The Background (Why no love for WHS?)
As I have blogged about many times before, I have been an avid WHS user at home for a good few years (in fact since it’s first beta version) using a Tranquil PC server for its very low power consumption.
But in the last month or two, and after a few tricky recovery situations, I have become less and less of a fan of the solution I had. My demands are simple… no hassle, redundant backup of the things that are valuable to me. Which can be summarised as photographs, home movies, documentation and serial numbers (all other types of data can be replaced!).
The thing that finally pushed me into action was a recent power-cut or thunderstorm that caused the network card in my Tranquil Home Server to be fried beyond repair (no surge protection … stupid me!). I looked into the options for replacement, but because of the extremely limited space in the server, even the smallest network card on the market would not fit, and wireless is certainly not an option for a machine serving a lot of media files and performing full machine backups.
So I started looking into NAS solutions, which it seems, have come a long way in the couple of years since I was last in the market.
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Mar31
The Mac Pro is ‘Out for Delivery’ according to the TNT tracking page so that means, with luck, it should be in my sweaty anticipatory palms by this evening. In between refreshing the tracking status every five minutes I will start off this article which will cover many things. continue reading »
Mar17
Wow, what an great laundry list of features coming to version 3.0 of the iPhone firmware. Copy and Paste, MMS, Stereo Bluetooth A2DP support and Search (spotlight) are amongst a huge overhaul of the iPhone.
For more info check http://live.gizmodo.com/
Mar13
Almost Free?
Having placed my order for a new 2009 Mac Pro, I have set myself (and my wife) a goal of making it pay for itself in 12 months.
For someone who has 40 hours a week to work on such a thing, that doesn’t seem like much of a challenge. But I have a full time job and a 10 month old son, so the most I will be able to give to such a project is at best a couple of hours a day! But I have a few angles to attack this on.
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Feb18
If there is one thing that has gotten this site more hits than any other topic, it is the billing problem described here when moving from one country to another with an XBox Live subscription. After two years of inaction from Microsoft, it’s time to take it the top! continue reading »
Feb18
Low power consumption doesn't mean low performance
So Windows Home Server is a chunk of code I have been very impressed with for a long time, even in Beta I trusted it completely and it has filled several needs in our house without a single hiccup. But the time came when I needed to run it on some decent and well considered hardware. continue reading »
Nov30
I have prepared a few things that are covered really badly the general review press recently that are close to fruition.
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Jul7
It’s been a very long time coming but finally I have the time (thanks to a sleeping baby!) to finalise my words on these headphones with the thought they deserve.
As previously mentioned on the site, the goal is to finally find a pair of headphones that are top quality in terms of build and sound, whilst also being fully compatible with the iPhone. By fully compatible I mean that they fit into the recessed jack without the need for an adapter, they have a microphone for taking voice calls, and the little rocker switch for the same basic control of the phone that the standard Apple headphones have.
Additionally, from a personal point of view, I need headphones that solve an old problem for me. In over 25 years of looking, I have never found a pair of ‘bud’ style headphones that stay in my ears. I must have tried somewhere in the region of 50-100 models in that time and not one is capable of staying in my ears for more than a few minutes, even when I am stationary! The record for when walking is somewhere in the region of 45 seconds, let alone jogging! Believe me when I say that if a pair of headphones stay in my ears, I guarantee they will stay in anyones!
So how did these headphones stand up to the test? Read on to find out!
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Jul7
OK, hopefully I am now back with a bitch bang. No really it’s a bitch and moan about Netgear drivers, but it’s also one of those rare situations where I can also offer a solution. continue reading »
Apr8
As I have lamented previously here on the site, the iPhone is a great piece of hardware let down (very surprisingly) so far by one thing, an almost total lack of fully compatible and functional headphones! Apart from the worthless white buds you get with the phone, there are very few headsets on the market which offer the full functionality the iphone should be blessed with.
So I dugg around and managed to find a few alternative headphones that offer superior sound quality to the standard headphones whist being fully compatible with the iPhone functions. Before I start the reviews let me just define what I mean by ‘compatible and fully functional.’ continue reading »
