Archive for the Computing Category

3 Skypephone

I decided to get myself a 3 Skypephone last week - The website is here

It’s a great bit of kit, the Skype client acts pretty much the same as the windows client and with some tinkering on Saturday it now gives me internet access from my laptop using bluetooth at 3G speeds [getting about 800kb/s if you’re interested!].

Pros - Very easy to set up, just give it your Skype name and password. Easy to add Skype contacts, very good at getting a decent signal and holding on to it. Menus are clearly laid out. It comes with a 256MB card which is plenty for me for the odd pic or MP3.

Cons - The vibrate is really pathetic and the socket which is used for charging and connecting USB to has the flimsiest cover I’ve seen, I’d be surprised if it lasts the month. I really can’t think of anything else at the moment.

So if you want to add me to your Skype user list, I’m andytapg

Cinco MIDI Organizer

If, like me, you have problems keeping track of your MIDI files the solution is here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKzmMej8A3c

Worst designed web site, ever

I really am at a loss for words, have you found anything as awful as this?

http://www.hotrecorder.com/index.asp?cdOp=BUYVOIP

I’m surprised they didn’t put “This page scrolls sideways for your convenience” on there.

Backup your PC!

I have been dreading my laptop dying, requiring the use of that most useful command, FDISK.

Up until a couple of weeks ago I was backing up manually to DVD-RW. It’s not ideal at all as

  1. You have to remember to back up
  2. You have to faff about dragging and dropping your files
  3. There’s no guarantee you’ll be able to read from the DVD in, say, a years time
  4. You have to remember what files you are supposed to be backing up each time
  5. Sods law your PC/laptop will die an hour before you intend to back up

I’ve been looking into companies that provide backups over the internet, you basically back up your data over the internet to their servers and, if you need to, restore the files from there after a catastrophic data blowback incident.

Most of them offer a free trial but, being the tight git prudent chap that I am I wanted it free and I wanted as many features as possible [tech time - open file support and file versioning].

So, after much testing, I can heartily recommend www.idrive.com. You get 2GB free and that should be more that enough for your documents and important photos.

You can access your files from their web site, so if you are at a friends PC and want to show them your pic, just log in and download them to their PC. It really is good.

Bearing in mind I am not paying for this I sent them an email asking a question about their software and got a reply within 5 minutes.

OrientFan - staying up late so you don’t have to.

Vector Tower Defence

So Mr. Scott has given up his job to write web based games full time. Thank God! His latest is Vector Tower Defence which is superb. Play it and prepare to write off your evening.

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