Monthly Archives: June 2009

How do you count to Windows 7?

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Posted by Leefe on 30 June 2009 – 11:54 pm
Filed under Humor, Tech
Tagged as ,

If the next version of Windows is version 7, how do you get to that number?

The last version of Windows with an advertised version number was Windows 3.1.1.

So there must be 3 different version of windows in the interim between 3 and 7. But I seem to remember a few more than that.

  1. Windows ‘95
  2. Windows ‘98
  3. Windows ‘98SE
  4. Windows 2000
  5. Windows Me
  6. Windows XP
  7. Windows Vista

Which looks like 7 versions to me.

Of course, Microsoft are trying to down play it, but most people ignored Vista. Which drops us down to 6.

And nobody really liked Windows Me. So we can discount that one too. Now only 5 versions.

But that’s still too many.

Maybe it’s just a coding error that got overlooked, and output the number ‘7′ when asked which number the next version of Windows should be.

Or is it that a competitor already has mind share in the number 10?

Friday 27.6.09

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Posted by Leefe on 27 June 2009 – 8:56 pm
Filed under Photos
Tagged as , ,

Friday 27.6.09I think there is something wrong with this sign on the Lifeguard tower at Bondi beach.

It displays a series of messages: weather; low and hi tides; and the current day and date.

Though, the day and date don’t seem to match. Should be Saturday.

(Back posted because I felt a little too sick to do it on the day)

Not your everyday rewards

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Posted by Leefe on 26 June 2009 – 11:46 pm
Filed under Photos, Shopping
Tagged as , , ,

Cake at Woolworths BalmainWhile shopping in Balmain Woolworths on Monday I found that pieces of bright orange cake were getting pushed in the direction of customers. Initially I thought that would be a fruit cake, but it turned out to be a sponge chocolate cake.

So, why the cake?
What are they celebrating?

Apparently a new addition to their Everyday Rewards point cards. A deal with Qantas that you can get frequent flyer points by spending money at Woolworths.

So now you get Qantas points and fuel points in the same transaction.

Cake at Woolworths BalmainAlthough, it should be noted that you only get points when you spend more than $30.

So, is really worth the effort of getting a point card if you are just going to make small purchases? And do you really want to make it easier for Woolworths to collect data about your shopping habits?

To make up you mind you might also want to read the Everyday Rewards Qantas Frequent Flyer page.

procrastinate

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Posted by Leefe on 25 June 2009 – 10:55 pm
Filed under Humor, Words
Tagged as , ,

procrastinate \ pro·cras·ti·nate \ verb:
( remember to finish this section tomorrow )

Very fast food

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Posted by Leefe on 24 June 2009 – 10:25 pm
Filed under Humor
Tagged as , ,

Q: What do you call a fast food joint that fills you order before you finish giving it.

A: Mach Donalds

Government vs Internet

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Posted by Leefe on 21 June 2009 – 9:48 am
Filed under News, Tech
Tagged as , , , ,

Unless you have been living under a rock, or have no internet connection, you will know that the Australian government is proposing to censor the internet in Austrlia.

The recent events in Iran, and people’s use of twitter, show how effective censoring the Internet in a country can be. Not very. Not without inadvertently affecting numerous other things that depend on the network infrastructure.

Maybe we need to have mandatory filters installed on all computers, just like like China? No, we already know there is an army of 16 year olds waiting to break them.

No other option then, just make accessing sites on the Office of Film and Literature Classification banned list a criminal offence.

Mr Smith goes to answer a knock at the door. Standing there are 3 burly AFP agents holding an arrest warrant.

“Good evening Mr Smith. You are under arrest for accessing sites on the OFLC banned list.”

“What?…I haven’t accessed anything illegal!… What is this about?”

“You have been accessing the web site of dentist in Queensland. Don’t attempt to deny it Mr Smith. We have logs from your ISP.

“And hand over that smart phone too. The community do not need to see any more tweets about your visits to the tuckshop.”

Putting asside the feasibility aspect for a moment. Do we really want Australia grouped with countries with such poor human rights records as Iran and China? Do we want a central regime that controlls all access to information?

No longer the news

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Posted by Leefe on 18 June 2009 – 10:50 pm
Filed under Photos
Tagged as , , ,

The 'plus' has over taken the newsOnce News Plus, now minus news. It seems the news agent in the food court under Myer in the Sydney CDB has gone. Replaced by a Angus & Robertson book sale.

As an interesting aside, the food court is covered in advertising for the Dymocks store in George St.

Competing factions chains I suppose.

Not too young for deodorant?

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Posted by Leefe on 17 June 2009 – 4:06 pm
Filed under Baby, Photos, Shopping
Tagged as , , ,

How young for deodorant?How young is too young for girls to use deodorant?

In a supermarket the other day I noticed these ‘perfumed body spray’s, right next adult deodorant. Obviously they are aimed at young girls via the Bratz brand.

Do young girls really need to be pushed into the word of makeup and perfume?

Bus and car meet on George and Liverpool

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Posted by Leefe on 15 June 2009 – 10:07 pm
Filed under Photos, Tech
Tagged as , , , , ,
Bus and car meet on George and Liverpool
Bus and car meet on George and Liverpool
Bus and car meet on George and Liverpool

On the corner of George and Liverpool streets this afternoon I noticed this altercation between a tour bus and a car. The bus driver was trying to get the car to reverse away.

Looks like the bus tried to turn into Liverpool St from the centre lane, and the car tried to undertake it.

Of course, all this is just the opinion of a untrained casual observer.

It did block traffic down one side of George street for a while.

Can’t seem to find any mention of the incident on the RTA Sydney traffic reports. Which, I find, have been usefuly turned into twitter feeds:

sydneytraffic
sydtraffic_city
sydtraffic_nth
sydneytraffic_nw
sydneytraffic_sw

StarCraft2 Beta & StarCraft on Intel Macs

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Posted by Leefe on 15 June 2009 – 6:10 pm
Filed under Games, Mac
Tagged as , , , ,

Recently read on a tweet that Blizzard are looking for people to Beta test StarCraft 2.

Seems nice. You have to login to Battle.Net, and tick an ‘opt me into beta testing’ box. But I can’t seem to remember what my Battle.Net password is, and it says my credentials for getting it reset are not valid.

After some chasing details. Searching how to install StarCraft on Intel Macs. I discovered that I wasn’t actually registered on Battle.Net, just the Battle.Net you access via the game (which expires after not using it for 3 months anyway).

Along the way I found this nice guide for installing StarCraft and Diablo II on Intel Macs. And I got to play a game I haven’t for a while.

To put yourself down as a potential beta tester you need:

  1. to register a Battle.Net login (and login)
  2. Add a game to the Manage My Games list, using the CD key from your game
  3. check the Beta Profile Settings and tick the games you want to be down to test.

After registering I found that you can download CD images of StarCraft and Brood War from the Battle.Net site. Quite nice if you still have your CD key, but lost or damage your game CDs.  You need a bit of spare bandwidth though, about 1.4 GB for StarCraft and wasn’t Diablo II in 5 CDs?.

It is also nice to see for a change that Australian games get to have a go before everyone else. Reading the StarCraft II FAQ I noticed that Australia will be in the first batch of countries offer beta testing.

When does the StarCraft II beta test start?

We don’t have an exact start date to share at this time, but note that when it does begin, we will be adding additional regions to the beta test in phases. North America, Australia, and New Zealand will be the first regions to begin beta testing, and other regions will follow afterward in phases. We will have more information to share about all of these phases in the future.

Are people starting to see the worth of Australia as a good English speaking test bed with its fast uptake of technology? Or is it just that being such a small region it was easier to set us up first?