* Posts by David H

36 publicly visible posts • joined 12 Jul 2007

Swedish parents win right to name sprog 'Q'

David H
Alert

Single letter discrimination?

If it's acceptable to have names like Jay and Yui (an Asian name) that sound like single letters, then pedantically speaking there's nothing wrong with using 'Q' as a name. (Anyway, it's probably better than some of the 'chav' names that are currently doing the rounds.)

Although the boy concerned might have psychological trauma when he discovers that he doesn't have the powers of the Continuum, unless of course he actually has them...

BBC's speak you're branes collapses under Brand-Ross sex outrage

David H
Dead Vulture

Really?

Am I the only one who initially thought that The Register's standards of grimmer and spilling had fillen down a lack mole?

Mine's the jacket previously worn by Officer Crabtree.

OpenOffice 3 goes native on the Mac

David H
Thumb Up

@The BigYin

I've downloaded and installed a copy of the 'American' version (via one of the mirror servers), and it displays "English (UK)" at the bottom of the text document window. Not really had a chance to play with it yet but on this Intel Mac it's running well.

And it must be "going to BitTorrent OR waiting for the weekend"...John needs to brush up on his Boolean logic :)

Asus adds HDD to Atom-based old-style Eee

David H
Dead Vulture

The Reg has lost it when...

There's a news story about the old-style Eee that doesn't show THAT picture. Yes, you know the one.

Elgato EyeTV DTT Deluxe 'world's smallest' USB TV tuner

David H
Jobs Halo

@AC

As for "Is it coming out for real computers instead of the fisher-price versions?", for which presumably by "real computers" you mean PC's, well let me just say that I'd rather have a "fisher-price version" as opposed to having wasted four hours of my life at the weekend trying to get digital TV software working with a USB digital TV tuner dongle under Windows XP (and having to ultimately resort to a full reinstallation of Windows).

And the software didn't work properly when it was finally persuaded to display a picture, which was distorted due to (presumably) video driver problems, meaning I had to resort to using inferior third-party software or spend another three hours trying to configure open source PVR software.

Steve Jobs? Well of course...

Sky ices Picnic, blames Ofcom

David H
Paris Hilton

Sky's the limit

Sky would have known that Picnic was always going to be contentious because Sky already dominates satellite pay-TV in the UK so any growth into terrestrial pay-TV was always going to trigger a lengthy monopoly investigation. So it's probably safe to assume that Sky was never going to launch Picnic in the first place; it just wanted to scare the living daylights out of Setanta and put fear and doubt into its competitors just like it did with Virgin Media and ONdigital.

Paris, because even she probably realises that Sky are money-grabbing monopolists and Ofcom are a complete waste of space.

Academic wants to 'free up' English spelling

David H
Paris Hilton

Leave it out

Leaving out the apostrophe in some cases would actually improve some people's grammar and spelling under the current system; people typing "it's" when they should be typing "its" instead has now become common to the extent that they are now incorrectly appearing in advertisements and other more important printed articles - the apostrophe means that there's something missing ("it's" = it is, NOT "its").

Paris, because she has something missing.

Acorn alumni to toast tech pioneer's 30th anniversary

David H
Coat

@Trevor: Acorn 65?

Trevor was probably half-thinking of the Microtan 65 which was the predecessor to the Oric 1 in much the same way as the Acorn System 1 lead to the Atom/BBC Micro and the Mk14 led to the ZX80/81/Spectrum/etc.

The BBC Micro is perhaps my favourite computer of all time, although Acorn did miss a trick with the Electron by not incorporating some form of memory-saving display mode (4 colour low-res graphics, perhaps?) to make up for a lack of Mode 7 Teletext which the BBC Micro had, since the high resolution graphics (no laughing at the back) did use up a lot of the 32K memory. And the Archimedes was a fab computer as well but that goes without saying (I owned one until 1995 when it was sold for a Mac).

Mine is the 6502 assembly language programmer's coat.

UK White iPhone 3G availability boosted

David H
Paris Hilton

Still waiting

Not for white, but for the iPhone to be available on a PAYG tariff, although O2 really ought to lower their standard PAYG data rates as well (which you get if you don't pay for their monthly £7.50 data bolt-on).

Paris, because I bet she knows how to pay as you go.

PS4 and Xbox 720 due by 2012, says Crysis firm

David H
Coat

Perhaps...

The next XBox will be called the Xbox E (for exponential overflow), when Redmond's scientific calculator software finally throws in the towel trying to work out what's next.

Mine's the one worn by a failed maths professor.

Asus goes official on extended Eee PC line-up

David H

Re: Poor quality video with Eee 901

I don't have one of these but video performance problems could be related to network performance issues; the iPlayer is often unusable for me even using a reasonably powerful desktop computer with a broadband internet connection.

And it may be fashionable to knock the bewildering choice of Eee models that Asus offers but that hasn't harmed the increase in market share that they have recently enjoyed. The large number of choices on offer could be related to a similar strategy employed in the digital camera market, where numerous models are produced with slight changes in specification (and different colours) just to try to ensure maximum shelf space for a particular manufacturer in a shop.

Is Apple readying a MacBook redesign?

David H
Paris Hilton

New MacBooks = Drop in profit for Apple

The MacBook Air is currently selling very well for Apple (second in the UK Apple Store sales chart) and is a 'premium' product, therefore any new MacBook that's significantly cheaper than an Air but looks like one and isn't much thicker will inevitably cannibalise some existing Air sales and reduce Apple's profit, at least in the short term, hence very likely to be the real reason for the "future product transition" profit reduction warning.

I will probably get one of these new MacBooks, although the temptation to try and load OSX onto something smaller such as an MSI Wind/Acer Aspire One is currently very great.

Paris, because we like something that's good looking.

Site guesses your sex via age-old web flaw

David H
Paris Hilton

I'm 96% male

Which is near enough I suppose, although I probably do spend too much time looking at tech review sites.

Paris, because she's at least a bit more than 4%.

Man hacks Mac OS X onto MSI Wind

David H
Jobs Horns

Not bad for the money

It's roughly equivalent to half the performance of a MacBook Air for a third of the cost (Advent 4211 plus the cost of a retail copy of OSX Leopard, DVD drive plus a compatible wi-fi card). However it's a pity that the sound input/output sockets don't work, although that problem could theoretically be solved using an external USB audio device.

Despite these minor setbacks I am still seriously tempted given the low cost - the Advent's performance when running OSX is similar to my trusty iMac G5 and that is still a surprisingly capable computer.

Evil Steve Jobs because he really ought to also produce a cheaper MacBook Air with a smaller physical footprint.

Acer punts £199... er... £220... er... Linux laptop

David H
Paris Hilton

The problem

The fact that the Acer wasn't exactly the best of the small laptops (according to a few reviews) was perhaps excusable at £199, but pushing the price up starts to move it into MSI Wind/original Asus EEE territory, especially if Medion introduces its rebadged MSI Wind to the UK at a low price.

Paris, as some small consolation for the lack of "beach picture".

Who will be the next Doctor?

David H
Alien

How about...

David Tennant regenerating into David Tennant, but this time having a a Scottish accent.

DSGi profit plummets 30%

David H
Thumb Down

Not surprised

Consider the reasons why US electrical retailer Best Buy are about to establish stores in the UK; they either must be confident of making a profit in the UK (allowing for startup costs) or alternatively have a suicidal death wish (I don't think so somehow).

And that "Currys.digital" rebranding idea was a "good idea" (not) as well; that's like renaming Windscale Sellafield (or whatever).

Intel Atom 230 ultra low-power desktop CPU

David H
Unhappy

Most disappointing

A review that mentions the Eee even only once has a contractual obligation to include THAT picture, yes you know the one...

Otherwise how are we expected to take the review's conclusions seriously?

Bubbles mean O2, but anyone can use them

David H
Stop

Does this also mean...

If anyone's seen a certain TV ad for Vodafone's music download service, they may have seen a disclaimer message that reads something like "NOW is a trademark of EMI", which is presumably there because Vodafone's slogan is "Make the most of now" and EMI has the NOW (That's what I call music) compilations - this ruling could put a stop to such stupid disclaimers.

Competition watchdogs urged to act on 'commercial iPlayer'

David H
Paris Hilton

Death of the old guard

Relating to programmes, the market is shifting in favour of content providers (BBC, ITV, etc.) as opposed to TV channels that predominantly rely on imports (Sky), therefore it's no surprise that Sky is upset as a result.

Paris, because even she has more attractive content than Sky.

Apple's 3G iPhone to launch 11 July

David H
Thumb Up

I want one...

But only if it's available on PAYG. (Personally not bothered if it's locked to O2.)

Ofcom slices up the digital dividend

David H
Paris Hilton

It'll all end in tears

A country trying to be simultaneously part of Europe at the same time as 'doing its own thing' is a bad compromise that does nobody any favours whatsoever. Combine this with an economic downturn and you could think that the country is being run by idiots.

Paris, because she could do a better job at running the country.

Swedish authorities pull plug on female Elvis

David H
Coat

All shook up

Just had to go with that title, even if someone else has probably beaten me to it.

Dixons admits 'it's even worse than you thought'

David H
IT Angle

You knew things were bad

When Dixons stores were rebranded to "Currys.digital". Anyone with half a brain knew that Currys and Dixons were the same entity, and Currys.digital is possibly the worse store name ever conceived in the history of the universe.

Like others have said, why oh why oh why oh why can't a chain of stores offer goods that are cheaper than the so-called list price but dearer than the internet box-shifters? Like others I would happily pay a sensible premium for the convenience of a local store that employs staff who offer a modest level of genuine customer support that doesn't require phone calls, additional postage and delays.

The only thing I remember buying from PC World was a scanner but that was only because they were the cheapest and because they offered store collection at their internet price. (And I had done my research beforehand.)

And bigger stores is what we need in an era of rising fuel prices. Not.

"IT?" because PC World doesn't usually seem to have a clue about it.

US court orders online advertiser to use 'negative keywords'

David H
Alien

Watch out

A member of the Orion Syndicate might come calling...

Coldplay in digital and vinyl giveaway

David H
Flame

@Anonymous Hero

I'm not really a Coldplay fan (some of their tracks are OK though), but to cast judgement on something without actually hearing it is rather harsh though, don't you think? (This time they might have produced an album full of banging techno tunes or South American pan pipes.)

As for saving the world, well why not? And what is actually wrong with 'doing good' - surely by definition it must be better than doing bad? They may be wealthy rock stars - hypocritical ones if you insist - but they're entitled to their opinions and you don't have to listen to them.

BBC defends iPlayer against Murdoch Jr's 'anti-competitive' claims

David H
Thumb Up

Death of a monopoly

Murdoch is upset because the new-found popularity of the iPlayer has significantly brought forward the day when many people will realise that they can (broadly speaking) get almost everything that Sky currently offers (except perhaps live sports coverage, but that day will surely come) for less from the internet.

All I can say is that the world will be a much better place once the Sky subscription TV monopoly is well and truly broken; the Murdoch boys are scared of real competition which was all too evident when they blocked Virgin Media from taking over ITV with their ITV shares purchase.

Sky One to resurrect Blake's 7?

David H
Thumb Down

Not confident

I thought that the original Blake's 7 was great, but Sky's involvement doesn't exactly fill me with confidence for a planned remake.

Botanist sues to stop CERN hurling Earth into parallel universe

David H
Alien

A new slogan for Nestlé's Polo mints

"The mint with a black hole". Which will also be the description of a Swiss bank account.

Aliens, because our overlords from a parallel universe are just waiting to invade us.

Asus CEO: Eee PC to get HDD options, Intel Atom CPU

David H

Buying a 701

Last month my local Toys R Us had white 4G 701s in stock to take away, and PC World has also had them in stock recently - check the Eeeuser forums for more information on where to buy one.

David H
Coat

"Looking forward to a hard drive..."

Indeed.

Nokia N82 smartphone

David H

Try asking Sony Ericsson

Sony Ericsson market what are essentially very similar phones in numerous different casings (metal, plastic, candybar, slider, etc.) and sell them at different price points to different groups of users (high-flying executives, fashion-conscious young people, etc.). Nokia are presumably doing the same with the N82, which must be notably cheaper to manufacture compared with the N95's metal case that also has sliding bits.

B&O reveals self-calibrating robo TV

David H
Happy

Camera shy

Wonder if the TV automatically switches channels if the camera sees that you're watching a cheap reality TV show?

Apple's iPhone numbers do not add up

David H
Unhappy

Of course...

If Apple/O2 were to offer a PAYG option for the UK iPhone (with a reasonable data tariff) then I would buy one without hesitation - it's those expensive contracts that are most offputting.

I did see someone using one on a train recently (and yes it wasn't an iPod Touch), so they are out there. Somewhere.

Radiohead top UK album chart

David H
Alert

Don't forget...

Unless the music file has been encoded in a lossless format (still all too rare an occurrence), music played from a CD will have better sound quality than MP3/AAC/WMA files as long as your sound system is of half-decent quality.

Sky hails broadband explosion

David H

William - You're wrong!

Firstly Arif Rashid had also mentioned the (new) router "(they posted the day before)" in the message, and secondly Virgin also supplies a broadband service via BT lines which is what I use at home - see http://allyours.virginmedia.com/websales/service.do?id=2 for more information.

And I hate the Murdochs (Rupert and James) as well.