Posts by jason 7
1150 posts • joined Thursday 11th June 2009 11:27 GMT
Re: Let them pull out ...
Yep, similar thing happened when all the corporations pulled out of South Africa. Local firms just took over and boosted the SA economy even further.
Posted in Mobile phone sales slump bites Nokia
The issue? Cost! Pricey! Expensive!
Getting a hint?
I was keen to get my hands on a Nokia Windows 8 phone. I thought as they might want to try to get somewhere in the market they might have priced them decently.
But no, top end prices and exclusivity deals to reduce your options.
Well that's a clever thing to do.
Looks like a Nexus 4 then........
Oh you mean all those innovations that just mean if it breaks there is a large chance it just goes into landfill?
A friend of mine who chose to repair Apple gear for a living has now given up. Not because Apple gear is more reliable, oh no, he had people queueing round the block with failed and broken Apple goodness. No shortage of punters.
He had to give up because every year they just get less repairable. Just wasn't worth his while or the techniques were getting too complicated to make it financially worth it for the customer.
£700 to fix a coffee spill anyone?
Hmm yes Retina screens that would be more useful on a 27"+ screen than a 13" one.
Retina screens that probably cost $20 more than a 1440x900 but can amazingly transform into $300 extra when it hits the shelves.
Cart before horse?
Re: 15 channels
You like Teletubbies then?
Strange man!
Send the kids out into the streets or garden to play instead. Helps their imagination or read them a story.
Posted in 20 years of GSM digital mobile phones
Re: Loved my Nokia 7110
I must say you pick up one of the Nokia phones from around that time (even the budget ones) and they feel amazing quality and robustness compared to the flimsy plastic/aluminium crap folks pay £500 for only to replace a year later.
Re: Compared to recent Quatermass remake?
I'm glad I'm not the only one who hated all the gurning!
Indeed
When I retune my PVR I then spend 10 minutes deleting about 70% of the channels.
Imagine the picture quality and signal they could deliver if they restricted Freeview to just 15 decent channels.
Isnt DAB also....
20+ year old tech?
In that case why hasn't it followed all other tech and now only costs £5 or is given away with 5 litres of oil?
It always has appeared to remain reassuringly expensive.
I see it was LOCAL radio.....
....they switched off, which I tend to feel that hardly anyone bothers to listen to.
Maybe the Beeb could save money by getting rid of local Beeb radio stations instead?
Radio Norfolk is terrible.
Re: Really?
Like all these IT Pros struggling to get to grips with Windows 8 then?
Even my old dad can use it......
Time for the consumer to hit back.
I propose that in the month of February, no one buys any products from Apple or Samsung.
Not a single thing. Just to show how fed up we all are with this quite frankly staggeringly childish behaviour.
Should be time enough to organise.
Maybe a slight dent in their results might make them grow up. They don't appear to respond to anything else.
Re: Amazing how useless "Whaling Research" is
Yes, always amazed at the amounts of 'research' Japan still has to do by chopping up dead whales.
Plus when are they going to finally publish the results of this research so they can stop? Surely they have chopped enough up already?
Doesn't say a lot for Japanese scientists.
Or is there some other reason....hmmmmmmmmmmmm
Re: So can anyone suggest a realistic alternative....
Coding? Christ why would anyone do that? More exciting this to do.
Posted in Ten... Apple iPad Mini alternatives
Re: Bah
Yeah I got one...just because.....
I love it. It goes everywhere with me now and I hardly use my laptops. Superb bit of kit for £129.
Wont fall apart after 6 months like the Acer too.
So can anyone suggest a realistic alternative....
....with a straight face?
No?
Okay so another pointless bandwagon chasing article then form another tech journo who like many in their arena doesn't need any tech more advanced than a tablet to do their oh so demanding job on?
Must be hard work having to think unoriginal crap up while sitting in Starbucks all day.
Re: Debating
There does appear to be a lot of bandwagon chasing and herdrage from a lot of lazy tech writers regarding Windows 8 and its incarnations.
You read these articles and you think "how long have these guys actually used IT or worked in the IT space?".
A lot of what they have been whining about is usually pretty pointless or changeable with a couple of clicks.
As a former Pre 2 owner.....
...I would be averse to purchasing any phone from HP.
Once bitten......
So it'an Acer.....
....so only going to last about 6 -8 months then?
Any other firm and I'd expect it to last at least till a day past warranty.
Re: Windows Defender
In fact I just checked the MSE pages and it is indeed the same application that we all know and love.
Experts eh?
Re: Windows Defender
I was under the impression that Windows Defender is the full version of MS Security Essentials due to it not allowing me to install it (MSE) when I put the beta on.
It looks the same. If it is the same then it blows a few of these so called 'experts' out of the water really.
I still also install EMET3.0 on max settings.
No iPaq?
I remember when they came out they really had some buzz behind them.
Folks were buying cheap flight tickets cos the only place you could buy them still in stock was Dixons at Heathrow or Gatwick.
Okay so 8 months later I had a dozen dead ones sitting in my work drawer...but......
Re: Had a little giggle at our US reporters perspective.
I told my girlfriend this who orders the monthly shop from Tesco's.
We are now cleaning up a puddle of wee.
Re: Karma
I would have to say that MS is one of the lesser patent heavy corps out there. Certainly far more aggressive corps out there running after more frivolous stuff.
Folks slag off MS all day long but they tend to forget whether they are using Apple or Linux, that the reason they can afford such gear and in such volume was down to MS helping to bring down the price of computing to the masses.
Left alone to Apple we'd still all be paying £2000+ for a computer.
Anyway I could discuss this further but I'm currently too busy getting a patent on knives, forks, spoons and chopsticks.
Re: I love the iconic pic of Connery......
Nope not a woodsman, if you compare. Very close though.
http://media.theiapolis.com/d8-i28-k9-l1Z/sean-connery-james-bond.html
http://www.coltautos.com/woodsmans/Woodsmanci.htm
I have never played WoW.....
....I played Eve Online for four years though, so can grasp tough concepts, but little of that review made any sense to me as a non-player.
I guess you have to be there.
I love the iconic pic of Connery......
....holding a long barrelled gun.
Nice to know its a iirc a Ruger .22 target pistol, as that's all they could get their hands on during the photo session.
Even less super spy as firearms go. Still in the right hands......
Lucky it wasn't a Gat airpistol.
I think this shows one stark fact about folks in the IT profession......
.....as much as they would deny it, they really can't handle change.
Just installed Win 8 Pro
..and it gives a little tutorial on the corners etc. when it boots for the first time.
Re: Prettier interface? 1366 x 768
Yeah I'm struggling with this one.
I've installed Windows 8 on hardware dating back to 2005. It all installed flawlessly except for the Bluetooth stack which the Vista driver sorted out.
It actually installs better (in terms of hardware recognition) than Windows 7 in my experience.
I have two Windows 8 Beta machines and two Windows 7 machines,
The two Betas will be upgraded to the full version and the Windows 7 machines will stay as 7.
If you have a Windows 7 machine there is pretty much zero reason to change unless you need to smear fingerprints over a new glossy touchscreen monitor, but that's your perversion not mine.
If however, you have an older laptop dual core laptop with 2GB+ of ram running XP or an older copy of Vista then I think its worthwhile to upgrade that for the better performance and security features alone.
Once you repoint all the default Apps to the desktop ones its fine to use.
You know....
...I'm really glad I got a 64GB Playbook for £129.
Okay I haven't got as many fart apps or Instacrap but its nicely made, has a fully featured browser and its either Apple or Android, so refreshing to sit back with my popcorn.
Re: The one thing I hate on intel vs AMD comparisons
And then they rant as though AMD was still selling K6-2 chips and that having a AMD CPU will cripple your system even though it will still deliver 60+ fps with a decent GPU.
Ask Joe Customer on the street and all they will ask is "which is cheaper and will it be faster than my 3GHz P4?"
Re: there is no bottleneck by DDR3 RAM above 1333 MHz
Indeed, look at any RAM review for the past 3 years plus and I'll show you a man who has wasted a couple of days of his life.
For RAM now the selection criteria is purely go with the cheapest and closest matching to the colour of your motherboard. Plug it in and run it at stock.
Not like the good old DDR days!
Re: Kill Windows?
Well I think the reason for Windows 8 is that MS have finally realised that not all of their OS need to be corporate driven. They know that corporations always skip one of two.
Windows 8 is a domestic release! There, I've said it.
MS knows that the corps were never going to go for 8 in any numbers. Thats why 8 is the way it is. Its there to cater for the fun home market and mobile space.
It isn't for Doris in Accounts.
Windows 9 or 10 will be back to a more conservative business orientated feel I bet.
Re: For trolls, Freedeom of Speech doesn't come into it.
Well think for a moment (I wouldn't give it any longer than that) that had you found yourself in front of Hitler, chances are the situation wouldn't be looking good for you, so you may as well go out defiant.
I am seeing a definate plan/shift in the tech sales/tech reporting world
It seems to me that a lot of folks in tech sales and tech journalism are scared stiff that folks might realise that tech for the business world has flat-lined for some years now.
Most business users were sorted for day to day business work with a Windows XP machine with a dual core CPU and 2GB of ram.
That was it, game over, we can all move on. Nothing to see here. If those machines could be kept running they would do all the work necessary for another 10 years.
But if course if all the customers realised that, where would that leave all the tech evangelists, journos and sales people? Screwed basically. Out of a job as folks just ignored their cries of "look at this! You need this!!"
So what's the spin they have put on it?
Windows and the desktop is dead!
Really?
What you really mean is that Windows is pretty reliable, does pretty much all you need, its familiar, folks have it at home and the PC's are still more than powerful enough so why would you rush in to buy new kit?
It's not fun and shiny, its not new and exciting. No it isn't but it gets the job done and makes money. Has done for the past 20 years and in spite of all the BS they keep spouting, the next 20 as well.
So they are working as hard as they can to make folks think they need to turn their existing systems on their head to revitalise their careers and bottom lines. Essentially buying expensive mobile kit and infrastructure that really works for maybe 5% of any corporations workforce.
It's very easy to say all that Cloud/BYOD/Mobile crap when you job requires no further IT requirement than email and Twitter.
For trolls, Freedeom of Speech doesn't come into it.
I've always lived by the rule of -
"If you don't have the guts to look a person in the eye and say it to their face, then you have no right to say it!"
Re: For someone who lives in a big city
I bet all these very influential folks have never actually had to try to support BYOD at the sharp end either.
I see a lot of folks 'own devices' and I wouldn't touch a lot of them without antibac first let alone let them hook to any network/service of mine.
All bloody talk these people.
Re: Regulators are usually really just masturbators
I can imagine if there was regulation it would cost me a fortune to comply and it would put me out of business.
Who would be left? The big store guys that don't get out of bed for less than £200 a job that they can't even fix. You know who.
I guess we'll see.
I often fix for free if its less than 5 minutes....
...as the customer is so pleased they usually come back.
I've always maintained I'd rather do 4 successful jobs for a customer at £50 each than one at £100 and never see them again. It's all about relationship management, I now get asked round my customers for dinner they trust me so much!
I've often been told by a customer when I charge say £60 for a fairly simple but time intensive job, "Oh wow the other guys wanted £300!!!"
The other guys? PC World.
I dont think they do a lot of testing on that sort of thing.
I think they assume that their products will always be placed on a revered velvet cushioned altar at home.
Off the top of my head -
Nanos that pulled scratches out of the air.
iPod Classics that had that gorgeous chrome back that looked like it had been in a fight with a angle grinder after 24 hours use.
Macbooks that went yellow......
I enjoyed his work!
Posted in Asus N56VM 15.6in notebook review
Re: Jolly good...
I haven't done it for that particular laptop but have upped several others from single core/low spec duals.
A bit of arctic silver and a good clean of the fan and it works fine.
I just find what chipset the laptop has and then check the CPU list for it on the Intel website. Usually works okay.
Re: I love Windows 8
Indeed it's not all that bad. I wasn't too keen at first and took great delight in handing my Windows 8 laptop to folks and just watching them flounder after I switched it on and told them to just open up Notepad.
20 mins later.....okay give it here I'll show you.
However, if you take the time (about 3 minutes) to show folks how its different, most of them take to it just fine. No real problems and these are average Joe users, not techies. So it seems in actual fact mum and dad will grasp it easer than their tech guru son will.
I've rolled out a couple of test Windows 8 machines with SSDs in them to a couple of people and the feedback has been really good. They love it. Just little Lenovo Q180 boxes with 2GHz dual core atoms.
As for me I'v got it running on a old Tecra M7 tablet laptop with a Samsung 830 SSD/2Ghz C2D in it and it flies. This is a XP tablet edition machine that Windows 8 detected and installed 98% of the drivers for on first install!! The last couple I had to get from Toshiba were the Vista drivers which also worked fine.
I've also installed it on my gaming rig and no problems. For a desktop I just uninstalled all the Metro apps I don't need (most of them) and pointed all the default apps to the desktop versions. Works a treat.
I think some people in the tech world just like making mountains out of molehills.
I'm not a tech genius by any stretch of the imagination but I've found working with Windows 8 really quite easy.
Posted in Asus N56VM 15.6in notebook review
Re: Jolly good...
Have you popped a new CPU in yet?
You can pick up some nice C2D mobile chips on Ebay now for good prices.
Worth a go.
Re: Confuse the system
I don't think ordering a fridgefreezer on Amazon was quite what Orwell had in mind.
Plus all the poundshops don't quite have the goods I want.
Posted in Asus N56VM 15.6in notebook review
Re: Price
I have to say those Retina screens while they sound great in theory, in practice they really aren't worth it on sub 27" screens.
A waste really. Just stick to a 1400x900.
Re: Confuse the system
You could of course just pay the two quid or so.
Who actually goes into town or the big white goods stores/parks anymore?
We don't even go to Supermarkets any more. Much easier to stay at home and order it in. You don't have to deal with 'plebs' then.
Re: $$Media Center$$
Still yet to come across one of my customers or friends that has ever used Media Centre. I haven't either.
I think MS was right to drop it from standard. Folks complain about the 'bloat' and when MS removes a largely redundant piece of it they complain.
Kids eh!
