Tuesday 22 March 2011

New printer


Following 'death' of my old Epson 660, its replacement is a HP DeskJet 1050 all-in-one (printer, scanner, copier) J410 series.

Setup is relatively easy, although I cannot figure out why the USB cable for connection to a desktop PC must be bought separately.   

Build quality seems a bit plasticky, and the machine is somewhat noisier than I had expected, but the very fast A4 printing speed is impressive, and it spits out address labels in a second.

Full-colour A5 printing is fine, but I haven't tried it with any photo-paper yet. 

Monday 21 March 2011

Interzone

The latest issue of Interzone magazine (TTA Press) includes my 'Laser Fodder' column of DVD & blu-ray reviews.

Here's the line-up of reviewed titles, plus ratings:

Interzone #233
Psych: 9 (4/10)
Alien vs. Ninja (5/10)
Operation: Endgame (5/10)
Paradox Soldiers (3/10)
Vamp (3/10)
Paranormal Activity 2 (0/10)
Primal (6/10)
The Lost Skeleton Of Cadavra (0/10)
Altitude (4/10)
The Universe: 7 Wonders Of The Solar System (2/10)
Skyline (6/10)
The Gathering (5/10)
The Man Who Fell To Earth (8/10)
Legend Of The Guardians: The Owls Of Ga’Hoole (2/10)
Ink (4/10)

Saturday 19 March 2011

Epson660


My venerably ancient Epson Stylus 660 printer has finally died... 

Habitually creaking and whirring, partly fossilised, always prone to ‘communication errors’, it’s now announced its own demise with a full set of flashing red warning lights, and a complete failure to even attempt cleaning its own thoroughly clogged print-heads.

Bit sad to see it go, after all this time, because this was the last piece of equipment still in use from my very first desktop PC system; bought when this century was still new and shiny, and everything was beige.