Posts by Daryl

Google: Go public on Profiles or we'll delete you

Re: I don't think that means what you think it means...

This is what bugs me about the whole "big happy sharing club" that is FB/G+... and Flikr/Picasa et. al. It is based on the notion that we're all very happy to share personal stuff with our "friends" and to a degree, the wider public. There seems to be a dividing line between the distrustful/cautious/cynical/closed/misanthropic (draw the line where you wish) = excluded and the trusting/open/naive/gullible = included, and "None shall pass".

What we need is a new mechanism to gather the excluded together - perhaps a new political movement. Let's call it the "People Who Hate People Party"?

RIP Bill.

And I am paranoid, and everything does revolve around me because I am so important.

Re: you just need more practice

Ooh get her.

Did that make you feel better?

Nothing to hide...

Just got back. Crete was balmy, thanks for asking.

Sarcasm Icon Required

That is all.

Re: Dear Google...

I was being sarcastic.

Indeed, we do all have something to hide. That is the lever that facilitiates the generation of low-level anxiety, fear and control. Paranoia is a rational reaction, not a mental disorder.

We are in agreement, I believe.

Re: Nothing to hide

Do they? What are you hiding?

No friends for the paranoid

So if you're even a little paranoid about giving out your personal details online, you aren't going to be allowed to join the big happy sharing club. Which will probably make you more paranoid.

If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear.

Channel VAT loophole shrunk, not shut

Take a look at Play.com's inventory

CDs, DVDs, memory cards, printer ink, stationery, gadgets, gifts, clothing, toys, pc components, media, blank discs, peripherals, iphone cases, mobile phone accessories, craft supplies, posters, film memorabilia, models, games - and that's just Play.com.

Not Supermarkets

It's not the supermarkets causing the problem - they only sell the top 20 albums/X Factor trash and that hasn't changed in years. If you have no musical taste, the supermarkets will do you fine.

The issue is that the likes of Play.com can undercut mainland retailers who used to offer a wider range, specialisation, advice, community etc etc. Their unfair 20% price advantage can't be beaten.

That's what killed your local record shops, not the supermarkets.

Government flies kite for VAT changes

Not Very Green

Course, no one's mentioned the dubious environmental credentials of companies shipping tons of stuff most of the way to France, just to split it into individual packages (indeed often many small packages instead of one larger one to keep under the £18 threshold) and then send it all back again.

But then who cares about the planet when there's wonga to be made!

@Mad Mike.... not quite right

HMRC already have a voluntary system of pre-paid VAT for the retailers based there - that's why your Play.com purchases don't get held up in customs. All the government have to do is lower the LVCR threshold to £10 or remove it for everything except flowers/cream etc.

If the retailers don't like it and refuse to play ball, you let all their packages pile up at customs - they'd soon cough up to stop delays from driving their customers away.

Without Chicken Feed There Aint Any Chickens

So it's fine to let the hundreds of millions go walkies, because the ruling capitalist cabal are getting away with billions?

It doesn't have to be either/or - why not close all the loopholes?

A billion here, a billion there, soon we're talking about real money...

Excellent Idea

Couldn't agree more - if people want interesting, quirky town centres rather than pound shop and charity shop nirvana, tilt the costs of being there in favour of independents.

Not sure it should be linked to profitability - charity shops don't make a profit, do they? Perhaps to the number of stores in the shop chain - that would help prevent clone towns and protect regional variation.

Not just CDs & DVDs

It's not just record shops that have dropped like flies in the face of unfair competition from the big boys who can avoid charging VAT - the Hut Group recently bought IWOOT, and Play have been shipping everything they can from the Channel Islands for under £18 for years.

That's all fine for the consumer saving a few bob on his online shopping, but the 20% advantage makes competition impossible for mainland retailers, and if you work for one and it's your job going down the pan, it doesn't seem such a sweet deal.

Sage Pay suffers 2nd day of downtime

Protx

Protx was exactly the same - you could set your calendar on the Xmas tits-up!

Shrugs

Mission critical, backup plan, redundancy, fail-over... we've heard of them :(

Sage Pay says sorry for upgrade shambles

That's nothing - you just wait...

SagePay/Protx falling over? It must be Christmas.

Every Christmas in fact. Without fail. You can set your calendar by it.

There'll be more pain to come, mark my words.

Valium at the ready!

Prehistoric titanic-snake jungles laughed at global warming

How do you like your ham?

"We're going to have a novel climate where it is very hot and very wet."

Acer Aspire Revo R3600

Perfect Media PC

I have one of these, fixed using the supplied Vesa cradle and a couple of screws, behind a cabinet, plugged into the big LCD screen using HDMI, and with the addition of a Vista Media Center remote - it's absolutely perfect for the job as a Media PC.

Movies stream from a NAS box via Homeplug AV (even wireless n isn't up to the job of streaming video - tried different combinations of wireless n routers and bridges - all suffer from stutters even within line of sight.)

No need for the keyboard and mouse at all after the initial set up - they can disappear behind the TV cabinet.

Job done.

Brown ignores scientists and pushes pot reclassification

In other news...

Doctors warned yesterday about a new, highly concentrated form of Mead, believed to be imported from North of Hadrian's Wall.

Said a senior police chief "We're concerned that this new form of alcohol, several times stronger than the mead, perry and scrumpy the general public has been used to for the last few hundred years, will cause vulnerable individuals to become violent, anti-social and a danger to themselves and the public."

"Clearly the average yokel will be incapable of moderating their consumption of this new brew, known only as Scotch. We shall therefore be pressing the government to assign it the highest classification of controlled substance and ban its use immediately."