Posts by W

6: Fugitive US businessman

...looks suspiciously like a certain Ms Bee (complete with dodgy knock-off Sun Microsystems logo top).

See http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/05/16/moderatrix_boudoir/

A twin, perhaps? Note that the Jungle Jane botherer looks like he's from the same clan too. We demand answers!

Re: Re: Neon Neon

>"Some might say that we reached that point when a certain purveyor of nibbled fruit products put all the bits including the screen in a small grey box with a slot on the front........"

Fair point.

Computer tech has been racing forward over the years. Design has obviously been limited by the physical constraints of the tech. But until recently, of the main brands, only Apple (and too a lesser extent, Sony) have made consistent credible attempts at extinguishing the horrid "standard beige box" and "fake carbon fibre + go faster stripes" schools of design. And as the tech becomes smaller and cheaper, the rest of the industry has started to give more serious thought to design issues. Even unit-shifter Dell has been doing their best (and won me over with the XPS M1330).

While I'm no Apple fanboy (never owned one of their products - admired their ill fated "cube" tho), i have to admit that they've been consistently ahead of the curve in terms of looking pretty.

But looking pretty is not enough if the underlying tech merely performs a broadly similar task in a broadly similar way.

The big thing that seems to be occuring is the shift away from the idea of a computer as either a desktop box (however sleek and white) or a portable laptop (however sleek and white). We're now seeing quite a few *viable* new designs such as netbooks, iPodTouch/iPhone, Dell Studio Hybrid (EEE Box/Mac Mini/Suttle-alike), Asus' keyboard/mini-screen combo machine, Sony's wearable OLED prototypes etc...all of 'em offer a version of "computing" that differs from the 20th century concept of sitting down at a desk, using a mouse and keyboard.

Exciting times.

For what it's worth, I'd like a A4 sized iPodTouch-a-like with built in projector and camera. With all the attendant ways of making sure it's light enough, tough enough etc. A little way off, maybe, but not inconcievable. An ugly version could be sellotaped together today so it's just a case of time until the components are minaturised.

A calculator, alarm clock, radio, notepad, walkman, camera/camcorder, electronic fax machine and a freaky-futuristic-ceefax-machine... all in a dinky mobile phone handset. Who'da thunk it 15-20 years ago? We're already living in the future in so many ways that we take for granted every day.

re: @ Not shopped at Amazon for a while, eh?

No probs.

Makes buying the odd CD / DVD from Amazon a much more viable proposition.

Dream student job job.

Dream student job job. Good times. Great colleagues. Though I always prefered HMV to shop in. Proved my worth as a valuable and diligent employee over the course of a couple of years. Asked for a rise (anything, something) or I'd bail. "Head Office" said no. So I went to Habitat for the remainder of my student job days, got a 25% raise, and ever looked back.

Moral of the story 1 (for staff): retail is a cruel mistress.

Moral of the story 2 (for shops): retail is a cruel mistress.

<icon: for the good times and the memories>

I'm too old.

"much of the discussion concerned Twitpanto – a pantomime to be held through Twitter, in which Tom Watson was due to play a role"

...and I'm not even 30 yet.

99% of statistics...

Average and median can (and often are) wildly different figures.

"One person buys a TV for £3500 & nine do not" gives a £350 average spend. But it also = £0 median spend. Not such an impressive statistic, eh? And this is assuming that the £350 "average spend" figure even includes folk who aren't actually spending.

The Emperor's New HD is a crock in comparison to 85%* of the promises made.

DVD (compared to VHS), and CD (compared to cassette/vinyl) are extremely good formats for the job in question, for 99%* of the population.

Only 32%* of people can actually percieve even 5%* of the actual 33%* improvement that HD offers over DVD. Whereas 89%* of people can percieve 92%* the 281%* improvement that DVD offers over VHS.

*see? We can all sprout spurious statistics to try and garner some thin sliver of credibility. Be they made up or otherwise.

But there's no need for statistics when we all know that you need a socking great telly to make HD worthwhile. And not enough people are willing to shell out for it, even based on the grandiose HD claims. Heck, Freeview boxes can be had for £12 and yet we still hear of the steadfast refuseniks in digital switchover areas. And Blu-Ray is *voluntary*. Broadband streaming at "normal" quality is more desireable for most folk, as evidenced by the swift take-up of BBC's iPlayer in comparison to the indifference to Blu-Ray.

The consumer electronics spend is understandably going on laptops and Nintendo Wiis, not "*slightly better* film disc players that play discs costing a wedge more than normal discs for the essentially the same film, but *slightly better*".

If Sony want(ed) to trojan horse some tech (and they did/do), they should have released PS3-in-a-Vaio rather than BluRay-in-a-PS3.

Allofmp3.com had it absolutely bang on.

Some thoughts...: YouTube and myspace are apparently able to subsidise what must be massive streaming bandwith costs on the basis of on-site adverts (cough - adblockplus - cough). HMV have racks and racks of select CDs and DVDs for £3-5 but want still want to punt on back catalogue CDs for a whisker under £15. And iTunes Store & co still want 70p per track (i.e. £8.40 for a 12 track album)?! Insanity.

I still exclusively buy CDs, rather than paying over the odds for an intangible MP3 download or delving into the murky & choppy waters of P2P. But 90% of my purchases come from Amazon Marketplace (shipped! from the US!) for less than the price of a download. So neither the artist or the label get a penny. I get a tangible artefact. No need to faff around with shared folders on a home WLAN and diligent backups. And the private sellers have probably ripped the CD before selling it (if they've got any sense). Supply and demand, innit? (admittedly a little skewed by those that buy, rip, and sell on).

FACT: Allofmp3.com had it absolutely bang on. Choice of quality of the download from a range available and pay accordingly. Cavernous back catalogue. A realisation that a. downloaded. album. of. 12. MP3. tracks. is. worth. no. more. than. £5. and. more. like. £3. I repeat: a. downloaded. album. of. 12. MP3. tracks. is. worth. no. more. than. £5. and. more. like. £3.

Amazon downloads, aside from the their few headline £4 albums are still too expensive. As are 7digital, et al. - assuming what you want is even available as an mp3. If it is, it's nearly always cheaper to buy the CD either direct from play/amazon or via amazon marketplace. A sorry business model indeed.

emusic are almost there at (allegedly "as low as £0.20 per song"), but you're apparently limited to 30 tracks a month - i.e. 2 and a bit albums worth. Heaven forbid you should want to get more than one new album per fortnight. An absolute nonsense on both counts. That and the fact that their catalogue is noticeably "merely adequate" rather than "fully comprehensive".

And all of this is before I've considered the issue (and cost) of backing up or making it available across a home network.

The reason I use Firefox:

The homepage can be set to "about:robots".

That and AB+ & Customizegoogle.

Oooops, sorry Google - no dice.

Shocking

From the stats at http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/112/ms/index_en.htm

a) Approximate monthly number of 112 calls [per head of population, per month]

b) Share of hoax/false 112 calls (i.e. malicious calls, inadvertent calls or intended calls not related to a real emergency)

c) Measures against hoax/false 112 calls

d) Level of awareness of 112 as a domestic emergency number

e) Level of awareness of 112 as the European emergency number available across the EU

---UK---

a) 2.8 million (including calls to 999) [0.0457 per head, per month]

b) 44% of mobile, 93% of fixed calls

c) call filter / "specific procedures" / supplemental questions

d) 4%

e) 6%

---Ireland---

a) 400 000 (including calls to 999) [0.0904 per head, per month]

b) Up to 80%

c) prosecution and /penal sanctions

d) 15%

e) 14%

---Germany---

a) 1.38 million [0.0168 per head, per month]

b) 10-50%

c) black list / call back to warn and dissuade offenders / prosecution / penal sanctions

d) 65%

e) 12%

---France---

a) 1.1 million [0.0170 per head, per month]

b) n/a

c) n/a

d) 10%

e) 25%

---Italy---

a) 2.5 million [0.0419 per head, per month]

b) n/a

c) n/a

d) 22%

e) 6%

---Spain---

a) 3.312 million [0.0719 per head, per month]

b) 63.3%%

c) black list / prosecution / penal sanctions

d) 57%

e) 19%

---Sweden---

a) 300 000 million [0.0324 per head, per month]

b) 60%

c) call filter

d) 96%

e) 37%

---Netherlands---

a) 47 500 [0.0028 per head, per month]

b) 66%

c) automatic warning messages / warning SMS / prosecution / penal sanctions

d) 95%

e) 34%

---Denmark---

a) 65 250 [0.0113 per head, per month]

b) 75%

c) black list

d) 3%

e) 29%

---Poland---

a) 300 000 [0.0078 per head, per month]

b) 70%

c) n/a

d) 58%

e) 56%

__________

Ireland make an astonishingly large number of emergency calls compared to "safe as houses" Poland and the Netherlands.

The UK also raises a lot of false alarms (where's Dad's Army's "Don't panic!" Jones when you need him?) but only adopts a softly softly approach to the miscreants.

The UK are predictably clueless when it comes to awareness of 112.

Re: Designer?

"Can we have a similar discussion about the meaning of the word 'designer'?"

Indeed. How about engineer while we're at it.

-Check out my idea - "wafferthin" batteries!

>They've already been thought of, and they're tricky to implement.

- OK. But what if they roll up to the size of a standard battery cell.

>Yeah, they'll probably do that as a version when they've cracked the incredibly difficult chemical and physical challenges.

-Whatever. Mine is rechargeable.

>They'll be working on that.

-No problem. Mine's solar, too.

>Well that's definitely one way to secure some "green" cred and column inches with impressionable journos.

-Especially with my model.

>You have a model.

-Yessiree. Check out my glossy 3DS Max render.

>[Sigh]

It seems that every year we get a rash of "products" cropping up, all at a similar time. Something to do with the scheduling of graduate shows perhaps?

I've done a BA in Industrial Design (and, for what it's worth, a BEng too - so put the knives away :-) ) and at no time were we allowed to get away with such flights of fancy as that seen here. We were always required to develop realistic designs and give a credible account of how the thing was gonna be made. As opposed to just mocking up some fantasy in 3DS Max.

I'm all for creative thinking, but without some grounding in realistic "big E" Engineering possibilities it's more accurately described as Art.

We've got the USB Cell, we've got standard rechargeable cells, this roll-up solar notion is pie in the sky. We'd be much better off working on larger-scale renewable energy generation further up the supply chain, that would support the already existing aforementioned devices. Imho.

Mine's the one with the roll-up solar power station in the pocket.

PS: Any news on the "modular shelf PC" from Asus? - http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/02/23/asus_concept_shelf_pc/

"And who gives a sod if a phone has a standard 3.5mm jack?"

Me.

My reason: My mobile gets used more like an mp3 player with a phone function rather than vice versa, so headphone/earphone choice is more important *to me* than - gasp! - the oh so arduous hassle of yanking the 'phones from the mobile and speaking into the handset itself when I take the occasional call.

There's your answer. Happy now? Guess what? "You" are not "everybody".

Following on...

Q: Who gives a sod if a [object] has a standard [interface]?

A: Most folk prefer non-proprietery equipment. Except those who don't know there's an alternative, those who have money to get around the limitations of said proprietery equipment, or those who didn't understand the question.

I had

Tomato Ketchup on wholegrain Ryvita this morning.

Diagnosis?

"...who is ever away from a plug socket for longer than two hours?"

a) Someone on a journey of more than two hours in a mode of transport without a power socket?

b) Or somebody who works a full day "on the road"?

c) Or one of the other demographics I can't be bothered to spend the time recalling.

_____

Re: Panda vs Fiesta pedantry... - You missed the point entirely. But to indulge you...

Fiat Panda (EEE701) - Functional city car of limited use. Good in the city, but wouldn't fancy driving the length of the UK in it though.

Fiat Punto (EEE901) - When all's said and done, if we're honest, it's a cheapo machine that's entirely capable of many key driving tasks. But it's by no means perfect and most folk wil prefer to spend more money on a more capable machine.

Fiat Bravo (EEE1000) - Small step up in the model range, slightly roomier, but doesn't bring anything drastic to the table compared to the Punto.

Ford Ka (AA1) - Entry level stuff. Spec for spec improves a little on the Panda in some key areas. But still some severe shortcomings for folk, who'll perhaps be more interested in the Fiesta (Acer's coming 10.2 SCC).

VW Golf (HP) - Premium brand. More of a machine. Premium price.

Fiat 500 (S101) - Fancy packaging, but under the hood, it's largely comparable to a cheaper stablemate.

MINI (Sony) - One for those able and willing to spend top dollar on a dead nice machine from a premium brand. But you've gotta admit that you're paying a decent wedge on the branding.

Renault Clio (Tosh) - Not a bestseller. Capable. Big bum (battery) at the back. Otherwise quite tempting.

Corsa (Wind) - Fairly bog standard all-round stuff. Reliable enough. Nowt particularly wrong with it, but I'd spend my money elsewhere.

Nissan (Dell) / Micra (Mini9) - Not for everyone, but most criticism will be borne of ignorance. It's a solid performer from a respected brand.

Toyota Yaris (NC10) - Doesn't always get the headlines, but quietly goes about it's business being undeniably one of the best in class.

Although there will always be folk willing to use (and pay for) a sledgehammer (4x4) just to crack a nut (the school run). Nothing wrong with nuts or sledgehammers, but it's a bit of a mismatch.

If you want to start moving house then none of the above will be up to scratch. You'll want to get your hands on a LWB van (or larger) for a short while. But for the commute/karting a couple of kids around/going to the shops, they offer a fairly cost effective alternative to larger machines.

You just want to cart yourself to the supermarket for a modest shop once a week? Fine, a Panda is the right choice. But most folk will rightly wish to pay more for more of a machine. Which is why Fiestas sell extremely well. Pandas less so.

Just admit that there's a multitude of machines for the multitude of different requirements that folk may have, and very few of these machines are actually bad machines or a massive rip-off when you consider what they can do.

Otherwise I'll break out the dog analogies. ;-)

re: Dell XPS M1330

'Tis indeed a cracking machine, keenly priced, and comes thoroughly reccomended. I have come across zero flaws in the past 18 months or so of using mine.

Using other folks' laptops always shows up the compromises that have been made on only marginally cheaper machines.

RTFA

"For all those saying that the examiners can easily read the documents, that's not the issue, the issue is that the examination conditions were not met, and so the work submitted is invalid. It looks like it's more than just a format issue though if they were supposed to produce a website and presented a word document." - Sooty (Posted Tuesday 9th December 2008 11:05 GMT)

Anyone else saying that they should just unquestioningly accept the .doc file fails the El Reg RTFA criteria.

Maybe they could accpet it but knock off some marks or something, but the key fact will remain that they did not meet the requirements of the course.

If this was a history essay, then things might be different. But it's not, it's a "Diploma in Digital Application". I think getting filetypes right is a justifiable portion of such a course.

Next!

Are there any BSD or Amiga T-shirts available? Or even an Acorn/BBC Micro version. This one can run and run...

Looking forward to the Speccy one with rubber detailing.

Let's take a look...

MP3 albums for £3. All fine and dandy.

Let's take a look the first ten items on my lengthy amazon wishlist, and see if I can bag a few on the cheap...

____________________________

"The Holy Pictures" by David Holmes

MP3: £6.90

New CD: £6.98 (delivered)

New+Used: £6.20 (new, delivered)

____________________________

"Velocifero" by Ladytron

MP3: £6.99

New CD: £8.78 (delivered)

New+Used: £7.71 (new, delivered)

____________________________

"Trout Mask Replica" by Captain Beefheart

MP3: N/A

New CD: £7.98 (delivered)

New+Used: £5.46 (new, delivered)

____________________________

"Hurricane: the Best of" by the Prisoners"

MP3: N/A

New CD: £7.78 (delivered)

New+Used: £7.71 (new, delivered)

____________________________

"The Blue God" by Martina Topley-Bird

MP3: N/A

New CD: £8.78 (delivered)

New+Used: £7.13 (new, delivered)

____________________________

"Stainless Style" by Neon Neon

MP3: N/A

New CD: £8.98 (delivered)

New+Used: £7.20 (new, delivered)

____________________________

"Boss" by Magik Markers

MP3: £6.99

New CD: £9.98 (delivered)

New+Used: £5.16 (used - like new, delivered)

____________________________

"Overpowered" by Roisin Murphy

MP3: £7.99

New CD: £4.98 (delivered - if you spend 2p more, but I'll let that slide)

New+Used: £5.54 (new, delivered)

____________________________

"In Sides" by Orbital

MP3: £7.99

New CD: £10.29 (delivered)

New+Used: £6.70 (used - like new, delivered)

____________________________

"I Am a Bird Now" by Antony & The Johnsons

MP3: £6.99

New CD: £9.98 (delivered)

New+Used: £7.45 (used - very good, delivered)

____________________________

10 albums, nothing especially obscure, all the kind of thing you'd expect to find in a decent HMV for £13.99 or whatever.

Scores on the doors...

2 for MP3 (...out of the 6 occasions the option was available, so 33% at best)

1 for Amazon New CD (...but only due to my concession re: delivery - you'd have to buy something else to get the free delivery)

7 for New+Used Amazon Marketplace (6 x "new", 1 x "used -like new")

Verdict...Amazon Marketplace wins out again. Nothing new there. It's how I've bought the majority of my CDs for years. And, if you can wait the 2 days for arrival, you get a CD artefact as source and backup for a rip to the format of your choice rather than an ephemeral file that you're responsible for archiving and backing up 'cause there's no option to re-download.

I've been saying this for ages, but MP3 albums are not worth more than £5. The market will not bear it. Allofmp3.com knew this from the off and as soon as a legit version is available, it will have things wrapped up.

As for "Hugh_Pym"'s comment that "Simon Cowell is a Multi millionaire on the back of such crap as Sonia, Five and Robson and Jerome" - a) I don't think PirateBay users are DL-ing Sonia, Five and Robson and Jerome somehow, and b) I think the X-Factor TV rights have made made him the most dosh. Pay up, ya scoundrel.

@ Filippo

Well said.

Re: Reg Redesign

'Bitch of a Survey' story has been punted to the top of the pile.

What happened to El Reg claiming that it had stopped that malarkey so as to maintain chronology and the integrity of the homepage?

"It is quieter than a child playing the violin"

Time for the Reg Standards Soviet to come up with an official dB -> "[random sentient being] playing the violin" conversion.

Ecosystem

>ecosystem:

The system of relationships between animals and plants and their environment.

-Collins Essential English Dictionary 2nd Edition 2006.

>ecosystem [ec·o·sys·tem] (ěk'ō-sĭs'təm, ē'kō-)

n.

An ecological community together with its environment, functioning as a unit.

-The American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary

>ecosystem [eco·sys·tem]

Pronunciation: -"sis-t&m

Function: noun

The complex of a community and its environment functioning as anecological unit in nature

-Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary

...nope, nothing about computer environments or L'Oreal shampoo. So will you all please stop it. You know who you are.

Shit a brick.

It's a fucking insanity when the "think of the children" line is rolled out by some cunts in relation to the cocky use of bloody by some twats who,amongst other editorial wank, print tits on page 3 every day "in a family paper".

More seriously, what about the parodied original Australian tourism ad that used 'bloody'? (Only shown after 9pm, presumbaly.)

Re: "random wireless network disconnects"

Uh-huh. That would be my #1 fix request.

Followed by the removal of whatever instigates that green address bar thingy in Windows Explorer, and the associated wait that comes with it.

Followed by the reinstatement of the slideshow view of photos in WindowsExplorer.

Followed by the option of an "Up one level" icon.

Other than that, things are decent enough - insofar as I don't actually recall Vista ever crashing on me. Although the same could be said for XP since SP2.

But that's just me.

@ Anonymous Coward - Thursday 20th November 2008 08:22 GMT

RAmen.

Simple

Just get Simon Cowell and pals, "The Dragons" or the Strictly... crew to be jury for every single trial. Or Clarkson and his buds could have a "Guilty Wall" instead of the "Cool Wall".

Come to think of it, those guys might as well be the guvvamunt too, seeing as folk seem more inclined to pay to vote on which slebs get to parade their mug around on the telly for another week than to actually use their free vote for a political party to govern 'em for the next few years.

Or, for less than a quid...

...just buy and carry a 3.5mm to 2x3.5mm jack headphone splitter adapter and tell 'em to plug their 'phones in.

Rather that than this daft suggestion of a product.

Diminishing returns

>"Using cheap earphones on your expensive MP3 player is as pointless as spending all your money on a triple SLI graphics set-up and using a 14in CRT to watch it all on."

With A/V kit there's the "A" element" that sits alongside the "V" and contributes to the overall experience. Also, size isn't everything. An MP3 player is all "A" and no "V", so it's arguable that the earphones are a *more* fundamental element of the overall enjoyment of an MP3 player.

That said, £40 sounds like plenty to me, but fair dinkum if they're as good as claimed.

But who the hell spends £229 on *ear*phones!? £229 on decent *head*phones for use indoors in a controlled environment ...maybe - if you're a spoddy audiophile.

The thing about earphones is - it's a leap of faith. Who lets you try out earphones before you buy? Who would want to stick a manky shop tester pair in their lugholes, anyway? And honestly, how good can audio on a train or walking around town ever be? Really? Honestly? Diminishing returns, non?

My £10 pair of Sennheiser MX460 earphones from Richer Sounds has done a perfectly suitable job of the task in hand, cheers.

@Ishkandar re: Apple

Aye. That's why I mentioned it. I shoulda been more explicit.