Posts by Owen Ashcroft

Partying, beer and C++: How to choose the right Comp-Sci degree for you

There is no such thing as a good Computer Science degree, they're like Philosophy Degrees, they teach nothing of value whatsoever.

You mention that A-Levels math is useful, rubbish, there's nothing useful in that for a Computer Science degree, I did a load of maths before doing mine, and it was all utter useless, can you add, subtract, multiply and divide? Then you're fine. Knowing the mod operation is helpful too. All the batshit crazy stuff you get taught at A-Level, or in the catch up modules I was forced to do is as useless as a chocolate teapot in a volcano.

The A-Level computing course has one advantage over the A-Level maths course, it's a lot more fun, in terms of does either set you up for the 3 years of wasted time that is a Computer Science degree, not even slightly.

Equally does a Computer Science degree teach you to be effective outside of a research position in the university that taught it, god no, I learnt my programming and all my practical skills working before, during and after my degree. My degree gave me a nice piece of paper that let me beat other people to a job, did it help me once I was there, god no.

The iWatch is coming! The iWatch is coming!

Liar, you care enough to actually read the story and post about how much you don't care.

You know what I don't care about, network infrastructure, android, why the sky is blue, and how can you tell? I don't post on articles about them saying I don't care, because I never bothered to read them.

The reality is you care a lot, so fail for the liar.

Airline ejects passenger for being hungry

Same

Went to New York 3 weeks ago, got questioned for 30 minutes at immigration because I've been to Egypt several times over the last few years, apparently the idea that it's a cheap holiday destination and I like to go for a week during the winter to sit on a beach didn't cut it with the immigration representative who grilled me very publicly about my plans in the US and wanting exact details about my trips to Egypt (1 beach holiday is much the same, and it was 6am in the morning according to my body). Even triple checked my return ticket, and the fact it was a first class return ticket seemed to confuse him even more, as I think he had decided I was a security risk, and it's well known for terrorists to buy first class return tickets to their home country.

Hackintosh maker bites back at Apple

Can't see how Psystar can win

Apple's business model says they sell the entire package, you are buying a box, which includes computer and OS as a single item. They do offer upgrades to the operating system (boxed copies of the OS), but these aren't the same as buying Windows off the shelf, not conceptually at least.

Exactly what is under the hood of the machine is irrelevant, unlike Microsoft Apple are not OS vendors, they are system vendors with a custom OS for those machines, they don't license copies of their OS individually, as a result, purchased or not Psystar are selling unlicensed copies of OSX because they aren't selling the Mac half of the item. Now if Psystar was bright they'd sell OSX upgrades and the machines seperately and just happen to make the machine compatible, but selling them as Macintosh clones is an expensive dead end. They can't win because all other OS/Machine combinations would instantly come up for grabs, e.g. PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, even down to the photo copier sitting in your office. The fact the Mac uses normal PC components isn't really relevant, because there is no conceptual break between OS and hardware in this case.

Apple seeks iPhone reverse engineering expert

Seriously...

Reverse engineering anything is not itself illegal, it depends how you go about doing it, many companies build interoperability into their software or systems using reverse engineering because the documentation is not out there to support legitimate development. Reverse engineering, esp. in the states has long been seen as a driver for competition, with it being supported in a number of cases by the Supreme Court, however may, if done incorrectly stray into patent infringement. It is obvious to anyone with access to Google that simply reverse engineering, and/or hacking into a system is far from illegal, it depends who owns that system (for example hacking into your own computer is fine, hacking into the governments is clearly a big no). Also why would anyone want to pay someone who is working on the iPhone to open it up specifically to them? Seriously, where is organised crime's benefit in this, none, nothing

Ultimately most major IT firms hire people capable of breaking into their system, why? Because if they are breaking into their own systems they can fix them before these securities holes are widely found and exploited, if someone else is breaking into them no one knows what they're going to do. There are plenty of examples of people being very successful at hacking systems, even if their goals were far from the companies own goals, if I remember correctly the individual behind the most popular Dreamcast boot loader was offered a job at Sega.

It is quite disturbing that some people assume that people who do this are highly corrupt, there are plenty of people out there who want to understand who item x or y works without any further desire to do anything, I expect the sole reason this job is still open is that no one with the relevant skills has presented themselves in the correct light for Apple to hire them, have you not considered that a lot of people currently digging through the iPhone in their spare time don't already have better jobs? Simply don't want to work for Apple? Or don't live in the US? I think it's unlikely that any sort of fear of walking into the interview and immediately getting bundled to the ground by the police and dragged off to jail is preventing the qualified candidates who can apply, applying.

Gamers love in-game ads, ad industry-sponsored survey reveals

Wasn't the question

Which do you prefer:

1 - In game ads

2 - A red hot poker up the arse

Ballmer bitch slaps Vista

Vista + SP1 seems ok to me

Got it on my laptop, having switched off a ton of junk it runs just fine and I get nearly 3 hours battery life, so I'm reasonable happy with Vista after SP1, before it was bad, really bad.

Best Buy calls copper on unsatisfied shopper

Not only bestbuy

Got kicked out of Game in Chesterfield with a friend for telling him that the PS3 was ridiculously overpriced at £425 (with a crap game selection), and pointing out that they had a pre-owned copy of Call of Duty 2 (or 3 I don't recall) for more than a brand new one, we shared a bit of a chuckle over both things, apparently one of their delicate little employees heard us and we got kicked out for using abusive language to her, seeing as I all I said to her was Sweet FA not really sure how that worked.

Anyway it's another reason never to buy from Game, because if you express your own opinions, to a friend (not some random stranger), in their store about "their" consoles (yes the manager said they were his consoles) they will kick you out, and threaten to call the police if you laugh at them.

O2 gets UK iPhone deal

Seriously wtf...

For the states, sure I can see the specs, here my 1 1/2 year old M600i does everything (Except the camera, but a 2 megapixel camera isn't even worth bothering with) the iPhone currently does and bundles 3G into the mix, not to mention the fact it's smaller.

Looks like my upgrade will still be a blackberry pearl.. Because as much as I love apple the iPhone as a phone here in the UK is over priced and under specced.