* Posts by StevenN

20 publicly visible posts • joined 25 Jul 2010

Man who gave interviews about his crimes asks court to delete Google results

StevenN

The Right to be Forgotten is a horrible name because it has nothing about deleting a person from the search index just specific events a person does not want in the index. The law should be the Right to Whitewash History and the law is an atrocity of a ruling the EU should be ashamed of.

Ex-staffers slam Microsoft's 'lackluster' response to stacks of internal complaints

StevenN

While it would be desirable for a 0.00% complaint rate, there will always be people unhappy with something or someone. So is a 0.03% (3 complaints per 10,000 employees) complaint rate per year good or bad? I don't know what the complaint rate with a near perfect organization is but it will be non 0 because many people are always unhappy and bitter about something.

Google to kill Chrome autoplay madness

StevenN

I think the use case for autoplaying videos is a full 0.00000000% of web sites. To be useful, it must be unilateral and complete.

Kill Google AMP before it kills the web

StevenN

Re: No opt out for end users -> extortion

Except AMP pages are a pain to use. They scroll funky. Much like the scrolling was coded by a 3rd grader. Page navigation is wonky. You can't scroll to the top of the page easily. Zoom feels broken.

AMP pages need to dump all their JavaScript because the scripts make it painfully clear Google engineers don't understand user interaction.

Android 5 lock-screens can be bypassed by typing in a reeeeally long password. In 2015

StevenN

Re: Buffer overflow

As this bug demonstrates, buffer overflows are not restricted to C and C++.

Street View Wi-Fi slurp nightmare: US Supremes snub Google's appeal

StevenN

And don't forget...

That "rogue" engineer actually indicated what he was doing, documented it in presentations signed off by senior management. Of course the manager claimed he didn't know about what he was doing because he just signed the approval without actually reading what he was signing off on.

Give me a break.

Like iPads? Like stuff called AIR? Here's our REVIEW ROUNDUP-squared

StevenN

Re: Quote.... It's just an iPad, FFS

At this point, my bet would be 20 to 30 thousand or so.

StevenN

Re: I saw all the fanbois outside the oxford shop today

Luckily, my iDevices don't loose 90% of their value when I open the box since most people actually WANT an iDevice VS settle for an Android device.

Google menaces Apple's 3-year-old toddler with its cheap stream tech

StevenN

"So you can even flick your video content or YouTube or Netflix content at your TV screen, and still run a second browser tab with your private thoughts, your texts, your homework, Instagram, Facebook or anything else you want, which is NOT seen on the TV."

This is nothing special and the AppleTV does this as well. It would be nice to see reporters actually verify things once in awhile before propagating halh truths.

Borked your iDevice? Pay EVEN MORE to have it fixed by Applecare

StevenN

Re: EU warranty

So if your kid pushes your iMac on the floor and breaks the screen EU law requires Apple to fix it?

Spectre of Steve Jobs in one last outing at WWDC

StevenN

"Apple has not fared well in the years since Jobs shuffled off this mortal coil"

Apple has increased from 100 billion/year to 170 billion/year since "Jobs shuffled off this mortal coil". Do you have a different definition of "not fared well" than I do?

Sorry, Apple - China's just not that into your iPhone 5

StevenN

"Still, 2 million sales in 3 days nothing to sneer at"

I think you just did.

Malware from Google Market menaces Android users

StevenN

You have the best insite here.

Having lots of option for telling the user what "features" are used when there is little knowledge on the end user side of what each option really means. This is a perfect case where less really is more. Google needs to look at what features they "warn" about and limit it to 2-3 options. No more.

Google sued over – yes – Android location tracking

StevenN

Actually it is opt-out.

In that the selection is already checked. and it you simply continue (what most people do) the location services are activated.

At lest that is how it worked on the two Android devices I setup. But then again, Google uses a totally different definition for opt-in VS opt-out than the rest of the world. To them, simply asking a question is "opt-in".

StevenN

To get that GPS lock faster.

That is the point of the database.

Android malware attacks show perils of Google openness

StevenN

Heavy handed or curated?

The heavy-handed control of the App Store is not to the consumer but to the programmers. Apple puts specific limits on programming techniques used (no hidden APIs for example) on programs submitted tot he App Store. They also put some odd limits of content (no SouthPark? Seriously?) but in all, the over-whelming majority of content is available to the users of the platform. Likewise, you do not get the feeling of shopping in back alley ways in seedy parts of town. Copyright infringement that is rampant within the Market Place is almost non-existant on the App Store.

Not bad for being just 4 months older than the Market Place. 2X the Apps. 17X the revenue to developers. 3X the download rates. There are many different browsers in the App Store. Different music sources. NetFlix and Hulu both that are unworkable in Android due to their reliance on Flash.

Microsoft bans open source license trio from WinPhone

StevenN

Nope, mostly the virus of GPL.

It have more to do with DRM and Apache and BSD have no issues.

StevenN

You are 100% wrong on this point...

<i>and it places no restrictions on your distribution of code/programs licensed with it.</i>

GPL places very serious, harsh and restrictive modes to the distribution of code based on it. You are right that you are not forced to use GPL, but if you do, you sell your soul to it lock stock and barrel, and as a developer, are chained and shackled.

StevenN

The problem is, do developers want to live in their parents basements?

We have a few of those. And if you develop for them, you make almost no money.

The Wrath of Jobs' latest victim: Motorola

StevenN

This effect has been known for years.

That is what is so funny about this whole affair. There are videos on YouTube going back years showing various phones from Nokia to Motorola to Apple to HTC showing serious signal attenuation (and loss) when a phone is held a specific way. That really is a FACT all the Apple haters want to sweep under the rug so they can pretend this is new with the iPhone 4.

Can the iPhone 4 drop calls when held a specific way? Yes (I've Done it).

Can the Droid X drop calls when held a specific way? Yes (I've Done it).

Can the HTC HD2 drop calls when held a specific way? Yes (I've Done it).

Can the Droid Incredible drop calls when held a specific way? Yes (I've Done it).

Are these unnatural ways of holding the phone. In all cases, these are natural holding methods for some people. Some people grip a phone in the middle, some at the top and some at the bottom. Personally, I tend to hold these single all screen touch phones more from the top. So from that standpoint, it is EQUALLY easy on all the above phones once you figure out HOW to do it. One is not special. The iPhone 4 does NOT "detune" the antenna when the bridge is "shorted". The iPhone simply attenuates the signal when held at that point.

The final question is: Does this simple fact detract from any of the above phones in anyway? No.

Companies like Nokia, HTC and Motorola were idiots for trying to spin a web of lies by saying you could hold their phones ANYWAY you wanted without impact to the signal quality. Apple called them on their outright lies. Move on.

Antennagate is bigger than people think. I have been able to make a Droid X drop from a full 4 bars to signal loss by holding it wrong (just like before the iPhone 4.0.1 update). This makes me wonder if (for handset driven or carrier driven or both companies driven marketing reasons) the "bars" have been a lie for some time.