That's the way to do it, always leave on a high and with the audience wanting more.
Posts by leeeeeb
31 publicly visible posts • joined 6 Jul 2009
BALLMER TO RETIRE FROM MICROSOFT
European Space Agency goes for mostly solid Ariane 6
Re: newsflash Arianespace is no government outfit
Arianespace was created to operate and market the launch vehicles, it's not responsible for design. That responsibility remains with ESA, which contracts it out to national space agencies and private industry.
It is considered the first commercial operator, because until the Space Act was reformed by the Reagan administration in '84, only NASA could operate launch vehicles in the US (Military excluded). Following the reforms manufacturers such as Boeing and McDonnell Douglas became launch service providers as well as manufacturers, able to operate and market their own vehicles as Arianespace did.
However, they failed to gain significant commercial payloads and with a few exclusions, these companies merged their products to become ULA.
Re: There are other issues
Concerning manned launches, one of the major safety concerns for solids is the debris cloud in the event of a catastrophic failure. The solid fuel may may scatter and continue to burn across a wide area, and incinerate the parachute of any capsule descending through it following an abort.
You can see such a cloud in this footage of a Titan IV failure in the 90's.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFeZkrRE9w
This risk was highlight as a major concern for Ares 1, and had not been resolved when the launched was cancelled. The shuttle of course had no launch escape system.
4K vs OLED: and the winner is...
STILL TRUE: Facebook and co to handle taxpayers' ID
Forget Apple's AirPlay - it's Windows 8 you want, says speaker maker
Apple Lightning adaptors reveal limitations
Apple iDevice dock port to drive wireless streaming
Eight... AirPlay speakers
Re: Looks nice
Yes, but this whole category of device is really for people who want a completely integrated and cable free setup. The problem of course is that these are often used as satellite speakers in the kitchen or bedroom for which they are just too blasted expensive.
The airplay micro system are great, but these integrated speakers need to be much more competitive with bluetooth equivalents.
Films-on-USB kiosks come to airports
You can tell this was invented and pitched before the studio DRM requirements were fully realised. Impulse buy a movie straight onto a memory stick at the airport, great idea. Introduce an element of DRM with online activation, and you instantly lose customers and create a sizeable customer support issue.
In fact even without the DRM, would it not be more convenient to do this by integrating it with the terminal wifi? Add some NAS storage and a web shopfront to the access points frontpage, and flyers could purchase and download whilst sat waiting to board.
Atari pings Pong Apple champion wannabes
Microsoft 'yanked optical drive from Xbox 720'
Very welcome news. Optical discs were essentially designed for streaming, whereas games also require high IO bandwidth and random access.
The widespread adoption of disc media in console was partly for the low cost per GB, but also Sony's larger agenda of using it to push adoption of first DVD and then Bluray formats. The engineers behind the original PS1 saw the CD as a medium that would load the game and then only be used afterwards for video and background music. Of course games quickly grew and in many cases we've endured crushingly dull load times.
If the intention is to use some form of PROM/cartridge at retail, the per GB is more than fine at the price point of console games. The only drawback would be what it means for backward compatibility. Cartridges don't themselves restrict the availability of a second hand marker, and the ability to do that with discs via unique serialisation has been around for a few years.
Very welcome news. Optical discs were essentially designed for streaming, whereas games also require high IO bandwidth and random access.
The widespread adoption of disc media in consoles was partly for the low cost per GB, but also Sony's larger agenda of using it to push adoption of first DVD and then Bluray formats. The engineers behind the original PS1 saw the CD as a medium that would load the game and then only be used afterwards for video and background music. Of course games quickly grew and in many cases we've endured crushingly dull load times.
If the intention is to use some form of PROM/cartridge at retail, the per GB is more than fine at the price point of console games. The only drawback would be what it means for backward compatibility. Cartridges don't themselves restrict the availability of a second hand marker, and the ability to do that with discs via unique serialisation has been around for a few years.
New Chinese space plans are all about security and strategy on Earth
The Long March 5 is LOX/Kerosene not Hydrogen. This is considered non polluting, because unlike the current generation of UDMH/N204 based rockets, the fuel won't kill you on contact or contaminate a large area of land if it explodes.
UDMH/N204 is the favoured liquid fuel for dual use (military) roles as it's storable without refrigeration and the engines are mechanically simpler.
Apple predicted AI assistant for tablets in 1987
Tech City UK quango rearranges Shoreditch
‘We save trips to the library’ – Google
Skype: Microsoft's $8.5 billion identity tool
Meanwhile..
... the Skype app is now such an unusable UI mess, I'm considering alternatives. Many use it for work, and we're probably the majority of paying users. The IM side of Skype is as important as the voice calling, and the interface since version five is hopeless. Seems to have been built by a bunch of UX numpties, with a whitespace fixation.
If Microsoft want to own the user accounts/identity go ahead. Hopefully that will also allow them to open up the API and allow some competition in the client/application space.
Google Apps end love for Firefox 3.5, IE7, and Safari 3
Apple iPad 3 to sport 3D screen a 'dead cert'
Virgin tempts Brits with fee-free TiVo
So is it free, or is it "free"
My recent experience of Virgin's direct marketing tactics leave me sceptical. I'd received the BB offer to upgrade to 30MB, which appeared to use two different letters. For one group the upgrade was completely free, for others there was a £30 install charge.
I had the letter for completely, but when I tried the call center they wouldn't budge from £30, plus another £5 per month due to a previous loyalty discount. So free = £90 more for the next 12 months...
If you use direct mail, addressed to a customer by name and personalised, get it right. If not, you annoy the customer and look like a bunch of numpties.
Regent Street blocked by iPad fanboi swarm
Or just go to a shop.
Picked on up at Currys this morning. No queue (well three people) and they seemed to have good stock of all the models.
The staff had all been instructed to clap though, which was a little awkward. Erm.. yeah, thanks, you didn't clap when I bought a washing machine last month.
Adobe clutches chance to bury Steve Jobs 'hog' insult
Only nukes can stop planetsmash asteroids, say US boffins
Zero-power LCD aims to reduce paper use
Gran Turismo 5 launch delayed
Talking DAB and the future of radio
Quality
I was an early DAB adopter, and have now abandoned it. The key reason was reception, followed by audio quality. The response on quality seems now to be, to position DAB as the digital option of last resort, after Freeview, Sky, Internet etc.
My listening now comes from a general purpose wifi radio called a Mac.
Web browser makers line up battleships
RE: IE6 still on 23%
It's bad, but not that bad. Look closer into the stats and you'll find two things.
First, in North America and Europe the figure is closer to 12%, the worldwide figures is skewed by Asia where IE6 is above 30%.
Second, take a look down at the day resolution graphs. IE6 usage drops another quarter at the weekend in those territories, which indicates that many people are tied to it at work due to the usual legacy intranet problem.
Hopefully after Win7 IE6 will finally start to die completely.