Posts by James Hein

James Damore's labor complaint went over about as well as his trash diversity manifesto

A facile opinion and poor commentary

Accusing someone of sexual harassment for stating industry held analysis is not an argument, it is outrageous. In fact there was not a single hint of an argument or rebuttal to the facts in the whole opinion. It did however contradict itself at least once. There was a lot of statements about what they thought James was thinking, contrary to what he says on the issue, so I guess those putting it together were mind readers; perhaps the CIA can have some use for them? That my go to site on all things IT allows such a ridiculous commentary from a few of its representatives is just sad.

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite review

Perfect for Just Reading

I have read about 10 books on the new Paperwhite having previously owned the Kindle 2 and 3.

I've used it in pitch black and outside in direct Oz sunlight wearing sunglasses without any problem. The text is clear, the device is light and easy to use.

Yes having a next and back button would be a bonus and I have found the touch screen to occasionally miss the swipe but overall an excellent product.

Doctor Who girl Amy Pond axed in 'heartbreaking' exit

Finally!

Leela was the best companion that knife throw that took out the Sontaran was a great scene. Most of the rest have been useless (except K9).

I have friends who stopped watching Dr Who because of Ms Pond. Screeching "Doctor" so many times raised hackles a block a away. A facile character who couldn't act. Smith is too eager boyish in the role but in the last couple of episodes seemed to be better. Rory is an OK character.

As a combination this may be the worst Dr Who set in the series to date and apart from a few of the earliest episodes, I have watched them all (yes even some of the original series so showing my age).

Aussie broadband is slower than a slow thing in a slow town

James Hein

The NBN is never going to happen or if it does it will be the most expensive broadband network on the planet and will have to subsidised. A close frend imports optical fibre from China at factory prices and he tells me the government costings are way too low. The rollout plan is for so far into the future that wireless will have caught up to 100 mbps before they rollout is done.

The optical switches required in each home and the corresponding equipment at the exchanges will require bigger exchanges to be built. The Tasmanian take up is only working in trials because the government is funding 50% of the user's costs and a small implementation. Scaling up to a country the size of Australia will be at best difficult and expensive.

Also any government run plan will cost at least three times any private version. If they were serious they would put government money into bigger international connectivity pipelines

eBooks: What to read on which reader

Kindle is Underrated

I have had a Kindle 2 since they came out and I have read dozens of books on it so far. First off the comment "and if it's not there then you can't have it" is just plain wrong. There are a number of free utilities that will convert PDF, LIT, HTML, DOC, PDFs and others to a Kindle readable format.

The unit lasts me a good two weeks between charges and the screen is clear and sharp. That being said I'd love a touch screen, utlities that enable search on conversion native PDF capability (like in their bigger model) but for the most part I read the majority of what I usually would on the Kindle. I pay a lot less for the books than the stupid prices in Australia. It has saved me a lot fo money and paid for itself a few times over already

Dungeons & Dragons slays its digital distribution

They are as bad as Hasbro

I might feel some compassion for the company if they didn't hunt down and sue anyone who even uses what they consider a D&D character in say a novel. I wrote a fantasy novel and was told by those in the know that I had to change a number of the creature names I had used or I would be sued by the group. Not only is this stupid but it is a lot of work.

Scientists warn on climatic 'tipping points'

Guess They Need Funding

Whenever I see this kind of unsupported rubbish from 'scientists' I can't help but think that it must be funding time at the universities again.

Reg Standards Soviet defines temperature and force

New Unit for Angle

I recommend a new unit The Politician for angle. One politician = 180 degrees or the maximum angle. So 2 Politicians to one circle (this is self explanatory). For the subdivision, how about the Special Interest Group (SIG) where there are 100 SIGs per Politician or if greater accuracy is required 1000 SIGS per Politician.