* Posts by James 51

3426 publicly visible posts • joined 23 Jun 2009

Sorry, Apple-haters, but Cupertinian doom not on the horizon

James 51

I agree with points one and two but as for three, there's an old trick of deliberately undersupplying the market when you've got it cornered (in this in the new shiny) to keep your cool/scarcity factor in place and justify the high asking price.

James 51
Childcatcher

Re: Mac sales decline is the problem

Wintel is the term for the domination of the desktop market by Windows and Intel. I remember hearing it in the early nineties.

Chinese boffins crack cloaking tech for camouflage

James 51

Would this be a useful defense against energy weapons like lasers? If so flak might make a come back.

Cautious Brits less likely than US firms to puff on clouds - survey

James 51

Perhaps the 'problem' is stuff like the data protection act which says you're not allowed to ship data out to other countries with fewer safe guards than the UK like the US. If you're cloud is based in the US...

RIM's Heins beams: BB10 must walk the walk before we talk the talk

James 51

Re: Scorched device policy...?

The playbook has gone through OS 1.0, 2.0, 2.1 and soon to be 3.0 on the same device.

Greedy Sky admits: We crippled broadband with TOO MANY users

James 51
Pirate

There are plenty of towns in the UK that don't have a range of providers. It's pretty much BT and whoever is reselling access to their lines. When I moved to a new address sky was slower than a dial up modem. They did say their fibre which was six months away from rolling out but would only guarantee speeds that slower than using my 3g phone as a modem. In the end had to go with BT fibre to get decent service but that is in large part because at least 95% of the houses in my area use sky.

UK taxmen turn heat on tax-swerving big biz, hope to smoke out £1bn

James 51

Re: So...

They probably don't give nice dinners in nice places and give $50,000 for turning up to have an after dinner chat.

‘Anonymous’ hacks Oz Uni’s email to protest bulk iPad buy

James 51

Re: Apple is a locked down NIGHTMARE

Unless the ipads are completely locked down it will be possible to download malware floating around in the app store. Plus lets not forget the story about schools in America which give students laptops then randomly took photos of them using the webcam.

A properly configured playbook would have all the same advantages. ipads are very poor value for money. This is probably to be cool and attract students or it's someone's pet project.

James 51

Re: What's the alternative?

Playbook. It's cheaper, has flash and offers lots of functionality both the students and university would find useful and it would be less likely sold on to buy beans and beer.

Engineers are cold and dead inside, research shows

James 51

Re: Doctors caring & empathetic?

Agreed. The head of the maternity unit where my wife had her baby couldn't connected with patients in any way beyond talking at them. Some of the mid-wives were the same. The older they were the more likely this was to be. Perhaps they start out caring then prolonged contact with the public works its magic.

What ereader decline? Kobo pumps up the volumes despite grim forecasts

James 51

The kobo-mini is the first ereader in a long time that I just wanted when I saw it. If it had the led lights built into the frame like it's bigger brother I might have traded it my 350. As it is, holding out for epub 3 or colour support.

Top Brit Penguins spurn London Stock Exchange for NYSE

James 51

I remember reading an article that said lots of companies floated in the US rather than the UK because the US markets use a different formula to calculate the value of a company. This normally resulted in the companies stock demanding a higher price and I image that people like the ceo and others who have been paid in shares might want to take advantage of that. Of course there could be a snow ball effect going on here as well. i.e. following the other big tech companies to the markets they have floated in.

Korean boffins crack art of bendy batteries

James 51

How come no one has mentioned combining this with flexible e-ink screens? Obvious and immensely useful.

Here we go again: New NHS patient database plan sets off alarm bells

James 51
FAIL

Every time I hear about something like this I want these clauses to be written into the data protection act or something similar:

anyone found in breach of their duties e.g. lax security lets hackers in/leaves usb drive on train/sells details on to third party or passes them onto another department for same company personally faces an unlimited fine and serious jail time along with some senior people in the same company. The company can be fined too oh and the government department with oversight gets a kicking also.

Harsh I know but given the track record of data security both from government and private companies I don't see an alternative.

UK falls behind in global graphene patent race

James 51

Carbon is not exactly a rare earth mineral so the Chinese have to control it some way. I wonder about the quality of those patients though. Maybe if Chinese firms start stepping on toes the system will be reformed.

RIM adds 15,000 new BlackBerry 10 apps in one weekend

James 51

Re: do they vet the developers?

From the story I read they are not but they do require you to register to get signing keys so it shouldn't be that hard to get offending apps shut down and gives investigators somewhere to start.

James 51

Re: <-mussie (Ed)

The bezel is that size in part because of the swipe interface. Glad RIM have stuck with it, it's an excellent piece of kit.

Stroppy investor to Xyratex: Pah... research! Who spends money on THAT?

James 51
Pirate

We need a carpet bagger icon.

Disney World slaps pay-by-bonk stalker cuffs on grown-ups

James 51
Childcatcher

That isn't creepy in the slightest. Need to be able to put more than one icon on the post but as it's Disney...

Vodafone goes titsup for BlackBerrys in mobile data outage

James 51

This sounds more like a problem with vodaphone than blackberry.

Texas schoolgirl loses case over RFID tag suspension

James 51
Windows

Re: * wreak

I hadn't had my first cup of tea yet.

James 51

Would sticking the thing into an empty crisp packet not reek havoc with the system?

Sony PS3 extends lead over Microsoft's Xbox 360 by a cool million

James 51

I think I'll stock up on all the bargin 360 games when the new console comes out. The 1440 xbox will probably be out by the time I get round to finishing them.

ZTE to launch Mozilla-based phone in Europe in 2013

James 51

That is a known weakness of the N900. I've been lucky so far but I guess it's only a matter of time before mine goes too.

A pre-ticked box in web forms should NOT mean consent - EU report

James 51

How much do you want to bet this gets spun as preventing innovation and more red tape that prevents companies growing and hiring more workers.

'Not even Santa could save Microsoft's Windows 8'

James 51

I agree with Sir Wiggum, microsoft (and intel) killed the netbook. I have a netbook and a tablet. The keyboard is going on the netbook and the tablet is no replacement. Not going to buy another netbook because they are disappearing fast but don't want to carry a full sized laptop around wtih me and can't afford an ultrabook.

5.6TB helium disks could balloon, lift WD onto enterprise throne

James 51

I thought that He atom is so small it can slip through just about any gap in the structure of its container? How long will these drives beable to keep it locked away?

There's no shortage of hydrogen. I know there's the obvious flash fire risk but would that offer similar benefits?

Apple loses round to Amazon in 'App Store' name dispute

James 51

God help me but I am with M$ on this one. If war is politics by other means then all this patent/trademark nonsense seems to be business by other means.

US patent office: Nice try Apple, but pinch-to-zoom is NOT a new invention

James 51
Happy

Re: Apple=Bastards

Much better, thanks.

James 51
Childcatcher

Re: Apple=Bastards

"I remember the good old times when the commentariat had advanced spelling skills (more advanced than 10-year olds with ADHD doing left-hand browsing) and trolling was actually good."

Speaking of which, no need to drag lefties into it.

After Sandy Hook, Senator calls for violent video game probe

James 51

study the connection between violent video games and programming and "harmful effects" on children, and specifically to examine whether violent games might cause children "to act aggressively or otherwise hurt their wellbeing.

Sounds like he's got the conclusion already written.

Plasma boffins' POWERFUL wind now a key clue to fiery Sun

James 51

wonder how long till we figure out a way to go surfing on thos waves.

Forget about fondling that slab... within 2 years, it'll fondle YOU

James 51

Re: Excuse me.

Does that count as prior art?

Review: Eurocom Monster W110ER gaming netbook

James 51
Thumb Up

Ubuntu

Thanks for putting that bit in about trying to run Ubuntu. It was very useful.

Bolshy investor sinks teeth into weakened Emulex, tears off another chunk

James 51

Re: activist investor

Is this the new name for asset strippers?

Pentagon hacker McKinnon will NOT be prosecuted in the UK

James 51

From various media reports it seems like he was little more than a script kiddie, using manufacturer default passwords a lot of the time to gain access to various system. His biggest problem was that he made them look like fools and that is more unforgiveable it seems than actually doing some harm.

Is this the sleek new BlackBerry mobe that will save RIM jobs?

James 51

Looks nice but I'll hold out for the model with a keyboard.

Revealed: The Brit-built GRAVITY-powered light that costs $5

James 51

Re: End of your tether ...

Wait twenty minutes and lift it up again.

James 51

This might have a place in sheds and attics.

James 51

Re: Wind-up Radios

They may be gimicks but I have found their larger size makes them more difficult to lose and it's handy when I haven't need to use one for a few months that I don't suddenly find the batteries are dead (but then I only need it for a few minutes at a time).

James 51

It's a great idea and I hope it takes off.

OMG: RIM adds VoIP to its stealth social network

James 51

With home wireless network sounds like a good way to eek out the minutes on your contract.

Data gobbling app lands Delta Air Lines in the dock on privacy charge

James 51

@JaitcH I hope it isn't the only reason why they went after them but I hope it means that others clean up their act.

The best tablets for Christmas

James 51

It's solid with a decent amount of app and is very capible. Not to mention there is the the third version of the OS coming and will work on the orginal device.

James 51

No mention of the playbook? There was 4G version released this year (with a 50% increase in CPU speed to boot).

The best e-readers for Christmas

James 51

Re: Advice please.

A playbook is a decent choice (it has overdrive as an app) but if you can wait until June next year:

http://www.techradar.com/news/portable-devices/other-devices/pocketbook-boasts-about-front-lit-ereader-before-device-has-a-name-1112335?src=rss&attr=all

James 51

Next Christmas this might be a very different article with colour ereaders about to hit the mainstream.

British boffins 3D print electrical sensors

James 51

So, will this be in the next seaon of red dwarf?

Sony to do what Apple can't: Remove its batteries - sources

James 51

I think you mean three banks want some fat fees.