Posts by madmalc

Good news: Jeff Bezos went to space. Bad news: He's back

When I was a kid I was taken to see 2001: A Space Odyssey. Now commercial space is actually beginning to happen I, for one, am celebrating

You got a smart speaker but you're worried about privacy. First off, why'd you buy one? Secondly, check out Project Alias

Re: you could simply not put the creepy things in your home

I don't quite know what the frightening implications are of Amazon hearing "Could be warmer in here. Alexa, turn up the heating." Sound of someone sitting on a sofa and turning on the TV. 3 hours of sound of TV, an hour of snoring, yawn, "Shall we go to bed?" Alexa, turn the heating down. Alexa, turn on the bedroom light. Bathroom sounds, people getting in to bed, Alexa set the alarm for 6AM. alexa turn out the bedroom light. Snore.

PS yes I know I'm responding to a troll but it makes me feel better

Re: you could simply not put the creepy things in your home

Anyone who uses the word "Snowflake" is a thug. Not only that you're a pilchard

Straight outta Blighty: Readers, if you were a tech billionaire, what would you do?

Harrumph

The EU is going to ban sausages, don't you know! As it happens the EU has not banned sausages - they're leaving it to the Vegans! (Send 'em back, that's what I say - 25.05 light years a bit far in a rubber dinghy)

MY GOD, IT'S FULL OF CARS: SpaceX parks a Tesla in orbit (just don't mention the barge)

Over emotional

Digesting my breakfast this morning in McDonalds, I read that Isaac Asimov's Foundation novels were on board the car and burst into tears.

Re: It's the Stig!

I have to say - the launch of the Top Gear Reliant Robin was itself very nearly awesome

Re: Academics

Sir, I do believe you need more beer

Re: Awesome!

I'm glad I wasn't the only one :-)

Cork data centre will offer super-speedy US to Europe data times

Wylfa

Is a nuclear power station, not a reprocessing plant. They've got a really nice walk through a forest to a viewing platform, though that's not as much fun as going inside. It was shut down in 2015 but luckily they're building a new one soon.

This is why we CAN have nice things: Samsung Galaxy Alpha

Movies on the beach?

Why would anyone want to watch a movie at the beach?????

Re: How many

iphone screens - almost all I see are broken

Galaxy screens - never seen a broken one

PlayStation outage: Sony asks 'have you tried turning it off and on again?'

My PS3 reported a DNS problem, a restart fixed it.

Fiat 500X: A fun-loving Goldilocks who'll get down and dirty

I have to say I think they've done a great job on the styling, and successfully used the same styling cues as the 500. It certainly looks more like its related to the 500 than the 500L! The world will be a better place because people that might have bought the dreadful Vauxhall/Opel Mokka will be able to buy one of these that actually looks decent.

Megaupload overlord Kim Dotcom: The US has radicalised me!

Some miserable gits out there

I don't care what he's done - he's one of the more entertaining people on the planet. All the people who used mega upload should metaphorically buy him a a pint & contribute to his defence :-)

The gender imbalance in IT is real, ongoing and ridiculous

Marketing wasn't in it

Back in the early days of the 8 bit micro no one in this line of business had heard of marketing - adverts for micros were completely amateur stuff mainly just describing the product (That usually wasn't finished yet). Techie stereotyping, not gender stereotyping! On my computing degree course there were about 35% females, some of whom were happy to flutter their eyelashes at the cleverer lads to get them to do their coding. Wherever I've worked females have had exactly the same pay. If you look at the Meyer Briggs personality types that suit coding you will find a lower percentage of them are female. My wife is one of those personality types, has a Masters degree in IT and wipes the floor with most of the males she works with.

Got a spare $600k? Then an ancient Apple-1 could be yours

Re: The machine that started the digital revolution?

The point is that it led to a production machine, the Apple II that did effectively start the home computer revolution. The similarly 6502 powered Atari XLs, Commodore Vic 20s and BBC B came along a whole lot later (Although the slightly expensive and clunky Commodore PET wasn't that far behind the apple II) The PC would not have existed without the impetus of the fast growing hobbyist market giving IBM the confidence to produce it.

[SInclair's products were a tiny side show in the UK]

Dead pilot named in tragic Virgin Galactic spaceship crash

Re: It could have been RB (and his staff (and maiden voyage crew))

Drivel

Ex-Soviet engines fingered after Antares ROCKET launch BLAST

Re: Re:The simple fact is

Pierre said "In a nutshell: wherever physics and mathematics are involved, blaming the Russians is a stupid move. They are usually well-trained in both."

Chernobyl

Weekend reads: Neil Young and Brian Cox ponder cars and universe (in that order)

Neil Young recorded a song about a Trans Am

'nuff said

Renault Twingo: Small, sporty(ish), safe ... and it's a BACK-ENDER

Re: Fiat 500?

Coventry pump engine? I think you're getting mixed up. Racing Fiat 500's (And 600's)with the (Rear) bonnet propped open had Abarth tuned Fiat engines stretched up to 695cc and beyond. The Coventry Climax ex WW2 fire pump engine powered lots of 50's racing cars and also found a home in the 60's Hillman Imp, a British rear engined production car. The Cooper car company used the front chassis components of 2 pre-war Fiat 500's to make their (500cc motor cycle) rear engined racing cars made famous by Stirling Moss et al

EE buys 58 Phones 4u stores for £2.5m after picking over carcass

I got my Galaxy Note 3 from Phones4U on a vodafone contract for £10 a month less than the vodafone shop wanted to charge me. We consistently got a much better in store service from Phones4U. I could never understand why anyone ever went in to the vodafone store that was 20 yards away.

Phones 4u slips into administration after EE cuts ties with Brit mobe retailer

Now where do we go for a cheap contract?

I've has my last 6 phones from Phones4U because they have consistently been massively cheaper than the Vodafone shop that's 20 yards from it.

I shall not be using a Vodafone store for my next phone - I'll use Tesco or Virgin instead

CRR-CRRRK, beep, beep: Mars space truck backs out of slippery sand trap

Down voted for unnecessary rudeness :-)

Think Google Glass is creepy? Wait until it READS YOUR MIND

What's creepy about google glass?

Why has the reg got something against google glass - its what we all need and will have in a future that can't come soon enough - it just adds to our human capabilities. Grumble Grumble

EBay, you keep using the word 'SECURITY'. I do not think it means what you think it means

Re: "eBay has reset everyone's passwords as a precaution"

Me too (.co.uk)

Reg man builds smart home rig, gains SUPREME CONTROL of DOMAIN – Pics

Magic?

Could have sanded the bleedin' wall round the socket first! :-)

Android engineer: We didn't copy Apple or follow Samsung's orders

Carphone Warehouse / Samsung Experience store

I have to say it does rather look like the cheapest, nastiest Apple Store knock off I've ever seen - and this is from someone who would gladly take an axe to an Apple Store

Commonwealth Bank in comedy Heartbleed blog FAIL

Re: Yeah, well, pedents everywhere

I'm just not going to tell him he's spelt pedants wrong in case he did so facetiously, no way , no sirree - y'all just move along there - nothing to see here...

Greenpeace reveals WORLD'S FILTHIEST CLOUDS – and the cleanest may shock you

Re: Greenpeace = terrorist organisation

And I'm going to tell the animal rights people about how hard they're working the poor donkey - FIGHT! Lentils at dawn...

Greenpeace = terrorist organisation

These people want to do more damage to our infrastructure than "regular terrorists" could ever hope to achieve. The members and supporters of this organisation should be detained in a walled off field of mud with a donkey - that seems to be the environment they are seeking.

Romanian 'ransomware victim' hangs self and 4-year-old son – report

Re: A logical problem with a physical answer

You are technically correct but think of the satisfaction :-)

A logical problem with a physical answer

ref ransomware writers/operators - a very 'ing large and dense bludgeon - to death, multiple times

Fukushima radioactivity a complete non-issue on West Coast: Also for Fukushima locals, in fact

Re: Oh fsck. Not Lewis Page again.

Downvoted for waffle :-)

Kim Dotcom extradition hearings delayed

I get this sneaky feeling that some New Zealanders take stuff too seriously. If I lived there I'd vote for the Mega party

VMware hyper-converge means we don't need no STEENKIN' OS...

Wur

Trials of 'Iron Man' military exoskeleton due in June

Visualisation of TALOS

Find this handy statue of a TALOS (In Cambridge) here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:TalosCambridge.jpg

TALOS was also a rather nifty US Navy anti aircraft missile with optional nuclear warhead back in the 50s/60s

Elderly Bletchley Park volunteer sacked for showing Colossus exhibit to visitors

Re: Poles do and Die

Plenty of Poles decorated for their service in RAF and the British film "The Battle Of Britain" contains a very favourable amount of coverage of Polish squadrons exploits.

Volunteers slam plans to turn Bletchley Park into 'geeky Disneyland'

Resign!

Standen should be replaced by someone with the remit to integrate the National Museum of Computing within Bletchley Park so that the Tunny and Colossus machines can be the star attractions alongside the Bombe rebuild. The Bombe rebuild is in a silly place at the moment - it belongs in a bleedin' hut!

Whoever replaces Standen should also wholeheartedly approve of the concept of "ramshackle". Lets face it those of us who appreciate the place don't want hoards of visitors getting in the way :-)

Stephen Fry rewrites computer history again: This time it's serious

A literary national treasure

Who really should keep his gob shut about technology and gadgets - unless its a word processing program about which he's probably quite knowledgeable

China's Jade Rabbit moon rover might have DIED in the NIGHT after 'abnormality'

Goodbye little friend

Sniff!

If you can call a machine 5' wide "little"

I've seen the future of car radio - and DAB isn't in it

Petrolheads

May be interested in what's under the bonnet but probably not know or care much about the iDrive system & all that stuff unless they're lucky enough to be able to afford a higher spec BMW

British Second World War codebreaker Alan Turing receives Royal pardon

Regarding the above (And possibly below) comments

Some people are never bleedin' happy!

Gran Turismo 6: Another glossy, gorgeous Mario Kart on steroids

A joy for the motoring aesthete

It may play just like previous editions but it is just better. I started with the first Gran Turismo on the first Playstation and have queued outside the shop on day 1 for the next edition ever since. I have Forza 4 too on xbox 360 which is quite satisfying as a racing simulation but the graphics seemed rather clunky compared with the previous Gran Turismo 5. also the car physics seemed more simplistic. Gran Turismo is just so much more nuanced - more of an actual simulator - even if the intelligence of the virtual drivers is still questionable. Gran Turismo 6 is just more... beautiful - buy it for the views alone!

PS also worth it for the Goodwood Festival of Speed hillclimb that you get invited to drive ever more exciting cars up as you progress in the game

PPS Was the Carrera RS Touring a boring spin off of the 911? - thought not

Apple CEO Cook breaks YEARS OF SILENCE, finally speaks to El Reg hack

Re: What about Tim Cook

Huh?

Is Google prepping an ARMY of WALKING ROBOTS?

There is nothing evil about the military

Though I can only speak for the RAF where you will find a thoroughly decent bunch of people who are only nasty to our enemies - and that's a good thing

Your kids' chances of becoming programmers? ZERO

Re: I'm kinda conflicted...

6502 assembly language is a thing of beauty. Ah, my old Commodore 64 that teamed the 6510 (6502 variant) with the Vic 2 's hardware sprites and the SID chip. Sys 64738 rules! &60

Microsoft pulls Win 8.1 RT code which upgraded Surface 'slabs into BRICKS

Never mind the software experience

For those badmouthing it - Feel the build quality - its a seriously well built piece of kit which gives it desirability as a gadget if not as a working tool

Hypersonic MEGA METEOR pulled from lake, then Russians drop it

I think that's a case of justifiable pedantry

Tap it and unwrap it

Maybe they thought it was an intergalactic chocolate orange?

Apple seeks engineer who knows way around China Mobile network

Meh

Meh