Spotify recently removed the invite requirement for its free service in the UK:

“starting today people in the UK will no longer need an invitation to join Spotify, you can register for our free service directly from our website as always our premium, ad-free service is still available”

Having used Spotify for a few weeks now, I’m convinced this is the future of music! The player lets you search through an ever expanding selection of music, which can then be streamed instantly. It’s like having iTunes preloaded with the world’s music.

It’s probably better explained by them:

The free version is supported by occasional adverts between tracks and every so often you’ll see a banner ad within the player. At its current level it’s not enough to push me to subscribe and it’s certainly not as bad as commercial radio stations that devote more airtime to ads than music.

Its available from spotify.com

Now if only Last.fm could generate Spotify playlists from its recommended music…

Wow! Long time since my last post. So what’s going down you ask? Well I’m working hard at university, taking more web based modules this semester, so it should be a little more fun.

I’m looking for a 12 month placement for sometime between June 2009 and September 2010, so if you’re looking for a keen web developer – get in touch and I’ll send you a copy of my CV.

In other news…

You may have noticed my Flickr stream has been dead for a while, that was my fault – I smashed up my camera whilst out and about. I have now replaced it with the model up, the Canon Ixus 70 – nothing extra special but still an excellent compact camera.

Until next time, stay safe and remember to subscribe to my feed!

I’ve been working on a personal site to bring together my web presence. My blog used to be a wholly separate site; however this reshuffle included streamlining the blog’s theme to match the unified look and feel. No easy task when you’re restrained by the limitations of WordPress.com’s hosted blogging service.

My aim was to be representative of current design trends; the artwork was sourced from Stockxpert and carefully mashed together to create a simple, easy to follow site. For once, I’ve tired to leave the rounded corners and gradients behind!

Through the magic of Apache’s mod_rewrite module all the old URL’s are permanently redirected to their new homes.

Hope everyone’s enjoying their break, take care and talk soon

Wow, almost half a year’s passed since my last post.

You may have noticed my blog’s theme has changed, very observant! I’m using WordPress.com’s “Custom CSS” tool to rip apart the Benevolence theme so that it looks and feels identical to my new website. When will the rest of my new site be ready? Come on, not even I know that

Sport Relief

We ran the Sport Relief mile in Plymouth, raising £80 in total. Big thanks to everyone who sponsored us. We didn’t raise our £100 target but every little helps and all that… We had great fun, that’s what’s important.

Why in Plymouth? We were caravan holidaying in Devon and it was the nearest “flagship” run.

University

I’ve finished the first year of university; I’ve got the results too. I’ve passed everything, just scraped the maths module mind you. But it’s still a pass!

Got to say, the second semester was a little dull, for a web development course, it seriously lacked in web modules. Not to worry though, next year I’m making up for it with a number of web programming modules.

I’ve moved in with my girlfriend, we have a nice flat in Stafford, excellent location… there’s a 24 hour ASDA just a quick walk away and Staffordshire University’s only a short walk in the opposite direction!

Belated birthday celebrations to me!

It was my 19th birthday in May, Tasha and I travelled to Shrewsbury to spend a few days with the family; we all went out to The Riverside Inn for a meal, nice place… the steak and kidney pie even came with my name written in pastry. Awesome I’m sure you’ll agree.

Thanks for checking out my blog, I’m going to make an effort to keep it a little more up to date, so please subscribe to my feed if you’re interested in my dull ramblings!

Two years ago Nick and I ran Sport Relief in Birmingham, raising just over £80 in the process. The event has come around again, and I will be running another sponsored mile, however this time I’ll be in Plymouth and running with Tasha.

We need your support! Together we aim to raise more sponsorship than before; we’ve set our team target at £100.

Unlike last time, the Sport Relief website is fully operational; you can sponsor me at www.mysportrelief.com/pwnet

Everyone and their brothers talking about it, and I’ve seen a few around the uni, I even hear my old mate Adam has one too! I’m talking about the Asus EeePC, I thought I’d document my recent purchase as taking photos of it gives me an excuse to clean up my desk!

It’s a small, inexpensive laptop which I thought might be useful while at university. It’s in no way intended to replace a desktop computer, but it’s very handy at getting on the internet while out and about. No messing around with mobile phone browsers when I can get free WiFi around the university campus, at home and at my girlfriend’s house.

Still not decided what operating system to run on it though, the default install was too limited, so I replaced it with XP, since then I’ve installed Mint Linux, and now I’m considering going back to XP.

My main concern is related to its screen size; some windows become inaccessible as their height is fixed meaning some of the content is out of sight, and without scrollbars it becomes impossible to use. Most frustrating The solution? In Linux, Alt + left-click to drag the window up to reveal the out of sight content. In Windows, you can use the bundled utility to up the resolution, allowing you to “pan” up and down.

There isn’t much more I can say, so until next time, I wish you all the very best.

Asus EeePC Photos

I’m currently in the process of moving accounts to the new PWnet Central system. During this time you may receive an email containing your username and password.

PWnet Central functionality such as ordering/billing and ticket support are offline until the transition is complete. Check the status page for updates.

It’s been a while since I updated my blog, I’ve been busy with university – coming to the end of the first semester. I’m studying Computing Science: Web Development, a four year course (including a years work placement in the third year). I’m living in halls at Staffordshire University, the Stafford campus. I have a small room, restricted internet usage, but apart from that its a nice place!

I’ve been keeping busy, during freshers week I met the most amazing girl in the world, Tasha. We met at one of the union organised events, Tony Lee’s XXX hypnotist comedy night.

We’ve been ice-skating, the first time since going with my secondary school!

Spent a weekend in Portsmouth with Tasha’s best friend, Shona. Went out on the Saturday night to a comedy night/club. The next morning we took a day trip to London, traveling on the train.

A few weeks back we went to see Pendulum performing live in Birmingham, a totally different experience to when I saw them with Nick in May. Definitely worth it.

I checked the UCAS Track site after being tipped off by Nick, so I knew before collecting my results that Staffordshire University had accepted me. Wolverhampton, my insurance university also gave me an unconditional offer.

Collected the results from SSFC just before midday, in no particular order:

• Business Studies: C
• ICT: C
• Sociology: C

I’m pretty happy with my results!

I spent four days at Staffordshire University on their Step Ahead summer school pilot, it laid to rest some of my fears about going off to university, but it also made me realise how much I really do want to go, getting the results today has taken a weight off my mind!

Finished my last exam this morning, we get the results on Thursday 16th of August I need two Ds and a C (or the equivalent combinations) to get into Staffordshire Universities Internet Technology course I’ve applied for. Hopefully, regardless of my total lack of revision in some subjects I will be able to achieve this!

On another note, It didn’t really deserve a post of its own, I bought an MP3 player a couple of weeks ago, originally I chose a Philips, but Amazon’s estimated delivery time put me off, so I cancelled and ordered the SanDisk Sansa instead.

It’s only the 2 GB model but I’ve bumped it up to 3 using the microSD slot and the card I bought for my phone a while back… but never used as it only worked intermittently. The Sansa is much smaller than my PDA so hopefully I’ll use it more often.