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VCLEVER BLOG

Posted on August 28, 2013 at 2:35 pm by Andrew Arnott

Avast not working: “system unsecured”, “not yet registered”

Reboot notice

Photo by Sparkfun Electronics

Here’s some help (hopefully) for anyone who uses Avast and finds that it suddenly and mysteriously stops working from one day to the next.

The Problem
Avast stops working after a reboot for no apparent reason (no changes made and working fine before). The Avast system tray icon shows a little cross and gives a status that the system is unsecured. Clicking the ‘Fix Now’ button does nothing. Also, it says ‘Not yet registered, 0 days remaining’ even though it is registered and the future renewal date is shown correctly. (more…)

Filed under: All, Technical stuff | No comments yet

Posted on July 29, 2013 at 12:16 pm by Andrew Arnott

Chromecast the way forward for streaming content to your TV

Google recently unveiled Chromecast, which looks like it could really shake up the internet TV market or even the wider TV broadcasting market

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmpOis2UEJg

Chromecast is a little dongle with an associated app that will wirelessly stream media from phones, tablets and PCs to any TV with an HDMI port. That means you can watch Netflix or YouTube videos on your TV while controlling the action with your phone/tablet/PC (and you can even switch between different devices midway through). All for $35 too. Looks great to us and such a better direction than Google TV.

We wrote about Google TV here on our blog 3 years ago and it’s interesting looking back at our opinions then and what has transpired since (particularly the failure of Google TV to take off). (more…)

Filed under: All, Check this out, News | No comments yet

Posted on January 26, 2012 at 11:54 am by Andrew Arnott

A few random things you may not know about the internet

logo

Google was originally called BackRub

But fortunately they changed the name before they were incorporated. Probably wouldn’t have been quite the success it is today!

Want to see how their logo evolved? Read this article on Wired to find out >
 

Meta Keywords are worthless!

When people talk about SEO (search engine optimisation), you will often hear them advise you to carefully choose keywords that are representative of the page and to put these in the header section under the title ‘meta keywords’. Well, guess what? No major search engine pays a blind bit of notice to them. (more…)

Filed under: All, Asides, Check this out | No comments yet

Posted on December 20, 2011 at 12:08 pm by Andrew Arnott

You can get an android tablet for under $100 (but don’t!)

Maylong tablet

Looking for a great Christmas present? Then look a lot further than this!

The Maylong M-150 is the tablet in question. This quotation from a brilliant review by ars-technica sums it up beautifully:

Anyone looking to buy one would get more bang for the buck by setting it on fire for warmth.

Check out their very detailed review if you’re interested, but if you fancy a laugh (more…)

Filed under: All, Asides, For your amusement | No comments yet

Posted on August 4, 2011 at 3:49 pm by Andrew Arnott

The must-have accessory for the style (un)conscious

"Ridiculous waistcoat with big pocket"All I can say to this is ‘good grief’! This bizarre item of clothing is the winning entry of a competition run by an accessory manufacturer called Proporta and the London College of Fashion.

CNET wrote, “One moment it’s a hooded waistcoat, and the next you’ll be blowing the minds of all in the vicinity, ripping the item open to reveal your concealed iPad.”

I’m not sure you’ll be so much blowing people’s minds, as making them piss themselves with laughter. If you see any fashion student types being seemingly indiscriminately attacked by muggers, well now you know why.

Filed under: All, Asides, For your amusement | No comments yet

Posted on June 4, 2011 at 1:04 pm by Andrew Arnott

An amazing use of augmented reality

A new app on the iphone is finally demonstrating the power and possibilities of AR.

Augmented reality (AR) is being talked about a lot at the moment, but for all the buzz, I’ve yet to see anything that’s more than just a novelty. Until Word Lens appeared that is. (more…)

Filed under: All, Check this out, Technical stuff | No comments yet

Posted on June 9, 2010 at 5:02 pm by Andrew Arnott

Google TV – pass the remote

google tv

You may have heard about Google’s latest venture in its quest for world domination – Google TV.

If you haven’t, check out Google’s introduction.  It integrates the web and TV programmes on your television using an interface that looks suspiciously like the old Windows Media Centre.

It got me thinking about how home entertainment is going to look in the not-too-distant future.  Are we really going to gather round our all-singing all-dancing televisions to watch TV-on-demand and the best the web has to offer? Read the full article

Filed under: All, Articles, Industry news, News | 1 comment

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