Posts by Mike Taylor

That 'Surface will die in 2019' prediction is still a goer, says soothsayer

Re: So the logic is

Yup. The day my 1520 died was truly horrid. No device I've had since, whether Android or iPhone, has come near it.

Microsoft's 'Surface Phone' is the ghost of Courier laughing mockingly at fanbois

Re: Microsoft FAIL

Sadly I had to bail in the summer too. Had a work iPhone, which I loathed. Got a high end Samsung. Dear god android is clunky compared with wp8.

Futuristic driverless car technology to be trialled on... oh, a Ford Mondeo

Re: WFT

I'm not sure they have a test track, as it sounds. They have a large private road network, with junctions, roundabouts etc.

Windows 10 Creators Update preview: Lovin' for Edge and pen users, nowt much else

Update for touch users...

...these mostly sound like updates for the surface phone doodah.

Magic Leap sued for sex discrimination … by woman it hired to stamp out sex discrimination

Re: Out of interest...

Right, and given the vapor like qualities of this product, the demos etc are an intrinsic way in which the values and ambitions of a product are communicated. Weight balance, whether the design is knowing macho / militaristic etc, the use cases down in promotion, all help when trying to engage in communities more diverse than a subset of mostly male gamers / first adopters

Microsoft disbands Band band – and there'll be no version 3

Disappointing, again

I have one, bought one on the spur of the moment. Good price point, good product.

EE looks at its call charges, hikes a bunch, walks off giggling

Re: EE and PAYG vermin

Quite. I have both 3 and EE sims in my 950xl and use them wisely. Cheaper and better.

Smartwatches: I hate to say ‘I told you so’. But I told you so.

Re: MS Band

I could use a 'gardening' option on my band. Otherwise, I use it and I like it.

Sweden decides Julian Assange™ 'remains detained in absentia'

Re: Is Julian even news-worthy anymore?

Not just to avoid prosecution, he appears to have run rather than face questioning.

Want a Brexit? Promise you'll sort out UK universities' £1bn research cash loss

Re: The report is here

Stupidly, a word got cut of the URL

https://www.digital-science.com/resources/digital-research-report-examining-implications-of-brexit-for-the-uk-research-base/

Re: Non EU members cannot lead projects

One place where it will sting - and sting hard - is when we (those of us who work in academic infrastructure projects) are looking for partners. The US will continue partnering with the EU countries, and we'll be positioned somewhere near the BRIC countries in terms of priorities. And we'll still have to adopt those standards to remain interoperable and build the open science infrastructure.

US work visas for international tech talent? 'If Donald Trump is elected all bets are off'

Quite. The 'special relationship' relationship may have existed once. In the last twenty years when I've been traveling to the US a lot, it is chimeric. Out of the EU, we'd be somewhere south of the EU, BRIC comes, and other Latino countries in terms of Specialness. I've had many non-US colleagues in the US, only a couple are British (and my company is based in the UK and NL)

Field technicians want to grab my tool and probe my things

Re: OOh missus! - engineers carry tool cases

That is more interesting than I care at admit at this stage of the day. I need a Franzose to complete my set.

Get lost, Windows 10 and Phone fans: No maps HERE on Microsoft's OS

Re: Another one bites the dust

The down votes are a bit silly. The Maps app doesn't quite have the UI that HERE drive has, but other than that, it's a first rate tool that does a good job with directions.

We tested the latest pre-flight build of Windows 10 Mobile. It's buggy but promising

Re: @Mike Taylor It is indeed peculiar.

Good for keeping my hands warm on a cold day too!

950XL user, pretty happy

I was very dubious about buying a 950XL, given Andrew's reviews. Bit I'm glad I did (I needed two sims and a good big screen). I don't recognize the problems he reports. Yes, there were two or three bugs that annoyed me, but they seem to be getting sorted. Last night's upgrade resolved a couple. Hello works now accurately (gets me with and without glasses nearly all the time). Cortana is sweet. Some aps need more tinkering, and the tick for selecting menu options isn't as obvious as always. The learning process for swiping doesn't seem quite as accurate as on 8, but it's miles ahead of the iphone text entering.

Google robo-car backs into bendy-bus in California

Re: One at-fault accident in > 10^6 miles

It'll be interesting to see how the cars fare in Italy and Portugal. There are roads that are definitely classified as good for vehicles that are ... a challenge to drive on.

Is this the last ever Lumia?

Re: at least the 1020 tried something

The camera on the 950 / 950xl is great.

I took a wild punt on buying a 950xl couple of weeks ago - I pretty much had to get a new camera, and I thought I'd try it, despite the negative review from AO here. In fact, it's pretty damn good. No glitches that I've noticed, battery lasts well, as fast as you like.

US Navy's newest ship sets sail with Captain James Kirk at the bridge

I'm gutted about them going. While I'm a bleeding heart liberal, I like intelligent journalism.

Child abuse image hash list shared with major web firms

Re: Hash list

I wonder whether the people who do this research (and I am seriously glad I am not one of them) has looked at using the 'bag of vectors' approach - I saw some work a few years ago, very impressive at identifying the same types of features - matching objects taken at different angles. Computationally expensive, of course, but that's always something that can be dealt with. I have to say that I'm not surprised to hear of the hashes (from a technical perspective), but it's in contrast with what I heard on the radio the other day about how long it takes the police in the UK to search through devices. I would be interested in looking at the accuracy of taking a cluster of approaches (whole image hashes, partial hashes, feature hashes, even key word analysis).

Where's Worstall/Weekend Edition?

Longer pieces

The longer pieces were a particular joy of mine. I think there's something inherently geeky in appreciating good writing by an expert extolling the virtues of their field, and showing it off. Although I can't do bugger all with a car apart from drive it, and will probably never buy a new one, I love reading good motoring journalism, and some of the expert pieces you've had about building cars have really chimed for me. No doubt there are plenty of places to read that kind of thing, but - for me at least - El Reg's reputation tells me that an article is going to be worth reading. And I'll add to that your coverage of science (noted elsewhere) - I really appreciate that your journos stay sober long enough to write a subject up properly, and not just re-vamp the press release. Also noted elsewhere - for various reasons - linking to the DOI of an article would drive traffic in your direction.

Farewell then?

I am sorry the the weekend edition seems to be dead. It was becoming part of my routine. Shall miss Tim too, even if i am a bleeding heart leftie, i like a good debate.

Linking to research

Linking to research

Dear Vultures

I wonder if you'd help me out (and several million people who use / read / do research.

I'm involved in building networks of research and research stories, and one of our biggest problems is that journalists don't link directly to the paper, or use the DOI to identify it. For example, a pre-print of the article behind the story on the exoplanet wind from Warwick has been stored in Arxiv (http://arxiv.org/abs/1511.03689). DOIs usually take the form of http://dx.doi.org/{gibberish}

We use these networks in a variety of ways - to model how ideas are circulated (not with Doppler effects though), but also to show relevant weblinks on sites like Scopus. As it happens, your august organ is one of the few to dedicate proper time to writing results up rather than just regurgitating the abstract and the press release. (As a reader, I thank you).

Obviously including a link would also be very helpful to your readers, in that they could then (at least) read the pre-print, or the abstract, often these days the full open access text.

cheers,

Mike

Microsoft Windows Mobile 10: Uphill battle with 'work in progress'

Re: Just give up already, Microsoft

I have an iphone as well as a variety of winphones. I think you'd find it a huge step back - certainly I do. The almost complete lack of information on the home pages is disturbing - not being able to do anything about drag those damn, dead icons around is pretty sad. It doesn't have the homeliness that I'm used to. The text input is abysmal compared to swiping around. Can't pin particular contacts on the home page, apparently. Sometimes you can do it, sometimes you can't. The controls seem to be one more click away than is strictly necessary. Siri is not as well integrated as Cortana. I keep finding little things that you just can't do, which is really aggrevating.

The physical feel is good though, the local search works well. Nice to have lots of apps - although I find I keep installing then uninstalling gimicky ones. Shiny, but boring on the surface and overly complicated below the surface.

Weirdly my windowsphone skype seems to take longer to sync than the iphone one (although my current windows phone is bargain basement, as I'm waiting for the 950xl)

Micro release reviews

I really like the way that both Windows 10 have been subject to getting reviews during the development process. It's an insight into the development process - though I've never worked on anything as complicated or high profile, I know the feverish pace they'll be working at right now.

* Mines the one that'll have the 950XL dual sim in the pocket.

Sennheiser announces €50,000 headphones (we checked, no typos)

Can we get John Watkinson to review these (and a very wide range of other cans)?

Microsoft's OneDrive price hike has wrecked its cloud strategy

365 was unlimited?

Missed that one, my account always said 1T. I guess I'm not going to miss that then...

Cutting the free storage is a stupid decision, on the other hand.

Use Skype if you want to report a crime, say cops

Re: And what about standard sip video phones?

I don't know about standards per se. However the cop on the radio said they have google+, whatsapp, messenger etc on their roadmap. The more ways to contact them the better

Hands On with Windows 10 Mobile build 10572

Re: Abandonment issues

I think that's a slightly misleading sentence in the article. It sounds as if Continuum works, but the display issue is slightly compromised (ie, doesn't power two displays at two resolutions on existing phones). I think the writer's view that you need to abandon your phone is overstated - especially since it seems that WM10 works on most recent bits of hardware.

Windows Mobile 10 nears point of no return

Re: Epic Fail

No problem on my 1520 either. I rather like the ui changes

Weight, what? The perfect kilogram is nearly in Planck's grasp

So what if they disagree - a discussion is a good thing in science

Just don't call it a mass debate.

Adulterers antsy as 'entire' Ashley Madison databases leak online

[e-mail]

Absolutely - I get loads of emails purporting to be from dating sites, and I spam them. Nothing from "Established Man" though, I guess because I work in IT...

Perhaps middle-aged blokes SHOULDN'T try 34-hour-long road trips

A timely article

Just recovering from the annual weekend drive from Garda to the SE UK, this year inconvenienced by a five hour wait at San Gottard and one of our party forgetting our passports and not finding out until we got to Como... Another four hours wasted. Some observations...

1) the Italian toll systems vary between pre/post pay, but at least you can read which lane is which from some distance away. Only came across a human in the cash lane once. Even locals don't bother with autocards

2) the French systems I used were all post-pay, no humans, signs are illegible esp at night until 100m away

3) there was no-one around to take money for my vignette in Switzerland, but they got all my money at the garage

4) Swiss road signs that say 90 minutes to wait are lying, best to go via Chur and Zurich

5) The Italian driver is not as scary as the Dutch driver in his urbanpanzerkinderwagen driving at 160km

6) Except for the gentleman near Milan who decided to stop his car and change his tyre ... on the slip road between autostrada. Last seen chatting cheerfully as a huge trailered lorry was screeching into my lane in an effort not to reduce him to passada

7) Nobody gets crosser than a Dutch driver in an urbanpanzerkinderwagen when you don't let them push into a toll queue. Seriously...

But mostly, I wondered why - on the first toll I come to - I can't pair a bank card and my registration plate and thereafter be done.

Re: badge is free

Oh, that is good to know. I shall see about getting one. Know if the Italian system works like that too?

Uninstalled Google Photos? Thought your pics safe from slurping? WRONG, bozo

Re: Not sure on Android....

Settings > Back-up > Turn photos off, could hardly be easier on WP!

Yes! Windows Phone lives: Microsoft to pump the device Kool-Aid

Re: Not abandoned

And frankly: thank goodness for that. I'm dangerously close to being a WP fanboi (as much as I am a *nix fanboi at least) - there are far too many models. Three tiers is good. Big/small. I am hanging on for a dual SIM version of my 1520

On yer bike: Hammerhead satnav for cyclists – just don't look down

[e-mail]

Nice idea. I use my phone, plus a single ear bud when I'm cycling in London (instructions only, am not suicidal), the idea of cycle route preference is very sweet

How a Cali court ruling could force a complete rethink of search results

[e-mail]

Precisely the conclusion I took from the heading; and half the reason I clicked, was to see why Cali's judiciary was going to have the effect

Wikipedia jumps aboard the bogus 'freedom of panorama' bandwagon

Re: I glad I saw this

I unsubscribed from both Change and 38voices when I got mine. If I could have unsubscribed from a topic / topics when I could do so, then I would, as usually I'm at least critically interested. The increasingly hysterical subject lines / text visible in emails - particular in relation to GM / food tech - has finally got to me.

Multiple fondling on the MIGHTY 12-INCH iOS 9 SLAB — so, so close now

"equal halves or unequal thirds"

Are you writing for idiots?

BUZZKILL. Honeybees are dying in DROVES - and here's a reason why

Quite, it doesn't sound good. On the other hand, we have to remember that in most parts of the world, and for most species, only the pregnant queens survive winter, so all colonies are created from scratch every year.

Phablet for the biz fleet with easy typing: Microsoft Lumia 640 XL

Re: NOT suitable for enterprise.

Did you try the Nokia move data app? Supposedly that works :(

Life after Nokia: Microsoft Lumia 640 budget WinPho blower

Had to buy an emergency winpho at the weekend

Went for a 435. Twenty-five quid! Screen is a little less responsive than I'd like, but 25 quid! Logged in, everything backed up from my wet and cracked 1520. Perfect.

REVEALED: The 19 firms whose complaints form EU's antitrust case against Google

Maps.bing.com do have ordnance survey maps at two resolutions, presumably as a consequence of multimap

Scouts' downed Compass database won't be back 'til autumn

Re: Stuck in the past?

There's no relationship between the British and US scouting organisations, other than fraternal. In the UK, it's a modern movement of growing popularity. Kit is certainly not the heavy damp canvas of my childhood, can't speak to the IT though

Kia Soul EV: Nifty Korean 'leccy hatchback has heart and Seoul

[e-mail]

I'll second that. Nearly shat myself when I was overtaken by an electric TNT can last year. Too Dan close anyway - but with no notice it was coming, potentially very dangerous. (NB not being an arse, I don't listen to any device while cycling)

Operation Redstone: Microsoft preps double Windows update in 2016

Re: Windows-as-a-Service

I find myself in slightly odd position of having an Office subscription now. The fact that Office is now considerably better than Libre was an issue, but getting 5T one drive storage space for a few quid a month was the thing closed the deal for me

First look: Ordnance Survey lifts kimono on next-gen map app

[e-mail]

If that was the map app that included the historic 1920s layer, than it is sorely missed. Yes, used for hiking. Also for sniffing out archaeological relics - I found so many things using that layer! Also quite enjoyed watching my planes at Heathrow taxiing through a farm, an orchard and a duck pond

Hola HoloLens: Reg man gets face time with Microsoft's holographic headset

Re: The most screamingly obvious use for augmented reality...

Wordament is awesome, but - for the most part - you can click away the ads on the newer windowsphone wwf almost immediately.