Posts by Parsifal

Barnes & Noble answers Microsoft's anti-Android suit

So....

And this is yet another example of why the patent system is broken, i could understand patenting actual code to prevent someone either lifting it directly for use in another system , or even creating code to perform the task by plagiarizing the code.

But to actually be granted a patent based only on a method describing the steps to take is ludicrous, especially when if the description of the problem was given to a 100 software designers , the likelihood of similar/identical methods would be reasonably high.

The best sci-fi film never made: Also-rans take a bow

Now Next Week

I guess the Reg must run on Blizzard 'Soon' time, since the follow up hasn't appeared yet :)

Apple component lock-ups jump 40%

So....

Any of these lock-in's with Samsung ?

So, what's the best sci-fi film never made?

Druss The Legend

More Fantasy than Sci-Fi, but this was the first book by David Gemmel that i read.

I've always imagined the big scene in the book at the breach in the fortifications that Druss is defending as follows.

<Geek Mode On>

Camera in longshot panning the wall , and slowly going into close up on Druss with his war-axe with just the musical portion of The Final Countdown playing slowly (The equivalent of a 45 single being played at 33&1/3)

<Geek Mode>

In all seriousness, Druss The Legend, is a book that is crying out for a good screen play, it could even Drag Arnie back into Barbarian mode since Druss is in his 60's when the battle takes place.

Moving to Windows 7: Is it worth it?

64bit

You should have taken the time to upgrade to 64bit Win7 (Both versions are available on the upgrade disk). Because 64 bit does utilized all the memory and is noticeably faster than 32bit XP (although the speed increase may be more to do with 64bit addressing that the fact that WIN7 is faster than XP).

Neighbourhood watchers in Reading get speedguns

This is so open to abuse.

All you need is someone with a dislike to you and wham a speeding ticket and points.

There is no tangible evidence here, only the word of the person with the speed gun, no photographs proving who was in the car or photographic evidence of the speeding offense itself.

It's an old analogy, but does the idea of a state where other people inform on others for minor infringements of the law sound familiar?, we only need state secret police ensuring that we are all politically correct and we're there.

Sinclair ZX81: 30 years old

Mines Still Boxed Up

In the loft, as is my Dragon 64, sadly both are 4000 miles away from where i currently live :(

Apple T&C upsets philanthropic developers

Missing the point

The developer was already giving the app away free on iTunes, they just wanted to add a charge for the app that would be then sent to a charity.

Plus I'm pretty certain that there would be rules within NZ to deal with people who claim to be collecting money for charities and don't hand it over (Although non it to deal with charities who then waste or use said funds for other means such as happened in the Gulf after the hurricanes there)

The best solution would be to have a link from within iTunes to a webpage that links directly to the funds webpage so the money would go direct to the fund , but is credit as coming from the developers efforts, since the app is free then no harm done.

To people saying there are other ways to donate, a lot of people around the world probably wouldn't know there was a Quake in NZ (it took me three days, since I rarely watch news on TV), so this is one of the ways the message would get out, and congrats to the Dev;s for trying.

putting my coat on because it actually portrays what apple does to its vendors and customers (i.e pick pockets)

Ex-PM blocked Steve Jobs knighthood

Why would Jobs even Be eligable for one.

He runs a company that sells overpriced hardware produced almost entirely in China.

So he costs jobs in the US because of the outsourcing and Apple Donates very little to charity when compared with other companies/CEO's

Unless its because he is the biggest Cult leader the modern world has seen i can't see any reason that he'd deserve a Knighthood, probably one of his inner circle in the British Government nominated him because He and the British Government have the same aims , i.e.impose a 1984 style culture on everyone.

Council busts breast milk ice cream parlour

Nanny State In Overdrive

So breast feeding mothers now have to be screened before they feed their babies?.

Seriously what is the councils problem, if the donors are properly screened before donating milk whats the problem?. I'm not sure I would try it but to each their own.

Its not as if History doesn't have examples of other types of Breast Milk donation, such as Wet Nurses.

This seems more like someone in the council doesn't like it there nobody else should,

Electric cars not as 'green' as advertised

Not to mention

The environmental effect on disposing of used batteries.

Doctor Who co-star Nicholas Courtney dies at 81

Sad to See Him Go

I actually met Nick a couple of times at two Leeds based SciFi conventions called Santacon, he was one of the friendliest and nicest of people you could wish to meet. I always thought Unit in the New Dr. Who series lacked him as the figurehead. He will be missed.

America spared Top Gear Mexican quips

Why bother

As a Brit living in the US, American TV shows think nothing of using racial stereotypes when portraying the English, from bad teeth,bad food, and always thinking Brits all speak with a Cockney accent to a very badly portrayed Queen Elizabeth on a Hebrew National hot dog advert which i found to be very insulting (Yes I'm a Royalist)

There is far too much PC in the world to day, people just seem to need something to whine about, the Mexican Ambassador should have just shut up and taken heed of the phrase 'Sticks and Stones' , and the Beeb should not have done anything to Top Gear editing wise.

Google, antitrust, and the 'Copygate' hypocrisy

Too many Fanbois Here

Judging by the number of down-votes on perfectly reasonable posts I'd say Google is attracting the same sort of Sycophantic zealots that Apple has. Down-voting posts because you don't like what they say is wrong, if you disagree with someones point of view , post a reply or just do nothing.

I usually down vote offensive or just plain stupid posts, which is the way I feel that down-voting should be used, although I must admit some of the irrationality in the comments has caused me to sink to their level and down-vote a couple of the more xenophobic posts,

Down-vote away.

Liverpudlians headbutt Cameron's 'big society'

Surely Not

I'm assume you meant to say The Houses of Parliament instead of Buckingham Palace, since that's the place that you'd need to go to. Unless you've an ulterior motive? :)

Apple patents miracle combo mouse-keyboard

The Innovation here is....

Attaching an Apple logo to what is otherwise prior art.

Most of the people who grant patents in the US will grant Apple one simply based on the fact that Apple are patenting it regardless of prior art, This just shows how broken the patent office is when all Apple need to do is take somebody elses work attach their logo and proclaim that they've invented something new.

DC Universe Online

City Of Heroes/Villians

You'd think with COH/COV having been out there for several years, SOE would have had a chance to improve on that Game, but based on the review I'd say that they are barely on a par with a much older game.

Walmart falls in with Washington's war on terror

What else is there to say?

Icon says it all.

We probe the Google anti-trust probe. Vigorously

No They Don't

They give it away, the whole premise of the Anti-Trust suit was that because it was being given away it discouraged the user (depending upon their skill level) to investigate other browsers and choose them instead. Hence the browser selection screen which allows the choice of a browser.

Even though the EU found against Microsoft, I find it baffling, its like Buying a Ford Car and asking for a GM engine diagnostics kit on it.

In this instance Microsoft make the OS and the means to connect to the internet, and give you a way of looking at it why this causes people problems i don't know

What amazes me is the way people complain about Microsoft and then Gloss over the true closed environment culprit i.e. Apple

App Store II: Steve Jobs sucks Mac's soul

Err What?

IF you think that Apple restricting what you can buy and run on your Mac you're crazy. I'm going to bet that a sizable percentage of the Mac user base will use the Mac store because they don't know any better.

If this isn't a case for the government to at least start looking at apple then I give up, they are at the very least performing an anti competitive action which such a rule-set for the store, then with the insistence of no copy protection contributing to software piracy, not to mention that with them controlling what can be sold by setting arbitrary limits similar apps or the content deciding what MAC users can do.

<Tin Foil Hat Time> The steps being taken here, seem to be a short step away from Apple only allowing app's bought through the store to be installed on Macs, welcome to 1984 Jobsian style.

Foxconn warns phones prices will rise

Or.....

Given, the price markups on 'smart phones' the Wireless Network companies could just absorb the price increase.

British bank cuts 4,500 IT jobs

About Time To Tax

Companies that send jobs overseas. The only way to prevent these job losses is to make it as expensive to offshore as it is to employ locally, the we'll see how efficient off shoring really is. I know this means the government interfering in private industry but I don't see another way,

I wonder what companies are thinking when they do this, effectively banks are cutting there own customer pool, because no new jobs magically appear for the people laid off, which means less taxes and increased spending for the government and worse public image for the companies performing the off shoring.

I'm all for investing in staffing for a market you are participating in but to shift jobs to another country just because its cheaper doesn't show any form of social conscience from the company.

Apple patent pic revives touchscreen Mac buzz

Apple Invents,

The touchscreen laptop , I can just see their press release now.

It's amazing how many people out there act like it's the second coming when Apple brush all previous incarnations of a device under the carpet and claim its their idea.

If the article about them preventing Spotify hitting the states is true I've yet another reason to avoid all Apple products, as if i needed any more.

AMD says it is definitely, really not for sale

No way

I currently buy AMD processors for my home build PC's if Oracle got their grubby paws on them that would be the and of my relationship with them.

Google cools data center with bottom of Baltic Sea

Google cools data center with bottom of Baltic Sea

and contributes to rise on ocean temperatures in the process. :)

Blighty's carriers to field Windows Phone 7

If Nothing Else Choice

If the only thing Win7 Phones promote is more variety of choices (and potential price wars) then I'm happy to see Microsoft in this arena. Too many people write Microsoft just because they are Microsoft. To have basically two companies dominating the the phone OS's is not good (I've discounted BB (mainly business) and Nokia becuase they seem to lack direction) Microsoft at lease add another flavor to the mix and potentially more ease of use with the synergies across to PC operating systems.

That being said I'm not using any of these products I use my mobile phone mainly for phone calls, it can play music, take photo's, text etc but the OS du jour as little to no interest to me as long as i can do what I want when I want.

General Motors bitchslaps Tesla with Range Anxiety™

Battery Power = Stopgap

Battery power is at best a stop gap method for 'Green' cars. First you have to discount the energy and materials it takes to make batteries not to mention the toxic waste involved in disposing of used batteries.

Add in the size of the Tesla battery which is not exactly small and comprises 6800 cells , so replacing at a service station is no small task.

The only real way forward for alternate fuel sources is either Hydrogen Cell powered cars , or some form of magnetic induction from tracks laid in the roads to provide power and continual charging to to electric cars on the major highways leaving pure battery power for side roads and streets.

Game-addicted man scores rare win over software lawyers

Err What?

"It's always encouraging to see a decision that smacks a mighty Goliath, though one can't help regretting that this one seems to favor a David who, by his own admission, is no longer able to dress, bathe, or communicate with family and friends as a direct result of his use of Lineage II.

He did however find time to engage a lawyer and file what appears to be a frivolous law suite. Whats next a law suit because people have become addicted to watching avatar?

(BTW 20,000 hours is 833 days did none of hist family notice this?)

Undead Commodore 64 comes back for Christmas

Spectrum ZX81

Next they'll be reintroducing the ZX81 with all new components, what a joy it will be to work with that keyboard again :P

Seriously though how can anyone expect to cover costs let alone make money on something like this, its not like people will be lining up in their millions to buy this.

Apple demonstrates how to do touchscreen desktops

Common Sense

Apparently common sense is now patentable ?

OpenSolaris axed by Ellison

Shortly followed by

Something JAVA related a few months later, Oracle will want to reap every penny they can out Sun's IP's , the current Google lawsuit is a strong indication of the direction they're heading.

Ellison wrestles Google to strangle 'unofficial' Java

In This Battle

I hope it's Oracle that walk away with the Bloody Nose, this has to have been part of their plan with regards to buying Sun from the very beginning, since this doesn't even affect any of the current areas Oracle do business in and Sun didn't see any problems this is nothing more than a predatory attack for cash, Whilst i have like respect for Google I have even less for Larry Ellison and the sharks at Oracle. If Oracle win this then other corporations using variants of Java are in a whole boatload of trouble and Oracle could be the first company to make more money from lawsuits.

Apple sued over hot iPad shutdowns

Forget Fairness

Its advertised as being able to go anywhere with you, if it can't then apple are using false advertising to sell a product, probably their spin doctor lawyers didn't read the advertising text well enough.

Kindle

Funny the kindle works well in bright sunlight, its getting old apple claiming they are flawless and people are just using the device wrong, if this is true then apple have misled the punters, given that the device won't work in summer in the country it was designed in makes it just an expensive door stop.

And that's the reason people like to dig at Apple, claiming your products are perfect and weaseling out of responsibility claiming the users are at fault for design problems and then putting spin on a 1/2 assed fix to a design problem.

Spotify ports its music streamer to Linux

Still Waiting

For Spotify to be available in the US, there is still some vague statement about it being available in 2010 , but it would be good to see them announce a committed date.

Ireland to block EU-Israel data hoover

One Way Share

I rather suspect this will be a one way operation if it goes ahead, with the EU giving Israel all it wants (rather like shutting up a spoiled child) and nothing of use being given back.

The Israeli government have a strong tendency to act like a schoolyard bully in the middle east, especially to the Palestinians and when they bite off more than they can chew, they guilt the west into helping them because of what happened in the 2nd world war (regardless of the fact the allies had no control over what the Germans were doing)

FLYING CAR, full hover, fairly quiet, offered to US Marines

Road Use?

I suppose there's gonna be a lot of money in widening road lanes by 400% to 500% to support these 'Flying' Cars. Gonna rush to a stockbroker and buy shares in road construction Companies. (NOT)

Wheres the point in calling it a car when it obviously has no viable use on a road?

El Reg marks Steve Jobs for termination

Must be the little voices in his head.

Wow what a looser, guess he was having PMS issues and needed to rant either that or the voices in his head tell him to kill anyone who's photograph have a red 'X' through it.

Just to keep him happy change the color/colour to Blue :)

China threatens Google's internet licence over HK redirect

So much for principles at Google.

When, they first said they would stop filtering content a few months ago, I knew they would back down eventually. The way they've done it is to effectively put the choice in the hands of the people of china, and allowed the Chinese Government the ability to potentially block a singe URL that points to Honk Kong (Which strangely enough is also part of China).

Google may paint this anyway the want to but regardless of previous statements they've caved into Chinese demands, I'd laugh if they didn't grant a license to Google even after this climb down/

Twitter on a ZX Spectrum

Ex Dragon Owner.

I still have a Dragon 64 Boxed Up with it's OS9 Drive and Discs (I upgraded from a 32 to 64), eventually however I moved to a spectrum then to an Atari 520 ST/FM before finally entering the wonderful world of PC's on a DX2/66 processor. My prize computing possession is a boxed up ZX81 1k :)

I feel old after going through that list.

Apple store flakes after iPhone 4 price reveal

Well.......

You could always go to a Pro-Apple site where you will never see anyone Blaspheming against the great and mighty jobs.

Of course since the majority of Articles of the Reg don't involve Apple you could always not read them, complaining about people who have a different view/opinion that you is pretty Hypocritical.

I don't think the point of any of these articles is to hurt apple, if you don't understand satire then perhaps you shouldn't be reading the Reg anyway.

Aussies face 10 year browsing lock-up

Whats Next?

Will the Australian government require that people are fitted with voice recorders that record everything they say?

Seems like the Australian government is attempting to become the poster child for totalitarianism.

I guess you can only emigrate to Australia now if you have tendency towards Dictatorship.

Apple bans competing ads from the iPhone

It May Not Be Monopoly

But it is anti competitive, and yet more of the Apple closed environment limiting choice. Imagine DirecTV not showing ad's for Dish TV on their service and you get the picture,.

Antitrust Here We Go

Title says it all, I think Apple have just crossed that line in the sand.

Apple adds 'make the web go away' button to Safari 5

Not That Long

Most of the web sites make their money from advertising , if people aren't able to see the advertising then the sites loose revenue. This is going to blow up in apples face, either there will be lawsuits aplenty or sites will refuse Safari connections.

If people want to view websites without ads perhaps the sites would be better opening a subscription method were they pay to view the site without adds.

If the new functionality in Safari is allowed to continue expect to pay for access to more sites, or see less and less choice in sites to view since many will go out of business due to loss of advertising revenue.

This seems more like an attack on Google than a tool being issued for the benefit of all mankind.

Google blames Wi-Fi snooping on rogue engineer

New Google Job Offerings

Scape Goat Required - Temporary Assignment Only.

Steve Jobs fears Nation of Bloggers

Steve Jobs Wants

To control everything people do so he can make money off it, to have open environments such as twitter, youtube, blogs etc. means people are saying things he can't control or censor.

More and more he looks like he's developing a God complex, and the worst thing is the press eat it up. Perhaps 12 months without any mention in the news or trade press will bring him down to earth. I'd like to see that if nobody else does, seeing headlines like Steve Jobs drinks a coffee or wears a Blue turtleneck are getting old. (Over-exaggeration I know but that''s what it feels like lately)

Fanboi's lament – falling out of love with the iPad

Good Read

A nice and balanced piece. Although I'm in what you'd call the anti apple camp, I'd have considered the Ipad if some the problems you highlighted weren't true.

Namely, the closed environment that Apple seem to want to enforce, The requirement to use AT&T for the 3G connections and one or two technical things such as USB ports etc.

What potentially would have help sell the Ipad to me as well would have been a forward faciing camera to be able to use the device as a video conference phone.

As it is I'm likely to be looking at ASUS/Acer for tablet PC (HP would have been in there but they've dropped the Win7 options for their Slate (I like choice :) )

Google misses German regulator Street Car Wi-Fi data grab deadline

Need more time to cleanse the data.

I'd guess in reality Google want more time to 'adjust' the contents of the data they collected, so it doesn't look as bad as it really is.

How on earth could you accidentally capture any data? they got caught and now its all about damage control.

Facebook forces users to expose or remove connections

Bye Bye Facebook

If they're trying to force people to use other social networks they're succeeding, however if anyone at Facebook thinks this is going to anything but reduce its number of members they're living in the same fantasy land as Steve Jobs.