I’m currently sitting on a plane from Sydney to Brisbane (well, as I write, not as I post), and I’ve been staring at my phone for the past 15 minutes wondering what to do. The best option I had chosen was to play music. Looking around my phone, it seemed like there wasn’t too much to do. I sat for a while wondering why; and then it hit me. All the apps I wanted to use needed an Internet connection to work. The sad thing is that you cannot get WiFi on any airline in Australia. That is pretty sad, because while I won’t pay for the TV service on Virgin Blue (who I am flying with now), I would pay for WiFi. I fly both Qantas and Virgin Blue, so I don’t care who gets it, but it would be amazing either way. Seeing Virgin Blue is trying to target Qantas customers, this could be a way in. Most business people seem to fly Qantas, and this would be the perfect way for bosses to have employees work even more if they moved to Virgin Blue. It would also be ideal for the affluent, iPad owners using Virgin Blue. I haven’t seen this breed of person before, but I am sure they exist somewhere.
Internet
Damn you YouTube
So this is going to be another ranting post. And this time it’s not because of the train. It’s YouTube. The Google property that brings so much joy to people, and so much pain to university Internet Service Providers.
While I could complain about YouTube being a total time waster, I am greatful for that. My problem is getting the video there.
So, I’ve just started video blogging (exciting!), uploaded my first video from university, and I have made my second. I was attempting to finish, upload and annotate this new video yesterday before I left for a friend’s party. I started the long upload process (120mb = 1.5 hours on 1500/256 or whatever-speed-Telstra-wants-to-give-me-below-that connection), and it failed at 99%! OMG!
So I started it again. A bit over an hour later, it said done like a dinner (well, successful, but it’s cool to mix it up a bi)t. So I drive to the party, borrow a friends connection. No video.
WHAT?
Come on YouTube! I don’t have all the bandwidth in the world to use! Don’t ever lose my video again! Don’t lie and tell me your done uploading and then not show the video! I’m going to have to start all over again when I get home! Thank you YouTube!
When I get it up there, please check out my video and get involved in the process. Send me a video response, first person to will be awesome forever because you’ll be my first (YouTube reply that is!). View all my (one) video on YouTube, just search for my user name: smartypants120 (pretentious, I know; I should work on that).
The Reunion Post
It’s pretty clear I haven’t been blogging lately. Sometime in October was the last, an that’s pretty poor. University is such a distraction, but I hope the blog more frequently over the holidays.
To start: this post though: my Internet nightmare. I went over the quota BigPond allows me every month. But this time it’s different. Four days of dial-up speeds. OH NO! But I have squeezed as much value as I could out of the shaped plan. Two full days of download and I have Ubuntu 9.10. My MacBook Pro will never forget that experience (the poor thing).
I also grabbed a copy of the MacHeist nanoBundle. 6 shiny apps wort more than US$130 for $0. Nice! Thanks you to whoever runs this. If you’ve got Mac, check the bundle out here: www.macheist.com
A substantial time ago (well, relatively), Apple refreshed their mouse. It’s nice and all, multi-touch and a sleek RSI-induing design. But the new name. The Magic Mouse. What? How is it magic Apple? Sure multi-touch, but you don’t call the iPhone the Magic Phone. Or the MacBook line trackpad the MagicPad (just a little incorrect?). Please, I think we liked Mighty Mouse. But I still want one of these new things. Check www.apple.com/magicmouse/
In TV news (yes, I still watch TV), Big Bang Theory Series 3 has made it to Australian shores. Amazing seeing it only just started in the US. If you don’t watch it, you missing out. Just do a search on YouTube. But the new series is amazing. I think Sheldon should keep his beard. I must watch the latest show again tonight. It will make up for today’s 60% Database exam (I’m on the way to that as I type).
Talking about video and YouTube, you can now find my face on YouTube. I did a two minute thank you video on my birthday. It was a fun experience, an I really want to video blog again. If you want to see it, my YouTube handle is smartypants12000. I must say I admire anyone who does these blogs frequently. It took me an hour to put together this one video!
I hope to be back soon with more news, and photos (and video!). Leave a comment on this post, perhaps about your Internet nightmare, first YouTube video, or complaints about some new technology (my favourite!).
But until the next time, peace out people!
Negative Internet
I hate broadband quota caps. They are the bane of my existence. I get 12GB a month at home, and 500MB at university (!). I ran over the home quota last month, and our connection was slowed to a blazing 64kbps! Trying to get my own back on Telstra, I decided to get as much value I could out of the cap. I found it funny how long iTunes 9.0.1 (or whatever it was) was going to take to download. Check it for yourself!
