I am not allowed to post instructions, however , I hope it is OK to post suggestion.
I have been watching too many "spaghetti western movies " - strictly as a needed break from drudgery of coding.
Their plots are not very imaginative - most of them have fists fights in local saloon.

And that, sometime whisky induced brawl, what promoted this vent.

This subforum , in my opinion, is turning into verbal fistfights by few illiterate, "me first" , outlaws and my hope is it will not end with OK corral style gun fight.

adios amigos

We’ve been waiting for the next-gen iPads to land for a while now, and that release looks set to arrive soon with Apple revealing it’ll be holding an event on May 7.

The invites for Apple’s ‘Let Loose’ event came emblazoned with an Apple Pencil, more than hinting the live-streamed showcase would focus on the iPad range.

Rumours point to an updated iPad Pro with an OLED display, and a larger iPad Air joining a new 10.9-inch model. Oh, and there will probably be updates to the Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil thrown in for good measure.

One spec many had assumed would be a given was that the iPad Pro would get a processor refresh, moving up from the M2 chip to the same M3 found in the latest round of MacBook Airs. However, that now seems to not be the case.

Forget M3, Hello M4

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, a typically reliable source of Apple news, has stated that there’s a “strong possibility” the iPad Pro OLED will launch with the M4 – a chip that wasn’t originally expected to land in anything until later this year.

The reasoning behind this move seems to be that Apple will begin to position devices as having an AI focus, and the new iPad Pros would be the first to have this focus. In Gurman’s Power On Newsletter, he says the M4 will have a new neural engine which is required for AI tasks.

Previous generations of the M-chips have boasted their own neural engines, however it seems like it will be a much bigger focus for the M4. It would also likely be a big selling point of the Apple A18 – the chip likely to power the iPhone 16 series.

Apple’s summer of AI

The timing of this is all very interesting. It is expected that Apple’s upcoming WWDC will focus heavily on AI features being added to its various mobile operating systems, including the iPadOS that powers the iPad range, so the iPad Pro could launch with an AI-capable chip, but no software features to make use it until later this year.

Some might say that Apple should hold off on launching these iPads until both the software and hardware are ready, but it’s been over 18 months since the iPad range was refreshed and it seems like Apple is keen to get them out of the door with the potential to add extra features down the line.

Of course, the M4 wouldn’t be the only selling point of the new Pros so they wouldn’t be without any notable upgrades until the next iPadOS is ready. It’s heavily expected that they will be the first Apple tablets with OLED displays – the same tech the iPhone and Apple Watch use – and come with a design refresh for the first time since 2018.

While the iPad Pro might be the first device from Apple to focus on AI, Gurman states that it won’t be the last. In fact, in the same newsletter, he suggests that Apple will begin to position each product as an AI device, from the iPhone to the MacBook.

AI skills coming to an M4-powered range of MacBooks seems like a given. We’re only a few months into 2024, but the ‘AI PC‘ term has been banded around by everyone from Dell with its XPS 14 to Asus with its Zenbook 14 OLED and just about every other PC maker in between.

The issue is that the term is that it doesn’t seem very well defined as of yet, with many of the AI features simply being rebadged editing effects for video calls. Let’s hope Apple has a more focused approach.

We’ll be covering the Apple Let Loose, so stay tuned for all the big news from the event.

The post An iPad Pro M4 would signal Apple's AI intent before iPadOS 18 arrives appeared first on Trusted Reviews.

Well, today is my 90th. What happened to the time?
tl:dr Happy Birthday to me.

I was thinking about what significant developments I have seen. The power of smartphones pales in comparison to some.
Indoor plumbing, yes there were still outhouses back in the day.
I recall WWII, especially the end. Gold stars in the windows. Never be another generation like that.
My father participated in a program named something like bundles for Britain. He made a lifelong snail mail (priceless) friend.
Vaccines (sorry anti-vaxers). My best friend through high school died of Polio.
Medicine: Antibiotics, cancer treatments (my mother died of leukemia, the treatment back then was "eat a lot of red meat"), today's surgery techniques (Wow). Much more. Now AI?
Our first television, 1948, black and white, largest screen available: 10". Weighed a ton. Watched the world series.
Power steering, power brakes and automatic transmissions.
EV's? Won't go there.
My first "computer experience", actually an accounting system, 7 words of core memory, vacuum tubes (valves for you right ponders) could only add, subtract and multiply. People ran payroll on it. Slow? you bet.
My first experience with a computer monitoring open heart surgery patients. 1970.
etc, etc, etc.


Just a Thought:

A Keeper

Their marriage was good, their dreams focused.
Their best friends lived barely a wave away.
I can see them now,
Dad in trousers, tee shirt and a hat and Mom in a house dress,
lawn mower in one hand, and dish-towel in the other.
It was the time for fixing things.
A curtain rod, the kitchen radio, screen door, the oven door, the hem in a dress.
Things we keep.

It was a way of life, and sometimes it made me crazy.
All that re-fixing, eating, renewing,
I wanted just once to be wasteful.
Waste meant affluence.
Throwing things away meant you knew there would always be more.

But then my mother died, and on that clear summer's night,
in the warmth of the hospital room,
I was struck with the pain of learning that sometimes there isn't any more.

Sometimes, what we care about most gets all used up and goes away...
never to return.
So... While we have it... it's best we love it...
And care for it.... And fix it when it's broken.....
And heal it when it's sick.

This is true...
For marriage....
And old cars....
And children with bad report cards.....
Dogs and cats with bad hips....
And aging parents....
And grandparents.

We keep them because they are worth it, because we are worth it.
Some things we keep.
Like a best friend that moved away or a classmate we grew up with.

There are just some things that make life important,
like people we know who are special....
And so, we keep them close!

I received this from someone who thinks I am a 'keeper',
so I've sent it to the people I think of in the same way...

Good friends are like stars....
You don't always see them, but you know they are always there

People are made to be Loved
and Things are made to be Used

There is so much confusion in this World because
People are being Used
and
Things are being Loved.

Be kind... everyone you meet is fighting a terrible battle.
Thanks for being part of MY life!

I started my software development career using FORTRAN, taught myself C, suffered through Pascal and despise Visual Basic. I'm an EE that just learned how to do this. Back in the beginning, there were no IDEs just text editors, so I naturally developed the habit of putting one function in one file. As I moved on to C++, I continued this style with my class development - one class per file. I suppose I picked up this style from the people I worked with, early source control systems I used (CMS/MMS anyone?) and what not.

Now I admit I am no C++ guru. I have seen people on stack overflow answer a C++ question with so much mind numbing detail that my eyes glaze. I view some or most of the esoteric aspects of c++ (like operator overloading) as dubious at best. Sounds good initially but later on in maintenance, ugh.

So, coding style question - do you embed classes within classes? I suppose if the object is never used outside of it's main file, it sort of makes sense. But it makes it a $itch to track things down. Then, other modules that include the header file for the parent start referencing the embedded classes, and it becomes spaghetti code. I know it's valid C++, but....

Thoughts? I'm probably just being a curmudgeon. Currently doing battle with lifting a VC6 project to VS2022. To say it's "interesting" is putting it lightly but that's for another post.

If you’re an Amazon Prime subscriber and you fancy picking up a new games console then we’ve got the deal for you.

Right now, active Prime members can nab a swift £20 discount of the new 1TB version of the Xbox Series S, bringing it down to the seriously tempting price of just £279. At that price, the 1TB Series S is barely that much more expensive than the 512GB model (£249), making the former well worth nabbing instead.

With 1TB of storage in the bank, you’ll have plenty of space to download all of your favourite titles without needing to constantly swap them out (handy if you enjoy playing larger games like Call of Duty Warzone or Starfield).

With a few years under its belt now, the all-digital Xbox Series S has proved itself to be quite the bargain within the next-gen gaming space. Significantly cheaper than the admittedly more powerful Xbox Series X, the Series S is the best option right now for any gamers who want to enjoy the latest games on a budget.

Despite its smaller stature and cheaper price, the Series S is more than capable of running top-tier next-gen titles like Starfield, Diablo IV and Alan Wake 2. Because the Series S is a digital only console however, it pairs perfectly with a Game Pass subscription.

As new games are constantly being added to the Game Pass library, you’ll never be left be left wanting for something to play, with recent additions including the colourful soulslike, Another Crab’s Treasure, and the big-budget sequel, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.

When you’re ready to wind down after a spot of gaming, the Series S also comes into its own as a streaming device with access to all of the major services including Netflix, Disney Plus and BBC iPlayer.

For all that the Series S is capable of, the console was already a steal but at this reduced price, there’s never been a better time to snap it up.

The post Amazon's got a slick Xbox Series S deal for Prime members appeared first on Trusted Reviews.

You’ve probably heard word of the United States’ pending TikTok ban, but why is it happening and how did we get here? 

According to data published by Business of Apps, TikTok was the second most downloaded app of 2023 with 654 million downloads globally. This marks the first year that TikTok has dropped below Instagram in the rankings in three years. 

This might not be the case for much longer as US President Biden signed off on a bill that effectively bans TikTok in the States unless parent company ByteDance makes arrangements to sell the app. 

Here’s everything you need to know about the TikTok ban in the US and what it means for the rest of the world. 

What is going on with TikTok?

President Biden recently signed a bill requiring Chinese company ByteDance to sell TikTok in the next year or face a ban in the US, but how did we get here? 

US politicians first started to raise concerns about TikTok’s ownership and influence in late 2019, prompting the government to launch a review into ByteDance’s 2017 acquisition of Musical.ly in November 2019. 

The investigation was prompted by concerns surrounding data collection, as well as the app’s reported censorship of the Hong Kong protests. The Guardian also revealed internal documents that instructed TikTok moderators to censor videos that mentioned Tiananmen Square, Tibetan independence, and the religious group Falun Gong. 

As concerns mounted, president-at-the-time Donald Trump stated that he was considering banning TikTok as “one of many” ways to retaliate against the Chinese government in response to the coronavirus pandemic. 

Trump went on to order ByteDance to sell TikTok’s US operations in 2020, but the ban fell to the side as Trump lost the presidency and Biden entered office. 

New concerns around data handling were raised in 2022 when a Buzzfeed report revealed that the data of US TikTok users had repeatedly been accessed by ByteDance employees in China. 

Despite this discovery, ByteDance has continuously denied that the app shares user data with the Chinese government, stating that ByteDance “is not an agent of China or any other country”.

This brings us to 2024. The US House of Representatives passed a bill demanding that TikTok sell the app’s US operations or risk being banned in the US, which was then signed by Biden. 

The signing of the bill prompted TikTok CEO and Singaporean businessman Shou Zi Chew to share a video titled ‘Response to TikTok Ban Bill’: 

“Make no mistake, this is a ban. A ban on TikTok, and a band on you and YOUR voice. Politicians may say otherwise, but don’t get confused, many who sponsored the bill admit a TikTok ban is their ultimate goal,” said the CEO in the video. 

“Rest assured, we aren’t going anywhere. We are confident and we will keep fighting for your rights in the courts. The facts and the Constitution are on our side, and we expect to prevail again”. 

What happens if TikTok gets banned? 

If ByteDance fails to sell TikTok or convince the Biden administration to ditch the ban, the app will be removed from the Android and iOS app stores and blocked on all web hosting services in the US. 

Americans may be able to bypass the ban and continue to access TikTok and its video content using VPNs. However, creators and viewers could also choose to migrate to other social platforms for convenience. 

Will TikTok get banned in the UK? 

If TikTok is banned in the US, other countries could push to follow suit. 

The app is already banned from government-issued phones in the UK, Canada, and New Zealand, as well as on work-issued devices at the European Commission, due to data concerns. 

The post TikTok’s US ban explained appeared first on Trusted Reviews.

Upgrade your home entertainment for less with this promotional code for a top-rated Samsung Smart TV from John Lewis. 

Save £150 and get the 65-inch Samsung QE65S90C (S90C) Smart TV for just £1199 from John Lewis. Simply enter the promotional code SAMSUNGTV150 at the checkout to get the discount. 

With four times the number of pixels that full HD TVs have, the Samsung S90C effortlessly produces deep blacks, bright whites and everything in-between. Thanks to Quantum HDR OLED technology you can expect impressive brightness levels and blur-free images from any angle.

It’s not just an impressive picture you can expect but also a decent sound system too. The S90C is compatible with Dolby Atmos Sound which offers thrilling surround sound and Object Tracking Sound technology, which can manipulate the direction of sound depending on where the action is happening on screen. 

With Samsung’s smart TV platform you can download all of your favourite streaming apps including Netflix, Now TV and Apple TV Plus, and access a huge collection of 4K content. With built-in voice assistants Bixby and Alexa, you can also experience complete hands-free control.

Gamers will especially appreciate that the S90C promises impressively fast and immersive gaming, and with the Samsung Gaming Hub you can even stream games from Game Pass and other cloud services without even needing a console. 

We gave the Samsung QE65S90C a four-star rating with TV and Audio Editor Kob Monney concluding that not only is the TV “capable of great HDR brightness for an OLED TV” but its “support for refresh rates up to 144Hz, fast input lag and a selection of features” makes it especially ideal for gamers.

Whether you’re a movie buff, an avid gamer or binge-watcher, the 65-inch Samsung QE65S90C smart TV is the perfect companion. As we don’t know how long this £150 off promotional code will last, we’d recommend snapping up the offer sooner rather than later.

The post Movie night's covered with this outstanding OLED TV deal appeared first on Trusted Reviews.

Statement 1: Every rule has an exception.
Statement 2: Statement 1 is a rule. Therefore Statement 1 has an exception.

Conclusion: There is at least one rule which has no exception.

Would you agree with this conclusion? If so, is there any example of a rule having no exception?

In the market for an Android smartphone but aren’t fussed about getting the latest model? This Samsung Galaxy S22 offering from Giffgaff is one for you. 

You can currently grab a refurbished Samsung Galaxy S22 handset in ‘like new’ condition for just £369 with Giffgaff.

To take advantage of this, you will also need to purchase an additional £10 rolling SIM. This isn’t tied into a contract however and can be cancelled immediately after ordering the handset so you won’t incur any future costs thereafter.

Giffgaff states the ‘like new’ condition of its refurbished phones have no visible blemishes on either the screen or body. All Giffgaff refurbished phones are also tested to ensure they are in 100% working condition and ‘like new’ models come with a 24-month warranty. 

If you want even more of a bargain and don’t mind some signs of wear and tear then you could opt for a model in ‘very good’ condition for £339 or a ‘good’ model for just £269. Either option will have more visible bumps and scratches but Giffgaff promises no more than five deep blemishes and any scratches on the screen won’t be visible when the display is active. 

Despite not being the newest Samsung Galaxy offering, the S22 remains a fantastic handset choice even two years after its initial release. 

In fact, we recently revisited our initial four-star rated review of the handset and our reviewer concluded the S22 “remains fairly similar in terms of both design and specs to the newer Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S24, so you could potentially save yourself a chunk of change by opting for the older, but still capable, alternative.”

The S22 is equipped with a protective Armor Aluminum frame and IP68 water resistance rating which means the phone is protected from drops and even dips in water. Not only that but Samsung hasn’t changed the rear camera set-up since the launch of the S22, with both the S23 and S24 continuing to sport the trio of lenses that includes the impressive 50MP main sensor. 

If you need a decent Android smartphone for a bargain price, then you’d be seriously hard pressed to find a better option than this Samsung Galaxy S22 deal. Buying a refurbished handset is not only better for the environment but also means you can save a massive £400 compared to its price at launch.

The post The Galaxy S22 is now a bargain upgrade at this new low price appeared first on Trusted Reviews.