So…do you have access to Google Wave? If so…add me…!

Contact me and I’ll let you know the email address that I’m signed up with.

However, rather than Googling ‘flash not working ubuntu 9.04′, I though that perhaps I should try looking at how to get flash working on Ubuntu 9.04 rather than focussing on why it’s not working. My search revealed success via this article.

Fantastic…now the iPlayer is working, I can access the menus in AdWords and Analytics (somewhat vital to my job!) and a host of other great things.

EDIT: the link to the article that solved my problem was incorrect, it’s now updated.

EDIT 2: this did not permanently fix my flash issue. Will update once I find a solution.

However, i couldn’t find anything to help you remove the wgasetup file, the Windows Genuine Advantage Notification Installer when it has been downloaded but not installed.

To do so, follow these steps:

1. Reboot in safe mode (press F8 repeatedly on restart)
2. Search for wga* to find all files with wga in the filename. Remove wgasetup.exe file – probably located in C:\Windows\Prefetch
3. Restart and enjoy.

Please note this post is not intended to help people copy Microsoft software and this website does not support such behaviour.

Due to my problems with my previous order, i’m very keen to not to do business with Dell again. My requirements are:

• ability to customise components (or integrated dual-port graphics card)
• good customer service
• reliable systems
• adequate warranty
• reasonably competitive price

If you, or anyone you know, knows a company that can offer this and more…comments would be much appreciated.

I have recently used Google maps, combined with street view, to find businesses, hotels or restuarants in parts of the world that i’ve never been to. I found an electronics retailer in Pottsville, Australia, i found a hotel and a Japanese restaurant in Manchester – all thanks to these services. Now this technology is not new, you have been able to search online directories for nearly as long as the internet has been around, but street view definitely adds another level.

I was called by someone who was not sure where they were going, they knew what street they were on, but not which way to go. Pull up street view, check it against Google maps and hey presto…”you should see a cafe on your left, walk past that then take the next right”. It is a truly revolutionary step. The ability to step inside the map and actually see the streets, see the shops and read the signposts makes the task so much easier.

Their solution is to send me an HDMI – DVI cable. My graphics card has an HDMI port, and my monitor has a DVI socket, so it should do the job.

My dilemna is as follows: the 12-15 hours I have wasted on this issue, the hours of anger and frustration, to get a solution which is not entirely satisfactory…is that worth me returning the entire computer and both monitors for a refund, to purchase a slightly better spec machine from someone else?

I’m pretty sick of the hassle, but I also feel that I don’t want to do business with Dell ever again.

Imagine my amazement (and by amazement, I mean frustration) when it arrived today with a graphics card which only has 1 DVI output (and 2 HDMI outputs). It came with a handy guide on how to set up your computer, saying that if you have two monitors you should use the DVI splitter cable which allows you two plug two monitors into 1 DVI output (splitter cable was not included).

Naturally, I opened up the case to inspect the graphics card and read the model number. With no obvious model number, I decided to call Dell and see what they thought about it.

Ensue over 90 minutes of phone calls. The first 30 minutes (to an 0844 number I might add) were spent shouting down the phone to people in a foreign country who kept telling me they couldn’t hear me. I put the phone on speaker and they were still quieter at my end than a normal call, despite the phone’s speaker being pressed against my ear. Hugely frustrated, I decided that there must be someone in the UK I could speak to, so I phoned their head office.

Luckily, I was put through to the most unpleasant woman Dell could find to answer their phones. She told me that I had to be transferred to their foreign call centre because no one in the UK could take the call. I told her they could not hear me and she told me to ask them to transfer me to another line. She then proceeded to cut me off mid-sentence and transfer me anyway. So, I called the head office again, and got the same woman who told me the same thing, but still didn’t seem to grasp the point that if they could not hear me, I couldn’t ask to be transferred to a better line.

She then cut me off again and transferred me to their corporate customer service department in Ireland, where I was told I would be transferred back to India. I decided to go with it and finally got through to a technical advisor who could hear me if I shouted with the phone on speakerphone (it is at this point that I might add that everyone I spoke to on each step needed my full name and order number, and I spoke to at least 10 different people).

I explained my problem. The ATI website clearly states that the HD 3650 has 2 DVI outputs, yet the card I received has only 1. I was told that I did receive the HD 3650 and that it only has one DVI output. 30 minutes later, it was confirmed that it has 2 DVI outputs and that I must have received the wrong card. The advisor then told me he would find out how to get it changed.

I was then transferred to someone who told me they could not hear me properly, which is when I suggested (loudly and clearly while on speakerphone) that Dell employ customer service advisers closer to their customers, and my advisor said “I’m sorry, could you repeat that, I can’t hear you properly”. He then told me that I had received the correct card, and that the HD 3650 has 1 DVI and 1 VGA output, so even if he sent me a new card, it would not have 2 DVI outputs. I clearly expressed that my card does not have 1 VGA output and he said that I should talk to sales if I want a card with 2 DVI outputs.

In the end, the advisor is requesting that a new HD 3650 is sent out to me and I will take the issue up with the sales department when it arrives if it does not have 2 DVI outputs (which is highly likely).

What does all this mean? Dell has seriously gone down in my expectations. I bought a Dell because I wanted reliable customer service for my business. Their customer service has been very poor on this occasion, not just because I have dealt with unpleasant people, but because their operational systems are inadequate to effectively handle customer support.

HD 3600 Series specifications.

Photo of ATI Radeon HD 3650.

VMware are a company that supplies a virtualization software package for x86-compatible workstations. VMware Inc. is a subordinate of EMC corp. and bears its central office in Palo Alto, California.

The terminal figure VMware is frequently applied in relation to particular VMware Inc. Productions such as VMware Workstation, VMware Player and VMware Server, VMware Virtual Desktop Infrastructure.

VM, which means Virtual Machine (not to be blurred with the wider full term virtual machine), comprises a widely-installed OS for IBM compatible workstations and host servers.

This can host many more OS’s in a way that for every operating system acts like it was installed onto a self-possessed PC with its individual programs and hardware recourses.

What is the value to you with VMware training?

Virtualization is without doubt an applied method that can benefit anyone that has a PC.  All the people who have applied VMware virtualization solutions reduce prices on IT all the while increasing the flexibleness, utilization and efficiency of their current hardware.

But what are the main reasons for such a bold claim?  You can find the reasons below why companies across the globe are improving profits and cutting overheads via VMware.

Cut Costs: VMware will reduce the overall number of servers and also hardware in the data centre which is IT related.  This means a fantastic reduction in physical computers, reduces company power costs and overall gifting the company greatly lower IT overheads.

The responsiveness and flexibility operations will be improved: Virtualization brings a brand new way of looking at how you manage your IT infrastructure, the less time administrators spend on repetitive jobs (monitoring, configuring, maintaining etc), the more time they will have dealing with more important tasks for your company.

Continuity: Your downtime for your IT infrastructure will greatly reduce.  This means no more technical disasters that can take days of your business goals.

Greatly Improved security and manageability for your desktop: Now with VMware you can monitor, manage and deploy your secure desktop environments that the users can gain entry from either locally or remotely,  with or without a electronic network connection, on just about whatever stock desktop, laptop computer or tab personal computer.

Virtualization basically will allow a PC arrange the job of many computing devices, by giving out the resourcefulness from singular PC’s over many IT environments.  All this for just going on a Vmware course.

Virtual server and desktops allow you to host many operating systems and applications closely and in distant areas, making geographic restrictions obsolete.

As well cost efficiencies and less capital disbursements due to more effective functions of your computer hardware resources, you get high accessibility of resources, more beneficial desktop direction, expanded security, and bettered disaster recuperation actions when you build up a virtual infrastructure.

VMware training is important and thats the reason why its number one IT subject for businesses around the world seeking to improve their technology.

• Firstly, the screen is fantastic! You can literally view a full size webpage (it was here that i gave up writing this post on the Touch HD and switched to a shiny new Black NC10 – definitely my netbook of choice!). Even with the phone on portrait view, you can read normal size font on a webpage without zooming in – that’s impressive!
• Secondly, the device itself is gorgeous. It feels well made, and there are some nice touches like the fact that stylus is held in place magentically, and the back of the phone has a softish matte texture so doesn’t show fingerprints quite as easily as the Touch DIamond.
• Thirdly, although this may be specific to Orange, it came with an 8GB MicroSD card! That is a seriously nice touch.

Now…unfortunately it’s time for the downsides to this beastly device. And, there are one or two that i’ve encountered so far.

• Generally, i get the overwhelming impression that the hardware is considerably let down by bad software. It seems as though HTC have done everything they can to improve the standard Windows Mobile 6.1 with the introduction of their TouchFlo UI, but it’s just not enough. I reckon that it is a fundamental mistake to have released the G1 with Android, and the Touch HD with only WM6.1. I could go on for a while about the little things i’ve noticed which enforce this, but i’ll save you the boredom.
• It’s designed to be used with a stylus, but with finger-friendly usability here and there, and it seems to be slightly lacking in both departments, because it doesn’t tick all boxes as either! It’s not multi-touch enabled, so isn’t a truly finger-friendly, and there’s no ability (that i’ve found so far) to be able to customise the screen’s sensitivity…so its slightly tricky to use. But, because it’s partly designed for fingers, it’s quite difficult to use with the stylus!
• Text input is not great. I could just have high expectations, but it doesn’t feel as good when compared to my old HTC.
• Web-browsing is mediocre. On most mobile browsers you can’t read text without zooming in, so you can’t click links without zooming in. On the Touch HD you can read all text, but still can’t click links without zooming in…hhmm…they didn’t really think that one through!

Before i rant on for days…i’ll sum up. The phone is astoundingly good, the software is astoundingly bad. This is the fundamental cause of most of the problems i’ve found with it. Although WM6.1 isn’t the worst OS in the world…it feels like it should be so much more – and that just leaves me feeling disappointed. It feels like it should have a brand spanking new and clever user interface that is a pleasure to use, but instead feels a bit like a Ferrari with an old Lada engine! Hopefully someone will develop Android for it in the near future!

Dear Seller, Am happy to be the winner of your item and am sorry for not reading the item description ,so i will be sending it to my Store in Abroad,so i will be responsible for the shipping costs and i will be paying you via PayPal ONLINE PAYMENT,so i want the shipping via ( Royal Mail First Class Delivery ) so get back to me asap You can email me to my private email address laura445ster@hotmail.com You can call me on +447024061033

As a grand master eBayer myself, i thought this was a little strange. Giving an alternate email address and phone number in the email was a little odd, as was the bad English and unclear message. I promptly reported this to eBay’s Trust and Safety department to have them look into it, and requested the buyer’s contact details before heading to bed.

The next day i awoke to a plethora of emails in my inbox regarding this. eBay confirmed that the buyer’s account had been breached and therefore the sale was invalid. They then removed the item from eBay altogether so that i was not able to give a ‘Second Chance Offer’ and sell to the next highest bidder, or indeed hit the ‘Relist’ button to save me re-writing the auction description.

The rest of the emails were from the fraudsters; both from eBay and PayPal which look very genuine and ask me to ship the item to an address in Nigeria and then enter the tracking number into my PayPal account (they don’t mention where in my PayPal account since there is certainly no box to do it). Upon entering this information, the funds will clear into my account.

What interests me about this whole fiasco is the following:

• as an eBay seller who has sold an item to a fraudster, i’m basically slapped back to where i was 5 days ago before i listed the item. I’ve lost out completely. If i was leaving the country tomorrow, i wouldn’t be able to re-list and sell my item, instead, i’d have wasted my time and still have whatever i was trying to sell. Not great service from eBay there!
• the persistence and skill of the fraudsters, yet their inability to write a clear email in English! The emails i received were all fairly well designed (though many of them were picked up by my crafty Gmail Spam filter) but all had terrible grammar mistakes and sections which didn’t make sense.
• Nigeria! What on earth is it about Nigeria. This seems to be a fairly common problem on eBay, and it always seems to involve shipping to Nigeria!
• the number of people that must fall victim to this type of crime. If i was less eBay savvy and didn’t use Gmail, i could easily have thought these emails were real, and shipped my £200 iPod off to the other side of the world.

It therefore appears to me that this is a rather serious problem that eBay (and possibly the Nigerian Government) need to be looking into a little deeper, and doing something about. I’ve been contacted by eBay before to say that my account had been breached and that i should change my password immediately. Even i used to use a short, common word as my password. I promptly changed that one to a unique 12 digit alpha-numeric code and have thankfully since been fine.

Do you use 1 password for everything? Have you thought about changing it recently? A piece of paper on your wall with all your 12 digit alpha-numeric passwords written on it is probably a lot safer than using your name for them all!

EDIT: The most recent email i’ve received (because yes, this is still ongoing!) is that eBay will take legal action against me if i do not ship the item in the next 24-48 hours! This is serious harrassment! It doesn’t bother me that much, but think if this was your granny trying to clear out her attic! Because the internet is faceless, this is no different to conning old ladies out of their pensions, or robbing disabled people because you know they can’t get up.

2nd EDIT: It’s getting a little ridiculous! I’ve not been told that legal action is being taken against me, and i’ve had an email from the FBI who will presumably (because i didn’t read it) be looking into the transaction and prosecuting me!

That means you can email me on anything (at) fergus-macdonald.com, so please update your address books!

I will look into this problem sometime in the near future, however, for those that can’t wait – I would highly recommend Firefox!

Despite the 200 photo limit being lifted, i don’t want to end up with a stream of 000′s of photos, so i will still be selective in what i’m uploading.

You can check out my Flickr photos here.