Posts by dotdavid
1078 posts • joined Wednesday 28th July 2010 10:13 GMT
Woah there
"The black plastic behind the fence is protecting the roof of the new dog house, pending tiling."
Forget about the health and safety issues... you can't leave animals in such an inadequate enclosure! What if PETA found out?!
Re: More Info Please
Seconded. His blog has some info but is a little lacking in techie detail for my liking ;-)
Ninite is good...
...but the way it excretes shortcut icons to your updated programs all over your desktop is a little annoying. Anyone know how you can turn that off?
Next stop...
Google BalloonView?
Re: Good luck with that!
I'm exactly the same, except that having had experience of most of the mobile operators now I know they're all as bad as each other.
The only way to beat them is to go SIM-only on a rolling 1 month contract, and whenever they try to pull something take your business elsewhere. Alas I'm stuck on a magically-increasing-in-cost T-Mobile contract for another 18 months or so because my calculations on whether it was cheaper for an S3+contract or an S3-outright naiively didn't take into account the extra cost and annoyance factor of T-Mobile bumping up their prices whenever they feel like it. Still, I'll know for next time, and in the meantime get my revenge by helping friends and relatives escape EE's clutches onto better cheaper deals.
Re: Let's not get carried away here...
AC is being a bit too sarky, but AFAIK the coverage figures refer to coverage of population not area.
Of course the former is an easier figure to achieve...
Re: No
@Code Monkey - Yes this would be a big problem if the software developers somehow don't realise that the target system for their software is a car.
How likely is that, though?
A shame but it won't work
1) Car manufacturers aren't interested in allowing users to upgrade their cars, they'd rather we just bought new ones.
2) If some miracle happened and a manufacturer did adopt this system, they'd want exclusivity so they could use it as a unique selling feature, which means that most of us wouldn't get to see it anyway.
3) Being automotive technology, upgrades will be expensive, mainly due to the lock-in - think of the difference in price between going into Halfords and buying a TomTom unit, and approaching your dealer to get an equivalent-spec satnav system installed. Or even just the price for getting the maps updated.
4) Information overload is a concern, and manufacturers will be very cautious of letting drivers have too many bells and whistles on the dash in case they get distracted and crash, and sue them.
I think a more feasible strategy would be a good set of standards to be developed that all the manufacturers would be mandated to implement, which means you can use a variety of smartphone platforms to do that smart stuff. But that probably won't happen.
" but European hardware manufacturers such as Ericsson, Alcatel Lucent and Nokia Siemens Networks aren't interested in moaning about the firms for fear of retaliation in the potentially lucrative Chinese market, sources have whispered"
Or, you know, they might not actually believe the Chinese firms are dumping at all...
Android?! Really?!
My money was on IOS.
</sarcasm>
Can't speak for anyone else
But despite owning a Samsung Galaxy S3 I'm not a "Samsung Fan"; more an Android Fan. My next handset is most likely to be another Android, but which manufacturer it comes from is TBD.
I suspect I'm not the only one in El Reg's readership that has that view, although perhaps less savvy users might be more attached to the brands.
Posted in Sonic the Hedgehog
Battery backup
I think the main problem I had with Sonic 1 was the lack of battery backup. From what I remember you needed to play it all in one sitting as the state couldn't be saved on power-off.
Also going back to Sonic 1 on emulators and whatnot I keep trying to do the "dash attack" (stand still, hold down and press A/B/C to rev up before releasing down and spinning off) which added a lot to the gameplay.
Re: Polishing
Sure it's free now, but how about the future?
Somehow I can't see Google allowing people to export all of their contributions to something more open like OpenStreetMap in the eventuality of Google Maps being discontinued, Google going out of business or whatever.
TPB should perhaps look to getting a memorable IP then, like Google's "8.8.8.8" for their DNS. Although I suspect they would have the same problems keeping it as they have had with their domain names...
Re: Not for the likes of us
I agree. For example if anyone hated my mother enough to install it on her Android phone for her, I could see her quite liking a Facebook-centric interface.
So that's what really happened to Concorde.
Re: Poor, poor operators
Hey at least Facebook and Google haven't sent me a letter recently increasing the price of my fixed-term contract due to rising costs "because inflation". Funny, my costs have similarly gone up "because inflation" yet I haven't demanded a discount from them...
Re: Think of the children....
Anonymous huh? On one of the most CCTV'd transport systems in one of the most CCTV'd cities on the planet? Where you have to provide an email address to access the network, which links you to a subscriber ID from one of the mobile networks? Or have to pay using a credit or debit card, again linking you to a subscriber ID? On a wifi network that logs your device's MAC and most probably whatever attempts it makes to contact Facebook, Twitter, Gmail etc?
No I wouldn't bet on it being anonymous.
In the UK it is provided by a private company, who seems to think that we will be more favourably disposed towards their brand if we have to click through an annoying splash screen to access the internet quickly while waiting for a train that arrives every five minutes...
Re: Still get some income
@Spearchucker Jones - just curious, but what happens if you set your phone to 3G-only?
Re: The idea
So what you're saying is Pearl Harbor Sucked, but Not As Much As North Korea's Chemical Rocket Guidance Systems
Re: If they were going to target the UK
I would expect that to be the most likely vector. Why spend time faffing around with your unreliable chemical rockets when you could ship a load of nukes out of the country and have them on standby around the globe.
That said, presumably the powers that be check all shipping containers that leave the country, and while the odd bit of contraband might slip through I can't imagine an operational nuke would.
Re: Still get some income
Yup. They'll cripple VOIP (they're allowed to - no network neutrality here in Blighty) then allow bolt-on "VOIP" packages for an extra fiver or so a month (or better still service-specific packages like "Facebook", "Google" so they can charge twice people who use both).
Re: Teh Stupid
Morale. The companies doing the beatings don't know the meaning of the word moral.
"[Piracy is] something that comes along with having a wildly successful show on a subscription network"
Especially when that network isn't made available to most of the potential customers.
Re: People still use ISP mailboxes ?
My in-laws were briefly with Sky, having been internet newbies at the time.
They then moved and I set up a Gmail account for them, and set it up to download their Sky email for them via POP. From what I understand Sky will continue to let them check their old email accounts in the future, although I made sure the in-laws knew to tell their contacts of the change of email address just in case. It has worked quite well.
In the future
You'll need to pay two providers for internet access. One for the connection to the outside world, and another for the VPN that renders it usable.
Re: LiFx
I think the main problem with these smart bulbs is "$80 for a lightbulb?! Just so I can switch it on and off from my phone, or when I'm outside my house?!"
I like the idea, but not for $80 (£80 no doubt in the UK).
I've often wondered
...why some of these terror organisations don't rebrand themselves as well-known counter-terrorist ones. It would cause much confusion.
"A bomb exploded earlier today near a crowded mosque in Pakistan. MI6 have claimed responsibility for the attack"
"Virgin choking wasn't moderate, so its wrist is smacked"
Definitely not moderate. In order to set up QoS properly on my 30Mb/s connection (I use VOIP as my "landline"), I have to set the max incoming bandwidth to 80% of 15Mb/s and max outgoing bandwidth to 50% of 500Kb/s, as the circumstances for Virgin throttling my connection down to that level are way too common for my liking (and that's without any torrenting, legal or otherwise - I merely use Spotify, Steam and other high-bandwidth apps).
I don't really think it's fair they're selling a 15Mb/s connection as 30Mb/s, but it's still the most cost-effective way of getting internet without having to fork out for landline rental, so I'm stuck with it for now.
*Edit:* Got the figures slightly wrong, but you get the gist; Virgin have them here - http://www.virginmedia.com/images/STM30MblargeA.jpg
Good question
...because it would be much more profitable with one, according to this article.
""The problem with [Glass] – and this might not be the right term – is that it's an open architecture," Delegate Gary Howell, lead sponsor of the bill, told El Reg. "So you can watch funny cat videos while you're driving down the highway, which probably isn't a good idea."
"The problem with attractive passers by - and this might not be the right term - is that it's an open architecture. So you can ogle the passers by while driving down the highway, which probably isn't a good idea."
The solution of course is to train drivers to not be distracted easily when driving, which works for Glass, Car Radios, Beeping Phones, Screaming Kids and all sorts of other distractions. Presumably a bill to combat that would suggest changes to the driving assessment process, not a ban on things, and might actually help.
So...
Microsoft Finland* wants to block major rival's product, and parent company has had success in the past using the patent mechanism to do so (*cough* Android *cough*).
This is sad but not entirely unsurprising.
(* sorry, Microsoft Phones, Finland Division)
Posted in Review: HTC One
No SD no sale
"A year ago, I finished off my review of HTC’s One X by predicting great things for it and its maker. And then Samsung’s Galaxy S3 merrily outsold it ten to one ... The One X is the better phone - it’s better made, better looking and better to use."
Not sure about everyone, but for me the following paragraph explains why;
"Before I wrap up I should make it clear that the One lacks anything in the way of storage expansion, but with only 32GB and 64GB versions available that’s not too much of an issue"
...unless you play a lot of games, or watch a lot of videos, or want to have full offline maps on your GPS on your phone, or have lots of MP3s (or cloudy music service cache files).
The reason I bought an S3 over a One X was the expandable memory. That and a removable battery are very important features for me. Judging by comments and reviews I've read I'm not the only one.
True, Samsung managed to bork their implementation of the S3's expandable storage up by inexplicably mounting the internal storage space as "sdcard" (the external SD card is "extSdCard"), which means that helpful apps like Spotify, Garmin and most games that try to put large data files on your SD card end up putting those data files on your internal memory instead. But at least with the S3 I can still shove video and MP3 files on a large cheap external card.
Announcement
"After much deliberation we have decided to call the new hosted service 'Pythonline'. We feel that this new bra... what do you mean that's taken too? Can't we trademark it then? No? Oh, er, okay."
Re: Fire drill
Indeed. I'm not entirely sure why this is newsworthy; when the company I work for moved into our new office we had loads of unannounced evacuations, mainly because the builders (who were still fitting out some of the office space) kept setting off the fire alarm, presumably by accident. One time an actual fire (caused by a dishwasher) did it. At no point have I noticed any roving El Reg reporters snapping photos of us.
But maybe that's because we don't have little company signs to cluster around - usually a quick team headcount is done at a local place of safety, which usually coincidentally serves some form of alcoholic beverage. Many of these places of safety have stout doors and cellars where you can wait, in fact, so they make ideal evacuation locations if for example there is a bomb threat or something else more exotic than a fire.
Posted in Review: Sony Xperia Z
Complex Model Portfolio
"Personally I blame a ludicrously complex model portfolio as much as lacklustre hardware. Can anyone list the current crop of Xperia handsets off the top of their head? No? Thought not. "
I completely agree, yet it doesn't seem to have hurt Samsung too much - there's a bewildering array of "Galaxy" models out there. Similar situation with HTC, who have even gone as far as repeating model names (*cough* One *cough*) in their recent lineup.
Why none of the major Android OEMs have stuck to a simple naming strategy I have no idea.
Re: So, you can defeat this by being late?
Yes, if by "defeat" you mean "be majorly inconvenienced by"
"it may embolden copyright trolls who stepped into RIAA's shoes and have no good reputation to protect"
Sorry, the Recording Industry Ass. of America has a good reputation now?!
Re: Well that might work.
Not aware of the specifics of this technology, but I suspect it won't be given free-reign over the vetting process. If the software can automatically search against thousands of blacklisted faces, even if it comes up with false positives they will be relatively easily dismissed by a human operator, and it would increase the effectiveness of the human operator as they won't have to remember what thousands of the bad-uns look like.
Tried Feedly...
...but as you say it's too Pinterest/Flipbook-like for me. Additionally I don't think there's a native web-app, just a couple of extensions for various browsers, so I couldn't do my vital (cough) RSS reading at work.
The alternative I've settled on for now is a self-hosted TinyTinyRSS, which is working great. The only thing I dislike about the software is the lack of sharing options to various social networks (although you can publish to your own feed which is nice) but it is open source so I can always have a go at writing a plugin or something for that. It even has an Android app.
I doubt Google will resurrect Reader, but I suspect it will teach some people a valuable lesson about not trusting too many of the things you use daily to any single company, especially one like Google who has a habit of dropping products for no apparent reason (still, in their favour, they gave plenty of notice and allow you to easily export your data).
Edit: Actually looked and TTRSS already has plugins to share to several social networks. Seriously impressed with this software.
Re: Good point, Robin!
Why do you think we have ever had hosepipe bans on such a wet island? The giant hose is already there...
Yarr
In alcohol, white rum is on the up, a statistic the ONS links to increasing numbers of young drinkers
It be pirates not whippersnapper landlubbers, ye scurvey dogs. We be sufferin' from the curse o' recession too, yer white rum bilge bein' cheaper than our fav'rite Ol' Spiced. Arrr!
Re: Wrong focus?
Well lightspeed comms are possible with some of these worlds (albeit with long waits for possible replies) so we don't need FTL for everything interesting I think.
Re: Conflict of interest ?
Good point. Also, if they decide there *is* a conflict of interest, who investigates the potential fraud? No-one? Seems to me that a good way of getting away with serious fraud would be making sure you sell something to the Serious Fraud Office!
Posted in ITV catches up with TVCatchup
Re: They just don't do it on a unified site..
That report seems to be more about VOD/catch-up services. What's to stop an additional broadcast mechanism (i.e. IP) being standardised for the Freeview broadcasters like TVCatchup, despite their misleading name*, currently does?
(* yes I know they used to offer catch-up TV until shot down in court)
Re: notepad++
There's even an option in the installer to use a different icon, so it must be quite a popular dislike.
Dodgy icon or not, it handily beats TextPad in my opinion and I've pretty much installed it on every machine I have to do any serious work on.
Posted in ITV catches up with TVCatchup
Re: Simples
I think a better analogy would be that your house is a guesthouse and you only take bookings on the phone or in person. Someone else sets up a website, with advertising, that offers to let you book over the internet. They are profiting from your guesthouse, sure, but also providing a service that you're not providing to a group of people you're not providing for. It isn't really to your detriment at all apart from the fact that you could be making the money they are making from advertising yourself if you had your own internet booking website.
