Posts by Grubby

Motorola Moto E: Brill budget blower with one bothersome blunder

Perfect for me

I have a moto g having previously had a £600 iPhone and the £500 xPeria Z. I have worked in the mobile phone industry for about 10 years and this is the best phone I've had. It doesn't claim to be the best thing in the world like the other 2, it know's it isn't waterproof and it isn't shatter proof (and neither are the Xperias despite their many claims); it's not a 'cool' gadget that all the hipsters will be looking at and thinking wow you are 'so. coo.' like the appled or samsung devices. It's just a phone, with a few nice features.

There probably isn't room for a third device to split the existing moto phones, for the sake of £20 or £30 people will always be drawn to the one with better spec.

Europe's shock Google privacy ruling: The end of history? Don't be daft

Another stupid EU rule

Yet again the EU lawmakers think that there needs to be a completely new set of rules to govern against stupidity. The fact is, regardless of the communications channel you use, you have a right to your data until the point you choose to relinquish it.

For example if you find that someone has put your information on their website, book, poster, song etc then you can request that they remove it as it is yours. If you chose to publish your own information and gave permission for that site to make a copy of it (which if you read the terms and conditions of almost any site I can think of, when signing up or uploading you will have at the very least have given permission for them to use the data however they like if you still have any rights to it at all), then you have relinquished the right to stop people using that information.

If you try to apply the ruling that the EU have set, where do you stop? Would Amazon have to stop showing the 'people who bought this piece of crap also bought this piece of crap' banner because they have to use your information to link the two purchases.

Simple rule to follow, if you aren't 100% sure that what you're telling people will be passed on, and you don't want everyone to know, shut up.

Apple, Beats and fools with money who trust celeb endorsements

It'll probably work

It actually makes some sort of sense from a business perspective. Both are seen as "premium" brands by their customers / fan base. They have a similar customer base who are more like fans, loyal and willing to defend their product; probably because deep down they feel they need to justify spending so much on something that is available for far less and they know it.

Also HTC and a few other mobile / tablet and laptop manufacturers have been flogging beats as "the best sound quality since the invention of the ear" so it would disrupt their businesses for a little while as it's unlikely they'll still be able to include an apple product with their devices.

I have a pair of beats headphones I got free with some htc phone I got a while ago, they have lasted longer than the phone. They'll be better than the current apple headphones which is the equivalent to taping a paper cup to each ear and asking someone 100 yards away to sing whatever song you want to listen to while you spin round on the spot.

Microsoft throws Kinect under a bus, slashes Xbox One to $399

Slashes price?...

How does removing something that is sold for about $100 from a package and reducing the price by $100 work out to be a price cut? You're not getting what you used to get in the original package and so it's not the same thing you're buying, it's not a reduction it's a marketing spin on what is actually exactly the price for the console.

Samsung Galaxy S5 owners hit by fatal camera error problem

One mans rubbish is another mans treasure

Every phone (in my experience I mean EVERY) has something on it that doesn't actually work, because 'smart' phones have so many features. But in most cases it's something that you don't use. Personally I don't use the camera a lot so probably wouldn't even notice for a few weeks if it wasn't working but if 'scratch resistant' screen (like that on my old xperia z) turned out to actually be a scratch magnet, I would notice because I tend to be a little rough with my phone and they get scraped etc. If the FM radio app didn't work (like on my Moto G) I wouldn't, and don't care, as I never use it. Or any of the bundled sony connect apps (none appear to actually do anything).

Some people will think it's the worst thing in the world their camera doesn't work and others will be less annoyed, it's a pretty core feature so I would expect it to be fixed but the point I'm trying to make is that people on here saying that it's worse than that of Apple or Nokia etc, well it is... and it isn't, it depends if you use it or not. If you want it fixed they've said they'll fix it, in the same way that I'm sure if I really wanted the FM radio to work on my Moto phone I would pick up the phone and ring them to fix or replace it.

One more point, as a previous root cause analyst I think it's funny how people are commenting on the cause of the problem based on the problems reported in the media without any root cause analysis having been carried out. If they're all identical, configured, delivered, stored and used in an identical way they will perform identically but they're not. There are hundreds of processes with millions of permutations possible, some resulting in a broken camera and some not... Give them some time to work out the dodgy path and they will know exactly how much traffic is on it (how many are impacted).

Merry Christmas? Not for app devs: That gold rush is officially OVER

Same old

It's no major surprise, the same happened with the internet. There was a huge bubble where everyone was creating websites, each trying to grab as much land as possible and create an audience without any real idea about how they'd make money from it. Then advertisers got onto it and the more popular sites also became the richer sites, meaning more to spend on the already popular site, and so on and so on. Meanwhile the smaller sites that failed to grab the audiences took less money and so didn't stand a chance. Now if I look at my browsing habits I must visit less than 10 sites on a regular basis, reading the news, sport, social etc.

The trend with apps is almost identical. I already only use about 5 or 6 apps and rarely download anything else, my app habits are the same as my browsing habits.

Both follow the same trend and in my opinion it's because both are limited to how they can make money, direct or indirect. Direct is obvious, customer buys app, or customer purchases within app. The indirect rout has a lot more room for innovation with advertising, marketing revenue share promotions etc but they all boil down to the same thing, incentivisation, making money when the customer spends somewhere.

I would like to be able to program as I would like to break this model up as there are other ways to make money without scamming people out of their cash with in app purchases aimed at kids, or gathering all their information and selling it on, one day I'll read my 'for dummies' book I've had for a year without opening :)

40,000 Chinese workers say low-cost iPhone coming soon

Brand devaluation

With the exception of the iPod, Apple make devices that are in a class of their own. That's not a fanboy comment that they're better, they just present themselves as being the Ferrari of their industry. The apple symbol, like the horse is designed to represent quality and class. There's a reason Ferrari don't sell a budget car for everyone, it would take away from what the badge represents. They reach out to the wider market with Fiat, Alfa, Dodge etc.

O2 have GiffGaff, AOL has TalkTalk, all the same companies with different 'faces' for different target markets. It takes a very special kind of company to pull off being a 'one brand fits all' and it really has to have been the aim from the start, it's easier starting with an 'every day' range and then introducing a premium range as you have something to add at a premium, you are only able to take away if you're to go the other way round. Take away too much and no-one will bother buying the new item and it will damage the brand as something with their logo on is widely seen as being rubbish, don't take away enough and people who bought the 'premium' version feel robbed and the brand is damaged because it becomes very obvious that they've been ripping off for years with a fairly average product that they could have been selling for much less.

I wouldn't want to see any company that employs thousands of people die out so I say good luck, but I'll stick with my Android device for now.

Review: Sony Xperia Z

They gave me a free pie

I lost my phone a few days ago (sob sob) and so was thinking about what phone to get, when Sony turned up at my work showing everyone it and gave everyone a free pie. So when I was thinking of what phone I took the following into account:

- Well Samsungs newer model is a while away and I need one today

- Apple is yesterdays technology at tomorrows prices, in chrome

- All phones have different features, none of which I will ever use

- All phones are phones

- Sony gave me a free pie

I'll take the Sony.

My review...

It's doing ok, not tested the water feature, and probably never will. The camera is ok at stills but rubbish if the object is moving even slightly (even with their 'special' technology activated, the menu's are just as confusing as all phone menus, it runs android so all apps are fairly consistent, screen quality is good, the sound quality on calls is actually very impressive compared to the htc sensation and iphone4s i had in the past.

Oh and 3 days after buying it I found my old phone in the boot of my car under a box.

END OF THE WORLD IS NIGH: TalkTalk no longer worst ISP in UK

Q3 2012

The results published are for Q3 of 2012 which show that between May and August TalkTalk are no longer worst ISP, sounds good, what it doesn't say is that in August TalkTalk made the whole team who deal with complaints redundant because they were based in Warrington near Manchester earning about £21k per year, so that they could move them to a site in Stornoway (a Scottish island) because the agents there are willing to accept as little as £14k a year because there's very little work there due to the island being so remote, this move was heavily funded by the Scottish government, but the island so remote that it's actually very difficult to find people to do the jobs which meant people were turning up to interviews in their school uniforms.

The result of this means that complaints are no longer being handled by agents with an average tenure of 9 years, they're being done by 16 year olds who have worked at the company for a few months. Staff turnover is so high that the company are struggling to back fill so have come up with another genius plan, send complaints to India! Yes, the people who work on customer service (and generate the complaints) now deal with the complaints they created in the first place. But the staff have been 'trained', well, they were sent an update in the weekly comm's email and have a template to make sure they ask the right questions and say the right things, they even include statements to assure the customer they're 'doing the needful'. So it's all covered.

UK iPad Mini FRENZY: Queues stretch SEVERAL FEET from till

Brand Devaluation

Apple's main selling point has been exclusivity, with the exception of the ipod the majority of their products have been priced just out of reach of everyone, imac, ipad, iphone etc have all been the most expensive versions of whatever they were (and no, they are not innovative one offs that have no competition, they're a computer a phone and a tablet). So releasing a cheaper version which is very obviously lower spec for the lower price pi55es off their current customer base because it's no longer as 'exclusive', and is seen as a bit of an insult to the potential new customer base, ooh the rich guy has just thrown me a bone...

Imagine if Ferrari released the Ferrari mini for £5k, it's red of course, and has a Ferrari badge, but it's slower and doesn't have many of the features of the others. The guy who works at a supermarket decides to buy one, he now owns a Ferrari, and is parked next to the guy who owns the supermarket in the carpark, who also owns a Ferrari...

Is devaluation a word? I'm not sure.

Microsoft-Netflix bid rumours feast on froth – and logic

Re: Microsoft to buy another dying company

It is a problem to have all their eggs in one basket, so remove the basket. I thought the aim of the industry was to reach as many people as possible, so only distributing their content via exclusive deals with specific vendors instantly limits the viewing figure to a maximum of 100% of the customer base of that vendor, which means that to make any profit they need to charge a premium for the content, which again alienates some of that vendors customer base.

Meanwhile technology is changing the way people access media, some would argue already has changed it. But instead of using these changes to improve the industry, they are seeing it as a threat because they're unwilling to change their operating model, then taking steps to quash the technological advancement, it's well known that negative change is short lived and positive change will usually win, which is why I think in the next 10 years companies like Netflix and Lovefilm etc which seem to be seen as the 'future' of media, threatening the likes of Sky, Cable and traditional 'TV Guide' services are themselves going to die out.

Microsoft to buy another dying company

The music industry is basically dead because of the way record labels handled, or didn't handle, advances in technology and a shift in user / customer habits.

The film industry is putting up a slightly better fight but ultimately heading the same way because it's still trying to maintain a closed market were the product has to be sold at a premium because of limitations on customer numbers that the industry has created itself, in other words the industry is killing itself.

Companies like Netflix, Sky etc buying exclusive rights to content for their customer base creates the illusion of choice, but you will only have a complete choice if you sign up to every single content providing service... AOL tried to create an internet within an internet and failed because people want choice, another example would be a supermarket, they have killed 'corner shops' because they offer everything at an affordable price.

When will people realize that exclusivity is dead, ring fence your product so you can sell it at a premium, or offer it to everyone. £5 x 1000 is £5k, £1 x 1000000 is £1m, Less really is more.

LinkedIn SHOCK: Social-for-Suits ISN'T a flash in the pan

Context

It's a useful tool but like any tool it's only as useful as the user can make it. I work in continuous improvement, change management which relies heavily on networking and making sure you know the right people, and the right people know you so for me Linkedin is a really useful tool for keeping in touch with people, in a working context / environment.

Facebook etc are communications tools for chatting to your friends socially etc, but it's like a phone, you don't give every one of your crazy friends your work number, work is work, play is play.

EARTH was a BAKING LIFELESS DESERT for 5 MILLION years

Re: More science

You have yet to meet a scientist that knows what they're talking about? And you chose to make your point on the internet... using a compute? Not a smart move.

Makes your blood boil? Did your book tell you what that liquid that runs through your body is, and how it works, or how to measure the temperature of said fluid?

Ninjas 10 million years ago? But your book says that is impossible as it all happened about 6000 years ago, and 'ninjas' have only been traced back as far as 1500 years ago, which means they too must have been made by the big man in the sky.

Finally, you mentioned how intelligent us humans are today, it's we humans. How intelligent we humans are today.

Panasonic gets second chance with £4.7 BEEELION bailout

Big gamble

It sounds like a huge gamble by the banks and by Panasonic. The world stops spending so much so people stop buying their product.

Down scaling would usually be the answer, keep a large portion of your r&d departments operating for when things pick up again, but reduce the production element and other support / operational areas.

They appear to have gone for the, keep everything the way it is, keep making things we know aren't selling... and now there's also interest to pay when / if we're still around when the world starts to spend again.

O2 network staggers across UK

Backup plan

The government / governing body need to act about the way communications services work in the UK. Having worked for a number of communications providers, from mobile network providers to broadband and broadcasters, there is a common theme when it comes to incident management, there is very little (and in a worrying number of cases no) backup.

Current process is as follows (or very similar) consumer pays for service, service is provided, service goes down, consumer loses service, service provider choose whether of not to refund or credit.

The industry needs to change to ensure that each network will use the other networks in the case that they are unable to provide coverage. The networks should discuss compensation among each other. The outcome would be that if a serious incident occurs the services (where possible) can continue to be provided to the customer, or at least the basics like voice and sms, carried by another carrier(s) until the outage is resolved. This would minimize downtime in most cases and reduce negative customer experience...

Sorry about the rant, anyone would think I specialize in root cause analysis of incidents and customer experience... oh wait...

Judge: Apple must run ads saying Samsung DIDN'T copy the iPad

Context

I assume the exact wording of the message will be very finely analysed by both sets of lawyers and the judge, but the judge can't say what the look and feel of Apple's home page will look like, or in the case of the printed ads,what other ad space apple chooses to buy.

I expect to see, a small perfectly legal message about Samsung on the apple home page, but the page will be make it look tongue in cheek / sarcastic.

As for the newspapers, I would expect to see a small ad advising 'we were wrong' etc, and the opposite page is a full page spread ridiculing small ad apologies...

I could easily post an ad saying I'm sorry, this man isn't an arse. And on the page opposite in massive letters ONLY JOKING. You could argue the 2 are separate posts and therefore unrelated...

Google ordered to censor 'torrent', 'megaupload' and more words

stupid

Oxford should remove words from their dictionary then because it too is an index that people can search... People should not be allowed to say words like Torrent or download either as speaking is still the number one method of communication in the world last time I checked.

The media industry has been too slow to react to the changing times so rather than utilise the technology to provide their content they are trying to maintain their stubborn square peg round hole methodology and go against the developments.

The internet is ultimately a communication tool, you can try to word it differently but it creates a link from a to b, and c, and d and e... This linkage enables the consumer to directly communicate with the creator, removing a lot of the requirement of the 'provider' i.e. the record labels. So all this bull about 'people are harming the music industry by downloading' is wrong, the industry itself is harming the industry by trying to ensure all 'traffic' (traffic in this case is media) goes via them.

It's the same with energy companies, in fact many service or content providers, if you are not the producer you are merely a bottleneck which channels the content and distributes it to the consumer, i.e. you add nothing to the original product and take a cut...

Numbers don't lie: Apple's ascent eviscerates Microsoft

confused

I'm a little confused as to the relevance of comparing windows PC sales to iphone / ipad sales. I can see why it would be compared to a mac os sale of course but not a phone or tablet.

You can use the same rational used to show apple gaining on windows to show whatever you like, skoda is the best selling car in the world because ikea sold fewer sofas...

Ballmer welcomes Yammer to the Microsoft family

My opinion

Some of the recent purchases of pretty average sites / services have been talking crazy talk when it comes to numbers. Ballmer must just be sat there looking like a giant baby saying I want that one! You can't Steve it's been valued at a bazillion. I want it and I want it now! Ok then you can have it...

Seriously though, it's turning into the football transfers. Every company is looking to buy the magic wand that changes their future for the better. What happened to focusing on improving what you have got and making it better. If they had said to they were to pump those billions into improvement programmes they wouldn't have built Vista, they would have realised that chugging along with a mobile operating system is like trying to row a boat up stairs when IOS and Android are stood at the top pissing on you.

RBS IT cockup: This sort of thing can destroy a bank, normally

Project Review

At the end of any project / incident I'm asked to do a summary of what went on and what lessons can be learned so here goes:

We lent money we didn't have to people who couldn't pay it back and then sold their debt to people who couldn't pay it and used the money they hadn't paid us to lend to people who couldn't pay.

We realised we had no money and asked the tax man. He was very kind and gave us the money. Lesson learned here, it's ok to mess up if you're big enough.

We then had to think up a way of cutting costs to pay back the tax man so decided to remove all the expensive things like quality, skill, experience and training and then rubbed salt into the wounds of the tax payer by sending all their jobs out of the UK to people who don't speak English as a first language, can't empathise with a customer and have a circa 6 month tenure at best, making it impossible to train or gain experience.

Then a system breaks and no-one can get their money, meaning no-one has any money. And we're back where we were 3 years ago.

Google blocks MP3 rippers from YouTube

My opinion

I was originally going to rant about how it's legal to record from TV, but then realised, everything on YouTube is available at any time unlike a TV. It looks like all Google are trying to do is ensure that if you want to watch something from youtube, you watch it on youtube (like if you record something on sky+ you have to watch it via the sky+ box).

The problem is when you want to watch / listen to something on a device and don't have internet access in order to stream it. Most phones now have the ability to create a playlist which will play via the site, while offline so that should resolve that issue too.

So long story short, nothing should really change if you are using the product / service in the way in which it is intended to be used. If you're not happy with the limitations of the service there are many, many others you can use.

Online bookie can't scoop £50k losses made by 5-year-old

Interesting

If the trades had been 'good' and the -50k was +50k, could the website demand he prove he made the trades himself and it wasn't someone else?

Facebook ninjas scale wall, pluck iPhone techies from Apple's garden

Could always just put an ad at the end of everyones status

Kev

This pizza is f**cking horrible. Brought to you by Domino's

Ahhh... yeah slight flaw in that idea.

UK High Court split over Twitter airport bomb joke

Seriously

Arrested for making a joke? The person(s) who reported it, the police officer(s) who made the arrest, the lawyer(s) who let it get that far, the judge(s) who are messing about in court should all be arrested for wasting time.

On just one news website there are 3 stories of serious child abuse, a few murders, rape, robbery and a whole list of things that have all been ongoing for years without being noticed.

My note to the above complainers. Apply your efforts to greater things you idiotic losers.

Sony 2011 losses are TWICE as bad as expected

The bigger they are...

Whimpy > Owned the fast food market... I think there's left one in Runcorn behind ASDA...

BT > Have actually managed to cling on to some dignity - But not their cash, losing billions a year

RIM > Never really a 'giant', but struggling to change.

Nokia > Giants in their area when I was growing up... Now a joke.

HP > One of the biggest IT companies in the world, too slow to react...

Sony > The SONY badge used to be a sign of quality, then it became an excuse to add £500 on to the cost

BBC > Not what it used to be... Still raping the UK with it's tax on turds though.

I'll update in 2030 to include Apple, Facebook, Twitter and BSkyB.

Human 4G masts assemble roaming hobonet for pennies

4G in rural areas

Tie dongles to sheep.

Apple issues invitations to March 7 iPad roll-out

Something for you to see and touch

I've tried getting ladies round mine using that line, never works... Maybe I need to wrap it in chrome.

41-megapixel MONSTER mobe shutters Nokia knockers

Who's it targeted at?

If you just want to take snaps and upload them to Facebook etc then do you really want amazing pictures that are likely to be pretty large files, so will use up all your 'data allowance'. Or target keen photographers who require a really good camera, so who would probably buy a camera...

It's a bit like coming up with an amazing microwave that cooks food realllllllly fast. But it's still microwave food... so your student will buy the cheap thing on sale in tesco that cooks his grub in 90 seconds, and the chef will buy a cooker and set of pans...

i admire the innovation and technical know-how that has clearly gone into the device, but they should have let their market research guys do their stuff before coming up with something that fits perfectly in that gap between what people need and what people want.

CRACK made by quakes FOUND ON MOON

Never mind the cracks

who painted that massive 200m on the moon!? Aliens!

Shark versus shark in Barrier Reef DEATH MATCH

Maybe

Maybe the bamboo shark is wearing a wobbegong hat...

I just like the word wobbegong, I'm going to get it into every other sentence today in my meetings.

US entertainment lawyer casts doubt on Megaupload case

I've had this debate with my mates

Piracy is obviously wrong, but you wouldn't arrest the mayor of a town with a high crime rate would you. He has created a virtual city and provided the means to commit crime, but there's no proof he's taken part.

On the flip side you would arrest the man who sells a gun to someone who says I'm want to buy a gun to rob a bank, and then goes on to rob a bank... So it's swings and roundabouts.

On the subject of Piracy, at some point (if not reached already) there will be more people illegally downloading media than those that purchase it legally. But the law of the land is the law of the people... so you can't have most people doing something illegal?... Does that make sense? I've confused myself.

Google emails Virgin Media subscribers ... about privacy

The norm

My email and my ISP are different things, I want the best internet in terms of speed and reliability I go to the best supplier. I want the best email service in terms of storage, access and other add ons i go to the company best at that. The ISPs realised this long ago and so sold off all the parts of the service like email, webspace, cloud storage etc to specialists. Some Vauxhall (Opal US) vans have Renault engines, some Skodas have Audi engines. You'll never hear your ISP brag about who provides their email platform, and you'll never hear Skoda promote their deal with Audi Engines.

UK probes Snickers over 'celebrity' Twitter adverts

The story

Will generate more publicity than the 'ad'.

People will always look for something to moan about, I work in complaints and know of a lot of people who will go out of their way, often at great expense (in terms of time and money) to find something that may be wrong and complain that it has offended them, and my response is usually the same, if it offends you... don't look at it. There will always be genuine cases but things like this are annoying because some pathetic loser has seen it and thought, i don't like it I'll complain, when the other 900k followers or whatever it is that rio has have done the obvious thing and simply ignored it.

The Pirate Bay torrents printable 3D objects

Hmm

I know the article was written in a pretty tongue in cheek tone, but the phone accessories market for example, is growing rapidly, and if printers can be made bigger then why pay BMW 3k for a replacement front wing or bumper... if there's a market for it then there's someone to exploit that market. I think (technology advanced required) it will be a new era or of 'illegal downloads'.

Satnav mishap misery cure promised at confab

Blaming a crash on a sat nav

Is something a stupid person would do. Try looking through the huge piece of glass every now and then. Proper winds me up how people are given something to assist and instantly switch off.

iPad typos are Apple's fault, not yours - new claim

Typing on any tablet

is a bit rubbish I've found. I have a few (test various things on them for my job) and they are rubbish. I've not actually got any issues with the responsiveness or auto correct (which can be turned off on Android I think) it's the keyboard layout, it's the same as a standard keyboard but I usually have my tablet in my hand, laving either 1 thumb on each hand or one full hand to type. I would say something like the old Microsoft (i think) keyboard from a few years ago were it's split in two, half in one corner for the right thumb and obviously the rest for the left hand. It would take a while to get used to a new keyboard but texting was new a few years ago, it's now one of the most popular methods of communicating.

Nokia Ace to launch from $100m mountain of ad cash

100m...

Why don't they just pay one of their developers to leave it in a bar and have 'revealing pics' of it splashed all over the world.

Apple's TV killer 'on shelves by summer 2012'

Looks good

Will there be an ITV+1 because I always miss Poirot...

On a serious note, Apple have been successful in grabbing a rapidly expanding market and adding to it (well, removing from it and adding to the price). The TV market is actually decreasing, people tend not to change their home appliances as often as their gadgets, the life expectancy of a phone or mp3 player is far far less than a TV in teh home so I'd be surprised if people went out and bought them in theri droves so it'll be more of a long term plan. So apple will have to be prepared for a good 18 - 24 month spell before i think, not the ooh apple have a new toy, followed by a billion sales to students.

Bill Gates discusses nuclear development deal with China

Good

Now there'll be enough power to keep a Windows laptop running for more than 4 hourse :)

Seriously though, good news. Well done Billy.

Facebook 'shrinks' six degrees of separation theory

I tend to agree with the survey

Social networks were orginally intended as an extension of existing communication platforms and have evolved into their own 'worlds' (for want of a better phrase) as they are actually changing how and what people communicate about but that is more to do with the fact that people have been given the means to do it rather than the old one to one relationships, or at best one to many via tv etc, you now have the many to many relationships.

If there was a road that leading from every city in the world to every other city in the world people would have the means to go direct to the place they want to get to without having to go anywhere else first.

Amazon's Android-friendly Kindle Fire splutters

You get what you pay for

With the exception of the ipod which is relatively cheap by Apple's standards, and the iPhone which is heavily subsidised by lengthy contracts from network operators, their other products are aiming at the wealthier sector. (And students who don't yet know that that 500 ipad on credit will eventually cost them 2 grand).

If you're after something that is cheap and does most of the things you need it to then a kindle is going to appeal to many people. Notice I said you're after and not you need... I am still waiting for a good argument as to why anyone actually NEEDS a tablet PC.

Which raises another issue, if you have a product that only appeals to people who want, rather thanm need it, you will always be targetting a high value customer with money to spend so reducing your prices and coming up with budget plans aren't destined to improve sales as you're trying to target a customer that doesn't have money to burn, with a product they don't need.

Apple applies to patent a SIM you can't remove

Hmm

Lock you into a contract, I got my phone with my contract then a new phone came out I wanted so I bought it and swapped the SIM. I assume there would now be a charge for doing this, or some sort of impact.

Negatively impact the second hand market. Using the example above, to fund some of the cost of my new phone I sold my old one. This would become a much harder thing to do.

The 2 examples above have 2 key impacts, the first one gives network operators the possibility of applying new and increased charges, because you can no longer simply sign up for the bits you want then use your other SIM to avoid other costs etc. The other is more obvious, if the used phone market is impacted it will create demand for new phones which will increase prices of handsets (you know them things Apple pay £50to have made and £600 to buy).

The above is just speculation and may not be the reasons behind it, but America and UK have carpet bombed countries because they MAY have had technology that MAY have been able to produce weapons.

RIM lifts skirt, flashes 'new' OS at devs

All platforms have their ups and downs

Nokia / Windows have far, farrrrr, too many phones that look identical but the compatibility with the most familiar PC OS a plus, but not a plus enough for me to buy it.

Apple is very simple to use and for the masses, does everything you need it to, but it's very locked down, not as compatible and very expensive.

RIM have very popular handsets and have done very well adapting from being purely business to being one of the first choices on the Christmas list of the spotty teen. But the software has little external support and people want more from their device than one team of developers can offer.

Android is still, in my opinion, too techy for the masses, most hardware manufacturers have got round this with slightly different versions of the software but it's a bit like the mobile version of Linux, great if you know how to get the best out of it. But with openness comes innovation, which drivers improvement.

In a nut shell, if you want simple and have money, Apple. If you don't have the dollar go for Nokia. If you want innovation and are willing to learn go Android... So were does RIM fit in?

Chaos feared after Unix time-zone database is nuked

It was my idea

I invented time, and the world. Oh and is that a question mark yo've used there? I invented that too.

BBC One and bureaucracy spared in Auntie cuts

False Economy

The BBC having to slash spending means that the vultures of the TV world (Sky, Virgin etc) are in an even more powerful position and things that we currently get for "free" via the BBC will move to pay tv.

They should simply say, if you don't want to watch BBC, you don't have to. We're technically capable of implementing such a service. I have Sky, why should I have to pay for BBC channels I don't watch, radio I don't listen to, and websites that are so far out of date it's faster to buy a newspaper. I'd even accept a reduced licence fee without TV. Sky have been asking for this for a long time but are no longer friends with the government so it seems unlikely to be any time soon.

Apple cofounder Steve Jobs is dead at 56

RIP

Even if you hate Apple you can't deny he's turned the company into a giant and he did it after being told he wasn't needed.

And for those that don't like the products, think of the millions of people who do who have had a smile on their face when they get it as a gift. The man has put smiles on the faces of many.

Finally, my thoughts are with his family and friends at what must be a very difficult time.

Facebook: 'We don't track logged-out users'

Hmmm

Soon they'll be asking me where I am and what I'm doing, and to provide pictures of me doing it, and who I'm doing it with...

Privacy invasion has been an issue long before the internet, if you walk out of a shop you're no longer a customer of that shop, but what's stopping the shop owner looking out the big glass thing to see where you go. If this annoys you, you probably wouldn't go to that shop again.

Your ISP can, and does track everything you do online anyway, and will sell it to the likes of 'phorm', so if your issue is about being watched, sell your PC and buy a book.

There are many, many free apps and browser add ons that will enable you to protect yourself from snoopy and co, or you could use proxies etc but ultimately you leave a footprint everywhere and if someone wants to use that to their benefit then they will find a way of doing so.

Parliament has no time for 100,000+ signature e-petitions

Alternatively

If the government claim they have no time to fit everything in with over 100k requests, why not post what they plan to debate instead and see just how many votes they get? I'd be interested to see if the people of the UK think a new bench in a park outside an MPs house, dedicated to some other MP from a few years ago, picks up more votes than a request to stop benefits of thieves or release files of a covered up tragedy...

Last ever batch of TouchPads isn't coming to Blighty

could try

ishop-america.com

Shipping is a little expensive but in total it'll cost about £145 for the top model from Best Buy US including the shipping. Tax etc will cost extra though so, about 30 / 40 quid if you realllllly want one.

- It may seem like a bargain, but the price is reduced because no-one wanted one or needed one-