a n d r e w – i r v i n e . c o . u k

So long flat… hello HOUSE!!!

// October 15th, 2011 // No Comments » // General

After almost 3 1/2 years of living in a flat, I have now moved into a fully-fledged house!!

Why did I move? Well first and foremost it was cheaper, £85 cheaper a month in fact! That’s a HUGE difference, and should make getting by every month that bit easier. Secondly, it’s larger. The flat was a single bedroom place, whereas this is a 2 bedroom house. There’s definitely more room here, and the 2nd bedroom means I can have people stay over… or simply turn it into a study. Thirdly, it’s part-furnished. The flat I used to live in was fully furnished – sofas, bed, TV, fridge/freezer, washer-dryer, everything was included. Sure, that means that if anything goes wrong I don’t have to foot the bill and, instead, the landlord would take care of it, but it also meant that I couldn’t get anything of my own in that place. Continue Reading

Damn You Autocorrect

// July 27th, 2011 // No Comments » // General

A website that I tend to enjoy most lunchtimes is Damn You Autocorrect. For those who don’t know, it’s a website full of screencaps taken on mobile phones, mostly the iPhone, where hilarity ensues when the phone takes it upon itself to “autocorrect” what you’ve typed in your messages, assuming you meant something else. Some of the pictures submitted to the site are questionable, but most of them are absolutely hilarious!! Continue Reading

What now for the space programme?

// July 8th, 2011 // No Comments » // General

Today saw the very last launch for the Space Shuttle programme, with the 33rd and final launch of the Atlantis at Cape Canaveral. The Space Shuttle programme has been in commission now for 30 years, with a total of 135 launches under it’s belt, and today sees it’s unfortunate end. Ironically, for most of today, I’ve been watching repeats of Star Trek: The Next Generation. With the shutting down of the Space Shuttle programme and Present Obama cancelling NASA’s Constellation programme, it makes me wonder if we will ever reach the technological achievements portrayed in Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek franchise. The question on my lips now, as well as many others who look up to the stars in the hope that mankind can further explore the emptiness of space, is… What of the future of space exploration? Continue Reading

Café World has a new look

// June 13th, 2011 // No Comments » // General

Since I’ve made a website to cater for those who play Zynga’s Café World (no pun intended), it would be negligent of me to fail to mention that the game has been given a bit of a spring clean this evening! A couple of months ago, we were given an entirely new cookbook in the game, which helped fellow chefs find the next dish they want to cook a little quicker than before (although perhaps not as well as I’ve done it). Now the rest of the game has been spruced up and I, for one, welcome it. Continue Reading

E3 2011: What stood out for me?

// June 7th, 2011 // No Comments » // Geeky Stuff, General

We’re currently into day 2 of the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2011, and now all of the main E3 press conferences are over and done with. The rest of the time at E3 will be spent going to various stalls and trying out what all the main contenders have to offer… at least, if you’re there… Since I’m over 5,000 miles away and having to watch the Expo via live stream, I’m already calling it a week for E3.

So what have the main contenders shown us this year that reporters are immersing themselves in now, and that we’ll be immersing ourselves in later in the coming months? In this blog entry, I’ve decided to outline the key points from the three main press conferences (Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo) that have stuck in my mind. Continue Reading

PlayStation Store Welcome Back Content Now Available

// June 3rd, 2011 // No Comments » // Geeky Stuff, General

The PlayStation Store was re-opened a couple of days ago, and now the Welcome Back content has been made available for everyone!

“With the PlayStation Store back online, we’ve been getting all caught up this week, having launched an abundance of amazing content for download on PlayStation 3 and PSP. Today, we’re excited to launch the Welcome Back program to thank you for your loyalty and below we’ve detailed what is available, how to go about downloading it and a list of frequently asked questions.

Thanks again for your patience and understanding as we restored the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services – your support has meant a lot to us and is greatly appreciated.”
– from PlayStation Blog Continue Reading

Zelda: 25th Anniversary

// June 3rd, 2011 // No Comments » // Geeky Stuff, General

Has it already been 25 years since we first saw The Legend of Zelda come out on the trusty NES? It certainly has been, and rumour has it that Nintendo have something up their sleeves to celebrate this momentous occasion. Continue Reading

Blog has finally been ported

// May 31st, 2011 // No Comments » // Geeky Stuff

I finally got round to porting all the blog posts from my old site to this one. I started using Joomla near the end of October 2010 and I’ve only now gotten round to doing it!

It took about 14 hours to manually move them all over. There were way too many for me to sort out a batch SQL query to insert them into the database, so I used Joomla’s own UI to put them in.

I’ve also put some key posts in over the last few months to fill in some of the gaps. If anything else crosses my mind, I’ll pop them in too. Now, hopefully, I can keep this thing up to date with more technical and gaming news, as well as some updates on my own life.

Happy card reader is happy!

// April 30th, 2011 // No Comments » // General, LOL Images

Pokémon White & Black

// March 4th, 2011 // No Comments » // Geeky Stuff

Great! Shortly after I get my PS3, the next series of Pokémon games come out, named “Black” and “White”. I’ve got the White version and I’ve gotta say it’s mighty impressive! Time to start catching them all again!