Vive la France

What can I say? It's been a bit of a hectic couple of weeks as we've moved out of our house and ultimately left the great land down under. We arrived in France yesterday and picked up our little Kelpie (iconic Australian dog) from the pet transport company - thanks to Swissport Import and Eric over there - brilliant people. 

There are a few things that have immediately hit me as I settle back in to European life, and here's a sample

1) Oh my God its f***ing cold!

2) It feels like Christmas here, the weather, the decorations

3) People are a lot nicer than I remember

4) The TGV and Eurostar is the best train experience ever

5) Central heating rocks 

But, as it all starts coming back to me, as I watch BBC breakfast News (eat your heart out Kochie) and I hear about all the news from this great continent of hours, well....it feels great to be back.

Normal service will resume soon, Tinternet Treats, Video of the week and my usual observations on all things digital.  Off to London for some interviews and meetings today, so if anyone fancies meeting up, ping me!

 

Throwing one last shrimp on the barbie

Less than a week until I leave the Harbour City and as I mentioned in my previous post, I have complied a list of all the things I’ll miss and the tings that I won’t. I have to ay that if I didn’t limited the lists to 10 each, then the “miss” one would have been much longer, while I struggled to finish the “won’t miss” list. At the end of the day, Australia has been very good to me and my family and I have experienced so much in the three and a half years I’ve lived here. Hell, if Australia was just next to Europe I’d probably never leave.

Miss
1) Mateship – you can meet a bloke in a bar and the next minute he’ll invite you to stay at his beach house over the weekend and enjoy a few cold ones and a bit of fishing
2) A spade is a spade – they don’t mess around, it is what it is!
3) The weather and the surf – They’ve got more beaches than you can poke a stick at
4) Thongs (flip-flops) – the are listed on the “appropriate attire” list for flying on Qantas (Queensland and Northern Territory Air Services)
5) Stubby holders – someone was thinking when they invented that
6) The open road – jump in your car and head out of the Sydney and you get to see some of the most beautiful country on God’s green earth
7) Get up and go – There’s no sitting on your ass in this country!
8) The Harbour Bridge – one of the most amazing structures I have ever seen, I still get goosebumps when I go over it
9) She’ll be right – There’s still a bit of the Wild West out here, so you might just have to make do with a few things
10) Pride – I have never met an Aussie that isn’t proud of their country

Won’t miss
1) TV – Get foxtel or die, the TV here is damn awful
2) David Koch – hands down the most annoying man ever to grace a TV set
3) Baby names – everything gets a “baby name” here – breakie, Chrissy and so on – we’re not 5 years old you know
4) Both barrels but no back-up – it’s not uncommon for an Aussie to give you a piece of their mind and then scamper off before you’ve had time to retort
5) AFL – what is the point
6) The Australian Cricket team – hands down the most arrogant sportspeople on the planet…I’d have gone fishing too if I was Andrew Symonds
7) News – If it doesn’t happen in Australia, it doesn’t get covered – we live in a little place called Earth people!
8) Christmas – it’s just not the same in 30 degree heat
9) Distance – it’s a long way to anywhere else
10) Water shortages – I cleaned my car 3 times in the entire time I had it

So, my fair Australia, here’s to you and yours and all the fun I’ve had, the beers I’ve drank and the mates I’ve made.

All aboard the banter wagon

The London Olympics is a fair way off, and as a Brit heading home from Australia I found this viral by Bullseye quite funny. I’m actually looking forward to seeing the greatest show on earth (sorry Madonna, it’s true) in my own fair (and damp) country. But apparently there are sections of the UK press that have gotten their knickers in a right twist about this, calling it "distinctly odd and morally dubious".



As a pom (POME/POHM - Prisoner of Mother England/Prisoner of Her Majesty) as British expats are referred to out here, I’m quite often at the receiving end of a fair bit of sporting banter, but you don’t moan about it, you play the culture card…. to which I often get the response “what’s that then, warm beer”…thank you Miss Yanco. Or you could point out a few other facts, take you pick:

1) The Wallabies haven’t beaten England in any MEANINGFUL game since before the 2003 World Cup….which we (the poms) won in your backyard
2) The English football team (the game you call soccer) has missed only a handful of World Cups since the comp began, The Socceroos have featured in just two
3) Great Britain finished fourth in the medal tally at Beijing, compared to Australia’s sixth place
4) We won’t mention the cricket……..

My Take - A bit of banter between the Brits and the Aussies is healthy and fun, so I say to the British press – don’t get mad, get even! I seem to remember a certain UK tabloid driving a truck around Sydney with the slogan “where the bloody hell were we? Above you in the medal tally”. It’s a bit different when the shoe is on the other foot isn’t it. But please, I beg you, stop the whining….we’re already referred to as whinging poms.

Tinternet treats: 11:12:08

Hello Thursday, I’m afraid the weather has let you down….I’m normally more excited by your presence, but, well……meh. To today’s treats. First up, it’s the bracelet that every man needs to own. Gizmodo brings us a survival bracelet made of parachute cord, perfect for those moments when we need to rappel down the, er….garden fence after a night out. Second, news from Lifehacker (via TechCrunch) that Chrome will eventually leave beta – better fix the picture editing problems with Blogger then…. Third, Kotaku give a nod to the legend of gaming that is Doom, which turns 15 years old. Last but not least is a solid gold Vertu phone for barons or something. It’s my leaving drinks tonight, so I imagine Friday isn’t going to have its usual appeal either. Anyone based in Sydney that wants to pop down, it’s at the Firehouse in North Sydney

Gizmodo:
Survival Bracelet Made of Paracord For Emergency Rappeling Anytime, Anywhere
Lifehacker:
Google Chrome To Leave Beta Soon
Kotaku:
Fifteen Years Of Doom
Engadget:
The solid gold Vertu Boucheron 150 makes us hate humanity

War games or bore games?

Obama and gaming seems to be a good combination. A while ago I wrote a post about the Obama campaign advertising in-game to entice earlier votes, now I’m writing about a game called “Commander in Chief” that let’s you have a shot at running the USA. The game, which hits the shelves the day Obama is sworn in, lets players make decisions about everything from budget through to health, military and diplomatic.

Produced by Eversim, the game is played out on a 3D world map and even lets you pick your own cabinet. To top it off, you get information from the likes of the United Nations, G7, OPEC, NATO and NAFTA to help you make the right decisions such as invading foreign countries (fail) topple unfriendly regimes (fail) and plot assassinations (fail?). The game is yours for a mere $US39.95, for which you get the play God with the entire planet.

MyTake – sims are always hugely popular, I remember getting hooked on Command and Conquer when I was at University. But do people really want to play a game about running the US? Yes, I think they do. The chance to run one of the biggest modern empires is going to appeal to a lot of people and given that it’ll probably be available on PC, the uptake should be good thanks to the huge install base. The question is – will people be trialling Obama’s decisions to see how they pan out?

Tinternet Treats: 10:12:08

Wednesday, aka hump, aka the point in the week at which we stop hating the week. What have we got today then? First up, news from Gizmodo that Google now has the entire back catalogue of Popular Science and Popular Mechanics magazines available for our perusing. Second, Skype has launched its 2.5 Beta for Windows mobile with improved stability and quality, according to Lifehacker it’s a free service when using the WiFi function on your phone. Third is a bizarre cuckoo clock-inspired loudspeaker clock featured on Engadget that actually pops out it’s loudspeaker a la Cuckoo clock style. Last, probably the best news ever for arcade fans (even better than finding an old-school SEGA GT rally with bucket seats) is that Guitar Hero is coming to an arcade near you. Enjoy your Wednesday - I am in a fairly chipper mood because I spent last night watching Indiana Jones on my mate Greg's 42 inch, 1080p Sony Bravia - nice.

Gizmodo:
Browse the PopSci and PopMech Archives On Google Books' New Magazine Search
Lifehacker:
Skype For Windows Mobile 2.5 Beta Includes Quality And Stability Improvements
Engadget:
Cuckoo clock loudspeaker kicks out the jams, you out of bed
Kotaku:
Guitar Hero Arcade Coming In February

Tinternet treats: 09:12:08

I spent most of yesterday clearing out the remaining crap from my old house before we officially moved in with our friends in fabulous Clovelly, as such there were no treats for you yesterday. But today, Tuesday’s treats were a bit hard to come by, I have to admit. First up we have a gaming helmet that lets you experience blows to the head while playing WWE or some other boxing/wrestling related game. Second is news that Vodafone is allowing customers to recharge their phones through PayPal – very handy. Third, news that PlayStation Home is a mere 9 days away – close your mouth, your drooling over your keyboard. Finally, there’s no stopping those guys and gals from Nintendo as they announce 800,000 Wiis sold in the US last week. Exactly one more week left in Australia before I head back to Europe…more posts to come on that.

Engadget:
TN Games HTX Helmet lets you feel those headshots
Lifehacker:
Vodafone Allows PayPal For Prepaid Phone Recharge
Gizmodo:
PlayStation Home Coming in 9 Days?
Kotaku:
Nintendo Sold 800K Wiis In The US Last Week