This is why …

… a proper legal system includes the presumption of innocence, and must give the benefit of the doubt to the accused, no matter how “obvious” his guilt appears. That the crime is more horrific is no excuse; indeed, it makes it more important to nail the true culprit rather than take the easy option of settling on the first likely suspect.

This can be frustrating, and appear too easy on the guilty party, but what is the point of justice if it doesn’t protect the innocent?

The problem with crowd sourcing, and that includes gung-ho media reports, is that can bypass all the legal procedures developed to minimise this.

Support

I’ve been in IT for a very long time, and know how to rough it. After a while, you just want something that does the job without fuss.

The thing that hooked me on the iPhone was not just that the phone did everything I wanted, but the after-sales support.

I had a model with faulty GPS. I walked into an apple retail store, had it checked, and 10 minutes later walked out with a brand new replacement. Restored my backup, and everything was fine. With my previous phone (a Nokia),I would have to wait 3 days before they even looked at it.

That’s the total package that convinced me.

Land of his birth?

“William Shatner to boldly go to the land of his birth”

Actually, as Kirk explains:

“I’m from Iowa, I just work in outer space”.

Re Morons

"Not every criminal in Victoria is a moron" ...

Facebook user? Moron? Isn’t that an oxymoron?

The right tools for the right Jobs

Woz is a genius, but he may be missing a point here.

I own an iPhone, which is small and handy, as well as an iPad, which has larger screen for reading and browsing. Two sales to Apple. And maybe I will consider an iPad mini, if I feel the need for a pocket-book sized screen.

I don’t want to read or browse on a screen if it’s too small, and I don’t want a phone if it’s too big. I have two tools for two jobs, and Apple have two sales.

Easily Explained

Mobile data is slow, unreliable and hopelessly overpriced. Data plans are accordingly low volume, and generally used when no wifi is available.

Now if only the ABS could focus on something a little less obvious, like how much coffee is consumed at the same time ...

Alternative Strategy

So, because this is patented technology, if somebody wants to circumvent these restrictions, they need only defect to the Dark Side, such as Android, or, God Help Us, Windows?

Microsoft Bashing Opportunity

“Mind you, if we take inflation into account, Microsoft's bubble-era valuation looks even more impressive.”

Yes, and so does its decline.

Ballmer has recently re-iterated his intention to compete with Apple. Apple has not bothered reciprocating. Why? It’s clear who has the ideas, and who is taking direction.

Oh, and regarding the cost of Apple products, the money I have spent on Apple products has produced a far more enjoyable experience, less frustration, and more productivity. The money I have wasted on Microsoft goes beyond the over-pricing of its software. It’s the time wasted on making things work.

Recent Changes

Ironically, developments in HTML5, JavaScript & CSS3 will make much of jQuery redundant. Much of the functionality and special effects are now built into JavaScript and CSS, and will perform better there since they in native code without the overhead of polyfilling which is one of the benefits of jQuery.

The other irony is that jQuery 2 promises to drop support support for legacy browsers, making it less of a solution for polyfilling.

Nothing for Nothing

If I understand this correctly, he is asking for donations. From people who use his hack to steal something for nothing?

Not again ...

The Microbe(e) has few happy memories for me.

I was very much in the thick of it when the Microbe was a favorite toy in the NSW Department of Education. It was unreliable, the company was unreliable, and dominated by amateurs. All it had going for it was its cheapness, which meant that you could afford to more computers for when the others had failed yet again.

One of its serial weaknesses was the two-tiered design which created poor electrical contacts and was very much subject to problems with heat and just simple movement.

In principal, the whole thing was a good idea. In practice, very poorly implemented.

Two good reasons ...

... to avoid Telstra.

Flight Staff were partialy to blame

Assuming that the gentleman in question didn’t gain an extra 100Kg between the door and the seat, staff were in a position to address the issue before the flight took off.

I have had flights delayed for lesser reasons, such as people trying to find storage for their so-called cabin luggage, so putting in a bit of extra time resolving what is essentially a safety issue would have been appropriate.

Had there been turbulence a standing passenger is at risk. Had there been another emergency, then having somebody like that anywhere at all is a major obstruction, and again poses a risk to other passengers.

As for playing the sympathy or disability card, although there are occasional genuine cases of unavoidable largesse, the main medical reason for obesity is the medical fact that too much of the wrong sort of food and not enough of the right sort of activity leads to, well, too much.

The difference ...

One thing which has always distinguished Apple from Microsoft is its appeal. Apple promotes itself as fun and easy and arty. Nobody would accuse Microsoft of that. I can’t see Microsoft retail stores having the same atmosphere or the same clientele.

But who knows ... ?

Sleight of Hand

By that logic, high taxes on cigarettes, alcohol and fuel should decrease consumption. As far as I can tell, they don’t; they maek life more expensive, increase government revenue and give them the opportunilty to say that they’re doing some thing good.

The other monopoly

Don’t forget Telstra. Giving Telstra a bigger cut of anything is seriously bad news for the consumer.

Any company that controls what you see as well as how you get to see it has too much power, IMHO.

Worth a try ...

If you find a pin locked phone lying around and want to break in, arguing the merits of whether the pin is a dummy, randomly generated or the same as something else is pointless. Here is a list of 10 suggestions which will quite possibly get you in. And not knowing the owner personally, you don’t offend anybody by assuming that the owner is an idiot.

Now multiply it against all mobile phones ... ?

What the hell does that mean? Makes as much sense as, well, pushing MMS as an exciting new thing.

Thunderbird must continue

TB is the only realistic and popular alternative to the proprietary email clients, especially, God Help Us, Outlook.

I find it reliable, extensible and flexible, it renders HTML email intelligently, and, importantly for me, I can rely on a portable version which gives me the environment I want regardless of the machine I am saddled with.

The only problem with TB is that the development appears to be lethargic, and addons, on which TB is very dependent, tend to be slow in catching up with TB version. But that is only logistic.

However

As a former Mathematics teacher reduced to teaching Excel to supposedly numerate adults, it is appalling that too many adults cannot correctly answer a simple question like 1 + 2 * 3.

Australian education is not as rigorous as it should be, and it is no surprise that the higher achievers are more than ever from non-Australian backgrounds.

Thanks for the Link

I was looking for a good example of how not to create a web site. The Bombay High Court will do nicely.

Not the sort of thing Microsoft would do ... ?

“This would lead to higher travel prices, fewer travel choices for consumers and businesses, and less innovation in online travel search, FairSearch.org said.”

Alternative fix

“To resolve this behavior for existing alarms, set the repeat interval to Never.”

or buy a different phone.

Given that we have had scheduling in operating systems for decades, how do you actually break it?

Oxymoron

“Microsoft's number-one priority is now to deliver touch-based computing pads running Windows 7 and that people want”.

How can you run WIndows 7 and be the one that people want at the same time?

Setting Things Right

‘Windows Mobile missed a "whole generation of users" and promised Windows Phone 7 will set things right.’

A whole generation not using Windows. What is there to set right?

On par for the ALP

The Australian Labor party may present itself as moderate, but it has always had the inclination to take control of the proles.

Their desire to censor the Internet beyond what is really necessary, in order to mold the minds of the masses comes as no surprise to Australians. What is a surprise is how many Australians who oppose mid control put the Government there in the first place.

Good to get things into perspective

Considering what Apple won’t allow or approve, allowing for online gambling looks like a strang move ...

Open Source or Closed Doors?

Why anybody still uses IE is a mystery. Microsoft puts a lot of energy into telling the world that Open Source is evil. If they put half the amount of energy into fixing their security problems, every body would be a lot happier.

It’s very simple. Full disclosure of the source code plus a planet full of developers, or secret codes in the hands of a (relative) hand full of developers?

Long time coming

Thunderbird 3 has been on the books for a very long time. I have yet to upgrade, since I still have too many extensions caught out by the change. I have downloaded the new Lightning, but I can’t try it out since it won’t work on TB2. What’s going on here?

Is this legal

My understanding of the licence is that you can’t have two people using it at the same time. ("No other person may use the software under the same license at the same time for any other purpose"). Now

(a) in what sense are you in breach of this if somebody else is using your computer, but you are not;

(b) might you be in breach of this licence if somebody looks over your shoulder while you are using it, or is one of the few people enjoying a PowerPoint presentation on a projected screen?

As far as I am aware, an impossible contract, ie one the terms of which are impossible, is automatically invalidated ...

Another Reason

I love my iPhone, but it’s feeling very cramped. If Apple don’t open up sometime soon, the others will look more and more attactive.