Got anything new to report? - Min's MinIT Update. Friday 25th April 2014

Well hello hello! It's raining big time which can only mean one thing! Yep, it's the weekend! Hurrah...

The Met line is quite packed and it took until Baker Street to get a seat, so thought I'd do my musings for the week.

Advert of the week: "All the seats on this carriage are reserved for all you lovely singles". Thanks Match.com, very thoughtful. Unfortunately due to my positioning (with the yellow bar obscuring my view a bit), it looks more like "All the cheats on this carriage are reserved for all you lovely singles"...nice. 

There is a man next to me playing on his Nexus 7. He seems very thorough as he's been messing about with his settings for the last 3 minutes. Should have brought an iPhone mate...

App of the week: Zomato.  Picture the scene. Mrs Min wants to go out for a lovely (read expensive) meal in the city as apparently 'McDonald's Restaurant wasn't what she had in mind, despite me telling her i would treat her to a 3 course meal (deal)...

Anyways, so what do you people, do you google 'restaurants in Harrow, not too expensive, veggie food' into Google? Sure you can do that but can you really believe the lovely things that they put on their own websites? Well exactly...

So step in Zomato, an app for your phone which started life in a bedroom in Delhi and now covers 41 countries, where folks jot down their experiences, ratings, cost etc on the site. It shows nearby restaurants and handily also has pics of the menu so you can check the prices beforehand..."sorry Mrs Min, yeah I did just ring them but they don't do veggie food'...So check it out, it's free, and gets 9.13 Zomatos out of 10 from me.

Confession of the week:  I went to India recently and the street begging was really awful. I was there for a couple of days and only got 200 Rupees...

Tech News: Just ordered that Chromecast thing (£30) so quite excited about that. If you haven't heard of what it does, well it turns you TV into a smartTV. Not by tying your shoelaces for you, but allowing you to have things like YouTube on your regular TV (and who doesn't like dancing Cats on a 63" screen!)  It connects via HDMI, uses a USB for power, though you can go old Skool and plug it through the mains too.  You then just use your phone as a remote control. Brilliant and much cheaper than getting Apple TV which costs £99. It's limited to certain apps like BBC iplayer, Netflix, Chrome website etc. You even get £5 off the Google Play Movie site if you mention that you know me. So check it out folks, and make full use of those TV slots...

Right at Rayners so let's leave it there.

Have a lovely weekend and a great sleep and c'mon Liverpool!

A small man called Min

Got anything new to report? - Min's MinIT Update. Tuesday 15th April 2014

Well hello hello! How are we all folks?

Just got on the Fast Chesham and looking around for what delights I can see

Well, there is a Chinese lady scrolling through something that looks super interesting. Damn...it's all in Chinese..

Advert of the week: bed and mattress only £446. It was £600. Spring Sale now on! Nice, see what you did there...

This week on TV I watched that Estate Agents programme on the BBC iPlayer and I learnt quite a lot. It showed everything from the high end (London) properties that were 6 floor town houses with standard cinema room, spa, staff quarters and 18 bathrooms worth around £35m. Then they went up North and this lady spoke about a house that recently went for auction where the starting bid was £1!  You pay that for a Twix extra over here...

There is also a lovely series on the iPlayer at the moment called 'Some people with jokes'. This season they have had Funeral Directors, Football Managers and Irish people and let's just say that I've picked up quite a bit of new material for my show! 

App of the week: Picture the scene, it's wedding season and it's that lovely time of day where you need to take the group photos to show everyone how much you enjoyed meeting them again after 2 years. If your anything like my lot, this can be quite a task as you have some people trying to talk, eat, yawn, go to sleep during that single millisecond whilst you snap the photo. (Make sure you get them to all say ANALYTICS and press the shutter when they get to the ICS bit. (Err you just did a fake smile trying that last bit out right?). Thought so. I've been watching that Darren Brown series again on Dave about mind control...

Where was I? Oh yes, so if only there was an intelligent (and preferably free) app that could scan everyone's face and tell you when to take that snap. That would be amaze-balls. Well, my dear blog reader, that time has come. Smile comes to the rescue. It works really well and I even tried it out on the mother in law and it worked. You can decide if you just want to look for a smile and /or they need to have their eyes open. It's brilliant and all your friends will be most impressed when you show them this app. If nothing else, you can use it to carry on the conversation regarding who of you flosses or has the most wonky teeth. Min smiles out of 10. 9.09

Thought for the day: When Gloria Gayner finally dies, I wonder what song they will play at her funeral?

Right, got a seat at Wembley Park so gonna have a nap now. 

Have a lovely long bank holiday rest and a great sleep!

A small man called Min

Got anything new to report? - Min's MinIT Update. Friday 11th April 2014

Hello hello! How are we my dear blog reader on this lovely Friday morning?

Long may this school break continue as been getting a seat every day this week! And ladies and gentlemen, I'm pleased to report that big coat has not made an appearance either this week so that's all good too...

Ok, got a lot to talk about today so let's stop messing about and on with the show...

Tech News: So Samsung has launched the S5. I had a quick look to see how this was going to change peoples lives. I learnt quite a lot. They have introduced some life saving technology and also something that will stop those little accidents when you are sitting on the loo. That's right folks, it's got a built in heart detector, where you put your finger over the camera lens and it tells you if your still alive. Nice.... But better still... Picture the moment, your on the loo in the morning (though equally applicable in the night) and your minding your own business (see what I did there) and as you know humans cannot carry out these basic functions without having our phone in our hand to check up on what lovely restaurants or food people have posted on Facebook or your catching up with those hilarious cat videos on YouTube. It's so funny that as you quiver ( or slightly fall asleep) you lose your grip on the phone and 'oh no....' The phone's fallen in the toilet and your number twos have suddenly become a number three...Well panic not my friends, Samsung has made their new phone waterproof so just give it a little wipe (and then the phone) and woo hoo, it's still working!!! Happy days. Well done Samsung, though I think I'll still wait for the iPhone 6...

Woah that was a long one and at Wembley Park already!  

Advert of the week: 'An ostrich can outrun a horse' This is an advert from Hitachi personal finance. Thanks for that, bit late now mate, the Grand National was last week...

There is another advert about all 0800 calls being free on new Three Plans, which reminds me of a lovely app that I use. Picture the scene...you need to ring Sky or some other customer services department as you can't sleep and need to hear some 90's music for an hour or two. Well fear not folks, rather than worrying about the cost of doing this as it's one of those 0870, 0845 or even 0800 numbers, there is a lovely app called 0870 that can come to the rescue. Just type in the name of the company or the phone number and it gives you a normal number to dial instead. Especially good when calling freephone numbers that aren't free when using a mobile. Who made that rule up anyway!  Min marks out of 10...9.870

There a man next to me with big Bose headphones and he is busy on his Samsung (S4) looking at what food his 'friends' on FB have been posting. He must be in the club or pop circuit as his friends have names such as Bleach and Mango.  Nice...

Finally some news on the marriage front. Brought a water bed this week for me and Mrs Min to try and put a spark back into our marriage but if anything, we are still drifting apart...

Right! That's your lot folks. Have a lovely weekend and a great sleep!

A small man called Min

Got anything new to report? - Min's MinIT Update. Tuesday 1st April 2014

Well hello hello! No this isn't some kind of  April fools joke, it's really me, and if I sound different, then that's because I'm stuck at Zurich Airport in the Land of Swiss. Seeing as my plane is still in London, I've got a few hours to kill so thought I should try and entertain you for a few minutes!

First of all, can I say a massive thank you for all the lovely comments and likes for the last blog. I read them all out to my fellow Met Line passengers. Also thanks to my biggest blog fan and thanks for sharing your wonderful news!

On with the show...

Just received my 12 Swiss Franc voucher  from BA so off to see what that's gonna buy me from the shop.  I've just read the headline in the Daily Mail and it says that you should forget about the five-a-day, but now we need to eat SEVEN daily portions of fruit and veg to help you live longer. Wowza! They also helpfully display a bowl of fruit just in case their readers weren't quite sure what the headline was about.  Well I'm certainly gonna heed this advice and just ordered some tomatoes, salad, nuts and a banana. I will try and get the other 3 on the flight!!

This week on Channel 4 or could have been More 4, I watched this programme about 'inside Rolls Royce'. It was dead posh and they showed how nothing is too much trouble, how long it takes to make and the one offs they make for their clients. They had this super duper one which they embedded real diamonds  into the wood and it looked dead good. The man who this was subcontracted to got quite nervous as the first couple of times the quality control man crossed his arms and said no...do it again. It was very exciting. The best and most profitable dealership I learnt was the one in Abu Dhabi. The man showed all his awards and arranged for some of his best clients to test drive the new one - the Rolls Royce Wraith at the Grand Prix circuit, which everyone loved. Don't panic every one, although it's designed for the young uns, it still has that button you can press for the umbrella to pop out...

If you fancy getting one, I can recommend seeing on YouTube (other tubes are available) this dude called saabklye04. Just search for his name and  Rolls Royce Wraith. He's done loads on other super duper cars too.

This weeks app that has been keeping me amused and working those brain cells has been 2048. It's dead simple and you have this 4  x 4 square tile and you have to build up the numbers (starting with 2) until you get all the way to the 2048 tile. Obviously the maths dudes will love it and it's very addictive. My higest score is 3088, so if you beat that...keep it to yourselves...Min marks out of 10...9.2048

It's already been a touch week as Preeti said she's leaving me as she said I don't listen to her property...

Right, I better go to the gate now, so let's leave it there and have a great sleep (except you pilot man)...

A small man called Min...

Got anything new to report? - Min's MinIT Update. Friday 28th March 2014

Well hello hello! Yes, my dear blog reader, it's Friday!

This week the 'Small man called Min live tour' went to Munich and I learnt that they like analytics and science and beer. I learnt that they invented most things, like the light bulb (they do like to show this off as you can see from the rather grand chandelier pic which was in my hotel room) and the computer and the airplane. Don't tell the Wright Brothers about that last one.

So on the lovely met line and everyone is looking quite pleased with themselves. Wonder if that's because they got their Mother's Day presents sorted?

Advert on the tube: if you spot someone Ill or in pain please help them off the train.

Nice, what about if they were on the way to Northwick Park Hospital as they weren't well and now you've just rugby tacked them off the train at Great Portland Street as they had looked a bit pink...

App of the week: Medium. Ok this week I have something slightly different for you. It's not as you may think from the title some sort of app to let you connect with the spirits world, or an app talking about the average size of clothing. No my friends, this is called Medium for no reason at all...it's a really interesting set of articles (similar to flipboard) that you can also read offline in the tunnels between Kings Cross and Finchely Road. What I really like is the wide selection of articles they have and a little symbol on the front page that tells you how many minutes it should take you to read it (no pressure!)  So this week I've been reading about "10 things I know about being happy (2 mins), 4 ways to make your brain work better (6 mins) and washing machine for men (4 mins). I learnt that "58 % of British men can’t use a washing machine properly because they find the household appliance confusing.”

There you go! Seriously the articles are really interesting and I've tried to change some of my habits already. For example, the brain one said that our minds weren't developed for multitasking and you shouldn't do what I do, which is switch in rapid succession from emails, Facebook, Twitter,web stuff, etc as this is blowing our minds and productivity. Instead, the man said that you should focus on 1 task at a time, so I won't be taking my iphone to the toilet any more...If nothing else you will get some lovely and interesting facts and stories after spending only a few minutes reading the 'mediums' and will look far more intelligent than you actually are and it's free! Min marks out of 10. - 9.13 

Thought of the week: Why don't travel agents ever ask you if you've got any nice haircuts planned?...

Right that's your lot! Have a great sleep and give your mothers an extra hug from me this Sunday.

A small man called Min

Got anything new to report? - Min's MinIT Update. Wednesday 19th March 2014

Well hello hello! Yes, I know it's not Friday, or even Monday but just to keep everyone on their toes (who came up with that phrase...ballet dancers?) thought I'd do a blog today as left home super early and managed to get a seat on the tube.

Thanks so much for the blog views last week. I had a look at the view count and we are nearly at the 15,000 mark! Happy days!!

Most of the talk for the last week has been about the lost plane and all the conspiracy theories are  coming out. Yesterday, this bloke on the radio reckoned that the aliens had taken them.

This did get me thinking and I actually wrote an email to the US department of Defence last night. Just thinking that rather than them spending $1bn a pop on those triangle stealth bomber things which have that dynamic shape and non metallic paint to avoid being seen on radar, had they thought about just turning off their transponder?....

Ok, it may be 7:09 but the tube is full. Everyone is looking a bit sleepy and the chap next to me is reading about the chap who won £108m on the Euromillions this week. He's a mechanic and said he would be buying a sports car. Brilliant, thanks for that...

Now this week's app is super duper and it's called Battery. It's really good and helps keep your iphone battery in top nick. The two main functions I love apart from telling you how many seconds your battery will last, are the accelerate function, which closes down memory that isn't in use and has a lovely speed dial animation, and the 'remove junk files' function. I didn't know I would get so much satisfaction at removing 133mb of cache stuff but it's the next best thing to having a wash...It's free and Min marks out of 10 would be 9.33

There is a man opposite reading a book. Yes you heard that right..no wires or anything. It's called 'Confessions of an Economic Hit Man' by John Perkins. He's on page 146 so hopefully he's got past the bit that happened in 2008...

At Baker Street and a very posh man has got on and sat next to me. Pin stripe suit, shiny shoes and perfect hair. Err hello there sir, this is the met line, not the Central line, we have a reputation to maintain. Now he has taken out his iPad mini (which as you would expect has a lovely leather smelling cover) so let's see what he does next. Will he be opening up the FT or Guardian app. Will it be some kind of spread betting app.... Err nope, he's opened up Candy Crush! Oh ok , you can stay on the Met line posh man...

A final thought to leave you with.  If Pistorius is found innocent I don't think anyone will risk throwing him a surprise party...

Ok, that's your lot! See you all again soon and have a great sleep!

A small man called Min

Got anything new to report? - Min's MinIT Update. Monday 10th March 2014

Well hello hello and a happy 2014!

Yes, I know it's been a while my dear blog reader but I'm back! Thank you so much for all the kind comments about the blog and wanting to see it come back. (Thanks mum!)

So here we are on the lovely journey home from Farringdon to Rayners.

As you would expect, the tube is packed and I'm typing this with my nose. Most peeps are busy on their I-gadgets. Let's see what we have...

The bloke next to me is playing snake. Nice old school. Giving his next gen processor a real work out there I see.

Everyone is out in their summer wear after the fantastic weekend. I too decided to leave big coat at home today even though I'm indian. Might wear a sweater, or as we call it swetttter tomorrow.

Today's advert is from Sky. "Tricky to get in your flat" and a picture of a table football. "Not tricky to get in your flat" and a picture of a tv with some blokes playing football. Great. Thanks Sky. Shame I live in a house...

Plenty of gadgets and apps to update you on but the one that I'm loving at the moment are the Bluetooth gloves that Rajvi brought me for Christmas. Picture the scene...it's cold, you have big coat on and someone rings your mobile (don't worry it's gonna be cold again next week) and the phone rings. Damn, now you need to take off your gloves to receive that call from your mum to say your running late as the met line seems to have developed a track failure. Well, now, I don't need for my fingers to get cold. Oh no! I have bluetooth gloves. The glove buzzes when you get a call and the mic and ear piece is stitched into the glove! Amaze balls I hear to cry. And so you should. It works brilliantly and ok, I got a few strange looks as I started to talk into glove when I was in WHSmith's the other day, but as I was in the 'what gadget' magazine area, it was all good...it's about £30 and super fun. The battery lasts ages and the sound is super clear...min marks out of 10. 9.13

What I've been watching on TV. Ok, I've got addicted to this American TV programme called Shark Tank. It's the US version of Dragons Den but loads more fun. The dragons aren't so miserable and don't just go for the standard 'I want 40% of your company. Check it out it's really good and I've been using this app call 'Music Tube' to watch it during my daily journey. The app allows you to cache any YouTube video so you don't need access to an internet connection. Happy days...

What else...this chap has just tapped me on the shoulder whilst I'm typing this and said "You remind me of an American Indian".  No idea what he meant so said "How?"...

Well that's your lot as I've got a seat at Wembley so gonna have a nap now.

Have a great sleep!

A small man called Min