* Posts by Mike Taylor

252 publicly visible posts • joined 25 Jan 2007

Page:

Microsoft on the shrink's couch: time to get touchy feely

Mike Taylor
Stop

Bring back Open Season...

and give Dzuiba a fucking mike. If only so I know how he pronounces his name.

Council to crack down on Cracknuts Lane

Mike Taylor

Oxford

We used to have a Gropecunt Lane too, but I can put my hand up to a Crotch Crescent that's been around since the 30s.

I think Lewes has a history of this too, a girlfriend of mine lived there - in a place called Pudding Lane, although officially it was known as St James St

Lego terrorist threatens democracy

Mike Taylor
Stop

Touchy?

The site describes it as a "White Bandit"

Fraunhofer boffins: Laser printers safe after all

Mike Taylor

Smell

"volatile substances such as paraffins and silicon oils"

That'd be the bit that smells of toast, then?

Sony Vaio TT slim'n'light laptop

Mike Taylor

Unhappy with the quality

My partner has lost two displays on Vaios - different models, different circumstances - so I don't think they're particularly robust machines.

Republicans adopt 'Gore's internet' for grassroots salvation

Mike Taylor

Landslide

I'm appalled to find myself pointing out that a 7% margin in votes isn't really a landslide. A 3.5% swing back isn't impossible to imagine in four years.

Stob latest: It was a cunning trick, says Open University

Mike Taylor

OU course quality

I've studied at the OU and other universities. The OU's course quality (in psychology) was first rate. This sounds like rubbish, and it's a shame, because I'm in the process of picking a post-grad course.

Dell turns to Linux, Atom for budget biz boxes

Mike Taylor

@James Anderson

I might have missed something, but typing in "ubuntu" on the dell uk page leads to

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/topics/topic.aspx/emea/segments/gen/client/en/ubuntu_landing?c=uk&l=en&s=dhs

which has 2 laptops, though there's nothing for belgium, for sure

Sega hopes to score with homely Japanese women

Mike Taylor

@Frank

You need a foundation with a slighly sparkly finish. And lots of uplifting cream at night.

Operation Sprogwatch: Keeping tabs on the kids

Mike Taylor

Emergency phone number is 112

Nothing else!

Google and the End of Science

Mike Taylor

@Swee' Pea

A minor point, but pharms do also design drugs on the basis of theory. See http://genome.wellcome.ac.uk/doc_wtd020912.html

IPS ditches e-passport system

Mike Taylor
Unhappy

EPA1?

This article seems a little confused (although it might just be me). The service that lets you fill in data that results in a form that is then posted to you is still working - just used it last week, the passport turned up this morning. Presumably the thing that was cancelled was a set of enhancements?

So the description: "The system, which cost £10.8m, allowed applicants to fill in forms and pay online, although these still then needed to be printed, signed and sent physically with old travel documents and photographs." - can't be accurate - or does it just refer to the "pay online" bit, I don't think that's currently possible

Family Guy creator's sellout to Google almost complete

Mike Taylor
Unhappy

OMG

I'm too old for Family Guy????????

Think tank slams paedophile paranoia culture

Mike Taylor

@David Evans, @Juillen

David,

A typical playgroup might have 30 children on the books. Although we'd like to think that all the parents would tell us if their children have an infectious disease (from diarrhoea to HIV), I can't guarantee it. Vomit may contain bacteria, virus, blood. So the reason why staff would be trained in basic H&S techniques is to reduce the likelihood of transmission - for example, carrying on sleeves or trousers - to the next child.

@Juillen,

Mostly good points: especially that about not removing a child when helping it. I don't think there's much you can do other than stay with a lost child - alert other people - make sure it doesn't get into danger.

Regarding the CRB checks, of course there are grey areas, and I'm sorry for your friend. It's rare but always positive to see men interested in childcare. The checks are quick and easy to comprehend for the employer and the employee. The reports are clear and relevant and certainly not intrusive. Checking is the final step of the process: it follows interviewing, qualification checking, seeing how the prospective employee would fit in with the team and so on. But I have an obligation (and I believe this to be a moral obligation as well as a legal one) to do what can be done to ensure the safety of your children. Of course, we could operate some kind of shadowing practice, so carers are never alone with children - but that'll mean massively increasing our fees - and probably sends a ridiculous message to your child. And collusion happens.

This is what a standard CRB is (from their www):

---

This is primarily available to anyone involved in working with children or vulnerable adults, as well as certain other occupations and entry into professions as specified in the Exceptions Order to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (ROA) 1974. Standard Disclosures show current and spent convictions, cautions, reprimands and warnings held on the Police National Computer. If the post involves working with children or vulnerable adults, the following may also be searched:

* Protection of Children Act (POCA) List

* Protection of Vulnerable Adults (POVA) List

* Information that is held under Section 142 of the Education Act 2002 (formerly known as List 99)

---

When you bring your child to playgroup, school, after-school club, cubs, or whatever, you'd like to know that some checks have been done of this order. Maybe we could have a look at this of things that are checked (does it matter if a prospective pg assistant has been cautioned for smoking Killer Weed? I seriously doubt it does), but mostly this is straightforward enough.

The choice maybe that we either do a CRB (or a modified version that amounts to the same thing), or we do nothing except rely on unsubstantiated guesswork, rumour and gut feelings. I reckon that a man wanting to work in childcare has a better chance with CRB than without.

Mike Taylor

I'm involved in the child care industry

CRB checks are our only way of knowing if our employees and volunteers have an unsuitable past. It is precisely because paedophiles can't be identified by using stereotypes that we need that clearance.

I have never met anyone who wouldn't help a lost child "for fear of being branded a paedo", but I've met a lot of people who think this is a common fear.

Two years ago, there was a story that our CRB checked staff weren't allowed to apply sun protection to our children. I researched it: there is no such rule - in fact, if we didn't and our charges got burnt and hurt as a consequence, then we would have failed in our duty.

Please people, think and check. Even professors who write reports have 'positions' and track-records that might, perhaps, indicate a not-entirely objective viewpoint.

http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/comment/story/0,,1103025,00.html

(Regarding vomit, it is a bio-hazard. Very silly comment. Obviously handling bio-hazards should involve training and some protection.)

MS bashes Gay(wood) Xbox Live gamer

Mike Taylor

Gay Search anyone?

http://www.greeneheaton.co.uk/pages/authors/author.asp?AuthorID=8

Russell T Davies bows out of Doctor Who

Mike Taylor

Kids, families and Dr Who

Smallbrainfield is spot on - Dr Who does what it's supposed to do - and it's the one programme on Saturday nights that we can watch as a family. Blink was as scary as I'd want it to get for my boys. Furthermore, a drama that doesn't have an entirely predictable story arc is welcome. (Excepting that the Dr always survives).

Regarding Torchwood - amazingly, I think lots of people have a 'thing' about it being set so ostentatiously in Cardiff. It's of mixed quality, but if the choice is potentially-mixed-home-brew vs mass-production-US-based imports, I'll take the local product. Certainly it doesn't (can't) have the huge investment that a Firefly would get, but then neither is it going to get cancelled halfway through a season because it might not turn a dime.

What did happen to all those London mayoral votes?

Mike Taylor

@ AC, coming fourth

Yup, fourth seven times in a row, too.........

Mike Taylor
Stop

Election observers

The point about election observers is slightly misleading: it makes it sound as if counts have been taking place in private.

As a candidate in the fine ward of Wolvercote for the best part of ten years, I've been accustomed to being at counts with my agent - and guests - to witness the prolonged democratic process and take part in the debate about whether votes should count. Politics (and political) students are often amongst those taken as guests.

I find it to be a humbling experience to see the votes tallied.

US Navy hands out $1bn robo-plane contract

Mike Taylor

The full photo is here

http://www.acc.af.mil/shared/media/photodb/photos/060301-f-9999M-001.jpg

Yahoo! Flickr video play sparks online revolt

Mike Taylor

Their logo is a jpg?

They missed an opportunity to have an ajax powered widget? With a googlemap mash-up of opponents throughout the world?

I can't even tag it.

MoD opens pork incubator in UK 'Golden Triangle'

Mike Taylor

It's not Pork Barrel politics in the classic sense

Pork barrel politics being where politicians lobby for local investment from central government to find favour with their constituents. Harwell is in a Tory Heartland, Labour won't win any votes there.

Parent power pulls Woolworth's 'Lolita' kiddies' bed

Mike Taylor

Might be a language thing

Apparently "lolita" is an affectionate form of "lola", which is a diminutive form of delores - so if the bed were an import from a spanish speaking country, the name might have travelled with it.

I'm not hugely surprised that people haven't heard of the book. It probably wouldn't be considered a classic, any more than Lady Chatterley, if it wasn't for the "outrage". I doubt it's studied at school, even at A Level.

O2 sweetens its iPhone deals

Mike Taylor

@Peter

That annoying "out of the UK" message. I get that from my office in Oxford.

Blackberry Pearl 8120 smartphone

Mike Taylor

Video reviews

I think they have their place, but it's alongside text - as part of the review, rather than the review itself. Curious to know how you're getting these indexed.

I need a sideways thumb.

Mike Taylor

A comment on the vocal delivery

Wil - A nice job with the clear delivery and appropriate emphasis. Close-ups are nice too, and do a good job at conveying the message.

However, I think you overuse the slightly-sarky-mark-kermode-deep-tone. It doesn't (usually) fit the message you're conveying and it's getting on my tits.

USB 'compact cassette' promises 1980s nostalgia, home taping

Mike Taylor

@ashley

http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?ModuleNo=218480&doy=3m1

Who's archiving IT's history?

Mike Taylor

Archive maps

A related issue: is there any online archive of Google or MS "live" maps? For example, the current apps show a huge paper mill behind my house that was knocked down recently, soon to be built on, and I think an ongoing archive would be fascinating.

Paris Hilton cavorts naked in middle of desert

Mike Taylor

@Les

Glad I'm not the only one. She looks weird and runty. Well, her face does.

Vista provokes user synaptic collapse

Mike Taylor

My old windows laptop...

used to give me the error along the lines of:

This computer cannot shut down because the workstation is shutting down. Failure of shutdown.exe.

Commuters shouting into their mobiles? Just jam 'em

Mike Taylor

@Jamie

Just an amusing aside, really. Was changing at king's cross onto the northern line the other day, at the deep level, and my phone rang. Reasonable signal. I had a very bemused conversation with a colleague for a few seconds and rang off. There was a patch of perhaps 20cm across. Wasn't drunk either. I did wonder if there was a vent nearby (it was drafty...) or if there was an on-going trial. I haven't found the signal again.

Say "hi" if you see a puzzled man waving his phone around on the northern line platform.

Poll confirms Brits believe Jesus Phone salvation too costly

Mike Taylor

Marketing strategy

"Had Apple pitched the iPhone as an iPod that happens to make phone calls rather than the other way round, folk here might be keener to splash out"

Am I the only one who recalls that the *only* adverts on UK TV do pitch the iphone as a device that's "also a phone". May be evidence that TV advertising doesn't work (at least, isn't informative), or that iphone is a bad name in an economy that doesn't stump up for phones.

Domino's pizza prices may rise

Mike Taylor

Dominos suck...

I had a succession of painful incidents with Dominos. Best one was when I ordered three pizzas with different toppings and they delivered one. With every topping I ordered. The box was swimming in cheese, meat and fish.

Eventually I got really quite upset and sent a pungent email to their customer service who rather sweetly sent me a bunch of vouchers. Which I tried to use, but got told (by the local dominos manager) "there's no such things as a f**** corporate voucher".

So I gave up. But they still spam me, despite me emailing them direct since their email unsubscribe form wasn't working.

Make your own. Much nicer.

Is storage becoming IT's Hummer?

Mike Taylor

What was wrong with the chelsea tractor?

can't think of a comment. just preferred it over "hummer"

Hyperic charges after disgruntled Ubuntu upgraders

Mike Taylor

Big freaking surprise

Linux isn't ready for the average user. Did anyone say it was?

When I tried Mandrake/Mandriva two years ago, I gave up when I couldn't get the wifi to work. But when my Windows install died irrevocably I moved to Ubuntu. It's on a on a very mellow laptop, been using it for six months (been using 7.10 as a beta for a while). It's fine.

I had to use the command line interface when I did the original install, but that was OK. I'm a techie. I like to fiddle with computers. Linux is me-ready, but I'm not an average user.

StumbleUpon brings human touch to search

Mike Taylor

Anyone else remember third voice?

http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/news/2001/04/42803

Just in case this gets treated like it's a new idea... Third voice 2.0... except the 1.0 was pretty much a 2.0 application

blah

Apple: 1.4m iPhones sold, 250,000 unlocked

Mike Taylor

Evidence and maths?

Hang on. I'm not sure you can leap to that conclusion. What is possible to say is that Apple say they've sold 1.4 million phones (to individuals, perhaps) and AT&T have signed up 1.15 million users. That doesn't say that a quarter of a million people have unlocked, there being other potential reasons why they might not have signed up with AT&T.

Carphone bets on iPhone peripherals and free laptops

Mike Taylor
Thumb Up

Talktalk customer service...

...is definitely better than it was. Went from paying 80/90 a month to BT for phone and broadband to 22. I´m happy. Could almost say "very happy" with TT, but that´d be tempting fate

Rise of the f*cking machines: Arse Elektronika bumps uglies with Web 2.0

Mike Taylor

Hands on

Gives new meaning to RTFM.

O2 goes flat on data

Mike Taylor

So "capped" means...

that I'll get an annoying email every month or I get cut off or charged more or... what? Surely O2 didn't flesh that out?

Zoom up ropes on silent electric drive

Mike Taylor

Well said rick...

Not many technology sites can boast a journo who can manage:

"I remember the last time I handled a Weapon of Mass Destruction (WMD). It was in 2003, not long after the invasion of Iraq. I was serving as a bomb-disposal officer in the British armed forces. I was dressed in a full protective suit and gas mask, and a boffin from Porton Down stood next to me, likewise clad."

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/04/09/my_last_wmd_swing_the_lantern/

Bonus points for 'boffin'.

It's refreshing to read good quality journalism in this area, especially given how important military technology is for r&d.

(Although i don't know what all this "pound" "foot" rubbish is. Boo!)

Women say no to pink tech toys

Mike Taylor

Apple have never sunk to pink?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Apple-iPod-mini-4GB-M9435B/dp/B0001Q25YC

http://www.play.com/Electronics/Electronics/4-/3310531/New-Apple-iPod-Shuffle-1GB/Product.html

Uhhuh.

Still I won't get one until it's made out of dead cow and smells like a man.

Dell's Linux sleight of hand

Mike Taylor

Dell's website is awful

I presume that they have never employed (or listened to) a usability expert.

I particularly like the way that sometimes you get to pick the type of machine you want, sometimes the type of customer you are and sometimes you think you're picking the type of machine you want, but mostly it's a poorly chosen predetermined list that has already made a bunch of assumptions based on something you clicked or a url you went to or the kind of underwear you're wearing.

Despite that i keep buying their blasted machines.

The place to go to is http://www.dell.co.uk/ubuntu

If you randomly decide to go to /linux you'll be taken to the outlet shop. Perhaps because Linux buyers are cheapskates?

Renewing the mythology of the London ricin cell

Mike Taylor

Bin Laden as Agent Provocateur?

I definitely prefer Maggie Gyllenhaal

El Reg issues Satan word alert

Mike Taylor

But what does it mean?

According to wikipedia it's trademarked too.

Jordan names sprog 'Princess Tiaamii'

Mike Taylor

The question is...

... is that worse than the Cinderella and Merlin who live down my way?

Mike Taylor

Hang on...

...that's a nintendo game

Skin cancer claims sun bed 'addict'

Mike Taylor

Possible difference...

Because there's more sun in Australia, there's more skin cancer. Awareness is higher, so a per capita comparison of survival rates will look higher - because it's caught earlier.

Kids get early start in electronics

Mike Taylor

Seven? You're having a laugh!

What deprived area of the world are they talking about? My six year's primary school classroom has PC(s), wifi, a beamer and an interactive white board. Our playgroup has a PC and a queue of two year olds waiting to use it.

Get with it, grandad.

Fancy a nuclear power station in your backyard?

Mike Taylor

picturesque Oxfordshire?

around Didcot? I don't think so.

Perfect place in many regards - infrastructure (railway - grid position) - cooling (Thames) - culture (JET, Harwell, Culham).

Can't quite see the existing power station from my house, but it's close.

Page: