Posts by jason 7
1136 posts • joined Thursday 11th June 2009 11:27 GMT
Posted in Sigma SD1 Merill 46Mp DSLR
Re: Only the Foveon concept isn't particularly good
I must admit it was a good point that someone mentioned earlier.
There they are these photography enthusiasts that spend £7000+ on a 30+ megapixel digital camera, the finest lenses, going to great lengths to capture that perfect shot, then spend hours tweaking it further in £1000 worth of Photoshop.
To then have to shrink it down, post it up on a website for us to all see via our crappy 6bit TN 1366x768 laptop screens or smartphones. Perfection!
Thanks for all the effort but a pic from a £200 point and shoot would have done most likely.
Posted in BBC mulls seizing the wheel of Local TV
Waste of time and money.
I live in Norwich and the local TV and BBC Radio Norfolk are terrible. We certainly don't need a Norwich TV channel.
I can just imagine loads of horrible cheap 'community' programs about the plight of local Pensioners/Unemployed/Youth/Drug Addicts/Market sellers etc. etc. Christ how dreary.
When I retune my Freeview box I always go through and delete about 40 channels I never watch. I guess this would be another.
Less is more.
I feel that maybe this kind of 'community' stuff could be better shown via some kind of regional part of iPlayer over the web.
Posted in Apple MacBook Pro 13in
Re: but still only just managed 30fps when running Far Cry 2
Wow what an article!
Total 100% tech market bumph with zero actual real world results.
You can write all the tech bumph you like about a product but unless you show what it does with real world apps and hardware it means jack. Look at all the AMD hype about Bulldozer for example. Looked like the second coming before launch day and the NDAs expired, then......
Flashy tech flowcharts mean nothing. If you are into GPU stuff we've seen plenty of Intel HD graphics reviews and it 99% of games it gets slaughtered. It's better than the last Intel GPU generation but its still 5 years behind AMD and Nvidia.
Posted in Apple MacBook Pro 13in
Re: but still only just managed 30fps when running Far Cry 2
Yes the Reg reviewers might want to take a look at HardOCP's graphics card reviews to see what info we really need for "it just managed 30fps" to be valid.
So if it just managed 30FPS I guess 50% of the time it was running in single figures then?
Posted in Apple MacBook Pro 13in
Oh god no!
This review was going okay then went out the window when you said - "although its 1280 x 800 resolution should perhaps have been tweaked to the slighter more widescreen 1366 x 768 that is now standard amongst 13in PC laptops."
No.
1366x768 is a total curse in the laptop world. It's the lowest of the low for laptop screen res.
The screen would be better as a 1400x900 or higher for the price.
For a device that probably will mainly be used for browsing you don't really want to lower the depth do you!
Re: I too was thinking the same thing....
Sorry that sounds like the usual failing management mumbo jumbo BS used to cover ones tracks.
Re: MS can afford to sell this OS cheap.
Because like you and most others have totally missed the point about what Windows 8 is all about.
Its not about getting rid of the Start button. Its not about all the UI changes.
Its all about pushing folks to buy Metro Apps. The changes are just to push folks into Metro land. There they will buy all the fart apps they so desire, cos if Android and Apple App Stores are anything to go by, people love to buy crap. MS wants in on that big time.
MS knows full well that Windows 8 is not going to be the corporate OS of choice. It's mainly going to be domestic. So they get the Metro infrastructure incorporated into employees homes and media devices and that then gains acceptance into the corporate field through familiarity and ubiquity for Windows 9 (basically Windows 8 Corporate edition).
Windows 9 may not even have a 'desktop'.
MS can afford to sell this OS cheap.
And no not because most of us here think its a bit lacking in a few areas.
But because they aim to make 30% on all the apps they are hoping folks will buy through Metro land.
This is the first OS that MS can make money from the customer all the way through the life of the OS.
I'm wondering what their projected revenue per Windows 8 user is? Probably a bit more then the usual £70 OEM copy gypsy like myself.
Your over confidence astounds me!
"Her boss Steve Ballmer claimed that Windows 8 would be the biggest deal for Microsoft in 17 years, since the launch of Windows 95."
Oh dear, someone's going to be a bit disappointed come October.
I too was thinking the same thing....
...and you beat me to it.
Amazes me that the dickheads responsible for faliure get to ruin another project and the poor sods that fought against them to do it properly get the bullet.
Posted in YouView recommends radio hams' pet peeve
Have to say I'm kind of in agreement. I don't know anyone that's a ham radio user or would admit to it.
I don't know any dodos or sabre tooth tigers either. I guess they all died out.
I do know many many folks that need to push their data round their houses so I guess they win over these mythical Hams.
Screw customers......
...they screw you back.
Oh and SSDs are just so hot right now.
Re: So where does he stand on....
I'm amazed that two people so far feel the need to defend "Celebrity Dancing Arseholes for Dinner on Ice".
So where does he stand on....
Quality drama, decent news, properly researched documentaries, ground breaking comedy etc.?
Or is he just going to dish out more "Celebrity Dancing Arseholes for Dinner on Ice?
The BBC have just given up.
Getting back to showers.
I've found getting your showering down to 3 minutes makes a big saving.
3 minutes is actually plenty long enough to wash all the important stuff.
It is noticeable.
Posted in LG 55LM960V 55in Smart TV
Just one question.....
...just how good does 1080p look at 50"+?
Thats getting pretty low on the old DPI. I can imagine 1080p looking okay up to 42" 5 years ago but surely its looking a little crappy on the larger screens?
Wouldn't 1440p have been a better top end standard?
Re: And as for a Unix Server
Yep and I bet it runs through a decent built in PSU and also a lovely filtered UPS etc. etc.
It's really not difficult to build stable hardware running any OS as long as you spend a bit.
Yes they are.
The often use lower power mobile versions of the CPUs and the GPUs (if installed) are often clocked far lower then their similar numbered desktop variant.
Sometimes they used to pull tricks like only allowing ram to work in single channel mode rather than dual channel etc. etc.
If it helps get another 20 mins or so out of the battery for say 10% less overall performance.....
FFS! Its got nothing to do with overclocking, ram etc.
It's more likely to do with the $5 firebox 300W PSUs they install in the crappy white box machines.
It's all in the PSU.
Never spend less than £30 is my motto.
I average around £40-£50 in my machines. Never a BSOD to be seen. Thing of the past.
Posted in B&O Beoplay A3
One of the greatest achievments of the 21st Century
What is it?
It's how the Norwich Branch of B&O is still open for business.
I walk past it every week and I have never seen anyone in there.
Their products just look terribly dated and over priced.
Nationwide and their Mortgagre Quotes System
Back in 1996 I was looking to buy my first flat. As I had some accounts with Nationwide I went in and got three mortgage quotes from them.
I got home and that evening my Dad and I went through them. We couldnt get them to add up.
Just wouldnt work. So I went in the next day and asked the Mortgage lady. She just looked at me as though I was from Mars and then tried to work them out. Three attempts and a lot of odd looks she goes to the Manager. He sits down and just keeps starting at his calculator as he tries to work them out.
He then quickly makes a call.
Seems that their quote software was all wrong. All the quotes they dished out were incorrect. It seems my Dad and I were the only people ever to check them.
Talk Talk = Lazy
My dad used TT for his ISP for several years. It just got worse and worse (getting down to less than 1Mb) and next to useless. I got him to call them up and they just said "Computer says no!" They said nothing could be done.
We tested a new router and that made no difference.
So I got dad to switch over to BT. He cancelled TT, we switched over the ISP details and....
Instant rock solid 6.5Mbps connection!
Posted in Nokia details 808 Pureview release
Re: Or....
Yes good luck to the 200 or so folks that actually buy this phone.
Especially as it wont have Instagram to instantly crapolate their already crappy photos.
I despair that the early 21st century is going to be recorded visually by crappy pictures that had people had to pay to have them developed, they never would have taken them in the first place.
Good old film was a great filter and defense against having to sit through 566 holiday snaps of a two week holiday.
Posted in Nokia details 808 Pureview release
Re: Erm yes it is
But if you are marketing this as a 41MP camera to the great unwashed then surely you should be offering 41MP images as the end result?
If not Trading Standards hassles ahoy.
If the end photo comes in as a 5MP size image that's going to disappoint some folks.
Like I said, marketing BS. Instead they should have said "This phone uses an over sized sensor to provide better fidelity 5MP images with greater clarity, depth and less noise.
Posted in Nokia details 808 Pureview release
But it's not really 41MP is it!
Just market BS at it's best.
It would be cool in a manufacturer could make a truly decent 4.1MP camera on a phone let alone 41MP.
Posted in DDR 4 sets the pace for fast memory
Well the one main benefit of....
....going to DDR2 then 3 and now 4 has just meant that messing around buying Turbo Nutter Mega Ram sticks with 'super low timings' has become largely a waste of time and money.
Just buy the good standard Crucial/Corsair/Kingston stuff and get on with your life.
If you have to buy fancy then just choose which heat spreaders look best with your motherboard.
Voice-powered Blu-Ray?
Do I have to talk all the way through the movie then?
Sounds like hard work!
Posted in The Beatles Yellow Submarine restored
Eddie Yates/Onslow as the voice of Paul
How bizzare.
Nice one Geoff!
Re: Not a good advert really.
Some folks have funny ideas how current virus attacks work.
Basically no AV works to stop the daily written drive-bys that leave the AV companies 24 hours behind. I guess you could install EMET and turn DEP on for everything but thats a lot of work in the enterprise. Not too hard for the individual though.
The sites that get hacked to insert these attacks are usually those that are browsed by folks in their late 40's+ so cruise/holiday websites and financial investments. Not the kind of sites passed by too often in work possibly. But frequented by those all to keen to hand over their credit card details when something goes wrong.
Anyway if the fact that I get mostly infected PCs that have McAfee installed on it isn't exactly a great recommendation for it is it? Domestic or otherwise. One can assume that either McAfee is the most popular AV in which case it still isn't doing its job all that well, or it isn't that popular but is still not up to the task.
Crap software is still crap software whichever way you look at it. Next most useless appears to be Kaspersky followed by Avast then Norton.
Posted in Why I love Microsoft’s vapourware tablet
Re: Hmmmm tough call.
But why would I want to spend more than £200 for the usage I mentioned above?
You see a lot of people hardly use 20% of the functionality so why spend more for just looking up the odd thing now and then?
Posted in Why I love Microsoft’s vapourware tablet
Hmmmm tough call.
Okay so for sitting on the coffee table and spending most of its operational time looking up stuff to confirm arguments/facts over stuff watched on TV or to look up where we saw 'that actor' before on IMDB we have the choice of -
A Windows 8 Tablet at £600+
or
A dual core IPS Android tablet for £200.
Yeah.....
Been running EMET on my machines....
....for a while now.
Is it any good? Dunno, haven't had a virus in over 15 years on the dozens of PCs and laptops I've owned.
So maybe it is.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2458544
Not a good advert really.
I would say of all the laptops and PCs I get in for virus cleaning 60% of them have McAfee running on them.
Does it really take a dozen McAfee services running in memory to protect my PC when MSSE does it with one?
Yes MS needs to start making the hardware too!
As a PC support guy, most of the time the issue isnt with the hardware or the OS its the crap that Dell/HP/Acer/Asus/McAfee etc. etc. has installed on it.
The crapware is a crime against humanity. I have yet to come across a customer that has ever used the HP/Acer/Asus Oberon Media games crap but its all on there. Constantly bugging users with requests for this and that.
It's not MS that's screwing up Windows its the twats selling the machines with Windows on it.
It's like buying a new Audi and the dealer has installed (for your convenience) a go faster stripe, fake dump valve and underside neons to it that you didn't ask for.
I would love to be able to buy a MS specced and approved laptop with just the OS and maybe a couple of fully tested and approved apps on it.
Maybe this will drop the hint to the manufacturers to get their house in order.
Posted in Microsoft next-gen Xbox details leak
Re: Will it be backward compatible?
Ah yes the old new crap old crap conundrum.
Plus SWMBO pressure is high on this type of situation.
Posted in Microsoft next-gen Xbox details leak
Re: Will it be backward compatible?
Why? You have a 360 already you can play them on!
Never got this need to play old crap on new crap.
The one important thing they never teach you at school.
I wish on the first day of starting Secondary School the headmaster/mistress would call all the new kids in and tell them this -
"If you want to join chess club, the football team, drama, computer club or take any subject you like but your friends tell you "its not cool and not to do it!" Well just consider this. You are not actually at school for very long and chances are once you leave school you will never see 99% of your friends here today, ever again. Just consider that if it's something you want to do. What they say means nothing. It's up to you."
TomTom - Still thinks its 2003
Around the city I live.
Also they make such a big thing about the user updates to correct and improve things.
However, they appear to do jack. Totally useless.
Never got a laptop to last more than 4 years?
What the hell were you doing to them?
I've been a laptop user since 1998, had around a dozen in that time (I have several on the go) and never ever had one fail on me. A few of them are still working with friends and family.
Look after your kit and it will look after you.
Economy 7
Has anyone ever enjoyed using that? Everyone I have ever known always starts of really smug (I don't know why) when they switch to it and from that moment on it just leads to ever increasingly bizarre behaviour (running downstairs at 2am to switch the washing machine on) and recriminations (when they didn't as it had to be done at the crippling day rate).
They all end up nervous wrecks on Economy 7.
Posted in Ten... Sata 3 SSDs
Re: Quick question...
Yes it will. As mentioned above I bought the 120GB Sandisk Ultra drive for my SATA2 laptop.
The WD Black 320GB HDD gave me 85MBps throughput. The new Sandisk bumped that to around 270MBps.
Windows 7 now boots in 20-25 seconds. Apps fire up virtually instantly. So yes makes the laptop a lot smoother and snappier. A good upgrade for £65.
The benefit of buying the SATA2 Sandisk for an older laptop is that you know you are not hamstringing the performance so no back of the mind niggles of missing 500MBps performance.
Posted in Ten... Sata 3 SSDs
Dont ignore the older drives.
If you just want a cheap but roomy enough upgrade for an older laptop then the older SATA2 Sandisk Ultra 120GB that are going for around £65 are worth a look.
Still three times faster then the HDD you have in there at the mo. Made quite a difference to my old laptop.
Posted in HP Z1 quad-core Xeon 27in PC
@Piro
You Sir, lost any IT credibility you had with that post.
Unless you were just being silly.
It's all about selling Apps.
Nothing more nothing less.
A last ditch attempt by MS to get into a market it's missed by miles. It doesn't care if you like Metro or not it just wants to make sure you cant hide from it in the hope you give in and buy apps...and more apps.
Sh*t or bust basically.
Posted in AMD and Nvidia extreme GPUs workout
Found a Heavyweight legend yesterday.
Opened up a customers old Compaq off the shelf PC and took off the HSF expecting the usual Athlon64 3500+ or Sempron in it to find to my surprise a FX57.
That CPU retailed for around $1031 in 2005!
Anyone give me £5? £5 anyone? The gentleman at the back...? £4 then......
Re: Just waiting for the herd of ....
And you are exactly the type......I wasn't referring to.
Someone who actually uses that CPU for the purpose it was intended for.
Good work that man.
Posted in Amazon's Lovefilm HD shuns Sony fanboys
Re: LoveFilm Instants content
I'm glad I'm not the only one that's mentioning this.
As you say there is about two evening of decent stuff and the rest is straight to video/DVD garbage.
Re: But is extreme what is needed?
Indeed, AMD (and Intel if it's honest) has realised that the CPU power race ended the minute dual core CPUS came out. At that point 90% of the worlds PCs users were sorted for life with regards to doing their day to day computing.
The fact Intel pushes out these £800 fastest CPUs is great and all but how many do they actually sell? Especially to the domestic market. Only a very small percentage of the worlds PC users actually read the tech reports on CPUs.
They are really nothing than a marketing tool and internet buzz creating. I've never seen one of these chips in the wild.
So AMD is wise to just concentrate of getting hold of Joe Average with a nice average CPU for a lower than average price.
Just waiting for the herd of ....
...socially awkward PC enthusiasts that class themselves as 'Hardcore' because they have the £800 to spend on a CPU (guess why folks) that they only use for running pointless benchmarks on all day and nothing else. To say that "OMFG the AMD is so lame and the IPC of the INTEL is just so much better cos in X benchmark it does this and in Y benchmark it does that...."
FFS quit with the benchmarks and lowering the timings on your Extreme Dragon Hell For Leather Quad Turbonutter ram to get that FPS score from 146FPS to 146.6FPS.
You are wasting your life! Go outside and find a girlfriend or some real friends at least.
It doesn't impress normal people with normal lives.
Are we seeing the end result of that age old practice.....
...of if you cant sack someone then promote them up and out of the way?
So basically you have a group of total nitwits that cant manage their way out of a paper bag but get 'moved on' over and over getting a false impression of their own value and ability.
Saw it a lot at my old firm. If you were good you stayed where they wanted you but if you were crap you got promoted as it was the only way to get rid of them. By the time I left several of them had reached Director level, wanted the respect that went with it but because we all knew their history, little was given.
Company nose dives as a result.
