Posts by Bad Beaver

BlackBerry Key²: Clickier, nippier, but how many people still want a QWERTY?

I'm glad they changed the pricing

The overcooked price really put me off last time around, I'm glad they fixed that.

Wait… what? Even more? Seesh!

I'm the type of person that constantly needs to type stuff a predictive / swipe keyboard simply cannot guess right, so QWERTZ (these do come localized to other languages, right?) is very much appreciated – but not €550+ appreciated.

I'm sure it will sell well to folks who do not have to pay for it with their own money though.

Otherwise, what's not to like? It looks neat, it has a big battery, headphone jack, NFC, they even bothered to make a real leather flipcase for it. At this price, the latter should be included for free but of course if will be extra.

Finally: Historic Eudora email code goes open source

Those were the days…

I fondly remember Eudora. Easy, fast, powerful. I also remember people not giving a damn about proper mail etiquette even back then. People are the worst.

Boffins: Michael Jackson's tilt was a criminally smooth trick

Saw him do it

on stage once, many moons ago. It was very, very cool.

Annie is ok.

And THIS is how you do it, Apple: Huawei shames Cupertino with under-glass sensor

More importantly: Headphone Jack

Hey Apple!

Peak smartphone? Phone fatigue hits Western Europe hard

Nokia delivers

Nice looks, decent specs, clean OS, good price – apparently, that sells. Most of their phones also come with a headphone jack, which people seem to like, me included. Ok, they now have a flagship without one for the demographic that likes to spend more for less features. We'll see about how well that sells.

Good news: Apple designs a notebook keyboard that doesn't suck

The last time Apple notebooks had decent keyboards

... was back when those machines were called Powerbooks.

Nokia tribute band HMD revives another hit

Gimme!

HMD sure knows how to attract attention. The 8110i was may first mobile so I might pick one up just for giggles.

It's a bit of a bummer that it's such a low-end device though. Imagie the same design but with a spring-loaded slider revealing an expanded, curved touchscreen with proper specs behind it (remember those SonyEricsson phones?). But then we're not in Korea or Japan and probably nobody would want that...

Re: HMD phones

Also have the 5. It looks great, it works fine, it goes da-da-daaa-daaa-daaaaaa. Internal storage is a little limited but what will you do.

Six things I learned from using the iPad Pro for Real Work™

It's sad really

I made it through university with a Newton MP2100 as my daily driver. Those were simpler days, of course. The device had its limitations but it just worked and it worked very well. I wonder which company made it, they do not seem to be around anymore.

You won't believe this: Nokia soars back into phone-flinger top 3

Da da daaa daaa da da daaa daaa da da daaa daaa daaa

Good news.

I'm very happy with my Nokia 5. Yes, it's a faceless Droid but hey, it works fine. Regardless, I that at some point we will see the return of a proper brand world. One of the cooler things about the Nokia N9 was that the fabula design language was spread across devices. The BT-stereo headset, the NFC-BT-speakers – everything had the iconic squircle icon-shape you saw on your screen. Very satisfying.

Talk down to Siri like it's a mere servant – your safety demands it

Re: Put on a Scots accent.

> I've denied Google access to the microphone on my phone

Oh did you? I did that, too. Now pick up your phone and unlock it. Now say "Ok Google".

Wileyfox goes TITSUP*: Smartmobe maker calls in the administrators

sad to see

My GF has a Swift 2 and is very happy with it. Very neat device for the price at the time, well made… I would have gotten one too had it not been for the Cyanogen issue and Nokia reentering the market.

RIP Ursula K Le Guin: The wizard of Earthsea

RIP

Sad news. Now where is that copy of The Left Hand of Darkness...

Iranians resist internet censorship amid deadly street protests

Tor metrics

I played with that graph for a few minutes.

Try Iran, Irak, Syria, China, Hong Kong, Russia, Korea, North Korea, France, Germany, UK, USA… interesting numbers considering population size and general political climate.

My price for the prettiest graph goes to Vatican City.

Apple Cook's half-baked defense of the Mac Mini: This kit ain't a leftover

Yawn

Unless someone else is footing the bill, the Mini is the only sensible desktop Mac out there for most applications. Yes, it is still darn expensive once you put some decent specs in there but then it will do, for a long time, with very little footprint and very little noise. Oh my gawd, it even hat plenty of ports. Different ones! So you do not even need a pricy TB-dock to connect it to crazy things like your wired network. And you get to choose your own screen! So much convenience!

The new, new Psion is getting near production. Here's what it looks like

Neat

Those rough edged frankensteiny looks make me feel all geeky inside.

So, Nokia. What makes you think the world wants your phones?

Harmattan Skin

Now that would actually be neat :D

Nokia's comeback is on: The flagship 8 emerges

Re: Same old, same old

I cannot even part with the broken carcass of my N9. Such a neat thing, the fabula-design so incredibly polished and clean, even all the accessories spoke the same design language... the things that could have been.

Re: Same old, same old

With the current lineup, the USP is that it's a NOKIA ;) Also, with the 5 and 6, you get very nice design and build at a very decent price -> high style, low price

The 8's HQ audio is also a very, very decent USP.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbLFtF50y9A

Re: Same old, same old

Naaa, don't be mean. It is a valid point. My trusty Nokia E6-00 is on its 3rd battery (first replacement was a dud and dead in a short time, so it is rahter the 2nd) and it is much nicer to just pop in a new one than having to resort to DIY-battery-surgery or give the phone a away for service.

People don't care because phones a cheaper now or come with the illusion of cheapness via monthly payments.

Try to be a bit more negative, will you?

Since the old HQ audio tech was phenomenal, OZO audio sounds awesome.

Also, for some absurd reason, I actually LIKE having a Nokia phone, so paying more for a few gimmicks from a brand I do not care about is not really that attractive. There might be more people like me.

I concur on the sealed battery issue given the price point.

Speaking of price: I just received a Nokia 5 – splendid! Nobody believes it's just €200.

FUKE NEWS: Robot snaps inside drowned Fukushima nuke plant

At the rate the site obliterates the camera-bots there truly is not much to see, I guess.

Re: Go nuclear

> without radiation causing the odd mutation, we would never have evolved in the first place;

Observing the current state of affairs, one might call into question whether this actually qualifies as beneficial. Also, comparing natural levels of radiation that our miserable species has adapted to with a reactor meltdown seems ever so slightly off.

Re: Go nuclear

> And to think people actually upvoted your propaganda/onion article.

Maybe they exeeded the beneficial dose.

Personally, I'd say the odd ill-engineered windmill squishing the odd cow is a very local event, followed by swift and complete cleanup. Compared to global-scale pollution from a site lost for generations, if not forever, that even after years of attempted containment is still cooking robots for breakfast… oh well, it really does not compare that well. Maybe he should try coal next time when he wants to shine the fission-turd, that works much better.

Reborn Nokia phones biz loses its head

Maybe there were even MORE delays

It feels just like the old days, Nokia announcing in Q1 what to expect in Q3 :D

Anyway, I preordered a Nokia 5 that supposedly arrives this week. Cant wait to boot it upadadadaaaaa!

Well, hot-diggity-damn, BlackBerry's KEYone is one hell of a comeback

Oh great… wait, HOW much?

€600? Seriously?

Palmtop nostalgia is tinny music to my elephantine ears

Re: Buy some HD25s

IIRC, the Concorde had the HD25SP which now seem to go by "HD25 Light". Both models are from the "survive the apocalypse" school of design and tend not to break. If they do, all the parts are easily replaced. They also sound great (the SP a little less so) and, like many Sennheisers, scale very well if you like to throw money at them via ever-better and more powerful headphone-amps.

Re: Buy Koss -> please do not.

Please, do the responsible thing and do not get the Koss Porta Pro. For the money, they are really good, fun-sounding phones and Koss provides a great warranty. They are also as open as the arms of a seamstress on duty and leak more to the public than the most proficient whistleblowers. So if you use them on any sort of shared transport, other people will hate you. A lot.

Up close with the 'New Psion' Gemini: Specs, pics, and genesis of this QWERTY pocketbook

QWERTZ

Looks neat. Let me know when I can get it with a QWERTZ keyboard.

Nokia's 3310 revival – what's NEXT? Vote now

… and the 8110

That phone had proper drama, I really liked it. Maybe one could actually revamp it with a touchscreen that is mostly covered by the slider, make it a bit slimmer, the works. Ad the spring-loaded action from the Matrix – sold!

MiniDisc

It's so much more fun than all those faceless files stashed away on some featureless touch-slab. All the high-res in the world cannot replace the tactile joy of making your own disc, choosing it from a stack and spinning it up in one of those little portable hifi-gems.

Trump's new telecoms chief bins broadband subsidies for the poor

Re: Prevent an informed electorate

That would explain a lot, P. Lee. Then again, my perception is likely biased. Please share a link to that talk should you find it, I would love to share it among my more educated friends.

Would you like to know why I get a lot of action at night?

Re: Sorry

Antihistamines do exist ;)

Amazon files patent for 'Death Star' flying warehouse

Airborne Fulfillment – DELIVER US!

The best thing: Once Alexa becomes self-aware, whole cities will be obliterared with areal bombardments comprised of toasters, smartphones and sextoys. Out of the rubble, a new kind of techno-cultist society will emerge, praying to the angry blimp beyond the clouds.

"When the sky god is furious, he sends the hard rain"

A British phone you're not embarrassed to carry? You heard that right

When will it be available?

Looks neat. Does anyone know when it is actually going to be available?

New MacBook Pro beckons fanbois to become strip pokers

It's amazing

Mac user since 98, and what did this announcement do to me? Look up at what you get for throwing €2.000 at Lenovo. Turns out you get a heck of a beastly system with more ports than you can shake a dongle at, a removable battery, matte screen (!) and rows upon rows of real keys. Amazing.

Germany calls halt to Facebook’s WhatsApp info slurp

The snickering in response

... must have been deafening. I'm sure the whole of Zuckstown is sitting in a fear-related puddle. Not.

As others have pointed out, the damage is done. You cannot effectively prevent anyone from violating your privacy by uploading your data to WA. Yes, there should be a warning. No, people would still be doing it regardless.

If you want out of this handbasket, you would have to change all your contact data and then keep it to yourself. Which does not seem that practical.

Video service Binge On 'broke the internet' but 99pc of users love it

Yawn

> paranoid political movement that rallies around an “open internet” or “net neutrality”.

Picked up some telco stock lately that could do better?

I am rather thankful that "somebody" gives "a damn" about those "issues", as for some reason they are damn important. Much like other pesky "odds and sods" such as human rights or privacy, too little people actually bother on a regular basis, and whoops, shit's gone.

If that means that there is a little ruckus about some throttling service (cutting quality as a service – splendid! It's almost as brillant as Nestlé managing to sell cold coffee in a can) with such amazing benefits as still being able to make "that important video call" (seriously?) than so be it.

Apple: Crisis? What innovation crisis? BTW, you like our toothbrush?

No more inserting my shiny jack?

Shame, I won't be jackblocked by Apple, no matter how courageous Phil thinks this to be. Not that inserting your plug into an iThing's welcoming recepticle would have ever resulted in an exceptionally pleasant auditory experience - it has always been more of a convenience thing. Plugging into something of higher quality will instantly cure you, though.

Sony levels up PlayStation 4

Nice

I'll take one once it also comes in white.

Apple is making life terrible in its factories – labor rights warriors

Ahh, glorious past…

I remember, long long time ago, when I bought my first PowerBook. It was made in Ireland. What a gem. Turned out to be kind of expensive despite being the low end model on sale. It has those hot-swap bays so you could pop out the CD-ROM drive or battery. Today, those bays are gone. Too much blood would seep out, I guess.

Alas, where is the alternative? And would anyone be able to afford it?

Lester Haines: RIP

My condolences

Rest in peace, Lester Haines.

Prospect of fertilisation really blows bees' hair back

hmmm

How do the electric emissions of flowers change if you, say, pluck a leaf?

Airbus to build plane that's even uglier than the A380

Love ’em

I have the privilege to see the Beluga almost every day and I never grow tired of it. Very impressive aircraft.

How Nokia is (and isn't) back in the phone business today

Re: It isn't even slightly difficult to differentiate

People used to freak out when I hooked up a mouse to my E7. HDMI was also nice to have.

That phone, with current specs, a better camera and some additions (SD card, replaceable battery)

-> Gimme. Now.

Re: It isn't even slightly difficult to differentiate

So pretty much a Nokia E7 with some more or less minor adjustments. I'd buy that in a heartbeat.

Endless pain, endless strain

I am sure many people will love yet another rectangular Android choice, I am just not one of them. So much hurt.

Regardless, the working adults of this world need business class devices that help them with _getting things done_. This is a trainwreck like Blackberry still exists. So how would that work for "Nokia"?

• Keys are key. Literally.

• Skin that droid! Add a well working interface (geez, just thinking about the UI from the N9's Harmattan rotting away in some IP-drawer is making me sick) that does not make one aggressive by just looking at it.

• At least provide the illusion of being shielded from the mighty eye in the sky.

• Have more than 24h of batterylife.

• Have expandable storage.

• Have a decent camera without any "EDOF" shenanigans.

• Finally: Try not to be everything to everybody with one device.

So pretty much like a Priv but better in terms of specs, build and general attention to detail. It cannot be that hard. Good Lord, why is it so hard?!