Posts by scruncher

Maplin Electronics demands cash with menaces

Screwfix is ACE

I agree wholeheartedly with everything said about Maplin - I too was a fan and customer in the 80s and have long been sad to see its decline - but I'm baffled by all the bad-mouthing of Screwfix on here. Stop it at once! Both branches here in Edinburgh are the best shops in town. The website is excellent, stock levels are generally great and they fall over themselves to get stuff to you next day, even on a Sunday. As far as shops on the 'high street' go, in my eyes they are a shining beacon. And no I don't have shares in them!

Alcatel Idol 3: Holding its own with a pretty decent 5.5 inches

Re: Vodafone Smart Ultra 6 wins

It's easily unlocked on ebay. I too was sceptical of the 5.5in screen but after a minute or two gazing at its large awesomeness and enjoying being able to type accurately, my scepticism went away! I have big pockets :)

Testing Motorola's Moto G third-gen mobe: Is it still king of the hill?

Smarter choice...

... might be the new Vodafone Smart Ultra 6. £125 of unlockable 5.5in loveliness. You do need big pockets though!

Telly behemoths: Does size matter?

How many points does one get for having recently enjoyed every beautifully filmed and acted moment of Wolf Hall in glorious HD on a properly calibrated large screen? Considerably more than 2000 by my reckoning ;)

Eight pocket-pleasing USB 3.0 hard drives

Samsung and Seagate do it for me

I use these disks as a replacement for long term DVD storage.

The Samsung M3 is pretty to look at, reasonably quick and the USB socket is lovely. The default build standard for these new-fangled miniature USB3 sockets is shit to the point where you think you're going to destroy it just by plugging in the cable but Samsung put a really nice one on this. I've had a 1TB one for 2 years and just added a 2TB one. I also have 1TB and 2TB plastic Seagates (not the ones here) which are fine, just not quite as lovely as the M3s. My 1TB plastic Western Digital was in a distinctly lower ballpark though.

I'll check out the Freecom next time as I've had good experiences with their huge metal desktop jobs in the past.

Gold meddler: Doctor Who is 50 years old TODAY

Re: Finally, Moffat comes up with a cracker

Yes, great show with some really clever moments and self-deprecating gags in amongst the usual blend of amazing special effects, wobbly scenery and storyline insanity. My favourite moment was the appearance of Malcolm Tucker's furious brow - all 1.5s of it. I think Matt Smith has been superb but if there's anyone capable of 'following that' it's Peter Capaldi. I really hope he's going to be allowed to drop a few moments of snarling Tucker lunacy into the mix now and again.

KRAKOOM! iPad Air explose in fireball, terrified fanbois flee Apple store

Re: If its in the Daily Fail...

Still looks fishy to me. The story happened a week ago, there seems to be just the single anonymous source, all the articles use almost the same words and it's apparently the wrong device in the photo. And it's the Daily Fail. I'm going with 'not true' for now!

You must be croaking! Boffins reveal sound-gobbling frog's secret

Re: reflects 99.9% of incoming sound waves?

Wouldn't a reduction to a thousandth be 60dB loss? - dunno what times perceived volume reduction that would be though.

Asus FonePad: You may feel a bit of a spanner

Not Gorilla Glassed

Just in case that was going to sway someone's purchase. I'm waiting for the Asian models to drop to a realistic price on ebay before I plump for one. They come with a rear camera. No idea why European models don't.

FLABBER-JASTED: It's 'jif', NOT '.gif', says man who should know

Jigger my giblets

I've never heard so much gibberish. I've always pronounced it Jif and I'm Brijish. I'm just pleased to see the word 'acronym' being used rightfully for once!

Fraudster gets ten years after selling fake 'ionic charge' bomb detectors

Western forces must have been in on the scam

C4 News last night interviewed an ex bomb disposal guy who said that UK and US forces knew a decade ago that these devices were bogus. It was 'common knowledge'. And yet they somehow managed to work side by side with Iraqi forces for most of those 10 years without ever pointing this out? Seems like the media ought to be asking some obvious questions of the top brass.