Posts by Jolyon

Times calls time on NewsNow links

New Snow

Same old prints.

Lenovo joins the smartbook gang

Trackpoint

Another vote for the little rubber nipples from me.

Paris for reasons that I sadly can't put my finger on.

Bad glass delayed Apple tablet?

iWant

I use my iPod touch for casual web browsing round the house. A bigger screen (and hence a better keyboard) would be very nice.

But then I've always thought tablets were the right way to go for some applications - "a glorified display window" is about right but I have a use for one of them and a robust iWhatever with some decent forms software, maybe handwriting recognition and a hardware interface for mini scanners / printers could push into those niches Psion occupies as well as mobile working for e.g. local authority staff who spend a lot of time on site visits.

My housemate got an iPhone 3Gs a month or two ago and wants to go back to his Blackberry - I don't think they make nearly such good phones as they do, um, GDWs.

Doing the maths on Copenhagen

Fallacy

"the present warming trend ... cannot be put down to anthropogenic causes as both temperature rise and rate of rise are not uncommon in recent geological history."

This argument is incomplete / fallacious.

ISS gets Soyuz visitors for the holidays

T Creamer in space?

No wonder Arthur found it so difficult to get a decent cuppa.

Unused phone lines to be taxed for rural broadband

I left the sticks

So I could have access to things quicker (although at the time my 300/300 modem was as much use there as anywhere).

I don't see why broadband provision to the provinces needs to be a priority.

When I was gthere I would have liked a bus service but I didn't expect all car users to have yet another tax to provide me with one.

If I was to move back to more bucolic surroundings I'd expect to have to give up some of the conveniences of city living or to pay more for them.

This scheme would only make sense to me if it was propsed by a load of city-dwelling types who felt they needed better services in their weekend country retreats.

Gov confirms plans for Sky box in charge of your house

I can only assume

That the Reg is a government agency designed to smoke out the People Who Know The Truth by luring them from their tinfoil bunkers with tempting tales of totalitarian tentacles of terror.

Black helicopters / white vans it's all much of a muchness.

'Alien spies live among us' says Bulgarian gov space boffin

@Ted Treen

"It would certainly explain Blair, Mandelson, Brown & Darling (inter alia)..."

Nah, I'm with Ridley, the plural is 'aliens'.

Tivo to return to UK in 2010

Woo hoo from me too

Tivo is still the best system going - everyone I know who was lucky enough to get one in the UK has hung onto it in preference to Sky+ / V+ (for anyone who says Sky+ will take some beating have you actually used any other systems?)

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@ Ian K

"Virgin Media's current PVR box (or its UI, at least) sucks like a hoover; 5 or so button presses to get to the recorded program list, no "resume playback" feature if you stop part way through a program, loses all configuration settings if you do any sort of reset at all... Horrid, horrid, horrid."

I have to say I don't get any of that. From memory V+ -> Select -> Select gets to recorded programmes by date, there's options to start from the beginning, last viewed time or any arbitrary point in the programme and the couple of resets I have done haven't wiped any setting that I noticed.

What box do you have?

Users howl as Fedora 12 gives root to unwashed masses

Burn the witches

Okay so it's heresy but is it anything more than a snub to orthodoxy?

It may (possibly) foil an automated process but why is it inherently more secure for a user to have to type in a password?

If you deny them that password you're left with them having to ask someone if they want a new calculator installed, if you give it to them they can install what they like and not just from a signed repository.

It's this sort of rigid adherence to laudable but inflexible dogma that pushes big spending companies into the arms of Microsoft and their no doubt technically inferior, but massively more pragmatic, products for managing a large number of users with different requirements.

Macs not all that for reliability

Does this take into account

a) all the anecdotal evidence of laptops that have / haven't gone wrong for Reg readers this millennium? I read a survey once and its findings about the generality of experience didn't match my personal findings which must be a flaw worth telling everyone about.

b) the Macs damaged by stamping during hissy fits?

Spanish region teaches kids how to crack one off

Isn't this

teaching grandma to suck eggs?

US judge rules quadriplegic can bear arms

Undignified pot shots from the Reg?

'Right to bear arms' ho ho.

The guy's not just familiar with the legal system, he's now armed.

If he accuses you of mocking the afflicted you won't have a leg to stand on.

Let him turn himself into a rubbish Dalek if that's what he wants.

Apple pen-tablet plan revives Newtonian handwriting

@David Edwards

"All I really want is an ever lasting A4 notepad, with a date stamp."

Making it searchable surely has to be a Good Thing.

Samsung plans Symbian-free future

@Paul Brain

Why bother?

Presumably so that when they tie up a massive deal with MS to bundle all their web apps they can have a Goodfellas style Bada Bing! ad campaign.

Police fail to dampen down bonfire night Westminster protest

Push off

I haven't capitualted to the state I just decided that watching a dull debate with a dozen rejects from a comics convention wasn't worth the candle so I exercised my right to walk into my local park for a stroll. The fascist park keepers didn't like it "You know we shut at dusk, mate?" they said in menacingly pleasant fashion but when I said that I did indeed know and would be gone well before then they knew they were beaten.

If enough of us push off for a pleasant saunter The State might decide it has no choice but to give us new climbing frames that allow for an adventurous play experience - just ask the East Grinsteadians what happened at Brooklands.

The revolution will be twitterised

Guy Fawkes 2.0 these fashiontards are not.

If they really are so desperate to conform that they'll do what they think Alan Moore is telling them without actually understanding it they'd be put to better use in an Austrian boutique hotel with a copy of Lost Girls.

Subjugating your individuality to the an overly literal interpretation of the writings of a big guy with a long beard - same old same old.

Windows 7 sales leave Microsoft coffers unstuffed

@A Watt & ac success measurer

"I can see now that the only solution if you want a machine with an "invisible" OS which fulfils the three points above is to go macintosh."

You might equally well go for a Psion Series 7.

Or a BBC Micro Model B.

Either of which I'd be perfectly happy to use as they 'just work'.

If they were in any way able to do what I need doing.

Your Philippe Starck lemon juicer may well be both beautiful and functional but lemons are not the only fruit.

Volcanic African 'unzipping' could see continent divided

@ G R Goslin

Was going to chide you for your largely humourless cynicism but the tardal wave of wrongbrained responses leaves me stranded on your side of the rift.

What do you think the new Volcanic Activity Tax would be called?

Google retrieves coder's Microsoft badge from rubbish bin

More than MVP

He's got a book coming out too.

No MVP -> lower sales perhaps.

Certainly, fuss over MVP -> great advertising of his expert status.

Female fruitbat fellatio frenzy: 70% give head

USM

Looks like Carter might not have been boasting.

Chronically ill people 'happier if they abandon hope', say docs

I predict

A lot of angry comments from widow(er)s about the following:

"It's better, they argue, to have your spouse die than to have them divorce you."

The linked article actually says "these results also may explain why people who lose a spouse to death often recover better emotionally over time than those who get divorced."

Which is less tasteless.

Wii HD coming in 2010, claims mole

Ooh, novel fanboism.

I'll just pop out for a quick game of virtual cop dog wank while you calmly arrive at a 1080p resolution of your differences.

Mines the one with the VIC-II chip on the epaulette.

Virginia corrections officers on 'dog fondling' rap

Barbara Woodhouse

Wankies!

WTF is this country called America?

Tim Horton Hears A WTF

We say 'America' when we mean the USA. We talk about Americans, we roll our eyes and mutter 'Only in America', and we discuss the irony of the 'American Dream' over our yuppicinos.

Hands up who was actually confused?

Now hands up who is a maple-flavoured double double pedantard?

Fanbois howl over data-munching Snow Leopard bug

Timing

With Microsoft presumably about to make a big push on Windows 7 are we going to see more and more 'Mac's not all that' new stories?

What are the odds on a proper Apple flavoured malware or two making an appearance this month or next?

Torrent crackdown pushing pirates towards file hosting

@AC moving coward

"treat us fairly and we might just give you a break"

Who's the 'us' in this?

What are you doing currently and why?

And what counts as a 'fair' response?

BT to push fibre to 1.5m more homes and businesses

@Brian Miller 1

"it must be subsidised"

Why?

Seriously, why?

Do you want a tube line run out to your house too?

When we finally achieve our glorious socialist paradise we can talk about equal net access for all but as things stand if you want the benefit you pay the price.

I'm a country boy - I never expected to have all the things you'd get in a city like mains gas or sewerage or fibre-optic broadband. One of the nice things about the country is that it's not the city even if it is increasingly full of suburbanite twits who only think subsidy when it means they get city convenience brought to their rural retreats.

Web firms seek Royal Mail rivals with GSOH for delivery fling

Will we be better off when it's all in private hands?

Seems inevitable; there's a huge amount of money flowing through a public sector body - easy to see why that can't be tolerated when it could be making profits for someone.

Anyone prepared to bet against another perfectly useful service being sold off for less than it is is worth and us ending up paying more as a result?

If I'd ever been impressed by any of the private sector options I might be less cynical but it seems to me there's a destroy the service they can't equal never mind better and allow them to get their hands on the money we have little choice but to offer up.

Windows 7, Bing and mobile will determine Ballmer's future

@Wanko

"The retail pricing of Windows 7 is also meaningless. Most users will only upgrade when they get a new machine. "

They might well upgrade if the upgrade was cheaper. I would.

The new product is better, the upgrade process is smooth and relatively simple, there are genuine benefits.

But it isn't worth the money. So I won't. And I won't suggest to any of my family and friends that they do either.

The retail pricing is very relevant. They may have done their sums on how to maximise revenue but they won't get the instant penetration they desire like this.

Paris because I don't go to the effort of shoehorning in a phrase like 'instant penetration' just to tag my post with an ordinary smiley.

Egyptians uptight about 'Artificial Virginity Hymen'

@lukewarmdog

"we can look at the slavery and misery hat Islam imposes"

So it's not just the headscarf?

Microsoft's web world shrinks

Bias?

2.15% rise for Bing "miniscule"

1.93% rise for Firefox "modest"

Microsoft pimps bogus Windows 7 'launch parties'

@APK - drivel

The first thing Google returns for 'define:drivel' is "a worthless message".

That'll do for me.

(Although to be fair the first result it gives for what initially sprang to mind when I read your posts is "a male chicken" so I am not claiming it is perfect.)

Owners say iPhone 3GS is a scorcher

So iPhone under pillow is obviously stupid?

What about iPhone in pocket, how different is that?

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Paris because of the obvious potential for 'hot in bed' japery.

Salty Saturn moon plumes suggest stuff of life

Chemistard

"nearly every time it found at least some sodium within the particles ... The measurements also contained carbonates like soda"

"Sodium combined with chloride are the two major components of salt."

Good grief.

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Paris because she has probably detected saltiness in her time.

iPhone 3.0 - born on schedule...

@ Giles Jones

I want copy and paste and I want it to be easy to use.

Apple may have designed a device that makes it difficult to implement but I don't see why that means I should no longer want it.

So yes, I'm complaining and no I don't think paying an extra $10 to have copy and paste badly implemented on my iPod touch is value for money.

I dearly wish my loyalty to the manufacturer was stronger than my desire to have something that works the way I want but sadly for me it is just not true love.

Paris because she knows how to hand jobs love.

Scotland strikes national Oracle deal

How much Oracle already?

Obviously this will lead to further Oracle lock-in but you might well see this as acceptable if the core systems are there already.

As has been pointed out nobody changes the database an application uses - if there's a lot of Oracle already (meaning switching away would be costly / impossible) and this provides a cost saving on that then where's the problem?

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@Mac Phreak - people feel scared without the safety net of home insurance or brakes on their cars. If you have a company that stands to lose millions in penalties should an application fail then it would be idiocy to go with anything that does not *guarantee* a level of service. Fear / avoidance of unacceptable risk, call it what you will, there's a very good reason why people who don't overuse exclamation marks do want the suppliers of their software to put their money where their mouths are.

Bada Bing tickles UK fancies

Missing the point?

If I understand the article the reason to be excited by this over other search engines is that you can have video results returned in viewable form by the browser site - no need to visit a pr0n site, the content is presented by a 'safe', unblocked search engine that won't be filtered out by school, college, work, Mrs Anonymous Coward or whoever.

Is that it?

Does Google also do this?

Not being a pr0nhunting expert I don't know if this is newsworthy or not.

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@BB - it won't work unless one accepts cookies, you won't accept cookies, it won't work. FOR YOU. Your choice of course but somewhat akin to a vegetarian moaning that they "cannot" eat at El Gaucho.

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Paris because.

Virgin Media to add 500k homes to cable network

Never had a problem with them

Been with VM a year or so and bar an idiot in a call centre on the day it was (eventually) connected I haven't had a problem.

What's not wrong with my service? Why aren't I as angry as all these other posters? I like a good justified rant.

Blogger fights Psion's claim to 'netbook' name

eBay Ban

Would do for me - pain filtering out all the crap that comes up on my NetBook searches.

Psion's machines were brilliant and I still use mine (although I might replace it with one of these new devices if they can match the battery life).

Always been angry at Psion for screwing up this product - brilliant OS, superb keyboard, good apps, great battery life, perfect screen ergonomics, odd leather cover, stupid price tag, useless marketing, ultimate failure.

Microsoft releases Vista virtualization

re: I've Been Doing This For Ages - Legless

How many machines are you doing this on in how many locations?

If it is the sort of thing that people do then surely a set of tools for managing the doing of it is a Good Thing and not deserving of quite as much scorn as it has attracted.

I like the idea of seamless apps delivered in a virtual environment launchable from the user start menu with the virtualisation transparent to them.

Support of legacy applications is a pain - moving from Windows 3.11 -> NT4 -> XP would have been considerably easier with something like this available.

Managing different Java versions or applications that have conflicting requirements for whatever reason will also be simplified by this.

It's not going to make me push for a move to Vista mind.

DfT spends £81m to save £57m

Where has the money gone?

How much of that money ended up in the pockets of public servants and how much in the wheelbarrows of the private sector?

German error messages indeed.

Hubble's 486 back-up springs into life

@Martin re: resiliency testing

Was my first thought.

But

When are those components most likely to fail?

And what would be done if they failed their resilience testing?

My guess is that powering them up and down unnecessarily would be more likely to break them than leaving them sitting there and if they were found to be faulty there wouldn't be a lot that could be done about it.

Symantec swoops on Messagelabs

Another happy ML user

Soon to be cheesed off, I suspect.

Remarkable unity of opinion on this issue.

Paris because i am told she sucks as well.

Commodore launches little laptop

Ameagre.

I think my comment is in my other coat.

Fixing the UK's DAB disaster

Love DAB

Have four DAB radios in the house and one portable.

Quality is fine.

Submarine cable cut torpedoes Middle East access

Not racism, just frustration

Outsourcing to India has not delivered good services but has increased profits.

Hardly a surprise that people are cheesed off.

Paris Hilton because she knows how to submerge a length without breaking it.

Germany flicks off-switch on DAB

Audio quality important? Not for most.

Agree that good FM beats DAB for audio quality but who really cares?

Do people really turn to the radio for a hi-fi experience?

More likely to be the morning alarm or something to have on in the background.

DAB has enough gimmicks for it to be worth switching - or has for me, my family, the in-laws etc

The channel choice, the track info, the program guide and the pause / rewind do it for me.

Virgin Media network collapses nationwide

Switched from plusnet to VM

After all the nonsense with deleted email, addresses presented to spammer etc.

Did have to reboot my cable modem - possibly as a result of this - and had a nightmare with the Indian call centre over the initial connection (which was sorted in minutes by Richard in Swansea).

We'll see which ends up more annoying but so far VM has not been too bad at all.

PlusNet blames itself for webmail spamfest

Just webmail or more insecurities?

The address I am getting spammed on is the one I used to sign up to PlusNet's services.

It is not in a PlusNet hosted domain and if I have ever used PlusNet's webmail service it would not have been to check mail delivered to this address.

I have never used the address for anything else.

If a flaw in the webmail system allowed access to this address why not all the other data I used when signing up?