Posts by DR

@Oh, come on! Use your brains.

my thoughts exactly,

if you were able to search pervious posts made here then you;d see that i'm not the greatest iphone lover, in fact I've said many time how crap I think the device is.

but for all of that money you;re getting a lot more than just a shiny new phone.

the plan I'm on, I pay £35 a month, (and gave my upgrade phone to a friend as I was happy with the one I had after taking out my original contract).

I'm happy to pay £35 a month for what I use, and find that fair. certainly when I used PAYG I was using a lot more money each month, and when I'd got a cheaper contract that didn't have as much included goodies I'd frequently exceed my limits and end up paying more.

so what we really have here is (for my example at least) and extra £10 per month, for a nice phone, or £180, and to be fair, that's still cheaper than buying one on ebay.

freeware developers expect thanks?

Having released my own stuff as freeware, I can say that I never expected any thanks, the very fact that there were people actually downloading and using the stuff I'd made was enough to warm my cockles and make me think that it was worthwhile.

Why oh why is it that

I work for a small company and we fastidiously backup everything and can recover from massive losses and failures in a matter of days, possibly even hours. yet these big companies with shed loads of important data can't seen to have some sort of decent backup strategy that can recover data cheaply.

I mean he deleted data FFS.

put tape in drive,

run restore job.

how hard can it be?

how does it take days, (or more importantly) how does it take millions for these companies to recover data?

what???

"All sites need do - according to Microsoft at least - is complete the relatively simply task of inserting a tag in their code in order to render pages in IE 8's default standards mode - the new, web-standards compatible version of IE rendering. Sites that don't insert the tag won't render properly, and will be viewed in IE's non-standards "compatible view" mode."

So in order to make IE8 standards compliant I have to tell the browser to use a mode...

ummm, not thanks, I'll just keep writting code that is standard and wait for MS to put standards on as default...

developers already have to write so much exceptions in their pages to make IE work. but surel MS should adopt the approach of lets try to reduce that rather than one more won't hurt?

dear oh dear

I've now started wasting time virtually wandering the streets that I actually live in.

dammit

they never said which one failed first...

now how are the zelots going to argue abut which is best...

@AC iOpus Starr *is* malware

umm.. I don't use, (and therefore don't want IE).

by your definitions this is malware and all computers running windows are infected?

Virus scanners report malware and viruses, not legitimately installed software...

if you started tagging all legitimately installed software as a virus or malware then you'd only serve to put people in a position where they are told it's OK to ignore the messages from the virus scanner because it's probably ok, just another false positive, something that you need on there...

@ comment above

"Apple isn't perfect. They were the first to make USB useful,"

I fail to see how the USB implementation on the iphone is any better than the USB implementation on my windows smart phone, I use it to download and install apps, (if I don't want to use the built in wifi, or GRPS connection on my phone).

I use it for syncing my calendar, I use it for connecting my phone as a modem, I use it for copying files.

I fail to see how it's done any better on an iphone than on any other device.

It's not that I hate the iPhone, it's just that like the article says, it is behind the times, and the *new* features, are really anything but new features. -at least they aren't new to the rest of the world.

really

because linking to www.porn.com or www.porn.com:81

I don't see much difference, it's not going to reduce internet pron.

it's not going to make it harder to find.

and it'll still be logged by search engines that follow links...

so this will have how much effect of stopping internet porn? (unless we count the internet as only things that happen on port 80)

internet lawyer alert (i.e I don't technically know what I'm talking about)

he broke the law.

he hacked into computer systems,

and however funny his reasoning it doesn't mean that he didn't break the law. and it doesn't mean that he shouldn't be tried in the country in which he broke the law.

if he genuinely incurred costs by putting in methods so he could get back in after dinner or something then he should pay for that.

if the costs incurred (as claimed by the us mil) are just the cost of fixing the existing holes in their systems then this shouldn't even form part of the case.

If a burglar broke into your house because you were yet to install windows you could prosecute for unlawful trespass, but you couldn't claim that he had to pay for your cost to secure your house.

the costs that they are claiming he incurred are besides the point though. he still broke the law. he broke the law in this country and he broke the law in America too. and he should be tried for his crimes (that he admits he committed) in a court of law.

if they want to reduce numbers

if they want to reduce violent crime, then surely they need to make people more aware.

this mean that on the 1st of jan you start a murder count for the year, in headlines on a paper, and you continue that death toll throughout the whole year.

it's useless to say that on the 1st of march 90 people had been stabbed because that's a breif and fleeting headline that is forgotten about the next day.

if you want to raise awareness as a way of reducing the numbers then you need to push the numbers onto people every day.

then people will not want to be the next statistic, people carrying knives, (knife carriers are more likely to get stabbed) would then surely have to think twice about carrying a knife.

(and they should just do away with those knife amnesties, all that seems to do is serve as a bin for people to put their old kitchen knives into the bin, and being as there is a home wares shop in practically every town it's not like they are genuinely reducing the amount of knives on the street as they are easily replaced.

it really wouldn't surprise me

if there were just a PC inside of an ATM.

I don't know why but I've been shocked plenty of times to discover that things that look clever in fact only have old and aging PC's inside running on old OS's that surely must have many flaws.

bit missing

so the technology detects that there is a bit missing by looking at the gravity,

sounds good.

mass of ground creates gravity, take mass away = less gravity...

so what if you line the tunnels with lead?

take air filled dirt mass away and replace with air filled denser than dirt mass surely a ton of dirt and a ton of lead have the same mass, and same gravity, or an I just missing something in pointing out a fairly obvious flaw.

(I assume the same is true of steel as well, though you may have to opt for smaller passages).

title

"Universities get paid to stamp out graduates so they're clearly going to take the simplest path."

Ummm, clearly you don't know what you;re talking about.

Universities are paid tutition fees, regardless of how many people graduate, people pay for their learning, not the certificate at the end. regardless of whether you pass or fail you pay the same amount.

In fact those that fail would usually re-take a year or more of studies, universities could make more money by not passing more people.

"Or I could do A levels followed by a degree in media studies and jump straight in the jobs market after 5 yrs learning with a good chance of earning 22K a yr as a starting rate"

You REALLY think that?

could it be that UK engineering is in decline because all the UK engineers are self important self righteous idiots who spend their days surfing the internet rather than actually working?

ok perhaps that was over the top.

but as someone else pointed out above, nobody is guaranteed a job regardless of what they do as a degree subject.

as it is I think that everyone knows of or has heard of a "designer" that has some degree in a bachelor of arts that gets paid ten times as much as the bachelor, (or even master) or engineering that they'd grew up with just for drawing swirls all day.

but then I challenge you to actually do that? go on, draw a logo, lets see how successful it is, don't believe me that it's shit? show it to some honest friends.

I have friends who graduated in media subject who are now flipping burgers. whilst I'm earning more doing a job in IT.

To be honest I believe that the real reason that UK engineering is in decline is that it's difficult. it takes a long time to actually get good at, and a long time to progress through the industry. so a lot of people just don't bother.

(and I say this as a graduate in engineering, who also managed to retain respect for other people and the work that they can do).

windows mobile

I have a windows mobile.

it is much better than an iphone for one very brilliant reason.

I'm not tied to the apple store,

it's not that I hate apple, they make nice products, I bought a windows mobile phone based on what it could do, it's large screen and the fact that I could run other apps on it.

if I want an app, I google for it, find one, either for free or pay a fee for a licence, I connect my phone to my computer and copy the installer to the phone where I run it, (or I can install via activesync), or I can install by downloading straight to the phone.

I don't need some mickey mouse store that is a one stop shop for apps, (and this has already been done on various sites anyway).

Iphone sucks for this one simple reason.

if I get one it's mine, I want to load apps that I want, I don't need some guy at apple to decide if they want to let me use it by putting it in their store so that they can take a cut.

and I don't want to have to "jailbreak" or otherwise "hack" my device possibly voiding a warranty so that I can download an app that I actually want.

in this case MS doesn't need to copy apple, apple needs to copy microsoft and let the users decide what they can put on their phones not vetting everything for them.

anyone else think it's obvious?

but first

"Simple. if someone wants to bring out a new gTLD, then everyone who currently owns a name in .com, gets it for free, forever in the new gTLD." well duh, of course it's unfair, whilst I appreciate that microsoft.com, also wants microsoft.co.uk and quite rightly too, what about all the other .com registrations that are also just generic words, not brand names or trademarks.

(i.e what about cars.com, money.com). you can't just give away free domain registrations, as these are, (to online entrepreneurs at least, a valuable commodity).

That said, whoever thought .god was a good TLD should be shot, it's obviously not.

If I were to think of a handfull of TLDs that were to be useful then I would field.

.blog

.forum

.shop

whilst I thought .xxx was a nice idea at the outset, it was always doomed to failure,

In context with the original article, the pope is right .god should not be allowed it's far too specific, and will lead to a lot more arguments for ICANN to sort out,

That said, with generic terms like.blog, or .forum, or .shop these are terms that anyone can take. and to be fair, if someone tries to squat on microsoft.shop there is already a process to take care of that as it's microsofts registered trade mark,

if someone tries to register microsoft.shop selling MS software then the process is still valid as they are using microsofts trademark to further their business.

if someone opens apple.shop to sell mp3 players, or music, then apple have a case.

if someone opens apple.shop selling beatles memorablia then a different apple have a case.

if someone opens a fruit shop /online grocery delivery service called apple.com then this isn't infringing on the trademark. and there is no need to fight about it.

if microsoft want to say that they already have to spend too much defending their domain presence then I say, well cry me a fucking river, perhaps they shouldn't chase people like Mike Rowe, the teenage programmer who opened mikerowesoft distributing his free apps.

funded by the PRS

that's be the performance rights society?

which supposedly collect payments to support the rights of artists to make sure that they don't go cold and hungry when pubs are playing their music, or bands playing in pubs are playing covers of their music...

I fail to see where in the PRS there is scope for funding new music.

@AC - It never used to be like this

"Are you saying that at the end of the initial 12/18 months, you have to sign up for ANOTHER 12/18 months - ie - it doesn't just roll over to a one month notice period?

If this is the case, then that's out of order - you're bound to cancel the arrangement at SOME time, which means BT will always be collecting an average of 6/9 months penalty for every contract that is terminated. Or have I misunderstood this? Not even the blood sucking mobile operators do this - after the initial 12/18 months, they just roll over to a one month notice period."

nope, you've not misunderstood....

step 1, sign up for a years contract, if you cancel in a year you have to pay out the remainder of the contract including line rental and package charges (if you've opted for additional packages).

step 2, at the end of the year the contract is auto renewed for another 12 month period, if you opt out you have to pay the remainder of the contract, including line rental and package charges, (if you've opted for any additional packages).

step 3, repeat step 2.

The only way that you can terminate your contract early, is by taking on extra services, in which case they'll happily terminate your existing contract, in favour of signing you up for a new 12 or 18 month contract effective from the time that you sign up for extra services....

I wonder if it's possible to take out a contract, then after 6 months *upgrade* to include free evening and weekend calls, at which point your existing contract is terminated by BT and a new contract is signed.

then before 14 days is up call them up and say that you've changed your mind, and you no longer want the services, you're within your rights to cancel during the cooling off period applied to all contracts.

would BT then try to resurrect the contract that they cancelled, and would they be able to tie you to a contract that they cancelled?

WHAT???!!??

Over £700 per laptop? WTF are they getting Mac books?

IMO, they need durable, well thought out small machines, (cause you can't give kids too much to carry).

complete with freely available robust software, at a cheap price...

Surely the perfect idea would have been the OLPC laptops,

for £310,000 they could have bought 3,100 AND provided 3,100 laptops for really disadvantages kiddies in Africa.

(laptops used to be available for £100, each laptop bought would also pay for a laptop to be sent to Africa). or what about the web books currently available for £125 from Maplin!!

at £100 per laptop they needn't worry about buying a warranty as it'd be more expensive than just replacing the laptop.

Is it just me or are we actually more likely to see that this 400 laptops for £310,000 is more likely £200,000 on laptops, then the other 110,000 going to administration costs like paying someone to inventory all the items that there are before giving them away. even then they aren't exactly cheap laptops.

Hopefully whoever is in charge of this project will realise what has been said above and go ahead and buy 3,000 cheap laptops and really provide laptops for the people who need them.

to be honest, 400 laptops won't really go all that far in a single school, let alone a reion with many schools in it.

anyone else see irony?

that the logo is a sign usually indicating a pause function?

@the ritz

"There should be domainers (not cybersquatters) on the board."

you say tomato and I say tomato...

doesn't work as well in text.

there is no difference in my mind behind registering a name such as theregister.ru and waiting for the site to move into russian IT news where you can then hold the name for ransom -as it's a brand name and you have ideas that the brand may move there. or registering ITjournalism.com waiting for *any* IT journalist to come along who wants that site...

it's still squatting on a name hoping to make money from someone else who's got something more worthwhile to put there than the adverts that you're currently serving with a parking service.

"Tell me who wouldn't register business.com if that was available today? or who deserves to own Car.com ?"

business.com is a good example of someone who has bought a website and developed a business search engine, car.com has news and reviews on cars.

on the other hand electronics.com has adverts and links to adverts, surely a better use for a site name such as that would be an educational resource? user forum? in fact anything actually related to electronics would be better than a large interactive advert for other sites?

the person who "should" "own" a domain name is the person who has the best use for that domain name. -not someone who wants to serve adverts so that they can make a little money whilst waiting to make a lot of money from someone else who actually wants to develop a site/usable portal

"if you don't find the domain name you want available. Tough for you! You should have got that Bright idea about your website earlier."

Yes, that's all very well, but as a usual and normal human my interests, specifically those that I could talk authoritatively about have developed over time. also it will be true to say that there are many people out there who are only just in a position to buy a domain name, who may find that their domain name has already gone to an add farmer.

(as it happens I did just settle on a different TLD, but why should *anyone* *have* to do this so that people can make money from people trying to find a good resource and instead finding advert portals?)

"Mister Sourgrapes,.What if the name you registered was available, you get it and build a ridiculous website on it?BIg Flop!

Then a few years later, another person comes in with a MUCH better idea but needs that name you have? would you let him have it for free?"

I can tell you exactly what happens...

I've done it before, I've bought a site.

built a crap site, it flopped so I let it go...

this is what happened, the person building the crap site, cuts their losses, says goodbye to their site and the money that they've invested in it, and return the domain name to the pool of available names by not renewing the address. -that's exactly what I've done before and would do again if I had an idea for a site that just never worked out.

basically anyone squatting/camping/'domaining' on a name (generic/brand/otherwise) are doing a disservice to the users of the internet as a whole, and it's just plain wrong that people who seek to abuse the domain name registration/transfer process to make money should be sitting on the board of people who have authority to control that.

@@why so difficult

yes, we vote here also for more than just a party in elections,

OK, so we're not voting for a massive amount of people, but there is no reason you can't have multiple boxes on a single sheet of paper.

president

[ ]1

[ ]2

senator

[ ]1

[ ]2

[ ]3

it's hardly rocket science...

that said, that's not the point.

Electronic voting should make voting/auditing easier. so it really sounds like what is really needed is better UI design

like push buttons instead of

[push here]1

[push here]2

a bigger space

[push here] 1

[push here] 2

and frankly if you don't have to co-ordination to push a simple part of a screen inches away from another part of a screen...

on the other hand if it's hardware/software error then still better design is needed, really a kid of 15 could probably design a voting system with a few buttons that populated a database for their high school work.

give them a touch screen monitor and I'm sure that they could even make it work without need for a mouse keyboard as well.

ebay is a tat bazzar

All these people who say, if the transaction was smooth, if the package arrives in a couple of days, if the item is well packaged. well that's just what you expect...

ummm, no, it's not, IF I win an auction for a second hand piece of tat.

then I'd like it to be intact when it gets to me, this could happen by just popping it into the post box wrapped in brown paper, so IF, it's wrapped up in a box and brown paper, that's well packaged and a positive thing.

I expect a bit of tat to arrive when the seller posts it, (assuming that they'll post within a week). if it's posted the day after I win it, that's positive.

If I ask a question and the seller responds immediatly, then that's a positive, (hell you can get better customer service from teenagers selling an old games console than you can get from a large multinational on-line retailer with an entire customer service department.

bascially, IF the item arrives as expected, that's a positive. you are at a blind online car boot sale after all.

if it's damaged but you get a full refund straight away, and the seller (instead of saying please return for testing before refund, says, if it's broken then throw it away and I'll refund your money no questions asked). that's a positive experiance.

if the seller requests that it's sent back to them and takes two weeks to give you your money back, well that's the same kind of service that you could expect from dabs (for example).

I'd say that was neutral.

anything less than what's outlined above is a negative.

@@SpeakerToAliens & AC 14:25 GMT

>"SpeakerTo Aliens: "It will actually save money too, 'cos soldiers get paid a damn sight less >than civil servants."

>Not really. A full Colonel, that Lewis seems to think are just bumming around (I'll have to take >his word for it) trousers £77,545 to £85,268, the equivalent civil servant is a B2 grade on >£41,528 to £54,488. Slightly down the scale an Army Captain collects £36,160 to £43,002, his >civil service equal is a D grade on £19,315 to £26,626. Right down the bottom of the pile, an >Army Private gets about £16,227 to £21,323 and the E2 grade gets £12,674 to £19,315."

Ummm.. yeah, so kind of proved that then, getting rid of 1200 full Colnels could buy 4 full squadrons of E2 grade privates,

alternatively getting rid of four of the lowest pen pushers pay for five of the lowest lead pushers. (@ higest wage for each using figures you posted).

and then..

>AC 14:25 GMT: "I worked for a while in one of the Strike Command functions, and it was clear >that we weren't needed"

>Having just complained about how inefficient the civil service is you go on the explain how you >did bugger all of any use for a tour. Pot. Kettle. Black.

not pot kettle black at all. he's proving a point.

56 arrests

so they enabled a forum to run for 2 years.

bought and sold numerous identities/credit cards,

allowed all kinds of fraud,

and arrested 56 people.

even if as suggested above there were some other 2444 people just trying to be cool and play with criminals, allowing all this fraud to happen, well, it just seems stupid.

did it really take 2 years to get all the information required.

@everyone

I don't see a problem here really.

so what, you bought an xbox360, it failed.

so microsoft gave you a new one.

what's the problem?

and they only extended the warranty for a few years for a known fault? OMG!!

what did you expect? world wide product recalls?

out of 170 returns 110 were red ring of death, but the total number of sales far exceeds 170.

thus this problem affect what, 1 in every hundred? one in every thousand?

boo hoo, if you get the problem you get a new toy anyway, why the need to get a new toy and then go out to get more money as well?

US exempt

Why is the US exempt from this check?

ALL visitors (even those not wanting to do business or make money) there have to be fingerprint checked/eye scanned on arrival. and that's when they are coming to contribute to their economy, not take money out in a no tax lets take it all overseas manner!

I see no problems with tight border controls, provided that tight border controls are just that, not semi lapse, so if you come from one country you walk straight in, whilst the chinese guy behind you waits hours having his life story detailed in full.

without border controls for everybody, what's the point in border controls at all?

session timeout

how many sites would time out in the time taken to actually read a policy?

@short seller posts

christ, you latched onto that buzz word fast didn't you?

it was only a week ago that nobody outside of the fiscal world really knew what short selling was, and now I believe that there still isn't a great deal of people outside the fiscal world that know what short selling is!

can anyone sum up just why this has to be short sellers?

Why can't it just be someone dropping a [false] story to lower share prices so that they can buy low, then when the story is disproved they then sell high? when the price is resumed to normal.

What on earth does this have to do with short selling?

only one virus worth writting for the mobile device

an auto dial for premium rate numbers,

trouble is that the paper trail is to prevalent for it to get off very well.

kinda missed the point somewhat

if the article was sarcastic, then I didn't see it.

if the article was serious, then you've just missed the point entirely...

the haulier is not a part of the subcontracted chain, it's a branch. and wouldn't be held liable, neither would BP, and only an idiot would think otherwise.

it's simple.

1, farmer employs cheap illegal work force. and thus enjoys the benefits of being able to grow cheap produce, that's still making him a large enough profit.

2, whole seller buys extraordinarily cheap produce. (and should know it's cheap for a reason)

3, Tesco buys really cheap produce, and likewise should question just why it's so cheap.

the guy who sells the seeds to the farmer in the first place can't be responsible, they are a part of the chain if events, but not a complicit part, and not really directly responsible.

neither is the guy who makes the tractor, tyres or fuel for the farmer/haulier.

and the haulier transports goods from a-b, they aren't responsible for the illegal labour or directly profiting from the results of that...

the point is clearly that those who get something extraordinarily cheap and don't stop to question how or why this is are the ones funding and supporting this, and if that means that Tesco should pay better attention to their chain of supply then so be it, and if joe from down the road with his tomato shop also needs to pay better attention to his chain of supply then also, so be it.

It amazes me that we can trace from field to shelf produce that is grown organically, you can be told exactly who or what has touched it, if you buy meat in Tesco from their finest range there is often a little picture of the farmer that actually reared the life stock.

it's not that the chain of supply can't be traced, because it can, and already is. and if there are people in that chain who are selling something that takes an hour to produce for less than the hourly rate of wage, then it's obvious that something strange is going on somewhere. and people should ask questions.

by you logic you should be arrested for funding terrorism. (you go to the cinema pay for film, money filters through to pay actor wages, who buy drugs, originally provided by the Taliban).

re everyone who i could be bothered to read.

"OMG THE BANK CAN SEE OUT PASSWORD"

ummm,,, yes, that's how they know that when they ask you for a password on the phone that you give the right password. (actually I think they ask for a series of letters from your password).

"OMG THE CAN CHANGE THE PASSWORD",

ummm... yes, that's how they are able to change/reset the password when you ask.

nothing really all that surprising here then, with the exception of a guy with extraordinarily high company loyalty that doesn't want customers slagging off his business.

in it for the money?

What's wrong with all you guys.

I know that I've setup plenty of sites in the past on a just for fun basis. I've used my time and my money registering domain names, building sites, hosting sites.

I currently give my time, (give, I am not paid) to help run a forum site, (and yes, forum sites are a most basic form of social networking), and why do I do it? I do it for fun. I do it cause I want to. I don't make a penny from it. and neither does anyone else.

(and this is a fairly big site half million members,/few hudred regular [everyday] active users)

why is it so hard to believe that people are still setting up sites for fun, not profit -even big sites

and why shouldn't they

Survey on people?

IMO, there isn't enough survelance in parks, it a child can go into a park and stepin/roll in, fallin /pick up dog shite then there is clearl someone who has broken the law and made what was once and still should be a clean and safe place for kids to play into an area of land littered with what is essentially sewage.

perhaps the dog walkers should pick up their dongs shit, and since they don't then i feel it's perfectly reasonable to have park attendants actually watch to see who it is that won't pick up after their dog, and ensure that they are punished for breaking the law.

Where the issue of dogs crapping on the grass is concerned, you're not into the realms of black helicopters following all dog walkers down the street. you're looking at a bunch of people who are shrugging their responsibility getting pictured in the act.

people who cheat benefits getting caught.

this is the ideal situation. the local councils are able to take responsibility for ensuring that the law is followed, and the streets are safe and clean, whilst allowing local police to get on with real policing business.

re: When will the marketing / advertising prats learn?

if you go to a free site then expect it to be funded somehow...

for those that don't want to see adverts, I suggest that you should feel free to write to the site and ask about a paid ad free subscription.

and no they are no stealing your bandwidth, the adverts are a part of th page. when you reqested to view the page you requested to see the adverts also. it's your browser that downloads them...

if you block an advert then it's you who is stealing the service.

there's good and bad...

the good. sometimes their pricing is competative.

I went to PCW not too long ago and picked up a fairly good Belkin router that was competativly priced with simillar spec nobrand models that I could find online.

that's only becuase they had a sale.

at that purchase they charged me the pre-sale price, so i then had to queue at customer services after my purchase, and even take the customer service rep to the shelf to proove I'd been over charged...

this annoyed me, on the other hand it made me laugh when I stood behind the guy who was returning an IDE disk because there was a pin missing,

the pin that was missing was on the top row (or bottom depending on perspective). and in the middle of the row of pins.

it was the blanking pin that is often missing and not connected...

this didn't stop the 'tech guys' representative in the store from inspecting the disk, and even taking it to his collegues who also agreed that the disk was likely broken.

mutually exclusive facts

And according to the pastafarians global warming is caused by the reduction in the number of pirates in the world.

would it have been too hard

to not rely on a registry key that they knew could be incorrect and instead just detect the CPU type?

I wouldn't have thought so,

apparantly I'm wrong.

@Unfortunately most web devs don't even know what they are

Yes, there in lies the problem.

user generated content, at developer levels, bring back the days when to be a web designer you had to know how to write pages, not how to use a content management system.

there is no SQL injections possible in raw HTML.

this is just another effect of the great squeeze where people try to find the cheapest possibly way of doing things

China did what? replies

kind of misses the point. as everyone else did as well...

What gives these chinese hackers the right to launch DDOS attacks against CNN for critisising their government is their sense of patriotism.

it's the same right that enables all US citizens to say that their way of life is better and should be imposed on everone else in the world.

it's no about who is worse as both are pretty shoddy but in different ways.

balance

why should it change the balance?

I should envisage that in order to compensate for the motors, (which will likely be small stepper type motors with the blocks removed, which can be as light as a few grams) they will be using lighter weight machine heads.

using light weight machine heads and small motors would balance the thing perfectly. in anycase a little more mass on the headstock does improve sustain anyway.

bloody vista

It's only been 2 days since I last fixed my dads new laptop after updates corrupted files and made it think that it wasn't a genuine copy.

my time wasted because of a silly bit of crappy coding...

I'm just glad that I've not got vista as I can't be bothered to waste the time, money or efort on it.