It was worth the wait - just watched the Steve Jobs announcement regarding Apple's iTunes Music Store. Good news is everyone with a Mac can start enjoying the site and free previews straight away! (Bad news is purchasing is US-only for the moment)

The Apple Collection - this is TOO much!

A list of live 'updates' of the Apple announcement can be found here. It starts at 6pm today.

RedLightRunner - a shop that sells loads of Apple-branded stuff. Yes please! Pens, metal lunchboxes, t-shirts, watches, posters, etc. In particular, check out the aquariums (these are old iMac and Mac Classic cases with fish in them!)
Only 3 and a half hours until the Apple 'music to your ears' announcement...(still can't find anyone streaming it on-line!)

Got an idea for a killer java app for mobile phones: a completely live letter-by-letter chat room engine. A java servlet runs the back-end server, and users download a small jad/jar file on their mobile. It asks them for a name and a preferred text colour (to distinguish users) before entering the room. Using the usual press 5 three times to get an L method, each individual character is sent to the server. This is instead of traditional IM clients that only send data after whole messages are typed (too clunky a method for mobile keypad entry). Would be handy if client remembered your nickname and other settings so you could just jump straight in. What do you think?

April 28th. Monday. Morning PST. Apple Computer will unveil either a new range of iPods, a new music download service, or both. The only clue is in the press invitation: "This news will bring music to your ears." I may take the day off to witness this event first hand! Probably going to be Quicktime-streamed LIVE like the Stevenotes.

I am sitting in my study. Using the internet on a new flat-panel iMac. It is connected to an old Indigo iMac which in turn is actually connected to the Internet. It took NO setting up whatsoever thanks to Rendezvous automatic networking. No messing about with IP settings etc. Fantastic. Highly recommended.

Open letter from Thomas Allmark:
Are new release singles still only £1.99?

Reply from me:

This isn't 1997 you know.
Sadly, the age of sub-£3.99 singles has pretty much gone. Even the notoriously cheap amazon.co.uk charge £3.99 for their singles.

Come the digital revolution, however, and subscription-based download services will mean either free or 79p singles. For PC owners, the revolution is already here thanks to dotmusic et al.

For Mac users like myself, we have to wait a little longer.

New Season about to start for Manchester Baseball Club. They play their home games at Mersey Bank Playing Fields on Saturdays. Hope to catch a few games this season.

..."Stand back Superman, Iceman, Spiderman, Batman and Robin too/Don't want to cause a ruckus for BA Baracus/But I've got a match for you/She makes them look like a bunch of fairies/She's got more bottle than United Dairies/Hang about, look out/For Supergran/She's a serious granny (Supergran)/A serious granny (Supergran)/She'll do things that you never saw your granny do/There's nothing that she cannae do!" WENT BILLY CONNOLLY IN THE THEME SONG...
TV Cream

CHOCKABLOCK!

Who remembers "John Kettley Is A Weatherman" by "A Tribe Of Toffs"?

TV Cream - all those TV classics, "Going For Gold", "Why Don't You..." etc. Remember Wizbit, Simon and the witch, Roland Rat, Chockablock, Automan, Gruey, Seaview? This site lists everything you ever watched as a kid! The ULTIMATE guide! If you don't end up spending an hour on this site, then you're either over 50, or there's something wrong with you!

I've always been fond of performing a little magic (but not too much that I appear geeky of course...)
www.magictricks.co.uk - This website has LOADS of excellent stuff to buy - a little wishlist of my own:
1. Levitate - saw David Blaine do this on TV - wow!
2. Cups & Balls - a great classic.
3. Healed Coke Can - an empty crushed can appears to heal itself into a normal unopened full can of drink!
4. Amazing Magic Set - Traditional 75-trick magic set - includes Cups & Balls.

Feel free to buy any of these for me - remember orders over £20 get free shipping... ;-)

Stelios has done it again! This time, his buy-early-pay-less strategy is being aimed at cinemas - that's right - easyCinema! Pay as little as 20p for a ticket! The earlier you book (on-line only - no box office or staff), the less you pay. The man is a genius. You actually printout a barcode at home, and scan it in at a turnstile outside the relevant screen entrance - no staff required! He is using Milton Keynes as an experiment - can't wait till it makes it to Manchester! Or I might travel to MK to try it out when it launches May 2003. This is what the BBC had to say about it......and again

I met up with fellow tech-head Johnny and his gal Toni at the weekend. Also met his Orange SPV. Pleased to see that this blog is fully readable on the SPV screen. Johnny and I are destined to co-invent something in the future. Not sure what yet.

Business idea: a shop that only sells miniaturized versions of toys. Keyrings etc. A great supplies would be www.basicfun.com - you'd only need a small unit in Afflecks Palace or something. I was inspired by my recent acquisition of a keyring Koosh bubble gun. Thanks Toni!

My new Gameboy Advance SP is a revelation. The illuminated screen is a God-send. Fifa 2003 is superb. As is the SNES classic Yoshi's Island. Get one. Get one now.