Chippy's Hiblue Lab

Apparently Sky, is coming to the UK XBox. Today! (At some point)

Being an ex-pat with a Sky card and a father in the UK who pays way too much money to watch golf, tennis, football etc. on Sky I’m now wondering if I can get me some Sky action on the Xbox in Germany.

Apparently you don’t need a subscription to Sky but you do need an Xbox Gold subscription at 40 pounds per year.  If they can deliver BBC1-4 I’d pay 40 quid per year for that, no problem. I doubt BBC is going to be part of the package but it will be interesting to see what Sky include.

When the update comes I’ll test it out with a monthly Gold subscription.

My Xbox 360 was bought purely to front a Media Centre back-end and it’s turning out nicely. If Xbox could deliver a browser or videocast catcher though, I’d be a lot happier.

Tags: sky, xbox

Archos 5 and the starbucks test.

Originally uploaded by umpcportal.com

There is a mobile computing test that no-one speaks of. It’s called the Starbucks test. You simply take your mobile device into Starbucks, put it on the table and take a deep breath. There are only two possible results. You either feel good or akward. Today I feel good.

Thumbs up for the Archos!

three device mobility

Originally uploaded by umpcportal.com

Nokia N82 in the pocket: Camera, GPS, BT, HSDPA, Voice, SMS, MP3, mobile web in the pocket.
Archos 5 IT (Android) in the hand: Quick-snack web browsing, video, navigation, ereading, emergency computing.
Gigabyte Netbook on the table: Productivity, 3G and storage.

This is getting very close to my ideal setup. 3G in the Tablet would probably be as close as it’s possible with today’s technology.

I’m currently testing out the Archos 5 Android Tablet on UMPCPortal.
http://www.umpcportal.com/2009/10/archos-5-android-internet-tablet-first-impressions-long/
It’s a bit unstable but I’m hoping that firmware upgrades will fix it.

Notice that the Omnia Pro that I bought isn’t in the picture. I’m really leaning towards keeping the N82 based on it’s digital/internet camera capabilities and the fact that the Omnia Pro doesnt really give me the web experience that I need.

I think this is the setup i’ll take to Amsterdam next week – The Maemo conference!!!