sade027

Here we go again, the US and UK, together with France, are once again hell bent on destabilising an entire region by planning a premeditated invasion against the government of Syria. Only this time, in support of Jihadist opposition led by al Qaeda. You know, the people who kinda hate us. So it kinda makes you wonder what the fuck is our PM drinking when he comes out to support al Qaeda. In the meantime, we are slowly groomed by our media, particularly the BBC, Guardian, Independent and Times (thanks to this little Orwellian system known as the DA-Notice ), into believing that entering the war is necessary based on a lie. Fortunately many of us still remember when our governments lied to us about Iraq's none-existent Weapons of Mass Destruction program. Again, no solid evidence, just warmongering by governments finding an excuse to justify lining up the pockets of the military industry. Remember David Kelly? I would think that if anyone used chemical weapons, it would be the al Qae...

Flesh & Buns is the newest venture from Ross Shonhan, the brains behind the brilliance that is Bone Daddies , one of London's finest Ramen noodle bars. Located in Seven Dials, Covent Garden, the restaurant is described as a Izakaya-style restaurant (a drinking den that serves food). Not surprisingly, the venue of the restaurant is at the basement of the Thomas Neal's Centre. Naturally, the drinks menu, populated with choice of sake, whisky, shochu, beer, wine, champagne, cocktails and anything in between, is even more expensive than the food menu. Still this is not what I want to write about. In addition to the usual appetisers and starters (including sashimi), Flesh & Buns serves Chinese-style steamed buns (also known as hirata buns). These buns originated from China or Taiwan or Korea depending on who you speak to. The buns served here are modeled after the Taiwanese version and made at a Chinese bakery in London so as they are more suited to the British palate. Still...

The Meridian Explorer is a new pocket size USB DAC by Cambridge based audio company, Meridian. The portable audio gear is aimed for those who aims to improve the audio quality delivered by their computers. It is designed to bypass your PC's normally inadequate sound card as the source. A CD and MP3 file typically contains audio tracks in 16-bit resolution and 44.1kHz sampling. For some people, this isn't enough. Specialist stores do sell albums encoded in 24/192, but these are rare and expensive. The Meridian Explorer on the other hand is designed to take these 16/44 files and up sample them. This isn't quite the same as buying audio files encoded in native 24/192, and is more akin to buying a Blu-Ray player that is capable of up sampling a 1080p source for playback onto a 4K monitor. I do not profess to be an expert in audio, but a short A-B test with the Meridian Explorer via a pair of Sennheiser HD 700 headphones and my own beloved Sennheiser IE8  in-ear monitors with a ...

Well this is awkward. This blog post should have been a review of the Samsung Galaxy S4 Android smartphone but alas, circumstances beyond my control has lead to this diatribe instead. About 12 days ago I bought a white Galaxy S4, replacing my seven month old HTC Windows Phone 8X . I didn't need a new phone, I just wanted one. Before yesterday, the phone already had some teething problems but nothing too unusual. It doesn't charge as quick as it should but charge it does. Other problems are typical of a Samsung Galaxy phone - cheap build, scratch easy material and a laggy almost-forked Android OS. This despite a powerful Snapdragon 600 SoC - you know, the same one that powers the incredible HTC One with gusto. In any case, yesterday I left the phone on the charger after a furious session of Temple Run 2 , then went out for lunch. Returning I found a phone that is hot to touch, that refuses to boot up and wouldn't charge. I re-inserted the battery and tried again. Nothing. I...

The Samsung Galaxy S4 might not be the prettiest smartphone out there, so when I recently acquired the soon to be former Android flagship, I set out to search for a case that would not only protect my investment, but also 'prettify' the phone. It wasn't easy. Fortunately I had an old case I once used  on the Galaxy S2 lying around. A quick search on the web reveals that there is a version for the S4. The Neo Hybrid is a two piece hybrid case. It comes in two separate parts, the inner layer which is made of silicone rubber, and a polycarbonate skeleton bumper-ish frame. This frame is designed to go over the base silicone layer. This gives the case a unique look, as well as offering users a small degree of customisation. In addition to the yellow I ordered, SGP also offers the Neo Hybrid in black, white and red variants. Three jelly bean button stickers are also included. Unlike the many dodgy silicon cases you find on eBay, the silicon rubber inner case is soft and flexible...

I am no big fan of o2, but o2 launching 4G LTE this month would be the best thing they have done in a while. Ever since EE announced their LTE network last year and then their  disappointing tariffs , we have waited for at least one of the other big UK networks to enter the ring. Not that we needed 4G as Three's DC-HSPA network seems to be doing fine with download bandwidths , but gosh wait until you how capable LTE is with upload (something 3G has always struggled with). o2's basic 4G LTE tariff starts at £26 a month, which is a fair bit higher than what I normally pay (roughly £10 a month on pay as you go - I've stopped doing contracts and so should you), but hei, if LTE can replace dumb land line pipes then awesome. Sadly I am willing to bet good money that its basic tariff will introduce plenty of limitations. Still I will be glad to be proven wrong, such is our desire to be unshackled by the monopoly that is BT. In any case if o2 launching 4G LTE means GiffGaff getti...