Welcome to Sabbietage News

This blog has moved

2010-03-04T09:09:00.001Z

This blog is now located at __FTP_MIGRATION_NEW_URL__.
You will be automatically redirected in 30 seconds, or you may click here.

For feed subscribers, please update your feed subscriptions to
__FTP_MIGRATION_FEED_URL__.

Tackfilm

2010-02-17T17:44:00.002Z

I get side tracked ever so easily ..

Netgear Stora

2010-02-14T10:37:00.005Z

Netgear Stora 1TB Home Media Server - 2 Bay Network Attached Storage ( 1 X 1TB drive included )

I was looking for a solution which would help me store files on my network then access them from multiple locations around the house.

I found the Netgear Stora 1TB Home Media Server, the reviews were all positive so I thought that's the thing I been look for and ordered it.

Pros

If you are looking for something to back up your media and documents and share with your other devices such as Xbox 360, PS3 then this can work well. It's simple to set up and you will be able to access your files over the Internet - you could use this feature to share photos with your family or use your files if you for example need to access them from a work location or when you are away from home.

The unit is silent
Easy to set up
Easy to add a second drive for mirroring
Simple to back up files
If you needed to restore your data on a computer would put everything back where it had picked it up from
3 year warranty

For the average PC / Mac user this product works well.

Cons

My list of cons is only specific to people who are more of a power user rather than somebody who like my mum uses her computer for comms and photos.

The hard drive is formatted using the XFS which means should the device fail you can't simply drop the hard drive in to your computer and carry on using it. In the past I have had an external hard drive casing die on me but luckily the file system on the drive was NTFS so it didn't matter. The Stora does come with a 3 year warranty though so should it fail then you can probably get it fixed but I do not know how long the turn around on repairs with Netgear is.

File Structure
The Stora comes pre formatted with a file structure, there are 3 locations, My computers, Family library, My Library. These can not be changed which was something that didn't work for me. *see backing up

Backing Up
The stora back up software backs up your files to specific paths - these can not be changed. For the average user this wouldn't be a problem. For example if you want to back up my pictures in your user folder. It will recreate the full path putting it in MY COMPUTERS on the stora C:\Users\xxxxxxx\Pictures. For me this isn't want I want to do. I want to back them up on the root in a folder called Photos and then make this folder shareable between my computers / devices, then in this folder I want to split the photo back ups from each computer on my network to users.

Another problem which I didn't find a work around unless you create a auto exec file was when you restart your computer you don't auto login to the stora - which means it isn't available in my computer. So using my current software which I used to back up my system I couldn't trust to work right.

Remote Access
If you create a user account and set up the stora for remote access then you can access your storage device by going to user.mystora.com and logging in with a user name and password. I didn't feel this was safe - it could be safer if you were using a password created using uppercase, lowercase, numbers and symbols - but how could you remember this when you were out being the point of remote access. I felt that possibly with a password buster it could be possible to get in to your files. So I didn't feel I wanted to back up anything that was private - for example photos of my children or login information to web servers. I am slightly paranoid about the fact that my login information would be stored on the mystora website and in a database.

Overall the Netgear Stora is the perfect solution for somebody who doesn't have much computer knowledge and is looking for a very simple solution it is fool proof.

For now I shall continue to use a 3 drive system where I take files from my system disk and back up on to an internal drive and mirror that to an external drive. This way safeguards if my internal's fail I have the external and vice versa.

A Single Sheet of Paper

2010-01-29T15:58:00.001Z

A Single Sheet of Paper | Photos and pics

Abso amazing ..

I love my iPod Touch

2010-01-28T20:12:00.001Z

Testing this app on my IPod Touch and getting excited for the iPad .. I just wonder how much it will convert to in U.K. £? Also maybe worth waiting for a 2nd gen .. I think I won't be able to wait though .. Was discussing it with my work colleage today who said in the future once he has an iPad he may consider not replacing his MacBook with another one as he mainly uses it for comms which the iPad will do so well .. The fact it will run all the apps I own from the Apple Apps Store it just seems the perfect sofa gadget ..

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod Touch

Wedding Fayre

2010-01-26T17:45:00.003Z

Kent Barn Spring Wedding Fayre
Sunday 18th April 2010
11am – 4pm

The Thatched Barn at Great Farthingloe Farm would like to invite you to their Spring Wedding Fayre. The beautiful 16th Century Barn will house over 35 exhibitors offering a wide selection of bridal services.

Attractions to include:

Live entertainment including music & magic
Sky Charter Helicopters
Hair & Beauty Demonstrations
Fruit carvings & bridal gifts by Fruity Designs
Bridal photographers & videographers
Caterers
Burgoyne Bespoke Tailoring
London Music Agency for all forms of Bridal entertainment

Plus many many more…

“Book on the day and be entered in to a prize draw to win £200.00 of Bridal Beauty Treatments” Courtesy of Rachel King

For further information or to book a viewing please contact Jane:-

Tel: 07772 266415
Mail: jane@kentbarn.com
Web: www.kentbarn.com

Rocks

2009-09-09T09:25:00.001+01:00

Rocks, originally uploaded by sabbietage.

After watching the panorma show about how the sea was being poluted by all the overspill pipes around the UK .. I was quite surprised to see how clear the sea was at Westbrooke, Kent.

The dole office

2009-09-02T16:07:00.002+01:00

I took somebody to the dole office to sign on today, I haven't been there for many years ..

I could not belive the amount of people sat outside who were drinking beer .. it was 10:20am ..

Why are these people getting dole money for ? it's obvious that they are not looking for work and the dole money they get is just paying for the beer .. abso terrible ..

I think if somebody signs on for years and years and doesn't attempt to do any work then they should be forced to do community service ..

Blogger is so slow

2009-09-02T16:06:00.000+01:00

Everytime I publish a post it just hangs .. so im testing here on a blog which is hosted on google and see if that helps ..

Swine Flu

2009-07-29T08:50:00.002+01:00

What do I do? .. Do I lock myself and my baby in doors and ban everyone from visiting or do we carry on as normal. Last week there were 100,000 new cases of Swine Flu which when you look at the increase in cases is really quite alarming!

So an example case of Swine flu I am thinking about - A woman I know got a sore throat and after 3 days her throat was so severe along with out symptoms such as a high temperature, being sick, feeling totally drained and lost her appetite she decided she best call the doctor.

The doctor set alarm bells ringing asking her to send a family member who wasn't infected to come and pick up her prescription of Tamiflu and to keep her self in isolation - which is quite hard when you're a mum of two children.

After a few days of taking Tamiflu she wasn't getting better and her mum decided to move her to her home. The doctor said it was OK her symptoms would start to wear off ..

After a week she called 999 because she wasn't getting any better her throat was nearly closed up and she was still off her food and being sick, high temp, drained ....

When she got to hospital and was actually seen by a medical professional it was realised that she wasn't actually suffering from Swine Flu but had tonsillitis and glandular fever! .. Had she been seen by a professional in the first place she would of been given antibiotics and would of probably been well on her way to recovery after a couple of days ..

So 100,000 cases of Swine flu last week ? ...

One last thing troubling me .. is Swine Flu worse than Man Flu ? ..

Thriller - Gutted

2009-07-16T17:30:00.003+01:00

When I heard about MJ dying I had mixed views .. It wasn't until his death I realised I could be classed as a MJ fan (not stalker) .. His music was easy listening, catchy and when drunk something you might sing along to in a stupid exaggerated way with your best mate (koff) ..

But! yesterday I found out that he didn't actually write Thriller .. not being a MJ stalker you wouldn't know these things .. A man called Rod Temperton wrote Thriller ..

Thriller was choreographed by a man called Michael Peters ..

So without digging deeper it makes me wonder was MJ the genius people label him as or was he just another manufactured pop puppet like the rest of them ..

It's such a shame that the real people who are the 'genius' are left in the shadows .. but then again what does fame do to people .. well it makes them have ridiculous plastic surgery so maybe the real song writers are best off in the shadows ..

Shit Marketing

2009-04-08T23:00:00.002+01:00

Earlier I was looking for something in particular and 2 marketing things companies do really irritate me!

First of all is buying a keyword for something they don't sell!

So for example if I am searching for blue jeans and click on a link for a site which has Blue Jeans as its Keywords in titles but only sells yellow skirts .. If I wanted a yellow skirt I would of searched for a 'Yellow Skirt'!! Grrr!!

The second thing that really pisses me off is when somebody buys a well known companies domain name and they are nothing to do with them or don't link to them .. I am not even talking about competitors who sell the same kinda thing ..

The Internet is supposed to make things faster, so companies who slow me up just seriously irritate me.

Google Street View

2009-04-03T22:28:00.002+01:00

What is wrong with people? .. Google street view isn't doing anything that anyone with any determination couldn't go and do anyway.

The Google Street View vehicle was spotted in a village in the UK this week and the locals made a right fuss about it and tried to justify it by saying burglars would use it. The guy who is really concerned that burglars are going to want to use street view to plan to burgal his house .. hes basically just gone public at the fact that he could potentially have something worth stealing if you're that way inclined.

Just to quick side track I had wondered what the vehicles look like and its just an ordinary car with a large tripod on top with a large camera on it. What a top job being the driver! (where do I apply?)

Anyway back to my moaning about the people who moan! The guy who was going in to a sex shop in Amsterdam - seriously man its only a sex shop .. you would only need to feel embarrassed if you were going there to stock up on your bestiality DVDs which google street view can't of picked up on anyway ..

The person who was being sick asking for their image to be removed .. wtf .. was it really worth the effort .. Personally if I was out and about while the google camera was about and ended up on Google street view I would link everyone as a 5 Min's of stardom kinda thing!

For me Google Street View and even Google Maps Satellite View has bought my hours worth of entertainment .. I drooled at the houses around New York and then when you move down to Florida and browse around the coast there are jaw dropping houses. Huge houses with huge boats parked at the end of their garden on their own private jetty. How lucky are some people!
I did try to browse over Disney world but the maps were not available at that time. Then of course anywhere you have ever visited you go and look over ..

My only complaints about Google Street View is the images around Hollywood are a bit dicey and need updating to make them clearer !!

Fern Britton

2009-03-26T13:00:00.003Z

I am so happy to hear that Fern Britton is leaving 'This Morning'. I used to watch Sky News for a majority of the day but I went off of that because it's all so depressing. I watched BBC 1 for a while but got pretty sick of the programs on there and then switched to ITV 1.

When I sit and watch Fern Britton I feel really irritated by her.. She sits there with a fake grin on her face, laughs at things which are just not funny, has a really obviously fake sympathetic tone to her voice and looks bloody awful since having her stomach stapled.

When she had her stomach done I felt then that she interviews people with real life stories and is so vain that she didn't suit her role anymore.

Since her stomach stapling her sense of dress has become awful - they do a make over section of the show and I think she needs to go on it. The other week my mate text me with 'OMG what the hell is Fern Britton wearing today?'. I turned to 'This Morning' to see her sat there looking like Princess Leah.

My Dad is visiting at the moment and buys The Sun Newspaper so I had a quick read this morning. It was in there I saw the story about Fern Britton.

It said she was not happy with her salary and was quitting the show after being quite frustrated that Philip Scofield earns much more money than her.

My thoughts on the above ..

Firstly, in a recession to get paid £750,000 a year is pretty damn good going!! So stop moaning you greedy cow!
Secondly, in my opinion Philip Scofield is more of a house hold name for people of my age due to the fact we grew up with him. I remember when he was really young on Kids TV. Fern Britton what history does she have on her CV other than being able to quick jump in for the woman who she replaced on this morning.

I hope the woman who replaces her on a Friday gets her job - Ruth Langsford

Something funny I noticed in 'Google' if you search Fern Britton (to spell check) the top sponsored link is for a Gastric Band

Disabled Kids TV Presenter

2009-02-24T23:03:00.014Z

Cerrie Burnell on CBeebies

Today I felt shocked and angry when I heard on the news that some parents had complained about kids TV presenter Cerrie Burnell because of her disability.

I am aware of this TV presenter because I watch C Beebies .. OK when I say I watch - I must clarify - technically it's my daughter who watches!

The other day I was sat with her and after In The Night Garden had finished she was still amused by the channel so we watched some more - this is when I first noticed Cerrie Burnell had part of her arm missing from the elbow down.

My initial thoughts were not the fact she was on TV but wondered if she had always been missing her hand and then led me to think about simple tasks like doing the washing up, putting on a pair of jeans, changing a baby etc being quite hard work .. but then I figured she prolly has just adapted to this and to her its what she knows. Then I wondered if she has a fake hand (Prosthesis) and then I went off on another line of thought about how they got them to work and how it was all quite clever stuff.

After thinking about that for some time I then thought about how it was nice to see a woman on TV not trying to hide her disability and how kids who watched this would then discuss with their parents about disability and hopefully grow up not being phased by people who are different to them.

Then another TV show came on CBeebies called Ballamory and there was a woman in a wheel chair - I notice people in wheel chairs because I had a friend who had to use one and he wanted an all singing all dancing model - he was quite amusing talking about how he might ask 'Pimp my ride' to mod his 'wheels'.

Today when I heard the news and I was utterly disgusted at the fact anyone could be so shallow as to complain! The people complaining are missing a great opportunity to educate their children in the comfort of their own home.

I think it's a great thing and when my daughter asks me about this I will enjoy explaining to her about different types of people on this earth. I will tell her the funny stories about my good friend who passed away this year after living with cerebral palsy. I will also tell her about when he was having a bad day and how being different could sometimes be quite upsetting for him because of other peoples reactions to his disability.

Full article on the BBC news website

Gordon Brown Disturbs Me

2009-02-21T09:53:00.005Z

I've always felt that Gordon Brown kind of blagged his spot as Britains PM. The country didn't vote for him to get his seat .. So I always kinda felt I didn't really dig his situation and was waiting for a new general election.

Watching the news yesterday and Gordon Brown was speaking about Jade Goody and got her name wrong !!

Ok you would have to of had your head buried in sand for the last 8 years to not know who Jade Goody is !!

I find this terribley disturbing to think that our prime minister who is in charge and represents our county could get her name wrong .. Don't misunderstand me, it's not the fact that he doesn't know her name in particular .. It's the fact if you watch tv, read the papers, listen to the radio etc you know who she is .. This indicates to me he can't do any of the above and therefore has no idea where this country is at right now ..

New Canabis Advert

2009-02-17T21:20:00.002Z

Woo.. scary stuff .. wtf? ..

The sad thing is somebody somewhere got paid shed loads of dosh to come up with the crappiest advert ever!

How is that advert supposed to put children off of smoking cannabis?

Then there has been all the programs about it with examples of people who have gone mental because they smoked cannabis ..

Ooooook .. Seriously the people I saw on these programs I would not say they are your 'average' cannabis user.

This one guy heard voices in his head and while watching coronation street (seriously.. right there!!) the characters were telling him to kill himself. Then it went to his parents - Now I do not by any means mean any disrespect to them but UH-OH!!.. The guy really had the odds stacked against him from birth.

Then this other guy was going on about how he was addicted to cannabis like he was addicted to heroin or something and the thing that really had me in stitches was he was on TV OK not pixalated out or anything but they disguised his name! Again .. they hit the nail on the head right there ..

So all this discussion around cannabis use and you can still go in to a shop and get a packet of cigarettes..

I swear to god people are not addicted to smoking cannabis its the nicotine in the tobacco they use to mix with what ever they are smoking ..

Last of all is the argument that people who smoke cannabis vs people who drink .. we don't need to go there, you get the point ..

So back to point of post - somebody has got paid a shat load of dosh to come up with an ultra crap idea .. where do I apply please ..

Galapagos Islands

2009-02-12T22:51:00.002Z

I was watching BBC news today and they were reporting on the fact that the human race is serioulsy messing with the wild life on the Galapagos Islands. They were saying in so many words, 'Don't go there because you will be adding to the problem' .. then they went live to their reporter there .. go figure ..

Universal Phone Charger

2009-02-11T14:02:00.001Z

So I am sat here with 3 Nokia phones right .. so thats all Nokia .. but they all have different sized chargers!! Seriously why on earth do Nokia feel the need to make phones all with different chargers. Where is the sense in that?

Why can't all these companies create a unviersal charger .. then in my house we would just need one charger instead of having a basket full of 30 of them for all the different gadgets we have or have had.

The worst charger I have ever had was on a motorola phone with little notches. A few of these charges died before the phone .. so on that principle I don't buy motorola anymore.

In the good old days .. Nokia did the male connection .. and the phones I had which use that still work .. then they switched to a really thin male connector and now the latest one I have is a (similar to) usb looking type of one.

If computer psu can all use the same connection from all the different companies why cant smaller gadget companies not do the same instead of letting some idiot design a new one!

Rant over ..

Search Engine Optimization

2009-02-09T15:14:00.002Z

Today I was checking the spelling on above 'phrase'.

I always just google a word I want to check spelling of so I googled 'Search Engine Optimization' and felt amused by the paid links .. Surely if you are any good at what you do .. you would have a top ten ranking for the choosen search term and not need the paid links? ..

Cool flash

2009-01-26T16:49:00.002Z

My mate who abso hates spiders sent me this link 'Spider' I was that impressed with it I thought I would add a link here ..

Whilst I am posting links, a couple of other bits of flash animations worth a visit are 'Creep' and 'Laid off'..

Credit Crunch

2009-01-20T10:51:00.004Z

The credit crunch is well and truly on us and everyone is worried about the future.

I work in an environment where my income depends on marketing budgets and right now companies are starting to look at them and make seriously bad choices to cut them. I think right now everyone who takes thier business seriously needs to look at how they can get thier brand out there.. One day the credit crunch is going to hit rock bottom and the only way out of it will be up as confidence slowly comes back knowing its turning around.

Right now I think the biggest problem is people do not know if they will hold on to their job so they are holding on to their spare cash.

I feel that some of the companies who have or are going under are companies that didn't grasp the digital age with both hands!!

When I heard Woolworths had gone bust I wasn't really surprised .. I do almost all of my shopping online and in the past visited Woolworths website to see what they had on there. The website was rubbish! I decided it was probably new and a few months later I visited and realised they had employed a really bad website dev team.

When I went to a town that had a Woolworths and I popped in I always seemed to buy a load of junk I didn't really need but wanted because I felt it would make my life easier in some way.. It's a bit like a Betterware catalogue - its full of complete junk but you find things that once you seen them you feel you need one.

Woolworth’s website seemed to lack a lot of what they had in store on the website. I remember looking through Xbox games and there were about 14. The navigation was one of those which you can't be bothered to work out. A bit like theirs stores with items sometimes being in complete random places .. They lacked a logical pattern to their website and stores ..

Another company which has reported on the edge of going under is Land of Leather .. Again in the past when I wanted a leather sofa I visited the website and the company logo was enough to put me off .. Admittedly they have changed their website since - but it was one of those sites which wasn't worth a second look.

I think we take websites on face value these days and unless we can get to the information we want straight away its much easier to go back to the search engine and continue to search.

I guess the other thing that killed Land of Leather was bad press on watch dog .. I guess once your product / brand has been on that show and had a lot of negative publicity, you're on to a loser.

Then the news came that Zavvi was going under - WHO ? .. I had never heard of them .. I don't buy news papers - occasionally I will buy a computer magazine .. I watch the TV and surf lots of websites but never in all my surfing / tv watching had I come across the name .. So their going down - bad advertising should be on their list of reasons ..I took a look at the webiste and it seemed nice to use - I wonder if they were like Game and Game Station and generally were a bit over priced when compared to Amazon or Play?

Adams kids clothes store - well I thought they had already gone under years ago when they disappeared from my local high street. When I had young kids I remember that shop being quite good value for money .. But then I guess when you can go to your local supermarket and pick up every day kids clothes with your shopping to the same kind of standard as Adams - I guess that didn't help their case ..

So with the exmaples I have thought about above - I think some bad marketing is to blame ..

I think once the credit crunch starts to turn around if you have given up on your website and slashed your marketing budget when people are ready to start spending again you are not going to benefit from it .. There will be other websites who rank higher with better navigation .. and they will take your potential business ..

How to stop red eye

2009-01-03T21:51:00.000Z

I have been taking alot of photo's of late and suffer from red eye in alot of them although I have red eye reduction turned on .. I am using a Canon Powershot G9 ..

This evening I did a bit of a search to try and find ideas to stop this

I found a website with this tip .. The easy way to stop red eye is to photograph only object that don’t have eyes - No shit sherlock! Then they went on to say, "Another trick is to suddenly turn on all the lights in a room." So instead of red eye all your subjects will have thier eyes closed !

I am quite disapointed at the results from my G9 - I thought the inbuilt reduction would be of better standard .. I have since read though that people with grey / blue eyes are more prone to red eye ..

When I find a solution I will share it here - or if you have one please let me know :)

Warhammer - Age of Reckoning

2008-09-19T11:57:00.002+01:00

I got Warhammer Age Of Reckoning yesterday and had problems installing it to start off with - but this turned out to be due to my DVD Drive ..

Then I eventually got it installed and then had problems running it .. It patched ok then when I loaded the game it would crash with a message saying

Authentication Failed -- application will now terminate.

I wondered if it was my account which had a problem but it wasn't. The error was due to the fact I am running Vista with direct x 10 - You need direct x 9.xxx which was released in August 08.

Go here for it

Get that installed and you will be able to run Warhammer ok :)

Uninstall Internet Explorer 8 Vista

2008-08-30T09:34:00.003+01:00

Why is everything so upside down in Vista ..

I wanted to try the Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 but it wouldn't let me install unless I uninstalled IE8 Beta 1 - an easy task right ? ..

I went to add remove .. oh wait its not called add remove programs anymore is it .. Ok I went to Porgrams and Features and couldn't see an option to uninstall IE8 ..

I went to the dir where it was installed and no option there ..

I went to windows features .. not there ..

It appears Microsoft decided when they made Vista they would move / rename everything so busy people could waste time looking for stuff ..

How to uninstall Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) in Vista

Go to Start > Control Panel > Programs and features - Left hand menu choose updates - It's listed there ..

So simple when you know where Microsoft have hidden things ..