Posts by Kevin Bailey

Kindle Fire: An open letter to Jeff Bezos

Creative are making the same kind of mistake

Creative sell Android tablets with Apt-X built in - so you can stream music to Bluetooth/Apt-X speakers or adapters plugged into your stereo - at CD quality. So it's a multi-room hi-fi without the massive cost of existing systems.

BUT - the tablets don't have Android market place. Why would anyone in their right mind buy or recommend an Android device with no Android market place.

Creative are even the main sellers of docking stations which can receive Apt-X - so they'd get all those sales as well.

Ten... high-end Android tablets

Apt-X

Do any have apt-x?

Android 'stands on Microsoft's shoulders', says MS lawyer

The Xbox cost billions - at one point I read it had cost MS six billion dolla. Not sure how much MS make from the games but it my take forever to get the initial cost back.

WikiLeaks on verge of financial collapse, founder says

You can donate by...

... getting stuff from http://wikileaks.spreadshirt.com/

I've already bought the staff Christmas pressies from there. The US government is getting more totalitarian by the day. Such a pity that they managed to see off the soviet monster but are now turning into something just as bad.

Ubuntu's Oneiric Ocelot: Nice, but necessary?

Easy enough

Click Home Folder which is the first button and opens the file manager.

Connect to server... and Bookmarks will then be in the menu.

Agreed - might be nicer to have it available all the time - I'm sure a bit of RTFM would sort that out.

Win 8 haters are just scared of change, say MS bosses

I agree

After moving through Unix, Apple ][,..bit of a gap... dosshell, Win3.11, CDE, 95, 98, iceWM, Win2K, Win XP (yuck), KDE, Gnome (which has been great), I've not got Unity on one laptop after an upgrade.

And I'm really impressed with it - better use of widescreen monitors, fast, easy to get at apps, remembers the common apps used etc.

How can that previous poster say he doesn't like unity - and say he likes windows current way of starting apps by type the first few letter in a box - it's what Unity does.

This Windows interface as presented looks to me like Win311 and that they've run out of ideas.

Put down the Java manual

You will need VS...

My (admittedly few years ago) experience with VB.NET was that you can't do much more than 'Hello world' with the basic tools. I actually had replies on forums to requests for help saying 'No VS - ouch, can't help you buddy'.

I would have preferred to use the basic tools to keep the code clean. I think it was called ASP.NET Web Matrix.

Sad bit was that the company I worked for paid for VS which I installed on the dev server - and that broke .NET on that server to the extent it didn't work at all. So I then re-installed . .NET 1.1.. same machine .... installed .NET 2.0 .. rewiped machine then installed ...couldn't move app....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Samsung reveals release for 5in tablet

Apt-x

Is Apt-x on there?

HTC reckons 'WinPho will give Android a run for its money'

the xbox..

...has cost ms billions and has had an enormous failure rate.

Basically, if it wasn't propped up by windows/office it would have disappeared long ago.

Toshiba outs 7in Android 3.2 tablet

Does it have apt-x ?

The first tablet running Android properly and doing apt-x gets my money.

Being able to have it around the house - streaming di.fm or any other music over Bluetooth/apt-x (the apt-x means CD quality) - to bluetooth/apt-x enabled speakers such as

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Creative-Wireless-Bluetooth-Speaker-System/dp/B003MAJM36/ref=sr_1_5?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1317236922&sr=1-5

or to the stereo using a bluetooth/apt-x receiver

http://www.amazon.co.uk/QED-QE2920-U-Play-Bluetooth-Receiver/dp/B003BF0OF2/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1317237077&sr=8-9

is what I'll hand money over for. Browsing the web and checking messages is a Brucie bonus.

Creative are close with the Zii0 - but they've knackered Android so that you can't use Andoroid Marketplace. That's a bit like selling an iThing which can't access the app store - how dumb can you get?

Unbelievable - Creative don't understand that when I buy a product I expect it to be mine - not crippled so that Creative can try (and fail) scrape some extra pennies. They could have a runaway success on their hands. Imagine - hi-fi music streaming to any room from a tablet costing about £150. And that would be any music you have either on the device or any online services you access.

I would get one tomorrow if Marketplace was working. As it is - I think I'll have to wait for a new Samsung because apparently the new ones are incorporating apt-x.

Microsoft to skim Samsung Android takings

I'll make a guess

MS will drop their Motorola claim as Motorola are now backed by Google.

Google plus Google Plus: You give us info, we sell it!

I'll help...

'switch from Firefox to Chrome' - because chrome is significantly faster.

'buy a macbook' - because they much better than standard Windows based laptops and will cost you less in the long run - let alone the fact that having a faster PC/laptop is simply better cos life is too short.

$25 toy radio used to knock out feds

Are you sure?

'Fortunately, and despite media portrayals, few criminal organisations are quite organised enough to create such an information brokerage.'

The cartels in Mexico apparently make six billion US per year on cannabis alone/

SQL survives murder attempt by mutant stepchild

How can you possibly...

...say that MySQL docs are better than PG's - have you had to use either?

MySQL's is bloated badly.

Apple blocks sale of Samsung's Android fondleslab across EU

Celebrate!

The future is open source.

Apple have now shown that they don't 'get it'.

I've always recommended Apple stuff even though I don't have any - but no more. Android and Ubuntu all the way now.

MS to WinXP diehards: Just under 3 more years' support

I'm still puzzled...

...after all these years - I'm still puzzled.

Windows 2000 was reasonably streamlined and could have been the basis for a reasonable OS.

XP is bloated, slow and lacks anything useful by default.

And as for Windows 7 - it's still a LAN only OS - the internet has been around for while now and you'd think they'd be able to seamlessly link to SSH shares at the very least.

Sorry - it *can* connect to SSH shares all you have to do is...

Download and extract mindTerm

Run mindterm.jar (double click it if you can, otherwise in command prompt type in java -jar mindterm.jar)

Type in the host you want to ssh into followed by the username and password

In the menu click on Plugins>FTP To SFTP Bridge…

Type in 127.0.0.1 for the Listen address

Type in 21 for the Listen port

Select the Remote system type

Click Enable

Click Dismiss

Next we want to install NetDrive

Once netdrive is installed, open it up, and click New Site on the bottom

Type in localhost (or whatever you want to call it) for the Site name

Type in localhost for the Site IP

Type in 21 for the Port

Select FTP for the Port

Select a Drive letter

Check Connect as anonymous

Click Save

Click Connect

Click the X to close the window (will minimize to system tray)

Microsoft: 'You can get your data onto Azure for free!'

'but these only run Windows server.'

They really just don't get it do they?

I might have a need to deploy Window apps for clients - but I don't use Windows Server. So Azure is not an option.

Microsoft Visual Studio to end dev and ops 'ping pong'

No you couldn't...

...sorry to disagree.

I tried for quite a while to build a data loading app using the basic free editor which used to be available - called ASP.NET Web Matrix.

I soon hit limits - and all the other devs were all saying that you needed VS to do anything much more serious than 'Hello world'. And you're right - VS automatically brought in all sorts of stuff which I couldn't track and the app became impossible to deploy.

To fix this I thought I'd install VS directly on the dev server - which caused .NET to stop working altogether.

MS announces Windows Phone 7.1

friends fault re old phone numbers...

Yes. It's the friends fault. But Android deals with this elegantly with a single tick box.

Yet another example of MS and their apologists expecting the real world to conform to their software and not the other way around.

Steve Ballmer window-dresses Windows 8

it genuinely puzzles me...

...when people think Windows XP was any good.

Apart from it's slowness and instability it misses so many features which you get as standard with Ubuntu or MacOs.

It can't even connect seamlessly to an SSH share for a start. Multiple desktops - no. Time machine like backup - no. Easy access to tens of thousands of free apps - no. An update system which updates every single bit of the system AND apps in one click - no. Free upgrades forever - no. Can be run be any ordinary user easily without needing dedicated teams of tech support - no. Etc etc.

Read-only nation: can Open Source change the British way?

why

quote people who are clearly clueless.

Open source is what powers our modern technologies. Closed source is the De Lorean of our modern world. All shiny sales gimmicks which doesn't work properly.

Google hoists Python-C++ crossbreed onto dev cloud

Just switch...

...to Python - it's easy enough!

Barnes & Noble answers Microsoft's anti-Android suit

at last!

A company with some guts. The B and N statement sums up the issue exactly.

Now all we need is for the courts and some politicians to show some balls and this thug of a company might be stopped from running it's extortion racket.

Pope says gravity proves technology can't supplant God

Recent scientific discoveries...

...point to the existence of alternative universes and some kind of design to the universe we're in.

I'm afraid your Newtonian view of a cold, clockwork universe is outdated - science itself is leading us to some very strange ideas about the universe. Science still can't explain gravity properly as one example. See 'the Quantum self' by danah zohar for example.

If ever you're in real big need of help then try praying - you might be surprised.

So, what's the best sci-fi film never made?

Gregory Benford...

Sure some of Gregory Benford's books should have been filmed by now.

Proper sci-fi for grown-ups - and some of the amazing stuff can be done now CGI is where it is.

Nokia to help WinPho outsell iOS in four years

Apparently Symbian will still be outselling Android in 2014...

...and Windows 7 is doomed to fail.

http://www.intomobile.com/2010/10/06/windows-phone-7-is-doomed-to-fail/

BTW - I've a friend who is admin for some training colleges who issued WinPho7 phones to staff - and the staff have apparently nearly all returned them because they don't like them. I think it must take a lot of 'not liking' to actually return something new and shiny. She now has a Samsung Android handset.

Moving to Windows 7: Is it worth it?

does it have...

Can windows 7 natively connect to an ssh share? Is the whole system and all installed software applications updateable in one click? Does it have multiple desktops? Are all upgrades free forever? is it extremely fast even if you have 30 apps open and you're using the cheapest dell laptop?

Sheila's Fails? The statistics of biological risk

The world is going mad....

How on earth is a bunch of unelected nobodies deciding what happens in a commercial transaction between bookies/insurers and punters in a different country?

What? Is a fifty year old woman driver in a Citroen 2CV with a clean license now supposed to pay the same yearly premium as a 17 year-old male with a drink driving conviction and a Subaru Impreza...

...cos otherwise it's *discrimination*.

This is as insane as the couple who were fined for getting off a train *before* it had got to the station which they had *paid* to go to.

Beware people - common sense seems to in very short supply.

I see dumb people - everywhere - walking around like normal people - they don't know they're dumb. We need to let them know how dumb they are.

Debian 6: Have your Debian and eat your Ubuntu too

What?!? Don't you understand how open source works?

"there's not much the people can do to change it if they don't like it"

Erm - fork it then - take a copy from the code repositories and do whatever you want.

And if you can find enough people who want to do the same thing as you then form a group and work on it together.

Or sign up to Debian - become a member - take part in debates - get involved. One point though - it's a meritocracy. So if you're barking mad then don't expect to get much support.

However, if you're ideas make sense then you'll get support and things will change. For example, someone's managed to get Debs release on a BSD kernel - someone wanted it, it made sense to enough people, and behold it's happened.

That's the beauty of OS development - it's 'ideas that make sense' which predominate and get worked on.

Well done guys - and thanks!

FOSS software gets you the highest quality software which is extremely well maintained.

Five billion dollars gets you Vista.

When you see brains, passion and commitment trouncing money it gives you hope!

Nokia: free phones for developers

Nice try...

...but the difference here is between a few hundred devs who are already comitted enough to actually travel to a conference - and ten of thousands of devs who have merely go online and registered.

Nice try...

... but Apple's profits are based on making things people choose to have and are prepared to pay for.

If they wasted 5 billion on an useless OS and a further 6 billion on propping up a crap quality games console and who knows how much on Zune, Kin etc etc etc then Apple wouldn't have any cash at all.

That's my point - Apple have competed on product cost/quality etc. MS have use their monopoly on OS/Office to try to barge into other areas. And when it's products fail they then just throw cash at the problem trying to make it work.

And the consumer - stuck with a terrible PC OS, terrible dev platforms (I've used .NET), unreliable games consoles and now what sounds like a very poor phone OS (compared to the competition).

Surely an honest DOJ should be looking into this as Clinton did and get MS broken up so that it's products have to actually compete in their market areas rather than relying on a monopoly in OS/Office.

Yet again...

...this company uses it's profits from completely unrelated markets - PC OS/Office software - to skew a market where it can't compete on quality/value etc.

Surely the DOJ/Monpolies Mergers have to do *something* to get protect competition. If this scam works to any extent then it's the consumer who suffers from having poor quality products.

Why didn't Apple, Google, HTC give away thousands of iPhones/Androids - because they have to compete and make profits etc. Only MS can afford these stunts again and again and again.

Nokia's developers wait and wait for Windows Phone

Do you honestly think...

...that Nokia will release an Android phone with a MS bod in charge?

You're right in that it would be a good option for Nokia - but common sense doesn't prevail with this type of person.

Home Office crime maps go to street-level detail

Shock news - very busy sites *can* work OK

The front page works cos it's being served up from Amazon's systems.

But anything behind it fails as it's on toyware.

So - if the whole site was - let me see - running on Amazon cloudy stuff - it would be working better.

Agreed... more detail

Step 1a

Get sold MS system by salesmen in Mercs.

Step 1b

Develop system and do no load testing at all.

Step 1c

Think that just by getting the front page served up by Amazon cloud stuff that the site will be able to handle the load.

£300k for a system which is deeply flawed - makes me want to weep. This happens again and again and again and again - what is the answer?

Lane Fox promises sub-£100 PCs

my mum didn't need...

...'destructions' (oh, I see what you done there - guffaw, guffaw) and she is 71 and a happy gmail user.

Will Windows on ARM sink Windows Phone 7?

Those who do not understand unix...

...are condemned to re-invent it, poorly - Mr Spencer I believe.

Top CEOs agree: US is down the crapper

Nice theory...

...about digging ditches etc.

Pity it doesn't work in the real workplaces in US/UK.

Yes - you can dig ditches - for a pittance. And no matter how hard you work and how much initiative you show you'll never progress. You'll dig ditches for a pittance for the rest of your days.

I've never worked for a company yet which cares about it's staff - get as much out for as little pay as possible is the norm. Show any initiative and your manager will see you as a threat to *his* job.

The only way to progress is to ass-lick, lie about your colleagues etc - i.e. the usual way up the corporate ladder. I've seen that, got the t-shirt etc in many different comapnies. Anyone who is any good (or has any integrity) will get frustrated and leave and try to set up on their own.

BTW - not people on welfare are dumb - some are very smart. Smart enough to realise that it's better to claim as much welfare as possible and supplement this with cash only work such as drug dealing. Much easier life and you're not being taken for a mug by some t*** in a Merc.

Or what we do is to work for ourselves - which is what you have in the UK. Hundreds of thousands of one-man-bands working all hours. All doing, admin, tax returns, VAT etc. Completely inefficient way of running an economy. The main winners are accountants.

What to do?

Well - double the minimum wage would be a start. But the CBI would pull out all the caught-with-ladyboy photos and put a stop to that.

Encourage co-operative type businesses with grants, tax-breaks etc. Politicians would need to find some initiative and guts to stand up to the business lobby (also known as their mates from the club).

In the meantime, the asian companies seem to have a holistic approach to business - i.e. they all work together towards a common goal (profit).

The western way of thinking is stuck in the nineteen century - and it's looking very outdated these days.

This is also a problem of badly organised businesses...

This is also a problem of badly organised businesses. They are mostly set up as little fascist dictatorships.

In all the jobs I've had I've *never* been rewarded for working hard or showing initiative - managers have just seen me as a threat to themselves.

So ditch digging is all well and good - provided you're prepared to do it forever and get paid shit no matter how hard you try. Not all those laying around on welfare are stupid - some are very intelligent. But unless they get rewarded for working hard then they're not going to be taken for fools. Best claim welfare and make cash on the side (for which the g'mint gets no tax obviously).

Co-operative type businesses have proved time and again to be much better places for workers - government should arrange the tax system to encourage these types of enterprises.

In the meantime - don't be surprised when large businesses are as corrupt and inefficient as Enron, Microsoft, GM,Goldman Sachs etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc.

For one example - out of all banks hardly any has come out blameless for the current stupidity - except one, the Co-operative Bank.

To labour my point - say I was on welfare - I could go and get a job at a supermarket. But since most businesses have absolutely no idea how to identify hard-working, intelligent staff I would be under the usual type of manager who would do their best to make my life a misery.

The only way to get promoted is to play the ass-lick game. I.e. to pretend to be as dumb as your manager is - but to laugh at all his jokes and pretend to be his friend. Make out your like him and not one of 'them'. Sickening those this behaviour is I've seen it plenty of times - and guess what? it works.

So you end up with management which is full of dumb, lying, SOB's with no backbone, no moral backbone who are all more interested is ass-licking to the ones above than actually trying to be good at their job.

I don't know how the Chinese are organised - but it won't take much to out perform western corporations.

Britain is in it's own world of pain - but the US has a couple of other problems creeping up. Hollywood films are becoming dull, and porn is now free.

Drupal 7 dives into machine-readable web

The thing with the admin area theme is that you can choose

On the one hand - you can leave the admin area to use the same theme as the actual site - this is very is easy to use for many users as when they log in they see the actual site but have a simple 'Edit' button at the top of each page so they can update it.

But I tend to switch the admin theme for all users to Bluemarine which is a nice clean one. I then make sure the users can only access things they need to keep the interface clean and easy to use.

The only small problem is that when editing blocks the admin area reverts to the site theme to show where the blocks are - this has been a thorn for a while and I believe has been changed in D7.

iPad's biggest rival? Microsoft's dead Courier

Don't forget the MS mode of operation...

Produce rubbish now - promise better later.

Car immobilisers easily circumvented by crafty carjackers

Thought the baddies...

... were sitting in back of a van near target vehicle with crypto breaking code running. Once code was found and the car was unlocked then one bod gets out the van and drives the car off. Van then drives off separately.

A few hours waiting in a van for the chance to drive off in a 'free' 50k plus car is not a bad rate of return.

Google morphs Gmail into Microsoft backup service

Easy to fix...

' Any one of them could check their personal account on gmail and let a virus into our network that did not come through a filter'

Use group policies and restrict users to only be able to run programs on a list.

We implemented this for 5-6 years on a college network of PC's and it worked perfectly. We used a policy editor to list the programs which could be run by users - and this policy was loaded when they logged in. We had Win98 and XP PC's running for years with never a single infection and no crashes.

If course - the new GPO stuff is horrendously complicated so it may not be as easy to set up - we certainly couldn't auto defrag and disk check on log in any more.

BTW - this all ran on a Samba server emulating a Windows domain controller.

Alan Sugar's 'cockup braindead in call centre clueless' BT row

My understanding was...

...the router was fine. The problem was caused by BT upgrading to ADSL2[+].

The first tweet was 'Big problem at home with BT internet they r tinkering to change to adsl 2. '

Probably the router wouldn't work properly to ADSL2. One of our clients had the same problem.

As for the rellies - they've all been told to get Macs. Support calls then go to my brother-in-law who's had Macs for years. Anyone else who calls RE some Windows PC gets informed that I don't use Windows and haven't done for years. I pass them a number of a firm who will fix on a charged basis.

Thanks for confirming RE BT - we recommend Demon every time and have done for years.

And my wife gets the some model phone as me every time - that way I don't have to learn two phones!

The only shame is...

...that Sralan has been conned into blaming Belkin.

I've had clients who've had exactly the same problem with Netgear routers.

And why can't we have decent ADSL routers? Because the ADSL in the UK is different from all other ADSL in the world (thanks again BT for that) so big manufacturers generally only supply domestic level routers to the UK market (unless you want Allied Telesyn etc). That's why we need to put in a basic ADSL router and then link that to pro level stuff for companies.

At least Demon confessed up to the issue and sent out replacement routers after a phone call.

Here's an idea for BT - don't upgrade if it's not needed. And if you do upgrade carry out checks first to see if customer routers are OK with the upgrade. And switch back to the original ADSL in event of a problem. And communicate with the customer.

Of course, BT don't have to do this cos they're a shoddy private monopoly who have no real competition.

Agreed...

... I worked at Northamber and they sold Amstrad PC's. They had a very simple and effective repair policy.

Amstrad supplied boxes of replacement main boards and power boards.

If an Amstrad PC came in for repair the technician just had to figure out which board was at fault and switch for a new one. The faulty boards then went back in the same boxes used to send the new ones.

Customer was happy cos the PC was replaced in a couple of days. Meanwhile the other PC's were having new bits soldered to mobo's etc. The techies enjoyed the challenge but the customer might have to wait weeks.

I think that Sralan has made his bunce by getting the basics right and keeping the customer happy - something other companies could probably learn from.

You show exactly what's wrong with most IT support.

So BT change ADSL to ADSL2 or ADSL2+ or something and don't have a policy in place to deal with routers which may have a problem with this.

Sralan's BB is working fine. BT change something and then Sralan's BB isn't working anymore.

And somehow this is Sralan's fault.

Your answer is - Belkin router - nah good mate - wotcha got one of them for - us intelligent techies wouldn't touch with barge pole etc etc.

This is exactly the problem the IT industry has - as summed up years ago in a famous Not the Nine O'clock news sketch - a gramophone, grandad?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSINO6MKtco

For you and all the upvoters - customers don't care about IT - or you. They just want service. Stuff which works. The industry produces over-complicated tech which goes wrong and needs techie level expertise to fix.

Answer - keep things simple and reliable rather than cutting edge and a pain for the customers.

If he bargained someone down from...

...the full price of MS-DOS to what I think he described as 'a pittance' then I'd say he was a good businessman.

Obviously, MS were desperate to build a monopoly and could be forced to give their software away if you were aware of it.

Still the same today - if a council says it's going to migrate to OSS then MS will come over and give you millions of pounds worth of software for free. It worked for Newham council and I'm surprised more councils and companies have not pulled the same stunt.

Of course, you end up with MS software and nothing works properly but hey ho!

The year's best... HD TVs

Where's the CRT models?

I have a Samsung CRT HD TV - the slimfit model - and the SD images as fed from a Sony Freeview box via (upscaled) HDMI is superb - certainly better than most early LCD tv's.

In fact, I'd say that given a HD input it would probably match fairly high-end LCD's for picture quality.

And the tv only cost £369.

Since most reference monitors as used by the broadcast industry as CRT's why don't the UK wholesalers sell CRT TV's? - apparently they sell in europe quite well.