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“The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.”
- J.R.R. Tolkien – The Fellowship of the Ring

Hey this is almost becoming a regular thing, again. Two shows in two weeks, how long will it last? Who can say. Again we got straight into the stories. So many stories that I won’t be able to remember them all, until Gareth puts the show up online, and I can listen to it.

Some of the things I do remember us talking about include…

Kinect – MS’ Xbox add-on, designed primarily to compete with the Wii and Playstation Move, is proving a huge hit. With more people then even Redmond suspected, hell, some of them don’t even own an Xbox. Open source drivers are showing up to add all sorts of new tricks and amazing UI applications. Could it be that MS have come up with a ‘magical and revolutionary’ product, if only by accident.

Million seller – So the iPad opened the door. So it uses an OS whose makers say wasn’t designed with tablets in mind. So its more expensive. Samsung have a winner, the Galaxy Tab has sold a million. Does it mark the start of the Android push, after a few really bad misses, to take over the tablet market. As they are in the smartphone arena. Awful name though, sounds like a patch for people who want to kick a chocolate habit.

Antennagate 2 – It seems like only yesterday that Apple was hauled over the coals over its ‘grip of death problem’. Now the same thing is happening to the newly released HTC HD7 smartphone, one of the new Windows Phone 7 devices. HTC are parroting the same line Apple did, basically, you’re holding it wrong. Although at the time of Antennagate 1, I distinctly remember them saying that it doesn’t happen to their phones. Hmm. Where are the howls from the worlds mainstream media, the demands for refunds, or at least a free case. It could be something to do with the fact they haven’t sold too many. Maybe MS should give one away free with every Kinect, that way they’d ‘sell’ a boatload.

Chrome OS outed Dec. 7th? – Is it just a glorified browser, or a full on OS. We should find out on Tuesday. What else will Google bring to the party. We’ll know before I finish these damn notes, and get them to Gareth, either way.

International replay – The BBC has finally confirmed that the iPlayer is going global next year. Starting in the States and a few other, key markets. The good news, it’ll be subscription based, so no damn ads. The bad, still no clear timetable, apart from ‘next year’. Also it’s only going to be an iPad app to start with, which’ll be ok if they support Airplay. I hope they announce a firm release date, or Gareth’s going to be there for a long time, credit card in one hand, hitting the refresh button with the other.

And there was a lot more besides. Notes finished, time to book myself in for a senility test.

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“I’ll be back.” – Arnold Schwarzenegger. The Terminator 1984

And just like that we are. Back that is. How long for, who knows. I’ll try to make it last, this time. I’ve been working away from home, chasing the money. All that time away, and I still can’t afford an iPad, how messed up is that.

Anyway, we were straight back into it. And boy did we cover a lot of subjects. Including, but not limited to….

Google TV – Mainly in terms of the various available set-top boxes, where it fits in and if it has any life left in it. Not much if the networks have they’re way. Over the pond, they have a lot more choices, and most of them do the killer app, Netflix.

Windows Phone 7 – MS’ new smartphone is out, getting good reviews and positive feedback. I even got to play with one for a little while. I must admit I was pleasantly surprised by the smoothness and responsiveness of the interface. Redmond have pulled out all the stops. All they have to do now is get people to buy them.

iPad corner – Of course we couldn’t do a show without touching on Apple’s wonder device. Gareth was underwhelmed by iOS 4.2, he was used to it already on his iPhone, although folders was appreciated. It’s also coming subsidised to UK customers, mobile operators Orange and T-Mobile. So cheap iPads, if your prepared to sign up to two year contracts, probably in blood.

iOS 4.2 – Speaking of which, Airplay is looking like the kicker. Limited to just a few apps at the moment, it could be the thing that helps Apple grab the living room. But for Gareth, Airprint was more, meh. He quite correctly pointed out that unless you’re in an office situation, printing in’t something you’re going to do a lot of. And even though I was quite stoked at  getting Airprint working on my networked printer, I had to agree that I hadn’t actually printed anything.

There was all this and so much more. We could have gone on for hours.

It’s good to be back.

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“Stop me if you’ve seen this.“  – Steve Jobs

An apology was called for at the start of this show, again.  Missed another few weeks, not all my fault this time.  Damn work winning in work/life balance battle yet again.  But we had so many news stories that we just dove right in.

Starting with, what else…..

iPhone 4 - The new uber-gadget from Apple is out to buy.  If you can find one that is.  Queues around the block, pre-orders that melted the system.  They’re as rare as rocking horse pooh at the moment.  It’s not without a few little launch niggles,  but 1.7m people, in 72 hours, can’t be wrong.

iOS 4 – As promised at WWDC, iOS4 is out. Give your 3GS, and to a certain extent, your 3G, a new lease of life. Lots of new features, or tent-poles as his Steveness would have it. One word, MULTITASKING, bring it on!!

New Mac Mini - When we talked about a new Apple TV last time out, this wasn’t what we were expecting. Clever unibody construction and HDMI out, all it needs is a ‘bag of hurt’ Blu-Ray player and it’s the perfect media centre. If anyone is interested in a nearly new Apple TV, contact killingpixels@me.com.

iPad corner – Well we couldn’t let a show go by without mentioning the iPad could we. Two bits of news on that front. Number one 80 days in and 3m sold, and number two, Gareth is one of the 80m, jammie little so and so.

Google dumping Windows – Mountain View employees are being offered the choice of either a Mac or PC running Linux. They’re citing security flaws in Windows for the change in policy, can’t think what they might be. But with the infamous hacking that Google and others have suffered recently. Something like this was just a matter of time, if only my employer was as progressive.

Windows 7, 150m licences in – The most successful launch of an OS in history. A good news story for Redmond for a change, although MS are putting a positive spin on a lot of numbers lately. But, unusually for us, we’re not buying it. Literally and metaphorically.

All these stories and a whole lot more. Like Safari 5, and it’s new ‘Reader’ feature, which Gareth was blown away by. To the HTC Evo 4G and what it means for the future of mobiles.

So what are you waiting for, dive in with us, the water’s lovely.