Naquada

It was my nephews fifth birthday today, and as well as spending a few hours building various lego and playmobil sets, I spied something on the side that caught my eye..

Optimash Prime.. The wacky Mr Potato Head is up to his usual antics, not satified with Darth Tater, and Spud trooper, this time he’s disguised as the fearless AUTOBOT leader!

He and his faction of taters are battling the evil DECEPTISPUDS. Those starchy situations call for a quick change, from truck to robot, or other spud like origin! These are no ordinary fries, these are POTATOES IN DISGUISE!

Childish I know.. but you can’t help loving a super hero Autobot with his spares in a flap in his arse..

Now, I love crumpler bags, not only are they cool to look at, they are rough, tough, and protect all my geek stuff really well. My IBM laptop bag is now really on its last legs, having transported my Thinkpads and my TabletPC for about a year, its starting to fray round the edges and groan under it own weight.

I very rarely carry my backpack in ‘backpack’ mode, that is, I always sling the bag over one shoulder rather than two. So I’ve been thinking about trading it in and getting a messenger type side bag. The problem being that IBM don’t do those, and secondly thats gotta be a big bag to carry both my laptops and my stuff when I’m on the road for IBM..

I was reading a blog on macbooks recently and saw crumpler now do a messenger bag called The Horseman, quite fitting for the mammoth storage space this bag seems to have (14 litres!). rewl has a great review on Kvet.ch and a great photoset on Flickr

The Horseman seems to be the ultimate messenger style satchel really with ‘kitchen sink’ features. Like all crumplers the bags fully padded for maximum protection and neat shape. The horseman has a plethora of pockets, both zippered and Velcro, and holds several folders and magazines, laptop and accessories as well as daily essentials, in fact you’d expect nothing more from such a huge bag.

Like all crumplers, its fully padded, offering great protection for your gear (its not going to split and vomit your gear like other bags that could be mentioned..)

The gun metal and gray version looks very ‘suit’-able, but still streetably acceptable in looks.. one to add to the list I think…

Ok so the first rule of toys is; Don’t ever sell toys, even if its to buy more toys, don’t sell toys!!

But I’m seriously tempted to sell something to buy one of these.

Numark’s iDJ2 looks a little too good to be true;

• Integrated iPod slot with adjustable mount
• Seamless looping
• Pitch control
• Large backlit display with revolutionary user interface
• Ability to scratch music
• Real-time visuals include Track Profiles and Waveforms
• Record to an iPod or other connected USB media
• Facilitates mixing with three or more USB Hard Drives or Apple iPod’s with USB hub
• Many USB ports to plug in iPods, memory keys and hard drives
• Play music off two iPods simultaneously, play two songs off same iPod
• Formats supported: mp3, ogg vorbis, FLAC
• Pitch control with multiple ranges up to +/- 100%
• Beatkeeper™ technology with TAP override function
• Scratch and search ability via two large jog wheels
• XML playlist support
• USB Keyboard support

It allows you to play two songs simultaneously from a single iPod, without the need of a computer, an almost complete Dj unit in a box ?

It also allows you to hook up multiple USB mass storage devices including additional more iPod’s, Memory Sticks, and external hard drives. It also allows you to hook up line inputs devices for any audio source including a microphone, CD players and turntables. Manage a music library using the iDJ2’s new, highly intuitive graphic interface. Watch waveforms on the oversized LCD screen and get visual track-profiling. You can also record session directly back to the iPod or any connected drive….

Its been years since I’ve Dj’ed properly.. but hey your never to old right ??

Everybody knows Magical Trevor,

He’s the bloke with stick and the leathery whip,

But now he’s back in a form that quite slick,

That’s fluffy and cuddly and somewhat quite smaller.

Magical Trevor, he’s available for pre order

Hop over to weebls, he’s sat in the corner.

Magical Trevor, buy him right now, he’s more use than a cow..

So some time ago I found Hasbro / Playskool did a Mr Potato Head Darth Tater, and now I have found out that they will be producing a Spud Trooper..

Spud Troopers have sworn allegiance to Darth Tater. Vowing to fry the Rebel Alliance.. Never underestimate the power of the Spud side.. Darth Tater the root of all evil, Spud troopers the eyes of the empire..

Spud Trooper comes as with all Mr Potato Heads with a bunch of pick and mix , with a mask, a potato masher, a set of teeth, a nose, a set of ears and eyes, a body, shoes and two arms..

Personally I think he actually looks a lot cooler than Darth Tater.. Both I think would be a perfect addition to my complete collection of original ‘evil’ Star Wars figures I found in the house archaeology the other week.

Since all my figures have their original guns and accessories, it apparently makes then worth a bob or two, if ebay is to be believed. My original Yoda figure with cape, snake and cane is going for upwards of £11, and a set of mixed figures small in number than mine is going for about £310!!

Ok so its very sad, but my new A6 is in the Audi compound awaiting shipment to the local dealer, meaning that I should get delivery on or around the 28th July.

Not quite happy with all the toys I already have in it, Sextons Car Audio will hardwire my Road Angel and my PocketPC GPS system into the new A6, meaning it will all be nicely wired in and no dangling cables. I’m actually quite impressed so far with the new Road Angel. Registration (which is needed to update the database) was quick, and was activated in a few hours, even though the site says one working day. I took it for a spin and it successfully spotted all the black spots and more importantly the cameras around here.. Obviously the real proof will be the trip up to Knutsford tomorrow, since I know that trip has a mix of cameras both very visible and not so visible.

I had to adjust the volume of the alerts, the voice is slightly quiet, but the warning blips are quite ear piercing at the higher volumes!! Currently set to 40%, I think it could go down to 20% to be kinder on the ears.

The only real struggle I’m still having is getting the Phatbox into the new A6, as yet its not compatible with the new all digital audio of the A6’s and the MMI system. If I can get that in there I may never need to get out of my car!!

Ok so I’ve brought myself the ultimate toy..

Today I ordered my new car. A new style Audi A6 Quattro Sline 2.4, and of course I had to load it with some extra’s, The Bose Sound System, MMI Plus, BlueTooth GSM enablement, Acoustic parking system, heated leather seats, sports pack (sports seats, lowered suspension, cooler alloys..) and 10 CD changer.

Its basically a beast of a car, a dark blue perl effect with a black leather interior. The great thing about it? Its only going to cost me about

So I absolutely HATE what Vodafone seem to insist on doing to every mobile phone they sell..

Lets take the standard firmware on the phone, pull out a few features and put a nasty red and white firmware on it, and we’ll make it crash a lot to finish the job.’ A process commonly known by the term VodaBoned.

So I’d like a new phone, since my old SE T610 is now out of date and its dying. Now I can get an upgrade phone from Vodafone, but it’s gonna have the nasty VodaBoned firmware… right ?

Not quite. Sure, if I get a new phone from the Vodafone store, I’ll get a fried, crippled one. However, I’d like one of the unlocked, new standard phones the likes of Expansys sell, but that would involve swapping contracts and such…

Again, no. Through some calls and digging around I found out that Expansys will let you upgrade your phone through them.. so rather than walking into a Vodafone store and askign for an upgrade there, you can ring expansys and upgrade there. Meaning that you have in effect, a huge range of phones (all unchanged) available to you to upgrade to, including some nice imports and more advanced phones that you’d not get in the store (like the I-Mate SP3i I’m looking to get)..

No more weird Vodafone firmware for me…

So I ordered a 14 inch Crumpler Gimp for my new Toshiba last night.

The Gimp is a super strong water proof, Neoprene laptop ‘pouch’, with nylon stitching, a long zip with with protective seal (so your laptop doesnt get scratched) that snuggly holds your precious laptop tight and firm..

..and they just look so cool!!

Ok, this is so cool!! I saw this on Marcs TabletPC Blog

Hasbro PLAYSKOOL has announced the launch of the new Mr Potato character, Darth Tater, just in time for the theatrical release of Revenge of the Sith. Supplied with all kinds of mix ‘n match parts, including lightsaber, cape, helmet, shoes, eyes, nose, teeth and more..

..and to top it all in true Mr Potato Head style, you can lift his cape and store them up his.. err.. rear end…