Archive

Archive for February, 2010

BT Broadband Advert Wireless Nonsense

February 27th, 2010 No comments

BTI take most TV adverts with a pinch of salt but BT’s current broadband advert contains a completely irrelevant claim. It claims that their service provides “unbeatable wireless speed” in the UK. This is the equivalent of your electricity provider claiming their electricity produces warmer light or your gas provider saying it heats your room more efficiently.

Which wireless router or access point (if I choose to actually use wireless) is up to the customer and will therefore determine the speed.

This claim obviously plays on the consumer broadband mentality that suggests you are tied to the router provided by the ISP. Even if BT’s router is wireless-n it would be foolish to choose your ISP based on the router they provide.

At any rate, a fantastic wireless speed is irrelevent if the connection provided by BT is only a fraction of that.

TomTom Phantom Road that won’t disappear

February 26th, 2010 No comments

SatNav maps are only as good as the map data on which they are based. Inevitably errors will creep in and roads change. TomTom GPS units have a feature called MapShare which ostensibly allows you to report any such errors to allow the maps to be corrected.

Since I got my SatNav five years ago, TomTom has shown a road in Horwich that has never existed. Unfortunately, despite reporting this error using MapShare (and prior to that directly to TeleAtlas, the map provider), this road is still shown on TomTom’s maps (updated today v845.2666):

TomTomPhantomRoad

This may well be a phantom road – a deliberate mistake put there by TeleAtlas to catch out anyone who decides to copy their maps. The problem is that the TomTom will try to use this road as a route. SatNav units often come in for some stick when they route drivers down none-existent roads, but if the suppliers fail to fix these errors, despite being told about them several times, it is hardly surprising.

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Very Cool Sports Photographer

February 21st, 2010 No comments

Love the way he calmly sets up his next shot.

Cool Sports Photographer

Agecroft Power Station Demolition

February 17th, 2010 No comments

Been meaning to transfer this from video tape for a while now. This is the demolition of Agecroft Power Station on 8th May 1994.

There are also some photos on flickr.

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