A Psychoanalysis of the World

Why British Education Sucks

Commie B — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 11:58:03 +0000

God bless Terry Leahy. He’s the first British businessman to have the guts to say it as it is: British education sucks. It’s built to fail its students and only gives the country a bleek future. Yet no one understands what the reason for this lack of quality education or high-class students is. Apparently, politicians (and there’s your first problem) who run the education system have forgotten the basic principle of garbage in garbage out and businesses have become so accustomed to incompetence that they simply assume it is the norm. Well, it’s not in many other countries across the world.

Without sounding arrogant, my first job in the UK was in many ways frustrating because of the lack of relevant education my colleagues had in their school and university days. It wasn’t that they were stupid: it was that they just did not know. Why? Because their basic education failed them. I recently ran into a student who’s in a joint program between NYU and one of Massachusetts most prestigious universities. She was on a visit to Oxford and her comments were, to say the least, rather unflattering of the legendary Oxford. Generally, I don’t think Britain has dealt well with the fact that other countries have taken the lead in education and research, and this arrogance may have a lot to do with why the quality of students is constantly poor and the education always out of date.

Without criticizing UK politicians or bureaucracy (because they never solve any problems), I’m going to try and sum up the basic reasons why education in Britain has taken a fall for the worst. Take this from someone who is educated in a third world country on a British education platform, then went on for further studies to the US and now lives and works in the British system. So, I believe I have my bearings right. It’s my blog, so your thoughts are relevant, but not necessarily correct.

For God’s sake, value it. British schools and universities have become the accepted second-rate institutions for ‘quality’ education. It is understood by all British students and graduates that their education is of absolutely no use in the practical world. So if you go on the job, you will need to sit for professional education certifications. Why is that? Why isn’t university education fit for professional jobs. And if it’s not, what IS the point of this education. You see this happening in the accounting field, for instance, where students skip university and simply sit for CIMA or ACCA exams to become accountants, and those who did their accounting degrees are not accountants. Who is to blame here, the student or the system?
Following on from the lack of value, the curriculum needs some serious updating. If you’ve got a college degree, it should teach you what is right and what you need, not what used to be right when’sun never set on the British empire’. Nowadays, in Winter, the sun is set for most of the time. Things change, but education has not evolved.
The methodology simply sucks and does not work. During my O and A Levels, the one thing I was taught was that you must memorise to pass the exam. What the hell for? Things you memorise are easily forgotten. Things you understand are not. Doesn’t anyone get this? Cramming for an exam is useless. Applying what you learnt in real life simulations is effective. That’s why American education is good and effective. That’s why most Indian education is disappointing. That’s why the standard of British education has fallen.
Stop promoting cheating and fraud. I haven’t seen promotion of academic fraud become a commercially and legally viable business in any country but the United Kingdom. Look at oragnisations like Academic Knowledge (http://www.academicknowledge.com) and Prospect Solution (http://www.prospectsolution.com), who claim to do business research but IN FACT get students to submit briefs of home work, exam questions and dissertations, which they charge their students for and outsource across the globe to get done. Who would have thought that students could outsource their homework. Well, they do. Universities know it but don’t want to do anything about it because they keep making money, as do these fraudsters. Students become more and more incompetent. Who’s losing out, Britain?
Please mind your english. Have you ever looked at an email trail between managers and executives in a British business? I will bet you that 70% of the emails have incorrect grammar, weak or poor sentence structure, or simply a bunch of malarkey put together for no one to understand. In my job, emails and documents were purposefully written incorrectly or in incomprehensibly bad english so no one could understand what was being said. If that is the goal of language, then the medium of education delivery has to be changed.
Take the bureaucracy out of it. For God’s sake, I know England loves bureaucracy. But why ruin the education system with it? Make it simple and stop rewarding your teachers on exam score. It’s a ridiculous system, for the incompetent by the stupid!
Stop overprotecting and pampering kids. The value of discipline from a professor or teacher is invaluable. It is absolutely priceless. In this country and in other first world nations where teachers have to teach by the law, discipline has gone down the drain. Teachers can’t shout at kids. Professors can’t discipline students. Discipline = education. Maybe that’s the ONLY old value the British education system needs to preserve, but if students can sue schools for being rowdy and getting slapped and walk away with settlements, we need to revisit the legal system too.
Abolish professional education. Yes, do it! Start with the Office of Government and Commerce and let professional fraternities like ACCA, CIMA, ICAEW, CFA, IMA, IFA, etc. etc. be fraternities only. Take away their educational credentials (many of which are simply poor but are marketed better than university education and so carry more value) and you will be forced to offer better education in schools and universities.
Don’t feel sorry for students. Give them a challenge. That’s how they get better.
Sack Private Tutors. Yes, sack them. Gives these teachers incentive to offer real education at school, not privately at home. It will probably also solve the issue of pedophile teachers to quite an extent.

I’m sure there’s a lot more to be said on this issue. I can think of a list of 10 more reasons why the education sucks and what needs to be done to address the problem. The question, however, is whether someone is actually interested in fixing this issue. Frankly, I don’t know it is in anyone’s interest to fix this problem. ‘Universities’ will have to accept the reality of their low standards, academic fraud promoting companies will go out of business, private tutors (these are prime examples of those who can’t do, teach) will become jobless and all of the UK will have to accept who truly sad this whole state of affairs is. Is Britain bold enough? I don’t think so, even though I hope so.

Hp Quickplay Download Keys and Installation Instructions

Commie B — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 09:37:26 +0000

Hi Folks,

I know I haven’t posted new keys in a while, but it’s just been a tough few weeks. I haven’t blogged in a long time either, but I have several articles ready to get typed up. I will start with the QuickPlay keys, since they drive the most amount of traffic to this website. So, without further adue, here are the instructions and keys.

Use the instructions provided on http://www.asifism.com/installing-hp-quickplay-on-your-laptopnotebook-vista-xp/ for installing QuickPlay Direct before posting questions and queries already answered. Please also visit the above link to see HOW TO get the latest QuickPlay Download keys if the keys on this post do not work.

To download QuickPlay, visit http://downloads.asifism.com and use one of the following appropriate keys provided below. Also, DO USE the download of Winrar provided to extract the zipped version of QuickPlay Direct (HPQPDP.rar), otherwise you may get errors while trying to extract it. Please note that keys are renewed every 10 days so if they are expired, be patient.

hp QuickPlay Direct 2.3 for Windows Vista & XP: 493ed081827e85a2aeb10b993783a18a

To validate your download, please use the MD5 hashes on http://www.asifism.com/hp-quickplay-windows-vista/hp-quickplay-download-md5-hashes. To validate an MD5 hash, you need to generate hashes for the files once you download them and compare them with the hashes posted on the link. To download the software that will generate md5 hashes for you, surf the web or use the following key: b65b2f3cae3b6fd6c2a4460fd96d19b7

hp QuickPlay Direct 1.0 (runs on a linux partition)[NRG file, use Daemon Tools to mount]: 1ed4d62561bf92a2c3988c0af997777b

hp QuickPlay for Windows Vista & XP: bef89a183d4a7424b92b5bf4b197e188

hp QuickPlay TV Play: 18c3baea5ee563d2ee6509b05fe664ec

Winrar 3.6.2 (please use to extract hpqpdp.rar): ba8f8c9020074cdeab7f6967620b284f

For those people who get the QuickPlay Enabled or QuickPlay authorized machine only error while installing, please try the following:

Using Notepad, make a file and save as .reg with the following:-

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\QPFlag]
“QPFlag”=dword:00000003
“@=”=””

Then add to the registry by double clicking this file afte you’ved saved it install QuickPlay.

If extraction for QuickPlay Direct fails claiming one of the files is corrupt, always try the file before and after the number that winrar tells you is corrupt. Both the data4.cab and data3.cab files are huge and span over different compressed pieces, winrar isn’t always accurate.

Any questions? Comment them.

Hp QuickPlay Download Keys and Installation Instructions

Commie B — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:38:30 +0000

Hi Folks,

Here are the new download keys for hp QuickPlay.

hp QuickPlay Direct 2.3 for Windows Vista & XP: f7e55e4ee2ff5cf3f53dbff7ec147bc8

hp QuickPlay Direct 1.0 (runs on a linux partition)[NRG file, use Daemon Tools to mount]: cb3905c9cfac7e43f4334b2aca5d3a6a

hp QuickPlay for Windows Vista & XP: 750a86d0390ee20861c7f6ec0222babf

hp QuickPlay TV Play: 72d5d5846010b6a51d72299bd8328520

Winrar 3.6.2 (please use to extract hpqpdp.rar): 31e5cf4b457b3e924ba1226f8132e443

For those people who get the QuickPlay Enabled or QuickPlay authorized machine only error while installing, please try the following:

Using Notepad, make a file and save as .reg with the following:-

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\QPFlag]
“QPFlag”=dword:00000003
“@=”=””

Then add to the registry by double clicking this file afte you’ved saved it install QuickPlay.

Any questions? Comment them.

New HP QuickPlay Download Keys and Installation Guide

Commie B — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 13:39:36 +0000

Hi Folks,

Here are the new download keys for hp QuickPlay.

hp QuickPlay Direct 2.3 for Windows Vista & XP: 464e0087cd59ea8fe259baa10e84e1ff

hp QuickPlay Direct 1.0 (runs on a linux partition)[NRG file, use Daemon Tools to mount]: 1abf058ddf6f9588133c7ade31194306

hp QuickPlay for Windows Vista & XP: b6e099c35ca03f2c6a0a9863b8bd081d

hp QuickPlay TV Play: cadb534e74f300f4f23ae4c5eb64cdb5

Winrar 3.6.2 (please use to extract hpqpdp.rar): 509a0115cad811f57585e566b5643831

For those people who get the QuickPlay Enabled or QuickPlay authorized machine only error while installing, please try the following:

Using Notepad, make a file and save as .reg with the following:-

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\QPFlag]
“QPFlag”=dword:00000003
“@=”=””

Then add to the registry by double clicking this file afte you’ved saved it install QuickPlay.

Any questions? Comment them.

From PM to State Clerk: Britons are cowards

Commie B — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 10:28:05 +0000

It’s been a while since I have put a pen or keyboard to another rant about Britain. For the most part, I have been coasting along, observing. It has also been a while since I wrote articles like Why Dubai will never become New York and Why Dubai may become London, primarily because the truth usually goes unheard. I’m a bit of a fan of the Atlas Shrugged philosophy, whereby you don’t really expect anything of character from the people you live around and all of a sudden life is fantastic.

Now I’m not a great fan of this terrorist talk rubbish, especially all the crap about the Lockerbie bomber and why Gordon Brown and the Scottish Pariliament let him go. Some minor statements and a bit of uproar from some Americans about boycotting Scottish goods and someone went on to say perhaps Amercians should disown the achievements of Andrew Carnegie. Now, if you don’t know who Andrew Carnegie is, he was probably the second richest man who ever lived. His wealth on the brink of the 20th century when he sold out to JP Morgan thanks to Charles Schwab would have been worth an estimated US $298 billion. He sure showed Warren Buffet and Bill Gates. For the English and Scottish lads who think america should disown Carnegie because he originated from Scotland, that’s a stupid argument. I hate to say this, but mainstream Brits are probably just as ignorant, if not more, than the mainstream Americans they call dumb and stupid. Carnegie went to Amrica to make his riches: if he loved Scotland and thought it was so uber fabulous, he would have made his billions there. Alas, men love the nations that pay them back for their hard work; so America was responsible for Andrew Carnegie’s success, not Scotland. That’s right, I said it!

Gordon Brown. I have actually tried to support the man for a while. Initially, I think he was just a victim of coming to power under bad circumstances, but he was so blinded by the job title and power that came with it that he was totally blind to how Tony Blair had caught him from behind with his pants down. But then who would forego the opportunity to become the Prime Minister. He’s had some major screwups and they’re all pretty British in nature, which means they stem from the cowardly attitude of not taking decisions and just hinting on this and hinting on that. It is what leaders of corrupt third world countries do and I’m sorry to say that Brown is, well, let us be politically incorrect, behaving like his brown counterparts from former British colonies.

I don’t get it, why in the world would you ‘hint’ that you don’t want a bomber to die of cancer in Scotland? Why would you hint at a $15 billion oil deal with Libya? Why don’t you just say it! After all, do these johnnies think anyone doubts the fact that the greed of politicians know no bounds? This was his perfect chance to come clean and say that in this era when we are in economic troubles and after Tony Blair George Bush screwed us over on the oil deal, it is our only chance to go out and get our own oil deal without the Americans bullying us. Hey, I would have supported that stance, because at least the country gets something out of it.

But here is the bigger issue: this is not a Gordon Brown problem. It is the problem of every Brit that I have known and seen at work, in larger enterprise or in government: evade decision making. It is the reason why the British Empire went from being the largest in the world to a puny little Island ruled by a bunch of communist hearted politicians who have the guts and balls the size of mini marbles. Take a decision, for God’s sake. Instead of bettering themselves, the British government and its hoarde of organisation has made its own rules to conduct activity and make decisions in politics and in business.

Have you ever worked with British businessmen? They play it safe. Have you worked with government entities in Britain? They don’t play at all, just waste. Here is a prime example of the application of British rules, promoted under the claim to democracy by the disgrace that are government departments like the Office of Government Commerce. The Ministry of Defence thought that they and the OGC had with PRINCE2 and their super pathetic qualifications some methods to develop software that they would buy the planes from Boeing and develop the software to run them in-house. Low and behold, $200 million later, OGC and PRINCE2 failed them whereas initially they could have spent $35 million to get it. But no one was axed, why? Because we followed PRINCE2 and it’s not our fault that it failed. Maybe the OGC should be wiped out, then?

You see the similarity with the Gordon Brown attitude? It’s not my fault, it was in the interest of the country. Then say it up front, you moron.

Private enterprise in Birtain suffers from the same attitude. Waste money to play it safe and then don’t have to take blame for anything wasted because we played it safe. When will the British public get up and say something to this incompetent, money wasting, bureaucratic waste of an existence. This is a country with great opportunity, bogged down by 60 year old bureaucrats who have put the lives of its 60 million inhabitants at risk just to save their own heads. Why? Because they know in an accountable, risk taking world outside Britain and its third world colonies, risk and accountability are the factors that build personalities, leaders, businesses and nations. Cowardice, the British way of hiding behind red tape, will be the death of Britain. It is what killed the British Empire.

For those of you who feel violated by the things said here, well, who gives a shit? You clearly don’t. Fix it and come leave comments, or just bugger off!

New hp quickplay download keys and installation guide

Commie B — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 11:42:14 +0000

Hi Folks,

Here are the new download keys for hp QuickPlay.

hp QuickPlay Direct 2.3 for Windows Vista & XP: b42c7e7d31065caaca827c7295720b6b

hp QuickPlay Direct 1.0 (runs on a linux partition)[NRG file, use Daemon Tools to mount]: 129d8f126b5201adc9a9e67b60d61fc6

hp QuickPlay for Windows Vista & XP: a0fa73024d645b3316a857d167695e69

hp QuickPlay TV Play: 8ef5f198b069156d10e97a4d78d4c18b

Winrar 3.6.2 (please use to extract hpqpdp.rar): 6d6fdfff3637f8d9a406bcb5c34b42aa

For those people who get the QuickPlay Enabled or QuickPlay authorized machine only error while installing, please try the following:

Using Notepad, make a file and save as .reg with the following:-

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\QPFlag]
“QPFlag”=dword:00000003
“@=”=””

Then add to the registry by double clicking this file afte you’ved saved it install QuickPlay.

Any questions? Comment them.

New hp Quickplay Download Keys and Installation Instructions

Commie B — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 08:10:53 +0000

Hi people,

Here are the new download keys for hp QuickPlay.

hp QuickPlay Direct 2.3 for Windows Vista & XP: 380c5936bf01c7ef2298160cb4c5c0ac

hp QuickPlay Direct 1.0 (runs on a linux partition)[NRG file, use Daemon Tools to mount]: e133b6e9726edc8293050ca2e7f01063

hp QuickPlay for Windows Vista & XP: 6c588b335fdd4307420a60f572a44210

hp QuickPlay TV Play: 92ed4be857c19b0724356a8b9a8fc985

Winrar 3.6.2 (please use to extract hpqpdp.rar): 38801ba8c2dbfbadd9109c83f1026666

For those people who get the QuickPlay Enabled or QuickPlay authorized machine only error while installing, please try the following:

Using Notepad, make a file and save as .reg with the following:-

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\QPFlag]
“QPFlag”=dword:00000003
“@=”=””

Then add to the registry by double clicking this file afte you’ved saved it install QuickPlay.

Any questions? Comment them.

New HP Quickplay Download Keys and Installation Guide/Help

Commie B — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 07:49:03 +0000

Hi folks,

Here are the new download keys for hp QuickPlay.

hp QuickPlay Direct 2.3 for Windows Vista & XP: 373637a171598826d42fafd08054aff3

To validate your download, please use the MD5 hashes on http://www.asifism.com/hp-quickplay-windows-vista/hp-quickplay-download-md5-hashes/

hp QuickPlay Direct 1.0 (runs on a linux partition)[NRG file, use Daemon Tools to mount]: 9b48d4ed50f77239d4468433ac2cc6e5

hp QuickPlay for Windows Vista & XP:

hp QuickPlay TV Play: 6b1827b584ae2a082770c30fe0092a8c

Winrar 3.6.2 (please use to extract hpqpdp.rar): 80d7fe95c7956b2c2ace4732aba4ebea

For those people who get the QuickPlay Enabled or QuickPlay authorized machine only error while installing, please try the following:

Using Notepad, make a file and save as .reg with the following:-

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\QPFlag]
“QPFlag”=dword:00000003
“@=”=””

Then add to the registry by double clicking this file afte you’ved saved it install QuickPlay.

Any questions? Comment them.

Is your Business Ready to Float in the Cloud?

Asif — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 21:43:13 +0000

With cloud computing becoming a common buzzword along with Software as a Service and related discussions, it has becoming a challenge for many IT managers or business owners to understand which is which, how it is relevant and why any business should go for it. As with many things IT, technology professionals don’t always make it easy to understand concepts or explain them. They’re great at using names for new developments, but bad at justifying such names or explaining these concepts.

Essentially, cloud computing and software as a service (SaaS) are older concepts with new names. In a nutshell, from an end user’s standpoint, both would mean deploying a piece of software over the internet. For illustrative purposes, when you log in to your PC at work, rather than clicking on an icon for ‘Project Management Software’ you would simply open Internet Explorer (or Firefox or any other browser) and log in to a website. Here, you would enter a username and password and then log-in to your software. It’s a longer process than just double clicking an icon on your desktop, but then it has its pros.

Basically, this means software deployed and delivered over the internet. It used to be and is still called web 2.0 by some, and different names are applied to the same concept by different users from different perspectives. Yes, it is all about perspective.

Here are some of the simple reasons why you may want to use such hosted web 2.0 software offered to you as a service in the cloud:
•   Access from anywhere, anytime
•   No maintenance of hardware
•   No maintenance of server software
•   No room required for equipment
•   Less investment require up-front
There are numerous other reasons, but these are the reasons almost all businesses will connect with. So, that’s why you should look into cloud computing and SaaS, but what the hell is the difference? Glad you want to know.

Software as a Service basically means paying to use existing software over the internet as opposed to in a desktop environment. In most instances, SaaS also comes with a user driven license (the equivalent being PC based in the case of desktop software), but it saves you the hassle of applying updates or doing any kind of maintenance. For SaaS, in most cases, you have a software company that has developed a product that they sell to you as a service. Examples are Zoho CRM, Salesforce.com CRM or Microsoft Exchange Hosted Services.

You pay a simple fee per user per month, and you have access to using the software. Your files, data, etc. are all stored on the software provider’s servers and depending on the provider and the software, you may or may not be able to extract your data. My favourite part about SaaS is that it is platform independent. So you in your organization you can have Mac lovers and PC users, and they can all use the software because it is delivered in a browser. It simplifies things, because people can stick to their individual cults and technology preferences without losing too much productivity within the business. Saas will usually come pre-configured and you will need no technical knowledge to start using it. Some user administration, etc. may be required, but you won’t have to do any programming to get things moving.

Now, let’s move on to the cloud.

This is best explained from a CIO or IT manager’s standpoint. So you manage an IT department which has a development team. You have to maintain servers for live and testing environments, make sure they stay up-to-date and free of viruses. You have to setup firewalls and VPNs for security and remote access, and run regular routines for security checks. In essence, you need maintenance and security function to support development and other functions of the business. It’s quite a stressful job to have and in today’s world, in many cases, an unnecessary hassle.

The concept of the cloud here is similar when applied to simpler websites. If you’re building a website, do you really want to hire people and learn how the server software and hardware works, or do you simply want a pre-configured online environment where you can place your files and programming scripts and get the site to work? That’s how web hosts came into being and now virtually the whole world fields away the hassle of hosting to professionals who do just that, hosting. Take this same context and put it into our IT manager’s scenario, and let’s say our service provider here is Force.com. Now, Force.com is the could computing environment on which salesforce.com is built and delivers as SaaS.

So, you can move your entire development team onto the force.com platform. They have their own programming language and predefined functions, you can built applications using this without ever having to worry about maintaining servers for live and testing environments, firewalls, VPN access or anything of the sort. Your development team can log in and develop applications within their environment on the internet. It’s called cloud, well, because it’s all just floating out there, you log-in and do your work and it’s always there, without you ever having to worry about a physical box or server. So, put simply, it saves you a whole lot of maintenance and security expenditure (along with other things), and you simply get to do what your development team needs to do: develop.

Now Salesforce.com may be popular in its own regard, but just to set the record straight, the clould’s early days are marked by innovation from Amazon. Amazon was probably the first company to deploy a commercially available could computing platform.

SaaS companies that also offer cloud platforms make life much simpler for developers, because if you use their SaaS, you can develop other applications on their cloud that can easily integrate with this SaaS, evolving your business and software around it. There are other technical advantages, but cloud computing and SaaS is not free of woes, especially financial ones.

It’s great to pay £50 per user per month when there’s two of you, but when there’s 500 users, it’s almost worth investing in your own equipment and development team; entirely a matter of finance and preference.

As a software development company that specializes in deploying web-based solutions, we at VAFTA essentially develop SaaS for our customers to sell to others. The development may or may not be in a could environment, and that very much depends on the needs and requirements of the business model in question. The idea here is to clarify the difference between SaaS and Cloud and help you start thinking in terms of a cloud or web environment as opposed to the traditional desktop one.

New technology is not always the right technology. Consider your options: the cloud can be cheap today but if not managed well, it can bankrupt businesses in the long run.

New hp QuickPlay Download Keys and Installation Help

Commie B — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 07:48:34 +0000

Hi readers,

Here are the new download keys for hp QuickPlay.

hp QuickPlay Direct 2.3 for Windows Vista & XP: 6c9c5462043b7c8aa09a55d1d434a298

To validate your download, please use the MD5 hashes on http://www.asifism.com/hp-quickplay-windows-vista/hp-quickplay-download-md5-hashes/

hp QuickPlay Direct 1.0 (runs on a linux partition)[NRG file, use Daemon Tools to mount]: 3c93cfa9841d1f1ccf5061a45043d507

hp QuickPlay for Windows Vista & XP: 9fb2ea294d31dfc37d24d5ecedfbddd7

hp QuickPlay TV Play: 8502357e09d0e87554fba57c19eaf9e0

Winrar 3.6.2 (please use to extract hpqpdp.rar): 735d558c1aef77c8d01d8eaf7dc34aad

For those people who get the QuickPlay Enabled or QuickPlay authorized machine only error while installing, please try the following:

Using Notepad, make a file and save as .reg with the following:-

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\QPFlag]
“QPFlag”=dword:00000003
“@=”=””

Then add to the registry by double clicking this file afte you’ved saved it install QuickPlay.

Any questions? Comment them.

New hp QuickPlay Download Keys and Installation Help

Commie B — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 07:50:01 +0000

Here are the new download keys for hp QuickPlay.

hp QuickPlay Direct 2.3 for Windows Vista & XP: 4224b1a8029ede32fa4dbbc6e7d87580

To validate your download, please use the MD5 hashes on http://www.asifism.com/hp-quickplay-windows-vista/hp-quickplay-download-md5-hashes/

hp QuickPlay Direct 1.0 (runs on a linux partition)[NRG file, use Daemon Tools to mount]: 32677d465917efe887c5514f9d1c654b

hp QuickPlay for Windows Vista & XP: 8d4c976698cee427c5a340672a03b417

hp QuickPlay TV Play: f802142e29160f4c64662c70bcb24283

Winrar 3.6.2 (please use to extract hpqpdp.rar): fad8826b69a28439c6c1941a4f6b4d37

For those people who get the QuickPlay Enabled or QuickPlay authorized machine only error while installing, please try the following:

Using Notepad, make a file and save as .reg with the following:-

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\QPFlag]
“QPFlag”=dword:00000003
“@=”=””

Then add to the registry by double clicking this file afte you’ved saved it install QuickPlay.

Any questions? Comment them.

Picking the right Smartphone

Commie B — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 22:08:39 +0000

I’ve been on the smartphone bandwagon for years now. I bought one of the first Palm’s to hit the stores, followed by the Tungsten, followed by various versions of the Treo and I’ve now been running on a Palm Treo 500v for over a year. Over the years, my only non-palm phone has been the Sony Ericsson p990i, which wasn’t all that bad.

One of the reason’s I stuck to Palm was Palm OS, which ofcourse is now history. My biggest frustration with the Treo 500v has been it’s speed and functionality. It works like a clunky windows machine would work in the early days, which means it crashes or freezes and becomes extremely slow at times. The time to open an application is too much time for a mobile device, and of late my Palm has certainly been trying my patience.

I’m thinking about getting a replacement, but alas, there is much choice in the market and not enough experienced information out there to make a decision. The new Palm looks promising. Blackberry has always ruled the business world, but iPhone is fast catching up for both business and leisure.

As a hard-core business user, I need something that can handle all my email, wifi, web browsing and mapping needs without choking or slowing down the device. Blackberry is the unparalelled leader on the email side of things and over the years the one thing that always made me go for a Palm has been the QWERTY keyboard, which is something that Blackberry shares in common with Palm. This is possibly the only department the iPhone is lacking in.

So, the million dollar question (not quite, more like £200-£300) question is which is it, the Blackberry Curve or the iPhone 3G S. Well, both operating systems seem genuinely reliable. Blackberry is also fast developing its applet store to compete with the iPhone. The Blackberry OS also looks to work smoothly and looks great, although it’s not as flashy or as graceful as the Mac. I’d personally prefer a Windows Mobile device, and I had given some serious thought to the Sony Xperia X1, but the lack of speed in windows devices simply turns me off.

With reviews floating around, it seems pretty clear that the iPhone is the device of choice when it comes to browsing the web or using maps, or getting other apps. The only department the iPhone falls short in is the keyboard.

Here, however, is where the iPhone makes up for it. As someone who has to frequently travel on London’s dismal but loved Underground, I very much like the idea of having to carry only ONE device for my music, video and phone needs. That’s a plus, provided the battery can survive me a comfortable 10-12 hours.

I’ve also considered Google Android phones, but their limitation to T-Mobile hasn’t done much for them. The iPhone seems like it’s fast becoming the winner, but somehow that Qwerty keyboard attachment is hard to part with.

Suggestion or advice, anyone?