Posts by Daz555

Analogue radio is the tech that just won't die

DAB is a car crash. Awful sound quality and it seems worse than streaming radio online.

FM is still the best way to listen to the radio.

Punkt: A minimalist Android for the paranoid

""four or five devices" that do WhatsApp already"

Quick office survey of the 9 people sat round me. We all have exactly ONE device that can do Whatsapp.

If I wanted to use a basic phone I'd just dig out the 12yr old Nokia 6300 in my drawer. It doesn't get used much these days apart from hammering in nails and removing ice from the car in winter.

VR going mainstream? Yeah, next year, says Facebook, for the third year in a row

Sony

Sony are the only ones making any headway into VR becoming mainstream. There are over 80m PS4s in people's homes worldwide and these days £230 gets you the VR rig, move controllers and bundles Vr game.

PSRV skipped past 3m+ sales earlier in the summer. Wouldn't be surprised to see this at 4m+ by Christmas given further potential discounts and specials.

Half of all Windows 10 users thought: BSOD it, let's get the latest build

Looks at his Windows 10 machine which is still stuck on 1511 due to Windows Update being borked and thinks....."I really should get round to rebuilding that...."

New UK drone laws are on the way – but actual Drones Bill still in limbo

What is a "drone" when it comes to this legislation? How is one defined?

OnePlus smartmobe brand modelled on 'a religion', founder admits

They had me when you could buy their latest and greatest for £280 and I'll say that my OnePlus 3 is a superb phone. I'm out now though. My next phone will not be OnePlus.

The KITT hits the Man: US Congress urged to OK robo-car trials

@Citizens united

"Has anyone ever written a sci fi story about the rise of the machines where the machines destroyed their creators simply by consuming all available resources."

Horizon Zero Dawn on PS4.

Slap visibility beacons on bikes so they can chat to auto autos, says trade body

Like helmets and high viz, this is just a distraction from the real problem - the underlying infrastructure which is simply not suitable for safe cycling in far too many places all over the UK.

Five things you need to know about Microsoft's looming Windows 10 Spring Creators Update

I would love the latest version of Windows 10 but Windows update is borked on my system and I can't be bothered to wipe and reload from scratch.

Fermi famously asked: 'Where is everybody?' Probably dead, says renewed Drake equation

Yes the universe is vast with uncountable numbers of stars and planets. However, time is also incredibly vast.

To me, the odds of a civilsation existing in the tiny window (relatively) that the human race could detect them seems impossibly small....of course how small will depend on how long we last.

Home fibre in the UK sucks so much it doesn't even rank in Euro study

Do VM qualify as fibre given the last leg to the house is always a big chunky bit of coax? For it to be fibre do I need a flashing red cable to actually terminate in my house?

Wileyfox goes TITSUP*: Smartmobe maker calls in the administrators

I have never seen a Wileyfox in the wild and a quick office poll around me says no-one else has either.

User stepped on mouse, complained pedal wasn’t making PC go faster

Interestingly the millenials we have just hired into my area don't use a mouse at all - preferring instead to use the trackpad on the laptop because of all the multitouch features they have these days - grown up with smartphones so it makes sense I suppose.

STOP! It's dangerous to upgrade to VMware 6.5 alone. Read this

This smacks of change management failure. Surely peer review of the planned change would have resulted in somone spotting a missed prerequisite for the change? If it was peer reviewed and no one spotted it then they need better SMEs or better training for those SMEs.

UK.gov admits porn age checks could harm small ISPs and encourage risky online behaviour

If these sees a return to finding pron mags in the woods like you used to back in the 70s and 80s then I'm all for it. Retro pron revival!

Abolish the Telly Tax? Fat chance, say MPs at non-binding debate

They can scrap the TV licence if they want - just pay for the BBC by other means. To be honest it would be fairer if the BBC was funded through standard taxation as this would mean the wealthy paid slightly more for the BBC than the poor.

But of the taxes I pay, the funding of the BBC is one I completely approve of.

Windows Fall Creators Update is here: What do you want first – bad news or good news?

I can't upgrade with that method either - it tries and fails. A clean rebuild is the only thing I can do and MS support have said the same. Brilliant eh!

I'd love to give it a go but for the second time in 2 years Windows Update is irrepairably corrupt on my Windows 10 build. I can't face rebuilding my gaming PC again right now as I don't have the time.

Are Asimov's laws enough to stop AI stomping humanity?

"A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law"

The 2nd law is flawed - I think the movie iRobot made use of the flaw? The issue being that A.I could decide to ignore orders of humans if it has concluded we need protecting from ourselves. If A.I ever does come to this conclusion, it's probably right.

Putting AI to work in finance? Think algorithms, ethics first

Clerical staff where I work are already being fed the line about A.I. and robotics being the way forward, allowing staff to be free of the mundane tasks they do and freeing them up to do more worthwhile activities........hmm I've heard that line before......oh yes, it was when IT started offshoring jobs to India.

Expedia IT bod gets all-expenses-paid trip to prison after hacking execs' emails for profit

He deserves to lose the money after carrying on AFTER he left the organisation - that was a step waaay too far in terms of chances of getting caught. What a fool.

Not the droids you're looking for – worst handsets to resell

Resell - the idea sounds nice.

My kids get the old handsets, and when they are done with them they're worthless.

Apple's zippy silicon leaves Android rivals choking on dust

How fast does a phone need to be?

IBM: Those 2 redundancy schemes? We need to 'improve margins' and right quick

Redundancies in 2018/19 are going to be huge at IBM as they will have all those 'expensive' Lloyds Bank IT staff to get rid of.

Why is the Sinclair ZX Spectrum Vega+ project so delayed?

A PSP costs about £30 on ebay and will meet all your portable retro gaming needs. What is the point of this Speccy themed lump of plastic?

Mars orbiter FLOORS IT to avoid hitting MOON

Am I the only one who hears the voice from Unreal Tournament when I read the word PHOBOS!

Who's behind the Kodi TV streaming stick crackdown?

Home taping is killing music - well that's what I was told as a kid. Still seems to be here though. No doubt the movie and TV boys are making the same complaint today.

Millions of Brits stick with current broadband provider rather than risk no Netflix

I have been tempted to leave Virgin because their call centre is a shambles but I really can't fault their service. Since the Blueyonder days and now with VM the service I've had has been absolutely first class.

Threatening to leave now and again is of course helpful in terms of keeping your costs down so I make use of that tactic from time to time. Virgin is far from cheap though so I won't be feeling to guilty about that.

Microsoft sued by staff traumatized by child sex abuse vids stashed on OneDrive accounts

I use Onedrive for backup but I encypt the data before it goes to the cloud. Surely MS can get themselves free of all this hassle by offering encryption as standard on Onedrive?

Internet of Sh*t has an early 2017 winner – a 'smart' Wi-Fi hairbrush

IOT tat will be the next decade's answer to USB tat - when we saw everything from mug warmers to mini fridges.

No super-kinky web smut please, we're British

Unenforcable nonsense - government as always making a fist of it.

Sony levels up PlayStation 4

Re: Blu Ray 4K

4K Blu-ray is not supported and this has annoyed some. However I thnk that Sony know that dedicated 4k players will be £100 before the end of 2017 and will be found in Asda for 50 quid during 2018.

If a particular game runs at 30fps on a standard PS4 @1080P it will also run at 30fps on a PS4 Pro but at the higher 4K resolution. Early signs are that developers will also offer the option to NOT play at 4K but instead choose to play 1080P @ 60fps.

PSVR seems to be getting a nice bump as well with crisper visuals and better framerates reported.

AMD is a rounding error on Intel's spreadsheet and that sucks for us all

Re: Bad products is AMD fault only

Fake consoles? Fake specifications? What does that even mean?

PS4 is now at 50 million sales with an uptake rate which is close to PS2 levels. Game sales on PS4 are kocking on 400 million. It's a nice piece of kit.

Botched Microsoft update knocks Windows 8, 10 PCs offline – regardless of ISP

Windows update is permanently borked on my Windows 10 build (only a rebuild can fix it I'm told by MS support) so I guess I am lucky here?

HBO slaps takedown demand on 13-year-old girl's painting because it used 'Winter is coming'

I am happy to state winter is coming. Because it bloody is coming.

Winter is coming.

It starts on 21st December this year.

Forget 'shadow IT' – it's 'self-starting IT' now

Sadly with self starting gnome shadow IT or whatever we are going to call it.....when it goes wrong it is still ITs fault and ITs job to fix it. Perfect storm of crapola.

Virgin Media users report ongoing problems delivering legit emails. Again

And they still haven't properly fixed their youtube caching issues which crippled them a couple of years ago.

European F-35 avionics to be overhauled at Sealand, says UK.gov

They will be busy looking after those 12 planes we can afford to buy.

On the subject of melting roads and fields on fire - can't the F-35 be landed in a very very short fashion rather than vertically thereby reducing likely hood destroying whatever is underneath you?

British defence minister refuses to rule out F-35A purchase

Did Britain ever NEED to be on the bleeding edge here? Would a boatload (or airfield load) of Super Hornets not have been good enough for little old us? Cheaper to buy, cheaper to run, and would have actually worked on day one rather than needing a decade of software and hardware upgrades and fixes.

.....and we got into this mess to start with by not choosing nuclear carriers which of course ruled out any cheap options for the aircraft themselves. Mad mad world.

I'll eat my hat if our carriers ever end up with more than 12 navy F-35s operating from them. All that dosh to deliver the punch of 12 aircraft? It's laughable.

Self-driving cars doomed to be bullied by pedestrians

Re: Wait a minute...

Have you got some stats to support that?

Samsung's free-falling financial flameout

I will be happy to buy Samsung devices in future simply because every Samsung device I have owned has been excellent.

Smell burning? Samsung’s 'Death Note 7' could still cause a contagion

I have had a few Samsung phones over the years and still rate my S3 as maybe the best smartphone I've owned..for it's time. However, the prices of the recent high end Galaxy phones has gone stupid.

So a couple of weeks ago I bought a Oneplus 3 for 300-odd beans. I hope these guys are turning a small profit for their efforts because the phone is frankly superb.

Latest F-35 bang seat* mods will stop them breaking pilots' necks, beams US

Random question to our online military geeks. The latest gen of fighters like F35, Typhoons etc - are these likely to be the last gen of fighters to have a pilot sat in them? My guess is yes. Am I right?

Two Sundays wrecked by boss who couldn't use a calendar

Re: At least make sure your contract include TOIL

That will be EU employment law....wait until the Tories get free reign to tear it up all the name of "helping business prosper". It will not be pretty.

Ransomware scum infect Comic Relief server: Internal systems taken down

Re: Nothing funny about comic relief.

Comic Relief reviewed it's investment strategy in 2014. It no longers has any shares in BAE or any tobacco companies.

Former RN flagship HMS Illustrious to be sold for scrap – report

About the QE carriers - why did we not just fit catapults from the start and stock them full of Super Hornets fully loaded with all the toys? Would it not have a been a ton cheaper and also good enough for our needs?

Microsoft’s Continuum: Game changer or novelty?

My main gripe is the seeming inability to get continuum to select the relevant resolution for the attached monitor. It just seems to be a blurry over-aliased mess on the main screen - this is using a HDMI to DVI cable via the wired version of Microsoft's dock.