Posts by Iain Gilbert

Suck on this: El Reg forces dog hair, biscuit crumbs, and disconcertingly sticky stains down two mini vacuums

Doorless society

Am I missing something here? Does no one have doors in their house anymore?

These robo vacs seem a great idea until you think I’d need one per room as I refuse to leave the doors open all the time.

Skype can now record your 'special moments' in front of the computer

Re: So how does this work?

Skype for business announces it on the screen and plays a tone but does NOT require all participants to ok the recording.

I’d assume regular Skype will follow the same model.

It’s actually quite useful on business machines as you can setup a meeting with no one else on it, share your screen and record a tutorial without any additional software.

Apple emits iPhone cop-block update – plus iOS, macOS, Safari patches

Re: Preventing it from going into USB restricted mode

Can you not just use CarPlay in wireless mode? Sure it doesn’t charge unless you’ve got wireless charging and a newer iPhone but it’s a lot less hassle than plugging in your phone especially on a short journey.

Also why 1 hour? Give me an option to set that to whatever time I want.

MacBook Pro petition begs Apple for total recall of krap keyboards

Apple fix it or people will move

Not just the MBP, we’ve got 2 MacBooks and both have been in multiple times for collapsed keys.

The other half loves the keyboard but I hate it, so much so that I bought an old Lenovo X240 to use to do more heavy work than the MacBook.

Seriously looking at Alternatives now, Huawei’s Matebook is looking very nice.

Deadly Tesla smash probe: No recall needed, says Uncle Sam

I worry about these semi-autonomous systems, the monotony of the motorway + self steering and radar guided cruise control could leave a very low level of attention even from well intentioned drivers.

Then add to this mobiles, attractive pedestrians/drivers ......

Re: Face it: Humans are lousy drivers

The one good thing about the two pedals setup is it's difficult the brake and accelerate at the same time, although not impossible.

My main issue is with overly large brake pedals on autos - going for the clutch and brake results in overly harsh braking. Not the end of the world but annoying.

The question is - how many deaths would result from the change in controls (presuming you could actually switch over and not have to phase it in) versus how many you'd save.

Google nukes ad-blocker AdNauseam, sweeps remains out of Chrome Web Store

I seem to remember there's a fork of chrome called iron, whether it's been kept up to date is another matter.

Personally I use Firefox with noscript and ghostery along with piehole running on a vm in the house for dns based blocking.

Certainly recommend piehole although I'm never 100% keen to trust an auto update script that fiddles with dns so have a crib job to remove anything not pointing to the pieholes own ip.

I've lost the remote! Fury as Samsung yoinks TV control from its iOS app

Alternate apps

I haven't tried it for a while as I don't like using the iPhone as a remote unless I can't find the real one (touchscreen and fake buttons aren't for me) but I've always used mytifi instead.

The Samsung remote was never any good.

With the new Apple TV, air video and hopefully iplayer etc I'm planning on ditching the smart bits of my tv as well as the remote.

Researcher messes up Wi-Fi with an rPi and bargain buy radio stick

Re: In the hands of a burglar, would a portable (battery powered) unit stuff up....

Friedland response alarms have a setting for this. But it's not on by default and the manual states it's not a great idea as it can cause false alarms.

I also wonder what happens with the wireless siren - it may well not go off and leave you relying on the one built into the main panel.

Account at HSBC? BAD LUCK, no iPhone bonk-banking for you

Now that idea I like!

But can I still buy crisps with it?

Whilst I can see the point in backwaters where you have to sign a slip like some sort of animal and chip and pin is just some sort of fevered madman's dream but I don't really see how this is a big deal in the UK/Europe with pay wave and chip and pin.

Only advantage I can see if IF I forget my wallet I can still buy crisps.

Facebook is VIOLATING your SEXUAL privacy, warn Belgian data cops

Never!

;)

Oh the ironing of no-script blocking a facebook script on the register's page talking about facebook's creepy tracking.

VW STUNS WORLD+DOG WITH REAL HOVER-CAR!

Aww look at the little stiggies! Now we know where top gear is breeding them in case they kill the current one.

LG chisels wedge-shaped Ultrabook

Display

Why the poor res?

One of the reasons I went with the MBA 13" was the higher res.

iOS update woes prompt gnashing of teeth for Apple fans

Ditto

This just happened to me as well. Possibly not the most sensible move but I'm in a hotel on training and my phone is my only alarm.

8am start tomorrow and so far a bricked phone - woo hoo

Even the restore feature doesn't appear to work.

Inconvenient truther hints at multiple iPhone October

8GB iPhone 4

If apple bring out a 8gb iPhone 4 (Like they have with the 3gs etc) it will technically be a new model.

'iPhone 5' chippery captured on camera

All I want for christmas...

Is a bigger screen and the ability to make calls in cold weather - it rings in your pocket but as soon as you take it out it drops all signal.

<sigh> Looks like my next contract will be on the Samsung Galaxy S2 or the Note.

iPad 2: Apple forced to make carrier concessions

Gsm requirements

I thought it wasn't possible to do this in Europe because of the gsm requirement for swappable sims?

Locked iPhones still got their ears on

Security issue

The security issue is that as long as you have a clear voice you can dial any number you want even if it's not in the phone book

iOS 4.2: An 'ace' for iPad, a 'meh' for iPhone

Ringer volume

The killer feature for me on an iPhone 4 is the added option to stop the volume buttons from changing the ringer volume. It was a major issue which caused me to miss calls frequently.

Now if only I could change the bl**dy email tone! It's not as if it's a "revolutionary" feature.

'Banned' Xbox Live consoles appearing on eBay

Cheap media centre extender

Does anyone know if this "ban" stops the xbox's media playback and media centre abilities? Does it stop one from playing games offline?

If not it sounds like I might be able to pick up a bargin, as I'm a very light gamer and certainly not paying MS for online gaming.

To beat Google, Microsoft will become Google

I hate Christmas

"Microsoft has been running large-scale internet services for more than a decade, since the advent of MSN and Hotmail"

Err, didn't MS buy Hotmail. IIRC they left it running on BSD servers for a good while too.

2008 goes into one-second overtime

Humbug

At least it'll be one more second away from Christmas 09.

LG GP08NU10 slimline portable DVD writer

Eye on Macbook Air owners

If LG have got an eye on Air owners for this product it must be a glass one. From the review it seems that you require two usbs to run this device (one for power and one for power/data), the Air has one usb!

Personally I don't think those who bought Airs will want this anyway, if they can afford the Air they can probably afford the extra cost for the SuperDrive and will want to keep everything nice and pretty.

On the other hand, great for a netbook although imho you may as well start saving for a ultra portable laptop if you're going to start lugging around/paying for extra CD drives etc. The netbooks seems to be getting more and more expensive, personally I'd rather save my money and get the better spec of a proper laptop.

Vintage IBM tape drive in Apollo moon dust rescue

Did anyone ask IBM?

Here's a strange question, did anyone think to contact IBM? Surely they would have kept the blueprints/tech specs of the old drive.

If anyone could afford to rebuild an old tape drive from scratch you would have thought NASA could.

Still perhaps that's the next option.

Apple grants Windows PCs the right to run Safari for Windows

BootCamp

As you can easily run Windows on "Apple labeled computers" (as long as they have an intel chip anyway) perhaps Lord Jobs only wanted people using Windows on a Mac to be able to use his software.

Either than or someone cocked up and cut and copied the Safari for OSX Eula.

;)

Northrop: battlefield rayguns to demo this year

Laser & Mirrors = What?

Am I being daft here but from what I remember from playing with lasers in Higher (A.S Level) Physics they have a tendency to bounce off any mirrors surface, hence the reason we would have to remove rings/watches etc.

Wouldn't any "enemy" just be able to reflect the laser beam back at the source?

Local councils dish out shoddy computer recycling advice

@William

Thermite is actually incredibly easy to make, we made it in chemistry a number of times, so it's quite possible some people use it.

Personally I usually just write over a few times and then reformat, all the stuff I wouldn't want people to see is encrypted anyway.

Inventor promises bottle-o-wind car in a year. Again

@Safety

Or a tank of highly explosive compressed LPG!

Free fuel

Just offer to give your local MP a lift and you'll have enough "fuel" to go for a good few miles.

Bluetooth body confirms Wi-Fi 'hijack' plan

@George

Avahi runs on the server (The phone in this case) to announce the service ala bonjour. It wouldn't really be needed as Samba can use WINS but it would make it easier for OSX users etc.

When I said software I mean on the client machine (ie the computer), however I fail to see why Nokia couldn't provide a Samba client as well so you could browse your computer's file shares.

I really don't see the point in alot of this software provided by manufacturers, why bother when you could use simple, well supported standards and then just use the support built into the OS that the user is clearly familiar with.

Bluetooth

Apart from wireless headphones I've never really seen the point of bluetooth in a phone that's WiFi enabled!

Sure you can transfer files / use it as a modem however it would be far simpler for users if the mobile phone companies would simply setup their products to offer decent services over WiFi instead of BT.

Why not use Samba over Wifi to transfer files, it would remove the need for any stupid software and give user's a much more familiar experiance than BT especially if used with a zeroconfig daemon such as Avahi. It's the same for mobile internet, why not simply allow the phone to be used as an ethernet modem/router over WiFi, sure probably only the smart phones would be able to do this at the moment but it's easy enough to do this on linux with very low resources so why not phones!

M&S flogs lingerie model with 'durable hardwood feet'

Oh dear

Here it comes

I wouldn't mind rummaging in her draws!

Sorry - I'll get my coat.

MS bundles Vista SP1 and Server 2008 out the door

@Michael

I'm the same. Vista 64 HP for me and not a single problem I can blame on MS, I can blame a few on Belkin for their cr*ppy drivers (actually come to think of it their crappy network cards and routers as well) but they're the only issue I've had.

I did however build the system specifically for vista 64 (it's only cost me about £350 so far, without the monitor, for parts and about £60 for the OEM copy of windows) with 3gb of ram. My only major complaint it the shutdown/start up speeds, which are dire but Vista seems to multitask far better than XP allowing firefox to work responsively even while another program tries to use 100% of the processor and ram.

When I first built the system I did however have pretty poor performance with an on-board gpu and 1gb of ram, but a £30 graphics card and about the same for an extra 2gb of ram solved the problem. I was working at PCWorld over the Christmas and I pity the poor folks who bought Vista machines with stupidly lacking amounts of memory (512mb anyone?).

I guess I'm just lucky, but I have noticed while helping other people with Vista that it really doesn't like upgrading from XP (wipe and install is the best bet), it needs a good chunk of memory and seems to work better in 64bit edition than 32 (if you can get the drivers of course).

Man buys MacBook Air, pulls it apart, takes pics

@Swineherd - Linux on Apple

"Yes, but PC Hardware is so much better supported, so much cheaper and so much easier to find, so why would we...?"

I think you'll find that Apple hardware IS pc hardware, after all they do use Intel and that's before I get all pedantic and point out that PC stands for personal computer!

As for compatibility - I never had any problems with my old dual processor G5 powermac or my old G4 PowerBook 12" running GentooPPC.

Share the love, not the hate.

Why do people hate this laptop so much? If you like the hardware but don't like OSX, install Windows on it. If it doesn't suit your needs don't buy it!

I also don't seem why folks are complaining about the lack of optical drive, the external drive seems pretty good value to me. Also it's supposed to be an ultraportable, generally ultraportables (IBM X series etc) don't come with integrated optical. There are plenty of Macs with integrated opticals but many people have been calling on apple to drop un-needed fat out of it's portables to create a decent ultra-portable.

I'm more concerned as a "road warrior" at the lack of integrated modem/ethernet, although it's not a huge issue as long as you factor in the extra cost and you can always use you're mobile as a modem. The other issue I have is with the 13" screen, it's still too big for my liking, a 12" screen would have been better, especially if it was in 4:3 format (for documents / web pages etc), however I think Apple is far more worried about the movie crowd than people who have to use wordprocessing/email/web on the move.

I'm wanting to replace my IBM X21 which recently bit the dust, but I'm not sure about the Air (if I can even afford it!) I think I may end up getting a linux friendly "pc" laptop, probably a Toshiba judging by the quality of some of the new ones I've seen, for the extra money I'd have to spend on the Air I could get an EEEPc which would be nice round the house for ssh / IM.

As for hdmi I was under the impression that standard HDMI was DVI + sound in a different connector and that DVI could support HDCP. If I'm right surely this means that Apple could "Enable" support for HDCP via an adaptor (although probably at great cost).

Apple ships Air

@Alex Tingle

I used to have a 12" Alu PB and didn't have any of the problems you've stated with deforming case.

Perhaps I was just lucky.

Nokia N82 smartphone

@GPS

The N95 has GPS - not that it works very well on my G/f's silver (1st gen) N95.

I just got a Nokia 6300 which has a stainless steel case and it's far nice to use than the N95. Why doesn't Nokia use steel on it's most expensive phones?

Et tu, Gmail? Simple hack defeats last barrier to decades-old attack

Protect yoursel

This would be the reason I don't login to gmail etc via an untrusted network. If I really have to get my email etc through an open network I just route my web traffic through an encrypted tunnel via ssh to my home network.

Garmin takes on iPhone with satnav mobile

Can't be worse than the N95

Well at least with experiance like Garmin's you'd hope they couldn't make such a c*ck-up of the GPS as Nokia managed in the first (silver) N95. My g/f has got it at it's dire.

Also why is it that none of these "GPS" units (ie satnav) give proper long/lat or OS grid refs. I've been using a Garmin GPS 12 for years and it's always worked properly, acurately and survived numberious drops onto rocks or into burns.

Frankly I'll just be happy with my £20 mobile which can send texts and sent/receive calls, my DSLR camera which can (amazingly) take photos, my £50 sat nav for the car (which amazingly gives me driving directions) and my GPS for walking etc. Tis the devil's work this integration!!!

Forget passports - teachers and kids are the new ID card targets

@Whitter (ID in Scotland)

Good idea!

I'd love to know how this is going to work in Scotland because the Scottish gov has publically stated it's against ID cards are will not require people to use them although it looks unlikely it can stop people being required to get one.

Also it doesn't seem like the best idea trying to force teachers to get ID cards, having spoken to a number the general responce seems to be "over my dead body".

Line up for full-windscreen satnav

@Mr Chris / HUDs

Have you every tried to read a map while driving? Try it too many times and you'll either end up with points from the boys in blue or wrapped round a Polish lorry!

I have a cheapo gps which does me just fine when I'm going somewhere unfamiliar however sometimes it's wrong which is the reason I still carry maps for the places I go most (A-Zs etc) and a full UK map.

To answer your question yes I can read a road map, growing up reading OS maps (my parents are climbers/hikers) makes reading road maps a synch.

HUDs are already a feature on certain BMWs etc eg M5. But I always wonder about this type of tech whether it could ever block the drivers view, I can just see it "Sorry M'lud I crashed into the copshop because my satnav BSOD'd all over my windscreen".

Will Microsoft parachute Windows 7 in early?

Visa doesn't seems as bad as folk claim

Vista HP64 works well enough on my machine, though I only use it for web, music/tv and virtualisation (Virtualbox/VMWare running *nix/XP), though I really need a dual core cpu. At least it's not as ugly as XP (I preferred 2k but it's wifi support it's great)

Of course I have got 3gb of ram, which helps considerably.

Personally I'm saving up for one of the 8 core Mac Pros and will run whichever windows version + linux etc via virtualisation on OSX.

Having "researched" OSX86 I doubt Apple will release OSX for all PCs as the driver support is rubbish in OSX86. I suspect one of the reasons OSX is so problem free is because Apple keep the amount of hardware to a minimum.

UK.Gov green lights nuclear power

Scotland / Fusion

This should be interesting.

I'd be willing to bet Gordon Blair, err sorry Tory Brown, um no Gordon Brown, is eyeing up Scotland for a fair few of these new stations. For one reason they are nice and far away from middle England so when the local area starts glowing he's not going to lose a huge number of votes. Just Imagine if Douneray had been sited near London!!!!

The Scottish Gov have publically stated they will NOT allow any new Nuclear Power Stations to be built on Scottish soil, and I'm pretty sure they'll be backed up by the Lib Dems. As far as I understand energy is a UK issue however planning isn't and even power stations need planning permission.

As for the energy situation in Scotland, afaik the Scottish Gov can afford to be anti-nuclear as there is a fair bit of hydro, for example the new station comming online at Loch Ness which should be able to power the whole of Glasgow.

As for whether England needs fission or not, from what I've been told (my cousin is a researcher for JET) If countries (not just UK but USA etc) had put more money into fusion we'd be much further ahead than we are now. There's supposed to be a new station being built in, iirc, France but it wont come online for a few years yet.

Oz motorist reacts rather testily to small todger slur

Speed makes you bigger

Well if mass becomes infinite as you approach the speed of light, speed does make it "bigger"!

Unimpressed Sheilas mock boy racers' todgers

@Proportional to the size of your car

I don't know about in Australia but here in the UK the boy racers all tend to drive little hatchbacks or imprezzas/BMWs (If they have money).

I would say that the size of the drivers "tackle" is inversely proportionate to the size of the exhaust divided by the size of the engine. (A car with a large engine NEEDs a larger exhaust than a smaller engine car, but generally the larger the exhaust the smaller the tackle).

Either that or the Louder the exhaust the smaller the equipment.

Greenpeace admits iPhone 'compliant' with Euro chemicals rules

iPhone Battery

Re the battery worries:

The battery in iPods is a static part also however it is now possible to replace them or send them away.

Is this such an issue or are people looking for something to knock the iPhone on? How about the cost instead?

After all aren't most iPhones going to be replaced in 18 months when the contract runs out?