* Posts by Chad H.

2434 publicly visible posts • joined 23 Jan 2007

Australians safe from Mortal Kombat

Chad H.
Stop

Not the decision of gvt

Although the government may make the rules, they don't make individual rulings.

To change the rules the attorney general of each state has to agree. Blame south australia's longstanding holdout.

Jester claims credit for knocking Westboro Baptist Church offline

Chad H.

Its all quite amusing

When you consider they're supposed to be somewhere under the rainbow...

Lenovo flaunts ThinkPad with 30 hour battery life

Chad H.

Does....

Does the 1.8Kg include the extended battery pack?

Court OK's Assange Sweden extradition, given 7 days to appeal

Chad H.

Well

He's not *charged* with anything for one.

Apple plots iPad 2 production reduction

Chad H.
Thumb Down

Just wondering...

Just wondering if you tell cour competitors what you're doing in advance?

Roundabouts and swings at Everything Everywhere

Chad H.
Thumb Down

Well

London does have those big things made of bricks and stuff that absorb mobile signals creating coverage shadows.

There might be a lot of people, but those things that sheer number of people need create coverage challenges.

Chad H.
Thumb Up

Translation

They got rid of nonprofitable customers, and got some that actually spend money.

Westboro Baptist Church taunts Anonymous over supposed attack plan

Chad H.
Joke

Ah

You see there is... Slight mistranslation "Blessed are the *Geeks*, for they shall inherit..."

Chad H.

@ Youngone

Oddly the WBC has convinced me either God doesn't exist, or isn't worthy of my worship as he's either not good, or omnipotent.

Chad H.

@ Sabroni

Perhaps I should reword that... Anonyous goes after the "Cause" of their ire - those that try to crush free speech by not processing payments for groups dedicated to free speech and accountability for example.

As to why they're anonymous, it has to go to their long standing anti-Scientology campaign. The COS plays very dirty, 5mins of web surfing on sites like xenu.net will explain it better than I can. The COS come after you and your family.

Chad H.

@ AC 21 Feb 15:08 GMT

How is a DDOS at the end of the day any moraly different to what UK Uncut are doing "Shutting down" banks and shops?

Sometimes the law simply doesn't work. The law is protecting Westboro at the cost of everyone else.

Chad H.

@ Just Thinking

My issues with the Wesboro Baptist church are less their disgusting beliefs, but the indefensable methods of which they express their views.

Chad H.
WTF?

Well...

Anonymous actually target soneoneobe/thing that's doing something wrong. Westboro do anything it takes, including targeting bystanders and innocents, to get on TV.

There's a clear moral divide between the two.

Death by 30% cut: Apple app tax must change

Chad H.

Well.

@ NLSD - What does a real estate agent add that I can't do myself? What do they earn for their commission? They get buyers through the door, buyers specifically go to them. Don't like it, yeah, go right ahead and do it all yourself if you don't need the AppStore foot traffic.

@ Anonymous: Source for what? You either play by apples rules, and get 70% of something, or you don't play, and get 100% of nothing.

Chad H.
FAIL

100% of nothing, or 70% of something

I'm tired of all the boo-hoo-ness in this column. App store sellers get a better cut than retail sellers, and more foot traffic than going it alone. If you don't like it, fine, move on.

Seems this column is more about fighting a personal crusade than anything else.

Google opens curtain on 'manual' search penalties

Chad H.

Foundem...

Could you know, try a little marketing beyond expecting google to do their job for them... I only know them from the constant reg articles with them blaming google for all their woes - where's their TV ad with annoying mascott? Where's their billboards, bus advertisments, etc?

Microsoft bans open source license trio from WinPhone

Chad H.

As much as I hate Msoft, I don't think they're to fault here.

Looks like Unca Bill's Piggybank is just simply trying to avoid a lawsuit from the FSF - I think its their fanatical vision of Open Source thats to blame, and their unwillingness to play nice with the things app stores need to do to attract the non-FOSS apps.

Wondering if we can really keep calling the GNU licenses "Free" as that fanatical core seems to be deciding for developers who and where they should be offering their products - hijacking the entire movement.

Chad H.
Troll

I voted it up

Because its not a troll attempt - Its a trend.

Apple got sued because someone uploaded an app using the GPL because the FSF don't like the DRM iTunes uses. The FSF has decided that the iTunes App store is out of bounds, and the Windows store isn't too different.

Is it really a "Free" as in Freedom license if someone else is hijacking your work to score points?

The internet ate our homework

Chad H.

Thy Emperor, he hath no clothes.

Why does it take a UK (tech) publication to speak truth in the Australian Retail Market?

(and what is it with the recent rash of Oz stories - Going for a .com.au edition?)

The Doctor Who Experience

Chad H.
IT Angle

Hardware?

Okay, so I suppose this isn't exactly *software* but it doesnt really seem to fit under the hardware banner....

IBM answer machine makes chumps of trivia chimps

Chad H.

Well...

My understanding is the next goal for the Watson Project is to turn the "Normal Human Language" processing ability into a medical diagnostics machine.

As someone who works in tech support, I could see this thing doing my job one day, when its perfected a bit more.

Chad H.

But

What exactly would that prove?

The goal here is to try and make a computer, as much as possible, understand plain human language. A 10 year old already has a reasonable grasp of the same.

Chad H.

The buzzer is not the issue

1: You still need to have the right answer to win, no matter your buzzer speed

2: Humans can start to push the buzzer a little early before it clicks - in fact this is what the "best" players do, get into the rythum such that the button is about to cross its contacts as the Buzz in time becomes available - wheras Watson cannot begin to push the button until the question is completed.

3: Given the known lightning fast buzzer reflexes of one of the flesh contestants, Watson was not considered by the producers to have an advantage in this area at all.

Chad H.
Stop

Tech not ready....

Despite its amazing win... I don't think the tech is quite ready to start replacing people as researchers and call centre workers... There are some subjects where it clearly had no clue (Name the Decade, keys on your computer) and others where the question really had to be worded right (the Day 2/Game 1 Final Jeopardy question from the US cities category it got wrong, however I heard they refed the question later including the words "US City" into the question and got it right).

Chad H.
Thumb Down

Jeopardy was probably the better choice

As its very tricky... Tricky wording of clues that computers just can't do.

Buildinging a Who Wants to Be a Millionaire bot, by comparison due to the limited number of answers should be relatively easy.

Sarkozy: Microsoft represents all that is great about France

Chad H.
WTF?

Insulting....

French president Nicholas Sarkozy delivered a profound judgement on Microsoft yesterday, declaring that the company personifies the values of France and Europe.

---

Rather insulting to the French isn't it... Calling them a bunch of bullies and CopyCats.

Sex offenders will get a review – after 15 years

Chad H.
WTF?

@ Errors happen

When it comes to rape, the stats suggest the opposite is true - The errors that happen let people off.

Guardian in a March 2010 puts the report to conviction rate at a measly 6%.

Far too often I guess it comes down to he said, she said.

Chad H.

No... (@ Adam)

I'm sayIng abolish the register, don't let out the real fiddlers who will repeat, and let those who fall into a "mistake of circumstance" be.

If the real fiddlers don't get out, no need for a register; and those who make mistakes of passion who won't repeat can get on with their lives.

Chad H.

Erm...

I hate Kiddy-Fiddlers as much as anyone... But if someone has "repaid their debt to society" then it hardly seems fair to keep punishing them. We don't keep tabs on theives after their sentance is complete.

Perhaps we need to regrade the offense.

Pure kiddy-fiddlers get auto-life.

Things like stat rape where there's a real relationship and not just child abuse get something less (eg a 15yr old and her 18 year old b/f).

Chad H.

@ Jord

Well that would leave an uneforcable law on the books. The courts aren't allowed to go against what precendent the senior courts have set. In fact, I think this might be the prefered option of all those kiddy-fiddlers.

Humans shamed in round two of Jeopardy! showdown

Chad H.
FAIL

Exceptg

1 - you cant argue its all about the buzzer if the machine has a buzzer, which you dont reference in the first post (you say that the human constestants take longer to trigger the buzzer because of their bio mechanical components - this is different to saying the machine has a buzzer (which it has to trigger mechanically).

2 - Again, you can't argue its all about the buzzer because it lost in the buzzerless round if its giving the correct answer when the buzzer is involved. If I built a machine that could trigger the buzzer at the speed of light, then it cannot win jeopardy unless its got coding like watson to determine the answer. It would lose hard.

3- You can't comment on something you haven't seen, so your comment here is rather pointless. As these videos explain Watson has a large number of algorithms that may or may not result in the correct answer. They Feed watson a large number of real jepoardy questions and answers to train it to determine which of these algorithms are "reliable" in what situations (the programmers do not determine for the machine which are reliable - Watson learns this from experience).

He'd probably have an easier time on University challenge as thats a straight Question/Answer programme, rather than the reveresed tricky-wording format of Jeopardy.

Chad H.
FAIL

No.

1 - the machine has a buzzer.

2 - you can have the fastest buzzer in the world - if you're wrong you're wrong and lose points.

3 - if you look at the behind the scenes footage from the trials a few week ago you'll find it's all about Watson learning essentially how to think. It has a number of algorithms to try to determine the correct answer and has to learn which of these are reliable in different situations.

Rhapsody bristles at Apple subscription grab

Chad H.
FAIL

Is this intentional?

There's just one slight problem. For many retailers, the marginal costs are unavoidable: the margin is much lower than 30 per cent (WalMart's margin is under 4 per cent)

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Just wondering if this is an intentional fact manipulation, or someone getting mixed up between gross margin and profit margin.

This section suggests that your average widget maker gets 96% of the retail price when they sell via wall mart - that has got to be completely implausable.

Your average stuff-marker woulde be thankful if he ever got near 50% of the retail price.

Amazon threatens Texas exit over tax bill

Chad H.

@ Double Taxation

Perhaps you should check the efficency of Medicare - You'll find they're more efficient than Private Health Insurers with your money - Big Government can be efficient.

Many countries tax you on both paychecks and spending. Like every state in the EU.

The US gvt collecting a national sales tax wouldnt be an infringement of state rights, but I think you were trying to indicate that telling the states not to collect sales tax would be - that much is correct.

Chad H.
FAIL

Dumb idea.

Instead you have more bodies in the streets bringing down property values. Good luck with your cholera epidemic.

O2 to raise broadband prices by up to 27%

Chad H.

There is a difference

Ibe customers get to talk to Bulgaria for help. O2 keep the call in the UK.

Chad H.
Stop

Actually

O2 only put up the price once. The other time the government increased it's portion (VAT)

Please ensure you share your blame appropriately

Enough with the Apple App Store apathy

Chad H.
Stop

30%...

As previously indicated, compared to other retail channels 30% of retail cost to apple is cheap - normally you'd be lucky to get 30% of the retail price.

If anything, you're paying less for the priveleshe of appleakibg sure the product works as advertised!

Chad H.

So

So the parts still have to go an approval process not unlike the app store?

Chad H.
FAIL

Ford

Ford make you buy their parts and use service personal certified by them, unless you want to lose your warranty.

Apple make you buy apps from their store and use technicians certified by them.

Same difference.

Chad H.
Coat

Or.....

Or its the fate of programs that use a License agreement shackled to the whims of a fanatic.

Its the puratanical and lawsuit-happy approach to the GNU PL thats keeping OpenTTD out., not Apple. Use a different open source license, and its in - whats that you can't change license because of the GNU PL, well thats hardly apples fault, they didn't write it.

Chad H.

Indeed

Try and get 70% of the retail sale price from any other major retailer, let me know how long their laugh goes for.

Chad H.

Err

I think we realise, but simply don't care. All apps are vetted - on my phone thats great, I don't want some bad code stopping my phone from phoning.

Closed systems on Phones are prefereable. Open systems on my computer are preferable. Closed isn't some evil empire, and open isn't some good rebel alliance. Both approaches suit different circumstances.

Chad H.
FAIL

Eff Yew Dee

Where do we get trash like this from?

The Mac app store is just one of many places one can get Mac apps. So what if Apple can reject/pull apps, it's just like any other store where the shopkeeper/retail baron gets to decide what to stock. Got a product that doesn't work or has bad packaging? Good luck getting the tecos/wall marts to stock you. Have another widget they already stock squillions of, again good luck in getting stocked.

But suddenly throw in Apple, and it becomes a story! Apps may not be stocked if they're bad or the virtual shelf is full - it must be a conspiracy, right?

How about I write this column next week? What, el reg doesn't want to post my editorial, el reg is being anti competative, waaaaaaaa!

Steve Woz: From wooden Apples to iPhone love

Chad H.

@ AC 13:54

Woz has very little to do with Apple these days. Very bad blood with the other Steve.

Apple under threat from ... Windows tablets

Chad H.
Thumb Down

Ummm

But we do separate smartphones and feature phones, there's a bigger difference tablet to netbook than there is featurephone to smartphone.

Chad H.

But....

I guess it depends on how you're defining dusts... On sales sure, but on user experience?

In 2013, windows tablet is going to face the same uphill battle as the modern mac - the programs/apps that people want and are already using are on one platform - not the other. I don't think people buy windows on it's features - they buy it because it runs the stuff they want to run.

Its hard to beat the incumbent in this situation.

Norway to probe Sony's PS3 Linux 'downgrade'

Chad H.
FAIL

Nobody....

Except the homebrew scene, or those looking for cheap computing power to run models, or a cheap Bly ray media centre....

Bold as brass metal thieves disrupt rail, comms, electric

Chad H.
Flame

Wouldnt....

Wouldn't adding a second, high voltage cable teach them the error of their ways?

'You don't even know what change management is'

Chad H.
FAIL

A fail on both counts?

21 months behind after 24 moths.

24-21 = 3, so 3 months of work completed in 24 months.

No siginficiant change then.

The fact that this has been permitted clearly shows there's no real management.

Therefore, this cannot be down to "Change Management".