Posts by AbortRetryFail
160 posts • joined Wednesday 2nd February 2011 16:48 GMT
Re: Battlefield 3/4 - Star Wars ???
> I'd buy that.
For a dollar?
Re: Nipple implant
Double Polaroid moment? ;o)
I think you're missing the point. It's more like playing a game of Blackjack and saying "stick" at 21 and the dealer dealing you an extra card and saying you busted out, and you saying "hold on a moment, I said 'stick' at 21".
Re: Technical Matter
I wonder if the International law on Martime Salvage might apply here? Or does that only apply to boats?
Stereoscopic - why the downvotes?
Not entirely sure why someone felt the need to downvote all the people who (quite rightly) pointed out it is 'stereophonic' and not 'stereoscopic'
I'm so sorry
Why did Lt. Uhura cry?
Because William Shatner
(I'll get my coat)
Monty Python tax sketch
Reminds me of the Monty Python sketch where they try to come up with new taxes.
"I would tax all foreigners living abroad".
Robocop?
First thing I thought of when I saw "OCP" was "Omi Consumer Products"; the corporation in Robocop.
Re: I hate Steampunk.
There never has been anything "punk" about it. It stems from William Gibson's cyberpunk stories, and the ?-punk name just kind of went from here. Hence steampunk, dieselpunk, biopunk, <insert name here>punk, etc.
Re: Comprehension
The vinyl and also the first run of the CD (I have owned both) definitely say "streetsuss" on the printed lyrics. I always thought that was a little odd, but it was right there bold as day.
Re: Obligatory XKCD
Is it bad that I knew which one that was going to be before I even clicked the link? :o)
Apocalypse in 9/8
Rumour has it that when Phil Collins played the drums for the Genesis track "Apocalypse in 9/8" (part of Supper's Ready) he didn't know how to drum in 9/8 and just did it by feel. Later he learned how to play it properly and many feel it wasn't as good.
User accounts
Using your phone as a user token is an advance on previous generations of toilets like this that had their own UI and required you to identify yourself. Which brought a whole new meaning to the term "logging on".
Re: How things change
I've just looked at my CV to make sure I wasn't confused, and it was definitely during 1996 as I clearly remember which company I was working for at the time and I left there in November 1996.
However, it could have been only Orange-to-Orange SMS before the full integration that the article mentions. Most of us were on Orange there.
How things change
I remember being on Orange in around 1996 or 1997 and knowing that you could have SMS "turned on" for an extra £5 a month (may even have been £2.50 - I really can't remember) and nobody bothered with that as it seemed pointless. Then Orange changed it so you paid 10p for each message so naturally we all had a go as it was a laugh and suddenly everyone's phones were beeping all the time. That's when texting really took off.
Re: Orion...
Dammit. I came on here specifically to ask when they were going to build an Orion. :o)
Posted in Ten technology FAILS
Gizmondo
I was hired as a contractor to work with Gizmondo, and it really was a pile of shite. But then again, since the whole thing was allegedly just a front for syphoning off large sums of Venture Capital (allegedly) which included crashing a Ferrari Enzo (remember that?) then I don't think it really mattered.
Posted in Ten technology FAILS
Re: Secondlife Is still Alive.
Why so judgemental, Andrew Moore? People do all sorts of things and have all sorts of hobbies that they personally enjoy. They participate because it gives them enjoyment, not from some attempt to be "relevant".
For example, I simply can't get my head round football fans. I don't call them saddos though - why should it bother me what they do?
Likewise, many people still refer to people who have any interest in technology as "saddos" and "nerds". Which makes your comments all the more ironic.
Live and let live, and vive la difference, I say .
Re: WTF
Exactly correct. All you need is the phone number, the postcode, and you have to tick a checkbox confirming you are the account holder. Apparently this last thing is very important, according to BT, and makes it all ok. :o)
Posted in Ten four-bay NAS boxes
Re: HP Proliant Micrpserver
Yup. You can't argue at that price. Buy it for £120, stick in four drives, install FreeNas onto a memory stick (sited in the internal USB port) and away you go. I have the older N36L and have just bought the new N40L for another project.
One thing I would advise is to to stick some more memory in though as the ZFS file system is quite memory-hungry if you go for a RAID-Z configuration.
Re: House coffee
The other acceptable request is "Filter Coffee".
(Although you're as likely to get an Americano if they only have an espresso machine)
Re: 2k -> 10k credit card
Martin Lewis has always maintained that you should substitute the word "credit" for "debt", to really underline what it's all about.
That gives you such gems as
* 'Debt card'
* 'Interest-Free Debt'
* 'Debt Agreement'
* 'Instant Debt'
Re: Unfortunately
But, with any luck, he can hopefully be overruled.
Cautiously optimistic.
Put me down as one of the 'cautiously optimistic'. Disney have done a good job with Marvel since they aquired it and I think they stand a good chance of doing the same with Star Wars.
Posted in Bond fans: Test your 007 trivia, now!
Re: I gave up...
I confess that one was a complete guess for me. I happened to get it right, but not through any knowledge.
But I could have told you it was designed and flown by Ken Wallis though.
Re: EPSON HX-20
My dad bought one when they were new and I used it extensively, both portable and hooked up to a telly with the very expensive external TV modulator. And later a FDD unit.
As far as I know, it's still in a cupboard somewhere at my dad's as he rarely throws anything out.
Posted in Bond fans: Test your 007 trivia, now!
Very hard
I consider myself a huge bond fan and I got 28/50 and even then some were lucky guesses.
I mean, knowing the exact punctuation of the numberplate of the Goldfinger Aston? Blimey.
Still, thanks for posting the quiz up; it was fun.
Re: Surprised...
Would that not be the GRiD 1100 Compass which was "the world’s first clamshell computer and thus the template for the notebook computer"?
Posted in Halo 4 game review
I have a lot of affection for the original Halo: Combat Evolved because the unfolding story in the single player mode was pretty good.
However, I agree that it was heavily padded out in place. The endless waves of Flood in the Library spring to mind - a level that you think will never end. Likewise the unending progressions of identical rooms linked by corridors that you encounter later on (I forget when - it's been many years since I played it).
Oh, and the final dash in a Warthog though the Pillar of Autumn at the end was pure Sci-Fi Blockbuster, but not in a good way.
Overall though, it was a good story.
Posted in Halo 4 game review
Good review
Good, in depth review. A big step up from the usual superficial reviews we see on the Reg.
Re: It's not just Star Wars we need to worry about...
Monkey Island was always, um, "inspired" by Pirates of the Caribbean anyway though.
(Not forgetting that Pirates of the Caribbean goes back to 1967 as an attraction at Disneyland and has continued ever since, and the films were of the ride and not vice versa as many think)
Re: im excited by this
No idea why you got downvoted for that, Mike; you're bang on the money there.
Re: Three trilogies
The books are canon within the Expanded Universe, yes.
George Lucas has always maintained that the films and the Expanded Universe are separate canon though, which gives him a nice Joker for not having to respect the canon of the Expanded Universe.
Re: Hallowe'en
Totally with you on that; Dark Empire was really rather superb.
Cautiously optimistic.
I think this could be good news and I'm cautiously optimistic
Disney have already shown that they can nurture a franchise with their purchase of Marvel. "Avengers Assemble" was absolutely brilliant. And I for one really enjoyed "Tron: Legacy" as well.
They also have the potential to pull in some decent directors and writers. Let's face it, George Lucas isn't actually a very good director and he's not that good a writer either. His character development and dialogue in Episodes 1-3 was pretty dire. Especially the love story between Padame and Anakin.
Suffering from lag?
No offence, but BBC News got here 4+ hours before The Register and in more detail too.
I kind of expect El Reg to be first with Technology stories and in more technical detail. It's a pretty unfortunate state of affairs when they're several hours later and with less detail.
Re: Perfect embodiment of everything Apple.
It was this paragraph that suggested it, Doug:
"The design suggests this isn't really an ocean-going craft, since those hull windows would be a liability in very rough seas and the doors and windows of the superstructure aren't slanted but run at a 90 degree angle from the deck. This make the ship trickier to steer in high winds and much less resistant to wave damage."
Re: Perfect embodiment of everything Apple.
Yes, that was my immediate reaction too.
Sophie Marceau
Has to be The World Is Not Enough, simply for the gorgeous Sophie Marceau as the delightfully complex Elekra King and the solid performance of Robert Carlisle as Renard.
But it was hard to choose as I have so many favourites. Tim Dalton put in a very solid performance as the 'Bond of the Books' but was let down by poor scripts, and Daniel Craig has put in an equally good stab at it too.
I was lucky enough that my dad bought a white Lotus Esprit S3 not long after The Spy Who Loved Me came out. Being dropped off at school in James Bond's car was totally awesome. So that film has a special place for me too.
Re: OHMSS
Indeed. Much awesomeness with the Propellerheads track.
Re: "Nerd alert"
I had a pristine example too. My ex asked me to let her son have a go, and I said he would lose the rockets. She assured me he would not. With crushing inevitability, he immediately did. :o)
Indeed. The white Esprit that went underwater was a S1, which was Naturally Aspirated and produced way before the first Turbo.
Pretty sure the one they blew up in For Your Eyes Only was a Turbo though.
"Old Q"
The article would have been better had it referred to "Major Boothroyd" instead of "Old Q". For that was his name.
Posted in Borderlands 2 review
I rather think you are missing the point of the game if you think that.
It's not meant to be realistic; it's meant to be a laugh. And it is one - a brilliant one.
Posted in Borderlands 2 review
Yes, I agree. This is one of the most annoying aspects of the game - it's not something you can dip into and you have to be able to set aside time to play it.
Other than that it's brilliant though - really good fun and a good sense of humour too.
Posted in Borderlands 2 review
Re: They are screen shots
Although the game does use a cartoon style, the pics in the article are not screen shots - they're artists impressions. The look and feel is subtly different to the in-game shots like the ones I posted.
Posted in Borderlands 2 review
Re: Inventory fatigue
In B2 you can tag weapons in your inventory with a star to denote them as faves (ie. keep) or a red x (to denote junk). When you get to a vendor machine and select "sell" you can hit Delete to sell all items that have a red x next to them.
So that's an improvement over B1.
Re: Method of measuring could play a role
I agree. My father, bless him, doesn't even know what a browser is. To him it's "the internet".
I installed Firefox on his PC when I was working on it once, and afterwards he asked me what "that Mozzarella thing" I installed was. I said it was an alternative browser. He asked what a browser was, I said it was like Internet Explorer that he already used, and he told me he had no idea what I was talking about.
Posted in Borderlands 2 review
Pics
Here's two I made earlier, Chris.
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/31349295/pix/B2/2012-10-01_00007_e.jpg
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/31349295/pix/B2/2012-10-01_00008.jpg
Re: Please Stop it.
Every time I turn my telly on it says that new channels are available and do I want to retune the telly. I gave up saying 'yes' after a while. It's really annoying.
