Another pie-in-the-sky technological advance

The more technology the is placed between the Plod and the field and his Plod base the more susceptible they are to communications failure.

Good old two-way radio is simple - squeeze the mic button and you are off. Trunked radio systems require the 'command' channel to be received so that the slave transmitter/receivers know which channel to use.

Data transmission only adds to the vulnerability. Think Lemon 4.

Deliberate jamming becomes more simple and even partial transmissions fail to make it through coherently. But that's OK, for police 'clients', as very simple devices can achieve success as in the case of the cell phone jammers.

Of course the cost of these dream systems are horrendous and run against Cameron budget goals.

Ad free pocket devices would sell me!

We should all remember that the portable device user pays the freight for receiving these damn distractions, whilst also true for landline InterNet the cost/delay is less significant.

For me advert elimination would be a PLUS!

Backing a loser - Slate with Windows

It is strange for a company to hack what must be, by any criteria, a dud.

Without doubt, Android will rule. The toss up for second place will be between Apple and RIM so that leaves fourth place for HP.

These products will be price sensitive which again places HP at a disadvantage as most of it;s products tend towards the high end. As others point out, Apps also will determine the most suitable unit for he intended purpose - quality and not quantity.

Likely another victim of the Middle East Wars

Given the wasted human lives that have resulted from the American Wars in VietNam, Iraq and Afghanistan and the mediocre support they get from their military employers post deployment this type of behaviour is somewhat common in the U.S.A.

It causes one to wonder how the World War II military personnel survived up to 5 or 6 years, without home leave, whereas today's relatively pampered soldiers with regular rotations seem to be ill-equipped to handle the fighting.

Just give me a Firefox beta ...

that has Tree-style tabs and NoScript and I'll be happy for the time being.

Fed up with having to keep on re-starting FF4 beta that we've reverted to 3.

Now if this was Jobs and Apple ...

he would simply change the calendar and extend Q4-2010 until release date to maintain the illusion.

Of course, mere mortals prefer to release completed, working products without the risk of having to issue bumpers, etc.

Employment contracts are essential for employees and employers

Employment contracts can be used to define various aspects of employment including copyright and patent ownership/recognition.

Sales people can be a sticky one. Often a sales position remuneration recognises customer names brought with the incoming sales person. Whose property was it before being introduced, whose property y is it whilst the sales person is employed and. most importantly, who retains it/uses it on separation?

I have designed printed circuits and they are like giving birth and I always retain copies, simply because I designed them. I also built a very simple main-frame printer tester, on my own time and at my own expense. There were two copies: one was mine and the I built for an after market repair facility owned by a friend. When I left, the employer tried to acquire it only there were no schematics and the integrated circuit identities were destroyed by the epoxy I moulded the tester in.

I also worked for a credit card transaction terminal manufacturer and they tried to get a non-disclosure agreement signed after I had resigned.

All these situations could have been easily defined in an employment agreements which are, a little, like prenuptial agreements.

Who keeps logs, for long, they are a pain

My employer runs around 20 or so web sites, some of which have chat rooms. For legal reasons chat rooms are best hosted in the U.S. as they have very liberal laws governing web sites.

Our logs have a life time of fourteen days at which time, unless archived for specific technical reasons, they fade to black.

One of our servers is in a country where log retention is required so the traffic is routed through a jurisdiction where logging is not required.

This bullet proofs us for all requests, however presented. If the U.S. pulled a Patriot Act our response would be a single line - the proxy to which it is connected. Most users employ fake names and temporary verification e-mail addresses which makes most of this logging pointless.

Just make sure your hosts don't run logs for your web sites!

I only use IE6 for ...

updating the few Windows XP OS the company has but ONLY after we make sure they aren't trying upgrade IE6.

We also save hectares of hard drive space, too.

The 'Advanced' nations lag developing nations

I think I am right in saying Korea (Seoul specifically) leads the world in landline InterNet.

The alleged 'world technology leader' is pathetically slow, as well as having poor rural coverage. The US has huge tracts of space that have no InterNet, cell or landline service.

Though Canada can't claim any speed records, it certainly has better rural coverage - even to the Inuit townships dotted along the northern (Arctic) coast.

Some developing countries achieve amazing rural coverage and speed. China is stringing the whole country with fibre optics with few microwave backbone links.

The country I'm most familiar with, VietNam, has an installed backbone fibre capacity measured in several tens of terabytes (the precise data is regarded as a state secret). The fibre network dedicated to ATM's, alone, has a capacity of 2.5 gigabytes.

The technique they use for delivering InterNet is simple. Instead of using DSLAM's in Central Offices (Exchanges), the InterNet fibre-optic cable is taken to pole-mounted DSLAM racks which means the ADSL signal is applied within a few tens of metres of the subscriber premises. This means that even more remote villages have very acceptable speeds that make British target speeds pathetic. Rural speeds of 12 megabytes are not unusual.

Even in larger populations, around 500,000 this technique enables consistently high speeds to be achieved. Perversely, however, in the largest cities of Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh/SaiGon the ADSL feeds come from Central offices and are often slower than those encountered in rural areas.

So excuse us when we laugh at BT pronouncements of future 'high speed' InterNet services - they are in our dark ages!

MS Windows makes even Jobs look good and they both make ...

Linux almost perfect.

Little wonder near-Linux Android Operating System is busy setting new records - and it seem to have incremental error correcting versions, either.

Nothing less than a Google declaration of war against Apple?

Could this be perceived as a anything less than outright war, if the rumours are true?

The US governments reaction to this will be interesting to observe, although if Verizon was including the Gpad as a freebie in a airtime deal they might just get away with it.

Seems both sides were laggardly

O2 acted in a very laggardly fashion when these calls were processed and settled.

Equally, the fraudsters were also slow in dumping the Iphones unless the market has disappeared following Lemon 4 revelations.

Or could it be O2 depended on the credit card issuers to pay up regardless, these careless issuers simply collecting from all the CC users by increasing user fees? In any event you have to wonder what exactly CC 'authorisation' means and just how reliable it is. I know travel agents can have 'authorised' credit card payments reversed as long as four months after a transaction was approved.

Just as well there's only one loose, could you imagine what damage ...

a pair of them 'flying united' could do?

It's a natural reaction when a big bully threatens

When the big, bad USA starts threatening people it should not be surprised if people take defensive actions.

The US is really getting extremist even to the point of preparing to murder it's citizens without the benefit of a trial.

The poetic point of this is that the Pentagons DARPA designed the InterNet to withstand attacks and here it is facing it's own program that it financed.

It's the electronic version of the 'Perp Parade'

Recently China has instructed it's police to stop the practice of marching convicted prostitutes through their communities streets.

Yet the English Plod seek to emulate them on web sites.

The Chinese, along with other countries, continue to publish full details and photographs of AIDS/HIV carriers on their police station notice boards.

Dell the man, besmirched his own reputation and that of his company

It's one thing for, say Bernie Ebbers, to use Worldcom as a fraud but when you do it it in your own name as well as the company bearing your own name it's worse.

Nothing with Dell on it will be purchased by my company, neither will we recommend them to our customers.

I doubt if Dell, the man, would recognise a moral is was slapped in the face with one.

Cameron cuts and the new aircraft carrier(s)

With Cameron trying to out do Thatcher it might come down to catapults OR aircraft.

Last time it was destroyers running around with their main armament missing until they scraped the Euro's together.

This time there is an alternative. Install the catapults and whilst they save up for aircraft they could use the catapults to launch bloody great rocks at the enemy. Rocks are cheaper, too.

If true, and given Apples paranoia ...

there could not be a dumber schmuck around.

The problem is is Apple discovered the 'evidence' the chances are they could be accused of tampering.

And if Google has 'the goods' on this guy in it's e-mail system it sure gives rise to interesting legal conundrums given the ill-will between Apple and Google!

Where, oh where, has the Disney of our ...

youth gone?

Bambi, Cinderella. Akela, Wendy or Donald would never have approved of these tricks.

Sorry, Acer is an untrustworthy supplier

As owners of several Acer products my company finds Acer unreliable, devious in interpreting it's warranties and failure to honour driver commitments.

Given that RF technology is a whole new ball game to Acer I think people would be better off sticking with the HTC's and Samsungs of this world.

Even Apple, after 3 successful versions, couldn't get it right on the 4th go around.

Think very hard before plonking your money down on the counter.

Jobs: It's OK folks, we know the answer

The shipper mixed up delivery of stage props that were to be used in Mission Impossible (This tape will self-destruct ...) remakes which means, inter alia, Apple has no responsibility for these incidents.

OR

The users were at fault as they played the music too loud / kept them in a warm place where the ambient temperature specified in our warranty

OR

These units, on inspection, were subject to smoke filled environments amd are not covered by warranty

OR

...

Get it straight - the GPS feature is NOT MEANT FOR YOU

The GPS feature was mandated by the U.S. FCC who thought it would be a handy thing for law enforcement. It can be/is interrogated remotely without cell phone user knowledge or permission.

The advent of smartphones means that none of us really know what data is being accessed by whom and for what the data is to be used or distributed to. This means ANY data you enter along with ANY DATA acquired by the cell unit in question.

Until an App appears that allow me to determine who gets what I am more than happy to use my GPS crippled cell (the 'fix' only takes about 10 minutes), along with my tether adapter for my PDA. Cell ID numbers are sufficient for me (living in a country where this data is public).

Where I am is my business and mine alone, not some nosey Plod who thinks he is entitled to know everything. Remember, also, to practice good cell hygiene by clearing all your registers of missed calls, numbers called, etc. Using more than one SIM also fries Plod minds, as does turning off your cell for 10-15 minutes to clear those nasty crumbs left in memory.

As we cogitate, yield management software is at work ....

figuring out all the permutations that go into pricing cell phone tariffs.

Who knows, once the initial rush from AT&T occurs, service might improve, from a carrier perspective.

Of course, there is still the little matter of the unresolved Lemon 4 Death of Grip option, which Apple hopes has gone away ... until the court actions hit the courtrooms.

Did you notice that Apple is replacing products that self-ignite in Japan - free of charge? That is the sign of a strong government who will likely tell Jobs into which orifice he can stuff his defective handsets.

Maybe this says more about Pogue ...

than it does the Google Application.

There have, over computing history, been several iterations of D-I-Y programming with varying levels of success.

Just because one guy can't hack it doesn't mean to say others won't succeed. One thing is for sure, it is a damned neat way to interest people in Android than Job's sterile walled yard.

The HSBC was good then they stepped backwards

The HSBC InterNet banking system has three numbers. An InterNet Banking number, Date of Birth and a customer determined number.

Then then they got an attack of the dumb-dumbs and made it possible to remember / prefill the first number. Why, who knows?

Still it's quite reliable as long as you watch your computer security.

Redacted from maps and largely redundant

Demonstrating just how retarded government security could be, this ugly monster appears as a wide open oblong on a several maps I have of London.

Like many of it's taller brethren, the BT Tower is not too good for much given that it's archaic microwave dishes and horns have been replaced by fibre-optic cable and satellite links. It's historic building rating about sums up it's utility other than for outside broadcasts, etc.

Given that it is, technically, a publicly funded building it should be wide open so tourists can use it in a shorter version of the CNN Tower in Toronto, Canada - except it really sways when it gets windy (olace a bottle of drinking water on a flat surface to see how much).

No Android V3.0+ has to be a pass

Google is releasing V3 later this year with tablet-specific benefits and unless this is GUARANTEED as an update.

No slide-out keyboard, resistive screen complete the disappointment.

Business as usual for the Far East

'Tea' money is common in the Far.Southeast Asian economies, called bribes, kickbacks, etc. in the West.

If this guy was Singapore based, as some reports would have it, he will likely be in deep do-do as Singapore likes to be known as a squeaky clean, corruption free society which, of course, is not true.

People might remember the Siemens, Pirelli, BICC, Tomen and Marubeni scandal where they kicked back USD$9-million+ to CHOY, Hon-Tim the deputy chair of the Public Utility Board.

No doubt this will rumble on for some time and presents Apple with a problem since only a few companies are capable of meeting their, and others, exacting requirements for smart-phone production.

Possibly Nuance has the lot beaten

I have recently acquired the latest version of Nuance' Dragon Speaking to transcribe field reports I dictate using a headset, albeit in noisy conditions.

The software is able to handle even the more obtuse words, even technical expressions.

Perhaps they can be persuaded to write Apps for all mobile OS as they seem to have gotten the problems locked using many accents.

Messrs. Hewlett and Packard must be ...

spinning in their graves. They were beacons of American industry and were honourable in their business dealings.

The trash management that has assumed the mantle has done little except besmirch their founders names. It is shameful.

In an earlier career I bought HP test products knowing they were high quality and that they would stand behind them in case of failure.

I wouldn't even by an ink refill from them now.

No problem, go and screw your national production goals

Let the Indian government go ahead and do a number on Google and Skype. All they will achieve is increased problems in advancing their technology goals.

They should bear in mind that neither Google or Skype costs a penny to use and therefore their GDP benefits.

The US demands transparency from others, but not itself!

In such a publicly hypocritical way the US is objecting, nay even imprisoning, whistle-blowers who expose the total inexcusable murder of reporters going about their lawful business.

These reports have allowed the public, who is actually paying for this folly, to see just how little they are getting for bankrupting their country and placing the burden on many future generations of Americans and Britains.

Since the reports are obviously 'past tense' and they contain not so much as secrets rather than embarrassments and details of breaches of US military and international law they deserve to see the light of day.

Did George Washington ever think his dream country would stoop so low?

In other words: Share the Wealth, Google.

I want to know why they didn't sue Google for also copying the letters O, L and E for use in their name.

How come SIMs cost so much

The government of the country in which I live has decreed that telco's can not discount any service below cost.

Our SIM's cost USD$0.25 (25 cents) and they are not the smallest as they contain menus in 3 languages which are quite memory hungry.

Another feature they offer is number selection independent of the SIM's which is just a matter of checking a box next to the desired number.

The articles price lists illustrate UK carriers gouging the poor British cell user.

ChongQing - City of pollution, hills and 30,000,000 people

ChongQing, a city in western China, needs industry diversification as presently it is dependent on motorcycles, automobiles and some mining.

Visitors remember a few things like the crowded streets, traffic jams and those hills, one after the other.

... their details will probably then be sold on to other crooks

Crooks other than the tax people?

A lot of work to do, yet

A couple of my employees are testing out FF4 but the damn browser keeps on collapsing - even on fresh XP OS installs.

Pity they can't keep some of the add-ons current especially Tree Style Tabs.

The deterioration in language skills id regrettable ...

but if the Neanderthals that populate the ASA committee were to stand outside almost any middle or senior school and delete every use of the colloquial word for intercourse many youths, of either sex, would have a sizeable chunk of their vocabulary eliminated.

The standard should be the acceptable language of society not some do-gooders trying to impose their wishes on the public.

How does the British-based FCUK survive?

An interesting report stated: "FCUK is indeed perceived as particularly styling among the 14 to 17 year old segment, according to the Portman Group, a British drinks industry panel. So interestingly, the AFA's media-tized petition might actually backfire in the mind of the youth it intends to protect. To rebellious teens, such a reaction – an uptight, out-of-touch reaction, they might say from the "old folks" – can only make a seemingly cool brand even more attractive. Could it be possible that FCUK connects with its young audience better than many parents do?"

It's all a play on words, if they had allowed "I F**CKING LOVE YOU" (sic), what about "I LOVE F**CKING YOU" (sic)?

This is DoD code for ...

we need more money.