Re: No, not quite
Glad you clarified that, because I was about to do the same. I never saw any purpose for the bridge to be honest. Might be because CAT5e is everywhere in my world :-)
677 publicly visible posts • joined 16 May 2007
"Apple and our customers place a high value on simple, refined, creative, well thought-through interfaces. They take more work but are worth it. Apple sets a high bar. If your user interface is complex or less than very good, it may be rejected."
Seriously? I assume the more recent iOS updates weren't subject to that "high bar" because word is the user interface is "less than very good" and certainly has many failings under "refined" and "well thought-through".
Yes, the "Tea Maker by Sage" ... see my other comment. Own it, love it.
Tea tastes rank most of the time because people over-brew it, either too high a temperature, too low a temperature or for too long (the latter being most common).
This thing has pre-sets for all the usual stuff, but I can tell you, my Irish Breakfast tea tastes perfect with 5m of brew time at just shy of 100, while the Nagiri Bop tastes better brewed longer. Meanwhile a bit of Whittard's Afternoon blend is best for 4 minutes, but Tinners needs just 3.
The reason most people think tea is rank because they have nasty tea bags brewed for the wrong time, at the wrong temperature, or worse, they experience those sodding vending machines.
In our household, even the most resistant party who thought £200 of tea maker was ridiculous now moans if they get given anything else.
Mines the one with the magnetic lowering basket in the pocket
What you should have reviewed is the Sage Tea Maker - £170 now (was £199).
If you're having the perfect brew, it should be from loose leaf, and this thing makes the best tea imaginable. Perfectly brewed every time.
Is it expensive... of course. Does it make excellent tea.... yes.
I also own the smart Toaster (perfect, evenly cooked toast, bagels or whatever, and it really does get it right), and the smart microwave ... no longer is it "how long" but "what is it" - and it sorts the rest. Importantly includes: "Popcorn" and "Reheat Pizza" (how many slices?) functionality. The IT person's friend.
Maybe the reason the reason we don't do it is because nobody lets us?
I'd *love* to have Blend for my Blackberry Z10. I love my Blackberry Z10, it is by far and away the smartest messaging and communications device (that's what my phone is for after all) out there. It does facebook and twitter too if you want to waste your entire life doing that.
It does most of the other rubbish everyone wants too - some not so I admit, but I couldn't care less because I value being able to reliably communicate and do my job over some ability to potentially check the latest bill I got from $randomvendor via an otherwise featureless app. Especially when said vendor has a web site that works just fine on my phones browser.
The same integrated any device approach Apple are developing is the only thing I actually like about what apple are doing - I still wouldn't buy the products they churn out though. I'm actually amazed Microsoft haven't long since done this - they could have integrated all of this in minutes across it's devices and platforms, but as usual they're too busy napping.
You have to love Virgin Media (NOT).
We're the only operator you can have broadband without a phone line.
Sure, but you're also the only operator who doesn't need It for any technical reason that charges more not to have a phone line you literally don't need making the pricing basically the same.
I own a Surface 2 Pro
I also own a Lenovo Yoga Pro 2
The Surface Pro 2 is better for consumption, light work and it's good having full windows and all my actual real world needed apps if I have to do the odd bit of work.
The Yoga Pro 2 is the device I use whenever I have "work" to do
The reason? Actually it's because the keyboard is solid, built in and fixed (well that and screen res of the Yoga Pro 2 being insanely high and thus good for me), whereas where I do most of my out and about work I'll be sitting on a sofa or something - and there's just no way to have a surface steady and usable in that way with the keyboard.
Touch is all well and good, but for most of my purposes anything other than a keyboard would suck.
If there was a solid (doesn't even have to double as a cover) option for Surface, mine would be used more - I'd basically have a touch screen laptop. Or my Yoga Pro 2....
Surface does fit in an awkward scenario and the keyboard is both the biggest strength and the biggest weakness.
"Quite. And even if there really isn't anything suitable, paying someone to write software, or tweak existing software would be far cheaper than paying for MS licenses, and the hardware upgrades the monster would require."
Really? How did you calculate that?
It's cheaper to build something from scratch to support many different devices and whatnot, and then support it over a reasonable lifetime than to just pay someone who has already been there, done that?
Blah Blah Blah. Do you know how rare it really is that this happens?
Do you know how many billions of hardware/software combinations windows works with?
Do you have any idea just how many builds/systems/setups MS already tests against?
Do you have any idea just how many bits of software do things they're not supposed to and are often responsible for this kind of issue (might not be in this case, haven't looked, but i'm talking about the issue in general).
It's actually quite impressive how rarely things go wrong considering the scale.
Now compare to say, Apple... they break systems on the hardware they supply which is much more rigid and controlled than in the Windows world... if you're going to call someone out, perhaps ask why the vendor with the most controlled environment out there has issues.
Linux updates of various types don't always go smoothly either.
However, that's the price we pay for the incredibly diverse tasks, roles and services, hardware software, firmware and so on we can all choose and run.
"Mind you, seeing a friends O2 giving G and E often when I have 3G, H+ etc. tends to suggest that they really do have better actual coverage."
...No that sounds exactly like o2. They're not big on that Internet thing. They certainly don't do data. However, EE might give you the basic 3G (or "better") network, but it's not good so arguably no worse than o2 - at least they don't even pretend to have invested in the network.
Sorry, but what exactly is wrong?
Everything the article describes & comments suggest sound like "business as usual" with EE. I believe if something is in a certain way the majority of the time (4 letters starts with p, ends with s and has an is in the middle, poor) it's no longer a failure, but "standard operation".
EE data is as pathetic as the customer "service" team that tried to make me believe my handset fault (which happened under warranty) was someone else's issue other than the EE store. Or as pathetic as being unable to get your roaming agreement charges correct in any month, ever, instead issuing invoices for £5K upwards when the bill should have been £60-£80
...or any of another zillion bad experiences with them.
It's very simple.
For 2G coverage, basic voice/text, o2 all the way (but really, forget data)
For that Internet thing, there's only 3.
For expensive and limited allowances and 3G in big areas, and 4G in a couple of them, Vodafone.
For not much of anything, go with nothing anywhere
The update hasn't been fully released yet on all devices or in all countries, so no, you probably haven't got the update, yet.
But you should I believe - I'm looking forward to it for my Lumia 1020 - I actually quite like Windows Phone 8 and the improvement/additions list for 8.1 sound good to me.
Can't help but feel smug, he said, writing this tethered by 4G in his office, in the basement.
My phone spends about 40% of it's life on 4G (thanks three) and the rest on 3G. I don't have 2G enabled on my phones at all...
It should be this way for everyone though, I agree. Call quality on 2G sucks, never mind data.
Yes they do indeed update it more often, however:
(A) On Android most of the stuff is an App and not in the OS itself, so the functionality itself gets regular updates.
(B) Most of what Apple adds is stuff Android has had for several versions at least now, so it's not such a benefit getting what everyone else already had.
"That brings back memories from a long time ago. Is it still a large, round underground chamber? Always made me think of a dungeon when I was a sprog :)"
Sorry no - they've redeveloped the whole area - in fact they're re-re-developing the branch again now - which is why for a couple of weeks I haven't been able to pay money in etc.
"Barclays Bank is following the lead of London Underground and replacing counter staff with machines and people loitering around to show customers how to use them."
They've been doing that in the Exeter branch for ages and it's seriously annoying because as soon as you walk in there they pounce on you, so every time you have to explain you're clueful enough to use the machines on your own, and then the second they hear a noise from the machine they're over - assuming you're unable to cope rather than simply still feeding the paying in machine a few notes at a time.
And just **** off with iPads everywhere. God the totally un-necessary and utterly pointless use of them is really grinding my gears. Go into certain stores and they now have them in horrid mounts in an effort to find any excuse for them to be used - as if having them somehow makes it better. So instead of the nice big easy touchscreens we used to have, we now have overpriced small screen ipads in ridiculous anti-theft cases. Yes, much better and a real improvement in usability. Said nobody, ever.
Sync = mandatory? Weird because I can choose.
Plain SMTP Auth works just fine to my MTA - maybe yours is broken.
Skype - I'm logged in with my "old" credentials
"Interminable menus" - give me an example?
SatNav - what are you using? Here maps is very goodf.
I'm not sure what I think of the Passport per-se but the Blackberry 10 OS is actually really very good.
It's a shame that they've not got the "app" support that everyone cares about all of a sudden, because in reality, as a phone, an organiser, e-mail and messaging device I'm absolutely happy with my Z10 and it blows everything else by everyone else out of the water by miles.
It is pretty credible at everything else too in my experience - and a colleague has the Z30 and seems pretty happy with it. The "app gap" is an issue, purely because the world is obsessed with it now and sadly mobile web sites are often now wrapped in a special "app" but offer more. That's the single biggest issue Blackberry have from a "once you've bought it, keep them happy" angle.
The biggest issue before that though is that people generally think Blackberry means the out-dated, slow devices they USED to be - and still sell. I've lost count of how many people didn't even consider a Blackberry device because they thought it would be the slow and old device of the past, OR thought it would be really heavily locked down (which is more a function of corporate controls and security than capability itself).
It is a shame because BB 10 OS is unbelievably quick and slick. Yes you have to learn the gestures, but there are demos and videos & they do make sense - but I don't think any of that is enough on its own. They need to really push the "getting apps" angle.
Of course, this does explain why Insurers always find it incredible that you do sustain losses when you make claims, if they think 1000's of devices being reset had no cost.
Given they've got a bunch of iwhatever though, I'm not surprised. Surely everyone knows they're really just company paid for so everyone can have shiny toys to use at home?
"What do you do when a critical Word document won’t open?"
Restore from the backup. Job done.
Although given your more-effort-than-needed approach to the anti-spam setup recently, I'm sure you've used the worst possible concept of a backup too.
If "restore from the backup" is not a valid option I suggest you should retire.
It's Microsoft's product, they specify you have a perpetual use license, they don't specify you'll receive perpetual updates, many of which address issues that weren't even likely to be an issue or even known about in any real sense over a decade ago.
Presumably Apple should also still be providing updates for OS 9? Are they?
Are they even providing updates for older than 10.6 in any meaningful way? Nope...
Well they did have more subscribers, but I binned mine because the shambolic new UI for the windows app smacks, and the windows phone app didn't have half the functionality of the one on other systems (and although I had the premium option, was still miffed that unlike android/ios you couldn't use it with a free subscription at all).
"Can someone tell me what the differences are between Windows Phone 8 and Windows RT in terms of apps?"
Yes, the applications available are different, many will be available on both - and more commonly as time goes by as the active push to get one framework for all is gaining momentum.
For a bigger screen than the 920, try also:
- Lumia 1520 - 6" screen, windows phone setup - what you know, but bigger
- Lumia 1320 - 6" screen,. windows phone setup - what you know, but bigger
- Lumia 2520 - 10.1" screen, windows rt 8.1 setup - alternative to surface
Yes - "no instances, ever" - I've just had the new UI on HD, and apart from being surprised it's so different, I've got all the 2TB of recordings (or whatever it is you're actually allowed to use of the storage these days) I had before the upgrade.
Same goes for every time in the past decade...
Only BT could still be considered "leading" by the majority and still get the lion's share of the business in so many areas and still be so utterly shoddy.
"They realised quickly what total shite Sky 'Broadband' is. Other consumers take note."
Actually as it happens, my experience of Sky Broadband is entirely positive - quite the opposite of what I expected, it's fast, reliable and doesn't have any limits or shaping rubbish.
...and lately that Static IP thing has been heard of... only rDNS and such to go...
Before the usual "ipad is better, surface is shi*" debate starts, I should point out that many people *want* a Surface, or indeed a Surface Pro.
Getting hold of them is significantly more difficult - especially if you want them for business and not buying them one at a time from John Lewis etc. I've got customers who want them, and I've had to go to John Lewis more than once to get it because the distributors rarely have stock.
MS could sell a boatload more if they were actually able to get hold of them...
Everyone I know with a Surface (and it is a growing number) likes them - I like my Pro 2, but while I like the lighter/thinner form of the RT, it's not good enough as I want full Windows... either way, no good if you can't get them.
...and sadly Dell continue to be used by people. I have no idea why.
The kit is shoddy and often unreliable, the prices inflated, the performance is poor (when compared to the same base components chosen elsewhere - I have real world experience of this) and they generally suck.
Yet all too often I still see room full upon room full of Dell kit turning up.
Interesting. I would have upgraded to 8.1 and by definition 8.1 update 1 except we have discovered it leaves remote app support broken, causing apps to just keep stealing focus all the time. The problem is a major ordeal.
I wouldn't mind except I am running server 2012 for our server side, so you'd think it would have been detected and fixed since we're not talking about ancient releases now are we?????
Fix that MS and we'll update!