MP3 files in my music folder have to abide by a strict naming format; [artist] - [album] - [track] as well as having a complete ID3v2.x tag set. As you can imagine, this isn’t easy to maintain when you’re dealing with albums full of songs, renaming each individual track is the most laborious process you could imagine.

That was until MP3 Tag Tools came into my life, a freeware batch MP3 tagging application that boasts a whole range of features that you’d expect. Hours of my life have been saved using this and my music folder is organised and clean, just the way I like it. It’s simple to use, just select the tracks you want (…)

Dear Sir/Madam,

I’m writing to you today concerning my thoughts on the ‘revolutionary’ new design in the latest revision of Internet Explorer (7, if you forgot). After downloading the software, it was obvious to me that you must of been smoking a serious amount of crack at the time of development as it seems you haven’t got a clue about good browser design.

I’m no expert on HCI, but I do know that the user interface of most browsers over the years have been a pretty certain standard. You know why? Because it works. People are used to it, people like it. It’s simple and easy to use.

Until this amalgamation of woe came along.

I’m unsure as to what inspired to you place the most basic of controls (…)

Programming has been part of my life for over six years now, from the days of juvenile Visual Basic applications to full blown PHP backend solutions. It runs in my blood, I guess you could consider it a hobby.
But nowadays I’m bored of it. No, that’s a broad term, more specifically, I’m uninspired, lost and confused. I’ve got no drive any more, there’s no inspirational moment that causes me to fire open my favourite IDE and code something of use. It’s like writers block I guess, a void that’s difficult to crawl out of.
I can code well in C, C++, Java, PHP and Visual Basic (although I haven’t bothered with that for years) but every time I try to write (…)

Winamp - There’s just that something about Winamp that gives it the edge over Windows Media Player, perhaps it’s the lightweight interface, or the brilliance of the media library that it uses to organise my music. However, this looks set to change once Songbird becomes a more stable release

µTorrent - No competition, seriously. µTorrent absorbs a mere 4 - 6mb of memory and is quick to load. It boasts all the features you could want from a robust bittorrent client. Brilliance.

Media Player Classic - Simple video playback, what more could you want, open a file, a DVD or a stream and press play. Simple, yet brilliant.

PHP Designer - Probably the most robust php/html/css (…)

In all the excitement about the innovation of the Wii, the control scheme and the new ways games can be played, it’s never dawned on me that the console isn’t actually for everyone. As we all know, games like Zelda or Wii Sports require you to be mobile and have full control of your body to perform the actions within the game.

Did anyone stop and think about those who are unable to do this? Disability prevents people from doing things that more able bodied persons take for granted, and in some cases, people who are unable to use the Wiimote to it’s full advantage are alienated from playing the console.

After reading this article it’s bought things into perspective. The Wii sounds great and the (…)

It’s well known nowadays that there’s a divide in the future of optical media. On one side of the ring, we have Blu-Ray and on the other sits HD-DVD. Both offer their various differences in terms of storage and hardware, but in reality, they’re designed to do the same thing. Hold content in High Definition format.

The concept of moving on in technology, as it always does, is great. But it seems to of split a divide in all of the convergent industries. The film industry, for example has studios backing one or the other. The games industry as another example, we all know Sony has packed in a Blu-Ray drive for their media format of choice, while Microsoft has opted in (…)

People say money doesn’t come to those who sit on their ass all day.

Or can it? Can you actually earn a bit of money on the side for minimum effort?

There are thousands of websites and businesses listed online willing to give you a bit of cash for doing a bit of work for them. This could include participating in surveys, writing reviews, clicking links and even earning a bit of cash back from your purchases. I’m not an expert on all of them, heck, I bet there are millions operating right now. That’s the beauty of the web.

So, I’m going to stick to the things I use that have earned me a little bit of extra cash. It may be small (…)

Source: BBC News

This is how console launches should be done, a decent amount of machines ready for sale on launch day, no violence, no sickening displays of human greed, just people forming an orderly queue waiting patiently to get their hands on Nintendos contribution to the console pool.

To be fair, I can imagine most places in the US had an uneventful PS3 launch, it’s just the drama made the news.

Now I look forward to the UK Wii launch, I just hope Nintendo provide enough consoles nationwide, can’t see any reasons why not though.

Read this story (Scroll to the bottom)

Genius. The classic laxative prank prevails yet again! People might suggest the guy is a bit of an asshole, but I can’t help but think the people in front got a taste of their own medicine for refusing to let him go and get food in the first place.

After shootings, smash and grabs, robberies and paid-to-be in line situations, can the PS3 launch have any more drama?

Source: Engadget

So, Nintendo puts a stop to the rumour machine and confirms that there will be a DVD playback enabled Wii in 2007. Only in Japan.

Do I care? Not really. I honestly cannot see the point in releasing a slightly upgraded console to the market with just DVD playback. Millions of homes have DVD players nowadays, it’s nothing new, nothing innovative, it just seems like a cheap marketing ploy by the Nintendo boys to get a few extra quid.

Nintendo release a Wii with a HDMI port and HD-DVD drive? Now that’d be something to get excited about.

For now, it’s no big deal if it stays in Japan. To me anyway.