Posts by Arrrggghh-otron 438 publicly visible posts • joined 21 Jun 2011
There are quite a few great apps on Android (Gstrings and K9 are two of my personal favourites), still, personal choice and all that. I would rather a platform I can tinker with freely...
sure the android market place has a lot of problems that google could do more about than they are doing, but then they are famously hands off with the products/services the give away right? Not saying its right, just that's how they are...
"Part of the problem is that Google does not offer app quality guarantees or automatically issue OS upgrades as it does with smartphones, leaving the tablet vendors to push this out themselves, said IDC"
Whilst I agree that app quality on Android leaves a lot to be desired, the freedom to be able to publish an app without jumping through the hoops apple mandates is a good thing.
However the idea that Google should produce updates for all the tablet vendors is ridiculous as the vendors produce the hardware and so have to customize Android to suit their hardware - how can Google be expected to do this for them?
I await the phishing campaign based on security warnings that pretend to be from the government...
And are they so behind the times that they are telling people to only be suspicious of email attachments from unknown sources? Suspecting any unsolicited email even when they purport to be from people you know is the default case...
Isn't it more about reacting to take down powers without over sight?
Having had a web server hacked myself (one customer was running a very out dated CMS and that was their way in - no real damage done other than server space and bandwidth used without permission), could easily have been the victim of a take down action as a result of the actions of others. I would prefer to see checks and balances.
Oh yes! A Series 5 sized device with that keyboard would be awesome! One addition would have to be a dumb phone to go with it. That is, a really small handset (Zoolander style) that uses bluetooth to connect to the device to make and receive calls, browse contacts, get notifications etc. If they could somehow make that a removable part of the main device, that would be a sweet bit of kit.
For all it's failings, I loved the XDA Exec even if it was running a rather clunky Windows Mobile, but holding it to your head to make and receive calls was just embarrassing.
That said the HTC 7 Pro would be great if they just made an android version... or if we could have gotten the Samsung Galaxy S Pro or Droid 3 in the UK. I guess I will just have to wait for the UK release of the Droid 4 (I suspect I am in for a long wait - in the mean time I will just keep using the G1).
On another note, I've since learned that there is a carrier in China running a 're-skinned' version of Android for the Xiaomi MI-One that is actually a community rom - so I withhold judgement on what this phone comes with until I actually see one in the flesh.
An affordable sim free handset with a decent spec would be nice but I can't see this being an iPhone killer. And what little I can find about it (in the 30 seconds I searched) suggests it's not going to be out until Feb 2012.
Also they have skinned Android. Why oh why do manufacturers feel the need to re-skin a perfectly workable interface that gets (mostly) better with each iteration?
Secondly for me there is no hardware keyboard. I'm not suggesting that we all must and should be using hardware keyboards, but speaking personally, a proper 5 row qwerty is streets ahead of touch-screen keyboards not to mention doesn't take up 2/3 of the screen.
I moved from T-Mobile after a lot of procrastination following their mobile data allowance changes and I am very happy with GiffGaff. The signal is better and the data is way faster. I guess the quality of service is down to the coverage in your area.
As for the community, I used it to ask questions when I was thinking of moving and there was a certain amount of sorting the wheat from the chaff, but I usually got an answer pretty quickly. Now I don't really need to ask any questions and am not too fused about the community pay back thing. I just wanted a few minutes and text and as close to unlimited internet as I could get and that is exactly what I am getting for less than T-Mobile wanted.
As long as there are no extended and/or few intermittent outages I am happy...
"Though I have to say, if Apple did come up with an iPad with this sort of resolution (I miss my 2560 x 1920 CRT ) and a half-decent size - say 28inch - display and a keyboard/mouse then I might buy one."
I miss the super high res CRTs too. 1920 x 1080 monitors are ok, I mean, I've gotten used to them. But a 2560 x 1920 display in a decent size that doesn't cost a bloody fortune would be nice.
I looked at PV, hot water & ground source heat pumps and the PV alone was £14k and was out of the question as I don't have £14k spare.
Shame the grants are setup the way they are (i.e. FITs - great if you have the capital to take advantage of them but sucks if you don't). It would be far better to offer subsidised installations rather than FITs as more people could take advantage of them (I don't consider the installs where the installation company gets the FITs to be a viable alternative due to ownership issues).
One of the first calculations I do when I get a call from a recruiter about a shiny new job, is how much it will cost me to get there and back. Anything over 15 miles means using the car (as opposed to cycling) and would require a hefty pay rise to even make it worth my while considering. Whats the point of taking a job that offers a few grand more just to spunk it all on petrol and waste my time sitting in traffic? I've started asking the recruiters if the prospective employer of said 'long distance' job can or will offer remote working for at least a few days a week.
Well that was a bit more constructive than your last piece...
But recruiters and HR people who don't appreciate the inherent flexibility and cross over that IT skills infer still don't help recruit the best people.
I've had recruiters ask me if I had FTP as a skill. Really? FTP is a skill? I can use an FTP client without thinking about it, but I've never considered it a skill before, it's just another utility. I can setup an FTP server on various OSes without too much trouble, but I've always just considered it part and parcel of the job.
Also just because I might be selling my time, doesn't mean I make a good sales man, otherwise I would be interviewing for a sales role...
The pub test is interesting. We actually used that as part of an interview process at once, talking the 3 favourites to the pub (at different times I might add) for an informal chat. The candidates relaxed and we were able to chat freely about tech and that gave us a real feel for their aptitude and attitude.
A proper programmable tactile surface would make touch screen keyboards much nicer to use. (i.e. the graphic keys are physically raised) I wondered about doing this back when touch screens were all shiny and new on consumer devices. I would have patented the idea if I knew how it could be done, but I don't and I hate patents so there you go...
Stupid shape for a screen - why couldn't it be stretched like silly putty into a rectangle - I mean if we are just talking concepts here...
I've been riding an e-bike (cue lots of jokes from the 'proper bike' riders) daily for over 2 years and it isn't a big hassle to plug it in every evening when I get home. On the rare occasion I forget there is usually plenty of juice left for another trip to and from work.
The expectation that you can do 200 miles or more and fill up in seconds and go anywhere is what we are measuring against. But if you only commute 10 miles or so then you should be ok for 2 or 3 days before having to worry about recharging (which will likely only take a few hours). Add in a few trips to the shops and you are still ok. This is what I mean about shifting expectations. For the day to day short trips it will do the job. For anything else stick to your petrol powered bike and enjoy it while we still can.
As always with electric vehicles, the majority talk about what the technology can't do and how it is totally useless... and by virtue, missing the point.
If you want to commute every day by motorbike, and your commute is less than 40 miles each way (leaving some reserve to get home on should unforeseen circumstances), then this sounds like a workable option. If you want to travel further, then, for the time being you will have to rely on conventional fuel sources.
It will take a long time for attitudes and expectations to change and adjust. Perhaps when only the rich can afford petrol, electric transport will be taken seriously.
http://www.aspiritech.org/about/
So none of them would get a job by your yard stick?
This smacks of being an extension of the assumption that IT people must be brilliant at everything. That IT People must be business people or sales people is the most ridiculous supposition being trotted around the corporate world these days. It's up there with business people thinking the cloud is the answer to everything. I don't see business people learning how to use Outlook properly or how to update the content management system because it's too technical.
Some of the best coders and designers I have ever worked with were fucking terrible at spelling and grammar. When I interviewed for devs, I tended to look at their technical skills and not get too hung up on their CVs, preferring to quiz them on their tech skills rather than their spelling and grammar or their social skills. If this is how tech recruiters at the top of their game think then it might explain the IT skills shortages I keep hearing about. We have an aptitude for this stuff for a reason...
And its 'fall at the first hurdle'.
Yes, saving the emails on his local computer in the clear was a bit special...
However I have to wonder how the charge of unauthorised access stands against the position of System Administrator which by it's very nature permits access to pretty much everything (unless you are using specific roles for lots of admins). Or are the people in charge just not aware that a sys admin holds the keys to the kingdom?
£49k? Yes please! Hell even £30k would be step up right now...
Don't worry, the UK positions are still being advertised for silly money. For the past 3 weeks I've been emailed the same job vacancy a few times for a local 3rd line "buck stops here" support role for £22-24K. The latest iteration of the advert is offering £23-£26k.
Remember kids - there is a shortage of IT staff in the UK, so train hard then reap the rewards! Oh and don't forget to relearn everything you do every 2 years otherwise you're on the scrap heap!
I've noticed more songs on Spotify being replaced with censored tracks (and I know this isn't Spotifys fault - they blame the record labels for supplying them that way - and there isn't always an alternative uncensored version, but it is bloody annoying. Their suggestion of complaining to the record label isn't helpful as I neither know nor care which label half of the censored stuff is on, nor how to contact them.), as well as stuff disappearing and reappearing in what appears to be, from a consumers point of view, a pretty random manner.
I also don't see the difference between playing music on my PC at home with a fixed connection, or laptop over 3G or on a smart phone so I loath paying more for the premium service.
I will be giving this a go if it doesn't require signing up for a long term contract...
I'm not trying to argue that this is a "full fledged computer" but there is always another way of looking at things...
I'll admit my VLSI design skills are a bit rusty as it's been a while since I last programmed a Xillinx FPGA (and let's not use PLC in this context as it has other connotations) but FPGAs do contain memory (several lots of) and software (a configuration program 'written' in Verilog or VHDL) so the logic blocks can be configured to make the chip do something.
FPGAs can contain full blown processor cores on the die or can be configured as well known processor cores. I'm not suggesting that Pano Logic are doing this, just that it is not good to believe everything the marketing people say.
While it is possible to take the Verilog/VHDL program and FPGA design and bake true hard coded PGAs akin to an ASIC the operation will still be the same.
I won't even mention the RAM for the frame buffer...
And there was me thinking that I would be able to buy this thing from WHSmiths and then pop in store (or go to their web site) and buy a magazine (not a subscription) for pennies as the print versions are getting so pricey... I guess if it happens the 'e' version will be twice the price!
I'm still with Plusnet and still paying extra for them not to 'shape' my traffic, though there is now some shaping on their latest product compared to the previous one I was on albeit with a bigger data cap.
So they shouldn't really be charging extra for the privilege then?
I'm concerned that the bit about asking for consent followed by a refusal to consent, would just lead to the ISP saying sorry we can't supply you broadband then...
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