Posts by Shonko Kid

Facebook ninjas scale wall, pluck iPhone techies from Apple's garden

Ummm...

"more than six...", "Over six..."

7?

Trekkie wants to build USS Enterprise … in twenty years

Galaxy Quest

This guy does realize that Star Trek is fiction, not some form of space exploration reference material...

Boffins cram binary data into living cells' DNA

Copyright?

The big question is will this open up a whole new frontier for the copyright lawyers; bit torrents that breed! Having children outlawed under DMCA!

Electronic is so last century!

Review: Raspberry Pi

Re: Linux computer?

Symbian OS will work on it too.

Txt-speak is a sign of humanity 4 U

Re: Oral sex? Really?

I can't see it either, I'm obviously not 'yoof enuf'

4 8 == fellate?

NASA found filming August's Mars landing in California desert

The look on their faces..

When they realize they've got the real one in the desert and it's the fake one on the rocket.

Headbanger plays Star Trek theme on floppy drives

String or Percussion?

Which section of an orchestra would you place floppy drives? The sound is a lot like a string instrument, but it's more percussive in the way it is generated surely?

Cameron hardens stance on UK web filth block

Here Here!

I've said it before; you have to be 18+ to have signed the contract for your Broadband, the ISP and the Govt. should at that point assume you are a responsible, consenting adult.

Facebook lowballs on initial IPO price

Re: $14 per person, worldwide

It can't be. But that's not the point. Witness the people who clearly have more money than sense all working themselves into a frenzy hoping that they can make a quick buck by buying the stock, then flogging it shortly after for a profit to the next frenzied hopeful. They all feed of each others greed-lust until.... well, those that have been paying attention over the past decade and a half know how it ends. Those that have short memories; feel free to join the stampede, just don't be left holding the parcel when the music stops!

Ten... eight-bit classic games

Great list

Some real gems on there, though everyone has their favourites that have been missed off. Perhaps an El Reg poll is order?

"neither did my zipstick"

F'nar!

Happy 30th Birthday, Sinclair ZX Spectrum

Happy Birthday Speccy!

Thanks for everything!

Lesser-spotted Raspberry Pi FINALLY dished up

languages, etc

Yeah, sure there are dozens of very languages, and environments available on linux, and even if the one you want isn't readily available, it's fairly easy to port/rewrite it to fit. That's not my point.

Maybe all that is needed is that when these get into schools there is just a couple of educational software packages bundled; Logo, some form of BASIC, but my gut feel is that that isn't going to be enough, as those are freely available for whatever computers are currently sat in your children's classroom, and the kids just aren't interested. It's not about the cost of the device.

It's not just about language either, it has to be tied to the platform such that you can do something useful with the device, using the language. And not just writing a flamebot in Python ;-)

Maybe as was said the way most of the old-gits of the IT world got into computing was a product of the time, and just isn't reproducible today. I think that's a shame.

@csumpi. I agree, they knew there was considerable interest for the first batch of devices, and should've ensured that the first 1000 or so made it to people who were going to actually contribute something back. Not just turn it into a cheap webcam/media server. There are plenty of cheap embedded Linux boxes for that sort of thing.

Flame-on, I like my Pi well done.

It's an admirable project to be sure...

But, the thing that concerns me most about it is this;

"their own offspring to pick up some light Python, Ruby or even a little C++ for laughs"

None of those languages are particularly suited to the job of encouraging the young 'uns to tinker. And let's face it, I don't really think the reason kids don't get into programming they way we grey-hairs did is down to the cost of entry. It's more to do with the staggeringly high level of complexity that you have to reach just to get a computer to do anything, and the fact that when you turn them on they don't sit patiently with an empty screen and a friendly flashing cursor inviting your commandments.

While I don't doubt Raspberry Pi will be a success, and it will turn up in some interesting projects, I can't help but doubt that without some sort of concerted effort on the out of the box software, it will just be consigned to be a hobbyists platform.

Sure to cause some flames, I know, but I do really admire the project and it's aims.

Nokia on 'brink of failure', warns analyst

"in case Windows Phone fails to crack the Android-Apple duopoly."

In case?!?

What's the OS called, Windows Phone _7_, 7! that should be a fairly good hint that if 1 - 6 failed to crack the market, 7 stands about the same chance. M$ were failures in the smartphone market for all the time Nokia was king. What is supposed to have changed that means they now hold the key to reclaiming the crown? Nothing as far as I've seen.

Amount of ice in Bering Sea reaches all-time record

I give it a month..

Before a report outlining how it's the 'wrong sort' of ice comes out, and why it really is a catastrophe after all.

Peace out maaan...

TITANIC 'UNLIKELY' TO SINK AGAIN, says prof - apparently

What a load of...

Ship.

Balsillie bails as RIM reports terrible quarter

Re: An alternate view...

"The middle-management bureaucracy is the biggest stumbling block inside that company. The rank-and-file have lots of ideas that just get lost in the petty fiefdoms the middle-managers (and certain VPs) have created for themselves..."

Ah, that age-old story. How often have we seen it recently?

RIM to exit the consumer phone market

I give it 2 out of 5 Nokias on the Fail Scale

They're just not trying, sure they've got their C* jumping ship, and retreating to their traditional market, but if they want to score higher they really should be calling their customers muppets, or saying their entire SW stack is obsolete and hurting them, and are switching wholesale to a poorly regarded and largely untested and unpopular alternative.

PlayStation 4 'Orbis' pegged for 2013 release

AMD?!? *yawn*

I remember when Sony made cool hardware.

The only difference between this and the Xbox720 will be it has blue highlights instead of green, and it's a different greedy corporation that gets your dollars. How dull is that?

Commodore outs Linux-running Amiga Mini desktop

x86?!?!?

they should just skip x86 and go straight to ARM. x86 is irrelevant.

So, what IS the worst film ever made?

Re: Starship Troopers

Nope, Starship Troopers 2 and 3 were far far worse than the original..

My nominations..

2012: Doomsday - Shameless band-wagon jump-on to cash in on the cinematic release of the much bigger budget (and slightly better) 2012.

Alien Vs Hunter - You won't have seen it, and it'll never get the 10 nominations it needs to be included, but trust me it's far shitter than anything that does make the shortlist.

Symbian smacked by Windows Phone

So, Nokia now has < 5% of UK smartphone share?

If you add the Symbian 2.4% and assume that all of the WinPho7 sales are Nokia's...

Wow. As fails go, that's pretty epic.

Lingerie-clad she-devils romp past watchdog

The spirit of Ken Russell lives on!

Hollywood should make more horror films along these lines.

Steve Jobs' death clears way for '7.85-inch iPad prototype'

unlikely

If we assume that a 7" and a 10" iPad would cost pretty much the same to make, then a $200 reduction in pricepoint is essentially $200 of profits lost. I don't see anyone saving themselves $200 on an iPad only to then spend ~$700 on iTunes - such that Apple's 30% cut recovers them that $200 in profit.

Sure, you have to factor in the desire to lock out the competition, but, Jobs at least and maybe Apple as a whole, are arrogant enough to assume they have no competition. And I think the iPad market share backs that up. People want an iPad because it is an iPad, not because of what it does. If Samsung et al, actually stumble upon the killer app for the 7" form factor, and start eating into iPad sales, then we might see a smaller iPad, but not until, and I don't see any evidence of it happening either.

Can't see the logic...

If they price it to compete with the Kindle, then it must surely also eat into iPad sales - There will be people who'd buy a cheaper 7" one instead of the more expensive 10"er. And I'd bet that the lost revenue wouldn't be covered by the additional sales to people who would've bought a Kindle and/or weren't going to buy an iPad at the more expensive price point. And for that reason, I doubt it can be true.

Daniel Craig like Connery, Skyfall helmsman suggests

Sign of the times

It's inevitable with any 'series' that has been around for so long. Each era of Bond was a product of it's time, what Cubby thought the cinema going punters were after, and that has changed an awful lot since the 60s. You could no more make another Dr No today than you could Carry on Camping. Hell, even the cheesy 70s/80s Roger Moore films are good when taken in context.

Besides, the best Bond was Lazenby surely? "Well, this never happened to that other fella.."

GPS jamming rife, could PARALYSE Blighty, say usual suspects

"...maintain the UK at 20c and dry."

I like it. That way a bit of bad weather will completely mess it up, and allow a little bit of snow to cause even more carnage and chaos on the roads. Good work that man.

British Medical Association calls for long, slow rollout of NHS 111

Re: Here's an idea..

Yeah, and it will have taken twice as long..

But, whatever the Govt. tries to do to the NHS is going to cost at least twice as much, and take twice as long, as they say it will at the outset. At least this way we've acknowledged that fact/risk, and given the people most likely to have an idea on what needs to be fixed the chance to fix it.

Here's an idea..

instead of having pointless serf-serving bureaucrats figuring out how the NHS should be structured/funded and then forcing the people who actually have a clue on these matters, why not just tell the BMA/GMC/RCN/RCS/Anyone else to go away and figure it out for themselves. Whitehall will just tell them how much money they've got to spend.

It's almost a credible proposition that the GPs should have more say in how their local PCT is run, but surely by that argument, all the professionals on the business-end of the NHS should have more say in how it is actually structured. The mandarins should just keep well out of it.

Lansley's proposition need only say one thing then; You guys go and build us the NHS you keep moaning that we haven't got. You've got £X billion to spend over the next Y years. Fuck up, and we'll do it as per the previous proposal.

SMS compo firms fined £200k for typosquatting, misleading punters

More education needed for the web-surfing public

Please follow these simple rules;

1) Don't ever enter or click in anything that says you've won a prize. You haven't.

2) Don't type addresses into the address bar. Type into a google search* and then create a bookmark/shortcut icon/whatever for the site you want, and use that from then on.

3) Be careful of where you enter any form of personal data, you may want to visit a site to register for something, but be 100% sure the site is genuine before registering.

*Other brands of search engine are available.

Microsoft CFO bullish in Windows convergence and comms plans

"What we're trying to do is develop a complete set of experiences across all device types..."

That's been the game-plan for well over a decade, why should it suddenly succeed now exactly?

Swiss space-cleaning bot grabs flying junk, hurls itself into furnace

_Will_ be inspired?!?

Umm, we're sure that an example we can copy must exist somewhere in nature, but we haven't found it yet?

Sony 'fesses to Whitney Houston price hike 'error'

Trend spotting bot to blame?

Is it possible they've got an experimental bot that monitors twitter trends, and matches them to iTunes store items? So if any of their artists start to trend the price auto-magically gets a bump? Seems all to plausible.

Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards

True classic

Haven't played it in aeons, but it still brings a nostalgic smile.

Microsoft mulls touchscreen controller for next-gen Xbox

It should be called the ZBox, pronounced Zzzzzzbox as that's about how interesting it will be.

40,000 Apple fanbois demand ethical iPhone 5

40000 people..

will change their mind the minute they see an iPhone 5 in the shops, no matter what the cost.

Let's face it, they could make the leather cases out of actual Chinese worker's skin, and Apple will still shift boat loads of them.

iPhone 5, now made with pure puppy blood.

If you don't like how something is made, don't buy it. It's that simple.

Zuck plots carefully considered Facebook IPO

Bubbles

Of course it's worth $100bn. What could possibly go wrong?

Man recreates ZX81... in Lego

ZX81 boards...

weren't green, they were usually a 'zombie' grey color.

Where's the gigantic nerd icon?

Small pile of cash, dying platform: 2011 is bad news for Nokia

Is ANYONE surprised?

Elop's entire smartphone strategy seems to have hinged upon all their high-end customers being dumb enough to blindly switch to WinPho just because it still has a Nokia badge on it. So, when it came to upgrading their N8/E7s they've either kept them or bought a Galaxy S instead. What a surprise!!

Epic. Fail.

Scalextric restarts space race with Star Wars craft

Speeder Bikes

Do they make that noise as they whizz through the trees?

Also, shurely a pod-racer set would make more sense with the 3D release of Ep1 around the corner!

Facebook registers mysterious fBoriGin domain names

Conspiracy theories

it's clearly 'fb origin' so maybe a site detailing how Schmuckerberg got the idea in the first place, the capitals give us the clue; B and G? who could that possibly be? None other than Bill Gates himself, he did afterall invent the interweb!

Davos report: Cyber-attack risk to global stability is real

Only reason I opened the article. Nowhere near as interesting as I'd expected it to be.

Patients to access NHS records via web by 2015

"What could possibly go wrong?"

Smells like a competition to me, prizes for the most outrageous answers, and also for those that eventually come true, in 2017 when it finally limps into life only 200% over budget.

Jimbo Wales ponders Wikipedia blackout

Do it!

Jimbo should cut the jibber-jabber and JFDI!

In fact, it' be great if all the major sites and ISPs held a 'blackout' day to protest. Show the world what life will be like once this is passed into international^H^H^H^H sorry, US law.

Imagine the work that could get done!

IDC: Google needs DEEP tablet price slash to crack Apple

It's not the cost of the things

No amount of cost cutting is going to allow an Android tablet to compete with the iPad, as the iPad's USP is that it is an iPad.

If they want to seriously compete, then they need to come up with an actual compelling use for the damn things.

Functionality of a Phone, Convenience of a Monitor just doesn't cut it. Unless it's from Cupertino of course.

Demon Currys iPad showered kids with HARD-CORE smut

"block shoppers from surfing dodgy..."

blacklist?!? Are they completely incompetent. If this thing was even allowed to access the internet proper, then it should be so on a whitelist.

What is THE FIRST THING any self respecting yoof is going to do on a computer in a shop once they notice it's connected to the net?