There’s no doubt about it: the default headphones that ship with all iPhones and iPods today really, really suck. They are just far too big to be able to fit into my earlobes, and the quality is pretty shocking; way too much bass for me.

When I got my first iPhone, I decided the buds simply wouldn’t do and so the search was on for a replacement pair.  They had to have:

• Good sound quality.
• Hands-free capability, preferably like the default Apple buds.
• Noise-isolation.

Up until recently there really wasn’t much choice at all. You essentially got a good pair of headphones and used an adapter for the hands-free, or you don’t bother at all.

There’s a nice product on eBay which was my first replacement pair. They use the same driver unit as the Sennheiser CX300 (which is an awesome bud), but have a clicker unit attached. The cable is really rubbery and crap, but for £25 I think they were a pretty good buy. Unfortunately, they died after about 5 months of reasonably heavy usage because the connector edges are sharp and don’t have rubber grommets to prevent the cable being cut.

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Continue reading “Etymotic hf2: finally, headphones that don’t suck.”…

11:53 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment » | Show comment » | Hide comment » |

Occasionally, I have free time, and and like any other bloke it is a good idea to spend this time play whichever video game you’re addicted to at the moment.

My drug is Guitar Hero. It’s great. I don’t know why.

In any case, I got addicted when I was lent a copy of Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock. It has an awesome set list, and learning to play the guitar parts on expert takes a long, long time. But I have completed that whole game on expert minus three songs - Raining Blood (which is crap); some French song (which is crap); and Through the Fire and Flames (which is completely insane).

So naturally, when Guitar Hero: World Tour was announced, I had to buy it. The fact that it is prohibitively expensive was neither here nor there, furthering my hypothesis that this is in fact some sort of narcotic.

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Continue reading “Why I love Amazon”…

12:35 am | Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Recently I’ve been reading a lot of posts on the NO2ID forums. For those that have been living under a rock for the last few years, the lovely Labour government is trying to push through a massive, centralised database that contains a number of personal information items; DNA, fingerprints and other biometric information; passport information; drivers license and insurance details; journey details using ANPR, and a number of other things.

I’m going to skim over the fact that implementing a system like this is completely ridiculous, and focus more on the one phrase that makes my blood boil.

If you’ve got nothing to hide, then what’s the problem?

I have two responses for this. They run something like:

1. The issue of whether I have ’something to hide’ is completely irrelevant. The government has no place in my private business, period. If you cannot comprehend the possible scope for misuse of power of a database such as this, then you need to get yourself down to a hospital, pronto.
2. Now go away before I beat you.

Seriously people, contact your local MP right now, before this gets completely out of control. Canada is looking like a damn good option right now.

9:55 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment » | Show comment » | Hide comment » |

Just a quick note for those who are trying to access SFN and happen to stumble across my blog - it looks like the domain has expired and so it’s not resolving for anybody.

Hopefully this will be resolved ASAP!

11:03 am | Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »