Posts by ratfox

Re: Extortionate costs

YubiKey fobs are around $50, I find that a pretty reasonable cost to pay.

Re: Another Appstore?

Actually, one of the explicit points of the ruling is that manufacturers should be allowed to have the Google Play store on their phone without Google telling them what they're allowed and not allowed to do.

So yeah, the Google Play store is a must on Android phones, but that shouldn't give Google the right to dictate anything.

Re: How many repeaters?

Undersea cable was about $7 per meter for the deep sea stuff a few years ago. The real cost is the repeaters that are every 100 to 200 km along the line and used to cost about $1,000,000 each.

If your numbers are correct, the cable costs as much as the repeaters. Since $7 per meter for 100 to 200 km means $700,000 to $1,400,000 of cable between each repeater.

Speaking of which, it got me interested in where repeaters get their power from (the undersea cable includes a power cable, apparently), and how the repeaters work at all (I got as far as "Solid-state amplifiers" and gave up on understanding the rest).

Re: Same in Canada

They advertise fiber, but actually that's a fib.

a couple of people I know, including my girlfriend, have no caller ID for good reason.

I'm curious; what's the good reason? Why would you call someone if you're not willing to let them know who you are?

What's "private email" (unless you're running your own mail server)?

Not sure if serious, but: Private email as opposed to work email.

Many people have an email account provided by their employer, and only use it for work. They have a separate "private" account, which they use for their communicating with friends and family.

Some people even have a "work" mobile phone, and a "private" mobile phone.

@Charles 9: That's precisely why this law was passed in record time, in order to avoid the same rules being forced through a ballot initiative. They can amend the law much more easily.

Re: News sites should pay the aggregators.

Overall, aggregators appear to cost content providers significantly.

Then make the aggregators illegal, or force them to pay like Spain did. When Google shut down their news service in Spain, I suspect it was good for the largest media, where people would naturally turn to if they have no aggregator available. On the other hand, it was probably bad for smaller sites.

However, one thing I am certain is: If Google and providers would negotiate a price for showing articles in Google news, the providers would end up paying money for it.

Re: Title

Some employers know that their employees are posting on the Reg. The employees would like to freely comment, even when they disagree with their employer.

Really? You are on the App store, owned and controlled by Apple, and there is no way you can buy anything from the app-maker except through Apple. When I am buying on the Playstore, I certainly feel I am buying from Google.

In fact, I am not entirely sure that app makers even know my name. Most of the time, I expect they just receive their percentage payment from Apple and they have no idea who has installed their apps.

Re: It's simple: open STANDARDS

"The good thing with standards is that there's so many you can choose from."

There have been various Google-free Androids, starting with CyanogenMod. The problem is that to be successful these past years, you had to be fast. Mobile phones have evolved a lot, from the camera tricks to the fingerprint sensors. If your software couldn't keep pace, you disappeared. Lose one season, run out of money.

I believe that it is simply not possible at the moment for standards to evolve fast enough to keep up with the technology. If you wait for the standard to exist, you're already one year behind the proprietary solutions of the Apples, Googles and WeChats. Then nobody wants your phone, and nobody even wants to build it.

The big ones are essentially at war with each other for customers. You might be able to raise an army, but if your army makes tactical decisions by committee, there's no way to win.

There's a glimmer of hope: The pace of evolution seems to be slowing down, with less hardware features being added. If there's a moment of pause, it might be possible for an alternative to catch up. Fingers crossed...