Posts by an it guy

Help a hack: What's in your ultimate Windows XP migration toolkit?

Re: Golden Image

Your comment on extra RAM made me think. I would personally say: get someone there to install belarc system advisor and email that document per machine.

It's a small file, but has masses of information (and sometimes product keys, I'm told) and I've used it before to get information to prep a machine install for someone who was in london with no internet connection, in the days of very non-smart phones.

turned out handy as I'd downloaded the drivers, and the source of the problem was a USB keyboard driver trying to 'ping' a server and causing the machine in question to hang. Why? the keyboard had a light on it to tell you if you were connected to the internet.

So, Drivers, drivers, drivers. It's going to suck if you don't know exactly which one(s) you need for a certain hardware configuration.

Amazon wants me to WEAR NAPPIES?! But I'm a 40-something MAN

Re: Bah!

that works until someone actually buys you one of those for a present.

"But, but, it was on your wishlist!"

Hope you made it private.

Seven Great Moments in World Wide Web History

Re: Futurama?

the world would evolve beyond all recognition, and he'd be left with many useless facts from yesteryear. Perhaps the rest world would thank the archaic organisation called BBC for its foresight, and increase of actual knowledge in the world. Then again, the BBC might actually rule the world by that point via dissemination of news that causes the world governments to implode, and fund itself by forcing the world to pay a license fee.

SATANIC 'HELL DIAMOND' tells of sunless subterranean sea

Re: Fountains of the deep

well, I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought of that. I was debating posting that because it has always struck me as something odd, with many people saying it's rubbish because it doesn't make sense.

Except now it looks likely that it does make sense

Mathematicians spark debate with 13 GB proof for Erdős problem

wikipedia download too big?

Um. What about zipping it up. lots of +1 and -1 sounds like it should zip (or rar, or bzip, or etc.) fairly well.

Or, does wikipedia allow .torrent files? What about wikileaks? Private data that's not being made public? sounds like a sort of fit...

Ways and means exist.

Google warns Glass wearers: Quit being 'CREEPY GLASSHOLES'

website design

I guess that their do's and don't's are annoyingly hard to read so no-one does?

Seriously, light grey on a white background?

Yet another Brit mobe tower borg: Three and EE ink network-sharing deal

hahahahaha.

You're kidding, right?

Re: Thank God for O2

Yes, bars are a non-reliable indicator. The only way to tell signal strength is to download something like root metrics - http://www.rootmetrics.com/uk/app/

that gives you coverage details and signal strength. I'd test with that, submit the data as well, so the relevant operators know it's a little worse. Will it help you? probably not, other than to know what's good/bad, but you can also use their online map to see coverage data for each operator in your area. It's handy

Sync'n'share firm Box secretly files for IPO

re: $2m valuation for 100M

glad I'm not the only one who went 'eh?'

Rap for KitKat in crap app wrap trap flap: Android 4.4 is 'meant to work like that'

okay, there is one possible reason. Google wants the web to work the way it wants. So, mobile themes/designs for mobile users. It's perhaps a huge stick that might get the rest of the web to follow. I'm kind of surprised that reddit does not have a mobile theme (no, I've not taken the time to actually check).

Should we follow Google's every whim? Perhaps not. But a good mobile device design is hard to get working and so that's the bit that needs fixing.

The other thing is what John said. an excellent tap to zoom essentially renders desktop ads useless on a mobile device as you see the content and nothing else. Low click through rates means less income for the site and google.

That said, opera mini on kitkat works just like it always has: well. When on an underpowered device I can have 18 tabs open and the phone is usable, I consider that good engineering. Oh, and many advertising companies don't bother with Opera Mobile, which seems like a missed market, given it's 12% of mobile devices...

Foot-loving cat burglar nicks THREE THOUSAND individual socks

interesting

but where's the it angle?

okay. I know, it's bootnotes, but no veiled attempt to get anything IT into the story at all...

Virgin Galactic's supersonic space ship in 71,000-ft record smash

space ship in natural environment

perhaps it's too early on Monday morning, but there is nothing 'natural' about a spaceship in orbit. It's man-made, and we chucked it up there. If left to natural things, it would fall to earth and burn up.

Even the moon's orbit is not stable, given a very long time to spin, and it's much more natural than a space craft

BT 118 phone number fee howler lands telco giant with £225k fine

I'm amazed people use premium rate numbers

No, it's not because I live in a big city with somewhat ubiquitous 3G coverage. Rather that why can't those who do just call a friend who has internet access or just plan in advance?

It's not like phone calls are expensive.

I know, certain segments of the population don't have internet access, and certain areas don't have a good bit of (mobile) phone coverage, but that's why they invented a good old phone book. been working quite well for a few decades.

I am guessing that this is based on fixed line rentals for much of the above.

Macbook webcams CAN spy on you - and you simply CAN'T TELL

so, older hyardware need not apply.

I'm glad I have a laptop with no user facing camera. And no, not even on my phone. I can plug one in. That's much better

And, yes, I'm feeling smug

Think Amazon is CHEAP? Just take a look at these cloudy graphs...

twice a year, interactive graphs

As above.

And a link to the raw data so we can check/provide alternative transforms for our bosses if we're comparing amazon to google, and no-one else. i.e. We could have decided who we want to work with because of factors other than cost.

Undercover BBC man exposes Amazon worker drone's daily 11-mile trek

Re: Is this a story?

I know those who are on their feet for 12 hours a day (or very close to it), and do that 4-5 times a week.

Nurses. Some of those are very fit (physically) after all this. Any it's full time job, working weekends. You do get used to it

Xbox One site belly-up in global Microsoft cloud catastrophe

thanks

as the OP of that post,I was surprised to see thumbs down on a post I thought was a useful addition to the article.

Oh well. At least it's a net thumbs up

the later DNS problem was an Akamai cache error

"Service Unavailable - DNS failure. The server is temporarily unable to service your request. Please try again later. Reference #11.27ddf180.1385076682.341919,"

speaking as one who's had problems when a DNS server failed the routing and I couldn't get access to fix it. that's definitely Akamai reporting a problem contacting servers. I'm guessing something propogated badly into Akamai and was harder to eradicate than anyone thought. It's a design I've seen used (and fail) before.

London: Hey Amazon, wanna slip your speedy packages down our tubes?

24/7 service on weekends?

Does that include friday night? It would help many people get home and feel more secure about it. Night buses aren't the most fun thing in London, and I know some ladies would prefer the tube to a series of night buses

Sony patents LASER-FIRING Wi-Fi SMARTWIG with sideburn buttons

so you hit your head harder when your presentation's not working

might be an improvement on the entertainment value of some presentations.

Hair's to one from Sony, but you can bet that it will only work with the most recent Sony products.

But seriously, a wig? A pointer works well. Now, if it were a google glass knock off where you can activate parts of a presentation by looking at it, that might actually add value. It's a stretch to say might even here though.

Oh the fun of watching people look right/left really fast to 'swipe' to the next slide and inexitably jerking their head

Icon: because, well, this is nonsense

Top500: 'Sky River 2' still rules as graphics tech leaves HPC applecart largely untouched

Re: If the current trend continues...

ah, but will they play crysis?

Pwn2Own crackers leave iOS and Samsung mobe security IN RUINS

Re: It takes ages for the operators to put out an OTA update...

well, in my experience at my office, those who have upgraded to iOS 7 are advising the rest of the office not to upgrade. it's about 50/50 of those who have or have not upgraded. I know it's nowhere near a large enough sample, but I'd warrant lots are on iOS7, but quite a large number have chosen not to upgrade.

Norks EXECUTE 80 for watching DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES

Re: bibles

@ Suricou Raven: "China not only allows bibles: They have a state-run Christian church."

Speaking from experience and people I know there. The state-run 'christian' church is not allowed to preach on all parts of the bible, specifically the book of revelation. Say what you will about the contents of the book, but actively telling a religion what parts are permitted to be taught is dubious.

Some Christians in China 'belong' to the state run church in order to legitimise having a bible in their possession. Otherwise, having a bible can easily get you arrested and thrown in jail. I know of minority Christians who have to hide having a bible because that could get them roughed up by the police simply because they have one. They're not trying to badmouth the government, but rather love one another.

@ Just_this_guy: I was not trying to say how large the death toll is/was. The quote at end of the BBC article is that the number of people persecuted, often simply for being a Christian is huge and very ignored by mainstream media, and the number of deaths, while we can quibble over figures, is still unacceptable

e.g.: http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/9041841/the-war-on-christians/

bibles

I note everyone talks about the desperate housewives part. I heard about the bibles part recently, from another source. It's a really sad day where you can be executed for having a piece of religious material, but this is also normal in places like China where we get many of our electronics. Note: I personally know people who have been there and reported on this.

Christianity is actually the most persecuted faith in the world, despite what a few media outlets would have us believe. Angela Merkel in the USA today also talks of this. Remember, this is the country that adds additional taxes if you profess to be part of a religion, so kind of ironic, but fair

For Balance:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/08/us-religion-christianity-persecution-idUSBRE9070TB20130108

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/04/02/middle-east-christians-need-our-protection-column/2047473/ (Angela Merkel quote)

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887323277504578191963741245422

No, I'm not going to be an anonymous coward on this one

Mandatory HTTP 2.0 encryption proposal sparks hot debate

what about cost

imagine the small web user wants to do so. Adding SSL to a VPS is okayy, and not that difficult, but often not a point and click thing. It's also an additional cost. If Google were to add it to blogspot.com, then that would make things easy for quite a few people, but it's still a cost and burden that the 'masses' can;t afford technically or cost-wise

Dark matter: Good news, everyone! We've found ... NOTHING AT ALL

Re: So, not a Michelson-Morley moment yet?

I was thinking the same thing. Michelson Morley came to mind with the 'we need to build an even more sensitive sensor' and rinse and repeat again until they had to give up when it was in the 6th decimal place that they were looking for a significant result

Fleet of driverless pods to take over Milton Keynes town centre

anyone think Wall-E when reading this?

I just suddenly imagined lots of the UK filled with overweight people because it's just too darn convenient than walking

In a meeting with a woman? For pity's sake don't read this

Re: Faraday cages

Try http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/20/radio_blocking_paint/

£10/kilo from the article, but I'm not sure if they're actually selling it...

Doctor Who's 50th year special: North American theater tix on sale Friday

wow. Quite an amazing bit of planning and effort, considering that this is a simultaneous worldwide release in many places. Few films manage this level of coordination, so hats off to the BBC

How to stop intruders without knocking out the workers

Re: eMail fail

"To my mind, there is nothing more efficient than e-mail. It is to the point, ensures all recipients get the same version of a file, and doesn't require the avoidance of needless chat by seeming to be rude - you simply don't respond."

Email can be efficient. The people using it often aren't and you get included on conversations on which you did not need to be. Being assigned the task, and being able to remove yourself from the conversation is a good thing, but with email you're at the mercy of the person sending. So:

Asana.com (from personal use): I've used it and it works for small teams (as well as being free up to 30 users). The attachments are stored in one place so you don't needlessly get sent 3-4MB emails. It's on one location, and non-technical users grasp it quite easily, and your email is them broken nicely into projects. I wish more people would use it

Sharepoint: if you want multiple collaborators and don't want Google's cloud, and have the servers. Works well. Still doesn't stop people saving the document and emailing it around (negating the point of sharepoint...)

Assange: 'Ecuadorian embassy staff are like my family'

"Is it not mandatory to do a fire drill at all places of work...?"

except that an embassy is not the UK, or the police would have entered it and arrested him much earlier. UK Health and Safety rules don't apply here

So you want to be a solar racer? You'll need a laptop and some string

so a solar challenge...

... uses lots more fuel than we might expect? Seems a little counter intuitive. There I was thinking that the pickup truck had another huge array of solar panels to charge a set of batteries that could be swapped over at the end of the day*

Just seems a bit odd

* No idea on the actual rules/practicality about battery swapping

Let police track you through your mobe - it's for your OWN GOOD

how to do this?

I know that mobile phone operators can knowingly boost the power of their signal based on weather conditions to know locally what strength of signal is needed. Surely with a bit of information from a second tower (assuming directionality is known), you can quite easily put the emergency services in the ballpark, as the signal strength should help with refining the distance. Mobile masts aren't going anywhere

After all, the direction finder part is how a VOR on a plane works, and can give you quite good accuracy going 100miles an hour.

Printing the Future: See a few of UK’s 6.2 million 3D-printed ‘things’

liberator

Is the liberator gun needing to be made out of plastic?

I remember the 3D printers of Titanium parts recently that were good enough for Charge to use in bicycles. Surely that would work for the liberator? And fine tuning the laser would mean you could use other materials

I'm not advocating doing this en masse, but more as an experiment in what would be doable rather than what *should* be done. I know the liberator was made in plastic as an experiment of what could be done, and the metal nail simply to set off the gun, rather than being a viable gun. Making the parts out of a suitable metal shouldn't be too hard.

Arguably, given the range of properties you can get from a plastic, surely having plastic that's *less* rigid and more shock absorbent would actually make a better gun? It wouldn't break apart from a material standpoint. Whether it could be printed is another matter entirely

Chinese building orbital lab by 2023 to make 'space medicine'

named after a goddess?

"The Nyu Wa space station, named after the Chinese goddess credited with creating humanity"

Am I the only one who finds it slightly ironic that the Chinese space section named their 'space station' after a goddess given the inherently god-free nature of communism? Seems an about-turn...

I'll admit to knowing nothing about Chinese Goddesses though.

Big brother because, well, it is China

Space truck Cygnus left idling outside ISS after data format snafu borks docking

to be fair

They've admitted their mistake and their software onboard said that something's wrong, phoned back and said so. That's reasonable.

Yes, we'd all like the software to be perfect, but it may not be. I'm glad the error checking worked though

Scientists demo light-controlled semiconductor

Re: Yes, early days and all that, but...

No. You've all missed the point of the graphs. The left-hand scale is resistance.

The metal section has resistance on a scale of 10^7

The semiconductor has units of 10^5. That's a factor of 100, and since it's resistance, you'll see a massive spike in current. If they were on the same scale, you could not see the fine detail.

That's why this whole thing is important

Samsung Galaxy S4 Active: The mobe for CHUCK NORRIS TYPES

Re: Could this really be?

have an upvote for mentioning the HTC HD2. I've got one, and they're amazingly solid. I've fallen while roller blading and this was in my pocket. my leg and trousers came off much worse than the phone (which was in a casing admittedly).

I've been debating a new phone for a while, but still like the HD2 too much

Researcher bags $12,500 after showing how to hack Zuck's pics

Re: Advice for the Supreme Leader

@arctic_haze: have an upvote. Data loss should be taken seriously. if they're going to say that after 40 minutes they can't see it, at least they took time to look at it. If they didn't ask for more details to work out the bug, then that's a problem.

Facebook strips away a bit more of your privacy – but won't say why

Re: I keep refusing to give FB my mobile phone number....

and I've got a couple facebook accounts. One for Personal and one for work (yes it's part of my job). When I change jobs, I'll hand over the keys to the work one, and create another at my next job.

And No, facebook, I'm definitely not scanning a copy of my passport/drivers license because you think I've got multiple accounts. My personal facebook should not be up when I'm at work, so I'll create a separate one. The personal one at work? it's distracting, and not good for work, so facebook can work out where to get lost on that one.

Since they're already fairly lost, they won't have to go far

Punter strikes back at cold callers - by charging THEM to call HIM

Re: 12 a month!

um. Yeah. Why has the register completely omitted telling people about the TPS. I'm amazed at how many people don't know about this service.

While we're here, they also do the Mailing preference service, and if you run a fax, the fax preference service.

Since a google search seems to provide ads to people other than the actual service, it's http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/‎

http://www.mpsonline.org.uk/

http://www.fpsonline.org.uk/

And, for what is more sad, the baby mailing preference service for when a little loved one has passed away and you don't want to receive baby related post.

http://www.mpsonline.org.uk/bmpsr/

Do not adjust your eyes: This Kobo ten-incher has a 2560 x 1600 resolution

if it works as just a tablet....

that's cheap for that resolution of display. Can we just override the software and install a plain android os on it? That would fly and convince me to actually buy one of these tablet things.

Seriously, that's better than any laptop display, and cheaper. I like it

Ballmer's emotional farewell to Redmond: I LOVE THIS COMPANY

Re: lots of notice

um. stability in the company. Whether you like it or not, having a nicely staged succession plan confers stability on the company as everyone knows long in advance that it's going to happen. That's good for investors to see happening. Admittedly, that's exactly how the Chinese government stage manages things, but let's not get side tracked

If he said he was leaving literally tomorrow, then investors would get nervous that a large company like Microsoft had no heads up and no clue who to appoint next. Then the company's stock would suffer.

Palestinian Facebook flaw-finder getting $10,000 payday in online appeal

have a test account?

This coming from Facebook that would like to force us to have one account and one account only?

cute

Amazon DISAPPEARS from internet

you know, you should not be letting slip that the NSA has access to time-morphing systems.*

*you meant temporarily rather than temporally

Snowden's email provider may face court rap after closing service

but what about those who donated?

Surely that list can now be subpeona-ed to find people who support this 'rebellious activity'?

Is the online donation service US-based? That would be quite ironic...

2013 World Solar Challenge racers start the big reveal

The two types are commendable, and I want to see the 'realistic' cars have a good go at getting through it.

Regarding suspension, ever ridden a road bike? suspension is removed in favour of speed, and you can run some road bikes over some rather large potholes, and still come off okay. Since suspension dampens the ride and removes energy, this is a problem for a race.

Now, if they can use that suspension to convert it into energy, then they have a better set of shocks, and that would be interesting. if nothing else, it could power a fan for those inside of their plastic bubbles.

So fondleable Windows 8 didn't work out so well: Why not try it IN 3D?

Re: I really like it, but

I was thinking of having a spare bit of surface. it could be a wall, or heck a ceiling. All it seems to need is a flat surface.

I really like it, but

The main thing I would want is bluetooth/wireless connectivity.

Imagine a media centre and screen that you have on the far side of the room, and a you're working at a kitchen which is messy. this would be an excellent control system to point at a surface (e.g. kitchen) and you could just control things remotely. I'd not want to string a cable that far. So long as it had both battery power and powered via the USB/HDMI cable that seems to be used, this would be excellent.

Another use case would be lounging around on the sofa with said aforementioned Media centre, and not wanting to use a remote keyboard.

Osama Bin Pwned: Al Qaeda mocked in Twitter counter-jihad

Re: pedantry?

ta. I should have said "dead and stayed dead".

On the three in the bible, I actually got it wrong. It was Elijah, and not Elisha. Kind of annoying when two prophets that come one after another share a very similar sounding name.