Posts by Campbeltonian

BBC iPlayer to run on iPads. Eventually

BBC radio is wedded to Flash

The BBC has radio streams in AAC (open standard), WMA (proprietary) and Real Audio (proprietary). The latter two are accessible to the public but the AAC stream can only be accessed through Flash on the iPlayer.

I find this immensely frustrating, because to listen on my iPhone I have to download an app that can decode WMA in software (none of which I find particularly reliable), despite the fact that the device is perfectly capable of decoding the AAC stream in hardware.

DAB lobby launches radio scrappage scheme

DAB+

Are DAB radios sold in the UK these days generally capable of receiving DAB+? I'm not keen on buying a radio that only uses a standard that's already obsolete.

Then again, with the BBC's plan to kill off 6 Music, I don't really see the point in upgrading at all.

High Court rules software liability clause not 'reasonable'

Re: Fit for purpose?

It sounds like you're stretching the definition a bit.

A web browser that opens all your ports when you browse the web and opens all your ports is still fit for purpose.

On the other hand, a web browser that crashes every time you try to browse the web is not fit for purpose, that purpose being browsing the web.

Brit consumers shun the iPad - for now

Portrait

On the other hand, most netbooks have a widescreen aspect ratio, which isn't suitable for web pages which tend to be vertically oriented.

Double-tap to zoom is great for readers of sites like the Reg (maybe not so much for the Reg themselves) because you can easily zoom in on the main article div and obscure the navigation and advertising in the side column. As far as I know there aren't any other netbook browsers that can do this... maybe the Android netbooks? Are they still on the go?

F*ck you, thunders disgruntled fanboi Apple user

I don't get it.

Is El Reg trying to imply that Nigel Farage is a Mac user?

Election promises: Wi-Fi chain gangs and maximum wage

My local friendly* UKIP candidate

I had the dubious pleasure of listening to a live debate on Radio Scotland between the candidates standing in my constituency. None of the candidates were particularly outstanding but the UKIP candidate in particular seemed exceedingly dim.

Even the audience, which seemed vastly more Euroskeptic than the general population, didn't seem to warm to her.

Still, maybe she'll succeed in dividing the Tory vote, thus ensuring that the constituency doesn't fall into the hands of the blues.

Jesus Phone in shock Opera browser benediction

JavaScript

Opera Mini has always done this, it's not something they wrote specifically to please Jobs. It's something they wrote to make their browser work on phones much more limited than the iPhone.

A multitasking iPad? Let's bin the netbook

Ad-blocking

I've never really found the need for an ad blocker on Mobile Safari, because most ads tend to appear in a separate column from the main text of a page (along with site navigation stuff that I only usually need for a few moments). Double-tapping and zooming in on the main text <div> obscures the ads.

However because they're still being downloaded, the sites that I visit still get their much-needed ad revenue.

The tap-to-zoom gesture is actually one of the reasons that I'd consider an iPad over a netbook for general web browsing, and I really wish the desktop browsers would incorporate it in some form.

iPhone 4.0: iAds, multitasking, and 98 tweaks

Correction

"Background location uses cell-tower triangulation rather than a power-hungry GPS circuitry to supply location info to apps that don't need, for example, the highly accurate location information used by turn-by-turn navigation"

This isn't quite true. What was announced was that for backgrounded GPS apps, the GPS hardware will only be fired up when the user changes cell. It's an alternative to constantly polling for a location (i.e. when the phone knows that its location has changed), and still gives GPS-level accuracy.

Apple shrugs to iPad Wi-Fi problems

Re: Macbooks too

I've had problems with the WiFi on my iPhone, mainly failing to join known networks when it comes into range. It's no big deal (I just reconnect manually), and pales in comparison to the problems I've encountered with multiple MacBooks.

Connecting to the WiFi at work used to be a case of retry, retry, retry, dismissing all the timeout dialogs until finally it got a connection. Once it had the connection it was fine, but I couldn't put it to sleep (i.e. I couldn't close the lid) without having to go through the whole thing again.

A friend of mine who also owned a MacBook had the same problem, with her WiFi access point at home.

I had assumed that a fix had come along in a patch at some point, because I don't have this problem any more.

Murdoch tells old media to 'stand up' to Google, Bing

Obvious

It seems that Murdoch is attempting to address the obvious issue with his paywall strategy - that his sites are going to lose out on a lot of readership to the sites that remain free.

Apple to reveal hallowed iPhone 4.0 on Thursday

Hold gesture

...and I really hope that Apple follow Backgrounder's lead and use a 'hold' gesture for activating backgrounding, as opposed to the double press as described in the article. It would be too easy to get the double press wrong and accidentally quit the app.

Not that this should strictly matter - if an app is following the UI guidelines then it should save its state. But so many of them don't.

Tories go nuclear, promise to prop up carbon price

Re: (untitled)

You conveniently left out tidal, which is so reliable that you could set your watch by it, and with the UK's long coastline it is available in abundance. The problem is that installing tidal generators is difficult and expensive (with the damage to the sea-bed ecology also being an issue).

The efficiency of on-shore wind farms is low (although I'd question the relevance of efficiency when dealing with an infinite resource), but they are built anyway because they are cheap.

Oh, and not to tread on your general point, but 58% is maximum measured output for any wind farm over the course of a year, and this was in the UK.

Loch Ness Stig blurred into oblivion

It's obvious.

They had to pixellate his face... but nobody knows where the Stig keeps his face. Better safe than sorry.

Freesat BBC iPlayer beta gets red button access

Somewhat ironic

I've had a Foxsat HD box for a while but more recently have been using Tiscali/TalkTalk TV. T(T)TV is all IP-based but the catch-up/on-demand stuff isn't technically part of the iPlayer, and only offers a small subset of what is on offer using the Freesat box.

Of course, if I'm going to be using this more often then I really need to think about running another cable from the router (I could use a switch but it means another device that needs powered), but I'm still firmly in the 'no WiFi' camp. It's not so much the added cost of the parts but also the added complexity. Wireless bridges exist, if it's such a big deal, as do homeplugs.

Steve Jobs says 'No' to iPhone-to-iPad tether

Signature

It's the default signature on the iPhone Mail app.

One of the first things I turned off.

Apple yanks Wi-Fi detectors from iTunes

Private frameworks

"Apple has apparently declined to explain exactly what rule the scanning applications are breaking."

They're breaking the rule that says "Thou shalt not use private frameworks". I would have thought this would be obvious.

Music biz unites to save 6Music

Competing with Classic FM?

I couldn't agree more, although partly because I'd love to hear the howls of complaint from die-hard Radio 3 listeners when the audio quality drops due to the move to DAB.

It also makes a mockery of the idea that the BBC's services that compete with commercial offerings are being purged. 6music doesn't have any competitors and is facing the axe, yet Radio 3 competes with Classic FM (the holder of the only national commercial FM licence) and is going nowhere.

Scots unleash world's strongest beer

Yuck

I tried some of their 32% Tactical Nuclear Penguin, and it was horrible. I've got no desire to try this.

£40 would get me a bottle of 10 year old Longrow, which is a bigger bottle, stronger and nicer, or 25 bottles of Brewdog's delicious 5am Saint.

Apple to stick padlocks on books for iPad

In a sense...

It's not a new e-book format, it's ePub with Apple's Fairplay applied to it (as opposed to Adobe's ADEPT on many other e-readers).

Save DAB! Send FM radios to Africa

Internet streaming does for me

I've got one of those iPod/iPhone speaker sets with a built-in FM radio. I can plug in my iPhone and, using a radio streaming app, listen to local, national and international radio at whatever bitrate the station streams in. It doesn't work in the car of course, but from what I hear neither does DAB.

What would possess me to buy a DAB radio?

Can the iSlate kill off Web 2.0?

The keyboard is not the problem

It's not the keyboard that prevents me from tapping out comments on my iPhone, it's the size of the screen. I find the keyboard perfectly adequate, and with the presence of auto-correction it even encourages me to write using proper English.

The problem is the screen real-estate. On my phone I can't even see my whole comment, never mind the text that I'm replying to. With a tablet-sized screen, I'm more likely to comment, not less.

And yes, I find the whole concept of commenting on this article somewhat ironic.

Survey shows strong demand for Apple tablet

Pretty sensible really

Regardless of the iSlate rumours, you'd have to be utterly mad to buy any Apple product this close to an event. I'm willing to bet that there was a similar lull in sales this time last year.

Knuckle rap for riot shield sledging coppers

Maybe...

Maybe their super suspected them of playing Speed Beer?

http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1386

http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1389

I would have thought that they would have been able to justify this as something like 'community outreach'. It's quite refreshing to have the police use riot shields with you rather than against you.

Unfortunately it seems that, while the plod are human beings, the ones in charge certainly aren't.

Traffic reports for the wrong country? There's an iPhone app for that

UK not covered

I've got the UK and Ireland version, and traffic reporting isn't offered in the Extras menu at all. So I'm inclined to agree with VirtualKiwi, it's not that you've somehow been placed in the wrong country but that that Navigon doesn't provide traffic reports for the UK.

Neat two-motor soft-top first victim of GM Saab sale?

But in the real world...

"The first prototype is powered by a 26kWh li-ion battery pack giving it a range of around 150km (90m)"

Is that an on-paper, theoretical maximum of 150 kilometres, and 90 metres in real-world usage scenarios (i.e. when you decide to use all of those 250 kW)?

MoD does everything right for once in Xmas shocker

You're doing it wrong.

"Scots contribute ... around £3bn of annual defence expenditure on a pro rata basis. The UK's nuclear deterrent - almost all situated in Scotland - would account for most of this sum on its own."

This, plus the scare stories about every single military base in Scotland closing, is a ridiculous way of looking at it.

First of all, Scotland will still need armed forces, so the prospect of everything closing and heading south is ludicrous.

Second, it's the stated goal of the SNP to get rid of nuclear weapons, so according to your figures that frees up about £3bn annually to be spent on other aspects of defence. There's even talk of an independent Scotland being paid to look after the UK's nuclear weapons because nowhere else in the UK is suitable (although that's not a policy that I necessarily agree with).

Googlephone specs uncovered?

It's not that different

It's a different OS version, but it's the same OS, and it's only a point release beyond what's already available in other phones right now, and no doubt it will be available pre-installed with other phones as well as offered as an upgrade.

The different looks aren't all that different (large screen, classic HTC smattering of buttons below) and to be honest it doesn't look particularly attractive.

The FM feature is interesting, but that's the only feature listed that the hardware brings that isn't already in the iPhone. Everything else may be technically distinct to what's already in a lot of phones, and it may be faster, but it's essentially doing the same job.

And not only is it not the first phone to come with Google branding, it's not even the first phone to come with Google branding from this manufacturer.

I'm not saying that it's not an interesting phone or that people shouldn't be excited about it. What I don't understand, though, is the collective orgasm everyone seems to be having because it's a 'Googlephone'. Nothing about it is particularly novel, interesting or special.

I'm confused

The G1 was made by HTC, ran Android and had Google branding.

This phone will be made by HTC, will run Android and will have Google branding.

What is it about this phone that is new or special?

Critics aim to sink Titanic ice cubes

Lusitania?

They were originally Lusitania ice cubes, but had to be renamed as Titanic ice cubes for the same reason.

HTC's next-gen Android flagship phone to debut Feb 2010

@Macka

I'm in the same situation as you - iPhone 3G contract ending in January. My plan is to hop over to O2's unlimited texts and internet PAYG plan for a while, and then see what comes out this summer.

I won't even consider a phone that comes with a physical keyboard. For me it's the fact that after a short period of typing my fingers start to hurt due to the pressure required to push the keys - capacitive touchscreen keyboards have won me over because they don't require any pressure.

The Hero is a contender... although I would prefer a phone less festooned with face buttons.

TomTom iPhone Car Kit

Not sure I really need the GPS part...

I've never had problems with the accuracy of the iPhone 3G's built-in GPS receiver when using Navigon (which allegedly works with the TomTom dock).

What I do like about the dock is that it integrates the line-out and charging into a single dock connector, so all you have to do to power an iPhone and link it to your stereo line-in is plop it in the dock.

It also looks much more secure than the Griffin WindowSeat I'm currently using - because of the way my windscreen slopes and the relative inflexibility of the arm joints, I have to have it at its maximum length, and it rattles around a lot.

So basically I'd be happier if I could get hold of a cheaper one of these without the GPS receiver built in, but as far as I'm aware nobody makes anything like this.

Google open sources flash-happy Chrome OS

@Tony Hoyle

When the iPhone was released, it didn't support HTML 5 and the lack of offline storage crippled the web API. Support didn't come until OS 2.1, a point release after the native SDK.

If the iPhone was released today (or had supported HTML 5 from the start), there might not have been the same clamour for a native SDK.

BBC publishes Freeview HD timetable

Not sure if I'm in 'Scotland' or not...

When you say Scotland will receive Freeview HD in 2010, does that mean the parts covered by STV (i.e. the vast majority of the area and population)? Because the arse-end of the country is covered by Tyne Tees & Border and I can never tell whether we're included in the definition.

Not that it really matters to me, I won't be replacing my Freesat HD box with the equivalent Freeview one any time soon.

Apple IDs the next-generation iPhone

The components are there.

I've already received a Visa payWave card from my bank, which has replaced my old card, which I'm led to believe consists of a dual contact/contactless chip and an induction loop. These cards are slowly but surely making their way into the hands of the general public - all we're waiting for is for retailers to start installing the equipment.

I think the ideal situation would be to make these cards SIM-sized, and without the induction loop, and then build phones with an additional slot that the card can be inserted into, which connects the card to an induction loop built into the phone.

I'd eat my keyboard if it ever happened. Persuading manufacturers to add an additional slot that will increase the size of the device without giving them any control over the system would be an impossible task. But I think it's the best idea.

IT admins: we don't need no stinkin' servers

Small businesses

For a small business it's not necessarily the cost and complexities of keeping hardware running that is the problem with providing 24/7 services, because the server is yours to control. The real problem is that if your internet connection goes down, your servers are effectively offline and there's nothing you can do about it until the problem is fixed by either BT or your provider.

The company I work for had an experience like this, so now we run our customer-facing services on Amazon EC2. It doesn't matter so much if our office goes offline now, as long as our services are still available to our customers.

More than half of touchphone users will go back to buttons

Am I the only one...

...that can type faster on a touchscreen than a physical keyboard?

All the physical QWERTY phones I've tried seem to make the assumption that because I can feel the keys, I will always be 100% accurate, which for me isn't true. I tend to miss keys, hit two at once, etc. If I owned a phone with a physical QWERTY keyboard, the backspace key would be the first one to wear out.

I don't have any of these problems with my capacitive touchscreen phone because it's designed to deal with these problems, and because I'm typing on a flat surface that requires no pressure my fingers don't start to hurt after a few dozen words.

I might yet become a luddite and return to the SE W350i that I have lying around (which I love despite its shortcomings), but I'll never ever go back to a physical QWERTY phone.

Travel agents accused of shilling for ID cards

NO2ID are missing their own point

The whole ID card debate is a distraction in the context of travel documents, given that (assuming current plans are not cancelled) the passport application process will have you fingerprinted and added to the National Identity Register from 2011/12 anyway.

An ID card *would* be more convenient for European travel than a passport, especially as certain countries (Belgium I believe) require you to have your ID card or passport on your person at almost all times. I'd quite happily have one if the rules and requirements were identical to the current passport.

Scots slam Germans for 'tight-arsed' slur

Give it a rest...

I'm Scottish myself, and I think one of our better attributes is our self-deprecating sense of humour. So we don't mind that much that people call us tight, as long as it's a good laugh.

Instead of whinging about our negative attributes, let's focus on our positive attributes such as our sense of humour, or our inventiveness.

For example, the invention of copper wire can be attributed to a Scot.

Well, two Scots.

Fighting over a penny.

Bloggers howl after conference snoops on 'secure' network

Just a second...

Presumably this WiFi network was being used for internet access, seeing as Bourne was using Twitter over it. And presumably - WPA aside - their credentials were being sent in plain text.

Are these security experts trying to claim that they thought they had end-to-end security to arbitrary servers on the internet, just because the WiFi provider claimed it was 'secure'?

Home Office staff offered early bird ID cards

Re: travel document

Yes, you will be able to use them to travel within the EU.

http://www.ips.gov.uk/cps/rde/xchg/ips_live/hs.xsl/968.htm

Welsh yobs clobbered by cross-dressing cage fighters

Cleaning up

Presumably after reducing the yobs to a paste, the young 'ladies' cleaned up the mess with a handy roll of Bounty.

US court says software is owned, not licensed

My way...

If I had it my way, the software would be licensed but the licence itself would be sold. This would allow the copyright to remain with the original licensor while still allowing the US first-sale doctrine to apply.

That, to me, is the common sense way of doing things.

O2 finds new way to bind iPhone users

Not the cheapest tariff

The £30/mo tariff comes with visual voicemail as well. Although it would be nice if they offered visual voicemail as a bolt-on.

I bought my iPhone 3G at launch, and I could count the number of voicemails I've received since then on one hand, so I'm really not going to miss it.

Windows 7 OEM prices revealed

UK prices

Those of you that are complaining about Rip-Off Britain out of instinct should take a look at the pre-order prices of Windows 7 on Amazon:

Home Premium: £64.68 ($103.38)

Professional: £148.00 ($236.55)

Ultimate: £159.98 ($255.70)

These are full retail versions, not upgrades or OEM versions. Prices include tax, unlike the US prices.

This makes Professional and Ultimate cheaper in the UK than in the US, and makes the full version of Home Premium cheaper than the US OEM version. We're getting a significantly better deal here than over there.

@AC 22:55

The author may be American, but from his perspective he's working for a 'foreign' news company with a substantial readership in its country of origin. At the very least, the article should have made reference to the fact that these are US-only prices, but it didn't even do that - it assumed that the entire readership is American and is only concerned with American prices.

Labour to push for broadband tax before election

@Defiant

Actually the majority of Labour's support in Scotland comes from the urban central belt, Glasgow in particular. Rural areas in Scotland tend to vote Lib Dem or SNP, and increasingly Tory in the south.

I do think that this policy is an indication of the dawning realisation in the Labour party that they're dead in the water and really don't have anything to lose.

Talking DAB and the future of radio

Let's not forget...

This is all about freeing up spectrum so that it can be sold off. That's why the country is pressing ahead with DAB despite the advantages being limited, the disadvantages being numerous and the technology being already obsolete.

Personally I won't be 'upgrading'. Why incur the expense (certainly not negligible) of a DAB receiver when I can receive internet streams via the internet on my PC, and WiFi or 3G on my phone?

Street View prowls Outer Hebrides

Safer for the cameras?

At least on North Uist, the camera isn't likely to come a cropper while travelling under a railway bridge.

http://news.cnet.com/google-street-view-camera-low-bridge-uh-oh/

I wonder, what ways could a Street View camera come a cropper on the Western Isles?

T-Orange: How it's going to work

3

3 also use Orange for 2G roaming, so perhaps it suits them to only have to deal with a single company for 3G network sharing and 2G roaming.

Scottish gov to curb personal data collection

@AC "No surprise..."

I rather think we're getting the 'friendly approach' *despite* having Gordon Brown in Downing Street. Remember that it was months after the last Scottish election before he would even talk to the new First Minister.

And New Labour was less about getting back at you for William Wallace, more about getting back at you for Margaret Thatcher ;)

Anyway... I'm sure that a quarantine to deal with this outbreak of common sense won't be far off.