dadams.co.uk

Poor Lauren… the terribly deprived child did quite well out of Santa, and today at last got the chance to try out a couple of things that were in her Christmas sack.

The first was a radio-controlled hovering UFO that we’d seen at a large well-known toy store in London (you won’t have to think too hard). We opened the box today and found that part of the structure was broken. Very disappointing, but I have to congratulate the store’s customer service - the guy I spoke to was as polite and apologetic as you could possibly hope for, and he gave me a freepost address for the item’s return and promised a replacement.

Postponing plans for the maiden voyage of the UFO, the other item to try out was the chocolate fountain (what was Santa thinking?). This was taken out of the box, and I discovered that while it did heat up as it was supposed to, the motor (for the purpose of pumping molten chocolate) didn’t work. So that’s another item we’re going to have to arrange the replacement of.

Quality control problems at the North Pole do you think? Thank goodness the Archos 605 is working properly (famous last words).

You’ll be pleased to know that the Archos 605 versus Apple iPod touch argument was resolved during the festive season. The wife very generously procured an Archos 605 plus DVR Station for me, while I furnished her with a tasty new iPod touch. This had the knock-on effect of a new-ish iPod for me, as she graciously passed on her iPod Video to me (to replace my faithful old 4th generation iPod). Lauren also got a new iPod (a blue nano), and this was welcomed by my older sibling Steve who is an Apple shareholder.

So, having played with the Archos 605 for a couple of days, was it the right decision? It’s a resounding ‘yes’. Now, the first thing you might say is “why have you got two devices Daz, an iPod and an Archos, when one iPod touch could have done the job?”. That was covered in an earlier blog post, but as a quick summary…

• The iPod touch’s top-of-the-range 16gb capacity isn’t enough for me (I have 9gb’s worth of music before I even start thinking about movies)
• I wouldn’t consider moving the music off the iTunes / iPod combination
• The Archos has a much better screen (larger and better resolution)

The first issue I came across with the Archos was getting DVD content onto the device, and after some experimentation and exchanges of opinion with Choddo, I went for DVD Ripper from Xilisoft (I already have another Xilisoft utility for getting movies onto iPods, but it wouldn’t work for the Archos - typical). Here lies one of the downsides of the Archos, that once you’ve bought the device you haven’t finished spending - I could actually have used iPod-ready movies but then I would have to have bought a plug-in to play them, so you have to spend either way.

Next, which format to rip to? Windows Media Video worked fine, but for some reason was very slow to rip… The Simpsons Movie would have taken (I estimated) about 10 hours. But I then discovered that the XviD AVI format worked on the device and was a lot quicker to rip.

The Archos 605 is WiFi-enabled so you can use it to browse the web… if you buy the Opera browser plugin (another £20). The case that comes in the box is rubbish (a flimsy pouch that offers about as much protection as a bus shelter in the event of a comet hitting the Earth) so chalk up another £20 for a decent case. So, there’s £60 gone on top of the cost of the device.

However, despite coughing up a few extra quid the overall experience is worth it. While the iPod touch wins for slimness and it’s user interface, the display on the Archos is beyond comparison (and you can also navigate using buttons if you want to avoid swiping your mucky digits all over the touch screen). The Opera browser is excellent (Opera are doing a good job, along with the browser on the Wii and OperaMini on the BlackBerry), there’s seven free ‘widgets’ available, the photos are crystal-clear, and the promise of being able to record from the Sky Plus box sounds great (despite my low expectation of anything to do with Sky).

Given the trouble promised at the UK airports in January (just in time for my trip to Lotusphere) I think the Archos 605 is going to be a godsend… perhaps I just need the battery extension pack.

It would appear to be Christmas Eve, so I’d like to wish the readers of dadams.co.uk a very merry Christmas. The wife’s Christmas playlist is ringing out of her iPod (as it has done since mid-November) so once again I’m struck by the idea of ‘I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day’ and how grossly impractical that would be. And while we’re on the subject of ridiculous song lyrics… ‘White Christmas’… lovely song, lovely idea, but totally irrelevant as we enter what I believe to be my 37th consecutive Christmas without snow.

Anyway, have a great Christmas, don’t drink and drive, be grateful for what you get and enjoy the Doctor Who special.

One thing I try to avoid is the fairly pointless feature war between Lotus Notes and Microsoft Outlook… not because I think Notes will lose (far from it) but because it detracts from the true business value of the Notes client (collaboration, security, off-line usage, etc).

However (do you know where this is going?)… one thing sure to spark off at least fifty comments on Ed Brill’s blog is any entry that pitches Notes against Outlook. Whether it’s feature comparisons, usability, look ‘n’ feel or the fact that “everyone likes Outlook and uses it at home” the debate becomes heated.

So, with that in mind, I was interested when Ports informed me of an entry in the Microsoft Outlook Team blog. The article describes how an Outlook 2003 user could configure Outlook so that all messages, even those that were sent by the owner of the inbox, could be seen in threads in the inbox. Now, you’ll note it specifically says “Outlook 2003″ so I’d be interested to know if the same procedure is necessary in Outlook 2007 (answers here please).

The solution to this dilemma is to take all of the messages you sent and throw them back into the inbox folder. They call this the “Ultimate Inbox”. Personally I think this sounds like the ultimate nightmare. Your inbox is for incoming e-mails. Good e-mail management says that you should deal with e-mails, place them in folders, mark them for follow-up, archive them, or delete them. A clean inbox says you’re in control and can focus on your real job. An inbox with hundreds of e-mail means it’s out of control. Why the hell would you want to add more e-mails to your inbox?

Okay, perhaps I’m spoilt with Notes 8. The message threads in Notes 8 will draw the e-mails together regardless of where they are, whether they’re ones I’ve sent or ones I’ve received and placed in a folder. And it doesn’t matter where you look at the thread - you could start in a sub-folder or the ‘all documents’ view.

Finally, consider the fact that many people say Outlook is easier to use. Then take note of part of the instructions from the Outlook Team’s article:

“This rule makes copies of outgoing messages so you’ll end up with two copies, one in your Inbox and another in your Sent-Items folder. If you have a small mailbox quota you should prevent Outlook from keeping a copy of outgoing messages in the Sent-Items folder, clear Save copies of messages in Sent Items folder in the dialog below (screenshot omitted). Now you have the Ultimate Inbox!”.

The Ultimate Inbox which is potentially storing two copies of every e-mail. Personally I think Notes 8 offers the ultimate inbox. And we haven’t even started on the subject of searching yet.

Hampshire’s favourite football manager is spouting crap again. On occasionally-serious footy web site Football365.com Mr Ferguson (pictured here with Ruud van Nistelrooy) delivers these pearls of wisdom…

“Arsenal are playing well, but it’s a long season and they know that, too. They will drop points, there’s no doubt about that.”

This is an incredible revelation - I had just assumed that Arsenal would win every single game from now on. This comes as a big blow to me, and I’m sure Arsene Wenger will spend a few sleepless nights coming to terms with this news.

Dame Alice goes onto to discuss their recent defeat at the hands of Bolton…

“If we hadn’t lost to Bolton then we would have been in a great position.”

Right, but you did lose to Bolton, so get over it. Naughty Bolton for denying ManYoo of their God-given right to win every game. And naughty Bolton again for not trying very hard against Liverpool and letting them win 4-0.