The boy is back...

...At school, that is. 

Every year, we take all our books etc to school for day one.  Every year we take our art pack on the first day.  (Every year our art pack is more expensive - what happened to last year's equipment???)  Every year Art is NOT on the first day...  (Three out of three years in a row...)

So far we have a South African english teacher with a weird name and even weirder/warped sense of humour.  At least the boy thinks he's ok.  Apparently he gave up a job as Principal to come to NZ to teach the wonderful students at 'The name is changed to protect us from legal proceedings' High.  So no complaints after one lesson.

We don't have the head of the science department nor last year's teacher. Yay.  Actually the 'Head' is quite lucky he doesn't have the boy!

We didn't bunk, as far as I know.

('Mum, how do you expect me to remember everything.  I don't know who my teachers are.'  Should I be suspicious?)

Didn't see any signs of fighting.  Nup. 

The hair gel didn't work - no spikes.  How sad.

We were actually home (and answered the phone) when the mother rang at 4.30, requesting the leg of lamb be put in the oven, which was to be put on 350 degrees.  (Very good, it is farenheit!)  We listened very carefully to the mother's instructions - where to find the roasting dish and all...

We made an excellent joke about it being a small lamb, seeing that it fitted in the fridge.

Too bad we forgot to actually put the roast in the oven.

And that, gentlemen and ladies, is what fathers are for...





  I didn't do it.  Oh yeah, I forgot...

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Previously, tvnz on demand used Microsoft's PlaysForSure DRM to protect (and make people pay for) their content, but now will instead focus on a ad-based scheme to provide the programmes via streaming only.

Also reported is a portal for Mobile On Demand content with one of the mobile companies, and having content served up on the PS3 and Xbox.


"TVNZ surrenders to video pirates" - http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10490999

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Opera Software has announced Opera 9.5, its new web browser version for smartphones. The software is not available yet, but it will be hosted at Opera Mobile sometime after the Mobile World Congress 2008.

In the meantime, there's a demo video available and shared below.

Opera Mobile 9.5

I am looking forward to having this installed on my Windows Mobile device.

Is just me or does it show all the features Internet Explorer Mobile should have had for the last few years already?

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Reports on the web of a three-year-old study that linked cell phone usage to men's fertility has created new interest in a follow-up study headed by the same Ohio-based researcher Read More

I use these religously. They will work on almost any mobile phone as they are just static update images.
Thanks to the developers for keeping it simple and avoiding piles of javascript pointed controlled dynamic images.

Manhinli did a blog how some N95 owners were in a trial to feedback the accelleration characteristics to plot how bad traffic was which is a great development idea and prompted me to upload these.


Wellington (by Citylink)

Courteney place
http://www.citylink.co.nz/images/webcam/courtenay.jpg

Mout Victoria
http://www.citylink.co.nz/images/webcam/mtvic.jpg

Aotea Quay + overpass
http://www.citylink.co.nz/images/webcam/aotea.jpg

Terrace looking nth
http://www.citylink.co.nz/images/webcam/terrace-north.jpg

Terrace looking sth
http://www.citylink.co.nz/images/webcam/terrace-south.jpg

Zephrometer! Evans bay
http://www.citylink.co.nz/images/webcam/zephyr.jpg

Thanks Citylink, We really appreciate these cameras.


Auckland (by TransitNZ)

North Shore ALbany
http://www.trafficnz.info/ViewCameraImage.do?id=1

North Shore Tristram
http://www.trafficnz.info/ViewCameraImage.do?id=11

North Shore Northcote
http://www.trafficnz.info/ViewCameraImage.do?id=12

North Shore Esmonde
http://www.trafficnz.info/ViewCameraImage.do?id=13

North Shore Onewa
http://www.trafficnz.info/ViewCameraImage.do?id=14

Central m way junction
http://www.trafficnz.info/ViewCameraImage.do?id=15

Remuera Market road
http://www.trafficnz.info/ViewCameraImage.do?id=16

Greenlane
http://www.trafficnz.info/ViewCameraImage.do?id=17

Penrose Snarlup (currently DOWN)
http://www.trafficnz.info/ViewCameraImage.do?id=18

Manukau
http://www.trafficnz.info/ViewCameraImage.do?id=20

Alfiston Road
http://www.trafficnz.info/ViewCameraImage.do?id=21

Auckland city
http://www.trafficnz.info/ViewCameraImage.do?id=22

Western Springs
http://www.trafficnz.info/ViewCameraImage.do?id=23

Te Atatu
http://www.trafficnz.info/ViewCameraImage.do?id=24

Henderson East
http://www.trafficnz.info/ViewCameraImage.do?id=25

Henderson West
http://www.trafficnz.info/ViewCameraImage.do?id=26

Same goes to Transit.

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The US$31-per-share offer "massively undervalues" the company, says source Read More

A study ranking shows there is work to do to realise the benefits of ICT Read More

The iFrame technique used on the site has been seen in thousands of similar hacks over the past few months Read More

I recall that when I got my first computer, a C=64 and the 1st time I saw the message,

"PRESS ANY KEY TO CONTINUE"

If you don't know the C=64 Keyboard, it has three layers of keys. So each key had the standard character + two symbols. It took a few seconds before I realised that my computer didn't have a "ANY" key hidden and it was meaning any key at all.

This made me think, as I had my morning coffee, how cool it would be to have keys like that, based around a programming language. Keys like AND NOT, well the basic logic instructions, would it have made programming easer. Then I had some cake, looked a buda and thought up a fake interview...

Reporter to Nintendo, "Some say the DS is stealing peoples Souls."
Nintendo replies "Don't worry you will get it on a higher level"

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If you are planning the deployment of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 in your organisation or at home, here is a tip I got from a conference call with the Windows Vista team in Redmond: the last Windows Vista SP1 RC2 (build 1800) released to beta testers contains the same bits as the Windows Vista SP1 RTM announced a couple of days ago.

It means that for all of you out there planning compatibility tests, migration, etc you can safely use the RC2 as a base platform for testing.

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New tack taken in UK Read More