Black Friday

It's Black Friday tomorrow in the states, a day where all hell breaks loose in shopping land, traditionally it's the day after thanksgiving and the start of the Christmas shopping season, (unlike the UK that starts in September), the good thing about it for shoppers is the mega crazy deals retailers have, the even better thing for us UK'ers is we can share in the joys.

Amazon.com have some good offers on items including DVDs, check this link on the day only, I'm not sure if they'll deliver ll items to the UK as they sometimes redirect you to the UK store.

The best we seem to get in the UK this Friday is a 20% off day at Debenhams, tempted SWMBO and her mother though, left me all alone at home feelin terrible, almost to ill too blog (is there such a thing).

I wonder if there's a "Bring Black Friday to the UK" petition/group on Facebook yet.

US TV

I dont know why they dont just have US TV Channels such as Fox (Owned by Mr Rupert "SKY" Murdoch) and NBC, that way I don't have to resort to watching some fantastic TV that I've had to download from t'internet.

I am watching the second season of Heroes, without giving too much away it is just as good, if not better that season one. I am only on episode 4 but it follows on nicely Potential Spoiler follows in white text "and introduces a few characters, as well as getting rid of a few".


Also from across the pond is the remake of Bionic Woman, starring none other than "that bird from Eastenders" - Michelle Ryan, another British actor, shippped over to the states, made to speak with an American accent and play a leading role (Hugh Laurie in House for example).


Ryan plays the Bionic woman herself and I must say plays the part quite well, her accent is passable and there are lot of "shots for the boys" where she is either wet, in tight lycra, running or all 3 (check the one handed pull-ups as shown below).


I am currently up to episode 6 so if it all goes crap, I'll let you know, at the moment it appears no-one has picked it up in the UK so unfortunately no date for airing over here, but ou can pick it up at all good bookshops, newsgroups and torrent sites.

Does anyone else know of any good US shows ?

Newsgroups

Newsgroups are (apart from IRC) probably the oldest form of file sharing / downloading / P2P(ish) I know of.

I've used newsgroups as long as I've used computers, back in the days of outlook express newsgroups I had access to 20,000+ newsgroups although they weren't brilliant.

About 5 years ago when I moved up to broadband with Pipex, I had access to their newsgroups, again more than 20,000 and again not brilliant,
I then tried out Easynews, the first difference being I had to pay (Yes Lee, Pay !!!!) for this, $9.98 per month for 4Gb usage per month, however there were more groups and the retention was 30 odd days, the retention meant the files stayed on the servers longer and therefore had better availability for everyone.

Over the years the price has stayed the same, but the usage increased to 6Gb, 10Gb and now 20Gb per month.

I have not had a single problem with Easynews. the search pages are great, the Zip Manager is great and all in all, I would and have recommended him to anyone.

NOW...
I read on NewZbin, Giganews, a similar service had a retention of 120 days, which they have now increased to 200 days.

they also have a different levels of usage plans

• Bronze - 2Gb/Month for $7.99
• Sliver - 25Gb/Month for $12.99
• Platinum -Unlimited/Month for $24.99
• Diamond - Unlimited/Month (plus SSL) for $29.99 ($19.99 for first Month)

I'm not, and never have been sure of the legal implications of newsgroups, you can download all types of files from newsgroups as you can with torrents etc, I guess the difference being you are not uploading files, which made P2P illegal.

I am not yet tempted, unlimited access and longer retention just mean my broadband connection get hammered more, giving the ISPs more reason and justification for limiting & throttling my download speed.

Heres the letter from Pipex that's got me into a rage

Dear Damian Byrne
Important notice regarding your broadband usage

Pipex introduced network traffic management in 2005 to help manage the network and provide a fair service for all our customers particularly during busy periods of the day. The usage behaviour of a small minority of our customer abase has led us to introduce, with immediate effect, a Fair Use policy online at www.pipex.co.uk/legal.

We have established that your usage levels are in excess of the levels we would expect for normal home use, and your behaviour along with a small number of other customers may be having a detrimental effect on the service available for the majority of the Pipex customer base.

How do you define "Normal"

We would like you to change your usage behaviour immediately or let us know if you think we have got this wrong, If we don't see a reduction in your usage in the next 14 days we will contact you and may take further action.

In addition to changing your usage behaviour there are a number of alternatives for you to consider:

* You can move to our Midi broadband product which has a usage allowance of 15GB a month with the option to purchase more allowance on a monthly basis. We would allow you to continue with your current level of usage on this product as long as you confirm in writing to us that you are complying with our Acceptable Use Policy and using your connection for normal home use.

* You can switch to our sister company Bulldog Broadband where the service may be more suited to your needs. You will need to purchase a telephone service and line rental with a new 12 month contract.We advise that you visit bulldogbroadband.com first to check that you can receive their service. If you then decide to take this option please call us on 0800 107 5902 to request a MAC code.

* You can switch to an alternative provider that offers you unrestricted use of your broadband connection. If you wish to take this option then please call us on 0800 107 5902 to request a MAC code.

Finally, please can you confirm to us in writing within the next 14 days using the attached form that you are complying and will continue to comply with our Fair Use and Acceptable Use Policies