Posts by jai 2310 publicly visible posts • joined 8 May 2007
Previous article on El Reg suggests that downloads from app stores is slowing down because people aren't buying hardware as quickly :
http://theregister.co.uk/2014/01/03/christmas_app_downloads/
This article and Apple's figures seem to suggest that, contrary to last Friday's article, in fact there's no correlation between hardware activation and app store downloads, no?
It is unclear whether Keys decided that the job wasn't for her, or whether the ailing Blackberry manufacturer decided they could no longer afford her.
The NY Times article on this that I saw this morning was later updated to clarify that she was only contracted for 12 months anyway. So she's neither stepped down, nor been sacked, just neither party renewed the contract.
That said, i was completely unaware of either the STEM or Keep Moving programs.
Seems the only real impact her being signed to this was the flurry of free publicity it generated for the BB10 phones when she was signed, and now the flurry of negative publicity with everyone's initial reaction being "leaving a sinking ship"
What are you saying?
I was saying that that the phrase "most people... would gladly swap" was offered with absolutely no evidence that it was anything more than made up for the article. IF it were the case that >50% of people would rather have the old version, you'd have think they'd have be loud and shouty about the fact and the other 50% of the users would have heard and NOT upgraded their phones from iOS 6. Instead, the El Reg articles I quoted suggest that more and more people have upgraded over time. If they are all upgrading, as you suggest, because the phone is pushing it on you, then at the very least it suggests that those who have already upgraded are really THAT concerned about the new style, because they aren't going out of their way to warn others. In fact, the only people going out of their way appears to be tech journalists - but is that really because they object to the new OS interface? Or just because they know that an article about Apple anything is click-bait and garners more advertising revenue?
Many people, offered the old look-and-feel with the new control panel and gestures, say they would gladly swap.
When exactly did you perform this survey? Was it one week after it's release?
http://m.theregister.co.uk/2013/09/27/half_of_all_american_fanbois_now_using_ios_7/
or was it at the start of the month when three-quarters of users are now using the new OS?
http://m.theregister.co.uk/2013/12/09/just_one_in_four_fanbois_has_failed_to_download_ios_7/
good grief! do they really name all their software code in ALL-CAPS???
Or was that just done in the report to make them sounds more terrifying? Also makes it harder to read the TLAs in the report. Damnit I spent several minutes trying to work out what WISTFULTOLL was an acronym for...
From a user point of view, it seems WebOS's main benefit on the phone was the card/stack way to navigate the currently running apps.
I'm sure there's plenty behind the scenes, but I remember that was what everyone was so impressed with when it was a phone OS with a hopeful future.
But that's not going to work on a TV is it? using buttons on a remote control to navigate a menu like that is going to feel clunky and really, on a telly, who needs that many apps multi-tasking in the background? with the exception of PVR and EPG screens (which anyone with a satellite or cable box will be using via external equipment anyway) if the app isn't in the front being watched, it might as well be closed or at least hibernating.
But then, without the funky multi-task user interface, is there really much else that WebOS can deliver that other telly OS's couldn't, if the manufacturers could be bothered?
As others have said - a telly is for viewing. I don't want a Smart Monitor connected to my desktop PC, it'd be a pointless duplication of function. Similarly, whydo i need a Smart TV connected to my (Tivo/Cable/Satellite), my (Playstation/Xbox), my (AppleTV/NowTV/Roku/etc/etc), all of which are already far smarter and more capable than the Smartest of TVs?
MI5 itself genuinely had been infiltrated at a high level by a ring of Soviet agents
Isn't it obvious then? Evidently* Turing must have uncovered this fact. He probably decrypted their secret messages back to the motherland and was about to blow the whistle on them. So they had him killed and attempted to cover it up as a suicide.
*the evidence that this is what happened is that he was found dead. Apparently by suicide. but many suspect it was made to look like that. Quad Erat Demonstratum!
Doesn't the small print say that he didn't take much of his holiday allowance, meaning that 35k of that 80k is money for days he worked when he needn't have had to. How much would your "average Joe" make each year if they also worked (and got paid for) their holidays?
This amount represents: ... (iii) vacation cash-out in the amount of $35,000.
anyway - that said - this isn't a pay rise. it's his 2013 salary. so technically, it's a "pay rose" and it happened nearly a year ago. must be a slow news day if you've nothing better than "this is what leader of very rich company earnt a year ago!!"
The car is becoming the ultimate mobile device
No, i think you'll find something like a phone is still the ultimate mobile device. I can use it both in a car, and a boat and a train and an underground tube and in a house and in the middle of a field and when i'm walking or even have it wake me up when i'm sleeping.
Whereas a car, i can only use when i'm in the car. It's very restrictive in it's use cases.
Meh - micro USB does the job, charges the phone.
BUT haven't they just announced they're going to create a new USB standard that will be reversable like the Lightening connector is? No more scrabbling around in the dark trying to work out which way up the plug is, scratching the bottom of your phone in the process?
So surely after that is done, there'll be a new microUSB that is the same.
So which "standard" of connector are the EU suggesting everyone conforms to? The existing cables of today that'll be outdated by 2017? Or some as-yet-unknown standard that they'll think up over the next year, meaning that EVERYone will have to buy a new charger?
Why don't they do something useful, insist every phone supports wireless charging, that way, no issue with connectors and a lot less waste as no wires to throw away.
these bespoke sockets don't just charge
I think this where the problem is going to be.
instead of having one socket, you'll now have two. one for charging via the universal connector that won't do anything else, and then another one that'll be used for the data syncing, AV output, peripherals, etc etc.
So now, every phone will come with two cables, and a charger. Instead of the one cable and charger that they now come with. Way to "reduce unnecessary waste" !!!
Just spent 50 quid on the latest iPhone dock? You'd better start saving for a new one
For starters, you've been ripped off as even the official Apple docks are only 25 quid!
And secondly, it's three years until this comes into force - you've got a very low opinion of El Reg readers if you think it'll take them 3 years to save up 50 quid. And anyway, aren't you always suggesting that Apple owners have more money than sense, so by that logic the cost of a new dock will be negligable to us.
Theres a strategy to follow in TDS?
Well, for starters, I guess once you've filled up an Appartment floor with 6 residents you have a 9 rating in the shop they're working in, then any visitors to that level are of no benefit to you. So I when a Mover VIP turned up, I'd rearrange the Apparetment levels if possible to alays be the odd-numbered levels. That way, assuming it's truely random for which level new arrivals go to, hopefully it ensures an even chance of the new arrival generating you money.
Similarly, can easily tell if i want to bother taking them to the requested level, or down to an Imperial level where they can be put to use. (A better plan might be to only put the appartment levels in the top half of your Death Star - once filled you don't need to take the elevtor to visit them again, so you can therefore all you're elevator movements are quicker as you'll only have to travel the first half of the levels to get to the revenue-generating levels)
Plus - don't spend bux on anything by elevator upgrades, at least not to start with.
Also, keep hold of the Big Spender VIPs when they arrive. Get the Marriage level (it was the level that produced the highest number of 3-coin item of all the levels I saw while playing it. I guess later in the game it will be superceeded by a better level). While you manage the stock of all levels, pay special attention to the Marriage one. Try to get it so that you run out of 1-coin and 2-coin items close to when you'll complete fully stocking the 3-coin items AND have a Big Spender VIP waiting on the first floor. As soon as the 3-coin items are avilable and there no 1-coin and 2-coin, use the Big Spender on the Marriage level, and they have to buy all the 3-coin items, netting a big chunk of coins.
Fortunately the 3-coin item on the Marriage level takes so long to re-stock, it seemed to me that nearly always another Big Spender VIP would turn up before the the item was stocked, so you can do it over and over.
i didn't get around to working out the coins per hour rate though to see how it compared to some of the other levels, but it seemed to be the best on the quick rough maths i did in my head at the time
was really enjoying playing TDS, to point where one weekend i decided to restart from scratch, spent a chunk of real money so i could jump through the early stages quickly and set up the levels in more optimum way now i understood how the game played.
then, on that Monday, a new patch for the game was released, which reset my death star to square one, and no sign of any of the purchases i'd made.
kinda lost the appetite to do it all again from the start for the 3rd time so cut my losses and just deleted the game instead.
am instead playing Space Hulk on the iPad which despite some bugs and flaws they are ironing out, has proven far more fun and far less frustrating
so... someone could put a raid interface or similar on two of these and connect a SATA connector and thus produce a 2tb drive that's still less than 9mm thick and so would fit in my PS4 ?
the only downside being that it'd probably cost many multiples of the cost of the PS4 in the first place, but still...
Any listeners of the Hollywood Babble-On podcast here?
Every week for months now they've had some story about how the Beiber is increasingly tarnishing his previous "cute kid from Canada" image.
While RIM's fortunes have taken a turn for the worse and the comment “This kid might outlive RIM” may yet prove valid, there's a good chance that having used him as their marketing campaign would have accelerated the company's downfall.
Also the PS4 can now install far more of the game on the hard disk for faster loading times.
Any updates can be applied while you're not using the console, so no more waiting to play while you watch the progress bar crawl across the screen.
Also as i understand it, downloads from the online store are like Blizzard's game installer - it only needs to install a set percentage of the game before it lets you start going. So while you're working your way through the first level, it's taking the time to download the rest of teh graphics textures, movies, sounds, etc etc.
so yeah, nothing OHWOWOMGAMAZBALLS, but lots of small things that'll make the experience more enjoyable. or less annoying, if you like.
plus - Uncharted 4 ffs!!!
I don't get why you'd want to blow the drone out of the sky? Surely a better plan is you find a way to bring it down to the ground in a controlled manner. if you shoot at it and hit it, you're just as likely to put holes in the PS4 or XboxOne that it's carrying underneath, no?
then again, if you're not interested in half-inchin' the parcel for yourself, and so not concerned with a delicate return to the earth, then setting off an EMP should work shouldn't it?
it's the software where they make the money - and the licenses that they'll sell to developers to produce games on their platform. the profit from the hardware is negligable in the long-term.
a larger userbase means more games being sold means more developers attracted to your platform means even more games being sold means $£profit£$
finally a lot of the "must have" apps are popping up in the store
every couple of months there's an article here about Windows Phone and each time it always seems to include that sentence.
i'm wondering, does the list of "must-have apps" keep changing, so the platform is never able to reach the required level? or are these must-have apps that are appearing then turning out to be rubbish?
The Empire managed to run, in reasonable order, an entire Galactic Empire. Of course they need tech "that just works"
Can you imagine an Empire run on WindowsRT?
And that said, history is written by the winners - we only percieve the Empire as the evil ones because the Rebels won at the end. this whole "Dark Lord of the Sith" stuff could be entirely propagander by Ackbar's PR department (much like Microsofts anti-Google marketing tactic at the moment)
Does this unit also claim the extreme waterproofing as the other unit you tested earlier?
Or do you need one each for each element you wish to protect against?
How does the cost of one of these compare to less hardy enclosures? Are you paying a hefty premium for the peace of mind that even the coming of Ragnarök will not affect your data?
Could it possibly be all the "expert" analysts and industry journalists who spent the last year going on and on ad infinitum about how Apple *HAD* to produce a lower cost iPhone to satisfy the demand they were sure was there.
So now Apple have, and you're paying for it, literally.
If you hadn't insisted that a 5C type of iPhone was so critical to Apple's continued existance, then they might have just produces a 5S, which would have sold as it has, and so wouldn't be costing non-Apple purchasers.
El Reg must be quaking in it's boots. I wonder how long it is before this site is added to the censor list?
And then, of course, each of us in the UK who's registered on this site just needs to wait for them to track our email addresses to our home addresses before the knocks at the door and the black bags over our heads....
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