Churchado

State of Origin Game 1 - Did Queensland have an extra player in referee Shayne Hayne?

2014-05-29T10:59:00.001+10:00

The annual NSW vs Queensland State of Origin game was on last night and no-one can deny that it was a rip snorter!

However, I can't be the only one to think that something very fishy was going on with the decision making process in the last ten minutes of the game by referee Shane Hayne.

Shame Hayne

NSW were 4 points up and Queensland were on the comeback. It was a tense time (particularly for NSW fans who haven't seen too many wins recently and suddenly, inexplicably, all the referee decisions were going Queensland's way. Let's got through them here..

71 minute mark : NSW are on the offensive ten metres from the line and the ball is knocked out of a NSW player's hands by a Quneensland player. DECISION: Knock on NSW. MY VERDICT: Debatable. In match games this would quite often be given as 6 again to the attacking team but as a commentator pointed out on the night officially it is a "lost ball".

72 minute mark: A Queensland player tries to throw a quick offload, it bounces off another Queensland player's hands forward into a NSW player's hands. DECISION: Penalty to Queensland. MY VERDICT: WTF????

79 minute mark: With less than one minute to go a Queensland player Justin Hodges loses the ball as he is getting up to play it. Play is called to a halt for an injured player nearby. DECISION: Queensland to play the ball when play recommences. Bizarrely, it is not Hodges who plays the ball. He is allowed to go back into his rightful position in the line up while Greg Inglis plays the ball. MY VERDICT: Too weird to be just a bad decision.

79 minutes and 50 seconds: With ten seconds to go, Jarod Hayne at marker appears to push the man playing the ball away and grabs the ball. DECISION: Penalty to Queensland. MY VERDICT: At the time, I thought it was awrong, but I must admit, out of the heat of the moment and watching replays this morning, the ref may have been right. It was a HUGE call at that moment in the game however.

So what can we surmise from all this? There is no doubt in my mind that Queensland were given every opportunity to do what they are expected to do every year - as Ray "Never let a cliché go unsaid" Warren so tediously stated at least two times near the end of the game - "snatch victory from the jaws of defeat".

This time however it did not come off for them. Now it's up to NSW to hold on in there home ground.

Is the Internet Boring You?

2014-05-14T20:05:00.002+10:00

It's been about 30 years now (give or take) since the Internet was invented and I have started to come to a terrible realisation. The internet is BORING!!!

I remember when the internet was young, as was I, and seemed to define a time of endless possibilities. The world wide web was my oyster so to speak. I sat eagerly with my 28.8k modem bleeping and honking, waiting to connect and then surfing, surfing, surfing until the night wore on. Back in those days, of course I may have only ended up looking at two or three sites in that time. Such was the speed of downloads, that it might take ten minutes to download one photo - just enough time to pop out to make a cup of coffee.

I remember dreaming of the time when we might have fast internet - where you could maybe watch a video! Or see 10 images show up on the page at one time! Oh the possibilities!

Now of course, here we are. Internet videos take a blink of an eye to load. Streaming movies are just a click away. TV shows are available on demand. Shopping sites are everywhere.

This is of course all terrific, so why do I find myself being bored with it all? Perhaps it's just complacency. Perhaps I'm just a spoilt brat. Whatever it is, I increasingly find I am going to my laptop out of habit, looking at the one or two sites I normally go to (Facebook, Gizmodo, SMH) and then.....I'm stuck. Where to? No idea. I find I want to surf, but yet I don't know where.

How about you? Do you find it hard to know where to go on the Web? Or maybe you have some suggestions about sites I should visit? Comment below and let me know.

By the way, I do know about Stumble Upon, and it has been my saviour on numerous occasions, but even that gets a bit boring after a while. Hard to please aren't I?

Optus Premium Speed - Worth the Money?

2013-11-14T07:33:00.003+11:00

I'm getting upgraded to the premium speed pack on my Optusnet Cable plan so thought this would provide a good opportunity to do a comparison of before and after.

So, this is my result on my laptop on 14/11/13 though wifi connection before the upgrade using the OOkla Speedtest..

And another from 15/11/13

I will update once I get my new DOCSIS 3.0 modem to see the changes. Hopefully they'll be worth the extre $10 a month!

UPDATE: I now have the speedpack added and a spanking new Docsis 3.0 modem to go with it and I have to say the new speeds are pretty damn impressive. Below are the new speed test results where the results speak for themselves.

Pepperjack Shiraz on its way

2013-11-08T13:05:00.001+11:00

As part of a marketing campaign that I am lucky to be part of I have the chance to try some Pepperjack Shiraz...mmm. Just got my email today that my package is on its way. Nothing like free wine!

Can't wait. I'll let you know how it is.

UPDATE: Yum! everyone that tried the Shiraz agree that it is a mighty fine drop!

Ten Play - Ten Don't Play?

2013-10-10T07:04:00.002+11:00

Channel Ten have recently launched their new catch-up web page - Ten Play.

Trouble is the title seems misleading. I tried watching something on the browser through the PS3. The whole system crashed. OK, maybe a Playstation fault...the browser never was PS3's strong point.

This morning I'm trying to watch something on the site on my laptop. Waiting....waiting....nada.

Hard to see how ABC can get it so right with IView and to a lesser extent, SBS with their catch-up site but the big boys in Australian TV lag behind.

Seven's site is OK at best, with fairly ordinary quality of the streaming, Channel Nine's is mediocre and I'm yet to get anything on Ten.

Oh well, back to Aunty I suppose.

UPDATE: the teething problems seem to be over for TenPlay. There's only two things wrong with it in my opinion..,.too many ads and not enough shows I actually care that I missed. I did LOVE Puberty Blues though and am quite sad that it has finished. Quality acting and writing on Australian TV is hard to find.

My boy sends me strange messages...

2013-09-19T17:43:00.000+10:00

Breaking Bad

2013-08-08T19:35:00.000+10:00

Is it just me....or are you champing at the bit for the next installment of BREAKING BAD?

Now...if only there was some way of getting it moments after it finishes screening in the States....

[evil laugh grows louder and louder]

Doing the geoblock

2013-08-03T18:00:00.000+10:00

There's been a bit of brow beating recently in the tech areas of the Sydney papers about the morality of geoblocking and subsequent watching of services such as NetFlix and Hulu Plus etc. This is an interesting progression from what used to be written about - namely bittorrenting and demonstrates that as the speed of the web has increased, so too has the viewing habits of the users. Where once, people waited a few hours for a free torrent of their favourite show to download, now we want it instantaneously and more interestingly, are willing to pay for it.

This is where the moral argument comes into play. Is it less 'evil' to pay for a service in the USA than to download a free torrent? Services such as Netflix and Hulu do pay producers for their content, but the rights are for US content and it can be argued Australians are ripping off producers by not contributing to the Australian companies that pay substantial prices for Australian distribution.

Personally, I think that the world is changing, and in this internet age, we shouldn't be limiting ourselves to these ideas of geography anymore. The internet is a medium which joins the globe together, and copyright laws and distribution rights are lagging behind the reality of the everyday consumer. If we want a movie, we'll find it. If we want to see the latest episode of Dexter, we'll download or stream it. TV is old and boring, and cable is better, but too damn expensive. Streaming is the new way forward. Even Foxtel is getting into the act with its new Foxtel Play service, recognising the shift in Australian's viewing habits. However, it is still at the moment a poor cousin to what Australians can access through a bit of simple geo-blocking and a subscription to Netflix and Hulu Plus.

How to geo block? I've tried a couple of DNS blocking services (simply for research purposes for this article of course) - Unblock US and Smart DNS. Both have a short free trial and both work extremely well for the purpose they're designed for - giving access to people outside the U.S. to the popular sites. Setup is easy and you don't have to be locked into your computer to watch, as a simple bit of back door fiddling allows consoles such as Xbox and PS3 to gain you access through your loungeroom TV.

So why wait? Unblock Netflix today!

The world really is your oyster!

Ben starts school

2013-01-31T18:18:00.000+11:00

My oldest boy started school today...

A turning point?

2013-01-08T07:30:00.001+11:00

I've blogged a few times about the ridiculous hype, and subsequent free marketing the press here in Australia (and I'm sure the rest of the world) give to Apple and its upcoming products. "Is this the new iPhone?' articles appear with regularity with any rumour, photo etc eagerly gobbled up by a hungry press eager to have the i-word included in the headline. However, an article appeared the other day suggesting Samsung phones are overtaking Apple and now today, the Sydney Morning Herald has published this... http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/mobiles/is-this-samsungs-next-galaxy-smartphone-20130107-2cbrp.html Perhaps, finally the worm has turned.

Click Frenzy

2012-11-20T23:06:00.002+11:00

Australia had its own version of the US Black Friday sales today. It's still going on now, but good luck to anyone who can manage to buy anything at all. Looks like the organisers sorely underestimated the amount of people that want to get on the site. The only click frenzy I was doing was constantly clicking on refresh to try and get past the 'File not found' or 'server too busy' errors.

In a silly mood

2012-11-13T15:34:00.001+11:00

I am in a silly mood at the moment, due partially to sleep deprivation, caused by my 5 year old son. In this state, I decided to see how easy it is to set up a Facebook page. Answer is, very easy as long as you are not a terrorist organisation.

You see, it was perfectly easy to set up https://www.facebook.com/superheromrincredible about an ugly superhero but when I tried another page for an organisation named "Al Qaeda", strangely enough Facebook would not allow it.

So I checked why....

Obviously Facebook would only accept this page name from Osama Bin Laden or, perhaps
Ayman al-Zawahiri these days.

Apple iPad Mini

2012-10-24T16:15:00.000+11:00

Yes it's smaller.

I don't really have anything more to say about it, but as I usually post something derogative about the newest Apple hype, I wasn't going to let that stop me.

On second thoughts, yes I do have one thing to add...I'm not really sure I like the idea of a seven inch tablet, be it the Google Nexus, the Kindle Fire or whatever. I have to admit, I'm with the late Steve Jobs on this one when he suggested it was too big to be a phone and too small for a tablet.

Anyhoo, now that it's out it will probably ignite a massive market for 7 inchers, and it may even eventually make 10 inchers look big and bloated for most folk.

We'll see.

I am sick of Chrome Instant

2012-10-17T14:15:00.002+11:00

I love to Google.I love the way it has become a verb and so it should be as it's definitely an action word. However, I hate the new auto-complete feature known as Google Instant.

For the uninitiated, Instant is a feature that allows Google to 'fill in' the rest of your search before you even type it, based on what you have searched for before, and what others have searched for.

So you might be looking for the Carsales website for example, and you type "car", and sales gets added in at the end without you doing anything. Fine (and rather handy) for the times it gets it right but sometimes extremely annoying when you were actually going to search for "cartography".

I am not a touch typist and therefore when I type I spend the majority of the time staring at the keyboard as I type and then occasionally lift my eyes towards the screen to double-check spelling, typos etc. So it maddens me no end when I am typing into the Chrome address bar, and what I have typed is now been deemed by Google Gods to be something completely different.

For example, today I typed "Canterbury Council" and got "Canterbury Council elections, who to vote for". Not what I was looking for.

It's usually worse when you are trying to type a short word such as "spa" and before you look up you hit enter. Then when you do look up at the screen you realise you have googled "sparklebox" (huh?)

It seems to be a problem relating to Chrome Instant, not Google Instant. At least with Google Instant the suggestions appear below the box and you need to actually select the choice. Chrome just replaces the result automatically.

By the way, I did read the other day that it has caused a bit of a problem in France, when it suggested the French word for "crook" at the end of a search for an Insurance Company name, and also 'prostitute' after a politician's wife's name search. Whoops.

For those interested here's the link to the "how to's" for disabling the feature

How to disable Chrome Instant

http://support.google.com/chrome/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=177873

How to disable Google Instant

https://support.google.com/websearch/bin/answer.py?hl=en&form=bb&answer=186645

Censored by the Sydney Morning Herald

2012-09-27T11:05:00.002+10:00

I made a comment on this article in the Herald today. It got rejected. Seems you can't criticise journalists on their website. Yet, they'd be the first ones heralding (pun intended) freedom of speech if someone censored them.

My Muslim Mates..

2012-09-26T12:30:00.000+10:00

There's a lot of negative media reports recently about the recent disruption in the Sydney centre by a group of protestors who were there to protest against an anti-Islamic film which apparently appeared in some version on YouTube.

From my experience in protests over the years, I hold an open mind over who provoked the violence that ensued, but any way you look at it it cast a pretty bad shadow on Muslims everywhere.

There has also been some interesting debate since, about whether Muslims should be falling over themselves to apologise for the tiny minority that caused all the fuss, as society would not expect such things from other religious groups (Christians being a good example).

Personally, I think the current Islamaphobia inflamed by the press in Australia is a joke and should be countered by any possible means people have on hand. Which brings me to the below video, produced by the Community Relations Commission for A Multicultural NSW entitled #MyMuslimMatesAre

Cranky old man?

2012-09-24T22:48:00.000+10:00

A friend of mine called me today to tell me she'd come across my blog, and what a cranky old man I'd become.

So, in light of this, can I just say that the world is lovely and everything is coming up roses (whatever that means).

Apple hype continues

2012-09-14T14:48:00.000+10:00

I have posted here before regarding the amount of free publicity Apple receives when anything with an 'i' in the front is about to be launched. Media outlets practically fall over themselves in the rush to add a new article about a rumour, an upcoming launch, a possible photograph etc etc ad nauseum.

This article however, seems to take the cake..

The headline reads "iPhone 5 May be Best Selling Gadget in History"

Come on guys. It's September 14th. The bloody thing hasn't even gone on sale yet and we're already waxing lyrical over some analysts prediction about how well it's going to do.

In the same publication there is also this interesting article reminding us that (shock, horror) new gadgets may not always bring us happiness.

Food for thought.

Google adds Public Transport support in NSW

2012-07-25T13:10:00.004+10:00

Good news for commuters with Google today announcing public transport info within Google Maps from today for Sydneysiders.

I just had a look on Google Maps, and at first the bus icon (which really refers to buses, trains, ferries etc) wasn't visible but after what I assume was a cache refresh, the icon appeared and sure enough I can get to Wiley Park from Belmore in 8 minutes using PT.

https://maps.google.com.au/ viewed 25/7/12

Luna Park Sydney - Not for the budget conscious

2012-06-25T14:26:00.000+10:00

I took my 2 boys to Luna Park yesterday. I have very good memories of the place from my childhood, including having my 10 year old birthday party there, so I was pretty excited to go back for the first time in years.

For those not from NSW, Sunday is "Family Funday" on public transport - probably the only decent initiative in NSW Public Transport for the past 20 years. For $2.50 per adult and child over 4, you get tickets which cover buses, trains, ferries and light rail for the entire NSW network. Being a miser, and a parent it's a doubly good deal for me and my family tries to use it as often as possible.

So the plan was that we'd head off into the city on the train, catch a ferry to Luna Park, take the kids for a couple of rides, have a picnic in the park with some pre-made sandwiches and head home on the train afterwards for a fun, yet inexpensive day out.

All went to plan until we got to Luna Park. Unbeknownst to us, the term 'budget' is obviously not recognised by the management of this establishment. To be fair, the pricing for unlimited rides is not too bad, but unfortunately they don't seem to have considered people in our situation who just wanted to go in, have a ride or two, and then leave.

Prices are as follows (from http://www.lunaparksydney.com/ride-passes-and-bookings)

UNLIMITED RIDES PASSES
Buy your Unlimited Rides Pass online to save money! Valid for use on any one day the Park is open to the public in Term 2 2012, from 1 May - 28 June 2012.
	Buy At Park		Buy
	Off Peak	Peak	Online
Unlimited Rides - Yellow (Over 130cm only)	$39.95	~~$44.95~~	$34.95
Unlimited Rides - Green (106-129cm only)	$29.95	~~$34.95~~	$24.95
Unlimited Rides - Red (85-105cm only)	$19.95	~~$24.95~~	$14.95

Add to this the fact that, with a 2 year old in the 'Red' category and a 4 year old in the 'Green', most rides require an accompanying adult who then must pay $29.95 to accompany a 'Green' child and/or $19.95 for a 'Red' and you are looking at minimum $100 for a family of 4 (slightly cheaper if bought online).

Standalone ride tickets are $10 a pop!

This means

$20 to go on the dodgems!
$10 to go the carousel (luckily the guy taking tickets at his one felt sorry for us and only took 1 ticket for the child)!

I swear, I almost turned around and left before paying anything, and if it wasn't for the fact we had spent the last couple of days over-hyping the whole thing to our two kids then we would have done just that.

I wonder how much business the Park has lost over the years due to this pricing policy?

To rub salt into the wound, we waited in line for at least 20 minutes to get these tickets. I also chatted to some people who had waited an hour in the ticket queue including a couple of poor souls who had pre-purchased their tickets online but still had to wait in the normal queue just to pick them up.

Poor form Luna Park. Makes me want to spell it's name backwards. (Think about it).

ICE CREAM SANDWICH

2012-05-18T11:39:00.001+10:00

ICE CREAM SANDWICH. YUMMY.

My Acer Iconia A500 has finally been updated (via the world's slowest over the air download) to Android's latest operating software - Ice Cream Sandwich.

At first, besides the obvious change in font style, I couldn't spot much difference but i've had a few days with it now and the most noticeable improvements are:

Increased battery life
Faster web browsing
Faster scrolling

All of which make me a happy camper.

It's interesting to note that, as lover of new gadgets, this simple upgrade has toned down my urge for a new tablet. It feels like I just went out and picked up a new one and so has probably saved me $500-600.

Thanks Google!

Apple hype

2012-03-28T13:53:00.001+11:00

Thank God. I thought I was going mad. I thought I was the only one noticing how much free advertising Apple receives through the Australian media.

Luckily, we can always rely on Australia's ABC MediaWatch to tell it as it is.

Watch the first few minutes of their latest episode to see what I mean.

Telstra 4g

2012-03-22T14:36:00.000+11:00

Whilst at JB HiFi today, I took the time to check out the new HTC Velocity 4g. I was particularly interested in checking out just how fast the 4g from Telstra is.

The friendly sales guy suggested I do a speedtest via, you guessed it, the Speedtest app and so I ran that on the Velocity and also on my 3g HTC Desire.

The result was pretty impressive:

4g (Velocity) - ping 81ms 24.3 mbps
3g (Desire) - ping 120ms 2.758 mbps

Wow. I expected a bit of difference but that is quite impressive!

Of course, I don't know the number, but there can't be too many people on 4g yet, so the network certainly wouldn't be getting overloaded. This is in contrast to the 3g network I was using (lunchtime in the Sydney CBD so pretty much peak time) but still!

Apparently at present the 4g network covers "5 kms from the GPO" according to the sales rep. The rest of the time you're still stuck on the (what now seems like) slow 3g network.

In a way, 4g is TOO fast at the moment. What I mean by that is I couldn't imagine getting blistering speeds and then the network dropping out and having to go back to just average. It would be like using cable bopradband and every now and again someone coming in, unplugging the cable and hooking up your old 56kbps modem.

In the future though, once the network expands, I'll be 4g'ing it all the way.

Ipad 3 review

2012-03-22T14:20:00.000+11:00

For people like me with not a lot of liquid cash, and no connections with companies' PR departments to send out freebies, I rely on one simple method for reviewing new products. It's a method that many others use also, when deciding whether to purchase a product and that is, pop down to the shop and have a hands on play with the display device.

That is exactly the method I used today when I popped down to my local JB Hifi store and checked out the "new iPad" (God I hate that name!)

First impressions? It's OK. Frankly, I had read a fair few reviews which had discussed the miraculous, beautiful, incredible (etcetera) new display so I was looking forward to my eyes being treated to something good. Unfortunately, maybe due to the beat up, I was left disappointed.

Don't get me wrong, the display is nice. The colours are bright, the pictures are crisp, but overall it's not enough to sway me over to the Apple tablet world.

Oh, and the other thing...it does get bloody hot! I had read some articles about the new battery heating up but most were American and were blaming it on the 4G radio being turned on. Here in Australia, where I assume JB would have not bothered with the 4G, the unit was still VERY warm to touch. A fact made even more curious as I'm pretty sure the device was plugged in, not running on battery power.

So all up I rate the new iPad about a 3.5/5

Twitter has time travel

2012-03-11T18:35:00.002+11:00

Einstein believed time travel is beyond our reach, but he never predicted Twitter.

I find it curious that when you add a new tweeter (is that the right term?) to follow, you not only get all future tweets but tweets from before you added them. I really don't want to see what people thought was relevant 5 days ago but maybe some people do.

So, I suppose the moral is be careful what you tweet. Something bad you say about someone a week ago, may be read by that person today when they decide to follow you.