Posts by Paul_Murphy 707 publicly visible posts • joined 22 Sep 2009
>Are you purposely trolling, or have you really not being paying attention?
I use my Hero for listening to music and reading ebooks whilst on the tube/trains etc. - I need something that I can slip into my pocket easily when I am moving between trains etc.
A 10-inch iPad or similar is too big for my purposes - a 7-inch device is one that I could use.
Hence my comment.
On top of that you have Jobs saying that small screens are no use, which is rather funny considering the iPhone, iTouch etc all the way down to the Nano - whose screen is not only tiny but practically unusable when it's clipped to you - you need to unclip it to view the screen and find out what to press.
They all seem to manage with small screens, so why spend any effort dissing them?
strange.
ttfn
If they feel that this is the way that they want to proceed then by all means let them.
It's freedom of choice and it works both ways - after all it won't be the first time that they have gone in one direction only to find that everyone else is going somewhere else.
ttfn
Didn't take long.
May I contribute with the following (totally non-PC) suggested messages:
'We hav vays of makink you drife properly'
'Stop lookink at ze pretty gurls' (probably not needed for married drivers)
'To cancel zis operation raise your right arm'
ttfn
How about this?
Every 5 minutes every Facebook user will be sent a sms message asking them a general knowledge question - if they get 4 wrong in any 45 minute period their account gets suspended until they get 6 right in a row.
If we also alternate sms messages with email we can make sure that users never leave their computers.
Oh Oh and we'll say it helps security.
Also each day we will send each user a sms copy of the facebook user manual with the latest version of the security settings appended.
ttfn
is this a joke? i can't tell any more. ;-(
For a given level of conventional.
Using non-VTOL aircraft means that the carrier needs arrester wires, longer/angled flight deck and catapults.
Conventional aircraft will also need to be navalised - folding wings, tails, whatever to get them to fit on a small carrier, as well as arrester hooks and lamding aids.
In a lot of ways having a very large carrier makes things a lot simpler - more room for aircraft, equipment and options. Our normal tiny carriers are always a study in cramming in all things that are needed.
http://www.murdoconline.net/archives/3985.html
I believe that our carriers should be designed with catapults and wires from the outset (if we don't use or need them after all then there is little harm done.
We should set out to buy affordable aircraft (F-18s seems to be Lewis' favourite) and if we can afford VTOL then great.
Two carriers are needed rather than one - unless we are content to let the US do everything for us.
ttfn
>Scrabble (with the latter limited to Americans)
Whats the point in Americans playing Scrabble? - they change words around so much from proper English that it might as well count as cheating.
Though I guess if the US version was more like 'Scrabble for chavs' (tm) it might make sense - no words more that two syllables, and the spelling is secondary to pronunciation.
Ok, ok, mines the flame-proof one!
ttfn
Therefore not involving partitions is what Ubuntu should be doing - if you need different partitions use another distro.
What _might_ make sense to Ubuntu users would be to have a drive for installing the OS on, and another for the user data, but it should be as simple and straight-forward as it can be.
ttfn
I don't recall that he had been found to have downloaded anything - only that he was being investigated.
'Innocent until/unless proven guilty' should still be a fundamental aspect of justice.
When he is actually found guilty of making/downloading child porn or indeed any other criminal act then by all means attack him, but until then bear in mind that the only thing that he has actually been found guilty of is not disclosing a password.
He is guilty under RIPA - which is a UK law, but he is not, so far, guilty of anything else.
The obvious question is why he has not decrypted the file himself to prove his 'innocence' - hence a lot of the above discussion, but that does not make him a child molester, or indeed any other sort of criminal.
Unless not disclosing a password also makes him a murder, speeder, bank robber and mugger.
ttfn
In the 'your house is being raided' scenario, if you handed your front-door, back door and shed keys to the police they could still be locked up afterwards and no-one aside from the holder of the keys could then access those areas.
If you write out, say or otherwise divulge your password to whatever files etc. you may have then anyone can then access those files.
I would have thought a more logical approach would be to get the owner of the files to unlock them - actually knowing the password is pointless, it's knowing the contents of the files is of a criminal nature and that it is provable that the 'accused' is able to access that file.
If they refuse to unlock the file it would then come down to the 'can't or won't?' question which should be handled by a jury with access to the information that led the police to the persons door in the first place.
ttfn
or Indeed anything by Cory Doctorow.
Very good story in it's own right, but very applicable to this so-called 'war on terror'/'think of the children' scare-mongering that seems to be a government favourite.
OK, so he may have an encrypted file with all sorts of child porn in, but then again he may not - obviously without opening the file people will never know - but it seems to me that if he is guilty there must be more than just the contents of a file to get him convicted.
Does that mean that if i encrypt a file and ftp it, to as many publicly-accessible machines as I can get anon access to, that I could get their owners in trouble? After all they will not have the password to that file either.
It smells to me as if the Police don't have anything else to use, so have been forced to go this route.
ttfn
ASDA were doing them for £15 so I thought I would give it a go and see if it could replace the one in my bathroom.
Dinky little thing that ran on 4x AA batteries, nice sound to it and it told me the time as well.
Some 4 weeks later it's sitting downstairs on my desk and I'm back to using my old FM radio in the bathroom.
Why? To get to listen to music I need to:
push a slider at the back to turn it on, and
then press a bottom on the top to activate it, and
then press the same button again for it to go into DAB (or FM) mode.
On my old FM radio all I needed to do was to turn the little power/vol knob on the front.
When it works the DAB radio is great, but the batteries only lasted a few weeks and the turning on/off procedure really annoyed me.
I'm sure they will get there one day, but until then I will be sticky with FM.
ttfn
Here is one source:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Phoenix-Squadron-Rowland-White/dp/0593054504
But it shows why the UK, as an island nation, needs a proper navy - i.e. one that can be used for a wide variety of tasks, most of which will appear at short notice and may not even mean shooting at people.
One of the problems with the F35 I suspect will be it's range - especially vital in a ship-borne aircraft.
But then comparing everything with the Ark Royal/ Buccaneer will only make me depressed I guess.
ttfn
The UK bomber force (I mean proper bomber) is a privately-owned Vulcan, and the BoBMF Lancaster.
The UK fighter fleet consists of Spitfires and Hurricane(s?).
What does MoD stand for again?
And the boys and girls at the sharp end have to deal with the inevitable snafus that arise. Our MPs should be ashamed.
ttfn
That would hardly be the first time.
I would imagine that every law has great big holes in it if you know where to look - the harder that you try to nail something down the more difficult it is to avoid catching other areas that you don't want.
If only the description of a law was restricted to a single side of A4 paper we might see some better law-making, which would hopefully be more enforceable as well.
ttfn
Gravitic lenses caused by galaxies should be the most familiar, but even planets can cause the light path to curve.
Space-time is affected by mass - so another way of creating a light pulse would, I postulate, consist of a black-hole which can have its' mass altered.
Feed some light into the black hole at the right angle whilst adding sufficient mass to trap the light, and then simply remove some mass to release the light.
Wouldn't change the speed of the light, of course.
Simples*
Now is it worth patenting that idea I wonder?? hmm
ttfn
*Ok - there may be an element of sarcasm in there.
Bluetooth headphones with noise-cancelling, seperate batteries rather than built-in and foldable.
It seems that the only ones that offer this are the Nokias, and they are very expensive for headphones.
I use the buses, underground and trains a lot, so the noise-cancelling is very useful - even if the noise-cancelling is not the best it will make a big difference to my volume level and hence comfort.
The bluetooth is so that I don't get the cable caught on people and things.
I would also like them to use normal AA or AAA rechargeable batteries and to fold down to fit in my bag when I am not using them.
Please :-)
ttfn
My Atari STe used to have a folder for each program, and everything that program needed was in the folder.
No registry, no path, just the folder - and the OS of course, but that just did OS things, manage memory, provide a GUI - you know, OS things.
Simpler days I guess, but maybe Microsoft has been trying to make a popular OS, not a secure one.
ttfn
flame on!
Means that they are more exposed to the elements - I would assume that they might have had some clothes in rucksacks, but even then the clothes would have taken up room normally used for survival things such as a cooker, fuel, food, water, first aid kit, mobile phone, gps, caravan etc.
Therefore finding three people turns quite quickly into something to worry about since they are far more likely to deteriorate more quickly than clothed hikers.
ttfn
closer to the book and well worth a watch.
wiki:
http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roughnecks:_Starship_Troopers_Chronicles
UTube
http://
www.google.co.uk/#q=starship+troopers+animated+series&hl=en&prmd=v&source=univ&tbs=vid:1&tbo=u&ei=UwJETPUppvrTBOvZvakP&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CCAQqwQwAA&fp=270cd07514528d23
ttfn
Scrap the RAF and merge it, and it's budget, into the Navy,
Let the Navy decide what it needs (catapults on the carriers and working destroyers etc.) since we are an island nation it makes sense to me.
Never mind the fancy Typhoons, build something more useful like the Buccaneer or Sea Harrier, and lots of drones - ie things with a specific role in mind that does it well.
Maybe think about breaking up BAE and keep the useful bits - whichever they are.
ttfn
Funky/ trendy they may be, but I can't see pupils wanting to type out their notes, essays and the like on a virtual screen.
Surely the markets for these two products can't overlap that much - as far as I can see the iPad is primarily for at home surfing on the couch/bed, and a netbook/ laptop would be for inputting: blogs, research etc.
ttfn
>She quipped: "Although I cannot claim to have seen the final picture - as I understand, these
>things are no longer claimable on parliamentary expenses
Shame that...
Still - what's the issue? As long as no deception or illegal activity took place it's hardly anything to get steamed up about.
I say congratulations to the hospital for finding a use for it's facilities that I have helped pay for.
ttfn
Battery life?
Headphone socket?
Cost?
Networking/wireless?
Nice to see some good ideas coming forward. The size reminds me of the Psion5 - a very useful format for putting into a pocket.
I could see me using this on my commute on train and underground, which an iPad is just way too big for.
ttfn
>Lundy says she wants two key amendments:
> 1. The availability of an unfiltered, open internet service to be guaranteed in law.
> 2. Opt-in customisable filtering (ie unfiltered, RC or to personal taste) for the general population.
That first one is not an amendment - it's removing the whole sultana d'etre of the filter.
At least Lundy is proposing something that is likely to be possible though it can't beat the parents actually being able to parent, and when an 'awkward question' comes along from a wee nipper it will be possible for the parent to find out information themselves.
I still think that the best solution is to have the family PC in the living room.
ttfn
ttfn
It would be interesting for people to be able to read those comments, suitably anonymized and with swear words ******'d out.
I'm sure that most of them will be un-constructive trolling, but how can us normal (stop sniggering!) people know where the line is?
Maybe a 'reg uncut' toggle or rose-tinted Reg option or something?
ttfn
Judging by this article there is no way that the Google project people didn't know that the Wi-Fi data was being collected and processed.
It is obvious that this information is of immense value to Google.
It is also obvious that they were not going to tell anyone they had this data, and they had to be forced on the issue.
Do they really believe their motto of 'do no evil'?
ttfn
£50 - connects your SD TV to your network (PC or NAS) can take a HDD or external USB device to show AVI/movies/music pictures:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001T0HEY0/ref=s9_simh_gw_p23_i1?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=0M5ZB0KW1B6RTKVKA7RP&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467198433&pf_rd_i=468294
There are similar boxes with SCART or HDMI - but the Mac Mini is a computer rather than just a media player.
ttfn
I don't know about anyone else that reads The Reg, but I would imagine that a large proportion if them are in the same boat as me in that when a family member who isn't 'tech-oriented' wants to buy a gizmo, or something to get a job done one of the first stops is an email or phone call to me to ask my opinion.
And what will my opinion be? At any moment in time and for any particular intended purpose my response to a query will vary - but if I am feeling that a particular company does not deserve to be the recipient of my family-members money then my answer will reflect that.
At the moment one of my questions I am seeking an answer to is - what happens if Apple gets too powerful? just as Microsoft dominated the desktop OS market and that let to a stagnant IE, PC manufacturers being forced to bundle Windows and a whole lot of similar practices - should I really recommend that people go and buy an Apple device?
Once people are forced to buy their apps from Apple, since there might be no other source, is that really to everyones' benefit?
I believe in open systems, not necessarily free, but ones that can be added to, changed and adapted to peoples own requirements - obviously people might screw their devices up, add dangerous things and not do things in the best way - but those mistakes will be their own and they will (hopefully) learn from those mistakes.
Making mistakes is how the human race progresses, it's how we learn what not to do. When a company (in this case) decides what is best for everyone then, in the long term, it is not good news for everyone - just the one doing the deciding.
Apple has lost it's cool as far as I am concerned, and it is showing the world what it would be like if it was in a monopoly position.
Though they make great kit my advice at the moment to my friends and family when they ask will be to not bother with Apple and to look at (in the case of mobile phones) Android now or WinMo7 when it's available - with the hint that Android is the far better OS, not because of it smoothness or gui design, but simply because it is the current best choice for everyone in the long-run.
ttfn
Hmm funny, I have just ordered one of these;
http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/8990027/Emprex-Hi-Def-Media-Player-Recorder-V2-External-Multimedia-Hard-Drive-Enclosure/Product.html?ptsl=1&ob=Price&fb=0
£50, connects to a TV via Scart/component, and another source such as sky/virgin/dvd player. It can use USB devices and a network PC or NAS.
I'm trying to find out if it's worthwhile converting all 500+ of our DVD's to AVI files and sticking them on a NAS to view.
At the moment it's just too time-consuming to find a particular DVD.
If it does work then I might try using ISO's instead - though of course we would have to sit through all the trailers and anti-piracy rubbish.
ttfn
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