The only thing we would like to say is that we (including our clients) did not, and never have been, sent any spam. We have no further comment. Thank you.

That sounds like they're saying they've never been sent any spam, not that they've never sent any...

If sending spam isn't against their TOS then I'm not sure I believe them!

Fix in software?

I'm surprised that most mailservers don't have a setting so that if you're sending to more than e.g. 20 people in the To/CC line, it sends you back something saying "Are you sure? Click here to continue". Certainly would save a lot of red faces...

Points for TicketWeb?

Hack shouldn't have happened - but at least they did the right thing ASAP. Many companies would try to hide it instead.

BOFH

This could be a story straight from the BOFH.

(Well, if the BOFH had children - Simon, if you need more ideas, a BOFH guide to parenting could be a great source...)

Life imitates art?

The phrase "primarily responsible or involved" - as opposed to just "primarily responsible" - hides a lot. It's being spun as "women are making more purchasing decisions than men", but I don't think that's what it says. If a couple discuss what to buy, then both are involved; yes, it means there are merits to advertising to both men and women, but that's not the same as saying that you *only* need to advertise to the women.

Would it be this big news if they just said "In 95% of families, women are involved in deciding how money is spent..."?

The other thing is that these are individual items - one per person, not one per family. It's not that surprising that each person would make the decision on their own phone etc. - nor that they'd pay their own bill.

It'd be interesting to see a more detailed break down of the statistics - of course, these will rarely make the press release, especially if they don't say what the person writing the press release wants them too.

Tax Laws

If you follow the link to the Raspberry Pi site, one of the main reasons they can't produce it in the UK are the tax laws, that charge for importing components and building here, but not for assembling the entire thing elsewhere and importing it. This is madness, it's preventing them from keeping the jobs in the UK. There's a bit of a campaign starting on their blog posts to highlight this to the government and try to get it changed. I think it's something The Register should get behind.

Relevant Links:

http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/509 - the blog post detailing the tax problem

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/27158 - Government E-Petition

Fag?

A friend used to work for a company whose initials were FAG. All of the company cars (his included) had numberplates with FAG on it (he lovingly referred to his as the Fagmobile). So clearly not all combinations with FAG are banned. I think these were just from the normal licenseplate issue rather than custom plates though...

Condensation

Do you need to worry about ice forming on the rocket as it goes up on the balloon? Any way you can test this?

Also, don't forget that dry ice is CO2, so unless you're careful you'll end up with a chamber full of CO2 not air, which'll somewhat invalidate the test. (Plus all the usual things about making sure you don't have the dry ice in a confined space - I'd suggest the entire test be done out in the open.

Pulse Jet

Realise you may already have settled on propulsion, but this post made me think of you guys...

http://hackaday.com/2011/09/05/engine-hacks-a-pulse-jet-uav-by-any-other-name-would-still-be-a-cruise-missile/

A pulse jet might be a good option, possibly? Does it still count as a rocket? Does it matter if you get the end goal?

Come on El Reg

This is potentially a very interesting topic - but the article has so many inaccuracies and holes you could drive a bus through that it's a bit of a waste. Others have highlighted many - the one that jumped out at me was the AC/DC switch improving electric car ranges.

Don't just copy the press release, go a bit beyond to find out details (or point out the holes). That's why I keep coming back here...

Not good news

Hard to hear - my sympathies to my former colleagues there. Definitely a lot of talent in the company.

Title, centred on this post

I know it's traditional to rip the piss, but I actually rather like this as an idea.

I'm Glad

I'm glad Palm are being snapped up, as I quite like my Pre. It's got a few problems - battery life being the most frustrating one - but it's a nice user interface, and I'd like to see it in more devices.

The most frustrating lack-of-app at the moment is Turn by Turn GPS - it's available in the US from Sprint (I believe), but there isn't a UK equivalent for any price...

Second delay

A delay of about a second? Surely video-audio sync would make that completely unwatchable?

Not the actual release...

The video's not of the actual, zero-g release sadly - http://herschelmission.wordpress.com/2009/06/11/the-next-big-step/

"This is a test on an identical cryocover that had been kept closed for two years, and it worked perfectly."

Bluetooth Unpluggedfest

I guess they need something like the Bluetooth Unpluggedfest - bring together lots of engineers from all manufacturers to try all their devices with each other, and debug issues on the fly. Probably one of the reasons why bluetooth generally works pretty well (although there are exceptions).

Blue man with bluetooth...

@ Brent Gardner

Those politicians are from the house of Lords - meaning they're there for life (well, unless the government manages to change it again). The MP probably didn't turn up because it would have ruined his career with all kinds of negative advertising.

I like the Lords. They do what's right, not what's going to get the most votes.

Glass of Water

I thought that it all got a little silly when I saw Michael Craig-Martin's 'Oak Tree' (actually just a glass of water on a shelf, together with text showing how blatantly he's taking the piss - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Craig-Martin for an image and http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~ig206/oak_tree.html for the text.

Compared to that, this is quite good...

Dry white wine

The Dry White Wine aside is a classic. Nice one.

Who stole Page 2?

Obviously there was some secret information on Page 2 that the Government don't want us to have.

Re: Snooze time

Just got one of these, I like it.

Snooze time defaults to 15min, and can be anything between 1 min and 60 min. Hopefully that'll keep you happy.

Got it from mobiles.co.uk on O2, seems to be Nokia firmware and unlocked, from what I can tell.

(As a previous SE fan,it frustrates me that SE can't have a phone as good as this. Several come close but are missing the odd feature)

Despite their best efforts...

... it seems New Labour haven't yet managed to brainwash the 'young people'...

Well written article

"And whether it's the power of the TV spot or Microsoft's own ineptitude in delivering a delayed operating system that was too bloated for most PCs already out there to handle and that lacked adequate third-party support..."

Nice

As much as I hate to say it...

Catherine Tate isn't nearly as bad in Dr Who as she was in the special. The last few episodes have worked quite well really...