Posts by RichyS 664 publicly visible posts • joined 22 May 2008
No, not the KIN debacle; but the Microsoft Press Centre photos.
Does 'eating their own dog food' extend to graphics packages? Have they used Microsoft Paint to do the cut outs on the photos (Roz Ho's in particular. Feather guys, feather). Surely MS can negotiate a good deal on Photoshop...
You can already pair your iPod Touch or iPhone with an Apple TV. Makes for a great Sonos type device -- especially with a few well placed Airport Expresses to give multiple room capability. The only downside is each room has to listen to the same thing.
All I'd really like the Apple TV to do is to be able to access video on a shared drive without having to have iTunes open on my laptop first.
My old SE w910 would lose signal if I touched the top with my finger.
Having worked as a lab assistant for a company designing and manufacturing military antenna (during my Gap year -- woo hoo!), I can confirm the fairly hit'n'miss process of tuning an antenna using various capacitors and resistors. You could get most of the way there using science, the last bit was really a black art!
Antennas do weird stuff. Some people are more capacitive (and resistive) than others. YMMV.
Z88. Nice. I've got one of those kicking around somewhere. Just need to find myself a UV lamp to erase the 32K EPROM (Flash ROM? Never heard of it), and I'm ready to go. Sod the iPad!
And I have my father's old BBC Model B (middle class household, thanks for asking). Your photo somehow doesn't look right without the big metal cube of a Microvitec Cub monitor...
Now I just need to fire up the Archimedes A420 (with astonishingly expensive 20MB hard disc) to remind myself that OS X /is/ just like RISC OS 3.
Will anyone ever feel this nostalgic over a mid 90's Dell box?
Please can we put a stop to these inane 'my [insert name of device] has been able to do this since [insert date I downloaded a hacked ROM for xdadevs]' comments?
Fine, so the N900 can do lots of things. But it's a shite smartphone. The thing weighs more than an iPad.
If the N900 was so fecking great, how come the only place I've ever seen one is actually at Nokia? Mostly because most people don't want to look like a dick holding a small computer up to their faces.
You may love it. You may also love recompiling your own kernel and furious onanism. But please, can you stop with these pointless comments?
I thought: interesting list. This Topaz sounds pretty powerful. But, since HTC seem to release a new (and ever so slightly different) phone every week, I needed to Google it to see what it was.
It's a WinMob 6.1 phone. Dear. Fucking. God. Are you seriously trying to compare this to an iPhone? Really?
A Micro SIM is just a regular SIM with less plastic. So, if you're happy to wield a sharp knife at your regular SIM, you'll have no problem.
O2 are even supplying their Micro SIMs with nice handy plastic caddies for using them in phones with normal SIM slots. Which basically means eBay will be awash with the caddies soon.
So, are all these drives USB only? It was sort of implied, but not stated specifically.
I have an Iomega eGo (though not the one in this review). I chose it not due to my fantastic experience of ZIP drives (I'm being sarcastic); but because it was one of the few bus powered portable drives on the market that offers Firewire 400 and 800 along side plain old USB 2.
Now, for most people, this may not be that important, but for anyone shifting large files around (DSLR photos and high bandwidth HD video in my case), then the sustained speed that Firewire can offer over USB (which is rather bursty) -- particularly in FW800 guise (nearly double the peak speed, and much higher sustained speed).
For those of us with higher end laptops (thus with FW400/800) with a need for high performance, you really can't beat Firewire. Well, until USB 3 becomes commonplace. Then we'll probably have FW3200 anyway...
This article seems to be predicated on so many assumptions. Assumptions that are wrong.
If Flash is so wonderful on mobile devices, then where are all the non-Apple devices running Flash (and not that uselessFlash Lite crap, either)? Adobe have only just got Flash working (sort of, if you ignore the agonising load times) on the very latest Android 2.2 OS. So, is this Jobs' fault. Has he somehow stopped Adobe developing for these devices?
And where did you get the idea that developers are the most important people? They're not. Customers are. Developers will go where there's a market for their products. Okay, ther are a few Penguinistas who'll develop along idealogical lines. However, seeing most of the un-user centric crap they put out, it's no great loss.
And regarding the open/closed debate. Jobs covered this off to. You can develop web apps using open web technologies. However, if you want (a) money or (b) to use some of the more 'specialist' APIs, then you write an App. From a customer perspective, I don't care whether the App Store is open or closed, I only care about what I can do with the apps I can download. So far, I've not seen anything on other platforms that I really want. Certainly not in the limited (and flakey) Android marketplace.
This whole article is just nonsense.
The old box had a DVI-D port and mini-TOSLink (combined with a normal 3.5mm headphone socket) for outputting a digital video and sound signal.
HDMI is essentially the same as DVI (from a signaling point of view), only with audio included.
Agree with you on the HD issue though. The ATV can be very picky -- 720p24 only, and at around 5Mbps only. Not great when you 1080p HD DSLR can pump out 17Mbps!
Okay, so there's a 4-6 week waiting list, and shipping form the States is pretty extortionate. But, you get a lovely hand made case that holds your iPad in without leather corner pieces getting in the way of the volume and screen lock buttons. And it looks like those nice old moleskin notepads.
Way nicer than any other cases out there. It would be great if the chap making them could get some more help on board, and a UK distributor.
These Rethink people still don't get it. Talking about a 'new wave of iPhone competitors', then touting 2GHz chips and other spec-whore nonsense misses the point of the iPhone.
The iPhone has, over the years, made some interesting uses of technology, but rarely has had the latest and greatest of technology. Never the fastest chips or highest mega pixels of largest screen. You get the picture. The iPhone has always being about the sum of its parts -- and that includes the software. To ignore all these aspects and only concentrate on the raw specs of these 'super phones' is to simply not get it.
Have the PCeU actually done anything that represents value for money? Genuine question -- I have no idea.
Are they really interested in 'cyber crime' as we know it, or are they more interested in people hocking fake goods on eBay.
And, cyber-crime related to national security? Isn't that more of a job for MI-something-or-other?
You can get an unlocked phone from places like Expansys. They're horribly expensive though, so no-one does.
As someone above points out, it's much cheaper to buy an O2 PAYG iPhone and then pay the £15 unlock charge (which is a bit of a rip off, but there you go). That's what I did. Works a treat.
Oh, and you can flog the O2 SIM for £40-50 on eBay, on the basis it comes with a year's free data and WiFi access.
I think the possible snag with this theory is that TMUS have a very weird 3G setup. While the downlink is indeed 2100 (and supported by the iPhone), the uplink is in the unusual 1700MHz band. Not supported by any iPhone.
So, unless the baseband on the iPhone can do some weird hybrid 2G/3G thing (and this would need support on the network too, I think, or you'd have to keep two simultaneous sessions open), then I can't see it working.
You'll be fine using the iPhone 2G only though. As you have been able to on T-Mobile's US network since day 1.
Happy to be corrected by anyone with better knowledge of TMUS' RAN.
How long has this been in development?
It's still only 32bit (not so bad on my Mac where it can run in a 32 bit sandbox while running 64 bit Safari); but a pain in the ass on 64 bit Windows.
And still no hardware acceleration for Mac.
Oh, and no chance if you have Chrome for Mac either.
Exactly what the feck are Adobe devs doing? Or am I mistaken in using the plural there?
The end of Flash can't come soon enough. And it'll be Adobe doing the burying.
Works fine on both my Win XP ThinkPad and MacBook Pro.
The only 'hack' I have installed (on the Mac) is Click2Flash. Which still works fine.
So, basically the only people who've had problems are those installing hacks that make use of private APIs and the like. Okay, so it's not ideal that they break, but WTF are you doing installing a v.0 application when you know you've hacked the hell out of the previous version. I mean WTF people???!
Firstly, you've picked pretty much the top end Android phone.
Secondly, Verizon have been doing a 'buy one get one' deal on the Droid -- so you get 2 Droids for your $199.
Thirdly, there are much cheaper Android phones available. While you can get a last gen iPhone for $99, you can get various Android phones for free (Droid Eris, Moto Devour, etc.).
Not looking so sensible now...
Well it's a shame that IT people don't value usability.
That could explain why the UX for most bits of enterprise software is so shit. I mean, no one needs training to use Amazon or eBay; why the feck is it deemed okay that users need training to submit their expenses via a SAP portal.
Bloody geeks.
Quite agree. I think the wireless 'consultancy' that claims to have authored this drivel is aptly named here. They need a rethink themselves.
Every article I have read from someone who has actually seen the screen says it's amazing. So, it's not acronym compliant by not being AMOLED. But other than giving geeks a hard on, is AMOLED actually fit for purpose yet? From what I've seen, I don't think so. Pretty much unusable outside, and the Nexus One uses dodgy pentile sub pixels, and thus isn't really giving the high resolution it's pretending too. The high pixel density, good contrast of IPS panels (close to AMOLED), zero air gap and usability outside for me are much better than some fancy acronym.
Have to agree that the EVO sales snafu is amusing!
Android's nice enough. And it's doing okay in certain sectors (like the lower end of the market populated by this magic age group the author talks about). You can bet they'll all get iPhones when they can afford one!
Oh, and do most smartphones really have front facing cameras? Last time I checked, only the EVO and certain Symbian phones had one. And most of those Symbian phones aren't really smartphones, just jumped up feature phones with no touchscreen or keyboard.
And somebody who thinks they're a technology consultant is still buying into the megapixel myth? How about taking a look at the size of the pixels on the iPhone 4 sensor, or the fact that it uses a back illuminated sensor. These things matter far more than megapixels. Or put it another way, show me a high megapixel Moto Droid photo, and then try and explain why it's much worse than a low pixel count iPhone 3GS photo.
And finally, where did Rethink get their data from stating that Android is doing better internationally than in the States? All the data I've seen is to the contrary.
As far as opinion goes, this was the opinion of an idiot.
Safari Stand uses a bunch of hacks and undocumented APIs to work. Why on earth should anyone expect it to work with Safari 5?
I've tried Safari 5 on my ThinkPad and am impressed with the extra speed and the Reader mode. But I guess if you want to find some minor technicality to bash Apple on, then fine. Just seems a bit childish to me...
But then you'd end up with three things that are shit at doing anything.
Why exactly is an Android tablet that doesn't really exist a panacea for everything the iPad isn't? If the hopeless attempts so far at an Android tablet are anything to go by (and I'm mostly looking at you here, Archos), then the iPad has nothing to worry about.
I think you Lintards need to take off the blinkers and realise that Apple are very good at making something that works well and easily for the majority of people.
A huge border may be pointless on a flat screen TV, but then you don't hold a big TV when you're watching it.
Try and keep your prejudices in check and have a think about whether a large border on a handheld device is a good idea. Still thinking? Good, keep going. Now tell me why books and magazines don't print right to the edge (think of the savings on paper). There you go -- you need to hold them without covering the content/screen.
Now tell me if the border is pointless. Or is it just you.
It's a beautifully designed piece of kit. Just the rights size, and the screen is spanking gorgeous. Only downside is that it's a little heavier than expected -- but I'd rather that than it being plastic instead of aluminium and glass.
Photos look great. Reading the web around the house is so much better than by iPhone or laptop. My wife loves the calendar and email. On the basis that it's taken her 3 months to discover I never quite got around to reinstalling Office on her laptop after I needed to reinstall Win 7 (thanks Sony), I reckon the iPad will be perfect for her. Waaay better than the (Linux) Acer Aspire One that now just sits in the cupboard -- that was crap for the web and email.
My 17 month old son loves the children's apps too -- and it seems well built enough to withstand his 'skills'.
All in all, a hit. Does it do anything that I can't do on a laptop or smartphone? No. Does it do a fair few of these things better or more conveniently? Hell yes. Do I need one? No. But then I don't need half the crap I own -- but hey, I'm sitting on the top of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. This is all about self fulfillment baby!
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
