UNBOXING THE PLAYSTATION 3 PLAYTV

[For those that are interested there are some photos of unboxing the PlayTV here ] The PlayTV arrived today, and what can I say….. it’s nice, but it’s got quite a big design problem; it has no aerial out socket. Most TV devices have an aerial in and aerial out for the simple reason that it allows you to continue using your TVs functions because you can chain the new device into your aerial feed (i.

GOOGLE ANDROID AND CODE SIGNING APP SHOPS

After listening to Mike Jennings excellent intro to Android presentation at the London Dev Day I floated an idea which seemed to have some traction so I thought I’d expand it out for those that are interested. The Problem There is currently no way for a user to judge how trustworthy an Android application is. A user can say what they will allow an application to do (such as dialling out, intercepting SMSs', etc.

AN UPDATE ON THE NEW HOUSE

For those of you wondering how things have been progressing with the Crest Nicholson house my wife and I bought a few months ago, well here’s a quick update; We’ve just been asked for a 6 month snagging list, we’ve identified over 40 problems and we’re still going. The roof still needs repainting after the paintwork started flaking off before we moved in (the painting contractor did do a patching up job, but the paint started flaking again).

UPDATE ON THE DELL MINI-NOTEBOOK

If you’re in the US you can now configure a Windows version or Linux version of Dells mini-notebook (named the Inspiron mini 9). It’s priced to fit in with their existing product line (the current highest spec costs less than the lowest spec Inspiron 1526), but currently there’s no WWAN option as yet (so no in-built cellular data connection), which is a shame because that’s one of my key reasons for being interested in it, so I’m still holding off and waiting to see how it shapes up against Dells E4200.

EC2 MAY NOT BE THE BEST OPTION FOR YOUR WEB STARTUP.

I’m currently involved in a few projects which offer web based services to the many on the street, and I’m always interested in finding more efficient and cost effective methods of powering these sites, so recently I’ve been looking at Amazons EC2. I fully understand the advantage of EC2 for short run computing tasks where processing power may only be needed for a few days or weeks, but I was looking to see if EC2 is an effective platform for a web service which is going to be running 24x7x365, and in my opinion the answer is quite simply No.

PLAYTV ON THE PS3 FINALLY LOOKING LIKE IT'S GOING TO SHIP

(Note : If you’re just looking for a place to pre-order PlayTV for the PS3 in the UK you can get it from Amazon UK) Like many people I don’t live my life around the TV I record shows to watch when I have some free time, so it was with great interest I saw Sony’s announcement over a year ago that it would ship a device which would allow the PlayStation 3 to act as a Freeview recorder, and now that it’s finally looking like it’s going to be available soon, it still looks a good proposition.

ACCOUNT INFORMATION FOR 1 MILLION PEOPLE, ONLY 35 QUID ON EBAY

Before you ask, no, I’m not selling the information, just picking up on a piece in the Mail on Sunday which reports that bank data (including signatures and mothers maiden names) has been discovered on a hard drive sold on eBay for 35 quid. There is absolutely no excuse for this kind of thing, you can get free high-quality disk erasing software that is easy to use and takes less than a day to erase a disk to a standard considered suitable for military data.

THE MYSTERIOUS DELL MINI-NOTEBOOK

Those people who have shown interest in Dells mini-notebook project thats been labelled the Dell E, (or Dell Inspiron 910, or Mini Inspiron, or a host of others) should probably be looking at the Dell Latitute E4200, because it’s remarkably close to the rumoured mini-notebook, and has a decent screen, keyboard, and up-to 16 hours of battery life. The big similarities between the E4200 and the rumoured 910 are; Weight : Around the 1kg mark for both.

IF YOU'RE INVOLVED IN A COURT CASE AT LEAST PREPARE....

[Note: I’m not a qualified legal professional, these are the observations of a layman and should not be considered legal advice] One of the reasons there has been a break in posts in my blog is that I’ve recently been involved in a court case which I’ve spent a fair amount of time preparing for. I’m not going to go into the specific details, but I was the claimant, a judge has recently ruled in my favour, and the defendant has been astoundingly naive in their belief of the law, which made me wonder how many other people need to take court cases more seriously and could benefit from the following tips;

THE UK NEEDS A RECESSION

Saying a country needs a recession may seem like a strange idea, but the more people I talk to the more I come to the conclusion that a recession will do the UK a big favour. Over the past year I’ve bought a new car, new house, and had all the associated purchases surrounding both, and from my experience a vast majority of companies seem to believe that customer service is about telling the customer how the company controls things and not about listening and reacting to individual customers needs.