It's tough being a gadget addict and having no funds!

Those who know me will know that I always like to have the latest technologies from the digital world. Now the latest thing that I've decided I want is the Archos AV340. It's like an iPod but it's bigger, heavier, uglier and more expensive. So why do I want one? Because it plays DivX movies on it's 3.8" screen! The cheapest I've found it is £420 including postage from the States (not including customs however). It seems to be approx £500 everywhere in Europe. Note I'm after the 40gb model rather than the 20gb model (AV320). however, after balancing finances, I won't even be able to think about buying it until the new year. Hopefully by then the price will have dropped and there will be some competition on the market in the form of Microsoft's Media2Go. However, knowing Microsoft, I bet they have tonnes of copy protection stuff in the thing so you can't play anything but clips you download off M$' site.

What I will be able to afford is a Hitachi CML174SXWB. In other words, it's a 17" TFT monitor in black as recommended by both Tom's Hardware Guide and PC Zone (From the gaming aspect). My Dad is going to pay £200 towards it which will mean he doesn't have to worry about getting me anything for my birthday (only 5 weeks away!) and Christmas. I'm fine with this as it's something I need. My old 15" Sony trinitron CRT monitor is certainly on it's way out, the picture is so dark now. Not suprising considering it's 6+ years old now.

Also in the gadget world, my mobile phone contract year has just gone by meaning I'm elligeable for an upgrade. Now I did have my heart set on getting a Nokia 6600 but it's not out yet. also no-one knows the price but I expect it will be at least £200 on upgrade minimum. Quite a lot for someone who shouldn't really be spending much. The main attraction of the phone is the digital camera for messaging photos (it's the latest craze so I might as well keep up to date) which can record video too. It has an SD memory card slot for storage of apps, photos, games and video and it's also tri-band and bluetooth savvy. Now thinking it through, I'm not so sure I really need something of that high a spec. After all it's a business phone primarily. I've had a crap phone for two years running now (the Sony J5 and now the Nokia 3510) so I wanted to treat myself to a decent phone which isn't just the current freebie. Now, I could get the new Sony Erricsson T610 as it looks sleek, is about £100 to upgrade to and has a digital camera. The only real downside is that my brother already has one! I think I'll wait for the 6600 to come out before I make my decision.

Finally, other gadgets I need/want are a 120gb hard drive for my PC as I'm always deleting things. But if I got that Archos AV340, I wouldn't really need it as I will just store all my MP3s and videos on that. Also, I'm still using a 1ghz AMD processor while my motherboard can support all the way up to the XP3200+. I am planning to get me an XP2800+ at some time as they are only around £100 now and that will proove to be a significant upgrade on my system. The later I leave it, the cheaper it gets so I'm not in a rush. My PC should be able to play Half Life 2 as it is... just but I'll want to get me an upgrade to enjoy it better.

Weekend update

Didn't have anything planned for this weekend. Which was just as well as Soul Calibur 2 for the GC arrived in the mail Saturday morning. I was going to go out Saturday but I ended up playing SC2 all day. It's a decent arcade beat em up with swords as you'd expect, and a very fluid addictive one at that. However, there's an extra Weapons Master option which turns out to be a RPGesque game where you progress through missions by beating up people under various conditions. I think they did something similar with Soul Calibur 1 on the Dreamcast but I never had it to compare with. While progressing through the Weapons Master mode, you unlock a lot of extra levels, characters and stuff. It's really great system. Also, playing a fighter with Link from Zelda is quite a novelty. I'd much prefer Link out of the other two guest appearances on the other consoles (Spawn for X-Box and some guy from Tekken on PS2). If you like a good arcade bash with a bit more longevity in it for single players, I certainly recommend it!

Today I went out to town, checked out the computer fair and just bought some thumbscrews (not the torture variety). Went through 3 of the 4 branches of Game in search of Battlefield 1942, not the addon to use my EA voucher on but they were out of stock again. They had stock last week but I didn't have the voucher on me. The voucher runs out at the end of the month so I think I'll wait for the deluxe edition when it comes out November time.

Watched a few new trailers to end the day with. Looney Tunes: Back in Action looks amusing and quite different to Space Jam (think more Roger Rabbit). House of the Dead looks cheesy and Cat in the Hat just looks plain scary! (Sort of The Mask in a cat suit)

Argh, another week of work and commuting awaits...