Christmass came and went. Ah well, a new year is ahead now. It was really very different. It was the very first christmas in my life that I had to celebrate without my family or, to be more precise, only part of my family. It was beautiful however, something was missing, something that wasn't there, something that was left in the wrong place at the wrong time…my parents. Regarding the New Year eve that was the loneliest ever. Me being seated in the sofa, sick, strugling to keep my eyes open for the advent of the new year watching Monty Python's 'The Life of Brian'. 

One whole year has passed already since I arrived in this country with one piece of luggage and the cookie bear in my back pack. One whole year of stress, worries, challenges, failure and success. I tasted them all, I possessed them all but most importantly I wan't alone. I was also loved a lot. 

Aspirations for the year that lays ahead? Plenty, being a bit more secure, even wiser, better equipped, I dare say even more greedy and demanding from my life; I keep my eyes fixed in the path in front of me. It won't be easy but it is a path I chose. And as a good friend told me before I leave Ioannina '…..those who deserve; the good ones, have options, thus choices…'

 

 I've seen multi-touch before and everyone knows about the iPod Touch and iPhone, but Microsoft have gone one step further with "Surface " and produced a commerical product which has much greater potential for social interaction:

Continue reading “Microsoft Surface”

So…

It's been bugging me for some time that I have this application running in the background on my machine, "Install Shield Update Manager". It isn't as useful as it would like to be and I am unimpressed that I had to download a 2.2MB application just to remove it . I think about the waste, how periodically commercial software is updated and then realise that I don't need something in the background wasting my systems resources.

I've used their feedback to tell them as much and I've removed it, hopefully.

Grrr. 

Update:

Now I am truely p*ssed off, I read on here and found that apparently the "uninstaller" doesn't do anything except hide the "Update Manager" even further. Inspecting my task list with Process Explorer I find it still there. Terminate with extreme violence!

 So, I confess my father is a Baron, not a feudal type Baron or the enemy of Dangermouse, but a "Baron of the Cinque Ports". There were traditional rights and I wonder how many of these still apply because no one actually revoked them.

Continue reading “Barons and rights”

Looking at the news that NASA may support the UK plans to launch a Moon orbiter I couldn't help but chuckle at a comment made by Alan Smith of the Mullard Space Sciences Laboratory:

  "We've got to get our ducks in order, but I think the plan ticks all the right boxes and it's extremely likely that we will have the first British mission to the moon launched in 2012,"

 Should someone from Mullard use the phrase "Ducks in a row"? Mullard? Mallard? Oh dear.

 

Here is an explanation of how Freeview Playback works, pay attention, it may save your soul. It was not written by the site owner and does not represent the views of them or anyone paying their wages.

Q. What is Freeview Playback?

Q. Do I have to buy a new box for Freeview Playback?

Q. What are the functions of Freeview Playback?

Q. Does my product have Freeview Playback functions?

Q. How does “Pausing Live TV work”?

Q. What is One Touch Recording (OTR) and how can I use it?

Q. What is Chase Play?

Q. Are there any changes to the EPG and the way it works?

Q. Will it track any broadcaster changes in the times of programmes?

Q. Will it Record accurately?

Q. If I try to set several programmes to record and there are conflicts, what will happen?

Q. What happens if the broadcaster does not send a signal / or my recorder does not detect the end time?

Q. What is Series Recording?

Q. What are Split Events?

Q. What are Alternate Instances?

Q. Do all broadcasters on Freeview send the information for all of the functions to work?

Q. How do I update my software to get all of these new features?

Q. After I upgrade my software do I have to do anything for the features to work?

Q. With all of these changes, how will I know how to use them?

Q. What are the differences on the models?

Q. Will Freeview Playback mean I will get all of the programmes that I set to record?

 

Continue reading “Freeview Playback Explained….for Idiots who don’t understand”

 Over the years I have travelled a fair bit, more than my fair share and I have no intention of stopping now I have started. Luckly my work keeps me on the move and I should average about once a month out of the UK. I have also made a habbit of socialising internationally from college to present day. I have played with many languages over the years: French, Japanese, Spanish, German, Polish, Swedish, Norwegian and now Greek, none very successfully however but I tried for love and money.

 Combining these two elements I have drawn some conclusions about different countries approaches to language…

Continue reading “Language when travelling”