Posts by GaryH

Pirate cops bust LITTLE GIRL, take her Winnie-the-Pooh laptop

Re: At 9 years old

If they use the same approach as here, it's her parents (or the account holder of the broadband connection) who will be held responsible, not her personally.

Amazon Kindle 3 e-book reader

Collections

they only charge for delivery via 3G

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_k2land_trans?nodeId=200493090#fees

title here

one factor may be that ebooks attract VAT, paper books don't. Go figure HMRC

Girl, 3, buys iPad apps, using mum's credit card

restrictions

easy (on iphone but assume it pplies to ipad and touch) -

go to settings / general / scroll down to restrictions.

enter a passcode (if you dont already have one set)

Now you can control what functions are available (eg location / camera / install apps); in-app purchases (which is what the watchdog story was about) and what content and ratings are allowed.

hand over device to toddler and enjoy!

Gary

Student racks up £8000 mobile broadband bill

re duh#

but surely he wasn't on a pay as you go or he would have never been able to run up such a charge? Assuming he was pay monthly they should have contact details for him on file and a quick call / email from customer services should have been in order. It sounds as though the same spending controls on a phone account aren't implemented on the data-only accounts.

Windows 7 upgrades Vista laptops to lower battery life

why not ...

just change the default action away from sleep / hibernate / shutdown when the battery reaches 3(?)% to do nothing. ok - it will just die when the battery is actually dead but you can at least use the blooming thing for a bit longer. I haven't noticed this problem on my HP laptop with the RC on it - does anyone know if the problem goes away if you plug in and then remove the power when the warnings start (giving it a short burst of power) - does it stay at critical or go back up to reasonable levels?

Blu-ray capacity to increase by a third

@Gulfie

totally agree - having just shelled out for a new HDTV less than 6 months ago, why on earth would I ditch a perfectly good set for a new 3DTV one? I really think they have over estimated the market - to get people to wear 3d glasses in their own homes (and I already wear glasses, so have to wear my contacts when I go to the cinema to watch 3d films) is going to be difficult. New tv, new player, new versions of films... its going to be expensive.

Bosses warned over Scrooge-like approach to snow problems

@EvilGav 1

its all about give and take. You are fortunate to live within walking distance from your work - for a large number of people that is not an option nowadays. I live on the outskirts of Edinburgh and work in the outskirts of Glasgow where driving is the only practical option for getting to and from work. Its a compromise my wife and I made to live approx half way between her work and mine, but it has its drawbacks in this weather. Again, I'm very lucky with an understanding boss and a laptop so I've worked from home a few days in the past few weeks. Others are not so and they shouldn't be penalised for that.

I work with smokers who spend a large amount of time in the smokers shed while I continue working (I know I could take a break) - should they be docked time for that? A good boss will ensure the staff aren't taking the pi$$ and that the work gets done.

as to subsidising "free days off", your assumption is mildly insulting.

And if you can afford to live in the centre of one of the most expensive cities in the UK then you can't really be needing that bonus :)

Ford creates battery-powered Focus

interesting idea

saw an interesting TED talk from Shai Agassi on adopting electric vehicles. It sounds like they have a good plan - replaceable batteries that you lease like gas cylinders and swap at charging stations (perhaps an extension to existing forecourts). The economics sound quite appealing and apparently they have some countries signed up for a trial. I agree that you need to be charging these from some form of renewable source