So the iPad is new the “hot topic” for tech heads. But have you seen the JooJoo?
Ships this month, and yes – Flash is supported!

Take a read over at SlashGear.com:

http://www.slashgear.com/joojoo-tablet-shipping-this-month-full-flash-support-and-app-store-at-launch-0372745/

Official website:

https://thejoojoo.com/

Specs:

https://thejoojoo.com/sites/specification

This is where you can see all my uploaded photos integrated into my website.

The gallery requires Adobe Flash 10 or greater so make sure you have it installed – then CLICK HERE to visit the gallery!

Ubuntu had thrown him into low graphics mode. No good for his new 22″ LCD and also no good without 3D acceleration.

This fix takes about 20 seconds but will basically remove X11 from your Ubuntu install, purge the files and reinstall it so you can setup X11 exactly as it does in the installation of Ubuntu.

So what do you need to do?

1. Get to the system console (no good in a terminal from the Ubuntu desktop – it must be a command line log in).

2. Log in using your username and password

3. Issue the following at the command prompt:

sudo apt-get remove –purge xserver-xorg

4. Reboot the computer using the following:

sudo reboot

5. Log in once again. Then issue the following command:

sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg

6. Then issue the following command (don’t worry it looks like it’s done nothing):

sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

7. Then finally issue the command to reboot your computer again:

sudo reboot

And all should be well again, you may need to edit your preferences under System –>Preferences –> Display to choose the correct resolution but it will enable you to work from a fresh install of X11 and hopefully cure any problems.

?http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8424401.stm

For the UK to have super fast broadband, is a big step forward for digital Britain – but that’s not why I want this topic’s interest to spread quickly. On the contrary – it’s a message to the current ISP’s in the UK to get their service in check!!

Virgin Media currently offer the only fibre optic network covering the highest percentage of the UK. They now offer an XL package which is “up to” 50MB, which is (at the moment) uncapped, un-metred and unlimited.

Frustratingly, VM have employed a Traffic Management Policy: http://allyours.virginmedia.com/html/internet/traffic.html
This details the “allowance”, or rather the constraints, VM puts on its full paying customers.

Yet, VM still advertise for new customers for their 50MB package??? I don’t understand this? The Traffic Management article begins with the heading: “We don’t like traffic jams”. Oh’really!!?

If your network is currently over congested, to the point you have to reduce the service you provide to long standing customers, then surely you don’t have the capacity to enroll new customers??? It angers me so much, I think a FB group will be created but* I’m hoping that BT’s great news will force VM to re-consider their unfair ways – and remove the TM policy and return to how Blueyonder once managed the network.

Only time will tell. 2012 is just a little over 2 years away – clocks ticking Virgin Media.

No news yet on what BT’s price plan will be, or whether they will also use Traffic control. Hopefully, it’ll be an open playing field!!!

* Update: Here’s a FB Group lol http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=63826810720&ref=search&sid=610872616.860022177..1&v=info

Update 2 – Just found out, yes i know it’s 6 months late, that VM are trialling 200MB Broadband in Kent. Hopefully this will be the end of the Traffic Management Policy!

We have now launched a new Podcast hosted by John Willis!

The latest episode can be downloaded here

And includes the following topics:

Snow Leopard – should I upgrade?

Time Machine Backups – now or never…

Games of the moment…

Download it now while it’s still H.O.T. or visit our all new Podcast page to get a list you can bookmark…

To get an idea of what the National Seal Sanctuary does take a look at this video:

You can also visit their website here

I have just been out taking some photos with my new lens. And what can I say.

In my opinion it is sharper than the 50 1.4 that is 5 times the price. And yes, it does feel slightly more plastic that the 1.4 but it is only £110 inc vat in the UK and that my friends is a good enough reason to buy it…

I now have a lens that if my mood fancies can take fantastic portrait shoots as well as amazing detail. All for under £150!

All in all I am very impressed, it’s light, has full time manual focus over-ride and the focus ring is tight and precise. This lens works brilliantly on my Nikon D80…

http://jdownloader.org/download/index

It’s written completely in Java, open source and completely platform independent.
What’s more, is that this software is very good at beating the CAPTCHA codes, normally required for free users to verify you’re human.

If you are a premium file host user, you can configure JDownloader with your login credentials, but JDownloader will also wait the required download times for all popular file hosting services.

If you’re a hardcore downloader then this is the tool to have – and never worry about downloading as a free member again!

Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu:

http://www.ubuntu-inside.me/2009/02/jdownloader-ultimate-freepremium.html

Enjoy!

Once opened (bloody shrinkwrap) you can upgrade within Leopard or do as I did reboot, hold down “C” and install from scratch and repartition the laptops drive… I choose this so it was a clean OS install and my work, music and apps we’re saved on my time capsule anyway…

Well once the install went through I got the first run wizard like any other time, this was crunch time would Snow recognise my Leopard time machine backups? Yes it did indeed… 30 minutes later after a full restore of my documents, etc I was happily typing this with all my applications, preferences, documents, etc working perfectly.

The new redesign of Snow seems to have made a big difference with my MacBook and has made the following big impressions within minutes of using it:

1. The dock is now much smoother, and more snappy when clicking using the tackpad
2. I am able to open apps such as iTunes, iPhoto, Pages and Keynote at the same time with very little lag, the whole experience seems more snappy.
3. Quicktime now looks better, no more silver borders round the windows…
4. The footprint of memory for the OS has been reduced by about 5Gb of my machine… so clearly they’ve had a spring clean!

All in all this is well worth the £23 so far… It’s a small price to pay to prepare your Mac for the latest software, etc.

I will post updates if I find anything else of interest…

For now, drool over the screen-casts on YouTube…

(Spotify – Streaming Music On Your Desktop: http://john-willis.com/2009/05/spotify-streaming-music-on-your-desktop/)

Spotify have struck a deal with the major record labels in a way that it can offer it’s service free of charge. This free service is ad supported, with various banners shown whilst the Spotify browser is open and an audio commercial every 15-30 minutes or so. There is a monthly subscription service to remove the ads, but because of this platform, it didn’t make my recession beating Windows Apps article back in July: (Windows Apps – Beat The Recession: http://john-willis.com/2009/07/windows-apps-beat-the-recession/).

But Spotify is definitely worth a mention. There are artists that have refused to sign up to Spotify, but there is still a wide variety of choice of music in its library. But you can’t download the music, and the cached versions of the files are un-openable. Quite annoying really – since the music has clearly been paid for via the ad service?

I don’t HAVE to listen to the ads (though muting pauses the commercials) and I definitely don’t pay attention to the banners that pop into view from time to time, I can simply remove my head phones or turn the sound down for 30 seconds. This is no different from putting the kettle on during TV commercials, or pausing your recorder to have ad-less playback. The principals and morals are the same – if the product is funded by commercials, surely said product is paid for to be free?

Thankfully, there is away around this platform restriction. It’s a Windows application called Replay Music 3, and is worth every penny, should you choose to download the application from the vendors website.

What I LOVE about Replay Music 3, is it’s ability to automatically rename and complete meta data about the music you’re streaming from services such as Spotify, Napster or Last.fm

Even better than that is the features within the software to delete tracks less than x number of seconds. For example, Replay Music 3 can be set to delete records less than 35 seconds, which would of course – remove the ads. You don’t hear the ads, but the ads got played therefore a pre-funded product has been produced.

I highly recommend these applications as a safer alternative to P2P networks.

Unfortunately, Replay Music can not be emulated in Linux or Mac OS. If you know of an equivalent for these OS’s please leave a comment.