The Three Body Problem series was one of my favourite Sci-Fi reads since Asimov's Foundation. So I hope Netflix can make something that's true to the novels and doesn't just ruin the whole thing like I'm afraid Apple have with Foundation!

Thanks Grandpa. The 90's called.... they want their "Embrace, Extend, Extinguish" post back.

I see "little Microsoft" are at it again. Using their browser dominance to decide things for us that we didn't ask them to decide. It takes me back to the days when IE decided we didn't need to see webserver error messages.

Yes, we do need this more now than ever.

It always struck me as strange that we had IM clients on our computers for so long, then there was this strange lag while we got something comparable on smartphones. Then when we did, it was like we started from scratch.

Regardless, I don't think it will happen. The world has gone notification-mad, there's barely an app (or website) out there that doesn't want to notify you of something. That's clearly because they need your attention to help monetize the platform (you are the product, after all). If messaging apps allow you to go "AFK", that's less interaction, meaning less $$$.

The harsh reality is - they don't make these things for us, they make them for them to make money. Unless it's likely to generate more cash, it'll never happen.

L8r.

The state of South Australia can get very hot. It recently went through an energy crisis, leading to a deal with Elon Musk to provide batteries to help even out power demand. This might be a small scale example of what's to come. South Australia has a tiny population compared to India, so a lot of research will need to happen focusing on new ways to generate, store and distribute energy if a demand for summertime A/C takes off there.
The cool thing (punny) is that would drive down the cost of batteries, solar panels, or whatever technologies are in large scale use, making them cheaper for the rest of us (assuming production can keep up).

I don't miss Windows Phone, because I never had one. But I think the market misses it. This two-horse race between Android and iOS is boring, predictable and uninspired. Each copying the other (look ma, I've got a notch now too) to implement the other's latest features on their own grid-of-icons based OS while ignoring the inherent flaws. Android is a mess of an OS that rots over time until you have to do a factory reset, and iOS is a shrine to Apple's arrogance.

The phone market is HUGE and could easily sustain a third player (if people could see past their one-vs-the-other tribalism), be that Windows Phone, Blackberry, Tizen or something else. We need competition, and some new thinking.

L8r.

Just use Bing images instead. Their view source image button it still there! ;)

I just checked under the bench, my "Dishwashing Robot" in a box is still there...

SRSLY, give me a robot that can vacuum and mop floors properly (ie. not like a roomba), or pick up kids toys, or wash dry and iron clothes. That's higher on my list than a robot that does what my dishwasher already does perfectly well.

L8r.

Oh for crying out loud people. Don't open RDP ports direct to the internet!

If the average Joe can use a VPN to pirate movies I should think YOU could use it to secure your damn network!

L8r.

This is THE most weak premise for an article I've seen in a long time. Calling it clickbait is too good.

In the 90's Microsoft was dominant because it was the main platform for OSes on devices, because it had tie-ins with it's other products, because device makers had nowhere else to go, and because although it's software was not the greatest it was where all the development was happening.

Google is the new Microsoft, not Amazon.

Yup, that's right. The business I manage IT for is actively moving more to the cloud so we can spend more time maintaining those other systems you talk about.

Specifically, BBC Micro Basic.

I listened to one of the first ever TWiT podcasts back in the day (and have listened ever since) and thought it was the future then, so glad to hear it's taking off properly.

Apart from TWiT network podcasts I like to listen to:

Stuff You Should Know - So awesome, I'm a late convert to this from a few years ago. Chuck and Josh are the best!
DTNS - Tom Merritt is great, really insightful. Some of his guests leave a little to be desired (Patrick Beja is great though).
The Packet Pushers - Awesome in-depth networking knowledge.
Dr. Karl on TripleJ - Only the best science explainer in the world, ever.

That'll do! :)

In fact (yeah, I know, replying to yourself is the first sign of madness) the whole thing feels like a massive throwback to the early 00's. It reminds me of Microsoft integrating their products to force people to use something they don't want (in this case, wangouts, back then IE) using something they do want as bait (SMS in this case, Windows back then).

Just kill the awful Hangouts app and its horrible SMS handling and start again. My old Nokia from the early 00's did SMS better.