Posts by lookingsideways

Windows phones send user location to Microsoft

A-GPS

So all of a sudden someone has realised how A-GPS works and spun it into a huge story?

I'm really not seeing why there is such an issue here. On top of the (non-)story it looks like the only thing that'll come from it is worse GPS performance for those who travel a lot due to data not being kept around.

Credit cards at the turnstile across London by 2013

Not quite

Unless it's the end of the journey in which case the machine keeps it and just opens the gate

Apple not yet dominant enough for anti-trust action

"Stanglehold control has damaged the product." - Really?

"Stanglehold control has damaged the product."

The same stranglehold that lets them sell 600,000 handsets in the first 24 hours before anyone (outside a few of the press) has even had hands-on time with said handset?

Has it not occurred to you that perhaps the (fairly reasonable, tbh) restrictions that are in place in the iPhone/iPad world are actually there to provide the experience that Apple's target market really wants? Guess what, if you can't get on with the iPhone because it has x restriction in place that attempts to guarantee a seamless experience then you probably aren't part of that market.

The iPhone has been the first series of phones that truly unifies the smartphone experience. Before the iPhone there was huge fragmentation between handsets, OS', and operators that made being able to use a smartphone to it's full potential almost impossible for the average guy/gal on the street. If it wasn't for Apple's "restrictive" policies then it would have been much harder for such a platform to develop.

We need to try and think outside our little bubble now and then, the world is a much larger place and the IT/power users that may actually care about such policies and restrictions is minuscule in comparison to that which the iPhone caters for.

Orange outs iPhone 4 pricing

Carriers shooting themselves in the foot?

From what I can tell so far the carriers appear to be getting a bit greedy now.

Works out a good few hundred £'s cheaper for me to stay with my current o2 simplicity contract and purchase the iPhone4 sim-free from apple than it does to go with one of these new deals where I have to go back onto an 18/24 month contract.

Factor in the £173 recycle program from o2 and I can get the phone for about £60 over the course of a standard contract whilst still keeping unlimited 3g, non-charged mms and better minute/txt packages.

No doubt most punters won't bother doing the maths though and the carriers will get the idea they can still keep ripping everyone off.

MIT boffins on track of portable 60-watt seawater desalinator

De-salinisation, not purificuation

I think you'll find those GE installations are water purification plants, not de-salinisation plants. Additional access to the purified sea water could be a huge help.