Desktop PC vs HTPC...?

In the comment "..more internet video on TV screens than on laptop or desktop computers.." where do desktop PC's connected to TV screens fit into it?

I (along with, i would imagine, many readers) have my main PC hooked up to my TV, mainly for the purpose of watching videos, both downloaded, and streamed.

Currently have no interest in 'connected' or 'smart' TV's due to the limitations compared to a full HTPC.

because everyone loves anecdotal evidence.

I was travelling round Europe, by car, a few years ago, and had to cut my trip short because my bank had noticed that my account (by card) had been accessed several times over the course of a week, in three different countries. They decided it was probably fraudulent activity, and put a hold on my account. Nice to know they care, bit of a pain getting back from Italy, with only the change in my pocket.

I'm sure there are dozens (hundreds?) of people out there with vastly conflicting experiences.

Doesn't help if your card is cloned and used locally, but from what I hear, that seems to rarely be the case.

Running costs.

The mileage / charge issue doesn't really bother me, my 'average' driving pattern probably suits an EV, and with a decent extension lead, I could probably charge it up.

What I amm interested in is how much it costs to charge one of these things. The article mentions £70pm for the battery lease. What kind of increase to your electric bill on top of that are you looking at to charge one of things things up, from flat once a week or so?

My current petrol costs are (roughly) £40 every couple of weeks, (unless I'm doing any long driving, like going on holiday, which (currently) an EV would be no good for anyway). So if the charging+lease costs come in at more that say £85 a month, then there really would be no point in this.

the only benefit to the user that I can see here, is that they (the operators) could install these hotspots in areas where phone reception was bad, kinda like femtocells, instead of large unsightly (expensive) (possibly impractical) masts / towers

The idea of having my wifi at home, morph into my mobile data allowance, does not appeal, at all. Lets me pay for my unlimited wifi, and instead of using that for my home based, phone based internet activities, at no extra cost, I'd just be getting through my (quite limited) monthly mobile data quicker.

stock markets

always struck me as a bit of mugs game.

You could make a bit (or a lot) of money, but equally you could lose it all.

Surely you know that going in, and you pay your money and take your chances.

Unwarented dig at the mapps app

Which (in my experience) was never all that bad in the first place, and even from day one, had alternatives.

A better comparison in this case would have been maybe that time Google misplaced December....

a couple of things

So many people are and have been complaining about the iOS maps app. There is little wrong (apart from maybe the missing street view) with the app itself, it's the map data that is screwy, and i have already noticed an improvement with that since it was released, probably due to the large amount of people using it, and reporting errors.

It's nice to have Google maps back, however, having had a bit of a look around, i can see that (much like any other mapping service) it is far from perfect. The most notable is that the area in which one of my friends lives is a new build. On the iOS map, the map still shows the old information, but the satellite photos are up to date. in google maps, the map, and the photos are out of date, but the street view data is much more current.

There are also features missing from the Google app, that may never appear, such as being able to search for a location based on stored contact information. From my point of view, it's going to be a lot easier for Apple to improve their offering, by improving the quality of their maps, than it is for Google to improve theirs by improving the core function of their app.

not a new app

just had a quick look for it on my iPhone, and instead of giving me the option to install, as one would expect, it was offering me an 'update', I'm assuming to the existing 'My Xbox Live' app.

Grocery shopping

The thing with this, and on line shopping in general, is, it's fine for non-grocery items; tins of soup, packets of crisps, kitchen roll, shower gel etc etc. It's not so good for fresh fruit and veg (or many other items), where it pays to be able to inspect the quality of the food your buying.

"so easy a child can use it"

or so simple an adult wont want to?

Bacon Sandwich

I'm sorry that I have to say this, but the clue is in the name. There is no egg. There is certainly no other meat. I can stretch to condiments, and possibly some cheese. but that's it.

I'm not saying there is anything wrong with a sausage, bacon and egg sandwich, only that it can not be classed also as a Bacon Sandwich.

Apple are Evil !!!! (but so is everyone else)

It's always nice to see people focusing on an almost non existent Apple angle in an article. This is about Foxconn, not Apple, replace the mentions of 'iPhone' with 'highly expected smartphone' and you have the same story.

As the Article it's self said..

"said the Samsung, Nokia and Apple kit maker."

... The story isn't, "people in Apple factory made to do things they don't want to" it's "further possible human rights breaches in Chinese sweatshops"

Crumpler

Do quite a good range of bags, for many uses. Mainly seem to be camera bags, but as a result have lots of padding. I've been using my "Fourninety daily (L)" every day for about 4 years, only ever had one problem with it, which was a broken zip pull, but due to the lifetime warranty was able to take it to one of their shops for repair.