Posts by The Indomitable Gall

Mozilla Labs dreams of projected keyboard phone

Concept phone?

It looks like concept *artwork* to me. A concept phone would be something I could hold in my hand.

Give me 25 minutes with a pack of Crayola and a ream of A4 and I'll deliver you loads of "concept phones"....

Keene USB FM Transmitter

mini-CD

"The Keene USB FM Transmitter comes with one of those godawful mini CDs to run the Windows installer from, but thankfully, you can download the software from the product web page"

Well you must be a slot-loader man then.

Seriously, what is wrong with a mini-CD? So many hardware items have a smaller footprint than a full-sized CD, so including a full sized one means more wasted packaging, and fewer in the same space in the warehouse, delivery van and shop.

Besides, if nothing else, the mini-CD is the perfect "hi-tech" prop for cheap sci-fi. You get something that looks advanced (because it's smaller) but you get it from a normal shop at normal prices. Everyone's a winner.

Google cools data center with bottom of Baltic Sea

Mummy's gone to Iceland...

Why isn't this happening in Iceland? They got massive big hydro dams generating enough electricity to make them one of the most important aluminium smelting nations on the planet, even though electricity is a rubbish power source for aluminium smelting.

Those dams don't just supply power, they've also got some incredibly massive heatsinks behind them that stay at extremely low temperatures for fresh water all year round thanks to a combination of altitude and latitude.

Iceland's in the EEA, but not the EU, which is probably quite useful in terms of regulatory approval vs regulatory interference.

It might seem a bit remote, but it's pretty well cabled up, connecting with Canada, Greenland, the Faroes, the UK, Denmark and Germany. That gives it reasonable access time to both North America and Western and Northern Europe.

There's a lot of potential there for back-ends and backups, as well as dedicated services.

School caretaker jailed for fitting up colleague

Hmmm....

Now this Weiner guy definitely needs banged up -- his actions were dispicable and criminal -- but I'm a bit wary of the posession of images charges here. Isn't that legislation aimed at paedos? But no-one's suggesting for a minute that this man is a paedo.

Also, the clearest sign of a witch-hunt mentality is when people accuse others of being witches just because they don't like them.

Facebook on the blink for second time in two days

Network probs...?

When I tried to connect it reported a DNS error, so I'm not sure the scepticism is really justified.

Universities warn Willetts on science cuts

Austerity....

I'm always fearful when that term gets bandied about. It has the feel of "mourning" in a puritanical society. Don't smile -- mourning/austerity. Don't run -- mourning/austerity.

Austerity is an excuse for life to stop, but life cannot stop. If we stop thinking about the future, we make no progression towards it. Education and research is our future, so the usual murmur of "austerity" is no good excuse. Invest in the future or we shall be forever whispering austerity.

Moses' parting of the Red Sea: New sim explains whole thing

Two things....

Most myth has a grain of truth in it somewhere.

The epic of Gilgamesh may not be true, but the flood story was inspired by massive flooding on a scale that is extremely rare, but that has been shown to have happened from geographical and archeological evidence. There are even those who suggest that the Noah story was founded on the same floods, perhaps even as a corruption of the same story as Gilgamesh.

Therefore finding the mechanism described in the Bible -- a wind that parts the waters across a hidden land-bridge -- does not say that Moses crossed the landbridge. It merely says that someone may have at one time witnessed the phenomenon, and it may have later become incorporated into myth (a theory which could be corroborated by finding Egyptian, Palestinian or Jordanian folk tales incorporating a similar parting-of-the-waters scenario).

Finding a natural mechanism in the physical world that can do what the Bible does not prove that the Exodus (which is a recognised historical event) happened as described in the Bible. And neither does it prove that if it did happen, [g|G]od was not involved. Because as others have said, to be that lucky would be downright miraculous.

But even though it proves nothing, it's still a valid piece of research.

Thieves jam key-fob lock signals in mystery car thefts

Well that was predictable....

It was bound to happen, wasn't it?

So what's the solution? Maybe sticking a piece of metal into the car that contains a physical code that can be used to activate or deactive the locking mechanism. I call this revolutionary device a "car key", and have lodged my patent application with the USPTO.

Police issue lettuce e-fit

Actually...

I think the crazy hair actually manages to distract from the imperfections in the face, making it seem (bizarrely) *more* human than it would with normal efit hair....

Surprise Automotive X Prize winners announced

Re: Shortsighted. Try this on.

@AC:

"If you sell one tech and give your money to another, it uses your cash to grow and improve to a stage where demand for the new tech can outstrip the existing."

You don't seem to understand stocks and shares. When you buy shares, you buy them from a shareholder, not the company. Similarly, if a shareholder wants to sell shares, he has to find someone who's willing to buy, which is most likely not the company the shares are in.

A high volume of sales will have a negative effect on the value of shares, but this has no direct effect on the company's own business. Selling shares in Esso won't affect the price of petrol, for instance.

Facebook fone? Feh, says Facebook

Surely

Surely the point of a Facebook phone would be to have a native client with direct support for adverts?

The need for a native client would be justified by allowing you to align your phonebook with your Facebook friends, even if they didn't have their phone number in their profile, so that you could phone direct from Facebook, without having to go back to the address book.

BT feathers ruffled over pigeon-based file transfer caper

Speaking as a confirmed city dweller...

"Societies and economies exist in balance and that includes people living in rural, industrial, urban areas etc. If everyone moves to the city the economy would be even more unstable and dependence on externally sourced products and services would significantly decrease national wealth and living standards."

That's exactly his point.

So who was the stupid one again?

Devil manifests in Hungarian bathroom

My curtains.

There's an old sailor in my curtains dancing to Saturday Night Fever.

Slightly less newsworthy than Satan or Jesus, but no less real....

Tinfoil 'radiation shield' maternity wear hits 'Frisco

What did they hire them to do, though...?

I would say the company was independent.

I suspect they were given the fabric and asked "does it block radiation?"

I suspect the answer was "It has an attenuating effect in the range 10MHz-8GHz, but this only accounts for (whatever)% of non-ionising radiation at ground level."

It's quite easy for the company to get rid of everything after the "but" and still be reporting the findings without lying.

Transport Dept's answer to embarrassing, cancelled IT projects?

What's so disengenous...

Disingenuity is when it's Labour doing the criticising. When it's the SNP, I see nothing disinguenuous about it, and there's therefore an unnecessary (and incorrect) implication in the article.

Microsoft strolls into white space

White fi...

Considering the contention ratios and interference problems, it's only W that needs changed....

Naturist club objects to erection of five storey tower block

As the guy below says...

Once the flats are up, residents (who naturally won't be told about the nudey club in advance) will start complaining to the council about the nudey club.

In fact, going by some recent cases, the simple fact that flats potentially housing children overlook the site will automatically convert the consenting unclad adults into megaperv paedomonsters in the eyes of the law.

I'm not a nudist, but I do kind of feel for the members. F'nar.

(And I was trying so hard to be serious, too.)

Smartbook done to death by Apple iPad

But but but....

Isn't an Android tablet really just an ARM-powered smartbook + touchscreen - keyboard?

There's really very so little difference in the hardware or software layer that I think it's fairer to say that the iPad changed the shape of the smartbook.

Am I arguing semantics?

I don't think so. The smartbook's big challenge was always going to be convincing people that it wasn't just a second-rate computer that didn't run Windows. (Cf. Linux on 1st gen netbooks, vs virtual Windows hegemony now.)

If the modern tablets are just reworkings of smartbook architecture, then by giving the public a non-Windows referent, the iPad may actually have *saved* the smartbook, rather than killing it.

Every tech market loves a monopoly

We shall overcome.

"History shows time and again that a certain amount of monopoly is good for the development of a market, and that entrepreneurs and open-source developers cleverly adapt and overcome entrenched monopolies through technological innovation."

Yeah, cos like 2001 was the year of Linux on the desktop. And 2002. And 2003. And 2004.

Monopoly overcome.

Robots capable of 'deceiving humans' built by crazed boffins

Nononono

A Git Engineer engineers gits. Lying gits.

It's all logical.

Clegg's taking away Your Freedom

Irrelevant pedantry

You cannot power a lightbulb from a potato.

The majority of the energy generated in the famous "potato clock" mechanism is not generated by the potato itself, but is released by the corrosion of the anode. The potato acts merely as an electrolytic medium.

<-- Your GSCE General Science.

Death by iPod: beware the zombie trance

Several differences

People have been listening to music, yes, but not so many and not continuously. My personal stereo batteries kept running out and I kept forgetting to get new ones. My Minidisc player had an internal rechargable, but I kept forgetting where I'd left my charger. If I ever let my MP3 player run out of juice, it's plugged into my PC as soon as I arrive at the flat or in the office.

There's also the "fire and forget" thing. With physical media, you had a bulky device and you were always changing the tape/CD/MD. It was physical, it had presence. MP3 players just sort of blend into the background.

And finally, but most importantly:

Headphones.

Those naff over-the-head things with the orange foam on used to let in a lot of noise.

The original in-ear ones gave you more volume, but still let in a fair bit of background noise.

Now we have the "buds" that gum up your ear canal in order to block out almost all background noise. Your 1982 Sony Walkman couldn't do that.

Dismount thy haughty steed, sir.

"So where does it end when the last great liberty of 'the right to fuck-up' we have is taken away?"

Fining someone for an accident isn't taking away their "right to fuck-up" -- it's recognising the fact that no-one has the right to fuck anyone else's life up. When a drunk driver doing 50 in a built-up area and he hits a child crossing the road, is he simply exercising his "right to fuck up" or has he, through his own carelessness, caused suffering to others.

Judge Dredd returns to the silver screen

But you've GOT to watch it!

I mean, it even ends with Judge Dredd realising that one man can't be judge, jury and executioner. Sheer wonderful Hollywood feelgood.

Judge extends Oz PS3 mod dongle ban

The question is...

...is PSJailbreak just a flash drive, like the free alternative?

If so, I don't see why they would have to hand them over -- they should be ordered to wipe them and be left to recoup some of their losses by selling them as flash drives.

USB stick with anti-terror training found outside police station

cryptome.org, please

Let's not go feeding Assange's massive ego, and stick with the guys who do it for the cause, not for self-publicity.

Unity – iPhone code swap approved by Jobs (for now)

Really?

"When I run a Unity-authored app on an iPad, it's *Unity* I'm running, and that was indeed written using XCode and the relevant Apple-approved SDKs! The only difference between one Unity app and another is the *database* that's been nailed onto the Unity engine."

That would make Unity an app capable of running interpreted code, wouldn't it? Isn't that against the iRules and iRegs too...?

It's alive! Duke Nukem Forever breaks out of vapour trail

Yes, but...

Previously it was hyped by a development house run by geeks. Now it's being hyped by a published run by businessmen.

3D Realms never gave themselves deadlines, and a dev without a deadline will never finish.

Take Two will have set the deadlines and will be forcing the devs to finish on time.

Google's Schmidt satirised as privacy pervert

These Americans are sick!!!

I mean, public-square trafficking?

Just think about all those poor people, addicted to public-squares, selling themselves into prostitution to buy an eighth of public-square cut with supermarket car park and fragments of low-quality cul-de-sac.

Won't somebody think of the children?!?!?

Ex-spook jailed for selling secrets

Who did they tell?

MI5 or MI6?

Make up your mind, your time starts... now!

Cyber-jihadists deface home of teddy bears' picnic

no but

@william henderson 1

"muslims were at it long before the followers of jebus started"

Erm... Islam was founded in the 7th century. Quite a while *after* the followers of Jesus started....

Re: On the contrary

@AC

"I personally hold Christians responsible for the hate that is spouted in the name of their god. Muslims are no different."

...much in the same way that the Madrid train bombers and the London bus and underground bombers held all Spanish and British people for the violence visited by their countries in Afghanistan and Iraq.

What's good for the goose is good for the gander....

General Motors bitchslaps Tesla with Range Anxiety™

Trademarking criticism...?

I find it a bit odd that GM are getting away with trademarking something that they claim not to produce (range anxiety).

It seems to me that the point of the exercise is one of the most cynical tactics ever envisioned: trademark a term whose main purpose is to criticise your competitors so that they cannot answer your criticism.

That's screwed up; really, really screwed up.

New iPod crew: 'Phoney, futuristic, retro, doomed'

Nano... apps?

Will the Nano be open to app store developers?

If people carry reference cards and "cheat sheets" on their iPhones, I'm sure there's a market for the same sort of apps on something so teeny....

Apple Magic Trackpad

Multitouch is the next big thing...

Multitouch is the next big thing in RSI.

I keep seeing people's hands when they're using their iPhones and wonder how long it'll take before the constant contortions result in tendonitis....

Is Gordon the future of HPC?

Bad puns

I am embarassed to say that as soon as I saw Gordon in the headline, I knew this would be an SSD story.

Doc develops RSI-reducing rolling mouse

Ergonomic...?

Hang on -- the guys developed a "mouse" that encourages extension of the wrist and he calls it ergonomic? Last I knew, wrist flexion during dextrous tasks put excessive pressure on the tendons.

It also risks causing over-rotation of the wrist -- for a right-handed moving left, or a left-hander moving right, it means the palm moves beyond parallel to the desk, and parallel is the extreme of comfortable motion.

If you want an ergonomic mouse, buy a joystick.

Drunken employee pops cap in server

Ah no...

They don't let *every* bloody moron own a gun.

There are strict licensing laws that ensure that all gun owners are sane and competent. This ensures that no-one ever:

* flips and takes their guns into the office in order to massacre their co-workers;

* leaves their guns in flimsy cabinet that their kids can break into in order to massacre their classmates;

* shoots their cheating spouse, said spouse's lover and then turns the gun on themself;

* goes out drunk and shoots a server.

ROBOT KILL-CHOPPER GOES ROGUE above Washington DC!

Design flaw...

"Robot planes and choppers lacking instructions from their human masters will normally circle where they are when comms go down."

So... if the aircraft flies into a radio blackspot, it just *stays* there? That's clever....

Internet, China and Russia destroying US, rock and roll

Big band

"We're not sure exactly what technology put paid to big band music, though we understand Glen Miller had his doubts about valve powered amplification,"

3 guys with valve amps can fill a room with sound and will demand less money than a 30-piece band. This led to two things: a proliferation of mid-sized music venues, both building a new audience and discouraging people from travelling further to get to the big-band auditoriums and ball-rooms; big name small acts were able to be put on the bill in the big venues, squeezing the expensive big bands off the bill.

So yes, the valve amp did it.

Iron-on armpit BO stench-filters 'ideal for modern lifestyle'

Reusable or disposable?

Does the filter saturate and need replaced or do the odours wash out?

Undead Commodore 64 comes back for Christmas

Been there, done that.

The C64 DTV:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C64_Direct-to-TV

Curious legal situation

It's difficult to sell C64 emulators because of the system ROMs -- Commodore Licensing don't own the copyright on them, and no-one knows who does. A few people have sold emulators and no-one has sued yet, but if someone works out who actually owns the copyright a year or two down the line there may be a sudden demand for a thick royalty cheque....

BBC adopts El Reg units

Stuff the measurements...

Stuff the measurements, what I want to know is are they just going to throw this water away or are they going to do the sensible thing and bottle it for sale to rich mugs in posh restaurants at an ridiculous rate?

With glaciers now being something of an endangered species, it'd go down a bomb!

<-- Cos I'd rather have one of these to a similar quantity of Glacial meltwater...

Meego goes 3D

Prosumer...?

It's a misspelling of the portmanteau word "pr0nsumer", which I think is self-explanatory.

Energy-saving LEDs 'will not save energy', say boffins

Well, personally...

"I have a 12W LED that's supposedly equivalent to a 60W bulb, but is not noticeably darker than a 100W incandescent bulb and is certainly brighter than the sunlight through the window. If someone decided that they wanted the room to be lit with 5 of these to make the room painfully bright then that still only adds up to 60 W, 40% less than a single 100W bulb."

I've been waiting ages for cheap LEDs that I can string along behind the picture-rail in my living room in order to have an uplit ceiling with subtle differences in colour and intensity based on mood and time of day. I also have a fairly long L-shaped hall which has funny patterns of light and dark because of where the single light is located.

LEDs will probably end up being used in long strips rather than in single "bulbs".

Think the end of the "lamp post" and instead a great big row of LEDs stretching along the buildings at the side of the street casting uniform light on the pavement rather than a series of amber cones will dull patches in between.

Think aeroplane/cinema-aisle floor-lighting in most offices and public buildings, and think of that being considered a health and safety requirement, hence always on. Think of door-handles that glow constantly in a soft blue, and these being required by health and safety. Think of a stair that has all its edges lit up, and again think about how that ties in with health and safety.

Think of garden ornaments (although they'll probably have their own solar power).

Think of bicycles and motor vehicles with sidelights for added peace-of-mind.

Think of small lights inside all of your kitchen cupboards and appliances, rather than just the fridge and the oven.

Think of a keyboard with LEDs under each key so that the letter glows.

Think of beds with a string of LEDs in the headboard for reading.

Think of some other things that I'm not going to mention cos they might be patentable....

Firefox 4 beta gets Sync and Tab Candy Tab Panorama

You might say....

You might say that using a small bookshelf containing multiple ring binders, each divided into multiple themed sections by pieces of coloured card, with multiple poly-pockets in each section, each containing a number of individual pieces of paper is overkill when you can just leave the pieces of paper in a messy heap on your desk.

I would have to say that I normally do the later, but I'll admit that when other people do the former, they generally find the bit of paper they're looking for a lot quicker than I do.

The OS is designed to do certain general functions. Tab grouping and ordering is application-specific. The OS does not do this. It is not the OS's job.

True Utility Scarab and KeyTool micro multi-tools

Well, personally...

"As for the Scarab and KeyTool, wouldn't you just remove these from your keychain before travelling? I would."

As it's a put-on-your-keyring-and-forget-about-it type of thing, I'd probably put in on my keyring and forget about it.

If they'd pitched it in the den, Bannatyne would have told them this and called it useless. Then Theo Paphitis would have broken it.

Assange denies 'sexual assault' allegations

I hope...

I hope Assange offers due congratulations to the prosecutors for leaking the information. After all, he's the poster boy for full disclosure.

I don't believe the dirty tricks claims myself.

It's entirely possible that it was a genuine claim that was genuinely kicked out*, but that whoever leaked it just saw the opportunity for a bit of delicious irony.

* Thinking of another story (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/08/18/police_online_images_warning/), it's completely plausible that the victim had been raped by someone with a resemblance to Assange, and Assange's current press profile means she saw his face enough that she slowly convinced herself it was him.