSN/Windows Live Messenger official client, even with myself transferring over to the official client from others due to the extensibility that Messenger Plus! Live provided. At the end of the day, Patchou spends a lot of his own time developing the program so that millions of people can use it to enhance their messenger experience, this time and effort does have a monetary cost and Patchou offers a means to support his work via donations or the optional adware.

Okay, maybe the choice for bundled software isn’t the wisest choice Patchou could have made (I have never personally installed it), but why revoke an award completely because of it? How about maybe an incentive warning first, asking that he removes the software bundle from the installer or the award will be revoked? Because I personally feel that Cyril Paciullo has done enough for the messenger community to warrant the award of the MVP status, and I think people have their heads too buried in the sand to realize that, and its a shame the whole saga had to occur as it did…

Sony’s Mistake with the PS3?

Right secondly, something recent I have been mulling over is Sony’s delay of the Playstation 3 (PS3) to Europe until March 2007 with the launch of the PS3 proceeding as scheduled in November (rumored to be the 17th of November) 2006. I think in a way this will hinder their dominance/influence on the next generation market in Europe, especially with the Nintendo Wii being released before Christmas and the XBox 360 releasing accessories that aim to make up for features that it may lack as a singular unit.

When it was announced that the PS3 would be delayed again for Europe (regardless of the reasons) I think Sony immediately lost some of their grip on customers that were originally holding out for the PS3, with them declaring it the last straw and concentrating their sights on either the Wii or the XBox 360 for Christmas, a vital period in the gaming sector. If it was the first occurrence of a delay on the schedule I don’t think it would have had as much impact, but considering the delay announcements kept coming, people have since decided to give up the wait…

I’m really hoping I am wrong however, because the PS3 has huge potential, with statements saying that the first generation of PS3 games wont be harnessing the true power of the PS3’s Cell processor, it seems to give a lot of legroom for games to further advance, develop and get more realistic without the need to buy add-on hardware and/or accessories, a huge plus when it comes to the consideration of the lifetime of the machine. This compacted with the system’s multimedia features, online connectivity and ability to interact with the PSP, just goes to show how much the system could come to use in a living room / lounge as more than just a gaming console…

However, all is not lost for Sony, as they still have a huge backing from major game development companies and also major television/movie studios in regards to the blu-ray medium, they can also probably expect that PSP owners will indeed want to get a PS3 to make extra use of their slick hand held console… After all, regardless of all the delays, I for one am still waiting eagerly for the PS3 to finally make its arrival, because at the end of it all I believe it will be worth the wait…

The PSP and the homebrew community

Being a PSP owner I keep a close eye on the homebrew community and its works for the PSP, and I have been very impressed by the progression of the development of what they call custom firmware, especially a project by a very talented developer called Dark_AleX, dubbed 2.71 Special Edition, as you’d expect the basis for the firmware is the 2.71, however it has been modified to include the ability to run homebrew utilities that only the 1.50 can run, therefore unleashing the full potential of the PSP with the most notable new features of the latest firmwares being available to you whilst still maintaining the 1.50’s flexibility. A lot of people are reverting to the 2.71 Special Edition (2.71 SE) due to the convenience it provides in loading backed up games etc, and to be honest with something that does basically what the 1.50 does but even more, why wouldn’t you?

Even though Sony ($ony) seem to frown on the development of homebrew utilities and as such continue to update their firmwares with “security” updates in an aim to stop the usage of homebrew applications, the homebrew community do not lay back and let it happen. Talented individuals such as Dark_AleX and BOOSTER (the latter of which recently had a run in with Sony and therefore has quietened in his development for the scene) have taken strides to help the community by developing methods to use the updated firmware whilst still retaining the ability to run homebrew. So to the community out there who continue to develop and support homebrew for the PSP, I say thank you, and I look forward to seeing what else your creative minds have conjured up in the near future.

My Electronic Arts (EA) Sports Gripe

I purchased Fifa 07 when it was released for the PC and ever since its been nothing but problems, the install went fine, but that was about it. I have a HIS ATi Radeon X850XT-PE IceQ II graphics card in my desktop machine, which to be honest runs games like Half-Life 2 at high quality settings just fine, but yet I start playing Fifa 07 at 1280×1024 at high graphics settings and I get really bad stuttering in the cutscenes… I log on to EA Sports forum for fifa 07 to find I am not alone, people with top end graphics cards were experiencing the same problems, EA then post some config file hack and tells users to reduce graphic levels…

I’m sorry, correct me if I am wrong, I bought my graphics card to be able to play games at high settings, then I go and buy a game that should run with no problems at high settings and I am told I have to reduce the quality settings because they weren’t thorough enough with their testing… Come on EA shape up! Then comes the saga with the roster update for the PC that would update all the teams to the state they were come the end of the transfer deadline, the PS2 update was released on the day of release just as the PC patch was meant to… But in fact it ended up being a month long wait before any patch was released, and when it was, the roster update wouldn’t save unless user intervention was initiated, and then online gaming ceased to work because EA servers didn’t recognize the updated version…

So what stage am I at? I have managed to get the rosters to save after manually forcing a save of the updated rosters, however, after installing the now released Internet Explorer 7 (IE 7) the online aspect of Fifa 07 crashes out, returning me to my desktop at an ugly 800×600 resolution which I have to manually revert back to my native 1280×1024. Considering IE 7 is now being pushed out as an automatic update, I sincerely hope that EA fix this problem soon, as every computer with IE 7 installed is experiencing the same problem… After sending EAUK_Protagonist (forum admin and EA employee) a private message on the EA Forums a week ago, he confirmed they were aware of the issue (even though no formal acknowledgment has been made on the forum or otherwise) and were working to fix the issue… As of yet there has been no further news on this issue…

The moral of the story? If EA don’t shape up, I’ll be very reluctant to buy any of their games from any of their franchises.

Something along the lines of life… And the end of the ramble

Well… as I said this has turned out a very long post, and even though I haven’t covered everything thats been on my mind, nor what I have been up to, the major recent issues/thoughts I have faced have been depicted. As for the thing I call my life? Well it carries on, with my missus still managing to put up with me after quite a while, I’m surprised she hasn’t gone mentally insane yet!

I recently went back down to Weston-Super-Mare to visit my mother who was visiting the UK and staying with my aunt and uncle, and it’s been a while since I have actually been down there. Not much has changed, surprise surprise, but I took my missus down the Grand Pier to experience the main attraction of the area, but Weston in general is a lot quieter than I remember :-s But then again I have been in Manchester for the past 3 years.

But it did make me think, it’s always good to move on in life, to explore new territories and new adventures, but no matter how far you travel away from your roots and your past, returning back can bring back a realization of just how much you have achieved in life and may even inspire you to extend your goals.

I think I am going to call it a day for now, congratulations if you’ve survived reading this far, until next time, take care, and look after yourself…

Last time you heard from me I was sat in Dubai airport waiting for a plane to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and that was the start to the first of my holidays.

I had 10 days in Jeddah which I spent constantly fixing laptops (therefore not having what I needed to post here), then returned to the UK for 5 days to handover any work I had to the next industrial placement student, as well as beginning to arrange moving my stuff ready for the next university year, and then headed off to my second holiday to Athens, Greece…

Well, OK, both Holidays I was visiting family, but the trip to Greece this time round I was with my girlfriend Rachel, so for the first time ever I did what most people who are Greek never do, which was do what tourists tend to do when they visit Greece and visit places like the Parthenon and Epidaurus. After all, Rachel had never been to Greece so I thought I’d show her a bit of the Greek heritage and Greek culture, what can I say, I’m proud of my origins lol. But my god do I miss the Greek food when I can’t have it, Souvlaki, loukamades and saganaki as examples, all delicious, and it seems Rachel in her short one week stay got addicted to the Greek food as well, which just shows I’m not just Bias.

I wont really go into where we went and what the places represented, as to be honest this isn’t a history lesson But if your interested in finding out what we did there are pictures on the main SpikedEffect.com website in the gallery, just click the picture to the left to take you to the gallery for my Greece Holiday. The pictures include pictures from all the sites we visited in Greece and also a night out in a taverna (Greek restaurant) with Rachel and some of my family & their friends. If you want to find out about the places we visited just do Google searches using the names of the sub-albums in the Greece August 2006 Gallery, there is plenty about the background of the sites scattered across the web.

Anyhow, since I returned from Greece, there hasn’t been much leeway in time to sit and write here, but I had managed to upload all the pictures from the holiday for people to look at, at least… Why haven’t I had much time? well with the new University term starting soon I have had to pack up my room ready for a move to my new residences for next year as well as sorting address changes and everything you have to sort when you move places. On top of that I had to sort things ready for University next year, so yeah until this very moment I’ve not really had the chance to write something extensive here.

Also, with the new premiership season started, work at Old Trafford has begun again, so time has been tight of late, and I’m off to a wedding today, no, not mine, but surely enough it’s chaos at the moment. My stuff is in storage at the moment and I am staying with my girlfriend for the meantime, and I’ve hijacked the internet to post here. The house is in chaos at the moment as everyone is getting ready to head to the wedding…

So for now I’ll say bye, and hopefully will write more soon…

I’ve been travelling most of my life due to family living all over the place and a lot of people don’t realise how busy the airports you use actually are, you only experience the airports for a matter of a couple hours on average, but its when you have a long layover in an airport the size of this one that you begin to really see what Airport life is like…

The panicked faces of people realising they’re late for their flight, the people sleeping anywhere they can find due to exhaustion and the tired expressions of the workers just finishing their 10 hour shift with the replacement worker dreading the next…

The airport its a totally different story, the shifts are longer and more tiresome in the “building that never sleeps” and there is no weekend here, just another day at the office.

Those who are lucky will only have to suffer the 9-5 working hours of the 5 day week don’t have so much to dread, yet in an environment like the airport its a totally different story, the shifts are longer and more tiresome in the “building that never sleeps” and there is no weekend here, just another day at the office. It’s unlikely that in an airport your hear anyone praising the fact that Friday is upon them in fact its probably the complete opposite, to have to deal with customers who are even easier to aggravate, or who already may be in such a foul mood that one wrong word will land you with abusive words tossed your direction, I would really call that something to look forward to, would you? I think people take for granted what exactly is on offer at airports even if it is only a half-hour stopover the staff still remain after you’re on your way home, or to the sandy beaches / white slopes of your planned holiday.

For those who aren’t staff, airport life isn’t so stressful, but how exactly do you pass the time? Well, of course there is duty free, but then again if you haven’t got the money to spend that isn’t going to help, what of having a meal or a drink? Well that’s all well and good but be prepared to pay that bit extra to do so… In reality, for someone with little to no money, if your not prepared for the stay over you will soon find yourself twiddling your thumbs and talking to yourself in an effort to entertain your now switched off brain. That is how you tell the real travellers from the first time traveller, look around and its pretty sure that the ones with the stone cold bored look on their faces are the ones who weren’t prepared for what was coming. Take a book, a magazine, a portable games console, or a laptop and then you’ll find your stay over the all the more pleasant & tolerable, but then again there is always the entertainment of watching those business men who are frantically trying to reach the other end of the terminal for a flight who’s gate closes in 2 minutes, and placing a little fun bet on whether he’ll make it or not.

In the same way when your bored waiting for that boarding and the final call announcement, don’t be just “waiting” for that “final call” in life, make the most of the time you have and you’ll find your journey all the more enjoyable…

It’s all about what you make of it, and the same goes for life, when things could be better, don’t just get stroppy and mumble to yourself about it, find something that will help you take the first step to that “better” level. People take for granted what lies around them a lot of the time, but those more experienced in life will know how to utilise what is around them to make their “journey” more enjoyable. I guess what I’m trying to say, is pay more attention to whats around you, there is a wealth of knowledge, entertainment & expressionism in what lays around you as long as you are willing to see it. In the same way when your bored waiting for that boarding and the final call announcement, don’t be just “waiting” for that “final call” in life, make the most of the time you have and you’ll find your journey all the more enjoyable…