Question: Which Is The Odd One Out - A Televised Football Match, The Pope's Christmas And Easter Blessings, Or A Telephone Conversation?

Sunday 9th August 2009

Answer: A telephone conversation - because it is interactive. The others involve a flow of information in only one direction.

From time to time, an actor with many years of experience in the theatre will be invited to perform in a television drama.  Apart from the necessarily different environment, one of the aspects which such actors find most challenging is the lack of an audience.  Although few theatrical performances have quite the level of "Oh, yes it is!" and "Behind you!" so popular with pantomine-goers, many do have at least some audience involvement, even if it is only the applause at the final curtain-call. 

Until now, this blog has been somewhat similar to a televised drama or football match.  Those viewing it may have been pleased, enlightened or even incensed by what they saw on the screen, but nothing they did would have had any effect on it.  It is also well-known that an invitation to complete a "visitor/user/customer/etc survey", whether on-line, in person or even by post, is merely a tool for obtaining personal information for marketing purposes.  There are, therefore, no plans to conduct such a survey.  However, all comments about this blog will be gratefully received.  Perhaps you agree (or disagree!) strongly with what you have seen, or perhaps there is a subject you would like to be covered?  Please feel free to use the "Contact us" link at the top right corner of this page.  You may, of course, use a made-up email address if you wish, although if you choose to do this we will not be able to respond directly to you.

For those who are not familiar with the Papal blessing "Urbi et Orbi", there is an excellent Wikipedia article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urbi_et_Orbi.  This includes the text in the original Latin, as well as a translation into English.  The image below, taken from Wikipedia, shows Pope Benedict XV1 giving the Blessing, at Christmas 2008:

Do You Want To Antagonise Your Customers And Lose Their Business?

Sunday 2nd August 2009

Of course not - unless you are BT, of course! Read on and find out how they do it.....

The majority of UK households now have broadband Internet access, along with nearly all businesses.  Indeed, it is almost inconceivable for a business NOT to have such access.  Broadband is typically provided in one of three ways.  Firstly, there are cable communications companies such as Virgin, who deliver it over the same fibre or coaxial cable as their television service.  Next, there is ADSL, which is expressly designed to share the same wires as a traditional telephone service.  Finally, there are various flavours of symmetric DSL.  Like ADSL, these services use telephone wires, but unlike ADSL they require the entire bandwidth for their exclusive use.

However, all the different forms of broadband have two features in common.  One, they are much faster than a dial-up Internet connection, typically 50 or 100 times faster.  Second, they are "always on".  In practice, the line may drop occasionally, but not enough to cause any real problems.

STD Retail Solutions has an ADSL connection provided by BT.  Until a fortnight ago, it had been very reliable, dropping only rarely and even then restarting itself almost immediately without any intervention.  Then that all changed.  For two weeks, it has been dropping every few minutes and often failing to restart itself, even after the terminating router has been rebooted.  For the first week, all calls to BT were met with responses to the effect that "It must be your equipment, sir", in spite of them being told that we had replaced our router with no difference and that we suspected THEIR equipment.  Finally, an engineer attended our premises and, using his own equipment, was unable to achieve a connection.  He went away and "changed some equipment at the exchange" - to no avail.  Next, another engineer attended and could find no fault, although he suspected "electrical interference from other equipment".  Surprisingly, switching off said equipment made no difference.  Finally, the first engineer was called back.  He moved the line onto a different termination in their roadside cabinet and, for an hour, all seemed well.  Thereafter, the line reverted to dropping every five minutes or so and not restartiong until the router was rebooted.  There is no happy ending, as this is still ongoing.  For those who are technically minded, it appears as if the connectino is being made successfully to the DSLAM at the exchange, but is failing to connect properly with the ATM switch.     

Since BT have no Service Level Agreement, they can be (and are) as off-hand and vague as they wish when it comes to a timescale for rectifying the fault.  In the meantime, they are of course more than happy to collect the monthly charges....

Fortunately, STD has the benefit of a second broadband line which is not provided by BT.  This line really is "always on", in the true sense - it just stays up all the time.  What more could anyone ask?

The moral of this story is simple - if you really must use BT as your broadband service provider, make sure you have a good supply of paracetamol tablets handy, along with a second, independent line provided by another company.  You are going to need them....!

As Captain James T. Kirk Often Said On Star Trek: "Warp Factor 10, Mr Sulu!"

Sunday 26th July 2009

The new Firefox browser is available - and it is fast, really f-f-f-f-f-fast!

When a surfer enters the address of a website in his browser or clicks on a link in a web page, a three-stage process starts automatically.  First, the server has to make the requested page available.  The page then has to be transmitted over the Internet.  Finally, the user's browser interprets the received data and displays the requested page.  Clearly, the speed at which the first two stages are completed is entirely out of the surfer's control.  The third stage, however, is heavily dependent upon the browser and the processing power available for it to use.

Although an older machine will naturally tend to be slower than a modern one, the efficiency of the browser is a major consideration.

 
This is where the new release of Firefox trounces the competition.

Mozilla claim that it is "twice as fast" as the previous release - on older hardware, this is a gross understatement.  On some PC's, the improvement is little short of jaw-dropping.

Have you tried Firefox yet?  If not, why not?  It is available as a free download from http://www.getfirefox.com, the painless installation process is quick and does not even require a reboot.  In addition, it co-exists perfectly happily with all known Windows applications, including Internet Explorer.  If you should decide that you do not like it, the uninstall process is also painless and completely reboot-free.

What are you waiting for?

Support With A Difference - British 10k London Run

Sunday 19th July 2009

Once again Doc has kindly permitted me (Isaac) to use his blog and let you all know how I got on at this years ASICS British 10k London Run which I ran in support of the Rainbow Trust Childrens Charity.

Four weeks ago, you may remember wondering why there wasn't yet another interesting and equally informative IT related article from Doc for all of you to feast your minds on.  Instead you found me introducing myslef and telling you about my intentions to take part in this years British 10k London Run in support of the Rainbow Trust and also a brief background and description of some of the work they do supporting families with children who have been diagnosed with terminal or life threatening diseases.

That long awaited day had finally arrived, and last Sunday the 12th of July, over 27000 runners queued to take part in this years British 10k London run, the race winner was Cyrus N'dereba, in a time of 30.19, followed by the first female Catherine N'dereba, with a time of 33.54.  The pair had made race history by being the first siblings to jointly win the ASICS British 10K Run, however, there were still thousands more waiting patiently to cross the start line, each in their bright coloured t-shirts or vests representing their chosen charities.

The clouds were beginning to gradually disperse following the start of the race, the temperature warming up nicely and the atmosphere was very comradely.  Slowly, after what seemed like an eternity, we started advancing along Piccadilly wetsbound to Hyde Park Corner, turning anti-clockwise back onto Piccadilly eastbound and toward the start line, everyone breaking into a slow jog as they approached.

Along the race start, I was astonished to see how many more runners were still making their way to the start line and remember feeling surprisingly grateful to have started the race.  The race route continued right onto St James's St, then left towards Trafalgar Square and down Northumberland Avenue.  As I passed Trafalgar Square, I could not help noticing my sister, dangerously high on one of the statues screaming out words of encouragement, those words helped carry me as far as the Embankment where friends and families had also turned out in their thousands to support runners and their various charities.

Rainbow Trust, who were this years Official Race Charity, had chosen two cheering spots along the Embankment, as did most other charities.  The race course continued along Victoria Embankment as far as Blackfriars Bridge before turning back around along the Embankment and finally left over Westminister Bridge, I remember passing a lady wearing a t-shirt with 'baby on board' scribbled on the back and most memorable of all, two young men at different stages along the course using crutches.

Having crossed Westminister Bridge once, the course came back over the bridge again and round Parliament Square towards Victoria on Victoria Street, by this stage, I felt as though I had easily completed 10k, my legs feeling like lead and my sides numb from stitches.  As the course took me back to Parliament Square and down Whitehall, I could see the finish!

I had to be patient not to start kicking too hard too early as by this stage I was more than keen to be done with the race, I finally felt as though as I was close enough to afford to give it all I have before collapsing just after the finish line..., and so I did.  I crossed the line in 1 hour and 9 minutes, raising over £200 for the Rainbow Trust Children's Charity, with more still coming in as my fundraising page is taking donations till the middle of next month. 

Remember, your money will be making a significant difference to a great number of children and their families who are regretfully far less fortunate than the rest of us and that Rainbow relies purely on the generosity of its supporters who make donations and raise funds at events.  You can visit my fundraising page at http://www.justgiving.com/isaacabraham