Posts by Arctic fox
1888 posts • joined Friday 6th November 2009 05:17 GMT
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Posted in Rabid skunks attack US
@VeganVegan Re: "Thought this was a story about our elections"
Foxes are a notorious reservoir for the disease where ever the species is found. When infected they have a tendency to howl, foam and bite uncontrollably - rather like the current crop of Republican wannabees.
Posted in Rabid skunks attack US
Re: "Thought this was a story about our elections"
Indeed. When I saw the headline concerning "rabid stinkers" I assumed they had to be referring to the current crop of Republican presidential candidates.
RE: "Remember Mr Growser?"
God that makes me feel old. They stopped broadcasting Children's Hour in 1964! Though I believe there was a short-lived TV version of Toy Town some time in the early seventies - if memory serves. Although I had rather grown out of it by then. -:P
@Mike Flugennock Your post demonstrates very clearly that as a Mac-user you,......
"I won't speak for other "fanbois" -- jeezus, I hate that goddamn' word "
..........on the basis of your posting, do not remotely fall within the definition "fanboi" - in contrast to a certain number of the postings we get here at El Reg from a particular proportion of Cupertino's fan-base. I work with a number of "Mac-folk", amongst others, graphic designers and scientists - I would not describe any of them as "fanbois", serious people all of them for whom I have a great deal of time.
-:)
AF.
Posted in HTC One X Android smartphone
@FatsBrannigan Re: When contemplating the latest generation of high-end smart phones......
"Other types of phone didn't seel so well and this is what the marketplace has shaken out. In other word, they are selling what most people want to buy."
"Want to buy"? I would not have expressed that way. I believe that to some extent the producers, the carriers (who have huge market influence within phone retail in the UK and to all intents and purposes own the US market in mobile phones) and increasingly the cloud-service providers see a huge commonality of interest which has not yet quite dawned on the average non-techie and therefore why the punter should regard local expansion as important/desirable. The scale of the kind of service/product/storage provision OTA that this unholy triumvirate are hoping to achieve is way bigger than is currently extant given that this market is still very much in it's infancy. They absolutely do not want any cheap, easy alternative to data transfer and storage for the average member of Joe Public. That commonality of interest I referred to above is all that is needed to ensure that the OTA cartel that would be the logical end-point of this would come into effect. No formal conspiracies, nothing you risk jail-time or fines for, just the good old "nod is as good as a wink" understanding. However, it gets worse. There are huge infrastructure costs associated with all this and that will drive merger/takeover consolidation in the industry within a few years at most. What happens to the market when, perhaps, a major carrier hooks up with a major cloud-service provider and (maybe) a major phone-producer as well? It does not take too much imagination to see (just as an example) Google/Moto hooking up with, say, Verizon or AT&T. Now there you would end up with a truly unholy trinity (by that I mean the combination of carrier, producer and cloud-provider - I am not having a pop at any particular company, they are just real-world examples.). They would own your arse as far as your mobile communications and computing were concerned (assuming the popularity of tablets as pc continue to grow). Restricted and or non-existent local storage expansion is a key building block in the kind of monopoly situation we may, very unfortunately, be seeing the first faint outlines of in the distance.
Posted in HTC One X Android smartphone
@Pooka Re: When contemplating the latest generation of high-end smart phones I feel myself..........
"For me it's not the storage space, it's the fact that it's not on a card that I can take out and move to somewhere else, and I sure as hell don't want to be reliant on "Cloud storage" (which I just don't like)."
Precisely one of the points I had in mind. -:)
Posted in HTC One X Android smartphone
When contemplating the latest generation of high-end smart phones I feel myself..........
...........somewhat torn. Yes, this phone is very lovely and yes, the specs are very "drool-worthy" but I cannot get past the fact that all the major OEMs consider, allegedly, that design criteria (thinness and lightness) are of such overwhelming importance that battery life and expandable storage become the victims of collateral damage. The former is still, by any rational standards, poor (regardless of which high-end phone we are talking about, it tends to vary between just about tolerable and downright pony) and expansion is being increasingly thrown out of the lifeboat on the assumption that punters with larger storage needs will use the cloud (the potential costs of such dependence of course could very easily blow a very large hole in your "plan"). Whilst we may not be talking the kind of "lock-in" we associate with a "curated system" such as that practised by A Well Known Major Phone Producer we are none the less on the way to ending up in a hardware-driven usage pattern lock-in where the phone producers are basically telling us how we shall use and manage our smartphones to a degree that we simply did not automatically associate with the Android os as recently as half a year ago. You want/need extra storage - use the cloud. You want a selection of videos on your phone - stream them via the cloud. I do not believe that I am the only one who sees the pattern here. It is not just design issues IMHO that are driving this. The hardware producers are essentially cooperating with the creation of a degree of carrier lock-in and dependence on large amounts of bandwidth and the costs thereof it we are going to be able to use our smartphones as, well, smart-phones. I can foresee a point coming where carriers will no longer offer smartphones on contract that have locally expandable storage and I fear that the OEMs are cooperating with doing their dirty work for them.
Re: Oh my......."The shadenfreude"
I have to admit it is so veeeery tempting. However, I hope that Cupertino really take this as a warning and get their collective arses into gear. None of us is served by this kind of shit (I know, I smiled as well) and it is best (in my humble opinion) that we recognise that we are all in this together (whether we like it or not) and act accordingly.
Yutyrannus, me Jane.
I know, I know, I'll get my coat.
Re: "Sorry, are we talking about the PRC or the UK here?"
LOL!
-:)
RE: "its a population thing is it not"
True enough. However, it is also more interesting than that. In very recent years the Chinese have begun to attempt the shift from primarily export-led exogenous growth to (partially) import-led endogenous growth (as well as seeking of course to shift the attention of their own manufacturerrs in the direction of the home market). This may contribute to the change rather more quickly and on a larger scale than anyone was expecting.
"The Galaxy S 5.0 makes do with Android 2.2". Pardon? Are they serious?
There have been three major iterations since (depending on how one is counting - phones and/or tab operating systems) and they are still releasing kit with 2.2 on it, the leading Android OEM? That's the sort of thing you except on a bottom feeder slate from Generic KrapTek Inc.operating out of a backstreet garage in Shanghai , not Samsung. What the hell are they playing at?
Posted in Samsung forging ARM server chips?
I cannot belive that I am the only one contemplating the irony of Samsung.......
...............investing in industry in the US providing jobs for skilled American workers and contributing positively in terms of taxes, GDP and the trade-balance etc whilst so many US conglomorates are busily continuing to do the opposite - hmm?
RE "it's way better looking."
Just had a look at that picture, thanks for posting the link. It is a little beauty is it not? The contrast with the seriously fugly subject of this article could scarcely be more obvious.
@Blofeld's Cat Not to mention the exciting possibilities..............
............offered by equipping your flying car with a rapid firing cannon and the next time some numpty cuts you up really showing him what the concept "road rage" can mean. In fact just fit number plates on an A10 Warthog and you're good to go.
Re: "I'll be surprised if they back down on this one."
They are indisputably capable of being "cut your nose of to spite your face"-stubborn but it is not entirely unknown for them to rethink if they get a big enough kicking. The capacity to hide the ribbon in Office 2010 as a "one-click" operation contra their "spin on this" attitude with Office 2007 which appeared to cost them sales (a lot of companies refused to upgrade from Office 2003 until 2010 came out) for example. If they get the feeling that ignoring the response to this beta is going to cost them they may think again - well one can always hope.
Re: "Old news rehashed?" I believe you are right. I saw such a documentary.......
.........based on the "pony rivets" hypothesis several years ago (a decade perhaps?). This news is not merely "managed", it is well past its shelf-life as far as being new is concerned.
Posted in Angry Birds want to be Donald Duck
Re: "Except that the name mellow birds............ "
LOL.
Posted in Angry Birds want to be Donald Duck
Oh God help me! I was going to ask if anyone can get me off this planet.........
"The Finnish gaming disrupter’s Angry Birds characters will soon be on your high street, building activity parks in your suburb, launching an animated series and within two years starring in a feature film, according to creators Rovio."
...........but then I remembered that those homicidal poultry are, allegedly, in space now as well. Where can I hide?
Posted in The best April 1 gags … or were they?
I have to say that my vote goes to the "ice-age ankle biters".*............
.........the thought of sabre-tooth lemmings is irresistible, it's so good it ought to be true.
*Headline from the linked article.
Posted in Apple New iPad 3 Wi-Fi + 4G
Re: 4g scam
"Apple aren't responsible for the EU's sluggish adoption of LTE, nor for the fact that 4G is currently only available in North America and parts of the Middle East. (I've heard reliable reports that Dubai has adopted the same LTE frequencies as the US carriers, so yes, the new iPad's LTE features do work there as well.)"
No, they are not responsible for the fact that it is only available in the US and a small degree of availability in Canada. As to whether or not Dubai has LTE now I have not a clue. This however in practice means that in about every market of any size all over the face of the planet outside the US the iPad3 cannot be used as advertised - end of. It is therefore misleading of Apple to advertise the iPad3 in that way outside the North American market. I should also point out that there are very few areas on earth that are going to roll out LTE based on the same frequencies as the US use. IE The iPad3 will never deliver as advertised for the vast majority of Apple's customers outside the US.
It is not unusual for me to have difficulty understanding some of the articles........
.......published on El Reg now and then. Usually however it is because the field concerned within IT is so far outside my knowledge that I have difficulty following the gist of the piece. This article on the other hand is the second* in the last couple of days or so when I have been entirely convinced that one had to be on drugs to have any hope of connecting with it. When you feel like publishing in an earth language (current within the last two thousand years or so) please do get back to me.
*http://forums.theregister.co.uk/forum/1/2012/03/30/steve_bong_tibetan_recovery/
Well, April Fool joke or not is there not something familiar in the attitude here?
Hmm...?
"It's still a rectangle," he sniffed. "And we own the rectangle."
Re:"All these closet Microsofties in the Android community"
That is positively magical. You managed to turn a discussion about how Google may (or may not) up its game in competition with Cupertino into a drive-by anti-Microsoft rant. I have to say that your capacity for intellectual gymnastics is impressive, quite the most innovative use of the straw-man tactic that I have seen in a very long time. Simply reclassify Android customers as closet 'Softies and Bob's you Aunty Joyce, one can turn a debate about the prospects of the Android os contra iOs into yet another MicroDemonBastard$oft posting.
Re: Alternative view
Indeed, a useful corrective to implications of the article's subheading. Ironically enough I have experienced such working conditions in the UK. When I left school as an eighteen year old I got my first job as a porter (in practice a general labourer - carrying luggage was not part of my duties -:P) on BR (we are in the early seventies here) at a central London station. The wages were so piss poor that if you were on a basic 40 hr week day shift BR paid you an extra (very small) allowance because you would otherwise have been entitled to claim off the social. In order to make ends meet I worked 12 hour nights for six nights a week and an eight hour night shift on Sundays. Even after that the pay packet was still below (well below) national averages at the time. I did that for three and half years before moving on. The attitudes of my workmates were divided. Some would much have preferred a somewhat better hourly rate and more time with their families (even if that meant that they did not earn the same amount as with the existing system) and others were prepared to work as many hours as they could get even if (like the Foxconn workers) it had meant literally living at work. With such a huge workforce as Foxconn's it is scarcely surprising that opinion is divided amongst the employees - an issue that the article should have mentioned.
Posted in Exploding dinosaur theory EXPLODED
I realise that the work is worthwhile and contributes to the science but.........
"so the researchers measured the internal pressure of a hundred bodies "
...............there are some jobs I am very happy for other scientists to do!
Re: @F111F Really?
Really, have you failed to notice what has been happening in the US and the Middle East over the past twenty years or so? Radical fundamentalists in both the Islamic and the Christian conservative traditions? They are not some missionaries from Africa, they have very fundamentalist religious perspectives and considerable political influence. Take a look at what is happening on the right wing of the Republican party in the US if you have not already noticed. Take a look at the internal balance of power within the right wing in Israel. Take a look at what the Wahabis in Saudi Arabia have been up to in recent decades (clue - Osama Bin Laden to name an infamous example). Take a look at what has been happening in Iran since the fall of the Shah. In short, take a look and start doing some thinking. The influence of fundamentalists within all of the Abrahamic religions is significant and highly pernicious in its effects . Common to all of them would be an utter hatred of beings that not only would likely not recognise their God but in many ways from the fundamentalist's point of view the very existence of such beings would be a denial of the existence of their Deity.
@F111F Really?
"You might wish to do some more research before stating such conclusions. The vast majority of religions have already answered this question"
You might care to justify that very grandiose claim. What I suspect you are saying is that religious denominations you are comfortable with have managed to square the circle (yet again) to their satisfaction and convenience. You may perhaps however have noticed that fundamentalism (in several monotheistic flavours) has been on the rise for the last couple of decades or so - it should not need much "research" for you to notice that. The "nutters" are not a small marginal fringe, they are very influential in a number of very dangerous contexts (albeit out of proportion to their absolute numbers) - and yes, they would still regard the discovery other sentient life as a theological disaster.
@David D. Hagood. Re "Have YOU accepted GLORB as your personal saaaaviooooor?"
Yes, in all likelihood on a Sunday morning. Though the sight of them having a barney with the Adventists over first dibs to the doorstep would have a certain entertainment value.
@The Cube Re:"note that there does not need to be direct collusion or even intent to form a cartel"
No indeed, they do not have to do anything so silly as overtly break the law. They simply understand their interests very well and by means of the good old "nod's as good as a wink" method are able, in practice to rig the market as thoroughly as if they had formed a cartel. Ironically enough the "Father" of free market theory, Adam Smith, warned about precisely this kind of behaviour several hundred years ago. Strange that modern neoliberal economists have a tendency to go very quiet on this issue, hmm? Their demagogic insistence that government intervention is to be avoided at all costs when there are obviously circumstances where only government intervention is going to work leaves them silent on a subject (rigging the market) that ought (according to their own professed beliefs) to have them screaming loud and long.
Re: Now say "Peter Piper Picked a Peck..." Really?
If you are saying that Nokia are simply Microsoft's stalking horse on this issue what then is your explanation for Motorola's role? By exactly the same logic you should be making the same references to Google, hmm? I do not suppose you could possibly consider that the two most experienced mobile phone producers on the face of the planet (Moto and Nokia) might have at least some genuine tech reasons for preferring their offering?
@Dan 10 RE: "Given the magnitude of this area of research, it is unlikely.........
.................that we will see real proper bonafide aliens in my lifetime (circa 50 years left), which means I want reincarnation to be real, so I can live again and see some weird shit straight out of Dr Who."
You and me both old chap, you and me both. -:)
Fascinating. The thought strikes me that some people are probably............
........crapping themselves in the face of this kind of evidence. I.e. Religious fundamentalists (of all stripes) who, by definition, believe that there is only one Deity and he/she or it created us as unique images of the godhead. In other words it is essential for them and their beliefs that we are alone in the universe (we saw who was behind the killing of federal support for the SETI project in Congress several years ago did we not?) and the possibility that they may have to face up to a theological question that they would above all else like to pretend does not exist must be causing them to shit themselves. Personally speaking the more evidence of this kind that shows that it is increasingly unlikely that we in fact are unique the better I am pleased. The sooner that cosmic reality kicks the legs out from under the godbotherers (regardless of which religion we are talking about) the better.
Are we actually surprised?
"US House representatives from the Republican party have shot down a Democrat effort to pass a law stopping companies from demanding access to jobseekers' and employees' Facebook accounts."
RE: "Is this guy the dumbest fraudster ever?" Hmm...well, up to a point.
I have to pose a question however. Given that he is indisputably (very) "limited" how is it that the fraud worked for even one nanosecond and what does that say about the bank?
Posted in Los Alamos fires BLOODY BIG MAGNET
@P. Lee "You pierced your WHAT?" Oh God, my are.......
.......still watering after having read that!
Well I'll be damned.
"Apple clearly isn't proposing its design in order to make money from patents, or control the standard, but neither is Nokia.
Unlikely as it sounds, the companies are genuinely arguing about which proposal is the best solution to making SIMs smaller, while ensuring they still fit between our stubby fingers, so they can squeeze more functionality into ever-smaller handsets."
I had to read the paragraph three times before I could believe what I was seeing - and no I am not being sarky. It has however become unfortunately a rarity these days to see honest and constructive disagreement over the technology. It would be nice if it were a harbinger of an improvement in the currently poisonous atmosphere in the industry although I have to admit that I am not holding my breath.
"abort their visit early after one of the windows cracked after the descent."
I would definitely had to change my underwear afterwards had I been on that dive.
Posted in Microsoft takes down ZeuS botnets
Re: "I'd buy them a drink." I agree.
Whilst one can of course say (with justice) that they should have begun this a long time ago it is indisputably true that in recent years they have been devoting increasing efforts and considerable resources (=a great deal of wonga and man-hours) to making a significant dent in the problem. Good to see.
Re: "Crap" Oh God yes, just imagine.
Being pwned by one's Kenwood. Oh the humiliation, oh the ignominy!
Re: Anyway, all the real data is transmitted by carrier pigeon.
LOL.
Posted in Samsung Series 3 NP300E5A 15in notebook
Re: Love the £400 laptop reviews.
We see the same mindset at work when reviewers/pundits give the Android OEMs the benefit of their enormous wisdom. Along the lines of "in order to compete with Apple they have to significantly undercut Cupertino on price whilst at the same time compete on hardware and build-quality". For some reason I cannot help feeling that that advice has somewhat limited utility!
@Jimbo 6 Re:........."the only beaver shots on her account...................
........... just involved semi-aquatic quadrupeds and heavy-calibre rifles."
For some reason that sounds even more perverse, or do I mean perverted?
The following quote is interesting:
"I think we have to go to a model where we assume that the adversary is in our networks. It's on our machines, and we've got to operate anyway."
That feels intuitively like sound common sense. However, the devil (as always) is in the detail. Are they talking about systems which allow them to track the "enemy's" presence within the system and thereby control what he knows (or ensuring that what he gets access to is not quite as useful/accurate as he thinks it is) or are they talking "hardened" areas within the system which they believe they can succeed in keeping him out of? Or are they thinking of a combination of these types of strategy? Anybody got any suggestions?
Implicit in this is the thought that a large number of punter's smartphone..............
..............purchasing decisions are informed by whether or not they can play "Angry Birds"? I think that I shall refrain from commenting further.
Re: "And what exactly...." Indeed. Careful whom you sup with and..........
.............use a very long spoon.
@Captain DaFt Well actually, I've seen some custom jobs that make that thing........
.................look like the acme of restrained and stylish good taste!
".....would face "a PR nightmare" and risk losing staff who don't trust their employers. "
Would face a PR nightmare? They would only then experience a breakdown in trust between them and their employers? I think somebody should start talking to the poor sods presently working at the coalface. They might then discover that this lack of trust and a desire to get the hell out it it is a widespread condition today, never mind at some stage in the future. Costing cutting? That's simply a question of who gets cut. Doing things smarter, being genuinely innovative to grow a business and improve profitability - that is way to much like intellectual heavy lifting for The Directorati. Attempting to take that route might expose their total inadequacy, people might see that the managerial emperor is mother naked.
Posted in iPhone 5 gets a 5in screen
@uhuznaa Re: "Well..." You are likely right.
The chances of Cupertino going to a five-incher as their primary smartphone are zero. I agree however that for many people something around the 4 inch or so mark appears to be the current accepted size and anything the Apple release is going to be in that ballpark.
