Posts by Dave 126

Make up your mind whether you're talking about the resale value of iMacs or iPhones.

Several studies, made in different ways (ie event monitoring software, returns to manufacturer, customer surveys) suggest that Apple computers are fairly reliable.

>Can't see why anyone would bother versus Windows 8 touchscreen ultrabooks like the new Asus S7....

Adobe (and many other) productivity applications don't scale well on Win 7/8 laptops with very high dpi displays, according to reviews of the few Win laptops that boast 'retina'-like screens. (See Toshiba Kirabook)

Re: 1024x600

At least you can turn a tablet through 90º... I've only used a netbook for internet browsing once, and kept wishing I could do the same. It wasn't so much the poor resolution that made browsing a chore, but rather the letterbox screen ratio compounded by the presence of Address and Toolbars.

Re: I'm not sure Microsoft *has* won.

>Windows 8 is a toy.

but some of the applications that run it are not.

>The jury is out on the cause, you're right, but it's not like Toshiba, Samsung et al are falling over themselves to try much other than punting out Ultrabook style machines running W8.

Agreed, most of the manufacturers are content to stick Win 8 on it with maybe some included software to restore a Start Menu. Toshiba do have an ultra-high res laptop available, but at Macbook Retina prices (and Adobe Creative Suite doesn't play nicely with very high DPI displays under Windows).

Lenovo have some interesting machines though, from their 'Yoga', to their dual-screened Wacom-digitisered beast of a mobile workstation.

All of which are reasons to 'wait and see' for the time being.

>Given the glacial uptake I can't help but think the major laptop makers are missing a trick in not offering a pre installed viable alternative to Windows 8

Well, the jury is out on the cause for this slow uptake of new laptops...

Many people don't like the look of Windows 8

Other folk are in no rush, and are so happy to wait to see how their friends get on with Win 8 over a longer period of time, or if Microsoft release a 'service pack' that makes it more to their liking. They might even be waiting to see how Chromebooks develop before recommending one to a family member.

At the the same time, many people already own a computer that serves their purposes perfectly well.

Some people are finding that for their purposes, a tablet is good enough.

Some other people are feeling skint.

Re: Caps Lock?

PS

I was almost tempted to cannibalise an external USB keyboard to create a 'Caps-Lock Indicator USB Dongle', but I didn't bother in the end!

Re: Caps Lock?

My mother had a Toshiba laptop that had no Caps-Lock indicator, and its absence annoyed the hell out of her. I really don't know what the designers were thinking. There is some software available that will place a Caps Lock indicator in your Windows Taskbar, but in the end she just bought a new laptop.

On a more general note, the Caps-Lock key is overly large given how infrequently it is used... all the other larger keys on my keyboard, such as Space, Return, Enter, Shift, Backspace etc are used very often indeed. I really wouldn't mind if Caps-Lock was relegated to a small key above Esc.

(In a mail room in which I used to work, there was a PC with one function- using a DOS-based piece of software to generate and print courier labels... it was a very fast, keyboard-only interface - unless I accidentally hit the 'Insert' key. Eventually I prised the offending key out of the keyboard and Sellotaped it to the keyboard. It is not only software that can be tailored to suit the user!)

Re: Looking in the right places?@A J Stiles

AC, he said it will 'probably work' - meaning that he wasn't trying to convince you of anything.

Re: Does it need Linux drivers?

Agreed - does Gigabyte need to be hosting the drivers?

I have a Dell laptop with shipped with faulty Windows drivers causing a BSOD, despite their website claiming they were up to date. So I sought out drivers from the Original Component Supplier's website. My uber-geek mate said that Dell weren't great at supplying the latest drivers, so it was always best to go straight to source- and even recommended a piece of 3rd party software that aided this exercise.

In fairness to Dell, I should mention that the laptop came from their 'Refurb' site, so a saving of a few hundred pounds was, for me, worth the bother of a few hours TLC.

Re: Jaunting?

Curiously for Sci-Fi that concerns itself with 'the next step in human/sentient entity evolution', The Stars My Destination is set in a world where everybody has developed the ability to teleport themselves, and society has adjusted to this. In the book, everybody can 'jaunt', within a certain distance (so spaceships are still required) and that they know where there are going. As a consequence, terrestrial vehicles are toys not necessities, and rich people use labyrinths to protect their privacy.

Alfred Bester's short stories also explore consequences of people possessing powers they don't understand, in a serious way... I can't help but think his experience as a sports writer (young people gifted with 'special' physical abilities, etc) influenced his subject matter.

Well recommended.

Re: Concierge?

My first thoughts were of that Vertu service, too.... specifically, how does Mr Rockwell deal with 'mission creep'? Once could imagine people ringing up to have text messages sent to relatives, but also to have tickets booked on their behalf, the weather forecast read to them, or £20 put on a horse...

I would imagine that to begin with, he'll want to avoid the headache of keeping payment details secure, and avoid the negative publicity that might come from 'offering exclusive deals to our clients".

Re charging

Good point - I'm in my thirties and I find microUSB connectors a bit of a faff. I know that they are D shaped, but still I need to look closely to work out which way I need to plug them in.

MicroUSB requires both good eyesight and digital (as in fingers) dexterity. I haven't used the iPhone 'Lightening' connector, but it would appear to be a better design than microUSB - unidirectional, and rounded edges (unlike the sharp edges of stamped metal found on USB)

Purely for charging, an old 'Nokia charger' plug is nice and easy to insert. I haven't used any wireless charging solution, but assume that it would be a good feature for this market.

>What a dumb idea. Seriously dumb, not to mention insulting to your target market.

By definition, his target market don't read The Register. A significant percentage of our older population have never been on-line- something that has implications for government services and ultility companies that only offer their best rates to on-line customers.

>Being a senior citizen doesn't mean you suddenly become dumb as a brick, what it is likely to mean is impared eye-sight and/or hearing.

Ageing affects people differently. Most people will suffer poorer eyesight at some point - and for those, a conventional flip-phone with large buttons will be the good solution, or perhaps one of the phones designed for the elderly market

However, some of us might develop chronic arthritis, or perhaps one of the many forms of Alzheimer's, to one degree or another. Many studies suggest that if people with Alzheimer's are surrounded by the trappings of their youth - interior decor, music etc* - they are happier and less likely to be confused, so replicating the familiar 'Hello operator, please connect me to...' experience of their youth is a good idea.

*There is a elderly care home /community in Holland, I believe, with an entire street set out as it might have been several decades ago. The shops are real, but with products and layouts reminiscent of the 1950s, and is used by members of the public and not just residents. Should a resident have a funny five minues and wander out of a shop without paying it is no problem, the shop keeper just makes a friendly phone call to a carer.

Re: Surely there's some armature?

@Mongo - good point

@Don Jefe - Thanks for the info

Though the following article is about compressive strength, so doesn't apply to cantilevered structures, it is still a quick fun read:

http://gizmodo.com/5965451/how-tall-can-a-lego-tower-be-before-it-crushes-itself

Re: Not a hivemind

>from this admittedly small sample has shown that the chances of such a gun not working as intended is one in two,

Hopefully that at least might deter some would-be killers from trying to use one... until someone releases 3D printing blueprints for a really good prosthetic hand!

Re: "The point is it has now been shown these things deliver a bullet with lethal speed. "

I get the impression people are too taken by the 'just Ctrl-P to print a gun', when it isn't the most suitable process for the job. This goes for quite a few other '3D printing' applications, too.

Just watching the way this printed 'gun' disintegrates in the video illustrates the inherent weakness in having a round hole in a series of strata... that much at least will be familiar to anyone who has worked with wood, which is also has a 'grain'.

There are some ways of achieving a concentric 'grain' structure around the chamber and barrel (I'm thinking more of stopping someone from losing their fingers, rather than helping them shoot somebody) of this 'gun' without any special tools... it's just that deposition-based additive manufacturing isn't the way to do it.

Re: Why when Radio is already free?

>What's so bad about DAB?

- Batteries in portable DAB radios don't last very long

-The codec used in DAB doesn't sound very nice

-In areas of poorer reception, the sound of DAB breaks up in a way that is more unpleasant than poor FM

- It is fragmented across countries

- The price of DAB receivers has never come anywhere close to that of FM radios.

Since current DAB adoption is currently poor, we may as well skip it and adopt streaming of radio content: The sound quality can be better, and it offers thousands of stations, not just dozens. We are not all at that stage yet, but we might be close in a few years.

Re: Another retarded music service begging for an audience, fools and their money...

>Why not provide REAL VALUE and offer a straight 3G/4G INTERNET CONNECTION with no roaming or data rate charges that would let you use multiple streaming services AND have in car WIFI hotspot capability, telephony, etc etc etc??????????

Because that would impact on sales of traditional phone-based data tariffs. What makes this deal acceptable to Vodaphone is that it is tied to one specific service- the customer will still be paying a separate bill to Vodaphone (or a competing network) for their phone's data allowance for email and internet browsing etc.

>Nooooo, that would make too much sense. As to "digital radio" again this is ONLY a plot to take away simple terrestrial radio, let's take a mature product, put a new name on it, fuck up the signal quality so it sucks so bad we can sell them on shit that works even worse.

Which is exactly why I welcome this product as a step in the right direction - with luck, music streaming will, in time, render DAB obsolete, and maybe we will be allowed to keep FM. I like FM, the equipment is reliable and batteries in a portable radio last for weeks.

Re: WOW

>Only those for whom '(money > sense) == true', methinks.

Maybe, but then they have already paid thousands of pounds more for a car than they strictly have to... so one assumes they won't miss the money. Then imagine how much they have spent on their home HiFi system...

I f paying a couple of hundred for DAB and getting a few dozen more stations (not necessarily in your language or to your taste) is justifiable, how is then spending an extra few hundred for hundreds of streamed stations a sign of idiocy?

(My car- not a BMW- is the one with the the £50 Lidl stereo, featuring an SD card and USB port, line in, FM radio and CD player - the latter never used. Loads of albums on the SD card, the USB socket is ideal for charging my phone since the fag lighter socket is playing up. Line in for when I really want to stream a podcast from my phone. Sorry - I just wanted to mention something that was modestly priced, useful and good at what it does)

>great idea, one small problem. how is a flat fee of £300 going to pay for the costs to BMW? The roaming charges alone for a days use would be more than that.

From the article:

"What's unusual and interesting about the deal is that it includes 3G access to the music - via Vodafone's mobile network - across Europe"

So, one assumes that BMW have made a deal with Vodaphone... and Vodaphone would rather make some money from this system than make no money at all (which is what would happen if they insisted on their usual roaming fees - since nobody would then bother with it). Since it is tied to one service (music) it is not 'cannibalising' the data tariffs they sell for phones.

Re: Why when Radio is already free?

>I just dont get it. Any data dongle can stilll do that and beam it into the stereo system !

Answered in the article:

"you can get Rara's music catalogue and playlists, without any extra charges - particularly roaming charges - or extra cables or devices. "

If you used a dongle without being careful, you could arrive home to a massive roaming phone bill. Whilst you can stream to your car stereo with extra devices, it is not as convenient as having it integrated with the car - both for ease of use (safety) and connection to the car's aerial.

I've been hoping that this is the way things are going - so we can all forget about DAB.

Re: Wrist-based technology needs two hands ...

Um, you don't have to let go of whatever your left hand is holding just because your right hand touches your left wrist. Or vice versa.

You don't have to touch your watch to read it.

Tiny buttons? The rotating bezel (a method of user input) on my watch is larger than any buttons found on my phone- and is a far quicker and convenient way of reminding myself when to take my dinner out of the oven than using a phone timer. There are other ways a watch could accept user input, too - such as shaking it or tapping the watch face.

Re: Halo?

>>#1. "The shared graphic memory is exactly what people like Carmack have been waiting for."

>Can you expand on that please...?

I can't speak for Zot, but he may have been thinking of this interview with John Carmack (iD software - lead programmer of Commander Keen, Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Quake) discussing graphics architecture, memory, PCs vs Consoles and of course, his then-upcoming game Rage:

http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Editorial/John-Carmack-Interview-GPU-Race-Intel-Graphics-Ray-Tracing-Voxels-and-more

Re: Lost inventions

Yeah, I understand that he hinted on a radio interview that his family knew.

Just how rich did he want to be out of it? It seems he spent decades turning down millions of pounds for the hope of billions. He must have been very confident that nobody else would stumble across the formula whilst he was sitting on it.

If it existed, it is baffling that it hasn't been replicated. If it didn't exist, it is baffling that the military labs said it worked. One doesn't really want to suggest that it works and the military really know the formula, nor suggest that it didn't work and the military had their own reasons for saying otherwise.

Odd, odd, odd.

Re: Lost inventions

>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlite

That really is an odd one... I remembered the demonstration on Tomorrow's World, and the military seem to think it works...

Other tests at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico and the Atomic Weapons Establishment on the island of Foulness, UK, confirmed that Starlite was the real deal. At Foulness, researchers used an arc lamp, essentially a powerful tungsten bulb, to focus a huge amount of heat onto a small area of the material. Again an impressive performance: the material easily withstood temperatures of around 1000 °C, according to a 1993 article in the military publication International Defence Review.

-From issue 2864 of New Scientist magazine, page 40-43.