Posts by shadowphiar

A lesser-known new feature in iOS 6: It's tracking you everywhere

Re: Not good

Is Firefox's "Do Not Track" setting a dirty trick to fool the user as well?

Lancashire man JAILED over April Jones Facebook posts

Import detail missing

Why does this story not mention that the comments appeared in a support group for April Jones's family and friends? That is why it is being treated differently to postings on a "sick jokes" web site, or your own wall feed.

It would be good to get a straight answer on whether he was the one who posted to that particular group though, some comments n the previous story suggested that a third party had taken a screenshot of his post out of another context.

'As seen on TV' claims can't be made about unbranded props

So the ASA have plenty of time to define new usage restrictions on the phrase "as seen on TV" well beyond the literal meaning of the words, but still they cannot or will not hold advertisers to the dictionary definition of the word "unlimited"?

New Yorker sues Apple: 'Misleading and deceptive' Siri ads

"merely a more expensive iPhone 4"

If the 4S is merely a "merely a more expensive iPhone 4" then his damages should be limited to the difference in price between the old iPhone 4 and the new iPhone 4S of the same capacity.

... which comes to about minus one hundred dollars, doesn't it?

Security biz scoffs at Apple's anti-Trojan Gatekeeper

Re: Protecting...

"Gatekeeper will probably make most savvy Mac users think twice about 'upgrading' to Mountain Lion"

Oh really? How do you figure that, given that a savvy Mac user can turn it off in Mountain Lion with one click of a radio button?

Now, maybe it would make them think twice about upgrading to the one after Mountain Lion. You know, the one where everybody knows that Apple will suddenly reveal their plan all along was to lock down the Mac into a walled-garden and that all of the previous statements to the contrary made by Jobs, Cook et al were just misdirection and lies. I don't see that happening, personally, but either way the time to cross that bridge is when we get to it, or at least not before we've crossed the previous bridge with another 2 years to go.

Infinity Blade II

Yes, parrying works so well that most enemies can't touch me at all with their swords. So they headbutt me instead, which does all the elemental damage of their weapon and can't be blocked. Funnily enough I don't remember that particular technique from the old Errol Flynn movies.

Phone maker punts AA-powered blower

Surely the shelf life of a battery left in its packaging, unused, is normally less than fifteen years?

Android 'stands on Microsoft's shoulders', says MS lawyer

"Android's success has yielded … a hostile, organised campaign against Android by Microsoft, Oracle, Apple and other companies, waged through bogus patents".

Of course Android only violates bogus patents. Or as the rest of the world calls them, patents.

BBC One and bureaucracy spared in Auntie cuts

"ten months for the price of twelve", you say? What a bargain, I'll take two!

Ubisoft revisits Internet-at-all-times DRM

It probably won't even run

What are the chances that some bug in the DRM will accidentally blocking out a bunch of paying customers? Almost guaranteed, I'd say - I reckon Ubisoft have just about the worst QA in the industry.

For example, Assassins Creed II Mac version doesn't accept input from USB keyboards (only the laptop's built-in keyboard). Ubisoft tech support said: "At this point in time there is no plant for a patch to change this. I wish there was enough space on the game box to write all this, but i will defiantly escalate your query to head office." Never mind that the game box was Steam's web page with esentailly unlimited space, in what universe does it make more sense to advertise your bugs than to fix them? I just wish I could have been there to see that defiant escalation...

Feeling heat from Macs, Microsoft sells PCs sans crapware

The Gerald Ratner School of Marketing

"more storage space for important things like that two-hour video that your buddies made of you trying to reach the top of the climbing wall."

I checked, and yes that's a genuine quote from the site.

Where do these people get the idea that mocking your potential customer is a good business plan?

Cambridge boffins rebuff banking industry take down request

Not lame, not a research thesis

It was for a masters degree, not a doctorate. Such documents are not generally expected to contain significant amounts of original research, rather they collate the current state of knowledge in the field, possibly applying it to unconsidered areas.

Microsoft digs Macs in back-to-school ads

scroll wheels a non-issue

It's 2010 and you're still using a PS/2 mouse? Pfffft.

Just go to Tesco and buy a USB wheely mouse for 50p, and plug it in, no drivers required. It's a non-issue.

Canadian flyboy prangs CF-18 Hornet

Global News Exclusive!

How come two different TV companies have the "Global News Exclusive" on this footage - did one of them forget to lock the mutex?

ARM chippies cooperate on Linux

helping existing distros to support ARM

Actually, that's exactly what they are doing...

Got to admire El Reg, probably just read the headline of the press release and made up the rest of the article from that. Actually if you look even very briefly at the linaro web site, the FAQs make it quite plain this is not just another Linux distro:

"Is it a distribution?

No. It is a common software foundation and set of tools for other distributions to use."

Ballmer says Windows will shame iPad

Some people will want...

"the comfort of Windows"

Good gravy, man! There's a phrase to send shivers down your spine, and no mistake.

Sir Paul McBeatle: 'Me, I'd love Beatles to be on iTunes'

Misleading sub-title, anyone?

I know you lot have it in for Apple Inc, but could that subtitle have been any more misleading?

> EMI: 'Us too'. Jobsians keep schtum

heavily implies that both McCartney and EMI are waiting to resolve some blocking issue by Apple Computer. But the actual article suggests something entirely different. And as for 'Jobsians keep schtum' there's nothing here to suggest you even asked them for a comment.

Daleks poised to invade tour UK

Calling Mitch Benn

Doctor Who - the rollerbladin' Rock Opera!

Labour Party told to stop spam-calls

Stop cooking your dinner and vote for me!

I don't understand why any party would even want to do this. Surely annoying your electorate is a really *bad* way to get more votes! Maybe it was actually the opposition making the calls...

Cultists aquiver as Applestore goes into hibernation

bringing the store down

It got them an article in El Reg, didn't it?

I doubt there would have been this much fanfare if the update had appeared without three hours of downtime first.

Wallace and Gromit get the Google doodle treatment

Can somebody explain this to me?

According to the official Wallace & Gromit web site, their first short film "A Grand Day Out was finally finished and transmitted on Channel 4 on Christmas Eve, 1990 - 6 years after production began!"

As November 4th, 1989 is clearly neither the transmission date nor the start of production, what exactly are we celebrating the 20th anniversary of?

Electronic ink: The whole story in black and white

s^-1

"refresh rate measured in seconds"

Sir, I applaud your free-thinking approach to dimensional analysis.

Mandy declares 'three strikes' war on illegal file sharers

process to ensure that the correct infringer is penalised

"there would be an independent, clear and easy appeals process to ensure that the correct infringer is penalised"

We already have one of those, it's called A COURT OF LAW.