Posts by Charlie Clark 12169 publicly visible posts • joined 16 Apr 2007
Has Google also signed 90 day agreements with the hackers to lay off while the patches are done?
Why should it? Part of the deal with OEMs is that they get advance notice of the patches and it's them who are liable. Integrating upstream patches and providing timely releases should be part of any OEM's lifecycle. But we probably won't see much action here until the courts force them.
I managed to do something stupid to my keyboard - they shipped an entire new keybard assembly to me to pull the replacement keys I needed from - free of charge.
Not sure why you think that making the user do this is good, I just think it's an invitation for them to break it. In any case, nearly 4 months later I'm still waiting for replacement keycapps in the layout of the phone I ordered. Currently, I can't even install the Gemini Keyboard app from the Play Store. I supplied a logcat report two weeks ago…
I'm interested but for heavens sake why do we need 6gb of RAM and a server grade multicore processor?
Hardly a server core but the article does cover some of the reasons that more oomph makes sense for this device, not least to manage all those radios. These CPUs are not "server grade" and the screen isn't small: it's high res so there are a lot of pixels to push around. Android might not be the most efficient OS out there but that's not stopped it becoming the most popular and juggling all thoses resources in real time is never as easy as it seems.
It's not been abandoned but, given how dependent it is upon the largesse of Mediatek in providing drivers, I wouldn't hold my breath. It's far more important that they manage to release regulat security patches and updates for Android first before they spend resources on other OSes. Two security updates (June and October) since launch isn't impressive.
A properly designed slider phone…
… is harder than you think. You have to get a lot of things right like the weight distribution and mechanical and electrical stability.
The Gemini isn't suitable for one-handed use except maybe just to answer calls. But the hinge does make it a very portable little notebook and feels "right" with the Gemini, albeit if the hinge does work loose.
Still, you should really be discussing this with Martin Riddiford who can probably explain why they've done it this way, or at least why they didn't go with the a slider.
Planet's after sales support is, unfortunately, very poor. It's not for want of trying but they are just not set up for it.
I have one of the early Gemini's and had to replace the keymat because the spacebar wasn't reliable. Unfortunately a couple of the keys were damaged during the replacement, which you have to do yourself. I prefer to have a German keyboard and have been waiting for one since July. I was due to be sent a set UK keys but looks like I was sent US instead: nothing comes with a delivery note.
I couldn't do the recent OTA upgrade so had to do another manaul flash. Everything is usable and a friend of mine is using the Gemini as his main device. Like others, the hinge on mine is working loose. I suspect that a normal company would have simply replaced the device by now as the first batch was know to have problems.
I can understand why they want to push on with new models, but I think they will fail if they do not improve support significantly. The people I know who need devices like these won't mind spending a bit more for reliability.
Very biased sample. Loads of Brits made invaluable contributions to chemistry even if it's not as fashionable at the moment…
John Dalton, Humphrey Davy to get the party started. But Maxwell should also be on the list, while Baird can take a walk.
If you want to stick to computers then go with with Babbage and Lovelace together.
Every time I come across one I'm reminded of Groucho Marx's quip about not wanting to be a member of any club that would let him join…
All this value-signalling is doing fuck all to improve the glaring imbalance of levels of education in America. But, you know, that might involve raising taxes again. Far easier to do some hand-wringing, make thie right noises and some tax deductible donations to a captive non-profit.
If Apple wanted to put their foot down and stop Netflix bypassing they could really hurt them.
Nail on head, hit. Which is why Apple is trying to be better at services and let's face it, it's done well enough to create a pretty captive market that is loathe to leave the fold. I think betting on the higher ASP is a bit short-sighted but Cook has the numbers and knows more about this than I do. But even if it doesn't work out, they've still got millions tied into their services and might well try and offer their own exclusive content. After all, we know that the trustbusters seem to be blind when it comes to Apple.
I think they make good products but I also think, that just like everyone else, they love a restrictive practice when they see it.
I have only two groups but have so far found the spam protection pretty good. One group requires moderation by first time posters, the other one you just need to be registered. I get occasional spam reports for the stuff that Google thinks is probably spam and it usually is. Funny thing was last week that my own e-mails were suspected, probably due to being on an anonymous VPN at the time.
But I guess volume may depend on the subject. If in doubt, however, enable moderation of posters.
NB. this has nothing really to do with software security.
How many VMs can I run on one of these iPad Pros?
While I agree that you do have a point, how many people need to use lots of VMs? I suspect that people who really do need a lot of VMs are probably fairly flexible about their choice of host OS. Anyway, as I'm sure you're aware, VM performance is heavily I/O dependent and I think that's going to be the bottleneck here (along with the performance hit if you need other architectures). But could such a device be okay assuming it comes with a good SSH client to your VM park?
My biggest worry with all this is trying to force people to abandon local file systems. Yes, it's convenient if you do work with multiple devices that the relevant files are easily available on them all, but it's not worth the risk of them not being available because you have a shitty internet connection.
but I run rather heavy (and well parallellised) image processing code
How much of this can be done by the GPU? I suspect that RAM and bandwidth might be the limiter here, but, yeah, I suspect it will run significantly slower if at all on I-Pad than it does on your current hardware.
I've nothing per se against the I-Pad route (for many tasks a suitable replacement for a notebook), except that I do want full control of the OS so that I can install my own libraries. Wonder if there will ever be a version of IOS that gives us a terminal and sudo?
Plus, the case allows me to choose a level of protection to suit me, and other customisations that could never practically be offered across a range of phones.
Do you, by any chance, work for the marketing department of The Sirius Cybernetics Corporation? Because it certainly sounds like it!
Actually it's a case of form follows function: why not use the area of the phone that is in line with the camera and ear piece to display notifications?
It isn't because it involves special-casing of content, hence the ridiculous attempt to get the notch supported in CSS. It also ignores the functional imprortance of the bezel. It might look lovely to have a single piece of glass, a sort of infinity screen but I'd rather mine had a little more protection, including from my own fingers.
I'm pretty certain that Apple will drop the notch at the first opportunity.
I've asked myself many times over the past year why manufacturers make such a big deal of the front camera
It's this years go faster stripes / 3D TV. And Apple has one. For about two people in the world the idea of a minimal bezel for a device for taking selfies is impressive. That it's actually poor industrial design because it's a classic case of function following form: "if we add a notch we can reduce the bezel for a lot of the screen" doesn't register when you're looking for a new way to differentiate your expensive tat from the rest.
And people will buy them only in turn to gleefully replace them in a couple of years with screens without notches once the non-existant problems have been solved differently.
I mean IBM could invest $1 billion more in their cloud stuff every quarter for the next 8 years with that kind of cash
I'd rather they spent at least half of it on Watson. Let's do other things wit ML / AI than facial recognition.
I could see Red hat being bought for $5B or something, but $30+ ?
10 times revenues is about standard taking into consideration future growth prospects with one competitor less. But, yeah they're overpaying especially with current stockmarket developments.
Since the 1980s and the PC brigade have only just noticed? If they're that bothered they just shouldn't go.
The NIPS acronym is distasteful, unprofessional, or inappropriate,
It is none of the above but a suitable abbreviation for the extremely wordy title Neural Imaging Processing Systems. Still maybe it could renamed to something like Boring Bastards Bore Each Other and Everyone Else.
Apache & Postfix are from IBM?
I couldn't swear it but I'm pretty sure both were released as "EWS" and IBM may even have had a hand in setting up the Apache Foundation. It did have a fine tradition of releasing stuff it didn't intend to pursue commercially: EWS was all about absolving IBM of any liability.
I think the problem now is that just does a lot less research and is less savvy than, say Google, in getting developers to work on Watson than TensorFlow.
IBM is possibly the most anti-FOSS company in the world today. Their absolute hatred of the GPL, everything.
Just because one hates the GPL doesn't make one anti-open source, but even that claim isn't true. IBM was making code open source before the term was even coined. Hence we got Apache, Postfix and REXX and a heap of other goodies. It was also one of the first companies to make significant contributions to Linux.
The real issue is that for seveal years IBM has been looking for a new corporate strategy and has thrown a lot of people under the bus on the way. It's difficult to see this purchase, for which they have significantly overpaid (well over 10 x revenues) brining the breakthrough.
Of course no sane voter would have voted for Brexit, knowing the EU would play hard balls.
I'm not sure sanity had anything to do with. But neither did the negotiating stance of the other 27 member states. For many people it was seen as an opportunity to stick two fingers up at "the establishment".
@Len odd examples. Leaving the single market means that you no longer have access to a large domestic market unlike your new competitors from the USA, China, India and your former friends in the EU. Within the single market company A (in the Midlands) is probably working with company B (in Belgium) as part of a supply chain where the absence of non-tarriff barriers allows both companies to specialise to their mutual advantage (à la Adam Smith).
The UK government could rescind its A50 letter if it wished
I don't think the treaty has any provision for that, though I suspect it could be accommodated by the other 27. But it's already been through parliament so she'd probably need parliament to approve the rescinding. Still, with the right dipomatic skills anything's possible. In other words, we're doomed!
Arch Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg
Would that be the same man who championed the sovereignty of parliament only to subsequently insist it be bound by a non-binding referendum? Archtosser more, like and another one of the "do what I say, not what I do" brigade cheerfully leading (from behind of course) the lemmings to the cliff.
asset-strip part or all of their British competitors
Most asset-stripping of British industry was done by British companies in the 1980s, with the blessing of the government of the time. It was the prolonged lack of investment that made them such easy targets for takeover.
Why can't we all just act like grown-ups and behave nicely
This is rich and unintentionally ironic: I prefer to be an adult, not just act like one. Who was it talking about "having their cake and eating it"? That the negotiations with the EU "would be the easiest deal" in the world? The list goes on.
If there is no deal, then existing commitments regarding foreign nationals need no longer be honoured: goes both ways, of course.
Netflix is more concerned about rapid subscriber growth than profit (they have none?)…Amazon is more cautious.
Say what? Bezos has repeatedly scorned the idea of making a profit and, as he has a controlling interest, what he says goes. This seems more like the problems associated with Amazon's scattergun approach to business. Oh, and the end of net neutrality rules.
Amazon almost doubled earnings, and their stock plummeted
Apart from profit-taking, you're forgetting the share price is usually a bet on future earnings. Amazon already has a highly unusual P:E ratio and several profit reports have come in below expectations suggesting that profit growth is slowing.
But virtually no one makes money on the stock exchange with their own money. Much better to get someone to pay you to make their bets for them. After all, this is how Wall Street works…
I'd expect the threat to start rising as crime goes digital but perhaps other approaches are possible. A software-based approach with a good microphone will almost certainly be able to work as well as a key-tracker but swapping out the USB ports for something akin to a skimming device could be appealing to some.
a twinkling of what actually made America great is still shining
Some of it has always been great, some of it has always been shit. For example, California is the world's fifth largest economy and half of the kids are on food stamps. The country has great universities and but a sub-standard eductation system.
Trump is a moron but the country has a proud history of them competing for and sometimes getting into office. I shudder to think of what would have happened if Barry Goldwater had become president. Or Newt Gingrich. Or Rick Santorum. And Sarah Palin could have become VEEP.
This is the first Xiaomi phone I've seent that I find interesting. Having read the description on the Xiaomi website I'm impressed not just by what they've crammed into the device, but the thought they've put into it:
he full-screen slider is fully customizable. Users can slide open the phone to answer calls or customize it to launch different functions.
Are you listening Apple? Instead of a style-driven notch that has led to Apple demanding CSS extensions, they've put some thought into how people might use a bevelless phone. I think particularly the sliding to answer will be popular. Yes, it places higher demands on the mechanics and I'm perfectly happy to stick with a bezel but this has the "Kirk, here" aspect of simplicity of the Razr and the Nokia banana phone and not "you will love the compromise we've come up with".
Looking forward to a review of this when it becomes available.
I mean, nice work if you can get it, but this whole argument about a "global talent pool" has been largely debunked. The pension allowance should be taken out of the picture but there's little reason for UK CEOs to receive more than £ 1 million in compensation and bonuses, stock options notwithstanding. But as long as board members get to sit on each other's boards we'll more circle jerks and less corporate governance.
If you think BitBucket has problems then try the 'new', 'improved' Jira then. It is slow as hell, unresponsive
Oh dear, it's been appified as well has it? I'm not per se against the convergence of web and apps (actually I'm pretty keen) but developers should sometimes be given slower computers with shitty connections to try their stuff before they release it.
I'm generally pretty happy with the availablity on BitBucket but when it's flaky there is so little information. But statements like the following are unlikely to inspire confidence:
We were seeing elevated error rates on Bitbucket. We have rolled back a change that may have caused the issue, and will continue to monitor
Are they taking lessons from Microsoft and have given up testing?
macOS is simply Not An Option due to the ludicrously expensive hardware requirements - nobody sane shells out £1000+ for everyone in the company when a £150 PC is more than good enough for the majority of staff.
This is an odd argument. If the cost of business equipment was really a problem, why are company cars nearly always premium brands? Answer: because it's tax efficient and it's similar for equipment: the costs can be offset against tax.
Businesses are, therefore, generally more concerned with the other costs associated with equipment such as training and support. A couple of days training or support callouts can nix any difference in initial outlays due to time lost.
While more and more stuff is moving into the browser, most companies will still rely on some software that only runs on Windows. Where this isn't the case, then stuff is moving to phones and tablets. The biggest reason against Macs for business is probably the difficulty of contracting for fast replacements.
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