Obviously, I haven't read TFA, but the summary says nothing about breaking and entering. Trespassing is a very different thing. IANAL but I think you'll find that in the UK if you're caught trespassing - assuming you haven't done anything else 'criminal' - then the first redresss of the property owner is to ask you to leave. As long as you comply with that request, there is no crime.

I could google this and checl my facts but it's Sunday morning, I just got up and it's far easier to just write something I vaguely recall as though it were definitely true - which, by the way, I think it is.

I've taken a similar approach and have an internet alter ego with consistent DOB, addresss etc. none of which are real. I advised a colleague to set themselves up a gmail account on a similar basis so that she didn't have to give her real email address to 'dubious' sites (The sort where you have to register and verify your email address to access content, presumably so they can sell it....) Problem is, Google now require you to verify your identity even to set up a gmail account - so you have to supply some sort of genuine phone number. At that point I switched to using hotmail and got her set up there instead. In effect, it would appear you can't easily pull this trick on Google any more.

Sorry I know this thread is old now - I read it when it was new and yesterday my boss started talking about exactly what you've done in a College in the UK and I remembered your post. We install and support 'new' technologies in an educational setting and now my boss is talking about using iPads via Airplay and Apple TV... I'd be really interested in any other details you could tell us about what you implememnted and the upsides/downsides. I'm particularly interested in whether you can a) annotate whatever's on the screen (ideally a discreet 'ink layer' like interactive whiteboards) and b) whether you can easily change which ipad is being displayed so you can swap to the students' devices. I'm reasonably familiar with iPads but no nothing about Apple TV. I'd be happy to message you an email address if you're in a mood for sharing.

I totaly agree that MS are asshats for not allowing the iPlayer onto silver but as I understand it, the BBC doesn't have much choice about refusing to make it a gold only option.

With respect to the SkyPlayer service, I've used it quite a lot and it's actually pretty good - better than the actual Sky hardware in some respects e.g. a MUCH bigger movie library available genuinely on demand rather than with staggered starts like on the home platform. What's even more amazing is that Sky don't charge me any more to use this, it's all included in my existing subscription so it was a genuine bonus freebie when it appeared.(this does depend on your level of subscription though so not everyone will be this lucky). However, the crap part is that MS have chosen to make this a gold only service. So you can pay your sub to Sky that entitles you to use the service but unless you also give MS some cash, they won't let you play. Since I don't tend to do much online gaming, I usually get round this by creating a new account every month and MS helpfully give me a free month of Gold each time I do it - well they have up to this point anyhow.

Importantly, as far as I know, who your ISP is makes absolutely no difference to getting this service. Sky are a fairly big ISP these days so they could have maybe tried to manipulate here. I'm not sure where they would've stood legally in that respect - best guess is that they can't do that or probably they would have! The fact that the U.S. is already seeing blocks on content based on your ISP makes me VERY angry.

does % answer that?

You're right about IE6 being a pain in the ass - IE7 also has it's moments but so far I've always found that CSS can be mad to work, it might have to be done differently (wrongly!?) but it can still be done. I just wouldn't even think about using a table anymore - unless, you know, I wanted a table.

Case 1
School: Can we have your mobile number in case of emergency?
Parent: Sure.

Case 2
School: Can we have your mobile number to include in a government database?
Parent: Ha ha ha ha - stop it, you're killing me.

Of course, like all of these databases, one cannot opt out. You gave the information for one purpose and now it's been hijacked for another. Gotta love the UK.

I think they are. Certainly a proportion of my child's health records seem to exist only in a little red book that we as parents keep. Health professionals seem to need to use these books as a primary source of information. Bizzare but true.

I'm also pretty sure that my personal mobile phone number is not stored with my child's details anywhere else either but they're apparently proposing to do that in this database. So now, if I want my child's school to be able to contact me quickly in an emergency, I'm allowing my mobile number to be stored by a government database. Since I've deliberately chosen to keep my number as private as possible, this really pisses me off.

Of course this is only a couple of things that immediately come to mind, I have no trouble believing that a closer examination would reveal all sorts of new information being stored.

Surely, the point is that because Intel is so unbelievably rich when compared to AMD (and getting comparitively richer all the time as AMD haemorrages cash) that no matter how large the fine, there would be no pressure for Intel to raise their prices. My guess is that if they believed they could get away with it, Intel could destroy AMD in a heartbeat simply by:

• 1. Intel sells products at a loss
• 2. AMD forced to follow suit to remain 'competitive'
• 3. AMD goes bust.
• 4. Intel is now the only supplier in town, a swift price rise recoups all the losses they've incurred during the price war.

After being caught out to some extent by AMD in the past, Intel has responded strongly and now has the better technology and this gap only looks as though it will increase since AMD can't raise a candle to Intel's R&D capability.

Sure, there's still some value to be had in certain AMD products, but to me, it's beginning to feel a bit niche - which is a shame. I can't see AMD being run into the ground as being good news for any of us (unless you hold a lot of Intel stock!)

Assuming I have the relative financial strengths of the two companies correct, the only question this leaves is why Intel would have decided to try and tie up these kinds of deals - surely they could have achieved the same effect without resorting to such draconian measures. Sure, getting this kind of agreement from the major system builders protects them from being squeezed on price because the system builders can't choose AMD instead but since they can afford to be squeezed whilst AMD can't, it seems to be a very bad strategic decision - or maybe somebody is now going to point out how I haven't understood the situation at all...