iPhones & shiny stuff - fluffypig.com » Real Life http://www.fluffypig.com iPhones, web design, tv, music, food, travel, mac, tech, life... Fri, 25 Nov 2011 10:35:14 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Things Now Syncs Between iPhone & Mac http://www.fluffypig.com/2008/08/things-now-syncs-between-iphone-mac/ http://www.fluffypig.com/2008/08/things-now-syncs-between-iphone-mac/#comments Wed, 20 Aug 2008 12:03:19 +0000 Shaun http://www.fluffypig.com/?p=108 Things has been my favourite Task Management app for a long time, after previously loving OmniFocus.

When I got my iPhone 3G the very first thing I did was purchase Things App for it. Imagine my disappointment when I learned that it was not yet capable of syncing lists with the desktop version. This effectively rendered it useless as...

]]> Things has been my favourite Task Management app for a long time, after previously loving OmniFocus. Things For iPhone

When I got my iPhone 3G the very first thing I did was purchase Things App for it. Imagine my disappointment when I learned that it was not yet capable of syncing lists with the desktop version. This effectively rendered it useless as there was no way I was going to have two versions of my list and edit them manually.

Things Updated

Yesterday the Things iPhone app update finally arrived and syncing is now supported. Not only is it supported, but it’s brilliant! It syncs over wi-fi and is amazingly fast. All you need to do is have both the iPhone app and desktop app open and they will instantly sync.

This means that I can now add things to do throughout the day on my iPhone and automatically sync them with my MacBook when I get home.

I love it!

Buy It Now And Save Money!

Things for OSX is currently free, when the final version is released it will cost $39.99 (£20) you can download it here.

Things for iPhone is currently $9.99 in the US App Store and £5.99 in the UK store. The developers say that this is an introductory price and it will be increased as more features are added. You can download Things for iPhone from here.

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]]> http://www.fluffypig.com/2008/08/things-now-syncs-between-iphone-mac/feed/ 0 Gatecrasher to Gordon Ramsay http://www.fluffypig.com/2008/05/gatecrasher-to-gordon-ramsay/ http://www.fluffypig.com/2008/05/gatecrasher-to-gordon-ramsay/#comments Sat, 31 May 2008 18:15:33 +0000 admin http://www.fluffypig.com/?p=24 RaverGordon Ramsay

In a previous life I liked to party, or rave as Americans would say.

When I was too old to be down with the kids (I finally realised when I had my own!) I found something else to do with my weekends. I developed a love of fine dining in expensive restaurants.

Read my review of Gordon Ramsay's Boxwood Cafe in Knightsbridge, London.

]]> Raver

Gatecrasher

In a previous life I liked to party, or rave as Americans would say. I could often be found of a Saturday night with a bottle of water and a pair of glow sticks at such places as Cream and Gatecrasher (they are clubs for the Americans or Disco’s for the old people ;) )

Retired

When I was too old to be down with the kids (I finally realised when I had my own!) I found something else to do with my weekends. I developed a love of fine dining in expensive restaurants.

Chef Ramsay

Gordon Ramsay
Gordon Ramsay is a bit of a hero of mine, you might only know him as that shouty, sweary man off the telly but he is much more than that. He is one of the greatest chefs on the planet.

3 Star

I like to pay his restaurants a visit whenever I’m in London, last year I had my greatest ever eating experience at the 3 Michelin Starred Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in Chelsea.

Fully Booked

In April I was in London for the Future Of Web Design conference, it was the perfect excuse to try a new Ramsay restaurant. I desperately wanted to eat at Petrus (a modern French cuisine in Knightsbridge) but I had left it too late and there were no tables free, luckily Gordon has another restaurant in the same building The Boxwood Café that had room for me.

Boxwood Cafe

Gordon Ramsay
The reason for this was because the place is HUGE! How they manage to keep the food at such a high standard doing such volume I have no idea. Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in Chelsea has maybe 15 – 20 tables at most, it’s small, elegant and intimate.
Boxwood is the opposite; it’s big, informal and has a bar. I was a little unsure at first, as it was a totally different atmosphere than I was used to. Luckily once the food arrived I forgot all about it, as it was just stunning!

Taste Of Boxwood

I went for the 6-course ‘Taste Of Boxwood’ sampling menu, as I wanted to try as much as possible. It consisted of..


Jerusalem artichoke soup with roasted shallots and Foie gras

One of the smoothest, richest soups I’ve tasted. The soup itself was immense but the pieces of roasted shallot and Foie gras were genius.


Ceviche of organic salmon and Cornish crab with chilli, lime, coriander and grapefruit

Chili, lime and coriander are ingredients I’ve had with salmon and crab many times, grapefruit is not. I’m so glad I did, the combination of these flavours was unbelievable.


Baby beetroot, barrel aged feta, blood orange, pear and pine nut salad

Again this is a really interesting combination of flavours that tastes amazing. I would never have considered orange and pear with beetroot but they were balanced so well it was perfect.


Seared loin of yellow fin tuna with fennel, red onion, quail’s egg and black pepper sauce

I’m a massive fan of tuna. The black pepper sauce was immense and the quails egg complimented it very well.


Red wine braised shoulder of Dedham Vale beef with spring greens and parmesan mash

This was the course I was looking forward to the most and I wasn’t disappointed. The beef was soft, tender and moist and the mash was the creamiest, smoothest I’ve ever had and the parmesan was genius.

COMPLIMENTARY COURSE: Tia Maria Crème Brulee

I love Crème Brulee! I don’t really love Tia Maria but this was great, thanks Gordon!

Valrhona hot chocolate fondue, marshmallows, biscotti and fruit kebabs

Chocolate fondue
I’m not a big dessert lover. This was interesting if not amazing, the melted chocolate came in a large pot with a candle underneath it keep it hot. The chocolate was stunning, rich and dark and the marshmallow was not like any I had ever tasted before. It’s not something I would rush to order again but I’m glad I have tried it.

Wine?

Boxwood offer a selection of wines by the glass chosen to compliment each course. Some of the highlights were Akarua Pinot Noir ‘The Gullies’, Central Otago 2006 with the tuna and particularly Bouvet-Ladubay, demi-sec, sparkling red NV with the dessert. I had never tried a sparkling red before but I certainly will be doing in future!

Recommended

Boxwood Cafe

Overall, I had a fantastic night at Boxwood, although it is big and informal the quality of food and level of service was just as good as the 3 starred restaurant. I would definitely recommend it for anybody wanting to try fine dining without spending the cost of a new car. It’s the only Gordon Ramsay restaurant without a dress code which is good if you don’t feel comfortable going out to eat in a suit and it’s amazing value for money compared to the others.

Value For Money

The six courses at Boxwood (7 including the complimentary Brulee!) cost just £55 (wine not included), at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in Chelsea a 3 course meal costs £90.

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]]> http://www.fluffypig.com/2008/05/gatecrasher-to-gordon-ramsay/feed/ 1 Will Facebook make me or break me? http://www.fluffypig.com/2008/05/will-facebook-make-me-or-break-me/ http://www.fluffypig.com/2008/05/will-facebook-make-me-or-break-me/#comments Tue, 06 May 2008 10:45:34 +0000 admin http://www.fluffypig.com/2008/05/will-facebook-make-me-or-break-me/

Until Monday 5th May I was one of the 14 people left in the world without a Facebook account! Actually, that's not strictly true, I did have an account, I'd joined a couple of years ago when it became 'the next big thing' but it had been inactive since the first day.

Facebook rebel

I hadn't even added any friends. I didn't have a need for it...

]]> Until Monday 5th May I was one of the 14 people left in the world without a Facebook account! Actually, that’s not strictly true, I did have an account, I’d joined a couple of years ago when it became ‘the next big thing’ but it had been inactive since the first day.

Facebook

Facebook rebel

I hadn’t even added any friends. I didn’t have a need for it at the time, I was using MySpace and it was perfectly fine. Being a web designer I actually preferred the fact that MySpace allow proper customisation unlike Facebook. Late 2006 and the whole of 2007 was also a very busy time for me with house moves, career changes and new additions to my family, the last thing I needed was another distraction.

Attention span of a…

I’ve always been easily distracted, offline and particularly online. Facebook reminded me of the hours and nights I would spend on BBS systems in the 90s and IRC in the early 2000s. Hours, days, weeks of my life that I will never get back! There was no way I was going to get sucked into Facebook.

It was all going so well….

Personal Branding

So why on May Day Bank Holiday (UK public holiday) did I give in and reactivate the account? It wasn’t due to pressure, my ‘real life’ friends had long given up on getting me involved. It was because of ‘personal branding’.

Impersonal

I’ve been designing websites for my company Jigsaw Internet Solutions for a while. It’s been going well in terms of business but as I chose to trade under a business name and quite a corporate one at that I felt I couldn’t really be myself. I blog for the companies clients and other website owners and I don’t even use my name. It just feels so impersonal.

And then I see people trading under their own name and wonder if I made the right decision. They are their own brand. Displaying their picture and their real name builds trust.

Good Business strategy

I wanted a piece of this personal branding. Research suggests that it’s actually a good business strategy! Maybe I will make more money as myself than a company! That’s what this blog is all about and why I’ve made much more of an effort on social networks. I’ve reactivated my Last.FM and Twitter accounts and there is no social network bigger than Facebook at the moment so I couldn’t ignore it any longer.

So far so good?

On Monday I had a To-Do list of 17 items. The only one that could be crossed off by the end of day was number 1. ‘Reactivate Facebook account’. The remainder of Monday was spent adding friends who I had forgotten existed (no offense ;) ) and then talking to them. This continued until 3am.
Ban Facebook at work!
When I got up at 8am the next day feeling like crap, with a To-Do list longer than my arm the first thing I do is log onto Facebook. 1998 all over again.

Will Facebook make me or break me?

Who knows if i’ve made the right decision? Only time will tell. I’m still hopeful it will help me on my quest for personal branding but I’m going to have to learn some serious self restraint. No wonder companies all over the world are banning Facebook at work. I’m going to have to do the same. It’s just hard when your work is your home and you are the only employee.

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