Posts by Peter Lee
89 posts • joined Friday 27th July 2007 11:22 GMT
Left
I left as soon as it was announced. I've nothing against Murdoch, but I was out of contract, had been with Be for years, and had seen the speed steadily dropping over time. I had been considering switching for a while but this made me make the change, partially because I knew I could get a faster connection elsewhere for not a great deal more, plus I feared that if I stayed I'd be bombarded with "join Sky!" emails and letters every week as I'm not a Sky customer. So I switched to BT Infinity 2, the move was completely painless, and my connection has gone from about 8mbps to 60 or so.
Posted in Amazon Kindle Paperwhite review
Re: Still no buttons
Agreed re the buttons. The main reason I bought a Kindle was to get around reduced baggage allowances when I go on holiday as I usually take about a dozen or more books on holiday when I'm off for a fortnight so my case weighed a ton. As I go to hot places where I tend to get a bit sweaty I keep my Kindle in an Aquapac to stop it getting in a mess (also helps should I drop the Kindle into the pool or the sea by accident) the touchscreen wouldn't really work, plus all those sweaty fingerprints would probably render it unreadable. Until they bring out a new Kindle which isn't touch screen I'll stick with my now fairly antique model.
Not fussed about a light either. If I want to read and it is too dark I put the light on. Simple. Works for me.
The great unknown
It also doesn't help that the advertising doesn't exactly say or show what it is - a few people who know I work in IT have asked me "what's that new Microsoft thing with the dancers?" As I said on here when the ad first appeared, all it says about Surface is essentially: oblong, flap, multi-coloured keyboards, dancing. Very energetic, but what is it and what does it *do* and what is it *for*? At least other vendors actually show the thing they're selling in use, be it a phone, a tablet, a laptop, whatever, even if the way they're using it (playing a piano, splitting the atom) isn't what the majority of people will actually use it for.
Re: Think the reviewer has missed the point a little
I'm not saying my experiences are "the way" - just that it works for me, hence the YMMV. Do I carry two devices with me everywhere I go? No - at the moment I'm in work and they're both at home, but when I'm on the road next week I'll take both, and when I want to read a book I'll use the Kindle, and when I want to do something else I'll use the Nexus. It works for me - it may not work for you. The end.
Re: Think the reviewer has missed the point a little
No need to be so facetious.
I've never read a novel with colour illustrations, just text, which is black on a white background. If I want a book that includes things in colour - a cookbook for example - I buy the actual book.
Reading in bed with "the wife" sleeping: Never had a problem. I'm always up later than mine, and I'll be sitting with the light on for a while after she's drifted off. YMMV.
Changing to b/w, w/b, sepia? Never had the desire to do that. YMMV.
Colour for kids. Maybe, but I don't have kids. YMMV.
Re: Think the reviewer has missed the point a little
Yes but some people don't *want* "a lot more" - some people just want colour and backlighting and ease of use, and don't want more technical stuff.
Personally I bought a Kindle a few years ago so I could read novels while I'm on the road (my job has me travelling a lot) and I've no interest in backlighting - if I want to read in the dark I put the light on, just as I did with paperbacks for my whole life, so it's really no hassle - and the novels I read tend to be black text on a white background, so colour didn't appeal, and I'm perfectly happy with my Kindle. I recently bought a Nexus 7 for all the other stuff I may want to do (web browsing, multimedia, games, some work stuff, general messing about) and it works perfectly, but I've no desire to read ebooks on it because that's what my Kindle is for, and I'm more than happy with this arrangement.
Think the reviewer has missed the point a little
The Kindle Fire (and Kindle Fire HD) isn't a "normal" Android tablet. This is a tablet which runs Android but a modified version, reskinned, and linked to Amazon rather than Google. You don't switch it on and log in to a Google account because it isn't a Google tablet - it is an Amazon tablet, which is why you sign in to an Amazon account. You also don't get apps from the Google Play store, instead you get them from the Amazon app store. For some people - the reviewer included - this is maddeningly restrictive, but for others it is just fine. Some people want a Kindle that is backlit, does colour, plays music, can surf the internet more quickly than an e-ink Kindle, and nothing more, and for these people this is a suitable device, but if you don't want the restrictions of being tied to Amazon then there are plenty of other tablets available, both running Android and other operating systems.
Posted in Ten... Apple iPad Mini alternatives
Re: Nexus7 can support USB on the go
You don't even need to be rooted. Get an OTG cable (about £2), buy the Nexus Media Importer app (about £2), and there you go - no root required.
Annoying bumf
Virgin cabled our street a few years ago and since then we've had at least one - sometimes 2 or 3 - letters every week explaining that the street has been cabled up, we can have TV for so much, phone for so much etc but we don't want it - we're happy with our existing providers, thanks - and there seems to be no way to "opt out" of getting this stream of crap through the letterbox.
Re: No Kindle HD for me today.
But the special offers *are* advertised up front! Take a look at the product page on Amazon & you'll see the HD with two buttons for 16 and 32GB, and beneath these are two more buttons for with or without special offers. Click the ones you want, price changes accordingly - simple. And if you bought it with the offers you can change your mind later & have them removed for - yes - £10.
Re: No Kindle HD for me today.
So why didn't you get the one without "special offers" then, rather than spitting your dummy out and having a sulk?
Rickroll!
Notice the propellerhead is being Rickrolled by his monitor and laptop?
Naff advert
Just watched it with the sound off (I'm in work...) so I've no idea if anything is said on it, but the message seems to be "Screen! Clip-on keyboard! Flap! Dancing kids! Body popping! Nice pensioners!" I'm a bit confused.
In other news I'm reverting my laptop to Windows 7 next week. I've tried Windows 8 for the last month and I can't stand it any more.
Posted in Jam today: Raspberry Pi Ram doubled
Re: "still awaiting kit from RS Components"
I ordered mine from RS in about April and by late September it still hadn't arrived. Cancelled it and placed an order with CPC on a Friday and the Pi was with me on the Monday.
Posted in Vote NOW for the vilest Bond villain
Where's Renard?
From "The World Is Not Enough" (my favourite Bond film.)
Re: How?
First point: Change the text size, character spacing & line spacing then.
Second point: It's a split second! And on the £89 Kindle & the Touch you can have faster transitions by turning off the page refresh (will cause some ghosting though, until the refresh after the 6th page turn.)
Third point: Higher contrast in what way? Do you mean that it doesn't light up? If so, well a book doesn't light up either. Put a light on, or use a book light.
Regarding the fourth point, and the others for that matter, nobody is *forcing* you to use an ebook reader of any kind. If you prefer books and libraries, use books and libraries. Even if you do buy a Kindle or something similar it doesn't mean you can no longer read "real" books, you know.
Re: 6 inches is too small
But then you turn the page and - annoying pause & flicker as the paper moves across.
How?
It displays the text, and it does it well. What more could you possibly want? The ability to fold the corners of the screen back?
Re: Still want epub...
Each to their own. I've had a Kindle for two years and personally I've never once felt the need to put an epub file on it. Every book I've added to mine has come from Amazon or Project Gutenberg, in the correct format.
Re: 6 inches is too small
A "real" book may display two pages at a time but you can only *read* one page at a time.
Re: Sounds a bit underwhelming
Not one for me. If I buy a game I'd kind of like to finish it myself, not find I open it up one day and there's a "Game Over" message there to greet me.
Re: Thinking about Fable...
Ah, I was thinking more in the Schrodinger kind of sense.
Sounds a bit underwhelming
So it's basically a game requiring no skill, where you just tap at a cube until your break your finger or your screen (or your mouse and finger if using a computer rather than a phone.) How dull.
Also what happens when this one person gets into the cube and finds out the "amazing" secret inside? I'm guessing a new cube appears and you just start again. Yawn.
Re: Thinking about Fable...
It's probably a cat.
Posted in HTC peeves punters with One X woes
The only problem...
No problems with mine at all, apart from one thing. Since its release the phone has had two OTA software updates which have reportedly fixed many of the issues people have had, but I'm with Orange and they've not released any of the updates for their branded handsets - in fact they deny their existence at all. All in all for me it's been a great phone on a woeful network.
Posted in Ten... eight-bit classic games
Elite on the Spectrum
Best (worst?) bug ever...
Start the game and launch from the first space station. Stop your craft. Flip over so you have the space station in front of you, slowly revolving. Press "H" to hyperspace. Check your status. Voila! You're classed as "Elite". Kind of spoiled things a bit.
I bought the game for my Spectrum (remember the "Lenslok" security device you had to hold on the screen and read what was essentially a primitive version of a "capcha" code?), had the poster displaying all of the ship types on my wall, and played the game for hours but never once found a single thing - no ships, no planets, nothing. Must have been doing something wrong. It was lovely and quiet though.
Posted in Avast! Mobile Security
Uninstall?
This may sound like a strange question but can it be uninstalled? I installed it on my HTC Desire when the app was in beta and you couldn't remove it - the Avast forums were full of people asking the same question too. The only way I could remove it was to reinstall Android from scratch using a RUU, and this kind of put me off it as a result.
I may be on my own here, but...
I'm glad Firefox is updated so frequently. The updates are generally security fixes and, unlike IE updates, don't need you to reboot the entire machine. Who cares what version number you're on at the moment really, so long as it is the latest, most supported, and most secure? I've also never had a problem with my add-ons and if one suddenly stops working as the developers haven't pulled their finger out and tested it on the betas and auroras of the product they always seem to rectify this within a few hours, days at the most.
I'm running the nightly build of Firefox (just checked: 12.0a1 (2012-01-31) apparently) and it works like a dream, it does what I want, and I can customize it if I wish to. I tried Chrome and although it was fast I hated the interface and found lots of things that irritated me, but Firefox just works the way I want, and if they change things I know it is pretty simple for me to make my own alterations to tweak it back.
Posted in Fans goad Valve for Half-Life 3 gen
Xen
That - and "Anomalous Materials" (I think) - were the points where "Half Life" decided to turn into "Jet Set Willy" and was ruined for me. Still a great game, but when the designers decided that a great challenge would be to make the player jump from flying manta ray to flying manta ray until you reach a small green light in the sky was when it all fell apart. The only part of "Half Life 2" that I found a bit bobbins was the "Sandtraps" level where you find yourself dragging mattresses and planks across a beach in order to avoid the antlions.
Posted in Fans goad Valve for Half-Life 3 gen
Hands on the wheel
More stuff to animate & chuck around on the screen though, isn't it? And would it really add anything to the experience? I love the "Half Life" (and "Portal") games to bits, but I've never played them and though "ah, I wish I had feet and could see my hands on the steering wheel." Give me a great game rather than unnecessary visual fluff anytime.
BTW In the "Portal" games the only times you ever really see your feet are when you look through one portal and can see yourself vanishing into another, such as if you create two in a corner.
Posted in Fans goad Valve for Half-Life 3 gen
Feet & hands
So you can't see Gordon's feet when you look down, or his hands when he's driving a buggy or the swamp boat. Personally I've never wished I could see those things, and rather than adding such frankly pointless touches to the game I'd prefer a game that plays brilliantly well and is fast.
Posted in Samsung Galaxy Note and Nexus rooted
My guess
75%. Points deducted for not being Apple, and for being Samsung.
Personally I like the look of the Note. My next phone will probably be a Galaxy Nexus or the Note actually.
Moss too
He's been directing music videos for a while, and recently made his first feature film, "Submarine", which he wrote and directed - critically acclaimed too.
As for series 4 I thought the "Countdown" episode was the strongest but still not great, and the others were extremely patchy and felt very forced. I think I actually switched channels during the last episode such was my disappointment. Still haven't seen the ending.
Sad, but
If I'm honest the last series wasn't very good. I love the show, but on the strength of the last batch of episodes maybe the time is right to call it a day.
Can't say I see the appeal of Count Arthur Strong though.
Posted in Apple wins for now: no Galaxy 10.1 in Oz
Duhh..
The big, heavy ones you describe are transformers.
OK - in front of me now I can see three laptops, all of which have exactly the same design and style of plug, so much so that if I wanted to unplug one of them I'd have to follow the cables back to the machines to find out which is which. Admittedly somewhere along the cables there is a big black box which handles the power. I can also the plug for my Kindle, which is again the same style, albeit white and slightly more triangular (and has "Amazon" written on it), and the plug for charging my phone which is similar to the Kindle one - I often use the charger for one of these devices to charge the other. I can also see a lamp, a TV, a Wii, a hi-fi, and their plugs all look exactly the same. That was the point of my "stupid comment". It's a plug. The design is pretty samey. To say "OMG THEY EVEN COPIED THE PLUG FROM APPLE!!!11!!ONE!!1" is a bit silly.
I think you're also missing another point. The plug in the picture is two-pin, unlike our three-pin standard. Many two-pin plugs are recessed (if you don't believe me, go overseas) so the shape of a plug is kind of limited by this.
Posted in Amazon Kindle 4
Who knows?
The Kindle 3 and the Kindle 4 apparently use the same screen so they could potentially use the same refresh mechanism, but maybe it is connected to the internal gubbins used in the device itself as to whether or not it can work the same way.
I agree re the flash (I just see it as turning the page in a real book, and usually find I blink as I change the page anyway) and as for the screensavers I keep my Kindle in one of the leather covers, so I can't see it when I'm not reading it, and I tend to slide the "wake" switch before I open the cover so by the time it is open I just see the text. Can't remember when I last saw the screensaver on mine if I'm honest.
Posted in Apple wins for now: no Galaxy 10.1 in Oz
The charger
The shocking thing is I look at my TV and my kettle and their plugs are exactly the same. Maybe the chargers share the same design as they're going into the same kind of wall socket so they have to be, you know, the same shape and size?
Posted in Amazon Kindle 4
Yes
And that's why the US version of this Kindle is $79, and the extra $30 upgrades them to the version we have reviewed here, which is ad-free.
Posted in Amazon Kindle 4
Call me old fashioned, but...
I bought a Kindle so I could download books from Amazon onto it. Books from Amazon are already in the correct format. I've no desire to download books from, say, Waterstones (the price tends to be higher for one reason) and I don't download books from the likes of Project Gutenberg, torrents etc. So I may be off-message here, but what's the problem exactly? Buy a Kindle, use it as intended with its bundled store, and it just works - end of story.
The Desire doesn't seem to be affected
At least mine (running Android 2.3 from the HTC developer update) isn't.
Missing word in the headline?
Surely the story should start with the word "Some"? I have a HTC Desire and this service isn't installed on it. Also, those who have rooted and installed a custom ROM will most likely not have it either.
Actually...
The costs of manufacturing and distributing a copy of a book come to about 20p, so an ebook isn't significantly cheaper. The bulk of the costs are down to promotion, which is equal regardless of format.
Hmm
They'll also have to improve their website and their pricing of ebooks if this is to stand a chance.
Look at the website
And you'll see that the "Pro" version has a capacitive screen.
Sunday
Wasn't that the name of the NOTW's supplement though, since changed to "Fabulous"?
Posted in dabs.com says sorry for delivery debacle
Microsoft Dynamix?
Surely you mean Microsoft Dynamics AX or one of the family (NAV, CRM, AX, GP...)? There's no such thing as Microsoft Dynamix.
Home & Reload buttons
You can move them to wherever you like by clicking the orange Firefox button at the top left, then Options, Toolbar Layout, and just drag the buttons to wherever you see fit.
Locations are still there
I downloaded the update last night and after doing a resync on my library I found that the book I am currently reading had had the page numbers added (tip: look at a book on the Kindle store and if its details - e.g. ISBN - include "page number ISBN" it has page numbers included). When reading a book now the progress bar is still there, as is the percentage, but the locations and page numbers are only displayed when you press the menu button. As for their accuracy the page numbers seem spot on - I also own the book I'm reading on my Kindle as a hardback and when I looked at the page number the Kindle had me at in the text it turned out to be spot on.
Posted in Onkyo CS-545 combo mini hi-fi
Still seems harsh
So the issues are:
1. The reviewer doesn't like the remote control
2. There are "potential" issues with older iPods.
3. The digital radio reception may be iffy (although my Onkyo system has a similar aerial and sounds fine).
4. It isn't a media streamer. Note that it doesn't claim to be one though.
Still seems harsh to me.
