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* Posts by VespertineStar

17 publicly visible posts • joined 8 Oct 2009

Has Steve Jobs killed the consumer hard disk industry?

VespertineStar
Childcatcher

And what will the iCloud run on?

Sure the consumer disk industry is probably on its way out but someone has got to buy hard drives to store that data on at some point whether it be the customers or Apple/Microsoft etc. Besides, spinning disks have been on their way out for some time now even in PCs and laptops. Much like they always do, Apple have seen a situation at tipping point, pushed everyone over the edge that was waiting patiently and then claimed they were the ones to "revolutionise" the industry; once again taking away all the kudos from the people who actually did the work to get them there in the first place.

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Seagate intros 'universal' external hard drives

VespertineStar
FAIL

Great Idea!

'cos I just don't feel I have enough cables to carry around! I could get on board if the cables were £4.99 and you got your choice of cable adapter included in the price of the drive.

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iPad CPU yields up (some) secrets to x-ray scan

VespertineStar
FAIL

Oh dear

Hell it really is just a giant iPod touch isn't it...

It would have been great as an April Fools joke but as a real life device? Ha Ha Ha not so much.

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Official: Sony Ericsson X10 has no multi-touch hardware

VespertineStar
Alert

Not a deal breaker

Multi touch is very over-hyped as a phone feature. About the only genuine use for it is making text entry easier but since your not likely to be writing your dissertation on a multimedia handset I really don't see the problem; heck it's not even as if it's big enough to touch type on.

Also, SE already has a zoom process for images which IMHO far surpasses pinch zooming for easy one handed operation. Press and hold, slide up and down and double tap zooming are far more practical in real world situations.

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Buying bandwidth in the app store

VespertineStar

They want to charge more for data?

Is that even possible? £15 a month for 3GB data allowance isn't what I would call generous. If they can't handle the traffic then why offer the service at such speeds that people can happily torrent large files all day. How much are they planning to charge for a bittorrent app then? Say the average person downloads 5 movies a month and a few music albums, that's getting perilously close to a £15 a month sub just for that at current data prices. Or what about an iPlayer app?

You can't charge a flat rate for a Youtube app either, what about all the people who exclusively watch SD/HD videos? Their usage patterns would be vastly different and would require a different charge. How long are people's phone bills going to be listing all the apps they are "subscribed to"?

How long before we are back to "oh that app uses some data? That'll be one arm and one leg please."

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Android - the winning formula for tablets and netbooks?

VespertineStar

Windows will replace them soon enough.

With the way hardware is going Windows 7 tablets are almost all but assured and miles more flexible than any of these other operating systems. It's hard to imagine being able to do anything on these tablets running smartphone operating systems that isn't already more convenient to do on your existing phone. Hell even installing something like Moblin would be more useful.

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Ofcom wades into UK 'Net Neutrality' row

VespertineStar
Thumb Down

Prioritise giving me a stable connection, I'll decide what goes up and down it.

I don't see why anything should be prioritised over anything else coming down my line. I'm intelligent enough to manage my own bandwidth thank you very much. If a company doesn't have enough bandwidth to provide both services at the same time then they should sod off and leave it to someone who can.

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Microsoft made a phone, and I hate it already

VespertineStar

What did you expect?

Windows mobile only ever needed to do any of that because running a full version of Windows on a portable device was not feasible. If you are trying to get work done then a phone is not for you; what you need is a netbook. Still able to fit into a small space it is capable of multi-tasking and running full versions of software.

Trust me I tried the whole PDA office thing even going so far as to buy a fold out keyboard, the concept just doesn't work when you are trying to get anything serious done. Cut your losses and see Windows mobile for what it really is which is a mobile entertainment operating system which you can use for light work such as checking emails and documents on the go; leave the real work to be done by a device built to handle it.

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Brits to get 3G iPad early - and at a reduced price?

VespertineStar
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Not gonna happen

Stop kidding yourself, an 8 gig iPod touch will still set you back £152. I'll bet they start at £299-349 without a data plan and it will be free on one of those ridiculuosly overpriced dongle plans that every phone company seems to have these days.

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iPad vs e-book readers: price matters

VespertineStar
Reply Icon
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@Tony Smith

Sure it's not the same device but the reality is that it does everything the iPad does except be flat, and a physical keyboard is no disadvantage at all. Modern netbooks have battery lives approaching the ten and twelve hour mark, 10 hours really isn't that much these days.

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VespertineStar
WTF?

Pixel Qi?

Pixel Qi screens will tempt serious e-book readers away from readers, not the iPad.

"E Ink screens have just one advantage over the iPad’s display: power conservation.

It’s also said by some users that they’re easier to read for long periods of time than LCDs, and will almost certainly be easier to read outdoors in bright lighting."

E Ink is so superior for reading on it's not even funny.

Now if the iPad had one of these screens then you might have been onto something.

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Confirmed: no iPad iBooks for Blighty

VespertineStar

e-books go on an e-reader

I'd wager you could get maybe half an hour's worth of solid reading before the eye strain set in but hey, I could be wrong. It is a shame you can't load your own content into it though, will you be able to import books from other (e-?)publishers at all?

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Steve Jobs re-invents the portable telly

VespertineStar
Reply Icon

@Tony Smith

OK I'll give you that one, it's not really underpowered since all you can run on it is iPhone apps at the moment but. I can't see it being geared to HD video though because of the aspect ratio plus I haven't seen any demos of full screen video yet. I just can't shake the "jack of all trades master of none" feeling I've got about the iPad. It seems to promise everything without delivering anything, there's a reason that e-readers have the display type they do, there's a reason devices like the Archos 9 have a 16:9 screen.

I'm sorry but as far as I can see if you own another Apple product there's no draw for anyone to buy this item. It seems to me closely related to the "MIDs" we saw pop up a few years back which really only browsed the net. Great little gadget if it were £50-£100 but we both know it will be closer to £399 when it is released judging by the quoted $499 price tag and from what I've read that's just for the base version.

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VespertineStar
FAIL

Where does it fit though?

You want music you buy an iPod, you want to watch video on the go, you buy an iPod Touch. Similarly if you want a phone you buy an iPhone and if you want to surf the web or do some work there's a Mac for every occasion.

I just don't see where this iPad actually fits in the product range. The bezel is too big, it's too underpowered, it doesn't have 3G built in so you can't use it to watch video on the go unless you are within range of Wi-Fi and I can't see it actually being powerful enough to tackle HD video with all that much competence.

You want to get screwed over by Apple? There's an app for that, or now you can just buy an iPad.

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Asus waves farewell to (laptop) fans

VespertineStar
Flame

Problems?

Oh I can see so many things wrong with this there's too many to list but Ill name a couple.

Instead of putting mainstream laptop parts in it I reckon they will be cut down versions; that's not important in a netbook but if it's marketed as a "laptop" I can't see it taking off.

Things can and will get spilled/stuck underneath the hinge. One good knock to that keyboard and it will probably break :(

I'm not saying it wouldn't take off but I can't see it happening with the current implementation.

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Rigid sky-train to fly through magnetic rings on sticks

VespertineStar
Unhappy

All those independant hoops.

How's the safety if the power goes out and if people don't like windturbines how are they going to feel about all those giant hoops?

I shouldn't have stopped for zat haircut...

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Amazon eyes wander as Royal Mail strike looms

VespertineStar
FAIL

When will it dawn on them?

If RM staff keep going on strike about low pay they will lose larger customers and eventually they will have lost too many significant customers to sustain themselves and then everyone at RM will be out of a job and I'd rather take low pay than no job any day.

I wonder how much money would be lost if Amazon did "end long term contracts" with RM?

Also, if RM staff strike for more pay then the money has got to come from somewhere and that will either be increasing their debt of laying off more staff.

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