COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

[plaques]

Some comments in the newspapers about it. Whatsapp. loss

[Stanley]

Thanks for that P. I didn't understand a lot of it but it's looking as though it's quite simply that the phone is out of date and the answer is a new one. My problem is that I need it set up for me, I have no knowledge or skills in that area.
I think I might have to bite the bullet and visit the phone shop!

[PanBiker]

I have had my Motorola Moto G since 2012 and it's still going strong. Android version is 5.1 so should be OK with Whatsapp for a bit longer. You could do far worse than looking in that stable, they are well regarded as fully featured but well priced at the budget end of the Android platform. Whatever if you only use it for Whatsapp you will be using a sledgehammer to crack a nut and paying over the odds for the privilege. Just a note, we have a Mobile Phone thread for discussions which might attract more comment.

[Big Kev]

I'll have a look in the drawer when I get back from Kent. There may be an old Motorola lurking in the depths. If not I'm sure one of my offspring will have one laying around somewhere

[Stanley]

That would be good Kev.

[Stanley]

"using a sledgehammer to crack a nut and paying over the odds for the privilege"
That depends on what value I place on Whatsapp Ian and I have to tell you it's quite high. Not a sledge hammer but a way of maintaining a certain class of communications.

[PanBiker]

Your certain class of communication will be the end to end encryption no doubt. It's very useful, I use it myself extensively but It's still a sledgehammer if you are using a fully featured smart phone for a single app. Different matter if it costs you nothing via compatible cast off's. I'm surprised you trust it with your complete downer on Facebook.

[Tizer]

Mrs Tiz has the Moto G which we got because Panbiker was happy with the model.

[Gloria]

I used to have a Vodafone smart phone which I couldn't get on with, gave it to my other half and bought an iPhone. Bliss. Then he couldn't get on with the Vodafone one, so he inherited my iPhone and I got a new one. He has iPhone 6s, I have iPhone 6s the larger one. Works just like my iPad and talks to it, sharing everything.

[Stanley]

Susan offered me an iPhone but I declined because Apple wants you to use nothing but their products.
I shall await news from Kev and if no joy buy a new one. I have taken on board the comments about the Moto.....
"I'm surprised you trust it with your complete downer on Facebook"
No need to monitor what I do Ian. I use it because I have a wide circle of family and friends who are always on it and checking it. I can be sure of quick responses to any messages I send them and communication is all especially with the youngsters.

[Big Kev]

I was offered fibre broadband for £6 a month less than I'm paying for ADSL, no contest really...

[Stanley]

Go for it Kev. I have never regretted my switch but I have a nagging thought that I might be due for a call to Talktalk about reducing the price I pay.... It's one of those 'to do' items that keeps getting forgotten. I'm not on an excessive tariff but suspect it could be improved if only by doing so the provider can put me on a 'new' contract and lock me in.

[Big Kev]

Unlimited 'superfast' fibre and 'anytime' calls is £29 a month on an 18 month contract.

[Tizer]

Which provider Kev?

[Big Kev]

Which provider Kev?

Sky

[Big Kev]

New router is connected but the fibre doesn't come online until the 22nd. It's all currently working at 12mbps download. Guaranteed 60mbps after the 22nd, we'll see how that goes

[Stanley]

You'll love it Kev. Remember dial-up? It's all relative.

[chinatyke]

You'll love it Kev. Remember dial-up? It's all relative.

When we all thought 56kbps was fast!
I can remember Pace (an electronics company based in Shipley) demonstrating a modem to Ilkley Computer Club around 1986 I think. They were still educating people about the dial-up internet and we connected with Lancaster University website and thought it was ace.

[Stanley]

My first connection was via a small firm in Nelson. No email programmes like Thunderbird then, it was a complicated job sending mail!
Then there was what was often a long wait for the connection to establish.....

[Big Kev]

I imagine the only time we'll notice is when streaming TV.

[Wendyf]

You'll love it Kev. Remember dial-up? It's all relative.

When we all thought 56kbps was fast!
I can remember Pace (an electronics company based in Shipley) demonstrating a modem to Ilkley Computer Club around 1986 I think. They were still educating people about the dial-up internet and we connected with Lancaster University website and thought it was ace.

When we had our manufacturing business in Scotland we bought a supply of the white plastic boxes from Pace to contain our digitiser for the PCW computers. We moved down here when Colin got a job with them in Salts Mill designing set top boxes.

[Stanley]

Such a small world.....

[PanBiker]

Nightingale modems. I ran a computer club from the mid 80's and we met in Colne Library on Tuesday evenings. Everyone used to bring their own kit so we had a fair spread of early 8 bit machines. We used to oyn firms that produced peripherals and also those that used computers in anger in the workplace. We got Pace to come along and give us a talk, he brought half a dozen Nightingale modems with him. One of our group was a BT line engineer and we lifted the carpet tiles out on the upstairs balcony and the service traps to get to the library telephone lines. He tapped in to the line an provided us all with tariff free dial-up to anywhere in the world. We dipped our bread that night with some fairly distant bulletin boards and Viewdata nodes.

[Stanley]

Such depth of knowledge, I am impressed Ian.
Young Harry broke the news to me that he had swapped from straight engineering to software engineering and already has a job in addition to his uni course. (He says all this work is based on a higher level industrial grade Ubuntu...) I think he expected me to be upset but I told him I had expected nothing else. That was what his mother did at Nottingham and of course his dad Big Harry, was a guru as well. He says he is loving it.... I see a bright and lucrative future for that young man!
Canonical have woken up after the holidays. Major upgrades flowing thick and fast.

[Tizer]

My first modem was a Pace one. We lived near London then and I had to go to a `shop' near Heathrow to collect it. The shop was actually a small warehouse and the guy there had to rummage among big cardboard boxes until he found the right one. I brought it home, connected it and then a friends husband who worked for BT and was in Swindon helped me set it up properly. I looked at using Compuserve but then took the advice of techie colleagues and signed up with Demon Internet; was with them until the early 2000s when it was taken over by Scottish Power and then moved to Plusnet.

This looks interesting...
`Samsung's invisible keyboard for smartphones' LINK
`Samsung has developed a way for smartphone owners to type on a table or other surface as an alternative to tapping on the handset's own screen. Its SelfieType software tracks the user's fingers via the phone's front-facing camera and works out where the taps would correspond to being on a Qwerty keyboard. Chris Fox tried it out at the CES tech expo in Las Vegas to see if it works in practise.'