• It's #raining and #thundering here in Peterborough. Good for the roses, lousy for the rest of us. #
• M'afternoon BTW. I spent most of the morning looking for better ways to query across multiple permissions. #
• Figured someone neat out. Finished rewrite of node (MPTT) class for Gallery. Can use it for forums also. #
• Gallery has a rock solid base now and we can use these new methods in other apps / forums in the future. #
• Drastically reduces the need to process in PHP / use large IN lists. All very exciting. Getting my nerd on. #
• MySQL query error: SELECT Array.* FROM gallery_albums_main Array LEFT JOIN WHERE Array ORDER BY Array…. dynamic query #fail #
• Hello all. Turned Twitter off today as I needed to focus. Making good progress on #ipb gallery. Enjoying it in a sadistic sort of way #
• Just watched "The Crazies". Can't beat a bit of zombie slaying. #
• Dear Channel4. Can I have my 10p back from 2005? Now we have to evict these losers stuck at the arse end of TV again. #ultimateBB #
• Mind you, these layabout losers holding onto "celebrity" with their fingertips will earn more in 2 weeks than most in 5 years. #ultimateBB #
• Marshmallow anyone? http://twitpic.com/2husfq #
• The Daily Mash – PARKING AT WORK NOW HARDEST PART OF MOST JOBS http://bit.ly/9IKVWK #
• Morning everyone. Did you miss me yesterday? What do you mean you didn't notice I wasn't on Twitter? #
• Was up at 6:15am "Daddy go downstairs?". Dark and rain lashing down. Thought I'd woken up in November. #
• Invision Power Services: NHL Forums Transferring Over (to #ipb ? http://bit.ly/a6uNJq #
• Another busy day today at IPS. Another snazzy piece of interface done. Can't wait to blog about it. #
• Still raining here in Peterborough. Looking on the Internet for Ark building tips. #
• Hello world. I've come up for air. Been totally immersed in Gallery and it's finally coming together. Tried to not distract myself. #
• Off camping this long weekend. Wish us luck. We need nice weather! Looking forward to getting away for a few days. #
• A lot of stuff going into gallery will be used in later versions of #ipb so I'm taking the time to get it right. All very exciting! #
• You know you're a dad when you start worrying about tyre pressures of fully laden cars. #
• Watching Blackadder on my phone. In a tent. http://twitpic.com/2j43kx #
• Breaking. Mass suicide in Lincolnshire market. http://twitpic.com/2jbxl5 #

• Can someone tell everyone at #vbulletin that #ipb *does* have DB topic marking. I see daily people assume we don't. Markers ARE in DB. #
• Sorry about that. It drives me potty when the internet is wrong. Especially about my product. #
• Drag and drop SVN clients are awesome until you accidentally drag and drop a folder into another. Oops. #
• This made me LOL #xenforo @bbsmiley – http://bit.ly/c0mk0X #
• Brain full of fog today. Two coffees did little to disperse. Going to be fun wrestling with Flash and JS today. #
• Working on the #ipb Gallery today. New upload screen coming. Going to be very fancy. Progress bar, multiple uploads, etc. #
• Dear Twitter: Family member after "cheap" #iPhone – worth looking at 3G? How do they run with iOS 4. Advice welcome. Thanks! #
• Conversely, if anyone is looking to sell a 3GS, let me know. Doesn't matter if it's got a few knocks. UK only, obviously. #
• Starting to lose it. Pretty sure I just saw "image_notes TEXT NOT LOL" in a schematic. #
• Hello! Currently enjoying the tedium of trying to tame PHP, HTML mark-up, JS and ajax requests. Modern web is a bit messy really. #
• Takes far longer to develop software these days. Thank God for existing JS frameworks. Mitigates the pain somewhat. #
• Gallery uploader coming on in leaps and bounds. Maybe a sneaky screen shot later? Although it won't show off multiple uploads. #
• More ajaxy work: Have to write PHP layer (classes, front func), JS layer (call data) and mark-up / CSS to display it. Thrice the work. #
• As much as I whine about writing JS/Ajaxian stuff. Watching it in motion is quite magical when it's done. #
• Took 40 mins to figure out what was wrong with this: $(wrapper).update( template.evalute( $H( t.responseJSON ) ) ); – Can you spot it? #
• Congrats, @getnraged @rikkitissier @debugging – I was missing the "a" in evaluate. You all win the Gallery code to fnish [sic] #
• Worth noting, JS console showed no errors. I tested template, JSON – all good. Just didn't work. Doh! #
• Could be worse. I remember having to load a greasemonkey ext. to Firefox to debug ajax traffic a few years back. *shudder* #
• Two things that save me from leaping majestically from a tall building "Inspect Element" and "Debug.write()" #
• Sneaky peaky at what I've been working on: http://bit.ly/cml2Jd (Not finished by any means, delay in upload was Time Machine backup) #
• The iPhone. The culmination of years of development. Cutting edge. Debbie is currently using hers to pull faces at her sister via FaceTime. #
• RT @timdorr Justin Bieber slowed down 800% sounds like Sigur Rós. Creepy. http://bit.ly/d6XkEA #
• My Twifficiency score is 158%. What's yours? (I made this up completely). #
• This is how I'd describe the 'modern web': http://bit.ly/9hgvRU #
• Our neighbour is listening to "There Goes The Fear" by "Doves". This is both really annoying and completely awesome. #
• Any cool or quirky iPhone apps you recommend? Interested to hear what you use and enjoy. #
• Haven't switched on my bb for about a week. May as well sell it. Local family have switched to iPhone too. We use "whatsapp" messenger. #
• Lessons from "social web": be visual; photos & images are important. Be simple; automate not confuse. Be decisive; user settings compromise #
• Early noughties it was all about "user prefs" but now people want decisive software and not pages of settings. #
• In many ways IP.Gallery is leading this march at IPS. Will be interesting to see how it's received. #ipb 3.2 will rock. #
• Facebook and Twitter have almost no user configurable elements apart from account settings and privacy. This is a good thing. #
• Real challenge for IPS is to remove settings a minority use. People get vocal when you take stuff away. A must to progress though. #
• Time to sleep. Want to wrap up gallery uploading tomorrow. Incredibly excited about the changes. It's almost a new app! #
• If you have an interest in retro computing, check out @andytuk's flickr – http://bit.ly/djfJ4d – Brings back memories. #
• Best find of the day: Forum post; brilliant idea for book rental system: http://bit.ly/cnOzDU #
• Something to celebrate: http://bit.ly/ar2SJf #
• “@AzhriaLilu: Admin Extra – http://adminextra.com – is back online!” using #ipb #
• Morning all! I have my iTunes library on shuffle. It's like Russian Roulette! The Balamory theme tune is now playing. #
• Admin Extra: What's New! – Congrats on the conversion from #vBulletin to #ipb http://bit.ly/8Zp8We #
• Love this song: http://bit.ly/dzvtbt Spotify: Tom Waits – Take It With Me #
• Not much changes: (Left, IP.Board 3.1.2 (2010), Right, Ikonboard 3.0.0 (2001)) http://bit.ly/9WoMcu #
• There's nothing quite like a recursive script gone mad to slow down your computer. #
• Debbie appeared in the office with this. Aaawww http://twitpic.com/2gif4g #
• Naked Friday at IPS is a huge success! http://twitpic.com/2gikl9 #
• New business idea: iPhone assist. We log in and farm your 'ville. Feed your virtual fish and clean your virtual beach. Saves you time. #
• A pretty #rainbow http://twitpic.com/2gw554 #
• Currently stuffing my face. http://twitpic.com/2gwd09 #
• I love how middle class @dailyburn community is. Almost all M&S food is listed. #
• Ah The X Factor. It's not about the music or Cowell. It's viscoiusly critiquing a non stop parade of strangers from your arm chair. #
• Also good to see Cowell has upped his "110%" catchphrase to "a million percent". Next year he'll add "no returns". #
• Networs(e)? Blackberry? Freudian perhaps. http://twitpic.com/2gwtbz #
• Wish they wouldn't freeze frame and turn to grayscale on the breaks for #xfactor Always expect a "sadly she got crushed by a speaker". #
• Reading "Under The Dome" by Stephen King. Can't shake the nagging feeling that The Simpsons Movie did it better. #
• Name that theme song! http://j.mp/dlwqT1 #

• RT @DerrenBrown Brian Blessed to voice TomTom SatNav systems http://bit.ly/bwhbP6 < Perfect if you need someone shouting at you. #
• RT @citalan @dancryer A big change is coming Dan #AzhlanBB << Interesting?! New software to enter the market? #
• When a programmer is feeling lazy and unwilling to do a task, he'll spend three days writing a program to do it for him. #fact #
• Regarding previous tweet -of course programmers can be women too. Wasn't being sexist. Now make me a cup of tea and get that vacuuming done! #
• Adore this song "I Miss You" by "The Hours". Written for his late father. http://bit.ly/cZJ4xp – For anyone who has ever loved and lost. #
• Invision Power Services: IP.Nexus Second Pre-Sale #ipb http://bit.ly/cl0TZL #
• Working on a laptop with a 2 year old shouting "Oh no doggie" in my left ear while pushing a toy car through my hair. #
• Just watched Shutter Island. What a bloody good film. Lots to chew on. Scorsese just a genius. Loved it. #
• “@Twilight_Deb: New hair. http://twitpic.com/2dcycl” Dad and Son haircuts today. #
• Must stay focused today. If you see me randomly tweeting about origami birds, please send around the mind police. Thanks. #
• Sssh. I'm working. #
• Dear @Twitter. You might want to check your GROUP BY http://www.mattmecham.com/skitch/Shades-20100811-183409.jpg #
• Lost: Summer days. Last seen disappearing over the coast. If found, please direct to England. Ice cream for all reward. #
• Love how the media is excited that an open source OS loaded on a dozen mobile brands has more users than iOS proprietary hard/software. #duh #
• Morning Twitterville. How was your night? See any meteors? I didn't. #
• In other news, reverse smilies confuse me. ): #
• I've been up since 6am drinking coffee. It's probably best if I close twitter. #twitch #
• The #ipb status updates have been hijacked by Chuck Norris. http://bit.ly/cd5C9t #
• I think I could doubly my output if I didn't obsess over neat spacing and PHPDoc. #
• Listening to the glorious "Lost Trails" by "Butterfly Explosion". http://bit.ly/aTbeuG – Beautiful. #
• Listening to the rain. It's proper throwing it down. Love the sound of rain at night. #
• And thanks to @AzhriaLilu and @BBSmiley for the #ff #
• Debbie accused me of using her face wash today. Luckily she didn't notice the lip stick, mascara and high heels. #
• My iPhone is so macho. I dropped it into a glass of water. It drank the lot, belched loudly and told me to fetch it a proper damned drink. #
• I dropped my Blackberry into a glass of water. It scheduled an emergency meeting and waited for the rescue service books to be pushed to it. #
• Debbie: Do you think there will be anymore androids in the sky tonight?
  Me: No. No meteors either. #
• Time to sleep. Perchance to dream. And maybe not get woken at 6am by our Ginger alarm clock. #
• Up and out early to feed the ducks in the rain. Like a sadistic PT Luke had me running back to the car with him, jumping on demand. #
• Started watching True Blood. I think they're making up for all the sex not in Twilight. #
• Wow 2689% APR? sign me up! http://twitpic.com/2ez4qy #
• Guess where we are http://twitpic.com/2f07ku #

• Portal to hell is about to open. #
• Yum http://twitpic.com/2aoyce #
• Portal to hell is about to open. http://twitpic.com/2aoyxd #
• On our way home. Very tired and in need of a shower. Feeling a bit fragile after eating loads of junk. #
• Found this on my door mat when I got in. #mactard http://twitpic.com/2b0aak #
• Gave in and applied one of those horrid iPhone screen protectors. Keep shoving it into my pocket full of change and keys. #
• So now my iPhone has a few tiny scratches. Although the few trapped fibres and tiny bubbles under the protector drive me crazy #
• Actually. I don't recall ordering the trackpad. I suspect the iPhone did it itself. Its like SkyNet for shiny products. #
• Tempted to do an unboxing video. Rip open packet. Shake box until product falls out. Fin. #
• Magic Trackpad: Also holds iPhone at a better viewing angle. http://twitpic.com/2b0ua3 #
• New bank pledges to openly despise its customers http://j.mp/aSgd4C (NSFW) #
• "What's the worst that can happen? You fall off and break your neck" Alex says to Katie Price, echoing the hopes of a nation. #
• Good morning ladies and gentlefolk. Back to work today. Tuesday is the new Monday. #
• Messing around with my magic trackpad. First impressions good. Can't think of a thing it can't do my mouse can't. #
• Only thing to get used to is finger accuracy. Used to pushing a pointer around with a mouse so a touch slower with the pad. Still good. #
• Rumour has it that Blackberry is working on "BlackPad" an iPad clone. Is there a market for that? Ugly interface on a larger scale? #
• Totally slipped my mind that the new Arcade Fire album has been released. Downloading now! Eagerly anticipated! #
• The new @arcadefire album is joyous and sublime. Definitely their best yet. #
• Black bumper arrived and is on my iPhone. Actually quite like the look. Not too "grabby" when pulling from a pocket. Helps grip in use. #
• One wonders if the iPhones were meant to have some kind of fixed bumper on them at some point of the design process. #
• Enjoying the trackpad. Could replace my mouse but unsure if I want to. Interesting to see if iOs Desktop makes more use of it. #
• The magnificent Green Mile is on the tellybox. What a wonderful film. #
• Morning all! Working on Gallery again today. Specifically a node class to maintain complex relationships between objects. #
• Node class kicking my bottom today. Almost finished with the core stuff. Will roll it out for #ipb at some point. Will be used in Gallery. #
• I wonder how long until we see the "Google Waves Goodbye" punning after Google axes the service. Not long apparently. #
• Actually, I'm devastated that Google Wave has been axed. I use it every day to ….um…. #
• If you want to really annoy everyone around you, simply turn your iPhone up full, load the Twitter app and flick the refresh up and down. #
• Watching "TVs Naughtiest Blunders". I would imagine this is used as the in flight entertainment on the way to hell. #
• I feel that Google is on its decline, don't you? Too late for social media, lost edge on real time search and nowhere to go but down. #
• I think that traditional web searching will be an anachronism in a few years. New ways to share and discover content. #
• If I was them, I'd buy Tumblr. It sits nicely between Facebook, Blogging and Twitter. Adopted well and growing. It's the next big thing! #
• Lots of interesting points but all big companies have their day. AOL, Compuserve, Yahoo and more. What goes up must come down. #
• Or course google will be here for years but the web is changing. Facebook is a walled garden. Twitter does live search. Mobile is apps #
• And if Jobs has his way, iOs Desktop will replace OS X so one wonders if web apps will become more prominent. #
• One has to question a civilization that worships in an invisible deity but resists the notion that other life exists in our endless universe #
• Late night controversial tweeting is probably a bad idea. Night all! #
• I have a theory that files are a very advanced race and have perfected teleportation. They appear and disappear constantly. #
• Anyway, back to work. My recursive node class is almost finished. If this fly would stop bugging me, things would be almost perfect. #
• My thoughts are entirely consumed by teleporting flies now. Perhaps they can bend time and space too. They couldn't tell us in either case. #
• I wonder if Jeff Goldblum knows after his DNA was merged with a fly? Anyone got his email? #
• Perhaps that's why flies haven't really evolved. There's only a few thousand in the world and they zip through time and space. #
• I am beginning to suspect that node inheritance has caused me to lose my mind. #
• Needed to pull unique user sessions from the DB without post processing and avoid dupe member rows/dupe bot rows – http://bit.ly/dyrRKz #
• I think Twitter should allow you to "Follow" someone to get their status updates and "stalk" someone to get their foursquare updates. #
• Morning all, BTW. More gallery stuff today. Maybe I'll even get to code some of the front end today. #
• Technically, I'm more popular than Jesus. He only had 12 followers. #
• I got kicked out of the local orchestra I am exceptionally good but so shy that I didn't want to blow my own trumpet. #
• Must stop procrastinating. Taken apart Gallery to the point where it's completely broken to its very core. Might release it as 'gold'. #
• Probably the fastest way to flush out calls to the now dead category class – http://bit.ly/dkJU9t #
• Finished my #ipb gallery album/category merge script and plugged it up to the new node class – http://bit.ly/dl9sGO – Progress! #
• SVN REVERT! I've changed my mind about the Gallery! #
• This sums up today so far #emoProgramming http://twitpic.com/2c2k62 #
• Look what I made! http://twitpic.com/2c2qkp #
• http://twitvid.com/1NGEW – The iBird flaps! Looks a bit dodgy though. That's definitely its tail. Promise. #
• Head is throbbing. Time to listen to @sigur_ros' Ágætis byrjun – always relaxes me to the point of sleep. Beautiful song. #
• Taken with an iPhone 4 http://twitpic.com/2c5oj5 #
• Got pets? Eat them in this order: http://twitpic.com/2cczri #
• A little obsessed with the SAS Survival App. Fascinating and disturbing. #
• Last one: nuclear bombs falling? Start digging! http://twitpic.com/2cd72v #
• I feel sorry for my Blackberry. Sitting on my desk all alone, flashing its red LED solemnly. Unloved and unrequired. Just like Super Ted. #
• Anyone want to swap a 'droid phone for a 9700? Comes with Luke's teeth marks free. #
• He was pulling the phone out of it's sleeve using his teeth hmmm. #
• Right. Time to sleep. Night all! #
• I think the biggest problem with Blackberry is the inability to efficiently pluralize them. Blackberries? Blackberrys? And the crap OS. #
• Today's t- shirt. A bargain at £3. http://twitpic.com/2crcvy #

• If you're overweight, unemployed, have horror children and hate your spouse then you're in the perfect demographic for a C4 reality TV show. #
• Listening to the magnificent Lynyrd Skynyrd. Srly th bst wy 2 strt Myndy! #
• About to tear up some working code in the name of progress. Working on #ipb #039;s gallery. #
• Invision Power Services: IP.Nexus First Pre-Sale http://bit.ly/aqlX0G #
• Nexus pre-sale sold out in an hour. Thanks #ipb community, you rock. Let's make some great software together. #
• Hey #Peterborough need a mechanic? Give MP Autos a ring – http://j.mp/9emDmP – friends new business. Honest & reliable. Top guy. #
• Wasn't paid for that tweet, but he did just fix my car. Honest mechanics are rare. #
• Just put an order into the good chaps at @cavemansnacks ready for our weekend's camping in darkest Norfolk. #
• If Apple wants to be a major player it needs to start behaving like one
  http://gu.com/p/2th6v/ip #
• Apple's new trackpad looks pretty neat. http://bit.ly/8X6mAa – Plus it's under £60! It's almost an impulse purchase! #
• And it was. I have ordered a magic track pad! The iPhone made me. #
• Curiously annoyed that Twitter for iPhone doesn't capitalise the first letter when replying to someone. #
• Someone asked me to describe myself in 140 characters. I said I only need two. Forrest Gump and Han Solo. #
• RT @IvyBean104 ivy passed away peacefully at 12.08 this morning – Very sad news indeed. #
• After using a Blackberry for two years, I am convinced my iPhone blinks its red LED at me. Only it doesn't have one. #
• Lovely to see that "Ivy Bean" is trending in the UK. No less than she deserves. #
• Remember kids, some people are born stupid, some others cultivate it through years of practise. #justsaying #
• I just ate an apple so delicious I'm tempted to have another one. I know. It's the crazy life I lead! #
• I am working a customer's site. Apple related site. Was so absorbed reading their news topics I forgot it wasn't a social visit. #
• I broke a server using @dancryer as my evil proxy. #
• I've been staring at the #ipb Gallery SQL for an hour trying to resist rewriting it. #
• Great idea for a game mashup: HALO Google Street View. Enter a post code and start blowing up your friends houses. Genius. #
• Watched "remember me" tonight. Really enjoyed it. Turns out R Patz can act when not pretending to be a shiny vampire. #
• A massive congratulations to @XenForo on a great launch. I look forward to many years of healthy competition! #
• In other news, Luke just sat down beside me and said "Hello Princess". #
• Watching 300 on Blu-Ray. Well, if you're going to see man-nipples, they may as well be in hi-def. #
• Things learnt so far: Spartans only communicate by shouting; they're all Scottish; they love a bushy beard; Gerard Butler waxes his buttocks #
• Finished 300. Not bad. Nearly 2 hours long. Reckon they could have wrapped it up in around 40 mins without the slo-mo. #
• “@kanyewest: thoughts on Twitter so far…at the end of the day, God damnit I'm killing this shit!!!" Oh good. More famous people. #
• Kanye has settled right in. He's tweeting pictures of various nicknacks from around his house. Good job, buddy! #
• Dinner anyone? http://twitpic.com/2a230m #
• Laying in my tent listening to people attempting to play cheap plastic vuvuzela. So glad they sell them here. #
• Our home for three days. http://twitpic.com/2a4ksa #
• This is where Luke decided to sleep. On my bladder. And yes, Toy Story PJs. Um. Luke likes them…. http://twitpic.com/2a4n61 #
• Rain is noisy in a tent. So are drunk people. Overheard "I'm soaked through. Where's my f*****g tent?" #
• Cheeky boy! http://twitpic.com/2ah234 #
• Ready to make some trouble. http://twitpic.com/2ah27e #
• Laying in the tent. Luke is still asleep. I'm listening to "Elbow" while browsing #ipb and trying not to think about needing to pee. #
• Camping breakfast. Yum. http://twitpic.com/2ampw8 #

• If you're annoyed by a screaming child in a restaurant remember that the parent is even more annoyed. Kids don't have an off switch. #
• When someone is staring and tutting at Luke when he's being loud,I get the urge to do the "how much for the women" scene from Blues Brothers #
• These are random observations. Parenting is a difficult and often tiring occupation. Being judged in a microcosm by others makes it harder. #
• I put up my mobile phone number for the staff, so @rikkitissier rickrolls it via TXT. Naughty boy! #
• Performing test upgrades on #ipb using 2.3.6 and 1.3.0 databases. Doin' the time warp. Oh yeah! #
• Having a conversation in staff chat about "things we've set on fire". Any contributions? #
• The #ipb company forums were not broken. That was a figment of your imagination. #
• Discarded design for a new CAPTCHA in IPB – http://bit.ly/c40DVN #
• You know you're a little obsessed with @dailyburn when you're logging food while you're eating it. #
• I think the "Now…" compilation albums are a good barometer for ones age. Just saw an advert and recognized none of the songs. I am old. #
• Look what I found! http://twitpic.com/26yy68 #
• The first thing I'm going to do when I get my iPhone set up is the 'death grip'. It's almost like a badge of honour. #
• The most frustrating game for the iPhone is the "Rearrange Apps via iTunes screen" game! Argh! Move.. no… drop!…. NOT THERE! #
• Right. I have my icons perfectly arranged. I will never download a new app ever again and risk ruining it. #
• The retina display is amazing on the new iPhone. It's hard to believe you're not looking at a printed image. #
• I am pleased to confirm that I cannot get the signal strength to decrease by cupping, touching or squeezing the phone. #
• I spoke too soon. Holding the phone in my left hand which the soft part of my palm against the phone, it drops down to 1 bar. #
• Holding the phone in my right hand normally like this…. http://twitpic.com/2735wr #
• ….does this. http://twitpic.com/27360a #
• Invision Power Services: IP.Board 3.1.2 and Applications Released #ipb http://bit.ly/cVKHaw #
• So. I have "Facetime". I know many other people with an iPhone 4. Technically we could "Facetime". But that means I need to do my hair. #
• Helpfulness is great. It's good to be helpful. Although handing out DB log in information like candy at Halloween is probably TOO helpful. #
• I find it hard to say "Debbie and I had a really good FaceTime session earlier" without my imagination going into overdrive. #
• Yum, @stephendball will be pleased. I had beef kebabs for dinner! http://twitpic.com/27dvzd #
• Katie Price proves you can polish a turd. Watching her burst into a church, screaming, with a terrorist blanket over her head was genius. #
• Loving the new Google images search. Much improved! Thank you Google Geniuses! That makes up for Buzz and Wave sucking. #
• Random wisdom: Never judge a man by how many mistakes he makes but rather how he deals with them. #
• The sweetest way to enjoy coffee. http://twitpic.com/27lvgh #
• Cruising in style. http://twitpic.com/27moff #
• BBC News – Firm scrambles to patch #vBulletin software flaw http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-10714192 #
• Invision Power Services: Empire State of Mind – Parody – Love this Jay Z/Alicia Keys Parody http://bit.ly/c1mH6A #
• When a cutting edge smart phone meets the mind of a 12 year old, this is the result… http://twitpic.com/27zhml #
• Time for sleep! Luke will be awake and pulling the covers off me in around 6 hours time. #
• I think I broke the BBC iPhone app. http://twitpic.com/2856gy #
• 'Cut down on meat to lose weight' – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-10726414 – More stupidity from the media #
• I feel like an iPhone ad. Tonight I've surfed the web, browsed twitter, played a FPS game and edited a home movie all on my phone.Remarkable #
• After using the iPhone for a good few days, it's unfortunate that its launch was marred by reception issues. It is a fantastic phone. #
• Apple only has itself to blame, etc. But still, it's very slick and capable. Pleasure to use and explore. Clear upgrade from older models #
• When I pick up my BB 9700 I'm struck by the tiny blurry screen and cumbersome interface. And I loved that phone. #

On paper, it’s a ridiculous notion. Stifling a rising emotive lump in your throat caused by the on screen antics of computer animated toys.

But that’s exactly what happened when Debbie, Luke and I saw Toy Story 3 earlier today.

Before I continue, I must warn you that this blog is likely to contain spoilers. If you haven’t watched the film then you’re probably better off closing this so it doesn’t ruin the plot for you.

Fifteen years have passed since Toy Story was released. Like Woody’s owner, Andy, we’ve grown up with the characters. They’ve become cherished figures as we’ve enjoyed their adventures again and again on TV and DVD. We’ve passed this love for them down to our children. Indeed, from where I’m sitting right now I can spot half a dozen of Luke’s much loved Toy Story figures. He enjoys repeating their catch phrases and playing with them. His maturing mind creating simple but endearing adventures for them.

The original Toy Story created a new genre. The sequel was one of those rare films that surpasses the original. The characters and plot virtually pitch perfect. When news of the threequel was announced, I was a little wary. Could Pixar pull off another masterpiece? Would it stand next to the other two films and be a fitting send off to those much loved characters?

The answer is a very resounding yes. Pixar have never made children’s films. They’ve made films that kids can enjoy but they’ve always had a more contemporary theme. From the strong eco-message from the little robot left behind to clear up our mess, to the grief stricken man who ties a thousand balloons to his house.

Similar adult themes run through Pixar’s latest. A strong sense that all good things must end is present right from the off. Most of the toys have already been sold and only a handful remain. Andy is now a young man going to college and has no time for his old toys who still crave his attention. They resign themselves to a long spell in the attic holding onto the hope that Andy may have children of his own one day.

This loyalty and friendship runs throughout the series and ties together many of the key scenes in this last installment. During the third act, one scene has them trying to escape a rubbish dump’s metal smelter. Despite their efforts they find themselves being pulled towards the white hot fire, all hope seemingly lost. Jesse turns to Buzz and asks “What do we do now?” and Buzz meets her worried gaze with a look that says ‘Nothing. This is it’. The toys reach out and join hands. Terrified at the prospect at dying but finding comfort in their friendship. This beautifully animated moment was responsible for raising a lump in my throat. It is a credit to Pixar that they are able to wrangle such an emotional response from the audience by displaying so much humanity in their animation.

They manage it again right at the end as Andy plays with his toys one last time before donating them to another child. The long look he gives them before getting into his car and driving away from his childhood things is another wonderfully executed and poignant moment.

As the end credits roll to Newman’s “You’ve got a friend in me” you can’t help but to sit there for a moment and allow the concussion from the sentimental grenade to pass before rising from your seat to leave these characters behind.

I watched Luke skip out of the theatre babbling about “Woody” and “Buzz” and “Ye-haw Bulls eye” and I couldn’t help but to consider that he’ll grow up and leave home one bittersweet day. Another reminder to enjoy all the days we have, no matter how many clouds there are in the sky.

I can’t recommend the film enough. It’s hands down one of the finest animated films I’ve ever sat through. It is simply in a league of its own and Pixar’s unblemished record continues.

Oh go on then. I’ll join in.

By now, I’m sure you’re aware of the iPhone 4 drama which started with a small percentage of customers reporting dropped calls or reduced signal strength when touching the metal band that runs around the phone and culminated in free ‘bumpers’ being offered for all affected handsets.

Before I continue, I’ll nail my colours to the mast.

I use a 24″ iMac for my daily work. I’ve used and owned Macs all the way back to the days of the SE30. For the most part, I enjoy using Apple’s products and I’ve watched the company grow from a niche market on the verge of bankruptcy to the hip and cool tech giant that it is now. The first iMac changed the company overnight and the iPod did the same a few years later. I own an iPhone 2G and a Blackberry 9700 Bold. Whilst I enjoy Apple’s products, I do not consider myself a “fan boy”. I’ve never stayed up all night to watch a keynote speech live and I’ve never queued up on release day for the latest shiny kit.

Throughout these revolutionary years, Apple’s PR and marketing has been as slick as its products. Apple makes form as important as function and has prided itself on making desirable products that “just work”. The industry laughed when Apple entered the MP3 market with iTunes and the iPod and it laughed again when it entered the smart phone market. The combination of ease of use and slickness of these products generated sales and quickly made them serious contenders in the market.

For the first time, Apple find themselves in the middle of a PR nightmare with the iPhone 4. This new revision to their successful iPhone products boasts many refinements including a front-facing camera and an improved display along with a brand new design. What should have been another air punching, crowd pleasing launch has descended into a media frenzy that puts Apple squarely in the eye of the storm.

While people were still queueing around the block for their iPhone 4s, others were reporting issues with dropped calls and low signal strength when touching the metal band that is the phone’s antenna. Steve Jobs reportedly fired off a terse “Don’t hold it that way” reply from his personal email account which launched a new internet meme overnight.

The key issue here is signal attenuation. Gripping any phone by its aerial will reduce the signal strength as it comes into contact with your skin. This is why most phone developers hide the radio packs and aerials within the plastic body. However, as some have demonstrated, tightly gripping almost any phone in a particular place will reduce the signal strength.

I own an iPhone 2G (and I have an iPhone 4 on order) and I can drop off a few bars by gripping it tightly for 30 seconds or so. I can make my Blackberry Bold 9700 drop its WiFi signal by gripping it tightly for 30 seconds or so. This of course isn’t a problem in normal use and I do wonder if people are now only noticing this issue for the first time now that it’s been brought to attention. Certainly, most of us are used to signal bars going up and down as we use our phones and my Blackberry flicks between a 3G, Edge and GPRS signal most of the day as I travel. Is this normal variation or down to how we’re holding these phones?

Certainly, some have a much worse issue. Some iPhone 4 users are able to completely drop their signal and therefore calls just by touching a specific place on the band which is easily reproduced in normal use. But this is only a small percentage of the entire iPhone 4 user base, so it does make one wonder if some handsets are manufactured differently or perhaps an early batch were shipped with the fault acknowledged.

Ultimately, though, this recent debacle just polarises people further. Those that hate Apple are frothing at the mouth with vitriol and hug their HTCs tighter. Those that love Apple will just grab the free case and continue using the phone they love. I certainly doubt that many will make use of Apple’s refund offer based solely on the signal issue.

The biggest surprise is really how Apple have fallen. For a company that rarely puts a foot wrong and always markets themselves so well, this is a real turn around.

In mitigation, it is incredibly hard to steer a company through the often litigious waters. Many have accused Apple of denying the issue and then offering unsatisfactory responses. If you were Steve Jobs, what would you do? You are in charge of a billion dollar company with responsibilities to share holders and board members. You have invested millions in R&D of a product you’ve already shipped and sold 3 million of. Would you put your hands up and say “You’re right, it’s a flawed design, we’ll do a full product recall and go back to the drawing board and get back to you in 6 months”? That’s not a viable solution. I feel they handled the PR badly but the resolution given and the strong denial about it being a design flaw are to be expected.

Apple recently overtook Microsoft to become the largest technology company by stock value. One wonders if they are just a larger target. Microsoft continue to fail at getting a mobile platform off the ground and even if Windows is getting better, Microsoft are fighting a battle that Apple aren’t interested in.

As the saying goes: it must be tough at the top. Now you’ll have to excuse me as I refresh my Apple order page to see if my phone has been shipped yet.

• Howdy all. Long day in sis-in-laws garden with all the kids. Major trampoline session followed by epic water fight. Tired now. #
• Wow. Just turned on the world cup final and Spain sneak in a goal. Good timing. #
• Generally speaking, you should EOL old products. Not offer extensions on licenses. Shows complete lack of confidence in your own new product #
• We were proud of our new #ipb 3.0 product when it was released. Solid and stable. No need to placate customers with old versions. #
• I'm glad I got a 2gb memory upgrade just so Safari can hog it for no good reason. #
• Morning all, BTW. How was your weekend? #
• Listening to "Exit Music" from "OK Computer" while I tackle the bug tracker "Don't lose your nerve…" Good song. #
• Having a bad case of wrong-button-itis this morning. Retweeted instead of replying, SVN committed instead of updating… #
• Invision Power Services: What's new in #ipb 3.1.2? ACP Live Search and Dashboard http://bit.ly/bTVhLn #
• I'm not ragging on Twilight again, but I agree with @totalfilm on this – http://bit.ly/br04Jp #
• It's 3pm and it feels like I got out of bed yesterday and haven't slept since. #yawn #
• Pretty sure I'm just going to get an iPhone 3GS. The lack of stock for the 4 and signal issues make it undesirable. Can upgrade later. #
• Thanks for all the iPhone tweets. I'm torn again. I suppose my impatience is colouring my decision. Nearest Apple store is an hour+ away. #
• The hell with it. I ordered one from the Apple Store on my credit card so I can cancel it if need be. 3+ wks. At least I can stop dithering. #
• Oh, just in time for Debbie's birthday – http://bit.ly/cO3D0E #
• Thanks again all for the advice. I will not go on about iPhones for at least 3 days now. #
• Invision Power Services: What's new in IP.Board 3.1.2? Incomplete Members. #ipb http://bit.ly/cfpCML #
• Faintly amused at the demonizing of Jobs/iPhone. Ah, in the good old days it was Gates/Windows. How I long for thee. #
• Apple deleted negative iPhone topics from it's own support forums and this is proof they're evil? Doesn't take much these days to be evil #
• It's not censorship either really. Plenty of venues for Apple hate. Why should they allow it on their own site? #
• Not to say they are totally blameless of course. Generally they've handled the situation badly and could communicate better. #
• Daily check on iPhone order status shows no change. They've put a hold on the funds but not completed the transaction. Doesn't bode well. #
• Or perhaps the Apple employee was holding my credit card at the bottom left and it didn't go through. #
• I would say the "Apple" and "bottom left" has about another week before the joke gets tedious. I'll test that out. #
• Not sure on the #bbc redesign. It sort of looks like a bit HUGE. Guess that's for the midi market? (iPad, et all) #
• Just a thought, but shouldn't "C++" be "D"? #nerdjoke #
• Last joke about the #iPhone today. I promise – http://bit.ly/b2idBe #
• Sorry about the forum downtime. We eat our own dog food for a reason and that last batch was lumpy. #
• Small bug in LIST bbcode made process hang. RSS readers trying to recache RSS basically DoS'd us as RSS never served. All fixed now. #
• Hi Twitterland. I won't be around that much tomorrow and Friday. We're off to Gosport for my mum's Birthday. Haven't been down there in ages #
• While I'm down there, I'll swing by @citalan's house and spray a giant #vBulletin 4 logo on his door. #
• Almost at the M27. Gosport beckons! #
• Lovely day with family in Gosport. We made the entire restaurant sing happy birthday to "nanny". Good fun! #
• iPhone 4. Now with free removeable bumper! *WiFi only available when bumper removed. #
• Consumer Reports still doesn't recommend the iPhone 4. After 3 million unit sales, who cares? #
• Tired after a busy weekend down in Gosport with family. Really enjoyed the visit. Took a drive to see some old haunts. #
• Morning all. Just performing my regular "Check to see if iPhone 4 has shipped yet" routine. It hasn't, if you were wondering. #
• Thank you all for the #ff yesterday! @citalan @BBSmiley @AdExtra @IPB_Webmaster @vBSetUp @MadMikeyB #
• Turns out my sister went to school with @citalan. I asked if she remembered him. She rolled her eyes and said "Oh yes". #
• How to lose Facebook friends and alienate people http://bit.ly/cUUM3c – Genius from thepoke.co.uk #
• On the old diesel train at NVR. Choo choo! http://twitpic.com/26hxex #

As a teen I wasn’t above the odd bout of existential angst. I often wondered what my purpose was as an individual and what our purpose was as a race. Why did we exist? Are we destined for some greater good or are we just organic matter that figured out that the stabby end of a stick would allow us to climb the food chain?

I concluded that we have been given the gift of sentience yet we squander it on daytime TV, mundane “what’s for dinner” choices that wouldn’t bat a butterfly’s wing and working most of our waking days to covet material possessions that we eventually discard with flippant disregard for the process that we used to attain them.

It was all a bit depressing really when you thought about it. Eventually, though, the need for gainful employment gave me less time to think and replaced those thoughts with more pressing issues like paying bills, meeting deadlines and saving up for a shiny iMac.

Becoming a dad a few years ago has begun to reawaken those thoughts. Although my thoughts are more tuned into the future and what it holds. Not mine, of course, but Luke’s future and the general state of the planet and how life will be for him and his children. I find myself momentarily immobilised with the moribund horrors of melting ice-caps, unplugged oil spills, global warming, rising sea levels, droughts, food shortages and an exploding population. Surely these things won’t affect me in my own lifetime but what of our children?

I certainly don’t envy the next generation. They’re already beaten into a guilty pulp over recycling plastic bottles and eating their greens via the media, their schools and well-meaning relatives. You can’t throw a tin-can into a recycling bin without hitting a dozen kids TV shows that preach about the merits of ‘being green”. When I was a kid, the only thing that was green on TV wore ripped purple shorts and went on a bashing spree every Saturday night. Our kids will grow up in a world where the media paints a dark picture for their future and that genuinely worries me.

Even now, movies are pre-occupied with our own fate. You can browse through the many different ways the human race will be wiped out in your local Blockbuster.

“How would you like your end of the world, sir? Aliens? No? How about a natural disaster? Perpetual winter? Ok. How about dying sun? Or would you prefer the ‘population outgrew the planet and set off in a space ship to find a new planet to screw up’ scenario? Oh, I have just the thing for you. How about a dad and his son shuffling through a post-apocalyptic landscape desperately clinging onto the last shred of humanity while baby eating cannibals hunt them?”. Even Pixar couldn’t resist a stab with WALL-E; depicting a future where the human race evolves into soulless blobs while robots unsuccessfully clean up our mess.

Now that’s truly depressing. Happily, the man that found a “cure” for smallpox reckons we’ve got about a hundred years left before we’re all extinct.

Or maybe Gene Roddenberry will be right. We’ll sort out our mess over a nice pint of Romulan ale and a packet of custard creams.

I have been often accused of thinking too much. Which is like saying an ocean is too wet or sand is too sandy. We’re sentient creatures. We’re supposed to think about things. The alternative is to switch off and happily ignore the world around us. Regardless, these fleeting moments of mordant panic pass and I reassure myself that the media is always bleak. Even lovely hot sunny days become stories about how the heat is killing off old people and drying up our rivers and lakes. The media exists to tell a story and they season it with a pinch of salt.

So what of our future? For me, I hope it includes happiness, children, grandchildren and accepting that while we can’t change the world, we can change our outlook. The best you can do is to look after your own family and to try and steer you children in the right direction.