
Wrong name?
Shouldn't that have been done by the US Selenological Survey?
72 publicly visible posts • joined 9 Mar 2007
At work a few years ago I found that a Nokia N95, when launched with enough pent-up anger behind it (phone call from colleague who was being more of a total idiot than their previous impressive best), can go through a partition wall comprising 2 sheets of 12mm plasterboard while breaking up into its constituent units. I hate to think what that could have done to someone if they had got a battery in the eye...
"I'd love to see a breakdown that proves that iPads et al are more efficient and cost effective that old fashioned pen and paper for them"
Done that - 4 years ago. I agree that iPads are not adequate as the speed of entry using a keyboard is nowhere near a pen paired with either paper or a tablet. My figures show that my WinXP tablet/pen combo in use for 6 years in an NHS environment (inc a set of replacement batteries, you can do that on good machines, sorry fanbois) saved slightly under £2,000 simply by being able to annotate MS office docs using Windows Journal and the pen. It took into account paper and toner costs from printing reams of board meeting papers, admin staff time spent photocopying and collating. Did not include my time being able to prepare on the train into work, which was regarded as a bonus. Device used an encrypted partition for data (TrueCrypt, of blessed memory) because some of us in the public sector understand data security.
As an added bonus, in one meeting I was chairing, I had to tell a fanboi to put his iThingy away as the clicking from typing using the on-screen keyboard was distracting the other members. Epic win!
could they please go after the TV licensing reminder people who regularly send me bits of paper saying I'm facing a £1000 fine - but only in very small letters underneath explain that it's if I use a TV without a licence. I wonder how many older people with poorer eyesight have been caused great anxiety by this shoddy tactic?
I think I may have posted about them before (!) but even with the extended battery making it a bit porky it's still better for me than a laptop. Slot it into holder at work - instant dual-monitor system with mouse and keyboard. RDP into it at home while it's charging - using 2560x1440 monitor for multi-document work. In meetings or on a train annotating documents with the pen - fast, intuitive and convenient. Get knocked off a motorbike with it in a rucksack - it survives, albeit a bit chipped at the corners.
Works for me - on a daily basis.
The Psion Organiser II shoulder holster was a good solution to the problem of a very heavy device weighing down jacket pockets. Though it did raise eyebrows when I went to buy a new suit and a bit of extra size in the jacket. And it was a bit embarrassing when the strap peeked out from time to time. But it was very comfortable.
(16) It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, (17) so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name
So much for e-commerce then. If I believed in a literal interpretation of Revelation I'd be feeling very very uncomfortable. More so, later, when someone suggests implanting it in the hand rather than wearing it on the finger. Fortunately I don't. At least not yet.
It's obvious that from the number of cases that hit the headlines - plus quite possibly the smaller that ones don't - that the current measures and fines are not working. So I approve of the ICO getting involved in prevention rather than sitting on the sidelines dishing out fines which don't seem to have any effect and just squander my Council Tax.
I'm not sure that they can completely turn round the culture of not taking people's personal data seriously enough which seems to be prevalent in many cases, but I think it's better than doing nothing.
Hmmm ... according to the Data Protection Act:
(3) Personal data shall be adequate, relevant and not excessive in relation to the purpose or purposes for which they are processed.
(7) Appropriate technical and organisational measures shall be taken against unauthorised or unlawful processing of personal data and against accidental loss or destruction of, or damage to, personal data.
Epic fail on both perhaps?
... to taper the minute and hour hands slightly - nay, subtly - to avoid them being largely rectangular with a curved bit. It's as if they knew years ago that the rectangle (with a curved bit) was going to be patented, so they made their plans to avoid that particular battle.
Completely agree, Chris. Until I read the opening couple of paragraphs on this report, I (naively, it now seems) was unaware that at the age of 55 I had one foot in the grave and the other on a bar of soap. Do I risk telling my 82-year-old dad that he's past it, IT-wise? Even though he was developing software in his 70s? That's if he can lift his head from his PC for long enough to listen.
Kids of today ... <rolleyes>
They just captured the energy earlier in the (water, barley, hops, yeast) -> beer -> urine pathway, that's all. So it should be more efficient ... of course if they could capture it earlier still - say, plough up all the fields of barley and cover them with solar panels - and we'd be spared the whole tedious process of getting outside the beer and converting it into urine.
Having suffered from lazy DBAs in years gone by who banned the use of apostrophes in names it seems to have reared its ugly head again. A few days ago I tried to register my mobe for my bank's inclusive insurance deal only to find that I'm not allowed to use my real name. When I asked the telephone "help"-line bod about this he confirmed that apostrophes are illegal. I asked him whether the bank did much business in Ireland but he seemed unable to comprehend the question.
For shame, Barclays, for shame.
I have a 2005 Motion Computing tablet in daily use. With stylus: after all, I learned to write with a pencil and this is no different. Going to board meetings with all the papers on it is so convenient - the others have 1-2kg files. Also I have the papers from all the past meetings, with my annotations, to hand. My colleague who trialled a fondleslab could read only and went back to dead trees pretty quickly.
To use it for content production is a breeze - I can pop it in its desk stand and use keyboard and mouse or remote desktop into it while it's an a drawer, or if I have to type on the move there's an on-screen handwriting converter thingy or small bluetooth keyboard that I can use. Like Novatone, I can do practically anything on it that I can do on the desktop (except Half-life, which I tried once!) including office apps, developing with Delphi, and 'desktop' mapping software that doubles as a handy satnav on a 12.1" display. Plus Winamp and VLC (12.1" screen, remember?) for long train/plane journeys
It's also been in a rucksack twice when I've been dumped off my motorbike by tw*ts in cars and one corner is held together by sticky tape. But it still works, and still gives me 8 hours on a charge so I can work all day.
Who needs fondleslabs? Some of us do real work.
To the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Paul Stephenson.
Dear Sir Paul,
Please will you do the same as Norfolk and institute a one-day clampdown on users of mobile-phones and laptops/iPads etc in London? Your conviction stats would go through the roof. And while you're at it, please can you get that truck driver who was reading a newspaper on his steering wheel last week and nearly flattened me?
Or if that's too resource-intensive, would you like to ride pillion with me (or one of your own officers) and just take a look for yourself at the proprtion of drivers using devices that take their attention away from the road? It may change your mind.
Thank you