Posts by clavileno

Europe approves common charger standard for mobe-makers

I've been plugging bits of kit in for most of my life: scientific equipment, industrial machines, theatrical lighting set-ups, computers, and all manner of other devices, over 4 decades.

The Apple Lightning connector is by far the best thing I've come across in that time for any sort of consumer device. It is well-engineered, reversible, robust, will pull-out in extremis, and can be cleaned without readily damaging the pins.

Apple's cables, on the other hand, are not so wonderful, as they insist on eschewing other designers' more sophisticated approaches to strain relief, but a little bit of Hellerman sleeving works wonders there...

Micro USB, on the other hand, is frightful; my wife and I have bought at least a dozen new cables in the last 12 months due to failure of the micro usb plug. Any device which has to be used whilst charging is at-risk of poor connection. I'm constantly staggered by the number of handheld devices with charging ports at the side, such that gravity alone (acting on a cantilever) drags the cable free. It is an unholy mess of a poor standard implemented poorly.

This is a very sad day.

Microsoft cedes board seat to activist investor

Re: @ Hud Dunlap

Unless Microsoft's rules are unusual, the Board is indeed one man, one vote. The company in General Meeting passes resolutions based upon one voting share, one vote.

The change at MS is really very large. The Board is not huge. It comrpises only 9 people: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/exec/bod.aspx

Lawsuit claims Microsoft misled investors in Surface RT fiasco

Re: Quel surprise

You're right. In this case, however, investors didn't buy shares to support a product. These weren't new shares. They simply bought somebody else's shares. None of the money went to Microsoft, nor supported a product. This issue simply highlights the foolishness in quarterly results - what can they possibly show in a market with multi-year product cycles?

YouTube Wars: Microsoft cries foul as Windows Phone app pulled again

Re: If Google were stiffing their competitors...

The second link is irrelevant. MS are doing the same as, say, Apple - Safari runs faster than 3rd party 'browsers', and such 'browsers' are just wrappers for Apple's own webkit core.

RT != Windows in this context. MS have no monopoly over tablets, and should not be held to a higher standard than other tablet providers IMHO.

Doctor Who? 12th incarnation sought after Matt Smith quits

Kill or cure?

Given his well-publicised views, Rupert Penry-Jones would seem a good bet!