Cross Dominant

Mixed laterality since 1968

18 Feb 2010, 14:47

Unlock that old broadband modem from the contract you cancelled

#“Unlock that old broadband modem from the contract you cancelled”

Recently I cancelled my contract for O2 mobile broadband. I was dishing out 30 per month for a service I maybe using a few days a month. I found that the N95-8GB or HTC G1 as a tethered modem with a 1GB data add-on for my Vodafone phone SIM was more than sufficient for my current needs.

However, it seemed an awful shame to leave the Huawei E270 modem unused since it is bloody good and does 7.2Mbs unlike a lot of the "stick" modems.

Unfortunately it is SIM locked to O2.

FortunatelyDC-unlocker exists. I downloaded their simple free app which identified the modem and said it was locked. Then for a quick payment of 10 via PayPal, it unlocked it for me. All done in about 5 minutes.

The Vodafone SIM works beautifully in it now, even with the O2 software on the laptop! Just setup a new APN for hs.vodafone.ie. I'll test the Three UK SIM when I am in range of a decent 3G data signal.

Now the next time Eircom DSL goes down, I still have a backup plan:
  • Re-direct mobile to landline or Three UK mobile
  • Put Vodafone SIM in O2 dongle connected to external antenna
  • Connect dongle to the 3G port of the Billion Router
  • Data for the entire house!
Another recession-busting tip from West Cork!

17 Feb 2010, 17:25

Your Country, Your Call - Love the idea

#“Your Country, Your Call - Love the idea”

Media_httpwwwciscocom_ewgso
via cisco.com

Let’s all get tinkin!

17 Feb 2010, 09:54

Another opportunity missed by old-school media

#“Another opportunity missed by old-school media”

Earlier this month, Time Warner (the parent company of HBO), started discussing its plans for HBO GO, a Hulu (Hulu)-like site for accessing the channels movies and TV shows. There is a catch, of course: You have to be an HBO subscriber to get it.

via mashable.com

Dearest HBO, I love your programmes. In fact I love them so much I'd be willing to pay you so I can watch them in Ireland even tho I can get many of them at a later point for "free" from Irish and UK TV networks (aka TV Licence + SKY Subscription).

Don't you want my money?

Man up. Do a deal with Boxee. Get *GLOBAL* per-show subscription based watching (direct download not live IPTV) set-up with them and you'll have joined the 21st Century in one simple step.

If you have geo-exclusivity deals with disties or networks, then add a clause to cover downloads in each new contract that comes up for negotiation.

How many times does this shit have to be spelled out for you?

16 Feb 2010, 20:41

I know what the 3 y/o is getting for her birthday this year.

#“I know what the 3 y/o is getting for her birthday this year.”

Media_httpcdnmashable_aidtk

via mashable.com

Fisher Price iXL. Finally we can retire the Dora laptop.

16 Feb 2010, 14:39

Half maths teachers not qualified

#“Half maths teachers not qualified”

Only 16 per cent of Leaving Cert students sit the higher-level paper, the lowest figure for any honours subject.

via irishtimes.com

Any politician who comes out with that old claptrap about Ireland having a highly educated young workforce should be forced to read and recite this.

16%.

16%

No wonder we had an economic bubble, no-one in charge can bloody add.

16 Feb 2010, 14:10

Google Buzz Team. Stop. Now.

#“Google Buzz Team. Stop. Now.”

Google Buzz just gave me screen after screen of tweets spread over a few hours from people I follow, all in one go.

Buzz is broken. Pretty much every user-impacting decision they made was wrong. Google built an application where Employee of the Month went to whoever could rattle off the largest number of Open Standards inthirtyseconds. Open blahblahblah blah blah blah, Activity blah blah, rel=yawn, federated blah blah blah, semantic circlejerk 3.0.

We users don't care. We want something we can bloody use.
  • Stop.Now.
  • Shut everything down except built-in updates and comments.
  • Shut down all the "algorithms"
  • Shut down the hooks to Reader
  • Shut down auto-everything
  • Shut down auto-scrolling
  • Comments from people I do not follow are not important.
  • Recreate Jaiku with Google Contacts
  • Launch that
  • Iterate
  • Ye know, basically that thing you should have done when you bought Jaiku in the first place.

Stop talking about open-standards that no-one gives a good-god-damn about and start talking about users and their needs.

Hire some designers who know the first thing about User Experience and privacy concerns. Not Pubsubbubbahotepfuckingpub.

Google meet Wheel. Wheel, Google.

I think that's me and Buzz on a trial separation until they get the basics right.

16 Feb 2010, 13:15

British bishops as congenitally stupid as their Irish peers

#“British bishops as congenitally stupid as their Irish peers”

include eating by candlelight, cutting meat and vegetables thinner so they cook faster

via irishtimes.com

As if we needed any more ammunition against the church, British bishops want us to slice our vegetables thinner for Lent.

I guess the princes' housekeepers will do that for them.

16 Feb 2010, 09:35

Dr Cooper explains how new Buzz messages appear

#“Dr Cooper explains how new Buzz messages appear”

The most infuriating aspect of Buzz (and boy are there lots of them) is how a comment by some random stranger on a message by some stranger you follow, is considered so urgently important that it immediately jumps to the top of your page. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, this product could never have been tested by anyone with more than about 3 friends.

Dr Sheldon Cooper, a researcher into string theory at Caltech has reverse engineered the algorithm used by Google to make those messages appear.

 

15 Feb 2010, 19:58

Google ChromeOS Flow is a speedy wee thing

#“Google ChromeOS Flow is a speedy wee thing”

Yep, still Alpha, still very rough, but any OS that boots in a few seconds (faster than my phone in fact) and has me online a few seconds later has something going for it

Looking forward to seeing it tweaked for a tablet. HTML5 annnnnd Flash.

http://qik.com/video/4944281

To try it out, all you need is a 2GB thumbdrive and pretty much any standard netbook. Grab the file from Hexxeh, follow his simple instructions and you’ll have ChromeOS booted within minutes of the download and it won’t touch whatever is installed on the machine.

 

 

15 Feb 2010, 19:10

Here's hoping that bunch stay in Rome

#“Here’s hoping that bunch stay in Rome”

via youtube.com

Or are all arrested on their return for criminal conspiracy to cover up child rape over decades.

Stephen Fry, as always, expresses the anger we all feel better than we could ourselves.

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