Posts by Ged T

Instead of spinning...

... there could be an extendable frame. Each micro wire could be tethered to the frame edge and to a central hub. Instead of spinning the wires, the electric field could be applied sequentially to each wire from the central hub. The repetition rate would provide some means of throttling and would also provide a measure of control to account for energy bursts from the star or other sources. Possibly, with a little thought to the topology, a number of extendable hubs could be used, providing the possibility of multiple axis steerage.

Finally, by making the frame (s) extendable also implies retractability; necessary to perform, say, an arrow braking manoeuvre (i.e. using a planets outer atmosphere to create 'drag' and hence decelerate...) or to minimise gravitational force induced distortion to the frame (s) during gravity sling-shot assist manoeuvres.

Just a thought...

LiveId and Hotmail pushing at Customers

A big problem I have with Hotmail stems around LiveId and the inexplicable bundling of Mail, Blogging, Video Editing, IM and other Microsoft software items as a Windows Update Important (and therefore automatically installed) patch update - Patches are to correct defects for software items already installed, I thought, not for wholesale introduction of new software - Should make a Malware blagger blush, the way Microsoft behave...

The article mentions the high levels of SPAM that one would expect to 'enjoy', as part of Microsoft's Hotmail "Customer Experience" and the frankly shoddy level of security around the Hotmail domains - Whilst I accept these are likely (mostly) all in the past, I will not accept that they have got it right, now - It seems to me that personal computing has taken the direction of associating more and more personal activity and evidential data as something we, the Customer, all want - Nobody ever asked me - And there is so much more personal data at risk than ever before...

Finally, the essence of my problem is that, by linking all of those apps through LiveId, I feel compelled NOT to use these softwares simply because I will not trust Microsoft to manage these application items with security at the forefront of their thinking, so potentially putting at risk any data I have created or manage using the bundled (or should that be bungled?) apps collection. Further, my trust was completely eroded when these softwares were foisted upon Windows users, via Windows Update - It didn't take me very long to disable these, and the LiveID Service that running associatively in the background - I decide which service(s) I shall subscribe to and which of those will be using my network bandwidth with my knowledge and consent, thank you very much.

NASA-TV - No sound...

... 'cause, in space, no one can hear you...

That lack of care just about exemplifies NASA, these days.

On a positive note, sincere congratulations to SpaceX and the Dragon team. Throttles up, you guys!

No matter what Symantec/Norton say...

... it has been my experience that you never get the full subscription period out of their products.

When pushed in the way that would make even the most hardened of MalWare Merchants blush, most Sym/NOD users will install the next version of the product, by way of renewing their subscription, simply to stop the scarry messages. Those messages are implemented in such a way as to more than suggest that your machine is about to be left wide open to infection unless you renew now...

Racketering is alive a well in the 21st Centrury - It's known, collectively, as the AV Community...

With an article ending like...

"As for the Phantom Ray, Boeing intends to cough up for a six-month programme of flight testing at Edwards. If no government customer comes forward after that, the machine may find itself back in mothballs." ... Doesn't that smack of the way the usual Hollywood plots/ploys are (re-)imagined for us? Here's the trailer...

"The Phantom Ray - Truely the lone-ranger of the airways had grown tired of 'mothballs'.....

.... It was a time for decision.

.....It was a time for action.

.....It was time to....

Come out the closet!"

"....call yourself a warrior? Unclip that hanger, get out there and show 'em..."

"Don't wear it grey - If you're goin' to fight, do it bright and Clash!!"

"....your airframe's writing checks you're AI can't cash..."

Phantom Ray - The Dreaming's Over

www.thephantomraythedreamingsover.com available soon!

Bruised Willy?

Sorry!!!

Arm-a-gedin out-a here...

Also available...

Pre-opened stable door with bolt in pre-configured 'Unlocked' position...

UK Military Sales opportunity for El Reg?

Sell 'em PARIS, pre-modified for the "Deep Bomber" mode the R.A.F. seek.

The MoD will probably give you a few hundred million quid to merely discuss the necessary design changes.

Salad days for Hamphire force

that's all

Getting with the program(me)

This is going to be a persistant issue for all the operators and one in which their customer (you and me) will be made to suffer.

Ironic, given that the purpose of having (operator) branded versions of the handsets for launch is 'Ye olde traditional' way that the operators have used (and abused!) for the creation of their owned defined 'Customer Expoerience'.

For me the real issue is that, unlike the previous generation of handsets, smartphones are *designed* to be upgraded, be that the OS or the available Apps - The operators haven't yet got the mindset that, if they are determined to steer the Customer Experience, they need to invest in keeping that experience in subsequent releases of the OS and Apps and to do so in a timely manner - Something they would never have had to do with your average symbian-based handset.

To stay in-tune with their Customers, then, operators are going to have to "step up to the plate" and have their own-branded/defined Customer Experience versions of smartphone software releases figured out and deployable in a reasonable time frame.

Finally, if Vodafone's position regarding smartphone software is taken as an example, how are they going to fare if it became necessary to issue a software update quickly to redress a fault that is detrimental to their network?

From a pure Customer and fairness perspective, if software is issued that allows you to upgrade the phone and an operator has sanctioned that software, can they really claim that the end-user's warranty is invalid?

Good!!!

And whilst OFCOM are so-minded about taking the delay out from the consumer, can they now turn their attention to the Fixed Line market? Similar timescales should be in order there, too.

Is this some part of the Jobsian plan?

No C, C++ and even java declared as lingua-non-grata.

No future British iPhone or iPad developers, then?

That's great! All it needs now are...

... some real-world threats that it would actually be capable of addressing!

Also, before potential purchasers do this, the producers and design authorities might also want to think about the obvious dichotomy created by hosting a "stealthy-for-wealthy" jet collection, sat aboard a hulking great aircraft carrier...

Maybe its just a marketing "thing" that needs to be addressed, perhaps by aggressive leafleting of potential foes, reminding them stearnly but politely, not to attack the carrier, especially when the birds are roosting... ;-)

I moved from BT because...

..., some 6years ago, I got a letter from them telling me that *MY* terms and conditions had changed, in respect of the "Unlimited Broadband" package I was "enjoying" - They were going to cap the service to 2GB/month and up the price by 33%. Despite querying and insisting that a contract is a contract, and having checked said contract and schedules for any clause which allowed them to claim it was their right to unilaterally instigate such a change - there was no such clause - I decided to look for alternative suppliers.

So I signed up for my telephone only service with TalkTalk and my Broadband service with Orange: I pay line rental and calls to TalkTalk (<£18/month - LLU Service) and have Orange Broadband (their LLU service), at 8Mb and max contention at 5:1 (actual download yields 7.6mbps, consistently) for £4.99/month - Additionally, I get Mobile Broadband to my (Orange) smartphone as part of the same deal (Uncapped/Fair Use).

If I stayed with BT, I would by now, be paying more than £35/month just for home phone and broadband...

So my advice would be to exercise BT's new-found "competitiveness" and Phorm (Sorry!) a list of alternate providers - These days, you don't need to put all your comms eggs in one basket.

I think...

given this government's splendid track record on such matters, that it is highly unlikely that they would cut off any critics of their net or other policies in mid-

And for this HP customer, since 25 Oct...

...a few day's after the official release of Windows 7, I registered for the upgrade and after giving my name, address, credit card, HP product code, the product's serial number, the date of purchase, uploaded the proof of purchase (as a jpeg), inside leg measurement, blood group, life story/day to-date etc... Got a confirmation email that the anticipated date of delivery for the upgrade would be Nov 6th. That day has gone and no product upgrade had arrived.

Imagine my surprise when, yesterday Nov 9th, I got a confirmation email to tell me that:

"Your proof of purchase has been approved and your order will be shipped on or after the general release date of Windows® 7. We will send you another email notification once we ship your order. We will also post updates on our Windows® 7 website in regards to the availability date of the media at http://www.hp.com/go/windows7."

Proof of purchase was an option to supply; given that HP already had the Product/Serial registered by me to them, it seems to be a redundent requirement to supply this information, let alone have an Approval state, based on what must be a manual check...

On checking the status of my order, AFTER receveiving the above, the anticipated date of delivery is....

Nov 6th

This is not HP but a partner Arvarto Digital Services, a BERTELSMANN company.

The really frustrating thing, beyond the inconsistent declarations giving in the order status report, is that there appears to be no way to contact them to query WTF is going on - HP, too, simply redirect any queries to this partner - Round and round in circles.

So, to recap:

Order Status: Bewildering

Purchaser Status: Very annoyed

Purchaser's likelyhood to buy Vendor's product in future (for Personal and Business): None

There. I feel better...

GT

People need to be there or...

... a we need a rover that can overturn such an object, in order to view the underside...

Imagine the impact if, overleaf, there were unusual symbols/'alien writings' or even a "This side UP" notice...

I suspect that...

... the poor playback performance from an external hard drive is due to lack of buffering which would obscure external drive access latency.

Still a neat product, though...

I bet...

...they were relieved...