* Posts by bob 46

69 publicly visible posts • joined 28 Oct 2009

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If you think 5G is overhyped, wait till you meet 5.5G

bob 46

5G speed

Are you frickin kidding me users report no increase in speed? In Sheffield, my 4G is around half the speed as my home broadband at 20ish mbps. However, when I do wander unwittingly into a patch of 5G coverage, it is off the scale! 120mbps+ every time. Coverage is the issue, not speed up here. Are other people's experiences very different to this?

BAN SMUT, rage MEPs: Purpose of internet must be EXTERMINATED

bob 46

Re: >>it's based on the idea that all pornography is male abuse of women

What? Troll / idiot. How did you turn:

"harassment and violence against women need to be stopped"

into

"harassment and violence against men is OK"

Just in case you missed it I'll say it again - you're an idiot

Data cops: Facebook privacy plans must be 'modified'

bob 46

dumb argument

The "if you don't like it, don't use it" argument is becoming as pervasive as the "if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear" one, and it's just as dumb. I get that you don't use it, and don't you feel smug and superior? But like it or not, this is a service (or whatever you want to call it) that MILLIONS of people in the UK use. It isn't unreasonable to expect FB to protect the rights of the people who use it. And it isn't unreasonable to expect that when you sign up for ANY new service you will be afforded certain basic privacy rights as default without having to spend half a day trawling through sub-sub-sub-settings to ensure they're enabled.

ps. I don't use FB

Brits swallow Google Nexus 4 supply 'in 30 minutes'

bob 46

Re: Oh no...

Why are you being a dick? He isn't fawning over the thing, or saying he can't go on without one. He's just reporting on the poor experience he had trying to buy a nexus.

New Oz road rules forbid touching mobes

bob 46

Re: cyclist's perspective

The AC's post was about his personal experience of how drivers behave when using mobile phones, and is therefore pertinent to the discussion. Yours is about cyclists and therefore isn't. But to indulge you a little I would comment that I have seen dumb things done by both parties on many many occasions, but rarely if ever have I seen a cyclist do something I thought was dangerous to anyone other than themselves. So yes, cyclists are just as bad in that there are good ones and bad ones just like car drivers, but the vehicle they're in control of just isn't so potentially lethal as a car. For that reason alone, I find bad cycling annoying but bad driving absolutely reprehensible. Its kind of like the difference between seeing someone pissed with an air horn, and someone pissed with a machette.

Back on topic, I would wager that almost everyone who drives has been guilty at some time or another of a hair raising moment that was in some way due to a mobile phone. 99.9% of the time you get away with it and tell youself that you were rather silly and won't do it again. But it is a statistically undeniable fact that accidents are sometimes caused by a driver being distracted by a mobile phone. I don't know if this law will help much, but it certainly doesn't leave a lot of grey area.

ReDigi fights for right to sell used digital music

bob 46

Re: Great Scheme!

I didn't know of the software you mention (although I should've guessed it would exist) but if allowed to continue, I guess this will be the same as anything else - the majority of people will use ReDigi legitimately and some will take the time and risk to use it illegally. ReDigi will upgrade their systems, the hackers / pirates will get cleverer and the whole thing goes around. No different from anything else in that respect and not a reason to stop ReDigi trading.

In my own case, it would make me buy more ebooks because at the moment I torrent ebooks when they're a similar price to the paperback because its just not "worth" as much. If I could resell it (or give it to charity) then its "worth" to me would increase dramatically and I wouldn't mind paying about the same as a paperback. Same would go for music if I listened to anything new!

Googorola mysteriously pulls plug on ITC Apple patent probe

bob 46

Re: Evil breeds evil

amanfrommars - is that you?

Ten... Father's Day gifts

bob 46

Every list

OK, its nice to look at some of these, but two points:

1) Why does every list like this always come out just when its too late to order any of the stuff on it in time?

2) Is there anyone on here who has EVER dropped more than about £20 on a father's day gift?

oh, and 3) James Chaldecott - I couldn't agree more. What next? The Placebo watch? Realigns your spiritual bio-energy WHILE YOU SLEEP, only £2500

Hands on with the Samsung Galaxy S III

bob 46

Re: now i need

Me! Galaxy note

Blighty's IP framework one of world's worst for consumers

bob 46

length of copyright

In the pharmaceutical industry, a company gets about 10 years of "copyright" for a new drug. In that 10 years they have to conduct clinical trials and get the drug to market to make a profit. After 10 years it goes "off patent" and anyone can copy it, which is why Tesco own brand asprin is about 30p for 16.

This seems about right to me. When intellectual property is created, it is right for the creator to profit. But, if that copyright expired after 10 years, other people could then use the music / film / writing / artwork in derivative works. It seems to me that this should add vitality to the entertainment / arts industries, and it would make it a lot easier to get hold of those old classics without breaking the law.

Basic instinct: how we used to code

bob 46

Hey, I had one of those too! One day my dad (truck driver) came home with a CPC464 which had "fallen off the back of his lorry" (Actually, he worked for a mail order company and the computer went back and forth from supplier to depot about a half-dozen times cos both ends had lost the paperwork for it, until my Dad decided that if no-one wanted it then I might as well make use of it!) Very similar to the speccy, just slightly better colour options and sound (and of course a proper keyboard) - wrote so many games and software for that thing! Loved it

Hanging's too good for 'em - so what do you suggest?

bob 46

torture

Perhaps the alternative is torture. Something that leaves no lasting (physical) damage, administered on a regular basis, instead of the death penalty.

Unpalatable perhaps, but maybe a good deterent, and less final than death penalty. Personally wouldn't agree with broadcasting it, but if the details were common knowledge...?

Ten... smartphone survival accessories

bob 46

Re: i must be the luddite i keep being called

hmm.. currently I carry a spare battery. Weighs about 30g. My Garmin weighs a lot more than my phone, and the battery life isn't much better. Don't have any games on my phone any more, sometimes read on it though. So, smartphone + spare battery + waterproof case = less weight than Garmin + paperback.

bob 46

Re: Backpacking

I know this is generally the case, but I have seen flexible solar panels for sale (Google Flexcell) which put out about 7W for a panel about 35 x 70 cm. That wouldn't be too big to put on a backpack, and if it gives 7W in ideal conditions,maybe it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect 0.5 - 1W on a cloudy day. Don't know how much it weighs, and it produces 12v, but wondered if anyone know of something similar which will charge a phone

bob 46

Backpacking

I often go bacpacking for several days, and use ViewRanger (fantastic OS mapping software) on my Desire for navigation (I carry paper map and a compass too just in case)

My problem is that the battery won't last long enough. Ideally I would like a lightweight, flexible solar panel I can drape on the back of my rucksack that is capable of charging faster than the phone batter will drain (about 0.5 - 1 W would do I think)

There are solutions which come close, but as yet I can't see anything that fits perfectly.

Note, when backpacking, every ounce counts, so ideally the weight should be no more than that of the phone itself. Anyone know any product to fil this?

Happy 30th Birthday, Sinclair ZX Spectrum

bob 46

80s

I got a spectrum 48k for Christmas 1985. It was £129.99 I think, which was a HUGE amount of money back then. Many, many great hours playing games and learning to program. That and Lego were my best toys.

Microsoft mulls backside display for mobiles

bob 46

eInk 2nd screen a good idea

oohh, I like the idea of a dual screen if one of them is eInk! Watch the film, then flip it over and read the book!

Dad sues Apple for pushing cash-draining 'free' games at kids

bob 46

Re: Do you have children?

How is allowing a child to play a game on your iPad the same as letting them on the internet unsupervised?

ISPs should get 'up to' full fee for 'up to' broadband

bob 46

That last question is one of the main things this petition is trying to address - whoever it is who is responsible for the upkeep of the physical connection (usually BT? - not sure) is unlikely to be impressed by you on your own complaining about only getting 1.5Mbps. They want to replace Ofcom with a body that will take the fight to the networks on behalf of the consumer.

Amazon sets date for Kindle Touch UK touchdown

bob 46

Re: Kindle Touch

Just a note about the charger - Any micro USB charger will do, the one for my Desire works fine.

However, my wife didn't know that when she bought me a kindle as a surprise present. When I realised she had dropped £14 or whatever on the charger, I said she should return it. She contacted Amazon to return it and they refunded the money but said "keep it" (presumably they're worth less to Amazon than the psotage would've been)

So the lesson here is buy one then return it - free charger!

Braben sticks knife into secondhand games market

bob 46

bad guy

How can Game possibly be made out to be the bad guy here? These games cost a ridiculous amount of money, buying them 2nd hand is the only way a lot of people can afford them. The producers think they deserve a cut of every little bit of money this game makes, but they don't. As someone else pointed out - do Ford expect a cut of the 2nd hand price of a car?

IT guy answers daughter's Facebook rant by shooting her laptop

bob 46

did you post this in the wrong forum? Srsly - what are you on about?

bob 46

I'm sure she saw the video within a few hours of it being posted - at a friends house, at school, on her phone, a friend's phone... more than one way to look at a video on teh interwebs.

I am aware that facebook isn't the same as a letter... my point about facebook was he's using the same medium she used - meeting her on her own terms, and that by doing it this way he is avoiding a F2F so he can get his point across without confrontation.

I think we read the situation very differently. He doesn't appear helpless in the least to me, and not sure where you've pulled "new GF" from. Could be his wife of many years. I also didn't read anything about him logging onto her FB account - she posted it to her FB wall. I'm not a FB expert by a long shot, but I don't think he needed to log onto her FB account to see that.

"he appears to think that issuing her a few edicts and leaving a to-do list in the kitchen is sufficient parenting..." These are the things mentioned in the video. You are assuming that is the only contact he has with her. To me he clearly cares very much about her upbringing so I am assuming quite the opposite.

I don't think we're going to change each others minds, but your post did make me watch the video again. I stand by what I said - I think the guy is doing his best to be a good parent, trying to shock some sense into his silly daughter.

bob 46

I see you haven't tried to defend a single one of the points you made.

"..reading a riot act to the world and dog *except* the child you meant to read it to..."

She made the post on facebook. He replied on facebook. This seems very sensible to me. He obviously feels very strongly about this (he chokes a few times in the video) and a face to face confrontation can easily escalate when both parties have strong feelings or a lot of history. This is why psychologists often recommend writing a letter to a person rather than discussing face to face. So using facebook seems doubly sensible. I think he has shown himself willing to go to great lengths and personal expense to make a valuable point to his daughter. He is most worthy of my respect.

bob 46

i fundamentally disagree

Fundamentally - if you don't do anything until your kid :

stays out all night

gets pregnant

does drugs

gets drunk

runs away

then you have left it way, way too late. If you deal with the small things consistently and reasonably then you should rarely if ever have to face the big stuff.

Also,

1. "He is acting an impulse revenge emotion" - no he isn't. He carefully considered his response, took the time to set up a camera and think about exactly what he wanted to say and do. Not impulsive at all.

2. "He is punishing using Extreme violence and I would be frightened what else he has in mind with that big gun of his." - he calmly shot a laptop after explaining exactly why he was doing it. There was not even the slightest suggestion of violence. I can't believe you don't see that.

3. "He is going behind her back to her firiends" - Other people have already dealt with this, he's checking up on her as a responsible parent.

The man is doing his very best to be a good parent. I salute him

bob 46

is it a waste?

This is so not a waste. He destroyed something valuable to make a point dramatically. He was saying "I would rather destroy this thing rather than tolerate you using it to disobey me". And I dare say is she learns the lesson, he will consider it a bargain at $150 or whatever.

Selling it on eBay wouldn't have worked. In your post, you're judging the laptop only by its material worth and in my opinion that misses the point.

Boffins uncloak G-rated teledildonic breakthrough

bob 46

wow also

So you live in a one bedroom flat devoid of decoration, without television or music. You own no consumer electronics except those required for you to do your job (which is directly related to aids and malaria relief) You eat only the cheapest food you possibly can, don't own a car, walk everywhere, wear only clothes from second hand shops and spend every spare penny on aids and malaria relief?

Because every penny not spent on aids and malaria relief is wasted isn't it.

That was quite sarcastic, but its because I strongly disagree with your comments. This may not be a world changing way to spend money, and honestly it looks quite pants to me, but I'm glad R&D is being done, because I work away from home a lot and sometimes a phone call isn't enough.

Angry Birds boss: Piracy helps us 'get more business'

bob 46

was with you until the last bit. Advertisers pay millions for adverts because they work. On everyone. It is a proven psychological effect which works both at conscious and subconscious levels and is pretty much unavoidable.

What car do you drive? What chocolate do you buy most often? What coffee do you drink? What bread do you eat?

People who don't think they're affected by adverts remind me of the quote : "The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist"

You buy the products whos advertising worked the best on you. Simples.

O2 apologizes for 'unintended' number-leak cockup

bob 46

Woah there

"..Given that its worth about $17 for a website to know the identity of a user.."

Where is that figure from?

Also, a mobile phone number is personal information (despite what the ICO says) but its not a name...

Spanish firm brings 20MW solar ‘ranch’ online in Arizona

bob 46

its about 1/25 acre per home (which I'm sure you worked out yourself - not trying to be patronising) but my point is - that sounds pretty good to me. Thats about 160m2 per house, or a square of panels just under 13 m to a side.

So yes, you could get a house and garden comfortably enough on that plot (well, a UK house and modest garden anyway), but I read this as the panels being in places people didn't want to live, so it sounds like good use of land.

New tap turns water into super-cleaning potion

bob 46

semi precious stones

This sounds great, although existing ultrasound cleaners can destroy some semi precious stones (I believe emeralds are particularly susceptible). Good idea to remove rings before using!

Google Books app splurts 3 million titles in UK launch

bob 46

No customization?

Did the person who wrote there is no customisation actually use the app? It has all the usual customisation ie. Font size, typeface, day/night, brightness and orientation, as well as linespace (first time I've seen that on a phone ebook app) and justification.

The price of books seems reasonable - £4.99 for Iain M Banks titles. Not sure if it was this that has pushed the proce down on Amazon, but Surface detail was more expensive as an eBook than paperback on Amazon a few months ago.

Its quite a clean, almost plain looking interface but what do you want from an ebook reader? We readers use our imagination - if you want beautiful visuals, WATCH A FILM!

Gov removes 'general appeal' rights for accused freetards

bob 46

seriously, does someone know the answer

So if I illegally download a movie (for example), and get a letter, and appeal against it saying "I didn't download honest guv, someone must've hacked my wifi" - what happens next?

Surely a search warrent would be needed to grab my computer, and find the offending file (assuming its still there) to prove it was, in fact, me and not someone hacking my wifi.

Seriously, what happens? Anyone know (I mean actually know, not speculate)

Coders howl over Google's App Engine price hike (natch)

bob 46

100,000 coders

How is one hundred thousand coders not a lot? It may not be a lot of people compared to the world population, but I would think it is a fairly significant chunk of the number of programmers, especially if you're just counting the ones developing for smartphone and tablet. I don't have any actual figures to back this up, but 100,000 coders sounds very significant.

Anyone know how many developers there are out there altogether?

Bury council defends iPads for binmen

bob 46

^Agreed. And also..

Many councils propose charging people who don't recycle enough. This is idiotic. It will only get people's backs up and encourage fly tipping, garden fires etc. Instead, increase council tax a bit, then use the extra to offer financial rewards for people who recycle more. See how that works? The same chavs who would be tipping their rubbish on the street or burning toxic plastic etc to avoid charges will now be actively out LOOKING for stuff to put in their recycling. Net cost exactly the same, net result much more recycling.

Ten... outdoor gadgets

bob 46

Viewranger

As someone who walks and wild camps regularly, I can honestly say that Garmin sucks. The best solution is a map and compass (and know how to use them) but failing that get a good warterproof pouch (~ £20), a spare battery, and put ViewRanger on your smartphone. Hands down the best mapping software available.

Three touts 21.1Mb/s mobile broadband dongle

bob 46

unlimited

three are doing a sim only mobile package that is genuinely "all you can eat". Does this not apply to their dongles too?

Just asking, not flaming.

UK will obey Euro unisex-insurance rules from 2013

bob 46

different approach

It seems to me that there is a real market for personally assessed insurance these days. As an example, I remember a friend of mine trying to insure his motorbike a few years back. One of the questions was "is the bike kept in a garage?". Now, he used to wheel the bike into his kitchen in the evening, which he tried to explain to the nice lady on the phone. But as it wasn't a garage, it didn't count, and he didn't get the 15% discount applied when the "garage" box was ticked. Common sense would say that it is safer in his garage than it would've been in the garage, which was rather ramshackle and several hundred feet from the house, but the nice lady was having none of it.

Insurance premiums are at ..well.. a premium. If a policy is likely to cost near £1000, why can't someone come round from the insurance company and assess the situation in person? Maybe go for a quick 5 min drive with the insuree? Look where its going to be stored, all that other gubbins. Then make a personal assessment. seems to me that way the statistics are moot, because it CAN be assessed individually

Brainscan breakthrough: Working robot limbs come closer

bob 46

shame

"Being wheeled around strapped to a very heavy MRI..."

shame you're not on this project - i bet they never thought of that

Also, your android phone doesn't have a metal detector, it has a compass. There's an amusing little app that analyses fluctuations in the compass to extrapolate if the phone is near metal. Clever, but not very reliable or powerful

Oracle seeks 'billions' with Google Android suit

bob 46

agreed

Exactly the point I was going to make. Unless Oracle can show, with detailed, dated evidence, that they had plans to do what google did to make shed loads of cash, then all they should be able to legitimately claim is any licensing fees they are owed.

It is a little bit like if an ace motorcycle rider rents a bike, doesn't tell the rental place he plans to enter it into a race, then wins the race and £1m prize money. Does the rental place have any claim to the £1m? No, as they had no way of winning that race. If the policy states there is an extra £100 fee if the bike is used in a race, they would be entitled to that, but thats all.

Any holes in this analogy? It was the best I could come up with

Cabinet Office talks to Facebook & co about new ID system

bob 46
Happy

well out of it in france?!

UK govt and IT is a farce, no arguments there. Agree with everything you said.

But you have moved to France and think you have no more IT worries?

three words:

Sar - Coz - Eee

Bwuhahahahaha!

Google and Amazon cloud music nears judgment day

bob 46

20gb of music = ridiculous

At approximately 1mb/minute, 20Gb is enough music for over 40 years, if you listen 8 hours per day, 7 days a week, without repeating a single track. My contention is that if your SD card was straining under all that music, the sensible thing to do would be dump some of it on your computer, as you're not going to listen to more than a tiny fraction of it within the lifetime of your phone, your SD card and probably yourself.

Israeli hover-jeep returns to flight testing

bob 46

lift

A rotating blade will act a lot like a wing in forward motion, so the fans may be the same? Choose the right angle of attack, and it may well provide more lift than vto. I'm not an expert tho :-)

UK.gov would pay to have benefit claimants' tattoos erased

bob 46
Paris Hilton

coverup makeup

If the tattoo is somewhere that can't be covered up, there is always the cheaper and easier option of coverup makeup available for a few quid.

Pandora's mobile app transmits 'mass quantities' of user data

bob 46

Freetards?

What has this got to do with freetards? Pandora is a totally legal, ad supported service. And do you think that because you PAY the person you give your data to, its safer?

Online car-buying firm agrees to more transparent pricing

bob 46

Flame grilled whopper

Hi, you're about to be flamed, and deservedly so.

96% of people didn't get the value they were quoted online. So your aquaintance is saying that 96 out of every 100 people, knowing their valuation may be lowered if they give false information, lied about the state of their car? Really? Is that "the main problem?"

And how is this the "lazy" people? The process is :

1. You go online and fill in several pages of information about your car, then

2. drive to the nearest "webuyanycar" garage, where the car is inspected and they give you a price.

Any other way of selling your car would involve either step 1 (eg. Autotrader) or step 2 (eg take it to your local car dealer), but not both. Not really sure how that saves you time...

It seems that, up until now, people have slagged them off a lot LESS than they deserve.

I notice you were careful not to describe this person as a friend. As the old saying goes :

"the character of a man can be determined by the quality of the friends he keeps."

Fire-quenching electric forcefield backpack invented

bob 46

forcefield

"Sounds like this is a similar idea"

Did we read the same article? My assumption was that a strong electrical field somehow supresses one of the many chemical interactions taking place in the fire. Your assumption was that the electrical field somehow completely re-writes the laws of physics, allowing pseudo-science from a completely fictional television show to become real.

Actually, I prefer your theory...

Anon Mail commenters to stay anon

bob 46

But..

The only problem with this ruling is it assumes the Mail has "..a sensible and reasonable reader .."

Seems unlikely

Scanner snares senior servant

bob 46

Works laptops locked down

A lot of companies lock down work laptops. Where I work, I can't install anything at all on my laptop so making it dual boot, or even installing a plug-in is impossible (actually, even getting firefox on there can't be done)

Bookshop swaps Kindles for real books

bob 46

problems

I read a lot and I would like to get an eReader. I won't at the moment for 2 reasons. The books are often MORE expensive (new Iain M Banks, Pattern recognition, £8 for the hardback, £10 for the kindle edition) and the unneccessary inflexibility. If books can be deleted from a Kindle remotely, then the technology is there to allow book lending / sale / trading. I read a book, then decide to give it to my mate / sell it on ebay / donate it to charity. I just specify a "Kindle address" and the book is deleted from my device and transferred to the one I specified. Where is the problem with that? Do paper book sales suffer from the fact that there are such things as second hand bookstores? No, I don't think so. I think Kindles would be more popular if this was possible. I know I would get one (as long as they sort out the pricing - don't mind paying the same, but don't see why I should pay more!)

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