Rob Bell's Notes from a Yorkshire Internet Megalomaniac

I got my first actual PC in 1992 during my studies at Bradford University – as I recall, I spent my entire student loan on it. After using green screen VT100 terminals during my first year there, and part way through my second, upgrading to a colour Windows PC was a real step up in my technological abilities – although I didn’t have Internet, just Bulletin Boards and a 2600 baud modem that t took all day to download just a few hundred kilobytes over my dial-up, pay-per-minute phone-line narrow-band connection. Everything was still pretty much text-based – the WWW had yet to take hold.

In the computer centre at  University, I had access to Unix workstations that allowed me to telnet into text-based MUDs (Multi-User Dungeons) around the world. They were part of the first generation of multi-player internet based gaming that, in the 20 years since, has evolved beyond anything we imagined then – World of Warcraft was a long way from technologically possible back then, and 32 people all playing at once was considered a lot.

The came the rise of the web – another technological advance, that’s increasingly quickly become an integral part of life for myself and many millions (even billions) of users around the world. Ever faster computers and better internet connection speeds followed – exponentially larger than back in 92.

Inside computers, processing power becomes ever greater and ever smaller – The number of transistors that can fit on an integrated circuit doubles approximately every 2 years, according to  Moore’s Law, and has done since the 1960s, with the trend continuing today.

PCs in the home were almost unheard of in the early 90s, most of my friends have owned one less than 10 years – yet now, the majority of homes have computers and Internet access. In 2009, 18.3 million households – 70% of the British population – have Internet access (National Statistics Online). 90% of them have broadband access. A few years ago, it was rare to see a web address on an ad – now it seems stranger when there isn’t one there.

Why am I telling you all of this? Because things change with technology, really quickly and often in unexpected ways…

From my first encounter with Macs in the 90s, as a PC man through, I knew I hated them and their ‘overly smug owners’, and that continued for a couple of decades. Once the exclusive weapon of design houses and musicians, Apple have transformed a. their fortunes and b. the world around us. I have a couple of friends who can be described as Mac Fanbois (apparently this is the de rigeur spelling!), eschewing PCs as the evil spawn of Gates, a man guided by evil – as it turns out, Mr Gates is actually one heck of a Philanthropist, giving away 58% of the money his software has gifted him with to help others in less fortunate circumstances. As it also turns out, PCs are not evil either, so that’s 2 things that probably come as a relief to many of you.

As a die hard PC-to-the-core guy, never would I have seen a day when not one, not two, but three Apple devices are within reach (2 iPhones as of today, and one iPad I’ll talk about at great length given the chance!). I would have probably bet an awful lot of money on the fact that I would never own an Apple product, and if you had taken that bet… well, I wouldn’t have been able to afford to pay you the Gazillion pounds I would have bet… but I would have made that bet 100% confident I wouldn’t lose, at that time.

They invented iMac – ooo a coloured computer that’s all inside the monitor box… ummm yukk. “How are you meant to upgrade that with the latest graphics or sound card? What, you can’t?!? Well my PC…”, you know the story, if you’re a PC Guy you’ve probably told it to many a Mac user, and if you’re a Mac Man you’ve probably heard it as a rebuttal of your claims of technological superiority! I’ve stopped having the argument since they started building Macs using PC architectures (Take that, Mac boys!!!! Darn it’s hard to get out of the habit…), and Windows PC owners started running OS X in a desktop window, as their Mac counterparts did with Windows for many years as an indication of perceived superiority!

Then they invented the iPod – I never bought one, I’ve had a few different mp3 players (including a really cool waterproof one for swimming), but never gone so far as to ‘believe the hype’, as I said at the time, and buy an iPod.

Then they invented iPhone, and I bought a Blackberry Curve 2 months before they released it… so didn’t own one – for another 16 months, when I lost my bet, and bought my first Apple product – the 8GB iPhone 3G…

Why the change of heart? Apple created something that changed the game completely, and the Nokia-dominated UK mobile phone market soon evolved, with Apple stealing an ever-greater share of the market – and dominating the conversations about the smartphone market – which the iPhone evolved in such a way that the Nokias, Samsungs and Sonys aren’t yet caught up in tech terms. Another young pretender, Google, with its’ Android OS, has risen from nowhere to become the second most dominant. Analysts are divided over who will rule the smartphone market in a few years time, things have changed so much, so quickly. Most agree that Apple’s iOS, and Google’s Android, look like becoming the main 2 mobile phone operating systems.

Anyway, I digress… back to my change of heart! The iPhone offered one thing that for me has changed how we think of our mobile phones – the App Store. Now, what used to be a simple device for making calls has evolved to become an ever more flexible, multi-purpose electronic device that also makes phone calls. The Star Trek tricorder from our childhood has become reality! What fan of technology could resist this quantum leap in hand-held capability? Not this one, that’s for sure. Since the first day I got that iPhone, I knew that I had found one of the missing components in my technological journey through life. Since that day, I have integrated it completely into my work and personal life to the great benefit of both – I even set up a company to help other businesses benefit from this marvelous device

Such is my love of the iPhone that, after resisting the urge to queue ‘with all the nutters‘ yesterday on Launch Day, I found myself unable to sleep – and by 8am this morning had looked up all the remaining stock in the North of England and decided that I was going to drive to the only place in the North East of England that had any left, and see if I could get myself a nice new 16GB iPhone4. I gathered with other people as crazed as myself, and stood in queue for 3 hours outside the O2 store in the White Rose Shopping Centre in Leeds to get one of the last batch of iPhone4s available. Given my physical problems, it turned out to be a rather painful experience tempered by the knowledge a lovely new iPhone waited at the end. Now, I sit here with said device resplendent on the desk in front of me, immensely comforted in some strange way that I have one – now!

What’s worse is that, on the 12th May, I pre-ordered an iPad before the UK release – yes I did! It arrived on the 8th June (some weeks after they came out in the shops, which is one reason I queued today!), and for 18 days I have been acclimatising to yet another quantum leap in the way technology influences my life. The iPad has freed me from my desk in so many additional ways to the freedom the iPhone gave me – it’s way easier to work on than the iPhone because of the larger screen, and its’ portability has already allowed me to work in my dream office every day this week, achieving as much as if I’d been sat behind my desk. I’ve seen all the naysayers dissing the iPad, and I disagree with all of you – I completely get the point of the iPad, it fits into my existing Tech infrastructure perfectly, and it has evolved the way I work as much, if not more than, it’s smaller cousin, the iPhone.

My dream office, by the way, is a hammock. This is said hammock, in my dream office out in my garden (pre-lawn grown days, just after I moved in) – pic taken on old iPhone using Hipstamatic – awesome camera  app The relaxed-looking wild-eyed dude laying in it is my brother!

When I was slaving away in offices throughout the 90s and early noughties, I used to dream of the day when I was able to escape from behind the desk, to get away from the unpleasantness of office politics and minimal intellectual stimulation – and to do something I loved, that gave me a sense of purpose. And what’s more I wanted to do it on my own terms, in a hammock if I so choose! Although I had an inkling I had a purpose for my life, even as a child – I didn’t know what that purpose was… I just knew it wasn’t yet possible at the time, and I’ve had to wait many years for it to become technologically possible, feasible, and affordable.

I always wanted to help people make their lives easier using technology, the way I’ve used it as an extension of myself throughout the years. I know so many people who would benefit in so many ways from embracing computers and technology, but they fear it – believing it to be far too complex for them. I have a good friend who is 71 and thought that he’d never understand computers – he has now written and published his own website for over 10 years (with some minor help here and there from yours truly), and still thinks he doesn’t understand them. He would be the first to say “If I can do it wi’ my bad eyes, any ald sod can” (he has a fine, broad, Yorkshire accent as you can see in the video!).

I don’t know any business that wouldn’t greatly benefit from better use of the Internet  and mobile devices, and I’ll happily prove it to anyone who cares to take me up on the challenge, as I have for many years already.

I hated Apple, as was traditional and almost compulsory in PC circles, until they changed the world around me – the world of Technology, not the World itself(!). When they gave power to developers to let their imagination run riot (within provided Apple boundaries!) and build applications for their device, they created more than a new type of phone – they created a device that’s shifted the way we think of, and use, our handheld devices. That, coupled with the ever improving hardware and software inside, is what made me stop hating Apple. I’m still no fanboi – I have no illusions that they do some things badly, but they do some things really well – and by taking advantage of those things, I have improved the way I interact with the World (the actual World this time).

That is why I will now admit to quite liking Apple – I love my iPhone and iPad – but to feel the same about the whole company will take time, especially given their propensity for massive hype – by the way, it’s not ‘magical’ – it doesn’t cut assistants into 3 or produce doves from its’ interface!Paul Daniels and David Blaine are magical, the iPad is ‘just’ plain awesome! Still, the hype is effective – despite myself, I found myself queuing to make sure I got one of the first iPhone4s, and I pre-ordered the Pad which is even more pre-meditated!

Keep impressing me with your evolving product line, Mr Jobs, and you could make a fanboi out of me yet – but I won’t go easily… I still bleed PC, and am not ready to embrace desktop Mac by a long way – but the way your wonderful gizmos work with my PCs, and in my environment, is perfectly fine for now – thank you. Your mobile devices have enabled ever-evolving enhancements to my work and personal life, and I am grateful for that.

Please don’t release anything else new this year though… I can’t afford it – time- or money- wise!

Rob Bell

Like most of you, no doubt, I used to take little or no real interest in Politics – even though, everyday, politicians make decisions that affect my life, that of my family and friends – and that of everyone else in our country. As I got into my 30s and experienced much greater adversity than at any point previously, I started to take an interest.

Historically, I had one major political event that’s stuck in my memory from childhood. My Dad was a coalman – he had the biggest round in Wakefield. I used to work with him when I was younger, during the holidays – especially the Winter.  During 1984, Margaret Thatcher and the Conservatives took on Arthur Scargill and the National Union of Mineworkers – causing the Miner’s Strike , that ran from 1984-85, and had a pretty devastating affect on Wakefield, where I live still to this day, destroying all the mining communities around – in fact, a big chunk of the country, particularly in the North of England – many places have never fully recovered, I believe the Wakefield area to be one of them.

The miner’s strike was devastating to my father and our family, as it was to so many in the Coal Industry. It seemed like the supply of coal dried up overnight – rationing started, Dad couldn’t get hold of much coal – and any stock he got was as likely to be stolen from his yard as it was to get to the few remaining customers who were able to get a coal ration slip. Dad’s business collapsed, we lost our home, all our savings went into propping things up until they ran out… and Dad nearly died when his heart failed as a result.

Since then, I’ve never felt that politics really represents the real people of Britain. A lot of the politicians we see are career politicians, born into privilege, and somewhat removed from the realities of life in the UK. The corruption within is disgusting – wealthy donors control and shape policy with their wallets, and the recent expenses scandal proved a lot of politicians to be self-serving, prepared to take liberties with money that we, their employers, certainly never intended to be spent expensively renovating up their multiple homes.

For my entire life, either the Conservatives or Labour have been in power – making the same mistakes over and over. Most people I know don’t feel that the Goverments, past and present, really represent them, or look after their interests. They seem to encourage profit at any social cost and looking after the wealthy and influential, while ignoring the needs of the average man or woman on the street. They spend vast amounts of the money we provide them with, in the form of taxes, on propping up banks – who nearly brought our economy to ruin with their maverick attitudes, speculative risks and pursuit of profit at any cost. What have the Labour Government done about it? Well, the banks are still handing out massive bonuses to staff, sticking 2 fingers up at us after we so kindly bailed them out of trouble. The Conservatives wouldn’t be any better – they want to slash Public Spending, causing further unemployment, and potentially causing the end of businesses who provide services to the public sector in the midst of our worst recession in decades. They will make the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer. You only have to look at the recent furor over the party funding (millions) contributed by Lord Ashcroft – himself a tax exile from the UK, so where do his loyalties lay? Not to the people of Britain, I’ll wager.

I, personally, have had enough – and I’m not on my own. Some people vote for extremist parties in protest, as they target the common man’s fears – the recent rise of the BNP shows this. I deplore such extremism – I just want to live in a country where people get along and have a Government that looks after their interests rather than the interests of the money men. I feel about it so strongly that I am even standing for council election next month. Who for? The only party I feel represents a real opportunity to make positive changes, and to take 21st Century Great Britain forward – the Liberal Democrats.

A lot of people I talk to say they won’t vote Lib Dem, because they’ll never get into power – so they’re going to vote Conservative or Labour – one in protest at the existing Government and hoping for change, or the other because “It’s better the Devil you know…”.  To you all – the Labservatives – I say “Balderdash! (Actually, my real choice of word was  ‘Bollocks’, but balderdash is so much politer!) You’re perpetuating an ongoing 2-party nightmare that’s held its’ suffocating grip over Britain for 65 years. I want off this sickening ride, I want positive change, and I hope you do to. Things won’t change unless you vote for change. When enough people want change, change happens.

With that in mind, I’m going to sign off this post with an email I got today from Nick Clegg, leader of the Lib Dems.

Stayed tuned – an all new RobBellBlog.com is imminent – with regular posts, news and tips for small business owners and freelancers, Better Living and Better Business Through the Internet, iPhone & iPad, Cloud Computing and Web Applications articles and discussion,  Tech & Gadget news and reviews, and guest bloggers. I’m currently developing the new format, and will keep you abreast of all the improvements.

Rob Bell
- not usually so political, but it’s important!

Here’s the email from Nick:

Dear friend,

Last week, we launched a spoof campaign for the ‘Labservative’ party. You can find the details at www.labservative.com. It’s a funny campaign, but it has a serious point, a point only Liberal Democrats are making in this election.

For 65 years the government of our country has been handed from Labour to the Conservatives and back again like a game of pass the parcel. Red-blue, blue-red politics – and look what it has got us: corrupt politics, recession, inequality, time and again. They just take turns at making the same mistakes. It has to end.

The old politics is not good enough any more. It is time for something different. Our strategy in this election is to make it clear that if you want real change, you have to vote for a party that is different. All you will get from the old parties is more of the same. Just think how much they agree on.
On the economy: the Labservatives have been in thrall to the City of London for decades, neglecting the rest of Britain and letting the banks get away with doing whatever they want. And now the Labservatives are both refusing to come clean about the tough decisions needed to sort out the public finances – it’s a conspiracy of silence.

It’s the same story wherever you look: together David Cameron and Gordon Brown have blocked political reform, including our plan to allow people to sack corrupt MPs. The Labservatives compete to sound tough on crime instead of doing what works to actually catch criminals and stop them committing more crimes. And the Labservatives have made UK foreign policy subservient to the interests of the United States, from the illegal invasion of Iraq to the decision to waste £100bn on replacing, like for like, the Cold War era Trident nuclear submarines.

Labservatism is alive and well in Britain today, and only the Liberal Democrats can change that. A vote for Cameron or Brown is a vote for the corrupt, failed status quo. Only Liberal Democrats offer real change.
So wherever you are out campaigning, from Scotland to Cornwall, from Ceredigion to Norfolk, from inner London to rural Cumbria, remember this:

We are not campaigning against two parties: we are campaigning against one. We are campaigning against the old, failed way of doing things. We are campaigning for real, permanent change to build a fairer Britain. It’s a simple choice between old and new.

So get out campaigning, and take on Labservatism in your area. Say No to more of the same and Yes to real change.

Thank you for all of your hard work,

Nick Clegg

Here I sit, while outside snow is covering the UK, rendering most of the country useless – schools are closed, people can’t get into work, and we’ve run out of rocksalt because the largest mine in the UK can only produce in a week what is being used every day, as local councils try to keep the roads clear.

It’s the ‘worst’ winter in 30 years according to the press, although I beg to differ – it’s the BEST winter in 30 years! Snow may be disruptive, but it’s so very beautiful, with a white blanket covering the everyday dullness of the city, making buildings look ‘postcard pretty’ and presenting a visual splendour out of town as fields and trees proudly display their temporary white overcoats.

Happy New Year to all of you, and all the best for 2010. I’ve got big plans for this year, although I haven’t made any resolutions – actually that’s an untruth, I made one – to go swimming more often as it’s my physical therapy – but I’ve broken it already due to the fact I can’t get to the gym because of the snow! Which brings me onto what I want to discuss today – why New Years Resolutions suck, and why you shouldn’t make them!

I have nothing against planning or setting goals – these are both worthy activities that will help you get where you want to be. In fact, I insist you set some goals and plan towards reaching them – how will you know how you’re going to get where you want to be unless you have a map? However, don’t name them ‘Resolutions’! Why? Because you’re setting yourself up to fail straightaway…

People don’t generally make New Years Resolutions because they are committed to changing a behaviour, getting rid of a bad habit, or achieving something.

People make New Years Resolutions so that they have something to say when other people ask “What are your Resolutions for this year?”.

Over the years, you have probably made hundreds or thousands of resolutions that you’ve later broken… or never even attempted to keep. In people’s minds, New Years Resolutions are things you make but don’t make the most of. So what if they fail – millions of other people have done exactly the same thing… 2 or 3 weeks into the New Year, old habits reemerge and new improvements slide back to 2009 levels. Subconsciously, we know that New Years Resolutions are useless – a traditional pastime borne of the New Year, soon forgotten as winter fades into memory.

Okay so some people manage to keep their resolutions – but I reckon they’re in the minority. More people give up smoking in the New Year than at any other time of year, and hopefully many remain non-smokers forever… but the majority eventually return to tobacco’s vice-like grip and the comfort of the burning stick of reduced lifespan.

So this year, don’t make any New Years Resolutions. Save yourself the time and effort and future disappointment as you go back on your festively-induced promises.

Instead go out and buy yourself a notebook. In that notebook write down the things you want to achieve in 2010.

Once you have those goals written down, then you can start to plan how you’re going to achieve them.

Once you have your plan, start working towards your goals. Keep it positive and you’re more likely to succeed.

I hope you’re having a great snowed-in day, and let’s all look forward to a successful 2010 filled with fun and laughter (but not Miley Cyrus!)

Rob Bell

I pride myself on my knowledge of computers and the Internet – I’m the ‘go-to guy’ for my friends when it comes to PCs and technology in general. That is why I feel so sheepish while writing this. I overreached my technological abilities over the weekend, and my wallet has suffered as a result! I’ll tell you the whole story…..

Last week, I dropped my iPhone, face down, flat onto the hard, cold bathroom floor just as I was making my way sleepily to my bed, via toothbrush and toilet… Needless to say, the iPhone screen smashed – see exhibit one! I am somewhat disappointed, having previously thought it to be quite sturdy – but never having actually tested its’ strength!

Next day I was looking to see how much it would cost for the repair – finding out it’s £139.99 at the Apple Store via my local O2 shop. “£140 be damned” the tight Yorkshireman within me thought, “I bet I can fix it cheaper myself”. Some more research provided me with the information I needed – I could get a new ‘digitiser’ – which is what the iPhone glass screen is called – for £22 inc p&p from Amazon, with instructions. So I ordered it and patiently waited for the screen to arrive. When it did, I watched the instruction video a number of times to familiarise myself with the process before opening the case and getting stuck in to the process.

As it happens, at one point in the video it refers to a white clip with a black connector that has to be clicked up to release connector no 3 – however, since the video was made Apple have swapped the colours and the catch is black with a white connector. I tried to flick up the white connector which turned out to be a very delicate connector that I’d inadvertently destroyed in one foul flick! This made it really difficult to reinsert the lead into connector 3… and after considerable difficulty, when I put the phone together again and switched it on, something didn’t look right…. see exhibit two! And on top of that, the earpiece was no longer working – I could make calls but only hear them if I turned the speaker on or wore headphones…

What I hadn’t considered was that the LCD underneath was also damaged and needed replacing – plus my savaging of connector 3 meant the lead was no longer able to connect properly – so the earpiece no longer worked.

Defeated by my apparent clumsiness and ignorance, I resigned myself to finding a local iPhone  repair outlet, and took the iPhone there earlier today, where the LCD was replaced and the screen returned to normal. Unfortunately, my destruction of the connector meant that Andy (the skilled repairer who did an amazing job of fixing it while I waited) was unable to get the earpiece working as I need to get the connector replaced on the PCB (Circuit Board).

However, the phone is now in working condition once again, and looks as good as it did before I dropped it (except for a small crack in the new screen I made trying to pry it out before discovering the real purpose of suction cups!

Having paid for the repair, I’ve almost spent as much as taking it to the Apple Store would have cost. If I’d taken it straight to Andy, it would have been fixed at a lot less than the Apple store – and I wouldn’t have broken the earpiece connector!

So the moral of this tale is that you shouldn’t try to be an expert in everything (the old phrase being “Jack of All Trades, Master of None”) – my clumsiness and not-so-delicate fingers are not factors that make me an awesome technician, but quite the opposite.

My skills lay elsewhere, and it took a hit to my wallet to remind me of this. In future, I shall focus on things I am good at and rely on the expertise of others in areas where I have less ability. Learn from my mistake and you too can reduce the chance of disaster, in whatever you do. Thus endeth the iPhone-delivered lesson!

Rob Bell

p.s. The first thing I did when I got the repaired phone was to go to a phone shop and get a hard case with a front cover! Only a fool doesn’t learn from his mistakes…

Sorry for getting you all excited about my return to writing today (I’m being sarcastic, not conceited!) – my regular readers know of my ongoing health problems, but for those of you who don’t – I broke my back twice falling out of the sky awkwardly in a couple of extreme sports accidents. I’ve damaged vertebrae, discs, nerves, my hip, sacroiliac joint and various other bodyparts, resulting in my walking with a stick these days…

Anyway today is what I have come to call a ‘Pain Day’ – when my back is incredibly painful leaving me almost incapable of achieving much that particular day, and confined to my bed, blitzed my an enormous array of pain killers. I’ve managed to get onto the computer for a little while as pain killers have temporarily improved the situation, but this will have to be a pretty brief post today.

Have you come across a site called Picnik yet? It’s a very useful image editing web application – it’s easy to upload your photos, edit them and add effects then share them among your friends and social networks. It costs nothing to use – although there is a pro option if you want extra filters and the ability to upload infinite pictures. If you don’t have Photoshop, or Gimp, you’ll find this a very useful site when you have photos you want to edit eg to get rid of red-eye, or you just want to make an existing photo more fun with special effects -

Check out vampire Rob…

So get yourselves over to Picnik – you don’t need to have a Photoshop-sized budget to do great work on your photos!

Hopefully, tomorrow will be a far less pain day – I have a meal out in the evening so it better be!

Rob Bell