Disqus - Latest Comments for AndrewGirdwood

Re: F.A.T.A.L.

AndrewGirdwood — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 03:02:30 -0000

I think it's worth noting that this guest review is one of the many copied over from GameWyrd. There we allowed anyone to submit a review but also anyone to rate it - a sort of self correcting balance.

That system is present here through the Outbrain star system (this review has been rated 8 times for an average of 1.22 stars so far!) but it's not quite the same thing.

Sadly, cp900561, who wrote this review back in the day isn't likely to get these comments. Comments actually help promote the review. The best we can hope for in "self correcting" is for readers such as yourself to leave some positive comments and positive ratings on reviews/posts you liked more!

Re: Interview with James Norbury of the Corporation RPG

twitter-14383250 — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 17:23:41 -0000

I dunno, it makes me think of Cyberpunk sans the punk. Rather than playing the runner underclass, you're playing the suits who would try and stop them.

Re: Interview with James Norbury of the Corporation RPG

AndrewGirdwood — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 16:09:16 -0000

I'm not sure. SLA was more gritty and grundgy - the dreams of a mad Glaswegian. This seems to be sharper and more direct.

Re: Easter Eggs in Mystery Google

AndrewGirdwood — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 03:51:37 -0000

Alas, no... that one's a joke :) I wonder how many people type it in!

Re: Has the iPhone jumped the shark?

badgergravling — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 07:02:44 -0000

Cheers for sharing, and sorry to hear you phone got pinched. If I'm going to buy a new phone, this second, with my own money, I'd be likely to go straight for the HTC Hero - the Dragon and Droid are interesting, and certainly one of the key things for me is battery life.
The only other solution, which is what I currently do, is to carry two phones - one smart phone for working/emailing/photography etc, and one 'dumbphone', in this case an old Sony Eriksson walkman phone, which I can charge for 3 or 4 days of use, and use for listening to the odd podcast or album when there's nothing else around... And the best thing is that it's on Pay-As-You-Go, so it costs me nothing and means I can always be alerted by key people in an emergency without having any battery problems...

Re: What is a headless browser?

AndrewGirdwood — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 04:59:05 -0000

Nope, not that new... but Google's suggested use of a headless browser in this way is new.

Re: Caroline Dunford reads from A Death In The Family

AndrewGirdwood — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:17:15 -0000

Great! That's something to look forward too. With a bit of luck I'll be able to post it here too! :)

Re: Easter Eggs in Mystery Google

XSEVM — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 21:56:44 -0000

why thank you! : )

Re: Easter Eggs in Mystery Google

AndrewGirdwood — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 14:02:00 -0000

Great spot. Blogged about it and given you the credit :)

Re: The Sony Ericsson Hopper tower #pumpt (via @theweird1ne)

AndrewGirdwood — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 08:14:12 -0000

Dare, really? Are you sure?

Re: Has the iPhone jumped the shark?

AndrewGirdwood — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 06:41:29 -0000

I had my iPhone stolen a year ago. I was so frustrated with it (partly an anger response after the theft) that I didn't replace it. The battery died so quickly I had it a case that contained a spare battery and a solar panel.

I went with a Sony Ericsson X1. I like the phone but it comes with Windows Mobile.

There's little chance I'll go back to the current crop of iPhones. Exactly as your post touches on.. I'm currently trying to wait for the HTC Dragon (or perhaps the X10). Geek friends have all bought the HTC Hero recently in favour of the iPhone.

Re: Easter Eggs in Mystery Google

AndrewGirdwood — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 05:21:17 -0000

Can't confirm that does anything. What happened for you?

Re: Easter Eggs in Mystery Google

AndrewGirdwood — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 03:41:31 -0000

Great find. Added to the list!

Re: Easter Eggs in Mystery Google

AndrewGirdwood — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:29:09 -0000

Perfect! Thanks!

Re: Easter Eggs in Mystery Google

AndrewGirdwood — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:28:59 -0000

Great find. Thanks!

Re: Deadly Leopard Seal Tries to Feed Penguins to Photographer

AndrewGirdwood — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:24:26 -0000

Gosh! I thought I'd been to some awkward dinner parties before watching that vid!

Re: Civony successfully rebrands as Evony - boobs tactics work

AndrewGirdwood — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 06:42:21 -0000

Oh dear. I can see why your mom raised an eyebrow! I'm told the game itself is very dull and not like the adverts.

Re: Easter Eggs in Mystery Google

AndrewGirdwood — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 05:40:37 -0000

Good spot! I've added that to the list.

Re: Is Google pulling Social Search experiment after just a few weeks?

twitter-37010284 — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 18:29:30 -0000

I did opt out and back in again no prob... I guess I'm going to sleep tight anyway ;-) btw no issues with general search

Re: Is Google pulling Social Search experiment after just a few weeks?

SuezanneCB — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 16:27:02 -0000

Yes, I was in the Social Search experiment, and haven't left it. I've seen the error message a number of times.

Re: Is Google pulling Social Search experiment after just a few weeks?

AndrewGirdwood — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 15:16:14 -0000

Are you in the Social Search experiment too? I'm curious to whether any other experiments are effected.

Re: Is Google pulling Social Search experiment after just a few weeks?

AndrewGirdwood — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 15:15:37 -0000

I'm not sure help will be forthcoming - it shouldn't be messing up any of your searches so I'd just put up with it or opt out of the experiment (caution: you might not get back in) for now. Or is it getting in the way?

Re: Head to Head: A Bing UK versus Google UK comparison

AndrewGirdwood — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 09:18:43 -0000

Hi Tim,

This is a sample of ten results so it had no scientific credentials at all. The sample set is too small.

I cleared all my cookie data before beginning the test; credit me with just a bit of intelligence :) but could do nothing about the geography associated with my IP address. Another "leak" in the test, if you will, was how the search engines took my previous searches into account (despite a clean cookie for each search) if they were adjusting results based on IP address, etc.

The methodology was as simple as stated. Who was the target audience for the site? If it was a .com.au, .co.za, etc, then it failed. If it was a retail site with prices in dollars, etc, it failed. If it offered American specific advice, New Zealand specific advice, then it failed.

It does sound, therefore, that you're getting different results to me. Your example of USA results for [birmingham car hire] would have pushed Google's score down to 8/10.

Re: Mocking Murdoch? Look at the share price

twitter-4072891 — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:50:11 -0000

I'm not sure it will even fall to the blogs... There will always be another news publisher out there who believes they have what it takes / are innovative enough to be able to provide news journalism for free.

And we obviously have the BBC in the UK too...

Re: Mocking Murdoch? Look at the share price

AndrewGirdwood — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:56:57 -0000

Oh. Don't get me wrong - it's a crazy plan. What will happen is that blogs will re-write the news, without upsetting copyright, people will get their news from there and News Corp will loose influence.

I'm showing the market trends just because they do seem to be going against the crowd sourced wisdom of digital commentators. It's a pause for reflection; nothing more.

I, for one, am looking forward to see where this goes!