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Jackster

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Posts posted by Jackster

  2. Posted

    I got an e-mail from GAME on Sunday saying they'd shipped it. I'm expecting my new 360 tomorrow, but I'm not holding my breath. Thursday at the earliest is more likely tbh.

     

    On Game's website it's showing as "Your order has been dispatched." and on Parcelforce's website it says it's an Express 24 service, which would suggest it'll be here tomorrow...

     

    We'll see...

  3. Posted

    Just got this email from Game :grin:

     

    Qty Description

    1 The New Xbox 360 250GB with Data Transfer Cable [Xbox 360]

     

    Your order has left the building and will be with you soon! Your credit/debit card will now be charged in accordance with your instructions and if you are a Reward Member your points will be added to your card.

     

    I wonder when it'll be delivered? I wonder if I could pick it up at the Parcelforce depot when it arrives there instead of waiting for the guy to deliver it.

  4. Posted

    Our internet here has been pretty pathetic since we switched from the Virgin to the Post Office. Originally we'd get a steady 1.2 meg connection but since the switch we get anywhere between 1.8meg and 120k. Rang them time and time again but they're no help, sometimes they claim its a fault with the line, sometimes its our BT exchange. Others they claim nothing is wrong at all because the speed changes.

     

    Id love to be able to change from the Post Office but at the moment theyre the only company weve found that offers free calls to mobile phones at the weekend and my mum doesnt want to lose that.

     

    I don't think you have to be with the Post Office for both broadband and home phone, you can go with just Post Office phone and use another company for broadband.

  7. Posted

    I've found most electronics stores have pretty dreadful TV setups. There was one in particular, either a Currys or Comet, which had all their TVs showing really fuzzy, snowy adverts for the TVs they sell. The only TVs on display which weren't getting a dreadful signal were the multi thousand pund Panasonics at the back which seemed to have their own little setup going on.

     

    The only place where I've been TV shopping and have been impressed is in Makro funnily enough. Every TV was connected by HDMI and was showing the Olympics on BBC HD and it really gave you a much better idea of what the TVs were capable of.

  8. Posted

    Here's my WWDC '09 predictions:

     

    iPhone

    • 32GB Model
    • Faster processor, more RAM, updated graphics chip
    • 3.5G Speeds
    • Magnetometer/Compass
    • Matte casing
    • 3.2MP Camera with autofocus

     

    Snow Leopard

    • Mostly stuff of interest to developers
    • Show off one or two features of interest to consumers
    • Approximate release date will be announced

     

    Other

    • I reckon the Macbooks and Macbook Pros will get a minor refresh. Perhaps up the base RAM to 4GB and replace the 9600M with a GT130 in the Pro.

     

    Can't wait, I love WWDC!!

  9. Posted

    What'll be interesting is to see how this affects any Communication Providers who buy services from BT Wholesale on your behalf (unless your on, say 02's unbundled Local Loop), your services will still effectively be provided by BT.

     

    Other providers will be able to use BT Wholesale Broadband Connect (WBC) to provide the 20mbps service to customers in the WBC areas. I imagine it'll be a similar situation for customers of other providers, if your provider starts offering a 20mbps service through WBC you give them a ring and they'll upgrade you.

     

    Or you could have just gone over to O2/Be months ago like I did :yay:

  10. Posted

    http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Saitek-Eclipse-III-Backlit-Multimedia-Keyboard

     

    That one looks pretty good. I'm using the original Eclipse and it's a pretty nice keyboard. The Eclipse III does everything you want bard USB passthrough (got to go to the next model up for that, the Cyborg, but it's ugle as sin).

     

    I had a look at the Saitek. I'm not sure about it, it looks pretty decent but the lack of USB ports on it is the deal breaker I'm afraid :sad:

     

    I've got a Logitech G15 and like it a lot. It's backlit, good for typing although the keys are a bit far apart, has multimedia keys and an LCD display which come with some shitty programs. But there are a few very useful out there that show what's currently playing on Winamp, CPU and Memory Usage and even CoreTemp supports it, showing your system temperatures on the LCD which is very handy while gaming.

     

    The USB is only USB 1.1 afaik and apparently the voltage was too low to allow me to use the X-Box 360 controller for PC so you might be unlucky with your mouse.

     

    I've been thinkign about going for the G11. The G15 is a bit too much for me, and my local LAN gaming cafe has G11s on all their computers and they're pretty nice. I think next time I'm in there I'll bring my mouse along and see if it works on the keyboard's USB ports :D . I'm guessing maybe it doesn't like you Xbox controller because of the vibration, that probably requires a bit of energy, hopefully a wireless receiver will be require a low enough power to work.

  11. Posted

    Hey people, I'm getting a Dell Studio XPS 1340 in about two weeks and I'm looking to set up a kick ass workstation type thing at my desk so I don't have to slouch over the LCD on the laptop. I'm gonna get a nice big monitor and mount it on the wall, I've already ordered a Logitech MX Revolution mouse and now I'm looking for a keyboard.

     

    The keyboard will mostly be used for web browsing tbh, although it'll probably see some FPS gaming and most likely some school work and some Visual Studio work.

     

    I'd really like a backlit keyboard. It's gotta be a USB keyboard and it should have at least one USB port on it so I can plug the mouse's wireless receiver into it since my new laptop hasn't got many USB ports built into it.

     

    Thanks :smile:

  12. Posted

    O2/Be are upgrading some of their exchanges at the moment. Due to them being great, so many people have signed up and thus at peak times sometimes internet speed is hit.

     

    There is some info I read somewhere....digistalspy or on the Be forums.

     

    Mine was a bit dodge for about 2-3 weeks but now its back to normal and im getting the same speeds as when I first signed up, usually hit around 6MB and my exchange is 1.7 miles away.

     

    Here's a news story on it: http://www.samknows.com/broadband/news/be-and-o2-to-combat-congestion-hotspots-with-network-upgrade-489.html

     

    I've noticed that speed has dropped a little at peak times recently, but it's still significantly better than Orange was. Hopefully this will make an already great service even better :yay:

  13. Posted

    Hey people, I was wondering if anyone here was a Mac user and switched to Vista?

     

    I'm considering making the move back to Windows after a few years of owning my Macbook, was just wondering if anyone here had done something similar and how they found it.

  14. Posted

    I don't see what's wrong with Silverlight :wtf:

     

    Surely a bit of competition in the video streaming market is a good thing, and it's not as if it's locking people into anything anymore than Flash is since it's available for Windows, OS X and Linux through Novell's partnership with Microsoft.

     

    I also don't see how Flash is rubbish for streaming content. Sure, Youtube has it's faults but iPlayer and Vimeo have always worked perfectly for me.

  17. Posted

    Why do people dislike Virgin so much? If you live in a telewest area it's the best by a mile.

     

    The crazy low usage caps perhaps? Their reputation for bad customer service?

     

    Hmm I'd say sky are worth it, depending or what you want it for. I can imagine cables with them are brilliant and the customer service is awesome, always somebody in english and always somebody who knows what they are talking about.

     

    The OP said Sky in his area was at a high price which probably means he's not in a Sky enabled area and Sky are just reselling BT's Wholesale broadband, hence why I asked the OP to find out what services are available on their line other than BT Wholesale.

  19. Posted

    Virgin Media already do broadband and phone over BT's lines though, it wouldn't be anything new. All they'd be doing is keeping up with the competition on those lines.

     

    Yes I know they do broadband over BT lines but their preference is to do it over their cable network. If you live on a street with cable and BT lines, they'll want to put you onto cable.

     

    *My* prediction is that in the future they'll stop focusing on their own network and start focusing their attention on people with BT lines.

  20. Posted

    Neither of those will happen. Virgin media are building their network at a faster rate than BT are upgrading their lines. In 10 years time both will likely still be operating, unless one manages to buy out the other.

     

    I didn't say they wouldn't both still be operating. As far as I knew Virgin weren't installing their lines on any streets which currently exist, only new streets.

     

    Anyway, in 10 years time I'm pretty confident every BT line will be Fibre to the Cabinet and a reasonable amount will be Fibre to the Premises. This will pretty much (note the 'pretty much') make BT and Virgin's network equal in terms how much can go down one line. I'm sure Virgin's network will continue to exist and will be used by existing customers, but I'm also sure that Virgin will also become an LLU provider on BT lines and make all their services available to people in non cabled areas, in a similar way Tiscali now offers TV, Phone and Internet through an LLU package on BT lines.

     

    An awful lot more people can get a BT line than a Virgin line, and installing your equipment in a few hundred BT exchanges is a lot cheaper than digging up a few hundred streets. I just think it makes sense for Virgin to offer their services to people with BT lines when BT's lines are up to it.

     

    Apple aren't going to overtake Microsoft. Sure, Apple are gaining consumer base but it'll take a lot longer than 10 years for them to gain market leader. People are brought up on Windows, it's Windows that is taught in schools etc. An increasing number are moving to OS X, but for the majority it's too much effort to migrate to a new OS. You'd have to start teaching OS X in every school in the country and then wait a generation or two for the market switch to occur.

     

    Again, I didn't say Apple would take over Microsoft, I just said they would be seen as the big bad company and that Microsoft would have managed to get a cooler image.

  21. Posted

    A lot stuff in 10 years looks like the present.

     

    The CPU stuff is ridiculous, we don't need anything more than Dual Core.

     

    There will be a time when the computers we use will look *nothing* like what's in front of us just now. We've got no idea what computers will be like in 20 or 30 years, but whatever happens I'm pretty sure we'll have/need hundreds of cores.

  22. Posted

    In ten years time I'm guessing BT will have replaced their copper to the cabinet with fibre in all cities and big towns, and in all new builds the connections will be 100% fibre. 4G wireless technologies will be used a lot out in the country and by people who want to be able to work on their laptop or smartphone outside their house but don't want a bill from their wireless provider and from BT.

     

    Virgin Media will announce it's not going continue building its own network and will instead become an LLU provider over BT lines, massively increasing it's potential customers

     

    Sky will have mostly stopped using satellites for its TV service and will have moved most of its customers over to its IPTV service with every channel being available in HD. Actually pretty much every TV company will have moved to IPTV and everyone will have all major networks' programs on demand to their TV.

     

    Every child in school will have their own laptop and all work will be done on computers with work being emailed back and forward between teachers and pupils.

     

    Apple and Microsoft will have switched places in terms of how they are thought of by people. Apple will be seen as the big bad company and Microsoft will be seen as the cool company. Steve Jobs will be long gone from Apple and everyone will hate Phil Schiller because he has neither the charisma or the cool factor that Jobs had, and people will begin to like Steve Ballmer because he's just a pretty crazy guy... and he'll have had a makeover.

     

    People will be fighting for freedom on the Internet after most countries start filtering web access. There will be numerous scandals over the filtering in some western countries which sparks outrage among the people because the Government blocks something they shouldn't have, like another party's website or information about illegal activites the current Government are taking part in.

     

    Those are the ones I'm reasonably confident on. Some look good, some look pretty bad. I won't even try to guess on other areas like user interfaces or mobile devices because there's just so many different ways they could go :awesome:

     

    EDIT: Oh and people wil have given up on DAB and DAB+ radios and just go to Internet Radios. This will have the advantage of being cheaper for radio stations as they won't have to run transmission towers. it will also be better for listeners as there won't be the capacity limits of current radio technologies so there will be thousands of stations available from all around the world and the sound quality will be superb.

     

    EDIT: Also, all telecom will have moved over to IP, so all phone calls etc will be done over IP. We wont necessarily use our computers for calls, probably still use landline handsets, but everything will be VoIP. Some people will also start using a lot more video conferencing but it won't really take off hugely because people don't want to take calls if people can see them when they're looking rough or on the loo.

     

    EDIT: Or perhaps friendly aliens will make contact with humans and, like in Star Trek, it will bring about world peace ^.^ . I'm hoping for that one.

  24. Posted

    I also need to know the best way to get it from antenna to VGA or S-video. I assume it's a freeview box but if there's a better way please do tell.

     

    You will need a freeview box to decode the digital signal and output it to a TV or projector unless the TV or projector has a Freeview decoder built in.

     

    If your antenna cable is too short you could put the freeview box at the end of it and use a long VGA cable to go from the box to the projector.

  25. Posted

    Don't buy a blu ray player until after you buy an HDTV. It's unlikely you'll really notice a big difference.

     

    Also, buying one now so you have one when you get an HDTV isn't a good idea unless you're getting an HDTV soon. By the time you get an HDTV the prices for players will likely have dropped and there may be a newer version of the bluray spec out by then.

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