For those who use the free home version of SmartFTP, be aware that when your current version expires and you are forced to upgrade to v3 it is no longer free. There are two ways the developer could have handled this change:

1) Display clearly that it is no longer free, explain the reason why, and thank the people who have helped him by submitting bugs and testing beta releases. Software development takes time, and if he feels he's not being rewarded sufficiently, or people are illegally using the software for business use without paying for a license then fair enough, users would understand.

2) Quietly change the license page on the website and respond tersely when someone posts a question on the forum asking for clarification (or, even worse, just delete the question).

Unfortunately, he has decided to be an arse about it and choose the latter. For this reason I will not be purchasing a license, even though I've been a happy use of his software for the last 4 years and use a licensed copy at work.

If you're in the same boat I would recommend using Filezilla instead. It seems to do most of what SmartFTP does, plus it's released under the GPL so there will always be a free, open source version available.

Yet another company that insists on hiding their contact telephone number unless you're logged in. Coupled with a contact form that errors when you submit it and live chat that won't load, log in problems become difficult to resolve...

Links: cheap oakley sale.

The 24/7 phone support number for Poker Room ( pokerroom.com ) is 0207 026 4217

Show the Irish some love and thank them for voting against the Lisbon Treaty. Perhaps now our Government and other EU leaders will start listening to the people.

Thank You Ireland

As the UK house price crash is now in full swing, you can track the full extent of the falls in asking prices on rightmove.co.uk, daft.ie, propertynews.com and sspc.co.uk. You'll need two things installed on your PC:

1) Mozilla's Firefox web browser. It's a free download and can be run along side Internet Explorer, although personally I'd recommend using it all the time.

2) The Property-Bee toolbar. Property-Bee keeps track of the asking price and description of the properties you view so you can see how long they've been on for and the price history. Even better, the data is shared, so if a Property-Bee user has already viewed a property on the site you will see the price it was then.

In the areas I'm tracking I'm already seeing falls in asking prices of 15%+, although I have a feeling that's only the start of it.

I received an email tonight with details of a new book about Humphrey Lyttelton, presumably because of the ISIHAC quotes I have on this site. The book, Plenty of Lip, is purported to be published in December 2008 by Elius Books, and will (I quote), 'be made up of contributors who admired him and tell stories and anecdotes about his work as a trumpeter and broadcaster.'

The person behind this book, Donald Knox-Richards, published a book shortly after John Thaw's death based on the same idea, except he forgot to tell the contributors he was bankrupt and wouldn't be able to pay them. He was subsequently sentenced to 15 months in prison for fraud. He also solicited contributions for a book about John Peel shortly after his death (are you noticing a pattern here?), but it's not clear whether it was ever published.

If you're looking for a book about Humphrey Lyttelton, do yourself a favour and read his memoirs instead of an attempt to cash in on his death; if you're approached about contributing to the book then bear in mind Knox-Richards' previous.

Further information:
BBC Website reports his fraud conviction
Knox-Richards' request for John Peel contributors (4th comment)
John Thaw site (scroll halfway down the page)
A request for Humphrey Lyttelton contributors

After the last couple of weeks, I couldn't resist. That's another fine mess...