Posts by John Miles
86 posts • joined Wednesday 31st January 2007 22:28 GMT
Re: The solution is ...
They tried cutting the power in the original series but the computer had Other ideas on the subject and reconnected itself http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ultimate_Computer
Re: officialdom should respond by being flexible and sensible.
why do I feel that might be easier in China than UK?
Posted in Peugeot 508 RXH estate car review
Re: "Even Citreon have made great strides,"
hardly surprising - as Citroen is owned by Peugeot and share large amounts of platform and components.
Vast majority of problems I had with Citroens were garage competence issues not car related
Posted in Neil Armstrong dies aged 82
Probably mankind's greatest adventure
is slowly passing from living memory and all too soon all we'll have is recordings of the experience of a man stepping on another world.
Rest in peace
Modern UI?
Is this like the art that gives modern aart a bad rep - maybe they are going for the Turner Prize - the medium seems similar to Chris Ofili's http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/226000.stm
Re: Not only iPhones
They did something similar in the last couple of years - I complained and was told it would stop pushing it after a few tries (IIRC I had to allow Firefox to save cookies for it to disappear).
Re: Hybrid drives overall seem to cost more than pure SSDs at the moment?
Seagate Seagate 500GB Momentus XT 2.5" Hybrid SSD/HDD - costs £95, OCZ 120GB Agility 3 SSD - AGT3-25SAT3-120G £72 on ebuyer at the moment - to me that looks like Seagate is 1/4 price per gigabyte
re: EM emissions
I believe EM Emissions from Earth would be very hard to detect in the noise floor at a light year away and becoming harder as technology progresses. 150 years ago we wouldn't have been able to detect one of today's most powerful radio transmitters if it was placed on moon - maybe in before the next 100 years have passed we'll worked out how to (there was a recent idea about seeing their light)
Posted in HSBC UK systems major outage
Perhaps we should be worrying
Whether this Matt cartoon is true
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/6507609/Matts-best-money-cartoons-the-funny-side-of-the-recession.html?image=4
Could it be
These companies are already protected(?) by something from "Symantec"
re: my film SLR is about 40 year
have you tried likes of ebay - old film slrs probably won't cost a lot and could work out cheaper than getting one fixed
but personally I'd say jump to digital - What make? if it is one of the makes where the film lenses work on a DSLR and you have lots of lenses - then it is worth getting.a DSLR that takes the lenses (though the crop moves each lens towards telephoto )
otherwise look on dpreview.com
re: a VIP goes on a trip to a dangerous place do you
doesn't that depend on the VIP ;-)
Posted in Hundreds of dot-brand domains predicted
How about machines called “mailserver”
See - http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/07/04/dotless_domain_security/
Posted in Hundreds of dot-brand domains predicted
or even
Coke or twitter as single word will resolve
re: paying
I believe that this sort of thing is regarded as training - as the pilots need to keep certain number of flying hours a month to remain at useful skill levels and rescue operations reflect the soft of job they may have to do in the field. It is going to cost whether they rescue the cow or have to practise moving cargo
Could be malware?
Sending spam to everyone (including mailing list) in an address book?
Both have their advantages
Security designed in from day one - is good/essential, but it doesn't stop someone installing something suspect (or even hidden in something else they are installing) and once that suspect item is in it can render the good security useless
An AV product stands a chance of blocking something dodgy being installed (a well known disk burning application got dumped by me once AV started complaining about what else it was installing) - and though often malware getting through renders AV useless it does have the potential to fight back
The most important security is a cynical user who doesn't believe what a website/email is telling them if it seems very out of character
re: and dropped the cat onto the floor
I would guess - one very peeved moggie
re:. He will now most likely not believed next time he opens his mouth
You would think so - but it appears the reverse if often true
Well worth reading Prof. Richard Wiseman' "Paranormality: Why we see what isn't there" where he covers cults -
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0230752985/ref=oss_product
re: I had to stop at silmarillio
I suspect most people did
re: In today's "Windows" mentality, people can control a technology that they don't understand
They have been able to do that with cars for several decades - it is going to get worse
Posted in When is a database not so relational?
Re: Well
that sounds more like what I would expect
I have seen too many performance fixes that didn't understand the problem and the solution makes things much worse long term.
Posted in When is a database not so relational?
DB Speed
I am a little surprised with your example - Oracle is capable of delivering much better performance than that.
re: . if you look at it from a realistic viewpoint it is probably a reasonable decision.
having a non-standard interfaces on a commodity item like harddisks from economically, technologically and long term support perspectives strikes me as bizarre
Alternatively
try something like a Dymo Label Writer for smallish quantities or a printer with envelope feeder for larger print runs - either of which should be cost effective compared to someone spending type typing addresses on typewriter
Posted in DfT to install new motorway tech
RE: How does making people drive more slowly
I believe it works by reducing bunching caused as some drivers try moving faster than the traffic is flowing and thus removing a braking shock wave that travels back through the queue which often grows in magnitude until people have to stop.
Posted in Android Market shows hand at 100k Apps
AppBrain
If you haven't already - Try http://www.appbrain.com to search for things
A new Users view of Market Place
Searching is great - but to search I already know what I want (e.g. London Underground Planner). But to just browse for something, as you might want to with games or on train, there is not enough structure/categories or any filtering (ability to limit to things like English language, exclude things that are USA only etc.) - look under reference and anything from dictionaries to religious quotes comes up
Finally some effort to lot spam bots on reviews would be nice
re: is Internet access very far from being a "basic human right"?
As more and more things are becoming you have to do it on-line or they make it as hard as possible if you don't (e.g. applying for jobs, tax etc.) - I'd say it is getting closer to the stage where you require Internet access to function in our society/not be disadvantaged therefore closer to needing to be a "right"
re: gimp used 24bit depth with 8bit alpha.
24bit depth which would be 8 bits per channel - RAW files are often 16 bits per channel (48 bit) - though usually only effective 12 bits per channel. While the eye can't see the difference the extra colour depth allows more tweaking during post processing to do such things as bring out details in shadows
re: had Borland included function pointers
But Borland did -
Delphi event model processing is based around pointers to "functions/procedures on a object instance" and hasn't changed since version 2 (probably 1) and is I believe an extenstion of the pascal function pointers (I think was in turbo Pascal - but as I haven't used it for > 15 years really can't be 100% sure)
Posted in US gov Photoshops bin Laden wanted pic
Just becareful before claiming
as - The FBI has admitted using a photograph of a bearded Spanish politician as the basis for a mocked-up photofit image showing how Osama Bin Laden might look now.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/7004715/FBI-admits-Spanish-politican-was-model-for-high-tech-Osama-bin-Laden-photo-fit.html
re: UK
I suspect it is vapour ware in either UK or Ukraine as the website says
> * available in: Germany, Austria, Belgium, Danmark, Finland, France, Norway,
> the Netherlands and Sweden.
http://www.navigon.com/iphone
More Info at
PocketGPSWorld
http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/Live-Traffic-Coming-October-for-Navigon-on-iPhone-6927.php
The add-on will be available directly through the MobileNavigator app at a special introductory price of €19.99 (~£17.85) for European 'Traffic Live'
1 Traffic Live is available in the following countries: A, B, CH, D, DK, E, F, FIN, I, L, N, NL, S and UK.
Posted in Man blames cat for child porn downloads
re: How did they find him in the first place?
Obviously the cat had been using his credit card!
I assume that it is
287 days out of each year
anonymously for obvious reasons ;-)
re: So already he has the technical knowledge of the average Windows user
Surely you mean the average call centre support staff (or company director) :p
They should investigate the competence of suppliers
Then there would be very simple get outs ;)
and if the company complains - look at whether legal measures to recoup based costs on their dodgy deliveries in past
Posted in Armed cops ice South London devil dog
I think we punish the wrong animal
Instead of muzzling and neutering the dog - perhaps we should look at muzzling and neutering the owners of out of control dogs!
re: "Governments' security experts aren't dummies and they aren't going to make those mistakes."
yes - but what are the chances those ones will have any say in the matter?
Posted in London battles fire-breathing black cabs
It Appears the Lizards are getting braver
see how they are seen out and about with what looks like a publicity stunts for Google's new phones
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/2989443/Mystery-of-the-albino-androids.html
Posted in Pentax K20D digital SLR
re: Choosing an SLR /end of an era/comparasions
If you want to spend less than £1K per lens, then there is plenty of choice (almost as much as Nikon and Canon) up to about 300mm including some weather sealed version from Pentax - and lets face it how many spend more than £1K per lens ? So for most people lack of lenses isn't a big issue (though Pentax have been a over optimistic on delivery on new lenses)
end of a era - I suspect not, especially as Samsung have got involved in DSLRs cameras which take Pentax fitting lenses - and what ever they do they seem to become pretty big in the field within a few years - so I suspect in 5 years the DLSR landscape may have changed beyond all recognition
comparisons
if you want to know about K20D compared to K10D etc - then suggest a look on dpreview - http://www.dpreview.com/forums/ where plenty of people still shot Pentax DSLRs
And mine is the coat with both Pentax and Canon straps over the shoulder
Posted in When flash mobs go bad
What The police were standing around
and not arresting anyone under the Prevention of terrorism laws etc. - slacking off were they
re: One Flash is enough for the world.
wrong - one Flash is too much for the world the way it gets misused by web developers
re: How about
Some of the eTrek range has electronic compass IIRC and have various map options for display - and they are not much bigger than the batteries they use (two AAs - so spares are easily obtainable)
You probably don't want them much smaller as that would limit things like screen size, button sizes - try using one in gloves on a cold windy day
Posted in Pentax pours forth four new shooters
Re SMC Lens
Sounds a good find
There are a lot of people very happy with old lens on Pentax Bodies - you might want to look on the Pentax SLR forum on dpreview (search for green button as that is usually involved in a thread on old lens) as there are setting modes needed and a couple of limitations to be understood.
remember the 50mm lens will give same view as a 75mm on 35mm body
@Angus Wood and backwards time travel
Assuming that time travel is possible - people use it to travel backwards and make mistakes - thus change the future.
It seems very likely one of the major changes would be the elimination of the invention of time travel (because invariably it will be used to kill the enemy and thus end up wiping out most populations as we can never leave alone) - therefore it is most likely that the invention of time travel that is impossible, not necessarily time travel
home time :)
@By Simon Painter
This was the cartoon (sorry can't find English version)
http://www.heise.de/ct/schlagseite/03/01/gross.jpg
The article reminded me of it and I thought quite apt
and yes it was an A310 not an A380 in cartoon
