At least it wasn't an ORIC ....
Posts by Blue Pumpkin
171 publicly visible posts • joined 18 Oct 2007
Microsoft developer ported vector database coded in SAP’s ABAP to the ZX Spectrum
Financial 'stretch' for UK to join Europe's Starlink rival, says minister
Re: I'm baffled...
"It will turn up in time" turned out to be 4 days once received - so 5 in total.
In fact my new passport turned up a day before the old one was returned.
Whereas the French passport took 3 months ...
You had a good experience in Germany, I'm happy for you, but don't believe the UK services are unilaterally really bad compared to everywhere else, it's just not true.. but, as always, YMMV depending on where and who you are and what you're asking
Proton bashes Apple and joins antitrust suit that seeks to throw the App Store wide open
So you’re complaining that
30% is too much to pay for someone else to manage
- app hosting
- distribution and download
- billing and payment processing
- VAT collection
- multi country access
- additional in-app purchases should you require them
- in-app advertising (not that I am a fan)
Other industry sectors would kill to pay only 30% …. Try working in retail
And before you say it’s all about choice, if the cost were zero you wouldn’t have a problem.
Mars may have vast underground oceans and enough H2O to make it a water world
Meta blames Trump tariffs for ballooning AI infra bills
Google goes cold on Europe: Stops making smart thermostats for continental conditions
Re: Again
They are already mostly there ... and have been for some time
Under the UK’s Right to Repair regulations, manufacturers are legally required to make spare parts available for up to 7–10 years after a product is discontinued. This regulation ensures that appliances can be repaired and maintained, reducing waste and supporting sustainability.
Large Appliances: Spare parts like motors, pumps, and door seals must be available for at least 10 years.
For most heating equipment it is at least 10 years or longer, although have managed to source new parts for equipment discontinued for nearly 30 years.
Chinese carmaker Chery using DeepSeek-driven humanoid robots as showroom sales staff
Re: Cultural reference.
Sounds like they are catching up though
"In the year 2017, the United States has fragmented into post-apocalyptic wastelands with a few civilized areas. An ongoing economic crisis has led to the recycling of aging 20th-century mechanical and technological equipment."
Only about 10 years out if the orange wotsit keeps having "ideas" ....
Techie diagnosed hardware fault by checking customer's coffee
Re: Never heard of Romex cables?
Mine still is.
It’s a hang over from the 70s when everything was electric because the French nuclear program was going to make electricity almost free.
See how that turned out.
Though because of the phasing and the probably insufficient power delivery there are combinations to be avoided
Always have a torch in a well known place with working batteries.
Introducing Windows on arm. And by arm, we mean wrist
Prior art ....
I thought this had been tried before ... and didn't end well (according to some) ... also good for 1st April..... World without Sun
Apologies to Jacques Coustaud though ...
Windows intros 365 Link, a black box that does nothing but connect to Microsoft's cloud
Re: Surface Hub reboot?
Sounds like a SunRay but more expensive (IIRC the unit price was ~$250 with the monitor) and it would also remember your session from one place to the next.
It was kind of cool shoving your smart card in a machine in Paris and picking up the session you left in London.
Shirley all doable on Azure… but this was 25 years ago
But nothing beats VAXClusters and DECnet….. set host BONNET :-)
Microsoft tempted to hit the gas as renewables can't keep up with AI
Just harness Centralia
It's been burning since 1962 and could apparently continue for another 250 years ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia_mine_fire
iOS users left refreshing in vain as Microsoft Outlook woes drag on
Altnets told to stop digging and start stuffing fiber through abandoned pipes
Wozniak: I didn't reduce chip count for manufacturing. I wanted to prove I was clever
Microsoft warns Trump: Where the US won't sell AI tech, China will
Re: Where the US won't sell AI tech, China will
Most of the globe doesn't speak English so it matters less to them whether they get bad English AI or bad Chinese AI - in addition they are all foreign corporations as far as they're concerned - and many do have a pathological desire to stay clear of the US and any other ex-colonial states.
But in the end it comes down to money and availability - if your US AI is either unavailable or more expensive than a competitor's, then you loose.
Are you cooler than ex-Apple design guru Sir Jony Ive?
HP ditches 15-minute wait time policy due to 'feedback'
Odds of city-killer asteroid 2024 YR4 hitting Earth creep upward
RIP Raymond Bird: Designer of UK's first mass-produced business computer dies aged 101
Re: Computers in the 1960/70s
The larger 2900 series of machines were heavily influenced and borrowed from the experimental work of the University of Manchester’s MU5.
Built in collaboration with ICL West Gorton which was just around the corner from the university.
Lots of wonderful historical information here from my old prof of processor architecture - https://ethw.org/The_University_of_Manchester_MU5_Computer_System
The biggest microcode attack in our history is underway
Eggheads crack the code for the perfect soft boil
Linus Torvalds offers to build guitar effects pedal for kernel developer
Celebrating when EVs went to the Moon with a Lego Lunar Roving Vehicle build
The latest language in the GNU Compiler Collection: Algol-68
How a good business deal made us underestimate BASIC
Parker Solar Probe set for blisteringly hot date with the Sun on Christmas Eve
British Army zaps drones out of the sky with laser trucks
Boeing busted by employee over plans to surveil workers, quickly reverses course
Veteran Microsoft engineer shares some enterprise support tips
Vodafone and Three permitted to tie the knot – if they promise to behave
AI Jesus is ready to dispense advice from a booth in historic Swiss church
BASIC co-creator Thomas Kurtz hits END at 96
Re: Forth is just cryptic
The worst part is coming back to something you did ages ago and try to figure out what you did - although it's not as bas as APL !
And just like BASIC, it's still going https://www.forth.com
I remember attempting to write a FORTH interpreter in 8086 assembler for fun ... with only 4k available - those were the days.
Apple drops soldered storage for 2024 Mac Mini
Clues to Windows Intelligence found in Windows 11 builds
Disappointing title ...
There I was expecting Alice Roberts or Joann Fletcher turning up to tell us how they had found evidence of long lost traces of intelligence from past versions that could still be found today...
And how the use of any intelligence became an evolutionary dead-end in favour of a six-legged dromedary approach.
The US government wants developers to stop using C and C++
Alphabet posts big revenue and profit growth, just 1,100 job losses
Smart homes may be a bright idea, just not for the dim bulbs who live in 'em
With Granite Rapids, Intel is back to trading blows with AMD
What is this computing industry anyway? The dawning era of 32-bit micros
SETI boldly looks beyond the Milky Way in latest alien hunt
Ex-Microsoft engineer resurrects PDP-11 from junkyard parts
Re: What makes a minicomputer?
> the difference between a microcomputer, a minicomputer and a mainframe
You can race some minicomputers down the hallway - microcomputers and mainframes not so much
The MicroVAX coffee table edition was the fastest - good turning circle but difficult to steer except in straight lines - especially when sitting on it ....