This question comes up from time to time.

In the UK the answer is YES, obtaining free Internet access is an offence under the Communications Act 2003 and a potential breach of the Computer Misuse Act.

Only yesterday a man was arrested in Chiswick for casually accessing the unsecured wireless network of a near by house. 

Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2154284,00.html

If you have a wireless connection in your home or small office and that connection is unsecured There is a good chance that other people will be able to see your connection and be able to connect to your network.

They would do this to access your Internet connection but in connecting to your network they could also have access to all the computers on the inside of your wireless network. 

Tech Tip: So find the manual that came with your wireless device and take the time to learn about wireless security. Even the relatively insecure WEP64 system which is the easiest to setup will keep out everyone apart from those who are determined to compromise your security.

It is now possible to order a PC from Dell but upon receipt of the machine reject the Windows End User License Agreement and install an operating system of your choice (say Linux).

You can then ask Dell for a refund of the unused Microsoft software.

In a recent example a user had a PC shipped with Windows Vista Business and Microsoft Works.

They asked for a refund on both Windows and Works and were given a total of 30.94 +VAT.

I personally think the relatively low refund value actually hurts the future use of the PC.

What you are saying is this computer will never, ever be a Windows PC. Imagine 3 years down the road and you want to give the PC to a Friend/Family or donate it to a Charity/School. That 30.94 + VAT saving will severely hamper the core audience who will be able to use it.

Don’t confuse my point, go ahead and install any Operating System you want on your PC but give a thought to the future user and use of the technology.

If a computer is well maintained it can last for a very long time and  a PC bought today will very likely still be in service well into the next decade.

I recently received a PC from Dell that had significant cosmetic damage.

Clearly the damage was caused in transit. I knew Dell would help me out.

They offered me a 10% Discount or to replace the machine. I elected to replace the machine as I sell the equipment to my clients.

The machine was a standard:-

Dell Optiplex GX745 USFF (PentiumD 3.0Ghz)

The are replacing it with a

Dell Optiplex GX745 USFF (Core 2 Duo E6700 2.66Ghz)

That’s a significant bump up in terms of chip technology.

So every cloud has a silver lining.

So that’s twice this year I have been the beneficiary of a specification bump when a machine needs to get replaced. It does help to take the sting out of having a problem computer. 

Thanks Dell

If I ever meet the people who designed this wonderful piece of kit I will gladly shake their hands. They seem to have thought of everything.

First of all with any good gadget it needs to solve a problem. My problem is I love my video iPod but I cant stand the screen anymore, it is far too small.

I subscribe to about 5 hours a week of Video Podcasts, I use these to keep up with what’s going on in technology and watch these when I find time.

So that’s a lot of content for such a small screen.

Everyone knows that Apple will eventually release a wide screen iPod but even that is going to have a really small screen (if the iPhone is anything to go by).

So Philips have dropped onto the market the DCP750. A 7″ Widescreen combo part Portable DVD player and part dock for your video iPod to output iPod’s video to the inbuilt display.

I decided to take the plunge as it has just come out in Europe. it retails for less than 135 pounds.

Now sometimes you take a gamble with consumer electronics but on paper this sounded like just what I needed. I read a few reviews and went for it.

First things first - This thing is Amazing

DVD Playback

This can be made multi-region with a quick visit to the preferences screen.

The picture quality is really good, the best I have seen on a low cost portable DVD player.

The sound is equally good and to my ears one of the players best features. Some small speaker systems can sound tinny, not this one the sound is rich and clear. It also has twin 3.5″ headphone jacks. As well as Video out via 3.5cm Jack to RCA (Red, White and Yellow).

The design of the form factor means you can turn this into a tablet style player or hinge the screen either from the front or back to achieve almost any combination of viewing angle.

The remote control has nice buttons and feels like a quality product, small but heavy enough to not feel cheap.

Now to connect an Video iPod you just drop it in, configure the iPod for video out and press play and your iPod video content plays on the large 7″ Widescreen display.

The quality of the video is dependant on the quality of the source clip in my case video podcasts. As you would image some are better than others, but generally the image quality and audio are fine.

So this gadget has solved my initial problem of small iPod video, with a bonus of being a really superb portable DVD player.

So this device can be used as follows.

1) Portable DVD Player / 2) Video iPod Playback  3) Audio Docking station for iPod Music via the superb speakers.

All of which it does really well.

In addition to the above it also has the ability to read SD/MMC memory and play back video or pictures. I haven’t tried this yet.

My only criticisms are

The battery is not user replaceable and seems to run for less than the quoted 2.5 hours, I clock mine currently at 2 hours, but it is new and hopefully this should improve. It will play longer when playing back iPod video content as the dvd drive is not spinning.

Link: to Product PDF

http://www.p4c.philips.com/files/d/dcp750_37/dcp750_37_pss_aen.pdf

Amazon.co.uk Link:

Philips DCP750 7″ Portable DVD iPod Video Docking Entertainment System

Well after:

4 Phone Calls

3 On-site visits from Acer’s Engineers

2 Boards replaced (main and tuner)

1 Patient customer

Acer have resolved my display problem (see example of the prior problem above).

So thanks to Acer for fixing this issue. My fault turned out to be a problem with the left hand tuner board (the one with 2 x Scart and 1 x RF).

The problems I experienced during this warranty process were staggering really and lots of things went wrong.

I am glad to see the back of the problem.

I am also filing this post under Blog Advocacy as I managed to drag someone over from Acer to check out this site showing their display products in not such a good light, remember this was after they said they would no longer help me.

To be fair Acer outsource their warranty to a 3rd party tech company and each company appears to have a different approach to “responsibility” and “ownership” of problems.

I hit a brick wall with outsourced 3rd party tech support company but appealed directly to Acer Head office thankfully did the right thing.

Case closed.