Posts by Waspy 181 publicly visible posts • joined 4 May 2012
Re: Worstall I always wondered what happened there. Reg used to feel a lot more centre right or at least classical liberal-ish until recently, even the comments section has got a lot more angry and left wing. My fave Andrew Orlowski was a self-described left-winger but v happy with hard economic facts (and indeed happily writes excellent articles for the Telegraph today). It's a mystery to me.
I love it, Zorin 15 really is polished, stable and easy to use.
I have recently donated an older ultrabook to the mother in law, and for that I went for Linux Lite simply due to its ease of use and low resource requirements but Zorin was also a potential candidate
IR35 hasn't 'just come in', it's been around over 20 years. Not that many contractors or businesses ever realised this. HMRC just keep piling on more tweaks to an unworkable nonsensical regulation and create untold unintended consequences (and still get nowhere near the tax take their useless models predicted)
Have an upvote, old ThinPads are amazing, I have an X201 and X220 and they run great on Solus and Zorin OS respectively, although the 201 has an annoying hardware-level bug that turns the wifi off a lot. They also have some of the finest keyboards known to man. Except perhaps my Dell E7250, a laptop my partner had left lying around from an old job that I resurrected with Zorin. The keyboard is unbelievable.
Sure I read somewhere that, in a similar vein, Brits changed their accents after USA independence (mainly in the south), so the USA still broadly sounds more like 18th century Brits than modern Brits do. Northerners have deviated a little less, having decided not to insert a 'r' into 'bath', 'grass', 'lass' etc
Can't agree enough... And aside from the early bugs and marketing blunders it's one of those 'how can this product possibly have failed?'.
Such a great product and people never knew why they should buy it over what is basically a shitty simple app launcher with separately siloed apps, email and files. (I'm pointing at both android and iPhone, neither is as productive as a BB10). People have just settled for what apple have told them a smartphone is.
And one more thing... As Andrew points out, the gestures could be confusing to a new user but I didn't hear one shiny shiny gadget reviewer complain when ios got a whole load of gestures.
Oh, and thinking of gadget reviewers, read the verge review of the passport to find out why most tech journos are lazy, ignorant and contributed greatly to the reason why there is now simply a smartphone duopoly. //rant over//
Ps I also fully admit that BlackBerry seem to have done as much as possible to sabotage themselves
Such a shame... But blackberry only have have themselves to blame, they were late to market and unless you explain just what it is about your product people should buy into then the market typically goes for a 'good enough' solution. Android is good enough. Personally for me, whilst android has all sorts of clever tricks up its sleeves now it's still a bit clunky and bb10 is hands down the most productive os I've ever used... The hub is incredible, the multitasking intuitive and fluid etc etc. Unfortunately no one has used it and everyone thinks that blackberry is either bust or that bb10 is the same company phone they hated in 2009.
If blackberry can bring some of that magic to the platform everyone has settled for then they may just make it through.
Hate to be the smug one here but blackberry 10 streams and multitasks quite easily between apps, even audio or youtube streams via the browser. No it does not do what you describe when getting out of the car and doing other things before wanting to play Spotify again (my passport has a dedicated media pause/play button on the side). It runs android apps too. Yes I'm expecting loads of downvotes. Yes everyone finds it hilarious and odd that I use a BlackBerry in 2015. Yes BlackBerry should marketed the fuck out of bb10 cause its core functionality is better than ios or android but everyone missed the memo. Did someone mention webos and meego?
Not disagreeing with you at all Matt, all of this is learnable, now more than ever, but do people bother? I would perhaps argue no, seeing as most people seem to think property is the only thing safe enough to grow your wealth (you and I know this to be false, as is the often held premise that 'stock markets are a casino'). I myself am self taught but know that most people don't want to or can't be bothered to learn any more than they need to (which is often nothing at all). Same goes for NI...people on the whole just will not invest that surplus into wealth growing funds and will find themselves at the sharp end of no money and illness. Maybe you think this is their own fault...perhaps you are right, but I don't see it as simply as that.
I also suspect you will find a direct correlation between no health insurance, no 401k and very little money, although I haven't got time to get links so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.
And who teaches Mr Median about how equities, bonds and commodities work? I'm pretty libertarian myself but this knowledge has to come from somewhere - presumably in your ultra laissez-faire utopia you don't want Mr Median paying for education if he does not want it.
So let's look at somewhere where until recently health insurance was not mandatory - did usa workers invest their insurance money in the s&p and dow jones? Nope. Whilst there may be some truth in what you say, your idea is about as rooted in reality as communism.
Same here, love my passport but most people either think BlackBerry have gone bust, still only make the legacy style curve phones or simply have an irrational hatred of them.
Anyway, I've said countless times in reg forums that bb10 devices would prob be perfect for most businesses over needlessly expensive iphones and Googlefied Samsungs but those same three sorts of people are also running IT departments so BlackBerry don't get a look in. And really, BlackBerry only have themselves to blame.
People don't care, they buy phones like their cars, tvs and fridges - in general they buy their mates and family have and what is perceived to be the best (iphone), failing that they will buy a samsung (that is, in the world of carphone warehouse normal phone customers, the 'alternative' choice) and if they are feeling really different they may get a Sony, HTC or maybe even a nokia/ms windows phone. Not even BlackBerry gets a look in (I have a passport and people laugh at it...quite why I don't know, it suits my needs best and for my own reasons I dislike ios and android).
I actually had a jolla for a while...I liked it but really, no one is going to buy it at this stage...too much of an unknown quantity and no one likes to buy what their mates don't have (apart from me it seems)
I love my Passport and BB10 - nearly all the flexibility of android, the security of blackberry, the rock solid hardware of an old school Nokia and the user friendlyness of an iPhone (with far superior multi tasking). Oh and the Hub. Did I mention the Hub?
However for whatever reason people seem to think BlackBerry are dead and high street presence is near non existent so perhaps an android with BlackBerry goodies make sense and the leaner, meaner company seem pragmatic enough to realise this. Personally I think it's a crying shame bb10 isn't a bigger success...but I said that about meego and webos too which goes to show the best doesn't always win.
I really wish them well.
Fair enough, yes, at the risk of sounding as arrogant as the people I berate, I am willing to adjust my beliefs based on evidence...but the point was that this guy's evidence was less than flimsy and he focused in on one stupid little detail (missing the bigger picture). If he'd provided pretty convincing evidence that there was no moon landing then I would investigate further and possibly eventually concede but let's be honest here...that is never going to happen cause in 46 years no good evidence has been forthcoming (vs plenty of evidence for the event) and it's a pretty stupid claim in the first place.
I actually think teaching the actual scientific method/how evidence works/critical thinking at school would vastly improve our society...your lovely story gives me hope!
I wasted about an hour of my time recently arguing with a moon hoax idiot...he seemed to ignore every bit of logic fired at him and cherry picked the things that supported his (preconceived) explanations. "I firmly believe no one went to the moon so I'm going to use everything I can find to prove it". Same effect is found in religion and extreme political ideas (such as communism). They would seemingly argue until heat death.
Best to ignore them and hope the sum total of these people goes down over time (although it is taking a frustratingly long time...)
Real shame, but makes total business sense. I wish the new Nokia best of luck, they've managed to get out of a terrible market and make their business profitable again... Still doesn't stop me dreaming of a meego future and the latest descendant of the N9 though!
Cameron seems to be Increasingly using the language of former fascist and communist dictators with his drive to protect freedom by restricting freedom. Gchq's shenanigans are only another facet of this whole sorry rhetoric.
I'm waiting for the UK enabling act next
"Any idea why Blackberry was excluded from consideration?"
I thought this too, BB10 devices would be as suitable as any other (and much better really imho, definitely more secure). I suspect it's because the general (wrong) consensus is that, even amongst many IT managers, BlackBerry has gone bust.
People just aren't gonna use it. And this from a wireless evangelist - I loved wireless charging on my Pre 3 and I love wireless charging on my Lumia. In fact people probably won't even know it's there, and if they do there is no way 90% of those people will bother ponying up even a tenner for a charging plate.
No, people will start raving about wireless charging when Apple's marketing juggernaut starts talking about it...much as I hate to admit it.
Nice thing to have though for those who can arsed, props to Samsung
...but I'm not sure who on earth the $12k version is aimed at - if you can afford it, who's gonna take you seriously when you could have bought a pateke Phillipe instead? Bonkers.
Having said that, I did see a friend of a friend claiming that "battery life is ok cause I'll charge everyday at my desk, the vibrate function will be useful for not waking up my wife and kids early in the morning, really looking forward to using that". You mean like a $15 Timex with vibrating alarm and a 5 year battery? Guess apple will be hoping there are people looking for an excuse - any excuse - to buy the cheaper one!
Chen seems to be making all the right moves, which is wonderful to see. Still slightly confused as to who the Leap is aimed at though, most 'young career builders' I know (I am guessing they are in the 21-34 age range) think BlackBerry is out of business. No joke. They need to raise their profile with this demographic before they start trying to flog phones to them, especially as most phone shops don't even offer BB10 handsets on contract anymore.
It isn't perfect but I think it is probably more appropriate for many people than an iphone or samsung which costs 3-4 times the price. This is when you discover there are two types of people in this regard: the ones who have never heard of WinPho "hahaha, windows on a phone? Why would I want that, is it gonna crash all the time..." etc etc. And the second type who have actually used it and on the whole seems to really like it.
Good luck to MS, seems like if they can make more inroads with this strategy into enterprise then people will be exposed to WinPho more (and possibly actually want to use it personally). And don't get me started on businesses that waste thousands on iphones when Lumias and Moto Gs exist...
@arnaut the less
sounds about the same as me, 2 live email accounts too, I probably use my q10 more in the day from the sounds of it though but even left on the side it seems to drain pretty quickly. I also have a 64gb sandisk card so no cheapie. Oh well, might try a full reset when I have the time, thanks for your reply.
Agree with everything you said, but puzzled by your 2 days battery life - I love my q10 but the 10 hr battery life is a sore point and one of the main reasons I was looking to change up to a passport. Do you have maany things turned off for this kind of battery life?
Have an upvote. This is exactly the issue - people just do not understand or care. As long as their ipads work ok IT is a boring, dry subject. And politicians all lie so I'll stay at home and ignore politics.
You don't even need to be technically knowledgeable about the subject (what i know about cryptography you write on a stamp) but I understand the ethical and democratic issues around this whole sleight of hand and it terrifies me. I don't even believe anyone person or group is deliberately being 'evil' par se, I just think gchq et al are obsessed with getting their brief done (and ignoring all pesky issues on democracy), I think the politicians in power are clueless on both civil liberties/how computers work and the electorate, in the main, are even more clueless and apathetic. All of which doesn't change the eventual outcome regardless of anyone's intentions, sinister or otherwise...we are slowly sleepwalking away from the idea of a modern democratic state. Education is the key.
Yeah, BlackBerry face such a populist backlash from certain IT jounos it isn't funny. One verge reviewer berated the Hub on the Passport for showing TOO MANY emails and messages. Wtf? That's kind of the point. He also failed to work out how to select which accounts show there (which would have mitigated his bizarre complaint), which is baffling as you simply press the arrow at the top. I've also seen other reviewers complain that it wouldn't run Hangouts or other esoteric email replacement apps which I expect no one outside glossy tech mags and small Web design studios actually use.
BB10 is very powerful like you say but it's difficult to get this point across to 26 year old latte-sipping journalists who are in love with their androids and iphones...a new palm brand would indeed have a similar struggle on its hands with these gatekeepers.
This, rather than the technology itself is what will hold up adoption of the self driving cars. And once the legalities have all been worked out, public perception has to be managed and trust gained.
Most commentards here will understand that statistically machines that drive themselves should be far safer than meatsacks, but the average driver actually thinks they are really good at driving despite the fact that daily traffic accident stats say otherwise. Can you imagine when driverless cars go mainstream and there is the first fatality involving an autonomous car? It wouldn't even need to have been the fault of the car, the pitchforks would come out.
Hmm, have you actually used BB10? It's actually very efficient. And while we're on the subject of specs, go out in the street and ask any Sony, Sammy, HTC etc owner what specs their phone has. I doubt very much if a) any of these people actually know and b) that they give aa shit. You'll probably get a few blank looks when you mention Android ("but mine's a HTC").
BlackBerry are a known quantity - rock solid email and built to survive a nuclear war. People know it for what it does, much like they do for iphones. I hope BlackBerry do well with this.
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