I think the point is being missed.....

The e-reader is really an immersive experience (sorry, I sound like a marketing drone) - you forget completely that you're using an electronic device and just get involved. It's just like a book. Colour doesn't matter, and in fact will get in the way. Same applies with a book.

I don't think that the ipad will ever be like that. It may have a place, but I don't honestly see it for books. Apart from anything else - it's just too big.

An executive e-book reader?

Does that take a book and reduce it to a two-paragraph summary which carefully ignores the tricky issues?

Bah Humbug?

Blimey - there are a bunch of old miseries on here. "He's being funded by taxpayer's money! Outrageous!" Ebenezer Scrooge is alive and well.

It's Christmas. He's just done a bit of a calculation for the fun of it. A bit like the people who did all the calculations about what would happen if Santa were real.

I thought it was quite funny.

Still too expensive...

It's got to be sub-£200 to be worth considering. as far as I'm, concerned. My Acer Aspire One cost me £175 over a year ago, and I still use it more-or-less every day. But if I were to be thinking of spending over £300, I'd be looking for a "real" laptop.

@AC - 11:32 - being a bit disingenuous...

"...the ICO didn't splash the story. They said it was a UK mobile phone operator and T-mobile decided to fess up. They could have kept schtum."

Oh, come on. You phone Orange, O2, Virgin, T-Mobile, Vodafone and one or two others, and say "Are you working with the ICO on a data theft case?" All bar T-Mobile say "No"; T-mobile refuse to comment. It doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to make the obvious deduction - and then they have to come clean.

So technically, no, the ICO didn't splash the story. But they must have known the information would get out.

I feel a touch of the old fogeys coming on...

...but "unfriend" as Word of the Year? What the hell are the criteria? It's not clever, it's not elegant, it's not even desperately useful. It won't stick, either - in five years time (or possibly less) no-one will use "unfriend" for anything.

@Matt13

The Sony UX1 is two grand's worth of machine, isn't it? It damn well OUGHT to boot Windows 7in 30secs and restore from hibernate in ten seconds.

You're hardly comparing apples with apples here.

five to six years?

@AC 15:44 - "You really do expect a high price TV to last about 5-6 years."

Blimey, you have lousy expectations. If I spent £1800 on a TV, I'd expect it to last a lot longer than that - and frankly, I'd hope to be replacing it because I wanted to, not because it was no longer any good.

As for this one - I cannot convince myself that a 46" TV for £1800 is going to be a thousand quid better than one for £800.

Like the landscape switch.....

....but more importantly - where did you get that nice illustrated version of Alice?

Not comparing with apples with apples...

I'm so sick of this stupid argument.

The "Windows just works, and you have to mess around to make Linux work" people are missing the point.

If I buy a new PC with, say, Vista on it, it will just work. If then in a year or two, I try to upgrade to Windows 7 it may well work. But there's a good chance it won't go smoothly, and I'll have to spend hours trawling the net finding the drivers I want.

If I were to buy a new PC with Linux, it will also just work. And if I try to upgrade later, it may well go smoothly - but it might not, and I'll have to do a bit of work.

Blimey, even Apple has this problem. I know someone with a MAC who upgraded to Snow Leopard, and ran into a couple of issues.

So please, stop saying Windows just works. It doesn't. Buying a machine with a pre-installed O/S just works. And that's because the computer manufacturers have done all the hard work for you.

So can someone explain to me....

...why we actually need Debian AND Ubuntu?

Could they not be combined into one distro with the best of both, with ALL their developers working on the same thing?

Prior art?

Most of my electronic components have a little sticker on them across the back which says something like "removal or damage to this sticker invalidates the warranty."

Works just as well, I'd have thought, and much less complicated.

@jake

"Actually, the logical way to act after hurting ones self or becoming hurt by an outside source is to quietly take stock of the situation, and then proceed with the logical solution to avoid further pain. Without histrionics. It's a survival thing ... if you get very loud and call attention to a vulnerability, that's how and where you'll be attacked.

Ask any martial artist. Or big cat."

Our big cat definitely swears loudly when you tread on his feet.

And the whole point of the huge amounts of training that martial artists go through is so that they can do things DESPITE generations of evolution. What they do is logical, sure, but it ain't what the vast majority of the animal kingdom (including us) do when we are in pain.

So I don't think there is any evidence that the scientists are, as you so inelegantly call them, fuckwits; and. with respect, I think the only person talking bollocks is you.

If they want to broaden it's appeal....

...how about selling it in the UK?

Sweet spot???

"the sweet spot seems to be the £34.26 per month tariff, which allows you to buy the 16GB phone for £185, or the 32GB model for £274"

£35 quid a month and £185 (or £274!!) for the phone is what you call a sweet spot? The word "expensive" springs to my mind, personally.

Yes, it's a beautiful machine. But it won't wear down my resistance until it's a reasonable price.

Look, the point of the netbooks was the price.....

If a netbook is less than £200, you buy it and live with it's foibles. Hence my AA1, for which I paid £175. So what if it's a bit sluggish and the battery life is poor.

If a netbook is £329, you start to wonder whether for another fifty quid you could get a decent sized screen and keyboard.

We seem to be losing sight of the what the first C meant in SCC !

but what's needed is a Contract or PAYG offering...

A hundred and something is still a lot of money for a basic phone - but it could probably be thrown in as part of a cheap contract.

Come on, phone companies, you're missing a trick!

Unintended Consequences? Darwin rules!

"After a few generations (not long), the jungle will be full of glowing marmosets!"

No it won't. I can't help thinking that Darwinian natural selection will tend to select against glowing marmosets - if they glow in the dark, they are easily caught and eaten.

But what is the point?

I've never quite understood the point of cheating in an exam, except possibly for university finals.

You cheat in an A-level, and you'll end up at university. If you are good enough to do the work at the uni, you were good enough to pass the A-level without cheating. If you're not good enough, you'll be thrown out and you've gained nothing.

Similarly GCSEs to A-level.

And as for cheating at SATS - well, it's up there with the most futile exercises I've ever come across. So wow - you're school is now marginally higher in the league tables. Big deal !

Stilll a privilege, even in the country!

Quote

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"Driving is a privilege, not a right. It was time drivers in the UK were made to realise that."

I have to disagree, where public transport is available or cheap taxi's then I might agree but in the country it is an essential for life.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

No - it's STILL a privilege. Go drink and drive and get caught, and you'll discover soon enough that it's a privilege. Given that it's so important to people in the country, that's all the more reason why they should be careful to keep that privilege.

This really ISN'T the place for this discussion.

I don't come to El Reg to read economic commentary - if I wanted that, there are loads of daily newspaper sites for that.

I come here to read irreverent IT stuff and articles about Bulgarian air bags.

So....what is the IT Angle?

Netbook remix?

I've installed the netbook remix on my Aspire One - works straight out of the box - and I'm more than pleased with it. How about a review?

I'm getting sick of the offensive knee-jerk reactions....

...of many of the commenters on El Reg.

"but some fucking numpty had to put the bloody letter in an envelope."

You have NO IDEA of how many letters went out. It could have been a pile of a couple of hundred, including standard letters about school uniform or such-like. It won't have been just one.

For all you know, it could have been some temp covering for someone who was ill with stress, because of people like you spending their time swearing at them for something that wasn't their fault.

But don't consider that. Just blame the fucking numpty.

Only 75%??

"....one of the best small, cheap MP3 players on the market."

And only 75%? Baffling.

@David - You reckon?

"BBC, we already know that botnets exist and how they work, you really didnt need to go out and give some of our licence money to some criminals and do all this."

You ask most of your relatives who don't work in the computer industry about botnets and see how much they know about them.

Jailbreaking an iPhone - why should I have to?

"Takes about 5 minutes and is incredibly straightforward, it gives lots of added functionality, allows updates to the OS software through iTunes (then re-Jailbreak). You can easily restore if there is a problem that requires returning the product.

What's the issue?"

Apart from the dubious legality, and the fact that it's still a hassle?

Well, there's the simple question of why the hell SHOULD I have to hack my phone to do standard things? Forwarding txt's is actually quite useful; and how ANY computer can not have cut'n'paste is beyond me.

Chris - you obviously haven't looked at an ebook reader

I positively prefer to read books via my Sony Reader, particularly if the book is a long one. As pointed out by Andrew, e-ink is easy to read, there is no back-light and the quality of the "print" is (normally) exceptional.

A 500-page book weighs slightly more than my Sony reader, and is a pain to read standing up in the tube; you end up with cramp in your hand trying to support the book AND hold the pages open with one hand. The same book on a Sony Reader is a pleasure to read.

@AC - drivel is right

"but men are much better at math and pure sciences than women and it isn't the result of male bias in education."

Yep - that's drivel. You have NO evidence for that statement whatsoever. And if you've been in science and technology for your entire career, you should know better than to assert something with no evidence.

...and boy, is it UUUUGGGLLEEEEEE !!!

I'll keep my Sony Reader.

Thanks to all...

So let me summarize.

I think it seems to come down to a matter of quality, mainly due to the much larger sensor. Also, you get the flexibility of the lens exchanging. Oh, and you truly do see through the lens, rather than using an EVF. (And that, I admit, is where my bridge camera isn't quite so good....!)

Fair enough. But it's still currently twice the price. I don't like compact cameras (especially modern ones with no viewfinder). The long zoom lens, tolerable EVF and the flexibility of my FZ5 (12x zoom) which cost me £75 second hand is more than adequate for what I want - mainly family & holiday snaps.

BTW - the 28 on the FZ28 is just a number - not a 28mm lens. They had the FZ8 (which was 12x zoom) then the FZ18 (the 18xzoom) then the FZ28 (which is the next one up from an FZ18). Just marketing guff.

Thanks again!

why not a bridge camera?

OK - you were thinking of a top-end compact. So already, we assume, that swapping lenses and suchlike is not something you're wanting to do.

So why would you go for this at £350 when you could get, say, a Panasonic DMC FZ28 with a 18x zoom and all the bells and whistles you'd need for about half the price? And you don't have to switch lenses?

In fact - what exactly do you get in a DSLR that you don't get in an FZ28? Please don't flame me - I really want to know.

We need a "?" icon - so many of my comments are actually questions....

@ODFO...

Ah.

@Sarah Bee - ODFO?

Google tells me nothing....please define....

@DutchOven

So you read all seven, to whine and complain about them?

No-one FORCED you to read them - nor this article, come to that.

I thought they were great. Not great literature, but great stories. I'm not ashamed to admit that I bought and devoured the last four books on the day they came out.

Anything that gets kids reading that enthusiastically is fine by me.

The public do not want Linux?

Aspire one with Linpus - £175.

Aspire one with XP - £200.

At this price level, why would anyone pay the extra £25?

Joikuspot + netbook?

That's what I use. Works well enough to stream Youtube. And when roaming, I don't need anything better than that.

Who are these people who NEED to download gigabytes of data in milliseconds while roaming?

But...but....

...how the hell was he able to have root access to ALL the machines in the organization? Who on earth allows any single employee that sort of power?

Of course, he's got to go down. But the senior security management people at Fannie Mae should also be sacked.

@AC no 2

Yes - I was and am seriously upset.

I'm also surprised that no-one else took it that seriously.

But OK - perhaps I'm more easily offended than most about the idea of making a joke about rape, or equating being staggered by the price with rape. I'd be curious to know if our moderatrix just missed the comment.

Oh - the remote control. £350 is stupid money. Enough said.

@AC

I won't be the first person to say this, but....

There is no such thing as being raped in a good way. Your comment is deeply offensive, and demeaning to those people who have suffered the appalling trauma that rape can be.

Actually.....

...I saw him in concert a couple of times in the mid-seventies, and he actually put on a helluva good show! But once he released "When I need you" he started going 'orribly MOR...

So good luck to you, Oz. You can keep him.

Why I'm sticking with Ubuntu

"I am budgetting to upgrade every machine in our house to Win7 the day it launches."

And if we assume, say, fifty quid a machine (and that's likely to be WELL on the low side), that would be two hundred and fifty quid.

I won't have to budget anything but time to upgrade my machines to the next version of Ubuntu.