Fear of Fish

In case any of you British people are unaware, there was an announcement at a private Apple event in the Regent Street Apple Store today, letting us all know that the iPhone will be available on the O2 network on the 9th November for £269, on varying tariffs, all with unlimited data (YAY!). The disappointing fact is that it's on EDGE, not 3G. Which is a shame because the 3G network throughout Europe is much nippier.

I for one will be getting one pretty much immediately...now how do I get out of my 18 month Orange contract without it costing me a fortune? ...more to come on this

Check out the O2 site: O2 iPhone mini site

Have you ever noticed that most things you want to do on a Mac are simple? The term 'It Just Works' they use really is true. I can send pictures and sounds to my blog really easily with Bluetooth File Exchange, I can easily connect to wireless networks without wondering wtf is going on. These are examples of actions that are sometimes mind boggling-ly hard to get working on a Windows machine.

Now, I'm Microsoft Certified, so the chances of a regular user being able to do that are very remote. That's what keeps the PC repair industry going, which I used to be in. My friend runs a PC repair business and he praised the day when Vista came out, because he was presented with a whole new flow of revenue as everybody upgraded.

However, I digress. I'm only writing this post to let you know that Apple have failed me. My friends know me as the Apple fanboi who let them get away with murder, purely because they are leagues ahead of the competition.

Setting up your Apple MacBook to dial the internet, through a 3G phone (or GPRS or Edge). Here are the steps:

• Download Modem Scripts for your phone from Ross Barkman's Site
• Place them into your /Library/ModemScripts folder (as described on his site)
• Open Network in System Preferences
• Create a new Location called "Mobile" or whatever you like, and select that Location
• Open Bluetooth in System Preferences
• Add a new device (or configure an existing one) and in the wizard give it the details that you can find on Ross Barkman's GPRS info page
• Dial the internet through Internet Connect (with Bluetooth selected in the toolbar)

Now, to get to the point where you know that it's not that hard to get going, you have to spend hours frustratingly wondering why you can't figure it out to start off with. I'm not comparing this to a windows machine, because most phones come with software that will configure this all for you.

I am, however, putting out a plea to Apple to ease this process. The USA may have free wireless internet throughout the country, but in Europe and other continents they still charge us ridiculously high prices for that privilege.

Please Apple, can you fix it for me so it's click click easy?

I'm pleased to announce that I'm now a proud member of the Engine Yard team, servicing the needs of privileged customers ensuring they get the unrivalled quality and commitment that Engine Yard have become well known for.

So it is with a heavy heart that I wave good-bye to the 'Fear of Cheese' hosting business I was about to launch, as it would clearly be a conflict of interests, and so I apologise to the customers who were eagerly awaiting its arrival. The Cheese will continue to be developed (there's lots more on the todo list and it clearly needs a tidy up and some tests), so hopefully it will be of use to you in the future on your own servers.

This will most certainly mean that some interesting side projects may be coming out sooner than I predicted, as working for myself commonly meant firing on all cylinders from 8am to 11pm with client work. Now at least I'll have a few spare hours to work on the books I'm authoring and others I'm contributing to.

The Rails Documentation Project will still receive the same amount of time that I currently put in, but it will be relegated to evening work. I'm also pleased to announce that I shan't be costing the project anymore as I'm volunteering my services for the grand total price of £zero.

So to all those Engine Yard customers and hopefuls, I look forward to sorting out any problems or requests you have.

Thanks very much Ezra, Lance and Tom, and hello to the rest of the team!

Note: This is completely un-computer related and just a documentation of my experiences with a bike I bought lately and a warning to others. Also, it's not specifically on the Huoniao HN125, but more a broader warning against LS Imports Ltd. and the bikes they sell.

On the 8th January, 2007, I decided to purchase a cheap chinese motorbike to gain experience on before I went to take my Direct Access Scheme which would allow me to ride a more powerful bike. The bike I decided on was a bargain £550 exc. delivery, on ebay, and the [seller (LS Imports Ltd.)](http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/cypruspounds/ had a large amount of positive feedback.

As my current project for New Bamboo Web Development is coming to a close, I thought I'd let you all know I'm available for freelance or project work from the 19th February, let me know what you need, when you need it and I'm sure I can accommodate you. If you'd like to query the quality of my work feel free to get in touch with them through the contact address on their site.

On a side note it was a pleasure freelancing for New Bamboo on their last couple of projects, and look forward to working with them in the future.

Cheers.

Here's an odd story that'll get your theories flowing, I didn't see this but a couple of my friends did and they filled their pants. What I'm about to tell you happened the day of the bomb scares that were all over the news, the ones that prompted airlines to ban carrying anything suspicious onto a flight e.g. Toothbrushes and other dodgy hand luggage. Anyway, it was mid-morning and she was driving home, when a large commercial airliner (she estimated a 737 or similar, and has been to many an airshow to put her knowledge into context) flew over her car roughly 200 feet off the ground with it's undercarriage down. The nearest commercial flight path from us would be 10 miles North for the Leeds/Bradford airport, which is about 30 miles away. The plane continued on towards the moor and fired up it's turbine clearing the hilltop by about 100 feet.

Strange for our area, yes. On the morning of a series of flight bomb scares, even weirder. Now after the plane had cleared the hilltop and began to ascend, 2 jet fighters flew over in pursuit. My friend rang Calendar news (our local tv new station) who said it was the first they'd heard of it and warned that they may be forced to not air the incident if a news blackout was 'requested' by the government.

The producer of Calendar news rang back a couple of times with updates on the situation and it turns out that after more research the airplane was heading in the direction of Menwith Hill and was the topic of a lot of intrigue. On a side note, there's also another airbase in that direction which could have been it's destination.

So, no surprise, the incident didn't appear on the news and we've heard nothing else about it. The question's are...was it hijacked and heading to Menwith Hill? Was it having technical difficulties and needed the nearest airbase to land at (a fighter escort would be a standard procedure in this case, I'd guess)? or maybe something entirely different?

Just to put this in context...I live in a small village, surrounded by country roads, moorland and the Yorkshire Dales National Park, so it's not something we see every day.

I'm trying out a few blog editors to stop me having to log on so much and make changes, and hopefully increase my post frequency. I'm liking ecto quite a bit actually, it might just have to be the one I stop the trial on and go for. What do you think?

I'm interested as to what people think of the company name "Fear of Fish", so far I've had plenty of positive feedback and only one negative comment. Let me give you a little about the name (there isn't much) and then feel free to comment on what you think of the name. I'm probably asking for trouble by doing this, but I appreciate the feedback either way.

When I was initially trying to come up with a name for my business, I went through the usual iterations of "van Dyke Designs", "van Dyke Development", and many other version of my name and the business type. However none of these inspire me, and I believe a company name should reflect the line of work that a business is in, even if it is with a vague reference. A business name should be imaginative, and unforgettable, it should make people talk. Think "Virgin", think "Apple", both of these don't seem to relate to the products at all.

So, I put my thinking cap back on, and started with other more original and obscure attempts. "Pyroclasm", "Deathcoil", "Innervate"....nope, nothing inspiring there. Then one of my clients made what he thought was a comedy attempt:

"Fear of Cheese"! Interesting, I really like this name, but it has one fatal flaw, I love cheese. However, I really don't like raw fish, to eat that is. Sushi is just not for me. And so, there was the epiphany and "Fear of Fish" was born.

Let me know what you think, maybe tell me your company name and where you got it from, why you chose it, what did you turn down to get it?

I just wanted to give a little shout out to David Black who is writing Ruby for Rails. This book is an excellent incite to both Ruby and Rails and how they work together to create the magic we've all come to love. Although I prefer my books to just crack on and write about what I'd like to know, it doesn't waffle a bit at the beginning of each section e.g. "In this section we're going to...".

I understand this is a writing technique common among the teaching professions, it's not my style. Having said that, this book contains some fantastic information and is well worth coughing up the cash for.