Posts by turnip handler 104 publicly visible posts • joined 10 Nov 2010
Many people did say it was crazy, espically as the hardware was not better than similar phones at the time (XDA series for example) and there wasn't an app store at the time either.
Turns out those views were wrong, Apple sold loads. Which then enabled them to improve the hardware and app ecosystem.
"Behind the scenes it means that someone will be seriously targetting very young kids for marketing purposes."
You mean like all the advertising currently targeting children! See any children's TV channel, magazine or even youth activity sponsorship. Why is web advertsing more evil than the other forms of advertising??
Given that there are plenty of sites currently aimed at children under 13 out there, ranging from CBBC to Moshi Monsters. Is a Facebook really that much worse?
If you are looking at the total contract cost it can also be useful to look at when you can reduce the tariff. If you are only on a higher tariff to subsidise handset cost then you may be able to reduce the tariff after half the contract length.
On my current contract with O2 you can reduce the monthy tariff after half of the contract has elapsed and then by one tariff notch each month, so a 2yr £31 a month contract can be reduced to a £26 tariff after 1yr and further reduced if you don't need the relevent calls/txts. This reduces the amount you pay each month and also means that it reduces the cost of buying out the contract early if you want to upgrade a few months early.
"People -- lots of people -- are dying"
And our public funded broadcaster use an image from a computer game...who is the one not taking the issue seriously.
It is important to highlight these errors as it shows that these news programmes are rushed and corners are cut.
This is one thing that people have spotted, how many other mistakes are there in the news we see and hear - is the same quality control being applied to the images of the conflict? With 24hr news it always pays to be wary of news for the first hour or so as it takes a while before they (all news agencys) bother to check the source / facts.
One issue that would be concerning in terms of security is that someone who has a Apple machine doesn't see any difference between a virus and basic internet security. For example they hear that Macs don't get viruses and so click on any dodgy link they get emailed, open any attachment without thinking and click through on phishing links without worry as they believe they are protected.
The message that people should be wary of all the basic internet traps even with a Mac should be made, it is a shame that the only people who get this message pushed out are the security vendors as it lessens the message.
Judging by the vastly over complicated spreadsheets that no one in the finance department knows how to change, which are then printed out anyway, they would be better off with quill's.
At least then they might be busy for the whole month rather than just for the two week 'month end'.
"I've got mates still using four or five year old Apple phones. How many people are using four or five year old Samsung or Sony phones..."
Whilst I agree with your view on smart TVs, I doubt your mates have an old phone because it gets software updates...people generally have old phones because they don't want additional functionality - the latest iPhones include forward facing camera and retnia screen which are not provide for older models.
<rant> The thing that gets me about smart meters is that the energy companies try to sell it as a benefit to me. If I want to know what my energy use is I have a meter which I can look at when ever I like. Not that I can easily work out the cost or compare the cost as they like to have so many tariffs so as to make it very difficult.
The smart meter is for them to build a picture of my energy use to either charge me more (to at least cover the cost of the smart metering system and provide some shareholder value) or to better control their costs (reduce costs and deliver shareholder value).
</rant>
Is the iPad additional to your notebook/desktop?
A friend asked me if they should replace their windows notebook with an iPad and I felt that I couldn't recommend that as they would still need to have a 'proper' computer to store family photos, document processing etc. As well as the additional costs surrounding a iPad such as app costs and iAccessories.
So the cost might be £399 but that is still additional cost on top of a notebook / desktop.
It's difficult, for me anyway, to image what hardware enhancements they could make for an iPhone 5 - a bit faster, a bit bigger, NFC, 4G tech. I would have thought that they would continue the focus on services and linking to the Apple infrastructure - amazing services using Apple TV perhaps...
So may prediction is amazing new services via the phone rather than an iPhone 5 in June.
Want to connect your digital media to your tv then you can use a TV that is 'net-connected' unless you have a Mac in which case you'll have to stick to your propritary format and use Apple TV.
So the 'digital contect to TV' market is split between those that can use various offerings including consoles and inbuilt to TV where as Mac users can only use a 'net-connected set-top box' - Apple TV.
Completly pointless set of data.
iPad adverts show the ipad and apps being held, they don't really use the device being used...
Where iPhone adverts show the phone being used they still have to show a disclaimer to cover the fact that they shorten the sequence for effect.
The adverts are polished and asperational, not functional. Brand sells, not functionality.
A nice little demo that helped give me more of a feel for the WinPhone than just playing in the shop, due to the walk through for each tile.
I moved away from windows on my phone as they decided to cut all functionality but looking forward to next year as I think my next upgrade will be to WinPhone provided the right hardware is available which Nokia may be able to deliver on.
You seem to have a completly difference HTC desire to me ( and CNET ).
You can store a lot of apps on the SD card. You can even swap the 8gb sd card for a 16gb or a 32gb. I'm not sure how you opted to go for rooting the phone when you were not able to use the functionality of the phone as standard.
“Based on my experience of going around to Silicon Valley startups is that they pretty much all use our apps”
I'm guessing that his particular sample is not representative of the rest of the planet. A brand new company in Silicon Valley may well use Google, but are established companies migrating from desktop Office to Google??
I completely agree with your view on Windows Mobile - but I think they can compete in all markets.
The advantage that Microsoft is that they don't create the hardware so they should be able to work with the high, mid and low end hardware producers to complete in all markets, personal and enterprise. Given that Windows licensing is a numbers game they should not miss an opportunity. The danger is in chasing everything without a proper focus - building a solid platform to work accross tablets, desktop etc is a a great start that covers a couple of basis without dividing corporate focus.
The iPad is a window on to your media ecosystem and gives you instant access to those movies, music, games and web sites that you want to view all the time.
Any other tablet that doesn't have the full media ecosystem behind it is mearly a netbook without a keyboard, hence they will fail until they can provide the services to support.
I'm amazed by that some people sayign that a 2-digit perctage price rise is fine and the Apple should be doing that. Gas prices rise and people complain that the engergy companies are just trying to squeese more money out of us, but Apple increase prices by 16% and Apple users just accept that Apple deserve the price rise of there increased cost of ... oh no wait.
Maybe it is early days these comments but defending a large price rise that mainly makes you pay more and impacts you directly seems strange to me.
As @Big Bear says they can raise the price and you have no choice about getting an app from another source.
"There a few nerds who buy Android for technical reasons (generally dodgy looking emo types with long hair, dubious personal hygiene and those long leather overcoats like they wore on the matrix). But these people are in the minority."
Whilst I don't have long hair or an overcoat I did buy Android for technical reasons and I'm pretty sure there are a lot of non-dodgy looking types who did the same.
Bricks-and-mortar electronics stores are great places to go to try out and play with tech stuff. I'd never buy from one, unless I needed something straight away, but for comparing equipment in real life rather than relying on internet reviews as to whether kit is good it serves a purpose.
I'm glad Nokia have won this settlement - it certainly seemed deserved and finally Apple gave up trying to argue that they invented the mobile phone (or that the iPhone is no normal phone).
It is a shame that they took so long to pay up - I guess they wanted to wait until they had made a fat load of cash from it before handing any over to those that actually invented the technology.
Really, is that how burglars operate. They sit at home with their location databases analysising movement to assess when would be the most likely time some one is out the house.
Or do they walk down a street and either see an oppourtunity to enter a house or see something nice that they will come back the next day. A lot of burgalries even take place when people are in their homes asleep.
Turns out it is very easy to tell when you are in your house or not - you just look, or even knock at the door!
Turns out the No2AV campaign in the UK are also taking this tactic. Although they seem to be saying it before the vote has even taken place, "vote no to AV as you are too stupid to understand the AV system."
They have other arguements too, this is just one of the strange ones.
I'd advise getting a headset if you spend a large amount of time on your mobile.
I spend a fair amount of time on my phone during the day so have a headset, which has also made me think that I would actually benefit from a 7" or 10" tablet as a phone, since I don't need to hold it next to my ear most of the time and I would then have a great big screen for Angry Birds.
The only thing that was really useful and great for the average user was that the iPhone could sync with iTunes and so you no longer needed to carry your iPod and phone. No body cared about cut and paste, 'apps' , data plans etc.
Without the music player - iTunes dominance the iPhone would be able to pull as many casual users in as it does. The iPod is amazing, the music player that has fuelled the transistion of users to the Apple universe.
I know there are iTunes to Android solutions out there but I don't think they are for the casual user.
How do those people feel about the current £196.99 now currently on Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nintendo-Handheld-Console-Cosmos-Black/dp/B004ISLDV0
Under £200 is a little more tempting...but that may be due to them starting the price at £250 rather than think it is actually work £197.
Looks like HTC have actually tried to do something different with the HTC Flyer, the 'magic' pen and kid mode stand out as things I've not seen on any other tablet. I've enjoyed using the HTC sense and it really seems to want to challange the other phone/big phone makers. Hopefully the Flyer will be as good as it looks.
Link provided in case you're too busy to search:
http://www.htc.com/www/product/flyer/overview.html
"Maybe the numbers would be higher if the BBC's governing body, the BBC Trust, would let the Corporation release iOS and Android clients - or at least stop it preventing third-parties from doing so..."
The iPlayer mobile site works just fine on my Android phone, I'd rather the BBC work on supporting that rather than creating and maintaning 'clients' for every OS out there.
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