Re: They had no idea

I cut out TV entirely, and now force my children to perform plays of my choosing, in the living room. It's sooooo much more convenient.

Re: Iron man calling his attacks

Only one of them runs around with rubber nipples, yet still manages to be the idol of every boy (and an unhealthy number of grown men).

Wayne>Stark

I'll have to downvote you,

if only because of the memory of Major Kira running round in her grubby vest, like an female, alien, John McClane...

...ooh, cold shower, please.

@Guus

Depressingly, you are quite correct. However, smash two cars together, and block the highway for long enough, and they'll probably turn up eventually.

Re: Satnavs - The curse of modern driving

Isn't "driving without due care and attention" a criminal offence? I'm sure the police would take a pretty dim view of it, at least.

@frank ly

Coward! I just by porn.

No, I jest, no one buys porn, anymore.

Re: Hawkeye

Giving him back his purple costume would have made him far more memorable.

Re: Meh, They may be better off without it.

I like how responses to this comment are all along the lines of "Wii is shit" and "Why won't you acknowledge keyboard layouts other than QWERTY?", missing the point that 1) Wiis are everywhere, 2) many people like to view YouTube, and 3) when using a Wii, the keyboard usually comes up with the expected QWERTY layout.

Are we overrun with Google shills, now?

Re: Basics: What Is a Contract??

Yup. Three took pains to direct me to the relevant small print on their website, when they decided to up my monthly charges. I gave them the benefit of the doubt, and assumed that this was what was written into the contract at the time I signed it, and promptly left them the following month (fortuitous timing, really).

@Gordon Lawrie

Doesn't having multiple credit cards over short periods eventually wreck your credit rating?

I've often considered this approach, but worry too much about missing a payment, and thereby getting stung with some hideous interest charge, and so have avoided it, so far.

@Sir Codington

Thanks for posting this. I set up my RPi at the weekend, and was worried that I was doing something wrong (Class4 SD card not fast enough, for example). Will probably be experimenting with some alternate OS builds, and looking forward to learning as I go (my Linux knowledge pretty much fits in a thimble, at present).

A quick survey of everyone I know that uses Instagram,

reveals that 66% of them work in media. OK, so my sample size was 3, but still...

Re: I used to box as a yoof as well as playing both codes of rugby.

Quite.

This research is all well and good, but you won't catch me punching a gorilla, anytime soon.

Re: download the sustrans app

A fine idea (and I did download a couple of cycle-computer apps, when I got my Android phone), but I don't really want to risk my handset getting smashed/soaked/nicked, so a cheaper and/or well-mounted device would be a better solution.

Re: Charities waste money

The RSPCA spent money in order to prosecute someone over fox hunting? Regardless of your own views on fox hunting, I'd expect the RSPCA to be against it, and so be more surprised if the RSPCA hadn't done that.

If the "religion causes wars and is evil" debate is going to carry on,

I, for one, will welcome the sweet embrace of death, on Friday. At least it will be quiet.

Re: Microsucks Windoze O/Ss suck

Has "Micro$haft" fallen out of fashion?

Re: Why...

To attract the attention of ill-educated bogans who don't realise that you can get free anti-virus software?

Apologies if this is either racist of class-ist. It's probably a bit of both.

Re: I know what I'd do if I was Kaspersky

Then again, you really can't buy this sort of publicity!

Re: battery life of just one hour 20 minutes,

Yes. Reading this, I could quite see it living under my telly, hooked up via HDMI, and with a Bluetooth keyboad/mouse (family asleep? Full screen gaming ahoy!), so the small screen and weedy battery would never be an issue. But really, what would be the point? More than likely I could put something together to do the same, without spending £1k or more, were I so inclined.

Still, credit where it's due for the accessible innards - that's a nice feature in a laptop/netbook.

@ Mark

Quite. Netbooks (and low-end laptops) seem to be overpriced, and utterly stagnant, which is a shame, as they're quite popular in my house (no one wants to do anything work-like on a tablet).

Re: sub $100 tablets

I really like the sound of these cheapo tablets, and there's always someone on forums like this extolling the virtues of the one they've acquired. However, whenever I look into buying one, it's invariably an unknown quantity - reliable review sites seem to stick to the established brands.

It's a shame, really, as I'd quite like a cheap one for the kids (so I don't burst into tears when they inevitably smash it!), but the thought of buying one and then finding out that, say, Angry Birds Star Wars* won't run, doesn't exactly fill me with enthusiasm.

*don't judge me, it's as good a benchmark app as any

@ Paul Crawford

Common sense in short supply, as usual. Of course, it doesn't matter, as we're supposed to bin our mobiles every 12 months.

@ Cynical Observer

As a salaried employee (of the state), I am allowed to claim expenses. However, when I spend that money (e.g. on petrol, car maintenance, train tickets), I am paying tax (VAT, fuel duty). At the end of the year, HMRC look at how much I've claimed, then reduce my personal allowance, ensuring that I pay tax on my expenses again. I'm certainly not making a profit out of this.

I like this arguement.

Complaint: "Duck Duck Go is shit. I used it to search for something, and it didn't find it."

Response: "No, Duck Duck Go is fine. You should have gone to the relevant website and found it for yourself. Why would you need a search engine?"

Bravo!

I'm still using Google, simply because Google is the best there is at what it does (even if what it does ain't very nice).