Posts by Andy

People posting benchmarks...

...be careful what you test against. It's not exactly cheating, but different browsers test against different suites; so it's likely that they'll be the fastest on that test, because they've been optimised to do those tasks quickly. Safari's tests, Sunspider, will likely be fast in Chrome, and Chrome's will be fast fast in Safari as they're essentially the same. Safari is scary fast right now, though.

@Greg

Shock headline: Java user defends Java! Meanwhile, the rest of the world carries on not caring. While I enjoyed your tangent, you appear to have missed my point entirely. The only reason for my "cutting-edge" reference was ironic (note sarcastic quotation marks), to suggest that it's always been lowest-common-denominator crap. HTML and ECMAScript were around before Java on the web, and have learned lots of fancy new tricks so they're even more relevant today; Java has undeniably 'fallen on its arse', as it thoroughly deserved to. It's left with a small niche in enterprise, of course – where infrastructure traditionally evolves at sub-glacial speeds.

I'm convinced it's time to have Java off by default for web browsers, and really to seriously consider whether it's worth including at all. I know the last time I used a Java applet was the late nineties.

You know, stupid as that is...

...it's actually a good idea.

I've had most of those

The blue screen when rebooting was kind of worrying, but everything worked after I forced a shutdown. Graphics issues with the 9400M are sadly nothing new.

Probably use iTunes U for distribution

...which makes it very sensible to strongly encourage an Apple device. I'm sure they won't down anyone insane enough to buy a Zune, though. Or maybe they make special apps available to students that help them participate in their course - which makes it no different to requiring a certain text book or whatever (unless you think they're paid to help a certain book publisher achieve world domination?). At least there's financial help.

Fucking Gordon fucking Ramsay

Fucking clown, no fucking one of us would take some fucker on the fucking street seriously if they used that fucking kind of fucking language all the fucking time, why should that fucking lunatic be fucking different?

I've got no problem with bad language, but the amount he uses it – he sounds like a simpleton who can't express himself, and why would I want to hear what a simpleton has to say? He's getting worse (probably trying to live up to his own reputation), and I'm glad the regulator has recognised it.

One reason I don't use Firefox...

...is that every time I start it, on my machine or a university machine, it insists on installing updates and slowing down whatever I was doing! I do keep up with versions, but at times when it's convenient to me.

Safari is a bit of a special case, as WebKit has deep system roots so many updates need a reboot. It's not good that this (apparently) impacts adoption rates, but it is understandable.

@ Anonymous Coward 11:13

Yeah, right. Webkit gives Opera a thorough whipping in most departments. Opera may be faster than Firefox (though the 3.1/3.5 betas are fairly nippy), but that's not saying much.

For all your skepticism...

...I believe there really is a call for a way of answering certain types of difficult questions. Google and Wikipedia both rely on the question having been asked before, and - crucially - written about. Once you get beyond "What's the lead singer in that band I like called?", the just-Google-it answer starts to fall apart.

Of course, it's such a hard problem to solve that it's highly unlikely this project is the answer he's claiming it to be. So I'm with you on every other point.

Money should not have changed hands

They've directly funded criminal activity WITH MY MONEY, and totally without my consent. However you look at that, whatever they thought they were doing, however many weasel words you throw at it, it's wrong.

@Dan

The new MacBooks are pretty great. Virtualisation is alright if you stuff it full of RAM – but generally, if you like OS X you'll find yourself making excuses not to boot up Windows.

@martinX: simply put, yes. I don't know why these numbers aren't showing it – although if this machine only had 1GB of RAM, then the GPU is running in crippled-128MB-mode – but I moved from a GMA950 machine to a 9400M, and it feels like it's at least two generations newer. Running games, playing back video... it's just incomparable.

Which just goes to show...

...that homosexuality isn't very clever, from a Darwinian perspective. Though it's really quite rare for animals to be exclusively homosexual – usually it just seems to be a case of mistaken identity due to raging hormones – so maybe Cherry just isn't their type?

@Maty

Security through obscurity doesn't work? Then why is it one of the first arguments trotted out for things like the security of Mac OS X?

It does work, it's just not as effective as active security measures. Combine the two, and it's even greater than the sum of its parts.

I've long thought

...that the money spent on schemes like this would be better used to subsidise condom prices - or even create a competing, low-cost brand - and to encourage more good condom adverts on tv to further brands and try to decrease the stigma of buying them. Those Durex condom animal ads were awesome.

Fair enough

This is the flip side to being rich – you don't get to use competitors' products, even if they're really great. I can't imagine it really causes them too much pain...

Could they not have prosecuted for trespass?

Clearly they were being dicks about this, but equally clearly Google shouldn't be driving onto private property and taking photographs.

Ad requests?!

Does this seem ass-backwards to anyone else?

The numbers seem logical – there are a _lot_ of Nokia phones out there, after all – but still, ad requests seems a bizarre metric. I suppose it's more a case of drawing attention to their ad network than being about the actual usage stats.

Still OK for me

Had some trouble in the autumn – which coincided with some equipment failures – but service is back up to scratch for me now. Still cheaper and much faster across the board than any other provider.

I'm in Derby. Don't know where the trouble is located – but it's worth bearing in mind that noone goes to online forums to say how good things are. Only to complain! (And I'm guilty of that too.)

CES is dying, too

Much lower attendance this year, from what I hear?

They've been pretty desperate to get Apple and Apple-centric exhibitors there for some time... Hence this announcement. I heard some pure speculation that the "Apple at CES" rumour was also a CES plant, to steal exhibitors? It would make a certain amount of sense to strike while Macworld is weak. Nothing to back that up, though.

Not that I have anything against CES, really – it just seems like all trade shows are fading in relevance at the moment. Maybe it's just the economy.

Better than their usual hardware price conversions

Usually we get robbed blind. This is pretty good, actually.

And seeing as a new battery for a white MacBook was £100 from Apple when I asked recently, £139 for a battery that's better than this, including labour for a takeapart, is a total steal (and pales in comparison to the original cost of the machine). Still, it won't feel like that when your battery starts dying.

So I misread the title

as "...17-inch MacBook, iLife, tweaks Tony Bennett." Now that would have been an interesting keynote.

I'm pretty happy. It's as though they worked through my iLife wishlist and implemented every feature, even better than I'd imagined it... and then some. Best upgrade yet.

I guess it depends what you want, huh?

@John Molloy

Seriously? Whoops.

I thought it was hilarious. Figured it was a joke, then a second message came up... and then a "sponsorship message" from 4chan. Couldn't stop laughing.

Gotta feel sorry for the guys involved – and it inconvenienced me, as I was following that page via my phone because it's low-bandwidth – but Anonymous (if 'twas really he) delivered truly epic lulz.

@Stuza

"ftp/news programs/general download managers usual come with a scheduler. Why is it so dificult to use these? Thats all VM want and seems fair to me."

You're missing several points. 1, that costs more as you have to leave your modem and computer on all night. 2, the service is atrocious even if you're just surfing during peak hours anyway. 3, they shouldn't sell what they can't provide. 4, their throttling scheme doesn't work as advertised – it cuts in much sooner and lasts much longer than they claim. 5, other ISPs can charge less and still not throttle.

I'm an ex-customer, having been with them for years. Becoming the "ex-" was extremely difficult, involving threats and demands from Virgin, and a constant stream of junk mail from them since leaving, but it was completely worth it. I now pay half as much for a service that's theoretically twice as fast, but in real terms it's actually 4-5x. Anyone who's with Virgin: there really are much better ISPs out there. It's not going to get better. Don't put up with their service!

@nexox enigma

"Then again, maybe there is some reason for it that I can't grasp..." To be honest, I think the reason is that other notebook manufacturers simply don't fix such problems. They don't sell enough of individual models for there to be a loud noise about any issues, and Windows gets the blame for any strange behaviour.

@Anonymous Coward:

"When the first wild OSX virus came out - that the argument seemed to be users had to type password, but reading a few Mac Forums at the time it was reported users could be set up so they were admins and password wasn't needed as part of install process."

It still asks for a password before messing with anything that doesn't belong to you – ie. anything outside of your Home folder, ie. the system. The only difference is that *your* password will let it do those things, if you're an Admin. Pillock.

Sounds like someone doesn't like Bittorrent

The fact is, we wouldn't have this mess if ISPs weren't so persistent about selling users so much more bandwidth than they actually have. They're short-sellers; except they can refuse to cough up if the stock price (or rather, bandwidth usage) rises. Disgusting.

"Yet another update"...

...meaning, in this case, "one update"?

Though let's be honest, it's a bit of a push to be getting offensive or defensive about this. zomg bug fixes?