Posts by Blitterbug

Have you reinstalled Windows yet? No, I just want to PRINT THIS DAMN PAGE

Cats = Fleas = cat turds on the lawn

Actually,

Fleas = dirty hovel + no flea collar / flea drops

Cat turds on neighbour's lawn 'cos cats aren't dumb or dirty :)

Mac OS X Mavericks 'upgrade' ruins iWorks

Re: ...disqualify me from knowing what I'm talking about. OK,

...lighten up, Mr Success. No one said you didn't know your job. Don't let a bit of light joshing from a self-confessed grammar nazi and 'campaigner for plain English' penetrate your armour so easily...

Re: Use Case is a term of art in software engineering

No, it's not. It's jargon. Speaking as a software engineer of some 30 years vintage, only managers use phrases like this. It's hardcore buzzword bingo. You've been busted, me bucko!

Here comes Windows 8.1! Microsoft grits teeth, pushes upgrade to world

Re: I've yet to see anyone explain why a full-screen start screen is a bad idea...

>sigh<

Ok, try this. You've installed an application (note: proper desktop application, not Metro-crud-app-a-like). Lets say, Office 2010. It would be rather spiffing if an icon for Word or Outlook could be right-dragged from its home on the start menu to the desktop for instant access, without having to flip to a whole other screen first. Ok, no problem. Lets just... oh, wait...

Double-click? Oh how conventional of you, darling!

Re: he does look a bit like Will Self in that photo...

... I thought he was Will Self

Billionaire dumps Apple stock because Steve Jobs was 'really awful' guy

Re: "liberal regulators"

>sigh<...

Look out, world! HP's found a use for Autonomy - rescuing Win XP bods

Re: >Since when does XP 'Phone Home' every 90 days

You are correct, but so am I. A user was wondering what would happen once the activation servers go offline, because of the 'phone home to authenticate' feature in XP. He was obviously under the impression that a legitimate copy of XP would then somehow become 'deactivated'. I'm pointing out that once they pull the plug on updates, there is *no requirement* for XP to authenticate, quite obviously. It will remain operational forever (hard drive permitting.

For the tldr guys, XP will not simply self-destruct if > 90 days pass since the last activation.

Re: I wonder...

Eh? Since when does XP 'Phone Home' every 90 days? I've dozens of custs on XP boxes, some without any internet (just use it as a typewriter basically) - it doesn't auto-expire, you know.

Windows 8.1: Microsoft's reluctant upgrade has a split-screen personality

Re: So you didn't think of trying Ctrl+Alt+Delete?

Wow. That's really intuitive for the novice user base MS is aiming at.

Re: Newly installed apps hidden

@MattEvansC3

Not saying you aren't used to Windows 8, but it has always allowed you to create a local profile rather than log in with a Live account. Perhaps you never looked closely at the foot of the screen during this step? You seem bent on ticking off someone who ought to be more familiar with the OS, when he was actually correct in pointing out that if 8.1 disallows local account creation then it is quite a lot more restrictive than 8.0.

NIST denies it weakened its encryption standard to please the NSA

Re: Infidelity

Astute as always, Don J

Google Nexus 7 2013: Fondledroids, THE 7-inch slab has arrived

Re: iPad Mini 2

@Frank Bough: Utter crap.

I have both. I use both, every day. iPad Mini has generally higher quality games, and also a better Kindle app and I prefer its Marvel comic app too. It's also a fast grab for various other things like evernote.

But the N7 is my go-to device for power user stuff and movies. The various wifi toolkits, the use of mail and calendar adjustable-size widgets (so scheduling at a glance), not to mention much, much better NAS video streaming through ES File Explorer & DicePlayer on that lovely screen (File Explorer on iPad has quirky behaviour and stutters *badly* on HD rips, and the screen is pixely by comparison).

Both have good and bad points. But note I have the original 'slow' N7 and it still is a must-have tool that complements the iPad Mini's shortcomings.

Please comment based on actual knowledge, not frothy conjecture.

It's the software, stupid: Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch bags big apps

Re: Bastards!

...Samsung isn't really shooting themselves in the foot

Not so sure. If you've just bought an HTC One or somesuch, you're going to be pretty peeved about this, no?

Re: Bastards!

...The new Sony works with any Android 4.0+ device

Really? Cool. Last time I checked, the new LiveView 2nd gen watch needed an Xperia-brand mobile for full functionality. If they've opened it up since, I may check it out.

Bastards!

As a bit of a Sammy fanboy I was waiting for this, crossing my fingers that they wouldn't do a 'Sony' and lock it to their phones. Doh - Guess I'll be waiting for Google's offering. I doubt a 'Nexus' watch will only work with Nexus devices; that would be shooting themselves in the foot. Like Samsung has just done.

China confirms plans for first Moon visit later this year

Heinlein was right

...just, wow. Let's hope he was wrong about the rest of TMIAHM (kinetic WMDs)...

Are you for reel? How the Compact Cassette struck a chord for millions

Re: MiniDisc FTW

...I agree with pretty much all the above comments re: MDs, but peeps often forget (or simply don't agree) that ATRAC is a lovely codec and much nicer (and cleverer IMO) than MP3. Yes, It's a shame that I was forced to use the execrable SonicStage to rip my CD collection for use with my NWA-1000 ATRAC Walkman, but it's damned hard to tell an ATRAC recording apart from its source material. A reasonable ear can easily spot any MP3 recorded at < 320kbps.

Icon for obv reasons.

Re: Horrible, horrible, horrible! - Have an upvote!

...for your acknowledged foam-fleckery, even as I deplore your lack of analogue love...

iCloud outage outrage: Look, iPhoto friends, kitty just learned to... NOOO

Re: Fanbois vs. Troll authors - jeez, grow up

@ William D - Oh dear. I'm slightly (only slightly, mind) intrigued as to why you might frequent a humourous news site and not realise the fact? Kanye West a la South Park methinks...

YouTube Wars: Microsoft cries foul as Windows Phone app pulled again

Re: Firefox for Android

...there's your problem, right there!

Asus boss flushes down tabs, says 'Windows RT has not been successful'

Re: So, build quality is good?

@rogerb

Mr B, the short answer is no, sadly. That's the whole point. Only Metro apps (and only from the Windows Metro store) can be installed, and as you know these are all appalling interpreted Java + HTML + CSS jobbies, basically glorified Win 7 desktop 'gadgets' like those stock ticker things. Yes, some are games, but wow! You really need a low threshold of pleasure to get any actual enjoyment out of 'em.

No fully-compiled apps (and I mean applications, not Angry Birds) may be used - even if compiled specifically for ARM.

Surface Pro - well, I'd be tempted at a much lower price point, and of course Start8 would be the first thing installed on it...

Tor servers vanish as FBI swoops on kiddie-smut suspect

Inappropriate sarcasm much?

Badly misplaced irony, dude, seriously

Banknote campaigner's Twitter rape threats ordeal: Bloke, 21, cuffed

Re: tomorrow it'll be a black person or a homosexual...

... or other strange and unrepresentative types...?

Lenovo ThinkPad Helix Ultrabook: Your new summer convertible?

Hey, Mr / Ms Photographer...

...Hows about cleaning it before taking the pix? This ain't bluddy Ars you know...

Re: I'm going to have to use something else, but not really sure what...

Windows 7?

US secret court renews government telephone snooping

Warning - about to make clichéd BB reference

Now that they are openly acknowledging that 'big brother is watching you', all we need are the FISA-approved billboard posters & TV spots, and then we can cosplay as Winston Smith for realsies.

Paris, cos she might look prettier with a rat on her face.

That Retina display iPad mini delay scuttlebutt? Fuggedaboutit

Re: grurmstipth bla squibnocket

I have an iPad Mini, but just had to give an upvote to the curmudgeonly kock.

Win 8 man Sinofsky's 'retirement' deal: $14m shares, oath of silence

Re: will probably lose all their legal music and data...

<sighs> This is why techies keep a screwdriver and a SATA / IDE to USB adapter widget in their toolbags, or at least a bootable Linux stick in their pocket. To lose user data following a reformat is not just clumsy, it's unforgivably incompetent.

Berried Bodies...

...A subtle reference to Soylent Green? A dig at the way MS consumes itself? Clever.....

Obama says US won't scramble jets or twist arms for Snowden

Re: And your point is?

...something along the lines of dodgy social justice and misaligned priorities?

Re: sounds very 'UK Bobby-speak' to me.

Yep. Though I liked "annoymous"

Apple's screw-up leaves tethered iPhones easily crackable

Re: Incidentally, my IQ scores...

...stopped reading here. How toe-curlingly embarrassing. I feel a kind of deep pity tinged with horror.

First look: iOS 7 for iPad

Re: as ugly as Game Center is it does at least exist...

You... *like* this anal carbunkle?... You actually *use* it?? I love me a game of tower defense or whatever, but Game Centre is hated by everyone in my family including four teenage-and-up boys. Are you by any chance one of these 'no good unless it has CoD' types? Just asking!

Re: Newsstand will remain empty ...

Agreed, AC (but why 'AC'?? <shrugs>) And since I like a minimal 'desktop', my iPhone & iPad have always been set up with all but four of the icons moved to the 2nd screen, with just a single row on the home screen. That way, you can show off your nice wallpaper topped & tailed with a row of icons. Dumping everything on the home screen is reminiscent of a poorly-laid-out Windows desktop. You know the kind of thing; 157 icons spilling down from the top-left where users either don't care or don't know how to keep it neat.

Panda-peddlers cuffed for chess gambling gambit

Best game on Linux is...

...Try and get a day's productivity in a standard IT consultancy whilst integrating with Outlook mail / appointments and formatting 300 page Word docs with *no* style / font / point size / pagination shifts using a Linux BYOD.

HTC drops 12-inch Windows RT tablet, sticks to a 7-incher

Re: MSFT fails to kill ARM

Good post, Shaggsy, except (much as I love conspiracy theories) what seemed to be happening (at least with my punters) with netbooks was 'eh? where's winduz gone innit, can't do nuffink on this'. I actually saw the emergence of XP as a bit of a saving grace for netbooks, a form factor I loved - and still do. I really didn't see any evidence of the 'I'll get you, Linux, yes, and your little dog, too...' kind of thing.

So long, Hotmail: Remaining users migrated to Outlook.com

Re: Hotmail - for El reg ID's

@Mr Fogey... Why aren't you using WLM or Outlook or even (shudder) Chunderbird as your mail client? No-one in this day and age should seriously be using a web browser to access their email! I've had a hotmail account since '97 and only point a web browser at it when checking mail while on-site or otherwise away from my laptop. As a chap said earlier, you get 100% portability across ISPs (forever, one hopes). And no ads if you use a mail client.

Oh, and as for the humorous digs about spam levels, MS's junk mail filter is pretty damned awesome these days. Unlike gmail, which I *do* use as my throwaway account; it's spam filters are as much use as a chocolate teapot.

Police arrest suspect in BIGGEST DDoS ATTACK IN HISTORY

Re: I don't think we got the hint

Don't come here often, I'm guessing..?

T-Mobile UK ordered into humiliating Full Monty strip

Re: Simple

@AC 12:58 Exactly. Technically, broadband may very well refer to the ability to mux voice & data, *but* (as often happens in technology) the term has evolved. It is generally accepted these days to mean 'the next step beyond dual-ISDN'. In fact I seem to remember Tiscali offering a 128kbps service a few yearsa back that they termed 'midband', as they knew damned well it would have been taking the piss to badge it up as 'broadband'. But then, waddoo I know.

Software glitch WIPES OUT listings of 10,000 eBay sellers

Re: Is there a *shrug* icon ?

...you just used it...

SanDisk cops to malfunctioning Micro SDs in Galaxy S3s

Re: Godwin's law self-fail

'I fail to see the fail' - err, you may want to re-read. I said 'self-fail', as in I incurred Godwin myself with the word Nazi. Poor joke admittedly but blimey...!

Re: I hope you didn't just leave them slumped at their desks?

Awesome. And peeps moan at us grammar 'nazis'. Oops - Godwin's law self-fail :(

Facebook in futile attempt to block perverts from Graph Searching for teens

Re: Time to regress back to childhood.

...or you could just close your account like I did a week ago. Will lose easy means of contacting one or two peeps <shrugs>. Can't actually think of one single benefit that horribly-designed UI ever gave me.

New Zealand court hands out second peppercorn downloading penalty

Bittorrent clients == intended piracy

Yar. I keep catching my parrot downloading various Linux distros, not to mention 32 & 64bit Win ISOs and service packs for repairing client PCs.

I keelhauled the scurvy dog, natch.

Review: Seagate Wireless Plus Wi-Fi hard drive

Sounds bloody awful

My experiences with Seagate GoFlex are not happy ones; when shopping for a home NAS I invested in 2 3TB jobbies which only after connecting them up did I find they present duplicate IDs to the network and despite being able to connect 'em one by one and change their IPs, you still couldn't use both together. Utter shite.

Went and bought 2 4TB Iomega Storecentres - luvvly. I stream films & TV to my iPad (using FileExplorer) and to my Nexus 7 (with ES FileExplorer + DicePlayer) and it's pretty much nerd heaven. But also used by wife & kids equally easily.

This pile o' shite with its 'Media Center' bollox just sounds so painful. Never again.

The Register Android App

Re: @AndrueC

Mr C, I'm with you, bro. Don't sweat the DVs! Us oldies gotta etc...

Shocked Zynga investors get a penny per share

Re: I'd like to know where they're getting a freaking billion dollars

Low as in 'kick in at a low level', not 'low-cost'. Quite the oppo, actually.