* Posts by Rick Cross

9 publicly visible posts • joined 11 Dec 2007

Google guns for Apple TV

Rick Cross
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I Must Be a Google Employee

I want my paycheck! I've had a Logitech Review (One of two devices known as Google TV) for a couple of months now. I bought it as a refurb via Amazon.com after the price drop from US$299 to US$99.

Actually it is a lot better than I expected, it has streamed everything from my local media that I've tossed at it and works well. And of course it streams all of the usual suspects off of the internet. At $80+shipping, it is a very nice bit of kit. At $299+shipping I had no interest in even trying it.

Now seriously, I imagine that the FCC request and article pertains to some new model of Google TV since the first one never took off. It failed so bad that Logitech slashed the price, though that is their fault as the failed to actually implement everything in the Google TV 2.0 specs, in effect crippling it.

Android, BlackBerry phone owners favour Apple tablet

Rick Cross

I Have Both

I use my iPhone 4 for business and my HTC EVO 4G for personal use. I've also got an iPad 1 and had a Vizio VTAB1008 8" tablet. The Vizio went back.

I prefer the Android interface. True multitasking and Widgets make the device a big part of my workflow. So much so that I SHOULD be using the Android phone for business and the iPhone 4 for games and media.

I use the iPad for eBooks, games, videos and remote access to work computers. Since I don't care for most games on Android, except for gaming, most any Android tablet would be a better choice for me than an iPad.

I see the iPad as a really big iPod (I gave my Touch to my wife for eBook reading) and the better Android tabs as being more like a computer. The Kindle Fire may run Android, but the configuration of it (Amazon eBook, Amazon Music, Amazon Movies) make it compete more with the iPad than against other Android tablets.

That said, unless the iPad 3 turns out to be some fantastic device, I'm seriously looking at the Asus Transformer Prime for my next tablet. I think that the second generation Android tablets are going to kick some iButt.

Dropbox rival touts 50GB free cloud storage for iOS fans

Rick Cross
Meh

Not quite 1GB file size limit

The file size limit is actually only 100MB. We do get 50GB of web storage with the free account under this deal, but the site explicitly states that the largest a file can be is 100MB. We're also limited to only 10GB of uploads and downloads a month.

While the ability to store 50GB of 100MB files in the cloud is very nice, to get the Dropbox type features, users will have to upgrade their account to the business account which is currently US$15 per month.

For that fee, you get the desktop clients, file syncing, 500GB of storage, 2GB file size limits, encryption, full text searching and Google Apps integration.

Apple Mac Mini with Snow Leopard Server

Rick Cross

Customers Not in Trouble

You can still buy the Mac Pro with Server installed. Perhaps not as many redundant backups (dual PSUs, etc.) but a powerhouse server box. The biggest problem is size. Using desktop towers in the server room is a step back 20 years.

The XServe was a wonderful server room box. My guess however is that too many admins admired it but went with commodity rack mounted boxes thus making Apple give up on the server room. I know a number of admins that would have liked a server room full of xserves as servers and storage units. They either couldn't get it past the bean counters or past management's prejudices.

The current "push" by Apple to use Mac Pros and Mac Minis as servers tells me again that they've conceded the server room and are making a half-hearted attempt to stay in the game.

With the current push towards blades and dual computers in a 1U rack case, using either Minis or Mac Pros loses coming out of the gate.

Bottom line, Minis make great appliances and SOHO servers. Mac Pros would be good for workgroups as part of a larger network, but with xserve out of the picture, Apple shows up empty-handed when it comes to the "serious" server applications.

Axl Rose sues Activision

Rick Cross
WTF?

"Incredibly Valuable"?

I guess the concept of "incredibly valuable" is a personal thing as I wouldn't give a penny for either.

Apple accused of iPhone ban on 'all single-station radio apps'

Rick Cross
WTF?

What makes you think that you OWN that iPhone?

If you owned it, you'd be able to do what you wish... install any app from any source, roll it back to previous versions of the OS or even write apps for it for your personal use without paying Apple $100.

Rick Cross

Why would anyone want a single channel radio app?

Your question leads me to ask: "Why would anyone want an app icon that leads to only one app? Heck, let's just make it that so that there is only ONE icon on your iPhone... click it and then scroll until you find the app that you want to use that time."

While I no longer live in the UK, I DO remember being about to count all the available radio stations on one hand and with fingers or at least a thumb) left over. Come to think of it, an official BBC radio app will never be allowed. It doesn't offer "hundreds" of stations as the BBC doesn't have hundreds of channels.

The stations here may have advertising, but just in my local area I can choose from about 40 local stations. Out of those, I rarely listen to more than just one of them. So I'm a lazy sod and would much rather press one icon and immediately get my one station.

Rick Cross
FAIL

Meds

The biggest problem with Apple's App Store is that what is acceptable depends on whether Steve Jobs has taken his meds recently.

Researcher: 'Second wave' HD adopters favour HD DVD

Rick Cross

Answer to Why Consumers Should Care About HDTV

Why should consumers care about HDTV? Because here in the U.S. in 14 months your old analog TVs become virtual paperweights.

A law passed in 1996 was designed to get everyone on the HD bandwagon. It requires that TV stations stop broadcasting in analog by February 17, 2009.

By then, unless you are a cable or satellite TV subscriber, if you want to watch open air broadcast television, you'll have to own an HDTV set or purchase a convertor box for every TV at US$100 each.