Saturday 4 December 2010

Dear Apple. No I dont

So I have been given some money to spend on *me*. And i thought I'd get something I otherwise wouldnt  - so i bought an ipad. Only the basic one -16GB +  wifi.I'll see how I ge ton with it. If I use it a lot , I can upgrade.

I have to sync it with itunes

SO WHY DO I HAVE TO SYNC IT WITH ITUNES ?

Some problems with that .

I HAVEN'T USED ITUNES, I DON'T WANT ITUNES, I WON'T USE ITUNES  

It needs a Mac or windows

I DON'T ROUTINELY USE A MAC OR WINDOWS 

So I start up my windows XP VM that I use when I absolutely have to. So I have to install all 78 MB of  itunes (that I'm not going to use). I've managed so far, I'm not going to change just because you force me to sign up. In fact , I'm going to go out of my way NOT to use it. And  it asks me all those stupid questions.



I DON'T WANT OR NEED AN APPLE ID 

and idiot,  its not a username  that you want, its an email address


 I DON'T WANT TO GIVE YOU CREDIT CARD DETAILS.  

ARE YOU LISTENING ? 

I DON'T WANT TO GIVE YOU CREDIT CARD DETAILS.


If this is Apples' legendary usability then you know where you can put it. So that's an afternoon of faffing around that I  wont get back.

Thursday 2 December 2010

landlords to fund Operation Oak ?

well, perhaps not just et.
A while ago I went to a Home Office Consultation meeting on the Licensing Act and the need to do something about the disruption and chaos caused by the night-time economy. For us this means Osborne Road.

HMG have published the results of the Rebalancing the Licensing Act Consultation. The summary is available as a couple of downloads from the relevant page on the Home Office website. The Independent has also picked up on this. 

The things that I think are relevant to Jesmond , but IANAL.

late night levy. A power for licensing authorities to introduce a charge for premises that have a late alcohol licence. Whether or not to implement the levy will be left entirely at the discretion of the licensing authority that will make the decision based on the situation in their local area. In the areas that it is introduced the levy will be collected annually and the revenue will be split between authorities and the police.

Consideration of the local community. Applicants will have to show that they have given consideration to  the effects on the local community

Greater consideration of Police Representations

Removal of the 'vicinity' test for relevant representations. Up to now you have had to be in the vicinity of the licensed premises to have what you say taken into consideration ( so residents in streets affected by drunken through-traffic weren't  relevant to a license application) 


Cumulative Impact Policies will be easier to set up . in the past, statistical information has been required. The proposals are that that will no longer be necessary.


Reducing the burden of proof.  Licensing authorities when making licensing decisions by requiring that they make decisions which are ‘appropriate’ rather than necessary for the promotion of the licensing
objectives. This will give licensing authorities greater power to tackle irresponsible premises.


Changing closing times.  Licensing authorities can set a fixed closing time , to stop night-time noise and disturbance , or introduce staggered closing times, to prevent too many people exiting bars all at the same time .

this will all be in the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill

Wednesday 1 December 2010

farewell, Evo

I inherited one of these a while ago. Spec isnt brilliant . but I hate to waste stuff. So i thought id see what the  designed-for-low-spec ditributions. I think ive been through all those I could find . The main use has been to read the newspapers in the morning, as SWMBO has subscribed to the online version - apparently Im allowed to use her login to access  the paper, but if I comment on anything it will be in her name - and has  done away with the paper copy of The Times (of London). personally I browser the Grauniad  and The Indy

  • x-ubuntu
  • lubuntu
  • masonux
    • (no longer developed)
  • dsl
  • puppy ( well, macpup)

the poorest performing was xubuntu, then lubuntu. DSL was fine, but didnt have the drivers for the wireless connection  . So the one I stuck with , that worked best ( ie quickest) was ...........

MACPUP


But the laptop wont boot . I suspect its too old to do anything about , so very reluctantly , farewell, Evo .


But all is not lost - Ive got another old laptop to try !