Posts by JDX

We didn't collude with Twitter to throw Parler off our servers, says AWS in court filing

Yeah sure

They've been breaking the rules for months but it's a coincidence their apps and servers all got taken down at once.

Pandemic? Check. World in peril? Check. CES is on? Check. So of course Bluetooth Smart Masks are now a thing

Re: "Smart" Masks

But you see a huge amount of people not covering their noses. Or removing the mask to talk. Or even to cough.

Re: Masks work, even cloth ones

Anyone who thinks basic coverings don't work might consider the thought experiment: someone is shouting at you or coughs/sneezes in your face. Would you, even without Covid, prefer there was a handkerchief or even a tissue in between you?

Re: Hmm. Just because you *can*

Of course if it could analyse your breath and/or the air you are breathing that's useful. Warning you when the air quality is bad, detecting disease, etc. That seems more like sci-fi though.

A mask with a bluetooth mic I can see would actually be somewhat handy for a certain niche of users. But it's hardly a hi-tech invention it's just a mic stuck on the inside.

GitHub will no longer present a cookie notification banner – because it's scrapping non-essential cookies

Man, cookie banners make me wonder if my privacy is really worth the annoyance.

Overpriced, underpowered, and over here: Microsoft to bring the Surface Duo to British shores in early 2021

Another implementation is to have two internal screens on a standard clam-shell type hinge, AND a third screen on the outside.

There was a phone that did (almost) this a little while back, screens on both sides - one being the full-colour one, the other e-ink so you could save power, etc.

I would find this pretty neat if you could use it as a single-screen when it's closed, then open it for more space. e,g, checking your phone Vs reading a book on the train.

I don't THINK it works that way but others might.

Where's the mysterious metal monolith today then? Oh look, it's atop a California mountain

Rectangle?

Common El Reg, get your dimensionality in order.

Bare-metal Macs-as-a-service come to AWS. Intel for now, M1 silicon in 2021

Re: However

Because of the music, video and graphic design work you produce...

Re: "Strange how terms get redefined"

I was confused too - thanks for asking the question and for the answer.

Why did Apple hamstring camera repairs on standard iPhone 12 but leave Pro Max module swappable? asks engineering group

Re: If i wanted a

That's nice Boris. But I can't slip a DSLR in my pocket and I don't want to be that guy who always carries his camera case around.

I can attest that when I used to own a discreet camera, we never had it when something interesting happened that was unexpected. Even growing up as a kid on family holidays "did you bring the camera?" was a mantra preceding family arguments.

The GIMP turns 25 and promises to carry on being the FOSS not-Photoshop

"intuitive"

Couldn't pass that by :) Like Blender GIMP is one of those tools you can't casually use for the odd thing here or there, you need to invest some time. Which to be fair could be said for Photoshop and Maya. Since my needs for image manipulation are so rare, I struggle along with Paint.Net (or even Paint).

How Apple's M1 uses high-bandwidth memory to run like the clappers

Re: So what is the neural engine for?

So are there standard APIs for this? It's not an area I dabble in so possibly I've missed this become mainstream in the way we have OpenGL, OpenMP, etc.

Except it also has a substantial benefit from the engineering side. Did you even bother reading the article?

So what is the neural engine for?

Apple are making a big deal about ML capabilities on the M1 chippery but what use does this have in a commercial laptop used for gaming/music production/video editing/general use?

Is it used for everyday purposes I'm simply not aware of? I can't imagine Apple would bother with it for no reason but other than possibly Siri, I'm struggling to think why this is a core part of the system.

Anyone got a good answer?

You can install extra RAM in many Macs, sometimes the diskdrive too.

OPPO showcases 'rollable' concept phone that turns into a tablet – no bending needed

Re: Still a solution in search of a problem

People thought the same about touch-screen phones and the iPad.

If my phone could double as my tablet, so I genuinely don't need both, that's fantastic as a content consumption device.

Honey, I shrunk the iPhone 12: Mini teardown reveals same components, only smaller

Re: Unnecessary design

I can never fathom why most phones I see are crazed, and many are totally smashed like they've been hit with a hammer.

How do you even do that much damage? Anyone can drop a phone once in a while but they are reasonably tough. The impression I get is most people must drop their phone almost daily, if not throw it around?!

Bio-boffins devise potentially fast COVID-19 virus test kit out of a silicon wafer and machine-learning code

Re: "Tiny holes 300nm across are drilled into the metal"

Stop scaremongering about the risks of mega-virus!

Apple now Arm'd to the teeth: MacBook Air and Pro, Mac mini to be powered by custom M1 chips rather than Intel

Re: Parallels

They didn't stop selling them yet, but they already reduced the range. The lower spec Mac Mini is gone for instance. 2nd hand is a option of course but not ideal.

On the other hand, how do you get an ARM version of Windows in the first place? I don't know you can buy it and if you can, does that mean another license purchase?

Parallels

I wasn't expecting this to go live so soon, I was thinking to upgrade my 2012 MacMini as I use Parallels a lot for Windows VMs on my Mac.

I don't really see how this will be workable on ARM Macs since they can surely only run ARM guest/virtualised OS and Windows ARM is pretty niche.

Anyone else in this boat and have better intel? (!)

The evolution of C#: Lead designer describes modernization journey, breaks it down about getting func-y

If your company doesn't want to hire the foremost expert on the language, I think this says more about your company.

Also, you're still writing games in Flash?

Test tube babies: Virgin Hyperloop pops pair of staffers in a pod, shoots them along 500m vacuum tunnel

"The production version of the hyperloop vehicle will carry 28 passengers."

In a Covid world, the two people seems about right. Personal travel pods like in Futurama.

Re: Logistical Challenges

You're right they spent all those billions without thinking about it.

Microsoft drives users to the Edge: Internet Explorer to redirect to Chromium-based browser in November

Re: that's the NHS fuc*ed then

They are running special versions of Windows with different update paradigms.

Maybe the other browsers should add those features. There are niches where you can't do what you want without them. Rare, though.

Surely the kind of corporate who won't install Edge are not likely to endorse this new-fangled O365 malarkey?

Re: "There are workarounds"

Presumably you set your monitor to to VGA for the full backwards experience of using the internet with most of it turned off.

Seeing as real 5G isn't even here yet, you could just get a OnePlus instead of an iPhone 12 and save loadsamoney

£329

I remember when the 1+ cost 329 and was a genuine flagship contender. Over the years prices have crept up to the point the 1+ costs as much as an iPhone. Guess the whole iPhone Pro and Apple's redefinition of "flagship" as "over a grand" has muddied the waters. Remember when we thought a phone costing £1000 was a one-off gimmick, now Apple has convinced us it's the norm!

My 6T is still going strong but for my use, the top-spec Nord sounds pretty nice. Although I am not a huge fan of OxygenOS.

OnePlus 8T: Solid performance and a great screen make this 5G sub-flagship a delight

Re: Questions...

I don't want to have my phone make sacrifices for you old fuddy duddies. It takes up space and adds another hole to the case.

If your main argument is "I have to charge them" then you're really reaching. As for showing your green credentials, in my experience wired models last less time. A battery is probably going to last longer than the crappy wires. Not that is matters because the packaging takes up more space than the unit!

If we can have both, great. If only they could make headphones that run off USBC...

Re: non premium

How's your iPad Air doing as a phone?

I could buy a half-decent laptop for less or a PS4. Not sure why this is reelvant.

Re: Questions...

Why would they make an adapter when they think nobody wants wired headphones?

To be honest it would be far easier to just get a BT headphone set, you seem to be cutting off your nose to spite your face.

I deliberately got the 6 not the 6T to retain 3.5mm as long as possible, but ended up not using it. No wire is so wonderful.

It's that time of the year when Apple convinces you last year's iPhones weren't quite magical enough, so buy this new 5G iPhone 12 instead

Re: Why ?

What restrictions affect the normal user? They can make calls to people on other phones, they can use 3rd-party messenging and video call apps as well as Apple's own, they can stream and download music and video from non-apple sources...

Sure they can't easily download the app you wrote and put on your web-site, but they don't want to.

Might as well ask why anyone buys a PS4 rather than a PC... 'cos they want to use it not piss about with it.

Re: Covid Mobiles

I assume you are quite old @Sampler, because people don't use those things even when at home... they'll sit in front of their 60" TV using their 6" phone for email, social media, web browsing, shopping and gaming, and typically its their only music device too.

People stuck at home might even be using the phones more?

Seems to miss the main story

Along with ehe new iPhone 12, prices on the 11, SE and XR have been slashed. You can get the 11 for £599 which is comparable with OnePlus, which bills itself as a mid-range phone.

SE for £399... has Apple ever had a phone that cheap?

If you're on an older model, these are attractive prices.

Mark Zuckerberg, 36, decides that having people on his website deny the deaths of six million Jews is a bad thing

It's interesting that a community (Regtards) who is generally EXTREMELY anti censorship is rushing to attack someone for suggesting that censoring this particular topic is worth some consideration. I think banning it is a good idea but for anti-censorship types it does raise the question: are you actually anti-censorship? Or just against it as long as it's on topics you don't have a problem with?

What a Hancock-up: Excel spreadsheet blunder blamed after England under-reports 16,000 COVID-19 cases

Re: Hmm. 65 000 000 people. 1 000 000 col limit*

"eventually" - so new tools will be discovered on the IT side. Just as the original test infrastructure had to be totally reinvented (maybe more than once) to get to 5, then 6, then maybe 7 figures daily.

Re: Oh surely not...

16k columns should be enough for anyone.

Re: Hmm. 65 000 000 people. 1 000 000 col limit*

Unless everyone gets tested on the same day this is probably not an issue.

Pack your bags! Astroboffins spot 24 'superhabitable' exoplanets better than Earth at supporting complex life

26.17. plus/minus 4.27.

Re: an atmosphere containing oxygen

The question raised is I think whether oxygen-emitting life-forms are the only known mechanism to sustain an oxygen-rich atmosphere.

Anyone?

It's Google's hardware launch day, and what do we get? A few Pixel phones, Nest kit, and another Chromecast

Re: Hold For Me?

>>They can't be bothered to install a "push 5 to get a call back when it's your turn" option

This would probably mean replacing their entire infrastructure since incoming and outgoing centres are different.

Re: Hold For Me?

One assumes that since Google developers are not idiots, and they test their products, this blindingly obvious use case has been considered.

How it works I have no idea... it could detect the words being spoken, it could match the message against a databank of known messages, maybe recorded messages have different audio profiles... if a human can realise within 1-2s I would bet software can.

British Army develops AI shotgun drone with machine vision for indoor use

Re: World beating app

The rate they're infecting each other, you'd think they were trying to do it themselves.

Re: Curtains

Shoot the door, send in the drone.

Re: Doors

Under the Disability act all doors have to be large enough for 3 wheelchair users to enter abreast, so as long as it's a modern building...

But if we're talking warehouses or industrial buildings it's a lesser issue. Although how it copes with internal doors... I assume troops follow it in maybe?

Re: ReCoilLess

I think if they were anywhere near the Queen they'd be considered enemies... bunch of idiots.

They broadly let people like you decide the CV response in the US. 200,000 people dead and no particular signs of slowing down.

Re: Timing will be critical

Maybe they let it do a backflip each shot, a bit like how Arnie reloads his shotgun in Terminator one-handed.

Recoil-less guns are hardly new though.