* Posts by Scott Mckenzie

706 publicly visible posts • joined 9 Mar 2007

Apple updates iPhone firmware

Scott Mckenzie

Pwnage 2.2.1 is out...

http://blog.iphone-dev.org/post/61060174/the-man-from-delmonte-he-say-yes

Group Test: Blu-ray Disc players

Scott Mckenzie

Hmm, many misconceptions...

Firstly there are some great features not mentioned in the article.

The Samsung BD-P1500 has a fantastic (and unique to the P1500 and P2500) that if you connect the device via optical to a legacy amp that doesn't have HDMI it will re-encode ALL of the higher end HD Audio into maximum bitrate DTS audio (1.5MBps) this is a massive upgrade over standard DD or DTS and great if you want a "cheaper" system but still excellent sound.

Similarly the Panasonic BD35 and BD55 will re-encode all HD Audio to LPCM and bounce that over to the amp - handy if your amp can't decode DTS HD MA etc...

The Sony and Panasonic models can be converted to multi region for SD DVD using a "One For All" remote... and with a hardware mod can do multi region for Blu Ray too.

As for many people querying the quality of the internal decoders, using Profile 1.1/2.0 and the PiP functionality you actually need the player to do the decoding otherwise you'll only get a single channel of audio - namely the film. This isn't an issue for me at all, but may be for many people.

Buying a computer device is great if you want that as part of your home cinema system, but there are only a couple of sound cards that have HDMI audio on them and actually work properly... not ideal if you really appreciate the high end stuff.

For those querying an amp, a cheaper player (such as the excellent Sony S350 - very cheap at Amazon at £163 http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001DN1SP4/202-3314281-8268652?ie=UTF8&tag=spoavetstu-21&linkCode=xm2&camp=1634&creativeASIN=B001DN1SP4 and worth noting that the Blockbuster deal doesn't start until December 1) the Sony DG-R820 is £261 delivered and whoops the Onkyo - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001EWE98C?ie=UTF8&tag=spoavetstu-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=B001EWE98C

Cracking system there for very little outlay (relatively speaking!)

Scots vote out ID cards

Scott Mckenzie

Meltdown

I've got a Scottish sounding name, my girlfriend lives there, i visit it a lot, i'm for the smoking ban and against ID cards.

/meltdown

Lewis Hamilton mulls riding Virgin

Scott Mckenzie

At least...

...space might just be large enough to contain his Ego.

Best place for him!

25 years of Macintosh - the Apple Computer report card

Scott Mckenzie

@Mark

I'd love to see which DAC you propose Apple use then... from my knowledge of these things Wolfson are amongst the best in the world. Sure some of the stuff after the DAC isn't ideal, but hey... replace the headphones and i think you'll be very pleasantly surprised!

Or see Red Wine Audio for more details...

Google voice still not on iPhone

Scott Mckenzie
Thumb Up

@Darren

Jailbreak your phone and enable background processes then

Apple sued over Jesus Phone 'hairline cracks'

Scott Mckenzie

@Shingo Tamai

That's absolutely amazing, you should clearly launch some sort of insider Apple site as you clearly have fantastic advance knowledge of products - knowing about a product several years before it was created!

These people complaining to you in 2003 about a product that wasn't actually launched until May 2006.... i'm stunned!

Oh and i love my iPhone, it's a great phone, does everything i want and far better than any other Smartphone i've ever owned... one size doesn't fit all, so all of you complaining about how crap they are, change the record, it might not suit you, but it suits a lot of other people, and they're perfectly entitled to buy what the hell they want!

Xbox 360 nears 25m global sales mark

Scott Mckenzie

Err...

They can't count a replacement as a sale.... the corresponding refurb and resale would count though, but legitimately so.

They do now offer a fixed price replacement too, if yours breaks they send you a refurb one out with new warranty and on you go, good solution for units out of warranty!

HTC Touch HD Windows Mobile smartphone

Scott Mckenzie

2.5 times...

<quote>

nd so to the screen, easily the most impressive we’ve yet seen on a Windows Mobile device. At 3.8in, it's 0.3in larger than the iPhone and its 480 x 800 resolution - apparently the maximum that Windows Mobile can currently be used for - is two-and-a-half times as big as the iPhone’s 320 x 480. It's big, bright and clear.

</quote>

Err, 480x800 isn't quite 2.5 times bigger than 320x480 now is it... i mean sure in a physical number of pixels on screen it might be, but in actual, real world useability it's not "bigger"

Oh and to the AC, the iPhone can send the same SMS to multiple people, and if you're prepared to work at it a little (i.e. Jailbreak), it can do MMS, it can do Office file editing, it can do video capture and it sure as hell can multi task! Sat Nav will be here quite soon i'm sure too.... all of that added functionality for completely free - amazing!

Ancient Rome rises on Google Earth

Scott Mckenzie

Specs!

Ouch, counts most laptop users out from viewing this then!!

McLaren teams up with chip firm for F1 hybrid tech

Scott Mckenzie

Err... restore....

Powering the front wheels, reducing understeer..... not usually the case, as power to the fronts tends to induce understeer.

Look at your average Saxo driving chav for further clarification.

Shure SE102 sound-isolating earphones

Scott Mckenzie

Etymotic

ER6i for iPod... great headphones and similarly priced.

Just replaced mine with some HF2's so i can have handsfree calling on my iPhone, but they're £99 - better mind!

Apple bans iPhone app for changing version number

Scott Mckenzie

Err...

....so it's posted above from the T's&C's that you cannot use the device to continually stream audio/video over the cellular network, yet still people are complaining about this?

Right. Just wanted to be clear on that.

Quickoffice is iPhone bound

Scott Mckenzie

I'd welcome this..

...as i have an iPhone and like to do work on it, oddly it wasn't purchased to impress anyone but rather as a great tool for a lot of things and the promise of even more great things to come.

It royally whoops any other smartphone on the market IMO!

Parallels opens Windows on the Mac desktop

Scott Mckenzie

VMWare

And being a VMWare Fusion 1.x user you get a FREE upgrade to the latest version, rather than having to pay each time Parallels release something.

Not a difficult decision for me to make....

iPhone beats RIM for reliability, sales, consumer favour

Scott Mckenzie

@Mick

I love my Toy, it's great to read my emails on, watch videos i download to it, surf the web properly, read ebooks, listen to my iPod library.

The camera is adequate... no phone in a camera is that great, for camera purposes i have a camera, they're quite good in that respect.

As for no security, jump off the bandwagon.... their is perfectly adequate security for 99% of people. With our infrastructure at my company we have exactly the same issues with remote wipe etc, the limiting factor is SBS 2003 and not the device.

Then again, as an iPhone user i'm clearly wrong on all counts, as are all the other users, key phrase there being "user" as i'm guesssing that you've probably played with one for an hour or so and are consequently an expert advising Steve himself on where to go next.

Move along.

Western Digital debuts HD TV add-on

Scott Mckenzie

Netgear EVA8000

Given the recent price reduction of the Netgear and the better Beta firmware, i'd go with one of those personally (well i already have one and am waiting for the EVA9000) It'll upscale to 1080p and only really fails with full 1080p HD rips (rare) and occasionally with DTS audio, other than that it's better than any of the other ones i've tried!!!

http://theregister.pgpartner.co.uk/search_getprod.php/masterid=35917302

What's the best 1TB wireless storage box?

Scott Mckenzie

@Tony

What you can do is put an external USB drive into the Time Capsule and schedule backups to it also.

I love my TC. It works seamlessly and is incredibly quick!

PayPal co-founder to bail out Tesla with own cash

Scott Mckenzie

Alternatively..

...if you like a car to go round corners, not run on leaf springs, have an interior not akin to a 70's Japanese rep mobile, buy any other car.

Group Test: Universal Remote Controls

Scott Mckenzie

@Mad Hacker

No, that is Sony on a crusade to change everything....

You can buy an inexpensive IR dongle (£20) that fits in a USB port, that way you'll get basic control of most functions with the Harmony remotes.

Apple's 'next move' is an HSDPA MacBook, forecasts analyst

Scott Mckenzie

@Webster

*Yawn*

Bono bikini babe party pictures loose on Facebook

Scott Mckenzie

Err...

Reality check?

It's not as if he's up to the nuts in either of them now is it... they're sat on his lap, probably posing for a photo, blimey we live in a wonderful society nowadays don't we, probably innocent as you like but hell lets not let that ruin a story!

Oh and Colin, he doesn't look too happy in that picture! And doesn't smoking kill children in Africa - disgraceful behaviour!

Mobile blocking tech for trains

Scott Mckenzie

Simple.

Just travel first class, you get a much higher class of person when they're not poor.

Palm Treo Pro Windows Mobile smartphone

Scott Mckenzie

Looks Good...

....Certainly from reading that it seems as though it would be a far better handset than the Touch Diamonds we have in the office.

If i didn't have a Jesus Phone, i'd be quite tempted by that!

TomTom ships Go x40 satnav series

Scott Mckenzie

I love Sat Nav!

Is far easier than planning a very lengthy trip on a map, the first comment suggest an American, where to be honest the roads are quite straight and boring and easy to drive so I'm not hugely surprised...

However here it's a godsend!

Personally i prefer the quality of mapping and route guidance from Garmin than TomTom and the price is impressive too.... comparable to the 940 is the Garmin 765T and that's a lot cheaper at £285! Less than the cheapest TomTom and with the features of the top one (ok less onboard memory but what's that really used for???)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001EYTW82?ie=UTF8&tag=spoavetstu-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=B001EYTW82

WD Caviar Black 1TB vs Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1.5TB

Scott Mckenzie

Great Service from Seagate

I've always had the above... including replacing a drive that was 6 years old (a 40Gb one) with one that was twice the capacity....

I'll be getting a 1.5Tb to replace in my Apple Time Capsule!

Apple prices iPhone at $666, says analyst

Scott Mckenzie

@MErefield

Yup, mine does Multiple Recipient SMS out the box and I too use SwirlyMMS on my jailbroken one... Apple probably see the whole, free data and WiFi think as enough of an incentive for sending an email that's free, though i do agree in many ways it's handy to be able to send and receive them, but i email a lot more now from the phone as it's so easy!

Agree with Alastair too, it has some faults, but on the whole it's so much more satisfying to use than any other smartphone I have ever used or owned... just wish the 3G would get fully hacked so I can have fun with GPS :)

Harman Kardon brings high-end media centre to Blighty

Scott Mckenzie

PS3

Hmm..... really, all of that? I've had a quick look and cannot see a single analogue audio port on the back of a PS3.

Or any reference to any level of quality CD playback... great if you live in the world of low bitrate MP3, but not if you appreciate higher quality audio, the PS3 simply cannot compete.

It's a good system no doubt, but it's compromised in many areas if you really push it....

Humax names Freesat HD DVR debut date

Scott Mckenzie

Still no info on the Humax website though!!

Other than the release date as being mid November, there is still no info, screenshots, manual or anything on their website....

Grrrrr!!!!!

Apparently it comes with an HDMI lead in the box too, which is rare and surprising in modern society!

Financial meltdown hits Hilton where it hurts

Scott Mckenzie

Err... Kain

25k for 10 minutes

60 minutes in one hour

Hence 6 x 25k is the hours work...

QED

6*25000 != 1500000

You'd actually need to work a whopping 10 hours to get that £1.5M

Edifier MP300 Plus 2.1 laptop speaker system

Scott Mckenzie

Much Cheaper on Amazon too!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000W6JVTS?ie=UTF8&tag=spoavetstu-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=B000W6JVTS

£35 but not in stock from Amazon, or £43 from Avides Media (solid reputable German based company)

A Blu-ray Christmas? Don't bank on it

Scott Mckenzie

@Namesake

Scott - oddly enough if you want an LCD, the Bravia's really are the best, by a fair margin too... Pioneers new ones are alledgedly excellent, but the W4500 with a built in DLNA streaming system (could help Hedley above) and the X4500 series are leagues ahead of anything else on the amrket.. including even the Samsung ones using the same panel. It's not salesman bullshit, it's fact.

Hedley - ITV HD is crap anyway, hardly anything there and in a tiff with Sky are only on Freesat.... as for your dilemma, if you can afford both do it, both have their own benefits and if you have a fast connection and don't mind about "only" 720p from AppleTV it's an excellent system. As for the Sony player, at £179 from Amazon, it's quite a bargain at the moment - buy one!!!!! http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001DN1SP4/202-3314281-8268652?ie=UTF8&tag=spoavetstu-21&linkCode=xm2&camp=1634&creativeASIN=B001DN1SP4

Thieves snatch PS2 pile while courier kips

Scott Mckenzie

Woah!

That's a lot of doors they can now keep held open....

Amazon UK downplays Kindle Christmas

Scott Mckenzie

The Sony...

...is readily available from Sony Centres and online.

Apple and Psystar enter out-of-court counseling

Scott Mckenzie

@Lozzyho

Oh goody, so it gets opened up and then every fucktard in the universe builds some ropey machine from parts they found in there shed and OS X becomes bloatware like Vista as it tries to support every single configuration under the sun.

That's one of the things that makes OS X so good, it has pre configured hardware and it works very well with it....

I hope to hell this doesn't change with some 2 bit shite coming to market. Sometimes anti competitivity is good, when it's actually "for the best"

US teen admits to 'Anonymous' DDoS attack on Scientology

Scott Mckenzie

@Robert

gLOL!

I see what you did there....

Scott Mckenzie

Cult. Church. Religion

Surely all entirely the same thing? Blinkered people following the preachings/readings/words of others?

All of them should be locked up and we can live safely.

Ofcom confirms three Freeview HD channels 'by end of next year'

Scott Mckenzie

Freesat...

...i hope we don't get any issues with Freesat and availability of HD channels like we have at the moment with Sky/Virgin/Freesat....

But we'll see!

Now, about that Freesat PVR

Shiny phones lead to rash of rash

Scott Mckenzie

Nicekl Allergy

Doesn't quite work like that.... you need prolonged contact with something, holding a coin for 10 seconds doesn't quite, but a watch or similar where sweat etc gets trapped under it... leads to not a lot of fun here :(

Being allergic to aluminium is a pain with my Macbook Pro too!

Blu-ray Disc a 'bag of hurt', says Jobs

Scott Mckenzie

Hmm...

I suppose we could consider the majority of people on here as "target market" for Blu Ray, but with so many people reporting discs costing £25 and that being outrageous (which it is) it's clear there is an issue.... anyone who pays £25 for a disc is silly, there are hundreds of places to buy discs far cheaper than that, even new releases can be found for usually 25% off without too much effort:

http://www.movietyme.com/catalog/

http://www.axelmusic.com/

http://www.dvdworldusa.com/

http://www.deepdiscount.com/Hi-Def_stcVVcatId462356VVviewcat.htm

Are the main ones i use, and check here - http://bluray.liesinc.net/ - to see which discs are not region coded so you could save by buying from abroad.

AppleTV is great, a lot of newer movies are coming with Dolby Digital, sure it's not TrueHD but for the "average" user it's perfectly fine... and seen as so many people above are saying that DVD is fine for them, then a downloaded movie with Dolby Digital 5.1 will also be fine, as it's the same... the fact that it'll be 720p will be an appreciable increase in picture quality too.

Oh and you can get downloads in 1080p with TrueHD, just not from a legit source... and a 45Gb (typical) download size does take a while even on my Be Internet connection

As for players, they're getting cheaper day by day, the current budget king is the Samsung BD-P1500 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0016J72SM/202-3314281-8268652?ie=UTF8&tag=spoavetstu-21&linkCode=xm2&camp=1634&creativeASIN=B0016J72SM) is £163 and includes "I Am Legend" and "Ocean's Thirteen" for a Blu Ray player that is very cheap, it will upscale your DVD's too (sure you can buy an decent DVD upscaler for about £50) add in the nice bonus of converting HD audio to max bitrate DTS over optical or coax for those that don't have the latest amps... it's a result!

FWIW, i think Apple are right.... i transfer films to my Macbook Pro to watch, i wouldn't lug a series of Blu Ray discs around with me as it's just not worth it. Though i can understand the desire for Blu Ray recordable for archiving purposes, but a USB hard drive is pretty bloody cheap these days!

Sony exec pours cold water on PS3 price-cut hopes

Scott Mckenzie

Seriously..

...who pays £35 per year for Xbox Live?

I've never paid more than £12 for a legitimate 12 month card... sure it's not as straightforward as DD, but blimey!

As for HD Audio on the PS3, yet it can decode and Bitstream all of the HD Audio - had a rocky start with DTS-MA mind.... it's not the best BR player anymore though, you can get a couple of excellent machines for far less if you want BR, then use the money saved to buy an Xbox 360 Premium :)

Try £162.50 for a Samsung BD-P1500 BR player, great if you haven't got an HD amp as it converts any HD audio to Full Bitrate DTS so sounds excellent.... http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0016J72SM/202-3314281-8268652?ie=UTF8&tag=spoavetstu-21&linkCode=xm2&camp=1634&creativeASIN=B0016J72SM

PS3 is a good allround unit, but for me it's compromised in every aspect for my needs... it may suit others but not me. TBH my biggest gripe is the god-awful controllers, they are so uncomfortable to hold for me....

Internet security suites fail to block exploits

Scott Mckenzie

Prevx

I remember running a trial of this a while back, it seemed like a great AV/Protection system.

Now I use a Mac and whatever anyone says about Marketshare etc etc, for your average end user the extra buffer of having to enter your admin password to run anything and plenty of warnings usually sorts most things out... Vista is better than XP for your average user, but god the implementation is shite.

Apple to detail latest laptops on 14 October

Scott Mckenzie

Price..

..as a few above have said, Macs aren't expensive the OS and built in options make them very favourable in price comparisons - I certainly don't baulk at the cost and would happily pay the asking price for them if it means not getting a PC.

However, I am crossing everything for a higher resolution screen and the backlit, chicklet style keyboard on the new Macbook - then i'll be a happy chappy! Otherwise i'll have to get a new MBP and I don't really need the things it offers over the MB!

Glad it's official now though, I can look forward to tomorrow!

Bluetooth, iPods, HDDs to define in-car tech in 2009

Scott Mckenzie

Grrrr...

...the useful thing here would have been for them to notice the trend that Apple were removing Firewire capabilities from iPods over the past few generations and as such the majority of in car systems, which charge an iPod via Firewire don't work on iPhone 3G's, new Nano's etc etc... something that Apple outlined a couple of years ago.

Virgin Media calls foul on web speed testers

Scott Mckenzie

Speedtest..

...is flakey as anything, one day i'll get 21Mbps, the next 7 - nothing appears to have changed as i can still download from a decent website (Microsoft, Apple etc) at 2,000 Kbps, solidly.

Even the speedtest on Be's own site reported my connection as 8Mb - go figure.

That said i was surprised by Virgin, my girlfriend moved into a new flat and it was their only option, they ordered a 10Mb connection and they get exactly that.... it's been problem free and fast, i just hope they never have to deal with the customer support folks!!!!

Gates dethroned as tech's richest get thumped

Scott Mckenzie

Quite alarming..

...that some people seem to genuinely think they could solve third world debt or the economic cash crisis on their own.

Imagine the markets when the three of them cash everything in... i'm sure the instability that would cause would make the current situation seem like someone losing a tenner down the back of the sofa!

Toshiba launches latest MacBook Air beater

Scott Mckenzie

Hmmm...

....how exactly is the MBA crap?

Sure it doesn't have many ports, only has 100Mb ethernet and has no on board DVD, but it utterly destroys any of the other super thin and light machines where it matters, on performance.... the only one that really bugs me is the ethernet speed, but that's only an issue when moving large files around on a network, otherwise none of the supposed "MBA Beaters" even come close to beating it... but people will always profess how much greater it is because of all the unnecessary features that are used so infrequently... buy a £4 USB hub and you're done.

Symantec swoops on Messagelabs

Scott Mckenzie

For those looking elsewhere...

...the level of tech support from Sophos has always impressed me greatly!

Sainsbury's launch console price war

Scott Mckenzie

@Mark

LOL!

What quality does it offer exactly? It's expensive (very) it has a newly launched TV system that takes so long to boot up you'll miss half the show, it uses bluetooth as a remote so anyone with a universal remote can't control it, has to install games to the HDD to work in many cases...

Based on all of those i'll take a combo of the other two "last gen" units at an overall cheaper price and have a much more rounded and useful system offering nigh on identical quality.

Do remind me, what's the overall worldwide sales of the PS3... and then those "last gen" ones?

P.S. you left your fanboy horse in the corner, he's hungry....

Virgin rejects $1m space sex offer

Scott Mckenzie

The final facial...

....would require careful positioning.

Or is that the final frontier?