Category Archives: Useful websites

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3 (Three) UK changing PAYG price plans – voicemail will cost

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Yep, sadly from 22nd April (a really bad day to choose for me!) 3 are changing their PAYG price plans and adding a couple of costs.

On all Pay as you Go customers, voicemail will cost and MMS messages will cost more. There’s also a slight increase in the cost of international calls.

From 22nd April:

  • Voicemail, which was previously free, will cost 15p per minute to call.
  • MMS messages will cost 30p each, rather than 25p.
  • Various international costs will increase.

In return for this, 3 are introducing free Twitter and 0.facebook.com access for all PAYG customers, permanently.

I think this is a bit of shame really – I loved the free voicemail. None of the other changes will bother me that much but the free voicemail was a big bonus for me.

In any case, 3 still provide fantastic network coverage and great value plans so I suppose it isn’t all that bad.

Never mind – I’ll just put call divert on and reroute it to my Skype voicemail.

TVCatchup launches new Media Center plugin – full live TV and guide

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I noticed today that one of the developers for TVCatchup has recently launched a newly updated plugin for Windows Media Center. If you haven’t heard of TVCatchup before, read here.

The developer has been working on a plugin for the popular Windows application for quite some time, but finally a very user friendly version has been launched. You can get the plugin here. You’ll need XP Media Center Edition 2005, Vista or 7 with Media Center installed to use it.

The new interface is much better. A long menu with all the features you’d need.

TVCatchup in Media Center

Sadly, the plugin can’t record as yet – but this will hopefully come in an upcoming release.

If you don’t want to install (or can’t access) a TV tuner or aerial, this is for you. Please respect TV Licensing rules – make sure you have one.

Manage your downloads from your iPhone or iPod Touch

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Manage your overnight downloads without running up the electricity bill!

Do you ever find it annoying when you know you’ve got so much overnight download allowance with your broadband, but don’t want to use it because you’re computer uses so much electricity.

I have that problem regularly. It’s all very well having tonnes of usage allowance between midnight and 9am, but I don’t really want to run my computer overnight as a) it’s a fire hazard and b) it consumes a large amount of electricity.

So, yesterday, I found a solution to the issue. I found an app that will download your files for you and store them on the iPod. Then, when they are done, it will open up a port (8080) that you can browse to on your computer and download the files back locally.

The screenshot below is the file server page that can be browsed to in any web browser on your local network once it is activated within the app (click to see larger size):

I find this app so useful because I can run it all night and it won’t make a sound and won’t cost the Earth. Perfect!

You can get the full version here at £1.19, or get the free version here – but bear in mind that with the free version you can only store 10 files at a time.

Do you still buy DVDs (or physical disks) or do you buy digitally?

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Digital online films are all well and good, but are they better than DVDs?

It amazes me – despite the fact that my computer is rapidly becoming my digital shopping centre, I’m still not sure whether it’s better to buy physical discs (in my case DVDs – my budget doesn’t stretch to Blu-Ray films… yet!) or whether to digitally buy them online.

Cost is still the biggest factor for me – and probably for most people. Often films are horribly expensive on digital stores, such as iTunes, when you can get them very cheaply on shops such as Amazon or eBay as a physical disk.

Also, even if I buy it as a physical disk I can still rip it to my computer and use it on whatever device I want. As far as I’m aware, I’m perfectly within my rights to do so if I own the disk and don’t share it with anyone else. If I buy the content through a digital provider, that may be subject to DRM which means I won’t be able to place it on my iPod or whatever.

I was interested to hear rumours that some stores were offering free digital downloads of content together with purchases DVD discs. I’m not entirely sure whether that’s true or not, but I’d be interested to hear if anyone can verify that info for me.

Do you buy discs or download them (legitimately, of course!)? I’m still a cost-cutter – so whatever is cheaper get’s my purchase! But there are many other factors such as quality or portability that should be considered.

Mediamote – free remote control for Windows Media Center, designed for iPhone and iPod Touch

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I recently stumbled across this free app, available on the App Store, which is designed to work as a remote control for Windows Media Center on Windows Vista and Windows 7.

The app works over wi-fi, so you’ll need a wi-fi connection for it to work. You’ll also need to download the Mediamote server from here and install the software.

Once it is installed, simply run the Mediamote app from your iPod Touch or iPhone, select the PC that it is installed on and then you are good to go.

Now it is up and running, you’ll see that the app has some quite concise options that allow you to control most aspects of Media Center.

IMG_0205

When I tried this with the Windows 7 Media Center, I was very pleased at how quickly it worked and how all of the buttons worked properly.

I would recommend this to anyone who can’t afford to shed out of a new Media Center remote but would like something simple and easy to use.