h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Well the CES starts today I think. Probably not quite the touchstone of the tech world it once was but for feverish nerds it can be pretty exciting.

I am looking forward to seeing what is annouced about the Tegra 4 architecture, very interested to learn if Gorilla Glass 3 will actually make my next phone hardier (rather than lighter, jezz dammit phones are thin enough already I want better features!!) and some of that flexible display stuff.

I'll try and dig out the link but was watching a video on the BBC News tech page yesterday about the "booth babe" phenomonom. It was toe curlingly cringeworthy.

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Flexible displays could be quite handy in some applications... maybe. But I just don't see the utility of them with phones.

Some advances just don't make much sense. I don't want a floppy phone/camera/jeejaw.

It's like with remote controls and cars lately. Manufacturers are putting touch screens on them when that's the last thing anyone should want. Real tactile buttons are much more sensible in both cases because you don't want to have to look at them to control them. Why should a driver have to look at a touch screen to control the A/C or even the radio? Dials buttons and sliders work quite well without the need for distracting your attention from the road, or from the TV screen.

I kinda thought the main advatage would be flexible displays less likely to break meaning more robust phones. Not sure id want a floppy phone, but one that had a bit more give before it got damaged. That would be grand ta!

Also I suppose rollable displays maybe? Something you could store in a tube then flip out and connect wirelessly to your phone when you needed a bigger display? Probably a way off but that could be pretty cool down the line!

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We were talking about Win 8 a few dots back.

This geezer is less than complimentary (not used Win 8 myself but enjoyed the funny review).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTYet-qf1jo

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I just watched that (saw it on your twttr feed). Very interesting.

Of all the folks I expected to get new tablets from the holiday, so far I've only seen one of them and it wasn't charged up yet for me to see it in use, but it is a Win8 tablet.

I think some of his complaints won't be as valid for a tablet, at least those to do with the touchscreen vs. touch pad or mouse interface. It definitely seems like they've taken a mobile interface and tacked it on to a desktop environment with no consideration for how bad an idea that is.

I didn't realized they'd already taken Win7 off the market. We're just now switching over to it at work (NASA). I can't see all these asperger types around here making the move to Win8 if they're given a choice. I still have a couple of machines running XP. We may even have one running a scanning system that's still on '95. (if it works, it works, don't with it.)

I'll probably give Win 8 a go at some point.

Have to say for a desktop OS I actually really like Win 7. I remember being hsocked when it came out how much I actually liked it (compared to Bisto anyhow).

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I've had my Android ICS phone for almost a month now, and was quite pleased to find my most-used apps existed, by the same designers, in Google Play.

That is, at first...as I went into what should have been very familiar apps, I noticed that they lacked something...either the iPhone/iPod versions had more features or they just looked much more...polished? It's like Google let them turn in shoddy workmanship -- the Apple iTunes ones look very nice, work smoothly and seem more complete.

So, what gives? Any theories why Google would tolerate such amateur hour stuff?

That's a not uncommon complaint. iStuff typically has better design sense.

No kidding, the graphs on my Glucose Buddy app (for my diabetes logs) looks like the graph was designed by eight graders, while the iTunes version is slick looking, and has the added advantage that I can take a "snapshot" of the graph and email it to my doctor. No can do with the Android version.

Another thing I've noticed...my iTunes app was frequently updated -- rhe last time in november, whereas the same one for Android hasn't been updated in two years. It's not the only one like that, either.

Not cutting edge, is Google.

Well, you're probably focusing on iApps you're familiar with. There may be similar apps made specifically for android that may be better than the ones ported from iOs. Check the ratings, D/L totals and always read the reviews.

Doing that, and I love the two that were recommended here: JuiceDefender Plus and Lookout Defense? -- both really trimmed my data use, and have helped save my battery. :D

Android / iStuff designs... Ooooh boy here we go...

In short, it's two reasons:

1) Apple were very much manical about how apps could look. They have a strict set of design guidelines that they enforce, if you don't meet them, then your app is rejected. Google for a long time didn't have these, and only brought them in recently.

2) Most designers are iStuff users. Because of this they design first for iStuff, and secondly for Android. Which basically means that they try and shoe-horn the work they've done for the iStuff into the Android apps so they don't have to redesign them properly.

Well, I can tell you, they do a poor job of it.

Usually yes, because they're usually so in love with their iDevices that they really couldn't care about the Android ones, and have the attitude that Android users don't care about looks and style.

As an example, here's the preview page on Play, for the android version of Glucose Buddy...
http://tinyurl.com/al9rrxl

and here's the app preview for the same app in iTunes...
http://tinyurl.com/a4hvbax

There is just no excuse for such shoddy work; compare the graphs function snapshot in the previews. Both versions are by the same developer.

How did I miss this?

http://www.watchmywallet.co.uk/technology/accessories/2012/november/beagle-e-reader-best-value-christmas-present-ever

That looks cool, but what if you don't have a smartphone?

Ah--you can't do a thing if you don't have a smartphone, and it's not really an ereader at all (has page images instead). And it's $69.

Strange this thread came back up, I've actually been sending the first h2g2 app out for alpha testing recently

Well, THIS definitely belongs here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/political-science/2013/mar/28/science-policy?CMP=twt_gu

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