Posts by Santonia

The case for ethical ad-blocking

'Demonstrably dangerous'. Please demonstrate, preferably with, I dunno, some evidence?

Re: View from inside

Well I stand corrected on the meaning of the word 'donate', although many may think that websites are done for charitable reasons given the lack of profit involved!

This is a good philosophical theory, but in the real world, this is what happens: Advertiser realises ads don't reach people. Advertiser stops bothering buying ads on those sites/media. Sites that rely on ads for income doesn't get income. Site closes.

Also, odd statistical fact: it is estimated that only around 5% of people ever click on ads.

Lies, damn lies and election polls: Why GE2015 pundits fluffed the numbers so badly

Reality check please

What seems to be being missed is the actual, genuine, real, mathematical change in votes and how disproportionately that has affected the final outcome.

The Tories gained just 0.8% increase in vote share (2010 to 2015), with Labour outperforming them with a 1.5% INCREASE in vote share. This could be summarised as - not a great deal of difference for the 2 main parties between 2010 and 2015. However, due to our utterly outdated FPTP system this means that there has been a major shift in final Seat distribution. This point is constantly missed. Ultimately, the system has created this result, not really the electorate.In short: Cameron failed to convince any meaningful number of additional voters that his programme of systematic destruction of the UK was a good idea, likewise Milliband was unable to convince any more voters that his version of austerity was much different to the current one. Lies, damn lies and statistics - sums up UK politics.

On this point:

"With 650 consituencies, the only way to get accurate polls is to massively increase the sample. If you ask 6500 people, that's only 10 per constituency (if you even bother to select people from each)."

Err no, you only need poll the 50 - 100 seats where any kind of change is likely. There is literally zero point in polling people in Sunderland or Guildford, for instance, about their voting habits as those seats will 'never' change. Focus on the few that matter. And Scotland.

Déjà vu: Virgin Media jacks up broadband prices

wrong

I've just extracted myself from VM BB and phone after about 2.5 years. Having the wired connection broken for a month or 2 did for me.

However, to your point, we are able to pay for just the TV (ie no phone or BB cost) so not sure this is correct...

Saddle up for the Tour de Firmware

USB Plug thing

Surprised (not much) how quickly this thread turned into a cyclists are w@nkers debate but anyway, back onto the topic of the article.

I ride every day and quite like the look of the USB plug adaptor. Obviously it'd take a bit of adaptation to get it working on most bikes but I wasn't quite prepared for the total:

The Plug: €160

Hub dynamo to power it: €190

Build a wheel onto the hub: lets say another €150 including parts (rim, spokes) and labour.

So a total of €500 so that you can charge your phone whilst out and about? I think not. Maybe just carry a spare battery charge thing, €20 all in.

Nuts.

Think wearables are the next tech boom? Cisco's numbers beg to differ

i-and indeeed-watch

I'm surprised no-one has raised the spectre of Apple in this discussion. I'm wondering if there is an allegory with the 'fondleslab' market a few years back. MSFT had tried with some vendors to create a market, and was never successful. One can argue endlessly as to why, however the combination of Apple's determination to create a decent product and the semi-religious fervour with which Apple devotees simply buy their products without much critical engagement really kickstarted the fondleslab game. You can argue whether Apple really innovates or simply iterates and cherrypicks better than most, but they really could be the catalyst for the wearables industry. If they 'do an iPad' then its quite possible it'll carry this industry forward.

I'm normally wrong about everything in terms of future predictions though.

Netflix original TV shows gamble pays off... to the tune of 10m new viewers

Re: We are considering cancelling cable

I'm no broadcast guidelines and rules expert, but having watched Orange Is The New Black and been 'exposed' to more than you normally see on TV (particularly US) programming, including particularly frank language, I think it's pretty obvious that normal broadcast rules do not apply. Think about it, Netflix does not broadcast, they don't distribute films, or TV using the existing networks and are therefore, presumably, not subject to those rules. There are no broadcast licenses, age certifications and so on - its a subscriber club on the Internet.

All the better for it, quality programmes without the usual TV tropes that constantly remind you that you were watching TV rather than a dramatic representation of real life.

Chromecast: We get our SWEATY PAWS on Google's tiny telly pipe

Re: Well I want one, but am I a small and unusual?

And stream video over 3G? If you live oin planet Google where we all have access to a superfast 4G signal everywhere then sure, but for real people living in the actual world - not an option.

The Times offers subsidised Nexus 7s to get subscribers

Re: Better bargain still...

The Guardian's been losing money hand over fist for the last few years. I dooub they're too worried about tax, given that it's payable on profits....

Samsung Google Nexus 10 tablet review

Re: Screen is worse?

I'd be amazed if there are many people making a purchase decision based simply on tiny screen differences. Basically most people will decide on platform and go from there. Simply put, if you choose Android, and you are even remotely interested in a 10 incher with a decent display, this is the only choice.

Making a decision on screen only is like choosing between BMW and Audi based on top speed. Statistical correct but pointless.

HDMI and magnetic ports

FYI, I have one and it has both HDMI out and a magnetic port (not used yet, but in all likelihood will provide charging connectivity).

Next.

Sony Xperia T Android smartphone review

nexus

And still 200 quid more than the Nexus 4.....

O2 touts OTT tariffs for Nexus 4 exclusive

Where's your evidence for this? Did you consider that maybe, just maybe, all other 'flagship' handsets are simply sold with insane margins (the most obvious example being the iPhone, of course). Maybe LG still get 10% margin on the Nexus 4 whilst selling sh!tloads more thanks to their association with the Nexus brand than the near identical Optimus G5 upon which it is based.

The pricing logic actually starts to make sense with the Nexus 4-7-10 family rather than the weird vortex of nonsense that is the iPod Touch - iPhone - iPad Mini - iPad irrationality.

Asus doubles up phone-slate combo's specs with Padfone 2

Re: Oh dear

For all our benefit, would you mind listing all the devices available to buy which come pre-installed with Android Jelly Bean?

D.O.A?

T.W.A.T

US data show slump in Apple tablet share

Apple coverage

I'm no Apple fanboi (hate them with a fiery passion) but even I can understand why the Reg might want to cover stories relating to their products. They are one of the biggest companies in the world, and certainly the biggest in IT. Maybe what they do 'matters' and therefore is worth reporting.

Get over it.

Google Nexus 7 blighted by brightness blunder

Agree

I have an Asus TF Prime which shares the 'same' IPS panel (Asus makes the G-Nex-7). I definitely have the same 'washed out' issue, although I notice it mostly when going from SGS2 to the Prime. The Play Store icon is the most obvious offender, the 3 colours just do not stand out - whereas on a display which is calibrated correctly, all looks fine.

I wouldn't be too hopeful of a s/w fix. There have been mutliple firmware updates to the Prime, none of which have made a difference.......disappointing.

Ten... Androids for under 200 quid

Why compromise?

For just over 200 quid (or less if you're lucky) you can pick up a Samsung Galaxy S2 second hand on ebay. Outclasses everything here by some margin, and runs ICS either officially with bloatware, or through ROMs without the bloat. ICS is a massive step-up from Gingerbread and shouldn't be overlooked as a consideration. That's what I did, and managed to cut loose from operator contracts as well.

Happy days.

Tim Cook's post-PC iPad domination dream crushed by reality

Gartner predictions

Well a quick lookback at previous Gartner PC shipment forecasts reveals a certain amount of success and some failure.

In 2009 they predicted sales of 336m for 2010. Actual sales: 352m

In 2010 they predicted sales of 409m for 2011. Actual sales 353m approx.

In 2012 they are predicting sales of 368m in 2012. Actual sales of course are unknown.

This doesn't seem to occupy any Microsoft conspiracy ground at all. Surely just a decent guess as to the future. They probably weren't able to predict an almost total halt in economic growth last year, what a bunch of losers eh.

The most irritating thing about the Apple crapola is the rubbish about how the iPad outsold any single PC manufacturer so therefore we're the biggest. Hmm, if only the PC industry was represented by just one manufacturer, then Apple would have a point. As it is, they don't. Good luck selling your iPads to cash-strapped developing world residents as a standalone machine.

Hands on with the Sony Xperia S, P and U

Storage

It's a sad day indeed when even the Reg is jumping on the 'heck, why would you even need more storage' bandwagon.

I seem to remember, not too long ago, that the worlds biggest selling music player was available in sizes up to 160gb. There seemed to be some kind of acceptance that more storage was better (so one could carry around all the music/video/etc you want). Slowly that music functionality has become integrated into a phone. All good, 2 devices become one.

For the iOS crowd Apple will happily fine you £700 for a 64gb iPhone. Not cheap but is a decent amount of non-expandable storage. In the recent past of Android world you could comfort yourself with internal storage + MicroSD. This was a standard feature. Now it seems with Android ICS they (Google) are not so keen on card storage. Apparently we can store all our music in the 'cloud'. Yeah right. Unlike the mobile phone development community, I live in the real world. The one where a 3G signal is about as consistent as very inconsistent thing on a changeable day. And I live in the populous SE of England. Not allowing removable storage is a mistake, the infrastucture is not there yet for it to be replaced by a remote server.

Please Samsung, continue to fly the flag for MicroSD...and please, everyone else, stop this irritating practise.

HTC stimulates Sense with snap-happy One series

Storage

To add to the previous commenters: cloud storage does not = replacement for sd storage. Mobile phone, designed for use on the move, UK's 3G signal, designed for use in very few areas and absolutely not a network capable of streaming content to a mobile device. I want to replace iPod + phone with: phone. Local storage of 32gb minimum is a must.

Sorry HTC (and Sony for that matter), no SD card, no sale. Seems only Samsung flying the storage flag now (and even they ditched it on the Galaxy Nexus). Maybe it's an ICS 'specification'?

Asus UX21E Zenbook 11.6in Ultrabook

Viewing angles

Can anyone tell me why they don't put the same screen tech (Super IPS) in these as they do in the Asus Transformer Prime (and Transformer before it). The viewing angles on that go up to "179 degrees" - what's the story, is it a battery-sapping issue?

Punters to pick up cheap laptops not Ultrabooks

Well clearly they don't cost that much, since Apple charges a grand for a MB Air and makes 44% net margin across its business, I'm pretty sure there must some decent profit in anything costing over £600 from the ultrabook vendors (why else would they be pushing it so hard!)

This would also concur with the standard Apple tax theory of around 50% premium.

Ice Cream Sandwich phone a no-show on Vodafone

Experts

I'm sure the cutting-edge mobile software design team at Vodafone will be able to improve on the shonky, half-built, crash-prone nonsense that Google came up with for ICS...

Galaxy Tab 7.7 pulled from IFA after new Apple moves

What the what?

I remember a few years ago, Apple used to make stuff, some of it was overpriced and overdesigned (laptops), some of it was really pretty good (iPods) and some of it no-one cared about either way. I had no strong opinions, just valued the beauty of choice. I just cannot understand this legal approach - now they're the big dog they're throwing their litigation toys out of the pram every 5 mins. This is making money only for the legal profession - and presumably p!issing off a lot of potential customers. A senior judge needs to throw this sh!t out of court and put a lid on it before every damn tech manufacturer sues everyone else for manufacturing anything even vaguely rectangular with a screen. I sure won't be buying Apple (obviously this boycott will hurt them massively....)

Asus Eee Pad Transformer Android tablet

what game is that?

Looks like dungeon defenders to me

Happy owner

I've had a Transformer since they came out a month or two ago. I concur with everything everyone has said about quality of screen, coming from the Vega it is night and day.

I've never had any problems with Honeycomb and have never really understood all this 'beta' OS bashing, it's always worked a charm for me and is simply no contest between an HC tab and a cheapo Android 2.1-2 knock-off. Yes, the price is a bummer, Apple really did unfortunately set the benchmark, with few manufacturers willing to give up some margin simply to undercut by the iPad by any real amount. The mid-market is starting to arrive however and I imagine prices will drift towards 300 quid as time goes by and Christmas arrives.

The final observation - stop bashing HC for having few optimised apps. Its not like the iPad world where iphone apps are either zoomed in horribly, or run in a small box. Android 3 handles apps made for smaller screensizes perfectly well, to the extent that an Apple fanboi colleague was genuinely impressed. Not having HC apps is not a problem for me in the slightest, whereas for an iPad it most certainly would be.

And finally, for people who inherently dislike the iTunes way, comparisons with the iPad are futile as they are simply not a consideration. Compare the Transformer to its immediate competitors and you'll quickly arrive at the same conclusion I did - its simply the best product in the market today.

No Gingerbread snack for Desire owners, says HTC

Not enough memory?

Basic cynical built-in obsolesence by htc, or just a simple shift of development priorities to focus on their current crop of handsets? Surely most users bothered enough to follow HTC on Facebook, and to be that concerned about Android 2.3 could probably cope with the hardly arduous process of installing a custom rom on their Desire? Gingerbread builds from Cyanogenmod and the rest have been available for months and run just fine on a Desire.

Asus revamp adds tablet-phone dock

Padfone. Yes. Now

I'm with Anonymous John. I've been waiting for a company to build something exactly like this and assumed they weren't simply because its possible a lost revenue opportunity (ie you could sell 2 products, phone tab, rather than 1.5, phone + bigger screen).

If this delivers anything close to a useable product I am in with bells on.

Reviewers slam BlackBerry PlayBook software

Android laughing too...

To Amaross and Carol - wanting the 10in Android HC tab - your luck is probably in wth the Acer Iconias and Asus Transformer. More or less £350 quid depending on your choice of voucher code and cashback site.

As for the Playbook - I'm genuinely struggling with the marketing logic. First the kiddie friendly name, then the no-email decision. Well I guess it's a niche, albeit one with no market in it.

Asus prices up netbook-convertible Android tablet

Priced to sell?

I seem to remember an earlier article suggesting this would cost something like £350. Seems that dream didn't come true.

Re: the comment 'bout the Vega. Given the news last week that Google will not be releasing Honeycomb as AOSP, and the pricing of all current available details on other Honeycomb tabs, I'm beginning to suspect some level of price collusion, or cosy arrangement between major brands and Google. Effectively Google are saying that Billy Chinese OEM Android tabs cannot get hold of the Honeycomb OS. Therefore there is no price competition coming from the cheap no-brand end of the spectrum. This effectively gives Samsung, Motorola, Asus, Acer, LG and so on some protection for their overpriced Honeycomb tabs. The Advent Vega is a no-brand tab with absolutely the specification to run Honeycomb, but by not releasing the AOSP it is being held back on the non-tab Froyo.

Apple has nothing to fear from this of course, so it can set pricing and watch the profits roll in. Android vendors are always at risk of lower priced competition, which may well mean a certain reluctance to invest - something which Google can encourage by holding back Honeycomb.

Hmmm.

Dixons Advent Vega

You only did half a review there...

.....so you got to the bit where you can install the Modaco custom rom, but didn't really explain any of the benefits. I have an Advent Vega, and went in eyes open that a little bit of time with the device and I'd have a properly flexible tablet.

With the Modaco rom you can enable the (fullsize) USB port in host mode: the benefits are numerous. Plug in any old USB key to transfer and view files - check. Plug in a mouse/keyboard - check. Plug in and surf using a 3G dongle - check. Options for expanding the memory - SDHC card and USB storage. Options for extending the iPad memory - err, buy another iPad?

All the usual consideration about openness of Android v walled Apple approach. Example: I can easily swap video content from laptop to desktop to tablet with no need for recoding and formatting, it just works.

Granted the screen isn't going to blow your mind, but it is more than good enough. The underlying hardware is futureproofed for Honeycomb. I chose the form factor BECAUSE it was 16:9, for me, video on the iPad is a bit old-school, with its letterboxing of widescreen footage.

I could not justify spending the massive fines that Apple imposed on the iPad, and nor did I want to. My use case suits the Vega, and so did the price. I would therefore change the scores as follows:

Review based on people who want a cheaper ipad: 65%

Review based on people who can operate a PC and want a decent Android tablet: 85%. (loses points for screen quality).

Nokia flings out WinPho 7 phones

Old news.

First seen on Engadget.com just 2 weeks ago.

BBC Trust says no to kit-specific iPlayer apps

What about offline viewing

All of the above comments are debating the streaming of iPlayer content, and many rightly point out the contradiction in the BBC saying on the one hand, that only they will only support "open standards", and then, on the other, supporting the closed Apple environment specifically. Clearly keeping up with the media tw@t crowd (and I am part of it, albeit without the Apple fixation) and their iOS fetish is the unwritten rule.

However, what about offline viewing? At present they use a horrible resource hungry desktop app that most netbooks can't play, and the only mobile support is via DRM'd WMV - on what level is that an open standard? There must be a massive market of people who want to download and watch (offline) later but this simply isn't possible on the majority of portable devices. Relying on our decrepit, hopeless 3G network is a ridiculous pipedream, even in the supposedly comprehensively covered southeast, so enabling offline viewing is a must.

So come on BBC, follow your own rhetoric, and if you want to provide offline viewing, do it in such a way that we can use it. Thanks.

Samsung names Galaxy Tab launch date

Hmmm, not good

Problem 1: I was under the impression under sales regulations that it was effectively illegal to falsely claim a discount from an RRP where none exists. If the entire market is selling a product at £599, how is the Amazon price a discount from the "RRP". False advertising perhaps?

Problem 2: a quick hunt around eBay will net several different Android powered tablets with a a varying level of feature-list. These cost from £85 - 150 depending on screen size. Now these are resistive of screen and most don't include GPS but is that worth a £450 premium?

Samsung have made the fatal error of assuming that Apple pricing sets the market, oh no sir, Apple pricing merely sets the absolute upper limit of extortion, the actual market supported price will be far lower (see Apple Macbook v identical spec laptops, iPhone 4 v similar spec Android kit).

Sorry Samsung, but this is a huge fail.