I have about a year to go before my current mobile subscription ends and I will be able to pick out a new phone. People that know me (or read my blog), know that I am a big gadget lover. Many have asked why I do not own an Apple iPhone. I currently own a T-Mobile MDA Vario IV (HTC Touch Pro) running Windows Mobile 6.1 Pro. Well, quite simply: Apple is just too trendy, too expensive and too closed-source to me. But mostly the first part: everyone already owns an iPhone or iPod. And most of their owners have […]
Waiting for the Wave
My small Google Wave invite post from yesterday was a great success. All 12 invites that I had left (out of 20) where all gone in a matter of a few hours. However, the time it takes Google to process their request (what the hell are they doing? checking them manually?) is kind of absurd. Google Wave seems like a nice beta testing grounds for tech-savvy people like myself, but it is totally useless if you don’t have any people to actually test it with! It’s been about 24 hrs (give or take) since I invited everyone, but as far […]
My wave
Ah, finally: I got a Google Wave beta account! It wasn’t through begging that I got it, but because I signed up for it in June this year. At the moment it is rather empty because I have no other people (yet) that I can test it with. I am sure however, that Monday morning all my colleagues that have a Gmail account, will want an invitation as well. Well, I’m not going to lie to you guys, but I got 20 invitations, and I am reserving 8 of those for people I know (colleagues, girlfriend etc..) but I promise […]
What is a browser?
Ok guys, I was pretty much amazed when I saw this video, showing people fail on a huge scale when asked: “what is a browser”. Flabbergasted is actually more like it. It’s like people not knowing the answer to the question: “what is an engine”? This video shows people trying to come up with an answer. There is actually a Dutch version of this video as well (crappy), shot in Rotterdam and it shows exactly the same result. Sorry, how can millions of people use a browser, but not know what it actually is? Well to answer the question: a […]
Capitalism US style: “dead peasant policies”
I’m stunned. There really is no limit to greed. It’s capitalism, US style. Michael Moore uncovered yet another great story about greed. In short: you take out a life insurance policy on people working for you. If they die, you cash in. Yeah, you read that right. Corporate America gambles on you dying and then making a profit out of it. Not your family will benefit, but that asshole boss you hated all the time. I guess if corporate America can do it, maybe the military can do it too. Let’s take out insurance on firefighters as well. No wait; cops! Seriously. […]
Healthcare in the US? Overrated.
While I was in the US in August visiting my girlfriend, the one theme dominating US news, was president Obama’s healthcare reform plan. As an outsider looking into what goes on in America, I find it strange that people seem to object to something that will help out literally millions of fellow Americans. It seems that everyone says they want to help someone, but not if it costs them any money. Well, folks: there is no such thing as a free lunch. I guess I’m to liberal – or should I say socialistic – to think that I am doing […]
Windows 7: so far so good
As I was getting more and more flaky errors from my Vista Home Premium installation, I recently reinstalled my Del XPS 420. Since I got my hands on Windows 7 Ultimate (legal, MSDN), I decided to take the step and install that. I reviewed some beta versions of Windows 7 before and it looked promising, but it is alway a bit of a gamble with Microsoft. Previously when I beta-tested Windows Vista it was a nightmare: with every new Beta it seemed that Vista got worse and worse instead of better. So when the final version of Vista came out […]
Time to reinstall
After just two years I am already forced to reinstall Winblows Vista on my Dell XPS420. I have a legal (MSDN) copy of Windows 7 as well, but I wonder if I should do a clean re-install of Windows Vista first (as it has all Dell drivers), or if I should just attempt a clean Windows 7 install? Usually the latter is better. I’m now in the process of backing up my stuff to a 1TB USB disk. It’s slow and annoying. Another reason why I want to reinstall, is because the RAID 0 (stripe for speed) config of my […]
Apocalypse 2010
In 2007 I blogged about the Large Hadron Collider after seeing a great documentary about it by the BBC. For those who do not know what the Large hadron Collider is: it’s an experiment in which scientist try to recreate the circumstances surrounding the Big Bang to see if they can isolate the so-called “God particle” that gives this universe it’s shape. I have also blogged about the somewhat myhtical year 2012 when some people predict the world as we know it, will end. So what about the 2010 then? Well, a lot of doomsday predictions involve the LHC. Some people […]