iOS Wi-Fi Syncing

January 14, 2012 in Network | No comments

I've finally looked into sorting out Wi-Fi syncing for my iPhone. I figured it would be a feature that was enabled by default, but it turns out it is not. Simple to solve though:

  1. Plug-in your device to your iTunes machine.
  2. Launch iTunes if it doesn't start automatically.
  3. Navigate to your device on the left-hand side.
  4. Make sure the summary tab is displayed.
  5. Click "Sync with this iPhone over Wi-Fi"
    iTunes Wi-Fi
  6. Click the Sync button.
Once completed, any time your phone is connected to power (why they enforce this, I don't know - it is lame), iTunes is running, and your iPhone and PC are on the same Wi-Fi network, syncing should just happen. Fingers crossed...

 

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Self Checkout Boot-up Message

January 8, 2012 in Design | No comments

I took my "receipt" from one of the self-service checkout machines in the supermarket and when I looked at it later, it had this on it:

--------------------.--------------------
            NCR SelfServ Checkout
       SCOTApp System Initialization

Current Date/Time: 2011/12/28 12:10:52

Release Version 4.04.00.0.000.391

Terminal Number 69

 Current Program File:
  c:\scot\bin\SCOTAPP.EXE
 File Size:      5816956
 File Date:   2011/05/13
 File Time:    4:11:58

--------------------.--------------------

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Music Exchange – Good Old War: Coney Island

November 20, 2011 in Uncategorized | No comments

Wow. It's been a long time since I posted anything. But, I've been listening to music non-stop since then. I try to fill practically every waking minute of my life with background music, and sometimes it bubbles to the fore and I can concentrate on nothing else. The tunes I'm posting here all fit into that category. The four and five stars in my music collection (I'm a harsh marker).

This time round, a piece by Good Old War, an indie band from Philadelphia. No idea where I got this track from, but I imagine it was SXSW again. It's only a short tune, but it's a good-un and a foot tapper to boot (bad pun, sorry!). Again, it's sort of stripped back with only minimal percussion and a bass line that's not so prominent. Let me know what you think.

Coney Island by Good Old War. On Spotify.

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Aikido Grading

November 17, 2011 in Personal | No comments

So, I'm going to attempt to get my blue belt (2nd kyuu) in Aikido in less than two weeks. I have one more practice session left in which we will hopefully go over the things I need to know. I hate to be selfish, but sometimes it can't be helped. I need to know the following techniques:

The complete Randori-no-kata (Core Techniques)

  1. Shomen-ate
  2. Ai-gamae-ate
  3. Gyaku-gamae-ate
  4. Gedan-ate
  5. Ushiro-ate
  6. Oshi-taoshi
  7. Ude-gaeshi
  8. Hiki-taoshi
  9. Ude-garame
  10. Waki-gatame
  11. Kote-hineri
  12. Kote-gaeshi
  13. Tenkai-kote-hineri
  14. Shiho-nage
  15. Mae-otoshi
  16. Sumi-otoshi
  17. Hiki-otoshi

The complete Randori-no-kata-no-ura-waza (Counters)

  1. Shomen-ate – Waki-gatame
  2. Ai-gamae-ate – Kote-mawashi
  3. Gyaku-gamae-ate – Gedan-ate
  4. Gedan-ate – Ai-gamae-ate
  5. Ushiro-ate – Tenkai-kote-hineri
  6. Oshi-taoshi – Kote-mawashi
  7. Hiki-taoshi – Tenkai-kote-hineri
  8. Kote-gaeshi – Kote-gaeshi
  9. Tenkai-kote-hineri – Waki-gatame
  10. Shiho-nage – Shiho-nage

Shichi-hon-no-kuzushi 1–7
These are techniques that show balance disturbance, circular movement and control.

Wish me luck!

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Music Exchange – Joni Mitchell: A Case of You

September 25, 2011 in Music | No comments

Having ripped my wife's music collection from before we met, I have now inherited a number of CDs that I would not otherwise of purchased. Of these, the sound track from the film "Practical Magic" (not a film I would volunteer to watch, I must say) containing this Joni Mitchell track.

Having only heard of Joni Mitchell from the film "Love Actually" (the character Karen is a fan), I'd never heard any of her music before. When I looked up who the song on my iPod was by, it was a gratifying completion of an "open loop".

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Cooking Diary #2 – Apple Crumble

September 24, 2011 in Cooking | No comments

Given last outing's success with one of Delia's recipes, I thought I'd make a dessert from the same book: Delia Smith's Complete Cookery Course (20th Anniversary Edition). I'm a big fan of apple crumble, so I went with that.

It took me three attempts to get going with the recipe: the first day I had no flour, the next I had no butter. Finally, I thought I had all the ingredients so I prepares the apples before realising we were out of raisins! Some lessons to be learnt from this. First, check for all your ingredients before you start. Second, I need to buy an apple corer so it will make my life a whole lot easier.

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Cooking Diary #1 – Spaghetti alla Carbonara

September 20, 2011 in Cooking | No comments

I'm going to start cooking more often and improve my cookery skills. I'm pretty good with the basics but I fancy learning some more complicated techniques that are often seen on the myriad of cookery programmes on the TV. I thought I'd document my efforts on my site as I go, partially as a record of my progress, but also as a way of keeping track of recipes I liked.

So, my first entry is the Italian dish: Spaghetti alla Carbonara. Supposedly the word carbonara derives from a word meaning "charcoal burner" (Wikipedia). I used the recipe from Delia Smith's Complete Cookery Course (20th Anniversary Edition). I notice that it is different from her online version, which uses pancetta, pecorino, and cream, ingredients I didn't use.

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Music Exchange – 18 September 2011

September 18, 2011 in Music, Uncategorized | No comments

Musical Note

I've decided to post my favourite tune for the week every Sunday. This could be one that I discovered in the week or an old tune that I just happen to be listening to a lot recently. I hope people will comment on what they think and provide their weekly suggestions in the comments fields each week.

This week I've chosen a song that just randomly appeared on my iPod and quickly got itself a 4 star rating. After a bit of hunting, I've discovered it was part of the collection downloaded from the South by Southwest (SXSW) Music Festival 2010 torrent collection. SXSW is an annual music and film festival held in Austin, Texas where artists submit tracks to be showcased. These are all made available for free download and some enterprising souls have collected these together as torrents for download (https://sites.google.com/site/sxswtorrent/). It's worth checking out: there are some howlers, but also some hidden gems.

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Music Exchange – 11 September 2011

September 11, 2011 in Music | No comments

Musical Note

I've decided to post my favourite tune for the week every Sunday. This could be one that I discovered in the week or an old tune that I just happen to be listening to a lot recently. I hope people will comment on what they think and provide their weekly suggestions in the comments fields each week.

This week's tune is another that incorporates the use of chip music, but it uses it more to enhance the overall piece rather than putting it front-and-centre. I came across Clean Bandit via a post on the Guardian's Music blog, though the tune I've chosen today is not the one that they posted. Whilst Japanese school children holding Sega Game Gears ticks most of my boxes for awesomeness, that song didn't quite do it for me as much as this one. It's still worth a listen if you get the chance, plus they have a couple of other tunes on their website.
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Music Exchange – 4 September 2011

September 4, 2011 in Music | No comments

Musical Note

I've decided to post my favourite tune for the week every Sunday. This could be one that I discovered in the week or an old tune that I just happen to be listening to a lot recently. I hope people will comment on what they think and provide their weekly suggestions in the comments fields each week.

Here's a track that I first came across on Spotify Radio. It grabbed my attention and is now has a permanent position on my favourites list. I've chosen this track this week as I heard it "in the wild" for the first time ever recently. We had the final episode of Dirty Sexy Things on in the background whilst pottering the house, when a clip from this tune popped on. I just wanted to share the full track with everyone just so that all can know what it is.
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