* Posts by Rob Haswell

103 publicly visible posts • joined 4 Jul 2007

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Tesla vs Media again as Model S craps out on journo - on the highway

Rob Haswell

Srs?

Does anyone still seriously consider an EV to be a primary vehicle? The electric car will be a luxury 2nd car for the environmentally conscious (hah don't start) well-heeled individual for a good long while.

Personally, I want one. But only for CONSTANT TORQUE from 0-100. Woosh!

Logitech slashes 450 jobs

Rob Haswell

Victim of their own success

I've been a Logitech users since I was wee and I own a large array of their products. The problem is, with the exception of a keyboard I drowned, they're all working perfectly - even the ones with built in batteries. I don't need to buy any replacements because the number of machines I own is reasonably static.

The comment on boutique pricing is absolutely relevant as well. They are very expensive products but then all peripherals are. I can buy a phone like a mini computer for the price of a what is essentially a handheld tracking laser. However their newer products like the DiNovo Mini, which I could find a use for, are priced out of what I'll pay for them.

Man vanquishes robot cop in hand-to-hand combat

Rob Haswell

What, no pictures?

Didn't happen.

Dixons stores knock £150 off RIM PlayBook

Rob Haswell
Thumb Down

I love my Blackberry, and tried to grab a Touchpad for £100 (had a Pre 2 at the time), but I think £250 is too high for what is essentially just a toy. I'd probably splash £150 on one. But until someone can show me a genuine use for these devices, I'll never buy one at netbook prices.

Belkin Conserve

Rob Haswell
FAIL

Haha I'm pretty sure the current that thing draws maintaining a microwave receiver will dwarf the standby mode of modern devices. The only think I think this would be useful for is amplifiers which keep their transformers charged.

British warming to NUKES after Fukushima meltdown

Rob Haswell

Gender gap? Simples - because Xboxes need power to live.

Button brushes off 'car accident' website defacement to claim GP win

Rob Haswell

Nope

Button was called into the pits but elected to stay out as he thought the track conditions were improving.

Rob Haswell

Please don't headline GP spoilers

El reg, I often watch GPs the day after due to weekend commitments and I do a pretty good job of avoiding the result. However The Register is not on my list of sites to avoid and I don't really want to add it. I would appreciate it if you don't post GP results on your front page. Thanks!

Jabra Stone 2 Bluetooth headset

Rob Haswell

When is that applicable though

How often would you be wearing a headset in a situation where your appearance is an issue? I use mine in the office and in the car, neither of which are fashion shows. If I'm about town I just use my phone like everybody else. No-one's going to see you looking like a comfortable goon.

Rob Haswell

Not quite a plantronics though

For 50 knicker you can get a Plantronics Voyager Pro+ which destroys this in comfort and clarity

Your PC, our problem

Rob Haswell

Black slab?

I love my black slab and I paid through the nose for it. Functional is beautiful.

Lenovo shows ThinkPad X1 ahead of time

Rob Haswell
WTF?

Fn key

Mate I use my function key all the time - for changing brightness, hibernating and activating the light. I'd be seriously pissed if they added loads of unnecessary keys for this stuff. I'd be surprised if everyone hates function keys as much as you.

Top tip for all us ThinkPad users on the ctrl key - rebind caps lock as control (http://johnhaller.com/jh/useful_stuff/disable_caps_lock/). It makes so much sense in every way, also it removes the risk of accidentally hitting caps lock all the time!

Alternatively get ctrl by crooking your thumb.

Rob Haswell
FAIL

No video link?

You say the ad is terrible but I would have liked to be able to work that out for myself.

Official: PS3 has more fanboys than the Xbox 360 does

Rob Haswell
WTF?

Amazing

Out of all of my mates, dozens of them own Xbox 360s yet I'm only one of two people that has a PS3. I'm so surprised that the PS3 does so well, even outside of Japan, considering the 360's near total dominance amongst my circle of friends. What about other parts in the UK - has had a different experience?

W**k-O-Meter

Rob Haswell

April fool?

If so it's quite elaborate as there are comments on https://market.android.com/details?id=me.mga.parquimetro from a few days ago

PS3, Xbox 360 pass water on Wii

Rob Haswell
WTF?

Thanks

Thanks for that - I was going to say more or less the same thing, but you've saved me the bother.

On a different note, I'm still really surprised that the PS3 is leading the Xbox 360 in sales and share. I have a lot of computer gaming friends and while almost everyone I know has an Xbox, almost no-one has a PS3. I'd say Xboxes outnumber PS3s 10:1 in all my circles of friends, which are quite varied. My Xbox also saw about 10 times more use than the PlayStation, until GT5 came out.

Is this an EU/US thing? Are there bajillions of PS3 sales in Asia or something? I'd be very interested to see those figures broken down by market - and presented properly.

Toshiba intros laptop that CHANGES COLOUR

Rob Haswell
WTF?

So it's just pearlescent?

Yawn. Why have they used nanotechnology to achieve what car manufacturers have been doing for years? I mean, if some bearded men in a shed in Blackpool could do this in a decade ago, you have to wonder why they're bigging this up.

Are disk drives beginning to spin down?

Rob Haswell

Erm...

Lol short answer - no. Flash is too small and cloud is too slow. Next question?

Thunderstorms found to squirt antimatter into space

Rob Haswell
Thumb Up

Production values

That was, without a shadow of a doubt, the most well-produced NASA video I've ever seen. Also I think more informative than usual.

Twitter slips ads into user tweet streams

Rob Haswell
Unhappy

Too far?

I've seen some pretty big backlash over promoted trends so far, but trends and suggested accounts are only small parts of Twitter. To pollute people's timelines seems a step too far, especially this early. What would you say if Adwords started appearing in between search results?

Next Palm to drop physical keyboard, says mole

Rob Haswell
FAIL

Disasterous

I'm pretty sure the reason why all four of us bought a Pre was because of the physical keyboard. Bottom line is if you can do without one, buy an iPhone. They are just better.

This does not bode well for the future of Palm.

Virgin Media introduces P2P throttling

Rob Haswell

Also IPv6

I also heard on some forums that Virgin will be offering IPv6 to customers later in the year, have you heard anything about this?

Apple goes social with musical Ping

Rob Haswell

Social network for music

Isn't that more like, erm, Last.fm?

Virgin to offer 100Mb/s broadband by year's end

Rob Haswell
Go

I don't even nearly need it

But I wanna be the first to have it

MS spins IE security disaster into Windows 7 upgrade opportunity

Rob Haswell
Thumb Up

I don't mind

Any dirty tricks Microsoft wants to get more installations of IE6 off the streets are fine by me. As a web developer, I don't care if they want to blow up a busload of kittens as long as they convince people and companies to just get rid of it.

Googlephone Nexus One leaks more news

Rob Haswell

Me, three times

Er, I replaced the batteries in my SPV C500, Treo 650 and more recently my Pre - each for higher capacity units. The one I got for the 650 was amazing. So I think it's quite a good feature, actually.

Palm Pixi out next month

Rob Haswell

@Ian Ferguson

They are a con. UK consumers just aren't stupid enough to stand for it. You'd be amazed at some of the scams that are commonplace in the US. A relevant example, US consumers pay to *receive* both calls and text messages on their mobiles.

O2 confirms UK Pré launch date

Rob Haswell
WTF?

Oh my god!

Those tariffs are literally an order of magnitude worse than my deal with Orange.

Palm getting heavy over non-O2 Pré sales?

Rob Haswell

@Daniel

You mean apart from the way it lit up the mobile market when it was announced at the top of the year?

Sim-free Palm Pré pre-orders tip up in UK

Rob Haswell

Hoping for unlocked retail

My contract with Orange is absolutely killer and I'm dreading the prospect of having to jump ship to o2. I've been working my way to coming to terms with the idea, but this is a small ray of hope for me. Even if these people do look like cowboys.

Virgin cops to bad routing

Rob Haswell

Not all Leeds

I've had no problems in Leeds throughout the day.

Palm introduces Pré junior

Rob Haswell
Flame

What about us?

I can't believe the yanks get a new slim-Pre before we even get the first one. I'm quite upset with Palm over how they're ignoring their massive GSM market over this.

BMW unveils futuristic Vision

Rob Haswell
Go

Diesel-electric

Diesel-electric has got to be the way to go for these hybrid powertrains, I'm surprised it's taking so long to reach the market. I also really like the idea of generating extra power while cruising to be used for a boost when accelerating. What would you call that - power-shifting?

I think the real shame is that all these hot "futuristic" powerplants come is such awful futuristic designs.

Pirate Bay site down as anchor set adrift

Rob Haswell
Go

Works for me

TBP is back to freetard paradise on my virgin+local dns connection.

Fisker e-sportster debuts on infamous Laguna Seca circuit

Rob Haswell
FAIL

Granny driving

I've had faster shits than that

Google kicks Maestro into touch

Rob Haswell
FAIL

Retailer woe

I feel sorry for the retailers who have Checkout as their only payment provider here. Bam - a big chunk of their UK market has just gone down the toilet. There must be scores of people - myself included - who own only a Maestro card.

'First-ever' flight of robotic ornithopter announced

Rob Haswell
Thumb Up

@Frank Bough

"What does the 'thopter design offer over a rotary wing alternative?"

Bags of win.

O2 wins UK exclusive on Palm Pre, says report

Rob Haswell
Flame

@John H Woods

I also have an o2 dongle and it's a pile of turd. 3G coverage aside, the backend IP network is slow and badly interferes with crossing traffic.

Rob Haswell
Flame

Great

Looks like I'll be getting my upgrade and selling it on Ebay to purchase a Pre now. Why can't the EU do something useful and put a stop to this exclusivity racket instead of removing web browsers from computers.

O2 inked as UK's official Pré distributor

Rob Haswell

Terrible news

So the Pre will be launched on O2 at Christmas? I'm struggling to think how a phone-related news article could contain more bad news.

Swedish couple demand right to name baby 'Q'

Rob Haswell

Q Who?

I'm sure with all the coverage of the new film, El Reg readers today are thinking less of a Bond gadgeteer and more of an omnipotent, obnoxious twat that introduced the federation to the borg.

Vodafone shows off HTC's second Android phone

Rob Haswell

Street View

That compass-enhanced Street View is pretty darn sweet.

@Adam: "Immediately afterward she was forcibly removed from the store and had her phone confiscated until the image was removed."

I call bullshit on this, no-one but the police (and rarely even them) can "confiscate" your phone for taking a picture of something.

Peugeot's on-road, off-road ‘leccy ATV

Rob Haswell
Joke

Peugeot electrics

Great idea. Because Peugeot electrics are so famous for their reliability.

DARPA orders 'Katana' monoblade nano-copter

Rob Haswell

Winds

Question - does any of this stuff work in anything over a light breeze?

DARPA seeks self-aware AI robot mega-tanks

Rob Haswell
Alert

Great idea

Build self-aware robots. Attach guns - lots of guns. What could possibly go wrong?

US Navy orders new electric hyper-kill railgun

Rob Haswell
Dead Vulture

@Defence is simple

Yeah lemme know how that works out for you.

NASA working on boomless supersonic jets

Rob Haswell
Black Helicopters

@Ken Ryan, supersonic rotors

"This could find broad application commercially in several respects - reduction of noise in helicopters (rotor tips are usually supersonic), the windmills noted above, turbine blades, and so on."

I believe this to be false - the major limiting factor in helicopter top speed is that as the speed of the copter + the speed of the leading rotor blade crosses the sound barrier, there is a catastrophic loss in lift generated. Couple this with retreating blade stall and you have a bird in trouble.

The characteristic "chop chop" sound of a helicopter is created by interacting tip vortices between the main rotor and tail rotor. This is why fancy NOTAR helicopters are used in cities, as they are quieter (and safer, with no tail rotor to worry about striking buildings).

Seagate customers swamped by Barracuda drive failures

Rob Haswell

Possibly fix

One of my TB disks had a firmware failure (Maxtor, a Seagate brand) recently. Although the machine wouldn't POST with the disk in, plugging in the disk once the OS has loaded works like a charm. Perhaps this technique could work for others out there?

Palm to take on iPhone with web 2.0 banana phone

Rob Haswell
Happy

Think I just creamed myself

Never thought I'd see another decent Palm phone. Finally something to replace my ageing Treo 680? Fkin hope so.

Any word on a 3.5mm audio jack?

Asus Eee keyboard opens CES

Rob Haswell
Paris Hilton

So what do we use this for?

I'm struggling to think of how this might fill a need. Any ideas people?

Paris, because at least she knows there's no point without putting on a big display.

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