Why have you included a picture of Christopher Biggins!
Is it Panto season?
45 publicly visible posts • joined 3 Jul 2009
I tried to order a TV last Christmas which said "available tomorrow" (click and collect done after 4pm on a Sunday so fair enough) all the way through until I decided to checkout when I had to wait 5 days and was then advised to pay for it upfront or the price could change (which as it was on offer I was not going to take that risk).
"Schengen helps for the free circulation of people and goods across Europe, favoring business and mind opening. It helped around 2 millions european workers to move across Europe and bring their competences where they were needed."
Not quite, almost but not quite.
Schengen is a way to allow freedom of movement for anyone with the right to remain within the Schengen zone(either short or long term). By its nature of removing boundaries it allows the easy moment of goods within the zone.
I do not need Britiain to be part of Schengen to allow me to work in Germany that is covered under the EU rules. Yet Switzerland is part of Schengen (not EU) but EU citizen or not I cannot just appear and start a year long stay without getting a visa of some description (the Swiss are not very forgiving if you break the rules and take the piss).
As a member of the EU, Britain does not stop EU citizens from entering the UK and in most cases from working, what it does do is stop non-EU citizens from entering the UK without valid visa even if they do have a Schengen visas. This has been the problem with visitor from the Chinese middle classes who go the "Grand Tour of Europe" but need to apply for 2 visas rather than one. This has meant that many do not bother to come to Britain as it is too difficult.
And for an alternative case look at the Russian football hooligan who was deported from France last week but came back 2 days later. He said as his Schengen Visa was not cancelled he was still able to travel back to France without any problem.
So IMO Schengen has advantages but also disadvantages.
By making the phone and wearables market just like the PC market the OS makers and manufacturers have pushed the notion that Mobiles and Wearables are mini-PC's and users have been able update the OS and get updates every week/month for a long time.
I would suggest that Apple have been the main contributor to this idea by releasing new (and free) OS Upgrades on a regular basis and announcing them with fanfare, ok they are now not supporting all models of phone but the simplicity of the model Apple has with a limited line of products that the same OS can be installed on the last x years models is pushed openly and that ensures that Android and Windows users assume to expect the same level of service. Unfortunately OEMs do not have a simple model and try to hit too many entry points at the same time.
The OEMs are still working on the old propitiatory model from 10 years ago where phones were closed and had a 1-2 year contract and shelf life but users now expect the Apple Model. This device software update cycle is then cascaded into the consumer market whether phones, wearables, smart TV's etc.
I have an Android TV
It does not allow Side Loading, no option to allow installing from unknown sources (which is a pain as I would like to install Amazon Prime Video),
I installed ES FileExplorer and KODI as soon as I could from the Play Store.
But have rarely use the Smart or Android features, just not compelling enough - I don't want to play Crossy Road or Candy Crush on a remote control and the Android Smartphone App for Android TV is poor on features (IIRC it was meant to act as a game pad but doesn't).
Quite a few new home builds include a combined Cloakroom / Utility Room now. I think that is actually a good use of space and saves on two under used rooms.
However I can see it causing family strife if someone has just laid a cable and the washing machine finishes shortly after.
We have SCG on our Conservatory Roof (circa 2007) We have had it cleaned by the window cleaner twice in that time (and not for any real reason). IIRC it added about £3 - 4K to the total cost instead of plastic.
Not sure how good it is to be honest as I rarely take any notice of it but I do know it doesn't collect algae like the plastic roofs and i have never noticed a large amount of water marks.
I am not defending Sky but take away the Sports and Movie premium channels, do you really think that the channels can survive on the small amount paid to them by sky per subscriber and channels such as Discovery / Dave make new content without Adverts. If you don't want the adverts in such volume use sky's catch up service.
Look at what you get for your money:
£20 = 35+ paid for channels or 57p per channel per subscriber (that's without Sky taking an admin fee which I assume they do to process your account)
£30 = 75+ paid for channels or 40p per channel per subscriber
Both quote 240 FTA channels.
I would suggest even with the user base sky has, the totals given to each paid for channel is significantly less than the BBC gets per channel from the TV Licence and the BBC is in financial problems highlighted only this week.
If you look at the core offering there is little difference in the functions between S60 and latest gen Smart OS's, it is just that today's standards are refined to provide productivity, intelligence and performance. Application intelligence should not be confused with "smart" in smartphone.
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/smartphone
smartphone
noun
a mobile phone that performs many of the functions of a computer, typically having a touchscreen interface, Internet access, and an operating system capable of running downloaded apps.
"Amazon will never take over the VOD market while they have the strange policy of cripling themselves by only offering video on Kindle devices"
If you mean downloadable video through the Prime Instant Video then yes you do need a kindle fire (and then it is not the entire catalogue) , but we watch Amazon Prime Instant Video through our Blu-Ray player or on PC or if needed via the WII U (The is also an app for Android).
At Little Waitrose at Kings Cross stations the coin hopper is a conveyer belt contraption that your coins need to be flat on so that they disappear through the slot. I have discovered a flaw though - round coin, props on side wall and happily spins for eternity. I was confused why I was a penny short when I had put the exact change in to find the penny spinning away happy as Larry.
Also the coin conveyer belt is on top so vertically challenged people will not have a clue that their pound coin is trying the coin rolling endurance record.
it was a good idea to send customers (through the post) a couple of sticky "wave pay" labels in a letter to attach to the back of your phone etc to save getting out your Barclaycard at the till. The letter was even sent in the name of the head of Barclaycard saying how it was so good he wanted me to have it and stick on my phone as I was constantly using it so it save me time at the till.
My problem with all that was that:
I didn't ask for it,
I didn't know it was coming
It was sent via an insecure delivery system
It was good at the time for £10 no questions asked.
It didn't need activating.
I had to dispose of it.
http://citywire.co.uk/money/why-i-won-t-be-sticking-a-credit-card-on-my-mobile/a582870
I hope they don't do the same stunt again, getting rid if a wristband will be much harder than shredding a sticker.
BTW, I am a happy contactless payment user (I use it all the time) but I prefer to use the actual card.
A watch needs to tells me the time, additional information is fine but it's primary role is a time piece and I am quite happy that I only need to change the battery every 2 years or so. I don't understand why I would want a watch that might run out of juice on a daily basis on my way home from work especially when I am trying to catch the right train.
Ah the memories DT Decathlon on the Speccy.
On the Javelin, if you got it right you would easily have beaten Jan Zelezny, Steve Backley and Fatima Whitbread with one arm behind your back.
Oooo brings back memories, the good old Quickshot joystick with suction caps that detached from the desk mid flow in the 400m as your arm started to die.
I'm with you, I have 8.0 on my Samsung Laptop and although it took me a few days to work out things but I am very happy with both the Start Screen and not having a start menu.
Using Windows Key + Q takes me straight to all the apps installed on my Laptop which I can then pin to taskbar, start or just launch. No problem and it keeps my desktop clutter free, once in the desktop view then Windows Key switches me nicely between desktop and start.
The main annoyance is the "multi-touch" track pad on the laptop which attempts to create the touch-screen but fails and is just very annoying especiallly when trying to right click on icons on the start menu.
I have a Lumix G3 and a Crumpler Cupcake 1500 (crumplers marketing shows a GF1 inside), this is a good fit with the default 14-42mm lense and has a section for a second lens of similar or smaller body length. I actually this compartment for a spare battery, lens cover and lens hood in.
Have just got the 45/200mm lense and that is too long to fit when attached to the body, so will need a bigger bag at some point.
I have just set up a 3 point system at home using TP-Link 200mbps adaptors and it works fine (I have now ditched the 300N network).
I have connected BT Home Bub3 with Sky Box, WD TV Hub (Home Hub and TV are on different sides of the room) and PC (in a seperate room) and can happily stream video from the PC via the WD TV Hub and copy large video files over in a between PC and Hub in at least 1/8 of the time that I could with the WiFi if it actually completed without throwing the WiFi connection.
Whether or not there are many other users I am pretty chuffed with the results so far and will probably look to put one upstairs for the 2nd Sky Box at some time.
I was on the 10mb package (had been with NTL/Virgin for nearly 10 years - started out on 512kbps) but rarely got speeds over 1mb so after several phone calls to "Bob" in India I plucked up the courage and ditched them. Bob's view was that it was all down to my hardware (even though I tried different PC's while on the phone all direcly connected to the Modem rather than my Router).
They only offered to send out an engineer, after we gave notice to quit, during the "Why are you leaving" courtesy call.
Now I am happily getting 6mbps on BT and paying a lot less (and Infinity is coming in March).
wants to sit in fibre-glass ride on a hot sunny day in a banana hamock?
Burn baby burn!
Oh and as for the French ideas, I have seen plenty of times fat germans wandering along the road in greece's finest during the day in Speedos and Flip Flops. What is the difference between them and me in my swim shorts? At least I am air cooled.
I shall be protesting strongly this year during my hols in France, I may throw burning speedo's into the pool to show my disgust. If the french do one thing well it is to protest, I am sure they will welcome me as a hell raising brother in arms.