Posts by Richard Large

Sandi Toksvig puts the 'n' into cuts - on the Beeb

The title is required, and must contain letters and/or digits.

I was about to come out with the same thing - I remember Humphrey Lyttleton doing a similar joke with exactly the same outcome about Scunthorpe.

German Foreign Office kills desktop Linux, hugs Windows XP

Simple

Linux was not fit for purpose. Deal with it.

Apple in shock public attack on Adobe

Question, because I don't know the answer.

I'm trying to look further than video streaming, which is what most people seem to fixate on with this debate. Can you create simple games with HTML 5, H.264, Javascript and the like that you can with Flash, that can be played anywhere, on any machine so I can while away a half hour while waiting for a plane or something?

If yes, then Flash can go away and I wouldn't care less.

If no, then Flash remains a killer app for me.

BT fibre upgrades hit full speed

Huzzah!

I'm on the list!

Teens reject Microsoft's Zune

Zune Owner....

As a straught music player, it's a good one. Easy to use, drag'n'drop (no need for iTwaddle to disable my computer while it's copying), decent quality sound. It's a good player, just the apple brainwashing machine was too firmly entrenched.

Apple Time Capsule

@Include ADSL modem??

However, in the UK we mostly use ADSL, which as a UK site is what the Reg will be getting at. I can understand it to keep costs down, but it really is a very simple addition, and most router/modem combinations will support being plugged in to a cable modem as well, if built properly. It makes set-up easier too, instead of having to setup and configure a seperate modem, in keeping with Apple's "Keep it simple" philosophy.

Firefox 3.1 morphs into Firefox 3.5

@ AC17.07 and James Whale

You asked what I was going to - have they given option to disable the FF3 AwfulBar and go back the FF2 version (and don't give me the spout about the OldBar plugin - that's cosmetic and doeasn't affect the underlying way it works which is where my beef with it lies). Until they give that option or just scrap it altogether, I am not upgrading from FF2. Take me as a luddite for not upgrading because I don't like a new feature if you will, but it is utter shite.

Facial-recognition tech now used to greet hotel guests

Surely a BOFH tool

Just think of the uses at work... a voice calling out "You're a wanker" to the boss in an empty stairwell or corridor.

Closing of strategic doors to cause the longest run around possible on vindaloo day?

Locking the Mac users away from the adults computers?

Royal Navy completes Windows for Submarines™ rollout

XP - It will be the embedded version

As Dunstan and AC @ 14.00 pointed out, this is NOT going to be your standard box. It'll more than likely be the embedded version, which has been used very seccussfully in several commercial environments. Avolites use it in their Diamond 4 consoles, which are used to control the lights at very high end, high profile concerts - imagine the embarassment if that crashed! Not the same disaster potential as a submarine system crashing, but heads would still roll, and the kit wouldn't get used. The fact that it *is* used, very widely, should be a pretty good indication that the Embedded versions, which speficically designed hardware and drivers, is a stable and versitile platform. It's the same reason that abombination OsX is stable - specifically designed hardware and drivers that are all built around each other.

Anti-white-space lobby enlists God, Dolly Parton

Before any smart-alec gets in with the Digital/Bluetooth/whatever mic...

No digital microphone can encode, transmit, decode and output the sound fast enough to keep lipsync. Thats why they have to use analogue ones that are subject to interferance. If a piece of spectrum was put aside for their use (like in Blighty) I suspect people would quite happily use it.

Daily Mirror trapped in Wikicirclejerk

B3ta?

Am I really surprised?

The Google-isation of all the net's access points

@Dan

Firefox is like IE in that respect - a new thread for each window (not tab). I hope Chrome can be run non-tabbed, or I definately won't be using it... nobody has yet managed to explain why they are so good.

Sweden ushers in bugging for all

Is it me...

... or does anyone else smell the MPAA/RIAA somewhere in this?

Firefox 3 Download Day falls flat on face

Opera, for the more intelligent-minded among you.

When Opera works the way I want it to, I'll consider it. Until then, I'll stick with Firefox.

Horses for courses, not necessarily based on intelligence Ms Kelly.

Samsung SGH-F490 cameraphone

If it's anything like the F700...

I had the F700 for about a month, and I've just sold it and gone back to my N73.

The slider forever caught on my pocket, activating the screen. Many's the time I took it out to find it surfing Vodafone Live.

The UI just doesn't make sense... the Samsung interface just isn't logical. Perhaps I just I'm just used to Nokia, as I am with touch screens from my iTouch - the Samsung just can't compare, it's very unpredictable and inaccurate. This is of course assuming it uses the same screen as the F700.

The F series really are best avoided for some of the better LG, Nokia and Sony offerings.

Apple to announce handheld games console at WWDC?

Oh dear...

So after failing in the mobile phone business, they're go to have a good shot at failing in the games business. Hello to the new- "You can't play the game that way, you must do it this way" -device. Still, it'll be amusing to see apple fan-androgenyous people versus all the sony and nintendo fan kiddiez.

Nokia confirms 'iPhone killer' handset in pipeline

I can see a home button...

Look under the left thumb. There is a white mark that looks regular enough to be a home button, in the right place.

Teacher's head explodes due to Wi-Fi, mobe radiation

It's official.

The Reg is now The Onion. Thanks Lewis for making my day...

BOFH: Fun with automatic doors

I want!

Where can I get these? I'm sure I can think of a myriad of uses for them in the work place for toying with the bos- I mean, improving security.

'Wii workout' for overweight pupils plan slammed

He's clearly never been to school recently

What about those who don't like doing "proprt" sports? The ones who get laughed at whenever they try by pupils and staff alike. The ones who have their morale destroyed because they're a bit overweight or not very good.

At least the Wii gets them up and moving, gets them interested. You never know, a kid who's good at Wii tennis might just develop a passion for the real thing. I would suggest that Mr Seaton try encouraging these kids instead of forcing them in to, effectivly, psychological torture.

Steve Jobs' Macworld Expo spiel spied on web?

Bugger

I was hopeing something more like:

"Greetings lady and gentlemen. Welcome to MacWorld 2008! Now, we've realised that we sppare to have made a community that is one of the most annoying on earth. Therefore, could you please reach under your seats, pull out your brand new iKnife, and commit ritual Hari Kari."

Well, I can hope. (Can you tell I've had a bad- no, wose than usual day with the mac fans at work?)

Apple tells iPhone vendors not to reveal sales figures

@ AC who wants us to stop Apple bashing

It doesn't rock. I've used one in the stores, and used my friends. I just can't get the hang of the lack of feedback from the keyboard.

E-mail/MMS? Why on earth would I want to e-mail... when I can SMS and MMS for free, with nobody who doesn't have a blackberry can receive e-mail on their phone. I never bothered to set it up... why bother when SMS is there setup for you out of the box?

3G is great - I love video calling. Doesn;t sound much to most, but when your other half lives 1000km away, it's a lot.

Zep fans warned off touted tickets

@ Frank Bough

It's not a first-come first-served. The biggest generally aren't any more, unless they;re trying to make some sort of headline like "Wiggleyourlittletitsandshoutloudly's gig sold out in 4 nanaoseconds!". The Zeppelin gig, just like Glastonbury, was done on a lottery system. People entered, the people were drawn, then they had the oppertunity to pay. Anyone could have won it, from anywhere in the world.

Mother launches attack on epilepsy inducing video games

Add an option

Just add an "Epileptic Safe" option or something like that in the menu. Everyone is happy.

Tiscali in shock customer satisfaction win

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I've been with Tiscali since they were called Freeserve on PAYG dial-up. The only truely bad thing I could ever say about them is that I have a couple of days outatge over the period of a year. It's consistanly as fast, if not faster as advertised (I currently have the 2mbps, plenty for me), I get good speeds on bittorrent. I don't use their e-mail nor have I ever needed to call them about anything so I simply couldn't comment there. It's better than anything else out there.

WolfKing howls about wacky gaming keyboard

Multiple keys

If it's USB, the supported number of simultaneous keypresses is much higher then using PS/2.

Firefox version 3 makes beta

Tabs

Generlaly, I've been quite happy with firefox... as long as I can switch off the tabs, I'll more than likely be happy with this one.

World of Warcraft spykit gets encrypted

The EULA

It's in the Terms and Conditions you have to agree to when you start playing, and every time there is an update. From http://www.wow-europe.com/en/legal/termsofuse.html

"17. Acknowledgements. You hereby acknowledge that:

A. WHEN RUNNING, THE WORLD OF WARCRAFT CLIENT MAY MONITOR YOUR COMPUTER'S RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY (RAM) AND/OR CPU PROCESSES FOR UNAUTHORIZED THIRD PARTY PROGRAMS RUNNING CONCURRENTLY WITH WORLD OF WARCRAFT. AN "UNAUTHORIZED THIRD PARTY PROGRAM" AS USED HEREIN SHALL BE DEFINED AS ANY THIRD PARTY SOFTWARE, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ANY "ADDON" OR "MOD," THAT IN BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT'S SOLE DETERMINATION: "

You chose not to read it, how is the Blizzards or anybody elses problem?

IEEE powerline networking group selects HomePlug AV

@Tom

It does work. I used HomePlug kit out of desperation in the end beause wireless networking will not cover my house, and I'm not willing to drill/knock holes in walls to put in CAT5. You plug homeplug in, and it just works. No configuring, it's the best example of plug and play I've ever found. No discernable interferance, it runs faster than my broadband connection which is all I ask of it, nothing in the house objects to it running or has any interferance problems caused by it or to it. It runs alongside the wireless network perfectly and if you really want security, then all of the adaptors (The HPA ones at least) supporrt encryption.