Posts by detritus

Star Trek Beyond: An unwatchable steaming pile of tribble dung

I'd blame Pegg, who's sadly become quite insufferable since he decided to put his roots behind him and go all clean cut sparkle-eyed Cruise adorer.

Fujitsu picks 64-bit ARM for Japan's monster 1,000-PFLOPS super

What is this bilge - are you a nutter or a troll?

Or both?

Lester Haines: RIP

I have no words, just thoughts for his family and friends. I'm so sorry.

x

GCHQ to pore over blueprints of Chinese built Brit nuke plants

Re: "selling property overseas to invest in its own future."

"Who cares if they make housing unaffordable anywhere in London?"

I dunno if you're being sarcastic, but — Me.

I live in the damned place and am trying really hard to make a business work here.

.

But yes, abstractedly, who indeed does care?

Re: Good news, everyone!!

Still the old crappy Gen III reactors with all the waste thereof.

Perhaps we'll get lucky with new nuclear and find a way to extract all the radioactive nastiness out of our waste, but I'd much prefer to see a once capable national nuclear development capability focus on Gen III+ and new Nuclear instead of simply strapping on old, expensive tech whose funding mostly leaves our country.

But what the hey, our government's too focused on the city and selling property overseas to invest in its own future.

Re: Maybe a stupid question...

I came here to post pretty much this.

NukularNRG is one domain I really do believe should stay nationalised and under the direct aegis and investment of the government or whatever subGovernmental body's best up to the task, and if none exists, make one.

How on Earth Britain squandered decades worth of knowledge and world-leading development only to end up with a mere reprocessing capability, I don't know.

All power to the French and Chinese, of course - it just saddens me beyond belief how ineffectual and lacking in self-belief our governments have been.

Sickens ye.

Crazy Chrysler security hole: USB stick fix incoming for 1.4 million cars

Michael Hastings

So, might it be time to go back and check what vulnerabilities a ~2013 model Mercedes C250 Coupé could suffer?

El Reg Redesign - leave your comment here.

Hi Reg - sorry, I'm sure someone's put a lot of effort into this, but it's a distinct step backwards for me.

The site is now a generic and indistinct wall of words and even on desktop here, the new top layout feels like it's pushing content way below the visual fold. It feels visually like the top third of my browser space is being wasted.

I get the logic underpinning the decision to put the primary banner before the masthead, but it draws away from your 'tabloid newspaper' riffing, leaves redundant space on either side, and totally borks the flow for me. Above all else, this change is the most visually-unsettling for me.

I do like your new dropdowns, and the polished flat graphics are neater and a bit more pro - but readability-wise, I feel this is a retrograde step.

Sorry!

Signed,

detritus, a pompous ex-graphic designer type :)

xx

Oculus Rift tech-specs 'many months away' from hitting the shelves

Re: Spec creep?

I know it's a really poor point of comparison, but I excitedly downloaded the templates to cut and bought the widgetry to make a Google Cardboard so that I could get at least a taste of VR after ..what?.. 20+ years of hungrily wanting a go, and was horrified to feel nausea kick in after mere minutes of using it.

I appreciate there's a vast gulf in tech specs and latency and refresh between a homespun cludge and a well-honed end-platform, but it's very apparent to me that instantaneity and high refresh is absolutely necessary to ensure an enjoyable and engaging experience that can last for more than a few minutes.

I can't even begin to imagine how bad the Virtuality experience must've been for people like me who, apparently, suffer from mild motion sickness. I'm kind of glad the thing was offline when I finally got a chance to see a machine in person, in Trocadero, back in the late 90s...

How Hollywood film-makers wove proper physics into Interstellar

Re: yes i am being a cynic.

I'm not wholly sure you understand what art is.

SpaceX FINALLY lobs six sats into orbit (don't mention the landing)

Re: Learn to understand first before commenting

Typical self-important commentard who can't see through the fug of their own spectrum haze to understand when likely clued-up posters are making jokes outwith some need to exhibit how much they, as uninvolved observers, think they know about a subject.

This is ElReg, smart people say daft things, in the process belying what they do know.

Adobe all smiles as beret bods spaff cash on non-cloud Creative Suite

Oh if only it were practical for me to go fully open source for my job, sadly I need Illustrator on a daily basis (waaay better than CorelDraw for creative working with paths for laser and CNC output...).

I don't mind paying for that so much (although I do philosophically loathe that this cloud subscription mechanic essentially locks me in to an annual upgrade, whereas beforehand I could get away with upgrading every two/three versions).

What really pisses me off though is that I intermittently use PS and FW, but with the tiering system deployed by Adobe, I'd then be locked into a ~£50 per month subscription, wherein I get a load of software I would literally never use nor care about.

What's more, having just checked the prices again, there's a 6p — £0.06 — difference between an annual commitment, monthly-billed, and paying 12 month up front.

I like Illustrator, and have used Photoshop since version 3, but I'll be veering away from Adobe for raster editing in future, as I'm sure as heck not paying through the nose for upgrades there.

As soon as any competition comes up for Illy, I'll be looking there too.

Now if only I could possibly convince my clientbase to send me files in another format... :(

-

edit:

Oh, and just to point out to our American cousins - we pay almost twice what you do in the states in an almost $ = £ conversion, so I'm not just being a cheap-ass here.

I'd probably not care if it were ~$50 a month either.

FLYING SAUCER 'designed for Mars atmosphere' in Pacific US military base

I trust 963,000m³ of helium isn't a huge amount in the grand scheme of things, given our increasingly limited stocks of the stuff...? Anyone know why they don't just use hydrogen?

Would make for a nice stratospheric WHUMP! when the rocket ignites...

Entering the Dragon: A little data from Big China

Re: you mean, you're English

Some of us are British over being either English or Scottish, thanks.

Oculus boss: True virtual reality is 'a decade or two' away

Frankly, I'm fine with virtual Virtual Reality — the idea of a fully-immersive, comprehensive experience frightens the bejeesus out of me.

I'd go in and never come back...

Philips lobs patent sueball at Nintendo in US: Seeks to BAN Wii U

Nearly 8 years since the Wii was released globally, and they're only just noticing?

Can't've been all that important to them beforehand, then.

I kind've hoped a company like Philips would be above this sort of bullshit.

OkCupid falls out of love with 'anti-gay' Firefox, tells people to see other browsers

Perhaps they're slinging mud to divert attention from their own internal grubbiness after the recent Justine ‘Going to Africa. Hope I don't get AIDS’ Sacco disaster?

No Notch niche: Minecraft man in rift with Oculus after Facebook gobble

Re: ..a multimillionaire already ..... can afford to walk away

You're richer than most people on the planet, RISC OS — I trust you follow your own advice?

What the world really needs: A telescopic SELFIE STICK

Obligatory—

http://lolzonline.com/imagefile/woman_taking_a_selfie_562.jpg

New password system lets planet Earth do the hard work

New?

I can't find a reference, but I coulda sworn this was mooted at least a couple of years ago?

...or did I dream the idea and have been sitting on a potential gold mine all this time?

Say it ain't so!

Woz he talking about? Apple co-founder wants iPhones to run Android

Hey big guy — try swapping around the letters in ‘ginger’ and see how you get on with that idiotic witlessness.

Mars rover Curiosity snaps 'pale blue dot' image of Earth, Moon

Re: Moment of realisation

Mine was — “Crikey, *of course* a Martian civilisation would be able to see our moon! I wonder how their early philosophers would have wrapped their heads around that one?What conclusions would they have reached in their own time?”

,

(I am aware that there isn't actually a martian civilisation, at least not in terms of what we'd consider one!)

Globe grabbin,’ sphere slammin’, orb-tossin’, pill poppin’... Speedball

Re: The Bitmap Brothers

Aurally too — I still, every few months, stick on the GODS theme tune on YouTube ( v=zJ26QY0A_aQ ) and crank it up loud. it blew my tiny little mind back in the Early 90s.

Although I can't actually remember the game being all that good...

“Into the wunderfuh...” (whatever the hell that's supposed to mean)

Gran Turismo 6: Another glossy, gorgeous Mario Kart on steroids

Oooh - Ronda, eh?

There's a town I'd love to tear around in an Ariel Atom!

Bold Bezos aims skywards with liquid hydrogen and SPACE ROCKET engine

Re: I snese a J2-x fanbois in the audience.

As much of a sci-tech space nerd as I think I am sometimes, I snese you're vastly over-estimating the audience's tribalism where competing rocket engines are concerned...

Microsoft gets GIANT GLASS HQ in FINLAND as part of Nokia deal

Re: Rented building anyway

Aye, I recall reading they were changing the tenantship status to reduce costs fairly recently. Every new mote that comes out about this deal puts Nokia's long-term thinking in a better, saner light.

Sad to have to mourn the passing of an iconic brand - but it doesn't look like there's as grand a future in phone hardware production as there is in the software and infrastructure that keeps the wee bastards ticking along...

Google's Nexus 5: Best smartphone bang for your buck. There, we said it

Re: Hangouts for SMS

Gosh, that was easy - thanks for that!

I'm now able to send SMS texts to short-form UK numbers without Google trying desperately to correct my attempts - yaay!

Re: Hangouts for SMS

Hi - Nexus 5 owner and total 'Droid newbie here...

May I ask what third party SMS text app yu'd recommend, please?

The sodding G+/Hangout interaction's driving me spare.

Thanks!

No, it's NOT Half-Life 3 – it's Valve's lean, mean STEAM MACHINE

Re: I wish them well but...

You irked me with your pessimism, then enraged me with your delusion that their steam moniker has any relevance to that distinctly self-regarding and ultimately generally-quite-unimaginative and tiresome Steampunk aesthetic. I can't think of a quicker way to turn off huge chunks of your consumer base than by putting too much niche character into a design.

This is beta test kit they're announcing here - it needs to be intrinisically practical and dull so as to focus on the internals, which may well get swapped around, which certinaly do need to be breezy and cool. After all, much of the hardware production will end up being done by third-party actors, all featuring their own design requirements and conceits.

Regardless of that - no design team in their right mind would give away cues to their end-game at this stage.

Psst, hey... Facebook, wanna buy BlackBerry? Aw well, it was worth a try

Currently mulling over buying a Z30, despite BB's ever-looming demise.

The thought of future FB ownership sours the idea entirely.

ZTE Open: This dirt-cheap smartphone is a swing and a miss

Glad to hear my own frustrations about the appalling input echoed in your article - this is my first touchscreen phone (Yes, I'm a luddite) and I've very nearly hoyed the damn thing across the street a few times.

Before text-input even, the presumably-simple act of calling a number in the phone book is frustrating beyond belief - I'm still unsure exactly how many microseconds I'm supposed to keep my finger depressed for the unit to register that I want to call, not edit a number.

And then - drizzle. Don't even try to use the screen if there's even a speck of 101% humidity on the damn thing.

A shame, as i could forgive every other fault if I could just use the damn thing without frustration.

My hopes of fart-arsing around and developing a wee HTML pseudo-App are long-gone. Just not worth the red mist...

.

Also - did anyone else here get copied in, twice, to a couple of emails from ZTE proudly declaring that they value privacy.. whilst CC'ing in 300+, then 700+ names of other handset consumers?

Nasty Flash advert

Ah, I posted a confirmation of your observation in giddy haste (subsequently deleted).

The thing's still running like a dog with more than one Reg tab open.

DON'T MAKE ME USE CHROME, ELREG - POR FAVOR!

Aye, I'm a great believer in doing the little I can to support the sites I regularly visit by keeping their advertising visible and, when appropriate clicking on them to have a look (I even try the occasional Reg survey, but as a self-employed demi-nerd who doesn't have need of gigaquads of server infrastructure or cloud-based data nodes, my feedback is less than useful!).

Anyway, yes - this is the first time I've considered ad or flash blocking software.

I'm just surprised no one from ElReg appears to have noticed - does the whole world use Chrome these days?

btw - I'm on Win7, with plenty of HD space, 12Gb RAM and an i7 running Firefox 24 (although it was doing it on 23 too).

Hallo Reg - I've been suffering from really slow running on Reg for a while (couple of weeks?) now too - something to do with these Blue full page o2 adverts you've got going on. If I have a couple of Register tabs open, the whole browser chugs to a stop.

I had simply assumed it was something to do with my running Firefox beta, but having [in a fit of exasperation] tried to check some stories in Safari (apologies, it was the first icon I clicked on) I see your site's running just as slowly there.

Thanks!

x

ZTE's $80 Firefox OS mobe sells out on eBay

HOW THE HELL IS ONE SUPPOSED TO TYPE ON THIS WRETCHEDLY TINY THING?!

I have tiny, almost effeminate hands, which've spent decades typing on all manner of interfaces and I'll be damned if I can use this thing.

Very frustrating.

US Navy coughs $34.5m for hyper-kill railgun that DOESN'T self-destruct

Re: Erm, curvature of the earth, anyone?

*facepalm*

US Navy blasts drones with ship-mounted LASER CANNON

My understanding from the video here and from what else I've seen (here on Reg in some BAE rant? :) is that the laser needs to maintain an amount of time on the same, or at least proximate, spot. The area at target is probably less than an inch, so I imagine that the accuracy of which you speak of at the turret's end could also apply to the drone, which has a lot more control over its immediate domain.

Once these lasers can burn a hole within a second or so, of course what I'm saying is moot - but these current systems aren't *that* powerful, no?

An array of heat sensors, coupled to logic that makes a drone capable of high G manouevres dart about, should be enough to get around this and the next couple of generations worth of offensive laser turret.

Shark-tooth war cutlery reveals tale of fishy extinction in Pacific

Given the extensive trading networks and 'gift sharing as a means of peace offering' culture in that part of the world, how do the researchers in this instance know that the source location of the swords is the same as the source of the teeth?

Earth bombarded by interplanetary SLIME MONSTERS

Re: Already debunked?

To be fair, El Reg is in good company... http://www.technologyreview.com/view/512381/astrobiologists-find-ancient-fossils-in-fireball-fragments/ , and it's not like most of us come here expecting the editorial staff to have fully-fledged astrobiologists ready to pick apart such stories. It is predominently an IT rag, after all.

Although, perhaps a little less credulity would've been in order...

Elon Musk's 'Grasshopper' hover rocket scores another test success

Re: Way to go, SpaceX!

...or investigating ways to surreptitiously undermine/break SpaceX's progress.

SimCity 2000

The cynic in me wonders whether you guys are trying to hint at me to buy something today..?

:)

Cash-ravenous Sony will flog Manhattan HQ for $1.1 BEELLION

Re: Ho hum

You're somewhat conspicuously ignoring the Apple-shaped elephant in the room you just made that statement in.

North Korea releases first computer game

Re: Animation

Jesus Christ, I rescind everything I've ever said about everyhing!

I thought the Norks had a good rep coding mobile apps and games for Fox network and such?

Or did I just imagine that?

'We are screwed!' Fonts eat a bullet in Microsoft security patch

Re: The Real Story here...

And then some - I have to keep a copy of CorelDraw on hand for laser cutting purposes.

The shame is, although it's a grossly outdated piece of software, it has a couple (practically literally) of nice features and still, after all these years, represents Illustrator's only real competition out there for vector design packages.

Adobe really could use a little more competition...