* Posts by MarmiteToast

87 publicly visible posts • joined 8 Jan 2008

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'Crazy rasberry ants' target Texan tech

MarmiteToast
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@ Tim Read

crazy + surname

not

crazy + name of a fruit.

PS3 update fails to fix Grand Theft Auto IV woes

MarmiteToast

One lockup

The worst I've had is one lockup.

I took a prostitute with me whe I was going to date Michelle and it obviously didn't like the fact that the passenger seat was already taken.

Dell denies death of XPS to aid Alienware

MarmiteToast
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Horrible design

I recently purchased a laptop and considered Dell and Alienware. The price was reasonable but I couldn't get the combination of features I wanted. I also did my research and found out about the huge number of users that have problems with the build quality.

Ofcom sharpens cutlasses for pirate radio assault

MarmiteToast

Unlicensed band?

Why can't we just dedicate a portion of the spectrum to unlicensed stations?

Make it wide enough to fit 2/3 stations in and that should serve any local area.

Of course you'd need some restrictions to stop big players exploiting this free air space. Maybe a maximum range (so you can't blanket the country) so that it is local.

Barclays Capital slashes contractor rates by 10%

MarmiteToast
Unhappy

well...

Kick in the teeth although most my friends contracting say there's plenty going around and I know some places have fired permenants instead of contractors (seems illogical but it comes down to quality against short term cost).

I Was A Teenage Bot Master

MarmiteToast

alternatively use "[sic]"

"That's why I love this age, its all computers heh," SoBe wrote in early December 2005, a month after Ancheta's arrest, during an online chat. "All these companys have websites, etc. Its just funny going somewhere like Target, or Sprint then coming home and rooting there servers out of boredom. Makes some people feel like they can do anything." (Misspellings and grammatical errors are his.)

Bournemouth floats UK's first 100Mbps sewer broadband network

MarmiteToast

@GrahamT

6 inch spade? Isn't that rather a trowel?

Grand Theft Auto IV misses week one million sales mark

MarmiteToast
Paris Hilton

@Iain

I've also got the PS3 60GB and haven't had any problems at all. Mines from Japan though so there's probably a few difference.

PH: Because she's bound to make an appearance somewhere in this game.

What did happen to all those London mayoral votes?

MarmiteToast
Alert

Barking up the wrong tree

While observing the vote count is certainly important I would imagine most fraud has already taken place by this point.

The fact that you simply had to write down names and send them to the council to get voting cards (with very little validation) and then they don't check IDs when voting... of course you could do it all by post too just to be extra safe when committing fraud.

Creative settles MP3 player capacity clash

MarmiteToast
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What an awful settlement

This basically amounts to "we'll pay up if you buy more of our products".

EDS would be proud of Creative.

AT&T to slash 3G iPhone price to beat unlockers?

MarmiteToast
Alert

@Lee Sextpn

I held out for 5 years before finally buying an iPod and nothing better came along in that time. Sure some players sounded better but they all had horrible interfaces, others were too bulky... etc etc the list goes on.

I'm willing to bet you haven't tried any kind of apple product. I'm just starting my love affair with their stuff. Yes it's overpriced but if you can afford it then it's worth it.

US Department of Justice banned from Wikipedia

MarmiteToast
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Theorists are ten a penny

Unfortunately a blind belief in their own theory is also just as prevalent. The number of people writing to universities, saying they're disproved the HUP or something similar , is staggering!

Plasma TV components applied to password cracking

MarmiteToast

Yes, done before

I've seen this done at least three times before. I guess the new angle is that they were scavenged from plasma screens. It begs the question why they were in the controllers in the first place - did LG rush to get them out the door?

Lesbians turn on lesbians in battle of Lesbos

MarmiteToast
IT Angle

re: re: oldfartuk

And us brits will want to be able to "bum a fag" again seeing as they're so expensive these days.

UK elections vulnerable to fraud - e-voting no solution

MarmiteToast
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Dangerous

That's not all...

Each borough is responsible for it's own security and there is no oversight. It would be very easy for the next Florida to be here in London with officials rigging the postal voting at a local level.

Unlocked iPhones help drive Apple Q2

MarmiteToast
Stop

@Sooty

If they could make an infinite (or practically infinite) number of iPhones in a given time then yes.

Seeing as they can only make so many it's better for them to sell them locked and benefit from the phone provider kick backs.

e.g. THey make 1000 phone.

1000 02 contracts = 1000 x Retail Price + 1000 x 02 monthly fee to Apple

1000 unlocked = 1000 x Retail Price

Nintendo Wii 'like a virus', games boss sniffs

MarmiteToast

Anecdotal Evidence suggests

That for every fanboy rubbishing anything that portrays the Wii in a bad light there's at least two people who have bought it and don't play it anymore and another two who never considered it in the first place.

Price cut fails to push Xbox 360 past PS3 in UK

MarmiteToast
Flame

The Wii needs to die

I own both the 360 and a PS3 and a friend regularly brings his Wii round to my house.

Having played the Wii I'll admit that it is amazing, innovative and creative... for about 2 weeks. After that it's an awfully poor games console that's more of a gimmick.

Of course this isn't a problem for Nintendo because the don't sell their hardware at a loss and will make a bit of money as people buy lots of games to find one decent one.

As far as the 360 and PS3 goes... they're used about 30%:70% respectively but the PS3 is definitely the better console.

Windows hardware challenge draws on resources

MarmiteToast
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Silly complaints

I'm a database geek so it's not pain I have to suffer directly, but the operating system guys have had fun locating all the relevant settings and turning them to "on'".

--

So in your ideal world you wouldn't figure these out until you got to the production environment, sounds like a great idea...

Lonely Paris Hilton seeks new best friend

MarmiteToast
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@ Ralph B

BFF is an american term, something like Best Friends Forever. It's also recognised by the Supreme Court above mariage.

US senator accuses FCC of rigging 700MHz auction

MarmiteToast

@Mage

Generally all true except about japan...

Standard apartment speed is 100Mbit/s and 1Gbit/s costs the same that our 1/3-1/2 speed 8bmit costs in the UK. You can still get 10Mbit but there's not much cost saving IIRC.

UK rattles 'three strikes' filesharing sabre (again)

MarmiteToast

@nanonano

"or four ("I've already told you TWICE, I won't tell you again ..."), for example ?"

Do you mean "I've already told you TWICE, I'll only tell you once more"?

IT security controls partly blamed for SocGen debacle

MarmiteToast

Bullsh*t

Assessors find that Bank needs lots of new security measures. What's the bet that said assessors can provide the changes if they are taken on as highly paid consultants.

Northern Rock FOI gag 'out of order' say Tories

MarmiteToast

It should be exempt!

Banks fight it out with each other in a competitive market. Allowing others to request information using the FOIA would sabotage the profitability and ultimately cost the tax payer.

What would make more sense, that isn't mentioned in the story, would be stricter risk management, auditing and compliance regulations.

MS showcases Red Ring of Death Xbox 360 at expo

MarmiteToast

Summary

I own both a Xbox360 and PS3 so feel fairly confident I can present a view not biased by fanboy principles. Here's my quick overview:

1. I don't know anyone who owns a Xbox360 that hasn't broken.

2. They repair them very promptly and recompense you for the inconvenience.

3. They tell you what went wrong and what they've done.

4. They wont tell you why it went wrong and don't want to know. If you tell them it occurred when you tried to use Halo 3 they will not record the information.

5. Repairs are made with refurbished parts which can lead to multiple repairs (friend now on console number 5!)

Overall good performance and I'm very happy with my experiences so far even though I've had to send it off for repairs.

Time to rewrite DBMS, says Ingres founder

MarmiteToast
Go

Not news...

.. this is already happening in lots of big companies. When your application needs a fast in memory database chances are you've already wrote one yourself. Iyt makes sense to start using this for your reporting databases as well.

Jane Fonda c-word slip shocks US

MarmiteToast
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Trumps

This is the top trump if you ever are unfortunate to argue with an American. For laughs drop it in to day to day conversation when there's one about.

NHS Direct launches text message service

MarmiteToast

Good idea

Like NHSDirect this is actually a fairly good idea.

Postcodes are on road signs (at least in London) so you can always know which area your in. Even when you've lived somewhere for a while you may not know where to go for a specific medical service.

An autoamted system should be cheap as chips (but I bet they got ripped off anyway, government IT procurement etc) and a manned system isn't particularly time consuming either.

Shell IT staff disgusted at mega profits

MarmiteToast
Stop

Strikes are the least of their worries...

... if they're planning on outsourcing to EDS. What next, TCS?

They'll be really stuck when they need people back in 3 years but they've all gone and found jobs where they are appreciated.

UK military faces spectrum sell off

MarmiteToast

@Christoph

It was given to them by a government body (FCC equivalent?) and so they'll give it back to them. It's not like they're going to had them £15Bn to buy shiny new tanks and such.

It'll be the government that sells it and the money will go to plug all black holes in the budget that are last chancellors have seen fit to create.

Chinese make Olympic weather bow to Party's will

MarmiteToast

@ Solomon Grundy

Maybe I missed something but how does everybody know that "Fucking with the weater is a bad idea"?

Secret bidding for US airwaves tops $3.3bn

MarmiteToast

Wise move?

Historically companies have always over-valued radio space so whoever wins is probably going to be feeling the effects of this purchase for some time.

Having said that converting cash in to assets it's probably a good move if there's going to be a global down turn.

Apple on the lookout for one million unlocked iPhones

MarmiteToast
Paris Hilton

How do they operate?

In the UK when you buy a phone you sign the contract and activate it at the same time. Don't like the contract? Fine, but you aren't getting the phone at the reduced rate, you can pay full retail which is £600+ for a top end Nokia.

Why can't they do the same at AT&T? Then even if you unlock it you still have the contract and you're still going to be paying Apple. Is this some cancellation grace period law in the US I'm missing?

PH angle?

UK.gov says no plans for FBI DNA database hookup

MarmiteToast
Alert

Corrected title

Uk.gov says no plans for FBI DNA database hookup...

- CDs are already in the post.

- yet.

- until contractor that's willing to 'do a deal' is found.

Apple to charge $20 for iPod Touch update

MarmiteToast
Stop

Accounting regulations...

...do not force them to charge for the update. It's just better for them, from a tax perspective, if they do this.

Sarbanes-Oxley is both bloody stupid and bloody brilliant. Why is it brilliant? Financial institutions have less desire to base their operations on U.S. soil as the compliance costs are rather high.

Excuse me sir: there's a rootkit in your master boot record

MarmiteToast
Alert

@ The wheel has come full circle

I remember the CIH virus very well. I wrote an article on hot swapping your bios chip for PC Format at the time. I wouldn't have recommended it for 99.99% of users though!

Security is still an afterthought in PC architecture. Why have guards on the front-desk if someone leaves the back door open when they pop out for a cheeky fag.

Blair's transport minister working for traffic-data firm

MarmiteToast
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Pay MPs better...

and then they wouldn't need to have second jobs to make a decent income. £60k is pretty pitiful for such an important job.

Who cares if they introduce road pricing. By the time I can afford a garage it'll be easy to afford to pay per mile.

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