- luv-talk - luv.asn.au

Re: [luv-talk] Firefox OS and ZTE phone
by Russell Coker 06 Dec '13

06 Dec '13

On Fri, 6 Dec 2013 10:31:24 Aryan Ameri wrote: > Just to add, the 2100 Mhz 3G spectrum was the 3GIS network that "3" built > and Telstra bought into as it didn't have a 3G network at the time. The > network had had no investment in it for years and was very slow and > coverage was very poor outside inner cities. This was the reason behind the > "NextG" branding as Telstra went about building its own superior network on > the 850 Mhz frequency and wanted to differentiate it from "normal 3G". I used Three for just over 6 years and it worked well for me. I could make phone calls everywhere I visited in that time (roaming to GSM) and got 3G data almost everywhere I wanted it. Speed was OK by the standards of the day. Before Android phones came out 3G was generally only used for checking mail, MMS, and the occasional video call. In an emergency I'd tether my phone to my laptop (or use a 3G dongle) but that was a major PITA so I didn't do it often. Now my Android phone is checking email, Hangouts, and some news sources all the time. I play Ingress every day, and turning my phone into a Wifi hotspot is easy and something I do very often. The modern 3G needs are a lot greater than the 3G needs of 3+ years ago. That said, my parents used Three for their home Internet connection for 2 years and it worked well enough for them. -- My Main Blog http://etbe.coker.com.au/ My Documents Blog http://doc.coker.com.au/

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Re: [luv-talk] Tablet ergonomics
by Petros 06 Dec '13

06 Dec '13

Quoting "Michael Scott" <luv(a)inoz.net> > I tend to compare tablets with books. If you hold a book in your > hands to read it, there's no issue with posture. If you put a book > on a table to read it there's no issue with posture. Whu should it > be any different with a tablet? I agree as long as you it as an eReader or watch videos, essentially being passive. Especially when writing a longer article, it looks very .. well, strange. Regards Peter

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Re: [luv-talk] Tablet ergonomics
by Petros 05 Dec '13

05 Dec '13

Russell Coker wrote: > When I was young people worried that their children would have eye > problems from watching too much TV. That didn't happen. But the people with back pain are reality. I changed my setup over the years significantly to avoid it. E.g. at home I am standing when using the computer. My daughter has her tablet always on the lap and is bending over it. It looks very unhealthy.. I cannot imagine any ergonomic way of using a tablet over a longer period.. so is this the everybody gets back pain generation? Regards Peter

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Tablet ergonomics
by Petros 05 Dec '13

05 Dec '13

Hi, I have kids which have to use iPads. I see them crouching over the tablets and it looks very unhealthy. I learnt something about desktop ergonomics but do you know about healthy posture, usage pattern and other issues related to use them properly? I am unhappy with it from back to front in many ways. I don't think there was any critical thinking in the decisions made, some of the "selling points" to the parents are coming straight from the Apple website.. Anyway, some ideas about ergonomics would be helpful. I think we are raising cripples if I look at them. Do you know any? Thanks Peter

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skype etc
by Russell Coker 03 Dec '13

03 Dec '13

I'm looking for free VOIP options for Android phones. Google Hangouts has free video calls but it seems that the ring time usually isn't as long as the time taken to establish a connection so the caller often has it ring out before the recipient is notified of a call attempt. Skype seems to demand a Hotmail/Microsoft account before it can be used. https://www.pennytel.com.au/personal-voip/plans/free-access Pennytel says that they aren't currently accepting new signups. When they do they apparently allow free calls to other users of the same service. http://www.voipbuster.com/en/mobile_voip VoipBuster also apparently allows free calls to other users. My aim is to have free calls to relatives who have Android phones. Many of my relatives are using Aldi with the $15 for 2G plan, so they pay for calls but 2G of data is way more than most of them will use in a month - essentially the marginal cost of data is zero. How difficult is it to install Asterisk nowadays? Also how much bandwidth is required for two Asterisk clients talking to each other? -- My Main Blog http://etbe.coker.com.au/ My Documents Blog http://doc.coker.com.au/

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I'm looking for free VOIP options for Android phones
by Tim Hamilton 02 Dec '13

02 Dec '13

---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Russell Coker <russell(a)coker.com.au> > To: luv-talk(a)luv.asn.au > Cc: > Date: Sun, 1 Dec 2013 16:27:35 +1100 > Subject: [luv-talk] skype etc > I'm looking for free VOIP options for Android phones. > > Google Hangouts has free video calls but it seems that the ring time > usually > isn't as long as the time taken to establish a connection so the caller > often > has it ring out before the recipient is notified of a call attempt. > > Skype seems to demand a Hotmail/Microsoft account before it can be used. > > https://www.pennytel.com.au/personal-voip/plans/free-access > > Pennytel says that they aren't currently accepting new signups. When they > do > they apparently allow free calls to other users of the same service. > > http://www.voipbuster.com/en/mobile_voip > > VoipBuster also apparently allows free calls to other users. > > My aim is to have free calls to relatives who have Android phones. Many > of my > relatives are using Aldi with the $15 for 2G plan, so they pay for calls > but > 2G of data is way more than most of them will use in a month - essentially > the > marginal cost of data is zero. > > > How difficult is it to install Asterisk nowadays? Also how much bandwidth > is > required for two Asterisk clients talking to each other? > > -- > My Main Blog http://etbe.coker.com.au/ > My Documents Blog http://doc.coker.com.au/ > > > _______________________________________________ > luv-talk mailing list > luv-talk(a)lists.luv.asn.au > http://lists.luv.asn.au/listinfo/luv-talk > > Have you thought about mobile specific apps that use their own network like Viber? I've not personally had the need for such an app so haven't looked into them myself but have friends that use them heavily as they say they work well on both wifi and 3g data. Cheers, Tim

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Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement IP chapter leak
by Bianca Gibson 30 Nov '13

30 Nov '13

Hi everyone, You may have heard that wikileaks released a leak of the IP chapter of the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement. This is an international trade agreement being negotiated in secret. There are some very concerning proposals in the leak. Criminalisation of copyright infringement, legal protections for DRM, ISP liability, terminating internet access for copyright infringement, rules around patentable subject matter and rigid restrictions around exceptions to copyright. Once it's in trade agreements it's really hard to go back on, trade agreements often require signing up to a list of old ones. They stack on top of each other and stick around for a really long time. Choice have a petition to release the full text which I would strongly urge you to sign and pass on: https://choice.good.do/dont-trade-it-away/release-the-tpp-text/ Cheers, Bianca

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Re: [luv-talk] Should I feel sorry for Queenslanders?!
by Petros 25 Nov '13

25 Nov '13

Quoting "Jason White" <jason(a)jasonjgw.net> > Russell Coker <russell(a)coker.com.au> wrote: > >> I think that the current system of giving all secondary schools the >> same goals >> is a bad one. The needs of kids who are destined to drop out at >> 16, the kids >> who will finish school but not do university, and the kids who are going to >> university are very different and would be best met by different schools. > > Some systems separate children into these categories quite early. > for example, > apparently the German school system has separate curricula. > > I understand and appreciate the benefits of such a model; the question is > whether people who are misclassified have the opportunity to overcome their > educational disadvantage and move up into the more intellectually rigorous > stream destined for higher education. There will always be people who are > pushed into the wrong stream, and the real problem is for those who are > "downgraded" inappropriately. IMHO the German system creates losers. It is not very fluid. Kids are "stuck" from early age. The selection happens in year 4, and it's based on teacher recommendations. Quite often, so it seems, it is more judging the social background of a child than the child's abilities. In East Germany we went to school for ten years together, afterwards only a few went to finish year 12 and go to Uni. The East German schools were in some ways "old-fashioned", with the teacher in front of the class, all kids facing the teacher. Interestingly, even after 23 years of unification (and more or less adapting the East German school system to the West German), the East German students still achieve better results in scientific subjects and maths, compared to West Germans. We could not choose between different subjects in that area, maths, physics, chemistry, biology were mandatory and separate subjects. I find the "modern" way of lumping the subjects together as "fluffy". Quite often I think the results are not impressive. Then there is all the "environmental studies" stuff etc.. I am not sure whether that is a waste of time. (Don't get me wrong, I am not against considering environmental issues or other society-relevant ones. But that has to do with world views, and a school is, in my opinion, not the place to teach kids "how to think". Sometimes it helps to know some facts to form a view, not only to have an opinion. E.g. everybody who is reading a bit of the business part of a newspaper, and compares it with the general political pages, will understand what I mean.) I like the idea of SEAL classes, selected entry accelerated learning, as my daughter is in now. It challenges them as well as keeps them in a "normal" school background, helpful in developing social skills. I can imagine Faye's problem. I hear a similar story from a German friend over there. I don't think it is easy to solve. The SEAL classes are a step in this direction, I think. The teachers there have an understanding how to deal with brighter kids. At the end, schools reflect culture. And, IMHO, Australia's system is helping kids having self-esteem and be positive "can do people". It is a value too. If I had a wish, I would get rid of all this private school stuff and use the money to pay teachers well. That's money better invested than in a million dollar concert hall or a super-gym. Regards Peter

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Re: [luv-talk] Problems with Modern education was Re: Should I feel sorry for Queenslanders?!
by Petros 25 Nov '13

25 Nov '13

Quoting "Rohan McLeod" <rhn(a)jeack.com.au> > In fact I suspect that not only does modern education (primary, > secondary and tertiary); > fail to inspire an interest in learning in a majority of students; but > it actually destroys , > what little curiosity, they may have originally had; It is probably part of a bigger picture, the lack of dreaming. Future seems to be dystopia, just look at the Hunger Games which are fascinating the masses. When we saw Brian Cox being fascinated by the effortless jumps of kangaroos I mentioned the obvious solution for our inner city traffic problems: let's learn from the kangaroos and retrain our skeleton so we can jump long distances at the average speed of cars from home to work. We just test it with a newborn of a friend. Okay, that's a joke - but what we are sold as reality (e.g. the tunnel around the corner) is a joke too - and it is completely free of any imagination. We definitely need better jokes! Regards Peter

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Re: [luv-talk] Should I feel sorry for Queenslanders?!
by Petros 25 Nov '13

25 Nov '13

Quoting "Russell Coker" <russell(a)coker.com.au> > On Mon, 25 Nov 2013, Petros <Petros.Listig(a)fdrive.com.au> wrote: >> Quoting "Jason White" <jason(a)jasonjgw.net> >> > I understand and appreciate the benefits of such a model; the question is >> > whether people who are misclassified have the opportunity to overcome >> > their educational disadvantage and move up into the more intellectually >> > rigorous stream destined for higher education. There will always be >> > people who are pushed into the wrong stream, and the real problem is for >> > those who are "downgraded" inappropriately. >> >> IMHO the German system creates losers. It is not very fluid. Kids are >> "stuck" from early age. >> >> The selection happens in year 4, and it's based on teacher >> recommendations. Quite often, so it seems, it is more judging the >> social background of a child than the child's abilities. > > But in a system like the Australian one where kids aren't streamed would such > kids do much better? There has been some research to show that a teacher's > belief in the ability of the kids has a significant effect on the educational > results. So if a teacher believes that some grade 4 kids aren't going to > learn much then they won't teach them much and they might as well be in a > school for less intelligent kids. I have seen more care for "outsiders" in schools here than I remember or hear of from Germany. I have friends with a slightly autistic child, he had a lot of support and understanding at school. They are moving back to Germany. We are frankly worried - I do not think German schools are that inclusive. Nothing is perfect but there is a lot good things to say about how people deal with each other, at least here in Melbourne. >> (Don't get me wrong, I am not against considering environmental issues >> or other society-relevant ones. But that has to do with world views, >> and a school is, in my opinion, not the place to teach kids "how to >> think". Sometimes it helps to know some facts to form a view, not only >> to have an opinion. E.g. everybody who is reading a bit of the >> business part of a newspaper, and compares it with the general >> political pages, will understand what I mean.) > > "How to think" would mean logical analysis of arguments etc and the "debates" > about the environment provides many good examples where young > children can see the flaws in arguments. Hmmh, I feel a bit misunderstood. I do not have the feeling that schools are particularly good these days in teaching fundamentals. E.g. a friend from East Germany (we both studied IT together) moved to the country side and is doing studies in agriculture. She still remembers all that stuff about pH value, acids, salts.. and is amazed how much less a few of her fellow students know here even if they are much younger so shouldn't have forgotten that much yet. "We are harming the land, it all gets saltier" Okay, what does it mean if you do not remember anything about the basics? It's the talk of a parrot. > If "normal" in this case means anything like most schools then it's not > helpful in developing social skills unless you are preparing kids for prison > life. > > My observation is that for boys socialisation in high school is largely based > around how to use force to get what you want. Someone who graduates > from such a school has probably learned a lot that would help them > in a career dealing > drugs, but for a career in IT (the original topic of this thread) it's not > particularly useful. That's a bleak picture.. It does not fit my observations.. > People need to understand that there are things that they are good at and > things that they aren't. If you're not good at something and working in a > team then you should try and find someone else who's better in that area to > help train you or help you do the work. Agreed. I prefer to be praised for having good maths skills than to be put down for not being good in drawing.. I guess I figure out myself that my neighbour's pictures are much prettier. > Not that paying teachers better will necessarily improve things. There is a > limited number of people in Australia with the skills to teach well. > Of those people I think that the majority are already teaching. I am not that certain. Being a teacher is nothing to be proud of. Teachers are lazy, have too much holidays, can't do anything with kids, at least not with my child - that's the public picture of a teacher I hear. I am the punch bag for everyone, and the money isn't good either. What's the incentive of being a teacher? > I think that the best thing to do is to reduce the amount of schooling. > Encourage kids to leave school at 16 if it's not working for them and both > reduce the number of classes (getting rid of some of the less capable > teachers) and reducing the class size (some teachers who can't handle 25 kids > can do well with 12). There are kids leaving school at 16. Two of them quite capable apprentices in the factory here. Regards Peter

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