Posts by mdava 111 publicly visible posts • joined 25 Feb 2011
I don't know why this is being downvoted - there come a point where all things are past their useful lives.
I have a netbook from around 2008. I *could* install even a normal linux os (say xubuntu or lubuntu) and it would run fine, but in 2024 day-to-day use means a browser and 2Gb RAM is going to make that slow and painful.
Or I could buy a laptop from a few years ago with 16Gb RAM and a hugely faster processor for under £200.
If you have a specific use case for an old, low-powered machine then have at it.
I have bought several Logitech M705s (they are a nice size and shape) over a decade - the weak link being the micro-switches which eventually become erratically responsive.
I did once watch a YouTube guide on how to carefully extract the switch and tweak the spring back to the right shape so that it would work again. Then I did that. Which rendered the mouse fully inoperative, then I bought a new one.
This has reminded me that when I started work (in the 80s) I sat in a large room in which almost everyone else smoked. The hard line about WFH may actually turn out not to be that important if the alternative is no salary, but I absolutely *would* *not* work in an office where people were allowed to smoke.
(1) I appreciate that this is at least part of the OPs point - that they can smoke while working without affecting others.
Why do you have to click through 4 "options" to do something that can be done automagically...if only Amazon put a sensor in the thing to understand its orientation.
I prefer it not to - reading in bed I don't want to have to tell it to show the text in portrait whether I am lying on my back or (either) side. I think the use-case for a Kindle is very different to a phone or tablet in this regard if you are reading novels (and it is probably not the best tool for anything else like comics, reference books etc).
The Moto G series seems to offer the best balance of features and value for money to me (how people can countenance spending >£1,000 on a phone is incomprehensible to me).
I am a convert to the range and have recommended it to various people, the only thing preventing me from getting a G8 being the fact that my G5 keeps on doing all the things that I expect it to. The only reason to upgrade might be that (after several years of very regular updates, for which I give Moto much credit) they seem to have stopped updating the firmware for the G5.
In the 80s a friend's dad fitted a cut-out to the fuel line in his Capri as a safety device (in a country where car-jacking was a possibility). It was based on sound logic that the thieves would be half a mile away when it cut out and therefore unable to immediately turn around and beat the location of the cut-out switch out of you.
Work laptops should have more USB ports and an RJ45 connector and don't need wifi, bluetooth, speakers, mic, video camera built in. Those are things that can be added as peripherals and carried in your laptop bag.
In 2018 work laptops absolutely need wifi.
Bluetooth you might argue against, but it can always be turned off.
Speakers, mic and video camera, in the days of ubiquitous Skype, Hangouts, Lync etc are pretty close to essential as well.
He's right that Google maps display far, far less information than the paper maps from OS that we used when orienteering as kids.
I agree entirely.
However, I don't use Google Maps for orienteering (and I'm certain that 99.99% of other users also don't). For that I would want a paper map (for anything "serious") or find another app that provides this (Ordnance Survey) for walks in the woods.
For finding addresses, finding businesses or restaurants, getting directions, sat nav with live traffic information, street view, traffic data etc etc etc Google Maps is streets ahead (apologies for lazy pun).
... even though its satellite imagery is often extremely out of date 10 years+ old.
I love this comment (to be clear I'm not disputing it or mocking the AC) but isn't it incredible that we can see unbelievably detailed imagery of essentially every single place in the world, zoom in and out, see changes over decades, Street View for ground level view etc etc?
My mum can remember the first radio that her parents bought!
Google's cars also turn across the bike lane illegally but they've been programmed to halt and cause a major traffic jam rather than hit cyclists.
For the avoidance of doubt: stopping, whether it causes a traffic jam or not, is always the correct alternative to hitting cyclists.
I had half a TV once. I'm not saying it wasn't cheap but it was a bit shit all told and I don't think I would go for it again.
Well, it probably wasn't the best TV on the market, but for the price it was unbeatable. Both TVs are still in use after 1 and 3 years (approximately) respectively, so they can't be that bad (or maybe my standards are just low).
As in the title: I don't understand why this isn't getting more (and more vigorous) news coverage.
Admittedly it is early days, but this is a hack of Tesco's systems, not info harvested from phishing creds from individuals. The nature and scale of the attack is worrying.
I use ad-blockers on every machine I use.
However, I would happily (for sites I like and use regularly, such as this) tick an off-white list that permitted only text adverts or static images.
Anything that is animated (especaially flash), autoplayed movies, popped over/under/across the screen or generally is a pain in the @rse should 100% be blocked all the time.
I upgraded (and was only able to because CyanogenMod exists) for various reasons:
- security
- ability to run some apps that won't run on old Android versions
- control: removing all the bloatware that comes pre-installed and unremovable
- control: better permissions and privacy management in latest android and CyanogenMod
This.
I am currently driving a Citroen C4 Cactus, which is admirable in many ways but not for its centralisation of all controls on a 7" touchscreen.
Where, for example, turning the heating and/or fan down could previously be done by reaching across grasping a knob and turning it without taking your eyes off the road the touchscreen requires touching once to activate the HVAC screen and again once / many times to adjust heat / fan speed, all of which require you to look at the screen (and brace your hand on the bezel) in order to achieve the required touch accuracy.
Touchscreens in cars are Really Not a Good Idea for most things.
@Frumious
I have often wondered why people want to keep hundred of tabs open in their browsers and yours is the first explanation for keeping 200+ tabs open that actually makes any sense at all to me (even if I probably won't take to doing it myself).
Ta
Which is a good moment to remind everyone of the wonderful http://traintimes.org.uk, which as well as providing clean, simple information can also do journey-splitting to find cheaper fares.
It helps that you can simply type an url like http://traintimes.org.uk/london/eastcroydon/1000/tuesday/ and it will show you the scheduled services.
To all the previous commentards:
Yes, I agree, Amazon / whoever having control of your purchased books is not great. On the other hand, for c.90% (or maybe more) of all the fiction I ever read I do not have an urge to read it again.
For reference publications, I am unlikely to buy those as .mobi files. They are more likely to be hard copy or pdf or something else I can access on multiple platforms.
Therefore not something I am losing any sleep over.
@ AC - No, I think everyone should pay the amount of tax that they are due to pay, and there is clearly a problem that has arisen from the globalisation of trade, but that still can only be dealt with by changing the "rules" and then applying them.
In terms of filling potholes etc, corporation tax is actually a very small piece of the funding - see here - and the bulk of the revenue comes from income tax, NI and VAT all of which are generated by the trading / employment of people in the UK.
While I appreciate that the corporation tax figure is derisory, as already pointed out, it undoubtedly reflects Facebook following the laws regarding transfer pricing etc. If they have not, then it is HMRC's duty to challenge and/or prosecute them.
What is always omitted from these headlines is the other taxes paid by facebook etc. Assuming that Facebook's UK employees are paid more than the median average, say £50k each, then Facebook paid c£5 million in employer's national insurance alone last year.
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