* Posts by iansmithedi

18 publicly visible posts • joined 10 May 2013

Is it possible to control Amazon Alexa, Google Now using inaudible commands? Absolutely

iansmithedi

Re: low-pass filter on the microphone.

These products have MEMS microphones, which are mechanically very linear out towards 100 kHz. It's more likely to be the digitisation process with limited filtering. Sampling at the higher rate is the best solution, as you write, but at the expense of power consumption for the phone.

No, Apple. A 4G Watch is a really bad idea

iansmithedi

Healthcare watches are yet to take off

Smart watches have saturated the fitness market, but I think we are yet to see the impact of wider healthcare apps for smart watches. The sensors and apps are not quite ready but are close. There could be a significant market for people at risk of heart disease who would pay money for health monitoring on the wrist and an alert for medical help.

Don't stop me! Why Microsoft's inevitable browser irrelevance isn't

iansmithedi

Firefox good for not being tracked and ace plug-ins?

I love the choice of plug-ins for Firefox on PC. It makes life more bearable. I can "fix" Facebook feed, automatically donate to charity, enlarge pictures by hovering over them, block ads, check my spelling and grammar automatically, download videos from a page, and probably loads more I don't know about.

The sync between PCs works well too.

I just don't use it on my phone (yet) as it seemed a bit slow.

But I like being independent of Microsoft and Google.

Lloyds Banking Group to hang up on call centre staffers

iansmithedi

Re: Dear Lloyds Bank --- Yes Santander is fairly good.

Been with them for a few years now. Very happy they pay me to bank with them. The phone app is generally ok and the website seems to work fine. I like the zero commission on overseas transactions on their 123 CC. (I switched because I wanted to close a Bank of Scotland account and move it to another. Turns out it was easier to move bank than move accounts within the bank.)

Dyson backs Britain plc with $2.5bn AI and robotics investment

iansmithedi

Re: Airblade, airfield, airware

That's why I love their lateral thinking to the new Airblade tap.

http://www.dyson.co.uk/hand-dryers/airblade-tap.aspx

Joined up thinking. (And it might be quieter than the Airblade V.)

Wi-Fi for audiophiles: Alliance preps TimeSync certification program

iansmithedi

Re: Amazed that this stuff is so difficult

It sounds like your friend has a separates-based system. It might not know about the time difference between video and audio streams; however there should be a setting to manually adjust this.

Why don't people secure their IoT gadgets? 'It's not my problem'

iansmithedi

Most people don't maintain their cars; they give it to a garage to do it for them when the garage or car tells them it's due. A gas boiler in a house may get an annual service visit. Internet-connected appliances need to sort theselves out, one way or another. Even Windows 10 does its updates itself at night now.

Samsung, the Angel of Death: Exploding Note 7 phones will be bricked

iansmithedi

Re: I don't doubt we'll see a similar situation with cars in the future.

And the government is virtually forcing smart electric meters on us, which have a remote kill switch too....

iansmithedi

Verizon want their customers to burn

Limits repeat business surely?

iansmithedi

Re: does this update require wifi ?

Note 3 on Android 4.4.4? Ugh! I just updated my Galaxy S3 to Android 6.0 (thanks to Cyanogen). It works so much better. Android 4 was a dog in comparison.

Li-Fi with my little eye … a vulnerability

iansmithedi

Reliability & infrastructure

It's a great idea to get high speed data everywhere in a room; however this requires an infrastructure to be put in place. Think how long it's taking to replace incandescent lamps with LED ones, and all the trouble with dimmers, for example. Then there is the reliability aspect. We expect hard-wired stuff to last decades. I put in two power sockets with built-in USB chargers. They lasted a year and I had to take them out.

So, it's more likely this initially will find an application in a new building construction which needs this capability, not consumer but industrial.

What problem does it solve? Individual video streaming to portable applicances in a space?

Does it reduce building wiring? It would certainly make shop floor reconfiguration a bit easier, but still power is needed, so network cabling in parallel is not too much more of a burden.

There's a problem waiting to be solved out there, but I've not figured it out yet.

HSBC swinging axe on UK IT department, 840 heads to roll

iansmithedi

HSBC to outsource to TalkTalk centre providers?

And HSBC employees can enjoy their customer hotline in India!

Your broadband speeds are up by 6Mbps, boasts UK watchdog Ofcom

iansmithedi

Re: Urban areas

To make you feel better, I only get 1.5 Mbps as I am rural. One YouTube video is all we can stream. However 3Mbps seems a bit slow. Do you have a dual-outlet master socket with your router plugged directly in to it (no microfilters)?

Windows 10 will now automatically download and install on PCs

iansmithedi

Blue screen at self checkout at Tesco

I wish Tesco would upgrade their self checkout from XP. Fed up with watching XP andm slow rebooting...

NOxious Volkswagen diesel emissions scandal: Chief falls on sword

iansmithedi

I would have made him work his notice period to sort out the mess. It's a year for a CEO typically isn't it? Now that would be punishment.

iansmithedi

Re: Not all need to be recalled.

I love my pre-DPF clog-free diesel, especially if someone is following too closely: foot down and they disappear.

BT commences trials of copper-to-the-home G.fast broadband tech

iansmithedi

Could we all have had fibre years ago?

http://www.techradar.com/news/world-of-tech/how-the-uk-lost-the-broadband-race-in-1990-1224784

How smart does your desk phone need to be?

iansmithedi

What's a desk phone

A desk phone is a waste of space.

A headset on my laptop gives me hands-free and VoiP calling, with IM and desktop sharing available when I need it too. The cell phone gets me when I'm elsewhere.