* Posts by Ross Fleming

254 publicly visible posts • joined 3 Apr 2007

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Council employs automatic PC shutdown

Ross Fleming

Power save features?

And just enabling the power save features of Windows to hibernate after an hour of inactivity wouldn't have been cheaper and achieved the same goal??

'Portable' CD player puts MP3 into a spin

Ross Fleming

Awesome product! But would never buy it..

I love that product! granted I would never find a use for it, but it's certainly got a certain, as the French say "I don't know what".

To counter the criticisms, it wouldn't be all that harmful - we've all tried fooling a discman into playing while the lid was open. Unless you're sharpening the edges of your cd's, there isn't enough angular momentum to hurt you. I've managed to stop a CD spinning in said open discman. Also, it only needs a dark environment where the laser is - from what I can see, one of the legs(?) would house the laser and would be dark enough.

Still, would never buy one...

BOFH: Damsels in distress

Ross Fleming

Matt, not economy!

"So the PFY and I are both on a quick junket to Paris and have managed to score seats in business class"

PC buyers: 'Vista Capable' machines weren't Vista capable

Ross Fleming

HD Ready argument

The anonymous HD Ready poster was (I think) just slightly confused. He/she means HD Compatible. But this is MS' golden get out of jail free card - HD Ready and HD Compatible would be identical to the uneducated mind, but they got away with that one. What does "Capable" mean? Anything you like. If you manage to install it, does that mean it was capable?

Misleading - I doubt it. But if it was, sue the @ss off the retailers. I can't imagine it was the sticker that convinced consumers to buy, it was the sales people. I still see high street retailers talking to customers and telling them how "future-proofed" their purchase is.

Hacker cracks Netflix copy restrictions

Ross Fleming

Automated?

Don't know the full details, but if a human operator can do it, it usually follows that you can automate the task. The 14 step onorous task won't remain like that for long I would guess.

Still, I agree with Chris but disagree with the premise. DRM shouldn't be about making it "too much of a hassle for the majority of casual ethnically-flexible" - that's what the average Joe wants to do, be it to transfer the media to another device or simply make a copy of a cd to keep in the car. The people who really hurt the record companies etc are those who make mass copies and flog down the market. Making a copy for personal use doesn't really harm, and this is the act they usually end up preventing.

Orange dismantles Bristol Tower of Doom

Ross Fleming

DDT comparisons? Seriously??

I'm well aware of the ridiculous DDT notion, but I'm not convinced it's a good comparison. The argument boils down to "if" DDT turns out to be a definite carcinogen, it would still pale in comparison to the millions of malaria related deaths it prevented.

However, I think you'd struggle to show that wi-fi/mobile masts saved millions of lives a year (ignoring the indirect argument of being able to alert the emergency services).

Disclaimer - I'm not saying wifi is harmful or harmless. In fact I'm staying out of that one. I'd rather stick up for/criticise the iphone than get involved in that one.

NASA nuke-bot to tackle space boulders of doom

Ross Fleming

Ingrates!

Sheesh! The good ol' US/NASA offers to be our saviour from being hit by an asteroid and all we can do is moan about how they'll get it wrong. I think we should be eternally grateful for them saving our hides, and offer to help foot the trillion dollar bill.

I reckon they should practice by deflecting the moon first. Or better yet, a sky satellite.

<removing tongue from cheek now>

Aussie senate blocks CDMA switch off

Ross Fleming

@Dillon Pyron

Regardless of anonymous folk who think your comments are right or wrong, thanks for giving me the best laugh of the week so far with the cat story :-)

Trade in your software, urges UK reseller

Ross Fleming

Re: Not quite so simple

OK then, swap the hacksaw in the analogy to an audio casette, cd, or even a dvd. I don't remember anyone banning the onward sale of those - ebay would take a massive hit if that were the case. These are equally easy (if not easier) to copy. Books would fall into this category too (though a bit more difficult and more hassle to copy!)

Effectively, if they changed it so you can't sell it on, the product (or licence) you purchase has an immediate tangible value of zero. Doesn't seem right to me.

This is where I don't really mind the whole software "phone home" thing. If it helps to reassure software houses that their software is only being used once then surely it will help bring down the cost of the software - I remember an argument that software piracy was inflating the cost. (in case anyone's missed it, I'm being deliberately cynical in that last point...)

Scientists uncover lefty gene

Ross Fleming

Cure

Look in a mirror.

BOFH: Moving faster than blame

Ross Fleming

re Please, please, please, ...

Try

http://feed.theregister.co.uk/rss?a=Simon%20Travaglia

works for me on my phone - especially from the pub.

Or, use Opera Mini as the browser on your phone. Makes el reg <10K per page - shouldn't cost you a fortune that way!

BBC iPlayer launches, but with limited viewer reach

Ross Fleming

Rich - no is the answer

"As a licence payer, should I be entitled to a service on my OpenBSD-running laptop?"

The charter says "The BBC must do all that is reasonably practicable to ensure that viewers, listeners and other users (as the case may be) are able to access the UK Public Services that are intended for them, or elements of their content, in a range of convenient and cost effective ways which are available or might become available in the future"

In short, not really then. It's not reasonable, cost effective, or convenient (when you consider the term "General Public" quoted elsewhere). They provide for the consensus, not the individual. For the moment they can't really get rid of DRM either - if only because half the shareholders (licence payers) would go nuts if they found out <insert any country name here> could watch content we'd paid for, so I would guess the DRM debate wouldn't come up for a while - if ever!

DHS working on pocket puke-ray

Ross Fleming

Robot-mounted robots

They'll have that eventually ala Transformers/Power Rangers style.

Also, bear in mind with the SR-71 Blackbird, they had a "mini" Blackbird attached to one as a development. Obviously a high mach speeds it detached and promptly nose-dived into the mother-plane, destroying them both. Guarantee they won't have learnt from that...

McLaren accelerates away from fines and expulsion

Ross Fleming

Were historically red

McLaren were historically red and white until the mid-90's when they dropped their Marlboro sponsorship - moved to West as the sponsorship which changed the car to black and silver. Then came Emirates (i think) for red to be reintroduced, and then Vodafone.

FIA would be mad to penalise them though - especially as it's turning into the best season in at least a decade. As Kevin points out, what if they guy who transferred had just remembered the things in the document? It's a fine line between personal and company IP.

NASA: Space station computer sabotaged

Ross Fleming

CMM Level 5?

Doesn't NASA have CMM Level 5 status? Seems to me that it would never have got through quality checks etc before it made it into the boot of a shuttle and that it isn't really a big deal. Except for the fact there's some disgruntled employee in a supplier company, let's face it, who's never met one of them before?

'They threw my laptop into the atmosphere'

Ross Fleming

Not bad in perspective...

To be fair, they've only lost less than 1% of their tangible assets in a year (0.27% - ok it's been a long afternoon). Once you've factored in depreciation it's probably even less.

I want a report that says has an excuse "space shuttle - was in the garage last time I looked, not there now"

Cat senses impending death

Ross Fleming

Post hoc ergo propter hoc

to coin the phrase..

Amazon profits up nearly three-fold

Ross Fleming

Harry Potter help??

I'm amazed that they even felt the need to point out the Harry Potter sales. They (and many other retailers) sold the book well below wholesale price, so would have been lucky to break even on that one, relying on purchasers to either a) come back again for other purchases, b) buy something else along with it.

In layman's (layperson?) terms, they sold it for less money than they bought it - let's see that reflected well on a profit and loss.

Sony preps fix-filled PS3 firmware update

Ross Fleming

Software eject - early remote controls

Software eject is very similar to the very early remote controls. I had one of these before my TV could support it. It was called a very long stick with which to push the relevant buttons.

Oh I was the envy of the neighbourhood...

Harry Potter and the Chancers of eBay

Ross Fleming

Failing to see the point

Scenario: I pay a ludicrous amount to win the auction. They post the winning item to me. I receive it... after I could buy it in a shop anyway??

Moving mobile numbers should be instant

Ross Fleming

Mass debate

I love a good mass debating session. Very satisfying.

How green is my V-word?

Ross Fleming

Spin it how you like

That's the beauty of "green" reductions, it's nearly impossible to prove or disprove - there are knock on effects all the way down the line.

For example, have we considered:

* Running these machines into the ground as opposed to dumping them before their end of life? There are "green" implications for the recycling effort, the delivery and manufacture of new machines/components

* Going forward, less machines to be decommissioned/upgraded

* Uber machines will need to be upgraded more frequently as they'll have less room for exansion

* Running a machine at 80% load continuously will reduce the MTBF figures

I'm sure anyone could come up with a convincing argument either way. Brings me back to my first point, that's the beauty of "green" compliance.

Belkin unveils Wireless USB hub

Ross Fleming

Clearly not 802.11n

802.11x won't cut it:

"But - and here's the crucial point, and one we missed earlier, ahem - the wireless is Wireless USB, not Wi-Fi."

Eventually, we might see laptops that have WUSB "ports" (virtual of course) but I think it would take some rather clever hacking to alter a wireless-n card to accept it.

Analyst rubs crystal ball and sees iPhone 2.0 based on Nano

Ross Fleming

Rotary phone!

If they're keeping the circular touch pad, maybe they'll design a classic phone interface, by using it as a rotary phone? Hardly "innovative", but enough mugs would buy it!

Imagination licenses PowerVR, won't say who to

Ross Fleming

Definite click

Nope, was definitely the card making a click. I remember specifically testing that by having the monitor switched off and trying it! Mine was an Orchid Righteous 3D which I later found out used a relay switching circuit - the design was deliberate since without it, the 2D image degrades by pushing it through the extra card. The relay by-passed the card when not in use (from what I understood).

Not sure if any voodoo 2 cards did this, but 4 and 5 weren't pass-thru's.

Ross Fleming

For anyone who misses the click...

... of Orchid 3DFX cards, there's a link to a wav recording of it!

<shivers with nostalgia>

Click sound: http://www.thedodgegarage.com/3dfx/v1/v1_orchid_relay.wav

Ross Fleming

Same PowerVR as 3DFX competitor?

PowerVR rings a bell - is this the same company that competed in the early 3D card wars with 3DFX (and lost spectacularly as I recall?).

Ah I remember the good old days - pass through cables from the separate 2D card to my 3D card that had a stonking 4Mb ram on it. The heartwarming click of the relay and the flicker of the screen as Quake 2 switched it on.

Downing Street dodges 'unlimited' broadband debate

Ross Fleming

Try Be

Be Broadband seem to be a good bet. Been using them for about 18 months now. Get roughly 14Mb/sec (fairly close to the exchange!) and so far haven't been penalised for limits. They do have a "fair use" policy but I can't honestly imagine an ISP doing without one anymore. If I used the full extent of mine, I could be downloading 148Gb PER DAY at my back of fag packet (but not in a public enclosed area of course) calculation. Not something any company could cope with after multiplying across 1000's of users. Especially when you consider the contention rates which are usually about 50:1 for retail customers.

However, if you are getting punished for it, switch supplier or address your data usage. Failing that get a leased line and realise why there is such a price differential.

All reminds me of the days when I signed up to "unlimited" texts with BT Genie - unlimited until you sent too many (think I was up to 2000 in one month), but then I knew it would come eventually.

Ross Fleming

No publicity for e-petitions + too easy

Is it any wonder e-petitions don't work? Petitions were usually the domain of people who were enthusiastically trying to change something for the better and involved standing out in the street trying to get signatures from passers-by.

The e-system enables pretty much anyone with half a brain to submit a cause and using chain email to get it backed. The amount of hairbrained ideas submitted must be impossible to filter effectively, rendering the system useless - and that's just the ones that have clogged up my inbox from friends and family.

Also - if you remember back to the big petitions of yester-year, they all involved a newscrew outside Downing Street taking pictures of people handing in a big wad of signatures. Everyone got to see it happen. So far I've yet to have a newscrew round my house when I click the "I Agree".

A physical petition stands for something and shows the effort and belief. An electronic takes that away. This comments page demonstrates that - if people had to get a pen + paper, write a letter, pay for a stamp and send it to El Reg, I guarantee you'd only get the strongest of opinions. This comment no exception - I wouldn't have paid for a stamp to do it.

HP coughs up surprise update to desktop PC range

Ross Fleming

Same frequency for both

They're not different frequency lasers - they're both "blue" 405nm wavelength (so 666.7 THz if I remember my physics). Difference is the width of the beam (I think).

Either way, they both differ from the CD/DVD laser

Ross Fleming

Not too different

IIRC, Blueray and HD-DVD use the same wavelength and are both technically "blue" (405nm) so could use the same laser source. The only difference is the pit size (so width of laser - variable aperture?). Most drives coming out (assuming they're not a hybrid) are catering for different technologies already - CDs and DVDs.

Won't argue that it's not cost-inhibative at the moment, but given a year or so that argument will vanish. Regardless of the 70% figure Blockbuster are not going to sniff at the remaining 30% - they'll rent whatever the studios put out there. And studios are notoriously stubborn with regard to standing by their decisions... Just look at DRM! DVDs continue to be churned out with CSS in it, despite the fact it's been rendered useless. With that in mind, I think we'll see a lot of both discs for quite a while and a retailer would be foolish to ignore it.

We'll also see which is the most "resilient" format - BR is apparently very susceptible to scratches. The bain of rental companies lives??

Ross Fleming

Overhyped "format war"

These moves highlight exactly why the HDDVD/BlueRay format war is entirely irrelevant. This isn't the Betamax/VHS dilemma that "experts" believe it to be.

I remember not 5 years ago debating whether to buy a DVD+R or -R drive. No-one lost the +/-R battle except possibly the early adopters - and they know exactly what situation they're getting into.

As long as the discs are the same shape there will be drives that can cope with them - mind you, I imagine Sony and the likes will keep pushing their preferred format and ignore hybrid drives until it's too late.

Cell hack geek stalks pretty blonde shocker

Ross Fleming

Doesn't seem outside the realms of reality

OK it's a bit far-fetched, but I can't see it being impossible. The phone would have to be in what would be effectively a "Wake On LAN" mode that PC's seem to manage with a trickle of current. Presumably it would have to work as a broadcast on all networks though, and would say (along the lines of) "if you have SIM number xyz then switch on" - seems a bit much for every switched-off phone to have to check this whenver a request is sent.

RF detection wouldn't give it away, as the phone wouldn't have to be transmitting anything. I remember seeing in all of my Sony Ericsson's instruction manual that the alarm would sound whether the phone was "off" or not.

All sounds rather secret squirrel stuff to me though. It would assume that some government had instructed this to be a standard in all mobiles (thought Nokia - Finnish company - Finland not being a member of NATO?). Can't imagine it happening.

What I can imagine is the feds getting hold of a phone and "modding" it to do this. Obviously that might be difficult to do to Osama's phone!

Ross Fleming

Doesn't seem outside the realms of reality

OK it's a bit far-fetched, but I can't see it being impossible. The phone would have to be in what would be effectively a "Wake On LAN" mode that PC's seem to manage with a trickle of current. Presumably it would have to work as a broadcast on all networks though, and would say (along the lines of) "if you have SIM number xyz then switch on" - seems a bit much for every switched-off phone to have to check this whenver a request is sent.

RF detection wouldn't give it away, as the phone wouldn't have to be transmitting anything. I remember seeing in all of my Sony Ericsson's instruction manual that the alarm would sound whether the phone was "off" or not.

All sounds rather secret squirrel stuff to me though. It would assume that some government had instructed this to be a standard in all mobiles (thought Nokia - Finnish company - Finland not being a member of NATO?). Can't imagine it happening.

What I can imagine is the feds getting hold of a phone and "modding" it to do this. Obviously that might be difficult to do to Osama's phone!

Wind-powered phone-charger coming to market?

Ross Fleming

Is this green?

Definitely not green - assuming the picture hasn't been altered I'd say it was a nice orange and black. Not sure where you're getting the green tinge from.

Already at the cloakroom

Apple buyout rumours circulate as iPhone launch nears

Ross Fleming

Buy buy buy...

So... do I buy Apple shares yet or not??

Sony debuts dual-box HD-editing PC

Ross Fleming

Dillon - RAID 0 = improved performance

Taken from that dubious source (wikipedia) - "provides improved performance and additional storage but no fault tolerance from disk errors or disk failure"

Trust me, it gives a massive increase in performance. Effectively you're reading/writing from two drives in parallel. RAID 1 allows the read performance increase, but not the write performance hike. I'd almost wager that RAID 0 would give a bigger boost than doubling the RAM.

I recently added an identical drive to my machine and striped the discs - Windows screams along in comparison whether booting or loading applications etc. I've also got a RAID 1 mirrored pair for data and have made the comparisons. As a video editing rig, RAID 0 is a godsend.

Five things Sony needs to do save the PS3

Ross Fleming

RE: PS3, no thanks

"I would never touch a first generation PS again, the PS1 had major problems (fixed in the slim version) and the PS2 has major problems (again, fixed with the slim version)"

I guess you were just really unlucky? I invested in the first gen of both the PS1 and 2. To this day I still use the PS2. As far as I know the PS1 is still operating normally as well - I gave it to a friend a couple of years ago. Maybe I got lucky of course.

I will eventually take the plunge with a PS3, but for me it's all about the cost. The games will come, they always do. And they'll improve with the coming months as developers learn how to exploit the technology. I can only see the Wii as a gimmick - I'd happily have one to get out whenever friends are round but would only use it with company. You feel an absolute berk playing a Wii on your own.

TV ads too loud, industry watchdog says

Ross Fleming

Coinciding ad breaks

Karl's comment about coinciding ad breaks is a valid one. However broadcasters are never going to be daft enough to move away from that approach - they know people are going to channel surf at the adverts and don't want people to find a "new" programme and therefore potentially not flick back, so they time them all together.

Volume issues have been around for a while, in fact doesn't one of the tvs on review at reghardware have a feature that dynamically ajusts volume to match the programme to the adverts?

Of course, it doesn't address the real "volume" issue - the volume (number) of adverts and breaks crammed in. Sky are the worst offenders, stretching a 40-45 minute episode to 60 minutes (West Wing, 24, Lost, Star Trek) - but to be fair I think this is an inherited problem from the American shows. Still rather annoying to know that 25% of the hour will be adverts at an increased sound level!

Personal numbers must carry cost warning, says regulator

Ross Fleming

re ICSTIS Schmicstis

It was £2 for a 15 second call... from a mobile. Chances are it was "20p a minute from a landline, calls from a mobile may vary".

Either way, it's ridiculous. The only cure I think is to develop a sense of inflated importance like me: I miss a call from an unknown and they don't leave a message, well they can call me again later!

Sharp Aquos LC37XD1E 37in HD TV

Ross Fleming

High def/standard + artefacts

Fair enough, you can complain about the different versions of "high def" TVs(720/1080 - not including the progressive/interlaced varieties!) but it was inevitable when they created two resolutions. I understand the rationale behind it too - some production companies won't want to added expense of upgrading their kit to accommodate that. So 720 is a reasonable happy-medium - similar to bandwidth restrictions on broadcasting.

As for the artefacts, they were already there! I've been seeing artefacts from the digital era since before I had an HD box - they were just harder to spot. It's very similar to the way in which DAB radio promised us better quality than analogue but failed dramatically, DTV is exactly the same. From what I recall, it's a very compressed MPEG2 stream - the broadcasting companies chose quantity of quality. Next time you see an artefact, blame one of the "quiz" channels for wasting part of the spectrum (and oxygen!). Bring back analogue, all is forgiven.

Son of Star Wars test aborted

Ross Fleming

Slip in under the wire then?

Genius, the missile was too low to be a threat so it didn't engage it. Does that just mean that someone needs to fire a missile that slips in under the wire?

Another successful failure anyway. There is an awesome West Wing episode that makes reference to something similar, with the President rather underwhelmed by it, likening it to Charlie Brown always having the football taken away from him. To coin Jed Barlett "the words you're looking for are 'oh darn'"

Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000 hard drive

Ross Fleming

Does Windows know what a TB is?...

It's never even crossed my mind before, but does Windows know about terabytes? Just wondering if it will say "1.0TB free" on the drive properties...

Guess this is an irrelevant point though, since by my reckoning it won't be a 1TB drive - I'd say about 931GB based on the industries still swearing by base 10 kilobytes.

Backing up? Simple - buy another one. The biggest headache will be the time taken to back up this much data. Seem to recall 180GB took an hour last time I tried it.

BT, Sony to turn PSP into a phone

Ross Fleming

Lay off the PSP

There's nothing fundamentally wrong with the PSP. It's a fairly awesome portable gaming platform which I will happily use either on a plane, train, general gaming and not to mention it's a godsend while on the bog. Some games work better than others of course, but a bit of instant action on Ridge Racer, Ace Combat and TOCA is untouchable in these contexts.

Now while I can't see it being used as a phone (as depicted in the photo) for the reasons previously mentioned (you'll look like a fool), I can't see an issue with using it as a Skype-like device - which I think is the main point of this development. Given the technology is in the PSP and relatively untapped (wireless connectivity, decent screen and now a web-cam-type device), it makes absolute sense to enable it to use these together. The biggest issue with video calls in my mind is that you're pretty much confined to your PC (yes, I'm ignoring laptops for the sake of my argument). A bit of PSP <-> PSP or PSP <-> PC video calling while away from home would be fine by me.

Of course, I'd much rather just wait till someone develops Skype for it! It's also a blessing to see Sony divert all their time and resource from updating their firmware week in week out in a futile attempt to stop people developing their own apps for the machine.

Exploding curry menaces 747

Ross Fleming

Can't use a gameboy...

You can use a whole host of electronic equipment on an aircraft (gameboy, laptop, personal audio player) with no ill effects.

The reason you can't use any of these devices during take-off and landing is little to do with interference with the aircraft's electronics. It's more to do with the fact that take-off and landing are the most incident-prone scenarios. You're much more likely to crash at this point (or rather, more likely to crash and be able to do something about it - such as evacuate the plane) and they don't want you distracted by anything.

Similarly the cabin lights are 'dimmed during take-off and landing' to allow your eyes to adjust to the outside light before evacuating to give you the best chance. Same theory applies to keeping the blinds up.

Doohan's last landing party missing in mountains

Ross Fleming

Stacked against them

Wish them well in recovering the landing party. I think it's safe to say that they're hampered by the terrain and the possibility of falling due to gravity. After all, they cannae change the laws of physics...

iPods 'mess with pacemakers'

Ross Fleming

Interference on planes

I've flown on a plane with my phone switched on before. Not deliberately I hasten to add, I just left it in my bag by accident. We didn't get end up in Stuttgart so I can only assume there weren't any adverse effects.

I'd guess that the reason they're not allowed on planes (for example) is that the risk is minimal, but when you're hurtling through the air at 500mph at 30000 feet in a large cigar tube, you want to minimise any risk you can. And multiplying the effects of one phone by the number of passengers will probably increase that risk. Given you can't get a signal up there anyway it makes sense to switch them off.

The report only states a similar fact. There is an element of risk from interference. The risk goes up as the interference goes up (isn't that why pacemaker users are told to stay away from microwaves?). But then, there's a risk involved in everything, no matter how slight. There's no such thing as a 0% probability (just because something hasn't happened before, doesn't mean it won't happen in the future, it just makes it extremely unlikely).

Spitzer stargazers find hot, windy planets

Ross Fleming

Dumbing down much?

Thanks for clarifying that the light from Windy takes 60 years to reach us and that it's 60 light-years away. Could someone clarify for me how long it takes the light to get from Spicy at 279 light-years away?

MoD to publish secret UFO files

Ross Fleming

Waste of time

Is it me or are the chances of genuine UFO "sightings" being slightly limited?

Option 1) UFO's make it to Earth, and want to be seen. What are the chances they managed to get Bob (or whoever) at the MoD on the phone directly and no-one else? How did they know who to speak to? I'd be expecting a bit of a "take us to your leader" type scenario, or possibly a bi

Option 2) UFO's make it to Earth and don't want to be seen. Well they've clearly nailed the inter-stellar space problem, but when they got here they accidentally leave a tail light on or something for people to spot? Silent engines, stealthy design, complete with headlights? Hmm...

Option 3) They've been, no-one saw them and no-one knows

Option 4) They haven't been and people got confused by a star, a plane, a reflection from their tinfoil hats.

Maybe I'm not being creative enough...

Poisoned MP4 files threaten Winamp users

Ross Fleming

Fix won't work?

Maybe I've misunderstood the temporary fix, but it's my impression of Winamp (and any other Windows application) that if you named an mp4 file as an mp3 (or any other filetype that might be associated with Winamp), Winamp would be smart enough to open it regardless.

Could be wrong, but I'd suggest worriers to stop using Winamp altogether until a fix came out!

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