Monday, March 19, 2012

Free apps eat up your phone battery just sending ads - tech - 18 March 2012 - New Scientist

Free apps eat up your phone battery just sending ads - tech - 18 March 2012 - New Scientist

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Real Human Being

Yesterday was St Patrick's day, the friendliest of patron saints. Seemingly co-opted by Guinness for the last few years Phil and I decided to join the fun. Starting in will slow at the Coach and Four we went to the Kings Arms, then finished in at the Bulls Head. Of the pub visited I would suggest that the Coach and Four did the best pint of Guinness. I was browsing the web this morning on my iPad and one of the sites I visited was behind a pay wall because the iPad accesses the mobile version. There appears to be a growing trend to charge uses for mobile versions of websites. I guess providers rely on the fact that people are used to paying their mobile bills. Certainly in most cases there is no technical reason that the mobile version would cost any more. Take Spotify for an example there is no real reason that the mobile version should cost more, yet it's firmly behind a pay wall. If tablets really star to take over it could mean that these pay walls are the rule rather than the exception. I guess we are walking into a future where everyone will have to pay for the sites we want to see. Talking of free stuff, I have just found a great sound of free legal ebooks. Librivox. The books narrated all all in the public domain. I have listened to are the scarlet pimpernel and the three musketeers. I find listening to audio books while walking is a good way to relax.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Feel To Follow

Arndale Void
This week there were two stories about transport in Manchester that interested me. The Guardian ran this blog about the Manchester Underground that never was. Envisaged in the 1970's the plan was to link up Picadilly to Victoria with a station under the Arndale.

The Government cancelled the plan with only a small amount of groundwork done, leaving behind a subterranean reminder.
The second announcement was the news that chancellor George Osborne has given the go ahead to an £85 million pound project to connect Picadilly and Victoria with a new direct Rail connection.

What interested me was that the budget for the underground in the 1970's was £9 million. Adjusted for inflation that is about £85 million today. So somehow its as expensive to build an overground rail now as it would have been to construct an underground line 40 years ago.
Chancellor George Osborne's £85m budget bonanza for a direct train link between Manchester's two main stations.

Read more at: http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/1413410_george_osborne_confirms_85m_piccadilly__victoria_rail_link_in_budgetCHan
Chancellor George Osborne's £85m budget bonanza for a direct train link between Manchester's two main stations.

Read more at: http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/1413410_george_osborne_confirms_85m_piccadilly__victoria_rail_link_in_budget
Chancellor George Osborne's £85m budget bonanza for a direct train link between Manchester's two main stations.

Read more at: http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/1413410_george_osborne_confirms_85m_piccadilly__victoria_rail_link_in_budget
Chancellor George Osborne's £85m budget bonanza for a direct train link between Manchester's two main stations.

Read more at: http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/1413410_george_osborne_confirms_85m_piccadilly__victoria_rail_link_in_budget
Chancellor George Osborne's £85m budget bonanza for a direct train link between Manchester's two main stations.

Read more at: http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/1413410_george_osborne_confirms_85m_piccadilly__victoria_rail_link_in_budget

Thursday, March 08, 2012

Polish letters

Remember to spell:

sz - like English sh (bush)
cz - like ch (chimney)
rz - like sh but more hard
ą - like o and a together
ę - like e and y together
ż - like sh but with the sound
ł - like w (window)
ch - like h (hair)
ń - like -ng (England)
ć - like ch but more soft
ś - like sh but more soft
ó - like oo (moon)