Waiting for connection

I haven't been blogging lately because I am currently waiting to get a new ADSL line at my home. Right now I have only access to the Internet at work but here I don't have time to blog. I hope to get the new line by next week.

Whoaaaaa!

Back at work this morning I was very happy to discover that my GMail
account was upgraded to 2GB. After six months or so I am only up to 4%
of Gmail storage and I wonder if I will ever approach the limit.
Anyone still needs an account? I still have plenty of invites for you.

Haven't seen a lot of april fool's news today, but Google is always on the innovative side! 

Nice Google logo today!

More Google logos here: http://www.google.com/holidaylogos.html

Something's screwed up

Well, it seems like something is wrong with my PC, no virus, but
something is definately wrong. Some websites or parts of them do not
display correctly and I get strange "page not found (707)" errors,
never seen them before! Let's investigate a bit...

Where are my ads???

I really wonder what's wrong, for about two weeks now I haven't seen
any of the Google AdSense ads on any of my two blogs. The html code is
still in my templates... I don't understand. Already have contacted
Google support but no answer. Anyway, it's been a while that I haven't
posted anything new or interesting: too much work! I hope I'll be back
soon with something to say.

My first steps on Wallop, more on this to follow 

Cool site

Although I don't plan having a baby anytime soon this is a cool site that I wanted to share: The Baby Name Wizard's NameVoyager

Seems I am too stupid for the Shuffle

This seems to be the solution to my problem with audiobooks: Russell Beattie Notebook - Playing Audiobooks on the Shuffle
Maybe I shouldn't have cancelled my Audible account yet?

iPod Shuffle ups and downs

So I've used my Shuffle for a few hours over the last three days now
and I have to say that it seems to have more limits than I thought.
The first time I filled it using autofill I was pleasantly surprised
by the resulting playlist in shuffle mode. Naturally, I like most of
the music that I have bought, so I had to skip a track only once in a
while when for example one of my wife's mp3s came up. Speaking of my
wife, a negative thing about the iPod Shuffle is that I will probably
have to buy one for her as well - until then I have to share it, do I
have to blame that on Apple or my wife?
While listening to music from my library I never felt the need for a
screen, I recognized most of the songs, and if not... who cares, it
won't kill me!
Wanting to try all the capabilities of this player I got a trial
Audible account to download some free audiobooks and this is where the
no-screen-option becomes a problem. If you listen to George W. Bush's
inaugural speech (got this because it was a free download) I was more
than tempted to look at a screen to be able to see the remaining
time...
I got two more audiobooks and find it quite tiresome to listen to it,
switch back to listening to some music and then having to fast forward
through four hours of audio to be able to continuing to listen the
audiobook where you left it... I guess that I will never become a fan
of audiobooks, at least I can say that I tried.
Another thing that I still have to take some time for is to figure out
how to make this iPod work on two PCs. This seems to be a big problem
until now. I have one PC at home without Internet access and one at
work with Internet access. On both PCs the installation of iTunes
screwed up something, Windows won't shut down properly anymore and
there seems to be no way to fill up the iPod from two different
libraries without disassociating it from one every time. More on that
when I get some time to play around some more...

First contact with the Shuffle

My iPod Shuffle just arrived, 15 days after I ordered it from the
Apple Store - not too bad, I was fearing it would take longer until it
would be available in Europe. I have always liked Apple's designs but
was never really considering to buy something from them until the iPod
and iPod Mini appeared. However the arrival of the iPod Shuffle and
its competitive price prompted me to buy my first ever Apple product.
Now my first impressions upon opening that nice little green box:
small,... could have been a little shorter though, light,... very
light. Very nice look and general feel! The USB cap has a good fit,
don't really think this is something you would loose easily. Didn't
have time to install iTunes and load it so I just took it without the
headphones and headed back to work after lunch.
On my work PC I plugged it in and it was recognized within a few
seconds as removable drive. Loaded a 630MB video file on it that
couldn't fit on my 512MB USB drive - done after about 8 minutes.
Let's see this evening what else this little thing can do!
To be continued...

It's on its way...

Just received an eMail from the Apple store that my iPod Shuffle was
shipped and that I should receive it in three days. The estimated
shipment date was scheduled to happen on or before february 3rd, so it
seems that there is no shortage and the Shuffles are being shipped in
Europe now.

Last Gmail invitation gone

I have given away all my Gmail invitations for now. If you still need
one keep checking out my blog, I will let you know when I have new
ones.

The new iPod shuffle - I couldn't resist!

Usually I am not an impulsive buyer but I must confess I just ordered the brandnew Apple iPod shuffle that was announced at MacWorld Expo before yesterday. 149,-Euro at the Apple store for the 1GB model, I still wonder how to explain this to my wife! True to the original iPod style, the new shuffle just looks cool. Having always hesitated to get an original iPod or iPod mini because of their rather hefty price, this one made me crack even though it has some downsides like no screen as points out this article: MacCentral: Digital audio vendors not afraid of iPod shuffle .
Now I am eagerly awaiting it to arrive at my door - according to Apple it should ship before february 3rd here in Spain. Once I get it I will post my review and impressions on the latest of the iPod family.

Sunscape the Beach Resort Map

Most of the visitors I get seem to be interested in getting information about the new Sunscape the Beach Spa & Resort in Punta Cana. Something useful that I didn't make available until now is a map of the resort, so I posted one now, just click on the picture for a larger version. I hope it will help you getting an idea of the resort layout. If you have any question leave me a comment and I will be glad to answer you. In the future I will try to post some more information out of their brochure that I still have lying around somewhere. In the meantime, all of you who are considering to go to this fabulous resort... have fun!

The mystery of the human brain

Just found this while surfing some blogs: Welcome to Michland.........: can someone explain to me HOW this works? This trick is really hilarious, just try it:
While sitting at your desk, lift your right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles.
Now, while doing this, draw the number "6" in the air with your right
hand.
Your foot will change direction and there's nothing you can do about
it!

More Gmail invitations

Here they are, just got 3 more invitations for a free 1GB Gmail
account. If you want one just leave me a nice comment and I'll send it
to you!

Interesting thought on world events

How comes that I am better at remembering plane crashes (where, when, how many victims approximately...) than remembering big natural disasters like earthquakes for example? This question came into my mind after reading these interesting thoughts: Malletrivia: Back when -I- was a kid, the world was a better place ... right ? Media coverage doesn't seem to be based on a certain number of victims but on a certain number of "western" victims. It seems that we tend to forget horrible events after a couple of weeks if they don't touch or indirectly touch the western civilization because they get way less media attention. In the case of the SE Asia quake and tsunami a very popular tourism region was directly hit - but who still remembers details of the other disasters such as the cyclone that killed over 130000 in Bangladesh in 1991?

Sorry, no more Gmail invitations

All my Gmail invitations have been sent out for now, sorry for those who didn't get one. As soon as I get more invitations I will let you know.

Gmail invitations to give away!

For anyone who is interested in an invitation for a free 1GB Gmail account leave me a comment with your e-mail address - I have three invitations to give away on a first come first served basis!