Posts by Raspy32

Google, boffins crack Rubik's Cube mystery

Takes me three moves.....

.....to finish a Rubik's cube.

1) Reach arm outwards

2) Release Cube

3) Walk in opposite direction

In all my life I could never understand the attraction.

Smartphone sales up 50%

Easy to find non-smartphones

Just as a quick test I checked the O2 shop on their website and there are a whole bunch of cheap Pay-As-You-Go phones for the cost of only a few tenners which fall squarely into the non-smartphone category.

Of course in the shops they display the flashiest and fanciest stuff they can, but there's plenty of more simple phones still on the market.

Ton-up speed merchant blames dyslexia

Isn't it called Dyscalculia?

Aside from his defence being entirely composed of bullshit, or was his weaving and gesticulating also blamed upon his inability to properly process text? Sounds like the guy was caught driving like a complete tool.

Given his age he has probably held a licence for 20 years or so - surely by now he would have realised the scope of his dyslexia problem (if it exists) and found a way to counteract it, such as different coloured marks on the speedometer for example. Thing is, he can't even claim he couldn't read the road sign as I am assuming being a 60 limit it was indicated by the national speed limit sign, which has neither text or numbers on it.

And if he doesn't know what the national speed limit is, he shouldn't be anywhere near the driving seat of a car.

Bound robbery victim IMs for help with toes

Re:HOWTO

"if anyone gets stuck like this by the way, a great way to type with your feet is to hold your second toe down between your big toe and your third toe. You then get the dexterity of your big toe combined with a smaller pad.

I can manage a good few WPM like this."

I'm somewhat intrigued to know howcome you're so skilled with toe-typing....

Apple sued over hot iPad shutdowns

@Adrian

'Don't like the way your teeth get cold when you have ice-cream? SUE THE ICE-CREAM MAKER!"

I'd say it's the consumers fault for not asking for warm ice-cream, but then I'm the sort of person who finds it natural to assume that a cup of coffee is hot, an ice-cream is cold and that not watching where I walk might result in me falling over.

As for the iPad, I don't know where my loyalties lie on this one - after all I detest the "sue everyone" sort of people, but then the adverts (certainly the UK ones I've seen) do clearly show the iPad being used outside and not in a shaded area. So if it's not capable of doing this for an extended period then I would suggest they should be forced to change their adverts to reflect the fact.

But then, not owning an iPad, I can't claim to know if it is a general issue or just a minor complaint from a small number of device owners.

iPad alert: Are you a selfish elite or an independent geek?

So where do I fit in?

I don't hate the iPad, in fact I like it as a piece of technology, I just can't see the point of it, with the exception of some very specific (and limited) fields of use. If you already own a smartphone and a netbook/laptop then it would be hard to justify the need for an iPad.

It's sort of a "middle ground", but as you can't make normal phone calls on it (ignoring VOIP-type apps) then you still have to carry a mobile as well - plus you'd look a bit weird holding an iPad up to the side of your face. While it has most of the Apple app store to choose from, I can still do more with my netbook.

Unfortunately for me, the iPad is one of those things I'd quite like to own but I just cannot justify spending the money on one, given that I'd have to spend time trying to find uses for it rather than using it to fill a void.

Does that make me a Selfish yet independent elite geek.....or just odd? No wait, don't answer that! :)

Sepp Blatter dubbed 'Bellend' by SA gov website

I actually LOL'd

That has to be one of the funniest web cock-ups I've seen in a very long time. It seems Wikipedia has since been corrected (as the rest of the text is almost identical so it seems likely the source) but the presidency website still shows the same thing.

So is this the first official, presidentially sanctioned bellend in history?

£99 iPhone stunt backfires

Re:FAO: Guardian Editorial Office

Change that to 200 iPhones and they'd probably give you some money, or at least some free press.......

It's boffins versus bookies on the World Cup Rankings

Re: Bad calls

You mean like the bad call that ruled out a perfectly valid England goal against Germany as apparently it needs to be more than a metre over the line before it counts?

By the way, I'm not trying to claim that it would have made any difference to the result (England were dire) but just pointing out that bad calls aren't restricted to one game.

Microsoft dubs Windows Phone 7 'ad serving machine'

Re:Typical Microsoft

Ahh but don't forget that according to the licence, it's THEIR OS running on YOUR phone. So they figure that they can do what they want with it.

I can't wait to move to Android.

F*ck you, thunders disgruntled fanboi Apple user

I can't jump because

"There's a Linux penguin, a fanboi, and a Windows luser in a plane, and the pilot says, we're carrying too much weight, one of you has got to go, and the fanboi says, well, I can't jump because..."

....the other two, having been stuck in a room for a while with the fanboi, have already jumped.

Cameron aims to bring LibDems into government

RE:Wrong

"More to the point, why does a party that won 80% of the votes of Labour gain only 20% of the seats compared to them?"

It's a big downfall of the "first past the post" system for deciding who wins in any given constituency. the Lib Dems gain a lot of "second places" in areas, losing out to the two main parties. So they get a decent share of the vote but don't win that many seats. For the same reason, the Tories actually got a greater percentage of the overall vote than Labour did in 2005, yet were unable to get a majority of seats.

I'm not a Lib Dem supporter (I'm not really a supporter of anyone), but I kind of agree with their idea for electoral reform. Essentially, make the contituencies much larger, covering say 5 or 6 seats a piece. Then people vote for their chosen party/candidate, and the seats are decided proportionally in that area.

PS3 update to rid all consoles of Linux support

@MarkOne

What's optional about it? If you don't perform the update then your console is effectively crippled assuming you use it for anything other than single-player games.

It's not that I give a toss about the Linux functionality as to be honest there are much better (and cheaper) systems to run it on - take the Asus Revo for example which even has HDMI making it a perfect solution for a media centre. I just take exception to you calling it an optional update when essentially they make it perfectly clear that your console will be left next to useless if you don't apply it.

Quite simply, I can understand why people who bought the console with the intention of using Linux would be annoyed by this.

Patent attack hits Apple, RIM, AT&T, Moto...

Vulture Central?

I know that the Reg likes to refer to itself as Vulture Central, but it seems that East Texas is the true version, with vulturous (is that even a real word?) lawyers pecking for the scraps of meat from other peoples bones.

It's just yet another example of how the U.S. patent system is completely broken.

Sony takes aim at Apple iPhone, iPad

They need to be careful..

...because if they develop anything that has features remotely like any Apple product then Apple will probably take them to court for a patent breach. Apple are one of the most innovative companies around, if you class innovation as taking an idea someone else had years ago and slapping a patent on it.

Sony: PS3 leap year glitch caused network lockout

So.....

Assuming that one of the chips had a misunderstanding of date and thought that 01/03/10 was actually 29/02/10 then won't it still be a day behind?

Of course, it'll work now as it's back to assuming that the date is a day which actually exists, but today for example it may think is the 2nd March (when at time of posting it is the 3rd).

It may just be me not understanding how it works but logically it would seem that it still sits a day behind the rest of the system.

'McDonalds' burger-lers making millions

Seriously....

McD's have a good rep? I don't know anyone with tastebuds who would even consider eating there. I'd actually prefer to mop up a plate of cat sick than to eat one of their burgers - it's not that I'm completely against fast food but in McD's case you have to take the word "food" out of the equation.

I'd love to know what it is that they count as "the best cuts of beef" that they put into their burgers, because it tastes nothing like any good quality minced beef I've ever had. Come to think of it, the meat doesn't even compare to the cheapest "Value" mince you can get from a supermarket.

I don't see how this is any different to the 419 scams (419eater.com has a few good examples) in the fact that they've picked on people who are evidently too stupid to check basic details before shipping goods out on an account they've received no payment for.

Scots unleash world's strongest beer

Re:I think he meant

"It is the strongest in the WalMart cooler, which probably does not include 'Sink the Bismarck!'"

So why did he refer to the usual "excellence of reporting" of El Reg in a snide way like he was making a correction to their error?

No......I think he misread or misunderstood and made a complete idiot of himself.

Frosty fanbois navigate iPhone with sausage

@LinkOfHyrule

Thanks for making me chuckle on a Monday morning. :)

Steve Ballmer defaces fanboi MacBook

Re:Taken the student to court...

"The EULA of Mac OS X specifically prohibits it running on competitors' products!"

Yeah but he's not running OS X on a competitors product is he? He's running Windows on a Macbook. Of course you have to question the intelligence of the student if he basically paid twice as much for the macbook as he would have done for a Windows laptop, only to put Windows on it anyway......

For the people suggesting that Ballmer should have just signed a corner or came across in a negative light for having a little joke - I think you're being a bit presumptuous. Without seeing the manner and atmosphere in which the request was made how can you draw a proper opinion as to whether it was appropriate or not?

Personally I think people should lighten up a bit. I have no particular liking for Ballmer but if it had been my macbook then I still would have had to chuckle.

Hard drives cop flak from .50 cal incendiary round

New VC measurement

I believe we have a new standard measurement for thickness.

1 SDIATA (Secure Digital Improvised Anti-Tank Armour) = The thickness of the pile of memory cards required to stop an anti-tank round.

Write haiku, win home server

Hmm

I would rather buy

A cheap home enema kit

Than Microsoft crap

NASA: the world will not end in 2012

Apocalypse theories

Am I the only one that's a bit sick of hearing about how we're all going to die horribly? It was supposed to happen at the millennium and then it was a year later (supposedly due to a miscalculation). I think there's a date around every 3 years on which we're supposed to die (on average). So far (obviously) they've all been wrong, and this is probably just another one of those.

Thing is that it turns some normally quite rational people into raving nutjobs - people start believing this stuff and even start worrying about "the end of the world".

If it's going to happen then it'll happen regardless so there's bugger all point worrying about it. Worry about things you can actually do something about, like your family, job or whatever instead of using things like this to distract you from your life.

Aerial laser gunboat 'burns hole in fender' of moving car

So...

....we're still quite a way from being able to attach one of these "lasers" to a shark's head?

Twitter slaps itself with $1bn price tag

Typo......

Surely you meant "Twitter slaps itself with $1 price tag" as I fail to see how anything else can be realistic....

Loch Ness Monster surfaces on Google Earth

Haha....

Even worse that the guard...."Researcher Adrian Shine, of the Loch Ness Project, told the paper: "This is really intriguing. It needs further study.""

Err.....save your time and money mate....it's a boat.

Breakfast cereal freebie CD dishes up hard-core smut

LOL

So, despite her protestations, she actually liked it so much that she bought another one? :)

US broadband speeds 15 years behind South Korea

Which....

....makes the U.K. another 5 years behind that, probably.

Not now darling I'm twirping

Well...

It is a pretty good representation of the sort of inane drivel found on most social networking sites. Suddenly people seem to think that anyone in the whole world cares if they take a slight stumble on a raised paving slab making them look a bit silly to the two people within sight at the time.

But then, it's just a bit of fun!

US women protest for the right to bare

To be honest....

Given the sort of "men" I see walking around with their tops off, the easiest way to get equality would be to make men keep their tops on instead.

Tourist magnet blows off Speedo-wearing men

Back to the 19th century then?

So I assume that female bathers will also be required to cover up appropriately and avoid showing any cleavage or camel-toe as this would be wholly inappropriate for a family enviroment?

Not that I would EVER wish to subject the public to the sight of me in speedos, but you just have to love the equality.

Actually, I wait for the first bloke to turn up in a bikini and sue them for being sexist when they turn him away.

iPhone actually good at making calls shock

Re:Muted

Nope - never accidentally muted a call with my iphone - the touchscreen goes blank as soon as it gets close to the head, preventing any buttons from being touched. The only thing I HAVE managed to do once was to cut someone off when trying to change phone hands - but this was my own clumsy sausage-fingered fault.

Windows 7 Ultimate product activation hacked?

Microsoft...

"and exposes users to increased risks - such as viruses, Trojans and other malware and malicious code "

That's a bit rich coming from Microsoft, when they've been exposing users to this code for years with their sloppy programming....

Last chance to vote to cut phone termination rates

Re: RE: Pay to recieve?

"Never got a letter that requires a customs charge? Or doesn't have enough postage on it?"

No, and personally if I did then I would advise the company or person who sent it that they didn't put enough on it. It's not really the same thing comparing something that results from a mistake to your postman coming to your door in the morning, delivering 3 bills, 2 pieces of marketing junk and then saying "that'll be £1,50 please".

I actually don't know which way to fall on this issue, as I don't believe we should pay to receive calls but likewise I think it'd be nice to reduce the cost of calling a mobile from a land-line. In an ideal world we'd have both but realistically it'll probably go one way or the other.

Swine flu will [enter scare words here]...

Attention seekers

It's funny really, I know a few people who have been ill and there's an interesting contrast.

While most people are just accepting that they're ill and it might either be a normal cold, bout of flu or even swine flu - they're not really bothered either way. However, the few real attention seekers are adamant that it's swine flu, based on the fact that they have some "flu-like symptoms".

I reckon the number of people estimated to have the illness is vastly inflated, as they're not actually testing people any more and going on peoples word.

Hollywood prepares to battle Asteroids

Hmm

Look on the bright side.....at least there won't be a plot for Hollywood to ruin.....

Michael Bay is the perfect choice for it, as we can go to the cinema, be wowed by the special effects for 30 seconds and spend the next 110 minutes or so wondering what we could have got for our money if we hadn't wasted it on going to see one of his films.

Apple MacBook Pro firmware fritzes third-party HDDs

Here it comes.....

Cue fanboys defending Apple for preventing people from upgrading their own machines in

3

2

1

Web swoons as Jackson dies

Re:Prophetic

It's exactly what really annoys me about the press and media in general. Jacko has been out of favour with them for some time, with people looking for any excuse to give him another knock. Now they'll be worshipping every bit of ground he ever walked on, forgetting about all the allegations of kiddy fiddling and whatever else he supposedly got up to.

I don't like him, never liked him, and that won't change because he died. People are entitled to their opinion whatever it is, but the hypocritical nature of the media just pisses me off.

L'Oreal appeals eBay ruling

Grey imports

The annoying thing about "grey imports" (such as the described cans of polish coca cola) is that the product is exactly the same yet cheaper than the UK cans. Basically it highlights companies price-fixing their products to artificial highs in some countries.

I can understand that L'Oreal are miffed about the fakes, after all it abuses their trademark - however my opinion is that if a company wants to make you pay twice as much just to buy their product in a certain country, they shouldn't be too pissed when you work out how to buy the same things on the net for less.

'Overweight' people live longer than those of 'ideal' weight

BMI is flawed anyway

The way that BMI is worked out actually means that the taller you are, the thinner you have to be in order to fit into the "Ideal" range. It also doesn't take into account that a lot of very athletic sportsmen (and women) would be classed as "Overweight" because of their muscle mass

Spanish court in favour of topless celebs

@Sarah

Can I have a biscuit?

Although I'm not complaining about the lack of IT angle in the story, considering I clicked on it specifically because it mentioned the word "topless".

Oh and @GrahamT:

I disagree.....I don't think you can ever see too many.....

Surrey schoolkids whip out 12ft todger

"sharp-eyed Google Earth scourers"

Personally I think somebody should ask these sharp-eyed people what they are doing examining satellite photos of school grounds in such great detail!

iPhone stuffed with crashing hard drive

Really....

I think the only mistake is to assume that it is actually supposed to be useful.

One millionth English 'word' is... Web 2.0

Re:Not a word?

Well exactly - it's not a word but a phrase, it's the already recognised word "Web" followed by a whole number expressed with a single decimal place.

So if they've actually included "words" such as this in order to make up the million, we're probably realistically at around 750K true "words".