Posts by Greg

Good man!

Nicely done, sir! Another user who refuses to buy a product that is made of 95% hype, 4% interface and 1% substance. And to iPhone users - whine and moan and bitch all you like about my heresy against the Great God Jobs. I'll quite happily go around paying less and getting more, thanks. The MDA series from T-Mobile has been giving me fast speeds, full functionality and much lower prices for years. Screw the iPhone.

Sorry dudes. The iPhone may look shiny, but for actually getting anything done with the device, Windows Mobile came along years ago and kicked your asses into touch.

Is it me...

...or is this just a list of "stuff people in suits like to use?"

Hmmmmmm

" Saudi Arabia applies the death penalty for a wide range of offences. Court proceedings fall far short of international standards for fair trial, and take place behind closed doors.

Defendants normally do not have formal representation by a lawyer, and in many cases are not informed of the progress of legal proceedings against them. They may be convicted solely on the basis of confessions obtained under duress, torture or deception."

Sounds familiar....

Top man

Luxury car? Swimming pool? Nah. Darth Vader, baby!

Re: Nice

"Best looking light gun, although the recoil action on the namco timecrisis gun rocks!"

Best looking? As a hardened light gun gamer across 8 consoles, I suggest you look up the PS099L for the PS2 - arguably the best light gun ever made. Jet black, comfortable, full recoil, backwards compatible, comes with a reload pedal and even has a laser sight. Not bad for £20.

Already seen another clip-in thingy to emulate a light gun on the Wii. Why not just make a dedicated piece of hardware that has the Wiimote hardware built in? Bit more expensive, but I bet it'd be nicer to use.

Personally, I'm hoping Sony or someone else makes a PS099L equivalent for the PS3 in time for Time Crisis 4 at the end of this year. Can't be playing the best light gun game ever created with a rubbish gun.

Red Button

As said above, the red button on my PS2 turns the analog joysticks on and off...

Re: Cripes!

"Even my computer is better than these things. Heck, my computer could quite possibly do more than most of those combined."

I should bloody hope so! :-D

What about when they get it wrong?

HMRC recently screwed up on my partnership tax return, and demanded £100 from each of the three partners. I refrained from the middle-finger response, and after a surprisingly calm and reasonable correspondence, the charges were cancelled when someone at HMRC admitted fault.

What would have happened under these rules? They would have nicked the £300, no questions asked. And if I wasn't paying attention to my account, I might not have noticed at all. (A lot goes in and out.) It could well be the case that I would have never gotten my money back. I'll bet you anything it'd take a day for them to take the money, but 6 weeks to return it.

Once again, it must be asked

Man From Mars, what the hell are you smoking? Or are you actually from Mars, operating on a plane far above ours?

Also on Soccer Pitches

Why do all news reporters feel it necessary to compare all areas in terms of football pitches? Surely that should be restricted to the Daily Mail, for those readers that can't visualise anything any other way? We're not all football addicts, and I suspect that the percentage of people obsessed with who's transferring to where and who's gonna get their head kicked in is a lot lower on El Reg.

That confirms it

They are *trying* to run Dr Who into the ground. I haven't seen a franchise get ruined this badly since Star Trek in the late 90s.

eBay???

Surely by flogging your stuff on eBay rather than chucking it, you help the environment? And they don't themselves produce any packaging waste, etc, etc. It's just one big website! Sounds like a bloody useless survey to me, but then that's nothing new.

As above

Run at the same resolution? So I have the choice of:

1) Squinting to play a game (probably crap, from experience) that takes up a tiny percentage of my desktop.

2) Playing HL2, Counterstrike, Prey, F.E.A.R., etc.

Hmmm..... Difficult choice!

Further proof that we don't know everything

Still, that's no excuse for scientology. ;-)

Oh goodie...

As if Virgin weren't buggering up the good ol' NTL service enough already...

Roughnecks

"Sadly the cool motorised armour, drop capsules, hand flamers etc didn't appear in the film"

Nope, but some or all of them did appear in the kid's TV spinoff, Roughnecks. Remember watching that when I was somewhat younger. Damn good series.

I am laughing at most of you

Guess why.

But in true "conservative" form

They're quite happy to use the evil liberal hippy terrrorists' wiki software to create this particular orgy of stupidity.

So I'll be importing it then

Not because I was a fan of Manhunt. I'm just intrigued to see what level of violence it takes to get a game banned. I've played some fairly violent games...

Registration won't work!

When I try to register my interest using my Yahoo account, I get asked to enter a screenname. I enter one, and it tells me that my e-mail address is also required, only there's no ruddy e-mail address field on the form! So nuts to that. I'll be going to the event, they just won't know I'm coming. ;-)

Another little fiddle

I signed up with NTL because they were brilliant. They continued to be brilliant up until Virgin got their mitts on the company. Since then, they've capped my net access, lost the Sky channels but not lowered the price, and now they're making me pay more to get help? It seems like the NTL package remains, but has been fiddled with here and there to make it gradually less attractive.

I never thought I'd say it - especially considering my feelings about the thieving Mr Murdoch - but I'm thinking of switching to Sky.

Why is it so "revolutionary"?

Seriously.

The only thing I ever hear about the iPhone is how amazing and revolutionary it is. How "it's the future of mobile devices" and how no-one's ever done it before.

Errrr.....MDA, anyone? I had an MDA III for years, with a whacking great SD card slapped in the top, and I've so far found it very hard to find something the iPhone can do that it couldn't.

And now I have an Ameo, which has internal GPS, a chucking-great internal hard drive, gorgeous screen, etc. True, it's neither as small or as aesthetically pleasing as the iPod, but it's still quite capable of proving the iPhone to be nothing like revolutionary. When T-Mobile and O2 have had the MDA/XDA series for years, just how amazing and revolutionary can the iPhone be - especially given its inferior hardware specs and high price tag?

Fades out rather quickly...

Was he about to prove his point?

I don't get why this discredits anything. Sure, it's weird, and probably didn't help him, but they obviously weren't listening to him. The fact that he's shouting doesn't stop him being right, and being misquoted can really get up peoples' noses.

The cheeky sods!

Why are these caps necessary? They weren't necessary on NTL!

Bluetooth headsets FTW!

Up until this weekend I had an MDA III, and yep, I wore it in a holster. It was easier that way. Though one time in America when I was going through an X-ray checkpoint, I went for the holster (the good old movie-style "jacket back, reach under the side of my shirt" move) and some berk with an MP5 thought I was going for a gun. That was...interesting.

Then I got an Ameo. Can't really put it in a pocket or hold it to my ear, so I resorted to the dreaded bluetooth headset! (Dramatic chord)

I always thought - as many do - that they were just devices to make Razr owners look even more like tits, but they are in fact really useful with phones such as L'Ameo. Instead of getting the phone out of my bag all the time (the equivalent of holding up a sign reading "steal my phone"), I can tap a button on the side of my head and use voice dialling to call, or tap to receive. It's actually really really convenient, and I have to say, I like it.

Upshot is - I keep mine in a rucksack. ;-)

Ewe must be baa-king

Not only do you read The Sun, but you actually believed something you read in it? You're not supposed to do that! The words in The Sun are just there to help lay out the pretty pictures.

Morons

So to prevent this dude turning into a "terrorist", they stopped him playing a game in which the whole objective is to lay some whoopass on a bunch of terrorists, and instead expelled him and stole some of his stuff, to make sure he had the required level of bitterness to hate his mother and teachers?

Nice going, guys. It's stuff like this that makes me scared of an American-designed future.

Damn you, Blockbuster!

Gamestation are (were?) one of the last vestiges of proper game store chains on the high street. They deal in all generations of gaming, rather than just shoving next-gen systems at the consumer, and their prices are competitive. That will probably now go down the drain in favour of bigger profits for Game - who used to be decent until they became the HMV of the gaming world.

A few years back, I was lamenting the fact that CeX has turned from a nerdy-ish PC-oriented store chain into a more gaming-oriented chain, but now I have to say I'm rather thankful that they did, because I'll still be able to buy and sell in the proper tradition of gamers.

And I agree with those who say the Competition Commission should be involved.

Fix the websites, don't break the browser

If MS had a pair of balls, they'd start again with IE8. They got themselves into this mess, and the only way out is to make a browser that is standards compliant and finally put web developers on a level playing field. If some numpties have designed sites that only work in IE, then that's their problem to fix. This problem needs sorting, and it won't be sorted through another half-arsed set of Microsoft-only standards. Standards already exist, so bloody well use them!

Of course, my position on this has nothing to do with the fact that I would make a fortune from new clients coming to me to get their IE-only sites fixed. ;-)

Re: Jeremy

Hi Jeremy,

I think you misread the author's comment somewhat. He was saying that he was embarrassed by his geekiness in dismantling all the software he works with, BUT he feels a little less sad having discovered the streak of autism in his family, which could have been behind his drive to do such strange things. ;)

GJ

I'm impressed

I had my doubts about the N95, as I often do with smartphones (even more so now they're coming to the "mainstream" market) but that sounds like a glowing review. That said, when I upgrade my MDA III at the end of the month, I'll probably end up with the Ameo. As nice as the N95 seems, and as buggy as Win Mobile 5 apparently is, I simply appreciate the convenience factor that Win Mobile gives.

Urgh, I never thought I'd say THAT! But it is true. I never have any worries about compatibility between files types and the like, and the applications available for free-or-almost-free on the Windows Mobile platform are diverse and excellent. I've got several games, a surprisingly accurate guitar tuner, a decimal/binary/hex converter, screenshot software, GPRS traffic monitor, TomTom, etc, etc, etc. It's the usual Windows story - Windows itself is rubbish, but what you can put on it and then do with it is brilliant. I pick up my MDA every morning and start reading the university newsgroup posts it's downloaded overnight - that sort of automated convenience isn't quite so readily available on devices without such a wide scope of 3rd party development.

That's not to say that the N95's applications won't be good also - simply that there will be more available on the WinMobile platform for the customisation geeks like me. Plus, the Ameo isn't quite as ugly as I first expected, and it's rather beefy. Nice. :-) But I can see the N95 being an excellent smartphone for users that aren't quite so interested in ripping the OS to bits, and it certainly has the "cool" factor.

By the way, hands up all those who think the Apple iPhone is already obsolete?

Keep your hands up if you thought it was obsolete the moment you heard the development spec? (Mine's still up.)

Now keep your hands up if you think it'll sell well anyway!

Eddie Murphy?

Brechin Hills Cop?

Is it me, or have the Scots done pretty well at this whole "governing themselves" lark? They're getting a halfway decent infrastructure. We're getting a casino.

A Weapon of Mass Discussion

Talkie Toaster not a weapon of war? Chuck 200 of them over the enemy parapets and let's see how long it takes them to surrender.

Mine's still hooked in!

Aaaah, the Speccy. My first foray into programming. It got me started on gaming, too. Lots of Trans Am, AD Astra (To the Stars!!), Jetpac, Valhalla, etc. It still works, and it's still hooked to the telly. Brilliant little machines.

Good on 'em!

I have to say, I'm quite impressed by the move, considering how much phone retailers normally push the "upgrade, your phone is no longer fashionable" philosophy.

I buy PDA-phones, and I keep them for a long time. I'm up for renewal, and I was thinking of going with O2. £95 credit for doing what I do anyway sounds pretty good to me, and if it encourages others to hold onto a handset that is probably quite adequate for their needs, then well done O2. Let's hope other retailers follow suit. Who knows - we might even make a dent in the fashion-obsessed phone trend.

Re: Get your facts straight

"I installed Windows Vista on my Dell D810 and spent an extra £12 on a 1GB readyboost drive and it works like a dream. The only non standard driver I installed was the latest ATI Driver for my screen card."

You just don't see how ludicrous that is, do you? Vista is such a memory hog that Microsoft had to invent a system whereby users could jerry-rig their systems to run with it via bloody USB drives!

If Vista doesn't use massive amounts of RAM, why is that needed? Why does the creator of vLite (who I will plug again) reckon he's saved 600MB of RAM usage with his tool?

Let's be honest here: if you need 1GB of RAM just to run your operating system, with nothing else on it, then that operating system is bloated. No two ways about it. It might be bloated with lots of shiny things that keep you happy and distracted while it runs off with your right to manage your own system, but it's still bloated. Does any other operating system use so much RAM to do so little?

Under the very heaviest loads, such as really powerful games and the like, my rig only just uses the same amount of RAM as Vista does just to sit there. That's bloated.

Re: Husky

"I envisage a company out there that makes 386-based laptops out of granite, that can withstand a nuclear blast and dunking in acid"

That company exists - or existed - and it was Panasonic! The old ToughBooks were invincible. Feller I know used to have one. Wasn't massively powerful, but he once demonstrated its toughness to me by dropping it on the floor, kicking it across the room, smacking it off the worktop a few times and running a tap over it. He then opened it up and went right back to his letter. Needless to say, I was impressed.

For a ToughBook, or at least the ToughBooks I know and love, this sucker looks rather weedy.

Re: Matt

Sweet Monkey Tuesdays, Matt, I hope that comment's a piss-take. Why should we care about 200 000 dead? Gee, let me think... Next time some genocidal nutjob appears in Europe, should we leave him be? Not our problem, after all.

We shouldn't be doing something about this because we caused it, or they caused it, or it's all x, y and z's fault. We should be doing something about it because we can. And because it's a filthy disgrace that we'll march in and topple governments so we can have some oil, but we won't do the same thing where it's actually needed.

I agree with Paul

I've often thought that some of the stuff that comes out in court cases is irrelevant and unnecessary. And how strange that this only happens when the additional "information" would cast the accused in a bad/unusual light. Who gives a damn whether she enjoys having 9-volt batteries strapped to her nipples? Does that have anything at all to do with her spraying pepper spray at someone? The Police should have found the disc, left it alone (as it wasn't technically evidence) and certainly not used this info in the "case."

CeX

CeX dropped the PS3 price down to £395 last week. It's to be expected, really. After the fanboys all got their consoles, demand didn't half drop off. Call me crazy, but Sony really screwed this one up. The PS3 is not a bad console (no, really!), but after the contempt Sony showed for European gamers, I'm not about to pay the best part of £500 for a console with no exclusives. And after entering the marketplace last, they've already lost considerable ground to the 360 and Wii. </Captain Obvious> I'll probably get one, but I'll wait a bit first - I expect many people are thinking the same. It'll be Time Crisis that makes me get one. It always is...

You paid HOW MUCH??

Perhaps it's because I'm a Yorkshireman. Perhaps not. But when I read this...

"It certainly runs my applications well. It's not a gamer's box, but its performance is quite good doing the things that I use it for."

You paid two grand for a machine and it's NOT A GAMER'S BOX?? You don't even want to know what I built for two and a half grand, but it's sure as hell a gamer's box! What's that down to, then? Vista being a resource hog? Dell being overpriced? Some others in the comments section have suggested you build your own machines in future. I agree, but for a different reason - the amount you will save over Dell will be astronomical.