Posts by M Gale

Re: Google Now

"Settings > Wireless & Networks > Tethering and Portable Hotspot."

Okay if you own the phone. Usually locked out if you don't (and haven't paid extortionate extra fees to use the same data).

I also use a portable hotspot these days, since the 3G-enabled tablet went missing. However, I do rather like having everything in one device. Have you ever seen how much juice that portable hotspot sucks out of a 1500mAH battery?

So basically, to get all-day usage from the hotspot, I need to have my phone, and £80 worth of 8AH/30WH Energizer XPAL battery attached to it. Hardly a fiddle-free solution. Nor cheap.

Just FYI

Rather than relying on the BBC, it can be better to get your information direct.

That way you get to see that 4.x use is steadily increasing, though yes, developing your apps for 2.x is probably the way to go at present.

I have no Google+ account, and will never have a Google+ account.

Google Play: works.

Youtube: works.

Webmaster Tools: all fine.

Gmail: yup, that's there too.

I can see Picasa needing a profile for some retarded reason, but that's not a Google+ account and it's not like there aren't a bajillion and one other image upload sites available.

So what Google services (they're not really "products") require a Google+ account, asides Google+?

Re: I now know this will happen......

THere is no option to say "why the fuck should the rest of us suffer, having to fill in all sorts of opt in forms etc, just becuase a bunch of thick arse parents can't keep control of their children".

There is, under the "Other (please specify)" options.

In the handy text boxes, my answers were all variations on "if I wanted a firewall wrapping around the entire country, I'd move to China. Or maybe Iran."

Those worried about the consultation being used to put difficult people on a watchlist, I have this to say:

If you're not on a watchlist, you're not doing it right.

"Surely rights holders groups have been doing this for years?"

More than likely.

End of Cash

Nothing is more convenient than handing someone a note that promises to pay the bearer on demand the sum of X amount of money. No batteries required, no dodgy insecure radio transmissions going on, no chance of fiddling from data miners.. It Just Works.

Cash is going nowhere.

Re: Huh

Only problem I see with SSDs is the issue of longevity. Yes, there's wear-levelling funkiness going on, but spinning platters still beat SSD hands-down as far as endurance goes. I can see the point of sticking the OS and frequently-used, rarely-updated programs on a chip, but a whole system running from SSD seems like a slow, inevitable death from lack of drive space waiting to happen.

Now, what some people are doing, with SSD being used as a non-volatile, replaceable cache.. that makes some sense.

Re: Do these play video?

3DS records and plays stereoscopic video, but I'm pretty sure it's in its own dicky format. Looking on Google seems to show some software around for converting to/from 3DS format. I'd suggest having a look!

Re: I like it!

My 3DS library (so far):

Mario Kart 7 (awesome)

Splinter Cell 3D (quite nice)

Super Star Kartz (avoid this badly-programmed awfulness)

Sonic Generations (yay nostalgia)

Starfox 3D (another nostalgia trip.. is the N64 version but stereoscopic)

Super Mario 3D Land (fun!)

F1 2011 (awesome, but better with the 3D off)

My DS library:

Scribblenauts (amusing)

Dr Kawashima's Brain Training (yes, that one. Quite good if you like brainteasers.)

Mech Assault: Phantom War (a bit crap to be honest, I much prefer the PC Mechwarrior games)

Nintendo Touch Golf (as good as anything EA make)

Retro Atari Classics (yay nostalgia)

Sprung: The Dating Game (it cost me 50p.. still awful though)

Mario Kart DS (just try and beat me, I double dare you)

Cars (awful)

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 (see Touch Golf)

FIFA 07 (it's a football game, dunno why I bought it)

Sonic Rush (kinda fun)

Metroid Prime: Hunters (pretty good)

Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam (it needs to be more open ended, but otherwise fun)

Call of Duty 4 (yes really, on a DS, and with multiplayer too)

And then a number of 3D titles I ended up getting from the online store, like Dillon's Rolling Western (quite good variation on Tower Defense), and Rytmiks Retrobits (8 bit chip tune maker.. enjoyable).

All in all, there's quite a lot of stuff out there.

Re: Hard to say.

The satellite imagery is obviously bitmapped. The roads - that you'll be using to navigate by - are vectors.

You can switch to a vectors-only mode if you want Maps to look like a TomTom.

Re: Vector maps

What I would like to see is the option to "buy" Google Maps. Like, a paid-for version. I don't care how many gigabytes it would take to put all that lovely satellite imagery and vector mappage onto an SD card, I'd just like the option to use Maps without an Internet connection!

Right now, the offline caching is a bit so-so. Only the vectors are pre-cached (so no satellite view), and you have to cache each journey as you plan it. Want to change plans halfway through the journey? Well, you need a network connection. In the middle of the M6 with a wifi-only device is not the best place for that.

Oh well, I guess there's always CoPilot.

Re: Long sentence incoming....

Uhm.. face unlock (in some cases), reject-with-message, unlock-to-camera, and Google Play Music controls on the lock screen.

Yeah I know, I can't think how those are really essential functions either. Most of them can be done with 3rd party apps in 2.x anyway.

Macs are now basically pretty-looking PCs. So yes, they can run Linux.

And sorry Dabbs, but your picture really reminds me of the various Ernest videos from way back when. Maybe it's the lighting or camera angle.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092974/ <- see what I mean?

Re: "OEMs, please pay attention. This is how you build a PC.”

Just FYI, capacitive screens are a bit more picky than "any not too pointy object".

Needs to be conductive, and in a lot of cases, needs to occupy a fair blob of screen surface - iWotsits included. That's why capacitive pens tend to have either a soft brush or conductive rubber tip.

Resistive, Nintendo DS-style screens, well yes, you can use anything that points.

Re: A bad time for MicroSoft

"Nothing else is a tablet, come PC, and runs Windows."

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=win7+tablet+with+keyboard&tbm=shop

Now I know you seem, for some reason, to be addicted to Microsoft, but please don't try telling anybody that the Surface is in the slightest way unique. Most of the above seem to have better keyboards than that ZX81-style membrane thing, too.

Of course it could be a runaway success. But then, the only people I've found who are that passionate about Microsoft are either Linux fans that passionately hate it, or people who are in some way associated with MSFT either by employment or other contract.

So which are you?

"this has to be the least iPad-like design of any tablets released to date."

Transformer Prime.

You know, the one with a keyboard that doesn't come straight from a 1980's "futuristic" style guide. The one with USB, SD, Micro SD and mini HDMI as standard?

Sure it has rounded corners and a huge, eye-searingly-bright Super IPS screen, but just how many different variations of "big touchable screen" can you get?

Re: upgrading existing handsets is impossible

WP7 rules mandated a single core processor, amongst other silly restrictions on screen resolution and size.

WP8 mandates multi core CPUs, with a couple more options for screen resolution and size.

Therefore, WP7 phones will never run WP8, no matter how much you might want them to. As with Android and iThings, unofficial hacks simply do not count. Your WP7 phone will never run WP8, specifically because of Microsoft-imposed restrictions.

Don't believe me? Type "will wp7 handsets run wp8?" into your favourite search engine and have a good look around.

Re: Copyright nightmare.

Crikey, it's the WhiteRaven. Hi you.

I understand you're in a somewhat awkward position but, if a teacher has the original DVD, then what is illegal about having the DVD rip somewhere? From what I understand, that's perfectly acceptable anywhere outside of DMCA insanity land.

Didn't know that about the King speech though. That is rather sad.

Re: never have copyright transfer

I agree with you. However, you have to find an argument that will persuade the insane die-hard Randians that think it's perfectly okay for someone to be sold down the river.