Posts by Ricky Cann

Anti-radiation phone chip withdrawn from sale

Fonejacker

Does George Agdgdgwngo work for this company?

MS hit with Red Ring of Death lawsuit

@Random Noise

I agree with your statement,

"...design for warranty - make it good enough to work until at least the warranty period has passed, but don't worry about if the components fail shortly afterwords, Joe Six pack will buy the new model soon enough anyway."

This reminded me of something my a-Level Design and Technology teacher taught us. We studied an article about Volvo who, we were told, once released a car that was designed to last 17 years. The design, manufacture and advertising all leant heavily towards quality, reliability and longevity. They quickly removed the bullet from their foot when their client base stopped buying the next model due to how good the aforementioned one was.

All subsequent Volvos now have built in obsolescence.

Sony's curved OLED

@Gareth Saunders

GS wrote, "Hasn't it only been a decade or since Sony, etc. phased out curved screens (on CRTs, back in the day). Seems we have come full circle."

Do I detect a hint of sarcasm or have you missed the point of curved OLED? CRT's were convex until Sony overcame this undesirable problem with FST. Curved OLED's are concave and have been developed like that by design to give a more immersive experience to the viewer. (Think miniature IMax).

PS3 DVR add-on launch delayed

Not HD compatible

In response to Antidisestablishmentarianist: It's PlayTV that's missing something as it's not capable of receiving HD signals.

Logitech docks daring mouse design

Finally, a minature USB dongle

I've been waiting for something like this for years. A practical sized USB dongle you can plug into a laptop and forget about is ideal for me.

Amusing to see this excellent advancement in the USB dongle minaturisation is coupled with the what I can only call the sh1ttest thing I've seen all week. The button hook could revolutionise the world! I want one for everything I own. I could hang my wallet, phone, glasses and house keys on the lid of my laptop. Why didn't I think of that. I wonder if there's some wazzock in the R&D department at Logitech feeling really pleased with themselves. What next? A button hook to hang your laptop on your Segway? lol.

What's the transistors-on-a-chip record?

Itanium

In February 2008 Intel claimed it has fabricated a chip with 2,000,000,000 transisters. This should be commercially available under the 'Itanium' brand name.

My mate Dave says he about to go public with a 2,000,000,001 transister chip but I don't believe him.

Gadgets safe from global airport anti-piracy plan

If is was true it would be unenforceable

My girlfriend spent three weeks encoding 60gb of music from her CD collection. It's a good job the story is bunkem as how would anyone at an airport be able to distinguish this legitimate digital library from someone who had illegally downloaded 60gb of digital music? Without coming into our home to see the hard copies of the CD's then I know of no other way anyone could ascertain if the music files were legal or not.

Brits get iTunes movie downloads, rentals

HD downloads on Apple TV only!

BIG mistake! I have been waiting a long time for an online service where I can legitimately buy/rent HD films and now we have one I have to go out and buy an under powered Apple TV box. I don't want an Apple TV box, Steve. I already have a high end PC that more than meets my entertainment needs. It has exactly the hardware and software spec I have carefully researched and chosen and is capable of playing one HD movie whilst encoding a second to a Media Center extender in another room. Let me buy/rent HD content on iTunes on my existing hardware you ring fenced twit!

Hauppauge pitches PC TV tuner at Freesat punters

HD capable?

I've been keeping a close eye on FreeSat since it was announced and I understand the HD channels will be broadcast in DVB-S2. This tuner doesn't support DVB-S2 broadcasts so if FreeSat HD is DVB-S2 then this won't receive the HD channels. (See UK Hauppauge website). The Hauppauge WinTV-NOVA-HD-S2 supports DVB-S2 in addition to DVB-S. This card is the only digital satellite Hauppauge tuner that I'm aware can receive HD FreeSat broadcasts.

Please can this be clarified.