Tom Doyle :: TALK

I got my hands on one of the new Eurovox PVR EX5000 to try out and so far I’m pretty impressed. (Thanks to the guys at EuroVox Ireland (www.eurovoxtvireland.com))

The Eurovox PVR is miles ahead of other alternative cable boxes such as the Starview. Not only is the EPG far superior, they just seem to have got the simple things right. Transitions between channel changes is smooth, the onscreen graphics are a lot less obtrusive and it has graphical indicators that make more sense than those on the Starview.

The Eurovox PVR EX5000 also has the brilliant feature - pausing live TV. No longer do you have to miss the important bits on your favourite show when you need to use the loo or make yourself a cup of tea. With one click of a button you can pause the show and revert to it when you have finished doing your bits.

The Eurovox PVR EX5000 also has a recording facility. You can use either the EPG or set a timer to record your favourite programs.

As far as I’m aware, the Eurovox PVR EX5000 doesn’t come with a built in hard drive. You have to buy a hard drive as an extra. Prices for the Eurovox PVR EX5000 start at €189 without a hard drive from eurovoxtvireland.com. With a hard drive, prices start from €250.

Oh and if you plan to use one of these illegally with one of our cable providers, beware that the PVR is for normal cable and the Eurovox TX is for MMDS.

If I had one problem with the Eurovox PVR EX5000 it’s that you can’t rewind TV. With the new NTL digibox PVR option, you can rewind the channel you have been currently viewing. I’ve found this to be extremely useful!

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I didn’t hear any great new tracks this week - probably because of a mix of hard work and the lack of decent tunes out there right now. So I decided to dedicate this weeks song of the week to a fallen hero of mine Mr. Chris Cornell. Chris, when you write and perform tracks like this, you don’t need Timbaland to make you something special, you already are…

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The new Dell.ie website is pretty poor in my opinion. Not only does it look pretty weak, all those areas that I would frequent, like support etc aren’t as easy to access anymore.

Disappointed with this, there websites are usually top notch.

www.dell.ie

I just happened to look at the eFlow website today and couldn’t help but miss the big notice. It says:

“If you have received a payment request notice from eFlow and your vehicle did not make the journey”

Maybe I’m wrong, but this leads me to believe they’ve had quite a few calls from people who have received bills in error. That’s funny enough, but this response is even funnier….

“The problem is most likely due to an incorrect reading of the registration plate of the actual vehicle in question. While the system uses the best number plate reading technology in the world and has an overall accuracy rate close to 100%, no system whether automated or manual can achieve 100% under all conditions. Issues arise such as broken number plates on vehicles, dirty number plates, poor weather conditions, non-standard number plates and specific issues such as mounting bolts obscuring letter or number details.”

That doesn’t sound very promising does it?

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Image via CrunchBase

We’re all acustomed to Nintendos innovation now at this stage. The Wii has been revolutionary (well nearly) in terms of gaming. Now they’ve brought their innovation to YouTube.

Take a look at the “ExperienceWii” channel on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/experiencewii

You may not be interested in the subject matter but stick this one through.

As you go along, watch as the page falls apart right in front of your eyes as if the erratic shaking of the controller has some magically control over your web browser.

Very good and no doubt something that will be passed on to millions. Good work guys!

Image by infomatique via Flickr

An Garda Síochána have released detailed maps on where their “Speed Enforcement Zones” are placed throughout Ireland.

In a brave move to reduce deaths on our roads, the Gardai believe this is just one more step in the fight against eh.. speed!

The list can be found here http://www.garda.ie/sez/Speed_Enforcement_Zones.htm

Don’t forget that there is probably a more comprehensive one here too http://www.irishspeedtraps.com/

Here’s also an article I wrote over a year ago on the above site : http://www.tomdoyletalk.com/2007/07/20/speed-cameras-locations-in-ireland/

Image by tubbynj via Flickr

What has happened one of the greatest vocalists of our era?

Chris Cornell of the SoundGarden and most recently Audioslave fame has just shown that he too is susceptible to selling his soul for the cash!

His MySpace account ( http://www.myspace.com/chriscornell ) has some tracks created with the help of Timbaland. Needless to say, I’m quite disappointed with them. He left a really good band in the form of AudioSlave to create this tripe!!!

Ok I agree the last couple of albums from AudioSlave were heading the soft route, but this is crazy.

Chris please give up this new route now! We’ll miss you greatly over here on the dark-side

Google co-founder Sergey Brin, has started his own blog. His first major post is about his likelihood to develop Parkinsons disease in the future.

Confirmed by Google Insider Matt Cutts to be legit - the blog is Sergey’s take on his outside work life. Anyway, I just thought I’d let you all know

His blog : http://too.blogspot.com/

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I think it’s important for everyone to use a number of different statistics packages to get to grips with exactly what is going on with your website. We use 3 different packages on our site, a server side one, Google Analytics and Statcounter.

Many moons ago now, we had a website that some people actually loved the look of… I really don’t know why, but anyway, it lead to some people plagerising the design (www.comman.de) and using it for there own website.

The wayback machine, does the old site no justice, but you can get the picture - http://web.archive.org/web/20050118093135/http://www.2bscene.net/

You see, this crowd in Germany rippied it off and I honestly didn’t mind, until it started getting a bit of traffic. Because soon enough a chunk of our statistical information on Statcounter became corrupted with their data. Not only did they rip the design, they also took the code for my Statcounter account.

I guess I could easily change my Statcounter code, but why should I? This crowd are the ones who ripped off someones work (and made it look even worse - and that was hard) shouldn’t they simply remove the code? I did ask many times, but it fell on deaf ears.

Maybe now, when Google picks up this blog ahead of Comman International in the search results, they will read this and hopefully remove it from their site!

In fact, I think this site is worthy of the Worst Site of the Week honour!!

From a design point of view, it’s not very inspiring. However the content is great. Get recipes and video instructions on how you can make homemade versions of things like Mars Bars, Big Macs and even Coca-Cola. Some recipes are free, while others have a nominal fee.

Check out the site for yourself! www.topsecretrecipes.com