Posts by Mike

'Lunatic' Smith doubles ID card costs for Mancunians

Biometric Enrolment

Does the biometric enrolment still include iris scans? If so, I would be interested to know what, if any, testing has been carried out to see how well the system will cope with Ocular Albinism and acute Nystagmis.

The first of these conditions results in a significant reduction in pigmentation in the retina and iris, along with a reduction in opacity of blood vessels. The second leads to persistent, involuntary motion of the eye which cannot be controlled.

Those of us with these conditions are likely to find this type of enrolment impossible, and if staff are not properly trained to recognise these conditions (and others which may lead to problems) will also likely end up very humiliating.

NASA probe finds opals in Martian crevices

Opals on Mars...

Am I the only one who read the headline and thought "Wow, google streetview Mars must be on its way"?

Yes? Ah well, guess the medication's wearing off!

Sony revamps e-book Reader with reading lamp

Bah Humbug...

...Just when I go out and buy a 505, Sony release a new model! Humbug I say!

Having said that, I'm very impressed with the 505 - the display is clear and crisp, the battery life is excellent and the controls are simple and intuitive.

The screen flicker (mentioned by Tony Chandler) is really annoying for about the first two minutes, but you soon get to a point where you barely notice it. I assume that the transitions are done this way to ensure that the display is redrawn correctly - there are other changes which don't update the entire screen (the 'busy' icon, the 'volume' slider and the 'denied' icon when a keypress is invalid), so it's not a direct technology limitation.