Looks like there’s a new media player riding on into town. So what? There’s millions of perfectly good ones around. Well, Songbird has a few tricks up it’s sleeve.

• It’s creators have previously worked on Winamp 5 and Yahoo’s Y! Music Engine.
• It’s user interface appears to be that of iTunes – but on steroids. I’m not sure how good this is – iTunes has a very clean interface, whereas this one looks a bit cluttered and dark.
• It’s based on the same core technologies as Firefox and Thunderbird (XUL and CSS), meaning that if you don’t really like the front end, you can probably come up with a new skin for it.
• The same software runs on Windows, MacOS and Linux, which is always nice.
• It’s got that mysterious ‘Devices’ menu, which leads me to think they’ll have some support for portable hardware. Which ones exactly remains to be seen.

My main hope is that they support just about every audio and video codec known to man. For me, iTunes’ major flaw is it’s inability to natively handle much in the way of non-Apple audio and video formats. Don’t want much, do I? Anyway, it’s one to watch…

• My Orange 222. Stable, planted, fast, FUN! Oh, and removing the brake-arm didn’t appear to make any difference to the ride. One afternoon’s riding without it isn’t exactly an extensive test, I know…
• Topshelf Components. I ordered a custom built new wheel, and found it waiting on the doorstep the following day. Fantastic service. The Aireal stuff they sell is pretty damn good aswell.
• G-Dog’s new trails. Funtastic aceness – except for that drop. It’s just plain silly.
• Falling off your bike and not hurting yourself.
• Fog. It made Cheltenham disappear entirely, which looked cool from the top of the hill.
• The current albums by Maximo Park, Hard-Fi and Bloc Party, not to mention some older ones by Everlast, Haven and The Black Keys.
• Apple crumble and custard. In fact, I think I deserve another portion…

On the one hand they’re a bunch of idiots, whose copy-protected music CDs can leave your computer open to virus attack. OK, I’m sensationalising, but that surely is a sign of a company that just doesn’t get it. It’s like they believe that if they don’t install something really nasty on the CD, the consumer is just bound to pirate it. Meanwhile, illegal copies of the CDs appear through the usual channels within hours of release – as per usual. This sort of thing just doesn’t work Sony – it’s only ever going to generate you bad P.R.

On the other hand, they produce some absolutely fantastic hardware and commission some wonderful adverts [thanks Eeen] in which to showcase it.

Go figure.

Update: It gets worse for Sony

Brilliant: It would appear that Sony’s copyright protection software is itself in breach of copyright [thanks Andy]. They’re really thought this one though, haven’t they?

It’s a minor miracle: I managed to get through this morning’s two minutes silence without someone phoning me.

Been a while hasn’t it? Lazy bullet-point post:

• The garage got broken into. We lost a load of bike bits (Azonic Saber, Coyote XC-2 and GT LTS3 frames, Manitou Dorado and Marzocchi Z5 forks, a Hope E4 brake and various other bits), a load of power tools and some other miscellanea. Bastards.
• We had a party, which was blinking ace. The fireworks were comical, especially the ones Brett launched at 3am. I went to bed at 4:30 and it continued for another hour and a half.
• Today Raj told me that he’s scared of fireworks.
• We took the DH bikes to Cwncarn for the day again. Absolutely fantastic fun, up until my front brake died – right at the end of the final run of the day. Lucky lucky boy.
• We went karting at JDR Gloucester. Bonkers fun. Charlie is far too good at it. Lord Everitt has an interesting overtaking style that involves knocking opponents off the track in whatever manner he can. G-Dog has too, but he’s a bit more discreet about it.

And thats all I can be arsed with now. Laters.

…all work and no sleep makes Olly a very tired boy indeed.

Is it me, or are all pasta manufacturers lying buggers? Pick up pasta. Read packet. Ten minutes it says. Ten minutes my arse. It’s going to be at least fifteen, maybe even twenty. It’s the same with whatever pasta you buy. Buy ours, it cooks quicker! No it bloody doesn’t. Or if it does it’s that pathetic wafer-thin excuse for pasta you sell as “quick-cook”. You can always add five to ten minutes to the numbers on the side to get it anywhere near cooked.

There’s clearly a huge conspiracy against anybody who wants to cook the stuff. Forget your governments harbouring aliens, this one goes way bigger. It’s the mafia slowing the cooking speed of pasta. Perhaps they’re even controlling the boiling point of water. You can just see it can’t you? The Godfather, sat in a huge leather armchair, chewing on a fat cigar and surrounded by henchmen. If the Assozzione Manufacturi di Pasta does not meet our demands, water shall boil at 81°C! Penne shall forever take an age to cook! You will reach your grave before your Tagliatelle is al dente! MUAAHAHAHAAAAHAAAAA!

It’ll turn out to be true, you mark my words.

I’m sure someone’s posted about this already, but here goes anyway.

I was going through my RSS feeds, got to Cidoc, and clicked through a couple of articles.

One of the first told me about the Scottish Arts Council’s logo, brand and such-like. The very next one told me about Quark’s new logo and identity.

It’s fresh, inviting, and open says Quark. I can just imagine the response at SAC: Maybe it is, but it’s exactly the same bloody logo as ours!