Matt’s Journal

08 Oct, 2008

Tightening Our Belts

Posted by: Matt In: Angry

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2901681832_a1709488da-440x330 Tightening Our Belts

You can’t go anywhere lately without anyone mentioning the Credit Crunch, it’s got to a point now where it’s being blamed for everything and I think it’s nothing more than just a convenient excuse.

Have you been affected by the credit crunch? I haven’t, yet. My place of employment still managed to get the same number of bookings for our courses as last year and with that it wasn’t the hardest we had ever worked. My company deals in the professional training arena and what would you expect the first thing HR departments would cut back on in a credit crunch?………training their staff.

On a personal level, I am still able to move my small-ish sized credit card debt between various 0% interest offers, my bank overdraft hasn’t been touched and I found out the other day I am eligible for sizeable loans (then again who isn’t?). Readers may cry “What about mortgages?!”, at the end of the day, when you borrow and there is a crisis with your bank, there is nothing you can do, it’s the same as a pension, you’re taking a massive gamble. People who borrowed efficiently and kept within their means aren’t really worried about the credit crunch, from the outcries I have witnessed it was the people who borrowed above their means and bought houses that stretched their budgets to above a tangible limit, so as soon as the interest rates on their repayments rose, they couldn’t afford the repayments on their house (look at America’s Sub-Prime mortgage crisis, it’s the same here).

I have noticed changes but these changes I don’t think are dependant on the Credit Crunch. The price of oil was sky-rocketing way before the US collapse and with agriculture being hit hard, the food bills have steadily increased. I have been lucky in the respect that I can now walk to work and don’t have to fuel a vehicle nearly as much.

What grinds my gears is the way the media report this “crisis”. Every single morning, headlines are dominated by our economy and rightly so. But what we don’t need are the Fiona Phillips of this world patronising me with how I am going to live when fuel bills rise again and the food bills mean I live on cat food. She earns £500,000+ a year and I really don’t need her fake sincerity.

Life is good and I will continue to ignore this pap they are propogating, I am starting new businesses and buying more than ever before, why should I be worried about some Icelandic bank being bought out by it’s government? The reason is I bank with companies who can afford to buy their smaller counterparts so I will never have to worry.

Bankers, the lot of them.


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03 Oct, 2008

Diesel: SFW XXX

Posted by: Matt In: Videos

Agency: The Viral Factory
Director: Keith Schofield

Diesel SFW XXX invitation to 30th birthday party on 11th October 2008.

24 hours, 17 cities, 1 party:

Tokyo, Beijing, Dubai, Athens, Helsinki, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Milan, Munich, Paris, Oslo, Stockholm, Zurich, London, Sau Paulo and New York.

The international line up includes Mark Ronson, N*E*R*D, M.I.A., David Holmes, Chaka Khan, New Young Pony Club and many more…


Diesel: SFW XXX from Hansol on Vimeo.


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I consider myself to be “involved” with the social media scene and look to make my internet experience simple but effective. I belong to many social sites which allow me to get the latest news or even share some of my own.

I run a self hosted Wordpress blog and use a few plugins to help keep my blog involved with social media as possible. Today I want to share with you a few simple suggestions that you may be able to use on your blog.

1. FriendFeed Activity Widget

2383489544_6c13fbce66 5 Social Wordpress Plugins You Should Use

The FriendFeed Activity Widget allows you to share your progress through your favourite social websites. If you don’t have a FriendFeed account, simply head over to their website, tie in all your blog, mirco-blogging, photo, video website credentials and alert your website readers to what you have been getting upto. You can see this widget in action on the sidebar of this blog.

2. Social Homes

screenshot-1 5 Social Wordpress Plugins You Should Use

Social Homes is a nifty little plugin that you could say runs along side the FriendFeed plugin. By entering your usernames on certain social sites, you can have a little widget full of relevant links to your other homes on the web. Again, look to the right and you will see this plugin in action.

Please note: I have added a few extra sites to this plugin, if you wish to use the version I edited, please contact me and I will email you the updated version. I have submitted this to the author and it’s a matter of where it will be used or not.

3. Twitter Tools

twitter-tools-options 5 Social Wordpress Plugins You Should Use

If you are a Twitter user, this plugin allows you to send and display tweets on/from your Wordpress blog. By adding your login info to the admin page, you can specify whether your blog alerts your Twitter feed every time you publish a new blog post.

I have disabled the sidebar display as my FriendFeed widget will only duplicate the Twitter information.

4. WP Greet Box

screenshot-2 5 Social Wordpress Plugins You Should Use

WP Greet Box is primarily aimed at blog owners who submit their content to social news sites. When a visitor lands on one of your pages, this plugin will allow you to tailor a greeting from where that particular user has come from. For instance, if your site was Dugg, this plugin would welcome visitors from Digg, asking them to Digg your site while they’re visiting. It also recognises Google, Delicious, Stumbleupon, Technorati and Twitter.

5. Sociable

sociable-in-action 5 Social Wordpress Plugins You Should Use

This useful little plugin again targets the social news submitters out there. By activating this plugin, you can specify a range of sites that your visitors can submit your posts to. Instead of submitting all your own content, why not let a the people who read your site decide?

Here are a few suggestions to aid you in your quest for internet domination, if you know of anymore, please suggest them in the comments.


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02 Oct, 2008

Red Ring of Death (RRoD)

Posted by: Matt In: Gaming

rrod-440x219 Red Ring of Death (RRoD)

Two days before my birthday, my Xbox decides to give up, I thought with two years under it’s belt and no errors, it was free from the dreaded rings…..alas, I was wrong.

I registered the Xbox online and have completed the order form to get it sent back to Microsoft and repaired for free. Here’s how you do it:

  • Head to http://www.xbox.com/support and sign in using your Live account.
  • Click on the Repair Agent image on the right side of the screen.
  • Click to register a new device and enter your Xbox 360’s serial number (This is found on the back of the unit, near the power cable insert).
  • It should now have your registered device on the screen, now click request a new repair.
  • Follow the on prompts and for all intensive purposes “order” a repair for your Xbox from Microsoft.
  • You may be told about getting a box to send your Xbox in, you won’t. You will only get a shipping label. Make sure you save a receipt (this comes in handy for UPS pickup or drop off).
  • You should now have an email in your email account from Microsoft/UPS with the delivery label. Print this off.
  • Hunt down a big enough box and pack your Xbox 360 into it. Make sure you disconnect hardware/hard drives etc and just send the unit itself. Stick the UPS delivery label printed earlier to the top of the box, making sure to use see through tape so the label doesnt fall off and so it can still be scanned.
  • Get UPS to pick up your package or you can drop it off in one of their centres. Please note: If you drop it off, take your receipt as UPS can mark this to prove you sent it via them.
  • Play the waiting game.
  • I look forward to seeing mine again in a few weeks, just in time for Fallout 3 and GoW 2 :)


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02 Oct, 2008

Ludicrously Fast Broadband

Posted by: Matt In: House| Internet

2883910067_2efc25054b-440x168 Ludicrously Fast Broadband

Since we moved into our new home, we have managed to completely outfit the whole house, set up all the utilities and generally just relaxed knowing almost everything was accounted for. There was one glaring omission from a productive household, that being our internet connection.

Calling up the estate agents before we moved in, I was prohibited from getting the phone line activated and ready for our occupation. This meant when we moved in, we would have to wait for the physical line to be activated and then order our internet once that was taken care of.

I am a cashback fiend and am always looking for a good deal. I noticed that on Quidco, a broadband company named “BeThere” were offering free broadband connection during September and £40 cashback on a successful activation. That started me off looking into their package and weighing up the pros and cons of their package…the truth was there were no cons, it was exactly what I was looking for.

It had/has:

  • No minium contract period, you cancel when you wish.
  • Unlimited downloads and no bandwidth throttling.
  • Fixed IP address.
  • Free support.
  • Free router.
  • Upto 24MB download speeds.

Upon ordering, BeThere send you text messages alerting you as to the status of your order. They let you know when your activation date is, when you will receive your welcome pack and pretty much everything in between.

So, as I am driving home last night, I receive a message (I only read it once I had stopped!) and I am alerted to the fact my line is ready to be used! I get home, tinker with the settings and connect our laptops to the Wi-Fi. A quick speed check shows me the extent of my connection, a wopping 11,000kbps download and a 2,000kbps upload!

I will post a speed test up here when I am home for you all to marvel at :P


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01 Oct, 2008

Birthday

Posted by: Matt In: General

469863789_061c8798e1-440x330 Birthday

Yesterday, I celebrated twenty five years of awesomeness on this planet.


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26 Sep, 2008

TrailGuru: Track Where You Go

Posted by: Matt In: Tech

There are a million devices for sale these days that allow you to track where you go and report stats on it. These devices, however, tend to be unsightly wristwatches or are embeddable features of your satellite navigation gadget. TrailGuru steps in and takes away the need for the extra gadgetry and gives you all the same features but from your iPhone.

screenshot TrailGuru: Track Where You Go

Getting it is easy. Download the app from the iTunes store, install it to your menu and run it.

Using it is even easier. You click the start button when you start your walk/run/bike and then click stop when you arrive. The application works out your elevation, speed, location and distances.

So you have all this information, now what? Now, you simply click “Post” and it uploads your track to the TrailGuru website. Here you can view your averages and even a map of your outing. Here is mine from my trip to the pet shop on my lunch break:

trip TrailGuru: Track Where You Go

Click here to see all the statistics related to this route.

If your iPhone is jailbroken or not, this app is a very useful addition to your iPhone program menu.


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26 Sep, 2008

Home Sweet Home

Posted by: Matt In: House

If there was an award for the quickest settlement in a new home, Katie and I would have won it. Having packed two cars and a horse trailer both on last Friday and the Saturday morning, we were completely unpacked and ready to put things away by 2:30pm that Saturday afternoon. My father in law and I of course were busy building all manner of tables, Katie and her mother putting away bits in the kitchen and my mother helping bring in possessions from her house I had left there. Eventually, we dismissed the families and took stock of our own house, with a fair amount of clothing needing to be sorted upstairs.

Sunday morning was more of the same, we called up the utility companies and activated our BT phone line. Clothes were packed into wardrobes and anything not needed was dumped unceremoniously in the loft space! Short of a few food items, by Sunday evening, the whole house was completely as we wanted it, unpacked and all sorted out…the only thing we lacked was a TV signal.

Since then, the internet has been ordered and is due to be activated next Wednesday and we have Sky+ so we can watch TV. We also have two other additions to the house…..these guys!

img_0049-750x1000 Home Sweet Home

Their names are Pusskins and Niblet, I got to name the latter. Pusskins has a smudge of white on his paws whereas Niblet is completely black. We looked at some of the local ad’s in the paper, visited a woman who took care of her pets better than herself and came back with these little guys!

So, as you can see all is going swimmingly! Expect a few more updates as of the 1st when we get internet access at home.


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25 Sep, 2008

Slow Motion Punch In The Face

Posted by: Matt In: Videos

Real punches, real reactions.


Punched in the face from karatechimp on Vimeo.


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19 Sep, 2008

FriendFeed Sidebar Widget

Posted by: Matt In: Social Media| Tech

wordpress-logo FriendFeed Sidebar WidgetYou may have noticed over the past few days, I have been adding a few different buttons to the blog so you can interact with me around the web, not just on this blog. If you haven’t noticed, by all means cast your eyes right to the ten social media icons that will point you to some of my various social website hangouts.

I have also decided to head back to FriendFeed and synchronise all my information into one centralised feed. I have ported this information over to the sidebar of my blog using the very useful FriendFeed Activity Widget created by a talented designer by the name of Evan Sims. This plugin will collate activity and let you know what I have been interested in lately (yes, it could be considered stalkerish!).

If you are like me and a purveyor of social media websites, add me on Twitter, Friendfeed or even subscribe to the RSS feed to regular updates, it’s so easy your mother could do it!


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  • Chaz | Cheap Rings: I absolutely love that "somewhere over the raindbow" song. Beautiful wedding, beautiful couple. Congrats and enjoy the married life. :)
  • Chaz | Cheap Rings: The same thing up here in Canada. Everyone is scared witless about the economy. Stocks plummet and shoot up every time the bank makes a move. When
  • jiva: here here, and thank god for Scotty working for a re-selling company. We've got a new 40" TV coming on Friday YAY! I'm a bit short on cash this month

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