Posts by Dave 126

Now UK must look out for crappy SPACE weather - engineers

Re: Tin foil hats

Re Tin Foil Hats:

This is a classic, I first saw in Victor Lewis Smith's Private Eye series, though it would qualify for a near-Darwin Award. On the dangers of protecting your body with flexible materials:

Man Sues Tom Ridge Over Duct Tape Fears

Corona, CA - Tom Ridge's advice to Americans to stock up on duct tape and plastic has sparked a lawsuit which has been filed against him, the Department of Homeland Security and President George W. Bush.

Steven J. Bosell, the owner of B & B Construction in Corona, California, has filed a lawsuit claiming emotional distress, personal injury and sexual dysfunction after he wrapped his "privates" in duct tape to protect them from a biological attack.

"After watching Mr. Ridge on television advising us to stock up on duct tape and plastic, I went to the local Costco and bought $100 worth of duct tape to protect myself", Bosell said. "When I got home, I taped up my windows and doors. After I did that I realized if survivors like myself are going to reproduce and populate the Earth after a biological attack, we have to protect our privates as well."

Bosell claimed in his lawsuit he wrapped his "privates" in duct tape as test of "Homeland Security". When he tried to remove the tape, Bosell injured himself when the tape began peeling off skin and body hair. After calling an ambulance, Bosell was taken to the hospital where the doctors and nurses laughed at him.

"I told the doctors and nurses at the hospital if they laughed, I would file a lawsuit against them and the hospital. They laughed anyways and I now have another lawsuit pending" Bosell said with tears streaming down his face. "They went out their way to make me look like a fool. Once I saw the doctors scalpel go toward my privates, I totally lost it and blacked out".

Also named in the lawsuit is the President of the United States, George W. Bush. "President Bush is just as liable for injury to my reproductive future because he hired Mr. Ridge to run the Department of Homeland Security and Mr. Ridge gave the nation bad advice. They also make me look like a fool." Bosell sobbed.

The Department of Homeland Security and the Bush Administration have no comment on Mr. Bosell's lawsuit.

-http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/858430/posts

unverified by Dave 126

200 million office workers gagging for a... Microsoft Surface?

I don't even get a '0' in that area where the number of comments is displayed, on both Chrome and IE... once some has left a comment, I can join in, but I can't be the first. I've slowly looked over the page, looking for the comment link, but can't see it. I've tried clicking on the empty space where the number of comments is displayed, but it doesn't work. Something is broken, and there wasn't a Reg post promoting this strange change.

-Confused.

The Register Android App

Re: This

At least Theregister.co.uk has the common decency not to throw up a dialogue "An app is available for this website, do you want to install it? OK / Cancel" when I access it from my phone's browser. Thank you Reg!

Astronomers unravel solar system's strange energy 'ribbon'

Re: astroboffins

As last lines in a movie go, I always liked "I'm going to get you astro-bastards!" at the end of Bad Taste.

Review: Living with Microsoft's new Surface Pro

Re: Magnesium?

Its a surface area thing... holding a match to a log probably won't start a fire, but shavings of the same log will catch alight quite easily. Magnesium and magnesium aluminium alloys are widely used for products- in part because the magnesium makes the aluminium easier to cast.

I don't know if a li-ion battery fire creates enough heat and temperature to get a cast magnesium alloy laptop chassis going well.

Re: Wedge Touch Mouse Surface Edition, SD card, $$$

Yeah, it does seem daft that my laptop always has a very small 'nano' dongle plugged in for the mouse (though I have plenty of USB sockets at the moment). It would seem trivial to incorporate it into the machine itself, a la Bluetooth (though I don't think my Bluetooth can kept on when my wireless is turned off for battery saving). If Bluetooth isn't up to the job for mice, I wish Logitech would license their dongles to be built into these machines that have a scarcity of USB sockets.

In fact, do female USB sockets have to be as big as there are? There seem to be plenty of card-reader dongles that seem perfectly happy using only a PCB-thick male plug? Obviously a smaller female plug wouldn't be directly backward-compatible, but an adaptors would be very cheap, and flexible adaptors would avoid the component damage that can result from having rigid objects protruding from a mobile device.

Re: Very unfortunate

That kickstand implementation is just daft- a super portable device that isn't as easy to use on your lap as a conventional netbook/laptop?

MS could remedy this issue by bringing out a folding keyboard/case variant that does a better job of holding the screen at an angle. They could even bring out a keyboard/case that holds the tablet 6" above the back of the keyboard, so that the typing position is better for the user's posture. The difficulty is that unlike a conventional laptop, the Surface is top-heavy.

Re: Guess I'll got one - it looks great to be used together my camera.

I would have thought that DSLR owners would find an iPad the better companion device- its higher resolution 4:3 screen is closer to the 3:2 ratio that most DSLRs use, and there are already iOS DSLR remote-control options available.

With the low cost of SD cards these days, dumping a series of pictures onto a portable HDD isn't as handy as once it was.

Tracy brothers are back: Thunderbirds Are Go! again in 5... 4... 3...

Re: I'm worried...

>CGIed it, PCfied it and all the magic around the original was gone.

With luck, WETA Studios won't do that.. the company that gave us Brain Dead and District 9 might do well!

Samsung puts Silicon Valley on a plate in $100m all-you-can-eat

Re: "the internet of Things"?

>WTF is the internet of things?

It's like the internet of computers, but with things. Specifically, it refers to real-world objects being uniquely addressable, for the purposes including stock control, maintenance and home automation. Coffee pots*, door locks, light bulbs, window blinds, thermostats etc.

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trojan_Room_coffee_pot

BlackBerry 10: Good news, there's still time to fix this disaster

Re: A new (?) idea...

I've previously posted a similar idea- but since minimum size of your dongle device is dictated by its battery, you might as well slap a keypad and small screen on it and have it function as a dumbphone when you haven't bought a flashy big-screened device with you. My concept was effectively: [for the pocket: cheap, compact, easy-to-use durable dumbphone with long battery life that can act as 3G hotspot] plus [for the bag or car: larger tablet device when you want it].

The 'real world' issue with your concept is that devices in the bottom of rucksacks often get mislaid, and if someone is rushing out of their house, they might not grab both devices- leaving them with either only a headless dongle or an unconnected 'phone'.

It is always refreshing to reads fellow commentards own ideas for how gadgets should be, though, so keep it up! : D

Hard drive sales to see double-digit dive this year

Re: Still using them here

I guess the paranoid would make at least two archival copies on optical disks from different disc manufactures- just in case some latent disc decay manifests itself some years down the line.

Android gets tipsy on Wine, runs WINDOWS apps

Re: @AC 12:53 GMT

>Eadon - I see you've gone anon for these types of comments now

Yeah, I don't think I've seen him post as 'Eadon' since that Ubuntu on Samsung story.

Ten 3D printers for this year's modellers

Re: Cheap 3D scanners

>What about something like a nut with an internal thread?

Most of the engineering CAD packages have 'feature recognition', so scanned meshes are converted (if possible) into geometric data. e.g, if you scan a cylinder, the result will be an approximation- a collection of triangles. Feature Recognition will attempt to turn this collection of triangles back into an ideal cylinder, with a smooth surface defined as being a constant from a central axis. This parametric model allows you more control, parts can be defined relative to each other, so design changes result in the entire model being updated. An internal thread will be the same- it is better if the CAD software re-creates it (threads are often included in the parts library) or just creates a plain hole that can be tapped after the shape is printed or milled.

The amount of user 'massaging' of the data seems to vary on the 3D scanning method, software and subject.

Re: Printing in wax?

This fella had some success casting aluminium by burning away the PLA print material in place of wax:

http://3dtopo.com/lostPLA/

Cheap 3D scanners

There is the XBOX Kinect at just over £100, using open source software, and also the pricier Windows Kinect with either open source software or the MS SDK. More suitable for body-sozed figures than faces. There are also software solutions- for free is Autodesk's 123D which can create a 3D STL file from a series of 2D images.

Other software solutions use a web-cam plus a cheap (£30) line-laser.

Samsung: Never mind Steve Jobs, let's snap off a piece of stylus biz

Re: History in the making

The Modbook tablet ( a 3rd party customised Macbook with a Wacom digitiser over the screen) was launched in 2007, and has since been updated. Unlike the Samsung devices, the Modbook runs full-fat Photoshop.

Re: Or

A keyboard might be better for creating ASCII art than traditional sketches.

Re: Round and round....

It won't be full circle- no one is suggesting abandoning finger-touch as it suitable for many tablet based tasks- especially those centred around making calls, browsing and consuming media. What you lose in accuracy you gain in modifiers i.e 'gestures'. Bringing in multi-touch wasn't just difference for the sake of it.

Tasks that require accuracy - hand-written notes, sketches, entering mathematical formulae- work better with a stylus. Not everyone uses their tablet for productivity tasks like these, but it is good to have the option.

The Wacom tablet on my laptop hasn't rendered my mouse obsolete, nor has its gamepad or IR remote made its keyboard a waste of space.

Nokia shares $1.35bn EU graphene research grant

Re: Prior Art...

Arthur C Clarke:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fountains_of_Paradise

Though being himself, the author's afterword does does discuss the the current state of material technology, gives credit to those who originally conceived of the idea, and admits he used poetic licence in shifting the location of Sri Lanka to the equator.

Feersum Enjin is a fun (non Culture) sci fi novel by Ian M Banks set around a 'space elevator'.

ESA proposes 3D printing on the moon

Re: Moon power

Power? If you use an aimed solar furnace, you just need a large convex mirror- probably made out of foil, plus mirrors for aiming. It doesn't have to be strong enough to withstand wind (there isn't any) and the structure can be lighter than an equivalent structure on Earth, due to the lower gravity. Erecting lightweight structures with high surface ares is something space engineers have some experience of- the whole shebang can probably be shipped in one unit and then unfurled, like an umbrella.

I'm not saying it will defiantly work, but it seems plausible.

Re: more techo-wanking

You're still going to need a binder, regardless of whether the structure is 'printed', or cast. Agreed, 3D printing is over-hyped, especially when people propose it will replace typically moulded objects, but current buildings on earth are usually made of pre-made parts- be them bricks, steel beams or entire 'portacabins'- with additional cast concrete. Without a convenient builder's merchants nearby, '3D printing' is a suitable method. Caterpillar have researched it for terrestrial buildings.

Even if you are going to make a moon cave your habitat, you will still need to seal it- some sort of inflatable membrane that is then cured, perhaps- but that would probably have to be bought from Earth.

If you used a solar furnace, it might be possible to build a structure layer by layer by vitrifying lunar power. This would be akin to to selective laser sintering, an 'additive manufacturing' (akin to 3D printing) process used on Earth. This wouldn't require a binder. I don't know if it is possible, but a quick search turns up a PDF suggesting that lunar material has been sintered by meteorite impacts.

Or maybe robots that attach to iron rich asteroid and over (much) time direct them to the moon might be a way of getting appropriate materials.

Google's Glasses: The tech with specs appeal?

Re: They need to be available

>Of course a couple of coloured LEDs would be sufficient to tell me about emails/sms/missed calls/incoming calls etc

many phones do that with just one composite light- different colours / flashing patterns for different alerts.

And just three LEDs would allow the thing to act as a compass or GPS guide.

Still, I ain't getting one til it outlines motorcycles and jackets, informing me if they are my size > see icon.

Netbooks were a GOOD thing and we threw them under a bus

An idea: daft or not daft?

Hmmm.... What's the largest downside of netbooks? The screen (not enough vertical pixels!). What are ever more people buying? Tablets- some with lots of pixels.

How about a 'screenless netbook' -an x86 machine with keyboard, designed to use a tablet as its monitor? I appreciate that tablets don't usually work as dumb (USB) monitors, and that setting it to work as a wireless monitor using software would present challenges (if the x86 base doesn't have its own screen to setup this configuration) ... but still, it would be nice. Hell, if Brand X offered a tablet, and Brand Y offered a similarly specified machine but with the option to use it as a dumb monitor, I would buy Brand Y- if only to extend my normal laptop's desktop on occasion.

The x86 base would give you access to legacy software, choice of OS and allow all the usual connections and storage options. The ARM tablet / screen would give you instant-on checking of emails and whatnot.

Re: Battery life and ARM

Indeed, Tomshardware have the impression the ARm vs x86 race is far from over. The fact that Intel are inviting investigation into power efficiency is in itself telling:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/atom-z2760-power-consumption-arm,3387-5.html

Although the results we're looking at today are generated at Intel, we were on-site looking at and playing with the company's test equipment as the numbers were being run, observing the results. We’ve also done enough of our own analysis from previously-published reviews to confirm that these numbers make sense. Intel is picking the easiest competitor to beat (Tegra 3 running under Windows RT on a Microsoft Surface), but our own preliminary estimates suggest the 32 nm Atom is going to be roughly equivalent to Qualcomm's 28 nm APQ8060A in the ATIV Tab, and more efficient than the 32 nm Exynos 5 Dual in the Chromebook Series 3 XE303C12.

Boffins propose satnav tracking for 'KILLER KOALAS'

What about those prehistoric crocodiles that hung by their tails from trees, were they real or made-up? Next your going tell tell me tall stories about some animal with the bill of the duck and the body of an otter. Yeah, right.

How to destroy a brand-new Samsung laptop: Boot Linux on it

Re: Perspective

Though not a laptop, my mate's recent Gigabyte motherboard boasts two BIOSs, one at least is UEFI (don't know what the backup BIOS is, we haven't had need of it).

[As if to take a pop at the Koreans, the motherboard has written on it "Japanese Capacitors"- reassuring, since the aged Dell Optiplex it replaced died of blown MB capacitors, allegedly the result of incomplete industrial espionage]

Lotus 1-2-3 turns 30: Mitch Kapor on the Google before Google

Re: Preferred

>Is the = hard for you to reach or something? Are you missing some fingers? Oh I know, you simply don't know how to type. Wacko.

Do you still use a browser that insists you type 'www' in the address bar? : D

Tablets aren't killing ereaders, it's clog-popping wrinklies - analyst

Re: Next: GUI redesign driven by aging "designers" who realize their crap is for the yoof generation

>"GUI redesign driven by aging "designers" who realize their crap is for the yoof generation

Buttons are getting larger, fonts are getting easier to read, "

I'd associated that with some my older computer-using friends... the ones with several pairs of spectacles. Y'know, the ones who sometimes run their monitor at less than its native resolution because making the fonts 125% in Win7 breaks the dialogue-box layout in some XP programs...

Generally, young design students are encouraged to think of the ageing demographic, and design products for people whose needs might differ to their own.

Re: @ A Known Coward

>There's no evidence at all that an LCD screen causes any more eye strain than an e-ink screen.

Other than the fact the e-ink screen is going to be in sympathy with ambient lighting, i.e readable in the sun, and not blinding in a darkened room.

Re: I don't want two devices where one will work.

That Txtr Beagle... from their website:

"Memory 4 GB. Number of books cached: Up to 5" Whaaa?

Hmm, I wouldn't mind one if it could seamlessly take text from any webpage I'm reading on my laptop, or documents for prooferading.

Re: Do they honestly think younger people dont read?

Whoever coined the phrase ' the three 'R's' must have had a sense of humour.

>On this topic, what are Werthers Original going to do for customers in a few years time?

They skip a generation, as OAPs 'push' them on toddlers.

Re: Bollocks

>Personally I intend to live forever.

Or die trying.

Apple loses 'Most Valuable Company' honor to ExxonMobil

Re: Too risky?

Who knows, maybe there is another "must have" product category" around the corner... not everyone working towards such a thing is going to be advertising it.

People are saying Apple are boring because they, and their competitors, have crammed about as much current technology as they can in something the size of a phone- it is the category that Apple work in that has got boring. Not that this is a bad thing for the consumer: I find it interesting that Sony's new flagship phones and tablets are waterproof; rather than further up the specs, they are making their products better for real-world use.

A period of less radical (some say 'boring') development allows refinement.

When technology does advance to allow 'the next big thing' (as 1.8" HDDs, cheap flash memory and capacitive screens did for MP3 players, phones and tablets in the past), Apple are in as good a position as anyone, since they have a mountain of cash, a talent for putting out a clear message to the consumer, and the ability to act unilaterally if they need to.

Re: Some sense at last

>I'd be more disheartened if someone was making enough profit selling water and air to feature up the top of the list...

Gasping by Ben Elton:

The script of Ben Elton's first play. A satire on big business, the media and product exploitation. Designer air proves to be the marketing phenomenon of the decade, but as demand outstrips supply, Lockheart Industries plunders the Third World for resources. The world is starting to gasp, and only the biggest suckers survive.

-http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1060812.Gasping

Samsung demands Apple's iOS 6 source code in patent case

Re: of course Apple invented the fridge

Does any here know of a browser plugin that renders invisible any comment that contains the phrase 'rounded rectangle'?

Of course; those of you who use such a plug-in won't be able to read this comment. Damn!

Brit 2.5-tonne nuke calculator is World's Oldest Working Computer

Re: Interresting from the developmental standpoint

> It's much more fun to build a machine to do that sort of work for you, and much cooler, too. :)

I think Douglas Adams said that he was the sort of person who would rather spend two days writing a program that would automate a task that would have taken him half an hour to do himself.

Re: Yeah...

At what frame rate?

Don't think it blends, though.

I love it... after using computers to fight fascism in Europe, we British then use computing for our second highest priority: ensuring we have enough cups of tea and cake.

Meet قلب, the programming language that uses Arabic script

Re: Re-invent the wheel

Nah, that ain't the reason:

SONY. Because Caucasians are just too damn tall.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96iJsdGkl44

Seriously though, there is marked difference between the West and Japan in the culture mental arithmetic, and notation may play a small part in that- so there may be a grain of truth in your hypothesis. Manufacturing is a different matter, but post WII it was influenced by an American manufacturing engineer (JIT, philosophy of perpetual improvement), as well as their own traditions.

Michael Dell and the Curse of the Exploding Batteries

Re: I like my aircraft to have metal, not glorified plastic

Carbon Fibre Reinforced Plastic is a composite material- it is a material composed of other materials. Concrete is composite material, composed of differently sized hard lumps in cement. A structure of CFRP or GR around a core (wood, cardboard, foam, whatever) as you describe is a structure.

You're correct about wood being a sophisticated material though, and bamboo has been used in competitive road bicycles. Bamboo's strength/weight ratio (though very good) isn't the only consideration, and it is good at damping vibrations at undesirable frequencies. Wood and bamboo have a grain; on a microscopic level, a structure of long cellulose tubes- always a good structural shape.

The carbon impurities that differentiate steel from iron are usually randomly arranged. However, in a samurai sword, they are very long- approaching the scale of nano-tubes. This is achieved by repeatedly folding and hammering the steel, giving it exceptional mechanical properties.

Pope: Catholics, go forth and multiply... your Twitter followers

It was a controlled experiment, just as our understanding of genetics came from the pea-breeding experiments of a monk, Gregor Mendal.

However, I would love to see a major religion going around and putting trousers on all animals just to preserve modesty- that would be just the most fantastic spectator sport... especially in Africa.

Shiny, shiny! The window's behind me...

Re: 16:10 please!!!

Likewise my 16:10 1920 x 1200 Dell Vostro, plastic fantastic. The Core2 T9550 and nVidia graphics seem handle everything I come throw at cheerfully enough, so have no immediate plans to upgrade. Maybe by the time I do, x86 laptops will come without screens and will be partnered with hi-res tablets.

Re: Matt/matte

A bit like 'program' and 'programme', then. I've read that 'program' was the original English spelling, and the other was a French affectation, used on English fly posters to make theatre productions look fancier.

Just to amuse myself, I always use 'program' for things to do with computers, and 'programme' for television shows an the like.

Opportunity celebrates nine years on Mars

Re: Cleaning Crew

"The Janitor on Mars" by Martin Amis... it has nothing to do with cleaning rovers.

(it's concerned with a Mars-based AI left behind by the planets long-dead inhabitants, whose only purpose is to heap scorn and insult on humanity, for shits and giggles- juxtaposed against the observations of a non-functioning paedophile in a boys home. )

Makes a refreshing contrast to enigmatic and decidedly silent black monoliths.

Amazon: IVONA bevy of 'all natural' blabber babes to beat Siri

There are more Welsh speaker in the US than there are in Wales, plus those living in Patagonia... so what accent does it have?

Panasonic: We'll save Earth by turning CO2 into booze

Re: Hmm...

@Blitheringeejit

I wasn't comparing the cycling CO2 in the brewery to fossil fuels- I was directly addressing the OP's concern that Panasonic's machine would lead to excess oxygen in the atmosphere, whilst comparing those concerns to that expressed by local EHOs about the CO2 released by fermentation in breweries. I acknowledged that breweries as a whole are not carbon neutral, but merely the fermentation stage.

Tiny tech ZigBee harnesses puny power of the press

Re: Car keys?

But those IDs change, so that thieves don't intercept and then clone them (in theory!).

Car key fobs transmit a 40 bit code, and also have memory to store the rolling code. The car will accept any of the next 256 of the rolling codes, should you press the fob when you are out of range of your car.

Re: Emergency buttons

I'm thinking more of one of the fire bells that require you to turn a handle.. you give out an audible and a radio alert!

It sounds like you could do with a repeater in the 'elbow' of your L-shaped room... presumably the bulbs themselves do this?

***

The signal from the proposed unpowered switches only has to get as far as the next powered node in the mesh network. Since most rooms in your house have a wall socket or a light socket, that should suffice- though yeah, older houses with thick walls and unusual shapes will cause issues. That the switch doesn't require power just means your can place it wherever is most convenient to you, without re-plastering your wall, dangling cables or having to replace batteries.