Posts by David Beck

Android up, Symbian down

Just buy old E Series

I now have a collection of the older E Series phones to carry me through the current Fisher Price Phone fad. Nokia are updating the E72 and E52 with a few updated apps and you will find that most of the other apps for Symbian can still be found (but install them now as they will doubtless disappear).

A disclaimer here, I know the E Series do not have touchscreens. I consider this an advantage. I know the E Series are not particularly media presentation friendly, I could not care less. I know that the E Series are excellent at telephony, integrate with Google apps pretty well and have long battery life, all of which I do care about. I also find that my E52 has a DLNA client and control point, FM and internet radio, GPS and maps, integrated (with the native contacts DB) SIP client, and the sort of "home" screen as discussed above. I also understand that some people find it very complicated to use. I don't.

NOTW hack-hackage: Inside the personal data press mess

Jonathan Creek

In the first JC episode (The Wrestlers Tomb) there is a scene where Maddy sits at her desk entering digits on the phone keypad. Asked by her boyfriend (amazingly played by Alistair McGowan, you never know who is going to pop up) what she is doing, she replies with the model of the BT answering machine she is "hacking", two digit "pin", "ah there it is, 36", and proceeds to listen to the messages.

Since this was originally broadcast in 1997 we can assume it was common practice at that time for journalist to hack "voicemail". Looks to me like the only change is that the length of the unchanged PIN is now 4 digits (0000) instead of 2 (00).

So will we go back and get all 14 years worth of offences?

Amazon throws tax hissy-fit, dumps California affiliates

Toll Roads?

I use toll roads all the time in France, I assume these are "private" roads.

Enron is a good example, if any government was a corrupt as Enron it would, wait for it, continue on as normal. Corporates are held to a much higher standard than governments. If a corporate was in the state of the US economy it would be long gone.

Do you trust politicians to spend your money?

I don't.

I live in the UK and am taxed at the rate of 52% for part of my income. It would be more but I'm over 65 and no longer pay employee NIC (social security). This does not include any "consumption" tax such as "sales/VAT" taxes, fuel duties, road tax, TV licences, ...

I know I can spend that money to better effect for my family than any government.

Nokia betas some DLNA love

E-Series have DLNA too

My E52 has DLNA client, server and control node. It also has a built-in SIP client (I use SIPgate) that is integrated into "Contacts", GPS nav that does not require a connection (handy if you are travelling where the data costs £7.50/MB), a noise cancelling mic that makes calls from noisy environments understandable, wifi tethering (I did buy an app for that) and currently a four day battery life (I do have a spare battery to pop in if I have to). It does not have a "touchscreen", it has a keyboard, therefore it is not a "smartphone".

I assume Nokia removed vast chunks of feature from the ^3 version of Symbian to try achieve that magical UI, so simple that anyone can use. This should be called "Appletizing", remove features until it's simple enough for your customer base, make it smooth and shiny, set an "exclusive" price point. This has luxury goods marketing written all over it.

Some of the features get added back by "apps", not as good as doing it right but much cheaper to develop.

David Davis: Jobless should dig trenches for fat UK pipes

Poor example of poor example

Not digital doesn't mean not electronic. Germany was still installing analogue (semiconductor based, not mechanical) exchanges into the 70's, as were some providers in the US. Will these be replaced by digital exchanges? Why when digital cable/fibre and cellular systems provide the same coverage and more services. Exchanges (point to point wiring of any sort) will go the way of the dinosaurs.

YouView confirms Technicolor exit

YouView Hardware?

Can someone explain why a platform that is to replace a number of existing platforms (iPlayer, 4OD, ...) that service a variety of existing hardware/software delivery platforms (PC, Mac, internet connected TV's and Blu-Ray players, games consoles, ...) needs any hardware development?

The hardware is not needed to satisfy any functional requirement as the new platform need/does not provide any addition function, it just consolidates existing functionality.

The hardware is not needed to provide a delivery platform as there are a number of platforms identified as suitable since they currently deliver the independent services and therefore can deliver the consolidated service (are capable of, not are designed to).

So why would I want to buy a YouView hardware box?

Unisys revs up big ClearPath mainframes

Bytes?

I'm always interested in how these machines configure the gigabytes of main storage. The OS2200 boxes were (are?) 36 bit word machines and the MCP boxes were (are?) 48 bit words with lots of additional typing bits per word. I think the original MCP machines from the 1960's (B5500) had 53 bit words, 48 bits of content and 5 bits of descriptor, there were invisible ECC bits too. It could have been a later (1970's) version (B6700) with that config.

Also, how the heck do Xeon processors provide either of these environments? Straight emulation/simulation? The entry machines must spend most of their time decoding and shifting bits about.

Worked on both both systems a bit in the 1980's. When Unisys was formed the general view of the employees was it would be a disaster. Within a few years the joke was that it demonstrated how to take two $2billion companies and make one $2billion company.

Good fun just the same.

HP's beloved 12c calculator turns 30

A lot of 16C owners here

Another 16C owner and a note to the author, anyone who has a 16C unused in a desk drawer can sell it for at least 2x the original price. In the old days this would indicate that HP could sell a few of these if they wanted to make a bit of money. But in the new marketing model if you can't rule the world, there is no reason to build it. Gone are the days that established companies built niche products.

End of the line for mechanical typewriters

Manual Typewriters

If you remove the "electronic" from the Amazon search in the article you will find several manual typewriters for sale. Kinda knocks the breath out of the article.

Microsoft inks Nokia deal with phones set to fly in 2012

I know something the Board didn't,

what was going to happen to the Nokia share price once the deal was leaked/announced. Had they known I suspect they would have been far less quick off the mark to believe Elop. He certainly didn't tell them they were going to wake up a few weeks later 30% out of pocket on Nokia shares (8.45 EUR on 9 Feb, 5.975 EUR today). Has he actually bought any Nokia yet, or is he still holding MS?

YouView mandates Linux, HD content encryption

I just want a catch-up TV platform

Am I alone in not understanding this set-top box business? I though YouView was a common IPTV platform for catch-up TV. What is being talked about is a set-top box which replicates the functions of boxes I already have. Why exactly would I buy one? I would just like to rationalise the api to catch-up TV so I can watch all catch-up from my Sony Blu-ray player, instead of, as it is now, connecting a laptop to the TV for access to the multiple APIs. Of course I still want access via the laptop as I use it when I travel and that is when I use catch-up TV the most (the shows I normally watch are on the DVR at home). Sure hope iPlayer doesn't go, or any of the other APIs. I'd hate to be driven to BT to find TV shows I currently watch legally.

NoTW offers apologies, 'regret' over phone hacks

Hacks?

Is no one else bother that the press insist on calling this a hack? Since all you need to access most voice mail is the pin which for most is initially set to a fixed value and the phone number of the mailbox, how is accessing this a "hack"?

I know celeb A's phone number, an Orange number.

What are the chances they have changed the original PIN (Orange use "1234").

Ring 07973 100123 enter the celeb's number, enter 1234 and listen to the messages.

Have I just committed an offence by publishing the complicated, technically demanding, heart stoppingly complicated procedure?

Or are there just a lot of really stupid celebs/politicians/captains of industry? (I mean other than footballers.)

Halifax cuts investment accounts off from the web until April 2012

Investment accounts, you can't just close these

Think about it. They chose to screw the investment account holders specifically because you can't just close the account. If they had done it to the current or straight savings (any of those left?) they knew that since there is no legal problem with moving the account they would. But investment accounts are typically one to five year investments with expensive escape clauses. They knew exactly what they were doing and exactly who they are screwing.

a commercial and corporate success?

That would be the RBS of which I am a shareholder by benefit of my status as a UK taxpayer?

And the Natwest which my daughter has to appear in branch to do almost anything with her account as almost nothing can be done on-line?

Stripping out functionality until you reach the lowest common point only appears a success until you realise your customers are ex-customers and your "successful" system is part of the reason.

Google relocates Australian AdWords customers

When does paying the shareholders become evil

Firstly, as a shareholder, either directly or though pension plans, I would expect any company to pay no tax it need not pay. The last organisation I expect to use money wisely is government.

Secondly, when did it become the corporate world's responsibility to harmonise the international tax regime. Following your logic Google would never have set up in Ireland as it is a US company. I'm sure the Irish would be as pleased with that policy as Google current move.

Oxfordshire cops switch speed cameras back on

And don't forget the specific one the TVP used to support the more "speeding"

when the cameras were switched off. That would be the camera on the A44 headed south out of Woodstock where the road remains at 30 for far longer than needed and far longer than anyone not familiar would expect. Since your actual limit signs are often obscured or missing they get lots of "speeders" on this stretch. You'll know it, it's the background scene used in all of the video coverage talking to the police about how people speed without the cameras, sorry, I meant how they speed and we don't get to dip into their pockets. Without the cameras they still speed, TVP just don't get to dip. Excellent choice for a place to monitor the speed once the cameras were off. Wonder if they are still monitoring there.

Sony reveals DAB+ radio range

DAB-

Great, so I get to pay extra money to Sony on the off chance some idiot at the BBC can convince the government that there is so much money available it would be possible to spent some of this on a "bleeding edge" technology which has been in use in FR and DE for about 3 years.

Why?

My phone does FM and Internet radio just fine thank you. My Roku box does the Internet stuff at home, remind me why I want to lose FM.

Mobile operators ditch Tube plans

WiFi in the Underground?

What sort of through-put will you get with the signal hostile environment? After all, the Tube is 750V DC (I think) and when I was working at (not for) BEA (shows age) the Westbourne Terrace site had to have a cage to keep the kit working because of the EMR off the Tube a few meters away.

Ofcom gives shonky Sitefinder Google Maps boost

I don't think they know

I'm sitting in my house with a "6 bar 3.5G" signal on my E52. This on T-Mobile. If I do a "Check your Street" at the T-Mobile site I apparently have no 3.5G at all, and a very poor 3G. This situation has been the case for about a year now. So I suspect T-M aren't supplying the info because they have no idea where they have signal and where they don't. They are certainly not overstating the case on their own signal maps.

This doesn't say the backhaul is any good, just the reported signal. The 5MB test file at Thinkbroadband takes 10-12 seconds to d/l. That translates to roughly 3-4Mb which suggests the backhaul is clear but I live on the edge of a small town and wouldn't expect the service to be congested.

'Iranian' attackers forge Google's Gmail credentials

A thought

Given the selection of sites and the paranoia of the middle east, the ability to intercept local traffic (that is local to where you can control the DNS ) might come in handy if you happened to have a popular revolt on your hands. All that lovely Tweeting would go down the bit bucket if your tweets never left the country and were easily read by the local constabulary. Same goes for mail ...

Google plugs new-age telephony into US carrier phones

Also Google has tighten usage of GV

I signed up for GV on a trip to the States (you had to have a US IP address to register) and until about a month ago Google didn't care where in the world I was. Now it does, even the GV dial box on Gmail only shows when I am in the US (or using a US proxy).

So GV is pretty useless if you travel out of the US, admittedly a microscopic population but I'd have thought a good target for GV.

Nokia Software Updater for Mac Beta

I don't want a touchsceen phone but

I do want a phone that has lots of features, GPS+maps, VoIP, WiFI, Java, ...

Currently I'm stockpiling E-Series phones (E52, E55) , next on the list is an E72. If any of your readers would like to throw one of these useless, out of date, old fashioned, unsophisticated, untrendy pieces of rubbish at me just leave a reply to this post.

Thank your local deity

for no OVI Suite. Ovi Suite on the PC is a 300mb pile of steaming excrement which remains in it's latest form less functional than the PC Suite which Nokia have inexplicably chosen to replace. Ovi Suite is a prime example of "form over function".

"Who cares if it doesn't copy the Contacts DB properly, it looks really pretty."

"Who cares if it can only download ALL the maps to update one map, it looks really pretty."

"Who cares if it is unbearably slow at doing the few things that it is able to do, it looks really pretty."

If Nokia are really going to sack a number of workers I would like to make a few suggestions as where to start.

Google to kill Gizmo5 VoIP on April 3

I don't get it

Why did Google buy Gizmo5? I used it on my N800 and E52, Google Voice is hardly a replacement, since as far as I can tell GV is a forwarding service and nothing else (except a lot of hype). I've moved the E52 to SIPgate but need advice on a client for the N800.

Apple, RIM profit from Euro smartphone shift

My Nokia E52 has -

A normal keyboard (like any phone)

no touchscreen

and

GPS and maps with voice nav

VoIP builtin to the Contacts UI (call them with VoIP or gsm)

Skype

push email and calendar to Gmail and google calendar

voice commands

voice output of email and SMS

Opera Mobile

Opera Mini

MS Office document read and write

DLNA client and server

Bloomberg app

SlingPlayer app

Google Maps

Traffic info from ITIS (uses GPS to locate)

YouTube app

Facebook app

Metro app (public transport routing)

FM radio (RDS with station population by Nokia server, ie you don't have to find the stations, you just select where you are and the stations pop-up)

Internet radio (with station directory)

Some games (for the kids)

Some video stuff (for the kids)

MP3 player

16GB microsd (for the maps and audio-books/music)

3.2mp camera with flash

excellent call quality and reception (aerial is in the lower edge if this helps)

quite a lot of other stuff

Can be used entirely with the left hand (as I did when the right was in a cast)

Goes about three days without a charge

Other than not fit in my pocket and need two hands to use what is it missing?

Skype to test advertising

SIPgate is download and run too

I too use SIPgate but I have downloaded the pre-configured xten client from the SIPgate site so all I did was "download and run" even easier than Skype as you have to enter your credentials into Skype and the xten client comes completely pre-configured with both your credentials and the SIPgate server config.

SIPgate also works well with my Nokia E Series built-in VoIP client, works with "Contacts" so no extra apps to mess with.

Sheila's Fails? The statistics of biological risk

What a load of bollocks

http://www.bcbsnc.com/content/plans/individuals/index.htm

is the URL of one of the many private health insurers in the US. It is complicated and expensive but it is readily available.

Here, here!

Don't hold back, tell us what you really think.

None of this exchange applies to insurance

Insurers are not interested in "causation" only in "correlation" as they are not attempting to determine why something happen only if it will happen. Insurers have therefore found a set of reliable predictors based on correlations in the data from the population they insure.

If they cannot use these predictors in the future they will a) seek predictors they can use and b) shorten their exposure to un-qualified risk by establishing the shortest period of insurance allowed. Expect to see rolling 30 day (7 day?) policies which reflect any actual (as a replacement for predicted) events in their premium. This limits the exposure to a single event, which need not be a major one, a speeding citation will cause your next month's (week's) premium to multiply 20 fold as you are now demonstrably a greater risk.

Nokia C1-01 budget voicephone

This is what phones look like.

I think what you are referring to are the current "media consumption devices" which include a radio for data access and a speaker/mic pair for access to a telco subsidy. These can be recognised by the sound of "look Mom, I can push things 'round with my finger".

Portsmouth redefines the Olympic-sized swimming pool

The telcos would call this an "unlimited" sized pool?

The council has the wrong idea, they should call it an "unlimited" sized pool, using the phone network definition.

Euro court slaps down insurers over gender risks

More?

Why would smokers pay more? They will die sooner than non-smokers, so I'm told, so their costs will be less. Or do you think the non-smokers will never cost to maintain in old age, never go to hospital during their longer old age and never collect pension?

Nokia flings out WinPho 7 phones

Couldn't agree more

Glad to see there is at least one other person in the world who is more interested in how well it works and what it can do than how shiny it is when buying a phone. If you remove all logos from the top 10 touchscreens, how many people could identify the "winners".

What sealed Nokia's fate?

Most S60 devices didn't have touchscreens

I don't suppose it matters but most S60 devices and AFAIR, all E-Series, do not have a touch screen of any sort. The reason I bought and still buy the phones. (I'm building a small supply to last for a while.)

Oh, and these folks that keep saying WM7 is a good OS, the phrase you are looking for is "WM7 works a lot like the original iPhone". The design rule is simple, if you make a UI for idiots you either make a feature understandable by idiots or don't put it in the product. Explains the lack of features, which explains why the UI is so simple, no decisions left to the user. Just think of all those folks that watch 4:3 TV at 16:9 and why an "aspect" button started appearing on the remote. Now if they could just teach them what "aspect ratio" means.

D-Link Boxee Box DSM-380 media streamer

I use XBMC

Sorry, but I use XBMC on the PC and I still bought two Sony BluRay players. I only have a few 100 (DVD rips) videos on DLNA servers, organised into folders by genre. If I can't find one to watch by genre, or can't remember who is in a film, then Google is my friend. Same goes for music. The indexing may be great but largely unnecessary when it actually comes down to use. And if I decide I want to see the bonus features on the DVD I can always go find the DVD I ripped and stick it into the player.

A Sony BluRay will cost under £100 and do more than this lemon

Buy the cheapest Sony BluRay player. You get DLNA, iPlayer, Channel5, LoveFilms, and a bunch of other video sources. And a decent DVD player (a bit fiddly to make region free, but possible). Why anyone would buy this lemon is beyond me., maybe they are hoping the "cute" name will distract you from looking at the alternatives.

Nokia's developers wait and wait for Windows Phone

Huh?

The phone doesn't support , multi-tasking, copy and paste, VoIP, ... and you're upset about how many taps it takes. Have your every thought about investing in a bridge?

Grief and disbelief greet Elop's Nokia revolution

RIM

The managers friend.

Atonnis, stop by the pharmacy, your meds are ready.

Nokia RIP

Samsung loads Lovefilm onto BD boxes

Bedroom TV?

I have a couple Sony BD players, one which streams LoveFilms to the 22in bedroom TV, the content looks fine. On the downstairs 40in they are no worse than SD programming off Sky. Maybe like iPlayer they test connection speed and choose the quality based on what the connection will support. Mind you, I bought the Sony players for the upscaling and networking support, it plays video from a DLNA server too, as I don't own any BluRay disks and don't really expect to ever buy any.

Google Docs morphs into once and future 'GDrive'

Different from What?

but has turning into "If it's different then it MUST be better" ...

I use Gmail for personal and work, using filters to separate and file the correspondence, almost every day for the past 30 months or so. I find it much easier to use than any PC based mailer, an excellent SPAM catcher, great for travelling since you can access on any machine and most phones. It even supports one of my favourite mail features, address tags, which let me know who has sold/leaked my address.

Could you tell me what the "little toy applications" are, after using it for 30 months I'm afraid I don't know of any applications associated with Gmail. There are UI options and features but applications? No, only if you measure an application by the iPhone standard.

Extension of flexibility 'may help solve retirement problems'

Pension+Work

I'm doing this now. Working part-time and collecting an occupational pension. The US allows you to work and collect Social Security (SS) but if your retire "early" you have earning limits that reduce the SS payments. Not a problem in the UK as there is no concept of retiring "early". My biggest problem is how to fill out a form that lists your working status. Almost all of them treat "retired=not working=receiving pension" when as has been pointed out the three are connected but hardly equivalent.

T-Mobile u-turns on data cap

Reconsidered?

I'm sure that second opinion from the briefs regarding the language of the contract, the method of notification and the size of the reduction didn't have a thing to do with this reconsideration.

Apple refuses frozen iPhone repair

From the Nokia Support Site

What is the operating temperature range of my Nokia device?

Nokia devices are designed to meet all the relevant quality and other standards, and the standard GSM specification requirements for your device's operating temperature are -10 to +55 degrees Celcius.

The device is not water-resistant and must be kept dry.

From the Nokia Support Site

What is the operating temperature range of my Nokia device?

Nokia devices are designed to meet all the relevant quality and other standards, and the standard GSM specification requirements for your device's operating temperature are -10 to +55 degrees Celcius.

The device is not water-resistant and must be kept dry.

-unquote-

Who goes gloveless at 0C, much less -10? Wouldn't that make the iPhone a useless brick anyway?

iPad gets portable TV tuner

Why would you want one of these?

It doesn't use your wifi, it forces you to use a network specific to the device, so you can't use it and your network together (unless you happen to have a device with two radios as they helpfully point out).

It would need to retune if you take it anywhere out of your xmitter range (roughly 30 miles from where you last tuned it).

A rabbit ear is not going to get much of a signal where I live (Oxfordshire) and I suspect most of the non-metro bit of the country.

It requires a TV licence, or will shortly if Capita have anything to say.

Clearly, marketing to the fondle slab owners is their one hope.

Symbian Foundation shuts up (virtual) shop

one hand handset?

Save me chasing through all of the vendors of Android handsets that have keyboards and work with a single (left in my case) hand. Thanks.

My lost Cobol years: Integrating legacy management

If brevity really mattered

we'ed all be coding in APL.

Look it up.

BALR 14,14

Do not speak ill of S360 BAL. It is more likely to still run on the current crop of IBM mainframes than anything written for Mac/Windows/Unix/Linux/... 5 years ago.

For the non-readers in the group, the title says, branch to the address in R14 and put the return address also in R14 (after saving the branch address in an internal h/w register of course). At the end of the routine at the R14 address will be a BR 14, which takes you back to the instruction following the BALR 14,14.

No hardware stack, no hardware recursion, lots of wild pointers.