Posts by grom

What happened to comics for kids? Hell, what happened to COMICS?

The Phoenix is Rising

Very surprised no-one has mentioned The Phoenix yet - check out a free sampler http://www.thephoenixcomic.co.uk/free-digi-phoenix/ . It's a good, honest, comic with a wide variety of different stories and styles with the focus on quality instead of marketing toys and sweets to kids and charging for a rubbish cover mounted toy. I got a subscription for my kids (at least that's what I tell them anyway)

I'd also back the other comments about 200AD - it's surprisingly still as good as ever

Instapaper 4.0

What I really want to know after reading this review...

...is why Elisabeth Sladen vomited on Edwina Currie!

Google calls time on Blogger FTP

Could have been worse

I've been with blogger since the beta, long before Google got involved and paid for the old Blogger Pro service (never did get a refund from Google!) and I still use the ftp method.

I've gone from reading this and getting extremely angry to not actually minding in a very short space of time having just checked my mail and seen the notification from google. They have the grace to acknowledge that it will really annoy and frustrate users and they're actually trying to do as much as they can to help with the transition - it marked contrast to every other company who have instigated changes like this.

I can't really complain since they're setting up migration tools, forums, blogs and scheduling conference calls to help a small amount of old-skool ftp users like myself instead of just saying 'We're switching it off - tough!'

Billie Piper hooks up with Belle de Jour

Insider Tip

Buy shares in Kleenex

Black hole swallows Barbarella rehash

Raging Boll

Oh poo, this means that instead of the idea being drowned at birth like it should have been, there's only one man who won't let it lie, Uwe Boll - he's infamous (go on, google/wikipedia him) and takes advantage of the financial rules about filming in Germany to create the worst films known to man - so bad that they're not even remotely funny (Postal, Farcry, Bloodrayne, House of the Dead, Alone in the Dark).

I'd put €50 on his name being mentioned with this project in the next year.

Scots and pilots brace against ID cards

First They Came for the Scots

First they came for the Scots

and I did not speak out

because I was not a Scot.

Then they came for the pilots

and I did not speak out

because I was not a pilot.

Then they came for the postgraduate doctors

and I did not speak out

because I was not a postgraduate doctors.

Then they came for me

and there was no one left

to speak out for me.

(many apologies to Martin_Niemöller)

New Zealand bolts net filtering regime into place

The Horror!

Without stating the obvious arguments about how this is bad since it can/will be mis-used, I was struck by the word 'horror' in the list of "sex, horror, crime, cruelty or violence" that is punishable.

Does this mean that any future budding Peter Jacksons can't learn their trade by making movies like 'Brain Dead', 'Bad Taste' or even 'Meet the Feebles' (which really was a horror to watch).

Even the excellent Black Sheep is a more recent example that depicts most of the topics in the list above from the land of the Killer Koala so I guess they should ban that too.

Lucky Mancs could get ID cards first, Jacqui declares

"shell-suited scrotes of southern Manchester"??

"shell-suited scrotes of southern Manchester"

That's the same South Manchester that has Hale, Hale Barns, Timperly, Knutsford, Marple, Wilmslow etc then - hardly chav-ville what with all the footballers' wives

* "Some of us can't wait for the cards, you can't refuse to have one until they are made available."

QFTW!

Pure Digital Avanti Flow internet radio and iPod speaker

Re: Wi-Fi Sensitivity

@ Damien;

That was my first thought but if you have a Logik IR100 then open it up, remove the usb wi-fi dongle and replace it with a cheap Edimax EW-7318USG wi-fi adaptor (I've gluegunned it to the outside of mine and run the cable through the power cable hole) - your internet radio will now have a much stronger signal (mine went from about 20% to 83%) and will work as you expected it would in the first place.

Triple data centre capacity without new servers

Hardware Support Fail

We have tried several times to make better use of older hardware by increasing RAM and Hardrive capacity and introducing virtualisation for systems that don't require a large amount of fast cpu but each time we've been stymied by the hardware companies not supporting the older models because they've moved to a different architecture/model. It's all very well for a hardware manufacturer to make the claims that Dell do but it's unrealistic for most companies - if we can get support for our older kit, it costs more than it's worth once the kit becomes EOL which seems to come sooner and sooner these days.

Phisher-besieged PayPal sends users faux log-in page

I call Shenanigans

"Oldenburg repeated the now-tired advice that users should never, ever click on links in emails, even when those emails are sent by a bank, merchant or PayPal. Instead, they should open a new browser window and manually type in the address."

If that's their official advice then they shouldn't send html emails out - they should send plain text emails only and include no clickable links - this includes images and all hidden tracking code.

Somehow I doubt that would work so why give bullshyte advice?

Epilepsy tests delay PS3 videogame launch

Harding Test

This isn't really any big deal - anything that is sold or broadcast that involves moving images is usually run through the Harding Test - http://www.hardingfpa.tv

If you're in a band and want your video shown on MTV then you have to stump up the £300 or so for the test or you leave yourself liable. AFAIK all video games are usually run through before release and many of them fail, it's not a big deal to fix either, just make sure that the pattern of flashing isn't too repetitive by randomising the flashes and your brain perceives them differently.

Nightclub lighting operators 'should' also know how long you are allowed to run a strobe without varying the speed

Satnav turtle locates cannabis stash

Chevy Chase?

Never mind the turtle, how come Chevy chase wasn't arrested if he was so close nearby?

Tory leader's stolen bicycle surfaces on eBay

Bollards!

No one seems to have highlighted the fact the he chained it to a 3ft high bollard so the thief simply lifted the bike off the bollard.

numpty.

Fujitsu gives Solaris x86 the big squeeze

Re: Is there a fujitsu unix?

Yes - it's exactly the same as Sun Solaris apart from a tiny handful of extra commands (such as the incredibly useful - to me at least - /serialid). The only other difference is that you are supposed to get your patches from Fujitsu so when an emergency fix comes out, you have to wait a short while for Fujitsu to get the Sun patch and then test it before they release it themselves.

UK cops arrest six alleged BitTorrent music uploaders

Civil or Criminal?

Why are the police involved so heavily with what should surely be a civil case and not a criminal case?

If I wore a tin hat I'd say they were either just trying to scare people or were using the database to compare with their lists of people that they're interested in for 'other reasons' .

Two arrested over piracy at computer fair

mod chips illegal?

The article starts off by saying that they had nicked the pair for selling chips that allowed illegal games to be played - since when were mod chips illegal? I've never seen a clear explanation of whether or not they are illegal (I've had all my consoles chipped from my megadrive, PS1, DS, XBox etc but 'mostly' so I can backup, use homebrew or try before buying).

Isn't there some legal FUD that says you can posess them and buy/sell but not install them or are they just totally against the law - if so, which law.

I'm intrigued how something like the CycloDS cartridge which doesn't involve opening up the console at all and turns a DS into a homebrew capable machine and mp3 player can be calssed as wrong?

Billy Bragg: Why should songwriters starve so others get rich?

I downloaded Billy's new album...

I downloaded Billy's new album the other week, it was good (not brilliant but well above average). I won't be buying it but I will go and see him on tour (for the 4th time) next time he's anywhere near and I'll probably buy another t-shirt.

and yes, I'm comfortable with my morals thank you.

Equifax typo derails digital cert

This would be the same Equifax...

that somehow managed to pass on a unique email address that I used only once to apply for my credit info to a phisher?

I use unique email addresses for each business I deal with to catch any spammers (ie: [e-mail]) and almost 2 yrs after getting my credit record from them, I received a phishing attempt mailed to, yep, [e-mail].

It took many weeks of trying to explain this to them until I got hold of a security bloke there who understood why I was concerned (they sell identity fraud insurance after all) but after investigating couldn't explain how this had happened.

Infra-red cameras to tackle congestion in Leeds

Re: It's not the first

@ David: It's not even Leeds' first High Occupancy lane - there's already one in Pudsey near Intake High School leading into Armley.