Posts by Richard

Windows 7 — It’s like Vista, only less annoying

That's great but what does it have the XP doesn't?

The return to 'core competency' may be all well and good but what exactly does Windows 7 have over XP? Don't bother quoting latency improvements in the GDI layer because whilst I know what you're talking about the vast majority of Windows users couldn't give two hoots. If it looks like XP, tastes like XP, then they will wonder what is the point in upgrading? With all the mess that Vista brought with it the end users are going to be quite rightly sceptical and with nothing tangible to gain in upgrading to Windows 7, they will stay away in droves. A couple of little tweaks such as small versions of windows when task switching is just a gimmick and a minor improvement. As a geek I remain unmoved by the changes as they've essentially taken a step back from the nice looking but very poor performing Vista. I'd just like someone to explain to me how it's all perfectly possible in a relatively slow PC in Linux (compiz) but they managed to totally guff it up in Windows...

Hotmail users bitch and moan about new interface

Doesn't work properly in Firefox 3.

Am I the only person having trouble with the new Hotmail in Firefox (and Opera!)? If I load my mail in Firefox then sometimes when I select 'Reply' the window that appears with the rich text editor is 'inactive' and text cannot be entered in it. Then, when I tried to load the same thing in Opera then the text window works but is formatted to a tiny window in the top-left of the available space on the message pane.

What a crock of rubbish. I wish all my friends would send me e-mails to Gmail...

Tax man praised for owning up to lost laptop

So what...?

Let's be realistic, how many of these 'lost' laptops will *really* find their way into the hands of nefarious identity stealers? I'm willing to bet that most, if not all, end get traded for a bit of cash or a baggie, then immediately formatted and flogged on eBay. Your average smash-n-grab thief doesn't know the first thing about computers, never mind breaking even entry-level encryption. If they're using 256-bit, or higher, encryption then the thieves can expected to spend the rest of their lives, and then a few more million years, waiting for a brute force attack on the data to complete. That's roughly akin to saying that I'm worried about my bank statement being used for naughty business even though it's been shredded, shredded again, put in a secure box, in a safe, set in concrete, in a secure van that's been stolen by two narcoleptic chimpanzees with ADHD.

EDS shows one in four staff the door

Go back to school and learn some mathematics...

57,000 in the US. 12,000 shown the door, or at least shown where the door could be if they want to go through it.

12,000 / 57,000 = 0.21

Isn't that much closer to a fifth than a quarter? I hope I never send you to my drug dealer to get a quarter of his finest homegrown weed, I'm likely to be short changed...

Hacker cracks Netflix copy restrictions

Hurt the people who love you?

Am I the only one who thinks that DRM only hurts the people that actually WANT to pay for music and videos? A pirate will get a copy of the music or video one way or another and no DRM in the world is going to stop it indefinitely. This same pirate will be free to copy it to whatever device they wish and watch or listen at their leisure.

On the other hand, let's take our friend Dave who is a law abiding music and video lover. He's willing to pay for the media he wants but he has to do it with DRM encumbered media. He can't copy it to his devices. He has to watch it in a web browser. He can only listen to it fifteen times and if he loses data in a hard drive crash, he's got to pay all over again. And to think, he's PAYING for this...

How long before Dave realises his folly and turns into a pirate?

Wikipedia clarifies steam pipe menace

What is an acceptable Wikipedia entry?

Could I create an entry about myself giving a full biography of my mostly boring existence, just in case I become incredibly famous at a later date through either business dealings or, more likely, some sort of crazed killing spree after years of monotonous working?

Has anyone ever noticed that the word monotonous is monotonous to type?

User panel says US should scrap GPS off switch

Thanks Quizzler

And therein lies why I work in the relative safety of an office building and not some hostile war zone where it's plain my suicidal military tactics would ensure my immediate and messy demise.

Why not jam the signals?

I'm not military genius and I have only a basic understanding of the underlying technologies involved in GPS but I have a somewhere simplistic theory. Since the signal from the GPS network of satellites is being provided from many miles away from a device drawing it's power from a presumably low-powered source, solar power, then the signal must be pretty weak. If you were in a war zone and you wanted to stop the local populous from using your signal, could you not just jam it? That would, of course, render it useless to you, too, I suppose...

Nintendo yanks Mario Party 8 - offensive language to blame?

What's the translation SUPPOSED to say then?

If 'spastic' is the apparently offensive mistranslation from Japanese, what SHOULD the word be? Perhaps the translator in question is a 'stupid head' the literal translation of dummKopf in German which should translate to 'fool'?

German bus driver objects to passenger's breasts

Where's the knockers?

With a glint in my eye and deep sense of anticipation I went to check out the life threatening hooters only to be disappointed with a face shot of the lovely lady with not a breast in sight. Thanks for nothing, Reg...

Mind you, there was a nice pair on the advert for the German eBay site, though. All's well that end's well.

Ex-Broadcom CEO broadsided by cocaine and orgy torture charges

Judo chops...

The writer of the article merely states that the suit filed claims he was doing 'Judo chops'. If that's exactly what the lawsuit says then it has been reported correctly, regardless of the accuracy of the statement.

Unfortunately, I think you've got him on the Silicon Valley thing, though...

Water found on extrasolar planet

Why water?

Why are scientists so fascinated with finding water on these distant planets? If the normal guy walking these street was in charge of these things, we'd be looking for planets with vast seas of lager, bitter, and/or ale. Hopefully, these planets would be inhabited by scantly clad warrior maidens looking for fat, hairy, flatulant men to help repopulate their homeworld. This would also, in effect, see a massive increasing in funding for interstellar travel as half of Britain pre-booked a seat. A win-win situation, I think you'll agree.

NEC boffins develop 3D paint, spray it on laptops

When there's a magnetic field?

Okay, so it does something when there's a magnetic field, which I assume to mean when it's on? What does it look like when there's no magnetic field, i.e. when it's off? That would be useful to know. Can I hold a car speaker near it to see the cool 3D effect (and wipe my hard drive)?

Texas porn actress stole classmate's name

We need proof!

So, is someone going to post a picture of Syvette Wimberly and then a link to a torrent of all the grumble flicks featuring Laura Madden so we can judge the similarity for ourselves? ;o)

Women prefer well-built blokes: official

Only THREE!?!

"twice as likely to have had more than three sex partners than less-built types"

Jesus, did they interview 14 year olds? I'm tall but I'm certainly not muscled or even particularly good looking and even I shot past the '3' mark without even slowing down. If the buff, good looking guys are impressed by having more than three girls then all the weedy lads must be virgins?! I thought that 'frat parties' were meant to be packed full of drunken white girls, surely even the fat kid can get some...

Wanted: business model for free mobile network

Tsunami of texts?

Surely won't this lead to a constant barrage of text messages about in-bred staffy puppies and clapped out Escort's (the car, not street walkers) morning, noon, and night? Sure, free calls sound neat but how long before you leave it at home because it seems you are being stalked by thousands of people selling off their crap?

Cops smash paedophile ring

28.5% of pervs live in the UK?

The ring involved 700 people from 35 countries and 200 of them were in the UK. Does that mean that 28.5% of sick, twisted individuals live in the UK? Or put another way, about one in four of the paedophiles in the world live in ol' blighty?! Geez, I'm getting my kids and heading for somewhere safer like the Phillipines or Vietnam because at least they won't let Gaz Glitter back in...