Web Hosting

This site has been experiencing hosting problems for the past few days. Despite assurances from my web host company that the problem has been resolved, and that it was only for a few hours, this site is still mostly unaccessible. As I'm in a bad mood, and on a short fuse, I will be ditching my host provider (www.123-reg.co.uk, part of the Pipex Group) as soon as I can. Avoid like the plague.

I'm open to suggestions as to who should get my business now.

Category:

• Internet
• Domain
• Hosting

Humility

As the full horror of what happened on Boxing Day morning begins to dawn on the world I am humbled by the power of our earth and the devastation she can cause. We are but temporary visitors on this planet. Earth was here billions of years before we crawled out of the sea and earth will still be here billions of years after the human race has finally ended. We live here only because planet earth lets us. At times it as if she is tired of the destruction we visit upon it every day with our pollution and exploitation of everything we see. How much longer will she permit us to destroy?

The death toll already approaches 100,000 with many more still to be accounted for. This is a disaster on a continental scale that we've never experienced before. The task is now to save the millions of survivors at risk from the elements and the inevitable disease. I suggest we contribute freely to the disaster funds and spend a moment in contemplation of the sheer inadequacy of human endeavors in the face of such natural power.

Contribute here.

Category:

• Charity

One year ago...

Broadband landed at my house and I've never looked back. How did we ever manage with plain old dial-up eh? My first modem, some 12 years ago, was a Supra 2400 (about 0.24Kb/sec download speed) logging into Fidonet and local Bulletin Boards, great stuff. I wonder what speed, and to what content, we'll be connecting to in another 12 years time?

Category:

• Internet
• Broadband

Unnerving

There is something really disturbing about these videos released by Honda of their humanoid robot, ASIMO. Watching "it" walking down the stairs, the movements, the decision making process... really creeps me out. Quite stunning though what the Engineers have achieved. More videos of ASIMO in action can also be found here. It's only a matter of time before these things become the norm, I just question why they have put so much effort into perfecting the humanoid movements etc.

Category:

• Gadget
• Robot

Your credit balance is...

Yes, I come from Norn Iron but I left for pastures new nearly 15 years ago. For all those years I've kept the same Bank Account in Norn Iron. Can you guess who I bank with? That's right, the most famous bank in the world, the Northern Bank, the one that's been in the news quite a lot recently.

Never slow to spot a lead the cops have announced they are following a line of inquiry that terrorists might have been involved in the kidnap and terrorising of 2 families and the theft of 22 million quid. Cutting edge stuff eh? Terrorists you say? What leads you to think that then?

Hopefully they'll corner the scum and wipe them out in the worlds biggest shoot-out to go with the worlds biggest bank robbery. Thieving, murdering deviant bastards that they are.

Category:

• Northern+Ireland

Devastated

The Register reports that suprnova.org is to close down. Mere words cannot fully express my sadness. What am I to do? What is the point of having Broadband if I can't fill every creaking inch of the pipe with downloads I'll never actually use. I blame Thatcher!

Category:

• Internet
• Broadband

Watch out

I've used the new "Chip and Pin" system a few times now since my cards were replaced in November. My first thoughts were, OK, if the card companies are happy then it must be safe. But now I'm not so sure about having to type my pin in to a machine while any number of people are milling about in a busy shop or whatever. When you use an ATM it is easy to make sure there is nobody watching and if there is a dirty look usually makes them back off but a shop environment is different. Don't even mention the dozens of 4 digit PINs, passcodes, usernames and passwords I have swilling about what is left of my brain.

Now, a lead security spokesman has published a report raising concerns about the overall security of the system. We shall see.

Category:

• Security
• Debt

Role Model

What can I say? I love this guy. The arrogant, smug git that he was portrayed to be by the press has been blown away. "If he was chocolate, he'd eat himself"... yeah, so what? It is becoming increasingly clear that the guy actually might be as good as he thinks he is.

When compared to Jose Mourinho, Ferguson and even Wenger are left in his wake for wit, intelligence, tactical ability and, most important of all, man management and motivation. This guy seems to have it all (and he knows it). I hope that the youth of today forget about the idolisation of the likes of Beckham and the thug Rooney and look to Mourinho for their future dreams, ambitions and motivation to succeed.

My only worry is, where does he go from here? He's already won the top club prizes with Porto and will almost certainly win the Champions League again (if not this year then soon). All that would be left is International Football and The World Cup. Maybe he gets off on building teams, winning everything and then moving on to start all over again. If so, then I suggest Murray writes a polite letter to Jose inviting him up to Glesga for a look see.

Category:

• Sport
• Football

Batteries

OK, I'm in the industry but I'm not obsessed, honestly. Nokia have announced that they are to include a hologram on all their battery labels in an attempt to stamp out counterfeit goods. Motorola and Sony Ericsson have been doing this for years. Nokia, due to their market share, always seem to attract the lions share of exploding battery stories which are usually attributed to the user buying fake replacement batteries.

People are practically forced to buy copied batteries due to the ridiculous pricing of the genuine article. I know that Nokia will pay no more than 4USD for a typical Li-Ion mobile phone battery from their suppliers (Sanyo) but in a shop it'll cost you 30 quid!!! Why the huge mark up? If they are so worried about customers hurting themselves with unsafe product why not price the real thing at a sensible cost? To add insult to injury I bet they're making Sanyo swallow the added cost of the hologram label.

Care should always be taken when using Li-Ion batteries as, without proper protection and quality of manufacture they are a dangerous article prone to explosion (or, as one major cell manufacturer who shall remain nameless, claimed "the battery then exhibited involuntary disassembly" in a field failure return report). Oh how we tittered.

Category:

• Battery
• Li-Ion

Hard Disk Update

My recent woes with failing hard drives have been brought to a successful conclusion. I received a replacement drive under warranty today. This is probably the first time I've ever claimed a warranty failure with a computer component. Usually I'd have shrugged my shoulders, threw it in a drawer, and bought a new one. My thanks to Hitachi Storage (now responsible for IBM's Deskstar drive) for a relatively painless procedure.

Category:

• Computer
• Data