Category: Computers

Broadband Genie

Broadband Genie
Broadband Genie

Joe’s made a couple of comments on some of my older posts and he asked me to have a look at his website. I admit, the first time he left a comments I thought “spam”…  but the fact is he read the blog post and wrote a pretty darn lengthy and appropriate response. Not the acts of a spammer, just of a guy who’s interested in blogs and happens to work for a web-based company.

I’ve been buried with coursework over the last few weeks and I’ve been meaning to review his site for ages, feeling guilty every time I saw the email reminding me “starred” in my inbox. So here it is!

Joe’s site is Broadband Genie and it is genuinely useful. It’s not so much a sales site as a consumer advice one and therefore I’m happy to give it the once over. Now is an ideal time to have a look, actually, as there’s a special section on all the package deals on mobile broadband being offered by a few of the netbook and laptop retailers.

I don’t think I’ve ever reviewed a website before, but here goes!

First impressions are good. It’s well-enough laid out that you could think it’s commercial. However, it isn’t. It’s funded by people clicking on links to providers once they’re decided – using the information on the site – which one they want to go with. The links are sponsored and BG get a little kickback.

Having looked through everything (well, a lot of it!) I’d say their claim to be unbiased is a true one. All the information you could need to decide on a UK broadband provider (home or mobile) seems to be here and in a nice, easily-readable format. There’s also a regularly-updated blog and a forum where you can air your views publicly.

If you’re in the market for a new broadband provider, this certainly seems to be a site worth visiting to help you come to a decision.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Say goodbye to your internet

LONDON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 11: Secretary of ...
Secretary for Business and out-of-touch sleazebag

People my age will remember the old days when someone would tell you off for something, and the response would be to tut and say “it’s a free country”.

Well those days are coming to an end and there’s no worse example of why than the new Digital Economy Bill unveiled today. How do you fancy these for powers:

  • Your internet can be cut off if someone in your household is suspected of filesharing. No evidence or proof is required nor formal charge need be brought
  • ISPs are forced to snitch on you or face a fine of up to £250,000
  • Accused of filesharing? £50,000 please – even though it might not be you that’s done it
  • These rules not working? The the Business Secretary (an unelected role) can make up any new punishments and regulations as they see fit. Just for a laugh.
  • Eavesdroppers funded by “rightsholders” (that’ll be our friends in the movie and music companies) who will be able to freely poke around your internet traffic, data, usage patterns and then demand that you remove files, block websites and so forth. Privacy? What privacy?

Then there’s some stuff about a rejigging of the games ratings system which actually isn’t that bad as it takes the BBFC out of the loop. This means, hopefully, that games may be more evenly rated and unlikely to be banned.

What’s amusing is that this whole mess is the brainchild of one Peter Mandelson. Mandie came up with this great idea after a free holiday in Corfu paid for by Geffen. Who happen to be one of the aforementioned rightsholders. Of course, he’s saying this is coincidence.

We are being told to behave ourselves and to follow rules and not steal stuff by a man who was forced to step down from government not once but twice due to his inability not to be a sleazy little dick.

This whole bill is a travesty. It’s the digital equivalent – worse, even – than speed cameras where you’re guilty until proven innocent. The only winners here are the near-sighted media corporations who are too old-fashioned to embrace a new technology and instead seek to stifle it while they continually fail to catch up.

Please, check out the articles linked below. And if you feel as I do then go to the Number10 website and sign the petition. Of course, this makes the assumption that the government we elected actually give the faintest damn about what we have to say.

Not something I think most of us believe to be the case these days.

If you at all doubt the government’s integrity or my attack on it then bear in mind that when they announced the Bill, it was with the statement that it had 99% support of British ISPs. Have a look at the man who started the petition. He’s TalkTalk‘s head of strategy and development. BT, if I recall correctly, threatened legal action if it went through. The ISP industry as a whole announced it’s “disappointment” with the wording of the Bill as it stands.

Hardly 9% support, let alone 99%.

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Zoomquilt

I just found this by random and it’s well worth a look if you like whacky artwork and clever computery stuff. Essentially it’s a big Flash animation, but it’s very hypnotic. A series of images by various artists have been layered together. As you dive into one you move to the next and so on.

It’s also available as a downloadable screensaver, I think just for Windows.

Linkety-link: Zoomquilt2

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Gaming extremes

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 Prestige Edition
Yes. It comes with night vision goggles. Seriously.

I still follow the gaming press though I play about 2 hours of computer games a month right now – and that only when I visit my folks and load up Guitar Hero. There’s a bit of a buzz around about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Specifically, an early level which features some fairly “disturbing” content.

First up, folks – SPOILER. Don’t read on if you’re waiting for the game and want to be shocked by this bit. On your own head be it if you continue past this point.

Now, I’m pretty laid back. I see a game as it is. A game. But then, I’m not mental. And neither, very importantly, am I a parent. Some kind soul has uploaded a complete video of the offending level of the game. It is available from this linky-bit here. Again, don’t go and watch it if you’re bothered about spoilers.

The first thing that struck me is how incredible the gaming experience has become since I last bought a title for my PC. As I’ve been using laptops for the last 4 years or so, I’m not used to 3D graphics of that standard. When I did use my PC, I was topping out on the likes of GTA3. Graphics have come a long way in three years. Remember that the PS3 and Xbox 360 didn’t come out until after I’d packed all my stuff away and gone backpacking.

So what’s the furor about? Basically as part of one of the missions you have to shoot a lot of civilians. A lot. A whole airport full of them. With guns and stuff.

Now is this so bad? I mean, it’s fake isn’t it? Is it any worse than watching a disaster movie, or someone going on a rampage in a town in some violent film or other?

To me, the answer is no. But would I want a 12 year old to play the same game as me? Not in this instance, no. I may be getting soft in my old age, but there is a point where fantasy is obvious and this isn’t it. The game in question is grisly and this level in particular completely blurs the line between fantasy and reality.

I’m all for the likes of war games where you’re a soldier fighting other soldiers. With the atmosphere possible in today’s gaming environments it’s almost educational and the fact that teamplay and communication starts to enter into it actually appeals to me as far as providing them to kids is concerned. When your actions have consequences and there are reasons for performing them then it can pass on some kind of moral message – even if that message is “attack my country and I’ll shoot all your soldiers”.

However, running rampage in an airport from a terrorist’s viewpoint isn’t really conducive to a balanced view of life. While it’s still “just fun” it does cloud that moral viewpoint that sees to be hard to instil these days.

I’ve watched that video right through and all I can say is that it looks like a fun blast, but they still haven’t solved one flaw that’s been in games for ages – “living” characters just walking through corpses on the floor as if they were ghosts. I know it’s a nightmare if you make each corpse “solid” as they you have to jump/dodge round them. But how about some animation for just stepping on or around them that doesn’t involve the player having to hop around like a pogo stick?

I guess that’s the limit of my personal issues with it. The game has an 18 certificate. It’s there for a reason. It’s adult scenes and adult subject matter so it should be played by adults – or younger kids with parental discretion.

I really don’t see what the fuss is about.

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Remove ads from Windows Live Messenger

Windows Live Messenger Mobile
Look, Green - no adverts!

This is a very simple hack to get rid of the annoying adverts in Windows Live Messenger (and possibly older versions of MSN Messenger). It doesn’t involve any downloads or patches and the change is simple to reverse if it doesn’t work, or it causes problems which it shouldn’t.

Note that I have nothing against the adverts as such. It’s a great communication tool and MS are well within their rights to sell some advertising space on it. Generally I tune them out, but the “rollover to pop up” ones are a complete pain in the backside. It’s for these I went searching for a solution – and found three on DotNetWizard.net.

That post above lists three solutions. I found that the first did the job for me and I’ll sum it up in brief here.

  1. Open My Computer or Windows Explorer
  2. Navigate to C:/Windows/System32/Drivers/etc
  3. Right click on “hosts” and select “Properties”. If the file is read-only, remove that tick and Apply if necessary
  4. Double-click on “hosts” and when the window appears, choose to open it with Notepad
  5. Near the top of the file you’ll see an entry “127.0.0.1 localhost”. Underneath that, add a new line “127.0.0.1 rad.msn.com”
  6. File … Save then exit Notepad
  7. If the file was read-only before, make it read-only again.
  8. Log out of MSN if you were in it, and back in.

You should now find that the ads are replaced with a blank white box. Not pretty, but at least you don’t end up with adverts obscuring your desktop. This works on XP and Vista. I don’t know about Windows 7 as yet, sorry, though I assume it has the same file structure and use of hosts.

For the techies, how this works is pretty simple. All the adverts from Microsoft are served up via a server located at the end of the web address “rad.msn.com”. The hosts file is a plain text system file which tells the system where to look for certain resources – it’s a single-machine version of the DNS system in some respects.

As well as using it to point at local resources (such as 192.168.0.7 Steve_PC) you can get it to redirect any other network request. All we’ve done is told the machine that when Messenger goes looking for the advert server, it should – instead of heading out into the internet – look to the local 127.0.0.1 address. This is a standard “loop back” address used by all PCs (indeed, all networking equipment). Hence, Messenger can’t reach the server and the ads don’t appear.

Microsoft could easily fix this by hard-coding an IP address for the advert server into an WLM update, though this in turn could be blocked using other methods, such as firewalls.

Right now, though, I don’t have someone trying to sell me coffee every time I try to click on an icon in my tray.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]