Way's World

Tuesday, 23 November 2004

Goodbye, VHS!

Dixons announced today that they were scrapping VCR's from all their stores. Apparently, DVD recorders are outselling VCR's 40-1!

The first VCR that Dixons sold was the HR-3300EK back in 1978. At the time it cost £798.75 (that's the equivalent of £2021 today) and was an old clunky key machine - here's a picture...

The timer could only record up to 24 hours in the future, and it involved pressing the record & play buttons down before you left the house - the timer basically allowed or cut power to the machine at the required time to enable it to record.

I remember when we first got a video recorder - it was a Betamax machine, and we thought it was the best invention ever! It's strange to think that a lot of people I work with have never known a time when it wasn't possible to record off the TV - no longer do you hear people utter the words, "No, I can't tonight - Coronation Street's on..."

When I moved house I bought myself a DVD recorder, although I kept my VCR as I was certain I would still use it - however, it's not been plugged in at all in the 5 months I've been here... ;)

Monday, 22 November 2004

Dr. Who in two minutes

Have you ever sat there on the settee, pondering the ins-and-outs of time travel? No, neither have I, but this bloke has obviously put some time and effort into it - click here for "Observations on Time Travel".

Tuesday, 09 November 2004

RIP - Emlyn Hughes

Emlyn Hughes died earlier today of a brain tumour at the age of 57.

He was a brilliant ambassador for the game. As a youngster I grew up supporting Liverpool, and Emlyn was my favourite player.

He was a fantastic England Captain. He was a great captain on a Question of Sport.

But even better than all of the above, he was a thoroughly decent bloke. Crazy Horse will be missed.

The Man in Black is back...

++ EDIT ++ (although it's been pointed out that if you're watching these in episode order, he hasn't even appeared yet...) ++ EDIT ++

With 190 days to go until the film arrives in cinemas, the trailer for Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith is now available to watch online, here. You'll need Quicktime to view it.

Personally, I can't wait...

Monday, 08 November 2004

It's 6.45am...

and I've just been on the radio!

Graham Mack from my local station, 2CR FM, was talking about Ringo Starr and whether he was left-handed or not - the point being that he plays a right-handed kit. Well, normally I wouldn't bother phoning (it's before 7am, I'm not normally conscious!), but for some reason I was wide awake so I called in - and got on put on-air!

I got a plug in for the Left-Handed Website too, which features a list of famous lefties (Ringo, incidentally, being one of them...)

Thursday, 04 November 2004

Firebox.com review...

Yet more tacky goods I've reviewed... Click here!

Tuesday, 02 November 2004

New Scientist regular!

This is becoming habit forming... First of all I appeared in the New Scientist Feedback column, and now I've got a recommended product on their Christmas gift ideas website. And what a great product it is...

Click here for the link to the site!