Not again ...

The Microbe(e) has few happy memories for me.

I was very much in the thick of it when the Microbe was a favorite toy in the NSW Department of Education. It was unreliable, the company was unreliable, and dominated by amateurs. All it had going for it was its cheapness, which meant that you could afford to more computers for when the others had failed yet again.

One of its serial weaknesses was the two-tiered design which created poor electrical contacts and was very much subject to problems with heat and just simple movement.

In principal, the whole thing was a good idea. In practice, very poorly implemented.

Two good reasons ...

... to avoid Telstra.

Flight Staff were partialy to blame

Assuming that the gentleman in question didn’t gain an extra 100Kg between the door and the seat, staff were in a position to address the issue before the flight took off.

I have had flights delayed for lesser reasons, such as people trying to find storage for their so-called cabin luggage, so putting in a bit of extra time resolving what is essentially a safety issue would have been appropriate.

Had there been turbulence a standing passenger is at risk. Had there been another emergency, then having somebody like that anywhere at all is a major obstruction, and again poses a risk to other passengers.

As for playing the sympathy or disability card, although there are occasional genuine cases of unavoidable largesse, the main medical reason for obesity is the medical fact that too much of the wrong sort of food and not enough of the right sort of activity leads to, well, too much.

The difference ...

One thing which has always distinguished Apple from Microsoft is its appeal. Apple promotes itself as fun and easy and arty. Nobody would accuse Microsoft of that. I can’t see Microsoft retail stores having the same atmosphere or the same clientele.

But who knows ... ?

Sleight of Hand

By that logic, high taxes on cigarettes, alcohol and fuel should decrease consumption. As far as I can tell, they don’t; they maek life more expensive, increase government revenue and give them the opportunilty to say that they’re doing some thing good.

The other monopoly

Don’t forget Telstra. Giving Telstra a bigger cut of anything is seriously bad news for the consumer.

Any company that controls what you see as well as how you get to see it has too much power, IMHO.

Worth a try ...

If you find a pin locked phone lying around and want to break in, arguing the merits of whether the pin is a dummy, randomly generated or the same as something else is pointless. Here is a list of 10 suggestions which will quite possibly get you in. And not knowing the owner personally, you don’t offend anybody by assuming that the owner is an idiot.

Now multiply it against all mobile phones ... ?

What the hell does that mean? Makes as much sense as, well, pushing MMS as an exciting new thing.

Thunderbird must continue

TB is the only realistic and popular alternative to the proprietary email clients, especially, God Help Us, Outlook.

I find it reliable, extensible and flexible, it renders HTML email intelligently, and, importantly for me, I can rely on a portable version which gives me the environment I want regardless of the machine I am saddled with.

The only problem with TB is that the development appears to be lethargic, and addons, on which TB is very dependent, tend to be slow in catching up with TB version. But that is only logistic.

However

As a former Mathematics teacher reduced to teaching Excel to supposedly numerate adults, it is appalling that too many adults cannot correctly answer a simple question like 1 + 2 * 3.

Australian education is not as rigorous as it should be, and it is no surprise that the higher achievers are more than ever from non-Australian backgrounds.

Thanks for the Link

I was looking for a good example of how not to create a web site. The Bombay High Court will do nicely.

Not the sort of thing Microsoft would do ... ?

“This would lead to higher travel prices, fewer travel choices for consumers and businesses, and less innovation in online travel search, FairSearch.org said.”

Alternative fix

“To resolve this behavior for existing alarms, set the repeat interval to Never.”

or buy a different phone.

Given that we have had scheduling in operating systems for decades, how do you actually break it?

Oxymoron

“Microsoft's number-one priority is now to deliver touch-based computing pads running Windows 7 and that people want”.

How can you run WIndows 7 and be the one that people want at the same time?

Setting Things Right

‘Windows Mobile missed a "whole generation of users" and promised Windows Phone 7 will set things right.’

A whole generation not using Windows. What is there to set right?

On par for the ALP

The Australian Labor party may present itself as moderate, but it has always had the inclination to take control of the proles.

Their desire to censor the Internet beyond what is really necessary, in order to mold the minds of the masses comes as no surprise to Australians. What is a surprise is how many Australians who oppose mid control put the Government there in the first place.

Good to get things into perspective

Considering what Apple won’t allow or approve, allowing for online gambling looks like a strang move ...

Open Source or Closed Doors?

Why anybody still uses IE is a mystery. Microsoft puts a lot of energy into telling the world that Open Source is evil. If they put half the amount of energy into fixing their security problems, every body would be a lot happier.

It’s very simple. Full disclosure of the source code plus a planet full of developers, or secret codes in the hands of a (relative) hand full of developers?

Long time coming

Thunderbird 3 has been on the books for a very long time. I have yet to upgrade, since I still have too many extensions caught out by the change. I have downloaded the new Lightning, but I can’t try it out since it won’t work on TB2. What’s going on here?

Is this legal

My understanding of the licence is that you can’t have two people using it at the same time. ("No other person may use the software under the same license at the same time for any other purpose"). Now

(a) in what sense are you in breach of this if somebody else is using your computer, but you are not;

(b) might you be in breach of this licence if somebody looks over your shoulder while you are using it, or is one of the few people enjoying a PowerPoint presentation on a projected screen?

As far as I am aware, an impossible contract, ie one the terms of which are impossible, is automatically invalidated ...

Another Reason

I love my iPhone, but it’s feeling very cramped. If Apple don’t open up sometime soon, the others will look more and more attactive.

Sooner or Later

It has to fall apart. The whole patent thing. With enough dumb law suits like this, maybe somebody will finally realise how moronic the system is. Then again, maybe not ...

Missing the Point

Not for the first time there was a recent report of child abuse which the local authorities neglected to address despite the usual warnings. Rather than fooling around with Internet censorship, a little more effort in dealing with the real problem would be appreciated.

But then this government has always been more about mind control than about serving the people.

@why the heck is anyone still using IE6 anyway?

No Reason.

It may not be the individual users' fault, but any IT department which is still geared toward IE6 is run by morons.

In fact gearing your intranet towards any specific browser is asking for trouble, and towards IE is asking for double trouble.

Let me get this straight ...

Does this mean that Schiller can be solely responsible for the downfall of the App Store, and hence for the downfall of the iPhone? I can't imagine that alienating developers is the best strategy for increasing or even maintaining market share.

Had to Happen

Whenever Apple is on the road to success, someone has a moronic idea which will blow it. Clutching defeat, as they say, from the jaws of victory.

Apple dominate the mobile music market, are on track to dominating the smart phone market, and people are starting to notice the Macintosh again. What could possibly go wrong? What if some idiot should make their OS awkward, inconvenient and just plain annoying? That should do it.

Linux, anyone?

@Just close it #

"Sorry if I am being stupid (I do not have a Hotmail Account) ..."

If you don’t have a Hotmail account, you can’t be all that stupid.

Clever Americans

China has the Great Firewall. Much cleverer to just tax things. This way you either discourage it or make money out of it. A bet both ways.

Modern?

"Norwegian web sites are campaigning to have users dump Microsoft's Internet Explorer 6 for a modern browser."

I must have misread this. IE 7 and "modern" in the same article. Obviously put there for comedic effect.

Anything but Vista?

One obvious reason to be happy with Apple is that it doesn’t include Vista.

Missed Metaphors

Loved the Missed Universe type metaphor. I suppose their hobbies are mainly traveling and meeting people and they’re all aiming for World Pieces. Perhaps, like the real thing, they all look good, but disappoint with their chosen talent.

I wonder where the horse race came in. Shouldn’t it have been a cat fight?

Who cares?

The Simpsons has barely turned out a good episode this century. Maybe Scientology is all that keeps it going, because it sure isn’t quality.

Cartwright is, of course, entitled to use her own voice, and if it happens to sound like Bart Simpson, well, that’s the way it goes. I believe, however, that Fox is legally entitled to govern the use of the name.

Did Warner Brothers have anything to say when Mel Blanc used his voices to promote Amex cards?

Useless warnings

Clearly there must be a link between any activity which promotes or glorifies violence and violent or aggressive behaviour.

The link between brain dead adults and moronic behaviour, both in themselves and in their unfortunate offspring must be stronger.

What about all of those notices on cigarette packets that warn of a horrible death, or a life of misery? All they do is desensitize the user into ignoring any warning as a waste of space.

Immigration Department

My understanding is that you have to fail an IQ test to work for Immigration in this country. They have a track record for moronic decisions which include deporting residents in error, rejecting legitimate entrants but accepting criminals, and generally making a dog’s breakfast of the country.

Whom are they trying to impress?

I suspect that the main target of these advertising gimmicks is the advertisers themselves. Any technique that cons the advertiser into thinking they’re onto a winner must be compelling enough for them to fork out a few more hard-earned dollars ...