* Posts by Ashley Stevens

91 publicly visible posts • joined 4 Jun 2007

Page:

10Gbps over crumbling COPPER: Boffins cram bits down telco wire

Ashley Stevens

It's due to cost

I have Verizon FIOS in my vacation home and the amount of kit they installed in the garage to terminate the fibre is quite ridiculous and looks very expensive indeed. There's three boxes I believe and several cables between them. The cost of the kit and the time to install it must have been pretty high. I can quite see why Verizon are not extending the FIOS network with what each house installation must cost them.

So either they need to simplify the in-home installation to the point where the in-premises equipment is as cheap as DSL and installable by the user, or they could do what is proposed here it seems and share a single fibre to copper interface link between several houses and amortize the cost over say 10 houses. Makes economic sense to me. Sure, fibre to the home would be better, but the termination kit needs to come down in cost and simplify. Installing fibre connections isn't currently an end-user job.

Urinating teen polluted 57 Olympic-sized swimming pools - cops

Ashley Stevens

But did they really 'flush' it? Or just say that to justify a harsh punishment and then leave it as is? Did anyone witness the flushing? And where did the flushed water go? Down the drain?

If a reservoir is flushed and no one sees it, is it really flushed? And did any trees fall in it?

Acorn founder: SIXTH WAVE of tech will wash away Apple, Intel

Ashley Stevens

400,000 miles of random driving

He discussed the Google Car as a manifestation of sixth-wave computing, observing that it "has had 400,000 miles of random driving without any accidents”.

Sounds like my mum!

Samsung, LG 'lose confidence' in OLED TV tech

Ashley Stevens
Stop

Not true!

Assume for a moment that your hypothetical 24" panel has 75% yield. So one out of every 4 panels is dead. Now take a panel four times the size, equal to four of your 24" panels. 1 out of every 1 is dead, i.e. 0% yield.

AMD, Samsung must be ARMed to the teeth to oust Intel servers

Ashley Stevens

Re: WTF?

Agreed I was about to post the same thing I don't know what the continuum means, nor can I understand why time isn't the X axis? It is truly weird. It could only have come from an arts graduate consultant, not from an engineer, it is meaningless to anyone with any basic maths background.

Texas Instruments: Screw smartphones, put our chips in the dishwasher

Ashley Stevens

I have only one word to say...

....Nest

Amazon: Time for a new Kindle Fire, this one's sold out

Ashley Stevens

Software update?

Can we have a software update for the Kindle Fire 1 please? It's been ages since the last one and nothing has fundamentally changed. The hardware is OK save for the stupid location of the on-off button, but the software is sadly lacking

BBC deletes Blue Peter from BBC One

Ashley Stevens

Viewing statistics?

How do they measure viewing statistics for children's TV? Do they send survey papers into nursery schools and have them filled out in crayon?

Or maybe it is 300,000 saddo adults and unspecified millions of uncounted kids watching?

Google's self-driving car snags first-ever license in Nevada

Ashley Stevens

Obvious disclaimer...

I can't help it officer, the software in my car was written by out-sourced engineers in Bangalore....! And it will bring a whole new meaning to "Italian electrics"!

Pirates not to blame for Big Media's sales plunge

Ashley Stevens

Respect

My view is that it's all about lack of respect. Big content doesn't respect its customers, but neither does it respect its content suppliers either. At the moment NBC is ruining most of its content by splattering adds for Betty White over the lower 3rd of the screen. I don't know who she is, but she sure ruins the rest of the content that they put out. I find it hard to believe that content creators allow their output to be mis0used in this way, but I guess they have no say in the matter? Let's hope the indie movement takes hold and more content becomes available without the Betty White adverts and other distractions in the lower 3rd of the screen.

Clandestine US 'space warplane' extends orbital mission

Ashley Stevens

Orbiting recycling bin

Clearly it's an orbiting trash can/recycling bin. The can is not full so may as well keep it up there until full before bringing the recycling down to earth and putting it out with the cardboard and plastic. :-)

Multimillionaire's private space ship 'can land on Mars'

Ashley Stevens

White cat?

But does he have a white cat, that's what we all really want to know?

What will we do with 600MHz?

Ashley Stevens

Mesh networks

It should given over to peer-to-peer wifi-like mesh networks. This is the modern version of 'community', community TV is a 1980's concept.

If communities want to use it for video transmissions they can do video over IP. But if they want data, or peer-to-peer backup, or city-wide internet access they can do that too.

Ashley

Civil servants just can't keep a grip on their BlackBerrys

Ashley Stevens

Left on trains

But mostly they are probably just left on trains.

Ashley Stevens

When appropriate?!

"the Department takes firm action to investigate thefts and seeks to recover losses. Instances of theft are reported to the police whenever appropriate".

So when are instances of theft inappropriate for being reported to the police then?

I can't think of any. Except when the instances of theft are already known not to be instances of theft, but in that case, they are not actually instances of theft!

Carrier-sold iPad 2 Sim locks snag unwary buyers

Ashley Stevens

How much?

How much did he pay? If he paid full retail price then he has a right to expect it to be unlocked. But if it was subsidized then he should expect it to be locked.

Amazon confirms the terms of its declaration of war on Netflix

Ashley Stevens

No similar device selection

I have a Tivo and WD TV Live Plus and I am a Amazon Prime and Netflix member. I have Netflix on both devices (the UI on the WD is better). Amazon Prime supports neither device. The Unbox player mentioned in the article is also NOT supported for Amazon Prime free videos either.

Credit cards get colour screens

Ashley Stevens

Annual fee

Finally a justification for an annual fee?

Cisco jump-starts home 'telepresence'

Ashley Stevens

Consumers?

If they think consumers will pay $599 and then $25/month for this they're smoking something illegal. I can see a market in SOHO (small offices and home offices) but consumers aren't going to buy into that. If it's $99 and then pay per use it could take off. At those prices, it's a small business thing but not consumer. Who's going to buy this when they can just use FaceTime on their iPhone?

Samoan clerics finger homosexuals over global warming

Ashley Stevens

Pirates, not homos

This is obviously rubbish, everyone knows that lack of pirates cause global warming. It's proven, there's a statistical correlation, so it must be true! ;-)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PiratesVsTemp_English.jpg

Orange outs budget Android 2.1 handset

Ashley Stevens
Thumb Up

Better than Racer

This is better than the ZTE Racer because it has an 800x480 OLED screen vs QVGA LCD on the Racer and capacitive vs resistive touch screen on Racer.

LG to show 31in OLED 3D TV at IFA

Ashley Stevens

Yes

There was, but they got bought out by the Japanese

http://www.cdtltd.co.uk/default.asp

OED goes the way of all flesh paper

Ashley Stevens

21 years?

It should be continuously updated online. How many new words have there been in the last 21 years they've been working on this? How do they expect to ever finish? It's a pointless exercise that can never finish, only be continuously updated online.

It's not a sad day, perhaps it's the beginning of the realization that this is an on-going project, not something that will ever get 'finished'.

Microsoft lines staff pockets with Windows 7 phone

Ashley Stevens

Free?

Free as in free? Or free as is in 'Free on a 2 year contract from the worst operator in your region'? ie just as free as almost all other phones except the iPhone

UK.gov may cut BBC licence fee in 2012

Ashley Stevens

Use general taxation

The license needs to be abolished because: 1) It's too costly to collect compared with general taxation 2) If it was funded out of general taxation the government would keep a much tighter reign on it's spending. 3) The license is unconstitutional because the BBC can't be voted out of office. No taxation without representation......!

If the BBC was funded from general taxation the government of the day would have to justify it to the electorate. I'm not against the BBC, just it's right to increase license fees and continually expand it's remit with no comeback. Some element of market forces needs to come to bear on the BBC, even if it's only those of an electorate. Currently it operates in a vacuum outside of normal supply/demand relationships.

Steve Jobs fears Nation of Bloggers

Ashley Stevens

Biz model

The newspaper business model was always that the cover price paid for the printing and the ads paid for everything else. In the electronic world the printing cost is gone, so why shouldn't the cover price go too? After all, the ads should still be there to fund the rest of it.

Blunkett threatens to sue for £30 ID card refund

Ashley Stevens

Whip round?

How about a Reg-reader whip-round to raise 30 quid for the blind guy? I'm sure there's many who'd happily donate a quid or two not to have to have an ID card and it should be enough to get him a new white stick.

Man jailed for sex with donkey and horse

Ashley Stevens

No stable address?

Nice pun! But it sounds rather like his home address was a stable and the animals his live-in partners!

iPads may be outselling Macs two to one

Ashley Stevens
Thumb Down

Except....

...you need a computer to make it work. This is the downside of the iPad. It could be a computer for folks who can't use computers, except you can't do anything with it without a computer......catch 22!

Labour manifesto changes a byte bit

Ashley Stevens

Redistribution of megabits?

Well you'll only get 2mbps after the election. This is redistribution of bandwidth. You'll need to give some of your megabits up to help the less fortunate in society. It'll be a fairer society but worse for you. Strangely, no one ever seems to have met anyone better off, except the politicians themselves of course.

Hulu scraps UK plans

Ashley Stevens

Huh?

I don't understand why Hulu was trying to deals with British broadcasters since it's effectively a competitor to them? It should be doing deals with content providers and then getting ad revenue and directly competing with the broadcasters.

Nokia asks ever so nicely for return of missing prototype

Ashley Stevens

Hmm...

This sounds like a deliberate attempt by Nokia to recreate the lost Apple iPhone scenario to generate more publicity for Nokia. 'We'd like our phone back please'. Where did we hear that before... But they don't seem to be trying very hard to get it do they?

Johnson: ID cards will pay for themselves

Ashley Stevens

Civil service

As much as I hate New Labour I think it's actually the civil service that are hell bent on ID cards and we can't vote them out.

Ashley Stevens

Basic misunderstanding of sunk costs

Oh dear, to think such a twit could be in such a senior position. What he's saying is that we've spent some money on it. So we should spend a lot more money on it, instead of canceling it and wasting the money we've spent so far. ie we should waste a lot more money because we've wasted some already and would have nothing to show for it. ie let's throw good money after bad.

Can't he understand what's spent already is sunk costs? What we spend in the future we can control. Whether it comes from general taxation or a fee for the card, it all the same, a form of tax on the populace. What a rank idiot. Shameful that such people can get to such high places.

If he was in private business, he wouldn't be. Not for long anyway...

Apple sets 3G iPad for May 7 as Sprint ups ante to 4G

Ashley Stevens

iPad-nano?

What is an iPad-nano? Is that a nickname for an iPod Touch?

Primark pulls 'disgraceful' padded bikini for kiddies

Ashley Stevens
Thumb Down

Big government, small government?

Not that I particularly like the item of clothing.....but the sort of country I want is the sort where the government keeps to doing what the government should be doing (like balancing the budget) and doesn't try to involve itself in every aspect of people's private and personal lives, including what they wear.

DaveC talks the language of small government but acts just like the Stalinist big-government dictatorship that is New Labour!

If there's a market for this stuff then let the market decide. The fact that we middle class intellectuals don't like it doesn't really matter, on the Swansea council estates where they probably sell they may be very popular and it's not for Dave 'Eton' Cameron to tell them what to wear. Next he'll be dictating that they must wear coat and tails to dinner!

SA news outlet deploys sh*t London Olympics logo

Ashley Stevens
Stop

Safe

At least possession of the shit logo won't result in a spell in prison on a child porn charge.

Mandy quango says Apple, Amazon are too obscure

Ashley Stevens

Lossless

When iTunes or Amazon start offering lossless downloads, preferably 24 bit and 96KHz or higher I will buy music from them. Until then it has to be CDs (or one of the few lossless download sites, but they tend to have a very very limited selection). Instead of trying to persuade consumers to buy something they don't want, Mandy should be trying to persuade music retailers to offer something consumers do want!

Dell bars Win 7 refunds from Linux lovers

Ashley Stevens

Good hardware suppliers

Is there a list of hardware suppliers anywhere that are known to comply with the EULA and offer refunds to customers refusing the Windows license? Information on suppliers who do offer it would be very useful. Armed with this information, then the customers and market can decide. I suspect Dell is not alone in acting like this?

Home Sec says 17m ID cards in circulation by 2017

Ashley Stevens

Genuine?

What proportion of the estimated 17 million ID card in 'circulation' will be genuine?

Samsung to bundle glasses with 3D TVs

Ashley Stevens

Awaiting the peril-sensitive add-on

All that's needed is a peril-sensitivity add-on that closes both shutters when in danger! But how long will it be before the government mandates the P-chip that shuts both shutters on adult material when worn by children?

Mozilla ditches Mac OS X 10.4 support in fresh Firefox

Ashley Stevens

AppleTV?

What about all those hacked AppleTVs running 10.4? No more Firefox for them?

ARM boss forecasts mass migration to netbooks

Ashley Stevens

Re: Innovation

Well actually it's the screen size that Intel limits not the actual resolution. But that tends to limit resolution in practice to around 1024x600 or 1024x768. You won't find any 14 or 15" Atom machines. And it's not vendors that want to widen the gap between netbook and CULV notebooks, it's Intel. Indeed the whole netbook/notebook distinction is created entirely by Intel marketing. That's the point, Intel defines the product: Netbook, Notebook, or MID. Taiwanese OEM/ODMs make it. End of innovation. Not so with ARM.

Ashley Stevens

Innovation

If you read what he actually said, it was that the netbook market had room for a lot of innovation. So you people talking about screen resolution of 1024x600 are not getting the point at all. Most people think of a netbook as Intel's definition of a netbook. Intel tells it's customer's what they can and can't make. Atom netbooks are limited to 1024x600 because Intel says so. Atom netbooks can't do HD video or have HDMI out because Intel says so (and that's why they don't like NVIDIA with Ion). ARM and it's partners put no such restrictions on OEMs. It allows them to innovate in form factor. All Atom netbooks are essentially the same. But look at the diversity in smart phone. Now imagine that diversity in ARM-based netbooks. In the Intel world, everyone is forced to make essentially the same thing and compete only on price. The only winner is Intel - the OEM and customers lose (OEM's lose differentiation and revenue, customers lose choice).

Expect to see ARM-based netbooks in all sorts of form factors, including touch-screen and tablet format. Sure, some of them will flop, but others will fly and it'll be the market that decides which, not Intel. Who knows what the hit format will be?

Can the iSlate kill off Web 2.0?

Ashley Stevens

Most of what people type in comments is rubbish.......including this probably

There are other ways to express one's opinion of something than just typing a comment. A rating can be given by a slider as a percentage, or by a choice of from 1 to 5 stars etc. In fact, these measures are in many ways better since they can easily be interpreted and collated by software to create an "overall rating" which is not so easy with a comment. Thus they contribute more, not less, to the overall wisdom of the Web 2.0.

Anyway, most of what people type in comments is rubbish anyway. Including this......probably.

Govt promises unemployed free laptops, net access, websites

Ashley Stevens
Thumb Down

Big boost to laptops on Ebay

Why give them a laptop? Half of them will probably just sell it on Ebay. Why not just give them the money to spend how they wish?

Early adopters bloodied by Ubuntu's Karmic Koala

Ashley Stevens

Hardest Ubuntu install ever

It's gone midnight. I've just finished the 3rd install. (1 upgrade and 1 fresh before). Looking good this time, but Ubuntu's never been this hard before. Maybe it's my old hardware? (AMD Athlon and ATI R350 / 9550SE). Graphics drivers were the trickiest bit. Seems like they changed a lot this time. More of a revolutionary than evolutionary release it appears.

Ashley Stevens
Thumb Down

Spoke too soon...

OK, I spoke too soon. As soon as I turn on dual-head I lose graphics acceleration....

Scientists flee Home Office after adviser sacking

Ashley Stevens

Obviously not as smart as a climate scientist

This so-called 'scientist' needs to take a lesson from the climate scientists and start saying what the government wants him to say! How can he possibly claim to be a proper government advisor when he sticks to irritating things like the facts. What an idiot! ;-)

Seriously though, both Nutt and Johnson are in the wrong. Nutt shouldn't expect the government to make decisions based on evidence, but Johnson shouldn't sack Nutt for publishing correct evidence-based research.

ID Card scheme banking on 28 million volunteers

Ashley Stevens

Passports

I suspect the 28 million figure comes from the estimate of how many people will apply for passports? ID cards will become compulsory for anyone applying for a passport. However since it's not compulsory to have a passport, the government can still claim that ID cards are voluntary. Thus, passport holders will become voluntary ID card holders.

Page: