Posts by James Pickett 1321 publicly visible posts • joined 23 Apr 2007
IIRC, the MiG Foxbat had/has a radar capable of incinerating a rabbit a kilometre away, so maybe RF is a better way to go than visible light. It certainly has the advantage on not being easily dissipated by mist and fog. If I was Al-Q'aeda, I would be buying a few dry-ice machines, just in case...
Not quite sure why I would want one of these. I have an MP3 player that is slightly smaller than a box of matches, that I can carry around, and the computer is connected to my audio system wirelessly already (wi-hi-fi, if you like), which isn't so unusual. I think this is a product looking for an application...
Surely 'kiddie-friendly' is a relative term? IIRC, the government still warns against children's use of mobiles because of the proximity of a source of microwaves to their developing grey matter. A phone that only allowed texting might be a better solution.
There is this, of course, but it might be somewhat lacking in street cred...
http://www.teddyfone.com/about_teddyfone.shtml
I echo the thoughts above about the little heat from standby units offsetting the central heating. Also, electronic equipment likes being left on, so the 'standby police' are ensuring that it wears out more quickly through repeated power cycling, which is a lot less environmentally friendly than consuming a few extra watt-hours.
About time the Law of Unintended Consequences was on the National Curriculum...
So now they've got the main fridge working, they're ditching the backup..?
Also, surely if they chucked it forwards, rather than backwards, it would spiral up out of orbit and be some alien's problem. Be a shame if the next Shuttle mission to fill up the main fridge collides with the other one on the way down...
I think this is pretty good news. It's cheap enough to be an impulse buy, and since MS has made it difficult to blag a copy of Office to use at home, it fills a need and make people less dependent on MS. The same suite (Ability) is also badged and sold by Ebuyer (for £12.99) and it's pretty capable, especially the database. Anyone who has tried mail-merging with Word would be pleasantly surprised, with filters and sorting available on the document menu.
It can also be made to default to MS formats (pre-Office 2007 at least) and is a whole lot more compact and faster on old hardware, like a lot of people have at home. I've nothing against Open Office (although for some reason Star Office seems more responsive) but my personal favourite is Ashampoo Office, which can also be put on, and run from, a memory stick.
The emergence of cheap alternatives (not to mention the free on-line editions like Google Docs, Zoho and ThinkFree) must be giving Bill G sleepless nights. IIRC, the absurd profit level in the MS version is what allows them to lose so much money on everything else!
It doesn't work the other way though, does it? The Yanks flatly refused to supply our coroners with the 'friendly fire' information they requested a few months ago. Not that I hold any brief for the MOD, who frankly deserve everything they get in this case. It's about time everyone (who wants to) made their own armaments...
"This is because they undermine bids from everyone else."
Indeed, but you'd think HMG would be smart enough to hold them to the original quotation. It's the same in local government - the job invariably goes to the lowest bidder, who then somehow invokes a clause in the contract that allows him to hike the price later, or just waits until it's too late to cancel and stitches up the department concerned. Considering how many lawyers are on the public payroll (more than you think) surely contracts could be written more tightly? Or better, don't just give the job to the lowest bidder.
Or better still, restore child maintenance to the magistrates' courts, where each case is taken on its merits, by humans with local knowledge and powers to collect. Which is how it used to be done, of course, before politicians fell in love with computers...
I'm with Jeremy. I've got a cheap (and now very old) PAYG phone that works, as well as a camera and PDA, etc. each chosen to do what it's supposed to do. I can upgrade any of them as and when required, which I frequently do with cameras. I don't want them all in one package, however smart. I'm not likely to get mugged for my phone, either...
..what to make of this, really. It seems such unreasonable behaviour, especially towards Rachel North, whose blog is thoughtful and well-written, but any period in jail for someone as deranged as Ms Lowde probably isn't appropriate either. How long before she finds a computer to work on, I wonder...
Reminds me of the story of the WordPerfect (that long ago!) helpdesk operator who had to deal with a call from a user whose screen had blanked. Eventually, the exasperated helper asked the user to check the power lead. "I can't see to do that" was the reply, "all the lights have gone off".
The helper takes a deep breath and calmly informs the user that there is a serious fault and that the computer must go back to the shop. "Oh dear" says the user, "what should I tell them?"
Letting go a little, the helper yells back, "tell them you're too effing stupid to use a computer!"
It's just Darwinism, really.
"a consistent pattern of evasion and misdirection"
That'll be 'lies' then - why don't they say what they mean? It's hard to believe they're trying to spare anyone's feelings...
BTW, lest any American readers think I'm biased, we have exactly the same trouble in the UK. Boris Johnson memorably compared our (then) Beloved Leader with a 'greased piglet' for his talent at escapology...
So, the uninstall program is currently not available for download, "because it is tailored to the software on the system."
But, "today this does not remove all Dell-installed software on the system".
So, is it tailored not to remove all DIS, or not tailored at all? I think we should be told...
"I have never had a problem with ebuyer"
Likewise. Delivery when they say (often before) and very competitive. Sounds like an honest mistake, and they have said they will deal with any claims.
If you want shrink-wrapped stuff, go to PC World - twice the price and carp service, but at least you get a nice box...
"There is an Office 2007 convertor available for Office 2003"
Doesn't that tell you all you need to know about MS's attitude? Like their grasp of the outside world, where some people (shock, horror) fail to upgrade for, well, quite some time, actually. IIRC, there are still 70 million users of Windows 98 out there...
The biggest (justifiable) criticism on Open Office is that it's not 100% compatible when it comes to the finer points of page formatting, numbering and/or graphics placement. It's pretty good, especially considering that MS is wholly uncooperative about releasing the necessary details, and if you only release documents on paper or as PDF's, there's no problem, but compatibility is the key issue. Now that MS have moved the goalposts again, so that 2007 users have to save in an old format to maintain compatibility, those users might just as well have OO and save their money. Me, I'm still on Word 97...
Every time I read this sort of discussion, it reminds me of a splendid cartoon (by Jim Unger, IIRC) of a senior military person explaining, with the aid of a flip-chart, how their latest purchase was such good value for money. The item shown was long and pointy, and drew impressed comments from the audience when the price tag was revealed as $15000.
"That seems very reasonable for a missile" ventured someone.
"It's not a missile," replied the presenter, "it's a screw."
"Market analysts are predicting the games division to incur a loss of around $488m"
But wouldn't that have been worse if they'd sold more? I seem to recall El Reg reporting not long ago how they cost far more to make than they sold for (as was once the case with the X-box, which almost tempted me to buy one!)
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