Posts by Cameron Colley

Apple sued over Mac OS X 'quick boot'

I have no liking or respect for Apple at all.

But I hope they bankrupt these patent-trolling scum and counter-sue so they're penniless for life.

GE brings holographic storage back from the dead

Will noone rid us of these fragile media?

Spinning optical disks fail unless stored and used in hermetically sealed vaults, and even then they may have nktnhave burned correcty. Is anyone developing a way to store data cheply but securely in a format that doesn't fail if it's dropped on a slightly rough carpet?

BBC testing fix for iPlayer on iPad ... 6 months later

Then apple need to make the apps.

I don't know about anyone else, but i'm not about to spend four hundred quid on this thing when the netbook I got for almost half the price does more.

Yes, Flash is annoying and bloated but it allows iPlayer and the like to function on more devices than any other technology I can think of. Until someone invents an encrypted video stream format we're stuck with Flash, Silver(shudder)light and whatever people pay Apple to code.

Jobs seems to thk that it's the Beebs job to provide apps and content to his device and pay him for the priviledge -- his customers shoud consider this before paying for somethingt that "just works" if developers pay Apple to advertise Apple hardware.

But most other platforms are standardised also.

They run Flash and that handles any device and/or OS peculiarities.

Granted, I'd love them to drop Flash in favor of native applications, but that's not likely to happen ever due to DRM being a requirement. If Steve Jobs wasn't such an egomaniac and just let Flash on his platform (even if it had a disclaimer "NOT RECCOMENDED BY APPLE, NOT SUPPORTED") there would currently only be the one platform for The Beeb to support.

Same goes for the other video on demand services in the UK -- ITV player app seems to think that a resident of the UK doesn't have access to ITV1 so won't let me play it, for example. If I use my £220 netbook, with Flash, everything works fine and dandy but the £400 iPad I've been resting is a hassle.

If you bought an iDevice expecting people like the Beeb to support you with apps I've no sympathy whatsoever -- Steve stated from day 1 the platform was locked and limited.

RIM to turn in BlackBerry-using looters after London riots

Can you get BBM for the iPhone?

I thought that everyone and their dog was using an iPhone nowadays?

Google points finger at human after robo car accident

RE: Ignorant Journalism

Wow, I didn't realise Google had a department devoted to defending itself in comments sections.

Well-crafted post there, give my regards to your bosses at Mountain View.

E-petitions site: Death wish FAIL

@James 100

As I said, the trade embargoes bit was maybe too far -- but ignoring a major EU ruling would make it pretty damned difficult to be part of any others, so being squeezed out of the EU still seems feasible to me. I'm not going to get onto whether that's good or bad -- my point was more that MPs can't debate the death penalty because it is banned, to unban it we'd have to make changes first so the petitions are irrelevant and pointless as things stand.

Also, if we didn't leave the EU then surely anyone implementing the death penalty would be hauled before the courts and jailed anyhow?

Why are they asking for hte death penalty on a UK governemt site?

The first port of call would have to be the European Court of Human Rights -- until you've got them to change their ruling so that member states can make their own decisions about capital punishment it's pretty pointless re-instating it here, unless these people want the EU to kick the UK out and ban all trading with us?

OK, so the last bit might not happen -- but I wouldn't be surprised.

Murdoch accused of operating illegal US air force

When's a UAV not a remote control aircraft?

Do these rules apply to all the people building helicopters in their sheds also, or is there something fundamentally different about this? Is it much bigger?

I seem to recall seeing "drones" for sale on many websites and even in gadget shops.

Zuck's sister leaves Facebook to start new venture

It's telling that only the vacuous and dull don't like anonymity.

It seems imagination and a degree of thoughtfulness are needed to appreciate why anonymity on the web can be a very good thing.

Not sure that her position on anonymity matters much in the marketing of Facebook though -- after all her brother has stated that his unpaid content creators are dumb fucks and bitches and half the world still seem to want to work for him.

State-sponsored 5-year global cyberattack uncovered

@Titus

That makes them sound like they work for the UK (or US or Australian or ...) government:

"They also habitually attempt to censor and vandalize web sites of which they don't approve." Check.

"...they have dumped classified information into the public domain presenting a risk to individual people." Check.

Which country?

How about finding out which planet first. It's the Lizard people I tells ya!

Dragon Bannatyne threatens to break arms of 'Russian' bloke

RE: I forgot that laws don't apply to fathers.

Couldn't give a fuck which laws apply or don't in this situation. Preventing someone from hurting someone you love by any means at your disposal is never wrong, regardless of legality.

By the way, I'm not advocating vigilante-style justice should be the norm, or that it was the best way to deal with the situation -- just that had he actually gone through with it I would not blame him in the slightest. If you threaten violence you should expect it in return.

Microsoft man saves drowning woman

If they're noise cancelling how come you don't miss what's going on?

If you can still hear people shouting, tube announcements and the like then they're not doing a good job of noise cancelling are they?

Bullfrog Syndicate

Doesn't matter whether you can buy it, or if anyone has the source code.

Without the express permission of the copyright holder it is not legal to distribute it.

Personally, I have no problem with people making it available -- but it doesn't matter what we think, the law is the law.

Nokia unveils budget Symbian smartie

"ensuring that no consumer can place the new device in relation to the rest"?

I'm not sure why you think that's a problem -- why do you need to know where to "place" a device? Surely you walk into a shop, check out the specifications and how the device looks, then buy the device you like the look of that has the right stuff written next to it? Does it matter that the phone you bought is supposed to be consumer, multimedia or business or supposed to be top, middle or bottom of the range? How does that change its suitability for _you_ as an individual?

As an example, lots of teenagers seem to like Blackberrys, which are a "business device", and many people use their iPhone for corporate email and doing things like remoting servers, yet the iPhone is a "consumer device".

the product number is nothing more or less than an identifier to use when comparing phones or asking for support -- it doesn't need to tell you what the manufacturer thought the device would be used for.

RFID drives the self-service pub

Just what we need in a recession.

Less jobs. Call me a commie but all this automated self-serve stuff is just pushing more people onto the dole, doesn't save the consumer any money (ever notice how Tesco self-serve doesn't get you a discount) and ultimately means more taxes to pay to more unemployed. So, unless you've shares in a company moving to self-service you will loose out.

Also pubs work well with real people as staff, since they can judge the age, sobriety and demeanor of the customer far better than an automatic pump. Plus, I'd much rather gaze at a pretty bar maid whilst waiting to be served than a bunch of people at a "beer wall".

Tablets will overtake consumer PCs, says Fujitsu CTO

Good luck using an iPad without a Windows or OSX machine.

The pretty screen asking you to initialize it gets dull in the end.

That kind of thing aside -- how good are Android tabs at interfacing with cameras and the like? How are people going to quickly update their Flicaramio photostreams otherwise?

Not that I think he's completely wrong, but I think things will have to change quite a lot before most households can do without desktop PC and/or laptops entirely.

UK Cops 'duped' into arresting wrong LulzSec suspect

RE: Non-story

I think you meant "If they don't [have enough evidence to prosecute], they'll magically "find" some "child porn" and ruin his life anyway.".

I tend to agree that the various attempts at casting doubt on his identity won't make much difference though.

Ten... in-ear headphones

Why review the cheapr Ultimate Ears?

Why were the cheaper Ultimate Ears reviewed when the Shure top of the (consumer at least) range were reviewed?

Personally I find the UE SuperFi 10s sound as good as the SE535's for less money, and they have replaceable cables -- the Shure had [have?] weak and non-replaceable cables.

@Duncan Watts: Most, if not all, of these type of earphones don't leak and will block external noise. I know for certain that Shure, Etymotic and Ultimate Ears provide leak-free listening.

The SE 535s can use foam inserts instead.

I'm guessing so can the Ultimate Ears and probably some others. Basically you squeeze some foam and allow it to expand in your ear canal -- no suction feeling but very good sound isolation.

Dell Streak 7 Android tablet

@GregWoods

The WiFi only iPad (the one that costs around £400) doesn't have GPS either -- only the "WiFi + 3G" model does.

Other than that I tend to agree.

Chinese lecturer demands his students acquire iPads

Very clever Bullseyed.

What do bankers/traders* really wear then?

(*Because, by definition, whoever fucked up the economy was a "banker" or "trader" [or whatever money-movers call themselves] -- even if it wasn't the bunch who were pointed at.)

@Solomon Grundy

I may be wrong, but I think the useless pricks who fucked our economy wore nice, smart, suits. If you trust someone because of the way they're dressed you're a moron.

Heathrow to get new facial recognition scanners

One problem EUbrainwashing.

We can't say "no" because we're never asked. You can't even vote for a non-big three party in this country without effectively flushing it down the toilet.

Thanks davenewman.

That makes sense -- though, as you say, it's still a little unlikely sounding. I hadn't realised from the article that it's the Domestic ticket that's the "hot" one.

I don't understand the problem they're trying to solve.

Are they saying that it's now fine to get on a domestic flight if you have no photo ID or are on a terrorist watch list? If not, then I fail to understand the problem they're trying to solve.

If someone booked onto a domestic flight were to end up on an international one than the worst that would happen is they'd be stopped at passport control at the other end -- since the UK isn't in Schengen or any other similar arrangements. OK, so it _might_ cost airlines a few quid per year ferrying back people who are organised enough to arrange for someone who looks like them, or has a similar name, to meet them in the lounge and trade tickets -- but surely anyone that organised would also realise that there was no way to get into their target country?

If I'm missing something, please enlighten me as I am genuinely puzzled and not being sarcastic.

On first day, Apple sells 50 Lions for every lion

Who are these people who rate before they use things?

Unless they tried every piece of hardware (cameras, USB drives, old i[Phones]/[pads]/[pods],...) and every bit of software (including, in some cases perhaps, Adobe Flash and Java) how could they possibly rate it five out of five?

Heck, did they actually reboot a couple of times to make sure it could reboot from cold even?

I'll admit that my thoughts may be clouded by memories of Ubuntu refusing to do things the previous version did -- but surely every OS update has to be used in anger for a week or so before passing judgement?

(Not a comment on Apple or their software, just on their fans.)

'There's too much climate change denial on the BBC'

Don't know why I'm bothering, but...

Top Gear is an entertainment programme fronted by men who are deliberately "controversial", it hardly provides and alternative to every other programme mentioning Ciarcon every time there's the slighttest suggestion it may, possibly, at a pinch, be relevant. If anything Top Gear gives "deniars" a bad name.

But what about all the non science programmes and those not supposed to be about Carbon warming?

They may give voice to a couple of "deniers" but it's hard to notice when every single program which mentions anything vaguely weather or environment related bleats on about "because of global warming" or "because of all the carbon". Any time an animal is mentioned that may be near extinction it's because of "<actual reason> and Climate Change". When they're talking about architecture you'll hear talk of Carbon Footprint all the time. Let's face it, some of us may be skeptical about the causes and extent of global warming -- but from the BBCs programmes you'd never guess.

@Jess:

I've been saying for a long time that we need to prepare for warming whilst being as environmentally and energy aware as possible. I'm convinced that the way things are being dealt with we're screwed if the warming is caused by Carbon -- because we will not stop releasing it as a species and nobody gives a thought to coping with the consequences.

Major overhaul makes OS X Lion king of security

So Canonical are responsible for ASLR now?

I was under the impression that, rather than Ubuntu adding ASRL, Canonical just took advantage of something in the Kernel already* -- or did they code it up and use it before Debian, Red Hat, Mandriva, SuSe and the rest?

I think what you meant to say was Linux added much more robust implementations of ASLR years earlier.

*not that there's anything wrong with this.

MPs probe science behind bogus gov booze guidelines

Doesn't the UK have a lot of Heart Fauilure though?

I thought I had read that the UK has a lot of "Heart Failure" because it was the last resort when no certain cause could be found.

Lancs plods exposed complainant on website

RE: NEVER trust the police

Hey, come off it, they don't always arrest people for "possession of curly black hair and thick lips".

Sometimes they shoot them in the head repeatedly, then say "Ooops".

Google erects Colombian 'g.co' URL shortener for Google+

Not sloppy or dumbing down.

If you have 140 characters for a post on Twatter, and you use 100 or more of those to post a URL you won't get to say much. Also, if you're posting it on your blog it's going to word-wrap like a bugger on phones and the like, or even get broken up on some devices.

As someone above pointed out, if you're just trying to get to a site or remember its URL then "theregister.co.uk" is a lot easier than g.co/ubv8457sh.

I don't understand this.

Why can't Twitter and the like adopt something like the [link][/link] tab used in BBCode and only include the words within the tag in the character count? That would also have the advantage that anyone hovering over the link would be able to see where it was pointing.

Bill seeks to decriminalise pianos in pubs and schools

Illegal to leave instruments lying around?

What the fuck kind of tinpot dictatorship is this anyhow?

Nokia reportedly readies mass price cuts

Old fogey stick in the mud?

No, not really, just someone who doesn't want to have to charge my phone every day at work if I'm browsing heavily, for example.

As for newer devices and interfaces -- the one example I've tried (iPad) can't reflow text in the browser, making my old-fashioned E71 easier to browse on. If that's anything to go by I don't know why people bother.

You may also find there are many people still using the very capable Blackberry device -- which hasn't changed much since it first came out.

Progress for the sake of progress is pointless.

Why would you care about a "dead" OS?

With a Symbian phone you can access www and other content and send and receive SMS and email messages -- chances are you'll get it with a longer battery life than Android and iOS devices also. So, why would you need any more?

If you bought a smartphone on contract you'll likely upgrade on the next renewal anyhow.

Files Connect

@Second AC

But the iPad isn't a smart phone and it doesn't include any file handling functionality. I've been playing with one recently and, while it's a bit of fun, for a £400 device it's shit -- you can't do simple tasks with it without shelling out for apps and there isn't an app for everything.

These Tablets are touted as replacing desktop and laptop PCs -- but they just don't. Lack of file handling and the fact you need a PC as well to do anything vaguely clever makes them just expensive, shiny toys.

Official: Pastafarian strainer titfer is religious headgear

Atheism is only a faith of you start from a position of faith.

As this is a topic which is important to me I'll make a serious attempt at explaining my position.

In order to define fairh you need a starting point. Someone can have a faith that there is no spoon because they think, therefore they are, and can then feel a spoon and see a spoon -- they then choose not to beleive the evidence, so have faith there is no spoon.

There is absolutely no proof of the existence of a god, so there is nothing to have faith in the absence of.

If you start from a position of faith, with no proof to begin with, then faith is an invalid concept which, roughly, means "Not believing in anything I can make up on the spot.".

@Michelle Knight

Did you read the post you replied to?

If so, did you notice that if you include Atheism as a faith becasue it is a belief in an absense you are also stating that everyone in the human race subscribes to an infinite number of faiths? Also, not believing in something is only a belief that it doesn't exist if you mess around with double negatives -- you may as well say that there is no such thing as Chrstianity, just lapsed ahteism, because everyone who is a Christian is really just not an atheist (resolved from them being not-not-christian, since an atheist is not-christian). Heck, I just realised that those silly Muslims are just not-not-christian after all -- that means all Muslims are really Christian. Or is it that those silly Christians are really Muslim, by similar logic? Shit, are we all either Scientologists or not? NOW I'm scared...

Amazon's anti-iPad arises 'in October'

Cutting off your nose to not pay the troll more like.

I don't know about anyone else, but I do my damnedest not to pay money to the Two Great Patent Trolls of the West. I don't want to pay someone to add $5 to the price of every consumer electronic device on the planet or pay someone to try to force closed-source codecs and the like on consumers. I also don't want to pay a company which keeps fucking up my work flow every few years with new versions of software, just so that thye can charge more for re-training (Microsoft).

I'll admit to some hypocrisy in that I buy from Amazon. But hatred of Apple and Microsoft is not irrational at all.

Videotree VideoSpa bathroom TV

For home use a Toughbook's probably easier...

Won't get you any admiration frmo visitors, and won't be quite as simple to use -- but will cost about the same (when you factor in an electrician to fit one) and can be moved around to the best position, including a shelf over the bath. You could play games, browse the web, send email and a whole lot more in the bath too.

Or, maybe, I really need to get out more.

Heat sink breakthrough threatens ventblockers

Parking heads...

HDD heads nowadays auto-park because they're on a spring an voice-coil arangement which -- the power is cut to the positioning voice coil and spring returns the head to the centre.

Wasn't always like this though -- old HDDs were on stepper motors so the head had to be manually "Parked" if hte PC was to be moved, to stop it dragging across the platters. I miss the thunk of my old AT's head parking...

'Meltdown Monday' Anonymous hackers leak military mails

Not sure who that's aimed at...

But I'd like to state that I'd judge the US "Justice system" lower than the Anonymous reprobates.

I just fear for the latter when the former can spend as much of their population's money as they like going after, and torturing to death, anyone they think is linked to the latter.

"Family in Pakistan" is easily converted to "Family who posted on chan". A good knowledge of "hacking" could be the new Casio timepiece.

Not sure if they're brave or foolhardy.

But going after military information is surely signing your own death warrant if caught? If you're in the US you can expect Bradley Manning style treatment and either life in a hole or death afterwards. If you're not in the US and are caught well... does anyhone know aht, other than waterboarding and sleep deprivbation, goes on in non-US-Military installations in friendly countries?

OK, so with any luck they'll not be caught -- but declaring yourself a terrorist, with the very real threat of torture and death that presents, is either very brave or very foolhardy, no matter how clever you are at hiding.

'Being cyber-stalked is as bad as being raped, or in a war'

The National Centre for Cyberstalking Research are complete idiots.

If they had equated it to real-life stalking or harassment, then they may well have a point* but mentioning rape and combat in the same sentence as cyber stalking and equating them just shows them up to be idiots. I don't claim to know whether is is as bad, though I suspect not, but what I do know is that even in the extremely unlikely even that being cyber stalked is as bad as either** it's still bad PR to mention it.

*Thinking about what is possible to find and do online cyber stalking is not something you can get away from by "just not using the internet" -- if someone is setting up facebook pages and dating profiles in your name you could still loose out on a job or relationship because of them.

**I seriously doubt it, just trying to make a different point.

Google: Go public on Profiles or we'll delete you

RE: USA-centric ideas about identity verification

Thank you. I had forgotten that I can choose to be called whatever I want to be. Seems the Facebook (and other) Ts&Cs really don't legally apply, in the way they think they do, outside of the US.

As someone who almost never uses their real name on the internet I am glad to be reminded that I am guilty of absolutely nothing by doing so.

Doom guy: tablets, phones to be gaming platforms of the future

I tend to I agree with him.

I know hardcore gamers won't move to mobile gaming but, then, some won't touch consoles because they prefer the tweakability of the PC and the possibilities it has for more complex gaming.

However, hardcore gamers are no the only gamers and are probably a small percentage of the total market -- look at the WII, it's hardly a hardcore gamer machine bit it's hardly underselling.

So, in conclusion:

Will "Gaming" as a hardcore pursuit move from PC (and console) to phones? No.

Will the majority of games be played on mobile devices? I think so.

Coder cracks iPad 2 jailbreak block

There is an alternative.

Don't pay a company to stop you using your phone.

Until Apple allow "jailbreaking" as a reduced-cost alternative, since you're not paying fro a guarantee, the only people "jailbreaking" are spoiled little rich kids with time to waste.

If you have the intelligence to jailbreak an iProduct you have the intelligence to know that is just sells more iProducts and pays for a patent troll.