Posts by myob

Square-kilometre radio telescope wins millions in UK funding

It's a lot more than solid state physics

As Sir Patrick Stewart explains here: vimeo.com/19475801

The iPad age is over: The time of the iPad Mini and phablet is upon us

Cheaper and more expensive?

FTA:

"Deloitte says the low price of smaller tablets is the reason for their surge"

"Deloitte says refresh cycles are slowing as punters hang on to their gadgets for longer, a reflection of their increasing price"

Deloitte says tablets are getting cheaper and more expensive at the same time. Why should we listen to them?

Ban-dodging Mac Pro to hit Blighty's shops as Apple bows to fan fears

Not enough PCIe on the processor

The pro uses the PCIe to maximise bandwidth to the video cards. There aren't enough lanes to have PCI slots and TB externally, so they have dumped the internal slots in favour of external expansion.

AnandTech has a good explanation: http://www.anandtech.com/show/7603/mac-pro-review-late-2013/8

Glasgow subway's new smart tickets aren't, moan passengers

Re: Doubling? Did I miss something? Yes you did.

It is 20 single journeys. It's cheap, but it doesn't go very far.

Re: Doubling? Did I miss something? Yes you did.

4 weeks? TFA says 2 weeks. 20 journeys is 4 weeks only if you take the subway in one direction.

Why next iPhone screen could be made of SAPPHIRE - and a steal...

Watch cover glass

Sapphire has been used as the cover glass on watches for a long time (at least on the high end). It is also used for infrared optics that require a certain amount of robustness.

The Reg puts Vulture inside the Large Hadron Collider

Public open day 29th Sept

I was considering booking a holiday.

http://opendays2013.web.cern.ch/29th-september-general-public-day

Medicos hack iPhone into lab 'scope

If you already have a microscope...

If you have an optical microscope, you can actually get quite good images by holding a cell phone camera up to the eyepiece - a few mm of shuggling about - look for a bright flash to show you are in the focus of the microscope lens, then slowly move it towards and away to optimise illumination of the camera sensor.

At least, it works for my kit. YMMV.

'Quantum fridge' gets close to absolute zero

Re: Operating conditions?

It is likely to be operating in an more complicated/ even cooler system than liquid helium. The article says it cooled the copper block from 290 mK, which means they probably used a dilution refrigerator to get there, since liquid helium boils at around 4 K (-269 C).

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

Soak up CO₂ with sponges, says CSIRO

Re: Where are we going to store it?

From Wikipedia: Precursor to chemicals

In the chemical industry, carbon dioxide is mainly consumed as an ingredient in the production of urea and methanol. Metal carbonates and bicarbonates, as well as some carboxylic acids derivatives (e.g., sodium salicylate) are prepared from CO2.

There is also some work looking to make green polycarbonate plastics from CO2, though it is early stage and unlikely to make a significant dent. The main (hopeful) future use for CO2 is to use it as a feedstock to make fuel, which is about the only chemical we need at scale to make use of the amount of CO2. This does of course take energy, but if it can be supplied from a renewable source, future CO2 release from fossil fuels would be reduced or eliminated. Methanol can be made from CO2 for example, and there is also the dry methane reforming reaction to make syngas, which can then be used to make liquid fuels via the Fischer-Tropsch process. This is arguably nicer than steam reforming, but people are unlikely to stop that, since the hydrogen it produces is much more valuable. There may be a role for small installations, but it often makes more economic sense to flare methane than transport it to market.

Re: Where are we going to store it?

There are some uses for CO2 that could soak up some of it, but generally these demand a pure CO2 stream, so it is useful as a step in the recovery/re-use process. The research looks nice, but I would worry about the resilience of the MOFs, especially at the elevated temperatures likely to be used in gas flue streams. (Temperatures up to 30 C reported in the paper) and likelihood of poisoning in real gases.

Apple CEO Cook: 'Bizarre' shareholder lawsuit a 'silly sideshow'

Re: ha

Yes, iphone same since 2007. Apart from

6 models

4 case designs

doubling screen resolution

6? operating system versions

3 SIM sizes

moving to LTE from GSM via 3g

starting an app store, which has generated $8 billion for developers

quadrupling the cameras pixels whilst increasing aperture

doubling the number of cameras

doubling processor speed over five architectures

octupling system memory

quadrupling storage.

But apart from those, totally the same.

Could this be Google's slick new touchscreen Chromebook?

Subsidies?

It might be nice if google is trying to sell at super-cheap prices to gain market share. Buy one and install linux, assuming that there is some replaceable HDD/SSD storage. Is there really a market for chrome OS?

Reg Hardware Awards 2012: The Winners...

Re: Lemmings

The sega megadrive version had two player Lemmings, although I'm not sure I ever finished a level in that, as it was too much fun destroying the other player's lemmings instead.

Iran develops working ICBM: Intercontinental Ballistic Monkey

Re: Never mind the nuke angle, there are more important questions:

Since the Americans don't like them, how about naughtynauts?

Apple's new 'Assembled in USA' iMac a bear to upgrade, repair

Re: umm, this IS a laptop

There are not that many laptops available with 22 and 27" screens. If you want a big screen, but don't want cables, clutter and so on, it is a fairly good option. As for price/performance it may not "perform" in the way you want it to, but that does not mean that it doesn't perform well in features that you obviously don't care about such as looks, size, and quiet running.

You could not make a PC that thin, with a display as good that was as quiet in running as the mac. Thinness and quietness do not matter to everyone, but they matter to some.

Apple 'less innovative' at laptops than Lenovo

Re: For me, Apple has a significant advantage

A year ago, ubuntu could not set native resolution on the display in my black macbook, FWIW.

UK iPad Mini FRENZY: Queues stretch SEVERAL FEET from till

Re: Wrong street

Can't you see the big glowing apple above the doorway? And the crowd control barriers stacked up as well.

Valve's Half-Life

Re: Absolute classic

Not sure about that never. Your description reminds me of my feelings about doom 2. I suppose I'm just too old.

Mars rover Curiosity gets ready to blast its first rock

Pics of previous shooting

Previous laser test pictures here: And if you are on twitter, follow @MarsCuriosity - some really good tweeting and pics.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/multimedia/pia15695.html

Apple's HTML5 bet against Android extermination

Lost credibility here for me:

From the article: "Still, one thing is a pretty safe bet: over the long haul, openness generally wins."

Really? It seems to me that closed generally wins. It isn't like linux is the dominant OS. I can't think of a single field in which this is true. Of course, the wording of the sentence also has that little "generally" in it to rob it of any conviction, in case the bit about betting in the first half didn't clue you in..

Apple tops smartphone seller chart

Android phones outsold iOS phones. This does not take into account other iOS devices, such as the ipod touch or iPads. iOS devices are more homogenous, so you don't have to worry about hardware differences as much, and iOS users are also more willing to part with money for apps.

In an ideal world, developers would port for all platforms, but the fact is that iOS is the most attractive target for limited resources.

Woman nabbed for 'senseless' stiletto ATM attack

Fashion Fail

Looks more like a wedge to me.

The Reg dips toe into social media ocean

Feeds

I nearly followed for the hack interaction, but it is too much like a story feed for me. Any chance of separate feeds?

Lenovo unwraps trio of ten-inch tablets

Lovely engrish translation, but when are they on sale?

Lenovo has finally begin shipping not one but three 10.1in tablets this summer, the Chinese PC giant said today.

Facebook video chat 'leaks' music plans

or ping?

Presumably it could be the remnants of the itunes hookup, ping, that was ripped out at the last minute when facebook fell out with apple.

Texter who fell in fountain threatens to sue

20 min?

In the version I saw, they comment when one of the housekeeping staff checks on her, and they comment about that on the voiceover. Not got a leg to stand on.

Apple iOS 4 update frustrates iPhone 3G owners

32 GB 3Gs problem

My 3Gs threw up an error message of "30", and then I had to reinstall from the backup made just before updating. That worked fine, but copying across the 30 odd gig of data took an hour or so, making it a long process. FWIW its PAYG and syncs with a mac.

iPad users are young, rich geeks

OK, lets say it is a toy.

Are you honestly suggesting that geeks aren't known for playing with toys?

Premium Compact Cameras: Best Buys

Macro shots?

Interesting choice of macro shots which, erm, aren't. I have an LX3 and recommend it highly. It will focus down to 1.5 cm in macro mode and give a great close-up. Also, due to the lovely fast lens it is great in low-light conditions which allows for decent indoor photos without a harsh flash.

I'd suggest anyone properly interested to go and have a look at the flickr camera search.

Apple preempts Win 7 with fresh iMacs, Macbooks

@Andrew Johnson 1

Apple are pretty good for this - I belive they have a 30 day satisfaction guarantee. If you take it back, they will probably upgrade you for free.