Ten brilliant things the internet has done

Monday, January 19th, 2009

The news this morning that Belkin has been paying people to write positive reviews on Amazon will inevitably undermine “user reviews” on websites, but for me they’re still a valuable resource – especially for areas where there aren’t any “professional” reviews to fall back on.

The thing is, you need to look out for the pattern of a real review as opposed to the one someone’s churned out for the sake of a few pence (or cents, in Belkin’s case) or – in the case of book reviews on Amazon – where the author, publisher or friend of either has posted the review themselves.

Anyway, to fight back against the inevitable backlash I thought I’d quickly write about ten brilliant things the internet has done. (more…)

The joy of backup

Monday, November 24th, 2008

I think it’s fair to say I’m all things that are wrong with man. I’ve known for many years that I really should have an organised backup plan in place, but – just like putting in my expenses form – I’ve been putting it off in favour of, you know, writing articles about backup. That sort of thing.

But about three weeks ago, after a brutal personal slur on my character by PC Pro’s deputy editor David Fearon, I finally did it. “For [insert preferred deity here]’s sake Tim, we’ve got the software on the cover disc, just load it up and follow the wizard.” (more…)