Today I have been mostly eating and playing computers

PDA's still evolving

noreply@blogger.com (Roger) — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 14:12:00 +0000

see attached pdf with photo gallery - my PDA history
"I�ve spent an embarrassing amount on PDA�s over the last 20 years. In this time personal organiser equipment has been evolving and here I am still funding development. What�s driving this note is whether my philanthropy is finally paying off.

An HP ipaq 5450 running Windows Pocket PC has fingerprint recognition, Bluetooth, Wireless LAN. It can play music and video. It could run as a Sat Nav or handle email through the phone or wireless network. But as I do this never before have I confirmed so many actions or reminded this PDA what it�s supposed to be connected to. Playing a tune is no casual exercise. It will remember your contacts for as long as its battery lasts: if you forget to charge it it�ll lose all your friends. And since a Sat Nav really needs to work in desperate moments, I wonder how much one dare rely on it. Windows Vista didn�t care to talk with it. I conclude that the most highly evolved PDAs have decided to give evolution a miss. Someone please find me something that fits in my pocket and has text entry; phone connectivity; email and a library of photos, video and music.

A field course - version 2 - Mill Street, Killarny, Ireland

noreply@blogger.com (Roger) — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 22:28:00 +0000

A field course - Mill Street, Killarny, Ireland

noreply@blogger.com (Roger) — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 22:22:00 +0000

30 teachers, 50 dataloggers, 100 sensors, 5 Segways - July 2007

From Animoto who service your photos. No need to say more.

HP Photosmart 3310 All-in-One Printer Scanner Fax

noreply@blogger.com (Roger) — Wed, 31 May 2006 18:29:00 +0000

Here is a printer with networking features to the hilt. Its network link lets any machine connected to the network use the unit to fax, scan or print. Go to the printer and press scan and it'll ask 'to which machine' and then you can scan away, saving files on that machine, as if by remote control. Uploading pictures from a Pictbridge camera or a Flash card reader similarly asks which computer should receive the files. Alternatively, since a drive icon shows in My Computer, you can plug in the Flash card reader, go to your computer and browse the card as if it was a drive.
It has ethernet for wired network printing as well as wireless ethernet and amazingly it hops between these transparently. Disconnect the cable and the wireless takes over.
Really nice is a 10 x 15 cm photo tray which automatically bursts into life when selected by the software driver. No catches or buttons need pressing to hop between A4 and postcard size prints.
The software driver package is a hefty one with a slow install, however, bear with it because the result is a hec of a lot of function.
One small surprise was its Bluetooth capability if you bought an HP Bluetooth dongle. This lets you print a picture from a PDA or phone. Being too mean to buy the HP dongle I plugged in a cheap one made by Bluetake and this immediately started working! I think these BT things must use the same chips!

The HP 3310 was bought to replace a HP PSC 950 which scanned, faxed and came with HP Director - very capable software for its time. Bought in 2002 the build quality of the PSC 950 wasn't up to the hammering we gave it. The new HP prints really fast, feels good and strong enough from the start and it's one I'd care to recommend.

0870 - 0845 National numbers

noreply@blogger.com (Roger) — Mon, 08 May 2006 17:26:00 +0000

Good news this month as the telecoms industry move to help telephone callers estimate what they pay when they dial a 'national rate' number beginning 0870. Currently you can pay a wide variety of anything and since very few people on the planet can understand a BT telephone bill, I'll wager that most people will continue never to know this. At around 8p (15 cents) a minute, an 0870 number doesn't cost that much to call but with landline calls now costing almost nothing to call, beside this they look pretty dear.

I still find it a touch alarming that numerous (but not all) businesses actually profit from you caling their 0870 number and are given 2p a minute on each minute of the call. I doubt if they're getting that wealthly but to be congratulated are those who devised the scheme where a business pays for a 08xx number, and consumers pay more for their calls as a result.

I've dabbled with the idea of getting 08xx numbers for myself and finally succombed. However it's taken a while to realise that if anyone offers you such a number you're obliged to keep it or else no one in future is going to be phoning you. An 0870 number (and an email address) is not just for Xmas, it's a commitment for life,

Plusnet, the ISP (Internet Service Provider) offer a free Fax2email 0870 number that sends a fax to your email box. It's a brilliant service until you put the number on your letter heads because Plusnet have the evil practice of disconnecting the number at random and giving the number to someone else.

Another firm, Robotelecom in Hemel Hempstead provide local call '0845' numbers. I signed up to one on their promise of "no fees to pay forever". This bunch too are truly fickle if not on the fringe of dishonest. Without notice Robotelecom decide to levy a �50 per annum fee for the number. That's not being trustworthty, to the nth degree. They claim that they were taken over by another firm called 'Virtual Effects Ltd' who had different terms so their promises didn't have to be kept. If you hanker for an 0870 / 0845 national number, you're going to pay one way or another. Friends tell me they have a more predictable time using companies other than robotelecom.co.uk.

Oneforall Wireless Telephone Extender

noreply@blogger.com (Roger) — Thu, 16 Mar 2006 14:23:00 +0000

Spending sixty pounds for a telephone extension takes a bit of thinking about but after a couple of years dithering it was time to realise that life is too short for that kind of silly. People need phone sockets for their Sky box near the TV. My need was to get the telephone answering machine where it was needed. The fact that it's a DECT wireless system you can use anywhere made the need to spend �60 just a touch bizarre.
The 'One for All' Telephone Extender puts a phone socket where it's needed by sending telephone juice through the mains cabling. You can then pick up the phone signal at another mains outlet. Numerous reports from those with Sky Boxes were very positive but for straight forward phoning the solution was very hit or miss. First impressions of its two white boxes with mains leads and plugs suggested it's a lot of wires for a wireless solution. Recent units however improve on this by making the boxes with an integral plug. In use you do need to choose your sockets carefully because for a couple of days we'd missed half our calls and getting a line was a touch hit or miss. By day three, when it was clear that caller ID was not working over the link, the unit was on its way back to the shop. The small print on the OFA support web suggests that all these issues are likely. The sales part of the site only warns that it'll not work on ADSL lines or via a surge protector. It not only needs some kind of gauge to tell you how good the signal is - it also needs a note on the box to say that as solutions go this really is half good.

Mounting slim flat panel monitors - and keeping technology out of sight - click for full story

noreply@blogger.com (Roger) — Tue, 07 Mar 2006 23:30:00 +0000

Pop into any computer room and you very often see LCD screens replacing the spaces that were once occupied by CRT monitors. In many cases, the space the LCD actually saves will be brought into question. Often you need to change the desking to reap a space-saving benefit.
Here�s my solution, based on an IKEA �Jerker� desk, which also happens to be cheap. IKEA �Jerker� desks have won fans and become a legend for the way that you can load them up with home office technology. You can for example attach power extensions (using Velcro strips) to the low cross beam. As of this moment mine has 20 out of sight power outlets for a phone, PDA, clock, lamp, computers, monitors, cassette recorder, speakers and external hard drive that have become part of this hilarious space called the home office. Designer Nicolas Cortolezzis deserves a prize� find out what we did (PDF = 250K)

Modified

Technology gone stupid - Jura coffee makers

noreply@blogger.com (Roger) — Tue, 20 Dec 2005 08:46:00 +0000

Internet Connectivity Kit for Jura Impressa F90 & F9 Price �75
o download your favorite coffee recipes from the Internet and upload them on your machine
o You can check the status of your machine at any time. In this way you can provide the JURA service staff with important information so that they can help you with any problems.

Anyone in search of a coffee-maker that makes no compromises on quality will soon find themselves at the door of Swiss company Jura. Year upon year they win awards for best, most innovative coffee maker.
Winning industry awards on this scale is a sign of an active public relations department. Get yourself a fairly good product and a very good PR department and your winning a magazine award is a certainty. Enter more than enough products, spam every category and you can sit back and wait for a sympathy vote or the right mix of judges.
Take the Jura F90 coffee maker which a few years back was all the rage in the press. It has internet capability too which raised certainly my curiosity. What it can do is scantly documentated but having just now downloaded the software to see the features I'm amazed at what it does.

It is this:
1) allows you to customise a message that appears when it is switched on.
2) allows you to discover that you might as well take it back to the shop to fix it when it goes wrong
3) allows you to programme in a coffee receipe (adjust water / coffee) which would take about 2 minutes normally.
4) Connects to your PC with a serial lead. Whoopwhoop! How are you gonna get your PC in the kitchen?

Verdict: People who make coffee makers should stick to doing that.

Nearest competitor for dim technology: Sony Bluetooth DCR- IP7 - a camcorder that allows you to surf the net and send emails via your mobile phone when it's easier to use your mobile phone to do that anyway.

Finding a way forward with TomTom Go - GPS navigation

noreply@blogger.com (Roger) — Mon, 03 Oct 2005 20:58:00 +0000

The world is divided into those who have discovered GPS navigation and those who have not. With a GPS unit you rarely get lost and the result is very, very relaxing.
The TomTom Go has a lot of well thought out software in the box � then again it still has a good few poweruser features that let you add POI�s (points of interest) to navigate to cash machines, petrol stations, speed cameras, Little Chefs, Travel Inns and more. (If I need to remember to go to Maplin, Halfords or ASDA I can tell TomTom to go 'boing' next time I'm driving past one).

The TomTom gives every feeling of being a fairly mature product: basically it kicks.

The TomTom 700 has an all Europe map which is a lifesaver for even occasional breaks away. If you haven�t ever been to another city and wondered where's the station, airport, hotel and so on, then you could save money and get a UK only map. However when you realise how good GPS is, you might well spend the extra money on the bigger map.
There�s a remote control - I use it, some people do not.
A Bluetooth wireless headset feature works well and lets you chat fairly safely on the phone. You can avoid needing to shout with a regular 3.5mm jacked mike � but it�s good to start with.
The traffic service is pretty good � the traffic service has the feel of a first generation product so you�ll have to contend with frequent �can�t connects� and possibly even old information. However, when it helps me avoid any traffic, I�m a happy bunny. It�s hard to assess its effectiveness but there was no better way of avoiding a jam in an area I did not know.
Itineries can be set up � these are for your journeys with multiple stops. You enter all your way-stops and off you drive � though I�d caution on these. For example, if you stop short of a way-stop, you�re never logged as having been there. The result is that you�ll be redirected back to the stop. For these you have to be on the ball about telling the box where you�ve gone and been � I�d not recommend this feature to the whole world.
Favorite destinations � now these are fantastic: I recommend you prime the box with all your friends places and phone numbers. Then pay them surprise visits.

Issues to note:
maps - not perfect - I do get the occasional glitch (eg I�ve been directed to the back of the shopping centre, some roads do not exist and yet some are being built and appear on the map. Overall its better than good enough.
shape - this is fine mounted in a car but in your hand it is a bar of soap
phones - there is a list of supported phones and this is worth believing. Not being able to absorb the phone's phonebook (P910) or read SMS's was a trivial issue as all else worked.
don't 'use' whilst driving - if you buy a TomTom (even for someone not-so technowise) do them a favour and add addresses and POI's - download POI�s from tomtom forums and usb them over.
gprs - if you find you cannot set this up you may need to get O2 or Vodafone to let you have the full GPRS service.

Yesterday BBC�s Watchdog programme took on the case of someone who couldn�t use the TomTom and wanted to take it back. They'd been driving in circles with it in their home town. The shop refused and a fight ensued. Ultimately Watchdog wins because they have to � but frankly Watchdog could fight more deserving consumer injustices. Instead they rushed to rescue a consumer crybaby who wants the moon on a stick. The TomTom is a fabulous device, it�s imperfect but its every imperfection is worth working round.

Overall: best gizmo in years. Wife agrees, saynomore.

Camera Cards - Smart Media Flash - Recover deleted pictures - Recover from Card Err!

noreply@blogger.com (Roger) — Mon, 25 Jul 2005 05:40:00 +0000

Having a recurrent Card Err! on your camera memory card? We tried a couple of ideas and this really sorted it.
1) Camera chooses not to be able to read the card it did two minutes ago. Solution: clean it. First clean the card slot by wiggle a few cm of Velcro hooks. The gritty surface helps. Next buff up the contacts of the Smart Media card - use a cloth and a few drops of brass/silver polish. Try, I hope it works for you.
2) Deleted some pictures on the card you thought were not worth keeping two minutes ago. Solution: You need a half decent unerase prgram. Get that from PC Inspector (CONVAR) - Google for this. It costs a very generous nothing. Heed all warnings about unerasing files of the hard disc (it can do this too - but there are reasons to be careful).

Out of Office Autoreply Toilet Break

noreply@blogger.com (Roger) — Tue, 17 May 2005 08:06:00 +0000

I am away from my desk for ten minutes. I thought you'd need to know. Normally I am here all day answering your letters and thinking I am indispensable.

Action: Send to all
When: When I'm busy
But suppose: no one cares? Yeah right.

We guarantee to not to ever send one of these but should this happen, here's what to do in Outlook
1) Right Click on the message
2) Choose "Create Rule". Choose conditions eg 'autoreply' in the subject line.
3) Uncheck 'from'. Choose 'Move message to ..'
4) Choose 'Junk mail'

Networks are about power fer goodness sake

noreply@blogger.com (Roger) — Fri, 13 May 2005 12:53:00 +0000

John Naughton makes an interesting comment in The Observer about school�s �restrictive broadband networks designed by clueless local authorities�. He clearly has inside information though the piece goes on a touch about the Tony Blair government being in on the act.

School networks ARE kind of yuk � most networks are. Maybe you can't put files on your machine or access Google images on yours. School networks are worse than many. But here's a real history to the restrictive network and it pre-dates Blair and even Thatcher. The history goes back to the dawn of civilization.

This is what happened. At the beginning there were people who studied and learned to understand the heavens. These people were the high priests, they were yesterday�s scientists. They could predict events. Knowledge was power. They knew cool stuff and pretty soon they gained an unholy amount of power.

This happened in schools too.

Fast forward to just yesterday when power in schools went through a comfortable era. Schools were run by the knowledgeable � basically the head of maths, head of English and head of science. Oh and the head.
But one day along came the computer. And someone in school learned to work it. Pretty soon their knowledge put them in power. They had found a fast career track. They got promoted to deputy heads in charge of ICT and i/c regional networks.

So I can't blame any bit of government policy for what's going on. Sure the government could fix it and I half think the Observer comment is helping. The cause of duff networks is that they don�t meet the needs of the users. The people in charge can�t find a way to change this even when they want them to.

Techno Palsy - Technopalsy

noreply@blogger.com (Roger) — Thu, 12 May 2005 21:16:00 +0000

TECH'NO'PAL'SY n. s as z. to be fully relaxed and use a machine without reading a manual or even thinking.
When technology continues to be as half-well designed as it is, a certain about of nouse; intuition or rough intelligence is required of the user for the working thereof.
Thus persons with technopalsy are to be found mostly staring at a piece of ABS plastic in puzzlement. Not all such stares are indicative of the full-blown version of the affliction.

The most useful test, called 'Frost's you-really-blown-it-now test', is conclusive proof. The test is based on the fact that many gismos [ibid] have hidden key presses to reset the device or put it into maintenance mode or go where it shouldn't.

To the most ordinary geek-type person, these key presses are hard if not impossible to find without a manual.

On the other hand, the confirmed technopalsied will find the correct key combination within a few minute's use of the device. Hence a Windows PC will be 'accidentally' made to start in safe mode; or it will lock-up trying to download a large file; a digital clock will hop between date-view and time-view; a television will retune itself and seek new channels; an ipod's software will crash; a coffee machine will discharge coffee pretty much everywhere.

Definition from Roger's Dictionary of the English Language, 2005.

The colour laser printer

noreply@blogger.com (Roger) — Fri, 18 Feb 2005 12:43:00 +0000

Have you been thinking about selling your printer? Looking at
today's prices for colour laser printers I wonder what I'd get for a 2 year
old Epson Acculaser C2000, original costing �2000. It's powerful and meaty
but the price of consumables hasn't dropped. So I've already spend �1400 on
consumables for it and in a couple of refills time, the running costs exceed
the printer price. Today you can buy an equivalent model for £1000 which
ought to get you a Duplexer, Heavy build quality, Postscript 3, two large
Large Paper trays and most importantly memory. Whatever you do, don't buy a
page printer(ie a laser printer) that might not have enough memory to hold
a page. If you've a printer with 32Mb, and the PC isn't sharing the load,
you may find the printer goes into a coma when you ask for a full page
photo. I'd like to hear that's not so but the C2000 has 160Mb and I can't
recall it ever stalling over a print job.
Other printer buying tips: > Buy a really popular printer as there's a
greater market for consumables. Also, like car buying, check the model's age - you can get discounts on old models a few months before new models arrive in summer.

Colour Laser Running costs Update 2006

Today the transfer belt, a very big consumable part of the colour laser needed replacing so it was time to take stock of how much the laser has cost to run. Here for posterity are the figures.

Purchase price Epson C2000 with all the trimmings �1500 ex VAT December 2001
Consumables bought to May 2006 = �1540
Value of consumables in hand (not used) �320
Net consumed �1320
Pages printed 21500 colour; 6000 black; 27500 total
Average cost per colour page excluding paper: 5p (or 10p including the hardware).
Annual cost = �500 (incl hardware)

Dell Dimension 5000 - buy a PC, forget DIY building

noreply@blogger.com (Roger) — Sat, 29 Jan 2005 17:14:00 +0000

With January sales causing a drop in PC prices, I succumbed and bought a new Dell Dimension. It has loads of USB sockets and a network card but the killer feature is that it's probably the quietest PC I've ever bought.

As the fifth Dell bought over fifteen years, I had stopped buying Dells 5 years ago after they sold me one that never went wrong. This Pentium 3 - 550MHz chugged along nicely for months on end. It was rarely switched off. What helped was thar I'd Ghosted the OS partition at its zenith of reliability and once a year I'd refresh the OS - usually this was after some application misbehaved. Over time I added a video card, a hard disc and some memory to take it through the Windows 2000 and XP eras. The XPS T550 was fairly quiet too but for heavy duty jobs like video editing I used a series of self build PCs .

I look back at this era of DIY PC building as my misguided years. Every building project has been frought with assembly, dissassembly and system hiccups. It's best left to people who have a well-stocked workshop and time to kill. Any money saved has to be balanced against what's involved - even if it is easy and educational. In fact a small fortune was spent on quiet PSU's, new fans and silent flower-style heatsink coolers. On one PC alone that came to �150 ($250) . After deducting �150 for a Dell FP monitor, the near-silent Dimension 5000 cost �250. This was Dell number 5. A zealot I've become.

History
No 1: Dell 486 - ran on Windows 3 - reliable - left running for months.
No 2: Dell Pentium I - 133 MHz - Windows 95 - fairly good - ransacked for parts. Heatsink is now a business card holder.
No 3: Dell Pentium II - 266 MHz - Windows 98 - never happy - used as a music server
No 4: Dell Pentium III - 550MHz - Windows 2000 - still going 2005

Online shopping - cuts service to unacceptable levels

noreply@blogger.com (Roger) — Wed, 05 Jan 2005 09:34:00 +0000

Online shopping dissolves half of the hassle of shopping in town - when the object of desire is rarely in stock and thus the goods are hard to find it's plain crazy not to. And then you can choose from all the competition, not just the stuff on show.
And because you can hop from site to site researching details, prices are keen. Prices are keen because there's no shop to pay for, or staff to answer a phone or now in most cases, hardly anyone to deal with an email. The online shopping world is evolving. Who do you think is going to survive? Will it be the shops at the bottom-dollar no-service end of the market ... will these shops win customers as fast as they lose them? Or will it be those with a more blended good price - good service offering ... who will build a loyal following?

If you really want to remove the hassle of buying things online, look for these features:

There's a phone number where you can sort out problems.
Delivery charges are fair, for example they go up reasonably with how much you buy or they diminish altogether.
Offers are what they say they are - not eye-catchers with small print
Emails are replied to within an hour or so.
If the item's not in stock, you're given options as to what to do.
An apology for a messed up order (wrong things delivered) is an apology with money eg a free gift / free delivery next time. In other words the shop guarantees its service as well as it goods
Copious information on the product and its applications.
Customers reviews

Duff shops that need to shape up or shut down

ebuyer.com; dabs.com - offer cut into the bone service; there is no telephone number that answers. For instance what is the point of asking "where's this morining's delivery" when it takes few days to reply to an email . Or see what happens if the item's out of stock.
neat-ideas.co.uk; simply.co.uk - there is general dimness across the organisation which leads to mistake upon mistake.
unbeatable.co.uk; hughes.co.uk; dell.co.uk; northerntools.co.uk - slashed prices but delivery charges at their most ridulous

Star players

maplin.co.uk - has not forgotten it service pledges; if it's in your 'basket' the item isn't removed because it's gone out of stock.
phones4less.co.uk - home-phones.co.uk - they know their products; they help; they offer solutions
amazon.co.uk - great website, and they haven't goofed up to reveal anything's not brilliant.
johnlewis.com; viking-direct.co.uk; diy.com (B&Q) - fantastic ... these are here to sell you stuff well by any means and not cut, cut.
er.. that's not that many in this list. Your recommendations are welcome

Back to Dataloggerama Home Page

noreply@blogger.com (Roger) — Thu, 20 May 2004 21:23:00 +0000

Click the title

Familiar noises from the inkjet printer

noreply@blogger.com (Roger) — Sat, 09 Aug 2003 18:44:00 +0000

Dear Roger, I hope you can help. When I turn on my inkjet printer it repeats a deep, familiar sounding noise. The heads chug into action and at one second intervals, it is as if it were playing the opening chords of Jimi Hendrix's Purple Haze. After the warm up procedure the heads come to rest, and just as I'm expecting Jim's lead guitar to wail in. It does leaves me wanting for the rest of the song. Is this normal?

Dear Dave, Since Jim's untimely death, many people imagine these sorts of things so I would probably say this is normal. People 'hear' all sorts of familiar things and this part of a natural desire to make sense of the world.
For example, in the same song JH sings 'Excuse me while I kiss the sky...'. But you'd probably hear it as 'Excuse me while I kiss this guy'!!! There's a whole web site devoted to hearing the wrong things and it's named in honour of Jimi: www.kissthisguy.com. Anyway, in future I'd leave the printer on and just play the record instead. Best Roger.

Seven wonders of the shopping world

noreply@blogger.com (Roger) — Sat, 09 Aug 2003 18:43:00 +0000

1. DVD player - �40 at aria.co.uk
2. VHS video recorder - �59 at Argos
3. NTL Broadband - fast, well-priced, never failed and never turned off since September 2003
4. Wireless networking for Internet, printing and file sharing
5. Windows 2000 - rock solid & no need for XP
6. Pentium III 550 MHz - works faster than I think. No need for a 3GHz.
7. London Buses and Congestion Charging - a sea change in getting around London

Memory Stick Duo - small size, hefty price

noreply@blogger.com (Roger) — Wed, 04 Jun 2003 13:21:00 +0000

Sony's 128 Mb Memory Stick Duo has arrived in the UK (June 03). The current wheeze for data storage in Sony Ericsson mobile phones, Memory Stick Duo lets you carry photo albums, video, games and music on a slither the size of a thumbnail. It's not that regular Memory Stick wasn't small enough, but here's another physical format to follow Compact Flash, SD, MMC and the rest. It's hardly surprising that people baulk at the thought of buying into, or becoming a slave to any format. The makers would reply that this gizmo fits phones like the SE P800, massively increases its memory and so long as you can copy stuff onto it the job is done. They're pretty much right since it only matters what shape it is when you want to exchange stuff with others.

Costs more than gold
The real issue is what this costs - tax inclusive: on the US Expansys it costs $160 compared to $65 for a regular Memory Stick. In the UK Expansys sell these same for 110 and 67 UK pounds. At the Sony Style website you have a bargain where the 128Mb Duo was last seen at $104.
Incidentally, it weighs only 1.75g and thus at its best price, thus costs $60 a gram. Compare this with 24 carat gold which retails at around $24 a gram. Still that's cheaper than a bag of Loose Diamonds (tiny ones at that) costing $8000 a gram. (For the record, a one carat diamond weighing 0.2g has scarcity value and would set you back $15,000)

Copyright copy wrong
While MSD lets you store any kind of material that fits, it also features Magic Gate protection designed to protect data from being copied all over the shop. The idea is that games or music files you buy over the 'net will be tied to the MSD and not copiable or useable elsewhere. Hear anyone going wow over this?

I love my Internet router

noreply@blogger.com (Roger) — Tue, 29 Apr 2003 09:38:00 +0000

For most folk a router is something to pass by and not least because they seem complicated and costly. I'd remembered them from the days of ISDN for Internet access - where businesses told tales of their router dialling up needlessly and incurring scary phone bills. But now, with cable and ADSL and with routers costing much less than before, this is the way to go.
For example, if you have ADSL on the line you'll have a DSL modem connected to a PC. If you have a couple of machines (and maybe a ethernet linked printer) you also need a hub or switch to wire them together. You could connect a wireless LAN access point to the hub or switch - this allows a laptop with a wireless LAN card to join in the fun so you can surf, transfer files and print from around the building. The cost of this a year back was �120 for the modem; �60 for the hub and �120 for the wireless ap plus the fact that the computer with the modem has to be on the whole time. Enter the Netgear DG824M at �140 and you're really flying. The price is good, the result is tidy and setting the system up is fast and elegant. The Netgear DG824M plugs into the ADSL part of the phone line and a network cable (supplied) goes from the PC to this modem/router. Insert the CD and a utility helps your PC to find the router and configure it. This worked exceptionally well - setup runs through a clear browser-based wizard built into the router. The jargon is explained in the same screen, the dial up settings are remembered by the router. Thus left and ignored indefinately you essentially have a unit able to deliver Internet as if it was electricity. Plug a PC into the router with an ethernet cable, tell the PC to use the LAN to connect (it'll then use your Router at 192.168.0.1 as the Internet Gateway). This makes a peer-to-peer network where you can share the Internet link, transfer files and share printers. The DG824M has ethernet ports for three other PC's - if you have more than this you can link to another hub or switch.

You can connect wireless clients (eg a PC with a Wireless LAN card) to the router to pick up the Internet. What you can't do is connect to it using another wireless access point. In other words, two wireless access points can't normally talk to each other. I put it down to the stupidity that was built into networking.

Alpha Males

noreply@blogger.com (Roger) — Tue, 11 Feb 2003 14:06:00 +0000

Our vegetarian correspondent Peter F writes: "I decided today that human males split into two types -- alpha males and alfalfa males."

Micromark mains halogen light fitting proves to be a trojan horse for light bulbs

noreply@blogger.com (Roger) — Sun, 22 Dec 2002 11:59:00 +0000

We've heard it said that an inkjet printer is a trojan horse for inkjet cartridges - the printer is sold cheap because the manufacturer makes the most money on the sale of inkjet cartridges. After all, if you use them to print stuff, you can expect to pay for the ink. Applying the same sense to home lighting hasn't worked for us.
From today we expect to save a lot of money on light bulbs. Our last Micromark GU10 Mains Halogen lamp expired in a pop today and we rejoiced. At nearly �10 each these bright and allegedly good value bulbs allow you to use halogen spot lamps wherever a transformer would be out of place. Often called simply 'mains halogen', and more succintly in this house 'a disappointment' they enable us to use some awesome hi-tech light fittings. The running cost however is another matter. In the space of a year a four-lamp fitting costing �90 has cost as much again in replacement bulbs. But now, by simply removing a few screws, the Micromark spotlight track can be dumped in the attic. This technology may one day find its moment, but just now we'll keep the fitting as a reminder. Micromark are at www.micromark.co.uk but there's no advice here. If you are similarly afflicted, cheaper replacement GU10 bulbs can be found at Argos and Ikea.

An earthquake shakes the south on curry night

noreply@blogger.com (Roger) — Tue, 24 Sep 2002 23:27:00 +0000

M&S curries are the business. Although Brick Lane in London is the home of a good Bengali meal it is still 20 minutes away. Just two minutes down the road, Marks & Spencer's wins on time saving.
Last night's curry meal had the edge. Our meal was followed by a rare event in the UK: an earthquake in the Midlands actually shook people in their houses. A friend at the epicentre in Dudley thought that it was an attack on London. He waited anxiously was hours afterwards thinking that another tremour would arrive.

Here in London we thought nothing of the sort. We thought it was the curry.

All of which reminds of the contempt I have for seismologists. After failing to warn of that event, and more serious ones to date, you have to ask: what are seismologists for? They can tell you within minutes of a tremour what's happened and how high it measured. But that's it. When thousands perish in Turkey, I rate seismology near the daft end of science. I vote they be banished from the community. "Seismologists save lives". Pure tosh.

noreply@blogger.com (Roger) — Tue, 24 Sep 2002 23:11:00 +0000

When you can't smell burning from the kitchen, you know it's salad night
Today we feel it's time to run against the grain: help us please with half a reason to like salad.
TBC