joshwaller (baboba)

We're moving house, so until our internet connection is sorted out, joshwaller.co.uk (and images) will be down, although you should still be able to browse the blog , until the site's back, please feel free to visit DigiCamReview !

The Kia Ceed comes with a 7 year warranty, perhaps it should be renamed the KIA Seven, as it's the only car available in the UK with such a long manufacturers warranty! I took one for a long weekend test drive, and while I'm still writing up the "review", you can have a look at the photo gallery here . Previously: KIA Ceed 7 year warranty .

... taken with the Casio Exilim EX-Z1050

But I've finally found a use for the broken 486 IBM Thinkpad 755c Laptop I've had lying around all these years... taking the speaker out and putting it into a Furby with a broken speaker! I followed the guide on phobe.com and just need to solder on the replacement speaker. The original having died from being placed directly behind the front "rub tummy" switch. Unforunately the internet doesn't go back far enough to provide any interesting information on the 755c, in fact, the only thing you'll find nowadays is about running lunix on the 755c , yawn! Unfortunately the same goes when you're trying to track down Windows drivers for random modems, you're more likely to find Linux drivers! Grr!

The screen showing the date and time (screensaver view). The stylish new Creative Zen Stone Plus is an upgrade to the 1Gb Creative Zen Stone . The Plus features 2Gb of memory, an FM Radio, a small screen, a stopwatch, built in microphone etc. It's available in the same six colours. Creative Zen Stone next to the Creative Zen Stone Plus (roughly actual size) - the Plus is slighter bigger (in length), and is much more feature packed, although it has a shorter play time of 9.5hours compared to the 10hours on the Stone. Microphone, top controls (right is quick / shortcut menu, middle is on/off, and left is play/pause), blue LED, headphone jack. Box contents, the headphones look better, and look like the ipod earphones, but sound worse than the ones that come with the Creative Zen Stone , and I find the Stone's earphones more comfortable. You get an ultra-short USB cable, the MP3 player, earphones, and a quick start guide. For software or documentation you have to go to www.creative...

1996 - Dave Mustaine got together with Lee Ving (Voice, Harmonica, Lyrics), Kelly Lemieux (Bass), Jimmy DeGrasso (Drums) and played Guitar and wrote lyrics to record the album called MD.45 - The Craving, creating a "punk metal record". It was at a time when Dave was unhappy with what Megadeth were doing (Cryptic Writings, Risk). Musically great, however, fans of Megadeth / Dave Mustaine, were somewhat disappointed with the vocals. Fast forward to 2004 - Dave Mustaine is remixing and remastering all his albums, one of them is MD.45 - The Craving. Unfortunately half the recording (Vocals, Harmonica) was recorded in a different studio, which had since shut. Unable to remix / remaster from the original recordings, Dave Mustaine decided to re-record the vocals and harmonica by singing himself and simulating the harmonica parts on guitar. MD.45 The Craving - Dave Mustaine Vocals (2004 Remastered) - Fans of Megadeth will enjoy this album. I listened to the original '96 versio...

The front managed to stay scratch free as I left the plastic cover on at all times (only removing it for this photo). The back, however, wasn't so lucky, even though it was kept inside the free case all it's life. You can click the picture below to view a much bigger version. So with that, it's time to say goodbye, I like you, Ipod, but I don't love you. I like itunes (on the PC) a lot, it does pretty much everything the ipod does, like letting you rate all your favourite songs, and create playlists, but I simply don't use the ipod enough to justify keeping it. Instead I think I'll stick to my Creative Zen Stone and simply use iTunes to organise my music.

Liverpool is great, where else do you get random giant Red Bull statues , or derelict houses covered head to toe in red doors? More photos here .

The album is an un-apologetic, non-stop onslaught and a definite return to form. Have Megadeth been watching Tenacious D, the pick of Destiny? (or vice versa) Because this album non-stop ROCKS! There are a number of melodic / harmonic parts where the singing, and music, come together very nicely, and "The Whole Equals Much More than The Sum of Its Parts". Track 4, United Abonimation’s beginning has hints of Extreme, and Kings X and like track 10 is one of the more melodic tunes on the CD, in fact Track 3 rocks with some great deep bass rock. A toute Le Monde has always been a great song - I would have to relisten to the original - but I'm not sure whether this new version (Track 8) improves on the old one, or whether it's just another version (that's equally as good as the original). Comparing the two, the new version is quicker, but still very similar. Some parts of some of the tracks sound almost identical to earlier Megadeth. The album as a whole, with quick ...

What is it? Ultra small and simple 1GB MP3 player available in multiple (6) colours for a very cheap / reasonable price of £28. This compares well to Apple's Shuffle at around £47. You can also buy numerous accessories for it allowing you to use it as a keyring , armband , or clip-on mp3 player. It comes with a very short USB cable - this is used for charging and used for transferring music (and files if you so wish). The player doesn't come with any drivers or CD, it simply shows up in Windows as a removable device, like a USB pen drive. It comes with a starter guide, warranty information, earphones, the USB lead, and the player. So far it doesn't seem great in the car (using a jack to tape adapter). Lacking bass. (although a CD vs mp3/mp3 player/tape adapter isn't exactly a fair comparison) But using the earphones so far with limited listening seems good - better than my mobile phone anyway. The earphones provided are obviously just cheap ones - the ones I've go...

Magicians - staring the chaps from Peep show, it's a good "fix" if you're disappointed that Peep Show has finished. Funny with a good twist in there - the trailer makes you think you know what happens in the film. Daisy (from Spaced) features quite promenantly in the film. Worth seeing, although don't worry too much if you wait till it's out on DVD, as it's doesn't really need the big screen in the way that big action films do. Final Destination 2 - much better than the third, and has great suspense in the build ups to people's deaths. Has a good, unexpected?, twist. It doesn't make you empathise with the characters in the same was as Prison Break , and the deaths are rather gruesome. Definitely worth watching if you liked the first.

I know that it's about convicts on the run from numerous people who want them all dead, but surely it doesn't have to be so grim? I suppose I'm mainly talking about Prison Break Season 2. Even some of the bad guys you start feeling for (Mahone, Bellick, the guy working for the female president), because they end up way over their head and they just want to go home and have a nice cuppa tea . I mean obviously there are people (Kim, T-Bag) who should have been killed / incarcerated years ago. When will there ever be a happy ending though?

Well, we sold the car, it sold quite quickly, thanks to AutoTrader, which was nice.

Well, that's the name it should have, for no reason what-so-ever some black goo comes from outer space to destroy spiderman and the world. But is unfortunately destroyed by something ludicrous (as per War of the worlds). Not that I'm spoiling the ending at all, I mean, it's Hollywood, there's always a happy ending for the heroes in movies. I found myself getting quite bored with all the stop start action of the film and the boring long waffles in the middle. Get on with already. Towards the end it gets somewhat tedious, and then the final battle scene (which you can see coming a mile off) is rather dissappointing compared to the great battle scenes seen in other films. Add to that the awful "Live news" of the event, the awful british news reporter, and spiderman coming to save the day with an american flag waving behind him... The two new characters, the main bad guys in the film, don't make much sense, intent on killing spiderman for no apparent reason, a...

Just last night I was thinking: Wouldn't it be great to find a VW Passat 1.9 TDI with the following features: 130bhp (AVF engine with more torque), 6 speed gearbox, Traction Control (ASR), Sport model with sport suspension, as an Estate. And lo and behold, the metallic inky blue estate you see above is the car I've found. It even features several "Brucey bonuses" - a 6 CD changer, sports / lumbar support seats, 16" VW Sports alloy wheels, front armrest, auto-dipping rear-view mirror, rain sensing wipers, and leather steering wheel. It's got a full service history and I should be able to collect on Monday! Gallery pictures added here Update: Car added to the Cars Page .

A friend of mine had their car written off, so their insurance company gave them a wodge of cash to go buy a new car, we looked at 3 cars in total (via Autotrader), the first 2 had fairly serious problems (ie brakes almost non-existent on one car, and excessive rust on another car), then we spotted what appeared to be a gem of a car: The Suzuki Swift 1.3 GLS, as pictured above, reduced for a quick sale, with surprisingly low mileage, and the car was in very good condition with all things functioning as they should, even the brakes! The car has all the mod cons such as power steering, and electric windows, which the old written off car didn't have! Which made me think, if it's so easy to buy a car, why don't I buy a newer, better version of my VW Passat 1.9 TDI 100PD Saloon ? I mean, theoretically I should be able to get the same car, but with the better 130bhp engine, and I might even be able to get it with the better "Sports" suspension, 6 speed gearbox, traction...

Previously Auto Express guessed what the Rover 45 / Roewe Rover 45 replacement would look like. Now it looks like Autoblog have got pictures of the "real" concept designed by Roewe, as pictured above. In other developments, the real MG "Rover" (Nanjing) are planning a new MG Sports car . Images from Autoblog . Update: Real pictures of the Roewe W2 Concept here .