Posts by Daniel Wilkie

Microsoft resuscitates 'I'm a PC' ads to fight Apple

It pains me to admit it...

But as a dyed in the wool MS Fanboy, they've made the same mistake Sony made with the PS3. Part of the reason the Xbox did so well was it got there first and was well established by the time the PS3 came to the market.

It's the same with the iPad, I think MS have left it too long now. People buy the iPad, they're not going to buy a WinTab too :(

And yes I do have an HTC7 and not an iPhone and do think that actually it would have been fairly easy to make a half decent tablet out of that.

The Professionals set to abseil into cinema

Well

It better be good. I wasn't born in time to see it but got hooked on it when they started showing it on ITV4 and the DVD boxed sets where probably the most viewed thing in our house between myself and my housemate.

They'd better not cock it up...

Windows Phone 7 gets 'goodie' update

Agreed

I love my HTC 7, no really. Like in a freakish apple fanboi kind of way...

Assange vows to drop 'insurance' files on Rupert Murdoch

Cool

Can he add me to the list? I've examined my conscience and failed to find any compelling response from it beyond "meh"

Wikileaks hit by second DDoS

I'll be honest

I'm not a fan of what they're doing now.

A) There's nothing even remotely suprising that anyone with half a brain couldn't figure out themselves (really, the West was worried about terrorists getting nukes from Pakistan? I mean Come ON, talk about stating the obvious)

and of course

B) Diplomatic cables are privileged for a reason, as there's potential there to do a lot of damage and it hurts the entire diplomatic process.

I'm an IT Manager for an engineering company so no vested interest, I just think this time round it will do more harm than good...

Bish says sorry for right royal Facebook rant

Er

I'm assuming that he's a RC Bishop, as insulting the family of the head of your church (and indeed, lets not forget that they are the only reason the C of E exists) is never a great career move...

I'm predicting a reloaction to Craggy Island in the near future!

MAD Students Union bars 'racist' ZOMBIE PHYSICISTS

*sigh*

Another story that's no doubt going to really build sympathy for them after yesterdays palava!

Cameron cocks up UK's defences - and betrays Afghan troops

Well

Lewis,

Sometimes I read your articles and find them interesting and informative (though always slightly biased) - however on other occassions it's neccessary for the reader to wade through so much vitriolic frothy-mouthed hatred at the world in general, that I really can't bring myself able to read it.

Sometimes it seems as if you're as bad as some of the more ill informed commentards here who's understanding of defence strategy extends as far as Command and Conquer or Halo.

Sadly this article seems to fall firmly in the latter - but the good news is if the Reg ever goes tits up, I'm fairly sure you have a safe job at the Guardian.

TV numbers sink as iOS usage rises

Or indeed

Playing games instead of playing games on something else...

It was one thing I really noticed when I got sky - compared to good old fashioned TV they crammed in a LOT of adverts for any given program.

£1bn+ Royal Navy destroyer finally fires 'disgraceful' weapon

@DS 1

Incorrect I'm afraid, if anything Sea Dart is closer to PAAMS - Sea Wolf is a pure point defence system, and in general limited as to how many targets it can track by the number of directors fitted to the ship. PAAMS would be better compared in functionality to Standard, and when coupled with SAMSON provides an (better) equivalent to AEGIS.

Or if you prefer, it's an improved version of the Sea Dart ;)

Don't forget as well, there are ASM/LAM missiles available for the PAAMS system too...

To be fair

I think that the fact it worked on the first attempt on the 45 platform IS something to be proud of at least, since that is a rarity indeed.

Navy Carriers: We want two or no votes for you, Tories

You sir

Are surprisingly onto something I think!

One point though

You always say about how we should avoid focussing on the wars we're fighting today and look to potential threats in the future no?

So that would suggest we should not hamstring our conventional naval capability in favour of fighting pirates and an afghan war we're supposedly going to be out of in a few years time...

After all the last defence review in 98 looked at X as the likely threats, then some rather unpleasant types took exception to the WTC and decided to do a bit of remodelling, and all of a sudden we're fighting a completely different type of war we weren't prepared for - we should probably make at least a token effort to ensure that doesn't happen again, should we not?

Miniskirted Brazilian is appealing...

Yeah...

She looks OK in that picture, but if you look at most others she really is nothing special...

People are just going batshit about her because she was wearing a short dress, got bullied, and now they think they can white-knight their way into her pants.

Hint - I very much doubt she reads the Register ;) But here's some inspiration for you all - http://funny.funnyoldplanet.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/save-internet.jpg

BT feathers ruffled over pigeon-based file transfer caper

Just to add

It's not rural that's strictly the issue. I go to Norway a lot with work, our office there is 3 hours by boat from the nearest city (or indeed town with more than 2000 people) and yet connectivity both at the office, and at any of the hotels in the village is always rock solid and usually weighs in at about 8.7 down/512 up (or 100 down/up at the office) - the hotels are usually ADSL as well so it only seems to be this country that struggles.

But

Upload speed is more relevant to business users as is the case here...

To be fair, when I was in the consultancy game, I remember trying to download a CD Image in the Welsh Valleys from our office file server (100MB Fibre at our office, ADSL at theirs) and the burned CD one of the engineers kindly citylinked to me arrived before it had downloaded (though admittedly the connection dropped 3 times)

Halo: Reach

I would agree

But I now prefer consoles. Odd world as I swore I'd never move on from Keyboard and Mouse, but here we are, and I have.

I find if I run all the sensitivies on 1 down from the highest levels, they respond quick enough for me.

This is from someone who still plays UT as well.

Also, since Halo 1 came out 9 years ago (!!! - christ I'm getting old) then it only needs another 3 years to make it 12, and it's definately still being played at the moment!

Flaming work laptop toasts cottage

Um...

To be fair, nobody has even confirmed it was the laptop, just an "Electrical Fault" in an old cottage, it could be anything from said incendiary battery, to something like mice chewing through the cables somewhere else in the house...

Wikileaks founder blasts reopening of rape probe

On the other hand

Since he KNOWS that upon being accused of something like this, the majority of people will automatically assume he's being framed in light of recent developments, perhaps he's pushing his luck?

I doubt many people here personally know the guy, and I'm 99% certain nobody here was actually there at the time of the alleged incidents, so who knows what's really happened? It could be as he says, it could be as it's assumed.

To be frank, I find the whole palava about as interesting as Eastenders or Emmerdale Farm - it's just a soap opera.

It's probably the Reptilians though...

IT engineer fights spider with improvised flamethrower

I'll be honest

I can just about tolerate them if they keep themselves to themselves.

The one in our bin area outside would need a AS50 to bring it down though... But mark my words if I ever get my hands on one, he/she is getting it first.

It's bloody huge!

Danish rocketeers poised to reach for the skies

Top marks for the effort

But it does not look like something I would enjoy...

Giant vulture menaces Scottish skies

Surely...

they can find something 10ft across flying around in scotland no?

Electric mass-driver catapults to beat Royal Navy cuts?

Not to make it all political but...

Four Words - 1966 Defence White Paper :p

Also - the T45's missing PAAMS were nothing to do with Thatcher, I hardly think it's fair to blame her for that :P

Or do you mean Sea Dart on the 42's, which I'm pretty positive was in place from launch?

Of course there's a problem there...

I don't know if you've been down to the south coast when one of the Yank carriers has been in, but they anchor in the Solent. Firstly, because the harbour channel is too narrow (or shallow, I can't remember) for them, and secondly because there is very limited parking for nuclear vessels in the dockyard, for some reason Portsmouth City Council don't like having huge nuclear powered ships sat there.

Personally it doesn't bother me, hell my window overlooks the parking area. People these days :p

Even to fit the QE class is taking a lot of work though - there's going to be a lot of disruption in the harbour before they can be bought in.

Beeb deploys ISS as unit of measurement

OK...

I'm taking it we're using American billions rather than British Billions then? That'll explain why my number was so different :p

iTunes disses doctorates

There you go

First PhD was issued in 1150, so not quite a millenia :p

@Graeme 7

Really, you could get a PhD in 1010? I can't help but be a little sceptical...

Wikileaks publishes encrypted 'insurance' file

Well

As far as I can make out, not really any more than are at risk from the taliban, iraqi insurgents, the various suicide bomb attacks that continually take place but everyone ignores all across Afghanistan/Iraq/Pakistan.

IMHO

It's the people who are "home" now that are the ones they have made the point about risk. The informants etc who have helped us in *insert whatever you want to call it here*.

And from reading the whole article, it seems like the biggest part of the problem is that they HAVEN'T removed all the identification information, and are just blaming that on the military. Whom I guess made the assumption that by classifying said information as secret would mean that the information within would be protected.

But then I'm not going to find many commentards agreeing with me I guess because it's much easier to blame it all on big brother and say the information should be free. Because you know, there was no terrorism before "The War on Terror" was there? So if we had left them too it we'd have no issues whatsoever.

Muppets

Is it all over for Mars Rover?

@AJ01

I'm assuming you wouldn't receive much as the atmosphere is so thin?

Same reasont here's no point taking a microphone to the moon.

Nude trampolinist bounces free from court

Well tbh

You obviously haven't spent any time in Gosport or Portsmouth, the vast majority of the population sound like 5 year olds till they're well into their 50s

Apple, Google, NASA, and the Rainbow connection

@ Shakje

I think the point that the interviewee was trying to make was that it doesn't matter the size of your contribution to improving society, it's the fact that you're making an effort to make life better/easier for individuals.

Having struggled with some complete abortions of phone UI's over the years, I know a better UI makes my life easier, and contributes to me feeling less stressed out about using my phone - which considering I use it a lot makes me less stressed in general.

Having said that, I still don't want an iPhone but I think I get the point they are trying to make. Of course it also underscores Trevor Potts main point (Bravo by the way, a good read) as I understand it - which is that to many people the iPhone is the current pinaccle of technology and the interface is close to perfection. To me I find it hard to use and a fancy toy. Everyones different and what's better for one isn't neccessarily better for all.

Of course the upshot of this is that if you try and make life better for everyone, you will fail. There's no possible way to succeed. Sooner or later you need to make the decision about whether you're going to focus on aiding a select minority, or the overall majority. And just to really mix things up - it's not always best to focus on making things better for the majority in my opinion.

After all, who's to say that by pandering to the whims of the masses, we won't doom ourselves into an evolutionary cul-de-sac? Perhaps it's better to focus on a specific minority, who knows? I don't, and I don't pretend to, I just think that it's something that should enter into all decisions.

To give an example, at work there's times I could do things that would make everything easier for the majority of users. On the other hand for a minority it would make things substantially more difficult. The obvious answer is to focus on improving the solution for the majority - on the other hand it is the said minority who contribute the huge majority of revenue to the company. So what is the best solution then?

Just a thought.

I sense this may have gone off on a tangent as so many of my writings do - unfortunately I am rather tired and have yet to have my morning coffee.

Fragrant tech thief stalks Whitehall

Wait what?

How are all their laptops a grand a pop? I recently purchased 6 (so no governemnt purchasing power) decently specced laptops for our managers for £600 a piece, and everyone elses are around the £400 mark...

And £20 for a USB stick??

Yorks cops charge Segway rider under 1835 road law

Um

It DOES have the owners name painted down the sides. In big letters. For example round here they say "POLICE".

The copper doesn't own it, believe it or not their employers actually provide them with a car :o

Tit

George Lucas rattles lightsabre at Jedi laser firm

Ho hum

"Class 4 lasers include all lasers with beam power greater than class 3B. By definition, a class-4 laser can burn the skin, in addition to potentially devastating and permanent eye damage as a result of direct or diffuse beam viewing. These lasers may ignite combustible materials, and thus may represent a fire risk. Class 4 lasers must be equipped with a key switch and a safety interlock. Most entertainment, industrial, scientific, military, and medical lasers are in this category." Quoted from the Great Satan, but seems to check out...

It doesn't look to me like those have a key switch...

FLYING CAR, full hover, fairly quiet, offered to US Marines

Er, in the 90s maybe

The 2010 320d is 181 bhp :p

Airline passenger videos Atlanta maggot horror

"maggots can burrow into a body and cause internal problems".

I'm sorry, what?

Besides, surely the blame lies with the passenger, not the airline... Fire, because it's the best way.

Duff French missiles for Royal Navy finally fixed

Ah...

But they don't HAVE the 2x Phalanx 20mm Weapons Systems. They're equipped for but not with - I can see them out of my office window.

The Phalanx earmarked for the 45's is currently deployed elsewhere. :(

Sozzled Oz bozos in reciprocal literal ass-cap-pop

wait

You need a firearms license for an air rifle in Oz?

I'd have thought anything upto flamethrowers would be available to all, to deal with the large numbers of freaky-ass spiders...

Flames because, well, kill it with fire.

Palin puts paid to Boob-gate

Obligatory SP Quote

I wanna role with him a hot pair we will be. I dont give a crap about whales so go and hug a tree!

Suspended-animation cold sleep achieved in lab

Well

They best make sure they don' do this to criminals, I've seen Demolition Man...

Doro 334gsm HandlePlus IUP

I don't know

You see so many kids with mobile phones these days, I'd be tempted to give them something like that as then you know who they're calling... But maybe that's just me because I don't trust kids, little shits.

UK polling stations turn away 'hundreds' of voters

A fair point

But my parents queued for 3 and a half hours and got to vote (from 6pm) - from what I've heard people were turning up, seeing the queue, then going away and coming back later only to find the queue was bigger.

It's an important right, and as it only happens every few years, to me it's worth standing in a queue tbh.

The thing is...

There were 13 hours in which to vote. People, by their own statements, were "turning up at 6, finding the queues too long so went home and came back later" when, shocker, the queues were even longer.

Do what myself and many other people who DID vote managed to do.

STAND IN THE FUCKING QUEUE UNTIL YOU GET TO THE FRONT.

Seriously, we can't even get THAT bit right and we're trying to impose fair democracy on other countries around the world? That's just plain scary.

The internet, as imagined in 1965

Wow

Actually, if you advance the individual bits of technology, as previously mentioned it's not that dissimilar to most modern laptops!

Vote Lib Dem, doom humanity to extinction

OK...

Well I guess I'm one of the only ones who agrees with Lewis here then - that's the joy of a democracy is we all make up our own minds, I doubt anyone who was going to vote Liberals (as I considered myself to be fair) would change their mind based on Lewis's opinion, especially since that's all it is - an opinion.

Judge de-ASBOes yoof's low-slung kecks

*sigh*

Reg Commentards - Forming-a-frothy-response-to-half-the-story-matters

Seriously, the guy wasn't JUST in front of the beak for wearing his trousers low, go back and read the story - plenty of more serious crimes too (though I'm not sure why they were being dealth with via just an asbo).

Honestly, you lot sound like the people they ask for comment when a local drug dealer or similar gets stabbed for ripping off the next person up the chain - "Oh he was such a nice lad" "Yeah he'd never hurt anyone" "Why did it happen to him" "I blame the government"

You make me sick in my mouth, and not in a good 2 Girls - 1 Cup kind of way!

Um...

Clearly missing the rest of the bits about the ASBO - you know the Assault, theft etc...

Of course I'm not entirely sure why they were to be dealt with via an ASBO rather than a more serious penalty, but hey I'm not a magistrate.

It's not like his only crime was looking like a Twat though

Phillies fan tasered for field incursion

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

Only in America I think, there's not really a criminal trespass here except for a few select designated places, and even that was a fairly recent addition to the law i think.

Apple, the iPhone 4G, the cops and the click-tart

@GE

But if you pick up something lost, and then sell it for a substantial sum of money, I'm fairly sure it can be reasonably interpreted as theft. To be honest I doubt they tried that hard to return it either - or else he wouldn't have charged Gizmowhatist so much now would he... If he didn't know it was anything but a phone.