#“The Next Big Battle: Google Places vs Facebook Fan Pages”

Facebook's upgrade of the Notes feature this week set me thinking. I asked the simple question if this is another step towards Facebook being "your web-page". First they had to open everything up, now you have permanent pages with your thoughts and simple formatting is allowed. What if they were indexable? What if you had a custom domain for your entire Profile? That's a personal web-site/blog.

#“Super-Smart Use of Android Portable Hotspot from 11 y/o Son”

When I upgraded to the HTC Desire, I gave my old G1 to my eldest son. We try to keep it up-to-date and it is currently running the Cyanogen version of Android 2.2 Froyo. One problem he ran into is that he is on a PAYG O2 SIM and relies on the indulgence of his Grandparents and Aunties/Uncles for call credit. He didn't fully realise that when he is out of the house, he is paying for mobile data as some extortionate rate. So all his credit quickly disappeared. To avoid a re-occurrence, we have disabled mobile data so he can only use Wi-Fi.

Last night he was listening to me convincing his Grandad to replace his old Nokia phone with the HTC Desire. This had a positive outcome despite two of the three iPhone owners in the holiday home having aneurysms as a result. One of the features I showed my Dad was the portable hot-spot in Froyo. It removes the need for a MiFi device. I have a 1GB data add-on with Vodafone which is more than sufficient for my hand-set needs and the odd bit of sharing to the laptop.

Today the youngfella came up with a genius idea. He asked if it was possible for me to turn on the hot-spot on my phone and for him to then use the data-connection by connecting via Wi-Fi to me. Initially the smartness of the idea escaped me. But he pointed out that if we are out-and-about somewhere and there is no Wi-Fi, he'd be able to use my data connection to play his Youtube videos etc etc. Smart little sod. The same solution applies to any Wi-Fi tablet, laptop, iPod Touch or anyone on a PAYG SIM. It's almost like a mobile version of FON for people you know.

I'm sure there is some idiotic T&C in the Vodafone site saying I'm not allowed to do this. Mobile carriers still seem to think the contents of packets actually matter ("Get Facebook for Free on your phone with Three Ireland"). In fact I've heard you have to pay $30 extra a month to enable tethering on Android phones with some carriers in the US!

I'm really looking forward to the glut of cheap-as-chips Android handsets that will start coming out of China. Even with resistive screens and minimal features, they will be the next must-have phones for pre-teens and teens in 2011.

In any case, well done the youngfella for figuring out a solution to his problem.

#“Really Amazon, my Facebook Friends like Monty Python? Wow!”

You can now connect your Amazon account to your Facebook account. The idea being that stuff your friends like might also appeal to you.

I’m not so sure when it comes to purchasing.

I don’t have the same taste in movies as my wife, I’m not a vegan like my old college buddy Bernard, I don’t read the same books as my nephew Tadhg and I’m not a big fan of pets like my sisters.

But hey, I’m a click-junkie so I set it up and this is what it gave me:

I’ll take “people who bought the product you just added to your basket also bought……” any day over this.

I’ll now bang on about my favourite topic “filters” for a moment. I was taking the mickey out of Facebook last night due to their Page recommendations in the sidebar, they are hilarious. Here are some of them:

• Many who like House also like Bones
• Many who like Music also like Movies
• Many who like Comedy also like Drama
• Many who like Tea also like Breffmania
• Many who like Shopping Malls also like Comtemporary R&B

The problem is lack of filtering. I actually like the Breffmania one because it is non-obvious and adds a little discoverability. Amazon telling me that my friends like Monty Python is about as interesting as saying they like TV.?

Purchasing is not the same as Liking YouTube clips or sharing jokes.Something far more powerful like Hunch is required.

And as I said on Facebook earlier, I’m be stunned if FB doesn’t buy them this year.

#“Android gets it own Sky+ app - Pocket-lint”

via pocket-lint.com

I just installed this and gave it a go. Works perfectly with our Sky+HD. Only glitch was that we have two boxes and I needed to login to the Sky site to tell it which one to record with.

App is giving plenty of "bad connection" errors but always works on the second attempt.

Looks lovely and can be region set to Ireland.

#“Bugatti stealing my Sugru design concepts?”

You be the judge.

My Sky+ Remote:

The new Bugatti Veyron SS from Top Gear:

#“Lovely Brabantia Bin - Sugru to the Rescue”

We’ve had a big-assed 50L Brabantia bin for the past 6 years or so. In their wisdom, Brabantia realise that the crappy catches they put on their bins break regularly and not only provide a spare but make it very easy to order another:

Unfortunately, what they didn’t suss was basic mechanical engineering and the fracture mechanics of 5 children whacking the bin-lidhard every time they opened and closed it. So in no time at all the bit which held the catch broke.

Solution 1: Superglue. Rubbish. Lasted precisely one whack from a 4year old.

Solution 2: Epoxy Resin. Used this multiple times over several years. Worked reasonably well. But a pain in the ass to apply since it oozes in everywhere and actually seized up one of the catches. Also goes brittle eventually and breaks away.

Solution 3: Double-sided mounting tape. Tried this recently with surprisingly good results. As it is flexible, it can handle the whackage. Lasted about 2 months until the oozage of the sticky bits made it fall off.

Solution 4: Sugru. I think it may be the perfect solution. Sticky but not oozy to apply. Hard but flexible to handle impact. Has bulk so the load can be spread across a wider area. Two days in and all is well. I’ll report back if it ever breaks.

UPDATE 1: Title changed from “Bloody Brabantia Bin” to “Lovely Brabantia Bin” because they reached out to me on Twitter and pointed out that I could get an entire replacement lid for free on their web-site under the 10 year guarantee. Fantastic customer service. But a bit of Googling reveals the problem above is rampant which surely must be costing them a fortune? I hereby offer my Sugru “distributed load” design to Brabantia’s engineers for free :-)

#“Froyo running on HTC G1”

This is CyanogenMod 6.0RC2. Working brilliantly on old hardware.

#“Second Sugru Hack - Sky+ Remote”

One of my 5 darling children (identity unknown) decided to peel off a strip of the rubber backing on the Sky+ remote. This bugged me every time I held it. So I decided to have some fun with a Sugru repair.

Before:

I had a vision in my head for what I wanted to do. Unfortunately I have zero artistic ability.

The plan was something like a Spiderman web but this is what I gouged out:

I love it and admire my handiwork (crude tho it is) every time I hold it. The kids are less impressed. Oisn aged 8 said “Dad, the last thing that looks like is Spiderman”.

Hack number 3 (ultra simple) to follow.

#“Quick thoughts on the new Digg”

I have never used Digg much. It’s perfect for when I have spare time and I want to bounce around different stories. The problem is that first bit, spare time. So like most people, I just used it to pimp the shit out of my own shit. But even that gets boring after a while.

#“Imagine if the iPhone 4 was a Porsche 911”

You buy this:

But to use it, it has to look like this: