graemef.com

For a while now I’ve been unable to make payments via PayPal. I only have one card, a Visa debit card, and every time I tried to pay for something with PayPal I got the following error:

To complete this payment, please add a Mastercard, American Express, Discover, Switch or Solo card.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a Mastercard, American Express, Discover, Switch or Solo card. So, I rang PayPal and was told that Visa only allow one card to be verified for one PayPal account, so when my old card expired I was unable to add my new card!

If you think that’s silly, read on. I removed my card from my PayPal account, created a new PayPal account and added my new card to that one, and it now works! So, I can’t add my replacement card to an account I’ve held for years, but I can quite happily add it to a brand new, unverified account.

I’d say that, in this case, Visa’s security features are pretty useless at preventing fraud.

Check out all the technical details here! Looks pretty good to me.

Gizmodo: The SL-DZ1200 Technics Digital Turntable, spotted a few months back, is now official and will start shipping next month. Not only does this digital player look like a turntable, it feels and functions like one as well (or so they claim).

Halfbakery’s Legally Binding Use of Factorials is recommended by Peter:

Beats your 3 million megapixels (I was tempted to add an exclamation mark at the end of that sentence, but you could have held me to it).

A splendidly pointless site - see the discussion on custard-filled speed bumps.

One of my favourite news sources, Gizmodo, has been running a competition to reward the first person to leak a genuine picture of Nintendo’s under-wraps dual screen handheld games console.

Here’s my entry. That wasn’t so hard

Mads wrote:

Hi Graeme,

You are welcome to check out Albino Gorilla.

Albino Gorilla started as a Danish moblog service, but we have now translated the site to English to accomodate our international users.

We are currently in beta and are looking for international users to test the service, so you might feel a little lonely the first couple of days, until the word has spread

Cheers,
Mads Bjerre

It’s a nice looking site and I’ll be taking it for a spin when I get the chance. Thanks Mads!

Here’s some more news about Windows XP SP2’s support for Bluetooth, this time straight from Microsoft:

Bluetooth

What does Bluetooth do?

Bluetooth® is a wireless networking technology available in a wide variety of devices. Support for Bluetooth wireless technology is included in Service Pack 2 for Windows XP. This support was not previously available directly from Microsoft. It is included now because customers requested that this technology be added to the core Windows operating system.

Some of the features that are included in this release are support for PAN (personal area networking using Internet Protocol over Bluetooth), Hard Copy Replacement Profile (HCRP) for printing, dial-up networking, Host Interface Device (HID), object push, and virtual COM ports. Support for selective suspend and boot-mode keyboards (based on specifically configured hardware) is also included.

If no Bluetooth transceiver is present on the system, there is no change to the system’s behavior. When a Bluetooth device that is approved by the Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL) is present, Bluetooth support is enabled. When Bluetooth support is enabled, you can find changes in the Network Connections section in Control Panel. A new Control Panel item called Bluetooth Devices has also been added. In addition, you can find the new Bluetooth File Transfer Wizard by clicking Start, pointing to Accessories, and pointing to Communications.

If an existing non-Microsoft Bluetooth network driver is installed, upgrading to Service Pack 2 for Windows XP does not cause the existing driver to be replaced. It can be replaced later, either manually or programmatically.

For complete documentation on Bluetooth in Service Pack 2 for Windows XP, see online Help.

Download the full Changes to Functionality in Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 document here.

I’ve just released a new version of FetchLinks, the plugin for NewsGator.

This version attempts to find the correct character set for the pages it fetches, so Japanese pages (for example) should render correctly now. If you find any pages which still don’t work correctly, please let me know.

Download FetchLinks 0.1.3.6 now!

Urgh… Can you imagine the horrific Geek-on-Geek scenes that this would produce? I’m switching Bluetooth off now!

Gizmodo: Britain’s innovative sex hobbyists have just evolved ‘dogging’ (sex with strangers in public places) into ‘toothing’, where ambitious and horny cellphone users use anonymous Bluetooth messages to scout out potential partners.

Nice one, Matt!

Version 1.0 of the NewsGatorNNTP Plugin to allow posting to newsgroups has been released. This version includes instant notification of updated versions, as well as refinement of the sending username and email per the RFC spec. This version solves the 441 error, where you may receive a message saying your email address doesn’t conform to internet standards.

Visit the NewsGator NNTP Plugin page to view more information and download the plugin!

Boing Boing Blog:

An extensive online media archive dedicated to the creator of “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”:

The Douglas Adams media archive is presented here by the wi2600.org groups for your enjoyment. This also is to serve as a tribute to Mr. Adams’s great, but suddenly shortened career. Those who have not heard his voice and those who know it well will both enjoy having this material available. We will miss him!

Link, which will no doubt be BoingBoinged to death by the time you read this, (Thanks, Chris!)