Posts by Jeremy Chappell

iPhone: The OS with big aspirations

Missing the point...

The point that's being made is that the iPhone OS does mean that malware cannot work on the platform, the downside is this control limits what users can do with the platform.

What's interesting is Microsoft's new "Windows Phone 7 Series" has a similar security model to the iPhone/iPad. But I think maybe the implications of your phone getting infected are worse than your computer. Perhaps the tradeoff is better on a phone? Clearly Microsoft are persuaded, but I don't see this meaning the end to freedom on the desktop (well not yet anyway).

Isn't this the iPad?

Didn't you just describe the iPad? Actually I totally agree, I'd not want it on every system I use, but for something I use for web/mail/productivity it's perfect. I've not really gotten into gaming on the iPhone OS (I have an iPod Touch that was a gift) but with the bigger screen on the iPad it might be good.

You're sure, right?

How do you know? The best viruses are invisible (if you don't know they are there, you won't remove them). Virus-free PCs are a lot rarer than you'd think, where do you think all the spam comes from? Unless the virus writer is "doing it wrong" you might never know.

iPhone not Mac OS X

The iPhone OS doesn't. You can't infect (an unjailbroken) iPhone with effective malware (even if you can get it by the gatekeepers at the AppStore). Simply put any application quits when the "home" button is pushed, it gets a chance to save it's state and then that's it (it's more accurate to say the app is "killed", it doesn't get a choice) so it can't do anything "bad" unless it's running.

The Mac has a more traditional *nix security model.

iPad and smartphone rootkits demo'd by boffins

iPad?

Err, iPad? Where the hell is the iPad? The researcher uses an iPhone to send the message - that phone ISN'T infected. Where did you get the headline from?

This is EXACTLY why Apple run the security model they do. An iPhone (or iPad) can't run more than one application at a time (this is a choice - the hardware or OS could do this - Apple have chosen not to allow it) so if you get some app running that does "bad stuff" it stops doing "bad stuff" as soon as you hit the home key. Such an attack can't happen on an iPhone.

Of course, if you jail break the phone - well then you get the ability to infect it. Don't want that, then don't jailbreak it. Interestingly Microsoft's new Windows Phone 7 Series takes exactly the same approach as the iPhone (or iPad).

Brits take iTablet moniker for 12in iPad rival

Cost?

Looks nifty, but I bet it costs more than the iPad! However, it looks fantastic for robotics hobbyists, the unit could be mounted on a robot, better if you can specify a SSD storage instead of spinning disk.

The article says, Windows 7, the unit in the picture is XP - which is it? Additionally, can it do Linux? (in a useful way, so the touch screen works properly).

Smiley face, as it reminds me of Gerty.

Researchers penetrate last bastion of Windows security

Whaaa!!!

"Why can't we have Flash on the iPad?!!"

Here's why. Windows is doing a really good job here, and Flash is totally screwing this up. Can you remove Flash from IE8? Won't that help?

Adobe heats up iPad Flash bash

open source!?!

How in the name of GPL can you do a open source and Flash?

Actually you've hit upon the exact reason Apple hate Flash; they don't have the source. On the Mac version of Safari the Flash plugin is the leading cause of crashes, and Apple can't do anything to remedy the situation.

No, no, no...

Apple don't care if you buy apps from the store or not. They care that you buy the iPad (iPhone, iMac, iWhatever). Their store isn't there to make much money - it's there as a reason for you to buy the iPhone/iPad.

Apple hate Flash because they don't have the ability to innovate it, to improve it, to make it at least as good as other platforms. Flash can make Apple's products look bad - and Apple can't stop it happening. I have Flash on my Nokia N810 - and seriously, most of the time it's too slow to be useful, and if I didn't know better I'd think it was indicative of the system's performance. Apple consider it better to have no Flash support rather than weak Flash support (which isn't very useful, and makes the product look bad).

As someone who has developed in Flash, I know that content written in Flash can be very poorly optimised - and that won't do any favours to a device like the iPad.

Steve Ballmer defaces fanboi MacBook

Taken the student to court...

The EULA of Mac OS X specifically prohibits it running on competitors' products!

I thought Steve B was caught completely off guard with this, but actually recovered pretty well. The student's "stunt" was designed to provoke hilarity and Steve B recognised this and played his part well.

I actually think the other Steve would have politely declined, then when the cameras had gone thrown a fit. But still, Apple make some great product.

Ex-JBoss chief attacks Monty's 'dangerous' MySQL crusade

Would the real MySQL please stand up...

Sun own the MySQL name. The fork is called MariaDB. I think all the wrangling is killing Sun, at this point it's Oracle or oblivion. The longer this goes on the worse Sun's situation gets.

MS spins IE security disaster into Windows 7 upgrade opportunity

Windows 7

Isn't Windows 7 less secure (with default settings) than Windows Vista SP2? What is the most secure version of Windows(with default settings)?

I know Microsoft keep talking up Windows 7, but I thought UAC was less secure...

Palm re-models Pre and Pixi phones

Better build?

If this thing is screwed together better than the original then they really have something. The early Pre felt rather fragile - the loose slide mechanism especially so, and there was a very nasty "sharp edge" around the keyboard (not actually a "problem" but made the thing "feel cheap"). The last wish is for better battery life... maybe I'm asking too much.

IMHO the loss of the button is an improvement, the already pretty Pre looks even better, let's just hope it doesn't disappoint in person and makes it to our fair shores pretty quickly (especially if someone other than O2 can carry it!).

Lenovo demos mini laptop with slip-out screen

That keyboard isn't so "dumb"

The "PC" is in the keyboard part, the slate part is ARM based (runs Linux). So that keyboard won't be as light as you're thinking - so it'll probably be quite stable.

It's an interesting idea - essentially two quite separate computers that share a screen. I'm not sure how customers will take to it, as it is totally different when docked and undocked. I like the colour though. I guess there is a way to transfer files between the two systems - so you can view email/documents and listen to music when it is undocked (I'd put the user's home directory on the flash drive in the slate part ... but that's just me, who knows what they've done).

'Steve Jobs' dupes blogosphere with AT&T protest hoax

AN HOUR!

Let's get this right - they're wanting to run a data intensive app for an hour? Will the battery in an iPhone do an hour like that?!

LHC pulverises previous record: 2.36 TeV surprise collision!

Ahh so confident.

Good old El Reg, so confident in the face of Universal Armageddon. Won't you look silly when the Universe ends and you're forced to put a grovelling retraction on your website?

(And where is the icon for Universal Armageddon?)

Motorola's banana-mutilation ad disses iPhone

Do you think?

Do you think someone just figured out how unspeakably ugly the Droid actually is?! That is one ugly phone - the gold accents just seal the deal. Say what you like about the iPhone, it doesn't do ugly (and I don't even have an iPhone).

I don't understand how Motorola thought adding gold accents would help, and seriously if you call your phone "Droid" give it a metallic case, and lose the logos (or at least MOST of them).

iPhone anti-malware stuck in state of denial

Yeah...

But the problem with the Windows PC is just that it wasn't required in the past, so requiring it now would break backward compatibility (which after all is why people buy Windows PCs - if it weren't for backward compatibility what's wrong with Linux?!).

The iPhone is a different animal entirely, applications have NEVER been allowed onto the platform without Apple's express permission (which is exactly why the iPhone hasn't been infected so far - and there is no evidence that is about to change).

Also imagine the hue and cry if Microsoft started locking down Windows with an iPhone-like AppStore!

The AntiVirus venders are showing their true colours with this - anything to make a buck, no real threat exists, but that doesn't stop them talking one up.

For a phone such an iron fist control is probably a damn good thing, not so sure I want this on my desktop...

iFarter begs Apple for rational App Store

OK, he's an idiot - but he's got a point

OK, I am somewhat amazed he's talking about pouring "time and money" into building "the ka-ching button", seriously? And it's hard to think of something more pointless, and less necessary to the iPhone's app-ecosystem. But (and it pains me to admit this) he does have a point.

So Apple, yes, you've made an insanely popular device (some might even say "great") and the app store is a wonder of modern computing (one of those things that now it exists we all wonder: "why didn't anyone think of this before?!"). But the approval process for new apps is a dark and mysterious thing. Some light on the situation would be good for developers, and without them the app store doesn't work.

But there has to be a damn compelling reason why Apple should be able to reject all these stupid "button apps" or at least condemn them to a dank corner of the store rather than cluttering up useful positions. Maybe under a section titled: "pointless, annoying, apps we couldn't find a proper reason for rejecting".

Apple wants life ban for clone maker

Windows 7

You can install Windows 7 upgrade on a system that doesn't have an OS installed - your point?

Just because you CAN do a thing doesn't mean you have the RIGHT to do it.

Err...

You're missing the point. Mac OS X doesn't install on their hardware, you can't slide a Mac OS X DVD in the drive and install it - it won't work. The software has to be modified to run - that's an "illegal copy" (essentially hacked) the fact they put a DVD in the box has nothing to do with it. Also the copy of Mac OS X put in the box is an upgrade, not a fully copy (Apple don't sell full copies of Mac OS X - you only get that with a system).

Can you imagine Microsoft letting an OEM hack Windows to remove WGA and put an upgrade DVD in the box?

Apple don't tell you what you can do with your Mac, if you want to post anti-Apple postings all over the web, you can.

Mac OS X isn't a car radio.

Fanbois Apple buyers howl over crocked iMacs

Oh how true...

Being an early adopter is never the most rational response. Of course, having seen a 27" iMac, you can understand irrational responses (it really is something to behold). It appears this issue is only on the Core i7 variant, others are fine (well have the normal number of DOAs - this happens with all products).

Of course, this problem is made even more annoying for those affected by the simple face that the Core i7 is a build to order option - and a popular one. You can't get it swapped from stock, and replacing machines is adding to already long(ish) lead times.

However, given all this nobody at Apple has denied the problem, and customers have been told exactly what kind of lead time to expect. I don't really see what more Apple can do. Clearly Apple will also want to understand why this fault is afflicting new systems and correct the problem (you can see that such an effort will do nothing to speed up the lead times).

So is the iMac Core i7 a nice machine? Yes. Should I buy one now? Well if you're really in need of it, sure... But personally I'd hold off until the new year, let Apple address this. This kind of issue happens in the computer industry all the time, the problem for Apple is they have "iconic" brands and the iMac is such an iconic brand that problems like this get noticed. If we were talking about some HP machine with some cryptic number for a name would this be as interesting? (Would El Reg use words like Fanbois or "howling" - no, they probably wouldn't even report it, because nobody would be interested. Given HP's quality control it would be hard to notice that any particular machine had a problem more than the normal shoddy junk they barf out anyway).

So the original commenter was right - being an early adopter of ANYTHING is a risk, sometimes it pays off and you get to enjoy a product before anyone else other times ... you get to talk to technical support (which is rather less fun).

Not DOA

There is no way I'm fixing a computer that's DOA - no matter what colour it is. For a lot of buyers an "all in one" is a great way to go. Seriously, you want some horrible box cluttering up your home?!

Mac Pros are all very nice, but currently the iMac is far better value in the Apple range (and actually not bad amongst all computers). The Mac Pro looks really expensive at present, compare a single processor Mac Pro with 30" Apple display with the iMac Core i7 - that Mac Pro doesn't look like good value does it (sure it has a Xeon, bigger screen and slots - but wowsers it's expensive)?

I imagine Apple will release a new Mac Pro (and displays) early next year that will address this pricing discrepancy.

On the OS front, I think that's at least as important as the hardware (maybe more so) as it dictates which applications you can run. (Probably BeOS, OS/2 and DOS will be a bit limiting - application wise)

First malicious iPhone worm slithers into wild

Shock headline...

... Boring story. If you jail broke your iPhone, by opening 'ssh' and you didn't change the default password, well you pretty much disabled ALL the security. So something like this was bound to happen...

If you've only used your iPhone as directed by Apple, or used any common sense at all (and changed the default password) then you're safe.

Of course, that doesn't make such an interesting headline does it?

We expect better El Reg, this isn't fsckin' CNet!

Apple cult leader emails outside world

Oh for crying out loud!

Everyone knows that you can't use Apple product names for your products. It's simple. You can call you app "MyApp for Mac" but not "MyMacApp", essentially in the former your app is called "MyApp" and it's OK to tag "for Mac" on the end. The same is true of iPhone app's and iPod app's.

Seriously, why is this a surprise? Apple doesn't want it's trademarks diluted - this makes sense. So what's the problem? Don't put Apple product names in the name of your product, then you won't need to change the name.

Google Chrome OS - do we want another monoculture?

Monoculture?

I think talk of a new monoculture is somewhat premature. Google don't even WANT to create this. Imagine if you "kill the PC" - where do Google get the next generation from? Google's developers were "trained" on the PC, kill that and you raise the bar for programmers considerably. Sure, we could "program in the cloud" but after the "old guys" are gone, who looks after the cloud?

No Google doesn't want to do this, it's not even in their interest. Chrome OS makes sense for a certain audience, maybe for most people some of the time, but not everyone all of the time. Google won't want this.

So, why Chrome OS? Well it does give reliable, incorruptible, Internet (well Web) access - that's in Google's interest, especially if it shifts your focus further toward the cloud. Additionally, if you data is on Google's servers then mining that data to give you better ads is possible. Google want to give you "better ads".

So is there a compromise here? Yes, you're handing more power to Google, and trusting them to "not be evil", can they live up to this? I don't know - could anyone? But Chrome OS is probably going to be very useful, not least with internally hosted Web applications - there's nothing in here that ties the system to Google. Looks like a "dumb terminal" for 2010 - and actually that's probably going to be pretty useful.

Sky talks up subscription 3D merits

It'll need to be.

I wonder what the content will be, is there really much "3D" content? I guess that's coming, but right now?

I also wonder what the effect of watching "3D" content for many hours will be. Now I know the world is "3D" but the world isn't "fixed focus", the unnatural part of watching "3D" content is that the viewer must fix their focus on the display, even though much of what they are viewing suggests otherwise. Additionally "fuzzy focus" in the scene (like when you look over someone's shoulder at the part of the scene the director wants you to look at) is really confusing for the brain (the foreground "fuzzy" part of the scene cannot be brought into focus). I imagine if the viewer watched large amounts of it they'd suffer headaches. While it might seem quite natural, it really isn't.

I also think Sky are going to find it hard to tempt people into paying EVEN MORE. If HD was a hard sell, this is going to be really difficult.

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

Servers!

Err, Servers are hardly a problem - are they? What I hate are PCs. Oh! And users, OK strike the PCs comment - can we get rid of the users? I think that would be dandy, with no users I think everything would run far more smoothly.

Can we do that?

Microsoft admits Mac was Windows 7 muse

I'm a Mac

I'm a Mac, and Windows 7 was my idea!

Apple pushes out Blue Monday patch batch

How do I feel?

Patched?

EU officially objects to Sunacle deal

AAARGH!

OK, normally I'd not say this, but how stupid is the EU? Perhaps Sun should just dump MySQL (the name) and fork to project. This is seriously bad news for Sun.

Mac art project game destroys aliens files

Heh

As a piece of "art" it's quite interesting, killing things leads to loss for the player. It makes you think.

However, while you might think someone would need to be pretty stupid to run this on their own Mac, this is a real threat. Imagine English isn't the person's first language... if the warning had been in Dutch would you have thought the "victim" so foolish? Or if the player is a child.

So while as an art project it's interesting and thought provoking, it's still malware.

Big Blue red-faced over Congestion charge crash

Oh God...

Can you imagine what an unholy hash Boris is going to make of the Olympics in 2012?

Google retrieves coder's Microsoft badge from rubbish bin

Err

I'm amazed he didn't see the problem himself! He was under an NDA to a competitor, and received benefits from that relationship. HELLO?!

The fact is he then felt it necessary to blog about the issue! Amazing, I imagine Google must be secretly hopping mad. This guy might be very talented from a technical perspective, but he's still a doofus.

Nintendo confirms big-screen DSi

drat!

Damn, there's another couple of hundred pounds headed out of my wallet! Still, it is at least something I know I'll actually use (my DSi is never more than a few feet away - unless I've drained the power) unlike my Sony PSP (I know I left it somewhere around here - stupid thing).

Microsoft drops Family Guy like a hot deaf guy joke

Morons

Heh, clearly nobody at Microsoft has actually watched Family Guy. That **might** have been a good move. Probably too busy "shaking their windows"...

Oracle and Sun fingered for Sidekick fiasco

Err

What is this utter nonsense. It sounds more like:

Microsoft acquires Danger.

All the staff with any skill leave.

Microsoft staff botch it up.

Doesn't that sound right?

Microsoft's Sidekick restoration turns into farce

Poor...

Does Microsoft really need to make itself look THIS stupid? I can't imagine the stupidity that was required to get themselves into this hole in the first place, this is just making it even worse. How can it take this long to solve? Is anyone going to trust Microsoft's cloud offerings in the future?

iPhone saves woman from bear

Apple refused to replace it for free...

Well imagine my surprise. You can see it can't you?

Genius: How did this happen to your iPhone?

Girl: I chucked it at a hungry bear!

Genius: I'm pretty sure the standard warranty won't cover that.

Girl: What?! I think that's totally unfair!

MS says so sorry to Sidekick users

Restore faith?

At this point it makes little difference if they can restore the data or not (from a perception point of view). There is a point where you've been without the data so long that it's recovery becomes mute. I'm sure most Sidekick users aren't there yet, but as a business proposition we'd already have passed that point. Anyone thinking of using cloud services for anything non-trivial will be given pause by this (especially if it involves Microsoft).

I mean, imagine it was your desktop, with everything "gone" this kind of length of time a still only "hope" of recovery of "most of it" (which might or might not include YOUR data) now, remember you'd earlier been told there was "no hope" of recovery. How tolerable is that situation? Still trust the cloud?

Child porn threat to airport's 'virtual strip search' scanners

Xrays!!!

Err, X-Rays? Is that safe? I'm not sure I'd want to be X-Rayed very often (different if you've broken something, or something medical is suspected). Routine use of X-Rays just sounds like a bad idea.

T-Mobile takes on patsy role in Microsoft Sidekick fallout

Opening Gambit?

This has to be an "opening gambit" - right? I can only think that behind the scenes T-Mobile are squeezing Microsoft very, very hard to get compensation from their customers and themselves.

I'll be honest, I can't imagine what that might be - the loss of this data will vary from "mildly annoying" to "desperately serious". I think it would serve T-Mobile far better to explain to customers that they are seeking "appropriate reparations for customers" from Microsoft, though I understand why they don't want to do this. "Here's a $100 gift token" seems like a slap in the face.

Michael Dell: Netbooks go sour after 36 hours

Trouble is...

I actually find myself mostly agreeing with Dell on this. As a primary machine the typical netbook isn't great. It's something that wonderful to carry, somewhat less wonderful to actually use. The other problem is performance. Most people complain their computer is "slow", and think "I've got a slow computer" they cope, now give them a machine that actually IS SLOW ... you get the idea.

Now Netbooks can be fantastic, if you're carrying it more than using it, then it's great (and that sounds weird, but think about someone who want email on the move - a Netbook is a heck of a lot nicer to use than a Blackberry). Or as some kind of "tool" (single function) where the application is fine on the smaller display and there isn't too much mousing/typing. Or as your "other laptop".

Now where I think Dell does get it wrong is the specific example of the Latitude 2100 - if you think about some of the examples above you can see "slightly rugged" is a real advantage, I don't need to be a schoolboy (or schoolgirl) to appreciate that. I don't really understand why most Netbooks are "glossy scratch magnets" when the whole idea is to "throw it into a bag"! Perhaps Dell would do better looking at how Netbooks can be useful and design them for these needs (more like the 2100) than wonder why people bought the "sexy, glossy" ones and were disappointed.

Here's my ideal Netbook:

Guts like the Acer Ferrari One (with the upgrade to 4GB). Space for an internal 3G modem. Keyboard from the afore mentioned Ferrari One. Outside like the Latitude 2100. Ability to run Linux (as well as Windows, inc Win7). Ethernet port (this is very specific to what I do). Convertible Tablet option. Long life battery slice (I can live with it being less "thin & sexy"). I'd say no more than £500. Schoolchildren need not apply.

MS plasters Ballmer's signature on Windows 7 special edition

Vista?

Wasn't Vista's special called; "The Windows Vista Ultimate Signature Funeral Edition"? Lets hope this one goes better...

O2 could impose out-of-contract iPhone lock-in

What will Steve say?

I wonder if Apple will have anything to say on this - I imagine they can just "make it happen" if they want to... So now I don't know if I should put an Evil Steve badge or a Good Steve badge on...

Good Steve (right Mr Jobs?)

Ads watchdog underclocks reseller's 9.2GHz AMD CPU claim

Err...

This is such a basic misunderstanding of multi-core speed that I'm not sure I'd buy a computer from anyone who made such a gaff. Did they not think it sounded stupid?

Stallman backpedals on Mac OS backdoor claims

Oops.

It's hard to take him seriously when he tells lies. RMS has damaged his own argument with this "Backdoor" nonsense. This is a shame, as the argument has plenty of merit. It doesn't have to be backed up with lies, hardly the way to persuade someone about the ethics of your beliefs.

Cameron escapes Twitter twat rap

You don't need twitter

David, you don't need Twitter to make a tw@t of yourself.

Vegemite unscrews lid on iSnack2.0

Yeah, but...

I bet it's still horrible though.

Sony says ‘No’ to UMD swap shops

Good luck with that Sony

Brilliant Sony, make sure that current owners can't keep their investment in games. If you could think of a better way to kill a new product stone dead, Sony will probably try that next time. So the new system has essentially no advantages over the old one apart from physical size (which given how uncomfortable the controls look, might actually not be an advantage at all).