* Posts by Stacy

421 publicly visible posts • joined 17 Jun 2009

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Tesla vs Media again as Model S craps out on journo - on the highway

Stacy
Unhappy

Re: Maybe...

I could handle having to recharge after 100 miles of spirited driving in what is basically a track car.

What I couldn't take is the long recharge times before I can drive again. I can't wait for when I can swap my petrol engine for an electric one. Unfortunately I can't see that happening any time soon :(

Or even better - converting my old Spitfire to use an electric motor rather than the 1950s designed lump it uses! But I can't see that any time soon either...

Stacy

Re: In what way

I thought that the report (if you can call anything on Top Gear a report) said there was a problem with the car, not that the car ran out of charge...

And everyone knows that if you are pushing a car around a race track you are not going to get the range you would on the motorway... Petrol or electric!

Review: HP Spectre XT TouchSmart

Stacy
WTF?

Ethernet (not gigabit, unfortunately)

Really? What on earth were they thinking?

Leave it off for more space (not my preference, but not everyone wants an Ethernet port these days) or put in a gigabit port minimum. Especially on a 1200 machine!

That, lack of SSD and the sub par camera on a machine this expensive just seems like someone looking to make a failure!

British games company says it owns the idea of space marines

Stacy
WTF?

Aliens...

Were they not "inspired" just a little bit for the Genestealers by the Aliens themselves?

There is certainly a resemblance...

OCZ omnishambles leaves flash chippery biz on knife-edge

Stacy
Unhappy

Re: Pretty sad really

Absolutely! I replaced the 7200rpm HDD in my Vaio with a Vertex 4 and it has made it a completely different machine in terms of responsiveness.

Shame to see that bad management may mean that my next drive won't be the same :(

Schoolgirl's Hello Kitty catonaut soars to 93,000ft

Stacy
Facepalm

Re: Top work

Note to self... Learn to proof read! :)

Stacy
Meh

Re: Top work

I'm not sure I agree totally.

Yes we need more *people* and those people should be the most competent of the available selection, but we should be doing more to get girls interested at an age where they can do something about becoming one of those competent applicants.

And not get comments like 'What do you mean you work in <insert mail dominated profession here>, you're a woman.'

The amount of times I have had to explain myself for picking my career is not fun (admittedly it is mainly from the ageing generation and not people my own age...)

BBC: What YOU spent on our lawyers in Secret Climate 28 debacle

Stacy
Happy

BBC Trust

You have to love the oxymoron don't you?

Belkin buys Linksys from Cisco

Stacy
Unhappy

Re: I avoid Belkin like the plague

Exactly what I was thinking. I've used Linksys since I started putting a wireless network in my home, and it has always been the easiest and most reliable kit I've used.

Friends and relatives on the other hand who have no idea what they are buying went with the cheaper Belkin (why would you choose to spend more? "Stace your insane when it comes to buying gadgets, you always spend too much") and then expected me to spend hours sorting out why the hell they would not work. In the end I refused to spend my time sorting our their cheapness and told them to get the kit I recommended if they wanted me to spend my afternoons fixing their network.

What on earth do I tell them to buy now :(

'Leccy-starved Reg hack: 'How I survive on 1.5kW'

Stacy
Thumb Up

Re: That's 100A per phase...

@Stoneshop! What! They never told me that (then again in the beginning they never said that there was anything other then the 3*80 either!)

Thanks, something to bear in mind should we add any other big kit :)

Stacy
Unhappy

Re: That's 100A per phase...

I don't know what that would cost in the UK, but over here in Holland it's prohibitively expensive! We just had the three phase wired into the house (it was built with 3 phase, but only one is attached by default) as our new hob needs 480v.

The cost of the upgrade was not too bad at +-700 euros (you have to pay the network company for that). That comes with 3*25 amp fuses. If you want more than that (the next step is 3*80) then you have what they call 'KrachtStroom'. Then your monthly standing charge goes from 18 euros per month to 180 euros per month.

We stayed with 3*25 obviously! (Though with what we run on 3*25 amps, I can't imagine the electricity bill if we did need to triple our capacity ;p)

All your audio, video kit is about to become OBSOLETE

Stacy
Happy

Re: What's New?

@Mike Flugennock

I have a 1080p remastered Blu-ray of The Italian Job (the real one! You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!) and 2001 and the picture on both is just stunning.

The azure blue lakes in the opening of the Italian Job are sparkling! And in 2001 everything is crisp with bright colours.

The content is there, it's just not always new!

As for the speakers, I'm sure that there will be improvements made, but until I hear something to out do the CM9's in the living room (and are affordable!) I don't think I'll class them as obsolete! I guess I can keep them for a long time yet :)

Sony PS3 extends lead over Microsoft's Xbox 360 by a cool million

Stacy
Thumb Down

Re: downloads

Surely if it is not nice over a 30mb link then that's an issue as the servers end, not the clients? I have a 120mb connection (over the WiFi reduced to 60, and downloading DVD ISO's from my MSDN account takes minutes. Not bad at all. Even if you double the time it took to download (for the half connection speed) you are talking no more than 15 minutes.

Why should it take any longer for games to download via XBox live?

Sir James Dyson slams gov's 'obsession' with Silicon Roundabout

Stacy
Unhappy

Back when I had just graduated (some 14 years ago) and was working for a company making production control software I was sent to a rather large engineering company in Liverpool for some trouble shooting.

Having lunch with one of the senior managers he explained the problem with engineering grads to be that they come in waves. At one point he had hundreds of grad applicants per position, and the pay was according to demand and supply. And so the students choose other studies, as the graduates dried up the salaries rose and then there was a new wave of people doing engineering courses - after all it's a growing industry - just in time for the market to be flooded again when they qualified.

Mind you the wages he was discussing (pitiful), along with the hours (far too long) made me glad I picked something else...

2012: The year that netbooks DIED

Stacy
Happy

Re: Ultrabooks with "premium specs"

@HipoosRule

Because they have nothing better to do?

Honestly, there's far worse things in life to worry about though, it is quite literally the least of my concerns :)

I suppose it was partly an opinion and people are allowed to disagree...

Stacy
Happy

Re: Ultrabooks with "premium specs"

Re: the Sony Z

I got one this summer and it's an amazing little machine. Full HD with a 13" screen (but so pin sharp that readability is not compromised), quad core Ivy Bridge i7 and an SSD that I have never seen anything else get near to in terms of performance (esp on a consumer machine).

Add to that it's size (MacBook Air, albeit not curved at the edges) weight (makes the air look heavy), ports galore (GB Ethernet, VGA for projectors at work, HDMI for the living room and 2* USB 3) and 6 hour battery life I don't think that you can ask for more! And that is without the PMD for the extra graphics power, BluRay and ability to drive three monitors.

My only gripe would be that I couldn't load it with more than 8GB (I would have liked 16...)

Lego quad-copter: your ultimate drone nightmare

Stacy
Black Helicopters

Wow, just wow!

I love reading things like this!

Makes me feel really guilty for not spending more time at the weekends on hobby projects though...

Black helicopter, well, because, you know :)

End of days: Possessed POWERPOINT predicts Mayan Apocalypse

Stacy
Happy

Re: Whatever. It's SOLSTICE! Celebrate!

I hate to burst your bubble, but whilst the days are going to get longer (woohoo as you say) winter has to come before spring :) (of course you are right, spring is coming, it just has to wait for winter first...)

Facebook to debut auto-play video ads in 2013

Stacy
Facepalm

Re: Lost Audience

We have no blocks at work, people who take it too far are talked to.

It doesn't happen very often.

Treat employees with respect and let them act like grown ups and quite often they do :)

From the stories I hear from family and friends though this does not seem to be the way of UK employers...

Stacy
WTF?

@Oh4FS Re: Feeling guilty? Bah!

What websites do you visit? I've never had to install an add blocker, and never had much of an issue.

Sure there are a few that have adverts constantly annoying the hell out of me. I just don't go back, there are plenty of useful sites in the world that don't have in your face adverts without having to install crap on my computer to make them to make them usable.

Imagine if El Reg started with adverts that meant you could not read the content until you had clicked lots of little 'x' boxes. Everyone installs add blocker, not much changes. Everyone stops visiting the site and suddenly there is a very different issue for the site and they have to do something.

Blockers and ranting are not going to change anything.

Or... Just use subscription sites that don't have adverts. I still don't get that people expect everything for free... Do you get paid for your work? Or should your boss just expect it from you for free too, like you expect content online?

Stacy
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Re: Feeling guilty? Bah!

Err... Not exactly no. Some advertisers pay per click, some pay per display and some just pay a fixed amount. So by blocking the content you are possibly / probably blocking the revenue stream that allows 'free' websites to work.

The other option of course is a subscription model, where you pay for the content as in the days of buying a magazine in a store. But most people don't want that either - paying for something that you use seems to be a dirty thought these days.

To be honest most of the adverts that I see on the reg are fairly benign, nothing that really annoys me. If there is something that catches my eye I may even click it.

Having said all of that full screen video adds, with sound, with the same add up to three times a day (so many of these damn things will be seen each day!) would be enough for me to think twice about keeping my account...

Quadriplegic woman demos advanced mind-control of robot arm

Stacy
Happy

After all of the awful news recently

It is so wonderful to read something uplifting like this.

And her quote is wonderful too!

As has been said, it is amazing just what we can do these days. And it's even more amazing just what the brain can do!

Forget fluorescents, plastic lighting strips coming out next year

Stacy
Thumb Up

Re: State intervention may well result in de-civilizatory effects

I don't know what lighting you are using but our home is 90% low energy bulbs or LEDs - and the results are fine. The living room has a total of 9w (one three light standing light @ 6w and three 1w ceiling spots). The spots are not as bright as the halogens they replaced, but perfectly good enough for living room lighting. You can read by them, but they are not overpowering. The standing lamp is the next gen of LEDs from the spots and are just as good as the halogens they replaced. So much so that we got the same lights, only for the ceiling with 6 LED spots (still @ 6w), for our dining room.

The energy savings were a bit poor about 10 years ago, but anything we have brought in the last 7 years has been instant on with no flicker or hum.

Belgian finds missus was born a MAN after 19 YEARS of marriage

Stacy

Re: Eh?

Nope, according to the linked article he was glad when she said that she didn't want kids.

You're right, we'll never know the whole story - but they guy does not come across well in the article.

Microsoft Office 2013 heads for the cloud but fails to soar

Stacy
Thumb Up

Love it

A few people in the office have tried the Beta and the response has been overwhelmingly positive.

There is nothing spectacular, but everything is just so much more pleasant than Office 2010 (that I am also a fan of).

The author fails to mention some of the nicer points:

- Office does, on the first attempt, suggest SkyDrive. But after a couple of saves it suggests the place where you save most of your documents. Much more useful than always suggesting the default My Documents

- The way the cursor moves across the screen as you type is wonderful, it sort of glides rather than jumping from character to character. It doesn't sound like much until you try it, but it makes typing a lot more relaxing

- Reply to mail defaults to a built in editor, rather than an pop out window - nice for 95% of the emails I type, and for those times when it's not it's very easy to make it pop out.

The only thing I don't like is the amount of space it takes, but then that's common these days...

Samsung SSD 840 series storage review

Stacy
Meh

Re: TLC endurance is worse

I thought people brought them for their blinding speed. When I replaced my partners HDD for an SSD I thought I would have to replace it within 2 years. Expensive, but the performance improvement that came with it was worth the price for us. We just ensure that it's always backed up!

I only hope the Vaio Z with the soldered SSD doesn't die so fast... (It was a concern when I brought the laptop).

Rockstar ramps it up with Grand Theft Auto V reveal

Stacy
Joke

Wow, scraping the barrel for sickening characters now!

A car salesman! That's just... Wrong - and here is me thinking they could not get more immorral than they had done in the past! :)

Apple MacBook Pro 13in Retina display review

Stacy
FAIL

Re: Maybe, but ... WiFi performance

Err... I have a local SSD drive... And yes it is blindingly fast in the Vaio as it's 2 * 128 in Raid 0 (giving 1000+MB per second - it was a main selling point of the machine over the less than half of the speed MBP SSD's) Sorry, I don't get your point.

So... I can have a laptop that has to work over USB (losing a USB port and won't have 1000gb performance) *and* I have to carry an adapter. Or I can use the built in GB port on the machine.

And you think carrying the extra adapters is the better idea. Wow.

As for representive of the general public. Maybe not, I never said I was. But I am representive from most of the people I know - we are all ametuer photographers and working with folders full of RAW images (or even hi quality converted jpegs) needs quite some network speed.

Stacy
Thumb Down

Re: Maybe, but ... WiFi performance

Nope, it doesn't matter how many access points you have. 144MB or 300MB wireless is never going to give the performance of 1GB wired. if you want to move big files, and work from network drives (which with such small SSD's you need to unless you want an external plugged in all day) then you need a wired connection to make things zippy.

Stacy
Happy

Re: Maybe, but ... (Laptops for wireless)

I'm sorry, but it's just not. It's the same thickness as the Vaio Z ( +/- .7 inches) and about 30% heavier - and the Vaio is jam packed with ports (IMHO no one can engineer a top spec, thin laptop like Sony...). The problem is that it is designed to look thinner than it actually is and so you can't put a port on there. I'd rather take a laptop that is the same thickness all around (which I prefer the look of anyway) and have all the connectivity I need without having to carry any adapters.

I'll agree on the DVD though. The external PMD of the Vaio is a great idea. BluRay and discrete graphics when you want it, thin, light and long battery life when you don't. Best of both worlds.

Stacy
Happy

Re: Maybe, but ... (Laptops for wireless)

I'm glad that OSX works so well for you - but I have tried it for a couple of months on a Sandy Bridge 13" MBP and both me and my partner thought it was awful to use. It's now sitting gathering dust whilst waiting for someone to buy it.

I don't buy the Mac's do it better than the equivalent windows machine. Macs do it better than the cheap laptops that I would never recommend anyone buy (750 euros and less), but whilst I can't compare the 13" MacBook with anything else I own (as they all cost twice the amount and perform sooo much better) my father in law has a 15" MBP that cost more than our windows laptops. And it doesn't come close to the performance (how could it - it has processors, memory and HDD that just are not in the same class as the windows machine). Of course they replaced an aging cheap laptop that I told them not to buy so they think it's amazing.

I don't buy the easier to conifugre printers either. Our windows machines connected to our printers in seconds (both the USB one, and the wireless one that replaced it),with full options and the ability to print at the higest resolution. The MacBook refused to use anything other than draft and had all of the options greyed out.

But, as I said, if it works for you - great! At the end of the day that is all that matters. But it doesn't for me and that is also all that maters :)

So I have to ask, why the no shit sherlock? :)

Stacy
Thumb Down

Re: Maybe, but ... (Laptops for wireless)

No, I was buying laptops before wireless, so that isn't the reason. It's nice (and required now maybe) but I don't use it exclusiefly - even at home. Try copying a few gig across a wireless connection that lots of people are using.

As for the Air not having space for an adapter. No.. Not really. It is the wrong shape for an ethernet port, but it is certainly wide enough for one without the form over funtion design of it.

My Vaio Z has a gigabit port and is the same thickness as the air.

007 hardware: Gadgetry, spyware and things that make you go Boom

Stacy
Facepalm

Re: Invisibility Cloak

And apparently I have no ability to type today :( Is there a gadget for that?

Stacy
Happy

Invisibility Cloak

I would have agreed with the comments about the invisibility clock until I saw the Bond 50 years Top Gear special a couple of Sundays ago.

They took a transit and covered in TV screens. And whilst it was not perfect, it did sort of work. Looked very strange.

OK in Bond they took it too far with making it paint that siddenly becomes a TV screen, of course - they's what they do, but I would not have thought you could have got close until I saw that. Now it doesn't seem as stupid as it did when I saw it at the cinema... (Stil over the top, but less so)

Naughty-step Apple buries court-ordered apology with JavaScript

Stacy
Thumb Down

Re: Has anyone checked country redirect?

Not any more... It used to redirect to the Dutch page from .com though...

Analyst slams Apple innovation FAIL

Stacy
Happy

Re: "touch surfaces want to be horizontal."

Track ball and MS Natural Keyboard (where most of the letters have been worn off) mean that anyone who can't touch type on a curved keyboard just lets me keep control of the computer on my desk.

Mind you watching people who do touch type still struggle because all of a sudden they can't see the letters that they never look at anyway is fantastic!

Stacy
Happy

Re: Simply becuase

I agree that the touchpad sucks, but attach a bluetooth mouse and it's fine - so I don't blame android.

I would have agreed that the idea of a touch laptop was daft until I got the transformer and now both me and my partner keep touching the screen of our laptops forgetting that, nope, doesn't work here!

Not for everything, especially anything where accuracy is important, but a mouse and touch screen is a perfect mix!

Now, where were my screen wipes! (Yup, that is a problem and a pain!)

Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid car review

Stacy
Happy

Re: @Stacy pedant alert...

Eek!!!

Pinking is detonation, and it can rip the tops of the pistons and p destroy the valves if you leave an engine doing it for long enough! Modern cars don't generally have this issue as combustion is very tightly controlled by the ECU, but it's something that you need to be careful off when you have to set the car yourself - an old classic for example. I don't worry about it with the V70, but my Spitfire gets tuned regularly to ensure the timing hasn't crept out.

And not, not all combustion is not the same as exploding. When petrol burns it expands quickly and puts pressure on the piton head to push it down, expanding all the time to keep the force on the piston throughout the stroke. When it pinks, explodes, there is an instant force on the top of the piston. This force is initially far greater and hotter causing both too much force on the bearings, piston rings etc and also causing hotspots due to the greater, more localised heat. Once the explosion has ended there is no longer force on the piston head to finish the stroke causing an imbalance in the engine - putting even more atypical stress on the components.

If left untreated (timing change, using a different fuel, getting the compression ration checked etc) then you will do serious damage to the engine.

If they make a V70 plug-in maybe it would be something that I would consider

You're right, electric motors have instant, 100% torque. And yet most modern cars using them suck when comparing them to petrol engines. Same for motorbikes. At present they just can't produce the instant bang of power from the battery packs that petrol engines can do from a petrol tank. Battery technology is just not there yet. It'll get there, and I'll be happy when it does. But it's not there yet - if it was then more cars would be electric (and the ones that are available would have *much* better performance ;p)

Stacy

Re: @ Those talking about dual clutch automatics...

Because the gear change is oh so smooth! Speed? Nah, not really - quicker than all other automatics than I have driven, but seeing as they are controlled to look after the engine I would think that a snap change in a manual would be better. Much worse for the drive train, but quicker.

But the manual V70 is not as much fun to drive, scratch that. It's not as pleasant to drive, it probably is more fun...

My dad, who hates automatic gear boxes, even likes the ride in the V70 due to the gearbox (I'm pleased to say, it being a nice place to make a journey was one of the top reasons I brought it).

@Ben Rose

As for clutching at straws for the parts... Personally I think you are doing the same. You're gearbox broke. It was expensive to fix. You had bad luck, but it was fixed under guarantee. My power steering pump broke in my last car - it cost nearly a 1000 including labour to replace (Volvo rates...) Does that mean I should never buy a car with power steering again. I just think that if you have the bad luck for part of that hybrid system to break you are also going to be looking at serious cash to fix. The same as *any* other modern car.

Stacy
FAIL

Re: Ampera

OK- double clutch gearboxes are expensive and I hope mine never breaks.

But how much do you think the CVT transmisson of the Prius (is deos have one, the engine is not connected directly to the wheels) will cost to replace if it dies? Or the batteries? Or the regenerative braking system? Or the logic board that controls it all? Or the large LCD display? Or any other of the systems that your Diesel car didn't have?

Cars cost money when they break - don't think that the Prius is a simple 'mechano' car that has nothing to go wrong on you - I don't think it could be further from the truth!

Stacy
Unhappy

pedant alert...

Sorry, but I have to correct something. Engines do not 'explode' hydrocarbons. If you do (in a petrol engine) it has the name pinking, and can cause serious damage to the engine. You burn the fuel.

However, I agree the internal combustion engine is old, inefficient technology. But until I can load up my V70 and set off on a 1600km journey knowing that when the battery is flat it's only a short stop and I'm moving again it won't be something usable.

Plus I want the performance of the petrol car. They may not be efficient but they can provide a lot of power almost instantly. EV's are not there yet... This Prius, despite being smaller, slipper and lighter, is still 4 seconds off of the V70 0-60 pace. Electric motors can be powerful enough, but if I understand correctly the batteries cannot release the power quick enough to propel a real sized car at any decent pace yet.

Hopefully when the V70 is replaced in 5 years the battery / motor technology will be there so I won't need to buy another petrol car. But I am not going to hold my breath!

Dyson alleges spy stole 'leccy motor secrets for Bosch

Stacy

Re: "mine hasn't"

Sorry to hear that... You have got the setting correct haven't you? (Mine runs on Eco 90% of the time, but never less)

My Panasonic (1st) and Bosch are great machines. When it does eventually die (no expecting it to for some time yet - barring stair issues ;p) it'll probably get replaced with the same Bosch machine again - a friend has the new version of it and is just as impressed as I am.

Stacy
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@ Robert

Cheaper does not mean inferior...

Stacy

Re: "mine hasn't"

That is a comment I have had about the Bosch from people I know with Dysons. How much have you spent on bags over those years (maybe 30 euros...) I don't know they cost very little for boxes of 5. Certainly not the 200 euro difference in cost!

And yes.. The suction! With their innovative design it's like having 20% more power! And the ones with bags lose 20% suction! Even if I beleived that (our Bosch keeps going full tilt till it's really, really full or at least it still sucks up everything on the floor...) as the salesman tried to get me to when I got the Bosch instead of the Dyson at more than 3 times the price, it would still mean the Bosch at least suction had 20% more suction than the Dyson as it had a patheric motor in it.

Stacy
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Re: "mine hasn't"

I hear this at a lot... Are you really surprised that a hideously expensive cleaner lasts 5 to 7 years (with only a few repairs!) and you think that is good?

Since 2000 I have brought two cleaners, less than 160gbp combined. They are both still going strong, one is now 12 years old and was only replaced as I moved into a house with parket floors and I didn't want to scratch them using the one with plastic wheels (so I got a Bosch Parket cleaner)... Neither have had repairs of any sort.

I like the idea of the Dyson, but they cost twice what they should for what they are.

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