Posts by Geoff Campbell

Inside Intel's Optanical garden

Re: Not going to succeed.

Good, that'll sort the men from the boys. Or the women from the girls, of course.

GJC

Re: Not going to succeed.

It's early days yet.

The most interesting thing about XPoint for me, is the evolution of machines with a few TB of memory-bus near-DRAM-speed storage that persists through power cycles. That should open up a whole bunch of new ways of structuring data on the local machines, when the software catches up with the possibilities.

We'll see. For now, a faster SSD that's waiting on a faster interface seems OK to me.

GJC

Microsoft wants screaming Windows fans, not just users

I rather like Windows 10.

I also think that Microsoft are the only company showing real innovation in the OS market currently.

Yeah, I know. Your downvotes fall upon me like gentle rain, and with just as much long-term effect on my views.

But before you downvote this post, ask yourself just why you care enough to do so? What are you trying to demonstrate?

GJC

One in five mobile phones shipped abroad are phoney – report

Re: Guess where it is made.

Swindon?

GJC

Douglas Coupland: The average IQ is now 103 and the present is melting into the future

Re: Misquote from Wlliam Gibson

Yes, to a point. Surely it was ever thus, though? All new technologies more complicated than knapped flint took time to spread throughout the world. I don't see why computer and comms technology should be any different to steam engines in that respect.

GJC

BlackBerry's comeback: El Reg gets its claws on the QWERTY KEYone

Notable =/= Best

The quote said the battery life was the phone's best feature.

Long battery life is notable in the current market, sure, but when it's the best thing you can say about a phone, I'd say that is damning with faint praise, personally.

GJC

Ooops! One in three tech IPOs now trading below their starting price

Re: Why?

Seems to be.

Although to be fair to Facebook, they also make money from sales of game services, too. This used to be a big earner for them, back in the Farmville days, I don't know what the current figures are.

GJC

Robo-supercar hype biz Faraday Future has invented something – a new word for 'disrupt'

Re: Are we nearly there yet...?

Formula E will be changing to one car for the whole race for the 2018 season, with McLaren supplying a new design of battery pack.

Tesla do have a fully automated battery-swap station designed and ready to go, I think there's only one currently installed, in California somewhere. There's a video from a few years back showing two battery swaps in the time it took to fill up the tank on a 4x4. Ultimately, I don't think that will really work in the mass market, though. It seems current owners are happy with the Supercharger network, and they are going to get faster shortly too, as I understand it.

GJC

My fortnight eating Blighty's own human fart-powder

Hipsters discover SlimFast...

Truly, there's nothing new under the sun.

To all those eulogising real food, absolutely - I live to eat. But sometimes it's not convenient to prepare a meal from fresh ingredients, so I fall back on something prepared. And one day, that might be Huel or one of the many competitors we are no doubt about to encounter. Life isn't perfect, sometimes a bit of convenience is OK.

GJC

MH370 hunters call for new search of extra 25,000km²

Re: Metadata is more accurately "data that describes the structure of data"

That seems to me to be based on a fundamental misunderstanding of a bunch of things, not least the function of something like an MP3 header tag.

It is theoretically just as possible to find a given MP3 file by searching for a given sequence of bytes in the sound data, if rather less human-friendly. Does this make the blocks of sound data into metadata? How about the index number of a record in a database, are they metadata? (hint: No, to both questions).

That NISO paper seems to me to be justifying the existing misuse by redefining the term, rather than acting as any kind of authoritative source reference. In many ways "Descriptive metadata" in that context is an oxymoron. I'm not going to read the whole thing, but I suspect that "Administrative metadata" is similarly an oxymoron, and "Structural metadata" is a tautology.

GJC

Re: Congratulations!

Metadata is more accurately "data that describes the structure of data". The most obvious misuse of the term is things like MP3 header tags, which *name* each individual set of data, rather than *describing* its structure.

If there is more than one of something in a given collection of data, it ain't metadata. Hence, "additional data that was ABOUT the data that was transmitted" is just more data. Data about the location of the readings is also just data.

GJC

Re: Congratulations!

Thank you! It's been a few months since I managed such a feat :-)

What can I say? It's one of those misuses of terms that really gets under my skin, for some reason.

GJC

Re: Congratulations!

That's still not metadata. It's just data.

GJC

Congratulations!

You win today's award for "Most heinously gratuitous misuse of the currently fashionable but utterly misunderstood word 'metadata' in a supposedly technical journal".

Please don't do it again.

GJC

IBM staff petition for right not to work on Trump's pet projects

A principle is not a principle until it has cost you money.

Until then, it is just an opinion, and everyone's got a bunch of those.

If you don't want to work on a project your employer puts you on, ask for a transfer. If they refuse, resign. It's not a complicated proposition.

GJC

Crim charges slapped on copyright trolls who filmed porn, torrented it then sued downloaders

Splendid!

Send 'em down.

Now, who's next on the list?

GJC

Governments 'one step behind' tech firms in tracking tax – Meg Hillier

No shit?

Have they really only just realised this, or is this a PR gambit as the first step in them giving up trying altogether?

GJC

Windows 10 market share growth just barely has a pulse

Re: Nokia phones

We'll see. If Nokia release a standard me-too mid-range Android device, I suspect they'll fail spectacularly. If they do something original, they might do well. Can;t imagine what that might be, though.

Microsoft already have something unique and original. They just need the devices to support it, now.

GJC

For me...

...the impetus was desktop-to-phone integration, and the impetus for the phone was the Display Dock and Continuum.

I really hope they get around to releasing a Surface Phone sometime soon.

(Yes, yes, I know I'll get downvoted for having the temerity to say something good about Microsoft. Do you think I care?)

GJC

Lenovo: If you value your server, block Microsoft's November security update

Wait, what?

Lenovo make servers? Who knew?

GJC

Deliver-oops! Takeaway pusher's customers burger-ed by hijackers

Re: "The three-year-old startup ought to require the CVV2 code on bank cards..."

Convenience. Who wants to enter a card number every time? Even with form-completion stuff in the browser it soon gets pretty old.

GJC

"checking the address on orders is close to or the same as pre-registered addresses."

I do hope not. I only ever use this sort of service when staying away from home.

GJC

AI is all trendy and fun – but it's still a long way from true intelligence, Facebook boffins admit

Re: Facebook boffins

Really? You've met them, then?

GJC

UK PM Theresa May's £2bn in R&D still a drop in the ocean

However...

I understand that the EU currently spend £1.3bn/year on R&D in the UK, so whilst £2bn/year is an increase, it ain't much of one. And that assumes that May isn't indulging in the normal politicians' hobbies of double- and triple-counting, announcing stuff they know will never happen, or just flat-out lying.

GJC

Amazon's Netflix-gnasher to hit top gear In December

Re: Yarrgh

No, I'm not misunderstanding. Just laying out what I'd like to see.

GJC

Re: Wheels within wheels.

Another good point - the Amazon Fire TV hardware is cheap, well thought out, and very easy to use, making access to the Amazon Prime content very easy for the technophobic. I foresee many of them turning up under the tree this coming festive-consumer-blowout-holiday season.

GJC

Well...

£20.50/month is, from memory, below the cheapest Sky subscription package.

As for downloads, a subscription to Netflix and Amazon Prime will legitimise most of the stuff you might want to download from your Torrent site of choice, excepting just-released films. Worth thinking about for those who have always protested "I'm not a pirate, but..."

GJC

Re: Yarrgh

It would be nice to think that eventually the streaming services will become largely irrelevant, and we'll be able to buy content more or less directly from the producers. Want the latest episode of The Grand Tour? £1 direct from the production company. Want a 2009 episode of Top Gear? 10p. And so on...

Of course, this will require a workable and transparent micro-billing framework to be in place, which has thus far completely failed to appear. In fact, the nearest we've got today is probably Amazon themselves, where content not included in the Prime subscription can be watched on demand for a few quid without noticeable fiddling about.

GJC

Re: Wheels within wheels.

I do hope so - I've spent many enjoyable and informative hours watching BBC content. I fear for their continued existence in the New World Order, however. I can't yet decide if they've been thoroughly outmanoeuvred, or if it's much more simply that the world has moved on from the world that the BBC was designed for.

Well, we'll see. Interesting times, as ever...

GJC

Re: Wheels within wheels.

You may well be right within our somewhat privileged tech-savvy elite. Those are not the people under discussion, however - those who are used to getting their content online are already settled.

I think both Netflix and Amazon Prime have enough content to tempt most viewers, and don't forget that Amazon Prime offers some real advantages to anyone who shops on Amazon, too. Indeed, I came to it as a subscriber to the original Amazon Prime scheme, which at the time cost £50/year for unlimited free next-day shipping. When the price went up to £80/year, it didn't take long to decide it was worth the extra £30/year for the audio and video content.

But consider further - the people I am talking about come from a background where a Sky subscription (£30-60/month) is considered something to aspire to. So £80/year for Amazon Prime plus £7.50/month for Netflix looks like a real bargain.

GJC

Wheels within wheels.

There have been various discussions around the place recently about what value The Grand Tour has to Amazon. The theory I like best is that this will get a large number of previously passive consumers of broadcast TV to investigate the possibilities of streaming services in general, and Amazon Prime in particular, leading to a much larger mass-market involvement in their services.

In short, the sacking of Clarkson could well be the beginning of the end for the BBC. Which would be a shame, but everything has its time, and I for one have been viewing broadcast channel-based TV as a bit of an irrelevance for some time now.

It's interesting to note in passing that the new Plex DVR software doesn't bother itself with channels at all, it just displays a screen with "On now..." and "Coming soon..." sections for Sport, Films, Drama, and so on, plus a search function for all shows. Takes a bit of getting used to, but works pretty well.

GJC

Why I just bought a MacBook Air instead of the new Pro

Which?

You don't say which Surface Pro you have. I have not experienced any of those problems with the SP4.

GJC

Re: "If the 7S doesn't do something spectacular"

Two things that Samsung and others currently have, that Apple don't:

One real biggie for me - wireless charging.

One curious but currently pointless thing that might develop into something big - VR.

There are, I hear, lots of usability things like widgets and folders that Android has and iOS doesn't, but I've not used iOS enough to comment on those.

GJC

Google: If you think we're bad, you should take a look at Apple

Re: Point of order...

Oh, it all turned out well enough in the end...

GJC

Point of order...

The Play Store is not the only place to get apps for Android devices. Other curated stores are available, notably Amazon's. Those who are feeling brave do not need to use a store at all, but I wouldn't personally recommend that unless you feel you have too much spare time on your hands.

GJC

Angry user demands three site visits to fix email address typos

Re: Ah, yes...

Goodness. Well, I guess there had to be one, somewhere. Hang onto them...

GJC

Ah, yes...

The mantra of small businesses everywhere is "Never turn down business", and generally that's a philosophy I can understand (I do occasionally quote deliberately very high, though, if I really think the job will be more painful than it is worth).

Education, though? No. In 35 years in the industry, I have *never* had a good experience with a client in the education business.

GJC

$10m of Bangladeshi SWIFT heist ended up in Filipino Casino

Re: Putting it on red

Slightly sloppy wording on my part, apologies.

If the ball lands on red, you get 200% back, if it lands on black you get 0%. Assuming a fair wheel, there will be an approximately equal number of red and black results, so you will get back approximately 100% of the original money over time, minus only the 0 and 00 results which is the profit for the house.

GJC

Re: Putting it on red

It's better than that. Putting it all on red in small-ish batches gives close to 100% return of clean money, because each winning bet returns the stake plus the same in winnings. The only losses are when the ball lands in 0 or 00 (for those houses that like a little extra), so either 1/37 or 2/38.

Mind you, I've always wondered about this. Why not just wander into the casino, change the cash into chips, have a couple of drinks, then change the chips back into cash? Same effect, zero loss.

GJC

Trump's taxing problem: The end of 'affordable' iPhones

Re: "capitalism is now corrupt"

Four down-votes (and many more to come, no doubt) but no actual rebuttals. Very interesting...

GJC

Re: "capitalism is now corrupt"

Capitalism has always been corrupt, it's baked into the model at a fundamental level. Hell, it's even right there in the name - capitalism is all about the flow of capital, i.e. money.

There was a time when some constraints were placed on just how viciously pure that could be, but those disappeared some time early last century, I think.

GJC

We're going to have to start making changes or the adults will do it for us

Re: Because in a Word document (or any wordprocessor/DTP) you should never, never use "tabs"

As with all such definitive statements, that's not entirely true. Certainly tabs are much overused for general spacing of paragraphs, for which there are many better mechanisms available using paragraph properties.

However, tabs do have their place. I use them frequently for laying out headers and footers, for example, where there are typically two or three objects that require placing at left and right margins, and perhaps one centrally.

GJC

Well, to a point...

The basic analysis seems spot on, although I don't think there will be any awards handed out for deep new insights as a result.

But if we change, what then? I'm good at what I do *precisely* because of the psychological damage inflicted in earlier life. Write me out of the script, or force me to change into some touchy-feely advocate of technical excellence by consensus vote, and all my hard-won and passingly valuable skills of in-depth analysis and abrasive truth-telling based on empirical evidence disappear.

Let's face it, deep technical IT skills are pretty much diametrically opposed to good people skills. And you know what? I'm comfortable with that.

GJC

Redcentric CFO quits after botched accounts discovered

Honour amongst thieves

Interesting to notice that Directors never get fired, no matter how badly they've screwed up.

GJC

Tesco Bank limits online transactions after fraud hits thousands

Oops...

I notice that Tesco Bank announced a couple of months back that 250 jobs were being moved from Edinburgh to Glasgow.

Disgruntled employee, perhaps?

GJC

Brexit may not mean Brexit at all: UK.gov loses Article 50 lawsuit

Re: @Geoff

Yeah, I'm so idle I can't even raise the energy to downvote your latest rubbish.

GJC

Re: Chris Miller, re. abstention

Once again, for the hard of thinking - I have not expressed any opinion on the outcome of the referendum, and very specifically have not said that the outcome was wrong or right. The whole process was stupid, but that's politics in the 21st century.

I view the whole thing with a sort of detached amusement, much the same as the current US election.

GJC

Re: Chris Miller, re. abstention

Where have I expressed an opinion on the result?

GJC

Re: Merchman

I didn't have a strong opinion either way. It is quite possible that the status quo is the worst option. The point being that I didn't have anywhere near enough decision to make an informed decision, so I took the option to not make a decision. I am mildly disappointed, although not surprised, that more people didn't take the same action.

This should all be seen in the light of my *extremely* cynical and low opinion of pretty much all modern politicians and their motives, which was significantly strengthened by the opportunistic calling of a populist referendum just to grasp onto power for one more term by David Bloody Cameron.

GJC

Re: Chris Miller, re. abstention

Get ta fuck.

First, I did abstain. I said at the time that this whole referendum was nonsense, asking us to vote on a subject that only those who had a full-time involvement in politics or economics could fully understand. So I took the conscious, definite decision to abstain.

You do not get to appropriate my vote. Had I been in favour, I would have voted in favour. I was not, so I did not. That's how democracy works.

GJC