Well, pretty much nothing. At all. However, if you want to catch up on the latest news with me (consists of pretty much nothing, I promise) you can click the play button below to listen to the latest episode of View From The Quad, which has all the latest.

You can subscribe to View From The Quad easily and for free by clicking here if you use iTunes and clicking here if you use any other feed reader.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

As those of you who follow me on twitter are probably aware at this point, I have gone and bought myself a brand new Zoom H4n, a portable recorder which has two high quality condenser microphones built in an X Y pattern, as well as two fully powered XLR inputs and some 1/4′ inputs to boot. So, what do I think of it? (Take a look at the full features list on the Zoom H4n website)

Firstly, I had read a lot on the web about how rugged these things feel. To be totally honest, the case doesn’t feel hugely rugged to me. They advertised a rubberized outer shell, and I was hoping for a harder version of what the Microsoft Zunes used to be encased in, as that would have taken pretty much any drop ever. However, the area that the microphones are mounted is made of rock-solid aluminum, and I suspect that it would take a lot of work to get them off. On first opening the box, I found the device worrying light, as I like a little bit of heft behind my expensive gear. Adding batteries solved that problem!

“So”, you ask, “What about the recording quality?” Well, I recorded a quick episode of View From The Quad on the Zoom H4n, so that you can get an idea for the real-world audio quality this thing can output. It was recorded on the “Stamina” mode which allows it record up to 11 hours on one set of batteries, which works at 44.1 Khz, 16 bit, allowing for just over 25 hours worth of recording space on my 16gb card. Below you can listen to the slightly edited Mp3 mixdown of this recording, or you can download the original wav file by clicking here.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

One thing I have noticed, is that the startup time is a bit mad if you are using a large SD card. I did a bit of Googling and it turns out that this is a rather well known issue, but nobody really knows why it happens. So I decided to do some timing.

The 1GB card took about 15 seconds to start from when I flicked the switch, but once I put in the Class 6 (that means fairly fast, but not blazing) 16gb card, it took 45.9 seconds to start, at which point whomever I’m interviewing has probably upped and gone home. I’m going to consider investing in a few 2GB cards, which I think is a good compromise, each of which should hold about 3 hours of recording at the quality you heard in the test recording.

The menu system on the device is rather wonderful and intuitive. Really, it took me maybe five minutes to work my way around the hundreds of different options, effects and the like. It really is pretty simple, and the menu controls are placed very well. Everything you need to navigate the expansive options is right below your thumb when you are holding the device in your hand!

I bought the H4n off an eBayer, who threw in a whole load of stuff, including the very useful remote control. This allows you start recording instantly from afar, removing any chance of handling noise. The remote is wonderfully thought out, with little blinky lights to show you exactly what is happening on the device at any given moment. He also threw in the afore mentioned 16gb card, a big set of headphones that I have not yet tried out, and a sort of cheapy aluminum stand. I have another heavy duty mini stand that I use instead, as it feels less… shaky.

So, the cons.

I dislike the buttons on the device. I was hoping that they would be of the rubber variety, like you found on the really old phones, but no, they are hard “clicky” ones. Which is sort of annoying when you want to change a setting while recording, either with the inbuilt stereo mics or an exterior mic. That was just a poor design choice. I also dislike how they expect you to buy batteries all the time, when they could have just included a removable chargeable battery. I would have been happy to shell out $50 every few years for a high quality removable battery, but instead I need to carry around lots of smaller AA ones. I would have even bought a spare! I suppose that it does allow you to have a lot of cheap power though, which is an upside.

Another thing I find odd is the storage system. When you format the card to the devices liking, it creates a directory system on the card. One folder for each of the three modes (stereo, multitrack and 4 channel) and then 10 folders inside each of these, named Folder 1-10. This is where your files are stored, and while you can easily change which folder a recording gets saved into, and even move the recording around, you can not rename the folders. For instance, I would have liked a “VFTQ” folder, but no. I think this is weird, and I hope they sort it out in a firmware update.

So, that’s my preliminary views on the Zoom H4n! I may discuss it more after my trip to Dragon*Con in the States, where I plan to use it as my only recording device for two weeks.

Tags: gear, podcasting, portable recorders, recording, Zoom H4n

I just sent the following Twitter DM. I think it sums up my feelings on Dexter. I may write more later.

A while back, I decided that I was going to publish the compositions from my English Leaving Cert Mock exam. (I am considering seeing about publishing the actual Leaving Cert ones as well, since as I use a computer for state exams, I may be able to get a digital copy at some point.) I am being joined in this endeavor by none other then the wonderful Aimeeod, Irish Corkian Blogger who will be posting her compositions the very second that she gets her paper back and corrected! We are hoping that we inspire some other Irish Bloggers to post THEIR Mock attempts, and if you do, let me know! Links shall be linked at you! (Rules are thus: You may correct spelling, but nothing else. You hear?)

This is the second one of my leaving cert mock compositions, and you can listen to an audio version by pressing the play button below.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Spirit, by Cian Mac Mahon

Peter strained against the wall behind a door, hiding from the invaders who were ransacking the apartment block. He heard them go from room to room, but there was nothing methodical about it. They were like animals, charging through doorways, smashing everything they came across and yelling blood curdling warnings to anybody who may be hiding. He could hear the screams of shredded vocal cords as the people playing this brutal game of hide and seek were found, but soon after the voices were rested by a gunshot.

There had to be at least 10 men, if you could call them that. Shivering now, Peter struggled to make sense out of the cacophany of noises coming from downstairs; crying, yelling and the high pitched laughter of the parasites, coming to latch on to his life and drain him of everything he owned. He had never actually seen one of the gangs who wondered the streets, killing entire offices of well armed bankers and government officials, but he had heard stories, too mad to believe at the time. But he could believe them now. They raced around in his head, sharp shocks of ideas.

‘They eat the dead, you know.’

‘No mercy. Just shoot you there and then.’

‘They like to keep you alive, pretend to consider letting you go, just to see that faint glimmer of hope in your eyes die when they put a bullet in your skull.’

The Ravagers, as the media called them, brought Peter to a part of himself that he didn’t know existed. A small child, terrified of the shadows that his dressing gown left in his bedroom. Hearing stampeading feet in the stairwell, he pissed himself, the stench of urine filling his nostrils. They were two or three levels below him now, and each time they came closer, he could hear them more and more clearly. He stared out the sixth story window he could see through the crack between the door and the frame, watching the black night punctured by pinpricks of light. There were no street sounds, as the police now just cleared the road and waited for the Ravagers to finish, before attempting to pick them off. Too many men had died in the line of duty, and the policy was now to engage the ravagers as they fled the scene, chortling and grinning, literally from ear to ear.

The first time they tore through a building, raping and pillaging all who were there, the media went insane. Where had these gangs come from? Eyewitness reports said that these madmen were bloodied before they even entered the building. And even worse were their faces. Chunks of cheek ripped out, the odd eye bitten out. Some didn’t even have any eyes, or noses, or ears, but this didn’t seem to stop them from finding the most week and vulnerable and visiting horror upon them. For a second, Peter was glad that he had never settled down and had children in this apartment block.

They were two floors away now, he could tell. He hadn’t bothered locking the door, instead opting to leave it wide open so that he could hide behind it. A fleeting hope passed through his mind. Maybe the ravagers would look in and pass right by. He had thrown anything valuable into empty rooms nearby, so they wouldn’t see coins or items of worth lying around. His jeans were totally wet now, and his shirt was dampening from tears streaming down his face. He had briefly considered taking his tie and making a hang-man’s noose, but it would probably have broken and just injured him. Not a way to go. He glanced at the day’s paper, still on the bed where he had been reading it, and was reminded that although he had removed everything of worth from the room, there was still one thing that would attract attention.

A month and a half ago, a group of scientists managed to capture a ravager and ran him through ID checks. One of them lost a finger to him, the story went. It turned out that this man-turned-animal had a fairly long police record, and was a well known member of a particular gang in the area. The scientists put cameras in a deserted apartment building turned all the lights on, blaring music and televisions. When the ravagers showed up, they were caught on camera, and some of the other ones were tied to the same gang. Many of them couldn’t be recognised at all, due to the mutilation they had put themselves through. Although the scientists had packed the building full of seemingly expensive items (all fakes), the ravagers just messed the place up a bit, before leaving. The media decided that the ravagers didn’t actually aim to steal items, but just to brutaly terrorise the owners. The scientists said they were still conducting tests, digging electrodes into the captured ravager’s brain. It seemed normal.

Suddenly, music started blaring through the building, almost drowning out the screams and cries. The laughing increased. Peter had never heard about this before. The ravagers playing music?‘When I get down to the bottom I go back to the top of the slide.’ Peter couldn’t take much more of this. He loved the Beatles. And now he would die to them. They were one floor below him now. He said a final prayer, and waited.

Feeling the wind being bunched out of him, he collapsed to the floor. Something had slammed the door into the wall, driving the doorknob straight into Peter’s gut. His lungs screamed for air, but he couldn’t get any. Suddenly, he felt the harsh light on his face, and opened his eyes. He tried to scream, but that just drove more air out of his lungs, and everything went black for a few seconds. Above him loomed a short man, raw, ragged flesh where cheeks should be, screaming words at Peter, the terrible breath washing over him like the stink of rotten meat. Peter got his breath back, and screamed straight back at the man, who seemed amused by this pathethic show of force. He stood back, laughing, and motioned for Peter to stand. Peter obliged, staring the monstrocity straight in the eyes. Or where the eyes should have been, had there not been empty sockets there instead. Peter kicked out, breaking the man’s kneecap. The man howled, bringing three more ravagers into the room. Peter didn’t look though, instead sprinting towards the window, tripping up just as he reached it, to sail through the double glazing head first. After what seemed like an eternity, he hit a parked car, and everything went quiet.

He couldn’t hear and he couldn’t see. But he could smell, and the smells that flowed through him were joyous. He smelled petrol and he smelled the grubby but comforting stink of the city. He almost cried with relief. He was out, and he was alive. Suddenly all his senses came back to him, and his head was split with the sound of sirens and metal saws hacking at the car roof he was now embedded in, it having folded up above him like a duvet. The next thing he saw was the face of a fireman, who reached into the hole he had cut in the metal, and pulled him out, gently. Peter laughed with joy, and collapsed into a waiting stretcher. As he left in the ambulance, he saw the ravagers sprint out of the building, only to be mowed down by waiting machinegunners, to cheering crowds. He didn’t understand what anybody got out of watching that display, but the media always said that there were crowds to watch the aftermath of an attack.

“Tee and Sonic Boom (his young daughter) are not only facing the loss of Natalie, (his wife) but also significant and immediate costs involved with her death and keeping their family together.

Apple’s latest incarnation of their current operating system; Snow Leopard, has been announced today as shipping on or before Friday the 28th for nothing more then $29. This is a pretty amazing price for an operating system, but there have always been concerns that Snow Leopard is more of a service pack. Apple have of course been denying this, as it would bring them down from their high horse to be seen charging for a service pack.

But let’s face it. It basically is. There is, after all, a reason why only people who already have Leopard can make use of the $29 deal.

Anyway, for you lot who live in the US, $29 is a pretty awesome price for an operating system. $29 should make you happy. You get what Apple are calling “The Most Advanced Operating System. Finally tuned.”

So, you may remember a while back I did me some complaining about the amount that us Irish were being forced to pay for the iPhone. I got the usual amount of sniffling Apple fanboy feedback (mostly through emails) which boiled down to “We should thank Apple and O2 for taking our money!”, so I decided that I would do something similar with Snow Leopard. And what’s more, I would do it in the same littered-with-screenshot manner.

I’m a controversial guy, me.

So, as Apple have so widely publicised, the price of Snow Leopard in the US is a measly $29.

Look at it. All cheap and such. Oh! And look! It will deliver ON the 28th of August! Lucky folk! If I lived in the US I would certainly order from here. It saves one a trip to the shops. I wonder how much us Irish are being charged…

Hey! Cian! I think you used the same screenshot! Why do they both look so similar?

Well, Mister Italics, I’m glad you asked. Wanna know why? Because they pretty are the same. They just replaced the dollar sign with a Euro, and replaced the bit about shipping with another bit about shipping. We can’t really blame them for changing the shipping details, as the Irish postal system is a recognised mess.

But that little change with the Euro sign. It can’t mean much, can it?

Why yes, Mister Italics, it can. It means just under $13. From my basic usage of the calculator on my Mac, us Irish folk are paying almost a full 45% MORE then our US counterparts!

Why, Cian, that’s terrible!

But that’s not all!

OHNOES!

This is the amount that the UK are being asked to pay for Snow Leopard. That’s about $41, or about $12 more then the US are paying. Thanks, Apple!

Just for funzies, I also checked out how much people from Hong Kong have to pay.

That is about $30, which is pretty much what the US people are asked to pay. Not all that interesting. But not a 45% price hike!

Let’s sum up this post with some quick and friendly bullet points.

• Mac OS X Snow Leopard is coming out on August 28th.
• If you live in the US, you are a happy consumer. Well done, consumer! Buy buy buy!
• If you live in the Eurozone, you are paying 45% more then people in the US are paying.
• Everybody will buy it anyway.
• At least ONE person will say to me, either through email, comments, twitter or pidgin, that it’s not a big deal. After all, it is only $13. What worries me more about this is the fact that a huge company can get away with price discrimination of 45% so easily.

As planned at their talk the day before, Ze Frank and Jonah Peretti brought two groups together on Saturday Night. The Circles and the As fought for dominance at the Stag’s Head, trying to drag as many friends as they possibly could.

Of course, what with me being on the O team, we won. (I kid. I kid. But we still won.)

Then the real fun began. Ze and Jonah started handing around little sheets of paper. We were all instructed to write our first initial on it, and to get into words. Madness broke loose. Charly, for instance, managed to be the “C” in Carpe Diem, a much more impressive word then my humble “Places”.

Once that was all over and done with, the real work started. People started heading into the bar to get drinks, and the socializing began. Armed with my trusty glass of Very Expensive Coke, I started wondering around with Alan, Charly and John (the last of whom had managed to turn up JUST after the whole letters thing ended).

We had some very interesting discussions with Ze, on the topics of legalizing illegal drugs, the differences between the Irish and American education systems, and prostitutes. It was pretty awesome, I must say.

As I was leaving, I went over to Ze and Jonah to thank them again for the past two days, both of which were wonderful, and lets just say that you will be hearing a bit of Ze soon over on View From The Quad.

Tags: flashmob, Jonah Peretti, Ze Frank

Check out BlackoutIreland.com for more! This is a really important issue, and needs to be brought to the forefront of the Irish news.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Tags: blackout ireland, video, youtube