* Posts by Chris Pearson

95 publicly visible posts • joined 31 Aug 2007

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Hero update blocks Marketplace

Chris Pearson
FAIL

Wish I hadn't bothered

I upgraded and wish I hadn't, of all the apps missing the 1 I really needed was included, my paid for backup/restore software. Fortunately I could get an apk from the developer.

So far I can count about 4-5 I can't get to but should be able to, and yes they do seem to be copy protected ones as they are all ones I couldn't back up prior to the update.

Tweeted @HTC (as have a fair few others) and not had any response, but then I guess I should probably have bothered using the proper support channels.

iPad launch may be limited to US, says analyst

Chris Pearson

erm

I used to play WoW on my macbook, not till the early hours mind I had a real life too.

BBC iPlayer rejects open source plugins, takes Flash-only path

Chris Pearson

Works for me.

Just watched Mock the Week, seems to be working as well as ever. And I am now watching the live stream of BBC One, which is a bit low quality but it always has been for me.

iPhone must-have crowd inflates UK gadget insurance claims

Chris Pearson
WTF?

£60?

Last time I checked a 2G was £180 and a top end 3GS was more like £800. I have had cars cheaper than a 3GS....

Just because O2/orange only charge you £60 initially doesn't mean you can replace the phone for that.

OpenOffice 3.2 - now with less Microsoft envy

Chris Pearson

At that price

If the home user was able to buy at that/or at least close to that price I'm sure there would be a huge decline in pirated versions. I'll happily pay £30-50 for something I use a lot, depending what it is. I won't however pay hundreds to occasionally write a letter or make a simple spread sheet.

Play.com touts Nexus One with added price

Chris Pearson

only £2?

I got stung for £10 in handling alone on an $80 order which came via parcel force. Bloody thieves!

DVLA makes £44m flogging drivers' details

Chris Pearson

but...

but then how do you make £50 a go illegally fining people?

Hackers root Motorola Droid

Chris Pearson

2.0

Who actually takes screen shots other than devs, who can use ADB? Bluetooth is supported in 2.0. Apps to SD would be nice but I have more apps than I use and still have plenty of room.

Royal Mail promises 2nd class service on postcode data

Chris Pearson

Free the postcode

If this happens then it will make a service like free the post code irrelevant, as thats just postcode x is at geo location y.

However the PAF should also be free information, but that said all you need is a bot on facebook and you can probably create a DB of about 25% of them!

Android 2.0: what to expect

Chris Pearson

Coming to hero, but when?

I know it's coming to Hero, but when? HTC aren't saying anything but I have heard rumors of this side of Christmas, but thats it. HTCs twitter seems to be the only news source for them I can find thats updated regularly.

Then of course there will be the 2 week delay while they add the orange logo on boot. Hopefully they will at least include orange maps on the ROM.

Apple kicks prolific developer out of iTunes shop

Chris Pearson

if only.

Hopefully now apple have taken the 1st step Google will too. Then they can fix the search....

First Android 2.0 smartphone arrives in UK

Chris Pearson

2.0 is obselete

2.0.1 is already being sent out over the air, the version update was significant to warrant an SDK version number update.

Apple decrees free iPhone apps can sell stuff

Chris Pearson

Top 100 free with paid unlock

So will there be a top 100 free but then paid unlock listing now? Otherwise the top free/paid listings mean nothing.

Google hits Android dev with cease-and-desist letter

Chris Pearson

Slide Me will benifit

If this is how google is going to play is (which doesn't fuss me as from what I can tell the new Hero ROM covers all my bases) then Slide me can only grow and benifit from it.

(slide me being an alternative to android market)

Bottom line at least 75% of android users won't care as they aren't cyanogen target anyway.

Virgin Media 'overwhelmed' by broadband customers fleeing BT

Chris Pearson
Stop

Not just ADSL

We ordered a V+ HD box last week and it wont' be showing up till 1st Oct, and even then that was a cancellation. Seems Virgin are struggling to keep up with demand on all fronts.

How to run Mac OS X on a generic PC

Chris Pearson
Stop

Snow Leopard...

Snow Leopard seems to be the only choice now, a quick search Leopard is not in the Apple store any more! That said SL is a bargain £25, with free shipping. Makes me wonder how microsoft think they can have a £150 RRP for the Home version for 7 (though amazon list it for ~£65)

Orange repeals unpopular price changes

Chris Pearson
FAIL

Gutted

I have been looking for an excuse to bin my contract for ages and missed out:(

How did I miss this.

US bank deposits checks via iPhone camera

Chris Pearson
Go

@Steve Evans

Those creative techniques are why my 4-5 UK bank accounts don't cost me a penny, but my Bank Of Montreal Account I had when in Canada cost me $5 a month and $0.50 per card transaction once I used up my bundled 50.

I'd rather wait the 3 days.

Lads from Lagos cut off

Chris Pearson
Stop

Thats ruined it then

I have only ever had 1 419 scam, so now I am going to have to wait even longer for no2.

Am I doing the internets wrong? The way you lot go on I should be getting a couple a day!

Cameron condemns Tweeters as tw*ts

Chris Pearson
Stop

Missign the point

Seems to me he's not bashing twitter as a whole, and is stating that the government will almost certainly make a mess of it.

It's is certainly easy to publish something to the world, but then it's quite hard to get it back. And if any tool in the office can tweet as an official any rubbish can be spouted.

As for the language? About time politicians started talking like normal people.

Toyota preps plug-in Prius for mass production

Chris Pearson
FAIL

18 miles?

That wouldn't even get me too work? And once there would the 8 hours be enough to fully charge it again?

Daily Mail launches McKinnon campaign

Chris Pearson
Go

Whats Aspergers got to do with it?

So he's got high level Autism? So do 2 people I know. As do I to a lesser degree. And we all know that hacking the pentagon will be frowned apon. He did bad, got caught and now the US has asked they try him under US law. The UK (who I'd assume has an extradition treaty) have said yes (as you'd expect as they are our bestest friends) and now the daily fails upset.

All seems spot on to me.

Also "Aspergers victim", wtf can some one at the daily mail explain how your a victim of Aspergers. None of the people who know would even remotely consider themselves a victim.

Gmail turns into label junkie

Chris Pearson

@ DJ 2

There is a new show hide option in the label settings pane. This allows you to customise which default set of labels gets shown.

Owners say iPhone 3GS is a scorcher

Chris Pearson
Flame

phones get warm?

I don't think any phone I have ever owned has gotten so much as warm? OK laptops get nicely toasty when being battered but never had it happen to a phone? Or am I just using it properly t really warm it up?

Oops: Microsoft wonk hits Live Messenger red button

Chris Pearson
Stop

Windows for Ford/Alfa

Don't worry it won't be doing anything important. ECUs are so specialist and specific that no standard OS has a hope of getting anywhere close to it. Windows will only be running things like the audio/sat nav etc. Here's the clue: "The Audio O/S is based on Windows". I fail to see how that's scary?

Students Union reps vote to ban cheap booze for students

Chris Pearson
Thumb Down

18 percent

We managed a massive 8% one year at Bournemouth. The pres had right rant about it which was productive....

During my time at uni it was clear the union was completely out of touch with reality. If I could have realistically not been a member I would have opted out but seeing as the union ID is your Uni ID that makes things some what difficult.

Although the vote to ban smoking was funny. I worked in the union and every smoker who moaned was asked if they voted: all bar 1 said they didn't even know there was a vote.

Apple follows AT&T with no-contract iPhones

Chris Pearson

They clearly don't want to sell them that much yet

Or they'd be sim unlocked too like the ones play.com are selling.

Dragons' Den winner infringed own patent, IPO rules

Chris Pearson

Prior Art?

I am sure I have seen those for years in my local gardening centre?

O2 wins UK Palm Pré exclusive?

Chris Pearson
Thumb Down

FFS

Another decent phone I am banned from owning based on exclusive tie ins. 1st the iPhone, then the G1 now this :(

Street View vehicle kills Bambi

Chris Pearson
Stop

@ Driver not paying attention

I nearly killed bambi this month, and it was actually surprisingly hard to miss.

The dear sees you, spooks starts jumping all over the bloody place making it very hard to actually work out where they will be when you get there. I had to E-stop and wait for the bloody thing to decide what to do. I was going about 30-40 in a 60 so was lucky as another 5-10 would have seen bambi through my windscreen when I wouldn't have been able to stop in time. This would in turn have left me with a large repair bill/a need for a new car and a very traumatised wife and 2 year old. I couldn't have even cooked the bloody thing as it was in Windsor great park and I don't fancy being done for poaching.

Obama insists on FOI

Chris Pearson

@Lee Dowling

In Oz there's an awful lot of spoilt ballots if my friends who live there anything to go by. So in place of "none of these idiots" you tick every box, or draw a nice picture of a phallus etc.

DHS deploys undercar Kraken tentacle-bombs

Chris Pearson

Stingers - single use?

I thought the stinger used hollow barbs designed to snap off to aid rapid deflation, this would surly make it a single use item as the barbs are getting pulled off? Or at least it will have to get it's spikes replaced after each use.

Microsoft prods and probes Office 14

Chris Pearson
Stop

Be free, Use Linux.

Be free, Use Linux and have to relearn how to do everything.

I was trying to use Open Office this week to produce a document template. Simple enough I thought, I was wrong. It's taken me far less time today to learn my way round the ribbon bar (which I now think is a great UI despite my initial WTF thoughts) and create the template and 2 sample docs than it took me to fail to complete the template in OOO.

side note: We have BG and Steve angels and devils, where's the tux devil?

Nokia coughs to ballooning batteries

Chris Pearson
Unhappy

My N73 battery is fine...

...but if only Nokia would admit the firmwares pooched on it so I could hook up to my mac via bluetooth like I used to be able too.

They have known about this for a long time but blame apple despite eggheads tracing the fault to the Nokias firmware.

Microsoft and Apple: 25 years of couples therapy

Chris Pearson
Gates Horns

RE: Messenger for Mac

I agree with you that simple MSN is better but support for webcam and audio would be nice. They have been promising it for months and it's still not yet in beta:

"Our plan is to deliver a beta version of A/V in 2009"

http://www.officeformac.com/blog/An-Update-on-Messenger-for-Mac

Apple update purges 21 security vulns from OS X

Chris Pearson

Just me?

Just me or are the Anti Apple/MS pro OSS/Linux/Unix rants getting less and less comprehensible?

I have 3 MS machines and 1 apple mac oh and ubuntu on a few VMs. And of all of them I prefer the Mac. While Ubuntu is excellent it doesn't "just work" like a mac or windows (leave it.....) machine. Once Linux is as easy to use as the others only then will it be a true threat. The Mac has this sorted which is why next time I need a new laptop I will still happily buy another Mac and duel it to Windows when needed. And if i ever need some linux app (GIMP is the only one so far) I can just build it my self, or find the OSX port like with GIMP.

As for the topic? Updates: Ubuntu wants you to update just as much as windows and more than OSX. Though how much of this was security and how much was "new and improved" I couldn't tell you.

But then I have a degree in computing and work programming every day...so obviously I know nothing.

ps. When Are we getting a penguin with horns?

Windows 7 first beta due January 2009

Chris Pearson

@Sooty

"Applications will not go 64bit because they don't want to create 2 versions"

It's 2 flags in Visual studio to change the build type, but yes you have to do it your self.

What's really needed is a "universal" installer which will have both sets of binaries, like many older mac apps designed for PPC. Until this is as easy to do as it is to just make single system installer it won't happen.

Spacewalking astronaut drops toolbag

Chris Pearson

Expensive mistake?

Tools are expensive and on earth that tool bags probably worth about £50. Stick NASA on the tools and I bet it's a damn sight more? Was this a million dollar tool box?

Speed cams ditched in Wiltshire

Chris Pearson
Go

@ AC Morons

"SPEED KILLS, people. The evidence is irrefutable"

It's also saved my arse on more than one occasion when someone's decided I am in their section of road! The evidence is irrefutable, I still have a car and there's not a lorry in my skull. So no it didn't kill. It saved my life when a blind polish truck driver decided to pull over with out looking on the M3. The fact I could drop a cog and floor it into the 3rd lane meant I didn't get hit, and the power meant I wasn't in the the lane 20mph slower than everyone else and so causing an accident. Seeing as it was a lorry he would have had a limiter at 56 (or what ever it is) so would have been at a legal speed.

Risking a flaming but of all those begin righteous and saying all speeding is 100% wrong: how many of you can hand on heard confirm you have never drifted over the limit by so much as 1mph? I would wager most (if not all) have sped at some point. Yes it's illegal but being all pompous about it and saying 1 offence should land you a ban is just ridiculous.

MS roll out exploit prediction with Patch Tuesday

Chris Pearson
Gates Halo

'A better solution

I installed Ubuntu 2 weeks ago, which has crashed more in the odd hour or so here and there than my Windows machine in 18 months.

Oh and I had to install just as many updates as a fresh Windows install as well....so much for point 6.

(btw I run Ubuntu, OSX and XP so I'm no fanboi)

Has your shifty foreign neighbour got 16 mobes?

Chris Pearson
Coat

I wonder...

how long before an average Joe gets shot for taking some videos of his mates in the tube.

The one with the kevlar lining please.

Apple hit with another class action

Chris Pearson

He might have a point...

...if I used iTunes with my iPod.

I have used iTunes twice in 2 years of being an iPod owner to reset my iPod before the Winamp plugin (ml_ipod) I use could.

Ubuntu goes 3-D

Chris Pearson

@ Andy B

"connect up with my Linux laptop because "it just works""

Assuming there is a driver for your wireless card. I once spent 3 days hacking about trying to get a card to work on Ubuntu, that "just worked" the second I shoved it into any Windows XP machine....

I gave up...I might even have the time to try again one day.

Facebookers bring HSBC to its knees

Chris Pearson

@Take a closer look

For most students with HSBC they would have £1500 or less, £1000 initial then £250 additional per year of the course after the 1st. Mine was more but then I did a 4 year course.

Chris Pearson

@Jason Harvey

Not always an option I am afraid. I would have not been able to complete my degree with out my significant student overdraft. (FYI I owe approximately £16,000 at the end of my degree and know people who owe considerably more)

While I have already cleared my OD (2 months of work is all it took) this was mearly the straw that broke the back and I have since left HSBC for the abby where I can actually use my bank on a weekend amongst other novel ideas...

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