The geek.

45 posts. Everything tech-adjacent that isn't strictly code — hardware, reviews, opinions.

Geek 16 JUL 2015 Archive

Amazon Prime Day Fail

So yesterday was Prime day on Amazon. Billed as more deals than Black Friday we all eagerly made our way to Amazon to fill our baskets with wonderful, reduced...

Geek 15 JAN 2015 Archive

CentOS 7: ifconfig command not found

So if you do a fresh "minimal" installation of CentOS 7 you might run into this issue when trying to run ifconfig. bash$: ifconfig: command not found The...

Geek 07 JAN 2015 Archive

Howto Install PHP 5.4, 5.5 or 5.6 on CentOS 6 and CentOS 7

I still use CentOS as my distro of choice on any new server and whilst things are getting better CentOS and RHEL still don't have up to date versions of PHP...

Geek 01 JAN 2015 Archive

Here's to 2015

So 2014 was a fairly slow year on my site, in fact only 7 new articles were published. I want to do a lot more in 2015 regardless of work load so here's what...

Geek 11 DEC 2014 Archive

Holiday Offer from WPEngine

I talked a while back about the great WordPress hosting available at WPEngine. Well to tempt you to their dedicated WordPress hosting solutions this holiday...

Geek 25 JUN 2014 Archive

Higher Screen Resolution in Ubuntu on VirtualBox

He's a little tip for you. Took me a while to work this one out so thought I should share! If you install a fresh install of Ubuntu inside VirtualBox you end...

Geek 11 FEB 2014 Archive

Moving from iCloud to Google

For years now I have been using Google Apps for business, but being an iPhone user I always kept iCloud for all my personal emails, contacts and calendars. It...

Geek 07 MAY 2013 Archive

How to install and configure LEMP (Linux, nginx, MySQL and PHP) on CentOS 6

Fellow developers have been on at me for the last couple of years to ditch Apache and move to nginx. If you know what nginx is then you know why, if not let's...

Geek 06 FEB 2013 Archive

I'm not dead....

Howdy all, I just wanted to post a very brief update to say I'm not dead and neither is this blog. I've been extremely busy over the past couple of weeks and...

Geek 08 JAN 2013 Archive

Finding the right balance

I recently asked my followers what they would like to see me blog about and I was pleasantly surprised to get a response. Well it would be rude of me not to...

Geek 14 NOV 2012 Archive

Learning GIT the hard way

I love GIT, I use it all day every day and it has saved my ass on more than a handful of times. I couldn't help laughing at this though. Sure we've all seen...

Geek 02 NOV 2012 Archive

Quick Tip: Rename your iOS Device without iTunes

Today my shiny iPad Mini arrived. It is lovely, light and small, but that isn't the point of this. When I was setting it all up I was restoring from a iCloud...

Geek 30 OCT 2012 Archive

WP Engine, WordPress hosting done right

It's been about a month since my last quick blog post. The only thing that has been keeping me away has been trying to get my blog to stay online for more than...

Geek 17 AUG 2012 Archive

Mountain Lion and Kernel Panics after sleep

I have recently upgraded to a new 15" MacBook Pro (without the Retina Display). I then upgraded to Mountain Lion, all my programs were working fine what could...

Geek 26 JUN 2012 Archive

Coda 2 is finally here!

In 2007 Panic released Coda, a revolutionary tool for web developers and designers who for years were forced to use multiple tools to get the job done. Coda...

Geek 22 JUN 2012 Archive

Make your own OS X Lion USB Boot Disk

So now OS X is completely digital, the kind folks at Apple will let you buy a USB stick for $69, alternatively do it yourself for free. This little application...

Geek 19 JUN 2012 Archive

CakeFest 2012 is Booked!

After a great conference in Manchester last year the kind folks at the Cake Software Foundation have decided to return to Manchester for a second year! If you...

Geek 04 APR 2012 Archive

Alesis DM10 X Kit Review

When I got my DM6 I really did love it, as I posted on here. I was so excited when Alesis agreed to send me a DM10x Kit to review and was looking forward to a...

Geek 23 MAR 2012 Archive

Alesis IO2 Express Review

I just wanted to post a quick review of the Alesis IO2 Express, a super portable, compact audio interface for your Mac or PC. A 2 channel USB (and USB Bus...

Geek 12 MAR 2012 Archive

Still working on the look!

A little while ago I posted about a new theme for the site. Whilst I was happy with the look I wasn't very happy with the amount of JavaScript and other crap...

Geek 05 MAR 2012 Archive

Toontrack Superior Drummer 2.3 Review

In a previous blog I talked about hooking an Alesis DM6 USB Kit up to Logic Pro and Superior Drummer, as someone fairly new to edrums I thought a little review...

Geek 02 MAR 2012 Archive

Alesis DM6 USB Kit Review

Over the past few weeks I have been busy building my home studio up, replacing or purchasing some key elements that have been missing. One thing that has...

Geek 01 MAR 2012 Archive

A super shiny new look!

So it's been a fairly busy few weeks and I've seen a massive amount of traffic to this site since launching my plugins. Thanks to all who have got involved and...

Geek 26 DEC 2011 Archive

A very Merry Christmas to all

Just wanted to wish anyone who does actually stop by here a very Merry Christmas and a happy new year!

Geek 19 AUG 2011 Archive

PHP Mcrypt on CentOS 6

Yay, CentOS 6 still doesn't by default include mcrypt in it's distribution on repositories. There is hope, EPEL to the rescue again: rpm -ivh...

Geek 02 AUG 2011 Archive

Skipping characters whilst using nano over SSH from OS X Lion 10.7

Ever since upgrading to OSX Lion 10.7 I've been pulling my hair out. I spend a fair bit of time connected via SSH to remote servers using Terminal, ever since...

Geek 11 JUN 2011 Archive

1and1 Dynamic Cloud Server Disk Allocation

I have a Dynamic Cloud Server with 1 and 1 which should have 100GB of disk space. Imagine my surprise when after a few days I was getting alerts telling me...

Geek 19 MAY 2011 Archive

Create SSH Keys from your Mac

I spend a lot of time in Terminal connected to remote servers via SSH, I'm by no means an expert and have come across using Key pairs in the past, but never...

Geek 31 JAN 2011 Archive

Geek heaven at the new house

I am officially the king of home media geekness. Airport extreme hooked up in 2 separate rooms to stereos. Mac mini server busting iTunes with remote on the...

Geek 07 JAN 2011 Archive

Moving House!

I get to start the year with all the fun of moving house! At the end of January I'm moving to a nice little place that actually has decent broadband and mobile...

Geek 02 NOV 2010 Archive

xbox live update issues 2010

Another year and another dashboard update for the xbox 360. Another year of issues! Mine has been dropping out whilst updating, not being able to connect to...

Geek 14 OCT 2010 Archive

New Mobile Me Calendar Launched

Taken from the Apple website: The new MobileMe Calendar is now out of beta and available to all members. We'd like to thank everyone who took part in the beta...

Geek 14 OCT 2010 Archive

Medal of Honor on route

Although the UK release date isn't until the 15th October I was pleasantly surprised to find it in stock and available for order on play.com It is ordered and...

Geek 08 OCT 2010 Archive

The end is nigh for .Mac Homepages

Received a sad email from Apple this afternoon: .Mac HomePage viewing will be discontinued on November 8, 2010 Dear MobileMe member, Over a year ago, we...

Geek 08 OCT 2010 Archive

Everything Everywhere - Orange/T-Mobile Unite

Last year it was announced that Orange and T-mobile would be merging to create the largest mobile network provider. This of course didn't mean anything in real...

Geek 20 SEPT 2010 Archive

BBC = Epic FAIL

Just a very quick post. Tonight is the season premiere of Spooks on the BBC. Great I have been looking forward to this for ages, took my Sky+HD to BBC HD, 9pm,...

Geek 23 AUG 2010 Archive

Apple's iTV Set for September Launch With iAd-Supported Channels, iPad as Remote? - Mac Rumors

Apple's iTV Set for September Launch With iAd-Supported Channels, iPad as Remote? - Mac Rumors. In a blog post over the weekend, Digg co-founder Kevin Rose...

Geek 03 MAY 2010 Archive

It’s here! Say Hello to Techi.com

A great site that has just been launched from the guys over at WebDesignerWall. Definitely one to watch! And it’s finally out! Please meet our new site:...

Geek 05 APR 2010 Archive

Brand new laptop full of crap!

Just got back from Pcworld with a new Windows based laptop (I know but Sage Accounts only works on Windows and I'm fed up of not being able to have my Mac on...

Geek 06 MAR 2010 Archive

How not to advertise your product

Apple seem to have the world under a mystical spell. No matter what they release, it sells. It sells millions! On the train the other day it was iPhone central...

Geek 02 MAR 2010 Archive

Think about your end-user!

One of the things that is often overlooked in webdesign and development is the importance of how your end-user is actually going to use the site. To often it...

Geek 20 FEB 2010 Archive

iPad=iPooooo

I haven't had chance to make a proper post in quite a while but the big announcement from Apple last week deserved a quick note. Apple, what are you doing you...

Geek 29 OCT 2009 Archive

Windows 7 First Thoughts

Popped along to PC World yesterday and bought a copy of Windows 7 Professional (didn't seem to be any benefit to going for Ultimate). Now I was a little...

Geek 17 OCT 2009 Archive

Next-Generation Mac Pro to Receive Temporary Exclusive of Six-Core 'Gulftown' Processor?

Hardmac reports that an early 2010 revision to Apple's Mac Pro may see the inclusion of Intel's forthcoming six-core "Gulftown" processor as a temporary...

Geek 17 OCT 2009 Archive

Another New site!

I know I keep doing this, get a site, like it, hate it, delete it. It's hard being a perfectionist! So bear with me whilst I get this going hopefully this time...