* Posts by Smithy

7 publicly visible posts • joined 1 Feb 2011

Codebreakers find evidence for hidden puzzle in GCHQ challenge

Smithy
Big Brother

10 Steps Ahead

As if it wasn't giving me a headache to start with, there is another layer of complexity - maybe many more like the movie Inception!? This is oddly exciting because we'll probably never know the outcome judging by the confusion of the people mentioned in the articles to date despite their excellent code cracking attempts. Still, top, top marks to Graham-Cumming for finding an anomalie.

Roberts reveals radio with raunchy recording features

Smithy

Short-term Use: More Storage Than You'll Need

The 1 hour recording limit could be a licensing issue, it's the same situation recording HD footage on compact digital cameras due to costs and not always the media. It simply means you have to be ready to press record again.

It does mean you don't know exactly how much recording you have left due to the variations in the recording/compression unless the Roberts records a constant bit rate which has higher compatibility rather than variable bit rate. I.e. based on my 128kbps CBR recording of internet radio (constant music) for 60 minutes, the filesize is 55.2 MB which means a 1GB (1024MB) flash stick is enough to record 18.5 hours of radio. If the quality of the recording is a high 160kbps then decrease by 25% which gives you 13.875 hours of recording.

British Library sprinkles digital dust on dusty newsprint

Smithy
FAIL

OCR That Works

Initially I thought this was a good idea but not to the point of profit that makes this information unaffordable to younger or poorer families. I.e. information should be free at the point of use and should be on a not-for-profit basis where charges are set to cover costs only and should be free to view after the cost of scanning/copyright of the newspaper is covered by viewers.

Asking viewers to correct a mass of errors without a discount or payment is a cheek to save money. At least with Wikipedia it is free via fund-raising which makes adding content worthwhile for this access. Also, if their OCR is inaccurate, that may mean they used a single OCR engine rather than multiple ones for different newspapers or quality types which would hugely improve accuracy.

Attention metal thieves: Buy BT, get 75 MILLION miles of copper

Smithy
Happy

And before BT?

Its all too easy to knock BT but without them eventually investing billions in the telecommunication network, we'd really be THE laughing stock of the world - these thieving gits aren't helping and should be send to jail. This would indeed send out a strong message of the consequences in the case of the the rioters. Once 21CN network upgrade is completed by 2013, our economy would then be buoyed by news of world-class national coverage of at least 40Mb/s through FTTC.

Cray to build huge, grunting 20-petaflop 'Titan' for US gov labs

Smithy

Crazy Performance

Why do they need to keep updating their systems every 2-3 years? Is what the already have not good enough because most scientists would love to have just a fraction of that power. Maybe it's time critical work and the amount of data is increasing all the time so they need to plan ahead now.

Well at least the tech is filtered down eventually somewhat to ordinary consumers. Intel's consumer (1st & 2nd gen i7's) and server based CPUs are amazing and seem to only make my jaw drop further! My 8-minute 1080p video rendering on 2600+ 4.8GHz (16GB RAM 1.8GHz) takes only 20mins at max quality rendering on either MainConcept mpg2 (8-bit @10MB/s). It used to take 1hr 55mins on QX6700@3.3GHz. This is simply using the CPU and not the onboard CPU/GPU chip. Shows you it is well worth upgrading for the performance increases to be had from CPU's with a 4.5 year gap.

Intel finds flaw in Sandy Bridge chipset

Smithy
Happy

Temporary Fix

As long as you avoid using Intel's SATA 3Gbps 'Cougar Point' controllers you'll be fine.

People are advised that using Intel's Sata 6Gbps ports are fine and use these instead, or one of the other Sata ports manufactured by a another company - check your manual to pinpoint the ports.

High-end motherboards normally feature x4 Sata 6Gbps and will get you through until any recall.

Using optical drives on the effected Sata 3Gbps ports are fine, or buy a Sata 3Gbps or 6Gbps PCIe controller as these are not effected wot-so-ever.

Smithy
FAIL

Expecting delivery this week :(

This is terrible news for us all. I'm expecting my new Asus P8P67 DELUXE Intel P67 + 2600K based PC this week.

I'm assuming this is affected too?

Should I just cancel the order until its sorted or just see what happens?