Posts by enerider

Alienware takes aim at consoles with mini PC

Oh goody! Beefier versions look like they'd do as LAN boxes!

I was thinking of making a good LAN box on an ITX form factor, this seems more akin to a stripped-down laptop/desktop mashup.

Beefier versions of this have nVidia 555 GTX graphics and Core i5/i7 support from what I was able to gather in my snoop around the buy pages.

I'd still prefer to make my own setup however. That way I get a x16 PCI-E slot to play with.

External supply I could take or leave, plenty of handy 12V based ATX power options from places like mini-itx.com (not to mention a good few ARM-based devkits).

Still a good idea though for those who want small PC with some grunt off-the-shelf.

A rapid first hands-on: Nokia’s Windows phones

I'm considering swapping to a Lumia 710 from an HTC Trophy - if nothing else so that I know the phone will play nice with the bluetooth car kit and have the far better maps option where the maps are loaded to the device rather than the extortion racket known as NZ mobile data rates.

Pint because it'll take one to mull this over...

HTC reckons 'WinPho will give Android a run for its money'

I own an HTC Trohpy

And with Mango (Yes, the upgrade IS out) on it, it fairly hauls ass and lasts more than a day on a charge with fairly hefty music playing usage (coding means I occasionally need to drown out the background to get things done).

The UI is a joy and it isn't an Apple phone. I've had enough of "LOOK AT MY IPHONE, LOOK AT IT!!!".

The improvements are nice, and I have an RDP client, an SSH client and an IRC client all of which work. Truth be told the IRC client still needs improvement, but it works.

Do I exclusively use MS for everything? Hell no, I have a Debian server (hosting MineCraft, I had to do something fun with the old desktop! Was running FreeBSD but it wouldn't play nice with the Realtek Gigabit on the motherboard), SmoothWall firewall, FreeBSD EEE 701(the EEE 701 is a kind of experimental place for things), and a dual booting Windows 7 / OpenSuSE desktop (because I can't run all the games under OpenSuSE, which would make LAN gaming events rather boring if I went 100% OpenSuSE)

Microsoft’s Mango update falls from tech tree

I forced the update too - laughable voice recog on making text messages, but IE9 is a nice improvement (certainly sped things up for browsing) and I finally have some RDP, SSH and IRC action happening! Also the battery lasts longer too :)

Finally, I get to see what this thing can REALLY do!

Kiwis drop the ball on government server upgrade

Govt. IT failing at rudimentary upgrade?

Seems in line with the rest of NZ Govt thus far :-)

Fail for obvious reasons.

Duke Nukem Forever rocks up on shelves

Have DNF - and can honestly say...

That I've not had so much fun since playing Portal! The puzzles, wisecracks and gameplay all feel pretty damn good to me.

The stopping to refuel the Mighty Foot (monster truck) was getting a little tedious - but was useful for introducing some different segments of the game (like the ghost town - that part was fun) - and I've not yet finished playing through it yet! (I also giggled at Duke's comment when finishing the Mighty Foot segment - the irony was sidesplitting "Awww! But it got such good gas mileage!")

It was nearly 1a.m. when I suddenly realised I had to get up for work the next day and retired to bed.

I've yet to get Portal 2 though, that's waiting on the next payday :)

Office for Mac 2011 SP1 calendar won't sync with Apple MobileMe

Did you even read the article?

The incompatibility is between a Microsoft product and an Apple product!

There was no mention of Unix/ Linux/ <Open Sauce OS kernel here> until your post!

But don't let me stand in between you and a good Linux bashing...

DARPA: Send limbless troops back to war with robo-arms

Beat me to it!

Dreadnoughts certainly came to mind - here's hoping we don't get to Titans just yet...:D

openSUSE 11.4 rocks despite missing GNOME

I just upgraded from 11.3

And so far it is carrying on with what I ask of it, which isn't a heck of a lot to tell the truth :-)

Might try a fresh install - chances are the /home user directory I've kept for several *nix based OS installs has a wide selection of old config files in the mix.

Intel: 'We ate McAfee to slip security into silicon'

Ba-dum TISH!

As called here: http://forums.theregister.co.uk/forum/1/2010/08/19/intel_mcafee/

by others as well as myself!

Although I do find myself wondering how they'd EVER get McAfee to not be a vast consumer of resources and actually run fast...

Qld police warn against Windows service scam

Ahhh, I remember these people

They called not once, not twice but 5 times all up! The last of which to call me a bastard!

Basically gave them the run around for a grand total of 2 1/2 hours with a grand total of two rickrolls and their remote input abilities disabled courtesy of the TeamViewer application they had me install on "my PC".

End result, I got enough information to see about attacking their paysite at the hosting and DNS levels with emails to the people providing the services to get the plug pulled. There was a blissful 10 days of "502 bad gateway" adorning their paysite until they got it half working again. (At time of writing, their pay porttion generally leads to 404s :P)

The pay portion of the website still doesn't work. virtualitsupports.com is the domain for reference, with the Indian ISP BigRock doing sweet F.A. to remove it claiming it only redirects to the Google homepage...

So feel free to contact Tucows who registered the domain to vent your displeasure.

If someone does get called by these people, get the scammer's web address and hit them where it hurts, their wallets! (feel free to give them the run around too, it provided hours of entertainment!)

Why did my server just die?

Good grief...RTFA

To the people going "Oh god why is this guy in charge of a IT system", how about you read the article?

It was a *Test* VM on a *Test* Server - nowhere NEAR the production systems!

Quote from article:

"Every other VM on the TESTBED server turned into molasses and phone calls started coming in from a half dozen different people demanding to know what had just happened to their TEST servers"

NZ woman pays motorised tribute to A RYAN 1

Re: For the slow readers

ACC = Accident Compensation Corporation.

The idea behind ACC is that they form an income safety net in the event of a workplace injury or injury which prevents you working. Getting this support from ACC can be a daunting task, with its own tricks and traps to snare the unwary.

ACC do have their uses, but are largely resented as they essentially form yet another tax on one's income...an income which already has ACC levy scooped from it before you even see it (in some - if not most - cases) and has more levy scooped from it when you own a motor vehicle and need to pay to keep the plates active.

Owners of motorbikes seen the ACC levies for registering their preferred mode of transport go through the roof, something which ACC had to backpedal a bit on after the public outcry of the levies going to rediculous levels.

Internet, China and Russia destroying US, rock and roll

As a member of the younger generation...

I would like to point out to Stevie Nicks that we play games (at LAN parties, no less!), listen to (and pay for) music and still get together and drink a few beers, and even go bowling.

Heck, we even go out and meddle with our cars and play paintball!

So "hanging out" still happens despite computers, Ms Nicks.

Pint - because we're enjoying a few at the LAN party this weekend :-)

Intel snaps up McAfee in $7.68bn deal

Perhaps this has something to do...

with this?

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/06/17/intel_security_silicon/

Just a passing thought...