* Posts by Robert Govier

10 publicly visible posts • joined 24 Oct 2007

Nexus 7 and Surface: A bonanza for landfill miners

Robert Govier
Stop

"the Kindle and the iPad being the exception because of their close relationships with the content production sectors. And without content, neither Microsoft nor Google have much of a story. Google is relying on the increasingly bare public internet for "stuff", of which nothing is exclusive to Google. "

You seem to be missing the Google Play store, which now sells books, TV shows, Movies, Magazines, etc (just like Amazon and Apple). You can also use the kindle app (amongst others) on an Android tablet to view Kindle purchases.

IMHO the main thing that's missing from Android tablets is apps... and Google releasing a cheap but good (as opposed to the many cheap and rubbish Android tablets on the market) will kick start tablet app developers, and make people wonder why they're paying triple the money for an Apple Ipad that essentially doesn't do much more than the Nexus 7.

Visa muscles into Olympic pay-by-wave with microSD kit

Robert Govier

Sounds like a good way of getting NFC onto phones that don't have it, but don't most people use their MicroSD cards to store files on? This will only work for me if they can produce a MicroSD card with some storage... preferably 32GB!

Sony uncloaks first Google TV television

Robert Govier
Stop

UK availability?

So given these prices are in $, will these devices actually work and/or be officially released in the UK? I assume a lot of the functionality comes from streaming content which is probably not available outside the US, so will we have to wait a couple of years for Google to negotiate the appropriate license deals before it's released over here?

Labour candidate tweets postal votes

Robert Govier
FAIL

Retweeted

It was also re-tweeted on the official Labour twitter feed, and then removed a few hours later.

HTC Touch Diamond 2

Robert Govier
Alert

on board memory

Correction: "The 512MB of on-board memory is twice as big as the original Diamond's". The original Diamond actually has 4GB of on board memory, but no expansion slots.

Lexmark E260DN networked mono laser printer

Robert Govier
Thumb Down

Parrallel ports and printer speed

@Dave I agree that a parallel port is useful for adding a Jet Direct box for a standalone printer, but surely it's not needed on a printer that has a network print server built in?!

Re: Speed, try printing 100 copies of a single page document, I suspect that'll get you closer to the fabled 30ppm.

GPS phones threaten satnavs sales, says analyst

Robert Govier
Stop

No need to upgrade

Surely the simple reason that Sat Nav sales fell is that most people who want one have one, and can see no reason to spend another £100+ on a new model just to get updated maps?

Sales of phones with GPS chips are up? Perhaps more phones have GPS chips in as standard, and as most people upgrade their phone every 18 months, more GPS enabled phones will be sold?

Concrete-jet 'printers' to build houses, Moonbases in hours

Robert Govier

Toner

The printer will be available from Staples for £500 in time for the Christmas market (with Wifi connectivity and one of those little screens for viewing photos), however it'll only come with a 25%, non-refillable toner, and you'll need at least 2 full toners to print a house, (costing 100 x the price of the printer).

Stray left foot washes up on Vancouver beach

Robert Govier
Coat

Overheard in a bar in British Columbia last week

"Any idea why 4 right feet have been washed up recently?"

"No, but I'd give my left foot to find out...."

Pure Digital Evoke 1S DAB digital radio

Robert Govier

Scrolling text

We've got the original Evoke in our kitchen. The text information, although not as detailed as the new radios, can be useful, however on a two line screen you do have to stand there r-e-a-d-i-n-g - v-e-r-y - s-l-o-w-l-y while the text scrolls past, which can be frustrating! I'd like either a larger screen, the ability to turn the existing screen into 4 lines of smaller text, or the ability to skip forward in the text.

Other than that, I have nothing but praise for the Evoke range. Better sound and a lot better looks than a lot of the cheap and nasty DABs that are now on the market.