1. Top three non-work websites :

Twitter
Flickr
Engadget

2. Three favourite cocktails

Ermmmm, I’m 16.

3. Top three karaoke songs:

Toxic - Britney Spears (Just, don’t ask. OK?)
None.
None.

I shall pass this on to George, Stephen and James (even thought the likely-hood he’ll ever find this post, is one in seven point five nine million.)

(It say’s “London meme”, so I’m trying to keep it “local”)

Its a “9rules Open Submission” day, Basically, Loads of bloggers submit their sites to 9rules in hopes of becoming a member of the “elite club” of independent bloggers from around the world. Usually i’m not a fan of getting involved in these “clubs” or “groups” because it tends separate or space you from your readers, Some of this is caused because your readership number increases by some massive amount (in most cases) or simply because many become very very ignorant about creating content.

But I made an exception this one time, I submitted chaos to 9rules, I’m not expecting to become a member (If I did become a member, it would prove that miracles, do indeed happen.) even if I do become a member, nothing will change. I’ll continue to slag off anyone I want, and provide credit where credit is due. For me, 9rules isn’t about displaying a badge or being able to say I’m a member of some “exclusive club” I think, more then anything, It’ll be about proving my in-experience to others.

(I’m not funny, I already know.)

As of now, Its unknown what the cause of this is, It could be a “twisted” organ, which is causing pain in general, or it could be something blocking something, somewhere. As of now, I sit here at 7AM, writing this post, to tell you this. Chaos Inspired, and myself are out of action, until further notice.

I can’t promise you a date when it’ll return, but it should be less than a week (seven days) but it could be longer, depending on what her outcome is. Many don’t realise it, but Chaos is closely connected with me, which means its closely connected to my mum as well.

As of now, I’m here, staying alone, lonely (as usual) my overall internet accessibility is limited for now, as the Emergency section didn’t seem to have WiFi, and I would be surprised if the Hospital did. Although, It would be nice if you added me on AIM (donaldakelly) or MSN (donald.kelly@live.co.uk), your choice. George Pearce is looking after Chaos for you, He won’t write anything (I don’t think, Feel free if you want to George!) and he should be able to keep Chaos running, as its not that complex of a thing.

So for now, As I usually say in almost everything,

Bye for now. (donald@donaldkelly.co.uk)

(Update - Day Seven: Righty, I’ve been here for seven days now, My mum is still in hospital, She’s been going through some ups and down’s, we currently seem on an up. They’ve done several tests as of now to try and figure out why and what is causing these issues. Its expected that we’ll be told / updated with a diagnosis in today, or on Monday, if not during the weekend. I’ll be sure to update the blog as soon as I get any information.

as well as everyone who was sent me emails or IM’s.)

For those who would rather smash their heads against their own desk rather then read my explanation of what was up with my MacBook, I’ll keep it short, The thing that converts power was bad, and was over charging the battery, causing it to fail or short out. I still have a pending warranty claim for the second battery I purchased for the MacBook, which also failed due to the inverter issue.

I took the MacBook to the local (American) Apple Store on Saturday night, and actually received it back two days early, Monday evening. I do have some complaints, like the fact that the screen was covered in fingerprints, none of which were mine, plus the fact that the top right of the case has been chipped, probably in the process of getting into the case to replace the faulty inverter, and the right side of the case has been cracked, it looks like this has been caused by over tightening the screws.

How ever, I won’t go on my normal bitching rant like I would in this situation, as the issue has been fixed, and it was done for free, the local genius was pleasant to deal with and polite about it as well, possibly because I was the only customer in the store that day who was remotely nice.

The project first started via sending used or refurbished laptops to places like Africa. The local government would pay a small price for these computers, Just enough to cover the cost OLPC incurred when they purchased the units. It was noted that this method was not only difficult to maintain, but also came with downsides; such as problems with the units failing or being ‘DOA” (Dead on Arrival)

Eventually it was decided that rather than sending refurbished units to these countries, OLPC would partner with companies like NVIDA, AMD, RedHat and Nortel Networks (to name a few) to create their own brand of laptops which could be developed cheaply, but were also durable enough to withstand the day to day use they would incur when being sent to these remote locations. The OLPC XO-1 is the first model to be introduced. Think of it, In essence as a small laptop, Much like the Asus eeePC line, Small screens, Minimal RAM and a fair sized keyboard and display.

The XO-1 was first shipped with RedHat Linux, to support the mantra of “Open Source, Open Mind”, but it was later revealed that local governments and ministries would be provided with the option to specify Microsoft Windows XP as the OS to be supplied on the unit, for an additional cost of £5 per unit.

The OLPC project hasn’t gone with out controversy though, It has been criticised by many local governments as a scam and being to “Americanised” for the problem its trying to deal with or solve. In May 2008 it seems that a conflict of interests, or lack of communication caused a “misunderstanding” between various members of the OLPC Foundation Board, Microsoft PR and employees of the OLPC Development team, On the subject that OLPC XO-1’s would be sold with Windows Only, but local governments would be provided with the option to dual-boot these machines into other free OS’s like RedHat, It was eventually confirmed that this statement was indeed false, and was caused by a lack of communication between the two companies about how the units would be sold.

So, It hasn’t come without issues and problems, but the OLPC project looks promising. Sales of these units has been suspended for the time being, due to manufacturing delays but they will be sold once again in a few months time.

This post is part of Blog Action Day 2008, The idea is to raise the awareness of poverty across the world, using the power of the blog-o-sphere. Learn more at  BlogActionDay.org. Chaos Inspired and sites within the DAK Network are taking part in Blog Action Day 2008, You are encouraged to take part as well. Registration is open now and the deadline is 23:59:59 on the 15th of October 2008.

What’s different you ask? Basically, to shorten what could take a massive portion of my day to list, Everything. From the culture, to the people down to the places and even the food (Your usually not at risk of dieing from eating food in the UK, In the states that is an entirely different story.) some of these changes I tend to like, Very few schools in America require you to wear uniforms of any kind. Its a personal opinion but its something I prefer. And be honest, Who wouldn’t jump at the chance of putting a T-Shirt and Jeans on with your trainers in the morning, when compared to your school uniform? Thought so.

It does come with its expected down-sides though, For example asking a question considered to be “n00bish” to an American will result in a strange look, of which you can just tell they are calling you an “outsider” along with something not-as-polite in their head. The BBC’s John Kelly (well named as well.) has been writing the “John Kelly’s Talking America” blog on the BBC News website, as the BBC has been travelling around the US in the US 08 Election bus. His perspective on things aren’t too different from mine, excluding the 23 year age difference.

If I sit for a moment, and think to myself, I can begin to see why it is so appealing for many of those who live in England or even places further away like Australia and New Zealand to give living in America a chance. America is still, without even a slight doubt, The “capital of opportunity” for people wishing to get into careers in the “World’s Entertainment Capital” Los Angeles, California (spelling) this isn’t to say that places like the UK or Australia don’t have opportunity, they have loads. But it still tends to be that people want to live in the glamour of LA and have a 90210 post code (Of which the Americans refer to as a “ZIP code”)

I do see a bit of a trend forming in the states though, and its not a bad one either. It seems that America has finally noticed that it has a less-then-desirable image to those in Europe and Asia which tends to come from its over-weight population and obnoxious stars like Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, This isn’t to say that Britain hasn’t had its far-share of star related drama, Including Amy Winehouse’s recent drama with narcotic and alcohol abuse.

The trend seems to be the adoption of… everything… British. I’m not referring to bad copies of the British Accent this time either. A few month’s ago you would have never heard or found any reporting on the London Fashion Show, which closed a few months ago. This year, Both local and regional media had reports on it every day. Not just bitching at how “ugly” the outfits and clothing that made an appearance on the runway were.

The most popular selling car model this quarter in America? The Ford Focus and the Ford Five Hundred, basically a US (left hand drive) version of the Ford Mondeo. Usage of public transport like buses and “light-rail” services is on the rise, Due to the price of petrol, which has continued to rise in recent months. OK. True. There is no denying that George W. Bush is in no way like Gordon Brown nor Tony Blair. (I’m not even including the fact that he is, indeed a red-neck. And if you deny that in the comments I’ll have no issues calling you a bloody-moron.) I tend to think of him more as a “texan” version of Ms. Thatcher, Except for the fact that’s he a bloke… Right. Let’s just leave that alone for now. OK?

The point of this, Is that America isn’t what it was 10 or even 5 years ago. Its a place that is changing, Its not to say that my plans and hopes to return to England (and have to go through all-out war with the Home Office about it.) are gone. But that beyond its issues and bright coloured flags its is a “changing landscape” and in my opinion, changing for the better.

The US is fighting a day-to-day struggle to keep its major banks afloat in the realm of the world wide Credit Crisis, and if it fails, it could have major world wide implications on the way things are handled, and how people act. If America and its financial system makes it out in one piece, once the “dust settles” I think the world will begin to see a changed and different side of America. One that hasn’t been seen in a long while.

After a tweet and a blog post from Laura Whitehead, I made the final decision that with a few hours to spare (local time.) I would rush and “make over” my blog and re-colour it pink. And with two hours to spare I came up with this. (Right, If your in an RSS reader that may have not came across well, Why not pop-out for a second and look at the new design?)

Its in essence, an inflexible, pink coloured version of the normal theme, known as ChaosThree. The pink version (well named, as “ChaosPink”) does away with some of the vector florals, and the nice blue / turquoise backgrounds colours.

Enough about me though, The entire reason behind this change is the Pink for October group, Encouraging users across the world to re-colour their blogs, forums and photo galleries (along with any other website, button or graphic that can be turned pink.) for Breast Cancer Awareness Month 2008. The site, PinkForOctober.org provides loads of information about the cause, as well as ways to donate. This ties in quite nicely with another event I’ll be supporting and participating in this month, Blog Action Day Poverty 2008. You can read / find previous posts about this topic via searching for “blog action day” using the some-what-dislocated-search form above.

Sadly, I haven’t created any snazzy-graphics or buttons to give out yet, and due to the license of this theme, I’m unable to redistribute it, I’m currently thinking up a possible way to allow you to create your own via dragging and dropping a few files.

(You may notice a few buggy-bugs looming around the site, A few code edits were required to make everything sit the way I wanted them to, and I think now would be a good time to remind everyone that I edit and make graphics, not code. No worries though! I’ll be working on those through the day.)

(Edit: Righty! Well. I noticed that the new theme breaks in Safari, Quite badly actually. If your viewing in Safari I do apologise for the strange issues with the headers and footers not aligning with the rest of the site properly. I’m working on getting these little things fixed now. Your getting a little bit of insight into how this theme works though.)

Once I’m able to get my hands on a Trial copy of CS4 (I currently have the entire CS3 Design Premium Suite.) I’ll be sure to write a full review.

The event itself was surrounded by hype, Rounded shiny iPods, New versions of the iPod Touch (with GPS!) and possibly a a new version of iTunes, but this time it would be iTunes 8 along with the possibility of Nike+ for iPhone. And the event lived up to all of the hype and we managed to get some other “goodies” out of the event as well.

To start off, iTunes 8. This application will. not. die. and I was bitching and moaning about Project Gotham Racing 4 a few months ago? Jesus Christ. We’ve now had 8 versions of this, Not including before it was purchased by Apple in 2000 for an “undisclosed” amount of money. So iTunes will remain the primary provider of Music, TV Programmes, Podcasts and Music Videos for our iPods and iPhones, but the new version does bring some new tricks. First off is Album View.

Album view is (as you can see.) a less resource-eating version of Coverflow. It shows the Album art of all albums within your Music Folder and looks somewhat like Delicious Monster’s, Delicious Library. Click on the cover art of an album and the first track begins playing, Click again and your provided a track listing of any tracks on the album. Album View doesn’t replace Coverflow or the standard list view, rather its just more “Eye-candy” within the application. It does how ever, replace the old Album view, Which was beginning to look very dated compared to every other “track view” within the application. Next off? The new “rounded” and very green (not in colour.) iPod Nano

The iPod Nano Rumor was started on an Episode of Diggnation a few months ago during a conversation about a rumored Apple event (which would later be confirmed) these rumors will soon followed up by leaked images of “4G” iPod Nano cases, Featuring a rounded (almost oval shaped) case and a tall display. Today the rumors were confirmed by the introduction of the 4th Generation iPod Nano which looks exactly as it was described. Oval shaped, New “tall” screen and an all aluminium case. It also featured something that wasnt in the rumor. A green design. Not colour-wise but in a recyle-ablity aspect.

“We want to be environmentally sensitive. We’re constantly worrying about it. But the biggest thing is toxins — we have an internal checklist, but the new iPods look great from this point of view. They’re highly recyclable… we’re really trying our best. We think these new nanos are the cleanest we’ve ever built.” -Steve Jobs

The new nano’s come in 8 colours, Much like those featured on the 2nd Generation (Full aluminium case without video playback.) my personal opinion for colours is the black and silver combination looks the best. Your able to get a full black Nano, but again only in the new 16GB capacity, The previously standard 4GB Version has been phased out in favour of an 8GB Version. Prices for these are RRP £109.00 and RRP £149.00, the 8GB version will ship out to any UK Address in 24 hours, but you’ll have to wait 7-10 days to get your grubby-mits on a 16GB Version.

Next up on the list of introduced or updated products? The iPod Touch. “The iPhone, without a phone” the iPod Touch was already a fairly solid product before the update and to be honest, this update doesn’t do much of anything to remove or add to that. The touch is now slimmer, 8.5mm, but remains its height and width at 110mm tall and 61.8mm wide (respectively) one change to the design includes a rounded back, Which may or may not cause your iPod Touch to “wobble” when you place it on a level surface, like your desk or a coffee table. The iPod Touch also includes side button as featured on the iPhone to allow you to increase or decrease the volume level without having to turn the touch-screen on and mess with a dodgy volume slider.

The new updated iPod Touch retains its pricing at £169.00 for the 8GB Version, £219.00 for the 16GB and £289.00 for the 32GB version. These will begin shipping from the online Apple Store in 1-3 days and should arrive in Retail Shops by weekend.

Lesser publicised was the refreshed shuffle colours, and when I say “refresh” I mean “re-used” colours, The colours on the shuffle are strangely like those of the models before the Holiday 2007/2008 Update. The colours have returned to the previous bright and vibrant set, The standard Silver, Blue, Green, Red and pink. The prices remain the same at £32 and £45 for the 1GB and 2GB versions and both versions are shipping within 24 hours.

There are quite a few things which were introduced, updated or refreshed in the keynote that I’ve decided not to bring up in this post, for the reason that I’ve either not made my mind up about what I think of them or because I feel that its been over-covered already. Basically I’ve not covered the 2.1 Update for iPhone / iPod Touch and the really expensive new in-ear headphones, which come with a shiny new 60 quid price tag, not including VAT. Along with the updated Nike+ UI and reciever unit for the iPod Touch and iPod Nano, along with the now 120GB-only iPod Classic.

Final Thoughts:

iTunes 8, A nice refresh to what was becoming a dated version of iTunes, I believe iTunes 7 was introduced in 2006/2007 so the iTunes 8 refresh was needed.

iPod Nano 4G, This is quite a drastic change to the nano series, but I like it. The Green aspect of it is nice and is something no one else is doing at the moment (or if they are, their PR is complete rubbish.)

iPod Touch 2G, This is something I’ll more likely than not purchase. I currently have a first generation iPod Touch that has managed to replace every iPod I’ve purchased since 2005. I like having the additional features and the interactive version of coverflow. I may sound a bit harsh calling the new version and “update” but in reality that’s all it is. New buttons, Smaller “waste-line” and a speaker. Not something you’d run out and put nearly 200 quid on now is it?

New shuffle colours: Yawn!

In closing, The update has “refreshed” everything that needed to be refreshed and also re-established the idea that there is now an iPod for any budget, from the 30 quid shuffle to the nearly 300 quid iPod Touch or iPhone.

(Images via Engadget | (C) 2008 weblogs inc / AOL News, Unless otherwise noted.)