The long wait to record free HD TV in the UK with Freesat+

For years we’ve been promised that Freeviw would be the future. Now of course we have freesat too but more importantly and something I’m hoping will be the future is freesat+
Essentially it’s all the best bits of freesat – the free HD programmes the regular extra free channels and no monthly subscription with the ability to record to a hard disk. All using the EPG and with smart search and pause and chase play etc.
The only people looking to make a freesat+ box are Humax and if they make it like the FoxSat boxes in Australia then they are going to be smart enough to see if y ou have set something to record and it can’t then it will search the EPG for the next showing and set it to record that one instead. Also automatic recording of split (e.g. by the news) programmes. Oh and of course everyones favourite feature from Sky+ the series link or series record option. Allegedly it will also be capable of recording ITV HD Interactive service

My only concern is that we’ve been promised this PVR for so long and now it’s allegedly being release mid November and we are almost there and no further information or specs have come out.

Google Contacts Nightmare

So a slight problem recently with contacts.
I use a number of tools and web apps in my daily life to keep things organised beacuse I work for myself I use a number of machines in a number of offices so it’s easier to rely on web applications for some tasks.

30 boxes (30boxes.com) for a calendar as this also allows my partner to add events and we can keep track of what nights we have free for stuff which is nice.
Gmail (gmail.com) for email as it’s usually reliable and has heaps of storage space and I like the search
plaxo (plaxo.com) for keeping my contacts up to date
linkedin (linkedin.com) for business contacts
mobile me (me.com) because it came free with my iPhone and works with my MacBook address book

The problem I have now is syncing al the data.

This used to be easy as every now and then I would sync with plaxo to my work machines and that would pick up new contacts and I would dump them into Gmail manually. Not too painful and simple.

Now though the iPhone sync has got the better of me. Gmail has a whacked-out idea of contacts management in that email addresses are automatically added to your contacts list each time you use the reply, reply to all, or forward functions to send messages to addresses not previously stored in your contacts list. Sounds great in theory. In practise I don’t actually know a lot of those people and I may not want them in my contacts list.

iPhone has imported contacts from Gmail bringing all this random data and that has synched with mobile me and now my phone has 1800+ contacts only around 300 of which I actually added myself.

Google what are you thinking adding all these people to my contacts list without asking me?
Apple what are you doing allowing me to sync with data that is so different from my original set without setting off alarm bells somewhere.

Gah!

mixed day – the DNS

mixed day – the DNS problems sorted themselves out- with relief. I think I may have just been being impatient. Got invited to scally’s to finish the haggis next wednesday. Did lots of house type stuff washing and the like. Went out for a long walk with Jack as it was a lovely day. Met Spence and Abi for drinks and had a generally pleasant day. Realised how completely lost I would be if I had to move into a smaller flat now that I have become accustomed to so much space. I remember when I was in one room and how I coped with so little space. All my books in boxes – which I know to some people is the only way to keep books [foms] – all my other stuff stored at my parents.
panicked that there is less than a week until the party now and I have nothing prepared yet, the following week-end I am at Eurodisney and the I am off to Singapore and Sydney – it is all happening so quickly. Shouldn’t complain – I’ll make sure I get plenty of aspirin though for the flight to oz.