* Posts by handy

18 publicly visible posts • joined 21 Jun 2010

HUMANITY STUNNED - Apple Retina iPad Mini arrives. A solemn moment

handy

Re: Retina is dead, long live the Vagina

So many pixels you go blind looking at them ?

Sad shop-shelf-clinging BlackBerry Z10 AXED ... in price, contracts

handy
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Any company that drops total support for a premium product so quickly (the updated Playbook 4G released late last year) should be criticized. Ignoring there will be no future updates (not just no OS10). There are three major reasons why they should have fulfilled their promises.

Brand loyalty. You upset 2.2M people, many of whom would have bought or at least considered your phone. On the biggest Blackberry site 65% of playbook users stated they would not buy another Blackberry product.

APP store - A major part of BB problems is the lack of apps. As per the article only 2.9M phones have been shipped (not sold). Doubling the potential number of customers a major incentive for developers to consider the ecosystem.

Security - Dropping support has meant a team of people are actively looking for flaws in the OS to exploit. (They already have dumps of the bootloader, bootrom, MLO and a few others.) this could potentially undermine the security in their phones.

If BlackBerry were a bunch of startups, would you invest?

handy
Meh

Lack of loyalty

The problem with BB is their inability to keep promises and stick to timelines. These are basics of a good business, without them people grow frustrated, and angry.

If you promise an email client (a real basic requirement of a tablet) within weeks, dont take half a year to complete it. If you repeatedly announce a major OS upgrade (to help sell your left over stock), dont be surprised when people are pissed when it does not happen.

There are many users of the playbook who feel betrayed. They were essentially the beta testers to help iron out the bugs of BB10, without receiving the end benefit. Worst of all because everyone was misled about BB10 coming to the playbook, it has hastened the demise the tablet OS (as no one developed apps for what they perceived as OS going to change in the near future)

I liked the Playbook its an excellent device I was considering upgrading my phone to a Z10, in anticipation of keeping everything in the same environment and synced. But there is little point now. A lack of loyalty to customers like me, means I wont show any loyalty in the future when selecting my next phone.

This is what hurts BB in the long run.

Now Spanish sperm takes a kick to the cojones

handy

Unreliable results

We have all had bad jobs, but my first was counting/assessing sperm . One thing I learnt is results are highly variable. You can give a count one day, and the results the next test could vary by 50%.

Length of time between when they last had sex, how long its in the incubator, if they are mixed properly before testing (the tend to glop together)

I would therefore take results with a pinch of salt (although it might be salty enough)

The best tablets for Christmas

handy

Playbook

Agree playbook is a great device, well worth buying. RIM has confirmed BB10 will replace the current operating system as well (BB10 release Feb/March)

For 129 pound for well built device, you cant go wrong. IMO BB10 looks far superior to ios and andiord and there has been a major push to get developers on board. They stated several months ago there will be more apps than any other OS at launch (main downside previously of PB).

RIM bribes coders: Make BlackBerry 10 apps, GET A FREE SHINY

handy

Unless you have a really novel idea, your probably better off trying a different platform other than Andriod or IOS.

I could make an angry birds clone, or defend the fort, or copy of temple run. But while you have a bigger audience, no one will buy it, because people have done it before you, probably better than you, or even worse they charge nothing.

Do it on BB10 you have a captive audience, often with no alternative to what you offer. Provide easy DNLA streaming for playbook, you are the only one. Get video working with Skype you have thousands upon thousands who want your app, because no one else has done it (or any other decent video streaming option)

.

Ten technology FAILS

handy

MiniDiscs

Late 90s MiniDiscs were going to take over from CDs. They had huge hype but personal music soon went to MP3s.

BlackBerry 10: AWESOME. If the hardware matches it, RIM jobs are safe

handy

Re: Darn...

I imagine Android support will be close to what is currently offered on the PB.

It essentially emulates the environment, making about 60-70% of apps work. I tend to however prefer using native apps. BB10 though will have the largest number of apps from day 1 of any new platform. They have really been pushing 3rd party developers, to prevent past mistakes.

Amazon Kindle Fire HD 7in Android tablet review

handy

Tablet caters for a different maket

Whilst the walled garden is exactly what turns reg readers off this tablet, it is also their strongest selling point to the public. Restrict app's that dont work, ensure some kind of quality control and provide integration to those already in its ecosystem, in real terms are the main benefit of this device.

As much as I hate the restrictions of apple devices (even more having to use itunes) for many technophobes (like my nan) giving them choice to is a bad idea. This tablet is aimed at those who want the "security" of being Amazon infrastructure, but dont want to pay an extra £100 on an Ipad.

For the rest of us there are better options.

Want a high quality device on budget get a Playbook for £100 at Currys - (Sideload apps just like Kindle)

Want a powerful device with more access to apps get the Nexus for £170

Want high quality device with high usability go for the ipad for £250

It all depends on your needs and what you use your tablet for.

UK iPad Mini FRENZY: Queues stretch SEVERAL FEET from till

handy

Re: Built in obsolescence

Playbook obsolete before you get it out of the box ? ...... Apple by contrast support their devices for a decent amount of time ?

Advantages of Playbook

More ram

Better camera

Better video

multitasking

Dual speakers

Dual Microphone

HDMI

Rapid charging

Similar

CPU - 1 Ghz

Resolution - Mini 163 PPI vs 170 PPI on playbook

Advantages of Ipad

Apps

Battery life 10hrs (vs 7 on playbook)

Given you can get a 64 gig playbook for £120 (16 gig for £80 or £90) you would have to be mad to pay £250 for a 16 gig ipad mini ! That is why there is no one in glasgow queuing.

Btw as for BB support, in last month I have got two updates, and come Jan/Feb BB10 update is released on playbook, an OS which looks like its at least equal to IOS and is a good chance better (if previews are anything to go by)

And the latest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize is ... the EU?

handy

This is just like the rock that keeps away tiggers

Correlation does not imply causation. Just because two things occur together, does not mean that one caused the other.

A good analogy is the Simpsons. When a single bear wanders into town and Homer starts up a patrol

Homer "Not a bear in sight. The Bear Patrol is working like a charm!”

Lisa: “That’s specious reasoning, dad.”

Homer "Thankyou Lisa".

Lisa "By your logic, I could claim that this rock keeps tigers away.”

Homer “Hmm; how does it work?”

Lisa: “It doesn’t work; it’s just a stupid rock!”

Homer: “Uh-huh.” Lisa: … but I don’t see any tigers around, do you?”

Homer, “Lisa, I want to buy your rock…”

Economics (europe was pretty much bankrupt) , nuclear deterrents, threat from the USSR, (with no european country being a super power) , the end of colonialism. There are literally dozens of reasons why there has not been a major war in Europe.

Android Jelly Bean won't get Flash Player

handy

SkyFire

Does not matter too much, people will just start using browsers which convert flash content .

ISP Be admits crippling iPlayer demand burst its pipes

handy
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Re: Why is it that people only complain...

People complain because of the poor way this has been handled.

This problem has affected me for 6 weeks, with O2 up until a couple of days ago blaming everyone else but themselves (BBC upgrades, BT, my router, etc) . While some people where just unable to use the Iplayer, in my case I was getting >95% packet loss , so I couldnt even load a BBC webpage (and a few other sites for that matter)

Is it really acceptable not to be able to access certain web pages (or stream) for 3 months, given it wont be till the end of April till its fixed ?

That is pretty poor for just an individual, let along a large section of your customer base.

Iplayer might not be a vital function for you, but in my household it is used daily. Luckily I was able spoof my mac adress to get a new ip outside the range, but for alot of people this simply is not an option.

Apple iPhones, iPad back in German online store

handy
Stop

Apple opened up pandora's box when it started taking competitors to court over minor issues were patents should not hold

From a business perspective it is short sighted as they are making many powerful enemies (Samsung, Adobe, HTC etc)

Sadly it seems there will be tit for tat bans and law suits for the foreseeable future.

HP gets data centre fever in NZ

handy
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Low risk of natural disaster?

Auckland is not that far from Christchurch !

Council busts breast milk ice cream parlour

handy
Boffin

Screening for diseases + Drugs is not easy

The difference is cows milk is relatively uniform. We know exactly what the cow has eaten and what drugs have been used.

It does not matter that the human milk has been pasteurized, although most most pathogenic bacteria will be killed, a number of organisms have heat resistant prions and spores. This is not to mention drugs (including those over the counter)

Take weed which a large proportion of the population take (the active component THC is transfered to breast milk were it is10x more concentration than in the blood). Most mums would not smoke, but note everyone has the same morale standard

As a former transfusion scientist I know these things are not easy to screen for, some currently impossible (for high throughput or to be cost effective). Its why blood transfusions have an opt out policy, as things like HIV are not detectable for upto 6 months after infection.

We are able to drink cows milk with little fear as they live under controlled conditions and the risk of interspecies disease small. Trouble is with commercial breast milk there are thousands of potential diseases and your relying on the honesty of the provider.

Apple sued over hot iPad shutdowns

handy
Alert

Ok so long as its clear on the packaging

Its fine them saying it does not work between those operational temperatures (which are frequently encountered), however that has to be clear on the the packaging. You should not have to buy product, then read the manual to find out it wont work outside.

The Reg guide to Linux, part 1: Picking a distro

handy
Linux

Its not the same for Netbooks

What is becoming the biggest market for Linux is netbooks. Moblin is a great alternative to ubuntu, very graphical, very easy and does what most people want. Jolicloud is also another good OS but not quite as polished.