* Posts by Zaphod.Beeblebrox

282 publicly visible posts • joined 9 Sep 2011

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Android seven-inchers swipe rug from under Apple

Zaphod.Beeblebrox
Terminator

Re: More fake numbers by Google....

Not sure where you are getting *your* numbers from but fwiw in my smallish corner of the planet there are far more Android tablets than iPads. Demographics slant heavily toward the younger, technically literate crowd, and it is that group I see with Android tablets - mostly 7" - than iPads, and at about a 4 to 1 ratio. The only demographic that has gone more for iPads is the middle to upper management side - 40+ years old, still technical but no longer truely innovative.

Terminator because it's the closest to an Android icon we've got.

Apple granted patent for microphone silhouette

Zaphod.Beeblebrox
Trollface

Re: I'm going to patent the bleeding obvious and patent...

I've begun the process of patenting trolling and the trollface. C&D letter is in the post.

OS/2 a quarter century on: Why IBM lost out and how Microsoft won

Zaphod.Beeblebrox
Windows

Re: companies

Over the long term? Most groups I've seen don't take long at all to be reduced to about half the IQ of the dumbest member.

Windows User because, well, you know...

Antarctic discovery: ALIEN LIFE may be FOUND ON MOON of Jupiter

Zaphod.Beeblebrox
Boffin

Alternate basis for life

I've always been fascinated by the possibility that there are alternatives to CHON-based life (and not machine / AI live but "naturally occurring") - unfortunately I don't have enough knowledge of chemistry and biology to really know what I'm talking about. Maybe someday we'll know, but until then...

Elon Musk envisions small town of vegetarians on Mars

Zaphod.Beeblebrox

@Dave 126

I don't know about NoneSuch's post, but mine is a reference to a scene in the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy (ergo, the HHG2G reference).

Zaphod.Beeblebrox
Coat

Better yet

Send all the politicians, lawyers and civil servants!

Mine's the one with HHG2G in the pocket, thanks!

Unexpected curiosity cripples Molyneux app

Zaphod.Beeblebrox
Paris Hilton

Curious no longer

I downloade dit to see what it was all about and tried over the weekend at various times to log in, and like you was unable to do so. Deleted app, no longer curious.

Paris 'cause I hear she's curious...

Office for Android, Apple iOS: 'REALLY REAL this time' - report

Zaphod.Beeblebrox
Meh

Re: @M Gale

Welcome to The Register comments section, Dr. Mouse. I got 3 downvotes for the completely reasonable suggestion to use a local account instead of a Microsoft account, so 3 for asking a good question seems only fair.

Zaphod.Beeblebrox
Boffin

@M Gale

"Have you tried setting Windows 8 up?"

As a matter of fact I have, several times.

"No such option available. Or if it is, it's hidden. I'm just glad it's in a VM and I wasn't stupid enough to replace the host OS with it."

I found the option easily enough - it wasn't ouitlined in blinking lights or anything, but it was plain enough to me. But then, I do this for a living so maybe I pay attention to details more than the next guy...

Zaphod.Beeblebrox
Facepalm

"Windows "we need to know your name, postcode, phone number and two valid email addresses to give you access to your own computer you bitches" 8."

Have you considered <gasp> a local account? No need to get all worked up...

'iPhone 5 is so easily scratched we just can't get them out the door'

Zaphod.Beeblebrox
Trollface

Re: Just call it a design feature

Nay, just market them as "pre-scratched" phones - if you do it right and make it somehow fashionable they should sell as well as "pre-washed/stone washed/acid washed" jeans did some years back. The fanbois will probably fall for it...

Adobe spurts spackle* into Flash's gaping holes

Zaphod.Beeblebrox
Black Helicopters

Re: "Grout" might be more applicable still

It would, if it actually did more than a superficial job of it - this is Adobe we are talking about, remember.

Sandy takes out NYC colo facility

Zaphod.Beeblebrox
Meh

Re: 9 hours of unplanned downtime in 12 years is pretty good

That's only 4 9s uptime, so it depends on your SLA if that's pretty good or not...

EC: Microsoft didn't honour browser-choice commitment

Zaphod.Beeblebrox
Facepalm

Seriously?

"This meant that millions of people missed the chance to ditch IE for a better different browser."

No, this meant that millions of people had to actually use their brains and decide they wanted a different browser rather than have their hands held. The sheer volume of protests by affected punters and the spike in IE usage rates in the EU should have told them something was wrong. What, you mean that didn't happen?

Oldest unreadable alphabet yields to 'tablet' computer

Zaphod.Beeblebrox
Headmaster

Re: More to the point ...

Ahem. I think you meant "to wit".

YW

'Hypersensitive' Wi-Fi hater loses case against fiendish DEVICES

Zaphod.Beeblebrox
Black Helicopters

This Dr. Royal Ramond Rife?

Rife's claims could not be independently replicated, and were ultimately discredited by the medical profession in the 1950s. Rife blamed the scientific rejection of his claims on a conspiracy involving the American Medical Association (AMA), the Department of Public Health, and other elements of "organized medicine", which had "brainwashed" potential supporters of his devices.

Right then, sorted.

Zaphod.Beeblebrox
Facepalm

Re: Inquiring minds...

Or 'other' radio frequencies, as the case may be...

<--- Wishes he could actually type.

Zaphod.Beeblebrox
Boffin

Inquiring minds...

Has anyone actually done a double blind study to see if sensitivity ti Wi-Fi (or any otehr radio frequency) is even real?

Sites can slurp browser history right out of Firefox 16

Zaphod.Beeblebrox
Meh

Re: NUMBER of people!

Not sure if charlie-charlie-tango-alpha missed the troll icon

or is trolling me back...

Zaphod.Beeblebrox
Trollface

Re: NUMBER of people!

Relax, it just means less people are using it no matter how you say it...

ISS crew fling out arm, grab SpaceX Dragon capsule

Zaphod.Beeblebrox
Thumb Up

One step closer

Finally! Now we need another enterprise (no pun intended) to step up and begin competing with SpaceX. We so need for space flight to be not only commercially viable but also affordable for space tourism. Get going building out infrastructure and truly make that first step off of this rock we are inhabiting.

Lancashire man JAILED over April Jones Facebook posts

Zaphod.Beeblebrox
Big Brother

Free Speech? I've heard of it...

In case you missed it, this is in the UK, not the USA so free speach laws vary considerably. For instance, in the UK under section 127 of the Communications Act 2003 "sending by means of a public electronic communications network a message or other matter that is grossly offensive" is illegal, which is what this sorry excuse for a human was convicted of doing.

Crazed Microsoft robot accuses BBC kids' channel of Win8 piracy

Zaphod.Beeblebrox
FAIL

Ready... Fire... Aim!

That is all.

Steve Jobs is STILL DEAD

Zaphod.Beeblebrox
Trollface

Re: He's dead, but is he iDead?

It's been more than three days so I think we are safe...

Hackers leak 120,000 student records in raid on world's top unis

Zaphod.Beeblebrox
Facepalm

So lemme get this straight...

To protest the fees that students have to pay, Anonymous hacks the universities' servers and posts the students' info. So now not only is the students' info made public, they will have to pay higher fees to cover the cleanup of this mess.

Have I got that right? What am I missing that makes this a positive thing that will help change the world etc.?

Firefox's birthday present to us: Teaching tech titans about DIY upstarts

Zaphod.Beeblebrox
Thumb Up

Re: I don't think that word means what you think it does...

Exactly - Mrs. Smith née Jones means Mrs. Smith was born Miss Jones.

Zaphod.Beeblebrox
Headmaster

I don't think that word means what you think it does...

"but for the seemingly futile Mozilla browser, née Firefox. Born in the ashes of Netscape's failed browser business 10 years ago this month as Phoenix,"

Surely then "the seemingly futile Mozilla browser, née Phoenix...", no?

Icelandic town demands vulva museum

Zaphod.Beeblebrox
Paris Hilton

Re: All you filthy minded people...

Humans are "indigenous Icelandic animals", innit?

Paris, because, well you know why...

What happened to Odds & Sods?

Zaphod.Beeblebrox
Alert

What happened to Odds & Sods?

One minute it was there in the list of categories under the masthead, and the next it was gone... I don't guess it would bother me much except that's where I go look for the latest BOFH if I've missed it on Fridays.

Motorola, Samsung smash Apple's touchscreen patent claim

Zaphod.Beeblebrox
Mushroom

Re: Now if they made it two lawyers...

I like it

"ALL LAWYERS ENTER.

NO LAWYERS LEAVE!"

Nuke becase it is the only way to be sure...

Apple time is now world time

Zaphod.Beeblebrox
Facepalm

Re: Why does anyone care? Serious question.

Zero is not many, innit?

Naturally, my point was "not many at the point in their contract where they can re-up and get a subsidized phone" which may or may not have a close resemblance to an actual 2 calendar years.

Zaphod.Beeblebrox
Meh

Re: Why does anyone care? Serious question.

Among the iPhone users I know, those with a 4s are mostly inclined to skip the 5 for now, but those with a 4 are mostly inclined to upgrade. Of course, that likely has much to do with their contracts, not many 4s users at the two year mark just yet.

Humanity facing GLOBAL BACON SHORTAGE

Zaphod.Beeblebrox
Trollface

Re: Engage smug mode...

veg·e·tar·i·an [vej-i-tair-ee-uhn]

noun

A bad hunter. Someone who survives by consuming not food, but the stuff that food eats.

"The vegetarian was forced to subsist on slower prey, such as the broccoli and carrot."

Microsoft preparing for diskless Windows 8 PCs

Zaphod.Beeblebrox
Boffin

Re: You can partition USB sticks

There is that - if you have a utility that can flip the removable disk bit then Windows doesn't know any different and will happily support multiple partitions. I didn't know those were available for USB sticks but I've used them on CF drives in embedded systems for the same reason.

Zaphod.Beeblebrox
Boffin

Re: You can partition USB sticks

You sure about that? I haven't tried it under Windows 7 or 8, but under XP at least it would only see the first partition as I recall.

Facebook wunderkind admits share price Zuck-up on stage

Zaphod.Beeblebrox
Trollface

Re: Mis-read first para

"Content-free"? How can you say that? They haz kittehs!

Google sneaks in back door, slips YouTube onto iPhone 5

Zaphod.Beeblebrox
Angel

Re: "more of the same"

"Yep, another mediocre phone"

There, fixed that for you.

So, just what is the ultimate bacon sarnie?

Zaphod.Beeblebrox
Flame

White bread? Nuked bacon? Ketchup? Blasphemy! Burn the heretic I say! Burn him!

'iPhone 5' released by Chinese Apple copycat

Zaphod.Beeblebrox
Black Helicopters

Re: Version?

Exactly what I was thinking, but since they've "cloned" the look and feel of the phone, perhaps they've "cloned" the look and feel of the OS underneath as well...

Hacker-smasher: White hats join forces to build bot-beating weapon

Zaphod.Beeblebrox
Trollface

So what you are saying is the white hats need to

Stop, collaborate and listen.

Microsoft: MED-V won't help you escape WinXP end-of-life

Zaphod.Beeblebrox
Coffee/keyboard

Re: No security patches? So what?

"In a corporate environment, LAN security is probably pretty tight to begin with, desktops will be firewalled and stripped of unnecessary services, and all end-users will be running with limited privileges (as Dave Cutler intended). "

I'll expect my replacement keyboard shortly, thanks for the laugh though!

Zaphod.Beeblebrox
Thumb Down

Re: When I'm in charge

If by "maintained" you mean newer versions are being released, then Windows fits that definition. If you mean that old, unsupported versions are no longer being maintained, then I'm glad you are not in charge so that source code for the old, unsupported versions of my company's software aren't released to my competitors, etc since current versions are based on that code as well. I suspect many, if not most, developers of commercial software would feel the same.

Apple iOS 6 beta limits number of apps per device

Zaphod.Beeblebrox
Boffin

Re: 321 apps installed right now...

But since you can put folders on the Dock, you gain another 44 making it 2149...

Source code smoking gun links Stuxnet AND Flame

Zaphod.Beeblebrox
Black Helicopters

"sounds an awful lot like a James Bond mission gone wrong"

After better than two years without detection this sounds more like "We've known this would happen someday, time to go boys. Form an orderly queue, the bus is waiting outside."

Flexible Willow glass displays thin and curvy gadget future

Zaphod.Beeblebrox
Headmaster

At your service, sir.

One Grammar Nazi icon, coming right up!

Sky boffins: The Moon is not Earth's only natural satellite

Zaphod.Beeblebrox
Boffin

M O O N that spells moon!

I would think that the definition of a moon would include that is is in a stable orbit of the planet, but then, I would have thought astronomers would have had a definition of "planet" before they came up with one that demoted poor Pluto.

New supernova pops up just over there

Zaphod.Beeblebrox
Thumb Up

Re: Pfft, old news.

I see what you did there...

Hackers print tiny Linux box to net up your home

Zaphod.Beeblebrox

Re: Beagle Board.

The Beagle Bone that this unit is based on is different from the Beagle Board. Beagle Bone is about $89US according to http://beagleboard.org/bone

Bromine bomb drops toxic mercury fallout

Zaphod.Beeblebrox
Boffin

Re: Bromine's a liquid

Depends on your definition of room temperature, I suppose - lab definition of room temp, OK those two are it. But in typical temps in my house in the Summer, there are 3 more that would melt (Francium, Cesium, and Gallium). On a really hot day, Rubidium would melt as well. I'm not aware of any others that would melt at atmospheric temperatures found an the earth's surface but there could be I suppose...

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