Continue reading »]]> Right, straight to the point. I bought a PC yesterday in PC World. It’s a pretty high-spec machine from HP, looks like this:

The machine comes equipped with an i7 chip at 3.4 GHz, is quad-core. It comes with 2 TB harddrive and 8 GB RAM. Among these features, it is supposed to have this graphic card:

NVIDIA GeForce GT 545 with 3 GB RAM

Not too bad for a PC alright. I need the horsepower for the project I’m working on. I may also add that the Lenovo laptop I purchased in November died a few weeks ago because of a power surge. That machine is in repair with PC World as well.

Now. I come home, install Windows, and want to install the NVIDIA drivers. I keep getting an error that the hardware is missing. Same with HP’s NVIDIA drivers. Strange, innit?

To proof I have that machine, here’s a photo (primarily meant to show the NVIDIA badge):

Well. I open up the machine… and I find the graphics card is in fact missing, as you can see for yourself here:

You can clearly see the PCI-Express slot is empty, said graphic card is missing.

So I went to the store, explained my story, and asked for a graphic card – or at least a good one as compensation – they didn’t do it. They couldn’t just let me go out of the store with a graphics card for free. It’s funny since they admitted it is missing.

Well.

I sent an email to them, this is the full text:

Hi PC World Team,

before you continue reading – I work in support myself. I KNOW how it works. I know you don’t care so much about the situation as I do. So let me tell you this – no sweet-talking, and no dancing – got it? Read the whole damn thing.

NO copy/paste templates. Write a reply.
Pass this to your supervisor.

Yesterday (Jan. 22, 2012) I purchased a PC in the Blanchardstown Center branch. The machine is a:

HP Pavilion HPE H8 1070

This machine is pretty high spec, and among many other features was advertised with this graphic card model:

NVIDIA GeForce GT545, 3 GB RAM

The machine sold for 1,079 Euro.

The machine I got was the display model – no boxed machine left. For me, that was good enough.

When I got home, I re-installed the machine from scratch. I attempted to install the NVIDIA driver – but got the message that the hardware is missing. I then opened up the case to have a look – the graphic card is, in fact, missing. No wonder the driver won’t play ball. Please the photos here (too large as attachment) :

[REMOVED]

The next day (Jan. 23, 2012), I walked back to the branch and spoke to the man who had sealed the deal with me yesterday. I explained the situation and showed him the photo of where the card is missing. He and a person from the Management Team (I saw his badge) walk a few meters away and discuss the situation.

I was then asked to follow the man who had sold the PC yesterday. He said he has two options for me:

1) I bring back the machine I purchased yesterday, he’d give me the next best model (1,249 Euro) because he has it in stock and boxed. He’d give me 100 Euro off and I’d pay another 70 Euro – but I’d have a complete machine.

2) The difference between 1,249 and 1,079 was something like 170 Euro. He could give me a graphic card for that price – but it won’t be the same that the machine was intended to be sold with.

I chose option 2 and we walk into the isle with the GPUs. I picked one for 169 Euro. We walk back to the Knowhow desk, and then I am told by the Management Team guy that ‘they couldn’t just hand over a graphic card’. I chose option 2 primarily because I already transferred all my data to the machine I purchased.

Ah yes, they offered me Microsoft Office for free as compensation… Hello? Anyone home?

And whaddoya know? I so happen to have agreed on insurance for the PC I purchased. Now I’ve also been told that because the graphic card is missing, or if I would install a different card, the insurance would not cover it. I’ll go to the bank tomorrow and block deductions from them off my account.

You know what?

Now listen to me.

Not too long ago, in November, I bought a Lenovo laptop which broke. Power failure, won’t turn on. I brought this machine for repair three weeks ago – I was in the Blanchardstown store twice to inquire about the whereabouts of that machine – he only said he found it strange that the machine is not back yet. Now the salesperson yesterday was kind enough to honestly tell me that repairs with Lenovo take about two months.

If this is some sort of practical joke, with the laptop and now the graphic card, with the result of driving people out of their goddamn mind – it’s working pretty well, very commendable.

Again, you can find the photos of the PC, the open case with the graphic card missing, the proof of purchase, and the repair document of the Lenovo, here:

[REMOVED]

If you don’t respond with anything good until Friday, I’m forced to call a lawyer.
It’ll go to court. It’ll come with a lot of needless phone calls, paperwork, and questioning.

I would like to prevent legal steps.

Let’s not waste both of our times – just hand over any 1 or 2 GB graphic card, and we’re good.

With kind regards,
Marcus McKay

That should be clear enough. As a matter of fact, I did get an reply. On the same day, even. This is the email I got:

Hi Marcus,

Firstly I would like to appologise for the inconvienience that you have been caused.

I did try to contact you diectly on your mobile but was unable to reach you.

The company will gladly offer you a full refund on your product as it was not fit for the purpose for which it was bought.

Regarding the graphics card you requested I can not issue the card out for free as the company would be down a significant amount by doing so. I can however (as you have been inconvienced) offer the original €100 discount off the Graphics card.

I hope that this helps,

Kind regards,

ms [REMOVED]

Let’s have a look at the bold part again:

Regarding the graphics card you requested I can not issue the card out for free as the company would be down a significant amount by doing so.

To which I simply replied:

Hi [REMOVED],

I don’t think you are serious when you say “the company would be down a significant amount by doing so”. How much revenue does PC World / Currys make? In a year? You really think 169 is gonna hurt you?

Well since it seems you didn’t read my mail properly, I’ll go to the Small Claims Court tomorrow.

I’ll get my graphics card.

It’s not about 3 GB RAM. It’s not about a shiny NVIDIA brand. It’s about the principle. Thanks for your offer… but I’m not willing to spend 70 Euro extra on something I should have had in the first place.

I was told in the store I could get a card for the difference. Two minutes later they said they couldn’t. You really gotta make up your minds.

Well like I said. Small Claims Court will do the rest for me. Have a great day!

Cheers
Marcus

I didn’t get a reply to that yet, but I received a call – but no voicemail. I’ll update this when I hear more… but rest assured – I’ll have a court order them by law to hand me over something as compensation.

Stay iTuned.

Right so earlier today I was sent the exact same mail above, from the Store Manager. Word for word. Obviously I got a little bit upset about it, and was a bit more direct with my approach at that point.

Hello? McFly? Anyone home? Knock knock knock

The attached message you just sent to me is the one I got from Eilis last night.

Either you hand over a goddamn graphics card (which is my right to ask as an EU citizen who purchased an incomplete item) or I will have a court order pretty soon forcing you to do so.

Your call.

And btw, everything in writing. No phone calls.

That pretty much got the attention of the next level of management. After this, the General Manager of the PCWorld retail chain in Ireland sent me a mail.

——– Original Message ——–
Subject: Re: Re: Fw: Re: Fw: Purchased PC, graphic card missing
Date: Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:35:26 +0000
From: Dutymanager 2975 <[REMOVED]@dsgireland.co.uk>
To: mstr@se51.net

Marcus,

I have been out of the business for the weekend and just picked up your email. After a discussion with the Eilis I believe the decision made yesterday to be incorrect.

I don’t have an issue dealing with claims in court and in fairness they did offer a full refund and you chose to decline to which the court take seriously.
Emails back to the store starting in the manor you have decided to address us with are not appropriate. I appreciate they have sent the email to you in error twice but this was an error.

I do however agree with you that we should provide you with a graphics card for the machine and this is the best solution all-round.

If you find my offer to be acceptable please email me back to advice of your decision.

Kind Regards

[REMOVED]
General Manager

Now I think we can all agree on the little fact that I needed to do something to get attention. Yes my attitude may not have been like a gentleman – but seriously, what did you expect after what happened in the store yesterday?

Anyways. The General Manager then asked me if I would agree on receiving a graphics card, which I confirmed. I printed the entire mail chain and walked back to PC World in Blanchardstown today.

And whadooyaknow? The card I had picked yesterday was handed over to me without any further hassle. So it’s over.

But one more thing… When I came in to pick up the card, the same guy of the Management Team yesterday really had the nerve to ask this question, and I quote:

Did you bring the PC with you so we can install the graphics card?

Well.

I got an NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 with 1 GB memory. It’s worth 179 Euro.

Continue reading »]]> tl;dr -
NASA’s Kepler mission has found the first planet that’s much like our own (average temperature: 22 degrees Celsius), AND is in the habitable zone (also known as “Green Zone”) around it’s star.

This find should put an immediate end to non-believers and skeptics who are in doubt whether or not another planet like Earth exists out there.

I’d say this is the first of many many out there. To the people in the know, it’s clear what’s going on with alien visitors. We are just getting more official confirmation.

NASA’s Kepler mission has confirmed its first planet in the “habitable zone,” the region where liquid water could exist on a planet’s surface. Kepler also has discovered more than 1,000 new planet candidates, nearly doubling its previously known count. Ten of these candidates are near-Earth-size and orbit in the habitable zone of their host star. Candidates require follow-up observations to verify they are actual planets.

The newly confirmed planet, Kepler-22b, is the smallest yet found to orbit in the middle of the habitable zone of a star similar to our sun. The planet is about 2.4 times the radius of Earth. Scientists don’t yet know if Kepler-22b has a predominantly rocky, gaseous or liquid composition, but its discovery is a step closer to finding Earth-like planets.

Previous research hinted at the existence of near-Earth-size planets in habitable zones, but clear confirmation proved elusive. Two other small planets orbiting stars smaller and cooler than our sun recently were confirmed on the very edges of the habitable zone, with orbits more closely resembling those of Venus and Mars.

“This is a major milestone on the road to finding Earth’s twin,” said Douglas Hudgins, Kepler program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Kepler’s results continue to demonstrate the importance of NASA’s science missions, which aim to answer some of the biggest questions about our place in the universe.”

Kepler discovers planets and planet candidates by measuring dips in the brightness of more than 150,000 stars to search for planets that cross in front, or “transit,” the stars. Kepler requires at least three transits to verify a signal as a planet.

“Fortune smiled upon us with the detection of this planet,” said William Borucki, Kepler principal investigator at NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif., who led the team that discovered Kepler-22b. “The first transit was captured just three days after we declared the spacecraft operationally ready. We witnessed the defining third transit over the 2010 holiday season.”

The Kepler science team uses ground-based telescopes and the Spitzer Space Telescope to review observations on planet candidates the spacecraft finds. The star field that Kepler observes in the constellations Cygnus and Lyra can only be seen from ground-based observatories in spring through early fall. The data from these other observations help determine which candidates can be validated as planets.

Kepler-22b is located 600 light-years away. While the planet is larger than Earth, its orbit of 290 days around a sun-like star resembles that of our world. The planet’s host star belongs to the same class as our sun, called G-type, although it is slightly smaller and cooler.

Of the 54 habitable zone planet candidates reported in February 2011, Kepler-22b is the first to be confirmed. This milestone will be published in The Astrophysical Journal.

The Kepler team is hosting its inaugural science conference at Ames Dec. 5-9, announcing 1,094 new planet candidate discoveries. Since the last catalog was released in February, the number of planet candidates identified by Kepler has increased by 89 percent and now totals 2,326. Of these, 207 are approximately Earth-size, 680 are super Earth-size, 1,181 are Neptune-size, 203 are Jupiter-size and 55 are larger than Jupiter.

The findings, based on observations conducted May 2009 to September 2010, show a dramatic increase in the numbers of smaller-size planet candidates.

Kepler observed many large planets in small orbits early in its mission, which were reflected in the February data release. Having had more time to observe three transits of planets with longer orbital periods, the new data suggest that planets one to four times the size of Earth may be abundant in the galaxy.

The number of Earth-size and super Earth-size candidates has increased by more than 200 and 140 percent since February, respectively.

There are 48 planet candidates in their star’s habitable zone. While this is a decrease from the 54 reported in February, the Kepler team has applied a stricter definition of what constitutes a habitable zone in the new catalog, to account for the warming effect of atmospheres, which would move the zone away from the star, out to longer orbital periods.

“The tremendous growth in the number of Earth-size candidates tells us that we’re honing in on the planets Kepler was designed to detect: those that are not only Earth-size, but also are potentially habitable,” said Natalie Batalha, Kepler deputy science team lead at San Jose State University in San Jose, Calif. “The more data we collect, the keener our eye for finding the smallest planets out at longer orbital periods.”

NASA’s Ames Research Center manages Kepler’s ground system development, mission operations and science data analysis. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., managed Kepler mission development.

Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colo., developed the Kepler flight system and supports mission operations with the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore archives, hosts and distributes the Kepler science data. Kepler is NASA’s 10th Discovery Mission and is funded by NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at the agency’s headquarters.

Source:
NASA’s Kepler Mission Confirms Its First Planet in Habitable Zone of Sun-like Star

Continue reading »]]> Cave Johnson here! We got a bit bored of quantum tunneling, so we thought we’d give levitation a try. Turns out the lab boys have gotten quite good at it. We’re not gonna release this stuff until it’s damn and well ready. The lab boys also told me that we’re now trying to combine this with Portals. We’ll let you know when those tests start.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ws6AAhTw7RA

OMGWTFHOLYSHITSHOESBATMAN

Continue reading »]]> I mostly do reviews of animes around here, but let’s give a gadget review a go, shall we? First you need to know that, while I have a good apartment, I don’t have THAT much space for shelves. So what options does one have if you still want to read books, but don’t have the space?

You could, for one, buy a tablet. While that has a lot of sex-appeal (and I’m still using that little gizmo btw.), it may not be such a good choice when it comes to books. The display is refreshing and flickering, and your eyes can get tired of that after a while. So what other options do you have?

While (the) Facebook usually has a lot of characters with a lot of things to say, most of the time not many of those are interesting, or have a story to tell. Okay – it’s a social network. But I find myself using it too much now. I want to go away from that. I’ll still use it, but in moderation.

So not too long ago I was pointed in the direction of something that completely passed by my years in IT: The Kindle. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not living on the dark side of the Moon. I knew this device existed, that’s not the point. The point is that I was not aware of it’s hugely appealing advantages, which, I think, are pretty superior compared to normal tablets.

Let me give you the short and painless version of those. If you didn’t know about those, I’m pretty sure that, like me, you’ll be pretty interested in getting one.

E-Ink Pearl display
E-Ink, also commonly known as electronic paper, is a special form of display that utilizes a different approach. It was developed by E-Ink Corporation. The technology essentially uses two layers, separated by a gap of 10-100 micrometers. Trust me, you can’t make out the difference. Electrical charges are used to charge actual ink particles positively or negatively, making them cling to the upper or lower layer. This process requires ultra low-consumption of battery power. Now you know why the Kindle has superior battery life. More information here: Electronic paper.

Ultra-stable image
Using the process described just now results in something extremely awesome: an image that does NOT requires constant refresh (like on LCDs and TFT screens). You will not see any flicker or notice anything that can possibly hurt your eyes, because there is none.

Reflecting light rather than emitting light
The display does not emit light (most LCDs and TFTs have a back light), which results in a readability extremely close to paper, and books. Combine the Kindle with your lamp on the nightstand, and… oh boy. This also works in direct sunlight. This makes the Kindle’s display vastly superior compared to tablets. At least for books, newspapers, and magazines.

And here’s the kicker:

Display does not require battery power
You read that right. Again: display does not require battery power. You may think something like “bullshit” or “what’s that bogus!”. You see, with this kind of display, the only power you ACTUALLY need, is to charge the micro-capsules inside the display correctly. After that, the image is kept indefinitely (INDEFINITELY!) on the display, even if the battery runs out. This makes the lowest Kindle last at least 1 month on one charge. This also means you’d have to sit there, for one month, 24/7, and constantly hit the “Next” button in order to run it down in one month. I hope that drew you quite the picture. The more expensive Kindle lasts two months, btw.

That said, it should not come to you as a surprise that I actually went to the next best gadget place and got my hands on one. In my case it’s the Kindle 3 Keyboard, with built-in 3G functionality. More on that in a moment. So that you see that I’m not lying to you, here’s an image of the thing with a modified screensaver image:

If you have a Kindle 2, 3, or 3 DX, and you want to replace the standard screensaver images, follow this guide. This is at your own risk.

For the rest, here are some other images of the device I’m now having a lot of fun with.

My Kindle’s main menu. Not much to look at, but hey, it’s for books, really. So KISS-approach applies. It works.

Now. You may have gotten on to the fact that I like anime. From there it isn’t so far away that, I too, took my liking to the source of animes: mangas. For the untouched: Mangas are hand-drawn japanese novels in somewhat comic-like form, however they are quite different to normal comic books. Most of the time they are the source of anime shows, and sometimes differ from the anime show.

Mangas, mostly, come in form of scans of the actual book. This results in an array of JPEG files, numbered in order. Luckily for us, the Kindle does JPEGs. It also does some other formats: Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, Audible (Audible Enhanced (AA, AAX)), MP3, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively; HTML, DOC, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP through conversion (Source).

I tried conversion to PDF and MOBI formats, but none of those approaches really worked well. And then, as it so happens on my travels in the web, I found a tool named Mangle.

Basically you point it to the folder containing your JPEGs, give it a nice name, and hit “Export…”. When Kindle is connected, you can point the export right to the device, or point it to a folder on your hard drive for later export.

If you choose to manually export the manga, place the created folder in

KINDLE ROOT/documents/pictures

Create the pictures folder if it doesn’t exist. After you unplug Kindle, it will show it as a new book.

Here’s a page of Love Hina, Vol. 5 (Naru looks cute here):

I won’t tell you how to get free ebooks other than the official Kindle store. However, for news(papers), there are two choices. You can either go to the Kindle store and subscribe to some there. You will get all the advantages of having the medium when ever it is released, flying right into your device.

Or, you could use a little gem I found, named Calibre.

It can do pretty much anything known to man when it comes to ebooks, and that includes conversion from a variety of formats into ebook format, such as MOBI (among others). The tools is not just for Kindle – it supports almost all ebook reader devices, and their formats.

I have three favorite features of this tool:

Fetch news
Find your favorite among a catalog of thousands of news sources, define when to download them (days of week, every day, etc).

Send newspapers to your Kindle email
After news are fetched and converted, they are sent to your @kindle.com address. Automagically. Just tell Calibre your Kindle email, and you’re set. Also define which email it is sent from and make sure it’s among your list of trusted emails (you can set this on Amazon.com).

Manual transfer of content with the Calibre web server
In case you have larger items to send to your Kindle, you can start Calibres own web server, point the Kindle’s web browser to it, and start downloading the files manually. They will show up in your main menu.

One of my favorite publications is Popular Science, so this is how it looks on the Kindle, created by Calibre. It is almost identical to a subscription from Amazon itself.

There is however One More Thing:

Whispernet.

In essence, it’s a cloud service by Amazon, made for the Kindle. If you get the Wifi-only version, this will kick in when you enable wireless on the device. Once you do that, it will synchronize anything it does not have yet. Say you purchase a book on Amazon on your PC – this will sync over. Wirelessly. If you put in bookmarks or notes on your Kindle, and, say you have an iPhone with the Kindle app, and some books, those will sync back into the cloud and on your iPhone. You can, of course, also shop the Kindle store on the device itself.

So far so good. That in itself is not so much of a big feature… BUT! There is also a 3G enabled version of the Kindle. And this is where it gets good.

You pay 50 Euro extra for the 3G. There are no contracts. No fees. No fine prints. No catches, and no back doors. Amazon pays for the 3G. Anywhere in the world. This means, the device has global 2G/3G coverage, wherever you go (and where Amazon has paid, obviously). So all of the features I just mentioned, suddenly become available to you anywhere, anytime.

The Kindle also has a browser on it which allows you to search a variety of things, like Wikipedia, Google, or go to the web directly. The browser is WebKit, so… I may mention to you that these search functions too become available once you purchase the 3G version.

All of those features are free. Forever. You only pay a little bit extra, once. If that’s not something, then I don’t know what is.

So that’s Whispernet.

Wrap-up

I hope I drew quite the picture for you. I personally find myself being absolutely stunned by this little fella, and I can see myself filling it with books I always wanted to read, very quickly. I am already using it on the train for Manga and newspaper publications, it’s an absolute joy to read on it. Sure the device is 16-color greyscale – but you want books, right? Even images, when converted correctly to grayscale look amazing.

This one is nothing short of epic and I can’t believe this passed by me in the last years. Better late than never eh?

I absolutely recommend this device to truly anyone who likes to read just about anything. This device effectively converts books into the digital age without losing any of the appeal of actual books. It’s a device that really knows what it’s doing, you get EXACTLY what it says on the tin, plus all of the features I mentioned.

I got the Kindle 3 with 2G/3G/Wifi and built-in keyboard for 179, which is approximate to the price on Amazon.com.

Marcus McKay, we’re done here.

Continue reading »]]> I needed a tablet. One that isn’t bad at what it does but also does not cost something like the Xoom or Galaxy Tab 10. I found the Archos 7o Internet tablet. A VERY NICE device, the thinnest around, for just 229 Euro.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHtVq9S1Jqg

Most notable features:
- 1 GHz chip
- Multitouch display
- 720p video playback
- ARCHOS developed music player with Cover Flow
- Dedicated 3D chip and thus hardware accelerated graphics
- USB, HDMI port
- 8 GB Internal flash memory, MicroSD slot up to 32 GB cards
- Front facing camera
- Automatic Android/Firmware upgrade through Wifi (again: automagically)

Complete Specifications

It does not come with Android Market and Google Apps, but fear not. Install THIS - and you are on your way to Wonderland.

One more thing…

It can DUAL-BOOT with Angstrom Linux, which, magically, you can get from ARCHOS as well.

The HDMI port lets you mirror the device on your big screen, which is really interesting for games and such. The USB port also serves as input, meaning you can connect a keyboard and stuff like that.

The speakers are superb. Nuff said.

For 229 Euro these are features I couldn’t find at other tablets. If you’re looking for a device that’s good enough for simple users but also provides facilities for the more advanced suers or developers among you, this device will not disappoint.