VOIP Phones – The Bane of Productivity
I should never have installed Skype on my PC. Thanks to the advent of VOIP phones, people who previously would never have bothered calling me due to the cost involved of making a phone call and would’ve sent a text or an email instead are now talking to me all the time.
On the one hand, it’s great; I’m in touch with my friends much better than I was previously, I talk to people that I don’t see very often rather than just texting or forwarding funny emails, and generally I feel like it’s enhanced my relationships with my friends and family. On the other hand, everyone having VOIP phones has seriously hampered my productivity.
Product Designers – the Curse of the Hermit
I have hermit-like tendencies, or more accurately, I want to. I spend most of my life just wishing that I could be left alone but thanks to product designers coming up with new shiny toys that keep me in touch with the world I don’t think I’m ever going to get there.
See, I really want to be left alone, but I seem to have some kind of genetic defect that makes me go ‘Ooooh, shiny’ whenever I see gadgetry and I instantly cannot live without it; iPods, laptops, netbooks, BlackBerry’s, Xbox’s, Sky HD, you name it. Pretty much everything has WiFi on it these days too, meaning that I’m always connected.
Not my stuff
Essentially, until product designers stop making shiny things that I want, it looks like I’m going to be stuck in the real world surrounded by people and not in my glorious hermit republic. Ah well, it’s still the dream.
Anonymous Brings Down the Government
OK, that’s a slight exaggeration and also very vague. I came across this story this morning – apparently hacker supergroup Anonymous (the lot who brought down the Scientology sites in January 2008 and have been a part of a range of other pranks and crashes) recently hit a number of Australian government sites with DDOS attacks in protest of the country’s increasing moves towards a censored internet.
Holiday Home Insurance, Car Insurance, Health Insurance; Can I Get Spam Insurance?
We live in a world where we seem to be under the impression that we can cover all the variables, that we can protect ourselves against any possible thing. We don’t like surprises and we’ve got cover protecting us against every possible waste of our time – holiday home insurance, health insurance, pet insurance, but the question I have to ask is ‘Where’s my blog insurance?’
And We’re Back
Sorry for the extensive downtime. This was caused by a DNS issue and was repaired by my friend Jamie – technology never works the way you want it to, does it? I hope you’ve all been OK without your daily doses of doom and have been keeping up with my exploits on The Good News Blog.
There will be another post shortly. But in the mean time, this is what I’ve been battering my eardrums with. I:Scintilla – Ammunition.
Explaining VOIP Phones to Your Nan
No, that’s not some kind of hip gangksta slang way of insulting your family members, it’s what I just had to do. My uncle has a new baby and another one on the way and they live all the way up in Brighton, so naturally, my grandparents are looking for the best way to stay in touch with his family and watch the sprog grow up as best they can. They’re quite computer literate – especially for their ages – and my Nan just called me up asking about VOIP phones and whether or not they’re worth getting.
Avatar Review or How High-Def Ruined the Cinema for Me
I don’t go to the cinema that often; the last film I saw there was Terminator: Salvation. In that time, there’s been a lot of hi-definition gaming, upscaled DVDs, digital downloads and blu rays and maybe – just maybe – I’ve become spoiled.
I went to see Avatar last night; normally I’d wait until it was out on blu ray or digital delivery, but my mate insisted that it needed to be seen on a huge screen for the full experience. I have no idea why I listen to him, but I did. I paid £8.45, paid another fiver for some sweets and a drink and sat through half an hour of adverts which only featured two trailers (both for romantic comedies too – are we really that far from any good releases?), only to be disappointed.
Bad Websites Make Me Sad
I’m something of a tech-nerd and fancy myself as a bit of a creative; whether that’s writing, music, Photoshop stuff or video editing, so naturally I’ve got a bit of an understanding of how difficult DreamWeaver is to use. Web design’s not easy, especially if you actually want to make your site work with search engines and stuff, which is why I feel bad for friends bands and businesses when they’ve got poor websites – it’s not like it’s hard to find good web design in Essex – there are companies and competent people everywhere.
Gadget Lust: Underfloor Heating
It’s official – I’ve run out of gadgets to buy. I’ve got them all, from the looks of things – video camera, DSLR camera, plasma TV and pretty much everything else I can fit into my room, but after visiting my friends’ new place last night, I’ve come up with something else: underfloor heating.
It’s not really a gadget in the best sense of the word as it’s more of an investment than say a camera or video games console which I can upgrade in a couple of years time when something better comes out, but it’s still cool as hell.
Today DMCA-Merica, Tomorrow The World
Looks like the American copyright Gestapo are at it again. Not content with trying to criminalise everyone on the internet in America, a leaked document shows that the US are trying to foist their newly updated DMCA notice and takedown process on the rest of the world. Joy of joys; time to hide the laptops in the air conditioning vents again then.
