Posts by Russ Tarbox

SD card slot, HDMI port could return to the MacBook Pro this year, says Apple analyst

Re: Magsafe

I think at this point it’d be MagSafe 3 as I’m sure they updated it a while before they then discontinued it.

No ports, no borders, no hope: Xiaomi's cool but impractical all-screen concept phone

There is also a wireless version of Apple CarPlay

It’s not very widespread, but it exists. I used it in a rental car and it was flawless and a great experience.

I also had a wireless CarPlay dongle for my own car stereo that I tested. It worked, but had some niggles that made me switch back to just using a cable (as highlighted in the article, sometimes a cable just works best).

ThinkPad T14s AMD Gen 1: Workhorse that does the business – and dares you to push that red button

Re: Historical or utilitarian?

Exactly. They keep their formula because it works, probably takes minimal R&D, and there are a hardcore band of customers who will stick with it and partly because they don't like those new-fangled trackpads without buttons, for example.

I've never gotten the appeal myself, but they have been consistently decent in companies I've seen them deployed, which I guess is the point. I would never part with my own cash for one, though.

Attack of the cryptidiots: One wants Bitcoin-flush hard drive he threw out in 2013 back, the other lost USB stick password

Re: Isn’t this just the modern (modern?) equivalent...

Leveraged trading on popular platforms is scarily easy. More like using a complex betting site than “real” trading :/

Isn’t this just the modern (modern?) equivalent...

.. of lamenting throwing out or not keeping intact that original Furby or Tamagotchi?

I sold my single Bitcoin some years ago for $100 profit and was pretty pleased. They’re so slow and actually hard to sell that I’d probably be losing sleep how to offload the damn thing before it dropped $10K in value. I actually ended up buying Amazon vouchers because any other way of offloading was too convoluted. I’m sure most people making money in this market are leveraged trading rather than ever owning a coin.

Loser Trump is no longer useful to Twitter, entire account deleted over fears he'll whip up more mayhem

However you look at this

It feels like Twitter et al have too much power.

As the tweet in the article states, it suited them to have him tweeting for so long. Now they shut down his voice. Is that right?

Much of the The sensationalist mainstream media and social media have become a scourge on our society. I hope they are reigned in, somehow.

Lenovo ThinkPad Carbon X1 Gen 8: No boundaries were pushed in the making of this laptop – and that's OK

Another one for the fans

- Formidable specs? Bang average if you ask me.

- Dated design - but some like it so why change it, I agree. But those bezels don’t look “ultra thin” to me.

- Nipple mouse - some comments here slating track pads - clearly never used a good one. Palm rejection is essential but some companies have nailed it. Nipple mouse can be slow and lack precision.

- 16:9 is tough for productivity

Ultimately it’s clear the reviewer is a ThinkPad fan. That’s perfectly fine, I know they exist in droves and I’ve used them in the past and enjoyed the experience in a “they’re reliable in business settings” kind of way. But sometimes I sense those fans haven’t tried another premium laptop in some time and don’t know what they’re missing. This is a lot of money to drop on a machine and some solid research would be advised before just going the “same but upgraded” path.

Apple now Arm'd to the teeth: MacBook Air and Pro, Mac mini to be powered by custom M1 chips rather than Intel

Re: Confusing much?

Apple are not calling it macOS 11. That's The Register labelling it as such (though version 11 is shown in the Apple > About menu).

Apple have dropped the OS X moniker some time ago in favour of macOS and will no doubt continue to use California landmark names for the foreseeable future.

You're stuck inside, gaming's getting you through, and you've $1,500 to burn. Check out Nvidia's latest GPUs

Re: Mouth-watering specifications and possibilities

FWIW I hated Windows 10.

However, installing in more recently for some project VMs, it's actually now a much nicer to use operating system than Windows 7 overall. Of course, I install a start menu alternative still (or Cairo Shell). I was coloured impressed. Also the new PowerTools is cool.

If you've not tried it lately I'd recommend spinning up a VM to see what's changed :)

Happy birthday to the Nokia 3310: 20 years ago, it seemed like almost everyone owned this legendary mobile

Occasionally...

I pull my beloved Nokia 8890 out of its box and power it on, no issues, with batteries that haven't sniffed a charge for years ...

Nokia 7650

On a slightly different note, I remember when the Nokia 7650 came out, and I got my paws on one. If memory serves me correctly, this was the first consumer mobile phone with an integrated camera (The Sony Ericsson T10i had a camera module add on but not many people had it).

I distinctly remember taking photos on nights out and people being in complete awe of the fact my phone had a camera built in, and a reasonably decent one (for the time) at that. I also had an infrared TV remote control app, much fun in bars and pubs. Also, you could record short video clips in a terrible resolution by installing an obscure German T-Mobile java app.

The phone had just 4MB memory but it was easy to move photos to my PC using Bluetooth to free up memory.

Of course now NOT having a camera on your phone is the strange thing...

Terrifying bug in WhatsApp allows hackers to steal files. So get patching all nine of you using it on the desktop

A few handy things :)

On my Mac:

Icon in the dock with badges

Notifications separate to that of the browser

Different alert sounds

One less tab in my browser (every little helps!)

From July, you better be Putin these Kremlin-approved apps on gadgets sold in Russia

Came here just to give kudos for the headline and byline.

Great work.

A History of (Computer) Violence: Wait. Before you whack it again, try caressing the mouse

Shovel attack

I once got a deal on a PC that had been attacked by the owner's neighbour ... with a shovel.

The (at the time impressive) 19" CRT display had a couple of nice gashes in the top of the casing, but still worked. The base unit was a little worse for wear but I transferred all the components into a new case and it worked fine. The hard drive *did* have a few bad sectors marked, but it didn't deteriorate in the time that followed.

I never did find out what made the neighbour so angry, and why he decided to take out his anger on a poor, helpless PC with a shovel, of all things.

Lenovo ThinkPad X390: A trusty workhorse that means business but it's not without a few flaws

Re: Why are these still popular?

Interesting history, thanks for sharing. Wasn't aware of that!

Let's praise Surface, not bury it

The PC is not dying

Sales are down simply because buying a new PC is no longer something you need to do every couple of years just in order to run the latest software (let's ignore gaming as serious PC gaming tends to be a niche).

My desktop PC at its core is 8 years old. All I've upgraded since the original build is storage (SSD + larger HDDs) and the graphics card (the original was cheap and basic). But at its core, everything I need to run still runs and generally very well. The only exception being audio and video rendering, where it is starting to show its age.

My laptop is two years old and as fast as the day I bought it. It should last me several years

I still use both over and above any other tech. Tablets are no good to me - I like to (properly) multitask. My phone gets slower by design (forced OS upgrades) and thus I MUST update it every couple of years (just like the olden days of desktops) else face more and more frustration.

I don't believe the PC is anywhere close to a death spiral even in the home environment. Consumers just don't need to be spending their money on it as often, so the stats are skewed.

Developments like the Surface are just designed to find a new niche or reason to part people with cash. Just like the iPad finally got the tablet right, MS are looking for the next revolution/evolution.

My Nest smoke alarm was great … right up to the point it went nuts

I agree ...

I have some "Smart light bulbs", very expensive WiFi jobbies at £99 a pop.

When they work, they are great.

I must've lost more than an hour in the past year performing software updates (on a lightbulb!!!) and having to re-set/reconnect them to WiFi, swearing at them when they are on but I'm unable to turn them on / off without a diagnostic process.

All so that I can set them to any colour or level I want.

Is it worth it? I'm not so sure anymore...

Power Bar: EE was warned of safety risk BEFORE user was burned in explosion

Re: How many others?

I bought one of these. I noticed on the 3rd or 4th charge it was getting VERY hot during charging. I threw it out. I figured I didn't want to risk burning my home down, especially given that the charging would normally be expected to be done overnight.

If you think 3D printing is just firing blanks, just you wait

Best movie with a "home made" gun?

In The Line Of Fire with Clint Eastwood and John Malkovich.

As always, IMHO, of course.

HTC: Shipping Android updates is harder than you think – here's why

"Once the chipset makers decide which of their components will support the new OS..."

I don't like how this is written. Surely they decide "which of their components they will write drivers for". It's not like they're going to ship new components. It's up to the OS/drivers to support the hardware, not the other way around.

BT network-level STOCKINGs-n-suspenders KILLER arrives in time for Xmas

Re: DNS circumvention

Thanks Vimes. I didn't know whether to upvote your post to say thanks or downvote because I don't like the answer!

DNS circumvention

Am I right in thinking that all these "blockers" can be circumvented by using non-ISP provided DNS servers e.g. Google's public DNS servers?

Or are they actually analysing all DNS traffic across their network, regardless of the servers being queried?

Microsoft: Here, we'll make it easy for you Gmail lot. Meet our Outlook.com movers

GMail > Outlook.com

In my humble opinion of course. But I can't see any reason to switch, I actually prefer the interface of GMail and with AdBlock I see no ads whatsoever.

Inside Steve Ballmer’s fondleslab rear-guard action

I don't see the PC market dying.

Everywhere I look there are PCs at work. I still use one.

I think one of the key issues is that they don't need replacing so often. Most workplace software doesn't need the latest processors anymore. So things only get replaced when they're REALLY old (still decommissiong the odd Pentium 4 machine here!) and we've taken to refreshing machines with extra RAM and SSDs.

So, sure, manufacturer's might see their bottom line shrinking. But I don't see tablets replacing PCs in the enterprise any time soon.

Sick to death of Xmas? Try these explosive gift ideas

Did I miss the NSFW tag?

Oh no I didn't - but I think this article should carry one...

Why BURN Facebook after reading when you can 'save it for later'?

How on earth is it like Yahoo in 2000?

Am I missing something?

Google puts Dr Who's Tardis onto Street View - and you can get INSIDE

Repost.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/08/14/googles_street_view_cars_venture_inside_tardis/

Psst.. Wanna Android all-in-one PC? We have the chip tech, says Intel

Does $50 difference really make a difference at those price points?

If it was half the price, sure. But adding what amounts to around 15% to the price for a better spec doesn't seem like an awful lot to me. Once you're already spending $350, what's an extra $50.

'Hacked' estate agency Foxtons breaks glass, pulls password reset cord

"...and have initiated a trigger to reset user passwords upon your next successful login".

Wait, what? So if you log in with your current password, you are then prompted to set a new one? So if you use the password from the hacked list ... etc etc.

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

Re: have a test account?

Surely such an account is against their T&Cs as well.

What's happened to Alistair Dabbs?

What's happened to Alistair Dabbs?

I'm missing "Something for the weekend, sir?". It makes my Friday and lets me know the weekend is on the way.

Hoping he's just on holiday and back very soon?

Does Gmail's tarted-up tab makeover bust anti-spam laws?

This is the second time I've read about these ad/e-mails

Yet was confused as I hadn't seen it.

I guess AdBlock is doing its job!

'Abel, you're fired!' Hear AOL supremo axe exec during conference call

The audio is around 1.50

For those of you that don't want to hear the word "patch" 500 times.

Android approaches 80% smartphone share as Apple's iPhone grows old

Re: Instead

Yeah but if say 70% of the Android market is "landfill" then the logic would be that many of those users would not be looking to spend money on apps as their disposable income would be less. Also many may not even know what an "app" is and have just ended up with an Android phone as they needed a mobile and that's what was on sale that day.

Icahn sues Dell's board over Big Mike's buyout bid

Why does this story get so much coverage?

It's like El Reg's prime time soap opera.

No more top three comments below story? :(

I'm not sure I like it.

I'm far less likely to click the "comments" button. I liked the top three. Gave me an idea of what people were saying on a topic before I clicked through.

How did Microsoft get to be a $1.2bn phone player? Hint: NOT Windows Phone

Couldn't help it...

"...having gone from Android device maker to Android device maker "persuading" them to sign up."

Just made me think of the episode of the Simpsons with Bill Gates ... "Buy him out, boys!". Same persuasion techniques?

Lingering fingerprint fingering fingered in iOS 7 for NEW iPHONE

I think there's an internal Reg competition

For best/toughest tongue-twisting headline.

More of this silliness!

Apple KILLER decloaked? Google lovingly unboxes Nexus 7 Android 4.3 slablette

Re: Note to laptop manufacturers...

Couldn't agree more.

When shopping around for a laptop, I get increasingly pissed off at how many are still running 1360 x 768, especially when it's a supposed "premium" product.

Even 1440 x 900 shows at least some thought has been given on the screen spec, especially on 13" and lower models.

Only 1 in 5 Americans believe in pure evolution – and that's an upswing

YouGov

Ultimate trolls.

Spotify strikes back at Radiohead - but artists are still angry

Not that bothered about this story, but...

...the picture just prompted me to buy a copy of Catweazle from eBay. Haven't read that book for about 20 years!

Google brings Blink-powered Chrome to Windows and Mac OS X

Yeah, those touch screen only phones will never take off

etc etc

Are driverless cars the death knell of the motor biz?

I was intrigued up until the point

where there may be other people in the car when it pulls up.

Ummm... surely half the point of a car is you don't have to put up with other fuckwits exhibiting anti-social behaviour such as overly loud iPod earphones, snorting and sneezing, invading your personal space etc.

Fines 4 U: Mobe insurer cops £3m penalty for grumble dumping

Good.

I had the misfortune of dealing with them ten years ago. Their policy sucked and so did they.

EU sets ball rolling on ominous telly spectrum review

Re: IP

"...The majority of the world's population live elsewhere."

I think similar situations could arise anywhere, in fact just think back to Virgin dropping Sky's channels for the same reasons, until they sorted it out. The only difference in the UK is that we are very much used to receiving our TV through an aerial, whereas Cable TV is extremely commonplace in the US.

Play the Snowden flights boardgame: Avoid going directly to Jail

Re: Airspace

There are multiple airlines that aren't allowed to enter European airspace due to poor safety records.

I think any country is allowed to determine who/what enters its airspace, and escort anyone unwelcome using fighter jets if necessary.

Pink Floyd blasts Pandora for 'tricking' artists with petition

Re: 85% pay cut BACK to what it was previously, most likely...

OK. But the history of streaming fees is correct. I guess Pandora cut their own deal at some point.

85% pay cut BACK to what it was previously, most likely...

Internet radio licencing took a massive hike in fees several years ago. I remember Live365 lobbying against it and in the end the fee hikes went through. Internet radio is vastly more expensive to licence than traditional radio as you actually have to pay per user, per minute/song. So each listener actually costs money from a licensing point of view, and the more popular you are, the more you pay in licencing. Of course, in theory, the more popular you are, the more you can charge for advertising but things don't always work out that way.

Traditional radio has a fixed licence cost and that's that, and it's considerably less per user, per minute/song so long as they have decent audience reach.

Whilst I think that Pandora's lobbying for "fairness" is correct in principle, I don't like they way they make it sound like they're doing the world a favour. They're just trying to increase their margins and that's that.

However, for Internet broadcasters as a whole, hobbyists and so forth, fair licencing fees would be very welcome.

Intel bakes smaller, slower flash memory. Aah, now that's progress

Re: cost effective?

I've always thought SSD drives prices scale well (unlike spinning discs which tend to have a sweet spot in terms of price/capacity). Though I think the very top end drives are just too pricey for most (because they double in price as they double in capacity), and because the lower capacities shift more, the middle-men are probably getting a bulk discount so the price is skewed slightly.

Facebook's first data center DRENCHED by ACTUAL CLOUD

Re: SPOF?

Check the date of the story. Tonight's chat issues are nothing to do with this :)