Disqus - Latest Comments for nocky100

Re: The Current Infrastructure Strategy To Support OTT Services Isn’t Economically Sustainable

Ian D. Nock — Tue, 05 Jun 2018 21:21:55 -0000

With regard to 4K, with the move to HEVC or equivalent Codecs, you are not talking a x4 in BW terms, but a x1.5 to x2.5 depending on resolution and quality expectations. As for techniques to handle the capacity requirements, there are beginnings of this in multicast ABR (although it is not fully formed today), multi-CDN (shared infrastructure services), edge processing/storage (extending the storage edge to the home), as well as optimisation of context (per device encoding) and per title encoding, and possibly improvements in encoding through machine learning techniques. All offer promise, but we cannot escape the need to rearchitect the way that the unmanaged Internet works such that we can overlay managed features.

Re: A day without a smartphone means £12K losses for SMBs

Ian D. Nock — Mon, 13 Jun 2016 10:32:38 -0000

Considering Vodafone's inability to reactivate a SIM in less than 24 hours which they chose to deactivate for no good reason, I very much doubt the capability or performance of this service. As for valuing the time, they patently don't value that otherwise they would have made contact with me before deactivating the SIM for no reason. I have no chance of getting a single penny back for the impact to my business of their incompetence in my simpler situation, so I very much doubt effectiveness of this service.

Re: Thinking About Trust and Cloud Services

Ian D. Nock — Tue, 03 Nov 2015 21:05:39 -0000

I am not worried about the free storage, I pay for Onedrive and all my cloud storage. The issue as you rightly point out is the reduction in functionality, performance and reliability that has occurred since the Windows 8 feature changes that is fully shaking my prioritisation of Onedrive over something else... Something that is sad since I have been using it and its predecessors (Live Mesh/LiveSync) from the beginning. I think I am finally at the point of shifting my priority to Google as it works on everything and I have found an alternative to the placeholder functionality in Expandrive that gives me back most of what I lost moving to Windows 10. Just when MS were gaining respect they take great big slices out of their reputation like this and lose more customers.

Re: I bought a Samsung Chromebook on Wednesday night

Ian D. Nock — Sat, 10 Aug 2013 13:17:09 -0000

I went to for the Lenovo Yoga 11 RT... mine was £480 when I bought it, but it has gone down to £400 now. More pricey than than the Chrome though but price was not my key point - being very light, long battery life and full function was. I have been looking at the recently reduced Surface machines which provide the same but with the need for an additional keyboard, for £280.

Re: I bought a Samsung Chromebook on Wednesday night

Ian D. Nock — Sat, 10 Aug 2013 10:41:26 -0000

I looked at the Chromebook as I use a lot of Google services but I still needed sync/local storage, Skype and longer than 5 hours battery life. My alternative was a Windows RT convertible, the RT version of the Lenovo Yoga 11 you saw. The battery life is fantastic 12-14 hours, video playback is great and Office built in. The Sync is not there yet (in the 8.1 upgrade) but Skydrive is ok online (and I use 145GB of it) and the email client is rough (again Outlook RT in 8.1) so it will get much better. In fact, I can complete run on the Windows RT side apart from I cannot use Chrome..

Re: ICS Arrives on the Galaxy SII.. What’s your opinion?

Ian D. Nock — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 15:11:08 -0000

I am seeing a reduced battery life from my one full day of experience with it (not running the Touchwiz interface, I am running the Go Launcher Ex, just wish you could get the vanilla ICS interface as a download). I like the new mail features and the face unlock works about 80% of the time, which is actually good enough when backed up with a PIN. I also had some Font quality issues but this was because I had been playing and reverting the default did the trick.

Re: HTC Flyer Honeycomb update begins to roll

Ian D. Nock — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 12:09:28 -0000

I can confirm that 3.2 is downloading on my 16GB WiFi Flyer right now.

Re: Connected life with British Airways.. I’m loving it!

Ian D. Nock — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 18:13:44 -0000

BA are an equal opportunities supporter of smartphones. The same functionality is available for Android.

Re: “Cheques will not be axed” — Arse

Ian D. Nock — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 17:21:12 -0000

Cheques exist because of profiteering by Credit Card companies, which over-charge for each transaction. People do need a way of paying individuals directly without using cash and without sharing bank account information due to the lax security that they have in this respect, as seen by the 'famous' Jeremy Clarkson hack. When we have a cost effective (i.e. free to the consumer) solution, then cheques can happy disappear

Re: Is the Set Top Box (STB) Dying?

Ian D. Nock — Thu, 26 May 2011 15:57:01 -0000

The STB will only have issues when TV makers actually start implementing simple OTA/Network based automatic software updates that actually advance and improve the TV software for the full lifetime of the TV. At this moment, these TV makers only pay attention to the units sold in the last four months and the next four months - something that is massively incompatible with consumer TV buying patterns. STBs have a place as an easily replaceable (read cheap <$300 retail) and updateable intelligence component, compared with TVs that are generally >$1000. STBs get replaced between 2 and 5 years, when TVs are replaced between 3 (for mad early adopters) and 15 years, with 10 years being what most ordinary people are expecting.

Re: Behind the scenes: Why I’m renting my camera equipment in the States

Ian D. Nock — Tue, 24 May 2011 03:26:48 -0000

Wow.. the perils of international travel with equipment. I am amazed at the lack of logic to it but then international customs laws can be Byzantine. However I understand that there are some similar rules even between countries in the EU with regard to high value objects which some laptops and camera gear fall into.. you are just the first person I have heard about who actually has experienced problems moving between countries with goods that are almost worth more than their weight in gold. It would be interesting if anyone else has gotten into trouble in the same way.

Re: Maxroam… if you cannot get a local Data SIM

Ian D. Nock — Mon, 23 May 2011 05:37:17 -0000

All services can have credit card processing issues. If I were you I would try again and also hit them up via Twitter as they are very active there @maxroam and @patphelan

Re: Scripting News: Queensday in Amsterdam

Ian D. Nock — Sun, 01 May 2011 19:39:36 -0000

I think I had more success than you with data over Queens Day... but then I had an unlocked Mifi with a Vodafone NL PAYG Smartphone bundle (a good deal at €15, a better one at €7.50 which it seems to be at special offer for at the moment... for 1GB of data). Although I had fun on Friday evening getting the bundle to activate. Oh, I also had to have a Portable USB charger to keep that Mifi running the whole day through.. I felt a little like a battery pack, but it was ok.

The Android/iPhone thing... I am finding the Android OS (I had a 2.2 device) a bit clumsy with handling a data connection and the apps are clumsy as well compared to their iPhone versions (Twitter, Facebook, and Foursquare). Definitely Android has some way to go to get their stuff as silky smooth... hopefully they will when I have to make my decision on a new phone in August.

Foursquare seems to have really grown in popularity in Amsterdam in the last couple of months, could be about to break out there based on the number of people I was in the same place with... even saw Foursquare logos in some restaurants. Maybe that could have been something to have helped with keeping linked with peeps.

As for the Dutch... Koninginnedag is special, but they don't keep indoors too much the rest of the year. Fun place.

Re: Scripting News: Plans of mice and men

Ian D. Nock — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 19:21:38 -0000

Maybe you should look at popping into one of the many phone shops and getting your Android hooked up via reasonable PAYG/PrePaid Vodafone SIM, add at least €15 of credit and get them to setup the Smartphone Blox. Gives you 1GB for the month for that. It all just worked for my Android, although I did notice that several settings related to Google Accounts were reset when switching SIMs. You could always just buy a PrePaid MiFi... that works as well.

Re: Scripting News: Let's have fun with European phones

Ian D. Nock — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 04:27:54 -0000

So Pat, any word on when you can a plan without a charge per MB? That would be certainly very advantageous. Don't mind if it costs €30 a month for 1GB, as long as it was truly work anywhere in Europe.

Re: Scripting News: Let's have fun with European phones

Ian D. Nock — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 03:47:28 -0000

Having travelled a lot to Amsterdam and not wanting to pay data roaming rates, the best deal is to buy a Vodafone SIM and put it in your unlocked GSM phone, buy some credit and then purchase the Blox (a Pre-paid package/plan) that is suitable http://www.vodafone.nl/engl...

However the €9.95 data deal has an AUP which you can easily exceed (250MB for the month), so you could also go with the Blox that is not listed on the English page known as Smartphone Blox which gives you 1GB for the month.

The phone retailer should be able to help with getting the credit on the phone and then activating the right Blox. A good store to help is BelCompany.

Have a good time with Koninginnedag (Queen's day) whilst you are there.

Re: Mobile TV – Get Over It

Ian D. Nock — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 07:27:13 -0000

The proof will be in the pudding as we say in the UK - when someone, anyone, actually manages to launch and keep running a mobile service that receives sufficient revenue to make it a going concern and have organic growth. There is always someone who wants something, the key is making it more than a technical demonstration and make it a real product that has that organic growth. I have not seen any in Europe or the US that has actually done this. I look forward to being proved wrong as that would mean that business is actually being done, but I more than doubt it.

Re: Mobile TV – Get Over It

Ian D. Nock — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 10:23:35 -0000

All the study and analysis of why it will work ignores the fact that outside of some limited success in Korea, almost all other deployments have failed to be adopted by consumers. Theory is all very well but I believe we have enough empirical evidence today to show that mobile TV is not wanted. Mobile video is another thing, as there is evidence that it is reaching consumer acceptance but interestingly consumed within the home and not when out of the household.

Re: Virgin Media TiVo experience is similar to the Premiere in all the wrong ways

Ian D. Nock — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 05:20:38 -0000

It is just a DVR... the rest of the market has caught up, and you can get features and functionality like this elsewhere - at least at a level that satisfies or exceeds expectations of customers. However it is the non-DVR functionality that holds promise that requires the activation of apps and OTT content to really show how it can be more than any old DVR. In fact, everyone in the market should be running full speed at getting the 'open' garden (not walled) up and running and alive with innovation.

Re: The Underestimated Over-The-Top Device: The PC | paidContent

Ian D. Nock — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 16:28:34 -0000

This is a hangover from the degree of variance in technologies for online video and the rank silliness of blocking devices such as we have seen with Boxee and Google. No one (apart from Rupert Murdoch with The Daily!) blocks PCs. Also if someone did, they offer the greatest flexibility to work around the issue for the consumer, just as the PC offers flexibility for dealing with the content container/codec stew that is the Internet today. Give it H.264 with Fairplay - PC can play it, Andoid Tablet cannot. Give it WMV - PC can play it, iPhone/iPad cannot.

There is also the simple truth that ALMOST EVERYONE has a PC, and it only seems like everyone has an iPad :-)

Re: HP EliteBook 8460p Can Get Up to 32 Hours of Battery Life with Some Tweaking - ThinkMobile

Ian D. Nock — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 13:15:36 -0000

It sounds weird but 32 hours is too much... I find that the 8 to 10 hours on my '12 hour' Asus UL30 is great enough that I never have to worry about running out of battery, although I do worry about the wear on the battery from recharge cycles. This seems to have only specialist use...

Re: HP EliteBook 8460p Can Get Up to 32 Hours of Battery Life with Some Tweaking - SocialTimes.com

Ian D. Nock — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 13:15:36 -0000

Re: On the road again: 3UK is rocking my world

Ian D. Nock — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 19:33:01 -0000

I am looking forward to spending some time in France later this year, and have been checking out 3G Prepaid/PAYG deals on Orange.fr - they look quite reasonable for the unlocked MiFi... Have you looked into that at all? When travelling in other European countries I make regular use of local SIMs with my MiFi

Re: What’s your definition of a netbook?

Ian D. Nock — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 19:47:15 -0000

Notebooks, netbooks, notbooks... who cares what you call them. Love the article and could not agree more. The only additional thing to say is that yes, the percentage market is shrinking with the addition of more devices into the fray from tablets to Macbook Air, but I feel that a new market has been created that is truly desired - ultramobile devices that cost less than $600, but which has also dragged down the cost of the 'standard' devices and made all these things more competitive. The overall market has increased in real terms.

Also let us be honest - the performance of the laptop has not changed much, only the features have improved significantly - small size, good resolution, long battery life (as you said) and low weight. That has only come about because of the introduction of the netbook, otherwise we would still be paying a fortune for all those features still.

Re: Connected TVs won't Replace PCs for Social Networking, Social TV a Two-Screen Experience

Ian D. Nock — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 06:51:31 -0000

I don't believe anything will replace anything else with regard to video either. What is developing is a cloud-like (apologies for use of that word) scenario where we have services accessible from anywhere and multiple access devices that can provide the same or sometimes different (read enhanced) level of access to that service. So Facebook accessible full service on the laptop or tablet, with mobile features enhanced on the mobile smartphone, with minor mobile access on a feature phone and then with access on the big connected TV screen for sharing recommendations for example. In fact you could use any single one access device and the decision is all down to the consumer. We just need to make that cloud that the service lives in and the access device connects to whether it is phone, laptop or TV. The same should be read for video or any other services and not just the social networking.