Posts by Shagbag

Backups? Use disk. Archives? Disk. Particle accelerators? Fine, tape

Re: Tape this !

Isn't it supposed to be "Boatswain" but they cocked-up on the spelling?

Microsoft 'didn't notice' it had removed Browser Choice for 17 months

Admission of Guilt

So they've admitted non-compliance and now they're pleading leniancy.

They obviously didn't take the EU Commission seriously enough as this should never have happened.

Everyone else here has to take them seriously, so I don't see why MicroSoft should be treated differently.

Microsoft pops preview of 'biggest, most ambitious' Office yet

Re: Incomplete article

thx 4 the link. I checked it out and at 0:53 it subtitles "Screens Simulated". WTF is that???? The rest of the video is pretty uninspiring but that bit just took the biscuit. It seems that MS is eager to market its products before they're even in existence (eg. Surface).

O2, GiffGaff network goes titsup for unlucky punters

MCRE (Microsoft Certified Reboot Engineer)

Have they tried turning it off and turning it back on again? That's what my HelpDesk recommended.

UK judge hands Samsung win for being 'not as cool' as iPad

Apple: "This kind of blatant copying..."

Judge: "They do not have the same understated and extreme simplicity which is possessed by the Apple design."

Eat shit Apple.

Samsung: World LOVES our chips 'n' mobes – expect a record quarter

"works on my machine"

So, that vast IT disaster you may have caused? Come in, sit down

another opinion piece

more cheap copy for El Reg.

Bill Gates: iPad is OK, but what Apple really needs is a SURFACE

Re: Does anyone care what Bill thinks anymore?

He still has stock in MSFT, doesn't he?

Seriously, why would anyone expect him to be anything other than favourable to the company he built?

HTC bags UK win in patent war with Apple

Thank Christ

"The judge ruled that the three other patents were invalid – either because they were obvious, in the common knowledge or had been done before."

That's what irks it for me. What Apple really need is "the mother of all" enemas.

Do you work in IT at RBS? Or at the next place to get hit ...?

Best Advice for those in RBS IT?

Get out.

You're not valued by their management.

Google Nexus 7 price, details confirmed in pre-I/O leak

a rather natty mini-iPad design

I haven't seen the mini-iPad.

Why the Windows Phone 8 digi-wallet is different to the others

I own a WP7.5 device (Nokia Lumia 800).

I've read WP8 cannot be installed on it.

My next phone will be Android.

Honour for Queen's IT manager

The Prince of Wales becomes a Field Marshal, Admiral of the Fleet and Marshal of the Royal Air Force

WTF!

Microsoft plots entry into tablet trade

Zune

I hope it's better than that.

Oracle staffer accused of sex-for-favours in Singapore

Who said women in IT don't go all the way?

(and that's a joke, for any of you feminazis out there).

ZTE and Huawei execs get ten years for bribery

Oxymoron

Algerian justice.

How to get a job in Australia

Bulls**t

Don't believe the marketing hype. Australia may have avoided the GFC thanks to a commodity boom its economy is on the verge of tanking. You only have to look at the economic figures for the last 6 months to see it. Sure, economic growth is around 3% - but look further and you'll see the last two quarterly GDP figures have both come in under expectations. The last reported jobless figures were, again, worse than expected. Property prices are declining and have been doing for about 12 months. The RBA recently cut its cash rate by 0.5% in an effort to 'soften the landing' and it has yet to be seen if this will do anything given that China's economy is slowing (China has been the #1 export market for Australia during this recent commodity boom).

But don't take my word for it. Just do your own homework and you'll see it's not as good as Recruitment Agents like to tell you... and have you ever really trusted what an Agent says?

SpaceX signs deal to put its giant rocket to good use

Is there a Falcon 'Lite'?

MPs brand BlackBerrys for bobbies scheme a failure

F**king great. More taxpayer £s wasted.

Dell Windows 8 tablet, hybrid details leak

Fugly.

Space Station crew enter the Dragon

Privately funded

Does anyone know the return on investment?

New Brit nano-satellite to use Xbox Kinect for docking in space

it's a good article, if only for its comedy value.

Is it time for enterprise PC outfits to carry Apple Macs?

"An added benefit of carrying Macs is that they usually have much higher average selling prices than mainstream Windows PCs. Shifting sales across to Macs can help to drive revenue growth without having to endlessly chase unit shipment growth."

I'd expect the retail margin on an Apple is not very different from a non-Apple device and Apple will be keeping the 'cream' with (relatively) high wholesale prices.

Freecom Hard Drive Sq 2TB

"the aluminium enclosure looks strikingly like Apple’s Mac mini"

or just like any square-ish aluminium box.

Seriously, what's with the Apple fetish?

Microsoft lobs out first Skype for Windows Phone

Skype or Shyte?

Marketplace says it was release 25/2/2012. What gives El Reg?

Nokia loses $1.7bn in Q1, sales chief falls overboard

The problem is W8 not Nokia

I've got a Lumia 800 and I really like the sleek hardware design and the Metro interface. The problem, as others have pointed out, is Windows. As a seasoned Android user I am convinced WP7/7.5 was a product 'rushed to market'. Its feature set - while polished - is sparse compared to Android and the lack of a timely stream of new features from Microsoft really makes me think Nokia's cash stockpile will run out before WP gets any real 'traction' with consumers.

Nokia makes great handsets and, generally, always has but their insistence on trying to break the Smartphone OS Duopoly makes them a slave to the fortunes of the OS.

Vodafone fights India's retrospective tax grab

Regardless of the morality debate about tax avoidance, retrospective taxation will harm the Indian economy. The UK has had plenty of opportunity to close, restrospectively, tax 'loopholes' (read: legislative f**kups by HMRC's lawyers) but have chosen never to do so. If India continues to pursue it they may find foreign investors find the tax-risk of investing in India to outweigh the cheap labour.

Cellco execs lay into Nokia's Lumia

"It might be worth making it a bit of a loss leader to get it out of the door." I don't want' that guy any where near my business. Unless he's a supplier.

Nokia on 'brink of failure', warns analyst

Re: Nokia are doomed, but Elop could have done something

"I might have to change my name by deed pool."

Nooooooooo!

Your name is a constant source of amusement and I, for one, would miss it on these forums.

NDS says Beeb's Panorama emails were 'manipulated'

The BBC used to have a reputation as being reliable and impartial. Now it's joined the rest of the mass media and become another Opinion Factory. I haven't watched BBC News or its current affairs programs for over 5 years now and, with news like this, I can't see any need to go back to them.

Tiny pile of Windows 8 ARM slabs slated for October

WOA

I've got a WinPho and while I like Metro on it, its feature set has a long way to go before it catches up to Android or iOS. I suspect WinPho 7.5 was rushed to market with a minimal set of features. I expect these tablets will be the same.

That said, does anyone remember the original iPhone's feature set? No 'push'-email for 6 months, and it a took 18 months before copy-and-paste appeared.

These tablets may turn out to be $hyt3 but in the longer term, there is a possibility the MS juggernaut may just catch-up or even exceed the feature set of the competition.

Cambridge boffins build laser 'unprinter' to burn pages clean

Reusable Shit Rag?

Maybe the technology could be extended to 'recyling' shit rag (toilet paper).

Just keep that laser away from your arse.

Samsung Galaxy S II punters get a lick of Ice Cream Sarnie

"Porting each new version of Android is expensive"

I thought this was the case only if the handset manufacturer decided to move away from the stock ICS code base.

Top Gun 2: It's happening - and the choice of star is stirring controversy

Exporting more American culture

I think i'll give it a wide berth.

'Kill yourself now' - Torvalds throws openSUSE security tantrum

Put him in a room with Theo de Raadt

I'd like to see that.

Powerful, wallet-sized Raspberry Pi computer sells out in SECONDS

What a price point.

I tried and failed (around 7:45am). I eventually go through but all I got was the 'register your interest'.

I really can't wait for this one. I'd never even considered learning Python but at GBP32 (incl. VAT) I've already started looking at the video tutorials.

Apple fanbois forced to go on the pull by Motorola patent

brown love.

Apple lands slide-to-unlock patent blow on Motorola

Apple are doing themselves no favours with their unrelenting patent trolling.

Pope's PR says Vatican in grip of WikiLeaks-style scandal

The Pope should go on trial for his despicable, conscious disregard for the victims of child abuse while he was in charge of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. He is an enemy to anyone who believes in the criminal justice system.

Sinofsky shows off Windows 8 on ARM and Office15

So they've ported Windows to ARM. Big deal.

Huawei's Ascend P1 headed to China in March

Killer iPhone

No doubt the Patent Troll will soon be going after Huawei.

Motorola slices out Razr smartphone bootloader lock

Sale of Goods Act 1979

As a consumer in the UK, the provisions of the Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended) are implied into every contract of sale and they cannot be waived or varied - even by mutual agreement. Hence, they are often referred to as "statutory rights".

It is important to remember the English Law doctrine of 'privity of contract' - only a party to a contract can bring a claim against the other. This means, if you decide to make a claim under the Sale of Goods Act, then you must claim against the vendor who sold the goods to you viz. the shop you bought them from. It is then up to that vendor to decide whether it wants to make a separate claim against the party it bought the goods from ie. the wholesaler.

Making a claim under a manufacturer's warranty is an entirely different legal action to that of claiming under the Sale of Goods Act and claiming under either does not preclude you from claiming under the other.

Many people in the UK, to their detriment, do not understand that a vendor's claim that the goods are "out of warranty" may not have any impact on your ability to claim against them. "may not" because you will need to read and understand the Sale of Goods Act (it's quite simple to follow, btw) to see where its limitations lie. For sure, being "out of warranty" precludes you from claiming against the manufacturer, but it doesn't have anything to do with a potential claim (under the Sale of Goods Act) against the vendor.

Samsung 11.6in 'retina display' tablet spied

Go Samsung! Stick it up those Apple fanbois.

Apple takes smartphone lead

US != World

Another US-centric piece.

Judges probe minister's role in McKinnon extradition saga

"The UK government asked Sir Scott Baker to look into this".

I can only imagine the conversation that took place in Whitehall.

Teen net addicts pee in bottles to stay glued to WoW

Sensational

Quote:

"I've worked with kids who will urinate in a bottle in their room, rather than leave the screen," she writes.

No numbers given. 'Kids' (plural) can be as little as 2 children. That's out of the entire UK population of sub-18 year olds.

Another instance of sensationalising by the mass media. (Surely not 'The Sun'?).

US killer spy drone controls switch to Linux

IT security is a process and not an event. This step should be one of many they should be taking to prevent future problems.

Sony off the hook for killing Linux on PS3

Big deal

US rulings are not binding outside of US territories, ie. this is of little consequence for the rest of the world.

‘Evil’ pleads guilty in Platform Networks case

What an idiot. If he had used a moniker less emotive, eg. 'Curious', he probably wouldn't have given the media such a headline and the resultant political pressure applied by the population to the politicians (and thereby to the police), wouldn't have been so acute.

Besides, 'Evil' is lame. He could have used something like 'AllahIsGreat' or 'JihadJihad' or 'Ayatollah' to really give the media an opportunity to whip us some out-of-proportion public hysteria.

RIM swallows $485m charge to clear PlayBook tablet mountain

GBP100 and I'd buy one.

GBP150 and I'd still consider it.

If it costs RIM more than this to manufacture, distribute and sell, then I'm not interested.

At current retail of GBP250, I'm more interested to just spend the extra GBP100 and buy a Tab.