Posts by Mike Taylor

Ten... freeware gems for new PCs

Sound and music editing

Has to be audacity, doesn't it? On linux too, and it's ace.

Nokia: 'hybrid' mobiles will save us

Anything but a black slab

Please. I know I love my N900 (now more-or-less) deceased, but I really really don't want to have to buy another anonymous slab. Yes please, interesting devices. Something that stands out and isn't another tedious, unimaginative mini-fondle-pad.

Nokia's 41Mp cameraphone shoots towards retail

Re: FAIL

I can think of nothing more likely to get me throwing my credit card in the shop than this + meego. Oh well, this + meego + a real keyboard :-(

(Mine's the tear-stained one with the dead N900 in its pocket)

Computer nostalgia is 10 PRINT 'BOLLOCKS'

Re: iPad 3

oh the horror! Clear memories of installing quark 2.11, then 2.12, then 2.12a, then 2.12b on multiple screens to pacify some passive aggressive boss

Ten... Kitchen Gadget Treats

Re: Coffee is a serious matter

Hell yes. I am a coffee snob and (imho, of course), filtering or percolating are the kindest ways to go.

RIM should focus on BBM, find a human CEO

Re: Good article

Yeah, i know they're not the same, I have a work BB too. If I really, really can't have (as you say) a hand-held computer, then something I can type fast on will have to do. But I am gutted, my poor phone shot out of my pocket, across three lanes, banged into a gutter - still working, but the screen has finally got seriously scratched and occasionally odd things happen :-(

Good article

I'm having to face up to replacing my beloved Nokia N900, and a decent keyboard is one of the critical aspects - and I'd much rather not buy into the Gooplex any more than I do already. I would go for a BB such as you describe without hesitation, esp when the new OS comes out.

Cocktail Audio X10 CD copier and music streamer

"surprising lack"

Makes me want it more.

Rumoured 'GarageBand for e-books' to bulldoze textbook biz

The politicization is not something publishers want. It's a major pain in the arse. And frequently stupid and wrong. It's dictated by school / education boards, which are often elected.

O2 denies Nokia WinPho handset cull

I hope they get a wiggle on, I can upgrade on Jan 6th and will stay with O2 if I can get one on a reasonable tariff.

Mozilla, Google extend 'sweethearts' browser deal for 3 years

Could be an anti-monopoly tactic

Given the crap the MS got into with IE, funding an alternative browser - whilst still benefiting from it - is a very sensible strategy.

Punters even more dissatisfied by Virgin Media's package

Where is this click of which you speak?

Murdoch junior QUITS board of Sun publisher

Please stop with the CAPS

Enough, already. As bad as the BBC with their 'quotes'.

EMC exec flames El Reg

IT'S NOT A FLAME

SURELY in the name of gods sake ITS not a FLAME!!!!!! EPIC FAIL ON SO MANY LEVELS no swaring no threats no EPIC LEVELS OF OTT WTF fanboi!

Virgin Media sees 36,000 cable customers scarper in Q2

Ymmv

I've had to put in a support call a couple of times in three years. Last time I got through to the usual indian call centre. I said i was using ubuntu and expected the usual response. Instead I ended up having a really good conversation (that ultimately pinpointed the problem) with a young woman who knew more about linux than me. Maybe just lucky, but I was chuffed.

Samsung NS310 netbook

I'll second that.

... the final paragraph about it running with linux and everything working - pretty much the most important thing you said, cheers. More like this please.

Ballmer leaves investors speechless in Seattle

Gerald Ford

was that the last one you're proud of?

Royal Weddings, PCs and Cameron's brass balls

An elegantly constructed argument

Can't say I agree with the politics of it, but it is thoughtful and thought provoking. Thank you.

Motel guest trashes room to free imaginary 'midget'

?lliw

si ylbaborp ti kniht i

Twit piques

?letom egdol der eht ta gniyats eh saw

Rethinking the iPhone

An interesting article

but I can't believe - to a jaw-dropping amount - how expensive those contracts are. It's bewildering. I pay £30 a month to use my N900 and I can't imagine ever using the stupid quantities of minutes and texts I get. Ditto the data, though since it usually connects wifi, it's not an issue. $82 / month. OMG.

Flash finally finagled onto iPhone

All a bit pathetic. really

You can buy phones that let you choose to run some software - flash being an example - you can buy phones that don't. Personally I like playing Flash games on Facebook, I need a physical keyboard and I like as much control as possible, so I bought a Nokia N900. Runs a form of Debian.

I don't understand how choice translates into hate or love, or why people get so wound up about these things. It doesn't say much about the objectivity of the readership, their ability to form opinions or their capability to have a technical discussion. Not that there's many erudite articles about technology on elreg.

Empires built on free code aren't cheap

Point of the article

Is that software (whether licenced or open or free) isn't the only cost, that network infrastructure is a very expensive part of building a company.

He's not making points about licence types, nor open vs proprietory scaling.

As the COO of Ubuntu Linux, I seriously doubt he's criticising Linux. Or being a MS shill.

Apple ad-addled OS scheme resurfaces

Face detection

Don't most modern phones have face detection already? I think your excellent idea is already possible!

Phonemakers cry foul on Steve Jobs 'We're all alike' attack

N95

I've tried doing pretty much anything to my N95 to make it drop a bar. Short of inserting it in a cow's jacksi. Doesn't drop a bar, never dropped a call either. And that is a smartphone.

iPad's brain not so unique

Article request

I'd be interested in a series of articles on mobile chip architecture.

Cambridge Council denies iPad plan

Ten seconds later...

Libdem.

http://www.cambridge.gov.uk/ccm/navigation/about-the-council/councillors/

Mini-asteroid sneaks up on Earth

Blatant lie?

Maybe the asteroids we find on the ground started much bigger than 25m wide?

Early adopters bloodied by Ubuntu's Karmic Koala

I had two issues

First ever, in many years of using ubuntu (and being command line averse).

1) Upgrading using software manager seemed to die. PC rebooted into 9.10, but froze with some white / black gobbledegook. Clean install from 9.10 worked fine. It's possible that the machine got turned off halfway through, kids looked a bit guilty. I'm going to give it a month before upgrading my production machine and laptops.

2) 9.10 machine only gives me 640 and 800 res monitor options when plugged into a monitor / keyboard switch. Is fine when not. This is a new, but weird problem.

Main complaint is that Ubuntu is fugly - fonts, colours especially - and means it's decidedly hard to swank about.

Nokia sues Apple over iPhone

Market share

A minor factual point, but one worth making in the light of various "Nokia have lead", "massive user base" comments.

Nokia are the market leaders in smartphones by a considerable margin (in fact, by factors over Apple) and are (as reported in El Reg) destined to remain there for some years to come.

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/10/09/android_2012_gartner/

Mine's the one with the n95 in the pocket, but I'm no fanboi of anyone.

Foxconn to send Apple 400,000 iTablets in Q1 2010, say moles

iPad

Does it have wings?

Shuttle offers Linux-loaded all-in-one Atom desktop

QQ

What does the windows button do?

Adobe tries to rub out LibDem airbrush claims

Titian, NSFW?

Labeling that picture as NSFW has made me very angry indeed. In what absurdly repressed culture is that piece of art not suitable for anyone to look at? If my kids (6 and 9) can look at it and intelligently debate the story being told, I don't see who is likely to get their knickers in a twist over it.

Agh, I can barely express a coherent thought, but I'd love to know who that label is aimed at.

Ridley Scott signs up to direct Alien prequel

Roswell, in the 1950s

UFO crashes.

Alien autopsy.

Out pops our friend.

Old style sci-fi action ensues.

Apple iTablet a (virtual) certainty

Let me guess...

It'll have spec similar to $200 devices, but come at six times the price because it's thinner, shinier and got the right logo?

http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48934

Has Spare Backup had a Carphone Warehouse boost?

"Gotten"?????

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

O2 Joggler family organiser

Had ours a week

On a free, instead of a replacement phone.

And I rather like it. Not a replacement for a corporate outlook, but certainly for the papery thing that no-one keeps up to date. It is slightly odd that it doesn't produce an alert on the display, but we've already had one update since plugging it in, that may come. Which will be a must when the radio function arrives (then the kitchen radio will go)

Speakers are a little tinny, I have a pair I'll plug in some time. Connectivity is no problem whatsoever for us. Nice photo frame screen-saver. The kids - 8 and 6 - can use it without thinking about it. The touch-screen is excellent. It stores the weather location without any problem, btw, I've seen that down as a bug before.

There's a hacking project for it - http://hackthejoggler.blogspot.com/

It has a place in a busy family.

Galactica 1.3

Symbian

If you happen to find yourself covering apps for more extensive smartphones, then Fring is a damn fine app

US record industry wins $1.92m from file sharer

Not saying nothing about the rights, writs or wrongs...

But she should have settled for $3000-$5000 as was offered (according to the Ass. quotes in the Times):

"Cara Duckworth, for the RIAA, said that the industry remained willing to settle. She refused to name a figure, but acknowledged that Thomas-Rasset had been given the chance to settle for $3,000 to $5,000 earlier in the case. "Since day one we have been willing to settle this case and we remain willing to do so," Ms Duckworth said. "

http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article6534542.ece

Site news: Unique commenter handles coming

Register 2.0

Can we get vanity urls too, please?

Xandros - the Linux company that isn't

Interesting article

Nice to read some insights into building a business around an operating system.

Seems core to El Reg too. Thanks.

Scotland welcomes back wild beaver

No beaver cam?

They have an osprey webcam - http://www.swt.org.uk/ - but thing of the traffic a live beaver cam would get

Ovi still bouncing on and offline

Oddly enough

Despite being registered on the site and getting periodic emails, Nokia haven't marketed Ovi at me at all. Just as well we're not limited to one store: I recommend Fring - chat and voip client for Nokia Symbian - as a first rate app

Brusa weaves sexy, sporty Spyder

Noises off

There definitely needs to be some noise added to them. I was overtaken by a TNT electric lorry the other day - I was on my bike. I nearly shat myself.

Weary locals scratch Butt Hole Road

History

The Butts were places where archery was practised.

Perhaps your research needed to go beyond The Sun and Wikipedia.

http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/help/help.asp?code=BTThes/a/68831.htm

Transparent techies gather in Oxford

Venue

How about Wolvercote Village Hall - 150 capacity, several nice pubs just down the road - cheap as chips and 10 minutes from the city centre (on bus or bike).

http://www.charitiesdirect.com/charities/wolvercote-village-hall-304392.html

Taking a first bite out of Wolfram Alpha

Beer gives you energy

In imperial

http://www93.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=How+many+calories+are+there+in+a+pint+of+beer%3F

but not the number of joules in a litre

What it's doing is far more impressive than the results indicate

Atom UMPC first casualty of OQO money woes?

@Ian McNee

I believe a constant flow of tweets from a twat is a twatterblat.

Microsoft Mixes it in Vegas with Silverlight, Azure and IE 8

Open Season

I miss open season too. There's a place in the world (and on elreg!) for microbites, but it doesn't speak to my professional life like openseason did.

Sexy Namir sportster to rewrite fuel economy rulebook?

Premature discharge

Or did a capacitor prematurely discharge, causing the model in the third picture to get frizzy with it?