Posts by Dave 126

There's plenty of money being spent on battery R&D.

In the meantime, the cost of phone battery replacement is roughly ten percent of the price of the phone, every two to three years - fairly easy to budget for.

The limiting factor for many an Android phone is the duration of security updates. We're now a couple of years on from when phibes were shipped with Android incorporating Project Treble, so we should now start to see if that has helped the situation.

Re: I only use a fraction of the functionality of my current phone

> You don't need to pay anything to remap the bixby button.

The Samsung method still insist that you assign either single or double click to Bixby, leaving just the other option to remap to a limited range of functions.

You don't need to pay for BxActions, but you get better functionality from it if you do.

Re: I only use a fraction of the functionality of my current phone

You paid for the hardware... If enough people paid for a user-respecting OS to be built and tested...

Re: I only use a fraction of the functionality of my current phone

BxActions, a couple of quid well spent to remap button.

That's the thing - a real time 3D scan provides a better user experience if done locally (on the phone), rather than on the cloud. In that respect they're like convectional photographs.

For sure, there will always be a sales app that puts a virtual table in your living room and wants to send you emails afterwards, but nothing to stop people developing or buying non-slurpy data.

The scary thing is if whole-house interior 3D scans are used to sell houses. The estate agents' 'cosy' euphemism might go less far if the buyer can view the house in 3D (and rearrange their existing furniture virtually)... Can this data be deleted after the sale? If it is retained, is out automatically made available to firefighters in event of emergency?

Re: Digital lives?

Get sick, get well

Hang around the ink well

Re: Done their work well?

It's less a question of what new things are in our phones but rather what new things could a phone do? Identify a problem that could be solved by a pocket-sized lump of sensors and processing power.

The maturity of phones (i.e, lack of change year in year, reliability) allows us to re-examine (or at least fine tune) our relationship to phones. After all, the user forms a part of the system.

Para-dice

I like the concept of 'para [beyond, adjacent to] dice [symbols of chance].'

However I'm sure it was just a spelling mistake. Musings on fate and chance didn't appear to be a part of this asshole's make-up.

Re: Summon the lawyers!

> Some councils have "frequent-flyers" who trip and hurt themselves regularly - they probably have poor eyesight or something.

Either that or it takes 19 months to fix the offending pavement after it is first reported. The cost to NHS of bolting Mabel's wrist back together isn't borne by the local council.

If any public-spirited folk out there wish to highlight potholes to help vulnerable pedestrians avoid them, remember to use the British Standard method of doing so: A Cock and Balls surrounding the pothole, length of cock must be no more that twice its width. Urethra yes, pubes no, ejaculaye optional but no more than three drops.

Maybe that would make for a better video game... Instead of building and maintaining like Sim City, you get to bomb a continent with nukes... and squirrels!

High score is for causing the most disruption with the least bombardment - as you say, taking out a single fuel depo rather than multiple data centres.

Re: Let's face it ...

Anyone who isn't in a position to know their infrastructure requirements sufficiently in advance to commission their own, such as a growing company. Anyone who has only intermittent need for a lot of processing, such as an engineering company.

I'm not saying cloud is suitable for everything, just that it is suitable for some things. Or at least it is the least bad option for some things.

If this were not true then we wouldn't have the likes of Boeing exploring ways mitigating the security concerns of using the cloud. Mitigations include splitting up the data, and performing calculations on encrypted data.

Of course it isn't a one size fits all situation. One step along from building your own infrastructure company might be to rent space in a data centre where the power and physical security is managed by another party, but only your staff install the servers and hold the keys.

Re: chip looks like the Annapurna Labs

Nitro refers to a card, not an individual processor (the ambiguous term 'silicon' was used by the article author, not AWS's executive). Most of the chips on the card are designed by Annapurna, which Amazon bought in 2015, with this application in mind.

https://community.cadence.com/cadence_blogs_8/b/breakfast-bytes/posts/the-aws-nitro-project

I think you have the makings of a strategy video game, like Sim City but with more Godzillas!

Define disaster. Hurricanes, earthquakes, wildfires, sure. War, meteorite strikes, zombie plagues... not forgetting squirrels, whose suicidal attacks on America's power grid has caused more outages than terrorist action has to date. Effects of disasters can cascade, such as a tsunami taking out the primary and back up power supplies to the pumps that cool a nuclear reactor. Or, all of your storage suppliers have their factories located in the same flood plain (and they still do).

The point is, 100.0000000% resiliency can only ever be an ideal.

That's all groovy, but what if you needed to provide a service to people across the world? To get comparable latency performance you'd have to build and maintain multiple data centres of your own across on several continents.

You would need a damned good crystal ball too, in order to predict the demand for your business's services months in advance so as to commission and build the required capacity.

So, if you have faster-than-light interconnects and and you see the future... then you're right, there's no need for any business to use cloud services.

Re: Fix it yourself

> Would you like to have to turn your iPhone off to charge it?

The difference, from an embuggerance perspective, is that a few minutes charge will let your mouse run for hours - it uses far less power than a phone. But again - if you have a flat battery in your mouse it means that you haven't casually topped it up for a month or two, and then you've just plain ignored a week of 'low mouse battery' prompts from MacOS.

Anyway, it's a an easy equation to grok: total faff / year = unit faff x frequency. Which is why the battery on my drill is very easy to swap (several times a day), my flashlight batteries are easy to swap but take a smidge longer (say one a week), battery in car requires tools ( every couple of years).

Re: This is a crime against the planet

> Use & recharge it every day for a couple of years

That would require me to use them for 20 hours a day, everyday. Even someone using them for a commute and a full day of ignoring their office would only be charging them two or three times a week.

So, every three years you are compelled to spend ten percent of their purchase price to have them serviced... that does not mean you have to take them to be recycled, let alone throw them in the bin.

Re: This is a crime against the planet

As regards Android software updates, it's not so much Google who are a bit shit (they actually want all their users to be on a current version) but the original equipment manufacturers (who would rather your phone vendor buy new chips from them) not bothering to release binary blobs.

Google inherited Android with inherent issues that made updates relient on hardware vendors, so if they are to blame then it is for rushing Android to market to compete with iOS. This mistake Google haven't made with ChromeOS.

Re: This is a crime against the planet

> This is a crime against the planet

Really? I'd have supposed that a pair of expensive headphones will be kept for longer and taken better care of (including being serviced when appropriate) than a cheap pair of headphones.

If you're actually serious about sustainability issues then you'll do the analysis properly - if only to better support the position you've taken.

And analysis of a complex situation is not simple, duh.

So yes, the manufacture of silicon chips uses about about ten times the energy than a plain metal part of the same mass, and silicon chips aren't necessary for headphones. Conversely, noise cancelling headphones are used by people to make travel on public transport more enjoyable - a car driver has less use for them. Wireless headphones aren't prone to damaged cables, the chief cause of failure in the dozens of headphones I've owned.

And how quickly will a device that is only charged a couple of times a week (twenty hour battery life) get through its roughly 1000 cycles and thus require a £75 battery replacement?

Nor is it a given that products that are beyond economic repair will go to landfill - they can be dismantled for partial recycling. This is more likely if they are constructed of materials such as aluminium, and that enough units are returned that dismantling process becomes more efficient.

Re: Fix it yourself

Yeah, some people really mourn the loss of Magsafe. They're not wrong, but newer MacBooks require charging less often. So, the total embuggerance is equal to the faffiness of of an operation multiplied by the frequency of the operation.

It's like Apple's mouse with the charging socket in the underside so it can't be used whilst charging. Okay, but to have a mouse with no charge means that you've haven't charged it for months, and ignored prompts by the OS to charge the mouse for several weeks.

Similarly, 'recharging' (replacing the battery in) my Casio watch is a bit of the bugger since I must take the watch to a shop, but I only need to do it every few years. Total embuggerance is low.

Now my phone battery is failing, it needs plugging in several times a day. USB C saves me a bit of faff compared to Micro USB, this saving of faff is multiplied by six times a day.

Re: Fix it yourself

> I've not looked, but I bet you can get external batteries for laptops like the "power bank" things they sell for phones.

Yes, such things as exist with USB C PD of a sufficient power for laptops. As one would expect they are fairly bulky and not cheap. There is a market for them, but ultimately they fill a niche of people who are away from a power grid *and* away from from a vehicle (internal combustion or electric) for several days *and* require a laptop. Who fulfils these criteria? Field researchers, perhaps, or military... but for multiple recharges you'd probably start looking at the greater energy density of fuel cells or a generator.

If your vehicle is a horse and you think you've found a socket to plug in a 12v power adaptor - don't.

Re: Things that have a limited lifespan

What Apple charge to change an iPhone battery is on par with what Samsung charge for a Galaxy battery replacement. In addition, the iPhone will receive several more years of software updates.

I'm not saying that there isn't room for improvement, but why suggest that Apple stuff doesn't last as long as other stuff when the evidence shows otherwise?

- sent from my Galaxy S8 (which is in need of a new battery)

Re: Fix it yourself

USB C Power Delivery is a standard, so a 3rd party USB C PD power adaptor of the appropriate spec isn't 'fake' as such.

However, your caution is merited, since poor quality adaptors do pose a risk. Not only poor quality adaptors, but poor quality USB C cables too. Famously, there was a Google engineer who tested a variety of USB C cables and found many to severely wanting.

Thankfully we have the internet to research reputable brands.

Re: Whatever.

> just how limited is your hardware that Linux isn't suitable?

Embedded systems, sensors that process data before transmission to save bandwidth, Pi-like devices that can be powered with smaller solar panels or more novel forms of harvesting energy from the environment, mesh networks of smart dust...

Who knows? But why limit possibilities by starting with something that had a very different design intent?

Re: Whatever.

Well there are plenty of problems with Android, and Linux, whilst good, isn't the best starting point for all applications - especially those with very limited hardware. Is Fuschia the solution? I don't know. And maybe not do Google. But there are extant problems in need of fixing.

There has been work on other microkernels with a view of making security a formal process rather than a game of bug bounties and whack a mole. That seems a worthwhile endeavour.

Re: SN8 flight was to test multiple concepts in one go

Indeed. SpaceX's Falcon rockets have had 102 successful missions from 104 launches, giving a 98% success rate, despite us all remembering the odd fireball. When Falcons did RUD, Musk wasn't despondent.

Therefore, I'm inclined to believe him if he says he's happy with this Starship's test, despite the Boom!

Re: Premium audio space?

Their form - two shells, connected by a headband, that fit over a person's ears - appears to have been dictated by their function.

What do your headphones look like?

List prices and actual retail prices often vary, especially after a few months or years of being released.

It's probably fairer to compare the price of two products after have both been on sale for 6bmoths than it is to compare a newly launched product against one that has been around for a while.

Re: These won't be "cool" like AirPods

Wait for reviews, naturally, but What HiFi's tour of Apple's audio engineering and test facilities suggest that Apple aren't wanting.

Re: The early iRiver kit was excellent

You might consider putting RockBox on your H320. RockBox is an open source replacement OS for a range of media devices of that vintage. Amongst other things, it includes a GameBoy emulator, so I played through SuperMario on my H320. I also installed Zelda Link's Awakening. However, the H320 can't register one of the buttons you might map to 'A' at the same time as a direction command from the D pad... Swap which button is 'A' in the emulator options and you're good to go.

Re: Are they serious?

1: Over-styling usually denotes that a pair of cans is aimed at kids and has Mega Bass as its chief feature. For that market Apple has its Beats range. I'm not a fan of the Airport Max's metalic pastel colours, but they do mark them out as being for a different market segment.

I guess that in terms of styling, you'd be comparing these to Bowers and Wilkins (some of whose personnel now work for Apple) or Bang and Olufsen, but Airpods do look like an Apple product (with a big dose of Marc Newson, an old mate of Jonny Ive's who has worked with Apple since the Watch).

2. Performance. If we assume that sound quality is on a par with rivals (and no reason why it shouldn't, given Apple's budget, audio test facilities and personnel) then the differentiator will be extra features. These features are a function of silicon chips and code: Ease of pairing. Signal reliability. Noise cancelling performance. Audio signal that adapts to headphone / ear seal through the use of internal microphone arrays. The spatial surround sound stuff. Silicon and coding are things Apple can do.

Re: These won't be "cool" like AirPods

History would appear to challenge your conclusion.

The first Walkman came to be because Sony's CEO wanted something to listen to on air journeys. He was a middle aged manager and figured other middle aged managers might want one too. The engineers took a portable cassette recorder designed for journalists and started work. The MK II Walkman became their 'iconic' design, which was then followed by variations which included cheaper models for the 'kids.'

The $800 price of the first iPod limited it to 'middle-aged project managers' - but iPods later became near ubiquitous amongst the kids.

You're not completely off the mark, though - Bose market themselves almost exclusively at 'middle aged manager' types (or at least those people whose work compels them to travel by air more than they might wish) and they haven't convincingly broken out if that market segment. Still, it's a lucrative segment.

Re: "If you’ve got money to burn,.."

I'm still kicking myself for taking my Sennheisers (low end of their mid range, RRP of £90 but bought on sale for £35 sort of thing) out of the house to make a short train journey less boring... then leaving them in a pub. Grr.

It was daft of me because they were excellent at-home headphones (I could fall asleep wearing them and wake up with no trace of ear discomfort) but poor portable headphones (overly long cable, didn't fold up).

I could just about, if I tried really hard, justify a pair of Sony XM3s for £150 to myself, if they were just used at home and at work... but for generally travelling around then a pair of £6 Sony earbuds is likely the best option for me.

Re: Case looks like a bra

> And that was before fully realising the horror that was iTunes

To be fair, awful as iTunes might have been it had nothing on the horror that Sony's SonicStage was reputed to manifest. Sony's answer to the iPod was considered to be a fine piece of hardware but it required SonicStage and it couldn't play MP3 files - only ATRAC. The point remains though - the iPod took a big chunk of the market for HDD (and later solid state) audio players that Sony had complacently thought belonged to them, at the same relagating Minidisc recorders to a niche product almost overnight.

The early iRiver kit was excellent. And not only could music just be copied over to it as a mass storage device, but it could act as a USB host in its own right and copy music to other devices. I was once given an iPod with a broken screen and immediately took it apart to replace the broken HDD in my iRiver H320.

The H1xx and H3xx range did have great sound quality, but I can't remember the included earbuds as being anything special. I mostly used it with some Sennheiser HD 250s.

Hahahaha, an oxygen-free wireless transmission path, that's genius!

Why did you post as AC?!

Semi-open and open cans don't tend to worn outside of the house as often as closed cans are, so aren't subject to tbe abuse of being bundled into rucksacks etc.

Other than cables, the main area of older headphones than often fails is the foam and vinyl of the earpads. Like failed cables, these are often replaceable by design, or at least easily repairable.

Loud speakers of a certain vintage also used a foam rubber that disintegrated over time. Again, it's not the hardest job to replace. Sometimes a capacitor or two will need replacing on a speaker's cross-check circuit - again, not too tricky.