* Posts by Piro

2311 publicly visible posts • joined 20 Nov 2008

Dell charges £16 TO INSTALL FIREFOX on PCs – Mozilla is miffed

Piro Silver badge

Re: I need to re-think my charging!

Ninite is a great thing and has saved me time in the past.

First thing you need to visit after installing your OS and sorting out the drivers.

Steve Ballmer: Thanks to me, Microsoft screwed up a decade in phones

Piro Silver badge

Re: IS MICROSOFT AN INNOVATOR?

Sony PlayStation followed every previous console too, and was a result of Nintendo's falling out with Sony over building a SNES CD.

Hey, Nimbus Data. What you doin' with those 4TB flash slabs? Making a 96TB box? We KNEW it!

Piro Silver badge

Re: 16/8/4/2 Git/sec

Turns out, an Olympic swimming pool contains a mammoth amount of data.

By my calculations, if you were to simply describe it as literally (H20×Number of molecules in the pool), you'd need 227800000000000000000 TiB (Tebibytes).

As for the individual molecules of the other trace elements in the pool, that becomes impractical and time wasting to estimate. Of course, describing water as simply "H20" doesn't describe all the properties, so it could be argued you'd need to include a longer description per molecule, vastly increasing the dataset required!

Thankfully, this dataset would be compressed insanely efficiently, so it's not as horrifying as it initially appears!

Battling with Blizzard's new WoW expansion and Diablo revamp

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Re: Dumbed down?!

I don't know who voted this guy down, but they're in denial, whoever it was.

Some dude did an experiment where he did nothing but LFR his way to success, in shit gear, rarely doing anything at all, came out laden with epics.

Beta tasting: The Elder Scrolls Online preview

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Re: Why cant they just make an

Now that would be a decent idea!

UK spies on MILLIONS of Yahoo! webcams, ogles sex vids - report

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WTF?

What terrorist would use a webcam?

How on earth is a secret conversation aided by an unencrypted video feed?

No terrorist worth his salt would use a webcam. What purpose would showing yourself possibly serve in the context of a private conversation?

This was worthless data from day dot. Seriously, I'm surprised it wasn't higher than 11% nudity.

How is this legal or justified? We are being ruled by idiots, perverts and power hungry idiotic perverts. Also, those who follow them and just nod their head because PAEDOPHILES and TERRORISTS.

I don't think this will ever stop, because political will is as limp as a paedophile in an retirement home.

Get Quake III running on Raspberry Pi using Broadcom's open-source GPU drivers, earn $10K

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Quake III Arena

A game that played fine on a Dreamcast.

200MHz Hitachi SH-4, 16MiB RAM, 100MHz PowerVR2 8MiB VRAM. Optical disc.

Over 13 years ago.

Even had 4 player split screen.

Not exactly a monumental achievement for a supposedly far more powerful device

700MHz ARM11, 512MiB RAM, 250MHz Broadcom Videocore IV. NAND flash.

Insecure hipsters with BEARD ENVY spur facial hair transplant craze

Piro Silver badge

People making money from these mugs don't hate them, though

I am indifferent. Taking money from idiots doesn't seem like a bad thing.

As for beards, I thought all you had to do was not shave for a while, then, boom, beard. That's how it works for me..

Official FACT: Gadgets are giving YOU a wrinkly 'Tech Neck'

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Re: The rise of the 2 chins techy

No, I think that's just because they are fat bastards.

Piro Silver badge

Re: Now I feel sullied

I thought the same. Daily Mail as a primary source? You should feel bad.

People have never looked down to read or write in all of human history?

In fact, with the advent of computers, we are looking straight ahead to retrieve data more often than ever - clearly reading paperwork would require a much more downward looking gaze.

Pine trees' scent 'could prevent climate change really being a problem'

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Probably all that mulled wine spiced bleach they were sniffing.

Google Glass: Reg man tests tech specs

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Re: "glass" is a useless bit of kit.

Bingo.

Microsoft's JavaScript challenger nears 1.0, wins Visual Studio love

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Re: Can't see the point myself.

I understand your point in principle, but you could keep arguing the same thing over and over. JavaScript is not exactly a low level language itself.

Make cyberwar a no-no equal to nukes, bio, and chemical attacks, says RSA headman

Piro Silver badge

Slipping standards at The Register?

"And while your at it,"

you are at it, surely, or "you're".

MtGox MELTDOWN: Quits Bitcoin Foundation board, deletes Twitter

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Re: Mt Gox home page has hidden HTML comment

Good catch.

Pics: 'Bitcoin ATMs' spring up in the US

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This shows something very interesting/positive

The fall in BTC value, I mean. The fact remains, many other cryptocurrencies remain at higher prices compared to BTC.

So, the ratio between, say, LTC/BTC means if you're holding LTC, the value is going up in terms of the amount of Bitcoin you can buy with it.

Nokia launches Android range: X marks the growing low-cost spot

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Re: Heh

4", 800x480, 768MiB RAM and a microSD slot!

Damn, better get my Desire HD back out, apparently it's the latest thing...

We nearly MISSED OUT on iOS7 redesign: But someone snatched Jony Ive from the jaws of quit

Piro Silver badge

'Industrial Design is a hard way to make money. '

Especially because most design is about targeting something to a demographic and making it as cheap as possible, not making the best possible design.

One sure-fire way to make designers lose heart is make them destroy their creation.

BOFH: He... made... you... HE made YOU a DOMAIN ADMIN?

Piro Silver badge

Fantastic read

On top form!

So much truth in this.

Alliance for Wireless Power to pursue new 50W standard

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Re: More death throws of a zombie business model

I know someone who uses a pre 3 and hp touchpad, both with wireless chargers.

HTC offers FREEBIE repair on new models with cracked screens

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Thumb Up

What, you mean you don't need the latest device, and you want to spend less?

Attack of common sense! Good to read.

Birds Eye releases 'mashtags' social spud snacks

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I suggested a long time ago they make different smilies

But now they've made a stupid hashtag thing? Jesus.

I wanted some different expressions to stab with my fork! Not a hash or an at sign.

Wii got it WRONG: How do you solve a problem like Nintendo?

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Re: I quite like it

Zombie Master. That was a great mod.

Piro Silver badge

Re: Add a bit of shine and open it up to devs

"Release a new Wii with minor graphics improvements so it can do HDMI"

You mean the Wii U?

Piro Silver badge

Re: Not in agreement with the core of the article

"I'll concede one point: yes, "WII" and "WII U" are ridicule names, sure. But let's get over it."

Nah, I think it's actually very important - a lot of consumers think Wii U is some kind of tablet accessory for the Wii, a console they're already a bit tired of.

Whether the name is ugly or bad is personal opinion, but it's pretty clear it's a confusing name.

Piro Silver badge

Re: I quite like it

There are fun and innocent games on other platforms, but I do agree with one thing - the family living room - the key thing that I'm glad Nintendo is still doing is local multiplayer.

Other platforms cynically are going to online multiplayer, and Nintendo still provides good opportunities for split screen and so on. This is good. But that's Nintendo the game developer, not Nintendo the hardware producer.

There's no reason they couldn't make the same games with the same great local multiplayer for PS4, for example. Wii U infact makes the situation worse than the Wii - because not all players can have a touchscreen controller!

Piro Silver badge

How did they die? Do they start shutting down randomly? Open the case up, unscrew the PSU, and pull the PSU up from the contacts, give those contacts a bit of a clean and reseat the PSU. Often this simple trick helps.

Piro Silver badge

I hear this "Dreamcast" comparison, but I'm never sure where it comes from.

The Dreamcast was the first practical online console (first with a built in modem), it was the first with analogue triggers, it was the first with a screen on the controller, it was notably more powerful than other consoles at launch (launched before PS2, and even compared to PS2, all output was progressive so it holds up better today, supported hardware AA), and is fondly remembered with a quirky line up. It also has a far better name than "Wii U".

The Dreamcast and Wii U have completely different mindsets behind their design. The Dreamcast was from a powerful arcade manufacturer who wanted to cleanse the palette of the misguided 32X and Saturn, and get back to a solid gaming experience with a powerful machine (the arcade version, NAOMI, lived on for a very, very long time). Games were varied, and often as good looking as it was possible to make them (Shenmue for example).

The Wii U on the other hand is everything a cookie-cutter Wii sequel should be - gimmicky and underpowered. Thing is, it's not that interesting second time round (or arguably, the first time round).

The Wii U is innovative in what way, exactly? PlayStation has had remote play with the PSP and PS3 before the Wii U, and still has it now with PS4 and Vita. Motion controls were popularised with the Wii, but were around before that (Dreamcast fishing controller can be used like a crude Wiimote).

The only shame is that Nintendo won't develop or port their games for other platforms.

Piro Silver badge

Re: Wii failed

N64 dated at launch? What? Super Mario 64 is the most influential 3D platformer of all time, and OoT was one of the most epic and playable Zelda games.

Not to mention Goldeneye 007, which was basically the only game in town when you had 4 people around a screen, followed up by Perfect Dark. There were some key games on the N64 that made it stand out.

Sony's PlayStation 4 pwns Xbox in the United States

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Re: Pfft .....

I think maybe you've posted this a little prematurely. I'd hope El Reg wouldn't be the place to find console fanboys, heaven forbid.

These days I prefer everything on the PC, although I tend to use a 360 controller with a lot of newer games.

Not just for the graphical quality, but for sheer convenience. PCs will also be "backwards compatible" for a lot longer than any console, so I can have a decent unbroken experience.

I have plenty of consoles myself: Xbox 360, PS2, Dreamcast (x6), GameCube (x2), N64 (x2) SNES, Xbox, of course a DS Lite for good measure. Had a Gameboy Advance SP, but no idea where it went.

PC is still the most versatile, and newer consoles lack the unique charm of the older machines. I know that all my old console games are frozen in time - as long as the hardware and disc works, I can play that game forever, as it is, with the same experience every time. Newer consoles, they may want to update, the virtual stores may die out, you'll get a system update which flips things around and tosses ads in your face.

The UNTOLD SUCCESS of Microsoft: Yes, it's Windows 7

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Re: The ENTIRE point ...

Boot faster? You don't have an SSD. Sorry.

Run leaner? RAM is cheap these days.

Piro Silver badge

Re: What the hell did they expect?

I wish people would stop saying "Windows 8 is fine, you can totally avoid Metro".

The ENTIRE point of Windows 8 is to push Metro and their app store.

If you don't use that, you may as well be using Windows 7. Using Windows 8 gives Microsoft the wrong idea in stats. The idea that they pushed out a worthy update.

Samsung Gear splurge skews smartwatch market Google’s way

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Re: y'know ...

Couldn't be "whablet", where does the h come from?

The h in phablet is clearly from "phone". So it would be just "Wablet". But that would be wrist and tablet.

I guess unless you are putting a phablet on your wrist. VLW? Very Large Watch.

Million-dollar new disk tech could be USELESS for array vendors

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Shingled recording

Sounded shite from the off - because you could clearly see the flaw in attempting to overlap everything - and it of course shows up in the form of abysmal write speeds.

I can't imagine it's a very reliable process either.

Helium filled drives, well, my hat goes off to HGST for trying something new.

WD My Cloud EX4 four-bay NAS

Piro Silver badge

Re: Proprietary NAS? I don't think so.

Yeah, it's also the reason I would never run hardware RAID at home.

If I use software RAID, it doesn't matter what system dies, essentially.

Piro Silver badge

Re: I keep looking at these NAS devices

Yeah, these things need to be way cheaper to be considered.

If you buy, say, the cheapest Dell server (yes, really! PowerEdge T20 starts at 219 ex VAT with no drives), then stack it with your own drives, you'll end up cheaper than this box...

.. But now you have a fully functional piece of kit, which you can run almost anything on.

Gamers save Nvidia's bacon in storming fourth quarter

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That's because nobody can buy a high end AMD card, all the miners kept buying them at inflated prices.

John McAfee declares war on Android

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Re: Android is one big spying platform

Yeah, I don't use my actual Google account when I use YouTube, which is the only thing I need an account for (sodding Google merging accounts). I use one that has a fake, temporary email address.

It's very handy for keeping a subscription list and allowing adult content, or I'd do without the thing entirely.

Piro Silver badge

If you're rooted..

Xposed Installer

XPrivacy module

XPrivacy allows you to revoke permissions and feed applications with fake data all day long

That said, I'm still happy to see more about John McAfee. He's one charismatic guy.

BBC, ITV gang up on YouView with 'FreeView Connect'

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First time I've ever heard of "YouView". So there's that.

El Reg talks beer and binaries with a boffin named Boffin

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To be fair, the man comes from Belgium, where they have frankly incredible beer, so it's hard to compete with that from the off.

I'm sure things will get better!

NYPD dons Google tech specs: Part man. Part machine. All Glasshole

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No, it's far worse.

Piro Silver badge

Haha, why not Robocop?

No, really, Robocop had the HUD too with perp detection and so on...

... Not Terminator. He had it, but not for a strict crime prevention tool, more of a combat effectiveness and situational awareness tool. Cops shouldn't be comparing themselves to Terminator, who was, himself, a criminal.

Friends don't do tech support for friends running Windows XP

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Re: "13 years. 13 years. 13 years is far too long to expect support."

In Windows PC terminology, the machine is only the same if it has the same motherboard, to prevent the confusion over whether a case counts as "the same machine".

If you replace the motherboard, Windows will want to re-activate, as it believes it is a different machine.

Larry Ellison: Technology has 'negatively impacted' children

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He is indeed a massive arse.

But again, correct.

There's no doubt whatsoever that easy access to vast quantities of information has provided a crutch for many.

To school kids these days, learning means copying and pasting from Wikipedia.

Opera founder von Tetzchner: It's all gone to crap since I quit

Piro Silver badge

Opera Classic for android..

Is still the fastest browser on the platform for feel.

Smooth on almost anything.

The newer Opera Mobile with WebKit is a goddamn sluggish mess, with an awful UI.

I'll take the buttons at the bottom, please, that's where my thumb is.

Baby's got the bends: LG's D958 G Flex Android smartie

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Almost true.

Small correction: Until Apple does it. Then they will have invented it.

Sony set to axe 5,000 workers worldwide as it flings PC biz overboard

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Re: Their market

I've always had a soft spot for Dells.

My Precision M4400 with the 1920x1200 screen is a nice piece of kit for the age, and can still play games passably on the Quadro FX 770M.

Piro Silver badge

Re: Not surprising

Total bollocks, basically..

I have a Vaio Z12, my girlfriend has a Vaio S13 Premium, show me other laptops that have full voltage CPUs and discrete graphics with a 13" 1600x900 screen, RAID0 SSDs AND an optical drive in a thin and light package.

You can't, and they're basically absolute gems of machines with no equal.

They are also not part of the current line up, and nor is any alternative. Which is kind of the point. They don't have any laptops right now I'd want. But in the recent past they've made machines that I'd still take over any currently available machine.

If they focused keenly on only these top end devices, and left the mainstream scraps to others, they'd have a smaller but premium brand reputation that could easily be well deserved.

How bad WAS the parking situation in Middelfart* in 2013?

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Similarly, if you know any Danish..

Grimsby becomes a description the inhabitants may not appreciate.

("Grim by" being ugly town). That said, it was apparently founded by a man from Denmark called Grim. Being called ugly is even more unfortunate.