* Posts by Jim Herd

11 publicly visible posts • joined 5 Feb 2008

Another chance to win a 6TB Western Digital Black hard drive

Jim Herd

Jesus Christ, who deleted my robots.txt?

The Apple Watch: Throbbing strap-on with a knurled knob

Jim Herd

Re: I'll...

For a marketing company they certainly seem to come up with a lot in the way of technical innovation.

Jim Herd

Re: I'll...

I'll be able to tell if my heart rate is within the necessary range to improve my cardiovascular health when I'm walking and it'll record improvements over time without any hassle unlike some of my previous heart rate monitors.

I don't tend to find silent mode much use when I'm out and about walking in the streets. I usually miss calls because I can't feel the vibrations as I'm not a hipster wearing skinny jeans. YMMV.

East London.

Jim Herd

Re: I'll...

It's a new paradigm. I tend to find most of them at least mildly interesting even if I don't intend to buy one. I found the original iPad interesting and promising but I didn't buy one as it lacked things like a camera for video conferencing etc. There seem to be way too many folk claiming not to see the point which seems to me to be displaying a staggering lack of imagination.

Jim Herd

Re: I'll...

For a tech website it's amazing how many of the commenters seem to hate technology.

Seemed like a good idea to me to get the first version to see how it evolves and then get a new one in about three years when the battery lasts a week and it's a lot slimmer. I'm going to find the heart rate monitor useful and it'll be nice to reduce the cacophony of dings and dongs from my phone. Not to mention reducing the possibility of being robbed every time I pull out my iSchlong in public.

Bishop Hill: Gonzo science and the Hockey Stick

Jim Herd
Stop

Good article

The book sounds very plausible. Michael Mann is the poster boy for the AGW crowd. It would appear that his most famous creation, the hockey stick, which is still trotted out on the BBC as in the recent Earth: The Climate Wars, is complete bunk and yet we still have posters willing to shoot the messenger. Nice.

One strange omission from the article is the fact the Mann's hockey stick fraudulently mixes two difference types of data: proxy data and real temperature data. This is the essence of the infamous "trick" of Climategate fame. Mann discovered that he had a bit of a problem: his proxy data failed to track the supposed warming post 1961 and actually showed a cooling. A little tricky when what you actually want is a nice big tick like the ones the teacher used to give you to stop you sulking. So, what did he do? He used a "trick" which has been unbelievably defended by AGW supporters the web over, and simply chopped the inconvenient data at 1961 and replaced it with actual thermometer data. Hey presto! A nice hockey stick.

It seems to me that a nice, simple way to resolve this particular issue is to half the amount of money currently given to climate scientists to prove AGW, because that's effectively all that is currently happening. The rest of the money should then be given to other scientists from fields such as applied mathematics, physics, geology, etc., with the explicit remit of tearing apart the science that's emerged from climate science institutes the world over. Of course, they'd have to provide their complete, unexpurgated data, fully documented methodologies, etc., etc. which they currently seem loathe to do. Any climate science that isn't up to scratch should be removed from the scientific record as was the Lancet report on MMR and Autism.

Simple. A deep cleansing of the scientific literature. In the meantime, there should be a moratorium on new taxes, etc., and the IPCC should be disbanded as it is clearly not producing unbiased reporting on the science as it should. A breathing space of, say, 10 years ought to do it. I rather suspect that, long before the 10 years are up, AGW will vanish in a puff of CO2.

Apple iPhone 3GS

Jim Herd
Thumb Up

@LS

I thought I had and saw no mention of it anywhere on Apple's site nor in any of the pages and pages of reviews. I now see a few mentions on a website or too so I take it back. I think I'll still wait now though and see what the next revision is like. Contract not up until November and then I'll just wait either a month until the rumoured surprise device shows up or seven months until the next WWMC. Roll on a 800x480 OLED iPhone with 64GB;). Erm, I'll take one;).

Jim Herd
Stop

Wot still no A2DP?

The bluetooth is still crap which is a big drawback. I hate having to use a wired headset. I think I'll be waiting for the next one. There's a rumour that there'll be a surprise new iPhone for Christmas with HD OLED screen. In any case, I think I'll wait until there's an OLED screen before deciding to plump for one. That's one pricey mo fo pho. You never know, the surprise for Christmas might be scrapping the O2 deal If that happens it's bye bye O2 for me.

Microsoft orders 65nm Xbox 360 graphics chip

Jim Herd
Flame

@Mad Hacker

Sounds like you've got a faulty PS3. That doesn't happen to mine.

However, I've just had a problem arise with my first gen 360. I'm not a big gamer and mainly used it as a media extender and with the HD DVD add-on. Well, it's just started to hang from cold watching a HD DVD:(. No red ring of death. I called Microsoft and they said send it in and we'll fix it for £60. I complained that it was an original console, Sale of Goods Act, etc. but they wouldn't budge. I'm going to have to go back to Game and do the SoG Act stuff as it's really their responsibility and I'm sure I get it fixed for free but it's a pain.

Freeview lobby cries foul on Ofcom HDTV plans

Jim Herd
Gates Horns

Freeview is flawed anyway

As I see it, the government and OFCOM made the wrong choice over Freeview in the first place. They knew that they had a choice between a smallish number of high quality channels or a large number of lower quality channels. They went for the multiple channels showing dross option. They knew at the time that they should cater for the possibility of HD but they clearly haven't.

I think that they should cut the number of SD channels available, viz. Nuts TV and simliar shopping channel rubbish, and clear the airwaves ASAP for BBC, ITV, and CH4 in HD.

Stop bollocksing around and provide us with, say, half a dozen quality HD channels showing quality shows, even if they are repeats, and kick the crap into the long grass.