* Posts by JDX

6847 publicly visible posts • joined 28 May 2010

All but full-fat MS Office to be had on iPads, Droidenslabben for NOWT

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Re: "inserting section breaks"

Why would any features be blocked.crippled in a FREE version? If they put all the good stuff in, nobody would pay.

Seems they've given enough for people to write letters and personal spreadsheets, anyone using it day-to-day for more serious stuff would need to pay.

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How is that LibreOffice iOS app working out for you?

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It's just about writing the code but the fact you have to rewrite big chunks for each OS, especially the UI side which is pretty darn important. Clearly the effort went in to iOS first and that would require them using OBJ-C (well not having to but on a project that size it would make sense) which means it's likely an entirely separate development team than those who would work on a WP version.

Eye laser surgery campaigner burned by Facebook takedown

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Better not have that MMR either. I mean, you can't be too careful.

I wonder how many people get eye injuries due to their glasses every year (actually serious question, considering how many people injure themselves getting out of bed every day).

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Re: I gamble with my money, not my health

That's a crock. You gamble with your health every time you eat barbecued food or go outside on a sunny day... a rogue particle could knock a free radical loose. You gamble every time you eat food you haven't prepared or use crockery someone else has 'washed'.

You gamble every time you play sport - a knock could detach your retina or any number of other things.

Having dental treatment has risks too. You gamble that saving your tooth or reducing your toothache is worth the tiny chance of something seriously wrong happening.

As you get older and get a cataract, you gamble that improving your eyesight is worth the small risk of making it even worse.

Heck, even contact lenses have risks.

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Re: I only know two opticians.

They say doctors make the worst patients.

The statistics are available to doctors and patients alike... maybe the former are just more conservative.

I'm fairly sure the guy who did my consult had had the treatment.

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Re: Eye laser surgery is not for everyone.

I also now need eye drops but then I spend all day staring at a screen which is about the worst thing for that.

Still worth it just to be abel to go outside in the rain or walk into a hot room in the winter and still see.

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@Les Matthew

Gee Les, what an original and witty remark.

It doesn't actually make any sense but hey it's a nice pithy meme.

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Re: Another solution

Oh for goodness' sake, stop holding the web up as some idealistic paradise. It only exists in its current form because massive companies and governments have ploughed untold billions into the infrastructure, in the belief they can make money from it in some sense.

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Re: Depends on perspective

If you post on someone else's site, they can take it down at their discretion. Internet forums and social networks are the "Wild West", if a grumpy moderator doesn't like you then tough.

Of course if you are making part of your living through a page on FB it gets murky. Has nobody sued FB for this yet, and at least made it to court?

Apple's strap-on will set you back just '$5,000' – what a BARGAIN!

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Re: Gold-plated?

Lots of expensive things don't last as long as cheaper ones. I'd wager a 500k supercar will last far less time than an old Ford Focus.

It's for the super rich, if they have enough money this counts as disposable income then good for them, let them buy it.

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I'm surprised Apple don't team up WITH a brand like Rolex or whoever for the fancy designer versions. Brand is important in that world - gadgets and expensive watches are very different markets.

The late 2014 Apple Mac Mini: The best (and worst) of both worlds

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But now 16Gb IS available... and that's the maximum you can officially install. So unless you can actually cram in more than is supported (you could with some older MacBooks) things are a bit different.

The main issue is simply it costs you more now. I'm not sure how much more though... Crucial sell 16Gb kits for £125 although of course that way you did end up with 4Gb left over you might be able to sell.

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Re: Laptop

Interesting. I wonder if that's a new thing or if they did this previously? It would make sense given that low power use and less need for cooling are important on the Mini.

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Re: To think Apple once marketed the Mini as a server machine (do they still do that)?

Your Mac Mini has a better GPU than the Pro?

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Re: Laptop

I don't think it runs a laptop CPU. At least the 2012 one doesn't.

It also doesn't use laptop RAM or laptop hard disk (from what little I know about laptop parts) given that you can fit a standard desktop SATA SSD.

And laptop motherboards don't generally have 4 USB3 sockets.

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Re: To think Apple once marketed the Mini as a server machine (do they still do that)?

They don't market it as a server now but why would that need upgradable RAM, when you can spec it up with the most RAM it can support? That's a cost issue, not a spec issue.

More importantly, which the article didn't obviously mention(?) is that you cannot buy a quad-core Mini any more. That really hurts for use as a serious desktop or server. My guess is Apple realised the Mini is predominantly used as a media server or basic desktop and doesn't need those things.

Personally, I immediately bought the cheapest quad-core 2012 Mini from my local store while I still could - I was waiting for a refresh to buy a Mini for fear of buying an older spec, but it turned out the opposite. If I'd known in advance, I might've bought up a load of them and sold them on for a tidy profit!

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"But at least it used to be a doddle to expand the previous incarnation’s memory: rotate the base, unclip the Wi-Fi card’s antenna, unscrew a metal plate, and there’s your RAM slot."

That's not even nearly true. You simply rotate the base, and the RAM is RIGHT THERE (in the 2012 model anyway).

I also very much doubt Yosemite is really using 7Gb of RAM out of the box.

Russia to ban iCloud.. to protect iPhone fiddlers' pics 'n' sh*t

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Why is El Reg so keen on that photo? Does a man posing while not wearing a shirt automatically count as gay and/or porn to you lot? A topless man is a long way away from a nude selfie.

Microsoft, Dropbox execs go public with their Office hookup

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Re: All good

If they really want them, they can probably get them anyway. And no I don't mind, if Obama is that bored he is free to look.

HP's pet lizard is feral peril says wildlife group

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Forget the perils of iguanas...

...it's disgusting that they promote destroying the planet with reckless printing. Surely little Tommy should've set up a viral #BringBackOurIguana campaign on social media and championed the cause on national TV.

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Re: TV direction

It's not because the population are idiots but because they love to sue. Other countries have as many idiots but they wouldn't try and sue the company when they drive on the wrong side of the road after watching an advert.

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Like crocodiles, green iguanas make appealing pets when young

That sounds like something only an Australian would say. I'd never considered a croc to be appealing.

Improving JavaScript: Google throws AtScript into the mix

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Re: Most (if not all of this) this was available in JS2 2006 or so.

Considering how all major players are clamouring how their browser is the new fastest JS machine...

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Why don't the various major browser manufacturers just agree to add a proper language in their browsers, i.e. JS 2.0 or something? It would take a long time but we got there with HTML5 in the end.

Mozilla promises browser just for developers

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Developers! Developers! Developers!

UN: Fossil fuels should be terminaated 86 years from now

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Re: I want to see change in my lifetime. Now.

By "where I live" I pretty much mean the UK.

It seems rather suspicious that climate change, for all the "it can make things colder as well as hotter, dryer as well as wetter" claims (or excuses if you were cynical), only has bad effects. Some places will suffer, others will thrive.

Whether we will have to face changes in our own lives or not, I rather suspect that we cannot fix/prevent the changes we'll experience in our own lives now, we can only avoid them getting even worse after we're gone. i.e. what we do now will have an effect 50 years down the line.

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Re: I want to see change in my lifetime. Now.

I haven't seen any obvious change in my lifetime that needs to be reversed and I'm really not sure anyone else has, other than "you had proper summers when I were a lad".

Where I live the weather is OK; we don't get washed away or serious droughts etc. More seriously, DO most people really give a fig about doing something for "our children" if they won't be there to see it - or in fact if even your children will be dead by then? Is that kind of altruism really that common or am I just overly cynical and selfish?

Bona-fide science: Which forms of unusual sex are mainstream?

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Re: "view the psychology departments of the world primarily as a source of entertainment"

Would psychology predict a snotty rant to quip on an internet forum?

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"view the psychology departments of the world primarily as a source of entertainment"

Psychology is not a science

Would you recognise the Vans shoes logo? Neither would Euro trademark bods

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Maybe they need a logo which looks like a van then.

Microsoft now licensing Windows by the user, across multiple devices

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Buy for existing systems?

Is this likely to mean I can buy a license for PCs I've already got, so I can clone my W7 system onto a second PC?

Windows XP market share fell off a cliff in October

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Re: "Net" marketshare

Most corporate worstations are allowed to browse the internet so I don't think the XP "dark matter" is anything like as significant as you suggest.

You're also blindly assuming that all those "dark" PCs are running XP rather than Vista/7/8.x, in fact you're using the lack of data to argue this is the case which is hugely unscientific,

Branson on Virgin Galactic fatal crash: 'Space is hard – but worth it'

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Re: Oh no it is

And you don't think a vehicle which can do a sub-orbital flight and return to be used hundreds of times is worth anything?

Apple spent just ONE DOLLAR beefing up the latest iPad Air 2

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Crappy reporting

The cost of the components today in the Air2 is presumably about the same as the cost of the components in the Air1 when it went on sale.

That's probably why the iPad prices haven't changed (I think?) - they refresh the spec to fit the desired price point.

You get a lot more from your money in terms of components than you did before.

Tim Cook: The classic iPod HAD TO DIE, and this is WHY

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@Mark 65

Mark you totally fail to understand how these things work. Apple don't make the iPod because you find it's the best option. They make it because the mass market wants to buy it. The mass market has made it clear that a device which requires daily charging is just fine, since they generally have access to electricity, and that ~32Gb is just fine as far as storage goes. A minority who demand more space but don't want to pay through the nose may well have jumped to Android/WindowsPhone so they can slip in a128Gb SD card but the sales speak for themselves - people aren't, in general, interested.

You almost hit the nail on the head talking about two devices re: cameras but again fail to realise that for most people, a separate camera is pointless. A minority want a separate camera but it's no longer something everyone buys, more a specialist item. That's the territory the iPod finds itself in now and it simply isn't a big enough market for Apple to divert attention to.

If there is demand, someone else will step up and make one. Given Apple make great profit on the iPod, suggesting they killed it deliberately is silly. They go where the money is, and it's not in storing 256Gb in your pocket.

Swedish 'Future minister' doesn't do social media

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Re: I'm wondering

Running things through Twitter at least implies the public can see what you're up to - an uncommon level of transparency.

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Facepalm

Maybe she's too busy getting some bloody work done to be posting here personal thoughts on the internet.

;)

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Re: tax raising monkeys in charge

I thought Sweden was held up to the world as a semi-socialist utopia?

Arrrr GOSH! Argos website goes titsup to make it EVEN BETTER

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I'm surprised more restaurants/bars don't try the app route. Of course making sure you were ordering from the branch you were in would be important but forcing you to scan a QR "table number" code could automate that.

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My Argos has free WiFi. I can pay for stuff before I leave the house.

And they have a partnership with eBay (I think).

So they rather seem to be doing as you suggest already.

Jim Beam me up, Scotty! WHISKY from SPAAACE returns to Earth

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Re: Blasphemy

Soccer?

Besides that's a bad comparison. You're comparing a sport with a wonderful, venerable tradition for the masses, with football, a sport for drunken louts.

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Re: Expected effects?

Lots of weird stuff happens in microgravity, the experiment is not without precedent.

Mozilla: Spidermonkey ATE Apple's JavaScriptCore, THRASHED Google V8

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Re: Speak for yourself

I run Windows, Mac, and iOS but what we use is irrelevant. Nobody in the world would claim Windows wasn't the dominant OS of internet-connected computers, by a long way. It _might_ not be the market leader overall when you factor mobile, but then mobile don't run OSX or Linux... so either they should be benchmarking on Android or Windows.

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IE doesn't work on Mac or Linux (which is where we benchmark right now)

So you run your benchmarks on operating systems most people don't actually use?

Amazon hopes fire stick will light up its video service

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"After this it seems to have disappeared completely"

"After this it seems to have disappeared completely. You’ll have a hard time finding it on the Amazon home page amidst the offers for Kindles, while even Prime members don’t get the hard sell."

1)Go to amazon.co.uk

2)Hover over or click "your prime"

Or:

1)Start typing the name of a film/TV-show in the main search box

And oh look.

iPad Air 2: Vulture chews on new Apple tablet

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Re: Specs - blimey

What can an i7 CPU that a 486 cannot? I can write code that will compile equally well for either.

While I agree that for the majority of apps and the OS itself, this makes no real difference:

1)If a game would previously run at 10fps and now at 20fps, that means before it was unusable and now it is fast enough to be fun. So whole new types of effects and so on can be used which simply weren't possible before.

2)Similarly, increasing the speed increases the range of applications you can run on the device which require real-time perfromance and cannot be allowed to skip. Games are one obvious example but similarly real-time audio/video applications such as guitar effects modellers, etc

71% isn't "a bit faster" either.

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Specs - blimey

Considering how big a jump the Air was from the 4 (and the 4 from the 3 and the 3 from the 2) it's pretty impressive to get such a performance jump at roughly the same power usage.

It's pretty mind-blowing how powerful a modern tablet is; these newest ones must surely have reached the point of being comparable with a low-mid-range desktop, or at least a PC a few years old. The sheer grunt of CPU/GPU means they really can do pretty serious stuff.

Even a broken watch is right twice a day: Not an un-charged Apple Watch

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Re: Is a broken watch is right twice a day?

Given that typical watches show each second for about a second (whether digital or analog) rather than moving in a continuous fashion, about 2 seconds a day.

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"You’re going to wind up charging it daily"

Nice pun there Tim.

Would it be possible to have a windable e-watch, how much winding would you have to do?