Just how irritating can you get?

Hi Nick,

When you write for a serious on-line magazine such as the Inquirer, you are supposed to check your information at least sometimes, and you are supposed to be up to date.

About 10 years ago, the Macintosh was considerably more expensive than a PC, although if you calculated in total cost of ownership, that was even then, debatable.

These days however, a Macintosh is NOT significantly more expensive than a similarly configured PC. So, have you been asleep at the wheel lately or just not paying attention?

Try it for yourself. Go to Apple's online store, pick a Mac, either the cheapest or the most expensive, then go to Dell's on-line store and confire a similar PC with the same stuff you get with the Mac, then compare the prices. You will see that they are pretty close.

I just did that a few minutes ago, and these were the results:

1) High-end system:
PowerMac G5 Dual processor 2.5Ghz = €2789
Dell Precision Workstation 670 with Dual 2.8Ghz Xeons- no monitor = €3079

2) Low-end system
eMac Combo = €713
Dell Dimension 8400 with 17" monitor = €918

3) Low-end laptop
14" iBook = €1175
Dell Lattitude 100L = €1019

Now, unless you're a total idiot, you will stop using such stupid, childish and inaccurate expressions such as "THE REASSURINGLY expensive". It is simply not true. Stop this nonsense. It irritates the hell out of me.

Cheers,
Maarten

The Weak in Review

Well, this week has seen more than it's fair share of oddities. So much so, that in all conscience I couldn't allow it to pass without remark.

First off, we had old Billy G saying he's never (yes, I repeat NEVER) had a virus. That story is here.

Come on Bill - why not just 'fess up' and tell the world the truth: YOU'RE RUNNING LINUX! FROM THE MOON! SANS INTERNET! Even the most security-conscious user will get a virus at one time or another, despite av software, regular updates, constant patching of Windows, firewalls, fireguards, fireblankets and the like.

And is it any wonder why more people would rather talk to God than dear old Billy G? Here.

Is it because they know he runs one of his own generation of smartphones, and it keeps, erm, crashing on him? Who would I phone? Well, it wouldn't be Patricia Hewitt...

Next up, we hear of the demise of poor dear old K9. But fear not, Dr Who fans, this is nothing to do with the good doc's often-rebuilt dog. It's all about the new processor coming out of AMD and the tale is here.

Come on AMD - I know your advertising budget is practically nonexistent, but do you have to spend the petty-cash shooting yourself in the foot? Where are the ads for the FIRST 64-bit x86 compatible processor? Where are the ads stating 'where we lead, INTEL follows'. Since you had the only NX-capable processor out MONTHS before anyone else, why didn't you get some advertising help from Microsoft and push it like hell all summer? 'Only Athlon 64 processors running Windows XP with service pack 2 give you ADVANCED, HARDWARE-BASED protection from viral threats' That recently-announced, $43.8m profit could have been even better (story here).

I could personally do a better job of dreaming up advertising during a crafty fag break round the back of HP's headquarters.

And now we hear that, FINALLY, USB is coming to PDAs etc. That is, unless the RIAA/BPI think it'll make it easier to rip songs onto our Ipaq's and start lobbying for it's removal. here Better warn your granny to get rid of all her Cliff Richard rips then.

Is it really going to happen this time, or are Valve crying wolf yet again?

And finally - no, I couldn't end this without an 'and finally' what do Inq journalists have in common with pubescent youths working in Chinese sweatshops? The answers can be found here and here.

John P

To Strawpoll, to have been Strawpolled

From this article.

"Next week Intel will announce its quarterly results. We will have strawpolled all the major distributors in Europe by then, we think. The INQUIRER. Turning nouns into verbs. Daily. µ"

Don't you mean, verbing nouns?

Mike Newhall

Limited demand for high res LCD monitors

Of course, because THEY ARE NOT IN THE SHOPS! How silly can they be?

I want laptop quality LCD displays at 1400x1050 or 1600x1200 resolution in 17" or 19" packages at the same price as they are in laptops... that is around £5-600.

They would sell like hot cakes.

But nooo... they continue to sell their lousy 1024x768 and 1200x1024 displays all the way up to 19" LCDs, with pixes as large and fuzzy as a Norwegian troll...

Morten Torstensen

AMD model numbers enter new exciting phase

Hi, I thought I'd try to explain the model number business. I ran a regression of the equation:

MODEL NUMBER=CONSTANT + A*CLOCKSPEED +B*(DUMMY VARIABLE INDICATING CACHE IS 256K versus baseline of 512K)
+ C*(DUMMY VARIABLE of CACHE BEING 1MB versus baseline of 512K or 256K)
+D*(DUMMY VARIABLE OF HT BEING 1000 MHZ versus baseline of 800 MHZ)
+E*(DUMMY VARIABLE OF PINS BEING 939 versus baseline of 754)
+error term

So the estimated coefficients show that: for every 1 additional mhz of speed, the model number increases by 1.2 Having 256K cache drops the model number by -150 increasing the cache to 1MB increase the model number by 230 increasing the HT from 800 to 1000 increases model number by 100 the switch from 754 to 939 pins, increases model number by 187. the constant term is 574.45

The adjusted R^2 (or goodness of fit for the model) is .9781, meaning the model explains 97.81% of the variation in the data.

All coefficients were significant at the 5% level, except for the HT variable, which was significant at the 10% level. (This means we can reject the null hypothesis that the the coefficients were not significantly different from zero and only be wrong 5% of the time, except for the HT variable, which is 10% of the time).

That's all,
Paul

if you want to know more about me, I'm an undergrad at the University of Chicago who is supposed to be doing his price theory homework, so he can get into grad school, oh well.

Reassuringly expensive Nick Farrell

Hello Nick,

First, let me start by saying that you don't have to worry- I haven't attached any JPEG files to this message. There are also no ActiveX or VBS attachments appended, so rest assured, you may relax.

I found your report on the recent Apple patch-releases to be informative, well written, and (mercifully) unbiased. It is unfathomable to me how a company with the resources that Apple has (what, almost... $50 Billion in the bank?) could simply ignore such glaring holes in their systems' architecture; especially after publicly stating that security was their "number one issue".

You also raised an excellent point (in a completely subtle, and clandestinely humorous fashion) about their marketing department. I mean, why should the general public care about future operating systems and features, which may or may not cost more to develop than, say, sending a man to the moon, when our current systems are so riddled with holes?

I can confidently state, sir, that I am impressed with your journalistic integrity, and with the fresh, balanced viewpoint you've brought to this article. It's reassuring to know that I can count on people like you to bring a smile to my otherwise joyless existence.

Thank you for all you do,

David

Nextel says it owns push-to-talk

Ed, er Mike, (and Tony),

As a long-time ham radio enthusiast ('enthusiast' is perhaps slightly too strong a word), I've got dozens of radios with Push-To-Talk (PTT) buttons. I've got desktop radios where the desk mic has a Push-To-Talk (PTT) button. I've got ham radio walkie-talkies with Push-To-Talk (PTT) buttons. I've got mobile radios coming out of my ears, all with curly-cord mics with Push-To-Talk (PTT) buttons.

The first Push-To-Talk (PTT) transmission was likely as early as that by Reginald Fessenden on December 23, 1900. "One, two, three, four. Is it snowing where you are, Mr. Thiessen? If it is, telegraph back and let me know."

Here.

Perhaps Nextel could trademark that Really Cool 'quick multiple-beep' end-of-transmission sound. I believe that is a unique creation and of great intrinsic value to humanity. I assume that Nextel has a few patents (pending?) covering the particular IP behind the cell phone implementation of the ancient concept of Push-To-Talk (PTT).

Regards
Jeffy