Posts by Geoff Campbell
1041 posts • joined Friday 13th June 2008 12:58 GMT
Say what you like about Apple...
...but they don't hold a grudge, do they?
GJC
Re: At least they're making an effort...
<Muffled kaboom from down the back of the sofa>
"...bugger."
GJC
Re: iOS users use their phones 50% more than Android users...
Indeed so. Or it could mean that Android users have a life outside of their phone. Ain't stats fun?
GJC
Wang Yaping?
Does that sound like a euphemism to anyone else?
Oh, just me, then.
GJC
Re: @AdamT
Damn. Could have been my shot at fame, there. Oh, well, one for the public domain :-)
GJC
It occurs to me...
...that a quick and easy cure to a lot of this could be effected by implementing a "broad/narrow" filter for patent applications.
Get someone with a reasonable level of intelligence to look at each patent, and give a quick opinion as to which of the two categories it falls into. Narrow patents get fast-tracked, broad ones get taken apart by as many industry experts and standards bodies as can be thrown at the problem.
The end result being that broad patents would be stalled in the system potentially for decades, and probably not granted even after that. That should encourage companies to narrow the focus of their patents considerably.
GJC
Posted in Review: HP Slate 7 Android tablet
Gazes over at Touchpad...
I wonder if someone in HP looked at the results of the ninety quid firesale, and decided that around a ton was the right price point for a tablet, then built this dinosaur down to a price?
They don't seem to really know what they're doing these days, do they?
GJC
Re: Flick switch, light turns on
I'm mostly with you, with one exception - there's a good body of research now that the brain responds to changing colour hues throughout the day, so that a decently programmed and very gradual phasing of colours can help you wake up, work, and wind down to sleep rather better than just a simple on/off of a harsh blue-white light.
But is that worth £180 to me? Well, it might be if I had trouble sleeping generally, but as it happens that's the one thing I'm really good at.
GJC
Is this Foxconn's HTC moment, I wonder?
GJC
Re: Acer Laptops
I tend to buy cheap laptops, on the grounds that if they are then stolen or dropped, it's no big deal. Which is odd, as I'm very careful with gadgets, and have never dropped or lost a laptop. Oh, well.
I've had a couple of cheap Acer laptops over the years, and they have both been very reliable and excellent value for money. Not, I would be the first to admit, a huge sample, but I do like to give credit where it's due. Perhaps their high-end stuff is made rather differently?
GJC
<Shrug>
So, Slimfast, then? Or any one of a number of other nutritionally complete meal-replacement products from the last four decades or more.
So the funky name and targeted marketing must be in order to charge a higher price? Which, considering the price of Slimfast, puts it *way* out of my budget range.
GJC
Re: Brilliant
Goodhart's Law:
"When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure."
GJC
As with all new technologies...
...I foresee the main initial usage being for porn.
GJC
Re: @phuzz
You make a compelling point. I'm in.
GJC
Re: Bloodhound @ Swansea
That might be fun - I need to take the bike out ("Just circulating the oil, Dear. Yes, it's vital, sorry, I'd love to stay and help with cutting the lawn, but needs must."), seems like that might be a fun destination.
GJC
Re: Babs in Swansea
Yes, as I discovered just last weekend. Still there are a few nice bikes and things in Pendine even so :-)
GJC
I'm not sure what the point it.
I'm a huge, huge fan of all things automotive. Just up the road from me there is the Pendine Museum of Speed, whose primary exhibit is Babs, a land speed record car from the '30s. It is a thing of absolute beauty, and I often drive up there of a weekend just to stand and gaze.
But what was the point of land speed records once they stopped being driven wheel cars and bikes? Anything with a jet or rocket engine is just a very low flying aeroplane, and we know how fast they can go.
All seems a bit pointless to me. Still, more power to them, I guess.
GJC
Posted in Review: Crucial M500 960GB SSD
Re: blimey
The latter, fragmentation doesn't really exist on an SSD.
I've been using a 256GB M4 as the only internal drive in my desktop PC and my laptop for a while. I will never go back to spinning rust, it has been relegated to bulk storage for video, music, and photos. The performance difference is just stunning.
GJC
Posted in Movie review: Star Trek Into Darkness
Re: Lens Flare
As I posted elsewhere after watching the 2009 reboot over the weekend:
The J J Abrams drinking game:
The rules:
1) Whenever there is a lens flare, finish your drink.
2) That is all.
You will need:
1) 3-4 extra bottles.
2) Emergency medical assistance on speed dial.
As with so many of these cases...
...I find myself asking how the buggery bollocks they managed to get a patent on something so simple and obvious?
GJC
A four-inch tall private eye?
They should have made it a musical show. Could have had a singer with a four inch pianist.
GJC
Re: This is going to make...
Doesn't everyone?
GJC
This is going to make...
...being pissed in the countryside after closing time a whole heap more surreal.
GJC
Both could be right
Don't forget there are two separate but linked products carrying the xBox name - the console, and on-line gaming service/app store. Something about the colour scheme and font makes me think that perhaps the second photo refers to the on-line service, which has been referred to as plain "xbox" for a while now.
GJC
Not necessarily.
I have successfully sued a firm of lawyers over an unpaid invoice, without using a lawyer. I was, I confess, rather nervous...
GJC
Re: principle
"A principle is not a principle until it has cost you money" - as she has just found out. Harsh lesson to learn, though.
Spawn of Satan icon for the lawyers. Well, why not?
GJC
10%?
38%, it says 'ere. So they'd need a fairly robust kick up the arse to help them on their way.
GJC
Re: @AC
http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Install_CM_for_i9300
Very easy.
GJC
Re: @Tom
Oh, and "saved" music? What is this, the '90s? :-)
Music lives in the cloud, too.
GJC
Re: @Tom
All apps are reinstalled, yes - you have to be quite careful to un-check a setting during the initialisation script if you want a virgin installation. Texts and settings I don't know about, I've never cared enough to check, to be honest.
GJC
Re: Can't speak for anyone else
Me too. Currently running an S3, which will do me until next year. By default I might pick another Samsung, but if I had to make the choice today I'd probably go for a Nexus 4. We'll see what the market looks like when I need to make the choice.
Interestingly, one of the strongest requirements behind the choice will be strong support from the custom ROM market. Not strictly needed with the Nexus range, but it's been a useful backstop on various phones in the past.
GJC
Re: @Tom
Nope. Android lives in the cloud, and has done since well before Apple joined the party. Swap phones, give it your Google account details, and everything is restored.
GJC
Re: Not such a bad idea
Most road taxation is levied via taxes on fuels, so you already have the ideal of paying per mile for usage.
GJC
Re: pointless stupidity
Ah, truly a little learning is a dangerous thing.
GJC
Posted in The healing hands of guru Dabbs
Re: If only proximity had something to do with it.
I have a three-step solution to such problems. At the first call, we get something like:
Them: "Windows is playing up, it does blah blah blah blah..." (I've tuned out 'round about now)
Me: "Hmmmm, yes, Windows can be a bit tricky, have you tried xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx" (Complete bollocks, made up on the spot)
Them, brightly: "No, not tried that, I'll have a go"
Next call:
Them: "That didn't work, Windows is still doing blah blah blah blah..." (I can tune out in less than 15 seconds given the right problem or the right person. Quicker, when both align nicely.)
Me: "Hmmmm, yes, Windows can be a bit tricky. Have you considered buying a Macintosh?"
Them: "Ah, yes, I've heard about those, maybe I will".
Third and final call:
Them: "My new Macintosh is blah blah blah blah" (You get the picture)
Me: "Sorry, I don't know anything about Apple gear, can't help you."
Them: <Click>Brrrrrrrr
Job done. Yes, I'm a bastard, but I'm an *accomplished* bastard.
GJC
<Shrug>
As with so many things in life, you get out of social networking sites exactly what you put in. I was Facebook to keep in touch with a bunch of friends around the country, and threads often develop discussing a whole bunch of intellectual stuff.
Watching the young teenagers is quite amusing, though. Better get a pension plan sorted out, 'cos that lot aren't going to supporting us...
GJC
Re: Sorry - already sold my soul to google
I sold my sole to them instead. Didn't get as much, but it leaves me more wiggle room in future.
GJC
Re: yea
I bought a 60" Sharp unit for £999 last year.
GJC
Re: Jarndyce vs Jarndyce
Oh, get 'im with 'is classical allusions!
GJC
Re: Nation-building
Can't you just film the destruction and play it backwards?
GJC
Re: heavily weighted towards Labour MPs
Yes. And sadly, the evidence seems to imply that the majority of people are.
GJC
Don't forget the beer.
Penny off a pint of beer. Modern version of panem et circenses, I guess.
GJC
Re: Yes indeed, he made mining much safer.
Also head of Bofors, which he turned from a general iron and steel processor into one of the leading armaments companies of the time. His mother must have been very proud.
GJC
Posted in BlackBerry CEO: iPhone past its prime
iPhone as 40 year old air-cooled utility car?
You know, I think you may very well have just nailed it.
GJC
Re: You have my attention.
SDXC has been supported since the Galaxy S2 for certain, and possibly before that. 128GB cards coming Real Soon Now...
GJC
Re: whopper
It's (a very, very small bit) smaller than the S3, which I've been carrying around quite comfortably for a year. fits in all the various trousers I wear, both casual (mostly jeans) and business, very nicely.
I think they've done a really neat job of packaging to get the bigger screen and battery into a package smaller than the S3, and it's good to see a return to Super AMOLED - always seemed an odd choice to fit the flagship phone with the second-tier screen on the S3, although it works well enough for my ageing and colour-blind eyesight.
Watching the launch event was quite excrutiatingly embarrassing, though. Samsung are not Apple, and I do wish they wouldn't try to be. All the pauses waiting for audience applause that never came was like watching a train crash in slow motion.
GJC
Re: I've been saying for years...
I like to do my best to meet your rigorous standards. Don't thank me, it's just what I do.
GJC
Re: I've been saying for years...
I see the fanbois are out in force today.
GJC
I've been saying for years...
...that the iPad wasn't a hugely innovative breakthrough, so much as a clever re-packaging of whatever prototyping platform they used to develop the iPhone.
Vindicated, finally!
GJC
Posted in Bacon sarnies can kill: Official
Re: "I'm pretty sure"...
...said no scientist, ever.
Personally incredulity is no basis for scientific discussion.
GJC
