Disqus - Latest Comments for dsample

Re: Google Chat prepares to migrate regular users from Hangouts with Consumer Beta

dsample — Sun, 14 Feb 2021 18:33:11 -0000

I'm dreading this. I've used it since it was Google Talk, and having tried Allo, Duo, and Messages, Hangouts beats them all, even with the current cut down feature set.

Let's look at what Hanford used to be able to do... Hangouts had Google Voice integrated, so no need for a dedicated app. Hangouts could be the default SMS app (and could have had RCS built into it just like Google Voice), so no need for Messages. Hangouts had video conferencing integrated, so no need for a dedicated app like Meet.

I can see the point of splitting out Meet (although no need to remove the calling feature from Hangouts), but the fact they're replacing the messaging part with multiple other apps just for the sake of it is ridiculous.

Re: Brodit ProClip Centre Mount For Volvo C30 07-12

dsample — Sun, 27 Apr 2014 13:00:58 -0000

This is, according to Brodit, compatible with far more cars than just the C30:

Item no 653360 fits:
Volvo C30 07-14 (For all countries)
Volvo C70 06-14 (England)
Volvo S40 04-12 (For all countries)
Volvo V50 04-12 (For all countries)

Re: Nest officially coming to the UK

dsample — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 19:39:48 -0000

As a home automation and user experience geek I really want one of these, but I'm also sceptical about its usefulness (with its current feature set) for UK homes. I really hope they're thinking about how they should integrate into British houses, as our homes are quite different in terms of heating/cooling requirements and abilities.

For instance, in the USA, houses have cooling as well as heating, so there's a year-round utility for a device like this, but in the UK we only have heating (in the majority of homes), so our central heating spend a lot of the year doing nothing (at least mine does), which makes something like this a little pricy.

Also, to be able to do zoning using a normal central heating system, the radiator thermostats would have to be the things to be changed to automated versions, not just the central thermostat. I've been investigating Z-Wave and lately LightwaveRF approaches, but I'm yet to commit to one (although I have some Z-Wave modules already) for a whole-house project.

Re: Google Nexus 7 leaked dates for takeoff in UK & Canada

dsample — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 05:56:48 -0000

Currys, Dixons and PC World are all the same company, so that's not surprising.

Re: foursquare is joining the OpenStreetMap movement! Say hi to pretty new maps!

dsample — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 18:27:32 -0000

I've been looking at OSM tile providers for my latest project, so I'd be interested in hearing if there were any particular reasons Foursquare chose MapBox over someone like CloudMade who is probably one the strongest promoters of OSM.

I've picked up Leaflet a couple of weeks ago and it's an incredible library with a lot of potential, so it would appreciated to hear how the tile providers stack up.

Re: foursquare is joining the OpenStreetMap movement! Say hi to pretty new maps!

dsample — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 18:20:36 -0000

Didn't occur to me until you mentioned it, but that's brilliant! If Foursquare would provide the POI layers they have back to OSM that would make the whole map community that they now rely on even better quality, which in turn would of course make more people interested in mapping it, so it would be a symbiotic relationship.

Re: 32GB Version of The GSM Galaxy Nexus Cancelled? Online Retailer Says Yes

dsample — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 06:12:44 -0000

I've been waiting for the 32GB version, since it hasn't got a microSD slot I wanted as much storage as I could for the price of an unlocked device. I still find the idea of not including a microSD slot ridiculous.

With the latest rumour I heard from TWiT, that there might be a revamped Galaxy Nexus with a better camera and graphics, that's another reason why I've delayed getting one. I haven't seen any more info about that rumour, but if there's any possibility of it being trueI'm still using a Nexus One, and have constant "low-space" warning for internal storage and an almost-full memory card too. I'd love to get the Galaxy Nexus, but I must admit the Galaxy Note is becoming more appealing by the day.

I'm in the UK, and have the same feeling about a 16GB device as @ZEDTHEGREAT, usage of music and/or video on such a limited-storage device is next-to-zero, especially for an HD resolution display. Even with access to some streamed content, I still have Listen downloading 10-20 podcasts weekly, and would love to get the video version rather than just audio if possible, but there's no chance with only 16GB. Oh, and I roam a lot, so use of data for streaming all the time isn't even feasible.

Re: Scan URL QR-Code Generated By Mobile Barcoder Addon For Firefox/Chrome

dsample — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 07:37:36 -0000

The reason for me making the extension (and this was quite a long time ago) was to produce a low-barrier transition mechanism from desktops to mobile devices, for things you wouldn't want to type directly into the mobile device, for example when the URL is too long (and avoiding using URL shorteners), or when a webpage doesn't have the mobile URL as a link from the page, eg. application download links that appear as text on the page.

It's also been useful for people who want to share a link with someone else that's nearby, for example in schools or conference demos, showing on a projector, and in smaller groups, rather than having to install and authorise 'Chrome to Phone' or some other bluetooth-based solution.

Personally I use it when I'm reading something on my main computer, and have to leave to go somewhere but want to keep on reading, it's very quick to 'zap and go'

Re: Why shred, when you can make paper bricks? (Shallow Thoughts)

dsample — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 19:10:00 -0000

Question... does it work with cardboard, like the packaging you get from amazon with DVDs or books? I find those more annoying to tear up in order to remove address information, either buy cutting them or attempting to peal the label off, so it'd be great it this technique works for them too. I guess it's not worth trying with jiffy bags as you'd have to fish the plastic parts our of the soup.

Re: Google+ Hierarchical Circles Proposal

dsample — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 03:54:34 -0000

I had a similar idea that I called Orbits. The idea would be to put circles into groups and the further away the orbit became from 'You' the visibility in your stream would decrease. I blogged about it, www.sample.me.uk/blog/post/...

Re: Scan URL QR-Code Generated By Mobile Barcoder Addon For Firefox/Chrome

dsample — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 04:12:43 -0000

This made my day! Thanks very much for the wonderful screencast of my extension. I love seeing what people do with it, and seeing people are happy with it is great. This is precisely why I made it, so that no matter what phone you're using you can continue reading articles while you walk away from your computer. The Chrome extension isn't great yet, but I plan to make additions to it so it's equivalent in features.

Re: Breaking: New Nokia CEO Stephen Elop takes to the stage

dsample — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 17:56:24 -0000

The comments I've heard so far from his interviews it seems like his agenda will be a step in the right direction. Not to say bad things about OPK, but I believe this to be the right step to show Nokia's willing to take up the challenge to re-earn the perceived top spot (even if the numbers say they're still #1).

It does sadden me to see the leader of the battle cry, Anssi Vanjoki leave after being overlooked for CEO position, after such a passionate statement of intentions. I admire him though, for still being so passionate in his Nokia World speech and not letting the issue cast a cloud over his presentation.

Re: Dell Streak goes Android 2.1

dsample — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 05:11:04 -0000

2.2 will certainly be a good thing for it, but you have to wonder how long the one-version-behind approach is going to last... have they said anything about Gingerbread or even Honeycomb?

Re: James Whatley: TV star & Roaming Guru

dsample — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 10:29:42 -0000

A good site I use when travelling is the Prepaid Wireless Internet Access wiki ( http://prepaid-wireless-int... ). It shows information on local prepaid SIM details which have special data tariffs. Some countries are particularly good value, for instance Finland's Saunalahti offer 6.90€ for a week of unlimited HSDPA traffic (I usually get about 2.5Mbps), while others are fairly different to get hold of (in Sweden and Norway you need to be a resident)

Re: Symbian-Guru.com Is Over

dsample — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 10:01:15 -0000

I must admit, that's an impressively long post, and I didn't have time to read it all right now, but what I did read rang some bells for me too. I wrote a post on my blog about trying to choose my next phone, and I ended up choosing a Nexus One too. I wish I could have chosen a Nokia phone, but for me the apps are a big thing, and I wasn't going to go for an iPhone, no matter what happened.

Having owned my Nexus One for about a month and a half now, I've already released one app in a couple of evenings (with over 400 downloads in a couple of weeks), and have a few more ideas I'm exploring. Every time I think about what I'm doing in relation to Nokia I get a little tear in my eye, but I can't find a way, however hard I try, to go back to a Symbian-based phone.

I'm looking forward to trying a MeeGo device, but even then it seems like non-Nokia devices are being seen earlier than Nokia phones. I don't have experience of poor hardware builds like you've described, and I'd just love Nokia to release some Android devices, for me that would be a reason for me to ditch this HTC thing and pick up my Nokia fanboi hat again.

Re: Audible private beta for Android

dsample — Mon, 31 May 2010 17:34:50 -0000

One feature I've been wondering a lot about (a must-have feature for me and my girlfriend)... Does the application have a sleep timer? I really hope it does, and the nice twist on it that the imaginatively named app "Audiobook player" has is a sleep timer that gets reset every time you shake the phone, and when it's getting close it starts vibrating so you know to shake it.

Re: Nokia’s commitment to conversation

dsample — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 06:37:22 -0000

I agree that listening is a key feature, and I definitely feel that selling should be the last thing on your agenda if you want truely want to engage with your 'audience'. Selling will take care of itself without you pushing it into the conversation, as long as the HEL parts are covered well. I don't quite understand the meaning of 'participate' though, listening, helping, enabling are all forms of participation, so I don't think it needs it's own point.

I would change the acronym to HEELS, Help, Enable, Engage, Listen and Sell. Engagement is an important part of making people feel like they belong to a vibrant community where the centrepiece (in this case, Nokia) is not just the object of desire but is part of the community as an equal.

Something I've noticed with the Nokia community is that we all seem to be passionate about helping Nokia succeed, and not many companies have managed to create such a welcoming community.

Re: Palm Pre launch party [There ain't no party like an O2 party... Hey... Ho... etc]

dsample — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 05:12:32 -0000

Sorry, obviously my morning blindness/dyslexia... read that as 'better than' rather than 'bettered by'.

Re: Palm Pre launch party [There ain't no party like an O2 party... Hey... Ho... etc]

dsample — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 04:40:47 -0000

"Both are still bettered by the N86 and the Satio"

You can tell Ben wrote this one :o)

C'mon, you can't say this one taken by the N86 is worse than the one taken with the Pre or an iPhone:
http://www.flickr.com/photo...

Re: SpinVox: Demo Day

dsample — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 03:02:13 -0000

ok, so the issue is the investments that have been made. Is it really a valid case though, to bring the world's media into an issue between inverters and the subject of the investment? Surely they should have done their research of the technology themselves rather than getting the BBC to try and piece it together? Afterall, they should be able to open more doors, since they own part of the company/technology.

Re: SpinVox: Demo Day

dsample — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 17:17:27 -0000

Great article, very clear.

I just don't see what all the fuss is about. If I call my bank, they have call centres around the world and they have access to far more private data than the content of a voicemail message.

Yes it's marketed as a highly-autonomous service, but they don't specifically say they don't use humans, and if I actually used the service (I don't get enough voicemails to warrant it) I wouldn't care *how* it was done, as long as that '97% accuracy' was somewhat true of the service as a whole. Jott and others don't say they use humans for all the transcribing in their marketing either.

I'd be interested in your opinions of the other transcription services as something to compare SpinVox against, more about the privacy/security of those alternatives than the quality.

Re: Marketplace: UK aggregator and barcode service provider required for travel company

dsample — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 08:45:50 -0000

I'd certainly be interested in getting more information. I'm a fairly good advocate for the use of 2D barcodes (having made the Mobile Barcoder Firefox add-on), so It'd be great to see what they're thinking about.

Re: Nokia N97: The Definitive Verdict (maybe)

dsample — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 10:57:12 -0000

Brilliant, love the conflict. James definitely won the argument though. I've got an E71, but definitely want an N97 if I can blag my boss to get me one.

The widgets are genius. I'm making a widget that will work on my E71 as well as the 5800/N97 I wish I had, and it's pretty darn simple and is such a powerful part of the standby screen.

Re: The launch of the Land Rover S1 by Sonim

dsample — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 12:11:55 -0000

The design of the phone looks very similar to the Nokia 5140, which passed numerous tests on The Gadget Show a few years ago. Are Land Rover actually developing the phone in-house, or is it a partnership with a handset manufacturer?

Re: AudioBoo(s): Wrapping Up MobAdUK

dsample — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 06:58:16 -0000

Peggy's interview cuts off at 5minutes... Just as she was going to go into a 'very interesting point' :o)