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No, this won't work. Sellers have groups (on FB or dedicated sites) where they organize people to buy their product for free or almost free (they provide a discount code) in exchange for a review. They don't usually tell you directly to give them a 4/5 star review (although I've seen that too), but tell you to contact them first if you are not happy and if you leave a 3 star or less review they simply don't give you any more free stuff... or worse!

When I say worse, this is an example recent experience of mine. I have a thing about exposing scams like that, so I joined a group to get a "Best Seller" pair of binoculars that was receiving suspiciously raving reviews, without paying full price. I reviewed it and, sure enough, it was really poor quality for the price (even magnification and effective aperture where nowhere near the specs), so I wrote a (rather generous in hindsight - probably because I had reviewed really horrible binoculars recently) very detailed and technical 3-star review that basically said these are worth less than half the price. I did get a message from the seller "thanking me for not posting the review", which is an interesting way of requesting I remove it, but that's it. Anyway, this review started to slowly get up-voted (about 1 vote per day) so it was on the front page after a few days. But one day, I see a dozen sudden downvotes, and the seller claiming I am a competitor in the comments (they actually claimed I own Agena Astro!) - they even messaged me to tell me I was reported for malicious slander to Amazon etc. So the review got buried. If you are wondering about the down-votes, I got emails from people whom the seller had asked to down-vote me (members of their review group), so that's how that works.

I don't think it is hard for Amazon to fix these issues. First of all, they should remove (or not "count") reviews that have used a promo code. That's the primary method these review groups work. Then completely ignore reviewers who drop-ship (another method) or work exclusively on promo codes - there are Top-100 or even Top-50 reviewers that are "serial reviewers", get everything for free with a promo code and always give 5* reviews (e.g. Top-50 on Amazon.co.uk). Lastly, run an analysis to identify downvoting/upvoting "rings", i.e. users that are asked to mass downvote legitimate reviews.

Up until a few years ago, I thought Amazon reviews were great at helping me figure out what to buy. Now, I only read reviews from items that are sold by Amazon directly, so that no seller has messed with them, the rest are not helpful at all.

There are some cheap ones like the Blackberry Music Gateway, but the maximum output is pretty weak. On the recommendation of someone else who was in my situation, I got a Himbox HB01, which came with a lighter->dual USB adapter for power. If you're in an older car, it can even do the hands-free thing for your phone, but that would have visible cables (the microphone is in the Bluetooth receiver). I set my phone to connect to the built-in for calls (so numbers show up on the display, and the microphone is hidden) and only use the Himbox for audio.

It was only $30, and it works really well for this situation. Like I said, if you have a power outlet in the console, and an aux jack in the console, all it costs you is a bit of space at the bottom. I don't ever listen to the radio except for the occasional bit of news, so it's quite seamless for the vast majority of my usage. I don't need the phone mounted because my car's built-in GPS is Good Enough even with somewhat outdated maps - the areas that aren't on the maps are places that were developed recently, so audio from Google Maps is enough (the roads in newer developments are spaced out more, so there's less chance of missing a turn).

Incidentally, assuming you're in the UK, this appears to be an updated version. £21.99, only £2 more than the older version.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/StarT...

https://www.scan.co.uk/product...

Two seconds of Googling and I solved all your problems.

P.S. Literally the first hits on Google - many alternate, better quality, cheaper, etc. products exist.

I'm not actually really or deeply a conspiracist, but I like something that Susan George: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fate-... wrote a while ago. Simply put, if a set of agendas converge, there may not be a conspiracy but the outcome may be roughly the same. In this case, a general undifferentiated thirst for 'data' and 'big data' as the new oil and competitive advantage. To hell with privacy, discretion etc., until there's a data breach, of course.

The second part of this is that I hate apps, they mean fragmented and conflicting architectures and 'no-choice' relationships with your local or global data thief in exchange for some eye candy and special offers or a stupid game. Even if they aren't actively nefarious, they are badly written with some of all (this is an example/sample) turned on: READ_CALENDAR, WRITE_CALENDAR, CAMERA, READ_CONTACTS, WRITE_CONTACTS, GET_ACCOUNTS, ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION, ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION, RECORD_AUDIO, READ_PHONE_STATE, CALL_PHONE, READ_CALL_LOG, WRITE_CALL_LOG, BODY_SENSORS. That's apart from all the documented problems with Android, I'm not sure about the others.

Bottom line for me, this is the same as 'loyalty cards', it's not a very good bargain and one in which I choose not to participate.

I just use one of these for my TeamSpeak push-to-talk key, with a headset that can support two inputs so I can have audio from both my PC running teamspeak and the PS4 for FFXIV.

For real?

Meanwhile, back in the real world, the power button on a macbook pro is managed by this chip. In actual fact, the power button is part of the keyboard itself, on the macbook air it's not even a separate-looking button, it's just another key. Since the microcontroller part is on the board already, and in addition to the capacitor you'd also need a voltage reference, a comparator, a discharge circuit (for when the power button is released), etcetera, do you really believe that a hardware designer is going to bother with any of those parts when it can be done in firmware for zero board cost?

Reliability-wise, if the SMSC chip dies, or contains broken firmware, there would be little point in being able to "turn the laptop off" - which as we know doesn't really mean 'off', since power will still be being provided to that chip, but anyway - since the laptop would be completely dead.

A small modern fridge is not the same size as a pc.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Litre...

Had the original poster said just "a fridge" then it would have been nearer the mark, but if you qualify it as a "small fridge" then this is the sort of thing which springs to mind.

I want to give making my own valves a go, but first I've got to overhaul my vacuum pump, because it doesn't suck. (Well, I need at least 35torr, and it has trouble getting to 120torr.)
I've got this book and like it: Instruments of Amplification.
It's not so much a howto guide as a recounting of "I did this, and this is how it worked". Useful tips on how to cut open bulbs and harvest filaments, how to drill glass, basics of vacuum working and lots else.

The dongle comes with the phone.

This is all familiar - NOKIA did it back in the twenty-zeros!
Remember the N-Series Symbian phones? No audio jack! You could use bluetooth (on some models) or a headphone with proprietary connector.
But the phone came with a dongle to let you use standard headphones.

Remember all the fuss back then? All the media attention on Nokia?
Neither do I. But eventually, Nokia came to their senses and reinstated the 3.5mm socket.
Nothing is new under the sun. Innovation? Ha.

That's because this isn't the first time someone has claimed to find the oldest, only for it to turn out the structures were formed by the action of scalding water on mineral sediments. Nick Lane describes this in some detail in his book, Life Ascending.

Wait, what? Is this knife regulation gone to far, or is a plastic fork now some drug paraphernalia?

knife regulation gone to far...
Sorry it's a Torygraph link..
and I quote
'..But Lord Justice Laws, sitting with Mr Justice David Steel, disagreed. He said: "I would accept that a sharp or pointed blade was the paradigm case - however the words of the statute are unqualified and refer to any article that has a blade."'

For your amusement..UK Government - Buying and carrying knives: the law
and I quote
'..A court will decide if you’ve got a good reason to carry a knife if you’re charged with carrying it illegally.'

Have a good look at some of the UK's offensive weapons legislation sometime if you're bored, it all started with banning flick and gravity knives back in the 50's (probably something to do with those damn'd Teddy Boys and these menaces to decent society) and has gotten progressively weirder..e.g using the precedent created by the above-mentioned Lord Justice Laws and Mr Justice David Steel specifically mentioning that '..the words of the statute are unqualified..' then The Criminal Justice Act 1988 (Offensive Weapons) Order 1988, Schedule 1.(k) prohibits peashooters...for your further amusement on that one, see here (yet they won't sell crossbows and other quite legal items)

Weasel wordcrafting lawyers who draft legislation at the behest of their police state masters....got to love them...

In the 80's, I used to travel around the UK with a 4.5" sheath knife prominently fixed to the outside of my rucksack, nowadays I make sure I've not even got a normal fixed blade screwdriver in it, just in case (no point being hung for a lamb...).

the main "leave" campaign guys are now running away and officially stating that they have no idea what they actually planned

Don't confuse your own ignorance with other people not having ideas. You could, for example, read Daniel Hannan's pamphlet. There are dozens of others. In any case the whole point of the vote wasn't to elect a Leave government with a set of Leave policies, it was to enable the government to enact a policy on arrangements, something it could not have if we were members of the EU, obviously.

Holy shit!

It's GBP900!!

... it's unwise to entrust anything of value to "the cloud". Put your work and your intellectual property on Google - and it may vanish, leaving you with nothing except the dusty prospect of sueing one of the world's biggest and most powerful corporations. Buy books from Amazon in Kindle format, and one day they may simply vanish too - as, with supreme irony, copies of "1984" and "Animal Farm" vanished in 2009. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2...

Keep what is important to you under your own eye and your own control, and of course back it up judiciously and perhaps store copies in a few other places. But blithely assuming that your intellectual property is safe on computers owned and controlled by people whom you do not know, and who have fundamentally no obligation to you, is risky.

If you enjoy thrillers and would appreciate a dramatic fictional presentation of these ideas, try Michael Connelly's novel "The Scarecrow". https://www.amazon.co.uk/Scare... You will probably never feel the same about "the cloud" again.

This explains all you need to know, and why douche bags seem to so commonly succeed in screwing over others.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Snake...

Norway and Switzerland. ... dominated by oil or banking, respectively)

According to Ha-Joon Chang Switzerland has the highest manufacturing output per capita in the world. And it's not just chocolate and cuckoo clocks.

The best thing to do would pick up an economics textbook used by any entry-level Macro Econ 101 course.

And read it with extreme scepticism as they are chock full of nonsense. Even better would be to pick up something like The Anti-Textbook or Debunking Economics which will point out the nonsense for you.

The best thing to do would pick up an economics textbook used by any entry-level Macro Econ 101 course.

And read it with extreme scepticism as they are chock full of nonsense. Even better would be to pick up something like The Anti-Textbook or Debunking Economics which will point out the nonsense for you.

a public company has an obligation to its shareholders to make as much money as possible.

Except they don't.

The sooner people stop repeating this blatant lie the sooner people will start holding companies and the people within them to proper moral standards.

Or the fact that in the US, pop is sold by the liter or two liter or that my aunt's knitting group uses mm in thei patterns?

Sod it, wrong Matt Ridley book. Instead, try "The Origins of Virtue" http://www.amazon.co.uk/Origin...

one of these is half the price (five quid) and performs way better than the official Rubik's cubes.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/pro...

lawfully made DVD copies

http://classicmoviereel.com/so...
[...]
http://8store.8thman.com/belle...

There are lots of bootlegs floating around. What evidence do you have that that DVD is lawfully made?

site where U.S. residents can buy

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pinocc...

"Sorry, this Seller doesn’t deliver to the United States"
"Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)"

I run Rosetta Stone on an inexpensive Linx 8 tablet with Windows 10. Rosetta Stone wants you to load new languages from CD-ROM but obviously tablets don't have optical drive. You can get round that by plugging in a USB CD-ROM drive or creating an ISO on another computer. Apart from that everything works well. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Linx-i...

Bullshit. The British actually did the first targeting of civilians as a reprisal for a mistaken German raid. The RAF always had better long range bombers (though with worse bomb sights which meant they couldn't do accurate targeting) than the Germans who completely fucked up their heavy bomber strategy. Read The Bombing War and learn something.

capitalism (and its corruption) seems to be worsening rather than improving that particular value

People always think these things but in fact if you look at the actual data, as Steven Pinker does in his books, you'll find a general improvement of conditions over a long time period across the world. This didn't happen because of Capitalism but Capitalism (free trade and liberalism specifically) is one of the primary causes.

By the way, I think a better term for "social justice" is to say "justice". There's no need to add the word "social" to the front.

Indoor cricket is cricket without the complicated rules? Indoor cricket has a whole bunch more rules that are not in the real game.

Backyard cricket is cricket without the complicated rules.

I think from a baseball point of view the main differences are:

You are out when your wickets are hit. (until it hits a fielder in which case the wickets are like fielders on base)
You score a run when both of you make it to the other base.
Their are no strikes.
Balls give your team a run automatically. (And sometimes prevent certain types of outs)
When the ball hits the boundary, you get 4 or 6 depending on if it bounced.
You stay in the field of play until you get out.

And the simple rules of cricket on a tea towel
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-In...

This USB serial port worked for me where others did not due to latency issues for timing sensitive software.

Some people want ethernet, some people want WiFi, some people want Bluetooth, some people want 4 USB ports.

If you want all of these, then maybe a full size Pi is the best option from the beginning.

Otherwise we're talking about a £4 board, a £1 micro-USB to Male USB adaptor, and the comms dongle of your choice.

You might not even need the adapter - http://www.amazon.co.uk/100Mbp...

A headless server connected to your home router for £6.49 + SD card + PSU (you probably already have these).

indeed, this is the feeling in parts of Scotland (which is a separate country within the governance of the United Kingdom) where the BBC played a huge part in last years independence campaign. Unsurprisingly, the state broadcaster, funded by the tax payer, took the side of the "no" campaign instead of being unbiased in their reporting and this is causing huge ruptures in Scotland right now and calls are being made to revolutionise the BBC in Scotland. There has been a lot of reporting on this situation here and even before the referendum here and here.

Many in Scotland think that the BBC was a major force in swinging the vote in the final days before the referendum vote when both sides were close to 50/50 of the vote. This caused quite a few protests at BBC Scotland (although, these were played down by the state media).

Whilst it is obvious what the role being played by the BBC in NK and Eritrea is; bear in mind that it is a state broadcaster and will even attempt to exert power over residents within the UK.

• Save time and remote boil from anywhere in the house
• Set wake up alarms and gain an extra 5 minutes in bed
• Arrive home to the iKettle boiled and ready to pour
• Boil ready notifications allow you to save energy by never having to re-heat
• Avoid that bitter taste and brew at the right temperature. Choose from 65, 80, 95 and 100’c

Talk about solving First World problems - geesh.

Not agreeing but yes you can http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pukka-...

I assume at least they're looking for brightness rather than timing (distance travelled is very short and light is very fast) to determine the distance of an object.

That sounds like a terrible idea. What happens if two objects reflect different amounts of laser light?

Light may be "very fast" but we're very good at measuring it.

Irony: Cyclists who ride down the middle of a road built for cars

Built for cars, don't you mean built for people on foot and then horses and then tarmac for.... Bicycles:

Roads Were Not Built for Cars: How Cyclists Were the First to Push for Good Roads & Became the Pioneers of Motoring: Amazon.co.uk: Carlton Reid: 9781610916899: Books

So, enough of this built for cars crap already, roads are built for people, all people.

Amazon has got you covered.

PGP: Source Code and Internals - Phil Zimmerman - books have 1A protection. So I have no doubt we'll soon see "The Liberator: Source Plans and Internals - Cody Wilson".

Also, WTF does "If it's an executable digital file, any foreign interests can get a hold of it" mean? Is ISIS unable to use non-executable files?

The only problems I ever see are that they don't hold charge as well so they are useless for clocks and similar low-draw, long-duration items.

Had that problem with NiMH rechargeables as well- it was a nuisance for my digital camera since even if I charged the batteries fully they'd be running low if it sat on the shelf for more than a few weeks.

I tried the Sanyo/Panasonic Eneloop NiMH batteries, which are sold on the basis of retaining their charge for years rather than weeks and... they do appear to work! End of story- when I pull my camera off the shelf now, the charge indicator doesn't flash (at least, not due to passive discharge).

AFAIK, Eneloop was the first of these "ultra-low discharge" rechargeables, but Duracell and other companies now appear to be releasing similar "long life" NiMHs, though I can't vouch for those- I've only used the Eneloops with the Eneloop charger, and those appear to work well.

All that said, I wouldn't use Eneloops or similar for clocks and the like anyway- they're a bit expensive for low-current items where you're only going to have to replace the battery once every few years and could get away with using a half-decent alkaline cell. (Generic alkalines themselves are cheap enough these days that I don't even bother with zinc carbons any more).

To the list of excellent pressure-cooker related kitchen gadgets I'd like to add the Bialetti Brikka moka pot: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bialet... . It's one of those Italian stove top coffee makers with the addition of a weighted valve like an old-school pressure cooker. This raises the pressure beyond what you get with the conventional design, making a drink that's closer to a real espresso with a bit of crema. No terrorist applications have yet been reported, though coffee use is allegedly endemic amongst senior members of ISIS, Al Qaeda, and the FSF.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pentel...

Nice idea. Now instead of putting in teeth-rotting sugar or another weird tasting artificial sweetener, try Xylitol. Not only is it good for the teeth and health (less than 50% calories of sugar), but unlike most or all of the alternative sweeteners, it also TASTES like real sugar. I bought some for myself to put on cereal, and also unlike other sweeteners, it doesn't have that bitter aftertaste.

I bought this one from the UK, but for the US, this one looks good.

Only a small percentage of people find trouble with it (it can have a laxative affect if you take too much for the first few days). Still 4.8/5 from 106 reviews (no 1 or 2 star) is mightily impressive if you ask me.

It's right there on the front page of amazon.co.uk, FireTV Stick the Most Powerful Streaming Media Stick" 35 pounds.

Try this link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/pro...

It's £80: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Amazon...

Where can I get one for £35?

I wonder when it'll become acceptable for male captains to wear skirts.

It already happened, last century, when Geoffrey Spicer-Simson, a skirt-wearing navy commander, captured the first German naval flag for the British in World War I.

https://medium.com/war-is-bori...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mimi-T...

The components used to make a DAB reciever, while they have come down lots in price and power use recently - still use a _LOT_ of power - from the point of view of something running on small batteries.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Robert... - for example.
4-5 hours on two AA cells.
FM radios (at modest volume on headphones) can last over 200, with the same cells.

"[Iran] did endure an 8-year-long war with what was then Saddam Hussein's Iraq"

That America backed by providing military intelligence and allowing Iraq to fly the Stars and Stripes on its oil tankers (thus making any attempt by Iran to blockade Iraq an act of war against America). At the same time, America blew an Iranian civilian aircraft out of the sky, lied about it not broadcasting on civilian frequencies and awarded medals to all sailors when the ship got back to port. Meanwhile, our erstwhile buddy, Saddam, was using chemical weapons that we failed to condemn as he was fighting a country whose democratic government we had toppled in 1953 and who were "inexplicably" pissed with us. So, yeah, can't trust those Iranians.

"Iran sponsors and funds numerous terror organizations and activities"

And America doesn't?

"Iran ... has stated numerous times ... that their policy is to annihilate a certain other country in the region, and do so by any means possible."

Aside from John McCain "joking" with his notorious "bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran" song, everybody knows the "wipe Israel off the map" quote was a mistranslation that has been covered many times (see here for a reputable source). But don't take my word for it. If you still don't believe it, ask a Farsi speaker. There is not even an idiom in Farsi for "wipe off the map".

And before you call them biased and say that "they would say that", consider the political leanings of my Farsi speaking friends (and countless other Iranians who came to the West). Clue: they all left Iran in 1979.

I'm sure this has hundreds of uses!

Such as erm...... uh....... well... bonfire lighter! Er, and you know.......... other things!

Now this on the other hand....

In the book Lauren first learns how to draw a line and then that she can then draw and connect four of these to make a square.

Christ. Who writes this rubbish?

I read some of the book using Amazon's 'look inside' feature. It's deeply un-engaging, and highly unlikely to hold a child's attention for very long at all. Compare the writing in it to something that's actually good, and you'll hopefully understand what I mean.

In the book Lauren first learns how to draw a line and then that she can then draw and connect four of these to make a square.

Christ. Who writes this rubbish?

I read some of the book using Amazon's 'look inside' feature. It's deeply un-engaging, and highly unlikely to hold a child's attention for very long at all. Compare the writing in it to something that's actually good, and you'll hopefully understand what I mean.

In the book Lauren first learns how to draw a line and then that she can then draw and connect four of these to make a square.

Christ. Who writes this rubbish?

I read some of the book using Amazon's 'look inside' feature. It's deeply un-engaging, and highly unlikely to hold a child's attention for very long at all. Compare the writing in it to something that's actually good, and you'll hopefully understand what I mean.

You know it really is blue, right?

(the reviews, incidentally, are hysterical)

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