Posts by GregC

Gaming gasm UK: Rubbing shoulders with LEGENDS and newbies

Re: No Elite:Dangerous?

Exactly what I was thinking - though I guess with it being in beta now, a lot of us that are interested in it are already playing it.

WHY did Sunday Mirror stoop to slurping selfies for smut sting?

Depends on the context of the incitement, surely?

ie, if "she" sends him a few flattering messages, and he responds with a picture of his knob, then he's been caught bang to rights.

On the other hand, if "she"'s been sending him stuff like "come on big boy, show me what you've got" then that to me is entrapment.

Either way he's an idiot, mind...

My TIGHT PANTS made my HUGE iPHONE go all BENDY!

Re: The real reason for the iWatch

Apple have just copied a great idea...

FTFY

Apple iPhone 6 Plus: GORGEOUS FAT pixel density - but it's WASTED

Re: OS updates

The ease of upgrading iOS rather than the pain Android and Windows Phone give users

Don't know about Windows Phone, but I'm struggling to think of anything painful when it comes to system updates for my Android - I get a message saying an update is ready, I click ok, it reboots and updates. My iPhone owning friends tell me this is also the process for them.

Murdoch to Europe: Inflict MORE PAIN on Google, please

Can't be arsed to read all the Murdochian bull

As title. That said, Google may well be too big, too rich, and too powerful for most of our good, but if in some way they really did "destroy" News Corp and the rest of Murdoch's empire then you'd find me doing the happy dance...

Half a billion in the making: Bungie's Destiny reviewed

sigh

Let's see...

(Another) FPS

Massively multiplayer

There you go, two things that are guaranteed to put me off a game. I know I'm in a minority here but I can't stand 1st person shooters, and for me gaming is most satisfying offline and solo.

I know, don't buy it then - and that's fine. It's frustrating at the moment though, there is a definite shortage of games that I'm interested in.

Apple's SNEAKY plan: COPY ANDROID. Hello iPhone 6, Watch

So the watch then..

El Reg says:

It's certainly a nice-looking bit of kit, as we've come to expect from Apple

Really? The design of the watch face on the display is OK, but the hardware itself is decidedly meh, at best. Compared to the round Motorola and LG offerings it looks very dated. Even if you like the rectangular form factor, the newest Samsung looks nicer to me.

Lenovorola TRIPLE-ola: New Moto G, Moto X and 360 wristputer UNZIPPED

Re: Was interested in the 360

Fair point - depends what else new and shiny comes along in between I guess.

Not that I'm a sucker for gadgets or anything, obviously....

Was interested in the 360

but at £200 it's just that bit too much. At £150-170 I could have just about justified it as a toy (which, let's face it, is what it is) but not 200 for what it does. Oh well, on to the next shiny thing...

Hey hipsters: Tabs are so last year, fat phones are where it's at

Re: "fadlet"

Excellent.

So after all these years....

it turns out Dom Joly wasn't just making comedy sketches, he was really predicting THE FUTURE!*

*Sorry. Couldn't resist Register-ising it....

A Terabyte in my HOUSE? Got more than that in my POCKET

Re: Not really useful

Also, from the article:

Integrated FTP means, WD says, “the drive connects to compatible wireless cameras so that users can automatically transfer photos from their cameras to the drive as they are taking them.”

Or is FTP on it's own not enough?

Ballmer PERSONALLY wrote Windows 3.1's blue screen text

Re: Give rhe devil his due .,,

Yep, have to agree. Reasonably informative, and gives options. Compare that to a web application I've had to use until recently, where I would log in and start doing stuff, then for no apparent reason get a plain white page, with just the following text:

"Error:

There has been an error!"

Great. Thanks for that. Might as well just say "Oh Noes!!!1111!one!".

Windows 7 settles as Windows XP use finally starts to slip … a bit

@Splodger

The only reason that Win 8+ is creeping up at all is because it's almost impossible for your average punter to purchase a Win 7 box/laptop.

Really? I've got a new laptop arriving this afternoon from a consumer oriented vendor, that offered me various flavours of Win 7 or 8 from a drop down list*. The prebuilt option of my machine even has 7 by default. Based on the various reviews I found prior to purchase they sell kit to many "average punters" - whatever one of those actually is.

*I chose 7. Obviously.

Alienware injects EVEN MORE ALIEN into redesigned Area-51 gaming PC

Re: Have to say...

So now that you're a hand-assisted self-abusing, acne-ridden, bedroom-dwelling, porn-obsessed, blinkered, depressed, egotistical, selfish, smelly and vapid grownup, you've switched from lusting after products from one overpriced, overhyped vendor to another?

Samsung Gear S: Quick, LAUNCH IT – before Apple straps on iWatch

Re: Getting there with the looks...

For me the Moto 360 is by far the best looking of these - maybe a bit on the big side from the pictures I've seen, but it looks properly nice. To me, anyway. If they'd get around to actually selling the damn things I'd consider getting one....

Totes AMAZEBALLS! Side boob, binge-watch and clickbait added to Oxford Dictionary

Re: You're all couch potatoes

Guilty as charged (of couch potato-ness) - if a show is compelling enough. I have been known to do an entire season of 24 in a weekend. Can't remember which season it was, but it was a particularly good one.

UK mobile coverage is BETTER than EVER, networks tell Ofcom

Am I the only one who's getting a decent service then?

Reading the comments here I'm starting to wonder. I don't live in London, or in a major town, though I'm not really out in the sticks either, and I travel around a fair bit. I'm on PAYG so if the conspiracy theories are true I should be getting a shit service. However my experience over the last two years is that I've found exactly one "no signal" area (at Watford Gap services, and not a black hole any more). The only time my service deteriorates is when I'm at an event with 20-30000 other people in a relatively small area, ie large motorsport event, where I'd expect congestion to be a problem.

Maybe I'm just lucky.

We told you jailbreaking your iThing was dangerous

Re: Perhaps

There are many things to be said about the Apple walled garden. In the context of security I'd describe it as a sticking plaster over user ignorance/stupidity (delete as you feel appropriate) and an encouragement to users to abdicate any responsibility for their own device and it's security.

Japanese boffins invent 4.4 TREEELLION frames per second camera

Re: I wanna see light moving at a leisury place

If you haven't already seen it, you might like this video - it's not quite a one take trillion fps, but it is a visualisation of a pulse of laser light passing through a coke bottle done using multiple passes, and it still makes me go wow....

Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4: 4G Android tablet is easy to swallow

@ KjetilS - good point

I'd forgotten about disabling apps - just checked on my Nexus and you can indeed disable Google+ or any other of the bundled Google stuff, though it does give you a dire warning that this might break other functionality.

Re: Facebook

As far as the manufacturers are concerned "everyone" wants these apps installed, and unfortunately those of us that actively don't want them are a statistically irrelevant minority. Plus it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if there were incentives from the likes of Facebook to said manufacturers. Nexus devices don't have Twitter or Facebook preinstalled, however being Google devices you end up with a non-removable Google+ app instead.

The only real answer if you want total control is a custom ROM.

LOHAN acquires aircraft arboreal avoidance algorithm acronyms

Not necessarily on a LOHAN theme...

...but in honour of a much loved TV show that I've just been watching again

Imminent Tree Collision Remediation On Woodland Detection

Clock ticking for Surface 3 as Microsoft preps for globo-launch

Re: "everything you now have is virtually worthless and irreverent in 2014."

Irreverent? Surface makes non-PC jokes now?

Sorry. Sometimes my inner pedant forces it's way out.

Thinking about it though, describing Surface as being a bit of a joke probably isn't far off...

Brit kids match 45-year-old fogies' tech skill level by the age of 6

I was going to do a long rant about:

- how us 40-somethings are the generation that grew up during the period that computers went mainstream, when using them meant typing the actual commands in not just jabbing an icon. We had to have a basic understanding of the things just to use them

- wtf does this "DQ" actually measure - being tech savvy to me is not knowing how to watch Netflix on a tablet or post shit on Twitter

- Get off my lawn

Having read the previous comments I see that my fellow commentards have done a splendid job of all of this, plus many other points. Good work people, have a virtual (see, I'm tech-savvy!) pint :)

Vulture 2 strapped to speeding van before delicate brain surgery

Re: Do you have a tentative lauch date?

I was wondering the same thing, especially as it looks like it's starting to all come together like a coming together thing...

Brilliant project to follow so far, bringing good old garden sheddery into the 21st century :)

Why has sexy Apple gone to bed with big boring IBM?

Re: A Notes/Domino app....

It's called Notes Traveler. I have to use it (actually the Android version in my case) as our work email is Notes, and especially since the latest update it's actually not too bad - and I mean not bad as an email app, not just in comparison to the desktop stuff.

I can only assume that the team responsible for the abomination that is Notes on the desktop weren't allowed anywhere near the mobile app....

Move up, Siri and Cortana: BlackBerry's new... 'Assistant' is here

Re: Does anyone actually use these?

I do, occasionally, though not as a rule out and about. The one thing I find it genuinely useful for is reminders. I can't speak for the others, but Google Now has got the natural language parsing to a point where I can say something like "tomorrow at 4pm remind me to pick up Dave from the station", without using that "special" diction that used to be necessary for voice control, and it gets it right every time. It copes equally well with more complex, recurring reminders, and it's much quicker than setting a reminder the non-voice way*

*This is, admittedly, partly because the non-voice way in Google Now is a somewhat tortuous experience....

Microsoft takes on Chromebook with low-cost Windows laptops

@R 11

I'm pretty confident that Google have better backup processes in place than I'll ever manage at home.

I don't disagree, but it's still (from my end user perspective) a single point of failure. We all know how bad an idea it is to only have one backup, surely?

However it's not just being reliant on someone else's backup processes that concerns me. If I'm reliant on cloud services, then I'm reliant on broadband access to get to my data. Until the day comes that broadband is ubiquitous everywhere (and even here in a developed part of the world that is far from being the case) that's just not practical.

Don't get me wrong - I have no problem with using cloud services, but they are just an additional backup, and a convenience.

It's one thing to use the cloud, but it seems to me that to depend on the cloud for day-to-day operations is opening up too many process weaknesses.

You know this. I know this. Pretty much everyone else reading this story understands this. But, and I've said this before, Joe & Jane public have been sold a lie - that "the cloud" is some sort of panacea that is always available, always there, 100% reliable.

Whereas we all know that "the cloud" is nothing much more than a bunch of server farms, some (occasionally pretty good, admittedly) management software and a shiny UI for the end user, the average non-techie user has swallowed, hook line and sinker, the marketing bullshit that they can rely on the magic cloud, and never need think about looking after their data again.

The Windows 8 dilemma: Win 8 or wait for 9?

Re: Windows 7 isn't easy to purchase anymore, if at all.

ebuyer - I bought a copy of 64bit Pro from them 2 weeks ago.

PC Specialist will also happily sell you a machine with 7 preinstalled.

Re: Microsoft halts Windows7 support, no more hotfixes...

@joerg - how about the whole truth, not just cherrypicking to suit an agenda?

Mainstream support ends January 2015, which means no feature upgrades.

Extended support runs through to 2020, which means security updates will continue to be provided until that point.

I'm no fan of MS, but promoting FUD is no better when it's aimed at MS than when it comes from them.

@Steve Davies 3 - there's quite a bit of detail in this ZDNet piece

Voice control? In a busy open plan office?

As the title - voice control works really well, in a quiet environment. Quiet is not a word I'd use to describe our office, add everyone shoutingtalking at their computers and it would be horribly noisy. Plus the potential for my neighbours PC responding to my voice command or vice versa (my Android phone already occasionally responds to a non-existent "OK Google").

The thing about the boring, old fashioned, traditional input methods is this: they work, by and large. Particularly in a working environment, if you want to replace an existing system then your replacement needs to be, at the very least, equally functional. In reality, it needs to offer actual, tangible to the user, improvements over the existing system in order overcome resistance to change.

That 'wiped' Android phone you bought is stuffed with NAKED SELFIES – possibly

"...promoted its free Android anti-theft tool as a solution."

So marketing then?

Maybe I'm getting old and a bit too cynical, but every time I read a "report" like this the first thing I think is "what are they trying to sell?". It'd be nice to be wrong every now and then.

Don't get me wrong, I don't doubt they did find all sorts of stuff, and of course you should properly wipe a device before you flog it. It'd just be nice to see something on the subject that doesn't originate from <insert infosec company here> who, coincidentally, just happen to be pushing a product related to that very problem.

You 'posted' a 'letter' with Outlook... No, NO, that's the MONITOR

Re: No, Bill, no..

Yep. We had a field engineer a while back who this happened with a lot. It got to the point where if he rang one of us we'd ignore the call, let him leave a message and give it 45 minutes before ringing him back. Invariably he'd say 'thanks for calling back, but I've sorted it now'.

Eventually he got the hint and did the basic troubleshooting before calling us....

Lindsay Lohan sues Grand Theft Auto V makers for 'using her image'

Re: Having done that side mission in the game

You have a point....

Can I claim Paris Hilton as prior art?

Having done that side mission in the game

The character struck me as more of a general representation of the sort of vapid, airheaded bint that seems to pass for celebrity these days than anyone in particular. Ms Lohan shouldn't take it personally, she's one of many.

Windows 7, XP and even Vista GAIN market share again

Re: private buyers do not get offered the W7 option when shopping for a new PC

Not true, and entirely dependant on where you shop. I'm speccing up a new laptop (well, have been for months really - one day I'll actually get around to spending the money....) and the place I'll be buying from lets me choose from 8.1, various flavours of 7 (HP, Pro, Ultimate) or even, shock horror, no OS.

Shop around.

Yahoo! Bids! To! Own! Your! Smartmobe! Home! Screen!

So it's basically Google Now, by Yahoo?

Or am I over simplifying? Because that's pretty much what it sounds like, and Now is pretty good already, especially given the very limited amount of information I let it see. I'm struggling to think of a reason I'd install a third party app to replicate existing functionality.

Top 10 tech essentials for the festival season

Re: 24 pack of stella

What do you do on the second day?

ASUS launches 5-in-1 Android Windows Phone laptop tablet (breathe)

Re: Only if it's £35.

Harsh. I'd pay £50.

LG G3 fights off screen-res war rival Samsung with quad-HD cutie: In pictures

I really can't see a point...

..in these ultra high pixel density displays

MacBook Air 13-inch: If you squint hard enough, you'll see a lesser-spotted Apple Price Cut

Re: Bah!

On the offchance that Snapper was referring to my quick 600-odd quid comparison - yes, it included the OS and whatever you get bundled with Win8. I don't know in detail what other software you get with a Mac, and neither do I particularly care.

The fact remains that the MBA, as reviewed, is about £245 (~40%) more than a more-or-less equal spec Windows machine, and the question a potential purchaser should be asking is whether the advantages the Air brings* are worth that money. For some the answer will be yes, for others (me included) it's no.

* software included. I have no use for Garageband, for example, therefore it's worthless to me. Someone else may think that alone makes the Mac worth the extra.

Re: Bah!

Out of curiosity, I thought I'd spec a machine up at pcspecialist and see.

A fairly similar hardware spec, in terms of the computing bits, comes out at a smidge over £600 - 14" 1600x900 screen so not quite 16:10, 120GB SSD, marginally faster processor - pretty close. "Certified" Ultrabook. Size and weight the Air wins - 5mm thinner, 650g lighter. No idea what the battery life will be like, but I'd guess 4-6 hours normal use. In other words, pretty much what Stephen said above - broadly similar hardware, with a bit more thickness and weight to it, and probably significantly lower battery life.

So the question then becomes, are those advantages worth £245? And for me the answer is definitely a no. It's just not worth the premium. For other people it will be, and that's fine, but not for me.

Wolfenstein: The New Order ... BLAM-BLAM! That guard did Nazi that coming

Re: Sir

and according to the small print after the rating "Wolfenstein: The New Order was tested on the PlayStation 4"

Note to El Reg editors - this information would be better displayed more prominently, my first questions about a game review are usually what platform reviewed, and what ones available

Cloud computing is FAIL and here’s why

The bigger problem...

...is that while we all understand the limitations and risks of "The Cloud" (using the term in it's popularly understood sense of "you know, Dropbox, Google Docs, that stuff"), Joe Average has been sold the lie of 100% reliability and the nirvana that "The Cloud" is supposed to bring, and has swallowed it hook, line and sinker. Then, when something inevitably goes titsup, that vital document/precious photo of new baby/whatever is gone forever.

Marketing. They'll be the first against the wall when the revolution comes.

Mine's the one with a copy of the Encyclopaedia Galactica that fell back in time.

Copyright minister: Those missing TWO copyright exceptions? We're still on track

So let me get this straight...

Under the copying for personal use exemption, Europe says that if I buy a DVD or Blu-Ray and then digitise it (which is, as far as I know, the only way I can buy a movie or tv series and have it in a digital format I can play on any of my devices without having to worry about being online/signing into an account/other varied DRM crap) I'm expected to pay a levy for the privilege? Even though my only reason for buying the shiny disc is to rip - it will never see the inside of an actual DVD/BD player.

I'm all for content creators being compensated for their work (I wouldn't be buying the discs in the first place otherwise - although how much of that sale actually gets to the creative types is, I suspect, minimal), but this still smacks of charging me twice for the content.

A first-world problem solved: Panoramic selfies, thanks to Huawei's Ascend P7

Re: Truisms Spoken Aloud

I don't think it's that big of a deal in this case, simply because when it comes to phones the manufacturer is hardly ever mentioned. Ask someone what phone they've got and you'll get told Galaxy S4 or iPhone or Nexus 5 - in my experience you hardly ever hear the words Samsung, Apple or Google/LG. This (assuming it makes some kind of sales impression) will be likewise known as the Ascend P7 or even just P7.

As for the phone itself, now that the internet-with-pictures has arrived I have to say it's a very nice looking thing, the spec sounds good - if I was in the market for a new phone it would make for a tempting option. Not keen on the Win8 style widget that seems to be on the homescreen but presumably one can make that go away.

A scanner, darkly: Master data-miner Google tweaks terms of service

Re:you know what Google and commentards say about downloading from untrusted sources....

Yes - don't do it.

Happily as a long time, very happy user of ABP I consider their own website to be a trusted source, and if I visit it on an Android device I get a big button that lets me install it from there.

That's it, we're all really OLD: Google's Gmail is 10 ALREADY

Re: Gnashing of teeth moving away from Notes

If a similar move was announced at our place there would be a party in the street!

It's the single most hated piece of software in the company. Even SAP doesn't get the same level of abuse...