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

Welcome to Shrewsbury!

These were spotted at the Bellvue when we went to that hot bed of trouble Shrewsbury to see a charity gig/Glastonbury warm up of The Wombats/Pippettes/Holloways/CSS. Good gig all around



As Gareth said "No Trainers, No Baseball Hats, No Woolen Hats No atmosphere"


This is my favourite bit. The way I read this you can chain smoke, swear and disrespect the furniture after 6 o-clock as long as you have your Mum and Dad with you.

Better Safe Than Sorry

Spotted at the BBC Gardeners World, Good Homes, Good Food show at Birmingham NEC :-)

Playing with Mystrands and my Phone

I started this blog really for myself and to explore the capabilities of my Phone a Nokia N95. I was paticularly keen to get a phone that had a good web package as ebay, etc is banned at work and I wanted access to email on the go. As soon as I saw the blurb for the N95 I coveted it and eventually got it on a t-mobile web and walk package.

It had a decentish Camera (I've never owned a Digital Camera myself, I leave it to Mrs Wavey), great MP3 capabilities and was alright for Video, podcasts, etc, etc.

Next stop w.as trying to stretch it including blogging from the phone and trying out bleeding edge applications, including Mystrands.

Mystrands allows you to play your music, and as doing so, can catalogue what you are listening too, let you know who else has listend to it, get recommendations of other tracks you would like and put you in touch with a community of like minded people.

See the Mystrands promo youtube thingymajig below.



I couldn't get it to work at first, but a quick email and I was allowed the beta version for the phone and was up and running. I also installed Mystrands on my home PCs. Thne results are quite impressive, and although I have a few questions, gripes and ideas for improvement I am enjoying using it. The 'charts' on this blog come from code generated in mystrands and lets me know what I have been listening to on my Phone and PC. There are other groovey little applications in the Mystrands Labs, such as maps of recommendation to play with as well.

I may add more, once I have fed back my coments to Mystrands and made sure I understand the capability better, but if you have a decent web plan, and diverse music tastes it is well worth a play.

http://www.mystrands.com/Download look for Mystrands Social Player for Symbian.

Royal Festival Hall re-opening at Southbank

Saturday 9th June - This weekend to celebrate the re-opening of London's Royal Festival Hall which apparently had been shut for restoration for a couple of years. There was lots on over the Weekend and we had a couple of Hours to spare before catching our Train home on Saturday so popped down for a look.

The first thing that grabbed us as we got close was the London Eye which we saw from a different angle coming from Waterloo. I just cannot believe that originally it was planned only to keep it for a year or two. Were they mad, it's a great feature?

As we got nearer we started to spot the Anthony Gormley Figures on top of the buildings. They looked fantastic and I wish we had had time to actually go and see the exhibition, but we didn't.

The place was teaming and we arrived to hear the last notes of the Bollywood Brass Band. Walking through the throngs past old cars and routemaster buses, through an allotment (!) we go up to the fountain 'Appearing Rooms' by Dannish Artist Jeppe Hain. It is basically a square fountain subdivided into four further square rooms. Different areas of the fountains turn on and off randomly allowing people to walk from one room to another without getting wet.

In reality on a busy hot Saturday during the opening celebrations of the Royal Festival Hall it is a perfect excuse to get wet and cool down.

All immense fun.



Someone I was pleased to see was modern day folkie, Londoner and all round good bloke Billy Bragg sound checking for a free Busker Set (one of several performances he gave that weekend). Below you can see him improvising around Goodnight Irene (I didn't know he was a Gashead) whilst his sound man tries to both listen in the optimal audience position and adjust soundlevels on the soundboard behind the stage. Shortly after this Billy did a mainly covers set of Busker standards that he used to do at the tube stations, etc in his youth.

Hammer House of Horror and James Bond

Hammer House of Horror and James Bond
Originally uploaded by WaveyDavey001

07 June 2007 - With the announcement recently that the Hammer House brand and archive had been bought by a consortium that planned to raise it from the dead, it was off to Highgate Cemetery and a tour of the older, more overgrown Western Cemetery (the cemetery is split into an eastern and western section). Besides the weather was nice and Mrs Wavey and I had talked about going to Highgate Cemetery for some time.

I had fun here trying the Nokia N95s camera settings, in paticular using the Sepia setting to try and capture that Hammer House of Horror look. I was therefore quite surprised to come across a far more modern grave, that of Alexander Valterovich Litvinenko who was buried right on the main path of the tourist trail possibly a move to ensure he and his allegations stay in the public eye.

Lots of interesing stories and tales on the tour, including visiting graves of several famous people including the writer of the first Lesbian Novel whos catacomb is always adorned with fresh flowers still.

More photos at my Flickr page

Bling Art?

Today we went to see the new Damien Hirst exhibition Beyond Belief which is split across the White Cube Galleries in Masons Yard and Hoxton Square.



The White Cube - Masons Yard

Damien Hirst is often called things like "Shock Artist" or "Enfant Terrible of the Art World" but as that doesn't really bother me (hey I thought the K-Foundation burning a Million was Art) I was interested in seeing whether I would actually like anything.

First up was our timed tickets to see the centre piece of the exhibition 'For the Love of God', or as everyone else would know it the skull with the diamonds in it. After queuing to confirm our tickets, and having our bags searched we were led upstairs in a group of ten monitored by security cameras. After depositing our bags we were ushered into a pitch black room to get our 3 minutes of wonder with the Skull. Only the skull was lit and it showed off the 8,000 plus diamonds to perfection.

I have to say it was beautiful to look at and I'd recommend anyone in the area to go and have a look. I wouldn't want the responsibility of owning it though.

We also had a good look at the rest of the exhibition across both galleries which consisted mainly of 3 things. First were the almost photographic paintings surrounding the birth of his son (his wife must be very understanding). These were well executed but didn't do much for me. However they could shut up the pub bores who claim that Modern artists can't paint.

Next up were the series of large paintings of cancerous cells, that looked really lovely and decorative from afar, but on closer inspection were very textured with paint and additives that included broken glass, scalpels and hair. There is something quite unsettling about thinking that the painting would make a good basis for a nice wallpaper before thinking about what it actually depicts.

Finally there are the animals or bits of animal suspended in formaldehyde that everyone knows about. This included Sheep in Prayer, Fish a dissected Shark and two Cow front ends arranged so that you can walk through the Doctor Doolittle Layout. These were actually a bit better than I thought they would be with my favourite being the heart with a Dagger through it with Doves wings that looked just like a 3D real-life depiction of a familiar tattoo.

I'm sure it has been written about in a much more flowery way, but basically the exhibition is all about Life, Death and God pretty much the basis for most art and music.

I'm glad I went.

wholefoods market opening day

Today was the opening of American chain Wholefoods Markets 'flagship' and only UK store in Kensington High Street so we decided to join the beautiful set, (some people clearly dressed up to be seen here, and go see what all the fuss was about.

Wholefoods Market has been much talked about with one report on the BBC suggesting that it will change the face of Supermarkets in the UK. It may be no coincidence that Sainsbo's has been advertising its British Produce quite a lot recently, or that there were people on Stilts outside M&S in Kensington handing out competition entries to entice you in the store where posters emphasised how much fresh organic produce they did (I won a Fruit Salad which isn't exactly like winning the lottery).

Anyway, the store itself was like a giant New York Deli crossed with a department store food hall (and London has plenty of them). There were Bakeries, A Cheese monger, Fresh Fruit and more kinds of Olive Oil than you could shake a bread stick at. Amongst the eggs I spotted one so huge I'm guessing it was an Ostrich Egg.

Also downstairs were the Deli style counters allowing you to box up a variety of hot and cold foods all paid for by weight. Not everything was labelled and although I cant remember the price per 100g (or whatever) I'm guessing that the food would be bloody expensive, but i doubt that most shoppers would give a flying fig (you could buy them too).

There were no ready meals as such, but you could make up your own from the vast array of pre-cooked foods and no-doubt throw a wonderful dinner party if you could use a microwave.

Upstairs there were a huge number of seats to take your boxed up deli stuff, or you could order Champagne and Oysters, Mezze, Dim Sum, etc or pick up a pint of organic ale or cider from its in-house 'Pub' (actually just another Counter. Off course you will enjoy your food and drink whilst listening to the DJ spinning his decks in the corner (how frigging trendy eh).

Although there were lots of Organic Foods and stuff from local producers (check out the cheese) there was masses of stuff that would have covered a huge number of food miles (unless Papayas, Kiwis, etc are all strangely in season now). There were only about half a dozen English wines on sale.

To my mind there was probably far too much choice available, with less emphasis on being Green and Organic than you being seen and ending brassic.

Later in the day I had a look at a branch of Fresh and Wild (part of the same company) and with less choice and less poseurs I thought it far better a shop.