Posts by kev conroy

O2 could impose out-of-contract iPhone lock-in

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I was happy with mu Orange contract until I ran 3 minutes over my monthly allotted amount and got charged a million times the cost of a Duck House for the temerity of my infraction.

I dislike Apple as much as the next geek, they ain't innovators, but they take existing tech and make it utterly usable by complete n00bs.

The Android Hero looks lovely, but it's just not quite as obvious as the iPhone. If you control the hardware and all the s/w, you're in a strong position to define how your toy sells. get over it, the iPhone is a work of battery-power-chewing genius.

Shame I have to charge it up at lunchtime to squeeze a days "all features turned on" life out of it!!

Mechwarrior maker claims Microsoft 'destroyed' studio's culture

Mehwarrior

I think his studio died on it's ass because of the repeated flogging of a horse that was well and truly dead. Anyone over the age of ten would find mechwarrior dull.

I'm guessing that all that Big Studio stuff like software test, code reviews and design doc approval got in the way of his "genius creative" types, but the "big wad of money" helped ease the pain for him personally.

As for bungie, well, Halo was good, so long as you just keep the memories of the original game up to the point of "the library" level.

IBM, Rational & Telelogic: and now for something completely different

Process is key

> "needs a team of white coated geniuses"

Requirements, design, change management and configuration control is, sadly, a complicated business.

That means you are completely open to having a cack handed process knocked up by some of your very own egg-heads and a sweaty consultant on day one and suffering from it for ever more..

If only software was simply writing efficient for loops and avoiding goto's, eh?

Police raid CeBIT stands

Tiny license fee

Those companies would have been warned before they showed up, they chose to ignore it, hence the visit from the law. I'm sure the license fees aren't too bad, a cent per unit, ignoring the cost is stupid.

That CD player you got..see the CD logo on it? That's the licensed unit. Most kit contains some form of patent kit. It's no great shakes.

Definitely a case of "p*ssing on someone's chips" getting the rozzers to turn up at a trade show. Funny.

Freeview lobby cries foul on Ofcom HDTV plans

SKY adivising the government?

Helpful Rupert giving advise to the government on how to screw over Free terrestrial? Last thing they need is free HD channels.

@scare mongering by TV cos

720p not true HD.. who are you, Mr Sony? most punters wont be able to tell the difference between a 720 and 1080p.

Texas Instruments stands out with 3D TV

Pony

Why do they waste their time with it? No-one, just no-one is going to wear special glasses to watch TV.

I've seen the Philips screen that does 3D perfectly but without glasses, and the result is really freaky when you see golf balls come out the screen at you and suchlike.

What soon became very apparent to me was that the demo material was specially created. The tech wasn't going to make Eastenders or The Weather any better. Most use would probably be for adverts where cleverly shot scenes would grab your attention.

Obviously Philips are way ahead of the competition in making amazing tech that no one needs. Way to go, Dutch nutters.

BioShockers delivered from DRM hell

works perfectly on my 360

PC's are just for email, web, photos and TV. Gmaes are on my 360.

makes life a lo easier, I don't have to buy graphics cards twice a year, nor do I have to upgrade to a quad-core processor to run them.

Get a VGA cable and plug it into your PC monitor, no install issues, looks and plays a treat.

It's a thoroughly engrossing game, especially played from the comfort of my sofa, in the dark, decent surround system and a whopping great projector image. It's anything but "just another on rails shooter".

London man coughs to 172mph Porsche jaunt

too fast for public roads

170 is too fast for UK roads..people just won't see you om time and no one is expecting a car to go that fast.

He won't be driving for quite a while and may well find the penalty a lot worse.

The problem's not the speed, his l33t driving skills or tool of choice, it's about doing it where everyone else is pottering about in vans, little clios and bicycles,

RFID a 'technical blunder', report says

Cost Effective

Barcodes, cheap.

RFID, unlikely to be as cheap as ink and paper, no.

When can I pick up my Eire MSc in business studies?

Maybe you kids can't remember when barcodes first came out, but very few places could "read" them then, and the companies that could take advantage of the tech were the "wal marts" of the world. It will be the same with RFID.

As for "terrorist bombs", don't make me laugh, they can't even blow up a Jeep, let alone build a device that goes off if you've bought 2-for-1 "Cathederal City Cheddar".

LOL at "build EMP device out of camera" to steal a bottle of wine. Bloody geeks. Just put it inside your tin-foil-lined coat pocket and walk out the door, like shoplifters do today.

Patientline results prompt share meltdown

Milk the patient for ca$h

I spent a lot of time in hospital as a kid, long before PatientLine turned up. In The Olde Days yes, the idea of a phone call was getting a phone wheeled to your bedside. Guess what, it worked and didn't cost me a penny to get a call, or a surplus to the kind person calling me.

Telly? A TV, on a trolley, in place so the 6 or 8 beds could watch it. So what if it was mindless, I can tell you if you're in there for a week or more, not being able to move much, you'll watch anything. The TV's were DONATED by local companies and it .. you've guessed it.... didn't cost a thing.

PatientLine turned up and all those donated tellies were BANNED from the wards - this PatientLine service is a parasite on the sick and deserves to sink with all on board.

Scotland to float 'world's biggest' wave farm

Who let the Yanks Out?

£13 mill for power generation, but the decommissioning costs are soo much cheaper than nuclear. Post Chernobyl, people are a lot happier with wave farms next door than having a nuclear power plant or god forbid, a waste dump aka "storage facilty".