Posts by SSR

Movie review: Oblivion

Hold up, wasn't there the F word at the end, or did I imagine it?

iPhone 5: UK pay-monthly tariffs compared

Re: Cheaper to buy it outright

Vodafone's 12 month contract is cheapest. See the orginal article.

Re: Holy Guacamole

Unfortunately I cannot afford to buy outright. Last year I think the 64GB worked out at slightly under £800 for the 12 month contract (12 months @ £46, and the phone for £230). That wasn't far off the £700 purchase cost, considering I then got plenty of minutes, texts and data as well. It seems that O2 lost money on this deal, but to only offer 2 years?! Vodafone's 12 month deal isn't far off I suppose, but I'd rather stick with O2.

In practical terms the 5 offers a speed increase and the minor screen size increase, but the connector and SIM change and inevitable locked phone for 6 months are all a pain. I'll be sticking with the 4S unless O2 pull something out of the bag, which seems unlikely.

Holy Guacamole

Where's the £800-12-month-O2 contract this year?! :-/

Vodafone seems to be the best deal, but that's a substantial increase and a deal-breaker for me. I'll be sticking with the 4S.

iOS 4.1 out today, iPhone hackers say

Not Just a Fix

Not just a fix as well, there are features in there.

The sensible person needs to weigh up the jailbreak offerings versus the handful of new features.

'Jetpack' inventors: US military showing interest. Honest

Why So Negative?

A bit of negativity about the ole Mythbusters. I think they're a fairly canny pair who actually get pretty great results with "chewing gum and sticky tape". You don't always need billions of pounds and an R&D department to get a proof of concept, as their show demonstrates time and time again.

Certainly the blower throne concept they created was interesting, but was specifically designed to bust a myth about Internet plans for the device. They then upgraded the flawed Internet plans, and found that it could not lift their weight. I forget whether they wrote the device off completely, or just that it would require further refinement and more power to be a goer (at least vertically). Clearly control and power are the keys here, albeit the former is a whole can of worms, and that's no doubt understating... a cannery of worms?

And isn't Lewis always negative/sarcastic?

Apple TV: Third time unlucky, Mr Jobs

Home Network Storage

It's so trivial these days to add storage to the home network that I think they've made the right decision to keep it separate. Why add a box to the Apple TV when you can just add it on the network elsewhere?

There might be a few who have no other option, but Apple aren't going to be able to cope with every possibility in a commercial device.

Streaming

My guess is that a lot of people will use the box to stream content from iTunes, whether music or video. So the issue of lacking local storage will not be a significant one - I never understood the need for local storage when I bought the earlier version. Of course if those who stream without iTunes are frustrated by delays then the device will fail, assuming they're not on slow Internet connections.

Uh?

The article states Apple TV has "bungled it", then goes on to compare it to a bunch of other offerings, saying it has a handful more features. Where is the purported bungle?

Ultimately the Apple TV is just an extension of the iPod/iTunes experience, which you either buy into or not. Your average geek is going to be able to obtain music elsewhere, but Joe Public loved the simplicity of the iPod welded to iTunes, which no other manufacturer offered (note again: the simplicity aspect).

There will be some percentage of Joe Public out there who will be happy to extend the iTunes experience to film/TV, and it remains to be seen long term how many will accept this. The US audience are, I suspect, far more advanced in this, helped by services such as Netflix (albeit not Apple TV specific).

El Reg regularly slates the Apple TV, but fails to actually present a strong argument as to why. The reason why it failed is pretty much covered above, that consumers just aren't that accepting of downloaded TV/film yet. But for those that are accepting of the move to download, the Apple TV is actually a really great device, with a lot more to offer e.g. Flickr, YouTube, Music streaming, Remote app integration.

From a non-Apple fanboi, with Windows PC etc. etc.

TomTom drums up upgrade for iPhone app

Where are the real features?

Definitely file under gimmick.

How about map updates, that include roads built 5 years ago but still not shown? Although I know TomTom don't produce the maps.

Or some functionality updates? TomTom beats others hands down for navigation and with their traffic service (yes, I have CoPilot and Navigon), but on a normal commute I don't need directions, I just need traffic warnings. Yet I can only enable or disable audio for all. Adding a traffic warning only alert would make a lot of sense. Similarly for speed cameras, although CamerAlert is far better for that.

Or how about allowing us to download maps and voices within the iPhone app, like the standalone devices can do?

Or how about widening the available maps out to those already for sale on the standalone devices? They have much more choice.

Shall I go on?

BBC workers lose £240k of tech gear in two years

Probably a Repeat, But...

1. Are we talking about "lost" versus stolen? It isn't 100% clear.

2. Why not put this in the context of lost/stolen at other firms, and identify how many employees this applies too. Very pertinent figures!

Brian Blessed lends his tongue to TomTom

But for the iPhone?...

Now if only TomTom can sort out in-app purchases of voices (and maps) on the iPhone...

Lovefilm calls in the DRM brigade for media player push

They Have a Chance

Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon (maybe), and other similar players exist in the USA. Yet Netflix has the dominance there because they've provided a straightforward service the others haven't. If Lovefilm can get an app on the 360 and PS3 they could be in with a chance.

Raumfeld multi-room wireless music system

The Much Forgotten Apple Option

Or if you have have an iPhone/iPod Touch, the even cheaper option is the Apple Airport Express and/or Apple TV.

Apple TV revamp rumours resurface

Underrated

The cited weakness of the Apple TV is also its strength though, in that it does a lot of things.

If you want music on your TV, wirelessly from a machine with iTunes...

If you want a dedicated box to download from iTunes...

If you want to watch TV/video from iTunes in HD...

If you want to view your Flickr photos...

If you want to view YouTube videos...

Don't knock it until you've tried it, particularly if you are a heavy user of iTunes.

Ballmer says Windows will shame iPad

Future Eating of Crow

What are the chances that Ballmer will also be eating these quotes in a year or three?

Was Microsoft's Office 2010 worth killing Clippy?

2 Points

1. What's bewildering about Outlook's interface? Always been logical to me, over a whole bunch of other email clients.

2. I don't see mention of anything other than a single Excel feature being worthy of the upgrade. That good huh? Our org will be sticking with 2003 I suspect, despite having an OVS.

Did LibCon alliance bring down O2 network?

That Might Explain It

Curiously my (O2 contract) phone went completely offline last night, and only a reboot this morning brought it back to life.

Sonos to launch five-amp, five-speaker music streamer today

Why bother?

Or just buy an Apple Airport Express (and some speakers), which does play DRM'd iTunes songs, and is a lot cheaper.