“What makes you say that?” I asked.

“It says so on his twitter profile.”

Fair enough I thought, but when I met him he was just frank and very funny.

The video of the panel we did at the #140conf is floating around somewhere in the ether. I may even drop it in a blog soon.

What I have here in the mean time is a brief conversation with Paul at the end of the day. We were on the way out the door and both of us had cold beer on our minds. That’s probably why this is not so much an interview as a chat in a corridor over a conference when what we really wanted (and had later) was a chat over a beer.. well away from the conference.

There is more about Paul Carr on his Wikipedia page..

Linked Here is the article he wrote for the Guardian while at the 140conf

This video was filmed with the assistance of Matt (@barnstormed) and is also on the Open University You Tube channel so go view it there and show some love..

Apparently there are a few that work floating around and it is something to do with some using the firewire voltage and some using USB voltage that is the issue.

Up until now I have been using the Power Monkey Explorer and it’s iPod adapter when out and about. It only seemed to last a few minutes but it was enough to top up my iPhone till I got to a plug socket.

I have a solar panel set up I like to use when on a shoot or as I did at the Geeknbury Festival but up until now I have had to use the mains plug adapter with an inverter into the cigarette lighter socket.

Not any more though. Today whilst in Milton Keynes I managed to find something that actually works.

I had popped into town to go to the Apple store but it wasn’t there I found the working charger. When I asked them, they told me that due to the new iPhone 3G not working with any of their previous 3rd party car chargers, they had to discontinue all makes!

Sheesh.. You would think Apple would have thought of looking into supplying a mobile charger for their pride and joy prior to it’s release.

I left disheartened but just a few doors down in the O2 store they told me they had just taken delivery (2 in stock) of an new car charger called the XtremeMac Incharge Auto.

At the inflated price of £14.99 ($30) I still thought I would take a chance and after the other devices I have tried recently, this turned out to be third time lucky.

Although it works, the packaging has no mention of the iPhone 3G, just the iPhone and the iPod like all the others I have tried. Still i’m not complaining. I’m very gratefull in fact, as now I can feed my power hungry iPhone whilst on the move. And Lord know it needs it.

I have been loving the apps especially Life Cast by @SleepyDog but blogging on the move with all the GPS functionality is draining the battery before the day is out.

Forget the new plastic back.. they should have stuck some solar cells on it.

It’s been a real pain in the ass finding this basic accessory for my new phone. I hopes this will assist you if you are having similar issues and should you come across any other makes that work, please leave a note in the comments.

Thanks for reading.

UPDATE: I now use a Griffin PowerJolt Plus with the iPhone 4s & the iPad. It kicks out the 2.1amps needed.

I have been testing it with the Mac Book Air and it all works splendidly. I am looking forward to testing it further at the Larmer Tree Festival and of course my own festival Geeknbury.

This is what technology should be doing, liberating us. Check out the Qik posts below.

Update: Unfortunately the quick video linked here http://qik.com/video/120076 does not seem to work any more. Sorry.

On the 24th to the 27th of July I will be in a field near Hambledon in Surrey whether you guys want to join in or not.
I will most likely have a T-shirt on saying ‘Geeknbury 2008′ and although I don’t know exactly how many people are required to make a festival, I will be proudly stating that this is the first ever Geeknbury.. and history will note it so.

The idea for a Geeknbury is a few years old in my mind but up until a few weeks ago I had no idea how to make it happen. It was already the summer when I had decided to actually do something and bumping into Rachel Clarke and then being introduced to Rebecca Caroe turned the idea into a possibility.

Rebecca already has a private party/festival (Vann) she puts on every year and was happy to have Geeknbury as a bolt on to her event. All we need to make this happen is find bands, activities, events, inspiration and most importantly of all Geeks!

The existing festival runs from Saturday till Sunday but the Geeknbury Geeks can arrive on Thursday night and have a little extra time to strum guitars, tweet around the camp fire and burn marshmallows.

So I guess this is a rallying cry for all those people who are really interested in being a part of Geeknbury 2008 to put their hands up and minds together so we can make this happen.

It is a family (and geek) friendly festival with limited 2 meg wifi but openings for all imaginations to run riot and get creative.

Tickets are £50 for adults and £20 for all kids over 4 years old.

For this you get entry for the festival, camping, access to all the music amenities and activities and a certain amount of food and beer (Saturday night dinner, beer/cider/soft drinks and Sunday morning bacon butties plus tea and coffee.) Not to mention the good times, connections made and great memories to take away.

(There are four staff/helper positions available that will pay £50 and all the above for free.)

If you look at the Wiki at http://geeknbury.pbwiki.com/ you will see a more up to date progress list..

But In A nut.. what we have sorted so far:

Large field – 6 acres
Loos – 5 portable
Tents – 2 – one large 40 foot by 20 foot and one 20×20 foot
Food & Beer – provided for Saturday night dinner, beer/cider/soft drinks and Sunday morning bacon butties, Coffee and tea (all covered by paid for ticket holders)
Electricity – a wired spur from the main house
Hot tubs – 2 x 8 person (one for kids, one for adults) Bring your swimmers!
Wifi – is available but currently low, probably about 2 mb
Fire pit

Entertainment
Making water rockets from empty plastic bottles (they fire 60 foot into the air!)
Team games – non-stop cricket, rounders, football
Garden tours – Gertrude Jeykll water garden
Band(s) for Saturday night. Main evening act (jazz/blues/soul review with singer Gwyn Allen fronting), and I think main afternoon act, Isadore & Clay (folk rock) & a classical octet.
Yoga
Tai Chi
Casper the Rocket Man (with two helicopters.)
a Monster truck that runs on rocket fuel.
Childrens activities eg play, mask making.

..and here are some ideas for things we may need:

Films, a projector and screen
More music/bands and an open mic stage perhaps?
More accessible power to charge laptops and mobiles (Solar power?)
Better wifi and a mobile booster aerial
A Silent Disco
Massage
Meditation
..and so on..

So can you help? If you have any ideas for features, shows, acts or classes leave a comment below or DM me on Twitter

Colin Rogal is the Music Coordinator but is abroad filming a documentary till the 7th of July so please bat all ideas and suggestions in my direction. (leave a comment below)

Tickets can be purchased by sending your request with an address via paypal to.. rebecca@caroe.com

..You can also guarantee yourself tickets by making a cheque out for the full amount payable to ‘Vann Summer Fest‘ and sending it to:

Rebecca Caroe
7 Vicarage Close
Waterbeach
Camebridge
CB25 9QG

So if you can help out in any way, be it with the organising, funding, sponsorship, performing, teaching or supplying of anything that can be put to good festival use.. please don’t hesitate to get in touch!

(p.s Big thanks to Derek Mantle for making a logo for the festival at super short notice.)

Check out the GEEKNBURY PHREADZ CHANNEL to see some of the action.