And I would type more about my latest trip to Eritrea but I’m knackered now after typing a little but too much of a blog on my other .. er .. blog.

However, one quick thing - and this is for Paul and Luke - 7 days, 19 hours. Oh yes. It’s coming.

(Why is it no-one ever got this excited about Vista?)

(This was typed on a Vista laptop.)

(They wouldn’t let me buy a mac laptop!)

You’re wondering, what the hell is he on about. Since when has the Cupertino based computer company played any part in the rise of the Xbox 360? Well I tell you, it’s made the difference between the latest dash update being a wonderful expansion of the 360’s offerings or it being a complete waste of space.

Why?

Because of the little Apple keyboard that works seamlessly in the USB slots of the 360.

Now I know this has more to do with the 360’s setup and it’s ability to behave almost OSX-like in it’s ability to understand common USB keyboards but the ability to use the best keyboard in the business, for MSN chatter, whilst playing Halo 3 (eventually) is a definite winner in my book. Without the ability to plug in a keyboard (and there is no way I was going to fork out a lot of money for a thumbpad keyboard extension which has a very limited use) the IM update on the dashboard would’ve been wasted on me - hell I get annoyed at having to slowly type out three words when sending a message using the standard controller - it’s like pulling teeth!

So I recommend to you all - get a USB keyboard, a mac one preferably - and plug it into your 360. It makes messaging on the 360 much more useful!

If you haven’t seen the crop of ads from Apple in the US - “I’m a Mac…” then this may not mean much to you but I’ve just come across the UK version of these ads. Apple have pulled a coup by getting the hilarious Mitchell and Web to do them for us. Whilst some of them are direct copies of the US ones there are a couple especially for us. I’ll post one up here - probably one of the most relevant.

No seriously. After using an Apple Mac for a while you begin to wonder why everything can’t be Mac-ified. The one that got me yesterday was mice scrollbars and sideways scrolling.

On the Apple mouse I use with my iMac I have a little ‘nipple’ which is a small ball which I can glide up, down, left and right and depening on how I move it the application I’m in will scroll in a paticular way. Scroll it left and right in a huge spreadsheet and the spreadsheet will also move left and right.

Yesterday, working on the PC at work, in a large Excel spreadsheet (don’t ask!) you have no idea the amount of times I tried to push the little scroll wheel to the left or right and each time for a split second my brain could work out why the screen wasn’t moving. (for split second read two minutes - ed)

As more examples come to light I’ll be sure to post them - as well as the reverse as well.

Many moons ago when I had a PC under my desk at home I occasionally tried to clear up what became commonly known as “Cable Hell”. The amount of wires required to connect up a PC was phenomenal. One for power, one for ethernet, one for the keyboard, one for the mouse. Another for one display and another for the other (dual-display you see). Not forgetting one for the speakers and one for the mic and then the USB cable for the webcam. Oh, and two power cables back down from the monitors. Moving the PC was a task definately not done too often.

Now fast-forward to just this weekend and the wonderful world of Mac life. I needed to do some work away from home. I needed my Mac. “Oh god no”, I thought. All those… er… cable. (Notice the singular!) Yes, one cable. The power cable. That was it.

You see the 20″ intel Core Duo iMac I have has nearly everything built in. The display, the speakers, the microphone, the webcam. I have a bluetooth keyboard and mouse and all the receiving bluetooth stuff is built into the mac - no USB Bluetooth dongle required. There’s no ethernet cable as the wireless Airport stuff is also built into the iMac.

So there is no more “Cable Hell”, only “Cable Heaven”. If you’re thinking of switching from PC to Mac I suggest you do it. There is no shorter route to tranquility.

Seeing as it was Valentines Day last week (more over-rated commercial bollocks) I decided to get Gemma an iPod. Not that she was dropping many hints or anything. Only everytime that I logged onto the mac and opened the web browser, which just happened to have the home page pointing to the Apple web site. So I caved and bought her one. I know, I’m a soft bugger!

Of all the colours that were available, I decided to get Gem the girly, pink option. Very pink. And shiny. And also very, very small! I remember going into the Apple store in London and watching Phil buy an iPod shuffle way back in 2005 (at the same time I bought an iMac, and almost got castrated for doing so!). I thought that was small, but this new version is teeny! Measuring in at only 1″ x 1.5″ (approx.) it’s just so….small! It could easily be lost in your pocket. Luckily, it comes with a built on clip so you have no chance of losing it. Unless of course, some chav see’s it and decides he wants it. I’ve warned Gemma that under no uncertain terms is she to have it on show in public. Yeah, I’m that paranoid!

I bought the 1GB version, which cost a surprising £55. I though it would have been way more expensive than that, so I was quite happy about that. I’m also impressed at the number of songs that you can fit onto said space. The count so far is 209 tracks and 807mb used, which comes to almost 15 hours of music! And there’s still more room to fil up! Unfortunatly, it’s also filled iTunes with loads of Girls Aloud and Pink. Is it worrying that I actually like a couple of them tunes? It is? Crap…

Setting the thing up was an absolute peice of cake. I’ve heard of people having problems getting theirs ready, but for me it was a case of plugging in the cable to the iMac, slapping the iPod into its cradle and going from there! Just move across the tracks you want from iTunes on it and you’re off! It’s great! Simple! Ah, just realised, most of you are using PCs aren’t you. Heh, there’s your problem! Get a Mac

Before I let Gem get her hands on the iPod, I though I’d have a listen myself. Again, impressive! The sound quality was bob-on! Really very good! Well, until you turn it up and it starts to go a bit tinny. But that’s to be expected. Overall, I’m very happy with it, and Gem is too! If you’ve been thinking about getting an MP3 player of some sort, we whole-heartedly recommend an iPod shuffle. Without a shadow of a doubt! Oh, and Apple are offering free engraving of a short message of your choice on the back of the iPod. I would have done this, but I was rapidly running out of time. That’ll teach me for leaving it last minute again!

Oh, and I apologise for Prime’s behaviour. He was meant to be modelling the iPod, but was too busy staring at my beer. The swine…