Technology Thread.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Girlfs got an i-phone. She's got this swanky new app where you click on someone's name, wait a bit, and then you can literally talk to them. I mean, even if they're miles away! It's like they're actually there. So yeah don't hate on i-phones. I mean they just *work*.

Conversation overheard when in the Carphone Warehouse went something like: "... It must be slimline, have a big screen, have different coloured backs I can clip on, and I want at least a gig of download, and unlimited texts"; "How many minutes of phone calls do you want?"; "Oh I'm not bothered about any of that, it's a mobile, I don't use it to call anyone..."

[Annoyed Grunt]

For the Apple users, iOS 7.1 is now available.....

[General Mannerheim]

groupon appear to be doing an excellent deal on IPad minis.

What's the catch with these?

http://m.groupon.co.uk/deals/national-d ... 0/35802656" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

(Spare us any lame anti-apple jibes)

[General Mannerheim]

can i get a pay-as-you-go data only nano sim that doesnt have a timescale on it?

90% of the time i have access to wifi so I dont want to sign up to £10 or £15 per month data plan, i just want to buy a Gb's worth say and just use it at my leisure topping up as and when.

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

can i get a pay-as-you-go data only nano sim that doesnt have a timescale on it?

90% of the time i have access to wifi so I dont want to sign up to £10 or £15 per month data plan, i just want to buy a Gb's worth say and just use it at my leisure topping up as and when.

If you aren't going to use the 1gb within a month then pay as you go data on GiffGaff might be best. Alternatively their monthly data packages are quite reasonable. You don't have to renew them, so you can pick n choose. Runs on the O2 network.

[Bruce Rioja]

'The end of Microsoft's support for Windows XP is just three weeks away.'

I have windows XP on the upstairs PC. What do I need to be aware of here? To be honest, it's that slow that I rarely bother with it now, but it's got loads of photo's and music on it. Time to buy summat else? How do I transfer stuff like music and photos?

[Worthy4England]

'The end of Microsoft's support for Windows XP is just three weeks away.'

I have windows XP on the upstairs PC. What do I need to be aware of here? To be honest, it's that slow that I rarely bother with it now, but it's got loads of photo's and music on it. Time to buy summat else? How do I transfer stuff like music and photos?

Not much to worry about particularly, it just means that MS won't release security patches etc. for it, so it should carry on chugging away happily on it's own. If you have the installation discs etc. and it screwed up, you could just re-install it.

Music and Photos are pretty much independent of the OS, but you might want to drop them onto a plug in HD anyhow so in the event that the PC physically "broke" you'd have copies somewhere else (but that's not specific to XP - you could look to dump them onto a cloud storage system (so something like Photobucket etc. for the Pics.

[Montreal Wanderer]

'The end of Microsoft's support for Windows XP is just three weeks away.'

I have windows XP on the upstairs PC. What do I need to be aware of here? To be honest, it's that slow that I rarely bother with it now, but it's got loads of photo's and music on it. Time to buy summat else? How do I transfer stuff like music and photos?

I asked the same thing of my IT type a while back when it was first announced. He said basically it is a mature system with nothing really left to patch. It should be fine, as Worthy says, although it might not run some of the latest softwares. Hackers probably no longer target it anyway.

[a1]

there'll be some kinda security fault in the near future that ballses up windows 8 and below (oh, sasser , i hated that) , it'll get patched on window 7 , 8 but not xp , it'll (eventually) end up being more trouble than its worth keeping them going .

i shifted my computers on xp to lubuntu linux. everythings done thru the internet nowadays 'doubleclick chrome, do stuff' so i can barely tell the diference. this route might be useful to cheapskates and misers.

installing macromedia flash was a bastard though, i forget why.

be funny watching half of china fall off the internet though.

[Worthy4England]

You'd be surprised by how much of UK's FTSE 100 would fall off the internet on the same basis.

[a1]

You'd be surprised by how much of UK's FTSE 100 would fall off the internet on the same basis.

theres things like Browsium for that though , and the Embedded version of windows xp on tills and cash machines and the like will still run and be supported. for now at least, if they pay MS the big bucks.

or the newer versions of it run on the same hardware or something, so theres no 'this till has only x amount of ram' excuses for running the old versions.

Virtual Machines / The Cloud might solve some problems too.

BigCorp(s) has no excuses , mr. tangodancer , mr. rioja , and other folk might have.

Mine is; my shitty old 32bit bit laptops doesnt have enough ram sockets to fit more than 2 gig of ram in , and windows 8 runs bobbins until you get 4 gig or more RAM.

Y2K were a big panic over nowt , i had a calculator/clock/pda thing that the date range was 1967-1999 and that still worked.

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

'The end of Microsoft's support for Windows XP is just three weeks away.'

I have windows XP on the upstairs PC. What do I need to be aware of here? To be honest, it's that slow that I rarely bother with it now, but it's got loads of photo's and music on it. Time to buy summat else? How do I transfer stuff like music and photos?

If I were you I'd turn it into a NAS (storage on your network that you access from your other computers wirelessly). You can then use it to back up your other computers. It isn't that difficult to sort out, just get a1 round; a couple of pints and he'll have you confused sorted

[Worthy4England]

You'd be surprised by how much of UK's FTSE 100 would fall off the internet on the same basis.

theres things like Browsium for that though , and the Embedded version of windows xp on tills and cash machines and the like will still run and be supported. for now at least, if they pay MS the big bucks.

or the newer versions of it run on the same hardware or something, so theres no 'this till has only x amount of ram' excuses for running the old versions.

Virtual Machines / The Cloud might solve some problems too.

BigCorp(s) has no excuses , mr. tangodancer , mr. rioja , and other folk might have.

Mine is; my shitty old 32bit bit laptops doesnt have enough ram sockets to fit more than 2 gig of ram in , and windows 8 runs bobbins until you get 4 gig or more RAM.

Y2K were a big panic over nowt , i had a calculator/clock/pda thing that the date range was 1967-1999 and that still worked.

Most of the stuff they have running on XP, is the problem. They're not keeping XP because they love it.

BigCorp(s) have plenty of excuses - I've head pretty much all of them.

[a1]

*plays windows95 start music on violin towards any company in those kinds of situations*

[bobo the clown]

OK. So, the current laptop is quietly dying.

After looking about I've found a new one, gives me all I want in memory and speed and chip-set etc. . I toyed with touchscreen but in the end chose not to. It's nice and gives good long battery power.

It also gives me Windows 8.1 ..... . After the first day I've now spent two weeks avoiding it.

Sheesh, I'd heard bad things and that 8.1 was a considerable improvement on W8, but what a pile of steaming shite it still is. I guess if I was brand new to it it'd be more instinctive and I'd pine less for what is lost but the fckrs who dreamt this up what shooting. Literally, lining up and shooting with machine guns. Maybe a flamethrower chucked in for good measure.

So, two pleas ....
i. can someone please try to persuade me it's worth persevering ?
ii. What none Windows options are any kop to a non-techy type ? (& if there is does it allow use of other Microsoft software, Office Pro especially ?)

[mummywhycantieatcrayons]

ii. What none Windows options are any kop to a non-techy type ? (& if there is does it allow use of other Microsoft software, Office Pro especially ?)

I've got Office on my Mac.

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

OK. So, the current laptop is quietly dying.

After looking about I've found a new one, gives me in memory and speed and chip-set etc.

It also gives me Windows 8.1 ..... . After the first day I've now spent two weeks avoiding it. Sheesh, I'd heard bad things and that 8.1 was a considerable improvement but what a pile of steaming shite it is. I guess if I was brand new to it it'd be more instinctive and I'd pine less for what is lost but the fckrs who dreamt this up what shooting. Literally, lining us and shooting with machine guns. Maybe a flamethrower chucked in for good measure.

So, two pleas ....
i. can someone please try to persuade me it's worth persevering ?
ii. What none Windows options are any kop to a non-techy type ? (& if there is does it allow use of other Microsoft software, Office Pro especially ?)

You'll get used to it but swear occasionally. Start8 Keeps me sane, gives you a Start button that works just like the old Start button pre Windows 8. Not the grudging one Windows relented with in 8.1, that isn't a proper Start button. Very worth the $4.99.

[Little Green Man]

And a free one here:

http://www.classicstart8.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

There is a free one called classic shell or summat - ask Spotty as he uses it. I've tried it, it works. It's better than the Windows one, but not as good as the Start8 one. Don't know LGM's one, but as free might be worth trying. Start8 you can get a free trial, so you can compare.

[bobo the clown]

And a free one here:

http://www.classicstart8.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Ta .... I'll give it a go.

Having been very used to multiple Windows been open all at once, and tiling them so I can see several and simply click on it, am I right in thinking I can only see the one (ugly, ugly, fecking ugly) big blue bastard at a time ?

I mean. THAT was the key to Windows, wasn't it ??

And while I'm on about it ... can I make the view any more sympathetic ?

Sorry, but this is going to distress me unless I can sort it.

Do Toshiba laptops make good Frisbees ??