sonofsanta

I hadn't, and for a brief moment my hopes exploded as I thought they might have the Moto X... but no The APR is surprisingly decent as well - only about £30/£40 more over the 2 years is not too shabby. I could get a Nexus 6 for only £32 a month... hmmm...

Yeah, but it's a notification tray designed by HTC, not one designed by Google, I just wondered if there was a way of changing it (layout, options, altogether switching it for the default Lollipop tray) in case I don't like it. TBF, , but I can't spot a Flashlight button in there, which is Really Bloody Handy™ in default Lollipop.

By notifications, I mean that on my Nexus 4 on Lollipop, I swipe down once to see notifications, swipe down again to see settings, and I like it very much - it's a good layout: If, for example, I got an LG G3 (I won't), that space is filled up with all sorts of rubbish: You can change your homescreen app, but can you change your notifications to not be 'orrible based on what HTC/Samsung/LG have done in the name of "differentiation"? Lumia: my wife has the 930, which is how I know it's so bloody lovely in the hand, and I do think Windows Phone is a good OS that deserves to be doing better than it is (it's the best choice for the 80% of people who aren't comfortable with computers), but I'm a geek, and I like to tinker, and Android lets me do that... :/ My Nexus 4 was only £16 a month when I got it as well, so £28 a month sounds a lot compared to that. Plus, y'know, it just is a lot of money, taken out of the context of phones and into the context of what I could spend that money on instead though I suppose I'm already £12 of the way there on the 30-day SIM-only contract I'm on right now.

Thinking again about the One M8 for me - it can be gotten for £28 a month, is about as good as it gets for top-end phones on Android now, what happened to it being the cheaper option - and I know you can replace Blinkfeed with the Google Now Launcher for a default homescreen, but is there any way of getting a phone to use the default Android notifications pull down? I am still thinking about the Lumia 930. I'd miss Android, but that's a flagship device for only £23 a month, and it is a lovely piece of kit...

Oh you are absolutely $*%£ing me. What the hell are they doing? Why? WHY? All my budgeting for this year's replacement stock was based on the savings from TAP; a sudden cost jump of 20% per machine has completely scuppered me. And to do it immediately! If they'd given a month's notice I'd have done my purchasing now, but to do it immediately is appalling. Please do pass on my immense disappointment and frustration to the idiots at Microsoft who have gone about this in this way. The decision is theirs to make, fair enough, but they should have some understanding of how school budgets/projects work to know better than to make last minute changes like this.

Can you imagine writing a webpage in it?

What the hell happens at 0:16?!

I got my socks I got my socks I got my socks

I don't think they did - there's no homolgation this year because of this tokens malarkey, and Horner said the engine this weekend was a step back from the one at the final test. They have developed the engine from 2014, they've just developed it the wrong way.

Thanks Al @VeryPC. In short, then, if we have the upgrade rights from EES anyway, it doesn't actually make any difference?

Funny how much Red Bull whinge these days. Didn't hear a peep from them about how the domination of one driver/team might hurt the sport between 2010-2013, did you... Red Bull could contemplate F1 exit, warns team adviser Helmut Marko | Sport | The Guardian It does really look like Renault have got it all horribly wrong though, doesn't it?

I'll be gutted/annoyed/angry if TAP has disappeared the month before we start going out for quotes on the new summer machines - careful timing by MS there, if true... looking forward to seeing some proper info on this from @Stone_Charli. As to the original point: under EES I had to get an OEM sticker anyway. The OEM sticker is now £60 less. This seems like a win to me? EES also gives me the Office licences, Windows 10 when it's out without having to get all new OEM stickers, the Endpoint Protection AV licences, the SCCM CALs... it doesn't feel like an overlap or a waste at all - if anything, it feels like a winning combination (especially with Office 365 + free Office for all).

But if I had to use both hands to type I'd make a right mess of the bathroom floor! 1440p phones are silly, I was looking at reviews of the LG G3 and its battery life takes a massive hit from the unnecessary resolution. I do just want a Moto X why won't anyone do one on contract...

'Cos security, and 'cos the manufacturers that don't update quickly tend to be the ones that don't update for long - maybe a year's worth of updates tops. Plus the reason they're slow/lazy with updates is that it's so much work 'cos of all the stupid bloatware that I hate as well, so the quicker a phone gets updates, the quicker and less frustrating it will be to use day to day anyway.

The Hitler clips were from Downfall, 2004, a German film about the last days of the war (Der Untergang auf Deutsch). The Xbox Live video was the classic there, I reckon.

Bit harsh with your kids, mind.

scan.co.uk always use DPD. You get a text telling you an hour slot when your parcel will arrive ("12:21 - 13:21") and all that tracking. A very good reason to use scan for components - it's worth paying the delivery charge.

What have others thought of the Long Earth books? I've just finished the second one, The Long War, and to be honest, both of them have been a bit... underwhelming. It's a great idea, and brings up great questions - when there's plenty for everyone and we can go back to a subsistence lifestyle, do we need to strive anymore? Do we need to push ourselves to progress? - but the plot ends up being spread too thin amongst viewpoints, and never builds to any sort of crescendo, and it always feels a bit... unsatisfying. There was a line near the end of the second one along the lines of And just like that, the Long War was ended without even a shot being fired, and I thought, Ended? I hadn't even noticed it had started! New Tiffany Aching is great news, though! And I very much enjoyed Dodger, of a couple of years back.

Radio 6. Much better playlist & variety than anything else - even Kerrang gets a bit repetitive (though I do still miss the Rock 'n' Roll years from days past, was always a great hour of nattering in the office trying to guess).

How horribly weighed down is the interface? Specs wise it looks pretty nice (including microSD storage, would be a godsend after my 16GB Nexus 4), and its only £23 a month for £50 upfront (500mb data is plenty enough when I can't even load Google results in my hometown, signal is so poor), but I like my plain Android, and though I can replace the homescreen with the standard Google Now Launcher, I don't want the notifications etc. to be filled with guff. Never used an LG phone (apart from the N4) so I don't know if they're as bad as Samsung with TouchWiz etc.

Peronsally I love the City Watch books, so I'd go with Guard! Guards! and then Men at Arms, because they're both late enough that he had settled into his rhythm (early books are a bit rough around the edges) but they're the first two books in that sequence, so they're fairly self-contained - you'll not be missing any backstory as you would with the wizards or Granny Weatherwax.

Afraid not - although I was involved in the discussions, it was the Bursar's project, so she had all the emails/documentation. It was comparable, though, from what I recall.

And this marvellous poem from Reddit: The sun goes down upon the Ankh, And slowly, softly fades - Across the Drum; the Royal Bank; The River-Gate; the Shades. A stony circle's closed to elves; And here, where lines are blurred, Between the stacks of books on shelves, A quiet 'Ook' is heard. A copper steps the city-street On paths he's often passed; The final march; the final beat; The time to rest at last. He gives his badge a final shine, And sadly shakes his head - While Granny lies beneath a sign That says: 'I aten't dead.' The Luggage shifts in sleep and dreams; It's now. The time's at hand. For where it's always night, it seems, A timer clears of sand. And so it is that Death arrives, When all the time has gone... But dreams endure, and hope survives, And Discworld carries on.

And in one of those weird moments, when the Universe seems to wink at you and tip its hat in acknowledgement, this came up in the few brief pages of Truckers that I read to my boys last night: This is the only time in my life I've ever been upset about someone I don't personally know dying. It's really gotten to me

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