Posts by JeffyPooh

Hmmm...

I had to go check to confirm that I didn't have an Adbobe Reader app on my iPhone already. Been reading pdf files for years...

It'll be dumb alright...

When they figure out that Lightsquared gadgets aren't compatible with GPS.

10% rivets?

10% rivets by mass? No way. Impossibly high. Especially if considering fully loaded with fuel and payload (the only time it makes sense to discuss mass).

I doubt it's even 1% rivets by weight.

I'm standing by to be shown to be incorrect...

evR450

So, why is it named after a fax machine?

Suggestion:

Use these neutrinos to provide short-cut-through-the-Earth communications between European, Asian and USA stock markets for real-time traders and their evil programmed trading clusters.

We will only know that this has been done when it's too late - after some anonymous brokerage house wakes up one morning to find they've captured *all* the money in the world.

Don't laugh - they're digging trenches across New England to save a few milliseconds...

Add a 'not' gate and the Universe may implode...

If information has mass, and it's attributable to the electrons vice holes, then one well-placed 'not' gate would cause the entire Universe to explode in a flaming heap of illogic.

So. where can I sign-up?

I'd probably pay ~$250 a year if I could watch all the BBC TV shows over the Interweb here in Canada. Maybe.

Then again, maybe I'll investigate those proxy services.

"...won't natively do email..."

I was shown the correct shortcut and now Gmail works just fine. I can even attach a local file to the outgoing message. So it does do *webmail* just fine.

Simplest counter-measure...

Visit places that you have no interest in. Speak to people that you don't really like. Live a completely false life to maintain the ultimate privacy of your true interests.

"...interference is constructive..."

...Moire pattern. At these frequencies, it would be very difficult to keep the peak on the customer. Not impossible, but very very difficult. Even at walking speed!

Anyway, my iPhone 3GS with "7.2" (~3) Mbps 3G provides excellent video quality on those very few TV channels that are willing to provide it. I've got links and apps that provide about a dozen TV channels, but nothing mainstream. So I kinda sorta thought that the issues were elsewhere than the Last Mile.

PS: I noticed that the article isn't up to your normal standards. Very stilted structure.

Apollo 12 Moon walker & painter Al Bean...

Al Bean sprinkles imperceptible amounts of genuine Moon dust onto some of his original paintings.

The Fuzz won't touch him because he'd kick their wussy little butts if they tried. You don't mess with an astronaut - not even one that's near 80 years old. Just ask professional Apollo conspiry nutcase Bart Sibrel. He had his clock cleaned by a certain Buzz Aldrin - well worth looking up on YouTube if you missed it.

Anyway, the Feds will have to prove the old lady's Moon rock was not legally acquired. They probably can't prove that. Many were given away as *gifts* free and clear. Especially tiny specks encased in clear plastic (just sayin'). I think that the Feds have opened up an expensive legal mess that they might very well lose.

"Painful stretch inside"

You guys _crack_ me up...

Maybe ALAC and FLAC could be merged...

...to create: AFLAC

AFLAC - quack! quack! quack!

Best 'Joke of the Day'

GG wrote (elsewhere):

"Seagate probably wouldn’t have a problem with flooding because they have a sea gate… Get it?... Seagate… sea gate… a gate… between them and the sea..."

iPhone GPS sucks...

...power like there's no tomorrow.

I once used my iPhone as an automotive GPS (all maps preloaded, no roaming data) to navigate from London to Portsmouth, UK. Starting fresh, the battery threatened to be fully drained about halfway along, a bit more than an hour. This is using continuous GPS on my iPhone 3GS. I had to start using it in an intermittent manner to complete the journey.

(Yes, I know. Next time bring a cigarette socket lead. Yes, thanks...)

Compare and contrast

Sony PSP SmartPhone - hundreds of nice games for $10.00 to $30.00 each.

Apple iPhone - tens of thousands of nice games for FREE to $0.99 each.

Hmmm...

Various tidbits

@AudiGuy - The PlayBook and iPhone Bluetooth profiles are not compatible. I don't know enough about it to lay the blame, but my Sony P-Series netbook works just fine with the iPhone providing Bluetooth connectivity to the 'net. So I know that the iPhone can be made to work with other devices, and the iPhone was 'a given' when the PlayBook was designed. So...

As I've mentioned elsewhere, the PlayBook can't even parse the Gmail webmail interface. I have no idea why, but it doesn't work.

For surfing the web, it's fine. Lovely, in fact. Much better than iDevices that refuse to play nice with Flash.

It also does a fantastic job playing HD movies. The 16:9 screen fits better than 4:3. What I've not yet found is an App to access files (e.g. movies) from local Wifi network attached storage. It would be nice if it could simply get the movies over local wifi from the NAS.

One doesn't need to spend much time to reach the bottom of the App World. Several hours of browsing and you're literally done, complete, finished.

At $300, it's not a controversial procurement option. It's petty cash and a very good value. But at $499, one might as well get a $520 iPad.

What bugs me is that some people make it out to be a religious conversion. Get over it.

Sure, Smartphones with their contracts and monthly fees are something that needs to be very carefully considered (adding up to thousands of dollars over a few years). Normal humans can;t afford to have three or four phones on the go at once. But a wifi tablet does not involve a lifetime commitment. I have a PlayBook and someday I'll probably get an iPad 'n'. In the meantime I might get an Android tablet.

Geesh, tablets are 'beer money' folks...

Y opinion MV.

Thermodynamics 101 in nine words...

You can't win.

You can't break-even.

You can't quit.

"...the lack of a native email client..."

It's worse than that I'm afraid...

The PlayBook (Yes, I have one) can't even reliably access Gmail's *webmail* GUI. Seriously. Clicky-clicky no worky-worky.

Even if you follow all the work-arounds and clear the Local Cache, etc., then take it outside and shake it, then sacrifice a pengiun, etc. etc. ...Once one get it working and can finally check your Gmail, then it immediately falls over and refuses to play nice with Gmail. It simply will not work with Gmail - crazy considering it's just a web interface...

I'm sure that they'll eventually fix it, but geesh...

The good news is that it is a wonderful gadget overall. My iPhone is getting to be too small for my eyes, so having a 7-inch tablet for $300 makes a very nice browsing / YouTube device. The fact that the PlayBook also includes Flash makes it vastly superior to Apple iDevices that refuse to play nice with Flash.

I'm guessing that Google+ hijacked the "+"

Google+ stole the damn "+".

What about Google Calculator? .... 2 "2" = 4 ??

There's no Earthly reason why Google couldn't provide an 'All Of The Above' type solution. They could parse the +term into "term" all by themselves if they wish. Don't bother the humans with it.

Stupid. Google should change their motto to: "Don't Be Stupid", and then live by it. Lately they've been quite stupid.

I've extrapolated, and the conclusion is disturbing...

By the year 2023, I will be spending 24.5 hours per day updating gadgets with new firmware.

Thank you Mr. McCarthy

I was introduced to Lisp at university, but I never used it in anger (except on some assignments). Just knowing it existed has had a very subtle impact on my thinking. If Lisp exists, then what else is possible?

For those that also dabble in hardware, the list of recently-fallen tech heroes includes Jim Williams and Robert A. Pease.

Hmmm... an idea:

How about somebody write some software to go inside your *Router* to monitor what's going in and out?

In fact, adding some "security" software to routers would be a wonderful USP for the router vendors.

App Store 'Featured' vice Search

Yes, I also review the latest App hits. But after that, I then repeatedly search the App store using up to about a dozen search terms related to my interests. This always brings up a long list of interesting apps that are otherwise invisible.

The real economic issue is that I tend to concentrate on 'free' apps. Oh, I'll spend a bit of money on apps, but not a lot. The whole point of iPhones (& iPod Touches) are the free apps. Without free apps, we wouldn't have bought all the iDevices.

Cheers.

@G. Jones

"Not all of us believe that owning a mobile phone is hobby that requires a few hours a month building and upgrading firmware as most Android users seem to advocate."

It took *many* hours to update my iPhone 3GS to iOS5. First had to update iTunes (a stupidly huge download, as always). Then when I conencted the iPhone it had to go through that whole back-up and sync process (takes quite a while with a 32GB iPhone). It also required two tries to download iOS5 (another massive download), having failed without recourse at the 99% mark of the first attempt. I started at 7PM and it was complete at about 1AM, but I did wander off to do other things so call it 50% duty cycle. My Internet is 'only' 1.3 Mbps - that's part of the problem.

Still, "a few hours" also fairly describes the iPhone updates.

Perhaps the new over-the-air process will speed things up...

Dying iPhone 3GS - There's an App for that.

There're local blokes here (in eastern Canada, I'm sure elsewhere...) that will swap-in a brand new battery for $40-50 (aftermarket or "OEM"). They've figured out how to crack open the case without ruining it, etc. They can also replace worn-out buttons and cracked screens.

No need to replace an Iphone if the one you have just needs some cheap repairs.

PS: They do the repairs while you wait and watch. 30-45 minutes in and out.

I can confirm that Facebook et al violate their own Ts & Cs

I have set up Facebork to disallow 3rd party websites from accessing my identity. In other words, my Facebork account is locked down. Most (almost all) websites with those annoying Facebork frames obey this and display a random collection of faces of people I don't know.

But on two occassions I've seen *my* face and *my Facebook Friends* staring out at me on 3rd party websites.

FailBork.

Water - NEWS FLASH: It falls from the sky like rain

The Earth has about a brazillion times more fresh water than is needed by humans. There are plenty of crystal clean rivers dumping millions of cubic km of fresh and clean (potable) water into the world's oceans. If we built as many cross-continental fresh water pipelines as we have for crude oil and natural gas, then it would be a non-issue.

This is not to say that humans aren't foolish in how they (mis)manage the world's water supply. But it's a primate-stupidity issue, not a planet-scale shortage of clean water. If humans behave just ever-so-slightly less stupid regarding water, then the problem will be totally solved in a couple of years.

Apple, meet Akamai...

(As above.)

Buggy Facebook software

The word 'buggy' is redundant. All Facebook software that I've ever touched is buggy. Facebook SW has all the QA control processes of a train wreck.

Somebody please set this 'scam' up into the Philippines ASAP!!

My local wired telco changes $0.22 to call the Philippines from Canada (on a plan). VOIP operator Skype charges $0.29 (plus per call fees). I assume that the discrepancy is related to these fees being charged to Skype - thus the stupidly uselessly high cost using Skype.

Will someone please set-up more of these SIM-card equipped VOIP portals into the Philippines!! ASAP!!

There ain't no way to detect them and there ain't no way to stop them.

Gawd bless the "scammers". Routing around outrageous fees. Yeah!

Advertisers can take some comfort...

As I press the 'Skip' (~29.5s) button on my PVR, if I happen to catch a glimpse of an advertisement that might interest me, then I may backtrack and actually watch it. Although I avoid ads, I don't think that I miss very many (for example) VW, Meredes, Apple ads - because I like to see those ones. If I always skip an ad, it's because I'm really not interested anyway.

It surprisingly easy to detect interesting vice uninteresting ads in the one second it takes to skip each one.

VIBE is an anagram of FBI

Sheeple.

Oh damn...

This is terrible news...

This finding makes it more likely that I'll *actually* have to pay off my debts. My plan to this point had been to enjoy life to the max - and let an asteroid deal with the creditors.

Damn!

Simple solution to maintain privacy in the modern world...

Browse websites and topics that you actually have no interest in whatsoever. They'll build a model of the insides of your head that will be completely wrong.

For example, I pretend to like tech news, the space program, and pr0n.

See?

Thank you...

To those that actually take the time to read the Ts&Cs on behalf of those that can't be bothered. I (we?) seriously appreciate it very much.

@SMabille

"...So a 50% "UK Ripoff" surcharge..."

It's more expensive in the UK because of the higher cost structures of the UK. Almost everything in the UK costs more than it does in the USA.

Take (for example) the new "basic" Wifi only Kindle. It is £89 in the UK and only $79 in the USA.

See?

GetInMyBelly.scot

/\- Austin Powers - Fat B*st*rd.

Mark me down as supporting the proposal. It'll be amusing as all the stereotypes are registered by those wishing to poke fun at the WeeFiesty.scot.

They could've just used a mirror

With *very* carefully aiming.

@ "people still use inkjets?"

Oninoshiko: "people stull use inkjet? I pity you. I went with a nice brother colour workgroup laser printer"

Do colour laser printers do actual photo-quality prints? With the right paper, inkjets can print lovely photos (almost indistinguishable from the local photo lab). I agree that lasers are ideal for printing out tedious pie charts and mind-numbing presentations. Laser printers are great, provided you don't mind the noxious stink that some laser printers emit (an emission that probably causes *something*).

E8-Guru Lisi has pointed out a problem...

...CERN has so much data that nobody can look at it. They therefore filter and sort the data based on their preconceived concepts. So their search is bounded by their current theories.

It's a perfectly valid point.

CERN should be working on some generalized data exploration tools and put it all on the Internet. Call it CERN-Zoo.

Remote Software Updates?

So you go out to your car at 3am, try to start it, and it'll tell you that it's in the middle of a 20-minute software update process that can't be interrupted and "would you please go away". Unless, do you think?, somebody has figured out how to update firmware in only a couple of seconds? Since I've never seen such a thing in my entire life, usually such updates take many long and agonizing minutes, I expect that you'll be locked-out of your own car if you dare to try to drive it while it's randomly applying a software update.

Next problem: Not all software updates are improvements. Sometimes they make such updates to retroactively meet some inconsequential pollution standard deviation. So you car may suddenly run poorer, and you won't know why.

It's not a workable system unless they allow the driver / owner to control when the updates are applied. If they did (similar to MS Updates Available, with details), then it might be okay.

Ah, excuse me...

I like the pretty design. I hope it's loud. I hope it can carry huge payloads into orbit. I like NASA. But...

The Shuttle Main Engines are relatively expensive because they were designed to be reused hundreds of times, as opposed to lasting just 120 seconds (single use) and being tossed into the sea. So this design uses the very expensive, endlessly-reusable Shuttle Main Engines and then tosses them into the sea?

Can they add parachutes to the first stage?

Oh great...

...now my next Intel CPU is going to start 'shaking me down' for $60 a year in 'protection money'.

I was still...

I was still parsing the Reg. headline that included the phrase "...-cum-tablet" when this article's headline caught my eye.

Yeah, what about all the programs looking for updates?

As soon as you turn on the damn PC, every installed program (including the OS) piles onto the Internet looking for updates. If they could simply block all the 'check for updates' app panic for the first twenty minutes after boot, then maybe I could actually get to the emergency situation information I require before it's too late.

In summary: Let the Meat Machine use the Internet FIRST, please and thank you.

Damn, I can't believe that it's 2011 and we still have ask for this basic, common sense sh!t. On most versions of Windows, even moving the cursor from the Start Button directly towards the Control Panel pops up the All Programs list, blocking the desired destination. Sigh...