Posts by AbortRetryFail
160 posts • joined Wednesday 2nd February 2011 16:48 GMT
Whilst it is within the manager's right to refuse entry, there's a right way and a wrong way to do it.
Publicly humiliating customers mid-meal, whilst no doubt personally satisfying, isn't really a good PR move. Quietly telling them at the end of their meal that they are no longer welcome at the establishment in future would have been a better way of doing it.
Re: Not this "pin everything to the taskbar" argument again
I'm the same. But I also enabled WinXP's Quick Launch bar because that happens to work for me. Many people don't realise that Win7 still has it, but disabled.
I have to use WinXP at work and I choose to run Win7-64 at home, and I have to say I miss an awful lot of Win7's features when at work.
Posted in Valve reiterates games hardware gambit
Re: What is lacking in the controller space
You mean something like the 3Dconnexion SpaceNavigator, Clive?
Posted in Valve reiterates games hardware gambit
If there's any cake to be had
Indeed. The cake could quite possibly be a lie.
TrueCrypt
The thing I simply cannot get my head around is that we have military-grade encryption available to us all, for free, cross-platform and easy to use.
All data that goes out of my house - whether it be USB memory stick, portable HDD or laptop - is encrypted, the latter with whole volume encryption. I use TrueCrypt but there are others too.
So why do we keep hearing of these serious data breaches again and again? It's like hearing that some companies keeps getting burgled again and again because they are in the habit of leaving their front door open every night and don't employ a security guard.
Posted in Ten movies inspired by video games
Re: Old RPGs
We need a film of The Dig.
Considering it was originally going to be a film and was instead made into a video game, that would be do-able.
Not entirely sure Day of the Tentacle would work as a film, but I have very fond memories of playing it. Brilliant game.
Re: Pump and Dump ladies and gentlemen
Yup. I've been saying the same from the outset.
Posted in Ten movies inspired by video games
Re: Doom is awesome
Indeed. I quite liked the Doom film.
I mean, sure, it was no Citizen Kane. But for what it was I thought it did pretty well at it.
What a remarkable man. I confess I had not heard of him but it seems we owe him a debt of thanks.
Why is it taking so long
A hybrid solution has been the obvious choice for years now, ever since SDDs started hitting the market, so I'm confused as to why it has taken so long. I would have predicted that pretty much all HDDs would be hybrid by now but clearly they aren't.
(Don't flame me - I really am genuinely confused as to why they aren't more prevalent. Is it price?)
Second Life
I know a lot of Second Life residents had a Facebook account for their avatar as an extension to their Second Life presence. Linden Lab even semi-encouraged it inasmuch as you can link your Second Life profile to a Facebook account.
Apparently Facebook had a massive cull on this last year and removed thousands of such accounts.
I also have friends who have an 'online persona' type Facebook account that they are less picky about who friends along with a 'proper' account that only actual friends are invited to.
So, as others have said, alt accounts are more prevalent than Facebook think.
police robots
Step away from the cash machine. You have 20 seconds to comply.
Just ordered
Well, I've just taken a punt on four of the 2TB drives to go in my FreeNAS box (HP Microserver FTW!) and it'll be interesting to see how they work out.
Novatech aren't yet stocking them so I bought from Dabs.
Posted in USB charges up to 100 watts
Re: Standards
I didn't even need to open that to know which XKCD skit it was. :o)
Posted in Darth Vader is a pansy
t-shirt
That is possibly the most awesomest t-shirt ever created by man. In fact I might change my name to Cunty McFuckoff. :o)
Yes, indeed. But the point I think Gary was making is that it was originally called XBox Media Center and was originally for the XBox. You're quite right that the only way of running it on an actual XBox now is to use the xbmc4xbox fork though. In fact I did just that only last year for a bit of amusement and even got it outputting in HD. Then, once I actually had it running fine, I lost interest and never used it. D'Oh! :o)
XBox Media Center
I was thinking much the same thing, but you beat me to it. :o)
WTF?
Wait... the passwords were being stored *unencrypted* and *unsalted*, in PLAIN TEXT?
Seriously? Anyone who does this should be taken outside and shot. Repeatedly. Then a few more times to make sure.
If they do what they purport to and the street price comes out competitively, then I'd be very interested in these.
I currently have 4 pretty old WD Caviars at 500Gb capacity in my NAS and am looking to upgrade them.
A rose by any other name...?
I've said this before on another thread, but I've always thought that the name 'Maemo' was kind of a cool name, but the name 'Meego' had a whiff of the naff about it.
Plan B
I think Nokia's Plan B is to release a series of critically-acclaimed Hip hop / acoustic / soul / rap songs and... oh, wait. Sorry. Got confused there.
Lagging behind
The comment claiming that everyone else "lags some months behind El Reg" on reporting news did make me smile in the light of the fact that The Register was 24 hours behind everyone else on the "Hitchhiker shot while researching 'Kindness of America'" story and a full week behind everyone else on reporting on the sale of MoneySavingExpert.com, and these are by no means isolated incidents.
I'm not saying that you (the author) don't have your finger on the pulse and I'm not knocking the Reg, but it does seem to lag a day or two behind the mainstream media on mainstream tech stories.
Opt in vs Opt out
Yet again Facebook demonstrates it doesn't understand the concept of 'Opt in'
Yesterday's news today
I'm sure I read this on the Telegraph website yesterday.
It's by no means the first time the Reg has played catch-up although it's better than the 6 days it took to report on the sale of MoneySavingExpert.com
Posted in Volkswagen Up!
Dab of Oppo
"The Volkswagen Up! is a b*tch and I spanked it"
~~ Troy Queef, Executive Associate Editor-At-Large for DAB OF OPPO magazine
Re: Breaking News from June the 1st.
I was thinking much the same - that I'd read this in the national Press last week.
@AC 09:02
Ok, that's a fair point. I guess trading is a lot more fast-paced than online banking.
Clearly he didn't take enough care of his computer's security, but also Spreadex allowed an authenticated session to persist for too long. The article suggests he left his machine at his girlfriend's and it was accessed in his absence. The logged-in session should have been dropped by Spreadex, surely?
I think both parties are guilty of lax security really.
@mark1978
Indeed. For example, Lloyds TSB's online banking requires you to enter your password again to confirm any transaction that debits your account. It's a pest but a good safeguard against exactly this sort of thing.
Re: Very sad
I agree. I've been with Pipex since the mid 90's and each time they get bought out they get progressively worse. It's getting to the stage now that I'm seriously considering moving.
It's a damn shame because, as you say, they were originally one of the very best.
Huh?
Never mind six tenths of a kilometre... what's that in mega-linguine?
Re: one problem
Totally agree. The Fn key being in the bottom left is a major issue for me.
I'm told you can swap their functionality on software, but unless you can physically swap the keys themselves too then it's still a show-stopper.
Yes, I know it doesn't sound like a compelling reason not to purchase but it is for me personally.
Posted in Basic instinct: how we used to code
Re: TRS-80 Model 1
Also, I don't understand why someone down-voted me for such a non-controversial and matter-of-fact post.
Posted in Basic instinct: how we used to code
Re: TRS-80 Model 1
No, it was definitely a Model II. One large 8" floppy vertically to the right of the screen.
He also had the expansion box that had a further three 8" floppies arranged vertically and then later on a HDD.
VLC
Presumably VLC will still run just fine on Windows 8 and still continue to provide support for pretty much every audio and video format out there including playing DVDs?
HTC Desire Z
My current phone is an HTC Desire Z which I chose specifically because of its slide-out keyboard.
Yes, it does add enormously to the weight and bulk of the device but I like it.
(Incidentally I've not had any problems or bugginess with mine)
Posted in Ten... two-bay Nas boxes
Re: I went down the DIY route
Same here only running 4 x 500Gb drives I already owned and FreeNAS 8.
Worked out around £110 with the cashback when I bought mine. It really is the way to go.
Posted in Basic instinct: how we used to code
TRS-80 Model 1
Not just for engineer dads. Mine was a doctor who was fascinated by technology and bought one.
Then, later, a Model II for running his research and patient records.
It was my introduction to computing (at the tender age of 6) and set me on the path to where I am today - a professional programmer / Software Engineer.
@ Dazzza (Re: It was obvious)
As Dazzza says, the media do have a habit of creating self-fulfilling prophesies. I'm in no doubt that people wouldn't have been queuing down the road to buy petrol if the media hadn't been screaming "DON'T PANIC! DON'T PANIC! Petrol is running low because people are starting to queue"
I couldn't help but detect a note of glee in the BBC "breaking news" report today that we are (finally) officially in 'Double Dip Recession' so they could start peddling their doom and gloom again.
Having said that, whilst I agree with you that we want some optimism from the media, there is a fine line between optimism and propaganda.
Posted in Tin can communication set to return
Fnarr
Trump edition. Snigger smirk etc. :o)
(yes, yes, I need to grow up and stop finding the name 'Trump' amusing)
I think it's an interesting and laudable idea, but as others have already said, it could fall foul of Google.
I think it might still have some legs with DropBox though.
Putting the boot in
On the whole a good article, only let down by the fact that Lewis just couldn't resist grinding his axe about the Eurofighter again and getting in a few customary digs against the RAF.
What they're doing is what students have been doing for time immemorial - cribbing other peoples' stuff and trying to change it sufficiently so that you get away with it.
Posted in Leisure Suit Larry set for second coming
Monkey Island remakes
It's probably me, but I was a little disappointed with the Monkey Island remakes. They looked gorgeous, and the humour was still there, but I found them rather tedious after becoming accustomed to games such as Fallout3 and Skyrim, inasmuch as most of the tasks in Monkey Island felt like the dreaded 'fetch quests' that blight RPGs.
Having said that, I have a lot of affection for Larry Laffer so who knows? But I can't help thinking that the Adventure Game genre has had its day and people demand more these days.
