Random Dumber Generator

Another BBC Weather exclusive, here's the prediction for this weekend's Sepang race.

There's about a 50-50 chance of rain on raceday and about a 40% chance for practice and qualifying. I suspect we may get another rain enlivened race especially as Malaysian storms can blow up quickly (as last year's race stopping downpour showed).

Last time out pundits were slating Bahrain as a snorefest, now those same pundits are offering the Aussie GP as evidence that it was too hasty condemnation... Idiots!

What we had in Australia was some drizzle, a safety car and a track which lends itself to overtaking.

F1 is far from fixed.

Pity poor Sebastian Vettel though, who seems certain to fall foul of the Red Bull jinx - despite being the fastest car/driver combination so far, he's already 25 points behind Alonso at the head of the leaderboard...

Not his Mclaren fortunately but his Mercedes loan car. Apparently local law enforcement took exception to Lewis performing a burn out on his way out of the track and have impounded his car for 48 hours.

Can't see what their problem is really, its not like he isn't one of the world's greatest drivers and probably more under control of things than the average cop at their most attentive. Frankly I'd give him a medal for livening the image of Grand Prix drivers up a bit...

Rather reminds me of the excellent Hamilton, Alonso, Hakinnen advert that Mercedes used a couple of years ago, before that particular partnership fell apart.

After a pretty dismal start to the season in Bahrain the one thing the Virgin team didn't need was more bad publicity. So having to admit that the fuel tanks in their cars aren't big enough to get them to the end of a race seems like a particularly awkward thing to have to admit.

The team are claiming that changes in the regulations meant their initial design was compromised, yet all the other teams seem to avoided that particular pratfall...

I'm not a big fan of Nick Wirth, Virgin team boss, (anyone who remembers Imola 1994 will know why) so the only disappointment for me is that the FIA are allowing them to modify their car to fit a bigger tank.  Still the sight of them trundling around pointless for the next few races will provide plenty of amusement...

Here's a new service from the BBC that should pump some additional (and much needed) excitement into a Grand Prix weekend: detailed weather forecasts based on the same data the teams are using to decide their strategy.

How will the Beeb's prediction of possible rain at the end of the race on Sunday liven up the early morning as we ponder how the teams will plan their strategy armed with this knowledge?

Personally I'd start on the hard tyre and aim to manage it until around ten laps from the end when either a single stop onto wets will suffice or a dry weather stop onto the super-soft for a banshee thrash to the finish...

This might just be a killer app for Android, certainly I know of no equivalent on the Windows Mobile platform. My Tracks records your journeys, runs, rides or any movement related activity and then allows you to upload to Google Maps and Docs.

So for example on my journey back from Manchester today I travelled 43.3 miles at an average of 47.7mph, was stationery for one minute and hit a max speed of 91.7mph.

I can see this being something of an addictive program to have running in the background during car journeys to give real feedback when travelling.

I'd like to see the next version of the application store the speed at each point of the journey so that you can click on the route at any point and discover just how quickly (or slowly) you were travelling, otherwise its a pretty perfect application which delivers exactly what it promises...

O2 have slashed the price on the Palm Pre - reducing the overall cost of the cheapest Pre tariff by £99. Which is all well and good, especially as it now includes three EA games, however I don't see that as the sort of incentive that will tempt buyers from the iPhone, Android or Windows Mobile.

The Pre is in real trouble right now, its selection of applications is limited, its only available from one network and its competition is getting stronger by the day, with new Android phones arriving in April (the X10 range, Nexus and its HTC half-brothers); Apple due to announce the fourth generation iPhone this summer and Windows Phone 7 Series arriving this year. Palm has little to offer by comparison and its bet on WebOS seems to be failing - and badly. Once again the company has announced another quarter of losses and you have to wonder just how much cash they have left to burn through.

In order to survive Palm has two options as far as I can see: Android or Microsoft. The former should…

So here's a quick summary of what Microsoft have got planned for WP7S. No multitasking, no sideloading of software, no memory card slots, no UI customisation and now no clipboard functionality.

Someone at Redmond has seriously misunderstood the reason for the iPhone's success. It's not because its locked down, prescriptive and controlled that its been a success, its in spite of that.

It really does appear that Microsoft set out to slavishly copy the iPhone and didn't even have the nous to work out which bits were worth copying and which bits were best left out.

And irony of ironies, it looks like the next generation iPhone will be getting true multitasking. Which will probably be the final nail in Microsoft's mobile platform's coffin.

Want to see the gentle art of spin in action? Then have a look at the way sales figures of the iPhone, Droid and Nexus One are being portrayed on various pro-Android and pro-Apple sites.

The Droid has managed to outsell the original iPhone trumpets one side, the Nexus One has been a complete flop shouts the other.

Neither headline portrays the real story and for that you have to dig a bit deeper.

The original iPhone sold a million in 74 days and the Droid managed 50,000 more in the same period. Good,  but then the iPhone 3G hit the million mark in less than a week. It's all about the context. The iPhone was only available in the US for most of those 74 days, whilst the Droid was available in a few selected other countries too.  The 3G was available worldwide from day one.

The Nexus One figures hide the fact that its only available stateside, on a minor carrier and can only be bought online. In that context selling 135,000 units in 74 days looks pretty impressive,  especially as…

Microsoft finally killed all hopes of a HD2 WP7S update yesterday at MIX10 - using the incredibly feeble excuse that the current WM flagship device has too many buttons. 

I can understand why Microsoft wants to enforce some standards on its new platform, buy people buying the HD2 over the last few months have had several indications that an upgrade would be available and probably wouldn't have made an expensive commitment to the device knowing that this wasn't the case.

The only possible ray of hope for HD2 buyers is that HTC decide to release a compatible build (officially or otherwise) or something leaks through PDA-Developers...

It's not a good way of building customer loyalty for a platform under pressure and hopefully the backlash will be sufficient to force a rethink in Redmond...

So there was little in the way of overtaking in Bahrain, not helped by Bridgestone's decision to bring tyres with an almost unlimited life.  If the super-soft tyres can last 20 laps in Sakhir's heat by the time they get to Belgium they'll be able to last the whole weekend with one set.

Big winner was of course Fernando Alonso - the sixth man to win on his Ferrari debut - but only after Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull threw a shoe (well, an exhaust technically).

Worryingly even Mclaren's trick stallable rear wing - which gave it a 6mph straight line advantage - wasn't enough to get Button past Schumacher, suggesting that we'll not be in for a classic season of balls to the wall racing...

Still Melbourne promises a different experience - hopefully.

Last week Opera released a native version of its Mini browser for both Android and Windows Mobile. I've now tried it on both platforms and its a pretty impressive piece of software.  It's much quicker than the default Android browser and Internet Explorer Mobile.

Of course Windows Mobile has a wide selection of browsers including some server side rendering options like Skyfire which add functionality over and above Opera. For Android users its a real boon though and well worth a download from the marketplace.

How likely does it sound that an American driver was hijacked by his Prius and taken on a high speed run down the highway?

I mean come on, if your throttle sticks open how difficult is it to dip the clutch, select neutral and bring the car to a halt before killing the engine with the key?

Sounds like a blatant attempt to extract money from Toyota if you ask me...

Apple's case against HTC revolves around twenty patents - all apparently granted in the US. The US Patent Office is not exactly notorious for the quality or rigour in its examination of software patent applications, so perhaps it would be worth looking at the likely validity of some of those patents.

First up the patent for the 'Time-Based, Non- Constant Translation Of User Interface Objects Between States'. Reading the patent paperwork there appear to be two claims here: one over transition effects when minimising or restoring a window and the other is the automatic re-shuffling of icons in a line or grid when one of those icons is moved or removed. The former technology is well established and I struggle to see how this part of the patent stands up to scrutiny: Windows XP was doing window animations as far back as 2003 and there were several utilities for Windows and Classic MacOS that also delivered similar functionality. Not to mention the shape changing functionality i…

Looks like anyone moving to WP7S won't be doing with anything legacy.  In recent days Microsoft have confirmed that no current devices will meet WP7S hardware specs and that there is no backward compatibility for applications.

That's a huge blow for people who bought the HD2 expecting to be able to upgrade it. I'm sure that people who have heavy investment in Windows Mobile software won't be over the moon either.

Developers seem to be split down the middle, with some enthusiastic about the new platform,  others not happy about having to start again from scratch.

Whatever else happens though I'm struggling to see how Microsoft are going to avoid the Osborne effect killing WM6 sales stone dead. Next to no one will be investing in software or hardware that will be obsolete in six months time. And as those sales fall off I'm sure that many hardware OEMs will be left with unsaleable inventory, just what you need with today challenging market conditions...

Apple's game of 'make the rules up as we go along' for apps in the iTunes store took a bizarre turn today. Apple changed the rules for WiFi applications killing WiFi scanners and location based applications which use WiFi in the absence of a GPS signal. Guess what? They're all banned.

Apple really do seem to be hell bent on playing the role of Big Brother and dictating exactly how you may use its products.

For the life of me I can see no reasonable reason for this decision.  Not even one that points to an Apple scheme for expanding its profits/control further.

With the failure of USF1 to take up its entry for the forthcoming season it would seem only logical that Stefan GP be allowed entry in its place. The team has been assembled from the remnants of the Toyota operation and would appear, on the surface at least, to have the funds and will to become a serious competitor.
The FIA has taken a different view however, deciding that it is too late for a team to be entered as a replacement for the failed American operation of former Williams man Peter Windsor. That's nonsense and no amount of fancy wording can cover it up. The FIA needs USF1 because the FIA needs America's involvement in F1, the failure to fill this vacancy is all about keeping USF1's slot open for next season.
At the very least give the slot to Stefan GP for the 2010 season with the rider that their entry for 2011 and onwards will be subject to the standard entry process being proposed for selection of the 13th team in 2011

As if the video for Here It Goes Again wasn't impressive enough here's the latest release from OK Go - This Too Shall Pass - if anything its even more impressive. They may not be the greatest band in the world, but they're peerless when it comes to the promo video.

Apple launched a patent infringement case against HTC today, claiming abuse in twenty different Apple patents ranging back as far as 1995. Reading through the patents there are some that are deeply technical and some that sound unenforceable (turning off power to a processor when its not in use, comms between camera and phone device) and others that will take years of code mining and legal to-ing an fro-ing to decide.

What's clear though is that this is Apple's first assault in the forthcoming head to head with Google - significant not least because it suggests that Apple no longer sees Microsoft as a valid competitor and because it clearly demarcates the lines of battle. Mobile OS (in the shape of Android) will be the first major killing ground and from there we'll no doubt see Chromium and web applications and who knows what else drawn into the battle.

Google has clearly got Apple spooked.

Why? Well I'd suggest its because the two companies occupy opposite ends of the s…

We often hear about movie franchises being rebooted - usually because the content has become weak and the storyline confusing. Often its because the director has delivered a movie of such appalling quality that no movie goer would ever pay money to go see that franchise again.

Things aren't quite that bad in Android land, but Google needs to seriously consider how it carries the platform forward.

At the moment its possible to buy handsets with four different versions of the OS installed. This affects the way the phone runs and what software will be available in the application market. Imagine the frustration of a new smartphone buyer who picks up an Android 1.5 device in the expectation of being able to use navigation or Goggles only to find that they are barred by their OS version.

Not the sort of customer experience that Google's name implies and hardly likely to get end users raving about their phones. I'd suggest that Google needs to separate the OEM or Operator level c…