Interesting Mac Virus situation outlined here: linky. Facts such as: there are no viruses for OS X, there are literally over 100,000 viruses for Windows. Pretty interesting reading.

In other PC related news, I upgraded W2k on my work pc to WXP, it's a P4 2.6ghz/512mb/40gb hard drive machine, and now that it's got WXP on it's flipping slow! (Yeah I know it's best to do a fresh install but that would've taken ages, and upgrades should work, otherwise they shouldn't offer the feature.)

And a general appeal: does anyone know where I can buy one of these? (I know you can buy them in Singapore airport, but as I'm unlikely to be passing by Singapore airport anytime soon, I doubt I'll be able to get one).

remember joanne fothergill? well i found her wedding photos! here! (if you're out there, feel free to say hello! - email address on the right)

Worried your partner is cheating? click here to buy GPS panties.

factual post: there's a video of a fat kid dancing here.

dude and his company switch the mac citing windows/intel as "a national economic security risk". intel head chief recommends people switch to mac. here.

link

Please observe a digital minutes' silence for the voice of Tony the Tiger who is dead aged 91.

Okay, I'm on my 3rd PC in as many days that I've fixed using Firefox - this is due to Internet Explorer being broken and completely unfixable no matter how many times you try and reinstall it. (ooh look, you can get an Internet Explorer theme for Firefox so that people think they're still using Internet Explorer. Plus it seems to speed things up. link.)

this guy, wrote about getting a lomo camera. well worth a read. he also setup route79.com which is his website about his bus ride to and from work in London.

link

Scientist predicts entire contents of human brain could be downloaded to a supercomputer by 2050. Paris Hilton's could be done today using a Commodore 64.

Hey check it out, a big Atari logo on the top of the E3 expo - who'da'thunk it? Probably not the real Atari anyway (who pretty much went bankrupt, sold it to JTS (whoever they were/are), who sold it to Hasbro, who sold it to it's current owners Infogrames, who promptly realised how cool the Atari name was/is/could be, and renamed themselves Atari). Maybe Blade Runner will come true, and in the future massive Atari adverts will be everywhere? E3 coverage at engadget.

nappyflash

Yes, its better than happy slapping, its Nappy Flashing teeside

link

Check out the human Pac Man in Singapore.

link

David Beckham wants to go to the Moon when he retires from football. Evidently the irony not lost on the space cadet.

Alright chaps - I'm thinking of launching another blog similar to this - a community thing devoted to the weird, odd and downright strange stuff in the news etc. To save me wasting my time can you guys tell me if you would sign up? If so it shall be done.

my post was going to say this:

Aw, isn't that nice, Microsoft have released a "Malicious Software removal tool" designed to remove some of the common nasty viruses, like SDbot etc. get it here.

but instead i have to write the following:

Microsoft, in an attempt to replace every software company in existance, have released a "Malicious Software Removal Tool". It's designed to get rid of some of the most common viruses such as sdbot etc. The only problem is that it doesn't actually work! Twice I ran it on a machine that had SDBot, yet it told me there was nothing wrong with the pc. Luckily Mcafee have a free tool that actually works, called stinger, get it here.

link

Liquid metal used to cool next gen graphics cards. John Connor concerned...

Cantilever used to weigh DNA molecule - Lilliputt surrenders.

link

link

In a startling departure from typical American life the FAA will not allow billboards in space - the law will be amended to forbid "intrusive zero gravity advertising".

Well what do you know? The Americans get something right for once!

The history of PDAs
here, with a lovely picture of the Atari Portfolio [jillajang]. Found here [engadget]. I don't know what this guys doing with his portfolio but it certainly looks interesting.

link

193 year old bottle of whiskey found during demolition. Bet that tastes smoooooooooth...

link

Kelsey Grammer is Beast in X Men 3. That sucks.

link

The government department responsible for "scare stories pulled out of my backside" issues warning that a massive geomagnetic storm is headed Earth's way. The "headline pulled from my backside" gives the usual "headlines from backsides warnings"; ie,media and communications disruption and mobile network damage and/or blackouts. No reports as to whether the "scare story pulled from my backside" is accurate or, as suspected by many, just another "scare story pulled from my backside".

link

Picture the scene - you've unloaded about 100 litres of insect repellant in to the air - it's an aerosol so clearly burns very well - what do you think could happen if you say... turned on your pc?

link

Al Qaeda get's nasty. It can't really pronounce "Condoleeza Rice" so it goes for the pithy "The Crusaders Hag" instead! Very amusing!!!

link

The Japanese have developed a fuel cell that runs on blood. Apparently it will assist in powering artificial body components. It also begs the question - if we went to war for oil then what would we do for this? Not sure if I want to even begin to contemplate the answer to that one.

Free Anti-Virus Software

Free anti-virus software... what do you use, is it anygood? (I'm particularly interested in free software rather than stuff you have to pay for)

Avast is free. V4.6 Seems to use about 10mb when running on XP (with 96mb ram) - seems to do the job. 8.8mb download. Has an annoying spinning A next to the clock in the taskbar when it's doing stuff that you can't seem to switch off. Can be set to scan for viruses as a screensaver.

AVG Free (now available from http://free.grisoft.com). V7.0 seems to use about 21mb when running on W2K (with 384mb ram). "The complex anti-virus protection for your computer." is their tagline! It doesn't sound very appealing! 10mb download.

Anti-Vir also works with Linux. (6.2mb download). Also includes protection from 'internet diallers'. One of the programs is called 'Luke Filewalker' which is pretty cool. Seems to use about 12mb when running on W2K (with 96mb ram).

I couldn't find any other anti virus software that was fully featured. (some would protect your system but wouldn't remove viruses if you did get infected, and others were just web based scanners).

BBC NEWS | Scotland | New BBC weather map causes storm

BBC NEWS | Scotland | New BBC weather map causes storm: "He said England had a landmass which is less than twice Scotland's area." What!?! Why do people say such stupid confusing things!??

don't use msn search (http://search.msn.co.uk/) it's ****! (GRRR!) search results are useless and contain pop-up porn adverts. (i was setting up a fresh machine with a fresh install of windows, so hadn't got round to installing a pop-up blocker like google toolbar). whilst we're on the subject of microsoft crappy-ness: (web)hotmail doesn't even work properly with ie6/wxp on a fresh install! (/rant over)

link

Pensioners will be able to get their pension in the pub after a Clitheroe pub gets a post office inside. In other news Clitheroe pensioners are skint because they spend all of their pensions in the pub.

link

City forced to change forcast from "Run for your lives" to "Oops, we messed up" after looking at the wrong weather map. Just goes to show that all the greatest technology is still at ther mercy of the average goon.

link

Sony PS3 specs here.

link

Toads are becoming extinct so biologists are fitting them with free backpacks. There's a punchline somewhere in here but I'm not entirely sure what it is.

BBC NEWS | UK | 'Amarillo' video crashes MoD PCs

BBC NEWS | UK | 'Amarillo' video crashes MoD PCs (watch it here, it was filmed by British soldiers in Iraq)

New XBOX360 details. (3x IBM power PC 3.2ghz CPUs + ATI)
New Playstation3 details. (1x Cell 3.2ghz CPU (IBM PowerPC - in the core is has: 7 x SPE @3.2GHz as well as other stuff) + Nvidia + 1080p hi-def support)
Nintendo Revolution expected in 2006 (IBM + ATI).

The Gflops of these things is 115 for the XBOX360, and 218 for the PS3 - in comparison a PC (P4?) at 3.2ghz does about 8. (apparently) Note the traditional retard comments people leave such as "XBOX360 SUCKSSSSSSSS PS3 ALL THE WAY".

burnley burns

burnley fires burn:
Arsonists set fire station alight
A fire station in Lancashire was set alight by arsonists while firefighters were out on a call.

Crews from the Burnley station were attending a house and a car fire at about midnight on Sunday.

The firefighters returned to find flames coming from the foyer of the Belvedere Road base.

It is believed that flammable liquid was sprayed into an emergency phone at the station and then set alight. Police are investigating.

HyperOS are developing a (upto) 6GB RAM based hard drive that you put in your computer - this would let you boot up Windows (etc) SUPER FAST! Check out the picture of it and details at HyperOS. Sweeet!

Take a trip on the "ride a bike at the speed of light simulator"

link

Spellcheckers of the world untie

link

Spelling mistakes will no longer be penalised in English tests. I don't know what to say.

link wedding toast.

Free ipods. apparently. well I've been checking them out, and various people* claim that you can actually get a free ipod from them. I've checked out about 3 of them now, and this one (freeipoduk) seems the best... you just sign up, and apply for 2 services (for example 2 free credit cards), and then get 5 of your mates to do the same thing, then you get a free ipod. This one seems much better than the others, because signing up for the offers is free, whereas nearly all the other one's make you pay money to get offers.

So anyway - all you'd need to do is sign up using this referral link, then if 5 of you sign up and complete the offers (such as applying for a credit card you never use, costing you nothing) then I could get a free ipod. (and you could too by getting 5 other people to sign up using your referral link).

* these people have setup this website to help you get the free stuff.
You can also try and get a Free Creative Zen Micro, or a free 20gb ipod.

Hot on the heels of the dumbass law pased in Denver outlawing Pit Bull breed dogs (the upshot of which was that police went through the state and killed every single one) comes yet another "It could only happen in America law". In the state of Kentucky it is now against the law to fertilise more than one human egg at a time during the in vitro fertilisation process - which. correct me if I'm wrong, is supposed to aid infertile couples in the process of childbearing.

story here

I'm far from well versed in these matters but surely the nature of IVF means that hedging your bets would be a useful thing to do?

Hmmmmm.

monkey chai tea: Factors to consider when making websites.

monkey chai tea: Factors to consider when making websites. I've written a long fairly waffley post about making websites - I'd appreciate your comments and thoughts on it.

Ipod On The Wane?

Looks like another celebrity Ipod is on the way - after U2 came Coldplay. Apparently this mint green (ugh) creation will be a fair trade (don't get me started) Ipod. I'm no expert but I think celebrity endorsements are the first sure fire signal of the begginning of the end for the mighty white.

Stuff magazine gives the short and skinny here

The Force -O-Meter

Being new here I must make a couple of assumptions with this post:

1. Being a nerd fest Star Wars appreciation is taken as compulsory

and

2. Link dumps are OK (as long as they're good ones).

With that out of the way I'm sure you'd all like to take the test to get your rating on the Force -O-Meter

I have And it said "Mace Windu, you are a supreme bad ass who resonates with the force. Yoda is your best mate."

Having said all this I'm not entirely sure what all of this means or whether it's a good or bad thing. But hey, I resonate with the force. I like the sound of that...

Bionic Technology?

Having already read this story I am forced to conclude that the claims of a bionic arm are somewhat entusiastic - most probably an over-exuberant journalist but this is a cool story - certainly for medical research anyway. I'm sure Matt could enlighten us all...

full story here

dapreview.net: News

dapreview.net: News MpEye HTS-200 preview - an ultra compact 5gb mp3 player with a small colour screen.

$200 laptop running linux developed in india. follow one of the links and you'll get a picture of it. it looks a bit like a more advanced amstrad nc100.

joshwaller.co.uk - i've now got http://joshwaller.co.uk / www.joshwaller.co.uk - to replace the .tk domain - so please feel free to update your bookmarks, and enjoy the new advert free joshwaller.co.uk site. :)

funny picture. link.

is it against the law to urinate in public in the UK?

bbc news | india: "He said that under the new scheme, city corporation officials would roam the streets and impose on-the-spot fine on anyone found urinating in public.The offenders are overwhelmingly men who are also inclined to spit in public as well. But so far there are no signs that that they will also be penalised for this habit."

Sri-Lanka

Hello, I'm back. I've posted some stuff about Sri-Lanka here, with some photos here.

There's also loads of photos here.

Drive in Tea shop

At Greystone House Farm in Stainton, (Cumbria)
"tractor drivers can now phone in their order, and it will be taken out to their vehicle."
"We will take the order out to them, because farmers don't like trailing into posh tea rooms."
'This is possibly the greatest advancement in British culture since round tea bags.' says matt.

Compressed pixels

"With modern ethernet connections, you can get enough performance by sending through compressed pixels."
All you have to do is stretch them out again at the other end.

Never live alone

A washing machine has been invented that cannot be used by the same person twice in a row. This is designed to help lazy men to take their turn at doing that other stuff thats not TV.

Vote for yourself

There is going to be a General Election this week. Terrible inconvenience: I'll have to get up early if I want to vote, as Thursday is a busy day for me.
Anyway, if you were considering voting, there are a bunch of options you might not have previously considered going for, as detailed here.
I'm lucky in that I have the opportunity to vote for George Weiss, of the Vote for yourself party. He is a squatter who's landlord never fixed the leaky roof, who became very rich indeed. May that be a lesson to you.

Learn to use a typewriter

just as phil learnt to program by randomly pressing keys on his zx spectrum, kids in india are learning to use computers by figuring it out for themselves.