So before, we all used to visit the library and borrow a book. Contrary to popular belief, I have actually done this in the past (or was it all just a crazy dream?). The library service had bought the book with the intention of lending it to us. It worked well.

Now, we have e-books and readers too. We download our books from a retailer like Amazon (or free source, in the case of books in the public domain) and store them on our Kindles, Sonys and whatever so we can read them.

What about libraries lending out e-books? Does that happen in the UK? Could it even work as a process, or does an e-book just get ‘licensed’  for single-person usage? What I’m getting at is… is it even legal for a library to buy an e-book and lend it to somebody?

I just read something on the web, where an American librarian was complaining about how a scheme to do this had been implemented in the States. Amazon seems to be the provider of an e-book lending service which works in conjunction with the reader’s library. The librarian was saying she disagreed with the fact that the user details which the library service used to be responsible for and guard are now shared with a commercial company (as well as details of their reading habits) as the process now uses the retailer instead of the public service.

OK, I’ll admin I haven’t used a library (or even read a book, come to that)  for years. I need re-educating. Do you use the local library? Do they lend e-books?

If you’re a Facebook user, you may have noticed that new posts on my blog haven’t been making their expected appearance on my FB wall. It’s because a WordPress plugin called Wordbook had died. It just decided to stop working for no apparent reason.

I’ve now installed a different plugin which should do the same job, plus a little more. Wordbooker is its name and I’ll have a play with that one now. If you’re reading this on FB, it actually works!!!

I often get asked whether I repair computers or clean systems of viruses. The answer’s no – I used to do that kind of thing many moons ago, but now I just concentrate on the internet side of things. However, there are a couple of local services I recommend. One of them is the business next door to mine in Norwich Street. They’re called LANForce.

They’re an internet cafe and network gaming centre, but provide PC repairs, maintenance and upgrades too. Graham oversees the gaming & cybercafe side. The PC techician, Andy, knows his job inside out. What’s more, their services are not expensive, by all accounts.

Anyway, the point of this post is to let you know that they’ve changed their business hours. They’re now open from 10am Monday to Saturday. That’s a fair bit earlier than before – they didn’t used to open until 3pm (they are open late into the evenings, playing online games).

So… do you need a PC sorting out? Give Graham and Andy at LAN Force a call on 01328 862212 – they’ll do a decent job for you. Tell ‘em Steve sent you, if you like!

The Advertising Standards Agency have upheld complaints about the BT ad that says it’s, “rolling out up to 20 meg speeds” to give “consistently faster broadband“. The ASA stated that “it had not seen sufficient evidence to support the claim and concluded that the advert was likely to mislead“.

The problem I had with that advert – the one where Adam and Jane are talking over the phone about viewing houses and the estate agent’s connection is slower than Jane’s –  is slightly more obvious…

The estate agent showing Adam the houses online is using his laptop inside a property being viewed. Surely it wouldn’t be using the property owner’s broadband connection, would it? So it’s not comparing like-for-like, is it?

Schoolboy error!

..

As you can imagine, I do love a gadget. I’ve just ordered one of these – it’s an all-singing, all-dancing HTC Desire Android phone.

Yes, I know there’s a new iPhone coming out. Yes, I know the old model iPhones will probably be discounted soon. I just didn’t want an iPhone. The user interface is great (I’ve had an iPod Touch for ages) but I don’t like the way Apple control the way you use things, locking you in to their closed system.

The HTC uses Google’s Android operating system. It has a 5 megapixel camera, a 3.7-inch AMOLED touchscreen display (lovely and clear) and a pretty speedy 1 GHz Snapdragon processor. The reviews of the phone are outstanding, so I’m looking forward to it arriving next week – expect a few photos from it on this blog soon.

It’s my first contract phone for years and is replacing my old Samsung SGH-E900 on T-mobile PAYG (the worst phone I’ve ever owned). On the contract I chose, it cost £99 but Orange knocked £50 off the price for me and as i’d ordered it through the Quidco website, I get £50 cashback too - making the phone effectively free.

Back of the net!

I took my camera out yesterday to snap a new pic for the Chamber of Trade site. I’m still getting used to it – it’s a Lumix bridge camera and it’s only the third time it’s been used in earnest (apart from the odd foodie photo for Lindsey’s blog). I thought I’d have a play with the resulting images -  this one is ‘all arty’ as it has been dragged though a couple of filters in Paintshop Pro…

 The second one was taken from The Oak Inn in Oak Street. Different filters, different paint effect.

Yes, I know – I’ll keep trying!

BBC News – Google admits wi-fi data collection blunder.

The Google Street View cars have been snooping into open WiFi connections as they drove round taking photos. Google said during a review that it found it had “been mistakenly collecting samples of payload data from open networks”.

What I think they mean is that after a German Data Protection Agency requested a data audit and found them out, they decided to come clean, but to say they didn’t mean to do it.

As if.

This is a really handy bit of software. I found Dropbox when I was looking for an easy way to share files with my work colleagues at House Advertiser. I needed a solution which was easy to use, as like most companies, our directors have varying levels of PC expertise. Dropbox fits the bill admirably.

The idea is that you get some storage space on an internet server (it’s run by Amazon) where you can store your files and some software to install which creates a special folder on your computer. Any files dropped into this folder get automatically uploaded to your internet storage space. It’s a really simple backup solution for important files – however, it’s even more useful than this when you use more than one computer….

Installing the software on a second internet-connected machine allows you to have the SAME Dropbox on them both. Files dropped into one box magically appear in the other. I find it’s a great way to have my work files available on my home computer – especially as I made my ‘My Documents’ folder be my Dropbox. Now, whenever I create and save, or edit a document at work, I know that the same file is also saved to my home PC (and also backed up on the internet).

There are other ways Dropbox can work – by having individual accounts on each computer and sharing designated folders within  one of the Dropboxes for example (that’s what we do for House Advertiser). Its quite versatile. The best thing is that you can use the system free, paying for extra storage space only when you need it.

At H-A, we all mainly use PCs, but the system works with Linux and Mac too so I may install it on my Linux box at work when I have some time to play.

Niftiest bit of software I’ve found in ages!

29th October 1969 saw the birth of the Arpanet network – the US-only forerunner to the Internet we know and love/hate today. Hirsute boffins in bow ties, based at UCLA and Stanford, sent the first data between its nodes… 400 miles across country. When the sender typed in the third letter of the sequence, the system crashed and had to be reconfigured, but since then it has all managed to work reasonably nicely (well apart from Tiscali and the occasional bit of congestion at the BT exchange, that is).

More on the story at the BBC’s website.

… well about 8 hours of it, so far. My home PC decided to foul up big time yesterday, so I had to reinstall Windows XP (it refused point blank to repair itself from the CD). Working until 1 o’clock last night. Now I’m slowly putting back all my software and settings – nightmare!

I’ll be happy to get to work today – just for a rest from computers. No… wait a minute. That won’t work, will it?