Safari 4 BETA – Review

I recently downloaded the new Safari 4, although it’s still in BETA it seems a very stable and reliable browser and as of yet, i haven’t run into any problems. Granted, I never the use the Internet for heavy duty operations but what I do use it for, Safari seems to be able to cope with it. Not to say it had never been able to before, because since the first day i got my MacBook I have always used Safari and have never looked back since, sure i have FireFox installed but that’s only if, on the rare occasion, I need to do something that Safari can’t quite handle.

But with this new version not only have I not needed to use FireFox but it’s the small changes in the interface that have made this (in my opinion) the best web browser to date. And with Safari 4 boasting over 150 new features here are a few that stood out to me the most:

The tabs have been moved to the top of the window which now seems like the normal thing to do and it would feel strange to now use a browser without them there. It has a new feature called ‘Top Sites’ which is a grid view of sites you most visit, with settings laid out at the bottom for the size of the boxes (Small, Medium, Large) and then if you’re not happy with the sites chosen for a certain box you can easily delete it and a new site will take it’s place.

It’s also very fast, Apple say 3 times faster but don’t specify what it’s faster than. I’m assuming it means safari 3 but I wouldn’t go as far as saying it was 3 times faster because for me, safari 3 always seemed fairly fast anyway but nevertheless, there is no doubt that Safari 4 does seem faster (just slightly though).

Anyway, there is my review on Safari 4 BETA and I look forward to Apple releasing the full version soon.

Hayden Barker

Me And My Internet

A little late on the blogging this week but at least I finally got round to it eh.

I decided I’d tell you all about my extremely slow internet that in comparison to everyone else’s I know, looks miniscule and pathetic.

Sadly my internet speed is a shameful 256 kb down and an unknown upload speed according to www.speedtest.net. This is an awful shame because when ever I want to download anything, wether it be a film or downloadable content on xbox live I have to plan how long it will take and decide wether I can fit the download in during the day or if I have to leave what ever device maybe downloading, on over night. Obviously this uses electricity up so this is very much a last resort but one that still has to be used on a regular bases. All this said, having internet access is better than having none at all, which isn’t easy to think about.

Everything I seem to do involves the internet in some way or another, wether it be twitter-ing on the go with my iPhone or if I just have a question for the beloved Google, it all involves the internet, which I think we often take for granted because for some while now we’ve all had the internet at the click of a button and will do for the rest of our lives but over that time it will still grow and integrate itself into our day to day lives more and more as the years go by. Which is certainly something positive to look forward to at this time of crisis.

Anyway must shoot off but please, try and remember me and my embarrassingly slow internet the next time you’re downloading something at 2mb!

Hayden Barker

The ‘Starbucks’ effect

I was in Starbucks today, and there always seems to be a relaxed atmosphere in there. I think that’s why they are so popular, because unconsciously i think you feel like you’re ‘welcome’ there. I started wondering if they purposefully try and create this vibe or if it’s just because ‘that’s the sort of place’ it is.

The staff all seem very friendly, but then again how difficult is it to take an order, give the person their change and smile. But this still didn’t answer the question of why did it feel so relaxing? i started to think, maybe it was just me? I examined people’s faces to see if i could detect an ounce of discomfort or unpleasantness, but no, i couldn’t.

While i was waiting for my drink to be made, i spoke to my friend about different things and i wondered if it was because i was with someone i could talk to that that’s what made this place feel like a home away from home. The only people that didn’t look absolutely happy were those sat outside, but then again i decided that to get the true ‘relax’ effect you had to be seated inside. There were couples, parent’s with children and business people all either sitting down with someone they knew, talking on the phone or simply sitting on their own, thinking.

So maybe this is what gave it that vibe, i thought. As i was walking out, i decided that it the people inside made up half the atmosphere, and that the other half plainly came from the fact that human beings feel at ease when they are around other calm minded people. You wouldn’t get a lunatic come into Starbucks and start shouting absentees neither would you get a robber ‘hold the place up’, this is because Starbucks is well known for being a place to go and get a coffee and have a little ‘me’ time. And maybe it is this simple slogan that invites people to this peaceful heaven, or maybe it’s because they make damn good drinks, you decide.

 

Hayden Barker

Just Google It

 

As i sit here listening to my new favorite band ‘Modest Mouse’ i find myself google-ing things that I would never usually want to know – “How do they make cream eggs?” “What was the first squad to play for Manchester United?” ” How clean are local takeaway restaurants?” – all things that i doubt one single person could tell me (except stephen fry maybe) and it makes me think – Where would we be without ‘Google’?

The answer is simple – we’d all be a lot less intelligent, because the fact is that if you don’t know something the first thing that comes to mind is ‘Google’, and the name is no longer a company brand but more a large book with all the information you would ever want to know.

If i try and think back to the first time I ‘Googled’ something i would have to sit and think for a long long time (which I’m not going to do) and even then i highly doubt i would be successful. This got me thinking though, is google good for us or not? because i feel that dictionaries, guinness world record books and anything of the sort, have become rather out dated and pushed aside by Google. It seems like it was a Shopping center which just arrived one day and no one has been able to move it since. Even wikipedia is at the mercy of google because I’m not sure about you but if i ever need to know something about a certain person/company i always search on google and click the link to wikipedia from there.

It’s becoming the natural source of information, which i think isn’t necessarily a good idea because surely if Google were to collapse  or if (god forbid) the internet were no longer affordable or available then were would we be? We’d go crawling back to encyclopedias and would travel far more, to fill the crave for learning we all have. Libraries would suddenly be filled with new subscription applications and the queue would become a parallel of Disneyland’s largest ride – Mt Everest (no prizes for guessing where i got that information from).

Surely we should try moving slightly away from Google and try and find a new source for information. Television news is fine for things that are happening around the world at this moment in time but for obvious reasons they could never tell you a certain piece of information your looking for. Sure an alternative could be to use other search engines like yahoo, Ask, search and hundreds more but I’m talking about finding a brand new source for information. 

Saying all this, i would find it extremely hard to distance myself from Google and all it’s products – mail, maps, blogger, video and image search and many more. Because Google has almost become part of my life, if i check my email it’s through Gmail’s servers, if i need directions I’d get Maps up on my iPhone or laptop, and all this can be accessed in a matter of minutes so on one hand, why the need for change?

Anyway I shall finish this post by saying: Hope you have enjoyed reading and if you want to know something about anything then Googles the place to go!

Hayden Barker

Growing Up

On the 23rd of jan. it was my birthday and i had a great day. But I’m now at the age where i have to make certain decisions and choose certain paths to go down and in the end it’s most certainly going to effect my future. I don’t want to hit 50 years old and think “What have i done with my life?” and then the answer be “well… Nothing” and sadly to stop this happening i have to make decisions now and hope that i do well in life and get gifted some opportunities which i can then go on and make my self proud with. I’m sure there are people now hitting 30 and 40 and asking themselves that very same question “What have i done with my life” and getting the same answer back, but at that age there is still plenty of time to make new decisions and change your way of living but i think that once you’ve hit 50 and aren’t happy with the choices you have made then it’s a bit like, times up. Now i know there is still 15 years until retirement which you may think is plenty time but just think, once you hit 50 health problems start to kick in, you may not notice it but your starting to go past the stage of ‘Middle Age’ and start to reach ‘OAP’ and by this time it’s almost definitely too late to change your life.
Now I’m not saying it’s impossible but it’s highly unlikely because the new generation will be coming through and stealing all the jobs you were once good at and people you know will be starting to settle down with families of their own and get ready to die happily. My point is through all this, is that for every action i take now (work wise or lifestyle) will have an effect on how i am and more importantly WHERE i am when i hit 50. It’s a difficult thing to go through because your constantly worrying about whether you did this right or you dwell on the fact you didn’t get this certain thing right etc.

And that’s not easy to deal with, I know I’ve not got the added pressure of bills to pay, a house to keep or a job to do well at but this is all to come and i think that while i should be enjoying this last bit of my ‘Childhood’ it’s just as stressful as it would  be if i was doing the exact same thing as every other adult.
Hayden Barker

 

Science vs Religion

First off I’d like to say that although I’ve not posted in just over two weeks – therefore my new years resolution is already broken – i feel i should be let off as you have to be in a certain mind set to post on a blog and over the past two weeks i have not felt like doing so… until now.
Now the title indicates that i am about to get all political and become extremely boring – this may still happen – however it is a thought that has been irritating me over the past couple of days and i feel now is the time to pick everyone’s brains.

My question is ‘How is it possible to teach both science and R.E (Religious Education) in school and expect all pupils to believe and agree with both sides?’ because on one hand you have someone saying the world was created in seven days and so on and so on, and on the other hand you have another person saying the world was created by the big bang which therefore begs the question, Who is right and who is lying to thousands of children a day?

Now i firmly believe on the science side of this argument as i am an atheist and believe that for every action there is an explanation, so in this case i would say the R.E teacher is lying. But then again anyone who visits any religious church/temple etc. would say i am wrong and that while i was on the subject i will most definitely be going to hell.

Now schools could never believe that someone they employed could be lying and yet it’s happening right under there own noses. I also understand that the schools have to cater to everybody’s believes and could never publicly accuse a student of having the wrong opinion on a subject which is very sensitive but i don’t think there is one student who believes in both science and R.E’s theories, not unless they have split personalities of course. But having unhappy children leads to making life hell for the teacher who has the class next, because children like to vent frustration on people and especially ones who are trying to teach them something.

Anyway I know we cannot expect the schools to cut out both lessons or to drop one and not the other… So lets bin R.E and get on with science shall we!

 

Hayden Barker

A New Year

First off, it’s been nearly 5 months since my last post and seen as it’s New Year i thought i would set my self a few Ney Year’s resolutions:

1 – Post on blog at least 1 every 1-2 weeks
2 – Try and learn at least 1 interesting thing everyday
3 – Try and finish every game from the PS1 all the way up to Xbox 360
4 – Play World of Warcraft more frequently!

Now most of these were very last minute resolutions but never the less I do intend to stick to them (to at leats February anyway)

Going back a few weeks Christmas was great, i did the usual ate too much, drank too much and didn’t sleep enough but still, I had a great one!
We had family down so we had to have an even bigger turkey than usual which was great for me, not so great for my waist line. I got some great gifts including a few games, Guitar Hero World Tour, new football boots and lots of others. I will post photos in my next post (which, if i stick to my NYR, should be this week or the next) in the meanwhile you can follow my day to day life on Twitter or Facebook.

Anyway I must save my fingers for Guitar Hero plus it’s late night/early morning so I should really get to bed.

HB.

Food,Football,Film

The 3 F’s in my day today first off is Food – I’m a big fan of it. As I am writing this I am waiting on irish sausages in a big yorkshire pudding filled with sweet corn and peas. Sounds nice don’t you think?

Second is Football, that’s english football (soccer) not american football. It is easily the greatest sport ever thought of by man. It can make someone a hero overnight and force emotions out that you didn’t realise were there until after your team has scored a wining goal in the last minute of the game! The reason I bring this up as well is that a few days ago all united fans payed tribute to one of the greatest strikers ever to have graced football pitches all around the world. I am of course talking about the one and only ‘Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’ AKA ‘The Baby Faced Assasin’. The man who scored the wining goal to seal united’s treble wining season in 98/99. The man who came on as a substitute and scored 4 goals. By the way if you haven’t yet guessed it, I am a Manchester United fan. The game was a fitting tribute to one of the greatest players at old trafford as their was a late goal and Ole nearly scored twice.

The third is Film which I recently went through the stage of not watching many over the past few months but this week i have made a decision to become a film fanatic once agin, which i started off with by watching the 3 new-ish star wars (1,2,3) which I have seen before but they are still very enjoyable and a good watch. I will update you other films i watched in future posts.

UPDATE: I have eaten the food – it was VERY tasty.

Cheers, HB

Welcome To My World

Welcome to an insight into my life and thoughts. I’m only young but have always felt older in my self and always felt the need to go that one step further in everything I do.

I have a blog already (www.hbarker.blogspot.com) but I kind of gave up on it recently, plus I saw the wordpress app on the iPhone’s app store for free so I thought, why not?

This is only a short post as I am having a lazy day today and might watch a few films.

You can follow me on twitter at: TheBeeker

Cheers, HB