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John Griffiths

Listed below are comments made by John Griffiths between Friday, 11th July 2008 and Tuesday, 29th September 2009.

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Button deserves credit for rearguard fight 11:46am on 29 Sep 2009 To all those saying Button is only ahead because of the early season form of his car, I wonder how many of you also supported Schumacher through his dominant years or Hakkinen?

Now, I'm in no way saying that Button is a better driver than Schumey - because he isn't - although one could certainly argue he is a fairer driver. Ferrari and McLaren were the dominant teams in the late 90s and early part of this decade. Nothing took that away from Schumey winning, nor of Mansel back in his day. Even Hill struggled to get over the final line in 1996.

Button barely made a mistake in those first six or seven races whereas Barrichello was all over the place. Not to mention Button in many a race having to pull out a final decent quali lap or a good overtaking move to get into a race-winning position.

And, of course, Hamilton never had a dominant season at the front, losing and winning his first two years by a single point and making lots of mistakes. But I don't think anyone could deny his driving ability either.

Button may not have won here in Singapore this weekend, but he drove a stunning race to make up for his mistakes of qualifying to get ahead of Barrichello - and it's not the first time that Barrichello hasn't been able to step up to the mark to stay ahead of someone when it really mattered.

If Button is undeserving of the title, who is? Hamilton's driven a great few recent races but is too far back. Vettel has made too many mistakes and not capitalised - and Webber's heart isn't in it. Barrichello has also made far too many mistakes.

The only person who has been stunningly consistent no matter what the form of his car - and not crack under pressure - has been Button.

And let's not forget that wonderful drive to victory in Monaco either.
Pick your classic Belgian Grand Prix 12:23pm on 26 Aug 2009 Surely it's got to be carnage-ridden 1998! If I recall it was all pretty much DC's fault at the start!!!
Apple - angering the fans? 09:18am on 10 Jun 2009 I understand the predicament that no current iPhone 3G users are eligable (apart from those who spent £400 on PAYG and are unlikely to fork out again so soon).

But why should iPhone users be special? O2 kindly subsidised a £400 machine for us last year, so that I could pick up my 16GB top-of-the-range version for just £59. I'm still paying for the rest through my 18-month service agreement. How does that entitle me to get another one, mid-way through the contract?

The original iPhone upgrade was different. O2 did not subsidise the original iPhone. Instead, Apple offered the device at a discounted rate (i.e. £269 instead of £400) for O2 to sell on at full price. To compensate, Apple took a share of the monthly service revenue.

Now I, like everyone else (and all mobile subscription customers everywhere), will have to wait until about November before I can upgrade. This will mean that I will most likely miss out on next year's upgrade but get the following year's on launch date.

Of course we could have it worse: US customers on AT&T are all stuck on 24 month contracts and so none of them will be able to get the new version for another year.

Still, Apple and the service providers could avoid this whole hassle by offering 12 month contracts or 18 month upgrade cycles...

Queues on the 19th still? Don't discount it!
Cue some iPhone fever 10:37am on 08 Jun 2009 Sigh.. people complaining about Apple being in the news again. The iPhone is big and still newsworthy two and half years on. It fact, its relevance is even bigger now and will continue to grow, the more copycats lazy rival manufacturers make.

Let's not forget here, what product is responsible for the billions of capacitative touch screen phones now flooding the market? For the conversation style SMS that every one now has, the many app stores and marketplaces, plus the general sexiness of new phones?

Apple woke up the yawning music industry and then tossed egg in the face of the mobile executives who said that with the iPhone Apple should "stick to its knitting!"

The Palm Pre may have launched on Saturday but unfortunately for them, Apple will raise the bar again today. It would be a brave executive who predicts that this new product won't continue to pave the future.

One more thing... I wouldn't be surprised if "you know who" pops out to do the keynote today. Just a gut feeling.
Does Wolfram work? 11:06am on 19 May 2009 Oh, I thought of one more reason it will fail:

4) Google has become a verb, the very meaning to many people of an internet search. "Google it" has become synonymous with search, just as 'iPod' has become synonymous with 'music player'. Therefore, nothing else matters, however good rival products are, and that includes Wolfram Alpha. And once Google Squared is finished, I'm afraid to say that Wolfram Alpha will be finished too.
Does Wolfram work? 10:57am on 19 May 2009 Ultimately, I think Wolfram Alpha will fail for 3 reasons:

1) It feels geeky. That alone will prevent it from being adopted by the mainstream. Everything from the name to the look and feel, not to mention it's sciency intentions could limit its audience to mathematicians, scientists and students.

2) Can users trust it? The 'knowledge' comes from its own servers and data sources, with little or no indication of source. Whereas from the internet, the user gets the perception of control: you can find out for yourself which websites look trustworthy and which search results don't and make your own judgement based on the common answer given by many. Wolfram Alpha gives one answer and one answer only - its own answer - with nothing to verify by. And can you really trust a computer to interpret a wordy version of a mathematical formula correctly every time?

3) Limited scope. Partly related to point 1, it is great as a fact-finding tool for certain pub quiz or trivial persuit questions (at least the ones in the geography or science categories) but next to useless when trying to find out news, opinion, anything entertainment related and the like. And Wikipedia, for example, does all these things already for no more amount of hassle.
It's all up in the air 12:09pm on 16 Apr 2009 Hi Jake

Thanks for the blog; keep it coming. I have to say that from own humble opinion that the BBC coverage has been spot on so far. There's a good bit of banter between EJ and DC, and I like your smooth style and ability to keep things calm when the debate between the pundits heats up!

I think the background coverage and analysis is also very good, and your blog offers a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at what did and didn't go to plan - and we get to realise that presenters are ordinary people too!

More of the same please.

Oh and a moot point but actually the A380 isn't made by Boeing...

John
Apple backlash? 3:37pm on 31 Jul 2008 The fact that this particular blog item exists just shows how the BBC has managed to make a mountain out of a molehill. We've already had Rory Cethlan-Jones' over-reactive response in his own blog comment yesterday.

Almost anyone reading Stephen Fry's infamous column this week will notice that this 'jibe at the BBC' was merely a harmless closing sentance in a paragraph of wit. Had this blog not kicked up such a stink I probably wouldn't have even noticed it, let alone remembered it five minutes later.

But the funny thing is that recently the BBC Technology website has shown a slightly obsessive and weird air of caution towards any Apple-related news - as Rory admitted himself this week - but to the point that it's now become positive discrimination against the subject. I would even go as far as to say that some newsworthy Apple stories have deliberately not been written for this very reason.

Apple is one of the leading innovators in the technology space right now, like or it or not. Even to those who hate the mere mention of the iPhone have to admit that it is the driving force behind all mobile technology, and that its lack of a 5MP camera is, on the grand scheme of things, neither here nor there, even if it would be nice to have. The same can be said for the iPod and iTunes Stores, which have literally created huge and very profitable markets.

I think there is plenty of coverage of other companies, products and platforms besides Apple and that it's simpy time for the BBC Technology department to put the prejudice behind them, grow up, and return to the impartiality over what items will be published that we have come to expect from the BBC.

This small issue aside, this site is otherwise 100% spot on.
Phone apps - open or closed? 12:21pm on 11 Jul 2008 I managed to get my iPhone 3G this morning and am only just getting a chance to try the app store. So far, the whole iPhone experience has been great (I'm new to iPhone).

But do you really need to apologise every time you write an Apple-related article?

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John Griffiths