Posts by Phil Rigby

Mozilla millions still 86% Google cash

Title required

Wonder what browser the IRS use...

If Mozilla lose, expect all searches for the IRS performed in Firefox to re-direct to some tax-bashing pages.

Google Voice gets going on iPhone

iPod touch use would be handy

Not for calls obviously but for sending SMS and/or at least listening to voicemail, when connected to a wifi network. Oh well.

Schmidt: Google Chrome OS 'a few months away'

@Karl

Try rooting the phone/using Cyanogen mod then you should be able to put 2.1 on. Haven't tried it myself but I've read several reports of people doing it successfully. Rooting/jailbreaking Android is pretty easy, there's loads of articles on how to do it.

Good luck!

Opera: Can someone free Korea from IE?

I like Opera, but...

...they need to quit complaining while they're getting ahead. They won a good decision in EU, leave it at that.

Also the comment about Opera downloads doubling - true, but did people stick with it after trying it? Or, because it doesn't "look" like IE, did people go back to what they were used to?

I'm as big an Opera fan as anyone, but all this complaining about MS strangle-holds just makes them look like petulant children, in my opinion.

Apple's iPad is the hotcake of the 21st century

I don't get it

I lived in DC when the iPad was released. Now I live somewhere a little more rural, but all the same, in the 6 months the iPad has been out I've seen maybe 5 people in total with them. Is there any info about the demographics, which locations are the highest-selling? I'm guessing San Francisco is popular (the iPhone seems to be there) and perhaps New York, Boston too being a heavy college town but that can't account for all off them. Any info, anyone?

I, for one, welcome the Android-based tablets when they go on sale.

Smartphone buyers want Apple, Android

So what you're saying is...

...the two most popular phone OS are the two leading choices for consumers?

In other news, the #1 song in the Top 40 this week was the most bought by music buyers.

No one needs Blu-ray, says Microsoft exec

@AC is right

Streaming is just too unreliable right now. Plus not everyone wants every appliance in the house hooked up to the internet at all times. When you take into account the cost of XBox Live Gold, a Netflix subscription, the cost of your internet service plus time wasted if the download stream is interrupted, it's easier and cheaper to buy a basic player and some movies occasionally. In my opinion.

Apple releases iOS 4.1 into the wild

Not yet

2:10 PM, CST - nothing on the website, iTunes still says 4.0.2 is latest release...

Microsoft slings mud in VMware living room

None are trustable

@Peter is right - I wouldn't trust MS any more than Google with a companies' data. If I were forced to go cloud (thank God I'm not) I'd probably consider IBM - but as their offering is called "Cloud Burst" and that just gives me bad vibes about failing servers and downtime, I think I'd try to give them a miss too!

How does Amazon perform in this arena?

SCO gets sale approval

Are there any really interested parties?

Anyone think Oracle might go for them, given Larry's recent buy-everything mood and what he's doing with Solaris/Java?

Could be ironic if Novell bought them.

Sony Oz mod chip dongle ban hearing delayed

@Piggy, @Cameron

@Piggy - the guy said in his fourth paragraph that (in his opinion) it's hard to scratch the discs. So if you'd read his whole comment you'd be a bit more informed about what he said.

@Cameron - it's about stopping a device that can be used for piracy. Not about stopping people adding bling - which is what you described. Apple have no right to stop people from adding anti-scratch covers to their iPod - but they are well within their rights to stop people from adding mechanisms to pirate apps.

If nothing else, people forget all this stuff is in the T&C you agree to when you buy the product. If you don't like it, stop using the product. I'm a XBox owner and I disagree with having to pay to play online. So I don't. That's my choice but I'm the only one who loses out.

Microsoft gets Speedos in a twist over half-naked 'Meter Maids'

@Neil

Not necessarily - most of the women I know in IT are lesbians anyway, so maybe good looking women would be the thing to draw more women into IT. Or perhaps they're only lesbian when I ask them out. Who knows.

Paris... explanation really needed?

Inmate-frying microwave pain blaster turret installed in US jail

Great idea.

I always thought we should have a Running Man-type prison system. Or Speedball, played with inmates - the survivors get to go free. Sell the TV rights to Sky, and the proceeds go to improving the prison system. Could be interesting :-)

Opera: Firefox tab sets? We've had 'em for years

Opera really is a good browser

I know there's a lot of Opera haters on the El Reg forums sometimes - but it really has the best feature-to-bloat ratio of all the browsers available. Tons of useful features - Speed Dial alone is worth the install - and it's pretty lightweight and fast. I don't get why people don't like it.

Flame, for the inevitable downvotes and criticism I'm about to receive...

Cynicism, grumpiness cause heart attacks, strokes

It's the Italians

The study was of Italians. The first people to invent a tank with 12 reverse gears. That's probably got something to do with it, all the pasta and wine they consume...

Android gets talk-tastic Froyo upgrade

Accents

I'm an English guy in America (but not New York as Sting spoke about) and I've got Android 2.1 on my Eris and it has no problem at all with my (Manchester) accent. The other natives - well that's a different story, but the phone understands me.

Superhero game beta sucks boobs into honeypot

Security researcher

That dude sounds more like an annoyed mark than an objective researcher to me.

iOS jailbreak howdunnit partially solved

@Easiest JB ever

Completely agree. Just did my iPod Touch (OS 4.0) while playing music, it didn't even flinch. Now Cydia is on the home screen. It just doesn't get any smoother.

RIM lights a candle for the BlackBerry Torch

@AC

Very good point. The anti-apple people on this forum alone would be having an aneurism.

Buffalo USB 3.0 PCI Express card

Question, + @Paul

@Paul - I saw that too, I'd bet there's a connector in the packaging to connect the FDD to a SATA... maybe...

Does anyone know how well these cards work under Linux?

IBM employee sparks massive bank outage

@Combat, @Pete

I don't know about you but I wouldn't have a trainee working on my system at 3am. They'd be working on it when I'm there to supervise. And I'm senior, so I don't work at 3am :) Hell I don't even work at 3pm.

IBM declares undying love for Mozilla's Firefox

IE6

As of 2 years ago - when I worked for them - their web-based helpdesk app only ran in IE 6. Even IE 7 wasn't supported.

Cheers to IE6, we hardly knew ye.

More iPhone 4 angst: fanbois howl over head sensor

iPod

Don't know about the iPhone, but OS 4 on my iPod is killing my battery dead in less than 24 hours, compared to a week on 3.x.... something's going on that's not right (master of the bleeding obvious)

Jobs, because the gadgets are cool even if they don't work completely right.

Motorola punts mega huge Droid phone

Nice..

Looks good, but I'll wait to see if VZ put out an iPhone next year.

Opera stomps on 'extremely severe' security holes

Linux

Still waiting to get past 10.10 on Linux... grrrr...

Apple iOS 4 update due today

Waiting...

Got iTunes 9.2 ok, but still waiting on OS 4.... apparently my 3.1.3 is the most current version...

Inevitable Mac OS X 10.6.4 update problems surface

Flash

It's all Flash's fault (probably).

Burger van busted offering free takeaway porn

Pics...

Playmobil or it didn't happen ;-)

Bug gives attackers complete control of Windows PCs

@Jason

Right click My Computer, Properties, Remote tab. Turn off the two checkboxes.

If you want to be doubly sure, right click My Computer, Manage, Services, disable the Remote Desktop service.

Or, don't visit the booby-trapped website :-)

Adobe lines up emergency Flash fix

To quote Hudson from Aliens...

I feel safer already.

Mac spyware infiltrates popular download sites

Just how many are there?

Doesn't matter how easily a Mac can be owned. Compare the number of malware packages/virii on Windows to the amount on OS X. The ratio would be, ooh, maybe 500:1 or so in favor of Windows?

Of course there's going to be nasty code around - but there's a damn sight less than with the popular OS of choice.

Mozilla sidesteps iPhone code ban with Firefox Home

I don't get it

...with all the people here complaining that Apple have a set of rules for their device.

Microsoft won't let you futz with the Xbox 360. If you do, you're banned from Live.

Sony limit what you do with a PS3. Can't even run Linux on it anymore.

Nintendo have the Wii locked down.

I can't unlock my blu-ray dvd player so it plays Region 2 dvd's (original dvd's, not br ones)

What's the difference? Apple have a set of guidelines for what they will and will not allow on the device they created and spent millions of dollars and man-hours on developing. I know Apple can change the rules and apply them arbitrarily, but you know what, that's their prerogative. They created it, they can do what they want with it. At least I know that when I download something from the App store it will work on any new device I get and it probably won't crash or cause other issues. Stop complaining people.

Foxconn website defaced after iPhone assembly plant suicides

@richard padley 1

You can't argue with statistics? WTF you smoking dude? Lies, damn lies and statistics!!! It's a fact that 85% of statistics are made up, but only 40% of those were taken from a poll of 55% of the population and 62% of those didn't know what statistics are.

Just ask the IE team or the Firefox team if you can/can't argue with statistics.

Google open codec 'not open,' says OSI man

@The first Dave

That was my thought exactly - he's saying "we haven't said it's open source, so it's not".

Reminds me of a meeting I had with FAST several years ago - they guy said that unless we paid their membership fee and let them audit us, they'd assume we were using pirated software. We told them to get stuffed.

Google blames developers for lousy Android battery life

It's getting better

I just upgraded from a T-Mobile G1 to a Verizon Droid Eris, and I can honestly say the battery life appears to be almost double that of the G1, with even a few more apps running on it. The Eris has v2.1 of Android, I believe the G1 had v1.6.

Android is a good mobile OS (from a users perspective anyway, don't know about developing for it) although the Market could be made a bit slicker.

Microsoft sneak peeks Hotmail makeover

Alternative to Hotmail/Gmail

Try GMX - no spam, no ads, will collect from multiple imap and pop accounts, and is accessible from imap and pop too.

Drawback - it's German based. They bombed our chippy in the war.

www.gmx.com

.XXX accuses ICANN of 'lip service' on porn domain

I'll state the obvious

"...ICANN of 'lip service' on porn..."

Lip service... porn...

Paris... again, obvious.

iPhone code ban facing antitrust inquiry?

@AC

I guess compared to 42% it is.

42+25+9 = 76%... what's the remaining 24%?

Adobe to sue Apple 'within weeks,' says report

Adobe need to understand...

It's APPLE's platform. They can do what they want as far as rules go on who can run what. It's their device, their OS. Period. If they want to stop any flash stuff, they can. If Adobe want to boycott it or other idiots like that "go screw yourself" guy, well there's plenty of other people who'll develop for it. Just look at the amount of apps available.

If people like EA Games can put Need For Speed on there without violating SDK T&Cs, I don't see why people are bitching about closed platform. And the poster who mentioned about Xbox/PS3 etc coding is exactly right - you try building an Xbox game without Microsoft's approval and toolkit and you see what happens to it.

Adobe just need to fook off.

Microsoft's web privacy push: 'We're the anti-Google'

Revenue?

"Microsoft's CEO had claimed Microsoft produced little ad revenue of Hotmail, a problem shared by Google with Gmail."

Great, so now they admit it doesn't make them a lot of money, how about turning ads off altogether?

Also...

"This is enshrined in policy across all our online services,"

Translated: - "Every MSN-based site or portal you visit will be chock full of ads for crap no-one wants".

Evil Bill for this, even though he's probably got nothing to do with it. Where's the Ballmer icons?

Firefox plans fix for decade-old browsing history leak

@Top AC

Yeah, Microsoft would never do that. How audacious of Mozilla to at least attempt to fix a 10 year old issue.

PCC bares teeth at bloggers

A blog by any other name...

"But a blog is different because it has to be a conversation, otherwise there's no point in having a blog."

No it isn't. Blog - from the original word "Weblog", referring to an online diary or journal. It is not a discussion or conversation arena. A "blog" is a piece of news or information to be read by others. If it's going to be discussed, it becomes a Forum. A blog is roughly the online equivalent to a notice board, and nothing more. If it's being used any other way, it shouldn't be called a blog.

Facebook gives you the clap: Official

Can't think of a title

That's why I always install anti-virus protection...

Playmobil recreation, by any chance? Lester? Please?

Is Paris Hilton on Facebook?

Windows Phone 7: free tools, captive Marketplace

@jlocke

Ok, open up root on your phone. I'll telnet to it. "rm -rf / " should take care of a few issues, no?

I'm all for consumer choice but I'm quite happy my Android is locked down. At least I know my chances of being rooted are somewhat slim.

Why do you NEED root access, really?

WD targets Win XP users to ease 4KB drive upgrades

@Ivan 4

What about BeOS? CP/M? Hell even AmigaOS!!!!

Get with the 21st century buddy. OS2 had it's time, it's gone.

Windows 7 speculation claims SP1 will land in Q4 2010

@David

I agree with you - is there anything so wrong with Win 7 yet that it actually needs a SP? So far it seems really, really stable to me (for an MS system anyway).

Microsoft sends flowers to IE6 funeral

It's not dead.

If, as the article states, that 20% (that's one out of five) of web access is still via IE6, it ain't dead. How many people worldwide use the internet on a Windows based computer? Then one in five of them still use IE6? That's a LOT of people still. You can't say it's dead until MS start forcing IE7 via Windows Update, with no option to deny it. THEN you can start to cheer.

Terminator icon, because of the zombie look... because that's what IE 6 is!!!

Sony takes aim at Apple iPhone, iPad

Using both devices

I have an iPod Touch (64Gb) and an PSP 3000. For games, I'll take the PSP anyday - it's far more natural to play games on that than the iPod is, even though it does have some cool games... but I can't see how I would be able to play Street Fighter properly on a touch screen. On the other hand, for music, pictures, movies and most definitely web surfing, gimme on iPod. Sony should be embarrased and ashamed about the quality of the web browser on the PSP.

I'd love to see the PSP become a cellphone though... they could do a really, really good job with that as Sony Ericsson phones usually rock.

WD shipping consumer SSDs

Consumer level?

I was thinking about getting the 64gb one just for my OS - but not at nearly $300. That's not consumer or entry level, sorry. Halve that, and maybe we can talk.

I for one welcome our new SSD Cheap Price Overlords (when they arrive).

Intel staff 'fired' in ring piece stunt

El Reg style

Playmobil version?