Posts by big_Jim

Google Maps adds all UK public transport timetables

Re: Cockfosters?

If we're playing Tudor Court Rules then it should be St Johns Wood

Behold, the MONSTER-CLAWED critter and its terrifying SPIDER BRAIN

It is a Spider then

Kill it now, before it breeds.

Oh....

Windows 8.1: Read this BEFORE updating - especially you, IT admins

Perhaps

MS don't want you to upgrade to 8.1. They seemed to think 8.0 was perfect.

Island-hopping Beardy Branson: I'm dodging rain, not taxes

Re: heh

No, he got started in the record biz by getting a massive handout from his dad.

21st Century Elite remake to support Oculus Rift virtual reality rig

Re: I was elite then

Generally I settle for Competent

30 years on: The day a computer glitch nearly caused World War III

Re: Don't fret

I think an apocalypse is underrated. There are plenty of fun things to do during a doomsday event.

How do you choose your vendors?

Small ones are more grateful

As an applications manager for an investment manager I deal with vendors and application support daily. I would add

"bulliable". It is important that the customer (me) is able to bully the vendor to do what I want, not what their marketing or sales people want or our competitors using the same product. Particularly around future functionality or fixes. When I say bully I mean persuade or work-with, but in reality it can just revert to bully. This leads to the next point.

"Size". I prefer small-medium size vendors with a maturing product line. Big enough to deliver the services promised with that small business service, but lacking the bureaucracy, slow time to market and impersonal service that large vendors specialise in. And small ones are more grateful.

Murdoch machinations mean Microsoft must rename SkyDrive

VistaDrive

It reminds me of the good things MS have done.

When to say those three little words: 'I am quitting'

Re: HR's hidden Agenda

Grrr. For crying out loud. I never claimed for a second I'd passed, I hadn't failed either. All I said stated my PhD was in writing up.

Re: HR's hidden Agenda

The official status of my doctorate at the time was "writing up" as confirmed in writing by my University. To put anything else, including "in progress", would have been deceitful and a misrepresentation of the facts. This was the exact point the HR person struggled to understand.

No one else in the earlier interviews gave a hoot what my PhD was.

Re: HR's hidden Agenda

I once failed to land a role at a "GermanBank" as, after 5 or 6 rounds of interviews, the final HR interviewing robot lady failed to understand that a PhD in "writing up" meant I hadn't failed, it just meant I was still going through the tedium of finishing it (just a half a chapter if I recall) while working. She reported back to the recruitment people that I lied on my CV about having a PhD. My CV claimed nothing of the sort. I thought very seriously about suing.

Author Iain (M) Banks falls to cancer at 59

She called me sick

A short tale. My wife and I used to have a tradition (her idea) of swapping books every now again. I'd end up reading some banal and generic chick-lit or bleeding Potter while I did my best to give her some enjoyable and easy SF. Which she hated. Then I gave her The Wasp Factory to read. She called me sick and we never swap books again. For that alone I thank you Iain.

One of the world's oldest experiments crawls towards a fall

Poor proof reading is probably why it took me 3 months of rewrites to pass....

Some of my experiments as part of my doctorate where less exiting than this. After weeks of careful research and preparation, literary nothing would happen after I lit the blue touch paper and stood back. Writing the damn thing up was a whole lot of fun.

I'm not in research anymore.

Mosaic turns 20: Let's fire up the old girl, show her the web today

The World Wide What

the hell is the internet is for? Happy Days.

Student falsely IDed by Reddit as Boston bomber found dead

I'll get my baseball bat

Crowdsourcing really isn't going to work with an emotive subject like terrorism or murders. It'll just turn into a vigilante mob. It's fine for ancient cartography projects and the wotnot.

Bitcoin briefly soars to record $147 high, driven by Cyprus bank flap

Re: Commodity/currency? Nah, it's a penny stock.

Bitcoins are neither fiat money (like Sterling) or commodity (asset backed) money (like Gold). They are really just a medium of exchange for these other types of money. Some beans if you like.

Throttled customers rage over Virgin Mobile UK's tight cap

Nothing Everywhere, surely?

About now

Every afternoon my Virgin Mobile 3G connection will disappear from my phone here in the lofty heights of Canary Wharf until 5pm-ish.

For this reason alone I'm voting with my wallet next time. Pick the least worst.

Now you can control ANY Win 8 kit with your EYEBALLS

Tiles?

I've stopped glaring at them already as I've found a hidden feature called "desktop"

Bendy screens are the future, screams maker of bendy screens

I predict

As a result of this, I predict the paperless office in about 10 years.

Outlook 2013 spurns your old Word and Excel documents

Since when was .exe an Excel extension?

London Underground platform Wi-Fi set to cost £2 daily for many

Pointless

I'm signed into this (for free) on my daily commute from the Dwart to the Loo. For the 30 seconds my tube stops at each station my phone barely has time to find the signal, connect, upload/download email/twitter/fb/ junk/whatever before we're off and down the black hole again. Frankly it is unbelievably pointless for free. For £2/day it will be a joke.

Sinclair BASIC comes to Raspberry Pi

This is excellent news. I can add Sinclair BASIC back onto my CV.

What a clockup! Apple's Swiss clock knock-off clocks up $21m fine

So the real story is

That Apple steal first then pay up when caught.

The halo is down around the ankles by now.

'Perfect' INVISIBLE SHED stuns boffinry world

The missus and I

The missus and I perfected the technique of being invisible to each other years ago. We can go days without seeing each other.

UK iPad Mini FRENZY: Queues stretch SEVERAL FEET from till

Overpriced

This article is too expensive for me to read. I'm reading the Nexus article instead.

Populous

The only good thing about Black and White was it gave an entirely new meaning the phrase "spanking my monkey"

Winklevoss twins stuff $1m into social network for the FILTHY RICH

Congratulations, SumZero has joined the 99% of social networking sites, dating sites, forums and other timewasting ventures that I also personally veto my own membership of.

Paris - she is exclusive to no one.

Haynes Build Your Own Computer book review

Re: Most important instruction?

I never learn

Most important instruction?

Do not tell anyone what you are doing.

I built my first PC a poor student from a very similar book back in the mid-90's and made the rookie error of telling people. To this day I still get calls and emails from family and friends asking for help on their various broken bits of misery.

I'm a VP for a large investment manager in the City managing multiple IT projects and teams.

Steve Jobs biopic

Me

Yes but who will play me and the other 1 billion consumers of Glorious Apple Products/Tethered Pieces of Crap (delete as appropriate).

Action.

Final insult for Full Tilt as Channel Islands kill its licence

Liability

So are the morons at the AGCC, who failed to regulate these conmen, going be liable for the money to the ripped off punters?

What do you mean No?

Amazon revamps E Ink Kindle line

on Fire

If Amazon hit the price point of £130-£150 for the UK market they will create a whole new mass market for cheap tablets. 3G access is not necessary at that price. Home connection via wireless/USB to Amazon will be enough for the masses to buy through their shop front and load up media for consumption later. I predict a win.

If Amazon go over £200, it'll become an epic fail.

People aren't that dim, btw, they will know it ISN'T an ebook reader.

Apple confirms iPhone event on 4 October

More to the point

Are Samsung invited?

Facebook's complexity will be its doom

Ignore, Retry or Abort.

I easily manage my facebook content by never reading it.

Drinking alcohol wards off asthma

Homer

Alcohol, the cause and solution to all of life's problems.

Comet can't sell anything, including itself

@David Evans

I see your point. I've never heard of "Click & Collect" but I do buy tons of stuff via Screwfix and (electronics) via Amazon.

The margins must be there somewhere if the costs are low enough.

Does "Click & Collect" actually work at Comet? I tried it once at Homebase and it was an Epic fail.

Why not have warehouse model?

We all agree the Comets/Curr'ys of this world are being destroyed by the forces of the Internet (by which I mean Amazon) and John Lewis (if you are of That Age and Class *cough*my mother*cough). What I don't understand is why, given their footprint in retail parks and warehouse distribution they don't abandon the broken shop model and go over to a Screwfix/Argos type model in Industrial Parks?

You'll be able to

Order Online and same day collect at a warehouse (including an inspection)

Order Online and next day receive a delivery

Order Online and arrange a return (pick up)

Go to the warehouse and immediate collect stuff (if in stock) or arrange for delivery

Go to the warehouse and return stuff, moan or otherwise waste time

Go to the warehouse and look at a small range of stuff on special offer while you wait

Dyson spouts hot air

For £270

This both blows and sucks.

Science, engineering PhDs to drop by a third

What's up Doc?

Not a lot.

Quit my EPSRC funded PhD in chemistry in 2000 (end of 2nd year at a red brick uni) for a job in IT in the Investment Management industry for maybe 20-30x career earnings (compared a research career).

This country really doesn't like scientists very much. This cut will not be much help.

A beer for lost my 3rd year and "Dr" title.

Apple preps MacBook Pro refresh

It burns

My 2.2 runs hotter than hell when the gfx card kicks in. Not nice to keep on my knees.

A beer for coolant.

French bloke fined for failing to shag missus

Rule1

From another place.

This story is worthless without pictures.

Toshiba in Rugby World Cup personal data compo cockup

Must Try Harder

coat, I'll get it.

Nokia offers $10,000 for new ring tone

Doom?

A tune for the Nokia shareholders meeting?

Nobody has any idea about new pension thing happening

Political Pension

Alternatively get old with your peer group and around aged 65 vote in your millions for a Government that will pay out for you and stiff's your children.

Worked for my parents.

London bus timings mobile beta site spotted

Maggie

Any man on bus over the age is 20 is a failure in life.

Includes me then as I get the 76 each day to avoid the tube.

Budget airlines warned over 'hidden' debit card charges

Ryanair firefox only...?

Slightly off topic. My father-in-law had trouble last weekend with "a duplicate booking" and called a Ryanair telephone automaton/customer service agent. I listened in the background and prompted him to ask questions, eventually the agent eventually stated that their "website only supported Firefox and may not work properly on IE". Most amusing.