Posts by SuccessCase

Re: What a good idea

Nice try, but the patent was of course filed 26/9/2011 whereas Samsungs video was this year. Not that anyone will care, it's a crap idea. Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

Re: @SuccessCase

@Trevor_Pott

I can make a case for their being a motorbike industry conspiracy against motorised clown bikes. After all, stand back from them. They are really very useful. 1/5th the size of a full size motorbike. You can carry them on trains so are great for commuters. They actually go really fast and can genuinely get you from A to B effectively. They can be made much more cheaply than full sized motorbikes. I think the only reason there aren't more clowns bikes being sold is because there is a conspiracy, lead by Yamaha, to bury the clowns bike manufacturers. It's a conspiracy I tell you.

@csumpi. Oh dear, you're busting yourself as a blind Apple hater with a comment like that. Clearly you have never owned one. Apple uses a special proprietary anodisation process that makes their MacBooks and iMacs unbelievably tough and scratch resistent. The result, confirmed by independent reports, is a surface as scratch resistant as a tough gem stone. Another benefit is the surface hides the dirt really well so even with a great buildup of dirt the stay looking relatively clean. Owners will tell you one of the things they like about Apple kit is that it is so hard wearing. The same can't be said of the black iPhone 5 though. Due to the "sharp" chamfered edge it chips through to the silver aluminium far too easily, making the white model far better for durability.

Re: missed point 4: shoddy Apple software.

"The principle if parsimony" is a well known technique in logical analysis.

The reason 3G data could be taken out by exchange connections is simply that at the wireless layer, bandwidth simply isn't that great. It's easy for multiple users in a single cell to take out the data if the all request it simultaneously. Unfortunately packets then have have nothing to do with it. Go down low enough and all non-fibre networks have an analogue layer with fixed bandwidth. Wireless or over the air connections have much less than than ethernet cable, it's simple, unfortunately unavoidable, physics. Since many users connect to Exchange, and there will be cells with large businesses in range where many users working for the business would be affected *simultaneously*, then it is actually quite easy for a cells data channel to be taken out.

A bug causing retries to Exchange server on a mass scale will exharcerbate any bandwidth limitation once the limit is hit, with all the unsatisfied requests piling up on one another. Indeed a kind of unintentional DOS attack.

Anyway, I don't mind admitting this *is all hypothesis.* I could easily be wrong.

"so a bit like something sony came up with a few years ago to go with the xperia line of phones?"

Yes and Microsoft produced tablets before the iPad. Didn't take off though did they. The Sony watch hasn't either. I guess when the Apple watch takes off it will only be because the users are brainwashed, like everyone was brainwashed into preferring the iPad over MIcrosoft's offerings.

" but it's naive at best to suggest that it prompted its existence."

So are you suggesting Microsoft would have designed the Surface without the iPad. That they would have implemented a tablet on an Arm chip, that they would have bifurcated the navigation paradigm of Windows as they did, that the iPad didn't push them into entering the hardware business, attempting their own marriage of hardware and software, or panic them into radically overhauling their business model. I guess would have attempted their own retail strategy too, with no cash tills Zen like layout and their staff would have been wearing blue polo tops. And iPad inspired iOS didn't push them into making phones without a keyboard (and Ballmer laughing at the keyboard-less iPhone was just a ghost). Sure they would have rushed out an OS where the fundamental design and navigation paradigm is so much at odds with their cash-cow office suite. They would have done that anyway. The magnetic snap on cover, that was just waiting in the wings too.

Of course defining the motives of men is always a matter of perspective, and there are no facts here. But really, your perspective is so radically different to mine, I find it simply staggering.

Re: A good stiff letter

"You cant even get rid of your landline, since the state supported monopoly that is BT insists you pay for one to receive the internet."

Well that's not completely fair. Firstly you can get rid of your landline if you are in a cable area (and most are), though clearly you only have the option of cable Internet if you do. You can order pure Cable Internet and no telephone. Secondly you need a landline to receive ADSL Internet, and the reason you need two companies for that (the ISP and line rental company) is because you need someone to be responsible for installation between the street cabinet and your home. That installation has a subsidised price, The regulator could change the framework to ensure this service can be supplied by one entity, but that then would mean the regulator has to decide what is a reasonable cost for the ISP buying up a customer to compensate for the loss of a customer that was paying the subsidised installation cost (which means prices for that part get set by govt policy - not all think that's a good idea). Also ISP prices will then be higher to cover this cost - and since a landline is needed for Internet - you may as well have one of those too, whether you use it or not. All this can be changed by regulation but the alternatives are not necessarily better. If you allow the ISP's to do installation from the cabinet to the home, then you have multiple installers from different companies accessing the same cabinets. A recipe for disaster. It just wouldn't work. Traditionally BT owned the local loop network. They are now split in two companies, one which deals with whole-sale supply to the ISP's including the local loop and another which sells the advanced services running over it. The wholesale company is in some ways similar to Railtrack but since every customer has a "station" in their home, they also get some of their compensation for the cost of it all from the end user (not from the wholesale company but via their "advanced services company). The regulators deliberate strategy is to allow competitors at multiple levels in the network to compete from the centre outwards. This has had to be highly regulated and has taken years because it has major implications for street works on roads, pavements, sharing of ducts etc. All very complex. The bigger competitors have been building competing networks, pushing further and further out towards the customer. O2 for example now have their own fibre network to the street cabinet, now. Soon they may well be in a position to ignore BT's "Railtrack" wholesale business and provide the local loop part directly (if they aren't already doing that in some areas).

I'm not saying there aren't bad aspects to the system. Just pointing out it isn't quite so black and white. I worked a while back in cable, which often suffered at the hands of the regulator but still recognise they put a lot of thought into the system and there are no perfect policies that don't involve trade-offs when regulating competition between networks.

Re: The problem is...

"far, far more money than Google" I implying but should of course have said "far, far more money from mobile than Google" .

Re: a simple explanation

I asked my child to read that comment when she wouldn't tidy her room and I insisted she should. I told her, "you might think I'm being mean and controlling, however I could be really mean and controlling like this parent."

She still replied I was equally as mean and controlling though...

Re: Not going to be much use really

Are you sure about that?

This is where screen tech is being divorced from the computing and network comms. components. Now one of the most often encountered small annoyances is having to grab your phone from your pocket whilst on the move (with the risk of dropping it or getting it knocked out your hand when in busy locals), just to check who has sent that message and what it says. It will provide a very practical, "here and now" step towards the kind of instant access, always available information Google glasses will be offering. It will probably be possible to set it to buzz when a new message comes in or when some information relevant to the current locale is displayed. It will be an adjunct to your phone or (interestingly) to an iPad mini.

Google glasses are in concept very exciting, but in practical reality the technology isn't ready yet. They are still too unwieldy to be worn by the average Joe and people aren't likely to be buying them in the next 1 - 2 years. On the other hand, a watch, though far less "tech of the future" is a very practical way to ensure a subset of the similar kinds of information can be easily accessed when on the move and can be made relatively cheaply. Additionally, it may be possible to go for an iPad mini + watch + bluetooth headset combination. This could also be a "secret weapon" against the carriers - a way to telephony enable a 3G iPad mini (a "secret weapon" because iPads are currently being purchased outside of a telecoms plan and if they start being used for telephony they user will opt for sim free plans - from which the carriers earn far less per user and which represent far better value for the user). The carriers won't like it because it will mean the bundling of phone purchase and monthly payment plan, which the carriers are currently using to line their pockets, will be eroded.

Re: @Sean Timarco Baggaley

Trevor. Just one question. Did you train at the Alan Partridge school of Satire ?

Re: Mach+BSD+Cocoa Frameworks

"And yes - if you install an application on OS X while you have admin privs and type your admin credentials when the installer asks you to - it can pop code wherever it likes on your box."

No it won't. You obviously don't have OSX and you are extrapolating from OS's you do know. You will have to first go to settings find the relevant setting and change it. You will then be challenged with a warning. Even as an admin you have to take positive action to find the setting to change. The important point here is you won't find you can install the software simply by answering in the affirmative to a string of dialogue boxes when you try to run the installation file.

He, he. At least the author did some work in producing a top ten list. If it was Ms Leach the article would have been titled "The Top One Tech Cock-Up of 2012"

Re: What are you smoking.

Yes, I'll take Asymco's expert insight and analysis over Ms Leaches amateur slag-Apple-fest any day of the week.

Re: El Reg just doesn't get it.

Thank you for writing that post with such a carefully thought out erudite argument.

Still at least its likely the down-vote I received represents no value whatsoever.

Re: RE: code in C++

"For the sake of completion - it's worth pointing out that Objective-C is garbage collected and there isn't a direct C++ API for the GUI in iOS either (although ObjectiveC and C or C++ are toll-free bridged, and plenty of the APIs are in fact C)."

Objective-C isn't garbage collected on iOS and is only optionally garbage collected when compiling for the Mac. On iOS you have to allocate your own mem for objects and deallocation is achieved through reference counting. More recent releases of iOS support ARC. (Automatic Reference Counting) which gives the best of both worlds, the powerful control over memory that is useful for an embedded system device, whilst being very close to the ease of use garbage collection provides (though I do feel sorry for new programmers who will never learn manual memory management. Life will be a bitch when they come accross the rare instances where it is still useful to understand the manual methods of memory management but they don't have experience in it). Not sure why there would be any need for a C++ API, when Objective-C is a pure superset of C and a sibling of C++ (so in general no slower, though in Objective-C object method calls are acheived using messaging which *is* a little slower. However that's where being a superset of C is useful, because you can just use C functions instead for any performance critical tight loops).

Re: @Andy 73

Sorry started out addressing Andy 73, but ended up addressing the general anger at the IP system as it is. For the record, I didn't intend to sound like I was calling for balance in your comment Andy, which I think is quite balanced.

Re: Congratulations!

I completely agree. I can't believe this has been published on The Register. The Register has a quality range problem, with absolute sh*te being mixed in with the (very occasional) brilliant gem like this. Andrew - I've been critical in the past, but it seems to me your writing is improving all the time and this piece is one of the best pieces of journalism I've read all year - I suggest you should be writing for another publication where your voice will be taken more seriously. !!

Re: This is so funny

It's very simple. Google started charging volume users for access to their mapping data. Indeed they started of at a level that lead to fullscale revolt by most if their users and have since massively revised the prices downwards. The Google -> Apple supply deal contract was up for renewal. Clearly Apple didn't feel they needed to help Google's bottom line. This much is clear and known (or at least for the last point, obvious). What is not known is if there was negotiation what happened during the proceedings. Were Apple minded to stay using Google if they would supply the data at no charge? Did Google want a fee? Did Google offer to keep supplying the data for free but without turn-by-turn. Were Google refusing to allow Apple access to the vector data API's implemented on Android phones (and more efficient) ? Nobody knows other than Google and Apple. Personally - and this is pure conjecture - I suspect the process was pretty close to this:

Apple: "We want a guarantee of supply of turn-by-turn and access to the vector data API, or we will take our user base and create a competitive product"

Google: "You want everything for free and with no ads. Why should you get that for free ?"

Apple: "Because you want the ancillary links to your service from emails, messages etc. you continue to be the centre point for mapping, and can show ads i all other contexts that us relevant. You can't afford to lose our user base and don't want us as a competitor"

Google: "Yes we do want to retain your user base because of course we want our service used by all, but not that much and we have Android so aren't so concerned to retain your user base as we once were. It's only fair we make money off of this."

Apple: "So...<silence>"

Google: "So...<silence>"

... the rest is what we do know.

Re: Of course they won't

Quite possibly. I don't know the case. But i think it quite likely IBM's strategy as it unfolded lead them to greater cost than was expected, with the finish line moving further away as they approached it. Your example is a good one and, to my thinking, also illustrates the counter real world dynamic. If IBM knew the cost of litigation would be higher than buying, don't you think they would have bought ? This is the way most big businesses operate. Thinking with emotion is viewed as bad form for top execs (which isn't to say it doesn't happen, but in my experience the culture in big businesses is always towards being a pro exec dispassionately evaluating the deal - they all want to be *seen* that way). But as I say I don't know the case and this could well be an (albeit rare) counter example to my point.

Re: It's called competition

Actually Mark the evidence is against your assertion. Volume of sales does not equate to a vote for which is better and I don't even need to provide examples of an assertion so obvious as that. Not that reason will make any difference to the response this gets :)

Two metrics that do provide a fair basis of comparison are satisfaction ratings and resale value. iPhones come our in front of any Android phones on both counts for sure - though for the first time for iPhone, since the Maps debacle, satisfaction ratings have fallen. However they still remain higher than for e.g. the S3 by some margin. This new Nexus may of course change that, but it is fair enough to point this out because your statement is referring to Android devices to date.

Additionally there seems to be evidence Android phones - outside of a tech clique (which are only a tiny proportion of sales beyond first day) - are not purchased by people who are really that into using smartphones. Data usage by iPhones is still proportionately much higher per user than is the case for Android (despite some initial reports in 2010 to the contrary) and pundits for some time have had difficulty understanding why that should be, but one interpretation is difficult to avoid; Android phones, perceived as the cheaper alternative by the general market, are purchased by a higher proportion of people who don't want to be left behind but who aren't particularly into smartphones or don't wish to allocate budget to purchasing an iPhone. Consequently they are used for core phone functions and maybe for camera and music, more than for web browsing and a wide range of apps (which is also backed up by the still far lower revenues and profit margins for apps developers on Android).

http://techcrunch.com/2012/04/21/real-time-research-ios-dominates-over-android-when-it-comes-to-usage-says-chitika/

http://www.androidauthority.com/iphone-owners-use-more-data-129207/

None of this changes how an individual might feel about an operating system, so it is is still perfectly consistent to say for those who are really "in the know" Android is better. However let's get some perspective as this forum is descending into a circle every bit as jerky as any formed by Apple fanboys.

Re: Microsoft have been clever

Apple's cover I meant to refer to - not touch cover obviously.

Re: You'll fit right in

Who says the Germans don't have a sense of humour. I was once flying with Lufthansa and a flyer sticking out the seat pocket had the headline "DIE FIRST CLASS." (no kidding).

I thought one of the jobs of marketing is to work out how words sound in other languages.

Re: except

Well there is a simple answer to this. Go to DP Review and check out their review of the iPhone 5 camera. DP Review is the most authoritative, anal, detailed, scientific and expert camera review site on the web bar none and has zero skin in the phone OS fanboy bunfight. Their conclusion, it's excellent and the second best camera phone, only bested by that Nokia one, the model name of which I forget, that has been developed specifically to be a camera-phone with a f**k off excellent camera (and a damned innovative and useful product for a specialist market it is). And they comment on the "purple" flare, giving their expert opinion that it's expected of a camera that by its nature has to have such a miniaturised lens assembly and a perfectly acceptable trade-off to get such a good camera on a phone. So really this is just the perfect example of Leach doing her usual Apple bashing. Really its best to stick with things that really are bad like maps, or it reflects badly on the quality of the site.

Re: This is for several reasons

Actually Android tablet's does have a USP, but IMHO the problem is the remaining use-cases that aren't addressed already by the iPad mean tend to result in something akin to Homer's car (look it up if you haven't seen the Simpson's episode where Homer designs a car for manufacture).

Now the thing is, if Homer's car were real, I would actually really really want one.

I just wouldn't want to admit to it.

Re: Seems solid, good luck to them-but:

Can we please have no more comments about anyone copying anyone about any company or being done too any company. Anyone still making these comments please be informed - IT'S BORING. There was once a time when the discussion had some interest. However every atom of juice has been wrung from the discussion, pissed out, drunk again, pissed out again, drunk again and pissed out again. The piss is now so stale you wouldn't consider it if 100 miles from the nearest water in the middle of the Sahara, with no supplies or transport.

So to the following remarks should also henceforth instantly label the utterer a terminal bore:

"I'm off to patent air"

Any remark with the word "rectangle" and "rounded corner" in it at the same time.

Any Remark about a Far Eastern company not being capable of original design.

This declaration is not motivated by any position for or against any company. It simply has to do with my desire to preserve sanity and continue to read tech comments. This may be an impossible task.

Of course it makes a nice headline, but companies file for patents all the time they have no intention of using. When you are a big company like Apple, you think if a new idea or solution, you ask yourself if patents are available, if they aren't you apply for the patent. I very much doubt Apple would implement anything from this unilaterally, it's simply not in their interest. This is a company obsessive about user focus, so The Register's suggestion they would use it for regional blackout of video camera use at sporting events is just The Register seeding mischief as they like to do. But if legislation comes along insisting on something technically similar (such as that wireless can be forcefully shut of before take-off on a plane), then Apple have the patent and are in a good position re licensing and leverage. So there is nothing sad about it.

Re: Google Translate says:

@Nick Davies, If it's such a good phone as compared to the iPhone, why doesn't it hold its value as well as the iPhone does? Cue all the downvotes, but there won't be anything close to a convincing answer to this question, (though I do predict some lame generalised insult all iPhone users). The from what i've seen of second hand prices, S3 is already to less than 73% of its original retail value, so faring even worse than the average smartphone depreciation rate shown here and no-where close to retaining value like the iPhone does:

http://priceonomics.com/phones/

Re: Invention != Innovation

Well said Kristian, You posted your comment while I was typing mine, so apologies for the duplication in theme.