Posts by Mark 110

SHOCK! US House swats trolls, passes patent 'extortion' bill

Re: what else is in the bill

Mmmmmm bacon

Microsoft bans XXXXBOX gamers for CURSING in online combat

Its probably the behaviour of the 40% that are under 18 they are trying to control. Once you get past 20 then aimless abuse becomes a little despairing.

Nothing wrong with demanding a little civility in my opinion. You would not expect to be allowed to wander into John Lewis and be allowed to start threatening to rape peoples mothers . . .. so why would it be OK in Microsoft's place of business?

I am an avid swearer. But I don't do it in strange company, and restrict it at work, and if someone asks me not to then I respect that. Whats the problem?

Two minds

One mind: I hate censorship.

Two mind: But then I also hate taking verbal abuse from people that really really really wouldn't say that if they were in the same room as me (44 years old, 6.2", wider at the top than the middle) . . . I'm a peaceable guy but if I took some of the random abuse in person that I have taken online then I may have done a mischief to someone.

I guess banning profanity is an effort to tone down the abuse. It will just mean the abusers will need to become a little more imaginative with their English. In the meantime . . . while they learn some new words (beyond the 5 they were using). . the rest of us might get a bit of a break :-D

Two minds

One mind: I hate censorship.

Two mind: But then I also hate taking verbal abuse from people that really really really wouldn't say that if they were in the same room as me (44 years old, 6.2", wider at the top than the middle) . . . I'm a peaceable guy but if I took some of the random abuse in person that I have taken online then I may have done a mischief to someone.

I guess banning profanity is an effort to ton tone down the abuse. It will just mean the abusers will need to become a little more imaginative with their English. In the meantime . . . while they learn some new words (beyond the 5 they were using). . the rest of us might get a bit of a break :-D

Dear-ly beloved: Apple’s costly iPad Mini with Retina Display

Has to be an opportunity for someone to clean up by catering for the droids though. I would have been tempted to buy stuff (speakers, music centres, etc) if it didn't need me to buy an iPhone/iPod first.

I look at potential purchases in shops and then the "optimised for iPhone/iPod" sticker looms so I walk away. Their loss, not mine - I do my own better (but more effort) solution instead.

Doctor Who Episode One: Through a glass. Darkly

I read a lot (all maybe?) of the Doctor Who novels when I was a kid and was fascinated by the Daleks being living beings that had escaped their dead world by automating themselves. It leant some sanity to their motivations for seeking new worlds to take over.

The whole transformation of them into the " we do this because we are evil" thing kind of breaks the story. If you analyse the recent Dalek story lines then the Daleks are just insane. The early stories had them as sane but malevolent. Much scarier.

We'll build Elon Musk's Hyperloop ... if you lob us ONE-MEELLION dollars

The Future

This was one of the future tech ideas in a kids technology book I got for Christmas off my auntie when I was about 10. Great idea . . but keeping the air out of the tube is going to be a little bit of a challenge.

I want one anyway :-)

Make or break: Microsoft sets date for CRUCIAL Win 8.1 launch

Re: NO, Windows 9 is make-or-break

Just pin the control panel to your taskbar . . . Or use the handy desktop icon maybe?

Re: It's a bit of a shame.

You clearly haven't used it. I never consume media on my PC - use it much the same as I did Windows 7. Web, Word, Excel, eMail, etc - all just the same. Theres some metro thing they added which I ignore. Thats all.

BT slammed for FAILING to explain why its broadband investment has shrunk

Re: Not a monopoly

Not actually true. I can't be arsed to do the research but there are all sorts of regulatory barriers to laying stuff under roads and pavements.

Virgin Media, BT, Transco, whoever owns the water and gas pipes, that telco in Hull and thats pretty much it. There was a reason that the government sold cable franchises and it was because without one you couldn't do it.

So don't talk bollocks.

PM writes ISPs' web filter ads for them - and it must say 'default on'

Calm down

I don't see the problem - they aren't saying that you can't optout.

Just got a new sim card. Parental control was on by default. I phoned them and its now off. If they remove the right to turn it off then yes I will scream but this seems a good thing to me. There is some awful nasty stuff out there and if I had kids then I would prefer they get well into their teens before they run into it.

I would filter it myself true, but not everyone is a techie.

Samsung isn't alone: HTC profits take a huge dive

Re: Still selling

Edit: Though I am kinda baffled by the over emphasis of the speakers in the marketing for the One. Its a niche feature rather than a USP.

Re: Still selling

Agree. I have a One S, girlfriend Desire X (cracking little mid ranger - quite jealous she paid a 3rd of what I paid for the One S, which apart from a slightly cheaper build and camera does all the basics superbly) and two best friends have Ones (superb phones).

Not sure how/why HTCs results are so bad.

Apple launches global 'iWatch' trademark blitz

I want . .

I want an iNeuralLace. Has to be the way forward. A phone mounted on my wrist lacks ambition.

Apple 'iWatch' trademark filing hints Cook's make-or-break moment looms

Wearables

Theres a lack of ambition here. iNeuralLace has to be the way forward surely. I'd get one!!

Amazon reaping $600m a year in ad sales

Re: Their targeted ads aren't the best

Kind of annoying having to look at ads for the thing you bought three weeks ago everywhere you go. I do need AdBlock switched back on.

Intel: Haswell is biggest 'generational leap' we have EVER DONE

Re: 2-in-1 WTF?

I think they are referring to touch screen laptops that you can detach or hide the keyboard to form a tablet.

Microsoft's Windows 8.1 secrets REVEALED ... sort of

Re: Baffled

I didn't say everything was fine - I said I was baffled why people want the Start Menu back - getting rid of it is a good thing.

Baffled

I am baffled by everyone going on about how they "loved" the start menu. It was rubbish. Have you actually used Windows 8??? The best thing about it is finding and opening the application you want - the old Start Menu was useless unless you spent ages keeping it organised (which I did for a while but got bored doing silly unnecessary admin)

As it is I have 14 apps pinned to my task bar and plenty space for another 20 more. If I need anything else its a quick search and click - all that poring through cascading menus is no more - its wonderful.

WTF is your problem? Try using it for a bit before you curse it to hell.

Virtual machine high availability and disaster recovery

Erm - most of Unilevers (2012 revenue 51 billion euros) Windows estate (along with some Linux stuff) is being (mostly has been) migrated onto HyperV.

No - noones using it.

Windows 8.1 Start button SPOTTED in the wild

Re: Out of the box

Have had it on my desktop since launch. It works. Mostly zippier than Win7 and once you get used to what they have done and have pinned your most used programmes to the taskbar then its fine. But thats the problem - the "once i got used to it" - bit. It really should be a little more intuitive on the desktop.

Bringing the start button back is a start. I would also suggest a "Destop/NonTouch Installation" which automatically boots to the desktop instead of the homepage (yes I know its only one click to get there but its one too many) and loses the Metro apps (have tried using these and they are a pain in a non-touch world).

The Home screen is (without the Metro Apps) much quicker than the old Start Menu. i just use the search function and what I want pops up as soon as I start typing. All that ridiculous searching through menus for something rarely used and in a folder named after the publisher when I can only remember the name of the tool is now gone. Wonderful improvement. Making the look and feel of the Home screen much the same as the desktop will help too.

Scottish SF master Iain M Banks reveals he has less than a year to live

Use of Weapons

I have been meaning to read Use of Weapons again for ages. Even though I know the twist in the tale. But I couldn't put it down the first time so missed loads cos I should have been asleep instead of "reading".

Good luck to the man - I hope his end is not too painful. He has expanded my mind.

As someone else said "Thanks for all the books".

US bill prohibits state use of tech linked to Chinese government

Re: Protectionism or xenophobia?

"autopedicution" - apparently thats not a word. I wonder what you meant?

iPads in education: Not actually evil, but pretty close

Re: Not biased at all. Oh no.

I read it as a "whats the point in wasting money on tablets diatribe". Which makes sense to me as tablets seem like an unnecessary luxury. A computer with a proper keyboard is a necessity. My nephews school has every kid with a decent ruggedised Windows 7 laptop - makes much more sense.

Google exec defends search snooping, location tracking

Re: What a load of self serving tosh..

We aren't really defending them as "something good" - although we do find their services incredibly useful I guess - we just don't understand people getting so emotional about something that they don't have to use and about a quality of that service that we quite like. I really don't mind them knowing where I am and what I'm buying - it can be useful (although the tendency to advertise stuff to me that I have already bought is irritating). If I am doing something I want to keep secret I can just turn my phone off or not use a computer to do it.

I don't understand why people get so excited about this stuff.

Cable Cowboy lassoes Virgin Media with HUGE £15bn deal

Hasn't he owned it before

I seem to remember that back in the day before the NTL Telewest merger that Malone owned a large proportion of the bonds that had been bought by the two companies to finance the two companies building their networks. And that the meger was triggered by Malone calling in the debts. Does this ring any bells?

Just wondering - seems like he has owned this network before and has just been waiting his moment to come back in.

Naked intruder cracks one off in Florida rampage drama

Re: they have the goods but not the skills.

You are recommending legalising carrying guns based upon the quality of British driving!!!!!!!!!!!!! 20% of drivers seem to forget or ignore everything taught on lessons the second they leave the test centre. Another 30% are just useless. And now you want to give them guns as well . . . .

Spanish startup to ship first Mozilla-phones

Re: Bleh

Did you install some addons / plugins that were constantly getting upgraded I wonders? I had that problem too.

'Not even Santa could save Microsoft's Windows 8'

I quite like . . .

I quite like Windows 8 . . once you have everything to hand it works. Obfuscating the start menu seems a strange thing to do but life is much easier without it once you get your head around it.

I actually think it will work wonderfully on a tablet. A Windows 8 RT tablet is now on my shopping list as I think its gonna make a much better experience than an Andriod one (girlfriend has a Transformer).

Anyway - write Microsoft off at your peril - its not so long since Apple nearly went bust and Sony were top of the world.

Free WiFi in London Tube stations extended until end of 2012

Re: extending free access to the service ... until the end of 2012.

Virgin Media and Virgin Trains are completely unrelated other than they pay Branson's brand for the privilege of calling themselves "Virgin". They are not part of a group.

Microsoft Surface ad targets preppy, Glee-watching youngsters

Hmmm. Its a nice shape. I think it will sell. iPads do and it looks better. It needs some software though.

Vodafone to let you roam in Europe at UK prices

Re: O2 similar

Think I paid £15 for unlimited data (well 50MB per day cap or something) whilst on holiday in Spain recently. That was with Orange. They do a day rate as well I think but £15 seemed pretty good value compared to the normal roaming data rates.

Pirates not to blame for Big Media's sales plunge

Excellent article

Can't argue with any of it.

Another facet that has been bugging me lately is the lack of competition in the IT industry. Pretty much 3 or 4 major players in the data centre / server / services sector - HP / IBM / CSC / Accenture, etc. And if anyone trys to compete they get bought. Really needs some regulation - stop them crushing competition with their wallets and make them compete on product and price. Build their owntechnology and customer base rather than buy someone elses.

The article made me realise that exactly the same thing happened in the music and movie industries. Where once there were scores of record labels and a score of big movie studios if you now actually look at the ownership of big media rtheres 2/3 players in both sectors, even though they are still often trading on the old brands. And the competition and innovation dried up.

The parallels are extraordinary.

Cambridge Audio iD100 hi-fi dock

Are there not?

Do they only make these things for Apple stuff? I am never gonna buy an Apple device - sorry I just don't like all the lockins, culture, crazy fanboy shit, itunes, whatever - so it seems to mean that I am never gonna be able to dock my phone or mp3 player to anything.

What gives?

IBM woos Oracle punters smarting from price hikes

Happens

Where I work (2nd or 3rd - not sure - biggest FMCG manufacturer in the world) are in the process of migrating all there SAP databases from Oracle to DB2. Oracle just charge too much. This will happen if people are prepared to put the work in.

iPhone 5: Apple 4S, pundits 0

What a lot of bollox anyway

Its a phone ffs.

How much better could it be than the last one? Just because theres some people that get all sticky over the possibility of a new phone doesn't mean that its something worth getting sticky about. What exactly is it that you are expecting from an iPhone 5 that will produce the stickiness?

Its likely to have a faster processor, a bit more memory, a slightly better camera and a better display.. If this gets you excited then . . . well. . . . get a life.

Microsoft milks Casio for using Linux

Which patents for what?

Could the venerable ElReg possibly enlighten us as to what these Microsoft p[atents are that Linux is infringing upon. I'm no fanboy but whenever its Apple being silly we get the gory details yet when its Microsoft we get nada.

So what is it? Are these real and genuine inventions that have been copied?

Google now a serious rival to Microsoft in cloud email

OK can we have a top 10 cloud email providers review please. Can't be assed to do it myself but is definitely good content for ElReg. Seems theres definitely some good startups that need the exposure judging by previous posts.

Can we fill the rest of the thread up with suggestions to be reviewed and criteria for them to be reviewed by - should give the vulture something to get its beak into ;)

The amazing shipping container: How it changed the world

Thanks all

Nice article Tim and lots of intelligent comments. Thanks all.

HTC hurls more patent spew on Apple

@ Goat Jam

I get the impression everyone pays Microsoft a license fee because they have completely solid patents that are l;ong established. Apples appear pretty tenuous and whilst its a shame to see money wasted on lawyers, it is nice to see HTC actually having a shot at testing Apples patents - which mostly seem to be about trying to patent utter nonsense that is obvious rather than innovative.

if you invented this ""Point-to-point communication using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing" you probably spent a few years in college followed by years of experience in industry.

If you thought that a menu should scroll when you drag your finger along it (or whatever it might be) you may be a 4 year old.

Videogames caused riots says plod

Yeah sure

Like it was the incredibly violent video games that caused the violence of the early eighties . . . oh wait.

Maybe blame a Tory government with complete disregard for the any semblance of social equality, causing social unrest in the most disadvantaged areas of the country. Just needs the tlittle trigger of unnecessary police violence to cause things to blow up.

Thats what caused it then and its the same now. Its not brain surgery to see the parallels.

Groupon sees surge in subscribers, scrubs contentious fiscal metric

Insane valuation

Theres very little barrier to entry. I'm already a member of two of these things and am considering cancelling both as they are very spammy and if you actually take a good hard look at the deals they aren't necessarily that good.

I just don't see it as a sustainably highly profitable in the long term. Its new so getting lots of subscribers and sales but competition will drive the profit margins down to next to nothing (not that they turning a profit yet anyway).

Blighty's top cop quits over phone-hacking scandal

@the paratrooping parrot

He doesn't own the FT. Its owned by Pearson.

Programmers urged to code with their tootsies

Mouse substitute

I could really do with a mouse substitute tbh - have a permanently sore shoulder these days from 20 odd years of constant mousing (I'm guessing here - but it seems to be worse when I finish work so makes sense). I probably should just force myself into using shortcut keys instead of the mouse but a foot operated mouse wouldn't be an entirely bad idea for office work.

I'd probably just end up with a sore hip though :(

A sysadmin's top ten tales of woe

Power

At a certain cable company I worked for a few years ago, everytime networks did a generator test at a remote network node (generally done at 2am on a Sunday morning to minimise risk) we seemed to lose that node a few hours later just as our lucrative b usiness customers were arriving at work. It seems engineers were buggering off home after the test without checking mains power was restored to everything so 6 hours later when the UPS's died the site fell over, leaving whole cities with no internet.

Sigh

Win8: A beginner's guide to FondleWindows

Kinect integration

This interface would work great on a big monitor with Kinect integration. Thats something Apple don't have yet and can be Microsofts USP. I'll be stunned if Microsoft pass up the opportunity to integrate the Kinect functionality into the PC experience.

Though they seem to be getting good at missed opportunities.

'Great Reversal' as world's forests stage a comeback

Vogons are coming anyway

nuff said

Virgin Media frustrates customers with 'intermittent' routing blues

Mail the Cheif Execs office

For all those with ongoing issues that aren't getting fixed mail the Cheif Execs office to complain and you will start to get proper service. Why they can't supply decent technical support/service by the advertised route I have no clue but the Cheif Execs office will sort you out.

Apple worth more than Microsoft and Intel combined

Bubble

Theres a bubble in some IT stocks at the moment. I'm not sure Apples share price is an accurate reflection of it turnover/profit compared to Intel/Microsoft who have a very solid business in comparison. Alot of that price is in the image not the reality.

Apples recent success has been through being first to market with a decent smartphone OS and the tablet form factor which is probably still a bit expensive to be a truly mass market device. So its not comparing like with like - compare Apples desktop OS revenues, or its Office productivity sales with Microsofts, or its chip manufacturing business with Intels and theres not much to gloat about?

But yeah - they are much better at designing and marketing consumer devices than pretty much anyone else at the moment but thats never been Microsoft or Intels core competency.

And are you sure Linux isn't number 2 in the market if you count Android and all the other devices with some variant?

Entire London 2012 Olympics' cultural events database held on Excel

I like excel

Its very good for making lists. And I can then sort the list. And do searches using Ctrl F. Or filter it for just certain types in the list.

And I can do it all without the need for an overpaid database "guruj" who will go off and design something that I can't do a sort, can't search, have to raise a change request everytime I want a new query. Can't just paste things into a table but have to negotiate some form that was clearly designed by someone thats never had to do an admin job in their lives, and certainly didn't try and use it to get data into the database before handing it to the poor user.

You're quite correct in taking the pi$$ out of them describing it as a database - cos to an IT person its so basic its almost not. It is however, like it or not, a database, and one that anyone with a half decent office skills can manage very well thankyou. And well done to the Olympics for using such a cost effective solution.

I'm not sure about the tabloidesque outrage from you though. "Office worker uses MS Excel gto make a list of stuff" isn't exactly a headline. Must be the hot weather frying your brains.