Alex Kidman

I certainly can. It’s all glamour in this job, especially when you get to hob-nob with multi-million selling recording artists… or at least sing with them.

That’s a passable enough description of one of the two reviews of mine live at CNET.com.au today:

SingStar The Wiggles: “Little Wiggles fans will love SingStar The Wiggles, but they’ll need mum or dad pretty much permanently on hand when they play.”

Kogan Wi-Fi Digital Radio DAB with iPhone Docking Station Deluxe: “Kogan’s second-generation DAB+ digital radio and iPod dock combination hits all the right notes.”

So today’s been a bit on the challenging side. Three days of near-torrential rain have blanketed the MediaConnect Kickstart conference I’ve been at, combined with an ill-advised (but for charidee) trip into a dunk tank last night have left me with a throat that glows in the dark, a head full of goo and a voice like Joe Cocker gargling liquid sandpaper.

Some people would say that might be an improvement. I’m rather tired of explaining it to people, however, despite the popular assumption that I’ve got a hangover. If I had a hangover, it would be over now.

That hasn’t stopped the presses turning, however, even if they are digital presses these days. For APCMag.com, I’ve written up the latest in the long and wacky gadget career of Ruslan Kogan:

Watch out iPad: here comes the $200, Full-HD Kogan Pad: “Kogan unveils a cheap competitor to the iPad, says they probably won’t make a 3D TV, and the Agora phone is NOT dead. Maybe.”

It always bothered me that the Master said that. It indicated that the Gallifreyans, an ancient race, used classical Greek letters. And what’s more, they used them to describe particular bits of mathematical theory  in exactly the same way that the human race would, billions of galaxies away.

And if you understood all that, congratulations. You’re as big a geek as I am.

iPhone owning geeks my age let out little squeaks of joy this week with the announcement of the release of a C64 iPhone emulator via the iTunes App store. A little too excited, as it turns out. I’ve weighed in with my opinion of matters at MacTheBlog:

MacTheBlog: The 64k Question: “Realistically, you’re going to be of a certain age — thirty or above, mostly — to be interested in Manomio’s Commodore 64 emulator at all. I would throw up an iTunes store link for your enjoyment if that describes you, but I can’t, as Apple’s withdrawn it from sale almost as soon as it went up.”

I’m also throughout the October 2009 issue of Australian PC User, in various guises. With my Test Bench hat on, I’ve reviewed the HP 2309M monitor. With my Cool & New hat on (because I count as both, I guess), I’ve reviewed the Kogan Blu-Ray Player 2.0, Nokia’s N97 smartphone, HTC’s Touch Pro 2 and the Targus APV11AU, AKA “The Electric Coffee Cup Of Death”. Finally, with my sports gamer’s hat on, I’ve reviewed The Bigs 2 and Fight Night Round 4. The October issue of PC User should be in stores now. Well, not all stores. Those that sell magazines, mostly, and presumably doctor’s waiting rooms in about eleven years time. I wouldn’t wait if I were you.

So, a new sparkly look for the ol’ blog. I spent hours on Sunday mucking around with various themes and bits of style sheet hackery, most of which plain didn’t work. Then found this theme, which I mostly like. Still need to get something to replace the default clouds, though.

I’ve also been busy writing things, as is my usual profession. Firstly, an oft-delayed review of a photo frame that hit a rather unusual and unique… snag.

Kogan Wi-Fi Digital Photo Frame: “We also hit a rather unique snag with the photo frame when it came time to return it…”

And then back into the rather familiar world of Apple, and a welcome return to me writing about one of my cats. So far, they’ve appeared in PC Authority, Australian Macworld and Atomic, and now I can add MacTheMag to that esteemed list:

MacTheBlog: Is a new cat the answer? “I have a terrible track record with operating systems. Or really bad impulses. Quite possibly both, now that I come to think of it…”

I don’t really want to think about when that album came out right now. For a start, I really should be working to make up for this afternoon’s Nanna nap. Mm.. Nanna nap.

Back to work, you fool!

Who said that? Anyway, it’s back to work for me. You can keep yourselves busy with a review of mine, live now at CNET.com.au:

Kogan Agora Pro: “The Agora brings the concept of a low-cost netbook firmly back on the agenda, but its woeful wireless performance seriously detracts from its value proposition.”

Given that’s a Prince lyric laid over a heavy guitar riff, it pretty much does mean exactly what you think it does without being incredibly explicit. For once. It is always possible that he’s running one of those little diesel trains that ferry kids around amusement parks — which is in itself a terrific mental image — but somehow I doubt it.

What of my own rides? Well, today I’m kicking off with two. First up, at APCMag.com:

Wanna design your own netbook? “Kogan plans for Netbook include community consultation.”

And then a reworking of a recent Mac column for the print version of PC Authority, now online:

Mac Authority: Where art thou Mac alternatives? “Alex Kidman gets a feel for life on the road during his quest to find the ultimate in portable Mac alternatives.”

Something of an oddity today — a re-review. Folks weren’t happy with my review of the Kogan Blu-Ray player, as I lacked multi-region discs to test it with. A month later (and the happy coincidence of a sibling in Las Vegas able to source some for me) and you get the review, take 2:

Kogan Blu-Ray Player: “Kogan’s budget-line Blu-ray player has excellent playback, and is even region free. At the same time, it’s a player we could only recommend as a stopgap solution for multi-region buyers.”

Ah, Yakko. Wise beyond your years.

It’s been a weird and highly frustrating week, spent largely (and fruitlessly) trying to set down a path in my front garden, stymied at every turn by the half-truths and evasions of a certain tiling company that failed to deliver on their promises. Oh, and writing work.

I sometimes wonder if my creative juices are fired up by confrontation, or blocked by it. Based on this week (and what I suspect will happen next week, given the paving drama now will continue into next week, thanks to the idiots at Amber Tiles), I suspect that it’s the blocked scenario. I’ve just not been that creative this week in any endeavor. Which doesn’t mean I’ve not written anything, however. Wow. That’s probably my worst segue ever. Read this at APCMag.com, will you? It’ll make me feel better… or something.

Second Google Android phone — Kogan Agora — “Delayed Indefinitely”: “Got your heart set on one of Kogan’s Android phones? Too bad.”

2008 has been an unusual year for me, professionally speaking. I’ve gone from being one half of an income to attempting to cover an entire income — tricky, especially given current financial strains — and as a result, I’ve written all sorts of things, from advertising copy to games reviews to seemingly endless quantities of Apple stories and everything else inbetween, and often within a very short space of each other. Plus a whole lot of news, which I find an interesting pursuit, given that so much of my writing career to date has been terribly reviews-centric. Still, there’s often not a lot of similarity even between my news pieces.

Take, for example, these two stories, comissioned and written on Friday for PC Authority:

Kogan Agora – a simpler, practical Google phone? “At first we thought Kogan’s choice of name was referencing those fluffy jumpers beloved of Ed Wood Jr, but it’s actually a reference to the greek word for “marketplace”.”

Top Five Console Games of 2008: “The best of this year’s joypad twiddlers, revealed.”

A genuine quote I heard today in a press conference. To be brutally honest, I don’t want to even think about the person in question and herpes, but I’m still trying to work out what a herpes heel actually is…

In the meantime, though, I’ve been busy writing stuff. Like reviews stuff, including this one at CNET.com.au:

Kogan Full HD 1080p Video Camcorder: “The outstanding design feature of Kogan’s 1080p Camcorder is undoubtedly the lightweight dent it’ll leave in your wallet or purse..”

or this news piece at APCMag.com:

TiVo 2009: Pizza, pay-per view and Picasa, but don’t call it a PVR! “Streaming radio, Pizza for couch potatoes and 1TB of storage coming in early 2009. But don’t call it a PVR, or they’ll get really angry.”

Or this Mac Blog at PC Authority:

Apple’s next OS: Snow Leopard is coming: “How will Apple sell the next iteration of its operating system to ordinary consumers? Alex Kidman pulls at Snow Leopard’s tail…”