Archive for the ‘Technical’ Category

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The Hidden Cost of 4G Wireless Broadband Internet

Thursday, September 19th, 2013

4G wireless broadband is here and it’s really FAST! But better than that, it’s competitively priced when compared to the more common fixed line ADSL broadband internet connections. Well it’s a ‘no brainer’ then, lets all switch over to 4G… or should we?

The hidden cost of 4G wireless internet 4G has proven itself to be a viable option to the more mainstream fixed line ADSL, with near 100% connectivity (obviously depends on your ISP and location but I get weeks at a time without loosing my connection).

Then there is the question of the quality of that connection. Well I get a stable speed and negligible packet loss so for all intensive purposes it can be considered a ‘good connection’.

What about speed? (more…)

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Buying Land On Tamborine Mountain

Saturday, August 3rd, 2013

Tamborine Mountain is a beautiful part of the world, nestled in the SE of Queensland, Australia and just inland from the hectic coast that is Surfers Paradise and the City of Gold Coast. Tired of the rat race, it seemed fitting that the family and I should sell up and move to Tamborine Mountain and experience a ‘different way of life ‘.

Buying Land On Tamborine MountainWe sold our house and decided to buy a piece of land on the Mountain and build a home.

Buying the land was easy and getting permission to build a house was easy BUT… where things came unstuck was sewerage. The Mountain does not have ‘town water’ nor does it have ‘mains sewerage’ which means harvesting your rain water for supply and putting in a OSSF (On Site Sewerage Facility) or HSTP (Household Sewerage Treatment Plant) to manage your effluent.

(more…)

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WHMCS Support Help Desk Staffed By Robots

Monday, May 27th, 2013

WHMCS Support Desk Staffed By RobotsSupport Help Desks – you either love them or hate them but none more so than when they are staffed by robots!

Take WHMCS for example, an industry leader when it comes to supplying a mid tear management system to hosting companies… it has decided to staff their Support Help Desk by Robots!

Now I don’t mean literally little mechanical robots buzzing around the office, and nor do I mean some high-tech wizardry or super computer manning the help desk… no, it’s worse than that.

Robots by their very nature
(more…)

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DFU – Pwned DFU – Soft DFU – iPhones Demystified

Tuesday, December 25th, 2012

If you’ve got an iPhone and have had to jailbreak it… chances are you’ve come across DFU (Device Firmware Upgrade) mode.

But if you’ve been unlucky enough to have had problems with your iPhone and have taken it upon yourself to try and fix it… then you have surely come across not only DFU mode but also Pwned DFU mode and even the more obscure Soft DFU mode!

But are they different?

In some aspects, they are entirely the same. (more…)

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Reversing Without Using Mirrors

Saturday, May 19th, 2012

Reversing without using your mirrorsIt’s a simple enough question. Do you reverse your car without using the mirrors and if so, why?

I am of course assuming you have mirrors on your car and have just chosen to not use them.

There are instances when one can reverse a car without the necessity to use the rear view or side mirrors (like being in the middle of an empty football field or being the last person alive on earth), but none of them are relevant to this question.

You can see where I’m going with this…

(more…)

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Satellite Tracking For Your Pets

Saturday, March 10th, 2012

24 Hours ago our family pet, a Seal Pointed Birman cat went missing. Besides all the frantic activities being done to try and find him, there is also a fair share of finger pointing and incrimination but I’m thinking… “What can we do to prevent this happening again?“.

Satellite Tracking for Pets

The answer that springs to mind is…

Fit A Satellite Tracking Device
To The Cat

Now I don’t mean something akin to what you see on TV on those wildlife documentaries from Sir David Attenborough or his peers. It would look a bit silly with one of those huge radio collars fitted around the neck of such a small pet, and besides that technology is a bit rustic to say the least.

No, I’m going for something we already have. A technology that is in everybody’s hands, literally.

(more…)

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The Future of Smart Phones

Sunday, September 25th, 2011

Documenting the history of ‘mobile phones’ is easy but what about the future? What will the so called ‘smart phone’ of tomorrow be?

The Future of Smart PhonesEverybody remembers Motorola and their technological marvel when they unveiled their first ‘mobile phone’. Walking down the high street lugging this 5kg battery.. you new then you were at the cutting edge of technology..

But you could even look a bit further back than that. The military has been using ‘mobile phones’ as far back as WWII.

Today we take our ‘flip top phone’ and ‘smart phone’ for granted but what about tomorrow. What will our communication devices of the future look like?

(more…)

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Facebook Fans Set London Rioters Free

Thursday, September 1st, 2011

The London Riots of 2011 will be remembered for all the wrong reasons.

Facebook Fans Set London Rioters Free
Facebook Fans set London Rioters Free

The riots that ran from the 6 – 10 August this year, in London and the Midlands caused death and destruction and has left authorities bemused as to why and how? Why did these riots start and How did they gather such momentum so quickly?

The first of these questions (the Why?) has academics pointing the finger of blame, squarely at the authorities and the current socio-economic climate. The second question (of How?) seems less topical and less important BUT that is laughable if it wasn’t so frightening.

  1. the Why? – The fatal shooting of Mark Duggan on the 4th August 2011 led to rioting in Tottenham, North London. – Plausible? Yes.
  2. the How? – In the following days rioting, rampant looting and arson attacks of unprecedented levels spread to other London boroughs and eventually reaching beyond London to the Midlands. – Inexplicable? No.

(more…)

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Tech Support for Women

Thursday, February 10th, 2011

Tech Support for Women

Dear Tech Support,

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a distinct slow down in overall system performance, particularly in the flower and jewellery applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.

In addition, (more…)

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The Inflated Cost of BMW Spare Parts

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010

BMW badgeCould somebody explain how a BMW spare part which retails for €4.26 in Germany, costs us $384 here in Australia?

Just so there is no confusion, that’s about AUD 6 in Germany and AUD 384 in Australia… the identical BMW spare part..!

Admittedly, when I made enquiries at a Genuine BMW Dealership in Hamburg Germany, they wanted €22 (about $27) for the part BUT, BMW has outsourced manufacture of the part to a 3rd party supplier who retails the part directly for $6.

Now come the Australians… (more…)

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