Category: Life

Having recently purchased a DSi and a new compact camera, I’ve been looking at SD memory cards.

My usual stops are MyMemory and Play.com – both provide a good range, cheap price and free P&P. However, after looking through both and noting down the best prices for the various card capacities and speeds, I have some recommendations for anybody else wanting to purchase.

SDHC cards (those are the cards of 4GB capacity and above) have 3 speed ratings – 2, 4 and 6 – 6 being the quickest. However, devices never seem to recommend a particular speed so I always plump for type 6 to be on the safe side.

First of all it’s obvious that the worst price can be found in the lower and upper end of the markets – 1-2GB, 16GB and above. 1-2GB can cost you anything between £2.25 and £4 a GB. From 16GB upwards, it will cost you up to £2.81 a GB. Never-the-less there are still some bargains in the higher range to be had.

I won’t link to each card – first of all, because it will take me an age, but also because prices change as does availability, so by the time you get around to looking at them, it may have all changed. This is simply a guide to give you an idea as to where to aim. Besides the only reason why the highest capacity cards are such poor value is because they’re relatively new to the market – given time their price will drop and as the smaller capacities are chosen less, their cost will go up. Thankfully there is a ceiling as SDHC cards have a maximum 32GB capacity (after that you’ll have to move to the little known SDXC format which has a 2TB capacity – having said that, SDHC can and it’s only the specification that limits this).

Star Buy

Let’s start with my star buy – the cheapest price per GB. Play.com sell a 16GB type 4 SDHC card for £17.99. This equates to £1.12 a GB.

Best Buys

Of course, not everybody would want that capacity or speed rating, so let’s see the best in each category (I’ve avoided certain sizes due to lack of availability)…

By Size

Best SD (i.e. 2GB and below) Card – 2GB for £4.49 from Play.com

Best 4GB SDHC Card – Type 4 for £6.49 from Play.com

Best 6GB SDHC Card –  Type 4 for £10.99 from MyMemory

Best 8GB SDHC Card –  Type 4 for £10.49 from Play.com

Best 16GB SDHC Card – Type 4 for £17.99 from Play.com

Best 32GB SDHC Card – Type 4 for £69.99 from Play.com

By Speed Rating

Best Type 2 SDHC Card – 8GB for £11.99 from MyMemory

Best Type 4 SDHC Card – 16GB for £17.99 from Play.com

Best Type 6 SDHC Card – 8GB for £10.99 from Play.com

Complete List

And, finally, here is the complete list of cards sizes and speeds, and the best price for each.

1GB – £3.95 – MyMemory
2GB – £4.49 – Play.com
4GB Type 2 – £6.99 – MyMemory
4GB Type 4 – £6.49 – Play.com
4GB Type 6 – £6.99 – MyMemory
6GB Type 4 – £10.99 – MyMemory
8GB Type 2 – £11.99 – MyMemory
8GB Type 4 – £10.49 – Play.com
8GB Type 6 – £10.99 – Play.com
16GB Type 2 – £34.99 – MyMemory
16GB Type 4 – £17.99 – Play.com
16GB Type 6 – £26.99 – MyMemory
32GB Type 2 – £89.99 – MyMemory
32GB Type 4 – £69.99 – Play.com

Another week, another customer service fight 😉

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not one of those who will argue the toss over the slightest thing, expecting immediate recompense for anything and everything. But if I pay for something and the end result is, well, a bit rubbish, then I will stick up for myself.

Recently I ordered a camera case from eBay. Ok, I know. It was cheap – just £5 from Hong Kong – but I’ve had other similar goods before and not had a problem. This time, though, the product was less than satisfactory. The logo badge on the front was loose and so badly finished that the tops of some of the letters were missing and the plastic edges were sharp. And to make things worse the case was too large for my camera – even though this was, supposedly, specifically for my model of camera.

Anyway, I contacted the seller, explained the problems and requested a refund. It took them a few days to reply but when they did they asked for some photos of the problems. I happily did this and sent these along. However, upon seeing these they responded in 2 ways…

1. To suggest that the extra space in the camera case were for “accessories” such as memory cards
2. To say that they would refund the item, but not the P&P

The second point, you’d think if fair enough. However, in this case, this was one of those items with a “nominal” selling price but a big P&P. This was (I don’t know if it’s still the case) a fiddle to pay less fees to eBay. That would mean that I wouldn’t get back over £4 of my original cost.

As to the first point, well, most of the room was in the side of the case. Enough to fit a USB memory stick into but certainly not an SD card. Or battery. No, this was a rubbish excuse. So I told them that (in more polite terms). I also pointed out that the item was (and remember this phrase) “not fit for purpose”. Being the nice person I am I suggested a compromise – a refund of £3 would be acceptable.

In the end, they refunded the full amount. An excellent conclusion, done with no shouting, screaming or threatening – just the way it should be.

Ahh Facebook groups. A good look through and you’ll find pretty much every type of bigotry and small-mindedness you could think of on display.

And, looking through some of my friends’ additions, I come across a group dedicated to their theory that English (US) is not a language. And it’s not alone – there are a number of groups dedicated to the SAME subject (which I guess just goes to shows how much effort they put into these things).

Let’s look at the stated objections of some of these groups…

Shoving z’s in words and not being able to spell doesn’t create a new language!

Just cause American’s spell so many word’s wrong doesnt not mean they should get there own langauge, and it definitly should not be the default for facebook, word ect. There are other countrys on earth with people who can spell proply. IT’S COLOUR NOT COLOR!

Ah, the irony of that one, with its bad spelling and grammar.

U.S. English is a DIALECT and should be referred to as one. Join this group if you agree.

At last some sense – as far as I can tell, yes they are correct – US English is a dialect. But, then, when you install software or visit a website it normally refers to “English (US)”, indicating that the language IS English, but the US variation or, in this case, dialect. In other words, it’s English but with the US Spelling.

Most of the objections are around the apparent “misspelling” of certain words or the fact that they use alternative words. However, in many cases, the words the US use are simply words that were a lot more prevalent in this country at the time the US was first being colonised. Because of the distances between the two countries, however, the languages moved on in their own directions. In some cases (the dropping of “U” in many words, such as “colour”) the US brought in attempts to simplify the language – English is, after all, one of the most complex languages due to its inconsistent language and grammatical rules.

Comments in these groups, however, include…

May I also state another of my pet (American) hates? The inability to understand sarcasm/irony.

Indeed. And this coming from somebody who thinks a big visible, chunky chain around the neck is in someway appealing. I’m guessing he certainly wouldn’t get through all of Stephen Fry’s thoughts on this.

There are many comments about how you don’t see Australian or Canadian English as an option, so why should the US have one. I dunno, the fact that most of the sites and software in question was made in that country, and therefore will reflect their language? Amusingly, some Canadians have a Facebook group complaining this very fact – that they don’t have an option in software for their language. Sorry, dialect.

No, from what I can see those inhabiting these groups consist of people who have put as much thought into this as they have their generally cliched and xenophobic spouting.

Now some news stories can get me mildly annoyed. In the end, though, I shake my head and move on. But every-so-often something comes along where the general public are so ridiculously stupid that it really, really winds me up – people who buy houses next to airports and then complain about the noise, that kind of thing/

Here’s one today…

Angry residents of a Buckinghamshire village blocked the driver of a Google Street View car when he started taking photographs of their homes.

Police were called to Broughton, near Milton Keynes, after residents staged the protest accusing Google of invading their privacy and “facilitating crime”.

I heard a little more about this on the news this morning. By “facilitating crime” they mean that they believe burglars are using Street View to plan their next target. Now, I’m no burglary expert but I would suggest 3 things…

1. Back gardens and alleyways are the best routes in and out. Street View only shows views from the road.
2. A burglar could get a much better view by simply driving up the road.
3. Why couldn’t a burglar use the overhead Google Maps service, which isn’t being criticised? That shows views all around a property.

Therefore I would conclude that only a really stupid burglar would use Street View for planning purposes.

So, why has Google caved in? Why, when the Police were called by the villagers did they not get into trouble for wasting Police time? By law, Google are doing nothing unlawful. Yet, by standing in the road blocking the car I would suggest the villagers in question probably are breaking at least one law.

I suspect they’ve been reading too much Daily Mail who refer to it as a ‘burglar’s charter’ and ‘Google spy cameras’.

It’s all a load of over-reaction by a bunch of NIMBYs with nothing better to do. Shameful.