Posts by Andy Worth

Wii demographic

Reading all the comments so far, it seems very much like the Wii is so popular because it is essentially a "console for girls" (yes I'm aware how much flaming I'll get for this from people who don't read further). I don't say this because it is particularly effeminate, but more because it opens up console gaming to people who would not typically play console games.

Personally for me, the Wii is fun in small doses but aside from "party style" games to play when I have friends round, it's not enough of a gaming console for me (as I AM a long-time gamer). Now I have the likes of Singstar and Guitar Hero for my PS3, the Wii will very rarely get switched on.

Oh and at the 360 fanboy who didn't want his name showing, this was never supposed to be a 360 vs PS3 thread. I accept that both consoles have their selling points, but on a personal level I couldn't take the "jet engine" sound of my brothers 360, so I bought a PS3 instead. The games are coming too, and lets be fair, Halo 3 is quite a disappointment considering they can't even make it run smoothly without crashing on a CONSOLE (no excuses of incompatibility there). Anyway enough about that, they are two "similar in ability" consoles and miles away from a Wii.

Oh and for Christopher, I have spent a shitload more on "real life" than I ever have on my PS3, so your comment is not really accurate is it? While I'm playing my PS3, I'm not bothering anyone else and not spending money on beer. Oh, and if you want to wave your arms around blindly at something that vaguely resembles something else, try getting drunk instead of playing on a Wii.

Tough call

Don't get me wrong, my brother is quite a big chap and really doesn't eat excessively so I know it's not always a matter of choice, but then how do you solve the problem? I've been stuck next to very large people before when flying and it ruins your whole flight as you can't for one second get comfortable. The problem is that there's no easy answer.

Sure you could say "well it's -insert fat persons name here- own fault" and charge them extra but then it's not always something they can do anything about. Also where do you stop? You'd have a have a sliding scale of just HOW unpleasant a passenger would be to sit next to (based on size, smell, voice, habits etc) to decide who and what extra to charge, and it's just too complicated.

We could demand that seats are made bigger, but then they'd get less on the plane and ALL of us would pay more for our seats.

They could ban excessively annoying passengers (who cause major inconvenience to others by one means or another) but judging by the people I've seen on planes, it'd seriously cut business and therefore raise prices again.

I think the simplest and only workable solution is to admit that if we want to fly, we're pretty much screwed with whatever we're lumped with. Sucks eh?

Allegedly...

Allegedly they sent a sample of every known virus through the post and it's gone missing, but that's just speculation....

No doubt

Well I don't like Mourinho, but there's no doubt that he's a decent manager and lets face it, anyone after Mac is going to look good. Unlikely it'll happen though which is a shame.

Gamers in demand?

So will they be wanting accomplished combat flight sim gamers to operate the things? :)

Sure....

I bet the US Department of Justice make a regular thing of randomly sending out attachments to people. It still amazes me that people will get drawn into clicking this stuff, but then my girlfriend does even though I've had to de-hose her laptop 3 times in a year.

Anyway if I get the mail I'm sure to click on the attachment. After all, being a UK citizen I have regular communications from the US DoJ don't I?

There should be the IT equivalent of a Darwin award for people who are stupid enough to get caught out by what seem to the rest of us to be quite obvious attacks. There'd be a lot given out though :)

How long?

Just wondering how long the affected pages were accessible to the public. They say "an extremely small percentage of those using the site this week were potentially exposed prior to those pages being cleaned." but then most of us realise that a great proportion of users ignore the updates, or rather don't download them. While antivirus coverage has improved, there are still a hell of a lot of unprotected machines out there.

Personally

I just want to hear the phone ring, and know that eventually it might be answered. Anything else is just an annoyance.

Sorry but....

There were quite a few people who flamed at me for my original comment telling me "it's not a choice to be alcoholic". I'm sorry but it is exactly that, a choice or decision or even a series of decisions made that lead to it. As far as I know, no-one is born alcoholic or just develops it without drinking, so it is just like smoking in that you have to choose, at some point, to start doing it.

I also understand that most alcoholics don't realise that they have a problem until it is too late, or even at all. Just like most smokers don't realise how addicted they are until they try to give up. Believe me, I understand the feeling of dread that is left by wondering where your next drink/smoke will come from.

No-one is under the impression that it is easy for an alcoholic to give up, but saying that they have no choice but to drink is far from the truth. As someone else said, the ones who do quit do so because they make a conscious decision to do so, and despite all the difficulties involved, manage to stick with it.

So I stand my ground. While I believe that employers should, to a point, be understanding and flexible where they can, and there should be more assistance for alcoholics (and indeed smokers) to help people quit, you can never term it as a disability in the same sense as paraplegia for example.

So is it the case...

...that no-one actually truly knows the reason why this happened and they're in fact just guessing? Amazing how little we actually know about the things around us really and how much is based on "best guess". Always makes for a nice surprise from time to time :)

Well imho

We don't need the extreme violence of Manhunt2 in our society (or games) but girl on girl love should be encouraged as much as possible.

Just my opinion of course ;)

Explosive growth?

It shouldn't REALLY be a surprise to anyone, seen as they have just released the cheaper model which, at least in people's minds, brings the console within their "price range". The real question is of course whether that growth will be sustained.

What I can say is that there are more decent games coming out for PS3 than there were and quite a few good ones due over the Xmas period. This may well also persuade a few to join the trend.

Wii "shortage"

The whole thing smacks of a cheap marketing stunt. By faking a shortage, they make their console look more desirable, at least in theory. In my case the inability to get hold of one when I had the money led to me buying a PS3 instead. Either that or Nintendo just have one of the worst logistics records in the world.

Amazed.....

I am just always amazed by things like this, in the fact that someone will buy them based on a simple vague resemblence to two shadowy figures. I guess that's what you get when you let religious fanatics loose on the internet.....

Well I'm going anyway

Seen as my tickets arrived yesterday. It's still the sort of thing that you are likely to have the chance to see only very few times in a lifetime.

Well

How does it work when some angry teenager has his Ipod blasting out music or the have a mobile doing the same so they can all hear it? Is that not either classed as music "sharing" or broadcasting? Because to be honest, the sooner a law comes in place so I don't have to listen to that shit any longer, the better.

Seriously, what is with the music industry these days? They seem to be under impression that the majority of the "music" (a term which I think some of them should be sued for false advertising for using) that they release is actually good, and not just some pointless electronic reproduction of booming bass and tinny pops. Some of my farts are actually more tuneful.

Shit....I just realised....does this mean I am getting old?

At the risk of being cliche......

Reg readers said this would happen (i.e. we told them so)

Lol - OS death after 2 weeks, 3 attempts to restore...

....Go cry, fanboys

For Gods Sake.....

Stop comparing what this woman was looking at to electric voltages. The two scales are completely incomparable.

Also negative celsius values aren't theoretical numbers for all the pedants out there, unless you consider that the celcius scale is just the Kelvin scale with the zero point in a different place. In fact, Celsius is not really a scientifically accepted scale.

So either way - -8C = 265K and -6C = 267K so regardless of the "confusing" minus signs, the same still applies that -8C is the lower termperature. It is not Camelots fault that the woman does not understand the Celcius/Kelvin relationship.

O2

Well, the launch IS apparently 18:02, although why I have no idea. And UK I-Phones will probably remain unhacked until about 18:03

Yay!

Take the websites down and let the pintsized twat disappear into obscurity. Oh and who is with me in starting a legal action against him for false advertising on any occasion where he refers to himself as a "star" or "sexy"? He hasn't been either for a long time (or in the latter case, ever).

Try......

Try "petrol pump porn"......that might work.

Lol

Someone is for a good slapping......fancy getting completely the wrong logo :)

We'll see...

The day that hackers start looking at Mac systems (if they ever bother) in earnest, I'd be willing to bet that hundreds of security holes are found. Mac users like to think they are safe, even the adverts try and fool you so but what the adverts don't point out is that it is just because people don't try. The bug-riddled "Leopard" just goes to show that Apple are not immune from software "features" which would also suggest that they are not immune from malware and security flaws.

"Maccers" should hope that macs remain the "small fry" in the computing world because the more attention they draw to themselves, the more people will start breaking the code.

See the future.....

And in a few weeks, when the novelty wears off and sales drop, there will be 1400 more people back on the job market.

Damn......

They spotted me coming a mile off.....dreams of global domination now dashed....

Toys......Pram....

All I see is a lot of people in a pram, and some toys on the floor by the side of it, having been thrown out of said pram. I accepted the fact years ago that email is not private, and that the government would be able to read what they wanted. I also accept that while amusing, they would have no general interest in my kinky messages to my girlfriend, and as I am not plotting global domination then my general messages are of no interest to them.

I think that much ado has been made of almost nothing. The fact is that they read your emails anyway, this just allows them to bring the contents into court if required. The simple message being, if you are a criminal, don't use emails.

It is the way things have been, are, and will be

Looking back over the life-cycle of systems over the last 30 years or so, it seems to come and go in waves.

Once there were servers, and only servers, seen as the smallest computer you could get was the size of a room and weighed about the same as the combined weight of the contestants on "America's biggest loser".

Then computers got smaller, and everyone wanted one on their desk. They still weighed as much as a mini and had the functionality of a tin of peas but it was still a step up.

After that came a period where servers made a comeback. Bigger, more powerful (and more expensive) machines allowed for centralised data storage. Then some bright-spark realised that the same "tin of peas" (so called because the contents are green in colour) functionality could be achieved by connecting "dumb terminals" to a central server running the software. It worked out cheaper and easier to support than a PC on every desk.

Along comes Windows (and other OS with GUI) and its pretty interface, and the servers can no longer cope with spewing it out to many machines. The full desktop is reborn with pretty colours and endless hours wasted spending Solitaire.

Over time, technology caught up again. Now with servers that can handle dozens of sessions, all providing full Windows functionality, the cost to companies (and the environment) starts to make sense again. For now, at least, virtualisation is worthwhile.......

And so it continues, and we await the next leap in desktop technology or software that renders it unsuitable for virtualisation.....and so on....and so on....

Nildram

Nildram were always excellent when I was with them previously (I've just come back to ADSL after 2 years on cable after moving house) but I wonder how long it'll take for Tiscali to mess up Nildram as well?

I used to be with LineOne, which had a good service and a great community, but Tiscali took it over and it went downhill. The same is now happening with Pipex, and no doubt will happen with Nildram. Basically I think Tiscali keep losing market share (because they are crap) and their answer to this is to buy another ISP to boost their share, at least until the users can leave and go elsewhere again.

It's a shame that the large heaps of poo can swallow up and completely cover the small glimmers of gold.

Get real......

Looks like a Steyr Aug? No...looks like a lump of cheap plastic.

Pop Star?

Sorry, I wasn't aware that he was even still releasing music. Ahh well, perhaps he's planning another "Greatest Hits" album, which isn't just a way to screw some more money out of the same tired songs at all, is it?

If you really want to help the music industry (the REAL music industry) buy the music of some good indie bands, or ones supported by small labels. That's the only way to make it fair, as it takes the money away from the big corporations and hands it to the little guy.

But Google DO make a profit from piracy......

At least in a round-about way. They have people who pay them for top billing on particular searches for a start, and other advertising that they make money from. Now it is fair to say that Google would not BE what they are without the search engine, which people CAN use to search for illegal links, or sites hosting illegal links. So lets say that for example, 10% of Google searches are to find illegal content, given how much money the company makes now that's quite a bit of money that Google make from piracy isn't it?

Of course they'll claim that their search engine allows you to search for ANYTHING and it is not only for pirated material, but then I would say that they've done almost nothing to actually prevent the pirate searches.

Of course, they won't attack Google, they have too much money and can afford big lawyers. Instead the RIAA/MPAA/FACT like to pick on the little people who they know cannot afford a decent defense.

@ Jesus Puncher

Spaghetti Monster? Has someone been reading into Pastafarianism then?

Wii sex simulator?

How about making a sex simulator game for all those who stand no chance of actually getting laid? They could even market a "strap-on" holder for the controllers. Oh dear lol.......

200 Mbit ADSL?

Perhaps if you live within ten metres of the exchange.......

Nintendog?

Now is this a real puppy or a virtual one?

This is useless without pics

After all, without pictures how could be possibly decide if the law was justified? Depending on the state of them, they might have been doing the crowd a favour making her keep them under wraps.

Besides.....

....looking at the releases coming out on the two formats, Blu-Ray seems to be getting the wider reception. What I mean is that if what I see in shops is anything to go by, more new titles are being released on Blu-Ray than on HDDVD.

But....but.....

Wii sports MUST win best simulation....because you move your hand like a tennis bat innit? The fact that in most of the games, the hand movement is only loosely related to the player movement is beside the point......and the games all look shit.

Re: Any answers for conspiracy theorists?

I know the moon looks pretty small from here, but it's actually quite big, and it'd take some doing to find the exact spot that the flag was "planted".

I'm virtually impressed.......

I'll get my coat... :)

Blind reviewer?

Just wondering if the reviewer was blind, considering that aesthetically it is far less pleasing to the eye than the K810i that went before it. The buttons are plastic looking, squishy and ugly, and the whole front panel of the phone feels cheap and poorly put together.

I wanted one of these, at least until I went and actually looked at them.

Closer to the truth

More like no-one can be arsed to sit and fiddle with Vista for long enough to discover the vulnerabilities. I remember when they said the same sort of thing about XP (increased security etc.) and how long did it take for the "features" to start being exposed?

Well, serves you right....

That's what you get for having the "spyware" Realplayer installed.

Shame shame

One advantage of people gaining more technical knowledge in general is that eventually PC World will either have to sort themselves out or go out of business.

Everyone who knows anything knows that what they said is just an excuse. The truth is that the public are wising up to how crap they are.

Dangerous masturbation?

I think that hospitals ought to directly charge people who are bought in having had "suspicious injuries" involving vacuum cleaners, and inanimate objects stuck in strange orifices. Either that or take pictures and sell them to "You've Been Framed" for our amusement, and pump the money back into the NHS.