Greetings

Yeah, the keyboard is usually extra. I'm now set on the Surface Pro 3 w/o a keyboard since I won't need one most of the time. The price is the same as for a Surface 2 Pro with keyboard, yet the 3 is apparently better in pretty much every respect. I went to check it out in person today and found out they are not distributed over here so I couldn't get my hands on one, not even on a vaguely similar device. But the impression I got from using other devices and looking at their specs was that the Microsoft is a pretty powerful piece of kit. So yeah, need to think this over and might order it on Monday.

You know what, I've just been doing some research and my #1 candidate so far is the MS Surface 2 Pro. I remembered I can do this as a business expense so now looking at up to 700 quid. With that budget, would you recommend that? So far on YT reviews I've only seen these tablets used with a stylus, presumably it can be operated using fingers as well?

Looking for a "mobile device", preferably a tablet on which I can install normal Windows apps and connect USB devices like a HDD / Camera to in order to upload or download files. Any suggestions? Would like to keep it under 400 quid if possible.

Just came back from Interstellar. The only good thing about that film was that it gave me an idea. My dad frequently talks about how amazing modern technology is. This is a man who still remembers gramophones which had acoustic amplifiers and he's living in an age where you're always 1 minute away from pretty much any knowledge humanity has acquired so long as you have your mobile on you. This got me thinking. Imagine how much fun and how interesting it would be if you - aged 70 for example - could watch a video in which you aged 20 answer questions about what the future will look like in 50 years. The questions are whatever you want them to be. For instance, 50 years from now: - What will communications look like - What will medicine be like - Will we still use mobile phones, and if so what will they look like - Will we still have motorcars - Will there be a war - Nanites / nanotechnology - What will politics be like, will there still be a president / pm, ministers or a completely different system - Will space tourism be available - Will we have landed on Mars, or maybe even colonized it - etc. Obviously this would only work if you have some basic interest or understanding in the fields you're talking about. It's not about guessing, it's about making a calculated prognosis based on your knowledge. In order not to lose the recording, you burn it onto a Blu-Ray or DVD (still not sure about this) and frame it in a decorative fashion like used for certification in the music industry, then hang it on the wall. That way there is very little chance you will lose the video and hopefully you will still be able to play optical discs in the future. Any ideas?

Last comp was saved by a large field of gravel, reminded me of how epic such surfaces are. Lots of fun despite driving on rally slicks. So today I raised the car by 40mm, disconnected the front ARB and installed some pretty old WRC tyres. Still need to sort out the lighting and tomorrow evening we're off into the wilderness

The amount of skill involved in all those moves is beyond my comprehension.

Probably the last comp at the local track which is the only homologated racetrack in the country. For reasons unknown, management is killing off events. The track is apparently for sale for 60m out of which 1% supposedly goes to the current club manager. This is almost certainly the reason for sale. We used to get amazing competitions, now they are kicking out competitors for loud cars which has never happened before. The special stage is 2x shorter than ever before and incredibly slow and boring. The club does not want to talk to us about what is going on which is very fishy. We're going to get our facts straight and go to the media. The most probable outcome is that the track will be sold and destroyed, so shopping malls can be built there. I'd like to see them try. Anyway, managed to sort out an onboard with telemetry and pedals. Learning left foot braking, still haven't got the hang of it. Finished 4th overall among about 25 Evo's and a total of 120+ drivers. Chuffed with the result considering I was only there for the food after seeing how utterly shite the stage was. Didn't even bother to warm up tyres, listened to music while driving and was completely indifferent about the result. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aw8aaSk1DxM

I've always found that it's difficult to match the results from promo footage with a GoPro camera. There is very little difference between my friends 3 Silver and my old Hero HD. Don't know about the 4. 4k footage is definitely a leap forwards. However, unlike when HD was released to the masses, there aren't that many displays in use which can properly display such video. And editing must be a nightmare. You need a pretty powerful PC to edit 1080p50 and encoding times are awful, can't imagine what specs you'd need to easily work on 4k.

I can only see this making sense for riders who have fear of snapping chains due to - perhaps - a nasty accident in the past.

Trials stuff is dated, like someone already mentioned this sport is itself a time capsule. We have forgotten a few things which were pretty cool or spoke volumes about trials years ago. - White and yellow stripe tyres from Monty / Echo. - Zoo bars (the 1st ones to actually be wide and with adequate rise) - All of Echo / GU / Adamant / Czar / Zoo hubs, front and rear, freehub or no freehub and in every colour. Same could go for cranks, boosters, brake mounts and bashrings. - Koxx Vinco and Monsterboy - Profile Racing freehub - D521 rims - The first Coust pads in short white backings - IRC ElGato and red Michelin Hot S tyre - First Echo CNC brake because the design was actually really cool, it just leaked like crazy. But then it was so easy to top off. Genius. - DMR V8 / V12 pedals and Wellgo MG1's maybe? They were pretty radical back then. - Original 26" Czar, Hi-Fi and GU Typhoon frame, or even better the complete bike. - For the really old riders - triple crown Monty trials forks, 221 X-Lite frame with square bottom tube - Megamo Equip pro (20 and 26, both double disc) - ACS freewheel - The classic bright green 221 X-Lite Back on topic: - Echo freewheel - Echo Pure frame - Fourplay frame - Arcade bars - Karbon forks - 2005 HS33 - LGM's - Rubber Queen - Hope Mono Trials

Ok this may sound weird but I really like the smell of new appliances - tv's, dvd players, oral irrigators, mobile phones, tablets, computers - you name it. They all seem to have the same kind of scent. While there is plenty of search results in Google with people saying they like this smell, there is little / no info I could find about what exactly stinks the box up. Does anyone know where the scent comes from? The closest I got was that it's EVA foam but as far as I'm aware, this material is not present in most of the above mentioned appliances. Any ideas?

Was referring more to the graphics. I'm not up to date on gaming, they seem a bit unreal. Release date for the PC version is beginning of 2015 I think.

Not sure whether to believe. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DBrG2YjqQA

Over 2 years of them actually

Cause of DNF from the weekend: So happy there seems to be no damage to the LSD

I think the translator broke down today.

Thought I'd share this, I think it's an epic picture.

I'm just giving him more credit than you guys are.

In all fairness, being born into slavery must suck, on the other hand such an individual doesn't have a reference to "normal" life so it might be better to be born into slavery than to become a slave? In this case Dave needs to be given more credit, the fact slavery exists in some 3rd world countries cannot be overlooked so he must have been referring to that.

There's just one little snag to be honest, the missus has a very negative attitude towards having kids and kids in general. It's cool now because I don't want any either so at least we share the same view on abortion. But 10 years into the future, I would like a kid or two. Perhaps her attitude will change.

Quite angry. I went to a local comp which is dominated by Evos, some are driven by professional rally drivers. There's 7 or 8 rounds each year and the competition is always won by an Evo overall. Actually every single run of every comp since 2011 has been won by an Evo or Subaru driver. Today I managed to get the best time overall by 1 second and this time was only beaten twice throughout the whole competition by 0.3s on a 4.5km stage. So there was a big chance of actually winning this event considering you usually improve, not drive slower. But no, a few metres into run two something make a mild clonk and I lost drive. You can rev the engine in gear, the propshaft is spinning, the input shaft on the diff is spinning but the diff is just humming and the half shafts are stationary. No idea what happened.

It's funny how we often pass judgement on people and it turns out to be completely false. There's a chap who sometimes co-drives with my friend and generally he just looks like a counter weight for right handers. He doesn't speak, doesn't join our discussions about the stage / driving, he just sits and listens without making a sound. So we all assumed he's just a chap who enjoys quick driving and has found his way onto the passenger seat as a means of having fun during the weekend. Well, we've just discovered this is him behind the wheel. Wait for it... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJnlMy8eotw

Wow, you can hire an entire track for £600 a day? What's the length of the track?

Exactly my thought after watching that! I've tried but haven't had the chance to practice properly. Almost all my driving is done during comps, not the time you want to experiment Definitely going to focus more on this now.

Was asked by my friends to join their team and help win something called a Youngtimer Party. Apparently the E36 now qualifies Won the last 2 rounds overall which gave them 1st place despite missing a driver. We got a nice engraved glass cup which we can keep for a year before it's up for grabs again Since getting all the cables above the pedals out of the way I've been able to mount a GoPro to see for the first time what's going on down there. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCFXhfXJ4bI This event required the use of road legal tyres hence some rather messy driving. They were motorsport re-threads which offer good grip but basically make the car handle like jelly.