* Posts by Jolyon

353 publicly visible posts • joined 22 Mar 2007

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Fretting Googler retracts anti-Google+ rant

Jolyon

What's the relevant level of cynicism?

Can't work out if this is viral marketing or not.

I know that even negative news stories always specify Facebook and Twitter if they can (even on the BBC where they shy away from specifying brands in other markets) so could this be a way of raising the profile of Google+ which might be better than others if anyone actually used it?

Smut oglers told to opt in to keep web filth flowing

Jolyon

@Nextweek

Although on the upside your hairy palms are ideal for speed reading Braille.

Nanotubes, sulfur expand battery storage

Jolyon

On 24 November 2000 the Royal Society of Chemistry issued this press release, which accepts sulfur as the standard form, and which is presumably the base for the COD’s recommendation in 2001:

Sulphur or sulfur?

An internationally agreed nomenclature is essential for science. This ensures that scientists can communicate with each other clearly, and consistent nomenclature is increasingly important as scientific information is searched electronically. For chemistry the standards are agreed by IUPAC [International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry]. In 1990 it was recommended by IUPAC that the spelling of sulfur would use ‘f’ instead of ‘ph’ and at the same time the spellings aluminium and caesium were recommended instead of aluminum and cesium (the spellings in common use in the USA). Interestingly, in 18th and 19th century Britain it was commonplace for sulfur to be spelt with either an ‘f’ or ‘ph’.

http://lavengro.typepad.com/peter_harvey_linguist/2007/07/sulphur-or-sulf.html

El Reg follows World Solar Challenge

Jolyon

Definitely don't need a 4wd

Just get a proper Aussie car.

Drove the length of the Stuart Highway in 2001 in a first generation Holden Commodore that I bought for AUS$1100 (less than £400 at the time) and which must have been 20 years old by then.

Can general relativity explain the OPERA neutrino result?

Jolyon

@FMJ

"This years Nobel Chemistry prize winner..."

So it took some work for him to establish himself but he has done so and precisely because of the scientific review processes. He now has the top dog award. Some of his peers may have been dogmatic but 'science' wasn't.

Now imagine Galileo becoming pope . . .

'iPhone 4 to be free' when new iPhones ship

Jolyon

@Stike Vomit

"get over yourselves, you Apple worshiping bell-ends!"

I don't have an iPhone or any other Apple computer and I have more El Reg downvotes from the tards that do than those that don't - I'd like to think my Apple-worshipping credentials are pretty shoddy.

But it's mad to deny the fact that they have established a brand that people admire.

Pull out an iPhone and people will go "Ooh, is that an iPhone?"

Pull out an Android phone and people will go "Ooh, is that an iPhone?"

Bar a few geeks no one is going to be impressed by you owning one of the alternatives.

That this is true doesn't mean the iPhone's better, just more widely desired.

Jolyon

Apple are well positioned

The cachet of owning one means that they can bump the older models down the price bands to hoover up the cost-sensitive purchasers without having to worry about people not upgrading.

If an iPhone 3GS was brought down to the price of, say, the Orange San Francisco it'd take an idealogical commitment to stay away from Apple.

Carphone Warehouse whipped for cheap Jesus mobe ads

Jolyon

If they were reading this they probably wouldn't need to rush to a hotspot.

WTF is... HbbTV?

Jolyon

Mode 7

PRINT CHR$(141);"I MISS CEEFAX"

PRINT CHR$(141);"I MISS CEEFAX"

Microsoft staff savage Ballmer at company confab

Jolyon

Stagnant

I can imagine it's a frustrating place to be.

Office really is a best of breed application set but it has been for over a decade and really hasn't needed anything more than tinkering.

Windows has genuinely improved but has seen precious little in the way of innovation.

There's been a process of refinement and consolidation but everything they try and do that is cool or fun is either a dismal failure or underpromoted (internally and externally).

Where's my 'Surface' coffee table, Microsoft?

Compared with working at Apple, Google or Amazon it must seem a bit dull.

Google unfurls Dead Sea Scrolls

Jolyon

No one said this shouldn't be done - there were just a few jokes about this sort of text and then someone got all sniffy about atheists shoving their views down everyone's throats and that riled those amongst them who are a bit tired of being told that they are the only people who must not do this, especially when they are just having a bit of fun.

I would imagine that all the atheists believe it goes without saying that preserving ancient documents of all sorts is just a Good Thing.

Jolyon

@AC 17:25

"more than 10 [or better: ten] minutes HAVE passed"

Yes, if he meant that the number of minutes that had passed was greater than ten, but his original is fine if he wasn't counting individual minutes and simply meant that a period of time greater than ten minutes in duration had elapsed.

Drinking alcohol wards off asthma

Jolyon

Sounds like a wheeze

Which brewery will be first to market with bronchiale?

Ancient auto: still running, up for sale

Jolyon

Another Reg reader who could make a very interesting contribution to the site (or is there an existing blog / site for these projects?)

1-in-3,200 chance* that a fiery satellite chunk will hit someone on Friday

Jolyon

Interesting

That's the sort of thing I'd like to see more of on the Reg.

Jolyon

So not a 1 in 3,200 chance I will be hit but a 1 in 3,200 chance *someone* will be hit.

I feel much happier about that.

That's fate tempted.

Rogue toilet takes out Norfolk server

Jolyon

Cistern outage

Pity poor Stuart for having to sift through the dumps from that one.

Alt headline:

WC PC KO

(although now it is fixed WC PC OK, I suppose).

Faster-than-light back with surprising CERN discovery

Jolyon

Reporting

I'm not sure the silly reporting is bad for science. It makes it sounds more exciting for child minds - both those who may grow up to be scientists and those who decide where to allocate funds.

Virtual and real worlds collide in gamers' minds

Jolyon
Trollface

@AC 17:36

"I claim pre-senile dementia as I am in my 50s"

*Pre* ?

Windows 8 secure boot would 'exclude' Linux

Jolyon

Apple has boot camp

Which is one of the reasons I would consider one of their PCs even though it's quite possible that after buying one I would use it infrequently if ever.

Jolyon

Won't happen like that

Which may be a shame as it sounds like the sort of push that might finally lead to broad mainstream acceptance of Linux desktops.

Nothing people dislike more than being told they are having choices removed even if they had no intention of taking up the alternative options.

Science, engineering PhDs to drop by a third

Jolyon

Surely ageing is an area of interest to all of us who have yet to finish doing it.

British warming to NUKES after Fukushima meltdown

Jolyon

@AO

"Only a Guardian reader could think that "the original Guardian article" was actually the primary source for an opinion poll."

I didn't think that - I guessed you might have been alerted to the poll by your colleague at the Guardian who wrote that article earlier in the day and thought mentioning it might, well ... I thought I'd mention it anyway and not just because it was better.

Jolyon

Shoddy

"What the poll certainly indicates is that people are more rational than scaremongers suggest – and perfectly capable of performing risk analysis, weighing up the costs and benefits of a technology. "

Rubbish.

How irrational do these scaremongers suggest 'people' are?

And how does this show people are more rational than that?

And how do you know that this 41% minority is performing risk analysis? Is everyone who agrees with you (and me, as it happens) automatically and retrospectively brilliant?

"It's a striking contrast to Germany, where politicians bowed to the "Green" fringe "

It might be a stark contrast to Germany but we don't know because if there has been a similar poll there it isn't referenced.

There'd only be a stark contrast to what you say if our govt. determinedly rejects the Green "fringe" (not that painting this as a sensible, car driving, Top Gear types against sandal eating Greens is either helpful or accurate) and builds more nuke plants.

This is a silly, biased, patronising analysis and doesn't advance the cause of nuclear power one inch. The original Guardian article is better http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/sep/09/nuclear-power-popular-in-uk

Intel promises '20X' power reduction with 'Haswell' chips

Jolyon

In the OED apparently

Quotes Keats using it in 1818

"“This was architected thus By the great Oceanus.”"

LOHAN to suck mighty thruster as it goes off, in a shed

Jolyon

TIMBERLAKE

Temperature Ihibited Main Body Evacuated Rocket Launch Activity KPI Evaluator

Got a non-iPad tablet? Weirdo

Jolyon

Keyboard schmeeboard.

Some people write letters, I bet some still even use fountain pens.

Anti-gay bus baron rages at being stuffed in Google closet

Jolyon

Have a promotion

No one has ever suggested anything should be 'actively promoted', it's not like there's discount rent boys behind the bike sheds or bonus payments for girls who swear off men.

All that anyone does is mention that some people are gay and that this is perfectly okay.

French officials: 'Don't worry about fatal nuclear explosion'

Jolyon

I can't find that quote in the linked article.

Waterstone's to take on Kindle and Nook with own reader

Jolyon

Probable fail

I'd like some kind of buy-the-physical-book-get-the-ebook-free deal.

Orange Monte Carlo budget Android smartphone

Jolyon

Xperia mini

Has a screen resolution of only 320 x 240, I believe, which may be a factor for some.

Green energy and jobs will cripple the UK economy

Jolyon

Thanks

For the reply, Steve.

I assumed that the Danes have also increased demand so if they have managed to supply that with wind power rather than any other sort then wind for them is working (maybe not well or efficiently but to some extent).

I'm just trying to get a handle on this issue which is nigh on impossible with opinions polarised as they are.

Now, let me ask the Reg readers if I should buy an Apple laptop . . .

Jolyon

Not doubting anyone's figures

But the argument seemed to switch in an instant from 'wind power does not work' to 'the Danes make wind power work for them but their electricity is expensive' which is not quite the same thing.

Is wind power buffered by hydro a workable option? Is it a workable option here given UK geography?

How much would energy prices have to rise to make it economically viable?

Amazon's cloudy vid-tablet breaks cover: Not an iClone

Jolyon

Price

Would you still buy and iPad if there was a good enough alternative that was considerably cheaper?

I'd guess Amazon is mainly interested in getting people tied in to their services and so can shove the hardware onto the market below the cost of their competitors.

I will buy a tablet at some point and I am not fussed who from.

Galaxy Tab 7.7 pulled from IFA after new Apple moves

Jolyon

"We will prove that it's not who makes the tablet first who counts but who makes it better."

Haven't Apple already done that?

Sid Meier's Civilization

Jolyon

I love SMAC

So called because that's how addictive it is, I presume.

As we can't really include Master of Magic then Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri still for me the best of these - terrible graphics engine crippled PCs at the time but now it flies along.

Only game that comes close to taking as much of my time as this series of games would be Championship Manager.

DARPA wants a working manned starship for $500k

Jolyon

@auburnman

"if you gave even the slightest toss about the occupants."

I suspect the next successful manned space programme will give less of a toss about the occupants than NASA has.

We've had good reason on El Reg before about how one-way trips to Mars make sense for example.

RAM prices set to 'free fall'

Jolyon

Sideways

I paid twenty or thirty quid for a 32k 'sideways' RAM module for my BBC B, guess that will have been my most expensive.

Seven lessons from the HP Touchpad fire sale

Jolyon

Yep.

Lovely product that just lacked phone / mobile data integration.

Still the best feel of any comparable device; solid and (literally) cool.

CERN: 'Climate models will need to be substantially revised'

Jolyon

Nature

Well done the Register for filtering out those parts of Nature which do not support the correct way of thinking.

I can cancel my subscription now, safe in the knowledge that if it ever gets anything right it will be brought to my attention here.

Nokia accidentally unveils OS it should have had in 2009

Jolyon

I'm interested

Would very much like to give this a go.

At the moment I use an E71 for calls / texts and a ZTE Blade for data - not yet found a phone that can do everything I want that has the battery life of a decent Nokia phone.

What's the N8 like in this respect?

Apple MacBook Pro 17in 2011

Jolyon

Useful comment.

Thanks.

Logitech unwraps fold-away keyboard for iPad

Jolyon

Psion

Had the best keyboard designers - this reminds me of their work.

Marriage makes women get fat, divorce does same to men

Jolyon

re: 1664 starts making much more sense

I'm an ale man myself but yeah, in trying circumstances even Kronenbourg makes sense - and housework would definitely count.

HP murders webOS tablets, phones

Jolyon

Rich boy

A proper rich boy would have had a BBC Micro with a 6502 second processor for the ultimate (at the time) Elite experience.

Audio Technica ANC7b noise-cancelling headphones

Jolyon

Good neighbour

I wish headphone reviews included some mention, ideally a standardised test, of noise leakage.

Popular Android modder takes job with Samsung Mobile

Jolyon

Cheap POS

CM7 is available for the Blade (Orange San Francisco) which is cheap although not exactly a POS.

Can you handle LOHAN's substantial globes?

Jolyon

You can launch the rocket before any balloon pops

Or at least you can make a reasonable effort to do so.

Any plan that involved waiting until the balloon has burst before firing the rocket would have all sorts of issues - where's the balloon at that point? What direction is everything facing? What direction is everything moving?

My instinct is that anything relying on being able to tie the launch in with the balloon burst is attempting to be too clever for its own good.

Jolyon

Plan B. Rubber of Fantastic Length..

Co-incidentally that's also the proposed title of his next album.

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