Posts by Russ Tarbox

Microsoft: YES! You can have your desktop back again for FREE!

Can't wait!

Once it's released, I might bother to torrent a copy!

Nokia's debuts new 'Fastlane' UI in $99 flagship Asha 501

Re: How do they offer access to Facebook for free?

Yes but it still has to be carried over the operator's network, so it must be a reverse-charge deal or something. It's not like some magic connection to Facebook is suddenly available globally.

How do they offer access to Facebook for free?

Surely any data has to go over the carrier's network and therefore is subject to a data plan - unless they're effectively "reverse charging" this to Nokia somehow?

New 'BLOCKBUSTER' APPLE iTHING imminent - billionaire Einhorn

Fruity Firm

Can't you think of some new names? Twice in one article. Shame on you.

Over ONE-THIRD of PCs will have SSDs in 2017 - analyst

SSDs, I believe, have now overtaken memory as the single most cost-effective upgrade

Sticking one in a laptop that's maybe 3 or 4 years old and already has 4GB of RAM just gives it a completely new lease of life. And now you can pick up a 64GB jobby for about £40 ... it really can make an old laptop usable again for general day to day stuff.

And of course in new PCs it's on a whole different level...

Larry Ellison forks out over $200m to slurp up sexy Malibu strip

Maybe he'll do me a deal on rent.

I promise to recommend Oracle from now on ...

Coke? Windows 8 is Microsoft's 'Vista moment'. Again

@Turtle: Microsoft have a problem

This is one of the many reasons I don't like applications like iTunes which force you to work in certain ways with Albums, Genres, playlists etc. I sort my music into folders depending on various things (sometimes it's dates - for DJ tracks, sometimes it's albums, sometimes it's genres) and I have an MP3 player that allows me to play back using this format as well. To reorganise this into playlists and so forth would be a mammoth task.

Databases have their place but I think it would take some getting used to, if trying to move away from a standard filesystem format which is tried, tested and generally works.

That being said, I use GMail and barely do any e-mail sorting. I can find any e-mail I need from the last few years practically instantly. This pleases me immensely.

A file system that allows you to apply organisation structures but also instant search would be very nice indeed, but would probably require some serious adjustment from a user perspective. That said, many people are used to using iPads and so on and are completely "protected" from the underlying file system!

Personally I agree with @ForthIsNotDead. Windows is a great operating system overall, and is definitely unrivalled in the workplace for management etc.

Re: Will they ditch the awful flat interface AND CAPITALISED MENUS?

I can't give you any solid figures as it was some time ago, but I remember being impressed by it enough to remember it over a year later! And that was compared to Windows 7, both of which are significantly faster than XP to boot on modern (5 years or younger) hardware.

Will they ditch the awful flat interface AND CAPITALISED MENUS?

I'm not a fan. I actually like skeuomorphism. But I agree with some comments above about W8 being better "under the bonnet". The beta I tried was certainly super fast to boot and use. But I think for practically all power users, TIFKAM just gets in the way.

Mooreslaw: Chopping up chips for the future

Re: Excellent article addressing I feel strongly about.

I should add that obviously other CPU intensive rendering tasks would benefit as well ... I was merely trying to suggest that your average man-in-the-street or even a techie like me won't notice that much as a single point of upgrade.

Not cool, Adobe: Give the Ninite guys a job, not the middle finger

Just going to dump this handy URL here

http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/distribution3.html

It's not that easy to come by sometimes...

Quid-a-day nosh challenge hack forms foraging party

The hunger will fade I think.

You're eating a reasonable amount - you're just used to eating more, whenever you want. You'll probably find that by the end of the week you'll be able to shift onto smaller portions overall, no matter what you eat. Though thinking about all the delicious things you're missing won't help with that! Best of luck with the rest of the challenge.

Firefox: Use new stealth window to satisfy your wife, suggests Mozilla

Well done on catching up with Chrome!

Which is only around 4 years old ...

If Google got a haircut, a tie and a suit, would it be Microsoft?

Firefox seems to suck badly in a corporate environment

It relies on weird profiles, which are often incompatible across different versions. At a large licence funded media organisation I worked at, I saw it frequently. As "hot desking" (ugh) was the norm, if someone switched from a machine running Firefox 9 to 12, for example, their favourites may not be visible. It caused no end of headaches to users who had been encouraged to use the browser for certain in-house applications before Chrome had existed as a serious alternative.

Another MYSTERY evacuation: Google UK empties swanky offices

There are a lot of upgrades going on around there right now.

Maybe the building was at risk of collapse due to Crossrail...

Touch screens and greasy mitts: All you need is glove

I love this column.

The way it is written and the subject matter never ceases to raise a wry smile or the odd snort ... keep up the good work.

Ten pi-fect projects for your new Raspberry Pi

How is that "netbook" running Windows?

Unless it's an RDP session or similar...

Eric Schmidt trousers his monstrous package at Google

I think this is the best headline and subline I've ever seen on El Reg.

Paris because the headline probably drew her in and disappointed her.

Bacon sarnies can kill: Official

Re: Re:cavemen?

> Vegetarian diet may lead to a 32% reduction in heart disease, but also a 32% reduction in happiness.

Couldn't agree more.

Re: Why is bacon "processed"?

> What, you mean those guys who had an expected average life span of little more than a couple of decades?

Well yes, but they were also hunted, didn't have access to modern medicine, etc etc.

I think this is a fairly complex subject. My original point was meant to suggest that we're eating all kinds of crab including sugars, carbs and so forth. I'm pretty sure that cured meats aren't really that high on the list of things we should be worrying about in our diets.

Re: Why is bacon "processed"?

But the word "processed" has negative connotations.

I think it's important to distinguish between processed and prepared.

For example, one would look at the difference between a high quality carved ham, and one that is produced from "reformed pork".

Why is bacon "processed"?

Decent bacon is prepared the traditional way.

Also, cavemen survived on red meat, alongside veg and fruit.

Yet another nonsensical study looking for links between certain food and death. Probably from the same brigade that tells us that fat in foods is bad and oats are good for you.

From stage to stream: The unseen tech at the BRIT Awards 2013

Better than at Earl's Court

When I worked at the Brits back in 2000/2001 there were cables everywhere. Everything seemed very temporary - in fact one year we had cables leading out the back to a transit with a temporary studio in it. And we were responsible for output to the BBC radio stations...

John Lennon's lesson for public-domain innovation

Public Domain software reminds me of Acorn magazine cover disks.

I'm sure a lot of that software would now be released under a GPL or similar which IIRC weren't really around or widely known about at the time. But I remember a large majority of free software was released as "Public Domain".

Boffins FREEZE PHONES to crack Android on-device crypto

I remember seeing the effects of remanence on older graphics cards.

Booting Windows 98 you'd sometimes see a flash of your desktop before restart when the screen mode changed for the bootup screen.

The business mullet: Cool or tool?

Nothing wrong with it if you get it right.

It works best with DARK jeans (black or very dark blue) and a decent t-shirt or shirt. It's better than just wearing a full suit on a night out but makes you stand out from the standard shirt/jeans of the rest of the crowd. But it needs to co-ordinate...

It's fine for at work too. However if you are trying to look smart for a business meeting, nothing but a suit will suffice, or at least smart trousers and shirt. You wouldn't wear jeans to a job interview...

I would post a pic but my self esteem can't take the beating right now ;)

When your squash partner 'endorses' your coding skills on LinkedIn...

I removed my LinkedIn profile after privacy issues.

I was linked in the "People you may know" section to two of my "housemates" (I barely speak to them - everyone works, it's not a sociable house). The only way, whatsoever, that LinkedIn could have known is that we all logged in from the same IP address. LinkedIn would not admit to this when asked, though, saying that they don't use this information. They were downright lying, so I removed my profile. I've never particularly liked their service and it's not served me any great purpose. This just seems to be another "feature" that is virtually pointless.

Google to scan Chrome extensions, bans auto-install

Maybe I didn't give Vista long enough on my desktop to become familiar enough with it

But I can't see the resemblance between that Chrome message and Vista?

Re: You do it, if you're so clever.

You consider Firefox more secure than Chrome? And less likely to have toolbars/addons/crapware added?

iPhone tops US market, but trounced by Android in world+dog

Lies, damned lies etc

So Android has grown in market share. So what? What are the actual sales figures? Are Apple selling less phones? "Android" isn't a direct hardware - it's an OS. How many people buying £100 Android handsets could afford an iPhone anyway? If all Android handsets cost the same as an iPhone, would they still have a lead? Do half the people with Android handsets even know what an Android is? etc etc

So long as Apple are selling lots of phones and making lots of cash, I doubt they could actually care less about "market share". And don't give me the whole "App Store" crap (developers focusing on market leader) - again, those with expensive iPhones most likely have more disposable income so buy more apps etc etc.

Senator threatens FAA with legislation over in-flight fondleslabbing

Is it insensitive to ask more about this plane crash?

I know it's not really relevant to this news article but I am intrigued as to what you were involved in, especially as you survived.

Watch out, PC disk drive floggers: Cloud will rust up those spinners

Surely drive manufacturers won't care.

As long as we're storing stuff in the cloud, the cloud service providers will be constantly increasing their datacentre storage ... with higher margin server grade disc drives? It's not like we'll be storing less. And almost certainly those providers will be using redundancy which most home users wouldn't have. I can't see manufacturers losing out here...

New MPEG format paves the way for UHDTV

I just experienced Super Hi-Vision with some Olympics footage...

...to all those that say "oh, HD is enough", seriously, this was like BEING there. Sure, it helped it was in a small theatre, with an awesome sound system, but it really was astonishing.

Of course, it's good to be happy with what we have, absolutely. But don't underestimate how awesome a new technology can be!

Nationwide DOUBLES card payments in fresh banking gaffe

"went through the system again again today"

Please tell me that was deliberate ...

Did your iPhone 'just stop working' - or did you drop it in your BEER?

I'm pretty sure my Nokia 7650 already had something like this.

At least, that's what the people in the phone shop told me. It was a while ago though ...

Dell extends XPS laptop line

SSD options aren't available in the UK

As usual the States get more options and keener prices...

Why I love Microsoft’s vapourware tablet

You've lost a bit of weight since 2002

And maybe a little hair too.

HP Envy 14 Spectre Ultrabook

Where can I find this i7 model?

Everywhere I look I see the i5 processor fitted.

Happy birthday, Apple QuickTime

RealPlayer brought streaming audio to the masses

It was wonderful. Then they ruined it by filling it with ads and bloat at every version. Good things can turn bad you know ...

I just Googled this as was thinking something along these lines before I saw your post.

Replay was pretty amazing given the hardware it could run on.

Think your CV is crap? Your interview skills are worse

I've not read the other comments yet...

...but this is so much more helpful than your last article. I'm really glad that you took the comments on board and made your latest piece a lot more helpful and less condescending.

Kudos.

Eleven - if you will - rocktastic music movies

The first ever film released on DVD

That little factoid seemed a little surprising. Some further research actually suggests that "Twister" was in fact the first ever film to be released on DVD. What was your source? Genuinely interested.

Apple, tech titans lead US brands to world domination

How the hell do people continue to misspell "Vodafone"

One of the world's biggest brands, their logo splashed in all manner of places including international sporting events, and yet a survey specifically about brands can't even spell it right.

Flashback: The Quest for Identity

I'd forgotten all about this

I used to play the demo of this on my Acorn A3010 (it was on a cover disk - remember those?). The music used to suddenly kick in (as you mention) when something kicked off ... I remember it building the tension brilliantly.

iPhone 4S pay-monthly tariffs compared

Not sure where these prices came from.

The prices I see on 3's website don't correspond with this table...

Apple cofounder Steve Jobs is dead at 56

Genuinely sad.

A truly remarkable man. Rest in peace.

Microsoft updates Hotmail to deal with grey spam

Every time I log onto Hotmail (simply because MSN messenger tells me I have a new message from time to time) it seems so overly complicated / non intuitive.

For starters, when I log on I'm not immediately actually faced with my e-mail, instead a bunch of nonsense including status updates from friends (why?). Then when I do hit the e-mail section, there is no colour coding - everything is grey and white, all the same font - it just strikes me as odd.

I use Google Mail and never seen to have problems with it, it integrates well with any device I've thrown at it to date and the anti-spam feature is pretty much spot on.

Hotmail was brilliant back in the day when free e-mail accounts were a novelty (remember 2MB storage?) but as your article points out, it's becoming increasingly irrelevant. Frankly I'd delete my account if it weren't linked to MSN messenger.

Apple turns the screws on reseller channel

I think you've misunderstood the entire story.

Zombie mobile Linuxes mate

I liked MeeGo

The couple of times I gave it a try on just about compatible hardware, I thought it was great. No good for laptops but would make a great Tablet OS.

IMO of course.