Category Archives: Personal

Nike Sportband and Garmin 405: first impressions

April 10, 2008Personal, Running, Sport, Techalex

I went to the London Marathon expo last night to check out the Garmin 405 primarily. I have to say that I wasn’t impressed. Even though the actual diameter of the bezel is quite small, the initial part of the strap (closest to where it joins the bezel) is rigid – I’m guessing to hold some electronics or the GPS antenna. So, on someone with small wrists like me, it looks pretty stupid as it sticks out the side of your arm!

Also, the touch sensitive bezel seems overly sensitive and a bit clunky to use and reacts to you brushing it (I’d probably knock it against my leg a few times a run!).

All in all, I wasn’t impressed so I didn’t splurge.

All was not lost though, as Nike were there in force and I had a nice demo from a lady on the stand for the new SportBand which interfaces directly to the Nike+ foot sensor, so no iPod needed. And at £40, I couldn’t resist so I’ve bought one. They do look very sexy indeed and definitely suit the more petite of us.

Olympic Torch

April 6, 2008Personal, Photography, Sportalex

Pictures of the police presence in the gallery…

My first HDR

March 30, 2008Personal, Photographyalex

I had some fun making this HDR photo of Canary Wharf this afternoon – hope you like it :)

RAF Welford

March 9, 2008Personal, Random, Travelsalex

I passed a very well built sliproad on the M4 just before J13 today. What really caught my eye was the trusty enigmatic sign "Works Unit Only" albeit done in the military red pattern.

A quick check on Live Maps found me my sliproad – following it up the hill reveals RAF Welford, the largest munitions dump in Europe (apparently).

Cool :)

My first WebSlice

March 6, 2008Personal, Techalex

You can now subscribe to my status updates via a WebSlice if you’re brave enough to use an IE8 beta. Head over the front page if you are and give it a go :)

New Nike+ "watch"

February 21, 2008Personal, Running, Sport, Techalex

So, it’s not guide the Aero+ we were expecting, but Nike have released a device that neatly sidesteps the need for an iPod Nano to use Nike+ foot sensors with.

Looks like fun, but I think the Garmin 405 may well be the one for me when it finally arrives.

[via engadget]

Skins

February 1, 2008Personal, Randomalex

I’m so glad that Skins is coming back to E4 in a couple of weeks. I’m even happier that the first episode features Maxxie, whose Dad is played by Bill Bailey. Can’t wait :)