Geek T-shirts

You'll really look the part in one of these geeky T-shirts from SysWear. Favourites include:
- This T-shirt is best viewed in 800x600
- In the time it took you to read this, a Windows exploit has been discovered
- Jesus Saves. Buddha does incremental backups
- Did you put the new cover sheets on your TPS reports? (sneaky reference to excellent cult film Office Space)

Portable Games Consoles

Nothing unusual about that, surely? Except this bloke builds custom portable versions of home consoles like the PS2, SNES and Atari 2600! It's like a videogame version of Scrapheap Challenge.
The Official Site of Benjamin J Heckendorn

Nuts

Isn't technology a wonderful thing? This bloke has invented a way to sort open and closed pistachio nuts based on the sound they make when they hit the ground! This will revolutionise the way we live our lives.
Pistachio sorter - New Scientist

freesat from Sky

If only you could get Sky without paying a monthly fee. Well now you can...
Sky have launched their 'free' digital satellite TV package. You pay £150 for the dish, box and installation, and in return get 200 free TV channels with no monthly fee. The BBC suggests that you can add Sky+ to the service for a larger upfront cost of £319 and a £10 monthly fee, but there's no confirmation of that on the official website.

My iTunes Library

Here's the complete list of songs I have in my iTunes library.
No Rick Astley. I promise.
iTunes Library List

London's Mac Geniuses get a positive review

This is the ultimate job for any Mac geek - being a Mac Genius at the Apple Store London. Charles Arthur at The Independent has reviewed the Genius service and is impressed...
Mac Genius Review - The Independent

Vintage handsets for your mobile

This has got to be the coolest retro item you could ever attach to your mobile! Some genius has taken some old vintage telephone receivers and put a plug on the end to go into your Nokia mobile. So you can be walking down the street talking into a 1970s phone handset! The normal "Pokia" is yours for about £23 on eBay. There's even a rarer wireless bluetooth version!
Pokia on eBay.co.uk

Photos of the Apple Store

My gallery of images from the Regent Street store. Click on each picture for a larger version.

BBC coverage of the opening

BBC NEWS: "'From what we'd heard about other openings, we thought about one-in-three lucky bags had iPods in them. But there were six of us altogether and none of us got one.' "

Apple's own photo album of the opening

The official photo album

Macworld UK Photos of the opening

Pictures of the opening

ifoAppleStore account of the opening

This guy has done a much better job of recording the events at the weekend. He was also an 'overnighter', not a Johnny-come-lately like me.
ifoAppleStore

Video message from the Apple Store

Hope this works...
Video message
Requires Quicktime 5 or above.

Lucky bags gone! T-shirts gone!

Still in the Apple Store - all 2500 T-shirts have now gone! I managed to get one though.
Missed out on a Lucky Bag. By about 5 minutes. The store is fantastic. Lots to see and do. Can imagine it becoming a great place to meet friends and do creative things.

We're in!

I'm typing this on an iMac 20" inside the Apple Store Regent Street! Trying to get the iSight camera to connect to a friend - not working yet....

The store is amazing! It is quite large, but only on 2 floors. The glass staircase is magnificent. There's a DJ playing VERY loud music upstairs in the theatre.

Thanks to the American fellow who gave me his camping chair!

The store opened 25 minutes ago and we're still outside! Not even moved onto Regent Street yet! More crowd barriers have been brought in.

Very bizarre experience. Freezing cold on a brisk November morning and here we are doing Mexican waves down the queue! Everyone cheering! And it doesn't open till 10am!

The queue has now reached 1000 people! Chatting to a retired airline pilot from New Jersey who has been to quite a few store openings including the Tokyo store.

Getting light now. Apple have kindly bought everyone in the queue a coffee from Starbucks. Security has now arrived to keep us all in order. Shouldn't be a problem as it's a friendly bunch.

We are 386th and 387th in the queue!

We're here!

Just arrived in the queue. Hundreds of people have beaten us to it! Johnny has gone for coffee. Chatting to a few people in the queue including a bloke who has flown from the US to be here. There are some who are using their iBooks to keep themselves busy. Pictures later. Now where is that coffee?

33 miles to London!

 

On the way...

We're now on our cheap coach to London for tomorrow's Apple Store opening. Using the Nokia 6210 to post entries to the blog this weekend - feel free to leave comments as I will get them on my phone. Read in the news that there are already people queuing! We're not getting there till the morning, so not sure what position we'll be in. More details in the morning!

Apple Store Photos

Photos of the new Apple Store Regent Street, courtesy of MacWorld. Looks amazing, doesn't it?

Just found out some interesting facts about my good friend Johnny.

Johnny Barton is a pinhole artist living in Richmond, Virginia. Working with a handmade wooden 8x10 pinhole camera...Johnny records life whenever it stands still enough for him.

So now you know...

Getting quite excited - only 1 day until the ultimate geek trip...
Off to London with fellow geek Johnny for the grand opening of the Apple Store Regent Street. Staying with my sister who lives down there, and getting a MegaBus, so it's going to be a really cheap weekend! Hoping to get there nice and early to queue for hours. May even win some Apple goodies - who knows?

I moved Marvbloke over to my own webspace this morning, which means I can easily include pictures, videos and sounds etc. So you can easily find this page at www.marvbloke.com

Highly recommend the online DVD rental service at www.blockbuster.co.uk
Excellent range and a clever business concept.

I missed out on the chance to see a preview of The Incredibles. Never mind. Looking forward to seeing it on the digital screen at the printworks.

MarvApple
Apple Mac Computer Help

-  Just bought a Mac and need advice?
-  Are you having trouble with your Mac?
-  Can’t connect to the Internet?

With over ten years of experience, MarvApple can assist you with any Mac-related problems you may have. Using the latest remote-control technology, some problems can be solved without a visit.

No problem too big or too small.

Contact Matthew Begg on matthew@marvbloke.com or call 07966 085962 for a free consultation.

Anyone know how to produce AAC files on the Mac that the Nokia 6230 likes? Unfortunately the ones that iTunes produces don't seem to work.

I can now send blog entries from my mobile phone! This entry is text only...

Mac Rumors is a particularly good site for Mac addicts like myself.

Been a while since I posted anything to this. Getting all psyched up for the trip to the Apple Store London on Friday. Grand opening is Saturday morning at 10am. Hoping to get a Lucky Bag full of goodies! Also accompanying me is Johnny.