Posts by shonangreg

Boffins propose fiber-optic network for the Moon

Radio telescope too!

Astronomers have been dreaming of putting a radio telescope on the dark side of the moon also. Of course, construction of such a telescope is one huge challenge, but getting the data back to earth is also a challenge as the moon blocks radio waves (the very reason astronomers want the radio telescope there in the first place - to escape the noise of Earth's radio emissions). A fiber-optic cable stretching from the telescopes "around the edge" of the moon back to the"edge" visible from earth would be very useful to those scientists too.

Three seconds of audio could end up costing Fox $500,000

Re: Harmony by disharmony

You should search:

Japan earthquake alert sound OR warning

There are a few, but everyone around instantly knows the meaning when any one person’s phone starts sounding.

And I don’t get this warning system’s sound. It is two unchanging, seemingly arbitrary pitches. I’m guessing there are sensors in the mix that listen for those pitches and act when detected, but for human ears, unless you’re one of the less than 0.1% of the people with perfect pitch, 1,000Hz and 870Hz is going to be indistinguishable (from 960 and 853). Shouldn’t it be a recognizable changing pitch (that sustains at 960 and 853Hz)?

Due to Oracle being Oracle, Eclipse holds poll to rename Java EE (No, it won't be Java McJava Face)

Re: Lame name options IMHO

How about JaCoffee? Simple and unique. Sounds a bit like "Jack-offy", so maybe JaCafe, JaCoughie ;-) JaAssholeBillionaire, JaJoe, Jaba, ...

Microsoft boasted it had rebuilt Skype 'from the ground up'. Instead, it should have buried it

I just noticed a few weeks ago that I suddenly had two accounts. Somehow my hotmail and skype accounts, which I had merged several years ago when Skype asked, are now separate accounts again. I haven't even bothered trying to fix it.

WIN a 6TB Western Digital Black hard drive with El Reg

All your snakes are belong to us.

Google's 'encrypted-by-default' Android is NOT encrypting by default

Re: I don't really like Apple/iOs

If I cannot get a Nexus for my next phone, I'll go with an iPhone and tether to my Nexus 7 for android things. Carrier's excessive control over phones is about as bad as Apple's walled garden.

Let it go, Steve: Ballmer bans iPads from his LA Clippers b-ball team

Re: Embarassing

Eh? If using the iPads helps them to communicate and strategize and win games, then that is a HUGE benefit. Why else would players and coaches even be using iPads?

Lavabit, Silent Circle form Dark Mail Alliance to destroy email snooping

Enhanced subjects, searchable, the future of webmail?

With secure encryption needing to be on the local machine, won't emails have to be stored locally (or at least indexed locally) in order to be searched? This looks to me like an immigration from SMTP back to POP.

Alternatively, we could make our email searchable by including more keywords in the subjects and encryptting the body. Then we could get a list of candidates in a regular webmail server search, and then view the contents on the local machine decrypting each of them one by one. Not sure how smart that is . . . Subject lines would stray. Content would be lost. Detailed clues to contents would be there for the NSA/GCHQ/DEA/IRS/... to see.

Apple's liquid-crystal screen pusher mulls $2bn IPO – report

works for the competition too

JDI also makes the hi-res display for the Nexus 7 (2013), Apple's strongest competition in the tablet market.

Want the latest Android version? Good luck with that

Re: MTP vs UMS

They did a 180 after the debacle wityh the X10. I know, I had one and was pushing a campaign to populate discussions forums with simple accounts of how Sony was not updating its past phones, so why would anyone choose to buy their current ones. For about six months, I couldn't find any mainstream reviews that didn't have one or more conspicuous such comments.

I'd like to think that forced Sony to face a truth they were trying to deny. Soon after, they went from threatening modders to actually sharing code with them -- and they lightened and de-integrated their propritary UI.

Sony has been one of the best (non-Nexus) developers now for a couple of years now. I wish they made an Xperia Note.

Bitcoin exchange: Greedy traders to blame for DDoS attack

bitcoin hosting: good idea? alternatives?

I have a basic question. Please give me your thoughts.

I'd like to make a blog, under a domain I choose, with a host I choose, but untraceable to me. I want full control and would like to be able to make money off ads. So, what I am thinking.

- I get bitcoins

- I pay a registrar and a hosting service in bitcoins for my blog

- ad revenue is converted by the host or another entity into dollars for my account.

Would this work? Is anyone doing this now? Could it withstand everything including both court orders and hacking? If no on these questions, what would my best options be?

Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet

This review missed most of the problems actual ownders have reported.

I have one. Me as well as many, many other owners of the WiFi-only version haven't had a functioning GPS yet -- six months after product launch. The online "support" staff just admitted in the last few days that it may be a hardware issue, but users have been saying for a while that adding a WWAN card and a SIM with an account instantly gives you a functional GPS. Lenovo seems clueless asd to what the problem actually is.

Also, the micro-USB port was not properly soldered to the board in some units, ditto for the power button. Lenovo has thus far refused to tell TPT owners which production runs had the faulty hardware. We just wait and hope ours doesn't break too.

The camera also doesn't focus properly. You can neither get Q-code scans nor landscape photos.

The bootloader is locked and the only bug Lenovo has been speedy in fixing was a vulnerability that gave us root.

Just google any of these problems and you'll see for yourself. Lenovo paid a lot for the ThinkPad brand, and there running it into the ground with this tablet and the lack of after-sales service.

Oh, yeah, one more that comes to mind. When I launch an app, fully half the time I get a force close. This is also a commonly reported problem that seems to have not been addressed by the OTA 2 and 2.5 updates rolling out in February and March.

On a positive note, the stylus does work well and is just about the only reason to have the TPT.

Design firm sues Microsoft over Bing trademark

lawsuit publicity

Come on. What's with the serious examination of the merits of the case? This is worthwhile just for the publicity -- to both companies, actually. How many of you had heard of Bing! before? They get covered and only have to pay a lawyer to file some papers.