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	<title>Brian’s Blog - Mostly Harmless... &#187; Hardware</title>
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	<link>http://www.briancurd.com</link>
	<description>Mostly Harmless...</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Sun, 04 Jul 2010 16:09:16 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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		<title>iPhone weirdness</title>
		<link>http://www.briancurd.com/archives/789</link>
		<comments>http://www.briancurd.com/archives/789#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 04 Jul 2010 16:09:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brian</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Hardware]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Software]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Techie]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.briancurd.com/?p=789</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Now, Sue&#8217;s iPhone 3GS has a very strange problem. It&#8217;s been there since day one we think and even the recent iOS4 update didn&#8217;t cure it. Symptoms: The homepage icons don&#8217;t go into edit or wobble mode when they are held down. It works fine on mine but try as I might holding any of [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Now, Sue&#8217;s iPhone 3GS has a very strange problem. It&#8217;s been there since day one we think and even the recent iOS4 update didn&#8217;t cure it.</p>
<p><strong>Symptoms: </strong>The homepage icons don&#8217;t go into edit or wobble mode when they are held down. It works fine on mine but try as I might holding any of those icons down does nothing!</p>
<p><strong>Problem:</strong> It means she can&#8217;t easily edit the icon order on the home pages or perhaps more importantly, can&#8217;t move things into the folders that the recent update provides.</p>
<p>If anyone knows the answer I&#8217;d be very pleased to hear from them.</p>
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		<title>iPhone update iOS4</title>
		<link>http://www.briancurd.com/archives/785</link>
		<comments>http://www.briancurd.com/archives/785#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 04 Jul 2010 16:00:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brian</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Hardware]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Software]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Techie]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.briancurd.com/?p=785</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Although I only use an iPhone 3G the suggestion from Apple this week was to upgrade to the latest operating system iOS4. iTunes sync made the whole operation pretty straightforward, if longwinded. After about 20mins-half an hour of data thrashing between the phone and the Mac, I was able to use a few of the [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Although I only use an iPhone 3G the suggestion from Apple this week was to upgrade to the latest operating system iOS4. </p>
<p>iTunes sync made the whole operation pretty straightforward, if longwinded. After about 20mins-half an hour of data thrashing between the phone and the Mac, I was able to use a few of the new features &#8211; folders and email consolidation being the two most useful to me. Unfortunately the update also slowed the phone to a crawl for some apps.</p>
<p>After a lot of Googling I seem to have found a solution which gets back at least some of the speed &#8211; simply reset the phone a couple or three times!<br />
By reset, I mean hold down the ON/OFF button and the Home button for about 15 seconds, that means past the &#8220;slide to power off&#8221; screen until a silver apple logo appears, you can then release the buttons. The phone will display the logo while it resets itself and after about another 30-40 seconds it displays the home screen and your all set to go. It took three goes to speed up anything on mine but it has worked &#8211; results may vary!</p>
<p><em>Of course you&#8217;d be daft to try this without having an up-to-date backup of all your settings &#8211; but you&#8217;ve already got one of those haven&#8217;t you</em> <img src='http://www.briancurd.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif' alt=';)' class='wp-smiley' />  ?</p>
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		<title>Logitech revisited</title>
		<link>http://www.briancurd.com/archives/769</link>
		<comments>http://www.briancurd.com/archives/769#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 11 Jun 2010 10:01:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brian</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Great Service]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hardware]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Techie]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.briancurd.com/?p=769</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[About 3 years ago I added a post here about the fantastic service I had received from Logitech regarding a faulty cordless mouse. Well, here we are, 3 years later and it&#8217;s happened again! My trusty MX1000 cordless mouse has developed the same fault as before. Unfortunately that model is no longer made so I [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>About 3 years ago I added a <a title="Logitech" href="http://www.briancurd.com/archives/222" target="_blank">post</a> here about the fantastic service I had received from Logitech regarding a faulty cordless mouse. Well, here we are, 3 years later and it&#8217;s happened again!</p>
<p>My trusty MX1000 cordless mouse has developed the same fault as before. Unfortunately that model is no longer made so I gave them a call to ask about suitable replacements. Turns out they are are happy to consider the mouse I have as &#8220;under warranty&#8221;,  offered me a replacement, and have immediately arranged to ship it today!</p>
<p>The original MX1000 wasn&#8217;t cheap at about £80 all those years ago but it&#8217;s proved to be a great buy as Logitech want to keep me as a happy customer &#8211; they&#8217;ve certainly done that!</p>
<p>If you are in the market for a new mouse I highly recommend spending a little more and buying something made by <strong><a title="Link to Logitech - great service" href="http://www.logitech.com/en-gb/" target="_blank">Logitech</a></strong> &#8211; my experiences with them suggests you won&#8217;t be disappointed.</p>
<p><center><a href="http://www.briancurd.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/logo-logitech.png"><img class="size-full wp-image-770" title="logo-logitech" src="http://www.briancurd.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/logo-logitech.png" alt="" width="76" height="68" /></a></center><br />
<span style="color: #ff0000;"><em><strong>Update:</strong></em></span><br />
<span style="color: #ff0000;"><em>Well, the new one arrived, as promised. A nice shiny new &#8220;Marathon Mouse&#8221; M705. It&#8217;s not quite as chunky as the old one but much better than the standard Dell optical I&#8217;ve been making do with. Sue has also upgraded from a cheap and nasty wireless keyboard and mouse (bought in Staples about a year ago) to a Logitech laser mouse and keyboard set. I think the quality difference is quite a revelation to her!</em></span></p>
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		<title>Windows Update Problems</title>
		<link>http://www.briancurd.com/archives/751</link>
		<comments>http://www.briancurd.com/archives/751#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 12 Feb 2010 11:35:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brian</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Hardware]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Software]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Techie]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.briancurd.com/?p=751</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This last Tuesday, Microsoft released a bunch of patches and updates for Windows. Normally, I recommend everyone should update but on this occassion I don&#8217;t! Why? Well take a look here, the list of people with problems after this update is growing by the hour and they are having serious problems. My own machine(s) updated [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This last Tuesday, Microsoft released a bunch of patches and updates for Windows. Normally, I recommend everyone should update but on this occassion I don&#8217;t!</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Why? Well take a look <a title="MS Forum" href="http://http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vistawu/thread/73cea559-ebbd-4274-96bc-e292b69f2fd1" target="_blank">here</a>, the list of people with problems after this update is growing by the hour and they are having serious problems. My own machine(s) updated themselves automatically and, thankfully, seem to be working &#8211; Matt though has a problem with his laptop which, maybe coincidentally, now refuses to boot.</p>
<p>Matt&#8217;s machine failed with the famous BSOD (<a title="BSOD" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Screen_of_Death" target="_blank">Blue Screen Of Death</a>) and the display reports a problem with the boot section of his internal drive. While I can see no reference (at the link above) to the same thing happening anywhere else, it does seem odd that it happened on the same day as all these other reports.<br />
<img class="size-medium wp-image-752 aligncenter" title="BSOD" src="http://www.briancurd.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/BSOD-300x225.png" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">There are fixes and details of how to apply them at the link &#8211; as usual with these things, it&#8217;s a good idea to read the most recent thread posts before doing anything which changes your setup&#8230;.</p>
<p>I guess the other problem may be that you won&#8217;t be able to read this if your PC won&#8217;t boot! Doh!</p>
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		<title>iPhone test post</title>
		<link>http://www.briancurd.com/archives/747</link>
		<comments>http://www.briancurd.com/archives/747#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 03 Feb 2010 17:16:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brian</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Hardware]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Software]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Techie]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.briancurd.com/archives/747</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Just trying out the iPhone WordPress app. It&#8217;s a bit odd not having a full screen view available but other than that, it all seems easy enough. I presume I can add photos somehow but I&#8217;ll leave that for another day!]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Just trying out the iPhone WordPress app. It&#8217;s a bit odd not having a full screen view available but other than that, it all seems easy enough.</p>
<p>I presume I can add photos somehow but I&#8217;ll leave that for another day! </p>
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		<title>Apple iPad  -Will it work where you live?</title>
		<link>http://www.briancurd.com/archives/740</link>
		<comments>http://www.briancurd.com/archives/740#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 27 Jan 2010 22:32:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brian</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Funny]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hardware]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Isle of Wight]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Techie]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.briancurd.com/?p=740</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Well the hype is over and the web is alive with reviews, &#8220;hands-ons&#8221;  and more about Apple&#8217;s latest release, the iPad. Yes, I like Apple products and yes, I did follow the bloggers covering today&#8217;s event; but I have a small problem before parting with my hard earned cash. Why? well take a look at [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Well the hype is over and the web is alive with reviews, &#8220;hands-ons&#8221;  and more about Apple&#8217;s latest release, the iPad.</p>
<p>Yes, I like Apple products and yes, I did follow the bloggers covering today&#8217;s event; but I have a small problem before parting with my hard earned cash. Why? well take a look at the <a title="ipad" href="http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs/" target="_blank">US Apple site</a> (today anyway)&#8230; looks good eh?</p>
<p>Well yes it does until you look at the &#8220;Environmental Requirements&#8221; down at the bottom right&#8230;.<a href="http://www.briancurd.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/ipadtemp.tiff"><br />
</a><a href="http://www.briancurd.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/ipadtemp.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-742" title="ipadtemp" src="http://www.briancurd.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/ipadtemp-300x134.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="134" /></a></p>
<p>The first line makes sense but, what the heck does he second mean?  Current temperature here on the IOW is about 2°C, according to the spec published, the iPad wouldn&#8217;t be working here&#8230;.</p>
<p>Yes, of course I know what they mean, but surely they employ people with enough intelligence to avoid this kind of confusion?</p>
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		<title>Less Speed :-(</title>
		<link>http://www.briancurd.com/archives/735</link>
		<comments>http://www.briancurd.com/archives/735#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 26 Jan 2010 20:18:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brian</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Hardware]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Home]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hosting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Isle of Wight]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Techie]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.briancurd.com/?p=735</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Here they go again&#8230;.. My BT broadband speed seems to have settled at 2,720Mb/s over the last few days. It seems that BT are playing games again&#8230;. When I phoned them today to ask what was going on they promptly offered to reduce my monthly payments&#8230;. took me almost 2 seconds to accept!]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Here they go again&#8230;..</p>
<p>My BT broadband speed seems to have settled at 2,720Mb/s over the last few days. It seems that BT are playing games again&#8230;.</p>
<p>When I phoned them today to ask what was going on they promptly offered to reduce my monthly payments&#8230;. took me almost 2 seconds to accept!</p>
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		<title>More Speed&#8230;.</title>
		<link>http://www.briancurd.com/archives/710</link>
		<comments>http://www.briancurd.com/archives/710#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 05 Jan 2010 15:24:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brian</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Hardware]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Home]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Isle of Wight]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Techie]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.briancurd.com/?p=710</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Checked the BT HomeHub again today and now find it&#8217;s reading 4,320 Kbps! Somebody at OpenReach is fiddling with things again&#8230; UPDATE: Mmm&#8230; I spoke too soon, today Wed 06/01/2010 it&#8217;s back to 3,776 Kbps&#8230;.. ;(]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="crestock-img crestock-action-dragged" style="margin: 1em; display: block;"><img class=" alignleft" title="A car speeding concept image" src="/wp-content/uploads/crestockimages/830930-ms.jpg" alt="A car speeding concept image" width="87" height="91" /></div>
<p>Checked the BT HomeHub again today and now find it&#8217;s reading 4,320 Kbps!</p>
<p>Somebody at OpenReach is fiddling with things again&#8230;</p>
<p><strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">UPDATE</span></strong>: Mmm&#8230; I spoke too soon, today Wed 06/01/2010 it&#8217;s back to 3,776 Kbps&#8230;.. ;(</p>
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		<title>Broadband speed change&#8230;</title>
		<link>http://www.briancurd.com/archives/688</link>
		<comments>http://www.briancurd.com/archives/688#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 27 Dec 2009 21:50:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brian</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Hardware]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Home]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Isle of Wight]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Techie]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.briancurd.com/?p=688</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[For ages now I&#8217;ve had a BT broadband speed (recorded by the BT Home Hub) of 3,200Kbps. This has been disputed by the SamKnows speed trial but it&#8217;s near enough. Anyhow, for the past few days the Home Hub has been showing 3,800Kbps. I have no idea what BT have done to get the improvement, they [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>For ages now I&#8217;ve had a BT broadband speed (recorded by the BT Home Hub) of 3,200Kbps. This has been disputed by the SamKnows speed trial but it&#8217;s near enough. Anyhow, for the past few days the Home Hub has been showing 3,800Kbps.</p>
<p>I have no idea what BT have done to get the improvement, they haven&#8217;t moved the exchange, that&#8217;s a certainty, and I haven&#8217;t seen any Openreach vans along the road. I can only assume they found a fault somewhere and I have gained 600Kbps from the repair.</p>
<p>I seriously doubt anyone from either BT or Openreach will ever read this post but, in case they do, well done men&#8230;. may you repair many more similar faults <img src='http://www.briancurd.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif' alt=';)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
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		<title>Birthday Book</title>
		<link>http://www.briancurd.com/archives/648</link>
		<comments>http://www.briancurd.com/archives/648#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:14:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brian</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Books]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hardware]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hobbies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Techie]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.briancurd.com/?p=648</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[For my birthday this year, Sue bought me a copy of The Geek Atlas: 128 Places Where Science and Technology Come Alive. Not only is this book a list of interesting places to visit, it&#8217;s also a condensed mine of information about each one, describing why it&#8217;s worth a visit and providing weblinks for further [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0596523203?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=wightgolf-21&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1634&amp;creative=19450&amp;creativeASIN=0596523203" target="_blank"><img class="alignleft" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://www.briancurd.com/files/51l2XpsV%2BJL._SL160_.jpg" border="0" alt="" width="104" height="160" /></a><img style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.co.uk/e/ir?t=wightgolf-21&amp;l=as2&amp;o=2&amp;a=0596523203" border="0" alt="" width="1" height="1" /><br />
For my birthday this year, Sue bought me a copy of <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0596523203?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=wightgolf-21&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1634&amp;creative=19450&amp;creativeASIN=0596523203">The Geek Atlas: 128 Places Where Science and Technology Come Alive</a><img style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.co.uk/e/ir?t=wightgolf-21&amp;l=as2&amp;o=2&amp;a=0596523203" border="0" alt="" width="1" height="1" />.</p>
<p>Not only is this book a list of interesting places to visit, it&#8217;s also a condensed mine of information about each one, describing why it&#8217;s worth a visit and providing weblinks for further reading.</p>
<p>Whilst there is only a slim chance I&#8217;ll get to visit all the sites mentioned, I&#8217;m tempted to have a go at the 40 odd in the UK! Unfortunately I have found no mention of the Isle of Wight so far but, as the guide covers the world, I suppose that&#8217;s hardly surprising! Nice to see Lacock Abbey and Fox Talbot getting a mention though.</p>
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