OK, forget empirical measurements then and try to take the psychoacoustics out of it? Don't get me wrong, I like my audio toys, but I'm a little jaded with the whole cable thing: my brain sees shiny, my brain hears shiny, my brain feels something heavy, my brain hears something heavy...
That's possibly why I've gone back to using Kef speakers that are nearly 20 years old and selling on my monitor audio setup...
What about comparing a flac played on this thing against a flac played on an iPod with RockBox using a double blind test? Too much to ask? Not even difficult with the size of the things involved!
At the moment the review is just one person's opinion after sitting down and listening to something that claims to be the best audiophile portable player, leagues above anything else out there. That's a big claim, and it needs big evidence, and deserves a bigger test.
I daresay anyone dropping £550 on this will be extremely keen to state the same as the review, as I doubt you'll get someone saying "actually, I preferred my setup that was one fifth of the price of this thing".
Forgive me, but I am unconvinced. I'd like to be convinced, though!
"the Colorfly undoubtedly delivers a fuller and more complete sound than the same tracks played on cheaper PMPs"
That's something measurable in the signal then. How about some proper facts and figures to back it up? Or even a single graph of response? Or should we just accept that the heavy, weighty MP3 player, with a natural wood finish, that's costing 550 quid, really did just sound 'fuller'.
Or are you just describing how you felt listening to an expensive player?
Well done on not using the words 'richer', or 'deeper' or 'heavier' or even 'more natural' or 'harking back to analogue days', given that's what the whole packaging is aiming for with the wood, sliders, etc.... You lose points for 'glorious' and 'intimate' though after noting that the wood gives an 'air of reliability and class'.
after being fooled myself by psychoacoustics (heavier cables give deeper bass, silver cables give a brighter sound), I'd like to see some proper testing.
You know what you're doing reviewing other stuff, so it's not an unreasonable expectation for you to do a proper job. How about a proper double blind test with something running rockbox with some interested readers?
Clarifying: one good French guy, not France as a whole...
A little bit of confusion to which "French" Pierre is referring to. Not France at large, but the French EU Parliament Member that resigned in protest...
From TFA:
In an unprecedented move, the French European Parliament member assigned to monitor the treaty proceedings, Kader Arif, resigned in protest at the signings
I've had my Lumia (a word not in the phone's dictionary!) for 3 weeks now. It has replaced my original iPhone.
Good points? The os is great. Really. The hub approach is really very smart, and the level of integration of social stuff throughout the phone is great. So far everyone who has seen and played with my phone has been impressed, particularly with people hub, pictures, grouping etc
But not enough to want one instead of an iPhone 4s...
The phone never feels less than responsive. It zips
The soft keyboard is good: better than iPhone. This post was typed on the Lumia...
The hardware is good too. Mostly.
Bad points
no vpn. Inexcusable for the demographic aimed at.
Battery... Charge every day.
That flap covering the micro usb port is not long for this world
camera white balance is, bluntly, exceptionally poor
Quality of pictures is only just acceptable
It's a great bit of kit that I am evangelising, but it needs some polishing.
I think this idea of microgeneration is the way to go: optimise the snot out of an engine for a particular load, and use it to charge the batteries or provide a boost. Jag's prototype C-X75 suggested using gas microturbines for just this purpose.
Batteries are a crap way to store and transport energy compared to fuels, and simply don't charge fast enough... But they are useful as a way to smooth demand needs, hence the appeal of microgeneration.
Hydrogen is not the answer to fuel either in my view because of the poor comparative volumetric energy density.
I realise I'm not solving the fuel crisis with this post, but the leaf doesn't meet people's needs or expectations of a 30k car.
Until Mr Fusion arrives to process beer and banana peel, we'll need something else to carry energy and if we can get the very most bang out of whatever fuel that is, so much so the better.
"at low and medium speeds the Leaf is one of the most comfortable cars you can buy."
Go on, I'll nibble on that. What are you comparing it to? Superminis for between a third and half its price? Very well spec'd family cars? Second hand luxobarges? For £25k (or 30k if you exclude the rebate) then you've got a good pick of cars to select from. Is this really one of the most comfortable?
Fair play if it is, but it'd be useful to know what background the reviewer has to be able to give quite such a hugely marketable quote. If you're going on years of car reviewing experience, please say so.
In 5 years, I can only assume the batteries will be a little bit beyond their prime... If you're getting 70 miles now, what will you be getting in 5 years when the things have given up their capacity?
Bloody expensive white elephant: consider me unconverted.
Thanks, I'll take a look at that... Picture quality is most important to me, not features, so if that's go the right screen and decent enough upscaling it'll do.
I presume firebox are somehow sponsoring this news?
I ask because my son has had the new Super Mario Bros stickers on his wall for over a year now, thanks to the lovely people at Supernice.co.uk. (No affiliation, just happy with the service they provided).
Other son is wanting the Donkey Kong set on his wall. Top lad!
I'm trying to buy one of these Panasonic units, and everyone giving them awards is really starting to get on my nerves: I want a bargain and if you keep on irresponsibly saying they're great, you're not helping them come down in price! They're not perfect, but they're absolutely in the sweet spot of picture, features and price.
As for 'VT30s are much better". After struggling to see a difference side by side at a specialist, I disagree. The G30 vs GT30 is a big difference - I wanted a G30 until I saw the difference the infinite black pro (aka Kuro) screen makes. The GT30 vs the VT30? Not a lot. Yes, I could plump for the VT if I wanted to, but I can't justify the difference.
Actually, the AC is right. The panasonic is useless and these are just mid range sets. Cheapo, if you will. You're a loser if you don't stump up for the top of the range. Please, no-one buy one so there's a plethora of them for sale in January at a decent price!
I'm sorry that your business is not doing well, but how much of your downturn can you place on the shoulders of copyright infringement, or have people simply stopped renting DVDs because... well... there's better options, many of which are legal?
I don't download films, but I haven't rented in 5 years now. Yes, I used to...
Lovefilm or similar subscription based postal rental? iTunes or other immediate download sites? Supermarkets selling new release DVDs for £9?
For once Mr Fry was awesomely entertaining and awesomely educational - whilst being right, too. Unfortunately, thanks to the programme, every time someone mentions Brian Blessed, the image of him shouting Gordon's Alive has been replaced with him shouting... inappropriate words.
I am smiling as a write this. It is impossible not to smile at a mental image of the Blessed Swearing.
I've tried to give bing a fair chance, I really have. I keep using it for searches particularly at work, but...
it just doesn't work remotely as well as google. Even, and this is what galls me most, when searching for stuff related to Microsoft. For example, search for the upcoming version of SharePoint, SharePoint 15, on bing and you get precisely nothing about SP15. Do so on google and you get useful results.
Try 'microsoft portal gold competency' (no quotes)... Bing returns 'value of earning a competency' and 'microsoft virtualisation' in the top 2 slots. Google gives you 'Earn the microsoft gold portals and collaboration competency', and in second place 'microsoft portals and collaboration competency' information page.
Google knows you're probably interested in either earning it, or finding out what it's about. Bing tells you why you might want to earn one - which you already know if you're seaching for it, and I cannot think of who that is useful for - and tells you all about virtualisation.
Sorry Bing. I've tried to love you, I really have, but it's just not working. Perhaps it's me, not you...
You mean a microwriter? The very thing mentioned in the very first post...
Still available for purchase as a PC addon from the original designer... http://www.cykey.co.uk (no affiliation, I just happen to own an Agenda Microwriter PDA).
My chemistry teacher was using one in 1991 still... He loved the thing.
I know this article is a positive review for a Microsoft product, which will be seen as heresy by many techies just on basic principles, but... Those who are wading in, have you actually tried WP7?
My next phone will be running it, and not iOS which my current phone uses. Why? It takes Apple's approach of getting things done and refines it, and also allows better business integration. It has been designed based on what situations people actually want to use a mobile device for.
I like how Andrew has come in for flak by saying what non-techies want: people want stuff that works without an instruction manual, without messing around, and something that occasionally surprises and delights. WP7 Mango does that in spades, without dumbing down.
I'd wholeheartedly agree that WP7 offers a better proposition and experience to average punters than Android. MS fanboi? No.
Does it have the flexibility of Android? No. Does the populous in general need the flexibility of android? I'd argue no...
You're looking for something useful as a decent business tool primarily, rather than a shiny gadget. Unfortunately, the last pieces of kit that focused on the particular sort of work loads you're wanting rather than looking pretty are about a decade old in my view. What did for these things was the insistence that colour screens were a necessity: they're not.
I've got, and still use, a Psion 3mx, 5mx and HP 200LX. Yes, I actually still take notes on these things because they work, they run on 2 AA batteries, and they are usable and will exchange data with my PC. I am still slightly amazed that the 200lx does what it does so well, and that they keyboard - which should be useless - is to my fingers better than the 5mx! The Psion 5mx is just brilliant: the OS allows embedding of word processor documents in calendar entries, meaning it's simple to take meeting notes and know what meeting they relate to. The keyboard isn't great, but it's not half bad.
I actually took notes last week on my 200lx in a meeting in Sweden. People were amused, bemused and slightly pitying as they stabbed ineffectually at their fondleslabs, but it just works.
The other device I use is a Sigmarion 3, which is great but suffers from battery life issues. And a Japanese OS. And it has just died. But other than that it's not bad. Speaking of Japanese OS, I also tried the Zaurus range - twice - but ended up going away from them as the damn things kept crashing. (But we know linux never crashes...)
The Viliv n5 will be on my christmas list. The battery life somewhat worries me, but it's worth a try.
Yes, I know I need to get out more, but I collect these things... From the Psion 1 and Agenda Microwriter (kudos to first post!) to the Libretto u100 so far. Tried an OQO, sold it.
710 has 8GB, 800 has 16GB. Is that not an internal?
Camera is quite different on the 710 - 5mp vs 8mb, no dual LED flash...
Different screen.
But other than that, I suppose same processor = same internals?
It also seems that lots of manufacturers are dropping MicroSD support for mango. Anecdotally, it seems to have caused quite a lot of trouble as the MicroSD card needs to run at the same speed as internal memory to work without issues. Rather than explain that to the mass market, it seems manufacturers have removed the facility. HTC Radar, HTC titan are missing them... Shame.
Bought one of these 3 months ago for the kids' playroom use on the Wii and for occasional media centre viewing duties. It's cheap at 180 quid from Richer Sounds, has good input options - including a full RGB Scart for those who want retr0 goodness from an Amiga or similar - and the picture seems acceptably good. Hardly the last word in viewing experience, but it's small and neat and does the job.
I couldn't find a review on the web anywhere, so it would have been nice to see it included in the El Reg roundup.
I'll never buy LaCie again, after the saga of them refusing to replace a faulty power supply on one of their external disks. The PSU has a design fault, meaning when the PSU is unloaded the 12v rail floats at 19v, which rather fries the capacitors that are only rated for 16v IIRC. Opening up the PSU shows that the caps have vented and are useless, which is a better option than exploding...
See http://www.fixya.com/support/t1782491-power_cord_buzzes_macpro_not_recognize and many youtube videos of hissing lacie power supplies.
LaCie refuse to replace this out of warranty, despite the fact it has been designed incorrectly, and despite the fact I have 2 other LaCie drives and a rather nice LaCie monitor.
So... Balls to 'em. Fixed it myself and vowed never to give them another penny for their overpriced, beautifully designed but badly engineered and atrociously supported junk.
My logitech harmony one developed a clump of bad pixels a few days after, and logitech couriered me a replacement after I emailed them a photo of the problem.
Guess who wins my loyalty?
Incidentally, you can buy Belkin Home Base wireless USB and print servers from ebay for under 30 quid delivered...
Somewhat informative, but it would be good to know what criteria the reviewer was using to score.
I have 2 wildly different use cases for earphones...
1-sat on a plane, or train, or in the office, where I want as much noise isolation as you can give me. I have Etymotic ER-6is, but they need replacing.
2-jogging, or wanting to be able to hear a little bit of what's going on around me. Currently use some cheap and nasty things.
The etymotics would be brilliant in scenario 1, but are a liability in scenario 2. Also, are you looking for tonal accuracy, or just a pleasant sound? Or MONSTER BASS?
Recommendations for replacing the ER6is would be appreciated.
Apple to release new iPhone: No! Say it ain't so! Stop the press!
Given their propensity for doing this every year, how is this in any way, shape or form news?
I am looking forward already to the latest new scoop which will undoubtedly be 'ipad 3 confirmed as coming sometime'.
Sweet mercy El Reg, please stop pushing this sort of non-event as news. It isn't. Fanbois will already know about it and be priapic over the potential specs (with added Unicorn, undoubtedly), everyone else will realise it is just a question of time before this hits the shelves.
I've just spend a fun morning recovering from this... The Kernel Extension used by HandsOff (a firewall from Metakine) causes a kernel panic with 10.6.8. Safe mode won't let you bypass it either.
Simple solution: upgrade HandsOff before installing 10.6.8
Fix a mess solution: boot from OSX install DVD, go to terminal
cd /Volumes/yourharddrive/System/Library/Extensions
mv HandsOff.kext /
reboot
Enjoy a once again booting mac, then run Hands Off and update the app...
"users should have an absolute right to reclaim their data from anyone they have handed it over to"...
Indeed, if there's one thing we've learned, it's how easy it is to remove digital data from marketing databases. Those 'click to unsubscribe' things really do work, and it's easy to stop people tracking what you're doing on the web. Trivial, in fact.
What worries me is that someone might listen to this person. I suspect they will.
I suspect a few years ago if you'd have asked the El Reg readership if they'd believe that a successful TV programme could be based on just watching the daily routine of social misfits put in a house together, the answer would have been a resounding "no"...
This sort of thing is definitely the near future of motoring: it has to be. Much better suited to short town journeys than any diesel, too... (My wife has a golf TDI with a DPF, and it needs an occasional longer drive at motorway speed to empty the crud from the dpf)
definitely worth checking out.
Saying that, how come a 2 cylinder, 875cc engine weighs 85kg? What's it made out of? The BMW N52 3 litre 6 cylinder engine weighs 161kg... Three times the size, three times the number of cylinders, three times the power - but under twice the weight & co2 emissions. If they'd taken the same approach it could have been down to just over 50kg? I guess there's a turbo, multiair cleverness etc but I'm surprised a 2 cylinder engine would weigh that much: it doesn't strike me as particularly light.
well, with the predilection I have for the user name 'chiark', I had to go for the player of games... If you liked Use of Weapons, you'll definitely like Surface Detail which is Banks back on tip top form. Great to see so many Banks supporters coming out of the woodwork, but it makes me wonder if the vote was somehow coordinated?
I must admit I have no idea how well any Banks book would translate to film: I have quite a clear picture in my head of various bits... Although seeing what a film maker delivers for Azad would be fascinating!
It's great to see this list, as it makes me realise there's a lot of (non Banks) Sci Fi that I should read. Thank you El Reg.
This is a premature article, but all the same I hope that Lewis is proved right. There's three major things about the situation that worry me, assuming that it all goes well:
1. Reliance on power to provide cooling. If something's happened to affect the infrastructure so badly that it's knocked out the reactor, isn't there a good chance that the event would also knacker the cooling, which is the only thing stopping things going bang? (New designs are gravity fed, I understand?)
2. Lifecycle for nuclear reactors. These are cutting edge technology from the 70s... Hacked to provide some form of venting, it seems from posts above. I'd imagine 4 decades is a good innings for this sort of thing where technology advances quickly, so I'd expect a maximum design operating life to be 30 years or less. I know that messes with the economics, but I'd hope it's just common sense.
3. The designers catered for events at 7.9 on the richter scale, which "could not happen" according to them even if the 3 plates off the eastern coast of Japan decided to play nasty. Seems mother nature didn't get the memo?
So I hope this is a qualified success for the nuclear industry after all, but the consequences would be:
1. Cooling must work in scenarios a couple of orders of magnitude worse than worst case. New designs seem to cater for this.
2. General point that nuclear reactors should have a well defined and quite short operational life to allow for the fact that what is acceptable 3 decades ago isn't acceptable now for any number of reasons
3. The people who set what the worst case scenario is should not be the designers...
On the whole, a good article in spirit but I do think it's premature.
Can these points be converted back to real dollars?
They do not have intrinsic value, it's just that Microsoft has chosen to allocate a value to them... So they've lost a potential $1.2M in revenue, but it certainly hasn't cost them $1.2M! I wouldn't expect a liability of $1.2M to suddenly appear on MIcrosoft's ledger for this.
I'd argue that it's cost them nothing. Mind you, I'm reading Cory Doctorow's For The Win at the moment, so that might explain this point of view!
Yep, I'm still using an iPhone 2g. It makes calls and accesses data, and does what I want. Apple really should be kicked quite hard for dropping support for devices quite so quickly...
Well, according to UK law, 'Producing a back up copy for personal use of a computer program', is considered fair dealing. http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/p01_uk_copyright_law
So making a backup of a valuable (and easy to lose) cartridge is allowed, but Nintendo give no way of making such a backup. Hence the third party solutions: flash carts.
As my son has a DS, I have bought a flash cart and I'd recommend them to any parent who has been through the joy of "have you seen my xyz game cartridge" repeatedly... We only put stuff on there that we've bought ourselves: same with the Wii with HBC and USB loader. He knows what's right and what's wrong on that front. The flash cart stays in, with all his (paid for) games on it, and the games sit on a shelf gathering dust but, most importantly, not being lost!
Given that Nintendo is family friendly in its gaming approach, I'd be surprised if they pull this stunt. They must realise that this is what geek parents do?
And it's not like a retailer would find it in their interest to misinform on this, is it? "What happens if you lose the cartridge? Buy another one... No way of backing them up, after all... That'll be another 30 quid for what you've already licensed to use, please."
I sympathise with the piracy aspect, but the people who I know with flash carts use them responsibly. This would be daft, and is the perfect reason to tell my son that a 3DS isn't a good idea - thank for that!
I'm in Helsinki today, and there is only one topic of conversation I hear everywhere - from hotel to taxi to office to bus to airport... Some are positive comments, most are in shock.
I personally think they needed to do something radical, and I can understand the logic here. I seem to be in the minority.
Perhaps every generation thinks they're living in the most important one - in fact it would be odd if any generation didn't - but I feel hugely fortunate to have had my formative years aligned with the home computer revolution.
The appeal of the 64 - or in fact any of the machines mentioned above - was that they positively encouraged you to tinker. Sure, you can play games... Or you could try entering that program in the magazine or book to see what it does. And then ask yourself why does 'poke 53280,0' turn the screen black anyhow? Then find out... And carry on digging...
And, before you know it, you've got to the very basics of what computers do and how they work.
Anyone who had an Amiga in the 80s had Deluxe Paint with it, and will have tinkered. A sizeable proportion might have used SoundTracker or similar to mess around with sound... Computers were tools to create and consume (games), but I was more interested in creating and I suspect a majority were, too. That seems to have shifted massively in the last decade. I heard that the games industry is now bigger than hollywood in terms of revenue...
I have 2 sons, and they're showing an interest in this stuff. What's more surprising is that they are both intrigued by the old stuff that I hoard, restore, and tinker with. Perhaps it's more accessible because it is simpler, I dont know... Perhaps my kids will, in 30 years time, be reminiscing about the Wii, custom IOSs, boot2 and whatever :).
For anyone with similar nostalgia pangs, I recommend Commodore: A company on the edge by Brian Bagnall, now 2nd edition. Throws any historical revisionism by certain companies into sharp relief, and does illuminate how small the teams behind the 64 and Amiga were! After reading that, I defy anyone not to have a deep admiration for the characters, particularly Chuck Peddle.
(full disclosure: I have, stacked next to me, an Amiga 1000, 3000, 4000 and a Commodore 128D that all work and get regular use. I need to get out more, I know)
As someone who has recently had the joy of reading the big magazines in hifi and home cinema in an effort to help me choose some new speakers, I have to say that El Reg should do more of this. You've got no axe to grind, no agenda to push, and have written up a good test without resorting to BS or a condescending approach: I found that every other piece of hi fi media did...
A mention of the custom install features would be nice in the future - I have an arcam AVR280 that includes a serial port for remote command and display duties, triggers for zone 1, 2 and different video sources, remote extenders etc and am making use of some of this because the amp is buried away in a void under the floor keeping cool and out of the lounge. Perhaps that's just too geeky, but it might resonate with your audience too?
Keep it up! More power to your organ and all that!
...apart from Toshiba already marketing these in the form of the Libretto W100 for the past few months. In fact, they've already EOL'd them, which suggests how successful they were with this concept...
...Escom bought out commodore when Commodore hit the skids, then hit the skids themselves.
They do seem to have a good history of buying something that has failed to meet potential due to mismanagement, then doing a slightly worse job than the original owners.
As a business model, I can see a flaw in their approach.
Thing is, they don't even install SSH by default. You need to manually install SSH, and the process tells you that you need to change the root password.
Jailbreaking has been made easy, which is good. Out of the box, I believe a jailbroken iphone is secure.
People have to choose to install. If you're doing this you should understand why you're doing it, and also understand the implications. If you do install, don't change passwords and merely get rickrolled, you have been hugely lucky!
I bought an IDS05 from Amazon for £20 just before Christmas for the ipod nano Santa also bought him. It looks just like this, only without the grilles...
At £20, it's an absolute bargain. At £80? Still good, but I wouldn't be paying that for it!
I'm after a simple thing that Seagate announced last July time: a 500GB 2.5" drive spinning at 7200RPM.
It appears after a scant 6 months that they are just about shipping. But not in the UK.
So I guess we'll see these in about 6 months then?
Come on Seagate, get it together. With 6 month delays, reduction of warranty on some stuff and the recent firmware debacle, you could be doing a little better.
Damn. Looks like I'll be using WD from now on then.
The first "nail" was Seagate dropping their 5 year warranty. That suggests a lack of confidence in the product, not that they were "matching industry norms". This 'k-up is the second and final nail for me and I suspect others, too.
I point blank refuse to use IBM/Hitachi after the deathstar drive experience - 3 dead 40GB drives back in the day was not a pleasant experience.
I've never had a seagate drive fail on me, yet. The best examples are that I've still got 2 working Seagate ST-225 20MB MFM drives hooked to classic Amigas, and they work perfectly along with the ST-251 40MB beast ;) .
Maxtor, Fujitsu, IBM/Hitachi have all given me hassles, but never Seagate. Or WD.
Looks like it's WD. Come on now, we just want the Scorpio Black 500GB 2.5 drive, please!
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96 posts • joined Wednesday 16th August 2006 13:19 GMT
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OK, forget empirical measurements then and try to take the psychoacoustics out of it? Don't get me wrong, I like my audio toys, but I'm a little jaded with the whole cable thing: my brain sees shiny, my brain hears shiny, my brain feels something heavy, my brain hears something heavy...
That's possibly why I've gone back to using Kef speakers that are nearly 20 years old and selling on my monitor audio setup...
What about comparing a flac played on this thing against a flac played on an iPod with RockBox using a double blind test? Too much to ask? Not even difficult with the size of the things involved!
At the moment the review is just one person's opinion after sitting down and listening to something that claims to be the best audiophile portable player, leagues above anything else out there. That's a big claim, and it needs big evidence, and deserves a bigger test.
I daresay anyone dropping £550 on this will be extremely keen to state the same as the review, as I doubt you'll get someone saying "actually, I preferred my setup that was one fifth of the price of this thing".
Aha - some empirical measurements!
Forgive me, but I am unconvinced. I'd like to be convinced, though!
"the Colorfly undoubtedly delivers a fuller and more complete sound than the same tracks played on cheaper PMPs"
That's something measurable in the signal then. How about some proper facts and figures to back it up? Or even a single graph of response? Or should we just accept that the heavy, weighty MP3 player, with a natural wood finish, that's costing 550 quid, really did just sound 'fuller'.
Or are you just describing how you felt listening to an expensive player?
Well done on not using the words 'richer', or 'deeper' or 'heavier' or even 'more natural' or 'harking back to analogue days', given that's what the whole packaging is aiming for with the wood, sliders, etc.... You lose points for 'glorious' and 'intimate' though after noting that the wood gives an 'air of reliability and class'.
after being fooled myself by psychoacoustics (heavier cables give deeper bass, silver cables give a brighter sound), I'd like to see some proper testing.
You know what you're doing reviewing other stuff, so it's not an unreasonable expectation for you to do a proper job. How about a proper double blind test with something running rockbox with some interested readers?
Clarifying: one good French guy, not France as a whole...
A little bit of confusion to which "French" Pierre is referring to. Not France at large, but the French EU Parliament Member that resigned in protest...
From TFA:
In an unprecedented move, the French European Parliament member assigned to monitor the treaty proceedings, Kader Arif, resigned in protest at the signings
Hope that helps resolve ambiguity.
1 word for you...
ebay?
nope...
Unfortunately, it appears that Nokia has decided to disable this feature. I bought my Lumia SIM free, and it's not there... (Network is Vodafone)
Good.
Biggest complaint with my 800 is the battery life, so I hope this helps.
It's rather annoying that there's no way to update your own device through your own choosing, it really is.
I'm posting from mine
I've had my Lumia (a word not in the phone's dictionary!) for 3 weeks now. It has replaced my original iPhone.
Good points? The os is great. Really. The hub approach is really very smart, and the level of integration of social stuff throughout the phone is great. So far everyone who has seen and played with my phone has been impressed, particularly with people hub, pictures, grouping etc
But not enough to want one instead of an iPhone 4s...
The phone never feels less than responsive. It zips
The soft keyboard is good: better than iPhone. This post was typed on the Lumia...
The hardware is good too. Mostly.
Bad points
no vpn. Inexcusable for the demographic aimed at.
Battery... Charge every day.
That flap covering the micro usb port is not long for this world
camera white balance is, bluntly, exceptionally poor
Quality of pictures is only just acceptable
It's a great bit of kit that I am evangelising, but it needs some polishing.
agreed
I think this idea of microgeneration is the way to go: optimise the snot out of an engine for a particular load, and use it to charge the batteries or provide a boost. Jag's prototype C-X75 suggested using gas microturbines for just this purpose.
Batteries are a crap way to store and transport energy compared to fuels, and simply don't charge fast enough... But they are useful as a way to smooth demand needs, hence the appeal of microgeneration.
Hydrogen is not the answer to fuel either in my view because of the poor comparative volumetric energy density.
I realise I'm not solving the fuel crisis with this post, but the leaf doesn't meet people's needs or expectations of a 30k car.
Until Mr Fusion arrives to process beer and banana peel, we'll need something else to carry energy and if we can get the very most bang out of whatever fuel that is, so much so the better.
Benchmarks, please?
"at low and medium speeds the Leaf is one of the most comfortable cars you can buy."
Go on, I'll nibble on that. What are you comparing it to? Superminis for between a third and half its price? Very well spec'd family cars? Second hand luxobarges? For £25k (or 30k if you exclude the rebate) then you've got a good pick of cars to select from. Is this really one of the most comfortable?
Fair play if it is, but it'd be useful to know what background the reviewer has to be able to give quite such a hugely marketable quote. If you're going on years of car reviewing experience, please say so.
Good point...
In 5 years, I can only assume the batteries will be a little bit beyond their prime... If you're getting 70 miles now, what will you be getting in 5 years when the things have given up their capacity?
Bloody expensive white elephant: consider me unconverted.
Thanks!
Thanks, I'll take a look at that... Picture quality is most important to me, not features, so if that's go the right screen and decent enough upscaling it'll do.
News?
I presume firebox are somehow sponsoring this news?
I ask because my son has had the new Super Mario Bros stickers on his wall for over a year now, thanks to the lovely people at Supernice.co.uk. (No affiliation, just happy with the service they provided).
Other son is wanting the Donkey Kong set on his wall. Top lad!
Will you stop it, please?
I'm trying to buy one of these Panasonic units, and everyone giving them awards is really starting to get on my nerves: I want a bargain and if you keep on irresponsibly saying they're great, you're not helping them come down in price! They're not perfect, but they're absolutely in the sweet spot of picture, features and price.
As for 'VT30s are much better". After struggling to see a difference side by side at a specialist, I disagree. The G30 vs GT30 is a big difference - I wanted a G30 until I saw the difference the infinite black pro (aka Kuro) screen makes. The GT30 vs the VT30? Not a lot. Yes, I could plump for the VT if I wanted to, but I can't justify the difference.
Actually, the AC is right. The panasonic is useless and these are just mid range sets. Cheapo, if you will. You're a loser if you don't stump up for the top of the range. Please, no-one buy one so there's a plethora of them for sale in January at a decent price!
sorry for you, but...
I'm sorry that your business is not doing well, but how much of your downturn can you place on the shoulders of copyright infringement, or have people simply stopped renting DVDs because... well... there's better options, many of which are legal?
I don't download films, but I haven't rented in 5 years now. Yes, I used to...
Lovefilm or similar subscription based postal rental? iTunes or other immediate download sites? Supermarkets selling new release DVDs for £9?
Indeed!
For once Mr Fry was awesomely entertaining and awesomely educational - whilst being right, too. Unfortunately, thanks to the programme, every time someone mentions Brian Blessed, the image of him shouting Gordon's Alive has been replaced with him shouting... inappropriate words.
I am smiling as a write this. It is impossible not to smile at a mental image of the Blessed Swearing.
34,700m^2?
I think you mean 1670 nanoWales, or slightly over eight and a half football pitches.
For shame, El Reg. For shame. I may cancel my subscription.
I've tried to bing, I really have...
I've tried to give bing a fair chance, I really have. I keep using it for searches particularly at work, but...
it just doesn't work remotely as well as google. Even, and this is what galls me most, when searching for stuff related to Microsoft. For example, search for the upcoming version of SharePoint, SharePoint 15, on bing and you get precisely nothing about SP15. Do so on google and you get useful results.
Try 'microsoft portal gold competency' (no quotes)... Bing returns 'value of earning a competency' and 'microsoft virtualisation' in the top 2 slots. Google gives you 'Earn the microsoft gold portals and collaboration competency', and in second place 'microsoft portals and collaboration competency' information page.
Google knows you're probably interested in either earning it, or finding out what it's about. Bing tells you why you might want to earn one - which you already know if you're seaching for it, and I cannot think of who that is useful for - and tells you all about virtualisation.
Sorry Bing. I've tried to love you, I really have, but it's just not working. Perhaps it's me, not you...
But really, i think it's you.
Eddies in the space time continuum?
Where's his sofa?
(My only excuse is that it is Friday afternoon)
suggest reading the first post?
You mean a microwriter? The very thing mentioned in the very first post...
Still available for purchase as a PC addon from the original designer... http://www.cykey.co.uk (no affiliation, I just happen to own an Agenda Microwriter PDA).
My chemistry teacher was using one in 1991 still... He loved the thing.
Why the hate on the forum?
I know this article is a positive review for a Microsoft product, which will be seen as heresy by many techies just on basic principles, but... Those who are wading in, have you actually tried WP7?
My next phone will be running it, and not iOS which my current phone uses. Why? It takes Apple's approach of getting things done and refines it, and also allows better business integration. It has been designed based on what situations people actually want to use a mobile device for.
I like how Andrew has come in for flak by saying what non-techies want: people want stuff that works without an instruction manual, without messing around, and something that occasionally surprises and delights. WP7 Mango does that in spades, without dumbing down.
I'd wholeheartedly agree that WP7 offers a better proposition and experience to average punters than Android. MS fanboi? No.
Does it have the flexibility of Android? No. Does the populous in general need the flexibility of android? I'd argue no...
Handheld PCs...
You're looking for something useful as a decent business tool primarily, rather than a shiny gadget. Unfortunately, the last pieces of kit that focused on the particular sort of work loads you're wanting rather than looking pretty are about a decade old in my view. What did for these things was the insistence that colour screens were a necessity: they're not.
I've got, and still use, a Psion 3mx, 5mx and HP 200LX. Yes, I actually still take notes on these things because they work, they run on 2 AA batteries, and they are usable and will exchange data with my PC. I am still slightly amazed that the 200lx does what it does so well, and that they keyboard - which should be useless - is to my fingers better than the 5mx! The Psion 5mx is just brilliant: the OS allows embedding of word processor documents in calendar entries, meaning it's simple to take meeting notes and know what meeting they relate to. The keyboard isn't great, but it's not half bad.
I actually took notes last week on my 200lx in a meeting in Sweden. People were amused, bemused and slightly pitying as they stabbed ineffectually at their fondleslabs, but it just works.
The other device I use is a Sigmarion 3, which is great but suffers from battery life issues. And a Japanese OS. And it has just died. But other than that it's not bad. Speaking of Japanese OS, I also tried the Zaurus range - twice - but ended up going away from them as the damn things kept crashing. (But we know linux never crashes...)
The Viliv n5 will be on my christmas list. The battery life somewhat worries me, but it's worth a try.
Yes, I know I need to get out more, but I collect these things... From the Psion 1 and Agenda Microwriter (kudos to first post!) to the Libretto u100 so far. Tried an OQO, sold it.
Keep the handheld faith!
Same internals?
710 has 8GB, 800 has 16GB. Is that not an internal?
Camera is quite different on the 710 - 5mp vs 8mb, no dual LED flash...
Different screen.
But other than that, I suppose same processor = same internals?
It also seems that lots of manufacturers are dropping MicroSD support for mango. Anecdotally, it seems to have caused quite a lot of trouble as the MicroSD card needs to run at the same speed as internal memory to work without issues. Rather than explain that to the mass market, it seems manufacturers have removed the facility. HTC Radar, HTC titan are missing them... Shame.
Puns, jokes, gags and plays on words.
A new high water mark? oh, very droll: I see what you did there...
Cheapo 26" option: Sharp LC26SH330E
Bought one of these 3 months ago for the kids' playroom use on the Wii and for occasional media centre viewing duties. It's cheap at 180 quid from Richer Sounds, has good input options - including a full RGB Scart for those who want retr0 goodness from an Amiga or similar - and the picture seems acceptably good. Hardly the last word in viewing experience, but it's small and neat and does the job.
I couldn't find a review on the web anywhere, so it would have been nice to see it included in the El Reg roundup.
Brand loyalty? Try another brand
I'll never buy LaCie again, after the saga of them refusing to replace a faulty power supply on one of their external disks. The PSU has a design fault, meaning when the PSU is unloaded the 12v rail floats at 19v, which rather fries the capacitors that are only rated for 16v IIRC. Opening up the PSU shows that the caps have vented and are useless, which is a better option than exploding...
See http://www.fixya.com/support/t1782491-power_cord_buzzes_macpro_not_recognize and many youtube videos of hissing lacie power supplies.
LaCie refuse to replace this out of warranty, despite the fact it has been designed incorrectly, and despite the fact I have 2 other LaCie drives and a rather nice LaCie monitor.
So... Balls to 'em. Fixed it myself and vowed never to give them another penny for their overpriced, beautifully designed but badly engineered and atrociously supported junk.
My logitech harmony one developed a clump of bad pixels a few days after, and logitech couriered me a replacement after I emailed them a photo of the problem.
Guess who wins my loyalty?
Incidentally, you can buy Belkin Home Base wireless USB and print servers from ebay for under 30 quid delivered...
Horses for courses...
Somewhat informative, but it would be good to know what criteria the reviewer was using to score.
I have 2 wildly different use cases for earphones...
1-sat on a plane, or train, or in the office, where I want as much noise isolation as you can give me. I have Etymotic ER-6is, but they need replacing.
2-jogging, or wanting to be able to hear a little bit of what's going on around me. Currently use some cheap and nasty things.
The etymotics would be brilliant in scenario 1, but are a liability in scenario 2. Also, are you looking for tonal accuracy, or just a pleasant sound? Or MONSTER BASS?
Recommendations for replacing the ER6is would be appreciated.
Man bites dog... ?
Apple to release new iPhone: No! Say it ain't so! Stop the press!
Given their propensity for doing this every year, how is this in any way, shape or form news?
I am looking forward already to the latest new scoop which will undoubtedly be 'ipad 3 confirmed as coming sometime'.
Sweet mercy El Reg, please stop pushing this sort of non-event as news. It isn't. Fanbois will already know about it and be priapic over the potential specs (with added Unicorn, undoubtedly), everyone else will realise it is just a question of time before this hits the shelves.
DO NOT INSTALL if you run HandsOff from Metakine
I've just spend a fun morning recovering from this... The Kernel Extension used by HandsOff (a firewall from Metakine) causes a kernel panic with 10.6.8. Safe mode won't let you bypass it either.
Simple solution: upgrade HandsOff before installing 10.6.8
Fix a mess solution: boot from OSX install DVD, go to terminal
cd /Volumes/yourharddrive/System/Library/Extensions
mv HandsOff.kext /
reboot
Enjoy a once again booting mac, then run Hands Off and update the app...
For our American cousins...
Our USAian readers may want to consult an English to American dictionary for the correct meaning of 'fanny' in this context.
At best, delusional...
"users should have an absolute right to reclaim their data from anyone they have handed it over to"...
Indeed, if there's one thing we've learned, it's how easy it is to remove digital data from marketing databases. Those 'click to unsubscribe' things really do work, and it's easy to stop people tracking what you're doing on the web. Trivial, in fact.
What worries me is that someone might listen to this person. I suspect they will.
I suspect a few years ago if you'd have asked the El Reg readership if they'd believe that a successful TV programme could be based on just watching the daily routine of social misfits put in a house together, the answer would have been a resounding "no"...
engine weight - how much?
This sort of thing is definitely the near future of motoring: it has to be. Much better suited to short town journeys than any diesel, too... (My wife has a golf TDI with a DPF, and it needs an occasional longer drive at motorway speed to empty the crud from the dpf)
definitely worth checking out.
Saying that, how come a 2 cylinder, 875cc engine weighs 85kg? What's it made out of? The BMW N52 3 litre 6 cylinder engine weighs 161kg... Three times the size, three times the number of cylinders, three times the power - but under twice the weight & co2 emissions. If they'd taken the same approach it could have been down to just over 50kg? I guess there's a turbo, multiair cleverness etc but I'm surprised a 2 cylinder engine would weigh that much: it doesn't strike me as particularly light.
TPoG wuz robbed!
well, with the predilection I have for the user name 'chiark', I had to go for the player of games... If you liked Use of Weapons, you'll definitely like Surface Detail which is Banks back on tip top form. Great to see so many Banks supporters coming out of the woodwork, but it makes me wonder if the vote was somehow coordinated?
I must admit I have no idea how well any Banks book would translate to film: I have quite a clear picture in my head of various bits... Although seeing what a film maker delivers for Azad would be fascinating!
It's great to see this list, as it makes me realise there's a lot of (non Banks) Sci Fi that I should read. Thank you El Reg.
Gameduino, too...
The gameduino looks interesting too, and should be shipping in the next week or so...
gameduino.com. Sits on an arduino board, programmable in C/C++
What's the expected working life?
This is a premature article, but all the same I hope that Lewis is proved right. There's three major things about the situation that worry me, assuming that it all goes well:
1. Reliance on power to provide cooling. If something's happened to affect the infrastructure so badly that it's knocked out the reactor, isn't there a good chance that the event would also knacker the cooling, which is the only thing stopping things going bang? (New designs are gravity fed, I understand?)
2. Lifecycle for nuclear reactors. These are cutting edge technology from the 70s... Hacked to provide some form of venting, it seems from posts above. I'd imagine 4 decades is a good innings for this sort of thing where technology advances quickly, so I'd expect a maximum design operating life to be 30 years or less. I know that messes with the economics, but I'd hope it's just common sense.
3. The designers catered for events at 7.9 on the richter scale, which "could not happen" according to them even if the 3 plates off the eastern coast of Japan decided to play nasty. Seems mother nature didn't get the memo?
So I hope this is a qualified success for the nuclear industry after all, but the consequences would be:
1. Cooling must work in scenarios a couple of orders of magnitude worse than worst case. New designs seem to cater for this.
2. General point that nuclear reactors should have a well defined and quite short operational life to allow for the fact that what is acceptable 3 decades ago isn't acceptable now for any number of reasons
3. The people who set what the worst case scenario is should not be the designers...
On the whole, a good article in spirit but I do think it's premature.
Did it really set them back anything?
Can these points be converted back to real dollars?
They do not have intrinsic value, it's just that Microsoft has chosen to allocate a value to them... So they've lost a potential $1.2M in revenue, but it certainly hasn't cost them $1.2M! I wouldn't expect a liability of $1.2M to suddenly appear on MIcrosoft's ledger for this.
I'd argue that it's cost them nothing. Mind you, I'm reading Cory Doctorow's For The Win at the moment, so that might explain this point of view!
iPhone 2g...
Yep, I'm still using an iPhone 2g. It makes calls and accesses data, and does what I want. Apple really should be kicked quite hard for dropping support for devices quite so quickly...
UK Fair use...
Well, according to UK law, 'Producing a back up copy for personal use of a computer program', is considered fair dealing. http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/p01_uk_copyright_law
So making a backup of a valuable (and easy to lose) cartridge is allowed, but Nintendo give no way of making such a backup. Hence the third party solutions: flash carts.
As my son has a DS, I have bought a flash cart and I'd recommend them to any parent who has been through the joy of "have you seen my xyz game cartridge" repeatedly... We only put stuff on there that we've bought ourselves: same with the Wii with HBC and USB loader. He knows what's right and what's wrong on that front. The flash cart stays in, with all his (paid for) games on it, and the games sit on a shelf gathering dust but, most importantly, not being lost!
Given that Nintendo is family friendly in its gaming approach, I'd be surprised if they pull this stunt. They must realise that this is what geek parents do?
And it's not like a retailer would find it in their interest to misinform on this, is it? "What happens if you lose the cartridge? Buy another one... No way of backing them up, after all... That'll be another 30 quid for what you've already licensed to use, please."
I sympathise with the piracy aspect, but the people who I know with flash carts use them responsibly. This would be daft, and is the perfect reason to tell my son that a 3DS isn't a good idea - thank for that!
Customise WP7 - yes...
"will Nokia be able to "customize everything" on Windows Phone 7 in order to differentiate itself?" "Yes!"
http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/11/nokia-will-be-able-to-customize-everything-in-windows-phone-7/
I'm in Helsinki today, and there is only one topic of conversation I hear everywhere - from hotel to taxi to office to bus to airport... Some are positive comments, most are in shock.
I personally think they needed to do something radical, and I can understand the logic here. I seem to be in the minority.
Information Revolution...
Perhaps every generation thinks they're living in the most important one - in fact it would be odd if any generation didn't - but I feel hugely fortunate to have had my formative years aligned with the home computer revolution.
The appeal of the 64 - or in fact any of the machines mentioned above - was that they positively encouraged you to tinker. Sure, you can play games... Or you could try entering that program in the magazine or book to see what it does. And then ask yourself why does 'poke 53280,0' turn the screen black anyhow? Then find out... And carry on digging...
And, before you know it, you've got to the very basics of what computers do and how they work.
Anyone who had an Amiga in the 80s had Deluxe Paint with it, and will have tinkered. A sizeable proportion might have used SoundTracker or similar to mess around with sound... Computers were tools to create and consume (games), but I was more interested in creating and I suspect a majority were, too. That seems to have shifted massively in the last decade. I heard that the games industry is now bigger than hollywood in terms of revenue...
I have 2 sons, and they're showing an interest in this stuff. What's more surprising is that they are both intrigued by the old stuff that I hoard, restore, and tinker with. Perhaps it's more accessible because it is simpler, I dont know... Perhaps my kids will, in 30 years time, be reminiscing about the Wii, custom IOSs, boot2 and whatever :).
For anyone with similar nostalgia pangs, I recommend Commodore: A company on the edge by Brian Bagnall, now 2nd edition. Throws any historical revisionism by certain companies into sharp relief, and does illuminate how small the teams behind the 64 and Amiga were! After reading that, I defy anyone not to have a deep admiration for the characters, particularly Chuck Peddle.
(full disclosure: I have, stacked next to me, an Amiga 1000, 3000, 4000 and a Commodore 128D that all work and get regular use. I need to get out more, I know)
Beautiful!
Top marks, nicely done. Nothing says Christmas like a little halon.
Nice roundup, mercifully BS free
As someone who has recently had the joy of reading the big magazines in hifi and home cinema in an effort to help me choose some new speakers, I have to say that El Reg should do more of this. You've got no axe to grind, no agenda to push, and have written up a good test without resorting to BS or a condescending approach: I found that every other piece of hi fi media did...
A mention of the custom install features would be nice in the future - I have an arcam AVR280 that includes a serial port for remote command and display duties, triggers for zone 1, 2 and different video sources, remote extenders etc and am making use of some of this because the amp is buried away in a void under the floor keeping cool and out of the lounge. Perhaps that's just too geeky, but it might resonate with your audience too?
Keep it up! More power to your organ and all that!
Truly original...
...apart from Toshiba already marketing these in the form of the Libretto W100 for the past few months. In fact, they've already EOL'd them, which suggests how successful they were with this concept...
Good old Escom...
...Escom bought out commodore when Commodore hit the skids, then hit the skids themselves.
They do seem to have a good history of buying something that has failed to meet potential due to mismanagement, then doing a slightly worse job than the original owners.
As a business model, I can see a flaw in their approach.
@Charles 9
Thing is, they don't even install SSH by default. You need to manually install SSH, and the process tells you that you need to change the root password.
Jailbreaking has been made easy, which is good. Out of the box, I believe a jailbroken iphone is secure.
People have to choose to install. If you're doing this you should understand why you're doing it, and also understand the implications. If you do install, don't change passwords and merely get rickrolled, you have been hugely lucky!
For shame!
"a metric fuckload" is not an approved El Reg unit. Please convert to Jubs, and do try to follow the conventions.
Has someone told Jag, Aston and Maserati?
Looks wonderful, but then again it looks like an amalgamation of Jaguar, Aston Martin and Maserati...
Three little words...
Cydia.
Paid.
Apps.
I've got an original 2G iphone bought when o2 flogged them off for 169 quid. It's a great bit of kit, especially with OS3 unlocked and hacktivated.
People (well, geeks) will jailbreak their phones to get this. Silly apple.
Looks like an update to the IDS05
I bought an IDS05 from Amazon for £20 just before Christmas for the ipod nano Santa also bought him. It looks just like this, only without the grilles...
At £20, it's an absolute bargain. At £80? Still good, but I wouldn't be paying that for it!
Announcement & deliveries...
I'm after a simple thing that Seagate announced last July time: a 500GB 2.5" drive spinning at 7200RPM.
It appears after a scant 6 months that they are just about shipping. But not in the UK.
So I guess we'll see these in about 6 months then?
Come on Seagate, get it together. With 6 month delays, reduction of warranty on some stuff and the recent firmware debacle, you could be doing a little better.
Shame...
Damn. Looks like I'll be using WD from now on then.
The first "nail" was Seagate dropping their 5 year warranty. That suggests a lack of confidence in the product, not that they were "matching industry norms". This 'k-up is the second and final nail for me and I suspect others, too.
I point blank refuse to use IBM/Hitachi after the deathstar drive experience - 3 dead 40GB drives back in the day was not a pleasant experience.
I've never had a seagate drive fail on me, yet. The best examples are that I've still got 2 working Seagate ST-225 20MB MFM drives hooked to classic Amigas, and they work perfectly along with the ST-251 40MB beast ;) .
Maxtor, Fujitsu, IBM/Hitachi have all given me hassles, but never Seagate. Or WD.
Looks like it's WD. Come on now, we just want the Scorpio Black 500GB 2.5 drive, please!
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