Well I thought Google would buy them actually,

http://www.powerset.com/blog/articles/2008/07/01/microsoft-to-acquire-powerset
http://blogs.msdn.com/livesearch/archive/2008/07/01/powerset-joins-live-search.aspx

I wonder what sort of effect this will have to Live search. I found that powerset was pretty good with its index of wikipedia, but a little slow. It remains to be seen if Microsoft can really do something about this. What I want to know now is how much they paid for them....

Published on Friday 04th July 2008

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Howdy all... so whats been doing. Actually for myself not much. Just to follow up on the previous blog, yes I am still running as a non admin account, and I havent had any problems at all, nor have I reverted to being Admin all the time. I think the only real problem was Winamp which likes to have the ability to write to its own directory. Other then that all is pretty cool bananas.

So in other news I was thinking the other day I spend all day working and never really spend any of the dosh I earn. So I thought I would go and buy something small to keep myself focused. Went out and picked up Mario Kart Wii, which I have previously played at Josh's. Its actually the first Mario Kart game I have ever played, and quite fun. I must admit the graphics are pretty poor im comparison to most things these days, but that's more an issue with the Wii. Despite what anyone else says about gameplay vs graphics, it is nice to have sharp graphics, even if they are cutsie as in the case of MK. Otherwise I haven't played it much but I have been enjoying it.

What else to say... err not much actually. Little boyter appears to enjoy his time away from the nest and is living the high life. Yeah that's pretty much about it at this point.

Published on Thursday 03rd July 2008

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Is surprisingly easy actually. I guess I should clarify that. I reinstalled windows and I am running under a non privileged account, which is pretty much how windows dosn't like to run (XP that is, I believe Vista does this correctly). So basically I am running in OSX or Linux mode.

The only real problem I have had so far is getting Winamp to work. Seems it likes to be able to write to the directory it is installed in. I was going to install a separate version, but I just carpet bombed write permissions across the winamp directory which takes care of it. Not exactly neat but seems fine.

So yeah the nLite version of XP worked a treat and I am quite happy with how it is going now. I also have a few Virtual Machines set up which I am planning on installing anything I dont use on a day to day basis. So yeah thus far seems to be working well. If nothing else and I resort to my old style of install at least it is a dammed sight faster then before.

Published on Wednesday 25th June 2008

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Well today is d-day for me. You know that time where your PC has just started to grind to a halt and needs to be spring cleaned. Except in this case rather then clean im implementing scorched earth policy and starting from scratch. Yes today is the day of the dreaded format reinstall.

Actually its also part of my plan to make my PC last as long as possible. See currently like many people I run Windows as an Admin. Which is kinda needed for XP, however my plan is to basicly stop doing that. However where this plan changes a little is I am going to also set up a few virtual machines which I will install all of those applications which you need from time to time. Stuff like DVD authoring etc... So in theory by doing this my base install will never become corrupted or slow or crappy etc....

Perfect in theory, but we shall see how it turns out in a few days time. I am still in the backup process as I write this, and I never realised just how much stuff you collect on your computer. Thank goodness I purchased that external HDD the other day because I would have spent all day backing stuff up to DVD otherwise... or given up. I did a quick check then and I have 61 gig of stuff in My Documents which is pretty nuts. Im going to keep most of it on the external drive from now on, and hopefully just move across the stuff I want from time to time.

So yeah... all is going well, once I figure out how to use nlite (http://www.nliteos.com/) and get everything going nice and neatly. Will report back at some point with how it went.

Published on Saturday 21st June 2008

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Some actual news from this weekend.... not regarding myself really but more whats going on around me.

Ok so firstly my brother moved out on Saturday. I chatted to him before and he seems to enjoy it so far. He is on a trial basis with the people he is living with for 1 month, after which they and he will decide if he is going to stay. Read as much into this as you want.

Hmm what else. I have been moved at work. I am in another team which as I mentioned somewhere else on this site is both and It means I wont be sitting with the people I was before which is kinda dodgy but does mean I will be doing some more interesting stuff (on paper anyway we shall see).

Yeah thats about all for the moment. I have been playing Assassin's Creed a tiny little bit over the last week. Seems pretty good, somewhat similar to Tenchu for Playstation. The graphics are spectacullar in comparison though, and it is plesant just wandering through the cities looking around.

Published on Tuesday 17th June 2008

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