Google Wave and a delivery!

Hi!

I lie... Google Wave didn't really open its doors today, just to 100 thousand more people... There's simply a new redesigned wave.google.com which looks rather fancy.

As you may know, I'm on the Wave Sandbox at the moment, and am currently waiting to be migrated to the new service, the 100k one. However, as many people have said, they haven't yet got their invite, only a select few, and, as Mashable stated, there's still thousands that have not yet got the invite. Once I get migrated, I get around 5-10 invitations to invite other people to Wave. The aforementioned statement is one of the reasons why I am not using my invites yet, the other is that I'm not migrated :P.

I got a special delivery today... Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope Official CD from Canonical! Ordered it a few weeks ago, came far earlier than expected! You may think that it's pointless getting Jaunty, as Karmic (the next version, which I will also order) is coming soon. However, that was the reason I did so! I have the 8.10 version (the previous version) and I thought I might as well get this one to make sure I've got them! I should be getting a broadband switch the Saturday before Karmic comes out (from 0.9 to 10 megabits per second) so I'll also download it.
Yes, there is a reason I included that in this post: It's my next video! I'm doing a very geeky thing and doing an unboxing for this. It may not be a gadget as such, but it's tech and geek based so it's allowed :P. Yup, next video will be of me unwrapping the Ubuntu Jaunty disc. You'll also see me doing my first run of it (basically putting it in and booting from it). Though there will be two: Simply that of the unboxing, and that of the unboxing and putting in. There may be a third, of just the putting in, but I'll have to think about that one.
Yes, I have NOT unwrapped the disc yet, I made a tiny tear in the paper just before I decided I was going to do an unboxing, it's only about an inch long (2-3cms) so it doesn't make much difference.

In Other News: There may also be a video going up about Google Wave soon (one of my own, as opposed to the one I planned, but decided not to, earlier this year of a clipping of the IO Keynote) and a brief overview of some of the features that are now enabled.

For now,
Yours,
Ratscallion

Competition comes to a close

The competition I opened last month for logo entries for this blog has come to an end.

I will now be going through the process of choosing one of the logos that will feature on this marvelous blog, flickr, etc.

However, if this is the first you've heard, I will allow more entries as long as they arrive BEFORE I announce the winner.

Watch this space!

In other news: Google Wave opens its doors in just two days! Wednesday 30th September.

For now,
Yours,

Ratscallion

Google Wave comes next Wednesday

Hello!

First of all, I'm sorry for not posting for a while, I've been busy with Web Development stuff and haven't had the time.

However, big news now for anyone who even slightly likes Google Wave.
Google Wave is making it's big Public Beta launch on Wednesday the 30th September 2009, get that date in your diaries. I do advise, however, that unless you have an amazing Internet connection (that's me out) that you do not go on to Wave until at least a few days afterwards as the servers will be packed and therefore very slow. I mean, it was slow and sluggish on the Sandbox build (which I happen to be on) and it will no doubt be worse than that for a good few days after the launch.

If you want a look at Wave before launch, go to wave.google.com and watch the I/O video which showcases all the features.

In Other news: There's going to be something big coming soon... Watch this space. And I'll be trying to post more while I get it sorted.


For now,
Yours,
Ratscallion

Apple September 9th Event: It's Only Rock and Roll (but we like it)

Today is the day of the very anticipated Apple September 9th event and I've been following the keynote since it started (6PM GMT) and this post is going to be covering most of the things announced in the keynote which I am following here.
First of all, OS 3.1. OS 3.1 is the new update for the iPhone and iPod Touch, the main new feature (that has been covered so far) is that there are now App Genius. The same as Genius for the music, but now for Apps. Genius recommends new apps based on the ones you already own! Genius!

Next, iTunes 9. it is officially live NOW and, I think, you can download it now too! Here's a breif run down of new features:

• Genius mixes. Basically, iTunes DJ crossed with Genius.
• Improved syncing! App management in iTunes! You see the homescreen and everything!
• Home sharing with shared libraries. Copy songs from computer to computer up to 5 times!
• iTunes store reonnovation!
• iTunes store now has LPs!

As Jobs himself says (did I forget to say STEVE bley JOBS is doing the keynote???!!! Well, he is.) these are just a few of the new features in iTunes 9.

Straight after this happened in the usual Apple fashion, image with bullets to the side, Jeff Robins pops on stage to demo iTunes 9 by starting with App Organisation and connecting his iPod Touch.

So, you can select multiple apps at once, and move them, just click and drag. You can even reorder the pages! Then, in the usual way, click Apply and it's done.

Robbins then demos the Homesharing part of it all, which is really quite self-explanatory so I won't really cover that too much, just that it requires lots and lots of passwords! Now this is neat: The ability to sync purchases. Loving it!

iTunes Store re-design:

• Nav bar at the top, no more going back to home, and each category has its own sub menu and within that are genres for each category
• Click an album, and you get a pop-up with all the tracks
• Share information to Facebook! (the first of many social features)
• Another look at iTunes LPs comes now...
• Each page in the LPs have a custom theme, same principle to that in Tap Tap
  

iTunes extras:

• Movies have a DVD/BluRay extra features

The iTunes 9 demo concludes as STEVE bley JOBS returns to the stage. iTunes 9 is available NOW says JOBS as Phil Schiller takes the stage. You may remember him from the recent conference when he covered for Jobs.

Moving onto iPods:

• 225 million units sold!
• 73% of market share, as opposed to Zune's 1.1%
  
• Not surprisingly, the iPod Touch is the most sold
• 20 million of those alone sold
• Phil begins comparing the iPod to other gaming devices, the PSP and DS, I honestly don't care here... :P
• And then, there's a demo of iPod games, which is going on a bit...
• When it finally ends, Phil Schiller returns to talk about the fact that the iPod Touch is the cheapest way to the App Store
• We now have a 64GB iPod Touch, which is 50% faster!
• They've also added OpenGL|ES to the 64GB version
• And there's a new ad for the new iPod Touches, which they show off now (that's your cue Apple :P)
• They're also changing the iPod Classic to 160GB as opposed to 120GB
• New Shuffle colours! Black, pink, silver, green and blue
• Plus, a special edition stainless steel version in black for an upped price
• The rumours are true! Video cameras have arrived!
• The iPod Nano: Video camera, speaker and mic, all built in!
• And, iPod Nano gets Genius!
• Not only that, FM Radio, Voice Recorder and Pedometer (works with Nike + by the way), all built in.
• And here comes the NEW iPod Nano ad which shows of Video a lot...!
• Norah Jones comes on stage to play her new set...

Just a small update here, with the Apple Store back up now, there doesn't seem to be any cameras on the new iPod Touch, however there is a Remote in the 16+GB versions along with a mic, but not in the 8GB.

After the iPod part, STEVE bley JOBS ended the keynote and sent everyone packing... No show of the rumoured tablet, and not even a camera on the iPod Touch, just the Nano.

For now,
Yours,

Ratscallion

Video: A look at Audacity and some of its features

Here's a quick video I decided to make about Audacity.



Audacity, as it says in the video description and the official website, is a free, cross-platform (meaning it will run on Windows, Mac and Linux) audio editor.

Want to download it? Go here.

This video is simply a brief overview of the installation of Audacity and some of its basic features, NOT one to show every single feature available.

This is one of the main reasons I advise you to play around with Audacity as much as you like to see some of the more advanced features (as well as these ones) for yourself on your own audio. With this approach, you will quickly see why this is such a brilliant tool to use.

In other news: You may have noticed that this video looks slightly rushed.. That's because it is. I hadn't got a clue what to do it on! If you've got any requests, I'm always open to them! Let me know in the comments or drop me an email by simply clicking here.

For now,
Yours,
Ratscallion