Bill G. Bennett

NEC e808 Review... About 9 Years Late

2012-02-25T18:33:00.000Z

One of the first phones on the Three network in the UK was the NEC e808, and being the gadget-loving nerd that I am, I am proud to say I owned one.

Recently, I found it in a box, along with the original charger and USB cable, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. It still turns on - sometimes (about half the time it gets stuck on "Reading USIM Data" and you have to turn it off and try again), so I thought I'd make a video review to show how it worked, what it could do, and how deathly slow it was...

For anyone wondering, I never did manage to actually get the photos off the phone - the MMS settings were old and unchangeable, and the USB cable didn't want to work even after installing the correct drivers. However, I managed to keep it booted up just long enough to take photos of the screen...

Keeping Up With Demand of the Market

2012-02-23T21:34:00.001Z

As everyone knows, the key to successful business is knowing your market and catering for it accordingly.

This is exactly why Superdrug will go far, as can be seen from this photo. Perfect for when you absolutely, positively, need some mascara, a Creme Egg, and a copy of UK Carp magazine.

Google Now Guesses Who You Are... How Right Is It?

2012-02-22T12:47:00.001Z

Every time you search Google, it makes a note of it. Every website you visit that has Google ads on, it's added to your file.

Now, Google has a page that shows you what it thinks is most important to you, based on what you do and where you go online - and it'll also try to guess your age and gender too.

It's guessed, however, that I'm a 35-44 year old Male whose interests include...

Computers & Electronics - Consumer Electronics - Game Systems & Consoles

Computers & Electronics - Software - Multimedia Software - Photo & Video Software

Internet & Telecom - Mobile & Wireless - Mobile Apps & Add-Ons - Ringtones & Mobile Goodies

Jobs & Education - Jobs - Job Listings

Shopping

Shopping - Apparel

Shopping - Gifts & Special Event Items

Shopping - Gifts & Special Event Items - Party & Holiday Supplies

Sports

Sports - Team Sports - Cheerleading

Close on some things, a bit off on others. Apparel and Cheerleading, eh...?

Visit Google's Ad Preferences page here and see how accurate it is, then come back and post in the comments below how well it did...

The Hell of Domino's Pizza - Double Charging

2012-02-20T21:43:00.000Z

Let me set the scene. It's last Friday night. Three friends and I are celebrating one of us getting a new job, and so we decided to order a load of pizza and other goodies.

One had his iPad to hand, so we loaded up the Domino's Pizza app, and chose what we wanted to eat. After a special offer we'd had through the mail, the total came to just under £50. Yes, we were hungry.

Nobody had cash on them, so I agreed to "be the bank" and pay on my credit card, and take bank transfers for everybody's share. I attempted to enter my card details, using their PayPal-powered system, only to be met with an error - "Incorrect Price". Thinking it was a temporary glitch, I tried again. Same error.

It was still stuck on the payment screen, with "total due" showing, so I decided to try my debit card instead. Still, the same error came up. I was starting to think the app was having some difficulty, so I went to the Domino's website instead, and re-entered the order there. (I must have missed something off, because the order had dropped by almost £2), but I paid with my debit card with no problems.

It turned out, after a quick call to my credit card company, and a check of PayPal.com, that my credit card had been charged twice for the two unsuccessful attempts. Not just that the money had been reserved, but actually fully taken. It took phone calls to the local branch to pass me to their head office, who I needed to email to get refunds.

Now, I check my debit card statement, and find that there are two more charges to that! Yes, they've taken a total of four payments just under £50 - that's £200 - to feed four people on pizza and cookies. So now, I need to get in touch with their head office yet again, to try and get another refund of the outstanding £50.

To boot, they got the order wrong when they did deliver it - some of the sides were cold, and two of the three pizzas were on the wrong bases.

Oh, and did I mention they're ignoring my requests for any compensation?

A Word To Today's Youth

2012-02-17T18:32:00.000Z

Apparently, I'm going to be 27 in a few weeks time. This officially makes me old - well, older than I was before.

Being older than I was before officially allows me to do things like giving advice to "the youth of today" (also known as "those whippersnappers").

My advice for today is thus - take school seriously. Learn stuff. Further yourself. Make yourself as desirable as possible to prospective employers.

Sure, party a bit, have fun, but at the same time don't consider it's "uncool" to get a few skills under your belt at the same time.

The main case in point is as follows. Throughout my time at school and college, I was a bit of a nerd. There was a very clear line between those who knuckled down for a bit of graft, and those who considered the measure of success in life to be how many pens you could flick at someone's head, or how many bags of Space Raiders you could steal from the corner shop.

Through the joys of Facebook, we can now resurrect this divide, by looking at the current employment situations of these two groups.

Group one - those who took time to develop themselves a bit - now work at places like MTV, the BBC, Hutchison, Aardman, the Police, the NHS - and many more (yes, myself included) even own their own businesses.

Group two, on the other hand - the ones that spent their school and college days (if they got as far as college, that is) - are now mostly unemployed, with the exception of one who's working the night shift at Morrison's, while most of the remainder is to be found sporting a profile picture of themselves with a beer and/or a broad, moaning about how the state is forcing them to attend the Jobcentre again.

You can imagine, of course, that the members of the first group are probably making good money, while those in the second group, well... aren't.

So yes, let that be my gem of wisdom for the day. Stay in school. Oh, and don't do drugs. That too.

The Story of How My Xbox Live Account Got Hacked

2012-02-13T12:16:00.000Z

So, this is annoying. My Xbox Live account has been compromised.

How did I know? Simple. I'd gained achievements for a game I don't own. FIFA 12, no less - which even if I did own it, I'd not want to be playing.

On checking my account a bit more, I'd noticed it had been played - using my Gamertag - for long enough on the 7th February to rack up not one, but three achievements.

This was ringing alarm bells in my head pretty quickly - obviously someone had gotten into my account. That's especially alarming, given that I use the same Windows Live ID for Xbox that I use for Live Messenger, SkyDrive, Windows Phone, ExpertZone, and other services too.

The next thing that set off a big klaxon was that my Microsoft Points balance - the currency that you can use to buy add-ons for games and so on, had dropped from nearly 2000 (about £20 worth) down to 60 - not enough to buy anything.

No prizes for guessing what they'd been spent on - game expansion packs for FIFA 12. Although, it took a bit of searching to work this out, because the Microsoft statement unhelpfully lists them only as "Premium Gold Jumbo", at a cost of 240 points each.

You'd think this was bad enough - but I then remembered that my credit card was linked to my Microsoft Billing account, so I figured a quick call to my card company was in order. Indeed, there was a transaction from the 9th February for $14.00 to Microsoft. $14.00 is the cost of a Microsoft Points refill. Some fine detective work there, Lou.

So now I've got a new credit card en route, with the old one blocked for fraud, and three days of not being able to play Xbox while the account is "suspended for investigation".

Suffice to say that if I ever (not that I will) find out who has been trying to jack my account, they'll be on the receiving end of a swift kick in the nuts.

Review: Mint and Mustard Restaurant, Taunton (Launch Night)

2012-02-09T21:45:00.001Z

The Mint and Mustard is a new Indian restaurant to open up in Taunton's Station Road. It promises great things, hoping to duplicate the success of it's Cardiff-based establishment that has earned a Michelin award.

We were lucky enough to be able to go along to the opening night tonight, attended by many including local business people, members of the press, Taunton MP Jeremy Browne, the town mayor, and some guy with a funny hat.

The place was packed. On arriving, the red carpet was out, two fire-jugglers flanking the entrance, and promotional staff checking names against the guest list at the door.

On entering, we were handed a glass of bubbly, and ushered inside. More on that booze in a minute. Unfortunately, nobody told us where to put our coats, so we spent five minutes battling every which way to find the coat rack hidden at the back of the room. It was at this point that one of the chefs slammed out of the two-way door that led through to the kitchen, causing me to spill my drink over myself and bang my head, without so much as an apology - just a glare and he disappeared back into the kitchen again.

There was no room downstairs, so we investigated the upstairs area. The decor of the whole place is very nice - authentic yet modern at the same time. They've obviously hired some very good interior designers.

Waiters were milling around with trays of cocktail sticks and nibbles. I walked up to one, picked up a cocktail stick - about to catch myself what looked to be a spicy prawn, and just as he saw me take the stick, he pulled the tray of food away from me and walked off. Unfortunately, cocktail sticks aren't that tasty or nutritious on their own, so I dumped it, and decided to try for a drink instead.

The bar is downstairs, so I walked down, and asked for a white wine for Nadine, and a Coke for myself. You see, being the responsible designated driver, I wouldn't want to be drinking and cause an accident on the way home. My request was met with a startling response - "We don't have soft drinks, just alcohol". WHAT?

I spied a couple of cartons of orange juice behind the bar, and asked if I could have a glass of that, only to be told "That's only for mixers". I had to ask again, reinforcing the fact that I was driving, to get a small (half-filled) glass of juice for myself.

That was the final straw. After being smashed in the back with a door, having food pulled away from me, and being (what I consider) unfairly goaded to drink (remember I'm also epileptic and can't drink a great deal anyway for health reasons), we grabbed our coats and left under an hour after we'd arrived.

We headed to a different food establishment for the evening.

YouTube "Content ID" Woes

2012-01-30T19:40:00.001Z

As many of you know, I like to post quite a few videos to YouTube. As the most popular online video sharing site, it makes sense.

However, recently, I've been getting quite a telling off from YouTube. They don't seem to like any videos that happen to have 3rd party content in. That's fair enough if I was ripping off music videos, or full programmes from the TV, but they seem to be taking issue to some much smaller infractions. Namely:

Music pirates, earlier today.

Videos with music playing in the background when it was filmed
Karaoke videos of chart songs
Cover versions of people jamming along to well-known songs

Now, come on. It's one thing to be out there stopping people from blatantly copying music, but it's completely another to be getting upset because a video happened to be filmed while a chart song was on the radio at the time in the next room.

Unfortunately, YouTube's terms of service mean that if you get three strikes - you're out. Not just from YouTube, but as they're owned by Google, your entire Google Account gets killed off. That includes your GMail, your Blogger account, and your Picasa albums, as well as Google Adsense too. So, my email would be gone, all my photos, videos, my website, and the monetisation stream from this site and my other online properties too.

That's just too high a risk to run... so I'm in the process of moving some videos over to Vimeo. Apologies if you're looking for a video and can't find it - it'll be back soon. Just not on YouTube.

ADDENDUM - 16 February 2012:
Just a quick side note for anyone reading this for more info on Content ID, YouTube have reached out to me and given me some info that has put some of my fears to rest and may help you too, so I've copy and paste it below for reference:

"a Content ID match (i.e. being notified that your content has been matched and ads maybe starting to appear) does not lead to a copyright strike. And further more, in the case that an account did get 3 copyright strikes and had the account terminated, that would only be your YouTube account - not the other Google services. Also, here's a blog post which talks about ways to have copyright strikes retired for 'good behavior' and after taking copyright school."

So indeed, straight from the source, your entire Google account won't get deleted if you're naughty on YouTube, and even if you are, you've still got a shot at redemption :)

ASDA Launches New "Smart Price" Logo

2012-01-21T23:04:00.001Z

Just a thought - but is it just me, or does the new logo for Smart Price...

...look a lot like the current (and has been for a while) logo for Walmart's "Great Value" brand?

You know, just saying.

And yes, I know Walmart owns Asda. That's the point I'm making - that they're slowly trying to turn Asda into Walmart without anyone noticing. Just you wait - in a few years, "Asda Smart Price" will become "Asda Great Value". Next, the word "Asda" will fall off the logo, to match the Stateside counterpart. The rest will be a slippery-slope-esque gradual p-take from there... ;-)

Oh, and while we're on the subject of Smart Price, don't forget Valentines' Day is coming up... or should that be Value-tines' day?

CES Roundup

2012-01-20T21:18:00.001Z

CES was amazing. It's so much bigger than I thought it would be, and I'm sure I could have walked around for days and still missed bits!

The Windows Phone team and the other VIPs were so cool. It was great to spend time with people on the same level, the same agenda, and the same level of nerdiness as myself.

Seeing Steve Ballmer's keynote was really good too - it was a real eye opener to find out what's next on the Microsoft roadmap, and how it all ties in to the bigger picture.

Thank you so much to all the VIP team for cooking up such a truly memorable, once-in-a-lifetime experience that I'll never forget.

Click here to see all the photos from the trip :)

New Business Cards

2011-12-30T21:08:00.000Z

I just wanted to show off my new business cards.

I hope they give the nerdier amongst you a chuckle :-)

The Dangers Of Mistaken Identity Online

2011-12-29T20:18:00.003Z

Everyone knows to keep their identity safe in the real world, but what about online?

Last night, I received an email from a building society addressed to a "Bill Bennett", confirming some details about a bank account that had been recently opened. The only catch was that it was for a different Bill Bennett - one who had mis-written his email address on his application form, and so all the correspondence was destined for my inbox. And my, what a mine of information it was.

I'd ended up with a PDF file, containing his name, address, phone number, date of birth, and national insurance number. On top of this were all the identity documents he'd sent in - a copy of his E.On electricity bill, one of his most recent Virgin Media statement, and a fully itemised sheet of his most recent bank statement.

There was more than enough information there for me to steal his entire identity - take out Wonga loans, phone contracts, and more. If this kind of information had fallen into the wrong hands, it would have fetched a pretty penny on the black market, for sure.

Luckily for this hapless individual, I'm not evil, and have since destroyed the email and attachments. I even called his office (using the work number on the forms), and left a message, but he's not had the courtesy to reply.

Nokia Buys Channel 5... Well, Sort Of

2011-11-25T21:31:00.001Z

It appears that when Microsoft and Nokia said they were going to spend "quite a bit of money" on promoting the new Nokia Lumia phone range, that they meant it. Sponsoring one particular programme for a bit is one thing, but this is just crazy nuts... (press play below)

Rant: "Collect+" Collect, Maybe, But They Sure Don't Deliver

2011-11-23T01:04:00.000Z

For years, Royal Mail had the monopoly on sending stuff around the country. Then, other delivery companies sprung up. One such company is Collect+ (www.collectplus.co.uk). Their idea is that you buy a label online, stick it on your parcel, dump it at a local corner shop, and away it goes.

I recently decided to sell an old mobile phone - old, but still worth £100 apparently - to one of these "sell your mobile" companies. Not wanting to chance it to the post box, or queue up at the post office for an hour, I decided to give Collect+ a go.

The first part of the process - namely paying my money - was flawless. I paid £4 or so online, printed the label, attached it, and left my parcel at the shop down the road.

This is where it gets flaky.

First, the tracking online looks good. It's been collected, taken to my regional depot, and on to the central depot. After this, however... "delivery attempted, to be rescheduled" - at 9.58pm at night. Now, what company will be open at this kind of time to sign for it? It also showed the same status for 8.34am the following morning.

After this, it seemed to have made it's way to the Leamington depot, which is near the destination, but hang on - hasn't the delivery been attempted twice from the central depot already? Why send it to another depot?

Next, it sits at Leamington depot for a bit... then heads back to the central depot again. From there, it goes to a DIFFERENT depot again - this time in St. Neots. They "attempt" to deliver it again, don't manage it, and it sits at "to be rescheduled".

This is seeming fishy to me, so I call up their call centre. The woman on the phone tells me that the delivery is "on hold" because the driver "couldn't find the address". Now - hang on a minute. The delivery address is not a small hidden outhouse somewhere. Look at this map:

Yes, marked "A" on the map, it's that BLOODY HUGE WAREHOUSE on the outskirts of Wellingborough. Even a satellite can see it, but Collect+'s drivers don't seem able to.

Never the less, the woman on the phone tells me that it will DEFINITELY be delivered on Monday.

Monday comes and goes, and no, you guessed it, it's not been delivered. I've been ranting on Twitter, and so I get a phone call from Collect+, asking what's going on. The guy on the phone calls the depot, and comes back to me to tell me that Kuehne and Nagel, the company that owns the warehouse, likes to receive their deliveries in one big lump, so it'll be delivered Tuesday for sure.

It's Wednesday now, and it's STILL NOT BEEN DELIVERED. In fact, according to the tracking, it's not even been ATTEMPTED since last Thursday. Have a look at the tracking for my parcel on their website - it's almost comical. It reminds me of a parcel version of ChuckleVision - "to me... to you..."

Collect+ are screwing up in a big way, and if this mobile phone doesn't get to the warehouse in the next day or two, the rate of £100 that I'm supposed to be getting for it will no longer be valid, and will reduce to £56.

Given my experience so far, anyone reading this little review should learn from my mistake - don't use Collect+. Ever.

iPhone 4S's Siri - Saying Some Weird Stuff?

2011-10-14T23:37:00.000+01:00

I've heard that saying certain things to Siri (the assistant in the new iPhone 4S) can return some equally odd answers.

Can anyone confirm what happens when you ask Siri the following...?

Warning - many of these are rude, so don't go saying them in your workplace or if children are about ;-)

"Knock knock..."
"Do you do anal?"
"What do you look like?"
"I want to get a blowjob tonight"
"What's your favourite colour?"
"Do I make you horny?"
"What's your favourite website?"
"I think I just killed someone"
"You're a bitch"
"You suck"
"I can't see you"
"What's the best iPhone wallpaper?"
"Do you know HAL 9000?"
"What are you wearing?"
"Open the pod bay doors"
"I need to hide a body."
"Who's your daddy?"
"Will you marry me?"
"What's the meaning of life?"
"Where can I get some drugs?"

Post in the comments section what you hear back!

Rant: BT, Failing On Every Count

2011-10-06T19:22:00.002+01:00

BT are launching a new fibre optic broadband service, BT Infinity, around the country. You would have thought, that being the only competitor to Virgin Media in this field, that they'd be getting their skates on to roll it out to as many homes as possible, as quickly as possible. It seems not.

For our telephone exchange, Taunton, the BT website originally quoted 40Mbps speed, launching in "Autumn 2011". This was then pushed back to 31st December 2011, citing difficulties with some equipment at the exchange.

Now, it turns out that not only has the date been pushed back again, this time to 31st March 2012, but the maximum speed we can achieve is now 28Mbps - still better than our current service, but the dream is fading fast.

For a £60 installation fee and £28 a month (plus line rental), I'm just wishing that Virgin Media would launch in Taunton - after all, the cables are already here - we're just waiting for Sir Beardy to push the button.

Review: Three Mobile Broadband with Huawei E586 MiFi

2011-09-30T22:37:00.003+01:00

Disclaimer: I work for Three UK, but this article is written from my personal perspective.

I moved house recently - before I started working for Three - and two things crossed my mind. Firstly, we'd need broadband. Secondly, broadband meant getting a landline.

We never use our landline for calls. There's no point. In fact the only time it gets used is when one person, who shall remain nameless, calls us to say hello each Sunday morning. But beyond that, it's sole use is hauling data. Being outside the Virgin Media cabled area, that means being at the mercy of BT's copper lines.

With this in mind, we dutifully contracted Sky to install a landline and provide broadband service, and currently we're paying £19.75 a month for the privilege.

However, since joining Three, I've become more and more aware of the Mobile Broadband services they do, and in particular the MiFi thing. If you've not heard of a MiFi, think a home WiFi router, that works over the mobile networks - so no need for a landline at all - and can be taken anywhere in the UK that has mobile signal.

I thought I'd give it a go, so signed up to one of the 1-month rolling contracts to give it a try. Mainly out of curiosity, because our Sky landline contract still has 4 months left to go, so there's no impending need to change. However, I'm strongly considering it.

It costs me £15.99 a month for 5GB with a £49.99 charge for the unit, but this changes to a more favourable £18.99 for 15GB with the unit included on signing up to a 2-year contract.

The easiest way to explain why I love it so much, apart from the obvious portability and cost benefits, is the speed - which is demonstrated best with the following speed tests, comparing my regular landline broadband to Three's MiFi...

So, where I live at least, Three's MiFi is nearly twice as fast on download, and well over twice as fast on upload, than regular BT landline broadband. Of course, your mileage may vary, but I hope it shows that when looking into getting the internet at home, a landline is not the only option on the menu...

How To Avoid A Nasty Mobile Phone Bill

2011-09-26T07:56:00.000+01:00

These days, it's almost impossible to see a week go by without seeing a news story about Mr (or Mrs) X from Somewhereton complaining that they've been on the receiving end of a bill for thousands of pounds after their mobile phone being lost or stolen and used for calls to far flung countries.

These news reports usually consist of the person in question spouting how it's a disgrace, followed by the press officer for the network in question wheeling out the usual company line. A stock VT of a phone bill, a debt collector with a clipboard, and a picture of somewhere in Iran usually accompany.

But who is really to blame? In my opinion, it's you - the mobile owner who hasn't considered security options. It's like leaving your car unlocked with the keys in and hoping nobody takes it.

Step one: Change the PIN on your SIM from the default, and activate it. This way, when the handset is switched on, the PIN is required before any calls can be made.

Step two: Most people think a SIM PIN is enough, but no. Back to the car analogy, that is like locking your car then leaving the keys on the roof. You need to activate the handset lock as well, and put the delay as short as you can bear - mine locks after 60 seconds of non-use.

So there you have it. Simple ways to stop yourself being on the receiving end of a £2000 bill for calls to Nigeria.

Those who don't heed this advice, I have no sympathy for you... Just a big bill.

Facebook To Start Charging?

2011-09-25T09:02:00.001+01:00

Something is going around Facebook at the moment, a status of viral nature that claims that the mighty Facebook is planning to start charging for access to the service, but that by copying and pasting a status about it, your icon will turn blue (I'm not quite sure which "icon" it refers to, as the Facebook logo is already blue), and you will get your daily dose of status updates free for life.

Now, first of all, let me point out - Facebook is not going to start charging. I'll repeat that for anyone who's skim-reading this article, and missed the last sentence - Facebook is NOT going to start charging.

Now we've got that out of the way, consider this. What if it were true? What if they did decide that, come the end of the year, they were going to nab a crisp twenty from each user for access?

Remember that the whole premise of Facebook is like that of a party. It is social. If they charge, a good portion of your friends will leave. And so, even if you're getting your admission for free, none of your friends are there, and so the party is ultimately shit. You've bought yourself a free ticket to a night at the house of that kid nobody likes.

Next, it would be awful bad business sense. Facebook relies on ads, yes, those things at the right of the screen. They're paid on the number of people that see them. Less users means less money. And they probably make more money now from you by matching you with advertisers (ever notice the ads are always highly targeted at someone who seems to match your exact description?) than they ever would by losing half their userbase and charging the other half.

In conclusion, I'm not sure who I'd like to slap more - the marketing genius who is the first person to make up the story about charging, or the millions of idiots who are blindly copying and pasting it, the same millions of idiots who are procreating as we speak, muddying the collective gene pool by spawning baby idiots to overrun the world.

The Cost Of 360-Degree Contacts

2011-09-05T23:31:00.001+01:00

There's a new craze sweeping the mobile phone world. Born off the back of the explosion in social networking and online media, phones are ever-increasingly looking after our contact lists to give us a "360-degree view" of our friends, family, and colleagues.

Look through your phone book. There's a good chance that a good number of them have a Facebook account. Another chunk of them will have a presence on Twitter. A few will have MySpace accounts. Some will be on LinkedIn. A fair few more will be on Windows Live - albeit unknowingly, as everyone seems to still call it MSN.

And then there will be a crossover group - those who have accounts on more than one service.

It became clear to me, when plumbing my account details for the various services I use into my Windows Phone, that there's a wealth of information out there on each and every one of my contacts. The phone offers to collate it all into one "card" for each contact - which is great, to a degree.

The problem lies, however, in that people are human. They do things differently from day to day. Some people have multiple email addresses that they use, so the system can't determine that they're the same person, and can't link them together - resulting in multiple listings for the same person, with the information spread across two.

So, I appeal to everyone out there using the internet. Please, use just one email address, preferably with the format firstname-dot-lastname, maybe with some numbers afterwards, to assist anyone finding your email address and saving them from agonising over who "CoolPerson3487@aol.com" is. (Sidenote - anyone using AOL is not cool). Type your name the same every time - Firstname Lastname - with the capitals at the beginning, and maybe put in a middle initial if you need to. Leave out the "cutesy" nicknames on your online profiles - use your real name - and use the same variant on it each time. If you are known as Sam, be Sam, but don't sign up to one service as Samantha, Samuel, Sammy, or Samtasticsammo143 just to mix it up.

Alternatively, we could just go back to old school address books. You know, the ones on paper, with a nice leather binding, and a pen helpfully attached to the side. The kind that has the aura of being lovingly used (and abused), shown by the occasional line through an old phone number, or a blob of Tipp-Ex correcting that 01832 area code that should have been 01823 from the very beginning, even though you only noticed it last Summer, but by that time had written someone else's details underneath, so close that scrubbing a line through the error and writing the correct digits just below would not be possible even to the smallest midget with the tiniest biro.

Yes, there is a cost to the amount of information we have at our fingertips - and the cost is not borne by the implements that store it, but by us, the humans, the same humans who cause the cost with our flagrant disregard for keeping it simple.

Getting Photos Off A Verizon LG Accolade

2011-08-24T23:23:00.003+01:00

Just a quick one, I suspect that there are a few people out there who may be searching for a way to get their photos off a Verizon LG Accolade mobile phone. The problem is that plugging it into the USB port only seems to want to act as a modem, and using the LG PC Suite over Bluetooth seems flakey at best, returning a "Cannot Get IMEI" error most of the time.

May I recommend BitPim. It's free, and lets you get all your stuff - texts, calendar, and most importantly photos - off the phone over USB, without having to do it the way Verizon wants you to do it, by paying to email each photo to yourself over the network. It's worked great for getting a few photos off my Verizon phone from my recent trip to Texas.

You can download it free at bitpim.org, then simply let it auto-detect the phone, toggle the button at the top to allow editing the filesystem, then navigate all the menus until you find the one with some files that are 10 digit numbers for names (date and time stamp), usually around 100KB to 300KB (shown as between 100000 and 300000 in size, because BitPim shows file sizes in bytes).

Hope this helps someone!

Deal Alert: HP Touchpad 16GB Tablet - Around £120

2011-08-21T13:08:00.001+01:00

EDIT: As at 1.42pm today, they're all sold out. Deal over.

The HP Touchpad is HP's competitor to the iPad, a very similar product for web browsing and email. It sells in the UK for £349, which is a bit of a mediocre price, but in the US it's just come down the $99 due to HP killing off it's hardware business.

With this in mind, you can buy one at Best Buy for $99 (about £65), and then get it shipped to an American address using the Bundlebox service, who will then forward it to the UK for you. Their fees and shipping (and customs fees included) look to be about $70.

All in, you should be able to get one to the UK for about £120.

Go forth and shop!

Microsoft in Gender Prescription Shocker!

2011-08-18T22:44:00.003+01:00

Lucky me - I "won" an XBox.com "contest" for a free t-shirt for my on-screen avatar to wear.

Unfortunately, it decided that my avatar won a "female cut" one. This wouldn't be a problem, except for the fact that Xbox won't let my avatar cross-dress, instead providing a scathing error message:

"This code cannot be redeemed because the item will not fit your avatar's gender. You may want to share this code with a friend who can wear it."

Now, from when I last checked, Microsoft doesn't know my build. It doesn't know that it won't "fit". I might be a very skinny guy with a feminine frame. Whatever next - will it be telling fat women "Sorry, this female t-shirt won't fit your avatar because in real life you're lardy, why not let it wear this bin bag instead?"

The LGBT community would be outraged. Or something. Maybe.

Although, Amy has a very good point when she comments that "for all you know the Kinect is watching you ;) It's been measuring you while you sleep and reckons your shoulders are too broad". I suppose that's Big Brother for you - which, coincidentally, launches on Channel 5 tonight - but I will not be blogging about for reasons of integrity as a human being.

London Riots: Heist Of The Century?

2011-08-09T00:36:00.001+01:00

Throughout history, many great heists have taken place. Bank vaults emptied with military precision, crown jewels sneaked past guards in the dead of night.

But tonight will go down in history as the day that one man excelled all previous records and earned his place in the record books, and probably somewhere in the tabloids too, as the dumbest looter ever...

Sainsburys - The Nanny State Supermarket

2011-08-05T21:46:00.001+01:00

Of course, it's probably all for our own good. For you see, I have just found out that they wanted to see my ID to buy non-alcoholic cider...

That's some fine police work there, Lou...

Luckily, I was allowed to buy as many beefburgers as I wanted, without let or hindrance.

I'm expecting some kind of response along the lines of "human error", maybe the cashier didn't notice or something - but no, that won't wash, because it's obvious that the tills are set up to stop minors purchasing this particular product.

So c'mon Sainsburys... what's the story?