I recently decided to tidy up my video camcorder magnetic tape collection. I created some templates so I could print out cardboard inserts for the tape boxes.

The following templates allow you to easy print and create inserts for MiniDV (Digital Video Cassette), Video8 (8mm) and Hi8 camcorder tapes. The first file was created in Open Office Draw and the other two are Microsoft Word :

MiniDV & video8 Insert Template (A4, Open Office Draw)

MiniDV Insert Template (A4, MS Word)

Video8 & Hi8 Insert Template (A4, MS Word)

Creating charts using the Oracle BI Publisher Word Template Builder is fairly straightforward. Once you've got your XML input data you simply load it within Word and run the chart wizard.

If the wizard creates the chart you want then you are lucky. Modifying the chart or doing any customisation usually involves editing the raw XML definition. However, there is almost no decent documentation available for tweaking the XML and is something of a black art.

So I created the Oracle BI Publisher Chart Generator.

According to Empire magazine The Hurt Locker is "The most literally exciting film you will see this year."

Really? I found it to be the most dull film set in the Middle East I've seen since Jarhead. It's better than Jarhead but only just.

Some of the scenes were interesting but the story was plain boring. Nothing happens.

I just saw Avatar (in 3D naturally). It is by far the most visually stunning film I have seen and instantly dates many films by a decade or in some cases confines them to the dustbin. How many films will I watch now and think "nice but shame it wasn't in 3D".

The trailers made me worry Avatar was going to look like a computer game but that fear was washed away in the first five minutes. The effects are flawless.

A film can't rely on 3D. It still needs to be a good film but 3D is allowed to actually enhance a film just like colour and sound do. A good film is a good film but how many films have you bothered watching recently in black & white with mono sound? There are plenty out there with good plots. If you've still got your own teeth the answer is probably none.

Windows Media Centre (Windows 7 version) records TV shows as WTV files. This is a Microsoft format and contains audio, video and metadata.

Unfortunately Microsoft don't appear to have provided any easy way of editing, trimming, cutting or converting these files. If you record a TV programme and want to remove the junk at the start and end or want to remove commercial breaks you are stuffed.

So can it be done?