NelsonColne kommune i.t.

Am I allowed to publicise my poetry anthology e-book here? A PDF e-book, 99p download...

oooh oooh vitalite, ooh ooh vitalite, that's right!
kiora it's too orangey for crows
the red car and the blue car had a race (milkyway)

I've just setup a new blog called cccca.net recentlyreviewed.net - covering cameras, cars, computers, coffee, ale, plus tea, laptops, reviews, projects etc. If you'd be interested in writing about any of these things, then please get in touch and I can invite you!

Handy tips for one and all (mostly about motorway driving) some entertaining, but also educational...

Crossply and Radial Tyres Don't Mix!
Keep your distance
Look in your mirror
Keep the 2 second rule
Don't use the hard shoulder!
Driving in roadworks
I pity the fool who doesn't keep his distance!
What to do if you break down on the motorway

Hey..
The gist of the story is that Students will be able to have 'tracker' software installed on their laptops so that in the event of the laptop being stolen the police will be able to trace its movements remotely.
Just wondering...
a - what software is available for tracking your stuff once its' got nicked..
b - or does it require some hardware?
c - is there anything for free
d - does it actually work
Any ideas welcome..

Here's a great list of the best 20 episodes of The Simpsons. Number 1 is "Marge vs the Monorail" (series 4, episode 12, disc 3 from the dvd boxset), and I'd definitely agree, it's one of the best episodes, and includes the Simpsons version of The Flintstones, Burns and Smithers dumping toxic waste in a park, and great use of the Axel F music, Mr Burns as hannibal lector, and Grandpa Simpson says "I ain' for it, I'm again' it". It even features Spock!

The list from Deadon feature a large number of episodes from season 4, it could be argued that season 4 of the Simpsons was one of the peaks in the show?

No. 1 - Marge vs the Monorail - Season 4, episode 12, disc3
No. 2 - One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish - Season 2, episode 11, disc
No. 3 - Last Exit to Springfield - Season 4, episode 17, disc
No. 4 - A Streetcar named Marge - Season 4, episode 2, disc1
No. 5 - Lisa the Greek - Season 3, episode 14, disc3
No. 6 - The New Kid on The Block - Season 8, episode 4, disc.
No. 7 - Mr Lisa Goes to Washington - Season 3, episode 2, disc
No. 8 - Homer the Heretic - Season 4, episode 4, disc1
No. 9 - Bart Sells His Soul - Season 7, episode 4, disc.
No. 10 - Burns Verkaufen der Kraftwerk - Season 2, episode 11, disc.
No. 11 - Kamp Krusty - Season 4, episode 1, disc1
No. 12 - Mr Plow - Season 4, episode 9, discx
No. 13 - El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage of Homer) - Season 8, episode 9, discx
No. 14 - Treehouse of Horror II - Season 3, episode 7, discx
No. 15 - 22 Short Films About Springfield - Season 7, episode 21, discx
No. 16 - The Cartridge Family - Season 9, episode 5, discx
No. 17 - Homer’s Enemy - Season 8, episode 23, discx
No. 18 - Homer Goes to College - Season 5, episode 3, discx
No. 19 - Hurricane Neddy - Season 8, episode 8, discx
No. 20 - Homer At The Bat - Season 3, episode 17, discx

The tally:
Season 4 - 7 episodes (35%)
Season 3 - 4 episodes (20%)
Season 8 - 4 episodes (20%)
Season 2 - 2 episodes (10%
Season 7 - 2 episodes (10%)
Season 5 - 1 episode (5%)

Labels: Best, Episode, Ever, Monorail, simpsons

ebay.co.uk cars 120,000 (and ebay.co.uk classic cars 1,300)
autotrader.co.uk 318,000
pistonheads.com 38,000 - free
gumtree (london) 33,000 - change to your area - free.
classiccarsforsale - 5,900
loot - 565,000

"Company promises to replace customers' laptops every three years with a brand new one, for free, as long as certain conditions are met."

Hmmm. Interesting, I thought.

Have just been made aware of this useful site. You can upload a file and it'll use a multitude of virus-scanners to examine it and let you see the results. Potentially useful for false positives from your virus detection software, or perhaps if you're writing a virus, to see if existing scanners can spot it. You're not writing a virus though, surely?

I thought I knew about all of Atari's systems, but apparently not, here's photos of the Atari Touch Tablet from 1984 tested with an 8 bit Atari 130XE 25 years later! Wow! (Found at engadget).

Labels: 1984, Atari, Engadget, Touch Tablet

If you're looking to buy something, why not check to see if it's on

HotUKDeals.com or
Money Saving Expert Deals Forum.

Is Tango truly in trouble, or are they just fun, creative marketing people? You decide. And then shut up about it - it's obvious.

If you want a DVD player, chances are most now support DIVX playback, but if they don't have a USB socket then you'll have to waste your time writing your files to DVD or CD for playback, alternatively you can get a DVD player with a USB socket and plug in a USB pen drive or USB hard drive*. If you want one of these magic machines from the future, have a look at these:

Cheapest: BIOSTEK - XC-150 USB/MPEG4 DVD Player £20 Pixmania via Amazon UK

Sigmatek - XS-700 Pro DVD Player - £29 Pixmania via Amazon

Cheapest with 1080p: Sumvision PHOENIX HDMI 1080p DVD Player with SD/MMC/MS Slot - £35 at Datakits (excluding postage) or £29 at Amazon (exc postage) - also features SD card slot for photos.

Cheapest branded: Philips DVP3260/05 - DVD Player with USB £39 at Amazon UK

Pioneer DV-310-K - DVD Player With USB Input (Black) - £53 at Amazon

Cheapest branded with 1080p: Philips DVP5990/05 - HDMI 1080p DivX Ultra DVD Player - £55 at Amazon UK

ONKYO DVSP406 DVD PLAYER (MULTI-REGION) 1080p - £67 at superfi

Pioneer DV-410V-K - DVD Player with HDMI Output, USB Input and High Definition JPEG Playback (Black) - £68 at Amazon

* Some struggle to power USB hard drives - I use an LG DVD player, and a Freecom XXS 250gb USB hard drive and that works fine.

Labels: Divx, DVD Player, MPEG4, USB

Best things of 2008 :- Lots of great cameras, all cheaper than ever, loads with image stabilisation, and wide angle lenses: Best budget: Canon A590, Sony W130, Best compacts: Olympus 1030SW, Panasonic FX150, Best zoom Pansonic TZ5, Canon SX110 IS, Best DSLRs: Olympus E510 (or E520), Canon 450D, see more here. Expect even cooler stuff next year including Olympus' Micro Four Thirds camera.

Second hand cars are now seriously cheap eg Ford Focus 2005 model (new shape) around £3500 on Autotrader.

Interest rate extremely low - so if you've got the right bank and mortgage type your mortgage could be much much cheaper.

Best technology of 2008: In my opinion is the Intel Core 2 Quad Core - 2.4ghz quad core chip was around £100 at it's lowest price this year - excellent performance and amazing price.

Biggest dissapointment of 2008: Spore - nasty DRM, didn't live up to the hype at all, not worth buying. Oh, and the awful financial market throughout the world.

Labels: 2008, Best, List, Worst