Worlds Oldest iPhone

December 23, 2008 | Comment

I have proof here that I have the world’s oldest iPhone (or possible the oldest voicemail if you want to be picky). Look at the picture below and you will see that I have a voicemail from “Unknown” on 01/01/1970! Just another reason why I am swapping my current iPhone for a replacement…

image… Read the rest

Windows XP Given Another Stay of Execution

December 22, 2008 | Comment

It is being reported on the BBC today that Microsoft are going to extend the life of Windows XP once again – this time until the end of May 2009. This is almost certainly due to two things: the public’s dislike of Vista and the huge take-off of netbooks, which use either a variant of Linux or XP. I have been using XP on my netbook for the last few months and think that it is perfectly suited to the job and so I can see the workhorse that is XP being extended once more if netbooks continue to sell … Read the rest

22nd November 2008

November 25, 2008 | Comment

Stories that caught my eye this week – 8th November 2008:

You can see the rest of my reading list here.… Read the rest

Does Free Lead to Buy?

November 20, 2008 | Comment

imageA fairly common practice for software providers is to provide older versions of their software for free as a taster to encourage you to go on and purchase the latest versions. This applies equally to online apps as it does to desktop – the delivery mechanism is different but the principal is the same.  But does it work?

Reading a story on the web recently I was reacquainted with the Softmaker products which are equivalents of Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint. The story pointed out that Softmaker were offering a copy of their previous version of TextMaker and PlanMaker for … Read the rest

Google Mobile App

November 18, 2008 | Comment

image So after much anticipation and false starts the latest version of the Google Mobile App for iPhone was launched today. What is particularly exciting about this application is that it uses voice recognition for search text entry rather than having to use the on-screen keyboard. The concept is simple. You start the app, hold the device to your ear and speak the phrase you want to search on. There is then a short delay while the voice is converted to text and sent to Google’s search servers.

The blogsphere has been alight with a buzz of expectation around the app … Read the rest

The Netbook Diaries

November 17, 2008 | Comment

On the Business Hacks website this week Rick Broida has been documenting his experiences of using a netbook when he has been out and about.

I am on my second netbook having recently change my Asus EEE PC for a rebadged MSI Wind and I love it but, as Broida points out, the battery life is a killer.

Read all the instalments here:

http://blogs.bnet.com/businesstips/?p=2126… Read the rest

SET NOCOUNT ON

November 13, 2008 | Comment

I spent a frustrating couple of hours yesterday trying to get output from a database into a web page – something that I have done many times before. However, on this occasion as the query was complex I decided that it needed to go into a stored procedure. I quickly got that working and tested via query analyser and then plugged it into my asp page. No matter what I tried I could not get the query to run and I was getting pretty frustrated. Finally I got a message that I could Google, as follows:

ADODB.Recordset error ‘800a0e78’

Operation … Read the rest

8th November 2008

November 8, 2008 | Comment

Stories that caught my eye this week – 8th November 2008:

… Read the rest

1st November 2008

November 3, 2008 | Comment

Stories that caught my eye this week – 1st November 2008:

You can see the rest of my reading list here.… Read the rest