Posts by Stevecrox
44 posts • joined Tuesday 29th December 2009 23:06 GMT
Re: The perfect gift . . .
Worked in woolies when Coke Cola released Dasini water, it was tap water with a few additives one of which was bromide. The concentrations were similar to those we gave to WW2 soldiers to reduce their libidos and at that level were found to cause bowel cancer.*
*This was the explanations we were given from Woolies HQ when they asked us to pour it down the drain. Woolies HQ were not well regarded since they seemed actually clueless on how to layout a store and how people actually bought stuff. I remember 3 years before their demise being asking in a staff questionnaire if I could see Woolworths existing in 5 years. Apparently so many people answered no, they thought it best to reissue the questionnaire without the question, so take the story with a pinch of salt.
Re: beyond a joke
Windows Phone 8, has the same issue as Windows Phone 7 for me. Microsoft seem to like causing clipping atefacts. For example:
The screensaving clock can appear partially off screen and to indicate there is a scroll page to the left they show you the first character/part of the right hand page (but not the left). This drives me nuts, I love the different approach and every windows phone is as slick as butter but the fact puts me right off.
I have noticed a certain attitude which is good for Nokia/Microsoft, my little sisters has had problems with the wireless charging, bluetooth and the wifi (two replacement units). So far all her rage has been at O2 rather than the poorly working units. Where as the slightest problem on her Nexus S was always Googles fault. I've seen this was the 3 people I know with WP8 phones.
Another problem with Windows 8 phones is how identical they all are, MS need to let manufacturers have a little more flexibility with the form factor. I've seen people get disapointed that their new andriod phone still has the same user interface. Windows Phone 7/8 phones are really quite close in appearence which I think will put people off upgrading.
Who cares about flexible?
Phones with 4.5" - 5" screens can make good reading devices. The largest battery drain is the screen, colour e-ink has been available (at prototype stage) for years.
Why all this effort on flexible displays (which has limited real use), and start giving us phones with colour e-ink screens!
I get how flexible displays improve durability, but the "advantages" of being able to curl it up etc.. I have always thought as disadvantages. It makes it hard to get a paper in a bag. It is hard to hold a broadsheet without it bending, the wind blows it around.
I would much rather have a phone that lasts for a week with usage. Heck if you are that worried about colour wash-out give me an option to choose the screen, place an LCD panel above, the e-ink screen below and let me switch when I want. My e-reader is getting less used because every company wants me to use their book store application.
Posted in Movie review: Star Trek Into Darkness
Not Watching
If they want to do Star Trek, fine do Star Trek and accept all of the history and storyline. There is a lot of the orignal series that is untold. I can cope with new actors covering it, heck even keeping the same universe but a decent re-imaging would have been good (think Battlestar, a Kirk who cared that the red security guard got killed would have been cool).
The "we are in an alternate universe" thing and can do whatever we want just annoyed the heck out of me. It smacked of them having a plot and just re-using the Star Trek brand to ensure people watched it.
I have no problem with a reboot, new characters etc.. but Star Trek developed numerous rules over the years, federation ships have two warp neceles, transporters only work to around 10,000kms, Warp 9.9 is about 1000 light years a year, etc... Any federation planet was governed by a single government, police, medical, military are folded into federation forces. None of these things would greatly affect the plot but would have constrained the story telling. The films/tv series did occasionally break it's own rules, but overt he 20 or so years did develop a rather well thought out universe. Instead of taking advantage of that we got a film that wasn't even consistent to it's own rules.
I won't be watching/supporting Into Darkness, with Enders Gate, Iron Man, etc.. I can get my Sci-Fi fix elsewhere and I wonder if the other fans they burned will bother watching it?
Re: Why won't someone sell me..
I'd love this as well. A 7" e-ink screen with andriod. I know they have been holding back colour e-ink screens due to colour wash out but consider what I want from a tablet this is fine.
Too Expensive
I bought a Maxtor 400GB external drive (had a Seagate Drive inside) 7 years ago, it cost £65 in Maplins. If you were to buy a 500GB external drive today you would spend £70. So after 7 years of development storage technology doesn't seem to have moved.
I've built a Home NAS, it currently has a number of older drives, I would love to buy a couple of low energy 2/3TB drives. But at the cost of the drives, it isn't worth it it would take years to recoup the energy saving costs. At £45 for a 2TB drive I would impulse buy at £70 I can make do without.
Considering the number of people buying Raspberry PI's and the number of posts about building a NAS Seagate etc.. would realise there is some serious money to be made if they can hit the right price points.*
*Still waiting on a low power ARM board that supports SATA Raid, it doesn't need to be much more powerfull than a Raspberry PI. But it does need to be cheaper than buying a dedicated NAS unit.
Re: What will they do with the overseas assets?
Trickle down effect is nonsense, back when I did an econmics A Level they taught about the "Velocity of money".
The basic premise is if you give 1 person £1 billion, they can only spend so much on cars, women, houses, yachts, etc.. say £600 million of it is returned into the economy.
If you were to give a million people £1 million, most people would spend all of it so say £900 million is returned the to economy.
While those numbers are plucked out of thin air the basic theory goes as you concentrate wealth within a system the rate at which money within the system moves around slows down. At a certain point the econmy will stall. The wealth gap is important for this reason if you want a healthy economy you want hundreds of millionaires rather than a few billionaires
Posted in British bookworms deem Amazon 'evil'
The eBook Problem
Do I buy an eBook for £17.99 or the hardback from waterstones for £17.99?
If I have spent £17.99 for a hardback am I likely to spend anouther £17.99 to have the book conviently on my e-reader?
When will a book retailer sell me the hardback/paperback with the ebook? I wouldn't mind paying a little extra (say £21 for both). But splashing out full price again is insance and means I don't buy any major authors ebooks.
Re: Netflix Great/LoveFilm Not so good
Please point me at the Andriod and iPhone application, all I kind find is an order by post application. I think LoveFilm has been limited to the Fire when it comes to small devices.
The Wii update only appeared in the last few weeks and I haven't had time to try it yet. But if it is like the PS3 LoveFilm application I don't have much hope, even 4oD player is better than LoveFilm on the PS3.
The web expearences are quite different from a UI perspective as well, the search facility is painfull and the web design looks like play.com from 5 years ago.
Netflix Great/LoveFilm Not so good
I signed up to Netflix and Love Film before christmas, during that time I use Netflix heavily. Either on my (andriod) phone, PS3, Wii, PC, the missus uses her iPhone as well. The applications always run smoothly, work fine over HSPDA/EDGE. There is the problem where is can forget what you last watched, but it is easy to find the content.
LoveFilm is limited to my PS3 or a PC and has a terrible search mechanisim. I have a LoveFilm instant account. When I perform a search I don't want to see things available on DVD. Whenever we have tried to use it, we search/browse and then find out it is only available by post. The search feature and the fact it is limited to my PS3 is why I am cancelling this month.
Re: Whoodathunkdit??
@JDX
The Computer Nerd/Tech/Geek can be thought off as market multipliers when it comes to electronics/software. Their opinions shape the market.
When my non-geek family and friends look to buy a phone they come to me and ask for advice, when I was in HMV recently people cottoned on to the fact I knew about tablets people started pestering me for advice.
If you go back through places like the register/slashdot/etc... you will see in 2004 - 2007 a lot of people were talking about how good Apple Macbooks were, Apple were very well thought of within the community and promoted by us to the general public.
Around 2009 we started seeing anti-Apple feeling and now the majority of forums seem to be filled with Apple hate. You can start seeing that attitude amongst the general public, I suspect by the middle of the decade most people won't like Apple or buy Apple.
I don't think this effect is specific to the technology industries either (see fashion, cars, films, books, etc..)
Interesting analysis
Everyone has said it although I would suggest making the stores identical is part of their downfall.
For example when I grew up in Plymouth, there were 3 games within 300 metres of each other. One speacialised in Sega, one predominatly had Nintendo and one did Playstation. Now when I go into Plymouth city centre there are 4 Games and 1 Gamestation. They sell exactly the same stuff (same shelf sapce for Wii, PS3, xBox 360, Vita, etc..), there is no reason to go in one over the other and if it isn't in the chart don't bother.
Over the weekend i wanted a PS3 AV To VGA cable we tried 2 comets, 3 curry's 2 maplins, 1 PC World, 1 game, 1 gamestation, 2 Argos's, B&Q & 2 HMV's. All of them had exactly the same accessories at the same price point. That was accross Gloucester & Cheltenham. The only place that understood what I was after was in a Maplins in Gloucester and the guy in there said they had ran out 2 weeks ago and hadn't had any in since.
Firstly having more than one store within 5 miles seems wastefull, secondly if you are going to have multiple make sure they aim at different markets.
Re: Not much of a sale
Yet to see someone in Comet, PC World or Dixons sell something and have a clue what they are talking about and then not try to push extended warrenty's.
I was in Comet on Saturday and watched as a staffer suggested a £110 HDMI cable (discounted from £130) with the cut price TV. I know they re going out of business, but I had to point out that Gold plated ends create input/output impedence problems, HDMI is digital with bit error correction and HDMI was designed to operate over a few metres with a 10/50 metres (couldn't remember which) maximum range. I then asked her if her TV and source have gold connectors and will the TV and source only be a couple of metres apart? I then suggested she could find the right cable on Amazon for ~£3 although £10 was average for shops. Comet man did not look happy.
Saw a similar thing in PC World related to Anti-virus that day and (a few months earlier) when I asked a PC World staffer what the difference between the PC World Exclusive Asus Transformer and the Asus TF301 was he waffled on about it being better (It was slightly more). I got my phone out goggled the serial number and found out the exclusive was the TF101, I showed him the spec sheet and left.
Amusingly that day I managed to sell 4/5 tablets in HMV once someone picked up I knew what I was looking at. I had a queue of people asking me questions.
A good electronics retailer, would have staff who know what they are talking about, offer good value loans, provide support/workshops to show you how to operate your purchase and wouldn't be trying to push expensive cables or bolt on packages. Basically be more like Maplins (although Maplins isn't brilliant).
Re: You do realize...
Things like the Asus Transformer Prime can replace a netbook/laptop. Modern tablets have a high resolution screen (like an ultrabook), the battery life of a Netbook (15 hours in the Primes case), exchange/IMAP/POP3 support through applications you can support every available file format and turns on instantly (well from standby).
The only thing missing is a well developed office suite (Polaris Office and Quick Office are ok), sure you can't install visual studio or Matlab on them. But in all other respects I would have killed for something like that during university (instead I made do with an XDA Mini S & a bluetooth keyboard).
I'm hoping Libre Office and Eclipse can be ported to Android, it would be the final push for me to get a Transformer.
Phone version
I love the look of this tablet, but would avoid since Archos support is terrible.
I have an Xperia Play which I love but it is started to get long in the tooth (wear and tear and low memory issues). I'd love to get a phone like this, heck even a bluetooth case like this would do.
Any idea's?
Re: Tombstoning
I had a Nokia 5800, I loved Nokia Maps (perferred v2 over v3). With a family of Garmin/TomTom users I frequently found it got a lock quicker and gave better directions.
I've been on Andriod for a while now and discovered Co-Pilot, sure the UK edition costs £25 and the European maps cost anouther £25, but like Nokia Maps v2 it has active traffic (v3 took this out and went "free"). CoPilot is better than current Garmin but only equal to TomTom, it cost me £60 and will port between different andriod phones.
The only downside is battery life, my Nokia 5800 could spend a month in standby (actually think it lasted 6 weeks recently, left on in a drawer) and would last 4 hours while using Nokia Maps. My Xperia Play lasts 2 days on standby and ~ 3 hours using Co-Pilot.
I'm sure WP7 phones are great but the poor cropping on text and partial views of the next slide screen drive me bonkers.
Posted in Ten netbooks
Screen size Fail
Only 2 netbooks in that list had decent screens, I own a Samsung NC10 it is a great little device but the screen resolution is appaling (1024*768). I have been quietly waiting for a netbook with a 720p or 1080p screen. My little sister did have a Sony Viao which had a fantastic screen but the fact you can't change the hard drive or the ram put me off.
Any suggestions? Something comparable to a Intel Atom N270, accepts 2GB of ram, replacable hard drive (I have a spare SSD I would use) and a 720/1080p screen.
I'm ignoring ultrabooks due to price and the fact they are overkill for what I need.
Posted in Ten... all-in-one inkjet photo printers
Epson Stylus SX435W
I read the review and can't see why anyone would spend the extra, I did own a HP Enterprise wireless printer (£50 on sale in Tesco last year). But couldn't find any print cartitridges for it, during the mad search I came accross the Epson Stylus SX435W for £45 in Sainsbury's.
It uses WIFI to connect to your router and sets up a print server, so any machine can connect in your house network without needing complicated drivers (HP and your 100mb windows driver!).
The scanner detects multiple images and will scan them separately (since I am scanning in my photo collection this is invaluable). The scanner maxes out at 500 dpi and windows 7 finds the driver automatically.
It has a little LCD screen allowing you to perform setup, maintain, photocopy, scan & print operations. There is also a SD card slot for those inclined.
The ink cartridges are separate and a full pack costs £27 in Tesco and the form factor is tiny (smallest all in one I have ever seen) and it does only take between 50 - 100 pages at a time. I'm also not certain about the photo printing quality because I have only printed documents.
All that for £45, why would you spend £300? If your working in an office you won't be looking at simple inkjets unless your a small business and frankly if your worried about queues forming due to slow printing times, you could by 6 of these for the cost of one of the reviewed ones.
Posted in Ten Android games
Radiant Defense
I regularly play Radiant Defense, it is very distracting and because how the saves work something you can pick up and drop. The only annoying thing is it tries to push add'ons if you fail a level alot. The humour is pretty good and does wrap some semblance of a plot around the game. The tricky part of the game can be learning a level, a combination that was good for a previous level may be terrible for a later one. I still haven't worked out the point of the science centre (with the added weapons that brings).
I bought Radiant HD, think space invaders on steriods, like defence the humour is good and I was playing that game in and out for a year without getting bored (GTA3 & Sonic4 didn't get a look in). It also has DPAD support which works very well on the Xperia Play so I don't know how good it is on a normal phone.
Hexage haven't done many games but they seem to be a developer to watch, not astro-turfing only game programmer I know works for One Touch and they do iPhone football games (not my thing),
Picasa/Picasa Web Albums/Google+
I started a similar project of taking all the photo's from my family and archiving them.
Picasa is a local application that stores all sorts of photo meta data within the JPG using the appropriate standards (GPS, Albums, dates, comments, etc..). The face tagging feature is linked to a people profile it creates (people are linked to email addresses) and works remarkable well (requires little training).
Picasa Web Albums allow you to upload your photo albums online, there is a major bug with the "people" aspect in Picasa Web Albums where it seems to create a person for each album (so you can get hundreds of identical people). Luckily the Picasa local application merges these people, google have been moving towards Google+ which fixes this (online viewing) problem if the person has a Google+ profile.
I went for this solution as online storage is cheap (I get 20gb for £5 a year, although if you sign up now it is ~£1 pcm). It uses standards so I can move the data around and the local application makes doing all this a pleasure.
I had a look at Flicker and others but Picasa/Google+ seemed to be the only complete package.
Re: Out-sourcing is bad
I like writing code comments, ensuring system/unit test coverage and getting basic things like Interface Communication Documents put together.
Sure I will avoid writing a user guide, but the first thing I do when I join a project is find out about their build process. I then work to automate that process (projects rarely do until you point out the wasted time).
Then Once I have Jenkins/Cruise Control up and running I get tools like Cobertura (Unit Coverage), JavaNCSS (Code commenting), Checkstyle, JSLint, PMD, FXCop, StyleCop, Lint, etc... (build scripts tend to be written in ANT or Maven and I have done it so many times I add this over a lunch).
Then all you have to do is show the system to your team /technical lead and wait. I've yet to see one who can resist all of those lovely build metrics. Once you have their buy in most of the rest of the documentation comes as a matter of course.
Posted in Samsung Galaxy S III
Re: Quad Core?
I too have a play, the slow downs are due to Sony bloatware, I'm running CM9 RC0 (Ice Cream Sandwhich FXP 121 kernel). It runs smoothly and I have around 60-70 applications installed, Hotmail push email, SMS Backup & Restore, 3G Watchdog, Facebook, Google+, Llama, BTFon, BeWeather, CoPilot, etc...
The Sony based roms out there tend to suffer from lag and with that many applications you are always fighting for memory (Sony's beta ICS build was horrific for it).
I've also found the phone works a lot better when you have 100mb's free in application storage, if you get below that lag starts appearing so moving applications accross to the SD card helps alot.
Considering Sony have cancelled the ICS release for the Play I was toying with getting an S3 next year
Re: Migrate before ...
I'm running Windows 7 on several Intel Atom boards quite happily, The only real difference I find it Windows 7 needs 2GB of ram instead of 1GB (XP) to run well. My media centre pc (an N330 on an ION chipset) uses around 50 watts playing 1080p video. Windows XP requires the same energy usage but takes longer to boot up.
I have a copy of Windows 7 Pro and Windows XP mode seems to work well so it is possible to keep those legacy applications going (along with Dos-box).
Windows 7 does require more RAM (2GB instead of 1GB) and Storage space (10GB instead of 4GB) but if it does use more power I haven't been able to detect it. It also runs as smoothly as Windows XP on the same hardware in my experience (obviously your mileage may vary).
Re: Microsoft's Response
I would have had it be two separate shells, either you boot in to the desktop or your boot in Metro. Unlike Windows Media Centre which was an application on top of the desktop I would have both be a complete GUI layer. I would also place an option so the user can choose the interface they want. The default would have been Metro to help push Metro.
I would have had both GUI's use common code base but not depend on each other, I haven't used Windows 8 yet but trying to merge a desktop and touch interface sounds stupid. I will try to get this consumer preview to see if I should bother getting Windows 8
I have been using KDE recently (to learn more about Linux) and KDE has a Touch, Netbook and Desktop interface, each one is designed slightly differently and so it works well on all of them. Since you are using the same tools just on a different layout it's easyish to find your way around on all of them as well.
Re: Use of screen space
I'm glad I'm not the only one with this problem. The few WP7 phones I have played with I really like except for the weird running off of the page "feature" you mention. It really annoys me, I can't figure it out either.
My plan is to avoid Windows 8, I figure I will like Metro (aside from the half cut off next page thing) but I'd rather it allow for a complete Windows 7 desktop and Metro. Combining them will mostly likely annoy me to death. I really like Windows 7 UI, while I know it can be improved from what I have heard Metro seems to causing issues. My only thought is this is like the UAC in Vista where they are trying to force people on to Metro, but it seems a bit of a blunder to me.
Why do all the companies (Canical, Gnome, MS, Apple) seem to think we want touch screen UI's everywhere? I think KDE have gotten it right with a different desktop depending on the environment it is running on.
UKIP came out on top
Last weekend I wrote to all of my MEP's asking them to reject ACTA. After a week the only one who responded was William Dartmouth (UKIP MEP). He said he would vote against it.
To be fair his response basically said the UKIP will vote against all EU legislation and treaties, but he seemed very keen that I understand the UKIP are dead set against ACTA and have pushed for a 'motion for resolution'.
Something is very wrong when you find yourself on the same side as the UKIP, next thing you know the BNP or SNP will come out against it.
wrong
I know I'm feeding a troll, but idiots like you are a major problem on the road. Just because your doing the speed limit doesn't make your driving safe.
I've had many experiences of traveling 50 in a 50 and going around a corner and having to emergency break because the idiot in front was doing 30 (actually 40 but they slow for the corners).
Just because your doing 70 does not mean you can be in the middle or outside lane and just because your doing the speed limit doesn't mean you can change lanes without looking.
As a biker the people who create the most near accidents for me are those who have your viewpoint. 4 times this week I've had people doing the max speed limit incorrectly in the outside line drift over in to my lane without looking or indicating causing me to emergency brake. What is worse is half the time I've been able to see the drivers face through the passengers window and you can see how oblivious they are.
Ps "bikers" who appear only during the summer are my second biggest problem. Because they don't know how to ride a bike instead they drive it like a car and cause problems. I call them roadkill.
true
Your right, there are a lot of selfish people out there and you will never get rid of piracy. I wish the entertainment industry would accept that and move onto doing what's best for their customers.
Personally I believe music is overpriced, I think a MP3 album shouldn't be more than a CD album and 49p is probably about right for an individual MP3. If I think a artist is actually worth it I simply wait until their album hits the bargain bin. Most of my music purchases these days are direct from local artists to be honest.
I stopped buying PC games because of the DRM, I no longer buy DVD's made by Disney\Momentum Pictures because of forced trailers and adverts. Of course I'm sure many in the entertainment industry will blame piracy rather than their over pricing and ruining of there own product (CD's no longer passing the Compact Disc spec, old games can't run on new PC's because of old DRM, etc...)
IPad/Netbook
Why do people seem to think Tablets will eat into Netbooks market?
The iPad starts at almost twice the price of a cheap netbook, has less functionality and less battery life. Netbooks took off because they were good enough devices that were amazingly cheap. You didn't need to lug around a big laptop in university because a netbook can take notes, nor do you need a big 17" laptop for quick browsing on the sofa.
I remember playing with Tablets in 2002/2003 and for the first five minutes it was cool and then using the touch screen for data entry got old very fast. I recently played with an iPad and found exactly the same issue. Tablets work, but not in the same space as desktop/laptop computing.
Don't get me wrong the iPad is lowering ebook reader prices to the point where I'm considering buying one. I just don't think the market space covered by netbooks is the same as a iPad.
Posted in Indonesian parliament gets smut eyeful
wrong
Why does every person with a religious belief only believe people who believe in a "sky fairy" can have morals and/or have stronger morals than people who don't?
When you look at the history of religion a lot of illegal, unethical and disturbing actions have been taken by followers of a structured religion who believed they were right in what they were doing.
I have strong sense of morality but I'm agnostic, I belittle such "sky fairy" worshippers because most will try to impose their morality on others with little proof such morality will be beneficial to the people they try to impose those beliefs on.
Such people shouldn't be applauded they should be belittled, look at the war on drugs. Proffessor Nutt suggests government policy isn't based on scientific evidence and is actually doing more harm than good and he's sacked while the politician sticks his fingers in his ears and humms "I believe I'm right". I should point out I've never smoked or taken non-prescribed drugs, I just try to have an open mind.
MS Security Essentials
It's free, every Vista/7 box I've installed it on doesn't suffer from the usual AV performance hit. It's also not far off in detection ability compared to the paid for ones. I've put it on my families PC's and some of them are highly inept when it comes to technology one's PC was part of a botnet and that was with AVAST installed. She's not had any problems with security essentials in 6 months.
My other suggestion is to always run as limited user, you can't really do it on XP but on Vista/7 there really is no reason for you to be logged in as administrator.
yes they did
I saw the I'm a Mac and I'm a PC adverts in the cinema in the UK. They annoyed me greatly because they were blatantly wrong. One stated windows PC's lock up all the time and get viruses while it's impossible for Mac OS X PC's to have problems. While another said how PC's were for work and you couldn't play games on them, this before Steam was brought to Mac OS X.
They were around for about 2 months before they went, I'm guessing the ASA had them pulled for being misleading/lying.
According to my ancedotal evidence your misinformed
I just registered for the electorial register in my area last week, I stated I didn't want to be on the general list. Today I got mail from the Liberal Democrats and Conservative Party. I'm pretty certain the address came from my local electorial register because they appear to have made a cock up with my name (middle initial is wrong) on my voter card and the same mistake was made on the tory and lib dem junk mail.
Honestly I don't think anything is above the major parties.
You are Wrong Sir!
You say argument of convenience but it's how I feel. In the last year I've bought 2 CD's from HMV and 12 from local bands I've seen in a pub somewhere.
Sure a lot of that is because I don't like most of the music the major labels sell but if I had the chance to buy direct from an artist I would have bought more. I am fed up with the major labels and want them to go bankrupt. I originally stopped buying music from them when I kept noticing the CD version of a album was consistently cheaper than the MP3 download version (on Amazon and play) and the only reason I could see for that was greedy executives trying to stop technology.
I'm the same with PC games, I stopped buying PC games when the DRM started affecting the machine it was installed upon. I'm a massive C&C fan but don't own Red Alert 3 or C&C4 because the DRM is too invasive.
I have a Cineworld card and go to Cineworld 2 or 3 times a week and have to ask why I need to be thanked to go to the cinema. All that does it help me compile a list of soulless greedy actors whose films I'm going to start avoiding.
The BBC has shown what's needed with the iPlayer, but does the any other media company embrace this idea?
I don't pirate I just don't buy, although I'm sure the music and film industries will use the decrease in sales as a argument for more DRM and more invasion of my privacy.
Engage brain
Your confusing patents with copyright and making the same mistake Andrew is. I have no issue with 20-25 year patents (the current term). Inventing new technology and preforming R&D on drugs is an expensive process.
Reducing copyright to five years would affect software, music and films. The effect on software would be non existent. As a commenter above mentioned if copyright were reduced to 5 years only the original Windows XP would be free, XP SP1, XP SP2 and XP SP3, Vista and 7 would all be covered. I work for a software company if we produced a bit of software and make no newer releases for 5 years our competitors would steal our customers.
Reduction in copyright would only really affect the music and film industry and considering it's hard to find many films that are older than 10 years I don't think it would hurt them to much either.
People like Andrew like to associate the Pirate Party with file sharing so people like yourself switch off and don't ask why a drug company gets 25 years of protected for inventing a new drug after spending billions of pounds and yet Micky Mouse is at 75 years and counting.
Posted in Ubisoft undone by anti-DRM DDoS storm
Usual Bad Argument
I loved PC gaming and I've built a fairly hefty PC gaming rig. Then EA Games decided I would get the worst of both licensing and ownership for Red Alert 3. I decided not to buy any PC EA Games titles while they implemented that version of Securom and I'll now do the same for Ubisoft PC titles.
I still buy games but because I don't want my machine infected I buy PS3 games. Because second hand PS3 games are so insanely cheap I tend to buy old PS3 games.The sad thing is I own a PC good enough to run Crysis well, but it's been sat unused for so long I'm considering replacing it with a Dual Core Intel Atom.
But your right rather than come to the conclusion that people like myself are fed up with their invasive DRM, they will probably just decry that the PC market is dying and filled with pirates.
Bit Daily Mail?
My old secondary school did spout the ambassadors line, but the Head and Deputy Head had a line. If your in school uniform your an ambassador and any dodgy antics that get complained about (by police, bus drivers, residents) will be disciplined in the school. If your not in school uniform they didn't care and you could do what you want and there would be no repercussions.
It seems a sensible line to take, especially since that's how it seems to work in the real world.
Straw man
The attendance issue could quite easily be delt with, at my university and I'm sure most universities all the doors were controlled by RFID tags embedded in your university card. All you have to do is write a piece of software that logs door access to class times and presto you have your own accurate attendance register.
Since my employer across multiple sites requires me to do the same thing (admittedly for security reasons) I fail to see how this would be demeaning.
I don't care where someone is from but if there not attending any lectures they should be kicked off of the course.
Posted in iPad vs e-book readers: price matters
Missing the point
E-Ink was invented because refresh rates on LCD's do tire peoples eyes, it's not some kind of quirk that a few people have. The technology has cost millions to develop. The idea people were waiting for Apple to produce an LCD tablet in order to make LCD based readers viable is a bad one.
I doubt the price difference between E-Book readers and the iPad is going to be "£100". The most expensive reader I've seen is a 7" screen Sony reader in Waterstone's and that cost £270. Traditionally in consumer electronics you take the dollar sign and switch it to a pound so I think the iPad is going to be in the £400 - £850 range. This makes the iPad massively overpriced for the reader, netbook and tablet market Apple seem to be going for.
I admit I don't get the iPhone but I really don't get the iPad craze the device is literally a bigger and heavier iPhone without a camera or GPS, I was expecting something in between Mac OSX and the iPhone OS but from Job's description it sounds like it is running the iPhone OS.
Digital Economy Bill petition
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Digital-Economy/
unlocking phones
Phones aren't allowed to be blocked from use on other networks in th EU. Operators do do it, but if you go in a store they will unlock them (for a fee). Even the iPhone will apparently allow you to unlock it for use on other networks.
Where mobile phone operators are screwing us is in contract lock in (I remember when you could get 6 month contracts) on phone subsidised contracts.
I feel bad for Motorolla, Sony, etc.. but there are other platforms out there (like Symbian)
Posted in Nokia jacks up Apple patent complaint
GSM patent probably invalid
As I understand the US patent system they can be invalidated with examples of prior art. Considering Nokia were one of the very early companies involved with GSM In Europe (long before the US got on the bandwagon) I would be surprised if Apples patent occurred before the technology was in widespread use. If that is the case all Nokia have to do is show prior art to invalidate the patent.
As I understand it the patents Nokia are suing for are related to hardware and aren't vague software patents. Nokia has also been developing phones for decades with a lot of radical designs and idea's so I would be surprised if they couldn't take Apple to the cleaners.
The original lawsuit is quite valid, developing standards costs money expecting people to pay is only fair. To design a SD card device requires a $1000 licesne from Sandisk for example, Microsoft licenses the exFat filesystem to companies so SatNav's, etc.. can use memory cards, Blu-Ray is patented and licensed just as Philips License the CD standard.
Apple deserve to get creamed if they are valid of breaking the patent.
