Chris Gorvan's dashboard

If you wish to purchase a subscription for someone else, head over to the subscribe page as per usual and where it asks for a username, replace it with the intended recipient's.

Firefox 3.0. The theme and all of the extensions I use are well maintained and were compatible on launch day, so I had no reason not to upgrade to the latest version.

It seems that I can't mention Microsoft without 'poisoning the well'. Suffice to say, I've earned my stripes with Microsoft as a company and their products over many years and I have the scars to prove it. I now avoid them as best I can.

With Apple it's a whole other story. Louis is right, controlling the hardware plays a big part in Apple's success, they control the customer experience, which is the essential key to customer satisfaction. Add to that exemplary customer service (pre and post sales), a stable software foundation (Unix), fairly quick release cycles with a sensible legacy support period, which allows for agile innovation.

I have had my Spore account validated! I ended up opening another support ticket at http://easpore.custhelp.com and this time the customer services rep. understood the problem and manually activated my account straight away.

Here's a template of what I said, and yes, I really did break it down for them :D

1. I have already registered in-game.
2. I am having the validation email problem that others are having.
3. I've already tried re-sending it from the website... many times.
4. I need you to manually activate my account.

Account email address: ..................
Account nickname: ..................
Date of birth: ..................
Zip Code: .................. (or 'don't have a zip code, not in the US')

It's a likely cause. One possible solution is to prevent Bluetooth devices from waking the computer, which you'll find in 'System Preferences' > 'Bluetooth' > 'Advanced...' and un-check the second check box.

It's a bit of a hack, and may affect how other applications display the medium format time, but...

Open 'System Preferences', click 'International', then the 'Formats' tab, and 'Customize...' (the date). From the drop-down box select 'Medium' and create the date format you'd like to display in the menu bar. Select your constructed date format and copy with Cmd+C. Click the cancel button (we don't want to save it).

Now back at the formats tab, 'Customize...' (the time). Select 'Medium' and paste the contents of the clipboard in front of the existing time format with Cmd+V, followed by a space. Click OK and you're done.

If you need to turn off the existing short day prefix then that can be found in 'System Preferences' > 'Date & Time' > 'Clock'. Just un-check 'Show the day of the week'.

Offline, I find the only thing WHSmith has left to offer me is one-off / occasional stationary purchases and magazines. I've always found it expensive compared to other high street shops with a narrower focus, such as HMV for music or Waterstones for books.

Online, WHSmith may as well not exist, for me. I've shopped with Amazon for ten years, I trust that they will successfully compete on cost, range, quality and customer service. This experience with Amazon has earned them a virtually unassailable lead.

If WHSmith are to compete at all then they need to choose their fights more carefully. Personally, I think differentiating on quality and service is the way forward; offer tailored services, like locating an out-of-print book, personalised stationary/gifts (engraved pens, embossed letterhead, etc.), customisable magazine subscriptions, assembling a bespoke archive either by publication or subject, for example.

They would also do well to ally themselves with Amazon, sort of like Borders and Amazon once did in the US, but without merging. If I could pay for something like a CD at Amazon and then immediately go and collect it at WHSmiths then I most certainly would. There may be very slim margins but at least it gets people into the shop.

Not sure about how to do it solely with a nipple mouse, but you can do it with the keyboard by placing the cursor over the spine, holding the option key and pressing the up or down cursor keys to control bulk.