[blacklion1725]

I’ve got that big Kobo Drezha linked to (Kobo Aura One 7.8″). Love it. Aside from the bigger screen the big win is Overdrive where you can borrow library books (if your library participates – mine does). I think USA Kindle supports this but not UK. Its the reason I finally joined my local library.

The Kobo is expensive though- I got mine for (I think) about £120 – which maybe what they should cost. Saying that paperwhites are expensive as well.

I still get most of my content from Amazon and convert with Calibre. I also convert quite a lot of Wiki stuff to read on it using the Chrome “.epub” extension which works pretty well.

Sync is the big let down with my setup – but most of my stuff is non-fiction and reasonably easy to find where you were.

I’ve never been happy reading on tablets – do it occasionally (and even my phone the odd time), but despite tweaking the settings never as good as the e-reader for me .The auto backlight on my current Kobo works a treat – but maybe the tablet experience would be better (or at least feel better) if I didn’t have the ereader for comparison. Oh and battery life is the other big drawback of using a tablet (or some tablets – my Huawei tablet battery is insanely good)

EDIT: Argos Ebay have the 7.8″ Kobo new for £150+£4 post. Still lumpy but better than £240 – link

[blacklion1725]

You could probably do it free with some sort of ad-sponsored hosting and email forwarding but I think Google Apps is the way to go – prices seem very reasonable given the storage that comes with it too.

 

https://gsuite.google.com/

[blacklion1725]

got an ipad for work (not for long – 5 weeks and counting) and it is very easy to navigate as a long term android user – by comparison don’t know if its the form factor but have always struggled with iphones (other peoples ) that are broadly the same OS.

[blacklion1725]

I did go through a phase of uploading fill windows image backups (as John mentions) to OneDrive when it briefly went unlimited with Office 365 (1TB now). A local image makes sense but even then, as long as the important data is safe and backed up I’m happy for a single version of the Windows System Image. Windows reinstalls are so easy now, my data sits on a separate partition to Windows so a reinstall , Ninite, Office  and a bit of tweaking gets you back where you were very fast. For music Google give you 20GB free (you can buy more) and unlimited photos (if you accept their extremely good and to me un-noticable) compression.

[blacklion1725]

John cloud is a good additional backup – if all your physical media got destroyed or stolen the online version would still be there. Reasonable amounts (for documents etc) can be had free and won’t expire. So as long as you upload a backup you don’t need a permanent ISP – only when you need to retrieve the backup (which is hopefully never). No good for huge media files but those can normally be replaced.

[blacklion1725]

John if you are backing up your own data the optical media is not the best bet for me. At least 2 physical locations and at least one cloud (e.g. OneDrive, GoogleDrive, Drop Box etc). To be honest even if you are just backing up music/video I’d still forget optical media. I’d use HDD/NAS and online (cloud). Optical Media is  not a great back up solution – not even much of a media solution these days – its on its @rse.

[blacklion1725]

Hello John, your DVD drive in the PC won’t play or record to Blu Ray. Can I ask why you want to do it – its possible (Blu-Ray) but time consuming and needs hardware and paid for (the easiest way) software. A Blu-Ray ROM drive is cheap and ripping Blu-Ray to a file rather than a disk is achievable at little or no cost – aside from huge amounts of storage space -. Physical Blu-Ray media is a real chore – if you can give a clue what you want to do there may well be a better and cheaper solution.

[blacklion1725]

Really sorry to hear the sad news of your loss and that you are struggling yourself – wishing you all the best mate.

[blacklion1725]

Just read this – made up for you Bob – great news – well done and keep going mate!

[blacklion1725]

Good stuff – if you look at how these hold their value I think it shows how good they are. I sold my TZ60 for very close to what I paid for it (it was a great deal) and the Sony HX90V (replaced my panasonic) still goes on Ebay for what I paid 18 months ago – maybe even higher. I think these compacts with a powerful zoom are a real sweet spot in the market.

[blacklion1725]

Duke I think your wife’s camera is probably the same size as mine (HX90V) – easily fits in the pocket even in a soft pouch. I’ll always have use for a camera – the phone is fine for every day photos, ebay listings etc, but I don’t want a high end phone (for better pictures) with me all the time, so happy to take a camera when I know I’ll want better pictures……and I can’t see amobile with a 30x optical zoom any time soon – who knows though. Didn’t know about the app store – will see if it is supported on mine. I agree with Dave about the EVF – out in bright sunlight the screen can be next to useless. On my Sony it feels quite flimsy (as does the pop-up flash) but they must be reasonably sturdy to survive me using it.

[blacklion1725]

Duke I traded down the Panasonic Tz60 (3 versions behind PMs new one) to get one (Sony) that would fit in my pocket when on holiday. Its why I’ve never been arsed about phone cameras quality as I don’t really use them – anything important I like the proper camera with a proper zoom. The other thing that winds me up about top end phones is those that have superb cameras but no expandable storage (along with ridiculous premiums for moderate increases in cheap internal storage). 16GB iPhone can take great photos, but only about four! Lack of optical zoom kills the mobile as a serious camera for me. I remember that Nokia win-phone that was 40Mp so you could digital zoom in and throw the rest of the photo away.  In general though phone is for fun snaps or unexpected opportunities, camera is for photos to look at more than once. Great we all have choices with tech now – as most can find a solution to suit their needs. Before this thread came up I ordered (ebay) a Sony bridge (between compact and dlsr) camera for holiday this year with 63x optical zoom – not counting my chickens as have had some shocker  (all returned) purchases on ebay lately – if it is a winner will update here now PM is sorted.

[blacklion1725]

Yeah that 30x zoom is amazing. Never bothered with the phone app – or more accurately never knew there was one! I got one of those 360 cameras after you posted about it – completely forgot – just found it!! Going back to Russia this summer (annual battlefield excavations – will come in handy). Glad you had a result with that camera.

[blacklion1725]

Think you’ll be happy – good choice I reckon. Be handy to have a separate battery charger and one or two spare batteries – I found so anyway. Just read up on it though – looks a corker. I did everything (on the TZ60) on “Intelligent Auto” – seemed to work OK  – my youngest son is a keen amateur photographer and did all sorts of tweaking so a read-up could be a good idea (and youtube)

[blacklion1725]

I had an earlier version of Dave’s (TZ60) and loved it. I sold it and bought a smaller Sony with similar specs. The smaller size is handy but at the cost of pop-up flash and EVF. Both are “permanent” on the Panasonic and for auto-flash especially that is very handy. Not a big deal and similar results (very good) with both. The 30x zoom is wonderful – not much use at a wedding but for future use very handy. The GPS tagging is also great but does hammer the battery. Assuming the TZ70 is similar/better would very much recommend Dave’s camera – especially if you don’t need “tiny”.

[blacklion1725]

Ditto here

Google Chrome is up to date
Version 72.0.3626.121 (Official Build) (64-bit)

[blacklion1725]

Well the Wilko concert was Saturday and it was excellent. Three piece band – Wilko, Norman Watt-Roy on bass (Blockheads) and a younger drummer Dylan Howe who a google revealed is the son of Yes guitarist Steve. Great mix of R&B, some electric country-ish stuff, old school rock and roll and a couple of Dr Feelgood tracks. Backed up by an excellent one-man set from Glenn Tilbrook. The guvnor was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed it as well. Quite nice at 53 and 51 to be just about the youngest there!

[blacklion1725]

The Duke wrote:

Stop BL youre only hurting yourself. I never liked the fack towers iirc at Upton Park, but the ground was a proper old ground. I think Everton will miss wooderson once they get over the newness of their proposed new ground. I’m so glad we never brick ground on our new stadium in 2008. For me at least, anfield is a special place. I doubt it could be recreated.

I know mate! Had mixed feelings Saturday as they named as stand at the Olympic Stadium after Billy Bonds (my all time hero along with Sir Trev) – totally deserved – but half of me is sad he has his name associated with that dump.

I know, I know – have to let it all go – at least I had it I suppose.

[blacklion1725]

This is Upton Park as I first remember it – terraces on all four sides, the only seats were on the East and West upper tiers. Surrounded by pubs, cafe’s, pie and mash shops, bookies, offies etc. Would have it all back in a heartbeat if we could. Sigh. 

[blacklion1725]

Bit late Bob – been away all weekend – but happy birthday mate!

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