Tuesday, 10 November 2009

Endangered Tech

The DVD player has been declared the world’s most endangered piece of tech by online retailer Pixmania. Surprisingly, it came in ahead of the fax machine, which can still be found clinging on to dear life in offices across the UK.

The list was drawn up by a panel of tech experts who selected the 10 pieces of tech headed for extinction in 2010. Here’s the list in full:

1. DVD players
2. Fax machine
3. Analogue TV
4. The landline phone
5. Mobile phone charger
6. Wii-mote
7. Sat Navs
8. Dongle
9. The computer mouse
10. Chip and pin credit cards

Some entries will come as no surprise to most readers, but the list also features some relatively new technologies such as mobile web dongles, demonstrating just how quickly the tech world moves. For instance, Pixmania’s panel expect that mobile broadband dongles will soon be replaced by netbooks with integrated SIMs mad e by mobile phone companies such as Nokia.

The panel also indicated that Microsoft’s ground-breaking Project Natal would be so successful that it could actually spell the end of the Wii-mote. Similarly, they believed that Microsoft’s touch-screen interface for Windows 7 would kill the computer mouse.

via T3

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Zooloo - aggregates all your social networks plus more

I missed this when it was first posted on Makeuseof.com. It is easy to set up and shows all your social networks and mail accounts on one page. I'm a little surprised that it works with Yahoo accounts too as not many products of this type will link to non premium Yahoo accounts. The following is an extract from the Makeuseof review of Zooloo.

Zooloo provides you one place to create, connect and control your online life, including your own website, dashboard, widgets, blog, news, social networks, photos, and videos. While this may sound ambitious, Zooloo is geared towards inexperienced users who want a simple way to design their own website for free and engage in their favorite online activities.

Zooloo consists of the following components that you can use to design your own portal website for free:

  • zSocial: Social networking with Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter with single status update across all networks
  • Dashboard: Personalized dashboard for news, photos, events, email, etc.
  • Site Creator: Website and blog builder with themes and widgets
  • Privacy Manager: Control who sees which parts of your website
  • Photos/Videos: Online photo organizer and video library
  • Calendar: Calendar, address book, reminders and to-do lists
  • Entertainment & Shopping: Customized online entertainment for music, movies, etc. and favorite shopping sites
Click on Makeuseof for the full article.

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Every phone call, email and internet click stored by 'state spying' databases in UK

All telecoms companies and internet service providers will be required by law to keep a record of every customer's personal communications, showing who they are contacting, when, where and which websites they are visiting.

Despite widespread opposition over Britain's growing surveillance society, 653 public bodies will be given access to the confidential information, including police, local councils, the Financial Services Authority, the Ambulance Service, fire authorities and even prison governors.

via Daily Telegraph

Ed. Your nanny's just become your big brother. UK is not only a 'nanny' state but now on the verge of becoming a full on 'Big Brother' society. There I thought British politicians were too busy fiddling expenses to actually pass any meaningful legislation. Problem is when they do, it's simply to screw the British people again.

Britain is clearly a county splt in two. The haves and have nots and if you're unfortunate enough to be a have not then you are viewed as nothing more than a peasant by the establishment. The rights of working class Brits is now back to pre World War 1 levels. You better start learning how to doff your forelock.....

Also make no mistake, 'Big Brother' is there to protect the haves from the have nots as much as it is to protect Brits from terrorists.

What can the peasant class do to improve their lot. Well they have only one peaceful weapon. The vote. They should use it to ensure that not one sitting MP is re-elected. They should vote for Screaming Lord Sutch before they vote for a sitting MP. Clear the current lot out and and let the new lot know that unless they improve things for the peasant class then they'll be out too. Problem is, with the way electoral districts are rigged, it will probably mean that haves can easily re-elect their favoured politicians regardless of what the have nots do. 

This article written in 2007 in the Independent raised valid concerns but they've clearly been ignored.

If the Telegraph article is to be believed, then this post will probably trigger all sorts of alarms. And there I thought I was just passing an opinion? A crime for the 21st Centur y. 

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Thai - Cambodian border to close?

Strong rumours doing the rounds that the Thai border with Cambodia will close on 12th November. I've checked the Net and can't find anything to say it is anything more than the rumour mill at work. I mention it in case you have a visa run on or after 12th November. It may pay you to check that the border is actually open before you depart. You may also want to consider a Plan B in case it is closed. Laos maybe.

Breaking news in the Bangkok Post has Suthep claiming there are no plans to close the border from the Thai side. Now do I believe a Thai politician or a rumour. Hmm, tough call.  

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Monday, 9 November 2009

Cowboys & Indians in Pattaya explained

The 6th annual Pattaya Eastern Cattle Show will be held in the grounds of the Banglamung District Office (near the police station) on the 12th to 15th November. 

 

This year, besides the prize cattle on show, there will be a Cowboy and Indian Show, with music from the Blue Mountain Boy Band.  There will be a rodeo, and a fight between the cowboys and Indians.  For more information all Khun Winai on 089 747 9981.

via Pattaya People

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YouScrobble - A Last.FM And Youtube Mashup Service

Services that make use of the vast video and audio archive that is Youtube are springing out of the ground this year. YouScrobble is the latest service that is combining Youtubes video archive with the information provided by the music service Last.fm. This combination alone proves to be very effective. Users who visit Youtube can perform searches for music that they would like to listen to but the music (in form of videos) is usually unsorted and often unrelated to the artist (think cover versions for example). YouScrobble brings the best of these two worlds together. Users who visit the music service can perform a search for an artist to be presented with the complete discography of that artist. The mashup now brings Youtube into the picture by allowing playback and downloads of the music found on Youtube.

Is the service legal? That’s a question that is better left to the lawyers in this case. The pay for downloads model that YouScrobble uses is certainly the most controversial aspect of the service. As Martin Bryant over at Read Write Web points out it is one thing to embed videos on a website that playback music and another to offer that music for download. But that’s something that the developer’s have to deal with eventually, not the users who are using the service. 


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Tukcom raided by police

Police raided the storage warehouse of the large TukCom Computer Center in South Pattaya on Sunday, finding almost 40,000 pirate CD’s and DVD’s packaged for sale with a street sale value of over 400,000 baht.

After searching the entire 6th floor store rooms police were able to confiscate altogether about 33,390 illegally pirated CD’s and DVD’s containing Thai and foreign movies, games, karaoke and pornography. The material was found in storage rooms 7,8,9,11 and 22 all of which were in the 6th floor warehouse. The confiscated material is estimated to have a street value in the region of 400,000 baht.

From Pattaya Daily News

Ed. I can see it now. A couple of shopkeepers are talking to each other about how they can clear all the old stock they can't sell, to make space for all the new stock they want to bring in for high season/Ch ristmas. One says, "Well, maybe the police would like to help!!!!."  A move Dell Boy would be proud of...... Police look good and traders clear dead stock without lifting a finger. A win-win in my book.

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A site dedicated to girls with short hair

I didn't notice her hair to be honest. The full collection of photos of Sammy's hair can be found here!

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