BoingBoing recently linked to a BBC Magazine article where they gave a 13-year-old an original Sony Walkman to review. My favourite quote:

“It took me three days to figure out that there was another side to the tape. That was not the only naive mistake that I made; I mistook the metal/normal switch on the Walkman for a genre-specific equaliser, but later I discovered that it was in fact used to switch between two different types of cassette.”

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Checking in with Walter Murphy & The Big Apple Band, a bit of the Mighty Boosh, some Little Boots, and that Duke Dumont version of Two Doors Down by the Mystery Jets (that really sounds a lot more like it’s Muse – New Born…), it’s the Unadopted Podcast with a mixed bag of Bank Holiday Weekend party tracks.

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1. Walter Murphy & The Big Apple Band – A Fifth Of Beethoven (Soulwax Remix) (Unadopted Edit)
2. Jean Jacques Perrey vs Hervé – EVA (DJ Yoda’s FabricLive.39 Bonus Beats Mix)
3. Mojo Filter feat The Mighty Boosh – Oaky Timbre (Loose Cannons Reflick)
4. Does It Offend You, Yeah? – We Are Rockstars
5. Treasure Fingers – Cross The Dancefloor (Laidback Luke Remix)
6. Little Boots – Stuck On Repeat (Fake Blood Remix)
7. The Kills – Cheap And Cheerful (SebastiAn Remix)
8. Jaydee – Plastic Dreams (Laidback Luke Boot)
9. Dizzee Rascal & Armand Van Helden – Bonkers (Doorly Dubstep Remix)
10. The Prodigy – Thunder
11. Simian Mobile Disco – 10000 Horses Can’t Be Wrong
12. Mystery Jets – Two Doors Down (Duke Dumont Reconstruction)

Listen now over at http://unadopted.co.uk/podcast/. If you haven’t already set it up, click the “Subscribe” link on the right-hand-side when you get there to get the podcast automatically delivered right into your iTunes or RSS reader whenever I release a new session!

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Starting off with the dark-but-bouncy Sombre Detune by Norwegian funksters Röyksopp, touching on the epic Mars by Fake Blood, and bumping into some Prodigy and Tomas Andersson along the way, here’s the next installment of the Unadopted Podcast!

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1. Röyksopp – Sombre Detune
2. Friendly Fires – Your Love
3. Yo Majesty – Club Action (Chris Bagraiders Sailing To Baltimore Edit)
4. Fake Blood – Mars
5. Tomas Andersson – Washing Up (Shinichi Osawa Re-Construct)
6. The Shapeshifters – Chime (Martijn Ten Velden Remix)
7. Fatboy Slim – Right Here, Right Now (Redanka Mix)
8. Daft Punk – Robot Rock (Soulwax Remix)
9. Marco V & Sander van Doorn – Organic
10. The Prodigy – The Way It Is
11. Justice – Planisphère (MMMatthias Remix)

Listen now over at http://unadopted.co.uk/podcast/. If you haven’t already set it up, click the “Subscribe” link on the right-hand-side when you get there to get the podcast automatically delivered right into your iTunes or RSS reader whenever I release a new session!

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I pushed a new design for Unadopted.co.uk live today. Took a while to get it to look right, but I quite like it. Much more up-to-date. The old look was about 5 years old!

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I just read a daily email from Logwatch to find some very strange messages…

dovecot: pop3-login: Disconnected (no auth attempts): rip=209.85.198.208, lip=my.ip.ad.dr: 1 Time(s)

dovecot: pop3-login: Disconnected (no auth attempts): rip=209.85.198.210, lip=my.ip.ad.dr: 3 Time(s)

dovecot: pop3-login: Disconnected (no auth attempts): rip=209.85.198.211, lip=my.ip.ad.dr: 1 Time(s)

dovecot: pop3-login: Disconnected (no auth attempts): rip=209.85.198.212, lip=my.ip.ad.dr: 1 Time(s)

dovecot: pop3-login: Disconnected (no auth attempts): rip=209.85.198.213, lip=my.ip.ad.dr: 1 Time(s)

dovecot: pop3-login: Disconnected (no auth attempts): rip=209.85.198.214, lip=my.ip.ad.dr: 1 Time(s)

dovecot: pop3-login: Disconnected (no auth attempts): rip=209.85.198.216, lip=my.ip.ad.dr: 2 Time(s)

dovecot: pop3-login: Disconnected (no auth attempts): rip=209.85.198.217, lip=my.ip.ad.dr: 1 Time(s)

dovecot: pop3-login: Disconnected (no auth attempts): rip=209.85.198.218, lip=my.ip.ad.dr: 2 Time(s)

dovecot: pop3-login: Disconnected (no auth attempts): rip=209.85.198.219, lip=my.ip.ad.dr: 2 Time(s)

dovecot: pop3-login: Disconnected (no auth attempts): rip=209.85.198.220, lip=my.ip.ad.dr: 1 Time(s)

dovecot: pop3-login: Disconnected (no auth attempts): rip=209.85.198.221, lip=my.ip.ad.dr: 4 Time(s)

dovecot: pop3-login: Disconnected (no auth attempts): rip=209.85.198.225, lip=my.ip.ad.dr: 3 Time(s)

dovecot: pop3-login: Disconnected (no auth attempts): rip=209.85.198.227, lip=my.ip.ad.dr: 3 Time(s)

dovecot: pop3-login: Disconnected (no auth attempts): rip=209.85.198.228, lip=my.ip.ad.dr: 1 Time(s)

dovecot: pop3-login: Disconnected (no auth attempts): rip=209.85.198.232, lip=my.ip.ad.dr: 1 Time(s)

dovecot: pop3-login: Disconnected (no auth attempts): rip=209.85.198.234, lip=my.ip.ad.dr: 1 Time(s)

dovecot: pop3-login: Disconnected (no auth attempts): rip=209.85.198.235, lip=my.ip.ad.dr: 2 Time(s)

dovecot: pop3-login: Disconnected (no auth attempts): rip=209.85.198.236, lip=my.ip.ad.dr: 5 Time(s)

dovecot: pop3-login: Disconnected (no auth attempts): rip=209.85.198.237, lip=my.ip.ad.dr: 1 Time(s)

dovecot: pop3-login: Disconnected (no auth attempts): rip=209.85.198.238, lip=my.ip.ad.dr: 1 Time(s)

dovecot: pop3-login: Disconnected (no auth attempts): rip=209.85.198.239, lip=my.ip.ad.dr: 2 Time(s)

dovecot: pop3-login: Disconnected (no auth attempts): rip=209.85.198.240, lip=my.ip.ad.dr: 2 Time(s)

dovecot: pop3-login: Disconnected (no auth attempts): rip=209.85.198.241, lip=my.ip.ad.dr: 2 Time(s)

dovecot: pop3-login: Disconnected (no auth attempts): rip=209.85.198.244, lip=my.ip.ad.dr: 1 Time(s)

dovecot: pop3-login: Disconnected (no auth attempts): rip=209.85.198.245, lip=my.ip.ad.dr: 1 Time(s)

dovecot: pop3-login: Disconnected (no auth attempts): rip=209.85.198.246, lip=my.ip.ad.dr: 1 Time(s)

dovecot: pop3-login: Disconnected (no auth attempts): rip=209.85.198.248, lip=my.ip.ad.dr: 1 Time(s)

dovecot: pop3-login: Disconnected (no auth attempts): rip=209.85.198.249, lip=my.ip.ad.dr: 1 Time(s)

dovecot: pop3-login: Disconnected (no auth attempts): rip=209.85.198.251, lip=my.ip.ad.dr: 1 Time(s)

Okay, so let’s list the strange events here:

• A whole bunch of sequential IPs are connecting to my POP3 port (not necessarily in order, perhaps Logwatch is just picking them out that way)
• The remote machines are connecting, but not even attempting to authenticate (log in), they’re just disconnecting
• The IP range is apparently owned by Google

So… what’s going on here, exactly? Anyone able to shed some light onto this?

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Get your weekend up-to-speed with this collection of early 2000′s dancepop fun! Taking a break from the electro side of things, this one’s crammed full of uplifting jump-around-the-house stuff from the likes of Armand Van Helden, The Shapeshifters, Fatboy Slim, and M&S presents The Girl Next Door.

If you love the Unadopted Podcast, please add Unadopted on Facebook and tell your friends about the podcast!

1. Armand Van Helden – You Don’t Even Know Me
2. Michael Moog – That Sound
3. Shakedown – At Night (Original Version)
4. M&S presents The Girl Next Door – Salsoul Nugget
5. The Shapeshifters – Lola’s Theme (Shapeshifters 2008 Re-Edit)
6. Space Cowboy – I Would Die 4 U
7. Mr Pink presents The Program – Love And Affection
8. Fatboy Slim – Talking Bout My Baby (Midfield General’s Disco Reshuffle)
9. Chemical Brothers – The Golden Path
10. Daft Punk – Something About Us (Without Brass Version)

Listen now over at http://unadopted.co.uk/podcast/. If you haven’t already set it up, click the “Subscribe” link on the right-hand-side when you get there to get the podcast automatically delivered right into your iTunes or RSS reader whenever I release a new session!

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With music old and new from the likes of Justice, The Presets, Deadmau5, Space Cowboy and more, Session 017 is loaded with enough get-up-and-dance party energy to even make the snowmen start dancing.

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1. Fischerspooner – Emerge
2. Deelite – Groove Is In The Heart (Electro Remix)
3. Basement Jaxx – Romeo (Ryback Remix)
4. Klaxons – As Above, So Below (Justice Remix)
5. Space Cowboy – My Egyptian Lover (Extended Club Mix)
6. Crystal Castles – Courtship Dating (J-La Bootleg)
7. Deadmau5 vs Jelo – The Reward Is Cheese
8. Arthur Argent – Hold Your Head Up (Soulwhacked Mix)
9. Justice – Waters Of Nazareth (John Redden Mix)
10. Boys Noize – Oh! (A-Trak Remix)
11. Midfield General – Disco Sirens (Calling In Sick Remix)
12. Felix Cartal – Moss vs Tree
13. The Presets – My People
14. Vitalic – La Rock 01

Listen now over at http://unadopted.co.uk/podcast/. If you haven’t already set it up, click the “Subscribe” link on the right-hand-side when you get there to get the podcast automatically delivered right into your iTunes or RSS reader whenever I release a new session!

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… and all of London grinds to a halt. The heaviest for 6 years apparently, though, and it’s going to be even heavier this afternoon. For as long as I can remember, I’ve never seen TfL (or its predecessors), cancel every bus service in the entire Greater London area though. This is pretty severe — for London, at least!

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A while ago, I recieved an email from Microsoft inviting me to collect a copy of the Windows 7 beta, so fired up Safari on my MacBook Pro… to see the website get stuck. Not a good start!

Switching to Firefox soon solved things, and after I’d signed into Microsoft.com with my Windows Live ID, I was given a CD key (hint: keep pressing refresh on that page and you’ll get more…) and shortly afterwards I was presented with a Java applet download manager (though there was no readily available explanation as to why this was necessary).

After a pretty speedy transfer of the 2gb ISO image, I fired up VMware Fusion, created a Vista VM, and set the installer running. It was done in under 30 mins, a massive improvement over Vista’s tortuous install proceedure and even shaving time off XP’s install process. The boot process post-install, I might add, is also WAY faster than Vista, and about as fast as a clean XP install… though I’d imagine that’d slow down over time, as per most Windows installs.

Once the install was done I made a snapshot in VMware incase I broke things (which I indeed did).

Next up: VMware Tools. There aren’t any in VMware Fusion for Windows 7 yet, so I tried the Vista version, as I’d set the VM up as a Vista VM. Installing the tools was a relatively easy, but pointless move. Weird visual glitches on boot, and no real performance gain, so I reverted back to the snapshot.

My main interest with Windows 7 is by far Windows Media Center. It’s about all I really use Windows for at home, these days (except the odd Windows-only app, or the odd bit of Windows compatibility testing). So, I plugged in one of my USB DVB-T receivers (a Terratec Cinergy T2). It made the “new hardware” bleep-bloop noise… and then bluescreened. Damn. It automatically rebooted, and when it came back, things got a bit weird. When I tried to set up Windows Media Center, the “analyzing your TV device” stage took over an hour. I eventually gave up, and unplugged the USB cable, and it all snapped back into life. I tried repeating this a few times, but it seems that this device just doesn’t work with Windows 7 yet. It took months to get stable Vista drivers for it, so I’d imagine I’m in for a long wait for this to get stable, unless it’s due to VMware being thrown into the mix as well. I’ll try it on real hardware soon.

I tried my other DVB-T reciever, a Hauppauge WinTV HVR-900H. This didn’t bluescreen, though I did have to go and download the drivers from Hauppauge’s site myself. Once I’d gotten it installed it scanned for channels, found them (including the MHEG-only channels, looks like MHEG support from the OEM-only TV Pack update for Vista Media Center is included as standard), but when I went to watch, it refused to play video, complaining about missing files. I must add at this point that this probably isn’t a Windows Media Center issue, but more likely a VMware issue — Windows Media Center does throw the “your graphics card isn’t good enough” warning when you start it up, but I was ignoring this hoping it’d let me watch TV anyway. VMware’s Vista tools didn’t fix this either.

So, I guess the next real test as far as I’m concerned is to try this on some real hardware, rather than a VMware Fusion virtual machine. When I do, I’ll post about it here, of course.

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That was a bit odd. My iPhone 3G started acting a bit weird so I turned it off. I turned it back on, and it took what seemed like forever to start back up.

When it eventually did come back, it was deactivated! It had the connect-to-itunes image (not text like the image above) at the top of the screen, no service name in the top-left corner, a “slide for emergency” thing at the bottom and an info button which showed the ICC ID and IMEI.

In a bit of a panic I turned it off and on again.

It took another eternity to start back up.

And then it booted normally, with the “iPhone is activated” message. Is my iPhone dying, or is it just time for a factory restore in iTunes?

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