* Posts by Adam Comben

15 publicly visible posts • joined 21 Mar 2011

Teachers get earful of racy XXX chat in Capita IT cock-up

Adam Comben
WTF?

Crossed lines?

Crossed wires? I think the bigger shock here is that Capita are still using analogue telephone lines.. (No ISDN? No VoIP?)

Facebook's CHAIR sat on by 1 billion people ... bitch

Adam Comben
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Being a 28-year-old billionaire..

I'd guess he's smoking £50 notes (OR rather, 100 dollar bills?) like they're going out of fasion!

HP Spectre XT 13in Ivy Bridge Ultrabook review

Adam Comben
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Samsung NP900X1B

I bought one of these from John Lewis, and unfortunately it developed a fault and I decided to ask for my money back instead of a replacment, but it too had a 1366x768 screen - HOWEVER in an 11" format it was perfectly suited. In a 13.3, I think there really is no excuse...

WTF is... NFC

Adam Comben

Halifax do.....!

Just noticed, my Halifax credit (Not debit...) card has one too, although I've never used it. Barclaycard also sent me a 'paytag' which I can attach to anything (Phone, ID card, etc). I wonder if you slid it behind a mobile phone case it would read through the plastic.... NFC on a Nokia 3310 anyone?!

Adam Comben

Re: In my case it's not the lack of will on behalf of the shopper...

I have a credit card with Barclaycard, and it's NFC enabled.

I've used it in Subway three times, and the first two it didn't ask for anything - The third time, it did.

McDonalds also seem to readily support them.. that's about all I've spotted round here.

And as for security, Barclaycard offered me a free insert to slot my card into (Kind of like a mini pouch), to stop it being read through my wallet.

To be honest, being read inside my wallet wouldn't be that much of an issue as you have to literally *touch* your card on the reader - a few inches above and it doesn't work. I'd probably be willing to bet it wouldn't scan through your wallet, even without one of these little pouches.... I'll try it :-)

iPhone 5: UK pay-monthly tariffs compared

Adam Comben

Well that settles it...

I'm on a 24 month contract now, with an iPhone 4.... I may as well get a 5 and flog it on fleabay for a few hundred quid as my contract ran out last month and I'm on a lowered tarriff anyway.. plus Orange are getting 4G LTE early anyway.

Providing of course that Samsung don't attempt to keep it off the shelves by suing them for use of LTE patents?!

I just realised.. Apple have me over a barrel with iTunes. I'm pretty sure all my music purchased through iTunes is DRM, someone please (hopefully) do feel free to correct me!

Ten... freeware gems for new PCs

Adam Comben
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First thing on a new build...

Is to run it through http://www.ninite.com

Quite simply one of the most useful websites I ever found! As a techy, it's amazingly simple when you can't be arsed to keep a local repository of installers on the company NAS.

BT biz broadband staggers to its feet after 4-hour titsup

Adam Comben
FAIL

Saw this too...

Dropped at around 7:20AM. Nice early 'get me out of bed' call ;-)

BT router refused to authenticate right up until around 10AM. BT were next to useless. Ironically our client had an online booking system and I sent them a quote for a second redundant line in case this ever happened.. as well as a nice Draytek 2820 to swap between the two lines.

Mario decorations drive gamers up the wall

Adam Comben
Stop

May I not onlybe the first to post a comment...

May I also be the first to say, HEY.. Leave Ben 10 alone!

Apple stores getting close to overload

Adam Comben
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My experience...

Went to get an iPad, and the girl I was served by actually openly admitted she didn't get commission, and that the iPad WiFi 16GB could be tethered to my phone for a small extra monthly charge, so no need for the 3G.

I also overheard a chap *UNDERSELLING* someone a Macbook instead of a Macbook air after actually listening to what the old guy wanted to use it for...

I'm not fanboy, and I sold the iPad last week for £50 less than I bought it 3 months ago, but this is in stark contrast to the time I popped into Currys a while ago to grab an Advent Vega tablet for my work colleague's daughter. He tried convincing me I would be much better off with an iPad 3G 64GB, even though I told him it's far superior to what I was after.

currys/PC-World/comet = clueless annoying sales droid idiots, which are almost certainly paid peanuts and make their money on commission / upselling. All in all, the store was pleasant and I'd go back if I had a random windfall of money :-P

Broadcom bullish in 802.11ac and in-car Ethernet

Adam Comben
FAIL

RE: I love gadgets and tech, but leave my car driving to me.

At which point did the article say the car is going to take control over any aspect of your driving experience? It clearly states the idea is to replace existing cables with this new type. Nothing was mentioned about it steering your car for you...

Smartphone black market fuels knife robberies

Adam Comben

'adding a passcode to a device'

Lets face it, if an iPhone turns up and 'lands on your lap' - It takes a technically minded person approximately 15 minutes to restore a fresh iOS image on it, thus removing passcode. Yeah I appreciate the data is gone, but the phone is 'usable'. Jimmy Thief doesn't really give a monkeys about someones photos of their dog. Until they start IMEI blocking abroad, stolen phones will continue being sold on places like eBay etc.

I still cannot understand why eBay do not *demand* the IMEI number of a lost/stolen phone, and notify the authorities when one is listed...

LG shows two-picture TV for gamers

Adam Comben

Brilliant!

I can see this being genuinely useful - As there's no 3D, I probably won't get a headache like I do with these stupid films that seem to be doing the rounds at the moment.

I would actually use this.. I find playing on split-screen extremely annoying, even on my 42" LG LCD in the living room.

PlayStation Network hack launched from Amazon EC2

Adam Comben
Happy

Irony?

I find it hugely ironic that today's register is plastered with cloud adverts upon loading this story :o)

AT&T acquires T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom for $39bn

Adam Comben
Unhappy

Where does this leave...

T-Orange in the UK?

As an orange contract mobile phone customer, this is obviously going to affect us over in blighty, but to what degree?