Posts by AIBailey

Science megablast: Comets may have brought xenon to Earth

Re: Oh thanks, now I'll have bloody Bomb the Bass stuck in my head all day!

Cheats? CHEATS?

Perseverance, that's all I needed.

... and lots of it!

Event horizons around black holes do exist, say astroboffins

Numbers...

"They only considered black holes weighing more than 100 million times the mass of the Sun, allowing them to narrow down to about a million of them within a few billion light-years of Earth.

The sheer scale of numbers in this statement is what makes this kind of science so awesome!

Mouse sperm kept frozen in SPAAAAACE yields healthy pups

Re: Don't these so called scientists know anything

Funny you should mention that...

https://youtu.be/pHp9Cakv2Fg

Someone, somewhere has a job in the Japanese space industry with an interesting name (astro-biologist or something). Their parents are extremely proud, their friends think it must be a cool job, their kids all excitedly tell their mates that they have a parent that does "space stuff" but in reality, they've had to go to work and wank a mouse.

America's mystery X-37B space drone lands after two years in orbit

Re: it is unlikely that it carries any weapons... cough... cough...

Thank you, a much better explanation than I would have written, and well deserving of a thumb up.

I must, however, query one of your statements:

however the air rifle is incorrectly named as the barrel of an air rifle isn't rifled

My current (ageing) air rifle (Air Arms TX200, FWIW) certainly does have a rifled barrel. As does my previous rifle (Weihrauch HW 77K), and several owned by my father (including rifles from Anschütz, BSA, Gamo and Parker-Hale).

In fact, I don't think I've ever seen an air rifle without a rifled barrel.

Re: it is unlikely that it carries any weapons... cough... cough...

A pellet gun would probably suffice to destroy a satellite if it could be aimed precisely enough.

In the vacuum of space? I think not!

(a "pellet gun", aka an air rifle or air pistol, usually relies on a a spring to rapidly compress the air in a chamber behind the pellet. That in turn pushes the pellet out under pressure. The principle isn't really much beyond a pea shooter or blowpipe. No air means no force pushing the pellet).

</pedant>

Former RCL director: It was me who cancelled their domain names

Re: Very odd

The whole Vega Plus saga could be described as "odd", and this seems par for the course.

Apparently, RCL keep changing the Indiegogo owner name back to Paul Andrews as well, despite him repeatedly telling them (Indiegogo) that he's not responsible for it anymore. They change it back, then RCL change it back again. RCL seem to be utterly inept, and considering the amount of bullshit they're spreading, would be better setting up a new campaign to produce fertiliser.

I'm not a backer, and gratefully so in this instance.

Forgetful ZX Spectrum reboot firm loses control of its web domains

Re: Why bother?

For a portable Spectrum experience, the PSP is more than capable of doing exactly what the Vega Plus would have done.

iPhone lawyers literally compare Apples with Pears in trademark war

Well done Apple

You're rapidly becoming the new EasyGroup (who in the past have tried suing curry restaurants, pizza places and gyms)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EasyGroup#Legal_action

Another ZX Spectrum modern reboot crowdfunder pops up

Re: SAM Coupé beat them all by decades

I've a Sam Coupe core on my FPGA board, and it works very well. The majority of the cores for mine are open source, so there's a reasonable chance that it could be converted.*

* -There are other factors that may affect a conversion - memory type seems to be a regular issue (SDRAM vs DRAM), but also the design language used by the various FPGA's on the market (VHDL vs Verilog).

Re: "£865 for five of the consoles; in effect, a BOGOF deal." - Really?

BFGOF doesn't roll off the tongue in quite the same way, does it.

Re: Why not go further?

I've got a FPGA board for retro computing, and many 8 and 16 bit computers are already supported including Amstrad CPC, Atari 8-bi,t BBC, C64, Spectrum, Atari ST, Amiga, Sam Coupe and MSX. As my board was (probably) less than the Spectrum Next (it cost me about £130 I think), I'm extremely happy with it.

Whilst it's good that this new Spectrum will run old software, AND offer hardware enhancements, has anything been mentioned about whether it can/will run implementations of other computers?

Yahoo!'s Marissa! will! eject! with! $186m!.. $185m!.. $184m!..

Re: Spot the issue

It's a screen grab from Wikipedia (though taken a while ago), so the information is very much in the public domain.

No backside to cover in this instance.

Hard-pressed Juicero boss defends $400 IoT juicer after squeezing $120m from investors

Re: Juicing is bad

It smashes the cell walls of the fruit inceasing the amount of sugar released.

...

Eat the fruit normally and get the benefit of the fibre bulk to fill you up without the excess calories fine blending causes.

If you eat the fruit, do those sugars not get digested in the same way? Surely blending won't magically generate extra calories - they're there anyway, right?

(genuine question, as I'm curious)

SPY-tunes scandal: Bloke sues Bose after headphones app squeals on his playlist

Re: $5M...

Plenty of downvotes for my previous comment, but can someone clarify why?

I agree that sending this data to Bose is unnecessary, but I really despair when people feel the need to sling multi-million dollar lawsuits every time they feel slightly put out. If the Bose app forced you to enter credit card details, social security numbers, address details etc, before the headphones could even perform their primary function of playing any music, then this might have some traction. But to sue a company because, in essence, you haven't read the T&C's, and Bose might find out that someone (though may not even know who, other than an identifier) actually willingly listened to Kanye West at 3PM on a Tuesday? *

I'm presumably in the minority here, but I just don't like the stance of trying to sue for millions for first-world problems. By all means complain to them, call them out on social media, name and shame on relevant news sites etc, but to feel the need to claim for "damages"? I just don't get it.

* - Though that in itself is a crime against music.

$5M...

... for someone having (anonymised?) information relating to what music you listen to?

Yes, I can understand that's mildly annoying, but asking for $5 million shows him to be nothing more than a money grabbing twat.

Apple wets its pants over Swatch ad tagline

Re: Daft thing is ...

"Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so" - Douglas Adams

Boaty McBoatface sinks in South Atlantic on her maiden deployment

Re: James Clark Ross?

From the article (with clarifications):

"it (the research ship) was eventually given the conventional name Sir David Attenborough – with the public choice (Boaty McBoatface) being bestowed on her autonomous underwater vessel (the research sub)."

Honor phone for paupers goes upmarket, assails flagships

Re: Worst.strapline.ever

...along with every phone on the market it seems, looks exactly like an iPhone from the front

There are only so may ways that you can design a phone with a large screen. It's notable that the Huawei phone here doesn't have any buttons on the front, a trend that many Android manufacturers follow (there's no need as Android supports an on-screen home button), so to say "exactly" is somewhat incorrect.

you can't purchase any phone without it looking like an iPhone,

Consider the fact that Apple, for a long time, stuck with the 3:2 aspect ratio screen, and were getting left behind as many Android manufacturers had moved to 16:9. As Apple's later phones are now also 16:9, you could argue that you can't purchase any iPhone without it looking like an Android.

Even Android is a silly clone of iOS

Yeah. I agree. Apart from that pull down notification thing that Android was doing for years before iOS. And the ability to use third party keyboards, that Android has always done. And for goodness sake, how long was it before iOS even did something as basic as change the case of the keyboard layout depending on whether shift or caps lock was in use? Multitasking - Android was doing that way before iOS, and Apple's first attempts were restricted to a handful of specific apps. Give it another couple of years, and Apple will trumpet the next new innovation for iOS - the app drawer. At which point, every Apple fan will point out how Android is yet again copying iOS by having a convenient place to put the application icons instead of peppering them over the home screens.

Android and iOS share many features nowadays, but don't kid yourself that Apple haven't wholesale pinched ideas from Android (as well as the other way around)

a home page with, surprise; iconic apps. Swipe this way or that, another page of more icons

Well, on MY android phone (also a Huawei, FWIW), my home page has nothing more than a few widgets (showing me at a glance my calendar and email). A further swipe has another page with another widget (my music player) and a few folders with my most used apps. For as long as it's been a "thing", Android has the aforementioned app drawer. Unlike an i-device, there's no need to have an icon for every single application nailed to your screen (unless you like it that way, in which case a system setting or an alternative launcher will come to your rescue).

I do get amused by the fanatical rambling of iPhone lovers.

We know what you're thinking: Where the hell is all the antimatter?

Re: Mexit, of course

Mexit means Mexit!

Assange™ keeps his couch as Ecuador's president wins election

Immunity

I assume that any legitimate diplomat still has all the perks and benefits that come with the position, even when not stationed inside their embassy?

Surely then, if it's costing Ecuador money having Assange as an unwanted lodger for the past few years, they could put the embassy up for sale (as it's really nothing more than a flat) and just move further up the road? The ambassador and associated staff can just stroll up the street to their new lodgings, but Assange would either have to break cover and try and run to the new location without being spotted, or would be fair game for the police to go in and collect him the instant his current residence loses its diplomatic status?

Cheap, flimsy, breakable and replaceable – yup, Ikea, you'll be right at home in the IoT world

How many Ikea shoppers does it take to change a läijtbulb?

TRAPPIST-1's planets are quiet. Quiet as the grave, in fact

Re: @AC ...the fairy tale of Darwinian evolution

Probably a moron that evolved into a troll. I'm pretty sure no $DEITY would intelligently design something like that.

What went up, Musk come down again: SpaceX to blast sat into orbit with used rocket

Re: First ? Erm ...

"it hopes to, for the first time ever, launch a commercial satellite into orbit using a previously used rocket."

Didn't the Space Shuttle used pre-loved rocket boosters, making this statement incorrect ?

The SRB's in the shuttle were essentially huuuuge fireworks with no control over throttling (other than the shape of the solid fuel - it had a star-shaped cross section, and was designed so that the surface area changed during the burn to adjust the amount of thrust produced), however a rocket engine has thousands of separate parts, and can control the thrust. Whilst SpaceX's rocket engines are in principle similar to the shuttle main engines (if you squint a bit), the shuttle was a very different beast to a rocket, and so the original statement is true.

Re: Don't call it "re-used"

I vote for "pre-launched".

IBM has cloud access to quantum computer 400 times smaller than D-Wave system

Umm...

"Even for simple molecules like caffeine, the number of quantum states in the molecule can be astoundingly large – so large that all the conventional computing memory and processing power scientists could ever build could not handle the problem... "

I know that quantum computing is a bit "odd", but this is amazing. It's solving "the problem" without actually telling us what "the problem" is.

Re: But wait..

I've had a few computers like that in the past.

Up close with the 'New Psion' Gemini: Specs, pics, and genesis of this QWERTY pocketbook

Re: 18:9?

...the general public has been fooled into "bigger numbers are better".

I think you're right. 4K TV's for example. Suddenly we've gone from talking about horizontal lines (720p, 1080p, even analogue 576i, 288p and so on) to vertical lines, because... well, it's 4 times bigger, innit. I'll stick with my 2K 1080p screen for now.

18:9?

What's the obsession with declaring the aspect ration as 18:9? 2:1 works fine for me.

NASA extends trial of steerable robo-stunt kite parachute

"Edge of space technology"?

The Karman line has traditionally been used as the measure of where space begins, and that's pegged at 100 km above ground. The US however tend to use 80 km as the transition point. Either way, 60000 feet is barely 18 km up, so not even a quarter of the way there.

Google agrees to break pirates' domination over music searches

Home taping ISN'T killing music

Simon Cowell is.

You want WHO?! Reg readers vote Tom Baker for Doctor 13. Of course

Hang on...

...considering that recent series added John Hurt's doctor into the time line (somewhere between Paul McGann and Christopher Eccleston, I think, wouldn't that make Peter Capaldi doctor 13, and therefore the new doctor number 14?

Android Wear: The bloatware that turned into gloatware

Re: Apple Claims...

The atomic watches all need to be off-wrist during their nightly time-syncing AND facing east, there is no wearing it 24/7, no syncing if you get the position wrong.

If you're so concerned about knowing the exact time, that you need your wristwatch to sync to an atomic source every evening, can I suggest you get a hobby instead. There are far more important things to occupy most peoples thoughts.

BOFH: Password HELL. For you, mate, not for me

Re: "I rarely get cold calls"

27 miutes? Well done Sir, well done.

I've only ever received one such call, but managed 14 minutes. Not bad for a first attempt?

Tokyo 2020 Olympic medals to be made from old electronics

Re: "40kg of gold, 4,920kg of silver and 2,944kg of bronze"

Indeed. Olympic gold medals are actually mostly silver.

http://chemistry.about.com/od/metalsalloys/f/what_are_olympic_medals_made_of.htm

Northumbria Uni fined £400K after boffin's bad math gives students a near-killer caffeine high

So many potential checkpoints in this experiment seem to have been missed. As others have already pointed out, everything from not estimating the dosage result before performing the (inaccurate) calculation, the point that 30g of caffeine is a BIG pile of powder, the fact that it would be unpleasant for the testers to drink (and would have taken a lot of mixing, due to not readily dissolving), all should have triggered alarm bells with the students performing the test, yet they seem to have blundered on regardless.

When building anything, my father in law always says "measure twice, cut once". A similar philosophy here would have hopefully prevented this incident occurring in the first place.

Make America, wait, what again? US Army may need foreign weapons to keep up

Re: Military-industrial 101

Yes, we have the largest military in the world; Beating out the next ten combined.

Sorry sunbeam, if you count military size as the number of active personnel, then China roundly beats you, and India is only slightly behind.

If you also include reserve soldiers, you're down at number 6, behind Vietnam, South Korea, Russia, China and India.

'Exploding e-cig cost me 7 teeth, burned my face – and broke my sink!'

Re: A "Twisted Vapers RDA" is just the "tank"

Could be worse I suppose. Mentioning to your mates that you were off to get 20ml of fag juice wouldn't survive trans-Atlantic translation too well.

Re: A "Twisted Vapers RDA" is just the "tank"

I know nothing about vaping. Do they really call it "e-liquid"?

That's almost as corny as people trying to make tech things sound modern and cool by putting "cyber" in front of anything internet-y.

Florida Man sues Verizon for $72m – for letting him commit identity theft

You're posting a link to the .... DAILY MAIL?

And I thought that links to malware ridden sites somewhere in deepest darkest Russia were bad.enough!!!

Did webcam 'performer' offer support chap payment in kind?

Re: I once...

I nearly caused the other IT chap to have a stroke

I really hope that's just a figure of speech in this instance....

Not OK Google: Tree-loving family turns down Page and pals' $7m

Strange

A quick check on streetview would suggest there are at least two different properties on that area of land. One outbuilding certainly looks like it would fall down of its own accord.

<Conspiracy> Oddly it's quite difficult to get a decent look at the houses themselves, are there appears to be a couple of busses on the road with the express purpose of preventing a good luck. Reminded me of The Truman Show in a way </Conspiracy>

WINNER! Crush your loved ones at Connect Four this Christmas

Re: My lottery strategy

I'd hazard a guess that 1,2,3,4,5,6 is probably the most popular number selection of all.

Re: It depends on what the 'point' of the game is

For an adult with children, the aim is not to be 'competitive dad' and smash the weak opposition

Well, maybe not in your house....

CIA: Russia hacked election. Trump: I don't believe it! FAKE NEWS!

Re: The Tribble on his head is sucking out his brain.

That's gonna be one disappointed, hungry Tribble.

Bloke sold cash register code to restaurants that deliberately hid sales from taxmen

Re: Liability?

Because in all the examples you've just given, there can be legitimate reasons for owning or using those tools. The fact that they can be used for other, "less legitimate" purposes is a byproduct.

This software, however, has absolutely no legal purpose whatsoever. It's 100% designed to deliberately help you evade paying tax. For that reason, the developer should deservedly get his arse totally kicked in court.

Whiffy kitchen after last night's chips? Clear the air with SPACE PLASMA

Astronaut 1: It stinks of chips in here.

Astronaut 2: No problem, I'll just open a windo...........

All those years of research so that at long last they can install a deep fat fryer on the International Space Station!

Telegram API ransomware wrecked three weeks after launch

"dosent that double the size of your files?"

No. The addition is done at individual byte level. Remember that most files on your computer aren't plain text, but contain non-ascii data. Your jpeg or mp3 file will contain millions of bytes of data, all within the range of 00 to FF (0 to 255).

The key is (presumably) added to these individual bytes to change the value of that byte.

If we use your example though, lets assume that your data is plain ASCII in a text file.

Looking at the ASCII values for both the original data and the key, we get something like this...

ASCII

t - 74

e - 65

s - 73

t - 74

i - 69

n - 6E

g - 67

1 - 31

2 - 32

3 - 33

m - 6D

y - 79

k - 6B

e - 65

y - 79

1 - 31

Adding the key to the data on a byte-by-byte basis, we're doing this:

(t+m) (e+y) (s+k) (t+e) (i+y) (n+1) (g+2) (1+3) (2+m) (3+y)

... or in hex:

(74+6D) (65+73) (73+6B) (74+65) (69+79) (6E+31) (67+6D) (31+79) (32+6B) (33+65)

That would ultimately give you this:

(E1) (D8) (DE) (D9) (E2) (9F) (D4) (AA) (9D) (98)

Your plain text message would now appear as áØÞÙâŸÔª ˜" when you opened your text file.

* - This is a quick explanation - the ASCII codes, or the additions may be completely wrong.

Samsung sets fire to $9m by throwing it at Tizen devs

Samsung sets fire to $9m...

...when an accountant accidentally leaves his S7 Note in a bank vault.

Red squirrels! Adorable, right? Wrong – they're riddled with leprosy

Seems relevant....

Party at the leper colony

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTFbbthrQYw