Beyond

Last year, about this time of year approximately, during a lull in business, I was experimenting with designing screensavers. I was just venting some artistic talent possibly? Whatever the case I zipped them into self-extracting .exe files and stored them on disk.

A year later I’ve still got them, and the ones that I don’t install on customer’s computers when I build them; i.e. the arty-farty ones as opposed to the advertising ones that is, are wasted.

With that in mind; having just found the files whilst searching through my disk contents, I thought ‘Why not let my readers have one?’. - So here you are if you want it; a free 3D screensaver which I designed originally as a piece of art:

It’s supposed to be an artistic representation of a quad-core processor. I designed many variations on the theme, but this is one of my favourites.

I’ve just tested the file a few minutes ago. It was on the other computer; so I networked the file over to to this one and , after scanning to ensure it hadn’t picked up anything during storage, I installed it on this machine for the first time ever and without any problem. After checking everything was OK I FTP’ d it up to kustomkomputa.co.uk so you can download it.

As I say; it’s in a .exe file, which when you click it will install the .scr file straight to your C: drive. Quad Core.scr gives you a choice of 3 options, which you can see by right-clicking on the file: Test, configure, and install. Clicking "Test" will allow you to preview it only. Clicking "Configure" will give you an advertisment for the Xara software that I created it with, and clicking "Install" will install it fully as one of your screensaver options; configured as default.

If you don’t want it to be your default screensaver; just right-click a blank area of the desktop, click "Properties" in the dialogue box that appears, click the Screensaver tab, and configure something else as default.

I’ve been making some changes to the header and background of the posts and pages on this blog; which is one reason I didn’t get a chance to post anything within the last 24-hours. To make amends I thought, having rediscovered the screensaver folder, that I’d share one with you.

I apologise for the size of the download; nearly 7 megabytes. (It might as well come with its own service pack at that size.) It is animated and it is a 3D design. I hope you’ll enjoy it if you download it. It’s nothing fantastic; but it’s free anyway.

I’m declaring this screensaver as “open-source” (Even though I don’t have any source-code.); no copyright. - If you want to do anything at all with it then feel free. The download link is http://www.kustomkomputa.co.uk/Quad_Core.exe . Enjoy.

	Yesterday, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes for ZD Net reported news of his first look at Microsoft’s first beta for their new Windows 7 operating system. (See his original article here.) He says that this beta (build 6.1.7000.0.081212-1400) should be the first and only beta from Microsoft of Windows 7, and that it’s a good one. (see ZD Net’s  Windows 7 beta 1 review.)
- Oh dear: Is that "Windows 7 Ultimate" I see? Does that mean that there’ll be a Small Business, Tiny Business, Sole-Trader, Professional, Semi-Professional,Home Professional, Home Standard, Home Basic, Basic, Waster, Chav, and Loser, version of the operating system; similar to what happened with Vista?
	Will the Ultimate version cost 4 times as much as the Home Basic version again, just to have a few unimpressive and unnecessary features thrown in; again as it was with Vista? If so then Microsoft are slow learners!
AK-H makes four points formed from his opinion of the beta. I quote:- "There are no new features in this build. If Microsoft has any new stuff lined up for the RTM then we’re going to have to wait to find out. Features-wise, build 6.1.7000.0.081212-1400 is similar to earlier builds I’ve looked at (here are some posts for you to check out: 1, 2, 3). "	"This beta is of excellent quality. This is the kind of code that you could roll out and live with. Even the pre-betas were solid, but finally this beta feels like it’s “done.” This beta exceeds the quality of any other Microsoft OS beta that I’ve handled. " "Performance of this beta is exceptional. I’ve not had a chance to benchmark it yet but it feels snappier and more responsive than earlier betas I’ve handled." "Judging by the quality of this build, I expect Windows 7 to be released June/July of ‘09. I really can’t see Microsoft dragging out the release a year."

Hmm. - Excuse my dubiousness and cynicism; but I get the uneasy feeling that Microsoft are going to ruin what is otherwise a good operating system by creating a tiered pricing-structure similar to the one they did with Vista. - Starting from reasonable for the feature-scarce Home Basic version, and scaling up to astronomical for the full-featured Ultimate version.

Will they never learn?!

Whether or not the above actually does happen is yet to be seen: But I’d put money on it all the same. What’s your opinion?

In the UK; VAT will drop from 17.5% to 15% from Monday. The cut in VAT is one of Chancellor Alistair Darling’s tactics to encourage UK consumers to start spending again.

I think it’s a joke, and that the UK government have given too little away to make any real difference. Why so little? Because the UK Government, just like UK businesses; are greedy, and they don’t want to impact a high-income source too much.

Had they dropped it to 10%, or even 12 1/2%, that would have made a difference; but the proposed miniscule reduction will have negligible if any effect.

(Don’t forget; we’ll be paying for this eventually with a 20% VAT rate: I give this particular prediction a 4/5 chance of becoming a reality within the next 5 years.

The next government; if it’s Labour, will realise that there just isn’t enough revenue from GDP, despite a partial recovery, to balance the books against the massive debt built up when today’s Labour government threw money at the recession in the hope that it would go away before the available coffers ran out. (It won’t, but the excessive spending will help to cushion the depression.) Up will go Income Tax in the higher rates band for people earning £150,000+, and National Insurance Contributions, by up to 2%: But the prominent rise will be in VAT; which will then be raised from the reset figure of 17.5% to 20%. That will leave some people up to 5.5% worse off in order to pay for the current governments current plans, in addition to an increased burden on an already well-overstretched NHS.

A Conservative government would also increase VAT to 20%, if it’s not already at 20% when they are elected, and make cuts in public services rather than increase taxes, although the National Insurance Contributions rise appears unavoidable at some point.

The first thing they’ll be considering is their own pockets, and then paying off the huge debt.)

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So let’s take a look at how the 2 1/2% reduction will affect you; the British computing/geek public:

Your "cutting-edge technology" computer from PC World (UK retail store.), with a dual-core processor, 2GB generic RAM, and a 500GB hard-drive (Hardly cutting-edge!) will drop by £12.50 from £499.99 to £487.49. The 5-year warranty that they nag you into buying will only be £341.25 compared to £350. At the end of the day, then, your "yesterday’s technology at today’s prices" cloned computer will cost you a total of £829.74 compared to £849.99. (Operating system included.)

If you were to buy an equivalent purpose-built computer from Kustom Komputa with a 1TB hard-drive and 2GB branded RAM, but with only the standard 1-year warranty other than for some components with a longer manufacturer’s warranty, you’d still be paying £487.49 compared to £499.99. (Operating system included.)

Yes, I suppose that was an advert for Kustom Komputa. Of course, if you’d rather; you could always build your own:

Your new 1TB hard-drive by itself will cost you about £1.60 less. 2GB DDR2 RAM will cost around 25p less. A new chassis-fan will cost less than 5p less…

Across the board, then, the savings are so small as to be academic. Even a £16,000 Porsche will retail at £15,600: That’s £400 the government won’t be getting its hands on; it’s only £1600 rather than £2000 the greedy parliament will have to add to their coffers, but I very much doubt in itself it’ll get anyone spending any more: People will just offset the miniscule saving against inflation so far this year.

Someone’s bound to say "PC World are the bees-knees: Without PC World there wouldn’t be computers. PC World are great value-for-money. Kustom Komputa must be utter crap if they only charge that much…" (Someone actually said that to me already in essence!) Each to their own. I won’t argue with an "expert". Please email me and I’ll happily sell you a Kustomised Computer with those specifications for over £800, just to make you happy.

Do you think 2.5% is enough to get the nation spending; or is it too little too late? Leave a comment below:

I couldn’t be arsed to hypelink this article as I normally do. Let it be an exercise in the reader learning to use Google.

The latest figures from the Office of National Statistics show that 42.3% of broadband connections are slower than 2Mb/sec.

Last year, telecoms regulator Ofcom was claiming that "the average headline speed has doubled in a year to reach 4.6Mb/sec". That’s the headline speed; the fastest it peaks at. In reality the average speeds are much slower. - I myself have known my broadband connection to drop below 2Mb/s on rare occasions, yet my average speed is 3.5Mb/s. - It’s supposed to be 8Mb/s, and I don’t live miles from the exchange in some far-flung corner of the British countryside in the middle of nowhere.

The ONS figures could be taken to imply that average speed figures are being heavily weighted by  truly high-speed connections, such as the 24Mb/sec ADSL2+ broadband offered by ISPs with Local Loop Unbundled services. These decent connections amount to only a small percentage of UK broadband connections.

"The proportion of broadband customers unaware of their connection speeds has continued to grow - 55% were unaware of their connection speed (actual speed)." Claimed a separate report issued 25/11/2008 by Ofcom, whose Consumer Satisfaction report also claimed that almost 20% of broadband customers were unhappy with the speed of their connection.

This is a general trend amongst British businesses these days: Give as little service for as much money as is possible, and rip the customer off in as many ways as can be accomplished without the customer realising it. Meanwhile their workforces use a similar principle in doing as little work as possible for as much money as possible, ripping their bosses off too if at all possible.

This is rip-off Britain; and the trend has caught on countrywide. Something has to change; this greedy moneygrabbing culture can’t continue without severe consequences. I can see how it started; looking back at the Thatcher years of the 1980s, where the divide between rich and poor became pronounced as the yuppie-culture fed off the poverty-stricken; driving them into deeper poverty whilst those with the upper hand continued to get fat from the losses of those that they exploited.

Not that much has changed today either…But that’s another story.

Back on-topic; and the ONS figures show that the number of fixed-line broadband connections has fallen by 0.4% of late; probably due to the growing number of mobile broadband connections contributing to the decline of their fixed-line counterparts. If you’re on the move all day then what’s the point of only having a connection at home?

Do you agree with my "rip-off Britain" synopsis? (it’s not actually my original idea, but a widely-held view which I am fully in agreement with.) More to the point; do you think that UK broadband speeds suck, and that something should be done about it? After all it’s the British citizen who’s paying for it; yet those taking the money with glee are promising one thing and giving less than half of what they promised in a lot of cases.

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Multinational British-based telecommunications company BT has chosen  around 15,000 homes/businesses in Muswell Hill, London, and in Whitchurch, South Wales, to be the launching-points for its new internet service  of its "Fibre-to-the-Cabinet" internet-delivery-system.

BT are claiming this service could give customers speeds of up to 40Mbps, and is scheduled to be in operation in the summer of 2009.

BT are unclear as to which ISPs will be using the scheme as yet, but have said that those ISPs will be setting the prices for their services once this matter has been further sorted out. Further details for the next stage of the operation, in which the service will be on offer on a larger (Nationwide?) scale, is to be announced in 2010.

According to David Campbell, director of next generation access at BT Openreach:-

"Services in these areas will be available to all UK communication providers on a wholesale basis. The sites were chosen in consultation with communications providers and took into account feedback from regional development agencies, devolved authorities and similar organisations."

"It was also necessary to take into account current network topology and our ability to run testing procedures in the chosen areas. We have a good mix of areas, allowing us to test our products in both urban and semi-rural environments."

What’s the big deal though? Is this all too little too late? In 1994/5, the then NTL cabled most of the more easily-accessible areas of the UK with its fibre-optic cables, on which, since the merge with Virgin Media, a 40Mbps internet connection has been available for quite some time.

It would appear that BT are intending to do exactly the same; thus giving the already-cabled areas a choice of hi-speed internet, while leaving the rural outlying areas with the paltry choice of slow-dial-up or expensive satellite internet services.

If the above paragraph is true, then nothing changes other than an increase in variety for the select recipients in more densely-populated areas; screw the rest of them.

Having areas of 40Mbps connection whilst continuing to have areas where, to keep costs down, customers opt for a 56Kbps dial-up connection, isn’t really going to be productive: The most vulnerable point in any chain is its weakest link; so if little Jenny, who has a 40Mbps connection, is sending her granny, who has a 56Kbps dial-up connection, a 500MB file of her favourite cartoons, then Jenny may as well have a 56Kbps dial-up connection also for all the time it’ll take to reach granny.

Maybe I’m being a bit melodramatic in the above paragraph; but unless everyone gets a decent deal out of a new development which affects society as a whole, then what is the point of it if it’s just going to produce bottlenecks? I mean what is the point of having a 10-lane motorway for 99% of the distance between towns A and B, if at the end of the motorway is a single-track winding lane making the final connection?

Meanwhile Thailand (Which isn’t exactly a technological superpower.) continues to have its hyperfast-internet which is available to almost everyone; and the traffic between Thailand and the UK is not a massive amount. I wonder why? Perhaps it’s because they get fed up with waiting for the British to receive their message? It leaves Thailand within the second; gets to the UK 3 seconds later, and reaches its final destination as a complete download later that week! Am I being melodramatic again? Not in all cases: I’ve known email from abroad to reach its UK destination 3 days later. In some cases even longer than that. When snail-mail becomes faster than the internet it’s clear that someone somewhere is doing something wrong.

So come on BT: I hope everyone, regardless of area, local population, and accessibility, is going to benefit from this: If they don’t it all seems pretty pointless and just another one of the UK’s famous postcode-lotteries.

Years ago back in 2002 I needed a new computer. At that time I wasn’t building computers; I was a software geekette, and I was still learning about hardware. My old 233MHz Cyrix processor on a PC Chips PC100 motherboard  was becoming  too slow even for Windows 98. I wanted to move up to Windows XP; but wasn’t happy about trying it on my existing system.

Like I said; I wasn’t a hardware geekette, but I knew what to look out for; so I did the usual British thing and headed for the PC World store.

I parked outside in their car park and entered the store through the plush sliding automatic doors; went to the back of the store, and started looking at what they had to offer. It wasn’t that bad; but I only had a choice of around 15 different computers; each with its own special deal.

I felt eyes on me and noticed a salesman hovering not far away pretending to dust a shelf. I wandered over to the pre-SP2 stacks of Windows XP Professional CDs: £99! - Extortion! I was going to have to cut a deal here.

To cut a long story short I left the store that day with a computer made by Medion, running a 2.8GHz 1st generation P4, (A cutting-edge processor at the time.) 512MB RAM, (Standard at the time was 250 to 512MB) and 32MB onboard graphics. (Again standard for the time 32-64MB) I also had a ton of crap freebie software thrown in, and the tower came with a wheel-mouse, reasonable stereo speakers, ( - Which I still posses.) OK keyboard, Canon inkjet printer - Which I got them to upgrade from the cheap-looking Hewlett-Packard printer that originally came with the deal, and a free Windows XP Professional CD.

How I got that free was a bit of a crafty deal: You see PC World stores in the UK make a huge percentage of their money selling warranties on their goods and earning from the commissions from that; and therefore the salesman wasn’t going to let me get away without buying one. (All their customers complain about the warranty that they’re virtually forced to buy with their new computer, and which usually costs around as much again; but still they keep going back to them like wasps to a jamjar.) I cut a deal in which I agreed to buy the 5-year-warranty that they were pushing on me on condition that they gave me a better printer than the one in the bundle, and that they threw in a free XP Professional CD. I was trying to get their top-price scanner free with the deal too; but I had to drop that in compromise.

I was happy at the time, except that the box was the wrong colour and I’d had to give up the chance of a model with 64MB onboard graphics to get the model with the printer in the bundle. 2 years later, and with the price of RAM still high, I wanted to upgrade to 1GB RAM and found that there were 2 x 250MB sticks already in the box; which meant I’d have to replace rather than fit 2 more as there were only 2 slots. I also wanted to upgrade to 128MB graphics and did that instead with a Radeon PCI graphics card. I also wanted to upgrade the CPU to the latest 3.06MB P4 with hyperthreading; but that was out of the question.

2006, and I’d just finished my electronics course and gained 2 certificates. I’d also killed two birds with one stone by messing about with computer hardware/software in the computer course classroom which was adjacent to the electronics lab; much to the tutor’s annoyance, as he had to keep coming over and getting me to attend his impromptu lectures. - You could therefore say that I was trained in computer hardware also; although without a certificate.

By this time my computer was in its old age and was starting to show it; although I’d kept it going reasonably well. I was in a mind to attempt my first full-build - I had the know-how; I just needed the parts. The immediate objective; though, was flashing the BIOS on my existing box: I’d done it before on that box, and I’d done it a number of times at college; all successfully. This BIOS flash didn’t go to plan however: A power-spike during the process - I was economising by not having a UPS in-circuit - fried the BIOS chip: All I got from it was a blank screen and a continuous beep…And it was a week before Christmas too! I phoned the warranty company and got a number unobtainable tone. PC World informed me that the warranty company had gone out of business and that the company that had taken over were now closed until the New Year. - I couldn’t wait until then for a computer. I know; I’ll build my own: I’d bought a book from PC Mech that covered everything. In case I’d missed something or did something wrong I’d have that concise manual to put me right. I need components. I’ll make a list: Just in case I’ve missed something there - It is my first full-build after all - I’ll check with the book I bought mail-order off the internet from PC Mech … Let’s have a look…Blimey they cover everything in here: Windows 95 to Windows XP, Linux, the lot… OK I have listed everything - Good. Now to order. Oh my god everywhere’s shut early for Xmas! PC World will be open but will charge me a fortune…

Panic mode: I grabbed the telephone directory and ordered a machine to be custom-built for me before Xmas from a firm I’d never heard of. I did that and the custom-built computer arrived in 2 days; it worked, and I used it until April - When the PSU exploded!

Fortunately I’d already made my first build by then; checking everything from the book I’d ordered from PC Mech just to make sure I hadn’t missed anything. I post-mortem’ d the blown PC and found that the company I’d employed had used all cheap components, the wrong components, (e.g. A 32-bit single-cored Sempron CPU rather than the 64-bit dual-cored Athlon I’d asked for…) and built it badly - so I started legal action against the fairly-local English bodger-company; but that’s a totally different story.

Actually to be honest I needn’t have bothered with the computer room at college had I ordered that book earlier: It was just like a computer course in its own right: In fact I’d go so far as to say that it was more concise than the college course, and everything was well written and easy to understand - Honestly even a beginner without any computer experience whatsoever could use it to teach them how to build their own.

That really pissed me off; because I’d seen it advertised, I think it was the year before I went to college; maybe even before that; but I’d thought ‘Oh; it’s just another American net-profits person flogging more cyber-junk’: I thought I’d find that’s part 1 which I’d bought at a discount, and I’d have to buy all subsequent parts and join a get-rich-quick scheme to continue to receive the other instalments: Oh how wrong I was! I so wish that I hadn’t been so pessimistic and that I’d bought it then and there. It would have saved me time, money, and hassle.

Well I did it all arse-about-face and I paid the price - Literally in some respects; all because I was too cynical and didn’t think that the book was worth buying - I mean it doesn’t exactly cost a fortune either; but Miss Tight here was just procrastinating to save a few £s; and yet it cost me a few £s more maybe: False economy.

I don’t want to say which book it is after all that: I mean if I do and you buy it then you could end up knowing as much as I do and that’ll put me at a disadvantage. Having said that; I kept my money to myself and ended up losing; so if I were to keep my knowledge to myself then would I end up losing also? Probably knowing my luck.

I’ve been churning it over in my mind for some time whether to let the cat out of the bag; but look what procrastination did before; see above.

Which company and/or its staff/owner have I mentioned more in this blog than any other? Apple. - Well almost; but in a slightly derogatory way. No; PC Mech. Why? Because I have experience of PC Mech and I know that I always get a good deal out of them: That’s why I have a membership with PC Mech, like quite a few others also do.

I’m in England; PC Mech are in America. If I were in any way dissatisfied with their service I’m hardly likely to be able to drive over to their office and have a go at them am I? - Oh believe me more than one English company has had a piece of my mind in the past. No; it’s a matter of trust. What more needs to be said?

So no further procrastination. If you make a fortune out of what I share with you then I want half; all right? Like I’ll get it eh? Well you’re going to find out one way or another; so I suppose ‘better from me than someone else. Scroll down.

Either you want to find out which book it is or you don’t. If you do then scroll down. Of course; if you don’t want to custom-build a PC for yourself - ever - then there’s no point: Thanks for reading.

- I’ve had to do some work typing this lot you know; so it’s not going to hurt you to do a tiny bit yourself. Keep scrolling…

Keep going; you’re authorized: Remember; it’s a matter of trust…

If you’ve bothered to scroll all the way down here then you’re either interested to know more or you’re as crazy as me. Whichever is the case you’re about to get what I said you’d get.

In fact I’m not only going to tell you the name of the book; I’m also going to give you a link to a bit more information and the point of purchase. I’ve procrastinated to this point, and now I’m no longer doing so: The knowledge can be yours.

- All you have to do is click on the ad, no more than that.

What; you’ve come all this way and you’re wondering whether you should? Oh give me a break!

OK; If you’re determined to make the same mistake as me and continue procrastinating until you miss your chance then this link will get you out of here.

- Otherwise there’s a square-ish bluey thing below to click on:-

Happy building!

In the post I made earlier entitled “A Geek’s Toolkit Supplement: Loaded USB Drive ” I spoke of what I described as “branding files”: Files that I add to the operating system to indicate that I am supplier, builder, and maintenance tech for a particular computer.

I can hear your brains whirring; so before you start thinking that I’m up to something naughty I’ll show you exactly what I mean. Oh yes; this only works if you have Windows XP installed, so don’t go trying it with a Linux or a OSX installation and then comment that I’ve messed up your operating system or “I can’t find those files in Ubuntu!” - “It doesn’t work with Leopard!” You’re quite right; it doesn’t - So be forewarned.

If this information has already been added to your operating system by the manufacturer then I suggest it best to just leave it anyway.

(Why are you playing about with your computer like this anyway? What do you hope to achieve? Oh well; your problem, not mine.)

The aim of the exercise is to customise Windows XP’s general tab in the System Properties dialogue box that you call up by right-clicking the My Computer icon and selecting Properties.

This customisation involves adding support contract information and a logo. It involves using only Notepad and whatever program you like to use to create a 256-colour bitmap.

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OK let’s start with the details: I won’t tell you exactly what details I put for computers that I build; so for this exercise we’ll assume that these details are regarding a computer built by the Acme Computer Corporation:

The computer is a Datamax, model 55102. Support line is 1-800-ACME…

Open Notepad and type the following text, replacing the example with your company’s details etc:

[General]

Manufacturer=Acme Computer Corporation

Model=Datamax 55102

[Support Information]

Line 1=Call 1-800-ACME for technical support

Line 2=  support [at] OMG [dot] acmecomputer [dot] com.invalid

Line 3=500 Billion Byte Drive

Line 4=Pixelgraphicsville, USA

Save this file to %windir%\Windows\System32 as Oeminfo.ini

Create a 256-colour bitmap of your company’s logo that is no more than 96X96 pixels in size. Save this file to %windir%\Windows\system32 as Oemlogo.bmp

Yes I deliberately soiled the picture: ‘Better safe than sorry.

To see the results either right-click on the My Computer icon or press the Windows and the Break key simultaneously.

And that’s how it’s done - No registry edits, no hacking into anything. This is a white box system builder’s trick; but it’s no massive secret. The files aren’t permanent anyway; if you remove them or reinstall your operating system the dialogue box reverts to default.

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Today, after a week of iPhone battery jokes and chidings aimed at a certain iPhone user I know online, whose iPhone battery died very quickly on Monday last, I thought it an idea to have a look into the topic of iPhone batteries a bit more deeply with a little research. A quick Google search revealed 16,300,000 results for iPhone batteries. Quite obviously I wasn’t intending to read them all, and as it happened the first one that I clicked on inspired me to write this blog entry:

The following was what I found at http://www.apple.com/uk/support/iphone/service/battery/ : Basically it describes Apple’s method of further ripping off the customer post purchase in the event that their battery becomes useless and fails to retain its charge. (I wonder exactly how long that will be? Has anyone actually reached this point already? If so then do please feel free to comment. - Otherwise do feel free to comment anyway.)

The page in question is officially entitled “iPhone Out-of-Warranty Battery Replacement Program Frequently Asked Questions” and begins with the question “What is the iPhone Battery Replacement Program?”

Many iPhone users will be glad to know that there is an official battery-replacement program - Until they hear the cost of it. The article says:

“If your iPhone requires service only because the battery’s ability to hold an electrical charge has diminished, Apple Technical Support will replace your battery for a service fee. Be sure to follow these instructions for optimizing life span and battery life before submitting your iPhone for battery replacement. “

The instructions in question say; in a most roundabout and lengthy manner, that the more use you give your iPhone the less time your battery will remain charged: That’s quite logical I suppose. The catch is, as with all rechargeable batteries, the more you recharge the batteries the less you’ll get out of them: Fair comment. It then goes into great detail about ways of not using your iPhone so that the battery’s charge lasts longer. (Following which it instructs you to “Use your iPhone regularly”.) I find it rather strange that Apple made a product that is to be used as little as possible; but as we’ll note later, this is a caveat for the process of charging you a fortune to replace a dead battery. “Jobsweh(1)“, the god of all things Apple, is a greedy and profitmongering god who likes to milk his people for every dime that they posses after they sell themselves into bondage with him by buying one of his products.

The article continues:

“How can I set up my iPhone for the Battery Replacement Program?”

“You can take your iPhone to your carrier. You can also contact Apple Technical Support or take your iPhone to an Apple Retail Store.”

Yippee-doo; thank you Apple for being so helpful. Now here’s the sting in the tail:

“How much does it cost to participate in the program?”

“The program cost is £ 55 (includes VAT), plus £ 7.29 shipping and handling, includes VAT. All fees are in Euros. Service may not be available if your iPhone has been damaged due to accident or abuse. Please review Apple’s Repair Terms and Conditions for further details.”

EH?! Fifty-five quid to replace a f—ing battery! That’s over $100 USD; and only “if your iPhone has [not] been damaged due to accident or abuse.” - Accident such as the case accidentally disintegrating perhaps? Abuse such as allowing the case to disintegrate in the first place?

Moving on:

“How long will service take?”

“Service through Apple Technical Support normally takes one week (five business days) from the date the unit is shipped to us. Time may vary if it is done through your carrier or an Apple Retail Store.”

Oh the geeks are gonna love that! A whole week PLUS shipping time without the iPhone: $100USD+ to be without your iPhone for 2 weeks; maybe more? Apple are the biggest con out there today - And people moan about Microsoft! - Er, reality check: Wake up!

This may be the answer you’re looking for:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=XlkKQoUlOQg

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1. Credit to DedRyzing ( http://twofourtech.com/ ) for naming the divinity of Steve Jobs.

BT have messed up again! I tried to access this website via the normal ftp channel that I use to upload and download files, and the server returned an invalid address error. I checked my ftp settings on my Fasthosts account, which were correct; but still got the same result. I uninstalled and reinstalled my ftp client, FileZilla, inputted the correct settings - same result. I downloaded WS-FTP-LE , set it up, and got the same result with that too. I phoned Fasthosts who said that all BT customers had exactly the same problem since BT had introduced new  measures to combat spam and illegal downloading via P2P earlier.

What that means is that BT have introduced a new piece of equipment into the loop that looks for anything it doesn’t like and blocks it. It saw my ftp, which it passed to the server, the server responded but the BT equipment saw the response and blocked it. My ftp client didn’t get a response and assumed that there wasn’t one; hence its response.

This is all connected with this stupid illegal unworkable UK government initiative to kerb illegal downloads that I reported on earlier. http://kkomp.com/archives/629 I asked how long did they think it would take for the problem to be remedied. They said it should only take a few hours, that they were kicking and screaming at BT, and that BT had assigned some of their top technicians to the case.

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2 Hours later I phoned BT : After following through several stages of a complicated menu I was played the message

“Welcome to BT broadband…we’re closed…” in short. “…For faults only please ring…” I did.; I endured the boring drivel about how BT record all phone calls and that if I had a problem with the internet service I could visit their website…A bit like saying

“If your car won’t start why not drive round to our garage and we’ll have it fixed in no time at all.”

“…please phone 0800…” was the message before the phone went dead: I redialed again and endured the same drivellous messages before…

“Om-put-put-ding-ding saab. Welcomming to BT. Please be to how may I help you. Can I have your name and the first line of your address please thank you?”

Yes hello Ranjeet - Here we go again. I gave my name etc - Yes I am the account holder. (Stupid question to ask: “Are you the account holder? Why not just look at the details on your screen when you bring up the account?)

“I’m having problems with using ftp over the internet and am unable to access my server at my web-host.” I continued. “BT are aware of this matter and are working to resolve it. Would you tell me how much longer you expect the matter to take until it’s resolved please.”

“You can’t access the internet?” Came the reply.

I think I used the word pillock in what I said next before I repeated myself.

“It is a problem with your server.” Said the Indian

(I’ve edited out the next few lines to make this blog fit for publication.)

“I will find out for you. Please to be holding the line. What is ftp?”

“File Transfer Protocol” I replied; amazed at the lack of knowledge. “I thought you were trained? This is a technical helpline isn’t it? - It bloody well better be as it’s the only one that’s open!”

“I will find out for you.”

The line went silent for a while and then was hung up.

“‘Cheeky f—ing bleeders!” I hit the roof.

To cut a long story short; after partly-demolishing a door that I didn’t like, I went through all that again to be told by a very gently-mannered Indian woman that nobody had a clue as nobody had been informed of it.

“Fair comment.” I thought; thanked her for her time, and rang the BT Broadband Status line, which told me that there were no problems at all with BT Broadband. I tried to connect via ftp again and got the same result. I phoned Fasthosts again, who confirmed that BT were fully informed and working on it.

- An ISP that lies; both by telephone message and by half-baked computer-illiterate representative. An ISP that neglects to inform its staff of major issues so that they can be of any help to its customers. An ISP that promises a service and ruins the experience of that service for its customers; then lies about it, and keeps everyone in the dark.

You’re wondering “Since you’ve had all this trouble with BT lately; why don’t you change ISP?”

I’d love to; but they give me material for my blog as part of their excuse for a service, so it can’t be all bad.

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At 01:40GMT (02:40 BST) this morning the following email was delivered to my inbox. I’ve added my comments to it in regular Arial 12pt text:

“I’m sending you this note because you registered a mobile device
to work with Twitter over our UK number. I wanted to let you
know that we are making some changes to the way SMS works on
Twitter. There is some good news and some bad news.”

“I’ll start with the bad news. Beginning today, Twitter is no
longer delivering outbound SMS over our UK number. If you enjoy
receiving updates from Twitter via    +44 762 480 1423   , we are
recommending that you explore some suggested alternatives.
Note: You will still be able to UPDATE over our UK number.”

What this means is that UK telephone companies are refusing any concessions to Twitter in the interests of their own continued 100% profit; as if they needed to do so - The greedy money-grabbing penny-pinching slimeballs! Doing so might reduce their profits by a fraction of a percent; which might mean the Director will only get 5 paid-holidays and less than £500G a year or something equally ridiculous.

“Before I go into more detail, here’s a bit of good news: Twitter
will be introducing several new, local SMS numbers in countries
throughout Europe in the coming weeks and months. These new
numbers will make Twittering more accessible for you if you’ve
been using SMS to send long-distance updates from outside the UK.”

Note the absence of the word “free” or “Freephone”.