Posts by Steve Davies 3

Re: coalition government?

You obviously fail to get the joke about Bobby Ewing and the dream. You must not be old enough to remember 'Dallas' from the 1980's and 'Who shot JR?'.

Re: All hail the new Golden Don!

Nah, it will 'El Presidente Trumpo' for me. After all, he is acting more and more like a dictator (south american type) every day.

He is totally delusional if he really things that the Mexican Government will pay for his Great Wall. They won't.

but...

This is Apple we are talking about here.

Some will say that it should have been 0 patents ruled invalid or dropped even if the patents were crap anyway.

Some of these patents were blindingly obvious and IMHO in the class where they simply added 'on a mobile device' to an existing patents claims.

Re: I'd hate to be the first driver to crash an Apple F1 car.

And if you were in a Tesla you would not be holding the steering wheel at all.

Better to hold it wrong than not to hold it at all.

Re: Musk is a Salesman.

Sigh...

Snake Oil salesmen were purveuors of magic potions that promised to cure every disease known to man.

I don't trust him simply because he has far too many fingers in too many pies for him to concentrate on making Tesla the best. Sure they are innovating but he keeps on making promises he can't keep.

Calling the 'driver assistant', Autopilot was a mistake. Anyone involved with Aircraft autopilots will tell you that.

I don't see any evidence that the software has been developed and tested to the same standards as Flight Critical software. If I ever drove a Tesla, I would not engage Autopilot until it gets a lot better and the code is certified as being tested to Flight Critical standards. That alone would defer an awful lot of lawsuits.

So in my opinion, he is a snake oil salesman.

Naturally I could be wrong but so far I see lots of promises from Tesla and lots of money being lost.

When the model 3 is delivered for £30K on time I might revise my opinion of him.

Re: So, any suggestions for alternatives?

Add to that,

- Multi-platform to include iOS and MacOS (yes there are users out there)

It seems that microsoft is up to its old tricks. Recent Skype releases have seen valued functionality removed which I know is pissing off the user base in my contacts list.

If the non 'Skype for Business' customer base jump ship then frankly, I don't think that would MS care at all. Getting an even tighter stranglehold on business users seem to be their 'Plan A'.

I would not find it strange for Skype for Windows to soon be bundled up in Office 365. No free and available for all versions at all. It does not fit in their need to monetise everything. I would not be surprised that 'Free' was redacted from all Dictionaries in Redmond.

There is certainly room for an alternative. One wonders if the people in the UK might pick up their toys and start an alternative.

Re: Why is it...

Quote

Most American don't even know where Britain lies

Wrong (well almost)

They love the Royal Family. well, if the mags at the supermarket checkouts are to be believed.

Many seem to think that we all live in a 'Downton' like environment.

When asked where I come from some seem to think that Hampshire (UK) is somehow the same as New Hampshire(USA). Having lived in the latter it pains me to correct them.

Re: CDMA isn't dying

You are correct but the percentage of CDMA phones in use is dropping simply because that CDMA is really only used in North America.

It really is time for CDMA (the radio bits) to die a death. AFAIK, bit of CDMA technology is in use in LTE.

As for 5G... It was on the news recently that the EU (sans the UK thanks to Brexit) wants 5G networks by 2020.

http://metro.co.uk/2016/09/15/eu-promises-free-wifi-and-5g-for-everyone-thanks-brexit-6130494/

I guess we will be stuck on 3G for the next 30 years.

What about 4G you might ask? It is patchy at best and some networks are totally shite with it. There is no financial incentive to build out 4G let alone add 5G. Jusy my impression.

Re: The cloud strikes again

2. You're a large company and you love OPEX over CAPEX.

And that means SFA if your biz can't take any orders for days or weeks.

As CFO, you will soon be out on your ear (like everone else as the biz goes TITSUP).

Exactly...

I'd like someone to explain how a TomTom device that has a GPS receiver can display Ads?

One poster said that some TomToms have a 3g modem inside.

Simple question then

Who pays the 3G bill? I certainly don't and would never do so.

And

Why do I need to connect my TomTom to my PC in order to update the maps if it has 3g capabiity?

Re: A silly question...

It is not a silly question. It is one that I've often asked myself when these vunerabilities are exposed.

Apparently, the majority of PC users still use IE because it say Internet in its name.

One not dumb person told me only a couple of years ago, 'IE, it is the Internet isn't it?'.

After a 'doh!' moment I corrected him and spent the next day and a half removing all the malware etc from his PC. He now runs firefox with all the usual plugins.

The wiser user (viz, most of us here) have consigned IE (and edge) to the wastebasket/trashcan of history so that Adbolockers, noScript and Flashblockers etc are the norm.

But those left behind using IE are pretty well wide open to attack and from the latest stats, that is the majority of Users.

Sadly, YMMV applies in a big way.

Re: Theres plenty of room...

Ah, the LSWR Mainline 'No Spots'....

Just consider the time that you are travelling from Woking to around Raynes Park some 'me' time and use it for contemplation or meditation. That 15-20 minutes of mental rest can help you through the day or evening ahead.

I've got it even worse than you as I'm down the Alton siding and from Ash Vale to Brookwood is one great 'Not Spot'.

As for your £50/month truly unlimited idea. I'd look at something costing about half that.

Do you realy want to pay £600/year or the price on a new iPhone 7 just to 'stay connected' while on the go?

How much bandwidth do you actually need eh? Not want but really and absolutely need.

Re: brilliant idea MS

Don't worry, Slitherlight is still there as an optional update that keeps on being offered even if you have hid it 100 times.

Go on, you know you want it... :)

Re: As always...

Come on then, you know you want to...

Tell us what OS has proper permission systems?

I think that there might be several. Z/OS and VMS are two that come to mind.

Re: I feel a disturbance in the force @psychonaut

HP has had the Universal PS/PCL drivers for over a decade or so, supporting laser printers dating back to 90s.

Better download them quick before they get removed in the inevitable cull of operations.

More on MS Copy

Has anyone noticed that they copy the last selected folder first.

Re: Costs are about to go up significantly.

Making the units tamper proof is a good move. Making them sealed units that are swappable seems to be the way to go. No in-situ firmware upgrades, just swap the old one out for a replacement and ship the old one back to the supplier who will refurb it and upgrade the firmware. An secure process to bring them online again is probably the missing link

There is technology available to make this secure but any thing that is done is still vunerable to Insiders.

The Hardware Security modules that are used to generate PINS etc are already designed to be tamper proof yet are able to have the keys updated if proper procedure is followed. These devices are kept in very secure places so tampering is generally not a problem.

Re: Meh indeed

MS as a company have no strategy whatsoever.

IMHO, you are very wrong.

No 1 is to get every biz hooked on Office 365/cloud. Then they can hike their prices at will even if the end users are using a non MS OS.

No 2 is to price everything on a per core basis

No 3 is to ??????? er .... perhaps ... no ....

Ok so their mobile plans are well, a bit crap.

They are advertising the hell out of the Surface with their 'Can't do that on a Mac' ads. This means they ain't gonna kill it tomorrow.

There is room for a phone but really what would a surface phone do that other devices on the market can't already do very well.

So is there a market for a surface phone outside those who already use winphones?

If there is a market then how big is it?

There is no way in hell that they will even sell as many Surface Phones in a year that Apple will sell this month alone.

So why bother?

Bit of a shame really. The market could do with a strong 3rd party to keep Android and Apple on their toes.

If I have a problem that means they have to get BT involved then it will be a long time before I see any internet.

That's a fact of life I'm afraid. With Openreach still responsible for the 'last mile' no matter if your ISP is PlusNet, TalkTalk, Sky and just about everyone else apart from Virgin and a few local companies (Hull Telecom etc)

No one wants to own (and thus have to pay for the upkeep) the poles and cables coming out of all those green cabinets. so we are stuck with them, good or bad (mostly bad).

The same goes for the Exchanges that don't have the kit (for several reasons) owned by your ISP in them.

Re: the SD slot

I fear that in 2-3 years and like the Headphone jack, for most people this will be a thing of the past.

Samsung seem to have given is a reprieve with the S7 but IMHO, the writing is on the wall for the removable SD card and then the SIM tray will be done away with as well.

Thet leaves markets like the Middle East with a problem. Many phones sold there have dual sims. How will those users manage in the future.

Why?

Costs. pure and simple. Mechanical trays cost money and are a PITA when it comes to reliability.

It is a shame but I just get the feeling that both are on borrowed time. This will cause a lot of teeth gnashing for some commentards here but really... aren't you supposed to put everything into the cloud???

I am joking ok but that what the marketing people want us to think and do.

The same goes for Solar Panels (PV arrays)

These should be made mandatory for all new builds.

Is that a squadron of flying Pigs I hear nearby??????

Effing planners. Couldn't plan their way out of a paper bag.

Re: UK shoppers + Dixons

Average UK shoppers + Dixons

sad combination...

There fixed it for you

There are other places to go for the rest of us who are voting with our feet and never going near the place again. If they improved their service.... well pigs might fly.

IMHO, they are the Sports Direct of the electronics business.

But people are stupid (in general)

The salesman says

'connect it to the internet when you get home' and 99.99% of buyers will do just that beleiving that it is required in order to make it work.

all clearly written down in 'how to train your salsesforce 101'.

Re: Not missing much

too late.

Apple has copied some Androd devices that don't have the jacks.

I get the feeling that in a couple of years the headphone jack will be a distant memory mores the pity.

Re: Bloody hell.

As I have said many times, stupid, short-sighted, xenophobic and self-destructive.

Sadly the pro-Brexif Daily Fail, Express and the rest are ignoring that and painting an all is 'Rosy' picture to the rest of their supporters.

I'd like to know if the owners and editors of those publicatinos have bolt holes in Europe ready for them to bugger off too when the UK goes belly up. The rest of us will have to stick it out and get our daily ration of 'Chicken-Little' from the government soup kitchen.

The 25% unemployment that is seemingly the norm in southern Europe will pale into insignificance to our 40% that will surely come when any company able to deserts the sinking ship as fast s they can.

so pro-Breciteers downvote this all you like but sooner or later the shite will hit the fan and .... well, we'll all be covered in it.