Posts by clive howard

RIM unveils The BlackPad BlackBerry PlayBook

Flash? Aaaagh....

Not interested in the Jesus Phone / Apple religion.

Hate Flash, block it in my web browsing.

What do I do now?

Pants bombs vs America: The infernal conflict

Childlike...

Yup, I've worked for American compamies for over 30 years and confirm high levels of hysteria every time an incident happens in a foreign land - as long as One or more US citizens was impacted, of course. They just get scared to travel here. This amuses us and our colleagues every time it happens.

Terrorism is evil and I don't wish it on anybody, but the hypocrisy of the Americans is breathtaking.

The unpalatable truth is that American governments have sponsored terrorism around the globe many times. That hundreds lost their lives in Belfast at the hands of bombers funded by citizens on the streets of New York and other cities is equally indisputable.

The childlike over-reaction when others do unto them that which they have so often done to "foreigners" would be funniy if it wasn't so sad.

Oh, all right then, it is funny.

Google to mobile industry: ‘F*ck you very much!’

A bit over-emotional perhaps?

Very few of the mobile operators' customers, with nearly two decades' experience of their control-freakery and efforts to prevent us exercising, will feel sympathy for them on this relatively rare occasion when the tables are turned. "Walled Gardens", phones locked to specific operators, price plans designed to confuse the consumer, reaming us with roaming charges....

On the other hand, the opening premise of the article that Google is not the saintly saviour of the downtrodden consumer out of the goodness of its heart is a valid observation. They are a business like any other, to be admired - as is, say, Virgin - for their propensity to shake up other firms' business model to the ultimate advantage of the consumer. Creative Destruction is a cornerstone of effective markets and we woudl all be poorer without it. However, the evidence becomes more compelling that Google are duplicitious and scary to do business with. They have managed to create the illusion that everything is totally free. The idea that anything is "free" with no price ever having to be paid anywhere ever is a chimera that can fool typical consumers. So, anybody who competes with Google has an obligation to prove this is an illusion. That they fail to justify their own relative value is their failing, not Google's. The mobile operators, who for years have run the same "it's free" stunt with their handsets, really ought to know better.

My big problem with this article was that is showed a level of emotion that I found unusual from you, and not enjoyable. I enjoy el Reg's willingness to state its strongly help opionions in its articles, they are always clearly signposted as opinions and not dressed up as fact. This article has a sulphurous odour of bias about it. Shame on you, el Reg, well below your usual standards.

MS store staff in spontaneous electric boogie

Oh Puh-leeeze

Save us from these people.

The really sad thing is it's almost certainly true, not a carefully worked out PR stunt. The country really is full of people like that.

Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah set for top two spots in Christmas Day charts

Leonard Cohen beats them both

Leonard Cohen's rendition is far and away the superior version.

And who says he ain't the prettiest?

Microsoft knew about Xbox 360 disc-scratch problem, employee claims

But you're computer people...

Console gamers have always been "different" to computer game players, yes?

Cut the console-rs some slack, guys!

Meantime, this did happen to us.

My kids leave the Xbox on all the time.

At 8 years old they're normal, not morons, and this is normal (if frustrating) behaviour for somebody their age.

Meantime my wife, perhaps not the most computer literate or mechanically minded, moved the Xbox which was not in use at the time... disk was still spinning.... £50 game ruined.