Posts by Tim Hale

iPhone compass evidence surfaces

No one said it WAS an Apple innovation!

A lot of these comments are criticizing Apple for claiming this as something new, when as far as this article goes at least, they've done nothing of the sort!

In my experience, having a compass to determine the direction you're facing when starting-up the map application, and in the absence of other land marks, is very useful. Of course, if you get by fine without one, well done, good luck to you. You don't have to buy one; it's not mandatory and you're not the gadget police!

Revealed: Mega City One's top e-car - according to Peugeot

My challenge...

My challenge to the concept car designers is simple: Make it or shut-up.

I am so tired of 'this is what our cars of the future may look like!' Yeah, but they probably won't and even if they do, they don't look even remotely like that now and there isn't any sign of that changing in the near future.

Especially Saab; if I see one more 'hint of future design' while all the current cars look like some partially sighted person's gone crazy with a Halfords gift voucher...

Samsung phone recognises people, calls them

@Interface

I thought it worked like this: You've got a photo of someone, let's say a family group photo, you point the phone at the person in the picture that you want to call at which point the phone recognises the face and calls ther person. I'm still calling 'Stop!' on this! Unless I really have missed the point.

As Bassey says though; shiny new thing. Who knows, it might turn into something useful one day.

I wonder if it works on the actual person too. So I can point the phone at ther person in front of me and it calls their phone (assuming, of course, I already have their number / photo). Now THAT would be pointless, but I'd still have to try it.

The Borings renew Street View fight

@Hmm

But didn't they just have to ask Google to remove the images? I confess I haven't looked into the process but I understand that Google will remove specific SV images on request. No law suit, no 'unwanted' publicity.

Comparing this to slavery, as they have, is insane. It's good to see Reductio ad absurdum is alive and well.

Regarde Moi! Non regarde moi!

Hydrogen motoring too heavy for pundit

Recharge

But what's the recharge time on a plug-in? I don't want to have to plan an overnight stop after 220 miles because it will take that long to fill-up!

Of course, I don't want to have to plan my journeys around where I can get hydrogen either, the commute from Bristol to California to fill-up is going to be a right pain in the arse.

Reminds me of Jeremy Clarkson's Ford GT that would do slightly less on a tank than the distance to work!

Windows goes Mobile 6.5

Fail

I'm still seeing lots of tiny, tiny icons on there. Not to mention screen shots elsewhere suggest that what we're seeing here represents the sum total of the changes and everything else is still in the mobile dark ages, not that what's shown here is anything to brag about.

Here's hoping Windows Mobile 7 is worth bothering with. Personally, until then, I'll pass.

HP iPaq Data Messenger Windows Mobile smartphone

First optical controller?

Doesn't the Samsung Omnia have one of those? Pretty sure it does.

Presumably the self-portrait mirror is to be used in conjunction with an inbuilt photo template with 'dumb ass' at the bottom?

Patent app reveals Microsoft's smart smartphone cradle

Oh dear

Having tried for some time in recent months to make a recent, high spec, windows mobile phone do anything well, the idea of using one on (as) a desktop or hooking it up to my TV and getting it to work satisfactorily makes me queasy.

Memo to Microsoft: Enough with the SKUed Windows

Make SKU or make three or ...

Whichever features are put into the business / consumer version, there are always going to be plenty of people who want a bit of the other, so to speak. So either have only one SKU with it all in or have a third, top-level SKU that has all the bells and whistles.

Or make all the extra features missing from a given version available for a small fee, that sounds suitably OS 2.0, doesn't it?

Either way, I want it to be based on something with decent performance.

Star Wars brainwave toy blows in

Forbidden Planet

That's like the Krell brain training machine from Forbidden Planet. Monsters from the id!

PS3 Home is '2005 tech', says Xbox exec

"Home is available to download through the PS3 now."

No. It isn't. At least not in the UK store and not right now.

XBox exec in PS3-being-not-very-good-revelation shocker.

Wake me when a) Home is available to download or b) Microsoft say something surprising about a rival.

London anthrax case man 'seriously ill'

Fiction -> Fact

It's just like that episode of Medical Investigation, Alienation, where Dr Connor visualised the spore bouncing up from the drum skins and floating through the market place.

Blu-ray Disc a 'bag of hurt', says Jobs

We need a resolution

I think people can't see the benefit of HD until they have HD.

'Upscaled DVD is as good as HD'? Please, it's a good picture but it's no comparison. Personally, I decide on a case by case basis whether to get the blu-ray or DVD version.

Sky run ads where they show HD as being the same thing, only slower, which isn't what they mean and it doesn't make anyone want to buy it.

As far as I know, no-one the general public are likely to see has ever said (making-up numbers here) "HD is 100% higher resolution that SD, here's what your SD picture looks like at 50% resolution, see the difference?"

People generally don't care about politics, DRM, ethics, etc. they care about how much it costs and what they get for their money (quality / convenience / street cred. / whatever their hot button is. So far, no HD service has made a compelling argument.

Sony Ericsson dials into the posers

That little mirror

Are you talking about the little convex mirror next to the lens? That's been on SE phones for years!

Boeing to build combo airship-copter flying cranes

Whee!

"The airship would suddenly be very positively buoyant, and would soar upwards uncontrollably. ... As helium is expensive, it can't be thrown away like this every time a load is dropped off."

Which is a shame because it'd be funny to watch.

Sony offers double-capacity M2 card

Um...

I've got an 8GB card sat in my phone right now... had it for months. That new adaptor thing is quite good though; wouldn't mind one of those.

Pong, the dining table

Level Two

Surely playing it with food on the table would be a more advanced level of the game? After all, not being able to see the 'ball' coming towards you has got to make it more of a challenge. Hey! What about blindfold tennis?

Microsoft to search browsers for JavaScript compatibility

W.A.S.P.

Isn't W.A.S.P. the World Aquanaught Security Patrol?

I bet they'd rather be battling Subterraneans than Microsoft anyday.

Vibro satnav to shake up GPS market

Isn't there already...

... vibration in a car? If someone (a passenger, obviously) were to be touching this thing up as the vehicle is moving, wouldn't the vibration from the screen be lost amongst the vibration already being experienced from the vehicle?

And call me old fashioned, but isn't the surest sign that your input was registed that whatever you asked to happen, happens? I'd much rather 'I asked it to do it and it's done' than 'I asked it to do it and it'll get to it in a while but at least my finger is lightly massaged while I wait'.

Make stuff go faster!

Ballmer: Microsoft will power the mobile revolution

O-kay

They've been trying this for years. They've been failing at it for years.

I can't even take this clown seriously. Getting me to go back to a Microsoft device is possible but I'll want to see at least two generations of proven working-as-expected, no more having to hard reset just because it doesn't feel like syncing any more or completly losing the plot on it's bluetooth module or soft resetting because it's ground to a halt. No more duplicating all my PIM data because I had to reinstall *&%$! Windows again and had to set up a new partnership.

Good luck Ball-mer, you're going to need it. You gimp.

TomTom roadmaps new satnav kit

Fact Hunt

Apart from the amount of onboard storage, the remote and the extra maps, you've just described the 720 and the 520 too. They both have all that stuff and the remote is available as an option. The 920's party piece is a motion sensor that can keep an idea of where you are even if the satellite signal is lost.

Also, the 920 replaces the 910; there are 'T' versions of the other two as well..

Why the iPhone is a success

Contracts

But with a two year contract, how many people who rushed out and bought Mk1 will rush out for Mk2 in that time? Unless the Mk2 can really grab an expanded market that has so far not been inspired, it's going to be targeting at a self-reducing demographic.

ICT cast down into the eternal fires of hell

Point of order

TLA, WTF, FMS and OMG are initialisms, not acronyms. FFS.

Manhunt 2 banned

Ban Everything!

I'm sure this game isn't suitable for children but once again people who, all else being equal, would be permitted to do something (play a game in this case) aren't allowed to do it because stupid / careless people can't be trusted to do the right thing. Isn't it incumbent on a parent to ensure that what their child is exposed to is suitable? Let's ban cars because children might drive them. Oh, wait, we already banned an advert for that, didn't we. Good grief.

Orange rapped for 'unlimited' broadband

Re: Read it HERE

By claiming something is without limit and omitting to mention there actually is a limit, doesn't that mean the service is 'seeming to have no boundaries' and therefore unlimited according to the ask.com definition?

Sorry, couldn't resist that. ;-)

When I read about unlimited services (which are grossly misrepresented) I can't help but remember a Simpsons episode where a TV ad (can't remember what for) said it guaranteed something and the voice-over quickly added 'not a guarantee'.

If only this affected children in some way I'm sure there'd uproar: Think of all the perfectly good ads that have been canceled because children might copy them despite any child dumb enough to do so being welcome to remove themselves from the gene pool.

Doctor Who faces extermination

Typical

Quick! It's popular! Get rid of it or it'll distract from the reality shows and premium rate phone-ins!

MS fixes Vista iPod corruption glitch

Corrupting RAID Arrays?!?!

Thanks Steve!

I had my home office PC out of commission for a week while the hard drives were replaced because of corruption of the RAID array. I didn't know it was iTunes at fault.

Damn Apple and their lack of information and release notes.

If I have psychic powers the next el Reg story is going to be about some VERY bad things happening to Steve Jobs.

Don't let Paris Hilton do bird

Why Stop There?

Let's call for full diplomatic immunity for Paris Hilton!

If she ran someone over it shouldn't be a problem! She adds so much to our mundane lives that person should be grateful for the publicity.

Let's install her in Sealand!

RFID mirror automatically insults your fashion sense

Style-O-Meter

Perhaps it could present a series of bar graphs indicating which 'style' you most closely fit into with those clothes.

'With this get-up I'm 74.6% chav but if I change the top it'll be 12.5%' Of course, with dumbing-down as it is today it would have to forgo the graphs in favour of representing the information as 'Well Chav', 'Mingin' etc.

Sony says public to test Home for PS3 this summer

Public beta already underway

The beta invitations have already been sent out. Seems to be US only though which is funny because it's being developed in the UK, apparently.

On the one hand, I'm thinking 'Whoo! New toy!' on the other hand I'm thinking 'Oh dear, Sadville for the PS3'. I'm going to wait and see (like I have a choice!) but I can say now I'm not going to be buying virtual furniture with my own real money!

Sky customers spending more than £400 a year

TV Tax indeed.

I'd rather pay four hundred for something I want than one hundred for something I don't! Sky must be raking it in since they're getting that much from their customers and advertising revenue on top. Of course that's tailed off a bit since the Virgin incident...

I haven't tried Sky HD myself though I've heard bad things. Just looking at what's on offer it doesn't seem like you get very much for your tenner.

Nokia N95 multimedia slider phone

No Push Email Though

It's a pity that for all it does it doesn't do push email. So what, right? That's for crackberry junkies? Well, I enabled it on my K800 just because I could and I was surprised to find that I really like it, so the N95 does 99% of what I would like (not need!).

I agree with Greg that there seems to be more software for Windows Mobile but right now I'm looking at the empty cradle where my iPAQ would be sitting if only it would sync, so going the whole Microsoft route is far from straight forward as I am painfully aware.

I'll wait for the slimmer and slightly better N95i, assuming it follows the trend set by previous models such as the N93->93i.

Still, it's impressive and it's the way I think phones should go.