Posts by Giles Jones

Alphabet reshuffles to meet ChatGPT threat

Google is like Microsoft now, big, bloated and lacking innovation. Fighting off competition instead of innovating.

Record label drops AI rapper after backlash over stereotypes

Re: Just another normal week for machine learning ("AI") then

Not sure where you've worked and what sector but I've worked in a few jobs now where the management has been fine. In fact, management barely has a say at all in what we do where I am now. There's women in all the teams.

Enterprise-strength FreeBSD-based TrueNAS releases v13.0

I built a new NAS with a LogicCase SC-4324. I'm using a SAS expander card connected to my SAS card Dell perc 310 (I think). Gives me 24 drive capability. Not a perfect solution but the best I've built so far.

ZX Spectrum Vega+ 'backer'? Nope, you're now a creditor – and should probably act fast

Well, they are friends with Clive 'Mensa' Sinclair, so I imagine he would generally hang around with people who are smart.

But by being academics, they have no practical experience of the manufacturing process, testing etc.

There's a lot of very intelligent people involved, which just goes to show that it takes more than academic qualifications to deliver a product like this.

Linus Torvalds pulls pin, tosses in grenade: x86 won, forget about Arm in server CPUs, says Linux kernel supremo

Depends on the application, you won't find many people developing online applications in c++. Most are Java, .Net, Scala etc. All compiled but interpreted by a VM.

It's 2019, and a PNG file can pwn your Android smartphone or tablet: Patch me if you can

I remember a libpng bug being used to unlock the Sony PSP back in the day.

Apple hands keys for retail to HR boss amid flagging iPhone sales

It's not the person running retail to blame but the people running engineering and the people deciding on what useful ports to remove.

Premium Apple pricing now only gets you nice design, the reliability and quality of engineering has declined massively in the name of greed and their obsession with slim devices.

Stage fright or Stage light? Depends how far you dare to open your MacBook Pro's lid

So already the keyboards have failed and are difficult to replace and now this?

These computers are throw away machines at professional prices. This is how a company fails, when it's product isn't worth the money.

They already hit peak sales in 2015 of the iPhone and any price hike since has been about maintaining revenue rather than sales. There won't be many more years of Apple if they carry on like this.

Apple gives MacBook Pro keyboard rubber pants

Re: Maybe so

The SSD is a module. But they're so expensive you'd not bother replacing it.

No one wants new phones – it's chips that keep Samsung chugging

What new features are they really adding now? The screens are as good as the human eye can see. The cameras are good.

Smartphone OSes don't seem to add much either.

They should focus on improving battery life now.

iPhone 8 now outsells X, and every other phone

Yeah but Apple got back an important thing for them. Exclusivity, less people owning the premium model is how it is supposed to work. There was a time when their stuff was a little cooler, but now you see even school kids with iPhones.

Now Microsoft ports Windows 10, Linux to homegrown CPU design

Wintel anti-competitive practices killed off a lot of decent tech. So part of me hopes Microsoft suffers the same fate.

I can't forget the Sony laptop that was using a Transmeta CPU being cancelled because of Intel intervening.

Schadenfreude for UK mobile networks over the tumult at Carphone

Sim free was an option when a handset cost £100, but they now cost a lot more for a decent one. With Apple's best costing a grand.

You know what your problem is, Apple? Complacency

Re: Candybar Anybody??

That's a bit like saying every TV set looks much the same. There's a reason, people use mobile web and apps and they're designed for such a screen.

Re: Just more BS

I think you meant iPad not iPhone. The iPad was the "big ole iPod Touch". The iPhone invented the OS and GUI that the iPod touch used.

About to install the Windows 10 April 2018 Update? You might want to wait a little bit longer

I was using Windows 10 for Kodi until the update. After the update I kept losing HDMI audio.

Using Linux now and everything behaves perfectly.

Mike Lynch's British court showdown v HPE pushed back to 2019

Re: Caveat Emptor

I've worked with people who were asked to visit a company and do technical audits prior to acquiring them. I would hope they also took people along to do financial audits too.

Most businesses have to undergo audits for their accounts anyway.

Meltdown, Spectre bug patch slowdown gets real – and what you can do about it

Re: "What will it take for Amazon et al to create their own, secure CPU?"

There's a reason X86 is still around, it generally works well.

Itanium (or Itanic as it was jokingly called) just didn't perform well despite being an elegant design. With Linus saying they threw away all the good parts of their designs.

Re: Don't buy a new Intel based system for a while?

ARM and AMD are affected less. Plus you forget one thing about ARM, they don't make their own processors and therefore those affected can quickly fix the chips they use without waiting for a manufacturer to issue the new part.

Re: So how much will this throw Intels release schedule out by?

This will motivate many to investigate AMD or ARM. You certainly shouldn't reward such major incompetence with repeat business.

Pretty sure Intel will have devalued their offerings by ruining their reputation, they sure won't be changing a premium price for a while.

Kernel-memory-leaking Intel processor design flaw forces Linux, Windows redesign

Re: Hmmm...

Pretty sure the FPU bug was easily patched, they just added one or two NOOPs between certain instructions. It was a compiler fix.

Re: I finally switch from AMD to Intel, and this is what happens.

The new Ryzen processors are good, but there's not a lot of software optimised for them as of yet.

Re: Why not just hire a VW engineer...

So the benchmarks planning a car racing game will be good so long as you have the wheels facing forward?: )

But a you pointed out, it could be fixed in the CPU. That's not the case with this Intel fix and changing every x86 OS in the world isn't a great fix.

Class Action

Hopefully a lot of people are going to sue.

Intel is getting complacent again, good job AMD have had a bit of a revival.

Modular dud drags LG to first loss in six years

Re: Modular was always a silly idea

So please tell me where I can get a phone with 4800mAH battery.Just because one company got the idea wrong doesn't invalidate it.

I have a Moto Z with a clip on battery. This gives me enough battery life for about 2-3 days and makes the phone larger, but not bigger than an iPhone 3G. I personally loathe how phones are being made slimmer all the time to the detriment of usability and battery life, what use is your phone if the battery is dead?

The main issue with modularity is definitely that the quality of the add ons can't be too great as they'll be useless for the next phone you get.

Samsung Note 7: Probably the best phone in the world. Yeah – you heard right

They need to STFU about Samsung Pay until they launch it in the UK.

Bought their Gear S2 after reading it has Samsung Pay only to realise it hadn't launched in the UK.

Chromecast gains wired Ethernet dongle

Messy. Just release a new version with ethernet, people hate a sprawl of wires in the living room.

The NHS pays up to NINE TIMES over trade price for commodity kit

Re: Backhander

Maplin? or PC World and their £20 USB printer cables. But they're such great quality, your prints will be clearer LOL.

'Utterly unusable' MS Word dumped by SciFi author Charles Stross

If you want to use Libre Office on OSX I'd go for NeoOffice which has some improvements which make it more useful on OSX.

Let's vote on breaking up Google, say MEPs with NO power to do any such thing

Re: New Start-up idea: Euoorle / Findo

Us Brits could do one.

BSE.co.uk (British Search Engine).

Tagline: You're a mad cow to use it.

Assange™ slumps back on Ecuador's sofa after detention appeal binned

Re: Tough choice...

Meanwhile the policing bill reaches £10 million or so, which would be better spent on policing the really dangerous people on the streets.

Jony Ive: Apple isn't here to make money. And students shouldn't use computers so much

Re: Theft

LG's touchscreen phone?!?

Apple Newton, development started in 1987 and the product was released in 1993. It has many of the features of a modern smartphone and was released a year before the first smartphone (IBM Simon).

To develop the Newton Apple needed a low power mobile CPU and helped fund the development of it with ARM.

So the whole modern ARM smartphone world is thanks to ARM and Apple.

UK govt 'tearing up road laws' for Google's self-driving cars: The truth

Lets see what happens in the US before we let them on our roads. Driverless or not, the roads are dangerous and overcrowded, so it's not really solving an important problem is it?

Dragons' Den badboy ups Expansys bid to £7.55m

I don't see what there is of value in Expansys, the brand isn't good and if I want a phone it's one of the last places I would think of trying.

Maybe 10 years ago it had some sort of purpose, but not in 2014.

Bitcoin or bust: MtGox files for bankruptcy protection

Given how dodgy Bitcoin is it was probably an inside job. Pay a few dodgy hacker types to magic the money into thin air then wind up the company.

The owner will be relaxing in his new luxury home soon.

TONGUES OUT if you want to LICK Steve Jobs' BACKSIDE

They're self adhesive now?

What about the rumour that sticking the stamp upside down was treason?

Surface Pro 2 dim screen of death snafu STILL happening after patch

It's okay, they make a nice skateboard.

NTT DoCoMo says two mobe OSes are enough, so sayonara to Tizen

Re: Tizen is a total basket case

Given how dominant Google are should be just let them have monopolies in everything?

El Reg Contraption Confessional No.1: The Dragon 32 micro

Currently have a Beeb, Ti99/4a, VCS, Spectrum, C64 and Atari 800xl set up in my living room. Admittedly I'm having a retro gaming night :)

All of the above with the exception of the TI99/4a are loading from SD of CF card. So there really isn't any need to worry about tapes and old floppies.

PlayStation 4 a doddle to fix: Handy if it OVERHEATS, for instance

Re: Hard to find faults with PS4, isn't it?

To be fair the only fault I remember hearing about with the PS3 was the disc scratching issue.

Ricoh Theta 360˚ camera: Point and click immersive imaging

Re: Is there a market for this?

If this camera can do video then your panoramic idea won't work unless your phone spins really fast.

Google's Nexus 5: Best smartphone bang for your buck. There, we said it

Re: cheap and nasty

I would imagine that the cost is a combination of cut corners and smaller profit margin. But I wouldn't expect the cost difference between it and a high end Samsung to be that much. It's just Samsung are raking it in.

Global execs name Apple 'most innovative company' – again

Experiments in appearance and form factor isn't exactly an innovation.

People have been putting computers inside weird cases for years.

Ministry of Sound sues Spotify over user playlists

So all of a sudden you aren't allowed to "copy" a list of songs and what order they are in?

Lets hope people don't start copyrighting their shopping lists.

Samsung's amazeballs 3D V-NAND SSD not THAT much better than predecessor

More hype from Samsung, they're getting as bad as Apple.

BlackBerry slides crown jewels into Samsung: BBM Android app touted

This reminds me a bit of a joystick company called Konix, they were developing a games console and were struggling for cash, so they gambled their whole business on the console by selling their joystick division to a rival. It didn't end well.

Moto X: It's listening to you. But can voice control finally take off?

Re: No expandable storage (MicroSD)

Give me 32GB internal over 16GB + slot any day. The size of the internal storage is crucial when the OS downloads to internal storage, if your internal memory is close to full then no amount of SD storage will let you download from the Play store.

Google Glassholes can't take long walks off short piers thanks to Merc app

Re: a SatNav for walking?

My android phone's Google navigation app suggested a route where a right turn at traffic lights is not permitted, so even with Google's mature maps there's still lots to do when it comes to actual navigation data, not just the actual maps.