Posts by Wade Burchette 1253 publicly visible posts • joined 5 Apr 2007
Youtube has a video of Apollo 12 landing on the moon. Well worth your 15 minutes. It is very interesting how NASA landed on the moon with a computer much less powerful than the phone I hold in my hand.
For $1500, it better have a microphone adapter.
"There's no 3.5mm headphone jack: instead you'll have to use a USB-C-to-headphone adapter."
How difficult or expensive would it be to put in a 3.5 mm headphone slot. Just because Apple "bravely" made a decision to make themselves more money does not mean it is a good idea. I saw no mention in the article of a SD card either. That is two unforgivable strikes right there. I would pay $5 for a phone with a microSD slot or a headphone adapter, much less $1500.
I fear that the bad idea cancer is spreading fast. These tech companies seem more and more determined to copy each other's bad ideas.
"1) People moan - Windows 10 has bugs"
That is not what we moan about. We do not expect something so complex to be perfect. What we do expect is updates to be as reliable as they were with Windows 7, Vista, XP, 2000.
"2) MS - so we'll gather "real world" telemetry to help diagnose those bugs, focusing on the features people actually use? BTW, there's pages of information on what information we collect on our web site..."
Funny, Microsoft was able to release much more reliable updates without any of that stuff before. What changed? Oh, I know. Microsoft got rid of their quality control people and made us their quality control people so that they could be more agile. Tell me why something that worked quite well in the past no longer works?
US politicians remind me of Mayor Quimby in the Simpsons. When Mozilla asks the politicians to probe the rich US broadband companies, this clip from the Simpsons perfectly mirrors their response. There will be no investigation because these politicians depend on the lobbying money. As has been said, it is impossible to get someone to believe something when he is paid not to believe.
The seller will either require new sales, or a new way to monetize the service. One way they can do that is by selling your habits, conversations, etc to third parties. See this Google patent for an example.
"Currently the company is in effect stating that it knows better than IT admins what is best for their users."
This has been Microsoft's attitude for a while.
"We don't like the ribbon." -- "SHUT UP! We know what is best."
"We don't like the Windows 8 touch interface." -- "SHUT UP! We know what is best."
"We don't like not having control of updates in Windows 10." -- "SHUT UP! We know what is best."
It is hubris, plain and simple. Microsoft is in a a powerful position because they know people have little choice. OSX is Apple only and Linux is an unknown to most. They know they can get away with a lot because you have little choice except to take it. One day they may go too far.
Ryzen 2+ (or Ryzen 3) may crush Intel's pricing power; it won't crush Intel's marketing power. Don't forget, at one time, Intel was keeping Dell afloat if they agreed to not sell AMD. Isn't it strange that I cannot buy a Ryzen Optiplex from Dell?
Unfortunately that is true. It should not be, but it is. Websites should never ever require JavaScript to work. I have seen more than one news site not display their content unless you enabled JavaScript. All those extraneous JavaScripts really slows down a browser, even with a powerful computer.
Oh, and we need to ban all autoplay video and audio except when I click on a clear link to a video or audio recording.
Many years ago I read an article on a TV news website -- which I foolishly forgot to save -- that said people were complaining about headaches after a AT&T had put a mobile phone tower in the area. They complained so much that the TV news investigated. Turned out the tower did not even have electricity to it yet, not even for the safety lights. Their headaches were all psychosomatic.
"In particular, these supposed employees raise the same issue cited by Hall, that Apple's marketing group overrides engineering concerns."
That has been true for a very long time. This is the same company that told us we were holding our phone wrong when they released a defective iPhone. In the US of A, at the time this was found out, the iPhone was AT&T only. Soon after, iPhone went to other carriers. Did Apple fix the flaw before they released a version for other carriers? No. This is also the same company that has no problem lying to you. See the Canadian reports here and here. This is also the same company that released a defective, hard to type on 'butterfly' keyboard on their laptops. When there was a high rate of failure, did they remove the bad keyboard? No, just made it slightly less bad.
"As Hall argues, "Apple’s insistence on their annual, big-splash release cycle is fundamentally breaking engineering.""
So, this is not Windows Vista bad. It is much much worse. It is Windows 10 bad. Why do this companies keep copying each other's bad ideas? Who needs stable, well-tested, and easy-to-understand software? Apparently Microsoft and Apple think you don't. Why is it so hard to get what was once standard? Are they so poor that they cannot afford several thousand quality control people?
Why even bother asking for a backdoor to encryption when you can just give people Alexa or a Google Home device. People pay to have Amazon and Google listen to them all the time. And people will gladly share their personal information with it. The Federales can go straight to the source, no need for encryption.
I was recently told that my Teamviewer lifetime license would soon be invalid. But I could continue to use Teamviewer if I switched to their new monthly rate plan. Turns out, their definition of lifetime meant as long as they supported the version. Since this is how they treat their customers, I will not switch to their monthly payment option. I would have been willing to pay a HUGE discount for an upgrade. Teamviewer lost a customer and recommendations.
I had a Win7 box with the generally really good Media Center. It was my DVR until Microsoft got rid of the programming guide. I have a nice Yamaha soundbar with HDMI, not optical, audio and can decode everything except the new Dolby ATMOS. Windows quite frequently forgets that the soundbar is 7.1 audio decode. There is only one fix: restart then go into audio settings and change back to 7.1.
Because of the audio issues, I decided to replace the computer with a Pi4 with Kodi instead of Win10 with Kodi.
1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
So I pull into a drive-thru and order a Big Mac, large fries, and a milkshake. The AI goes processes the orders, and then looks at me. It notices I might have a slight health problem. If the AI does nothing, my health might be harmed by my order. So, for the good of myself, the drive-thru AI modifies my order. Instead of a Big Mac, I get a basic hamburger. Instead of a large fry, I get a large salad. Instead of a milkshake, I get milk. The next person in the drive-thru queue approaches. The AI notices that this person has been at McDonald's before, many times before this very week. It also notices that the person has a severe weight problem. Based on what the person ordered last time, if the AI allows this person to order, it certainly will harm the person's health. This person begins to talk to the AI, but it says "I'm sorry, we are currently down for maintenance."
A 3 laws safe drive-thru could really help our health!
"Apple claims to have massively improved performance with the new chip – 20 per cent faster and 30-40 per cent lower power consumption than previous – through a series of complex tweaks."
Yeah, so what? I care not about performance, so long it does not perform like a dog. And that is true for most people. Do you think Grandma cares that her phone is 20% faster than her old one? Not a chance. She cares about the cost -- this new phone is still several hundred too high in any currency -- and the user interface. Of everyone who I know owns an iPhone X, most hate the new UI. Not all, but most do. Apple didn't address the two concerns people care most about.
The Simpsons had it right ... "BUY HIM OUT BOYS!"
Don't forget about the male and female adapters. Putting a male power plug into a female adapter is akin to rape because the female adapter has no choice but to accept any male adapter that the master chooses to insert. We should change the names of these adapters otherwise people would think of the exploitation of women!
This is from Amazon's Washington Post: "The problem, according to Google, is that users want privacy but 'publishers' economic viability' (how they make money) is dependent on tracking users in a way that is similar to assigning them a web-wide global identity."
LIAR! Not too long ago there were ads that were quite successful without tracking you. This model was quite successful when the world wide web went from luxury to necessity. If it worked once, it can work again. Why do advertisers keep forgetting their own internet history? Do not forget that Jeff Bezos owns both Amazon and the Washington Post. You better believe that they are in cahoots when it comes to taking away your privacy.
My car's GPS received map updates for 9 years, and I had to pay for each update. This is my 15th year with that car, so I've been unable to get the updated maps for 6 years. Needless to say, this has permanently soured me on buying another car with GPS in it.
What is with these companies and their insistence on copying the bad ideas of others? Apple copies Microsoft's bad idea on lax quality control. Microsoft copies Apple's bad idea of making unrepairable devices. Smartphone makers copy Apple's bad idea of a notch and lack of headphone port and irreplaceable battery.
I just don't understand. These are all very bad ideas, and they spread like cancer.
I've started to use Cookie AutoDelete for Firefox. (I believe it also available in Chrome.) I whitelist sites I need, and then set it to autodelete cookies -- it calls it autoclean -- any cookies not in the whitelist after I leave a page or close a tab. Between that and NoScript and uBlock, it is a life saver. (I turn uBlock off for the Reg, but never ever turn off NoScript.)
I also blacklist really really bad websites at the router. Sites like nervoussummer.com and unequalbrake.com. I see a lot of websites with two unrelated words like that and when you go to the website you get a landing page about DMCA checking. The reality is, however, those websites are checking for adblockers.
Intel clearly left something out of their press release. The correct quote is "Now that AMD is making products that can easily compete with ours, 10th Gen Intel Core processors are foundational to Intel’s journey in enabling uncompromising and workload-optimized PC platforms with performance leadership across all vectors of computing. 7th and 8th Gen Intel Core processors were foundational to Intel's ultimate goal in enabling us to charge large amounts for stagnant performance."
Maybe something like this cartoon, except replace 'didn't wash hands' with 'hacker lives here'. (If that link doesn't work, try this one.)
If Intel, with their deep pockets and experience making cellular mobens, had trouble with 5G chips then what chance does Apple have? If Apple buys Intel's 5G division, they will be buying their patents and engineers. The same engineers that did not succeed with 5G. Apple would have to hope they can hire talent. They can certainly afford to. But will these people leave Huwai or Qualcomm? Buying up Intel's division is no guarantee of success.
We need to ban H2O! For the children, of course. Or, at the very least, require a warning label for it. If you breath it, you will die. If you drink too much of it, you will die. At just the right temperature, it will scald your skin. Long-term exposure to the skin has been proven to cause temporary skin deformities. We need the nanny-state to protect us from this dangerous H2O!
"I certainly don't trust Sprint's statement."
Nor should you. "Sprint" and "customer service" are mortal enemies. Many years ago my dad had Sprint. One day he called and asked for a copy of his bill. The correct answer was "Could you please confirm your address?" The answer he received was "Why?" He wasn't a Sprint customer much longer after that. Never trust a word out of Sprint's mouth, because they do not understand how important good customer service is.
It was the first showing in my area. And I was the second person in the theater. I even took off the morning from work to see it at the Imax. And I tell you in truth, if I had time, I would have bought another ticket and seen it again right away. Even now, I am strongly considering seeing it again.
I used to watch almost every shuttle launch. When I was younger, I actually watch the shuttle go up at the area for visitors at Cape Canaveral. The thing I remember was seeing the shuttle launch, but not hearing it. And then ... BOOM. A loud shockwave after it was in the air a good distance. I will never forget it.
I wasn't born when the Apollo missions were cancelled. But I still marvel at what NASA did. And I am sad at what NASA has been reduced to. I wish I could spend two days, at least two, in space. The earth is my home, and I want to see my home while being weightless.
DRM is like a hard kick in the groin of consumers. Big Media says they need to stop piracy, but its record in stopping piracy is 0-for-everything. A far more effective system would be to eliminate DRM and encourage people to be paying customers. You do this by making setting reasonable prices and making it easy for people to use your product. For books and music, this means making it easy to transfer from device to device. For movies, this means that as soon as I put the disc in, the movie goes straight to the home menu or straight to the movie itself. Under no circumstances at any time or for any reason will there be trailers, unskippable anti-piracy warnings, unskippable "the commentary may not reflect the opinions of the studio" nonsense, or unskippable reason why the movie was rated as such. When you push play, it plays immediately.
I agree piracy is wrong. But the solution to piracy is not, nor ever will be, to punish law abiding people while mildly and temporarily inconveniencing pirates.
"The main reason for slumping sales is lack of innovation."
Exactly. Let us look at the innovation in the iPhone, limiting ourselves to ones people actually notice.
First, there is the notch. An idea so dumb and ugly that whoever decided to put it there needs to smacked hard in the head every day for 5 years so that he can have some sense knocked into him. Second, removing the headphone jack. The only reason for this is to make you buy an overpriced adapter or an overpriced set of wireless headphones. In no way and at no time was this decision about the customer. Third, removing the physical home button. I've used the original iPhone and the X. And I can say without reservation that the original iPhone with the home button is far far easier to use. Getting rid of that button was also the height of stupidity. If Apple wanted more screen space, they should have done what Android phones do and make a screen home button.
And so what do we have? Three bad ideas and a cost of over 1000 in all currencies. That will sucker in the diehards who worship their i-thingy, a few pretentious pricks who think they are better than you, and a few regular people. For many, it is a turn off. I know two iPhone lovers who regret buying the iPhone X because of the backwards innovation.
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