Posts by Laie Techie
40 posts • joined Tuesday 29th May 2007 19:31 GMT
Problems
Perhaps people haven't forgotten about the iPhone 5's major problems.
1. The map application. While Google Maps is available as a third-party add-on, there's no way (short of jail breaking) to make Google Maps the default map app. Even with Jail breaking, it is still impossible to open Google Maps when clicking on an address in the list of contacts. This CAN be fixed by Apple through software, but it is unlikely.
2. The crystals used to protect the camera lens give photos a purple haze under certain circumstances. Since this is a hardware problem, Apple cannot fix this without releasing the next version of the iPhone. Will Apple admit their faulty design and give us a camera worthy of 2013?
Re: 1 Gallon H2O = 10lbs
It depends on which gallon.
1 fluid ounce (US) of water equals 1 ounce, which means that a pint (US) is a pound. There are 8 pints per gallon, so 1 gallon H2O = 8lb.
When working with aquariums, we round to 10 pounds to allow for rocks, plants, and fish.
Duke Nukem Forever?
If you wait long enough, it just might become reality - look at Duke Nukem Forever.
Connectors
Why buy an iPhone 4S with the legacy 30-ping connector when it seems all but confirmed that the iPhone 5 will have a 19-pin connector? Any kit I buy for the iPhone 4S will need an adapter to work with newer versions.
Re: Re: You carry your birth date around with you?
> Driving license photocards probably, although I don't carry mine around.
Here in the US it's against the law to drive without your drivers license with you.
Posted in SOPA is dead. Are you happy now?
[quote]The word SOPA means "trash" in Swedish. The word PIPA means "a pipe" in Swedish. This is of course not a coincidence.[/quote]
The word SOPA means soup in Portuguese. Does that mean the govt wants to turn this country into a soup kitchen?
A word's meaning in a foreign language only comes into play when the original context (in English) was inspired by that other language. I doubt more than a handful of our congressmen know Swedish.
Posted in Android devs get schooled on style
"Don't Make Me Think"
"Don't Make Me Think" should be required reading for anyone in UI design.
Integration
Google was upfront about this. When they released the +1 button, one of the stated purposes was to *someday* use the ratings people in your circles give a certain resource in order to personalize search results for you. It would also indicate which people in your circles voted the resource up. The ratings of people outside my circles should not affect my search results, so to avoid spam, don't follow spammers.
Posted in Report: Popular CAPTCHAs easily defeated
Alternatives?
It is time to move past image-based CAPTCHA. image-based CAPTCHA doesn't work for blind people or those with images disabled and are increasingly easier for computers to solve.
We need a CAPTCHA which is accessible, easy for humans, and near impossible for computers. My own site has a bank of hundreds of questions and acceptable answers. This makes sure my posters have enough intelligence to productively participate, but does discriminate somewhat against people without a strong grasp of the English language. This bank supports multiple correct answers to account for alternate spellings, writing numbers out in numerals or words, etc. You would be surprised that no bot has correctly answered the question "Is ice hot or cold?"
Another approach would be to place a honeypot - something which looks like a CAPTCHA in the HTML code but doesn't appear when rendered by a browser. Bots would attempt to solve the CAPTCHA, but humans (not seeing the puzzle) would leave it blank. This approach will only work as long as it is in the minority or if it sometimes displays a true CAPTCHA to its visitors.
Credit Unions?
Here credit unions make a big deal about how they're different from banks. Would credit unions actually apply for a bank TLD?
Posted in iPhone 5 now set for October launch
Upgrade?
I upgraded from iPhone 1 to iPhone 4, so I won't upgrade to iPhone 5 this year anyway. I'll reevaluate the situation in 2012.
Captions
The question asked was: "Over the past 90 days, how frequently have you experienced a dropped call on your iPhone 4?" The graphs show a single percentage per carrier. Does Verizon's 1.8% mean that only 1.8% of Verizon customers in the survey experienced /any/ dropped calls, or that Verizon customers averaged 1.8% of their calls being dropped?
Every Firefox Beta?
I think Firefox 4 is almost to the status of Duke Nukem Forever in that it's taking forever to be released. Firefox has been plagued by bugs which keep pushing back the expected release date. That's the real news, the reason beta releases get so much coverage at El Reg.
Posted in Verizon iPhone 4 jailbroken – already
Why Jailbreak?
Jailbreaking will allow you to install apps not sanctioned by St. Jobs. It won't change the hardware, so it will still only be able to connect to the CDMA networks
Posted in Jackson's Hobbit movies back on track
Other works
IIRC, New Line Cinema only has rights to The Hobbit and the six books collectively referred to as The Lord of the Rings. New Line cannot borrow from the other books without getting into legal trouble. HOWEVER, The Lord of the Rings does contain much background information (which is fleshed out in the other works) which is unencumbered.
Apple stole GUI?
As I've heard it, Apple didn't steal the UI from Xerox. Xerox developed the GUI for internal use. Apple saw it and and asked Xerox permission to use it in their new OS. Xerox agreed. Microsoft stole that GUI from Apple, and when Apple threatened to sue, Microsoft threatened to not release any more software for the Mac OS. Apple relented.
Posted in 4G networks can screw up cable TV
RE: Surely Virgin are OK
Most cable companies provide fiber to the house; the inside of the house still uses coax.
Posted in Apple refuses frozen iPhone repair
No biggie?
Growing up in Hawaii, I'd say "small kine" ("kine" being Pidgin for "kind" or "type"). I relocated to the U.S. mainland for work where "no biggie" is common.
Back on topic, I wasn't aware of the temperature limitations of the iPhone. I used my phone in 5F (-15C) weather and the biggest problem was trying to keep my fingers warm. On these cold mornings I miss the stylus.
Posted in Blu-ray barely better than DVD
Setup?
OK, just a few questions:
1. Was the DVD played in a Blu-ray player? Most (all?) Blu-ray players have an algorithm to "upscale" or "up convert" SD (standard definition) content to "near HD quality". With each generation, these algorithms are getting better.
2. What is the native resolution (480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p) and size of the TV, and viewing distance? If the screen is too small or you are sitting too far away, of course some of the details of Blu-ray will be lost. This is doubly true if the TV doesn't support native 1080p.
Buy African Slaves?
It wasn't too long ago when searching on the term "African slaves" returned links to "Buy African Slaves". Algorithms need to be monitored and improved to avoid such mistakes.
The Frenchman in question was convicted of "corrupting a minor", so he *might* have served time in prison, in which case the suggested search was legit. Did the corruption include rape? If so, Google's algorithm was within acceptable limits on that suggestion, too.
Posted in Coder cooks up Java-built Flash Player
float vs Float
Tom,
Float is a class, float is a primitive type. pixels[pixels.length+1] will throw an ArrayindexOutOfBoundsException, thus breaking out of the loop.
Posted in Xmas kicks off on 2 August
Christmas Every Day
Aren't we supposed to carry the Christmas Spirit throughout the year?
Where I'm at, there are craft stores which do carry Christmas projects year round, but they only start playing the carols after Thanksgiving.
I'm also with the person above who suggested buying Christmas decorations *after* Christmas when stores are giving them away. I bought an artificial tree for $30 which retails for $350. I throw away all old lights and buy new strands (guaranteed to work) for a buck.
Personal Observations
This is purely anecdotal, but I had the original iPhone for 2.5 years with a minimum number of dropped calls. In fact, I can't think of one dropped call in the past year. I got my iPhone 4 on Wednesday, and I've already had 10 dropped calls. I don't have a death grip, my hands don't sweat profusely, etc. It's bad enough I may actually buy the bumper.
Posted in iPhone 4 fever takes hold. Again
Just a phone?
It's a smart phone, so it's more than just a phone. It's a phone, camera, PDA, personal music player, and web browser. Other smart phones offer the same, but still, the iPhone 4 is more than just a phone.
Facebook for co-workers?
I limit Facebook to friends and family; Colleagues can connect to my LinkedIn profile. My boss and co-workers don't need to see photos from my vaction or know which tv shows I follow. LinkedIn is much more business / profession oriented. My LinkedIn account has an up-to-date resume and list of activities related to my career.
Posted in 3-million-km-long comet plunges into Sun
Celcius to Kelvin
> Nope, 100,000 celcius = 100,000 - 273.15 kelvin, or 99,726.85 degrees kelvin.
0 C (freezing point of water at sea level on earth) = 273.15 K
100,000 C = 100,000 + 273.15 K = 100,273.15 K
Maybe math classes in the US aren't as bad as I thought ...
Posted in New iPhone to land in US on 7 June
Time to upgrade?
I have a first generation iPhone (gift from my company). Every May I'd get excited by the rumors of the next iPhone, just to be disappointed by the actual specs.
Now rumor has it that my iPhone won't support iPhone OS 4.0 with its multitasking and other cool features. Is it finally time to bite te bullet and buy a new phone?
RE: Can't by a hypothesis
> Have to have an observation from which to draw a conclusion.
Religion tries to explain observations. The ancients saw the sun be born every morning and die every evening, so they came up with different theories (a dragon swallows the sun at night, the sun is a chariot, etc). Just because there is no scientific evidence to back up these hypotheses and you don't agree with them, doesn't mean they aren't hypotheses.
I, personally, have observed things in my own life which I ascribe to Supreme Being. When talking about such things, I preface it with an indicator of my level of confidence, such as "I believe".
Apple Approved
When I look at the way Apple is handling this, I am reminded of that eternal September. of 1993 ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_September ). Once again we have loads of newbies gaining access to a technology. If one of the n00bs installs a virus or whatever, they blame Apple who would have to provide support for and clean up after 3rd party applications. Apple decided to go the other route, only allowing applications they (supposedly) verify won't destroy the iPod / iPad / iPhone. No more support calls from a wannabe hacker ssh-ing into the iPhone and /accidentally/ running "rm -rf /" as root, thus turning their device into a brick.
I don't agree with Apple's stance, but at least I understand it.
iPhone OS 4.0?
I've been waiting for confirmation on the new hardware :(
Birth is a verb and a noun
The dictionary says birth can be used as a noun.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/birth
Charity
Bill Gates could have still been on top if he didn't donate so much to his Bill and Mellisa Gates Foundation.
Also, I wonder how much is in stocks. Remember Black Wednesday when Bill lost $40B when the stock market crashed?
Posted in Chips make you chipper: Official
Water Pipes Freeze in Winter
Reminds me of the study years back which found that water pipes are more likely to freeze during winter than during summer.
Disturbance in the Force?
> A true Jedi wouldn't need to know the location of the meetings but would sense the disturbance
> in the force?
Um, refreshments are *AFTER* the meeting's over...
Posted in Windows 8 possible July 2011 release?
Windows Final?
> About Windows 8, they should release it on the 31st December 2012, and call it Windows Final.
i thought the Mayan calendar ends on 21 December, not 31 December.
Posted in Next from Apple: The Pocket iPad
El Reg or The Onion?
The past few days, I've spotted articles on El Reg which are better suited to The Onion. Is this to be the norm? I like humor as much as the next guy (can't wait for the next episode of BOFH), but El Reg needs to maintain some decorum appropriate for a news source.
Posted in Avatards rush to name sprogs Pandora
Brazilian law
Brazil has a list of approved names. Parents wanting something different pay a fee and sign a waiver allowing their child to sue for undue hardships due to their name.
I guess it got out of hand with "Noite da Paixao" (Night of Passion) and "Um Dois Tres de Oliveiro o Quatro" (One Two Three de Oliveiro the Fourth).
Utahn != Mormon
An anonymous coward said that to get a good job in Utah, one must be Mormon. This misconception is out of date. Currently, only about 55% of Utahns are LdS (the proper term for Mormon). I have worked for companies in Utah where I was the only LdS (over 50 employees total), and would get hazed because I wouldn't use vulgarities or join the guys at the local bar after work, I have worked for other companies which are almost exclusively LdS. They don't wear white shirts and ties, address each other as "brother" or "sister", or any of that religious stuff. There is a fun rivalry between BYU and University of Utah.
Posted in JK Rowling badmouths eBay
JK Rowling Site
I've noticed that on her site, Rowling often states that readers shouldn't buy or believe "leaked" manuscripts on eBay, but that doesn't go as far as harassment or libel, does it?
At our own level of understanding
<quote>
It's like God is a science teacher that has to teach children of all ages. He's trying to tell the older kids about evolution, but they won't listen and keep saying "but when we were five and you told us about this, you just said you made the animals. How can you tell us that there was more to it than that? We won't listen to you anymore."
</quote>
EXACTLY! I firmly believe that the Creator teaches us at the level of our own understanding. When we are small, we were taught that babies come from the mommy's tummy. As we mature we get told a more accurate, but complicated, explanation.
BTW, I don't believe that Intelligent Design should be taught as science. It's just a reworking of religion / philosophy.
