the rantings of James Collett

the rantings of James Collett http://www.blogrant.co.uk/ the rantings of James Collett en-us Matthew1471's BlogX / BlogX.co.uk Content Â© 2009 James Collett http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://www.blogrant.co.uk/RSS/Image.jpg the rantings of James Collett http://www.blogrant.co.uk/ 100 100 Thu, 10 Jun 2010 11:18 +0100 Thu, 10 Jun 2010 11:18 +0100 Favourite discussion board at the IMDB web site - Dark Angel Film%20and%20TV http://www.blogrant.co.uk/ViewItem.asp?Entry=56 http://www.blogrant.co.uk/Comments.asp?Entry=56 <a href="http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0204993/board/thread/148778698" target="_New">Delete your post 'Dark Angel' style...</a> Just love it. Thu, 10 Jun 2010 09:18 +0100 insidious Google in the background Computing%20and%20Internet http://www.blogrant.co.uk/ViewItem.asp?Entry=55 http://www.blogrant.co.uk/Comments.asp?Entry=55 This morning when I unlocked my workstation I was greeted with a bizarre background image:- <img src="http://www.blogrant.co.uk//Images/Articles/Entry55_5709.jpg" style="border:none" width="40%"> At first I thought I was the victim of a prank by my workmates, but no - it was a browser window that I must have left open yesterday. It was the Google homepage. I guess it must have refreshed all by itself. It's quite a cool picture, actually, even though it does a complete 180 on the famous Clean Homepage ethos. There was a message and link, asking:-  <div style="background:white; color:blue;">Curious about today's homepage? Add your own background image now</div>  I'll let the lack of a full stop slide for now. The link takes you to a page where you are invited to create your own background image for your Google homepage. It announces:-  <div style="background:white; color:blue;">Google has more to offer when you sign in to your Google Account. You can customise pages, view recommendations and get more relevant search results.</div>  All you have to do is:-  <div style="background:white; color:blue;">Sign in to personalise your Google experience. </div>  Oh, I get it. If I do not like this new background image, I can put my own on there but only if I sign in. As I write, the background image has changed. I suppose they have it set to refresh with a new image every so often. <img src="http://www.blogrant.co.uk//Images/Articles/Entry56_7639.jpg" style="border:none"width="40%"> I actually find this one distracting and it obscures what text thereis on the page. But it's okay - I can change it, if I let Google track my every movement. I'm not opposed to sharing information that Google can use for marketing in return for an optional piece of functionality or an enhanced user experience. Not in principle, anyway. But when it is forced on me like this, I don't like it. == Related article at the Guardian:- <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2008/oct/28/google-mobilephones?CMP=twt_gu" target="_New">http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2008/oct/28/google-mobilephones?CMP=twt_gu</a>... <a href="http://www.blogrant.co.uk/ViewItem.asp?Entry=55">Read More (2 Characters)</a> Sun, 9 May 2010 12:48 +0100 Open Source Software - My Grapplings with MySQL, PHP and WordPress Computing%20and%20Internet http://www.blogrant.co.uk/ViewItem.asp?Entry=54 http://www.blogrant.co.uk/Comments.asp?Entry=54 Open Source and Microsoft - never the twain... <a href="http://www.blogrant.co.uk/ViewItem.asp?Entry=54">Read More (8921 Characters)</a> Wed, 7 Apr 2010 17:02 +0100 The Dell UK web site experience Computing%20and%20Internet http://www.blogrant.co.uk/ViewItem.asp?Entry=53 http://www.blogrant.co.uk/Comments.asp?Entry=53 Do you buy computers from Dell? I do. I have bought them for myself and for my friends, family and clients. Why do I do it? Because they are reputable and supply reasonably reliable machines and what you get for your money is pretty good value. But I ha... <a href="http://www.blogrant.co.uk/ViewItem.asp?Entry=53">Read More (608 Characters)</a> Mon, 5 Apr 2010 20:32 +0100 More on Archbishop Rowan - this time by Damian Thompson Current%20Affairs http://www.blogrant.co.uk/ViewItem.asp?Entry=52 http://www.blogrant.co.uk/Comments.asp?Entry=52 Damian Thompson is a prodigious blogger at the Telegraph Online. It says there:- "Damian Thompson is Blogs Editor of the Telegraph Media Group," but his blog entries are usually to do with religion - Catholic stuff, mostly. He's usually a good read. ... <a href="http://www.blogrant.co.uk/ViewItem.asp?Entry=52">Read More (4734 Characters)</a>