* Posts by Dave 126

10643 publicly visible posts • joined 21 Jul 2010

Microsoft preps UK Surface Pro 'pilot', tiptoes around Win 8 OEM rivals

Dave 126 Silver badge

>Okay I get the fashion on here for hating surface but... What's not to like at the price?

Nothing- just the fact that you can't get it at that price unless you are at either of the events mentioned in the article.

Seven snazzy smartphones for seven sorts of shoppers

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: sir henry

Along with "If I had all the money I'd spent on drink, I would spend it all on drink!"

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: Yes, but how good are they as phones?

If it doesn't, there is a good chance someone at XDA will port it!

Hehe, I remember trying to buy a train ticket at a small station, under threat of a heavy fine should I board the train without one. Alas, the touch-screen ticket vending machine interpreted rain drops as my intention to travel from Truro to Gloucester by way of Edinburgh with a family of six, so I just swore at it. Sometimes a resistive screen is better -or, heaven forbid, just being able to buy your ticket from the train conductor like a civilised company.

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: Camera

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/phones/mobile-phones/samsung-galaxy-s4-zoom-1160410/review

'Interesting' being the operative word, like Sir Humphrey saying "What a Novel idea"! : D

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: Yes, but how good are they as phones?

>one problem with the xperia z is that the touchscreen randomly activates underwater, so I got a few still photos >captured along with the video.

Try this, if it gets rolled out for the Xperia Z:

http://www.xperiablog.net/2013/07/02/sony-intros-touch-block-feature-to-prevent-unintentional-touches/

Dave 126 Silver badge

Another option when asked by people in the pub which phone to get:

Stick with your candybar-Nokia or clamshell-Samsung, and get a 7" tablet for your car, jacket or handbag.

Just a thought.

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: staff unfailingly polite, helpful and eager

Quite a few members of the public (or at least those who drink in the pub most evenings) have long referred (half-jokingly) to those of us who can use or fix a computer as 'whizzes', 'gurus' or 'geniuses', so I've always seen Apple's adoption of 'Genius Bar' as sharing a nod with their intended users.

It seems to work for that segment - look at the Consumer Association's ('Which?') retailer of the year award, compiled from questionnaires completed by their subscribers. Whether it works for us is irrelevant.

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: Yes, but how good are they as phones?

A touch too subtle, Mr Hicks...

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: Yes, but how good are they as phones?

There is also the Xperia ZR, which is more waterproof than the Z (apparently can film video underwater) and appears to have a more rubbery back than the Z (so hopefully minimising wet handed fumbles onto rocks). It' slightly smaller at 4.5".

Unfortunately, it doesn't yet seem to be available in the UK, only some European countries.

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: One-handed operation is key to Many buyers' needs

I get on well with my Xperia P, which is about 4" diagonal across the screen. However, whilst the battery is better than it was when The Reg reviewed it (due to stamina modes in the ICS and then JB updates- fair play Sony) it's not brilliant.

I get the impression that many Android apps and browsers were developed for 4.5"+ phones - I can read everything, but it's nearly at the limits of my eyesight.

EDIT: It works very as a phone, too. Calls are nice and clear.

Apple: Ta for blowing £££s on apps, fanbois. Now we've set them FREE

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: Wow, the blatant hatred of Apple really comes through in this headline...

Woz: "I think Apple is in one of these waiting periods waiting for the next big direction... ...you can't expect a whole new incredible revolution of a category of existing consumer electronics, you can't expect that every year. If you could have one every year it would be quite a surprise."

Reg: "[Woz] claimed that Apple had gone into a kind of creative coma since its godhead shuffled off his mortal coil."

Okaay...

Your own £19 Pocket Spacecraft could be FOUND ON THE MOON

Dave 126 Silver badge

I liked the 'Reward If Found' printed on the mock-up!

What it was like to grow up around the world's first digital computers

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: Use case

Those single to three phase converters seem to go wrong for a hobby... you might be better off with a diesel powered 3 phase generator.

Tickle my balls, stroke my button and blow the fluff from my crack

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: dos on the keyboard

>she avowed that she could draw a circle in dos using the keyboard...

What, by pressing the 'o' key? : D

Dave 126 Silver badge

There was a symmetrical Logitech mouse with five buttons: L, R, Middle (on the scroll wheel), plus Browser Forward and Back (reconfigurable, though). The trouble was that the Browser buttons were mounted one on each side of the mouse, where you might want to grip the mouse to pick it up.

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: I have a 7 button mouse...

I've never been a fan of Apple mice - fortunately, I don't often have to use them! And that iMac 'hockey puck'... what were they thinking?

My favourite is a Logitech MX Revolution Darkfield - though I wouldn't have paid the full RRP for it. I mean, the ability to use it on glass is nice and all, but hardly essential to me. However, the button placement and 'hyperscroll' wheel are lovely.

I was a bit naffed off by the poor selection of mice in PC World, recently. Out of the two dozen models on show, all bar a few were generic two-button + scroll wheel models, and overpriced at that.

Dave 126 Silver badge

Mac Right Button

>Which is weird 'cos if you plugged in a 3 button MS mouse you could use the other buttons just like you can on a PC (or you could, it's a few years since I tried).

The right hand mouse button on a Mac is the same as using the left-hand button + Alt (I think, or is it Ctrl? I can't remember) so support fopr extra-buttoned rodents is easy to implement. Other keys in that area also modify the behaviour of the scroll-wheel (scroll up/down > Scroll left/right, > zoom in/out)

Dave 126 Silver badge

Mouse training

We had an Archimedes in primary school in about 1990- the only thing I remember on it was a a mouse-training jigsaw game, to get us used to the concept of dragging. We didn't really need it- many of us had Amigas, STs or an 8086 with Lemmings.

Up to the next school, and a whole room of Archimedes. RiscOS used 3 mouse buttons by default, IIRC. I can't remember having any difficulty in getting the hang of it, or using word processing or DTP. Two years later and we were all using Mac LCIIIs, with one button. Ah well.

Dave 126 Silver badge

>I’ve been forced to use a 3D CAD puck - my trainer would have loved playing with that word - which was about as intuitive as reversing an articulated lorry while blindfolded.

I've had a brief go with such a 3DConnexions Spacenavigator (a Logitech subsidiary), and didn't get on with. I guess I was just used to a different system of interacting with a 3D model, and it reminded me of the brief time I spent playing with Alias Wavefront- navigating felt like controlling a flight simulator, clumsily!

I'm used to navigating 3D models with mouse + modifier = rotate, scroll wheel = zoom (and one uses zoom out and in to effectively pan). Standard views are associated with a pie menu (hold right button and swipe towards cardinal compass point). This system is better suited to product design than it might be architectural or naval design (where one might wish to move around 'inside' a model of a boat or ship).

Hanslope Park: Home of Britain’s ‘real-life Q division’

Dave 126 Silver badge

http://www.scifiinterfaces.com/

Is a fun, if serious, blog about the fictional user interfaces seen in sci-fi and thrillers. And yes, they are mostly designed for the benefit of the viewer, not for the convenience of the fictional character who uses them.

FRBs and variable forces: a big week for astronomy

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: The laws of physics do NOT change in different places.

Richard Feynman used a chess analogy well: "Imagine you have to deduce the laws of the game from watching a game of chess... eventually you think you have a good grasp of it- how the pieces move... and then a player 'castles'- you haven't seen this behaviour before!"

Sony Xperia Tablet Z: Our new top Android ten-incher

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: Really?

Don't know, but most reviews say the screen looks pretty good. Proof of the pie etc

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: Paying a lot for that light weight

No worries! You can also get an MHL-HDMI adaptor for less than a tenner.

Not only that, but I believe the Tablet Z also has native support for Sony's PS3 DualShock controllers.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2310604

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: Paying a lot for that light weight

It connects to TVs by means of MHL through the microUSB port, which is actually a better solution than microHDMI because the TV supplies power to the tablet at the same time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_High-Definition_Link

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: Almost had me!

I would have though the low battery life is less of an issue for a sofa-bound tablet than it is for an out-and-about tablet.

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: using it in the bath ... probably wouldn’t figure in my usage regime

Waterproofing is handy for those who use their tablet in the kitchen to view recipes (or use the multiple count-down timers).

Prince of Persia: Baggy trousers and curvy swords

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: One of a number early PC classics (yes, I know started on non-PC hardware)

Dang, I never completed Gods... I got as far as the last boss battle - a a giant serpent dragon thing - and slung a load of axes at him... but no cigar.

I don't think I ever got past the second level of Xenon 2, at least without using the invincibility cheat ('F7' at the VGA/ EGA selection screen, then 'i' in-game)

Dave 126 Silver badge

Paul Verhoeven was rumoured a few years back to be making a film adaptation of The Last Express, though there seems to be no more recent news about this.

MSX: The Japanese are coming! The Japanese are coming!

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: Fond memories

>Alas, it's all bulky desktops or not-quite-top-notch notebooks today...

There are 'net-tops' (i.e, PCs about the size of a Mac Mini) and the recent Intel reference platform for similar things... get some glue, some straps and some foam rubber and you might not be far off the thing you want.

Dave 126 Silver badge

>And wasn't the orginal MSG released on the MSX?

Mono Sodium Glutamate? Don't worry, we know you meant MGS! :) Metal Gear, and Metal Gear II: Solid Snake were on MSX-2, Metal Gear Solid was on Playstation.

New Motorola Mobility badge: Too late for this pinball machine lover

Dave 126 Silver badge

Pinball Exhibition

It's on the wrong continent for me, but for anyone near Chicago in October...

http://www.pinballexpo.net/index2.php

Dave 126 Silver badge

Custom Pinball Machine

Ben Heck is known to many of us as the man who creates game controllers for people with only one hand, or making XBOX 360 laptops... however, he was making his own pinball machine a while back.

If you have a love of hardware hacking, take a look:

http://benheck.com/

His latest projects include a 3D-printed Spam-saver lid (the luncheon meat, not the unwanted email) and a PC keyboard with analogue WASD keys for gaming...

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

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: Blimey...

>A single hour of flight in an F-22 costs $68,362 and the aircraft requires a month's rebuilding after 300 hours in the air. Curse you, Congress!

Yeah, but wouldn't any time an F-22 spent 'escorting' a passenger jet be time that pilots would otherwise spend in training? Also, I would imagine that an F-22 is overkill for such a task- surely there is a cheaper, slower (but still fast enough) 'plane for the job?

Google developing game console, smartwatch, new Q?

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: Android+AMD(CPU+GPU)+Steam Big Picture+Half Life 3

Out of curiosity, how difficult would it be to have a Linux 'Steam Box' run Android games, such as those for the Ouya games console?

Boffin's claim: I have found how to get girls into tech

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: The bigger picture

>We don't hear much talk about getting more women working on building sites, plumbing or lorry driving (though obviously there are some who do these jobs) and we hear even less about getting more men into nursing and teaching.

There has long been a campaign in the UK to get more men working as primary school teachers, so as to give young children (not all of whom have a father living at home) a more balanced view of adults.

Birmingham council has decided that it is unfair that dinner ladies are not paid as much road sweepers, because each role is heavily staffed by women and men respectively.

Play the Snowden flights boardgame: Avoid going directly to Jail

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: Flight path

>I don't see why the plane doesn't just fly in a straight line across the Atlantic, thus avoiding US airspace.

On a flat planet that might work. Meanwhile, back on this squished sphere we call home, you're going to require a curve.

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: Iran

Mornington Crescent!

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: I just listened to BBC R4 The MeeJah Show

I didn't take the conclusion of the Media Show as Snowden's leaks being too technical... a conclusion isn't their style. Curious that all the media attention is focused on the fate of a single man, as opposed to looking at the implications of what he leaked.

Probably the reason that the reaction to Snowden's leaked info hasn't raised too many eyebrows is that most people kinda suspected it was all going on anyway.

The response given in the case Arkell Vs Pressdam was when Private actually had evidence, as opposed to hearsay... normally they are happy to publish and be damned. There is a good tradition of 'Eye-told-you-so, as they are often vindicated years or decades after being successfully sued. l Vs Pressdam was when Private actually had evidence, as opposed to hearsay... normally they are happy to publish and be damned. There is a good tradition of 'Eye-told-you-so, as they are often vindicated years or decades after being successfully sued.

Dave 126 Silver badge

>"A the poor lil traitor "

Traitor to whom? His country-folk, or his state? Just how the hell does democracy have any legitimacy if the electorate do not have access to the facts? See "engineered consent" FFS.

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: Airspace

>despite the fact that France itself had been the target of terrorism directed by the Gaddafi government in Libya.

Whatever. Too much smoke to tell. http://www.private-eye.co.uk/sections.php?section_link=in_the_back&article=122

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/posts/hes_behind_you

"HOW COLONEL GADDAFI AND THE WESTERN ESTABLISHMENT

TOGETHER CREATED A PANTOMIME WORLD

"Things come and go in the news cycle like waves of fever. A year ago Colonel Gaddafi was killed and an avalanche of camera phone footage of his last minutes was played again and again on the news channels. Then it stopped - and Gaddafi disappeared off into the dark.

"What remains is all the footage recording Gaddafi's forty year career as a global weirdo. But the closer you look at the footage and what lies behind it - you begin to discover an odd story that casts a rather unflattering light on many of the elites in both the British and American establishments."

Dave 126 Silver badge

>How about a tunnel through the centre of the Earth instead?.

Repeat to yourself: 'I shall watch not remakes of classic Paul Verhoven films.' [Total Recall]

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: Fly east?

> attracting attention, which may be the point of all this stupidity.

Quite. Whilst a cat and mouse game is fun and all, fewer people are taking notice of the import of what he leaked. How's Bradley getting, anyhows?

Sony unveils latest attempt at an Android SmartWatch

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: These Things

If it doesn't feature a bezel spinning at high speed to cut ropes and chains, and a magnet to deflect bullets and unzip Miss Caruso's dress, I'm not interested!

http://www.hodinkee.com/blog/2011/10/13/james-bonds-rolex-5513-for-sale-complete-with-hyper-intensif.html

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: I sort of agree.

>I've got no idea what that killer app might be, sadly.

How 'killer' that application needs to be (the benefit) depends upon the cost (retail price, appearance, battery life etc) of implementing it.

There are quite a few very useful things a 'connected' watch can do, without even having to boast a pixel-based display. Examples are 'Find my phone', 'warn me when my phone loses contact', 'mute my phone/reject call', ''pause music / skip track'.

Information that can be communicated to the user by means of just a watch hand include: direction of travel, speed, various notifications, minutes to next train etc.

My preference would be for simple 'connected' features included in a conventional, good looking watch.

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: Work in progress

>I have no problem with the concept of wearable tech and I'm sure in time it will get to the point where it's actually stylish and functional, at which point it will become ubiquitous.

Terry - take a look at the Citizen Bluetooth watch. It resembles many other 'chronometer' watches.

It doesn't have a alpha-numeric display, but uses vibration and then the second-hand to indicate what message has come to the phone. One could imagine a more advanced version that uses the second-hand to guide the wearer towards GPS waypoints, for example.

http://www.wired.com/reviews/2013/02/citizen-eco-drive-proximity/

Apparently it has similar disconnection issues to the first Sony smartwatch, though.

The latest Android update bought in Bluetooth Low Energy support - though only a handful of Android handsets have the hardware at the moment - bringing it in line with iOS and Win Pho 8.

HGST: Enough of those mutant hybrids. We'll do an Apple, thanks

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: I just choked on my morning coffee

I haven't read any horror stories about OSX's Logical Volume Manager since it came out nine months ago...

http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/10/more-on-fusion-drive-how-it-works-and-how-to-roll-your-own/

Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo: The big three slug it out at E3

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: Welcome to our world...

http://www.theverge.com/2013/6/21/4452488/amd-sparks-x86-transition-for-next-gen-game-consoles

" EA Sports boss Andrew Wilson says that one reason none of its next-gen sports games are coming to PC is because Microsoft and Sony's new game consoles are actually more powerful than many PCs in a very specific, subtle way: "How the CPU, GPU, and RAM work together in concert,"

"That might sound suspiciously vague, but we spoke to AMD and it's actually true. The AMD chips inside the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One take advantage of something called Heterogeneous Unified Memory Access (HUMA), GOOD FOR GAMING, GOOD FOR AMDwhich allows both the CPU and GPU to share the same memory pool instead of having to copy data from one before the other can use it."

Dave 126 Silver badge

Re: Will the 'Xbox 180' and 'PS4' be the greatest gaming experience ever?

>For starters I can't understand why the GTA team didn't try a new theatre i.e. an Italian, French or Asian inspired open world, instead its west coast CA yet again!

I for one always wanted a sci-fi style GTA... stealing futuristic vehicles like the racing craft found in WipeOut, or some Mechs.

>Unfortunately a lot of Indie developers are being forced to go small screen to stay in business, helped by the crushing Hollywood system.

Many developers - including people like John D. Carmack of iD Software - are welcoming the ability of indie developers to create games without having a budget of $millions. There seem to be plenty of 'AAA' titles available for consoles, despite a rise in 'casual gaming' - be it tablets or Nintendos.

Dave 126 Silver badge

>" But then I ask myself whether your average PS4 or Xbox One gamer – those brought up on a diet of Call of Duty and Fifa – would readily lap up the likes of Mario, et al?"

Some of us like some variety in our gaming diet... and households with several consoles in them are far from rare, especially in shared flats. Many PS gamers will have fond memories of GoldenEye 64, Zelda: Ocarina Of Time, Mario 64 or Wario Stadium Soccer.

Sci-fi and horror scribe Richard Matheson: He is Legend

Dave 126 Silver badge

It should go without saying...

... that the film I Am Legend (with Will Smith) is to the book what the film I, Robot (with, er, Will Smith) is to Isaac Asimov's novella.

Fercrysaaeks, the whole part of the book in which the phrase 'I Am Legend' is uttered is absent from the movie.