Disqus - Latest Comments for billbennett

Re: Live 11.2 public beta: AUv3 support for plug-ins across iOS and Mac, refreshed Reverb, more

billbennett — Thu, 02 Jun 2022 03:49:06 -0000

"...with compatibility across iOS and macOS."

For a minute I interpreted this story as meaning there was a version of Live for the iPad Pro... Dreams eh?

Re: Year in Review: Sarah Munnik, Pead PR

billbennett — Sun, 12 Jan 2020 16:10:17 -0000

"The biggest PR mistake people will continue to make is being average and afraid to actually have an opinion."

As a journalist I agree with this, too much PR, the written material and the events are average, even bland. I really don't want to hear a client is a "world leader in whatever" or have another tech launch that looks like a fashion event.

And as for PR people opinions... bring 'em on. Just make sure they are authentic.

Re: Novel writer Matt Gemmell about note-taking and...

billbennett — Thu, 31 Aug 2017 17:41:07 -0000

It's always good to hear what others are doing with the technology. Are there any journalists using Good Notes? Anyone using it for shorthand notes?

Re: Samsung Galaxy Note 8 launch

billbennett — Mon, 28 Aug 2017 21:07:15 -0000

I know there would be some stylus users here on Geekzone. It's not a bad idea/ I've used stylus phones in the past myself, but active stylus users appear to be only a fraction of Note owners. I'd be interested to know if there's any research on this.

Re: Fact-checking Southern Cross Next cable is fastest to USA

billbennett — Tue, 22 Aug 2017 21:44:07 -0000

Damn... I think the m was stripped out somewhere because it's in the original Markdown document.

Re: Why New Zealand outplayed Australia on the NBNÂ

billbennett — Sun, 06 Aug 2017 22:15:36 -0000

1. I've written extensively about this in the past. It doesn't need regurgitating every time. But see 4.

2. That investment was huge, around the same time Australia's two biggest telcos were building HFC networks, you could argue the same logic applies.

3. "The existing and significant work already completed by Northpower to prepare their main cities for fibre"

Cities? Are you even in New Zealand? Northpower accounts for about 2 percent of the UFB1 build, Whangarei is the only city it covers and it's not a big one, not even by NZ standards. Whangarei was about half built at the time the UFB1 contracts were awarded, that would be, at best, 1 percent of the entire project.

4. Yes. That was deliberate and amounts to the same point as 1. Without government intervention we'd still be on ADSL. The government intervention in New Zealand is nothing like on the scale in Australia. What's more, the industry is fast moving beyond the regulated prices, many, perhaps the majority of new sign-ups are for unregulated speeds.

"UFB has been built on the back of a significant and expensive intervention".

Well yes and no. The $1.5 billion from government was a soft loan. In effect the cost of the project to the taxpayer will be close to zero. Compare that with the A$42 billion initial NBN budget and whatever it is the likely cost will be now (more than $42 billion) for a much inferior network. It has been expensive for Chorus, Northpower, Enable and UFF shareholders, but that's a calculated business investment with a clear pay-off.

Re: New Zealanders naïve about wi-fi safety: Symantec

billbennett — Sun, 06 Aug 2017 03:53:52 -0000

That's actually an extremely good question. I answered much the same question on my site, this way:

Crooks may not be able to snoop on a specific HTTPS bank transaction, but if the wi-fi hotspot is insecure crooks can access other information. They also know which bank you connected to. Couple that with an ability to read you other messages and watch your other activity. They will be able to learn other things about you. That is an insecurity right there.

This, on its own, can be enough. However, there are forms of attack that can look like your legitimate bank site and even look like you’re connecting via HTTPS, look up sslstrip for an example of how this can work. It may have what seems to be exactly the URL you're expecting, but one of the characters might come from elsewhere in the character set.

There are other cunning ways a compromised honeypot Wifi hotspot can rob you or attempt man-in-the-middle attacks. It's possible to watch a PC for automated connections and respond as the destination site.

Sure, we're talking about sophisticated attacks and most criminals target the lowest hanging fruit, but all of these are possible and, I'm told*, have been attempted in New Zealand. * I should point out the people who told me this work for security companies, so they have an interest in keeping paranoia levels high, but I'm certain they are not making this stuff up.

Re: IDC thinks ANZ is a nation

billbennett — Tue, 01 Aug 2017 01:48:22 -0000

IDC hasn't always been bad and isn't always bad now. Its business used to be collecting numbers, it was always good at that, but when it comes to deeper insight, there are, let us say, some weak spots.

Re: IDC thinks ANZ is a nation

billbennett — Mon, 31 Jul 2017 21:32:04 -0000

That is terrifying.

Re: The IndieWeb Movement Will Help People Control Their Own Web Presence?

billbennett — Tue, 18 Jul 2017 15:39:46 -0000

That's fair.

It was when I looked at Disqus or my site that I started on a journey that lead me to Indieweb scene.

Re: Still living in a Notification hell – Om Malik

billbennett — Tue, 18 Jul 2017 00:50:28 -0000

Yes, it's all about being in control of your own devices.

Re: The IndieWeb Movement Will Help People Control Their Own Web Presence?

billbennett — Mon, 17 Jul 2017 20:36:07 -0000

Hi Matthew, Is Disqus the best way of pushing this agenda forward? It looks to me like a close, or semi-closed proprietary system. I'm happy to be proved wrong about that.

Re: iPad: the almost device

billbennett — Mon, 17 Jul 2017 02:22:45 -0000

That's interesting. Since my earlier comment, I've taken to using the recent iPad Pro for more and more of my work. It can do almost everything. My main gripe is responsive web sites and things like Google apps.

Most responsive websites work fine, but every so often there's a form I can't fill or a button my iPad can't press.

The Google sites can be among the worst. What's even more annoying is the constant nagging to download the iOS app. If Google can't get a web page to work, what makes me think it can get an app (which often uses much the same technology) to work.

Re: Whatever ailed Vodafone broadband … seems to be fixed

billbennett — Wed, 28 Jun 2017 02:29:52 -0000

False, or over optimistic. I'm not sure if Vodafone is able to deliver the promised performance. In theory it could reduce the congestion.

Re: Whatever ailed Vodafone broadband … seems to be fixed

billbennett — Wed, 28 Jun 2017 01:43:50 -0000

Gpon shares bandwidth. On UFB there is so much more bandwidth, and usually just 16 users on any fibre split, so in practice there is no contention. There is on HFC.

Re: Whatever ailed Vodafone broadband … seems to be fixed

billbennett — Tue, 27 Jun 2017 21:32:59 -0000

In a sense the Vodafone HFC network is just supercharged copper. In simple terms it can, in theory, reach gigabit speeds, but you have to share it with everyone else on the same segment.

Re: Whatever ailed Vodafone broadband … seems to be fixed

billbennett — Mon, 26 Jun 2017 22:13:03 -0000

That's because FIbreX is not fibre. It's a different product entirely.

Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab S3: Best Android tablet

billbennett — Fri, 23 Jun 2017 04:00:57 -0000

"it does everything I need" is all that matters.

Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab S3: Best Android tablet

billbennett — Fri, 23 Jun 2017 03:25:27 -0000

Well that is an issue. This is Geekzone, so by definition readers are more technical. And more inclined to tinker. For almost everyone else, the iPad makes more sense than an Android tablet. But then so do Windows tablets. I'd like to see Samsung put Windows in something like the Galaxy Tab S3, that might exciting.

Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab S3: Best Android tablet

billbennett — Fri, 23 Jun 2017 03:00:17 -0000

Are you saying the Samsung is a better investment?

Re: Review: Sony MDR-1000X noise-cancelling headphones

billbennett — Sun, 11 Jun 2017 20:32:13 -0000

That price is a steal. I notice they are back to $700 now. I'd drive to JB now if they were still $380.

Re: Smart watch: The revolution that didn’t happen

billbennett — Sun, 11 Jun 2017 20:29:04 -0000

I find Bill's attitude to anyone who wears a smart watch very insulting when he says "few sensible people do wear smart watches".

That's fair criticism.

Of course some people find value in smart watches.

Whether buying a smart watch is sensible or otherwise is not important. What matters is that the promised revolution didn't happen.

Re: Review: Sony MDR-1000X noise-cancelling headphones

billbennett — Sun, 11 Jun 2017 19:58:02 -0000

It's not the airlines that ban laptops (or maybe phones soon), it's governments. The airlines did ban Samsung's exploding Note 7, but there was some logic in that decision

Re: Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus review: Beautiful, feature-packed

billbennett — Thu, 18 May 2017 18:05:13 -0000

For the review I measured the screen at 152mm. I don't have a ruler with inches. Covert 152mm and you get 6 inches. My review notes are unclear at this point, but I guess I pulled the 5.8 inch number in the table from Samsung's documentation supplied with the review phone. It's an error. I can't change it on Geekzone, I can change it on my site.

Re: After ten years of mail pain Spark is done with Yahoo

billbennett — Tue, 16 May 2017 23:22:01 -0000

Maybe. There were a handful of Xtra accounts in this house that we transferred even though they don't get used.