Me as a Simpsons Charecter

You can do this with a photo at http://www.simpsonizeme.com/index.php.

I found it worked better through Internet Explorer than Firefox.

OPML Manager & N95 views

I've been playing around on a website called OPML manager which, as you may guess, creates and manages OPML files (outline Files) that are often used for Podasting Feeds, but also pretty good for transportable Favourites lists for Mobile Phones.

Firstly I was just mucking about and looking to create a favourites file that i could access on the PC, Laptop, at Work and also on the mobile phone. I soon realised that the website itself offered different views of the same OPML file that gives differing uses.

Firstly, I created my own feed, but then tried a more generic feed looking at Nokia N95 RSS and Podcasting stuff.

This link http://www.opmlmanager.com/opml/N95RSS.opml when pasted into the Nokia Podcasting Application provides a folder with subscribible feeds including MP3 podcasts and RSS links opened via the web. Very handy and easy to personalise.

I then decided to go one further and look at creating a whole set of Mobile Web site links. Lets face it the N95 browser is ace for looking at web sites, but for general everyday browsing on the phone its better to look at mobile optimised web sites (still find it very annoying when it defaults that way such as the BBC).

So the output of this experiment was this http://www.opmlmanager.com/opml/mobilewebsites.opml a starter for ten. If you know of any really great mobile web sites (I have a UK slant) that I should add, please let me know.

I then saw a link for optimising the look for mobile phones, which looks like this http://www.opmlmanager.com/mob/mobilewebsites Looks pretty good don't it?

However, one of the features of OPML Manager is being able to look at OPML files in outline format. I think that this is an even better format for display on a Mobile Phone as it is expandable/collapsible. See this http://www.opmlmanager.com/outliner/mobilewebsites. A much better format in my view.

There are lots of other things that can be done, such as exporting the OPML, creating a bitty etc, but i am quite happy hosting on the site and have also created myself another OPML file loosely based around the Nokia N95 which can also be displayed in all formats, but detailed in outliner format below

http://www.opmlmanager.com/outliner/NokiaN95

See what you think

Mystrands Social Player for Symbian. Great app but...

A recent post on the 3G forums about experience of Mystrands Social Player for Symbian led me to re-evaluate my Mystrands experience.

I’m a pretty voracious consumer of Music (a glutton in fact) so it is quite interesting to see who is playing what, what else they are playing and perhaps discover something else I might like. It’s also pretty handy to keep track of what I’m playing myself. I’ve got music on my laptop, my PC, my two creaky old (but still Brilliant) Creative Nomad 3s and my Zen Vision (not M).

I never would have put music on my old K750i phone (shite headphone connection and I’m a headphone snob) but the proper headphone jack on the Nokia N95 and its “book” slider/media player plus its support for Napster to Go convinced me that I could now wander around with less hardware (and less chargers) on my person.

I’ve installed Mystrands on the PC and Laptop (for WMP) and the beta version (2.7.3) for the Nokia N95 and given it quite a test run. There are a couple of reasons why I haven’t used it recently (including rebuilding the phone), but I still think that it’s an excellent idea on its way to becoming an excellent app. Here was my feedback on the phone app

• Wi-Fi works better than 3G currently. Less failure with Recommendations, Synchronisation, Other Users etc but eats the battery soooo very quickly. Best keep plugged in for this.
• If you decide to use the “always ask” option for connectivity (rather than stay online with 3G or Wi-Fi you get prompted every few seconds.
• You have to re-build the library if you want to add new tracks, but at the same time this means you have to re-sync the library (on-line again). These need to be separated.
• An improvement that must be implemented is to log tracks you have played whilst offline so that you can sync this info with the server next time you connect. This would be a huge battery saver.
• Currently doesn’t recognise the DRM tracks from Napster To Go. As I use a lot of music from this it’s a bit of a pain working out whether I can listen through Mystrands of the Nokia Media Player.

Generally for all Mystrands applications the recognition of tracks could be better. Firstly it doesn’t recognise a lot of the tracks I play which are new (and I listen to a lot of brand new releases). Secondly it does not necessarily recognise the full tag. As I write this the Fall tracks in my chart are all from the Peel Sessions Box set, but Mystrands is relating them to other Fall Albums. This really needs to be improved if a real picture of listening habits is to be drawn up.

Having said this, I still think it’s a fab app. Being able to post your charts in flash and html to blogs, myspace etc is good and there are a lot of interesting developments at Mystrands Labs to get excited about. I have fed back my comments which are being taken on board (the offline playing of tracks and syncing later is already written in a future release). I would urge you all to try out the Social Player for Symbian, consider trying the beta, feed back your comments and help turn it into the killer app it could be.

Prince - First Impressions of Planet Earth

Just having my very first listen to Princes Planet Earth which came Free with the Sunday Mail today, already on the first track it sounds like a fairly commercially aimed album.

Apparently Prince has caused such a storm by giving this away with HMV and others decrying the fact that they aren't getting a cut of the profits. What they should realise is that if its a good album, (and I think it is), they will all get money from sales of the back catalogue.

Its not a real giveaway, because if Prince wanted to do this he could just post it on the web. I think it is clever marketing. Cause a little controversy, get some publicity and reach some people that wouldn't normally think of buying a Prince CD. Also with the proliferation of R 'n' B around these days, remind everybody Who's the Daddy and one of the biggest influences on today's sound.

Here are my initial thoughts

1. Planet Earth - Oooh Lovely Piano intro. Better dip the lights and light the candles. Oh wait its only 10am. An anthemic song but suddenly it sounds like Take That (or Barry Manilow if you are older) doing Could It Be Magic. 5 minutes in and the first bit of fret w~~king (Guitar Soloing).
2. Guitar - Most would already have heard this. An out and out pop song with lots of noodling guitar (of course) with Prince pretending to be the Edge (but less delicate) through this track.
3. Somewhere here on Earth - Ballad alert. Personally I think all Prince Ballads are great because he just has the voice for it (lots of soaring falsetto). Good muted Trumpet sounds and twinkly piano. Prince the lover man has returned (but not Prince the Sex Freak)
4. The One U Wanna C - Prince tells us he's got a lot of money (that'll be why he gave the CD away then). Sounds pretty classic Prince "Rock" sort of Sign of the Times era. More spanking of the old frettage at the end.
5. Future Baby Mama - Another Ballad with lots of multi tracked Vocals. More of a R 'n' B thing going on this time with one of those Spoken Word bits in the middle.
6. Mr. Goodnight - Hey a bit of Rap. Not Prince, The Artist Formally Known As, Tora Tora, Slave or Squiggle. Now you can call him Mr Goodnight.
7. All The Midnights In The World - Jolly Piano song Obviously someone nicked his Guitar
8. Chelsea Rodgers - Disco Bass, Disco Guitars. Funky Horns. Goes all Ska on you. This will be ace live. Dunno who the female lead vocals are on this but they're cool. So far my favourite and probably still will be after a few listens.
9. Lion of Judah - Princes voice sounds a little strained on this, not usual but obviously deliberate. Definitely found the Guitar again.
10. Resolution - A finish that once again reminds me a little of Sign of the Times


Its no Sign of the Times, (IMHO the Best Prince Album), nor as Musically funky as Musicology. However it isn't being given away because it is a poor album, it is clearly a very commercial one might even say Chart Orientated album (if it had been sold). Full of Cliches, but not in a bad way, this could fit in anywhere on the Prince timeline from Purple Rain onwards.

An extremely good use of £1.40