Posts by Archivist

Viviane Reding says imitate US and form FEDERAL EUROPE

Federalization of the EU

It's the least worst option.. but it might already be too late.

Microsoft to open UK retail store early next year

Bring on the greatest show on earth

If Surface doesn't surface, what can they show?

Perhaps they'll make something out of 5 keyboards and 2 mice..

Microsoft ejects DVD playback from Windows 8

Hell's freezing over!

I think this is a sensible move. Other platforms are going optical disc-less, so why include the licence cost for playback from a device that might not be fitted to your hardware? Don't imagine the coming Ultrabooks are going to have room for optical drives.

Heck, I never thought I'd agree with MS about anything!

Redmond man unmasked: UK.gov open standards stalled

Crooks

Yes, that's what I said.

Windows 8 diet exposes Microsoft's weak ARM

Win-RT

Strange that they're going after the consumer market, which is already saturated with suppliers, rather than for enterprise which is in need of compatible lightweight portable devices.

I can only think that they are waiting for sufficiently low power Intel chips to make a tablet that will run legacy apps. How long will that take?

I do feel sympathy for Windows developers who at this time see their market shrinking. No doubt many will jump ship rather than wait and see.

10x power boost for Freeview as London analogue signal cut

Re: Turn up the wick!

@Yet Another Hierachial Anonynmous Coward:

Good points on the power comparisons.

Actually it was usually the high power analogue carriers that caused the overload, and they're gone!

Nordic region, Ireland adopt new 'connected telly' standard

Re: UK - the European Unions Odd Man Out

Right and wrong: The UK fused plug is a result of using ring main wiring rather than star. It saved a lot of copper at it's concept, and still does. Star wiring requires more fuses in larger distribution boards.

Where is this mythical country where 80% of the people are protected by a single fuse? I think your ranting has better of your logic, unless you are comparing the UK with the 3rd world.

Globalisation means that manufacturer's turf wars are almost over, but many of us would like to protect our culture from being swamped by outside media. Unfortunately this might be a losing battle due to the internet.

The UK is an enormous market, so having differing standards will only cause a minute difference in product cost, but perhaps a little less product choice.

Big Four US carriers vow to switch off stolen smartphones

That'll make the muggers quake in their boots...

""For the database to work, it would also become a federal crime to tamper with the unique identifiers on a phone.""

Apple's App Store parades surprise new Catalog model

US centric or what?

(in some places spelled "Catalogues" presumably for Brits)

I suspect that more people than Brits use the proper spelling.

Warner Bros boss moots 'disc-to-digital' scheme

This one's another fail

To virtually eliminate lost market due to piracy, they need to deliver the product to market:

In a timely fashion - simultaneous region release

At an affordable price - perhaps according to region

Of sufficient quality - without criminal warnings and ads

Adaptable media - playable on many devices

Impossible? I don't think so. The only obstacle is obstinacy.

Apple: We never said Siri would actually work in the UK

Weasel words

It's entirely reasonable to expect that a device should be fully functional in the market in which it's sold. In cases where this is not possible, there should be a specific disclaimer.

I'm very disappointed in Apple, they are the new Microsoft.

Sinofsky shows off Windows 8 on ARM and Office15

Good news all round

Some green credentials

Competition for Apple

Competition for Intel

Methinks its time to top up the ARM Holdings PLC shares...

UK gov rejects call to posthumously pardon Alan Turing

Let's move on

Turing was a great and admirable genius but he committed and got caught for a crime. The fact that most of us judge the law to have been wrong is irrelevant. There are lots of current laws that are stupid but if I choose break one, I face the consequences or do my best not to be found out.

It makes little difference whether a pardon is granted or not, the wrong has been done. Better to concentrate on making todays laws fairer.

iOS 5 'crashes more apps' than Android

Another sample of 1

The only crashes I've experienced are with the Guardian app. and it's happened less on IOS5. Mind you, I don't play games or connect to Exchange servers (same thing really ;-)

I've plenty to criticise Apple for, but this isn't one of them.

Ex-Apple engineer emits Zevo ZFS for Mac OS

Sucking eggs

Hard to believe we're being told about 2's compliment...

Judges probe minister's role in McKinnon extradition saga

Wrong issue

To me the issue isn't whether he'll kill himself in the USA, but why the hell we are even considering extradition to a country that condones torture. The one-sided "agreement" we have with the bully across the pond is ludicrous.

I wouldn't mind betting that a greater than average percentage of Reg readers have some degree of autism. Maybe some even classifiable as Asperger's. It's a degree of obsessionalism that makes us achieve what the general populous can't.

Nissan Leaf battery powered electric car

Drivel

@AC "The electric company would at the very least have to run a cable from the nearest 3-phase substation to you."

Unless you really live out in the sticks, 3-phase passes your house; each house in a street taking alternate phase taps.

Are there any non 3-phase substations? I think not, unless you count pig-poles.

ICO smacks Welsh council with record £130k fine

A way to make people think..

H&S is only now takes seriously (perhaps too much so) since people became criminally responsible for their actions or inactions.

Perhaps it's time to bring criminal law to bear on those who otherwise will never be bothered with these other laws...

Orange contract price hike angers subscribers

Release?

I wonder if this will allow me to get out of my Orange contract. Since the merger with T-Mobile, reception at home has gone from good to hopeless. I suppose it was too much to believe that they'd keep both companies base stations running...

Compact Disc death foretold for 2012

It could actually be an improvement

CD's 16-bit quantising and 44.1KHz sampling are simply inappropriate for this century. They were as good as you could get 25 years ago, but why should we have to put up with it now? OK there have been various super-CD and DVD-audio attempts, but none has hit the mainstream due to equipment compatibility issues. Here is an opportunity for downloads that are close or equal to the mastering quality, often 24-bit 96KHz.

Of course DRM might kill it dead in the water. But I wouldn't mind having my identity as the buyer of the work embedded in the file, with an option of exporting it at lower quality without the "watermark".

I suggest you should pay according to the technical quality of the file: If 128KB/s is you forte, then you'll get off cheap and perhaps buy lots. I would prefer to buy less music at the higher quality, thanks.

Apple shifts Lossless Audio Codec to open source

There's always a motive

@JaitcH

Easy: Apple portable hardware supports ALAC, so greater sales.

What miserly record? Do you mean CUPS which all 'nix's now use for printing? Or Webkit which many of us browse with, on Mac and 'nix.

But seriously, do you think any company with shareholders gives stuff away for no reason?

Inside WD's flooded Thai factory

Supply and demand?

On Monday I ordered 3*2TB Seagates from a regular supplier and they accepted the order. They were shown as in stock.

Later that day they were shown as out of stock.

Yesterday they emailed me saying there'd be a delay.

Today they emailed me saying they couldn't get 'em at all.

Meethinks they went straight under the table at the importers, to be sold at inflated prices later.

Gov: DAB must battle on, despite being old and rubbish

A system devised by idiots

Who was the bright spark who decided on hardware (set in stone) codecs?

Now Windows 8 goes into the ring to face Apple's iOS

Don't spread FUD

<http://www.apple.com/ios/> The current 3rd party virus scanners scan for Windows viruses.

<http://www.appletablet.net/ipad-virus/> - undated, unconfirmed, unsubstantiated, probably untrue.

<http://www.defectivebydesign.org/ipad> This is what protects the device from malware. If you move out of the walled garden expect to be mugged, whatever system you're running.

I really hope MS can make Windows 8 as secure as IOS, but past performance does not raise my optimism.

Acer turns to trains for imports

Tried long ago

A Japanese TV company I worked for in the late 70's tried this over the trans-Siberian. The results at that time were poor:

In winter glued labels and badges would peel or fall off.

Vibration was not a problem, but loose-shunting caused the packing of incompletely filled containers to disintegrate and the goods move and become damaged. The g-forces our sensors recorded were impressive!

On a couple of occasions we were informed by Customs of seal tampering. Upon inspection, many boxes were filled with house bricks to the weight of a TV.

What the thieves did with UK PAL standard TV's in the SECAM standard USSR, we never found out.

Adobe releases lengthy list of Apple Lion woes

It's obvious

They want to make it as painful as possible for Apple users. It's the twist of the knife after the Flash affair...

Airport screener stuffs stolen iPad into (own) trousers

Cable tie?

How do you remove the cable tie at the destination? Any possible tools: scissors, cutters, knives, have to be carried inside the case that is cable tied...

White Space competitors fight dirty

Mark my words.

It's a disaster waiting to unfold. Reception of Digital Terrestrial TV is such that you never know how close you are to the cliff edge. Even a little more noise can push you over.

Microsoft calls Intel's Windows 8 comments 'inaccurate'

To virtualise or not to virtualise, that is the question

But virtualisation on the slower ARM chips will be dire, so I hope they don't try to include it in the OS.

I envisage an "app store" where low cost ARM W8 apps can be purchased (or repurchased) much like Apple's model. Those real old legacy apps will just have to stay were they are or die. As another poster points out, much of MS' pickle has been due to trying to be all things to all men - I mean apps..

iPlayer Global iPad app price announced

Errrm... ridiculous!

Don't you realise that the overseas subscriptions will subsidise the BBC? It's actually in our favour for the BBC to get more cash.

AND, if you care to watch non-live iPlayer only, you don't need a TV licence.....

Ubuntu Wayland: Shuttleworth's post-Mac makeover

Horses for courses

It's true that Ubuntu is not the easiest distribution to get hardware or software RAID working properly, but don't give up. It is possible and you do end up with a robust system plus a very friendly user interface. I'd be willing to bet there are hardware configurations that would make your W7P fall over yet work with another system. A single example is not sufficient to judge any system

If you just want a RAID box I'd suggest crossing to "the other side" and use SUSE or RH.

Apple iPad vs... the rest

Lucky me

I received an iPad as a gift from a loved one just 2 weeks ago. Upon opening the box I had a dread: What use will it be? Is it a toy? How limited is it's usability? Do I have to pretend to like it?

After initial configuration I set about using it for all the tasks I normally use my home desktop for, during a weekend day, fully expecting to have to put it down at some stage and go to a "proper" computer:

Check my multiple pop and imap accounts - perfect; rendered doc, xls, pdf and mpg attachments seamlessly. Replied to a couple of them. Virtual keyboard is acceptable for short drafts but wouldn't want to do a lot with it. One big bonus of a virtual keyboard is that when you switch languages, the keyboard follows! Especially useful for non-Roman character sets.

Read the news from multiple European and far-eastern news sites. What a calming experience without the flash-based ads running down the side of the page. Only the Korea times did not render well, but Korea is known to be M$'s bitch, so no surprise there... Checked a few forums, posted a coupe of comments - fine.

VNC'd into my work Linux computers using iTeleport which I chose to buy from the app store (what a superb app). Did my checks and made some tweaks. All worked fine.

Played music throughout the day using iTunes remote. No reason for me to load low quality compressed files on my limited internal memory, I have a smartphone for that.

Looked at some YouTube that a friend had linked to. Fine.

By evening my wife was eager to research next year's holiday, so I gave it to her.... Holiday sites a bit less suited to the touch interface but all were usable.

Bed time - no silly, I didn't take it with me.. I put it on charge, even though having used it practically all day, the battery indicator said 55% full.

Have I used it since? Yes daily. Could I live without it? Probably. Which would I choose between my iPad and my laptop? The iPad!