* Posts by Sordid Details

113 publicly visible posts • joined 28 Jan 2008

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Be prepared... to give heathens a badge: UK Scouts open doors to unbelievers

Sordid Details

Re: Why Bother?

This is the point a lot of people miss. Scouts are not making the promise TO God or TO the Queen. They are making the promise to themselves and to their fellow Scouts.

If you don't believe in God then duty to God means nothing to you, so you can hardly be at risk of breaking your promise. Duty to the Queen is a little trickier since we are citizens of this country and bound to her by its laws and the currency in our pockets, but the subtleties of that will be lost on most 8-year olds. They don't give a shit, they just want to have fun with their friends. Quite right too.

Sordid Details

Re: Finally

Which begs the question, why on earth did you join?

You thought only Google dodges UK taxes? So do all the Brit firms

Sordid Details
Thumb Down

Re: Smoke and mirrors

If BSkyB is including VAT in those figures then of course it is not paying that at all - its customers are! Corporations pay corporation tax and employers NI, the rest of it is paid by us, not them.

Top-secret US spaceplane sets off on another classified mission

Sordid Details
Coat

Earth is fucked. I'd like to think it' will be women and children first into the inter-galactic lifeboats, but we all know it's going to be the nerds.

Mine's the pressure suit...

Google kills free version of Apps for business

Sordid Details
Happy

I don't see what the problem is

Why do so many people assume that Google are obligated to give away all of their services for free, and that if they charge for them then somehow it makes them into an evil money-grabbing empire?

Ok, so maybe they *are* an evil money-grabbing empire, but as an existing Google Apps user I wouldn't complain too loudly if they charged me for the service. It's a damned good service and I am astonished that it has been free for as long as it has.

Remember, you get what you pay for. At least if you pay for the product then you have some rights and a commercial relationship with Google. As the saying goes, if you're not paying then *you're* the product. My expectation as a paying customer would be that I would be released from some of Google's more overt advertising.

Chinese student fails job interview because of iPhone

Sordid Details
Unhappy

Re: Sounds like....

"Working at our company is tough. It calls for someone who can take the pain and suffering."

Pain and suffering? Must be Foxconn...

Automatic Facebook couple pages: Nauseating sign of desperation

Sordid Details
Pint

Re: Yoinks!

It was dark, I was drunk...

Sordid Details
WTF?

Yoinks!

Yep, me and the missus are on there.

After I'd stopped throwing up, I began to wonder what Facebook are doing about the security side of things. Me and 'er indoors have separate settings to control who can see what, so can anyone see this page? Highest common denominator of settings? Something else entirely that I can't find the options for?

I'm seriously thinking about killing my Facebook account now, but I'm afraid that if I stop liking the "Physicists 4 Angular Momentum" page, the world may stop turning...

Google rolls out new, cheaper Chromebooks 'for everyone'

Sordid Details
Happy

Re: Target market

Well I won't be buying one, but only because I shelled out for the previous gen Chromebook 550 and I am perfectly happy with it (although I wish it had been cheaper).

The cloud model doesn't work for everyone. It took me a while to get used to it as a way of working, and occasionally there are tasks that require me to kick the kids off the iMac, but for 95% of the work I do the Chromebook suits me down to the ground. Take your Chromebook on the move? To be honest, why would you need to unless you really don't get what the cloud is about. I don't take my Chromebook to work with me or when I visit my mother. I fire up a browser on any computer I can find, log in to my Google account (two-factor authentication, thank you very much) and my whole world is there again.

Chromebook has a place for people like me who want the form factor of a laptop with the convenience of the cloud. Folks, there's no need to turn this into yet another a flame war. It's horses for courses. If a fat client is what you need to do you thing then use it and be happy.

Kobo revamps e-reader line, intros mini model

Sordid Details
Happy

Re: The next generation

Hehe, at least no-one can patent the idea. Your post qualifies as prior art. :)

Hypersonic Waverider scramjet in epic wipeout

Sordid Details
Facepalm

Re: Sunk cost

"...whether or not to risk burning more expensive hardware."

Might as well. If you're not going to fly it then what''s the point of having it?

El Reg probes pregnant Playmobil lass

Sordid Details
Coffee/keyboard

Re: Time for another ElReg Playmobile recreation?

I doubt it was his hand, but thanks for the giggle.

Not a Cloud in my holiday sky

Sordid Details
WTF?

Enlighten me

If your intention was to get away from it all, and you went to the lengths of telling your clients that you would be unavailable, I am struggling to understand why you went to such lengths to make yourself available. Or am I just missing the glorious irony?

Rivals routed by Apple, Google smartphone onslaught

Sordid Details
Alert

It makes me wonder how bad RIM's sales must have been in the last year that their market share can drop so significantly. Am I the only person who bought a new BlackBerry?

Google Nexus 7 Android tablet

Sordid Details
Meh

Haven't we been here before?

Lack of native apps, no 3G option and only built-in storage...sounds like the BlackBerry PlayBook!

Google Chrome update plugs score of security bugs

Sordid Details
Meh

Updating

Doesn't Chrome do this automagically? I have Chrome running on Windows 7, XP and Mac machines. None of them has a 'Check for updates' option...

Samsung Galaxy S Advance mid-range Android

Sordid Details
Happy

Battery life

I've been using one of these phones on a trial for a few months. Let me tell you that the battery life belies the specs. I don't know what Samsung have done to this phone, but it's the first (sensibly-sized) Android phone I've had that will last for more than one day between charges. You will get two days comfortably out of this phone, and it's nice to get to the evening with 50% battery left and no need to panic. That, and the speed and storage, makes it a winner in my view.

Vodafone unfurls booster brolly for mobes

Sordid Details
Big Brother

Mobe?

I thought El Reg had banned the use of that word?

Megan Fox fingers fondleslab in sexy store promo

Sordid Details

Edwina

You'd hear no complaints from me...

Sordid Details
Coat

Phwoar

You should see what's happening in my underpants right now. Talk about 'Transformers'...!

RIM shares take a bath after uninspiring BlackBerry 10 unwrap

Sordid Details
WTF?

ANOTHER developer drive?

This is the root of RIM's problems. BlackBerry OS 5 and 6 had begun to get some halfway decent and useful applications. Then along came the PlayBook with a new operating system and a big push to get developers porting their apps to it. That doesn't go as well as planned so they introduce an Android runtime. Now developers are being offered ANOTHER new OS and encouraged to develop for that. It's always jam tomorrow with these guys, and they need to be delivering today. That's the message the markets are sending them in the share price.

RIM are hopeless at supporting legacy applications. I bought applications from BlackBerry App World on my old 9700 that won't install on my new 9790, claiming it is not supported. WTF? The 9790 is near enough identical to the 9700/9780 but can't run its applications? Shame on you RIM.

Can you imagine how developers would feel if each new iteration of Microsoft Windows was application incompatible with the last?

Microsoft stuffs $300m into Nook, bolts B&N app to Windows 8

Sordid Details
Pirate

Newco

Bing Books, anyone?

Windows Phone 7 'not fit for big biz ... unlike Android, iOS'

Sordid Details
WTF?

Re: WP7 is a breath of fresh air

I have an iPhone 3GS and a Nokia Lumia 710 so I am coming from a position of knowledge of both when I ask if you consider iTunes an abomination, what superlative do you use to describe Zune?

Computer nostalgia is 10 PRINT 'BOLLOCKS'

Sordid Details
Facepalm

Thank you, thank you. I'm here all week.

Not if you keep making jokes like that, you won't be. ;o)

Get yourself a pair of these to go with that card wallet... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ZX-Spectrum-Cufflinks-Cuff-Links-Brand-New-Box-/250682198929?pt=UK_JewelleryWatches_MensJewellery_Cufflinks&hash=item3a5dd2cb91

Google Drive Issues on Mac

Sordid Details
FAIL

Re: But works absolutely fine on Windows

It installed and works fine on my Windows 7 netbook, but when I shut it down it crashes with a memory error.

RIM should focus on BBM, find a human CEO

Sordid Details

Keyboards

"This means RIM must innovate around keyboards. I am amazed that RIM has never launched a landscape QWERTY format phone..."

Amen brother. Having just 'upgraded' from a 9700 to a 9790 precisely *because* of the proper keyboard, I've been disappointed with the inclusion of me-too touchscreen technology on a device that really doesn't need it.

Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet

Sordid Details
Unhappy

Missed opportunity

My first thought when I saw this was "Ooh, Windows 8", but sadly the screen resolution is too low (as the Consumer Preview so unhelpfully kept reminded me on my Asus netbook).

Anonymous web weapon backfires with hidden banking Trojan

Sordid Details
Happy

Now THAT'S justice

#thatisall

BlackBerry PlayBook OS gets RIM spit 'n' polish

Sordid Details
WTF?

Agreed

My Google Apps account also sync'd first time....email, calendar and contacts, all there. Bill Ray' subtle dismissal of the PlayBook would be forgivable if he had his facts right.

Expert to finger air steward commentards who 'harassed' pilot

Sordid Details
Coffee/keyboard

You had me at "finger"

So easy to do while they're serving the drinks...

RIM slashes BlackBerry PlayBook tablet prices

Sordid Details
Go

Got mine on Saturday

Got it when the price of the 16Gb dropped to £169, figured it was worth a punt and no big loss if it turned out to be a dud. But I'm very impressed with it. Everything works and works well, the form factor is great and the bezel swiping just genius. I bet it won't be long before Apple rip off that particular feature. Seriously folks, I'm no RIM-boy (not sure that's quite the right expression...) but PlayBook is no turkey. The problem is it's RIM best-kept secret.

Top RIM jobs shake-up: Heads roll... but not very far

Sordid Details
Paris Hilton

Oh, the irony...

To the right of these comments on my screen right now there is an ad for an article entitled "How to tell if your biz will do a Kodak - learn to recognise failure and move on".

RIM are the Kodak of the smartphone world.

Paris icon, because someone made a joke about RIM jobs and, well, you know...

Wikipedia to shut down Wednesday in SOPA protest

Sordid Details
Pint

God forbid

People might actually try using real books for day...

Busted Phobos-Grunt in harmless splashdown

Sordid Details
Black Helicopters

But is it real debris...

...or, having now successfully distracted the world into *thinking* that the mission has failed, our metal friends have now started the 'failed' engines and are at this moment headed off on an inter-galactic joyride.

Amazon welcomes Microsoft files into Kindle cloud

Sordid Details
Happy

Redmond?

<pedantry>Office for Mac is made in Redmond too, surely.</pedantry>

But Office for Mac users already have a work-around since the Mac print dialog includes an option to 'print' as a PDF file. And PDFs can be sent to your Kindle, albeit as PDFs and not in native Kindle format.

Dell flees netbook market, dumps Minis

Sordid Details
FAIL

Bah!

Another product bites the dust. I'm still ticked off that Dell discontinued the Zino HD - what a great little FreeBSD server that made...

Voyager probe reaches edge of Solar System's 'bubble'

Sordid Details
Coat

My expectation

I'm hoping that it will crash into a wall and it turns out our universe is more akin to the Truman Show. The next Voyager mission will have to be sent out with a big drill attached...

San Diego woman strips to bikini to look for her chihuahua

Sordid Details
Happy

Did I miss something?

What's all this talk about her carrying a sign? I don't remember seeing any sign in the video...

Vodafone customers fume over iPhone 4S delays

Sordid Details
Thumb Up

Mobe?

Didn't The Reg outlaw that moniker a little while back? Nice to see it back though. Like putting on an old pair of slippers.

BlackBerry services splutter back into action, again

Sordid Details
FAIL

Still not fixed

I still can't send email on BIS or BES on my Orange BB. I did get a splutter of email this morning at 9am, but nothing since (and I'm seeing them in my Google mail). Some Facebook features are still borked too. Simply unacceptable for a service whose USP is messaging.

Apple cofounder Steve Jobs is dead at 56

Sordid Details
Unhappy

Also now available in black

http://store.apple.com/uk/product/MB769G/A?fnode=MTY1NDA3NQ&mco=MTA4MzIyMDY

BlackBerry Messenger archives open for inspection

Sordid Details
FAIL

Wrong!

"..all BBM messages go through RIM's UK servers..."

Nope! All UK BB traffic is now handled by servers in Paris and Brussels.

Insider says doom looms at RIM

Sordid Details
Meh

Oh dear

The response from RIM sounds very much like the corporate drivel that was coming out of SCO right up to the end. I'm sure they've got a few push-email patents up their sleeves so perhaps in a few years RIM will be reduced to patent trolling and litigation as a way of keeping the corpse twitching.

Perhaps that's a harsh analogy. I'm a very happy BlackBerry user. The messaging is top notch and I'm not a fan of apps. Probably just as well...

US Army releases new vid of Judge Dredd computer smart-rifle

Sordid Details
Flame

Enemy behind cover?

So now we can shoot people around corners or behind walls? Wonderful. Let's expect a corresponding increase in collateral damage as trigger-happy soldiers shoot yet more terrified civilians trying to find somewhere to hide.

Anyone else still remember the video from Israel of the unarmed Palestinian man trying desperately (and sadly unsuccessfully) to shield his son from the bullets of Israeli soldiers?

Woman sentenced for breaching former employer's PCs

Sordid Details
FAIL

PanTerra security?

I hope PanTerra have also learned the importance of securing email accounts when employees leave (especially when they are fired).

Death by iPod: beware the zombie trance

Sordid Details
Unhappy

Whatever happened to...

...the Green Cross Code Man? He'd be dismayed.

I SAID, THE GREEN CROSS.... Oh, never mind.

Hitachi hides Magic Wand vibrator under a bushel

Sordid Details
WTF?

LOL

"We were told about the Magic Wand by an embarrassed Hitachi executive who hinted that Hitachi was somewhat ashamed of the product and didn't want to publicise it."

And front page on El Reg is...what, exactly?

New drug spray 'makes men as soppy as girls'

Sordid Details
Joke

Nothing new here

There is anecdotal evidence to suggest the Germans have been testing this for years. I believe they started in 1945...

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