Posts by SEDT

Musk tells advertisers to 'go f**k' themselves as $44B X gamble spirals into chaos

Why so much Musk hate?

I think it's worth looking past Musk's odd, annoying, childish and sometimes inflammatory words.

A world without Musk would be lacking some important and amazing innovation. Whenever I watch a rocket booster landing, whether on land or a floating platform, I am left in awe at the level of technical achievement employed to do this.

Whenever you see an electric vehicle passing by ask yourself who kick-started, nurtured and developed this technology so that it's affordable and mass market.

We need people who break the rules and show us a different and hopefully better way forward.

I don't get inflamed by what he does with X Twitter. It's his, he bought it and as far as I'm concerned that gives him the right to do whatever he wants with it.

Love or hate Musk he's interesting and the world would be less fun without him.

Getting to the bottom of BMW's pay-as-you-toast subscription failure

Re: Moving House

I buy CD's from charity shops, RIP, and then return them.

Win-win for me and the charity

Zoom CEO reportedly tells staff: Workers can't build trust or collaborate... on Zoom

I see no paradox in what he has said or is doing. It stands to reason that actually being with your colleagues in person will lead to a deeper understanding of each other and thus, hopefully, improved results.

What the boss of Zoom is doing here is instructive.

His message is that Zoom works, and it can work even better when combined with some physical time together.

Best of both worlds.

Child-devouring pothole will never hurt a BMW driver again

Re: Volvo drivers don't get a serve too?

Nope, loads of Volvos here in the UK, but it's just considered bad form to pick on old people.

CAN do attitude: How thieves steal cars using network bus

Re: Cui Bono?

It's actually we who pay.

OpenAI CEO warns that GPT-4 could be misused for nefarious purposes

Oh! C'mon folks

Every new technology, whether the horseless carriage, printing press, telephone etc, can be and is utilised for nefarious purposes. And in all likelihood was kick-started by a government with war and population control foremost among its motivations.

Nevertheless, I am happy to have enjoyed the manifold benefits that the likes of electricity, computing, medicine, mobility and telephony have brought.

The crux here is about balance. The balance between the undoubted harms that accompany every technology, and the benefits.

Early computing was met with dismay by many but we have since learned that instead of doing us all out of work computers brought freedom from many repetitive and soul-destroying tasks. Remote working would have been a stretch back in the 50s.

Let's stop expounding on the negatives and lead the way in exploring and discovering the potential of this, and whatever else new tools that we create. Bah!

India uses emergency powers to order takedown of BBC documentary

Re: Whatabout massacres

I's refer you to the blocking of RT. Free speech we are not

Spooky Pillars of Creation snap reveals a dark side

Re: JWST is amazing

Let's not overthink everything.

Google's Alphabet to review every project after $6bn decline in profits

Re: Posh Offices

London has an airport that provides direct access for execs from the world over. The rest of the UK is thus rendered a backwater.

Internet backbone Cogent cuts Russia connectivity

Re: Difficult choice to make

Yes the Yugoslavian dictatorship was so wonderful that none of its former members want it back

Re: Difficult choice to make

You are assuming that this would help the good guys come out on top, I'd suggest the polar opposite

RAF chief: Our Reaper drones (sorry, SkyGuardians) stand ready to help British councils

Re: Sill they be armed with…

With so many dash-cams out there I no longer undertake (much). And that's despite it becoming safer to do so with the new additional empty lane between you and those who needlessly occupy the penultimate right hand lane.

British gambling giant Betfred told to pay stiffed winner £1.7m jackpot after claiming 'software problem'

Re: Works Both Ways

That perhaps explains the failure of the casino owned by Don the Trump

We lose money on repairs, sobs penniless Apple, even though we charge y'all a fortune

I don't get it. What's the issue, there are plenty of alternatives to Apple products.

I have never owned an apple product. Yet I have been computing since Commodore Pet, and using cell phones since Philips Philips, PRC30E I think, 1988 (still got it somewhere)

If you don't like the way Apple wrings money out of you, don't by their products.

Britain's on the brink of a small-scale nuclear reactor revolution

Re: Underground

"On the ring of fire, you take your chances. In Norfolk, I think you might be a bit safer..."

Build like there will be a super landslide in Norway, and not repeat the lazy assumptions made at Fukushima

Samsung Galaxy S8+: Seriously. What were they thinking?

Re: £800

"Rephrase your question to be about cars. I still won't be able to give you a good answer apart from "that's how markets work"."

I think cars are similar to, but different from phones, in one important way.

People will see that expensive car parked in your driveway. They will see you driving it, parking it up, using it. It's a signal of fitness. Feathers on a bird of paradise. Those antlers you mentioned. The bower birds nest. And the message is simple. "I can afford to waste resources on this, so I must be well capable of providing you with security, and even an £1,200 phone."

Re: £800

"but can someone explain why anyone would pay £800 for a phone?"

Effective marketing.

They see a 'shiny shiny new phone, and only £48 a month'. And are thus seduced into parting a pile of money, that their 'rational' side would normally balk at.

Also known as Man Maths. Which is a bit of a misnomer as it applies equally to both sexes

Re: Biometric balls

Down trousers. A deterrent to theft as well

Take a sneak peek at Google's Android replacement, Fuchsia

Re: Old joke

I've always enjoyed the Italian pronunciation 'Fuxia'

Prisoners built two PCs from parts, hid them in ceiling, connected to the state's network and did cybershenanigans

Re: Hats off to them...

"What a bored prisoner can't do when motivated by pure boredom"

Absolutely anything. WW2 prisoners in Colditz cut through the iron window bars, with razor blades FFS

Re: Hats off to them...

Crazy Operations Guy

You are, of course, a genius. Which explains the arrogance, perhaps

Boeing 737 turns 50

Re: Clever design

It's a known issue, and resulted in the fitting of a parachute in the tail. The idea being that in a nose up stall the parachute could be deployed to drag the tail up (point the nose down) and restore airflow to the front wings

That's cold: This is how our boss told us our jobs are at risk, staffers claim

The three year plan is .. Three years in which to plan the 'Five year plan'

Seriously though. Take the hint and get out now. Work for an arsehole, you get shat on

Londoner jailed after refusing to unlock his mobile phones

Re: Hmm

There's lies, damn lies, and then statistics.

Then there's Man-Maths

And finally, The gun lovin lobby.

Thank you for your perfect illustration of all the above, plus some fantastic inventions of your own

Tesla books over $8bn in overnight sales claims Elon Musk

Re: Great looking but...

So what. There's plenty enough people with parking to keep Tesla busy for years

How El Reg predicted Google's sweetheart tax deal ... in 2013

Re: Corporation tax

A corporation can 'live' in a tax haven. Not many shareholders can. Profit has to eventually find its way back to the shareholders, so taxing the shareholders in their country of residence is the most effective way of taxing company profits.

Yes, I know some super-rich people will still manage to dodge this. You can't shut every single door. Just let them build their super yachts, have multiple homes and vanity projects. These things, at least, employ normal people.

As it stands corporation tax is a bit of a botch and in the end it is, as always, us that pay it.

Trump's new thought bubble: Make Apple manufacture in the USA

The Great Wall of Trump

Manufacture whatever you like wherever you like. The test comes when you sell that product in the market, and have to compete against whoever is manufacturing the same thing, perhaps better elsewhere and for less.

I don't get him. Is Trump really this thick. Or is he unsubtly pandering to the somewhat poorly educated in the hope that his shakey campaign will gather sufficient momentum to plonk him into the Oval oriface

We suck? No, James Dyson. It is you who suck – Bosch and Siemens

There's a reason why almost the only vacuum you'l trip over in a hotel corridor is a Henry. I have one at work, it replaced the noisy unreliable Dyson

Our home Miele outperforms the two preceding Dyson's in every way, and it's so quiet too

Re: Bah!

Before you go cordless, check out Gtech (a genuine British company, for what its worth). I have one, it works great and significantly cheaper than the Dyson.

Lotus F1: 38°C? Sand in your Vblocks? Must be building a data center in Bahrain again

Re: He's crashed, he's crashed...

I'm guessing that you don't follow F1, as you've misspelled Maldonado

Android in user-chosen lockscreen patterns are grimly predictable SHOCKER

Re: Use for NFC?

"Smart lock should never unlock. Instead it should merely prevent the phone from relocking (after being unlocked manually)."

Um, that's exactly how Smartlock works on my One+ running stock Lollipop

Sony PC owners to get Windows 10 upgrade as early Christmas present

Vaio Duo

Working fine with Win 10.... so far

Ballmer's billion-dollar blunders: When he gambled Microsoft's money and lost

Re: Hmmm

Microsoft didn't buy the brand, just the phone building business. And Nokia are now doing very nicely thanks to Ballmer

https://www.google.co.uk/finance?q=nokia&ei=W2a3VeGkE8XrsgHGx5W4Dw

Cops turn Download Festival into an ORWELLIAN SPY PARADISE

Re: they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark

That would be amazing. Truly truly amazing. But a quick check through the EAN13 barcodes that I use and not a '6' is to be seen. Nice idea though, very dramatic!

Elon Musk's $4.9bn taxpayer windfall revealed

Re: Comparing with a 'competitive' project

I spent a very enjoyable Sunday last weekend experiencing a couple of Tesla cars, and

unlike a one off project car, his efforts are showing the way ahead

Re: Comparing with a 'competitive' project

competent government department

ROFL. I love an oxymoron

Round Two in Sky vs Skype trademark scrap goes to Murdoch's men

Re: Rename?

Ooo That explains why the renamed Skydrive. I thought it was corporate arseing about but upon reflection perhaps they had a reason. Dur

Author fined $500k in first US spyware conviction

I feel better knowing that I can only be spied on by 'legal' spyware

Want a more fuel efficient car? Then redesign it – here's how

Re: potholes

Better explanation would be a chronic lack of funds. Weather conditions (freezing-melting-freezing cycles) don't exactly help either.

Yes the UK is the only country to suffer from freezing-melting-freezing, Hey ho, any excuse. Our government seem to have the funds for £20 billion blown in Afghanistan.

Re: Replace anything with "Lucas" written on it

Top dressing roads with grit ruins our environment, by not only increasing in-car noise, but more importantly, by increasing the volume of noise enjoyed by everyone living nearby

Re: Cruise control

Nope. the motorways would flow much more efficiently without the middle lane ers, jumpy brake users, and twats in cars doing less that the 56mph that trucks are limited to

Re: Cruise control

This 'not being able to outperform ABS in snow' is puzzeling me.

Time was that Audi fitted an ABS off button, specifically for use in snow. The thinking being that locked wheels will collect the snow in a wedge in front of the wheel, thereby slowing you down.

Re: Cruise control

Drivers like this, who don't maintain a reasonably consistent speed on motorways, are a danger

Re: Cruise control back in the 80s

You don't need to wait for flush windows, just look at pretty much any car out there

Re: Home mechanics...

Re: Home mechanics...

I had my 1998 Berlingo (1.4i) in for an engine replacement...

(My fault, sloppy maintenance)

I think I prefer to do the work myself from now...

Have you read your post?

Apple iPhone 6: Looking good, slim. AW... your battery died

Re: How much?@AC

But I don't have to sell anything to save my £$275

iPhone 6: Advanced features? Pah! Nexus 4 had most of them in 2012

"Many Apple using friends liked the fact that their 3 / 4 was the size it was and did not like the idea of my jumbo 5" phone, and I now have to wonder what their next phone is actually going to be if their only Apple choices are now that size or larger."

I'm betting they'll stick with Apple and suddenly love those big screens. Now that the fruit tree has told them that they're OK.

Jony Ive: Apple iWatch will SCREW UP Switzerland's economy

Re: Switzerland still has plenty of other industries...

Seiko also make mechanical watches. I have a self winder, costs under £70 and keeps good time.

I enjoy the fact that its not electrickery. Its timeless (Unh?).