Posts by Dr_N

BMW offers in-car streaming music for cross-Europe road trips

Re: WOW

DAB only works in the UK.

TuneIn makes more sense.

I already use it in the mornings for Radio4 here in France.

The trans-EU 3G data makes good sense. But it all depends on how much BM's annual fee is.

A step in the right direction.

WTF is... LTE Advanced?

Re: How about a reliable 2/3G?

"Not much use on the move!"

OP was complaining about coverage in his home.

Perhaps he has a caravan, camper or narrow boat.

I assumed none of the above.

(But Hope he flies the Jolly Roger if he's on a narrow boat!)

Re: How about a reliable 2/3G?

Get a femtocell box.

Hunt: I'll barcode sick Brits and rip up NHS's paper prescriptions

What a Stupid Hunt.

I don't understand how there can be any errors in an homeopathic prescription....

Bing uncloaks Klingon translator

Sad.

I can just picture the development team now: inspired by the life-sized Star Trek character cardboard cut-outs filling their cubes.

Why UK slid £150m to tax-exempt phone-mast master Arqiva

This is Thatcher's real legacy

Everything sold off to foreign "investors" who then trouser massive payoffs in tax rebates and subsidies.

Trebles all round!

HURRAH!

Ancient thumb-driven whirly-wheel smartmobe UI ported to Android

Upvoted for having a Sharp Zaurus.

Re: cool software bro

The Sony thumbwheels where pretty useful.

Even the old Vaio Laptops had them at one point.

If a handset designer could just go back and take a look at some of the innovations that were around when there were a multitude of handset type available, and rehash/repackage/re-market these as new features: they could make a killing....

Apple asked me for my BANK statements, says outraged reader

Re: Apple are not the only ones

The UK driver's licence is still an A4 paper one. The new ones just have a photo ID card associated with it.

Old paper-only licences will become invalid in 2015.

Not much time to get it changed really.

Fairly common in France

This is SOP for many smaller French online retailers who lack the muscle/insurance to claw back money on fraudulent sales.

Easiest method to deal with the problem is not to use them.

Builder-in-a-hole outrage sparks Special Projects Bureau safety probe

Re: That well

"Judging from the time stamps, I'm guessing Lester's post came in a tad late..."

I'd say it was bang-on-time for comedic effect.....

Re: That well

"What's the 2 metres of liquid in the bottom then? Please enlighten me."

Is it donkey piss...?

Re: Excellent!

"Underkill"? isn't that what happens when workmen get buried at the bottom of a badly shored up excavation?

'Hotmail, since you changed to Outlook, you've been a massive pr**k'

Outlook App on Android

Outlook on Android seems to have only one (big) font available with no way to change it.

Useless for scanning through the list of emails.

Even the default mail client is now more useable.

Tesla earns first profit, Model S wins '99% perfect' rating

I like it.

Had a look round the Tesla showroom at Santana Row last week.

The 'S' does look the business. Very Maserati.

But this car seems to have been developed for the Bay Area:

Flat, quite a few recharge points (now) and most commutes involve siting in tailbacks where this car will not expend too much energy. Also solar home installations to power these make sense in California too.

For Northern Europe, I'd need more convincing.

But it is a very big step in the right direction for EVs.

Unfortunately (as with all luxury items from the US) it'd turn up here with more than the reasonable (62,000) dollar price-tag. e.g. £70,000 instead of £40,000.

Israeli activists tell Hawking to yank his Intel chips over Palestine

Re: Mr Hawking, you should listen to “Palestinian academics”

"First true humanistic monotheism"

I think you'll find that was the Persians.

Retro-tech fan seeks cash for Commodore 64 clones

Re: Ummmmmm but

That would be a 1Mhz 6510.....

Microsoft: All RIGHT, you can have your Start button back

Re: A big list of all the installed programs? Great!!!

"You do know you can arrange them hierarchically to suit your own needs?"

It's still just a list. Whether you put them in folders or not.

It must only be me...

...who always thought the "Start" button on the Windows desktop was always a piece of ol' shite and completely counter intuitive for a GUI? (A big list of all the installed programs? Great!!!)

Solaris OpenWin desktop running olvwm for the win!!!!

Monitor-makers ponder Android-powered touch screens

Re: A touchscreen for a PC ?

"A touchscreen is only useful when you don't have a keyboard. It becomes necessary if you have neither keyboard nor mouse. If you have both, it is nothing more than a waste of money."

What rot. It's all about personal choice, n'est pas?

I find a touchscreen very useful for browsing stuff.

But I personally need a keyboard for any text entry.

As for poking at your screen whilst coding. perhaps not.

But I can see a future use for onscreen editing and layout work.

Horses for courses.

Peeping Tom suspects cuffed after 'falling through women's toilet ceiling'

Playmobil?

Might I suggest a reenactment, just so we are clear on the circumstances.....

Star Trek: The original computer game

Re: I remember...

There was a very natty "animated" phaser firing Enterprise splash screen on the PET version, IIRC.

Quid-a-day nosh challenge hack in bullet-hard chickpea drama

Toast Sandwiches

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15752918

Ten ancestors of the netbook

Psion

I've said it before:

With all the technologically advancements since the Psion 5 & 7/netBook came out it's amazing that no one produces a product that even comes near them. Where's my keyboarded 3G enabled touch device with fully integrated apps that doesn't need to be booted or charged up every 2-3 days?

PS You've missed the Epson PX-8 from the list. A cracking 1st gen "netbook" .

Verizon sniffing around Vodafone's US stake again

Jim Harra

will be getting a few good lunches soon then....

Are biofuels Europe's sh*ttiest idea ever?

Next up...

Pope member of the Church of Rome.

Ursines defecate in forested areas.

Yup: Bio-engineered, ethanol producing algae

As seen on Horizon's "Tomorrow's World" recently.

In the mean time. I'll stick with 98 Unleaded for my car.

Better for the environment, and cheaper than the E85 stuff in the long term

in terms of car maintenance and fuel consumption.

Gov.uk named THE BEST THING Britain has made all year

SPAM

It started spamming the **** out of me.

Supposedly due to the switch from the previous FCO site it thought I was interested by such riviting news items as Billy-Whizz Hague's African trip with Angelina Jolie.

Pitiful.

Ten Windows tablets

Asus VivoTab

To echo others who've purchased an Asus, I'm really quite impressed with the one I bought.

The user experience is good with full Windows 8 (It's not Pro though) on a tablet with a keyboard dock/extra battery.

The main benefits compared to my previous Asus Android tablet are that the ability to run Office and printer support.

Touch/keyboard/mousepad + stylus combo works really well. Whatever you want to do, you have the configuration that suits the job.

I don't understand the Win8 knockers. You have the "Metro" side of things for tablet mode and then bring up the desktop and dock it into the keyboard for a more traditional device. What's not to understand/like?

Qudos to Asus for championing this format of device. Real world usable innovation.

French spies do a Barbara Streisand over secret nuke radio base

Re: It's not a radio base...

"Anon to avoid being beaten to death..."

or being outed as a Daily Express reader?

The ten SEXIEST computers of ALL TIME

Re: No iMac ?

No "Original" iMac, that is. The Jeff Goldblum advertised one.

No iMac ?

Really? An icon of the internet era, I'd say.

I did covet the Elan at the time.

And the C128 although cool, wasn't as sexy as the B128 "headless" PET replacement.

The healing hands of guru Dabbs

Scare Tactics

"Last week I may have given the misleading impression in this column that I could fix home computers. Judging from the number of readers who helpfully suggested the kind of hourly rate I should charge my neighbours for delivering such a service,"

I don't think people were suggesting you start and IT helpdesk business.

Just to throw large enough figures around to stop people asking you to perform "menial" tasks for them.

Same for the work environment:

"Okay, I'll take a look at that for you. If you finish this report for me....."

Judge: Facebook must see Timelines Inc in court over trademark

Timeline?

Prior art in a 2003 Michael Crichton (badly) penned screenplay, shurely?

You know how your energy bills are so much worse than they were?

In France...

EDF are preparing to increase the price of electricity by 30% over the next 5 years to cover the cost of a ludicrous government push for "renewables".

(In a country with 80% of electricity generated by nuclear and 10% from hydroelectric!)

Bastards.

And let's not forget gouv.fr controls EDF with its 85% stake....

Experts agree: Your next car will be smarter than you

Re: Do not want, and in fact this kind of thing is a fucking 'orrible idea.

Rant against courtesy? Nice.

I hate pedestrian crossing hangers.

You know the ones: loitering at pedestrian crossing looking like they wish to cross the road,

then madly gesticulating at you to move-on after you've stopped to let them cross.

The UK Energy Crisis in 3 simple awareness-raising pictures

Re: Gas-based energy policy for a country with no (more) natives reserves?

"Using other means to generate electricity will not help with those who use gas for heating and cooking"

I think you'll find if you're not burning gas to generate 'leccy then there's no shortfall for domestic heating & cooking.

Domestic use of gas isn't the problem:

40% of UK electricity being generated from gas is the problem.

Gas-based energy policy for a country with no (more) natives reserves?

What morons where involved in that decision?

Movie, TV ads annoying? You ain't seen nothin' yet

They use product unplacement on French TV

Any factual programme output on the publicly funded stations (which so advert) have all shots with any product names or company logos mirrored to try and obscure them.

Not sure if that's a BBC style editorial stance, or the paying advertisers calling the shots...

Review: Renault Zoe electric car

"So countries with more hours of sunshine will bring the costs of recharging down, for many it will be free. Heck, enthusiasts in California have been enjoying dirt cheap motoring for decades by converting their existing cars to electric and running solar chargers."

Free PV solar chargers you say?

I didn't know poly silicon production was so clean and easy it was now free!!!

We're saved!!!

Not.

Dodgy Renault Electrics?

Already bad enough in a combustion engined car.

In an all-electric effort? Non, merci!

Re: Use of Foul Language.

If people are complaining about "bad" language, maybe the China Mobile 4G article needs some rantage too.....?

Another MYSTERY evacuation: Google UK empties swanky offices

Re: Fire drill

Or the nascent eco-green warrior who tripped the sensors when leaving after visiting one nuclear power station.

After much angst and shouts about being irradiated by the CEGB someone pointed out that the guy was wearing an old watch with luminous dial markings. "You'll get more of a dose wearing that thing than working here!" one clever so-and-so pointed out to him....

Review: Sony Xperia Z

After so many many SE phones...

... starting with the then brilliant K750i through the K800/K850i and the (frankly best all-round phone ever) W995i right up until the current Xperia Mini pro, there is just nothing in Sony's line-up to entice me.

Touchslab phones are the norm now. Where's the innovation?

World's largest solar collection plant opened in Abu Dhabi

Re: Where in the world is there lots of sunshine?

"It would be genuinely stupid for the UK to invest significantly in direct solar energy, given the general lack of sun."

If that's the case, how come Ecotricity is making someone very rich...?

Oh yeah, FITs, my bad!

Paying a TV tax makes you happy - BBC

When you compare what the BBC offers...

... compared to the advert encrusted guff that is produced by other publicly funded broadcasters across the EU no wonder people are happy.

Drunk driving: No more dangerous than talking on handsfree mobe

Re: Concentration

"No-one suggests that if you speed you will instantly crash."

Oh yes they do. I've met many 65mph-no-matter-where-i'm-driving drivers who are adamant that if you do 72mph on the motorway you are going to die die.

Infinite loop: the Sinclair ZX Microdrive story

I never bothered with the 1541 for my C64.

Picked up a CBM8250 dual floppy drive and an Interpod instead.