Gawp Goggles.
Posts by Haku
1902 publicly visible posts • joined 13 Apr 2007
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Virtual reality pr0n on the Rift? 'Why not?' says Oculus founder
Candlelit vigil planned to honour executed Newcastle cow Bessie

From the previous article: "Northumbria Police scrambled 'a helicopter, up to 20 cars and firearms officers to deal with one brown cow"
What the fuck?
I never get that kind of backup when almost each year in the summer four or five cows walk down off the common in a group & past my house looking for more greenery to munch on, and all by myself I have to herd them back up the steep hill to where they belong because there's no cattlegrid along one particular road.
Swedish government wins legal case to seize Pirate Bay domains

First Pirate Bay Helps Puts Sweden on the Map, Govt. Agency Says
Then the next day they seize their domain names.
Congratulations Sweden, your government is as abysmal as everyone elses.
YouTube Kids 'showed nippers how to make nooses, play with fire'
Blocking mobile adverts just became that little bit easier
Re: Conundrum
"Maybe ad-blocking should be a paid-for service, with some of that payment being compensation to the businesses whose (paid-for) ads are being blocked"
Are you fucking serious? That's a mafia tactic!
"Say that's a nice clean fast mobile device you got there, it'd be a shame if something were to happen to slow it down, use up your monthly data allowance and clutter up the screen pestering you to buy things all the time..."
UK safety app keeping lorries on the right side of cyclists
Trans Pacific Partnership 'fast-track' bill dumped
Backwaters in rural England getting non-BT gigabit broadband
Verizon in SUDDEN $4.4bn AOL GOBBLE, aims to make fourplay more exciting
El Reg knocks a fiver off 16GB USB stick
Re: Sorry, too small, too slow.
Like the poster above, I bought my Grixx sticks from 7dayshop.com
From now on whenever I need to buy a USB memory stick I'll be getting USB3 type as they leave virtually all USB2 sticks in the dust when it comes to transfer rates, even when plugged into USB2 speed ports.
I was given a fake 8GB stick, ran software that reprogrammed it to show the actual capacity and got 112MB out of it :)
It's actually very useful because I made it DOS bootable for when I need to run a DOS program outside of Windows to change some setting in hardware (like idle time on a harddrive or run MHDD etc.)
Someone I know has an 8MB stick that still works.
Sorry, too small, too slow.
I have 3 Grixx branded USB3 128GB memory sticks and at around £30 each they're worth every penny, read speeds reaching 90MB/s and write speeds reaching 50MB/s, and unlike most unnecessary bulky USB sticks you can put 2 or 3 into immediately adjacent USB sockets without issue because they're nice & skinny.
To keep them safe during storage/transport they're stored in individual metal pill keychains, with a bit of foam to stop them rattling around, they're water resistant and very durable.
So tablets, if you want to get anything done travelling get a ... yes, a laptop
Re: Blogster Dabbsy
If he did videos of his 'screwing up tests on new products', I'd imagine it would be something along the lines of Techmoan crossed with Ashens
Techmoan reviews little known (usually on the cheaper end of the scale) technology items often with full in-depth showing of the features of said tech. Factual and formal.
whereas Ashens gets hold of the cheapest tat you've probably never seen before (from 99p stores etc. and items sent to his po box from across the globe) then promply verbally and often physically tears it to pieces with his scathing wit and his disembodied hands (the camera always points at his sofa where the objects of not-desire are perused). Amusing, often funny, and sad when you realise people are actually buying the showcased products because they mistakenly believe they want them....
Fox gives Minority Report the nod – precog goes primetime on tellybox
Re: Quick! I have to stop the terrible thing that... might not happen!
For those who love Futurama and were saddened by it's demise when they cancelled it, twice! I strongly urge you to check out Rick and Morty

Sci-fi shows too often have a rough ride and a short life
I love sci-fi, I watch too much tv, and too often I've been really getting into a show only for those short-sighted damned execs to cancel it because it doesn't get the instant ratings that usual tv dross will often get (ie sitcoms, 'reality' shows, gameshows etc.), they have no faith that a show will gain a large and devoted following (see Firefly).
Another reason I read that shows often get cancelled is that when new heads of programming/execs etc. get into power they cancel the predecessors shows because they want to be the one to gain recognition (and a higher wage) for bringing in a new hit tv show that will keep them in their job for longer.
Some of the sci-fi shows that I'm really pissed they cancelled - Firefly, Alphas, Almost Human, Stargate Universe, Dollhouse, Caprica, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, V, Flashforward, Threshold, The Event.
Apple taxpayers swarm to stone-age iPhone 6+ purely for the bigness
"NEW AND IMPROVED!"
If you're talking about UI, no thank you, I want to keep the buttons & layout of regularly used software (& websites for that matter) exactly where they have been for a long time.
Don't keep changing the layout because you think it'll attract more customers, or mistakenly believe that's what we want, you'll just end up pissing off your current userbase, forcing some to go elsewhere where they're treated with respect..
Crowdfunded ZX Spectrum revival just days from shipment
Re: I don't get the point of this thing
"The chances of getting a fully working one that stays working now is, err, somewhat low."
Oh ye of little faith.
My Speccy +2 still works perfectly fine, with the built-in tape deck it means no farting around with volume / tone levels either.
But when I want a bit of nostalgia without digging the +2 out, connecting it to a screen and waiting for the tapes to load I have Marvin, it fits in my pocket, along with my Zeemote Bluetooth joystick :)
Oculus Rift VR bucket will be seen on noggins near you in 2016
Re: I'll sit back and see
I'm with you on the sitting back and seeing, what with the potential competition and that Facebook own it, however, like with most things that have a continuing 'invention evolution' if you will, if you're interested in getting some good VR kit then you'll have to make the plunge at some point, making the wisest decision you possibly can for what you buy at that moment in time, or you'll be forever sitting on the side waiting for the holy grail whilst watching everyone play with their new toys and not being able to join in on the playtime.
Tattooed skin befuddles Apple Watch
Major London rail station reveals system passwords during TV documentary
Give me POWER: How to keep working when the lights go out
The Apple Watch: Throbbing strap-on with a knurled knob
I'm still not convinced about the usefulness of a 'smartwatch' for a couple of reasons
1) Battery life - I already have a couple of tablets & an Android phone that get charged regularly, I not in a hurry to get another electronic mouth to feed
2) I'd have to start wearing glasses again, I can cope with my phone but anything smaller wouldn't be nice to try and use on a regular basis
.
The Techmoan guy owns an Omate 'smartwatch' he got from a Kickstarter last July, a full blown Android phone with a capacitive touchscreen, he discovered it's far more useful as a consumption device (reading news etc.) rather than a feedback device (writing emails etc.).
Check out his short review video of it, even going as far as browsing his own website and viewing a YouTube video on it:
http://www.techmoan.com/blog/2014/7/23/first-the-omate-truesmart-3g-smartwatch.html
Avengers: Age of Ultron – blisteringly big banter, brawls and brio
Pre-order consumergasm will leave Apple Watches out of stock for months
Videogame publishers to fans: Oi, stop resurrecting our dead titles online
"Personally, I don't buy games that need a remote connection to work"
I fully understand where you're coming from, hence my upvote, especially with the debacle of the Sim City game that required you to have an active internet connection to play the game despite it being a single player...
However I've become somewhat addicted to GTA Online, which I won't go into detail about how much I play except that I'm level 502... but I do realise eventually one day the GTA V Online servers will be taken offline so I'm making the most of what I have right now, and when the servers do go cold I'll still have the offline version of GTA V to play, which is still fun but sadly I'll lose a whole heap of content and idioms of the game the Online version offers.

I feel this won't end well because not enough influential people care about old games.
But what would it be like if the same happened with old music/tv/films because the content creators knew they couldn't make money off old stock so took steps to legally stop people from consuming anything but new stock?
"We are sorry but you cannot to watch "It's a Wondeful Life" as this title has been deleted. Other film suggestions you might like to watch instead include "Fast & Furious 7", "Hot Tub Time Machine 2" and "The Expendables 3"."
Actually, this already happens with those on-demand tv sites like iPlayer etc. where the shows have a short shelf life :(
FAA approves Amazon US drone flight just months after firm gave up and went to Canada
Tests show HTC, Sammy phablets BEND just like iPhone 6 Plus
Re: It's all about the target market
I've given my Samsung S2 a tempered glass screen protector and a rugged case (a rubber holder with a plastic outer case), making it very tough, and easier to hold because without the thickness the protection layers give I found it quite awkward to use because it was too thin and slippery to hold propely.
My phone is a tool, not a fashion statement.
Cross-dressing blokes storm NSA HQ: One shot dead, one hurt
Sony snags Spotify for streaming music to Playstation gamers
Helium-filled drive tech floats to top of HGST heap
Lighty and flighty: Six sizzling portable projectors
Re: "It's not 1080p, WAAAH!"
Yes I certainly expect to see small portable projectors with full 1080p today.
Why?
Because I have some Sony Glasstron PLM-S700E video glasses which have tiny 0.7 inch LCD screens in them that have a native resolution of 832 x 624, and those video glasses were made back in 1998, 17 years ago!
Oi. APPLE fanboi! You with the $10k and pocket on fire! Fancy a WATCH?
Re: Hmm...$10,000...
For the longest time (nearly a decade) a TS-150 thermometer watch
Then I got a TSR-100 infra-red thermo-scanner watch
After that a CMD-40-1ZT infra-red remote control watch
Now I got a smartphone for my time telling needs... but I still have those watches (and many more with built-in games)
How many Androids does it take to change a light bulb?
Re: Uh-oh
"just expect it to work"
You're not wrong there, if it looks like a lightbulb people will expect it to behave like a lightbulb - give it power and it lights up, but with new fangled wireless control technology embedded inside them they may not behave as expected by looking at the exterior.
Perhaps a new, standardised name is needed for them to distinguish them from ordinary bulbs, dare I suggest iLites? Because everyone knows when you put a small i in front of a word it somehow indicates it's special in a technological way... well, except when used for place name like iNverness or iSle of Man.
Ford to save you from BIKE FITNESS HORROR
Atomic keyring's eerie blue glow lights SPB lab
Re: Still got my original blue Traser,
The price has certainly doubled since their introduction, I seem to recall paying about £6 each for my pair somewhere in the region of 15 years ago:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/11/21/light_up_your_life/
A shame because I'd definitely buy a couple of normal sized ones now if they were £5 each, at £10.99 my wallet is staying put.
WD reveals NASty new boxes for home and small biz use

Re: Fancy a bit of DIY?
If hot-swapping isn't a requirement, take a look at the Fractal Node 304 case. Holds up to 6 drives (7 if you get a 2.5" PCI backplane mount), Mini-ITX form factor, utilises a standard ATX PSU, 3 whisper-quiet fans with 3-speed setting, looks sleek and is solidly built.
Tulsa woman bludgeons man mercilessly with laptop
"the brand of laptop is unknown"
The story almost reads like it was from the Onion News Network Autistic reporter:
Tim Cook chills the spines of swingers worldwide
El Reg regains atomic keyring capability
Errant update borks Samsung 850 Pro SSDs
MELTDOWN: Samsung, Sony not-so-smart TVs go titsup for TWO days

TV / DVR etc. menu systems
I do like a 'dumb' screen, one that happily shows footage from whatever box you plug into it, however, it has come to my attention from using various friends/family TVs & DVRs etc. that most menu systems suck balls, wether the TV is 'smart' or not.
And not only are most menus terrible to navigate, most associated remote controls for the devices are just as badly designed, it's like they got a generic button layout and shoehorned their functions into that layout, rather than starting from scratch and realising certain functions are going to be used a lot and require a larger, easier accessable button for your thumb.
I'd write 'them' a letter but I doubt they'd even read it, something along the lines of:
"Dear manufacturers, please spend more than 5 minutes designing your menu systems and remote controls, perhaps get some average people to try and use them to give feedback before you decide it's finished and sell it.
Thank you.
Yours sincerely, everyone."