Steves Blog

Mon 06 Oct 2008 - The Big Banking Con - Money Created out of Thin Air.

Ever wondered why the banks have so much money and everyone else has so much debt?

This 50minute video by Paul Grignon is worth watching to understand the how money works and who controls it, and why we are in such a mess now. Low Quality version on YouTube High quality BitTorrent download Buy the original DVD from Canada

Sat 27 Sep 2008 - eBay Fire Sale

After building the Shuttle NAS and using all the spare good bits to build my parents a new computer I was still left with lots of components.

So I cobbled together two computers out of all the bits and am flogging them on eBay. If that doesn't work then I'll try Freecycle.

Sat 20 Sep 2008 - Folks Computer

Now I am now doing everything on my Shuttle NAS I reused the bits from my Windows XP PC to build my parents a new computer. They are probably not ready for Ubuntu Linux yet so I installed Windows XP Professional again.

Wed 17 Sep 2008 - NAS III - Linux Shuttle

I rebuilt my NAS using Ubuntu. Now it does everything; Gnome desktop, NAS, DLNA Streaming Media, Digital Video Recording, BitTorrentGiven, Email and Calendar. No more Windows Desktop PC for me. Full details.

Wed 10 Sep 2008 - Paris

Paris for Kimi's birthday.

Sat 02 Aug 2008 - 500GB DVB-T-DVR

I added a Digital Video Broadcast Terestrial tuner to my Linux NAS:

A bit of PHP scripting to wrap a web front end around it and I have a full featured DVR all for 25quid.

Sat 26 Jul 2008 - Amsterdam

Just back from a trip to Amsterdam:

Mushrooms, drugs and beer.

Mon 07 Jul 2008 - Berlin

Just back from a trip to Berlin.

Hopefully the first of a few European trips using up my BA airmiles.

Sun 29 Jun 2008 - Patching the Car Up

The drivers side window on the Impreza started making some nasty cluncking sounds. I guess this is what happens after 10 years of excessive g force under acceleration.

Stripped the door down and screwed the loose bolts back in.

Mon 23 Jun 2008 - NASII - Linux Shuttle

I sold my QNAP TS-201 NAS on eBAY and installed CentOS and RAID1 on my old shuttle.

Given the increase in processing power it opens up a lot of options for the headless server to take on more tasks. Full details.

Sat 14 Jun 2008 - North Carolina USA

For my job I visited Raliegh in North Carolina USA:

It was just like being back in the USA in the early nineties. Get a cheap flight, stay over the weekend, hire a car and head off into the hills.

Sun 11 May 2008 - Everything Must Go!

http://search.ebay.co.uk/_W0QQsassZswatts1000

And the stuff that is not worth the postage is on Reading Freecycle:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/reading_freecycle/

Although with only one email message allowed per person if you have a lot to give away people miss it. Moderators are more interested in saving bandwidth than the planet.

Mon 28 Apr 2008 - Digital Lounge Super Test

I tested a PS3, an Xbox 360 and a Shuttle HTPC streaming media from a Linux NAS to the HD TV.

Despite what Sony and Microsoft claim neither are the single multimedia solution for the lounge.

For the full test results click here.

Sun 06 Apr 2008 - Snow in Spring

Walking in a Winter Wonderland in Spring.

Wed 12 Mar 2008 - UK Budget Day

Another Labour budget increasing taxes and duty across the board:

To quote David Cameron:

"This government and this prime minister took all the credit when the global economy was growing, but now there are difficulties they will not take any of the blame."
"For people, every time they refinance their mortgage, it's costing them more, every time they fill up their car they are paying more. Every time they shop, food bills are higher and yet every time they get a tax bill, they are paying more."
"In Britain we have got nothing, no room for manoeuvre on the deficit, no room for manoeuvre on interest rates and no room for manoeuvre on taxes. In the years of plenty they put nothing aside, they didn't fix the roof when the sun was shining."

Just about sums Labour's record up.

Tue 04 Mar 2008 - Alien Technology

I bought a Iqua UFO from Mobile Fun to hook up to the PS3 while playing Call of Duty 4 Death Matches. Works like a dream.

Just forget trying to hook it up to a Windows PC. Windows XP does not support the Bluetooth headset profile. And Broadcom bought out Widcomm, who made a decent WinXP Bluetooth stack, and wrecked it so old USB dongles now have zero support. Microsoft and Bluetooth support = non-existent.

Wed 20 Feb 2008 - PS3 Call of Duty 4

Its winter in the UK and I am working again so I bought a PS3 and a 40" Sony Brava HD TV to go along with it.

Loaded up Call Of Duty 4 and went on line.

Awesome. Better than killing the Netfolk on Quake 3 Server back in 2003.

My PS3 Network User Name: swatts1000

JUST BRING IT!

Sun 17 Feb 2008 - Vietnam

I finally uploaded my Vietnam pictures.

Sat 19 Jan 2008 - ICE

After 1 week of getting back to the UK the Alpine CD changer CHM-S611 in the car failed.

I found a cheap Blaupunkt Hamburg MP57 that had Bluetooth, USB input with no restriction on the thumb drive file size, and a front aux port. Ordered it from Car Audio Direct and it arrived the next day.

With a lot of help from Kimi and her small hands I connected all the rear cables up, ISO, antenna, mic out, USB and slotted the head unit home. More info.

I now have full hands free bluetooth in the car, and all my music on a 8Gb thumb drive in the glove box.

Sun 06 Jan 2008 - Oz Pics Uploaded

Sydney:

Port Douglas: