NEVER buy a computer / laptop from mesh. Just dont. Heres why:

While searching for a laptop for university, I came across MESH. I soon found a good spec laptop, thats cheap and has a lot of additional hardware alot of other laptops dont have. There was me thinking Id hit the jackpot.

So I ring them up and place an order. They say it will take 10 working days to arrive, which is fine as that is what their website says. So I take a day off work on the day I expect it to arrive and wait. By about 3 in the afternoon I decide to ring them up and find out if its coming or not. Turns out, all orders had been delayed until next week. They were going to ring me, but forgot.

OK, So now Im a bit pissed off, I could have been working that day. They give me a new time (5 more working days.). So I take another day off work to wait in. And it happened again. They meant to ring me….but didnt. It was a tuesday. So I ring them up and ask when its meant to arrive, they say thursday. My dad rings them later that same day and they say friday. He also asks the sales assistant to ring him back with what mesh will offer us in compensation (by this time ive missed out on £100 + theyve breached their own t&c). That guy never rings. So we ring again, asking what we will receive for compensation, and they never ring back.

The next my dad rings them a third time and they finally get back, saying they will not offer anything in compensation. Bastards. So we cancelled the order.

What really got to me was that they never rang to say that it would be late. They never offered compensation after breaching their own contract.

Hence, never buy anything from mesh, or at least never buy anything if your working to a deadline (ie need it before you goto university or a business.).

Tags: mesh meshcomputers computers laptops service bad

I think that space is no longer in the hands of governments. Back in the day you needed billions of pounds and substantial infrastructure in order to have a space program.

But know NASA is facing cutbacks as all it is used for is satellite launches, and smaller organisations / countries are developing space programs. The Japanese and Chinese have their own programs, as do Europe and even the compnay Virgin.

So how long is it until the next space frontier is pushed back? With Virgin galtatic offering space flights on a commercial scale, I think one almost has. Also, with the Rocket Racing League getting into action we should see some advances in space technology, reducing the cost and increasing the availability of the technology.

I want to know how long it will be until we start mining asteroids / the moon ! As both have useful resources - asteroids have metals (theyre not going to last forever on out planet), and the moon has Helium - 3 which can be used in nuclear fusion reactors.

Just a question of time…

Tehcnorati: Moon Helium3 Space Asteroids NASA Virgin ESA

A militant group in the Nigeria Delta has given the oil companies 24 hours to get out or be killed. While he hasnt quite thought this through, I can see why he is doing this. He knows how much the oil is worth, and how little his region is receiving. They have no clean water, no schools, no hospitals etc. Yet the nigerian capital is well built up and has all of these.

It looks like what goes around comes around, as the Nigerian government coruptness is coming back to haunt them, as theyre about to lose one of their biggest sources of income.

Although the Militant leader’s cause could be said to be just, he hasnt htought this through properly:

1. If the companies go, so does the infrastructure and skills. They wont be able to access the oil. It becomes worthless.
2. Nigeria is the US’s 5th biggest source of oil. No doubt if the militants stick by theyre word, the US army will show up.

But what can he do ? With a corrupt government and the world only caring about the oil, he has very few options.

Will be interesting to see how this unfolds…

Technorati: Oil Nigeria militant corrupt

This is what I think makes or breaks a good business. Customer service.

How many times have you been pissed off becuase when you rang up some national company you use, ie your broadband provider and had to talk to an Indian? Ive got nothing against Indians, but when Im hacked off from trying to fix the broadband for 20 minutes, I dont want to have to decipher what the help support guy is saying.

Its just as bad when you ring customer support about a spare part etc, and the person at he end of the line hasnt got a clue what your talking about.

So when I rang zoom about my guitar pedal ( the power supply broke, I needed a new one), I was pleasently suprised when an English lady answered the phone and new what was going on. She new what I wanted, and even gave me a list of places I could goto get it. Due to this amasing customer support, Ive decided to always use Zoom pedals with my guitar!

Technorati: Customers Business Zoom

Are absolute scum.

I recently purchased a hardcase for my new guitar off ebay. They ask me to transfer the money via bank directly to their account (theyre a German company), so I check their feedback, and with a score of a few thousand I figured that they were trustworthy. So I go down to the bank, aka bloodsucking leeches at Lloyds, ask to transfer some money to a German bank account.

They wanted £20 to do it.

Needless to say I was not amused.

Technorati: Ebay

Russias biggest gas supplier, Gazprom, might be making a bid for British gas. One the one hand this is a good example of gloablisation, technology allowing one company in Russia to be running another in the UK. On the other I find this worrying, becuase it boils down to Russia controlling the UK gas supply. With Gazprom’s shannanegans in western Europe, I think that I have good concern to be worried. As I live in the UK, I dont want to be suddenly told to pay 5 times the regular price for gas. And then be cut off for not paying.

Im suprised the government arent doing anything about this, its all well (or not, as I dont think they should have) going off and invading Iraq for ‘British interests’, but they cannot look after things at home.

We shall see how thing unfold…

In a world where technology is coming together, people are going to make millions, businesses will go bust. While reading through an article on the NY Times website, I read this, and I qoute:

“Business-model anxiety. Will paid download services like Apple’s iTunes, not to mention TiVo’s and their ad-defying fast-forward buttons, undercut TV networks’ huge advertising revenue? Or will video from advertising-supported Web sites become so rich that people will drop their cable and satellite subscriptions altogether? Or will they just steal what they want by using file-sharing software like Bit Torrent?”

Steal what they want by torrent? Being an BitTorrent enthusiast, I feel hurt. Although this is very true, afterall, many people use torrents to download music, games, software, Many people also use it to get TV shows off the net. This way we can watch them when we want to, and not have teh networks dictate out lives.

The only way to get TV shows via torrents atm is for someone to record it on their computer, then share it. They cut out all the annoying adverts, credits, and just give you the show. Which rocks.

However, rather than take advantage and use this technology, it looks like it is coming under fire. Surely its not beyond the TV networks to create a torrent for their shows, with adverts? Then everyone wins. It would also give a nice alternative to having to download the show via google video. An annoying format which can only be played in google video player.

Whenever people find a new way to use technology to make an industry more versatile, the industry gets pissed off. This happened with concert tickets in the UK recently. People were making money from reselling tickets on Ebay, and the industry did not like this.

But they cannot stop the revolution!

I woke up today and it was 10 degrees C in my room. I also woke up in the night from being cold. But it appears Britain has it easy. Wheres im pissed off from not getting a good nights sleep, people in some European countries a little closer to home are dying (spelling?) from cold. Could this be to the increased prices by the Russian state owned gas supplier? (Their name escapes me atm). Surely their must be people who cannot afford the higher price of gas. So they cannot heat their homes.

The Russian company knew that people would need extra gas. It was only a few weeks ago if that that they hiked up their prices. Anyone with access to a weather report sense knew it was going to get colder. If its colder we need more heat, therefore more gas. Russian company sees this as an oppurtunity to make a quick ruble, so they jack up their prices. by 500% in some cases.

As a result of which people have died.

Today, bbc news had an article about people finding it hard to open an account at banks, especially poorer people. At first I thought that this was a load of rubbish as all I needed to open an account was a passport and a was to prove my address (utilities bill, bank statement from previous account etc).

After thinking about it i realised that it is harder for poorer people to open accounts, as they will not have the usual forms of ID that most people do. They wont have passports or driving licences, as they wont travel much or go abroad. If its their first account they wont have a previous statement.

However, they will have utilities bills, and I would have thought that if they really wanted to open an account they could. They probably just dont want to. They might not need to. They could be paid in cash for their jobs and know that if they have a bank account, the government will catch up with them and tax them.

And considering how easy it is to open a bank account, some might say current checks arent enough.

But banks are scum. Pitiful interest rates, poor communications (noone likes talking to an automated machine), and too centralised. Its understandable though. I mean, theyre only making a few billion a year, they have to cut back on these kinda things….

Recently I have noticed several businesses having serious trouble:

• MVC –> Gone into administration
• Golden Wonder –> Gone ito administraition
• Morrisons –> Laying off 1600 employees

Two out of the three are easy to explain:

• MVC –> When was the last time you went there? The last time I saw people in there was thier sale at one of their branches after they went into admin. Just not a popular choice for customers
• Morrisons –> Became too big for their  boots. They became huge over night after buying safeways, and then thought ‘’shit…….what do we do now?”

As for Golden Wonder, they lost ~£11m last year and more this year. That kinda shit just aint good.

Theyre just a victim of competition from Walkers.

Capitilism strikes again.

On the bright side market analysts say the market is due to recover in 2006. It would appear people have realised that debt has to be paid back, and are doing so, therefore have no money left to spend on luxury goods, eg crisps and CDs.