It would be very handy if Amazon provided a copy of the Kindle version when you bought a proper book, in a similar way to their "AutoRip" where they provide MP3 versions of CDs you buy.
Posts by David Nash
1434 publicly visible posts • joined 15 Jul 2008
10 years of the Kindle and the curious incident of a dog in the day-time
Wait, did Oracle tip off world to Google's creepy always-on location tracking in Android?
Re: Oracle tipped off the world ...
@I ain't Spartacus
Well 90% of the time that I "use maps" I have location turned off. That's because I normally use it to find a place, look at roads, or a route. You only need location turned on if you want it to show you where you are, or use it as sat nav. Since I normally know where I am and normally use my car's sat nav, I don't need Maps to do so.
So you don't need location turned on to "use Maps properly"...unless you have defined "properly" to mean "with location turned on".
I'm happy to accept that for some users, they need Maps to tell them where they are and hence would have to turn on location services.
Re: Oracle tipped off the world ...
I ain't Spartacus: There should be no choice. Satnav data should always be availble in maps - location services only needs to be optionally available in order to stop apps (and Google) from slurping your data.
I agree. I was just responding to the suggestion that you need location services enabled to use Maps.
Unfortunately Google have not given us the option.
Actually I don't know whether it's possible for an app to get GPS location data without turning on Google Location Services. I get the impression it's one switch, all or nothing, but I haven't considered it before.
Re: Oracle tipped off the world ...
"All of those services were on if you enabled location services. Which you couldn't use maps without"
It's perfectly possible to use Maps without location services. I do it all the time. Maps prompts me to turn it on, and I say No, Thank You.
Of course if I want Maps to pinpoint my current location then I have to enable location services, but that's obvious.
Abolish the Telly Tax? Fat chance, say MPs at non-binding debate
"And all of it total crap. I don't watch anything on the BBC"
You don't want to watch it therefore it's crap? All of radio 4, all of 6 Music, every episode of Eastenders (you might have a point there), every programme you don't watch?
Do you also think the government should stop funding roads to places you don't want to go, close schools when your kids (if you have any) have grown up, etc. etc?
Mythical broadband speeds to plummet in crackdown on ISP ads
Phone fatigue takes hold: SIM-onlys now top UK market
London mayor: Self-driving cars? Not without jacked-up taxes, you don't!
Re: I've never understood...
"how much income must one have to be classed as:....."
It's all relative, and very interesting to see the discussion. Generally people who earn plenty still don't think they are rich, because as long as multi-billionaires exist, there is always someone richer than you, so you never think of yourself as "rich".
Whereas a "comfortably-off" middle-class person would be thought of as rich by many at the low-or-non-existent income scale.
Re: Khan being an idiot on this one
"We don't like electric vehicles because we would get less tax under our current system"
I thought it said Self Driving cars (which happen to be Electric) not EVs generally.
Anyway it doesn't say "we don't like them", it says "if we have them, we need to change taxation to compensate".
Uber: Hackers stole 57m passengers, drivers' info. We also bribed the thieves $100k to STFU
"I wonder if all those in London moaning about TfL's decision to not award Uber a license are still moaning about it?"
They probably are, because with Uber they can use an app and it's cheaper than a taxi. What's not to like?
In fact they are probably saying "this happened last year and nothing bad happened, get over it"
'Gimme Gimme Gimme' Easter egg in man
breaks automated tests at 00:30
It was El Reg wot won it: Bing banishes bogus Brit bank banner ad
National Cyber Security Centre boss: For the love of $DEITY, use 2FA on your emails, peeps
Twitter's blue tick rule changes may lower the sueball barrier
I wasn't aware that the blue tick had this other meaning, at least to some (many?) users. What even makes people think this kind of nonsense?
But if Twitter want to be sure that people understand what it means, why not just change it to text that says "verified account" (in the local language) rather than use a tick, which clearly has been misinterpreted.
Inside Internet Archive: 10PB+ of storage in a church... oh, and a little fight to preserve truth
It's artificial! It's intelligent! It's in my home! And it's gone bonkers!
Car tax evasion has soared since paper discs scrapped
Re: No car tax?
"How hard would it be for DVLA to generate a PDF with a tax disk in it that the car owner could download & print ? "
Good idea. When the change first came in I photoshopped a scan of the old disk to make a new reminder.
However they do send letters reminding me to pay. So it's not that hard to remember.
Prosecute driverless car devs for software snafus, say Brit cyclists
Re: They also want to geofence motorways
btw, "they" also don't pay "road tax", lol...
Assuming you are aware (from your scare quotes) that there is actually no such thing as "road tax" in the UK, I will also mention that "they" do pay it if they own a car, which many (most?) cyclists on the road do.
Re: Why stop at prosecuting Dev's? andy why just the car manufacturer?
" don't expect the mad max brigade of automate cars to stop and let you pull out either.."
This is a good point and not just relating to cyclists.
There are often times when it's right to slow or stop so that someone can cross or pull into your lane. eg. I have to cross the A1 from a side road when going to work in the morning, and if there is congestion people will just stop short and let me through, otherwise I would be there for hours.
Will AVs have the programming for this? Or for similar cases (merging in turn when a lane ends, letting people pull out, moving to another lane to let people join the motorway etc.)?
Re: ICE's blocking EV Charging points
"Seriously, it's no one's concern..."
Nice attitude, I suppose you park in the family and disabled spaces in the supermarket too, do you?
It's common courtesy to leave such spaces for those for whom they are intended. Including charge points, especially since there are so few of them.
Thousand-dollar iPhone X's Face ID wrecked by '$150 3D-printed mask'
Re: From experience though.....
"...being a £1000 phone, true enough, but a Samsung S8 is not much further behind (price-wise)..."
"Um, £515 says you're wrong."
And also, just because another expensive phone exists doesn't mean the iPhone is suddenly worth the money. Maybe they are both overpriced.
Teensy weensy space shuttle flies and lands
Brace yourselves, fanboys. Winter is coming. And the iPhone X can't handle the cold
Re: There's an agenda afoot and it's a failure...
Yeah ask that Uni Student why she chose that job eh?
Seriously, your first point "Most women don't want to work in tech" may be correct, although I'd prefer to see some stats before stating it categorically, but your second "They largely go for hairdressing and beauty, reception and book keeping work, nursing, teaching, etc." is just a stereotype based on your limited experience.
The real situation is more complex than simply "employ more women" as the positive action people would like, but it's also not as simple as you seem to think.
Brit moron tried buying a car bomb on dark web, posted it to his address. Now he's screwed
Self-driving bus in crash just 2 hours after entering public service
Logitech: We're gonna brick your Harmony Link gizmos next year
That awkward moment when AWS charges you BEELLIONS for Lightsail
El Reg assesses crypto of UK banks: Who gets to wear the dunce cap?
Re: Dunce Cap tip
"And I'm sure minimum wage phone drone #87676 gives you a thoroughly reasoned and well thought out reply, making the entire venture entirely worth your time."
Actually First Direct customer service staff are excellent and always give a good service. Dates back from when they were telephone only I guess.
No connection except as a longstanding satisfied customer. Which is annoying because we are always being exhorted by consumer groups to change our bank accounts, and other banks are pushing inducements to do so...but FD always win the awards and top the charts for good service.
Donald, YOU'RE FIRED: Rogue Twitter worker quits, deletes President Trump's account
First iPhone X fondlers struggle to admit that Face ID sort of sucks
Ex-Facebook manager sues biz after getting 'Zucked out of overtime'
Re: All depends on how useful you are.
It all depends on whether that was part of the job when you started. If you take on a job knowing that there will be some out-of-hours work included in the annual salary and you are not paid by the hour, then you don't have a case.
If they came along after the event and said you need to do out-of-hours work for nothing extra, then you are right.
One-third of mobile users receive patchy to no indoor coverage
USB stick found in West London contained Heathrow security data
Boss put chocolate cake on aircon controller, to stop people using it
Re: Heating / Aircon
It's true the hands really start to suffer even if you wear a jumper.
I once worked in the Gherkin in London, such a modern building, you'd think that the environment would be right, wouldn't you? Except that inside there are these big areas cut out of the floors on several floors above each other, so you have something like balconies that can look down several floors. So if you are at or near the bottom of one of these sections the air just disappears up this section, leading to use of mini electric heaters in the offices.