Steve Woods

My phonecall with O2 about Windows Phone 7 HTC HD7 device availability

I decided to phone the O2 sales line today, to see if I could find out any information about the availability of Windows Phone 7 devices, given that they're due to be released tomorrow.

Here's the transcript of the phone call - I would have posted the actual recording but I didn't ask for permission - I'm posting this transcript on the basis that I didn't lead the operator into saying anything that anyone else who decides to ring up would not have been told.

Here you go (and, worryingly, according to the O2 Coming Soon page, the HTC HD7 is exclusive to O2).

---- 20/10/2010 09:40 ----

O2: Good morning you're through to O2 sales, how can I help you today?
ME: Good morning, I'm just wondering - I'm after some information about the new Windows 7 phones that are supposedly coming out tomorrow, I was just wondering if you had any pricing information or whether you can confirm if they're going to be in shops tomorrow to try out?
O2: Er for tomorrow, we're not sure we don't have any confirmation [unintelligable] ... just check on our website
ME: On your website it does have information about the HTC HD7 phone, I mean, is there no other information like pricing or tarrifs or anything like that?
O2: *3 second pause* .. No. We er, we, well, we don't have any information to be honest. So if you ring tomorrow or, you know, we'll tell you if we have it in stock or not.
ME: Right.
O2: We have no information so far
ME: Okay
O2: Thanks, bye.
ME: Bye now, thanks.

---------- END ----------

Hope this helps people out.

A slideshow every web developer should take the time to flick through

This is a truly eye-opening (and obvious with hindsight!) slide-show regarding mobile web development.

http://www.quirksmode.org/blog/archives/2010/09/rethinking_the.html

Hat tip to @dies_el

Early run - and can you help?

Check me out - running at 5:30am without any kip! ~2.2 miles in a touch under half an hour isn't bad for me - managed to shave almost 2 mins off my "mile time" too... I'll have that, no bother.

I've got a problem though - the breathing is coming along nicely, I don't get as breathless now which is a definite plus - but my back is fucking killing! Right at the bottom, just above my arse. I'm guessing this is just due to muscle weakness but it's causing me a bit of bother and I keep having to stop (as you can see on the lower 'heartbeat style' graph which measures my speed on the image above. Any suggestions?

Plus I have sore chins but that's because I'm a big fat man bouncing up and down on skinny legs - hopefully it'll settle.

I'd really appreciate some pointers on the back issue though - is it just a case of keeping at it? Should I do less distance for a while?

Cheers

Run, Fatboy! Run!

Today marks my official promise to myself to run at least five miles a
week to get a bit more in shape.

i know its not a lot but if i set a huge amount, i'll fail for sure so,
i'm more inclined to be realistic. And that means no excuses.

Wish me luck! (and follow me on DailyMile or SportyPal!)

edit: formatting fixed - damn phone, so much for mobile blogging...

Some pro-bono work for a worthy cause

Last night I took some time out from work to create a simple new website for my wife, to celebrate the lives of some people who have died from cervical cancer.

My wife is part of the Jo's Cervical Cancer Trust community, which aims to bring awareness to cervical cancer and the fact that it kills many young women long before their time.

During her time in the community she has become friends with a number of women who have, sadly, passed on. She wanted to create a shrine to their memory instead of their stories being lost in a deluge of new forum threads. It's her way of paying tribute to these women and highlighting what they and their families went through.

The site uses Posterous to manage the content if you're interested :)

Check it out http://www.josgirlsmemorial.co.uk and don't forget to donate to Jo's Trust.

Chill out, Folks

"When I look back on all these worries, I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which had never happened."

- Winston Churchill

People these days are ignorant bastards

Today I did a good deed.

I was driving along to the shopping centre and turned into the road down to the shops, where I was confronted by a car in the centre lane coming the opposite way to me which had stopped and had it's hazards on.

Inside was an oldish woman, about fifty-five years old I'd wager, on the phone to whoever - it was obvious from the position of the car (and the hazard lights) that she'd broken down, so I pulled up at the side of the road, left my wife and kids in our car, and went to speak to her (in the middle of the road).

Turns out, she'd been there for ten minutes, stuck, unable to move the car and didn't have a clue what was wrong with it. "smoke came from the engine" she said. Regardless, the car had to move as it was becoming a problem to the other lanes of traffic which were having to drive around her.

I asked her if she needed a hand and she accepted gladly. So, I started to push her car out of the way. And some bastard drove around the car on the inside lane, where I was trying to push the car! If you're reading this, You Sir, are a cock of the highest order.

It took me five more minutes of waiting, gesticulating for traffic to stop (and bear in mind this was a 30mph road, not exactly a motorway) and eventually someone stopped [daydreaming] so that I could push the car out of the way. At this point, a police car helpfully arrived and blocked the traffic anyway but by then I'd moved the car and she went to sit inside to wait for the breakdown truck, thanking me profusely.

Now, maybe I'm just old fashioned, but in my day (aagh!) if you saw someone stranded (especially a woman, no offense), you stopped to help because it was the decent thing to do. Not for reward or recompense or anything like that, just as a favour. There was no way this woman could move the car herself and probably felt pretty vulnerable for the ten minutes before I arrived. I was, frankly, disgusted that no-one else had bothered to stop.

People, how long does it take to help someone out? Wouldn't the world be a better place if we just slowed the fuck down, forgot about our hectic schedules (mostly brought on ourselves by lack of organisation) and just learned how to be decent human beings again? Seriously - if you see someone who needs a little bit of help, do the right thing - assist.

What's that phrase again? do unto others as you would have them do unto you

SportyPal - Getting me off my big fat arse

I'm not affiliated with this product, but I am fifteen stone. Fifteen. Fucking. Stone.

For those of you who know me, you'll remember me as the kid who was tiny. They even called me Littlewoods at school for christs sake, the fucking wags that they were! Hilarious! Even when I was twenty-three, I was still only nine and a half stone - now I weigh as much as a small car! what's going on?!

I blame getting married tbh - I eat more, and better. I'm content. They say that's what happens. But dammit I'm not ready for middle-aged spread just yet, so I need to do something about it!

Now granted, a lot of it is muscle (if I do say so myself :D). I've put on quite a bit of the good stuff since I started kickboxing and I feel pretty fit. But since I moved down south from the Toon, I've not been keeping up any kind of training ritual at all. Except for trips to the fridge. And if I'm honest, I feel the worse for it.

So, enter SportyPal. I've been using www.dailymile.com for a while to track my workouts, although admittedly they have been few and far between. It's good, but it's not enough. The reason for this is two-fold. One, I'm lazy. And two, I'm even lazier when it comes to typing all the information in about a run/walk/bike ride. I just cannot be bothered, it's the 10's for christ's sake and I'm a twenty-first century kinda bloke. Automation ftw!

SportyPal is different. It does it all for you, because I have a smartphone with a built in GPS. It can track my routes, tell me how long it took, how high I climbed, how fast I travelled - it's awesome. Not least because all I need to do to keep tabs on myself is to click "upload". All my workout data is sent over the interpipes and presented to me on Google Maps with more stats than I can dribble at.

There's no better motivation than seeing yourself rack up the miles - trust me, it's a good feeling when you see how much exercise you have done instead of being a lazy git. Plus, you can gloat by sharing it on Twitter/Facebook with the click of a button. "Hah, have that, you fat gits!", is my usual warble after a particularly energetic sesh!

Best of all - it's free! More money for mars bars, er... weightwatchers flapjacks! Hooray!

http://www.sportypal.com - add me, I'm woodss.

New Project Launch - VatSimSigs!

I'm an avid Flight Simulation fan, have been for years much to the mirth and merriment of the people I know. I enjoy nothing more (well, within reason) than filing a flight plan from one place to another and sitting online while I'm guided via live air traffic control - pretty much as real as it gets without setting foot into an actual plane.

The live air traffic control is from VATSIM, or more specifically the people connected to the VATSIM servers who have nothing but a simulated radar screen on their PC's with which to talk to and guide us armchair pilots from one place to the next, over the internet.

It's a lot of fun and it's the nearest I'll get to realising my childhood dream of being a pilot, because I have the worlds shittest right eye. I can see everything with it, only it's like looking through slightly frosted glass. So, Mr Woods isn't allowed to fly the Big Iron (though I *will* get my PPL one day).

I've been a member of the FlightSim community since about 1993 or 1994, (back in the dark days of FS4.0b with the aircraft and scenery design addon!) and during the years I've learned a LOT about piloting, navigation, radio communications, etiquette and aircraft stats. All of which appeal to me.

So it's my turn to give something back, no matter how trivial. Enter VatSimSigs.

VatSimSigs is, as the about page will tell you, simply a web application that allows you to display a signature on forums, reflecting your connection status to VATSIM - that is, online or offline. This is especially handy for those who browse the forums and are interested in seeing whether or not their buddies are online.

In addition, it also allows you to upload "sets" of images, which I have cunningly entitled "image sets" (genius!). These sets of images are a two-part group of signature images, one for online and one for offline statuses - but because the system generates HTML or UBB code links, you can have multiple different signatures running through your singular VatSimSigs account.

What this means is that if you're a member of a virtual airline (and I am, I'm a First Officer rank on www.thomsonvirtual.com , defected from KnightAir ), you can have one signature for that forum and another for additional forums, such as BAVirtual or EasyJetVirtual or whatever other forum you frequent. All from one place, no administration necessary - VatSimSigs will do the processing and make sure the correct status image is served no matter which image is requested.

VatSimSigs is also free of charge - so enjoy, tell your friends and have three greens!

For those who are interested, It's built in ASP.NET MVC 2.0, and took about 19 hours to complete from start to finish including design / development / deployment - not bad going :)

Check it out!

http://www.vatsimsigs.co.uk

It must be a school holiday...

Seems to me that Posterous isn't all it's cracked up to be with regards comment spam - sorry for all the messages advertising sunglasses, lolitas and penis creams (none of which I have bought by the way, although I do need some new sunglasses) - normal service is hereby resumed.

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