Posts by Richard Porter

Up to

Any promotion that says "up to" in small letters hoping you won't notice goes straight in the bin.

Printer cartridges

We used to collect toner cartridges for the local air ambulance charity. The outfit that reprocessed them had a list of the ones they recycled and the prices they would pay - anything from 10p to 50p for most of them - plus you needed to save up £10's worth or you got nothing. It wasn't worth the storage space.

Pink Smartphone

"But are you going to be seen with a pink smartphone? Anywhere?"

But are you going to be seen with a Microsoft Windows phone? Anywhere?

Not bloody likely!

re. Charlotte Green

Just what I was thinking when I saw your post.

Missing out, or just missing out the stress?

"If someone you know is missing out on the internet, they're missing out on loads of ways to make their life easier and more enjoyable,"

Maybe they don't even want to turn the computer on, if they actually have one (possibly left by a deceased partner). There are some nonogenarians who are alert and have lively minds; there are others who just think "why should I have to bother with all this new-fangled technology stuff at my age". For the latter it's just too daunting.

Perhaps when IP-TV becomes more popular that will be an easier way onto the web.

ATO

"TfL is already running some semi-automatic trains on the Jubilee line, although these trains also still have a driver. "

The Victoria Line has had Automatic Train Operation since it opened in 1968. No doubt with the new signalling the 09 stock could run fully automatically, but you'd still need someone on the train and/or on the platform at each station to dispatch the train. Remote control with CCTV isn't much good when something goes wrong. You can't do CPR over long line PA!

Incidentally, Bob Crow may be a throwback to the past (he reminds me of Ray Buckton at ASLEF) but he's not a moron. He is a good negotiator and debater, and he can rin rings around most of our politicians as the recent Question Time debacle proved. We needed someone like him in 1964 - who did we get? - Sydney Green.

In the meantime

"surfers have the choice to either re-enable ScriptScan; rely on McAfee SiteAdvisor or other tools to warn about bad sites; or choose a different browser. "

or simply not visit dodgy sites that they weren't intending to visit in the first place, and not use html for email messages.

Very true

An outfit I used to work for had a very sophisticated security architecture that totally failed to realise that employees might use their laptops on the internet at home and then connect them to the intranet at work. All security by-passed!

Where were the batteries?

Every exchange used to have a cellar full of 2 volt lead-acid cells in banks of 24 to provide a 48v backup supply until the standby generator kicked in. Nowadays the least you should expect is a UPS and a redundant power supply.

Competing with the Also-Rans

You've said it before - people don't want tablets, they want iPads.

Anyay, why are people stupid enough to buy things at $199 that they wouldn't buy at $200 or $201? I try to avoid buying anything with a 9 at the end of the price.

re. Security Detail

The account number is not a security detail. You give it to anyone to whom you give a cheque or direct debit mandate or standing order form, or whom you ask to send you an on-line payment.

And the IT angle is ...?

Irrelevant Titillation.

OK I'll buy that.

Re. Quelle horreur !

Ever since the lard-arse Méganne Renault seem to have lost the plot with styling. Maybe I just don't get modern styling, but why the rising body line and high haunches? Why the gaping grille? Why the side vents, as though you need extra cooling for the brakes on a road car? The R8 Gordini looked superb (though sadly rust prevention wasn't a priority in those days). This one just looks tacky.

DAB = Dead And Buried

We need a European standard (at least) for digital radio. DAB isn't it. I haven't bought a DAB radio a) because I don't need one and b) because I don't want to add to the statistics.

I can get digital channels on Freeview (a misnomer because it's not free and half the channels you can't view) and I can record programmes on my PVR. I haven't seen a personal DAB recorder though maybe one exists.

Platform compatibility

"By not giving customers the information they need on the platform of their choice, they are less likely to complete purchases,"

Very true. I have failed to complete purchases on a number of sites because of browser compatibility problems. They use flash or javascript. I use NetSurf by choice. Sometimes I get right to the end of a transaction and when I try to use my BoA MasterCard I get thrown onto a verification site which doesn't work, so I have to backtrack. Then BoA phones me up because they suspect some fraudulent activity. It's not difficult to design web sites that work with any browser, even if it means doing a bit more of the processing on the server.

They sometimes send me email messages with a cop-out text/plain part that tells me nothing, and of course there's a reply address that isn't monitored so you have no way of contacting them except by struggling through their incompatible web sites. If there's a problem with the web site you can't tell them because there's a problem with the web site. Catch 22.

Fabulous initiative

"In the 1980s the BBC not only broadcast programming for kids about coding, but (in partnership with Acorn) shipped over a million BBC Micro computers into homes and schools. That was a fabulous initiative, but it's long gone."

Because the government of the day decided to get into bed with Microsoft and turn its back on the British computer industry. The BBC Micro was designed to be programmed with BBC Basic (including assembler capability) built in. By contrast IBM PCs and clones were a nightmare.

National Security

is obviously trumped by party politicking. Sorry, but what is the first duty of the government? Oh yes, to get re-elected. Silly me.

Funny really

Just as Sir Cliff and Sir Paul are about to get their wish to continue to get paid for what they were doing over 50 years ago their stuff is increasingly available for nowt on tinterweb.

"Up to" is meaningless

My present "up to 8Mbps" ADSL gives me 200kbps on a good day. In fact sometimes upstream is faster than downstream. If they give me an "at least" speed then I might think about it.

re. going into shops

The fact that operators find it attractive to run their own high street shops must mean that there is too much profit on mobile phones. I got a simple pre-pay phone for £3.45 plus £10 on a Virgin SIM but they wouldn't let me keep my number so although Virgin have got £10 for nothing (unless I decide to use it for outgoing calls) they won't get any further business.

maybe IBM?

IBM is a shadow of its former self.

Btw I heard that Apple had invented a new dessert. It's called the iPud.

Bit late innit?

Perhaps somebody should tell Apple that the earthquake has already happened.

Sorry, I didn't quite see ...

the IT angle on this one.

No mention?

" those warnings made no mention of a mobile-phone service shutdown."

Of course not! The protestors would have made alternative arrangements.

A Kevin

'Kevin O'Connor – styled as the NYPD's "online and gang guru" '

I mean the mental picture is just inescapable innit?

Tick unticked

Thanks for the tip off.

Government + IT

What do you expect?

Now tell me something that surprises me!

More phone numbers from Glen Mulcare's notebook don't.

But?

"The rights-holders said the law was inadequate – but the case shows it is."

Uh?

I don't want to know about "up to" speeds

I'm paying for "up to 8Mbps". I'm lucky if I get 200kbps. Why can't they use FTTC to give my what I'm paying for? I don't want empty oromises of lightening fast internet when what I get is thunderously slow.

OTHER news you might have missed?

Never mind the attrocious grammar, how could anyone possibly have missed the news about phone hacking? In any case it was voicemail hacking.

Non sequitur

Jones also claims "95% of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere comes from natural sources

while in fact human activity has been responsible for a 40% rise in concentration"

There's nothing contradictory about these two statements. If the concentration due to human activity had increased from 3.57% to 5% that would be roughly a 40% rise. In any case, over what timescale? At one time there was no CO2 coming from human activity because there were no humans.

Anyway the fact that climate is changing is not in dispute - it always has been changing. What is up for debate is whether there's any point in the current preoccupation with Canutism or whether we would be better engaged concentrating on how to live with climate change. Fiddling around with a few wind farms here and there is totally insignificant compared to the likes of Eyjafjallajökull.

Looks good, tastes good...

and by golly it does you good!

Just a tick in a box

I well remember the notorious Kim Howells interview with Mike Harding when he said that oublicans just had to "tick a box" to put on live music. What bollocks!

Of course you didn't have to have a special licence to show Sky Sports. I wonder why that was?

£91.24?

How can a "typical household" spend only £91.24 on communications products? Do you mean per month? If it's per year you can't even rent a fixed line for that, never mind broadband, mobile and the tv licence.

Hackers get this into your heads

The US really doesn't like having its u/s security shown up for what it is. Just leave it to the Chinese, North Koreans, Russians etc.

Making a big splash?

You mean trailing the programme ad nausiam for a fortnight before it goes out.

Jerry-rigged?

Do you mean jury-rigged?

Replacing something

purpose designed by an ex-BBC Micro guy with something concocted by Microsoft? What do you expect? Classic example of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".