* Posts by Dave 126

10622 publicly visible posts • joined 21 Jul 2010

Baird is the word: Netflix's grandaddy gets bronze London landmark

Dave 126

microgravity film processing

>Film was never processed in space, just way to tricky to do that in zero gravity.

Film was developed in space, on the Luna 3 probe which provided humans with their first ever images of the moon's far side:

After photography was complete, the film was moved to an on-board processor where it was developed, fixed, and dried. Commands from the Earth were then given to move the film into a flying spot scanner where a spot produced by a cathode ray tube was projected through the film onto a photoelectric multiplier. The spot was scanned across the film and the photomultiplier converted the intensity of the light passing through the film into an electric signal which was transmitted to the Earth (via frequency-modulated analog video, similar to a facsimile).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_3#Lunar_photography

Interestingly, the temperature resistant and rad-hardened film used by the Soviets for this mission was salvaged from USA spy balloons.

So jabuzz, never say never! :)

EDIT: a good link here: https://www.damninteresting.com/faxes-from-the-far-side/

Apple eats itself as iPhone fatigue spreads

Dave 126

Re: Adapters

>No. All it does is increase cost for the headphone.

If your headphones outlive your phone (which they should) that's not an issue. I don't know if you've noticed, but the cost of silicon gets cheaper over time.

Dave 126

Re: Well....

Whilst Apple makes most of its money from phones, it has a history of making money by stealing the lunch of of others, including Sony (iPod), HMV (iTunes), Nokia (iPhone) etc. The idea that a smartphone is so good that the user has no need to upgrade was foreseen by Apple years ago. Apple knows what its history is. And it has a shitload of money to spend on acquisitions and R&D.

The above does not guarantee them success if they choose to break into new sectors. However, it does give them the benefit if the doubt before writing them off.

Dave 126

Re: Innovation?

>What about... ... five SEPARATE connectors for charge, HDMI, data master, data slave and analogue audio/ear/mic.

Or you could just use a headless computer, ARM, x86 or otherwise, to achieve the tasks you need. Shit, Raspberry Pis and the like cost next to faff-all, so why not have one in addition to your phone? That way, you can work at your tiny computer AND answer a call or pop down the shop without having to unplug the half dozen cables you've just outlined.

Dave 126

Thank you for playing! :)

>For innovation there's companies sticking heat cameras and molecular scanners in handsets.

Good on 'em. Those features (which really are using the base phone for it's screen and CPU/GPUasCPU power) might be better as add-on modules, no? Even if your day job is an insulation technician, do you really want o carry the extra bulk when you're in the pub?

>We could do with some decent optical zoom

That will usually add to the bulk of the camera. You could envisage snap-on lenses, or else there is the Nokia 1020 approach which assumes most zoom photography is in the day time and most low light photography is social and wide angle. Apple's approach is reasonable - just add a second camera with a zoom lens. Then there is that project on Kickstarter which uses about a dozen sensors and lenses, and does cunning stuff in software (one gets the idea their end-game is to sell to phone vendors). Then of course is the zoom approach used by Panasonic et al in their 'rugged' cameras: a mirror at 45º is used to increase the distance from lens to sensor. Oh, I nearly forgot - the Samsung cameras with real 10x optical zoom that also happen to be Android phones. Oh oh oh, one more - Sony took their brilliant RX100 camera and pared it down to just the lens and sensor and called it the QX 100, to be paired with Android phones. Dang, neglected those DSLRs with phone controls. So: You have options. (Phones aside, even on dedicated cameras low light performance is usually traded against zoom range)

>and quality audio.

Has been done plenty already. The Sabre DACs from ESS are considered the dogs bollocks, and are in in phones from LG (G2, V10, V20) as well as from one of the recent Chinese upstarts. In time, the DAC could be supplied by Sennheiser et al in their headphones, by Google in their Chromecast Audio, or by Sonos in their speakers, or by Yamaha in their AV receivers etc etc. Some version of the Galaxy S III had Wolfson DACs.

>Project Tango might be a thing.

Maybe, but not for everybody yet - there is no 'killer app' yet for Joe public to justify the RAM requirements and cost of extra sensors, though of course in time those costs will fall to negligible. There might be scope for using Project Tango to sell clothes online ('scan' your body, and let M&S online show you what their shirt looks like on you). Possibly a candidate as a modular 'add-on'

>I'm a fan of any upcoming device that may offer a degree of ruggedness married to some decent specs (not achieved by sticking an iPhone in a rubber sleeve).

But easily achieved by sticking an iPhone in an Otter case. Next!

>Maybe we could do with a different shape that's not so razor-thin that if gives me cramp after holding for a while.

Again, stick it in a case of your choosing. Otter for the building site, fine leather for the ambassador's party. The point is, the slimness of the phone allows you a choice of 3rd party cases.

>Or build in one of those ring things on the back that are trending (yet ridiculous).

You've lost me. Genuinely, I don't know to what you are referring to. The fault is probably mine because I'm not down with the kids.

>What would be truly innovative would be some crazy new battery technology.

Yes, but the market for those (and thus the investment in their development) is not exclusively mobile phones. Maybe LG will develop such a battery, maybe Panasonic, maybe some unheard of university spin-off. We haven't got such wonder batteries yet, but rest assured it is not for want of throwing money at the problem. You can't blame mobile phone vendors for not speccing a technology that doesn't exist yet - it's like saying Toyota isn't being innovative because their cars don't fly and aren't fuelled by banana skins, and whilst they can reach 88Mph they don't travel in time.

>Heck, even stick a solar panel in the back so those of us in sunnier climes can charge up on the windowsill sans cable.

Again, probably best suited to a modular add-on. I mean, if the solar panel was useful for 6 months a year, why would you want to carry the bulk of the device around with you in winter? Efficiency aside, wouldn't you rather the solar panel charge a battery pack, so it can continue to accumulate solar rays when you're actually using the phone? And if you're not using the phone that much, why the hell are you needing to charge it so much? Also, you'd want your solar panel to be bigger than your phone. Because physics.

Dave 126

Re: Dunno, Man

If you had a blank slate - i.e there were no existing 3.5mm devices on the market - would you use the same format today?

I've had MiniDisc players that have developed faults with the 3.5mm jack (fortunately they had a second audio-out 3.5mm port at line level). I've had an early-ish Creative Labs MP3 jukebox fail for the same reason, because the port was soldered directly onto the main PCB. I've broken lots of headphone cables by snagging them on things - the failure occurs by the plug. I've had a Sony Xperiaphone where the Tip Ring Ring Collar was not sufficient for them ('cos you only get mono in) so a TRRRC 3.5mm port was used in order to support stereo in (for noise-cancelling headphones that used the phone's silicon, and for stereo microphones).

Dave 126

Re: Adapters

I tend to lose or break ear buds. Most of the breaks come from the cable being yanked, and the failure occurs near the 3.5mm plug - so a MagSafe style breakaway adaptor would be preferable for me.

My headphones can break, again near the 3.5mm plug. I have even looked into buying or making a short 3.5m Male to Female adaptor, with the male bit being L shaped. This would reduce the mechanical load in the cable. So yeah, I wanted a dongle even before a dongle is necessary! Sometimes I have been known to apply some Sugru or SikaFlex to the cables of new earphones if their cable gland doesn't look up to the job. Some Sennheisers had replaceable cables, but the replacements weren't cheap, and the current models seem to have abandoned this.

In time, this fuss will die down. Adaptors for older headphones will be dirt cheap (and in the process protect the cables of the headphones from mechanical strain). The advantages of having the DAC chosen and tuned for specific headphones will improve sound quality (or make the same sound quality cheaper to achieve), and noise cancelling headphones will be cheaper and easier to use (because they won't contain a battery that needs charging).

Dave 126

>If that's true, then why are more and more Android phones also dropping the headphone jack?

Because you have a huge choice of Android phones available to you. Those people who have already found wireless headphones to their liking (joggers and gym bunnies?) won't mind a phone without a 3.5mm port.

In any case, I haven't heard of any of the big names dropping the 3.5mm socket wholesale.

Dave 126

Re: I got my first ever iPhone in 2016

>It was the iPhone SE, I begrudgingly have to say I like it a lot

Indeed, my mate is still on the iPhone 4S, after replacing its battery himself. It's just a really well designed little thing, slips in his pocket easily, looks sturdy.

I had the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact, which was a cracking little phone, but the official Sony case was rubbish as it left one edge exposed. Sod's law dictated that it was this unprotected edge that fell against a sharp ridge and shattered the screen. Had the Xperia had an aluminium bezel like the iPhone 4 instead of it's ABS bezel, the drop would have left its screen unscathed.

Dave 126

Re: (users needed to use a phone one-handed, Apple argued)

It amused me to observe that 4" iPhones are roughly the size of playing cards - objects that evolved over decades to be helf easily in one hand, and sonvey a small amount of information very clearly.

In contrast, 5-6" phones are roughly the size of postcards, objects that have for decades been used to display nice pictures.

Dave 126

Re: Apple shouldn't have continued with the Lightning connector

>Personally I don't think Apple will ever adopt USB-C on the iPhone. In a few years when inexpensive but reliable wireless earphones can be made, they'll add wireless charging and drop Lightning.

I can't see that happening until all airlines allow Bluetooth (or similar) to be used in flight. I have no idea as to how feasible that is.

Also, wireless charging is inefficient - no biggie if you're at home, but it is unsuitable for external battery packs and cases.

Personally, I don't think the 3.5mm headphone socket is perfect - because I have an active job, the cable can catch on things so I'd rather a MagSafe-style connector.

As for Apple abandoning the 3.5mm socket, it really depends upon how quickly you get through headphones, earbuds and phones. For me, I lose and break earbuds regularly, my quality headphones usually outlive my phones, and some of my phones have had better quality sound output than others. If my current Sennheissers had a DAC built in, it wouldn't matter which phone, tablet or laptop I used them with.

Dave 126

@DougS

Hehe, we've just posted much the same comment! However, I did note that James wasn't singling Apple out here!

There are things I would like from a phone that aren't currently provided - but hey, I'm a fussy bugger and a product designer! Hell, I'm the sort of weirdo who might get some genuine use out of a Project Tango (real-time 3D environment mapping) phone. The point about being a product designer is that you have to consider how people who are not like yourself will use something. The fun thing about product design is that it sits across disciplines, such as the science of materials (which can be tested, stretched, squashed, simulated) and people (who are surprising, and strangely resistant to being stretched and squashed)

Dave 126

>It is isn't happening now it is going to happen sooner or later. Here's hoping the phone and IT industry in general can focus on genuine innovation now rather than 'ohh it's 0.1mm thinner than last year with even roundier corners!'.

Yet nobody who has commented about the industry's lack of innovation in the last few years has said what their idea of an innovative smartphone would look like. I suspect that this is because current smartphones already do what people want them to do.

For nearly a decade, most of my mates had 'candybar' mobile phones, primarily for texts and calls, and even the later models with colour screens didn't really add much functionality. The style of phone everybody uses these days - oblong slabs composed mostly of a touchscreen roughly 5" in the diagonal - could not have arrived earlier, no matter how 'innovative' LG or Apple had been - because chips weren't quite efficient enough. As it was, the first iPhone was pushing at the limits of what people would bear in terms of price and battery life.

In the future, we might expect silicon to be yet more power efficient, and batteries to store more energy- that's when you can expect more obvious innovation. There is plenty of time and money being spent on achieving just that. Or when LG make OLED screens that can be rolled up. But hey, obvious innovation is overrated. There is a lot to be said for refinement. For around a century, bicycles have been three triangles made of welded metal tubes attached to a couple of pneumatic tyres. The design is a good un!

I'm deadly serious about megatunnels, vows Elon Musk

Dave 126

Re: All related to Mars

Hydroponic technologies are advancing quite nicely - Japan already boasts indoor multistorey lettuce farms. Not only can they grow more lettuces per square foot, but the plants are raised so that (the ageing workforce of Japan) don't have to stoop down to harvest them. Labour on Mars will be expensive, and your humans puny - so make food production as easy for them as possible.

Then there is the legalisation of marijuana in several US states, which means that the development of some hydroponic kit is more in the open, developing LED lighting sources that emit different frequencies at different times (some wavelengths work for photosynthesis*, other wavelengths influence the plant's budding cycles).

* There are different types photosynthesis pathways found in nature, some pathways being more efficient, some more tolerant of temperatures, some require a leaf to have particular structures. This is why we currently have botanists and geneticists working in this area to improve crop yields, and develop crops for the climatic conditions that might be expected in a few years time.

Dave 126

Re: Anyone buying the LA earthquake argument?

I seem to recall watching a documentary about a Silicon Valley tech billionaire deliberately causing an earthquake... Wait! Sorry, it was a James Bond film, A View to a Kill. Hmmm, best forgotten.

WTF? Francis Ford Coppola crowdsources Apocalypse Now game

Dave 126

Re: Tom Clancy Games @ Dave 126

Del Toro was working with Kojima on game that Konami cancelled, which is why he tweeted "Fuck Konami" as a Christmas message. Seems Kojima might have some sympathy for Coppola's attitude towards big film studios.

There is spoof photo of a Powerpoint slide doing the rounds on the internet, purported to have been revealed by the infamous Sony leak:

KONAMI - INTERNAL USE ONLY

2015 STRATEGY AND PLANNING

- Fuck Hideo Kojima

- Fuck Metal Gear

- Fuck Silent Hill

- Fuck It

- Fuck You

Dave 126

Re: Tom Clancy Games

On the subject of Metal Gear and its creator:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/38737220/hideo-kojima-says-games-and-films-will-merge-together

His latest game will feature the director Guillermo del Toro.

Bloke launches twinkly range of BBC Micro:bit accessory boards

Dave 126

Haha, nice work there Mattel! But now, seriously, where the hell's my hoverboard?

Modular dud drags LG to first loss in six years

Dave 126

Re: Modular was always a silly idea

>If people can buy your brand and NOT buy your brand next, you lose long-term because there's no brand loyalty, and brand loyalty is what they want and, frankly, what they NEED to compete with Apple.

Add-ons that are proprietary to your brand (and thus give the consumer no reason to believe the system will be supported in future) are not that great an inducement to buy your brand. The only way that add-ons can be an inducement is if the consumer knows they can be used across handsets in the future.

It only works for Apple because users are already invested in iOS (through apps, and familiarity with iOS, etc) and the selection of 3rd party iPhone peripherals is of a critical size (and the user sees no downside in an add-on only working with iPhones). Apple's market share doesn't fluctuate wildly year-on-year, so developers and users know where they are.

Let's take apps as an analogy. Android phone vendors benefit from their being a large selection of apps that attract or tie the user to Android, but not to HTC, Sony or LG specifically. Whilst some people do exhibit brand loyalty, many Android users simply pick the best phone from any vendor for their needs every couple of years - and much can change in two years.

It is better to have a small chance a will buy your brand than no chance at all.

Dave 126

Re: Modular was always a silly idea

>Practical reason #1: Dimensions differ too much.

That's not an insurmountable problem, engineering wise. The add-on doesn't have to be the exact same size as the host phone. The Moto system uses magnets to connect, and doesn't require the add-on to clamp onto the side of the phone, so size isn't critical.

>"Political" reason #1: Because the brands are competing with each other, they feel they need to be the next Apple and be in control of the walled garden.

Agreed, it ain't easy to get them to cooperate. In countries where Apple has a large market share though, the Android vendors have scope for growing their shared pie. A vibrant ecosystem of pop-on batteries, ports, cameras, keyboards, speakers etc would give the customer another reason not to buy Apple. So even if the consumer has gone with your rival Samsung this time, they might consider your phone next time because it will work with their modules. Seriously, the fact that you walk into any supermarket or electronics store and see a range of 'Made for iPhone' headphones can't have hurt Apple. As an Android user, I found it frustrating that cable-mounted buttons never worked as they should, and that there has never been an agreed way of doing Android headsets. It was just a poorer user experience.

Dave 126

Re: @Dave 126

>No, what puts people off it is that it is a stupid fucking idea.

Well, it works quite well for cameras! But seriously, do you mean the idea of modular designs are stupid, or the implementations that you have seen?

The Moto Mod system uses magnets to attach add-ons, so attached mod wouldn't have to be the exact same size as the phone. That said, most phones I see are roughly the same size these days.

I've seen a lot of comments of The Reg over the years about wanting physical phone keyboards - a magnetic connector would be a good way of delivering such a thing. Physical keyboards can fail, so having it replaceable would be a good idea. Also, having it 'pop-off' if dropped will save the phone and keyboard some stress. And hey, maybe you have the keyboard attached when your work expects you to return emails, but you leave the keyboard off when you're wearing jeans. Further more, you could have a QWERTY, or a Blackberry style keyboard, or heck, even a chorded keyboard.

It would appear that people (not necessarily Reg readers!) at large do like docks (I've seen shitloads for iPhones and iPods over the years, though fewer now that people use Chromecast or Sonos) and a common connector would allow for docking when at a desk, as well as speakers, extended batteries when on the move.

There have also been inelegant ways of attaching game controllers to mobile phones... a magnetic data/power connector would help that. Again, there is no one single reason, no 'killer' app, for an standard connector, just lots of useful ones to suit individual people in different ways.

Google's Project Ara never struck me as a sensible consumer product. LG's G5 always struck me as a little inelegant and unnecessary.

Dave 126

Re: Modular was always a silly idea

>I don't think maybe modular is a to bad idea, although I do struggle to think what it could be used for, it looks like motorola have a projector add on for theirs.

Moto have a projector, a battery pack, a loudspeaker add-on and a camera with zoom lens. If other phone and add-on makers could use the same system, the appeal of each module to limited number of people would be less of an issue.

Personally, I'd like to attach a speaker to the back of my phone for when I'm pottering around the house listening to a podcast. However, many people wouldn't bother. Some people would have a genuine use for a thermal-imaging camera, or a high quality microphone set-up.

Dave 126

Re: Modular was always a silly idea

It seems to me that what puts people off buying a modular system is their lack of faith that the system will be supported in the future, and the limited number of modules available.

Both doubts could be answered by Android phone vendors getting together and agreeing on a standard connector that serves power, data and means of securing the module to the phone / tablet (some hope though - they never worked to the same spec for headsets with wired buttons, FFS). LG had a DAC module and a camera module... the market for either was limited, even more so if owning a particular model of phone was a prerequisite. The market is far bigger if a module fits most Android phones.

Phones today are already modular to a degree - you can connect an external DAC / amp to the phone's USB socket. Sony had a line of screen-less cameras that worked with phones, as well as a stereo condenser microphone that only worked with some Sony models. What these add-ons are not is elegant. For some add-ons (a battery case, a bigger speaker, a specialist camera) it would be better for them to add only to the phone's thickness and not add to its length or width - which any module using a USB connector would do. I like the look (I haven't tried it in person) of Moto's phone module connector on the rear of their handsets.

Nokia of course implemented a mechanical fixing system years ago - on both sides of their phones were two triangular indentations. These were used for car docks, and also for 3rd party joysticks for getting better Snake high scores. The 6210 had exposed rails for data and power at the base of the handset, and they continued inside the battery compartment so that a new battery module could also add Bluetooth.

AI eggheads: Our cancer-spotting code rivals dermatologists

Dave 126

Re: If the algorithm can be easily used on mobile phones,

>Last time I checked tensor flow used python. So unless you are running a BlackBerry (they did have a python runtime), the answer is no.

Um...?

TensorFlow was designed with mobile and embedded platforms in mind. We have sample code and build support you can try now for these platforms: Android, iOS, Raspberry Pi

- https://www.tensorflow.org/mobile/

Dave 126

Re: Nude selfies

I came here to seriously propose folk take nude selfies periodically. If doctor (or machine) can see that you have a mole that is bigger than it was last year / month, they can investigate further.

HP Inc recalls 101,000 laptop batteries before they halt and catch fire

Dave 126

Re: At least they can swap the battery

>devices get thinner (for no reason)

We would expect to see more Li-ion battery fires because there are more devices with li-ion batteries. We have seen fires and mass recalls in the past due to manufacturing costs being squeezed. We have also seen fires because the ODMs didn't know how to charge them properly.

The thinness of a device is only tangential to this issue - squeezing a battery into too small a space is not good for it, whether it is 4mm thick or 20mm. For what it is worth, if I had a flaming battery in a device of mine, I would rather it be a small flaming battery.

Devices get thinner because we carry them around or have to hold them. Ergonomic considerations, though having to be balanced with other considerations, are not "no reason".

>The next time this happens to something with an irreplaceable battery, will the company survive?

You've evidently not seen Samsung's recent financial reports this last week, have you? They're doing just fine.

I've got a brand new combine harvester and I'll give you the API key

Dave 126

Re: Swarm tractors

>In wet years it might take a couple weeks from start to finish to plant a typical (half square mile) sized field around here,

So then your crops on one side of the field would be ready for harvest a week or two before crops on the other side. Hmmm...

Still, your drone wouldn't have to return to the seed hopper to reload... seed could be shot through the air and intercepted by the drone!

Still not convinced, but some fun ideas. I don't doubt that farmers will be innovative when it comes to using drones.

Dave 126

Re: IoT or not-

Such as?

I've just re-read the article, and the man from John Deere only used buzzwords in order to provide examples of buzzwords.

Dave 126

>Not sure IoT is a good analogy for tractors, given that most farms I know have no Internet connectivity due to the fact that they are by definition rural places.

You'd think so, wouldn't you? However, the term 'Internet' in 'Internet of Things' doesn't necessarily refer to The Internet per se. 'IoT' been a deliberately broad term since it was coined in the 1980s because it was it referring to broad concepts.

Annoyingly precocious teen who ruined Trek is now an asteroid

Dave 126

What the hell?

A British IT new site runs a story about Wheaton but makes no mention of his involvement with NewTek and their Amiga Video Toaster 4000? For shame, you should treat the man with the respect due the bona fide geek that he is. As a lad, he typed in BASIC games from magazines into his Atari 400.

The Video Toaster was used for Babylon 5 and the Abyss, and part of it, LightWave 3D was spun out and has been used in films ever since.

The rise, fall, and rise (again) of Microsoft's killer People feature

Dave 126

Re: Talking to people at the computer

>What does that have to do with a UI that looks like it was designed for 12year olds to make it easier for them to chat with their BFFs?

Collating communications by contact as opposed to application. If you look at my post, you'll see that whilst I acknowledged that some people work alone, I also observed that some many people's job involve a lot of communicating with other people. It really isn't hard to see that in some circumstances a chronological list of past messages - regardless of whether they done by phone, email, text or document update - would be useful.

The OP, on the other hand, said that because it didn't suit that way he worked then the feature should be removed - he expressed his problem as being the with the concept itself, not the appearance of the implementation.

Hope that's clearer for you, AC.

Dave 126
Terminator

Re: People Killer

Seems you forgot to add an icon to your post, Monty!

Dave 126

Re: Talking to people at the computer

>That is a fair point, but unfortunately Windows now seems to be aimed at those who are more used to a tablet or phone UI and who's main use for a computer of any sort is for "Social Media".

In many disciplines, from engineering to admin there is a need for collaboration with others, by phone, email, shared storage, text, document control, whatever. It isn't just 'Social Media' as you put it. Really, there are a great many jobs cannot be done by just one person. Even jobs that are largely done solo require an initial brief and meeting with a client, regular updates, submission of the work, billing and perhaps some after sales communication.

Dave 126

Re: Talking to people at the computer

>If there's one thing I'm not interested while on the computer, it's talking to other people. Keep this crap out of the OS and keep it in Skype or whatever so that it will turn off when I tell it to

Many people do have a workflow that involves communicating with others (especially those people who use Windows and Office etc), from the brief through to final invoice, so having information and documents summoned by a contact is not an unreasonable idea. If your way of working is more solitary, that's fine - but I believe the article addressed why such integration won't work as a standalone application.

Google loses Android friends with Pixel exclusivity

Dave 126

Re: what does android updates have to do with ads

>People get the ads in the apps regardless of what version of android they have.

Not exactly. Later versions of Android are more permeated with ads, and ads delivered in different ways, and each new feature or service is a chance to collect more user data (used to generate or match ads). For examples; search for local places in the dialler, Google Now.

Linux is part of the IoT security problem, dev tells Linux conference

Dave 126

Re: Rolling your own vs. getting Linux

>That will only change when someone comes up with another IoT OS that's easier to develop for than Linux... and makes it free, of course.

It seems to be a wasted opportunity for Blackberry.... not only do they own QNX (which has a footprint a tenth the size of Linux, and is an RTOS of long standing in industrial control systems) but also Blackberry themselves have a good reputation for security amongst the public. Oh well.

Dave 126

Re: Be worried? What, me worry?

>more to do with the market creating consumer demand for relatively useless products.

I think they have failed at creating a market demand because: I'm seeing any demand for the current generation of of IoT gear. And I don't think think that we see demand for it until it is not shit.

It's like smartphones - most people stuck to their old Nokias until Android and Apple were good enough... it took a few years before the advantages of a capacitive touchscreen phone made up for its disadvantages (price, battery etc) for the average user.

The first generation of MP3 players weren't a good choice compared to MiniDisc. Energy-saving lightbulbs were shit (CFL) and now they are good (LED). The internet and later WWW was around for a long time before Joe Average bothered with it. Digital cameras... well, you know it.

(PS, that's a curious definition of the Invisible Hand you have there! Have a read up on Complex Adaptive Systems - the concept is that the 'invisible hand' is an emergent phenomenon, not a deliberate one. It is true that companies set up t produce gear that we are no longer buying will try to sell us new stuff we don't need, but that isn't what the invisible hand refers to! :))

Dave 126

Re: Not dumb enough

>(1) Many IoS devices, and ideas for devices, really are just solutions looking for problems. Nobody needs an IoS kettle or lightbulb, not really.

Many people don't, but in countries with ageing populations there will be some scope for home automation. If people can't make something as simple as a lightbulb secure, then we should be very worried about more complex systems in banking, food production, power generation, remote health monitoring etc.

I agree though that many products on the market are shite, and are being sold for their own sake. However, it is a very immature market, and the average Joe hasn't rushed out to fill their house with IoT stuff. The billionaire Joe has had home automation products available for years, though usually wired into the walls.

What is encouraging is that an awareness of how insecure today's IoT offerings are has reached the mass media (Radio 4, at least), so perhaps there is scope for security to be improved through market forces?

'Exploding e-cig cost me 7 teeth, burned my face – and broke my sink!'

Dave 126

Re: Sounds like me to be a good reason....@Herby

"I tried to see things from his point of view,

But I couldn't fit my head up his arsehole too"

- The GLC

Dave 126

Re: Damaged his sink?

Commenters on other websites suggest that the eCig he was using didn't have any controlling circuitry between the battery and the heating coil, leading to this situation. i.e he wasn't using the LG battery within specification.

Boffins link ALIEN STRUCTURE ON VENUS to Solar System's biggest ever grav wave

Dave 126

Re: Click baity headline is click bait

The majority of Reg readers, and other star gazers (armchair or otherwise) know that 'Alien Megastructure' is shorthand for 'Hmm, we've observed something weird that we can't yet explain'. The use of the phrase isn't to deceive, but to make you feel a part of the gang you in the joke.

Were a flying saucer the size of Australia suddenly appear in Earth orbit, I'd likely hear about it on the radio ("We interrupt this broadcast with a special bulletin..." ) and would then drive straight to the pub. There I can find beer, lots of beer, some physicists and, should the UFO prove to unfriendly, a willing member of barstaff to spend my last five minutes with.

Chelsea Manning sentence slashed by Prez Obama: She'll be sprung in the spring

Dave 126

Re: Assange v Chris Grayling

I once opened my car door on a slow-moving cyclist. Once. I felt awful. Physically he was uninjured but a little shaken up. His fall was broken by some horse dung. I gave him my details and he rode off. My face must have been showing some shock, because some builders on a nearby house roof shouted down to me "We saw what happened. Are you alright mate? It was an accident"

The next day I saw the cyclist again on the same street carrying a suit bag, and he assured me he was fine. He even declined my plea to pay for his dry cleaning.

UK's lords want more details on adult website check plans

Dave 126

Re: Are you 18

The character 'Al Murry - Pub Landlord' had similar thoughts upon asking a youthful-looking prospective customer his date of birth... "No! The entire foundation of the British licesnsed trade rocked to its core!" ( I paraphrase cos it's been a long time since i've watched it. Still, his manifesto in the last general election, running against Farage, was glorious.)

Father of Android II: A Hardware Comeback

Dave 126

Re: "Expandable" smartphones have already flopped multiple times

Implementation Vs Concept.

Project Ara was a test of concept - it was trti g to do too much. LG's system was too proprietary and there was little confidence the system would carry onto new phones, so people were reluctant to invest in the modules. One of modules was a fancy ESS DAC / amp combo - functionality that can be added to any phone with the right type of USB, or indeed Apple's Lightning connector.

It isnt a connector that makes iPhone add-ons a thing, it's the limited number of shapes, making life easier for battery cases etc.

Dave 126

Hmmm, maybe that's what he did with it. Oh well. He'd been loyal to Nokia for while - he even had a Symbian Nokia 7650 - the first Nokia with a camera - which he left in the pub, leaving naughty pictures of his girlfriend to be found by some of the regulars. This was around 2002, thankfully before the days of Facebook and easy photo uploading.

Dave 126

Re: connector

>But if the SD cards starts breaking, I can at least replace it. If the internal memory of a device breaks, the device is essentially bricked.

No reason that the camera couldn't have the successor to SD inside it (XQD cards are based on the PCIe bus). It's just that swapping a card between devices is inconvenient and creates the possibility that the user will drop or lose it, or get fluff and dust in the wrong places. Whilst your experience is that solid-state memory is the first thing to go wrong, my experience is that physical card connectors also are prone to mechanical failure or intermittent issues caused by dusty or dirty contacts.

I didn't fully explain my line of reasoning though: with PCIe speeds, the camera and laptop (or phone) would only have to be in contact for a few seconds - almost a kiss-to-transfer operation. Or a camera can dump photos to a tethered phone as it takes them (so that the photos are stored on an encrypted volume).

More widely, an industry standard power/data/mechanical dock/module system would open the door to some genuinely useful and convenient gadgets.

Dave 126

And Symbian, by the time it started to be adopted on consumer handsets, was looking antiquated. It was based around hardware limitations (small RAM, no GPU) that were becoming no longer relevant. Nor was it free of bugs - my mate's N60 got the pint where it would take minute to open an SMS text message.

Dave 126

Re: connector

The Moto system looks good, and securely attaches modules to the phone... It would be nice if they opened it up to other parties. I just can't see it achieving a critical mass of adoption if it remains proprietary.

At present, there is a speaker, battery, projector and zoom camera available. The system looks mechanically suitable for a physical keyboard too - so if it were open, those of you clamouring for a qwerty could put your money where your mouth is and Kickstart one.

I would also like to see the system extended to digital cameras and laptops - just place camera on laptop and have all photos transferred in seconds (SD cards are limited by the bus, are fiddly, easy to lose and insecure because no camera encrypts them).

Physical connectors negate to need to charge yet another device.

Google floats prototype Key Transparency to tackle secure swap woes

Dave 126

Re: Explanation?

Google says it is a work-in-progress (and they want input and feedback from the community). However, Google say it is inspired by CONIKS, and provide a link to this PDF which contains diagrams, graphs and maths:

https://eprint.iacr.org/2014/1004.pdf

Uber, Apple, Amazon and Sully Sullenberger walk into a bar – er, self-driving car committee

Dave 126

Re: No crash

There is a difference between landing and crashing, just as there is between on to and in to (the ground, a river etc)