Not the usual HTC Shift review – best UMPC?

There are lots of reviews around on the HTC shift – the first video review I found was by a hilariously jubulant guy called Hugo Ortega and you can see it here if you want …  My review here is not going to cover the standard spec and features as you can get that kind of information in any number of places.

Instead, having used one of these HTC Shift things for a few weeks now, I thought I’d try and make a note of things that I have found out about it (good and bad) that haven’t generally appeared in other reviews.

You may well know that the HTC Shift has two chips – a windows mobile (like a big PDA) and a PC processor for full blown vista.  The battery is great on one and lousy on the other – you guess which   Because of this, after one week, I purchased another battery and a spare mains charger – just one of those things you need to get used to if you want to use vista on this a lot.  This cost an extra £45 is total but if you’re spending over £800 on this puppy then that might not be too great an issue.

On the subject of hardware, generally, it works just fine.  Once you’re used to exactly how to slide out and/or tilt the keyboard, its very easy – and the mouse trackpad which looks insanely small and useless is actually very functional and surprisingly sensitive to fast / slow movements of the mouse across the screen.  Having the mouse keys on the other side of the screen isn’t intuitive for me – but its okay. And the good old “delay = right click” is very useful when pointing on the touch screen.

The other piece of hardware that I though would be quite useless was the fingerprint recognition device for secure entry. But it actually works great, allowing me to password protect my account on vista and get in with a simple swipe.  There is software to also allow you (via a slightly annoying prompt if you’re not interested) to encrypt any web based username and password request.  I ignored it for a while, due to lack of trust, lol – but gave in and now love it.  Still not sure if its safer than “remember me on this computer” though.  And I’m worried I’m going to forget all my passwords!

The camera?  Well, I can’t tell you anything as there doesn’t seem to be any pre-installed software to use it on either vista or winmobile – which is a boo-boo if you ask me.

The keyboard is good – really good.  But its not as big as a full size, so you touch typers like me will find it difficult to touch type – and its not quite small enough (with my hands anyway) to comfortably hold and use both thumbs to reach all the keys.  For longer typing sessions, I suppose you could always get a fold-out bluetooth one. Oh, and some of the blue function key equivalents don’t work in winmobile but that’s not too much bother as the important ones (eg sound and brightness) do.

The only thing I’m really not that impressed with about the hardware is the battery cover.  It can be prone to come open when you are sliding the screen/keyboard into position which I find annoying.

Crash protection?!  I’ve never dropped my shift – but when I place it on my pillow even a little vigorously, it tends to disengage the disk (or whatever) to enter its “I’ve been dropped mode” and instantly powers off.  This in my view is a good feature but a little sensitive for my liking.

And finally on the hardware(ish) front is the case – its a lovely leather jobby, but I found that the fit is so snug that you have to store the device upside down as it were, otherwise you’ll inadvertently end up turning on the side slider power switch when you put it away.

Software?  Well, lets do windows mobile first, then vista.  The thing you notice straight away is that you have a cut-down version of the latest windows mobile software – akin to something called Snapvue.  You may like to go here and rectify that immediately!  NB, if you get trouble attaching the .LNK file from within a windows email package to your winmobile account, make sure the file is on your desktop, then right click it and choose send to -> mail recipient.  You won’t be able to get at it from your full outlook client, but you winmobile won’t care and will let you open it.  Thanks to the wonderful Gareth Evans in our IT Helpdesk for that little tip. 

The choice to do the snapvu thing was frankly just bonkers on HTC’s part and really restricts many simple tasks like even correcting the time!  If it weren’t for the saving grace of the liberate possibility, I’d have sent the whole device back.

Anyway, as far as windows mobile is concerned, no real surprises (though I do like HTC’s weather feature) – and, due to the screen size the whole interface is HUGE and really easy to navigate with a fat finger.  You can’t as far as I can tell, use the mouse or configure the mouse buttons to launch applications or the like.  Neither can you use the bluetooth chip or the wifi facility or (afaik) the camera in mobile.  Oh, and that goes for voice phone functionality also.  All a great shame really.

I’m not sure why HTC took away the ability to connect with your vista chip as once you’ve restored it via the liberate process above, it becomes a very useful feature.

Before “liberating” your shift as outlined from the link above, setting up comms was really easy – just popped my Vodafone sim in the slot, fed the software the name of my exchange server together with password details, and the sync just happened.   Really really good. 

Operation under windows?  Well, vista is a little annoying buy hey ho, not HTC’s fault.  I wonder whether XP would be better …  Anyway, its GREAT and its taken every application I’ve thrown at it – but so long as you only really want to run one application at a time.  Any more and you may begin to feel the difference between this and your high spec desk/lap top.

As one who never reads manuals, it took me an hour or so to figure that the only way you are going to get surfing via your mobile data sim is if you first turn off wifi.  Once done, there’s again absolutely no configuration to do and it just works – and very well too.

There is a really handy application attached to one of the external buttons that lets you adjust sound, brightness and turn on/off wifi / data card / bluetooth etc.  The other button that changes resolution actually works great too (though it worked better before I downloaded some Microsoft recommended updates – grrrr).

The screen brightness will continually reset itself to a dimmer setting than max even if you switch off auto in the application referred to above.  The only way to get around this is to change the power setting to high performance.

It also comes with another MS application called Origami Experience 2 – which is some way of bringing web feeds for weather and application launch icons together or something.  I dunno, I just took it out of the start menu straight away as it annoyed me, sorry.

On the subject of start – I always use the slider switch to put my vista into sleep as opposed to shutting down.  Otherwise, you may find yourself planning several days ahead if you need to use vista due to the bootup times.  Again, not entirely HTC’s fault.

Annoyingly, I took some patches from Microsoft and I now have mouse pointer issues and a couple of other annoyances – but that’s not HTC’s fault.

I’ve found it very easy to install additional software by connecting via wifi to a DVD drive on a local PC – not sure a novice would know what to do though and there isn’t much in the way of guidance (or do I need to read the manual?). 

Conclusion?  Great piece of kit and I believe that it increases my productivity beyond the cost of the device to my organisation – which I suppose is the only thing that counts in one sense.  I’d give it an 8/10 – recognising that some simple things addressed as outlined above would easily take that to a 9+.  Would I buy this with my own money if I hadn’t been able to get one through work?  Yes (probably) 

NB I had better explain that my situation is a little unusual in that I can’t really use a laptop because I need to be very close to any screen I’m using and laptop keyboards are either too big or the whole thing is just too heavy to make this comfortably feasible.  I was also a heavy PDA user.

A few wow links …

Technical innovative excellence, emotionally provocative, what are google doing now – and Donald Rumsfeld.  Take your pick below …

First up, watch the amazing Johnny Lee use a £25 wii remote to make an electronic whiteboard. I’ve shown this to my bro-in-law, Alessio Bernadelli who is a physics teacher, and he’s going to be demonstrating it at the Institute of Physics. Anyway, here it is:

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/245

Next up, what are you doing with your life and how are you feeling today?If you have 11 minutes and can put up with the intro from Opra, listen to this academic give his last, moving lecture…

http://video.stumbleupon.com/#p=ithct48cqw

Penultimately, did you know that Google can now serarch tomorrow’s news too?

 http://www.google.com.au/intl/en/gday/index.html

Last and most definitely least, did you catch these Donald Rumsfeld quotes of the decade?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/player/nol/newsid_7350000/newsid_7357300?redirect=7357322.stm&news=1&nbram=1&nbwm=1&bbram=1&bbwm=1 

 

I have the bridge, number one …

Here’s an interesting thing …  We’ve had a bit of nasty flu etc going around the family this week, and the last three days have by necessity seen me taking to the captain’s position in the kitchen.  Normally, I play second fiddle and do what I’m told, as the hours I work etc mean I’m normally very much a passer-through.

But I’ve loved it and its taken me back years to when I used to do a lot of baking etc. I had also completely forgotten what a kitchen control freak I was and how my sink and worktops must remain clear and disinfected at all times, lol.

Maybe its subconsciously because I know its only temporary – but there is something incredibly fulfilling about feeding and looking after everyone, a tremendous sense of value and satisfaction in just keeping them all going – in a way that merely getting money into the bank account doesn’t quite achieve.  And another funny thing – I find the dishwasher a complete waste of time and nuch prefer to do it by hand …

Well, in the morning, I shall have to hand things over again – but its been great and I’ll miss it!

Easter eggs cracked !

The thing that really gets my goat about Easter is the overwhelming gluttony caused by lavishing the kids with chocolate eggs – replacing any replica of true meaning with a nauseous chorus of “can I have …” and voluminous packaging all over the place for weeks.

Well, grumpy old man that I am, this year, I though I’d at least try to curtail things as much as I could.  You can’t ask relatives not to give eggs – well, you can but it would lead to all sorts of complications.  So, I decided to break out the Tupperware.  Each one of my children got a plastic container into which they were “asked” to place all of their (unwrapped) eggs.  The rubbish then went instantly into the bin and it was simple to tell whose chocolate was what and where it was.  Then these plastic boxes come down at certain times and the kids can eat in something nearing a controlled manner.

A small victory – but it made things just s little more (or should that be less?) sweet on Easter Sunday.

Is it a bird, is it a game? No, its Glamstart !

I had the privilege this week of popping over to Glamorgan Uni in order to attend one of their CELT talks.  This one was about GlamStart, a fresher game coded by Martin Lynch.  Martin is one of that rare breed of highly competent technologists who can also communicate very effectively in a public forum.  I enjoyed my play with the software and took the liberty of grabbing a few piccies for you in order to explain it further.

You can read more about Glamstart at http://glamlife.glam.ac.uk/gettingstarted/1367/glamstart 

After logging in, you are greeted by your Dean (or in my case a random Dean speaking to you via a video:

 

 You then get to create your online persona including character, job and accommodation:

 

 

This then puts you into your room – where you can interact with all of your facilities including tv, computer, pda (for lecture times etc) and of course, bed!  The video links on the side are unlocked as you progress and find things in the game:

 

You can move your mouse around whichever room you are in and click – at which the character will walk over to that position / item. The “map” button takes you to the map of the campus that you can use to enter different areas:

Of course, I went straight to the LRC or Learning Resource Centre for a nose around …

Once inside, you can go venture into different rooms and interact with different characters via embedded videos and faq’s:

But don’t forget to keep an eye on the time and check out your PDA for the next lecture that you may need to rush off to !

At the end of each hard day, you may choose to watch some TV

… before receiving notification of your outcome for that day :-

I think that there are 10 days in all with rewards that translate in to free printing vouchers.  All in all VERY NEAT – well done all!

I discussed next steps with Martin and how making it a living environment (possibly akin to secondlife) might be an idea – and combining it with the MLE to bring people into it and so on and so on.  And the whole “community” element of that for distance learners, part-timers, pre-enrollers … oh the mind boggles!

But for what it is now, I think its another great way of finding out about the University for people who don’t like to look at linear text intensive web pages – and at the end of the day, that’s exactly what it is – information and communication in an alternative format with embedded incentives.

(Hey Mike, just imagine what WE could do with a bunch of coders available to get on with this sort of stuff … !)

Top effort Glam!

Left brain and right brain stuff at TED

You’ve probably heard people speking about the activity of different parts of the brain and why using a slide show in the background to a speaker helps engage the whole brain etc etc etc.  And you maybe though “whatever…”  But the concept took on a slightly new dimension at the recent TED conference a couple of weeks ago.

Take 18 minutes to watch this astonishing talk from Harvard-trained brain scientist Jill Bolte Taylor. 

By the way, as I think I’ve said a few times before, take some time to look around the www.ted.com website – there are some things to listen to there that could seriously change your perspective!

Influences from down under

My turn in tonight – and, little ladies put to bed, this means I can actually write a semi-timely, blog entry!  Brief tho’ cos I have to go and make a bacon butty!

Look at this:

Its the University of Melbourn’e Learning Lab.  Mike went to a conference this week where its creator was speaking.  Very relevant to us as we are discussing how we might bring together library, IT and student services in one location on the Caerleon Campus and how that might look …

My comment was that, while it is truly gorgeous for what it is – and I’d love to teach/learn in it.  However, calling it a “model. for new approaches” is a bit like saying that Porsche is a model for new motor cars. Very costly to buy/run, and you can’t fit many people in it – you really have to know what you are doing to use its potential fully and forget it if you have a wheelchair.  Fair play though, that’s only a comment on the University’s news site – and it looks the business!

Met with the Head of RISE, an EU funded learning network hosted by the University.  The ORA of the meeting was as follows:  Outcome- to come up with ways that we could help each-other be more effective; Reason- to because RISE success is in the interests of the University and external learners; Actions- to talk through each-others activities in order to spot areas of possible further interaction….

Incremental Change discussions – or rather, how we deal with this many tentacled octopus and ensure that systems are in place that allow appropriate agility within the curriculum, yet maintain standards and quality control throughout all of our systems.

Wrote an article on request by the VC for a new electronic journal and signed the order for a new Timetabling system (now the work REALLY starts).

Got briefly involved with an FOI issue and another self-declaration CRB case.

Somebody I admire is going to Read “Good to Great” by Jim Collins.  If you’re in a position of being able to – and want to – make your organisation better, please please read it too (or listen to Jim read it on the unabridged audio CDs). 

Finally, can you decipher this?

11 was 1 race horse, 22 was 12.  1111 race, 22112

and

YYUR, YYUB, ICUR YY4ME

In club, we had a Strine translation quiz (translate Aussie slang into English) – fun, check out: http://www.strine.org.uk/Dict.html .  Such classics as:

Airpsly Fair-billis: Exceptionally good or pleasing (“Aw heddan Airpsly Fair-billis toime lar snoite”)
An archer mean: Strine expression of agreement and solidarity (“Thet blokes a dairm lunatic!” “Air! An archer mean”)
Baked Necks: Popular Strine breakfast dish, as are Emma Necks, Scremblex, and Fright Chops
Egg Nishner: Electro-mechanical device used for cooling & purifying air
To Gorf: To leave suddenly (“He to gorf like a rocket!”)
X (plural of eggs)
and, of course: Split nair dyke (bad pain in the head)

Childish yes, but I liked ‘em.  Now, where’s that bacon butty … might even throw in some X!

Concrete opinions?

Yes, yes, yes – it is pathetic … you get to the stage when you have so much to say that you can’t find the time to write it – and that only delays it!  The only solution is just post, so here: Went to see a building that was designed by the same architects and built by the same builders as we’re having.  I just wasn’t expecting so much exposed untreated concrete and services open to the eye.   

It transpires that a lot of people actually like it.  As do I in context.  For example, the Seattle public library (pictured in October posts) and places like the National Museum of Wales – fantastic examples of all sorts of masonry – but I just don’t get the whole unfinished “European look”.

Since the last post, there’s been a whole heap of very interesting things happening ranging from examining how we deal with incremental change and discussing how we engage with the SPA (Supporting Professionalism in Administration), to an interesting trip to London to present our wares to one of our partners.  The latter was particularly beneficial as it not only revealed to me that we have a real product to offer to a much wider community – but it allowed the opportunity to work with some staff with whom I’ve not worked before – and I think we found a strength there that we can capitalise on internally as well as externally!  Apologies if that’s a bit cryptic – but it all centres around the development of high specification interactive learning materials and the provision of hosting services for a comprehensive learning and communication environment…

I also Chaired another Information Strategy Panel meeting (ISP) – a very interesting committee (well, I would say that wouldn’t I!) that is currently looking at such things as… electronic meeting papers, CRM, timetabling system, KPIs, HR system, web working group, email policy, FOI/DP policies and more! Yea, we’re doing the stuff of a big University with the staff of a smaller one!The Project Management Board for our new City Centre Campus concentrated mainly on issues surrounding the legal agreement for the land and managing the (49 page) risk register – really gripping stuff (I kid you not!). Met with the Wales representative of the Higher Education Academy to discuss updates on some interesting projects and proposals - and I had the privilege of taking part in the interviews for the position of Director of our new CELT (Centre for Excellence in learning and teaching) – success, we actually had a choice of some great candidates! 

Anyway, videos:  My old boss is a chap whom I admire greatly – really.  I have had the privilege of learning lots from all my old bosses over the years – sometimes how to do things – and sometimes how NOT to do things.  But somebody sent me a Youtube link (that I simply dare not put here because of its less than respectful title!) showing him playing the guitar and singing in a band with some other members of the department – including my mate with big hair.  All I dare say in a public forum is “wow!”.

Here’s a link I can  put here – amusing approach to office productivity (found while doing some research for the Stress Alleviation Working Group I chair!) :

NOT for the faint hearted  

1st of ‘08 – sorry its late (2 of 2, non-work bits)

Okay, the non-work update would include the fitness thing …  Its going well – I’m trying to work up slowly and sensibly.  My taxi driver observed the other day that he had no need to loose weight as he grew older because most “old people” seemed to stay thin easily.  I suggested that maybe they didn’t become thin as they grew older –but possibly the people who were very large didn’t often get to become very old.  Sobering for us both.   Anyway, I’m up to 5 x 30min runs per week at 5.50am (yea, it is baaad!) – target is 6 x 45min runs.  This week sees it going up to 40 mins and a decrease in speed.  Why the latter?  Well, I smelled ammonia in the shower this week – which apparently means one of two things. Either I should not have had that cup of tea before going to bed, or else, I am running at a speed that is burning muscle as well as fat.  Burning fat is about increasing time not intensity (given the 65% max heart rate rule – see earlier post). 

Oh, meant to say, if you want something good to follow for reducing body fat and improving your overall figure – including food advice, get Bill Philips book “Body for Life” – follow it religiously for 12 weeks and you’ll love it!

See: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Body-Life-Mental-Physical-Strength/dp/0007149670  though there are always loads cheaper on eBay …

I did this quite a few years ago now – a bit American and it takes a while to find the UK version of the foods he refers to but well worth while (avoid the blatant adverts for his own products like protein powder.)  Though if you do want the latter, go to www.wehyconsortium.com – much much cheaper – get the unflavoured and just add a drop of fruit cordial or milkshake syrup – gives a large chicken breast’s worth of protein for about 10p.   He makes the good point that if you don’t combine resistance training (weights) with diet and exercise then you’ll just move from being a large bell shaped thing to being a small bell shaped thing …

Yes, sounds mad – but I used to be in to this when I used to go to the gym!  Until about 2.5 years ago, I was lifting 110kg for 5×5 reps on the bench.   Then I pulled my shoulder and thought I could work through it – d’oh!  Haven’t been in the gym since really but intend to get back to it at some point.

Being a fan of the non sequitur, let me say I also installed Vista on my home PC last weekend – not only installed, but upgraded from XP – against everyone’s advice!  But I’m delighted to say that it went really well (though the install plus download of 500MB of patches took some 5 hours!).  No real probs to report and I love the graphics plus the fact that I can alt-tab to the desktop.  Not so happy with Office 2007 though – I find it very unintuitive to use and have yet to discover a real personal benefit over 2003.

Another lack of disappointment – I’d also been told that the Bourne Ultimatum wasn’t that good – but having waited for ages unsuccessfully for Tesco DVD rental (via Lovefilm) to send me a copy, I borrowed it from a friend – only to receive one from Tesco the next day J.  Anyway, I thought it was fab – it was the only film I can ever remember being tempted to watch a second time (resisted).  However, I can’t make out whether it picked up where the last one left off – or whether it picked up way before the last one left off …

Birthdays:  My son Aaron was 9 but already, his class mates appear to be having a competition to organise the most wild Birthday parties – speed boats around the bay, dry slope skiing, quad biking – what on earth will they be doing when they are 19?!  Well, I think a de-escalation is needed here so we had a party in the Hall where I’d organised some activities and invited a bloke who owns too many reptiles, tarantulas, scorpions, 12 ft long snakes and similar disgusting things.  It was the best – and it only cost £60 all in!  However, now he wants a leopard gecko – but there’s no way I’m into getting a weekly supply of crickets to feed it – ick!

Penultimately, I hate low energy light bulbs.  Of course I think its sensible to avoid needless wasting of valuable energy resources but is it just me – or is anyone else annoyed at having to wait for about 3 minutes before you can see your clothes in the morning – and when you can, they seem to have a green tinge?  Am I just buying the wrong make or what? (hmmm, maybe my clothes actually are all a shade of green …)

That last bit is in there especially for Paul Folan, our incredible University Secretary.  A man who has a brain the size of a planet (like Marvin the Paranoid Android) and who could write emails for Wales!  But he thinks I’m a pathological optimist so there Paul – how d’ya like dem apples?

And more for you Paul – the Samsung Q1 Ultra …  Perfect evidence as to why one should NEVER let your marketing manager and product manager be on holiday at the same time – something like this might make happen.  I’m sorry guys but I am so incredibly gutted with this piece of “tech-noway-logy”.  I can’t even be bothered to spend the time writing why I’m so disappointed (partly cos its late admittedly) – but my vote is for the HTC Shift.  If you’d like to see a very good (yet oh so bad!) review of the latter, go here: http://media.libsyn.com/media/gottabemobile/The_HTC_Shift_Hugo_Ortega_GBM.wmv

You gotta love Hugo Ortega!

1st of ‘08 – sorry its late (1 of 2, work bits)

It wasn’t – but one of my New Year resolutions should have been to write more frequent and shorter blog entries.  However, as it wasn’t a NY resolution, maybe there’s some chance I’ll keep to it, lol.

Anyway, some work highlights from this new year so far include the following…  After the writing of a student criminal convictions (self declaration + CRB) policy, I attended my first panel meeting with a student who had been involved in a very difficult life tragedy resulting in a custodial sentence that will never be regarded as spent for the career the person wanted to pursue.  This however does not preclude enrolment on a course – but the outlook for professional progression was bleak.  Very difficult and emotionally fraught case but the Dean who I was with on the Panel is just such a sound and experienced chap!

The routine round of committee meetings (including Management Board) have been busy but perhaps not as much as usual, largely due to the Christmas period – though Academic Board was riveting for wider environmental issues and a couple of interesting facts I had not realised about our School Quality Assurance and Enhancement Committees (not least of which is that I am a member!) …

An interesting meeting about various issues surrounding Distance Learning within the University raised more questions for me than it answered – but it is the beginning of a process; and a similar meeting with RISE colleagues placed within IT working on pan-Wales learning environments was similar in its outcomes – though I have some ideas on linking this work with the recommendations of the recent Webb review of FE in Wales…

As part of the ongoing City Centre Campus work (please don’t think that because I don’t mention it that it isn’t still taking up a lot of time!), I Chaired a meeting of the Learning Environment Group to look at minimum specifications of teaching rooms to feed into Learning and Teaching Committee.

One more draft of the Under 18s / vulnerable adults paper and its now ready for submission to the next Management Board – thanks Lawrence.

Administrative meetings including a session with the external consultant who is leading us through the KPI (key performance indicators) case study method – we’re one of the six institutions in the UK who are developing Governor centred KPIs as part of a national initiative … more to follow (wow, I finally find a benefit from reading all those Kaplan books, lol).

Then, a meeting with our simply excellent Director of Quality Assurance and Enhancement (Brent Stephens) to look at how we can improve processes to streamline/avoid so many curriculum changes coming through the system late in the year – very worthwhile.

Finance, Deans Forum and and trying to tackle Wide format printing (I get all the fun!) completes the list of Admin related meetings.

Finally, we had a day last Friday with senior managers and the Leadership Foundation looking at the future – this was so much more positive (in terms of the people mix) than it would have been even a year ago.  We have some great people here – and the more their sails become set towards the same wind, the faster and further we will go!

Its a great time to be working here.

midomi – finds tunes that you hum !

This is worthy of a post in and of itself!  http://www.midomi.com is a website that finds the tune you are humming but can’t remember the title of …  I was wondering what the song was that the Korean’s were singing so excellently as referred to near the end of my earlier post (Halos won and lost 1 of 2) …

Well, I went across to midomi and hummed a few notes into my MacBook and voila! 

And here’s a rendition from our very own Paul Potts

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrUWPCWWfLo

Halos won and lost – part 2 of 2

There were a couple of firsts this week – some in work and some not so.  The latter first…

Academic Standards Committee is a very serious place – which this time looked at the various Annual Monitoring Exercise (AME) Reports that come out of the 4 schools and a couple of the academic related departments – namely Quality and LIS – my department.

I’m very happy to report that once again, we received an excellent summary overview from the Deputy Vice Chancellor – and overall high confidence rating from our activity over the past year.  Coming after a difficult year for all (restructures and not) is a credit to the excellent people involved in delivering our services.  And I’m really very grateful to Michael Webb for his brain – and his usual high standard of assistance in the document preparation. We sit in a genuinely privileged position between the administration and the academic functions of the University – and our potential to act as an enabler and catalyst of success for the institution can not be over exaggerated.  Robustness, partnership and innovation do and must continue to lie at the heart of all we are…

Another City Centre Core User Group – and the negotiations go on regarding the risks associated with the remediation of the land.  The Value engineering exercise(s) never cease to amaze me – if its possible to do that bit for that amount, why was it the other amount in the first place   However, at some point, we’re going to have to make some hard choices and we’ll then need to ascribe some tangible value to the principles we have for this excellent venture …

It was again an absolute privilege to attend a Governors / Academic Board Away Day – albeit only a half day – and, well, not exactly away (it was in the Board Room).  That said, we had an excellent time once again looking at the vision and mission of the institution as we move forward.  One of my colleagues was away – so it fell to me once again (I did object – but you can only object so much before you look a …) to do the feedback of my breakout group.  A combination of passionate feelings in the area, and the fact that I wasn’t feeling at all well (having slept for no longer than an hour the night before) gave me cause to worry, but it went okay – I think (no P45 so far!).

BUT, I lost a halo here as I bought some sweets on the way to the meeting, and, as my astounding excellent colleague Lawrence Wilson will testify, I also ate some biscuits.  This statement hides two facts.  Firstly, not enough sleep can stop production of serotonin – which in turn, leads your body to crave sugar as a substitute (and fat loss regime therefore requires adequate sleep!); and secondly, “they” say that it’s a sensible leader who surrounds himself with people who have greater credibility and competences in their own specialist areas than he does.  Well, that’s the case with Lawrence – I’ve rarely come across somebody who is so utterly good at what he does (Student Services) and I’m glad to have inherited such a nice colleague too!

Now then, days literally full of meetings lead to nights full of email and preparation – but that seems to be parr for the course – so suck it up, boy!  The night following the event above was no different. 

I had  my first opportunity to present to our Learning and Teaching Committee the morning after – and I didn’t finish the email and get started until about midnight.  I had lots of material prepared so it was just a question of putting it all together – but its funny how something can appear perfectly sensible and astute at 2am – yet can make you cringe internally when revealed during committee only 7 hours later!  Again, I think it went very well and raised a lot of really interesting discussions and follow-up comments/actions.  I really really – REALLY like LnT committee – its one of those key cogs of the organisation.  My role is vice Chair – and I also Chair a sub-group that I created called the Learning Environment Group.  The LEG brings lots of kindred spirits together from around the institutions (from academics to IT to estates to, well, whoever is relevant and interested) to move things forward.  Oh yes, the presentation was around Student Engagement and my US experiences recently – please look at the Educause  2007 tag to see blog posts on the topic.

We ended what seemed to be a marathon week with a Caerleon Campus Development Group meeting – something established to look at the development of our Caerleon Campus as the new City Centre Campus comes online.  Some excellent things are going to happen – and I’m very excited about the potential for LIS …

Halos won and lost – part 1 of 2

Outside of work, there was the usual round of meetings – though no teens club this week.  I did however have the opportunity of speaking at the children’s’ carol service in the local retirement home on Saturday… I used the link to the news items about the Savoy closing down and the manager preparing a much better place – similar to comments in John 14 v 2 “I am going to prepare a place …”.  Anyway, I also fell again big-time (see serotonin comment in the next “Halos won and lost” post) as you can safely say I ate more of those tea cake things (marshmallow covered in chocolate) than you could fit in a moderately sized bucket.

Well then, Halo 3 … finished it on Saturday.  Now, I’ve played lots of computer games for lots of years –but never very seriously.  In fact, I’ve never ever finished a computer game – not even nearly.  I’ve only ever played for 10 minutes here and there for a bit of light relief/entertainment from whatever has been going on.

But I plodded on with Halo over a few evenings during the last fortnight on “easy” level, as the kids had bought a second hand copy from eBay for my birthday near the end of last month.  I had wanted to know what all the hype was about – this game had made more in its first day than any movie in history (though it should be noted that watching a movie costs about an eighth of the cost of this game when it was released!).

Anyhow, the hype turned out to be just that in my opinion – just another shooter, albeit with good graphics.  I did like how the voice hints seemed to come just when you needed them with a couple of frustrating exceptions and the odd irritating opening that didn’t appear until you’d wondered aimlessly for ages (or so it seemed).  I did not like the bad language that appeared mainly in the early stages of the game – it didn’t add anything to it imo.

Surely  they can get some technology in there to allow the user to choose profanity and gore settings?  That way everybody could enjoy …

The end (apart from coming surprisingly soon), was a little anti-climatic.  There was a never ending drive around exploding ground.  This on its own was a little disappointing – no running, shooting, just driving.  Then, after spending hours fighting to keep your hero character alive – he apparently dies in a huge explosion that takes out the enemy planet – and its completely beyond your control!

The cut scenes were often quite long and I never got the depth of the plot beyond “blow stuff up”.  But the music was very atmospheric – especially since getting my sub-woofer down from the loft and hooking it up after moving!

In fairness, I’ve not played any other similar game beyond the very first stages as said above, so that says something about the game in itself – but I did feel slightly the victim of hype

Well, 10 minutes after finishing, I put it on eBay buy-it-now for a coupla quid more than I paid – and it sold almost instantly.  You can sell ANYTHING on eBay this time of year, its NUTS.  I would  have kept it if Aaron were a little older – but its not the kind of thing I’d leave him to play with.

Right up to the moment… I was on security duty tonight – it was freezing!  But there’s a Korean Church that meets at the Heath and I got to listen to them practicing for their Christmas Service next weekend.  I stood for a time outside the hall door where they were and have rarely heard such beautiful and moving singing – what a funny thing, the cold just wasn’t any more.

3 types of tea, 2 weeks to Christmas and 1 expected knock on the door!

Can you remember the PG Tips advert with the monkeys (no, wait to see where I’m going and get that thought out of your mind now – our Management Board is an excellent affair!) – but the commercials were very funny.  There was one that had the monkeys sitting in a meeting and one said “This is supposed to be a Board meeting” and got the reply “Well, I’m bored!” – then “The interest rate’s gone up” – “not in here it hasn’t!”  I have my own supply of PG Tips in my top drawer – which is different to the tea I have access to under the staff coffee club – which is different again to the tea I buy to give to my visitors!  Wow, life is complicated – and that’s just the tea!

Anyway, Management Board – it was really quite exciting this month!  We discussed a new vision for the University first of all (after all the normal formal “minutes/actions from last time” stuff).  Newport is in a privileged position.  We have a chance to continue doing something very special and fulfil a crucial role for our local community – as well as play a huge part in a changing national and international Higher Education sector.  I am moved by (and its why I came here to work!) our current Missions which is To bring learning to the heart of our communities, responding to their needs, inspiring and enabling individuals from all backgrounds through excellence in higher education.  So its genuinely fab to be involved in discussions about how we look at building on this as we go forward.  We also looked at various other issues from the current smoking policy, to RAE preparations and an issue within my area – Safeguarding Young People and Vulnerable Adults Policy.  Very useful meeting.

Now then, perhaps for some, the thought of attending an Academic Development and Planning Committee isn’t something that would normally evoke feelings of passion – but it can!  Its a place where in many ways the future of a University is determined.  This is because evidence suggests that the predominant factor in whether a student is satisfied and recommends a University – is the course (content and delivery).  Therefore, the committee that looks at concept papers for new courses and discusses proposed incremental changes to current ones is paramount in importance!  And it can even get amusing when one member of academic staff quite rightly points out some issues in another member’s concept paper, only to find just a few moments later that the exact same problem exists in her own

 City Centre Campus Project Management Board is the formal project board for our new and inspirational development – comprising relevant people from the University, Governor representatives and of course, representation from the external consultants. One of latter in particular has (and it would inappropriate to mention his name) a comprehensive air of competence about him – to the degree that you feel you could trust him with any important aspect of your life and he just wouldn’t let you down in any respect!  Whatever else he does in life, to have people think that way about you is a wonderful achievement in itself.

Diversity Panel is where some very interesting things happen, aimed at not just fulfilling legislation, but really looking at what we can do to change hearts and minds and remove barriers so as to get the best from everyone and genuinely help the capable to fulfil their potential!  We’re looking at some interesting approaches to staff development at the moment, influenced by the spectacular Rachel Stubley from our School of Education – and getting things moving terrifically within LIS by Simon Philips.  Now there’s a chap whose dedication and tenacity on these issues just makes me sit back in awe and wonder – I’m very fortunate to be able to work with such calibre!

And there was more besides but its Sunday and statistics indicate that nobody ever reads this far anyway so … 

Oh, and two weeks to Christmas – and the Christmas talk season is upon us!  I did one last week for a bunch of young people where I used two CDs with the words “HM Revenue – Everyones’ Data” written on them for effect – I then gave them to two of the lads who asked for them.  Now of course, there’s a £20k reward out on them and I’m sure the lads thought they were genuine – so I’m expecting a knock on the door at anytime! 

From noize to Port Factor and CELT …

Okay then, here’s the last post of a very quick jaunt through the more interesting work highlights of the last two weeks – yes, two cos I missed last week (too pre-occupied with da blubber thing) …

Had a very captivating discussion with reps from the Students Union regarding their presence in the City Centre Campus and how we may be able to help with respect to related ventures – they are such a great bunch of people – the pres, Andrew Cargill (Cargi) and the others get up to SO MUCH!  Check out http://www.newportunion.com/ to see info about The Port Factor (X-Factor on roids!) and of course, the famous Radio Noize, named after our VC … click on the link to listen in Realplayer –

http://www.newportunion.com/station_players/radio.ram

We also had an interesting meeting to try and crystallise aspects of the IT strategy for a building that won’t open for nearly 3 years and will have to be relevant for many years after that!  Part of that exercise is looking at RFID and we had a couple of demos this week from some of the leading suppliers – but I don’t reckon anybody’s wands really work yet!

Two meetings were held looking at how we design the internal space of what is currently being referred to as the Plateau – a learning resources area that will contain, well, most things!  We met with an internal designer and student reps and LIS staff separately …

Oh, I also had a meeting with the fantastic David Longman (Senior Lecturer in ICT in our School of Education) and we talked about so many fantastic ideas that we’re going to get together on – he’s a really inspirational chap!

Part of the above chat was in relation to a meeting that I also had this week with a Stuart Ball who is seconded to work for Microsoft – something quite exciting hopefully, but more on that if/when it comes to light.

We also worked on this year’s submission of the department’s Annual Monitoring Exercise for the department – and one of my colleagues, Michael Webb, was simply fantastic in the help he provided to get it out – TA, M, you’re a HERO!

Finally, also looked at the JD (job description) for the recruiting of a Professor of Learning and Teaching to head up our planned Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching.  Now this is very VERY exciting indeed! Again, more on that if and when …

Check out the next post (or the previous one, I haven’t got a clue) for the blubba challenge update …

Da blubba update …

So anyway, 3^rd post of the evening – a daunting record for me!  And its going to concentrate on non-work stuff…

Firstly, a blubba update on the week.  Good start – taking it easy in terms of working up the exercise and working down the intake.  That’s not a cop out – you genuinely have to ramp things up/down at a sensible pace to avoid your body going into survival mode etc etc!

Lost a couple of pounds – which is a normal target but now as much as is possible in a normal “first week” if you really dropped the carbs etc.  That’s because carbs hold water and period of carbohydrate reduction will see a dramatic initial weight reduction (not fat) due simply to the lack of presence of water holding carbs in the system.  Having said all that, we went to friends for lunch and tea yesterday and today and, well, I had to be polite didn’t I ???!!!!

Today, “off-day” – did that well, 10/10 

But if I’m going to be up at 6am pedalling, then I need to hit the hay!

Benchmarking, ISP and some great people …

Hmm, I never posted about the week prior to last (ie from Monday 19^th November).  It began with a really interesting e-learning benchmarking gathering to look at the outputs of a Higher Education Academy and JISC sponsored internal e-learning benchmarking exercise.  Fascinating results that now need to be disseminated and acted upon in the most appropriate manner …

I chair something called the Information Strategy Panel – a Uni-wide committee that looks at most things “information”.  It really is a genuine privilege to be a part of it –and I really love it!  I remember that I began my first meeting (a year and a half ago) with a Power Point presentation of how I saw the committee going forward and had some Thunderbirds pictures – man, I was SOOOO tempted to also include the Thunderbirds theme tune but with hind sight, that may have been a leap too far at that stage in the game    Anyway, the agenda currently has things on it like: committee papers online, electronic diaries, project management protocols, data protection policy, online telephone directories, electronic archiving, fundraising and CRM software, IT policies, University Timetabling, FOI, RAE and web information, HR systems, Registry, HESA etc.  We’ve been joined by an excellent fellow called Mat Cooper – who is doing some great work on DP, FOI and other legal related matters.

Also had a meeting looking at cashless cards and the future of a single card approach for security, entry etc as we move to the City Centre Campus – all very interesting stuff!  Thing is, don’t know how things like the Oyster card will take off to work as quasi-cash …

UK collaboration group met to look at elements of our partnership strategy – again, a joy to have been involved – we’re getting up to some great stuff and plan to do even more fantastic things in the future!

The Deans Forum is again, one of those meetings that it simply is a privilege to be a part of.  Great people and Chaired by the wonderful Professor Anne Carlisle – who until recently was my line manager.  She is one of those people that, by her very existence, gives weight to the argument FOR human cloning!  (For the record though, I’m not a supporter of human (or any other) cloning!) …

Finally, also had the privilege of meeting with Jennie Sparks, one of our Heads of School – who is helping me out with contacts/info for an article I’m hoping to write soon.  She again, is one of the jewels in Newport’s crown!

Oh yes, and of course, I turned 40 this week.

Time to loose da blubba (again!)

 

My very good friend Mark Harris (read his blog, by clicking here) gave me two large boxes of Maltesers today.  That, and a glimpse in the mirror of my side profile as I left the house this morning formed the mental trigger I needed.   (By the way, how do you keep track with those friends you were so close to when you were younger – but now, what with all the commitments that life, family, work etc throw at you, its all you can do to grab a conversation and hand over some Maltesers as you pass on a Sunday?)

 

Anyway, I’m here yet again – and this time its PERSONAL – I need to loose some pounds – and I’m going to share my experiences (well, some of them!) here – partly to help but also as its kind of a public commitment – which helps me!

 

 Firstly though – let me say from the outset that the only reason I’m trying to loose some poundage is for my own personal satisfaction.  This is in no way meant as a comment on anyone who may not choose, want or need to do the same!  Okay then, lets go… 

 

Now, as you may have guessed, I’ve done this before and I’m not far from having lost as many pounds over the years as I currently weigh!  Is there a pattern here?  Thing is, I think I’m approaching that certain time in life where such cyclical activity is going to be “less optimum”, lets say.

 

Firstly, we’ll start with a brief reminder of the facts… Basic rule is that calories in, minus calories out is weight gain or loss.  NOTE however that I said weight back there and not fat. That’s because apparently (and I’m no expert), muscle is a much more ready food source to the hungry body than fat. Anyway, the plan is for exercise plus diet changes, and I’ll run down both briefly… Exercise – basically getting heart rate to between 60 and 70 percent of your “maximum heart rate” (crudely 220 minus your age) for at least 30 minutes at least 3 times a week.  This apparently keeps you in the fat-burn zone and the longer you do it, the more fat you burn!  If you go above that heart rate, then you get fitter and may burn muscle as energy but no more fat than if you kept it at the 60-70 percent rate! That was an amazing revelation to me as it is REALLY easy to get to that heart rate and stay there for ages (aerobic – ie you recover as you’re doing it) as opposed to go like the clappers until you drop (anaerobic).

 

I’ll be using the stationary bike and will get in at several half hour sessions plus at least one 1 hour sessions per week. What’s more, if you can do your exercise first thing in the morning and don’t eat for an hour after (I be going for 6.00am – 6.30am) then you’re supposed to burn TWICE as many calories that if you did it later in the day!  This is because its after a period of fast and your metabolism goes into overdrive! I envisage fat dropping off and strength remaining. 

 

But I’m reminded of a book I read recently (You: The Owners Manual) that goes on about taking your heart to the max for 20 mins a couple of times per week.  Its not about weight loss but heart health.  Need to think how I get that in there – maybe some weights in the gym… 

 

Okay, food.  If exercise is my hubris then food is my nemesis! I could eat for Wales.  In fact, I could probably eat … Wales. For me, its all about discipline and avoidance – it has to be. That’s because I just don’t see “grey”. There’s the school of thought that says you need to eat like the person you want to be and do that for life.  I’m up for that but it takes too long.  I want fast but sustainable results. Gradually (and that’s vitally important so your body doesn’t go into starvation survival mode), I’m reducing my food intake in terms of type and quantity of food from, well, absurd amounts of absolutely everything to: 

 

Breakfast: 2 weetabix, semi milk, tiny bit of sugar (well, I am human), glass of orange juice, cup of tea and few gulps of Yop (yogurt drink) 

Lunch – sandwich, brown bread, no butter, usually either ham/tuna with a bit of salad in there. 

Evening meal – just what the family are having (normally meat, veg, potatoes – or lasagne or whatever – “normal” stuff) and a good size plate of stuff but no pud. 

 

There’s my main rule – absolutely no no no no crisps, biscuits, sweets, chocolates or cakes.  I just don’t do the “I’ll only have 1″ thing. Drink will be mainly water and the odd cup of tea during the day.  You need to sleep well. 

 

Weigh-ins will be each Sunday morning for consistency – and I’ll let you know the news.  I’ll take Sunday as my “off” day and anything (within reason) goes. But I need to come up with a plan for when its done (in, say, 4 months?).   You see, I’ve been here before – but this time, I need to work out a way of keeping it real!  I’ll tell you if I come up with anything – and will post updates on how the I’m progressing … 

Very late 30s, where’s the cocoa, my upgraded cat and what UMPC?

A very late 30s blog entry – can’t get much later 30s than this! So what’s been going on in my mind and during my week as I prepare to turn the page of another decade tomorrow?

Well, you may know about the Wii shortage in shops (not that I’m after one – been there, done that – then sold it on ebay) – what’s even stranger is the cocoa shortage!  We had over 20 people pass through our house today (pretty normal Sunday!) and Liz was anxious to find some cocoa for baking yesterday – but  we had to visit no less than three large supermarkets and a couple of small stores before we found a tiny tub of the stuff – where has all the cocoa gone?

Travelling backwards in time, had a lovely day today – my turn on security duty at The Heath – Peter my 60+ yr old neighbour passed by on his way to St Mark’s – he is SUCH a lovely chap – and its very good to have Wyn Hughes back from Africa (and North Wales).

Saw Joseph at the New Theatre in Cardiff – the bloke who came second in the TV thing was playing the narrator and there was one of the other blonde chaps playing the lead – he made it to the top notes but missed quite a few of the others on the way!  But what really impressed all of us was one of the 4 maidens who outshone all of her fellows with an endless passion in her dance etc – sounds odd I grant you – but she was great!  Trouble is, the kids have all seen the video with Donny Osmond starring – so this was, well, never going to be more than “yea, that was okay”…  Kids!

Work over the last week has been an interesting mix of things including the timetabling project, an IT strategy for the new City Centre Campus, user group meeting for the latter (whole day) etc.  But it also included some progress on a couple of interesting initiatives I have, including hosting a national competition along with one of our vendor partners (more later if it comes off) and some interesting research proposals with local people and overseas colleagues.

 

Oh, and I was also informed that the Learning Environment element of our Learning and Teaching strategy (the bit I wrote) was highlighted as a national exemplar and something that could be a model for taking the whole sector foreword.  That was nice to hear – but what we really have to concentrate on is implementing it!  Piccy above shows what it was all about.

And, I got Leopard on my MacBook.  Have I said how great I think Mac OSX is?  Well, its good – and what I personally like is the magnification function – so much better than others (allbeit that was there before Leopard).

Having said that though, I’m in the market for a PDA replacement and would like an Ultra Mobile PC (UMPC) that has a SIM card slot for data (basically, a phone card for connecting to the Internet).  I’m looking at the latest offering by Samsung – the Q1 Ultra (pictured below) which is due for release with the SIM function in early December – anyone got any views or opinions on this or any other one?

You need at least one good eye-phone! (notes on the week)

Wow, it is hard getting used to this blogging thing, finding appropriate time – and “angle” – and them remembering to post (wrote this on Sunday but forgot to “publish” it!)

For example, I could elaborate on some particularly interesting elements of last week (which I will do below) – or else, I could point out some interesting news and tell you how surprised I am that I DO NOT want an iPhone (gadget geek that I am)!  You have to love the irony that a device designed to communicate with people at a distance is selling because of its ability to impress people stood next to you.  Yea, I know there’s more to it than that but I’m going to wait for v2 and hopefully avoid the poor download speeds and camera, plus lack of video and gps – not to mention ridiculous contract terms.  Oh, and don’t start me on accessibility issues … it should be called the “Must have at least one good eye-phone”.

Re the technology news front, maybe I’ve seen one too many Terminator movies – but was I the only one amused by the Beeb news home page over the weekend that displayed these two story headlines, one below the other:

“Skynet military launch is delayed” (Euro satellite launcher) and
“Schwarzenegger aims to end strike” (California writers’ thing).  

On the same day, it was reported that the US did however launch its “Delta IV Heavy” rocket thing that flung a 2,300 kg spy satellite into space.  Shame of course that we no longer know what a kilogram of dead weight is (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7084099.stm) – maybe its equivalent to a pile of hacked then updated iPhones, lol.

Okay then, the week that was the first back after Seattle (then a week “off” over half-term).  I kept on top of the urgent stuff while away but still 300+ emails left over to deal with!

But firstly, they’ve done the new letters on the outside of the Caerleon Library building – ooer, very nice – well done Lesley – and what about those Barbie pink windows!

In work, we’ve also been thinking (in various fora) about how we organise ourselves for years ahead and integrating our new City Centre Campus location.

The picture below is, of course, an artist impression of how it will look (better than some of the images that have appeared in the press!)  However, it took a while to catch up with what had happened over the last 2 weeks – you don’t realise how quickly things change around here until you’re out of the meetings for a little while! (Oi, where have the LAN cupboards gone!).  We’ve done really well to secure an excellent plateau level for a “heart” space and an information resource – veeeeeery exciting.

 

Management Board was its usual excellent mix including topics such as University strategy, learning agreements and student satisfaction levels, key performance indicators, strategic planning process, third mission strategy, information management and aspects of the student application process. A nice way to get right back into things!  We also referred to the Information Strategy Panel (that I Chair) and our discussions around online diary usage …

A similar group of staff meet with the Students’ Union and this year, the meetings appear to be particularly productive.  We have a very engaging student president – take a look at the new radio service they’ve launched (with help from some of our IT staff) – it “rocks”!  You can join the Radio Noize Facebook group or check out the broadcasts from here: http://www.newportunion.com/noize.php

I had also orchestrated a meeting with a few of us and one of our external national partners who are thinking about changing the way they do their business.  It was great to see their faces almost literally light up at the thought of what more we could do to help them achieve their vision and we’re both now really looking forward to the tendering process.  VERY well done to all involved!

One of my greatest privileges in working where I do, is being able to get involved with things like our Learning and Teaching Awards scheme.  The 4^th call for proposals finished recently and the week ended with a meeting to look at some really excellent bids for funding that will genuinely have an impact on learning within our University.  Top day and good end to a long week.