Re: [ANNOUNCE] London.pm Dim Sum, Wednesday 3rd March, Docklands

2014-03-03 Thread Sue Spence
Hurrah. This is a welcome revival.
 On 3 Mar 2014 21:47, "Tom Hukins"  wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> London Perl Mongers will meet for lunchtime Dim Sum this Wednesday at
> the Lotus Floating Chinese Restaurant:
> http://www.lotusfloating.co.uk/
>
> Dim Sum involves sharing a selection of small dishes amongst a group:
> http://www.lotusfloating.co.uk/menu/dim_sum_menu.html
>
> It's a couple of minutes walk away from South Quay DLR and about a ten
> minute walk away from Canary Wharf tube:
> https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/169119484#map=17/51.49782/-0.01526
>
> I've never been here before, and when I walked past today it was
> closed - apparently it's always closed on Mondays - so we'll have to
> treat this as an explorative adventure into uncertainty.
>
> As an extra treat, Nicholas Clark is visiting London and will join us
> for lunch, hopefully not in dumpling form.
>
> Let's meet outside the restaurant and head inside at 12:50 (to beat
> the 1pm office-leaving rush).  If you plan to attend, I'd be grateful
> if you let me know in advance.
>
> All are welcome for a casual lunch eating tasty treats whilst
> discussing Perl and related matters.
>
> I hope to see you for lunch on Wednesday,
> Tom
>


Re: [ANNOUNCE] London.pm Dim Sum, Wednesday 3rd March, Docklands

2014-03-03 Thread Paul "LeoNerd" Evans
On Mon, 3 Mar 2014 21:45:53 +
Tom Hukins  wrote:

> Subject: [ANNOUNCE] London.pm Dim Sum, Wednesday 3rd March, Docklands

Shome mishtake shurely?

Perhaps you mean Wednesday 5th?

-- 
Paul "LeoNerd" Evans

leon...@leonerd.org.uk
ICQ# 4135350   |  Registered Linux# 179460
http://www.leonerd.org.uk/


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[ANNOUNCE] London.pm Dim Sum, Wednesday 3rd March, Docklands

2014-03-03 Thread Tom Hukins
Hi all,

London Perl Mongers will meet for lunchtime Dim Sum this Wednesday at
the Lotus Floating Chinese Restaurant:
http://www.lotusfloating.co.uk/

Dim Sum involves sharing a selection of small dishes amongst a group:
http://www.lotusfloating.co.uk/menu/dim_sum_menu.html

It's a couple of minutes walk away from South Quay DLR and about a ten
minute walk away from Canary Wharf tube:
https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/169119484#map=17/51.49782/-0.01526

I've never been here before, and when I walked past today it was
closed - apparently it's always closed on Mondays - so we'll have to
treat this as an explorative adventure into uncertainty.

As an extra treat, Nicholas Clark is visiting London and will join us
for lunch, hopefully not in dumpling form.

Let's meet outside the restaurant and head inside at 12:50 (to beat
the 1pm office-leaving rush).  If you plan to attend, I'd be grateful
if you let me know in advance.

All are welcome for a casual lunch eating tasty treats whilst
discussing Perl and related matters.

I hope to see you for lunch on Wednesday,
Tom


Re: tablets for parents

2014-03-03 Thread Michael Lush
You could ditch the 3G on the tablet and use a mobile phone as a WiFi
hotspot...  I would assume they already have a mobile and it may work out
cheaper to upgrade their package than get a new one (they should be able to
get unlimited talktime as a bonus and be able to position the phone to get
the best reception (if the 3G is dodgy)


Re: tablets for parents

2014-03-03 Thread Ashley Hindmarsh
>
>
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sun, 2 Mar 2014 21:20:39 +
> From: Nicholas Clark 
> Subject: tablets for parents
> To: london.pm@london.pm.org
> Message-ID: <20140302212039.gh22...@plum.flirble.org>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
> Dear knowledgeable hive mind,
>
> It seems that my parents are finally cracking and amenable to the idea of
> buying a device for the purpose of videoconferencing. My sister and I
> suspect that the right thing is a tablet connected via 3G
>
> (my parents alternate between two locations in southern England, so fixed
> line would mean 2 fixed lines, and two lots of fixed infrastructure, which
> feels like a pain)
>
> So, what is good to get. Specifically
>
> 1) What tablet?
>(with camera, obviously, 3G, and possibly not much else "special")
> 2) What data plan?
>
> You can infer from this that they don't currently have an Internet
> connection, and I don't think that once they get one they are going to
> start
> heavy surfing or high bandwidth activities such as watching videos on
> YouTube or iPlayer.
>
> (They have had the "recording the TV" thing sussed for a decade or more
> now,
> and whilst they have migrated from VHS to hard drives, I don't think that
> they are going to move from the idea of a box under the TV connected to an
> aerial, that they program after circling programmes in a paper listings
> magazine)
>
> I don't think that they care what OS, and I don't think that I do hugely
> either. I just that care it doesn't get abandoned by the manufacturer as
> soon as the next model comes out*, and it needs to work without assuming
> that the owner has a PC for any sort of regular service activity.
>
> My sister has Macs (and a Blackberry too, I think), but is dealing with
> Windows at work, so between us I think we can hand-hold most things.
>
> Nicholas Clark
>
> * So *this* would put me off Windows RT even if it ticked all the other
> boxes,
>   as I can't see how MS are going to sanely sustain 3 different OSes and
>   ecosystems, and I suspect that RT is more than 33% likely to be the one
> for
>   the chop. And even if it isn't, well, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone 7,
>   Windows Phone 8 - they have a pedigree now of dumping their customers.
>
>
My in-laws manage fine with a 3G/wifi dongle/doodad on PAYG. Then you have
to option of finding the best coverage for their location, and decoupling
network from hardware.  I've found HSDPA to be fine for Skype, but maybe
that's just my luck.

Nick - you don't mention screen size?

How about remote support? I'm not sure how that goes on iOS/Android. Very
useful for PC/Mac.

Apart from that... I'd say iPad vs Nexus (on Wifi).

   Ash


Re: tablets for parents

2014-03-03 Thread Sue Spence
I suspect you're probably right about the 3G/4G, assuming that there is
good coverage where they spend their time (really needs to be checked). If
they don't have decent 3G at one location maybe they could consider getting
cheap DSL installed there.   If they don't have good  3G at either place
then one fixed line and they only videoconference from there.  That's still
more often than they do it now. :)

The usual device suggestion for people like your parents is obviously
Apple, but it would be nice to let them try a few first.  Perhaps they
would like a  3G Chromebook.  These are fairly inexpensive.  I had an easy
to use ee 4G dongle which cost about £20 per month for an unlimited plan.
 Just on the off chance that they might prefer a notebook.


On 2 March 2014 21:20, Nicholas Clark  wrote:

> Dear knowledgeable hive mind,
>
> It seems that my parents are finally cracking and amenable to the idea of
> buying a device for the purpose of videoconferencing. My sister and I
> suspect that the right thing is a tablet connected via 3G
>
> (my parents alternate between two locations in southern England, so fixed
> line would mean 2 fixed lines, and two lots of fixed infrastructure, which
> feels like a pain)
>
> So, what is good to get. Specifically
>
> 1) What tablet?
>(with camera, obviously, 3G, and possibly not much else "special")
> 2) What data plan?
>
> You can infer from this that they don't currently have an Internet
> connection, and I don't think that once they get one they are going to
> start
> heavy surfing or high bandwidth activities such as watching videos on
> YouTube or iPlayer.
>
> (They have had the "recording the TV" thing sussed for a decade or more
> now,
> and whilst they have migrated from VHS to hard drives, I don't think that
> they are going to move from the idea of a box under the TV connected to an
> aerial, that they program after circling programmes in a paper listings
> magazine)
>
> I don't think that they care what OS, and I don't think that I do hugely
> either. I just that care it doesn't get abandoned by the manufacturer as
> soon as the next model comes out*, and it needs to work without assuming
> that the owner has a PC for any sort of regular service activity.
>
> My sister has Macs (and a Blackberry too, I think), but is dealing with
> Windows at work, so between us I think we can hand-hold most things.
>
> Nicholas Clark
>
> * So *this* would put me off Windows RT even if it ticked all the other
> boxes,
>   as I can't see how MS are going to sanely sustain 3 different OSes and
>   ecosystems, and I suspect that RT is more than 33% likely to be the one
> for
>   the chop. And even if it isn't, well, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone 7,
>   Windows Phone 8 - they have a pedigree now of dumping their customers.
>


Re: tablets for parents

2014-03-03 Thread Toby Parkins

On 02/03/2014 22:40, Ben Evans wrote:

It would mean putting in fixed infrastructure, but modern smart TVs are
capable of doing Skype.
But is anyone capable of using a IR remote's cursor buttons for typing 
Skype username and password? Let alone navigating the "Smart" TV's menu 
systems.. My parents do struggle with these. Having given them an iPad 
has been a bit step forward though.


My parents have a Panasonic Smart Viera connected to a standard BT
broadband line. It does Skype perfectly fine - in fact provides a much
better video conferencing experience than basically anything else short of
the $100k dedicated infra I've seen in banks.

A smart TV combined with a Freeview box and the catchup services available
on the Smart TV basically do everything my parents want apart from video
games.

YMMV, of course.

Ben


On Sun, Mar 2, 2014 at 9:20 PM, Nicholas Clark  wrote:


Dear knowledgeable hive mind,

It seems that my parents are finally cracking and amenable to the idea of
buying a device for the purpose of videoconferencing. My sister and I
suspect that the right thing is a tablet connected via 3G

(my parents alternate between two locations in southern England, so fixed
line would mean 2 fixed lines, and two lots of fixed infrastructure, which
feels like a pain)

So, what is good to get. Specifically

1) What tablet?
(with camera, obviously, 3G, and possibly not much else "special")
2) What data plan?

You can infer from this that they don't currently have an Internet
connection, and I don't think that once they get one they are going to
start
heavy surfing or high bandwidth activities such as watching videos on
YouTube or iPlayer.

(They have had the "recording the TV" thing sussed for a decade or more
now,
and whilst they have migrated from VHS to hard drives, I don't think that
they are going to move from the idea of a box under the TV connected to an
aerial, that they program after circling programmes in a paper listings
magazine)

I don't think that they care what OS, and I don't think that I do hugely
either. I just that care it doesn't get abandoned by the manufacturer as
soon as the next model comes out*, and it needs to work without assuming
that the owner has a PC for any sort of regular service activity.

My sister has Macs (and a Blackberry too, I think), but is dealing with
Windows at work, so between us I think we can hand-hold most things.

Nicholas Clark

* So *this* would put me off Windows RT even if it ticked all the other
boxes,
   as I can't see how MS are going to sanely sustain 3 different OSes and
   ecosystems, and I suspect that RT is more than 33% likely to be the one
for
   the chop. And even if it isn't, well, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone 7,
   Windows Phone 8 - they have a pedigree now of dumping their customers.



--

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HeadForwards

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Re: tablets for parents

2014-03-03 Thread Peter Sergeant
On Sun, Mar 2, 2014 at 9:20 PM, Nicholas Clark  wrote:

> 1) What tablet?
>(with camera, obviously, 3G, and possibly not much else "special")
>

No-one ever got disinherited for buying an iPad. Combine it with a £70
Apple TV, and you can give them Netflix and LOVEFiLM as well as easy access
to your and your sister's Flickr account for slideshows.


> 2) What data plan?
>

Is going to be a function of who gets the best reception where they live. I
happily watch Netflix on my Three account, and that was before it was 4G.
They also have some pretty reasonably priced PAYG plans for data. But if
your two locations in the South get spotty Three coverage, you'll need
another solution.

-P