Posts by Tim Croydon

Peaches Geldof cops a severe shoeing

Dennis Pennis

"him in skin-tight plaid trousers, huge geek glasses, and a mass of red hair sticking out haphazardly from beneath an Amish-style hat"

Fancy nipping for a quick two-thirds of a pint?

Lightweights!

Is this to appease the lightweight Euro-drinkers who can't cope with a full 568ml and have to have 0.5 litres, most of which is froth?

A real pint of the good stuff for me please!

Google Maps gets gov M-way congestion overlay

Open API?

Wouldn't it have been better to just open an API so anyone could add the info to their sevice, rather than a tie-in with a single company?

Man buys new MacBooks, pulls them to bits, takes pics

Note to self...

Don't lend Webster any electronic stuff.

Google demanding Intel's hottest chips?

@Certification.. BAH!

If Intel publicly guarantee a temp 5C higher than current, then everyone will expect to be able to run 5C higher than that, and so failure rates will increase, not looking good for Intel. Therefore they set their temp low to get a maximum yield and minimise returns.

It's the same with ladders. I understand they are usually tested to at least twice the recommended load, but I'd rather work at roof-level on a ladder with an average 50% safety margin than a ladder with an average 10% safety margin!

Blu-ray Disc a 'bag of hurt', says Jobs

It's complexity and cost holding it back

DVDs are great and simple. Any DVD plays on any player, through any TV (region coding aside). Even without the BluRay/HD-DVD silliness consumers are confused by HD (720/1080, p/i) and the choice is not made easier by the variety of HD broadcast mechanisms which all cost too much for too little content.

Also, consumers are out of the habit of buying physical media. Look at a typical high-street retailer (Zavvi, HMV, etc.). The space that was used almost exclusively for CDs a few years ago is now used to sell CDs, DVDs, BluRay, Console games, accessories, t-shirts, posters, mobile phones. The only time most people buy physical product is through bargain websites and when they're £3.99 in Tescos.

Until I can get a reasonable blu-ray player for under £100 (to try out the technology) and media for less than a tenner, I'm holding on.

T

Mayor Boris wants 'WiFi London'

Way down list of priorities

This only really benefits people who can afford portable wifi devices. And I'm sure most of those will have access to hotspots. If anything is that urgent, it's never too far to an access point in London.

I would much rather see my taxes go towards things that will save money somehow and make a real difference to my life, e.g. better transport, better public information websites, better NHS etc.

This is yet another headline-grabbing story rather than real politics. Boris, if you're listening, please concentrate on sorting out the kids on street corners and tidying up London.

Acer raises UK prices

WTF?

How does that work then? I'm sure we've seen regular price increases because of the weakness of the dollar over the last couple of years. Seems to be all take with no give if you ask me!

Freelancers might be taxed as employees after High Court ruling

Should sue his accountant

Surely the accountant should have been able to avoid this happening. If there was no accountant, well it just goes to show why it's worth paying a professional.

As for all the people complaining about how hard contractors get it, tough. That was your choice; You sacrifice the 'stability' of a fixed job for better pay, choice and flexibility, not for the chance to avoid taxes.

TC

El Reg drops in on Bletchley Park

T-Shirt

I know there's a T-Shirt available for donations of £50 or more here:

http://www.pgp.com/stationx/resources.html

However, as an IT worker £50 is still a fair chunk of cash, so I'd be happy to consider a more pocket-friendly (and entertaining!) piece of apparel.

As for design suggestions, I don't think I can beat MrWeeble's!

TC

Grazing cattle display animal magnetism

Sun position?

Did they account for the fact that most of the pictures would have been taken in good daylight, while the shadows are short, i.e. around lunchtime. So, aren't the cows just avoiding staring at the sun (or stopping their rump getting too well done)?

Better qualification please, "academics".

SMS costs more than using Hubble Space Telescope

Apples and Pears

Rather missing the point I feel. As a comparison, using a bike to transport 10 tons of gravel 100 miles is inefficient when compared to using a tipper truck.

If that's the type of argument used to justify expenditure or show value of large science experiments then something's definitely wrong with the world.

Guitar maker Gibson thrashes out more robo-axes

@Is this what you want?

It doesn't tune while you're playing. It's meant so you can quickly tune up between songs, etc.

The real benefit is to guitarists that use lots of tunings (e.g. standard, DADGAD, Open G etc.) on different songs.

The disadvantage is the extra weight of the motors changes the balance of the guitar. Not sure how stable the tuning would be - I always find it best to tune *up* to the correct pitch to balance the tension either side of the nut and bridge.

I say just buy more guitars for different tunings - you can never have too many, despite what the missus says!

(Skull as it's the most rock and roll)

Story withdrawn

Crap stats

72% guessed which women were sluts? Surely it's just that 72% realised which wouldn't get any as they'd been liberally beaten with the ugly stick?

All blue-eyed people share one common ancestor

Recessive gene

But if blue eyes is a recessive gene (as I seem to recall from GCSE biology) then the only way to have blue-eyed kids is for both parents to pass on recessive blue genes. Therefore, does that mean all blue-eyed people are the result of inbreeding or the original ancestors grandchildren?

Disclaimer: I am obviously not a geneticist.

BBC boosts staff morale with jelly

El Reg party

"For the record, the Vulture Central Christmas party, sponsored by ..., APPLE, ..."

So Mr Jobs crew is finally talking to you again?!

Xmas hangovers to cost UK biz £790m

What about gains to UK biz?

Using their ridiculous assumption that all of the 29m workers drink, then they only need to buy 10 drinks each over the festive period (using 'bargain basement' price of £2.70 per drink) to keep the economy in balance.

I feel sure I'll be able to do my bit to bring things back in line! (hic!)

Aussie-Irish boozer ejects 'terrorist' drinker

But...

... why would you go into a pub to dance, before you've even had a few looseners? Sounds like reason enough to eject him if you ask me!

Google funds hold Firefox fate (for sure)

AdBlock Plus...

...has made reading The Register a more pleasurable experience ;-)

Technology is root of all evil, says IMF

What about healthcare?

You could consider health in the same light, e.g.:

"Healthcare is better in the West than in many developing countries, so I propose the abolition of training for doctors and research into medicines to even things up a bit."

What a muppet.

Fire service may charge for shifting fat people

Re: Aircraft

I know I'm taking this too serious, but charging individuals by weight on plane would not be fair. I'm six foot tall, so why should I be charged more for flying than a 5 foot tall woman who weighs half my amount. And that's before you take into account my jeans and boots will weigh considerably more than the young lady's tiny skirt and strappy sandals.

Pentagon in orbital solar power plan for world peace

Rectenna

In this context I can't help thinking of Cartman's anal probe in South Park.

MoD to centralise software procurement

Good for MS?

This will surely suit Microsoft, Oracles and so on rather than helping small players?

Still, anything that reduces unnecessary overhead/ineffieciency in the MOD has got to be a good thing.

TC

P.S. amanfromMars WTF?! etc. etc.

Zep promoter piles into eBay

Gig attendance points scheme

I regularly attend gigs (generally of the rock/metal variety). I invariably find the best gigs are the ones with a more involved/interested crowd rather than the well-publicised popular gigs where people go because of the hype rather than as a fan.

Therefore, I propose the introduction of a 'points' system, where you have to follow several smaller bands round crap venues for a while to prove your commitment to real music before you earn enough points to see bigger, 'name' bands (such as U2, Stones, Led Zeppelin).

If I had the chance to go to a Wimbledon final, or FA Cup final (both of which I have nearly zero interest in) I would feel guilty about taking the chance of seeing the event from a genuine fan. Unfortunately it all comes down to whether you are comfortable selling/buying an item (ticket, in this case) that has potential emotional attachments.

Led Zeppelin reunion opens with Communication Breakdown

http://www.ahmettribute.com/

That's the pre-registration address. It took me many attempts (not quite 20 million though) to get to the pre-reg page (http://www.ahmettribute.com/main.php?show=prereg) and many more until I could actually submit the form.

Incidentally, looking at the WHOIS entry for the site points at an individual in Barnet. Surely they're not running the site off some bloke's home PC?! I was tempted to call his mobile (also on WHOIS) to find out what's going on!

Movie pirate forced to ditch Linux

VMWare...

...is free. Buy cheapest copy of Windows XP you can get and run your favourite Linux flavour in VMWare or similar. Problem solved.

IBM faces Second Life strike

WTF?

So these workers are showing their disdain by not turning up to work in a virtual world where they don't do work anyway? Am I missing something?!

Perhaps IBM management could reduce the effectiveness of the strike by restricting access to Second Life from company computers during working hours, so people have to 'picket' in their own time?

Boffins trial cheap landmine sniff-tech

Cheap sensors?

Hmmmm. Surely the acoustic sensor part (i.e. the microphone) would be relatively cheap in any system. The expensive part would be the processing system and software to correlate and filter the input. Or am I missing something?

Reader succumbs to apostrophe apoplexy

It is, it has or it hasn't got one

That's what my Mum always said.

(And I agree that company names are singular.)

UK gov: Galileo must deliver value for money

Road pricing

Sadly, I suspect the government will push through road-pricing so that road users will have to buy Galileo-supporting equipment to fund the system.