The Queen has said that the Internet remains unaffordable for too many people in the Commonwealth.

For HEAVENS SAKE – what with our misguided government wanting to give computers (at cost to taxpayers) to every NON-taxpayer, even though many DON’T ACTUALLY WANT to use the Internet and now we have the QUEEN wanting to help the rest of the commonwealth.

We’re in the middle of the worst recession in living memory, businesses are going bust left-right and centre and we want to make sure everyone has the Internet forced down their throat… why stop at the commonwealth, why now just TAX US TO DEATH so the whole WORLD can have a computer courtesy of the BRITS- then there’ll be even MORE people trying to HACK it to bits in their spare time!

Apparently of those people who don’t currently use the Internet, 71 per cent thought that they should have the right to access it.

Well, they WOULD, WOULDN’T they. I don’t have an APPLE TABLET and I WANT ONE so maybe some other shmuck should buy me one – that’s sounds good to me – does it sound good to you?

As someone interested in technology, by that way of thinking I should have a RIGHT to get all the latest gadgets for FREE, paid for by the government no matter what the cost to taxpayers.

Give me a break.

That’s a shame because as a long-term SKY user I’ve always maintained that the BBC is a waste of space apart from a small number of quality programs they produce or import…. and the ONLY thing I personally find to be extremely useful – is their excellent WEBSITE.

I do hope that the cuts will be in the less important areas and that the NEWS and iPLAYER sections are left fully functional!

The room connection works for half an hour then you have to reconnect – and it’s deliberately restricted to encourage you to pay £12 a day.  I thought people had given up on this daylight robbery.

2 days of this then I get a Sunday off – wheeeeeeeeeeeee before starting all over again this time in another easy access venue – Nottingham!

The sooner petrol gets to £5 a litre, FORCING people to rethink this stuff – the better.

Still, the GOOD news is that the property in Bellingham gets nearer to completion by the second… ceilings are dry and as I write this in my hotel room in the middle of no-where, Maureen should be putting the first coat of paint up…

It all began with a cordial invite from the Prime Minister to a select group to attend a reception at 10 Downing Street to “Celebrate the Success of Small Business”. Everyone had a personal invite and we individually had to RSVP directly to number 10.

Arriving at the scene by taxi last night I wasn’t really sure what to expect but I can confirm that they’ve converted Downing Street into something like a prison camp, a sad reflection of our times – you simply can’t get into the street AT ALL without the full metal detector bit. To be fair the police were very friendly with it all and this didn’t really detract from the experience..

After passing security we walked up to number 10 which in itself is quite an experience and from there on it got a lot easier and civilised. We were welcomed inside and asked to leave coats and mobile phones at reception. The place is a lot bigger than I imagined and there is a large entrance-way with lots of racks for coats etc. Everything is well-lit. Having been relieved of our weapons of mass destruction it was each man for himself. Past reception is a large staircase and all the way up are images of past prime ministers – very impressive. I took my time to enjoy the moment. Once upstairs we were greeted not with champagne but simply a choice of red of white wine and very nice too! We were free to wander about the place, I don’t think anyone got to to see the cabinet room which is apparently in the basement (good idea thinking about it) but the place is pretty impressive non-the-less. No doubt the official photos when they arrive will paint a better picture than I could here except to say that the inside of 10 Downing Street is suitably impressive.

As colleagues arrived the wine flowed very nicely. Various well known faces appeared including “Sir” Alan Michael Sugar though I have difficulty with the title as he looks like a barrow boy to me and I’ve not forgotten the call for his resignation, sadly some obviously had as they shook hands with him. Each to their own. Next up was Lord Mandleson (Mandy) who proceeded to apologise for Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s absence as he was off on important business and who then gave us a very polished speech about the importance of small business.

I’m not one for deference and I was glad to see that at least some of the other guests felt the same way. As the speech rolled out I imagined the phrase “small businesses” being interchanged with “unions” or whoever else the target audience might be in a less than convincing talk about how much the government cares about business and how much they’re doing for us. Those present for the most part stood politely in their lounge suits and merely listened… but looking at their faces one could see that most of us will be happier when this lot are out, none of which detracts from the excellent experience of actually BEING THERE and of course that was the whole point. There were some groans at one point and Lord Mandleson had to change tack – but then surely he didn’t think business representatives would let him off lightly!

Within half an hour or less the speech was over and everyone was pretty much free to network or simply drink more and enjoy the view. I was doing pretty well at both and having a nice chat with one of my fellow directors when a microphone appeared out of no-where..  For the life of me I can’t remember which newspaper or radio station it was but the reporter went through a whole list of questions about how we felt about government, banking, you name it, clearly he was onto a goldmine with the two of us as we were taking turns at the mic for well over 15 minutes – a MOST enjoyable way to round off the evening though probably not entirely what the residents of number 10 would have preferred to hear.

Several glasses of wine and umpteen nibbles later, though not under any pressure to exit the premises, a small group of us decided it was time to take our leave and wandered back down the excellent stairway and out of the door to be greeted by the official photographer – I can’t wait to see the results – I made damn sure the door number was visible over my shoulder!  We then took various amateur shots as you see above but as always, phone cameras are pretty useless in the dark.

Taxis back to the hotel and the FSB’s vice-chairman and I went off to the nearest Italian restaurant only to be greeted by colleagues on our arrival – and a good time was had by all.

Until the photos arrive – that’s all I’m afraid. Another tick-box ticked… America TICKED, Japan TICKED (very large list), Number 10 TICKED….  magic.

AS USUAL it took several attempts to get through to Orange because they’re receiving an “unusually high” number of calls and no-one can come to the desk. But.. they ALWAYS say that. When I eventually got through and asked WHY I have to pay £5 a month more just to get a measly 500 meg via my iPhone to the laptop – especially as my LAST contract had unlimited use of broadband and this one is SUPPOSED to be unlimited, he responded that clearly ORANGE want you to use a DONGLE for this – well, they would, wouldn’t they – it’s another £10-15 a month in their greedy pockets.

I gave up. It turns out there are a number of solutions out there – but all require you to JAILBREAK the phone because APPLE don’t want you using “unsigned” applications – and one really useful program which turns the phone into a WIFI router was refused access into the APP store!!! I wonder why.

I need to do a lot more investigation before poking around with the phone but this is a must-have.

Alighting from the train at Newcastle central station I noted the new stiles were in operation – meaning they now have to have 4 employees standing around doing nothing instead of none – that’s progress. This was to be my first metro ride of the century! I used to use the metro years ago but have never had need for it since we moved out into the countryside to evade the crime in Newcastle.  I went down the lift from central station to the underground and waited the few minutes for the next Metro to the airport – very interesting… the first shock was to realise that the machines down there don’t take credit cards, only cash – and the only cash machine was out of order.  I managed to scrape enough coins together for a ticket and headed off down to the platform.

There was a multi-ringed couple standing next to me looking for all the world like a circus act. At one point the young guy pinched his girlfriend’s face (no idea why, I’m guessing boredom) at which point she yelled “Divn’t f***n pinch me f***n cheeky bas****d, f**k off” -  and that pretty much describes the level of their conversation as we alighted the metro for the airport – no conversations about share prices down here! Finding absolutely no-where to put my heavy bags (people arriving at train stations tend to have large bags so as they have travelled, but this doesn’t seem to have filtered down to the metro designers!) I had no option but to take up 2 seats – thankfully there were plenty –6pm peak time – no-one on the (no doubt expensive to run) Metro to the airport – see pic). It didn’t take long to realise that the entire carriage smelled of poo – I don’t even want to consider where that came from. 5000 stops later (or so it felt) we arrived at the airport. No lift but just a long up-hill walkway greeted me as I dragged my bags up to ground level. I missed the courtesy coach by a couple of ticks and so half a dozen of us stood outside freezing our parts off waiting for the next coach which duly arrived 10 minutes later and off home I went to warm up! You would think it more sensible to have a warning light INSIDE the airport – at least in the winter so people could stay WARM while waiting for the bus.

An enlightening experience – I still hate public transport.

Around 2002, Orange released details of it’s first Microsoft-based Smartphone, the SPV and I started encouraging others to use this – disaster – the main button dropped off after a while and the operating system and applications needed regular rebooting. This then was the start of a long climb to find the perfect phone. I’ve been using Microsoft mobile phones from the earliest models onwards, every day, 365 days a year. I never keep a phone for more than a year and at times I’ve had two.

I’ve also used Nokias and for a brief moment Blackberry… and I’ve written simple programs for them. I use Microsoft Exchange (which for me is an essential part of my working life) and I make heavy use of shared calendars at work. I’ve had several of them in bits experimenting with aerials and I’m not afraid to try upgrading – XDA developers group being one of my favourite haunts.

So I think I know a little about mobile phones.

The original Pocket PC phone offerings from the likes of HTC and their predecessors didn’t work – it’s as simple as that. Between operating system crashes and poor quality mechanics, they were a disaster. I committed myself to supplying these to our organisation and regretted every minute of it initially…  but I stuck with it, after all, Microsoft were improving their operating systems after disasters like Windows ME… and XP was coming along just nicely – it was logical to expect the phone software would improve.

And indeed it did. Today we have a combination of reliable hardware and powerful software in the likes of the HTC Touch II, a horrendously expensive but beautiful phone which is solid in construction and reliable. Of course NO-ONE has yet cracked the short battery life problem – essentially if you have a bright, pretty colour display you’re going to get a day or two max out of your battery no matter who’s phone it is. The new HTCs have it all, glamour, reliability and solid applications.  So why have I just bought an i-Phone?

Firstly I should clarify – I’m a Windows man – I think Windows 7 is wonderful, especially the new 64-bit version… but I’m beginning to wonder if Microsoft should have stuck to desktops as they clearly don’t have the time to devote to the phone market. They were out long before the iPhone and have massive marketing budgets combined with some of the best developers – and yet the i-Phone has a higher market share and most importantly, has APPS.

Microsoft have of course jumped on the bandwagon with their APP store – which is frankly pathetic – maybe a couple of hundred applications few of which are exciting and some of which are very expensive. Meanwhile back at iTunes, the app store has untold THOUSANDS of apps, many free, many a few pence, few more than a couple of quid. Visiting the app store brings on a Christmas-like feeling and an urge to download anything that moves… which I just did.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not all going smoothly – NOTHING involving Orange ever goes smoothly. The phone is all working except for the SIM and NOW they’ve decided they should not have sold me this as there is no signal near my home – I’ve been telling Orange that for 10 years!!!  I’m off now to a hill to battle it out with them – hopefully my old SIM will keep working for a while.

But what about the phone? The iPhone itself is nothing remarkable – it’s how it is used that is remarkable. The phone has the now mandatory Bluetooth, wifi and GPS hardware and like the HTCs it also has position-sensing hardware – unlike most of the others in addition it also has a compass.  It is the COMBINATION of these used with very clever “apps” that sets the iPhone apart from the others – that and very smooth operation that just seems “natural”. Battery life is unremarkable but then the phone is THIN and that counts for a lot.

Ever noticed that graphics in Windows-based applications are rarely “smooth” – they tend to jump around – and that applies as much in the mobile world as elsewhere. Well, that simply does not happen on the iPhone – not only to the apps seem “smooth” but the multi-touch facility is not just a bolt-on – it is used very effectively in many apps – it just “feels right”.  From opening the box to installing apps I never once felt a need to read ANY instructions – and I think that about sums up my feelings about the phone up to now. A shame the same can’t be said about the PC-based iTunes program – at least the Windows 64-bit edition – which crashes on occasion and it IS essential.

At this point it’s probably easiest to tell you about specific applications. The very first thing I did on opening the box was to setup my Google and Exchange accounts – and I have to say that went very smoothly. If you want ALL the features of your Outlook setup – such as NOTES – you still need to sync via USB – as Exchange does not sync notes – but then that’s common to the other phones. So the mail, calendar and notes work as you’d expect – but I have to say they seem faster and more intuitive than I’m used to – I could see how someone might manage with nothing more than the iPhone, leaving the laptop back home.

You may wonder why my iPhone apps on the home page are not all standard. Well, for one thing, I could care two hoots about STOCKS but standard apps don’t at first glance seem amenable to deleting. Add to that the fact that  this meant that contacts was on the second page – stocks had to go! Once I got used to moving things around, the rest followed automatically.

Here are my current screens, mostly APPS which I’ve purchased (some free). What’s the best? Well, for me, FILEMAGNET is the best so far, an easy way to load WORD docs and PDFs from my PC to the iPhone – and read them. Only issue so far is that the 2-finger scaling doesn’t seem to work on WORD docs. The most expensive item is LOGMEIN – which is just superb- usable access to remote PCs on the one – the most fun item is probably the SKY controller which lets me set up recordings on our SKY HD box – from the phone – no matter where I am – marvelous.

So… don’t all these APPS take up a lot of space? I made the decision to go for the smaller of the two iPhones, the 16gig model as I’m not fanatical about movies and music, happy to keep just a working selection available at any one time. Here’s the current status of memory:

As you can see I’ve not made a dent and that’s including several hundred tunes and a few podcasts. My only concrete plans for now include installing Tom-tom but that doesn’t even take up a couple of Gigabytes so I’m well placed for future expansion – just as well with a 2-year contract in place.

Later today my MILO charging cradle should arrive – I’ll let you know how it goes…

Want to view my blog on your iPhone? – Go ahead – same address – it’s compatible!

I really wanted to stick with the Windows Smartphones – they’re really coming along – but the APPS – don’t get me started… Go to Windows marketplace and you get this (see left) – under 300 apps. Go to Apple – countless thousands…

Update:  The 16gig won on grounds of cost. Orange wanted nearly £200 for the larger model even on a 2-year contract!

The hunt is now on for APPs! Suggestions welcome.. I’ve picked 46 already.