Posts by Killian

Clarity

"It's almost part of the test to be able to save in the correct format"

So it isn't, then?

Who knew?

Maybe you should get Google installed on your computer. It's full of stuff like this.

Promoting something with an epic fail...

I agree that this would only be useful in trying to tweak a marginal system to reach an acceptable performance level - but in the context of Vista's resource requirement, I'd be very surprised if it were any help at all.

Switching back to XP, on the other hand, would bring tangible improvements in performance.

Not suprising...

...if you've ever used itv.com, you'll be familiar with their total disregard for their visitors' desire to view actual content. Full screen pop-ups, expanding flash ads, chopping up video content then top & tailing all the snippets with 'sponsors messages' - it's all there and even with AdBlock, it's an excruciating experience.

Yeah... ummm no...

yeah, Ted.... Google are such failures. sorry... fucking failures.

I mean, who (sorry... who the fuck) is going to want to use web apps like Google docs offline when they could just go and buy MS Office?

Wankers.

@bluesxman

"I think a picture of a lump of dog turd priced at $0.01 would be more fitting for your concept ... and the device."

That would be for v1. The app for the 3G version would be the same with someone attempting to polish it

Hey Joe

"I'm sure that all they've discovered is how to build a space station and how to live in one."

oh, is that all?

Certainly no fool

Interestingly, his site is:

"LARGE HADRON COLLIDER - THE LEGAL DEFENSE FUND SITE"

and its pupose?

"We are seeking donations to provide for legal intervention. We suggest a donation of $10.00, but would be delighted if your donation were larger. We expect to encounter expenses in excess of $100,000 in this action."

Surely a qualified lawyer/nuclear physicist with his track record (the Botanical Gardens scam... i mean case... is pure genius) is going to charge more than $100,000.

Oh, yes, "in excess"... he's got that covered

Still, at least "You will receive a Thank You letter and a written acknowledgment of receipt of your donation."

Nice.

and not just aviation

"doesn't this report put the boot into Heathrow (and modern aviation) for unsustainable use of fuel?"

Certainly a more rational conclusion - but the idea that we should only consume as much as we can produce by sustainable means isn't compatible with the fact that most people don't give a fuck about the long (or even medium) term problems we're creating, provided they can do whatever they want (and make as much money as they can) now.

a lot of people missing the point

Well said Steve.

Whatever passionate views you have about paying for movies or protecting artists' rights are not really relevant. The argument from Pirate Bay, etc is that they have a legal right to run torrent servers without enquiring into the content that's being shared - if infrastructure owners aren't accountable for the data passing through their routers & cables, why should they be?

Re: Don't you understand what standards are?

Yes. Something that a bunch of people have written down somewhere so that everyone doing that thing can use the same, um, standard.

As for this save the developers thing - yeah, life would be so much easier if no-one ever had to worry about backwards compatability, but it's the nature of the beast really, isn't it? At least it's manageable when you're only dealing with mark-up & style sheets.

Curious...

I'm not quite sure what to make of this... while the concept seems to compare well to a desktop (apart from being f'ugly) I have to agree with Torben Mogensen - how have they managed to reach this price-point without having to meet all the expensive challanges of producing a laptop or offer any of it's benefits?

more relevant...

Excellent article.

An ISP's offering will be relevant to me when simply provides me with a internet connection that I can plug my router into - end of.

No amount of marketing is going to convince me - or anyone who takes a moment to think about it - that my actual requirement is any more complicated than that. No phone packages, web space, email services, web site builders, etc. But apparently, in the wonderful world of the free market economy, it's impossible to make money by simply building infrastucture and charging for connection and usage.

Shame.

@Adam

"Why did she need to download it? It's on E4 all the time....ALL THE TIME!"

Because despite the fact that virtually EVERY show is repeated several times a week on freeview, we're supposed to be watching all our content via the internet now - presumably there was too much spare bandwidth going to waste...

Too much information...

Allowing access to all the details clearly isn't going to work.

It's difficult enough for government with people thinking it's some kind of 'old labour' style nationalization. It's emerging that, more in line with the 'new' way of doing things, it's going to be more of an asset stripping operation with the prime loans hived off to a private securities firm and the taxpayer left under-writing the sub-prime stuff.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7254451.stm

Nothing untoward there then, eh?

Re: WP was crap

"... most of the other kids (and some parents) immediately demanded that they get to use some half-decent software..."

always encouraging to hear that the best qualified people are making the IT decisions...

Renewables in Australia

On the subject of interesting alt energy projects in Australia, I stumbled across this a while back:

http://www.enviromission.com.au/project/project.htm

RE: Dictator, Despot???

"Wasn't he elected by the people of Venezuela? Isn't he quite popular in Venezuela. I know some quarters would like us to think he's a despot and a dictator but c'mon."

Seconded.

Although he has powers to rule by decree for the next year or so, these were grated by the National Assembly. Against the back drop of 3 consecutive election victories, retaining his post in an opposition enforced referendum and coup attempt by the military, 'despot' is somewhat wide of the mark.

But then, it's easier to tag along with the current US administration's view of the world than bother with something as dull as accuracy.

Why...

... are people bleating about Reg covering this? Is reporting on an event the same as "promoting" it now? Maybe the nature of the reporting? Well it's not exactly an advertorial and I seriously doubt Reg readers are the target market for this kit in any case... although many are interested to see how the tech of the day is applied is this context, however unsettling some people may find it.

The fact is, the reporting on this event has provoked some debate about the significant ethical issues that are raised... surely a good thing. I don't think it's fair to 'shoot the messenger', even with a really cool gun.

And I suggest that anyone wanting to read articles on serious subjects without the "flippant attitude" has come to the wrong place entirely.

Why is everyone blaming M$ ?

Rhetorical question - I'm not disagreeing with the views expressed so far.

But if we want to get involved in finger-pointing (and I think we do), how about the genius at TNA that decided the best choice of file format for archiving the nations documents for the forseeable future was MS Word 97?.. or maybe they're all saved as PowerPoint screenshows - it would make as much sense.

Still, its good to see the technology lessons have been learned and they're now converting them all to a more appropriate standard.

erm.. hang on... Office 2007... Virtual PC

Fer crissakes! I've got some magic beans if there interested

Teleworking doesn't work!?

"A television capable of broadcasting material that is more entertaining than the work at hand" - if you find daytime TV more interesting than your work, I can only assume you have an incredibly sh*tty job.

Sure, if you think a good strategy for working from home invloves sitting aroung in your y-fronts scratching your nuts and watching the Teletubbies, then you will probably fail - but there are other approaches...

Businesses certainly don't have a problem with teleworkers - they just prefer it when they're $10/hr and all the employment resposibilities are outsourced as well. While I wouldn't suggest that flexible working suits all IT roles (or all phases of a project), my experience is that in certain areas, produtivity can be increased massively by getting away from the 'distractions' of the office environment and the business in general.

But recruitment is a huge problem right now. There are plenty of companies doing it right but if, at any point, you're interviewed by an agent/HR drone or some other suit who knows nothing about tech, you can safely bet you haven't found one of them.

bundling iTunes

"You can't really knock Apple for bundling when they're only trying to keep up with the competition." Dean Varney

Umm... I think I can. Just because M$ are worse offenders doesn't excuse it. I've _never_ wanted to download or install iTunes (or have it run on startup) but the bundling with Quicktime has always made me do that, then jump through the hoops of getting rid of it. Malware.

That said, it is a drop in the ocean compared with what M$ get up to. :)

I've had another look and can't detect any great increase in speed over FF/IE7.

Unimpressive. But is is only a beta

story...

"Just where is the story in the long and dull pod race?"

it started after the release and involved selling a lot of long and dull console games