Disqus - Latest Comments for rvanderblom

Re: We need BYTE

Robbie van der Blom — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 02:09:29 -0000

I fully agree, loved Byte, if help is needed, i'm more than willing to assist.

Re: So That iPad Tablet Design Was Just Obvious, Eh?

Robbie van der Blom — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 15:17:08 -0000

I remember working somewhere in 2002 with those tablet pc's of hp, which when the screen was turned around just looked the same. The choosen tablets are all tablets for tougher environments and ruggidized, hardly the same league. If you look at the HP tablets of that time in their tablet form they just look like ipads...

Re: Galaxy S Skin Flexible AMOLED Screen Concept Revealed

Robbie van der Blom — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 16:04:42 -0000

Make it and I'll buy it

Re: Scripting News: Tomorrow: Rent a bike in Amsterdam

Robbie van der Blom — Sun, 01 May 2011 16:40:49 -0000

Amsterdammers is the right one :)

I've never rented a bike, but for Amsterdam a plain bike should just do there's not a lot of height differences in the city or the vicinity of Amsterdam. Tomorrow will be another windy day, keep that in mind if you leave the city, it's fun if you've got it in the back, but it's a lot less fun when it's in you're face.

http://www.iamsterdam.com/e... This site should be able to help you out.

There's a lot of routes available including trips through the Amsterdam Harbour etc. from the tourist offices and I would guess the bike rental shops.

Re: Scripting News: Plans of mice and men

Robbie van der Blom — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 16:35:37 -0000

I don't know about the wifi issue, but did you specifically allow the phone to go data roaming via:
mine is in Dutch, but I'll give it a go

Settings - Wireless and Networking - mobile and ensure that data is on and roaming

check the settings of the APN (i'm not familiar with maxroam, but I guess they should have let you set an APN.

Re: Scripting News: Lots of catching up to do

Robbie van der Blom — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 12:52:44 -0000

Depends how you qualify a complete mess ;) it will be very crowded you can be sure off, but the mess is mostly after 20:00 o'clock in the evening.

Room's can be taken care off if necessary that won't be big problem if I'm correct we will have a spare room though that's in the vicinitiy of Amsterdam.

Without having to travel much the best would either be between Amsterdam and Utrecht, or Amsterdam and Haarlem depending what you prefer.

I'll enjoy showing you around ;) and as most dutch, we've got enough bikes for traveling around ;)

Re: Scripting News: Lots of catching up to do

Robbie van der Blom — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 11:45:44 -0000

I would recommend to stay in the Netherlands till after Queensday (30th of April), It will orangify you're life ;). Or just try biking around, I'm sure you'll enjoy it, especially on the country side ;) But that's just my take.

Re: Apple spent nearly $5.7b on Samsung parts in 2010, faces 'strong' response to its patent suit

Robbie van der Blom — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 06:15:47 -0000

The problem could be that when they defend these patents, which in most cases it probably is possible to find previous occurrences that they are declared obsolete.

Let's face it, Apple has created a wonderfull telephone, but primarily by combining assets that were already available including a screen full of icons (most of the palm devices already had this), the rounded design on phones including the large screen estate was also available long before we're talking about iOS.

As they seem also to include the nexus S which has no touchwiz, which makes it even more puzzling what they are really after...

If you look at Samsung it's got a very big warchest full of patents (they are year over year in the top 10). If I would pick a patent fight i wouldn't go for those companies with a warchest full as the chances are that they can hit me with lots of lots of possible patents suits if they want to.

My take is that apple either tries to slow down the competition to provide some breathing space or that they seek a patent licensing deal with one of the large chest holders of patents....

Re: Scripting News: Second ride of 2011

Robbie van der Blom — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 02:26:35 -0000

Will you also be biking when in the Netherlands?

Re: Does anyone in Silicon Valley care about Windows anymore?

Robbie van der Blom — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 04:06:14 -0000

As far as I'm concerned it's not just windows that's become irrelevant, it's the Operating System that is not of interest anymore. Whether it's Windows, OS/X or Linux I just don't care about it. Currently I just use what is at hand without much thought about it. If I need to communicate, in most cases it's my phone i use, if I need to create documents etc. I just grab my laptop or sit behind the desktop depending on where I am.

I expect as more of my stuff is slowly moving into the cloud i won't need a laptop or pc but could just do with a tablet (I still don't use one).

Apple makes nice hardware, without a doubt, but as far as hardware is concerned I'm still more the spec kind of guy and Apple's just don't cut it for me specwise, but that's an other kind of discussion.

Re: Mobile Operating System Market Share, Feb. 2011 (Infographic)

Robbie van der Blom — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 01:32:23 -0000

Not to be picky, but it's a somewhat misleading graph, it states mobile OS market share, but it's based upon website visits. It's not the mobile OS market share. Than the figures would be different at least in Europe where Nokia still is on lots of handsets.

Re: Apple’s Big Subscription Bet: Brilliant, Brazen, Or Batsh*t Crazy?

Robbie van der Blom — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 16:44:27 -0000

I can hear the EU sables already rattling, I know of one parliament already asking questions about this.... It's also interesting to see how this is handled under law. I pay via apple, but don't get the goods, apple earned 30% on this deal... Have to sleep this one over ...

Re: Samsung, Motorola, and HP set stage for iPad 2

Robbie van der Blom — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 09:07:56 -0000

Congrats, You just made me laugh. Not providing choice is remniscent of dictaterships ;)

Re: Samsung, Motorola, and HP set stage for iPad 2

Robbie van der Blom — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 12:27:56 -0000

The nice thing is, you've got a choice, if you don't like them, ditch them. I have a preference for widgets as they provide me with the most important information.

Re: Samsung, Motorola, and HP set stage for iPad 2

Robbie van der Blom — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 16:44:19 -0000

Ah, but apps i mostly use on the phone like mail (gmail), calendar and the browser are already ready, so You're ZERO probably should be no external apps, though I even doubt that. It's the same problem Apple had when starting with the iPad and also that was solved pretty quickly, my take is that Google has thought this over.

The stuff I like about Android are it's widgets and the excellent Google integration. For most games like Angry birds, the migration towards the larger screen is moot. And don't forget one important thing, it's got flash with a load of it's games readily available.

Re: Samsung, Motorola, and HP set stage for iPad 2

Robbie van der Blom — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 15:55:38 -0000

I try to understand you're reasoning, I understand the importance of apps, but there are a lot of people out there who are now getting acquinted with Android. You can bet that these people are more inclined to choose an Android powered tablet over an iPad because they know the apps which run on that platform.

Furthermore Apple is trying to get the newspapers world wide to hand over part of the process to them. I don't care about Rupert Murdochs paper as I want one in my own language. Apple trying to get a hold on every small transaction will push a lot of publishers to the other platforms (especially if they are more willing to forego this Apple tax). Apps are nice indeed, but don't forget the value of content. I'm pretty sure flipboard will be available on other platforms, know why? Because others will else fill in this gap.

Off course it will take approximately at least one year before the Android powered tablets will approach the sales of iPad and you can guess what then will happen. It will be interesting to see how HP will end up, and whether the manufacturers will start to compete with the iPad based upon price, just as they've done with the iPhone.

Re: HP makes Google Android look even more creaky (and RIM, Nokia, Microsoft not in the game)

Robbie van der Blom — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 15:22:23 -0000

Like it, but summer is to far away as i'm concerned, it's always the same with the stuff palm creates, it looks very nice, but always delivered to late by summer the market is so crowded with tablets it happened with the pre and seems to be happening again with the tablets.

Re: NFC Gets More Flexible with \"Open NFC\" for Android

Robbie van der Blom — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 13:04:40 -0000

Sarah, I've read in a Dutch article also a response from NXP, it would be good to have done some checking. NXP has responded see this article in Dutch http://webwereld.nl/nieuws/...

Google Translate will help ;)

Re: iPhone to Android: Making the Nexus S Do Your Bidding

Robbie van der Blom — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 13:42:48 -0000

I hate to bring you the bad news, but Google also was not the first in the NFC business, Nokia has had handsets with NFC for at least 1 year.

With respect to the cable, guess what, most Android handsets just use mini USB.... If there's something i can find around in the office it's mini USB's cables.... Furthermore I expect in the near future that this whole cable discussion is mood thanks to the EU making USB mandatory on all phones..

The nice thing about kids is that they don't care about the technology or OS. Give them a phone and they will get the hang of it...

Re: Apple Aims To Take NFC Mainstream; Perhaps The Greatest Trick They’ve Ever Pulled?

Robbie van der Blom — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 04:13:12 -0000

the important point is who owns the terminal at the shops, and whether they are willing to coorperate. If you can only use the iPhone, most companies will be reluctant as it represents a minor part of the consumer in most countries.

Re: Apple Aims To Take NFC Mainstream; Perhaps The Greatest Trick They’ve Ever Pulled?

Robbie van der Blom — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 03:56:08 -0000

Just to put you out of you're dream. Though they have a nice paying system with iTunes, the current infrastructure would definately strugle to keep up with the amount of payments that would ensue.

Furthermore, if they would act like a paying provider there are some hurdless to be taken including the current providers of the infrastructure that could potentially block apple.

Re: iPhone to Android: One Month with the Nexus S

Robbie van der Blom — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 15:46:57 -0000

Sarah, what would be interesting for you to play around with on the Galaxy might be a tool like tasker. I've been using it for various stuff including turning on and off my wifi (Why use it when i'm in the car). Launching programs upon events (hooking it up to my headphones launches music app and starts playing) etc. etc. It's kind of a geeky program but when you get the hang of it, it's invaluable (I actually think phones need this to become really smart). (you could also look at locale or chronos as alternatives)

Re: If it were my newspaper I'd... (Scripting News)

Robbie van der Blom — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 09:05:01 -0000

The best thing they actually could do is ensure that whatever they choose it's an open platform and provides them with portability. In the coming years price may not be an issue, but being able to access the content across platforms may be the bigger issue.

My current newspaper allows me for 1 price to read it on paper (as they deliver to my house) or on my pc/phone with a password.

Re: Let's pick a day and all inflate our tires together (Scripting News)

Robbie van der Blom — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 09:49:59 -0000

Interestingly most cars I'm seeing overhere in Europe can now be equiped with a system which measures the tire pressure and warns you. Seems like a good thing to just mandate such a system..

Re: Why gas is so expensive (Scripting News)

Robbie van der Blom — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 09:31:20 -0000

maybe you're just catching up with the rest of the world where gas prices have been much higher than in the US....

There's one plus side to the high gas prices, people start to think about how much gas they're actually using with their car....