I think everyone puts weight on as they get older but it doesn’t help if you’re not actively exercising and you eat and drink crap.

I’ve tried a few diets in the past, none of which I’ve stuck to and I always ended up back at square one until…

My girlfriend got me to read a book by Tim Ferris called “The Four Hour Body” . In short, I’ve now lost almost 2 stone (28lbs). My body fat percentage has been dropping by about 4% a week and I feel and look better than I have done in years. THe key to all this is that I’ve cut out carbs, I’m eating a ton of protein and really nive vegetables, I never feel hungry and once a week I get to spend 24 hours eating and drinking like a total pig. It’s gotten to the stage where Saturday is hard work and I miss the diet food again.

The real test was over the Christmas break, I didn’t stick to the diet and found that I STILL lost weight.

I can’t recommend this enough and after my positive results I’ve got friends and family on the diet now.

It’s really really easy and it’s probably one of the best things I’ve done!

Cut to January when I found out Neflix had made its way to the UK, kind of dubious at first because I’d been burned by LoveFilm but with a month free trial I had nothing to lose.
The first thing that struck me is the choice, there’s quite a lot of stuff on there to keep you going for a while. Not as much choice as the American service but it seems there’s new stuff being added every week!

So far I’ve been watching “Box sets” of TV shows, lots of indie and foreign movies and a decent selection of Anime.

The quality is awesome as most of the content is HD and dolby 5.1 surround with no lag or break in stream, I was really impressed by this, it looks and sounds gorgeous through my home cinema and to top it all off there’s stuff on there like Twin Peaks in full HD. AWESOME!!!

At £6 a month, it’s a total steal and it works perfectly on my xbox, PS3, Apple TV, iPhone and iPad (not to mention my laptop and desktop) and with a month free trial I think you should try it out.

It arrived yesterday and I thought I’d share my thoughts.

Firstly, the packaging is really striking, nice clean design, I’ve attached Engadget’s image but I’ll put my own photo up tonight

The device itself is tiny, it feels solid but it’s really compact, pretty surprising.

It looks gorgeous, very minimalist and striking, very few buttons and the grill detail is really nice, not to mention the clever hidden microphone for telephone calls.

I turned it on, it talked to me and it connected to my iPhone, MacBook and iPad with no problems at all.
The first thing I wanted to do is test how loud it can get so I played various Mastodon and NiN tracks through my phone.
It’s a really nice travel speaker, the bass is pretty responsive and the volume is loud enough to fill a living room, bedroom or office.

The coolest part of all is that when you connect with USB, you can update the firmware, add Internet radio stations, presets and change the voice it uses to speak to you!

Think this will live in my office for music and conference calls!

I guess Jawbone are more than just a headset manufacturer!

XO is really an audio essay, the host, Keith McNally presents a real quality podcast covering a wide range of subjects from movies to dying on an operating table (I dare you to listen to that episode and not cry a little).

Get subscribed to it, you won’t regret it!

After seeing that video I decided to buy my girlfriend one for xmas, it wasn’t long after this purchase that I started to read about issues with the device, things like trouble syncing, not recording data properly, not coming out of sleep mode etc and naturally, I got a little worried.

What happened next was pretty unexpected, the awesome people at Jawbone acknowledged the issues and offered a no questions asked, money back guarantee. The best part of this is that you can KEEP the device and you’ll still get your money back (PLUS £20) or a store credit for £120 (about £50 more than the thing cost me in the first place).

I decided to wait until I’d given the gift to actually see if there was a problem (I’m honest like that). Cut to 5 days after xmas day and my girlfriend had issues with syncing. We’ve submitted the request and we’ve opted for store credit, hopefully Jawbone will work the problems out and the Up will be the device it should be.

In the meantime my girlfriend is still using it as best she can and it rules when it works.

Thanks Jawbone, you’re one of the few big tech companies that actually care enough.

I’ve had this for a week or so now and I’ve got to say, it’s pretty bloody good, it’s taken everything I’ve got (including all my obscure stuff) and made it available over my 3G connection or Wi-Fi meaning I’ve now got tons more room for apps and videos on my iPhone and iPad and still have access to all 24,237 tracks from my iTunes library.

Here’s how it works…

Fast forward to xmas morning when I unwrapped one of these beauties, due to visiting family and friends I had to wait 3 days…THREE BLOODY DAYS to properly play this but it was totally worth the wait, especially as my brother completely shocked me by buying me a Gibson Explorer(!!!!). This is the guitar I’ve obsessed over for the last 16 years (seriously, I worked it out).

SO…in conclusion, this means I have my dream setup, both these things sound incredible through my Marshall stack!

Prepare for a shotgun blast of blog posts!

Check it out!