Archive for Technology
Can’t. Stop. Watching.
August 10th, 2008 • Life, Strange, Technology
Vista: the fightback starts here
August 7th, 2008 • Technology
We all hate Vista. It’s bloated, buggy, garish and expensive.
Microsoft knows this. In fact, the public stoning of Vista means that Microsoft probably feels it; the bruises are still hurtin’.
And, for once, the planet’s most powerful software vendor has voted against self-denial in favour of… a strange form of self-justification.
I clicked on an ad today for the Mojave Experiment. Fourty seconds of loading screen later, and I’m watching a focus group (in a video frame set against a background that’s scarily similar to the Apple TV ‘wall of screens’ posters. A coincidence, I’m sure).
Middle-aged Americans of varying accent are talking to an unseen researcher, who’s asking for their view of Vista. They hate it. It’s buggy, bloated… well, you know the script by now.
Say hello to the new ‘Fox
July 29th, 2008 • Internet, Technology
Ooh, look; it’s Firefox 3.1.
UPDATE: Couldn’t see anything wildly different, until I chanced on ‘ctrl-tab’ as a key combo. If you’re a Mac user, give it a go (just don’t expect your 3.0 extensions to work).
Best iPhone 3G Review Ever
July 29th, 2008 • Mobile, Technology
Fry declares Apps the real revolution
July 27th, 2008 • Technology
Stephen Fry today in Guardian’s Technology channel:
But that is to take nothing away from what July 11 heralded: not
evolution but revolution. Now that the Applications store is up and
running, you will soon find it a very common sight indeed to see people
crowded around each other’s iPhones showing off the latest impossible,
breathtaking and groundbreaking application. “Ah, but mine can do
this!” will be heard in every cafe and bar.
Beautifully written piece, too.
First five days with a 3G iPhone
July 15th, 2008 • Life, Technology
Rule number one: turn off the location services. Now put your black-backed new toy on your desk, and go for lunch. Come back. See the battery bar? Hardly moved, has it? You lose GPS, sure, but be honest - how often do you navigate your office holding an iPhone to your face.
Rule number two: reset. Chances are that you started using your 3G iPhone the moment it left the cute box. You were alarmed by the rate at which the green battery bar headed leftward. So you read a few forums, and found that a simple reset made a difference. So you did, and it did.
Rule number three: picket O2’s head office. You spend your days in your company’s Teddington HQ. When you had a Blackberry running Vodafone, you never lost signal. Now, you spend two hours standing outside of your building striking jaunty poses, waiting for that little blue 3G square to light up. Only option: write a stern letter to O2.
Otherwise, life with the latest iPhone is sweeter than toffee cheesecake that’s been kept in a hive.
Must Get Me One Of These…
March 27th, 2008 • Life, Strange, Technology
The Little PC That Could
January 12th, 2008 • Life, Technology
Tags: blogging, Life, Technology
I must be going lo-fi. For some reason I can’t nail, I want the £250 Asus Eee PC.
God knows why. The hard drive is tiny. The thing runs Linux, and to my knowledge I can’t add new apps if it runs out of steam. I’ve played with one for 10 mins, and the casework wears its plastic as a badge of honour.
Perhaps the source of the urge comes from my weariness with expensive flagships that are bloated with features that I will simply never, ever use.
Goodbye Sky, Hello 360-Vision?
January 8th, 2008 • Life, Technology, Video
Tags: Life, Technology, Video
Now this could be good news. I’m quietly resenting my growing monthly Sky bill, and have been chewing on alternatives. But given the fact that Virgin doesn’t rock my boat, alternatives seem thin on the ground.
Then, my XBox 360 became something else. Yesterday, Microsoft announced that it was partnering with BT (of all people) to turn every 360 into a full-on cable box. As one of my colleagues over at Stuff.tv explains:
The announcement means that BT Broadband customers can get on-demand TV programmes and movies streamed (for a fee) to their TV without the need for a set-top box. They can also watch any of BT’s 242 ‘near-live’ Premiership football matches using the Xbox 360.
This is seriously joyous. Call Of Duty 4 and West Ham all from one box… does life get any better?
Leopard, one week on
November 12th, 2007 • Technology
Tags: mac, software
I spent (too) much of my working life staring at the 15in screen of a MacBook Pro, preying for anything approaching an idea to come into my head.So while a new OS to the rest of the world may be as thrilling as paint thinner, in my world it’s Major News.
OK, so maybe it isn’t, but at least I get something new to stare at for nine hours a day. Accepting those figures as roughly accurate, I have now been staring at Leopard for 72 hours. And if you’re even remotely interested, here’s what I think.
Stacks is Good, but could be so much better. I now have a completely file-free desktop (everything sits within a Stack folder called Inbox in my dock), and I’m reaping the karmic benefits that come from such a spring clean. Read more »
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