Business As Usual At The Factory Of Idiot Dreams

Apple's World Record Attempt

Sat, 03 Jul 2010 17:31:35 +0000

I'm the first to admit that I like, love even, Apple products.

I have to look on at the issues with the iPhone 4 with a degree of amusement. It's true that any phone's RF performance is going to be affected by being held. And it's also true that no standards exist for the display of signal bars on phones and all the phone manufacturer's have played games with the algorithms, whether for internal marketing reasons or because of customers comparing signal indications and inferring phone performance from them. So I perfectly understand the dilemma Apple have got themselves into.

But only Apple could make this blatant attempt at winning the reality distortion field world record:

Apple said yesterday it was 'stunned' to learn the signal strength graph on every iPhone made is not accurate, and is displaying much better reception than the phone is really getting. To fix it, Apple is going to recalibrate the display, essentially giving you fewer bars in more places.

Update: Taiwanese News recreates recent events:

Facetime

Tue, 08 Jun 2010 15:20:32 +0000

So the iPhone 4 is here and has video calling...

Probably the first home automation movie ever

Fri, 21 May 2010 23:54:45 +0000

This house has features I can only dream about...

Oh yeah I just love this sort of stuff

Fri, 21 May 2010 23:28:05 +0000

Mechanical analogue computers ... although Jessica Alba in a bikini is apparently somehow related to this video? You Tube WTF? ...

... ah, OK ... Tube-bait. I watched it so you don't have to :-)

You have to be a geek to appreciate this

Thu, 20 May 2010 22:24:49 +0000

Axed

Mon, 17 May 2010 19:38:09 +0000

So Flash Forward has been axed.

Useful WoL Utility for Macs

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 22:10:36 +0000

WoL, or WakeonLan is the facility to wake a computer from a suspend or sleep mode by sending a magic packet to it via the LAN. Your motherboard must support it and you usually have to configure the BIOS to enable it.

Shock as I abandon Apple for Microsoft

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 21:00:56 +0000

Yes, serious failings have led me to abandon Apple for Microsoft products

Halloween Macro

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 00:02:19 +0000

OK, I know it's a bit late but I've been really busy ...

M&S Plan A Fail

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:04:47 +0000

Marks and Spencer have a high profile "Plan A" which, amongst other things, pledges to reduce waste:

We'll significantly reduce the amount of packaging and carrier bags that we use, and find new ways to recycle materials.

It's that time of year again

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 18:51:03 +0000

Yup, it's Halloween and yet again I'm expecting to be subjected to demands with menace.

Mighty Mouse

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:51:16 +0000

The Apple Mighty Mouse is pretty good as far as I am concerned, but it has one fatal flaw, the "nipple ball" collects gunk over time and despite all cleaning attempts, eventually it becomes unusable.

Apple Fan Boy?

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 15:50:09 +0000

I've got a Mac Pro, the famously quiet workstation

Dell Powerconnect 2716

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 14:24:08 +0000

These are quite nice little switches for home networking purposes, gigabit capability with jumbo frames, 16 ports, no fan, 12W power consumption and a basic managed capability for the adventurous.

DFP retro-fit to MFP position

Sat, 25 Jul 2009 00:05:07 +0000

The new DFP is designed to fit over either a single box (if no mains connections used) or a dual-box, whereas the MFP mounts on a double box. As I discussed in my DFP post, the DFP mounting back plate is not compatible with a double box. So my DFP has remained deskbound for quite some time.