* Posts by Jason D

34 publicly visible posts • joined 12 Jun 2009

X-Prize offers $10m for working Trek tricorder

Jason D
Boffin

In case you're interested...

There's still some positions available for that bonus opportunity I mentioned earlier. Again: all you gotta do is let us disassemble you; we're not banging rocks together here, we know how to put a man back together. So, that's a complete reassembly, new vitals, spit-shine on the old ones, plus we're scooping out tumors. Frankly, you ought to be paying us.

Jason D
Joke

Captain...

This entire planet is made of wibbly-wee.

Steam rushes from Valve onto Macs

Jason D
Boffin

Unfortunately, no...

It's linked to your Steam account permanently, and there's no way to reassign it to someone else.

Depending on certain offers they have, if you buy a bundle (i.e. the Orange Box) you can give some of those games away for free if you already have them. This only applies to very few games though.

A note on the DRM, Steam itself does not have DRM, but certain games made by different developers do, such as Bioshock (Securom), Assassin's Creed 2 (constant internet connection needed) and a few others.

Steam has to abide by the rules of the developer and/or publisher, but it's a small price to pay, given that you can download the games onto all your computers as many times as needed. The obvious restriction is that only one computer at a time can be logged in to Steam. The high prices are generally expensive compared to retail, but their sales are phenomenal (Christmas sale lasted for 12 days, and i bought 25 games for £37.00).

Ten free apps to install on every new PC

Jason D
Alert

Continuation...

Basic items that almost every coputer should have:

Firefox, with the follow add-ons

- Coral IETab (IE in firefox for those odd sites)

- DownThemAll (download manager

- Firebug (incredible HTML debugger)

- Adblock plus (blocks ads, obviously)

- NoScript (prevent certain scripts from running etc, better protection for you)

- Download statusbar (self-explanatory)

Thunderbird

Sunbelt Kerio Firewall - free firewall, with 'easy' and 'advanced' modes - http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/home-home-office/sunbelt-personal-firewall/

avast antivirus - free anti virus - http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html

Spybot search and destroy - spyware killer, also innoculates IE from dodgy sites - http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html

foobar2000 - music player - http://www.foobar2000.org/

These are the main things I use.

Jason D
Boffin

Suggestions from myself

Some have been mentioned, others are hidden gems:

GIMP - image editor/creator - http://www.gimp.org/

Faststone Capture - Best freeware screengrabber - http://www.portablefreeware.com/?id=775

Flexible Renamer - Best file/folder renamer - http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA014830/english/FlexRena/

CCCP Codec - Includes all major codecs, MPC, everything to play any movie - http://www.cccp-project.net/

Unlocker 1.8.9 - Removes any locks on files so you can move/delete them (even networked files!) - http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/

Windows Live Writer - Super easy to update almost any blog - http://windowslivewriter.spaces.live.com/default.aspx?sa=526965265

Filezilla - Simple FTP client and/or server - http://filezilla-project.org/

File Date Changer - only useful if you wish to fake the date a file was made! - http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/filedatech.html

Eulalyzer - Reads any EULA and points out odd paragraphs - http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/eulalyzer.html

These are the ones off the top of my head, when I think of more, I'll reply again.

God of War III

Jason D
Happy

Good review

I've only heard good things about this game, and I'm currently playing through the first one (not having a PS3).

Just curious though, is there any particular reason that a games review appeared on RegHardware? I don't disagree necessarily, but it does seem slightly odd given that there have never been any reviews of games (aside from iPhone apps).

Smartphone app botnet experiment blows up a storm

Jason D
Headmaster

Oh really?

Where can one buy an iPhone with Android OS then?

This applies to any smartphone they released the app on, not just the iPhone.

Chilean mint misspells Chile

Jason D
Badgers

I wonder how many...

Money and coin related puns we'll get today...

Easy mistake to make, think how many malware websites use that same trick.

Just my two pence on the matter.

BAA poo-poos Bollywood star's pervscan printout put-on

Jason D
Boffin

Good lord man!

What do you take us for? We work with technology, not fantasy!

Keep your dreams and lofty goals private!

Brits take iTablet moniker for 12in iPad rival

Jason D
Thumb Up

Now this sounds interesting!

Looking forward to see where this goes. Though it shows XP on the tablet, not 7. It was also a good coup with the name. Decent specs, no mention of battery life yet...

Here's hoping the price is comparable to the iPad.

Apple iPad vs netbooks: fight not over yet

Jason D
Coffee/keyboard

I would swap my EEE for anything

I don't need a full laptop since my PC is for gaming, but for quick website checks, email etc, the EEE is great, especially for writing when I'm out.

However, I have to say, if I need to check the weather fast early in the morning before leaving for work, I don't switch on the EEE, I use my iPod Touch to get the weather instantly and painlessly. Maybe if we wanted quick access to the internet, or youtube (or any flash application if they ever implement it) then maybe the iPad would be useful.

Dropping one would be hellish though, can't imagine it surviving a fall onto my marble floor...

'Fizzy phone' tops wacky handset list

Jason D
Pint

Then the real question is...

Would you want to put you mouth to something you just peed into? What about the smell?

It'd be funny for a talking point though, 'Hey, you wanna use my iPee?'

Beer because, to me, it smells the same...

Google uncloaks the Nexus One

Jason D
Big Brother

Hmm...

I just realised that Google actually owns YouTube. Could Google pull a Microsoft and 'lock' Youtube so that only their phone, or Android OSes, can access it?

Highly unlikely, given the Apple usage, but then again Google may use it as a bargaining chip in case they want to go all Palm Pre and ask to use the iTunes package for mp3 transfers etc, only asking that they show Google ads with each video somehow to net them some profit, since as it is now, no ads are shown, only the video.

Food for thought though...

Thai firm flies in early-80s style keyboard PC

Jason D
Thumb Up

Now this ia good idea

If you have a computer in a keyboard, no point in having an extraneous screen on the side, something cheap and cheerful like this would be handy if you want to write in different locations using a monitor or even a telly.

Netbooks are great also, but this one could fill a niche market, good price overall, shame about how much more expensive the Windows version is.

NZ gal's Bulgarian airbags halt traffic

Jason D
Unhappy

The irony...

Said airbags failed to inflate further to protect the poor girl.

Universal to bond Blu-ray Discs to DVDs

Jason D
Thumb Up

Nice idea

Seeing as Blu-ray is expensive anyway, it'll mostly cater to those who have Blu-ray players, but I for one, who may upgrade to Blu-ray in the future, would like to get something like this for movies I like, so I don't shell out again.

DVDs are cheap as chips nowadays anyway, and while not a dying format by any means, this would help the move to HD for everyone.

MPs slap ICO for bad language

Jason D
Boffin

Pot calling...

"The perpetrators of this variety of official language often fail to consider adequately who they are writing for,"

I agree, but the you follow with:

"can often come across as unsympathetic or overly officious".

Officious? Yes, the unwashed masses will understand that word, won't they? Even I'm vaguely guessing this is means something that sounds official and impersonal, without bothering to check the definition.

"We conclude that bad official language which results in tangible harm – such as preventing someone from receiving the benefits or services to which they are entitled – should be regarded as 'maladministration'," says the report.

Tangible, maladministration... does this person know who his audience is? Perhaps he does if he's talking to businesses, but for someone who states that he wants things to be clearer should practise what he preaches.

On topic, I think it's fair for a case to be closed until further information is received, or if the customer requests the same information again. No point in keeping it open forever.

Email/letter templates are there for the legal reasons (don't distribute, full and final settlement) and to prevent personal sounding pronouns, and generally you need to appear professional.

How would it be for a government of bank to write to you and say, "Sorry mate, but we closed ur accnt becuase you took to much moeny out and over your overdft limit. Signed, John.", would you trust an email like this, or one with a long signature with small print, and professional wording?

Jargon is something we live with and accept, even these legalese letters. It only matters when it is entirely related to your issue (i.e. relentless techie jargon on how to install windows, configure graphics) and you don't understand what is being said. That is when you need to tone it down.

iRiver Story

Jason D
Boffin

*ahem*

I think you'll find that iriver was before the iPod, makes me cry when people think iPod was unique in its name... I'll admit that others copy it, but iriver was different.

My iHP-140 still works after 5 years, not bad for a 40gig mp3 player.

Jason D
Unhappy

A crying shame

Why no annotations?!

They have a full keyboard and they use it for the memo and diary only? They could've undercut the Kindle in this department (and the other ones I forget). Could this be added in with a later firmware update (i.e. a special bookmark?)

Any chance for a review on the bebook mini? I'm acquaintances with the Greek suppliers, and liked the look of the one they showed me.

Overall though, this is one of the prettier ebooks out there.

Kingston SSD Now V 40GB boot drive

Jason D
Go

Nice review

First SSD which seems good for the price.

My only concern is, do you still allow the paging file to run on the SSD? I'm not fairly knowledgable on this, but I've always been told, for the smaller 1gb/2gb flash sticks that the limited writes are used up fast.

Is this the case for normal SSDs like this et al?

Barnes & Noble nobbled for 'nicking' Nook-e Reader notion

Jason D
Headmaster

@AC 10:16 GMT

"Oh and while I'm slagging them off, their ereader looks Sony-boring whereas the "Nook" looks kind of Palm-cool. :-p"

I'm not sure if you're being sarcastic or contrary, but the Nook is by Barnes and Noble, not vice-versa.

At least, that's how your sentence reads.

Dell refunds PC user for rejecting Windows

Jason D
Boffin

Want to see anything dodgy in an EULA?

Use this piece of software that I've used for a few years:

http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/eulalyzer.html

It reads it for you and highlights strange paragraphs, namely data gathering, toolbar, etc. You just copy the text, or you can even get it to select the right window (if installing a game for instance with fullscreen) and it'll get the text.

Should reveal many interesting things.

US court says software is owned, not licensed

Jason D

Wow

This seems like good news overall, the judge's arguments were well balanced I felt.

Asus intros stylish binary-inspired monitors

Jason D
Alert

Either that or

/.

+5 for Insightful

Why teachers fear Callum, Chelsea, Connor and Crystal

Jason D
Thumb Down

Who, me?

I'm quite surprised at how bad the Jason's are on here, I was a shy kid, bullied a lot too because of my surname (Indian) and that I was quiet and somewhat cleverer than most, though not the brightest.

I don't know about trouble really, there was a Quinn who threw a table, but that was it. One guy did have two kids by the time school finished for A-levels, so who knows...

Illinois bright spark sparks car inferno

Jason D
Grenade

Can you even see the tank from the hole?

As dumb as this woman was in the first place, fair props are due for her trying to move the car away from the pump, it could have been a whole lot worse (see icon).

Microsoft assaults our senses with 'viral' Bing video

Jason D
FAIL

Oh dear...

Anyone else notice how firefox came up on the search between 0:52-0:57?

Quite annoying to be honest, much more than other viral videos...

Chinese youth beaten to death at net addiction bootcamp

Jason D
Joke

I may get in trouble for this...

Guess he didn't hold the shift key down.

I doubt this is just gaming related though, it sounds like a normal internet addiction.

In all seriousness, this is quite sad, you go there to get cured and instead they punish you to this extent? We all know that nothing will come from this, there is no justice sometimes...

Microsoft offers EU choice on Windows browsers

Jason D
Gates Halo

Brilliant!

This is excellent news for everyone, Microsoft seem to be the good guys after the EU say they were being stubborn for not complying. The EU gets what they want. The consumers will benefit overall.

Let's hope they'll start to reprint those Win7 discs for the EU edition.

I am completely surprised that Microsoft decided to change their mind over this, perhaps some bizarre Public Relations, by offering the customer choice after seeing so many comments and suggestions? In any case, I hope this works out well for everyone.

Opera slams Microsoft's Windows 7 E move - again

Jason D
Unhappy

I've spoken about this before

And personally I feel that Microsoft is in the right here, how can they be expected to offer more choice of rival browsers? Who's to say which browsers should be chosen? Ranked in alphabetical order, or by market share?

One thing no one has mentioned yet, aside from a related comment by David Goadby, is that many websites on the Internet run best with IE. Of course, most of these aren't that important (aside from the Microsoft site etc) but people will be annoyed at how some of them

However, I use Microsoft CRM via Firefox, using the IE Tab plugin, which renders any webpage in IE, but still allowing you to use tabs etc. It's much faster than IE7 which we use now. Now, if IE is completely uninstalled, this plugin will break, because it will require the IE files to properly render items the way IE does.

Will the EU go after Microsoft for breaking websites and software now (eve if it's their own)?

Reg reader turns 'homo devil machine' on eBayer

Jason D
Happy

Well...

I had something similar, my website with an image I created was being hotlinked to an east asian myspace of sorts as a tiled background.

The image was about 1.5 megs, and the guy had a 100 or so friends who would check his page often, and while my bandwidth could handle it, I was a bit irate.

So, after a quick replacement with Tubgirl, the image was swiftly removed from the guys page.

I then laughed as a few of his comments had horrified emoticons for a day or two.

EC rejects Microsoft's browser promises

Jason D
Boffin

Ah, I get it now...

After reading all the comments after my own, I actually forgot that without IE pre-installed, you wouldn't be able to get onto the internet at all...

A way around this would be for a customer to click on the IE icon on the desktop and for a small window opening up to show links to the latest full download of various browsers, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Chrome, Safari, et al, and the customer can simply click one to download and install it.

That way, there's no bias, as long as they do it in alphabetical order, because the EU would complain that 'they placed Internet Explorer at the top of the list'.

Can't be that hard to code in, but again, Microsoft don't have to advertise other competitors products, you don't see Apple advertising alternate OS for Macs, do you?

Do Apple Macs automatically come installed with Safari, can someone help on this?

Although Apple isn't as large as Microsoft in regards to the OS market, surely they may fall under the same 'artificial distribution advantage' for all Macs sold.

Jason D
Gates Halo

Oh come on...

The EU were upset that Microsoft shipped Vista with IE included, and now that 7 is coming out without IE, they're upset?

Personally, I feel that, large as they are and a fairly obvious monopoly with regards to OS etc, Microsoft do not have to bundle 7 with other browsers for more competition. What sane company would do that? "Oh, you've bought a PS3, which as you know has Bluray, don't forget to use the extra HDDVD drive too."

Before people contrast my above point, I know the EU is mainly upset about the software and not expensive hardware, but it seems like the EU really has gone too far with their vague idea of what should happen, just for Microsoft to get a fine...

What next, will EU Win7 need to be preinstalled with IE7, Firefox, Opera, Safari, Chrome, ooh, why not the old Netscape, and other Linux flavour browsers? Talk about opening your computer up to vunerabilities from all browsers...