Daniel Felice

Google Nexus One in Australia

// January 20th, 2010 // No Comments » // Phones

As usual, living in Australia means that we are the last country to receive anything. It has been better in recent years with regards to television and movies, but technology still seems to take at least 3-4 months if not more to catch up with the rest of the world.

Living in Ireland, they were pretty much on the same schedule as the UK, so I got things when they came out and not 6 months after the rest of the world was already sick of it.

The Google Nexus One was released a few weeks ago to 4 countries. One of them not being Australia, and probably not the fault of any Australia telco. Looking at reports from various online sources, Vodafone look like they are going to carry the phone in Australia but have said it will be available to us “sometime in 2010″. That means they probably haven’t even seen the phone yet, let alone be in the process of testing it.

With no confirmation date, and with no date likely to be annouced for a while I am going to get a friend to buy me one from the US and get it shipped here. It will probably work out cheaper for me anyway, with the final cost of the phone plus shipping to be somewhere around AUD$650, maybe even cheaper.

I have been waiting for an Android phone for a while now. In a post  a few months back I mentioned that I was waiting for the next generation of phones from Acer, Motorola and SE. Following that, HTC announced their new 2010 lineup and I was set on the Bravo, now I want the Nexus One.

By the time Vodafone Australia launches the N1, it will be old. The Nexus 2 probably would have been announced, or even released and I’d once again be wanting the latest device. There is always going to be something better, so I figure I will get the N1 now from the US before I see what is coming later this year, or I will never get an Android phone.

I am going to order it next week, I”ll let you know what it is like. But before then, I have to find to Aussie carrier that won’t charge me an arm and leg for data. That’s another thing we are behind in, the falling of mobile phone costs! I’ll leave that rant for another day.

Woo Woo

// January 14th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Wordpress

Thanks to Jono, I have updated my theme once again. I like this theme much more than my previous, and it still incorporates the lifestream aspects that I am fond of.

Being a personal blog I like the idea of sharing my twitter feed, photos, links, etc with my viewers. I was trying to get that across with my last theme, but failed due to the theme being a bit rough around the edges.

I took Jono’s advise and surfed over to Woo Themes where I took a look at the free themes. Most of the free ones are pretty decent, very professional looking.

If you want to pay for themes, Woo Themes has some pretty decent prices depending on what you are looking for.

So if you are a WordPress user, and looking for a new theme, check them out…

Back in 1998…

// January 11th, 2010 // No Comments » // Contests

In 1998 while I was still at high school, I was involved in a global web design contest. Each team was made up of 3 schools in 3 different locations around the world. It was truly a global project, collaborating with team members all over the world, in different timezones, and using 1990’s technology.

From memory we used video conferencing software called CUSeeMe to talk to our team members, which in 1998 was nowhere near as advanced as it is today. I think we even used a dial up Internet connection. Other methods of collaborating were forums and emails.

In total I was part of the contest 3 years in a row. In 1998 we didn’t place, in 1999 we came third in our group and in 2000 we won. The winning prize including a trip to Hong Kong.

Looking back on the website that won, it was the years before Flash, CSS, XML, CMS software and I don’t even think we used Dreamweaver. We used a HTML editor called Adobe PageMill, which was later replaced by Dreamweaver after Adobe brought Macromedia. The site was mostly pure HTML and JavaScript.

I tried to find the winning site, but I think it may have been taken down.

The video below was filmed by our Chris Betcher who was the teacher who headed up our teamIn it we discuss what it is like working together as a team, collaboration and technology. Check it out….

Happy New Year!

// January 5th, 2010 // 2 Comments » // General

I am a few days late, but Happy New Year! I hope you all enjoyed 2009 and are looking forward to the challenges of the 2010.

Twenty 10  is looking like it will be an interesting year for me. I have a new project on the way, which I will announce soon – once it is all up and running. I am also looking to do a lot more with this blog, as I promised last year. Still not sure on the direction of it , or if there will be any direction at all. It might just continue being full of my ramblings. But I promise I will find a new theme! I have had a few people tell me it looks rubbish, so I will change it soon!

Last year was such a mixed year, with travelling and moving to the otherside of the world, the blog took a bit of a backwards step. I haven’t kept up to date with the latest developments of WordPress and BuddyPress, but hopefully when I find the time I will get a chance to look at whats coming up and how I can implement the changes in the work I am currently doing.

As always I am continuing to look at what I can do next. I know I keep saying it, but one of my projects will take off sooner or later. I think I am onto something good with my latest one, but I will keep it under wraps for now. But I will say that is something no one has done before in Australia…..

That is all for now! Check back soon, I will try and update this a few times a week.