Posts by Mondo the Magnificent

Why on Earth would you build a closed Android phone?

A niché market gap

And what a good idea that is. My dad has an Android handset and he almost driven me insane with the "senior schoolboy errors" he was making on it. Everything from background Facebook updates via 3G/radio, auto text complete "issues" to attempting to connect to the neighbour's WiFi

In the end I cleaned the home screens up, only placing the Apps he wanted to access. I also had to give him a run down on when/why radio data and WiFi should be used as well as disabling the auto text feature.

Sometimes modern handsets can be confusing for the older folk, (my dad's in his late 70's) and a "not so smart" smart phone is probably what he needs.

I will certainly be looking at the Doro 740 as a future replacement. Well done on identifying a product that wont confuse the bejeezus out of my dad and also simplify my life.

Apple pushes out Mac OS X update to fix Time Machine fail

Sit back and wait...

has been my approach to OSX10.7. My 10.6.8 Snow Leopard systems still work very well.

My son upgraded to 10.7 upon its release and I decided to sit back and watch..

I was a little sceptic about just how many changes there were in 10.7 and no sooner Apple and users come to grips with [the few issues Lion], it's being superseded by Mountain Lion!

I agree with CCC and I have had great success with SuperDuper! as another great alternative for backup.

Mobile gaming: battle of the gadgets

Pro's and con's

Mobile gaming sure has undergone a paradigm shift over the past decade.

I recall the GameBoy being the device to have, but then the DS and PSP changed things for the better.

Let's not overlook the Nokia N-Gage, a phone that acted as a serious gamer's toy. The pitfall of the N-Gage was battery life if you were constantly gaming and using it as a phone.

The PSP was the king of the handhelds in my opinion, it was ace, it had wireless and enabled one to compete against friends, plus we could watch movies and store games/movies etc. on the Memory Stick. UMD was good but the media was expensive to buy, so the PSP is the device where I fist saw people pirating titles for download.

Phones have come a long way since the N-gage and the Android and IOS platform opened the floodgates of game Apps and porting some of the old classics to the mobile.

Gaming on the phone suits some, but in my experience it kills the battery life and if the phone is the prime source of being in contact whilst on the move it can be a pain in the ass.

Fondleslabs are great for gaming too, I own both a Galaxy 7.1 and iPad2 and gaming is better than ever on these devices, I much prefer them to gaming on a phone. Sure, they are bigger, but they are portable and I often use either of them to keep myself entertained on a long train trip.

Piracy will always be an issue as we all like something for nothing, locking things down tight to prevent this only gives Android and IOS a "bad name" strangely enough.

Who knows what the future holds in regards to the forthcoming technologies and title releases hold for us, it can only be good news as long as the prices are right..

China churns out homemade aircraft for global travel DOMINATION

On the upside...

Comac are using foreign made engines and avionics, so this adds to the confidence levels, however it's the airframe that holds it all together

Now I have to wonder if we'll reading articles on how Comac pay and treat their workers.. oh, wat.. it's an Avionics company, not a Tech company, so I guess we'll hear diddly squat about the workers' plight...

41-megapixel MONSTER mobe shutters Nokia knockers

Line up, line up for Nokia's new 41MP camera..

.. that also serves as a mediocre mobile phone.. but then again, most won't give a shit about that.. because they have a 41MP camera!

Asus peddles three-in-one smartphone, tablet, netbook

Damn...

I lost my phone, so there goes my tablet & netbook too...

Nice concept... but I cannot help thinking I've seen this idea peddled somewhere before...

Cisco's 3-ring circus: Xsigo CEO on bait and switches

Say what?

Admittedly I know the Xsigo product very well, what it does and where it fits.

Some observations on this great article:

Xsigo will connect any Server to any Storage to any Switch, it's agnostic and uses industry standard HBAs, so zero brand specific or proprietary tie in on the connectivity at all. It's a true open platform. As far as I know it's the only IO director product that offers QoS (Quality of Service); Cisco and HP currently do not.

Cisco acquiring NetApp? Better send some thermal underwear to Hell... we heard the same ramblings about Oracle buying NetApp last year just before NetApp bought LSI's block disk division. I shudder at the thought of the Network giant buying the last of the Channel friendly storage vendors.

More importantly what is the long term synopsis for Xsigo? They are profitable even though it's a very young company. I always believed that they'd either float or Dell would scoop them up, but I don't believe the latter will happen.

The bottom line is that virtualising the IO stack is the final building block in the enterprise virtual strategy, after all we can virtualise the desktop, servers and storage, so virtual I/O makes perfect sense.

Xsigo's offering is not unique but it's the best of the bunch out there right now..

UK-French drone aircraft blueprints nicked at Paris station

Old school security needed...

Next time handcuff the briefcase to your wrist...

New password-snatching Mac Trojan spreading in the wild

It was only a question of time

Before a new kid on the block came out to exploit the Mac community, as a Mac user myself, I am afraid to say it's been long overdue since the last little fracas that was Mac Defender in 2011.

The fact that the installer stipulates in red text that "This root certificate is not trusted" should ring alarm bells with the most naive of Mac users., but then again.. people being people tend not to read the red text and will install it never the less...

HP, Dell warn of price hikes after Foxconn wage rise

Protect the worker....

..but more importantly protect the profits!

This comes as no surprise to me. The bottom line is that tech companies have to appease shareholders and will, without batting an eyelid, pass the costs on to the consumer rather than absorb the additional costs.

Guaranteed that within ten years China will no longer be the red star state of cheap manufacturing as workers' salaries and conditions improve.

China will be become too expensive and the manufacturing companies will move their plants to another despot nation who prefer financial investment to uplifting the lives of their citizens.

iPad owners 'considerably richer than yow'

Bollocks...

I had to dip into overdraft to pay for mine... but after reading this article I feel like a "working class hero"

Wang charged in inappropriate electricity socket use

Re: Re: More WTF....

Anyone plugging a laptop or mobile device charger into 3 Phase will be in for one hell of a shock...

Security biz scoffs at Apple's anti-Trojan Gatekeeper

Protecting...

.. the stupid from themselves.. like those gullible Mac owners who were duped into installing that "Mac Defender" Trojan last year

Gatekeeper will probably make most savvy Mac users think twice about 'upgrading' to Mountain Lion

As for me, well I still run 10.6.8 and haven't had any Trojans jump aboard this system... and I find that there are lost of good non Apple endorsed applications out there that are quite safe.

It seems as if Apple may be a little paranoid now that [reports of] more home users are buying Macs. How sad..

Sky flaunts F1 app with split-screen functions

The BBC sold out...

They broke the mould.. F1 has been free to watch live for decades.

Sharing the spectacle with the Murdoch empire is a blatant slap in the face for the UK TV Licence payers.

I don't want to watch half the races live, I want to watch them all live! More importantly I don't want to buy a Sky+ box to watch them live either

Sweetening things up with an iPad App will never remove the bitter taste this whole affair leaves from my mouth...

Embattled Foxconn raises wage slaves' salaries

It's not just the tech industry

So, they doubled the workers wages over three years. Not bad at all, seems as if the pressure put upon Apple has worked. Strange that Nokia, Dell and Sony hardly ever seem to feature in the articles focussing on Foxconns employees' working conditions..

I watched a TV program on the Chinese workers who manufacture toys for WALMART a few years back. Now that was an eye opener, those people get a raw deal. Something that cost under $5 to make and ship to the land of the free gets sold for $17 in WALMART

Workers are subject to pay deductions for accommodation, food, laundry and transport by bus from the factory into town when they have a night off.

Scandalous as it is, no one seems to be pointing the big stick at WALMART or other retail outlets who also employ Chinese labour.

Hopefully this will change in time, but rest assured the CEOs of the retail giants will push these additional costs on to the consumers.

New Mac OS X: Mountain Lion roars at unauthorised apps

Re: That does it...

The very reason I still run Snow Leopard, it works and I can manage every aspect of it...

Sometimes progress doesn't suit everyone

Satnav blunders blamed for £200m damages

Backup plan

I have a 2012 Ford Focus with in built Satnav and it does the job "most of the time"

Often it will not acknowledge postcodes and has even sent me up a muddy farm road en route to a customer in a little village in Derbyshire! Needless to say my front wheel drive Focus played duelling traction control / ABS whilst tackling the incline from hell.

Being a little wiser, I also carry a Garmin unit in the armrest and used this to navigate back from this customer and did so without having to tackle what would have been the decline from hell.

Now I don't expect every motorist to have two different Satnav systems on hand, but in my case it certainly has paid off when either Ford equipped or Garmin units refuse to accept a postcode based destination.

I believe that the manufacturers need to encourage user feedback via Forums so we can let them know when and where they go wrong.

Another factor is that although Satnavs have come down in price, they're still not cheap, so people tend to hang on to them for a while.

However road layouts change all the time and as updated maps are not free or cheap, most Satnav users come across the perils or frustrations of a Satnav getting you lost or getting into a difficult situation.

Perhaps the manufacturers should charge a little more for the Satnav units and provide free updates as well as collaborating user feedback to make the Satnavs a little smarter

Also, Google have photographed most of the world for their Maps service, so why don't the Satnav manufacturers approach the Chocolate Factory for photographic references in known "bad spots"

Archos 35 Home Connect

Wait a minute...

..a radio alarm clock with a built in camera?

Just what every bedroom needs, right?

Sony 'fesses to Whitney Houston price hike 'error'

Yea, right...

Sony call in an "error" I call in "cashing in"

Sure companies like to make a buck, but under these circumstances it's well beyond unethical..

Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards

OMFG!

Man I remember this! We used to play it at work on our XT systems.

This is probably one of the first "work time waster" games I ever saw crop up. All those little questions in the beginning to 'ensure you were 18 or older' and the sprite based game play that took us on an adventure.

The Spearmint flavoured ribbed condoms also raised a giggle or two.

We then got a UNIX version that was ported to our Siemens Nixdorf mainframe. LSL on the graphics capable dumb terminal :¬)

Those were the days

Another trip down memory lane, thanks El Reg.

Now Proview seeks ban on ALL iPads coming out of China

This could be...

..the perfect excuse for Apple to move their manufacturing elsewhere.. perhaps to a more 'ethical' plant somewhere in the West?

Fondle my slab, baby: Inside the tactile world of Apple-fan iDating

Cyber squatting opportunity

As below:

www.iCantGetLaid.com the website for those with all the gear and zero idea...

Space: 1999 returning to TV?

This has to be a good thing...

The Battlestar Gallactica remake was fantastic and took the whole man vs. machine saga to the next level with a worthy conclusion. The mysterious roles of the various characters in the series conclusion also added a complete new angle, something the old classic lacked.

If Space 1999 undergoes a remake with the added benefits of CGI, hopefully this too will take us on an entirely new adventure too.

FBI investigated Steve Jobs' reality distortion field, LSD use

I reckon...

...the FBI had to release this before Wikileaks did!

UK cops set up new £30m bases to nail cybercrooks

Yes, geeks... but not as we know them

I have been dealing with various police High Tech Crime Units for over a decade since Operation Ore opened the floodgates of digital investigations and gave birth to the true HTCU/Cyber Crime units and the {then} National High Tech Crime Unit.

Most of these "bobbies" happen to be well educated, many hold BScs, MScs as well as other accreditations, as in qualifications in EnCase and Forensic Toolkit (FTK) to name a few.

These guys are exceptional and rest assured many of them will give a "geek" much more than a good run for his money when discussing technicalities of file systems, kernels and IP networking.

The Met probably have the best unit on our island, but the synergy, collaboration and cooperation between forces has always been amazing.

So, the new regional hubs' collaborating with the Met ensures that they will have some of the best investigators in the industry in this new joint venture

Hackers claim to have penetrated Foxconn backdoor

Perhaps...

.they'll do the "ethical thing" and manipulate the HR/Payroll system therefore enabling Foxconn's "slave labour force" to earn a decent wage..

Paris: Because there's no such thing as too much disposable income

Nokia: No Belle download for Apple users

Easy fix

Bootcamp or VMWare Fusion into a Windows session... as a majority of OSX users do = fixed

Huawei's Ascend P1 headed to China in March

Ho hum...

And once again ElReg throw the iPhone Killer quote into the gossip: ... "The Chinese giant’s iPhone-killer made quite a stir at CES..."

So another Chinese made iPhone killer? Not an HTC Sensation or Samsung Galaxy killer which would be more appropriate seeing as it's an Android phone...

Mac demand helps Apple business bloom in Blighty

Something "different" perhaps?

I've been a Mac user for two decades plus and own a few old Macs and some of the more recent stuff too.

Quite often my Windows centric friends and colleagues ask me why I use a Mac, I tend not to geek out and tell them I've been in the UNIX environment for 30 years plus and prefer the CLI, the BSD file structure etc, so without coming across as a "fanboi" I just tend to tell people "they work for me"

However I've encountered more people looking at Macs and MacBooks as an alternative to the Wintel PCs and laptops that they've invested in over the years.

So, now I ask why.. and the biggest factor seems to be that "they don't give trouble and last a long time" Really?

Well, I can vouch for the reliability because the applications are quite limited compared to the Pandora's Box of Windows offerings, although Macs are not exempt from hardware issues

As for the longevity, well yea, I have some old Macs ('89 SE/30, iMac G2 & G4, Mac Pro G5) that still work quite happily

I've seen more OSX compatible games and Microsoft Office 2011 for OSX is really good too. Add FireFox, Chrome, Skype and Apple's own FaceTime into the equation and it seems as if Apple's tin now offers everything that most home users need.

Could the home user be choosing a new home computer like they'd choose a car? Something that costs a little more but is reliable and lasts?

To be honest this growth in Mac sales also comes a surprise to me too...

‘Oldest animals’ show up in Namibian dig

And they'll name it:

Bob....

Android dominates first-time smartphone buyer biz

Choices...

Makes sense to me. Want a new Android phone you have fairly wide choice of sub £80 entry level handsets to the expensive high end handsets from Samsung, LG, Sony and HTC

Of course I am referring to one buying a handset without a contract here, but add a decent contract and the deal becomes even sweeter.

Want a new IOS device, well it's down to a whole three options: iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S, all made by Apple and not exactly cheap contract free either and also the limited competition, as not all CSPs offer the Jesus phone on contract [yet] but the CSPs do offer decent iPhone deals too.

So, for the first time buyer and person upgrading to a smartphone the Android based offerings offer a lot more choice to suit everyone's budget.

As for the "rest" well that's obviously Windows Mobile combined with the stagnant offerings from those manufacturers still trying to wrestle a strategy to take on the Android & IOS monsters.

Huawei-Symantec sneaks out of US back door

No biggie

It's a case of the product just not selling in the USA

The issue was never cost, the product is competitive but also take into consideration that the U.S.A. doesn't really trust Chinese manufactured IT kit, remember when IBM sold Llenovo to the Chinese? That absolutely killed the legendary ThinkPad off within the U.S. government departments.

Whilst Huawei-Symantec branded storage has been quite successful in the Asian and African markets, it's still battling to gain a foothold in the European markets

The reasons are fairly academic, it's neither a well know or trusted brand and there are plenty of established and reputable storage vendors doing business in the West.

No biggie, Huawei-Symantec will thrive, just not in the U.S.A. and perhaps not in Europe either

Note: I worked for (on of the) H-S's UK distributors and the general consensus in the UK is "we don't know the brand (irrespective of the Symantec suffix) and we prefer to deal with those we know and trust in regards to support"

Can Sony's new supremo make the sacrifices to save his biz?

There's always one...

Who throws the Apple equation into the discussion and ruins the debate...

It could only be Sony...

From the tech perspective I remember the Sony AIT product set, punted as the helical scan LTO killer. The roadmap was great in theory but the product was short lived because capacities grew and AIT couldn't keep up, albeit Super AIT which in itself was a linear technology and an expensive one at that too.

The Sony monitors, expensive and loved by those who has them on their desks, then like the flick of a light switch, Sony killed the product range overnight. The reasoning was the fact that competitors (LG & Samsung) were out pricing Sony, so they withdrew from the market hastily.

On the consumer side, Sony, as the Walkman / Discman pioneers had the portable / personal music market it their hands, but the Joker (Apple) marketed their MP3 player better and Sony again took a back seat in a market where they had every opportunity to continue their dominance.

The PlayStation was the cash cow for Sony, but competition from Microsoft (who's maiden Xbox sported a HDD) and Nintendo who wooed gamers with cheaper and (in the case of the Wii) simpler products that once again ate into Sony's once dominant market share

Sony's marriage to Ericcson gave them a great phone range, but niggling little issues like bespoke charger and interface cables ruined the product. I always like the Sony Ericcson phones for the sheer camera quality, but a smart phone needs more than just a kick ass camera.

Yes, Sony is a quality product, no denying that, but I believe they have also suffered collateral damage with the PSN hacking fiasco too. That in itself is enough to make a concerned (or paranoid) parent choose an XBox 360 over a PlayStation for their kids.

Perhaps Sony can pick itself up from this slump, the name reeks quality but the premium across the product range has consumers looking at alternatives.

Micron CEO Appleton dies in plane crash

RIP Steve Appleton

Not just a visionary, but also a man who obviously likes to live life at its fullest.

Rest in peace and condolences to the family and friends

World's first bamboo smartphone to enter production

Note to self!

Keep my new bamboo phone the hell away from the pet panda!

In all seriousness, good to see bamboo making it to the tech industry, sure it's not everyone's cup of tea, but "nature's carbon fibre" is certainly starting to feature nowadays

Admittedly they've done a nice job on that handset, I'm not a great fan of wood finished products, but if they were to stain that bamboo black or other colours I reckon that phone would look ace!

40,000 Apple fanbois demand ethical iPhone 5

And....

...when the next generation of Apple product is "ethical" enough for the SumOfUs collective, will they make the same stink with Asus, Acer, Dell or WalMart who all make use of Chinese production facilities?

Very doubtful as low hanging 'fruits' are always easy to pick..

Why I'd pay Apple more to give iPad factory workers a break

So, it's only the tech industry then?

Sadly it's not only the Tech giants who take advantage of China's low manufacturing costs, it's the entire Western consumer goods market.

Apple "paying more" will not eradicate the issue at hand, rest assured if Apple (or ANY other tech manufacturer) were to increase salaries and improve working conditions, this would more than likely cause a long term domino effect where other Chinese based manufacturers would need to follow suite, irrespective of the industry they manufacture for.

In the long term China would cease being the cheap manufacturing hub of the planet, prices would escalate, but more disturbing is how these companies would resort to lowering costs. Would they push manufacturing to other countries like Burma, Vietnam or Cambodia? Either way the goods need to be made and rest assured some despot regime with a shady human rights record would open their doors to those contract manufacturers seeking cheap labour. Another factor not to be overlooked is the environmental issues within these nations than embrace low cost manufacturing.

We're going through one of the toughest recessions ever experienced and knowing that my branded product was made in Europe wouldn't overly bother me about forking out another £25-£50 for a games console, TV, laptop, tablet PC or phone if I knew it was contributing to the British or western economies which could do with the extra economic whack that could hypothetically be provided if manufacturing were removed from sweatshop culture countries.

Sadly this will never happen, we love shopping, we love a bargain but we whine when things cost too much, but at the same time criticize the tech industry for the appalling work conditions provided by contracted manufacturers' within their Chinese based facilities.

The bottom line is, we're all hypocrites and it's not just Apple and Dell who are responsible. We all are, perhaps we, the consumers should make a concious decision to boycott Chinese made goods?

Cyberwar report: Israel, Finland best prepared for conflict

Statistics?

Smaller country = smaller populations = smaller economies = less websites = easier to secure?

A question opposed to a fact...

Man recreates ZX81... in Lego

One step beyond..

Loving that!

Oh, he should have shoved a pukka ZX81 logic board into it and integrated the keyboard within it too, sure the keyboard wouldn't be Lego, but... the ZX would function :¬)

iPads propel Apple to PC market top slot

Add some bitter pills to sweeten the market up?

I agree a tablet computer [of any brand] is a computing device, but I don't quite see them as "personal computers"

Do these unnamed analysts marry the 15M iPad sales to the 5M Mac sales to big up Apple or belittle HP?

I would like to know how many PCs HP sold as well as how many tablets they sold too. We know the HP tablet was short lived, but there were certainly enough of them sold last year, especially after HP's "fire sale" of these devices to their staff members

At the end of the day, the statistics don't show the true market trend. It's a bit of a true lie...

Star Trek tractor beam to save Earth from asteroid Armageddon

Well...

..if the EU is funding the research I expect them to "negotiate the hurtling object" into a new trajectory at a meeting hosted in Strasbourg.. after all, the EU firmly believes bureaucracy can sort anything out.....

....eventually

Samsung 11.6in 'retina display' tablet spied

Bigger and better

So Samsung have stretched it to 11.6", does this hail the beginning bigger tablets? I have to ask at what screen size do tablet systems cease being classified as tablets? 13" perhaps? Or is this indefinite?

Good to see the CPU's been ramped up too, right now it's a buyers market if they keep the prices realistic.

Update Facebook by thrusting your hips to, er ... 'Like' things

Bwahahahaha!

Sort of a "digital glory hole" when they thrust up against a wall!

Facebook to shove Timeline in EVERYONE'S face soon

Into the paddock sheep!

I guess we knew it was coming. It seems as if nothing is an option on Facebook and Timeline based Profiles are becoming more popular among my 'friends'

It seems as if some people believe that these "Facebook please go back to the old Profile" type group protests will sway the Zuckerberg empire to change things, but alas, we know it's all in vain!

What most never do is read the T&Cs and don't quite understand the mechanics of this social network, as it's "not your network bitch! It's ours and we dictate the rules, format and layout!"

If members/user loathe the changes tat much, they can always delete their [beloved] profiles, scamper off to the likies of MySpace or Google+, but rest assured that in time, Zuckerberg's sheep will accept the new format bestowed upon them and the whining and protests will die out.. as usual!

Survey: Android set to beat iOS in battle for coder love

I am so glad...

..that I had a large bucket of popcorn on hand whilst reading the comments...

HP pitches 10in netbook at business

Who knows?

Perhaps the product will not take off quite as anticipated, HP will pull the plug and flog them off to staff members at $99?

Irrespective, a rather bold move by HP in this [new] era dwindling NetBook sales and the emergence of Ultrabooks

Apple will not kill iPad 2 at iPad 3 debut

So....

...this could be the long term iPad2 killer?

About bloody time!

Apple Beijing store egged in botched iPhone 4S launch

And....

...if the store had opened and a stampede ensued, Apple would have been in a world of shit

Quite often you see videos of just how barbaric humans beings can be stampeding and fighting with one another over hard to get or much reduced consumer items, so I think this was a case of damage control come prevention.