What is a Pandora Battery for the PSP?

I get a lot of people asking me what the Pandora Battery is used for in relation to the Sony PSP. To summarise, it is a modified battery pack which when inserted into a PSP causes the PSP to power up in a special ’service mode’. In conjunction with a specially formatted memory card (a magic memory stick) this will allow you to install custom firmware to your PSP.
So why would you want to install custom firmware? Sony’s official firmwre does not allow the launching of any programs or games other than those sold commercially in the shops. There is a vast array of freely available home-made (homebrew) software and games written for the PSP which can only be run with custom firmware installed on the PSP.
The Phiine shop supplies both Pandora Battery products and kits, plus Magic Memory Sticks so look no further for your PSP hacking needs.
There is a discount voucher code for The Phiine shop floating around on the net too.

 

New blog

Seeing as how I haven’t updated or posted anything new on here for a few months, I felt it only right to set up a new blog! Nah, I wanted to set up one that wasn’t quite so personally focussed but could potentially be a bit of an earner for me (via advertising and referrals). So here it is:
My MoneySaving Life

 

New page – How to save money shopping around on the Internet

I’ve finally put hand to keyboard and typed up some tips on buying from internet shops as cheaply as possible, including how to find the cheapest shops and how to earn cashback on your purchases. The page is here.
Any comments and additional information gratefully received!

 

My eyes rotate.

Ever looked yourself in the eye? In the mirror? When you next do, try rotating your head sideways and you will notice that your eyes rotate the opposite direction in their sockets to stay ‘level’.
Weird.

 

Happy New Year

Now that my broadband has been reconnected this week after being off since mid-November, I can wish you all a blessed 2007!
I’ve generated a long list of topics to write about on here so there might be some more activity than in the past six months.

 

One week on

So (over) a week has rapidly gone by in the new job and there have been no further potentially embarrassing moments. The blood samples were taken fine BTW.
Had some driver training by a blue-light qualified instructor on Tuesday which was fun. Shame our vehicles don’t have blue lights! They do, however, have air suspension and turbos.
The air suspension is just on the back axle and it lets us lower the rear of the vehicle before putting the ramp down to push wheelchairs/stretchers up. Unfortunately as soon as the handbrake is released to drive away it raises up again so no cruisin’ round with lowered suspension (like my car – ahem!). I must try leaving the handbrake on 1 notch to see if I can drive it lowrider styleee though…
As for turbos, the vehicles are turbo diesel LWB Renault Master conversions with, I was told, unreliable electrics. I went to pick one up from the garage after its MoT and it had a massively noticeable blow-off whoosh sound from the turbo every time you let off the accelerator Oh yes.
I was out with a two-man crew on Weds and Thurs which was good experience and even got to drive on Thursday. Then more training on Fri in manual handling of patients and oxygen administration.
A massive rest was needed all weekend due to the fact I have to get up at 6 a.m. every day to get to work on time! I’m no stop-out but going to bed at 10 every evening ain’t much fun.
Then yesterday was out all day with just one other crew member (on a long 8am-6pm shift!), so got to go through all the paperwork and also push some patients around in wheelchairs, strap the chairs down, comfort them, etc.
First aid training today at the local leisure centre (they’re cheaper than the NHS’ own course ) and back on a vehicle tomorrow. I’ve managed to avoid any stretcher patients so far and we’ve had no ’spillages’ either yet…

 

First day at work. No fainting please…

It was my first day in my new job today. I turned up 45 minutes early so went for a wander round the site for a bit first. Then on to Personnel where 8 or 9 of us spent a good hour sat in a room filling in further forms and having them collected. Then it was on to Occupational Health to go through my immunisations record. They decided it was ‘advisable’ that I have a Hepatitis B jab. After demanding to know why, what exactly Hepatitis B is and the side effects of the immunisation I agreed, and the nurse administered it. I was fine for about the first minute after, then the drugs started to have an effect and both my hearing and vision disappeared as I struggled to stay upright in the chair… the nurse called someone else in and I was able to hold myself up but it took a good ten minutes for my hearing and vision to clear. Apparently it was close to a faint.
Well it shook the nurse up a bit and after deciding not to take any blood samples or do an eyesight test I had to wait in the office for another 15 minutes to make sure I wasn’t gonna do it again. Then she walked me back to my department in case I collapsed in the abandoned corridor. This part of the site is half boarded-up due to a new building opening on the other side of the site.
I was fine by now so went to get some lunch in the canteen. Food was fine – had a hot meal and some cake, mmm, with staff discount using my new ID badge. As I sat in the staff area I noticed a bit of a divide between the groups of Latino-looking men with matching moustaches and caps and the all-white groups of medical staff. I guess they don’t really socialise together if they don’t have a close working relationship.
On to a van in the afternoon. Just passengering. Picked up and dropped off a couple of people and got the lowdown on how the department works.
Got to work a full week this week and next!
Back to Occ. Health tomorrow morning for those blood tests before I start my driving training.

 

Leaving the council. Again.

So I left work again on Friday (yesterday). In fact this is the second time I’ve left the council in as many years. Two years to within a week to be more exact!
My new job starts on Monday which will involve (which you might pick up from the picture) driving an ambulance.

Leaving The Council,
originally uploaded by robskills.

Desk decor courtesy of my colleagues

 

What car should I buy?

This is a question that I often get asked. So in summary for an everyday car I would say anything Japanese or German. “Once you’ve bought Jap, there’s no going back” as the saying goes.
To be more specific I would say any vehicle manufactured in Japan. Native companies are the likes of Honda, Toyota, Mazda, Nissan, Mitsubishi and Subaru. There is just something superior to the way that the Japanese engineer and build vehicles to be reliable.
If you want to widen the field a little, I would go as far as to recommend a Japanese car made in Europe, or a VW/Audi including anything by Seat or Skoda made since they were taken over by VW.
As for cars to avoid, French cars (Renault, Peugeot, Citroen) are infamous for faulty electrics, Rovers like to blow their head-gaskets, Vauxhall are for people who know nothing about cars (See Sniff Petrol issue 74) and rank along with Ford for shockingly poor quality and reliability.
Of course, no amount of engineering excellence will compensate for a lack of routine maintenance or owner ignorance.

 

Dungeness Road

This is the road leading out of Dungeness, Europe’s only desert, home to a power station and a collection of wooden huts which people live in on this barren outcrop of land in Kent. It felt like you were in the middle of nowhere in the western USA.

Dungeness Road,
originally uploaded by robskills.