* Posts by Giles Jones

2536 publicly visible posts • joined 13 Dec 2006

UK will obey Euro unisex-insurance rules from 2013

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Wrong

Women have more accidents on the road than men. They just have less serious ones that cost less to repair.

Men do the job properly and write the car off and few others in the process :)

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Double standards

You can't have it both ways.

If you want equality with men then you have to have everything equal. You can't pick the things you want and the things you don't want to be equal.

Earning less is more of a cultural problem in the UK, we are very secretive about our pay and so everyone can be on different wages and not know it.

So women are unique in that they are the only ones raising children? tell that to all the single male parents.

Aussie retailer accuses UK shops of HDMI 'scam'

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LOL

That would be like saying a higher quality USB cable results in clearer print outs from your printer.

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Oh dear

Better reproduction? that's a very confusing way of putting it. That suggests one cable would produce a better image than another, but the one which is producing the inferior result will be faulty as it is producing errors.

I would say a better cable reduces the chances of getting errors, but I suspect errors are very few and far between.

All you need to do is get the signal into the TV without errors. An average HDMI cable will do that no problem.

Why spend a fortune on high cables when the internal cabling of the TV is much much cheaper and works perfectly fine.

Apple v Samsung: Jobs strikes back

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Nokia to blame?

I think you need to see what started all this off. It was Nokia and others suing Apple. If that hadn't happened I think it less likely we would be having all these patent rows right now.

Any company that comes under attack is going to dig out patents to shoot back.

Ballmer leaves investors speechless in Seattle

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Big changes

Compare XP to Windows 7. Quite a difference in operation. That will require retraining for the less confident Windows users.

Microsoft feels the need to change the UI quite a lot between versions now. Apple on the other hand doesn't change things radically. Some Linux UIs don't change much either, although Ubuntu's choice of UI does.

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LOL

That made me laugh.

So why is this great company that make sharing data possible suing everyone on the planet for patent violations on the FAT filesystem? Why do they not support EXT3, 4 and other filesystems?

Microsoft are king of the file format lock in. Every time an open document format has been proposed by the EU they have knobbled it with their own version.

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LOL

Windows 7 = Vista fixed.

Slim XBox = XBox fixed.

Kinect - Wii control system re-imagined.

Auditor declares FiReControl a 'comprehensive failure'

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Erm

How much paperwork do you file, mail and fill in these days?

Very little I would hope, many of these databases were about eliminating paper copies of medical records. Every time your records are requested they are mailed around and when you move house and register with a new GP these files are again moved around.

If you want to store data electronically then you need a database.

Facebook promises 'awesome' launch next week

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Mobile

He said the iPad isnt a mobile device. Which implies that if you are at home then use a PC.

Google Go strikes back with C++ bake-off

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Learn something and stick with it?

Isn't this the whole problem? people keep throwing in new languages left right and center just when some of us have begun to master the ones we are using.

It takes quite a while to become proficient in a language and what is needed is refinements to what we have rather than new languages.

Just like the world doesn't really need another human spoken language every five years.

Do we really want 100Gig Ethernet?

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Coax

Not to mention coax with BNC in many cases. Often in a single bus so only one machine could talk at any one time.

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BNC had advantages

I did run a network lead out into the garage which was some distance away using TV aerial cable and that worked. Probably due to having very tolerant NICs.

Who'll keep taking Windows Tablets in the iPad era?

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Few innovations left these days

Scaling up a mobile OS and platform was an innovation of sorts. Everyone else was trying to scale down the x86 platform and full desktop OS, remember the UMPC market? that's died a death.

Notice how everyone is now talking about ARM and how x86 isn't so important anymore? that could be due to the realisation that instant on and off devices are what people want now. They want the best of mobile and the best of the desktop combined.

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Lack of imagination

Lack of imagination was the problem. It seems that people in charge at Microsoft are not forward thinkers, they don't seem to have any imagination when it comes creating something new. They are happy to clone other ideas and put their own spin on it once the competition has made a move.

When the tablet PC was being worked on there wasn't anything else to compare it with. So when key people (head of MS Office for example) at Microsoft were asked to adapt software to work with the new tablet input method they refused. It's almost like they can't see the merit of doing something unless someone else is bringing in cash for a similar product.

But this time there is a product they can refer to, they can made things happen as there's plenty of alternatives that are raking in cash.

'Lion' Apple Mac OS X 10.7: Sneak Preview

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Dual boot

You can always partition the drive and boot into an older copy of OSX?

Insider says doom looms at RIM

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Their own fault?

In some ways they set themselves up for a big fail. They hyped up their iPad killer and it turned out to be a flop both in sales and implementation. While geeks might love that it's QNX behind the scenes, the general public don't care if it's DOS, so long as it works well.

The reason the Playbook doesn't do email is pretty simple. Their services can't handle the situation of two devices synchronising to the same account, doh!.

Google left out of $4.5bn Nortel patent deal

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Offensively?

Microsoft has always offensively targeted other companies. But it's only once people started targeting Apple with IP allegations that they started being more active in pursuing others.

Nobody is going to just sit there and let themselves be bossed around.

Pricey Apple Thunderbolt cable inner chippery exposed

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Complex

Seems a bit complicated. But I guess using glass fibre wouldn't have been durable given the way jo public likes to tightly wrap up cables.

The Cube: Apple's daftest, strangest romance

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Trollface

No style gimbo?

So you look like Dwayne Dibbley i take it?

Oracle: 'Google owes $2.6bn in damages'

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Patents?

This isn't about patents. This is about IP and copyright.

Android's dalvik VM is based on an Apache project and there's been some reverse engineering to Java over the years to produce that.

Hackers pierce network with jerry-rigged mouse

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Eh?

Erm. Surely you can do anything if you have physical access to a computer on the network?

What was the purpose of the test? if you work at the company and do something illegal you'll get fired. Most organisations rely on goodwill and people being professionals.

If you wanted to cause mayhem you could more than likely just light a fire or turn the electric off.

Music on plastic discs still popular, apparently

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Erm?

Just what tax are they avoiding?

If I move to Monaco or some other tax haven then why should I pay taxes to the UK? your place of birth is not really important if you aren't living there. You're not obliged to pay taxes to the country where you are born.

Renault pledges Fluence ZE will be UK's cheapest e-car

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Too early to buy

This is the whole problem with electric cars at present. You may pay for a car now that becomes technologically obsolete shortly after when a better battery is developed, potentially leaving you with a car with no resale market or upgrade potential.

The range is not the problem so much as the recharge time. If you had a really small fuel tank in a conventional car you would just have to stop more often for fuel. But with electric cars you have to factor in an overnight stay.

Sony goes slim with the Vaio Z laptop

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PS2top

It looks very Playstation 2 in its design.

I like the way they have spun dropping the optical drive and making it seem like a feature. At least with the Macbook Air it's just lacking a drive and is up to you to add one if you really need it.

Mole maintains iPad 3, iPhone 5 out this year

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Erm

16:9 is a screen resolution designed for landscape orientation. It looks pretty daft in portrait orientation.

Apple’s long divorce from Samsung near final

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LOL

Talk about reality distortion field. Just because you don't like Apple that doesn't mean you can make up such utter tripe.

Since when has Samsung designed the iPhone software and hardware? erm, never. ARM design the CPU core in processors Apple use and Apple specify the rest of the chips contents. Samsung just manufacture them. Such simple manufacturing to designs means Apple can switch chip maker at any stage.

Apple's industrial design is ahead of the competition, if it was Samsung designing the phone then why would all Samsungs products look like the dull dark grey crap that everyone else puts out?

Microsoft nails second Android device maker

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Linux

The problem is not Android, it is Linux that is allegedly infringing. Build your product with VFAT and FAT32 support and you'll get sued.

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VFAT/FAT32

The one that seems to be the most defensible is the VFAT one. Extensions to the FAT filesystem to allow it to store long filenames.

Tomtom probably kicked this whole Microsoft patent bandwagon off by settling with Microsoft setting a precedent.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_Allocation_Table#Patent_infringement_lawsuits

Councils and police to publish speed camera data

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Eh?

What argument? speeding is illegal not matter how much more dangerous (or not) it is.

Those who want to argue that breaking the law should be allowed should not then be allowed to complain if their house is burgled. You can't have it both ways.

Galileo 'can deploy 24 satellites with existing funding'

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LOL

It's not competition as the US can switch it off if they want:

http://www.europeanvoice.com/article/imported/eu-ready-to-switch-off-galileo-to-aid-us-security/44459.aspx

US patent reform jumps through second hoop

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Penny dropped at last?

So have they finally realised that too much IP protection equals fewer jobs?

Patents make sense for the little guy building up a business on some new ideas, but too often it is mega corps suing each other. The recent spat of mobile phone patent wars should be enough proof of the problem.

It's funny how it took Microsoft being shafted by a patent to trigger the whole process off. It just shows how much influence they have in the US government.

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Hedge funds?

In some ways patents are like the activities of hedge funds.

Some corporations are buying patents and hoping they can get some return on them. Just like hedge fund bet on the success or failure of investments.

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Icons

It's not just about rounded icons, it was the number of icons, the packaging design, the look of the phone. One of these elements in isolation would have been forgivable but the whole package just looked like copying.

Winklevoss twins are back in Facebook's face

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Would it have existed?

The point is that it is hard to prove that Facebook would have existed (albeit under a different name) if Zuckerberg hadn't created it.

It's one thing to have an idea and another thing to create a successful implementation of that idea. Not to mention create a business model that works.

Dixons reports huge losses of £224m

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Monsterous

Even better, they sell Monster USB cables now. Probably with the sales pitch that your printouts will look clearer with a better quality cable.

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/mst-digital-life-advanced-high-speed-a-b-usb-cable-90cm-03661020-pdt.html

Winklevoss twins drop Facebook settlement appeal

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As much as Mark

They want as much or more than Zuckerberg obviously.

It's just insane jealousy.

Apple Snow Leopard update sets stage for Lion

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Cups

OSX uses CUPS for printing. It's possible the driver is dependent on a specific version of CUPS that needs to be bundled with the driver.

DRM-free music dream haunts Apple's app-store lock-in

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Consoles

What about games consoles?

Why does nobody mind paying for games, online service when you're locked in and can only buy games that have been approved? Games that cost £40 or more!

What about Windows? if you buy software for Windows and want to move to the Mac you don't get a free copy for Mac automatically.

Apple's next iPhone planned for September, says report

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Well duh

With one iPhone a year and about 20 Android phones released a year (about 5 of those from HTC) it's obvious the iPhone is going to lag a bit in terms of having the latest ARM processor.

But who changes their phone every year? most people are on 18 month contracts.

MeeGo and the Great Betrayal Myths of tech history

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It's not Meego

As others have pointed out elsewhere, this phone uses the Harmattan Maemo branch just before Maemo and Moblin merged to create Meego.

Apple's new Final Cut Pro X 'not actually for pros'

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Indeed

The whole reason FCP is so popular is the price. It has been a tenth of the price of some other pro video editing suites.

Apple to revamp desktop Macs

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Well..

I'd love to see you fit PCI express cards, 4 hard discs and a massive amount of RAM in a Macbook pro.

Not to mention two optical drives too.

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Won't happen

If they drop the Mac Mini to £399 then it makes the iPad price seem daft and we all know that other tablet makers have struggled to beat the iPad price.

Oracle seeks 'billions' with Google Android suit

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History

History says Google will lose. Microsoft produced their own non-standard JVM and they had to settle that with Sun.

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Wasn't opened for a reason

Sun didn't open source Java at they knew it would have broken the whole point of Java. Write once and run anywhere.

But then you can argue with JNI they did that anyway.

Of course, Java is pretty much dead on the desktop. There are some applications running on it but Java's big market is in web applications or database stored procedures (on Oracle).

Apple iMac 27in

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Audio interfaces

I have an Echo Audiofire 12 and theres no way I would buy another Mac without firewire. Okay I'm sure there is a thunderbolt version in the works but not yet available.

Gloomy forecast, job cuts, product delays at RIM

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Business Land

Has anything fun or exciting has ever come out of the business world?

It brought us x86, DOS, Windows, Office, FAX machines and the Blackberry.

The Blackberry is proof that you can't rely on one killer patented feature and if you do have a killer feature you might at least want to ensure that all your products have it. A tablet without 3G connectivity is of limited appeal to the travelling business man.

Most mobile operators do not like tethering and so tethering your Playbook (rubbish name too) to your Blackberry is likely to cause problems.

Boffins brew up formula for consummate cuppa

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Perfect cuppa

Loose leaf tea in a pot makes the best cuppa.

There's earlier research into the perfect brew:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3016342.stm

HTC U-turns over Desire Android 2.3 update

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LOL

Just goes to show it was possible and them saying the phone "doesn't have enough RAM" was just laziness.