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Oh hindsight is a wonderful thing

3 days ago on Why HTC’s Failure is a Disaster for Google

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What are you on about?! When you release a free OS to ‘partners’ they’re not always going to have equal market share. Are you saying, for instance, that when Google released Android to 5 partners, they would all have 20% market share, no more no less? That they’d continue to be like that, with none of the original partners dying and new partners coming into replace them?

When you release an OS like that, you will have a partner that stronger than all the others. Its up to the others to compete, produced better products, and claw back market share until they’re top dog.

Its survival of the fittest essentially. And HTC was a bloody dodo.

3 days ago on Why HTC’s Failure is a Disaster for Google 1 reply

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I’m glad they’re where they are. Bought a wildfire a few years ago, and it was the worst phone I’ve ever had. My previous Sony C510 was amazing in comparison.

Pushing out inferior products like the wildfire is what’s partly got them in the mess they’re in now, and I’m glad this is where they are. Just wish they’d die quickly, and make room for new companies to break through into the marketplace.

Bye HTC, it hasn’t been fun!

3 days ago on HTC deserves it 2 replies 1 recommend

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Good. Bought a Wildfire from them years ago and it was possibly the worse phone I’ve ever had. Pushing out inferior products like that, no wonder they’re going bust.

Bye HTC, it hasn’t been fun!

3 days ago on HTC in disarray: staff departures, 'disastrous' First, and production problems cloud company's future 1 recommend

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Google Play Music matching service working fine for me in the UK – matches songs that are awful quality on my computer, like 64kbps or lower and upgraded them to 320kbps – found its matching service is second to none, even better than apples version

7 days ago on Google Play music matching 1 recommend

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Does anyone know when will 4.3 be released to Nexus owners? Does it normally take around a month after it’s announced, or can it take longer than that?

10 days ago on Android 4.3 confirmed by Google developer website 1 reply

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I would add under ‘Funding’ whether universities should accept funding from sources that are detrimental to the aim of the research. For instance, 2 weeks ago Oxford University opened a new geoscience laboratory for energy research, yet this was provided with £5.9 million of funding from Shell. Last year, BP provided £60 million worth of funding for a new energy research centre for Manchester University.

Is taking fossil fuel money for energy research ethical? Shouldn’t universities refuse funding from such companies? Oxford University refused funding from tobacco companies to fund cancer research, so where does the difference lie here?

11 days ago on Challenges for academic research

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More worried about GM than Climate Change? Why?

12 days ago on Ventus: can we crowdsource the fight against global warming? 3 recommends

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The USA produces 18.27% of the world’s CO2, and is still number one in terms of per capita emissions among the big economies with 18 tonnes emitted per person.

Where did you read the US is one of the cleanest places in the world? Wasn’t The Onion was it?

12 days ago on Ventus: can we crowdsource the fight against global warming? 5 recommends

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Still don’t see how this is better than a pen and paper…

12 days ago on Sony goes back in time to announce a 13.3-inch e-reader

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That won’t work. For instance, look at China:

In 2006, there were 90 million in the one-child generation. These children – although not just – are often spoilt, self-centred and increasingly obese. In fact, 20% of the world’s obese population live in China, and 15% of the nation’s population (184 million people) are overweight.

Coupled with a lower mortality rate, the One-Child Policy (OCP) has resulted in a rapidly ageing Chinese population – it currently has over 140 million senior citizens, roughly 10% of its population. Over 23% of the population will be over 65 years by 2020.

While the OCP has reduced China’s population by 300 million, pension coverage is available only to those employed in the government sector and large companies. As a result, 70% of elderly people depend on their children financially. This problem is nicknamed the “4:2:1” phenomenon, in which an employed grandchild is responsible for the care of both parents and four grandparents.

Furthermore, by 2050, the UNPD forecasts that Chinese workers will have a 70% greater elderly dependency burden than today, combined with a significantly lower child dependency burden. In the UNPD’s “medium” scenario, the median age of china’s population in 2050 will be forty-five years old —about 15 years higher than today’s median population age. This means that over a third of the citizens of that future China would be sixty or older.

China’s population half a century from now would be more elderly than the future populations of countries like Denmark, Finland, and Norway, despite the fact that those Scandinavian countries are already “grey” today.

A much older population, and also one that is increasingly obese and unhealthy, will result in future health costs that will cripple economic activity. China’s demographic shift to an older society will have a profound impact on the economy and investment opportunities, as there shall be huge labour shortages. Within 10 years, there will be too few young people to take care of elderly people in China resulting in a shrinking support base for elderly – in 2005, 30% of the elderly were living alone in urban areas, and that figure has since grown to 60%.

Furthermore, there shall be 30 million unmarried men in China by 2030 – history has shown that too many men in a country with no partners often leads to war.

If a OCP has caused major social and economic issues not just now, but also in the future, do you really think that a OCP worldwide is really going to solve the issue?

12 days ago on Would you eat a $325,000 test-tube burger? 1 reply

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Ultimately, this can only be a good thing.

With world population estimated to reach 9 billion by 2050, land increasingly used for other types of development and infrastructure, and the impacts of climate change become ever more severe, our modern agricultural system will not be able cope. So, it is very likely that we will have to opt for artificial meat, either from the local supermarket or fast-food restaurant, in the not-so-distant future.

And, as someone else stated in the comments, when one considers what constitutes the ‘meat’ in chicken nuggets sausages, burgers etc, this is no less dangerous or ‘artificial’ than what we currently eat anyway.

12 days ago on Would you eat a $325,000 test-tube burger? 1 reply 2 recommends

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This has to be the Nexus 5. Why?
1) It’s due out in the 4th quarter
2) Rumours back in March hinted at a LG Nexus 5 with a 5.2″ OLED Display (http://androidandme.com/2013/03/news/rumor-is-this-the-lg-nexus-5/)

about 1 month ago on LG promises smartphone with flexible OLED display this year 1 recommend