* Posts by JDX

6847 publicly visible posts • joined 28 May 2010

Carbon fiber MacBooks to appear soon?

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Re: So...

Don't be daft Dave, the 'rounded corners' joke is still totally ROFL so why miss an opportunity to prolong it.

Windows Store size doubles: Now 0.3% the size of Apple's

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Re: Quality, quality, quality...

What do you mean, if?

Google promises autonomous cars for all within five years

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Re: Five years? They're on crack

I do love every time we have a story on auto-cars we get comments along the lines of "it won't handle a junction or something unexpected".

Really, you seriously don't think they thought of those things? You think they're pushing to put these into mass production but didn't do any testing apart from on quiet dual carriageways? Come on get serious, they are already legal in a couple of states.

You massively underestimate the state of modern computing.

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Re: This brings a new meaning to...

Add one small risk, take out several bigger ones - the net effect is positive.

Eric Schmidt: Ha ha, NO Google maps app for iPhone 5

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@Ben Rose, Test Man

Firstly, does Google make ads money from maps if you search for "restaurants" and then click on one? Do maps use adwords, etc - I thought it displayed everything relevant in the vicinity you were searching based on distance? I never thought about how they monetise maps before, I figured they did it for free to build the brand but am happy to be corrected how it works.

>>No one is going to move away from Apple just because there isn't a Google Maps app on iPhone

I don't think that's a safe assumption. To many people, maps are a must-have tool and for others, using your phone as a sat-nav is indispensable. So I could certainly see people due an upgrade thinking harder about whether they stick with Apple.

Also, there are always new customers looking for their first phone. If they can be headed away from getting into Apple in the first place, they quite likely will end up stuck in whichever ecosystem they go for.

Either way, Nokia have a wonderful opportunity here to sit on the edge and pick up the scraps.

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I think Google can re-use the servers easily for Google Drive/Docs.

We don't know what Apple were paying for Google Maps but think of all the ads Google can run for "phones with good maps".

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What's in it for GOOG?

Releasing a free Maps app on their competitor's phone is not going to get them revenue. Deliberately not releasing one so Apple get lots of bad publicity for crap maps could drive people away from Apple.

This could actually be good for MS/Nokia too - people upset with Apple just as WP8 comes out, and Nokia already give their free maps and GPS/satnav away on their handsets (which seems pretty decent from my tests). So Google/Android could get a lot of good press by hurting Apple, while also giving WP8 some more users and opening things up in the market more.

Maybe.

Dreaded redback spider's NEMESIS: Forgotten Captain Cook wasps

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Re: So...

>>Let me guess, we encourage the spread of the wasp to combat the Redback, then discover that the vicious little bugger is more of a problem than the spider.

I knew an old lady who swallowed a fly...

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Re: Not poisonous

>>"Maybe both" just means you don't remember the definitions, and are hedging your bets

Never mind. if you didn't understand, try reading the previous replies again and see if you can figure it out.

'Your app will work on Windows 8 - but please rewrite it anyway'

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Re: You got that right mate

It's all very well being all idealistic and saying we should only use standards but any fool can see the HTML5 standard doesn't cover enough of the areas of functionality needed to do all the things HTML5 is promised for. Therefore we HAVE to have non-standard extensions, all we can hope is that different browsers copy each other rather than all making their own.

FireFox and Chrome are massively non-standard with all the extra extensions they support, this is no different.

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Fair comment on not writing tools for non-MS platforms

However you can/used to be able to hook VS up against other compilers and toolchains anyway. I remember using VS 2003 (I think) as our IDE and compiler for Playstation 2 development when I worked in the games industry; presumably you could hook in Android tools and such?

Nokia out $99 dual-Sim Asha

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Re: WP8

The Lumia 800 is a fairly high-spec device. The low-end Lumia 610 is closer to £100 (about $150) so even there there is a big difference from $99.

Google Go language gets used: For file-scrambling trojan, though

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Re: How do they know?

Probably yeah, there will be footprints. For instance if you use a Go library function that probably compiles to an easily identifiable set of ASM/HEX codes.

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What's in it for them?

So it encrypts files on your PC and then what? Are you in some way extorted to pay for the key, or is it simply a vandal program?

LONDON iPHONE 5 MADNESS: 'You must be CRAZY to buy Apple'

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China has a one child policy

>>"China has a one child policy," he shouted to the crowd, "which is a problem because we need as many Chinese people as possible, to assemble iPhone 5s."

He's right. The one thing China needs is more people.

Apple iPhone 5 review

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I'd like the haters to explain why they invest so much time writing and caring about a product they don't own. Maybe get on with your own life.

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Re: 'The thinnest, slickest, fastest iPhone yet.'

Well it's a LOT faster and a better battery.

But otherwise... I guess they already have all the features in the 4S so they don't NEED to innovate. Most of the new features on other phones are just gimmicks, all top smartphones already do all the key things required of a computer which does phone+camera.

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Re: Get a Room

So a review you don't agree with is a bad review? Well then go and find one which tells you what you already decided without ever having used the damn thing.

I did guess it would be 90% before opening though.

Reg readers serve up bacon sarnie amuse-bouche

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These are the blooper reel entrants right?

Google's Android celebrates fourth birthday

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I've been and seen the giant donut, a bit bizarre.

Mars rover Curiosity gets ready to blast its first rock

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Someone should set up an account to do that.

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They ran out of colour film, or they're trying to make the photos look more arty?

Redmond promises emergency IE bug fix on Friday (zero day + 5)

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Re: Arghhh

yeah that would work, hackers won't simply focus all their efforts on chrome. we've seen a big rise in non-IE exploits recently, almost as if hackers noticed them getting popular...

Google acts against prostitution app after complaints from Congress

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All of the issues with prostitution, exploitation, danger, etc, are caused by it being illegal!

What a load of bilge.

HTC hawks fresh WinPho smartphones

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Yeah they actually look a nice design. I wonder if NFC will really be a selling point though.

Fans rap Apple's 'crap' Map app

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Re: Native Google maps

Can't you just use it in the web-browser? I can on iOS5, I even get a little popup "Install this web app". Apple cannot keep it off even if they want to.

Zuckerberg loses $8bn in Facebook IPO fiasco

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He hasn't lost anything

It's not real when it's shares, doubly so at IPO time... that was merely a guess.

Inside the guts of a fiendish Internet Explorer 0-day attack

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Re: Ouch!

>> It pointed out that the vulnerability could be exploited by pretty much everybody

It took a lot of smarts to find the vuln is what I meant.

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Re: Ouch!

Against fiendishly clever hackers any browser is vulnerable. It's daft to move browser for that reason... at least MS take patching security seriously.

Apple iOS 6 review

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Re: Only for some though .....

I'm sorry did they tell you iOS5 was going to stop working?

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Upgrade or wait?

I have an iPad 2 but never upgraded the OS. Is it generally better to wait a while in case of bugs, or does iOS not normally suffer that kind of syndrome?

New vicious UEFI bootkit vuln found for Windows 8

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Flame

still vulnerable to the old attacks if the SecureBoot technology is not turned on by default

So turn it on by default then.

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Re: How long have they been designing this system?

Who is they? Is UEFI MS-only, surely not?

NASA working on faster-than-light drive capable of WARP TEN

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Re: It doesn't take take thousands of years

Forget Heinlein, Douglas Adams made the point better :)

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It doesn't take take thousands of years

If you're the one doing the travelling it doesn't take long, only if if you want to remain in contact with Earth is it an issue.

Dell sets out Win8 tablet, Ultrabook, all-in-one stall

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That tablet sounds VERY expensive

128Gb storage... fingerprint reader... could be nice though and seems to hit a spot other tablets don't right now.

Report: Microsoft to cop it from Brussels in Browser Choice affair

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Re: I find the whole business very strange.

Equally hard to believe is that Brussels didn't notice.

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Re: MS and not Apple......

>>and yet to an outsider, it appears they do have a clear monopoly

A monopoly of what? They certainly don't have an effective monopoly on mobile phones or mobile devices in general. Even regarding tablets they may have the biggest market share but it is nowhere near a monopoly the same way Windows was/is.

Who queues for an iPhone 5? Protesters, hipsters and the jobless

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Waiting for

someone to make a joke about how Apple Fanbois and Carers...

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Re: iMuppets

Did you even READ the article?

Even slimmer PS3 out next week

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a)The media player option might attract a new customer base

b)kids are always being born so every year there is a new wave

I think the 12Gb one should come bundled with a remote control if it's aimed at media consumption. It's really good and makes it seem much more a real media system to non-teenagers!

Win8 tablets may cost MORE than iPads – AND LAPTOPS

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Re: I smell fail

At launch manufacturers will have no idea what they can sell for. You can expect prices to plummet once more than one company has devices.

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Re: who cares?

>>still haven't figured out what it takes to get a bestseller

You apart from Windows, Office and XBox? And Visual Studio. And Visio. And Powerpoint. And Kinect.

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It's nothing to do with MS, that's Asus taking the piss. We've seen Android tabs from £100 to £700 so why would Windows be any different?

Google+ claims 100 million 'active' users

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100m is a massive number even if it's only 10-20% of what FB has. Can they really have that many active users? What does active mean though... been to the site? Posted something? Simply used a Google service while logged in?

Microsoft announces Office 2013, Office 365 pricing

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Re: An honest question

Apart from the visible stuff like formatting (Open/Libre has NEVER managed not to screw this up for me) Office does a hell of a lot more than you might realise, that OSS doesn't.

For one thing all the macro support is very powerful. For another integration between the different apps (Word, Excel, Access). Thirdly, the ability to call into Office from your own code and generate documents automatically (or to use libs to create Office docs without using Office directly).

To a normal user none of this means much but it's why Office is unrivaled in the techy world. Libre like FireFox is targeting the general home user.

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Re: EU law

Are they definitely saying you can't uninstall and re-register it on another device by contacting customer service? Are MS saying that I mean, not El Reg's reporting of it? That seems a bit unlikely... what if your PC dies or is upgraded?

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Re: Microsoft seeks money

If you normally upgrade to the newest Office, subscription (at those prices) seems a no-brainer assuming your sub lets you automatically get newer versions.

Note if you're setting up a business, paying a sub also reduces your startup costs.

I've never used 365/OnDemand though so whether they're any good I can't say. But if the sub lets you install proper local versions too, I don't think it's too bad. $99 for a whole household to use Office legally is a steal really compared to the old way (even though everyone just installed the same copy on all their PCs).

Tossing in a Skype plan and SkyDrive is a nice touch for both sides although isn't that using a monopoly in Office software to get a dominant position in Cloud storage and web-telephony?

Motorola outs Razr phone with Intel Inside

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Re: No microSD-card slot?

Damn they'll rue that 1 lost sale

Windows 8: Never mind Office, it's for GAMING

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Newell

Is just sour grapes that it might hurt his sales.

It's a good point that for gamers, W8 might be just fine. I wonder if the new XBox will be based in some way on W8... like a Mac have a standard PC with a fixed hardware spec so developers know exactly what to target.