Phucking Phuming @ Phorm

I'm a Pipex customer.
Pipex was taken over by Tiscali.
Tiscali went bust and was eventually taken over by TalkTalk (owned by Carphone Warehouse).
TalkTalk (along with BT and Virgin) are linked to the Phorm advertising/snooping company.
TalkTalk have stated that customers will have an opt-in choice to be subject to their 'traffic' being monitored (rather than BT's opt-out).

Opt-in or opt-out, I want nothing to do with this and have written to Pipex requesting clarification of whether they will be subjecting their customer base to it.

Time to look for another ISP...

What is this butcher saying about his pies...

I just twoted all over the place...

Enough is enough...

Back in January 08 I had a few words to say about the likes of Twitter and those who use it and similar micro-blogging tools.
Well, I have to say, my stance on these hasn't changed. In fact, I think my hatred of Twitter et al has actually deepened, with the news that UK politicians are now signing up for Twitter accounts, in order for us to see what they are wasting their time doing.
While the uptake on Twitter accounts is low (only 35 use it so far, 1 in 18 MPs) there is a site where you can read all their collective daily "Tweets" together - http://tweetminster.co.uk/
One Labour MP tweets so much I wonder if he gets any work done? Tom Watson [Lab] - West Bromwich East (1750).

More and more people are seeing the need to share the drudgery of their everyday lives, and maybe my voice is alone in the wilderness of internetwebland, so I will just have to tut and roll my eyes in frustration.
And live on in the hope that Twitter hurries up and dies...

---000--*U*--000---

On a side note, I did have a chuckle at the 'news' that Twitter were going to launch 'premium accounts' - Twitter Unveils New Premium Accounts - I watched in some amusement as the Twitterers "retweeted" this around the 'net (or the "Twittersphere", as they have named their corner of the 'net' ).

Many were completely fooled by this satire and I expect some were getting quite excited at the thought of having more than 140 characters to spell out their activities with.
100 pages of search results exist for "Twitter Unveils New Premium Accounts" and I suspect there would be more but it appears Twitter won't show up any more than 100 pages!!!

And still they post 'tweets' on it - 3 days after the piece was published!!!

A great joke on the Twitter users - but I wonder if it will backfire on the author when Twitter does introduce 'premium' accounts...

...and will he be offered a "secret "Black" account"?...

Oops...

iWhat?
I wonder if anyone at Apple realised that this App Store application spelt out a rude word?
Apple is being a little odd with some of the apps it is approving or not approving on grounds of 'taste' so I wonder if this app logo slipped past those responsible?...

Omniweb browser...

Omnigroup have now made their Omniweb browser free!

I used to use this browser until it had to be paid for, then I switched to Camino, which I have used pretty much as my default browser since.

So I was interested to see the news that Omnigroup had decided to make it available for free. Re-acquainting myself with it today, I am quite impressed with the speed it loads pages.

Safari 4 is still in beta and its option to view open tabs in a Coverflow format seems like a slightly slicker version of the 'preview' tabs which Omniweb and the "Speed Dial" open tab review that Opera uses.

I have used Camino for so long now that maybe a free Omniweb is a little late in coming but I'm willing to give it a chance again.

The Cavalry?

I snapped this picture on Saturday as the Don't Bomb The BART demo made it's way along Market St before turning down 4th.

Hidden up an alley opposite the hotel were these cops on trail bikes - for some reason the image of the US Cavalry waiting to head the injuns off at the pass came into my head!...

Thieves Standing Around

So, one of my bags must have been searched by the TSA on the way home. Items of toiletries had gone missing from a bag when I unpacked on getting home. No notice left in bag to show it had been searched. The bag was fitted with one of those combination TSA approved padlocks.
A USB cable for the Just Mobile Gum Pro battery pack I picked up in SF had vanished from the same bag. Do the TSA people just tip the contents out, kick it around a bit then put some back?
I have written an email to the TSA to complain but I'm not holding out hope for a reply...
Maybe TSA stands for Taking Stuff Arbitrarily?...

Don't bomb the BART demo...

A large protest on Saturday - the anti-Israeli/US Gaza demo joined up with the protest about a youth who was shot by the BART police up in Oakland.

A new era?

Macworld has gone out with a whimper. So many companies seem to be saying that next year they will be staying away. Is MWSF going to go the same way as Paris and London?
It may survive by becoming smaller, and filling the black hole left in the middle of the main hall by the departure of Apple, with all the z-lister companies who are normally relegated to the North Hall. Adapt or die?

Guess we'll have to see but I suspect this may be my last trip to SF.....

Kidnapped...

Homeless guy with sign, "My wife has been kidnapped. I just need 99c
more to pay the ransom. "

9am demo in a drizzly SF...

"Stop the bombing in Gaza!"...

I have to wonder if they are demonstrating in Gaza to ask Hamas to stop firing rockets at the Israelis? From my viewpoint I have to say that it goes both ways.
But then that's the great thing about living in a democracy guys - you get to shout your slogans, march along busy main streets and carry your banners with a police escort ensuring you are free to protest.

Some places the police would be beating your head to a bloody pulp with your own banner poles!...

Yeah.....

Off the plane and first stop after hotel? Yep, good ol' Beard Papa for one of their Vanilla Bean Cream Puffs....


...well, two actually!

A380 in the flesh...

At the airport...

Sitting in my room after a few beers and a burger in the hotel bar. Managed to configure the MacBook to work with the T-Mobile 3G modem I bought a while back. Speed seems to be reasonable now that I am in a 3G area and the laptop has a USB 2.0 port to plug it into (old iBook didn't, so couldn't test it fully before)
Flight tomorrow to SF so time to get the old noggin down so I can rise early for the shuttle bus to the terminal...

Packing apathy...

Sitting here looking at a pile of clothes, two cases and I just have no enthusiasm for packing today.

Better do something before tomorrow though!!

New traveling companion...

So, today I picked up a new Macbook. The 2.4GHz version. I decided that with the exchange rate on the £ being so crappy right now there was no point holding off until I got to the US to pick up a new laptop.
I managed to get some educational discount on the purchase, as well as the reduction of 2.5% VAT, so the price came to £990.

If I had bought one on the other side of the pond then it would have cost the equivalent of £1199 (about $1730 with state tax).

My trusty 8 year old 600MHz iBook G3 is going to be wiped clean and handed over to my wife once I return from MWSF.

Macbook ✔

San Francisco Here I Come (2009)

Passport ✔
Hotel booked ✔
Flights booked ✔
Airport parking/hotel booked ✔
Macworld pass confirmed ✔
Dollars collected ✔


To Do
Pack....

Groany Excessmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS.

Crime busters...

Police in Finland believe they have caught a car thief from a DNA sample taken from a mosquito they noticed inside an abandoned vehicle.

Finding the car in Seinaejoki, north of Helsinki, police saw that the mosquito had recently sucked blood and decided to send the insect for analysis.

The DNA found from laboratory tests matched a man on the police register.

The suspect denies stealing the car and says he was just hitch-hiking a lift with a man.

The car was stolen in June in the town of Lapua, some 380km (235 miles) north of the Finnish capital, the AFP news agency reports.

It was recovered several weeks later in Seinaejoki, about 25km from where it disappeared.

Sakari Palomaeki, the police inspector in charge of the case, said it was the first time Finnish police had used an insect to solve a crime.

"It is not usual to use mosquitoes. In training we were not told to keep an eye on mosquitoes at crime scenes," he said.

"It is not easy to find a small mosquito in a car, this just shows how thorough the crime scene investigation was," he added.

A prosecutor must now decide if the sample is strong enough for charges to be pressed.

SOURCE

Pointless iPhone apps

While having a look through the App Store I came across some totally useless and pointless apps. Worst thing about them is people are asking to be paid for this shite....



iFart - there are 19 other farting apps for god's sake!

Electric Smoke - what is the point? Come on tell me...
If you're so desperate to be seen smoking just go out an buy a pack of cigarettes. What next, the Nicotine Gum app?

What other 'gems' are lurking in the App Store?

I wonder what morons actually stump up money for these apps and exactly how genuine are the reviews?...

W00t......

Never thought I would get excited at the sight of a petrol station selling diesel for under £1 a litre!!!

My local Shell has it for 99.9p!

Guess what?

The BP station only half a mile away is selling it for 104.9p - still trying to rip us off!!!

How not to eat porridge...

...sitting in front of the computer while recovering from a bad cold - coughing fit while taking a spoonful of porridge. Result? Screen covered in oats and milk...

Storm in a teacup?...

Spend a bit of time hands on with the Blackberry Strom, err Stroll, ahh, Storm...

The keypad is not as easy to get to grips with as the Apple iPhone. In 'potrait mode' the keys are double lettered ones as opposed to a full QWERTY layout and trying to type with any speed in the landscape mode was frustrating. The 'keys' glow blue when you press them as opposed to actually presenting a pop up letter like the iPhone. Not as easy to see IMO.

Obviously it beats the iPhone hands down with it's 3.2 MP camera with a flash, ability to capture video. Having to buy extra memory is a bit of a bitch - wonder how long before Vodafone throws in a 16GB MicroSD card to the deal?

Physically pressing the screen is a bit weird - wonder how long before issues arise with this?

Think I'll stick with the iPhone for now - nice young woman served me though ;)

Find .co.uk

Found this tip elsewhere - if you hold down the .com key you will be presented with other country domain options if you have your keyboard preferences set to UK English.

Dry Starbucks...

Called into my local and looks like the message about water waste has
filtered down from on high....
...the 'dipper well' was dry. No taps were running at all behind the counter. Coffee tasted just the same and so far I have not keeled over with some horrendous form of food poisoning...

obama - Obama x

Seems that the iPhone has "Obama" in it's spell correction list - type "obama" and it suggests "Obama"...

EasyWriter app...

At last I can type on my iPhone with a bit more ease than I could
before. I have grabbed the EasyWriter app from the App Store which
allows typing in landscape mode. For a short time it is available for
free and while it is only really meant to be used for email there is
no reason why it can't be used for other writing tasks.
One aspect of the app is that anything being worked on is saved until
it is sent to the mail app. So if you have to take a call you can be
safe in the knowledge that it will still be there when your call is
finished.

Next to easyWriter in the screengrab is another free (for now) app from Griffin Technology - iTalk - I have tried this app out and the quality of the recordings seems to be pretty good. I also downloaded the iTalk Sync app for my desktop Mac and syncing witht he iPhone is quick with a drag and drop file transfer function.

Guess Obama won then?......