* Posts by Jason 6

8 publicly visible posts • joined 20 Jan 2010

A Brit cloud biz and an angry customer wanting a refund: A Love Story

Jason 6

Take a look at their Twitter Account today

A lovely GIF of Darth Vader with the caption "Haters Gonna Hate". Clearly the jackass in charge of Twitter is the same Jackass responding to customer complaints. Classy... real classy.

Scoop! The inside story of the news website that saved the BBC

Jason 6
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Wonderful article and a bit of nostalgia for me!

Fantastic article! Thank you SO much! I was at the BBC World Service and ended up on the BBC News Online core team almost by accident. I was a small part of this wonderful web site and have fond (!) memories of installing this new-fangled thing called a "Web Browser" on various different department heads machines. Oh! the wonders of Netscape!

I'm not sure the article does complete justice in that, although small, the team ended up with a number of people co-opted from other departments to help out. I worked in the, miniscule, networking team at the World Service (we basically handled anything connected to a network including PCs, Macs, Micro-Vax, NetWare, Banyan Vines, routers, switches, thin-wire Ethernet... you get the point) and this proved enough of a qualification to "help out".

I left the BBC as I simply could not stand the politics. Department heads would routinely curse at me for daring to introduce them to the News Online system as if it would be the death of the BBC or praise me for finally helping to evolve the dinosaur. If I could feel the politics where I was I have no idea what it must have felt like at the sharp end.

Thank you again, I love this!

Ballmer says 500 MILLION 'users' to 'have' Windows 8 in 2013

Jason 6
Stop

As much as I like the Windows 8 Metro concept....

It's game over for Ballmer with Windows 8. No one would disagree with the idea that Microsoft needs to do something with the Windows franchise to put some vim and vigor back into it, but foisting Metro on the entire world is not it.

As much as I both admire and detest Apple, they are on the right track with splitting the traditional desktop/laptop interface from the new and cool tablet/mobile interface to a degree. Some concepts are shared but the people who still want to use a laptop are not penalized for using one. Honestly, tablets are NOT GOING to fully replace a laptop. There is no way on Gods green earth I could get my job done on a touch screen tablet. I still need a full sized keyboard (I type a lot) and I have a mouse (why the Hell would I use a touch screen, it won't do the trick) so I may as well have a laptop.

Microsoft has gambled big on Windows 8 and, oddly, I applaud them for having the stones to do so, but coming out and saying that Aero looks dated and cheesy is a ridiculous thing to say.

My prediction is that Windows 8 will be one of the single most polarizing things Microsoft has ever done and will have people heap praise on it as well as decry it as being the worst operating system ever. Ballmer will be gone by the end of 2012 and so will Sinofsky as Microsoft goes into damage control.

Microsoft will survive, no question about that, but will be diminished somewhat. Will Apple reap the benefits? Maybe a little, but not anywhere near as much as others expect.

.NET Android and iOS clones stripped by Attachmate

Jason 6
FAIL

OK... far from me to stick up for MS here but...

Silverlight DOES run on a Mac, as I use it to watch Netflix. So there!

In other news, I never understood the business logic behind Mono and Moonlight. It was never, ever, going to generate any revenue and never got any traction in business. It always seemed to be a "pet" project that was funded for no good reason.

Not to pour any scorn on the abilities of the guys that worked on it, but from a business perspective it made zero sense.

Windows 7 service pack 1 set to lift off today

Jason 6
Gates Horns

Set Hard Drive to "Borg" - things are happening

The ISO for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 is available via the Microsoft Download Site. It's nearly 2GB so don't bother to apply unless you're updating more than once PC.

So... SP1 should be available via the Update Service soon. Not, as the text on the website declares, now.

GoPro HD Hero camera

Jason 6
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Good review - HD Hero is awesome when used for the purpose it is intended

I grabbed the HD Hero Motorsports camera. It's the exact same hardware just different mounting options. I do a fair amount of motorcycle riding and have it mounted on the very front edge of my BMW R1200GS.

When it is used for that kind application it cannot be beaten. The size and weight mean of the camera has zero effect on the handling of the bike and the quick release mounts mean I can mount it on the front or back in just seconds.

A recent ride on a beautiful road in low light at speeds of 80 mph (ish) showed that the capture is still absolutely superb even at speed, with no discernible digital artifacts.

I ran the camera for over 2 hours and there was still one bar of battery left.

In short:

Great for "action" type of video where any normal HD Video camera would be too heavy/bulky/expensive to use

No so great for day to day video of the family at DisneyLand.

As an aside, the camera crew for Discovery Channels "Deadliest Catch" started using these last season!

'Jetpack' inventors: US military showing interest. Honest

Jason 6
WTF?

Didn't the Mythbusters do this already?

I distinctly remember an episode in which they built something almost identical and concluded "no workee".

Apple (finally) boot camps Windows 7

Jason 6
FAIL

Borked

Well, just downloaded it via Software Update on Windows Vista x64 and the install froze and Vista elected to kill the process for good measure.

Downloaded and tried to install it manually with the same result. Looks like my almost brand new 15" MacBook Pro won't be getting the 7 treatment any time soon.

I wonder if anyone at Apple actually bothered to test this?