Posts by Alex King

Toyota Auris hybrid e-car

Umm

Those examples you've given are diesel...

Never mind though, I'm sure your point still stands...

Motorbike

My chosen commuter vehicle gets me 80+mpg on a 7 mile commute, and I promise I'm not holding up any of the gridlocked cars that I pass.

Really, the only reason for buying a hybrid is if you want to spend less on fuel in a country that doesn't really 'do' diesel, like the US of A. In the UK they're pointless, based on an economy or pollution basis.

Just from memory, here's some cars in the Prius/Auris size class with diesel engines that do comparable or better MPG:

Volvo C30/S40/V40 1.6D

Mazda 3 1.6D

Ford Focus 1.6D

VW Golf 1.6D Bluemotion

Seat Leon 1.6TDi Ecomotive

Vauxhall Astra 1.3CDti Ecoflex

etc. etc.

If this makes me loudmouthed and hard-of-thinking, then sign me up.

26,000km 'leccy joy ride crosses finish line

Indeed

However, I don't agree that battery standard sizes/formats should be too hard to agree, particularly starting with the relatively clean sheet that we are. We have standardised batteries for smaller appliances after all...

Having said that, I think that hydrogen, produced from a nuclear/renewables energy mix, is a much better idea, as it requires the least modification to infrastructure and behavioural habits. It's all proven technology too. Beats me why we aren't doing it already...

Chinese bride sentenced to hard labour for retweet

Ummm

Okay, so the punishment is disproportionate, but this does at least seem to be an intended incitement rather than an innocent joke. Also, it's more than a little naive to expect China.gov to uphold the right to free speech. ("China prosecutes someone for saying something they didn't approve of" seems to be right up there with the famed disclosure of the Pope's religion in newsworthiness stakes).

That said, I'm not in full posession of the facts or context

Microsoft Xbox 360 Kinect

Getting there...

...but no game changer. I think that this is probably the best wave-your-arms-around-to-control-stuff device so far, but it was the Wii control system that really brought this to the masses.

I think the room size flaw will be particularly hard to swallow, as people have no got used to Wii-ing in our pokey british front rooms without a problem - surely this just requires adjustable optics? Something for version 2 I guess...

Would I buy one? No, but it's got nothing to do with the tech - I just still have a problem with looking like a prat through my living room window.

iPhone 4: the best built smartphone...

Design fault != Build quality defficiency

That is, it works as designed - though the design may be flawed.

Hope this helps.

Cameron cocks up UK's defences - and betrays Afghan troops

What if...

...they said they wanted sharks with frickin' laser beams. Would you give those to them?

If they were really honest about what they wanted, it would be "not to go back to Afghanistan". It's the very definition of an unwinnable war, however many helicopters we give them.

Not tosh

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10375877

You can prefer whichever source you like, but your blogger has misread the chart anyway, and puts an intense dose of spin and opinion on the stats, concluding that a private market would be better, despite the worst performer on either efficiency measure (the USA) being the most private market based.

Wrong

We do have a bunch of troops and Typhoons out there now - much more than we had in 82. Oh, and something of a different regime in power in "Argie"-land.

NHS vs MoD

"a 4 per cent cut at the NHS would not only have matched the savings from yesterday's 8 per cent MoD cuts, but paid to sort out its budget crisis as well."

Is that right? Well, in terms of bang for buck we already have the most efficient health service in the western world. By contrast, we spend the fifth largest amount on "defence"of any nation, despite being the 22nd most populous and the 79th largest

We all benefit from the NHS, but our much vaunted 'ability to project military power around the globe' does sod all other than paint a big target on our own territory. So you can keep your grubby fingers off the NHS until such time as the defence cuts mean that we only have enough to defend our own territory, as the name of the Ministry implies.

Cameron has come in with an outsiders' view, and (whether he meant to or not) cocked up our OFFENCES - not defences - and I, for one, applaud him for that.

MoD braced for painful weight-loss surgery next week

Well...

We did still win in the Falklands, "genuis".

What?

"Potential amphibious landings from the European continent."

I'll file that one next to "Joint strike from the Fantastical union of tooth faries and Santa's elves", if that's OK with you - or did you not get the memo about VE day?

Man vindicated for videotaping his own traffic stop

With you on this...

Right up to the last paragraph. I've got a particular issue with the 'ridden by thrill seekers' and 'result is pretty well inevitable' phrases.

I agree there is a thrill seeker element but, in my experience, there are far more bikers who simply use their bikes as a sensible means of transport. The guy in this video is clearly in the thrill seeker category, and I (along with most bikers) would be happy to be relieved of the burden of having to live him and others like him down whenever we're in public.

I know a great many bikers who have reached a ripe old age, so it's by no means 'inevitable' that riding a bike is like being on death row, and terming it as such is just more encouragement to that thrill-seeking element who actually like the dangerous image.

Sadly, I think this sort of thing will continue as long as bike manufacturers keep promoting bikes as expensive toys rather than as the sensible, environmentally friendly, congestion reducing means of transport that they actually are.

Oh yeah, agree with the concensus too - Silly cop, stupid DA, good judge.

MoD labels Facebook Places a 'targeting pack' for terrorists

I'm comfortable with this

Anyone who leaves this option turned on probably deserves to be burgled / shot / fundamentalised on the grounds of extreme vanity.

Seriously though, I do find facebook useful for staying in touch with people, as I tend to move cities every few years. So when I see one of my friends notifying me that they've just arrived at Wagamamas, I respond with "Excellent - I'll just nip round while you're out and help myself to your spangly new 50-inch 3D LCD Sony telly you've been telling me all about."

They tend to stop using Places after that.

Secret Apple deal hints at TV future

I would like to refer the Rt. Hon. gentleman to the reply I gave earlier.

In the Apple TV review thread...

"If Apple are desperate to do something with TV, they should make an actual telly which looks like a giant iMac or iPad, runs a version of iOS (that you could optionally control with your small iDevice), and integrates the Apple TV gubbins. They could then charge twice the price of a normal set because of its shiny-Apple-ness, it would still sell to all who value an integrated Apple lifestyle, and push Apple TV towards being some sort of standard."

Surprise Automotive X Prize winners announced

Yes, that must be true.

After all, my 150kg motorbike is always taking off and hitting a couple of trucks every time there's a stiff breeze. It's a wonder I'm alive!

By driving around in a comparative tank, (nay, never leaving the house without it), you're continually flinging a large amount of energy around the roads, favouring your own personal safety at the cost of everyone else's - the less energy you have going on in a crash, the better it is for everyone.

Maybe it would be better for everyone's safety and the environment if you were the one that stopped emitting CO2 and, for that matter, theiving oxygen.

Trident delay by the Coalition: Cunning plan, or bad idea?

All we are sayin...

Trident is not an independent nuclear deterrent - we can't do a damn thing with it without the USA's say-so, so they're effectively just big expensive metal tubes of Angel Delight that we can never eat.

As others have pointed out nuclear weapons don't deter terrorist organisations or crazy rogue states, and our piddling complement of nukes isn't exactly going to put Russia, China or the US off firing theirs at us (if we thought they were likely to...), so these are clearly to deter France, Israel or aliens.

(Actually, maybe we should just fire them at the Israelis - that could solve the Israel/Palestine dispute at a stroke, and Iran would become our best friend! - But I digress.)

Don't get me wrong - I'm not saying we should just bin the whole nuclear shooting match so that we can spend more on conventional forces - I'm saying we should cut those too; other western nations manage fine with no nukes and much smaller conventional forces, and we could too if we stopped throwing our weight around on the world scene.

In maintaining disproportionately large armed forces, UK taxpayers are subsidising the military capability of our European and NATO 'partners', and making ourselves the prime target of any crazies.

Has foreign policy really not moved beyond who has the biggest gun? Perhaps a non-military perspective on defence spending wouldbe appropriate on these pages, and in government.

Halo: Reach

Pointless review

Boils down to: "If you liked the other Halo games, you'll like this one even more". It offers nothing for readers who, like me, have never played any of the others and want to know whether it's worth spending their hard-earned on.

Oz pedestrians fall to 'Death by iPod'

Sums

Going from 44 to 53 casulaties is not a 25% increase, it's 20%.

What was the population and traffic change in this period?

Gahhhhhh!

Sussex police try new tactic to relieve snappers of pics

Not worried

No, I rather think that, had I been assaulted, I would want the police to seize video evidence of the act taking place. The swift and accurate prosecution of a physical assault outranks the need for a journalist to get the video on youtube quickly, in my view. If he gets it back unaltered once the police have viewed it, I don't really see the problem.

Apple TV: Third time unlucky, Mr Jobs

Missed the most important reason

The article and all (OK, all those I bothered to read) missed the most important reason why the new Apple TV will be a dud; it's not visible enough.

Apple products succeed when they capture the zeitgeist, are 'cool' and you can show them off to everyone you meet - see iPod, iPhone, iPad, MacBook etc. Their desktops are still visible and shiny to anyone who comes to your house/office too, so that works OK as an Apple product.

A small, dusty box behind the back of your telly with some cables coming out doesn't capture anyone's zeitgeist and you certainly don't want to show it off to people.

If Apple are desperate to do something with TV, they should make an actual telly which looks like a giant iMac or iPad, runs a version of iOS (that you could optionally control with your small iDevice), and integrates the Apple TV gubbins. They could then charge twice the price of a normal set because of its shiny-Apple-ness, it would still sell to all who value an integrated Apple lifestyle, and push Apple TV towards being some sort of standard.

The technology and price comparisons are spurious - Blu-Ray beat Aitch-Dee-Dee-Vee-Dee not because of price or performance, but because Blu-Ray sounded cooler and shinier, and came in an electric blue box rather than a reddish-brown one.

Judge Dredd returns to the silver screen

Hair dye

I think they might just be able to pull it off...

Toshiba warns of fiery laptops

Or maybe...

...it just disables the power supply until it cools down, then switches it back on.

Half of UK road users support usage-based road charging

Rubbish headline

Road users != adults.

Come on, a little critical evaluation from the writer please?

Electric mass-driver catapults to beat Royal Navy cuts?

Yes, yes....

....my military history is bigger than yours. Whatever.

I think the fundamental point that Jemma started out by making (but which quickly got lost in a gush of historical point scoring) is a valid one:

We are a small country, not a massive empire, and should start behaving like one. Everybody in the UK would have a much higher standard of living if we could just stop spunking all our money away on an enterprise whose sole purpose at the moment seems to be annoying arabs.

If a regime is crazy enough to start lobbing nukes in our direction (North Korea, Iran) then it's not going to matter whether we equip our carriers with F35s, F18s or Hurricanes. Much more likely is state-sponsored terrorism in any case, and in this situation said planes would be about as much use as the proverbial monopod gentleman in the posterior hoofing tournament.

Furthermore, the argument for supporting manuafacturing industry is also nonsense. Who makes more stuff these days - Germany and Japan, or the UK?

Nope, hack the budget back by 50% and turn it into a true defence force, and lets concentrate on doing that well, rather than our current role badly.

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

It'll have to go some...

...to top the scene in SotD where they beat the zombie barman with pool cues to the beat of "Don't stop me now" by Queen.

Still going to go and see it in the cinema though. At least its bound to be better than the A-Team.

London tenders for speed cameras

Here we go again

The real problem is that, by putting cameras in some places and not others, there is an implied message that it's OK to speed in some places and not others.

Technology exists to enable total national surveillance of vehicle speed and issue deterrent penalties to those who break the rules. One of the reasons why this hasn't happened is that there is a tacit admission that, for the most part, the person who is best qualified to make a decision about how fast it is safe to be going at any given time is the person at the wheel - and that they base that judgement on the prevailing environment and the abilities of their vehicle and themselves.

Of course there are circumstances where judgement can be clouded, such as throgh drink, drugs or a desire to run away from the police, but I don't think speed cameras are these people's primary concerns. It seems that what we're seeking to achieve through the use of speed cameras is to eliminate human error from a system that involves humans. The real mistake is to assume that the people making the rules are less prone to errors than those out on the road.

Society as a whole needs to accept danger and death as a fact of life. Sometimes humans make mistakes and people get hurt or die by accident - but it's not always the case in these situations that "something must be done".

Terrafugia Transition flying car redesign - first analysis

Hmm...

An F1 car you say? We're always told that one of them generates enough downforce to drive on the ceiling at 100mph, so all we need is an F1 car with a prop and invertable wings - job's a good-un.

Mark Webber could be the test pilot, if Red Bull will give him the wings...

Ten Essential... iOS Travel Apps

Or...

You could just use CoPilot instead and save yourself some quiddage...

FLYING CAR, full hover, fairly quiet, offered to US Marines

Thought I'd seen something like this before...

And I have. Had a poster of the cover of this single on my wall once, and spent ages staring at it, trying to figure if something like this could work:

http://img.maniadb.com/images/album/326/326111_1_f.jpg

Okay, so there are some differences, in that the side fans are bigger and do the forward propulsion too, but I think it's basically the same idea.

Do you think if send a cutout of the car from this picture to DARPA with some made-up performance numbers they'd give me a pile of cash?

Oh, and for the small engine performance doubters, the 1000cc motor in a BMW S1000RR makes 190bhp (at the wheel) with no 'charger. Even 600c bikes are making upwards of 130bhp these days, which you should be able to bring up to 180+ with a charger. Or you could try a small rotary...

The 3G coverage picture that can't be published

Population coverage.

Population coverage is irrelevant anyway, as it refers to where people live. I think most people have a better-than-3G connection in their homes anyway. I want to be able to use my 3G when I'm out, on the train for example. Generally (on O2) I can't. If they could tell me that I'll always get coverage on mainline rail then whichever provider would get my contract tomorrow.

Tesla IPO successful: Stock up 40% on day one

Back to front

Rather than propping up individual manufacturers or their products, governments should be investing in the network of battery swapping stations that would be necessary to make the tech viable for most and mass market.

I really like the Model S - I think it's the closest thing I've seen to an electric car I could see myself buying - but it needs to be either extremely fast charging or battery swappable, and supported by an appropriate infrastructure - until then it's just an expensive toy for rich people who are travelling for fun rather than necessity.

BT boss brands Britain illiterate

On the other hand...

The general low standard of written communications does keep me in a job, as I have to proof, edit and otherwise improve everything that comes out of my part of the organisation.

I'm getting busier as time goes on, and it seems that what I do is becoming an increasingly specialised and highly valued skill. From a purely selfish point of view, I like this.

I entirely agree that the point of sending people to university seems to have been lost in the headlong rush to get everyone going there. I'm all for everyone getting further training and education after secondary school, but sending everyone to university to get a spurious degree helps no-one.

Oh, and I don't see Americanisation as being the issue - ours is a mongrel language and this is the root of its success around the world. No point in shutting the stable door now.

Buyer's Guide: 3D TVs

Not until we can lose the glasses, thanks

Nope, I like to be able to do other stuff while the telly's on, thank you very much. without something flickering in front of my eyes. I don't just sit there, gawp, and consume.

Also, what about those old plastic and cardboard red and green specs that gave you some sort of 3D. Why is this new?

Oh, and if you can't see why HD is better than SD, try bumping that monitor of yours down to VGA resolution.

Son of Transputer powers new Amiga box

Yep

if it was an ST it wouldn't be "good" in any way!

Apple slapped with lawsuit over 'iAds' monicker

Well then...

... this: "Just to clarify, i dont own nor will i ever own an apple product, period, and I openly taunt the people i know who do own apple products" just goes to show what an open mind you have, not to mention a gifted one, judging by your command of the language.

Here, I've fixed it for you:

"Just to clarify, I don't own nor will I ever own an Apple product, menstruation, and I openly taunt the people I know who do own Apple products."

It's a little confusing, but I've had to interpret a bit as you couldn't want to put a comma after a word meaning 'full stop', could you?

Personally, I do own some Apple products and some Windows products, I may or may not own more or less of either in the future (depending on how much I like them), and don't taunt anyone on the basis of their choice of technology, because I'm not a tit.

Ofcom sides with mobile operators on 0845

I presume....

...that said mobile operators will be passing this refund onto their customers who forked out huge sums for calling 0845/0870 numbers.

Tesla Motors: Elon Musk's divorce won't sink us

Concur, except about the car

The fact that the "vast majority" of round trips by car are less than 75 miles is totally irrelevant if you're looking for an alternative vehicle to replace your existing petrol/diesel, as even if 90% of your trips are less than 75 miles you'll still need to have that old car for the 10% of times you need to go to somewhere that's more than 37.5 miles away.

For comparison, my MX-5, though it has a marginally lower top speed (that' I've never used), is fast closing in on its 150,000th mile and, despite having been absolutely thrashed its entire life, has (apart from servicing) needed no more than some coil packs, an exhaust, a radiator hose and a lick of paint., coming to maybe £1500 in parts, on top of an initial new cost of about £13,000.

The author's point is valid - until we can make electric cars that are competitive in terms of price, performance and convenience with existing vehicles they will never become mass market.

Don't get me wrong - I really hope that the Model S happens as, based on the design specs, it gets a damn site closer than anything else I'm aware of to doing the above. However, we need to get away from this daft idea of charging the batteries in situ - we need a battery swapping infastructure if we're going to make this idea work anytime soon.

Honda CR-Z sporty hybrid e-car

Yes...

It does fine then too thanks. Unless there's snow on the ground, which there isn't for most people, most of the time in any reasonablly sized town or city.

I've also ridden it across the Severn Bridge several times in gales and a blizzard. Wouldn't reccomend that, but that's what the car's for. Cars are just stupid for commuting in urban areas.

If you want to get through the city quickly and economically...

Buy a motorbike. I get 80mpg+, 0-60 in around 7 seconds, plus it cuts out much of that pesky waiting in traffic jams and traffic light queues.

Kawasaki Ninja 250R if you care - bought it brand new for £3400 a year and a half ago and could sell it tomorrow for £3000 easily.

Dev goes 'Wild' with H.264 Firefox

Oh really?

I don't think anyone's told Steve that.

Flash, anyone?

Google sets sights on the dashboard

Oooh, touchscreen....

That's a good idea - poking your hand through the steering wheel while driving. I already know someone who crashed because they were trying to reset their trip computer while cornering...

Mobile Broadband

Coverage stats.

The coverage stats quoted by operators are totally pointless, in that they quote coverage for a percentage of population. This is totally stupid for a mobile service, which is primarily designed for use somewhere where you do not live.

If an operator can claim 3G coverage on 98.5% of mainline railway track, then that'd be the one I'd go for. I'll use my ADSL where I live, thanks very much.

UK polling stations turn away 'hundreds' of voters

Saturday...

...is a working day for many people too, such as doctors, nurses, shift workers of any sort etc., so that doesn't solve it.

I think a 15 hour window plus the option of postal voting should be sufficient. Many people are just a bit stupid and lazy when it comes to voting.

Taking the students for example, there's no way any of these had a long commute to contend with in the morning, or couldn't spare a few minutes during the day to nip off and vote.

With the last scottish elections using the STV system, many people could not muster the comprehension to put numbers in boxes instead of Xs.

Undoubtedly things could have been better organised in some places, but people need to take responsibility for their own voting arrangements too.

US gov cries foul on MPAA piracy claims

Yes, but...

It's all very well the GAO pointing this out but it'll have little effect until newsmedia starts doing its job and does that critical appraisal of its sources thing that we all learn about in school.

While they continue to regurgitate press release figures based on the ludicrous assumption that one illegal download = one lost sale, the entire picture is skewed and the argument fatally flawed.

Unfortunately this critical assessment will never happen, because every significant source of news belongs to a conglomerate with a commercial media arm that has a vested interest in inflating these figures (yes, especially including Auntie Beeb).

So, really, we're screwed.

Oh, and don't get me going on that "piracy is stealing" crap. No it isn't - if you steal something then you deprive somebody else of rightful ownership.

Until they stop lying and ripping people off to support their flawed argument, I reserve the right to ignore them and rip them off in return.

Labour unfriends Twitter rant candidate

He's an idiot...

...but he's right about the Johnnie Walker.

Tories drop opposition to UK.gov DNA plans

I love this wash-up nonsense

We've been screwed on the DNA issue so that the Government will continue to know everything about everyone, but at least Cider is going to stay cheaper so that we can more easily forget everything about ourselves instead!

Council deforests beauty spot to combat dogging

Obviously stupid...

... but if I were to say so, I'd be agreeing with the taxpayers alliance, which is never a good thing. Therefore, chop the buggers down!

BBC Trust won't probe iPlayer open source gripes

@Jerome

No, I think it's safe to say that the constituency of Wii, PS3 etc owners is larger than that of the 'openistas'.

In the real world, the BBC has to keep its content providers happy in order that they agree for their stuff to be shown via these new channels. No matter how valid or invalid the reasons content providers have for doubting the security of a given system, if they have these doubts then the content will be pulled.

So, the choice comes down to a content rich service which keeps the corporates happy and is accessible in a way that is acceptible to 99.9% of potential users, or the openistas have their way and we get less stuff but keep 100% of people happy.

There's so much whinging that goes on on this topic - ten years ago we didn't have iPlayer on any platform, or PVRs - we'd only just got our mits on digiboxes for pete's sake. Now we can watch programmes on our TVs, through our games consoles, PCs, Macs, phones at pretty much whatever time we want. Yet we're still annoyed because it doesn't function on a tiny minority of people's setups? You lot want the moon on a stick you do!

BBC iPlayer rejects open source plugins, takes Flash-only path

So what

99.7 percent of people DO NOT CARE about bloat, instability etc. etc. - they just want to be able to watch Top Gear on demand, which iPlayer does just fine, thanks. If you don't want to use Adobe stuff, fine, go without and buy a PVR instead.

There's a reason why this is a Reg exclusive - because for readers of any mainstream publication, life's too short to worry about this shit. Adobe won this one, rightly or wrongly. Get over it.