Things are getting too quiet

Thursday, May 22nd, 2008

After a recent blog comment saying that I was once a Sony fan (but no longer am), I just mysteriously found myself looking at a page on the Sony Style website, admiring the various models in the sexy little TZ range.

One thing struck me – the ‘top of the range’ model comes with a tiny but expensive solid state hard drive. It’s not just Sony – the likes of Dell offer something similar in their ultra-portables. Even the cheap (but not as cheap as it used to be) Eee PC uses a solid state drive.

And what’s wrong with that? They’re mechanically robust, and flash memory is now cleverly produced so that it doesn’t ‘wear out’ as quickly as the 1st generation products did. Plus prices are rapidly tumbling. It’s great, isn’t it?

(more…)

Net Savings

Tuesday, May 20th, 2008

How much does a broadband connection cost? Typically anything between free and twenty quid a month, depending on the speed and quality, with most people opting for something at the lower end of the range.

But with “how come the bloody RPI is still four percent” mega-inflation now hitting food, fuel and mortgage costs, and starting to blow big holes through household budgets, people are starting to think twice. They’re wondering whether splashing out on broadband is something of an extravagance.

I reckon this is a false economy. Those of us that are online should be using the Internet to make savings that more than cover our broadband costs. For a good starting point check out the forums on the Money Saving Expert site. Those of you who’ve caught Martin Lewis on his Ch5 TV proggie might not have warmed to the fella, but the forums on his website are full of excellent advice, with lots of loyal visitors pointing out good deals that they’ve found, both online and out there in the real world.

(more…)

The man in the yellow w’stct

Thursday, May 15th, 2008

Heading across London in a taxi yesterday evening, I spotted one of my pet hates. The lane markings on the road around the Wellington Monument include “V’tria” and “K’brdg”. Obviously there’s not enough room to write Victoria and (especially) Knightsbridge in the road, but what is it with those apostrophes?

Now I’m a great believer in the words and syntax of our language evolving over time, but can K’brdg really be classed as evolution? Is it even obvious what it means?

What’s sad is that a little man in a yellow reflective waistcoat obviously risked his life standing in that busy road to paint those road markings, but to what effect? Do they guide people on their merry way, or cause distraction as drivers have a Lynne Truss moment, snarling at the terrible contraction and apostrophe abuse painted across the lane in front of them?

What’s this got to do with technology? Well, the man in the yellow waistcoat was only following orders, but somewhere further up the food chain a computer must have been used in the design and specification of the road markings – probably running Microsoft Word. K’brdg and V’tria will almost certainly have had squiggly red lines underneath them.

Perhaps one day, if the traffic is light and if I’m feeling really brave, I’ll grab a spray can and add that red squiggle back again, underneath the lane markings.