Posts by StooMonster
268 posts • joined Friday 8th December 2006 09:55 GMT
Re: silly argument
Follow Vavle's @Steam_Games or look at the hash tag #SteamSales on Twitter and you'll be right up to date with new games' availability and also Steam Sales and discounts.
Re: Recruitment agencies also ask for scans of passports
RE: "UK birth certificate isn't necessarily proof of citizenship"
That's right, I have friends who are married where one is American and the other an EU citizen, their children were all born here in UK — and thus have British birth certificates — and grown up and gone to school here but they cannot get British passports.
So the kids have got dual citizenships of their parents homelands, but they always think it's a bit weird (you'd think they were British if you talked to them).
Best version of Word
Word 5.1a on Mac FTW, been downhill with every subsequent version.
Re: The other other reason
Seeing as you mention DirectX, on Windows 8 IE10 uses DX 11.1 for rendering. Which is why Microsoft had to port IE10 back for Windows 7. The reason being that for marketing purposes DX11.1 is not coming to Win7 and is Win8 exclusive.
So if instead they had "allowed" DX11.1 for Win7 they would've had an easier time making a version of IE10 work on this popular flavour of Windows.
Also might've encourage game developers to use DX11.1 features, which is plainly not happening ATM due to tiny markets share of Win8.
Re: Netflix for me
The BBC, Sky, etc say they have more than a quarter of their customers using GingerBread, so they cannot offer advanced features like HD streaming ... unless they want to cut off their service for a chunk of their customers.
(Last time I looked on Google Android analytics, couple of weeks ago, GingerBread was more than 50% of devices accessing Google Play in the prior two weeks.)
Of course they could develop different clients for different versions of Anroid, which is exactly the Android fragmentation issue in a nutshell.
Whereas their Apple iOS clients are shiny and packed with cutting edge features, such as programme downloads (so one can watch iPlayer on the train and not worry about tunnels).
Breaking Bad
For those who haven't tasted the delights of Mr White and his story, Netflix has the UK exclusive distribution of Breaking Bad at the moment.
High Definition
I signed up with Netflix because they had High Definition support, when LoveFilm were low resolution streaming only at them time. Do LoveFilm have better HD support these days?
Another thing, was easy to roll out Netflix around the house, just used those Apple TV things: plugged them into power and HDMI and done.
Coincidentally had a conversation the other day with friend, where I realised that most of our current household viewing is Netflix — rather than Sky or optical discs — and it's because (a) there's not much we fancy to record on Sky at the moment and (b) there's loads of series on Netflix that we kind-of-fancied in the past but never got round to watching but can now watch the entire things in HD (mostly).
Re: Don't have a Tv Licence... Love Netflix
Yep, I have friends and family who gave up on the TV license and just use streaming stuff over the internet on their living room TVs and DVD box-sets from LoveFilm.
They checked and are perfectly fine.
It's all about the long term strategy
Microsoft only make money with Windows and Office, everything else they do bleeds cash, and they know this isn't going to last forever. So what can they do? Copy Apple! Take a fee for every app / program sold on their OS, that's how.
So, they have developed Metro as the successor OS to Windows desktop, where commercial apps are only available from the Microsoft Store (Enterprise apps can be distributed directly, as per iOS) and a large proportion of the revenue goes to Microsoft.
Windows 8 is the first step in this direction with the addition of Metro to desktop, but as Windows Blue arrives and we get annual updates to the desktop OS with relentless promotion of Metro apps we will see depreciation of desktop by stealth (like we did the transition from DOS to Windows in the past). They've given up on backwards compatibility, as few care (those that do can run VMs) and it doesn't help the cash flow.
Windows RT was obviously perceived as a driver of Metro apps, but really it's the timing that is wrong. It may be DOA but it will be like a zombie and come back from the dead because eventually Metro will be the mainstream Windows OS and desktop will be as relevant as DOS is today.
Re: @Eadon - openness selling Android
Non-Geeks do not care about Android, Samsung know this. Regular people buy "Samsungs", not "Androids".
Which is why Samsung will be safe when they dump Android for their own Tizen OS, which is clearly their plan.
Re: Surface Pro will also fail
Before Android arriving as a desktop OS, there will be Valve's SteamBox which is a Linux OS dedicated to gaming.
SteamBox will be targeted at the PC gaming crowd, who are an important constituent of the Windows audience, and if Valve's gaming focused open OS succeeds -- they've got OEM lining up apparently -- it could be a significant step in destroying the hegemony of Windows on the desktop.
Voice of the balls
I wish we could change the voice in the UK, I don't want the male lottery voice talking to me, I want that American girl (even though I am a Brit).
Why can't we choose which voice Siri uses?
Actually, why can't we choose Siri's personality? I'd set mine to "Sarcastic"
Re: Great. More technology without content.
Like ITV here in UK they use 1440x1080 anamorphic, rather than 1920x1080, and also use low-bandwidth high-compression. Not good.
In UK I find one of the worst offenders to be the channel previous called FX but rebranding to Fox, sometimes they use such little bandwidth that there's no detail at all and it's like watching your programmes smeared with vacaline.
Re: The real competition isn't TVs
Also those 4K projectors out there now tend not to be native 4K, at least not the cheaper ones, they simulate 4K by offsetting pixels. There are real 4K physical pixel projectors, but they cannot accept a 4K signal as an input and only upscale 1080p to quad-HD.
If you want a real 4K projector you are still going to have to wait for one that has both 4K resolution (really, not pseudo) plus 4K over HDMI. But we should see them in 2013, same is true of 4K / quad-HD HDTVs as you'll have to watch out for early models that do not accept signal and only upscale 1080p.
For optimal viewing you'll also need a 4K source, but luckily the 4K format for Blu-ray is imminent (as is 4K support in HDMI).
Re: Called it
"UK court"
The most contemptuous part is referring to a UK court, when this was a court of "England & Wales"; there's a different legal system in Scotland (and I don't know where NI fits in).
Their lawyers would know this, so perhaps the repost was written by marketeers?
Feed The Scott Trust
Surely the rhyme for "Toynbee" in this case is "subsidy"?
Re: Innovation
Didn't Microsoft buy Kinect from an Israeli startup who'd been flogging it around? (IIRC but am happy to be corrected, didn't both Nintendo and Sony turn them down before Microsoft jumped in?)
Guess it depends on your definition of "innovation" fella.
Re: Secure boot would not last long at $199
No DRM has survived determined attention from hackers.
Isn't PlayStation 3 secure these days, after Sony's security wobble with Geohot?
Re: doubtful
The only problem I see is that MS don't make content but I could see them following Apple and demanding a 30% cut of everyone who has their content signed so it can be sold inside the walls.
Already happening, Windows RT is the first walled-garden version of Windows.
Specifically, with Windows RT the only source of software is the Microsoft Store. As per iOS, you cannot install software from anywhere else (until the device is jail-broken) and Microsoft runs the store on the same agency model as everyone else so get their 30% take of everyone's paid apps.
Posted in BBC mulls seizing the wheel of Local TV
Peartree Productions
Alan Partridge a-likes will be delighted, North Norfolk Digital of the television world abound.
Personally I am no fan of local television or radio or newspapers, meaningful or useful content is too thin on the ground IMO.
Re: 200Pb Drive
That's easy, it would take an eighth of the time the 200PB drive referred to in the article would take.
Re: Fixed it!
I don't use Facebook.
Re: cash cow
Android and Amazon are not "real competition" for iPad, but Microsoft Surface is?
At least these two offer cheaper alternatives if nothing else, what does Surface bring? The x86 version looks to me like an ultra book but with the mobo behind the screen rather than underneath the keyboard.
Re: BAU for MS then?
Oh, last I heard Office came with RT. If now you only get "Office Preview" then it looks like one will have to download Office Metro edition from the Microsoft Store.
I am sure that's a commercial decision, Office division could not have RT tablets cannibalising their margins.
Re: BAU for MS then?
They didn't announce the price and they didn't announce the battery life either.
Cynical El Reg readers may wonder why.
Also, RT includes Office pre-installed (i.e. "for free") whereas the Pro version does not and one has to purchase an Office licence in addition -- not a surprise but adds to the cost of "full version".
Re: Windows 9
> It may even be the case that both versions are locked down to an app store so people cannot install apps except via the store.
Windows RT is locked down this way, you can only buy software from the Microsoft Store on the ARM tablets.
Similarly you can only buy Metro apps from the Microsoft Store in the x86/64 Windows 8.
Only "classic desktop" allows running of program's not purchased from Microsoft Store.
It's all about the money, money, money
Metro apps (read programs) are only available from the Microsoft Store.
Microsoft take 30% of the revenue of third-party apps sold from the Microsoft Store, ergo they earn at least 30% of the revenue of all Metro apps.
That is why they will not allow you to turn off Metro, it is a revenue stream.
Had this on Windows 7 too
Ages ago I had exactly the same thing happen on Windows 7 64-bit and 32-bit editions too — two updates of .NET got into infinite update loops.
Wasted best part of a day trying to fix it myself and finally spent ages on phone to Microsoft Support — via MSDN subscription — and their conclusion in the end (after more than an hour on phone) was "Back up your data. Format drive. Re-install."
I was staggered that a 21st century 64-bit OS could be completely shagged by an update from its author, and require such radical fix.
OS X
Wish Apple would put the colour back in OS X too, it's all very grey these days.
Re: By the way...
A relative of an ATM machine, RAM memory, DOS system, etc.
What will kill CD for me...
...is easy access to and easy to use loss-less or loss-less compression codec downloads, without paying a premium price; the current mass-market solution of 'good enough' quality isn't good enough for my tastes.
Until that day CD it is, and ripping to whatever format takes my fancy.
Re: Anyone actually have Infinity
Few friends have got Infinity and really pleased with it.
I use Virgin 100Mb package and get a rock solid 10Mb upstream, but keenly waiting to see what the speed bump does.
As to direct download speeds, I downloaded Dota2 from Steam in three minutes a couple of weeks ago and Mass Effect 3 from Origin in about eight minutes last week. Streaming any HD video service is usually a dream but can occasionally have buffering problems in the early evenings.
Re: So what /should/ have been done?
I run two Windows 7 64-bit computers, and both of them have had the OS destroyed by Microsoft Updates. i.e. got into infinite loops that won't break and cannot be reversed. Both times called MSDN support and eventual 'official' problem resolution was format hard drive and reinstall OS.
What happens on a Windows 8 tablet when the OS gets shagged by Microsoft Updates, which is inevitable as far as I am concerned?
I can make Win7 64-bit BSoD on demand, if I uninstall AMD's CAP application support it always BSoD and the only way I can remove it to update to latest version is go through the Registry and do it manually -- I am not alone, there are plenty of people with same issue on support forums. There's also a couple of programs that BSoD Win7 when they crash too.
Re: As with many
I get a phone call at least once a month from BT trying to sell me Infinity, the latest went like this:
BT: "Hello, this is BT. I'd like to talk to you about our super fast broadband,"
Me: "Sorry but..."
BT: "We are offering broadband that is four times faster than any of our competitors."
Me: "Really? Four times faster than any of your competitors?"
BT: "Yes!"
Me: "I have Virgin Media's 100Mb service, so what I hear you saying is that you can provide me with a 400Mb connection. Wow."
BT: "You know I mean broadband over BT's phone lines, not anything else."
Me: "That is not what you said."
I've got friends in Narrow Street with BT Infinity, they're at the CW end, so it is available to some in the area.
Waiting for CS6, maybe
I'm still on CS3 suite, which (mostly) works without issue.
There's a few things I'd like in later versions, but it's just not worth the price of the upgrade to me (not my core business, but I do use it heavily every so often).
Definitely not going subscription route either, nor pay-as-you-go.
Guess I'll stick with CS3 until it stops working due to OS changes or Adobe have a more reasonable upgrade policy.
Re: How is this measured?
Apple are a publicly quoted company therefore have many laws to comply with in regards to publishing data such as this.
If they said they'd sold 3-million and they hadn't the shareholders could sue the management and the SEC would want to put them in jail.
Re: I don't trust those figures
I know several people with Apple TV and none of them are IT professionals; rather they are doctors, dentists, managers, musicians, and entrepreneurs ... ordinary ABs in demographics terms.
They don't have them flashed for XBMC, rather they use them for Netflix and renting movies from iTunes -- one thing they have in common is they hate BSkyB (or at least the fees).
Metro UI, why? It's the money money money
Why is Metro UI forced in Win8? For a similar reason it is the new interface on Xbox 360.
On 360 it's all about the advertising, and an additional revenue stream from all those Xbox gamers' eyeballs. It's the money.
On Win8 Metro programs can only be purchased from Microsoft's app store, and Microsoft take 30% of price. This doesn't affect "desktop" programs (yet), but certainly does affect tablets that are Metro only and those users who will buy things like 'Cut the Rope'. Again, it's the money.
I am amazed that El Reg readers aren't more vocal about Metro apps only being available from Microsoft's store.
Re: nonsense
You know that a lot of modern apartments / flats have only a microwave for heating stuff up, no oven and hob, there's no call for kitchens these days -- as dining rooms before them -- with particular demographics (young, urban, professionals) who eat out or buy ready meals.
My kids love an American tv show called 'The Middle' where the protagonist family use their cooker for bedding storage, as they eat take-away and warm popcorn in the microwave. I imagine there's plenty of households in the UK where cooker and hob are never turned on.
Similarly I already know people who've gone from desktop to laptop to netbook to iPad tablet exclusivity, not for me as I have proper work to do on workstation / desktop but I can see quite a lot of people going that way too.
Posted in Dumb salesmen are hurting us – Nokia CEO
It's all about the margins
Nokia might make more phones than anyone else, but with wafer thin margins it means their earnings (profits are tiny).
Apple have 6% market share but take 60% of profits of all handset manufacturers, whereas Nokia make 60% of handsets (not really, it's less) but take 6% of the profits of handset manufacturers (probably less, I don't have Nokia's figures to hand but you get the point).
Posted in Dumb salesmen are hurting us – Nokia CEO
In the wild
I saw a guy with a Nokia Windows Phone 7 -- Lumia 800? -- on the escalator in the tube once. Really, I did!
Do I win a prize?
Next Xmas
Raspberry Pi computer is going to be Xmas present 2012 to my (older) kids, nieces and nephews.
So long as production version is in full supply by Q4-12 then I'm OK with it, although will prolly order one for myself before then too.
But it's all about the margins
Windows laptops may sell many more units, but it's all commoditised low margin stuff.
Apple own the market in laptops costing more than $1000, with more than 70% share.
Which is why for their < 10% market share by volume of laptops they take > 90% of the profits.
This is highly likely to be the same outcome with tablets.
That sounds expensive. What's Google's IRR on that?
Let's take one step back. Why does the Google corporation make Android?
Is it defensive, to protect their slice of the mobile advertising space? Or is it aggressive, to create a new market for their advertising products and to monetize their users' data?
It certainly isn't out of the goodness of their charitable hearts, they are a quoted company who needs to create shareholder value and are not some foundation of goodliness and open source holiness. Google is a business like any other.
Apple, for their sins, can easily measure the advertising and marketing spend versus number of hardware units sold; it wouldn't be quite so easy for Google to see where advertising spend on promoting an Android platform would get them, and thus what return on investment they would achieve.
Microsoft, were they advertising Windows much before the PC-vs-Mac adverts Apple ran? Has running Windows 7 "I'm a PC" adverts helped them? Even considering they are also relying on each manufacturer to do the job too.
Posted in Psst, kid... Wanna learn how to hack?
Wants
So want one of these, not only for me to relive the days of schoolboy hacking but definately getting them for my kids, nieces and nephews too.
HDCP strippers
There have been HDCP strippers around for years that take HDMI and convert HDCP laden content to analogue, DVI, or even HDMI with no HDCP.
HD Fury is a popular brand.
Posted in Apple shouldn't bother with TV...
Can only agree.
In my household we time-shift everything, even "live" shows on commercial channels are started watching at later times so the adverts can be skipped and catch-up with live for last segment.
I assumed everyone was the same as us -- PVR been around for ages and VCR long before that -- until I recently saw the figures for people watching live broadcasts instead of time-shift, box-sets, iPlayer, etc. and discovered that is the vast majority and I am tiny minority.
Posted in Amazon's Kindle Fire is sold at a loss
I did miss that, thanks for the link chaps, but I have to say there's a difference between accepting that it will be rooted and encouraging it. ;)
Posted in Amazon's Kindle Fire is sold at a loss
Depends what you mean by "most"
Sony and Microsoft do indeed sell their console hardware at a loss for six months (or a year) or more.
Nintendo do not, they make margin on their hardware from day one.
Nintendo have sold "most" games console hardware (if you include handhelds), so most consoles are sold making profits on the hardware.
