* Posts by Lamont Cranston

1555 publicly visible posts • joined 28 Apr 2010

Waterstone's to take on Kindle and Nook with own reader

Lamont Cranston
Go

Shame they couldn't get it out before Christmas.

eReaders will probably be big sellers, this year (unsubstantiated, personal opinion).

End of UK local dialling in sight as numbers run out

Lamont Cranston
Thumb Up

Broadband and emergency calls only

is a good idea, but I don't think that "most people" only have a landline for broadband.

Microsoft unveils file-move changes in Windows 8

Lamont Cranston
Windows

Am I being thick, or are

"copying, moving, renaming, and deleting files" not the reason that Windows Explorer exists?

Samsung's lovely illegal tablet: Why no one wants to know

Lamont Cranston
Thumb Up

Brave man.

Were I foolish enough to hand such a device to one of mine, all I would learn would be whether or not it would survive employment as a tool with which to twat one's siblings over the head.

Kabam! Facebook gamers fume after script deletes fake stuff

Lamont Cranston

I paid £5 to get a new weapon

in Remnants of Skystone (on Kongregate). Regretted that almost instantly, and learnt a lesson that these players apparently did not.

Google lands patent for, um, estimating shipment time

Lamont Cranston
FAIL

Nevermind the patent,

does the Google system work, or is it the same old "6-hour window" job that everyone else uses?

I get the feeling that examples of prior art won't be hard to find.

Google told to delete people from search results

Lamont Cranston

I was wondering who kept downvoting all the robots.txt suggestions.

If your government is publishing data on the web that you'd rather they didn't publish, this is a matter between you and your government, not you and Google.

OK, complain to Google, as they might move more swiftly than the government (particularly if the information is putting you in danger), but it's still the government at fault, not Google.

Lamont Cranston

Doesn't the blame lie not with Google,

but with the agency publishing the information?

Way to shift the blame, Spain.

Sky wins TV riot battle

Lamont Cranston

Really?

I get my news from BBC radio - mostly Today and The World Tonight - and the coverage has been excellent: reporters on the ground, interviews with those involved, etc. 6Music's obsession with the Sony warehouse fire seemed a little strange, but made sense in context.

Dunkin' Donuts waitress offers additional dunkin'

Lamont Cranston

Seems a bit harsh.

I've never had anything less than excellent service in Argos.

No, not that sort of "service".

10-year old hacker finds flaw in mobile games

Lamont Cranston
Pint

I wouldn't be interested in joining an intergalactic corp of space marines,

but this didn't put me off 40K (or Doom) as a youngster.

Escapism, innit?

Pierre Cardin joins tablet trend

Lamont Cranston

It's a clothing brand.

I'd be as likely to buy Dell branded loafers.

Truck nuts swing onto US freedom of speech agenda

Lamont Cranston

Just as my car has no place in a field,

so trucks have no place in the city centre.

I've nothing against country folk and their 4x4s (truck nuts must be an acquired taste, like cider and incest [joke]).

Lamont Cranston

I was going to say that they're a handy way of spotting dickheads,

till I realised they're hanging of the back of a truck, and thus unnecessary.

Rogue character space tripped Scottish exam results

Lamont Cranston

If you must send someone an Excel spreadsheet to fill in,

for the love of god/buddha/vishnu/fsm, lock it down with as many validation rules and cell protection as is humanly possible.

Then, when it comes back with incomplete information, try and explain to the powers that be that you need a better way of collecting your data (even though you know the answer will be that there is no budget for this).

It's official: IE users are dumb as a bag of hammers

Lamont Cranston

Funny,

by my calculations, 100% of people who click on ads for a "free IQ test", are utter dingbats anway.

Intel: Apple has online app sales exactly backwards

Lamont Cranston

So,

the future of the web is hyperlinks? Who'd a thunk it?

Bulgarian coeds exposed in hidden camera stuffed apartment

Lamont Cranston

I'm assuming

that the "local businessman" is the "I'd buy that for a dollar" guy from Robocop.

Nothing else would make sense.

UK Cops 'duped' into arresting wrong LulzSec suspect

Lamont Cranston
Thumb Down

Getting someone else arrested for your own shady behaviour?

I'll bet the patsy really appreciates the "lulz".

Bugger off.

Two 'fake Apple stores' shut in China over trading permits

Lamont Cranston

Re: Bribe is not detrimental to economy

All well and good, until you are the one who cannot afford the bribes.

Taxation tends to level the playing field by only taking money from those who have money (in theory, at least).

ITV eyes micropayments for Corrie specials

Lamont Cranston

Haha!

I can see it now:

"You are watching the free to air version of Coronation Street. Click here to add the Jack Duckworth plug-in for £5. Limited time offer: Hotpot add-on pack for £2.50."

Film studios thrash BT in Newzbin site-block test case

Lamont Cranston
Thumb Down

Re: I'm ignorant, I know but ...

My kids like Batman. Series, such as The Batman and Batman Beyond aren't available on DVD in the UK. Given the technology available, why aren't WB making legal downloads available? I'd happily pay for them.

So long as record labels and film studios continue to push customers into the arms of pirates, their customers will forsake them for the pirates.

Dead bloke reanimates in mortuary

Lamont Cranston

But,

if Africa is rife with superstition, and has a very poor education system (and things are worse on the eastern cape), surely this is not racism, but a statement of facts?*

The judgement being made is not "eastern cape africans are stupid", but "africans living on the eastern cape are likely to be poorly educated and superstitious, and thus more likely to presume that noise in a mortuary is the work of the undead".

Isn't it?

*asuming these are the facts

Groupon: Scoopon’s catch of the day

Lamont Cranston

If all you need to do is

"ring up loads of businesses and agree on the cut you will take", how come it's not profitable? Are the returns on each offer, laughably low?

Your mom, girlf, boyf: Spying on your phone and email

Lamont Cranston
Facepalm

I'm pretty sure my mum knew where I stashed my porn mags.

Does this mean she was grossly infringing on my right to privacy?

AMD says Xbox 720 graphics to be good as Avatar

Lamont Cranston

Be cheaper/easier to buy yourself a chessboard,

surely? Fully 3d, and tactile to boot. Still won't be as much fun as Battle Chess, though!

Lamont Cranston

My PS2 was supposed to have cinema quality graphics,

and to interface with my digital camera to map faces on to the game characters. Ooh, look, a firewire port (containing lots and lots of dust).

Yeah, right. We only really find out the true potential of consoles when they near their end of life, and developers get used to pushing them the limit.

Fujitsu installs Windows 7... on a phone

Lamont Cranston
Go

Interesting proof of concept, at least,

and possibly something worth following if mobile phones really are becoming pocket computers?

Superman beats up cybersquatter

Lamont Cranston

I suppose the obsession with origin stories

is an effort to make the films feel believable.

I've been watching a lot of cartoons, lately, and the old Spider-Man (not, not the Bakshi-era ones!) and the new Avengers are a million times more satisfying than any of the films, precisely because there's very little attempt at keeping things believable (or within the budget of a film!).

That said, I was left wanting more Bruce Wayne, and less Batman, in The Dark Knight. :¬/

Lamont Cranston

Another reboot?

Oh, goody. Lucky my kids attention span is sufficiently short that they've probably forgotten what happened in Superman Returns.

Still not sure how I'm going to explain why Johnny Storm is Captain America, though.

Intel CEO: 'Ultrabooks' will be 'holistic' success

Lamont Cranston
Go

Sooo...

It's the long awaited convergance between tablet and netbook, that everyone has been waiting for? Get on with it!

Japanese erections named 'Bollox', 'Wonder Device'

Lamont Cranston

BLOCK OUT THE SUN!

/Jeremy Hardy

Blighty's top cop quits over phone-hacking scandal

Lamont Cranston

"If I get out now,

there's a chance they'll forget about me, before anyone digs up any real dirt."

Parmo v poutine: Your cut-out-and-keep pdf guide

Lamont Cranston

I do like how Kapsalon and kebabs

are served covered in salad - are the consumers in denial, or something?

"Look, lettuce, that's healthy!"

Sony KDL-40CX523 LCD TV

Lamont Cranston
Unhappy

I'll be needing a new TV soon,

having chucked my old (<10 years) CRT, when moving in with the in-laws. If £600 is classed as "affordable", I'm going to be seriously disapointmented.

Segway death blamed on good manners

Lamont Cranston

Being unable to walk

is not necessarily the same as being unable to stand.

Besides that, I doubt it would take engineering genius to invent some way of propping up the rider of a Segway (I'm sure I've seen a similar device, perhaps concept only, a wheelchair that could raise the occupant into a standing position).

World's first turbine powered Batmobile hits roads

Lamont Cranston
Thumb Up

Are you sure that's road legal?

I can't see any wingmirrors.

Still want, though.

Lying Facebook app offers Google+ invites

Lamont Cranston

The time saved by replacing "invitation" with "invite"

is incalc... immesura... lots.

Official: Pastafarian strainer titfer is religious headgear

Lamont Cranston
Thumb Up

Life became so much easier

when I abandoned atheism in favour of casual agnosticism.

Beeb flogs Doctor Who episodes via Facebook

Lamont Cranston

I've always thought that BBC produced material

should be sold, in the UK at least, at the cost price of reproducing it (ie. the price of a blank casette/DVD/whatever), given that the content has already been paid for by the TV license.

Then again, the TV license is likely insufficient to adequately fund the BBC, so I don't really object to them selling their stuff.

Google top brass (and Zuck) hit Google+ privacy button

Lamont Cranston

Yes, and tv was created to educate and inform,

and now people just watch Corrie. How dare people make use of technology in a manner which suits them?

Do you get upset when you see a wheel attached to anything other than a wheelbarrow?

News International grabs SunOnSunday.co.uk domain

Lamont Cranston

After all the publicity,

it would seem sensible to buy up those two domains in order to prevent some parody site, that might pop up and damage their reputation.

Bit late for that, really.

Parmo v poutine: The ultimate post-pub nosh deathmatch

Lamont Cranston
Pint

Post pub,

it has to be Sav'n'Chips, with plenty of salt (to replace that lost due to alcohol intake) - heavenly.

Mayonnaise works best on wedges, or crispy fries, but is a disaster on real chips.

Mystery of David Attenborough's garden skull cracked

Lamont Cranston

To get the meat of the bones,

probably.

Philips 221TE2L 21.5in monitor and Freeview TV combo

Lamont Cranston

This.

So far as I have seen, a "PC" input is commonplace on most modern TVs. Do they not work well as monitors, or something?

News of the World TO CLOSE

Lamont Cranston

NHS reform is within the power of the government,

and thus the hands of the people*.

Reform of Murdoch's empire is in the hands of Murdoch.

(Of course, this is all skimming over government efforts to dismantle the NHS, but that's not the issue here.)

*Ha ha, yeah.

ANONYMOUS: Behind the mask, inside the Hivemind

Lamont Cranston

Thought they might.

Guess that's how they mock racism.

Do they disparage nazism by gassing jews, too?

(Comparing people to Hitler, that's how the internet works, right?)

Lamont Cranston
Meh

I seem to be none the wiser for reading this article.

A couple of comments on the footnotes, though:

1) could you please put the footnotes on the same page as the item which references them?

2) This: "No element of homophobia is implied. Rather, Anons append "fag" to the end of a term as a sign of disrespect for those who use "fag" and "gay" as pejoratives." Really? Would they like to use the n-word, too?

Lamont Cranston

Not really,

as Amnesty et al. tend to have rather public faces.

Anonymous appears to exist in the same way that Schrödinger's cat is alive.

Cameron backs public inquiry into NotW hacking claims

Lamont Cranston

You want Piers Morgan back?

No thanks.