Comment: Now for something completely different... (Score 5, Interesting) 627
I've tried pretty much the same thing using an Asus Transformer TF101. It has been less than a success.
Basically the tablet is great for email, which fortunately I write a lot of, but rubbish for office productivity. Word processing, spreadsheets and presentations are all difficult to create and edit with the installed Polaris Office. The original article above mentions Hootsuite. I use Hootsuite for managing my social networks. On an Android tablet, the experience is less than stellar. The Hootsuite app is clearly built for a mobile phone. In a web browser though, Hootsuite is brilliant. Sadly, web browsers on an Android tablet are largely crap at dealing with Javascript. And I've tried pretty much all of them. I need at least 4 (standard Google Android browser, Opera, Dolphin HD and Firefox Beta) to ensure that I will be able to load and interact with all websites I come across. Google Docs also fails in a web browser, and the app is once again mobile phone focussed.
The battery life of the Transformer is brilliant, especially with the dockable keyboard, which makes writing anything of length bearable.
A while ago I installed Ubuntu 11.10 as a dual boot operating system. I now use this OS much, much more on the Transformer. It's not perfect and a few things don't work, such as the mini-HDMI out, but when it comes to browsing and office productivity, I find this much more useful.
Comment: Re:what means "electric flight"? (Score 3, Informative) 78
http://www.yuneec.com/index.html
http://www.electraflyer.com/
http://www.sonexaircraft.com/research/e-flight.html
None of these have the same glide ratio as a motor glider, and are the beginnings of an emerging electric light sport aircraft industry. A long way to go, but with the rising prices and limited availability of Avgas in many regions of the world, many changes are needed within the General Aviation community to ensure a sustainable future.
Is electric flight the way forward? Maybe, maybe not in the short term. With options like Rotax engines already commonly available for many types and "diesel" (JetA1) engine options also growing for many legacy airframes, as well as new models, there is hope and a number of different routes GA could end up going down.
Comment: Re:any dvd professional (Score 1) 80
If you intend to edit the HD content, you might like it to be more than 100Mbps. For example, the default settings for ProRes HQ 50i content results in variable bitrate files up to 185Mbps and DNxHD 50i is 184Mbps. (60i content differs, with DNxHD at 220Mbps). AVC-Ultra (and AVC-Intra derivative) is up to 200Mbps.
There are other sub-100Mbps options, such as XDCAM HD422 @ 50Mbps, but it really depends on your productions - high-end natural history and drama, then I'd want as much more than 100Mbps as my systems could handle. Factual, comedy and news/current affairs would most likely be fine at the lower bitrates. HD content is broadcast at atrociously low bitrates anyway. However, from an archival point of view, I'd like to see higher bitrates used.
HDCamSR is only compressed at 440Mbps.
Comment: Re:Incredible (Score 2, Informative) 957
In the Winter Olympics there's biathlon and in the Summer Olympics firearm related competitions include 50 metre pistol, 50 metre rifle, double trap, skeet, trap and some air rifle events too. Lots of people care about all of them.
Comment: Re:I wouldn't quite call it transcoding... (Score 1) 277
Comment: Re:Another reason not to fly via Heathrow (Score 1) 821
Yeah, you're right. I guess I just see the transport links to Heathrow better than Stansted. I'd rather be marooned at Heathrow late at night, than Stansted. My options for getting somewhere else are better.
I agree with your points about Gatwick and City though. I've always had better experiences at those airports than at Stansted.
Comment: Re:Another reason not to fly via Heathrow (Score 2, Informative) 821
Comment: Re:Another reason not to fly via Heathrow (Score 2, Informative) 821
Stansted is a pain in the arse.
I live in South West London (Twickenham), well within the M25, and had cause to go to Stansted on Sunday. Firstly, I take a train from Twickenham to London Waterloo station (20 minutes). I'm now pretty much in the city centre, with easy access to most areas via the Underground. Next, the Underground to Liverpool Street station (20 minutes). Then I had expected to take the Stansted Express train to to Stansted (45 minutes). But wait, it's a Sunday and there is engineering works on the line and all services are replaced by buses. The bus to Stansted took 90 minutes! In total, my journey time to Stansted was over two hours. My friend's flight to Graz, in Austria was only 2.5 hours.
I used to fly regularly to Riga, Latvia from Stansted, which is a 3 hour flight. There's only a limited direct service, and into Stansted was the best return option on a Sunday evening. However, the flight would arrive at 11pm. The last train to London departs at midnight. Any delay whatsoever, and I would estimate at least 50% of the time there was, one would miss that final train. Only other option is a bus. Even if you did catch the train to Liverpool Street, by the time you arrived, the Underground service was finished and a night bus was the only option (or a taxi of course, but that's pretty expensive). It used to take me somewhere between 3.5 hours and 5 hours on a bad night, to return home after arriving at Stansted. I could fly across the breadth of Europe quicker than that!
Traveling to Heathrow is a lot easier and quicker. Granted, I live in South West London. However, even if I lived further into the city, there is a direct Heathrow Express train, as well as a direct Underground service on the Piccadilly Line. From most areas of London, within Zone 6 (Zone 1 is inner city, Zone 6 the furthest out for the metropolitan public transport service) I would estimate no more than 90 minutes maximum to get to Heathrow. It's much closer to the city, so a taxi is a lot cheaper too. In general, I will pay up to £50 more for a ticket, for the convenience of flying from Heathrow.
I'm sure someone will prove me wrong, showing that it only takes the 10 minutes to get to Stansted and 1.5 days to Heathrow, but the above is my personal experience.
Modern Warfare 2 Not Recalled In Russia After All 94
from the it's-the-thought-that-counts dept.