• The home screen is really not used to it’s full potential. I would like to see a day summary or something useful, like how Nokia E61/63/71′s have.
• The battery life is not as great as you would like a smart phone to have
• You sometimes get weird crashes when making a phone call. Sometimes, you make a call, wait, wait, the call still is not ringing and then you click End Call and the phone hangs and you have to do a hard reset. This would totally be unacceptable in an emergency situation.
• When you lose your signal, say when travelling on a train, compared to a Blackberry the time the phone takes to find and reconnect to the network is so long, sometimes the train will be leaving the station and going into the next tunnel just as it finds the network

So with those gripes aside, and I hope they are all addressed with the next OS version, I am fairly happy with this device but still interested in what Android might bring in the coming months. Another thing that attracts people to an iphone is the vast array of applications and games available via the AppStore. So with this in mind, I have decided to list my favourites and maybe someone else will look into getting them.

Favourite Current 16 iPhone Applications and Games

• Skype
• Facebook – though I am considering removing and deleting my account.
• TripView Sydney
• Ebay
• Pocket Weather
• Wikiamo
• FTP On The Go
• Reeder
• Air Sharing Pro
• Bejeweled 2
• geoDefense
• iFighter
• Peekaboo Barn
• UNOs
• X2 football
• Zenonia

Other Apps That I Also Really Like and Use

• GoodReader
• Read It Later
• Seesmic
• 2Do
• Archon
• Monkey Preschool Lunchbox
• IceTV
• Nimbuzz
• Theta Poker
• Trism
• Wunder Radio

1. Sept. 2000: My wife working at the 2000 Olympic Games in the Olympic Village as Assistant Entertainment Manager
   
   
2. Oct. 24, 2000: Getting the courage to propose to Teena at the Aria Awards held at the Sydney Entertainment Centre
   
   
3. Sept. 11, 2001: Watching the September 11 events unfold and confirming that human nature is so messed up due to greed and power.
   
   
4. Nov. 02, 2002: My Wedding to Teena on Sydney Harbour
   
   
5. July. 23, 2008: The Birth of my Daughter Violet Rosa
   
   
6. Sept. 29, 2009: Signing The Contract for our first home

So anyway, here are some lists based on my own (un)biased opinions and with so many options available to make these lists, they are bound to offend someone. I will post lists of 6 or 7 items in the following categories: Memorable Photos, News Events, Epic Failures, The Web, Technology, Science, Sport, Video Games, Music, Movies, TV and Gone But Not Forgotten. I will also continue to add images and text pieces to this list after the initial post on December 31, 2009 to make this a more complete article.

Lists for the 2000-2009 Decade

7 Of The Most Memorable Photos

World Trade Center, 3 Weeks before 9/11
Ira Kasoff MD, Liberty State Park, NJ


The third and largest wave comes ashore at Thailand’s Ao Nang Beach on Dec. 26, 2004.
(Reuters)


A fire truck moves away from out of control flames from a bushfire in the Bunyip Sate Forest, 125 kilometers west of Melbourne on Feb. 7, 2009
(AP Photo)


A man walks his dog through Observatory Hill, Sydney on Sept 23, 2009 during an eerie red dust storm.
(AFP)


Hurricane Katrina Eye Wall, as taken by a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) aircraft.
(aoc.noaa.gov)


Mark Visser surfs an 11 m (36 ft) wave at Cow Bombie, near Gracetown, 280km south of Perth on Sept. 28, 2009.
(Reuters)


Mars’ northern orange sky and horizon as seen by NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander
(NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Texas A&M University)

6 Of The Most Memorable News Events

1. Sept. 11, 2001: World Trade Center Attacks – 2,973 victims died as a result of the attacks where four commercial passenger jet planes were hijacked – with two of these planes crashing into the World Trade Center Towers bringing them to their collapse.
   
   
2. Oct. 12, 2002: Bali bombings – Islamist terrorists bomb nightclubs in the Kuta beach area of Bali, killing 202 people (including 88 Australians) and injuring and burning a further 240 people.
   
   
3. Feb. 7, 2009: Black Saturday Bush Fires – Victoria experiences the worst bushfire disaster recorded in recent history, with fires that last for weeks fueled by dry weather, arson and electrical failures.
   
   
4. Dec. 26, 2004: Indian Ocean Tsunami – An earthquake measuring at least 9.0 strikes off the of Sumatra in Indonesia and triggers a powerful tsunami with waves up to 30 metres high that hit 11 countries.
   
   
5. Aug. 29, 2005: Hurricane Katrina – A Category 5 storm that devastates New Orleans with floods that last for weeks after the Levees were breached. The US Government’s handling of this natural disaster confirmed to the world that the Bush administration was also a disaster.
   
   
6. Apr. 25. 2006: Beaconsfield Miners -A seismic event triggers an underground rock fall in the Beaconsfield gold mine in northern Tasmania. Todd Russell and Brant Webb are trapped 1km underground and are rescued from the Gold mine they were trapped in two weeks later on May 9. Their colleague Larry Knight was not as lucky and passed away shortly after the mining accident.

6 Epic Failures

1. 2000: Y2K Bug – Businesses spent BILLIONS working on ways to ensure the bug that didn’t happen, didn’t happen (sic.).
   
   
2. 2009: Carbon Tax – Another money making and taxation scam. Sure, the world’s weather is changing – it could be primarily caused by human actions but let’s consider and research into other things like Increased Solar Flares Activity on the Sun, Magnetic Field Changes, Solar Winds, Climate Historical Data etc.?
   
   
3. 2003: Iraq Weapons of Mass Destruction – Sure Saddam was a tyrant but look at the state of the world now after the Bush Administration’s interventions. The comment “there is no doubt” made before the US Senate Armed Services Committee by General Tommy Franks in March 2003 but some months later he “retracted” on the non-biased Fox New network (cough) saying that “No one was more surprised than I that we didn’t find (any)”
   
   
4. 2006: Facebook – What a waste of bandwidth – who cares what you are doing – it really is NOT newsworthy. Facebook is just another mechanism to deliver spam, self-promotion and pointless babble.
   
   
5. 2009: iSnack 2.0 – Never change something that works, but more important, never let an overseas company control something they have ZERO concept of.
   
   
6. 2007-2009: The Global Financial Crisis -It started with with the sub-prime mortgage crisis (caused by risky mortgage loans even with bad credit) in 2007, and the overwhelming reliance on hedge funds and shadow banking. Then during 2008, Lehman Brothers filies for bankruptcy, and other financial firms and banks followed. The stock market crashed and the US Government bailed out many companies so they can continue to act in the same way they did prior to the crash, which is complete and utter irresponsibility. Expect a bigger crash in the next decade.

6 Of The Most Important New Web Sites During 2000-2009

1. G-Mail (2004) – A free, advertising-supported web-based email site, with over 6GB of free storage and access to POP3 and IMAP services provided by Google. Also known as Google Mail in the UK and Germany.
   
   
2. Wikipedia (2001) – A free, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation which contains approximately 14 million articles (3.1 million in English) that have been written by volunteers around the world.
   
   
3. YouTube (2005) – A video website where users can upload and share videos which was bought by Google for $1.65 US billion in Nov 2006.
   
   
4. Skype (2003) – A website that allows members to make voice calls for free over the Internet to other Skype members and for a small fee to landlines and mobile phones. Also includes instant messaging and video conferencing facilities.
   
   
5. Flickr (2004) – An image/video hosting website and online community. Used to share personal photographs and to host images that are used in blogs and social media.
   
   
6. Last.fm (2002) – A UK-based Internet radio/music community website that uses a music recommendation system to build a profile of each user’s musical tastes based on the songs they listen to either online or in their own music collection. This then allows users to create a playlist from any of the audio tracks in Last.fm’s music library which can be listened to on demand. A subscription fee of 3 Euros per month is required if you live outside the UK, USA and Germany.

7 Technology Moments That Grabbed My Attention

1. 2008: Apple Releases the iPhone 3G in Australia – After being ‘tortured’ for almost a year by our US friends. A rotatable touch screen phone with built-in ipod, email, web browser and an App Store to download thousands of applications from makes this phone almost unbeatable. Poor Palm and Nokia. The Blackberry is still a great device for email and business but in my opinion, the Android will most likely be the main competitor to the iPhone.
   
   
2. 2005: Sony Releases the Sony HC-1 Digital Video Camera – It was one of the first consumer affordable HD (1080i) digital video camera that used a single CMOS chip. This video camera was awesome.
   
   
3. 2002: Adobe Releases Photoshop 7 – While version 5.5 introduced web-based features and version 6 introduced Vector Shapes, Blending Options/Layer Styles and Liquify, version 7 introduced Full Vector Text, a new repair tool called the Healing Brush and many other improvements. Finally, Photoshop felt robust and had a more snappy performance than previous versions. Unfortunately, it’s turned out in my opinion that this was the last decent version of Photoshop.
   
   While some of the newer versions have added some nice features such as Smart Guides (CS 8.0), Hierarchical layer groups (CS 8.0), Smart Objects (CS2 9.0), Spot Healing Brush (CS2 9.0), Multiple Layer Selection (CS2 9.0), Quick Selection (CS3 10.0) and Auto Align (CS3 10.0); the performance and overall bloat of these later versions has left me returning to Version 7.01 which I continue to use today. I do use CS3 as well however I still prefer version 7 for the vast majority of the tasks I need to perform. My opinion of CS4 is that it just plain sucks on a PC.
   
   
4. 2001: The launch of DVB-T Digital TV in Australia – DVT-B (Digital Video Broadcasting – Terrestrial) transmits a compressed digital audio/video/data signal using MPEG, which allows for higher quality audio and pictures to be transmitted. To receive these transmissions, you will need a digital receiver; either built-in to your TV or via a set-top box.
   
   These transmissions allow TV providers to transmit more than one channel and each digital channel transmitted has a much higher resolution than standard analogue TV; with the Standard Definition transmissions being the equivalent of “576i SD” and High Definitions transmissions being either “720P HD” or “1080i HD”. DVB-T has also opened the way for Widescreen Panel TVs to be a standard product inside everyones home.
   
   A note: Freeview Certified Devices should be avoided at all costs. These devices plan to place restrictions on your set-top box or TV by stopping your right to skipping ads on recordings or by stopping you from moving your recordings to another device such as a portable media player. This is just outrageous, and Freeview continues to hides it’s true intentions behind a marketing platform that appears to compete against current PayTV offerings.
   
   
5. 2006: Apple’s iPod Nano 4GB 2nd Generation – The original iPod released in 2001 changed the way we listen to (and purchased) music again, just like the Sony Walkman did in the 1980s. I had never used or owned an iPod until the 2nd Generation Nano, which was released in Red towards the end of the year. It featured a scratch-resistant, anodized aluminium casing with multiple colour choices (silver, green, pink, blue, black and later red), a 40% brighter display, vastly improved battery life, a search option, and finally, gapless playback of audio files.
   
   
6. 2007: The Asus Eee 701 PC – The original Asus Eee PC was small enough to fit in your backpack without breaking you back and it was able to run many of your common desktop apps at a decent speed, albeit with the smaller screen resolution. It helped coined the term “Netbook” which to this day still do not make a lot of sense to me. I can recall fixing issues over a VPN via 3G using one of these wonderful machines. I upgraded the RAM to 2GB and with the SSD drive, Windows XP was very responsive.
   
   
7. Nov 2000: Launch of the Playstation 2 in Australia – The PlayStation 2 is the best-selling console ever, having sold over 138 million units worldwide and it also has a library of over 1,900 games available.

6 Unforgettable Moments In Science

1. Jan 2004: Mars Exploration Rovers – Spirit & Opportunity, explored Mars and have made many amazing discoveries – including the composition of the planets surface, finding frozen water and the Rovers sent back some amazing photographs too.
   
   
2. 2009: Swine Flu – A new strain of this respiratory illness is identified in Mexico and later renamed H1N1. It kills thousands of people around the world and is declared a pandemic by the W.H.O.
   
   
3. New Planets Everywhere! – In July 2005, inside the Kuiper belt beyond Neptune, a new icy planet named Eris was discovered and was announced as the 10th Planet in our solar system. Around 1 year later, both Pluto and Eris were downgraded to dwarf planet status, so now our solar system has just 8 planets, ending at Neptune. Another notable planet discovery outside our solar system is Gliese 581d. In 2008, it was the first planet to be considered earth like and is approximately 20 light-years away in the constellation of Libra. In late April 2009, new observations of Gliese 581d confirm the planet is within the “habitable zone” where liquid water and, therefore, life could exist.
   
   
4. 2000: The Human Genome Project – A ‘rough draft’ of the human genome was released in 2000, followed by a more complete version in 2003, and the sequence of the last chromosome was published in 2006 – though the genome still hasn’t been 100 percent mapped, the progress of this project is exciting.
   
   
5. Nov 2009: First Atom Smashed – Scientists at Europe’s Centre for Nuclear Research (CERN) hoped to recreate the origins of the universe with their Large Hadron Collider and after initial problems in the middle of the year, it successfully smashes its first atoms in November.

6 Sporting Memories I Will Not Forget

1. On September 15, 2000, the Games of the XXVII Olympiad open in Sydney.
2. Australia defeats Uruguay to qualify for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, participating for the first time since 1974.
3. England wins the 2003 Rugby World Cup after a drop goal by Johnny Wilkinson just before the full-time whistle
4. 2001 NRL Grand Final where the minor premiers Parramatta Eels lost 30-24 to the Newcastle Knights after trailing 24-0 at half time.
5. Boston Red Sox win the 2007 Baseball World Series
6. Liverpool FC wins the FA Cup Final in 2001 (2-1 vs Arsenal, two goals to Owen in the last 7 minutes) and 2006 (3-3 vs West Ham, 3-1 on penalties)

6 Video Games That Made Me Waste Too Much Time

1. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002) PS2
2. Advance Wars (2001) Game Boy Advance
3. Pro Evolution Soccer 5 (2005) PS2
4. Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance II (2004) PS2
5. Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy (2001) PS2
6. Gran Turismo 4 (2004) PS2

6 Albums That Inspired and Surprised Me

1. Linkin Park – Hybrid Theory (2002)
2. P!nk – I’m Not Dead (2006)
3. Coldplay – A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002)
4. No Doubt – Rock Steady (2001)
5. Rob Zombie – Past, Present & Future (2003)
6. Buckcherry – Black Butterfly (2008)

6 Movies I Can Watch Many Times

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
2. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006)
3. Finding Nemo (2003)
4. Apocalypto (2006)
5. Casino Royale (2006)
6. Madagascar (2005)

6 TV Shows That Stop Me In My Tracks

1. Doctor Who (2005-present)
2. Yo Gabba Gabba (2007-present)
3. Criminal Minds (2005-present)
4. Family Guy
5. CSI: Miami
6. Spicks and Speks

6 Celebrities Gone But Not Forgotten

1. John Ritter: Sept. 11, 2003
2. Steve Irwin: Sept. 4, 2006
3. Farrah Fawcett: June 25, 2009
4. Christopher Reeve: Oct 10, 2004
5. Patrick Swayze: Sept. 14, 2009
6. Michael Jackson: June 25, 2009

So why the A2 and not an iPod, PSP, Zen or Achios?

That’s easy! Check out the feature list:

• 4-inch, 16 million color, 480×272-pixel wide-screen display
• 10 hours of video and 18 hours of audio playback, full recharge in 5 hours
• MP3/WMA/WAV/OGG music player plus FM radio
• DivX/XviD/WMV/MPEG codecs to allow the video player to play all forms for AVI, WMV, ASF and MPEG
• JPG/BMP/PNG picture viewer
• Voice and line-in recorder as well as line out (AV out) playback
• Text file reader and proprietary file format reader
• PVR to record TV programming directly from your foxtel box or TV!!
• Powerful Sound Enhancement including BBE, Mach3Bass MP Enhance, 3d Surround and EQ
• Portable USB disk ability plus a “USB HOST” feature that allows you to transfer pictures from your digital camera (with UMS support) to your A2 without computer.
• Easily upgradeable firmware
• A clock that allows scheduled recordings and alarm clock features

Out of the box, it comes with all of the necessary USB cables, charger, headphones, leather case, manual and CD for additional software such as JetAudio. After the initial charge of 10 hours, I uploaded some music I had ripped from one of my CD’s and a 30 minute AVI file of a recent TV documentary. All I can say is wow! The audio quality is amazing and the picture quality is sharp, clear and bright. My only ‘issues’ are that the unit requires the leather case for it to have a kickstand as one is not built in and you cannot remove the battery easily, but I would still recommend the A2 to anyone wanting a portable multimedia player over the iPod, PSP, Zen or Archios.

The entire first visit took almost two hours and I was tested for a variety of things including zinc definciancy and protein levels. A small blood, saliva and urine sample was also taken and tested.

After the results were determined, there is a possibility that I am wheat intolerant. So, for the next few months I am going to undergo a strict regime to eliminate certain foods from my diet and then I will have some tests to determine the effects of certain foods in my body.

The strict regime includes:

• No grains – this means no wheat, rice, barley, oats, rye etc. at all — so no bread, pasta, flours etc.
• No high sugar fruits – this means no bananas, grapes and melons, and reduce fruit juice intake
• No high carbohydrate vegetables – this means no peas, corn, potatoes and cashew nuts.
• No high sugar foods and drinks – so no honey, sugar, icecream, soda etc.
• A maximum of two serves of dairy a day
• Eat a serve of protein with each meal – it could be eggs, meat, fish, nuts, legumes etc.
• Reduce intake of alcohol – avoid beer, and spirits made from grains and corn
• Each morning, I must drink a glass of water with lemon juice

So that’s it — it might seem extreme at first, but is only cutting out 11 foods. I can have steak and salads, chicken and vegetables, lamb hot pot etc. as normal, but just without the grains or other vegetables that are not permitted.

Wish me luck :) I am determined to make a go of this and I will report my progress later on.

Anyway, see the bid logo and new ‘logo’ for yourself:

Unveiled on June 4th, Lord Coe unveils the logo for the 2012 Olympics in London claiming it is “ambitious, interactive and youth-friendly”. Organising committee chairman Lord Coe said: “It meets the biggest challenge we have over the next five years, which is reaching out to young people.”

For the first time, the logo will be used for the Olympics and Paralympics. Coe added: “It is interactive and absolutely at the heart of what we need to do – engaging the attention of young people through new media and the virtual world they can get transported into. “It will be imperative that it is flexible. I think it is way beyond any simple logo. “It reaches out to young people in new and creative ways and uses the language that they understand and all the technology that is familiar to us.”

Anyone else laughing with me? How can you spend £400,000 on this? Imagine the cost of the website..

With all the artistic talent in the UK, this is an insult to designers. The view of the UK public seems to reflect this as well. The BBC website even asked the public to submit ideas. This is the best idea submitted in my design opinion — very clever and well done.

Here are some public comments taken from the BBC page source:

1. What ever % of my tax went to pay for that design at a mere £400,000, I would like a refund and then further compensation to have to look at this logo for the next 5 years.

2. £400,000. For that. Utterly ridiculous. Being in a class of 14/15 year olds, we designed 2012 logos based upon the rugged structure, and came up with fantastic ideas, promoting 2012 and also repesenting London and England as hosts for the Olympics. This is trying far too hard to communicate with youngsters. Yes it may communicate with them, but in the totally wrong way.

3. Genius! How about the inclusion of some TXT SPK, Sir Seb? I’ve wiped better looking logos from my backside.

4. Who in their right mind wants to wear a t-shirt with this logo or have it on their phone. It reminds me of the apprentice, the episode with the trainers. The naf trainer design that the women’s team came up with. And if you shrink the logo down slightly, it becomes unreadable and the london text disappears. Plus it says ’20R’ not ’2012′.This is the dome all over again, when they were deluded into thinking that the content inside the dome was what people wanted to see, when in fact it wasn’t.

5. I have just figured it out. The cost breaks down as 25 pence for the design and £399,999.75 to register the trademark.

If you are in the UK and you hate this logo or you are a fan of the Olympics and would never buy any merchandise with this logo, sign up on the online petition here: http://www.gopetition.co.uk/signatures.php?petid=12539

Source of Quotes and Article Excerpts: BBC – http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articles/2007/06/04/2012_new_logo_feature.shtml