* Posts by Bigbird3141

41 publicly visible posts • joined 5 Mar 2013

BA CEO blames messaging and networks for grounding

Bigbird3141

Re: ESB?

Think you're confusing it with Young's - the Wandsworth-based brewer Fullers bought and closed and redeveloped the site of.

Bungling ATM thieves blow up bank statement machine

Bigbird3141
FAIL

Not an isolated case

When our local newsagent had an ATM installed, local thieves were so well informed that they stole it before it had been commissioned and was still empty.

So. Farewell then Betamax. We always liked you better than VHS anyway

Bigbird3141

Digital audio Betamax

An audio recording I made nearly 30 years ago was mastered on to a Betamax tape digitally - I've still got the tape. What was the name for that sound format?

Is the world ready for a Raspberry Pi-powered Lego Babbage Engine?

Bigbird3141
FAIL

Waste of time

Working mechanical Lego model=interesting; Pi stuffed in a Lego box=pointless

Bookworms' Weston mecca: The Oxford institution with a Swindon secret

Bigbird3141

Your own Bodleian

Seems to be a long loop, rather than a live feed, but I still find this conducive to a good day's work:

https://www.ox.ac.uk/soundsofthebodleian/

ZX81 BEATEN at last as dev claims smallest Chess code crown

Bigbird3141

Re: En Passant

IIRC the ZX81 1k chess doesn't allow en passant

Future imperfect: A UK broadband retrospective

Bigbird3141

Re: IMHO it's all a con.

I had several visits to fix a noisy, slow, unreliable BT ADSL line. Having done everything _except_ check the socket in the house, they unscrewed its fascia. Which fell to the floor. The wires had just been touching the terminals. Are they not trained to check the basics first, before installing new cabling; climbing telegraph poles and jumping into holes in the ground?

Another lick of Lollipop: Google updates latest Android to 5.0.1

Bigbird3141
Meh

Nexus 4 upgrade experience

A bit late, but still...

My wife's "mk II" Nexus 4 (the one with little "feet" on the back to reduce its tendency to slide on smooth surfaces) got the upgrade a day before my "mk I". Both are not rooted. Her update went fine, but she has fewer apps installed and uses it less than I do mine.

Mine rebooted not long after reporting "108 of 223 apps upgraded" (223 seemed far too many) and then stuck on the spinning balls start-up screen. I left it for over 12 hours, but eventually I gave up and rebooted it and it returned to the app upgrading screen, but this time reported 113 apps and completed booting successfully.

I've been very happy with it, except Tasker seems not to work with "interruptions" very well and I believe some apps have disappeared and now report "unknown error -505" when I reinstall (e.g. ITV Player).

Get a job in Germany – where most activities are precursors to drinking

Bigbird3141

Re: Germany is a wonderfull place

I'm completely with you on the rule book front. A firm I had worked for had a German sister company that developed software for a section of our products. We would often find bugs due to operators doing the wrong thing and getting the system in a mess - when we reported the bugs the response would usually be that operators shouldn't be doing that, so it wasn't a bug because they weren't following instructions.

And as for crossing the road at anything other than a crossing with a green man...

VINYL is BACK and you can thank Sonos for that

Bigbird3141
Pint

Re: Vinyl introduces a lot of failings

Have an internet washed down with a beer for referencing Jon Lord's Gemini Suite.

Heatmiser digital thermostat users: For pity's sake, DON'T SWITCH ON the WI-FI

Bigbird3141
Happy

Re: Old school hacking ...

Have you got the model that understands some of the basics and just turns the thermostat up a degree or two because "they're chilly" (in only a t-shirt), or the model that thinks whacking it up to 30 will make it reach 22 degrees a lot quicker?

Currently mine has not yet turned the heating back on this autumn - a record.

Stick a 4K in them: Super high-res TVs are DONE

Bigbird3141
Boffin

Re: aware of the benefits of 4K

Due to the rules of optics, I understand the eye can resolve a pixel spacing of c0.3 minutes.

84" screen is 1.04m high: pixel spacing is therefore 262um, giving a maximum viewing distance of c3m.

(I have assumed square pixel spacing)

We need to talk about SPEAKERS: Sorry, 'audiophiles', only IT will break the sound barrier

Bigbird3141

Re: Audiophile?

£7? pffft. Cheap tat. Rhodium's where it's at.

London officials declare cabbie-bothering Uber is legal – for now

Bigbird3141

Re: Interested in the logic

That doesn't define the taximeter - it defines a class of taximeter acceptable for use in Reigate & Banstead by hackney carriages. If such a definition was the crux of the case then non-hackney carriage drivers could use such a taximeter and simply cover up the word "AFARE@" and claim "it's not a taximeter".

Artists install Monty Python silly walk signs in Norwegian town

Bigbird3141

Surely Finland should have done this first

It's so sadly neglected and often ignored. A poor second to Belgium when going abroad.

Nvidia unveils Titan Z: An 8TFLOPS off-the-shelf supercomputer disguised as a gfx card

Bigbird3141

How about a game of Global Thermonuclear War?

BLUE BIRD DOWN: Turkey wipes out Twitter 'scourge'

Bigbird3141

"Everyone will see how powerful the Republic of Turkey is.” What's the prime minister's name? Ozymandias?

MH370 airliner MYSTERY: The El Reg Pub/Dinner-party Guide

Bigbird3141

MH370 arc

4. This might help (MH370 arc) They seem to assume the plane must be at least as far its slowest speed would carry it in a straight line from the last known fix, therefore eliminating the middle of the arc. I don't know what justifies that decision - surely manoeuvres could mean it was closer than the distance in a straight line at its slowest speed - ie anywhere on the whole arc + flying time left.

Why can’t I walk past Maplin without buying stuff I don’t need?

Bigbird3141
Thumb Up

I still have the joystick-port-controlled speech synthesizer for my Atari 800 that I made from Maplin parts in the mid-eighties. Those old catalogues were great...

Bletchley Park spat 'halts work on rare German cipher machine'

Bigbird3141

Re: This is confusing

Oh god, no, not the NT. Cragside. The first hydro electric house in Britain, but they don't even have a light bulb powered by it, despite a bunch of volunteer techies maintaining the turbines. If it's not soft and fluffy or a soft furnishing they're not interesdted

El Reg BuzzFelch: 10 Electrical Connectors You CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT!

Bigbird3141

Lemo

Volunteers slam plans to turn Bletchley Park into 'geeky Disneyland'

Bigbird3141

Re: fish museum - @Captain Hogwash

I think this is what you're after: fish in a museum (you can even see some on the front page)

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/tring/

It seems to be where the NHM put all the interesting stuff when they dumbed down the main museum.

Have you seen the dinosaur exhibit now? A few interesting skeletons and an awful lot of manufactured "educational" rubbish e.g. the animated t-rex.

Elderly Bletchley Park volunteer sacked for showing Colossus exhibit to visitors

Bigbird3141
Flame

Re: Quite obvious, really ...

But the @bparkceo has sent staff and volunteers on Welcome Host Training! What more do they need to know?!

Tweet 1

Tweet 2

I'd love to know the content of the course beyond common sense...

Bigbird3141

Nothing wrong with the visitor centre (OK - the shop's jock full of tat) at Stonehenge - it's the visitor experience that's gone to pot. You're still kept a long way from the stones and the "land trains" (presumably specified by "consultants") aren't up to the job, resulting in long queues or a long walk.

Bigbird3141
WTF?

Re: Take a look at the Twit feed - @BParkCEO

He seems to think he's the victim - he's invoking Martin Luther King

https://twitter.com/BParkCEO/status/423374859130122240/photo/1/large

Bigbird3141
Facepalm

Re: Conflation?

The contents of the two are inextricably linked - BP in particular makes no sense without Colossus. Moving them apart would be daft.

Bigbird3141
Flame

Entry to BP is £15. Entry to TNMOC is £5.

You don't need to pay the BP entry fee to visit TNMOC and see Colossus. I know what I'll be doing soon.

Audiophiles: These Wi-Fi speakers have a stereo drift of less than 25μs – good enough for you?

Bigbird3141
Coat

Why would I want that cheap tat, when there's this:

http://www.futureshop.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=5848#.UtaQQJ5_vVE

Google poised to become world's first TREEELLION DOLLAR company?

Bigbird3141

Re: The FIRST Trillion $ company? Already done.

But those assets are mainly other peoples deposits aren't they? Doesn't that make them appear on both sides of the balance sheet? If I lend you £1M you're not _worth_ £1M

Three offers free US roaming, confirms stealth 4G rollout

Bigbird3141

Re: 3 are great...

I can vouch for your anecdote being valid west of Reading

Bigbird3141
Thumb Up

3's coverage is great in Berkshire's Most Remote Village - better than Vodafone whose HQ is not far away. Typical connection speed 13Mbps compare to my wired BT internet of 6.5Mbps. £15pcm for unlimited tetherable data. Works in my most frequented haunts - I now have internet access when I visit the parents-in-law: no need to converse any more. If their coverage works for you, I would firmly recommend 3.

[Why do I ever want 4G - can someone remind me?]

MPs back call to boycott low-taxed tat from Amazon over Xmas

Bigbird3141

Re: Agree with most comments here...

As far as VAT is concerned, they simply collect it - the customer pays it. Same with income tax - the employee pays it, but PAYE cuts out the middle man. Don't fall for their PR BS. Business rates and employer's NI I'll let you have.

Om-nom-nom-nom! Google's Cookie Monster DEVOURS MORE DRIVES

Bigbird3141

Re: Oi Google..

I bought one (my fourth) last month - far less RSI-inducing than a mouse

First look: Apple iPhone 5S and 5C

Bigbird3141

The 5C image isn't so great

I see faint grey bars through the background and blue phone. 5S image seems OK.

OK, so we paid a bill late, but did BT have to do this?

Bigbird3141
FAIL

Clueless engineers

BT are hopeless - I've found I get a better response if I tweet them.

I had a good experience when I reported a cable drooping low over the road - fixed in under 3 hours - 3 vehicles and 4 men.

On the other hand when I was getting dozens of disconnections a day and only 400kbps it took them 2 visits a week apart; a dug up road; 2 rewired telegraph poles and 2 new routers - before they decided to check _their_ wiring in _my_ house (all 3 feet of it). When they unscrewed the socket from the wall it just fell to the ground - the wires weren't fixed in the terminals, just brushing them. Since they attached the wires to the terminals and refixed the socket I haven't had a problem with broadband.

New iPhones: C certainly DOESN'T stand for 'Cheap'

Bigbird3141
Stop

Why bother

Nexus 4 is now £159/£199. That is all.

Steady as she goes at Three, no unseemly dash to be Four

Bigbird3141

Quite - I hope you're paying their new £!5 pcm rate too.

Devolo dLAN 500 AV Wireless Plus: Triple-tech connectivity for the home

Bigbird3141

Many power adapters I have (e.g. phone chargers) appear to be "upside down" in the UK, especially if the square-pin assembly (for the mains) is obviously interchangeable for other national standard pin assemblies.

It could be that elsewhere in the world your adapters are the "right way up", but for some reason dear old Blighty's standards mean they're incongruous over here.

US lawmaker blames bicycle breath for global warming gas

Bigbird3141
WTF?

Cycling is far more efficient than walking - it's walking that needs taxing