Posts by Youngdog 341 publicly visible posts • joined 9 Nov 2007
So NSS were comisisoned by Microsoft and could safely assume that their work wouldn't see the light of day unless favourable to the sponsor - and the results are practically a whole order of magnitude higher for said sponsor's latest product?
Unless NSS share their methodology to allow a fair response this has to be considerde somewhere between 'suspect' and 'a waste of good ASCII' on the sliding scale of corporate guff
It is really frustrating reading articles about capsules and 30-year-old space plane designs - as if all the innovation and hard work done by Burt Rutan and Scaled Composites and the success of SSO was nothing more than a fluke!
Rutan (now retired) combined the Wright Brothers pioneering spirit with an almost savant like instinct for aeronautical engineering – and sports a fine pair of pork-chops to boot! The hinged ‘feather’ design for auto-correcting and stabilising the re-entry was nothing short of genius and even though the thing was dropped from 50,000 feet that was still less than a fifth of the altitude reached by SSO.
Sure the thing was sub-orbital but it was a great proof of concept – take everything that worked with SSO and then look at new engine designs to get the extra push needed for an orbital flight. Strapping something to a non-reusable rocket is wasteful and will always hold back the innovations and technical leaps forward required to take space travel to the next level.
If you haven’t already I would urge you to watch the Discover Channel Special ‘Black Sky - The Race for Space’ on SpaceShipOne winning the X Prize – even just to appreciate the awesome courage of test pilot Mike Melville (the first person ever to receive commercial astronaut wings) who performed SSO’s first full rocket burn and reached the 100KM target without ANY telemetry data due to a technical fault! I am pretty sure the ‘carrying the equivalent of three people on board’ condition for winning the X Prize was met just because Mike Melville’s massive balls were up there with him.
I have been away a while so don't take the p*ss if I am stating the obvious. Multi-SIM: Basically 2 SIM cards, 1 number, 1 bill - only one of the SIMs can get voice/SMS (goes in the phone 'natch) but both allow data and costs approx. £25 extra a month. No new contract required.
True you can't use 'literally' to strengthen a metaphor but I am not sure that 'caught my eye' is a metaphor. If you read 'caught' to mean 'trapped' or 'ensnared' then the use should be valid - the reviewer found his vision (eye - still not a metaphor, look it up) drawn to it in such a way that all attempts to look away resulted in failure. I am being quite generous here and assuming this impasse was resolved when the manager of Richer Sounds did the decent thing and pulled the plug on the offending telly - hopefully by diving at it in slow motion yelling "NNOOOOOOOOOOO!"
"compromise the economic sustainability of the current business model for telecom companies"
Which, in the UK, seems to consist of screwing the customers royally for a really sh**ty service. Now when faced with the awesome task of providing their customers with a decent service they are pointing fingers at the very sites responsible for the massive uptake of broadband services instead of admitting all the money customers gave them went to shareholders and senior management to fill their baths up with.
What happened to the Capitalist notion that competition prevents this from happening? Oh now I remember - that went out the window when someone realised that the customer is the least desirable part of the owner/management/customer relationship to be allowed to dictate things
Money grabbing cheats the lot of them
B'dum tish! I'm here all week - try the veal.
No seriously (Just for Jason T up there) a few of ways to accidentally kill a PC include;
- disconnecting the fan
- plugging it into a socket that isn't earthed properly
- Using it to rest a drink on and then knocking said drink over and soaking the power supply (when switched on)
There are, of course, many more ways to destroy the build while leaving the hardware intact - the best one I saw was one twonk who, faced with the agony of migrating to new hardware, decided the best thing to do was to export the entire NT Registry from his laptop and import it onto his new PC. Classic.
There are a number of Single Sign On apps available (IBM Tam springs to mind) that will happily sit there and Hoover up all your typed in passwords so you don't have to remember them. The credentials are stored on an encrypted 'wallet' kept on a server that is accessed using (you'll like this!) your LAN credentials!
So now instead of countless little scraps paper that got easily misplaced) just a single yellow post-it note taped to the bottom of a keyboard is all it takes to access everything!
A .50 calibre round would take less than 8 seconds to travel 4 miles - and while moving at this blistering rate it is calculating and correcting it's trajectory? Pull the other one. Even if it could calculate it's own position relative to a target in a fraction of a second IT WOULDN'T BE THERE ANY MORE!!
And I nominate "This can be used to spray deadly shrapnel into an enemy" as this century's wrongest arrangement of words so far.
I really would really would like to hear his reason for disguising his cattleprod as a phone!
Are his cows smart enough to know one when they see it? And if so was he hoping to they would be currious enough to let him get close enough to use it if it was disguised as a phone?
"Moo - oh hey, is that the new iPhone?" ZAP!
Could be just a fad but would like to know if anyone is aware of other HDDs with this feature and what the cost overhead is - and if not why has it taken an SSD to see this idea come about? Is it just a ploy to encourage early adopters (as opposed to making them cheaper?)
I know enclosures are not expensive but I've been caught out before having either the wrong size or the wrong interface when I really needed one.
And while this thread is in a question askin' mood - can we now expect a new benchmark measurement here at Reg Hardware for OS/Disk performance in the form of DWAG:BotC Installs per minute? And can I propose calling the SI unit a Gallifrey?
..bit of a squeaky bum cheeks moment when it looked liked it was doing another backup before firmware finished updating but no data loss when finished. Only problem I had was after spending 5 minutes arranging apps into folders the next sync put them all back on homepage again, however should have used a bit of common sense and restarted iTunes and/or disconnected and reconnected phone first - iTunes was doing just what it should have done and imposed most recent 'correct' layout.
Haven't found any use for multitasking yet but nice to have all apps accessible from home page - and the universal spallchick works a treat!
..I typed 'insecure' instead of 'unsecure' - apparently this sort of thing is quite common and was first described by the granddaddy of modern psychology in his 1901 book "The Psychopathology of Everyday Life" as 'fehlleistungen' but has since entered the common parlance as a god-I-hate-my-life- everyone- else-is-an- utter-bastard slip
I am admittedly a sceptic of anthropogenic climate change - but, as the saying goes, I may be stoopid but I'm not THAT frickin' stoopid.
My little lady is supposed to be joining me to spend the rest of her life with me out here in the east this weekend - but I would rather wait a few more weeks than have her drop out of the sky chasing me halfway around the world
This isn't a news story - it's a begging letter. And Ok Sarah I won't win any Brad Pitt lookalike compos but I've never fallen for the sexist myth that women have a vastly different attitude to nookie than men. I've just never resorted to advertising in the Daily Star after going without for a few weeks....
Welcome - as all offers would be
On a 43M USD Budget?
No. Frickin'. Chance. We are not talking about improving an existing model but designing a brand new solution from the bottom up.
Either a) This will get binned during the submission stage once a more realistic figure appears or b) the actual cost will run into many times the original budget and make this thing liable for the chop during the next wave of cost cutting.
If I was REALLY being cynical I would suggest that this whole thing was a low-cost, buzz-word laden white-elephant purposely designed to justify pre-project overheads/resources before being sacrificed ahead of anything actually achievable.
My lady hates me smoking so I have an eCig I use when at home/on holiday etc.
With a full battery and fresh cartridge I get enough of a hit in a few puffs to quell the raging nico-beast within that constantly scratches at my brain if I don't get a fix. I can easily go for two weeks using the eCig alone without ever being tempted by the more flammable plant-based alternative.
Now I am fully prepared to admit that this is a psychological/psychosomatic effect but, if this man is right, wouldn't that suggest that tobacco is not actually physically addictive? And wouldn't that absolve tobacco companies of a fair share of the blame as their customers would be enjoying a life-style 'choice' rather than a drug-fuelled obligation?
It is a shame that this 'Golden' Virginian is an independent unbiased scientist as, with his subtle ability to kill two birds with one stone, he is exactly the sort of person Phillip Morris should have on their payroll.
I have been very enthusiastic about this device in the past but after seeing the finished product I am not yet 100% sold.
For a start there is the lack of optical drive - I know it might be a headache to try and cram one in but, not owning a Mac, I was looking forward to being able to import my DVD's straight to iTunes without having to deal with 3rd-party converters. Hey ho (If anyone knows a good freeware solution that doesn't involve watermarks or signing up for unlimited spam then please do let me know!)
The lack of webcam is a very unfunny joke. I stay in touch with all my nearest and dearest on Skype - if I have to fire up the Presario every night to get this done why would I then go back to the iPad for browsing/email? It really does seem that it's being held back for future release and I think the number of people wise to this may dent sales of the v1
On the positive side the 3G is optional - the last thing I need is another reason to interact with a TelCo and I can't really see me using this too much on the move (anyway, public WiFi isn't too shabby where I live!)
Design wise that bezel is way too fat - and the little sod had better come in black!
Forget all this Marvel crap - give us LUTHER ARKWRIGHT: THE MOVIE!
It's got everything - nefarious baddies with a mind-bending plot to destroy the universe, lashings of dashing deeds and daring do PLUS oodles of tantric nookie for good measure.
And he's British!
LUTHER FTW!
The only problem with everyone having one (don't forget the unemployed as well - just to make sure they aren't earning money for odd jobs on the side or walking around when claiming disability allowance) is this would also include the people who's job it is to analyse the footage. The sheer manpower required to go through the images produced would ensure that whichever agency is given the task would soon be the largest single employer in the UK and due to its recursive nature it wouldn't be long before most of the footage is of people watching footage of people watching footage etc.
Obviously an IT solution would be required to analyse the data (GoogleCrime? MS Offence? Hee hee) - or how about only activating a random 10 percent of the cameras each day? A great deterrent as you would not know what day you would be 'Going Live' and allowing yourself to get caught.
Until these issues are addressed I say we start with a pilot group of about 650 people from a demographic who have a special interest in progressive ways to improve society (our elected representatives in parliament perhaps?) and we'll see how it pans out.
Ok sT0rNG b4R3 duRiD, lets assume that a good majority of PCs are doing a tough job as best they can and would never knowingly use their powers unfairly or inappropriately when dealing with the public. So what?
The problem of law enforcement in society is not the law abiding majority but rather the small minority who choose to behave otherwise – either side of the thin blue line! In a just society those who enforce the law must uphold (and be seen to uphold) the same moral standards as those they police. This technology, if used by all public-facing officers of the law all the time, would ensure that in a stroke – assuming, of course, that access to the recorded material was made available to defendants and the IPCC!
And think of the flip side – how much easier would it be to prove instances of resisting arrest or dismiss claims made by defendants that correct arrest procedures were not followed if it was all there on film? Captured instances of our brave Bobbies and Bobbettes going above and beyond the call of duty and putting their lives on the line could also be used to promote the image of the police to the public or used in recruitment drives.
You might think that this it is unfair to put the police under that much scrutiny when they perform such a thankless task but a criminal conviction can have a massive impact on someone’s life. They may lose their job, their house, their family and their freedom. Power like that must be kept in check and if the police have complete faith in their methods then they have nothing to fear.
Of course there is a school of thought that says that thanks to Maggie T, rampant commercialism and corporate greed there has been a full on Daily Mail style collapse of civilisation and that the law-abiding majority has been replaced with a population of people all looking after their own self interests game-theory style and are in effect all criminals who haven’t been caught yet. In which case there is no reason why the average copper is above this and this technology is more pertinent than ever.
There is DEFINITELY a market out there for this thing. You are looking at (potentially) a DVD Player, Browser/mail client, remote control/media centre, eBook reader and games console in ONE sexy, useable unit that doesn't require a minimum level of technical expertise to master.
Unlike most IT professionals who hang around here and know their way around the NT Registry and don't get intimidated opening up a PC most people in this world don't want to understand how it works to use one. Your average Joe/Joanne just wants nice shiny icons that tell him/her what it does, an interface that is a genuine pleasure to use and the ability to download new apps without piddling around and having to rely on PC World/vendor helpdesks when it doesn't work. Done, done and DONE.
And since when did the app store become a bad thing anyway? Half the time this site is running stories covering the latest M$/Mozilla/Adobe vulnerability/bloatware instance. With the App store you have a genuine attempt to impose some standards plus the democracy that comes with ratings and reviews. Also ANYONE can develop for the iPhone/iPod Touch and profit from it with the product price genuinely pegged to its quality and desirability due to market forces. Sure, this isn't the freeware utopia the open-source party were after but it sure beats a handful of complacent companies taking 80-90% market share and abusing their position by selling us crap for the rest of time.
I would buy this thing in a second. The irony being I would earn the money to do so by supporting Wintel systems/architecture!
That really is a bit unfair. Although the Typhoon project has had its setbacks and took far too long to get off the ground (pun intended) it is still a very advanced and formidable military aircraft.
I agree that the modern battlefield has changed beyond all recognition and our RAF boys are unlikely to have to engage in air-to-air dogfights with MIGs but I do believe that in the 21st century, with its phenomenal climb rate and multi-role weapons platform, it is the fighter of choice when blowing hijacked passenger jets out of the sky before they crash into this nations office blocks.
and registered is at the address two doors down. Then when she heard a loud KA-BOOM and seen the charred remains of their household pet go flying past the window she would know those no-good rats had sold her out and it was time to break out the fake nose, pay a visit to the Lone Gunmen and go take some ISP Boss's scalp Arnie style.
Now THERE'S your movie adaptation.
T-800 icon because SHE'LL BE BACK!
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