downtide

I think it's an inherent usablity issue. The two functions I'd like from a smart phone (other than calls and SMS), is mapping and the odd web lookup. I've currently got a Blackberry as a hand me down with the old form factor: half screen, half keyboard. Personally the keyboard is too much of a nuisance for me, and most websites just don't work that well on it. To the point, I'll only use it, if I really have to. So most of the time, I have an oversized item in my pocket, that I don't really care for, that runs out of battery quickly, and makes me curse daily.

A classic old phone (small nokia form factor) with WAP style browsing would actually suit me more.

But actually I think it's more a matter of coming up with a user interface that can work with a small screen. Pure text isn't that bad.

I've always hated the www prefix. But understand the technical gains of using one. If you are a domain owner, subdomains give you quite a bit of flexibility. You can always use a different prefix than www.

I'm on Linux with Xfce. I have tried and failed to get a dark theme working. It's difficult to match across toolkits.

I've had web browsers that default to white screen flashing on new tabs, and most don't respect your native theme.

My current workaround]in Firefox is to disable background images, set default foreground/background and link colours. Set a default font, and ensure font sizes don't fall below a certain size.

Some text inputs have a dark background and a dark font. Which makes things very difficult. I'm typing blind.

Another issue is that many designs use background images where you would expect foreground placement. For example Instagram doesn't work for me. Slack is usable, but some image previews are lost. Other sites that rely upon imagery for navigation can pose a problem. The compose window in Gmail, I have to use mystery meat navigation to work out each button's function. Which is quite poor.

I've tried setting my own stylesheets in browsers where you can, but it's easy to break layouts.

Obviously accessibility is still overlooked by many site designers.

I also don't like being stuck in one browser, so a better cross application solution is preferable, rather than site specific fixes.

> Say buying a $200 desktop with a wireless keyboard and mouse. Many desktop OSs just don't cater for the TV experience. The UIs are horrid. I tried using a Windows PC with Win 8 on a 32inch TV. I pushed all the accessibility settings to the max, and it still was barely usable. I had to get on my knees in front of it to use it. I tried some of the TV catch up services in the browser, no fun either.

9s are easy if you know how:

http://www.trachtenbergsystem.org/multiplication-9/

As a consumer you still get that sinking feeling of something that doesn't quite work. it's all glitchy.

Has Bluetooth been bettered? I was hoping V4 would iron out wrinks. Wireless applications that are simple to use could be really, really great. That's what I thought the initial promise of Bluetooth was. I have some simple wants, like file exchange, control a media player remotely etc. Send audio output to another device etc.

The last office I worked in, a colleague had a modern Apple laptop, and he had connection issues with the wireless router. It wouldn't connect. Lots of fudging about with it. A fix was falling back to a slower speed to get it to work. There are issues with most hardware and software.

The wireless issues/fixes suggested for my HP are pretty ridiculous, removing drivers, installing in a certain order, barring updates etc. Very technical.

I don't think I've ever owned a machine/OS that hasn't had some problem, including an old Apple.

I've a HP Windows 8.1 machine, added an Intel wireless card with Bluetooth. Bluetooth pretty much disappears after a suspend. And networking can sometimes die and only recover after a reboot. The control panels/diagnostics for both networking and bluetooth are also really sucky (and admin in general on 8.1 is pretty horrible). So don't be under the illusion that Windows is any better.

Bluetooth, how it works, how to use it on Linux is also an Enigma. And that's been patchy on my Thinkpad, but I haven't had that much of a joyous experience using Bluetooth on any device.

In short: 'they' could all try harder.

I mainly use Debian stable and Xfce, the latter of has a few annoying issues. I bought a cheap windows box, and hoped to use it as a work machine as you have described. But I have networking issues and other annoyances with my Intel wireless card. Bluetooth falls over as soon as the machine hits suspend, and when I loose WIFI signal, only a reboot recovers. Windows 8.1 is a crapfest, and it feels like a botched together repackaged version of Windows (the UI and admin UI is horrible). My Debian box is far more reliable. Anyway the grass isn't always greener... I remember when the Linux desktop space was really exciting and innovating. I'm still after something better.

I should rephrase that then. The plain text is very portable. And easier to edit and read than RTF. That's not to say that there aren't good RTF editors out there. Even HTML is more readable.

I wouldn't say I was representative of the market. But I would like a good product. How do you define the market?

Which market are you referring to?

I still crave for a really nice word processor, spreadsheet, and easy database app (in the style of Access). I've always found *Office a bit rough around the edges.

My partner recently brought home an iPad from work. Word failed to play well with other (MS Word) Office documents, so file exchange and formats are still a complete pain in the neck. I will be using plain text until something better comes along.

We have a negative impact on nature, we should all kill ourselves now ;)

You can have it after me.

I think you need an AWS account. Then login, go to dashboard->route 53. But there is no option for the .bot tld yet.

Perhaps keep an eye on this list: http://docs.aws.amazon.com/Route53/latest/DeveloperGuide/reg...

Looking through that Gandi seem to be a strong associate, they are pre-reserving there.

I figure that as this is an Amazon product it will most likely be available through their domain registration via Route 53.

After wading through the control panel, I finally found the domain registration section. But there is no .bot option as yet.

Judging by the pricing of other boutique TLDs, listed there, it will probably be a rip off. (Yup, all pure conjecture on my part.)

How do I get one? What's the price on the tin?

Like many things, clients could do with some usability enhancements. E.g. encrypted mail. Without which, I find it off-putting.