Posts by ivan5

Smartphones are becoming like white goods, says analyst, with users only upgrading when their handsets break

Here, here. I totally agree.

Re: Security updates

I think it all depends on what you use your phone for. If it is just for making phone calls or sending the odd text message then security isn't all that important. As for cameras I have taken 4 photos with a phone in the last 5 years, so again not a security problem. Those people that must have a phone full of apps are the problem looking for a security solution.

Wind and quite a bit of fog shroud Boris Johnson's energy vision for the UK

"averaging out" across multiple geographies still means unreliable........

Especially when you don't have the necessary long distance HV cable network to do so.

Renewables will always be unreliable because we can't control the wind and clouds.

Burning down the house! Consumer champ Which? probes smart plugs to find a bunch of insecure fire-risk tat

The question that should be asked is ' why is there an energy monitoring chip in there', from the pictures on the BBC site of the unit it appears to be just a passthrough plug/socket with added on 2 port usb charger outlets. I don't think the usb charger is controlled as an IoT thing.

NHS COVID-19 app's first weekend: With fundamental testing flaw ironed out, bugs remaining are relatively trivial

Re: Police told not to download Covid app

Typical - one law for them and one for the plebs.

Ah yes, Sony, that major player in the smartphone space, has a new flagship inbound: The Xperia 5 II

The big question ...

is it a fondle slab or a phone? From this report it appears to be neither.

QR-code based contact-tracing app brings 'defining moment' for UK’s 'world beating' test and trace system

Cases

When they use the term 'cases' do they mean actual proved case with real symptoms or do they mean test results which may be false? There is a big difference between the two with the latter rising as more tests are done.

COVID-19 tracing without an app? There's an iOS and Android update for that

Re: Wifi sniffing

You know mask wearing to prevent virus transmission is the equivalent of using a chain link fence to stop the kids tossing marbles onto your lawn. The only mask that is virus proof is a positive air pressure one, not a piece of cloth over your nose and mouth.

Xiaomi and Samsung go head to head with new phones in bargain-basement 5G battle

Re: 5G ?

All this speed not withstanding does it improve the phone calling ability of the phone or is it just for those that have to have a fondle slab with them all the time?

Little Timmy might not get that notebook this Christmas: HP warns of CPU, panel shortages in run-up to holiday quarter

Maybe HP and the other manufacturers will eventually realise that AMD also make top level notebook processors that leave the Intel units for dead.

While the world pushes back against COVID-19, Facebook has a pandemic of a different sort – medical misinformation

The big question

The big question is just who says it is misinformation - certainly not those with a vested interest in using big phama patented drugs.

The Surface Duo isn't such an outlandish idea, but Microsoft has to convince punters the form factor is worth having

Seen better before

Way back in 2010 I had a dual screen device that just worked - one screen was e-ink, the other a lcd. It ran an early version of android and just worked. Unfortunately it wasn't marked very well and ended up being bought out by a Russian company.

My enTourage eDGe has been in use up to a year ago when the battery gave up the ghost, there was provision for a SIM card but I never used that.

Oppo Find X2 Neo: We're not getting any slimmer through lockdown, but phones are

The thing we are never told in these reviews is just how good is it at phone calls - it is a phone after all or are we to assume it is a fondle slab?

All the way to Reno: Oppo's latest mid-ranger going global but lacks 5G compared to similarly specced models

5G

Since people not living in large cities are very unlikely to get 5G in the next 4 or 5 years* I doubt having it missing on this phone will be a disadvantage.

* some of us don't have reliable 4G yet.

Microsoft takes tweaking tongs to Windows 10's Start Menu once again

But you can't polish a turd!

Hey is trying a new take on email – but maker complains of 'outrageous' demands after Apple rejects iOS app

Now where have I seen something like that? I know, a text only e-mail client that allows filtering of incoming mail into various sub-folders that you can define and even allow moving a mail to one of those folders. Strange I have been using that since the mid 1990s. The fact it is text only prevents the 'click on a link' problem and I can see the full url although the spam filter tends to sort them out now after years of learning.

Oh, I forgot, it is PMMail/2 running on OS/2.

UK spending watchdog blasts £792m STEM school scheme over low student numbers, deficits, education quality

Maybe they should go back to the Technical High Schools of the 50s - they were the technical equivalent of the Grammar Schools of the time. Unfortunately, they were killed off by 'all must have prizes' comprehensive schools and the Technical Colleges got degraded to mini universities that have never caught up to the real universities. Such is life at the moment, we appear to be going backwards not forwards with education on the down path.

We're number... six. Analysis puts UK behind Switzerland and Kuwait in 5G adoption

Re: I'll just wait over here, shall I?

Couldn't agree more. If 5G doesn't improve phone call quality what use is it especially in areas where we are lucky to get 3G.

EU General Court tears up ban on Three slurping O2. Good thing the latter's not set to merge with Virgin Media, eh?

Re: Vodathree UK

Are they so bad over there in the UK that you have to keep on contacting customer service?

In all my time with Free (in France) I have only contacted them 4 times - three times to get an extra sim card and phone number and once to change sim card to nano sim. All only a few minutes over the internet - took longer to log in than to do business.

Twitter ticks off Trump with new 'Get the facts' alert on pair of fact-challenged tweets

Re: Is it me or ...

A much bigger operation to tamper with.

Not so when there are thousands of dead people and illegal 'migrants' listed on the voter rolls and they all seem to vote for some strange reason.

Realme's X50m is a decently specced 5G phone – for the price of a 1995 Nissan Micra

Re: What does 5G on a phone let you do?

Agreed, if it doesn't improve the quality of the phone call what is the point if it. Maybe they should remove the phone part and just produce data devices since few people use them for making phone calls.

50,000 5G base stations built. 4.4 million to upgrade. 935 million customers to upsell

First question

The first question should be 'does 5G improve telephone calls? If it doesn't then why bother with it?

UK Defence Committee probe into national security threat of Huawei sure to uncover lots of new and original insights

Re: Surely

Don't forget all the 5i's backdoors that are includes in western equipment at no additional cost.

If you're wondering how Brit cops' live suspect-hunting facial-recog is going, it's cruising at 88% false positives

Re: "inaccuracy rate of 87.5 per cent"

I wonder, is the Met holding it wrong ?

Yes, they are using it rather than plod being out on the beat using their eyes.

The European Commission digital strategy wants to, er, take back control of citizens' data

5 year plan

digital strategy for the member states over the next five years

This makes the EU into that most people thought of as the EUSSR. Not a good thing considering the unelected rulers that must not be questioned.

Dual screens, fast updates, no registry cruft and security in mind: Microsoft gives devs the lowdown on Windows 10X

Re: So this will be...

Might help if one of the screens was an e-ink like the old enTourage eDGe.

Uncle Sam tells F-35B allies they'll have to fly the things a lot more if they want to help out around South China Sea

Re: F35

No !

Thunderbird is go: Mozilla's email client lands in a new nest

Re: Thanks for the clarification, Smooth Newt

To get round the tracking I use a text only email client. That may seem rather old fashioned but it does save all the clutter that I see others have.

If someone sends me an email that isn't in text form it doesn't get any response from me - cuts down on the spam junk as well.

It's update time – yes, again – for Insiders as the Windows 10 Slow Ring meanders towards release

You and I would think so but it wouldn't fit with the MS system of adding more tracking and data sniffing.

US Air Force inks deal with Raytheon on Windows 10 (and other) support for ARSE

Win 10 and aircraft

Can we assume that the pilots are going to learn a new method when firing the win 10 missiles - a fast loop to get the aircraft behind the missiles before they get up the ARSE of the jet exhaust. It is either that or they need to count the number of fighters shot down by their own missiles.

UK ads watchdog slaps Amazon for UX dark arts after folk bought Prime subs they didn't want

It would help i9f when you signed up to prime your membership carried over to other Amazon areas. Example, I signed up for faster delivery with amazon.fr but also use amazon.co.uk but I don't get the faster delivery from the UK - why not?

Median speeds for UK 5G four times faster than 4G, but still way behind US and South Korea

Sounds all very nice but it might help if most people had a reliable 4G connection or even a 3G connection.

Windows 10 update slips past Aussie border force and borks access to its Integrated Cargo System

Re: W10 borks...

Yes, a typical Micro SNAFU. Anyone can see it is normal for win 10 updates.

Sod 3G, that can go, but don't rush to turn off 2G, UK still needs it – report

Especially when there are areas that are not covered by anything other than 2G. Now if the telcos would up their game and improve service to ALL areas some of us might get a 4G service if we are lucky,

Ah, you want more bandwidth for the shepple to watch cat movies on their smartphones while crossing the road without watching.

Tinfoil-hat search engine DuckDuckGo gifts more options, dark theme and other toys for the 0.43%

must be a good thing.

Especially when what you are searching foe is being censored by Google.

Remember, remember, it's now called November: Windows 10 19H2 update has a name

Re: "enablement package"

Or more likely 'crash your computer' package.

Windows 10 update panic: Older VMware Workstation Pro app broken

Re: @AC - @Boris - And they say Win10 is stable?

Don't forget the French Gendarmes changed to Linux and are still using it unlike Munich that took the brown envelopes from Microsoft.

Re: And they say Win10 is stable?

Just a typical Microsoft win 10 SNAFU.

Tetraplegic patient can now move his four limbs with the help of a badass neuroprosthetic suit

Re: Interesting idea but...

Not only that but they need to miniaturise the back pack and reduce power requirements for it to be really useful. Bulk is fine if you are healthy with total control of all your muscles but not if you are a quadriplegic - balance is everything in that case.

Here we go again: US govt tells Facebook to kill end-to-end encryption for the sake of the children

Re: Data fetishists

Epstein??

Microsoft has made an Android phone. Repeat, Microsoft has made an Android phone. A dual-screen foldable mobe not due until late 2020

Re: Apps?

It would be useful if one of the screens was e-ink as it could be used in bright sunlight as well as using a lot less battery power.

Windows 10 May 2019 Update declared safe at last, which bodes well for upcoming 19H2 build

If it is declared safe by Microsoft - run for the hills before everything crashes and burns.

Margin mugs: A bank paid how much for a 2m Ethernet cable? WTF!

Re: Not just business

You do realise that home solar voltages have to be higher than the mains voltage if you are selling your output back to the grid so the salesman may have been correct if you had a stand alone inverter.

Windows 10 May 2019 Update inches toward the 50 per cent uptake as a new build drops

Agreed, but if they made it possible to permanently switch off ALL calling home for anything so making your computer yours and not theirs ...

As Windows 10 lands on 900m devices, Microsoft shows us the shape of clunk to come (again)

Re: It's Now One Less

You are not the only one, I finally converted the last windows machine in the place to Zorin linux with some relief - no more messing about trying to find out what windows has done to mess things up again.

Breaking, literally: Microsoft's fix for CPU-hogging Windows bug wrecks desktop search

Re: Hmmmm...

Maybe your "customers" have just given up?? Or even moved on to an operating system that just works. I pity those that think windows is the 'be all and end all' of computing.

Massachusetts city tells ransomware scumbags to RYUK off, our IT staff will handle this easily

The joy and fun of windows computing - insecure by design.

Business PC sales up as suits flee looming end of support for Windows 7

Re: Keeping Win7, can pry it out of my cold dead hands...

What they did was force the removal of USB2 driver support,

I think you mean USB 3 support. They also made it almost impossible to add it to the install DVD which is why I have been pointing friends to Zorin Linux on their new machines.

Call Windows 10 anything you like – Microsoft seems to

Re: I'll call it a piece of s*1t

Might be time you listed exactly what you want from your computer, what programs you expect to use and so on, then look for an alternative OS that will support what you want to do.