Posts by Stewart Midwinter

Obama embarks on car emissions cutback

small beer

My ten-year-old Ford Escort wagon already gets a fuel economy within 10% of the 2016 requirements, so this announcement seems like small beer... so long as most people drive small cars. It should (hopefully) pretty much kill off obscenities like the Hummer, though.

White House confiscates hack's handset

Arrogance

Hard to believe that the 2nd reporter would walk out of the press conference rather than turn off his phone. Of course, he must be especially arrogant to be talking on it in the first place. Maybe his employer would like to know that he finds blabbing on his phone to be more important than, you know, doing his job by covering the press conference.

BlackBerries outselling Apple iPhones

well of course

well of course the Blackberry is outselling the iPhone - for one thing, you can buy it on more reasonable terms, like your choice of contract term.

This week I tried to buy an iPhone in Canada from Fido. They refused to sell me one at any price! Why? Because I am already on a contract with them. Wait, it gets better! The sales rep then suggested that he could sell me an iPhone if I took out a second line and signed a THREE year contract!

As for the Blackberry, Fido doesn't sell them, but its parent Rogers will sell you with no term.

I love the iPhone, but I refuse to be sodomized in order to use one. Instead, I bought a Nokia 5800 for a reasonable cash-only, no-contract price, and will use that instead.

Apple's iPhone sales will continue to suffer so long as it allows carriers to only sell them under rapacious terms.

Why the iPhone's megapixelage alone won't matter

Nokia too

Another phone with a Xenon (i.e. 'real') flash and a Carl Zeiss is the 5-MPx-toting Nokia N82. This Nokia model also supports the use of a bluetooth external keyboard, while the iPhone doesn't. One size truly doesn't fit all.

Apple plays catch-up with new iPhone features

keyboard please

Apple announced more uses for bluetooth in 3.0, but I haven't yet heard an official confirmation that I will be able to -- finally -- use an Apple bluetooth keyboard with an Apple iPhone. I guess I'll have to keep using the keyboard instead with my Nokia phone until Apple reaches the mid-90s with its bluetooth stack (even my old Palm Tungsten could use a bluetooth keyboard).

Analyst predicts cut-price, updated 3G iPhone models

unlikely

The iPhone already has the worst-quality camera of any high-end smartphone. It doesn't plausible to me, as the author suggests, that Apple will update the hardware of the iPhone and add a higher-resolution screen but continue to leave the camera at a laughable 2 MPx resolution while its competitors are introducing cameras with 5 or 8 MPx.

Amazon: Kindle 2 to sell internationally

not in Canada

I wrote Amazon.ca yesterday to ask when the Kindle would be available in Canada and they provided the following bullshit answer:

"At this time, Amazon.com is unable to offer the Amazon Kindle and associated digital content from the Kindle Store to our international customers due to import/export laws and other restrictions. Whispernet, which allows users to take advantage of Kindle's wireless features, is currently available only in the United States."

What, there is no CDMA network outside the US? Someone please educate Amazon about the existence of Telus and Bell, both of which operate CDMA networks. As for laws restricting content, how is it that Sony is able to sell its reader in Canada?

No, the real reason that the Kindle is only available in the US is that Amazon is too lazy to actually get out and make deals with other cellular providers. No wonder American industry is collapsing... they don't think there's a world outside their own borders (even though this thing is probably made in China).

Apple iPhoto gets in your face

bad

one bad thing about iPhoto '09. It takes your entire collection of photos, which you used to be able to find in the file system, and hides them all inside a single file called 'iPhoto Library'. You have now lost the ability to work with the files individually.

Toshiba wows crowds with sexy touch smartphone

support, or not?

Hey Toshiba, remember your last foray into the world of mobile media devices, the e830? After a big splash in N. America, you found that sales weren't up to your expectations, and soon afterwards, announced you were leaving the continent and would no longer support those who had purchased your devices... and were beginning to feel in droves the effect of the crappy build quality.

So, have you learned any lessons, or is it more of the same low-quality effort as last time?

Amazon Kindle set to go massive

Not only in US

Wrong, the Kindle *could* be sold in Canada as well as we have two CDMA providers. The obstacle is Amazon's unwillingness to do the network deal that would allow it to be actually used in Canada to buy books... that and the fact that Amazon in Canada sells only music and books, and no other merchandise.

Sumerians cracked world's oldest joke

How do you make a dog sound like a cat?

Soak it in water, stick in the freezer a while, then run it through a bandsaw: "rowwwrrrrrr..."

Black hats attack gaping DNS hole

Shaw Cable ok

1. 64.187.29.134 (h64-187-29-134.gtcust.grouptelecom.net) appears to have GREAT source port randomness and GREAT transaction ID randomness.

2. 64.59.135.133 (nsc1.so.cg.shawcable.net) appears to have GREAT source port randomness and GREAT transaction ID randomness.

3. 64.59.135.135 (nsc2.so.cg.shawcable.net) appears to have GREAT source port randomness and GREAT transaction ID randomness.

The Reg surfs for porn with a San Jose councilman

obscene

If you want to really see something obscene, look at the side view of the councilman.