New 911 (or 997 and a half) Promo

My eternal indecisiveness is further elevated whenever I watch a new Porsche video (about what my next car might be). The choice is still at least a year and a half away, but current front runners are (not in any order) 911 (s or GT3), Elise or Exige supercharged, Caterham R500, Nissan GTR and the Audi R8. And of course, replacing the M3 in my garage with the newer version.

I have a feeling that cars as we know them won't be around for too long, so I'm seriously tempted to get a back to basics pure driving experience car, and then a daily driver (or see if I can keep the M), which further complicates my decision. I normally have an ordered list in my head of what's next at all times, but the whole GTR vs GT3 vs Caterham are all so different cars, that I'm in a confused state. I guess it's a nice confused state to be in though, and I'll probably end up getting none of them if/when the time comes. You never know, maybe I'll get rich and just put the deposit down on the F430 Scuderia - the lottery is up to $75 million at the minute.

Anyway, enough rambling, here's the video

Kinetic Energy Isn't So Hot

What happens when you try out a fancy new system on your F1 car for capturing the braking energy and re-using it down the straight for a few extra mph's? Just watch the guy to the left and find out - guess it still needs a little work...

Magic Backup

Todd (famous for not only heading up the Lijit team, but caning his Cayman round Pueblo in the A Group at lightening speed) posted today about a new backup service from a group of guys he used to work with.

Magic Backup will automagically backup your machine in the background, and send the data to the cloud in the sky so you can get it back if your machine blows up, or you happen to lose it in an LA Earthquake or something. Price seems pretty reasonable to me - around $5 a month for peace of mind, and of course there's a nice free trial so you can check it out before you buy it (and they don't even take your credit card for the trial, which is kinda nice). And I'm a sucker for pretty user interfaces...

Rough Ride

Don't get on the wrong side of the NYPD (and note to NYPD person - you probably should check for passers by with video cameras before you try this again).

Reports are stating that the cop has been put on desk duty pending further enquiries, and there's also reports the guy on the bike actually got arrested and held for 26 hours after his little "accident".

Feed Me

Cool pic from Like Cool, that I thought would be quite handy to signify the massive amounts of food that could be consumed at our house today. The annual Wife's Birthday's BBQ happens today, and the slight panic that occurs when you have over 70 people reply in the positive to the Evite, and that doesn't include the neighbours or the friends from work is in full swing. Luckily a successful trip to Costco to stock up on food was preceded with an equally successful trip to the liquor store, so I think we're good.

Despite being chief cooker at the grill, I'm going to see if I can fit in taking a few pics as well, so there might be a chance I post a few tomorrow if you're lucky. Stayed tuned.

And Happy Birthday Evie - still can't believe you're one already. See you in November when we're home girl.

Todays the day

Not only is it my fantastic wifes birthday, but it's the end of an era for a Tyneside legend. Known as "The Boat", the Tuxedo Princess has been a bit of a fixture on the banks of the Tyne since I got to drinking age, and it's rotating dance floor was the cause of many a slippage/spillage/spewage over the course of time.

I'm trying to remember the last time I went out on it - has to be a good few years ago now, but I do remember it being a popular Monday night spot when I was at Uni, with triples for 1.99.

Anyway, as long as they get the necessary clearance that it won't sink as it sails off into the distance, it'll be gone on Sunday to make way for a nice new office building (not sure quite how that works - is the office building floating?). If you see it, give it a wave from me...

BBC NEWS | England | Tyne | Tyne called on floating nightclub

Stop

Blatantly stolen from Nixta, who stole if from Thomas (as in the Thomas we hung out with when we were in NYC the other week - kinda cool when the web and real life end up intersecting, or maybe it's just got to the point where the web is real life). And stealing probably isn't the right word.....

Anyway, this is especially for my fave lovie in advertising, Rach, who as you saw below popped out another kid last week

Beatrix Olivia Mary Armstrong, Welcome to the World

On Saturday July 12th, Rachel finally had her latest addition to the family pop out, and both new baby and mother are doing well. I don't have any pics yet, but I'll post when I do receive them (trust me, I asked). I did get the "I managed to be shopping at 5, and had the baby at 7" comment though, so I think Rach was pretty happy about that (not sure if that was coz the labor was short, or the fact that she managed to get some extra shopping in before being holed up inside for a few days?).

In related news, Faye decided to have her baby a little early yesterday, so welcome to the world Mia Hall as well. Mother and baby are doing well (and you have to be impressed with a girl who calls work 4 hours into her labor to let us know she's not going to be in the office that day!).

And in related news, if you haven't heard already, Tonks and Aly have joined the "we're having a baby soon" gang - estimated delivery around the end of January, but given recent experiences, it could be earlier or later. Congrats!

UPDATE - pics arrived from Rach

Lindsay Makes the Hot List

Super stardom (if she's already not there) is just around the corner for Lindsay now that she's made the TV Week Hot List for 2008

The Hot List 2008 - TVWeek

Lotus Eagle

Some people leaked the details before the planned British Motor Show release, so here you go. Somewhere in the middle of this car is a 3.5 V6 from Toyota pushing out over 280 bhp. Hopefully it's gonna keep the traditional "corners on rails" handling of all the other Lotus's, and very little weight to ensure it goes and stops quickly and easily.

Official press conference is tomorrow, so there's likely to be lots more pretty pictures and details then - stay tuned.

Wasp Knife

Lot's of press in the UK about the increase in knife attacks etc, so in typical newspaper fashion, a few of the daily papers get everyone even more scared by telling everyone in the world that you can go out and buy the knife below. How exactly that will help the problem, I have no idea. I just know if I see something that looks remotely like this, I'm running as fast as I can in the opposite direction



Apparently there's some legitimate reason for one of these things (I think they mentioned being attacked by a shark or an alligator or something - obviously a common thing when walking around Newcastle).

Pretty Buildings are all the rage

When I was a kid, Southbank was a bit of a mecca for skateboarders. There were lots of cool places to hang out down there, and although I never got to go, it would be featured in the skate and bmx mags on a pretty much monthly basis.

I'm sure it's all changed now, and with it comes lots of new buildings. One that's still not built yet is this one - apparently project planning took so long (4 years) that the original design was obsolete, so they came up with this new one. I think I want to just hang out on the 10.000 sq ft terrace on the roof.

GT-R on Top Gear

Still in shock at where on the leaderboard it ended up.....

iPhone Here, Celebrate with iBeer

The iPhone turned up on Thursday (some 10 days earlier than AT&T predicted), so I've had a weekend of playing with it now. Of course, it would be better if the battery life was better, but I think with a few minor modifications, I can survive. The trouble is it's just so pretty that you want to keep playing with it all the time, which I don't think helps.

Anyway, once I got all the things I really needed sorted out (300 on video, and a few choice tracks on the music side) I started messing around with a few of the apps you can download (Bejewelled and Texas Holdem are the current favorite games, and I got the expected response from the wife when I started waving around my light saber), but the winner so far has to be below - enjoy.

More Cowbell

An application specifically for Mr Hartley?

More Cowbell - The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

Finally Did It

I'm in the process of trying to end my addiction to DVD's (over 700 currently in the collection according to Delicious Library) and so have joined Netflix, where the purchasing will be replaced with a steady stream of (hopefully working) DVD's in the mail. Now I have to decide whether or not I need a new external hard drive or if my current system will hold out. Only time will tell.

Does this mean you'll stop giving me shit Nick? ;-)

Apple: 1 million new iPhones sold

It would be at least a million and one if AT&T actually had any in stock at our local store (or any local store). Apple are releasing new ones to the public daily via their stores, but they have also posted a note saying corporate accounts must be activated via the AT&T stores, or direct with your account manager. That would be great if our account manager wasn't quoting 10 to 14 days for delivery of a phone, and the stores having no idea whatsoever of when they'll get a new batch in. Search resumes tomorrow I guess....

I'm not sure if this has been done on purpose or not, but we have around 7 or 8 people in the office on the list to get one (compared to the previous versions total of 0 takers). I'm thinking Apple has a decent chance at their 10 million phones sold by the end of the year target if they can just get them into the hands of the people who want to spend money.

Apple: 1 million new iPhones sold - CNN.com

Guess where Neil was this weekend

25, originally uploaded by Neil Stone.

Fynn's Haircut

Fynn's Haircut, originally uploaded by Aaron in Denver.

So the weather's been pretty warm the last few weeks in Denver, and Fynn, with her ever growing fleece seemed to be suffering. So, we got some special dog clippers and chopped it all off. Well, we left her tail and her ears well alone, so now she's walking round with a nice buzz cut.

Of course, now she's got less hair, the A/C at night has her a little cold, so she's got some extra blankets to snuggle into at night to keep her warm enough. We think she likes it, but it's tough to tell.

Table Watch (or Watch Table?)

I used to love my watch that looked just like this back in the 70's. It was way too big for my wrist, but I thought I was the coolest 7 year old in school. If only the batteries didn't crap out every 4 weeks or so.

Now you can have a decent sized table made to look just like that watch. And it even works - press the buttons, and it changes from time to date to some special 8 character message you can plug in. And if you don't like the finish, chrome and gold are available as well. The site doesn't have the price on there, so I'm guessing if you have to ask it's too expensive, but I'm seriously tempted to ask.....

Best Ever Coat Hangers?

Coat hangers have never really been that cool - they get hidden when they're in use, and the fact you can pick up about a million for 20 bucks at Target probably were part of the reason.

But Yuedo have a new design out that changes all this. Obviously the footy ones caught my attention, but the swimming ones on the website also look pretty cool too.

TVR Is Back!

They're back...... 8-)

PistonHeads Headlines

Numeric Keyboard Chairs!?

If you own a big house, or an office that needs some stools, or maybe a school I guess, this might just be a perfectly nerdy way to get some seats in there. Unfortunately, my house is too small, we never need quite this many seats (apart from Heidi's annual birthday party - stay tuned if you're expecting an invite, it's on my list to start getting sorted this week).

I'm not sure if you can actually buy this or not, but if you're really interested, just keep following through this link and you'll get to the source eventually (I think).

Dinner Napkins

As the wife can attest, I have an incredible ability to share my food evenly between my mouth and my shirt. Luckily, people invented napkins, and not only do these ones make you look (more) respectable, it takes away some of that self consciousness around sticking a bit of paper in your collar when your eating. Or maybe not.

Happy 4th Everyone

Humor today by the only e-card site that seems worth bothering with these days.

Have a great one today - I'm spending the whole day pretending that everyone else isn't celebrating the defeat of my home country. Alcohol normally works pretty well for this. And Union Jack underpants.

NYC Vacation

Times Square, originally uploaded by Aaron in Denver.

A bit of what seemed like a whirlwind trip to New York is now complete, so I can take a quick breath and enjoy a few days back at home over the holiday weekend before diving headfirst back into work.

The trip started out in usual fashion - plane delayed by an hour, and then circling New York for an hour and a half, before we almost ran out of fuel and had to make a semi-emergency landing at a National Guard landing strip somewhere in Upstate New York. Another hour on the tarmac, and then a short hop in to finally land almost 4 hours after we were meant to. Luckily enough, I had filled the iPod Touch with a good few episodes of Season 1 of Miami Vice, so I wasn't too stressed with the whole ordeal. Something about Ferrari's and pastel suits just makes me relax I guess.

So, all plans for the first night were blown out of the water, but it ended up working out fine - both Kathy and Nick were knackered for completely different reasons, so we got checked into the hotel around 10 and immediately ordered a big steak on room service.

Sunday was a pretty lazy day - first vacation lie in, followed by a quick trip over to Nick and Danni's to watch the footy. It was actually a decent game, which is relatively unusual for a final. And if you're ever lucky enough to go over to their place, make sure Danni does her special nut recipe thing. I can still taste them now - they were great. We then bailed shortly after the game (and the torrential rain had stopped) to go splashing in puddles around Central Park, then had a wander down 5th Avenue, stopping in the Apple store so I could sample the completely see through circular elavator, and take a couple of pics.

Monday was a huge day - we wandered around for about 7 hours (and I'm still feeling the pain from all that exercise now). Top of the Rock, Times Square, lots of shops, including bumping into one of the cast of CSI in FAO Shwartz. We even managed to buy a couple of things, then a quick blast back to the hotel for a shower, and out for dinner with Nick, Danni, Lindsay and Aaron. The place was called In Vino (I think) - a little Italian place down in Alphabet City - great food and wine. We ended up chatting for ages, taking our time with dinner, and eventually closed the place down. It wasn't too late a night, but we crashed big time when we got back to the hotel.

Tuesday we lazed around in the morning, and then just got in a cab and headed for what we thought was a little spanish tapas place. Of course, it had recently shut down, so wandered around for a bit until we found a mexican restaurant that had the best fajitas I've ever had in my life. An afternoon margarita (or 3) to ensure I was in the holiday mood worked a treat, then we jumped in a cab to the Upper West side to see where all the rich people lived. Lots of very nice houses and apartments up there, but I have no idea how normal people can afford to live in that area. Or Manhattan as a whole I guess. The only thing that was cheap all weekend were the cabs (and a couple of things we picked up in the sales).

Tuesday night was apparently my get drunk night, and I succeeded in my task. We jumped straight in the cab after our wanderings to head to Royale, home of the best burger in New York. As luck would have it, it was also just a regular bar, rather than some fancy restaurant, so we hung out in the bar for a while as we were a little early (the first time that happened all weekend). Nick and Danni came by, along with their friend Thomas, and we sampled the burgers and fries and onion rings before Nick's newly arrived Wii started calling his name, and our stamina disappeared with that last gin and tonic.

And then Wednesday we came home. Delayed, of course, but nothing too serious - I think we were both pretty exhausted, but excited to see Fynn again. From the frantic wag of her tail, and the fact that she's followed us around all day today, I think she missed us too. And to think I was worried she might not have wanted to come home after all the care and attention she gets at her own special vacation home known as the Falkenbergs.

The trip was great - nice to hang out with friends in their home town for a change, and New York has so much to see and do. We worked out pretty quickly we'd need about 3 weeks solid to actually do most of the things we wanted to do - it was never going to happen, so we just relaxed and enjoyed what we did do. If we go back, I'm definitely going on a walking training program beforehand though...