Internet drones?

Next: U.S. govt sends Internet balloon drones over countries with a high incidence of censorship.

cash out of reach

Transfer pricing and licensing shenanigans meant Apple has most of it's spare cash - a lot - parked outside for the U.S. Many companies do this includes no doubt big pharma.

here's the interesting bit: You have to park that cash somewhere where there is a predictable jurisdiction and rule of law - as you need legal protection for your cash pile. Only it may not be as predictable as you hoped, e.g. Cyprus. The bigger the cash pile concentrated in one place that's out of reach of the big power countries (that are doing the whingeing about missing tax receipts), the bigger the risk.

How long before the first big 'our tax avoiding cash pile vanished, big developed country govt please help us to get it back now' case?

But only 1 operator could play?

I somehow don't think that multiple operators could coexist on the one channel. So the 1st operator to make the land grab becomes the instant global monopolist?

Ain't going to fly.

Google trying really hard to make me LOG IN

Using Google Maps app, have you noticed how it refuses to remember recently used destinations or favorite search terms unless you log in? Strange, I thought that apps could be build to remember preferences.

And I have no intention to remain logged into Google all day as I don't want all my searches tracked when in a browser using Google in a way that is cookie-independent. And I don't want my searches paired with my Gmail content profile.

So I felt rather smug about Waze which helpfully remembers my preferences like a proper app should.

Now Google comes along to swallow it... and I can guess we'll be forced to log into Google to get the same functionality in future, and probably be forced to use Google+ too for the social bit.

Looks like I'm going to needs multiple Google alter ego IDs in the future.

collision unlock...

No-one yet mentioned the collision detector that unlocks all doors. For sure on older models there was a panel under ta front wheel arch that could be opened, then a sharp tap inside with a small hammer would unlock all doors a trick known to countless RAC/AA techs.

Not sure if the hazards/alarm go off at that point, I suppose they ought to?

Bizarro World

Bizarro World (or Htrae) - in the past it had crossed my mind that we could all pay to go to work and then people would pay us to consume things... probably what would happen on that planet.

How close are we?

article headline perfeclty clear to me, it describes Ovivo's current UK biz model

Did anyone jump the conclusion that this was an expensive or $100/month deal?

Nah. Clearly what is says on the tin, cheap phone and free limited voice/text/data package.

This is what Ovivo has been offering in the UK for over a year now - completely free calls/text/data ad supported via periodic browser redirection. Plus add ons for more calls, texts, data. Choose your own new or used handset or tablet. I have been a happy user for about half a year now.

Someone with always pop up and report on the imminent likely death of Ovivio's biz model,. have been doing so since it started, these reports have so far turned out to be exaggerated.

As a user of the service - it suits a low user well - I also wonder how long it can go on. Could imagine paying a few £ for a bit of extra monthly data but unfortunately Ovivo's first step up the bolt-ons seems expensive for what it is.

Good article but grammar?

"if your work isn’t ultimately connected to revenue, so is your job"

Also the glossary was forgotten, not every reader is an 'insider'.

Planned obsolescence

I have a 2nd Gen iPod Touch whose last installable IOS is 4.2.1

It would have gong on being a perfectly acceptable bedside companion for BBC iPlayer (especially radio for me) EXCEPT...

The BBC has chosen to cooperate with Apple and refuses to make the iPlayer - TV or radio - work, even using web apps/web browser of any flavour, on any IOS higher than 4.2.1.

I guess it's to do with codecs or protocols with a topping of rights management paranoia.

The Beeb/Apple collusion is particularly galling as my family has spend a small fortune on both Apple gear and BBC license fees over the years.

I am pretty sure that had the same obsolescence happened on an Android device, there would have been a decent hack already noted how upgradeable Android 2.3 was on my last Android phone.

Looks like the biggest hands that feed us need to be given a good bite.

Yes

Rooted mine a while back, following http://nookdevs.com/Nook_Simple_Touch/Rooting

One key thing I read about and did was updating the NST to latest firmware FIRST to 1.2.1 I think it was

This is also a good read:

http://www.babblingengineer.com/how-to/how-i-turned-my-nook-into-an-e-reader-monster/

Doro are so behind the curve... but then so is the concept of a phone-only for the elderly

My 83 yo mother has a landline that she happily uses to switch between free weekend calls in the BT package and 18185 for calls abroad. She carries a dead simple Nokia mobile when out but always has a carer around then.

So firstly, the preconception that an adapted mobile is what the elderly need is a bit out.

Now, my mother is totally computer-phobic but does has WiFi internet plumbed in at her home for visiting relatives.

She is very alive to the opportunities that the Internet offers and often gets rels to do research into medical issues and do online shopping for her. She is impressed by tablets and is interested in the example of a friend of hers who has set up an iPad on a rock solid stand with just one icon - Skype - on the 1st home screen for her 90 yo mother - for staying in touch.

So we've been looking at what Doro Android phones and especially the Doro Experience Android tablet app can offer, as it appears to offer a fairly compelling mix of simplicity and remote control by a tech savvy relative.

Had to hold back:

- No Skype or any video conferencing available in the App!

- Software costs nearly as much as a bargain basement tablet!

- Off putting licensing model of £40 upfront and annual renewal fees

- App has to be sent to you in a box - not available on Play store - duh!

The field is ripe for exploitation - Doro pioneered this but a independent Android app coder could leapfrog their business model overnight with a better offering.

Poor man's Radio 4 solution

Put an O2 pay as you go SIM into a smartphone. Subscribe to one of the stream compression sites or apps and access a 24 kbps Radio 4 mono stream (surprisingly acceptable for speech).

For £2 you will get 25 MB or about 2 hours 20 mins streaming, the SIM covers a vast area of the EU inc Switzerland. If the R4 content is particularly gripping, you can top up again the same day.

Nice... no mention of how the very first Bitcoins were minted though?

There was a recent Planet Money podcast that gave an entertaining layman's explanation of Bitcoin. It went into a bit more depth on how such a digital currency could be bootstrapped from nothing. Basically, at the start, anyone could generate their own Bitcoins once connected to the Bitcoin server, using their own computers. Like the Big Bang of the universe, at the beginning it was fast, then as more coins got generated it got progressively harder until it was easier to purchase them rather than generate new ones. Hence the 'Gold Standard' type concept - you just cannot 'print' new ones, even the founder of Bitcoin cannot.

Apparently there are some as yet unminted Bitcoins to be 'discovered' out there but the computational power and time needed to do it is getting phenomenally rare.

anyone remember Concordski ?

This is the most likely retaliation - carefully crafted spoof servers with plausible yet dangerous designs in them that will publicly embarrass those who think they can use stolen designs

Will Apple though?

make FT and especially iMessage available on non Apple platforms?

recent example: Blackberry Messenger to be opened up.

iMessage

Is Apple sticking, with it's iMessage, to the same dumb decision (now reversed) that BB made in the first place of locking its messaging platform to its hardware?

For example, I want to be able to use iMessage on my Windows work computer to communicate with the missus as it's much more convenient that hauling a beeping phone out of my pocket, unlocking it and dabbing the screen.

In typical Apple fashion, "no can do".

Benefits of science-literacy

Would not a teenage kid doing a science GCSE not have instantly found the sight of these gadgets with their telescopic aerials sticking out utterly implausible? Sales of these were driven by pure corruption we know, but was there no free media in Iraq that would want to expose this?

This tells us more about the state of Iraq than it does about justice for fraudsters.

Virus in the corner of my eye

"It reminds me of the guy in The Diamond Age who got infected by a virus that made him see Indian TV ads in the corner of his eyes 24/7, and he eventually went insane and killed himself"

Talking about Neal Stephenson's book the Diamond Age written 18 years ago.

http://www.stupidamericantourist.com/?tag=the-diamond-age

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Diamond_Age

We are one step closer

Just as predicted...

by El Reg commentards in 2011 on the Stuxnet story. So finally some official research.

Now, if ATMs have been easily hacked via their ports by mid level crackers, what chance do these even more publicly accessible systems have? What about remote sensors connected into a serial bus or by Ethernet? Being remote they can be got to quietly.

Then there's wireless... http://www.welivesecurity.com/2011/08/09/hack-wireless-industrial-sensors-in-a-few-easy-steps/

The days when Internet Cafes did not server coffee

It was 1995 when I first tried a web search, not having access to any Uni facilities it was by visiting an 'Internet Cafe' in Liverpool on the main high street drag. It was full of terminals and no coffee to be seen.

After this it was a matter of months before I bought a Win 3.1 PC secondhand and was connected via modem.

Then I drummed up a simple site (with photos via a handheld 'roll over' scanner) to send guests to my Aunt's B&B. in those early days web competition was so thin that it did rather well, majority of customer seemed to be from the US which was several years (maybe 5?) ahead of the UK in home connectivity and general web access.

Anyone else remember upgrading their modem every 4 months?

The £30/month phone bills that could be run up to the ISP were oddly similar to what I pay now for broadband.

Apple will fix this for you...

Competition authorities can only jurisdict on companies with a really serious share of the market.

Way Apple is going, this is not going to be the case anyway.

Apple execs are scratching around for ideas to improve investor confidence/get its share price back.

Hows about OPENING UP a bit then?

No apps can be installed on an unjailbroken IOS device. Something fishy about this article.