Posts by Manu T 454 publicly visible posts • joined 4 Aug 2008
So basicly we've gone from System-on-Chip devices to old-skool phones under the disguise of privacy. Mean time promoting the "made in the USA" label while the whole privacy crap was started in the USA itself. Great. Yeah, I'm gonna trust these guys, sure... it's "made in the USA" right? >:->
"...Google has, however, been moving components, including OS updates to Play Services and there is not yet a reliable replacement for this yet...."
They did that to stop manufacturers from circumventing Google's apps and services. In that respect the EU is correct to tap on their fingers! On the other hand if those stupid politicians sponsored true EU-developped phone OS's a bit more then we wouldn't need that goddamn Android!
There was Symbian, Meego, Sailfish OS etc... All of those could have been pushed as the primary phone OS in Europe. The latter 2 can even run certain Android apk's. But they blew it like they always do. And when the ship has sunk then they wake up. Now when every jackshit-phone is running Android THEN they complain! F... idiots!
"I've not met anyone who puts the presence (or not) of a notch as a dealbreaker when it comes to phone choice"
It's not a dealbreaker if it still has the same usefulness and features. But many of these notched screens have no notification LED and/or miss some sensors. I do not object to progress if it actually improves the current and add features NOT when it's nothing more than a fashion statement.
And you might be phone-crazy to power on the screen every 5 seconds to see if anything happened but I ain't. I'd rather have some blinking light that tell me that I missed a call or text. Preferably in a colour that I can choose (especially if you want me to pay big bucks for a phone).
But the notch ansich is not the dealbreaker, the knowledge that compromises have been made is the dealbreaker!
Amazing how these fools that only want their share of being famous seem to forget that we HAD out google-free platforms. There was Symbian (which once was open source too), there's Sailfish OS and ironically they're both European too!
But you idiots didn't want them! And you're crying over Google? Oh please!
"...I have a Rift, and it quickly became clear that Windows 10 was the only platform that made sense most of the time..."
No it doesn't. I use my rift on a dual boot system (Win10 & Win7) and haven't found any reason to stick with Win10. I even use Core 2.0 (beta) with the new homes-system on Windows 7.
And yes I have that "experimental" 360 degree 2 camera setup in my living room. No problems at all on both Windows versions.
"Its setup is inflexible (and doesn't work by default under Windows 7 - there are ways to fix this, but do use 8 or later)"
Care to elaborate? I have a 2 camera 360 degrees tracking setup running on both Windows versions without any problems at all (yet). Used more efforts to find out what materials and attributes I could use to mount the sensors high enough without drilling holes in the wall or spending ridiculous amounts of money (at least found some good use of that big cardboard box that the Rift came in).
I fail to see why people find this Rift setup so difficult?
Have people become more stupid over the years?
Common sense... is that an alien concept these days?
My play area luckily is the standard green rectangle (the so-called optimum range).
The only thing I had to adjust was the hanging lamp at the ceiling.... and yes... I broke it ;-)
Not only that but it was also Intel who got out of the Meego project. In essence Nokia had to do all the work that would/should have been split between both of them. Suddenly it was all on Nokia's shoulders causing the many delays.
In essence what happened to Nokia started and is actually Intel's fault. Not many people realize this!
They keep complaining about Symbian and how difficult it was to program for it yet things improved drastically with Symbian S3/Bell and QT.
So devs are lazy b@stards and Intel is a backstabbing bitch! Yeah, I would throw the hat in the ring too.
"...One of two things happen; Either the Chinese government go broke or they don't..."
First. Governments don't go broke. People do. Political leaders always have a better lifestyle than the rest of their population. Whether in China or in the US.
Secondly it's not is simple as that. The Chinese KNOW that greedy westerners buy their cheap subsidised panels so the subsidised money flows back into the government through sales tax, corporate (25%) and personal taxes (45%) and social security rates (48%). Many of these taxes are based on personal or company income and because these Chinese companies have higher revenues they pay more taxes and thus the subsidy turns into profit. As long as they keep exporting in vast quantities the Chinese government earns big bucks from panels installed in the USA and Europe.
If Trump manage to keep production (not just assembly) local. The US government gets more taxes through local sales tax (which they already have depending on state even with imported panels) but also with higher corporate taxes (as companies have more revenue) and with more people having jobs a higher income of personal income tax (which is the highest tax-rate in the US at almost 40%). Personal income tax in Europe is at +50% in most countries and corporate tax is mostly around (24%) so it's obviously better to keep unemployment as low as possible to generate as much "presonal income tax" as possible as this is a major income of governments.
It doesn't matter. The people whom started those companies became filthy rich and lived the good live. Why would they care if their companies lived on?
Or do you really believe that Bill Gates would work in a McDonalds nearby flipping burgers, when M$ suddenly went belly-up?
I think it's either we, IT people, whom would be flipping burgers instead.
Perhaps that is just what we need. Look at Tesla. Musk had no expertise in cars either and look what he did. The Tesla Model S is the no.1 electric vehicle to which all others are judged.
We need guys like Dyson and Musk whom think outside the box to find innovative automotive solutions. Especially since the "classic" automotive industry keeps dragging their feet. In fact were are the BMW's, Mercedes, GM and Ford e-cars? GM even destroyed most of their own E-car-project probably in favour for some stupid sheiks or a corrupt government. It's about time that the corrupt car-industry is brought on its knees and that other players break their barriers.
"...You need to be a highly trained professional to lock-down Windows to make it "sort of safe" on the open internet..."
Ever heard of a "firewall"? It is feature that's build into routers- and modems the last decade orso...
Besides, why shouldn't "consumers" hire a professional IT-technician to improve their home-network? Home networks have become as complicated as many company-networks with all their different internet/network connected devices and OS's.
Instead of complaining, use this opportunity to make a buck or two.
Oh please, they're just sugarcoating the (bad) press. After the trail is over he might or might not get fined for a couple of millions (or billions), He'll step down and point some other jumping jack as CEO and eventually gets back in position after burning the other scapegoat through bad sales-figures or whatever. Within a year or 2 nobody will even remember this.
"...It's time to flush Flash back to where it came from..."
Oh please. If those website designers used Flash for what it was intended (dynamic webpages) instead of abusing it to build apps then there are no problems!
But it's always the same. Something is invented for certain stuff, people use it for something else and then complain that it's the worst.
BTW. Flash didn't came from Hell but from Macromedia. And macromedia made some great stuff before it was bought by Adobe. I didn't see you lot complain then!
WTF?
"In its day, Flash was the kind of product Adobe does so well"
Incorrect!. It was originally from Macromedia NOT Adobe. Adobe bought the company and got Flash with it.
"This latest security vulnerability is, as always, triggered when the plugin tries to play a malicious Flash file – allowing hackers to download malware onto PCs and effectively hijack the computers so passwords and more can be stolen."
This is because all those morons abuse Flash to build application-like code! Flash wasn't intended to build apps but to make interactive and active (read: animated) webpages. If you use flash like it should then there aren't any problems at all.
"...it's time to take the software round the back of the shed and shoot it... "
Big talk from an online "tech-"magazine that's lost a lot of credibility the last few years. Due to spilling nonsense like this. The only thing you do with articles like this, is spread FUD!
If Flash is used like should be and for what is was intended then there's no problem with Flash. Something everyone with enough common sense knows (or should know).
"...Even if Adobe put its top programmers working on Flash, a free piece of software, a lot of people around the world are very keen to find exploitable bugs in the plugin so they can break into victims' computers..."
Not to mention that spreading FUD like this only makes matters worse instead of ease the situation. Sure El Reg, we got it... YOU hate Flash... blablabla.
"Many netizens have recognized that Flash is too old and doddery ..."
You mean the gullible ones that take these articles seriously?
"The fact is, Flash is just not fit for purpose."
No it is PERFECTLY fit for the purpose it was intended! To build animated and interactive webpages! It's NOT fit to build applications and games.
"The worst, very worst, part of it all is that Steve Jobs was right."
No he wasn't! The reasons Jobs didn't want Flash had a more personal nature than he obviously wanted to admit. He used "security" as a sophism. But you are free to believe what you will. Fact is parroting Apple's specious arguments isn't helping anyone.
So stop spreading FUD and write some REALLY interesting tech-articles.
".. but after a while they start to slow a bit..."
No they don't! It's just that the world goes faster over time and then your computer "appear" to slow down. I'm sure that my home Intel Q6600 PC is just as fast as when I assembled it years ago. But then there was no UHD, 4K-youtube, 3D TV's or VR. There weren't even electrical cars on the roads back then.
But now...
My world has changed. Now, I need a faster home PC. A faster Intel and if they can't deliver then I'll choose something else. Just like anyone else who sees computers as a tool.
And before you ask. The last time I was "brand loyal" was in the 80's but after Acorn's demise I couldn't care less. Yes, I really wanted Phoebe 2100 and got really disappointed when it got axed.
"...WTF is Windows 10 doing there ...."
That thing is not Windows as in "Windows". It has no desktop nor any end-user usable application. Not to mention that lusers "expect" their windows games and programs to run on a "Windows" system which means an X86-compatible computer. Tech savy users KNOW that there's virtually nothing for ARM-based Windows (RT) variants. Not to mention that besides the fact it can't run the normal apps associated with Windows it can't even run Windows Phone Mobile apps either.
This is merely an OS for a developer whom want to build a garage-door opener ;-)
IMHO I really think Microsoft should stop calling these things Windows. These OS's (including Windows Phone) don't even HAVE windows as in "a free-floating rectangle that display an application and associated content on a solid background". But then again I'm probably not the target group for Microsoft these days.
You, sir, have idea what you're talking about.
A "modern" Symbian Phone is even today a very capable Phone with a lot of things done beter than Android, WP or iOS. E.g. the Nokia 808 has an extremely loud speaker, has native build-in call recording at exceptional quality, a proper file manager, both cloud an non-cloud syncing, it has themes that changes a lot more than a stupid launcher does. And in this particular case STILL has the very best still imaging ever on a phone. While I can't hear my SGS5 when its my coat in a leather pouch, can't do full call recording (which include recording using a BT earpiece) without rooting and tampering and even then with only one particular app. And that's just a few examples. People should stop comparing an N95 or older with the later Belle models. Nokia made some terrific handsets in the past starting with the N8. Not to mention that everybody seems to fotget that they HAD their Symbian successor planned. Harmattan! That N9 was the ultimate proof that Nokia could deliver. If it wasn't for that moron than Meego would today be that 3rd ecosystem with a lot more love from the dev-community than that crippled shit from Microsoft.
"A Windows 'universal app' is surely just what Android apps have always been,"
Indeed. But Android apps are roughly said, "Java applets on testosteron". Since Java is already universally compatible and quite easy to program, it must be quite easy to "port" Android apps to other platforms and probably explains the surge of Android apps. The proof is that Android today, comes in ARM- and Intel-compatible camps. And indeed most of these apps run on both platforms due to Android's Java heritage I guess. Only a handfull apps have separate Intel and ARM-variants (e.g. VLCplayer).
I reckon things will be more difficult when in the future Dalvik gets replaced with ART.
"...They always come back around and are simply inappropriate in such sensitive spheres as cooperation in space exploration..."
Oh dear, we are so very far of the late Mr. Roddenberry's vision of peaceful cooperation with each other to pursue space exploration and deep space research.
It seems that Mr. Lucas' vision of a ragtag bandits infested world of greed, corruption and abuse of power is more real.
It's also clear that this ISS will never evolve into the Death Star ;-)
Funny guys on El Reg.
When an linux-distro assembled by a rich and wealthy bloke gets something new it's all big fanfare. Suddenly they use big words like "more in line Fitt's Law".The funny thing is that some of the things shown here have more in common with British invented RISC OS, which was literally AGES ahead of its time.
Have these El Reg guys EVER used RISC OS at all? THAT menu system is compliant with Fitt's Law this is just a linux-distro mimicking OSX with different colours. Bleh! :-(
"Some applications bought between 1999 and 2010 still in use won't even run at all on Win7, never mind Win8. Often newer versions more buggy, no worthwhile extra features"
Not to mention the LOSS of features. Theater mode (Overlay) is STILL not properly implemented in all driver software from AMD in Windows 7/8. I doubt that the NVidia situation is much better. :-(
"Currently 2014- 2015 is looking unpleasant IT wise."
imho 2014-2015 is looking unpleasant. Period.
Politicians ripping us off, Tech going haywaire. Western economy being fed by greed and incompetence. We're doomed :-(
More detailed photos of this PiCano case at
http://riscpi.co.uk/belges-beautiful-pi-case-design-at-big-ben-clubs-birthday-bash/
And the page below has a mounting animation + a few details o/t assembly process.
It's all in Dutch but the photos are self-explanatory and very interesting.
Click on "Producten" on the left column.
http://marker.dommel.be/
Enjoy the pics.
" suppose the silent end of computing has gone to tables."
Funny you'd say that.
My Raspberry Pi is totally silent and it's even build inside a Pi-Cano case (which has a clear plexi sitting 2mm above the cpu see photo: http://www.riscository.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/DSC_0053.jpg). The setup looks amazing.
I have currently 2 Pi's in this enclosure. One is running Lighttp-webserver continuously for about 8 months now. Needles to say what OS the other Pi runs :-)
Not to mention all high-end smartphones run totally silent yet they pack some serious computing power considering their size. Whenever I play some high-end 3D games my SGS3 I'm amazed how powerfull it is and yet the SGS4 is roughly twice as fast (with more pixels to move as well)!
I reckon "ARM-computers" have come a long way since their 6502-forefathers.
"this critter even allowed me to use inline assembly straight within my basic program."
BBC Basic (as used in RISC OS) still can.
if you have a Raspberry Pi, boot up with RISC OS
--> press CTRL+F12 (to open a shell window) or F12 (to go outside the desktop)
--> Type BASIC + enter
--> type HELP [ (all uppercase, square bracket) <--- to show which assembly commands are available.
Good stuff :-)
"Given that 90% of the non-fanbois/fandroid (ie remotely reasonable) complaints about WinPhone is the lack of apps"
No I complained about the lack of FEATURES! I couldn't care less about apps. A good webbrowser is more important.
"However, just using a Nokia 925 or 920 with a the Nokia Pro Camera App tells you all you need to know about how superior Nokia is in the camera department ...."
I use a Nokia 808PV excactly because of it's quality as a comms-device. It is very loud so i definitely don;t ever miss a call. It has amazing call-recording quality loud and clear literally. A much better maps app which accept input from both calender and contacts. And the best screen ever (unfortunately with a fairly low resolution compared to newer flagship phones). Plus physical call/end-call keys are required on a PHONE! Especially with all the bloody callcenters these days.
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