* Posts by James 51

3426 publicly visible posts • joined 23 Jun 2009

German watchdog whacks Google with PIDDLING FINE over Street View slurp

James 51

Re: Moral of the story...

If your modem and wifi enabled router are provided by your provider and by contract are not allowed to replace them, that's not an option.

James 51

Re: Federal trick missed

When prosecutors do this in the US we cry foul about overreach. It would be double standards to ask for that here. Though one fine for every trip would seem a reasonable compromise.

Eric Schmidt defends Google's teeny UK tax payouts - again

James 51

Why the downvote?

James 51

MPs should take his advice and change the law so multi-national firms operate on a level playing field with UK only firms who lack the facilities to implement aggressive tax minimisation strategies.

Inside Secure snatches BBC iPlayer downloads from Adobe

James 51

BB7, BB10 and the playbook

Playbook browser is excellent for the iplayer website but I'd like to be able to download programmes too. Any chance?

Kobo strikes new match against Kindle: The Aura HD e-reader

James 51

@AC Use calibre to convert the books into epub.

I like the high resolution (for an ereader) though it might be physically a little large. Colour and epub 3 support (in particular embedded audio object support) are what I would like to see. If my ereader died tomorrow this is probably what I would buy as a replacement. Will be interesting to see what Sony pull out of the bag. They are rumoured to be annocing the t3 soon.

Netflix plotting move to HTML5 video - but only if DRM works

James 51

Re: We want to BUT....

"So unless Linux gets a proper layer of DRM, you I doubt will ever see Netflix or any similar service"

I think you mean one you have to pay for. There's always the post DVD option.

BTW there's no native BB7, BB10 or playbook app for netflix or lovefilm. First one that does is getting a subscription (I know good ereader have ported the android app to the Z10 and the Q10 but I don't have one of those)..

Smart metering will disrupt weather forecasts, warns Met Office

James 51

In some parts of the UK the vast majority of homes are heated by burning oil. The vast majority of the tiny minority that are left are heated by mains gas. Not going to make much of a dent their.

James 51
Flame

I can't see this being a target for hackers of what ever colour or political/criminal leanings. Nope, nothing to see (in the dark). Move along.

Flames cause everyone still has an open fire, right?

Still pitching to CIOs? You're living in the PAST

James 51

Re: Will not have an IT team representative present

I expect a BOFH on this soon.

Shaky liftoff for Sputnik: Dell's Linux lappie runs its own cloud, ish

James 51

That's ex-VAT.

Researcher hacks aircraft controls with Android smartphone

James 51
Black Helicopters

I am surprised that they didn't just chuck him in prison to shut him up.

Capita's top brass bags 20% rise - as IT bods shiver in wage freeze

James 51

As long as the shareholders keep getting dividends they probably won't pay enough attention to see that the managers are robbing them blind.

US judge: no class action against tech giants' 'wage-control pact'

James 51

Surly this is just yet another example of anti-capitalist/anti-free market behaviour from big business?

BlackBerry results not as bad as they possibly could have been

James 51

Re: A lot of my El Reg posts have come from a PB.

It doesn't have skype as the moment. It does have its own video calling app to other playbooks and it has whatsapp too.

It connects to bluetooth keyboards, I am looking for a good one atm. Logitech for ipad is most likely contender.

Android apps have to be repackaged but goodereader has a wide selection of them. Going to try the streaming netflix app tonight.

James 51

Took a look on amazon, 239.99 CAD. Works out about £155 before shipping.

James 51

I want to know where I can find a playbook for £90. Took a look on Debenhams website and couldn't find one. At that price I'd buy one for my son (who's always knicking mine) and maybe a spare too.

The UK Energy Crisis in 3 simple awareness-raising pictures

James 51

Isn't it Spring now?

We shall CRUSH you, puny ROBOT... with CHESS

James 51

Thanks.

James 51

Computers can beat grand masters but how powerful and expensive were they? I know Moore's law (pet peeve, should be Moore's observation) will bring that down but in the mean time could be useful.

BlackBerry CEO: iPhone past its prime

James 51

Re: It's like the bike

What's wrong with the recumbent? Faster and more stable than standard bikes. Unsuitable for road use but that's as much a problem with the roads as the bike. Limited visibility ahead is its biggest fault.

James 51
Gimp

I have to take issue with your description of the playbook as a failed tablet. Not only do I remember it, I read the article and am typing this comment on it. It inexplicably arrived without a native client because it was design as a companion device for blackberry handsets. This ensured maximum security. Using the bridge it was possible to view, send and receive but if the tablet was lost or stolen, there was no data on it so you could relax. Most reviewers didn't understand this and treated it like it was a standard ipad wannabe and so it's reputation suffered. That is partiality blacbkerry's fault but reviewers should have realised what it was instead of saying this is not what I expected, nor am I its target market and therefore it is bad.

And for BlackBerry's next trick: Sawing Android, iOS IN HALF

James 51

Re: BB's IT Policy

I was going to put something in about the managers in but had already hit submit.

James 51

Re: BB's IT Policy

With great control comes great responsibility. Sounds like you need to have a word with the admins. In this case, BB is just the messenger.

James 51

Re: Surely...

Probably but if a company is going to ditch BES and the handsets, now perhaps they will ditch the handsets and keep BES. Or who knows, even buy into BES and then the handsets.

First Samsung Galaxy S4 review leak: Stop FONDLING, start FINGERING

James 51
FAIL

their =they're

Need edit option.

James 51
Joke

Maybe their just producing the knock-offs now before the orginal has hit the shelves.

Father of Android Andy Rubin steps down for Chrome OS boss

James 51

Re: the red-headed stepchild of desktop operating systems

You beat me too it. It's a lazy and ignorant sterotype.

Medicos hack iPhone into lab 'scope

James 51

What would the results be like if you used a cheap camera or something like the nokia 808 or the 920?

Smartphone users prefer LOVELY apps to fiddly mobe websites

James 51

The biggest problem I have browsing on my phone are those cookie banners that hog up 80-90% of the screen when I zoom in.

James 51

Re: Apps > Sites

HTML5 should be able to address most if not all of your points.

James 51

Re: Are you serious?

Which is an arguement for improving the website rather than letting the internet devolve into a series of apps. Sir Tim Berners Lee has some interesting things to say on the topic:

http://www.zdnet.com/apps-no-root-your-device-serves-others-berners-lee-7000010661/

(I tried looking on el reg but couldn't find the story)

James 51

Just say no.

Apps are better because it's cooler to have an app than put the kind of effort that is required to make a website useable on a phone. It's a self fulfilling prophecy.

Apps are in principle a bad thing for accessing websites. It encourages the siloisation of data. Imagine if sites like the register disappeared and were available only as an app?

UK's £500m web dole queue project director replaced after JUST 4 months

James 51

I hope there is a plan b for this.

MakerBot demos 3D object scanner that fits on your desk

James 51

Re: How long..

You beat me to it.

World's 'smallest' mobe unveiled in Japan

James 51

Re: Looks like a perfect phone for kids

It's £252. That' is not a cheap phone. A Nokia 100 is the phone you're looking for.

James 51

£252!

That's one expensive accessory.

Throttled customers rage over Virgin Mobile UK's tight cap

James 51

Thanks to contract lock in that could be months or years from now.

Dixons Retail flogs Equanet to serial swallower Kelway

James 51
FAIL

Title too long

He added, the "transaction will enable Equanet to flourish in the specialist B2B market". It clearly did not under Dixons' ownership.

Why am I not surprised.

Farewell, Reg: This hack is hanging up her Apple jacket

James 51

Good luck.

Virgin Mobile coughs to choking its customers

James 51

Will they be reducing the price as well?

Japanese boffins produce solar power paper

James 51

Don't know why but this made me thing of the borg trees from Dr Who.

Sinkholes reveal more Chinese-hacked biz - and piggybacking crims

James 51

Title is too long

"Intelligence-driven security procedures that include deep packet inspection, app whitelisting and sandboxing for links and attachments in incoming email can be effective. "You need to maintain a high alert and watch everything," Stewart concluded, adding that greater collaboration and information sharing was also important"

All this costs money and it's not always possible to convince the people with the purse strings to loosen them and even if you do, when they start to inconvenience someone important the rules can be thrown out of the window.

Barnes & Noble to sling their Nook - report

James 51

Re: The problem with ereaders

You beat me too it. epub3 would be nice as well.

Mobile TV is BACK: Ericsson launches broadcast video for 4G

James 51

Re: just want NetFlix to work properly

I didn't realise that they had it for iOS but I don't have a i(phone/pad). If they had one on the android market place at least I could recompile it to a .bar.

James 51

just want NetFlix to work properly

Or lovefilm. It bugs me that Amazon have released the streaming app only for the fire. I won't buy a fire for that and when netflix get round to releasing a streaming app for the playbook it will be time to jump ship.

HP's ElitePad 900 now so elite, you've probably not heard of it

James 51

Re: Wrong

That is what I was talking about. It was designed to be a companion to a BB handset, not a stand alone device.

Toshiba boffins claim battery life boost with SRAM tweaks

James 51

Reducing the power needed is a better solution than providing more power but want to see this in action.

Review: Britain's 4G smartphones

James 51

It could makes things like skype on the move a reliable reality. If you’re stuck on a train fire up Netflix and watch something.

The jump from 3G to 4G is going to be less big than from 2G to 3G but we’ll still find ways to fill all the available bandwidth.

James 51

The Z10 or the Q10 are the handsets that would interest me most though I can't help but think it would be best to wait for the next generation of 4G chips to come out in the hope they will be more efficient.