Posts by Matthew 3

RE: Closer, close, quite far, very far, a long long way.

"These are SMALL. The ones out there are FAR AWAY..."

Re: Keyboard

...and don't mind using esoteric shortcuts when you need a hash key.

Re: yea

Apple knew the functionality that they were trying to duplicate. So it doesn't matter if it's a good first attempt or not. If you're going to replace anything there will be people who dislike change - any kind of change. But this is a different league: they're pissing off everyone with a product that's several generations behind. That's just stupid.

They should have stuck with Google until they had a product that was, as a minimum, comparable. Anything less is showing just how little regard they have for their customers.

Re: "It's complex" shocker

Yes, I get that they're different. But both processes of forecasting rely to a greater or lesser extent on models: that's where I see a parallel. Weather and climate predictions don't always deliver what the model said would happen or when it might happen.

Personally I'd like better weather forecasts. For society as a whole I'd like accurate climate modelling. It's why I said that I hoped that this result improves both.

Re: Christian Berger

I also liked the Hamlet Cigar spoof of the Channel 4 logo. Done by the same chaps?

Re: International power strip

Go one stage further: I have a standard UK four-outlet strip on which I've replaced the UK plug with a schuko plug. It goes with me everywhere in Europe and means I only need remember those pesky adapters if I have to plug something in in a different part of the room.

Je pense que vous will find that c'est properly titled "la manche Anglais".

(With apologies to Kilometres Kington.)

You may like the Basic Instructions logo

Another site, with 'toons, that has the right attitude towards user support. Link

Re: Yes to this

Swype needs to learn that, for example 'this' is a more commonly used word than 'thus'. Seriously, who thought that'd be a better guess for the word you wanted?

Re: and in other news

With a fanfare they announce the results:

"Ursine defecation predominantly occurs in arboreal locations"

Re: "an overall cash drain of €514 for the quarter"

Awww, you fixed the typo. Now I just look silly.

Re: More oddities:

Yes and the shadows are all wrong, the flag was moving and the footprints don't look right either.

I suspect that this footage was really mocked up on the moon, not filmed in Finland.

Re: One, two, three, jump! But where?

I second the call to go to First Direct. OK so, yes, they're officially part of HSBC but they're managed independently. I doubt that'd help much if this kind of midden hits the windmill but their day-to-day interaction just works. The phones are answered by a real person - in the UK - and that one person can deal with 90% of things without having to transfer you.

I'm one of those rare types who does actually move my account between banks - I've tried them all at some point - and only FD have managed to keep this awkward cuss impressed over a long haul.

Re: Advert Free TV

I watched the recent comedy gala on Channel 4 where Jimmy & Alan Carr* had remade or edited some of the adverts. This was quite possibly the first time in a decade where I'd actively sat through the ads just to see what comic potential those two had found in them.

There are still plenty of good ads made but to keep us involved they must be clever and amusing. I'm sure that those wonderful'refreshes the parts' Heinekin and 'Happiness is...' Hamlet ads still stir a few memories.

*this was a few months ago before Jimmy became the pariah poster boy for tax evasion.

Re: best discussion on Nokia buy out

I agree that Nokia should try to engineer that meeting with Apple. But I'm less convinced by the idea that it would be a good thing to [sic] "help WP7 die a litle more quicker."

Whether or not you're a fan of Apple/Android it's surely in everyone's best interest that there are rival products out there. I can't think of many duopolies where you can get the best product at a bargain price.

WinPho (and BlackBerry too) may not be to everyone's taste but as long as they're viable and out there they exert an influence both on product development and the price at which it's sold. At a time when Apple and Android seem unassailable I don't think it's sensible to be wishing the competition away.

Re: Ascension

You've got to admit that Ascension is a great name for a place to put the space elevator.

In fifty years time people would think that the place was named after the technology.

Re: Great video

You're right. I emailed them to ask about this and got:

"As a newly launched company just coming out of stealth, we are not actively engaging business opportunities outside of the United States at the moment. Once we have expanded to a degree that allows us to deliver the quality, responsiveness and consistency that we know the international community expects, we will engage with partners and customers abroad."

Re: @ Matthew 3 - "Speed doesn't inherently kill"

OK, here's what I'm talking about:

Executive Summary

The act of travelling fast isn't of itself fatal.

Elaboration

As I pointed out, it's possible to travel in excess of 500mph in an aeroplane. This is the fastest possible current speed any average human can reach (ok, without joining a space agency). Many thousands of people do this every day without a single speed-induced death. Care to explain that for me? In case you'd forgotten, Concorde's passengers regularly (and safely) exceeded 1300mph for the best part of three decades. When Concorde did crash it wasn't speed that caused that accident either. If you were right then the fastest forms of travel would be the most dangerous, rather than the safest. With cars, motorways are the safest roads even though cars are travelling faster. Speed alone doesn't seem to be killing people there either.

I do accept that injuries are more likely to be serious if something goes wrong when travelling at a higher speed. The majority of such injuries are caused by abrupt deceleration and the effects of momentum on the body. I don't think that's in dispute here. Of course momentum has a relationship with speed but, sadly, that's not the message given out by the 'speed kills' lobby. It doesn't even seem to be your point.

You can only ever be right if you re-state your position as "inappropriate speed kills".

I do recall people saying, back when steam trains were a new idea, that to exceed a walking pace was likely to cause physical injuries and risk death. Is this what you have in mind? I'm pretty sure that to still be of that view (when it's been so comprehensively disproven) is where I'd be applying words like 'infantile' 'dumb' and 'fallacy'.

Just out of curiosity, what speed do you have in mind that will inherently kill someone?

Re: Exactly

Oxford's bus/cycle lanes have a pedestrian-crossing-style push button at the head of the queue. This allows cyclists to gain the advantage of the bus lane's priority traffic lights even when no bus is coming.

Re: Power requirements

Gravity is why a plummeting VW Beetle can beat a twin-turbo Porsche 911 over a mile.

TG Test

Re: point?

Would you really want to have two 55" tellies side by side? I can see me wanting this tech so that my missus can watch her bloody awful singing/dancing/voting programmes while I turn to the Dave channel.

No need to ponce about with recordings and we can both watch something we like in the same room at the same time. Makes sense to me.

"...why did I have to register here..."

Read the name of this website, pal.

Re: Double fail

"why not go all the way and get with the times, go metric? "

BMW tried this with wheels for certain models, I seem to recall, in the 90s. I guess proponents of Teutonic efficiency dislike the mixture of inches (wheel diameter) and mm (tyre width).

If you're adamant about keeping the original wheels on one of those models every new tyre you buy costs very silly amounts of money.

Thinking an idea is better idea doesn't mean it'll pan out the way you want. For another example take a look at Brunel's 'broad gauge'.

Re: Units

You could also cause confusion by using the Aussie word for flipflops.

Re: "is there much of a difference?"

"...often 15 or more years..."

I remember reading that the leading cause of death for Death Row inmates is actually old age.

Re: Today London lost Ceefax!

IIRC, Oracle was an acronym: Optical Reception of Announcements by Coded Line Electronics.

Re: STILL at it

" If the seller has gone out of business in the second year onwards, then there's nothing you can do"

In the UK at least, buying it on a credit card makes the card company jointly liable for dodgy goods. Even if your supplier has gone out of business you're still able to get a refund from the card company. Here's a handy mnemonic for your (UK) rights:

Satisfactory Quality

As

Described

Fit for purpose

And last for a

Reasonable

Ttime.

And, yes, for quoting this, I am one.

Re: I don't think that this is a good idea.

Surely you'd claim work usage back through expenses? And if you're fired after two months it's no problem. Well, not for the employer, anyway.

You might find it's a bit more trouble getting your claims signed off though.

Re: With all respect to the late, great Douglas Adams.

With a name like Colin, you wouldn't be an artificially cheerful robot by any chance?

Re: Don't forget...

Yes, I got one of those. I had bought a TV with a built-in OnDigital decoder but they didn't bother tailoring the letters for people without separate receivers. I wrote back saying something like 'see you in court, pal' and never heard another peep.

On the plus side though, the aerial they fitted for free is still doing sterling service.