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Feeding Time at the Zoo
Tracks Rockin' The Monkey House
Recent Tracks Rockin' The Monkey House
View Article  This non linear video editing will never catch on
Avid1 Media Composer Promo


Oh how we loved those Rmags and MO disks....


Well that was then and this is now...
View Article  geek test
I took MSN's Geek Test and apparently I'm a:

Well balanced individual: So what if you answered hell yes to some of the questions!? You are in touch with your inner geek and you aren’t ashamed to admit it - but there are limits…

Step away from th gadgets Kevin!
View Article  Does Microsoft really want to sell Vista in the UK
Something caught me tonight while looking at something else on amazon.com and amazon.co.uk, it was the crazy pricing that is being quote for Windows Vista Upgrades on both sites. I've included a screen shot to show you what I mean, the top site is amazon.com and the bottom amazon.co.uk.



Conversions at todays exchange rate of £1.00 = $1.95. If you did a straight conversion the UK prices for both would be:

78.92 UKP for Home Premium, Differnce of £56.02 which is 42% increase in price
128.11 UKP for Ultimate, Difference of £86.88 which is 40% increase in price.

How can Amazon/Microsoft don't know who is to blame on this but i think I can guess as I see that the marketplace price, justify the near 1:1 conversion rate. Do you think that microsoft forget that you don't just replace a $ sign with a £ sign in prices.

Thankfully the OEM prices aren't as bad and it looks like much more of a deal at mircodirect they are:

£77.32 for Windows Vista-Home Premium 32Bit
£121.01 for WindowsVistaUltimate32Bit
were as the US OEM Version are:

Home Premium: $120.89
Vista Ultimate $205.31

Which are much more like the US upgrade prices, Ok you can't transfer license like you can with full retail versions but I don't think I've ever transfered a personal license I know I have at work, so OEM can be a steal, it will install on a preinstalled system which I have done and it worked off the bat, see blog passim.

So is this a case of Micro$oft getting greedy or another case of rip off Britian.



View Article  Another Beau Bo D'or classic


http://www.bbdo.co.uk/blog/archives/335

background http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/6382279.stm
View Article  PinOut
While helping a friend out with the problem that he bought a S-Video to Scart cable and not a Scart to S-Video cable I came across a new site that I thought I'd better tell you all about. Its Pinouts.RU there in a link to the site on the button below
For many years I've used the Hardware Book http://www.hardwarebook.info/ i remember when it was a standalone app, both have a wealth of infomation and great for getting you out of trouble.

Get wired at pinouts.ru - pinouts of slots, connectors, cables
View Article  Google Analytics and a Curved ball
For some time now I've been using Google Analytics to compile and check stats involving my blog including what search words bring people to this place, not in any crazy way you understand by more curiosity. Normally the logs are pretty boring just lots of searches on techie words or parts numbers that I've blogged about but sometime there is something that like seeing a piece of gold in all the coal you go  "EH, what the WTF?" So without much further ado I present this little piece of Google heaven. Someone searched on the Internet and ended up at my blog because they were searching for:



Yes if like me you went WTF! who in there right mind would put that in a search engine, of course its too broad your going to need to narrow down your search criteria. maybe by county or some such qualifier, but your never going to find it on your first hit, probably need to check Google Images .

But back to Google Analytics and the server weblog, like Sherlock Homes I can tell our pervert lives in Nottingham, uses MSN to search on a Windows XP machine with IE6 and has NTL as a service provider. But Kevin you say how did he or she (yes I'm not going to be sexist, perverts come in all shapes and sizes) end up on your blog its not like my site in the centre for Gaelic Porn or that I have girls and boys with shamrocks covering the most interment places on every page. So a quick look back at the logs and the pages that brought the pervert to this site were::

Vista Content Protection Follow up
: were I mention about a guy who owns the 'core' of the Vista Operating System
New Statesman Blog: post were I mentioned about John Prescott being caught 'shagging'
Reaction to Saddam's Execution post were I mentioned the 'Irish' government statement on Saddam's Death

The word hard didn't bring anything up, I'm so glad that it was a nice bit of techie, left wing politics and got the smut seekers interest just maybe they stopped for two seconds and read the site before they were off to the next site on the list. Come on Kev whats the changes of that.....

BTW if your looking for hard core Irish porn then look no further than here here or here
PS. All Safe for Work
View Article  Most outrageous comments of 2006

How extreme were conservative commentators in their remark this year? How about calls to nuke the Middle East and an allegation that a "gay ... mafia" used the congressional page program as its own "personal preserve." Right-wing rhetoric documented by Media Matters for America

http://mediamatters.org/items/200612220013

View Article  trackback spam
well trackbacks seem to be pointless so I gone and turned them off. I was spending most of my time deleting and blocking lots and lots of trackback spam from pill pushers and porn merchents. So its got to the point of saying no more....so I've turned them off
View Article  Nothing says "happy valentines day" like...


KNIVES......GRRRRR!!!!
View Article  Welsh Train Stations - Cardiff

Platfform sign
Originally uploaded by akira_kev.
Only in Wales could you have a platform 0
View Article  HDforALL demand Freeview bandwidth

Broadcasters the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Five, along with manufacturers Sony, Samsung, Toshiba and Alba, and Dixons owner DSGI have begun lobbying UK regulator Ofcom to guarantee bandwidth on ...   more »

View Article  Vista, another painless install
Well  bit the bullet and instaled Windows Vista Upgrade on my MCE PC I use as a media centre in the bedroom. What can I say but it installed like a dream, I took note of the warning that the driver for my Netgear WG111T USB wireless adapter would not be installed off the bat so I went out to netgear site and downloaded the vista beta driver for my adapter, as you can see by me typing on the web it worked.

Netgear Beta drivers for Vista are here (click on the check box to display them)

I done a flickr set for the upgrade process http://www.flickr.com/photos/akira_kev/sets/72157594527811053/

I'm more than happy with the pocess it was so simple, if you just take account of the warnings it should be seemless.

The first boot is always the worst
First boot is always the worst
View Article  somewhere over the pond
Well I'm delayed at chicago o'hare so I thought I'd upload a shot I took on my photo on the way over. its a shot  over the wing into the horizon


View Article  Vista Content Protection
A few weeks again a question came up on 'the List' regarding Vista Content Protection so like a good boy I forwarded it the man on the inside James. Well he's posted a response and here it is from his Blog.

A while ago Kev posted a comment here about this paper that talks about Content Protection in Vista.  There is now an official reply here by Dave Marsh who's the guy that now owns video in the core OS (good guy.. once worked for Snell & Willcox).

Bottom line is that a) any OS that wants to legally play commercial content in new HD formats will have to do something similar b) when you play regular unprotected content, all of these mechanisms are switched off. 

As you'd expect, there is the predictable fuss about this from the peanut gallery.  As a consumer, I'm glad that I can play HD-DVDs on my PC.  That doesn't mean I like the increased layers of DRM that have been mandated.  I'm also not so glad that, when I put an HD-DVD disc into my DVD player it can potentially re-flash the firmware of the device if the device is on a list of compromised players.  But that's the world we now live in thanks to widespread piracy.


View Article  hmm
Big Brother's Jade is now the most unpopular Goodie, breaking Bill Oddie's 20 year run.
View Article  crimping tool anyone?
Can you pop me a connector on the end of this cable?
What do you think Phil are you man enough?
View Article  It's Coming Home, its Coming home......Windows is coming Home
Windows Home Server promo site,

 the Center for Digital Amnesia Awareness



View Article  Britons to be scanned for FBI database
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1984496,00.html

Millions of Britons who visit the United States are to have their fingerprints stored on the FBI database alongside those of criminals, in a move that has outraged civil rights groups.

The Observer has established that under new plans to combat terrorism, the US government will demand that visitors have all 10 fingers scanned when they enter the country. The information will be shared with intelligence agencies, including the FBI, with no restrictions on their international use. more on link


To the people who say "if you're innocent you have nothing to fear. I would gladly have my ten toe prints taken too if only to be able to step foot in the 'Land of the Free" I present this:



original graphic by Winjer 2004
View Article  We need a 'Bribery Tsar' for the 21st century

If bribery is so good for jobs, why should it be a crime? writes Mark Thomas in the New Statesman Blog

The war on terror has been used to justify many things from the Brian Haw law (to make protesters get permits) to illegally invading Iraq. It is indeed a small wonder that John Prescott when caught shagging didn’t opt for the “war on terror” defence.

I for one would pay money to see him declaring, “We have it on reliable intelligence information that unless I put my penis in the woman’s vagina then terrorists will detonate a nuclear dirty bomb device. In London, quite possibly at Battersea Dogs Home or somewhere else with a large collection of vulnerable pets.” more here

View Article  Great London rail fare rip-off
I don't normally praise The Sun out of habit,but they have come up with a classic story... http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2007000415,00.html

Something that we've known for a long time but that London's Tube system is the world's most expensive train journey.

It's not, as hackette Caroline Iggulden found out, a luxury excursion on the Orient Express, but rather a 43-second jaunt on the Piccadilly Line between Covent Garden and Leicester Square: 43 seconds covering 0.26km for a whopping £4.

That's 1.5 pence per metre, as the paper helpfully points out, easily topping the next most expensive short hop on the Tokyo Metro which comes in at £1.51. In New York, in contrast, "a subway ride costs £1.07, and in Rome just 67 pence and allows unlimited rides on tubes and buses for 75 minutes".


View Article  Saddam Dog Faked
I posted a story about Saddam Dog being Executed last week,

I have now found that the story is FAKE.......the picture has been faked

The photo is found on DOGS DESERVE BETTER website which is a nonprofit organization dedicated to freeing the chained dog, and bringing our ‘best friend’ into the home and family.

warning distressing pictures
the orginal picture is on http://www.dogsdeservebetter.com/pictures.html

the orginal picture is here
http://www.dogsdeservebetter.com/Assets/HangingDog4.jpg

Sorry.
View Article  Another Beau Bo D'or classic
You can see it here

but why he used a copy of Rainbow - Long Live Rocknroll to do the art, does anyone admit to having that in their collection? But Kev you know it from the record number he left on the picture....Duh Busted
View Article  Petiton for the stripping of Jeffery Archer's peerage
After my post the other day about Naseem Hamed being stripped of MBE and wanting Jeffery Archer to go the same way, well Steve Ayland sent me this petition that is on the goverment's Number 10 site and it is a petiton to have Jeffery Archer stripped of his peerage. So get down and sign up and tell your friends.

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Strip Jeffery Archer of his peerage. 

Submitted by Steve Ayland – Deadline to sign up by: 03 July 2007

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Archer-Peerage/


View Article  Kodak Moments


Kodak has a sense of humour
View Article  6 Months of Blogging


I'm posting this a bit for person reference but the graph above shows the stats from my first six months blogging,

Top Articles in December were:
Saddam Dog Executed: http://blog.kking.co.uk//blog/_archives/2006/12/31/2609333.html
Courier Companies: http://blog.kking.co.uk/blog/Technology/_archives/2006/7/14/2117989.htm
If you thinking of using Parcels2go, think twice: http://blog.kking.co.uk/blog/_archives/2006/12/18/2582255.html
View Article  Lord Archer and the Stripper
Naseem Hamed stripped of MBE
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/south_yorkshire/6222389.stm

Former world boxing champion Naseem Hamed has been stripped of his MBE after serving a jail term for dangerous driving.

32-year-old Hamed served 16 weeks of a 15-month term in Moorland Prison, Doncaster for causing serious injury to Anthony Burgin in a high-speed crash in May 2005.

An official notice said the Queen had directed that Hamed's name be erased from the Order of the British Empire.

So does that mean we can get rid of these too?

Lord Brocket - convicted of insurance fraud, having dismantled and hidden four of the Ferraris, claiming them to be stolen.
Lord Archer - Convicted of perjury and perverting the course of justice and sent to prision for 4 years..
Dame Shirley Porter - convicted in the high court of running an council Building Stable Communities policy that was completely illegal and ordered to pay £27,000,000.back to Westminster Council
Sir Clive Thompson - Chairman involved in the collapse of the Farepak Christmas hamper company

Or sorry I forgot it doesn't work like that does it...if it did the honour system would be fair and you would not be able to throw them at members of your family for doing what they done since birth...ie: prat around on a horse
View Article  Is Iraq the new Hartlepool?

Saddam's Dog executed

Iraq: Shortly after the execution of the dictator Saddam Hussein, his dog Blondi followed the same fate to the gallows. Contrary to Saddam, Blondi’s execution was ...   more »
View Article  Welcome to the next round of bloodshed in the name of peace.
http://mark-reed.blogspot.com/2006/12/one-nation-under-dog.html#links   more »
View Article  i heard the news today on boy
I got back after a great dinner at my brothers to find a small disaster on my plate, my Zune library was corrupt, I had a nice big warning dialogue back on the screen and thought "eek". Well i tried to reconnect the zune and the library would not connect.. It send that I had no items in my library but everytime i tried to add a monitor folder the library would lose the setting.

So I've had to do the biggy and remove the Zune Software and start again from scratch. One intresting thing was that when I connected the Zune player it said it could only be connected as a guest as the Zune was already registered on another computer or I could wipe the pairing and start the library from scratch.....thanks...I've got about 22% through my 34,000 items so far and I think its going to be a long day rebuilding.

Oh well we live and learn
View Article  From www.markthomasinfo.com



From www.markthomasinfo.com
View Article  James Brown dead

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6208615.stm

to quote Pop Will Eat Itself "Not now James, We're busy!"
View Article  Xmas Cheer

IMG_3684-low
Originally uploaded by akira_kev.
Well its not every day you come home to this on your road, I grabbed the camera and rushed out to get what pictures I could. Apparently the driver ran away from the accident.
View Article  Radio 4 SOCPA vote
Radio 4 the Today programme is having a poll to decide which laws should be repelled. The SOCPA law (permission to demonstrate in Parliament Square) has made it on to the short list. If you want to vote to scrap the law follow instructions bellow.


  YOUR CHANCE  TO VOTE AGAINST THE SERIOUS ORGANISED CRIME AND POLICE ACT - SOCPA

The Christmas Repeal! Now is our chance to vote against this law that ban unauthorised demonstration anywhere around Parliament.

However, we are up against the Hunters who are known for their mobilising skills. Please vote for SOCPA to be repealed and circulate this to others. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/vote/2006vote/vote_index2.shtml

You can vote by phone:
  0901 5221001 to repeal the Dangerous Dogs Act
  0901 5221002 to repeal the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act
  0901 5221003 to repeal the Human Rights Act
  0901 5221004 to repeal the European Communities Act
  0901 5221005 to repeal the Hunting Act
  0901 5221006 to repeal the Act of Settlement

Or go to the web link above to vote online.

Please distribute this info far and wide to make SOCPA win this vote
- it will be a moral, if not actual, victory.
View Article  Happy Christmas
happy christmas to all my blog reader, I hope you get everything you want.

Personally I don't think I'm going to get world peace this year as its been out of stock for some time and the batteries are definitely not included.
View Article  If you thinking of using Parcels2go, think twice
You might have noticed a comment I made about my Zune on arriving la few weeks ago. .It finally arrived no thanks to the couier company Parcel2go.com. Parcel2go are ...   more »
View Article  walking in Wanstead
Went for a walk on Saturday up to Wanstead Park,

History lesson: Since the time of Henry VIII, a grand manor house stood at the heart of the Wanstead Park eastate. Unfortunately, in 1812 the widowed owner of the estate re-married to the nephew of the Duke of Wellington who prompty squandered her fortune on his extravagant lifestyle. The house and grounds were sold off to repay his debts.

Today, all that remain are the decaying remnants of the formal gardens, dating from the early eighteenth century. These gardens include a series of artificial ponds, the most interesting of which are are the ornamental waters which are maintained as a nature reserve.anis great for photographs

Having been a decadent English estate, naturally Wanstead Park has its share of follies, including a ruined grotto boat-house and a mock-classical Temple.

Photo of one of the pond http://www.flickr.com/photos/akira_kev/13167042/
Map http://www.streetmap.co.uk/streetmap.dll?G2M?X=541750&Y=187250&A=Y&Z=1
View Article  Microsoft wins ruling to ban spam list sales

OUT-LAW News, 15/12/2006

Microsoft has stopped a man from selling lists of email addresses which were being used for spam. A court has granted a summary judgment against Paul ...   more »

View Article  photoshop cs3 beta
http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/photoshopcs3/

The beta for the new PhotoshopCS3 is availible

New features for the Photoshop CS3 beta include the following:

  • Non-destructive Smart Filters
    Smart Filters are Photoshop filters that are applied ...   more »
View Article  Two tribes go to war
The story of youth rivalries between 'Chavs' and 'Goths' in Peterborough, and how the local council have come up with radical solutions to the violence, binge drinking and anti social behaviour. The council has organised 'airsoft' battles between the two groups in nearby woods.

BBC Choice

The Show: http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/rmhttp/downloadtrial/radio4/radio4choice/radio4choice_20061215-1700_40_pc.mp3

Some how I think it wasn't the goths that we being violent, binge drinking or causing anti social behaviour and the council had to give the chavs a target.
View Article  pda hard times

One dead pda
Originally uploaded by akira_kev.
Lesson in life # 203: Never get into a taxi at 4 in the morning with your pda and your wallet in the same pocket, becasue this happens.
View Article  cybershot recall

Sony has said it will recall eight models of its Cyber-shot digital cameras after finding a defect in the liquid crystal display screen.

The problem is caused by a glitch with the image sensor, which may mean the screen does not display images correctly, Sony said.

The recall applies to models sold worldwide between September 2003 and January 2005.

The electronics giant will repair for free only cameras that show signs of the problems, according to Sony spokesman Chisato Kitsukawa.

The recall applies to models DSC-F88, DSC-M1, DSC-T1, DSC-T11, DSC-T3, DSC-T33, DSC-U40 and DSC-U50.
View Article  Zune Review or Not as it seems thanks to Parcel2Go.com
Well i hoped to be posting a Zune review today but instead i'm still waiting for Parcel2Go.com to get their act together and get it to me. Just been waiting nearly 2 weeks now

No doubt i'll be posting more about this company in the future,
View Article  Television's next revolution will not be televised

This is a research paper from Jupiter Research, Interesting view point... i can only watch low quality  web type footage of a short time. Normally you can get away with poor sound or poor visuals but not both. I doubt i could stand watching a hour of poor footage.

---

Jeff Jarvis provides more evidence that the future of "television" is being remade on the web, mostly by amateurs, hackers, and struggling artists.

Online video in 2006 feels like the Web in 1994. It's all pretty rough, but a lot of it is very creative. Much of the stuff that's being created for the web by the mainstream media has a raw, experimental quality that we're not used to from big organizations.

Jeff's story of producing his segment for CBS versus producing a segment for Amanda Congdon's webcast hints that the eventual impact of web video on television will be greater than the impact of the Web on print.

One of the most significant parts of all of this is that amateurs can produce higher-quality video than is possible with standard Grown-Up TV production techniques. The technology is necessary but not sufficient. Production processes have to be re-invented for the low-overhead, small-screen, short-subject, random-access, bandwidth-thrifty web. We're still in inventing a new grammar of online video, just as Desi Arnaz (yes, Desi!) invented multi-camera production techniques late in the early days of television.

View Article  Protests and lawsuits in Tazer case
Student to file suit against UCPD Mostafa Tabatabainejad, who was stunned several times with a Taser in Powell Library Tuesday, plans to file a lawsuit against university police alleging "brutal excessive force" and false arrest, his lawyer said Friday.    more »
View Article  The belly of the Beast
House of Commons Defence, Foreign Affairs, International Development and Trade and Industry Committees Strategic Export Controls: Annual Report for 2004, Quarterly Reports for 2005, Licensing Policy and Parliamentary Scrutiny
First Joint Report of Session 2005–06 Twelfth Report from the Defence Committee of Session 2005--06 Fifth Report from the Foreign Affairs Committee of Session 2005--06 Fifth Report from the International Development Committee of Session 2005--06 Seventh Report from the Trade and Industry Committee of Session 2005--06

What a bloody title.....the goverment just love it don't they?

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmselect/cmquad/873/873.pdf

This is the report from the committee that  Mark Thomas gave evidence to regard the arms industry the experiences he turned into the book As Used on the Famous Nelson Mandela: Underground Adventures in the Arms and Torture Trade

His evidence starts at  EV105 but I'd recommend reading the whole report if you've got the stomach for it.