PHOTOS-Millennium Stadium Sunsets

Some shots of the Millennium Stadium during and after the volcanic ash period.

MP3-Ministry of Sound tracks for Summer 2010

Well the Winter Music Conference in Miami has passed so it must be getting ever nearer the Summer now and time to unearth a few tracks being promo’d by Ministry of Sound.

A variety of tracks encompassing house, indie, techno, electro and some dubstep! You can download any of these tracks by clicking the arrow logo to the right of any track.

Use Google Maps as Sat Nav on Android 2.0

Google have been showcasing what the Google Maps application is capable of on the Android operating system – but it seems loads of people are having problems locating the files, installing them and getting them to work as intended.
It’s taken me a bit of investigating and poking around the net but I have now successfully managed to get Google Maps installed and up and running complete with voice navigation and street view.
So here is the method on how I got Google Maps to work with voice control, street view and to work as a Sat Nav application.
 

UNINSTALL PREVIOUS APPS
I only got ALL the functions fully working by completely uninstalling all old versions of Google Maps and also another ‘Brut’ map application I had aswell to avoid any further conflicts further down the line.
 

DOWNLOAD GOOGLE MAPS
Firstly download the latest version of Google Maps (Currently 4.1.1)from the Android App Store and install.
New features include My Location, Directions, Traffic, Street View, Latitude, Layers, Navigation (beta), Search by voice.
 
 
DOWNLOAD GOOGLE VOICE SEARCH
A lot of Android phones do not already have the Voice Search app installed and it isn’t that easy to locate either within the Android Market so pop the following URL in your browser and download the apk file directly and install from the following location:-
http://voicesearch.googlecode.com/files/VoiceSearch_2.1.apk
 

INSTALLATION
Once all downloaded – run Google Maps and click Menu and select the Search option.
This will now bring up a top of the screen search box but now complete with a microphone graphic. Click the graphic to activate the Voice Recognition app and speak your destination by starting with the phrase, “Navigate to……Cardiff Castle” (for example.)
Click to confirm destination and Google Maps will show you your route. A very basic Microsoft voice will speak the directions to you but im sure many more voices will become available real soon.
Whilst in navigation mode you can access Google Street View by pressing the small street view graphic(its a small stick man!) and your Google Map will transform itself into a fully-rendered 3-D navigation system.

So by following these 3 simple steps you can enjoy a free Satellite Navigation system on your Android mobile phone. Obviously you will need to use the app with the GPS switched on! Enjoy. This page may be updated again real soon.

PHOTOS-HTC Desire camera testing

The HTC Desire boasts a 5MP camera which is a higher rating than my stand-alone camera but what are the quality of the pictures like?
Well I have been randomly snapping with it all week and will show you some images here complete with some taken with various ‘camera apps’ aswell.

First up is an application called ‘Vignette’, which as the titles suggests, adds various arty effects to the photos on the fly. There is a free version which will only allow you to take the photos with a maximum resolution of 0.5MP (great for texting and facebook use) whereas the paid for version (£2.99) allows you to manipulate to the full quality of the camera – in this instance 5.0MP. But as the app has to manipulate a lot more data on the higher res images it can take a little longer for it to create the adjusted image.(You dont actually notice the phone doing it mind!) So first up a range of vignetting, colour casts, toy effects, light leaks and diorama effects with Vignette.

Another free camera application is one called ‘FX Camera’ this offers some simpler effects along the lines of pop art, mirror, lens effects and colour effects. The free app is quite powerful and easy to use. Here are a few photos taken with this app.
 

More images to be added a little later – watch this space!

PHOTOS-Cardiff City v Reading

Cardiff City earned what could yet prove to be a crucial point at home to Reading to maintain their push to secure a Championship play-off place at The Cardiff City Stadium on Saturday. Kelvin Etuhu went closest for Cardiff with a low drive turned round the post. Peter Whittingham put a half-chance wide after 26 minutes, connecting with Jay Bothroyd’s low cross at the near post after he had been sent clear down the right by Michael Chopra.

But the chances of a breakthrough started to diminish as the half wore on, with the game becoming somewhat scrappy. Chopra was replaced by Ross McCormack at the break but Cardiff survived to extend their unbeaten run to eight games, while Reading have now lost just two of their last 15 league games.

Slideshow of all the photos taken at the match below. The second half of the game was so boring we were all huddled around my mobile phone watching live streaming of the Grand National! None of us in the vacinity had the winner mind! Click this link to view full screen.

How to import contacts and address book into an Android phone

People sometimes try to put their old sim card into their new phone and attempt to copy them that way, others sync up via Outlook on their PC whilst others try to bluetooth their old address book across – but none of these methods would work from a HTC Diamond to the HTC Desire. Baffling me for many days – I stumbled across a solution and am posting it here to assist other new Android users in tranferring their whole address book/contacts over.

As you’re going to an Android phone, I’d personally recommend a Free GoogleMail/Gmail account. They are fairly friendly to the Android operating system and are great for backing up contacts, calendars, & email for FREE. And it all happens over the internet(I know how temperamental Activsync can be on USB)

HOW TO IMPORT CONTACTS/EMAIL/CALENDAR TO A NEW ANDROID PHONE

1) On your Computer, set up a GoogleMail account (IF YOU ONLY WANT TO USE IT FOR CONTACTS TRANSFER, THAT’S FINE! You can always get rid of it later). Once you’ve done that and are shown the inbox, click on ‘Calendar’ in the top corner of the web browser, just to kick that into life too. Should only take 2 or 3 seconds.
 

2) On your HTC Diamond Tap Start > Programs > ActiveSync.
 

3) Tap Menu > Add Server Source.
 

4) Enter your Gmail address, and ensure that the ‘Attempt to detect Exchange Server’ Settings automatically check box is de-selected. Enter the Google Exchange Server setting manually, which is m.google.com
 
4a) Enter your User name (which is your Gmail address IN FULL), password, but leave domain blank. Exchange server settings and the password are case-sensitive, so be sure to enter uppercase and lowercase letters correctly. Tap next.
 
5) Check the boxes for the types of information you want to synchronize with exchange server. Make sure ‘contacts’ is one of them!
 
6) (Optional) Select E-mail, and tap Settings to do any of the following: Change the number of days for which messages wil be synchronized, Change the message format, Select the download size limit, Include attachments when downloading messages. Tap OK if you have finished.
 
7) Tap Finish.
 
All your contacts, emails & calendar will now sync from your original phone to the Google servers. It might take some time and not accurately display what your old phone is doing and may even crash it! But if you run into trouble either reboot ActivSync or even the phone as a last resort. Emails will be pushed to your handset rather than it having to check every so often.

When you get your HTC Desire, one of the first things it’ll ask you on setup is if you have a Gmail account. Fill in the details, check that data sync is enabled in the settings menu and your new phone will pull down all your contacts (and calendars, and email) for free!

Any questions please feel free to ask!

Best Android Apps (March 2010)

Well I got delivery of my brand new HTC Desire mobile phone over the weekend and am totally over the moon with the advances made in the Android operating system. My last 4 phones have all operated on Windows Mobile which has offered some tweakable features whereas the Android system is totally open and now boasts over 100,000 apps made for it with the figure growing at a really rapid rate.

So you’ve just got yourself a swanky new Android 2.1 mobile phone – what apps do you instantly need to add? Well here is my list of what i’ve put on in the first week and found really useful.

SOCIAL MEDIA
Meebo (FREE) – an instant messenger app that allows you to chat with MSN, AIM, Yahoo, and even Facebook contacts all within one window. Much more easier than multiple accounts open in loads of different apps!
 
 
Layar (FREE) - an interesting little app this! Essentially it is a take on Augemented Reality on the Android operating system. Essentially what this app does is allows you to view your surroundings via the onboard camera and move it around your environment to interact with it and discover/locate things! For instance, I was trying to find a Post Box near me to post a letter in – switch on the ‘Post Box layer’ and spin the camera around to see where the nearest one is. Or if you are feeling a bit peckish and need to know where a local takeaway is – switch on the ‘Takeaway Layer’ Essentially it is a massive database with GPS locations of items which you can view relevant to you. It comes into it’s own when you start using the social media layers consisting of Facebook, Youtube and Twitter. A little bit scary for some people to see other Tweeters located around you but a really invaluable tool!
 
Twidroid (FREE) – a Twitter client for the Android operating system. A lot of phones come with their own Twitter app/widget but this one comes into it’s own as it proves VERY useful when trying to navigate the myriad of media contained within Tweets – be that whether its video, photos, other people or URLs. It’s so easy and intiuitive to use.
 
BeebPlayer (FREE) – this is a non-BBC branded version of the BBC iPlayer. There isn’t an official BBC iPlayer app but this does everything you would expect from an official app! You can watch live streams of any of the BBC channels (was very useful for The Grand National at The Cardiff City Stadium on Saturday!) and also you can watch the thousands of hours of material in the watch again section. Obviously streaming quality depends on your 3G signal but is still watchable on other sources!
 
RESOURCES
Net Counter (FREE) - this app counts up the amount of data that your phone uses and is very useful for people on tariffs with Orange as they only give you a figure of 500mb a month (which is a bit stingy of them!) These new smart phones really do use up a lot of bandwidth and i’d try and get at least 1Gb per month just to be sure.
 

Barcode Scanner (FREE) - this little app is extremely useful in that you dont even have to enter URLs or other information to browse websites or find out costs of items. All those little boxes you can see can be scanned by this app and hidden within those boxes are information and instructions depending on what is scanning it. Therefore you scan those boxes with this app and it redirects your phone to download the associated app with it. Very simple and useful.
 
GAMES
Nesoid (FREE) – an emulator that allows you to play any of the games released on the Nintendo Nes system. You will have to download the ROMS aswell and sometimes the controls can be a bit dodgy if playing on a touch screen – but otherwise its great discovering the old games again.
 

Marvin (FREE) – a Spectrum 48k/128k emulator. Luckily there is a link directly to World Of Spectrum within the app to download all the ROMS directly. Very handy but choose the game carefully as some dodgy control systems in place if using touch screens. (or maybe I just havent configured everything properly yet!)
 

Right that’s a few to get you started. As I discover even more useful apps i will post them here! Have fun with your Android mobile phone and please add any interesting apps you find here!

PHOTOS-St Davids Fashion Show 2010

Celebrating the best of fashion available at St Davids Shopping centre there was a catwalk erected on The Hayes outside John Lewis and Cardiff Library showcasing some of the clothing available in the shops like Reiss, Hollister, Henleys and John Lewis to name a few.
Its being held from 6th April to 11th April with four daily shows and exclusive discounts for all these shops being handed out. Aslong as the Catwalk Shows there are also Pamper Pods where you can pick up hot tips and offers and a Fashion pharmacy!

Real Crisps – Political Style!

A local Welsh company based in Crumlin, “Real Crisps” have taken the policitcal and crisp world by storm and seen an opportunity for an exciting new product.
 
“The Real Election Crisps”are based on the three main parties for the 2010 General Election.
 
There is a yellow coloured packet featuring Nick Clegg, A blue coloured packet featuring David Cameron and a red coloured packet featuring current Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

MP3-Crystal Fighters mix, tracks and remixes

A fantastic mix from The Crystal Fighters for radio station Kitsune 1.
Click to download the Crystal Fighters – RADIO MIX FOR KITSUNE #1
Click on any song from the tracklisting to download individual tracks!

 

TRACKLISTING

Gianni Rossi – Gutterballs
Phoenix – Listomania (Holy Ghost Loves Paris Remixomania)
Beni – My Love Sees You
Renaissance Man – Spraycan (Sharkslayer’s Respect to Nassau Remix)
Siriusmo – High Together
Autokratz – Always More (Goshi Goshi Remix)
Captain Funk – Stereo Funk (Fukkk Off Remix)
Patrick Wolf – Hard Times (Jack Beatz Remix)
Crystal Fighters – Xtatic Truth (Arcade Remix)
Crystal Fighters – Xtatic Truth (Renaissance Man Remix)
Giuseppe – White Waves
Magic Wands – Black Magic (Crystal Fighters Remix)
MayBB – Touring in NY (short tour edit)
Kelley Polar – Rosenband (Magic Tim’s Instrumental version)
Harvard Bass – 81 (Renaissance Man Remix)
Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs – Bournemouth
Datarock – Give it Up (Kissy Sellout Remix)
Steve Angello – Gypsy (Alvaro Remix)
Laidback Luke – Generation Noize (Riva Starr Rechunk)
James Braun – Spanish Fly
Minimorph – Spanglish
Chuckie – Let the Bass Kick
Michel Cleis – La Mezcla
Popof – Serenity (Noob Remix)
Crystal Fighters – With You
Juan Luis Guerra – Vale La Pena
Golpes Bajos – Fiesta De Los Maniquies

Cardiff City Centre for the 4am Project 04/04/2010

The 4amproject is a movement, an event, an experience, with the purpose to gather a collection of photos from around the world at the magical time of 4am on 4th April 2010. Anyone and everyone can take part and join in! With the whole point of seeing what you see at that moment in time on that one day. What would be our view of Cardiff at 4am?
 
Unfortunately in the UK 4th April turned out to be Easter Sunday within a Bank Holiday weekend.
Personally for me it was made extremely difficult to attend this event as there was one of the biggest local derby matches with Cardiff playing Swansea followed by Cardiff Blues playing Ulster. (Cardiff won both games btw! hoorah!!!) Hence after working all day Saturday, watching these two games with copious amounts of beer I had to be strong and leave the celebrations in the pub to be in bed by 10pm to ensure at least a few hours of decent sleep and for the effects of the beer to have worn off.
 
I think I instantly went to sleep with only a brief stirring at midnight before waking back up promptly and sharply at 03:30am. NO hangover was apparent and still revelling in the two great wins earlier in the day. Water on face, clothes on – no time to brush hair. Fellow 4am-er Anita Harris was already parked outside and raring to go!
 
It was difficult trying to think of an exciting location to capture something actually happening, we were pondering on railway stations, post office, Cardiff Bay but due to the Easter Bank Holiday weekend a lot of commercial activities just werent happening so we opted for Cardiff City Centre instead.

 
Our trek began on the Taff Embankment, with a very dark Millennium stadium in the background but with some illuminated veg sculptures to whet our appetite for what was ahead. We headed over the Wood Street bridge to Cardiff Central train station where only a couple of taxis lurked in the taxi rank with no activity at all. A few stragglers anxiously waited outside for the train station to open to assist them in getting home. But no major antics – just peace and serenity.

Walking beyond to the top of St Mary Street and over to Mill Lane via Penarth Road and the only activity was the clean-up operation from the weekend excesses. A solitary rubbish truck collected the waste and gave us some different lights from the flashing lights on the truck. Also great being able to take a shot of the Private Shop without feeling too guilty!

Only a few people meandered across the newly completed Hayes area with the remnants of chip wrappers and cartons strewn across the area. Some revellers tried to climb the newly erected sculpture outside the library but obviously failed!
A slow walk along the empty, desolate, quiet streets around The original Hayes island and then back down via Wharton Street.
 
 

Whilst attempting some light dancing (for the first time!) we were surprised to see a police car pull over and speak to us! The officer just checked that we were ok and told us to watch out for pick pockets!

It was amazing to be in the City Centre at 4am and experience it sober(ish) for once. It was great to see it with clear eyes and to see that all the bad press and so-called yobs and drunks havent overrun our beautiful city and spoiled it.

We could hear the chimes of Cardiff City Hall ring out in the distance to signify 5am had been reached. We rapidly snapped the last few before heading back home – where I got to bed about 05:45am only to be back up for work at 08:30am. I didnt feel that bad in work, bit of a stiff neck and almost like a delayed hangover but loads of food, coffee and chocolate helped! (I knew there was going to be a good reason for having it on Easter Weekend afterall)

For a full slideshow of all the photos click HERE

PHOTOS-Graffiti Characters around Cardiff update

Well after the success of the first batch of graf characters hidden around Cardiff I thought I’d share a few more with you!
All geo-tagged in Flickr so just click any photo to see a larger version complete with all the info.