Posts by xanda

Re: What are we going to do about the embedded devices?

"Certain types of people..."

And that's what all the howling & pontificating really comes down to.

You've got a beef with, and not a small contempt for, a cross section of society (if not all of it) and your way of seeking redress is to enforce a lexiconic straight-jacket over everyone else.

Don't misunderstand: Peaceful day-to-day relations with colleagues is one thing wherever it can be achieved but forcing-feeding a militant political agenda with inquisitorial religious zeal isn't going to help anyone.

Ultimately none of the examples cited by you, or within the renaming initiatives, are really anything to get upset about, either in their supposed historical context or technical application. Indeed, as you yourself have alluded to, language changes with time and so it follows that whomever might feel such terms are objectionable would be better served by supplementing their vocabulary with more nuance.

That's something that will go much further in the long run.

Re: will drop PPD file support soon

"...this relies on the printer manufacturers implementing the protocol correctly..."

Famous last words indeed.

Re: People are quick to bash Apple...

People bash Apple because they are kale-smoking, eco-hipster hypocrites.

Perhaps they have improved their behaviour (?) in recent times by extending the service life of some of their stuff, yet for the most part they have done this kicking and screaming after years of malicious behaviour, including the bullying of the 3rd party repair industry.

If only...

"...we'll need to either look elsewhere...

This assumes there is indeed somewhere else to go. After years of errant behaviour from the likes of Nokia et al, Android was touted as this 'elsewhere' due to it's mostly open source nature. For a while the CyanogenMod experiment gave a glimmer of hope as a credible option until, amongst other reasons, the wide uptake of closed-off MediaTek hardware proved yet another a barrier.

"...or keep the pressure on..."

In the absence of a serious marketplace contender there is really only one other avenue: regulation. It seems there is something to be said for obliging manufacturers to open up some of their code and other processes to prevent what is a flagrant abuse of the marketplace - maybe there are some racketeering laws being broken here? ;-)

Privacy apparently...

"...centralised on an IBM mainframe..."

We found it curious that Thames Water insisted how the need to re-register was for privacy reasons,which sounds like a half-baked 'dog ate my homework' cover for 'Yes, we really didn't think this through'.

Turns out both are true. Accounts have been ported to some Microsoft backend service a consequence of which leaves LastPass scratching its head (so much for bookmarking then).

The site now reports NET::ERR_CERT_DATE_INVALID - which is nice...

Re: Well if the US ships want the Chinese to keep out of the way

...When did you know of a major OS update that didn't have snags - including Windows and Linux?

Spoken like a true software 'engineer'.

Only in this discipline has it been acceptable to say things like "Updates(grades?) are always this bad" or "Everyone else is just as guilty of shoddiness as we are". As an aside, perhaps this is Tesla's reasoning on the smart summon feature? But we digress...

Given the money Apple receive, their purported prowess and the level of control they wield over their customer base, any reasonable person would conclude that such 'snags' - as you call them - would not reach the level described by so many on this release.

We're not anti-Apple (we have some of their kit ourselves) but we are pro 'getting the expected quality paid for'.

...Just sell your app on your own website...

Many do already if you hadn't noticed - or they at least refer back to Google Play thereby giving the indication to the user that they are looking at something kosher.

..."Why on earth you need an 'app store' to install a freaking app on your phone?"...

Because after decades of experiencing dodgy downloads in the personal computing domain (of whichever persuasion) the largely uninitiated mobile device buying public finds it helpful to have a single point of reference for apps even if only for safety.

There are many who are not particularly tech savvy, but who have at the same time learned that the source of their apps is important; having a default store goes a long way to helping these people.

True there is more muck than brass in the Google Play store (& maybe the others too?) and users still need to be selective (as other comments here attest to), but having it is still better than not having it.

Besides, at least on Android, the user still has the option to go elsewhere if they want to.

Re: Fools and their money...

I personally find it hard to understand why many fork out major cash for such baubles in the first place, even when they are a reality.

So being prepared to send ~$400 to a ghostly outfit, trading under a brand name long synonymous with failure, for stuff that only exists on a webpage (at most), does sound a bit unhinged to me...

Re: Eh?

I too suffer a disability.

It's often mocked, both in everyday conversation as well as in the media at large.

And you know what? I'm still here - and what's more it gives me some great jokes to share...

That said, my beef (no apologies to vegans) with those shouting out the 'p' word is that they really do make my life difficult: The effect is that people are nervous/not candid with me in day-to-day life for fear of causing offence. Plus don't get me started when it comes to job interviews...

Frankly anyone who has a problem with the word gimp needs to grow up, get a life and a dictionary (not necessarily in that order).

Re: Monopoly!

I can just hear Google shout out 'Daffyd Thomas' style: "I am the ONLY stalker in the village!"

Re: Do they still do it?

For sure they are all dubiously motivated and below par in terms of competence.

Apple aren't the only ones of course but are by far the worst offenders due to their sheer arrogance and downright meanness; being the size they are ought to give them scope to behave better all round.

In a like experience our Wileyfox was out of service a whole year because of an update which was *forced* i.e. WF held the warranty and support to ransom unless it was installed (see their Facebook page for more). We got it working in the end but *without any help* from WF.

Given that similar experiences are described the web over, it does seem that perhaps some kind of regulation is now in order, at least?

We hate to say this and are not even convinced if it's feasible or truly desirable even. Yet it does seem to us that giving consumers the right and ability to use whatever version of whatever OS they want on their own devices ought to sustain an environment where vendors would behave better.

Re: A bridge too many

"How can it be useful if its was never advertised, documented or, published..."

We got no beef with issuing security updates and the like but...

You mean to say that Logitech didn't know their kit would be used this way? Of course they did. It was probably decided early in the project's life that letting such compatibility remain would make it all the more desirable in the marketplace.

And even if this is not the case they certainly knew about it long before the supposed 3rd party security experts 'brought it their attention' - how could they not with a thriving community of enthusiasts/hackers right under their nose all that time? Did they not stop to think what that would imply?

The concept of 'accepted custom and practice' comes to bear here which makes Logitech responsible to a large extent. They ought not be so 'righteous after the event' or to have stuck the two fingers up. Nor should they have have pulled the rug...

They ought to have come up with something else (no - I don't know what that would be) that protected the expectation and investment of their customers.

Re: Not surprised...

'Could do better' springs to mind.

The three tablets we've had thus far have all been bluff & bluster - high on price, short on performance and maximum on unreliability.

Even the larger brands seem ignorant of what's in their own kit: we had a devil of a time trying to find out what storage card was right for our Lenovo. Can't think the experience is any better for brand-X types.

It seems the vendors suffer with collective ADD inasmuch as no sooner have they sold one half-baked effort, they then rapidly disavow/withdraw support for it and dish out the next one.

It's a tiresome cycle indeed and maybe customers are starting not to bother because of it?

Just another clone...

"Stand in front of investors aghast that the world hasn't snapped up your 95% identical-to-every-other-phone-but-costs-more product..."

Hear hear.

Especially as the Essential phone is $499. Really? An Essential product costing that much? He obviously didn't take a leaf out of Tesco's idea on an essential, value product...

As for Dysons: they suck proper (no pun intended) and have merely filled the world with more plastic bags instead of the paper, biodegradable sort. Naughty - very naughty. :-(

Re: Have fun!

Are you deliberately being stupid for kicks or are you just a naive exhibitionist? Please state what you think a 'reasonable authority' is; by definition it is not one where their agencies seek to pry into areas where they have no right or cause to in the first instance - that is a most unreasonable thing to do indeed.

In the case of the NZ law using the "reasonable cause" argument: this is both erroneous and dangerous because it is a weasel clause. It can - and will be - abused by the very agencies required to implement it, whether polite or not.

Is the wrong question.

Of course terrorists and criminals will always have something hide - BUT SO DO THE REST OF US. The concepts, in case you haven't heard, are called privacy and dignity and many people have a strong sense of what that means for themselves .

So it doesn't matter if it's a phone, personal diary, family photo album etc. the state has no business in arbitrarily violating their sanctity - which this law undoubtedly grants license to do.

And also where you like to shop, what restaurant you visited last Saturday, when you last got a parking fine and so on and so forth. What of it? None of this stuff is remotely private so it makes no difference whether the state, journalists or other nosey-parkers know or not.

So in other words: everybody else is doing so we can too. From a statement like this it might appear you are perhaps a NZ politician responsible for said legislation.

Nobody would realistically suggest that state security agencies refrain from following bona fide intelligence in helping us to remain safe, but granting free reign without restraint, as this law basically does, is bad for everyone - authorities included.

Re: Profitability

"...customers were still going in and buying stuff, but the author's contention is that spiralling corporate debt killed them."

It always seemed to us that Dragon's Den was just entertainment - a sort of censored happy slapping for TV. Apparently not though - the disease is real after all. Hubristically overpriced valuations of businesses leading to unfathomable exposure to debt. The result being the business raises prices far above any realistic expectation for the market they operate in and effectively killing their own business.

It's still an amazing achievement for Maplin though: according to the second table in the article they made £135m profit on just £269 of sales!!

;-)

Re: not yours

"It's not quite an absolute right though - it's as long as you don't circumvent any copy-protection technology in doing so."

Yeah it is. Granted there may not be a statute on the books that codifies this, but the general principle is thus: you bought it, you own it and therefore you have the right to protect it. This is a time honoured principle of western democracies.

That makes circumventing the copy protection for content you already own no more criminal than locking your front door at night...

To our knowledge though this has never been tested in court. This is probably because it falls into the same grey wilderness as all those EULAs for software i.e. the small print may say one thing but its interpretation by the judiciary is quite another; whoever is first to argue the point (from the likes of the big bad studios) will likely get egg on their face.

And rightly so...

Hold on a moment...

"it's no more intelligent to fight against changing the terms."

The 'terms' don't change in or of themselves - it is people who ascribe the meaning. For example, the word "gay" didn't assume it's current cultural meaning all by itself - the meaning has been artificially imposed over years.

That raises the question of who gets to define the meaning and who gets to impose it.

The issue thus becomes one more important than that of transient semantics or mere practicality. It is one of both freedom of speech and the imposition of authority aka dictatorship.

Like so many other words in the English vocabulary, the word slave has more than one meaning; indeed it's original root has been applied to various different scenarios over time. This does mean that the meaning is largely contextual and so ascribing too much value to an alternate one denigrates the beauty and power of language.

Again this is a problem, both in principle and practice.

In principle it means that certain quarters will seek to establish themselves as the word/thought police, as indeed they are already doing.

In practice it means that the 'innocent will anguish over the innocuous' as well as a ton or more of unnecessary work in changing code, reprinting signs and other tangible material - all at great cost.

It can therefore not simply be ignored or adhered to as if to go with the flow.

Maybe - maybe not...

Prices may go up but it's unlikely - especially in the long term. Customers are now thinking more in terms of total cost of ownership (even if at an intuitive level) and are clearly voting with their feet.

The overpriced and onerous bundles that have been the traditional staple of the market never really had anything to do with the cost of the phone in the first place. That's because, and with a few exceptions, retail prices for goods bear no real relation to the costs of manufacture and distribution. That's why phone models are priced differently across markets - vendors know where they can milk it and where they can't.

There may be some equalisation of prices between bundles and SIM-free handsets if networks go through a phase of determining whether or not they continue with the old ways. Arguably there has been some activity already on this front, with some networks offering contracts with devices that are factory unlocked from new (thanks be the regulators admittedly). They may even relish the thought of simply selling airtime and services as it will remove them from the tedious and costly device support chain - warranty claim anyone?

Those who want the latest flagship and are prepared to shell out will always be there, but mostly the market is fed up with being done-over: being tied into either a poor service or phone that fails to deliver a satisfying fulfilment - or frequently both - just isn't fun anymore.

That leaves the market open to manufacturers who are able to provide commodity handsets at a reasonable price, and maybe even more choice than the paucity that currently exists. While this might mean higher upfront prices (and we can't really see how) in the near term, it will ultimately force the market down as punters shop around.

Re: Truecaller

"...but it does stop quite a few scam/spam calls and texts."

It does nothing of the kind - our Wileyfox is a testament to that.

It does seem to us that Wileyfox have some unholy relationship with Truecaller, hence its 'enforcement' on the range. Truecaller seems to exist with the sole aim of harvesting the worlds phone numbers (a strange phenomenon given the almost universal disdain for being in a traditional phone directory), the aim of which is not entirely clear...

Perhaps WFs tie-in with Russian backers helps the peripheral security services corroborate their records?

Besides, has any WF owner actually got an alternate dialer to work properly yet despite recent updates supposedly being 'pure Android'? Even the standard Google one doesn't work.

Re: Why....?

Can just imagine the Daily Mail headline now:-

Open Source Code Routine Seen Topless by Swimming Pool - looks fab after 6 months on the Atkins Diet..."

;-)

Re: You can't fork Android

"...If I can't root it, I won't buy it."

Sounds like a good plan until you realise that this is the mobile equivalent of asking the Hatton Garden gang to hold onto your spare house keys while you're away.

There isn't a root tool on the planet that meets even the most basic notions of security or propriety - not the last time we looked anyway. The fact they exist at all is testament to how broken this industry really is.

The one question we've always pondered is why the mobile makers never learned from the Microsoft debacle of yesteryear: OEMs could have clubbed together - either to force MS to back-off (easier) or, even better, produced a quality alternative to Win (only a bit less easy). In the case of Android both opportunities were achievable from the start. Unfortunately they were squandered and lost finally when CyanogenMod bit the dust.

The result? Poor customer experience, bad vendor faith at every level and literally tons of landfill.