Do follow these guidelines to get the best quality print outs and results from your printer and cartridges:-

• Use only genuine HP cartridges, or original manufacturers’ cartridges
• Keep cartridges in the packaging until they are needed
• Don’t remove the protective tape from a new cartridge until just before you need it. Once the tape has been removed, do not reapply it
• When the protective tape has been removed, do not touch the contacts (the copper strip) or the nozzles
• Keep your print cartridges at room temperature – between 15° and 27°c
• When storing cartridges, keep them in an upright position, with their nozzles pointing to the earth. Not on their side, or upside down
• Print something out at least once a fortnight to keep the print cartridges in good working order
• Always turn off the printer by pressing the power button on the printer, rather than unplugging the printer. Turning off the printer allows the cartridges to be protected properly
• If you are removing a cartridge from the printer temporarily (for instance, removing the black cartridge in order to install the photo cartridge), put it in a cartridge protector.
  Figure 2: Use the cartridge protector
• If you are removing a cartridge from the printer temporarily (for instance, removing the black cartridge in order to install the photo cartridge), put it in an airtight plastic tub. Make sure nothing touches the nozzles. Do not use a plastic bag.
• If you intend to store print cartridges in a tub for a long period of time, place colour cartridges with the nozzles down, and black cartridges with the nozzles up.
• Do not transport print cartridges in the printer at high altitudes (such as on an airplane)
• Don’t forget to recycle your used cartridges, see article here.

Links for cartridges: HP business store and HP home user stores

Just a note: See if you can get a customer discount from HP if you buy online. Just have a look here to see what special offers are available.

The brilliant Catherine Tate shows how a date is just to much, and that she just can’t find happiness:-

A man in Chiswick was arrested on Tuesday in connection with using a Wi-Fi broadband connection without the owners permission.

The 39-year-old was spotted and arrested by two Community Support Officers in Prebend Gardens, Chiswick. The Officers became suspicious when they noticed the individual using his laptop outside a house using his laptop.

When the Officers asked the individual what he was doing, he admitted to using the unsecured broadband connection without permission.

The case is now being handled by the Metropolitan Police’s computer crime unit.

This is about the third time this year that I have heard of a simple arrest for someone using someone else’s broadband without their permission.

This of course leads to a very basic reminder, that dishonestly obtaining free internet access is an offence under the Communications Act 2003 and a potential breach of the Computer Misuse Act.

If you would like a check-up to make sure your Wi-Fi is secure, then do book a time online. Alternatively, and more importantly, if you know a neighbour or friend who has an insecure connection to get them to get in touch to.

Adobe has announced it would like to add better video compression to its hugely popular Flash Player that would bring high-definition video to users whilst streaming.

On Tuesday, the company showed off a beta release of the new Flash Player which it has code-named ‘Moviestar’.

The new features will be available in the Autumn as part of an update to version 9 of the Flash Player. The update will take advantage of today’s better graphics cards and processing power.

The Flash format is widely considered a necessary format for video based sites. The supporting of the H.264 standard is already being used in formats such as Blu-Ray and HD-DVDs. The update will mean that more Internet video content sites, such as YouTube, could possibly offer videos for users in an HD (high definition) format.

But wait! Microsoft this year has already released it challenge to Adobe with it’s new program Silverlight. Microsoft has been quick to make sure that video streaming sites also adopt their format. So maybe we will be seeing more than one format war at a time (Blu-ray verses HD-DVD).

Officials confirm that all online data has been lost after the Internet crashed and was forced to restart, video courtesy of the Onion News Network, America’s answer to more hype than CNN or Fox News could ever offer. I think the title speaks for itself, so get on and find out more:-

Breaking News: All Online Data Lost After Internet Crash

Just when I was beginning to think that the battery gremlins had finished their evil work on the world, Nokia has announced a product recall for all their BL-5C batteries.

The BL-5C batteries appear in quite a few makes of Nokia mobile, or may have been sold separately. In a statement, the company said: “Nokia has identified that in very rare cases the affected batteries could potentially experience over heating initiated by a short circuit while charging, causing the battery to dislodge.”

The list of models includes the following:-

Nokia 1100, Nokia 1100c, Nokia 1101, Nokia 1108, Nokia 1110, Nokia 1112, Nokia 1255, Nokia 1315, Nokia 1600, Nokia 2112, Nokia 2118, Nokia 2255, Nokia 2272, Nokia 2275, Nokia 2300, Nokia 2300c, Nokia 2310, Nokia 2355, Nokia 2600, Nokia 2610, Nokia 2610b, Nokia 2626, Nokia 3100, Nokia 3105, Nokia 3120, Nokia 3125, Nokia 6030, Nokia 6085, Nokia 6086, Nokia 6108, Nokia 6175i, Nokia 6178i, Nokia 6230, Nokia 6230i, Nokia 6270, Nokia 6600, Nokia 6620, Nokia 6630, Nokia 6631, Nokia 6670, Nokia 6680, Nokia 6681, Nokia 6682, Nokia 6820, Nokia 6822, Nokia 7610, Nokia N70, Nokia N71, Nokia N72, Nokia N91, Nokia E50, Nokia E60

More info can be found on the Nokia Battery Replacement site. Though the risk seems minimal, and Nokia is certainly playing down any danger, it’s probably worth checking. If it appears on the list, Nokia will provide a replacement free of charge. Which is nice.

For those of you who are unaware of the previous battery issues affecting laptops, see these articles:-

• ‘Hindenbook’ Computers
• MacBook and MacBook Pro batteries

It’s frustrating when broadband stops working for any number of reasons. But there are some things you can do to make the process a little bit lighter, and hopefully meaning that you don’t have to call a call centre in India and be placed on hold for ages.

Firstly, and this is a real must, STAY CALM! Getting into a panic, stressing, putting your blood pressure up – however you want to phrase it, it doesn’t help anyone if you start going crazy. Sure, it’s irritating that your Internet connection was working fine ten minutes ago, or when you went to bed last night and now it isn’t, but it really does not help to go loopy!

If you skip steps or get impatient then you will only be making the process longer for yourself.

Right, now that we have established the mood we can get onto the more practical steps:-

1. The best place to start is close all your programs and shut down your computer. If your Internet connection comes through a router you should turn that off too. By “turn off” at this stage, I mean turn them off for 30 seconds, but I do mean 30 seconds, not 5 because your impatient to send that email off, or check on your eBay auctions.

2. When powering everything back on, let the computer fully start-up, secondly you must allow for up to 3 minutes for your broadband modem and router to power back on and establish a connection. If you’re using a cable modem (such as: Virgin Media, Tiscali cable, Comcast etc) which is looped into a router, power the modem on first. Wait until 1 minute has passed, then turn on the router. Again you must allow up to 3 minutes for your broadband modem and router to power back on and establish a connection.

If you’re using a USB modem (such as Speedtouch, BT Voyager, etc) it is then also recommended that you defragment your PCs hard drive (click here for details). Once you have completed the defragmentation process restart your PC and see if you can get online.

Ok, admittedly if you’re still reading this and you have got this far then things aren’t looking great for you, but there is still plenty that can be done.

3. Next, check your connections (the physical kind). If things are dusty down the back of your PC then it would strongly be advised that your again turn off your computer to avoid a static shock, and maybe give it a little whip round with the hoover or duster. It would not be the first time that I have discovered that static from the back of a PC would be causing problems on a broadband connection. Make sure that all the connections are firmly but snugly in place, you don’t want to force them. Then repeat step 1 in this guide.

4. Turn everything off again. But this time, you should not only turn off the PC and router, but turn it off the wall switch or unplug it. Do this for at least half and hour.

5. If things are still not working, find out if your Internet Service Provider (ISP) has a service status number you can call. ISPs are pretty good keeping their customers up to date via their phone system with pre-recorded information bulletins, so call it and see if there is an outage in your area or the ISP is having problems with customers signing in.

6. Then things really aren’t right. Either get a professional to come and have a look at things, or, call your ISP. You can find a useful guide to prep yourself for calling an ISP by clicking here.

I have that Friday feeling:-

A man in a hot air balloon realised he was lost. He reduced altitude and spotted a woman below. He descended a bit more and shouted, “Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don’t know where I am.”

The woman below replied, “You’re in a hot air balloon hovering approximately 30 feet above the ground. You’re between 40 and 41 degrees north latitude and between 59 and 60 degrees west longitude.”

“You must be in IT,” said the balloonist. “I am,” replied the woman, “How did you know?”

“Well,” answered the balloonist, “everything you told me is technically correct, but I’ve no idea what to make of your information and the fact is I’m still lost. Frankly, you’ve not been much help at all. If anything, you’ve delayed my trip.”

The woman below responded, “You must be in Management? “I am,” replied the balloonist, “but how did you know?”

“Well,” said the woman, “you don’t know where you are or where you’re going. You have risen to where you are due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise, which you’ve no idea how to keep, and you expect people beneath you to solve your problems. The fact is you are in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but now, somehow, it’s my f**king fault.

**UPDATE** A proper Windows Service Pack for Vista (SP1) is now available -
click here for details and guide to installation

This morning, I was delighted to read that Microsoft has released an ‘unofficial’ service pack for Windows Vista. I would assume that this is really a Service Pack (Alpha) for Vista, but then again, the marketing department at Microsoft is calling it a “Vista Performance and Reliability Pack”, or for a minority of users a plaster over a fairly big wound! Could we get some gauze please? (more…)

No, I am not test driving the A380 myself and I’m by no means into aviation, but whilst coming back from Athens on Olympic Scare-Ways I could not help but wonder what the aircraft of the future (not that far off anyway) would look like. A very, very quick search and I found a five minute answer to my question in glorious digicolour. It’s actually quite interesting, but I would like to point out that I am not a plane spotter! :-