* Posts by JeffyPooh

1244 publicly visible posts • joined 8 Aug 2007

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Welsh gov beats off Canada to hand £1m to Nintendo dev

JeffyPooh
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Oh great...

Daddy, can you please buy me a copy of "Pell Cry dau ar bymtheg"?

FTC tells Google and pals: Not labelling ads properly is 'deceptive'

JeffyPooh
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Re: Doesn't everybody do this already?

There could and perhaps should be a Firefox plug-in to change the FFF7EC to something a bit more contrasty to the white FFFFFF.

Over the years, I've seen them slowly increment the colour of the Ad section closer and closer to white. Once upon a time it was quite distinct. They've been narrowing the gap over the years.

O3b's satellites on launch pad, ready to bring cats+porn to billions

JeffyPooh
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OMG - moving satellites!!

Relax. The Ruskies have been using Molniya orbit birds for many, many, many years. O3b is a different (simpler) orbit, but it's all very well established technology. Every objection raised above is rebutted by the long history of moving antennas.

JeffyPooh
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"Not that many of us will be able to benefit..."

False in the sense that you're writing only for a northern European audience, perhaps forgetting that el Reg is popular around the world.

True in the sense that if someone doesn't have access to the Internet, then they're not reading this article anyway.

False again in the sense that perhaps they're reading it over a link that can be improved by O3b.

True again that that's probably "not that many of us".

Tesla unveils battery-swapping tech for fast car charging

JeffyPooh
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Re: Someone has has missed the plot

"...engineered from the start to have a swappable battery..."

Well, if the fuel tank in my car was worn out and needed to be replaced every four or five years, then I'd want it to be easy to replace too.

By the way, how long have you had your Tesla S?

JeffyPooh
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"I imagine they said the same thing about the first petrol filling stations and cars"

Yeah, and there were probably petrol fanbois back in 1886 that failed to understand that it would be *decades* until the petrol powered car became truly and honestly practical.

Seems like the same thing here.

Look at the bright side. Every outrageous over-hyped BS lie about the practicality of a new technology eventually becomes true. E.g. 1970's AI to IBM's Watson, how many years?

JeffyPooh
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Electric cars are fantastic in every way...

It's the current battery technology that's not quite ready for Prime Time. It needs at least one more doubling of overall performance, preferably two.

The other annoying aspect of e-cars are the idiot fanbois (the vast majority of whom couldn't afford a Tesla) that fail to acknowledge the cold hard reality that "The Battery Problem" is a genuine problem. They're simply not being honest with themselves. They should really try to cut back their Kool Aid consumption.

JeffyPooh
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42, of course...

http://youtu.be/te48ucoEvFI

(Amateur team of Royal Marines swapping an Escort engine in 70% of one minute.)

3D printers now emitting merged manufacturers

JeffyPooh
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The 'Jeffy Test' is to 3D print a fully functional 3D printer

...without ordering all the non-trivial bits and subsystems from eBay.

Until then, it's just a slow boring method for making the odd (plastic) part.

But don't hold back on the farcical over hype.

I, for one, welcome our GIANT TITANIUM INSECT OVERLORDS

JeffyPooh
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Re: Overhyped

Today's example just landed in my Inbox.

Headline = "Researchers 3D print microbatteries"

Details = "Microscopic electrodes extruded... ...3D print precisely interlaced stacks of tiny battery electrodes"

Spot the difference? Complex batteries vs. simple electrodes. They did *not* "...3D print microbatteries." They did 3D print some homogenous metal electrodes.

They're not printing things; they're printing *parts* of things.

The stench of hype wafts across the landscape.

JeffyPooh
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Overhyped

In general, 3D Printers don't print things. They print parts for things. Unless the thing is one part, then the part is the thing. There are exceptions, such as printing an already-interlocked chain just for fun.

When I ask when a 3D Printer can print another 3D printer, the brain damaged idiots reply "But we can!" and they point to a plastic bracket. They completely fail to explain why eBay is awash with all the stepper motors, cables, control circuits, etc. required to make it work - comprising 20% of the mass, but 99.99+% of the complexity. Those Chinese parts and sub-assemblies are cheap and often include free shipping.

But they're not 3D printed. At the risk of being proven wrong in about 25 years, they never will be.

Offensive, iconoclastic internet trolls will not be prosecuted, says DPP

JeffyPooh
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More than offensive comments start here:

No. Don't.

LinkedIn DNS hijacked, site offline

JeffyPooh
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What time is it at LinkedIn ?

12:00

12:00

12:00

12:00

12:00

12:00

...

[Post requires letters. These are letters...]

Kim Dotcom victim of 'largest data MASSACRE in history'

JeffyPooh
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Re: Accusation should not equal guilt

Have you ever met members of the public? The same ones that would serve in your jury...

A learned judge alone might be preferable to the unwashed masses.

COLD BALLS OF FLAME light up International Space Station

JeffyPooh

Find the video of the US Astronaut describing the fire on Mir

Jerry Linenger, with his drawl, describing the flames shooting out of the oxygen generator... etc.

Washout 2012 summer, melty Greenland 'nothing to do with Arctic ice or warm oceans'

JeffyPooh
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"...may indicate a deficiency in these models."

The models leave out many unknowns, some of which will be the 6th power of something else. It's 'Chaos' taken to the highest level.

Apple's screw-up leaves tethered iPhones easily crackable

JeffyPooh
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You'd think after maybe the 10,000th incorrect password attempt...

You'd think that maybe the OS would just ignore the correct password - just out of pure spite...

Apple: iOS7 dayglo Barbie makeover is UNFINISHED - report

JeffyPooh
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Barbie Colours available now

Under Settings, General, Accessibility, set 'Invert Colors' = ON. One may program the Home button triple-click to toggle this setting.

Would it really be all that difficult to provide more than one user delectable theme? It seems as if there's a band of GUI Nazis running around imposing their weird-ass Win8 Metrosexual, now iOS7 Klaus Barbie, Flat / Non-skumorphic belief system on all of us. They must be enjoying the reaction because it would be trivial to avoid if they wanted to avoid it.

I don't like Nazis.

NSA accused of new crimes ... against slideware

JeffyPooh
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PowerPoint 101

Every tiny one square cm image must be full resolution, at least 24MB each.

Do not under any circumstances scale the images' resolution down. Do not compress the images.

It's critical that the audience actually see the images being slowly drawn on the screen.

Having a 200GB ppt file also helps with file security, and indirectly helps to ensure full employment within the agency.

Pttow! Ofcom kicks hams out of MoD bands

JeffyPooh
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Re: There are two kinds of radio amateurs.

"Note that there are two kinds of radio amateurs."

You spelled "...approximately 1,500 kinds..." incorrectly.

We're losing the battle with a government seduced by surveillance

JeffyPooh
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Re: it's probably MUCH worse than this

"...It's possible to make that a 'silent' update not visible to the user..."

It'd be nice if the moronic PC programmers of the world (MS and Linuxtards too) would try out this technology. Updates not being a complete frickin' Dog and Pony show each and every time, combined with beeping and bopping and rebooting and deleting the MBR by accident. Idiots!

JeffyPooh
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Re: it's probably MUCH worse than this

Many (i)Phones will drain their battery in a couple of hours if you run the GPS much *. A battery that normally last all day will mysteriously be flat by mid-afternoon if someone is remotely tracking you - such as your government or spouse.

(* Your Battery Life May Vary.)

Perhaps the Government spooks can send power through the air to compensate. LOL.

Police 'stumped' by car thefts using electronic skeleton key

JeffyPooh
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Re: I'd rather they took my car than poured a kettle of boiling water over my head.

Our household has some that are up until as late (early?) as 6 am, and others that wake up at about 5 am (roughly). Most of the time there's no gap. Odds are high that it would end very badly for any late night 'creepers', especially if they ran into Grandpa in the wee hours (raised in the jungles of Asia, wrestles carabao, juggles knives, etc.).

Raspberry Pi DUMBS DOWN to target world+dog

JeffyPooh
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"Please Select Your OS Choice:"

NOOB> "You have selected the 'RISC OS' ..."

NOOB> "Confirm. Please press the *middle* mouse button to continue."

NOOB> "No, I said *middle*."

NOOB> "Please press the *middle* mouse button to continue."

NOOB> "Middle!"

NOOB> "Please press the *middle* mouse button (try pressing the scroll wheel) to continue."

NOOB> "Middle, middle, middle. Not Left and not Right. Middle."

NOOB> "Please press the *middle* mouse button (try pressing the scroll wheel) to continue."

NOOB> "Please press the *middle* mouse button (try pressing the scroll wheel) to continue."

NOOB> "It appears that your Dollar Store mouse doesn't offer a middle button."

NOOB> "Please Select Your OS Choice." [with RISC OS greyed out until next reboot]

Microsoft video preview shows Windows 8.1 tablet UI options

JeffyPooh
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"All user interfaces must be the same"

God help us if Microsoft starts selling flashlights next year. Else the MS Windows 9.0 GUI will have a switch (input) and a lightbulb (output) to ensure "a consistent user interface" across all product lines.

Idiots.

FreedomPop aims to gut US wireless oligopoly with free smartphone

JeffyPooh
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FreedomPop has been accused of being email spammers

Reportedly... buried deep inside the registration page is a tick-box to allow scraping all your contacts. Then FreedomPop starts spamming away, and (according to this report) simply will not stop.

Just today I received a spammy email from FreedomPop, mentioning by first name some unknown 'friend' that what was probably a PayPal contact arising from an ebay purchase. It was pure spam, and obviously matched the process described in the news.

Based on the report combined with my own experience (just one email so far), I recommend that Google Gmail and other email providers assign FreedomPop the Spammer flag and redirect their items to the Spam folders.

FreedomPop might wish to adjust their approach. Otherwise their reputation will be further self-trashed.

Amazon yoinks Dora and SpongeBob from Netflix for MEELLLIONS

JeffyPooh
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Ah, I get it...

Instead of paying $XX per month to the Cable TV or Satellite TV, we instead can ultimately pay $YY per month to each of several different Internet Streaming TV services such as Netflix and Amazon and etc. etc. etc.

Let me guess... $YY multiplied by several necessary providers is going to end up being pretty close to $XX.

BBC boffins ponder abstruse Ikea-style way of transmitting telly

JeffyPooh
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Other details that the boffins never seem to think about until Rev G

How much power does it consume when it's on?

How much power does it consume when it's in Stand By ('Off') mode?

How long does it take to boot up from the totally-powered-off state (e.g. power failure)?

How long does it take to switch channels?

How inconvenient, intrusive and fragile can you make the inevitably-required software update process?

Perhaps, one day, in the far and distance future, then boffins will think about such things from the outset.

JeffyPooh
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Re: Nothing new

@ The Mole

Exactly. Thanks for saving me the typing.

Being that it's really just an extension of the present system, I suppose it'll make implementation pretty straightforward.

I think it's a mostly-harmless good concept.

JeffyPooh
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Re: Not so good for real time...

BBC World Service on SiriusXM satellite radio in North America, the Top-of-the-Hour beep is about 15 to 18 seconds late even now. It's a bit pointless (the delayed beep).

Watching NASA launches via several feed options reveals latency variations of up to 20 seconds! That's just the delta latency from one feed to the other.

At least they've made some good progress on Lip Sync. It used to be a very common problem, but seems to be rare these days.

The axis of time folks, the axis of time. Don't forget the axis of time.

JeffyPooh
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Re: So we can disable the laugh track.

"...you want to remove the ticker from BBC News..."

Comic Lewis Black on (I think) CNN. He, as guest, forced them to remove the ticker. I assume it's on YouTube somewhere.

Relax, Hollywood, ARM's got your back: New chip 'thwarts' video pirates

JeffyPooh
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Re: The thing about DRM...

"...you only need one person to succeed and then **it** gets shared the world over."

You probably intended the 'it' to mean the media files stripped of DRM.

The other option is 'it' being the piracy-enabling app that performs the technically-challenging task with one click.

It's an obvious point, but I still see some clinging to the obsolete position that if something is technically difficult, then it helps to protect DRM'ed content. They overlook the obvious fact that computer processors exist in the wild.

Former Microsoft Windows chief: I was right to kill the Start button

JeffyPooh
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It's a computer...

You can easily program "d) All of the above."

JeffyPooh
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Re: Thank God he's out !!

"I understand that there needed to be 1 interface..."

False *. No more than the 'need' to force everyone to use the same user interface language, or other localizations. It's called Consumer Choice - ignore it and we'll ignore your products.

(* Provided that they also provide a quick and easy way to switch between the various interface choices so that the IT Support hired help can issue one command to reinstate the normal default scheme.)

Microsoft's Windows 8.1 secrets REVEALED ... sort of

JeffyPooh
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"You can even use more than two apps at once – three, to be precise."

FAIL.

In a professional working environment, one might need to have a dozen windows open at once.

Now beaming live from Pyongyang: NORKSCASTS!

JeffyPooh
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Hmmm...

Perhaps this carriage of Nork Radio International on WRN helps to explain why SiriusXM satellite radio (North America) recently dropped WRN from the channel line-up. ...Probably amongst other pressures on the bandwidth.

As an old-fart shortwave listener, it's been a hoot to drive around town listening to assorted 'foreign' broadcasts. We're down to having the BBC as the only 'foreign' channel on SiriusXM now.

PC market facing worst-ever slump in 2013

JeffyPooh
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Windows 8

Simple as that.

Is the next-gen console war already One?

JeffyPooh
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Extra things on the screen while watching a movie?

Reminds me of Taiwan circa mid-1980s. While watching a movie in a huge theatre, the projectionist would slide a handwritten message into the projector so that it was projected along the right hand side of the big screen for all to see (not that i could read it). Somebody would gasp, jump up, grab their coat and run out.

Yeah, that's what I want to reproduce at home. Taiwanese doctors running through my house, on their way to deliver a baby.

AT&T adds 61¢ 'Mobility Administrative Fee' for users

JeffyPooh
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Re: I can't help but think

Well, to start with: it'd be sixty-one pence.

Judge: Evidence will likely show Apple DID fix ebook prices

JeffyPooh
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Yes, the emails proved that they conspired to fix prices

...slightly lower than the competition.

Nail them for tax cheating.

Then abandon them for the boring Black & White Flat GUI theme coming with iOS 7.

Paul Allen buys lovingly restored vintage V-2 Nazi ballistic missile

JeffyPooh
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BBC sh*t-cans huge IT project; IT guy buys missile designed to hit London

Coincidence? I don't think so...

Penguin pays $75m to settle ebook price-fixing case

JeffyPooh
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I think Apple is in hot water about this and the very-fraudulent tax dodging

[Makes popcorn, pulls up chair.]

PS: Tax authorities might want to check out the books of all the less famous companies. I doubt that Apple is the first one to think up this sort of nonsense.

Kim Dotcom claims invention of two-factor authentication

JeffyPooh
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A US Patent?

Hmmm...

COLD FUSION is BACK with 'anomalous heat' claim

JeffyPooh
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Please pass the Fluke TrueRMS DVOM

QUOTE ...the system being fed by: “... a TRIAC power regulator device which interrupted each phase periodically, in order to modulate power input with an industrial trade secret waveform.”

So, I'll place a bet on the root cause of this 'excess power' stemming from them using a meter that doesn't measure RMS voltage / current / power correctly with funny waveforms.

The iWatch is coming! The iWatch is coming!

JeffyPooh
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Another Bluetooth & Wifi gadget a lá les Googgles?

Or are people expecting it to be equipped with a built in mobe?

Nvidia opens pre-orders for handheld Shield console three days early

JeffyPooh
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"Shield"?

It plugs onto an Arduino?

IT bloke publishes comprehensive maps of CALL CENTRE menu HELL

JeffyPooh
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Re: I've got an idea...

Oh_Really?

Therefore I hereby formally Publish (above) and irrevocably place the above described Business Model(s) and any related Utility Patent worthy inventions that may be inferred into the Public Domain.

Excluding the Business Model of equating the US Dollar and UK Pound as being approximately the same value. That brilliant concept is *mine* and intend to pursue a worldwide Business Model patent on it.

JeffyPooh
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I've got an idea...

An entrepreneur could create a new paid service to make life easier for the public.

This new system would have thousands of cheap Internet phone lines. Their system would constantly call the most popular call center numbers, and cue-up various popular but deeply-buried end nodes of the menu. It would use all sorts of tricks to keep the call center menu system on-line (perhaps backing-out and then moving further-in in an endless repeating loop to keep the system on the line).

Meanwhile, the impatient punters would call up this service via a certain defined short-cut telephone number, and (for a Dollar, or a UK Pound [same thing]) be instantly connected to the deep node of the menu within a given call center.

More aggressively - perhaps even get the call center human on the line, and then make some fake throat clearing noises to keep them on the line for a few seconds waiting, just in case an available punter wants to speak to them in that duration. This is a reverse version of the 'predictive calling' feature used by outgoing call centers. Right back at them.

Also, the fact that the call center's incoming lines are all plugged up by the service's robots would only help to ensure a successful business model.

Boffins find world's oldest virgin water trapped in Earth's crust

JeffyPooh
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Stop The Presses...

Turns out it's just 3-week-old waste "Fracking Fluid" from a mile up the road.

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