Well, the end of season 2 of Torchwood is nearly upon us, and its been a cracking season this year. So much improved from season 1, and so much more sure of itself and what its trying to be.

But, one thing I’ve really enjoyed has been the Torchwood ARG. Much like a lot of these new-fangled web things, I was late to the game (pun unintended) with ARGs, and so I only ended up playing the last 4 or so missions of this.

It was great fun though. Getting weekly emails from Ianto to proceed with the next mission, piecing together the story, looking for clues on other (fictitious) company websites, and soaking up all the little touches like the Torchwood inter-office emails.

I’m really sorry I didn’t start playing it from the outset now, but I’ll definitely be keeping an eye open for any others they run. I’m sure Spooks ran one last year, but I’m unsure how a Doctor Who one would work. Something based around UNIT?

Well, the new series of the Apprentice starts tonight, and I’m looking forward to it. One of the few reality shows I’ll happily get completely sucked into

I look forward to spending the next several weeks ranting at the TV, acting like I know far more about business than any of them (which, of course, I don’t - for the most part ).

There’s a nice “where are they now” article on the BBC’s Apprentice website, looking back at last years contenders. Unsurprisingly, most of them seem to have done quite well after the show.

Only complaint I’ll make with the show is everyone offering Sir Alan “110%”. Its become so clichéd and meaningless its just annoying. Could someone this year please just offer him “100%”?

Of course, in the Apple dictionary, “update” means “install”.

Now, I’m a big fan of Apple’s products (except the Macbook Air - which is pointless) since being converted by my Nano, but fortunately I maintain the ability to see through a lot of the marketting dross spouted by Apple (hey, they’re a big company trying to make lots of money, fair enough, but I’m not kidding myself about it, unlike a lot of Apple fans), but this sets off my spider-sense.

So the other day, I’m running iTunes, downloading all my podcasts, and up pops an Apple Software Update dialog. “Ah-ha” thinks I. “A new version of iTunes then”.

Nope. Infact, I checked the dialog and noticed it wanted to “update” Safari. Something I’ve never installed on my PC, as I’m quite happy with Firefox, and frankly, the initial reviews of the Windows version of Safari were far from flattering.

I wonder how many non-techie PC users just clicked “Ok” without checking it properly?

Its a dodgy tactic. I wonder if Microsoft would’ve gotten away with pushing a brand new product onto people’s PC’s as an “update”? Probably not…

Fortunately, I’m not the only one who noticed it and its kicked off some discussion on the blogosphere (link, link). I’d like to see Apple get their fingers rapped (a bit) for this, but given we live in an age where they can brick any iPhone that doesn’t use their preferred mobile network, I’m not holding my breath.

After a productive day yesterday sorting the lawn and the like, today I threw myself into some gaming.

After the announcement of issue 12 of City of Heroes I thought it was time to checkin on the game and see what had changed. So, after quickly re-subscribing I patched my client and logged in. I quickly got pointed to the Ouroboros time travel missions and I had some fun running through the first few of them. Revisiting Outbreak and seeing the Fifth Column again was a lot of fun. I’m looking forward to doing more of them.

Secondly, I’d been tempted to try out Exteel since it was mentioned in the same newsletter as CoH issue 12. Essentially its an online PvP game, where players pit their mechs against each other. In terms of game style, its classic FPS match types, with deathmatches, capture the flag and the like. Only its done from third-person view point.

I found it a lot of fun. Its free to download and play, with no monthly subscription. They’re obviously looking to make their money through upgrades, with some of the mechs, parts and weapons costing in-game credits, and others costing “N-Coins”. N-Coins being available from the PlayNC website for a minimal charge, they let you buy some newer weapons and the like without the pain of grinding to get credits if you’re a casual gamer and just really want a laser-sword.

Gameplay-wise its not high-art. Join a game, jump into the arena and start killing other mechs. But its good fun, and there’s a high level of customisation with the different mechs and weapons. Not one I’ll play long-term I’d have thought, but good fun for a quick half-hour gaming session.

I’ve put some extra screenshots up in my gallery.

Ok, so tagging seems to be the “in-thing” these days with websites.

Since Wordpress added tagging, I’ve been eyeing it suspiciously. What does it offer me that my categories don’t?

Honestly, I’m still not sure, but I’ve decided to try and add some tags to my posts none-the-less. The strategy I’m trying to take is to use the tags to further breakdown the main content of my posts beyond the categories. So if I make a post talking about something Linux-y, it’ll go under the general computing category, but then have tags like Linux and Ubuntu.

I’m hoping it makes searching better or something, or at least, the tag cloud should prove an interesting view at how the content I’m posting is skewing over any given time. I’ve gone back and added tags to the last month or so’s worth of posts to get things started. I may go back and further tag older posts, but that’ll depend on how bored I am. I also want to go back and sort out some of the older file handling from my early posts, so while dull, I may roll the two jobs together.

Tagging will probably depend on how I feel to any particular topic though. Site Admin posts, while categorised will probably remain un-tagged, unless I feel there’s something particularly interesting in them.

Mitch Benn has released the video to his re-release of “Happy Birthday War”, a song he originally created for the Now Show. He mentioned in his podcast that its going to be available via iTunes, so I’ll need to check that out tonight.

Happy Birthday War by Mitch Benn

Since getting my iPod and discovering the joys of podcasts via iTunes, I’ve been suscribing to a reasonable number of them. A lot of them are BBC or Guardian podcasts, but I’ve also been subscribing to a good few Linux podcasts after the article in Linux Format on them.

One particular favourite is the Linux Outlaws podcast. Presented by Fabian and Dan it provides a good balance of news, reviews and discussion on all things Linux. Definitely worth checking out if you’re looking for a new podcast to listen to. Its quickly become a podcast that jumps the queue on my iPod when there’s a backlog to listen to.

Okay, I’m just playing around with the look of the blog at the moment.

With Wordpress adding tags a release or two ago, I thought I should start adding them, and by extension, add the tag cloud widget to my sidepanel. However, I’ve also been aware that the length of the sidepanel was increasing, so I thought I’d give a 3 column layout a whirl.

Feel free to leave feedback as to whether or not its better. But if you think it sucks, don’t panic. It may not be permanent

Kind of a follow up post this. Since I’d ranted about the grief I had installing the Oblivion mod, it seemed only fair to mention how it played.

The mod in qestion was the Fighter’s Stronghold mod available from Oblivion Downloads. Filling in an obvious gap in their player housing mods, this one introduces Castle Battlehorn, a player-owned castle aimed at (you guessed it) Fighter-based characters.

I’m not a big fan of the huge houses. While they look impressive, personally I tend to find them a bit impractical. I prefer somewhere I can duck into, rest and stash my equipment, without having to wander through 5 different rooms first. Small wonder then that my houses of choice tend to be the Imperial City shack and the Bruma house.

The castle itself is impressive. There’s loads of rooms, with player quarters and a grand dining hall. However, my only complaint was the ease at which the castle is aquired. Once you have the quest, its a simple matter of defeating four enemies (with help from the guards) and its yours. There is apparently another quest that can be unlocked, but I’ve not played that one yet, and I was a bit dissappointed by the lack of a proper quest to own the house.

If your very own castle floats your boat, then I’m more inclined to recommend the Castle Ravenpride mod. Available freely, you are presented with an incredibly satisfying quest before you are given lordship of the castle. The mod is probably the best player-created quest I’ve played, with several hours playtime needed, full voice acting, and some nice scripted bits (the bridge to the castle is visually stunning when you first see it, and provides a great backdrop to one of your fights).

Check out the trailer for the mod:

Man, its been ages since I posted anything Transformers-y.

TFW2005’s forums have some pictures up of the new animated Grimlock toy.

That’s a “must buy” for me. It looks brilliant

I’ve been enjoying the new cartoon a lot. I was originally dubious as it was such a large departure from the “Unicron Trilogy” style that I’d gotten used to, but its worked really well. I love the re-invention of the younger Optimus Prime, who’s been drummed out of the Autobot academy and found himself leading this ragtag space bridge repair crew. Its really different to what’s been done before and its put a nice fresh spin on things.

Plus, as a UK comics fan, I love the fact that Ultra Magnus is in charge of the Autobots in this version. Can’t wait to see what his new toy is like