Adam Parton

I purchased a TP-Link router (TL-WR1043ND) not long ago and it arrived today (Tue 17th Jan '12), all well and good setup and working. I come to setup the "Media Server" part of the machine and the whole thing freezes, not a single budge via Ethernet or Wi-Fi, completely locked my MacBook Pro, PS3, iPhone & Printer (Epson) out of it.

I got on the phone to the TP-Link 24/7 helpline, who seemed nice (at first). She was a bit difficult to understand, I won't explain which country the call center is in but I think you can work out which I'm on about, anyway she told me to connect my Router to a Windows computer and try it with that. I said the magic words "I only use Mac's" and she instantly snapped back at me saying those ill-fated words "I am sorry I am unable to help you then", this then sparked a mini rage inside me which in-turn pushed me to tell her how to reset the router by unplugging and plugging the AC adapter back into the back, and as if by magic, its back up working 100% again.

I then proceeded to tell her (and these are my exact words), "I would strongly recommend that your call centre should cater for mac users, as what you have said to me today gave me a rather negative impression of not just the company, but the brand in a whole", to which I was cut off.

Now this TP-Link router is fantastic, it gives blazing Ethernet speeds to my PS3 (32.8Mbps down and 3.8Mbps up via Gigabit Ethernet) and really has improved the network around the house as opposed to the "Super"hub Virgin Media use for their networks.

As much as I would recommend TP-Link, I strongly also recommend avoiding their Customer Service link as much as possible, and seek advice online regarding your router.

Welcome to 2012! The year where London hosts the Olympics, and its also the year where I hopefully go on a lot more adventures as opposed to last year. I always enjoy it when a new year comes around as it allows me to start a fresh and focus on new goals for the year. My main goal this year is to work on more trips and more days out. It won't be that hard to do, but I really want to explore more areas in the UK and beyond. So, what's due for the website?

More Content - And I mean a lot more. I plan on doing a lot more articles, posting images and videos I take/produce throughout the year. And with the addition of my iPhone to my gadget hawl, I'll be doing some outside posting too, so anything I see of interest whilst out on trips may show up here quicker than it would normally take.

In terms of trips this year, I am looking to do a few repeats from last year including the Goose Fair, Milton Keynes and Winter Wonderland, however I am also looking to add some more to the list such as Margate, Thorpe Park and Alton Towers, to name a few.

So that's a short preview of what's to come, expect a lot more content and hopefully a few specials in terms of videos and also photographical based trips very soon.

It's that time of year again, and I've neglected the website, so I'm sorry!

Christmas time is my favourite part of every year, it always makes me smile and makes me feel the happiest I feel all year. From fetching the christmas tree out of the attic, to setting it up and seeing all the houses with lights and decorations on, bringing an amazing atmosphere to the area I live in. One favourite part of winter and Christmas time is snow. I wait eagerly for snow to start falling, then I realise how much of a pain it can be and end up wanting it to go ASAP. Happens every year.

This year I made a change and took a visit to the Winter Wonderland event in Hyde Park, London. What an amazing event it is. I'll be uploading photos soon from the event, once I've got my MacBook Pro back to normal and got back into the rhythm.

Videos make me laugh, make me realise things, make me sad (very rarely), but some stun me which is exactly what this particular video did which has been uploaded to Vimeo.

What can I say about the video? Well other than the fact this is trying incredible viewing, it's something I've always loved to see, and this is no exception. I don't normally say it but space really interests me, there's just so much out there to see, and probably do, that yeah when I was growing up I kind of wanted to be an Astronaut, obviously now I'm 21 I'd rather be something completely different, but I guess every child in some way wanted to explore space, or walk on the moon or some distant planet.

This video though, is mind blowing. The thunder/lightning you see in the clouds, all the lights from streets and the sheer darkness of open areas is stunning. To add to it, it was recorded over months, giving this a kind of extra-ordinary feel to it. Well well worth a watch.

It's a bit late to be posting this, but considering the fact I'm still awake I thought I would put these out. The two videos below were recorded by myself at the 2011 Sandwell 'All Fired Up' Fireworks spectacular which happened on November 5th, 2011.

The first video we see the Junior display, just a taster of what's to come later in the night.

The second video we see the Main display, this is where the organisers, Sandwell Council go all out and bring you a spectacular Fireworks display set to music. This year's theme was based around Fire.

I also took some photos at the event, which can be seen on the Photography section, or simply by Clicking Here. My thanks go out to Sandwell Council for organising yet another fantastic event, and here's to next year's event.

I am finally posting from an iPhone. So, iOS 5, the latest and 'greatest' version of Apple's mobile operating system, has been out for a small while now and reviews are already coming in. As I have been using the OS for a couple of says now, I am finding it very sleek and stylish for an OS.

My personal opinions so far of the OS is that it seems very quick and sleek. The speed is definitely shown off with the dual core A5 chip inside the 4S, and I get the impression that Apple are planning something phenomenal for the next version, iOS 6.

I used to enjoy going to the cinema a lot, I don't do it so often anymore though. What I remember most from the cinema was the intro video Showcase used to show before every movie, giving you tips etc before the movie started. The reason I remember this so well was mainly down to how blisteringly loud Showcase used to play it in every screen.

This is the one used at Showcase Cinemas, makes me feel somewhat nostalgic whenever I watch it, and thought I'd share it here.

Today (Friday 6th) and Saturday 7th I will be at the Nottingham Goose Fair, obviously I won't be around to blog (not like I do much anyway) but I thought I'd post this to give everyone an idea of where to find me. I'll mainly be posting to my Twitter account, and Flickr from my phone, I will also be updating my Foursquare, which I rarely mention. However I won't be posting photos or videos until Sunday at least after I return. So where to find me?

Twitter - @AdamJPart
Flickr - AdJPart
Foursquare - AdamJPart 

Windows Phone 7.5 which was code-named 'Mango', is now out for the handset's of the world. The update is the first big update for the phone since NoDo, which bought Copy & Paste to the OS, and also bought more stability fixes etc.

So what will Mango include? Well, a lot of things to be honest, he main ones being Multitasking, deep Facebook & Twitter integration and much more.

I was quite excited as the time built up for the launch of Mango, and upon 27th September I found it was out. Plugging my phone straight away into the Windows Phone 7 Connector for Mac, I searched for an update and found out it wasn't available. Every day I checked over & over, around 4-5 times per day seeing if the update was available, until I got so bored waiting I forced the update.

Now people don't really recommend doing this, but I did. I used the PC Zune software to force the first of 2 updates to my phone, which installed successfully, then I used the Mac Connector to install version 7720, which turned out to be Mango!

Yes that's my phone above, it's great to see Windows Phone 7.5 as the Software, and although recently I've had doubts about keeping the phone, I have to admit now since updating to Mango I definitely will be keeping the device, and already thinking about sticking to Windows Phone when my current contract expires. I was an early adopter of the OS, and it really does pay off in the end to be one of the first to go 100% with it.

Every October there's a big Fairground event which happens in the lovely city of Nottingham, known as the world famous Goose Fair. The fair has been going for over 700 years, and last year saw the likes of Top Buzz, 2Xtreme and the huge Take Off ride. This year we see a welcome debut of the Mine Train ride from Mellor Group, which has been around before in its old Theme Park setting at the defunct American Adventure.

I'm so happy to be going this year, and hopefully I'll be taking even more photos than I've ever taken, so I can safely say you can expect some updates from me soon.