* Posts by JDX

6847 publicly visible posts • joined 28 May 2010

More Steve Jobs iPad mini attacks from beyond the grave

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Re: one of the lucky ones to get a Nexus 7 early

I used Android tabs only briefly but I see no advantage to them. I never owned an iPhone or other touch device and recently got an iPad... everything was massively intuitive.

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Re: Reality distortion

"I probably spend a few hours a day on my iPad all the time. It's perfect for browsing and book reading, and it's also not bad - but not so perfect - for music, video and photo editing.

I can't see an 8" tablet being nearly as useful for any of the above"

I'm not sure why not. An 8" tablet has a bigger screen than a Kindle so as a paperback replacement it's just fine. For music the screen isn't relevant and for personal video watching, just move it slightly closer to your eyes!

For real work it could suffer a lot but that's not what most people use them for.

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Re: Reality distortion

So in that case, Apple SHOULD launch a 7" tablet because most people them aren't anti-Apple, they just want a 7" iPad and are forced to find an approximation elsewhere.

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Jobs got this one wrong.

Except that the expensive, cumbersome 10" iPad sells more than all 7" tab manufacturers combined :)

I have no issue with a 7-8" tablet... his arguments have some sense but remember things change and those comments were from a while ago.

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users would have to sharpen their fingers to tap interface elements on a 7 inch screen

I find that a really confusing statement considering Apple's rampant success with the iPhone, a touch screen MUCH smaller than that.

Nasa guides Mars Rover with Kinect

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Any idea how much of a simulation this is rather than a fun little time-killer?

Also - I'm guessing the screenshot is not what a successful landing should look like. Success means slow and boring and precise.

Valve to raise Steam for Ubuntu

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@SoaG: Valve's entire catalog will move

And who exactly do you think is going to do that work? If you write a Windows-only game, it is man-months of work to make it properly cross-platform. That could cost $50-100k... of course then you can re-use the tech in new games but still it's a LOT of work if the code was not written cross-platform to start with (i.e. DirectX only).

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Platform meaningless without games

Any Steam games already available outside Steam on Linux will be available very fast... but any games designed for Steam will probably be heavily Windows-orientated so this could be a chicken & egg problem... developers wait to see if there is a Linux market to justify the time porting the game or developing new games for Linux, users wait until some games turn up to start suing the service.

Won't proper Linux fans complain the Steam platform uses DRM, demands a web connection and is closed-source?

Euro cellcos hoard nano Sims ahead of iPhone 5 launch

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Re: Unsuprising that Apple are rushing out an iPhone5

The 4S was the "quick update". The 5 will be a bigger change just as the 4 was very different from the 3.

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@Jim 59

"Maybe Apple hates the way SIMs give power to the consumer but they must not be allowed to dilute it by spreading non-standard interfaces. That can be no engineering reason to change the SIM. Even full size sims are tiny compare to the size of today's smart phones."

It's not non-standard.

Have you seen how tiny modern phone components are? A SIM is probably 10% the size of the battery or the same size as a RAM chip.

In fact, a SIM takes up as much space as a micro-SD and you'd like one of those wouldn't you?

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Why do we need yet smaller sims?

Why do we need ever smaller CPU/RAM chips?

Giant super-laser passes 500 TRILLION watts

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Re: yup it's a frig'n word

If an acronym becomes widely recognised as a word, it is likely to officially become a word.

Microsoft pops preview of 'biggest, most ambitious' Office yet

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Alternative view: Great but not Office

I'm left wondering if this new Office might actually be great as a web-oriented tool - but that's not what most of us use Office for.

It costs $450 in marketing to make someone buy a $49 Nokia Lumia

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I am furious about it not being able to be upgraded to Windows Phone 8

Why? How do you know you'd even want W8 on your phone?

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Re: !!! Anecdotal Alert !!!

People are still writing apps for the iPhone 3GS and Android 2.x. So what's the big deal?

Note also that not everyone buys a smartphone for apps; I didn't.

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Re: But will Windows Phone 8 owners be left out in the cold when Windows Phone 9 ships.

If people who bought W7 phones are stupid then nearly all Android users are stupid because most are still on 2.x and will be forever.

This whole "it's useless if you don't get the next OS" argument is ludicrous.

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It costs $450 in marketing to make someone buy a $49 Nokia Lumia

Oh come on. This is Daily Mail style reporting. It doesn't cost $450 to make a $49 sale... it costs $450 to sell someone a contract costing $50+ per month for two years. A non-contract 900 is selling for $400.

Yes, you can be sacked for making dodgy Facebook posts

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Public posting only?

Is this specific to things you post publicly or do the same rules apply if you DO lock down your privacy but

a)the site you post on is hacked and data is released

b)the site inadvertently releases the private data without hacker help

c)one of your FB friends shops you

Is it getting found out, or the action of posting publicly, which is the offence?

Behold: First look at Office 2013, with screenshots

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W8 only? Skype?

So is this only going to run on Windows8, that would be a bit unusual for MS?

And where is the Skype integration we've heard so much about?

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Re: Why - Oh Why waste so much money when Open Office & LibreOffice are free?

Because Office (well 2007/2010) are BETTER. I've tried using free versions and they're OK, but not as good.

Cue about a zillion downvotes for daring to have an opinion people don't agree with.

Microsoft to announce new Office version on Monday

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It took me three years to work out the ribbon

I really don't think you should boast about that.

Spotify coining it at home in Sweden: But are artists getting any?

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Re: When money is not enough

I think you're missing the point - artists are complaining Spotify take nearly all the money and don't pass it on. If Spotify took 30% like Apple do and £7 of you monthly £10 went to the artists then that'd be just fine.

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She earned $281.87 for a single recording session probably lasting a couple of hours.

And how much do you think it costs to hire a proper recording studio for a couple of hours?

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Re: How come

A handful of plays on BBC3 would earn her that much. Radio and download may be different, but if people are paying to use Spotify the artists should get their fair cut because users think by paying for a subscription they are supporting the artist and therefore don't need to buy an album.

Move over Raspberry Pi, give kids a Radio Ham Pi - minister

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Well if you mean generic wireless communication it counts.

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Re: Excellent Idea

I had one two on a little breadboard. Then we built an electric shock machine instead but it was too painful with a single AA battery so I got scared!

Instagram bug 'exposed' hipsters' private photos to strangers

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Re: Moral of the story...

Yawn. If you're so scared of the internet maybe you'd better stay away from it.

Your bank, utility companies, local council, etc all have your intimate personal data and have done for years. Telling people not to put data on the web if they want it to be private is just burying your head in the sand... the data is already out there waiting to be leaked even if you join the cool kids who laugh at facebook and only access the web via proxies. I guess you don't use phone or email either in case they record and leak your conversations.

There's being sensible - making sure your data can only be seen IF it's leaked rather than because you didn't RTFM - and there's being paranoid.

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Re: Moral of the story...

I think you'll find you're living in the dark ages. You're the kind of person who born 50 years earlier would be the pensioner who keeps their savings hidden in a pot in the garden.

Disable Gadgets NOW says Redmond

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Re: Egg Meet Face

I'd use W7 over OSX any day - I DO run both. I never ran a graphical version of Linux to compare.

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Re: New fangled Microsoft strategy...

If they know a threat is already out there or will be out there before they can test a fix to the insanely high levels of QA such things need, this is the sensible thing to tell people.

Apple MacBook Pro 13in

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If this is a pro why isn't it retina, I thought the whole point was all pros now had retina?

Also, "only just managed 30fps" doesn't exactly sound a hardship. Integrated graphics playing a modern 3D game at 30fps is pretty wonderful.

Religious wars brewing in ICANN gTLD expansion

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Re: Unlike, say, religion?

Teaching people to love each other is "tearing down what's right"? In modern culture - probably.

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If you don't like looking at porn, then DON'T LOOK AT PORN.

If you don't like looking at grannies being beaten up, don't look at it. There's such a thing as not believing the whole world revolves around you and your desires.

O2, GiffGaff network goes titsup for unlucky punters

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Re: Not surprised

Thanks for your random rant that has absolutely nothing to do with this story.

Microsoft tightens squeeze on TechNet parasites

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Re: Shooting themselves in the foot

Find something which lets you do this, like Action Pack. Or, get more appropriate clients who don't expect a lone developer to be running a cluster... that kind of work should bring in enough money to afford proper licenses :)

Where in the story does it say you won't be able to continue what you're doing anyway - does it definitely claim that?

Multi-platform exploit sniffs your OS, penetrates your back door

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@Mr Torx

How exactly do you know that Linux doesn't have many of the same issues? We only know Windows has them because people looked for them.

And AutoRun is a good feature. Linux users don't agree using a PC should be easy though.

US networks: Political donations by text? Rlly nt a gud idea

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Re: This at first looks like a good idea

Of course there is accountability. Their party can fire them. You can vote them out in a local election. You can vote the whole party out.

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Just go the whole hog

And set up America's Next President, a reality/talent show where the contenders are forced to live in a house together. Each Saturday they have to debate on certain topics and viewers vote by phone/text who to save. At the end, the most popular wins.

Microsoft sets October date for Windows 8 release

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Well it sounds like v15 is the first version to get some major new features for years... lots of swanky online collaboration stuff mainly. Which might actually be useful, with remote working getting more prevalent.

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Re: is it shit or is it good? is it shit or is it good?

" I doubt any of the people parroting this rubbish even used the versions they're talking about. 3.1 and earlier is basically just a GUI for DOS; 95, 98 and Me were all more or less all as shit as each other"

As someone who has been using since DOS3.3, you're talking junk. 95/98/ME have big differences and ME is definitely inferior. Wasn't 98 crap until SE came out, at which point it was the best pre-XP version?

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Re: is it shit or is it good? is it shit or is it good?

>>Windows 8 = Really Windows 7 crippled to look like a phone. Steaming pool of diarrhoea

Don't let the facts get in the way of all those funny jokes Tom, they're hilarious.

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Re: Surface apps

Loads of professional apps cost £10+, in fact cost is basically proportional to app-complexity / size-of-userbase.

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Its all about pushing folks to buy Metro Apps.

No it really isn't. That is a fringe benefit.

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Aside from the inevitable "it's dross" comments which I'll leave to others, A couple of neat things:

>>Anyone buying a PC from today will be able to upgrade to Windows 8 for $14.95, she said, and for the rest of us the $39.99 price tag looks set in stone

>>All customers will get access to SkyDrive cloud storage with a Windows 8 purchase

SkyDrive for free especially seems quite cool, depending how much you get. I do wonder though what happens if you already have a Windows Phone... can you combine your included storage?

LCD to have killed all* other TV technologies by 2016

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I reckon my plasma 'boots' faster than a CRT. Certainly if you include time for a CRT to properly 'warm up'

Being a skinny is much more unhealthy than being fat – new study

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Presumably what you ate to get fat is also important? e.g. just eating too much healthy home-cooked food is better than getting fat off McD and pizza?

Google Nexus 7 Android tablet

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problems with the word "virgin," which was a pain when trying to book a flight

Yeah, of course that's what you were doing.

Facebook shuts down face recognition APIs after all

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Re: What a magnanimous

"What a magnanimous business Facebook is.

Get moving or lose it, and oh there is a reasonable alternative.

I want my money and time back thank you."

Obviously you checked the T&Cs when signing up?

Google plants rainbow flag in anti-gay countries

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They are fighting laws that actively make being gay illegal, or legally allow/encourage discrimination. The UK does not have such laws, just as we have laws promoting gender equality... how people treat each other is a separate matter once the legal issues have been resolved.

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Re: Religious bigotry

"I know quite a lot of Christians, the number I know who are "anti-gay" is vanishingly small."

Since the definition of "a Christian" is not very strict, this doesn't mean much. I AM a Christian and the majority of people in my church hold to the 'old fashioned' view that same-sex relationships are wrong. However I don't necessarily equate that with being anti-gay - there is a massive difference between disapproving of what a person does, and who they are.