Comment Steely (Score 1) 277
Anyone else find it amusing that this is just above an article talking about Facebook ditching HTML5 to go to ObjectiveC instead?
Comment Embarrassing (Score 2) 178
Organisations with a history of locking down their phones and leveraging that monopoly to forcefeed substandard applications down the throats of consumers who have little alternatives, now coming together to create a new monopoly. Oh, the ways in which this will never work:
- Handset fragmentation, without a common runtime, it's doomed. Even with a common runtime, Android is already having trouble.
- Bureaucratic nightmare or toxic dumping ground. There is a fine line between creating too process centric an environment (Apple) and too open an environment (possibly Google) in an app store. I'll place money that these guys will go for the former. I've read their specifications before.
- Hideously inoperable toolsets. Without decent SDKs any effort is doomed and none of these organisations have any credible history of producing a half decent toolchain
- Competing standards already with JIL and Bondi. Committee first design (tm) is always broken.
- J2ME is such a great example of how the mobile operators can take a good idea and turn it into something that you can just about write a suduko game with.
Comment Re:Pure speculation (Score 1) 184
Apologies, I should have been clearer. 10 million homes are getting an NGA product, 75% of which should be fibre to the cabinet and 25% fibre to the premises. Fibre to the cabinet still isn't bad, though: 40 Mbs downstream with 20 Mbs of that 'guaranteed' and it should be practically uncontended (that I'll believe when I see it but so claim Openreach).
Comment Pure speculation (Score 1) 184
PC Pro is taking a number of fairly tenuous ideas and building a spaceship with them. Lets list them:
- Google announces that they're going to trial fibre in the _US_
- The Tories announce that they will support fibre roll out if they win
- There are rumours that the Torie fibre roll out could be supported by foreign investment
- BT has said they'll share their ducts
- Google and the Tories have close links
SHAZAM Google must be investing in UK fibre.
I work quite closely with Openreach. They're very keen to roll out fibre beyond the 10 million homes by 2012 and they're really set up to do it.
Sure, Google _could_ do it and may be considering it but either PC Pro is making this up or they know more than they're telling.
Comment Variable sized keyboard? (Score 1) 237
The variable sized / changing position of the virtual keyboard seems like a bad idea to me. I wonder how accurate the demo video is meant to be.
Interview With the Author of "Mastering Cat" 243
Shlomi Fish writes "O'Reilly is publishing a new book titled 'Mastering cat,' about the UNIX 'cat' command. Here is an interview O'Reilly-Net conducted with the author about it. Read it to see if this book should be part of your bookshelf of technical books."
Microsoft Shoots Own Foot In Iceland 476
David Gerard writes "The Microsoft Certified Partner model is: an MCP buys contracts from Microsoft and sells them to businesses as a three-year timed contract, payable in annual installments. Iceland's economy has collapsed, so 1500 businesses have gone bankrupt and aren't paying the fees any more. But Microsoft has told the MCPs: 'Our deal was with you, not them. Pay up.' The MCPs that don't go bankrupt in turn are moving headlong to Free Software, taking most of the country with them. (Warning: link contains strong language and vivid imagery.)"
More Climate Scientists Now Support Geoengineering 458
ofcourseyouare writes "The Independent is a UK newspaper which has been pushing hard for cuts in CO2 emissions for years. It recently polled a group of 'the world's leading climate scientists,' revealing a 'growing support for geoengineering' in addition to cutting CO2 — not as a substitute. For example, Jim Lovelock, author of The Gaia Theory, comments: 'I disagree that geoengineering the climate is a dangerous distraction and I disagree that on no account should it ever be considered. I strongly agree that we now need a "plan B" where a geoengineering strategy is drawn up in parallel with other measures to curb CO2 emissions.' Professor Kerry Emanuel of MIT said, 'While a geoengineering solution is bound to be less than desirable, the probability of getting global agreement on emissions reductions before it is too late is very small.'"
Slashdot Top Deals
It seems intuitively obvious to me, which means that it might be wrong. -- Chris Torek
