Posts by Ron1

Apple's iPad resellers are revolting

Free economy?

Lets see:

1. the resellers do not mind getting a (fat?) commission from selling Apple products

2. they do mind being unsatisfied with Apple's policies

Well, they can stop bitching and stop selling Apple products. Oh wait, this is against point 1above. Bummer.

iFan - I am not an Apple fan (quite the contrary, mostly due to their closed platforms and tight grip on users), but Steve does have the right to sell his products the way he wants...

After all, he is not forcing anybody to be a reseller, or is he?

US iPhone ready to be tied down?

"Unlimited" data plans

"Unlimited" data plans are the culprit (smart) phones nowadays lack DUN (Dial Up Networking - I wonder who invented the term "Tethering" - it is stupid!).

The reason is unlimited plans are not really unlimited and a small percentage of DUN users will abuse their data plans to download movies, Linux distros, run p2p, etc on their PCs.

The problem lies with operators - who lie when calling their plans unlimited. This is a matter for FTC, EU Comission & other regulators - operators need to put a monthly cap on their plans (and make it clear to their customers), then DUN will be no more a problem - the 1% who abuse their plans will simply hit the limit and face the consequences as they should (=pay more). The other 99% will happily be able to use DUN.

No DUN is mostly the case with phones "originating" from US or with US based operators (I use "originating", because virtually ALL phones are designed in Taiwan and built in China by companies like HTC, Foxconn, Quanta, Compal,...). To list a few:

Handspring/Palm Treo: Out of the box DUN only works from (Unlocked) Treo 650 onward; older Treos "officially" could not do it - it was however possible to do DUN on Treo180/270/600 wia IR and 650 via BT (Bluetooth) with SW like PdaNet and WModem. I'we got through a lot of pains to make DUN work on Treos 180s, 270, 600 and 650s I we had.

iPhone: no DUN (either USB or Bluetooth)

Android: no "real" DUN (=modem over USB or BT) - only USB DUN works with SW on PC on Unlocked phones

PdaNet (www.junefabrics.com) enables BT DUN profile (no SW needed on PC side )& USB DUN (again with SW on PC side) - I think also for locked phones

But PdaNet is annoying: it costs $20 to enable a basic feature all "normal" GSM phones have had since dawn of time (=DUN profile) and the annoying part is you need to run the PdaNet application on Android phone (I tested on HTC Desire) for the BT DUN profile to work.

AFAIK, all "non US" based phones (SE, Nokia, LG, Samsung) with Bluetooth support the BT DUN profile by default.

I was quite shocked to learn that Android platform, not even in it's latest incarnation (2.1) supports one of the most basic Bluetooth profiles - the BT DUN. This is simply inexcusable!

Lack of out-of-the-box BT DUN was a showstopper for me buying the HTC Desire (which after testing it I, well, desire)!

And to think I used to dream Android (being open) will also support the BT FAX profile (not many phones do, AFAIK) so I could (finally) send faxes from my PC via GSM through BT connection...

I simply hate when progress is not only stopped but goes backwards.

I remember my first GSM (Ericsson GA628 - "the brick" in 1998 - a simple, cheap and wonderful phone) - it had a modem feature by simply connecting it to a PC (or other terminal device) via RS232 and could dial data (or voice) calls through AT commands.

Dell Latitude Z

Review of a 6+ months old machine?

Sorry, but epic fail:

You did not mention Lenovo X301 as an alternative - it does have smaller screen, but not much smaller screen real estate (1440x900), plus a DVD-RW drive & weighs 30% less.

Why you chose to review a laptop released in Sep 09 (and reviewed in Oct 09) only now I do not understand. You did not even test the one innovative feature - induction charging.

Why not rather review the new Latitude E6510 or E6410?

Or perhaps get some info from Dell:

- The E6510 at least has a Full-HD 1920x1080 screen option @15.6"; is this coming to z600 too?

- will there be a Z lineup = 14" z400, 15" z500?

- when will backlit keyboards be available with with Exx10 series in EU?

PS: sorry for this, looks like I have a bad day :)

TGIF!

Palm OS on an iPhone - there's an app for that

Palm OS emulator for iPhone

"Palm OS obsessives StyleTap have created an iPhone emulator"

Shouldn't the sentence read:

"Palm OS obsessives StyleTap have created an emulator for iPhone"

Since this is not an iPhone emulator but an emulator which runs on iPhone

Sex.com goes titsup

What is INERNIC ?

"100% interest in the internet domain name and related INERNIC registration"

What is INERNIC? Did they mean INTERNIC by any chance?

C'mon, this is supposed to be a $1M+ auction and they misspelled it (twice)...

Apple lets 3G VoIP onto iPhone

Data only?

Apple.com specs for iPad 3G clearly list "Data only" under 3G version specs, so does it even support voice?

VoIP only over 3G? what about VoIP over 2.5G (GPRS/EDGE) when 3G network is unavailable?

Seagate Barracuda XT 2TB Sata 3.0 HDD

@Reg: Tested on 2009-12-16?

If your machine's date is right, you've been sitting on this test for exactly 4 weeks before releasing it?

Request from the vendor?

Care to explain?

NASA's nuclear Mars tank gets improved cooker mod

Sound on Mars? Yeah, right!

Since Mars's atmosphere is 96% CO2 and atmospheric pressure is about 150 times lower than Earth's, I'm pretty sure all those (seemingly hundreds of) actuator motors can not be heard as in the video...

Instead of those stupid sci-fi like sounds, NASA (as a scientific rather than sci-fi org) should add a narrative to explain the complicated procedures seen on video...

Plus judging by the partially shielded cylinder with cooling fins on the front part of the "tank", the "nuclear" seems to be a standard RTG, but "nuclear powered" sure sounds more sensational than "radioisotope thermoelectric generator powered".

VW unveils slippery four-seat hybrid

Slippery? Not really!

I think Cd of 0.237 is not really considered slippery in 2009 (less still in 2011), when Opel/Vauxhall Calibra achieved Cd of 0.26 in 1989, Honda Insight and Audi A2 0.25 in 1999 and Merceds Boxfish supposedly has Cd of 0.19.

http://www.carshopguide.com/mercedes-benz-bionic-car-daimler-ag/

The rear end shape does not look very aerodynamical (anybody seen a flat rear on an airplane lately?)

Mind the lack of external rear view mirrors (replaced by small camera pods) - a Calibra without RWM, with flat hubcaps & some streamlining could well get below Cd of 0.24 and A2 from 1999 even lower IMHO.

Sorry, but below 0.19 would be slippery, not ~0.24. Plus Cd is just a coefficient which needs to be multiplied by frontal area to get the (speed dependent) drag force - the VW looks to be considerably higher than Calibra and thus has larger frontal area.

BOFH: Made of win

Just in time

for coffee...

another great BOFH :-)

Sony Bravia KDL-46W5810 46in LCD TV

flavour-of-the-month LED technology?

Do check digitimes, will you?

According to estimates, LED back lighting is here to stay and will gain significant market share in TV LCD panels in 2010 (dominant already in new designs for net/notebooks)

Windows 7's dirty secrets revealed

30% compared to What?

"Memory footprint was reduced by up to 30 per cent"

Compared to what? Vista, XP, windows 3.1, DOS?

30% is relative; in itself it tells nothing if not stated compared to what.

Don't get me wrong; I think Mark ruleZ! Microsoft was lucky to snatch him from his Wininternals/Sysinternals. I am sure he mentioned what he was comparing and the statement is just taken out of context.