Non-mandatory national identity card.

Been around for years. Lots longer than Blunkett's ejaculation. Doesn't have the creepy Big Brother aspect attached either. Mostly because you don't have to have one, but also the lack of a massive national database underpinning it...

http://www.citizencard.com/

Even more amusing is that these guys have offered 15,000 people a free Citizencard replacement for their now-defunct national identity card. After the Home Office threatened to remove CitizenCard's accreditation during the last administration, possibly to remove the argument of "we already have a national identity card that's voluntary"? Yeah, I think there's a few people in that company who are quietly grinning as they hand out the replacements.

+1...

...because that "part of society" stuff is the exact argument the fascist bastards would have used to force the rest of us into the scam, had Labour won another term.

The irony is delicious.

^^^this.

Also, +1.

What?

Nobody even knows what the phone will look like, yet. Everything so far has been artists' impressions and maybe-possibly-perhaps rumours.

Besides, there's absolutely no reason the phone couldn't come with a Dalvik stack for Android, and a little included app called "Playstation". Maybe even a hypervisor to rapidly switch between Playstation mode and Android toyphone mode? They can do that, you know.

Personally I'd rather the whole thing be a bit more integrated. An Android toyphone with a really beefy GPU and a Sony games market in addition to Google's stuff, perhaps.

Finally if Sony call them Playstation games, they are Playstation games, Android or not. They own the brand, yaknow?

*yawn*

Disposable pre-paid debit/credit cards... don't work. Yep, that's right. Apple changed that policy a while ago.

As for whether something is a toy or not based on what shop it is sold in: http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=4488309

There's your precious iPad Mini, being sold in Toys R Us. 64GB model too. I'd reckon the reason they don't sell the big one is either because Apple won't give it to them or because the big version is for big boys. This doesn't detract from its toy-like nature though, and Toys R Us still sell plenty of iPad accessories. Bluetooth keyboards too. Would that be an oops?

And no, I consider it completely bloody unnecessary to give Apple bank details after already handing them a metric shitload of money to start with. They don't need or deserve my private and confidential information, and that's exactly what the parent and guardian of the eight year old I've already mentioned, think too!

Age limit? It's going to be used under supervision, inside the house. This boy's mother is his legal guardian, not Apple.

Anyway, I've really had enough of arguing with iTards. It's about as productive as trying to troll 4chan. Seriously, enjoy your toys. Just don't try and tell me that they are serious tools to be relied upon.

"It's quite clear there that you have to be 13 or older."

Not in Argos it wasn't.

Seriously, you expect to use any iToy without the One And Holy App Store access? Good luck with that.

Having to activate the bloody thing via iTunes is another stupid and unnecessary step. The toy itself plainly has everything required on-board, so why tether it to a (real) computer? This particular iPod Touch 4 is being bought for an eight year old whose mother does not have a computer or Internet access. Luckily, they know somebody who does, and is able to pre-load a bunch of stuff onto the thing for Christmas.

Fortunately, it wasn't my laptop that had to be weighed down by that godawful piece of shit known as iTunes. I'm just the guy who recommended they go for an 8GB 4th gen instead of an 8GB 3rd Gen due to the 8GB 3rd gen being a 2nd Gen in disguise. Also the guy they called when they switched their "magical and revolutionary" device on for it to say "FUCK YOU, CONNECT ME TO A COMPUTER YOU TARDS."

Apple: It Just Works.

Still, at least now they're well pleased with it. Plenty of free little things and it'll connect anywhere there's wifi access. I've also set up skype for them. The one thing these people I know have, that it seems a lot of people here don't? The realisation that they have just bought a toy. Primarily for an eight year old. And no, he won't be going outside the house with it for a few years yet.

@gurner - My point?

My point is, realise what you're buying. People are going on here like the iPad is some kind of productivity tool. No, it's an expensive Apple Playstation with pretensions.

Of course I'll be downvoted for that. Too many people here who have bought a nice little toy and don't like being told their very expensive toy is a toy.

And then I'll get called ignorant for it. Oh the irony.

Re: You could have course

"Important: Before proceeding to the next step, you must purchase a free application by clicking Free App."

I'm pretty goddamned certain that step wasn't there when I looked through Apple's support section. I had to find it from some other unofficial help site.

Anyway, nice to see that Apple seem to read the Reg. Not so nice that Apple "It Just Works" Computers couldn't make their iToys... just work!

Re: and Sony turned it back into a console...

And this is exactly what I mean. My PC is my PC.

If I bought an iPad (and who knows, if I somehow end up with enough money to buy a mansion, five cars, a several-thousand-pound b&o hifi, a yacht and some hired help then I might), then I know that I'm subjecting myself to Stevey-boy's dictatorial tendencies. I know that at some point in the future I may end up with functionality added, removed, and generally fucked about with on the device that I've paid good money for. All without me asking for it. I would know that my iDevice is essentially a toy, to be played with but certainly not relied upon.

Just like a Playstation. The game is just the start? Yeah right.

(I love the smell of downvotes in the morning.. or afternoon, as the case may be)

Not quite yet, apparently.

Based on h.264 and AAC, so "open" as in "we'll sue you if you don't pay the danegeld" open.

Apple have apparently pledged to release Facetime as an "open standard" (at least, Wikipedia says so), but they haven't yet and I don't see how h.264 and AAC can ever really be part of an open standard. Well, without completely twisting the meaning of the word "open".

So maybe, eventually, if someone with enough money to pay for it wants to. Right now though, Facetime is good if you only want to talk to other people with iDevices.

Re: Ok (also epoch fail)

Not really so easy. Asteroids and comets don't have evasive manouvering capabilities, and tend to have very predictable movements.

Missiles, as people here have already stated, not so predictable.

<strike>Also is it just me or is everyone's post time coming up as Jan 1st 1970? Epoch fail?</strike>

Scratch that. It's coming up as 1970 when you click the "withdraw" button though. Someone made a boo boo when re-hacking the comments section?

I don't think they care.

Old server goes boom, new server gets swapped in.

If anything's still working, I'm sure whoever they've picked for salvage duty can enjoy pulling it out of the melted mess.

Re: File name extensions

Why does software rely on filename extensions?

Partly legacy, partly laziness, partly Microsoft (which I suppose would be legacy AND laziness), and partly because it's easier to grep the filename for everything after the last full-stop, than poke around in the file data looking for magic bits and metadata.

Linux and other Unix-like things tend to (but not always) rely on metadata and magic bit sequences within the file, and won't be fooled (in many cases at least) by renaming a file extension. You certainly can't make a file executable just by calling it "something.exe" (this is what setting the executable bit is for), and I've had VLC for Linux and Movie Player both work nicely with movie files that have no extension.

Windows? Not so much.

Activate using iTunes voucher? Not any more.

Doesn't work.

It used to work, but not any more.

Seriously. Factory-reset your iToy, update iTunes, create a throwaway email account and TRY to register a new Apple ID and iTunes account without giving them a debit card. Apple don't even accept PayPal these days, and they still have yet to update their help pages (last updated in November) to match this fact!

(while you're at it, try telling them you're 8 years old and see what happens.)

Now, the only way of achieving the "none" payment option is hackery, arsefuckery and general buggery of the highest order. Not what I wanted to be dealing with at 11:30pm with a friend of mine getting increasingly exasperated at the £160 toy he'd just bought for an eight year old. If it wasn't for that hackery, he would have been taking it back the next day and Apple would have lost a sale. Now as you said to me, get your facts straight.

It's okay Steve Jobs, you can thank me later.

It's still a toy.

"As to Apple iPad, in my social circle every family and friend has one.."

I think that says more about your social circle than the public at large.

Really, I'd like to meet this fabled place where everyone has an iPad. The iPod? Fairly popular, not as popular as Apple would have you believe, but you do tend to see them out and about. The iPad? Not so much!

Not as much as netbooks and laptops, anyway - and I'm going outside my own particular circle of friends here. All I can say is, you must be in the well-above-average wage bracket.

(waiting for more downvotes...)

BMW? Ah, the toy car manufacturer.

I have a friend who rather likes his BMWs. He's not rich, so he tends to get second hand ones. His every-day car is a 315i, and he's just gotten himself an old M5.

Three litres. Rear wheel drive, like all good BMWs.

Do you know that no car with a BMW badge on it will ever be anything other than rear wheel drive, or four wheel drive, and that BMW are proud of that? The Mini doesn't have a BMW badge on it, by the way.

You know what he likes to do most in his BMW? Yep, he likes to drive sideways - and he's good at it, too. Remember those BMW adverts that profess to put the "joy" into driving? The ones that show that car driving around an ice rink? Film directors should hire this guy as a stunt driver, he's that good.

BMW. Nice toy, but you don't buy one for its fuel economy, boot space or "productivity". One would think that for the latter, you'd buy a van. Maybe Mercedes-Benz, maybe Ford.

Really, really bad example you gave me there. Besides, second-hand BMWs don't stop working on modern roads just because the manufacturer has decided to not give you firmware updates any more.

I would guess...

...that for the same reason you'll never see Facetime on Android (no big loss when Skype is available and talks to more than just other iToys), I imagine Google are not too keen to give Apple the best of their own toy collection.

It's a toy.

It's a toy because it only does what Stevey Boy allows it to do.

It's a toy because it's locked down like a games console.

It's a toy because it's pretty but massively overpriced.

It's a toy because it doesn't do half the things that a netbook costing half as much does. Like, oh, plugging an SD card into it?

It's a toy, just like a PSP, Nintendo Wii or to be honest, most "smart" phones on the market.

I can't believe you mention ergonomics, when you're holding a flat slate on your lap, neck craned downward, and pretending you can type properly with it. Do you know that for significantly less than an iWotsit, you can buy a netbook with an Office suite on it? You can even install Photoshop AND get half decent performance out of those tiny little Atoms. Productivity? Try using a keyboard, and not having to guess whether you're hitting the right bit of glass.

It's not that I don't have use for one. If I won the lottery, I'd probably have an iPad specifically for flinging birds at pigs. I'm just under no illusions as to the nature of the device.

It is a locked down, nannying, restricted and expensive toy that's less yours and more Apple's. Don't believe me? Try using one without an iTunes account, or without installing that kitchen-sink travesty of bloatware to start with. Or even better, try registering for an iTunes account without giving Apple access to your bank account in one way or another. That one took me all night, and it wouldn't surprise me if Apple soon close the hackish loophole I managed to google and find! Try getting one as a gift for a child without lying about their age when Apple asks how old you are. Try getting one without subjecting yourself to every present and potential future diktat from the Cult of Jobs.

It. Is. A. Toy.

Now please, downvote me some more, iTards. I relish your disapproval.

Re: Sales figures say otherwise.

I'm pretty sure that if you included the Playstation as "a computer", then Sony would take a hell of a jump upward in terms of computer sales.

It's not though, is it?

Wow.

Talk about reading things that I didn't write.

Now try reading what I actually wrote, and not what you want me to say. I didn't say DSLRs are pointless. I didn't say anything about the quality of the viewfinder.

I just suggested that "mDSL" might be a slightly better marketing term than "EVIL".

Fuxache, people are touchy today.

GPS? Superfluous?

Well I suppose. But to be honest, of all the odds and sods you can attach to a portable computer, GPS does seem at least somewhat useful.

"but...but...but!"

If the iPad was an actual tablet computer, I'd be tempted myself. I remember when the first rumours of an Apple tablet started, and I thought "Mmm.. tablet. OS X. Partition it with Ubuntu, get a bluetooth keyboard, this could be my first real, live, actual fruit machine!"

Instead it's a bloody big, expensive, iPod.

So no, I do not consider this device (nor the various droid tablets, yet) to be anything other than toys. You have fun with yours, but I'm not willing to shell out that much on something that limited. Spending all night (literally, from about 7pm to Midnight) trying to get an iPad Mini^W^WiPod Touch 4 working because first iTunes needs updating, then the owner didn't want to put a debit card into iTunes before giving it to an 8 year old as a Christmas present? Yeah, right.

Oh, don't ever be honest with the age if you're giving it to a kid as a present. Not only will Apple ban you from creating an account, but they'll ban that email address AND your copy of iTunes from attempting to create another account for the next 24 hours. Cue some interesting hackish workarounds and some interesting choices of epithets being thrown in Steve Jobs' direction.

Apple: It Just Works. Hahahahaha...

Now that's an idea.

I've worked in enough temperature controlled environments. Given enough frozen meat and veg to protect, it becomes financially viable to make a very large space go down to -30C.

Only problem I can see there is condensation. I've seen it snow indoors in such places, when something gets an accidental knock from a fork lift. Still, the other option is to use refrigerated boxes with built-in dehumidifiers. From what I recall, there are companies that specialise in this sort of thing, specifically for overclockers funnily enough!

+1 for truth.

And there's some very naive downvoters.

news://

Already exists. It's for USENET, if I recall correctly. Been a while since I was a trawler of the alt.* heirarchy, but I still fondly remember reading through the list of silly newsgroups like alt.alien.vampire.flonk.flonk.flonk, alt.2eggs.sausage.beans.tomatoes.2toast.largetea.cheerslove and others.

These days, if you describe USENET to someone they tend to respond with "oh, is that like Google Groups?"

Grr.

Hubris

http://www.google.com/search?q=apple+drive-by+download

I'm the one with a Tuxian machine, but I'm not daft enough to make comments like "lol I'm hack proof". Oh god no.

Please, for your own sake as well as the victims of your zombie computer's botnet rage, reduce your false sense of security.

:(){ :|:& };:

Because that's totally the same thing!

Ever heard of a local email reader? Y'know, like Outlook Express, for a really awful example?

I know the tendency is to webmail a heck of a lot of stuff, but there's a big difference between a service that's used to transfer shit from someone else to you, and a service where shit stays because it can't be transferred to you.

And as said already, there's some interesting implications when it comes to ownership of "cloud" data.

What does it work for? Angry Birds?

Yes.

Nobody makes a phone yet that meets these specs.

Which specs? Perhaps Military 810F specs?

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2010/03/25/motorola-i1-push-to-talk-android-based-smartphone-meets-military-810f-standards/

Okay, in my opinion it doesn't have enough rubber around it to be a "proper" mil-spec-looking device, but it does exist.

Difference.

If some arsehole really wants to get in your house, then they are getting into your house. There is absolutely nothing you can do about a sledgehammer and enough determined effort.

However, if you have decent hashing algorithms you can actually do something about even the most determined of invaders. Short of physically breaking into the server room, that is.

The analogies between burglars and hackers are as piss poor as the ones between computers and cars, or access points and houses. Personally I'd rather a white hat send me a polite email warning showing me where and how I'm at risk, than wait for the black hats to take advantage of a weakness that I didn't know was there.

What kind of nit-wit?

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/09/22/acs_4chan/