Posts by Annihilator 3787 publicly visible posts • joined 10 Jun 2009
"I used to have an old winpho phone (cannot remember the make or the model, but it had one of those stylus things which were (for me at least) really convenient ) that could do this."
The O2 XDA? Seem to recall that being relatively popular for a while.
In a flash of nostalgia the other day though, I saw someone in an M4 service station with a massive laptop connected via serial port to an old (pre-HP) Compaq iPaq with a mobile/data "sleeve" to do dial up. Man it took me back!
Warning... bad maths to follow...
Statistically there's more chance of me winning the lottery than being struck by an asteroid. But it's a pretty likely event that *someone* will win the lottery.
But consider the odds from the asteroids perspective. There's similar odds of that asteroid being hit by the earth - unlikely, but if lots of asteroids buy lottery tickets to hit the earth, there's a fairly good chance that one of them will "win"... The Mayans were right, head for the bunkers/hills!
The really strange thing is, you'd think that the Mac Pro's would be the easiest thing to update compared with the massive reengineering that presumably needs to go on with a laptop/Air device.
Lob in a new motherboard, buy a job lot of Ivy Bridge chips and away you go. They presumably couldn't care less about Pro customers, despite protests to the contrary.
"Iphone 3GS is getting iOS 6, how's that Android update coming along? Oh, thats right, you get Android updates every 3 months, just as long as you keep buying new phones."
You might want to check up on the reality of that. The 3GS and iPhone 4 won't get any of the fancy mapping stuff. Besides, the 3GS is still a "new" phone currently sold by Apple, so kind of has to be supported.
And wave goodbye to the TomTom app, Co-Pilot Live etc as Apple banishes them from the App Store for "duplicating in-built funtionality", and screwing over iPhone 4 users who can't get the new "magic" features of iOS6 (check - turn-by-turn is 4S only).
Suggest iPhone 4 users consider upgrading very carefully...
Makes you slightly concerned about NASA's estimating process that they still refer to "approx. 90-days"... From a PM perspective I'd get practically hung, drawn and quartered for wasting resource on over-engineering something to that degree.
"It's exactly the same problem which has troubled the PC games industry since the year dot, compared to those making console games. More variability in target systems means more bugs, more work and more support requests."
And yet... There seems to be a rather thriving PC gaming industry the last time I checked.
"The fun thing about any theory obviously being that there's very little rules, if you can think of it, it's a valid theory, untill someone comes up with hard proof to the contrary"
Your lack of understanding of basic physics doesn't make a "theory". And there are more rules than "if you can think of it" and what you believe.
Researchers also don't think if you suck the molecules out of a space you have a vacuum. They understand already that vacuums can't be created experimentally.
@Sorrythathandleisalreadytaken no idea how long it takes you to refocus your eyes, but had a go on the way home - I tend to refocus your eyes in all three mirrors depending on traffic (there are 3 adjustments your eyes have to make when changing the focus of what you're seeing).
But that aside, no idea how you cope with your speedometer then...
You might want to avoid driving a car then. Checking your mirrors may prove to be equally challenging.. ;-)
Speaking of which, I recall Sony had a stab at this, using the PSP as an auxilliary screen for the PS3? Don't think anything came of it though. Only example they came up with was the above - using it as a rear-view mirror.
The only advantage I can think of having a personalised screen on the controller is during multiplayer split-screen games, where you have no private information available. On regular consoles it's trivial to see at a glance exactly where your opponent is and what they're doing.
Spot on. Even more accurately, they'll be adjusting the odds along the way dependent on the entire betting pool. Effectively they're spread-betting across the punters with a balanced book so that whoever "wins" incurs a cost of less than the entire pot.
If anything, the England bookie odds are more predicated on how much is bet on the other teams.
And what makes you so sure that they don't have a list of email addresses to go with the hashed passwords? Chances are high that whoever managed to hack LinkedIn got more than just a list of hashed passwords, they'll have got the email addresses with it.
Although yes, I imagine spammers have reacted and started pumping out a higher proportion of spam disguised as LinkedIn in general, and legitimate users have assumed causality. Although in fairness El Reg's headline hasn't linked the two.
Cleanfeed. I'm pretty sure the court order even references it (or did in the Newzbin one anyway). Speaking of which, anyone figure out quite why BT need more time to organise it? didn't they comply with the Newzbin block pretty sharp-ish? It's a line in the Cleanfeed blacklist FFS.
It works at the IP level, by routing to a proxy which then does a bit of DPI to inspect which site its heading for.
All good advice, but excuse me while I guffaw at the idea a drone at the call centre of whichever mobile telco would have a clue about security patches for Android.
As for the permissions, as said above there are certain functions of a phone that should absolutely require explicit confirmation, not assumed in terms and conditions. I'm pretty sure Apple has been slammed for the same thing. There's nothing wrong with asking with a "never ask me again" option attached.
If I put "I'm going to royally rip you off" in a permission or T&C, doesn't make it allowed if you install it.
In addition to the above, yes, premium-rate SMS is also used for donating to charity (I usually do Comic Relief and Children in Need via this way) and Vodafone has just launched http://www.justgiving.com/justtextgiving as a way of raising money as individuals via it. It removes the last barrier to charity donations (namely laziness) and is extremely effective.
Your second point is more valid, and the fact an app is able to text on your behalf with little warning is rather poor.
@Ian Yates - technically speaking if it involves an arm to capture a passive object, it's defined as "berthing".
The space shuttle "docked" with ISS as it guided itself onto the station. The supply modules, including this Space one, are berthed.
"beyond pedantry" it may be, but there's a recognised difference in definition - there's even a wiki about it.
It's a great achievement, no doubt, but I'd be cautious about saying a private company is docking a spacecraft. A more accurate version is that a private company is bringing a craft within close proximity, and the ISS/NASA/ESA etc is performing the dock via the robotic arm.
Pedantic I know - and in no way posted to detract from the enormous achievement they are making.
@Allan 1 - and was that before or after NTL and Telewest defaulted on their debt? They restructured by swapping debt for shares, effectively diluting the existing shares by spreading that debt across their shareholders and lowering the value of the companies. This was done to prevent bankruptcy on both companies - they subsequently merged.
Virgin Mobile "merged" (aka bought out) NTL/Telewest and then rebranded as Virgin Media - it certainly wasn't a simple renaming. At the point of the Virgin takeover there was very little debt, just a substantially weakened company with a very low share price and a lot of disgruntled shareholders.
Haven't laid any that I'm aware of. Far as I know they acquired the cable infrastructure, but none of tr crippling debt that came with actually installing the infrastructure.
You could argue that Virgin Media got a largely subsidised infrastructure like BT did, but none of the obligation to supply to anyone who asks at fixed cost. Say what you like about BT, but if I build a brand new house, BT are obliged to cable it for £130 (or less) regardless of the actual cost. Virgin will just continue to send you junk mail proclaiming you are in an enabled area, but won't actually hook you up.
The phrase "deadbeat" is being used to describe the people who are being let off the hook and subsequently *not* paying CS. I presume there are plenty of people who are impacted by this IT failing yet continuing to pay child support under amicable arrangements instead of having to get it taken at source.
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