Wednesday, November 19, 2008
The IT Crowd - Season 3 - Starts Friday
BoingBoing - if it's anything like the last series then expect to be able to watch it online, on Channel4's website here (or on 4od).
Saturday, November 01, 2008
What kind of sick freak...
Came up with regional DVDs, regional DVD players, unlocked dvd players (LG) that can't successfully play a brand new US DVD, region locked Windows DVD playback software (Windows Media Player), and DVD drives in computers that spin up so loud you can't even hear the sound on the DVD!!! Why oh why is the DVD system so full of crap solutions!!!???
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Sony Ericsson C905 - 8mp Camera Phone
If you want a decent camera in a phone, then it looks like the Sony C905 is the best option.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
American flight security...
"“Maybe if you lit it on fire, he’d pay attention,” I said, risking arrest for making a joke at airport security. (Later, Schneier would carry two bottles labeled saline solution—24 ounces in total—through security. An officer asked him why he needed two bottles. “Two eyes,” he said. He was allowed to keep the bottles.)"
12oz Bottles of liquid labelled "Saline Solution" (for contact lenses) are allowed, other liquids over 3oz aren't allowed... link
12oz Bottles of liquid labelled "Saline Solution" (for contact lenses) are allowed, other liquids over 3oz aren't allowed... link
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
Anyone use bloglines?
Anyone else use bloglines? My rss feeds seem to have completely dried up!? (Hence why I'm updating this to see if bloglines changes...)
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Monkeys - the answer to all lifes problems...
Monkey serves in restaurant, and sort of a monkey solving a problem: man dresses as monkey to scare monkeys away.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Twitter?
Anyone use twitter.com? - I do and you can find me here. So far I see little point in it, as it's like your facebook status, and you can read other people's status. And that's about it. But it's much more focused, so if you wanted to follow some random dudes updates (for example you might be able to find interesting people to follow), it's much easier to use twitter than facebook, plus you can put your updates on there, and they'll automatically update your facebook status (when you add the twitter app to facebook).
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Panda Stabbed In Face With Celery
You've seen a million optical illusions. You're sick of them. So here's another. There's no panda.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Google Chrome Browser to be released today...
Google to launch web browser today perfect timing really since Opera is now full of bugs.
Google Chrome Links:
Download from here
Google blog
Screenshots at Hexus.net
Google Chrome Links:
Download from here
Google blog
Screenshots at Hexus.net
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Would you pay for Anti-Virus Software?
I know we've talked about free anti-virus software previously, and also free anti-spyware software and backup software - but would you actually pay for anti virus / firewall / anti spyware software / backup software? Even when there's free stuff out there? I've recently been trying some anti-virus / internet security software and found the following, some of it seems fairly reasonably priced:
Kaspersky AV - £35 for 3 pc license, 1yr - does AV software, scans your email, even tells you when you're missing security updates. This seems to work well - but the full "internet security" version is only £30 which makes this one seem expensive. It seems to go further than the free AV software by telling you when Outlook needs a security update for example. However - it did detect a friends 12,000 MP3s as containing viruses and promptly deleted them all!
Bullguard Internet Security - £15 for 3 pc license, ?yr - this does anti virus software, anti spyware, firewall, spamfilter, and online backup. Appears to be excellent value for money, comes with a clear and easy to understand manual, and the spam filter and online backup could be useful, especially as you get 5gb (!) of online storage. The online backup could in fact be one of the most appealling features of this software as it provides full scheduling, some advanced options, such as keeping different versions of files, and allows you to compress the backup and even encrypt it with a passphrase. So, 3 PCs backed up online for £15, sounds like a complete bargain to me. The anti virus software scan seems quite quick, found a virus inside an email that avast didn't, and unlike some other software doesn't slow the PC down even on a fairly low spec Windows XP laptop. The software seems very easy to use, with a clear and logical user interface.
Norton Internet Security - is £40 for 3 pcs, and is rubbish, and to be avoided like the plague. Whenever I've used it on PCs or experienced it because it's come pre-installed it's always seemed to cause problems and slowness, and very little protection because the pre-installed versions only lasted 90 days.
McAfee Internet Security - £22 for 3pc license. We use Mcafee AV software in work, and it's generally good as an anti virus solution - with very regular updates - and generally good and finding and removing viruses. I've not tried the internet security so don't know what it's like.
Microsoft OneCare - £20, 3users. This seems to be a combination of anti virus software, anti-spyware, anti-phishing, and firewall - which is a bit odd, especially as Microsoft already provide a free firewall, free anti-spyware software, and free phishing protection with the latest versions of IE. It does offer auto defrag, backup and a few other features, and I guess this simplifies it all, so you can manage it all in one package without having to maintain different pieces of software, and I guess that's the appeal of using an "all in on" internet security package.
There's also AVG Internet Security (£40, 3 users, 2 years), and Panda Internet Security (£18, 3 users), Trend (£40), and Bitdefender (£18).
What seems to be somewhat strange about all of this is the fact that some of these solutions don't tell you how long the subscription will last - this could have a massive effect on value for money, and PC protection, ideally you'd want something that will last several years without you having to spend money every couple of years. The prices seem to vary quite dramatically from £17 to £40 - with £40 obviously seeming a little too expensive, especially if you have problems with the software, or can find free software instead. And do you really need a 3rd party Firewall when Windows XP (SP2) comes with a built in firewall?
I guess you could setup free software to do everything these programs do, but pc security, data protection and backups have become something even people with very little PC knowledge want to do - and this software can simplify the whole process dramatically - and for this reason I guess it could be worth buying this software. Just think of the time saved by using one of these programs.
OneCare seems like it would integrate the best into Windows, and provide better automatic updates, and PC performance optimisation, and whilst it does provide backups, it doesn't provide online backup, whereas Bullguard seems to provide the best offsite / online backup solution.
Kaspersky AV - £35 for 3 pc license, 1yr - does AV software, scans your email, even tells you when you're missing security updates. This seems to work well - but the full "internet security" version is only £30 which makes this one seem expensive. It seems to go further than the free AV software by telling you when Outlook needs a security update for example. However - it did detect a friends 12,000 MP3s as containing viruses and promptly deleted them all!
Bullguard Internet Security - £15 for 3 pc license, ?yr - this does anti virus software, anti spyware, firewall, spamfilter, and online backup. Appears to be excellent value for money, comes with a clear and easy to understand manual, and the spam filter and online backup could be useful, especially as you get 5gb (!) of online storage. The online backup could in fact be one of the most appealling features of this software as it provides full scheduling, some advanced options, such as keeping different versions of files, and allows you to compress the backup and even encrypt it with a passphrase. So, 3 PCs backed up online for £15, sounds like a complete bargain to me. The anti virus software scan seems quite quick, found a virus inside an email that avast didn't, and unlike some other software doesn't slow the PC down even on a fairly low spec Windows XP laptop. The software seems very easy to use, with a clear and logical user interface.
Norton Internet Security - is £40 for 3 pcs, and is rubbish, and to be avoided like the plague. Whenever I've used it on PCs or experienced it because it's come pre-installed it's always seemed to cause problems and slowness, and very little protection because the pre-installed versions only lasted 90 days.
McAfee Internet Security - £22 for 3pc license. We use Mcafee AV software in work, and it's generally good as an anti virus solution - with very regular updates - and generally good and finding and removing viruses. I've not tried the internet security so don't know what it's like.
Microsoft OneCare - £20, 3users. This seems to be a combination of anti virus software, anti-spyware, anti-phishing, and firewall - which is a bit odd, especially as Microsoft already provide a free firewall, free anti-spyware software, and free phishing protection with the latest versions of IE. It does offer auto defrag, backup and a few other features, and I guess this simplifies it all, so you can manage it all in one package without having to maintain different pieces of software, and I guess that's the appeal of using an "all in on" internet security package.
There's also AVG Internet Security (£40, 3 users, 2 years), and Panda Internet Security (£18, 3 users), Trend (£40), and Bitdefender (£18).
What seems to be somewhat strange about all of this is the fact that some of these solutions don't tell you how long the subscription will last - this could have a massive effect on value for money, and PC protection, ideally you'd want something that will last several years without you having to spend money every couple of years. The prices seem to vary quite dramatically from £17 to £40 - with £40 obviously seeming a little too expensive, especially if you have problems with the software, or can find free software instead. And do you really need a 3rd party Firewall when Windows XP (SP2) comes with a built in firewall?
I guess you could setup free software to do everything these programs do, but pc security, data protection and backups have become something even people with very little PC knowledge want to do - and this software can simplify the whole process dramatically - and for this reason I guess it could be worth buying this software. Just think of the time saved by using one of these programs.
OneCare seems like it would integrate the best into Windows, and provide better automatic updates, and PC performance optimisation, and whilst it does provide backups, it doesn't provide online backup, whereas Bullguard seems to provide the best offsite / online backup solution.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Very clever video editing technique...
Engadget have details (and a video) showing how photographs can be inserted into (low quality) video to increase resolution (by 4x), increase dynamic range (making HDR video), enhance exposure, remove objects from video, or alter content in video in other ways - even change a pic of you baby for a picture of Dave Mustaine rocking big time with Megadeth.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Friday, August 08, 2008
Sunday, August 03, 2008
Radiohead Nude Remix made with a Spectrum, Printer, Scanner, and numerous Hard Drives...
It takes a little while to get going but this Nude remix has to be one of the most awesome things I've ever seen* - for reference this is the original Nude - Radiohead track, and this is how you turn hard drives into speakers! * I may have seen more awesome things, I can't remember.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
£250 for a Quad Core PC!
Need a PC upgrade? Want a quad core? You can get the following for £257 including postage and VAT. This will get you a 2.4ghz quad core that should easily overclock to 3ghz with little effort.
Case (inc PSU) - Asus TM982 Black MicroATX Case with 400w aPFC PSU £27.50 £32.31
CPU (includes heatsink) - Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 SLACR, Kentsfield Core, Socket 775, 2.40 GHz 1066MHz 8MB Cache, Retail £99.49 £116.90
RAM - 2GB Dane-Elec Celenade Major, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 6, Retail £18.99 £22.31
Motherboard (with VGA, Sound etc on board) - Gigabyte GA-G31M-S2L iG31 Express, S775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, uATX, VGA £31.00 £36.43
HD (sata) - 160 GB Maxtor STM3160211/15AS DiamondMax 20, SATA II, 7200 rpm, 2MB Cache, 9 ms £21.33 £25.06
DVDRW (sata) - Samsung TS-H653N 20x DVD±R, 8x DVD±DL, DVD+RW x8/-RW x6, x12 DVD-RAM SATA Lightscribe Black OEM £12.49 £14.68
Although if you have a little spare cash, I'd personally get 2x 1gb as the ram or 2x 2gb as ram so that it's being run in dual channel mode (quicker), and upgrade the HD. You can also get free postage (basically £10 off) if you're a participating member of Hexus.net forums.
Case (inc PSU) - Asus TM982 Black MicroATX Case with 400w aPFC PSU £27.50 £32.31
CPU (includes heatsink) - Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 SLACR, Kentsfield Core, Socket 775, 2.40 GHz 1066MHz 8MB Cache, Retail £99.49 £116.90
RAM - 2GB Dane-Elec Celenade Major, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 6, Retail £18.99 £22.31
Motherboard (with VGA, Sound etc on board) - Gigabyte GA-G31M-S2L iG31 Express, S775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, uATX, VGA £31.00 £36.43
HD (sata) - 160 GB Maxtor STM3160211/15AS DiamondMax 20, SATA II, 7200 rpm, 2MB Cache, 9 ms £21.33 £25.06
DVDRW (sata) - Samsung TS-H653N 20x DVD±R, 8x DVD±DL, DVD+RW x8/-RW x6, x12 DVD-RAM SATA Lightscribe Black OEM £12.49 £14.68
Although if you have a little spare cash, I'd personally get 2x 1gb as the ram or 2x 2gb as ram so that it's being run in dual channel mode (quicker), and upgrade the HD. You can also get free postage (basically £10 off) if you're a participating member of Hexus.net forums.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Apple iPhone 3G Reviews...
Here's a quick 3 person review of the new 3G iPhone. It still lacks some pretty essential multimedia phone features that have come to be expected for several years now, and I'm pretty sure if your latest Sony / Nokia / Motorola / Samsung phone didn't have these features you'd be pretty "pissed off"... and yet for some reason people still buy the iPhone, even when it's missing:
Video recording
Copy and Paste
MMS message sending
Java
etc
Video recording
Copy and Paste
MMS message sending
Java
etc
Saturday, July 05, 2008
Neat Opera Tweak...
here is a great tweak for Opera Speed Dial - it lets you add more "buttons" to the speed dial. For those of you not familiar with Opera speed dial - it's basically your home page but with 9 links to your favourite sites... this tweak lets you add as many sites as you want. If you haven't tried Opera or don't use Opera, then this feature may convince you otherwise! :)
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