Posts by Chris Church

Google Maps adds all UK public transport timetables

Why not? I thought that's what street-perv was for! ;)

Example A: Martlesham Heath, adj Bowling Centre (unmarked) - https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.0604153,1.2782882,142m/data=!3m1!1e3

If you goto street view you can see there is no stop there. The buses only travel south on that road, not north!

Would almost be useful if google maps didn't make up bus stops! A quick check near me and I can see 2 bus stops on google (with an unmarked comment for each) that don't exist. It's like someone has assumed bus stops always come in pairs and so they've put a stop on the opposite side of the road to a real one. No buses travel in the direction of these unmarked stops! The ones that are real do seem to hold information but whether it's correct is a matter of trial and error!

BT jabbed by ad watchdog AGAIN over fibre deployment fibs

Re: Basically...

It's not a lie though. To some Manchester businesses they have arrived. Some people are just not in areas that have been cabled up yet. Would you prefer that a company doesn't advertise something as being available until 100% of people can get the product or service? You'd never get anything if that's the case. This ad was to let people know that the product was available after what must have been deemed as a fair proportion of premises were connected. The specific location of the ad in relation to the areas the product was available in is important here. If it was right in the middle of the area that can't get the product (or on this buisnesswomans premises) then that's either bad planning or a mistake in terms of the advertising. If it was in the middle of an area that CAN get it...that's fine surely!

I wonder how far this kind of advertising ruling can go? Just because I continuously get Virgin leaflets/letters in my mailbox saying I can get virgin fiber, phone and TV when I can't. My area was never cabled so I can't get any of their services...except the ones they can send down my BT line (so I figure stay with BT instead of adding another layer of nonsense to any problems). Thing is the fine print probably still says something like "where available" but if BT is being slammed for a poster campaign in a city then surely Virgin should get a good kicking for directly telling me I can get their fiber services!

BT's shock new wheeze: Make phone calls from smartphones

Re: Potential problem with BT SmartTalk

There shouldn't be an issue. The call should charge as if you are calling from the landline. I have the international freedom and that hasn't charged me when used from the SmartTalk app.

Top Stuff

I see this as a bonus and not a service in it's own right. More useful for people on PAYG I'd expect. Most people I know with contracts have tones of minutes, texts and data so don't care about anything like this. I myself have a PAYG phone and so this seems good. Not sure what peoples issue with data is. I only use Wi_fi. You can get on Openzone (free if you're a bt BB customer) as well as plenty of other free Wi-Fi you can get out and about. Being able to make use of the inclusive calls I get will be great as it generally gets wasted at the moment as I'm out more than at home.

And as for people moaning about receiving calls! You can...it's called ringing BT and setting up a divert. And yeah it costs you money but if you so want to receive calls like that I'd suggest getting rid of your landline and just use a mobile. This seems to be about letting you make better use of what you already pay for and that sounds good to me!

YouView: 'Public service catch-up telly should belong to us alone'

I have BT Vision at home and as far as I can tell the YouView box is an upgrade of that. A few more catch-up/on demand services, an HD Freeview receiver for FreeviewHD channels and 5.1 Dolby surround. At present there are no sports channels (Sky Sports 1, 2 EPSN) and they have adverts on the catch-up channels (not BBC obviously).

I don't think making the catch-up exclusive to YouView will make any difference at all. If Sky and Virgin don't have it then people will just watch it via an app or other device. The number of programs on the catch up services on apps and devices seems to be less than what you can get from the channels websites directly anyway!

Normally the catch-up is seen as an extra perk and not a selling point anyway. The trouble is that YouView is trying to sell the extra perks as a primary service and at this point in time with the market saturated with all the devices that can use them it will not be the big thing they want it to. That said, if they managed to stop Sky and Virgin using it you wouldn't suddenly get all their customers buying YouView boxes anyway!

Fired-up eco-boffin gives it '180 per cent'

What?!

So this entire story was nothing?!

Windows 'openness' hailed in Nintendo game defeat

Trying not to sound like an idiot...

...but I will anyway!

The problem pure and simple probably has nothing to do with homebrew and other apps. It's the fact that these cards can be used to play illegal downloads/copies of legitimate games with Ninty or any other developer/publisher making any money from them.

If we're going to look at Microsoft as an 'open' platform or whatever maybe we should take into account the thousands of people they banned for modding their 360's. Yes, doing so can mean that people can play copied games and stuff but there are also other things that modding can do which has nothing to do with illegal games. I assume that MS is not allowed to ban French users from Xbox Live for modding their consoles as it seems to be pretty much the same thing!

Cartoon smut law to make life sucky for Olympic organisers

Simpsons "Child" Porn!?

Oh come on....Lisa Simpson is at least in her 20's if not 30's by now. Didn't you see the episode where they uncovered that the producers were feeding them growth suppressants! lol

Xbox 360 'least reliable' console

Preparing for an onslaught of insulting responses!

I love these sort of polls!

My Xbox has failed once and that was my fault more than anything due to where i had put it and basically caused it to overheat! Never had a RROD. Loads of people I know have never had problems.

The Wii does next to nothing to start with and is essentially just a cd drive with a blue light.

Dont have a PS3 so can't comment!

Basically its just the way the world works now. Things aren't built to last they're built to last just long enough before you then buy a new one. I'd like to see a report showing the past six months and how much of what has failed due to what.

Virgin Media pilots 200Mbit service

Why oh why?

I think that Virgin have got broadband speeds that are perfectly suitable for even the most active pirate on the internet and would much prefer them to invest some money in improving the coverage.

As far as I can tell no new cable has been put in since about 8 years or so ago when NTL (at least in my area) first put in all teh cable infrastructure. And even that didn't cover everywhere. I now live in a new developement and yet still nobody has ever installed cable. I'd have thought that whilst these new estates are being built would be the best time to install it but they don't. This means that a lot of properties can't even get Virgin Media cable so what do i care if they make it faster!

BT does Italian Job on London traffic lights

Brilliant

You do have to wonder if all these professional building contractors and companies can actually read maps and the such to plan these things! Or do they just go, "This spot looks good...CRUNCH!"

I do hope that the bill for all the work and all the loss of business and problems etc goes to the Olympic Commitee and the contractors. Teach them to do things properly!