* Posts by HMB

638 publicly visible posts • joined 26 Oct 2010

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FCC proposes freeing up massive chunk of wireless spectrum

HMB

UK to catch up with proposals in 10 years :D

Behold the lightning speed of Ofcom.

Legend has it that if you punch Ofcom in the face, you can walk home and be having breakfast the next morning before it realises what has happened.

Angola in Africa got LTE before we did. Still, at least it's coming this year! :)

Mega-rotund Dotcom's Mega gobbles up Bitcoin payments

HMB

Zombie Bitcoin

I'd just given up bitcoin mining following the sad demise of GBP transfers on Intersango (Formerly Britcoin) only to find how the value of my remaining Bitcoins had more than doubled.

Needing to get that value out of them, I went in search of a working GBP exchange and found Bitcoin Central which happens to have won the right to formally operate as a bank in the EU! BBC News: Virtual cash exchange becomes bank

I'm still going to be ultra cautious, as should anyone moving bitcoins, plenty want to steal them, but these things keep coming back! It's quite encouraging. It kind of makes me want to buy a load when everyone says they're truly dead and over next time (this has happened at least twice already).

Spotted: Android 4.2.2 update for Google Nexus devices

HMB

Android Honeymoon Over

My Android Honeymoon is most definitely over. I don't really want to go Apple though.

  • The lockscreen widgets corrupt the screen occasionally with PIN security.
  • The lovely visual style that was created for ICS is being compromised already with apps like the Alarms that while highly usable break the aesthetic.
  • The bluetooth started having issues it didn't have before with 4.2 on my Galaxy Nexus.
  • Google Now's voice recognition which used to be quite impressive ("listen to Snowpatrol" worked well with Spotify) has turned into a lemon.
  • Google Navigate overloads you with directions when you don't need the stress of it. it never used to! I find it easier to mute it which I think comes from very poor QA and testing.
  • Google seem to be discontinuing progress on their built in browser which has far better visual integration and great features like tap to reflow text. It's moving to Chrome on mobile, which lacks some features the integrated browser has and on top, it doesn't gel the same with the UI. So disapointing. Password sync on Chrome doesn't seem to work properly.

I don't really see a better alternative, but I think the regressions Google makes in it's products hurt it the most. When you have something that works and it starts not working after an 'update', it's a really sore point.

HMB

Re: Accounts

I think that was 4.2 and only for tablets, phones were excluded from this feature.

GPU-powered Chrome lets you watch YouTube longer

HMB

Re: Power consumption

Disabled by default, i.e. not working completely reliably yet.

Chrome wasn't the first browser to get this anyway, IE has had full browser acceleration since 9, which is a while ago now.

I used to get Opera to test websites against. When it was the one with the worst rendering with the most bugs I stopped bothering with Opera testing. The sites were strictly HTML5, CSS3 and worked beautifully on IE9, Chrome, Safari & FIrefox.

So nearly a great mail client though, shame about the issues.

Fukushima operator feared shutdown if risks revealed

HMB

Re: Radioactive Food; Radioactive People

@Tim Parker

First, a genuine thank you for the link.

The scientists I've heard talk about it are renowned scientists in their fields that have been talking on BBC's Horizon Program and they're in contradiction of the information you're linking to.

Let's be clear that according to the conventionally applied Linear No Threshold model of radiation harm the increased risk of cancer from 250 mSv is around 1.5%. Compare that to smoking which is somewhere north of 400% increased risk.

I'm certainly not saying that you're information is invalid, it has caught my interest and I'd be happy to chat further about things. However, it's quite normal for some studies to show high and others to show low and it tends to be a balance of these studies over time that go into providing consensus.

Here's a study showing a lower risk of cancer for people in higher radiation areas in Ramsar.

HMB

Re: "I see that Lewis hasn't filed this one." Judging by the thumbs there are at least.......

IF (and it's a big if) nuclear decommissioning costs are paid at the beginning of a new reactor and sealed in a bank account with interest for the life of the station, it's actually pretty cheap. Granted you have to be responsible.

Shale gas of course is economically superior to nuclear by today's numbers, I won't deny it! Also transition from coal to shale gas means a dramatic reduction in carbon emissions. Shale gas is an immediate solution to our energy troubles that doesn't require government subsidy.

HMB

Re: Radioactive Food; Radioactive People

Well all of my food is radioactive. All of your food is radioactive.

We're all radioactive. It's how we can be carbon dated.

So many nuclear explosions occurred during the early days of nuclear testing that normal carbon dating is pretty screwed for us lot. And yet... life goes on as normal.

Life goes on as normal for the people of Ramsar Iran, inhabitants of the most naturally radioactive place on the earth. They have no higher cancer risk or higher risk of birth defects. They live at a yearly dose that substantially exceeds the normal emergency limit for nuclear workers.

Nobody tell Stan Lee. :P

HMB

Re: "I see that Lewis hasn't filed this one." Judging by the thumbs there are at least.......

I know the deal, an operator ignoring risks is pretty awful... but...

With the political elite forcing the long impellers of wind power down people's throats, driving people below the poverty line in some cases. With an energy policy that could be written better by the Cookie monster, it touches a nerve that some people take very seriously.

You think France has energy problems? No it doesn't. Some smart ass will no doubt make a quip about France having nuclear waste problems, well it doesn't have that either.

All people want is to see sanity follow here. They want cheap, affordable energy and you know what, they might just be OK with reducing their carbon emissions, but when you tell them that we're not going to use shale gas or nuclear....

Someone is really taking the piss.

That's why some people lose their sense of humour.

Why Google and Amazon could end up cooking their own chips

HMB

Re: Nah

"Give it a couple more months and buy AMD once their management have finished crashing it into the dust."

Do you think that by then someone might be competent enough to write an HDMI output driver for a graphics card that doesn't screw up the output to an HDMI TV?

Neither ATI nor AMD seem to be capable of doing this. (The drivers do this mind boggling stupid thing of resizing the output for overscan when there is none for DTV and then resizing back, completely messing up the 1:1 pixel mapping.)

McKinnon will not be extradited to the US, says Home Secretary

HMB

Re: Goody

Let me ask you this question; do you think she'd have made this much sense if so many eyes weren't on her decision?

'Hypersensitive' Wi-Fi hater loses case against fiendish DEVICES

HMB

Severe Real Risk from Ionizing Radiation...

...but nothing to do with wireless comms.

This radiation risk is far more intense than any other on the planet.

Get protected people.

HMB

Re: Inquiring minds...

There have been a metric 'funk tonne' of studies done on any health effects from radio comms and the only thing proven were slight thermal effects for when you're holding a 4W transceiver to your head (using a mobile phone).

The problem is that people who want to find something just say that 10 years of research isn't enough. They'd like the scientific community to keep putting 2 + 2 together in the vain hope that they get 5 one day and prove them right.

HMB

Think of the Children!

"Oh no! Not a wireless network! Think of the Children!!"

"Alright Ma'am, well if you'd just like to hand over your mobile phones including the ones from all of your family, cancel your ADSL, return your BT HomeHub, ditch your cordless phone, hand over your Microwave, bin your baby monitor, remove your CCTV and junk your christmas lights and we'll take it from there...."

Microsoft Surface ad targets preppy, Glee-watching youngsters

HMB

Quite Exciting

I like it! I hope the x86 / x64 version won't be crazy money as I'd love one as a laptop. It sounds like it will do as a laptop and a tablet. That's pretty cool to me.

How often do you get high quality IPS screens on laptops? I don't want to have to buy an Apple just to get a decent laptop screen.

Sky support dubs Germany 'Hitler's country'

HMB

That's the sort of thing people say at the pub that's full of crap.

Who the hell wants to pay over £1,000 of wages just to make a daring remark to a customer?

HMB

Re: You'll fit right in: Believe in Better

Frankly I think the Sky customer in question would have let it slide.

But this is Sky...

They believed in better.

Swiss photographer sues Apple for pilfering her eyeball

HMB

Re: "All Aplle had to do was just put on some various strokes and an uncopyrighted face"

"It's almost certainly an oversight. Big companies don't normally knowingly invite lawsuits over what - to them - are trifling amounts."

I upvoted you (I think you're bang on the money), as for the 5 downvotes, it must be the linux Jihad started against you.

'Stop-gap' way to get Linux on Windows 8 machines to be issued

HMB

Re: the purpose

@Lewis Mettler

"...You are an idiot if you think otherwise..."

How intellectually compelling. What an argument.

HMB

Wood for the Trees Problem

I think we have a "can't see the wood for the trees" problem here.

No one is stopping Linux software companies from doing the same as Microsoft and saying "if you want Linux certification, you need a linux Master key in your BIOS".

If you have a problem with Microsoft putting down specs for a piece of hardware that will be licensed to run Microsoft software, don't buy that hardware.

If you have a problem with being forced to buy Windows when you buy hardware, I support you. It's anti competitive that Microsoft have strong armed companies into this practise that used to sell PC's that would run a few O-S' (Now I'm thinking way back to Dr-DOS and IBM Warp!).

Microsoft can be sneaky bastards, but they are being fair about Secure Boot.

HMB

Re: @HMB - let me get this straight

@h4rm0ny

I would like to thank you for a very thorough, direct and sourced reply.

The irony of the downvoters is that they think they are championing linux, but all they really do is make respectable linux users look more like goons by unfortunate association. They're the sort of people you don't invite along to parties because of inadequate emotional intelligence.

One caveat I would come out with was that I could have made it clearer that ARM wasn't included in the fair secure boot plan. I don't agree with ARM being locked out on principle, but I find it distasteful that Microsoft gets singled out for this when Apple has been locking down it's platform for some time. At least bash both of them in a balanced way.

HMB

Re: let me get this straight

I'm afraid you haven't got it straight.

The Register has previously reported on secure boot and Microsoft only give Windows 8 certification if the secure boot can be switched to accept alternative keys and can be turned off entirely (on x86 and x64.

It appears that in an effort to whip up outrage from gnusers the same old is run again, but with the reassuring parts omitted.

*sigh*

O2 network staggers across UK

HMB

Re: Backup plan

"The government / governing body need to act about the way communications services work in the UK."

You realise governments have a track record at screwing companies up right? You're really suggesting they get more involved?

Why don't you just do as a consumer is supposed to and shop around? Don't like a network that drops dead regularly? Don't use O2.

I live fairly rurally at the moment and my network is great. No dropped calls, constant service, good internet.

Any product or service can have issues. If people want a better product or service, they either pay more or shop around for a more efficient operator or manufacturer.

Good grief man though... let's not get the government to sort it out. If you want a piss up in a brewery, organise one yourself, it's much more likely to work out well.

Hands on with BB10: Strokey dokey

HMB
Flame

Re: Success

Does that mean BB's failover infrastructure department will get to use BB10 or won't they be deemed successful enough? :P

HMB

Bada - Something

Childishly, I've always hoped for a BadaOS - Microsoft alliance.

I just....

I just really want them to launch a product called "Bada Bing".

I would find it hugely amusing. It would make my day. I wouldn't buy it, but that's not the point.

HMB

Apple Innovation.

Apple are too deeply entrenched. When you have a formula that's clearly successful, you get very scared of changing it. This is a real tough call for iOS as yes, it's looked fabulous in the past against the competition, but some people are finding that it can look a bit dated now.

Copper-obsessed BT means UK misses out on ultrafast fibre gold

HMB

Re: Remember cable installs anyone????

So FTTC is much easier to deploy in other countries because there's less population density? Like in the rural areas of the UK where there isn't enough density? How does this work?

HMB

Re: Correction

What Brian Morrison says is very true.

I believe in market corrections and such, but this isn't a free market. BT were given a goose that kept laying golden eggs. They inherited around 100 years worth of capital investment. It's simply not the sort of thing that you can just go out and copy.

As if that weren't bad enough, eye watering taxes make starting up a national network super hard. This is one of the government's most sickening bit of hypocrisy in my view.

Cable services do incredibly well, but their efforts to roll out as far as they have has left them saddled with so much debt even the greeks would feel sorry for them.

In the 60's we were building motorways like there was no tomorrow. These days, due to much higher real term costs to build, we can barely afford to maintain the existing ones. In telecoms terms, we can't pay irish navvies peanuts to put up telegraph poles like we used to.

BT definitely do the minimum they can get away with. Market 1 exchanges still don't have good enough backhaul to support 8Mbps ADSL connections while they're rolling out 80Mbps elsewhere.

I watched ADSL2 and then ADSL2+ come out and it took years for BT to unstick it's thumb from it's arse and decide to offer an ADSL2+ product.

VDSL2 (FTTC tech) was finalized in 2005 but BT's FTTC came much later. It's not just about deployment time, look at other national telcos. BT are just plain slow at rolling out new tech. They're far more interested in milking their investment for as much as they can without laying out new investment. Sure that sounds perfectly reasonable for a business, but that's what competition drives, new innovation and the only competition that BT genuinely has is Virgin.

Want to know what 5G mobile is? Ask this British university

HMB

Finding MIMO

Obviously we haven't found MIMO yet.

From what I see MIMO makes up a large part of LTE Advanced's strategy. It doesn't seem mentioned in this article though.

'It's not a post-PC world: Just a post Windows one, maybe'

HMB

Re: windows is a niche OS

@John G Imrie

"We can start talking about linux on the desktop when consumers start buying linux on the desktop." - Me

"So can we talk about my mum and her Linux Mint desk top then?" - You

I'm not sure, was this some sort of attempt to undermine the logic of what I was saying? I mean... I think it was, but I really don't see how anyone with a grasp of the stats would see it as one.

Particularly if it was older hardware, I'd gladly set up a linux box for a relative for web surfing and the like. I'm not trying to poo poo your pride and joy here. When I want to get low down and dirty with a disk's MBR, I won't look anywhere else.

Let's step back though. How much of the market for new computers do the mums of linux enthusiasts make? Half a percentage point perhaps?

HMB

Re: windows is a niche OS

"well clearly the 1% of Linux desktop users will suddenly swell to 90%, just like they said back in 2001."

That's not a nice thing to say.

Articles pedalling the sort of twaddle as "we're now in a post Windows world" are obviously aimed at people who want to bash Microsoft.

I call it twaddle for these simple reaons:

1) Windows has around a 90% market share at the moment.

2) Business users who don't want Windows 8 will simply stick with Windows 7.

3) Home users buying a new computer will still have Windows 8 slapped on them by the manufacturers.

4) The only real alternative for your average consumer is to go Apple, at about 3x - 4x the price, oh wait, that stops making it a real alternative for the average consumer.

5) I bought an HP Touchpad and it runs Android ICS now as well as WebOS, I love my tablet, but I'm not using it right now. I'm using my PC because of it's superior 22" screen, keyboard (with tactile technology) and ergonomics (my neck, shoulders and arms are perfectly comfortable).

I use linux on my desktop (in a VirtualBox VM) for some development work, but let's be honest. We can start talking about linux on the desktop when consumers start buying linux on the desktop, until then... *shrugs*

HMB

Out of Windows?

"...bring games out of Windows..."

I hadn't noticed Steam dropping support for Windows myself.

Don't panic, but UK faces BLACKOUTS BY 2015

HMB

Re: Two fingers

We don't do AGR's anymore. We're letting our nuclear expertise fizzle out. Sadly we never managed to build them in a modular, cost effective way. Every time we made one we had to make it a bit different and build another prototype. It's very sad as it means we never got to find out how cheap nuclear could be because of this blundering.

It's either EPRs or AP1000's that are being suggested at the moment (both pressurised water reactors).

HMB

Re: Mountain out of a molehill

Thorium LFTRs are not developed tech. Sadly in the UK we gave up doing any innovative nuclear research a while ago.

Terrapower (13:20) is the most deliverable tech at the current moment in time and looks to be quite exciting.

China are already in a 20 year program to develop Thorium LFTRs, but these things aren't all figured out yet, though if they turn out they could be truly revolutionary.

HMB

Re: Don't close the working ones

@MJI

For the most part I like your attitude, but streetlights make the road safer from crime and traffic collisions.

Pragmatically, waste will always happen.

In my ideal world, City Centers are safer and more welcoming because of lighting and we don't have to worry too much about energy consumption within reason because we have affordable, sustainable nuclear and shale gas generation.

HMB

@Ledswinger

@Ledswinger

I just want to say thank you for the posts you have done in this thread. I upvoted them of course but that is not enough.

I despair that some people have both the ignorance, arrogance and tenacity to wade into a debate on a topic that is critical to the wellbeing of this country and spout off such BS as coal being expensive. It's not just spectacularly wrong, but epically ignorant. It's made 10x worse by an abusive, childish delivery.

I can only imagine that rather than coming to the logical conclusion that coal is used because it provides max profit and cheapest prices, that *the* poster has this deranged idea that evil people in quasi futurisitc clothing sit laughing, stroking cats, running power stations on coal, purely to put out lots of CO2 emissions.

Coal: It's an International conspiracy by a highly organised criminal underworld to make people pay more for electricity and ruin the environment.

Let's just spend a minute's silence just to reflect on just how stupid that is, because if you think about it just for a moment, it becomes increasingly obvious that it's a very, very special sort of stupid.

Thank you.

HMB

Re: don't worry

I'm not sure how much people are going to want to use their 10,000 cycle super expensive batteries for propping up the national grid. Plus, if people are going to want to drive the cars they aren't going to want to discharge them at peak time in the day.

UK's first 4G network just switched on - and it's not from EE

HMB

Forced Product Bundling

I've upvoted you on the POTS thing, I couldn't agree more about BT's forced bundling, but what's this about Ionica and kosher? You can't expect a company to pay for a wireless infrastructure with a few pennies per minute phone calls. It was all some time back now anyhow.

Back to Naked DSL...

BT forcing people to buy things they don't want makes BT look more competitive and less rubbish. It's dishonest, misleading and wrong. However, those in power don't want people to be even more frustrated with the choices they have.

It's good people handling just to let this forced bundling slide and not talk about it.

Brussels 'set to clear' state cash for UK broadband deployment

HMB

Better Strategy

There's a much better way of getting BT to install fast Internet into rural areas. Get another company to offer a service there. That get's BT in quick.

TalkTalk's YouView: Why no Wi-Fi?

HMB

Seriously: All Your Unbundling Are Belong To Us - BT

Mockery aside, the article errors quite seriously in that there is NO real unbundling of fibre services, here take a look at Talk Talk complaining about it. Ha, Talk Talk complaining, notify Captain Irony.

Ok, must be serious. The article outlines that even with BT's Virtual Unbundled Local Access (VULA) that ISPs can't even install equipment in the local FTTC exchange. Or I would imagine, link up their existing ADSL LLU Point of network Presence into the FTTC fibre switch gear as any FTTC exchange probably already has an LLU presence.

I guess this is why almost every FTTC offering barring BT's has an explicit usage limit.

HMB

Fiber To The Curb

It's part of a new BT initiative to make the new VDSL2 cabinets really, really tiny. So tiny that kerb stones will be replaced by dark green kerb stones containing all the equipment. It's become necessary in the wake of difficulties with planning permission.

Conservation groups have argued to have the green kerb stones painted the same colour as the others, but this presents a serious problem then for BT about how to find the new FTTC installations.

This key technological advance has become possible thanks to VDSL2, which stands for Virtual Digital Subscriber Line and is in fact purely imaginary. This is why it's taking so long to roll out and why BT get confused as to whether you can get it or not.

Massive strike at Foxconn's iPhone 5 factory

HMB

Re: @AC

What interests me is that I was asking tricky questions earlier and they show just how much people don't want to face reality. They might as well stick fingers in their ears and hum stuff to themselves.

Most western manufacturing has taken a brutal hit from the cheap labour available in developing parts of the world, BUT, this is the economics that any flag waving american in particular should be proud of. This is capitalism ladies and gentlemen. When Starbucks and McDonalds were popping up across the world no one in the US was advocating nationalistic protectionism. It was all about free trade and freedom of choice.

As it happens our pain is the developing world's awakening. Is that not at least in a sense fair? How long have we been gorging ourselves while they starve?

I'd like to see everyone do well. National protectionism in economies has a lot more in common with communism than it does capitalism. Capitalism in of itself can be painful at times. A badly run factory will end up going out of business and workers lose jobs. Some people say that the factory should be propped up by law or the state, but really when you start going down that road we all lose.

Capitalism weeds out the weak and rewards the strong and this principle has delivered us the things we love and take for granted today and eggs have been broken in making our modern omelette.

HMB

Re: USA?

I'm trying to decide whether you're suggesting that one of the leading American companies should make less profit, make it's products less competitive, or employ Americans for wages they can't afford to live off?

LASER STRIKES against US planes on the rise

HMB

Ironic Punishment

My mean side says we could make the older guys drive round a specially prepared high speed off road course while we shine lasers in their eyes and see how they like it.

My good side says that two wrongs don't make a right.

My mean side is far more entertaining.

Microsoft sets date for Windows Phone 8 unveiling

HMB

Re: Microsoft have come a LONG way in a short time

@Robert E A Harvey

"short time? short?"

Windows Mobile 6.5 was still hideous in 2009. Windows Phone 7 in 2010 was a huge improvement. Ergo, long space in short time.

"Windows CE was god awful.

was? is! a lot of people are stuck with it on embedded systems, with no sign of a future."

In the context of phone use I think what I said was fair. How many people are "stuck" with Windows Mobile on their contract phone?

HMB

Re: Grumpy old codgers

@Philippe

I've had to code websites for IE6, so before I start, I want you to understand that I know your pain.

However... times have changed...

If Microsoft bought up the codebase to firefox and renamed the product "Internet Explorer", just hypothetically, would your head explode?

I know Microsoft have a shady history with Internet Explorer, but I've paid a lot of attention to the latest cutting edge CSS3 and HTML5 and IE9 has some of the finest, highest quality implementations of things I've seen. You only have to look through Microsoft's IE Test drive site to see examples of where they've really thought about how to do a good job.

Flickr Postcards Demo - this is a demo that does a good job of showing what I mean. It's standards based and Chrome STILL* has issues with it. IE9 does it very well. Aliasing artefacts, resolution loss on css scaling transforms, inconsistent font rendering & incorrect Z-Order are just some of the problems this page can cause in big browsers.

On a phone I found IE9 very, very smooth to use and everything worked well.

*I think the page has been up for a couple of years or so now.

HMB

Re: Vitriol

Hi JustinST,

Don't take it personally! There are some very childish commenters in amongst some fairly adult and intelligent ones.

Anyone who downvotes you for saying you found something good to use, well you don't have to be a genius to work that one out. It wouldn't surprise me if a fair proportion of those people haven't really used the OS either.

HMB

Re: Am I the only one...

Genuinely interested....

Why not Android? I do hope the fandroids haven't turned you off it :)

I think Windows Phone 8 could be very interesting, looking forward to finding out more about it.

ReDigi fights for right to sell used digital music

HMB

Best Experience

The best experience I had was buying Jonathan Coulton's "Re: Your Brains. After hearing it on Youtube (a few times) I went to the artist's website and found I was able to buy a FLAC copy direct for a reasonable price via Google or Paypal.

Awesome.

That's also why the RIAA hates youtube. I totally bypassed them and the artist got all my money. Awwwwww..... poor old RIAA :P

'Never seen before' Fraunhofer wireless breakthrough... seen before

HMB

Wireless at carefully positioned 2cm gap?

Wireless at carefully positioned 2cm gap? Is that really cutting edge wireless?

A laser instead of an LED, well it sounds cool, but I don't want to have to aim very carefully for a wireless connection to work.

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