Info and forum posts by 'Doug B.'

RE: Official 360 Wireless Controller for £8.19

The last time I ordered something from LX Direct using discount codes I was charged the full price on my credit card but then they refunded the discount a day or so later without me having to ask them. Maybe they`ll do the same with you..?

RE: LOST on Sky One - No Spoilers please

Yes - Sky will show the first six episodes up until Christmas then there will be a break til early February. We`ll then get the following episodes 4 days after they are broadcast in the states.

RE: Two FREE T-Mobile pay as you go SIM cards

Sounds like a good deal but you have to top up your credit by £20 a month to get the free evening and weekend texts...not quite so free after all.

RE: TORCHWOOD. the season 1 thread :)

Also don`t forgot that the bit-rate of the broadcast can affect how cruddy the SD picture looks. I`ve found the BBC2 re-runs look much better than the BBC3 showings on Sky at least. Don`t know about Freeview...

I`m yet to see a full HD version though but I too have heard it looks gorgeous.

Lost seasons 3 & 4 on Sky One - not Channel 4!!!

Sky One have poached the UK rights to Lost seasons 3 & 4 from Channel 4... the sneaky beggars!

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/article/ds38359.html

This item was edited on Thursday, 19th October 2006, 16:11

RE: Buying my first car...what to get?

Thanks for all the info guys...lots to think about. Keep the suggestions coming.

This forum really is the best place to come for help and advice on anything - I love it...DVD Reviewer has become the font of all wordly knowledge!

Buying my first car...what to get?

Hi folks,

I`ve just passed my theory and hazard perception test and am doing an intensive driving course next month to finally get a licence and I need some advice on what my first car should be.

I know absolutely nothing about them and am not really interested in flashy speedsters - I`m 33 and just want something with four wheels that`s easy to drive and that can take me to the supermarket, down to the coast or out to the country for a long weekend. I live in London but don`t intend to be driving through the centre of the city.

Budget would be around £5K (second hand of course) so what do you reckon? The wife likes the look of the new Mini Cooper but there`s no way we`d get one for £5K is there?

Any advice much appreciated. :)

RE: Ebay account compromised?

I`m pretty sure you`ll be able to keep your existing account Mike, as long as you can still log into it and change the password. Just make sure you enter a new password on the real site and not a spoof one! Don`t use a link to the site or one stored in your favourites - type it straight into your browser and login from scratch then change your login password and also your registered email and PayPal passwords as a safety measure.

Hope it works out for you - I was well pee`d off when it happened to me but everything`s fine now.

RE: Ebay account compromised?

I had exactly the same thing happen to me a couple of months back - someone hijacked my account and listed 100 pairs of Gucci sunglasses at £50 on buy it now. I contacted ebay immediately using the live help thing on the site - you get to have a live webchat with someone at ebay HQ. They then phoned me to check my identity and made sure all the listings were removed and all listing fees refunded. I changed my passwords to both my ebay account and associated email and PayPal addresses and everything`s been fine since.

We worked out that I had responded to a fake email sent to my email address from a scammer asking about something I had listed for sale. I clicked on the "Respond Now" button in the email and it had led me to a fake ebay site that I entered my username and password into - therefore allowing the scammer to get access to my real account on ebay!

I have to say that ebay customer relations were great - they sorted everything out quickly and easily and I didn`t have to set up a new account, keeping my existing 100% positive feedback.

RE: 9/11 BBC Drama/documentary

Damn - If only you`d asked yesterday...I watched it then wiped it from my Sky+ at about 11pm last night! Sorry....

RE: Ripped off on ebay: any suggestions?

You should contact ebay about this and they will investigate. I recently had my account hijacked twice in the space of 24 hours by some crafty blighter and ebay stepped in immediately and removed all the fake listings he`d placed in my account, refunded the listing fees and made sure that everyone who had bid on the fake auctions was notified. They even phoned me to make sure everything was okay so they do seem to take any dodgy goings on quite seriously.

RE: NEW YORK - Who`s Been - Recommendations Please!!

You should also go to Century 21 for bargain clothes - it`s just across the street from the old World Trade Center site.

RE: Official Apple iPod Refurb units Video and Nano models available

Apple are terrible with their refurb discounts....hunt around a bit and you can get a brand new 30Gb iPod Video for £179.98 with free shipping from ebuyer...

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/98996/rb/20362404732

RE: Sky+ dead or fixable?

Try unplugging it from the mains and leaving it for half and hour then turn it back on and see if it will work - it did for me when mine did the same thing a few months back....

RE: The Doctor is back at last!

I bawled my eyes out twice in that episode...bloody brilliant. Best of the season by far. Highest of praise to Billie and David - their acting was spot on. Ms Piper will be missed...

RE: FLUTD - Cat that can`t wee

Sorry to hear your little `un`s got problems with his water works again...hope he`s better soon.

RE: SKY+ planner: online & mobile access

My Sony Ericsson W800i wasn`t listed as compatible either but I managed to download the software without any problem. Try it anyway - if your D600 can run java applications then it might work...

RE: SKY+ planner: online & mobile access

It`s not officially been announced but you can already register and use the service.

Firstly you need to sign in to your Sky account at the Sky.com website and register for Sky by mobile. This allows you to input your mobile number and download via WAP or GPRS a little java program that downloads the Sky EPG to your mobile.

Before you can use it though you need to register your mobile number with your Sky+ box. Although it says Coming Soon on the Interactive menu you can get to the sign up screen by doing this:

Press the Interactive button on your remote and select Sky Customer Services. Then press green for the A-Z menu, and navigate to Remote Record. It will then give you the option to register your Sky by mobile username and password and your mobile number.

You will now be able to view the EPG with the Sky by mobile software on your phone and select any programme to record. A signal is sent via satellite to your box within seconds and the programme will appear in your Planner - genius!

If your mobile isn`t compatible with the software you can also just send a regular SMS text message in the format that is shown in this months Sky magazine. This costs 25p though whereas the Sky by mobile software does it free, or only for the cost of your WAP or GPRS connection.

Give it a go - it`s brilliant!

RE: SKY+ planner: online & mobile access

It`s a brilliant new addition to Sky+ and you can even view the Sky EPG on your mobile just as you do on your TV screen and press a single button to set something to record. All it costs you is the WAP or GPRS data connection you use, otherwise you can send a text message to your box for 25p. I used it last night to start Big Brother recording while I was on the train home - it worked perfectly.

RE: Ebuyer Happy Hour

You missed nothing...the usual old duff stuff that`s just cluttering up their warehouse so they knock a couple of quid off...

RE: A neighbourly Indian cookery problem...

butters you are a genius.... I think you may have cracked it! :)

There is a market nearby here that sells a lot of crazy looking fruit to cater for the Asian community and I`m pretty sure I`ve seen some durians lurking in amongst there. I might go and buy one and try cooking it up myself with a gasmask on and all my windows open!

RE: A neighbourly Indian cookery problem...

Thanks for the replies so far - I never thought of getting environmental health in to have a sniff...

I don`t know how else to really describe the smell other than the intense burnt onion type of thing. I`m pretty sure it`s not just onions unless there`s some intensely flavoured mega-onion on sale somewhere that is so pungent it makes you want to chuck that I don`t know about!

I`m afraid I don`t know whether they are Indian, Sikh or Muslim - the wife does have one of those red dots on her forehead if that helps? As I said, any time we`ve tried to speak to them they just don`t want to know - as soon as we moved in to this house we made an effort to say hello over the garden fence but from day one there`s been nothing from them - it`s as if they`re in their own little world and don`t want anyone to come into it.

I would just love to know what they heck it is that they are cooking - it has to be some kind of staple food for them as it`s exactly the same smell every bloomin` day! They obviously find the smell pungent too though as they always open their windows and back door when cooking it!

As a slightly disgusting side note - I should also say that whatever it is they are eating it seems to make the whole family very phlegmy for want of a better word... As well as the delightful smells from their open windows we also get a daily audio session of coughing and hacking up phlegm from their bathroom window - from all members of the family, even the five year old kid....

This is painting a delightful picture isn`t it.....

Where to buy a MacBook Pro...?

I need to buy a MacBook Pro for work purposes - I`m self employed but was wondering where is the cheapest place to get one from. Are any of the Apple re-sellers any cheaper than going through the Apple Store?

A neighbourly Indian cookery problem...

Hi folks,

I have a slight problem that I wonder if anyone could shed some light on....

Our next door neighbours are a very traditional Indian family, they don`t seem or want to speak a word of English when we`ve tried to speak to them, and they keep very much themselves to themselves, having no contact with anyone else in our street.

I`m not saying there`s anything wrong with that at all, in fact they`re so quiet that you never hear a peep out of them through the wall - they don`t seem to have a TV.

The problem I have with them is their cooking. Every morning, and I do mean every morning, without fail the wife in the family cooks up something that smells so pungent and vile that it physically makes me gag. It`s a difficult smell to describe but it`s sort of like burnt onions but a bit meaty at the same time. It`s so bad that I have to shut all the windows at the back to stop it getting in the house, otherwise the smell "sticks" to our carpets and curtains and takes hours to disappear. We have to constantly burn scented candles to stop the place reeking and it`s beginning to get very annoying, particularly in the summer when you want to have all the windows open.

We have tried to speak to these people over the garden fence but they seem intent on having no contact with anyone - they just mutter something incomprehensible and stare through us, or blank us completely and scuttle back into the house. Even when we`ve said hello in Sainsbury`s they just walk straight past without any sort of acknowledgement. The neighbours on the other side get exactly the same treatment as us, so it`s not like we`ve done anything to offend them. A few weeks ago a ParcelForce delivery driver tried to deliver a parcel to me but I wasn`t home - he asked next door if they would take it in and apparently they refused! He said they were a right miserable bunch when he re-delivered it to me next day.

So anyway, back to my main point - I am just curious to know if anyone knows what it could be that she`s cooking as I have never smelt anything like it in my life - it really does make me want to vomit, and everyone I`ve had over who has smelt it thinks the same - even a Bangladeshi friend of mine couldn`t cope with it! Does anyone know what it could be, and is there a polite way I could ask them to maybe keep their windows shut while they cook it? I assume they can read English if not speak it, so should I try sending a letter asking nicely or would that just open up a whole other can of worms...

RE: Anyone been to St Lucia before?

Yes - went there last November with the wife. Beautiful place - very friendly people. Some of the resorts looked pretty tacky and the sea on the eastern side of the island can be very rough. We stayed at Anse Chastanet on the west coast - a smaller, more secluded resort with its own private beach and fab views of the Pitons from all the rooms. I`d highly recommend it.
In terms of stuff to do - there`s various trips round old plantations, the volcano, good snorkelling and scuba diving and whale watching too. Or you could just veg out on the beach like we did for much of the time....

RE: I`m not really that bad am I aka What Doctor Who Creature are you?

Oh dear. I`m a Slitheen...*parp*

King Kong 2 Disc Region 2 £7.99 at cd-wow...

As the title says...

http://www3.cd-wow.com/detail_results_2.php?product_code=265653&subcat=region2

RE: free comfort creme sample

Got one yesterday too - tried the sample and it smells rather good! The pashmina`s going up to me old mother - she likes a scarf she does!

RE: Today (Thursday 8th June) only - 20% off HMV online

Brilliant - you`re a star OP !!!

RE: Free DTS/Dolby/Stereo PCM test DVD from Bowers and Wilkins

Got mine yesterday too, but has anyone actually watched the DVD to see what`s on it?!?
I haven`t had a chance but was wondering if it was actually any good.