* Posts by Timmo

11 publicly visible posts • joined 26 Sep 2009

Those Xbox One first-day glitches: GREEN screens of DEATH, disc crunching

Timmo

Day One Update

That so much sounds like fun, pulling your shiny new console out its packaging, plugging everything in then switching on and ..... "Your Console needs an update. Please do not switch off until its complete".

Tapping fingers.....

Tapping fingers......

Menu comes up again. You select your game....

"this game needs an update"

Tapping fingers.....

Tapping fingers ....

Oh forget it where's my Binatone ....

Sony sucker-punches Xbox on price, specs, DRM-free gaming

Timmo

What matters for me

It does look like the Sony announcement has made my mind up. I already have all the stuff I need for a 'home media hub' I don't need or want a game system to to do that especially if it doesn't let me stream whatever format I want to the screen. I remember how long it took for Microsoft to add codecs to the 360 before I had my smart TV (which streams most stuff). I have a Kinetic, never use it, my living room is just too narrow and after the initial novelty wore off I don't care about it. My internet connection is pretty solid but I know that if just once, only once it did go off for 24 hours I would be psychotically mad that my console didn't work either. It would be a big thing for me because I would know it would be an unnecessary inconvenience and a deliberate choice by someone to put me in that position. Oh yea also there's a guy on my high street in a little shop near me. He makes a living part of which is buying and selling old games. He keeps part of my high street alive, pays local taxes that go towards local services and employs another guy. Sometimes when I can't justify buying a new game I go down there and pick some game up I would otherwise never had bought new to try out. Will Redmond be paying his dole and fixing my roads when they "Collectivise" the second hand game market ? This seems like an anti microsoft rant and maybe it is. I know Sony are in it for the money also but I'm happy they have made the choice not to follow. Now its up to consumers to show they made the right choice. PS4 for me.

Minty fresh Linux: Olivia hits the virtual shelves

Timmo

Everyday user

I've been using Mint for over a year now after moving over from Ubuntu when all the slidy side bar stuff came in. I was previously ok with XP and never wanted the flashy eye candy of Win 7 or 8 and I definitely didn't like the price to upgrade. Mint does exactly what I want, it works and nothing is so unfamiliar that I can't find a work around to accomplish whatever I am doing. I honestly prefer the familiar and don't want to be sliding and touching my screen all day and I also want that power in my processor being used on the application I'm running. At the end of my XP days I was looking at all the processes being used and constantly fighting to stop this program or that one checking for updates or adverts, watching the antivirus connect for 3 minutes before I could do anything and dozen other useless activities. I miss a few games that won't run in wine or run too haphazardly in VM ware but otherwise MInt does the job for me and isn't trying to be the NEW alternative to windows 8 or anything else. Yes I've tried other distros but Mint has the right mix for me and I agree with a few other commentators here who feel it's better than Ubuntu in a lot of ways.

Now on Freeview HD: Olympic arts channel that's tough to watch

Timmo
Trollface

i think with the readership of El reg 24 hrs of non stop Open University programming from the 1970's would have been more popular. It would have been for ME !

FCO splashes millions on Johnny Foreigner's energy 'awareness'

Timmo

Kickback

I agree with Pete 2. These are just dressed up kickbacks to encourage business to be thrown the UK's way. It's how the world works and no amount of moral indignation will make a damn bit of difference.

Facebook: Your boss asks for your password, we'll sue him! Maybe

Timmo
Black Helicopters

Previous employers

I don't think anyone has mentioned this but what about previous employers. If a potential employer had access to your account and you had "friended" any work colleagues, even if you were very careful about the data you posted, it would be an easy way for them to head-hunt or solicit potentially valuable possibly industry sensitive information from them. A quick message to an ex or current co-worker "What do you think about this project ? I think it's heading in the wrong direction. " sort of thing (many people thinking of leaving an employer would be reluctant to tell their current bosses they were thinking of it until they had something secured).

This is only a short hop from. He's a Military Officer, his son is looking for work. Invite him in. Get his log in details. Tell him he didn't get the job but we now know where and when his fathers next posting is. I know this all seems a bit black op's but isn't social engineering all about getting into peoples comfort zones to do nefarious things?

BTW. Just because I mention friending co-workers doesn't mean I would do it but some peoples lives ARE work and do, whatever we may think of it.

US rent-a-room biz swallows Blighty's Crashpadder

Timmo

Cockney Summer

So I should expect thousands of Cockney's up here in T' North over the summer as they rent their council flats out to Tourists. Theres enough already moved here in the last few years. You can't hear a local accent any more for the sound of rolling barrels and talk of jellied eels.

World's Raspberry Pi supply jammed in factory blunder

Timmo

Looking Forward

I've been waiting for years for something this cheap and capable to come to market. The fact people are getting so hyped up about these delays just proves to me this is a product which has been long wanted by people around the world. Where were the venture capitalists, the Entrepreneurs, the big electronic companies who could have done this but didn't because they wanted to sell you a big beige box instead? It's took a group of dedicated people 7 years of their spare time and I imagine some persuasive skill with their employers at Broadcomm to get here at all.

The fact that the hackers out there are falling over themselves to get hold of one (or 10) is incidental to the core reason these people put together the foundation. i.e. to get the boards into UK schools and to teach kids. I for one hope they do not loose sight of their main goal and they have wide enough shoulders for the shit they are bound to get on forums and by commentators. I think it's a shame they had to compromise and build the gear in China, but hey, that's life.

They've been under pressure now for a while to get the board out to people, a lot of whom want to use it for their own projects (including me). At the end of the day unless you're one of the people who are going to provide educational material or teaching aids for this you should shut your mouths and wait your turn. I can't afford a beagle board to mess about with but at it's price point the Pi is getting me as excited as the day i first sat down with my Vic 20 and saw the expansion port, which hasn't happened in a long time. Someone mentioned maybe it would have been great if they could have made some batches in the UK at a higher price. There has been enough talk of the Pi for a while now but no-one put their money where their mouths were. Were the foundation offered this ? Did they want to wait untill they could get the board out at the lower price to everyone ?

Only they know and how many extra hours of negotiation would that have took away from the main goal of getting the pi out there. RS and farnell have had some shit as well but they have taken a chance more than anyone else to help get this to market in volume. it could have flopped like a overcooked soufflé for all they knew so they should get a break too. One final comment on the Chinese production. Come on who wasn't expecting some minor hiccups. I've never even had a manual from there without a spelling mistake in it and if I had to negotiate building an electronic device with someone half the world away I'm sure they could find fault with my simplified Chinese.

Argentina stakes online claim on Falklands

Timmo
Holmes

War of the Triple alliance

Just a question, at what point will Argentina be returning Gran Chaco back to Paraguay ?

Microsoft sends in the tanks against Motorola, Android

Timmo
Alert

Idea

I demand royalties for my idea of using a wheel ! Can I sue everybody since 5000 BC.

(Pedants apply elsewhere)

Euro project to arrest us for what they think we will do

Timmo
Pint

Better Idea

Sounds like insidious labour plan to convert Europe to their Data hoarding ways. I have a better Idea ! Why not make a database of everyone who DOES NOT live in Europe, then we Free Citizen's of the enlightened EU can be checked against that and if we don't appear on it we will be fine & our data can be deleted !

The Beer glass as this is Pub Logic