Mostly Harmless » Reviews

Hector – We Negotiate with Terrorists Review

Rowan — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 20:06:07 +0000

Alright, quickly now: ‘Hector – We Negotiate with Terrorists’ is a point and click crime comedy game that I purchased for less than a fiver and completed in a rainy afternoon. The puzzles are mostly pretty logical and clearly laid out and there is a nice hint system if you miss anything. The game is [...]

allsimple.net VPS Review

Rowan — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 18:56:47 +0000

Time certainly does fly… as such this is a three month review of the VPS service at allsimple. I picked up one of their VPS via LEB to host this blog and a few bits and pieces and have been pleasantly surprised with the results.

The closest equivalent retail package would be at a somewhat [...]

Slicehost 2.5 Year Review

Rowan — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 10:43:54 +0000

Most of what I said here stands. In the time I was with Slicehost the hardware I was on had an issue requiring a reboot once, other than that the service and network was solid across the entire two and a half years. I didn’t have much reason to call on their support so can’t [...]

‘The Road’ Short Book Review

Rowan — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:37:40 +0000

I’d been wanting to get a hold of this for a couple of years but had never actually come across it in a local book shop. ‘The Road’ is possibly the bleakest fiction I’ve ever read. The story follows a boy and his father struggling to survive in a journey south to the coast across [...]

‘The White Tiger’ Short Book Review

Rowan — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:51:38 +0000

An innovative cross between a Dickens novel and ‘Crime and Punishment’ (without the moral / psychological quandry of the latter being at the forefront) ‘The White Tiger’ is the black as coal and worryingly humourous story from childhood to success of a man from the Indian “darkness”. How true to life the story depicted is [...]

Mirror’s Edge Review

Rowan — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 22:05:11 +0000

Mirror’s Edge is a new take on the first person shooter genre, set in a dystopian city which on the surface looks very clean, polished and ordered. As all electronic and traditional methods of communication are monitored by the city state, those who wish to stay off the record communicate via messages couried over the [...]

Amazon MP3 store – buying MP3s legitimately online in Linux still a pain in the arse then

Rowan — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 11:23:34 +0000

Like many this Christmas, I found Amazon’s offer of £3 of free MP3s tempting. I’ve avoided buying music online all these years on principle because the DRM experience mixed with using multiple computers and OS types has just been miserable. The CD has generally been cheaper, with the very minor inconvenience of ripping it when [...]

Simpsons Game Review

Rowan — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 17:59:57 +0000

It’s not particular eloquent, but TV or Movie tie in games are normally, well… balls. “The Simpsons game” turns out to be an adequate platformer raised to worth playing status by the addition of tv-quality Simpsons animation shorts linking the levels and a storyline most gamers will appreciate… well, that is if you’re over 20 [...]

O2′s DNS servers in “utterly pants” shocker

Rowan — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 23:03:07 +0000

Well, or not a shocker apparently. Searching around they’ve apparently been defective for months. Only it’s never effected me before because I’ve not used the net at the flat before in the evenings. Never mind, setting third party DNS servers gets things working, but funny to think we’re paying for DNS servers that go to [...]

Slicehost Review – Initial Impressions

Rowan — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 09:24:50 +0000

I Decided back in the Summer that I would ditch Servage when my renewal came around in the Autumn, I’ll discuss why in a separate updated final review. In short I wanted a system I had as near to 100% control over as possible, so that meant a VPS. Hosting my own and my family’s [...]