Computers – Page 4

January 24, 2010January 24, 2010

Another day, another IT fail……

……this time the fail belongs to Western Digital.

I’ve been after an external hdd for while now, my options are limited due to me wanting Firewire 800. So as I should be getting some expenses paid back soon I decided to hit Barclaycard.

The latest fail is the WD My Book Studio (Mac Edition – though it seems the fail isn’t just confined to the Mac version of this drive). So is it a bag of crap?, no the drive is quite a nice neat small drive. Seems to be fairly quiet. But the problem is with the software. WD have installed some software called WD Smartware. It offers a Time Machine type backup (pointless on the Mac as we have erm Time Machine), it also mounts a Virtual CD every time you boot it. The latter is my big issue, I don’t want that virtual crap appearing every time.

I don’t want WD Smartware installed, but I can delete this quite easily. However the Virtual CD keeps coming back every reboot. Apparently it’s the herpes of software, you just can’t get rid of it. Well you can get shot of it quite easily. Tomorrow (once the HDD is formatted – using the 7 Pass secure erase) it’ll be going back to the Apple Store. I have 14 days to return it, which I will do.

One day I will find an IT related purchase* that doesn’t need to be returned.

* excludes the ‘used’ Magic Mouse I got from John Lewis (£45) as is appears to work fine. Anyway it’s a mouse, it does mouse things well, that said it was returned by someone so maybe they found a fault. Though after a few hours the battery life has dipped from 72% to 62%, so maybe that’s another purchase to go back.

/update: Seems the application has knackered Appleshare on my Mac (means I can no longer connect to my MacMini webserver via afp://)

/update2: After tonights apple security update my Mini no longer boots. Not entirely sure who is blame, but it’s coincidental that after using the woe that was WD Smartware things started to go wrong. After all I’m currently using my MacBook which also had the same system update applied, but crucially didn’t have WD Woeware installed.

November 19, 2009November 22, 2009

iFail

So the iMac is on the verge of being returned. A few minor, but annoying issues:

Dead Pixel – not a lot that can be done about this, but annoying though.
Dust on the LED backlight screen
Dust on the inside of the glass panel
High pitch squeak
Occasional flicker (after a number of hours)

So just a few issues then. Apparantly I have 28 days to return it to John Lewis, providing it’s in a sellable condition. Which of course it will be when I return it. I’ll leave it up to John Lewis to morally decide if they can resell it. Most of the issues listed appear to be general faults with the new iMac so maybe they can resell it. Others probably aren’t as fussy as me.

Still a bit sad as I like the product. Back to the old MacMini then. I’ll miss the magic mouse and the touch of a new keyboard. Have just reinstalled Leopard and Snow Leopard back on to the mini, restored the data from my iMac. Now in the process of zeroing data on the iMac HDD.

Look out for the iMac reboxing video soon (mainly to counter the unboxing videos)

/edit. Took it back and got the refund. Well the refund was issued, but because of UK Banking being the worlds slowest I should get it back around Wednesday.

November 12, 2009November 13, 2009

Gadget got

New iMac, went for the base model as it’s more than enough for me. Plus the 27″ is way too big (and expensive).

New iMac

Still waiting to transfer from the old Mac – taking around 30-40 minutes.

October 24, 2009October 25, 2009

LightRoom 3 Public Beta

Despite my moaning about Adobe in the past (and future) they still produce my main workflow tool: LightRoom

Now after a year and a bit they’ve released the beta version of LR3. As usual with the beta versions you cannot use an existing library. Which is a little frustrating as it means to test I have to duplicate work. Though I guess as the Beta is slated to be a little buggy then I suppose they don’t want togs to destroy their work.

So differences:

Initially the Interface looks the same, not a great deal of difference here then.

Normal navigation screen

A few differences on the left hand side as it now shows a Publish Services option. Handy for a quick upload to Flickr or in my case hopefully my webserver. Though only tested Flickr at the moment. Will save me using iPhoto! Also it seems many API have been written for the LR2, so no doubt these will be converted for LR3. Would be nice to see an Alamy one!

Publish

Continue reading “LightRoom 3 Public Beta”

September 26, 2009September 27, 2009

Domain Renewal Group – Well I was expecting it

So it began…….

Expiration Notice

As a courtesy to domain names, we are sending you the notification of the domain name registration that is due to expire in the next few months. When you ****Switch**** today to the domain renewal, you can take advantage of our best savings, blah blah, blah

I emphasised ‘Switch’ as it’s a key word. Switch indeed. I bought the .net domain though 123-reg.co.uk, so I expect it’ll auto renew when it expires (1st Feb, 2010)

Act today!

So it continues………

You must renew your domain name to retain exclusive rights to it on the Web, and now is the time to transfer and renew from your current Registrar to the Domain Renewal Group………Privatization of Domain Registrations and Renewals now allows the consumer the choice of Registrars……..Domain name holder are not obligated to renew their domain name with their current Registrar or with the Domain Renewal Group

I’ve read the letter and indeed, it’s written so you are aware. However some will be caught out by the wording and just jump to renew. Mainly to protect their important web IP.

it continues…..

Review our prices and decide for yourself. You are under no obligation to pay the amounts stated below, unless you accept this offer.

So I did check the prices.

1 Year: Domain Renewal Group £20 – 123-Reg £9.99
2 Year: Domain Renewal Group £35 – 123-Reg £19.98

DRG offer a 5 year price of £65 with a staggering £35 off. Now 123-Reg don’t offer a discount, but the 5 year price is £49.95.

So thank you for your kind offer Domain Renewal Group, but I prefer to stay with my original registrar.

Expiration Notice

The Domain Renewal Group, have a UK office:

56 Gloucester Road,
Suite 526
London,
England
SW7 4UB

The office located at this address is…..

Looking at this address it also appears to be the same as the ‘Domain Registry of America’ and ‘Registration Services Incorporated’ (according to Google searches anyway).

http://www.domainscams.co.uk/ is a useful tool for finding info out.

It seems DRG do actually register your domain should you choose them, but they seem to charge over the top (100% in my case – over 1 year) for the process.

Please note this sort of letter only seems to appear if you have a .com .net .org (US based) domain name. I guess it may happen in the UK for co.uk, but I’ve not heard of one. Just as usual, whenever you get anything check it, even if it does include information you might not think another company could’ve obtained.