re: bluetooth

Yes, I was going to ask, do people still hold their mobes up to their faces when making a call nowadays?

re: how much?

Like the $99.99 EPad in the advertisement directly adjacent to your comment.

Spooky.

past indicators ...

I wouldn't hold my breath for a turn-around unless they can finally shake the mind-sets that cost themselves marketshare in the first place. Things like ...

This new picture processing tech sounds great but SONY will (a) put in on their top-of-the-line sets only (at first) with it eventually, and far too gradually, drifting down to lower end models and (b) it'll cost an arm and a leg premium even on those high-end sets. So, while everyone and his dog will want one, very few will be able to justify the added expense to have one and market share will continue to drain away to their competitors.

The new Vita memory stick the above poster mentions shows that SONY still doesn't get it.

superfluous ads

I live in So Cal and buy almost all of my computer gear from Newegg. I also read El Reg and the Guardian every day.

Last year, after buying the Acer Iconia Win 7 tablet (from Newgg), adverts for Newegg started appearing on the Guardian site, went on for a couple weeks or so.

Remembering the Phorm/BT brouhaha, I did find it a little creepy but also felt bad that someone was wasted their ad dollars - I'm going to buy from Newegg regardless, so why bother sending me the ads?

easy solution?

How about, instead of a single truss, a + shaped one (with the launch pad in the center where the bars cross) suspended below a donut-shaped balloon?

Should provide some great headlines, as well - the rocket shot upward through the enormous hole, or some such.

well, this did take a bit more than 30 seconds

referring to acrylics -

Many types of acrylic will yellow with age, particularly if they are kept under a full spectrum light or are exposed to direct sunlight. This is a normal chemical reaction in the materials that the acrylic is made from.

www.fishtankguide.net

referring to polycarbonate

When used outdoors the material absorbs ultraviolet light, turns yellow and becomes brittle, but can be used in outdoor applications if it is first stabilized.

www.nolato.com

acrylic, not glass?

Meaning they'll eventually yellow with time, unlike glass?

boffins a pejorative?

I thought it was a term encompassing an admiring wonderment for the fascinating work scientists do, at least that's always seemed implicit in the Reg's use of it.

Nothing wrong with the name QNX

A lot classier than BBX, for sure. And it had a good reputation, though not one the man on the street would know off the top of his head. And if you buy a company for its product and its reputation, isn't then changing the name, well, stupid?

no Nookie Touch love?

Finally broke down and bought an e-reader, a Nook Touch (after the price drop to $99) and I just love it - small, light, easy to use, what's not to like.

Only downside is PD books cost 99 cents at the B&N store, so you just d/l them from Gutenberg. They're really only shooting themselves in the foot by not giving that stuff away as it might entice someone like me to then purchase non-PD stuff from them.

to be fair ...

He didn't actually call them f*cking idiots.

Mars ...

Probably just a way-stop on the way to Tau Ceti 5.

Rumor has it ...

Dr. Morreau's estate has an island available for lease, cheap. Comes with starter kit.

it's astounding ..

that you left off Rocky Horror!

so, if I already own one ...

if I buy a second one, I get a 3rd one free?

Sweet, if that's the case. I absolutely love my Playbook

and wouldn't mind having a couple of spares.

Ah, memories ...

As a teenager, I briefly had a job as a keypunch operator, transferring info from medical billing records onto punchcards at a small, well, computer/data services business, I suppose it would have been. I remember low cabinets with stacks of discs inside, probably some successors of those pictured.

I will always remember the owners speaking, in awed yet eager tones, about how 'someday soon' punchcards would be eliminated, that data would be entered directly into the computers.

Well, that explains Fringe!

Go ahead and end it now before Abrams can ruin it, like he did Lost.

Oh, you meant ...

... needing a 4G network to compete with Verizon and AT&T.

At first, I thought you meant T-Mobile would be dropping their unlimited data plans. Whew!

Nice but ...

Nice shape, judging from the snap, but hopefully it will come in something other than than easily-dirtied white.

iTunes?

Is that something like Windows Media Player?

well, not quite ...

... since you can install pretty much any software you want on a Macbook laptop but only Apple-approved apps on your iPad.

Zylo

OMG! I actually know a guy named Zylo - can't wait to tell him Sony named a phone after him.

"Kratz, a Republican ..."

Wow, didn't see that coming.

reason for optimism?

Was formerly with Adobe and Macromedia? Maybe the N900 will get Flash 10.1 after all.

re: I certainly hope not

That's similar to my beef - not much point in a *portable* device having Flash Player support if some sites *cough - Hulu - cough* refuse to stream to portable devices.

And this whole rental/cloud thing - is your $.99 a rental fee or a license? In the sense that do you have to pay every time you watch the same show over again or do you just pay once for each item and can then watch it as often as you want (and on whatever device you might happen to have on you at the time)?

The latter option might have some appeal.

Wow, looks just like ...

the Veiwsonic one from t'other day.

odd port placement

Strikes me as odd that, having gone to the trouble to make it so stylish you'd be eager to plant it on your desk to attract the envious looks of yours friends and/or co-workers, they put the USB port up near the front like that, rather than at the rear.