Posts by Mad Hacker
305 posts • joined Tuesday 19th February 2008 17:36 GMT
Re: Decent
The amount of storage you get access to is infinite. It's cool because it's like Dropbox only free with unlimited storage.
Re: USB isn't even close
While your legalese quote may be correct I find it hard to believe that appears on the VESA standard/license. Perhaps it's from when Apple was licensing the tech directly prior to VESA standard adoption.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2355695,00.asp
How big is that vessel?
"The fact is this discovery could help supply Japan with 60 per cent of its annual needs merely with the contents of a single vessel."
They failed to mention the vessel was 1/3 the size of Earth.
Re: Mac sales decline is the problem
As much as I lament the de-emphasis of the Mac I can't help but notice their market share is still increasing against competitors (unlike you claim) but all computers that aren't phones or tablets are taking a hit.
I'd say the market at this point is Samsung and Apple. Even Dell looks to be losing out in this market... I mean they are solid in the data center but even Dell cites declining home sales as an excuse for their quarterly issues. And honestly, weren't home sales pretty much not important once Commodore and Atari gave up?
He's justifying his lack of effort...
Ok, so he's chosen not to user a computer much (email once a day??) or even have a smart phone and never works from home. Then he uses his credentials to try to argue that no, his not lazy or technically challenged, he is doing it for the sake of brain health and so should we all!
Meh.
You know...
>Gigagit Ethernet
You know that at the bottom of every El Reg article there is a link entitled "Send corrections" Instead of posting here you could've submitted the correction there.
Lord knows if they kept track of the number of corrections anyone has sent I'd have one of those little gold badges by my forum name. O:-) In fact maybe they could give out a gold Pedantic Grammar Nazi badge to people who've sent in the most corrections!
I think I'm on to something here...
Re: Gotta get that maps dig in, right?
Yeah. I have both Google and Apple's maps and Apple's works better and is more accurate in my area so I think the cock up about maps is damn silly. And the truth is, tackling maps is a difficult problem to begin with so errors (of which I've seen many on Google's maps) are understandable.
The date bug though, that's elementary stuff. I think it's worse.
Re: Another Apple-backed standard that likely (hopefully) won't get traction...
I think you're missing the point. I haven't seen a graphics adapter, audio interface, video capture device, hard drive, etc that used DisplayPort as their input.
Thunderbolt allows for having a graphics card external to the computer. My guess is you have a desktop the size of a computer from 20 years ago that has a bunch of PCI ports. Good for you. Most of us real computer users have adopted laptops. But for people like me who game (or in a previous life did a lot of CAD and 3D design work) an external video card is very important for when our laptops are sitting on our desk. In fact, we could even see a line of displays that included a PCI slot to install a 3D card directly into the monitor. Since laptops either don't have a discrete 3D card or the mobile discrete cards in general aren't very powerful this is a huge plus for anyone that doesn't have a giant old style box with tons of expansion slots.
Regarding licensing, I cannot argue. I've been waiting for the ViDock to come out to add a 3D card to my wafer thin laptop. Problem is (according to Village Instruments) Intel won't let small developers develop for the standard. And another barrier to entry I understand is at least currently Mac OS X doesn't support 3D graphics cards over Thunderbolt (all though there is no reason they couldn't fix their software issues in their OS to support this.)
So the point is Thunderbolt can do a lot more than DisplayPort. But it would be much better if the licensing were more open. And its uses are going to be for new products going forward (like embedded graphics cards in monitors, A/V capture products, docking stations, etc.) not just external hard drives. Hell, I have Thunderbolt and USB 3 on my Mac and guess what 3TB external hard drive I just bought? USB 3.0.
You can bet when LightPeak finally matures (i.e. to the point of being all fiber optic like Intel originally demonstrated) Apple already has a design of the MagSafe power connector that combines the power and data into a single plug so finally laptop users only have to connect a single cable when they put their laptop on their desk. Currently even if you have a Thunderbolt display you still have to connect two cables to give you wired gigabit ethernet, USB, FireWire, Audio in and out, Thunderbolt chaining ports plus power.
FW800 vs USB 2.0
Ok, so in my "real world" tests I have previously observed that USB 2.0 seems faster than FW800 on Windows but on Mac OS X FW800 is faster than USB 2.0.
Don't discount the drivers.
Posted in Ten weird Chinese mobile phones
Re: Is it wrong...
Isn't wanting a watch phone (something small that does one thing well) and wanting an Android phone (something that usually has nearly a 5" screen and does tons of stuff) an oxymoron?
Posted in Badges for Commentards
Hey I send in a lot (well several) corrections using the corrections link...
So I want a reward system for sending corrections in using the corrections link. Oddly it doesn't use the forum name when submitting so it cannot be linked to forum badges. Hmmm.....
Posted in Apple updates iOS 6, Safari
The New Maps Rock
Not sure what's wrong with everyone. The new maps app I've found is more accurate in my area (Phoenix, Arizona) finally showing my dentist on the correct northwest corner of the nearby intersection rather than the southwest corner Google maps always showed him on. The turn by turn directions have been accurate and helpful and I've probably used them about 30 times, always with 100% accuracy. I suppose if you don't drive yourself around and want to use mass transit it must be a downgrade but we don't really have much in the way of mass transit here so I didn't notice the loss. In fact if the previous maps app did something with regards to mass transit I wasn't aware of it. Lastly street view was cute but I'm not missing it. You could argue the 3D building view on the new iOS maps app is just as cute and useless.
Samsung SPH-i500 (or SGH-i500)
Sorry. The first phone that finally got me off of dumb phones ran Palm OS and was a flip form factor. The Samsung SGH-i500. I've never bought a phone on "opening day" except for that one. Back then you had to call around to the cell phone stores to find one in stock but if they had it you didn't have to stand in line outside. I loved that phone. I was going to replace it with the next gen SPH-i500 which had more mature hardware (faster, camera, external screen, etc) but Samsung dropped Palm OS phones just before its US launch so it never came to the US officially.
Once I had gotten use to web browsing (yes, crappy as it was) and email on my phone I couldn't go back and eventually upgraded to a Treo 650 simply due to hardware needs (higher resolution screen, SD card slot, camera.) But even as I hold my iPhone 4S which is my 3rd iPhone I still miss the flip form factor of my i500.
From the Danger Mouse episode "Where There's a Well There's a Way"
Colonel K:
Leave Well Alone
Now for Penfold:
All's well that ends well.
Where there's a well, there's a way.
Well I never.
Avast ye lubbers! The white well!
Well, well, well.
Get well soon.
The narrator:
[Does that make you] the Prince of Wells?
If [you] found it occupied by a large yellow and black striped insect would it have been the Well of the Wasp?
Gets coat...
Re: Sod the well...
My thoughts EXACTLY!
Scalable Video Codec
Having to pre-encode the same video at different bitrates is stupid. The codec should automatically degrade the stream as needed to save bandwidth without needing lower resolution encoded files. This technology has been around for over a decade.
A better solution is to use a Scalable Video Codec that can choose on the fly to throw away data to allow the stream to degrade as needed. This technology has been around for years in both JPEG2000 as well as in the newer specs of H.264 that include SVC and some proprietary protocols such as V2D by IP Video Systems.
When I see a streaming video product that requires that I store the same video files at different bandwidths I walk away.
Re: WTF?
"How long has the world had metric standard units for now?"
Yes but since when is the United States part of the world?
Oh right sometime in the century 3000...
Futurama:
Leela: "Look, I know there are no car chases, but this is important. One of these two men will become president of the world."
Fry: "What do we care? We live in the United States."
Leela: "The United States is part of the world."
Fry: "Wow, I have been gone a long time."
Re: err
Actually, it does.
Remote = Extra Expense
So most people who are the target audience for this have probably already invested in a universal remote like a Logitech Harmony. The last thing I'm going to do is add another remote to my system. I appreciated that my Roku and my AppleTV came with clearly inexpensive remotes because I didn't want much of my purchase price going to a remote that would remain in the box due to my universal remote.
Re: Hmm
AC: Maps on iOS ... will almost certainly be inferior to Google Maps when it arrives...
Thanks for the laugh. Truly hilarious stuff.
Found my password
It's possible it's a duplicate of someone else's as I don't care enough about LinkedIn to use a super hardcore password but I found 1 instance of it in that file.
BTW Don't know if I'm allowed to post this but the file is located at:
https://disk.yandex.net/disk/public/?hash=pCAcIfV7wxXCL/YPhObEEH5u5PKPlp+muGtgOEptAS4=
That's the link to the .txt file with the hashed passwords.
Open your unix terminal to get your own hash of your password (replace your_password):
echo -n your_password | shasum | cut -c6-40
Open your favorite text editor (I recommend TextWrangler if you're on Mac OS X) and do a search for that hash.
Re: The Aero about-turn is an Apple-bashing exercise, perhaps
Personally I miss buttons that look like glossy liquid gel-caps and brushed aluminum backgrounds but I guess I'm the only one.
Re: It's not cheap.
At our company here in the US which is traded on NASDAQ VPs are part of the "executive team."
Re: Seems a little implausible
A 300ml bladder? I can speak from experience in an emergency my bladder holds more than 32 ounces (946ml.) That 32oz Taco Bell cup couldn't hold everything I had.
It's a Mac mini
It's a Mac mini with an external power supply. I bet it'll cost nearly as much too. I doubt Intel is too scared of the Rasberry Pi but I can't help but think Microsoft is scared of any system that cannot run Windows. I wonder if they will scale down Windows 8 RT to run on the Pi?
Posted in Twelve... classic 1980s 8-bit micros
Re: Atari 800 series ???
Yeah the Atari 800 and later the XL series were my fans back then. Never could get past the 400's membrane keyboard.
I didn't realize they weren't as popular in the UK as the US. I guess the C64 outsold them but in my programming circle in the US the Atari 800 was very popular.
Posted in Twelve... classic 1980s 8-bit micros
Re: errata
There's actually a "Send corrections" link at the bottom of every article now. It appeared a few weeks ago I think. I have used it a bit.
Re: No place for politics IMO
I suppose Green Day shouldn't sing about politics either? In what venue is politics allowed?
Re: @Peter2 - Thick eh?
AC says: Naturally, there are no small number of parents who want their children enrolled in these special programs, as they have a better chance of getting a decent education than the children stuck in the underfunded "ordinary children" school system.
----
Really? You really wished you were in a remedial reading class. Or a "how to tie your shoe" and "eat food by yourself" class? While they may take 25% of the budget and get more attention I assure you the education these kids get covered areas you didn't need to be spending time on. You make it sound like they got into AP Physics while you were stuck in Trig. It's more like they spent extra time learning things you learned years before. No advantage given.
Referring to your remark about special needs kids costing more than regular kids, it is true that in society those more in need will consume more of the resources, but what's the alternative? Killing off anyone who doesn't get straight A's?
It's an interesting world you live in.
Conversely here in Arizona we have a voucher program. It means we can have private charter schools get public school funding for every kid they take in. The problem is, they don't have the oversight that public schools are required to have. So they do not provide proper education to disabled children (they must claim they do but they will discourage disabled children from attending or only provide day care instead of instruction) but they take the same amount of money away from public schools that due to strict oversight must provide much more expensive (often one on one) education to those same students. It means the public schools are left with a higher percentage of disabled children yet with a smaller percentage of funding.
Re: Great
Wish I had the same experience as you. Tell me how a printer driver can have low enough level memory access to cause BSODs in Windows 7? Someday Windows should adopt protected memory. I also found Outlook still has the ability to halt the entire system even in Windows 7. Someday Windows should adopt symmetrical multitasking. And lets not discuss the slow file copies to network drives...
I know MS claims they have both protected memory and symmetrical multitasking but my experience shows otherwise.
Isn't Product Dumping Illegal?
In a prior life I used to design cars in Detroit. Just a little before my time the Japanese got in trouble for "dumping" mini-vans. This basically meant they were selling them below cost to break into the market. This was illegal. (source: http://articles.latimes.com/1991-12-21/business/fi-528_1_officials-rule)
So how can Amazon sell the Kindle or eBooks for less than cost and have it NOT be illegal dumping? In fact, how can Sony and MS charge less for their PS3 and XBOX 360 and also have it NOT be illegal dumping?
Re: I don't even want ethernet
Ok thanks for the 23 thumbs down. I learned it doesn't come with WiFi so my bad. Yes I'm willing to admit I made a mistake. I swear I read an earlier article that claimed both models A and B would have WiFi but model B would also include a wired Ethernet jack. I suppose what the article meant was that A or B could have WiFi through a dongle or that old specification changed. I've been following this exciting project from the beginning but since I only cared about wired Ethernet I didn't look too closely at WiFi options.
Verified there is NO WiFi included via their FAQ here: http://www.raspberrypi.org/faqs
video out?
I just shopped for an Arduino at the same price as the Raspberry Pi and it didn't appear to even include video output.
So to answer your question... price!
Re: I don't even want ethernet
It comes with WiFi on board so why would you do that?
Re: Battery problem
You're explanation shows you don't understand about generations of chipsets. Waiting for the next generation of 3G chipsets allowed them to use ones that are more power efficient. Similar to 4G today. Android owners get about 5 hours of 4G use today before their battery dies. The next generation 4G chipset will be smaller and more power efficient and will no doubt make it into the next iPhone.
But the real indicator that you are some sort of juvenile with personal issues is how you spelled iPhone. Did you think that was clever? I assume you spell Obama as "Nobama" because that also makes you sound so damn clever.
Re: An HP shareholder speaks:
I've switched to Brother printers and couldn't be happier. Try the MFC-9970CDW for an all in one color laser printer. Duplex scanning, printing, and copying. Only thing it didn't do that it should've was support AirPrint.
Mac OS X does it...
Mac OS X does it great so there is no reason Ubuntu couldn't do it too. Now they might have to pay for a license to include it as I'm sure Apple didn't have a problem with that if that's how they got Exchange integration built into their UNIX.
That was helpful
So this article is the equivalent of steering the kid away from the red light district, at a more appropriate time, and placing clothes on them.
I think this article already assumes that...
You are stating the obvious. I think with reading the article all you said went without saying. What the author (and us parents that do talk with their children) are trying to avoid is the accidental exposure.
Actually an iPad costs less than a semester's worth of books
So the iPad meets all your criteria except price but if I remember right (and this was years ago) my semester of textbooks if I couldn't find any used ones was around $800 USD whereas an iPad starts at $500. Now assumming the books are cheaper electronically (probably not since Apple is going to add 30% to the price) it might not be a huge amount more. Even if it isn't the cost of the iPad doesn't double the cost of your textbooks for one semester. Assuming 4 years, 8 semesters, $800 USD a semester that's $6,400 for textbooks making the iPad only a 13% increase in cost over 4 years, hey that's not too bad. And now the iPad doesn't need to be tethered so it could replace your laptop as your primary computer saving you the cost of a laptop for college (ok do yourself a favor and buy a Bluetooth keyboard for real typing though.)
Posted in Fast food firm fields Sith sandwich
You lost all credibility...
You lost all credibility when you claim the Whopper is better than what McDonald's offers. Yes there are many burgers better than McD's but Burger King doesn't have one of them.
Seems like a passcode would stop that...
Of course, if you are with friends you would think that wasn't necessary.
Posted in The Best of El Reg 2011 now on Kindle
It's clear it's not free in the title
The title says Kindle. It costs money to buy things from the Kindle store. If not, it would've said PDF and figured if you had a Kindle you could put it on there yourself for free. I think it was clear enough and is fine. I like that Ars Technica and The Register are both experimenting with ways to add to their bottom line this way. Less chance I'll find a 404 message the next time I come over here for a bit of free reading.
The Fail is for you Failing to understand that they were selling this for "actual money" as you say. Maybe they should've taken bitcoins?
Posted in Parody is illegal, say barmy bureaucrats
So you haven't heard of this then?
Perform This Way: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ss_BmTGv43M
Posted in Psst, kid... Wanna learn how to hack?
Really?
This is a bare board with exposed electronics components and adding a USB hub is "ugly"? I have a regular computer that encloses all the electronics and two additional 7 ports hubs on my desk behind my keyboard. Pretty standard to need a USB hub or two on any computer these days.
On the other hand I have a Dell keyboard that provides a USB port for the mouse so if you only needed a keyboard and mouse and had a keyboard that provided a USB connection, then you wouldn't need a hub at all.
Keep it balanced?
I don't come to El Reg for balance! I doubt anyone does.
Posted in Building the perfect flexible worker
4 in the morning huh?
Well it's 4am my time but I see if I register I'll get notified when the recording is available. Ok, I'm in. I deal with these issues daily.
Posted in The Great Smartphone OS Shoot-out
Outlook Integration?
You glossed over Outlook Integration. At my company we need Exchange Server integration for email and our global address book. You mention Google contacts integration but a lot of corporate users need to know about Outlook/Exchange.
Huh?
Why exactly?
Posted in Ten... gaming headsets
Yes especially...
Yes, especially the Sennheiser ones they covered. They don't compare with Sennheiser at all.
