We have the Humax, it’s a lot better than the previous (9300?) non HD Humax we have. Only problem we had (with a Sony TV), and that’s the HDMI output locking up (there is a Humax forum which has details of this fault..might be worth checking out). In fairness, I don’t think it’s locked up for ages, but I’d have to ask wife/kids as I don’t ever get to watch it (although they do complain if stuff ain’t working :-))

The additional features (Internet TV portal) don’t appear to be great, I think it’s quite slow. As a PVR it seems good, the menus look good, and the series linking works well.

Kim Kardashian obviously did believe, but has since re-evaluated things:(

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/15524309

How are you calculating the difference between the two salaries? If the contracting figure is just based on the rate without insurances / pension / accountant, then you’d be better off with the staff role, as by the time you have taken off everything, I’d guess it’s would not make much difference to your take home pay (depending on your IR35 status).

Personally not convinced that job security and pensions are always a good thing, but it sounds like you veiw them as a positive, so i’d deffo consider a staff role.

Think it also depends what industry sector you are in.

Quality city…think I still have the rough guide / lonely planet books for Berlin…i’ll bring them up if I can find them.

Personally, i’m a big fan of 6 music, and that’s not available on FM, so DAB has been useful to me. If I only listened to R1/2/3/4 I wouldn’t bother. I’ve tried streaming audio, and found it far too unreliable in rural areas to work for me.

At £150, I wouldn’t think too much about the future, but personally, I’ve enjoyed having DAB in the car.

Canon S95 (cheap as end of line at the mo)

Lotus Notes…the worst by far.

What’s SOL?

Can’t recommend anywhere to stay, but there’s a nice eatery called Mountry’s which does good pizza’s, even out of season we had to book at weekends though.

Thought Mutations and Sea Change were very good. Not too happy with his production on the new Sephen Malkmus album. Generally, I think he’s major talent.

If I remember correctly, the T520’s bigger screen means the cheaper dock won’t work. Think you can get them for about £200 from Lenovo direct w/promo code.

What happened to the Wick Effect?

The docking station will power the laptop, I’ve just gone through the process for a Lenovo T series…it was not easy to work out exactly what to buy. They are pretty expensive, but the Lenovo one comes with a meaty PSU and works pretty well w/external monitor ect. Glad I bought it, but it seemed like a lot of money at the time.

Something like Fostex PM0.4’s…plug them into the headphone socket (although LG’s don’t always have them). Job done.

Worked there earler this year….great country. Only anti-English bias was sadly in the gutter press. Travelling between England and Scotland makes you realise just how cynical the tabloid press is…anti-Scotish south of the border and anti-English north of the border…just to sell more papers.

Just been through similar problem, was going to buy a6 3.0 quattro avant… Got smax instead, and boy have i f***ed up.

We went for a Viessmann in the summer, we previously had terrible hot water flow, but went for a pressurised hot water system w/Viessmann tank. H/W Tank is now in the garage, and no water in the loft, so we can insulate the loft without worry of burst pipes. Hot water flow is now mega. The heating is now really quiet, can’t hear it come on. We had a 26kw boiler for a 5 bed detached house, which I thought was underspec’d, but I checked the calc’s and it’s actually slightly over (overspecing is not a good thing as it’s less efficient),

Really pleased…although it’s not got cold outside yet. I don’t much like the Viessmann controller, quite complicated, and doesn’t do everything i’d like it to, but other than that, it’s been great.

I’m using Admiral tuning at the mo…it’s quite low, so you need at least 12’s, really like it though.

http://www.howtotuneaguitar.org/tuning/alternate-guitar-tuning-chart/

For those in the north-east, remember Hintons?

Hell yeah, never forget their cornflakes…tasted like cardboard but my mum kept buying them because a box lasted for ages :-)

White Denim..bit prog, but i’m liking a lot.

Choose a boiler that comes with 5 year gurantee. We are very please with our Viessmann boiler 5 year parts & labour, cheaper than WB. Its very efficient coupled to a remote thermostat (which I think is a must) and an external temperature sensor which means the boiler doesnt work as hard when the temp is higher outside.

We did the same over the summer, we’d decided on a Viessmann, so looked on the internet for their prefered installers, got 3 out to quote, picked the one we liked the best.

Boiler has been brilliant so far..v. quiet and looks like it’s going to be a lot cheaper to run. Outdoor sensor seems to work well.

I recently bought a T520…I hate the trackpad, but there is a free download ‘Two finger Scroll’ which makes the trackpad a whole lot better.

http://code.google.com/p/two-finder-scroll

are you pleased iwth it, what else did you try or did you just go on recommendations.

I tried a Benchmark DAC-1 and the DA-11….prefered the Lavry (just). I don’t use a preamp, just straight into some active monitors (it has a remote control for volume).

Pleased with it? I think it was the final nail in the coffin for ‘hifi’ products. I’m ashamed of how much time and money I wasted on the british hifi industry.

Lavry DA10 which are both around the £1k mark

I’m using a DA11 at the moment, I guess you can’t call it cheap, but compared to what Linn / Naim offer, it’s a total bargin. Local Naim dealer who sold both DA10’s and Naim thought it outperformed a CDS555 (I think they are mega money 10K?)…plus you don’t need a preamp…and it includes a headphone output.

Most importantly, you can’t attach any additional ‘upgrade’ power supplies…it’s a proper product :D

Sennheiser HD-25 1 II are the best closed portables end of!

…agreed, but they are still a fair way behind open backed for similar money (IMHO)

Some useful info here….

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jan10/articles/studioheadphones.htm

It’s generally accepted thay open backed (poorer isolation) sound better then closed backed (better isoation), so you may have to decide on where you want to comprimise.

I have HD595, HD650’s and Beyer DT880’s (all open backed) + some close backed sennheisers. I like the HD650’s best, but the DT880’s are really nice (bit more ‘hifi sounding’). If your using with an Ipod, don’t get high impeadance ones (my DT880’s are 250ohm, and an ipad struggles to drive them to acceptable levels, you can get 32ohm versions which would work better, or buy an external amp).

AKG 701/702’s are also highly regarded, but not heard them.

I’ve cut down on the amount I drink…..life feels a lot better now :-)

I know someone with an R-Class, he likes it. They are big, but the four wheel drive is supposed to be good in the snow. They are really ugly (IMHO). The air suspension is v/ expensive to fix if it goes wrong, and personally, i’m not sure that MB’s build quality is an asset. Nice cars (if you don’t mind the look), but if something goes wrong, it could be expensive.

Drove a Navarra for 3 months, and it was the worst car i have ever driven on every level. 22 mpg, unreliable, uncomfatable, poor use of space, difficult to park, horrible handling…can’t think of a worse car on the planet.

sony vegas HD platinum is pretty good and apparently is available via some torrent thingy

It’s also avaiable for £30 if you like to pay for the software you use.

Most movie editing software have 30 day trials, so you can work out if it does what you need. I use Vegas, and I like it, but Magix also do a low cost editor which was good.

I detest the man, really hope this is the last straw for him.

How old is the Kramer?

…there’s Guitar Mart or Sound on Sound magazine (both free)

I’m going through a similar thing, went from a 2.5T petrol to 2.2 diesel. So far so good, finding it more relaxing. The economy on the diesel was poor to start with, but it’s getting better an better.

How you fining the A6 MF? (I was looking at the time you bought yours, but ended up with an SMax as I couldnt fit the 3 kids accross the back seats with the youngest in his next size up car seat;-()

I like them. S100 is soon to be released, but S95 still looks really good. I’d buy it.

An orange and some tissues.

+1 for Mansun…although I thought Six was a total masterpiece…just took a lot of effort to realise it :-)

The Chameleons…never got the recognition they deserved.

There’s a few on ebay at the moment…I check from time to time, it always picks me up knowing however bad life gets, at least i’m not having to buy / sell a second hand macerator.

any love for Money Mark – Marks Keyboard Repair ?

Aye…he’s also guesting on Boom Bip’s new album.