Posts by Skip 9 publicly visible posts • joined 28 Aug 2008
Just moved my parents from XP to Win7 x64 (new hardware) and also had the question of what to do about the LiDE 30 scanner which had no Vista/Win7 drivers of any description. Solved with Windows Virtual PC running XP (not in XP Mode but might have worked that way as well). Was quite impressed as I thought it might need drivers of the host OS too...
...it was the feature where someone else gives your email address to Facebook, to be told when (or if) you join Facebook. So no action from you, just your (so called) friend.
Personally, I'd hope my friends would never submit my email address anywhere without checking with me first, but Facebook does make it very easy by offering to "Search your email for friends already on Facebook". And no doubt FB keep all the addresses they find, just in case...
Internet on the go (whether WAP, smartphones or mobile broadband dongles) had never interested me before now and all the smartphones I saw fell short of what I wanted. Nothing in particular against the iPhone, but when I tried it I was nice but no wow factor (for me). Though it did help in popularising the smartphone in non-techie circles, and more competition and choice is always good.
There was something about the Desire that interested me even when just looking at the specs, and so I gave in and got one last week. I've not got much to compare it with, apart from playing with friends' iPhones/other smartphones, but I'm certainly sold on it. Good solid hardware, good spec, very flexible and with a simple option to all the installation of non-marketplace apps. The screen is gorgeous, very fine and clear. And standard connections! Hallelujah!
All I'm waiting for now are the Dropbox and GoogleEarth apps - the former should be out in the next couple of months, and for some reason I can't seem to get the current version of GoogleEarth working, even though it's compatible with the Desire's almost-identical-sibling, the Nexus 1.
Oh yes, and it's silly I know, but I also love the (brief) indication of current weather on the screen when you start it up (e.g. clouds passing by or raindrops on the screen which are then cleared away with a windscreen wiper). Useful when waking up, barely glancing at it and then deciding to crawl back under the duvet...
I've got used to it now. You listened to your readership on key things (comment icons, Odds & Sods) and even chose a lighter shade of grey for the bars at either side* as I hoped for in a previous comment. And who knows how the fixed-width thing will turn out? But I guarantee this - if you change it all again in a couple of years, lots of people with lament the loss of the (new) old look. C'est la vie.
*Or I could be wrong and you left it exactly as is, in which case I just got used to it (maybe the red mist was fading by that point) and all is good with the world. Would be nice if someone from the Reg could confirm if it was lightened otherwise it will prey on mind, leading to sleepless nights and much tossing and turning...
Paris because she also... oh it's far too obvious.
There is no IT angle to this story but who cares. It doesn't matter what is it doing here. I am looking fondly at The Register in my bookmarks, glad to have bookmarked it many years hence. Please re-affirm my subscription (oh hang on, there is no subscription, all this news and amusement is provided free of charge, oh well...). I am also perfectly satisfied with today's weather. The Register has clearly made the weather the way I like it. Thank you.
I'm not overly chuffed with the move to fixed width - just compared the Google cache of the "old" Reg with the new one, and there's definitely lost space there. But if you simply must have fixed width, then at least change the colour of the grey bars at the sides - they are just way too dark and it really makes you feel hemmed in. The BBC News site goes for a very light grey and it makes the boundary between content and background fade away a lot. Simply lightening the grey would be a big step.
Oh yes, and some of the new icons are far too cutesy for their own good - I mean, even the skull and crossbones is grinning, for god's sake! Why is Paris made to look like a vaguelly intelligent, non-skanky blonde? And the flame icon is so "meh" it's totally at odds with the "steam coming out my ears" description. More like "I'm slightly surprised and am glowing luke-warmly"...
And definitely need a competition for a new masthead. Though I can understand you being hesitant of giving your readers a say in such a prominent branding element. And bring back the titles of the first few comments on the article page - they were good at drawing me in, as I'd see at a glance if there were some interesting comments.
Meh, I started this comment intending not to be all negative (really, I did!) as there are good things about the new design. But got bogged down in some details of the things I don't like. I can see why you wanted more control over the layout, especially to give more prominence to certain stories.
In a nutshell: lighten the grey bars a lot and make the icons less cutesy.
Maybe we'll get "SCO: the series" - will jump the shark during the pilot but go on for another 5 years, constantly changing scriptwriters and the rights to it being sold on to other studios after each season.
Or "Blair Witch III: The Cult of Wikipedia"? Actually, come to think of it that would have made a good X-Files episode...
Personally I'm waiting for "ICanHasCheezburger - the Rise and Fall of Ceiling Cat" starring Danny John-Jules, but that's just me. And it's not even Friday yet.
Mine's the coat lurking at the bottom of the TV script barrel.
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