Posts by serviceWithASmile

Hubble spots ancient spiral galaxy that SHOULD NOT EXIST

Re: Why is it that

er.... because we only have one angle to look at it from.

Plastic semiconductor makes solar cells more efficient

@johnsmith

you *could* paint it matt black

yes....

.... and no

Steve Jobs' last design: New Apple HQ pics

re: windows

I thought breaking windows was what apple was all about?

Psst, kid... Wanna learn how to hack?

more

of this sort of thing

Ten... remastered videogame classics

re: console vs pc

great vid, thanks for the link.

also, I had the oppertunity to see the sequel on both xbox and pc - it was a similar difference to what you see in the vid. although I won't pretend I didn't run it on anything less than a 2nd gen i7 with a 3gb gt555m from an SSD just to get enough performance to up the graphics settings a little more....

generally speaking, console games make sometimes big sacrifices to secure that all-important constant 30fps and keep it all running smoothly, even if those sacrifices involve removing most of the grass or only allowing 60 bulletholes or making bodies disappear after 30 seconds, etc.

not to worry though, the next gen will be along shortly and we can all enjoy another sprint to the slightly further away graphical finish line, at which point crysis 1&2 can be remastered with higher graphics settings for consoles. and no I'm not pretending that I won't have a new laptop or graphics card by that point, just that atleast with hardware, consoles will always be playing catchup unless we hit some crazy moore-ian tipping point where console hardware starts advancing faster than pc hardware does.

now I'm thinking about it, it's bloody terrifying.... it would be like xbox vs ps3 multiplied by the number of upgraded bits available for each.... NOOOOOOOOO!!!!

re: games on linux

interesting to note that some older games would work on linux but not the new ones - thinking about it, this is perhaps due to general advances in graphical fidelity and such that have started to require much more complex and specific drivers and APIs (that aren't available on all platforms) than before. Once upon a time, 3d graphics just needed hardware capable of it, most of the 3d-ness was down to the game in question - now it's becoming the other way around with directX and such.

Building on the shoulders of giants, etc - however Linux is a different giant than the giant most other people are standing on.

The biggest real reason newer games aren't on Linux is, I suspect, the ridiculous cost involved in building for more than one platform - EA or whoever can justify porting their PS3 title to Xbox because they can reasonably assume to sell a good few million titles - and as any fule kno xbox secretly runs a stripped down XP so windows is not such an effort after that (although I wish they'd remember to change the 'press b to not die' prompts in QTEs).

Point is, in order to release a modern 'AAA' grade game for linux, and deal with the inevitable support shitstorm that would no doubt ensue (current windows compatibility issues, which are not insignificant, doubled at the least), the developer would probably end up putting in a lot more effort for a lot less sales for that platform.

It sucks but if it doesn't make good business sense, no businesses are going to do it.

All that said, you should check out the humble bundle, can get some linuxy goodness for a fair price when they have a project on.

http://www.humblebundle.com/

Bootnote: I'd have loved to get TES5: Skyrim on Linux, but it's unstable enough on windows as it is, can't help but think one more platform would have been more than Bethesda could handle ;P

Mysterious sat-pic China desert markings - EXPLAINED

yeah ok, optical targeting *ALONE* on ICBMS might be a bit silly...

no need to be a dick about it though.

just saiyan.

secondly, it's china. you think they'd really mind if their ICBMs weren't completely on target?

when they inevitably take over the world all they have to do is *miss* china

AMD 'unleashes' unlocked FX processor family

i think AMD is a pretty cool guy

eh sticks two fingers up at intel and doesn't afraid of anything

Newsnight presenter pwned by snarky hack

i remember that

it really perplexed me at the time, and bugged me afterwards for weeks. nobody seemed to pick up on it when this guy (dont know if anyone else was perpetuating the pish) was trying (and failing, as it turned out) to tell everybody that the SNP was doing terribly. poor man must have been in denial, there really isn't much that publicly undermining how popular the SNP would do *AFTER* the votes had been cast.... muppet.

Windows 8 to boot in 8 seconds

pcs on par with macs?

i wasn't aware apple had dragged the rest of us down to their level.

seriously though, I have a brand spanking new imac at work and it still takes 5 minutes to warm up enough to give me a useable desktop in the morning - which I'm managing to overlook only because it turns out you can change the system options to put the control key where it *should* be.

some people seem to think they are somehow 'better' but tbh all I see is 'different'.

Windows 8 ribbon entangles Microsoft

from what I can tell

most of the bad points people are putting forward regarding W8 is the idea that none of this faff can be turned off, or that it rearranges things so that you have to relearn where the same tools are.

when the unity interface was added to ubuntu, that happened - but you can turn it off or use a completely different window manager or uninstall it or use a different build or use a different distro or use xfce or kde or you can learn it or you can hack it yourself to fix everything you think is wrong with it.

there is a clear winner here in my eyes, comparing them is like comparing seaweed to chickens and debating their various uses as foodstuffs.

they do the same job but everything else about them is completely different.

Here lies /^v.+b$/i

how about

RTFA?

WorldTradeCenter.com on the block

domain name brokers

excepting the unmentionables, is there any other part of the web economy that is quite as scummy as the godaddy part?

i don't really know why but domain name registrars and brokers / squatters in particular always struck me as a bunch of seedy drug dealers, happy to take money from anyone for something they know you need - with the price set accordingly.

i dont mind paying for a domain name but i am of the mind that the domain name authority should be the one handing them out, and taking the (much lower, fixed price) cash rather than bob parsons.

on topic: im surprised nobody has thought of the children yet and condemned this sale as praying on the greif of families or something.

if i bought it i'd turn it into an ecommerce site where you swap one item for another with anyone else around the world.

Space scope spies soggy, stupendous Saturnian doughnut

isnt there

normally a hosepipe ban around this time of year?

i wonder who pays the water bill.

beer because it's fizzy too.

Lost 1967 spacecraft found crashed on the Moon

re: big yin

glad you put the joke icon on that, because on the interwebs you never know who is being serious.

but THEY know.

Sony to can MiniDisc Walkman

re: anon / analogue inputs

I'm not sure if this was a standard thing or not, but when I got mine it had an optical input which you could use (admittedly with a PS2) to record tracks, including track breaks and (might be wrong about this one) track info.

After that, the net MDs let you do it over USB, and I think they were a bit faster than real-time.

Agree with the rest of what you said, it's a shame when something so good dies when it could have been so big.

RIP, md

when I were a lad (not very long ago) minidisc players were what cool people used to listen to metallica on the bus to school.

I spent £100 that I earned washing dishes to own one and I loved it dearly until some twunt nicked it.

So long and thanks for all the manual track markers.

*trawls ebay for minidisc players*

Akira Blu-ray remastered disc set

brilliant

this film blew my mind.

need to watch it again, the latest hollywood stuff just doesnt do it for me anymore :)

Samsung NS310 netbook

maybe

whoever is controlling the netbook market has an anti-moore agenda?

it's a conspiracy.

Rockstar shoots LA Noire onto PC

excellent

that's 1 sale from me they otherwise would never have had.

i hate buying console games these days, they are far too expensive. i quite like consoles but most of the time i just won't buy a new game due to cost / would prefer mouse&keyboard, whereas if it's ported to pc i'll get it.

just please PLEASE don't put gfwl on it. PLEASE.

or securom.

gta4 didn't even authenticate the disc on my pc. securom themselves sent me a batch file which disables their own protection so i could run the game. epic fail.

US Navy invents 'Zero-Power Autonomous' ocean probe

anyone remember

the episode of space 1999 about the voyager probe?

Samsung Series 470 250GB 2.5in SSD

re: moores law

the higher capacities do seem to be permanently expensive but I have noticed some prices coming down. or rather, getting more for the same money.

This samsung 64gb model is around £110, 2 years ago I bought a 32GB corsair for the same price.

Considering getting one - could use it as a boot drive or to copy battlefield onto prior to playing.

i have it on good authority that doing so can shave 10 seconds or more off the load time for multiplayer games.

plenty of time to make a break for the best sniping point on the map :D

Women's gaydar (for men) improves when ovulating

thanks el reg

you've perked up my drooping thursday morning with this story.

i thought i could make more puns when i started typing this but i just can't keep it up.

tomorrow night at the pub, cue: "i'll prime *your* mating condition"

etc

by the way, exactly how does one become a trick cyclist? it seems like an easy day's work to me, and apparently *someone* must give them money.

BioWare latest hack victim

if u read my post...

shameless pearoast.

Having EA as a choice is a bit of a cop-out, considering they own a good 20 or so game companies, many of which the size of bungie.

and this *was* an old legacy forum thing rather than ea as a whole.

Panasonic preps outdoor Android slate

what gave you the impression

that it's for reading books?

Nothing in the article said anything about ebook readers.

I sincerely hope you are trolling - if you are a shill you have failed to make your company look good.

I was under the impression that traditional touhgbooks were mostly for mechanics / outdoor types or anyone who drops stuff to have a bit of peace of mind when they accidentally run it over with a 4x4 or drop it in a river.

Granted it's doubtful this one will withstand that but all the same, there is ALWAYS a niche in the market for a device that won't fall to bits after a month of what a fairly large number of people (me included) would call "normal use" - i.e spilling beer on the keyboard :D

Games co Epic resets passwords after hack attack

codemasters

were probably hacked due to the bad reception of their latest cod-emulator.

i didnt realise epic had garnered any ill-will generally, or was this more likely a financially / lulz motivated attack?

i miss anonymous....

No space @ MySpace

or

you could install a SPAM filter to FILTER through all of the HUNDREDS of pieces of SPAM you get every day.

can *I* be your friend?

just saiyan.

Tesco pricing cock-up provokes beer stampede

och aye

jings, hoots, etcetera.

ah do like ma beer though, it has tae be said.

Waking to check mail? You're not alone

re: tragic work

Perhaps I'm lucky but this seems really extreme to me.

I am very into my work and am available to talk to when I'm not in the building, but at the same time my employers never take the piss. I get a text if it's something I need to know before tomorrow but can wait, and sometimes a phonecall if it's at a reasonable hour and I need to not be in the office the following day (bit of a mobile office at times).

It seems terribly rude to phone somebody when they aren't at work and expect them to *do* work.

But I don't think it's completely unreasonable either, if there is something that can't wait and you have a prior agreement that certain stuff would be OK.

SeeSaw video-on-demand service to close

obvious

troll is obvious

Remastered 4K, 3D Titanic steams towards cinemas

oh well, look on the bright side

maybe hollywood will busy themselves playing with 3d remastering rather than raping decades-old classics and reimagining them.

one can hope...

actually

that's 5h19min

LA Noire

no pc love?

Just to clarify, will it be available on PC?

Good review either way, would consider getting this - up with this sort of thing.

inb4 sony shills whining about this being tested on the xbox

PS3s overheat after firmware update

by telling everyone it will YLOD their consoles?

i think not

re: both

"odd, the size of the hard disk shouldn't matter"

I agree, but having been inside around 5 PS3s from 40-80gb (mostly for broken BR drive mechanisms or YLODs) I can confirm that I've never seen two that have been the same, on the inside atleast. Sony seem to have revised the innards quite alot since the original models - including replacing the original 19 blade fan with a cheaper and crapper 15 blade version which IMO contributes alot to the amount of YLODed consoles out there - (in my experience it is usually caused by repeated and prolonged overheating, melting the solder on some of the chips and breaking contact with the board, causing the yellow hardware failure light to come on).

I have a 60gb older model (read: bought on uk release day) which did get the YLOD once but has behaved since I fixed it, and didn't get noticeably warmer after 3.61.

That said, I was playing MGS4 on a friends' console (60gb model, slightly newer) last night and after 45 minutes it beeped three times and switched itself off.

Coincidence?

More like CONSPIRACY!!

EVIL corporations TAKING our MONEY for their CONSPIRACY PLANS to make the human race INFERTILE etc etc.

Boobs on display in Duke Nukem web game

is it just me

or do stories that actually have boobs in as opposed to boobless but punilicious stories actually just seem a bit cheap and crass by comparison?

i hereby name this phenomenon the duke effect

EXPLODING MELONS terrify Chinese

re:destroy all monsters

portal2 mate. cave johnson, innit.

Brink

you might be right about framerate issues

but i don't think that constitutes a fail on the *reviewers* side of things, considering it says on the page that the xbox version was reviewed. the reviewer makes no claims about problems or lack thereof on the playsation version.

i'd be tempted to not call you a shill if you didn't post as anon.

if you specifically want to read ps3 reviews why don't you find a site that does them - and takes handouts to sycophantically boost review scores - so that you don't need to get mad every time you see a sub-80 review for your favourite new game?

grenade for crysis2. it was better on pc.

Slovakian cannibal's dinner calls in cops

well you know

what they say about hospital food

Microsoft, Nokia, HTC fight Apple's 'App store' trademark

fair point

however, a trade mark is a mark that you trade with - if my product is called Air then Air is my tm.

I'd have no real way to sue anyone for using the word as it has meaning beyond my product, but if they went into competition against me and subsequently used Air to describe *their* product, I'd have grounds for legal action.

It's all about context and although I think Apple don't have all rights to the word "App", they *do* have a product that is named "Appstore", it is that fact that means they could pursue legal action against someone else making an app store and calling it "Appstore" or having that in the name.

I think they're a bunch of shady, fanatical thieves myself but to my knowledge, they are not under an obligation to give up their trademark purely because the word has other meanings.

PC rental store hid secret spy hardware in laptop, suit says

sigh

is this a troll?

assuming not, please read the article prior to posting, thankyou.

going on what you've written you seem to be confusing a built-in webcam on a laptop with some malicious [soft/mal/firm]ware that abuses said webcam to take the privacy-invading pics.

the cam is just hardware that is there to use as / when you choose, whereas here it seems another device or some clever software (neither the article nor the manufacturer is clear about that) is abusing that hardware to achieve this result. So far, this is contained to this particular Arran's store rather than, as you imply, all laptops.

suing acer for this would be like suing canon for invasion of privacy when pictures of celebs appear in magazines, rather than the photographer who took them.

not all laptops blatant spying devices - crysis averted, world still OK, bin laden dead.

nothing to see here...

if this doesn't reassure you, install linux.

DARPA, NASA look to spawn STARSHIP enterprise

spend the money?

you mean a few hundred k?

did you read the article?

chances of solar flares / comets wiping out a planet must be different for each planet.

so are you saying that having an egg in a basket is safer than having 2 baskets with eggs?

all this aside I really do despair when I hear the "charity begins at home" argument, and even more so when it appears the arguer is of the opinion that money is the be-all and end-all. It's not, infact most of it doesn't even exist other than as a number in a system somewhere.

Most of the problems here are caused by money, so why would more of it solve them?

putting a ship in the orbit of another star is probably the best idea i've heard all week. if we keep finding excuses not to, and earth gets wiped out by a comet, i reserve the right to say "i told you so".

Bradley Manning now in nicer Army prison

lolwhut?

I'm sorry I think you must have posted on the wrong site. You can find the Daily Mail forums over there -->

Regardless of our differing opinions regarding the US torturing one of it's own soldiers with nothing but an accusation as justification, and your morbid endorsement thereof, the info leaked on wikileaks had names blanked out.

See? Someone already thought of the children, you don't have to.

All this aside, poor guy was just a whistle-blower. Most of the moves the merrickans made after the afghan chopper vid sounded awfully like bluster to me.

Grenade because of that unfortunate incident with the hostage.

The Sandy Bridge Hackintosh

good article

thanks, i've been looking at doing just this myself a few months ago, it would be very useful to be able to boot osx, linux and windows on the same machine.

maybe this means i can retire my old G4 :)

regarding the legal thing, i've never heard of an EULA successfully used in court to convict a user so AFAIK they havent been tested. neither do i think that apple would be best served by suing paying customers, but they are prone to dick moves so i'll reserve judgement.

Beyoncé sued over aborted videogame deal

beyonce

is a popular pop artist with nice bajungas

she doesnt matter much in the grand scheme of things (aside to her fans) but her indirectly (or directly depending on your p.o.v) causing the loss of 70 jobs in the IT industry, in the context of motion controlled gaming, probably qualifies enough as hardware to justify the incident being reported here.

OT: i lol'd.

PlayStation Network credit cards protected by encryption

think youre being a little unfair

sony would be mad to tell all, say, if the whole thing was either an inside job (providing they dont know who did it or that person has a dead drop with all the data he stole set up) or perhaps if the whole blunder was 100%, completely and solely their fault.

"blame it on a hack" has been done before.

that said, personally I don't doubt there has been a hack, but i'm not certain sony are saying everything either. I wouldn't.

Either way, they can't repel a cockup of that magnitude.

Revealed: Secret security plan should Kate leave Wills at the altar

Playmobil

Thirded

Son of AV tycoon rescued following 'stupid' kidnapping

in soviet russia

hostage kidnap YOU!

i'm getting my coat...

Internet child porn investigators net South Aust MP

but only

if it was a setup.

otherwise, you'd never hear of it, or they would never have been investigated.

funny how a publicly reported "sex scandal" or embezzlement of some description almost always precedes a UK MP's dishonourable discharge.

won't somebody think of the - actually better not.