Chirpy Burpy Geek Chic, and more TomTom

10:36.10 - Thursday 9th September 2004   (Link to This Entry)

Feeling quite happy (and also slightly full of wind), I went over to Scunthorpe to visit BB and also to go some work. I realised I actually had four bluetooth devices going in my own little Personal Area Network: The mobile phone paired with the hands-free, and the PocketPC paired with the GPS receiver. I'm suprised my car didn't glow or something - quite aside from the little blue LEDs scattered here and there.

I bought one of those bendable sucker/magnetic mounts to secure the Pocket PC into the car while driving, allowing me to see the screen while navigating without having to reach for it and hold it up all the time - Mr. Policeman wouldn't like that at all. The screen still dims after a minute, but my in-car charger should sort that out when it arrives.

One thing I've noticed about the TomTom Navigator software is that is appears to favour motorways. Driving to Scunthorpe, I expected to be taken through the town in a straight line to my destination, but instead was guided up the M181 which meant driving past Scunthorpe and coming in from the other side. More miles, but better, less congested roads. Similarly, leaving Winterton I would normally have driven through a few country lanes to get to the East-side-of-Scunthorpe turnoff for the motorway, but instead I was guided out towards Barton and the Humber Bridge - again, a longer journey but with faster roads.

By contrast, plotting a route to my brothers house in Manchester guides me along the M67 rather than along the M62, and through Sheffield instead of looping around Manchester and coming back in on a major road. In this instance, the route takes about 10 minutes longer than the one chosen by Autoroute, but is twenty miles shorter.

TomTom Navigator seems to avoid the 'Accepted Route' approach wherever possible, which is kinda odd, and just a little bit unnerving, but it hasn't let us down yet.

More eBay gubbins...

17:09.51 - Thursday 9th September 2004   (Link to This Entry)

I'm getting a load of crap together to flog on eBay again, once the weekend comes. So far I have a few HDs, a USB webcam, a USB Bluetooth dongle (oo-er!), a LotR 'Fellowship' 4-Disc DVD set, two ISA NICs and a couple of modems. I've redesigned my ad (cos I can't find the last one) and I'm currently getting on with the descriptions.

Now... what else can I flog? I know! My last USB Snakelight!