Tuesday, March 31, 2009

iPhone again

I've got my iPhone back after being repaired for a faulty "home" button. I'm not 100% sure what the problem was, but the return slip says that the "main board" has been replaced, so it must have been something fairly terminal.

Once home I swapped my sim which has been in my Centro for 11 days, and gotva messge saying I had to connect to itunes.

I connected my usb cable, iTunes fired up and asked me if I wanted to start afresh or restore from my last backup. I opted for the latter having been sure to backup just before I'd taken the phone in to repair, and about 20 minutes later voilĂ , a fully restored iPhone!

Almost.

A few tweaks - all my email and exchange passwords had disappeared, and my icons were all over the place, but apart from that, which didn't take too long to sort out, I'm back to normal.

I've enjoyed my brief return to Palm with the Centro, especially the better (IMHO) SMS and calendar apps, but it's great to come back to the big, bright iPhone screen, decent RSS, HTML email, Twitterific and BlogPress that I'm writing this post with. Although I do prefer a hardware qwerty keyboard I'm typing this as fast with 2 thumbs as I would on the Centro. Actually, as an aside, I find if I type quite fast on the iPhone keyboard, I make less mistakes than if I type slowly, perhaps because of the pretty decent auto-correct.

Anyway, I'm glad I've got the Apple back in my pocket.

-- Post From My iPhone

Monday, March 30, 2009

One rule for them.....

Well I'm going to have my three penn'orth about the sleazy MP's and their "expenses".

I find it ludicrous that any sane person can believe that it's OK to claim thousands - tens of thousands in some cases, and in the worst cases almost £200,000 for "expenses" that seem to range from miscellaneous porn films as reported by today's media to lavish furnishings for second homes (leass than 10 miles away from primary homes in some cases).

OK, so Jacqui Smith didn't watch the "blue film" (as one radio station today reported it - haven't heard that term in a while), but even if it was her husband, how the hell can pay per view films be classed as a parliamentary expense????

And someone else spent almost a grand on an antique fireplace. Get an electric fire for God's sake. This is my money you're spending!!

I work for a company where I'm lucky if I can claim £18 for an evening meal if I'm away for the night, and absolutely cannot claim for any alcohol. Taxi's are severely frowned upon - walk, get a bus - but a taxi - no sireee. Any even then I have to produce original receipts before they'll reimburse me.

An MP though appears to be able to spend a shedload of taxpayers (that's you and me) dosh on anything they fancy, and don't even have to provide proof. Lavish new curtains? Certainly sir. Furnishings for a second home (oh actually it's my parents house just down the road from my own house, but don't tell anyone). Certainly sir. A little something for the weekend - no questions asked.

At the very least it could be deemed gross misconduct, and if it were me that'd be me out of my job before you could say "nice new carpet".

But generally, where I come from they call it fraud, and it's a criminal offence.

Running through treacle

My broadband is playing up (again). Was slow earlier this evening, then refused to connect at all, and now like running through treacle.

Nothing to do with my set up - nothing's changed, and no virii, dodgy downloads or spyware - just water in the wires I guess.

Happens periodically. Really irritates me and then goes back to normal. I always threaten to move from Pipex (been with them years), but frankly too much trouble. It may well not be them anyway. Probably some hoodie sticking a screwdriver in an junction box somewhere. Bah.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Still no iPhone

Rang the O2 shop in Cardiff today to see if there's any sign of my iPhone. Apparently it's still "with the agent" whatever that means.

Centro's going all right, and I love using the SMS app again, but I miss HTML email, Twitterific and Newsstand RSS reader.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Palm Pre will we ever see it?

Do you remember the Palm "Foleo", the companion notebook to Palm smartphones that never actually made it into the real world?

I'd forgotten all about it until I read a post on a forum about the Palm Pre today which made me chuckle.

You've got to remember that although the Pre was announced what seems like months ago now, the best we've got in terms of it actually being available is probably Quarter 2 2009 - i.e. any time between April and the end of June - unless of course they mean the financial year quarter 2, in which case it could be any time between July and September!

Anyhow, this post simply said, "Will the Pre be compatible with the Foleo?"

If you don't follow this sort of thing, it wouldn't mean much, but I thought it was a brilliantly funny post, and actually made me laugh out loud.

Of course, as an interesting follow up, Palm ditched the Foleo, and within months (or so it seemed) the world started going crazy over a small, solid state machine called the Eee. Opportunity lost? Wouldn't be the first time Palm, would it?

Wordpop

Murray over at Palm-Mac has recently made it into the global Wordpop leaderboard. Without wishing to be overly smug (and I apologise if it comes over that way Murray), I related to him my best scores on Wordpop from my Palm Centro. I've since moved to the iPhone, but have yet to scale anywhere near the dizzy heights I achieved on the Centro.

So as you all know I'm not cheating (unless I'm very good in Photoshop - which I'm not), here is the proof.

If you haven't yet tried (bought) Wordpop on any platform, you're missing out big-time. It's a superb game, whether you catch 5 minutes, or the months it took me to rack up this score. What's more, Todd Sherman the head honcho seems like a very nice chap too. Always helpful and responds to emails.

Monday, March 23, 2009

New iPhone in June?

The very informed "The iPhone Blog" is reporting the possibility of a new iPhone coming this June. Not a very great surprise, and mooted by a number of blogs and forums, especially following the announcement of iPhone 3.0 OS last week.

Although we've yet to get any real sense of when we're likely to see the Palm Pre, touted by many as the iPhone killer (bit over the top I think), many commentators feel that the 3.0 OS only really brings the current iPhone 3G up to par with most other smartphones (I don't - I think it still lags behind on some things, especially the calendar, where Windows Mobile, and especially the ageing Palm OS still beat it hands down.).

It would seem a logical step for Apple to bring out new hardware to accompany the 3.0 software update, although what that might offer is hard to tell right now. Only time will tell.

Life without the iPhone

Three days without my iPhone which is off being repaired (hopefully). No major problems this far. One annoying thing was that although I did a backup in iTunes before it went off for repair, I hadn't synced my calendar to my home PC Oultook, which means my Centro is devoid of an up to date calendar, because since I've had the iPhone, I only sync my iPhone calendar with my work calendar - the iPhone being the "master" . I could get therefore sync the Centro from my work PC, but as I'd have to get our IT dept to allow me to install Palm Desktop/Hotsync on my PC and all that that entails - and it's a protracted process let me tell you - I may as well hang on for the return of my iPhone. A bit of a pain, but I vcan manage for a week or so. Might actually have to think about appointments/meetings insted of relying on a device!

It's nice having the hardware qwerty keyboard back, but a royal PITA having to use Blazer as a browser again - let's hope to God Palm have sorted that on the Pre! The result of that means I've not "Twittered" anywhere near like as much as I do on the iPhone.

Snappermail downloads all my email accounts into one "inbox", something that Apple could learn from.

Going back to Quicknews as an RSS reader isn't much fun. Newstand on the iPhone isn't ideal, but it's much better than Quicknews - or any other Palm RSS reader for that matter.

The SMS application on the Centro is miles better than the iPhone app though - especially when combined with the hardware qwerty keyboard. The ability to know how many characters you've typed, a neat window, the ability to forward SMS (I know it's coming in 3.0).

Also the other thing I don't miss about the iPhone is having to navigate back through text using that damn pesky magnifying glass. With the Centro it's just so easy using the central nav. key.

All in all, I'm missing the big bright colourful screen, Twitterific, decent RSS. Still like Palm and the Centro though....

Sunday, March 22, 2009

3-0 - to the referee: City 0-3 Sheff. Utd

I don't mind getting beaten. Well actually I do, but what I mean is, I don't mind getting beaten if the other team are better than you.

But when they're patently not, and the referee radically influences a game through incompetence and inconsistency, it's hard to take.

Today, Paul Taylor (pictured) first dismissed Gabor Gyepes for a foul that led to a penalty, when it appeared to everyone but him (and the Sheffield contingent obviously) that he'd won the ball. 1-0 after the penalty and City down to 10 men.

Worse, 9 minutes later he issued his second straight red of the game to Ross McCormack after he and a United player went for a ball, McCormack apeared to win the ball and the United player went down poleaxed - only to get up again once the card had been issued. It appears it might have been for an elbow, but I'm not convinced.

That effectively ended the game as a contest, as Dave Jones sacrificed first Michael Chopra and then Chris Burke to shore up the defence and midfield and the only surprise thereafter was that City managed to play so well 9 v 11, and that Sheffield only managed to add 2 more goals.

Taylor's poor game continued as he constantly failed to penalise Sheffield players for persitent infringements against City players until very late in the game. His linesman were equally culpable missing pushes, tackles and offsides. Maybe it was the sun. One of the linesmen wore a cap throughout, and frankly looked like an idiot.

Referees like him spoil the game for everyone, and I only hope we never see Mr Taylor and his team at City again - ever.

The BBC website says "Cardiff were well beaten" by Sheffield, but when your'e playing with 9 men for more than half the match, that's hardly a surprise is it?

In the greater context, we're still in the playoff spots and have at least 1 and up to 2 games in hand over the rest of the top 5, but things are undoubtedly getting tesne, and we could well do without Gyepes and McCormack missing the next 3 games through suspension. Whether City will appeal either remains to be seen.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

iPhone update

Well I popped into the O2 store in Cardiff this morning and told the nice lady my home button was playing up. After trying it a few times, so she could see what was wrong, she did a reset. "Tried that" I ventured, but she insisted. Proudly she showed me the problem was fixed. "No it isn't" I said. It still worked if you pressed it hard, but I should be able to do the press gently like I've always done - not try to push the button through the back of the device. She got out her own iPhone, an original model and asked me to try that which I did. Hers was fine, mine wasn't.

So it's being shipped off to be looked at. And yes, before you ask I did do a backup last night, and just as well, because looking at the repair agreement notes, all handsets that go for repair will undergo "...a software upgrade (does that mean I get 3.0 before anyone else??? LOL), and will have any personal settings, ringtones, icons and graphics restored to factory settings".

She reckons the turn round time on an iPhone is about 5 days. We'll see.

She asked me if I had a phone to keep me going, and I said I did and wheeled out the Centro. She looked a bit aghast and said that you don't see many of those, and did I like it (and I said yes, of course). she also said they had some Palm's in, but couldn't recall the model - obviously going like hot cakes then!

Anyway, it's now just a case of waiting and hoping they can fix it - or give me a new unit, because I'm not having it back if it isn't fixed.

Meantime of course that means back to the Centro. It's funny how quickly you can forget things. Typing an SMS I kept double clicking the space bar a la iPhone to enter a ".", but of course a) it doesn't work on a Palm and b) there's a "." on the keypad anyway! Also, forgot that the Palm doesn't automatically capitalise after a "." like the iPhone.

With the iPhone SIM in, setting up the network settings was as easy as choosing O2 Mobile Web in network preferences. using the Centro is like putting on a pair of favourite old gloves - makes me all warm and cosy.

You also notice immediately the comparisons between the two devices.
  • Entering a calendar appointment is so easy on the Palm, AND you can make an appointment private! Yey!
  • Using Blazer is such a drag compared to Safari
  • Navigating one handed using a combination of buttons/screen on the Palm is still a pretty neat and swift experience, and it fits more comfortable in the hand than the iPhone
  • How I miss Bonsai, Docs to Go and the best (IMHO) SMS app going
  • GPRS is a pain compared to 3G or even wifi (not that I use wifi much on the iPhone)
Either way, whatever the pros or cons, it'll be fun using the Centro for the next week or so.

Friday, March 20, 2009

Yeek! iPhone home button problems

Something terrible has happened! I have problems with my iPhone. Today, suddenly, out of the blue I'm having problems with the home button. For non iPhone users, the iPhone has a single button bottom of screen, and this is used to close an application and return to the home screen, and you can also assign a specific action to it - mine should take me to the phone favourites on a double click.

There's no great trick to it. You just depress the button slightly and voila! Except mine doesn't work as it has done from day one. I depress the button and nothing happens. If I press hard - and I mean add considerably more force than I think I should, then it does work. But that's not how it's been working for the last 3 months, so I suspect somehow something has become damaged. I haven't dropped it yet - something I seem to have managed with all my previous smartphones, and I cannot recall any other bang or jarring that might have upset it's innards.

I'm off into Cardiff tomorrow so will pop into the O2 store (we don't have an Apple store in Cardiff sadly) on the recommendation of O2 customer support, and see if they can send it away to get repaired. Bummer. CS siad if they do send it away they should supply me with a replacement handset, but I'm currently charging up the Centro as a standby. Nice to see the old fella again too.

I'll keep you informed.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Cutting it fine. City 2-1 Watford

City know how to make you edgy. After not losing at home since November they to a goal down after Stephen McPhail hacks down McAnuff for a penalty early on.

Bothroyd restored parity 5 minutes later. Both sides had chances in a far too open game for my liking.

It all looked to be heading for a poor bore draw whb in the final minute of injury time their player handled a header that looked to be going well wide. That's as maybe, but handball is handball. The ref could have bottled it - almost appeared to after being harangued by Watford players and consulting his linesman, buy fair play he didn't. McCormack coolly slotted home with the last kick of the game when most City fans couldn't bear to watch. The relief was enormous for all (unless you were a Watford player or fan or manager). It's about time City got some luck. 3 points is massive. So now is our next game on Sunday against the Blades.

Up the City!

-- Post From My iPhone

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

iPhone 3.0. Hit or Miss?

I've just been following the feed on The iPhone Blog from the event where Apple are announcing what's in version 3.0 of the iPhone OS, expected to ship this summer.

My previous post on this had a number of "wishes" I was hoping for. there is a lot to take in, so let's have an initial look at what I think is there (from my wish list).

  • Better PIM, especially calendar integration: NO Doesn't look like it (sniff). Looks like Apple are keeping the calendar database pretty locked down, unless I've missed anything vital.
  • Screen to rotate to landscape mode in email. YES and apparently in all "key" apps too - including SMS. Nice.
  • Ability to forward a text message: YES - and about time too. Whoever thought it wasn't needed is an idiot
  • File transfer using bluetooth. NOT SURE - BT gets a mention - support for ADP2 stero headsets, and apparently some ability to share/beam some info, lossibly vcards, but genuine file transfer looks a bit dodgy. I'll double check though.
  • MMS (multi-media messaging). YES don't use it much, but every other phone in the world today supports it, so at leat the iPhone is catching up
  • Notifications. NOT SURE didn't see any obvious reference tothis - have to look back through feed (tea time half way through!)
  • Cut & Paste YES - probably THE most wanted feature. Finally.
So certainly there's some great stuff there, although frankly, as previously mentioned, a lot of this stuff is what pretty much every other current phone can do anyway, so Apple are really just making up the ground here.

There's a pile of other stuff, much of it beyond my understanding, and reaction on TiPB seems pretty positive so far.

When will we be able to get it? Summer. Err, that means any time between about May and October, although if Apple stick to form it'll be July(ish).

Cost? Free - apparently.

Roll on summer!

Check out The iPhone Blog for a fuller, and more explicit explanation of what's in 3.0

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Point rescued: Bristol City 1-1 City

The Bluebirds still have aspirations for automatic promotion, but taking, or rather rescuing a point won't be good enough to end up in one of the top two slots.

It was a typical dogged, tight derby with both teams more afraid to lose than win.

City could have scored in the first half but a bullet header from Roger Johnson was cleared off the line. Bristol also had a chance but on loan keeper Steve Taylor who looks miles better than Dimi, beat the shot away.

Bristol opened the scoring after the defenders backed off, but tue irrepressable Ross McCormack nipped in to slot home after their keeper fumbled an Eddie Johnson shot.

So a point shared. Not ideal, but at least we've stopped the losing away sequence. Big week ahad with Watford at home on Wednesday and Sheff Utd at home next Sunday. We really could do with 6 from 6.

Up the City!


-- Post From My iPhone

Saturday, March 14, 2009

A very curious thing

I've just noticed a very curious thing. If I switch from 3G to wifi on on my iPhone, the quality of the photo's for the people I'm following on Twitter using the Twitterific app improve remarkably.

Turn wifi off, and they go all grainy and coarse. Turn it on and they go back to clear as a bell high re photos. It's particularly noticeable with the following people that I follow on Twitter: @ruskin147 (Rory Cellan-Jones) photo - currently his dog sporting a red nose, and @AlsiB (from Astraware)

Now I thought that wifi was just "faster" than 3G. I didn't think that it downloaded any more data.

Can anyone put me right here, or explain this? It's not a big deal, but I just don't understand.

iPhone 3.0 - What's it got

Apple are going to provide a sneak preview of the v3.0 OS next week, and everyone's guessing what's going to be in it, or not, so I might as well have my three penn'orth.

Firstly, and the BIG question for existing iPhone users is the question of whether this OS is going to be available as an upgrade at all? Chances are that Apple in the infinite wisdom, and because they want people to upgrade devices not OS because it makes them more money (Oh cynic that I am), will require you to buy the shiny new iPhone 3 to get v3.0 of the OS, so for me, all of this might be moot anyway - at least for another 12 months until my contract expires.

So what am I hoping for?

First and foremost I'd like to see either a better PIM functionality, or the SDK opened up to allow others to garner a better PIM function. For me, the biggest downer on an otherwise remarkable device is a poor calendar. Views are restricted, it doesn't link to other applications, you can't mark appointments as private. It's longwinded to add an appopintment, and any of these on a current first line smartphone is a ludicrous omission.

I'd like to see email app should be able to rotate to landscape mode.

I'd really like to be able to forward an SMS. You should be able to have SMS "groups" I know our American cousins think everyone's got always on email so that you don't need to be able to forward SMS, but for me, it would make a hell of a difference. Most of the people I communicate with on a day to day basis always have their phone with them, but most of them aren't "smart" and very few use email on them. They all use SMS though. And whilst I'm on the subject of SMS, that horrible rounded rectangle for typing SMS text into really annoys me. Why can't I have a proper "window"? Adn another thing...why is there no character count. I'm pretty sure every other phone has one. How do I know wehen I've reached my 160 character limit?

I'd love to have the ability to file transfer using bluetooth

I'd like to see MMS, not that I'd use it vey much, but every now and again...

Notification for missed calls/emails.

Well there are probably more things, but that's enough for now. Whether we'll see them or not is another thing. It'll be interesting to see "what's occurin'" on 17th March. I just hope that I don't have to upgrade the phone to get the new OS. Have a feeling I will though.

And a final thought. The Palm Pre, of which we've heard a great deal lately, is getting closer. Previous Palms have always done all of the above, and most of them very well. There's no reason to assume the Pre won't. Have Apple thought about this, and therefore built these things into 3.0 to trump the Pre? We can only wait and see.

I suppose I should chuck in copy and paste - everyone else is. Actually it would make editing anything a lot easier.

Friday, March 13, 2009

Not another goalie

Cardiff City get through more goalkeepers than they sell burgers on a match day. Well, maybe not, but you get the idea.

Anyway, after two dreadful clangers in 4 matches that have probably cost us 6 points, Dimi Kantstopalot (sorry Konstantopolous) has managed to get himself injured - much to the relief of the City faithful.

Problem is, of our 3 other keepers, two are injured, and the other one's only 3ft 2in and never played a competitive match for City. So Dave Jones has been out and about, and brought Steve Taylor in on a months loan from Aston Villa. He's currently 3rd choice at Villa, and has only had 2 outings this year I believe (so in form then). I do recall he was deputy to David Seaman at Arsenal for a while, and I remember being impressed when I saw him back then.

Anyway, he can't be worse than Dimi.

Wurzels this w/e when we play Bristol City at their gaffe on Sunday.

Up the City!

Recent City 'keepers - in no particular order: There are just the ones I can remember!
  • Neil Alexander (now at Rangers)
  • David Forde (somewhere in Ireland)
  • Casper Schmeicel (3rd choice at Man City)
  • Ross Turnbull (2nd choice at 'Boro)
  • Tom Heaton (@ City - injured)
  • Peter Enckleman (@ City - injured)
  • Edwin Sak (@ City - too short)
  • Dimi Konstantopolous (@ City - injured and rubbish)
  • Martyn Margetson (@ City - goalkeeping coach)
  • Steve Taylor (@ City - on loan from Villa where he's 3rd choice)
  • Michael Oakes (can't remember)
  • Tony Warner (now at Hull - worse than Dimi)

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

WebIS have been developing an iPhone version of their comprhensive PIM software Pocket Informant, and have today submitted this to Apple in the hope that it will be approved and find it's way into the App Store. Of course, submiting an app doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to be approved.

WebIS say they've been working with Apple for almost a year to make sure they're playing by Apple's fairly stringent (and generally accepted to be hamstringing) rules, so good though this looks, it's probably not going to have anywhere near the functionality of the WM variant which has been around a long time, and subsequently had time to mature.

I once tried PI on a WM PDA, and found it OK, but there was so much too it, I eventually went back to the simplicity of the default WM PIM applications. I don't think that'll be an issue in this first iteration of the iPhone version - assuming of course Apple let it through.

The other interesting thing will be to see where it gets priced. The WM version clocks in at just under $30, so I'd guess even a stripped down iPhone version ain't going to be free of 59p, but then it probably shoudln't be. I'm one of the band that thinks dvelopers should get rewarded for their efforts - so long as the customer isn't being ripped off.

Anyway, fingers crossed on this one. I still wish Apple would open up their SDK a bit more though - I cant for the life of me see why they won't, unless they've got something up their sleeve for the 3rd iteration of the iPhone.

Pant, pants pants! Norwich 2-0 City

How is it we can give good teams a run for their money but we can't beat teams at the bottom of the division? We recently got beaten by Southampton, and now Norwich.

Admittedly both are fighting to retain their Championship status, but hey, we're fighting for promotion to the Premier League!

Who wants it most?

I'm really, upset and annoyed by this result, especially so as all those around us who played tonight drew, so the chance to gain ground has been thrown away. So much for our games in hand. Play-offs now look to be our aim, not automatic promotion.

Saturday, March 07, 2009

Scary or what?

Courtesy of my good pal Stabber (don't ask!)

This is a photo from the 2009 US Presidential Inauguration, in which you can see, in focus, the face of each individual in the crowd. You can pan and zoom in, wait for the focu to come in and bingo, you can see clearly individual faces out of a mass of thousands.

I'm told, the picture was taken with a robotic camera at 1,474 megapixels (295 times a standard 5 MP camera.

Makes you wonder who's watching you right now.....

http://gigapan.org/viewGigapanFullscreen.php?auth=033ef14483ee899496648c2b4b06233c


Right in there: City 3-0 Doncaster

City kept their push from promotion on track with a 3-0 win over Doncaster rovers at Ninian Park, and what a trio of goals they were!

Chopra opened the scoring on 10 minutes sweeping in after a glorious City move that proved that when we get our heads down and pass we're a really good footballing side.

Then on 29 minutes, Bothroyd chested down a long clearance from Konstantopolous, turned and volleyed the ball home from distance. The only downside was that he appears to have injured himself in his goal celebration. That brought new fan favourite/object of derision (take your pick) Eddie Johnson into the game. He again worked hard and had a couple fo half chances, but on the hour he collected a ball out on the right , cut inside and hit a great shor past Donny keeper Sullivan to score his first City goal and send the crowd ectstatic. In the end, City were good value for the three points, although they did rather sit back when they got three up, and basically stopped playing. Personally I think we should have pressed more and could well have had 4 or 5 goals to show for it.

Doncaster came to City on a good run, and to be fair they played neat, passing football in the first 2 thirds of the pitch, but just didn't have any cutting edge to speak of. A good win that hoists us to fourth with as many as 1-3 games in hand over all those above us.

Up the City!

Thursday, March 05, 2009

Calendars. How important are they to you?

There's an interesting mini-thread over at PDA247 at the moment on the History of Mobile Calendars. Now you wouldn't have thought that would be a very captivating subject, but for some, and to an extent I include myself, it is.

My interest is borne from the fact that my calendar on my smartphone is one of the most used apps, and certainly one of the most important. My phone is with me nearly all the time, and therefore, so is my calendar/diary (call it what you will). It house all my personal, social and work appointments, birthdays, anniversaries, private appointments (of which more later), reminders (because there's not a decent task manager on the iPhone) and so on. Frankly I'd be lost without it.

But as the PDA247 article discusses, not all calendars are equal. Some, like the generally well received Palm app are great. Intuitive to use, full of (most) of the functionality that the majority of people need, and therefore very useful.

Some, like the iPhone app, are more eye candy than functional. yes, it's got some good bits, such as, erm, ah, oh yes, days and months. But it's annoyingly fiddly to eneter a new appointment, you can't mark an appointment as private direct from the app, and the calender app itself can't be accessed by other apps or developed due to the restrictions in Apple's SDK. There are rumours that this might change (and about time too) with the next iteration of the iPhone, but don't hold your breath.

Windows Mobile's default app isn't as good as Palm's (in my opinion) but it's way better than the iPhone's. It still remains fiddly to enter, and view appointments with far too many keyclicks for my liking.

I have no real expierence of Symbian apps, and none whatsoever of RIM's BlackBerry app. The PDA247 article suggests that BlackBerry's is pretty decent, but one of the commenter's is not so impressed.

There other solutions of course. Datebook (for Palm), Pocket Informant (WM) and Agendus (Pal, WM & Symbian) are all applications by developers who think they can provide a better offering than the default offerings on handsets, and there are many more. In these cases the level of functionality in these offerings usually far outweighs the default app functionality, and having tried some myslef, I've found them to anal for my liking. I just want something that works well, does what I need it to, and is simple to use. For me, the best example is the default Palm Calendar app.

Of course this, like most other mobile software areas is really an entirely subjective matter. For me, if something akin to the Palm app was available on the iPhone it'd be a killer app for me. But it's not, and I have to make do with a limited app functionality on an otherwise well rounded device. For the moment.....

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Back to winning ways: City 3-1 Barnsley

This was more relief than pleasure. After a run of games starting with the FA Cup loss to Arsenal, City have looked ineffective, tired, out of sorts and generally completely unlike contenders for the Premiership. With our games in hand slowly running out, it was important to put 3 points on the board, and we did.

Barnsely, struggling at the wrong end of the division, came to win points by kicking us, and their number 12, Teymourian was yellow carded early and could have been sent off before half time. In the event, he went in the second half!

Ledley eased City nerves after just four minutes with a close range effort, and Chopra doubled the lead just before half time also with a close range effort. Were it not for the stretch of their 9ft goalie, it would have been three after Peter Whittingham's kick was pushed round the post.

That should have been that, but in true City style, we came out after the break, gave easy balls away and stood off. Barnsely to their credit kept coming, and Macken scored for them with his first touch 10 seconds after coming on as a sub.

Once Teymourian went though, the game opened up for City, and the introduction of Quincy beathed fresh life into the boys in blue, and he set up Whittingham for a peach of a third - the first time City have netted three times this term. And that, was that.

A special mention to Eddie Johnson, our on-loan striker from Fulham. He's been sat warming the nbecnh for most of the season, collecting 16 grand a week for the priviledge. When he has had chances (few and far between), he's looked as likely to score as my cat. Tonight he worked his socks off, and the 15,000 crowd got behind him and cheered everything (at least I think it was cheering). In the end he got the fans MoM award. He's still a donkey, but I hope he gets at least one goal before we inevitably let him go at the end of the season. He'd go down in Bluebirds history, alongside Leo Fortune-West (who could actually score) and Andy Campbell, who scored one of our most famous goals in the play-off final all those years ago, but was about as bad as they come.