techlife

Well first stage of the build trying to get the old Mac open! Seems Apple have intrusion detection built into the case with really deep recesses where some torx 15 screws reside. So off to eBay to order some long reach torx screwdrivers. Managed to secure a set for £6.99 here . Not much I can do until these arrive! Decided to keep a sheet of project spend so far to keep a track of project costs - come in handy when I come to sell some  of my retro gear that will fund this project. Noticed my Mac was built in December 1990. Just over 28 years old. A fine vintage.  

Project: iGame Overview So retro gamers you know the score you have a cupboard full of hardware taking up space, multiple switchboxes to access all your consoles, CRT screens etc. Basically its a PITA to be a retro gamer these days.  The pondering begins. What to do with an old Mac SE/30 I've had stood in the lounge for a couple of years? Fishtank I hear you scream? Fate of many an old Mac... no...boring, predictable... then....the spark of inspiration....the idea flows into my mind, fuelled by the mind bending properties of a good brew of Yorkshire tea...  a compact retro coated retro gaming station! So the birth of a wonderful project. So here I am now updating this blogspot for the first time in nearly six years!!!  😊 Step one is to find a long screwdriver to get this thing open and start stripping the bits out - although the project will have to start in earnest after I have done a dreaded incoming exam which I am currently (trying) to study for although the

I've being tinkering with the speech functionality built into Android again today. Previously I played about with an Android phone a while back and decided to see if things had improved given the additional processing power and memory of newer handsets. Well I can add conclusively that we still have some way to go with this. Running late today at work I decided to text my significant other with a message using voice. The results were amusing enough to make it worth sending to her... Here is the original intended message:- I will be late tonight it's currently six o clock and I'm just setting off. See you later, Paul   Amusingly this is what I got back:- I will be late tonight hamsters of hours Cisco pretty good luck of see you later paul Needless to say she had an interesting time reassembling the rabble at the recieving end.... :)

Well it looks like I will have to root my phone to get the bluetooth PS3 controller driver to work.... question is to root or not to root.... hmmm. I'll see if there are any workarounds really don't want to risk losing the warranty on the phone yet. However how much damage can giving su access do to a phone... ;)  Found a nice retro piece about the original iPhone. Still not sure if it's lasting contributions to mobile phones is going to be a good or bad thing. Virtual QWERTY keyboards are frustrating IMHO.... Maybe its just me and fat finger syndrome... Anyhow it's difficult to buy a phone that *doesn't* have only a touch screen these days. Anyhow it's been 5 years... Yes it has been *that* long since it made an appearance! http://www.mobilegazette.com/ retro-apple-iphone-12x03x21.htm

Welcome! Having set up this blog page a while back never really got round to posting into it. Anyway.... The idea of the blog was to post up techie snippits of info and other things that maybe of interest to others and share views on a range tech related subjects. The annual "Interesting tech to tinker with hunt" is on!   So without further delay lets get stuck in with the very first post! :) I have a little ritual in that I save up a little chunk of monies (around £200) over the year between birthdays and then come birthday time hunt around for some interesting tech to have a play with over the proceeding year. I find this generally fun because I never know what I'll find in a given year to tinker with and what I'll be learning from tinkering with said tech! So with next birthday looming the hunt was on for this year. A few candidates hit the final list a  Playstation Vita portable game system or an Android based mobile device. Both are quite valid tar