Things it must be said, have improved on this sun toasted turd of a rock in the Mediterranean. By things, I’m referring to technology and luxury goods prices that have come down since the introduction of the Euro. Obviously every day essentials such as milk and beer have skyrocketed… but for the geek out there, it has been less the case of having to buy their tech toys from abroad than before. Really and truly, when postage and warranty worries are factored in, most tech items are just a 10 euro note cheaper and it doesn’t make the hassle worth it.

Step in the iPhone 5. I was expecting the retail price to be slightly more expensive than the previous iPhone 4S which retailed at €650. I was shocked to see the sticker price to be no less than €723 for the basic model (16gb).

iPhone 5's ludicrous price in Malta.

I understand economies of scale etc. But in this instance it very much smacks of the local iPhone resellers taking us for a ride. They know they’ll have a limited quantity and they’ll sell all of them due to the high demand even if it were more expensive. They probably think we’re idiots as they tried to get the price in line with Italy..

  

iPhone 5's price in Italy.. same as in Malta... or is it?

iPhone 5 price in Ireland

iPhone 5 price in the UK - that's about €660

Not bad.. having the price of the iPhone the same as our closest EU neighbour right? Well the VAT in Italy is 21% at the moment. In Ireland it’s 23% and in the UK it’s 20%. That means the base selling price for the Maltese iPhone 5 is higher than any of the above mentioned examples. The table below helps..

It might come as a surprise to find the base price in Ireland to be the cheapest (at first glance I’d have thought the UK would’ve been the cheapest) but no surprises when it comes to the most expensive. I don’t see any reason why it should be so expensive here – shipping cannot be as expensive as a 27″ iMac. We’re talking about Boxes half the size of very small shoe boxes!. So if I did have reason to buy an iPhone (I don’t), and if I needed to buy it without a contract, I definitely would take a holiday and buy it from abroad.

I recently noticed that my current ISP/TV bundle provider, Melita had lowered the price of my current bundle. I’m paying a grand total of €42 for basic TV (that’s local, Italian channels and a couple of foreign channels which would be all free to air) + 25mbs internet. Can’t complain about hteir service over the past year or so but I really don’t watch live Tv much. The most use it go was during the Euro footy championship. I contacted them to see why said bundle is €38 (that’s €4 cheaper) on their site. They basically said that their offers change etc and when i signed my two year contract I signed for the rate at which I am currently paying.

Interested in getting rid of my TV service and perhaps save a few bob, I asked about changing my contract to eliminate the TV and up my Internet connection. They kindly informed me that would cost me €90 to alter my contract. Funny how they never have problems with contracts when I wish to spend more. I tried suggesting I remove the Tv service and they increase my internet speed to 50mbs (cheeky, I know). That obviously failed. However they do have an offer that would let me upgrade for €6 euro more to 50mbs. That would make my bill increase to €48. However the set price for 50mbs internet by itself and not as a bundle is €50.

So fuck you Melita, I will not pay €90 to terminate the contract. Tempting as it is I will not upgrade to 50mbs. I will be investing in a dreambox for my TV needs and remove melita TV services when my contract is over and keep the internet (should be €30). Dreambox service will cost me besides the initial outlay something like 13 per month. So a big FUCK YOU melita and their local competitors Go.

Finally received my new iPad, upgrading from the iPad 2. She’s pretty and white (originally ordered lack again but I had to “settle”). Is it worth upgrading from the iPad 2? Not for most people. That’s the plain and simple truth. It was a luxury I could afford because I found a buyer for my iPad2, I wanted to keep my iPad current in case of any interesting features coming to iOS 6 and to upgrade to a 32gb model. I’m still on wi-fi as I don’t really need 3G on the device.

My biggest complaint is that it is heavier than the iPad 2. That’s my only real gripe.. there are one or two apps that seem to be a bit unstable on the New iPad but otherwise it’s an iPad and it is pretty much the best electronic device I’ve ever used. The biggest selling feature touted by Apple is the screen. And have no doubt, it is impressive. However the change is not as drastically visible as between say an iPhone 3 and iPhone 4. That has a lot to do with the iPad 2 screen being pretty good to begin with. The more I use the device the more appreciative I am of the screen especially when reading text as for images and video, that depends a lot on the original’s quality as well as apps being optimised for the so called Retina display. Holding the device close to your eyes, it’s very difficult to make out the individual pixels that make up the screen, and going back to my 27″ iMac, makes the difference noticeable and makes me excited about the prospect of “retina” displays on desktops and laptops.

The camera is much better too, definitely a good selling point and probably will lead to more people holding their ipad up in streets to  frame a scene. The video produced is of excellent quality too, reaching HD quality. Obviously, the results suffer from low light conditions, lack of flash producing overly grainy results and are not a match for the iPhone 4s. Still pretty impressive results compared to the iPad2.

Performance is a mixed bag as it depends a lot on individual apps at the moment. The improved graphics pretty much eat away at any performance that this generation of iPad would have gained from the improved processor. So basically it’s as nippy or slow as the iPad 2. Browsing is great as is the whole experience, it’s well as the late Mr Jobs described the original iPad – Magical!.

This flying amphibian’s buying advice is… if you already have an iPad2, unless you want to keep up with the joneses, have a load of spare change, need a second or third iPad in your household or office, are buying your first iPad then it might not be for you. Otherwise why don’t you have an iPad?

2011 was a total shite year for frogbats everywhere. But besides that, let’s see what events shaped the flying amphibian landscape of nerdom.

Good news came with the firing of Benitez. Inter actually had a chance to play football once “Fat Man Benitez” as puppet Mourinho referred to him was gotten rid of!

Best shows on TV -

QI – funny, witty and well quite interesting! Stephen Fry acts as ringmaster and Alan Davies as his punching bag in this hilarious panel show featuring a interesting general knowledge factoids .

Game of Thrones – It’s Lord of the Rings with sex and violence. Plus it was filmed here in parts. The show proved to be better than anything I anticipated. The royal buttfur approves.

The Killing – I have resisted the temptation of seeking the original Danish version. The americans did good enough a job though it proved infuriating at the end. They should’ve ended it with a solution and started a new investigation the following year. Buttfur slightly ruffled but(t) pleased!

Transformers Prime – Yay a new TF cartoon but one which is dark and moody and well written and voiced. The toys are also far better than anything the movie has offered!

Modern Family and Community strengthened as best sitcoms on the box this year with their third seasons whilst Big Bang remained watchable but is so far lacking the spark of previous seasons. Surburgatory is growing in my esteem. Ringer and Revenge both were entertaining newcomers to the drama lite. Castle and The Good Wife continue to be watchable fluff whilst Person of Interest and Terra Nova disappointed, Dexter was perhaps the best of the better returning shows. Franklin and Bash was cute, and Downton Abbey was strangely addictive for an upstairs downstairs period soap opera. Boss was excellent and they did well to keep it to just 8 episodes. Mrs Brown’s Boys was idiotic but funny in parts – and played an interesting take on the post post modern self awareness that Community so artfully employs. Mad Men was soporific whilst Spartacus 0.5 proved that amped up sex and gore can almost hide the lack of a story. Mad Men in skirts aka Pan Am was a fail and I couldn’t even bring myself to watch American Horror Story (i’m a chicken). Boardwalk Empire was a bit boring but picked up towards its season’s epilogue.

The BBC kept up its greatest contribution to mankind (Sir David Attenborough) busy with a great new series Frozen Planet and Brian Cox sent me to bed completely baffled with Wonders of the Universe. If anyone claims to fully understand more than half of what’s on that show, don’t believe them.

Movies

I was so desperate for something decent to watch I downloaded movies from the forties! Otherwise, the Clooney / Gossling Ides of March was my favourite – when Paul Giamatti and Philip Seymour Hoffman are your supporting cast you know you have a great movie.

Drive – Beautifully shot and well acted, criminally short screentime for Christina Hendricks and her talents.

Puss in Boots – flawed but funny as hell! I love cats and they did a great job in keeping puss grounded in his kittyness. The golden egg jumpsuit… well that’s all I’m saying.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes – great retelling of the Ape’s origins almost instantly cancelling out Tim Burton’s shite fest. Andy Serkis should be nominated at the very least!

In the comic book genre, Captain America, Thor and X-Men first class were watchable, relatively enjoyable but not amazing. The genre flipping Dale and Tucker vs Evil was pretty good and Paul was fun too. Kung Fu Panda 2… well didn’t finish even half the film so there… The Guard was fun whereas the Inbetweeners was a solid British retelling of American Pie – and it reminded me of tourists’ perspective when they visit a place like here. The Devil’s Double was well acted – but it was easy for Malta to act as 90′s Baghdad!

TBC

Terra Nova for the uninitiated was one of the most widely anticipated genres shows to hit the network in 2011. Its premise was readily summed up by anyone who read the show synopsis as being part Avatar, part Jurassic Park with a little bit of Lost thrown in. Basically, in the future the earth is completely screwed up. A time fissure is discovered and people start migrating to prehistoric earth to start a new colony.

Terra Nova started out quite mediocre thanks mainly to the bad dialogue (more about that later). The obvious getting to know the place / monster of the week sort of stories that plagued the first half of the season did not help either and it lead me to stop watching the show.  After the first 6 episodes I’d have rated the show C-.

Since the other shows I started watching were either on hiatus or had ended their season, I picked up the show again from episode 6 or 7 and watched through till the last episode – the quality did improve as the story shifted. The story arc hinted in the first part of the show began to come into its own and took over the show. The first bunch of antagonists… we find out that the human antagonists – “The Sixers” had a more devious overlord behind them. This new evil mastermind helped the show greatly, as it became more focused and thus more entertaining.

The show ended well enough – in that it was a satisfactory conclusion to the protagonists’ saga but it also hinted at something interesting to discover if the show gets renewed for a second season. If it weren’t for the first half of the season I’d have rated the show higher but it manages a solid B for its second half. The strengths of the show were its ambitious b-movie concept and ultimately, its story arc was quite satisfying and provided some couple of hours of light entertainment. Fun is something that is hard to come by these days from network fiction, and cable shows tend to be a bit too serious and forget the fun component all too quickly. The production values on Terra Nova have come under scrutiny due to its high budgets and set back. The show’s location filming is great and its high point. Some of the SFX are passable to good but there are moments where a jaded audience used to better will chuckle at the bad quality of the effects (the fishing trip for example).

The characters were a good mix, though again you feel that there are too many white people lording it over the others. The acting improves especially as the show becomes more action oriented, the actors become more familiar with their roles and most importantly there’s less of the super cheesy dialogue that plagued the opening shows. Let’s put it this way, Spielberg was attached as a producer but the dialogue seemed to come from a George Lucas screenplay!

So were the reviews slagging Terra Nova off correct in their assessment? Absolutely. However, the problem is that on network tv, shows rarely have a chance to find their feet. It took ST:TNG two whole years before coming into its own. And the opposite is true.. shows that start off well like Heroes fail after their first season due to the pressure placed on the shows to be a constant hit. Unfortunately genre shows that cross into the mainstream appear to happen once a decade – TNG in the 80s, the X-files in the 90s and Lost in the 00s.  The show have two trek alumni on board – Brannon Braga and René Echevarria serve as showrunners – there’s also a Maltese connection to the show with Jon Cassar covering production and directorial duties.

Links: Official Terra Nova Site | IMDB Entry | Wikipedia entry

Here’s a quick rundown of what the flying amphibian watches or rather receives on Mondays.

Boardwalk Empire S.2 – Very much a slow boil this season – not as enjoyable as the first but still a very solid show. Beautifully shot and great acting – however it’s gone mad men slow this season but the story seems to have picked up steam as we head towards the end. Worth sticking through till the end though I think this season was flawed with being too slow in the beginning and too much going on towards the end. Some might see it as a crescendo, I thought it was bad pacing.

The Walking Dead S.2 – Definitely a gripping tale. You don’t like to enjoy zombies to enjoy this show about human struggle in adverse conditions (it’s the main reason lost was so successful too). Fears about Frank Darabont’s departure from the show impacting the quality seem to have been laid to rest for now (but you know what happens to dead things in the walking dead…). I’m looking forward to the second part of Season 2 and am thankful there’s more than 6 episodes in this season.

Dexter S.6 – Perhaps the most enjoyable of my early week dramas. Seems a bit lighter than previous years in tone and the side characters stories are a bit more compelling. Though the new arch villains don’t appear to be as scary as Trinity, the apocalypse is always an interesting theme as Dexter tries to get to grips with religiosity around him. The ending is something that I thought might have happened earlier in the show but at this point I thought it would never happen. Gald I was proved wrong for a truly great cliffhanger

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110907/local/Maltese-love-to-shop-online-from-overseas.383608

Apparently Maltese love purchasing online especially from foreign retailers. Ever since I was a kid Maltese have flocked to London and Sicily to buy better quality goods and lower prices.

The reason? simples – we’ve been the victims of economies of scale and also of outright greed by the local businessmen.
The ability to scour online retailers for better deals and to get what I want is a huge boon. I buy nearly everything I can from sites such as play, amazon and also ebay.

In the past this was mainly due to price differences where we’d be fucked up the arse. Examples in electronics based on my obsessions with all things apple – you’d be able to go to NYC, buy mac book pro and have a nice holiday for the price they were selling a macbook pro here. I saved almost Lm100 on my ipod touch when it first came out.

Fortunately things have greatly improved – one great example being Klikk – their prices on Macs and PC components is fairly competitive with those abroad and their recent price match policy allowed me to get a game for the same price as what was available on play.

One massive problem consumers face here is that most items retain their original RRP throughout most of their shelf life rather than being aggressively discounted like they are abroad.

Also convenience wise – if I want to buy a pari of particular trainers I have to go Marsa or visit 10 different stores – instead I can check online and have items delivered at my door.

I would not want to be a Maltese retailer facing competition from abroad, the local ignorant customer (cos let’s face it, if you remove those who shop online from the local customer base you end up with a less erudite profile), the government taxes etc. However they still have to shape up and improve.

Though I am bewildered at the number of PS3 games that go missing in the post mmm…