Turns out a new find in Guatemala confirms what the less conspiratorial of us have long since suspected: the Mayans were not, in fact, at all proposing the end of the world in the tail end of 2012. Good news, eh? Read up the full article over at BoingBoing.
So fire up Spotify and feel just fine with a little R.E.M.
The seeds have been sown and watered. Now we play the waiting
game.
Nothing to see here.
Not my screenshot, just so you know.
Downloaded the 32bit Windows 8 Consumer Preview last night and gave it a spin on a VirtualBox VM. Initial impressions were pretty good but also pretty limited.
I don’t overly care for the Metro UI one way or the other. I’m sure, if subjected to it outside the terrible, in my humble opinion, Xbox dashboard update, I’d get on with it well enough. The operation of the interface was smooth enough to use, even on virtualised, and it was straight forward enough to understand what everything did.
Want a little more privacy in your browsing? Google have put out a Chrome Extension that “Permanently opts your browser out of online ad personalisation via cookies”. In combination with Friday’s post to help prevent Facebook and other trackers leaking and nabbing your data this is another useful step to keep your browsing from fueling other’s interests.
You can grab ‘Keep My Opt-Outs’ here:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hhnjdplhmcnkiecampfdgfjilccfpfoe
I’m sure you all know the drill by now. Facebook, and countless others, are terrible people that track your browsing activity without your explicit permission (it’s all in the small print, folks) all in the name of an ‘enhanced and seamless’ online experience. That’s the business-speak version. To you and me it’s snooping what you’re doing and giving out your information to third parties to help everyone get more money out of you one way or another (usually targeted adverts directly or harvesting data to sell on about you). You can take back control. (More …)
Unlike the desktop and laptop markets it seems tablets are being increasingly treated like smartphones when it comes to locking down the system. Of course many smarphones and tablets that have locked bootloaders have been successfully busted open by community developers and hackers but when it comes to Windows 8 things are looking concerning. (More …)
The process on a PC / tablet / phone that starts the device up and initiates the operating system. Often the bootloader can be modified or replaced to allow loading of alternative software – most commonly on Android phones and tablets to scrub off the default flavor of Android and replace it with something like Cyanogenmod of MIUI.
I’m something of a Terms of Service nazi when it comes to terms of service for online photo gallery systems (see my Why I Won’t Use Flickr warning). With folk getting very friendly with Google+ I figured should best glance over their terms. (More …)
Facebook,
When I signed up to you’re once genuinely interesting and good service I was required to have an email address. So I think it’s safe to say that you know I have an email account my own. Kindly explain to me why the dogs I would want to complicate my increasingly muddy online communications by adding an @facebook.com email address into this?
(More …)
Samsung have demonstrated a working foldable AMOLED screen, an iPhone has been used to use a real turnable in virtual DJing and Apple have further locked out users from new iMac hardware while also creating a keyboard that literally sucks. Read on… (More …)
Would love to see some great 3DS games appear that will make the console worth getting but I refuse to pay top price as I’ll likely not use the 3D all that much (gimmicky and can result in headaches >_<) and the battery life is a joke.
Really hope Nintendo sort it out. Theyve been the dominant force in handheld gaming since the dawn of portable games, for good reason, but starting to feel like they’re failing to keep up in the face of casual games on Android and iOS and the quality of developments in the pipeline for the new Sony PSP.
Expect I’ll end up with a 3DS at some point as there will be just about enough games I’ll want to play to make it worthwhile but I’m very much more interested in non-Nintendo efforts now for the first time in a very very long time.
Greetings all!
After a chatter with a fine fellow currently rocking it ramen-style in Japan I have come to remember that WordPress has this groovy little QuickPost function for, well, quick posts.
That’s about the extent of this. Nothing exciting but at least it’s a little interesting to me.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again that referring to internet based service as being in “the cloud” is insulting, unhelpful, and must be stopped.
At best it over-simplifies the nature of online computing and prevents average users from improving their understanding and ability to fully utilise such services. At worst undermines the work of the developers who actually make these systems fly and makes the marketers and sales folk sound like buzz-word toting parrots who lack a full understanding of the services being sold (see the ‘at best’ point above).
So everyone, please, let’s move things forward, stop treating users like children, help them further their understanding of technology (which is good for everyone), and stop undermining the value of online services.
</rant>
Testing ^__^
As much as I would like to use Flickr to show off photo snaps like those over at ShutterCookies.co.uk however yet again unacceptable terms placed on uploaded content, i.e. your carefully crafted photos poncery, make it a no go. This is from Yahoo’s terms of service linked to from Flickr and essentially means once you’ve uploaded a photo Yahoo will forever, even after deletion (“irrevocable”), have rights to do anything they like with your works for any purpose they deem fit. Uuuum… no.
10.3. For all other User Content you submit or make available for inclusion on publicly accessible areas of the Yahoo! Services, the worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, and fully sub-licensable licence to use, distribute, reproduce, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, publicly perform and publicly display the User Content anywhere on the Yahoo! network or in connection with any distribution or syndication arrangement with other organisations or individuals or their sites in any format or medium now known or later developed. Your User Content and any associated public user profile on the Yahoo! Services may appear on local Yahoo! sites in other countries.
Testing the new account is working well 
I’ve just read the Yahoo ToS. Paying particular attention to 10.2, which says “For photos, graphics … “, and 10.3, which says “For all other User Content you submit … “, which very strongly suggests to me that 10.3 is therefore not applicable to photos, and that the section relevant to pictures (10.2), is pretty much the same as the Google terms.
10.2. For photos, graphics, audio or video you submit or make available on publicly accessible areas of the Yahoo! Services, you give to Yahoo! the worldwide, royalty-free and non-exclusive licence to use, distribute, reproduce, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, publicly perform and publicly display the User Content on the Yahoo! Services:
a) for the purposes for which that User Content was submitted; and
b) for the purpose of promoting the Yahoo! property to which the User Content was submitted or the Yahoo! Services anywhere on the Yahoo! network or in connection with any distribution or syndication arrangement with other organisations or individuals or their sites.
This licence exists only for as long as you continue to include the User Content on the Yahoo! Services and will end at the time you remove, or Yahoo! removes, the User Content from the Yahoo! Services.
10.3. For all other User Content you submit or make available for inclusion on publicly accessible areas of the Yahoo! Services, the worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, and fully sub-licensable licence to use, distribute, reproduce, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, publicly perform and publicly display the User Content anywhere on the Yahoo! network or in connection with any distribution or syndication arrangement with other organisations or individuals or their sites in any format or medium now known or later developed. Your User Content and any associated public user profile on the Yahoo! Services may appear on local Yahoo! sites in other countries.
See this guy? He's doing it wrong.
Reg Ex - Nerd Superpower! Click for the XKCD comic.
Enter our man Reg. Reg is a little O.C.D. and speaks a very odd language. After a little coaxing we began to understand Reg a little more and put him to task. Now Reg is a clever fellow but lacks common sense. We have to spell everything out for him in great detail. Once he’s got the idea though OH the things he can do! He’s roaming around through config files, editing lines, adding lines, calming walking away if his services are not needed. (More …)
The packets themselves say “poppadoms” yet the box they’re stacked in day “puppodums”. Madness!
Noodle lives in our lounge generally enjoying calcium-dusted bugs and the heat-mat
Behold the joy of mince pie cookies! Amazing stuff, Tesco 
Bargain at 18p a pack reduced on their date. Late evening shopping for the win.
Slightly foggy today methinks 
The brilliant pumpkin carved and given to me by Aimee I’ve been incredibly impressed with it! ^__^
Click to see full size
Sunday night was the Alpha Blues charity gig at Leeds Uni put on by Steffi Bontoft.
These are my snaps from the night using a shiny lens with a nice big aperture to try and capture the feel of the event without whiting everything out with a flash. Make sure you click the More link below to see all the photos (unless you came here from the Twitter / Facebook link in which case you can already see them).
Starting to plan a small form factor low power drain low noise media PC so figured it’s worth while asking around the internets for advice from anyone that might have gone down this path before.
It’ll be intended to:
It’ll need to be able to be on permanently for scheduled TV recording (or be able to come out of standby automatically to catch the show), so low power drain is important. So any thoughts on what I can get away with to make this all happen? I’ve seen pretty impressive performance from Intel Atom CPUs – would that cut HD playback though?
A fine fellow with a fascination with guy-liner presented me with a macro lens a while ago. Gave it a spin around a garden on a sunny day
clicketty for bigger
As promised on the AmeCon forums here’s my pics from the weekend. Some ok snaps, lots of point-click-hope shots but hope they’re of interest to some folk
If anyone spots one of themselves they particularly want get in contact and I’ll send over the high-res version.
(More …)
Very quick update testing both the WordPress app for the iPhone and the camera of the shiny fourth iteration of the beastie.
Thus far I’ve been very impressed. Still very much a fan of the Android system but the over all quality of the iPhone 4 is undeniable. It’s taken them a while but I think Apple may have finally gotten it right. Of course time will tell.
For now enjoy a dusk snap from a nearby park taken yesterday from the in-built camera
My housemate, while scouring a car boot sale, happens accross a most fine and worthy find. One of MC Hammer’s finest moments: The Addams Family Groove on 12″ vinyl single. First vinyl record I’ve gained in several years and quite possibly the finest – no small achievement considering Tubular Bells and The Beatles Red & Blue albums also feature 
I have a theory that ducks have developed the ability to draw nourishment from the very air when the sun is not shining brightly enough to entice folk to come throw them treats otherwise why else would people only go feeding them when it’s sunny?
Read on…. (More …)
While enjoying some time out on the town in Leeds there was a small mater of dispute between our gathered folk and a gentleman we later have come to affectionately know as Mr 70. To call it a territorial dispute would be, perhaps, an overstatement but none the less the Tale of Mr 70 takes many (few) twists and turns in an epic voyage of loss, rediscovery and abandonment…. read on. (More …)
Ever encountered the hassle of archiving music in one format but needing it in another for your portable music enjoyment? I have and spent this afternoon sussing out the most sensible way to do it (under Windows anyway). Read on you, like me, faff with things like FLAC but need something a little more robust for on the road… (More …)
El Reg posted a piece yesterday on the surprising health of CD sales in the growing age of online music downloads and streaming services. It’s hanging on a lot better that was thought in the face of retailers closing and the easiness of buying through services like iTunes and zapping straight into your portable music player of choice *coughSansaFuzecough*. This got me to thinking that more so than occurred to me before the CD is my generation’s Vinyl. (More …)
Ven and 
Anonymous is discussing. 
Zomoniac, 
Anonymous are discussing.
What are ‘bootloaders’ ?