It's been a hectic couple of weeks. I happened to hear about a competition being run by iqcontent, an Irish web company, and decided to enter. The lure? - 10,000 euro prize for the best internet startup idea. Entering involved answering about 7 key questions and putting together a 5 page business plan. Though the competition is now closed, I get the impression that it might by an annual event. The site is: http://www.iqprize.ie
This is just what we need in Ireland right now. If I see one more bad re-hash of Carzone.ie or cbg.ie I will go mad - sites offering to sell your second hand car. How many have sold so far this year? 9? Though 10k. for 5 pages sounds easy ( and in a way is ) nothing can add or subtract from one thing: the core idea and the drive to do something with it.
As you might have guessed, I entered. I entered my site, the namesake of this blog, www.deadpc.net. I have no idea if I will win or not, but no matter. I love what I do and it was good to get my brain into gear, even if the syncromesh slipped here and there! Seriously, sitting down with a list of 7 points and writing something that makes sense over a maximum of 5 pages is not that easy.
I also put together a PowerPoint presentation, just in case I manage to get shortlisted. I'd forgotten how much fun and how powerful PowerPoint actually is. It's one of the most fun and rewarding programs out there in my opinion, yet it gets litte press. Maybe it needs to commit homocide on Excel and Access or something in a bid to raise it's profile.
Well, that's that. Brain excercise for a change, rediscovering PowerPoint after years, and now all that remains is to wait.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Internet Exporer 8 - total rubbish
I must be one of the few people left in the World who writes a heading like that. To normal people it is abbreviated to 'IE8', but there you go. Whatever to call it, I am far from impressed. This latest incarnation of Explorer has left me completely dumbfounded.
I downloaded IE8 a couple of weeks ago, and for one reason mainly: it's current. I have a longstanding fear of anything Microsoft not being bang 'up to the minute' for security vunerability reasons. Download went fine, and so did installation.
The problems began when I started using it. It will not start up without crashing once, and man, it truly crawls when it does decide to work. Microsoft have added one signifigant new feature too: when selecting something from the drop - down list of visited web addresses, you accidentally delete it off the list.
This seems to happen readily with everything except - strangely - Microsoft's own Hotmail. It's like MS took a good look at IE and went "so what can we do to improve it? - I know, let's disimprove it!". Explorer 7 was ( mostly ) fine, but this is a landfill incarnation of the browser.
I find myself using Firefox more and more these days, and suddenly Google Chrome - which I have to admit I liked already - is beginning to look a whole lot better. From my experience of the whole 'MSN Live' thing, I think Microsoft have given up altogether.
I downloaded IE8 a couple of weeks ago, and for one reason mainly: it's current. I have a longstanding fear of anything Microsoft not being bang 'up to the minute' for security vunerability reasons. Download went fine, and so did installation.
The problems began when I started using it. It will not start up without crashing once, and man, it truly crawls when it does decide to work. Microsoft have added one signifigant new feature too: when selecting something from the drop - down list of visited web addresses, you accidentally delete it off the list.
This seems to happen readily with everything except - strangely - Microsoft's own Hotmail. It's like MS took a good look at IE and went "so what can we do to improve it? - I know, let's disimprove it!". Explorer 7 was ( mostly ) fine, but this is a landfill incarnation of the browser.
I find myself using Firefox more and more these days, and suddenly Google Chrome - which I have to admit I liked already - is beginning to look a whole lot better. From my experience of the whole 'MSN Live' thing, I think Microsoft have given up altogether.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Never - ending innane websites
Okay, my website ( www.deadpc.net ) is never going to rival Ebay or YouTube, I accept that. There are, however, two things I can honestly say. Firstly, I take my website very seriously, and secondly, I work very hard at it. In other words, I do my best.
It seemed, in the run - up to the dot com bust of 2000, that every Tom Dick and Harry ( and Harriet ) was on the internet. I'm thinking of the plethora of truly vomit - inducing 'personal pages' in particular. You know the ones: "Hi I'm Jim and this is my beautiful wife, my 2.2 children and oh, this is my Ford Focus".
For some reason an awful lot of people seemed to think that the World was interested in their sad lives to the point of seeing pictures of an ordinary man, an ordinary woman, and countless pictures of ordinary cars and houses along with the occassional resume, just in case employers might have nothing to do but surf for lost ordinary people on the web.
Thank God for Facebook et al, for they have vacuumed most of these idiots off the main cyberspace. If you want pornographic boredom, you now know where to go and Facebook serves it well. Thank God for so much less of these 'Sites' that always began with "thanks for dropping by" ( the corniest line since "Do you come here often?" ) and "check back soon for updates" ( always accompanied by: 'last updated 12th. March 1998' or something like that ).
Now that the Web has died and has come back, the Irish experience would dictate that it is in danger of becoming a hoare again. Worried about mumps? - no problem. Just visit mumps.ie. We now have websites for events, websites for developments of new houses, websites for every kind of crazy non - reason you could shake a stick at. Are these the new 'personal page' rubbish of the future? - I think so.
What will happen when mumps become less sexy, when the developments of badly built and hard to sell houses are falling apart because the economy is in the toilet? What, more specifically, will happen to the joke websites? It seems everyone is registering names, regardless of how long or obscure and putting up largely pathetic - looking 'websites'.
I can only hope that Google develop their search - engine to cope with this. Otherwise, the web will be full of deadwood in a few years' time. I guess in a way the success of the web has come home to roost - and not for the first time. Victim of it's own success, and all that.
It seemed, in the run - up to the dot com bust of 2000, that every Tom Dick and Harry ( and Harriet ) was on the internet. I'm thinking of the plethora of truly vomit - inducing 'personal pages' in particular. You know the ones: "Hi I'm Jim and this is my beautiful wife, my 2.2 children and oh, this is my Ford Focus".
For some reason an awful lot of people seemed to think that the World was interested in their sad lives to the point of seeing pictures of an ordinary man, an ordinary woman, and countless pictures of ordinary cars and houses along with the occassional resume, just in case employers might have nothing to do but surf for lost ordinary people on the web.
Thank God for Facebook et al, for they have vacuumed most of these idiots off the main cyberspace. If you want pornographic boredom, you now know where to go and Facebook serves it well. Thank God for so much less of these 'Sites' that always began with "thanks for dropping by" ( the corniest line since "Do you come here often?" ) and "check back soon for updates" ( always accompanied by: 'last updated 12th. March 1998' or something like that ).
Now that the Web has died and has come back, the Irish experience would dictate that it is in danger of becoming a hoare again. Worried about mumps? - no problem. Just visit mumps.ie. We now have websites for events, websites for developments of new houses, websites for every kind of crazy non - reason you could shake a stick at. Are these the new 'personal page' rubbish of the future? - I think so.
What will happen when mumps become less sexy, when the developments of badly built and hard to sell houses are falling apart because the economy is in the toilet? What, more specifically, will happen to the joke websites? It seems everyone is registering names, regardless of how long or obscure and putting up largely pathetic - looking 'websites'.
I can only hope that Google develop their search - engine to cope with this. Otherwise, the web will be full of deadwood in a few years' time. I guess in a way the success of the web has come home to roost - and not for the first time. Victim of it's own success, and all that.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Sterling Dollar and Euro parity?
I recently tried to upgrade NetObjects Fusion - the web design software - from version 10 to 11. All went smoothly, I went to all the trouble of filling out my details on their online order form, thinking that at $109 it was reasonable value. It was reasonable, until I discovered that my order updated itself to display 109 euro. Hang on a minute! $109 is 86 euro at the time of writing. NetObjects want me to pay 23 euro more for no particular reason? ... I don't think so. I think I will pass on the upgrade at this point in time.
They are not the only ones at it: enter Pinnacle, who not only tried to do the very same thing ( Sterling in their case - yes same numbers, different currency ), but also seem to have a dumb terminal in charge of customer service. Yes, I emailed them asking, basically, "wtf" in a nice way. I have since gotten about 4 emails from them telling me how to complete my order, but none actually addressing my query.
One would think that the World was booming and there was no recession. Certainly the above companies do not seem very eager to sell. I'll be holding on to my money for now ... widget ability and editing in HD respectively are not that important to me right now. I just like to keep all my software up to date. I'd rather give that 23 euro to my local animal sanctuary than NetObjects / Pinnacle though. Paying extra for no reason is not a reason. I am surprised that they get away with it - they shouldn't.
They are not the only ones at it: enter Pinnacle, who not only tried to do the very same thing ( Sterling in their case - yes same numbers, different currency ), but also seem to have a dumb terminal in charge of customer service. Yes, I emailed them asking, basically, "wtf" in a nice way. I have since gotten about 4 emails from them telling me how to complete my order, but none actually addressing my query.
One would think that the World was booming and there was no recession. Certainly the above companies do not seem very eager to sell. I'll be holding on to my money for now ... widget ability and editing in HD respectively are not that important to me right now. I just like to keep all my software up to date. I'd rather give that 23 euro to my local animal sanctuary than NetObjects / Pinnacle though. Paying extra for no reason is not a reason. I am surprised that they get away with it - they shouldn't.
Friday, January 30, 2009
The other day I was thinking about the beginnings of mainstream computing ... brought on no doubt by my 'rediscovery' of such classic games as SWIV - 3D, Carmageddon, DOOM and Quake. My work on the Website necessitated the dusting off of these games. It's a tough job, but someone's got to do it :-)
We have now had computers in the mainstream for what, 20 years? Still, in all of that time, one word sticks out a mile: "incompatibility". Take for example a recent one: RSS feeds. Six or seven different standards. One group goes working on it, part of the group reckons it has the goods on the technology, so what do they do? - yes, fragment.
Often times greed is behind lack of compatibility / standards everywhere. How many true standards are there in computing? - not many. Perhaps the web itself, at the core level, but before long you realise that that too is riddled with glitches as soon as you pass the basics.
My work this past 6 months or so on my various websites has always been like taking a sledgehammer to square pegs, trying to fit them into round holes. Many things have been promised with the advent of Web 2.0. I will need some convincing for all of the above reasons.
We have now had computers in the mainstream for what, 20 years? Still, in all of that time, one word sticks out a mile: "incompatibility". Take for example a recent one: RSS feeds. Six or seven different standards. One group goes working on it, part of the group reckons it has the goods on the technology, so what do they do? - yes, fragment.
Often times greed is behind lack of compatibility / standards everywhere. How many true standards are there in computing? - not many. Perhaps the web itself, at the core level, but before long you realise that that too is riddled with glitches as soon as you pass the basics.
My work this past 6 months or so on my various websites has always been like taking a sledgehammer to square pegs, trying to fit them into round holes. Many things have been promised with the advent of Web 2.0. I will need some convincing for all of the above reasons.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Bloatware - will it ever end?!
I'm sitting here trying to install Nero Express disc - burning software, which came with my LG CD / DVD Multiwriter. First off, I have to install 'SecureDisc viewer' before I can do anything. I hate installing stuff just to do with one program, but hey, it's German and they do these things. I'm trying to avoid installing a huge suite, all I want to do is record CD's / DVD's. What it installed last time was huge! Is anything simple any more?
I just finished installing Pinnacle Studio 8, which comes on 2 CD's. It's 2004 vintage, and takes up all of about 386 mb. on the hard drive. It does everything well. A couple of years later I invested in Pinnacle Studio 9, then 10 ... I haven't bothered with 11 or the recently released 12. The reasons are simple. They are approximately 10 times bigger than Studio 8. Somehow Pinnacle managed to go from 400 meg to 4 gigabytes in a few years, with about 30% greater functionality, give or take.
In other words, it's got 10 times bigger but not 10 times better, or 10 times more functional. As I am reistalling everything ( my computer needed a clean 'sweep' of the drive ) every disc I pick up sends a shiver down my spine. Office 2003? Massive. What do I want to do? - write letters. I use it for nothing else. Why does it take 100's of megabytes to do what ran on a mid 1980's 8088 machine?
The more I look at all this bloated stuff, the more I am liking shareware. I plan to investigate it further, because I don't want my Hard drive crammed with programs designed so that I only ever use 5% of what they offer.
I just finished installing Pinnacle Studio 8, which comes on 2 CD's. It's 2004 vintage, and takes up all of about 386 mb. on the hard drive. It does everything well. A couple of years later I invested in Pinnacle Studio 9, then 10 ... I haven't bothered with 11 or the recently released 12. The reasons are simple. They are approximately 10 times bigger than Studio 8. Somehow Pinnacle managed to go from 400 meg to 4 gigabytes in a few years, with about 30% greater functionality, give or take.
In other words, it's got 10 times bigger but not 10 times better, or 10 times more functional. As I am reistalling everything ( my computer needed a clean 'sweep' of the drive ) every disc I pick up sends a shiver down my spine. Office 2003? Massive. What do I want to do? - write letters. I use it for nothing else. Why does it take 100's of megabytes to do what ran on a mid 1980's 8088 machine?
The more I look at all this bloated stuff, the more I am liking shareware. I plan to investigate it further, because I don't want my Hard drive crammed with programs designed so that I only ever use 5% of what they offer.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
The continuing scandal that 'Ebay' has become
Back in October last year I purchased two items from an Ebay 'Power Seller' in the U.K. I duly sent off payment a few days later. In Ireland PayPal - an Ebay 'service' - falsely advertise that a debit card can be used on their accounts. Not so. If you don't have a credit card, no PayPal. Kind of makes you wonder "why bother with PayPal at all?"! For this reason I had to pay the old fashioned way - by post.
After a couple of weeks the seller opened an 'unpaid item' dispute. Following my assurance that the payment was sent, about a week further on I got suspicious. I decided to check with the post office ( I sent it registered ) and sure enough, I discover that it was delivered but no one was home to sign for it! The seller then goes "oh well, I was on holidays. It's not my problem".
Sensing that I was not happy, she then left two unpaid strikes on my account. I eventually got these removed. In the meantime this odd seller went and collected my payment and sent it back to me, unopened. I left her negative feedback, but ebay promptly removed it. Doesn't say much for Ebay does it?
Ebay was a great resource, but they've gone 'Hollywood' and will, I have no doubt, trip over their success. Remember a time when everything was 'go on Amazon'? Then Ebay got really big. People are just as likely to try Ebay as Amazon for books etc. now. I would not be the first one to say this, but Ebay are doing a shake - down of smaller buyers and sellers.
Along with the banning of 99p 'Buy it now' listings on the U.K. site, the change to feedback rules for sellers ( who can no longer leave negative feedback ) and the obvious contempt for smaller buyers will backfire.
Ebay should see themselves as having a duty to warn other buyers of someone who messed me about like this woman did by allowing negative feedback to stand. Clearly the only thing that's in their hearts is money.
In the future Ebay will become less and less relevant: Power - seller junkstores and high priced 'Buy it now' sellers will become the norm. And guess what? - that's the death of everything which made Ebay special. My exprience has been stomach - churning.
In fact it is a small step away from Ebay being complicit in fraudulent activity. They can wave goodbye to my custom. I have about 87 transactions completed in 2 years on it ( 100% positive feedback ). What Ebay are too dumb to notice is the value of the items I purchased: in almost every case, high.
Hurry up Google, and set up a better service!
After a couple of weeks the seller opened an 'unpaid item' dispute. Following my assurance that the payment was sent, about a week further on I got suspicious. I decided to check with the post office ( I sent it registered ) and sure enough, I discover that it was delivered but no one was home to sign for it! The seller then goes "oh well, I was on holidays. It's not my problem".
Sensing that I was not happy, she then left two unpaid strikes on my account. I eventually got these removed. In the meantime this odd seller went and collected my payment and sent it back to me, unopened. I left her negative feedback, but ebay promptly removed it. Doesn't say much for Ebay does it?
Ebay was a great resource, but they've gone 'Hollywood' and will, I have no doubt, trip over their success. Remember a time when everything was 'go on Amazon'? Then Ebay got really big. People are just as likely to try Ebay as Amazon for books etc. now. I would not be the first one to say this, but Ebay are doing a shake - down of smaller buyers and sellers.
Along with the banning of 99p 'Buy it now' listings on the U.K. site, the change to feedback rules for sellers ( who can no longer leave negative feedback ) and the obvious contempt for smaller buyers will backfire.
Ebay should see themselves as having a duty to warn other buyers of someone who messed me about like this woman did by allowing negative feedback to stand. Clearly the only thing that's in their hearts is money.
In the future Ebay will become less and less relevant: Power - seller junkstores and high priced 'Buy it now' sellers will become the norm. And guess what? - that's the death of everything which made Ebay special. My exprience has been stomach - churning.
In fact it is a small step away from Ebay being complicit in fraudulent activity. They can wave goodbye to my custom. I have about 87 transactions completed in 2 years on it ( 100% positive feedback ). What Ebay are too dumb to notice is the value of the items I purchased: in almost every case, high.
Hurry up Google, and set up a better service!
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