Colin's Journal

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I've recently tried out the BBC iPlayer on our Wii.  Overall it's pretty promising, but not quite there yet.  The main good point is the most obvious: being able to watch TV on a TV screen from a comfortable chair at a good distance.

The are, however, several downsides.  The quality of the codec (Flash 7 at 820Kbit/s rather an Flash 8 at 500Kbit/s) is definitely not as good as under Linux.  The lack of full screen support is also annoying, but the top complaint is reserved for the screen saver on the Wii kicking in every 10 mins or so.

A better solution will hopefully come in the form of a dedicated Wii channel, rather than simply supporting play back through the Opera web browser (known as the Internet Channel).  The BBC developed free codec Dirac looks like a great candidate for such a deployment (especially following on from the announcement of a fast implementation hitting a 1.0 version).  Hopefully the Wii's processor and graphics are going to be enough to host a good implementation of this (or some other codec) in the future.

In other Wii related news I've recently received Zak & Wiki.  So far I've only made it through the first stage, but things are starting to get interesting.  The first few levels were really about introducing the controls (which are simple), but the puzzles later on get more interesting and varied.  Having multiple ways of completing a level is also a refreshing feature in a puzzle game.

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The picture was taken at Tintagel as the tide came in, thankfully we didn't stay around long enough to be trapped!

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One of my favourite aspects of visiting the US is the common use of wood fires for heating.  While using wood for heating doesn't provide the instant availability and convenience of a gas fire or electric heater, it is immensely satisfying to start a fire with nothing but newspaper and logs.  The hard to regulate heat, and indeed the smoke, are all part of the experience.

I would love to have a wood fire in my own home.  The first challenge is, of course, having a home of my own to start with, but a close second is the UK's Clean Air acts that affects much of the country.  There is however some hope.  Various wood burning stoves have been tested and are exempt from the restrictions.

Whether I could justify the cost of getting a chimney lined, buying a stove (£800 to £2000 depending on model) and installing it I don't know.  The bigger question at this point is what living with a wood stove would be like.  Would it be sufficiently close to the open fire to be worth doing, or could I settle for going outside and using a fire pit?

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Another New Year, another review of the past twelve months and some crystal ball gazing for the future.  2007 was a fairly successful year for me, although light on earth shattering events (a good thing!).  It started with a road trip down through the Cotswolds, all the way to Cornwall and a leisurely meander home via a collection of good hotels and restaurants.

The spring brought changes at work, as did the autumn.  I also had my first trip to Israel, a greater variety of destinations within the UK, but unfortunately no further trips to India.  I had my first experience of driving around the continent, clocking up France, Luxembourg, Germany, Holland and Belgium.  This was perhaps the highlight of the travel this year, providing a very different experience to visiting places by flying in and out.

In 2007 I learnt how to create websites with Django, refreshed my website design and coding skills, and created Splash of Wine.  The website hasn't been as successful as I would have liked, however it's proved a good learning experience and I've not yet given up on it entirely.

On other fronts 2007 left me with fewer photographs taken than I would like, and a guitar playing ability that is no different to where I was in 2006.  In 2008 I'm planning to improve my ability with the guitar, setting the (easily achievable) goal of being able to play at least one song.  The other big event forecast for 2008 is to move home.  We've enjoyed our stay in the Docklands, but it's time to find somewhere bigger and cheaper, which given the nature of London means moving further out.  Whether we buy or rent again remains to be seen, but I hope to at least start collecting some furniture of our own instead of being in fully furnished flats.

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Good holidays always feel like they are over barely after they begin.  Our tour of Europe (well France, Luxembourg, Germany and Belgium) certainly falls into this category.  We set off from London on a Saturday, got to Dover with plenty of spare time for lunch, and took the ferry over to Boulogne.  It was my first time driving on the right hand side of the road, and I have a say it was easier than I had expected it to be.

We stayed in a small B&B outside Amiens on the first night, enjoying a good evening of eating, drinking and chatting with the hosts and other guests.  The next day we worked our way to Louviers where we spent a couple of nights.  We stayed in small village rather than a town or city, a good change of pace from London.

After a quick visit to Monet's gardens (which get better the further in you go) we soebt a night in a chateau in Courcelles (in the Champagne region) - a fabulous evening of good food, great service and spectacular surroundings.

A further night just outside Epernay allowed for a some champagne tasting (7 in total), the most enjoyable being at the Espace Degustation where we did a sampling of the 5 champagne's of the week. 

Next up was Luxembourg for a night, with a day trip around the Vianden and the spectacular castle (see photo).  We ended up crossing the border into Germany on a tiny little single track road, but thankfully one with almost no traffic.  Our first night in Germany was spent in Heidelberg, for which the most impressive sight came by walking the steep path up to the castle gardens / park.

Friedrichroda had been mainly selected for it's half-way point on route to Leipzig, but it also presented an opportunity to do a little walking through the forest which was a good change of pace.

Leipzig itself was much more alive than my memories of it from (roughly) six years ago.  There are still a lot of empty,boarded up, properties around, but plans are in place to have them mostly demolished and the surroundings regenerated.  The city centre itself is full of good shopping, eating and construction.

Our return trip was faster than our out-bound.  We stopped in Paderborn (home to a nifty river and lots of references to Charlemagne), Aachen (good gingerbread, and even more references to Charlemagne) and finally Gent.  Gent was a surprise hit - a fabulous series of canals, old buildings and lively atmosphere.

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The blue skies finally came back this weekend, and for the first time all summer it's been to hot.  Saturday was spent at a barbeque - eating, drinking and burning wood in honour of Alice's birthday.

Today's been a mixture of spending time playing Travian and working on Splash of Wine.  The site is coming along nicely, with a lot of small refinements going live today and one significant feature: lists.  You can have as many lists as you need, whether to-try lists or wish lists (my wish list is more a good wines list at the moment), or anything else.

The next major feature for me to work on is displaying average prices of wines.  All the purchases that are recorded on the site are averaged on a per-country basis.  Showing this alongside the wine details is easy enough, however I need to implement a quick and easy way to switch countries before it's particularly useful.

Please let me know how you get on with the site and the new features, and please pass the site details on to friends and family.