Posts by Rob Davis

No Gingerbread snack for Desire owners, says HTC

Will upgrade once 4G faster mobile internet widely available - much more difference than OS upgrade

Smartphone-based apps and services are highly network dependent (youtube streaming video, internet radio, email, downloads, video calling, online maps, dropbox, cloud services..).

Dual core phones, Android 2.3, 3.1 etc aren't going to improve all those things that much, as they depend on the speed of the network itself.

So my next upgrade will be a 4G-capable phone when 4G services are available in the UK.

4G is about two years away I think. I think I'll cope until then.

Custom-ROM upgrade is getting easier and easier. I'm a novice but managed this without problems on an Orange San Francisco (ZTE Blade) to replace Orange-branded 2.1 Android with plain generic 2.2 Android.

Dixons warns it's getting worse

+1 John Lewis are good - personalised service internet sites can't offer

Just replaced my fridge/freezer in my fitted kitchen with them. I couldn't just buy any old kit as it wouldn't fit, so that's where John Lewis had an advantage over internet sites, because they provided real personal customer service - advice on models that would replace the broken fridge, someone coming to fit the thing. So I definitely agree about the obvious business model of being able to try things out, that will always be there.

There is also an air of class about John Lewis without pretence. They have a presence on the high street as opposed to PC World which tend to be out of town premises. The ambience of John Lewis tends to be more homely, traditional department store as opposed to PC World which is harsh lighting, hostile. The staff are also better presented with a more balanced demographic, compared with PC World purple uniforms that ill fit.

The other thing about John Lewis is that they're a partnership, owned by the staff. Whereas PC World are a company with shareholders. Perhaps this says something about our modern times where some extreme capitalist models have failed?

I agree but think of the staff

I totally agree about laughing at sh*t business practises but I feel sorry for the staff losing their jobs which is inevitable.

Facebook fails webmail tests

Which should review things to *buy* - save u wasting money, not free webmail - try yourself!

"....that Which is the last place you should go for consumer advice on technical issues."

- this could be taken as a good thing or a bad thing. In the case of dixons.co.uk their marketing tagline is "the last place you want to go" - a savvy nod to the crticism they received as a high street chain but also meaning its where you will want to make your purchase - last - because you won't go to any place after doing that.

If you get 5 seperate pieces of advice on something, does the position of each determine its value, not really.

I do think this Which review wasn't a very useful review, especially given that the services are free - Which should be reviewing stuff you want to buy, i.e. help you spend your money.

Motorola's laptop-dock Android phone out on Orange

dock should be in the trackpad

If the phone itself dropped into the a vacant space in front of the big screen then you would have an innovative trackpad because the phone display could show things on the pad for added usability and features e.g. a tool or colour palette for a drawing package, as well as the big screen

Google 'clamps down' on world of Android partners

modding communities are a reason

Why the source is closed. Androis vendors want people to continually buy devices and they want to minimise spend on testing new android versions. The android versions available via modding communities delay consumers upgrading. Not releasing the source for honeycomb is a lesson learnt by google from the mobile market. This helps vendors invest in developing newer products from the sales of consumers buying them.

I think the modding communities are a good thing for consumers but i also see it from the vendors point of view wanting to encourage buying new stuff so that consumers can benefit from newer stuff..

Mobile operators ditch Tube plans

terrorism?

Perhaps there is also a fear that terrorism activities could be coordinated via an underground mobile network to give repeats of 7/7 tube bombings and also remotely triggered devices. The police already have a comms network in place since 7/7 so one wonders why futureproofing wasnt built into that to carry civilian data. So it might instead be national security concerns stopping this project

BBC-led RadioPlayer arrives at last

unremarkable, and aimed at desktops and tablets in the faq rather than mobiles

As the title says. Choice fm and jazz fm already embrace mobile. Jazz fm says "and everywhere on your mobile device" every hour. It might work on some mobiles but this radioplayer.co.uk service is not aimed at mobiles but desktops laptops and tablets.

Hacked BBC streaming websites serve up malware

And what bad things did this particular malware do?

Not clear from the article or from the report. Wipe your files? Use your machine as a spambot? For example. It's worrying that a trusted site can be compromised and worth knowing what the threat is.

Photo loss blogger to Flickr: You're f*cking kidding

shame about flickr

What it does it does very well apart from this sad episode. Guess people want more than just photo sharing hence the declining flickr user base.

BPM beyond automation

Structured data helps automation, enabling machine-based interoperability between different systems

"myriad of ad hoc, informal, and constantly changing workflows that exist across most businesses" - so true: seems to be the defacto way of working.

Another truth I would say is that organisations have several different systems, it's a fact of life, not necessarily a problem - the key is to define machine interfaces between them to enable them to interoperate so that automation is possible.

I think the key is some kind of structured data standard, XML being an obvious contender, but making it possible for non-technical staff to write documents that can be stored in a standard structure, therefore being machine readable and offering automation opportunities.

For example, I've seen examples whereby a table of data is in a Word Document and therefore requires manual intervention open to then cross check this against another data source when if the data was structured this could be automated.

Six sigma like any process definition approach is the basis of automation, as when you've defined what you do, documented it, then you can use that to build the automation using that definition as a specification.

Another problem is several different log-ons to different systems, this needs to be considered when trying to automate, to get different systems to work together.

HTC Desire Z Android Qwerty smartphone

Camera lens window protection, NFC via microsd

1) As a happy HTC Desire Z owner I would suggest some sort of protection for the camera lens window, as unlike say the Nokia N82, there is no protective slide-door. See the question about this that I started and answers for this here:

"Protector for camera lens window on HTC Desire Z? (protect from scratches)"

http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/3196/protector-for-camera-lens-window-on-htc-desire-z-protect-from-scratches

2) NFC - near field communication, for Oyster-card style micro-payments. This is possible on the HTC Desire Z and other microsd capable phones with a custom NFC on microsd, see a question I wrote here - and answer from someone who worked on such technology for banks:

"Add NFC functionality (like Nexus S) via SDIO standard in microsd to non-NFC phones?"

http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/3820/add-nfc-functionality-like-nexus-s-via-sdio-standard-in-microsd-to-non-nfc-phon

So if you like the HTC Sense UI and want a real QWERTY keyboard on an Android 'phone, then you might prefer the HTC Desire Z rather than the Google Nexus S, as the microsd NFC completes the Desire Z functionality to be comparable with the Nexus S - and being on microsd it is upgradeable to better technologies as they arise.

Ballmer says Windows on ARM isn't about ARM

A market ARM-x86 cores combined on one chip?

Sometimes there has been a market for combined technologies - think CD/DVD/Blu-ray drive combos, motherboards supporting different RAM types and interface connections USB,Firewire,USB3,SATA6. Such combined technologies address the wider market and ease transition to newer technologies. Same could apply to chip technologies: so what about a ARM-x86 combo on one chip?

Use-cases:

1) ARM Windows runs on ARM core part of chip, x86 core completely switched off, long nattery life.

2) ARM Windows runs on ARM part, x86 core switched on when legacy x86 app is loaded. x86 and ARM applications co exist - in one Desktop, the x86 core providing acceleration for a x86 software emulator, providing near or actual native speeds. And vice versa, x86 windows runs on x86 core while ARM provides ability to run ARM-Windows apps at native speed.

3) x86 Windows runs on x86 core, while ARM core assists with graphics acceleration, audio DSP

4) Run a variety of OSs multi-boot on one machine: x86 Windows, x86 Linux, Windows CE on ARM, Google Android on ARM, Google ChromeOS on ARM. Google NaCL native Chrome plug-in market widened. Attractive to OEMs as one part does many things, simpler manufacturing. Attractive to consumers as product is versatile.

Multi-core and System-On-chip expertise is developed enough now to make a ARM-x86 combined chip a reality.

The Acorn Risc PC, in fact would be the precursor to this, as it had a 2nd processor slot along side that for the ARM to accept a x86 chip and run Windows within a Risc OS desktop. A little later, tighter integration with 3rd-party software almost allowed both OSs apps to appear as running on one OS's desktop. That was 15 years ago. Think what could be done now!

Ubuntu Wayland: Shuttleworth's post-Mac makeover

@AC13:35GMT 23 Dec, Copy protected materials.../@JEDIDIAH Someone let a troll...18:54

I was trying to introduce a non-techie friend to Ubuntu.

One of the first questions they had was: "Does it play DVDs?"

So we put one in and it didn't play. Then I followed the official advice regarding installing packages etc. and some played but not all, those that didn't played on the same machine running Windows.

Sure DVD has some protections and restrictions but I don't see why these can't be overcome, after all, Ubuntu can run on a chip, an Intel and a motherboard with a graphics card that all contain proprietary technology.

Widespread mass Ubuntu use is something I'm not sure that the technically adept want, sadly, judging by the comments on these forums sometimes. It seems like some form of clique snobbery; a fear that mass appeal will pollute the platform.

Sometimes people here look down on others who aren't technical, making a virtue out of complexity by having to tinker at the command line for example, deriding those who don't wish to.

I thought we'd moved on from that kind of snobbery as it's gone on for a long time and the associated intellectual mast**b*tion discussions about which platform is better.

But sometimes I *do* see that we have moved on here too and it's refreshing as some folks just want something to work and get on with other things.

I'm an Ubuntu and CentOS Linux user, Windows 7 and XP user and Mac OS X user. I'm a big fan of open source software, use and develop with it a lot an I think it's a healthy situation if Ubuntu becomes more successful and a viable alternative for non-techies.

As for "Someone let a troll into the castle... " posted Thursday 23rd December 2010 18:54 GMT

I really believe multiple distros can slow progress, as competition can be the enemy of compatibility.

If Ubuntu/Linux could play ALL DVD-Videos that would be nice - would welcome comments

Not all of mine play on VLC / Movie player in Ubuntu but on same PC booted into Windows with VLC they do. I would welcome comments

http://superuser.com/questions/199963

Fragmented by plethora of distros was one of the causes of Linux's lack of take up by the public.

...because this caused uncertainty about whether applications, utilities, improvements could run everywhere.

"Shuttleworth seems to have a clear vision in mind for Ubuntu's future."

"one man, one vision, one desktop."

About time.

London's tube demands faster-than-NFC ticketing

Related: NFC on microsd for non-NFC phones, hardware upgrades to speedier devices therefore possible

Concluding from your article, NFC would still need to mature, go through a few more iterations for some time sensitive applications such as these.

Good advice might be, NOT to get the early NFC capable phones but instead use a microsd based solution, which could be replaced with faster versions as they arrive.

Here's a question I wrote that got some good answers on the subject:

http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/3820/add-nfc-functionality-like-nexus-s-via-sdio-standard-in-microsd-to-non-nfc-phon

Delicious, Yahoo! Buzz, MyBlogLog, AltaVista all face axe

Delicious: export your bookmark data and setup your own Drupal userlinks server

Other free bookmarking services are available, and you can export your bookmarks from delicious.

Shame yahoo missed a trick with this. the bookmarks users tagged in delicious could have been used to provide targeted advertising on subjects with those tags, yet delicious is ad-free perhaps to the pleasure of some,.

The stackexchange family of websites, and goodle themselves seem to get it done right with well positioned non-imposing adverts.

The other trick is the user voted search potential, as opposed to machine generate search results. The side effect of delicious as a social bookmarking tool is that searching within it always produces results selected by people, popularity is automatic by the amount a result is linked by its users, rather than a more vague rating system.

digg, stumbleupon, offer alternative delicious.

Otherwise you might want to do a diaspora style approach and host your bookmarks yourself, with cheap shared web hosting and free Drupal and the userlinks module this would largely provide delicious functionality. Then federate your machine with other people doing the same and you have the social, bookmark sharing element.

http://drupal.org/project/userlink

US iPad to get BBC pay app - with 'handcrafted British feel'

And ITV? launch ipad app after selling itv.com to Apple, cash to rebrand ITV as global broadcaster

And what about ITV? They should do the same: they've attracted much criticism aiming for the lowest common denominator but in my opinion they are up there if not lead in drama (Inspector Morse, Cracker, Darling Buds of May, Jeeves and Wooster, Downton Abbey, Frost, TheBill, Coronation Street, Heartbeat - yes laugh but like it or not these are exportable brands) and have been a platform launching some great game show formats (Millionaire), used to have a great arts show (South Bank) , great reality TV (X factor, Celebrity)...

ITV should sell itv.com to Apple for billons, rebrand as a global brand "UKTV"? And launch an iPad app to be inline with their subscription model in years to come.

Outside of the UK domestic market who knows itv.com?

Maybe a joint venture marketing campaign in partnership with Apple. After all, Apple are raving about being able to sell the Beatles material on iTunes now, another great British brand and Apple would have great experience from this episode in dealing with Intellectual Property and concurrent branding (Apple Corp vs Apple Computer)...

Apple accused of iPhone ban on 'all single-station radio apps'

Q: Do I buy a separate radio receiver for each different radio station I listen to? A: No.

Question: Do I buy a separate radio receiver for each different radio station I listen to? Answer: No.

I don't think there are any radio sets on sale that are fixed-tuned-into one station.

So why should I have to download a different app for each station I want to listen to?

Sounds like Apple have taken a sensible stance here. An app for everything is becoming a bit ridiculous when many could simply work within mobile versions of websites in Safari.

I also have an ageing but trustworthy Nokia N82 - there is only one radio app - the Nokia Internet Radio Application for receiving thousands of stations. Having them all in one place makes searches for genres, keywords, by country possible, that couldn't be said with a separate app for each station.

As for profits, remember that is not only Apple's interest, it is the interests of Jim Barcus, the president of DJB Radio Apps in the article.

It's very easy to set up a .m3u stream to stream mp3 audio online for your station - I've set it up for one station, and Safari will pick this up just fine.

PS: Do I buy a separate radio receiver...

Oh, and before someone, says that these single radio apps are free. Fine, but I still wouldn't have a separate radio for each station I listen to. So why should I download a free app for each one.

Tube to get phone coverage by the Olympics

Better terrorism co-ordination (maybe not)? Bluetooth proximity, CBS, digital powerline picocells?

I'm in favour of mobile reception on the underground but my fear is that it might enable more terrorism co-ordination, of planted mobile-phone triggered devices and violence. You're welcome to dispel my fears.

Other world cities don't appear to have such concerns, as those who live in those postings here illustrate, Hong Kong being another example. But perhaps our foreign policy and recent tragic events on the underground continue to place London under threat compared to those other cities.

As how to deploy a system - delivering the connectivity via the tube's powerlines being one mentioned here. These could be connected to a Vodafone-like (don't work for them BTW) suresignal femto/picocell on the tube carriages themselves.

CBS Outdoor plasma screens and tube tunnel projectors displaying video advertising, might be the other delivery system of the mobile data - a data feed is already in place to serve streaming video for these so perhaps this service has spare capacity, and again, be fitted with a Pico femto/picocell for GSM/3G reception, fitted to the projection and screens themselved.

Funding may also be possible via this CBS Outdoor route, as they sell advertising.

Another funding route might be with bluetooth proximity message whereby commuters receive targetted advertising via bluetooth messages on their phones.

Also 2D barcodes on in-tube advertisments linking to special offers such as Groupon.

'Wonder it theregister.co.uk sees any such opportunities here to grow its publishing business?

Interesting social network mashups with proximity/NFC Oyster style touchless built into new phones also another option.

iOS 4.2: An 'ace' for iPad, a 'meh' for iPhone

USB mass storage capability would have been nice

to transfer file, rather than having to install a custom app on the host PC/Mac - and also a 3rd-party add-on app for the device itself such as FileApp or via cumbersome iTunes.

Inconvenient, when simple compliance to USB mass storage class would have sufficed. Also prefer not to jailbreak such device to make this work.

Facebook homes in on world of Google

delicious.com - where search is already social and has the "human algorithm"

*social* bookmarking site delicious.com already provides user-rated content via tagging of web content addresses (URLs); popularity of an item is defined by the *humans* that use the same tags for the same content.

Berners-Lee: Facebook 'threatens' web future

agree +1

...need a few more esteemed people to stand up and say the same/agree to build momentum on resisting the threats that he describes.

Great article, Does TBL have a Facebook fan page, or an unofficial one?

...and if his speech can be posted there, we can all 'Like' it then :) Unlikely I would guess!

Great article, I agree with everything he says.

Much less users, perhaps the answer to your question?

500 million facebook users vs how many compuserve users?

Open source Drupal takes Gardens path to big business

It's capable, but needs suitable marketing for new arenas such as for business information systems

Inter-operability is key. It's a fact of life that most businesses have several different systems. Rather than carpet over all of them, Drupal should inter-operate, e.g. with SAP, Sharepoint, etc.

Drupal has many strengths applicable to business situations:

- tagging/taxonomy/synonyms to identify content. Content can have multiple tags, information becomes self organising, rather than being placed in rigid hierachical folder systems that get eroded by re-organisations,marketing names for products versus internal-code names for products.

- precise user permissions management to access and modify content

- clean meaningful URLs without .aspx, .php? etc in sight

As for Joomla and Wordpress, great alternatives but Drupal is a superset of all of them, its disadvantage being that these are already well established in their areas of strength and they are optimised to be easier to set up for those areas.

Samsung Galaxy Tab Android tablet

USB host / USB on-the-go? For plugging in USB devices?

E.g. Pen drives, external hard drives, external DVD/Blu-ray burners e.g. for backup of data?

In other words to make the device behave like a PC in terms of USB connectivity.

At that price I would like to think so.

Not sure if Android 2.2 can support it (yet) even if the hardware is present.

Facebook 'next-gen' comms (sorta) answer Google beef

Facebook mail is just a simpler/quicker way to message friends from other services and back

The recently updated Facebook mail system is not a Gmail killer - that's simply lazy journalism.

These folks do a good job of explaining:

http://lifehacker.com/5690722/why-you-shouldnt-switch-your-email-to-facebook

Google's social 'problem' doesn't involve building Facebook rival

They don't but they could - facebook connect buttons displaying adverts

"Erm, since when have the FB conect buttons carried advertising?"

- They don't but they could. I think that was the point made by the original poster.

Apple MacBook Pro 17in Core i7 BTO notebook

Comparing Apples with oranges @Marco Alfarrobinha 17:34 @AC 14:56

You are comparing Apples with oranges, apologies for making that figure of speech into a pun, but it's true.

Your comparison is purely based on internal hardware and benchmarks and not the OS, the software available or the experience of using the machine.

It really depends on what you want to do with the machine: if, like me, you want a portable means to learn Final Cut studio, one of the leading film editing systems, then you'd get a Mac as only it can run this software. And if, like me, you wanted to learn iPhone/iPod touch development (I only forked out for a iPod touch though), again you'd need a Mac, though platform restrictions appear to becoming more relaxed here.

However, if you want to only run Adobe software such as Premiere, or the leading After Effects (better even than Motion on the Mac, apparently) then I would say get a desktop PC for as you say much cheaper and with the saving get a companion laptop, still with some pennies left over. The Adobe license allows for 2 installs provided you are the only user, using one at a time. With this setup you get the total flexibility of building the desktop PC you want with a companion portable machine for on the move. Discussion I started about platform choice for Adobe, with some useful answers from more experienced users here: http://forums.adobe.com/message/3051534

My thoughts are based on that I own a similarly spec'd MacBookPro but from the June model update earlier this year and with faster 7200rpm hard drive, hoping to benefit from an eSATA drive via the express card interface later on when cash allows. I also own a desktop Windows 7 PC upgraded from a cheap Celeron Vista bought from a supermarket but now has Intel 1.8Ghz Core Duo with 2Gb RAM, fanless ATI graphics, near silent main fan. Cheap as chips for these parts off ebay, I would agree and runs sweetly too, plays 1080p HD video effortlessly.

Pure Oasis Flow weatherproof DAB and Internet radio

Nice kit, Revo Pico RadioStation is an alternative to consider

Nice kit - because of the portability and waterproof design.

Also consider the Revo Pico RadioStation (in similar or slightly cheaper price range, depending on where you buy):-

http://revo.co.uk/digital-radio/revo-pico-radiostation.php

This was also well reviewed by the register (85%) some time ago: http://www.reghardware.com/2008/10/11/review_dab_radio_pico_radio_station/

I'd like to know if this Pure model works with Wi-Fi adhoc networks for receiving the internet radio service, so that one could connect it wirelessly to a mobile (e.g. running Joikuspot) in tethering mode, so I could take it down the allotment and listen to internet radio there. I've not had success with the Revo model for this arrangement, though standard WiFi (infrastructure) from a Wireless broadband router in the home is fine.

At the very least, I would be sure, that like the Revo, this Pure model will faithfully connect to such standard, common-all-garden, Wifi infrastructure networks from a standard broadband router too.

The Revo is portable and about the same size as the Pure, and the Revo is also similarly suitable for use in less than dry environments such as the kitchen, bathroom and outdoors.

However I wouldn't suggest that the Revo would similarly withstand a tropical or heavy shower as this Pure model would, owing to the additional RCA/phone connectors, USB and other inputs on the back of the Revo which would offer a route for water entry under such heavy downpour.

That said I am a very happy customer of the Revo Pico Radiostation, for the last year or so, bought in August 2009, battery life still holding up.

Toshiba AC100 Android smartbook

They should have waited until ChromeOS is ready

ChromeOS - the google OS that is their Chrome web browser packaged as a complete OS is more ideal.

Orange intros MiFi gadget, refreshes mobile data deals

Joikuspot - turn your 'phone into a secure WiFi access spot

...mainly for Nokia Symbian series 60 3rd Edition Wifi Capable 'phones and above.

So instead of this MiFi, do this:

- Get a Nokia Symbian Series 60 3rd Edition Wifi 3G capable phone: e.g. the N82, N95 etc - perhaps around 60 to 80 quid or so off ebay

- Get Joikuspot software - cheap around 10 quid or so - turns your phone into a secure Wifi hotspot

- Use your data allowance with your usual main phone operator to operate this 'phone as a MiFi

OK the initial outlay isn't as cheap BUT:

- You use your existing data allowance - no extra pay as you go that has limited expiry time - simpler (only one account to manage) and cheaper in long run

- One less extra device to carry around if you use it as your main phone

- Some operators text you when approaching your monthly usage allowance, warning that standard charges will apply

- You get a *phone* with a reasonable camera and with N82 a proper flash

My suggestion may suit some - just like to make you aware. My suggestion with Joikuspot only provides ad-hoc wifi with WEP security - which is fine for general internet for most laptops, ipod touch's etc but some may require Wifi infrastructure mode - not currently supported by Symbian.

OOo contributors make a dash for LibreOffice

As long is it doesn't begin with G or K

...as in Gnome, Gwibber, KDE and all the other utterly awful nerdy geeky Linux software names.

Stay at home and watch telly, trade bodies urge Brits

Yes

I echoed the article writer's concern about this:

"Stay in": Posted Wednesday 9th June 2010 12:30 GMT in "In Sony BDV-E370 Blu-ray home cinema kit":

In http://forums.theregister.co.uk/post/784164

I said: "That's right, stay in, safe in your own home. Don't venture out, socialise, connect with others and see live entertainment or make your own. Just consume. Do you really need this?"

HTC outs Gratia low-cost Android smartphone

Fully featured device for a "low-cost" Android phone

GPS, WIFI, 3G/UMTS, run Android, sounds like a possible bargain.

Like the idea of the ZTE Blade too, would consider that too if available in UK unbranded, dislike operator livery on my phones.

Ubuntu 10.10: date with destiny missed

Partitioning essential for dual-boot encrypted Ubuntu and Windows work PC

...if your work involves testing stuff on different platforms or that you mostly use one OS for development but need the other for applications unavailable on other platforms.

Encrypted with Truecrypt or otherwise to protect sensitive company data and intellectual property.

Such a multi-partitioned, multi-boot setup is possible for encrypted Windows and pre-10.04 versions of Ubuntu that used the simpler GRUB and not the more complex (but automatic updating) GRUB2 that 10.04 uses.

If Canonical can get the partitioning, multi-boot and co-existing with Truecrypted Windows, then the on-the-move developer office becomes more of a less risky reality.

I've tried to achieve such a setup here, but not succeeded yet and instead opting for booting Ubuntu from an external drive or use VirtualBox or other VM ware in Windows. Hear about my story here: http://superuser.com/questions/179526/

An update is that the alternate CD should be used for such special multi-boot mulit-partition scenarios but this may not be for the novice installer.

One For All SV9380 Freeview HD indoor aerial

Encouraging review if better than all other internal aerials as stated...

Good realistic review.

"My 11th floor flat has line of sight of Crystal Palace’s transmitter."

My friend also lives in line sight of the same transmitter on the Anerley Road in Crystal Palace. So I'm hopeful of the same experience as yourself.

"Even so there is no guarantee that it will work for you, as every situation is different, with several variables coming in to play. Indeed, for some, only a rooftop aerial will suffice."

Realistic comment.

"No portable aerial can do anything with a really poor signal but some are better than others with medium to weak signals. From my experience, the SV9380 outperformed all other indoor aerials including the Philex 27770R."

Encouraging - that would be the key statement that would make me buy this unit. I've tried another aerial off of amazon.co.uk for 15quid, they miss some key channels such as BBC.

Ideal for flats where no aerial socket seems available.

Facebook unveils changes to enhance privacy

You can have attention but you can't control it.

It's human nature to want attention and Facebook provides such an opportunity. However, once acquired, attention is not possible to completely control. Ask any celebrity. Unless you can afford Max Clifford. Even then...

Multi-touch iMacs prepped in Cupertino?

Multi-touch Macs inevitable. Hybrids: iOS4 and MacOS X, x86-ARM to run all App store apps alongside

...as the patents and rumours suggest.

iOS and MacOS X co-existing on such machines would provide a vast already installed base of multi-touch aware applications from the App store.

The iOS/ARM CPU-based AppStore applications would run via a software emulator, emulator technology being something Apple have vast experience of with Rosetta.

x86-ARM hybrid CPUs might start to appear, allowing hardware support for iOS-MacOS coexistence to allow Apple subnotebooks to run full MacOS at performance with hotswitching between that and iOS running on the ARM part of the chip to conserve battery life.

Android-Windows combos might also benefit from such hybrid CPUs for same reason. Another benefit is that on x86 native OS and apps mode the ARM could assist with GPU acceleration or audio DSP.

iOS could well become Apple's main dominant OS, assisted by ARMs roadmap for high performance chips and 64bit computing.

It's all speculation though.

Skype and Facebook sitting in a tree?

Co-incides with reports of the facebook phone development

http://forums.theregister.co.uk/forum/1/2010/09/20/facebook_phone/

Facebook fone? Feh, says Facebook

Critical mass users, 'Fone' could be hit. Phone nos, emails, post address change, Facebook constant

They're onto something here, I think.

Maintaining contact with Facebook is more certain than other means, like it or not, as the account (id) can remain the same when every other contact means changes: phone numbers change (due to moving house, changing mobile deals) postal addresses change (moving with work, moving in with partner, etc.) and email addresses change (switch from ISPs own to gmail etc, register own domain etc).

New possibilities for interaction - Agree with @Phil.A about these and Facebook is a big Johari Window experiment. Also about the contact sharing on Facebook - good point Good point @Phil.A: it's curious that by default this is exposed whereas not many people would do this with their mobile phone contacts list.

Facebook friend list can be hidden from your friends, actually, - or indeed a subset of them (using the lists). Go to the Account Settings and there is a setting called something like 'basic directory listing' (I can't confirm it here as writing this on work machine and we don't allow it here). I hide mine for the same reason I don't reveal my mobile phone/contacts book. Facebook still shows your mutual friends when your account is viewed by another friend - and I think that's a good thing, after all it's not about oneupmanship of friends count but to help maintain your genuine friends.

VOIP integration with Facebook contacts will profoundly change how we phone people: no numbers to remember. A new shift in the same way some folks shifted to seldom use landline phones even at home (except for the broadband) owing to the convenience and call plan deals.

Other synergies might be the new Facebook locate check-in, Facebook Applications. They have a rich platform with immense crowd behaviour so the possibilities are intriguing if not alarming. They perhaps see market to be won from specialised services like Skype by providing convenience of everything in one place.

Perhaps they will call it the Fone - Facebook PhONE. One place for all your contacts and friends.

Apple iPod Touch 4G

@Sean Donnellan VLC Player now on iPad (maybe iPod touch too?), 802.11b/g as well as n for Wi-Fi

@Sean Donnellan

VLC Player has been released for free on iPad to address precisely your concerns (that I share) on supported video on Apples mobile devices, so maybe we could expect the app for the iPod touch/iPhone soon. I will certainly be looking forward to that to be able to play FLAC Audio files.

See here: http://applidium.com/en/news/vlc_media_player_available_for_the_ipad

To the reviewer: the ipod touch also supports b and g wireless, see here:

http://www.apple.com/uk/ipodtouch/specs.html

Nikon points D7000 camera at high-end enthusiasts

24p is Blu-ray compatible, not aware of any films at a higher rate

I would have thought that, at 24p, being compatible with the professional film industry that uses this frame rate with higher end equipment can only be a bonus.

This provides enthusiasts and indie-film makers an easier path (not having to convert framerates, with potentially dubious results) to publishing and airing their content. For once this decision appears to be driven by standards rather than technology or marketing.

1080p30 and 1080p25 and higher obviously have benefits with higher frame rates but 24p appears to be the most common standard of Blu-rays and films, even though other rates are defined.

Don't 24p Blu-ray films look good on a TV then?

Of course, I could be completely wrong if distributing films is over the internet - where frame rate support might be more flexible and variations supported. YouTube has a 1080p but also a mode called 4K - for content made by high end Red cameras.

Read a debate about 24p vs other frame rates here:

"HD Camcorders: all not 24p capable for archive direct to Blu-ray: thoughts?"

http://forum.videohelp.com/topic373097.html#2005552

Time limit on length of video?

Hopefully they've not capped the duration limit, it just fills up the capacity of the memory card.

Earlier cameras had a deliberate time limit to avoid EU Duty on camcorder classification.

FAT32 card limit, if used, can be overcome by auto-splitting the continous growing recording into separate files with a playlist metafile to link and order them, as PVRs might do.

'Clip' in the official spec seems ominous though :(

Code for open-source Facebook littered with landmines

+1 & NoSQL useful for this problem?

+1 upvote as agree - and is that where NoSQL-style databases come in, with their apparent better handling of data distributed across machines?

Psychologically rewarding themselves, when to release? Stunt & how long's a piece of string.

As other posters say, it's pre-alpha so it's bound to have flaws: +1 upvoted all of your comments as I agree.

Feature and security priorities are debated by other posters, differing opinions here are always going to be the case. Academic discussion.

When to release? Nothing wrong in them releasing this now, or last week or next week or next month. But to maintain momentum of publicity it was probably about the right time, before it got forgotten about. As they say, it's better to be talked about than not at all.

They probably wanted to psychologically reward themselves with releasing it "hey look what we did", like many people do when creating and releasing an unfinished website.

Cyberlink v. Nero media authoring suites

Free imgburn on Windows does just fine for CD, DVD and Blu-ray

ImgBurn - lovely free program - easy to use wizard, informative logging and friendly dialog pop up messages. Plenty of support on the associated forum.

Nero 8 has served me very well, but recently having 2 attempts at burning a Blu-ray on Nero 9 (if I remember the version) to backup my data failed on it, could have been many factors, but just changing to ImgBurn I got success. So I've stuck with ImgBurn ever since for backing up files to disks or making honest backup copies of my paid-for software (saved me doing this as one of my original disks got cracked). I am guessing that a bug might have been introduced between versions.

If I wanted to do something a little fancy - but still a proper standard - like make a DVD-Video but with a DVD-ROM portion on same disc I would try Nero first (as have done with success), failing that I would try ImgBurn. videohelp.com forum is useful too.