Baldychap • User • The Register Forums

Android's on top – will Nokia and RIM let it in?

Monday 7th February 2011 12:08 GMT Baldychap

Give people more credit...

I think the great British public are more intelligent than you give them credit for. They know what an iPhone / iPad / iPod is and what is not. A great many of them believe the hype and go for the apple product because they want to or because it's what their friends have, or maybe it's the natural progression once you are locked into the apple store.

A great number of us, look at the figures, don't want an apple device and go for something else. And the best thing right now is an Android device. Simples.

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Energy-saving LEDs 'will not save energy', say boffins

Wednesday 25th August 2010 22:11 GMT Baldychap

Not quite.

The £500 worth of bulbs is not a different argument. That's £500 of bulbs that is going towards the cost per capita on lighting.

So the wattage of the bulbs may decrease, but you spend more on them and then as they get smaller you put them in places you never used to.

Net result - spending the same.

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NoScript 2.0 beefs border patrol

Thursday 29th July 2010 10:16 GMT Baldychap

Your choice mate.

Yes, when you start using it NoScript can be a pain in the arse, but a little effort setting up your fav sites and then it saves that very same arse big time. IMHO that's a pain worth going through.

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Commodore 64 may come back as Warren Beatty

Thursday 15th April 2010 15:47 GMT Baldychap

Memories

The commodore 64 was a great machine of it's time and the memories of cycling to my mates house to play on it are great. But that's all it is, a memory, the C64 moniker should be left alone and remain what it was.

Any product worth buying doesn't need to nick it's name from someone else.

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Transport for London gobbles up Oyster

Wednesday 14th April 2010 18:58 GMT Baldychap

Not sure it's going to work...

Visa are pushing out their 'paywave' quite aggressively and they just get retailers to update existing visa terminals. I can now use my Barclay's debit card to buy sandwich and the couple of quid just comes straight from my account. Why would I want to go through the hassle of topping my oyster card?

The way I see it, oyster cards are for travel and that's how it'll stay. Hopefully they'll get extended nationwide once London show's all the TOC's how good it is.

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Microsoft slams coffin lid on Vista

Tuesday 13th April 2010 11:38 GMT Baldychap

The cheek of it!

If they can't be bothered to support the poor souls who have a Vista system then the least they can do is offer a free upgrade to Windows 7, it is after the OS that Vista was meant to be.

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MSI tells 97,000 customers to 'Read The F***ing Manual'

Tuesday 30th March 2010 09:52 GMT Baldychap

Common Sense People...

I really don't get why support types, like me, get annoyed when users keep asking them for help. Sure, it can be a tad irritating sometimes, but if they didn't keep calling me, the need for my job would soon dissapear and I'm grateful for the money thank-you very much.

If you're unable to offer good customer service, even to complete planks, then I'd suggest you try a different career.

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Google Nexus One

Thursday 11th March 2010 18:36 GMT Baldychap

I don't get it.

This review, and others, seem much more positive than the Milestone review, yet the Nexus One still only score 85%. The same as the milestone.

Are you seriously telling me the LG Viewty Smart is a better phone than either of these? It got 90%.... Maybe ratings should be reviewed over time, but your league table of phone reviews looks mighty odd.

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3D TVs to drop below £1000 in 2012

Tuesday 2nd March 2010 13:36 GMT Baldychap

The good thing about this...

...is that hopefully the introduction of this high-end gear will push the prices of normal HD tellys to a decent level. Still too expensive IMHO.

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Hacker brings multitouch to Google's Nexus One

Friday 22nd January 2010 11:37 GMT Baldychap

No need to hack

Looks like this article could do with some more research. It seems that multi touch has been active since andriod 2.0, just not on the core apps provided by Google.

The dolphin browser for Andriod has pinch and zoom. Nice.

http://phandroid.com/2009/11/30/pinch-zoom-web-with-dolphin-browser/

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Windows 7 users to fly without SP parachute

Tuesday 19th January 2010 11:48 GMT Baldychap

The version numbers say it all really...

Vista - 6.0

Windows '7' - 6.1

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Trojan pr0n dialers make comeback on mobile phones

Thursday 14th January 2010 11:05 GMT Baldychap

Same rule applies as ever....

Don't install software you don't trust and don't browse dodgy sites. Works for me.

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RIM joins queue for Qi

Friday 4th December 2009 18:46 GMT Baldychap

USB?

As has been said before, wireless charging is not what is needed, just a standard connector. I thought we were at last getting that way with most modern phones using the USB connection for charging.

Please don't go changing it just 'cos it looks funky!

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Japan claims latest long distance e-car record

Thursday 19th November 2009 23:00 GMT Baldychap

It'll only work if

I think the only way electric cars would really take off is if they can devise a safe way to pick up power directly from the road. Maybe like a scalectrix or an overhead system like the old trolley buses.

Each car has a meter fitted and you pay for what you use.

Saves mucking about with expensive batteries that need hours to charge.

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Palm Pré arrives in Blighty

Friday 16th October 2009 13:42 GMT Baldychap

Hmmmn....

I'm hoping the reviews going to be good, but the application store is pretty empty from what I've read, and I'm not sure much is going to change from the US reviews...

Got a feeling I'll be waiting for Android 2.0 and a suitably fast new handset to run it on....

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Snow Leopard data-munching bug predates Snow Leopard

Wednesday 14th October 2009 12:12 GMT Baldychap

@Wrenchy

Well said that man. Computers do suck. Which is rather nice, 'cos if they didn't I'd be out of a job!

Also we shouldn't be too hard on non-techie types either. We know about backups and data loss as we deal with it on a daily basis. The truth is, most normal people out there have probably had a few computers in their life and the worse that they lost was a file when they overwrote it. Until shit happens, you really don't think you need to backup. Fact.

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DVLA pledges investigation over Castrol spy posters

Monday 28th September 2009 11:56 GMT Baldychap

Suspect....

....that the entire database will be on wikileaks soon.

Look forward to that, should be more intresting than the postcode database.

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Demon splurges details of 3,600 customers in billing email

Wednesday 23rd September 2009 12:20 GMT Baldychap

Security....

..They've heard of it.

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BT's giant new faster broadband boxes blocked

Friday 7th August 2009 14:01 GMT Baldychap

For those who suggest digging holes...

When it rains, these holes tend to fill with water. OK for some copper wire in sealed casings, probably not so good for powered fibre optic stuff.

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Mozilla releases final Firefox 3.5 beta

Wednesday 29th April 2009 11:28 GMT Baldychap

'Crap URL Bar'

What? I honesty can't see how this is crap. I type a few letters, even if they are not actually in the URL, and firefox shows me the page I want. pretty much all my regular pages can be accessed in three or so letters. I haven't had to set up bookmarks or anything. It just works.

IMHO - Awesome.

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US lawmakers to de-silence electric cars

Monday 27th April 2009 12:09 GMT Baldychap

For all those bleating on about crossings....

...It's maybe a fair comment in the centre of large towns, but as soon as you move towards the residential roads then you'll find there are no crossings and you have to cross where you can.

I like to think of myself as observant, but there have been a couple of times the 'leccy cars have caught me by surprise. You don't realise how much you are trained to listen for cars until it happens.

I think leccy cars should make some sort of noise, but it should be standardised, with no option of modifications. Surely it shouldn't be too hard for the volume to automatically adjust to the surroundings so that quiet areas stay that way.

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Linux to spend eternity in shadow of 'little blue E'

Monday 26th January 2009 15:09 GMT Baldychap

I agree

I think this is spot on. I'm an IT pro and I love the idea of using Linux and at home I now use it pretty much most of the time. But I hate to think of the blood, sweat, tears and late nights I've had to endure to get to this place. That said, if I need anything 'not so everyday' doing and I don't feel like battling with Linux then it's nice to know I've got my trusty XP box that will do want I want it to.

I spend a fair amount of time supporting family and friends with windoze machines as it is. It would be a nightmare if I pushed them all onto Unbuntu or similar - For them and me!

Linux is definitely getting better, but it's not quite there yet. And when it is it will need a singular Brand marketing campaign, which, like it or not, Microsoft and Apple do well, to get the average Joe to change. Not sure how that's gonna happen with all the distro's out there..... shame.

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Shane Ritchie poised to 'reinvent' Minder

Wednesday 14th January 2009 16:39 GMT Baldychap

Steady on chaps

Surely it's a bit early to be knocking a show that's not even been made yet. Sure the original Minder will always have a place in our hearts and has big boots to fill, but there's no reason why Richie et al can't make a good show in it's own right.

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PlusNet customer invited to opt-in to BT's Phorm trial

Wednesday 19th November 2008 14:23 GMT Baldychap

Plusnet are fine

It looks like opinion is divided, by I'll add my two pennys by saying that I think PlusNet are great.

I've been with them with their 'free-online' brand since the days of dial-up. I've had very little problems and certainly feel that they are fair and open. Sure they've made mistakes, who hasn't?, but they always seem to own up straight away and keep their customers informed via their service status pages.

I've found their fair usage policy to be fair, their recommendation scheme to be generous and the web based member centre to be fantastic. I can manage my domains, email, mysql databases etc with ease. As a techie myself I like to do things 'my way' and with PlusNet that's been possible. Try doing that with Sky et al.....

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Jezza Clarkson cops flak for 'truckers murder strumpets' gag

Tuesday 4th November 2008 14:24 GMT Baldychap

Oh please...

I saw Top Gear on Sunday and thought it was bloody funny. And that's the reason most people watch it, sure the cars et al. are good but I bet most people watch it for the laddish humour and the stunts Jeremy, Hamster and Cpt. Slow get up to each week. I know I do.

If you feel like you should complain, then f**k off and watch sky.

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Speed cams ditched in Wiltshire

Thursday 23rd October 2008 11:46 GMT Baldychap

Why oh why....

Do people insist on saying "Speed Kills". Speed does not kill. Bad driving kills - Full stop.

Doing 90 on an empty motorway won't kill anyone. On the other hand I know some built-up areas where driving at the speed limit is just bloody dangerous. You have to use common sense and adapt your driving to the environment around you. If you need speed camera's and signs to tell you what to do then you probably shouldn't be driving in the first place.

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