* Posts by Joe Carter

25 publicly visible posts • joined 20 May 2008

Meet قلب, the programming language that uses Arabic script

Joe Carter

Re: Not the revolution you were looking for

Just click the Google translate button if you're using Chrome and most of the code converts to English.

Iranian nuke plants rocked in midnight 'heavy metal blast'

Joe Carter
Coat

Pay the royalties?

Did the pay the royalties on the song?

I think not! Send in the RIAA!

'Asteroid mining company' makes classic hypegasm debut today

Joe Carter
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at least they are trying

Better than spending more than 5x as much on a bunch of people running in circles and splashing around in pools.

Sony: UK ebook shop open for business

Joe Carter
Megaphone

Re: amazon 3% VAT

My complaint is that a company is gaining advantage by abusing the varying VAT rates in the EU. Whether that rate is reasonable is an entirely different, but valid, argument. Basically it's down to the governments to sort out the very broken tax system that companies are running rings around. The only upside is that at least Amazon is passing on the saving rather than keeping it for themselves. I suspect that won't last once they've nailed down their monopoly.

Joe Carter
Holmes

amazon 3% VAT

Amazon has the market by the balls as everything is more expensive on all the other stores because of the differing VAT rates. You pay 3% on amazon, 20% on Sony/Kobo etc. Time for the government to step up and give the tax dodging Amazon a good kicking in the fiscals.

The Hardware Hacker's Guide to Home Automation

Joe Carter

HomeEasy controller via Arduino

You can control HomeEasy kit via an arduino via a 433Mhz transceiver available from Maplin for a tenner: http://homeeasyhacking.wikia.com/wiki/Home_Easy_Hacking_Wiki

Amazon sets date for Kindle Touch UK touchdown

Joe Carter
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@DrXym Re: Why?

I have applied the hack to open up the PRS-T1 android OS and I can run the Kindle software just fine. Only slight annoyance is that the fonts won't go as small as I would like. You have to sure to tap to move pages not swipe on the app otherwise it causes loads of e-ink flicker as it tries to animate the page turn.

Hackers print tiny Linux box to net up your home

Joe Carter
Stop

$155. Right...

Go get a £40 nanode instead http://nanode.eu/

Heatmiser PRT-TS Wi-Fi RF thermostat

Joe Carter

+1 for the Honeywell CM927. Great bit of kit that also has a learning warm up mode.

Lovefilm buys right to stream Sony Pictures content

Joe Carter

@Greg @fwibbler

Greg - £15! You've been had mate. £9.99 for unlimited 2 disks at home + streaming. I bet someone has better than that too! No duff disks so far. You sure your DVD isn't on its way out?

fwibbler - definitely better on mine but then I've 50Mbps. I've had one case where it seemed to think I was on a slow connection and then, yes, it was pretty unwatchable. Lowish bitrate freeview is the quality for me. Fine for most of the limited selection of B-movies available.

2011's Best... E-book Readers

Joe Carter
Pint

PRS-T1 is hackable

As noted in other el-reg stories, the PRS-T1 runs android and its possible to get to it.

ok most android stuff is pretty unusable with e-ink display but there is potential there. The "upgrade" even survived the last Sony update. The kindle app works - I've bought a (DRM'd) book - but suffers from excessive flicker because it animates the page turns. I've not found any way of disabling that otherwise it'd an excellent reader even more flexible.

Wi-Fi may damage sperm, boffins warn

Joe Carter
FAIL

controlled for temperature?

If they didn't place a laptop with wifi turned off next to the control then this experiment is a load of guff. I can't read the full paper (payware) so I don't know whether they controlled both samples for temperature and so it could simply be heating. If so, then the wifi aspect is pure "give me more money for research" bull emissions.

Reg reader seeks living room Myth advice - can you help?

Joe Carter

Sony BDP-S470/S480

DLNA is a good option if you don't mind losing live tv.

I use a Sony BDP-S470 but by default the mime types are broken in the mythtv DLNA server. This is apparently fixed in 0.25 but until that is released I use twonky and mythlink.pl http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Mythlink.pl to workaround the problem. Mythlink runs every 30 mins are so and twonky picks up the new file structure. It then streams fine. My setup is still just SD but there's no reason HD shouldn't be ok too (ymmv).

Another foible is that you have to use a browser to schedule and clean up old recordings. I've an android phone so it's actually quite convenient to update schedules while still watching telly.

I picked up the sony for under £100 ex-demo. It's slim with a decent WAF - i.e. a normal remote.

Avoid the S380 which doesn't have DLNA. The S370 does I believe.

Oh yeah, it plays blurays and supports LoveFilm streaming.

Eleven - if you will - rocktastic music movies

Joe Carter

Anvil

Anvil! The Story of Anvil http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1157605/

Superb documentary. Could have been Spinal Tap lite but instead is genuinely fascinating. You really feel something for the band.

DeLorean goes electric for 2013 roll-out

Joe Carter

Top speed

Electric cars tend to have a relatively low top speed for their power as they're normally single geared. The motors can rev up to 16k rpm but the torque drops off after 7k.

http://www.teslamotors.com/models/features#/performance

So they have awesome acceleration but the top end drops off. For real road use it's a non-issue.

HP chief bows to Jobsian cult

Joe Carter
FAIL

Short termism

It sad because many of these big companies think too short term. Apple spent years building the software base for their tablets and iphones. Then comes along HP, buys Palm and expect software as good as Apple in 12 months or they give up. They need to give the WebOS division their head to make the best possible software over several iterations. Not give up after 12 months. Pathetic.

HTC's UK repair centre suffering long delays, confusion

Joe Carter
Happy

Three

As a contrast I reported a fault with my phone (Desire GPS reboot issue) to Three on Friday. On Monday there was free special delivery envelope and packaging. I got it back (a replacement) today. Awesome service!

Chronos EZ430: An SDK packing watch for real techies

Joe Carter
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433MHz is UK legal

433MHz is definitely legal here in the UK. It's very common for home automation. E.g. the HomeEasy stuff you get in B&Q which of course begs the question of whether the watch can do that protocol. Arduino code for the HomeEasy stuff is available.

Billionaire-funded e-car gets showroom date

Joe Carter
WTF?

made of lead?

0-62mph in under 14 seconds and reach 90mph. With 268bhp!

Early adopters bloodied by Ubuntu's Karmic Koala

Joe Carter
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Seamless upgrade for me

My 2p. Downloaded and updated while still watching telly on mythtv then surfing the web.

One reboot and up and running with no problems. Work colleague also upgraded no hassles.

Amazon Kindle doomed to repeat Big Brother moment

Joe Carter
FAIL

@Francis Vaughan

...copyright infringement is not theft. How many times does it have to be said?

I'm glad this happened as it's yet another nail in the coffin of DRM. Only the truly naive would touch a kindle.

DataSlide reinvents hard drive

Joe Carter

Doesn't seem to be a drum

...because then you'd have to machine a curved surface. Very difficult for HDD tolerances. Also says the surface oscillates not rotates.

Tories put toes on Linux bandwagon

Joe Carter
Thumb Up

Tories with good IT idea. Kill me now!

This is an excellent idea. Define standards (communications/data formats etc) and let companies complete to produce solutions that are sold to the individual trusts. The hopeless stuff will soon be weeded out and instead of a one-off monolith doomed to be out of date before deployed, then we could have a dynamic market. Government should pay for a reference solution for the actual formats and let the companies sort out the features to provide.

It just hurts that the Tories have come up with this!

RISC daddy conjures Moore's Lawless parallel universe

Joe Carter
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Software developers will be in more demand

...to wring out every ounce of performance from the hardware that is no longer getting faster.

Or from writing the *new* multi-threaded applications required to get the performance out of the new multi-core architectures.

Teen battles City of London cops over anti-Scientology placard

Joe Carter

Time to buy T-shirts from "The Cult"

I wonder if you can arrested for wearing the T-Shirt of a band?

In this country, probably yes. We make China seem liberal now.