Posts by Anonymous Custard
350 posts • joined Friday 25th July 2008 07:33 GMT
Re: Oh
Nexus 7 under Jellybean 4.2.1 for the problem post (the working ones are from my Win7 laptop under IE).
Just downloaded the app, logged in and hit the reply button to do the test.
Yup, back to Chrome ;)
Re: First%20impressions
And that was an attempt at posting a comment via the new app (from a Nexus 7)...
Methinks perhaps some work is still required here, as it initially came up as being an unsuccessful post within the app itself...
As a browser it looks an improvement on the previous one (which isn't saying much), but as noted aside from offline synching (of which more control on what gets synched would be nice) how much use it is over just using a browser is questionable.
First%20impressions
Yup%20so%20far%20it%20looks%20better%20(writing%20this%20through%20it).%20Certainly%20better%20than%20the%20old%20mess%2C%20but%20that%20isn't%20saying%20much.%0A%0AWould%20be%20nicer%20to%20have%20more%20control%20over%20log%20in%20and%20what%20gets%20synched%20though%2C%20at%20least%20from%20a%20first%20impression.%0A%0AAnd%20yet%20again%20forced%20to%20provide%20a%20title%3F
The rumours are already all around the web about the Pro 2, see here for one example (there are many more variants on the theme if you search).
The word is three variants, one with Qualcomm processor (Snapdragon or successor), one with the new AMD Temash and one labelled the "Surface Book" with the Haswell. Then there's also rumours of the Xbox Surface tablet too.
But if you're stacking the Surface Pro up against other Ultrabooks, then the system's cost is within the bounds of sanity.
You're using the absurd cost of Ultrabooks compared to other laptop/tablet solutions as a yardstick of spending >$1000 being sane?
How about "The cost of the Surface Pro is just as insane as that of any other Ultrabook around" as a better tranlation? Nice kit, but at that price it's executive toy territory, or those with more cash than sense.
"Ambitious"
Once again Microsoft come up with a new and weird definition of an existing word.
It transforms into one - have you not seen SpaceBalls?
Re: Laptops with no OS.
Plus there are all the fun stuff like optmised/proprietry drivers and similar. Most people would want something that they can at least test and use with minimal to no work/set-up - remember people who read sites like this are in the minority of buyers. Most will just want to take it away and use the machine without the knowledge or desire to mess about with it (at least initially).
But the biggest thing of shipping an OS-free laptop is that they won't get any kick-backs/profit skimming from indirectly selling the OS too, nor anything similar from the suppliers of the bloated trialware that also tends to end up getting chucked in as well.
Don't get me wrong - I'd also love to see an OS-free option. But the market size and implicit subsidy of the machine by the OS-maker makes it unlikely.
But as a viral ad
It seems to be working - at least it got seen (and commented on) by all of us...
Likewise
I use a stylus (just a cheap one from Amazon that came in a deal with the case I got there, as the case also has a stylus/pen loop on it) with my Nexus 7 and much prefer it to direct finger use. More accurate, easier and less screen-trails. Plus it can more easily hit links etc without having to zoom in on the screen area (normally) than my fingertip can.
Also less painful on the digit after an extended session of screen-poking (usually on games like Jetpack Joyride, Fruit Ninja and Bloons Tower Defense 5). Not that I waste time on such things, honest guv'nor ;)
Re: Accounting
It may also relate to the machine then being a "tool for the job", and thus being tax deductable anyway.
Hence the importance of the cost itself diminishes when its effectively claimed back from HMRC.
Re: Personal testimonial--realtime
Yup, couldn't agree more. My own Aspire One with similar triple-capacity battery goes all day (9-10 hours, maybe a bit more if frugal and not doing video or too much wifi) and even still fits in its old soft slipcase with enough room to slide my Nexus 7 in there as well. And the chunky battery even gives the keyboard a nice slant, making typing on it much more pleasant.
Has SD slot, HDMI output and virtually everything else that may be needed with the arguable exception of a DVD slot (which is missing on many newer and bigger machines anyway) and built-in bluetooth, and even that was sorted by a thumbnail dongle from the pound shop.
Will be a shame as and when it does need to be replaced, as noted there's nothing on the market now which would fit the bill as well for the couple of hundred notes that one cost (including the battery and a RAM upgrade to 4GB).
Re: I don't want two devices where one will work.
It's called the Txtr Beagle. Designed to link to a smartphone, but I guess there's no fundamental reason why it couldn't link up to a tablet.
Re: Bollocks
Quite right.
Personally I intend to live forever. So far, so good...
Posted in Shiny, shiny! The window's behind me...
Touch
Given that apparently we all want touchscreens (at least according to some people's crystal balls), it's going to become a bit irrelevant anyway as a matte or glossy screen tend to look the same when covered in greasy fingerprints and streak-marks...
It's essentially a touchscreen ultrabook with an optional keyboard.
With a price to match, and currently generating about as much interest and sales as other ultrabooks...
Re: Good luck Microsoft...
So we've already got people who look like twonks talking to themselves thanks to bluetooth hands-free headsets for phones, and now we're gonna have gesture recognition perhaps with people twitching and pulling odd gestures like Marcel Marceau on ice.
In days gone past people got locked in the loony bin for less...
Re: I dunno....
True, but look how well such Ultrabooks are doing themselves, and what people are saying about their cost and return on investment too.
Re: God, I hate it when they name projects after SciFi characters/contraptions
Almost as much as when people make comments like that without reading the article itself, especially when it clearly states that's precisely what they didn't do.
Re: You do wonder....
From what I've read elsewhere, basically power to weight ratio. The Cobalt-Oxide based Li batteries are best for that, but have the unfortunate heat problem that's now manifesting itself. As noted above, it's the same technology used in cellphone & laptop batteries (and the Tesla Roadster), unfortunately with similar meltdown issues.
The other option may have been the Manganese based batteries more commonly used in other electric cars (the Volt et al), but whilst they don't overheat as easily they also don't supply as much juice for their weight. And it would be similar with the LiFePO4 ones - the whole point is weight-saving (along with the carbon fibre/plastic usage in the similar vein).
The Dreamliner idea of using electrics rather than tapping off some of the engine hot gas to support the sub-systems is an interesting one (for increasing fuel efficiency), but one can't help thinking that the con's of that idea may not have been considered quite as far as the pro's were...
Re: Another option.
Or perhaps Lemon?
Re: I am not a lumberjack but.....
I think the key point was that if they were hidden on the trees when in transit, once they got nearer to the mill (and the town around it) then they'd be in radio-range and so could call out. But as noted if they are in the branches and those are cut off, the beacon still sits there on the forest floor amongst the debris whilst the tree itself is carted off.
Yes it's active, but as it's not going anywhere the chances are it'll be out of radio range (presuming they weren't felling trees within about 20 miles of the mill town or other radio receiver) hence it'll be happily active and looking to call out for help on a radio that isn't connected to anything.
But as a concept it's a nice idea (and one well worth supporting), and I guess if they could daisychain and act as relays to other such devices, then even the range issue could be overcome.
Re: why is line-rental mandatory?
So when some cunning ad-exec reads this, we can perhaps expect Ford et al to start offering free cars, where you pay only several thousands of pounds for an optional accessory called the key?
Re: i don't get it
Google will also want to improve their share of the tablet market (the Nexus 7/10 and future bretherin) which is also of course Android based. That may also help to continue innovation in the OS, and with luck also the expansion of the apps-base in the Play Store.
At the moment whilst there are some apps which have optimisation for the tablet format, there are a lot which don't (but still work there). That drive to catch up with the iPad in terms of market share and app availability could be a continued motivator for change and improvement.
Re: Meanwhile - at a conference room in Raleigh, North Carolina...
And they release it on the same day that Tesco's suppliers are found to be including horsemeat and pig in their beef supplies...
Two scenarios
Either the top rated app ends up being something like Google's Map app, or Amazon's Kindle app or something like that (MS ending up advertising a competitor), or it gets taken over like the anti reality-TV single campaigns we end up with a popular vote for something completely tangential. Quick somebody, write a Rick-rolling app that Livetiles "Never Gonna Give You Up"...
Re: Just wondering...
And there were rumours of an evil dictator with a big flaming eye and an army of ugly troops showing up on the big-ish island just to the east.
Mistargetted
Maybe they should have targetted the petition at Pope Palpatine in the Vatican?
Re: @Daniel B
Mine was purchased a fair while ago (something like 16 months ago), but I know what you mean. In detail the machines have different full names (722-xxxx where xxxx is the detailed spec) and that did vary quite significantly in RAM, disc size and battery. I hadn't seen variants with different resolutions or processor though for the 11.6" ones (there was also a 10.1" or so model at the time).
My one isn't either of your listed ones, at least to look at (mine is black and the disc is 250GB). So as you say I guess things have diversified a bit since I got mine. Shame really, as it's quite a nice little machine in the guise I have. The link below is as close as I can find to my one, but as noted it's not currently available so may have been superceded:
http://reviews.argos.co.uk/1493-en_gb/5086380/reviews.htm
Sorry to hear you're having troubles though, but at least you're seeing the differences before purchase.
Re: [ ] Don't tick this box...
And the other little trick that seems to be popping up too on a single form/page:
[ ] tick here if you don't want us to send you spam.
[ ] tick here if you consent to us selling your soul to third parties who will then send you spam.
Set up of course so that people see the first one and tick it, but then follow instinct and also tick the second without pausing to fully read it and so actually opt into the second one.
That kind of trick is also the spawn of Satan.
Re: @Daniel B
Mine is the C60 version. It also came from Tesco.
That one came with the 2-cell small battery, but other places do a 4-cell one for a little more cash. But given I replaced it with the 8-cell one anyway (or maybe 9-cell, the biggest one I could find basically) that wasn't really a concern but I mention it just in case you may want to stay as-is.
The memory was from Crucial, and cost about £20 or so. Exchanged in literally a minute, one screw from the base, slid the bottom cover off and swapped the card over.
As with any netbook it does struggle a little if you push it too hard (stream a movie or iPlayer whilst web surfing and having email open and the stream stutters a little) but for general work and normal usage it does the job fine. The keyboard is nice to type on for mails and coding, overall I'm very happy with it.
Re: Google Play and SD card!
Another option is a Nexus 7, a USB on the go cable and the Nexus Media Importer app, plus either a USB stick or an SD card and USB adapter. The app is similar to StickMount, but doesn't need the device to be rooted.
Sum total for the cable and app - about a fiver or so (got mine last week) and you can then play music and movies from the stick on the Nexus.
Admittedly not quite as convenient as a built-in SD card slot, but it's do-able as a portable media player.
Re: Tether
Not sure I'd agree, as for example the GPS in the wifi-only N7 is fine, at least in the couple of weeks experience I've had of it. I can't say I've ever heard anyone say it's not the best option to carry two devices before.
And as for 3G - I was researching whether to get a 3G-N7 or the wifi-one and asked the nice Google-girl in PC-World and her comment was to forget the 3G version and just tether. So if even their instore-embedded staff are routing people to the cheaper option then there must be something in it.
Re: Why 3G?
A 3G chipset typically features a proper GPS chip as well, WIFI only tablets don't.
There's so many reasons why you're wrong.
You mean like the wifi-only Nexus 7, which has wifi, bluetooth, NFC and GPS?
Maybe you should check your facts before you say people are wrong?
Re: Bong my phone to sync, WHY?
It wouldn't replace the bluetooth, it would act as the initial negotiation and handshaking for it (as the article says). So in your examples it would do the first time sync by just a tap, rather than messing around with pin codes etc. And it would probably be the equivalent of your pressing play in the second one.
For pre-arranged repeat connections that are already there then the re-pairing would probably be done much as it already is, but if this was combined with something like wireless charging then your whole car scenario could consist of taking your phone and putting it down on a special NFC/charge pad. Thus the phone knows it's in the car and can set itself up accordingly, the two can link together for voice and data streaming (sat nav, music library, maybe even net access via 3/4G) and the phone can charge.
And at the end all you'd need to do is pick the phone up, and it could then revert back to its normal profile for hand-held use.
Re: @Daniel B
Forgot an answer - screen res 1366 x 768 on an 11.6" size. Not the highest, but enough to do the job and as noted has HDMI output to drive a suitable HD telly for streaming.
Re: @Daniel B
@AC 11:03
Presuming that was to me, an Acer Aspire One 722, with Win7 Home Premium pre-installed (and Lubuntu added in). The battery came from one of the Hong Kong places and is an 8-cell job which lasts for 6-8 hours or so. It's quite chunky (the laptop sits at about a 10 degree angle rather than flat as it did with the original 2-cell battery), but it's actually easier to type etc on it like that as it acts like a keyboard stand.
Tether
Why pay the extra for the 3G when most people have a 3G mobile in their pocket which can easily tether to the tablet via bluetooth and give you 'net access? I do that between my Nexus7 and my phone (a bottom of the bucket Nokia 2730) and it works a treat. Then there's really no risk of it chewing through your data allowance unless you're really careless.
Also for things like navigation - Google Maps Nav does it fine as long as you set it up on wifi first (it needs their servers to do the route calculation) and have the maps downloaded for offline use. Then as long as you don't exit the app it'll happily guide you. Or failing that spend the extra you would have put on 3G on a paid-for app like CoPilot or one of the Garmin, TomTom etc offerings
Re: @Daniel B
Or go to Tesco or similar and buy a USB DVD drive for about 40 quid or so. I did for my netbook (along with a 4GB RAM upgrade from Crucial) and between the two it's a fairly usable machine for everyday stuff and one I take on business trips as a secondary machine for a little gaming, coding and iPlayer desktop (via HDMI output).
The drive is powered by the USB (twin port cable) and works perfectly under both Win7 and Lubuntu (and was used to install the latter).
Should someone perhaps point out to them that the law isn't an open standard in quite the same way that HTML, USB and TCP/IP are, to be followed, modified or "come up with your own proprietry solution" as business dictates?
Call me when they make wallpaper which can display an HD image streamed from some suitable box. As that's about the only way there's going to be enough space in my house to have an image that big displayed.
Sounds like yet another solution looking for a problem, or a requirement in this case.
Hawkeye
As it's said there were 6 in the team but only 5 were named, allow me to add the 6th.
That said he is a fairly forgettable character, at least in the movie.
Hanging from a short rope?
"Twenty metres above the surface, we have to lower the rover below us on a tether that's 21 feet long, and then gently deposit it on its wheels on the surface," engineer Adam Steltzner said. "It is the result of reasoned engineering thought, but it still looks crazy."
Umm, 21 feet is about 6.5 metres? Something doesn't quite add up there, or did they use elastic or bungy cord?
Bugger, now I'm going to have the image of a bungy-jumping Curiosity bouncing up and down in the back of my mind all day...
Love it
Now if they can use it to go find our lost Playmonaut, then it'll be pints (or milkshakes for the kids) all round!
Posted in North Korea releases first computer game
Re: Well,
I was just waiting for the eagle to fly in and try to pick up the car...
That it weirdly hypnotic though, especially the square/triangular "clouds" which seem to keep flashing in the sky. Or was that the secret NK anti-missile shield recently nicked from Israel?
Outlook.com basically is Hotmail, just under a new name and tarted up graphics.
If I remember correctly they were trying to do away with some of the less lovely aspects of Hotmail's associations and reputation.
So when will the Reg standardise and give us the quantum jub?
And will there be a dependency on left or right?
Better hurry then - he's only got a couple of days.
Will probably turn up hand in hand with the Great Prophet Zarquon...
