You joke, but our weather has been getting less predictable. We had a fairly hot summer overall, but August was fairly wet and dull. September, on the other hand, was the driest on record, and October has mostly been warm. It's forecast to reach 20 degrees in London on Friday - if that was one day later, on the 1st of November, it would be challenging the record for the hottest November day recorded in the UK.

Monday and Tuesday were warm enough to sit outside on my lunch break, today it's raining and chilly, tomorrow it's back up to 19 degrees apparently.

And is it "sift"... if so, best typo ever :)

I get between two and four days from a Nexus 5, depending on usage. My take on it is that it's a smartphone only when I need it to be. Most of the time I'll use it for no more than email, sms and calls which I agree could be handled by a feature phone (although not as easily for sms and emails - the larger screen and keyboard come into play there).

The difference for me is that it has all the features when I need them - better browsing capability, gps and a good screen for maps, half decent camera (within the limitations of the form factor, obviously) and all the other stuff.

I have considered the alternative of a feature - or even dumb - phone for battery life and then taking a tablet when I need more, but the phone does it all for me at a convenient size. The battery lasts long enough, and I know the trade off when I use the features that make it "smart".

I'm about 80% deaf in one ear, so instead of higher frequencies I get permanent tinnitus, which is basically exactly that - it varies according to things like heart rate. It's like listening to an old modem, or something like a ZX Spectrum loading a game. 24x7. It came on as an adult, so it took a bit of getting used to - some people can't cope and suffer depression or even become suicidal over it.

Sounds like a job for Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged

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I just misread the title as "Microsoft's JavaScript Engine Gets Two-Tired Compilation.

I think you've pretty much described the Nexus 5.

Yeah, I got one because I didn't want to be on contract or have all the bloatware, and the Nexus 5 is/was great value. Looks like I'll be sticking with it, and maybe even getting a like for like replacement if it breaks, because I don't want a phablet. I have a tablet, what I want in a phone is something I can put in my pocket. The Nexus 5 is pretty much at the limit already.

I'd even buy a more expensive unlocked phone from someone else, but then you've got to put up with the non-standard interfaces.

Doesn't really matter though - the Nexus 5 is still a pretty respectable spec.

Absolutely. I think Kaley Cuoco's reaction has been one of the best. From what I read, at least, she's taken it in her stride with a sense of humour. Credit for that, treat it as no big deal. If everyone did that, it wouldn't be a big deal, as you say.

Indeed. The Archbishop of Canterbury has only recently admitted to doubts about god. Can you imagine that from any other major religious leader?

With Android you have to accept all permissions an app wants or not install it. On iOS apps have no permissions other than internet access and have to ask for permission. The permission can be refused, and the app still works just without the feature being requested - e.g. refuse location access and the app can't offer you location based features, obviously.

This granularity is not available with Android.

Well hopefully it's not too long to wait until L comes out and the first one will be answered. As for the second, it's just irritating that I can't get apps that just connect to their respective services. Not much chance of it, but it'd be great if the likes of Twitter and Facebook released cut down versions that only connected to them and didn't demand access to contacts, SMS etc. It's a refreshing change when an app requires no special permissions, or at least none that aren't obvious for its primary role.

I've seen talk of automatically unlocking when connected to specific bluetooth devices or by location (which looks like it might require GPS?). That's handy, but I haven't seen anything about specific wifi networks. I don't want GPS running all the time because of the battery drain, but would like my phone unlocked on my home wifi. Preferably out of the box without needing a third party app that wants all sorts of permissions.

Off topic, but for me the biggest issue with (non-rooted) Android is the permissions model that forces all or nothing acceptance for permissions. I want certain apps, but want to refuse them access to, say, SMS messages. I can't do that. The permissions manager feature appeared briefly in, I think 4.3, but then disappeared. That alone is the thing that has me considering jumping ship to Apple.

What people? A handful of geeks who've heard of Linux?

Which is the argument for why this doesn't apply to Apple hardware (computers and phones) and to an arguably lesser extent Android (in that case there is a separation - the phone is made by Samsung, HTC etc, the OS by Google, so the argument that they're integrated is weaker).

My point is that the average consumer doesn't care. They want a Windows machine, and probably don't really care if it's HP, Acer or whoever - it's Windows they want.

So while there's a legal argument around bundling, it's not really a consumer protection issue. The number of buyers who would actually want to install an alternative OS (or be able to) is tiny.