Posts by Dapprman
289 posts • joined Thursday 14th August 2008 12:45 GMT
Re: Doomed idea
Almost certainly not helped as well by Ghost declaring that Renault (and Nissan) are dropping out of the pure electric car market and instead ill be looking towards hybrid technology.
Re: SU-100 tanks
If you're going to be a pedant then get it right. it's a Self Propelled Gun, genus Tank Destroyer (and no not an assualt un - that's what the SU-122/ISU-122 was).
;)
Tim Worstall = HS2 NIMBY ?
Because he sure comes across that way with this piece of reporting.
Posted in Ten ancestors of the netbook
I still occasionally miss my old Psion 3 MX
It was my first PDA, and my jump across from a filofax. i used it for many years, not just as an organiser, but also, through the serial cable, as a terminal. Was perfect for when I needed to go in to a machine room where there was a dodgy terminal or workstation monitor.
Re: Ahh
Strange, I have distinct memories of it's backers harping on about how they were influenced by the likes of the Acorn Atom and ZX Spectrum and wanted some thing to throw at kids in schools to help influence them in to carrying on the UK tradition for tech thinkers and doers.
The fact it can be used as a half decent PC was purely a side benefit.
Posted in Ten Windows 8 Ultrabooks
I might have to revist the S200
I tried oen in PCW and liked it but was put off by the low hardware spec as I will be wanting to process photos on it ( though it did cross my mind that my present travel laptop is 6-7 year old technology and so probably much slower).
Posted in Ten Windows 8 Ultrabooks
@ Eadon Re: Wrong title...
Ok I bite on this one
Xerox Star -> Original Mac -> Windows 3.1.
X-Windows -> Mac OSX -> Vista/Aero.
Rio MP3 Player -> Creative DAT -> iPod -> Zune
Decades of Sci Fi -> MS Windows Tablets -> iPad -> Surface.
SE 800 -> SE 900 -> SE910 .... -> iPhone -> Windows Phone 7/8. (assuming you mean a tile or user friendly interface, as the iPhone was a huge step backwards hardware wise for the Europeana dn Far-Eastern markets)
Apple copying everyone else .......... Steve Jobb's real skill (aside from anoying the crap out of most people who worked with/for him) as marketting and trend analysis. Successfuly Apple products have never been original in idea, it was Steve spotting when the market aws finally ready.
When's it going on Kickstarter
I know it's not feasable, but I doubt the price would reduce from what this masterpiece cost, but we can dream :)
Posted in Review: Renault Zoe electric car
The Electric Car Is Dead !
Sorry guys but, I'll quote the author first
"To argue that the electric car has already failed is farcical. To date only one mass-market EV from an established car maker has been launched in the UK: the Nissan Leaf. Even I’m not fully convinced by the Leaf. I think it’s too big, too ugly and too expensive. A revised, cheaper, longer-range Sunderland-built model will address some of those failings, but I can’t see it changing my essential feelings towards it.
No, in my opinion the only two cars that will fly the flag of the e-car in a convincing manner in 2013 are Toyota’s Prius Plug-in hybrid and Renault’s new Zoe BEV. If in two years’ time global sales of these two are still piss poor then, and only then, will I discuss the “failure” of the e-car."
And now I'll like everyone to do a google ot look for press releases in recent months by Carlos Ghosn. He's the head of both Nissan and Renault. He has been the main driving force behind the pure electric car and the reason why Nissan and Renault sell these where as all their rivals only do hybrids and are only researching hybrids and/or hydrogen power.
So the head of the only main stram manufacturer of electric cars made an announcement a month or two ago. Basically Ghost said that he still liked the concept of a pure EV but as an enterprise it was a failure and as a result Nissan-Renault will now be dropping research in to them and instead look towards developing a range of hybrid cars based upon existing models.
This leaves no major motoring manufacturer in this field, with only Tesla seeming to be developing the technology and they can harldy be considered significant. Oh and don't bring G-Wizz up - no news of any new cars and even their existing one used old tech.
Re: Guess I'll got one - it looks great to be used together my camera.
I was also thinking the same thing - also great for processing photos out of the house (i.e. on location or holiday).
@ Dave126 - iPad is useless for DSLR owners due to lttle in the way of options, a reliance mainly on expensive additional cables or wireless adapters (unless you have the latest generation of high end professional cameras - assuming you have access to a wirelss network for connectivity - I still seem to find hotels with either no conenctivity, Internet only in the foyer/louge/bar area, or cable conenction in the room) and no high end photo processing options. With a Surface Pro tablet (or a PC or MAC laptop) you can have full camera control (again missing from the tablet toy apps) and decent processing software.
Re: Lewis misses the point
If the Jutland book is blaming German shells penetrating the magazine armour then it's both out of date and inaccurate. Lots of proof now that many of the ships in Beatties BC squadron had all the doors/traps open between the magazines, powder stores and the guns so they could fire as fast as possbile (Beattie was obsessed with rate if fire and not accuracy as he believed if you fired often enough some shells would hit ...). Net result was that a non-penetrating shell exploding could, and in multiple instances, did result in ships exploding. The RN knew about Beattie's effects (he also penalised crews of slow firing ships) before thae start of the war, plus it came out in the internal enquiry, but was then put under Official Secrets so it would not show that Beattie (who soon after replaced Jelicoe as admiral in a politial manouever) was an incompetant donkey. The British press by that stage, while jingoistic, was also intrisive, hence the blame going on the lack of armour on the battle cruisers.
Think we've some what segued here.
Re: Chocolate Teapot
Good job then that Argentina found a way round all these millitary procurement mistakes as they have made no major investment in the armed forces since the Falklands War, hve not replaced lost aircraft, most their navy (including the CV) is now effectively scrap, and their armed forces makes ours large while also being positioned for the potential restart of a number of border wars.
Phew.
Re: Look at "reverse auction charity shares" for a different angle
Actually just been looking at the CV of a PM who may be suitable for this. A A. Skywalker - he put great emphasis on his people management skills.
Re: Yeah......right.......
You beat me to it. SoX - where only the auditors benefit.
Re: untitled comment
Would like to add that IBM have been calling them LPARs since the early mainframe days, before X86 architecture occured, never mind before 'virtual machines' where theorised.
BTW I'm not that old, but I did find myself ebing lectured by an old mainframer some 15 years ago when I asked what an LPAR was.
Re: Been saying for how long?
Mercedes, BMW and VAG have all been long term investors in hydrogen powered tech as well - the only thing stopping them moving forwards is the infrastructure. VW had a production ready golf around 10 years ago.
Re: My guess is...
It was IBM with AIX. SCO were the ones who demanded the source code. If memory serves me correct IBM gave them print outs as no specific format had been requested.
Re: Bah!
Problem is, if you were correct, then there would be big fluctuations in each direction as shorters and market makers effectively manipulate the market. This would be a daily or even hourly thing.
The reality is that the share price has been in a steady decline for 4 months now, there's been no spikes or dips, so no real shorting. Apple had been a favourate with long term inverstors and investment houses (think pensions) as they have been safe, reliable, and always rising. For the stock to drop over 30% in just four months shows signs of the big players selling and getting out, or at least offloading larger chunks of their investments. A furtehr 10% today shows that Cook's performance has not imperssed the city.
I do not think they will collapse, but I have said for a long time that the stock was seriously over-priced and I think what we're seeing at present is a reballancing towards a more reasonable price, at which point it will level out once more (unless there's a major screw up - successes rarely cause big price rises). Apple with carry on as before and the only peopel hurt will be those who got carried away on god like stock.
Re: Criminals doing criminal things get criminal charges? ABSURD!
@ Ian 62
Actually bankers do go down, even if their actions were legal at the time and the law written after - this was one of the issues on the Natwest Three.
Re: Sculley @ Steve Todd
Depends who's version of history you follow. In his semi-biography he was pushed, in Pirates of Silicon Valley (which was considered near canon at the time) he tried a coup on John Scully which failed and then was forced out.
Also Pixar is a very bad example as John Lasseter pointed out their success was because they rarely sawe Steve and as long as they used his NeXT boxes he cared little. Supposedly he visited the Pixar offies less than once a year and never gave input.
@ Piro
Don't let rose tinted glasses confuse you. Sure Saint Steve saved Apple on his return, however part of Scully's problems were down to the fact he was trying to run a fractured company with nervous paranoid workers, all of which was down to the way Steve Jobs ran things in the first place.
(now without poor grammer and spelling mistakes of the last two attempts ... I hope)
Re: Try comparing like with like
Damn want to argue with Steve Todd, but he is right. As much as I see Apple products as expensive, they are actually competitvely spec'ed with their rival offerings.
@Ledswinger
Except very few countries follow the subsidised phone market - we do well out of it in the UK
Posted in Review: Google Nexus 4
Re: No mention of call quality nor of messaging system abilities, among other things
@Snake
I found exactly the same thing - still not found a decent email client - Z9 does not touch the old WinMobile stock one despite looking plain and a little clunky. Also time management and contacts are shocking, The way I see it is as smart phones get more powerful and new toys, they also become dumber. 20 months in to my first Android phone the main reason I'm going for another is that as a heavy PDA user there's no real rival, especially with the direction MS have taken. In reality these are not smart phones, but rather app phones.
Posted in Review: Google Nexus 4
This has left me in two minds
I'm not sure what to do now. When the second batch went up in to the store some 5 weeks back I snagged myself a 16 GB one on 5-6 weeks notice (has anyone with shorter notice received theirs yet ?) as:-
1. My HTC Desire Z was near killed by the Gingerbread upgrade (known issue HTC refuse to acknowledge) (oh and none of the reliable rooting methods work beyond Froyo)
2. My Desire Z is rapidly failing (HTC don't seem to make them like they used to)
3. I can't swap my phone under contract until mid Feb
4. While tempted by a Note 2 for Feb I want to wait till Voda sell the LTE version (June/July ?)
I felt it was a decent handset for a silly price to tidy me over till June/July and then possibly sell. The problems for me are as to whether it will actually arrive, and more importantly battery life. My present and previous two phones have been fitted with extended batteries (HTC Desire Z, HTC Touch Pro, and HTC TyTn) as I like to have some juice spare by the end of the day and traditionally have travelled through low signal areas, which always hammers the battery. The repeated reviews claiming short battery life worry me.
Desert Eagles ....
Love the comments about the IMI Desert Eagle. So lets get some facts straight.
The Dersert Eagle was originally produced in two calibres, .357 magnum for armed forces and the police and .44 magnum for fire arms enthusiasts.
The 50cal Desert Eagle was originally produced ONLY for the US collectors/firearms-nut market. I'm not sure it was ever officially sold else where.
The .357 magnum model proved to have too recoil for combat situations (where a proper firing stance may not be possible) and so proved to be unpopular with the troops. As a result it was dropped and replaced with the IMI Jericho, which comes with two barrels, tow magazines, etc to be able to use one of two rounds. The classic 9x19mm and the harder hitting, but less rounds in the magazine 10mm magnum.
Incidentally, I know from a US based friend and gun nut that the IMI Jericho is actually sold in the US as the Desert Eagle - I know so as we got into an argument as he claimed he had a 9mm Eagle - he sent me photos and I sent back reference photos.
Posted in Review: HTC 8X Windows Phone 8 handset
Re: @ Al Taylor re - DropBox
@ JDX
It is, I have Skydrive clients on my HTC Desire Z and my Apple iPad.
Posted in Apple loses iPhone patent lawsuit
Re: Surely a mistake - Star Trek
Ah, but Gene Rodenbury did patent most the technology ideas and then bequeathed them to the general public in his will as wanted people to have the chance to deevlop upon them. Alas the look and feel are a different matter resulting in their holder (is it Sony or Time Warner) threatening anyone who make anything even close to resembling the look.
Just looked now (UK Google Play site)
And they still have 16GB versions going with 5-6 weeks delivery time, 8 GB obviously all sold out.
Got one in my basket at the moment, I only just about 4.5GB on my Desire Z (phone and 8 GB micro-SD), just thinking about it, oh and the £10 P&P they want to charge.
Re: All so establishment in old age... @ Lloyd
Don't knock it, that Daly Thompson/Phantom of the Opera advert helped get me in to
1. Iron Maiden
2. Timing what track was about to start on the stereo when traffic lights were about to turn to green ....
Of course this will not work for freretards like me ...
Gdrive limit is only 5GB unless you pay, so how are many of us going to send 10 GB files from it ....
(and yes I know most the free online storage accounts - I use Dropbox and Skydrive, but Google are making the ability to send a 10 GB email as a USP).
Re: Woah, woah, woah.
Totally agree on Deep Thought and Hactar. Thing is though is that they obviously assume the readers here are as likely to have read Life the Universe and Everything (or listened the radio series) as the set designer for that awful movie (Deep Thought is described in the books and the radio series).
Re: Dark Star?
Ahh but the computers here are bad guys, the computer controlled bomb in Dark Star just became a bible basher and 'saw the light' ...
Posted in Ten weird Chinese mobile phones
Re: Her you go
Just had a look at the sites selling this - there's a review on Amazon - seem to remeber it followed along the lines of 'broke after 2 days'
Re: Serves Apple right....
@ Dave 15
Name 2 British firms who make proper sports cars (as opposed to track day toys, so excludes Ariel, Westfield, Caterham, and Radical)..
@Turle_fan
Shows how too many people judge people based on stereotypes. I have several friends with Boxters and I almost bought one as well. None were because we could not afford a 911, but because we wanted rag tops, some thing the Boxter is very good for, but the 911 Cabrio is flawed (due to chopping off the roof and adding extra strength else where, rather than being designed from the ground up as a soft top).
Except
I was actually nodding my head at Chris Miller's comments (stated in case there are other replies above mine), but then suddenly realised that I have only worked at or in one company that actually had an up to date desktop. I strongly suspect most companies (after all how many are still using XP) will not be updating to TIFKAM for two to three years yet minimum, by which time most their staff will alerady be using it in their homes. Thus no training required for most and those who do need basic help will have colleagues neat by who can assist.
Posted in LG Vu 5in Android phone-tablet review
Where's the pen ?
I thought half the point of theSamsung Tabs was the Wacom developed pen and touch screen. I see none of that here.
Re: Nokia 7650
I had a 7650 for 5 days. Was a lovely phone to use but I wanted Bluetooth, which either it did not have, else did not have for voice, so it went back to Vodafone. About 18 months later I got my P900 - partly because smart phones had (to me) become usable, but also a lot down to the fact I just did not get along with Graffitti 2 on my Palm Tungsten T2 (loved my Palm Xv and Psion MX before that) and was close to throwing it against a wall.
I still have my P900 some where
Possibly one of the best smart phones I've had - though wireless technology moved on. Shame they screwed up on the P990.
To me since the P900/910 day smart phones have become dumber and dumber until now they are little more than application launching phones. The PIM/PDA these days feels like disjointed add-ons designed by people who'd not normally use them. it's not as if apps are a new concept or an invention from Apple. Used to be lots for UIQ, not only on Handango App Store, but also else where around the web, just not as well centralised.
Re: Think of the Children!
In suppot of Andy115's comments
I remember when they came clean over the old white Commerce (?) detector vans, that they were just ordinary vans with a wooden structure on top. All they really did was look for tell tale signs in windows of a TV being present/on and check against their list of licence holders to see if the address in question was covered.
Posted in Jam today: Raspberry Pi Ram doubled
Is there a way of telling which version you have ?
I don't mean memory wise, but all the other tweaks and upgrades they've done. Mine finally arrived last Thursday (was in no hurry so never noticed I could have cancelled my my RS Components order and got near next day from Farnell), but I've no initial clues as to whether it is 9or was last Thursday) the latest and greatest version, or if it was just old stock and RS Components were being slow.
Re: It's not even just that 2gig holds a ludicrous number of books
@HolyFreakinGhost
I wonder if that's why Amazon dropped the SD card slot when they brought out the Kindle2
Re: Bondnote 3
It was Ian Flemming himself who described the Walther PPK as a girls gun, I think (I can't remember) Bond used mainly a Browning in his books.
I agree
When I first went there in 2003 I was dissapointed as the 'years ahead of the rest of the world' electronics were no where in sight, just ordinary, find any where in the Western World, consumer goods at not so cheap a price. However the original electronics parts arcades were still there.
I was last in Akiba in 2008 and the electonics compnents arcades were still there and busy, though the ones heading up to Kaneda were emptier. Much of the Otaku culture was still very much around as well - Gamers was well worth my cultural visit.
Re: good days
If that's from the electrical parts area under the bridge (the reason Akiba became what it is), then that's still around, or at least was still very much there in 2008 when I was last there.
Re: Natwest Online now displays Mortgage Balance
Must be a gradual roll-out as I've had that function for over a month now. Alas it's a recent payments only function, at first i thought I might be able to pay an extra chunk off through the on-payment options.
