Posts by Dave 126

Re: Need a bigger laptop bag

>Until she needs to charge it and get data off a usb drive at the same time.... Oh, you can't actually plug in the USB drive anyway without an adaptor...

Some people don't use USB drives very much these days, especially people used to tablets, wireless printers, Dropbox, and 'good enough' phone cameras that don't require an SD card. Those who do can buy the Macbook Air or Pro.

Yeah, the pros of omitting a second USB might seem very small (weight and volume savings) but many users would be fine with it.

If you can afford to throw $10,000 at this, you probably already own a Piaget or similar... and not just the one, either. These days the people who are rich are very rich indeed, so it is not an either/or proposition for them.

Re: Need a bigger laptop bag

>Guess this also means that they will have a 19v 3a usb c cable ready to mistakenly be plugged into some poor device expecting to receive/supply 5v .5a

That's not how USB 3 works. Devices will negotiate with each other as to which supplies what power to which. The horse's mouth:

http://www.usb.org/developers/powerdelivery/

Re: Eternal problem

I take your point - you don't want to invest time in learning to use a device that you won't be able to use forever.

However, from your phone or PC's point of view, this is just a standard Bluetooth HID keyboard.

Re: Apple Pay?

>Am I the only one who can see just a tiny security flaw with scenario 2?

No you're not, which is why it doesn't work like that.

The phone still requires a PIN or fingerprint to make a payment. The watch will make a payment as long as it hasn't' been removed from the owner's wrist since being paired to the phone.

Re: Apple Pay?

>But that just means you have to steal the phone, the watch, and a finger, I guess.

Sounds like too much effort, I might just mug a person who has a wad of cash instead.

Re: What, no Douglas Adams quote?

'I have a well-deserved reputation for being something of a gadget freak, and am rarely happier than when spending an entire day programming my computer to perform automatically a task that it would otherwise take me a good 10 seconds to do by hand.

'Ten seconds, I tell myself, is 10 seconds. Time is valuable and 10 seconds' worth of it is well worth the investment of a day's happy activity working out a way of saving it.'

Douglas Adams, Last Chance to See, published 1990,

I'm no blind fan of Apple, but I too would prefer sensible discussions about certain topics (especially product design and user experience) without the tribal name-calling.

Apple have their business model, which enables them to do some very interesting things (and frustratingly limit their products' functions on occasion). It is inevitable therefore that they will be cited in conversations across a range of topics.

Re: Really?

I once read somewhere that many CEOs of Fortune 500 companies wore Timex watches, the implication being that they were there to make money, not spend it. They were not pretending that they are Edmund Hilary (Rolex), Steve McQueen (Heuer) or James Bond (Omega, usually).

I've also read that many members of the Russian government have watch collections worth many times more than their annual salary...

There is an appeal to a reliable, accurate and inexpensive watch... it is no more or less than it needs to be. It shows that you know what you need and how to get it without being ripped off. Really, EMP blasts aside, there is little downside to a Quartz watch over a mechanical movement - the mechanical watch will require servicing every few years just, as many quartz models will require battery changes.

There is also an appeal to more specialist watches. And mechanical watches have a fascination to me, the same part of my brain that loves LEGO Technic and taking things apart.

Blomkampf hired a conceptual artist for a proposed Alien film.

http://io9.com/neill-blomkamps-secret-alien-movie-looks-so-good-were-f-1677082116

It seems to be official now, with Sigourney Weaver talking about it, and Michael Biehn signed on to reprise his role as Corporal Hicks.

The conceptual art suggest that Blomkampf at least recognises what was great about Alien and Aliens, and what the issues with Alien3 were. He's obviously a fan of the first two movies, just as James Cameron was of Alien. This bodes well. Alien 3 and Resurrection suffered from studio interference, and directors who didn't produce the screenplays.

I'm cautiously optimistic.

Re: Not sure why people do not just use an espresso machine instead.

Before I switched to an Aeropress, I used an espresso machine. It was good, but a bit of a faff to clean and to load evenly with ground coffee.

Re: Bah ... philistines

The Aeropress is my coffee tool of choice. Takes espresso or filter-ground coffee. It's based on a cylinder and a rubber plunger - the spent grounds are ejected as a hockey puck, so a quick rinse is all it takes to clean it.

Re: I always thought...

Nah, it's in Peru

http://www.peruthisweek.com/travel-visit-the-white-city-of-arequipa-peru-103259

You are a wise-cracking intergalactic smuggler, on the run after being wrongly accused of murdering your wife, who tracks down rogue replicants and I claim my fiver!

A. Coatsworth deserves my upvote... but I had to use the internet to find out why!

('Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family', a H.P Lovecraft story concerning explorers and a city of white apes)

Re: Don't tell Steven Spielberg

I didn't mind the jungle setting in Crystal Skull. It was the Erich Von Daniken influences that spoilt it for me.... that, and that fridge.

Indiana Jones at the Mountains of Madness, anyone?

Re: White City of the Monkey God

1 Infinite Gloop

White City of the Monkey God

MMOFJ (Miles and Miles of F'ing Jungle)

Honduras

If out, please leave parcel with Mrs Trellis at Number 3.

Re: Z3

We're agreed then - Sony make an excellent phone! You'd do your battery life time a favour by topping it up daily, ideally (but unrealistically) keeping it between 80% and 90%. The beauty of the long battery life is that it is easier to avoid deep cycling. I've had a look at the Z3C on iFixit though - eventual battery replacement is gonna be a PITA.

Re: Sony who ?

Very much so, but Sony sell more in Europe than they do in the US. They have very good battery life, waterproofing, SD card storage and an Android skin that isn't far from stock. More niche features include integration with Playstation, and a 5-ring audio jack which allows the use of stereo microphones and on-phone noise cancelling with some headsets.

HTC's USP is large speakers.

Samsung's USP is a removable battery... Oops, scratch that!

LG's USP is a power-hungry quad-HD screen. Oh, and a 192Khz 24bit DAC. (Dear LG - you're making a phone, not a home cinema system!)

Re: Z3

>Other facts missing is that the M4 has a plastic case, not glass + metal, and a lower spec CPU

C'mon Petur, the article did say the M4 had 'slightly less swanky components'. I don't think the article was incorrect in any way. Regarding battery life, I'm very happy with my Z3 Compact, but the largest single factor is how much an individual user uses their phone.

I use the less aggressive Stamina mode all the time (I won't get email notifications etc until I unlock the phone but I see that as a bonus). I think I have the very aggressive power savings set to kick in at 25% - though it doesn't realise if you are actively using the phone for navigation and will turn off the GPS anyhows.

Re: A Minor Quibble

Agreed - this Pebble just reminds me of a c.1984 CRT monitor.

If you don't mind the 'Sports Watch' look, and you only want some limited functionality, you might look at the Casio Bluetooth Watch or the Citizen EcoDrive Proximity. Battery life is 1 year for the Casio and forever for the Citizen.

Re: Battery in straps

And of course a USB plug would be integrated into the strap buckle...

The downsides to having the battery in the strap are:

- Prevents customisation of the watch by using different straps

- Limits the strap design - So NATO, leather or Milanese straps are out.

- The volume available for a battery is fairly small.

Overhead lights. The photo was taken at the World Mobile Congress - a trade show.

Re: Great...

>Not many people care about Linux when Open GL runs faster under Windows with identical hardware.

That's likely to be a GPU driver issue. Vulkan should make it quicker for AMD and nVidia to get drivers out, because Vulkan asks the game engines to do what used to be the job of the graphics drivers.