Category Archives: Uncategorized

Off Topic – Heatwave continues in UK but Tsunami predicted in Cornwall

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The UK is in the middle of a Heatwave. Others might call this summer. However, experts have been looking at extreme weather forecasting.

It has now been predicted, that if a repeat of a disaster like the Great Lisbon shake of 1755 occurred again, it could lay waste to the coast of Britain and outlying islands.

Experts believe such an event would send a 10ft wave of water powering towards the UK.

The tsunami would swamp the tip of Cornwall within a few hours, leaving much of the coast underwater and wiping the Scilly Isles off the map.

Luckily, I live in one of the highest places in England.

Samsung is really trying hard to alienate its users with the new S4 Advanced

Android, Tech News, Uncategorized

Samsung has announced the new Galaxy S4 that has an ultra-fast Snapdragon 800 processor and radios for LTE Advanced networks. Hang on, Samsung has only just released the S4 and offered it with two different processors, a quad core snapdragron 600 and it’s own 8 core chip, but that didn’t have support apparently for LTE frequencies. Actually, Samsung was having issues with its own processor, hence why it used the snapdragron which did support the LTE bands.

So now it releases the S4 with a new processor that can handle all the frequencies and is slightly faster than the snapdragron 600. And guess what the 800 chip should help alleviate the lag on the S4. Samsung response to angry Korean customers is “most people won’t notice the difference”. My take is Samsung is being totally ignorant to its customers and ripping them off.

Mind you this attitude is nothing new as when the S4 was released it only has 9gb free memory and only after a consumer backlash did it decide to provide a half solution allowing apps to be moved to the memory card. I say half solution as only the app could be moved and not the app data. Also, internal memory is faster and more reliable.

I wonder how much longer Samsung can continue this way before consumers get fed up and buy other brands.

Nokia EOS 41mp Pureview Camera

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Is the image below the new Nokia EOS 41 mp smartphone? Looks very similar to the Nokia Lumia 920 but how will it compete against the Samsung S4 Zoom which is meant to be a 16mp camera phone but with an optical zoom.

With the advent of these new super cameras on phones the need for a DSLR is rapidly becoming less and less.

Would you buy a separate camera, or are you happy with the results on your smartphone camera? And would you want a phone with such a bulge?

20130606-043753.jpg Image – Vizileaks

Off Topic – Fascinating view of Massive new Underground Railroad

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tunnel2
The above diagram displays the East Side Access project, New York’s newest railroad will connect the Long Island Railroad to Grand Central Terminal. And the tunnel beneath the East River, which will connect the entire system, was started back in 1969.
tunnel1
Images courtesy of Wired

The project is a massive feat of engineering. 1,500-foot-long twin caverns that must be carved out beneath Grand Central, then there is the process of actually freezing the earth above so traffic overhead wouldn’t come toppling down and rerouting and fixing cable and wire as they go so that the trains above don’t come to a crashing halt.

The project is due to finish in 2019, and I look forward to seeing the completed project.

Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini revealed in all its glory

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s4mini

The specifications are –

1.7 GHz dual-core processor, Android 4.2.2, GPS, GLONASS, WiFi, 8GB internal memory (expandable up to 64 with micro sd slot for media), and 1.5GB of RAM. The display is a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED qHD affair, which will be kept going by a 1,900 mAh battery, rear 8mp camera and 2.1mp front camera. LTE is included and two versions will be available, single and dual-SIM dependant on region.

It is good to see that it still has the IR blaster, but 8mp of internal memory. This is just an insult as I doubt we will see that much more than 5gb free.

Bank Holiday updates

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This weekend through to Monday is a Bank Holiday in the UK. I will be taking it easy, feet up, chilling with a beer and barbecue, well that is so long as no more snow falls and it doesn’t rain.

So after tonight, expect fewer posts until Tuesday. And then it goes up a gear as next week will be review week, with a review Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

When a Game gets pirated, this is what one company did!

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Greenhart Games released Game Dev Tycoon but at the same time did something unusual.

The developers released their own cracked version on the torrents. The cracked version was able to track statistics and it also after been played for a while came up with the following message.

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But what’s even more depressing is the usage stats after 24 hours.

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With this level of piracy is it worth even developing games? Do you have any solutions?