Posts by Robert Flatters

Boffins spot planet that could support life... just 12 light years away

Why did they sound supprised about find planets obiting a sun

If my thinking is correct someone along while back thought that there would be little or no chance of other worlds obiting other suns. how rong that theroy was.

Inside the real-world Double-O section of Her Majesty's Secret Service

This might be a bit of nit picking the rank on bonds uniform is that of a commondor. commander rank is 3 stripes.

Apple's Retina Macs: A little too elite?

Apple is well gready

Apple needs to wise up big time, they cannot continue with this minamilist idea of removing optical drive.... how the hell are you to export the work....let me guess the cloud....aint happening. I want to burn my stuff on to a dvd or blue ray cd. I want a bigger hard drive without getting screwed for the privaledge. Get it Tim Cook i want those thing, give them too me.

Testicle-boiling new iPad ignites fanboi fury

thermal specifications

So Apple are saying that they tested their fondle slab and have found that it fall 'well within our thermal specifications'. What are their thermal specification? any clues apple, please tell us.

Apple shovels $400m in stock grants to top execs

what about thoses in the shops

I take it those that work on the front line, ie the shops, also get some shares and not just a hand shake and the imortal words "Your all doing really well". The other question is has it been agreed by the share owners themself. Or has Tim Cook forgot about them

Apple cofounder Steve Jobs is dead at 56

We either hated him or loved him, but he brought change

He brought to both the computer world and to the mobile world a new way of using technoligy and challenging the oppersition to do better than apple. I, for one, might have disagreed with some of the things that Steve Jobs said, but at the end of the day he was visionary, a mavarick, but he saw markets that no other had thought of.

Today the world has lost a giant in the it industry, who next will fill that viod and step on the shoulders of steve jobs.

Rest in peace Steve.

Lenovo shows ThinkPad X1 ahead of time

Yep that advert did suck abit

i dont think i have ever used an FN key before.....dont they listen we dont need it

Google Cr-48: Inside the Chrome OS 'unstable isotope'

One small issue with googles idea

While it sounds all nice and and all, there is one small hole i wish to make in their dream idea. What happens if the router drops dead or the connection to the internet get cut off..... no access to files or anything.

Why dont they have a box that has wifi connection and allow the user to view their stuff and develop the OS for the tablets in stead that would be a far more interesting idea.

I guess in the future when we do have 1000 mbits download/upload speeds and the likes then i think it would be interesting.

UK Skylon spaceplane set for engine test in '3-4 years'

Reminds me of HOTAL

There was something similar about 20 years ago, when project HOTAL was started and several years later was cancelled due to over spend. It was ahead of it time, where a air breathing jet engine could switch over to liquid oxegene and travers into space and return under its own power.

What this video shows is a plane that takes off under its own power and then glides back to earth, like the space shuttle...no second trys if you over shoot your landing.

Dead Pink phone fallout hits Microsoft's top brass

There needs to be a full clear out of the old guard

There is nothing like wasting people time and effort in develping a new and interesting ideas only to see it snuffed out. What is needed is a fresh and open minded management team from the top down, which mean clearing out all the old execs including Ballmer and bringing up on comming people.

There needs to be a full review on future projects and plans for new way of developing future OS's including window 8,9 etc.

Inevitable Mac OS X 10.6.4 update problems surface

10.6.4 issue

I downloaded the update last night and all i saw before closing the lid was the default starfield effect and no icons. I will have a check when i get home this afternoon.

From reading some of the comments on the Apple site it seems that the drivers for the external speakers might have been corrupted and it might need them re-installing.

Apple trawling networks for tablet subsidies?

Apple profilt pie will be reduced

If Apple are going to sign any deals with any of the mobile suppliers then the suppliers will be looking at wanting a larger cut of the pie. And if they are successful then all will be rubbing their hands when the money start to rolling in.

iPhone's Wi-Fi problems cause heated speculation

Apple needs to be rattled to get something out of them

It is the same thing again something happens to an apple product and what do apple say.....'nothing'. We buy your product apple we want to know what your doing to fix this defect. And if that Wifi chip was throttle back. What was the reason for it. Was it because it started to fail because it got hot...hhhmmm. Maybe someone at Apple have the decency to step up to the line and answer those question... if you've got the b*lls

Kind Regards

Mg-bob

ESA gives £6m to Brit spaceplane project

Only one chance at landing...like the shuttle

I don't understand why they not thought this through, its a cheaper version of the US shuttle, but stretched and with out boosters and large tank. And NO engine control when coming in for a landing....so one crack at landing.

Why havn't they thought about a hi-brid jet engine that can be switch over to internal liquid fuel, when the air gets thinner. And then on its return it still has engine power to control to slow the plan down and would be able to switch over to external air when enough of it is detected. thereby under engine control if the plane over shoots the laning it can take off again and make another try at landing.

Apple's Mac OS X update breaks Perl

If Apple knew...why didnt they tell us

What is going on within the great apple are they engrossed in the next OS, not to notice this issue. obviously they regressed a file for some reason....Any Answers Apple............windy isnt it. Well i guess they are looking into it before they can tell us unworthy people.

Dear Obama: Please consider open-source a waste of your time

Fight for the presidents ear

There is no doubt that the letter had all the haul marks of a sales pitch, instead of been written by a number of non company boys....hell even i thought about writing to the president at one point, but thought better of it. I would be of little supprise to still find some of Obarma people not able to connect to the system yet.

Be Broadband doubles down on ADSL to catch cable

BT need to play future boy

BT need to take a small leaf out of Virgin book, they need to seriously look in to changing their copper lines for fiber optic cable, rather than limiting themselves. I know there is a down side to this argument like replacing every single connection in the UK, but if they start off in small phases i am sure they would reap the benefits in the long run.

Abbey IT upgrade 'chaos' hits small biz banking

Bad IT Practices

Seems to me there was a failure of having any procedures so that if a problem was to occur then a fall back plan would be initiated. By the looks of things it was a really bad day for someone. And no doubt there will be a lot of lesson learned meeting going off. .......Like who's head shall we chop off.

Apple more closed than Microsoft

Apple control

There is no doubt that Apple has enter a new era of its life and it has to come to terms with the fact that customer power cannot never be ignored. Apple has had it hands burned more than once due to rough riding over customer complaints and yet they don't seem to learn.

Apple needs to be abit more open cos if they dont then there could be trouble ahead and then it will be too late.

Apple quietly releases Safari 3.2.1

Testing.....Apple must have missed that bit

Apple needs to get a grip on their time scales and should give enough time for testing and bug fixing so that it dos'nt end up as egg on the face. And if Jobbs wants some tester to come in and spot these defects then just shout...well test it to bits.

mg_bob

Jesus Phone vuln delivers fanboys to phishermen

Apple secret world

I use apple products like the itouch and apple mac laptop, but what gets me is the fact that when someone reports a defect that has the effect to cause major problems then those boys and girls at apple need to to be a little open when it comes to time scales for releasing a fix.

Something like this should have apple putting out some sort of statement saying 'A fix will be released on x date' simple as that.

Regards

Bob

Agile development - can’t scale, won’t scale?

Agile

I did work for a company that brought in Agile just after the project had started. There was a lot differing views on how to work to a methology that either a group of people did'nt know or had no formal introduction or training. This led to some confusion, but after a short period of time it seem to work.

There however a down side to this, as someone else mentioned COMMUNICATION and ACCOUNTABILITY, knowing the true progress of a small project and whether they (the project managers) were sticking to the iterations. Some project managers where slipping work from iteration 1 into iteration 2 and so forth.

This led to the work load increasing to meet the 6 week iterations deadline. This gave a false idea of how the projects were progressing. It was when the company brought in two audit companies to do an audit of the project did they find what was truelly going on. When they had finished and produced their report the project was canned.

I would like to say that i learn a lot from the company regarding Agile and since moving on to pastures new. i have found the company i'm working for now adopting the agile principle, but on a smaller scale . Hopefully they won't fall into the same black hole

Regards

Bob

Stob latest: It was a cunning trick, says Open University

Do they know what they are on about?

I found it interesting that someone who has not even bothered to read something and then ask student to comment on dose not fill me with confidence. And if the said doctor cannot be bothered then they should leave the OU and try something else......like building a house out of stones...without the stones.

Another day, another iPhone fix

Testing....comes to mind

The issue here is pressure to get the 3G out as quickly as possible so as to keep investor happy. Apple should have learn it lesson years back when they went through a similar thing with their pcs and laptops where software would crash computer would simply over heat and shut down.

I did think that they (Apple) would have processes in place to make sure what they produce is to the quality and standard that's worth all the money, us the customers are paying. I, for one, own both a apple mac and itouch and have had little or no problems...touching wood so far.

I hope jobbs is reading some of the comments that people are making and taking steps on testing the product before it goes to market.

O2 prices up the latest iPhone

Rip off

So O2 are going to charge £45 a month for a iphone 8GB, why dont they just reduce it to £35 month they will get alot more punter then, but hay they have to make their money back somehow. I will be waiting for several months, to let the dust to settle before i folk out 100 notes.

UK electricity crisis over - for now

No supprise

What the Govenment will say is "its up to the engergy supliers to find ways of coping with demand." not us we just like to accept bribes...oooppsss incentives to promote nuclear power plant.

Well Mr Brown is another mess for you to deal with....any more pigeons wanting to to make their way home.

Regards

Sir Bobby

HP in talks to buy EDS

This might shake the EDS cart abit

HP might find alot of skeletons in EDS's cupboards, but might be just what EDS needs to get it self sorted out. if it does succeed then there will be alot of dead wood to chop out

Optus named second Oz iPhone carrier

About time

Why didnt they have the iphone on a multi carrier when the iphone was first released instead of the causing hassle with one carrie only.it would have been far less hassle that way.

Also Im looking forward to seeing what the new 3G version looks like and see how much apple will be selling it for..... knowing apple it will be alot

Windows XP SP3 sends PCs into endless reboot

SP3 and AMD

I have installed SP3 on mine and it seem to work ok and i have got a FX AMD chip in my machine.....however i did shut it down after i installed SP4, which can be a fore warning of loop booting issues i.e. ground hog day screamers. You can tell that Microsoft are not really that bother about XP anymore and consentrating on Vista...trying to fix the bugs in that.

Let hope when i get home tonight that when i do boot up its ok.....crossed fingers and rabits feet... need more than one rabits foot for luck.

Six months on from HMRC, data losses still rising, says ICO

They listern and learn

the problem is that govenment agencies dont learn from past experience and they carry on making the same mistake over and over again. I call it the "five second memory" senario. No doubt this will happen again.

Regards

Bob

Orange signs up testers for mobile newspaper service

Why not the UK as well

The one thing i would like to know why isnt it been trailed over here in the UK as well.

Ballmer bitch slaps Vista

The same thing

Every time that microsoft launchs a new OS they spend the most of the time fixing it and when they finally get a stable platform they release a new OS and the same happens again.

There needs to be a rethink within the company as to how they develepe the next OS and really do a lesson learned cos they havnt done yet.

Kind regards

Bob

Dreaded Blue Screen of Death mars some Leopard installs

OS X

When i was installing my copy it did come up with, what i can only describe as designer blue background, which might have been the BSOD. it was present for about 15-20 seconds. this could have been when it was checking the computers drivers. After that the screen changed to show the progress of the installation and then rebooted and it was fine.

So my conclusion is while in the BSOD the installation comes across a driver or drivers it does not understand it falls over. Its strange that if that the case why didn't it get picked up and fixed.

I did find the installation instruction a little thin in the book. i know apple is promoting a minimalist approach to how much information they should provide, but this is a major upgrade we are talking here.

Regards

Bob

Apple sued over i-Bricks

Once bought then do what you want

Whats the point of selling a product and not allowing people to decide what they want and what they don't want. Apple should either apologies for being so anal or stop the production and selling of the iphone if they dont want anyone to mess around with it

As for the downloads there are has been several reports where users who have not unlocked their phones have found problems with missing contacts, pictures and locking up.

Kind Regards

Bob