Posts by Alex

Power Saving??

With the battery of the new iPhone reportedly being smaller than the old one then maybe it is one way they are trying to save power.

Surely they have more than one fab producing components/completed devices? Which would seem to make a production based flaw less likely wouldn't it?

On their way out?

As an architect I have designed a number of very large scale Oracle based systems and there was a time when SUN were the only choice.

But... those days are long gone and the truth is it is going to take a lot for me to move away from commodity INTEL/AMD kit running linux!

With clustering going mainstream in Oracle RAC and servers being cheap enough to put on a company credit card the days of making big bucks out of hardware are dead and buried and resurrection would take something very special!

I like SUN, always have, but it's time to face up to the truth.

It's all pointless

Discussing the need and 'correct' level of taxation is pointless.

If England truly was an island (in financial terms) with absolutley zero effect being exerted by external forces then the calculation would be simple.

There is absolutely no way the population of the country can both spend enough money on goods and services + tax to pay for both our salaries as well as all those other pesky things we need like roads and health care etc.

It therefore becomes obvious that the only thing that can possibly drive us forward is an external force of which there are limited options:

1. Foreigners buying our goods thereby pumping cash into our economy.

or

2. Somone else living way below what we define as the poverty line in order to carry out the tasks needed to move us forward.... like manufacturing.

This simple truth is quite a scary one because it inevitably leads to the conclusion that on a global scale the current way of doing things can never lead to a great life for all.

So, quit whining about tax and start building that fallout shelter cos when a billion Chinese wise up and start looking for our standard of living and the oil runs out what do you think is going to happen?

Man, does that make me feel old...

You know you are getting old when you find yourself saying something like... 'I don't need a camera, bluetooth, mp3 or any of that rubbish, all i need is a phone'.

It's funny how you talk about these things as if they are a part of ancient history. I remember when the networks started allowing SMS messaging across networks! That was the first, and last time they added really killer functionality :-)

And i' not old !

The internet needs a new direction

The only reason telephone systems work the way they do (fixed line or mobile) is because the user is guaranteed enough bandwidth and low enough latencies to provide an adequate service.

The internet on the other hand gives no such guarantees. You pay for an 8 Mb line and the small print says that this could quite possibly drop to nothing depending on other users!

Forget QOS, afterall why should VOIP get better service than peer to peer? Maybe I signed up for peer to peer!

What we need is guaranteed minimum service levels for the pipe, then the user can decide what to use that for with total flexibilty. Service plans would then be based on levels of those guaranteed minimums.

VOIP doesn't need masses of bandwidth, nor does it need amazingly low latencies but it does need a certain level of guaranteed, ordered packet delivery.

What the hell has Intelligence got to do with it?

We reallys should stop using the term 'Intelligence' in this way... If intelligence had anything to do with it we wouldn't be heading directly towards the kind of big brother society that Hollywood has been warning us about for the last 40 years.

It is all too easy to fall back behind the old 'Well you don't have to worry unless you have something to hide' saying but that really isn't the point is it.

This technology will only be available to those with power and that includes those people with enough money to buy power so it is inevitable that these technologies will be used for personal gain and on that sort of scale these gains are always to the detriment of others, namely you and me.

The reason we have terrorism in the first place is because we spend too much time poking our noses into other peoples business. At some point those people get really pi$$ed off and decide to retaliate. It is therefore quite ironic that we decide to fight this problem by inventing technologies to make the job of 'poking our noses in' that much more efficient.

As with biological viruses all we are going to end up doing is creating a new strain of super-terrorists!

Reg prdections comming true?

I've gotta say that on some level this story sends a shiver down my spine!

It used to be that these reg stories about robots taking over were just a bit of a laugh but it would seem that we are rapidly moving towards a fully robotized future...

It is only a matter of time before scientists make a real breakthrough on portable AI and then we are doomed. After all, half of the human race makes me think 'roll on armageddon' so when the robots get intelligence and take a look at the rest of us what conclusion do you think they are going to draw?

But before the world ends i'm looking forward to buying my first robot buddy, like the floating one out of 'The Black Hole'. Unfortunately it will probably be called the iSomething and be ludicrously expensive.

Only 30 %

If thirty percent of 150 million people are lying that still leaves 100 million people supplying good data + whatever they can gather by statistical analysis of your online activities.

Sounds like a worthwhile market to go after to me!

Given that the world economy has been booming for some time now (and hopefuly that will continue in spite of the moronic financial dealings by companies like Northern Rock) it would seem that the marketers know what they are doing... How else could companies like Apple justify such a high price for pointless shiny gadgets like the iPhone?

Surpised?? Why?

SUN is Microsofts gateway to the Enterprise Server market and Microsoft is SUNs gateway to sustained profitability....

MS doesn't worry SUN because MS doesn't produce anything that could be termed Enterprise Class (though Exchange 'may' be getting there).

and

SUN doesn't worry Microsoft because let's face it SUN never has been very good at going after the SME market which is where Microsoft lives.

The truth is that I really do wish, as a system architect, that SUNs hardware expertise was more available to the Windows server environment. The only innovation going on out there (in the server sphere) is from IBM and SUN, HP and DELL are just box shifters with even worse support departments.

In the big scheme of things will SUN care what OS you put on one of it's boxes? Only as a matter of pride as long as the hardware revenue keeps rolling in.

As a UNIX/Linux man I hate the idea of promoting Microshite bloatware, but I understand the need for profit.

Stupid Sony ??

Even the new Vaios come with an SD slot.... (plus the obligatory slot for dodgy memory sticks).

And when Sony finally gives in and backs someone elses format then that format MUST be the standard :-)

It's do or die i'm afraid

Apple have almost gone the way of the Dodo a number of times due to the way in which the develop and market products. Allowing a love for 'cool gedgetry' to over rule profit making.

Indeed they even had to be bailed out by Microsoft at one point!!! (So Microsoft could keep saying they are 'not' a monopoly)

Only the advent of the i* brand has reversed this trend and even then turnover at apple isn't in the same league as people like Microsoft, Nokia, IBM etc.

It is difficult to understand why people are surprised that Apple have finally wised up to the need to wring every last penny out of a market.

And besides that, as far as I can tell the cost of songs on iTunes is no more than you might pay on the UK highstreet! (although not having to drive into town might represent some sort of saving).

And finally.... if you don't like the price then stop shopping there!!!

School admin or School Boy?

That webster phreaky bloke keeps popping up on these comment lists, he's not worth replying to, all he wants is to cause trouble.

Could be a Reg plant designed to make things 'more' interesting :-)

I too have Vista and I do have to say, it is pretty good, and that's comming from a 15 year *NIX veteran admin!

So far the patching hasn't been too bad, it is definitely better than my previous XP box but I guess only time shall tell.

Carbon Footprint ?

So if I am reading all the techie bits right it would seem that keeping devices on charge and running them low once in a while is the best option if you want to maximise battery life.

My question is therefore:

'How does this affect the current push to reduce Carbon Footprints'?

I mean, is it better to keep things charging and therefore use more electricity or to let batteries die more often and therefore have to spend more energy on producing new ones (and recycling old ones)?

Pathetic

It really shouldn't amaze me how pathetic the human race really is, after all this time most people still can't just get along.

We have people abusing each other over their country of origin, their political afiliations and over their level of technological knowledge.

Having a competitve environment is a good thing, anything that reduces the US dominance (or perceived dominance) is also a good thing. We will all benefit in the long term by countries like China joining in and adding their expertise to technological advancement.

Totally Bizarre!

I really am confused, on the one hand you (and others) complain that iTunes is overpriced and then continue to complain when Apple refuse to allow vendors to raise the price to an even more insane amount!

It seems to me that when it comes to Apple there are those (including the author of this article) who lose all perspective.

'Supply and Demand' is the principle by which all pricing works, if people stopped buying videos from iTunes due to price then the price would come have to come down.

As long as there is a steady demand then nothing will change and we only have ourselves to blame.

At least you have the choice of buying video off iTunes in the US, here in the UK we don't have the luxury of being ripped off by Apple... We have to settle for bing ripped off by SKY instead.

Human Nature

Most people miss the point entirely, human nature dictates that we each protect that which we see witihin our own sphere of influence and go after the things which will benefit our cause the most.

Genereally speaking cooperation between two groups can only be acheived and maintained by a higher authority, in this case the government.

The problem we have is that the higher authority must be flexible enough to make quick decisions in time of war but far sighted enough to maintain the armed forces in a state which is suitable to the kind of unconventional warfare we are seeing in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Long story short, stop bickering over which force is the best and start battering our governments to manage the forces better and supply them with what they need to get the job done.

.co.uk

It's obvious that you want to go .com and are scared it will alienate British readers.

The thing is there is nothing wrong with .co.uk, you are after all a uniquely British tech publication and for many that is the draw.

It seems to me that if you brand yourselves as .com then inevitably that is exactly what you will become and something important will have been lost.

On another point I think it is important to stand your ground and not give in to the American need for everything to be US branded.

Not value for money

If we all sat down and actually looked closely at the yearly cost of owning a mobile phone compared with the benefits we get from having one most people would decide that (business use aside) contracts do not represent value for money.

The whole market is based on hype, I mean, what benefit do most of us really gain from having GPS on a phone or even video calling or Internet access? The cost of owning a mobile phone has gone up significantly for those of us who just want to make calls because we have to pay for all the investment in 'bleeding edge' technologies (3G anyone).

The fact is that our need for mapping today is minimal; the Internet doesn't provide any services that most of us would describe as critical to the success of our lives and nobody wants to make a video call.

People are hopfully starting to realise this fact and, in turn, the telcos will reallise that they need to start competing and providing real value for money.