Posts by Turtle_Fan

World Health Organization: Mobile phone cancer risk 'possible'

You don't read many....

cartoons then....

Lightbulbs and brains are the quintessential protrayal of creativity and inventiveness!

Erm, no....

I don't normally appear discourteous but please get a grip.

If this was the case then victims should start dropping like flies right about now.

And all the RF engineers would be like Marie Curie and their tools exhibited behind graphite glass.

Although, if some nutter uses the analogy to force a ban of mobiles in public places for fear of second-hand radiation, I'd love them. Start with schools then public transport and close off with eateries. And given the PC times we live in, force the provision of purpose-built anechoic, antenna totting, faraday cages for the terminally addicted.

God, that must have been some strong milk I had this morning....

Android app sales skimpy, sluggish, slack, scanty...

Positive but...

The rooting bit is only needed if you plan to use your phone to do the repartitioning.

Connecting the SD card via USB and using Linux or a LiveCD and then gparted or some such utility will do this for you on the fly with no need to root anything at all. Again, this will only work on Androids 2.2 or higher. Earlier versions don't support this feature.

There are (obvious) RISKS which in fairness I must mention: a) As your SD will become part of your 'system partition' any damage to it will mean severe problems in the handset's function. Hence a good backup utility is strongly recommended. [It may sound like a no brainer but people have been caught out as SD's are nowhere as resilient as baked memory chips in the phone] b) Due to Linux's priviledges scheme, just copying the SD's ext3 partition contents to your PC will NOT make them functionable in case of a re-install, so don't rely on this method for a backup. c) Preferrably use a card reader for the operation and not the phone itself. If you insist on using the phone, go to USB options and tick the debugging option in your settings menu.

Repetition, Deviation, Hesitation

At the risk of (thrice) repeating myself : you can get your android phone (2.2 upwards) to have as much as 32gb storage space given a big enough SD. card. That's native 32 gigs, No a2sd malarkey. Scroll back for instructions or research a bit.

Your phone's memory will show up as the sum of the phone's internal storage plus the ext3 partition's size on your SD card.

Once you do this, you don't need to move anything to the SD card, as the combined space will show up as one chunk of internal storage.

(Apps2SD is actually harmful imho as it confuses users, doesn't work on all apps, can't work with widgets and locks the apps when connecting in "mass storage mode").

To add on the previous posts, by far the least complicated way to do this is to use a Ubuntu LiveCD, boot into it and use partition editor. So what if your manufacturer allocated a measly 256MB in internal storage. Partition the damn thing to a 1GB ext3 and hey presto, your internal phone storage will shoot up to 1.2GB's.

The main problem I have seen with droid devices is that they are so badly pummelled by the manufacturers and resellers that they end up degrading in performance. If only rooting/reflashing/cleaning up was available as a one-off service charge to users instead of each having to do this on their own....

dont foeget....

Don't forget to move all your apps back into memory in case you had moved them with a2sd. That's because the ext3 partition will function transparently as extra phone memory.

help...

Partitioning an sd card is trivial yet I've only seen it on rooted phones. The easiest way is to do it using disk utilities in Linux. Failing that, there's a windows app to do it too. Search for it, you can't miss it (i'm on bberry now so can't tell you). The important thing is to back up your sd in case anything goes wrong. The easiest way would be by rooting your phone and using clockwork's free app to do this for you. Windows is messy because of MS's oblivous to any file systems other than fat or ntfs. Also visit modaco for step by step instructions

Even apps on SD is not necessary...

As i wrote in a previous response, all you need is android 2.2 or newer and an SD card.

You can partition your SD card between FAT (its native format) and ext3 (linux file system).

Then whatever space is on the SD under ext3 will be transparently added to your storage size.

So partitioning off say 512MB of a 2GB card leaves you with 1.5GB for your pics etc. and doubles (if not more) the storage space for apps and your system data.

Even apps on SD is not necessary...

...because they will stop working as soon as you hook up on USB (mass storage).

Best thing to do (on 2.2 upwards), is partition your SD card into FAT (usual stuff) and ext 2/3/4 (best one is ext3).

Android will view the ext partition as native disk space and you won't even need to move anything anywhere AND will keep working when hooked up. And this pretty much negates the huge mark up of going from a 16GB version of an android device to a 32GB one. Why pay extortionate rates when 2.2 upwards will work with microSD's up to 32GB.

For the record I have about 380MB's on my little beauty. Tinker a bit and it's amazing what you'll be able to do :)

Intel's future Sandy Bridge Xeons exposed

Correct me if I'm wrong...

But the 10-core intel chips you refer to are westmere based, not SB and hence not (yet) existing in the SB range.

Furthermore, (if I got the slides correctly) there's no plan for a SB 10-core variant given that the chipset supports up to 2x8-core chips. And that's on socket 2011 which is not (yet) released in any product segment.

Care to enlighten me, or have I been drinking too early today?

Is the IT Dept failing users?

Hmm, really?

You don't say...

While I have a deep disdain for most IT departments' actions I (regretfully) admit that they operate under hige burdens and constraints.

Consider for a moment the legal implications of their work and of inadvertent blunders. If I were an IT admin I'd instinctively tend towards total lockups to minimise my risks to the fullest extent. So I take it as a given that IT will err on the side of caution. That's before we come to staffing and budget constraints.

In fact I enjoy being the eternal whiner from the sidelines without a stake or risk in the process (something akin to the LibDems pre coalition ). I can't see a reasonable balance ever being struck. Giving more freedom to us great unwashed will certainly heighten the risk of costly mistakes; while locking us in will make our whining even more vociferous. All the while, the goalposts are shifting. I'm looking forward to the opinions here...

Explosion in iPad factory kills two, injures more

Well, not really...

There are indeed less bloodthirsty EMS's although not as successful. I don't know if it's prohibited to name names but think flextronics, jabil, sanmina and countless others. Alternatives exist and the price differences are marginal. Voting with one's wallet is certainly possible. The. big issue is that anybody who is anybody shops there. Apple maybe the focal point but there's an endless list of top brands working with foxconn (dell, for a start). And as for their previous measures they're smoke and mirrors. (i can elaborate on this if necessary).

El Reg iPhone app rated a flaccid 12+

Alas, no... (or not yet)

Well, at its current incarnation (using on Android) there's no option to post comments.

What's more frustrating though is that you can't even see the comments either....

For me, comments are 50% of the reason I hang out here....

(Insert *Let try this again* icon)

Survey shows slab-fondlers are loving their iPads

Thank you all

Some very good and enlightening posts here (well, for ignorant me, anyway).

I can now see how a handy, reasonably sized device be a better alternative to a laptop.

And I guess, I should agree that if I just had a nagging question to look up on wikipedia, I'd rather fire up a tab and get my answer than waiting for the entire boot sequence of a laptop.

Also, having an overview of one's mail/social not working situtation is also ideally suited to it.

As a non-user I'm not entirely convinced about the merits of the larger screen but I withhold judgement until I use one for a while and compare with my smartphone.

I'm tempted to side with user who argued over "post-pc" eras. Well, if some casual browsing, light emailing and similar activities is 90% of most users' needs then I'd agree that a PC (or a laptop) would be overkill. Yet I constantly find myself having to fire up "the beast" (aka my PC) for things that a tablet/smartphone couldn't handle.

P.S. Sometimes, the comments are even more educational than the articles, go go Register.

Meh...

Tablets are supposedly great for consuming information, though I can't see why a well-endowed/proportioned smartphone can't do the trick. Producing or manipulating info on a touch keyboard is at best tedious and at worst suicidally moronic.

With this in mind, I'd love to see what use there is for one. As for the Post-PC era, don't get me started. It's the bloody post feature-phone era ffs. It's those "dumb" phones that got obliterated and substituted. Not the computers, much as everyone would like it to be so.

Flame on...

What happened when Huawei called in the makeover consultants

IF I were a cynic...

I'd be tempted to view your visit and report as part of the image relaunch exercise...

Thank god I'm no cynic and always assume implicit trust on what everyone tells me :)

Google misses Russian trick with Opera snubs

Opera mobile...

... has been the bane of my existence. The main reason i no longer use it is because i couldn't post comments here always returning an uknown request. So , on my blackberry, I'm stuck between the native browser's memory impotence and opera's haphazardness.

Opera (esp. mobile) leaves a great lot to be desired :-(

Google won't open source fondleslab Android before 'year end'

But why?

I actually find reg's wordsmiths to be a quirky yet inventive lot. Web2.0rreah anyone?

Scrabble friends Facebook, innit

On linguistic purity

An alternative reading of the situation would be that English has been so popular and successful that as more people use it more "contributions" (with or without the quotation marks) are made to it. I say celebrate it and be proud.

I enjoy a beautifully authored piece as much as the next man, but language is a living, growing thing, not a snapshot of a standard frozen in time.

Not to mention the huge advantage of being understood practically anywhere.

Stolen smart-meter SIM leads to outrageous 3G bill

Not quite...

Actually, privacy authorities worlwide are pretty strict on this area.

All communications are encrypted via SSL and all messages havve unique signatures (derived from the hardware profile of the meter) to prevent tampering.

As I work for such a smart meter company, I'm astonished that while utilities request all sorts of features they end up not making use of them. Things like tying the SIMcard to hardware, restricting the domains it can access and a million others besides. All these drive costs for the meters yet utils seem not to be using them.

Huawei smacks ZTE with patent and trademark lawsuits

Yes, very...

And the funniest thing is how little ever seems to come out of those.

How many years have apple and nokia been at it and yet we've still to see any outcome (caveat emptor: If I've missed it, pls point me to a source).

Departments reveal mobile device spending

@ Andy

If it's ironic then I can't see it (blame the lunchtime drinks or lack of sleep).

Sub-£200 (mostly) yearly spend all-in doesn't sound too bad to me. That averages 16 quid a month.

Bearing in mind that many of those sets would be engaged in international and roaming calls, it really doesn't sound much at all.

Even considering UKG's big-customer status.

YouTube to launch paid video-on-demand service

So.... What's different this time?

So, will that be a Netflix look-alike or a hulu clone? In either case what's the big deal?

And if it's regionally restricted (I can't see the studios allowing it any other way) then what's the point?

Paris, for want of a confused icon.

Ubuntu seeks Android-packin' Windows deserters

Facepalm icon not available (yet...)

The Orange SF is a branded version of ZTE's blade. Nothing to do with the SF bay area.

As for having a linux distro side-by-side to your main one, it's not that difficult. In fact you can have your ubuntu on a USB and use it on demand.

Actually, ZTE has provided some very nice solid drivers for their phones; just their direct downloads are rather crappy. But ZTE drivers are widely available and work as planned even on x64 systems (I own an SF, unlocked, rooted and modded from the get-go and it works a treat on all my O/S's)

A/V

I haven't ever paid for A/V, and haven't had anything bad happen to any of my boxes.

Besides, using a normal account and having a regular backup gives me as much protection as I need.

I've got 5 HDD's on my main box and 2 of those are replete with a gallery of distros. (My grub shows about 14 different options at startup)

And yet, there's not one of them that can do anything simpler and/or better than my windows does.

Games? I'll leave that for another day. And there's no shortage of freeware on windows either.

@doperative: What effects does a user feel of the issues of FOSS ran under Win7? How do these affect a user directly/personally? I don't want to take the thing apart and mod it, I just want to use it.....

This obsession with FOSS and licencing issue can be counter productive sometimes (GMA 950 lack of support all because of licencing issues and programmers throwing a tuntrum 'cause the code isn't handed over to them to play with, etc.).

I've been a potential convertee, ready-for-the-taking for years but the only place where linux shines is in my ulta-under-specced netbooks that couldn't handle anything heavier. I genuinely want to switch but can't find a compelling enough reason.

Mother of all Win 7 rollouts: Microsoft eats own dog food

So, a bunch of techies are good at using their computers....

Why should it be surprising that Microsoft's workers can perform the spectacularly simple task of installing an O/S?

What I found surprising was that there were still people having to revert to their helpdesk!

Winfrasoft touts pattern-based password alternative

Yes but mostly No

As a color-blind person who spends his free time, colour coding wikipedia tables I can attest that the colour don't cause issues. That's because they are on large enough swathes and with significant enough tonal differences that even a completely coloublind (very rare; most of us have trouble differentiating red/green hues) wouldn't worry about it.

And having the numbers duplicate along the grid makes identification harder.

However, how long before 90% of the peoples' patterns are a long enough straight line either on the first horizontal line or the the first vertical column?

And as a previous poster noted, don't try to change patterns regularly or it will be even worse than people recycling passwords.

Is there any knowledgeable security/encryption expert who could explain to me why do all systems start with the goal of un-doing mental patterns and habit evolved over millions of years? Let's face it the human tendency is always for a single sign-on approach. (Have just the one password, no matter how difficult or long). When all studies identify human factors as the no.1 vulnurability it's amazing that such systems have not adapted to accommodate this.

Ex-PM blocked Steve Jobs knighthood

Great!

So Gordon does have a reedming feature after all.

UK opposes EU plans for '28th regime' for contract law

WTF?

I can understand all the guys worried about Brussels creep etc.

But there's a huge BUT of epic proportions here: The very essence of the founding treaties are about the free flow of trade throughout the EU.

But why deny a clear-cut set of can and can't do's so that everyone knows what they are in for.

If we have a 30-day money back regime why shouldn't the Poles and Hungarians (to name a few) enjoy this too?

It was the same with late-flight compensation schemes. They used to vary by carrier, airport and country. So one was never quite clear what they were entitled to and usually ended up getting nothing.

Look at the U.S.: Millions of state laws but there's a bare minimum of what you can and should expect when buying stuff. In what way is this bad? Clarity and simplicity lead to wide adoption!

Intel 'Sandy Bridge' mobile platform

SandyBridge or "An study in trifle"

Whatever happened to Intel as we knew it over the years.

First they mess up their ticks from their tocks.

Then they go about releasing the weaklings and pushing the battleships further back in the queue.

Enthusiast Sandy Bridge (i.e. LGA 2011) has been on the cards for ages and yet months before its (intended) release there's nothing in terms of information out there.

Nehalem/Westmere have stayed at the top spot for longer than any other Intel CPU.

And don't start on Intel's Wireless Display or Toshiba's et al. Display Link. Neither do full-HD, their range is pitiful and the delay from compression/decompression means they're useless for anything other than media players. For gaming or other general work, there's (frustratingly) still no beating an HDMI cable on the back of a GPU :(

Ten... wireless keyboards

@memo20000

Any and all keyboards type whatever you tell them to type.

I live in Switzerland and all my keyboards are qwertz. They still behave and type exactly as a UK keyboard.

That point is only valid if you don't remember where each key is or what it should be under your preferred keyboard layout.

Good points... mostly

You're right on most points.

Battery life is crucial although I'm inclined to think that as long as we're only talking of keyboards then batteries can last at least half a year without change (MX5500).

Mice on the other hand are hogs by virtue of their need for constant communication.

As for Bluetooth, I disagree. Bluetooth has proven extremely resilient in interference and has unbeatable range in comparison to alternatives.

P.S. You're right too on the dongle thing. Having snapped a couple of those over the years, it's become an important details for us clumsy people.

Logitech

Well it looks like when it comes to wireless keyboards Logitech has it sussed.

I've tried countless "wireless" and "laser wireless" combos only to be frustrated in no time.

Since the DiNovo and the bluetooth MX5500 I haven't looked back. They're both used right in the middle of interference central (Wireless router, 5 wireless cameras, wireless speakers, wireless DisplayLink etc. Oh, and a phone too) and they never miss a beat, especially MX5500's mouse.

I'm with the old-schoolers of haptic feedback keyboards with their wonderful clicks and old-school reliability design but that's out of the question on a wireless keyboard.

IEEE releases next-gen powerline spec to gadget makers

It's not just gadgets

Powerline comms will be a huge deal with smart metering roll outs.

Especially in Europe (and its 20-20 agenda) 1901 can expect trememndous penetration as it eliminates more costly alternatives (2.5G/3G) and given its range, makes for most much cost efficient networks based around data concentrators instead of each meter being a standalone terminal.

Five essential BlackBerry apps for business

Missing info

While the descriptions are fine, it would be very helpful to research a bit the permissions and other parameters required for those apps to function.

For those on BES, the security policies can render many apps not entirely working or at least not working as intended. Some insight into what requirements/potential conflicts these 5 would create would be welcome.

Grey marketing is great - if you're the importer...

The case for segmentation...

is NIL!

It's really indefesible and the author's lack of credible arguments reflect that.

In fact, if everyone was doing their job properly segmentation would have been eliminated de facto. Alas it didn't.

And what's with that feeble argument on playstations?

Bring them in at a 15% discount and there will be no end of shops and people willing to get them off your hands even if you called [insert silly name HERE].

Meh