Posts by simoncm

Stand by for more big, windfarm-driven 'leccy price rises

Microturbine anyone

My last bill put gas at about 3p / kWh and electricity at 12p / kWh. Not sure we have the technology yet, but if you could make a micro-gas-turbine (assumed efficiency 50%) and a bank of batteries work (smoothing and all that) you'd be looking at £200 per year in "savings".

Obviously the "savings" would go towards the equipment costs, but you'd still break even on £1000 worth of kit over 5 years (not unreasonable).

And that assumes electricity prices (relative to gas) are staying the same, if they go up then...

Raised res iPad 2 to sport four-core chip?

An A4 page

One reason why 2048 x 1536 would be useful is for reading PDFs (or is that too old skool these days). I would have real use for a reader capable of displaying a full A4 page at a readable resolution. 11 x 8in at 200dpi means 2200 x 1600 - just about a perfect fit.

Man could face prison over six second 'extreme porn' clip

Plea fail

Mr Holland's problem:

"At the Crown Court in Mold, last week, before Mr Justice Medland, Holland pleaded guilty to a charge of possession, in the expectation that this would count as mitigation and lead to a lighter sentence."

He admitted to the "crime".

No one knows what the "crime" is, but because he has pleaded guilty he opens himself up to be prosecuted.

What he needed to do was fight the charge (expensive), and show that the material in his possession was not offensive etc... That would give the judges the opportunity to interpret the law and (ideally) castrate it (so long as they don't video themselves doing so). This would make the extremeness of extreme porn so extreme that no one would/could ever be charged.

Alas the judges now have to sentence a guilty man (he pleaded guilty). I'm not sure they have the freedom to throw out the charges at this point. The best Holland can hope for is that he gets a suspended sentence.

Brits to get 3G iPad early - and at a reduced price?

@ BristolBachelor

Only one data plan - just get a Mifi from 3, or the Novatel Mobile Wifi block from Carphonewarehouse.

Granted your dataplan will cost £15 ish, and the block a further £30-£70, but there you have portable internet for your laptop, netbook , ipod touch, ipad, iphone (fakey wifi for all those wifi only apps), and any of your mates with such things will love you for it.

Pluse £30-70 is much cheaper than the $130 difference between the 3G and non 3G pads.

Vodafone revs up UK femtocell program

why use a bit of software when we can charge for a box

Oh this is just stupid.

At home I have rubbish cell reception, but I can surf/skype all I want on my phone since I have wifi/broadband.

Therefore all I need is a little bit of SOFTWARE for the phone which enables it to authorize itself in the cell core network using a wifi/broadband link so I can receive incoming calls (rather than the dreaded 'straight to voicemail').

No need for operator locked femtocells, just a wifi password and some software.

But that would be too obvious wouldn't it.

Nokia jacks up Apple patent complaint

negotiation fail

Nokia's 'essential' patents are tied into the standards, therefore they are available to anyone under "FRAND" (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory) licenses.

Apple were in negotiations with Nokia for the 'essential' standards related patents and the negotiations broke down.

This is how it all happens:

- Nokia want "more" from Apple since Apple: 1- have acquired a significant market share (at Nokia expense) and 2- have a number of desirable patents for Nokia to license. Consequently Nokia want a higher license fee than 'Cheapo Cell Phones Inc' pays and/or a cross license to Apple patents.

- Apple want just the license, at 'Cheapo Cell Phones Inc' rates (because, lets face it, the iPhone is nothing but an iPod Touch with a cheapo cell phone lashed on the back).

They cannot agree, so they go to court.

Nokia sue the only way they can, for infringement of their patents. Apple counter-sue with everything: invalidity of the Nokia patents, non-FRANDy type behaviour and for infringement of Apple patents.

In the end, there will be a decision in which Apple will pay Nokia a license, and possibly will license some of their own patents to Nokia.

Bottom line, its a negotiation fail, lawyers get rich, price of Nokia phones and iPhones goes up to pay their bills.