* Posts by Andrew_F

44 publicly visible posts • joined 25 Sep 2009

Rescue mission begins for Hitchhiker's Real Guide

Andrew_F

re:re:

You <i>helped</i> to pay for it to be made and broadcast, not distributed on DVD. And the BBC profiting in other areas should help to keep your licence fee down, so it's hardly skin off your nose.

PARIS unveils impressive box

Andrew_F

Lego?

Playmobil surely?

Twitter joke appeal adjourned

Andrew_F

They only said he'd sent a direct message, they didn't say who to.

It's possible he sent it to a friend, then decided the joke was so funny it would bear repeating in public.

Swedes brew up 18.5 per cent 'Ace of Spades Porter'

Andrew_F
Pint

Is it naturally brewed to that strength?

It's all very well naming stronger Brewdog beers but they're freeze-distilled, which always seemed like cheating to me.

Retailer serves up Monty Python 'waffer thin' mints

Andrew_F
Stop

Yum!

Sweets that remind you of projectile vomiting!

Beeb reinstates teaboy in Pestogate scandal

Andrew_F

How not to not save money

No they wouldn't. As the BBC's "two-finger salute" alt text states, they don't pay per use; they have annual agreements with the agencies.

A Rumba with a Roomba

Andrew_F

Title

"Verity Stob declares she has no relationship with Roomba makers iRobot"

For a review like that they ought to at least give you some freebies. I'm very tempted to get one now.

Dell begs ToryDems to keep NHS IT project

Andrew_F

As long as we don't end up with a British MUMPS

http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/A_Case_of_the_MUMPS.aspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MUMPS

2012 Olympic mascots cop a shoeing

Andrew_F

They were always going to be hated

and they're *aimed* at children. Look at previous mascots and tell me they don't mostly look like teddy bears.

I don't think they're too bad, apart from the blue one looks like it's wet itself.

The commercial cuckoo hiding in the BBC's global mission

Andrew_F

Re: wtf are we paying for ?

Of the BBC's international ventures (BBC World Service, BBC Worldwide, BBC World News and bbc.com), the first is paid for by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, the rest are commercial. So License fees aren't paying for any of them. We're paying for domestic ventures.

Twitter bomb joker found guilty

Andrew_F
WTF?

Seriously, WTF?

Criminal prosecution for internet hyperbole doesn't seem like overkill to you? And you think it will be effective in preventing childish banalities?

Blokes spend 11 months in shed

Andrew_F

To quote Charlie Brooker:

PR-reviewed phindings (peeyarr-rev-yood-fyne-dings) n.

Light-hearted newspaper article based around any risible "scientific survey" produced by a marketing agency to promote a product or service; eg: "It's the BREAST news men have heard in years - Britain's women are set to evolve BIGGER BOOBS in future, according to scientists at Cardiff's Wonderbra Institute of Titology."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/feb/02/charlie-brooker-new-media-dictionary

Ten free apps to install on every new PC

Andrew_F

You think I would choose a warranty like that?

PC World, which I resorted to when I needed to buy from the high street (and had failed to find a 10" linux netbook online). I imagine the other high-street retailers are the same.

Andrew_F
Stop

Yeahbut

Linux is not an app, and installing it on a newly bought PC may well void your warranty (as was pointed out to me last time I bought a PC).

Apple leaves profits on table for 'huge' iPad future

Andrew_F

"I can't think of a single thing the netbook does well."

In addition to the above points, mine can rest on a flat surface or my lap with the screen pointing at me. Trivial I know, but people claim the iPad is for casual users sitting on the sofa and watching video.

eBay shill bid scammer convicted

Andrew_F
Happy

Re:Not exactly Darwin but . . .

Not exactly Charles Darwin, but John "canoe man" Darwin maybe.

US gov cries foul on MPAA piracy claims

Andrew_F

Re: Incentive ?

"You don't sit down and say "I'm going to make money by writing songs" (or creating anything else artistic)"

No, but you might say "I wish I could afford to quit my dead-end job and pursue my dream of being a full-time artist". The monetary incentive affects artists too.

Milkman skewers Google Street View over garage break-in

Andrew_F

Re: A and B

Empty drive suggests nobody was home at the moment the Streetview car drove past. It doesn't mean much when the photos are viewed days, weeks or months later.

Alarm boxes are visible outside as a deliberate deterrent. They show that the house may be more inconvenient to burgle than other houses. Your argument would only work if the only people with alarms were those with excessive wealth.

Child abuse frame-up backfires on stalker

Andrew_F
FAIL

Obviously...

You didn't read the article to the end or follow the link. The whole thing (apart from the birth of Mr Karttunen) took place in Essex.

Council deforests beauty spot to combat dogging

Andrew_F
Paris Hilton

All angle, no news?

"the conifers were commercial trees"

Does this mean they could have chopped them down without giving a reason other than normal tree farming, and this wouldn't have been news?

Pirate Party UK launches manifesto

Andrew_F
FAIL

You can't link to a leaked document

Reg article: posted at 16:42 with the phrases "under embargo" and "setting it free".

Manifesto: posted at 21:00 (long after beer o'clock).

Isn't it obvious why they didn't link?

Northerners give up ID cards for Lent figures suggest

Andrew_F
Big Brother

Re: Why bother?

The missing word is "yet".

'Kevin Rudd sucks' declares hacked Oz road sign

Andrew_F

I think I know how

The default password for many matrix signs is on the internet.

http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2009/01/23/default-password-for.html

Twitter bomb threat joke man faces possible jail sentence

Andrew_F
Stop

Title

Surely a moron in a hurry wouldn't mistake that for actual menace, even of the Dennis kind.

Attack code for Firefox zero-day goes wild, says researcher

Andrew_F

That makes 75% of computers (says W3counter)

I'm sure that as far as he's concerned, that's a success.

Stats boss slams Tory use of crime figures

Andrew_F
Go

There's a lot of people moaning they already know politicians lie

Moaning doesn't achieve anything, but here's someone calling politicians out on specific lies. It's better to light a candle than curse the darkness, as the saying goes.

Andrew_F
Thumb Down

Title

So it's better to be consistently wrong than to correct a known error?

You can make a realistic comparison anyway: use the BCS, as the Home Office and Sir Michael said.

Men at Work swiped Down Under riff

Andrew_F

40-60% seems a bit steep

It's not like it makes up 40-60% of the song.

Transformers up for seven Razzies

Andrew_F

No

It's only one of the nominees in each category, it hasn't won anything yet.

PM: UK airports to get perv scanners next week

Andrew_F
Thumb Down

Just because it's a rule doesn't make it right.

When did "I don't want strangers to look at me naked" stop being a reasonable position?

Avatar kills Taiwanese man

Andrew_F

They used motion capture

So they recorded not only the voice acting but also the actors' gestures.

UK judges reject Lucas' appeal in Star Wars helmet case

Andrew_F
Stop

Re: Costs?

Given the issue of English libel law, that could backfire severely if it were possible.

Manchester journo gets first ID card - late

Andrew_F
Thumb Down

Wearing something on your finger hinders taking prints

Who'dathunkit?

We need a "duh" icon, possibly featuring the absence of excrement.

Apple seeks OS-jacking advert patent

Andrew_F
Alert

That rings a bell

It sounds a lot like the Free PCs that made PC World's 25 worst tech products of all time.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/125772-6/the_25_worst_tech_products_of_all_time.html#freepcs

Facebook scoffs at hacktivist stunt

Andrew_F

@AC 21:08 Re:"are they gonna setup their own botnet"

The BBC already rented a botnet to show how easy it was.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/03/16/bbc_botnet_bought/

Brown declines to resign

Andrew_F
Badgers

Honestly, I'm glad he doesn't feel obliged to obey Web 0.2 petitions

though I'd prefer a Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger Britain.

Men allegedly broke into computers of former employer

Andrew_F
Joke

Re: They should fire the whole security staff

Because what they need right now is more ex-employees with a full set of passwords!

Firefox nabs 30 million users in eight weeks

Andrew_F

@Nuke

Good answer. The reason I suggested they might choose "the blue one"* is because it's familiar. If you've accessed the internet on a Windows computer before, you probably already associate that icon with the internet. And if you don't know what's best, you've a reason to stick with the familiar.

* actual anecdotal quotation

Andrew_F

@Yamthief

Will that help? If users are unaware of the choice in browsers and what it means, they'll be baffled and/or just choose "the blue one" anyway.

Historian slams 'absolutely crazy' UK time zone

Andrew_F
Boffin

Cows can't tell the time, but milkmen can

In addition to what JohnG said, the time also matters for when the milk has to be delivered. "Saving the Daylight" (by David Prerau, Granta Books, ISBN 1-86207-796-7 and 1-86207-878-5, actually rather interesting) goes into this, and states that in one daylight-saving-time experiment, American farmers were having to get up at ~1am to get the milk in time for delivery. How this would be different with modern farming, I don't know.

Child porn threat to airport's 'virtual strip search' scanners

Andrew_F

I wondered were you were on this story

Than I saw you were covering an angle others hadn't mentioned.

I'd give you a thumbs up if it wouldn't look worrying in context of the article.

Hypnotist expands breasts, cures irritable bowels

Andrew_F
Paris Hilton

"It works!" say brainwashed users

So these women are either hypnotised into having larger breasts, or into thinking they have larger breasts. Which of these is more plausible?

Nation's moral guardians snap over 'shag bands'

Andrew_F
FAIL

You're not supposed to just reprint email forwards

What, is The Sun trawling Snopes for stories these days? Or just printing anything they're emailed?

Tomorrow's headline: "Bill Gates gives fortune to email forwarders"

Twitter gets $100m injection

Andrew_F
WTF?

Huh?

Would someone who gets a joke please explain? Why would Twitter getting $100m be a brown-trousers moment?

I'm baffled, and the arse-about-face structure of Twitter feeds doesn't help.