Standing waiting for a tram... Not long now until the dawning of the age of the GBA SP! Picking it up in a matter of hours...

Can't believe how much people are willing to pay for stuff on eBay! 5 old crappy Sega Gamegear games, no boxes or instructions - £22! Brilliant! I'm a rich man! It was all a clever ruse to raise money for a new Gameboy Advance SP. Comes out tomorrow - can't wait! I've ordered Yoshi's Island to go with it, and I'll get FIFA 2003 Football tomorrow.

Had a problem with the Blogger archive - only showed a weeks worth of posts. Fixed now - you can see all my posts since the very first one!

If you're going to open a hip, small-scale internet cafe (sorry - "cyberdeli"), then this is the way to do it. Check out this brilliant article at apple.com. Do you think this would work in South Manchester?

Anyone want to get me a present? One of these posters would go brilliantly next to the Suzuki Cappuccino one in the study...

This is a mad site - Crazy Apple Rumors Site. It's an Apple Computers 'news' site, with no actual news on it. Like a cross between www.macworld.com and www.theonion.com. I especially like their 'views' on the war - CARS favors feigning an attack on Iraq. Then say to Iraq, "I'm not attacking you. Is this bugging you? La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la!". While the world is paying attention to that, quickly divert and attack Bolivia instead. Why Bolivia? Because they'd never expect it. Look at them... sitting down there below the equator... sneering at us... eating their soybeans and drinking their coffee...and laughing. They're just asking for it... no court in the world would blame us...

Hats off to Aunt Jarrmann for creating the brilliant on-line version of BookScrap! Well worth a read!

I've gone off the idea for a wireless net cafe. Stupid idea.

Here's all the cool stuff I'm currently selling on eBay.
eBay UK Seller List: marvbloke
This sale is to fund the upcoming purchase of a blue Gameboy Advance SP.
I was in gadgetshop in the Trafford Centre today - one of the assistants shot me. Twice. With this. Hilarious!

Having trouble creating a new web log for a friend of mine. Blogger seems to have some problems when first publishing a new weblog. I'm able to add to an existing one no probs.

Further thoughts regarding wireless net provision in cafes: Why provide the equipment? Laptops are starting to come with the equipment, and for those without it, you could sell it to them for a tasty profit.

Example:
Our costs
Setup cost = £170 for base station
Running cost = £25 a month

Users costs
24 hour pass = £5
Wireless modem = £50 (we buy at £34) = £16 profit

With one connection per day, and one modem sale a week, minus running cost, you'd get about £190 a month. With the reduced startup cost, that means its paid for itself in LESS THAN A MONTH!

Interesting...

Set-up costs for a wireless net cafe using ebuyer.co.uk and Demon Internet ADSL connection.

* ADSL Modem, Wireless Access Point, Switch, and Firewall (one unit from netgear) = £170.00
* 802.11b USB adaptors x 8 (netgear) = £272.00
* No set-up fee for ADSL (until 31st March, but probably will be extended)
Total = £442.00

Running costs:
* £24.99 a month

If you charged a flat fee of £5 per go (like a day pass - use it as little or as much as you want on the day), and assume only one connection per day (low expectations), you'd receive £150 a month. Take away the running costs of £25, you'd make back the money for the initial investment in about 4 months.

Sounds feasible, doesn't it?

You could run a profit share scheme with established independent coffee houses (e.g. Fuel in Withington) and STILL make plenty of cash over time. Even have a possibility of introducing a 0800 helpline number (redirected to my mobile assuming my current employer doesn't mind)

Starting to sound like a business plan... interesting...

Wi-fi has arrived. If I ever think of doing something wi-fi, I will have to apply for free certification from Wi-fi Zone.
Wi-Fi Zone

More TV watch news: I got an email back from a bloke who's selling one for about £160 plus P&P. Shame I have absolutely no money. Would've LOVED one of these - the ULTIMATE gadget! Anyone want to buy me one? ;-)

The TV Watch Page
I've been obsessed with this gadget for years. I first saw it in the film Dragnet with Tom Hanks and Dan Ackroyd. This website has lots of info about it. The ultimate gadget - A TV WATCH!

Didn't find a couple of Cybikos - I found seven! For just £21.00! (at time of writing). That's £3 each. Still put off by the fact that they use a serial port, not a USB one. So decided not to go for it.

Look out for a couple of cybikos on ebay.

Got two Gameboy Advance lights that claim to be almost as good as the Afterburner internal lighting system. They claim not to create glare on-screen. Will try them tonight and report my findings here. Oh what an interesting life I lead.

Play Pacman and Space Invaders over the net...and try and beat the scores set by other players!
FZero Online Game Challenge

Finally - an online music subscription service just for Macs. Looks to use iTunes' simplicity to do the buying etc. Interesting... Have to see what the pricing is like.
LA Times: Labels Think Apple Has Perfect Pitch

Check out this cool Gameboy emulator - no need to install software - just runs in your browser! Only problem seems to be the speed - runs too quickly, and there's no option to slow it down.
GameBoyEmu - Java Applet

I'm too much of a conceptualist. The motorized mini-skateboard is a case in point. I need to get my hands dirty once in a while!

I still have a feeling I should be making money from my interests in gadgets and retro video gaming. Can't think how though. I have to put my serious head on tonight - going to see my pensions advisor. How grown up?

Just won R-Type for the Gameboy on eBay! Yers! Classic game! Wonder how it translates to the smaller screen....

No Coke left in the machine. Damn. Damn you all! Had to have Dr. Pepper. I'll never save 25 ringpulls for a crappy CD single at this rate! It's only the third day I've been collecting!

Someone just asked me where they get the names for fonts from. You know, "Arial", "Verdana" etc. Good question!

Looked at a brilliant mini-fridge at SF Cody's last night - £120 and big enough to carry 8 cans. Would be great for the back shelf of the Suzuki Cappuccino. Also looked for some cool cufflinks. They had some in M&S that had a ball and a little maze in them. I'd like some with tiny digital clocks in them.

Had a great idea last night: a web and wap site called opentil.com - searchable opening times of shops and businesses. It would rely on user submission of the info, and get revenue by click-thru advertising. My initial concern is the large scale involved (not to mention that I've never built a web app before). Will have to get/learn Dreamweaver MX. Trying to think of a smaller scale web app to try for real...

Goodnight.

Going TC tonight. Namco Station anyone?

Just bought some cheese from the Co-op. Thought you should know.

Walking to the tram stop. Will probably try and get the Palm m100 working with this phone. Question is, is it quicker to type on a phone keypad (predictively) or to write on the Palm?

Just walking down Trafford Wharf Road after work. As usual, its bloody freezing. I can't type with my glove on, so I'll end up with one cold hand. Just saw one of those Hearse-like Chrysler PT Voyagers. Ugly thing. Coming up to Man Utd's ground. The splendour of it kind of wears off when you walk past it twice a day. I'll look into Audioblogging when I get home. Its a real killer app for the Net. As is normal blogging. Someone at work asked me where to buy a computer from. My stock answer is: directly from a company that makes them such as Dell or Apple. Ah - such wisdom from one so young.

I've added a few new features to the blog - you can visit my Amazon wishlist and eBay page from the bar above. To be honest - the wish-list is going to be updated more than the ebay page, cos I don't sell much on ebay - mainly buy the odd gadget here and there. Still haven't managed to find a video of Batfink... You can email me too.

Tom - click the Blogger link at the bottom of the page to see how you could do your own!

Actually Tom, you'll probably find it a bit too geeky. But that's the joy of blogs - each to their own! Here's one you'd probably like!

Just told someone the address of my blog! My first visitor! Hi Tom!

Does anyone know of a WAP interface to MSN Messenger? There seem to be plenty for ICQ and Yahoo! Messenger, just not for MSN (sadly the one I use). Thinking of using a mate's Palm m100 via infrared to my mobile (using GPRS) to do messenger stuff - but what a idiot I'd look! Try writing on a Palm while holding a mobile phone in line-of-sight! Especially on a rush-hour Metrolink Tram!

Should be interesting to see what tat I put on this blog thing over the next week. Then it gets archived. Cool. (Damn - promised myself I wouldn't use the word 'cool'.)

I like how random web-surfing is - I've just found a company that can run an online shop for you, with no overheads! They even produce the products for you! Bizarre! I bet they don't support the UK though...

Blogging is an interesting idea. Its much quicker to do than set up a personal web site. And its free. The question is, who would I give this URL to? Who would be interested?

This is my first post from a mobile phone. I have a Nokia 8310 so its quite quick to post thanks to predictive text!

Think I've found the tool to do it...

Wonder if you can post to your blog using a wap phone...

Shout out to Johnny - a fellow bleeding-edge-early-adoptor (we're also referred to as 'geeks'). He too understands the importance of getting there first - he is the proud owner of a (slightly cumbersome IMHO) Orange SPV. I'm waiting for a much smaller 'smart' phone (running Windows CE .NET with a customised shell) called the Neonode N1. No idea when it will eventually surface, and if it takes too long, I'll have to opt for the more conventional looking Nokia 6100.

Currently going through a retro arcade phase at the moment. I blame this book, but it's got me looking at Pacman in a new light! Contact me if you've got an original Atari Home Pong game (not one of the many clones, but a REAL Atari unit - preferably in the UK!)

Good websites:
Gadgetshop
Ebay UK
News.com
Translator

Still a bit clueless on how to personalise this - but I'll keep playing around...

Just thought I'd see what all this 'blogging' stuff is about. Just a passing fad? Who knows - they said that about instant messaging!