Standing on Chelmsford railway platform today while waiting for a
train to London I have a clear view across the University campus where
Ultralab (1990-2006) was based, in which I worked.

The sports hall and student bar is now demolished and I'm guess once
the rubble is cleared Ultralab (1990-2006)'s North Block will be next.

Today while in New Milton, Hampshire, visiting a school, I passed a
retro games store and on my way back to the station I purchased an
immaculate boxed Sega Dreamcast for £20, a memory card for £5 and £9
worth of games.

I never owned a Dreamcast, but have heard so many times over the years
that they were an under valued console that was excellent, just badly
marketed and overpriced.

Jus (surprise surprise) had a Dreamcast when she was younger and
requested (on the phone) at the time of purchase that some 'Tomb
Raider' titles were bought too, she has been playing them this
evening. I've been playing 'Crazy Taxi' on the good advice of Hais.

The Dreamcast sits alongside the Megadrive we bought two weeks ago,
and I'm impressed by the graphics, the sound quality and the condition
it is in. First time we turned it on it asked for todays date,
starting at 1998 as default, where have the last ten years gone? They
flew by.

Wow! A train company that knows what it is doing. This morning I
boarded an overcrowded and dirty National Express East Anglia train
from Witham, changed at Stratford onto the delayed, sticky, smelly and
noisy London underground and now I'm on a clean, pleasent and on time
South West Trains service from Waterloo.

The air condition works, the train is quiet and I've been welcomed
aboard. The trolley cart running through the train was a lot less
expensive in comparison to National Express who charge £1.30 for
breakfast bars that only cost 40p in the shops.

All I need now is free wifi and plugs at my seat and I'd be even more
impressed.

Walking round Lakeside this evening almost every store has a sale on,
few customers and some of the small independent stores have gone into
receivership or are closed.

Reading my RSS feed this morning (via Google Reader) I was drawn through to the BBC News website to read about Google launching ‘Google Lively‘, a potential rival to ‘Second Life‘.

Reading the article with interest, I thought…. “That looks interesting, I’ll give that a try in a few minutes”….

So after a bit more browsing round the internet, and a quick glance at my diary (stored in Google Calendar), and a quick check of my email (stored in Google GMail) followed by a quick glance at my various overnight website statistics (stored in Google Analytics) I could then quickly review some editing a colleague had recently done on a document we are co-collaborating (in Google Docs) and then print off the map for a meeting tomorrow morning (using Google Maps).

Then after a quick Google Search I found the link to Google Lively and clicked it.

First thing, it is not ready for Apple Mac’s yet, sigh.

Next I switch to Windows XP mode on my Mac and start up Internet Explorer.

‘Lively’ seems pleased that I’ve visited it on a Windows operating system and allows me to log in using my existing Google Account.

Once logged in the first thing I saw was the front ’splash screen’ (for those logged in) with rooms available to join. This is the first thing I see without clicking anywhere….

Here it is:

On closer inspection:

Here is a close up of the area where the arrows point (with a little privacy for those that choose to enter them!):

I’ll leave you to draw your own conclusions, but I’m amazed that in a splash of publicity for something new, which will include kids reading about it and logging in to see what all the fuss is about with this new ‘virtual world’ that the first thing the community see listed on hundreds of pages of available virtual rooms is sex related.

After a browse away from the front page I’m now on page 73 of the listings, not a sex room in sight, but to a browsing child what would they find on their way to the non sex rooms?….

Just a few clicks and I’ve found this…

What amazes me the most is how this system is totally ‘un-googleish’…. Where are the filters to avoid me bumping into the kind of people who fill these rooms?  Where is the filter to turn these rooms off?

I clicked on the ‘Discussion Forum’ link at the bottom of the page (surprise surprise, I’m lead into Google Groups (where discussions are being held)) to see if others have spotted the same issue that I have…. and within seconds I find comments  like this…

I’m a big fan of Google, I believe they provide the world with useful tools which are engaging and easy to use.  But I’m shocked by their latest offering (which does not load by the way!).

Come on Google!  Sort it out!

I’m off now to Google Earth to check on some data provided by one of the colleges I’m working with, then I’ll probably blog from my iPhone later (which will get routed through Google’s Blogger.com)

Googles great, but this is quite simply shocking.

Less than half price in Morrisons, so Jus bought loads.

Jus and I are in Morrisons and I'm amazed by the number of offers.

Its clear to me that people are being careful about what they are
spending, but because the price of petrol, living cost bills going up
and spending therefore going down that shops like this are
suffering.... as us customers think twice about the impulse buys
supermarkets have traditionally thrown at us as we wander around
picking up.

Justina has taken to baking cakes, her latest was todays Chocolate
Peppermint Slice, which tastes great. Yesterday she made 'Rocky Road'
like you get in Starbucks, another hit. Roll on tomorrow!

Today Hal, Hais and I are at Barnfield College for the regional RSC conference.

Last year it was held in Norfolk at Easton College, which we enjoyed exhibiting at. We are delighted to be invited to this years conference to exhibit and run the podcasting sessions.

Our SMS wall is also on display and in use for delegates throughout the day to text in thoughts, ideas and comments.

The pictures and podcasts can be found here: http://www.rsc-eastern.ac.uk/RSC_files/community/efair_resources.html

This blog entry was written on the move using an iPhone and sent to www.mattheweaves.co.uk and Facebook.

For the past year I have been travelling standard class to Norwich on
National Express East Anglia to get to City College to work on RUGroom.

This morning I am catching the (surprise surprise, late running) 7.07
from Witham to Norwich and might miss my connection for the last part
of my journey to Great Yarmouth.

Anyway, booking the tickets for the trip yesterday from
thetrainline.com it was more cost effective for me to travel First
Class on the way up, and Standard on the way back.

The ticket I have for this trip (which National Express will nodoubt
check the usual four times they seem to inspect) cost £16 First Class
as opposed to over £20 Standard Class purchased at the station (no
standard tickets were available for this train on thetrainline.com, I
guess the few limited discount tickets had already sold.

The return journey standard ticket has cost me £6.00, bargain.

This is the first time I have used thetrainline.com for a long time
after it became virtually impossible to explain a ticketing error to
various representatives in a thetrainline.com oversees call centre by
phone. Thetrainline.com might be a cost effective way to buy train
tickets cheap, so long as you make no changes to plans and stick to
the strict schedule you agree to at time of purchase.

The First Class carriage is almost empty, a National Express employee
is busy on a laptop near by and a dew seats ahead a young lady has
just joined the train at Manningtree.

About a month or so ago, colleague Hal MacLean and I travelled
standard class from Kings Cross to Doncaster. The seats were
comfortable, carriage was clean, bright and modern and there was free
wireless Internet and power plugs at every seat. Yet here on the
train I'm on at the moment I'm in First Class with none of that, and
the train is opperated by the same company, National Express.

Although the seat I'm sitting in right now is roomy, its not very
comfortable, but atleast it is quiet (I somehow usually end up in the
carriage with the screaming toddler).

I also tried booking some tickets through raileasy.com and won't be
using them again.