* Posts by Gary Riches

107 publicly visible posts • joined 21 Jun 2007

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Hey, iPhone 6 fanbois: Apple's bonk to 'Pay' app IS GO

Gary Riches

Re: POS upgrades?

No new hardware. The CIO of McDonalds has said: "Customers can already use the terminals to pay with Google Wallet, MasterCard's PayPass, Visa payWave and other contactless payment systems. The existing hardware and software will now support Apple Pay."

So it looks like it's just a software upgrade if anything.

Gary Riches

Re: I'm baffled...

Don't forget that, as far as I'm aware, the US doesn't have chip and pin, so it's miles above what they have over there.

As for in England, it will stop a waiter or bar staff skimming your card. If you lose your phone as opposed to your wallet and don't realise immediately, it will stop any dishonest people who find it using contactless payment to buy booze and fags or whatever they fancy that's less than £20.

Also, you just remote wipe your phone and you don't need to apply for new cards.

Other than that it's no improvement.

Gary Riches

Re: Sounds bloody insecure

If you haven't read about, which is fair enough, then what are you basing your security statement on? There is little to no information in the article explaining the process to be able to judge the security.

If you have read about it else where you you'd know that the credit card number is not sent when a payment is made, instead a 1 time use token is instead. This means that a retailer will never see your card number or CCV. The card information is stored in the same place as fingerprints, which has yet to be "broken in to". It's also backed up with fingerprint authorisation which will stop someone shoulder surfing then stealing your phone.

So what elements of that sound "bloody insecure"?

FBI: We found US MILITARY AIRCRAFT INTEL during raid on alleged Chinese hacker

Gary Riches

Re: I am amazed

Did you not read the article where the hackers said it was harder than expected to hack in? I'm guessing not.

Women are too expensive to draw and code – Ubisoft

Gary Riches

Re: Understandable I guess

"Text to voice is more than good enough for most games" - What the absolute, fucking fuck?

LG G3 fights off screen-res war rival Samsung with quad-HD cutie: In pictures

Gary Riches

Re: Selfie Mode Picture

The image would be mirrored and therefore be showing the person holding up their right hand.

MacBook Air 13-inch: If you squint hard enough, you'll see a lesser-spotted Apple Price Cut

Gary Riches

Re: Bah!

Stevie, could you post a link of such a laptop here please? I'm not saying one does't exist, but I've never seen one. The same specs at half the price would be an exceptional machine.

Gary Riches

I don't see the Air ever getting a Retina display. Side by side, my 15 inch retina MacBook Pro is as thick as the thickest part of the Air.

If they put a retina display on the Air the thin edge will have to become thicker to accommodate batteries at which point you are left with an underpowered MacBook Pro.

How to catch a fraudster – using 'top cop' Benford and the power of maths

Gary Riches

This is amazing!

I just ran it on my bank account outbound transactions using this guide: http://www.theiia.org/intAuditor/media/files/Step-by-step_Instructions_for_Using_Benford's_Law[1].pdf

Here is the resulting chart: http://www.bouncingball.mobi/apps/files/benford.png

Knowing this, I will conduct my fraud much more efficiently in the future.

Behold! World's smallest 3D-printer pen Lix artists into shape – literally

Gary Riches

Re: Solution in search of a problem

The concept isn't new. A slightly bulkier, also Kickstarter funded version, can be bought from Maplin.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/3doodler-3d-printing-pen-n00ds

Facebook swallows Oculus VR goggle-geeks. Did that really happen?

Gary Riches

Can you explain why that is? It's a pretty string opinion you have, which is fair enough, but where has it come from?

Gary Riches

Re: Have you all seen....

Second this. Great bit of kit. I've backed it and will use it along side Oculus Rift for different development scenarios.

Gary Riches

I've been working on and off on paid Oculus Rift prototypes for companies for around 6 months now. None of them have been for games, all of them have been for "experiences". I have never really seen the Rift as gaming hardware.

The technology hasn't just changed over night, it's still the same hardware. The same things will be able to be created.

People need to try and apply some common sense. 3D Facebook? Of course not. Rift Facebook Games? No.

The Rift takes a while to set up, get on and it messy with all the cables. It's not something you'll want to put on just to play a 3 minute game.

Getting good content is hard, it either requires good 3D guys or expensive stereo 360 cameras. Facebook can help make this happen. Virtual museum tours (something I had worked on) will now be much more plausible, as will the other experiences Zuck mentions.

Blinking good: LG launches smart light bulb for Android/iOS

Gary Riches

I have a set up in my house using MiLight. They work out quite a bit cheaper per bulb and are 9W RGB+W bulbs. You can also get strip LEDS too.

Everybody Loves Rayman: Legends dethrones Mario

Gary Riches

Re: ...a trick that actually owes much to God of War.

Funny, there was me thinking that Robotron used the left stick to move and the right stick to aim...

The article, which you should read, says "the left stick is used for movement and aiming, and the right for evasive manoeuvres."

Review: Dell XPS 12 Windows 8 tablet-cum-Ultrabook

Gary Riches

Re: The lack of Ethernet is a killer

Not sure if you're talking about the Air or this Dell machine, but there is a gigabit ethernet adaptor for the Macbook line, but it has to have the new Thunderbolt port.

Half of all app store revenue goes to just 25 developers

Gary Riches

It was a bit of both, but mainly contract work for others

Samsung Google Nexus 10 tablet review

Gary Riches

Re: Why not just buy a laptop??

Because you look like a tit watching films on your laptop on the train. The review says this is an excellent media consumption device... By your reasoning why buy laptop? You could buy a full on desktop for the same price... A laptop doesn't always fit the same use cases as a tablet.

Gary Riches

Re: 80% for the best 10" tablet on the market?

* It has a better screen than the iPad 4 - But few apps to take use of it

* It has more RAM than the iPad 4 - But few apps to take use of it

* It has a faster CPU than the iPad 4 - But few apps to take use of it

* It has a faster GPU than the iPad 4 - But few apps to take use of it

* It can handle mulitple "official" stores e.g. Amazon + Play and no doubt others (iPad 4 can't) - But few apps on those stores that are of any quality

* It can run emulators from official stores (iPad 4 can't) - Yes, it can also run malware from the official stores

If I buy an Android tablet it will be this one, it's the best by a long long way from what I can see, but until there is a good amount of quality Android tablet apps it will just remain a test device.

Apple iPad Mini 8in tablet review

Gary Riches

Re: Sheltered Life

The Nexus 7 not buggy?

The first time I ever turned it on it displayed in text: "show low low battery warning" and the back case was not fully attached to the front.

Specs are nice, software and build, on mine at least, is garbage.

Gary Riches

Re: Sheltered Life

Have you used the iPad Mini yet? I work with phones and tablets all day long and the iPad Mini beats the hell out of the smaller tablets when viewed as a whole.

Cheap Android tablets feel like shit. They use thin, horrible plastic, they are slow and they are buggy.

If you are only basing on price alone, then yeah, the iPad Mini gets beaten, but if you add up the device features as a whole it's worth every penny.

I only got mine as a test device but my wife has been on it all weekend and will be getting her own in a couple of weeks.

RIM opens BlackBerry 10 marketplace for submissions

Gary Riches

Re: @Gary

Category has been 5 games and 1 photo changing app. Price has been 69p.

My next game, the one I gave prices for above, will be £1.49 and is for iPad only.

Gary Riches

Re: @Gary

This app isn't out yet. Not billing in my time the apps have given paid out about 3 times what they cost to produce. Whilst that isn't enough to live on they have also got me jobs, one of them being a 2 year contract with a day rate so their return in that respect has been awesome.

Gary Riches

If I was to work on my current contract which is billed hourly rather than writing the game I would be getting £50 per hour (which is only slightly above average for any iOS contract work) so the economics are exactly as I said. I chose not to work every single hour I have as I like to have a life... and sadly with that life I program for fun and for free :(

If you spend enough time and effort on an app for iOS and do your marketing you will also be on the front page of the app store in New & Noteworthy. I've released 6 apps from my company and 2 of them have been on New & Noteworthy... Hopefully my next one will too.

Gary Riches

Re: @ Gary Riches

Fair enough then. I'll have another. How much can it hurt ? :)

Gary Riches

Honestly, it's just not worth it for me. Figures are based on my last app and are by no means representative, I'm just explaining from my situation.

Design: £700

Sounds: £80

Music: £300

Supporting hardware: £100

Marketing and promotional materials: £1,100

My time (I don't normally factor in my time but technically it's time not spent doing other work):

240 hours x £50: £12,000

So £2,280 without factoring in my time or £14,280 factoring in my time.

This was for iOS so dev time was much faster than it would be on a new system and even on iOS I'm not guaranteed to make $1,000. The promise of $10,000 from RIM is not enticing at all.

Samsung says 'yes' to iPhone 5-sized Galaxy S III

Gary Riches

Whilst the phone is not for me I do think it's a lovely phone, but was far too large. This should be an excellent device all round now

Sony Vaio T13 Ultrabook review

Gary Riches

Jeez, that looks ugly and why bother even making it with that resolution.

Who queues for an iPhone 5? Protesters, hipsters and the jobless

Gary Riches

I'm happily married, have an awesome daughter, a nice house and a fast car. That's excitement enough for me. There is beer, there's good food... There's all sorts.

Gary Riches

Re: MUMMY'S ALLOWANCE

When I queued there were 4 other contractors who all earned about 90k a year. Hardly an allowance from mother.

Gary Riches

There is a good sense of camaraderie in the lines. Everyone looks out for everyone else... except the pissed Russians that just threaten to kill everyone.

I've queued out twice to promote apps I've made and I'm not going to lie, the experience was brilliant.

Apple's first batch of iPhone 5 preorders sold out in an hour

Gary Riches

Re: I just don't get it

As stated, you just don't get it. The people at the front of the queue get lots and lots of publicity for a cause or product or app they are releasing. The people a bit further back still get publicity for their products, and the rest are there for the Chinese scalpers. You can get a hundred quid mark up on the phone for queueing, get 2 and that's a tidy £200 for wasting your time. It's the people at the very back that are the ones waiting for the phones.

To be fair I feel my time is worth more than that but I've queued for publicity and got my app mentioned in the Evening Standard and on Sky News. I couldn't buy that kind of press so waiting a few hours for it is worth while.

Gary Riches

Re: Every time

I assume you mean by "lightening to USB" you mean the lightening to micro USB adaptor? It's 18€ not 30€... But obviously it doesn't look as bad if you use actual figures rather than made up ones.

You're complaining because Apple, a business, created their (admittedly closed) ecosystem to maximise profits?!? Has anyone informed the papers of this breaking news? Corporations trying to earn money?!

Apple time is now world time

Gary Riches

That's all good and all... Except we're on BST... Hopefully no one is relying on The Register to work out the timezones for them.

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 Android tablet review

Gary Riches

Man, you'll be so disappointed. I used this the other day. The whole back of the devices flexes like a margarine lid and the split screen apps run poorly. I find it odd neither was mentioned.It's fine to want to get rid of the iPad but you can do much better than this. I know everything is made in China but this FEELS like it was made in China.

Hipstamatic axes most of staff to focus on art, creativity

Gary Riches
WTF?

Re: Heh

Of course they do you bell end. Not everyone is a free loading little prick.

Can YOU crack the Gauss uber-virus encryption?

Gary Riches
Stop

Re: Textbook clueless agent

Never use "brown trousers" and "gaping crack" in the same sentence every again you hear?

XBMC media player now running on Android, Nexus Q

Gary Riches
Happy

"originally designed for home theater PCs" - Funny, I though Xbox Media Center was originally designed for Xbox... The clue is in the name really

Security fail for Apple as hacker cracks iOS in-app purchasing

Gary Riches

They're not fully hacked. If you validade your IAP receipts (as you should) then this hack won't work.

Apple 15in MacBook Pro with Retina Display

Gary Riches
FAIL

Re: Surely some mistake, the Samsung Q30 was the first Ultrabook ;)

Oh my fucking eyes! I just googled that POS. First ultra book?! Get real, that's a Fisherprice toy.

GiffGaff in data spaff, goodybag gaffe: ICO says its 'avin a laff

Gary Riches

My "bribes" get paid to charity by the giffgaff... hardly nefarious.

Apple's online store goes offline

Gary Riches

Re: Or Maybe.....

Yeah, when Apple anniunce things like his they're normally available within a few hours, so this way it stops some of the complaints I would imagine.

Zombies, Run!

Gary Riches
Go

I love this idea, it's very original and, with the exception of the rough edges, seems very well executed.

Adobe sucks on Oracle brain drain for HTML5 game gain

Gary Riches
FAIL

WTF?

"Adobe is revisiting ActionScript, which has gone virtually unchanged since its introduction in 2006" and "ActionScript is up against its ECMAScript cousin, HTML5"

Did you actually understand what you were writing about?

I'm not normally one to bitch and moan, and I don't even like Flash but this article is utter bollocks.

Rovio flies away from Angry Birds for all-new puzzler

Gary Riches

Re: Angry Birds was Rovio's first own app

Just noticed you wrote "inferior" which makes my other post a bit redundant, sorry.

Gary Riches

Re: Angry Birds was Rovio's first own app

I quite happily make a living making apps for other people. A good going rate is about £110k a year on contract in London. It's hardly paltry. Compared to my personal apps, the best of which has only pulled in £3k over 7 months, and my figures are the reverse of yours.

Apple TV third-generation (2012)

Gary Riches

I buy all my content digitally rather than getting discs so iTunes is a good place for me, my friend acquires his films in a rather more dubious fashion so has installed XBMC on his and it works a treat.

The thing I mainly use it for is streaming music to the good speakers in the house.

When having a party leaving an iPad hooked up to your remote iTunes library is brilliant as people can pick it up and change the house wide music in an instant.

iPad > iTunes Library on computer > All airplay devices in the house > win

The iPad 3 would make me so horny...

Gary Riches

Re: new retina screen makes my existing content look worse

I don't quite get how but it does look worse. Look at a non retina app on the iPhone retina display it also looks worse.

It doesn't seem logical to me as 4 pixels should look the same as 1 pixel but it doesn't work out that way.

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