Posts by DJV

Boffins' brilliant plan: CONCRETE COMPUTERS

Ah, the old "Blue Building of Death" syndrome...

UK.gov blows a fuse at smart meter stall, sets new 2020 deadline

Re: easy to change suppliers?

Clue: see the "uk.gov" bit in the title....

Degenerate dwarfs tear neighbors limb from limb

Degenerate dwarfs

I blame Snow White...

Fasthosts CEO Burton hits alt-F4 for last time at web biz

You were lucky

I saw the other side of them and it wasn't a pretty sight (or site!). They are going to have to give us more than 2 years of a good track record before I would ever think of using them again.

Retro-tech fan seeks cash for Commodore 64 clones

Re: How?

Not only that, but this site is (supposedly) being run directly from a C64!

http://www.c64web.com/

You think Macs are expensive? Get a load of this $260,000+ Apple

Someone tried it with a 1987 Mac: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-tqKj7aNtc

ICO probes Home Office refusal to reveal Snooper's Charter details

Two words

Two words that strike fear into me are "Theresa May"

--- shudder ---

StreetView spots possible roadside nookie down under

Yes, it is

Follow the Reddit link on the original article and they admit it:

http://www.reddit.com/r/australia/comments/1c2kde/found_on_google_street_view_south_australia_xpost/

The ten SEXIEST computers of ALL TIME

Re: you forgot!

Pic here for those who don't know it:

http://www.zimmers.net/cbmpics/cbpets.html

Case design was based on the ealier 700/B series:

http://www.vintagecomputer.net/cbm_b_prototypes.cfm

Voda: Brit kids will drown in TIDAL WAVE of FILTH - it's all Ofcom's fault

Change the law and apply it retrospectively?

At least that could never happen here, could it?

Oh wait...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/mar/15/dwp-law-change-jobseekers-poundland

Next from Microsoft: 'Blue', the Windows 8 they hope you don't hate

Windows Explorer

It will only be a "decent file manager" when it manages to stop occasionally crashing for no apparent reason (as it has done since Windows 95) and they give us the option to turn off the stupid "jump down the screen 2 seconds later*" that they added in Windows 7. Classic Shell can sometimes fix the latter but often only after you call up the CS settings and OK them again.

* this is what I mean: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-files/windows-explorer-expands-folders-inappropriately/50a81b05-da98-4d55-821d-55ffbbd0e998

Boffins build robo-CHIMP for DARPA challenge

Re: Anything?

And it will need the wireless connection and voice processing to contact Ikea and ask where there missing parts are.

Ancient revellers came to party... and build Stonehenge - boffins

Re: Was I the only one...?

Nope!

Architect pitches builder-bothering 'Print your own house' plan

Re: two doors between a kitchen and toilet

Hasn't been a requirement in the UK since at least the early 1980s. See item 4.10 here:

http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/uploads/br/100312_app_doc_G_2010.pdf

Squillionaire space tourist offers oldsters a holiday to Mars

Re: Reason for an older couple?

I nominate David Cameron and Nick Clegg... or aren't they old enough yet?

Microsoft's own code should prevent an Azure SSL fail: So what went wrong?

You beat me to it - though I was going to say the first 3 words...

Hipsters have spoken: Microsoft is 'hip to be square'

Raspberry Pi?

Damn you, you young whippersnappers! So that's why trying to entice sweet young things back with my "do you want to come and play at my abacus and difference engine" is no longer the draw it was in times past! Hrmph!

The universe speaks: 'It's time to get off your rock!'

Re: Considering the mess we've made of this planet...

Yes, we've got to keep trying until we manage not to fuck one up!

HYPERSONIC METEOR smashes into Russia, injuring hundreds

Russia

It's a bit like alien spaceships always landing in the USA. Oh wait, it was real life and not Hollywood this time around.

Register reader Ray revs radio-controlled Raspberry Pi race rover

50 Fun Raspberry Pi Recipes?

Or even "50 Shades of Pi"

Boffins find RAT-SIZED bug-muncher links man to beast

OMG!

We're all descended from Larry Ellison weaselly lookalikes - the shame!

Nemo cancels Microsoft's Surface Pro launch

Re: Hmm...

Your wish/wonder has been granted - see right below

Every single Internet Explorer at risk of drive-by hacks until Patch Tuesday

57 patches?

Wow, this must be the Heinz special soup edition!

Speedy MySQL 5.6 takes aim at NoSQL, MariaDB

Oracle will never learn

It's OpenOffice all over again.

I'm hoping someone will fork VirtualBox as well soon to get it out of their clutches.

Linux boot doesn't smash Samsung laptops any more

Re: Random Poking

There's some nice killer POKEs here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_poke

The Commdore PET one was the first one I ever heard of that would destroy hardware.

Apple blocks Java on the Mac over security concerns

Re: 50% Java - This SUCKS!

How many more times do people need to be told that Java is NOT JavaScript - aargh!

Wall, head, hit.

My top tip for Microsoft: Stop charging for Windows Phone 8

Re: My top tip for Microsoft:

Excellent idea!

We would be able to to laugh again to Bill Gates' 2004 announcement that spam will be dead in 2 years - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3426367.stm - and look forward to them releasing the Zune all over again!

Tablets aren't killing ereaders, it's clog-popping wrinklies - analyst

Bollocks

I am getting on and have no intention of kicking the bu----

Ballmer now flings out work rivals, rather than chairs, claims ex-Microsoftie

Re: Cringe

Don't insult Neanderthals - apparently, they were quite intelligent!

Re: 2002

He may not be current but he is certainly adding to the continuous story of how Microsoft has been mismanaged over the years. More tales can be found here:

http://www.vanityfair.com/business/2012/08/microsoft-lost-mojo-steve-ballmer

and in the book Barbarians Led By Bill Gates - another "not current" book, but well worth a read:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbarians_Led_by_Bill_Gates

Raise a beer: Titans of tech fill out 'Worst CEOs' list

What?

No mention of Ballmer? Shock horror!

Leaping hedgehog probes planned for Martian moon Phobos

Cavorite!

Yay! Spiky punk versions of "First Men in the Moon" Cavorite sphere!

http://home.earthlink.net/~jparvey/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/cavorite.jpg

Major new science: Women more nude, more often online

Re: Stop the Presses! New Research!

Yes, but enquiring minds would like to know which of you was imposing the nekkidness on the dolls, you or your sister?

When your squash partner 'endorses' your coding skills on LinkedIn...

A*

I got A* in the exam for my Astronomy GCSE evening class - seemed appropriate - can't think of any other reason for it though!

365 days in SPAAACE: An interstellar glance at 2012

Obviously...

...it's the Medusa Cascade!

Search engines we have known ... before Google crushed them

Feck!

Well, at least Doogle is still around!

www.doogle.org

Shh! Proxima Centauri can hear us!

I'm just hoping that...

...someone/thing around 49 light years away is getting ready to set up their video recorders and will post the missing Dr Who episodes back to us at some point.

'We are screwed!' Fonts eat a bullet in Microsoft security patch

Re: The Real Story here...

Try Inkscape - price = free!

http://inkscape.org/

Seemed to work for what I wanted (but my drawing needs are small so YMMV)

Patrick Moore: Lived with cats, accompanied Einstein on the piano

Re: I wrote to him once...

Likewise! I wrote to him after reading his autobiography "80 Not Out" to not only say how much I had enjoyed it but to also point out a bunch of typos and mistakes. He replied saying he knew all about the mistakes and had sent a list of them to the printers who had then lost the corrections and printed it as is anyway! He sounded quite annoyed!

First pic of Ashton Kutcher as the great Steve 'jOBS'

Re: Two Jobs films

But eveyone forgets the best one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrhmWkRfyAI

Home Sec: Let us have Snoop Charter or PEOPLE WILL DIE

Terry Pratchett was right

(from 'The Last Continent')

'Why did he have to go to prison?'

'We put all our politicians in prison as soon as they're elected. Don't you?'

'Why?'

'It saves time.'

Antarctic discovery: ALIEN LIFE may be FOUND ON MOON of Jupiter

Re: Nasties from beyond

Mmm, Popplers!

BOFH: The Great Patch Mismatch

Updates

Yeah, I never update Ubuntu servers any more. Have been bitten once too many times (i.e. twice). Far safer to install a new version from scratch!

The early days of PCs as seen through DEAD TREES

@Uncle Slacky

Not quite! Goes upstairs, pulls out 20th Anniversary May 1998 edition of PCW (RIP). Page count (including covers) = 750 - and all for £1.99 (special price, normally £2.95). I've also got a copy of the first edition from 1978, slightly smaller at 68 pages and cost 50p. Those were the days!

Convert your iPad into a foosball table and relive the dot-com days

Re: Must...buy...iPad...

But don't buy an iPad 4 to run it until they bring out a model of the foosball with a lightning connector!

'Long Time Ago' and 'Far, Far Away' records broken by new GALAXY

Re: "has been observed 420 million years after the Big Bang"

By you and the rest of us looking at the photo?

Slideshow: A History of Intel x86 in 20 CPUs

80186

In the 1980s I worked as a Pascal/C programmer in a company that was using the Burroughs/Unisys B20 series of computers (designed by Convergent Technologies, a company that Unisys eventually bought). The B25 was powered by that rare beast, the 80186. Most PC makers skipped that one completely.

BOFH: Can't you just ... NO, I JUST CAN'T

Could you just...

Ah, that brings back memories of when I worked in this small crap-selling shop in the 1980s fixing electronics for a living. One of the salesmen was notorious for coming upstairs to our workshop and asking us if we could 'just' solder this or that (usually headphone plugs or sockets for crap walkman substitutes they and other shops sold at the time) for a customer waiting in the shop downstairs. We didn't have a magic >KZERT< but after a while we learned to put the fire extinguishers to good use on said salesman. The people who serviced the fire extinguishers always seemed to be surprised that it was often the ones in our workshop that needed refilling the most...