Technology

Steve Jobs

Posted by Richard Smith - August 25, 2011 – 12:53 am
steve-jobs

The following letter has just been published…

 

“To the Apple Board of Directors and the Apple Community:

I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.

I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee.

As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.

I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.

I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you.

Steve”

 

As I write this, I must admit I’m holding back tears. I’m not worried about Apple, Apple will be fine. There are many people there of exceptional talent who are more than capable of continuing the fine work that has gone on there for the last few decades. Read More »

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High Maturity

Posted by Richard Smith - August 23, 2011 – 10:32 pm
high-maturity

I just wanted to say a few words about a little issue I have with the Android Market. Unlike the App Store that iPhone users are used to,  the Android Market doesn’t check apps out before they become available to download. Some people think that’s a good thing,  and some don’t. Personally I’d prefer it if Google handled things a little bit more like Apple.

Because apps aren’t subject to a vigorous set of rules,  you end up getting some that are less than brilliant,  but more significantly it means you get a great deal of porn. If you’re amused by games that result in you seeing a picture of a naked woman then these apps are right for you. I’m not 15 years old,  so they hold little interest for me. Luckily they also hold little interest for other people too, so Google gave us a way to get rid of them from the market. We can filter apps according to their maturity rating. Read More »

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Rules To Live By

Posted by Richard Smith - August 3, 2011 – 1:48 pm
rules-to-live-by

What follows is a set of conditions that I have agreed to live by today. I will not falter from my task, I will live by these rules.

I, Richard Michael Tiberius Smith, being of sound body and mind, swear to live by the following conditions. My agreement to these conditions allows me to continue being apart of the podcast, Tech It Or Leave It, and allows me to continue living with Allison Downing. Failure to comply with the following conditions may result in the loss of the afore mentioned privileges.

1. I will not go on about which phone I’m going to buy until August 3rd 2013.

2. If a phone I would rather have is released in the next six months, I will not moan about it.

3. I will not wish I waited for the iPhone 5/4GS

4. If I do wish I waited for the iPhone, I will not reveal this to anyone, ever.

5. I will not moan about any feature of the Samsung Galaxy 2 S. The only exception to this are any apps or services created by Samsung, which are an unnecessary addition to the Android OS.

6. I will not moan about the Three network. The only exception to this is any major problem created by the network, eg billing problems etc.

7. I will not wish I had waited for ANY other phone.

8. I will not wish I had a 3D phone.

9. I will not express anything other than complete joy about my phone.

10. Coming soon, an in depth review of the Samsung Galaxy S 2.

 

 

I have made my bed and now I must lie in it.

By Richard Smith | Also posted in Simply Read | Comments (2)

Selling Poo Pie

Posted by Richard Smith - July 28, 2011 – 2:28 pm
selling-poo-pie

In case you don’t know, I love pie. Not the number, the food. From an English perspective pie is a savoury dish, usually including some kind of meat. To our North American friends, pie is a sweet dish that could well include some kind of cream. Either way, pie is a pretty versatile and varied food, that comes in all shapes and sizes. Now imagine that everyone in the world loves pie as much as I do. Where ever you go, you see people eating pie. Some of them are meat and potato pie, some are banana cream pie. Nobody really agrees on which is the best pie, but they’re all pretty good in their own way.

Then, one day, in this pie world, a new pie seller comes along with a totally new kind of pie. “What’s in it?” we all ask, with a bit of dribble at the side of our mouths. “Poo!” the pie maker replies. “Poo?” we cry out in unison. “Thats right, poo! This pie tastes bad, is bad for your body, has absolutely no nutritional value what so ever, and it will turn your teeth brown and make your breath smell”. The world looks at the poo pie man, laughs and walks away. All except for a couple of confused looking people. They walk up to the poo pie man, buy a pie, and start munching away. It’s time to end the pie analogy and introduce you to the customers of RIM. Read More »

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O2 Changing Customer Contracts Without Informing Them?

Posted by Richard Smith - June 2, 2011 – 6:58 pm
o2-changing-customer-contracts-without-informing-them

Almost exactly a year ago we visited the O2 store in Bradford Foster Square run by one Mr Kamran Khan. The reason was to buy a brand new HTC Desire for Allison. The intension was to get the phone on an 18 month contract, but this was advised against by one of Mr Khan’s store staff. The lady in question recommended that Allison should take out a 24 month business contract which would allow a handset upgrade after 12 months. That’s why we were back in Kamran’s store today, to collect the new phone.

However when we attempted to do so the store informed us that in January of this year O2 changed their contracts, and now everyone who took out the deal that Allison did, is now required to sign up to another two year contract in order to get their new handset.

Read More »

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But the PS3 Plays Blu-Ray

Posted by Admin - June 2, 2011 – 1:41 pm
but-the-ps3-plays-blu-ray

I think it was two years ago that I bought a multifunction printer. That name is a bit misleading because it’s actually a multifunction device which has printing as one of the functions. It was a printer, fax machine, scanner, and photocopier all in one. The problem was that each function was rubbish. I now have a printer that’s just a printer, and a scanner that’s just a scanner. I don’t need a fax machine because it isn’t 1989 any more. My point is that usually multifunction devices are a bit…rubbish.

I have another multifunction device. It’s a mini computer that isn’t as powerful or as functional as my desktop computer. It’s a camera that isn’t as good as my camera. It’s a video camera that isn’t as good as my video camera. It’s a music player that isn’t quite as good as my iPod. It’s my phone.

Historically devices that do lots of things in place of lots of devices that do one thing, are usually much worse at all those tasks. Based on that I’m trying to figure out why the PS3 sells so many units just because it’s also a blu-ray player. I just can’t accept the answer of full compatibility with BD-Live, the online functionality of blu-ray discs.

BD-Live is something that seemed like a good idea at the time and has become completely pointless. Blu-rays have been available since 2006 and the only BD-Live content that any I’ve seen play is ads for other Blu-Ray discs. In other words, I could live without it.

With that in mind, and the fact that you can now get a Blu-Ray player that’s just a blu-ray player for around £50 now, what is the point of the PS3? I’m still totally convinced that the way to go is XBox 360 and a separate Blu-Ray player which would cost less than the average PS3 package from Amazon. Is Little Big Planet all that good? Maybe it’s the brilliant online offerings?

If you bought a PS3 I’d love to hear why. Was it just for the Blu-Ray player? If you’re about to buy a new console are you thinking about the PS3? Why is that?

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Plants vs Zombies to be Amazon App Store Exclusive

Posted by Richard Smith - May 17, 2011 – 5:43 pm
plants-vs-zombies-to-be-amazon-app-store-exclusive

In today’s round of Why I’m Buying An iPhone I present to you Plants vs Zombies for Android. PvZ is one of the best little games to come out on the latest range of portable devices. It’s a basic tower defence game with some plants and zombies thrown in. It’s available for nearly every platform going. I personally own it on PC, Mac, iOS and Xbox. It’s also available for the Nintendo DS and I think it’s on the PlayStation too.

Of all the devices it is on, it’s not on Android. Pop Cap, makers of the game have been promising it for well over a year, since late 2009 as far as I know. Now it’s actually coming. I got all excited for a minute, ready to click buy on it despite the charge I’ll pay for using my bank card with the Android Market. Unfortunately I can’t. Read More »

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Lion For Download

Posted by Richard Smith - May 17, 2011 – 2:04 pm
lion-for-download

There has been a  lot of speculation recently, saying that Apple will release the next version of OS X, Lion, through the Mac App Store. There’s lots of evidence for this, mainly that they are already distributing beta versions of the OS to developers via the App Store. At this point I’d say a download version of Lion is a pretty safe bet.  Read More »

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Google IO Keynote

Posted by Richard Smith - May 11, 2011 – 1:14 am
google-io-keynote

You did it didn’t you Google. You’re making me bring the globe graphic out again aren’t you. I thought we’d seen the last of this since the Americans stopped whining about only having the iPhone on one carrier. Oh well….

In case you’re wondering what happened today, I should fill you in. Today Google started their annual conference for developers. It’s their version of Apple’s WWDC. It’s where all the people who make things for Google products get together and learn more about what Google are up to and how they can work with it. Just like WWDC, Google kick things off with a keynote where they show us what they’ve been working on. Unlike WWDC most of it was uninteresting and disappointing. So what did they cover and why did I have to bring the graphic out again? Read More »

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Microsoft Buys Skype

Posted by Richard Smith - May 10, 2011 – 5:06 pm
microsoft-buys-skype

Microsoft have bought Skype, but that’s the kind of thing that shows up on your shopping list when you’ve got $8.5 billion to spend. My shopping list has things like Coco Pops and toothpaste. Anyway, they’ve bought it. Now what?

Skype has had it’s share of problems. The main problem being that the current desktop client is clearly work that was done on bring your son/daughter to work day, and the engineers didn’t have much input. It’s honestly the most offensively bad piece of software that I’m forced to run on my computer other than Photoshop. It’s not that it doesn’t work. If it didn’t work it would just be bad software. This is offensively bad software, that means that it works, but it makes you work hard in order to experience that.

Microsoft also have a patchy past depending on who you ask. As a Mac user I have decided not to use Windows, but I’m quite happy to accept that there are people at Microsoft who are talented and passionate about what they do. Microsoft actually do make several really good products, the Xbox being the most obvious. There are other things that also prove this, such as the design of Windows Phone etc. Read More »

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