SeSco

SeSco http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/forum/forum/ http://www.eblah.com en Boeing Dreamliner GigaPan view http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/forum/forum/m-1279879919/ http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/forum/forum/m-1279879919/#num1
It is new, and to be hoped that we know enough now not to suffer the surprises that were suffered when new material were first used back in the 1950s.

Interesting to note too, that the aircraft was accompanied by two Spitfires on its arrival, one at each wingtip:

The Dreamliner: a revolution in high resolution - New Scientist]]> Fri, 23 Jul 2010 11:11:59 Apollo Uploading Pics http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/forum/forum/m-1279742570/ http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/forum/forum/m-1279742570/#num1 Wed, 21 Jul 2010 21:02:50 kendo No fault but Dell loses millions http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/forum/forum/m-1279725522/ http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/forum/forum/m-1279725522/#num1
Even though it would not be true, I wouldn't mind if anyone thought I was some sort of pro-Google evangelist (or pro-Microsoft, or pro-Tesco, or any other big company that attracts the attention of Rent-a-Nut, or those who seem to thing that big = evil), because I don't mind going against the populist flow.

This story is worth having a look at because it concerns Dell and the production of millions of PCs which were assembled with the potential to fail due to a defective capacitor, estimated to have cost them $300 million - even though they were blameless and played no part in the actual problem.

I'm sure there are those who will berate Dell for not jumping up and down and shouting to the world that it had ultimately manufactured and sold computers which contained the capacitors, but that really is another issue, and a consequence, not a cause.

It's almost hard to describe and get right, but it seems that back in 2001, a scientist stole a secret formula for an electrical product from his Japanese employer and took it to China. Then it was stolen again and turned up in Taiwan - but something went wrong, the formula was copied with an error  - and thousands, perhaps millions, of computers and electrical goods in the West begin to burn out or explode, as the capacitor had been constructed with faulty materials.

So although Dell has been named, there are plenty of others out there affected by the same problem, as the formula for the electrolyte in these capacitors was wrong, and the capacitors were used throughout the electronic industry, not just by Dell.

Seems it has come to be known as the 'Capacitor plague', and in what I see as a classic piece of misdirection, now has people blaming the industry for it, because it is supposedly responsible for trying to get more product for less money - so we shouldn't be blaming the greedy little worker that stole the formula, and got the copy wrong after stealing it.

Well, I might almost agree, were it not for two small facts: buyers and sellers have been driving prices down for millennia, and if the design hadn't been stolen copied with an error, then the pricing wouldn't be an issue. Even if they were being given away, if there wasn't a fault built-in as a result of the theft, then there wouldn't be a problem. Getting a good deal doesn't make capacitors explode - stealing the design and getting it wrong does.

How a stolen capacitor formula ended up costing Dell $300m | Technology | guardian.co.uk]]> Wed, 21 Jul 2010 16:18:42 Apollo One million page views http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/forum/forum/m-1279713188/ http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/forum/forum/m-1279713188/#num1
One of the reports that falls in here every so often reported that we had passed one million page views, so I thought I would at least share it, in case it matters:

Page Views

            Total .................... 1,035,611
            Average per Day .............. 2,058
            Average per Visit .............. 2.7
            This Week ................... 14,404

(Don't ask if these are unique views - I've never looked

)]]> Wed, 21 Jul 2010 12:53:08 Admin Java Update Problem http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/forum/forum/m-1279303914/ http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/forum/forum/m-1279303914/#num1 Fri, 16 Jul 2010 19:11:54 The Fox The digital radio switchover http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/forum/forum/m-1278587170/ http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/forum/forum/m-1278587170/#num1
The digital radio switchover may not happen as early as planned, as the government says the proposed 2015 date is a target and not a deadline. Will you be ready for the digital revolution?

Tuning out? | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

I, and I believe many others, especially those technically qualified, consider the DAB or digital radio plans in this country to be something of Pig's Ear, and nothing more than a mess that has no real plan, and is a muddle of technical bodges.

Many have also pointed out that although DAB (of whatever flavour) has many advantages, its main disadvantage is that it does not offer the marginal operation that analogue system using AM and FM enjoy, leading to holes in coverage that simply to not arise with the older technology.

The argument being that rough and scratchy reception may not always be particularly pleasant, but that it is preferable to no reception at all.

You can vote on the site I gave above, and I don't mind revealing that I voted 'No'.]]> Thu, 8 Jul 2010 12:06:10 Apollo Firefox 4 beta 1 released http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/forum/forum/m-1278577032/ http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/forum/forum/m-1278577032/#num1
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/beta//

It's interesting to see that it incorporates as standard a number of features that I run as add-ons for 3.6 - including some I have chosen to de-activate as I prefer the 'old' way, so it will be interesting to see if anyone comes up with add-on to 'undo' these features when 4 becomes the norm.

While a quick look at the various SeSco option shows nothing broken, and the various pages look ok, I'm off to uninstall it - not because there is anything wrong with it, but because at this stage I can't quickly make the many add-ons I live with compatible... and I really need them.

However, if you are not an add-on junkie, then it looks like it might be worth moving too, although don't forget this is still beta, and a number of the new features are yet to be made active.]]> Thu, 8 Jul 2010 09:17:12 Apollo No more analogue television on sale http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/forum/forum/m-1278518769/ http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/forum/forum/m-1278518769/#num1

There a short pictorial feature following, showing a number of analogue television sets over the years.

Televisions through the years | Media | guardian.co.uk

Interestingly, we had one similar to that shown in image 7/11 of this series, but ours was huge by comparison. That pictured is probably the standard 14" set of the time, while I reckon ours was at least 19".

The unique aspect of this set was the flip up flap on the top. Releasing this turned the set on, closing it turned the set off, and the panel cover all the set controls. When it was 'disposed of', we found out why it was so heavy - the glass on the front of the tube was at least one inch thick!

You can see one of our other early television sets pictured here: Oldest UK television found – a 1936 Marconiphone]]> Wed, 7 Jul 2010 17:06:09 Apollo How the numbers stack over web sites http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/forum/forum/m-1278429033/ http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/forum/forum/m-1278429033/#num1
What it takes to be a top 100 website (charts) | Royal Pingdom

Quoted Text

Here are a few key findings:

    * To become a top 1,000 website you need at least 4.1 million visitors per month.
    * To become a top 500 website you need at least 7.4 million visitors per month.
    * To become a top 100 website you need at least 22 million visitors per month.
    * To become a top 50 website you need at least 41 million visitors per month.
    * To become a top 10 website you need at least 230 million visitors per month.
    * To become the number 1 website in the world? Then you need more than 540 million visitors per month. (Good luck with that.)

Facebook is the site behind that last number.

And just to be clear, whenever we say “visitors” in this article, we mean unique visitors.

Guess my brain must be wired up wrong - I'd be embarrassed to admit being on Facebook (at the personal level)

]]> Tue, 6 Jul 2010 16:10:33 Apollo Switching to Firefox http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/forum/forum/m-1278096753/ http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/forum/forum/m-1278096753/#num1 I've finally made the decision to switch from I.E. after getting sick of malware attacks (another one yesterday which I managed to outwit) but after downloading and installing it won't run.

Question: Does I.E. 8 have a trip wire embedded? i.e. It sounds fanciful but is it stopping my Firefox from running? ]]> Fri, 2 Jul 2010 19:52:33 Captain Brittles