Our Green and Pleasant Land

Every day I commute to work on the train and once out of the urban sprawl that is Manchester and Stockport, we soon enter the green pastures of Cheshire.

When you actually look, we live in  beautiful place.  The land is green and lush.  The old farm buildings give lie to their age, and rickety barns remind us of our heritage as a farming society.

As the journey continues, we pass Jodrell Bank Observatory; with the huge Lovell telescope pointed skywards, listening.  You can visit the Discovery Centre, to find out about this and more.

Of course, Cheshire isn't the only green land; in fact, for dramatic scenery, combined with the peace and quite of the country, you only have to venture an hour north of Manchester, to The Lake District.



Here, you will find rolling hills, dotted with small villages.

The rugged landscape of the Lake District is in contrast to the relatively flat landscape of Cheshire

In today's day and age, we're mostly too busy to stop and look. Our daily lives flash by without any consideration for what we could be missing.

We're amazingly quick to criticise that our wi-fi speed isn't fast enough, or there's no mobile phone signal - but once in a while we should stop.

The next time you're out in the country, do just that.

Stop.

Listen to the sounds of nature, take a deep breath of fresh air and get a real sense of belonging.

AFC Bournemouth - Ready For The Big Time

Since Eddie Howe returned to take the reins, The Cherries have gone from strength to strength in their campaign to rule the Championship. And rule it they currently are; topping the league before Christmas, and continuing to pull in the positive results.

The question is... Are AFC Bournemouth ready for the Big Time?

They had a brilliant run through the League Cup, until Liverpool came to visit, and they're through to the 4th round of the FA Cup, with Aston Villa waiting for them. My 8 year old son reckons Bournemouth could spoil it for them!

Having been a follower of AFC Bournemouth since my youth, there is now the very real chance that they could soon meet the mights of Manchester (United and City), Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea etc.

But. Is this a good thing? The financial force of these teams is way beyond anything the south coast team can consider, especially in the early days.  Sure, television rights and sponsorship deals will soon boost the coffers, but is it enough.

There's also the consideration of the stadium. The Goldsands has a capacity of 12,000 supporters.  Could they host the away followers of such huge clubs?

They're talking about expansion; but will it come soon enough?

Finally, there’s the pressure of staying in the top flight.  It’s one thing getting there, it’s something else to retain the momentum and keep their place.

Don't get me wrong. It's a very exciting prospect and I'm sure that behind closed doors the clubs owner, Max Demin, and the directors will be considering all the permutations.

In the meantime, Eddie and his team must continue to work hard to protect their position, so when the time comes, they can hit the Big Time in style.

Review - Amazon Prime

This may come as a surprise (not!) that I like Amazon.




I am fully signed up to Prime, and also have their Fire TV and a Kindle.  I don't (repeat - don't) have their phone and neither do I have an Amazon tablet.

I did consider the Fire HD, but I didn't want their version of Android!

So - for the last few years, I have paid my dues, and taken advantage of the goodness that comes with an Amazon Prime subscription.

What do you get for your hard-earned cash?

1.  Unlimited Free next day delivery.  That was their first offering, and it still stands.  However; even this is now being amended - if you accept a 3 day delivery, they'll credit you with £1 towards music! Seems a bit strange to me.  I'll let you into a secret.  This isn't always the cheapest way to buy something.  There could be cheaper prices on Amazon.  It's always worth a look.

2.  Prime Instant Video.  An all you can watch buffet of film and television.  This was launched to counter the Netflix effect.  In fact, Amazon are catching their competitor with more up-to-date films than ever before.  Plus, they offer their Amazon Original Pilot series.  The viewers have the power, using their comments and votes, to decide if a pilot episode of an Amazon Original should be granted a full series.  Genius.  What's more; we've seen some gems, and others are to follow.  Transparent is one such show; Mozart In The Jungle another.

3.  Prime Photos.  OK.  I admit; this isn't one I use a huge amount - mainly because I use Google for photo storage.  However, I can store unlimited numbers of photos in Amazon Cloud Drive, and it won't cost me a penny more.

4.  Kindle Owners' Lending Library.  This is actually pretty good; and I've used it quite a lot.  As a Kindle user, it's great to be able to borrow a book and once read, return it and borrow another.  There is a limit of one per month; so not a free-for-all; but a worthy part of the service.

What is hard to work out is whether the £79 annual fee is value for money.

At just over £6.60 per month, I have access to loads of good films and TV shows.  Delivery of my purchases don't cost extra (a hard one to quantify, as I don't purchase something every month!)  Photo storage doesn't mean much (to me).

A search on the internet suggests that the average price of an e-book is around £3.00. Multiply that by 12 and you can see that half the subscription covers the Kindle Library.

On average, a film rental online costs £3.50.  Just one a month = £42.

Therefore, for £1 short of the annual fee, I can watch 12 films and rent 12 books.  Of course, in reality; I can watch many more films, and catch up on TV series (Ripper Street anyone?)
One a week? More?  The value of Prime increases the more I watch.

Is Amazon Prime worth the subscription?  It's not for everyone, but it works out OK for me.

The Truth About Travelling With Children

Travelling with children… the very thought strikes fear into parents around the world.  I suppose it depends on the type of travel.  Let’s face it, jumping into the car and heading off should be easy.

Flying, on the other hand, has stresses of its own, and the idea of working your way through the airport system (check-in, security, waiting in the departure lounge) is hard enough without children in tow.

This story, however, is about travelling by car.  As I've already mentioned; this should be easy. None of the children are babies (14, 13, 12, 8 and 8) and so are quite capable of “entertaining” themselves.  You’d think!

First, there’s loading the car - or in our case, a minibus.  There’s 9 of us.  Yep… 9!

We hire a large minibus for the duration, so that we have plenty of luggage space.

Who will sit next to who?  Arguments ensue…

“I don’t want to sit there”;

“I want to sit in the back”;

“Why can’t I sit next to him?”

Maybe we should draw lots, to see who sits where!

At least I know where I’m sitting - and that’s up front, with a job to do...

The vehicle loaded; more likely than not, I've put the wrong bag in the back, so need to ferret it out for use during the journey!

Finally, everyone is on board and seat belts fastened.  Doors shut; engine started.

“Mum, please can I have the iPad”,

“Where are my headphones?”... and we haven’t even left the drive.

I take a deep breath and engage first gear.

Expected journey time - 4 hours.

Time until first request for food? 30 minutes!

Then… silence.

Silence reigns for the next couple of hours, as films are consumed, games played and music listened to.  After that, the next phase of the journey - the “Are we there yet?” questions.




These begin innocently enough; just a quick calculation of how long to go; and more silence.
For about 20 minutes!

“How long to go now?”

“I told you 2 hours, just 20 minutes ago”

More silence.  Games, music, movies.  FIVE minutes later another voice pipes up
“Are we nearly there?”

Aggravation creeps into the reply

“Weren't you listening 5 minutes ago?  It’s about 90 minutes.”

The pattern continues for another 80 minutes; interspersed with more requests for snacks.
Then the magical moment, as I tell everyone that we’re almost there.

After just 2 minutes:
“I thought you said we’re nearly there!”

“I did; just 5 or so minutes.  Look out of the window and you’ll see where we are.”

Finally - we pull up outside the house and as I toot the horn to announce our arrival, the kids unbuckle their belts, slide open the door and run into the arms of their waiting grandparents.

Suddenly the stresses, aggravations and repetitions of the last few hours are swept away.

We’re here. Until the return journey....!!

Review - Acer C720

I’ve had my Chromebook for a month.

As is customary; I decided to write my own thoughts and views on how this has changed the way I work online.

I have an Acer C720, currently running (at the time of writing) version 39.0.2171.96 (64-bit) Platform 6310.68.0 (Official Build) stable-channel peppy - Firmware Google_Peppy.4389.89.0.  There - that’s the techy bit out of the way.

I’ve already written about my decision to move from Windows to ChromeOS; so now I’m giving my further review of the Chromebook itself along with the overall experience.

Hardware

The Acer C720 is a tiny machine.  It’s extremely lightweight, the gun-metal grey of the body giving it a business/professional outlook.  The casing is made of plastic, which obviously helps with keeping the weight down.  The battery is advertised as lasting “all day” - which in Acer speak is 8.5 hours.  In fairness, this is about right, and I've been very impressed with the fact I can work without being connected to the wall - something I always had to do with my laptop.

The dual-core 1.4Ghz Intel processor, along with 2Gb RAM is well up to the job of keeping the Chromebook motoring - I haven’t experienced any lag with multiple tabs being open.

The 11.6” screen (1366 x 768) isn't bad, but it’s not the best.  Personally, I wasn't looking for an HD, retina-style display.  

I wanted something I can work with, to write documents (and blogs) watch occasional YouTube videos and run my business (using Google Docs).

On the other hand, the speakers, situated under the base, are not bad at all.  They’re loud enough, and whilst a music aficionado might baulk at the quality; they’re fine for me.

The only real negative is the webcam - which is a stretch to call it that.  It will do the job as far as Hangouts go (remember, there is no Skype on a Chromebook. Yet!)  My advice is to make sure you have plenty of light, otherwise there is ghosting and poor quality of image and there’s nothing you can do about it.

Finally - the external ports.  There is an HDMI interface, two USB ports (one of which is USB3 compatible) and an SD card slot.  Not forgetting the mic/headphone socket.  It’s wireless only - there’s nowhere to plug in an ethernet cable.

That’s all there is to it.  The keyboard is a standard QWERTY layout, with some Chromebook specific changes.  The top row is dedicated to shortcuts.  There is no Caps Lock key (this is now a search button) and there is no Delete key.  There ARE plenty of shortcuts that you’ll come to know and love, to achieve all the above.

Software

Once out of the box, and switched on, the only thing you need to do is enter your Google password (after logging on to the wireless network).  All your Google settings will be synchronised; so when you fire up the browser your bookmarks and extensions are all present and correct.

You’re ready to go.

The main desktop screen is devoid of any icons, apart from those in the tray at the bottom.  You can pin more if you want to create shortcuts, but that’s it.

On the far left is the Apps icon, from which you can launch the apps you need.  Remember, in the majority of cases these will open the browser.  Whilst a few can launch offline (and more are coming available all the time), the Chromebook is designed to be connected.

I have used it offline in a number of scenarios, and found it to be most acceptable.  Once re-connected, data is sync’d and all is good.

For office-style documents, you have Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and more, to create documents, spreadsheets, presentations etc.  All these are stored in Google Drive - which is ideal for sharing and collaboration.

There’s Hangouts for video calling.  You can download Gmail Offline (so you can access your email and compose new email when offline).  It’s a shame it’s a standalone app, but it works well when needed.

There is a rudimentary file management; however, since 99% of your work will be in the cloud, there’s little need for storing locally, in the 16Gb SSD. Bear in mind, you can plug in an external drive if you absolutely have to.

The Web Store has a plethora of apps and extensions to the Chrome browser, to make your Chromebook your own.

As for peripherals - I have a Cloud enabled printer, which I can access via the IP address to use the scan function (although I can only scan one page at a time, not a complete document.  This isn't a show-stopper, but would be nice).  I have discovered the ability to scan multiple pages using my HTC One m8, via the Google Drive app - so that has helped.

I do have a wireless mouse, which works; but for some reason, I’m quite happy with the trackpad; using multi-touch for scrolling, right click etc.

The question is… have I missed my Windows laptop?

Have I managed to work both for business and pleasure using only a Chromebook?

The answer is a resounding YES.  I no longer need to be bound by Microsoft.  I don’t need MS Office, and I have received a couple of ChromeOS updates since I bought it, and they were done quietly, in the background.  No fuss. Future updates also come at no cost!

So again, to all those of you who can’t decide if this is the answer… if you're looking for a low cost approach to computing, with a battery that will free you from the wall, then this could well be what you need.

I love it...