The Anonymous Widower

My New Toy Locked Itself Up

I wasn’t using the Wi-Fi on the Iconia, as I’d brought the paper with me and felt it easier on a crowded train to just read it and do the Sudoku.

But I was making notes for this blog.

When I opened it for the second time, it just locked up and has been in that state since.

I did buy it in PC-World, but at least I didn’t buy it in the one at Tottenham Hale, which has had a little local difficulty last night.

August 7, 2011 Posted by | Computing, Transport/Travel | , | 2 Comments

Everything Must Be Perfect

As I get older I seem to be getting more pedantic and want evrything to be perfect.  For instance, I check posts in this blog to make sure that every word, letter and formatting is as I want it.

But then as someone, who learned to set letterpress type before I was seven and who spent most of my working life as a programmer, would you expect anything else.

Today, I was looking for the perfect bag.  It has to be ultra-light, can take my Iconia tablet and power supply, a toothbrush and paste, a hairbrush, a spare pair of underpants and hopefully the Times 2 section and a football program. I think I’ve found it in a Samsonite Network Laptop Shoulder Bag.

I’ll let you know after the weekend, when I’m spending Friday night in Plymouth and then watching the football in Bristol on the Saturday. I’ve weighed it and the whole package is under 1.6 Kgs.

As I’m staying in a decent hotel in Plymouth, hopefully they’ll have soap, shampoo and a towel!

August 4, 2011 Posted by | Sport, Transport/Travel | , , , , | 5 Comments

What Worries Me About Smart Phones

The BBC were also talking about how many people, are getting addicted to their smart phones. Here’s my e-mail to the program.

I don’t have a smart phone and never will. I text, tweet and run a lot of my life from a 10-year-old Nokia 6310i.  I do get worried that some services, that I will need in the future, such as finding my way around a strange city or monitoring my Warfarin usage might need a smart phone.  I’ll just get an even grumpier old man.

On a serious side, I do carry an Iconia tablet when I travel.  But I only use it for business, research and entertainment.

August 4, 2011 Posted by | Computing, World | , , , , | Leave a comment

Where is Google?

I like this little Iconia tablet, except that it is set up with so much junk I don’t want. Like  Bing! Wasn’t he a singer? I can’t seem to be able to get Google as my default search engine. It’s not on the list of search providers.

June 9, 2011 Posted by | Computing, World | , , | Leave a comment

A New Toy

This is my new Acer Iconia W-500.

Acer Iconia W-500

It’s a tablet computer that runs Windows.  When I get my network sorted, I’ll use it to demonstrate Daisy and also to browse on my travels to access my bank account, Zopa and GMail.

I think I might write some stroke-friendly software for the device. Of course, it will be in Visual Basic 6. You might ask why I don’t want an iPad.

The reason is simple.  Real programmers don’t use Apple products and anyway, I’d need to learn a whole new set of progrmming tools.  As it is virtually all of the software, I’ve written will run on this machine. I won’t need to buy anything else, except possibly a case to protect it.  But it does fit my manbag.

Here’s an old joke.

Q: How do you make an Apple go faster?

A: Drop it from a higher building.

May 29, 2011 Posted by | Computing, World | , , , | 6 Comments