Have I Put In Enough Sockets?
We live in an age, where every device we have has a different charger and everything else needs to be connected to the mains.
My phone, broadband and Sky television lines all come in at one end of my living room, whereas the ideal place for the television is at the other end on a bracket that allows the television to either face the room or be visible from the kitchen.
So I decided to put upwards of a dozen plugs at each end of the room and run three HDMI cables along the wall, so that I could feed the signals to the television. I also ran aerial and Ethernet cables along the wall. Note the two plastic trunkings.
Until now, I’ve just used long HDMI cables, which because they have to go into the back of the Sky and BT boxes, they go round the bend a few times and make everything difficult.
The new layout, has also allowed me to move my laptop, so that when I use it, I face directly at the television, which is much more comfortable.
Transport for London’s Latest Plot To Get Us To Climb Stairs
London’s buses are effectively computer terminals and displays, that just happen to carry passengers about the city.
These pictures that I took on route 141, show the latest software upgrade.
The clock has been shown on the Next Stop display for some time, but the display, showing how many spare seats are on the upper deck, is new.
Will it help to increase the loading of buses? The only problem, is that the system is not as attractive as a comely conductress calling politely for everybody to please move along the bus!
There’s more about the technology here on the IanVisits web site.
Crossrail Could Have Wi-Fi
This article from the Standard, discusses wi-fi on Crossrail. Here’s the first paragraph.
Commuters will soon be able to use their mobile phones on trains and in tunnels on the new Crossrail rail link under plans being drawn up by TfL.
It won’t be many years before all trains, buses and trams in the UK, have full mobile access. Chiltern have already gone that way, and Virgin Trains are planning a roll-out.
My New Crap Design Tag
The new WordPress screen has resulted in my bringing in a new Crap Design tag. Click the tag on this post to see the design horrors.
Doing this was not as easy as it used to be, due to WordPress’s new editor design!
So is it back to the future with WordPress?
How Do You Get Rid Of The Beep Beep Boop Screen On WordPress?
Every day, I add my current INR reading to a post in the blog. It is just a simple way to show my results to doctors, dentists and anybody else who needs to know. I’ve also got a couple of researchers looking at the figures for interest, as it shows INR might vary from day to day.
It used to be easy and quick. I just got the page up and then clicked the Edit link on the WordPress toolbar and then the edit screen came up immediately. After typing in the new value, I just clicked Update and that was it.
If I wanted to check the page, I clicked on a View Post link and it replaced edit edit screen. Now it creates another tab in my browser.
What took a couple of seconds now takes a lot longer.
I have better things to do than look at the work of an imbecile.
I suspect the guy who designed this crap was the designer of the chocolate tea-pot.
If my blog wasn’t so big, I’d move it elsewhere!
The Future Of Overground Travel
I found this article in Process and Control Today, which gives insight into the thinking of those behind the development of the London Overground and especially with respect to providing wi-fi for passengers.
I am very much in favour of free wi-fi without cumbersome logins on public transport, as I feel it might help those idiots, who commute by cars, to convert to a more efficient mode.
How many years will it be before all UK trains, buses and taxis have free wi-fi, with city centres providing it just as I found in Gdansk? To quote Cathy McGowan. “I’ll give it five!” But that’s probably only an at most!
I believe that if a city like London, made itself into a free wi-fi zone, that it would give a strong boost to the economy in terms of more tourism and visitors and it would encourage businesses to set up in the city.
But when did I hear a politician ever talk about the benefits of free wi-fi?
More And Better Wi-Fi For Trains
There are reports like this one from the BBC, which say that a Network Rail fine is going to be used to improve wi-fi on trains.
I believe that Chiltern Railways have got wi-fi right, with free access on their Mainline trains to Birmingham. Virgin appear to be going the same way too.
So lets hope that in a few years all trains have free wi-fi in all classes!
I must admit that if GreaterAnglia had free wi-fi in all carriages, then I wouldn’t bother to book First Class when I go to football at Ipswich, which would save me money.
I would think that it could be a good marketing tool for train companies, as it might be the service that will tempt people out of their cars and onto the trains.
And if trains can be wi-fi enabled how about more buses. I had hoped that London’s new Routemasters would be enabled, but they are not.
Is Google Burying The Truth?
In this blog, I do occasionally criticise individuals, but my comments are always fair and based on fact, unless it is something like fair comment on a design. As a supporter of the Libel Reform Campaign, and as someone who lived with a barrister for forty years, who did her first pupillage in Libel Chambers, I hope I know the difference between libel and fair comment.
But I am worried by the story of Robert Peston and his reporting of the banking troubles of the last decade, where Google has been asked to remove a story from their searches, he wrote in 2007. It’s all reported here on the BBC web site.
This morning the story is on the front page of The Times, and their report names the individual, who asked to be forgotten.
But they are also saying Google’s action might have backfired, as the story of the forgetting has been retweeted and commented on hundreds of times.
The story has been picked up by numerous newspapers including this story in the Mirror.
BT Broadband Is Like A Whore’s Drawers
All day yesterday and for much of today, BT’s Broadband service has been terrible, going up and down like the unmentionables in the title of this post.
This a typical report about the problem from the BBC.
I do wonder if the problem lies in some of the historic exchanges. I’m connected to CLIssold and as the problem seems to have occurred in all sorts of random places, perhaps it is down to some equipment that is common but not universal on the network.
It’s a blpoody pain in the BuTT.
A Stupid Burglar
This story is so funny, you’d think it was made up by someone like the Monty Python team.
A man who broke into a home in Minnesota last week was identified and arrested after he forgot to log out of his Facebook page on the victim’s computer.
I suppose it also highlights one of the dangers of Facebook.
On the other hand he might have wanted a nice bed in a cosy American prison.
The Anonymous Widower 