GrumpyNut.com

What is going with the Motorola Xoom? You know which one I mean the Android 3.0, 10.1 inch tablet that was first due to be in the shops in February, then in March and then in April and is yet to be seen. Well that is not correct.

What is strange is that I went recently to Currys and PC World in Hemel Hempstead and shops did have stock of the Xoom (£480 inc VAT) even though all selves were empty and were displaying only a cardboard Xoom saying coming soon. What is even more strange is that the shops all had demo units in stock.

Why are shops keeping the motorola xoom out of display? My theory is simple, they are awaiting new pricing and a bit of marketing support from Motorola/Google. With the arrival of ipad 2 and the heavy discounting of ipad 1 (until old stock is used up Currys sell the lower model for £330) the xoom is simply expensive and Android 3 offering (from my brief play with the demo unit) is very similar to Android 2.3 but for a bigger screen (similar to ipad which is simply an over sized iphone).

One can surely see the irony in Microsoft complaining about anticompetitive behaviour.

Things that come in my mind are that these are the people that have given us among other things

1. openxml standard (the so called open standard for office which only microsoft seems to be able to use properly as far as I can see
2. Internet explorer installed by default on their OS as the only easily accessible option until recently
3. Exchange server working properly only with internet explorer on web access
4. Sharepoint web access only working properly with internet explorer browser

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12918059

the above are my opinion based on personal experience as alwats

Trying to use hotmail today I found out that post login I got following error

Server Error in '/' Application.

Runtime Error

Description: An application error occurred on the server. The current custom error settings for this application prevent the details of the application error from being viewed remotely (for security reasons). It could, however, be viewed by browsers running on the local server machine.

Details: To enable the details of this specific error message to be viewable on remote machines, please create a tag within a "web.config" configuration file located in the root directory of the current web application. This tag should then have its "mode" attribute set to "Off".

rror page you are seeing can be replaced by a custom error page by modifying the "defaultRedirect" attribute of the application's configuration tag to point to a custom error page URL.

below

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I tried recently to use the newly launched website for national saving and investments (nsandi.com) which is the only way you can buy on-line from them as far as I know.
The new website requires a username and password before you can use (which you have to register by post).

It was a complete nightmare, a sequence of cryptic dialog messages and errors which ended up with my passowrd suspended and me having to call them again to get a new password out (and now I have to wait for a few more days before I go through the painful process again).

Small sample of the website is below

To make the whole experience more annoying, a few days later I received an letter from ns&i asking me to fill in some details again, and indicate which information I have forgotten. I guess it will be even more days before I can access the service...

Very very disappointing.

My quick review of Big space play area in Harpenden, Hertfordshire. This is my personal opinion of the place.

Plus:
Medium size: soft area, toddlers area, toddlers bicycle (or something) area, two slides (one frequently closed), party rooms
Good coffee/drinks/snacks range.
Good quality coffee
Nice location between St. Albans, Hemel Hempstead, Redbourne in Hertfordshire
WIFI

Minus:
Very slow service for food and drinks
Very limited parking facilities, can get frustrating on busier days
Staff come up with strange rules (you are not allowed to put your child's jacket in a box that easily fit it so you have to carry it with you for no good reason)
Can get very busy
Expensive entry (£7, for one 3 year old and one adult).
Charge for adults separately.
Limited toilet facilities
Slow unreliable wi-fi (when its busy especially)

Their website
http://www.bigspace.biz/