prescottspie

Yeah, Red Deer would be great if it were big enough, but unfortunately not, especially given we will be having a meal and bands. I doubt many standard pubs would rent out the whole pub, as it will be a Friday night.

The Sheaf View, bottom of Gleadless Road, Heeley. Best selection of drinks I've ever seen in a pub - great real ales, huge selection of good lagers, excellent spirits (including the best cognac I have ever tried). No music in there, just good atmosphere. Caters very well for smokers with its covered, heated outside area. Can't recommend it enough.

Hi Basil, Thanks for the tip. I will certainly consider it, although it might be difficult for friends without cars to get there. Shame, because having asked a work colleague who lives nearby he says it's quite nice!

I know lots of people have asked about reception venues before, but I have some specific requirements I would like to fill: It must be a decent bar - so real ales preferably, nice spirit selection wouldn't go amiss. Needs to hold potentially up to 100 people Needs to have a stage or appropriate floor space for a band We would also like to have our own catering there, and a nice enough area for smokers. Can anyone recommend a place? Cheers Rob

ROFL! It's been a few years since I dabbled in these things, and haven't ever tried circumventing MAC filtering, but.... I did once hack *ahem* my own connection. Set it up with WEP encryption. Downloaded a free brute force tool. Took less than 3 minutes to force into the connection. Wired Equivelant Protection my ass. Listen up people. Dont use WEP. How many websites are out there telling you the same - DONT USE IT! Better still, get some good old fashioned cat 5 out and have a proper lan. </rant>

A workaround would be to try connecting your 3.5 jack to your hifi amp, youll get good sound that way. Do you get sound from the laptop 3.5 connection through speakers or headphones?

I dunno - I've worked for companies that give you the whole "games room, bar and gimmicks" package, but it doesnt make up for working 70 hours or more a week (case in point Apple in the 80s) Beware the Googlezon!

Unfortunately, the big guns are out to get payback for people leeching their software, and they don't care who they make pay. In turn the ISPs are determined not to end up being liable. If you have signed a contract with the ISP stating that you will accept responsibility for what goes on on your connection, and then a takedown notice is sent to your isp (that is, in almost all cases, where the copyright owners will go), your ISP is going to bring up this clause in your contract and pass the buck on to you. There may have not been sufficient cases actually go through the UK courts to have set a genuine legal precedent, but I would say that taking the ignorance defense is likely to lose against the behemoth lawyers of the big companies. My advice: don't have an unsecured wireless network, better still dont have a wireless network And if you must steal software, encrypt your streams and use a tor server!

A quote from Davenport Lyons, lawyers currently prosecuting people for having illegal copies of a game on their computer, in regards to the defense of it not being the defendant's fault, given they have an unsecured wireless network: ""Although your computer may not have been used to carry out the action alleged, your internet connection may have been used. "The security of your computer and internet connection is your responsibility and you need to ensure that both are protected at all times with the most up to date anti-virus and firewall software, and ensure that any wireless router is properly encrypted, in order to be certain that your computer is not being used for unlawful purposes and without your knowledge or consent." And finally, a quote from my ISP's (Virginmedia) terms and conditions - you are likely to have a similar term in any ISP's T&Cs: "You are responsible for the way the services are used. You must not use the services to do any of the following acts or allow anyone else to use the services to do such acts: .......... c) Perform any illegal activity;" There are two crucial points here: You must not "allow" anyone else to do bad things, however, "you are responsible for the way the services are used" Therefore, you are responsible if you, deliberately or through ignorance, allow someone access to your network to do bad things.

This ^ is great colon capital d /edit eyup orb btw, drop us a line, i dont have yr email any more

I don't have a laptop, which is why I'm looking at fancier phones. What I'm looking for is something for good web browsing when on a train or bus or whatever, GPS for those occasions when it would be very handy, and a half decent camera for those occasions I dont have my proper one on me. I'm not so bothered about it having walkman features, I have an ipod that holds all my music, so an 8gb hard drive really matters none. I had thought therefore about the original n95, but it was slow and buggy.

The simple answer is, don't use an unsecured wireless network. It is a fairly useless defense, as it is the responsibility of the contract holder to ensure no unauthorised access takes place. Don't use WEP, use WPA, and in any case it is always better to be wired. I like my tangles of cat5

Riiight...so you expect a service like adsl to be trouble free - never gonna happen. It's the nature of the technology, the convoluted business model (ie that the telephony system is not run by the isp), and the ancient copper wiring adsl runs through. I am no longer using adsl, but when i did (and I used several companies) fixing problems was a nightmare. I would not consider PMing someone a username "jumping through hoops" - it would have taken you a lot less effort than venting your spleen on here. Good luck with the migration and getting your desired speed.

Little Buzz - Yep, sounds about right. I didnt much like the look of the samsung interface, and the thought of a windows mobile phone makes my stomach crawl even more than the thought of an apple based phone. Carl_Malibu - Everything you said about the iphone is exactly why I dont want one. I notice noone commented on the Viewty. It does seem the best phone on my list by far, but the lack of gps bugs me - I would really like this function. I hear it is possible to use a bluetooth gps receiver in conjunction with it, but as usual when it comes to 3rd party apps and hardware, noone from any phone company will comment on whether it will work or not.

I'm getting a new phone this week. I want an iphone killer. Here I list those which I'm considering, and their negative points - any suggestions for others, or comments on these phones? Nokia N95 8GB - slidey badness, plus no touch screen Samsung Tocco - had a brief play, found the touch screen unresponsive, getting things wrong. Don't much like the interface. HTC Touch Diamond - Windows Mobile, not my first choice of OS. Very expensive. Samsung Omnia - almost The iPhone Zilla, but again, Windows Mobile LG Viewty - almost the iPhone Zilla, but no GPS.

I have to say, I have a collection of aged Toshiba laptops, the newest of which is over 12 years old. They all still work perfectly. In terms of their more modern models, I believe Tosh won an award recently for laptop reliability. However, if you want a media centre, go with a Sony Vaio, they are point-and-click media laptops mainly, and if you want to feel like your behind does after a VERY strong curry (if you get my drift), go with a Dell. Your wallet will feel the pain.

One of the things that puts me off voda is their internet fair use policy. it allows 15mb per day on an "unlimited" package - just looking at one page of my photos online would take me over that. 3, i always found, were good value, but as an existing customer they are treating me badly. They also have a limited selection of phones, their customer service is apalling, and the one thing that attracted me in the first place, in that they were the cheapest around, is no longer the case.

Try svpcommunications online, they are dirt cheap. Used to buy overprint cds from them for about 4p a throw, and I always get offers of 1gb sticks for £2 coming into my inbox.

i was disappointed that this wasnt about losing your pack of darts down the pub.

Talk about looking a gift horse in the mouth! You had a PlusNet staff member jumping on your forum post offering to try and solve the problem - good luck getting that from Tiscali!

Ive been a customer with 3 for over a year on a contract. I found out today I am eligible for an upgrade so phoned through to the upgrades department. The guy tried to sell me the price plans they have for new customers on the web, which are worse than my current price plan. Worse than that, he actively lied to me, telling me it was a promotional plan for existing customers only. I spent a good ten minutes arguing the point, but it was like banging my head against a brick wall. I have therefore decided to change operator. Vodafone have had bad press recently for changing their call charges impromptu, but they do have a good offer - £35 a month for 600 mins, unlimited texts, unlimited internet and a free N95 8GB. Does anyone have good / bad experiences with Voda, or any other operator - and can anyone suggest a good deal? I need a lot of minutes and texts, would like an N95 8GB, and free internet.

For accessing an unsecured network? No you can't. Hacking a badly encrypted one, now that would get you arrested.

Actually I disagree. When I used to work in Rotherham I would take a bus through Wincobank down to Meadowhall and a train from there. At the right time in the morning, when the golden sunrise hits the bronze coloured sides of the gas towers, they are a beautiful sight in my opinion.

I think you chose right. nvidia x6xx tend to be < x8xx in some way shape or form. I have an 8800GTS with 512mib and I can play urbanterror at 192fps! 192!!!! @Dozey - I would never, EVER put the life of my PC in the hands of Maplin. A bigger bunch of tards I never have met.

Yes, you're right. It's also an unfortunate fact that the average user doesn't know about / hasn't the inclination to take advantage of the clause in the windows EULA that entitles the user to get a refund for the software if they choose not to accept the license agreement. Some might remember the infamous FAIL of Windows Refund Day, but more recently Dave Mitchell of Sheffield did succesfully obtain a refund for his copy of Windows - http://www.downloadsquad.com/2006/11/08/dell-customer-gets-windows-refund/ /edit having said that, before I first built a computer I thought there was no way i'd be able to. I'd never even seen inside a pc before. I was amazed at how simple it was, and how much money i saved (to get a better system that was more customised to my needs too). I can't recommend this option enough.