I always find it interesting that the new year is the time that everyone decides to turn over a new leaf. The new year is significant in a way – 365 days of fresh new opportunities; full of new ways to better yourself and your life. However, logically speaking the timing never really made much sense to me.

January is the worst month for motivation – you have no money, the holidays are over – you drag yourself back to work with the weight of cake, chocolate and turkey toasties still heavy on your mind…and stomach. Trying to find motivation with all that on top of you is like trying to walk up a hill with a boulder around your neck – it’s not going to happen happen quickly.

As a result I usually let myself settle back into the way of work before starting to make any resolutions. So, after arriving back in Brussels on Monday evening and after a terrible Tuesday in work things are starting to look up. Systems are working, people are friendly and no one really seems to have taken unkindly to my hair, which is currently rather pink and spiky. So I think now is a good time to make some resolutions.

1. Read more – I got a kindle for Christmas and I am already reading on the metro and train so hoping this one will be strong.
2. Study more – I need to work hard in order to keep my knowledge up to date but also in order to make #3 possible…
3.  Pass CCIE – a large bonus should be enough to make me want to do this, but there are also great career opportunities and also the knowledge that comes with it.
4. Blog regularly – I make this resolution so often but really going to strive to keep it.
5. Sleep properly – Not even more, just regularly - 12-6.45 or something, just as long as its regular.
6. Exercise more – I know this is a staple for resolutions but I do really need to get a bit more into shape.
7. Learn to cook properly – I can cook some things but it’s time to make some proper meals
8. Don’t worry about the future – look out for the present and future will worry about itself.
9. Stop playing World of Warcraft – Deleted already but will free up time for some other games or activities.
10. Photograph at every opportunity – I’m often embarrassed to take photographs when other people are around so I need to get over this.

I think if I can focus on these that it will be a good start. Of course there are others like be more organised and better time management but I firmly believe that these will come with the above resolutions. If I want to exercise, blog, study and play games, I’m going to need to manage my time better and I think that fits nicely around the points above.

So a very Happy New Year to you, and hopefully this won’t be the last you hear from me this week

This was a short review I wrote about a month ago on the day I received my Razer BlackWidow Mechanical Keyboard. I’ve done my best to clean up the structure but I was pretty sleepy when I wrote it…

So I have just received my new keyboard and thought I would type something up on it. Given that it takes a little while to get used to a new keyboard (and especially one with a style that I am not quite used to) typing is the best way to start to acustomise one to the nuances of a new typing companions and while it is rather loud it is incredibly satisfying to use.

This is one of the great things about using a mechanical keyboard – the keypress is light but solid and the tactile response is crisp. The stated 50g actuation force means that the keyboards offers little resistance allowing for a comfortable typing experience and no hand strain. The distinctive “Click-clack” sound so often associated with old computer keyboards is due to the use to the use of physical switches instead of the plastic membranes which exist in most modern “soft-touch” keyboards.

Migrating from using laptop style keyboards for the last 3 months or so is a bit odd but the chunky feel of the keys, while odd at first, is actually comforting. It reminds me of afternoons in university sitting engineering labs using computers that were really too old to be in there but using them made it sound like you were working really hard when you typed anything.

I guess working from home in later months will be a blessing for this keyboard because im pretty sure everyone in the office would destroy me for using it. 10 minutes of continuous router configuration would probably drive the 3 neighbouring cubicles completely batty and I would say that after half a day they would be ready to destroy it and send me to hell with its ashes.

So what one earth am I talking about you might be asking yourself – well its the rather excellent and lovely to use Razer BlackWidow Gaming keyboard. Utilising Cherry Blue mechanical switches the BlackWidow is a change from the low profile keyboards of the present and brings a retro feel back to typing and gaming alike. Additionally, for people like me who normally suck at touch typing, the tactile feedback from the keys and the chunky style of the board make it really easy to segment the keys (I don’t really touch type properly, I just look at the screen, type and hope for the best) and the audible keypresses let you know that you have hit home.

It really is a pleasure to type on. I cant wait to see what its gaming performance is like when I actually have time to play. (Note: I played 40 hours of Skyrim with this board within a 70hr period and had no complaints at all).

Getting down to the technical details, the BlackWidow boasts a 1KHz polling rate which means that the maximum keystroke delay is 1ms allowing for sharper control and feedback while gaming. Additionally, the tactile response from the keys gives you the reassurance that you really did reload your gun allowing you to continue to spot enemies.

I am interested in getting some feedback as to what the noise is like over Skype or TeamSpeak, so I guess that’s still to come in the future. (Note: This depends on the intoxication and sleep levels of the individual – when people are tired or stressed it seems to be a lot more audible…)

Having used the keyboard for over a month now, I can safely state that it is a real pleasure to use and so far I have not had any neighbours knocking at my door to tell me to please stop typing (I have read stories of this happening in small appartment complexes). My hands have experienced no pain from its use and given that two months ago they were cramping I would say that switching from the laptop style iMac keyboard (as beautiful as it is) has really helped. If you are into mechanical keyboards and do type or game a lot, I would look into the BlackWidow or if you prefer to game in the dark, there is the BlackWidow Ultimate – complete with backlit keys!

No not really, I have actually been writing articles over the past few weeks in the little free time that I have had. They are saved on my dropbox account and will make it up here eventually.

So apologies for the radio silence but stay tuned folks…

An interesting article appeared in the The Guardian this morning which detailed plans by the government and the UK’s 4 largest ISP’s to filter porn sites unless the customer specifically requests access. David Cameron is meeting today with the Mothers’ Union to discuss and formally unveil the plans, along with specific marketing culls to stop aggressive targeted advertising.

I find it interesting that when I read this article  I immediately started thinking about how they are going to implement it. At first I just assumed they will just forward routes of porn sites to the specified users with an active subscription, but that would be a complete pain to implement given the general complexity of an ISP network.

I guess it could be implemented in ACL’s (Access Control Lists) but this would mean having a vast array of access lists which won’t do much for network performance. So you have to wonder…will they implement it in software?

In that case it is more likely that they analyse all the traffic you are sending/receiving and if you are not subscribed to the adult sites then they filter it. This seems a lot more likely but to me seems like a massive invasion of privacy – let’s face it, would you want all your traffic being analysed in detail?

Perhaps I am over-reacting slightly as there could invariably be a way to implement filtering at a hardware level but it seems to me like this is a cover for tighter controls on the Internet. I firmly believe in protecting children and over the past few years its easy to see young people being exposed a lot more to sex and unscrupulous activities in the media and in everyday life.  That being said though the UK has made several attempts of late to control the content on the internet that users see and this just seems like the next step, only using the sensitive topic of kids to push it through.

Additionally it means people who want access to adult materials need to publicly call up their ISP and request it, which can be incredibly embarrassing for the customer, not to mention a massive breach of privacy. For some adults and married couples, pornography is a natural and fun part of their relationship but having a policy like this enforced on the population with no democracy involved means that people risk being exposed to ridicule and general embarrassment for something that is a natural part of their lives. What if some hacker got hold of the list of people subscribed? What if there were high ranking members of society or politician’s names on that list?

Again, I want to stress that I am all for protecting children – but I also strongly support a free and open internet. This sort of thing should be left up to the parents. Don’t want your children to watch porn? Educate yourselves about basic home internet security. Set up parental controls – all computer Operating Systems support this.

Netgear, Belkin and most other major brands of modems and routers support filtering of adult sites or control of internet access to devices on the network – it’s not hard to set up, there are simple easy-to-use guides all over the internet.

This sort of thing shouldn’t be up to the government to control. Yes there are some vile things on the internet. Yes there are people who abuse the system. Yes there are sick people out there. But the World Wide Web is a free medium. It embodies everything about the human race and the freedom to access what we want is a part of it.

At the end of the day – who polices the police?