James Galvin

Occasionally I see fit to throw a bone to the frantic Googlers out there looking for tech support answers. Here’s an easy one for anyone who forked out on this wifi range extender that they sell in Maplin and is currently finding it completely unusable. The firmware that it comes with quite simply does not work. In my case, the unit stays connected for a few minutes at most before requiring a reboot. Upgrading to this firmware did the trick OK.

I can’t believe a product could be released that is so obviously broken. I’ve seen lots of dodgy firmware versions for routers in the past that will choke up due to syn floods or viruses or whatever, but out here on a quiet private network in the middle of the country side there is no excuse for keeling over, straight out of the box. Got to say though, this has been rock solid since upgrading.

Not quite a dramatic as the lemur or the hamster, but now I want a pet hedgehog.

Quake Live, the newest in the Quake series by ID Software, is now accepting beta testers. You can sign up with your email address on the website. Quake Live is a free game, based on Quake 3, fully focused on the multiplayer side of things. Multiplayer games have strayed far from the tried and trusted “just point and shoot” mantra of Quake, so it is good to have another game that does not require you to twirl around three times and tap you heels before planting a bomb on the VIP.

I’m posting on behalf of someone who has lost their dog in the Knockraha area (near Glanmire in Cork).

The dog went missing two days ago, a quiet male dog, part spaniel, pictured here:

Please send me if you know of anything.

I saw Rescue Dawn last night, a movie starring Christian Bale about the German American navy pilot, Dieter Dengler, who crash landed in North Vietnam during the war and was held in a prison camp. Rescue Dawn had some good points, but it was not quite up to Bale’s high standards, and definitely not worthy of the high rating I’ve seen it get on the internet. I was suspicious of a few plot holes and inconsistencies, since this is meant to be a true story, and Google turned up this site built by some friends and relative of the prisoners with a 12 page account of the escape told by the other survivor, Pisidhi. The site has video clips of Pisidhi and Dieter, and others, and offers a new perspective on the story - particularly on the character “Eugene” who was apparently portrayed very unfairly in the film.