Posts by Battsman

Mean Titles Suck

"Google Docs is less feature rich than Microsoft Office"

--Based on my limited experience with brower based exiting of Google Docs spreadsheets verses Excel.... That would be an ummmmmmmmm..... Understatement.

"offline is a problem"

--Perhaps the more appropirate statement would be "not possible" don't you think?

I'm as happy as the next guy that someone is challenging M$ and thus forcing innovation (e.g.: Amazing how much better IE has started getting again after the period of non-competitive stagnation). Similarly, I understand the cloud is a paradygm shift and that the associated toools will improve/evolve. However, the simplistic tool that is Google Doc's spreadsheets is so limited as to be laughable for complicated spreadsheets. (Or is the "paid" Google version just that much more feature rich?) Here's a very simple example: "Paste Special - Formulas" - You have "Paste Values" and "Paste Format," but no Paste Formulas??? To me that is a glaringly obvious lack that should never have been left out in the first place.

Fortunately, it will probably improve over time.

Qik Sucks

I took some minor personal pleasure in seeing the two QIK executives being released. That might have something to do with Sprint force bundling QIK's battery hog software onto my EVO without the opportunity to remove it sans root (and it is a work phone).

DARPA is like stock market speculation

I love the chaps that like to pile labels implying a bunch of crazies on DARPA. IM"H"O (*not so humble really*), DARPA acts like a well-funded group of stock speculators. Sure most of the bets aren't going to pay off, but the idea is that the few that do pay off, should pay off spectaclarly. We can poo poo every idea they chase as being unrealistic science fiction, but if you are trying to maintain the most effective fighting force available you don't wait to embrace every technology until it is proven. (If you wait then everybody has it and you have no edge).

Nobody would have believed stealth was anything but science fiction in the 70s, but the skunk works proved you can do some amazing things with plywood, paint, and angles. (Even with the non-scientists stick their noses in and demand changes that don't match up with the physics).

Frankly, we are destined for spectacular mediocrity if every scientific venture has to have a short ROI. Grow some long range vision people.

Sony Beta & <explitive> Disney

The commentary above saying Sony would be first to try and throw a wrench in the works is probably fair. My hope is that rather than chosing not to participate they chose to release a competitive solution that ends up on the BETA (vs. VHS) side of the compeition (as opposed to them winning the Blu-Ray argument).

RE: Disney they might end up having no choice, but to change their distribution practices if UltraViolet took off and became the defacto standard for distribution.

I'm cautiously optimistic that some of the media companies have finally figured out that not screwing the customer af every turn leaves them more amenable to you turning a profit....

On second thought, nah they've got a secret plan to screw us.

App Sto're

Would this be all settled if everyone else agreed to call them "App Sto'res" ? (Pronounced "sto ors" with a slight pause bein the middle).

Alternatively "FUSTEVE Stores" ?

I think I've heard of this somewhere before.

"The curves which produced the best results are then used as "parents" to create a new generation and the process is repeated as required in a survival-of-the-fittest process"

That description sounds like a genetic algorythm. Not knocking the idea - just curious if they even realize the approach they are taking has been in use in other industries for a long time. Might even be that that prior experience could optimize the process. nyeh who cares.

Morality vs. Legality

I would assume that AT&T has their legal ass covered on this one due to the contract. So probably from a legal perspective, they are "in the right."

However, in the moral sense they <insert invective and defamatory phrase here>. If you charge x for up to 2GB of data a month, then you should be willing to provide up to 2GB of data a month without trying to recoup through weasel fees.

For the ones arguing that their network can't handle the capacity of providing 2 GB to everyone - that's an invalid argument. They are selling the ability to provide 2GB of service via the contract - if they can't provide it then they are violation of their end of the contract. Basically, they are banking on everyone not using the full amount, but charging everyone for the full amount. If you would like to make the valid argument that they would need to charge everyone more (so they could upgrade their service capabilities) if everyone used 2 GB of service, ok...

I personally think the tethering by fee only clauses are crap - data is data - they should set a reasonable maximum for typical smart phone useage and charge by some logical quanta for use above and beyond the maximum - no special fees, no other crap - or you get to deal with users that would be fine with seeing your company burn down. I think that is a perfectly legitimate senitment - in fact is a sentiment similar to the way I feel about many airlines in the US and for the same reasons - due to their imcompetence they can't figure out how to charge fares and generate a profit so they have shifted to a profit by fees mentaility. (And they wonder why everyone f'ing despises them like the cock roaches they are.)

Of course all of the above is predicated on the ASSUMPTION that AT&T's contractual tethering langauge is legal - wouldn't be the first time that a company included illegal provisions in a contract. I'm just hoping a smart lawyer sees something in said contracts and a little thing called a class action suit comes to play. The roof... the roof... the roof is on fire... we don't need no water... let the.....

Just an observation...

The author of the article seemed to indicate that it would have made just as much sense for the law enforcement agency to ask the network operator to tell them where the phones were. However, if you want to minimize the number of people that know about your pursuit of x person then performing the location internally makes a lot of sense. (As an example, they might have concerns along the lines of "what if someone within the network operator's organization has been paid to let x know if someone inquires about them).

I think if you have a mobile phone on your person, you are at risk of being located. For the gentleman who suggested cash purchase of an unregistered SIM - the assumption in your statement is that no one you've given the number to (or that you have called) has ratted your number out. So, you better make that a number of cash SIM purchases for one shot use.

RE: "Ah, printing"

I'm an avid computer user - have been for years, I use a Kindle because I got sick of the waste (and the pile of paperbacks that I had no space for). I get my news via the Internet.

I still find printing an important part of my work. I find effectively and EFFICIENTLY marking up control schematics, logic diagrams, etc. with a keyboard and mouse to be next to impossible. NOTE: I'm not saying I can't do it, I'm saying I can't do it efficiently - and time is money.

Perhaps in another 5 years, I'll be able to use 3 or 4 monitors with a clean touch interface that would allow for efficient and quick manipulation of documents. However, the current technology (at least at a standard user's cost budget) just isn't there.

Or to put it another way, don't assume everyone's usage matches yours - printing is still a necessity for some people.

WiMax / Clearwire SUCKS (and I'd like to take $10 a month out of Dan Hesse's a$$).

As a "relatively" happy owner of an HTC EVO 4G on the Sprint network, I think it is fair for me to comment on the value of WiMax, Clearwire, etc to me... and that value is NONE. ZERO, ZIP, ZILCH, NADA.... <insert valueless descriptor here> I'm getting hit with a $10 monthly sucker tax for no return.

Oh and I doubt that anyone at Sprint would honestly question that statement knowing the phone I'm using and knowing Sprint's (Clearwire's) 4G "network." (Calling it a network is almost disingenuous).

Why?

1) Try and find actual coverage (and I live in a major city that is supposed to have really good coverage).

2) If you are actually getting 4G signal, you better be REALLY close to the tower / have a high strength signal or the network speed drops off like a rock. (If I'm a tick off of full strength on 4G, I'm better served to turn it off and use 3G if I want anything approaching reliably consistent bandwidth).

3) Bye Bye Battery - The EVO is not blessed with great battery capacity/life to begin with, but connect it to a 4G network and you can actually watch the battery meter drain down. (I'm really not joking about this).

4) Half of the Sprint applications don't even operate over 4G?!?!? WTF???? So I wanted to use Sprint's TV application a couple of months ago, but couldn't get it to operate. I call tech support because I know I should have access to it. I'm told to turn off 4G so that I can use it because they don't operate it over 4G - only their 3G network. WTF??? Video is the kind of application that 4G was intended for and you don't run your TV programs over it?

Hey Dan, you've been getting $10 a month out of a whole bunch of users who get nothing from your WiMax network - so quit your freaking whining. You don't deserve a first-mover advantage if this is the best you could make out of WiMax.

Stupid Question?

"All of which leaves us wondering if Zuck will change his mind about the pledge if his real world fortunes were to plummet?"

IMHO that is a stupid question - I imagine that almost ANYONE experiencing a serious "change in fortune" would modify their charitable commitments. Or to put it another way - kind of hard to give away what you don't have.

Based on half of what I've read, Zuck is probably a wee bit of a schmuck; but if he's willing to try and give healthy contributions to charity then perhaps it would be reasonable to lay off?