“Unlimited” is limited, but “truly unlimited” isn’t. Got it?

Wednesday, October 5th, 2011

We’ve long known the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) takes a rather liberal view of dictionary definitions, but an adjudication against T-Mobile this morning at last provides clarity over exactly how our fearless advertising watchdog defines the term “unlimited”.

T-Mobile was sent to the headmaster’s office for describing its smartphone data contracts as “truly unlimited”, even though it barred services such as tethering, VoIP and P2P.

That was beyond the pale, according to the advertising overlord, which delivered the following guidance in its adjudication:

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Google takes Chromebooks to the high street

Monday, October 3rd, 2011

As you may have heard, Google has its first shop-floor presence — not in California as you’d expect, but around the corner from PC Pro, inside PC World on Tottenham Court Road in London.

So this morning I wandered over to take a look and take some photos. Obtaining permission for this latter task from this particular branch of the PC World empire proved a challenge, but that left me lots of time to eavesdrop on customers trying out the web-only machines.

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Has Ballmer lost the dressing room?

Wednesday, September 28th, 2011

There are six words a football manager never wants to read about himself in a newspaper: “he has lost the dressing room”. Reports of mutiny in the ranks are almost inevitably followed days later with another six-word epitaph: “spending more time with his family”.

Will Steve Ballmer’s three kids soon have more quality time to spend with their dad? Judging by the reaction to last week’s annual employees’ meeting at Microsoft, it’s looking increasingly likely.

The influential Mini-Microsoft blog posts a largely upbeat account of last week’s gathering. Yes, people were reported to be “streaming out” of the hall before the event had finished, although only in “small numbers”, and as the blog points out, it was “nowhere near as bad as BillG’s last company meeting where Ballmer started screaming at people to sit down”.

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Is this the first sign of a touchscreen Chromebook?

Monday, September 26th, 2011

Those of you on the beta channel of Google Chrome may have noticed the new-look homescreen on version 15 of the browser. Gone is the single page containing your most-visited websites, apps and bookmarks. In its place comes a tabbed-based homepage that allows you to flick between the various options.

One thing is immediately obvious from this revamped design: Google is designing for touchscreens. Look at those large finger-friendly icons for the bookmarks — which aren’t entirely dissimilar to the bookmarks in the early betas of Internet Explorer 10 on Windows 8.

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Bartz wasn’t fired because she’s a woman

Friday, September 9th, 2011

When Carol Bartz was unceremoniously fired from Yahoo earlier this week, one thought popped into my head: please, don’t let people say it’s because she’s a woman.

Thanks at least in part to the intriguing details surrounding her departure — being fired over the phone, returning fire with some very unpolite four-letter words — the issue of her gender has been, thankfully, a non-issue.

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Apple vs Google: the clash of the cowards

Thursday, September 8th, 2011

Google’s motto may be “don’t be evil” — but when it comes to confronting Apple, it seems “see no evil” is the rule.

For while Apple has been unleashing a patent war against manufacturers of Android devices such as HTC and Samsung, Google has – publicly at least – turned a blind eye, appearing less keen to rock the boat than the captain of the QE2.

Apple has hardly qualified for the George Cross either, picking its fights with licensees rather than Google itself, even though many of the disputed patents appear to relate directly to Android.

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The rock and a hard place of Britain’s broadband network

Tuesday, August 30th, 2011

Put yourself in the shoes of Broadband Delivery UK – the Government body charged with making Britain’s internet network go whoosh. Well, more pffft when you consider the pathetically lowly target of universal 2Mbits/sec connections by 2015.

You’ve got only £362 million of funding to kickstart fibre broadband projects, which in relative terms is like walking into a Porsche showroom with £1,000 in cash and hoping to drive away in a new 911.

You’ve essentially got two choices: hand that money to the big boys such as BT and Virgin Media (via local councils) in the hope that it will prompt them to extend their fibre footprint to areas that wouldn’t otherwise stack up financially; or, pump the cash into a local fibre project.

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What’s next for Apple after Steve Jobs?

Thursday, August 25th, 2011

The news that Steve Jobs has resigned the position of CEO and that Tim Cook, the long term COO, is taking over the position, should come as no surprise to anyone following both Apple and Jobs. Steve Jobs has been battling cancer for many years. That he remained in the position of CEO for so long shows his love of the work, and the company he both built and then rebuilt upon his return in the 90s.

Although he doesn’t mention his health in his resignation letter, it’s the only possible reading of the first paragraph: “I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.”

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Six stupid things said about Steve Jobs

Thursday, August 25th, 2011

Steve Jobs has — as you’ve heard, no doubt — stepped down as CEO of Apple. He hasn’t retired; he’s now chairman of the board. And, despite many publications clearly running their pre-prepared obituaries as “profiles”, he hasn’t died.

His departure as CEO is clearly big news, the end of an era, and, given that it’s inevitably down to his poor health, quite sad. No matter what you think of Apple, its products and how it operates, Jobs at the head of that company was a powerful combination.

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Why HP is giving up PCs, in picture form

Friday, August 19th, 2011

There are surely a host of reasons behind HP’s decision to ditch making consumer products (aside from printers) in favour of business services and software. However, I’m not going to pretend to be in Leo Apotheker’s mind — he’s German, after all (don’t get offended; my mother’s German, and I don’t get her sometimes either).

The decision took many by surprise, not least because HP is the biggest maker of PCs in the world: if it can’t survive in the computer market, where does that leave other companies? Is this the death of the PC? (Personally, I don’t think so, but working for the UK’s finest PC magazine probably means I’m a little bit biased.)

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