Will the real Taylors of Derby please stand
up?
The convoluted and occasionally disastrous meanderings of
government IT projects clearly occupy the minds of more than just
MPs and computer journalists. While not quite reaching the outrage
of disgusted of Tunbridge Wells, Lynn Billings of Royston revealed
her fears in an angry letter to the Daily Telegraph.
During multiple attempts on the phone and online to register for
the electoral roll, she was asked to confirm the details of "a
family called Taylor in Derby".
Not surprisingly, Ms Billings is not an optimist about the NHS
IT programme and is alarmed about the proposed index of every child
in the country. "As for ID cards, I dread to think," she
concludes.
Come in, the Taylors of Derby.
Yet another way to help you spy on your
spouse
Checked your mobile phone lately? If not, someone else might
have. Downtime was alarmed to read that a firm called Vervata is
selling spy software for mobiles called Flexispy which lets the
buyer "secretly record every SMS message, view their call history
and more!"
Their promotional literature includes a testimonial from a
customer who enthuses, "Thanks to Flexispy, I finally figured out
my wife was cheating on me with my brother. My life is so much
better."
When quizzed about this bizarre - and morally questionable -
promotion technique, Vervata managing director Atir Raihan said it
was there to make people smile. "People have their own reasons for
buying all sorts of things - they do not all buy cars to rob
banks," he says.
Winter's coming - so get your polystyrene coat
on
Yet again, a chastened Downtime stands corrected. Never one to
let the facts get in the way of our unstinting efforts to raise a
half-smile, it seems our belief that aircraft holds operate at
arctic temperatures is wide of the mark.
As reader Michael Strauss points out, it is not uncommon for
pets to be checked into the hold. "I am sure they do not have to
endure temperatures anywhere near those described - and laptops
probably do not either. Did the same source suggest holds were
unpressurised?"
Moving swiftly on from this nitpicking, other readers were more
willing to take our account at face value. Anna Langley even
helpfully suggests that the most effective way to prevent a laptop
from freezing in an aircraft's hold would be to clad it in
polystyrene foam.
"It is an excellent thermal insulator, which is why you do not
burn your fingers drinking hot coffee from a polystyrene cup. And
it is a good shock absorber, which could be a lifesaver considering
how careful baggage handlers are."
In view of all this, Downtime is thinking of moving into an
as-yet untapped market: polystyrene clothing for pets on planes. A
surefire winner if ever there was one.
Why it's time to tell your laptop to stop
smoking
Downtime is less than reassured by news of another Dell laptop
fire.
This time, David Costello was travelling in his truck with his
daughter through Florida when the laptop started smoking.
Costello flung it onto the back seat only to ignite a major
fire, causing him to crash into a road sign and hastily retreat to
a safe distance to watch the truck get burnt to a cinder.
With laptop users already understandably jumpy, Dell will not
have done much to ease frayed nerves by pointing out that the
notebook in question was not, in fact, among those that have
recently been subject to a recall.
Not quite sure how that is meant to make us feel any better, but
there you have it.
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