Torbens blog

I’m observing a few items on eBay these days, mostly out of curiosity. It’s remarkable how ignorant and counterproductive most people are concerning eBay.

This post is dedicated to explaining a few simple and proven principles that will help buyers to win at lower prices, and help sellers achieve better prices for their auctions. Of course these two sides are in competition against each other, but that’s just the way the market works.

It’s a fact of life that you can only win a game if you know the rules. The same is true for any marketplace: Understanding the market always helps you, regardless whether you want to buy or sell. If everybody followed these rules, then every product would be sold at exactly the value it’s worth. But because many people don’t know these rules, there is a profit to be made: better traders get better prices!

Take advantage of the fact that the majority of eBay users (buyers and sellers!) don’t know these principles. Continue reading this story »

Enough is enough. This article in Wired is but one in a sea of cries against Facebook, and they’ve all got a very good point: Facebook is actively undermining the privacy of the users, but we users should be able to control what information gets published about us or not.

So I’m preparing to leave Facebook, and I’ll make sure to delete all my information in there in an attempt to protect my privacy. I’m going to focus on my own homepage and blog instead, so that people who really want to follow me can still do so.

Incidentally, here’s an article on Lifehacker describing what you could do, if you agree on the above.

It annoys me when stuff suddenly works differently for no obvious reason, and even more so when the result is a lot worse than before. (Here’s a tip, Microsoft: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!)

One such annoyance is Windows Explorer in Windows 7 and Vista. When you dive into sub-folders by double-clicking in the right-hand pane, the left-hand pane doesn’t expand to reflect where you are. That’s a pity, because that has been in there ever since Windows 95, a brief 14 year-long period of doing it right.

Here’s how to fix it: Continue reading this story »

After installing the new version of the iPhone OS this morning, I just found the best feature! It’s no the landscape keyboard mode in many apps, but rather the keyboard itself!

Continue reading this story »

So here’s an attempt at writing a blog post on the go. I’m on the morning commute to work and just trying out the new WordPress app for the iPhone. I still miss a proper keyboard but at least this way I can post minor stories even when I’m not near a computer. The app even lets me publish photos.

My plastic brain is dead. Long live my plastic brain! This post marks the official end of my “Age of Psion” that started eleven years ago, in November 1997. Over the course of the years I have “used up” three Psion Series 5/5mx PDA’s, and they have served me well.  But now the time has come to move into the Age of Internet and leave my Psions behind. With some sadness, I have just finished moving data off my beloved Psion. I am not going to use it anymore, and I will put all my Psion stuff up for sale soon. Continue reading this story »

Today I’m taking the opposite point of view — that a netbook is not all that useful. Ironically, I am typing this on my Psion PDA, and I notice that the space bar key is no longer working that well. Whatever Psion replacement I will eventually settle on, it better be soon.

Continue reading this story »

Two weeks ago I received a netbook from my father, and I’ve noted a few factors that make a difference. The most obvious observation is that it’s very nice to have a netbook and be able to surf the web during the daily commute. But if I am to buy a netbook for myself, what factors are important to consider? I’ll summarize my thoughts here. Continue reading this story »

While I consider buying an Asus Eee 901, my dad has offered to borrow me his super-cool netbook for evaluation. It’s a little bigger and a little heavier (1,5 kg with extra battery) but it might still be fine.

Perhaps I’ll just keep it?

IT news sites report that Google will launch a new browser today that will compete with Firefox and Internet Explorer. It’s going to be interesting to see what it offers. From a technical point of view it will probably be great as it is based on fresh young ideas and not on several earlier versions (which is a strength in other matters though). Continue reading this story »