Posts by AlexV
30 posts • joined Saturday 19th September 2009 07:39 GMT
Master of your own domain
Get yourself a domain name (there are some really cheap ones around, if you don't care what the tld is), set it up so that anything@example.com gets forwarded to your real address. Then, whenever a website wants your email address, you give it their name: theregister@example.com for example.
If they are well behaved and send you only emails you want, or honour unsubscribe requests for those you don't, all fine. If they prove rogue, blacklist that "to" address and never be troubled by them again.
I find it more convenient than having to create an address before using it (like trashmail) or having to visit a site to pick up mail sent to it (like mailinator), but that's because the vast majority use-case is non-spammy. If it was mostly spammy, or I needed an address to use with someone already known to be spammy, then I'd use mailinator.
Posted in Valve's Half-Life
Black Mesa Source
If you fancy revisiting (or visiting, if you missed it the first time round) it, there's now http://release.blackmesasource.com/
The same game, but brought up to date a bit.
Re: Whats the obsession with the name of the interface?
Don't really care what they call it, as long as they call it *something*. At the moment, they haven't got a name for it, just a bunch of descriptions. "Modern apps", "Windows 8 apps", "Windows store apps", etc. Those aren't names. Call it "Squareo" or "Touchblox" or whatever you like, we'll get used to it as long as they don't keep changing it.
Posted in Office 365 turns Lotus eater
Re: Lotus Notes might not be quite dead just yet, but it's smelled pretty nasty for some time now
Using 8.5:
I hate that, in a text box Ctrl+A doesn't select all, it inserts a pointless special character.
I hate that, if I view details of an email address, I can select the text, but I can't copy it.
I hate that pop up dialogs (like Find, various option, etc) aren't actually windows, but just drawn to overlay the main window. So can't be moved out of it. And the close button doesn't work on them.
I hate that you can't drag and drop things in and out of trash and sent, because they are 'special'
I hate the fact that you don't check for mail, you "replicate your database", and that doing it every 5 minutes is considered quite often enough. Like it's 1997 and we're using POP over dialup.
I hate that every so often, it will declare that it "Can't create file" when trying to copy text from an email. Then refuse to open any other emails until you restart.
I hate that rules aren't editable. Or duplicable. Or work properly, half the time. I shouldn't have to write an agent to do simple tasks.
I hate so much more about this pile of junk I just do not have time to write about.
Most of all I DO NOT WANT a cross-platform replicating database application platform that can (barely) be coerced into providing basic email-like functionality. I want a proper email client, designed for Windows, using Windows controls and affordances, following Windows UI standards. If you're writing client software in Java, you're just off to a bad start already.
Start menu is nice, but what about proper windows?
It's certainly a great step forward (well, backwards, technically, but you know what I mean) to have a start menu that doesn't fill the full screen just to launch a program, but is there any chance we can fix metro apps to not be full screen too?
I don't see why it shouldn't be possible to create something whereby metro apps launch inside draggable resizeable windows, so that they play nicely with a desktop OS rather than a tablet one. Metro apps must be able to display at different sizes (due to different screen resolutions), and if you have multiple monitors then you can display them on just one of those, so there can't be a technical limitation in having both a metro app and normal windows programs displayed at the same time.
Can't do much about the bugs, but coloured icons...
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/noglass/
Also removes the glass effect (which is a bonus for me, but I guess if you like the effect...)
Seems a bit of a stretch...
I mean - is it a vulnerability in Notepad that you can paste a malicious url wrapped in html tags into it, and save it as an html file?
Posted in Samsung shows third-gen Galaxy Tab
I don't know, what is the point of this one?
As far as I can tell, the 7.7 is better than this one - higher resolution, thinner, lighter, barely any larger (197x133 compared to 194x122), faster CPU, more battery, better screen tech.
Unless this one is a *lot* cheaper than the 7.7, I can't see any good reason for it to exist.
Posted in Blighty gets gold-dispensing ATM
OK, so that might be why you'd want to invest in gold, but you want the *actual physical gold* too?
I can understand why you might want to keep savings in gold rather than sterling. I can even appreciate the reasoning that now is the right time to make that investment.
I find it a bit more of a stretch to believe that the best way to do so is to buy small pieces of actual gold and, what, hide them under the mattress? When you need the cash, send them to Cash for Gold or similar? Gold would have to go up in value quite a bit for that not to be a loss.
Unless you're convinced of an impending financial apocalypse, if you want to invest in gold, invest in a gold-backed financial instrument (ETFs, ETNs, etc.), and not in a novelty gold souvenir dispenser.
Clever, but specifically *not* what they were hired for
I'd ask for my money back, if I were the customer. Netragard were specifically told what they wanted tested, and it wasn't social engineering or physical access attacks - they wanted to know how well their network would stand up against external attack. Netragard completely failed to do this.
Or maybe we don't have the full story, maybe they did test it, found no vulnerabilities, and decided to go off-mission and get some publicity for a clever stunt anyway. Either way, they'd not be getting my business again.
We’d like to make the browser the home for innovation in real time communications,
Why would I want my voip software running in a web browser? I want my voip software to run at startup and always run in the background, but popup and notify me when it needs my attention - which is almost the exact opposite of what I want my web browser to do.
Posted in Dolphin Browser HD
So how are they making their money now?
No longer ad-supported, and free? I understood the old model of free with ads, or pay to remove them, but if it's free without ads, then how are they financing it? It's not an open source project as far as I can tell either.
It makes me nervous. I'm not paying, so I must be the product not the customer - but who is the customer and what are they buying?
Just because Apple do it, doesn't make it right
Global menus are very silly indeed. If you're only dealing with one window at a time (like on a netbook), have it maximized. No need for a global menu, the window menu is already the only one you see, and is at the top of the screen.
If you have a decent sized screen, and showing multiple non-maximized windows, why would you want to move the mouse away from the window you are interacting with in order to get at its menu? Even worse, if the window isn't active, you can't even see the menu, and to click on it you have to go first to the window, then back out to the menu bar. Madness.
I wouldn't expect any other part of the application UI to change dependent on which the active window was, I don't see what makes menus so special. If you're going that way, why not the close/min/max buttons too? Or the toolbar? Or tabs?
Posted in Phosphor World Time Curved E Ink watch
Speaking of casio watches
I've grown quite attached to my Waveceptor. Solar powered and radio synching means it never needs batteries and never needs setting. If you left it in a drawer for years, then when you took it out it would charge itself back up and set itself to the correct time, with the hands whirling round to get there :-)
I'd prefer it to be a bit thinner, although if 6mm is considered thin now, I guess there's not much chance of that!
On the off-chance that this is a serious question
Firefox Mobile 4.0b2 loads in about 4s on my android device.
Firefox 4.0b6 loads in slightly under 1s on my desktop. (not properly benchmarked, just stopwatch from when I hit the shortcut icon)
So, not faster than desktop for me. Not fast enough to be a viable replacement for the android browser yet, unless you've the memory spare to leave the thing running in the background.
Quite possibly faster than older versions of Firefox on the Desktop, particularly if it's a version prior to them fixing the 'scan all files in the temp folder on startup' bug, and you've got a typically far-from-empty temp folder.
Posted in Tesco touts Samsung Android tablet
Which are the better tablets?
Got any links or names for better Android tablets? Serious question - I fully intend to buy a 7" tablet, and if there is something better than the Galaxy Tab around, please do point me in the right direction!
I'm not interested in something not quite as good but cheaper (Viewsonic), or not quite as good but bigger (iPad) - 7" is the size and more importantly weight-class I want, and I'm looking for the best, not the cheapest.
Posted in Firefox 4 beta gets hard on Windows
Pretty sure you do, actually
IE9:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/08/25/ie9_stripped_down_interface/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/08/12/internet_explorer_9_beta_announced/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/03/16/internet_explorer_unveiling/
IE8:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/20/internet_explorer_8_2009/
I have no doubt that on the 15th the release of IE9 beta will be reported too.
Pricing
The point is, it's *better* than the iPad. It can compete on its merits, not on undercutting it. There are plenty of cheap Android tablets to compete based on price, I think it's nice that there's something available for people who want a better product, and don't mind paying a bit more for it.
Open All in Tabs in new window
Hold down Shift when clicking the "Open All in Tabs" command, no need for an extension. Standard keyboard modifiers for Firefox are: Hold down Ctrl when clicking on a command to open it in a new tab, hold down Shift for a new window, Ctrl+Shift together means new foreground tab.
Why don't you let us know?
Would you mind spending the 10 minutes to download and install the beta and let us know, then? If you're just concerned about startup time with a fresh install, then that's surely the easiest thing in the world to test!
I can tell you that FF 4b3 starts up in 1.5 seconds for me (with AdBlock Plus, NoScript and a few others installed), if that's any help. I am running a fast PC, though.
Posted in UK set for eBook pricing showdown
Difference
No difference at all. Which would suggest that eBooks should be discounted by the resale value of a perfect mint condition second hand copy, not a worn grubby one.
Posted in UK set for eBook pricing showdown
eBook Pricing
Regardless of whether the cost of production and provision of an eBook is the same as that of a paperback, then the price of an eBook should *still* be less than a paperback because it can't be resold.
If I can buy a paperback at £5, and resell it at £2, then surely a fair price for a non-resellable eBook would be £3, not £5?
Alternatively, allow second hand sales of eBooks (should be easy enough for Amazon to achieve technically, they have proved the ability to remotely delete books you no longer have rights to, and have a second hand marketplace already on their site), then I'd accept they should be sold at the same price as paperbacks.
Posted in UK.gov smiles and nods at commentards
Homeopathy
What's wrong with spending resources on homeopathy? Placebos can be very effective, and homeopathic remedies are pretty much the best placebos available.
If someone who would otherwise be given more expensive medication can go away more satisfied with the sugar pills and chat with a sympathetic doctor then it seems irrational to deny them access to it.
In fact, it's safer if people go to the NHS for their homeopathic treatments, as that way they stand a better chance that someone qualified might notice if there's actually something life-threateningly or contagiously wrong with them that needs immediate attention, or if it's safe to leave them in the hands of the homeopaths.
Windows Mobile is great for PDAs, not so much for phones
I love Windows Mobile 6. I wouldn't touch 7 for the same reason I wouldn't want iOS (which it seems to be a copy of), and have misgivings about Android.
But then what I want is a PDA or small computer, not a phone. Sure, it should be able to make phone calls too, but that's secondary. For this, Windows Mobile is the best available - it's designed for small touch-screens and low power devices that are always on standby, but must turn on in sub-second times (unlike full Windows). It doesn't sacrifice useful UI to awful fat finger poking capacitive accuracy, a stylus or fingernail can produce much better results.
It's a real shame that it's now reached the end of it's development life.
Confusing bookmarks and tabs
It looks pretty cool, but a lot of what was presented in that video seems to be confusing bookmarks and tabs. Tabs should be what I'm looking at right now, or have queued up to read shortly.
Organising groups of related subject matter to return to is more of a bookmarks thing, surely? Most of the groups in the video would be more appropriate as bookmarks than open tabs, until you are actually wanting to read them.
On the other hand, this does provide an opportunity to combine the two concepts into a single UI metaphor of 'pages I am interested in', but I have doubts as to whether the browser will get it right about which ones should be in memory and which should not, and which should persist after being closed and which should be forgotten.
Block by domain?
I'm looking as closely as I can, but I still don't see it. Assuming you are talking about Opera, I look under Site Preferences, but can still only see the option to turn JavaScript on or off for the whole site. This is not equivalent functionality. Better than nothing, agreed, but not good enough, for the reasons already given.
If what I posted was repeated marketing rubbish, then please do point me at a source from Mozilla saying the same thing. It's possible, I suppose, but I haven't seen it myself. My post was based on personal experience.
There are multiple filter list subscriptions available for AdBlock, if you could be more specific about the incident you're referring to, I'd like to read up on it - if a specific list is untrustworthy, please do tell.
Firefox lives by its extensions
I've been running 4.0 beta as my main browser since it came out, and haven't noticed any crashes or major bugs.
I don't know about synthetic benchmarks, but browsing with AdBlock and NoScript is noticeably faster than browsing in Chrome or Opera, which don't have equivalent functionality.
No, they really don't - unless scripts can be allowed or blocked on a per-domain basis within the same page (so you can could to allow theregister.co.uk, but disallow googleadservices.com and quantserve.com), and without script surrogate functionality, you're stuck with a binary choice of either allowing or disallowing script for a site. So unless you can disallow all script for the entire site (not usually very nice), you gain no performance benefit.
The AdBlock 'substitutes' I've seen don't have anything approaching the filter list subscription and easy element selection for blocking functionality, some don't collapse the blocked elements (so even if the ad isn't present, you still get a big blank spot intruding), some download the ad even if not displayed (negating performance benefits) and so on.
Bare Firefox without extensions may be arguably not as good as bare Chrome or Opera - I personally still prefer using it, but would concede that other browsers have advantages too. With extensions in the mix, though, nothing can touch Firefox.
Posted in Ten free apps to install on every new PC
Alternative to Foxit
I prefer Sumatra PDF to Foxit. It's even smaller and lighter, but best of all, doesn't have irritating colourful upsell advertising in the top right corner.
http://blog.kowalczyk.info/software/sumatrapdf/index.html
64bit edit and continue
That would have been nice, wouldn't it? Unfortunately, no - apparently that didn't get enough votes on their connect site, so they decided to work on something more important instead.
To 'fix' the issue, the default platform for new projects is x86, not AnyCPU - so if you're on a 64 bit OS, and you just accept the defaults when creating a new project, then you create a 32 bit executable (which can be edit-and-continue debugged). If you want to edit and continue an actual 64 bit or AnyCPU (running on 64 bit OS) executable, then you are still out of luck.
Phone anti-radiation device
What, still? Seriously? Surely these things have been comprehensively debunked by now...
