Re: Is it just me or...
First one was great... Some bits of 2 were good but the latter levels were a bit... uninspiring. Third one? I doubt it'll be as great as people hope...
BTW, do we have to have the word 'blogosphere' on El Reg? Please no......
Posts by Jeremy
287 publicly visible posts • joined 18 Apr 2007
Halo 3 packaging in disk-scratch rumpus
Jack Thompson sets about Halo 3
Tuesday 25th September 2007 02:44 GMT
Him again...
The games companies should pay Thompson, the amount of free publicity he gets for 'em. I can just imagine how TV news Stateside will be running this - split screen with him blabbering away on the left and in-game footage on the right. Cue thousands of kids drooling over their TVs, shouting "Coool!" and pestering their parents to make a quick trip to Best Buy...
Man sues God
Google sued for 'crimes against humanity'
Eye-O-Sauron™ spy towers still buggy
Thursday 20th September 2007 23:28 GMT
Re: Surveillance
What the other person said.
TBH, I'd rather have some pokey CCTV on the street corner than couldn't identify me properly if I stuck my passport three inches from the lens than have to go through the now intimately familiar "Left index finger, right index finger, hold for a photo please" rigmarole every time I pass through PHL, "'cos I is one of 'em foreigners."
And FWIW, next time you're at Walmart, look up and count the number of cameras pointing at you. I'll bet you can count at least nine covering the car park alone. And then try and find out the name and contact address of the people who operate the cameras. At least with CCTV in Blighty, you know *who* is looking at you...
Premium rate Virgin Media cuts tech support jobs
Google Earth mobilised in search for Fossett
Top judge: put everyone in UK on the DNA database
Wednesday 5th September 2007 14:05 GMT
This morning
...I turned on my TV as I was waking up and listened to this story. Even in my pre-first-cup-of-tea, 90% comatose state, the judge's arguments totally failed to stand up.
"Too many black and Asian men are on the database, so we'll just stick everyone on it instead of looking at *why* black and Asian men are more likely to be arrested."
Preposterous beyond belief. If this happens, I guess I'll become a criminal by refusing to give a sample. Makes me feel glad I'm emigrating.
Dolphins abandon Bay of Biscay
Some Skypers get reconnected, but most still offline
Friday 17th August 2007 17:00 GMT
Sporadic...
...is the right word. I too doubt a problem in the client software. Uunless some disgruntled former employee did this:
If (Date() >= 16-Aug-2007) Then
Laugh(LAUGH_MODE_MANIC_CACKLE)
Else
Connect()
End If
that might explain it. Otherwise Skype have some serious grovelling and explaining. And yes, I'm a paying customer so I do have a right to complain. They do quite well out of me.
Skype hangs up on users
Friday 17th August 2007 00:59 GMT
Not Patch Tuesday...
Doesn't seem that patch Tuesday was at fault. It's slowly coming back up without any software update. Over 900,000 users and climbing...
The site status said something about planned maintenance last night and that there was "a deficiency in an algorithm within Skype networking software." So someone dropped a bollock last night code-wise, perhaps?
Thursday 16th August 2007 15:00 GMT
Re: I remember...
> What about a telephone Jeremy?
I never thought of that :P
Seriously though, I meant long-term; it would be an international call and I'm not made of money. Skype's been going downhill ever since it changed from a handy and (relatively) lightweight app to a heavy piece of bloatware and a CPU usage hog.
Thursday 16th August 2007 13:54 GMT
I remember...
...what my fiancée sounds like, which is a good thing since I can't talk to her today. I've yet to hold a connection for more than about 20 seconds and to top it all, it's not just login - call forwarding (which would normally get the calls when things get all snafu'd) isn't working either. I can't ascertain whether my SkypeIn number is functioning or not.
I've never known an outage on this scale but there has been a creeping increase in problems with Skype over the past 12 months or so. Call forwarding (silently) failing, SkypeIn (silently) failing, call quality issues and so on are almost a weekly occurrence for me.
Perhaps it's time to consider a new solution...
In the beginning, there was the flowchart...
Nokia issues battery warning
Ex-MI5 agent Shayler claims to be chav messiah
UK.gov publishes alien sightings list
Tuesday 7th August 2007 12:20 GMT
Signals vs Traffic Lights
"Only problem with both hypotheses is that neither a traffic light nor a railway signal would ever have all lamps lit at the same time."
What makes you think the alien reporter saw them all at the same time? Remember, we're talking about people who report "lots of lights" in the sky on Dec 31st here :-p
Offender tagging beaten by skyscrapers
Monday 6th August 2007 22:20 GMT
Well...
...what do you expect to happen when you let civil servants think of a crowd-pleasing use for a system originally designed to track tanks and ICBMs.
And lets not forget who owns the GPS satellites. Is it really such a good idea to implement an offender tracking scheme based on a system that America could, even if only theoretically, switch off whenever they please? Of course it's not but like that's gonna stop 'em trying...
Nintendo yanks Mario Party 8 - offensive language to blame?
Oracle sends bloke cardboard laptop
Google gives away FeedBurner
Friday 6th July 2007 04:06 GMT
Re: Not completely free
Google Earth's image resolution is identical for all versions. There's a higher *print* resolution available but that's not exactly the same thing.
They say:
> While there are additional capabilities and features available in
> Google Earth Pro, the underlying imagery is the same for all
> versions of Google Earth.
Microsoft tells Ultimate Extras fans to 'hang on'
Friday 6th July 2007 04:06 GMT
Dreamscene...
...is definitely out. Appeared in my Windows Update list about 6 weeks (?) ago. Installed it, played with it for about 10 minutes, disabled it because (a) I hardly ever have everything minimised and (b) well, it's just a gimmick, isn't it. The only way to see the video clearly is to turn the desktop icons off and then you're not going to be using your desktop are you?
I got my Vista Ultimate (and Office 2007) for free via that developer competition they ran back in January so I'm not feeling ripped off but I somewhat doubt the list of extras will include anything that makes me think, "Wow, I'm so glad I have Ultimate now!"
iPhone autopsies conducted
Apple iPhone
Sunday 1st July 2007 16:34 GMT
Re: feature, not a bug
>Gmail through POP always sticks everything in a single "container" -
> try it through Outlook. Not iPhone specific.
Yes, Gmail sends sent messages down the wire to POP3 clients but my email client (Thunderbird) at least looks at the headers and threads the mails accordingly, displaying them in a nice tree. Does iPhone do that?
As for whether I want one? The answer is the same as for any other of the 'latest and greatest' phones. I have a £19 cellphone. I use it to make calls. Because it's a phone. I have a camera, which takes great pictures. I have a computer with a big hi-res screen, for reading small text on the internet (I mean, who wants to zoom in on an area of the page to be able to read it if the point size is less than 48?).
The iPhone is a fashion statement. My £19 cellphone (who's battery lasts a fortnight - I'd like to see iPhone do that!) is not. It's a phone. I like that.
Beavis and Butthead in London jihad
Saturday 30th June 2007 00:07 GMT
And anyway...
Half the fricken country is under water, 1000s of homes are or have been underwater, people *did* die and the damage runs to millions and millions of pounds.
What's more important to the nation right now, that or some Bin Laden wannabe's wet dream of an idea? Perspective acquired :)
Friday 29th June 2007 19:53 GMT
Funny you should say that...
The Beeb collared an "explosives expert" to "simulate" what the "explosion" would have been like, to show us how afraid we should all be. Big fireball, small boom, no signs of a shockwave (didn't even wobble the camera much). Funny, that.
I was so hoping it was a name I wouldn't hear today but I did on the BBC news tonight. Al Qaeda. There, they had to go and say it, didn't they? But none of the hallmarks of them were present. Where was the synchronization, the rush-hour timing for best media exposure? And don't get me started about whether or not "Al Qaeda" actually exists...
Yes, the media would have us believe that we're all gonna die but what sickens me most is that then, when the population at large fail to fall for their fake terror and just get on with their merry lives (as London appears to be doing today), that they then have the barefaced cheek to call us brave.
I always thought that the news was meant to tell us what *has* happened not what *might* have happened. Obviously, I'm totally misguided.
AT&T sued by poor man's Formula 1
Tuesday 19th June 2007 13:53 GMT
Yawn,,,
Instructions for prospective NASCAR drivers:
- Wait for start of race
- Put foot down
- Turn steering wheel slightly to the left
- Continue
- Win
It may be rich but good god it's dull. But I'd better not say anything more - I remember what happened in that episode of Top Gear not so long back....
/me runs, quickly
Blockbuster says Game Over on Game Station UK
Wednesday 2nd May 2007 15:44 GMT
Competition?
How is this not attracting the attentions of the Competition Commission?
As I understand it, there used to be three big-ish chains: Game, EB and Game Station. About 4 or 5 years ago, Game bought all of EBs UK stores. Now they've bought Game Station. Doesn't that mean that, aside from a small - and dying - number of independent stores, they basically have complete control of high-street games stores?
Vista – End of the Dream?
Vote for sale on eBay
Tuesday 1st May 2007 16:14 GMT
Re: A similar idea
> People don't take basic civic duties like voting seriously anymore.
Lets face it though, in the local elections, if I vote Labour and they win, they'll probably paint the slide in the new playground red. If I vote Tory and they win, they'll probably paint it blue. If I vote Green and they win, they probably won't paint it at all. In any case, the local teenagers will repaint it to their own 'design' within 72 hours, guaranteed.
At the end of the day, I take my civic duties seriously when the need arises but to be honest, my local councillor has such an insignificant effect on my life that I'll have probably forgotten who I voted for by the time I leave the booth. Perhaps if local politicians actually engaged their public and made a difference in their lives (like, for example, giving the local kids something to do with their evenings besides graffiti and breaking wing mirrors) some more people would get out and vote for them.
I've got some sawdust: can I call it chocolate?
Wednesday 25th April 2007 00:27 GMT
They can't make chocolate anyway...
In moments of homesickness, I pay through the nose ($1.40) over here for imported small bars of Cadbury Dairy Milk at a local 'farmer's market' (read: supermarket in disguise) because the crap that Hershey churns out and calls Cadbury Dairy Milk (with a disclaimer that it's made under license) does indeed taste like sawdust already so changing the definition won't mean squat.
And while we're on the subject, don't get me started on how much it costs to get hold of Yorkshire Tea and Walkers prawn cocktail crisps - two other things the 'world's greatest country' can't seem to manage...
Sinclair ZX Spectrum: 25 today
Monday 23rd April 2007 23:19 GMT
Memories are made of this...
Horrace Goes Skiing was great through my childish eyes. So was writing little BASIC programs to make it draw a forest of green 'trees' of upward pointing arrows, sat on the sofa, aged four... Memories indeed...
I always preferred my Amstrad CPC though <ducks>. I'll never forget the immortal description of the Speccy as coined by Amstrad Action magazine: "The yucky rubber key experience." Classic.
Reg readers admit to faking it
Wednesday 18th April 2007 21:13 GMT
BT Internet
This all sounds very familiar to me. BT are the worst I've encountered for sticking to the script as though it were written in treacle.
I've several times had microfilters go to electronic heaven on me and asked BT to send some new ones. Oh no, not just like that. First we have to go through my Norton AV and firewall settings, "I'm sorry sir, but we must first check some things."
Now I appreciate that the call centre reps have to cover their own backsides from managers hunting for people to fire but not even simple logical reasoning will convince them to stop going on about irrelevant things. Take the microfilter vs. Norton issue. I have two computers hooked up. One of them has Norton, the other does not. Both are affected by reduced connection speed and reliability. On top of that, whether I'm talking to Bangalore or my neighbour, I have the tell-tale hiss on my phone line.
Will they accept that it's not Norton AV and skip tests that are wasting my time and theirs? Of course not. I wouldn't care so much but for the other major annoyance with customer-facing call-centres: I'm always going to be paying for the call - failure of their equipment or service is costing me money to fix. After a mind-melting thirty-eight minutes on the phone, he told me that he thought it was probably the microfilters gone bad and that I would receive some new ones in a few days.
I've had reason to call them at least 4 or 5 times in the past year and not once have I had a speedy outcome. On one occasion I was left with the phone and internet knocking each other out such that only one could be plugged in to the line at a given time. Because their line test came back clean, they insisted there was no problem. Nearly two months of wire swapping, calls to India and Norton fiddling later, they agreed to get an engineer to check the line at the exchange. Not surprisingly, they promptly found a fault and fixed it.
For various reasons I didn't have much choice but to use BT when I hooked up my current phone and internet service. The light at the end of the tunnel is glowing bright though; my contract is up in May at which point they will be unceremoniously dumped, entirely because of their terrible customer service.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
