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4OD Launch

Channel 4 on demand launched today at http://www.channel4.com/4od/ . I have been working of this for the last few months using eRights from Macrovision.

It has generated quite a bit of coverage on the internet (this is just an optimistic attempt to get some trackback links!)

http://www.paidcontent.org/trackback/301841/

http://www.upyourego.com/blog/?p=259

http://techdigest.tv/2006/12/4od_launches_ne.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6212462.stm

http://fabricoffolly.blogspot.com/2006/12/channel-4-on-demand-first-impressions.html

Personally I think the client works quite well. As many other people have commented the only downside is how you hook it up to your TV. I think I will be buying an S-Video lead for my laptop. For those not sure how to hook it up there is a video at http://www.channel4.com/4od/how2use4od.html (Look on the how to connect your PC to your TV link).

2006 12 06 Ben General Comments (0) Permalink

My broadband lives!

After absolutely ages BT have finally sorted by internet connection. It appears complaining to their CEO office had some effect.

I still haven’t got a story of percisely what when wrong but It appears the order was lost between BT Wholesale and BT Openreach. Great to see them able to work together!

2006 11 24 Ben General Comments (0) Permalink

Blogging from onenote 2007

I have just discovered in Office 2007 I can blog from onenote or word. That is quite cool!

I can even use pictures from smart shapes and it sets them up on my web site correctly.

2006 11 22 Ben General Comments (0) Permalink

Why it is so hard to keep working broadband?

I used to have broadband that worked and I was happy with my provider (Force9). I was so happy I recommended them to people. Now after they messed it up I don’t even have broadband and the latest response from Zen (who got told this by BT) is the don’t know when it will be fixed.

Moving by broadband from LLU back to a BT based line is turning out to be me one of the most annoying problems ever. Nearly as annoying as Force 9 where when they migrated me in the first place.

I placed by order on the 8th October and for about 3 weeks all BT did via lose my order. Then they found my order and disconnected my force 9 broadband. Now 3 weeks later they still haven’t fixed it.

Currently I’m in a state of limbo as apparently a fault can’t be raised as they haven’t done the work yet. However they appear to feel no obligation to actually complete the work!

It is very very annoying. My ISP - Zen are being reasonable in chasing BT and I suspect they have no power to make this go any quicker. I have complained to Ofcom and published this on the Net but I doubt anyone can make BT do anything.

I wrote this while on hold to BT attempting to complain. I wasn’t originally going to bother working out the timeline, but I appear to have some time!

So

  • 5th October Order Placed with BT
  • Order lost by bt and recreated
  • 26th October - Force 9 Broadband Disconnected
  • 13th November- Something happens my DSL and the sync lights go off.
  • 16th November - still no progress

For anyone else who has problems useful numbers to hassle BT on

Broadband Provisions 0800 085 0646
Broadband Faults (BT Wholesale) 0800 085 0643 - who where quite helpful.
BT Switchboard - 0207 356 5000
Ofcom - 020 7981 3040 Option 1, 2
Email complaints [email protected]

2006 11 16 Ben General Comments (0) Permalink

Eclipse UML Tools

I have recently changed jobs and now work for Macrovision. One immediate change was I stopped having access to the Borland Together licenses I used to have at Anite.

For those who have not had the pleasure of using it, Together for Eclipse is a top notch UML tool for eclipse with pretty much perfect live (e.g. real time) code synchronisation. The major downside of it is the price (list price $5000) and the fact it is a bit neglected by Borland who seem to be trying their best to lose what few customers they have left!

So I took this as an opportunity to look around at the other UML tools for Eclipse. Now seeing as at present I can’t really justify persuading anyone to buy me a tool, I thought I would start with the free ones!

So today I looked at Green UML which is free and seems quite good. I knocked up my usual Animal, Dog, Llama structure in it and it generated the code as I went. Its live editing works well, it is probably nearly as good as together!. It didn’t seem to get confused as I edited and renamed items.

Some strengths

  • It supports generic collections
  • It does class diagrams really well
  • It can export the diagrams in a sensible format (jpg)

Some weaknesses

  • It doesn’t do anything but class diagrams
  • It shows properties as a private variable and a get/set
  • It doesn’t organise imports for you and instead uses fully qualified class names
  • No way to export diagrams (for those all important documents) except via printing

So to wrap this off, here is a diagram

Animals

2006 10 20 Ben General Comments (0) Permalink

Stumble Upon

I have been using stumble upon to find random things on the internet for a while - it is quite good - take a look here

2006 10 20 Ben General Comments (0) Permalink

Too many computer games, what to play….

I seem to have far too wide a choice of games that I’m addicted too at present, which is odd as for ages I have nothing I really wanted to play!
First up we have Kingdom Hearts 2, the original was great fun and the sequel is even better (if a bit slow at the start). It is just soo bizarre mixing squaresoft characters and disney characters.
Secondly I finally tried Half Life 2 (I know I’m a bit out of date) but it is great and looks great on my PC which can now play it at a decent speed.
Thirdly Defcon came out, which is quite good fun. I was addicted to Darwinia when it came out to, so should have lots of fun playing this!
Fourthly I have got Lego Star Wars 2, which is just fun
and finally I got Battalion Wars for the Game Cube which I haven’t really had time to try but is fun so far.

2006 10 11 Ben General Comments (0) Permalink

Force 9 (Part of Plusnet)

I have been a happy customer of Force 9 since 2003. Until recently they provided a reliable and efficent adsl service. They offered some nice (rare) features such as static IP and console access to the web hosting as well as doing the basics well.

This all changed at the beginning of August when they ‘upgraded’ me to use Tiscali LLU service as opposed to BT. Since that date I have had a continous stream of problems with my broadband and it is still not working. To make things worse Force 9 customer service have dealt with the problem badly. They have not replied to my fault reports for ages, they don’t provide anything other than the most vague updates and when I asked for money back they tried to suggest BT has something to do with the debacle and therefore they shouldn’t have to pay.

Anyhow after over a month of this I have decided to move providers. However this is going to be complex as moving from a LLU line to another BT or LLU line is currently complex. So not only have force 9 managed to not supply my ADSL they have made it very difficult for me to leave.

I logged my requst to get a MAC key to let me leave today, Force 9’s web site says it can take up to 7 days, but I have very low confidence they are actually going to give me a code in that time.

I am trying to decide who to move to it will probably be Zen Internet as they have the best reviews.

A Brief Time-Line of the issue

  • August 7th 2006 - Logged initial call
  • August 9th 2006 - First response from Force 9
  • August 20th 2006 - Appears fixed
  • August 28th 2006 - Broken again (different symptoms) Force 9 status reports Tiscali’s fault on LLU
  • August 30th 2006 - 7th September No updates
  • September 7th 2006 - Response saying BT don’t offer an SLA so neither do Force 9
  • September 12th 2006 - Next update saying they are ‘continuing’
  • September 20th 2006 - After no response to 3 notes decide to ask for a MAC key and to close my account
2006 09 20 Ben General Comments (0) Permalink

Cattery’s near High Wycombe

We have recently put our cats in two catteries for various holidays and seeing as I had a lot of trouble finding anything about them I thought I would write some notes.

We used Raynhill Cattery in September 2006 for a week. The cattery is off Hammersley Lane and has space for a dozen or so cats. The cages are reasonable, if a bit plain (no scratching posts etc) and the owner seems to like cats. It is not the smartest cattery aroud but our cats suffered no ill effects and I would be happy to use it again.
Raynhill Cattery
Claddagh Hammersley Lane
High Wycombe, HP13 7BX
01494 815351

We also used The Meadows Cattery at Bledlow Ridge. This is a really nice cattery, in the country and will very modern cages. Our cats seemed quite happy being left here and the owner was really friendly and seems to take interest in the cats. I would probably use this cattery as a first choice. It is worth noting however it is closed the first 2 weeks of September for the owners holiday (which annoyingly is when we tend to go on holiday).
The Meadows/Chinnor Rd
High Wycombe, Bledlow Ridge, HP14 4AA, 01494 481556

Wycombe Council should have a list of licensed catteries, but it is not on their web site at present. I have asked them to supply me a copy, but they are ignoring my request!

2006 09 17 Ben General Comments (0) Permalink

Holiday in cornwall

We decided to have a week away in Cornwall last week and had lots of fun.

We stayed at Fox Park Farm cottages near bodmin. The cottage was ok, if a bit small. It was billed as sleeping 4/6 people with 3 of us staying it was full enough. Also the decor/equipment was not up to the claimed ‘very high standard’.
Caroline (Helen’s sister) popped down for a few days and we went to the Eden project. It has grown a bit since we last went in 2001.

2006 09 17 Ben General Comments (0) Permalink