Posts by semprance

Android phone sales up 1,309%

Sorry to put a downer on it.

But someone has to mention the fact that no individual android phone comes close to taking out the iPhone from a device perspective rather than OS.

MPs wake up to 21st century and internet

Hypocrisy

So it's ok for the government to watch our every move on CCTV, but not Google? Indeed...

It seems rich of a government member to accuse ACS Law of ignoring 'innocence 'til proven guilty', when it's ok for the government to sift through our browsing history on the off-chance that one of us downloaded a copyrighted movie.

I smell fish all over... Not that I don't agree with some points, I just think the government should practice what they preach if they're so concerned about our privacy.

Adobe Reader browse-and-get-pwned 0day under attack

Ttir,amcla/od

I honestly wasn't aware that anyone even used it anymore...

I've been using Foxit Reader for ages, amongst others. It's not even much smaller than Adobe but it does the job fine.

HTML5 web video flashes past Flash

HTML5 example

Dailymotion has a neat demo of HTML5 video in action:

http://www.dailymotion.com/html5

Well worth a look if you want to see some neat tricks that, while possible in Flash, are probably not as easy as implement.

Top 10 Kindle books outsell dead-tree versions 2-1

Kindle all the way

"Not telling us what popular tripe the kindle-kiddies are into then. I suspect it's Dan Brown and teen vampire fluff all round."

If you'd taken 5 seconds to look at the list on Amazon you'd know that wasn't the case...

I bought my girlfriend one of these for university - she's an English student so she reads her fair share - and not only is it great for reading on but it's saved us both an absolute fortune in text books for our courses, which usually cost £40+

Worth every last penny.

Gosling blows lid off Jobs Java nonsense

Not that simple

"1. Oracle decide to take over the chore of maintaining Java support for OS X.

They already do so for Windows and Linux, among many others, so why is this considered so unlikely? Because it's a little bit hard? Seriously?"

If it was just a little bit hard I would see your point. On the other hand, if it is the case that these so called 'secret APIs' do exist and that the Apple JVM depends on them, then it will be more than a little bit hard.

I know little about the Architecture of OS X but I'd assume that it uses the API for obvious reasons. If Oracle developed a new implementation built on shaky workarounds because of the lack of API access it would be an utter disaster.

As for Java being an 'unusual need', this doesn't really make sense. It seems there are plenty of people complaining about this all over the place meaning this is not a minority problem.

I despise Jobs' attitude towards technology and think that this is terrible for Mac users, but I can't totally disagree with him for his expectations of Oracle to produce an implementation when they do it for Microsoft. Maybe Apple needs to break a few rules first..

Microsoft sings Happy Birthday to Windows 7

Satisfaction finally?

I got on the Windows 7 bandwagon early on - I've been using Enterprise for around 9 months - and have to say I've never been more satisfied with an OS. Not to say it doesn't have it's flaws - and plenty of them if you look hard enough - but it deserves it's two cheers at least.

Hopefully future changes will be as positive as those that came with the advent of 7. Let's just hope they continue to be positive, and that Microsoft don't get too distracted by a certain mobile operating system of the 7 variety...

Hands on with the new Apple MacBook Air

OMG

Seriously, how is anyone buying these things. Does Jobs look at the Apple-bois and just see cheque books with limbs and flaily arms?

Honestly... I wouldn't pay half that asking price for what is essentially a netbook with a fancy case (that's not even very nice ffs).

Apple threatens Java with death on the Mac

The lock out continues

This hostility towards java was fairly inevitable really. So the lock-in continues. It's a pity because a lot of good portable software is written in Java, I hope it doesn't deter Apple users from using it.

On another note: does the deprecation of Java on Mac actually affect Android developers? I understand that Android apps are coded in Java (or some Java-like language), but I would have thought that the Android SDK would include it's own java implementation with it's interpreter/compiler/whatever.

EA takes Angry Birds publisher under its wing

Erm...

"Ugh. Angry Birds IP is still owned and developed by Rovio in Finland. Nothing has changed. The published bought by EA only publishes the iOS version. All others are self published!"

No offence, but it's pretty naive to assume that EA will let Rovio run free with such a desirable IP.

It'll start with strict release timetables and end with day-one patches...

Awesome!

I always hoped Rovio would get the opportunity to make 40 sub-quality sequels to Angry Birds.

I'm particularly looking forward to EA introducing a crappy plastic controller for the series. A crappy rubber slingshot that connects via USB maybe?

Windows Phone 7 arrives in UK shops tomorrow

"Because they're not going to get many geeks and MS doesn't have the cool factor of Apple."

Agreed. Mac users buy iPhones because they're already happy with one Apple platform, everyone else buys iPhones for the reasons you cited and no-one from the 'everyone-else' crowd is going to buy a Windows Phone 7 device.

This leaves users of other Microsoft platforms and software who, unlock like the Mac crowd, are mostly dissatisfied with, in particular, Windows (as well as Office and the likes).

HP unwraps Palm Pre 2

Good, I will certainly be getting one

Best mobile OS I've ever used. Crappiest hardware I've ever used but I guess that's the nature of trade-offs. Having a fantastic homebrew community helps too.

Jobs dubs Google's 'open' Android speak 'disingenuous'

Doublespeak

So integrated == locked down, and fragmented == open. This truly is double-speak as he isn't stating anything new, just applying new terms by twisting them to fit a new meaning...

Although this may not be the case here, I would have thought a lot of 'fragmentation' comes from the nature of open-source being that anyone can branch anything. Hell, you can branch a piece of open source software a thousand unnecessary times. They may be unnecessary but I'm still happy that I have the option if I want to make positive changes to software.

Jobs savages 7-inch tablet competition

Pfft

"a seven-inch screen is only 45 per cent as large as iPad's 10-inch screen. You heard me right — just 45 per cent as large ... A display less than half the size of the iPad's — or, in Cupertinoese, "less than half the size of iPad's" — "isn't sufficient to create great tablet apps, in our opinion,"

I can only assume that he makes this nonsense up on the spot. His maths is right but essentially useless and it kind of redundant. By this mis-applied logic, a tablet that was 2 inches high and 8 feet long would be better than the iPad. What a dope.

I'll be picking up an Archos 7" in the next few days. I'm not quite as much of an Apple hater nowadays (Jobs makes it to easy for us, he really does), but I'd still say that giving the finger to Apple is on the list of reasons for my purchase.

Also, if less than 10 inches is good enough then why bother to pick up an iPod touch, which is essentially just a tiny feature-lacking tablet... Again more twoddle from the Jobsian school of moronics.

Apple squashes unauthorized MacBook battery maker

Jobs wins again

Less options for Apple customers? Score one to Jobs, the lock-down king!

iPad tethering does disappearing trick

Laptopography

"and laptops aren't clever enough to restrict major updates to when one has a WiFi or cabled connection."

I wish my laptop was psychic like yours. Suggested correction: "Laptop users aren't clever enough to ... "

I'm sure that Apple wouldn't be so shrewd as to act the fool up until the latest release about whether operators will appreciate tethering options. No-one likes having features removed from any software so they'd have been better off not including it in the first place. Makes me wonder how many people made buying decisions based on such features though.

Facebook dismisses Ceglia lawsuit as 'scam'

It would be awesome

if on the DVD of the Social Network, there were deleted scenes of Zuckerburg being pestered by some guy with a bag of firewood on his back.

All the proof I need.

Amazon shrinks books with Kindle Singles

Cool

It's like an app store for writers.

Hands on with Windows Phone 7

re: Oh for god's sake!

Wow, you must have a pretty extensive bill for smartphones if you have to try each one before you form an opinion on it. Seriously it must run into thousands of pounds!

Microsoft plays favorites in Windows Phone 7 cloud picks

Hmm...

Sounds like it's finally dawned on Microsoft that they haven't got a hope in hell of winning over the general public and so they're half-heartedly aiming towards the corporate sector now.

I swear that in another article I read that WM6.5 was being preserved for corporate use...

Either way it's no surprise to find that social-network integration will be almost impossible for third parties on an OS that is more of a prison than a walled-garden.

Mozilla puts Firefox 4 Android beta on crash diet

The real issue

Am I the only one seeing that these phones don't have enough storage space? I'm using a Palm Pre FFS, and that happily handles apps way bigger than a measly 40mb. I like Android as well but seriously, 40mb is not a lot of space for a complex app.

Motorola sues Apple over - what else? - patents

Actually ...

One of these companies should patent the various procedures of court battles. That would throw their competitors off a bit. Apple gets first dibs as it spends more time in the court room on its own than the rest.

Smartphone buyers want Apple, Android

Hardware != Software

In the case of WebOS, I think people are getting their hardware and software mixed up. I've heard tons of people complain about their Pre's breaking (for the multitude of reasons that they do break), but I've rarely heard complaints about WebOS itself.

Google Percolator – global search jolt sans MapReduce comedown

Well...

Sun (or should I say Oracle) should go all Steve Jobs on their asses and sue them for using coffee-related words.

UK.gov pledges licence fee 'rethink' over heavy catch-up use

Agreed...

The only show I can think of that I ever watched regularly on BBC moved to Channel 4 years ago (you can probably guess which one).

Additionally the argument that we pay for other channels through the products they advertise is utter tripe. I have the choice whether to buy a given product or not. If I designate an arbitrary figure of 10% to cover advertising costs for any given product then I can shop around and find it for 10% cheaper. Better yet, I can choose not to buy it at all. Pity I don't get that choice for a service that consists of channels and internet playing services that I never use.