Posts by Martin 47

Google keeps the cost of AI search flat, and kids are lovin' it

Just wait those cool kids using it will soon realise it’s as much AI as my washing machine is Smart!

Search chatbots? Pah, this startup's trying on Yahoo's old outfit of web directories

Re: "Google maintains its results are still better than other search engines"

DuckDuckGo’s browser seems pretty good too.

Meta's ad-free scheme dares you to buy your privacy back, one euro at a time

Nice of meta to help the EU work out the level of fine

€9.99 per month x number of months x number of users seems about right to me.

Four top euro carriers will use phone numbers to target ads and annoy Google & Facebook

Re: Those whowant targetted marketing

You misunderstand the purpose of targeted advertising, it’s sole purpose is to get money out of the pockets of those that buy advertising, people buying associated products is just incidental.

Microsoft mulls cheap PCs supported by ads, subs

It’s more honest

Macmillan best-biscuit list unexpectedly promotes breakfast cereal to treat status

Re: I am offended

Yep the ginger nut plus the dead fly* biscuits are definitely barrel toppers.

*I believe some people believe that dead fly biscuits should be named after some bald bloke called Gary but this is incorrect.

Elon Musk says he tried to sell Tesla to Apple, which didn’t bite and wouldn't even meet

Re: BMW's?

AUDI = Attention Useless Driver Inside

NHS COVID-19 contact tracing app is leaving some unable to access government self-isolation grants

Re: Might be on purpose.

.......don't you come on here with your logic and stuff.

I regret, however, that I can only give you one upvote.

Selling hardware on a pay-per-use or subscription model is a 'lie' created by marketing bods

I wonder whatever happened to Radio Rentals?

Super Micro China super spy chip super scandal: US Homeland Security, UK spies back Amazon, Apple denials

Frankly I'm surprised that anyone is surprised that a Chinese owned or controlled company would do this.

Just the same as I would be surprised if anyone would be surprised if an USA owned or controlled company was doing the same.

Law's changed, now cough up: Uncle Sam serves Microsoft fresh warrant for Irish emails

Re: "They should have called it the : Amuricah World Police F*ck Yeah ! Act..."

That includes windows, your data may be on your PC in a foreign (i.e. non American) country but Microsoft still has access to it so, it appears, be legally forced to hand it over.

So nothing new there then

Prez Trump's $60bn China tariff plan to hit tech, communications, aerospace industries

It is feared any extra import charges on electronics coming into the US from China will be passed on to customers

Well doh! No shit Sherlock

Of course the end consumer pays for the tariffs, wonder if the EU will figure that out before the Donald?

Wearables are now a two-horse race and Google lost very badly

Re: Pebble

Is the right answer, if Fitbit had spent time and effort developing that further in sensible (I.e. not flashy) ways things might have looked very different today.

Does my boom look big in this? New universe measurements bewilder boffins

Just a thought, but.......

What’s it expanding into?

Money Saving Expert

Money Saving Expert

Anyone know what’s going on over there at MSE?

Seems to be some sort of problem with passwords needing resetting in the last couple of weeks, and of course the reset page is insecure and sends in plain text.

More here http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5791325&page=7#topofpage

Is it a cockup or have they ‘lost’ some data perhaps?

Dori-no! PepsiCo boss says biz is planning to sell lady crisps

Where’s the ‘Dorito’s are not crisps?’ option?

Biker nerfed by robo Chevy in San Francisco now lobs sueball at GM

.....except that, according to the article, the guy wasn’t doing anything illegal, the car however started a manoeuvre then changed ‘its’ mind. In reality it’s almost certainly a bit 6 and 2 threes.

Maverick internet cop Chrome 64 breaks rules to thwart malvert scum

Re: I keep getting those

But it is better ............

........for google

Please, please, c'mon, just... please, pretty please, just, like, please use our AI – Microsoft

Re: Dodged a bullet thar!

Ooh difficult decision, do I upvote you for getting rid of them or downvote you for installing them in the first place?

Edit, downvote it is

At Christmas, do you give peas a chance? Go cold turkey? What is the perfect festive feast?

It has to be Turkey, there must be Yorkshire puddings and there must be Brussel sprouts.

Oh and pigs in blankets, made with proper bacon and sausages mind, non of that supermarket watery crap.

If it doesn’t have them it’s just soft southern crap.

Get ready for laptop-tab-smartphone threesomes from Microsoft, Lenovo, HP, Asus, Qualcomm

It’s a bit cold here in the northern hemisphere on earth at the moment, I wonder what the weather is like on whatever planet the people who come up with these ‘great’ ideas live on?

Pokémon GO caused hundreds of deaths, increased crashes

But it’s Merkins, gotta have someone to sue.

...........and that Darwin stuff is ‘just a theory’

iPhone X: Bargain! You've just bagged yourself a cheap AR device

I’m not a fanboi, my £150 moto phone stands testament to that, but I would like to ask the naysayers on here......

‘When was the last time someone got rich betting against Apple?’

Lord of the Rings TV show shopped around Hollywood

.......and the book is just 99p for the kindle version

Geoboffins claim to find oldest trace of life in rocks 4bn years old

Re: More fake newst

‘Those 'Christians' who say the earth is only 6000 years old are misinterpreting the bible‘

Interesting, I always thought it was because they were as thick as pigshit

Tarmac for America's self-driving car future is being laid right now

‘Autonomous vehicles hold great promise in saving lives, expanding mobility and reducing congestion’

Well they ‘might’ save lives but the rest is just hogwash.

EU tells Facebook and Twitter: Obey us or we'll start regulating

Oh that's easy, you find it really difficult to hold a referendum.

Bing fling sting: Apple dumps Microsoft search engine for Google

Re: What happened to all the older search engines?

Have you tried 'deep search'?

https://deepsearch.tsignal.io/

Scottish pensioners rage at Virgin cabinet blocking their view

Bloody hell, they do have a point.

If i lived there I would be looking at it as an accident waiting to happen, and I wouldn't be waiting too long either.

Twitter is just randomly deleting people's lists – and no one knows why

Re: This is terrible.

Well I'm convinced

Facebook's freebie for poor people under fire again

The interesting thing is that to make money out of very poor people you have to enable them to make money.

Of course if it's your competitor trying to do it then, fuck 'em the poor can wait.

Amazon announces new Echo just as Microsoft's first Cortana-powered clone breaks cover

Re: Built-in Skype

You need the mastermind app on the echo, although a smart or feature phone is also needed

It's 30 years ago: IBM's final battle with reality

Since operating systems aren’t an end in themselves, but merely a means to an end, a means of running something that alleviates your grunt work (like dBase or Lotus 1-2-3 at the time), the advantages of OS/2 were pretty elusive.

Think someone needs to mention that to Microsoft

Bloke cuffed after 'You deserve a seizure' GIF tweet gave epileptic a fit

Re: That college name

It's in the USA so more likely didn't know how to spell it.

Microsoft nicks one more Apple idea: An ad-supported OS

Unfortunately the only way to disable the promo blaster is as follows:

Trust me there are other ways.......

Video intercom firm Doorbird wants $80 for device password resets

Spending $350 on a doorbell has demonstrated your a sucker, all they are doing is having another dip in the suckers pockets, pretty standard practice really.

No point in looking for suckers unless your going to milk 'em dry.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee refuses to be King Canute, approves DRM as Web standard

Yes but, without DRM would people pay the inflated prices the media industry charge?

Exactly, think of all the poor media execs etc that would suffer.

Uber: Please don't give our London drivers English tests. You can work out the reason why

I've said it before (and now I'm going to say it again)

If any business relies on paying people less than minimum wage then it's a crap business

Super-cool sysadmin fixes PCs with gravity, or his fists

Bloody kids, think they know/invent everything.

Back when I were a youth the approved method of fixing vertical hold problems on a TV was to give the blooming thing a thump on the side.

The rise, fall, and rise (again) of Microsoft's killer People feature

It was an excellent feature on the windows phone however, how much of that was because it was on a phone? Quite a lot I suspect.

When will Microsoft realise that people use different tools for different jobs?

For most users a phone is for keeping in touch with people a PC is for work.

El Reg drills into chatbot hype: The AIs that want to be your web butlers

If your single and/or home alone or have your own office then talking to a bot to get info might make sense.

For the rest of the world what bloody use are they?

Europe loves to pay by bonk* - survey

Re: "Holidays and electronics"

but there's nothing to stoo a travel agent, say, accepting payments for thousands.

.........except it's never going to bloody well happen with my phone

Microsoft deletes Windows 10 nagware from Windows 7 and 8

Anyone care to guess how long it will be before an 'update' (shouldn't that be 'downdate'?) reinstalls the nagware albeit in a slightly different form?

I'm going with before the end of the month

Got to dash out for some rubber johnnies? Amazon has a button for that

How many of us, when visiting someone whose place has some of these buttons, could resist pressing one, or more, of them a few times?

I would like to think I could but unfortunately suspect the truth may be different.

Kindle Paperwhites turn Windows 10 PCs into paperweights: Plugging one in 'triggers a BSOD'

Re: is there a comprehensive list of cockups?

AhHa! I've spotted the problem, it's clearly the wrong sort of turnip.

Corbyn lied, Virgin Trains lied, Harambe died

Of course the seats had bags and coats on them, how else were Corbyn and his team going to find somewhere to sit when they had finished filming?

MoD flings £800m at Dragons' Den miltech startup wheeze as post-Brexit costs bite

Re: Hahaha!

Actually no, it's based on the assumption that the exchange rate will continue to fall steadily for the next two years, wish I had that crystal ball.

The curious case of a wearables cynic and his enduring fat bastardry

Re: Can you change the strap?

Fitbit Alta is the one you want

GMB tests Uber 'self-employed drivers' claim at London tribunal

If your business, any business, relies on people earning less than minimum wage then it's a pretty crap business,

just saying

Google slaps Siri with Assistant and Amazon with Home device

Not got a phone, tv, pc etc in your house then?