* Posts by Lamont Cranston

1555 publicly visible posts • joined 28 Apr 2010

Raise a beer: Titans of tech fill out 'Worst CEOs' list

Lamont Cranston

I like wearing suits, although the opportunity rarely presents itself.

But people who regularly wear a suit to the office? They're generally untrustworthy wankers, in my opinion, probably more concerned with outward appearance, rather than what is actually going on. A shirt and a tie should suffice.

Review: HP ENVY x2 Windows 8 convertible

Lamont Cranston

Batteries:

When the battery began running low, I simply re-attached it to the keyboard base - which contains its own battery - and continued working.

Drop that can of sweet pop and grab a coffee - for your sanity's sake

Lamont Cranston

Re: What else is there?

To be fair, Diet Coke is nicer tasting than regular Coke, owing to it being sweeter (I think this is the same reason that the Pepsi Challenge always resulted in the participants preferring Pepsi over Coke*).

I shan't be defending the OPs stance on tea/coffee, however.

*only true in small quantities, all types of cola taste pretty rough after you've had a cupful.

Lamont Cranston

Re: But... Brawndo has got what your body craves...

If you find coffee to be too bitter, you should try a cup of Kopi Luwak, as it's not bitter in the slightest, yet still tastes like coffee.

Lamont Cranston

Re: @Fibbles

I have a full time job and three children so, at the end of any day, I'll take whatever I can get - be it coffee, wine, or sex - and the quality is not always my top concern!

Lamont Cranston

Thanks, Ace.

Close enough, byt "even instant coffee is preferable to bad tea" was what I was going for.

A quick test for everyone: next time you're near a hot drinks machine, get a cup each of tea and coffee from it - both will be awful, naturally, but only one will taste like it's actively trying to ruin your day.

Lamont Cranston
Happy

Re: "more alike than we are different"

I'll drink to that, jake! I'm still not measuring the capacity of my mug, though.

Lamont Cranston

Re: Surely...

The choice between a limescalescale-encrusted kettle, and a boiler (which is only ever hot, not boiling) make a decent cup of tea an impossibility at the office. No tea is preferable to bad tea.

Instant coffee, however, is a little like sex or wine, in so much as that even though it is bad, it is usually good enough.

Lamont Cranston

"12oz cups"?

I drink out of a mug.

5,000 UK pubs get free Wi-Fi... and they're not even all in London

Lamont Cranston
Pint

Here's your pint,

but I can't use your idea, owing to the fact that I'm scrupulously honest.

BTW, it's not a real pint - sorry.

Lamont Cranston

Free as in "complimentary for paying customers"

or free as in "give us all your personal details, so that we might pass them on to all of our advertising partners"?

Just what the world needs: Android in the rice cooker

Lamont Cranston
Happy

Re: Takes

I have a rice cooker at home and, whilst it's certainly no quicker than using the hob, the results are better - no more stodgy, overcooked rice, no pan boiling over, pre-marked lines so I don't need to measure the water, and no need for a timer.

Potty-mouthed Watson supercomputer needed filth filter

Lamont Cranston

Have you not learnt anything from sci-fi?

Don't give the machine a reason to hate us!

Review: Dell XPS 12 Windows 8 tablet-cum-Ultrabook

Lamont Cranston
Happy

Re: I've no use for this,

Retro all the way! If I had my old Amiga lying around, I'd happily rip the innards out and hide my RPi inside - having a keyboard sitting under my telly is already making me smile, having an ugly, beige keyboard, with a large backside, could only make my smile wider.

Lamont Cranston

I've no use for this,

but the keyboard looking like it was borrowed from an old, scientific calculator, has cheered me up no end. Now, can someone please install Win8 on Major Morgan, or a Speak'n'Spell?

Dad hires online assassins to slay game-obsessed son

Lamont Cranston

Re: I do it myself

What happens when he's able to kick your arse and tea-bag your (virtual) corpse? Does this end with him putting out his own eyes?

Lamont Cranston

Re: It's not an illness

Video games might not be physically addictive, but the psychological effect should not be ignored. Humans are pretty weak and easy to manipulate, and online games are designed to hook you and keep you playing.

Still, yes, +1 to the parent's original thinking, although I'd probably just have taken his PC away (or cut off the broadband).

Mega-res telly demand to boom, say ball-gazers

Lamont Cranston

If you've got a TV big enough for this to make any difference,

then I look forward to seeing your house on "Cribs".

Nvidia takes fight to Sony, Nintendo with Android handheld console

Lamont Cranston

Greg,

it looks like a compact (y'know, mirror, foundation and a puff; women's stuff). Maybe a sign that gaming is no longer a male-dominated field, but still...

Anonymous turns private eye in Ohio rape case

Lamont Cranston

Re: Why does no one care about the other dozens of girls who were raped that weekend?

Make enough fuss about one high profile case, and maybe the general attitude will change (the general attitude apparently being that rape is just a bit of fun, and boys will be boys)?

Lamont Cranston

Re: They only kidnapped, drugged and raped her...

@John R.

Sad but true - it's not rape if you pretend to be her boyfriend, apparently. As I heard it, she was asleep with her boyfriend, the boyfriend left, another male entered and she awoke to him raping her, which is charming. I would source this, but I'm not googling "rape" when I'm at work.

Canadian astronaut warns William Shatner of life on Earth

Lamont Cranston

and TekWar is tragicall ignored,

once again.

Microsoft: We're SO SORRY for Media Center TV guide titsup

Lamont Cranston
Happy

For a dedicated box the lounge, I probably would move to an HTPC OS.

As a bedroom TV, WMC on my PC is ideal. On the rare occasion that it deigns to start in response to the remote that came with my TV card, it's damn near perfect.

Horses for courses, I suppose.

Lamont Cranston

Re: They had no idea

I cut out TV entirely, and now force my children to perform plays of my choosing, in the living room. It's sooooo much more convenient.

Lamont Cranston
Happy

Re: well thats a surprise

MythTV etc. may be far superior, but WMC came installed with Vista when I bought my PC, and (generally speaking) works without any faffing about.

After 30 minutes of faff, trying to get the EPG populated on MediaPortal*, last night (tragically cut short by a power cut), I'm rather glad to hear that I can expect to see WMC working as expected when I get home.

*all the settings in a completely seperate application, with a different interface? My, how convenient that isn't.

Bringing Iron Man to life: Exoskeletons, armour and jet packs

Lamont Cranston

Re: Iron man calling his attacks

Only one of them runs around with rubber nipples, yet still manages to be the idol of every boy (and an unhealthy number of grown men).

Wayne>Stark

Lamont Cranston

Re: Hawkeye

Giving him back his purple costume would have made him far more memorable.

Up your wormhole: Star Trek Deep Space 9 turns 20

Lamont Cranston

I'll have to downvote you,

if only because of the memory of Major Kira running round in her grubby vest, like an female, alien, John McClane...

...ooh, cold shower, please.

Lamont Cranston
Thumb Up

As an ardent fan of TNG,

I loathed DS9 when it first came out, as the whole "immobile spacestation" concept struck me as very much not Star Trek. The first series was a bit ropey (Dr. Bashir was just unlikable (probably suffering in comparison to the fantastic Garak!), and watching Avery Brooks chew up the scenery was at once hilarious and tragic) but, once it hit it's stride, it really was an excellent show. Shame I never saw the conclusion (think I stopped watching after it was alleged that Gowron had been replaced by a shapeshifter*), but I think it really was the equal of TNG, afterall (unlike Voyager, which was pants, and we can all pretend that Enterprise never happened).

*nothing wrong with the storyline but, as I was 15 when it started, I assume that I must have moved on to other pursuits by this point!

Satnav-murdering Google slips its Maps into car dashboards

Lamont Cranston

@Guus

Depressingly, you are quite correct. However, smash two cars together, and block the highway for long enough, and they'll probably turn up eventually.

Lamont Cranston

Re: Satnavs - The curse of modern driving

Isn't "driving without due care and attention" a criminal offence? I'm sure the police would take a pretty dim view of it, at least.

Lights, camera, infection: HACKERS get Bollywood makeover

Lamont Cranston

If Hackers is anything to go by,

Mr Cluely's concerns about glamourisation are unfounded. As for trivialisation, if film has taught me anything about hacking, it is that it is most often performed whilst on the run from G-men, probably on a skateboard, and by hooking up a Palm to a payphone. Trivial? It sounds like hardwork to me, and certainly not worth the payoff of inserting Max Headroom into the Superbowl.

Samsung confirms Tizen-based mobes to debut this year

Lamont Cranston
Pint

Re: This is vaguely irritating

Don't do it - the current formulation of Tizer tastes nothing like the drink you remember (they've replaced all the E-numbers with "fruit extracts" or some other unsuitable crap).

Major new science: Women more nude, more often online

Lamont Cranston

@frank ly

Coward! I just by porn.

No, I jest, no one buys porn, anymore.

Microsoft says Google trying to undermine Windows Phone

Lamont Cranston

Re: Meh, They may be better off without it.

I like how responses to this comment are all along the lines of "Wii is shit" and "Why won't you acknowledge keyboard layouts other than QWERTY?", missing the point that 1) Wiis are everywhere, 2) many people like to view YouTube, and 3) when using a Wii, the keyboard usually comes up with the expected QWERTY layout.

Are we overrun with Google shills, now?

It's JUST possible, but Apple MIGHT not make an iWatch in 2013

Lamont Cranston
Pint

@Oh4FS

Do you need to go for a lie down? You seem to have gotten yourself quite worked up over nothing.

Ofcom looks at contract opt-outs as users rage over price hikes

Lamont Cranston

Re: Basics: What Is a Contract??

Yup. Three took pains to direct me to the relevant small print on their website, when they decided to up my monthly charges. I gave them the benefit of the doubt, and assumed that this was what was written into the contract at the time I signed it, and promptly left them the following month (fortuitous timing, really).

Lamont Cranston

@Gordon Lawrie

Doesn't having multiple credit cards over short periods eventually wreck your credit rating?

I've often considered this approach, but worry too much about missing a payment, and thereby getting stung with some hideous interest charge, and so have avoided it, so far.

Windows Media Center EPG has SWITCHED OFF, wail Euro users

Lamont Cranston
Thumb Down

Re: yet more pseduo-news with a ridiculous headline

Support for Windows Vista isn't due to end until 2017, so why shouldn't I still be using it?

Why Vista's Media Centre can't just pull the EPG from the transmission is beyond me, and has been ever since I set it up - the EPG that is downloaded from BDS (or whoever) is crap, and rarely matches up with all the channels, but it was, however, better than nothing.

Ubuntu for smartphones aims to replace today's mobes, laptops

Lamont Cranston

@Sir Codington

Thanks for posting this. I set up my RPi at the weekend, and was worried that I was doing something wrong (Class4 SD card not fast enough, for example). Will probably be experimenting with some alternate OS builds, and looking forward to learning as I go (my Linux knowledge pretty much fits in a thimble, at present).

Lamont Cranston
Go

@JEDIDIAH

Linux may be the dominant OS in the forms you describe, but they are viewed by the public as appliances, not computers. You don't need to know anything about Linux to operate your PVR, but knowing how to operate your PVR won't be of any use if you then decide to install Linux on your PC

That said, I think people still view their phones as appliances, and so Ubuntu for phones should have as much chance as anything else (probably not a hope in hell, given the dominance of Android & iOS, and the fact that every executive wants to be able to use his/her iPad as a business device). Good luck to them, though.

Facebook tests feature to let strangers pay to message you

Lamont Cranston

The stamp goes digital?

About time, and it may even cut down the volume of spam I receive (yes, Dad, from you).

On the other hand, this looks set for an epic fail.

New York takes 2,100 pervs offline, gets gaming support

Lamont Cranston
Coat

re: Mad but true?

It's madness gone politically correct!

Rampaging gnu crashes Microsoft Store, hands out literature

Lamont Cranston

Don't use Windows 8 - it's confusing and unfamiliar!

Here, take this Linux disc, which is equally confusing and unfamiliar.

Google to scan Chrome extensions, bans auto-install

Lamont Cranston
Unhappy

@Ledswinger

I didn't really want to upvote this - I've started to come to the realisation that Google are as evil as the next corporation, afterall. But what you've said is true, and I haven't stopped using their products, inspite of their evilness.

China seeks ‘Oceanauts’ for deep sea exploration

Lamont Cranston

I read the headline as "Octonauts"

and do not wish to be corrected.

'Instagram, you were my favourite app and you stabbed me in the back'

Lamont Cranston

A quick survey of everyone I know that uses Instagram,

reveals that 66% of them work in media. OK, so my sample size was 3, but still...

Opposable thumbs for FISTS, not finesse, say bioboffins

Lamont Cranston

Re: I used to box as a yoof as well as playing both codes of rugby.

Quite.

This research is all well and good, but you won't catch me punching a gorilla, anytime soon.

Review: Mio Cyclo 300 cycling satnav

Lamont Cranston

Re: download the sustrans app

A fine idea (and I did download a couple of cycle-computer apps, when I got my Android phone), but I don't really want to risk my handset getting smashed/soaked/nicked, so a cheaper and/or well-mounted device would be a better solution.

US: We'll drag cyber-spies into COURT from their hideouts

Lamont Cranston

I couldn't help but read that as

"Do as we say, not as we do." Par for the course when it comes to US foreign policy, I suppose.