* Posts by Giles Jones

2536 publicly visible posts • joined 13 Dec 2006

Murdoch machinations mean Microsoft must rename SkyDrive

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ChairDrive - Transfer your data at the speed of a flying chair.

Egad! Could Samsung be cheating in Galaxy benchmark tests?

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Re: Proper mobile benchmarking

The benchmark should specifically set the Mhz/Ghz on the CPU and GPU to stop this being bodged.

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Mhz is just the oscillator speed. It's how much a CPU can do per cycle that matters.

Just like in a car where CC doesn't really matter, it is power to weight ratio.

Confidential Microsoft brief: 'We're TOAST if we fight Google on price'

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They're toast anyway simply because they can't create their own ideas any more.

Windows Phone strategy is just "Do what Apple do", so their platform is too restrictive and locked down.

Tablet computer strategy is "Try to do what Apple have done, but retain some Windows compatibility for enterprise".

Windows strategy is "Make Windows relevant as a tablet OS, screw the desktop users".

XBox strategy is "Shoot first, then see what Sony does, then copy Sony".

Clueless, unoriginal and more u-turns than David Cameron.

Quantum: You know how EVERYONE's moved to the cloud? Yep... us too.

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Do cloud providers think about outsourcing? they would end up like Gas and Electricity companies.

First look: iOS 7 for iPad

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Re: I like clean and minimalistic but..

True, that's why many OSes defaulted to a nice blue background. Although there is evidence that blue makes your brain think it is daytime and so sleeping is affected.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-07-08/news/ct-met-night-light-sleep-20120708_1_blue-light-bright-light-steven-lockley

Inside Intel's Haswell: What do 1.4 BEELLION transistors get you?

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Re: sandy -=> Ivy bridge. Should that not be

Absolutely :)

62,000 fewer shops: Welcome to the High Street of 2018

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Record Industry style tactics?

All those people buying goods online to be sued for causing great losses to the high street?

I'm pretty sure the idea of an Internet sales tax will appear again at some point as many of the big online sellers are masters at dodging tax.

Smartwatch face off: Pebble, MetaWatch and new hi-tech timepieces

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Re: Why bother?

If the watch has a low power display that can stay on then you don't need to prod it to turn the display on. You can just look at the screen.

LG beats Samsung to OLED flexi-TV with hella pricey 55-incher

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So just when we finally get rid of CRTs and have flat screens we're now starting to curve the screens the other way?

Hardware hacker unifies 15 retro consoles in format frenzy

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Re: At first

XBox? try Atari Jaguar, that's monstrous and doesn't even have analog controls.

iPads in education: Not actually evil, but pretty close

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Re: Any real reporting here?

Tablets are okay as replacements for textbooks. Although I would question the value of technology and why they seem to think £500 a pop on tablets is more useful than paper books which cost a lot less.

Apple buys indoor mapper WiFiSLAM

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Re: Better idea

Which is what people would have said when the service from Google originally launched. "You suck google, just use Ordnance Survey data".

Any service which relies on good data will take time to resolve.

BlackBerry Z10: Prices pruned despite eager iPunter interest

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Re: No pent up demand from current BB owners?

New platform and does it have lots of apps? now I know that a phone could realistically get away with just having a browser these days, but people like apps due to notifications and other integration with the device.

So no matter what the technical merits of a platform are, it needs support from software makers.

Samsung: Never mind Steve Jobs, let's snap off a piece of stylus biz

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Re: But seriously

I think he meant "if your tablet can't be used with fingers then you're doing it wrong". So having a UI designed such that you can't touch things unless you use a pointy stick is bad design.

Obviously supporting a pen or stylus as a drawing device is useful, but it should be an optional extra just like using a Wacom tablet for drawing is optional.

Apple blocks Java on the Mac over security concerns

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Which makes sense if it is just blocked in the browser.

But blocking the execution of JAR files and being able to develop with Java, Eclipse and so on would be bad news.

Car dashboards get Nokia HERE without a phone in sight

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Re: Expected lifetime?

What's the solution though?

You need for the motor manufacturers to agree some sort of in-built computer standard and screen standard. But this can be a bit too limiting as standards move along very slowly due to the committees needing to agree on every little detail.

'We are not concerned about your patents at all' - Jobs

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Microsoft has never really been a visionary company in terms of technology. They are or were the visionaries of how to do business though. Of course being in the right place at the right time was lucky for them, it's not hard to sustain a business when you had a monopoly on the business desktop.

Microsoft proposed the tablet computer in 2001 which was a good idea, they just didn't have the right idea about technology and how to bring that vision to the masses.

If you look at the history of the Microsoft tablet you'll see that everyone in the company who opposed the idea just didn't understand it or didn't like it. Probably more obsessed with how much money it would make rather than how good it could be. That's proof of a huge lack of future gazing.

Samsung set for compensation talks over staff death claims

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Re: Unlike Apple subcontractor Foxconn ...

Stop trying to distract people from the problems at Samsung.

Google are evil and so it seems are Samsung. This is how they can keep making big profits and not give a stuff about the little people.

Apple on the other hand have a good record at auditing suppliers and publish the information:

http://www.apple.com/uk/supplierresponsibility/auditing.html

Dotcom's Mega smacks back: Our crypto's not crap

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Re: Yawn. Bored with 'Mega' now.

Or he watched Megaforce as a kid (the inspiration for Team America).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KpfKp-gv6s

Ballmer now flings out work rivals, rather than chairs, claims ex-Microsoftie

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Contrast that with Apple and Jobs. Jobs had a good idea and then told everyone to do something to realise the idea.

With Microsoft the ideas fight their way to the top to get a decision from Balmer. This is why you really need someone who is looking to the future in charge.

‘Anonymous’ hacks Oz Uni’s email to protest bulk iPad buy

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Re: Pretty good deal for Apple

Have you not seen the interactive textbooks for the iPad then?

There's not really any equivalent for any other tablet.

Cheapest way to get textbooks too apparently:

http://www.cultofmac.com/185222/why-your-ipad-is-almost-always-the-cheapest-way-to-get-your-textbooks-back-to-school/

UK falls behind in global graphene patent race

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So if Samsung is such a nice company who hates patents and court cases, why are they trying to very hard to wrap up the whole graphene market so nobody else can make it without licencing their IP?

They're evil just like any other money grubbing global giant.

Inside the new climate row as Mystic Met Office goes cool on warming

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Re: Not the Met Office's fault.

How else do you explain the extreme weather we've been having?

Floods almost every single year and in places not built on flood planes.The weather in the whole world is getting more unpredictable and crazy. Landslides, floods, droughts and so on.

You can choose to ignore it, but perhaps you will come around to climate change when it affects you directly.

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Re: The meme that there has been no warming in 16 years is false

There's a lot of water on the planet and it is this which is warming more? this is why the ice is melting and it is raining more drastically? water evaporating tends to produce clouds?

Reuters rubbishes report rubbishing cheap iPhone rumor

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Re: I can't see it...

So why do they sell iPods then?

New York's Chelsea gets free Wi-Fi courtesy of Google

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All of your Internet traffic scanned, data mined and personalised adverts sent to you, while a profile of your habits and searches are sent to a selected group of partners. Or Free Google WIFI as it will be known as.

Sir James Dyson slams gov's 'obsession' with Silicon Roundabout

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Re: Web fads and video games

Generate millions of revenue, what about profit?

Like other creative industries they hate paying tax and have asked for tax breaks. That's not really contributing is it?

Ubisoft probes sudden rash of hijack attacks on gamers' accounts

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Lets not forget that Microsoft proposed something similar that nobody took up, the Passport system.

At the time everyone said it was a bad idea, hackers getting access to the passport would have access to every site you use with the Passport.

Funny how that argument seems to have gone away.

Hey, Apple and Google: Stop trying to wolf the whole mobile pie

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Re: I lost interest here:

I'm guessing you've never rented a film from Apple then?

Micron struggling to get its flash surfboard up on the crest

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Race to the bottom, thanks to Google and others trying to get prices down so they can flog cheap phones and tablets to people, while destroying the industry in the process.

Kickstarted mobe charger 'kicked to death by Apple'

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Re: Hmmm

Micro USB as a connector sucks, small fiddly and directional. The Apple connector is actually a good idea, it's just that they don't let anyone else use it.

But it is a sad day when you have to rely on a port connector as a selling point for your device.

Cheaper, slimmer Google Nexus 7 rumored for Q1 2013

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Re: lets just modify a typical Fandroid commentard on an iPad article

After about 2-3 years FFS.

ICANN'T believe it's not Apple: Vatican wins domain-handout lottery

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Exactly right and such a cash cow for the DVLA as well. So imagine the dough they'll rake in with this? with no competition in the market either they can charge what they like.

UK gov probes Comet crash: Public, private sectors LOST £257m

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£10M fee for Deloitte? that's a good business to be in. Never mind venture capitalists, how about vulture capitalists.

Such fees are only really justified if they fix the companies problems and keep it afloat.

The 30-year-old prank that became the first computer virus

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Re: You lost me at...

Apple claimed to be the first to sell a million despite Commodore's Vic 20 getting there first.

Windows Phone 8 must be Microsoft's priority one, two AND three

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Re: Developers Developer Developers????

Deprecating gives you the chance to move, these platforms still work they just won't get extended.

You're always fighting against the language barrier on any platform, every smartphone platform is now using a totally different language.

Perhaps if people hadn't moaned about the original iPhone being limited to Apple apps only then this while app ecosystem wouldn't have appeared in such a dramatic form and the mobile web would have developed?

Hearts, minds and balls: Microsoft's Windows 8 Surface gamble

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Re: Running Windows software

They didn't have a touch optimised UI. Windows 8 adds the touch UI that will fully work well with Windows store apps.

Obviously legacy apps are different matter, I guess in future computers will be split into two categories. General use and creative workstations, the simple touch screen interfaces won't cut it for Photoshop, video editing, CAD and sound engineering purposes.

iPod daddy: Ousted iOS chief Scott Forstall 'got what he deserved'

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Re: Bit off topic

Oh please, do your research before you provide your evaluation of a product. The Nest thermostat learns your routine of when you are there or not. It is a lot more intelligent than anything else on the market.

It's just a shame that the installation is such a pain.

Prisoner found with phone + charger in anal cavity

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Pay as you go?

The call of nature?

Bash Street bytes: Do UK schools really need the Raspberry Pi?

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Kids learn science but aren't necessarily going to be scientists, they learn maths but most likely aren't going to be mathematicians or statisticians. They learn history but aren't going to be historians or archaeologists. They learn RE but aren't necessarily going to be priests or bishops and so on.

So what's wrong with them doing some coding when they probably won't all become programmers?

Nokia Lumia 820 WinPho 8 review

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Re: Wireless charging

Not to mention on airplanes, where you aren't going to see them provide mains sockets or USB leads are you?

Design guru: Windows 8 is 'a monster' and 'a tortured soul'

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Re: He is right.

See what he thinks of a popular Android tablet, is he still right? lol

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/kindle-fire-usability.html

Android usability is pretty dire.

Windows Phone 8 reboot woe causes outpouring of forum misery

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Re: duh

Which is why it says 90% share on the desktop duh!

Servers are not what people use directly, they are use indirectly.

OMG! Aaaah! Apple TV! Yes! No ... Probably! Sometime!

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It seems really daft to move from a TV system where you can choose each TV on its picture quality. size and price to one where you have to buy a certain TV set to be able to receive certain programmes even if the TV isn't what you want.

Woz: Microsoft's innovation lead 'worries me greatly'

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Re: Apple is certainly in a rut

The problem seems to be an obsession with engineering and design challenges instead of thinking how they can make the end users life easier or make a given task more efficient.

Few people really care if a phone is 8mm or 11mm thick.

Lawyer sues Microsoft rather than slot an SD card into his Surface

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Re: MS should just post him a free sdcard

But you could at least use all 64k if you knew what you were doing.

With the surface even the bootloader is locked down, so it's not like you can wipe it.

Sinclair BASIC comes to Raspberry Pi

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I have about 5 or so old books on programming the Spectrum, they're a fun way to pass a rainy day and you can show the kids of today that they don't know they're born. Typing in two or three pages of crudely printed basic listings only for it to not work or do very little.

Intel uncloaks 'highest performance' desktop processor

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Re: Desktop processor is the dead?

There are still gamers around, but never seen the point of buying the high end, as you pay that premium repeatedly to keep pace with change.

If you're making money from your computer then that's a different thing.