* Posts by Atonnis

488 publicly visible posts • joined 31 Mar 2010

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Windows 10 hands on: Build 10074 is for the brave - but it's pretty snazzy

Atonnis

We're all still way behind though...

Even being on the fast track we may have build 10074, but if you look at Joe Belfiore's PC at the BUILD conference (one of them, anyway) he's using a much later version there.

At the moment, Microsoft are feeding us small improvements in slightly older builds a bit at a time so they can merge together what they get feedback on and can change and what they are working on anyway without feedback in order to get everything working.

Considering the state of the most recent build, I'd say they're moving on really damn quickly, and - as odd as it is to say it - they may actually produce a final build within a not-too-off-the-mark timeframe as the end of July.

Cortana on Windows 10 is all talk, no apps shun, says Microsoft

Atonnis

Re: Oh Cortana...

It did with Windows Me as well....and XP in its earliest iterations (until SP2 it wasn't that good - XP fans always seem to forget that), and Vista....

....so far Windows 10 has actually been quite good, and improving rapidly. The latest build is OK, but you can see where improvement still needs to be made. However, if you read the feedback app you'll see a lot of relevant and good feedback is going back to MS -here's just hoping they listen...

Atonnis

Cortana, Cortana, everywhere...

So....when my Xbox eventually (I'm not in the US so I don't get these things that early) gets Cortana, and my Phone has Cortana, and my PC has Cortana...will there then be a microphone device that processes all Cortana requests and sends them to the relative device? I'm dreading asking Cortana to do something and watch half my living room suddenly go nuts.

Also, can we PLEASE use different names for the service. I'll admit I'm not a massive Halo fan, although I've enjoyed some of the games, but that's irrelevant. I want to be able to call up Zen to do one thing, ORAC to do another, etc... (yes, it's been my dream since I was tiny to have a Zen of my own (Blakes 7 reference, for the kids).

Elite:Dangerous goes TITSUP

Atonnis

I love the Backer and Alpha forums...

I didn't have any trouble during the entire holiday period.

Plus if you spend some time in the backer and alpha forums that have been reinstated (for those of us awesome enough to get into them) it's mostly nice and peaceful, with people talking pleasantly to each other. It's like the anti-forum of forums.

London cabbies to offer EVEN WORSE service in protest against Uber

Atonnis

That's actually a fallacy, and I'm pretty sure it's perpetuated by the taxi drivers themselves for just this very reason.

I've seen taxi drivers skip around the meter plenty of times.

Atonnis

Re: Irony

Positive discrimination IS discrimination...

Atonnis

F'kem

Between having a black cab driver half knock me down by driving off whilst I had my head in his window as I asked him to take me across London Bridge for about 1/2 a mile...when I was on crutches with a cast around my leg...

...and the fact that they always want to give you their opinion on something, usually in a bullish tone...

....and the sorry whinging they throw out about 'the knowledge' and huff-n-puff attitude about any sort of competition..

.....they can all go ferk themselves.

Want a touch-friendly solar-powered laptop? Apple just patented it

Atonnis

Hmm...

...methinks Apple are starting to stuff in as many ideas as possible into each patent, thereby getting them more likely to get passed as their own, and thus continue locking anyone else out of thinking up and producing any device that has even the slightest resemblance to even one part of this patent.

Want to have a logo in that position? Pay Apple.

Want to have solar cells in your laptop? Pay Apple.

etc.

I wonder if I could stuff about 30 ideas/products into one patent and then just sue everyone who ever made anything.

Yes, HP will still sue you if you make cartridges for its inkjet printers

Atonnis

I thought and rethought and stumbled...

....and after stuttering over what I wanted to say and how much I wanted to say about their products, software and services, I ended up at the simple conclusion:

Fuck HP.

New Doctor Who's new costume newly REVEALED by Beeb

Atonnis

Re: for true innovation

Bah! The Doctor never changes to blend in. It's a part of his ongoing character that he both blends in and stands out by just being himself.

iPhone fanbois outsmart fandroids in totally reliable test of brain power

Atonnis

I'd put it down to...

....more often iPhone users get out their devices to focus on their devices.

Android users tend mostly towards getting out their devices to do something with it.

Thus iPhone users concentrate on their phones and every little thing they do, whereas you're more likely to see an Android users sleepily watching a video or playing a game on the train each day.

Not to mention that this was all sponsored by Ladbrokes, who are clearly the most discerning, most trustworthy, most reliable, and most uninterested in careful massaging of facts in order to plunder their bottom line.....honest, guv.

Dell confirms Chromebook for Blighty

Atonnis

It does look crap....

....it really does. It's like a laptop from a few years ago has been recycled and infected with grotty malware.

Almost as bad as a manufacturer-installed bloatware-ridden Windows setup.

I guess at least with this OS you KNOW what you're getting is going to be shiteware.

Google Glass pics will BAFFLE admirers: Nudge nudge, WINK WINK

Atonnis

Re: But...

The issue is that these devices could lead to a large number of people taking photos of you and auto-uploading it to social networking sites and making the photos public.

At the moment, you can avoid someone holding up a phone or a camera, but what happens when 50 people you encounter during your day all happen to have a photo of you, what shops you go to, what people you meet, what bars you go to, what clubs, what events, who you're with....

Believe it or not, there are a large number of people out there who just don't want the possibility that they could be tracked down...whether by a screwed-up ex-partner, a bully, or a mob. However, if you're looking at people casually taking pictures left, right and centre of everyone and then uploading those pictures to a social networking site that already has the facial recognition technologies in place....then a lot of people are screwed....in a bad way.

Something I note that most internet forum commenters seem to forget....we all have a past, and we've all made mistakes or been places we shouldn't or done something (or someone) we shouldn't. Encouraging the possibility out there that every mistake you've ever made could be on record for the whole of your life and beyond is a scary thing.

Ever wonder why most politicians and artists don't tweet much or personally update their social networking status's? It's because a mistake made on the internet is never, ever forgotten.

Atonnis

Re: Abuse

Umm....you may be familiar with the concept, of which Amazon is the claimer of ownership, of 'One-Click' purchasing?

Are you also familiar with the fact that buying shit from Amazon whilst drunk or sleepy (or both) is now so prevalent it's become even a South Park joke.

Are you also aware of the attitude that stores/sellers have? They'll do anything to ensure that you buy stuff online - mostly because it's such a damn frustration to send it back.

I didn't think anyone on this site could be that naive to not think that online retailers will do anything to screw money out of you.

Atonnis

I think...

...it's time for some legislation that requires that if your picture is taken then any system that recognises you MUST inform you immediately of the location of the upload, the photographer's name, and an instant option to delete the picture, or have you force-blacked out of the image.

In this day of mass digital gathering of information and the subsequent (potential) abuse thereof, I believe it's time to put the power of your personal brand back into your personal control.

Sony PS4 SHATTERS UK console sales SPEED RECORD

Atonnis

All bollocks...

Every site has different news stating different sales levels and numbers from different statistics-delivery companies, and more than it's fair share of bias.

I don't give a shit, to be honest. As long as whatever I console I choose to buy works, has a great selection of games, a solid future and a good feature set, I'm all good.

That, and a lack of proprietary connectors and storage....but we've yet to see what's happening with either console on that front.

Fury as OS X Mavericks users FORCED to sync contact books with iCloud

Atonnis

Meh...

People have all been shouting, screaming, jumping up and down and bitching about the NSA and it's supposed world-wide data slurping but they all still go out and buy the products.

I've started to lack sympathy for those people. Why don't you start up your own company with privacy as it's watchword. If THAT many people are truly bothered, then I can't see you having too much of a hard time getting the investors in.

Of course, it's also entirely possible that most people truly aren't all that bothered and just don't care that some analyst in the US government can see that you fart twice before falling asleep. Generally, humans haven't changed all that much in centuries. They still fall prey easily to the same degrees of pandering and bullshit, and are mostly easily swayed en-masse. Give them two options and they'll always pick one of them, instead of saying 'who the f*ck are you to give me two options?'.

OK, maths wonks: PRIME TIME has arrived

Atonnis

Followed by few remaining years of obesity and eventual heart collapse.

Galaxy is CRAMMED with EARTH-LIKE WORLDS – also ALIENS (probably)

Atonnis

Re: BOFFINS: BILLIONS OF EARTH-LIKE LIFE-FRIENDLY ALIEN WORLDS IN GALAXY

I find it particularly amusing that someone outside the UK (and outside of ENGLAND) could presume to coach the particulars of the language known as English.

Not to mention that 'boffin' has been in the English dictionary for a very, very long time.

First we need to explain that words such as 'faucet' are not actually English.

Apple will FAIL in corporate land 'because IT managers hate iPads'

Atonnis

We don't hate iPads...

....we hate the PEOPLE who want to use them....

....because we know those people are going to get a month or two down the line and start complaining that their iPad isn't suitable for their work or their workload....

....and then they'll start asking if we can change the whole damn system just so they can use their little toy....

....and lastly we'll change enough of the system eventually, and by then the toys will all be stacked in boxes at the back of the lowest shelf of the cupboard, and people will be back to laptops or desktops and actually getting some work done.

iPad 4 is so OVER: 5 times as many fanbois now using iPad Air - survey

Atonnis

I suppose...

.....people might've been skipping a generation?

Or they adjusted the metrics...

...or someone is full of shit?

Windows 8.1: Read this BEFORE updating - especially you, IT admins

Atonnis

What a load of crap!

It's amazing that you appear to be so utterly incompetent. I never have to 'deal with Windows problems'. I install Windows, and it runs regular updates whilst I'm asleep at night. I can easily use alternative drives for my data transparently, and I never once have to see a command line. Oh, and my applications all work - unless I deliberately go out of my way to install beta drivers/versions/applications.

My drivers all auto-update as well. It keeps my PC performing fantastically.

I can play a vast larger array of games, and there are thousands of applications developed for it. It also has a support base of millions. I can develop in the most advanced programming languages in the world. I can even do my accounts - what an interesting and EXCITING option you presented for using that OS...*snork*.

So instead of sitting there trying to call to the 'guys' like you're everyone's pal, perhaps you should actually try using Windows without trying to make a problem out of it. Every Linux proponent I've ever known in my years upon years upon years always have the same issue. They can install their favourite variant from the array of fractured choices and spend hours fiddling with this and that to get things into the place they want them and get it working right, but then when you watch them install Windows they suddenly sit there and become utterly braindead by choice. I've watched a number of them even start clumsily clacking heavily on the mouse and moving the pointer around the screen like they've never touched a mouse. It's purely down to a 'don't want!' mentality.

Atonnis

Re: Do we have to install Windows 8 then 8.1 every time

Hmm. The ISO I got from Technet works like a charm.

Usually ISO releases come a bit later on, but patience is not a virtue shared by many on the web.

Atonnis

Can't Install if your Users or Program Files are on a different partition!

Be warned. If you've moved your User profiles folder or the Program Files folder to a different drive or partition other than the C: drive then you can't update to Windows 8.1

It just comes up with the error 'Can't update to Windows 8.1. Sorry, it looks like this PC can't run Windows 8.1. This might be because the Users or Program Files folder is being redirected to another partition.'

I have to call THAT the greatest fuckup I've seen by Microsoft since Vista...

....and to forestall the obvious, tedious, comments - I actually think Windows 7 was good, and I've liked 8 and the Metro interface all along - because I spent 10 minutes laying it out properly and using the Desktop mode as normal. Funnily enough, if you spend even 10% of the time you'd spent whining on forums about it, you'd realise that you only actually ever needed the Start menu very, very rarely - especially since the Windows 7 improved taskbar came along.

Apple's iWatch to appear in 2014, will RULE your home – new claim

Atonnis

I'll wait...

....for the CPS suits from Continuum....

...or at least a wrist-mounted large-screen device.

MS Word deserves DEATH says Brit SciFi author Charles Stross

Atonnis

Wow...

I know it won't make me popular, but I really don't see the issue.

If he's such a purist author then he should be writing in Notepad or another simple text editor. They'll do everything he wants AND be compatible with his publisher's demands. Better yet, get out your f*cking typewriter.

It's not exactly rocket-science to turn off the features that people like him complain about. If you don't want the features, you don't have to use them. I always turn off the spelling and grammar checking facilities, for example.

Facebook RIPS away your veil of privacy, declares NO MORE HIDING

Atonnis

Re: I'm a little confused...

Ummmm....yeh? Now I'm doubly confused. I'm not sure why you made that obvious point.

....but if you're going down that tangent I'll just say the weakness is not in Facebook's terms, but more in UK (and other) laws that don't protect it's citizens well enough.

Atonnis

Re: Would I miss it?

Wow, that AC is a real @sshead.

Atonnis

Re: I'm a little confused...

Well, tbh, if you're on the run from the mob and you're dumb enough to be keeping up a Facebook profile - you're kind-of asking for it.

You're still able to delete your profile when you want, so if you make some kind of grand mistake in life and want to disappear, you easily can. A Facebook profile is not tethered to you physically. Just disconnect from/delete the damn thing if it's a problem.

I have people I don't want to particularly find me, so I pre-empted them. I searched for them and put them on my block list. Job done.

Atonnis

I'm a little confused...

If I've already set everything I've ever posted to 'Friends Only' and I've set the system to only allow stuff to be posted about me after approval....why would I need to worry any more than I previously did?

This is a genuine question. Hate-spewing, random, tinfoil-hatted diatribes aren't welcome.

Best Buy: Bring us your cowering, unwanted Microsoft Surface masses

Atonnis

They'll pump them over to the East Europe, South America and Asia markets. There are plenty of areas where a cheapo not-great tablet/laptop will sell. Better to try and convert the unhappy customers to more-pleased customers and get some inventory to shove out to other markets rather than try to pump brand new and too-expensive kit to the areas less known for their extravagant spending.

Swap your old iPhone for a new one, Tim Cook tells British fanbois

Atonnis

Tit-for-tat?

Or shit-for-shat?

Turkish TV presenter canned for flashing too much cleavage

Atonnis
Trollface

But....

That skirt! It was ABOVE THE KNEE!

Persecute the Heretic!!

21st Century Elite remake to support Oculus Rift virtual reality rig

Atonnis

Re: Colour me skeptical...

I *did* do all the looking up, watched the videos, etc, before I posted.

The videos all seem to be quite substandard in graphics - although that might be down to the video quality. I've only seen a set few pieces of video work. You can show me a damaged Anaconda all you want, but I'll care for most of 5 seconds whilst I go 'yes, very nice, and so what do *I* do next in the gameplay?'.

There are a lot of people out there who can create reasonably-graphically capable games. What I actually care about is whether it's going to be a non-stop repetition like the original was or have more depth.

I rattled through the forums trying to find real information but just kept getting 'wouldn't it be nice if...' and 'I'd love it if this was done...' and then a few mysterious posts of 'yes we do have other ideas/plans/thoughts to go into the game that we aren't telling you about' and I found myself just thinking....well....you can talk all you want, but until the final product is out I'm not parting with my money - unless you can list out some absolutely guaranteed features and time of gameplay expected to experience the content.

I did see words like 'procedurally generated' and 'multiplayer' thrown around A LOT, and I'm not particularly thrilled - unless I can have my own private server that I and my friends/family can play on. I don't want to have Elite ruined by the d*ckwads of the multiplayer world. I also don't want to be on someone else's servers.

Atonnis

Re: I want

There's absolutely nothing geeky about a Steam machine. In fact, it's entire premise is to make Steam become mainstream.

Atonnis

Colour me skeptical...

I loved Elite, and even tried to love Frontier, but gaming nowdays is a long way away from how it was 'back then'.

I'm very, very wary of seeing some models of some old nostalgic classics and parting with my cash, when so many other projects in recent times have been so deeply, deeply disappointing - and boring.

I think I'll wait until I see reasons to buy this. Like Star Citizen, it needs to actually prove itself as having good, lasting, gameplay and not 'generated' tasks pieced randomly together from the same set of 4 things-to-do.

Nostalgia is all well and good....but nowadays we just wouldn't sit there from morning to night doing that same repetitive series of tasks.....although I guess the next generation possibly would....after all, they made Zynga rich.... But I think that the people this game is targeted more towards are those who played the original, and they tend to have grown up and want more. I just hope Braben can deliver it.

Panasonic throws in towel on plasma tellies, preps for BILLION-dollar kick in pants

Atonnis

Aww

I have a 50" Panasonic plasma. Had it for about 7/8 years and it's taken being moved around multiple times, had every type of input I could throw at it plugged in, and it's kept it's picture as bright and steady as ever.

Since I put a projector up in my living room, I now use the plasma as my PC monitor. It's 50 inches of glorious goodness.

LG starts producing flexible, curvy displays you can STROKE

Atonnis

Re: I might like this

This might interest you...

http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/07/lg-chem-curved-stepped-cable-batteries-coming/

Microsoft watches iPads flood into world's offices: Right, remote desktop clients. It's time

Atonnis

Oh dear...

Although I'm quite convinced that this is exactly the right direction, and MS should've pulled it together much sooner than now.....I also find myself slightly disappointed that this will give a new lease to the iFans we have amongst the directors.

They were just beginning to get sick of all the problems associated with trying to work on an iPad and here comes an up to date RDP to deliver applications to them transparently...

...sigh...

Snowden's email provider gave crypto keys to FBI – on paper printouts

Atonnis

Re: Voting "none of the above"

What a load of bollocks. We live in a different society now. We have a legal infrastructure, with facilities and capabilities powered by law that keeps running regardless of what party is in power. Just because elections are on doesn't mean everyone and everything stops working. You can't go out and commit crimes without punishment, the roads are still swept, and the financial system somehow keeps ticking on.

In the UK we have enough infrastructure and red tape that political parties in power are only good for two things - changing policies and creating new ones. They don't keep the country moving.

Atonnis

Re: Rand Paul

I do make the assertion that the current system is rigged, and I don't defend the 'none of the above' option - I explain why it SHOULD be an option. Defence implies there is anything wrong with it. Giving more choice to the electorate can never be a wrong thing, thus it requires no defence. In response to your assertion that the 'none of the above' option will leave the people in power in power, I fail to see why. We have an apparatus already in place that exists to perform the will of the elected people. If no-one is voted in this apparatus is capable of keeping things running, under the policies of the last people put into power, without the whole country collapsing. The UK government (ie party-in-power) is only really required to make policy changes, not actually run the day-to-day. That is the job of the civil service.

You say if people stop voting nothing changes - but the problem is that even when people do vote, nothing changes. This is because we are stuck in a system which does not force balance in political situations. In any electoral situation, all candidates should be given equal media space and time. Remove the economical power of the elite few and you will start to get true representation - and all the chaos that it will provide.

UKIP aren't making anywhere near the ground that radio stations like LBC (the Daily Mail of the airwaves) would have you believe.

It is a disgusting misrepresentation, and typical of people locked in their thinking, to declare people who don't vote as 'those who cant be bothered'. There are a vast number of people who don't vote, not because they can't be bothered, but because they aren't represented by any of the parties - and as I tried to get across in my first post - they have no idea how to get represented, because the system is deliberately difficult and confusing, expensive and elitist.

Personally, I think that people *are* stupid. Not because of the way they vote, but because of the actual reasons they vote the way they do. Too many people live within one or two Sun newspaper stories around election times, and it's sad.

There are two ways I could see of going about things properly. One would be to make it a legal requirement that anyone on the electoral roll vote in elections. This would then force people to actually take some sort of note of who they're voting for....eventually. It would take a couple of decades for people to learn about the realities of their choices, but at least they would, hopefully, eventually learn.

The other is to either allow people to vote for policies rather than parties, or candidates to roles instead of overall parties and whomsoever they present for jobs after elected. The first gives more power to the people but would cause absolute collapse as everyone voted which ever way Simon Cowell wanted. The second seems more viable. If you are presented with two sets of credentials and policies for the position of Chancellor, would you vote for the Conservative with a degree in The History of Art who was a director of the BBC for three years, or the Lib-Dem with the degree in Economics who was Finance Director for GlaxoSmithKline for three years? I use those made up examples for illustration only. Of course, this method of election would require people to have attention spans longer than minnows, and so would probably not succeed.

Oh, and just to shoot down your dumbass theory about whether people would be complaining as I am, and carefully trying to misrepresent how I think in the process. I'm actually relatively happy with the current elected setup. Given the system that we currently have, I think we ended up in the best of a really shitty situation.

Atonnis

Re: Rand Paul

Your diatribe misses certain key points.

One - you assume that the system is set up to fairly allow anyone from the population to be represented for political election. It is not. You need the money to be advertised in every region, on every medium. You need for no groups, industries or cliques to have any influence or power over political parties or candidates.

Two - the use of the term 'the people' implies an entity with knowledge of how to play the electoral system that has been carefully set up using an apparatus that is extremely self-serving. A system where lawyers have more power than anyone else is going to remain that way, since law is subsequently used to crush anyone and the judicial and military system will make sure that it stays that way. The 'people' do not have candidates because, in the main, they have no say or idea how to say who should be on a ballot.

Three - the 'none of the above' option is not about not wanting anyone in power. To believe so seems to be either extremely narrowminded or deliberately facetious. It is an expression that the candidates or political parties are not worthy of the position to which their organisations are trying to place them, according to the populace. 'None of the above' should force a re-candidacy from the political parties for that election.

The system is viewed as 'broken' because it is a system that, somehow, manages to always put forward candidates from the same schools, universities, or walks of life.

Britain's 'the people' were not happy to keep voting for the 'gov'. If you notice, more and more people are not bothering to vote - and that fact is being taken and deliberately spun with the standard bullshit line 'well, if you don't vote how can you complain?'. The simple answer is that, with the way the system operates at present, 'the people' feel it makes little difference which way they vote. The same group of people will be in power, and if 'the people' truly feel none of the candidates is worth voting for, they still don't get to stop them from being placed into positions of authority.

If you also notice, governments have had the power to change the voting system to best suit their own preferences. This is a shocking, disgusting lapse - but again, 'the people' are not an entity with a singular mind or, more importantly, any idea how to play the legal in-and-out battles of the wealthy or privileged.

We also live with a media system (heavily influenced by those in power) that encourages people to judge by image. People are more bothered as to whether a person has a bead of sweat run down the side of their face during a live TV debate over their credentials and skills. Leaders of political parties are the only ones who speak out before elections. Why there aren't minimum standards for government positions is absolutely beyond many of us. Science ministers and Education ministers and Chancellors (and more) who have not had any previous positions or specific education or training in their fields are allowed to take seats.

Twitter spills unprofitable guts in $1bn IPO filing

Atonnis

Aaaaannnddd.......

Let The ShortSelling Commence!

It's official: Steelie Neelie is a triple-triple-TRIPLE win digital woman

Atonnis

Re: digital woman?

She's a major characters in Continuum now...

Instagram: You'll LOVE our 'enjoyable' new feature. Yes, it's adverts

Atonnis

Re: Probably gonna get downvotes for this..

Don't forget the Wine Gums 'Juice is Loose' advert!

The Nescafe adverts were cringeworthy and awful. They have similar things going today, but today's watcher has a lower attention span.

The Papa/Nicole adverts were only good because we were all thinking of the other hundred horrific ways those two could have actually bumped into each other (streetwalker/man drives up in car looking for streetwalker, etc).

Atonnis

Re: And it therefore follows...

And Engadget would lose 99.999% of their regular readership...oh gods, it would be so.....good....!

BOFH: Welcome to Helldesk, ma'am, may I take your bags?

Atonnis

Re: Yay! The Bastard updated!

Which is one of the core points of being a Bastard, I believe...?

Boffins demo new holo storage using graphene oxide

Atonnis

Everything can be summed up in the first half of the first sentence.

We hear far to often about some great new wave of research, even proven ones....but it's now been long enough for at least ONE of them to reach the populace. The arguments as to why they never do seem to fall flat after you point out that you've been reading these articles for years and years and years and NOTHING has come from any of them

Dell revives WinPho handset brand for Win 8.1 fondleslabs

Atonnis

Weellllll....shit.

There goes my last, dying hope of a WP device with a physical keyboard. I loved my DVP, until the Mrs knocked it off the kitchen sideboard onto the tiles... :(

Half-Life 3: CONFIRMED?

Atonnis
Trollface

Re: They'll only find out

Or that the shape of the number 3 looks too similar to the Apple logo, and that it has rounded edges...

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