Matt Dutton - BOOM!

So yesterday the FBI took down mega-upload and arrested 7 of its bosses. They cited that mega upload was an organised crime website promoting piracy. Mega Upload is not a US Website, the owners are from Hong Kong, so what right do the Americans and their over imagined self importance in this world have to do with it? Nothing 

Will they get away with it? Of Course - they needed to fix their brused ego's after the mass blackout yesterday.

I would now like to conclude by saying the FBI are a bunch of silly power obessed people, who apprently appear to have gone out of control by making arrest where ever and whenever they see fit. I really hopes there's some backlash to this - otherwise googles going to be next, promoting piracy by having links to websites!

Oh btw http://www.isohunt.com  Great site for getting free shit.

 

Oh wait I might be next.

Swag? - I think not.

After all the commotion this week about Windows 8 being shown off at the Microsoft BUILD conference and the subsquent developer release, I was rather exited to get my hands on it. I did cheat a little, I decided to virtualise it because creating new partitions and such seemed like too much effort! Setting it all up using Virtual Box was as smooth as was expected. It was only after the log on screen that the huge disappointment began.

Firstly Windows Live ID? - Nobody has used this since they were 13 and went on MSN messenger, so making somebody create an account when setting up Windows seems a bit backwards. Google integration would have been nice but its no deal breaker. Anyway after logging you a presented with this brand new start menu - shown below. Its called metro and it looks very nice, but after about 10 seconds of using it you start to realise this isn't particularly useful for a pc. This is what my major complaint is, the whole OS from ground up is being designed for use not only on PC's but on tablet computers as well. This means you get the traditional desktop and the new start menu, switching between the two gets annoying very fast.

Wow, the Summer is nearly over and i've not written anything on here. Ok well I passed all the horrid exams at University and will be starting my second year later next month. I'm rather looking forward to it!! 

So far the summers been pretty good, been Interailling for a month and then spent the rest earning some monies. Interailling was fantastic and is definatley something everybody should do, you get to see so much and experience a little bit more than you would on a normal holiday. The trains were fantastic we didn't have a single problem which was unexpectedly nice - I do think nationalisation of the railways is a good idea, every country I visited the railways were run by the government and they were always on time, clean and in most cases had seats! I'd be happy if our country's trains could meet just one of those criteria. If you've got me on facebook there are a few pictures of the trip, I haven't uploaded mine yet but its on my to do list. Just need a free day from work to sort it all!

What else? - Well the ive finally said goodbye to the Palm Pre and upgraded to a Galaxy S 2, it was a sad day but i've no realised how much Phones have come on even in 2 years! Ive not gotten rid of it though, its resting in my draw as a backup phone. I do like the Galaxy S2 it's stupidly overpowered and can handle all the of HD video and hardcore processing that I throw at it. It is though very shiny and i do think its not going to live up to being dropped much. It has though persuaded me to go the tablet route, I was trying to get a HP Touchpad in their ridiculous firesale but unfortunatley Staples dropped the ball there and fucked up big time. Still a Galaxy Tab 10.1 will do for being a nerd on the train, as long as Honeycomb as some form of coding app.

Music wise ive not really been listening to anything new, its mainly been podcasts, I did try engadget's new one but its not as good so now its just thisismynext.com's, which is just all the old engadget people anyway.

So yeah thats it. 

Oh and i've thrown that song up there just to provide some easy listening. I do hope she tours the UK soon.

That's it, exams start in less that a week! (The image above just been a small portion of my wall!) I'm rather looking forward to them; mainly because once they are over i have 4 months off and a nice holiday to look forward to. I can't really believe how fast this year at University has gone, and have enjoyed every moment of it!

I've not got much else to say really other than that I have been even more of a recluse these past few weeks than I usually am, and i've got no good music to showcase - simply becuase none has been released. So here's a song from a women who keeps me sane while I revise.

Until next time.....

That's it, the last day of the last teaching semester of this year is done, and as you can see we our final Robot Programming assignment was a small pacman like competition. We had to traverse a maze trying to drive over small coloured "Goal" squares which were at random positions within the maze. This was while trying to avoid certain ghost robots which would mean a restart if one touched our robot. I'm glad to say we were in the top 2 on scoring (Well we were when I left!) so the many hours spent in that dungeon were worth it!

Videos of the robot on test are below (Courtest of Alex Layton and his much loathed Ipad 2!)

 

 

As for everything else there's not much to say, i'm going to take a short break and then get on with some hardcore revision before our exam season starts in may.

 

So Sara Bareilles has got a new video for the Song "Uncharted" off her latest album. (The same album that's been played so much by me that the people on the train actually think I only have 12 songs on my phone) - She only appears fully in it for around 2 seconds at the end, the rest of it as you can see is filled with other lipsyncing. Marron 5, Vannessa Carlton, Pharrell... its an impressive list. The songs not bad either so give it a listen.

As for me life has been pretty routine for the last few weeks since christmas, Uni all week and Work all weekend - with a few trips to the Pub and the Cinema in between. We have though got more details of the very exciting Europe Trip in July. A link to a map of the places that we are visiting is below. We are going to have a dedicated blog for the trip which each of us will be able to post to, so you should be able to keep up with the trip. (If you're really that interested).

View Larger Map

(Map only follows roads so its just a basic outline)

Other and there's only 4 full weeks of Uni left until we break up and after that its just a few exams!

 

I'll catch you later anyway got programming to do!

 

 

Yep its been a while........

Though I'd wish everyone a Happy New Year even though its a little late, and reflect upon 2010 and what 2011 should bring.

2010 Highlights

• Finishing off college and applying  (Successfully) to the University of Birmingham
• Eating large amounts of Baguettes from simply eat in Halesowen
• Spending 10 days living with an Italian family and seeing the sights of Northern Italy
• Holiday in Zante with friends
• Spending the rest of my massive summer holiday at work!
• Starting My Degree 

So yeah - i'll say it. 2010 was a big year and one which im not going to forget for a while!!

2011 Hopes

Things which I would like to happen in 2011 (But probably won't)!!

• Pass the first year of my degree!!
• Save enough money to get a tablet
• Spend a month travelling Europe by train (Already being planned)
• Actually use my Google calendar
• Continue to just be awesome!

Well that's it really I do hope there's some decent music in 2011 as I exhausting my current playlists on the train everyday!!

 

I'll try and tick things off this list as they happen.

 

 

 

Now that I'm travelling great distances to Uni again I have started to appreciate music a lot more. Anyway Maroon 5's new album entitled "Hands All Over" came out a little over two weeks and I have to say its been rather impressive. Anyway here is a particular favourite of mine titled "stutter" or track 3 off the album. If you like this sort of music its well worth going and purchasing - or if your poor like me then i'm sure there are other ways you can acquire it......

 

I still cannot describe how good this woman is! No matter what mood I am in, i'll always be in a good mood after listening to one of her songs. Well I was trawling youtube after a rather difficult evening and work and found this, it put a smile back on face!

You'd have to be stupid to shop in computer exchange!