Posts by gaz 7

My smartphone has wiped my microSD card again: Is it a conspiracy?

I think the issue is how much the card is written too.

As much as I understand the below is true. Happy to be corrected.

All SSD media has a finite amount of times a cell can be written too. More expensive cards for things like video seem to have more space for spare cells to replace as cells wear out.

I use microSD in cycle and car cameras as well as Raspberry Pis, and have had cheaper cards (decent brand but basic spec) go "bad" where I can't write or sometimes read them in a few months. video rated cards aren't that much more expensive but last a lot longer.

As for Android, it seems to write all sorts of crud to a card, even if you only attach to pull some data off, so I suspect it is constantly chatting and writing to a card. I've given up sticking my camera cards in Android.

Remember that Sonos speaker you bought a few years back that works perfectly? It's about to be screwed for... reasons

Re: Ludicrous

I use Dsub too on my Android devices, but use Ampache for the backend rather than Subsonic itself.

Ampache presents the Subsonic api calls and works very nicely. It has a decent web front end and none of that nasty java.

Worth a look if you want to roll your own. I don;t trust cloud companies at all who's product depends on them continuing to provide some server based service. At some point they either go south or "upgrade" everything forcing poor consumers to buy new stuff or move on.

Office junior had one job: Tearing perforated bits off tractor-feed dot matrix printer paper

I remember when...

We started rolling out word processors and laser printers to the medical secretaries in the hospital I worked in (still do).

We had several that took a while to learn that you didn't use carbon paper when printing 2 or 3 copies.

We had several that would do that but with the added bonus of paper clipping or stapling the sheets together first

We had several more that would print, proof read, tippex out the errors then feed back in with wet tippex and reprint

We had several that tried to use up the old non-laser safe acetates and labels to save a couple of quid and knackered a £200 toner unit or a whole printer instead

Happy days

80-year-old cyclist killed in prang with Tesla Model S

bullshit all bullshit

There's a lot of know nothings on this thread. I am local (I work in durham and cycle commute 16 miles daily). that road is a 40 limit, but has islands, traffic lights as well as junctions. There is a very poor footpath which for some of it has been "converted" to make it legal for cyclists to use although in reality not fit for purpose

It was reported yesterday that the poor guy killed although 80, was an experienced long distance cyclist who still did 3 or 4 60ml+ rides a week, so probably a damn sight fitter and more alert than most people on this site. It would have been appropriate for him to be on the road and not on the poor path, so LA must carry some responsibility for lack of suitable infrastructure.

Bear in mind that a husband, father and grandfather died, some of the comments have been in decidedly bad taste and some verging on the offensive

there's been no reports about the mode the car was in, or any other circumstances surrounding the collision. However, last friday it was very sunny here, and at the time of the collision both parties would have been cycling into bright low sun, and my guess is that the driver was struggling to see, and obviously didn't slow so he could stop in that distance

Swedish school pumps up volume to ease toilet trauma

Disappointed

That no one else has suggested Something inside so Strong by Labri Siffri

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otuwNwsqHmQ

CERN ready to test an even bigger gun

Re: Lineac 3?

Possibly the same as Babylon 4.

It's round and wobbles, but madam, it's a mouse pad, not a floppy disk

ahh, floppy disks

Back in the mists of time, when floppies were common, I often used to get calls where people had hole punched them to put in files, or stapled them to reports, then wondered shy the data was corrupt

On more than one occasion, I came across someone who had cut the black sleeve open and slid the bare disk out then tried to insert into the drive. To be fair this was the late eighties when floppy vinyl singles were common giveaways on the likes of Smash Hits.

We found that 3.5" disks occasionally stuck (we had rubbish disks and drives), and that carefully turning the spindle freed it. I actually convinced our office apps trainer that if you turned the spindle it moved the data to the edge which made it quicker to access. She parroted this to her trainees for at least 5 years. she was also told that we saved electricity if empty sockets were switched off as it stopped electricity "leaking out"

The server's down. At 3AM. On Christmas. You're drunk. So you put a disk in the freezer

Freezing disk drives

We had a long spell where end user PC hard disks would fail and this was before the time where everyone stored data on servers.

We realised that the disks were failing after a few minutes. This obviously seemed to be a heat related issue, possibly bad silicon on the controllers.

We surmised and were right that if we froze them to chill them down for a while, they'd work for longer & just long enough to copy the data off. We saved a few people back then, who quickly saw the merits of server storage :-)

Obituary: Victor Scheinman, inventor of the 'Stanford Arm' factory robot

"cause you only needed the arm right?"

Seriously RIP. Another one who changed the world

Newest Royal Navy warship weighs as much as 120 London buses

Re: HMS Forth??

Presumably a similar fate to the first four Babylon stations

Lester Haines: RIP

:-(

That's sad news. Condolences.

Lemmy, Bowie, Wogan, Prince and now Lester. 2016's becoming a really shit year. Just stop now Ok

Brits unveil 'revolutionary' hydrogen-powered car

So what about congestion

As an experiment and technology demonstration this is fine.

In real life though our roads are choked with traffic going nowhere fast already.

Changing the energy source doesn't magically make all the other problems around mass car use like congestion, danger, inactivity. Given most of the driving population only drives a few miles to work or the shops we need some way of getting those out of cars to make space for the people that do need vehicles.

If only there was a form of personal transport that was super energy and space efficient, was cheap tobuy and maintain and free to run, yet made it's users healthier...

El Reg picked a pack of ace pic-titlers

Esther throwing her arms in horror at the email from her cleaner announcing that she'd be off for christmas ( in case you missed this awful human tragedy http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/life/article4646821.ece)

US military readies drone submarine hunter

Skynet

Have none of these feckers ever watched Terminator.

Huge explosion kills 44+ in China, blasts nearby supercomputer offline

Re: Back to the supercomputer ...

At the time of Buncefield our main hardware supplier & support company had their head office & main compute facility completely trashed as they were next to the perimeter fence.

I was told that the backups had been taken but tapes were waiting for the courier to take them off site at the time.

Some of the photos I saw of the devastation of the by engineers we knew who were drafted in for the DR effort were almost unimaginable.

On yer bike: Hammerhead satnav for cyclists – just don't look down

Re: add audio-comments/updates/street names

Ah right, so in your perfect little world what do deaf people who want to ride bikes supposed to do?

And that's ignoring the fact that studies have proven that cyclists WITH earphones in still hear more than drivers with the windows shut and car stereo off. Let alone with the booming you normally get.

You also assume that a cyclist with earphones in is listening to something. there is also an increasing trend for car drivers to have ear-buds in, presumably to listen to music from their jesus phones or as handsfree.

so lets have some perspective and sense please

Buses? PAH. Begone with your filthy peasant-wagons

The best urban transport

Is the bicycle.

It is pollution free once manufactured.

It is space efficient unlike any form of motorised transport, be it electric or autonomous (or both)

Around urban areas it is usually faster than anything else (unless it's 3am)

It is stupendously cheap to run & needs very little maintenance

It is door to door

It keeps the user healthy and increases life expectancy and vastly reduces risks of diseases, cancer, dementia etc.

Not everyone needs to (or be able to) ride a bike for every journey, but if UK could convert 10% or 20% of urban journeys to bike, then that would free loads of road space. It would really improve air quality which is illegally dangerous in most major UK cities.

Florida bloke cuffed for pit bull shag outrage

by those eyes..

I'm wondering if the pit bull shagged him.

Classy Oregon diners tipped waitress with 'crystal meth' – cops

Re: the tit tattoo

oozes something, not sure it's class though

Ten classic electronic calculators from the 1970s and 1980s

when I were a lad

Calculators were banned in Maths, but allowed in Physics and Chemistry.

TI-30 was the default choice, we could not afford on so I had a bog-basic Sharp who's most advanced function was a percentage key.

Spent a weeks wage from summer job(about £20) to buy a TI-21 for college when I was 16, which I still have and it still works.

I think children should still be forced to learn log tables. character building for starters...

Boffins spot LONE PLANET roaming interstellar void

Moonbase Alpha?

Which has escaped from a parallel universe by any chance?

IT bloke denies trying to shag sheep outside football ground

Just how...

Do you encourage a sheep to perform a sexual act on a human?

Want to sit in Picard's chair while spying on THE WORLD? We can make it so – ex-NSA man

if yu could, you would

come on how many of you have not dreamed about being able to get away with doing somthing like this?

Be honest. I'd love a network operations center like that

Flying in the US? Remember to leave your hand grenades at home

Re: "Dual Purpose Grenades"

Is that not just an Americanism . Like Country and western being both kinds of music

Smartwatch craze is all just ONE OFF THE WRIST

I like the elegant retro look of the Sinclair watch. Much better than the japanese addiction for every button to have 15 functions & a label for each one.

Microsoft's Nokia plan: WHACK APPLE AND GOOGLE

RIP Nokia

a lot felt this day was going to come. the final nail in the coffin of the old Nokia

Goodbye Nokia we loved you.

Why didn't you stick with Maemo/Meego - you had a world beater which only needed a bit of polish.

BOFH: Don't be afraid - we won't hurt your delicate, flimsy inkjet printer

Re: What was that plotter...

Some serious google-fu revealed it to be a Penman plotter http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/20994/Penman%20Robotic%20Turtle%20Plotter%20Printer/

Wish I still had it.

What was that plotter...

you could get in the 80s which was a small robot which ran around the page. fun to watch & wish I still had mine.

Class tale though. Back when men were men and printers ate children for breakfast ;-)

WAR ON PORN: UK flicks switch on 'I am a pervert' web filters

Are they also going to ban

the Sun?

the Sport?

the Star?

Nuts, FHM, and all the other dodgy mags/

the Daily Mail website for the sidebar of shame?

All the adult services on Freeview, Sky & Virgin?

The underwear section in mailorder catalogues?

We have no children in our house, I don't see what business it is of the Government to decide what legal material I can and cannot view. Who decides what is and what isn't permitted.

Desperate Venezuelans wiped clean of bog roll

Send for Juan Sheet....

from the Plenty adverts

So, who ought to be the next Doctor Who? It's up to YOU...

Shatner for Who

I still maintain that Bill Shatner would be great as Doctor Who. No more fanciful than some of the suggestions, and way better than some. Miranda Hart for frigs sake? Let's just have McCoy back then

Who should play the next Doctor? Nominations needed!

Can't beleive noone else has suggested...

William Shatner

About as likely as most of the other nominations, but it'd be a wild ride!

Being serious, I would like to see a well trained more mature actor to take the francise away from the twilight set. Someone who could do for Doctor Who, what Patrick Stewart did for the Captain of the Enterprise

BT Tower is just a relic? Wrong: It relays 18,000hrs of telly daily

Interesting article

very interesting and enjoyable.

for the next one can I suggest that someone takes you up the OXO tower

someone had to!

Nokia shareholder tells CEO Elop he's going to hell

If Nokia had any guts...

They would release an Android phone AND one based on Jolla (nee Meego)

Also need a slidey keyboard one, as well as a slate. The N9/N950 combo would have sold well had the last little wrinkles been ironed out. Nokia had great R&D and great ideas, what it needed was great management of that R&D not chucking it out in favour of Microsoft.

Weary quid-a-day nosh hack fears colonal mass ejection

Re: I predict

when that brown dog's ready for a walk it's gonna scratch at the door fairly hard

Infinite loop: the Sinclair ZX Microdrive story

I had a +D!

Was a better deal at the time the Microdrive as I got it half price in Boots cos the box was damaged.

Moved on from that to a +3 and then to a QL.

We still have some microdrive cartridges in a data safe at work. Keep meaning to rescue them in case anyone has a mad idea to tidy it. It still has 1/2" reels and manuals for an ICL series 39 that we decommissioned in 1991!

Ten serious sci-fi films for the sentient fan

What about...

The day the Earth caught fire - serious, scary apocalyptic climate change movie. Excellent stuff

Journey to the far side of the sun - Actually even for the Gerry Anderson haters an excellent film

Don't want to give the plots away, but worth worth digging out and watching if you like decent sci-fi. I also really like Colossus: The Forbin Project but not sure it's good enough for here

US lawmaker blames bicycle breath for global warming gas

cycles and tax

The annual vehicle tax in the UK is based on pollution - there are plenty of cars that pay a zero rate, petrol/diesel as well as leccy.

If you are angry/jealous of the fact that you pay a few quid a year for your car and a person on a bike doesn't, then either buy a bike, or buy a zero-rated car and stop whinging like a bitch.

Bicycles just make for more effiicient pedestrians - should we create a pavement tax for shoes? Morons.

Bicycles in the UK at least are rated for VAT so we pay a purchase tax. Most roads paths etc are funded out of local taxation anyway so again I pay my way there.

Bikes take up a lot less space and do a lot less damage than cars. In the UK billions are spent trying to cure people who's mouths are bigger than their arseholes and do little more than move from the sofa to the driving seat and as a result are suffering heart disease, diabetes and all sorts of other nasty stuff. If more people rode and walked then that would reduce saving the whole country money, and possibly cutting your tax bill.

Most adult cyclists in the UK have passed a test to use the road - called a driving test, cos surprise fecking surprise most of them also drive. Not two seperate species.From the standard of most drivers I see they need to pass a fr1gging test.

At night most of the people riding bikes that I see are teenagers on mountain bikes& bmx - parental responsibility anyone? Cos most of their parents are probably drivers bitching about cyclists without lights!

Most cyclists ARE responsible. The ones that aren't are generally neerdowells or idiots, and if they were in a car would be driving whilst drunk/drugged out of their skin without a licence. mot or insurance, so you are better off with them on a bike!

considering this is a tech/sciencey type site and the comments threads normally have sensible commenters, I am wondering where all the idiots have come in from.

Spawn of the devil cos as a cyclist I obviously am! Although unlike most of the nutters and trolls I am willing to put my name to my comments

Tracy brothers are back: Thunderbirds Are Go! again in 5... 4... 3...

Hopeful and excited

If they can get the stories right and not make it americanised patronising nonsense like the film, then this has great potential.

I would love to see the run time increased to about 45 minutes though, which equates to an hour with adverts.

Holy classic car auction, Batman! They sold THE Batmobile!

Wasn't Rick Champagne the guy that signed those fake cheques that the Reader's Digest used to send out every year?

I always slightly distrust people with names like Rick champagne or Bob Diamond for example.

dunno why..

Reg Hardware Awards Best of 2012

product of the year

surely has to be the Raspberry PI.

An absolute phenomenon.

Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet creator Gerry Anderson dies at 83

Re: The Tribute Joke (pretend to be ten again before reading)

Pass the mindbleach....

Was going so well until the last line

Siri: Can you make a Raspberry Pi open a garage door?

Re: But does the door

This is so cool, and I also thought of it.

I would be so tempted, but dont have a garage, but do have a wife that would at the very least divorce me if I did something so geeky.

Dr Alex Moulton: 'An inspiration for generations of engineers'

Re: Ah damn...

Took years after first test riding a Moulton AM at York Rally in '85, to finding a 60's Moulton for riding in '98 and then a further 3 years until I could afford to buy a Moulton APB.

The best and most versatile bike I have ever owned, and out of a shedful the only one I ever ride. Love them to bits. Utterly utterly brilliant bikes.

Dr Moulton was a genius. Simple as.

Bash Street bytes: Do UK schools really need the Raspberry Pi?

I always thought the point of the Rpi

was not as a general purpose computer for schools (There are loads of them, and linux could be chucked on most of them and run the same as the Rpi faster),

but as an easily intefaceable computer that does not cost shedloads to replace when something gets shorted and blows one of the things up.

The GPIO and the camera I/F makes it superb for that kind of tinkering-about-learning for kids and adults alike. Also as it's cheap you can get several and dedicate them for different projects.

The one thing it cannot provide is enthusiastic teaching staff though...

Pint of beer for the guys (and gals) that thought of the Pi and pushed it though to reality

Omnishambles beats off mummy-porn, becomes English word of 2012

Mummy Porn

Prefer to refer to it as mumble - concatenation of Mummy Grumble.

It's a weird thing - Cant imaging ASDA or Tescos been stacked with copies of Fanny Hill somehow, but porn for birds is OK

Virgin Media vid misery blamed on unnamed peering network

Better be bloody well fixed by the 21st - that's when they are "upgrading" mine to 60Mb here in Shields...

How Nokia managed to drive its in-house Linux train off the rails

Got the collection

770, N800, N810, and N900.

All great devices, and very capable in their day, and actually much more converged and focussed than Android is. The community developed media player on the N900 (which uses the UI of the stock player) for example is one if not the best media players available. Plays everything, and everything plays though it, where Android is a mishmash of different apps. Same with the IM and messaging.

Nokia really dropped the ball with Maemo, and never really seemed to give it the commitment for it to make the leap from a skunkworks-feel geek device to mainstream.

They should have licenced it for almost nothing to get the market share

New I-hate-my-neighbour stickers to protect Brits' packages

I want some of these stickers

To put on the bloody neighbours doors to stop us being bothered!

We get several deliveries left with us a week. Either the drivers lie about leaving a note, or the neighbours ignore it, and my money's on the former!

Constantly have to keep an eye out, especially for the one who works odd hours in IT and often doesnt come home until really late. once came home to find the wife had accepted a 12U wall mount rack for him...

Yes, I know Im a grumpy fucker! Also need local shop drop off for my deliveries I dont want the missus to know about.

Icelandic town demands vulva museum

Wonder

how often it will be closed for re-painting?