Posts by Annihilator 3787 publicly visible posts • joined 10 Jun 2009
It can't be the "4S". The only reason an S model was ever released (3GS) was because the 3 in the title had nothing to do with it being the third iPhone. In that example, the successor to the 3G could never have been called the iPhone 4, as it wasn't the fourth.
Still, it's Apple, and they can do whatever they like I suppose..
Any *telecomms outfit* that is so f*****g stupid that they even allow external voicemail access when a PIN has not been changed deservers a thorough public roasting.
The equivalent is banks sending out all ATM cards activated with a PIN of 0000 and hoping folk will change it, but not making it obvious that they should change it.
My own little hobby horse in this "hacking" scandal (term used loosely) as I still recall my first mobile phone (BT Genie) offering remote voicemail but only if I set a PIN.
"That's the only reason they seal the battery in. It surprises me that the EU hasn't crapped all over Apple for doing this."
Right. It couldn't possibly be because it makes for a neater/smaller solution (you don't need the extra 4 pieces of material's worth of thickness to both encase the battery and create a battery bay in the device). It's also entirely possible to change the battery for a new one if necessary, even if it involves getting someone to do it.
Why would the EU be crapping all over Apple for this though? Plenty of devices have internal non-replaceable batteries. At the very lowest end of the scale, electric toothbrushes are the first thing that comes to mind.
Piece of piss then.
I've done a BIOS transplant in the past, but only because I'd accepted the board was dead following a failed flash upgrade. I'd not recommend it as it's very hairy, won't give you the full functionality of the board as it likely resets it to be a "reference" mobo (in the end I got it to the stage where it would boot, barely with massive errors, enough to get to a DOS flash utility, hotswapped the failed chip back in and reflashed the firmware - success rate of 1 in 3 so far)
The BIOS can be reflashed from within Windows though - it's how we (legitimately) update the BIOS. It's not hard to envisage a virus taking advantage of this.
To do it though, the OS has presumably already been compromised though. This is just deep-rooting it further in the system to stand a better chance of survival. It isn't normally seen however as virus writers tend to aim as far and wide as possible, which isn't usually compatible with specific BIOS versions/manufacturers.
My exchange was enabled months ago. Shame they didn't bother to enable my cabinet though, just (seemingly) every other *&%^ing cabinet attached to the exchange.
Note to author - upgrading the exchange can have zero effect on all the customers attached to that exchange. Presumably no word yet either on those folks who are directly attached to the exchange and not via a cabinet?
"Separately, it has been reported by the Guardian that the mother of 7/7 bombing victim Christian Small is to pursue a civil case against NI over alleged voicemail interception"
I've wondered this for a few weeks now, but while it's quite probable that phone hacking is rife, how on earth do people prove it?
Though let's face it, it's barely "hacking" - the mobile operators should surely be taking some stick for enabling a feature with a default password in the knowledge most people will never even know the facility exists, let alone change the pin. Have said this before, but I recall when first getting a mobile, the remote voicemail facility was disabled *unless* you enabled is and changed the pin.
Add me to the list of not understanding a) the email, b) what was so offensive about it (though I understand it was sent last year, and it's only since the contract negotiation tailed off that she released it to the press) and c) what on earth could be said that would be more upsetting than being given the initial diagnosis??
Utterly baffled..
I guess it remains to be (hopefully never) seen how we cope and where the best source for information is, but in terms of when the July 7th bombings happened in 2005, the Internet remained a poor source of information. I recall getting very frustrated with news sites and just finding a TV when in the London office.
What has changed for the worse today now however, is TV's incessant guesswork and subsequent hauling in of "experts" and little done to retract them. If you recall, when the Norwegian mass murder happened back in July this year, the immediate suspicion was of an Al-Qaida attack, which quickly became fact, and quickly resulted in pundits (or experts as they were called) being dragged in to explain why Norway was a target. Within 24 hours it was clear it was actually the opposite, yet the same pundits were in with a brand new tact with no mention of their previous expertise.
It seems we've now moved to a full 24-hour rolling news where in absence of facts, we've accepted poetic licence to elaborate on theories as fact until we're told differently.
Benefits being docked is one of the most pointless, biased and illegal ideas that you'd think an MP came up with it. Or the Daily Mail. Which on second thoughts, they probably did come up with that one.
To think that you can punish some people and not others (not all rioters were on the dole etc), outside the judicial system (we're presumably still going to prosecute them under general law, right?) is as misguided as the notion that we should or even could shut down Twitter if "call me Dave" so decides.
I'm quite happy living in a society that at least attempts to deliver even-handed justice. A lot happier than I'd be if we were up for laying down random punishments on certain people purely on account of 0.1% of the population being arsed to click a mouse button.
"I use a £350 pair of noise cancelling Sennheisers"
You spend £350 on a pair of cans and use the term audiophile at other people?? Sheesh... I'd suggest taking them back though. I've got a cheaper set of Bose noise cancellers and they completely remove the noise on a plane, train or busy tube. Heck, I've even tested them in a busy pub with music blaring with success. Even noise-isolating earbuds do a good enough job.
My point still stands though - you can boost the original's "quiet parts" yourself with the equaliser, you can't do the reverse.
And if you *really* can't tell the difference, why does it even matter to you? Surely the original "audiophile approved" version is just as good?
Wouldn't you prefer the option to choose for yourself? To get the "loud" version from the original, one of your iPods many equaliser settings would be able to do it for you. You can't get back to the original that way though.
You claim to barely be able to tell the difference, but in the same breath state why you'd prefer the loud one - you can clearly hear the difference in that case and even manage to explain what it is. I'd suggest getting even a semi-decent pair of earphones to block out surrounding sounds. That way you can protect your ears by listening at a lower volume and hear all the nuances of the music.
"The successor to Windows 7 will combine file download dialogue boxes into a single box, you'll be able to stop and pause downloads, and rather than trying to estimate how long a download has left to run, the new operating system will instead feature a graph that shows the data transfer speed, transfer rate trend, and how much data is left to transfer."
So... what Firefox predominantly already does?
Or if we're talking about general file transfers on the local machine, what OSX has been doing for years?
Distinctly unimpressed.
"By this measurement you'd give a pencil 10% because it doesn't recognize your handwriting or upload to your computer."
Not really, the pencil would perform a task, do it usefully, and probably still cost less than a tenner.
By your benchmark, a review should be based on "does it work as advertised"? Surely most things would get 100%, or referred to the ASA for false advertisement.
£10 still gets you a lot these days, so to think that getting an injection-moulded piece of tat is good value for money probably means advertisers should target you specifically.
But bear in mind that manned launch configurations differ massively from unmanned launches, and that the pre-flight checks have different levels of risk assigned to them. In order to make launches as cost-efficient as possible compared with the risk, there's a fair chance that had there been people on the top of that stack, it wouldn't have launched.
Where we're going, we don't need roads..
How expensive would it be to figure out the overall map of the country? Effin' expensive I'd wager, and for little ROI. Presenting it for free speaks for itself, and the network operators are already pretty confident of their provision - as mentioned they use calculated maps that are broadly accurate - bear in mind they use these same calculations to establish the optimal places to site masts.
Besides, they'd only ever be able to (easily) cover the roads in the UK, which gives you very little in terms of a coverage map, as this crowdsourced effort shows.
Agreed with the article in general, especially the mocking of the idea hardware companies would give consideration to the format-shifting dilemma considering people had been taping from the radio, other cassettes, vinyl and CD for years now.
Though anyone else a bit bored of the assumption Apple were there first with a hard-disk based mp3 player? Or that it was a purely engineering triumph? The iPod (love it or hate it) worked as an overall solution, without iTunes it's practically worthless to the general consumer.
From my memory at the time though, it was Archos or Creative that were churning out the first HD based players.
Swing and a miss folks, see Under Siege 2: Dark Territories for details of a brilliantly obscure reference. It's a particle weapon equipped satelite that can target the subterranean levels of earth and cause earthquakes. Grazer (pronounced Grazier for some reason) One was destroyed at the end of the film. Apologies for lack of spoiler alert :-)
Do people actually still get locked into contracts with smartphones? Surely the smartest offering is with SIM-only deals and buying handsets outright? Better re-sell value (no network lock) and cheaper in the long run, no?
Haven't gotten a phone as part of a contract in about 3 years now.
"The same is true with privatizing rail - they said that the competition would lower prices etc, but it is still a monopoly as each route is controlled by a single franchise and you don't get the choice."
You make a good point, but the even more sobering thought is that the franchisees effectively bid for the route, presumably with the highest bidder being successful. This ultimately means they have to charge higher prices than the loser to cover the exorbitant costs they paid to gain control of the route.
The problem with dedicated hardware for task x is about where to draw the line. Having purpose built chips for every task soon stacks up to be a lot of chips in one device, and ramps the costs up too. Not to mention the design costs for a hardware solution plus the inability to upgrade it later.
Besides, the same problem still applies - he's comparing the cost of a 2G modem with a 4G modem as an example. Even specialised hardware is still going to be more energy intensive - the scale still exists.
"I just can't wait for Star Wars style Hologram TV's to take off."
What, small, grainy, monochromed see-thru images? I'm ok thanks :-)
Agree with all your other stuff re: 3D though. With luck it will be a passing fad (saw interesting numbers a while ago saying that teens, presumably the target, were rejecting 3D in favour of 2D films - fingers crossed)
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