Posts by Mr Pedantic
19 posts • joined Friday 18th January 2008 20:55 GMT
80/20
That's because Labour's Boundaries Commission moved the voting boundaries to ensure that they could win certain key seats with less votes. For instance, entire towns were moved from The Wirral to Merseyside, or from Warwickshire to West Midlands. And by moving a boundary a little bit to the North, South, East or West, they could make sure that seat had a majority of labour voters and far fewer Tory or LibDem voters to challenge them.
Posted in Why an embedded OS is like a mammal
Blue endoscope of death
You don't want a blue screen of death when using an endoscope pretty much sums up why Microsoft does so poorly in the embedded market.
Gun counting giant robot cockroach, indeed!
@Mr Young: I would be scared of a gun counting giant robot cockroach too. Actually, come to think of it, I wouldn't. I can just imagine a rather camp robot cockroach with an inferiority complex, scuttling around counting its array of armaments and comparing its firepower to the big cock roaches. It would forever be accumulating more firepower in a bid to out-count the other robots, and wouldn't have time to shoot any humans.
"Your" a buffoon, sir!
"...seen out of the window on the side of the plane your not seated on".
I applaud the feds in this directive as I've always found it frustating when the pilot mentions sights to be seen out of the window on the side of the plane "MY" not seated on.
I wonder if any other readers feel the same frustration when the pilot mentions sights to be seen out of the window on the side of the plane "their" not seated on? :)
Ryanair
@AC 21:45 - I'll gladly charge Ryanair a quid every time I pee. In fact they can be charge(d) a tenner a pop. I'll just make sure I go a few times during the flight so it pays for itself.
@Andus - haha, well said!
Vorsprung durch technik?
Whatever happened to German orderliness and precision? Das ist nicht in Ordnung!
Robot fleshy slaves?
I'm sure there's a robot fetish / fleshy slave angle there somewhere. Can you guys do a playmobil reconstruction to provide some inspiration?
Paris, because she'd make the ideal robotic fleshy slave.
Where did the 0.03 go?
So, apparently Taiwanese smartphone chip makers shipped 116.97 units... what happened to the 0.03 unit? Was the chip slightly chipped?
Adjective indeed
That's funny. I thought "friending" was the present continuous of "to friend", which is a verb.
Shows you how much I know! Now where's my copy of "Far From The Friending Crowd"? :)
T-Mobile, "tethering", and batteries
T-Mobile offer "Web'n'Walk Plus" for an additional £5 a month, and that allows using the handset as a modem (i.e. "thethering") and up to 3GB fair usage. Over that amount, they restrict your connections to http requests only at peak times.
The downside is that the latency is horrible. I don't know if other 3G networks are the same. Comparing 3G "broadband" with real broadband, it can sometimes take several seconds for a page to start loading, and sometimes for each element on the page.
Incidentally, I'm using a USB connection, even though I have a bluetooth modem profile set up. I just find that it feels that bit quicker.
As noted in the article, the worst side to using a handset as a modem is the drain on the battery. I find I have to keep my N95 on charge the whole time I use it as a modem, otherwise the battery goes after a disappointingly short time. What made Nokia choose not to use USB to charge the handset anyway?
But...
But will it run any faster?
Noone has mentioned geothermal
Supposedly, the problem with wind power is the variability of the wind.
The answer is to drill a really deep bore hole into the ground and let the temperature gradient between the surface and the underground drive a fluid-driven turbine.
The great thing is, in the winter when demand is higher, the temperature gradient is higher. In other words, geothermal produces more power in the winter.
As the earth is constantly producing heat, you get constant power - and there are no complaints about spoiling the view or killing birds, and no CO2 produced once the construction is completed. To save on construction costs, they could use disused mineshafts and drill down further.
It is now even possible to use geothermal to heat your own home. You can choose to dig a deep bore, or if you have enough lawn, you can lay the pipes under the lawn.
Lords want to increase CPS powers, according to Reg article
You say "Their Lordships' second report renews a call for the government to do more to protect the public cybercrimes such as identity theft scams and auction fraud."
So in other words the Lords want to extend the Criminal Protection Service's remit to include protecting cybercriminals, alongside burglars and muggers against law-abiding citizens who legitimately protect their persons and property.
If this goes ahead, report a cybercrime and you may find the CPS coming after you for slandering the cybercriminal.
Posted in Microsoft denies Lite-On Blu-ray rumour
Clever Semantics
If you read carefully, it says:
Microsoft said: “No. Lite-On is not manufacturing Blu-ray drives for Xbox 360”.
Note the use of the present tense. In other words, Lite-On is not *presently* manufacturing Blu-ray driver for Xbox 360. This doesn't preclude Lite-On (or even another manufacturer) making Blu-ray drives for Xbox 360 in the near future.
Of course, Microsoft will understandably deny the existence of a new model until current inventory has been sold.
Remember Microsoft denying that Windows 95 would run on top of MS-DOS? "Plus ca change..."
Posted in Vodafone USB Modem 7.2
No Mention Of Fair usage?
I wonder, at 7.2Mbps, how quickly one could use up one's paltry 1GB monthly fair usage download limit?
Posted in Samsung YP-P2 personal media player
Flash-alkalis? I think not!
Alun Taylor says "the P2 occupies something of a no-man's land between smaller and lighter Flash-bases players with a similar memory capacity".
Well, Alun, I assure you that there are no Flash-bases players on the market today. It is something you have entirely made up. I'm sorry, but you can't extrapolate that Flash-bases players are a larger version of Flash-acids players, just because they have a higher pH. In this case, chemistry and technology do not make salt + water.
Mmmmm! Candy
"It has been like walking around in a candy story"
Sounds like Mickos has been reading too many stories where the sherbet dip uncovers the liquorice allsort as the perpetrator of a gruesome crime.
proof by hat?
You say "hat's prove sufficient" - since when do belonging to hat prove sufficient for anything?
I thought english-speaking journalists were supposed to have a good knowledge of grammar?
