For over 2 years I’ve been running PlayTV for my PS3. I unfortunately live in a low signal area and years after launch no HD or Sat HD version is on it’s way. I’ve seen my mates VM Tivo and I thought I was prepared for the massive backward step in interface PVRs have even today.

Really I am not, I have gotten used to things just happening quickly and beautifully. Why in all these years is there not a decent PVR platform that doesn’t require a PS3 or a full blown PC to run is beyond me. Seriously how slow and laggy are these boxes, no wonder people are leaving TV. The devices they use to access TV are RUBBISH.

As much I didn’t like the guy, Steve Jobs would never stand for this shit. Hell Bill Gates didn’t either and neither did Sony. Why the hell can’t Humax, Echostar or Samsung get their asses in gear and bring out a Android/Linux/WindowsEmdded/Meego box? Slap in a half decent ARM CPU, wifi and tuners and booom!

But no, it’s like they want Apple to come in and take all of their stuff.

PSE9 is for an old time user the first Elements I am truly happy with. Sure it misses huge amounts of features. For me though the core nuts and bolts of what I want to do at home are there. For everything else there is Elements+. One area that kicks CS4 in the nuts (the Version I use at work) is Project Bin. Freed from the assumption and political maneuverer that is Bridge, PSE9 lets you manage your open files in the sanest manner imaginable, with thumbnails. Sure we have the stupid tabs from CS4, but at least they can be ignored. Also for an Adobe non-standard UI, Elements 9 looks far better than CS4. No more early 90sbattleship grey, no more monochrome icons. You artwork and the tools to work with it jump forward and the UI recedes.

UPDATE: Bought Elements+, not perfect by any means. Applying a layer style seems to rasterise vector layers and layer styles are far more limited. Worth the ~£10 though.

Above is one of my favourite album covers, the space station from ELO’s Out of the Blue. It was painted by Shusei Nagaoka.

James White seems to agree

Left to right: The standard western cover, the limited edition western cover and the standard Japanese cover.

They are all pretty  good. Sheperd in first two is a bit butterfaced and indistinct. However the first is much more space opera like and evokes a bit of Star Wars. The special edition, looks a bit more hacked together, like its made from bits of the first and the mono-orange tone is a bit bland. The Japanese cover is a much cleaner design and evokes more of an alien style hard hitting form of sci-fi. I think I prefer the first one on balance, but Saren does look lost and cramped up there, like he is peaking over the top in the cheap seats. The last is next best, OMHO, and is far more striking from a distance. The middle is just meh and looks a tad unprofessional compared to the others, it does at least try.

Car Front

I purchased my Sister’s old Mazda 323. It is a nice car, though finding an unschuffed panel is pretty hard I wanted to do it up a bit, but none of the mechanically minded friends seem to think it is worth doing. Shame as tidied up they are nice looking cars. It is good to drive, better still when I swap the tyres around. The fronts are a bad mix of non-brands and treads, the backs are nice Pirelli P6000s. Joined the 323F forums they seem like a nice lot. Also mailed off my old Puma mats to a deserving member of the Puma Project forums.

Me

My boss of 10 years left recently, it’s a real shame. I’ll miss David, but I am sure I will get on just fine with my new one. I tend not to talk work here as I keep my client’s and company’s info in confidence.

Computing

Windows 7 still rocks and I think it is the best Windows yet or at least since the XP SP2 release. Vista bashing still gets on my nerves, but as crappy security software falls by the wayside I hope 7 get the chance Vista didn’t.

Someone hit the nail on the head with the iPhone, I never quite understood why I didn’t want a StarTrek:NG level device and it all comes down to its absolute ‘I know better than you’ text prediction. This why I can type pretty much easier on my old keypad SE K800i T9 than it’s virtual keyboard. It’s all about prediction, thats why I stuck with SE over Nokia and Windows Mobile. In SE it assumes you are correct and helpfully suggests a few options. In iPhone it auto corrects you with one option which you can turn it off to get what you typed. Everything else is ok or learnable.

Games

Looking forward to a few games, really enjoyed Mass Effect on my mate’s 360. Frankly I can see myself buying one as a Mass Effect player. he he

Tunes

La Roux, nice music, but her voice is a bit weak. I Come To Shanghai, good music, but often depressing, cheer up dudes. Trance Around The World with Above and Beyond, free trance music, ta chaps.

Procrastination

A+! I have failed to: Buy a bike, work on the house, ask anyone on a date, buy a laptop.

Weddings

Congrats to: Dave & Rosie, Jo & Chris, Neil & Gwen and David & Lorna. Woot!

John Gilmour

An awesome friend and now officially an awesome designer, congrats on the Degree Dude!

This is terrible www.smileysid.co.uk, we just got one in Dalgety Bay. What next road signs in Comic Sans? 50 Foot “little person onboard” signs next to schools?

This country is hoofed.