Posts by MT Field

Dwarf planet intumesces before astronomers' gaze

Merlot

Time to start naming minor planetary bodies in honour of the great grape varieties. Clearly this is Merlot.

Heathrow Airbus collision 'not a drone incident'

Re: Ban them all!

Could have been a flying Fenton?

Most kite flyers respectfully observe the 200m ceiling.

Ban them all!

Drones are to kite flying as jet skis are to windsurfing.

Like all forms of motorized witchery they must be abolished using the full force of all that is holy!! Lest we be cast into the pit and consumed ourselves!!!

One black hole, three galaxies, four BEELION solar masses – found by accident

Cube root of 4 beeeellion is 1587 - and that is tremendous

Is Dublin becoming as unaffordable as San Francisco?

I was in Dublin very recently - a lovely city

Chinese con-artists cop to US military counterfeit chip switch caper

Yes they could substitute re-labelled and cheaper commercial parts for the ml-spec ones. Chances are they were bought for spares inventory and the US Navy would never get around to using them, and even then maybe never noticing.

Killer Japan quake jolts Sony factories to a halt

There was a significant chip market hiccup after a fire took out the chemical plant that made most of the chip packaging plastic that was used at the time.

But these companies do have commercial insurance to cover such losses in production.

NZ hotel bans cyclists' Lycra-clad loins

Never mind the offensive shorts, ban them for their anti-social behaviour, antagonism and littering habits.

Google yanks Chrome support for Windows XP, at long last

Not evil being

Is this just a case of Google being nice to MS?

Music's value gap? Follow the money trail back to Google

For the times, they are a'change-in

Line by line, how the US anti-encryption bill will kill our privacy, security

Inept leaders and bad legislation

That's end-of-empire, folks.

Intel takes aim at Arduino with US$15 breadboard

Why do these things always contain UARTs?

PC market shambling towards an unquiet grave

Re: "businesses aren't going to be running Windows 10 upgrades<snip>"

We are very much married to Outlook/Exchange so have to dance to MS's tune. Hmm ... that rhymes with Zune ...

Europe's biggest radiotelescope in fast-burst-finding upgrade

Re: Hang on sec

Cocaine and hookers,

Apple mulled gobbling its Brit GPU designers – but didn't like the taste

Re: Shame

I'm convinced Pure is the reason the previous CEO had to go. Maybe he screwed up the potential acquisition too?

Champagne supernova in the sky: Shockwaves seen breaking star

Re: @MT Field

@Pascal Yes, you and I both know that ...

Re: Supernova Fusion

Normal fusion process only makes the first few elements. The bigger ones start getting made as the massive star goes through a series of partial collapses, ending with the really heavy ones that only get made in the supernova explosion itself.

Oh and, PLEASE EL REG INDICATE WHEN A PICTURE IS AN ARTISTS IMPRESSION AND NOT AN ACTUAL IMAGE

Microsoft's done a terrible job with its Windows 10 nagware

Windows 10

Is it really that bad?

I use a linux lappy for most day-to-day use but still need the old W7 machine for a few things that can't be done on linux, and I'm not buying an Apple mac of any sort ever. I am on the point of going to the big ten ...

FBI says NY judge went too far in ruling the FBI went too far in forcing Apple to unlock iPhone

Obviously the feds don't understand what judges are for.

Go America! (far, far away please)

Home Office biometrics strategy is three years overdue, despite 'lack of clarity'

FTFY strategy doc

" to set out how we will use biometrics to deliver our objectives over the PAST five years"

Microsoft: Ditch your phone biz and do crazy hardware experiments

Quote "One reason Windows 10 Mobile is being left behind"

It isn't being left behind so much as it turned up late with a sick note, a runny nose, two left feet and no kit.

Microsoft should have been split up in the mid-90's.

Flying blind: F-35's radar software fails in the air

At last! A reason for seagulls to exist

Final Euro Parliament vote on passenger name records delayed

Perhaps we're overdue a prolonged period of regressive, repressive government. Only then will we learn and only then will we overthrow the shackles and enter a new age.

Essex cop abused police IT systems to snoop on his in-laws

So, yup it goes on all the time. Get used to it.

Some of the time its plod checking up on their relatives/neighbours/daughters boyfriends for their own purposes. Other times its because the officer is being blackmailed or bribed.

Baby Ubuntus toddle forth into the big scary world of beta

I'm in love with my x

xubuntu, that is

LISA Pathfinder drops its gravity-wave-finding golden boxes

Re: Yes, replication matters

They will have a lot of explaining to do if they fail to detect any more ...

A glass of soda-and-lime is the straight dope for graphene

Re: Bah!

Complex numbers.

And that would be j

Sussex PC sacked after using police databases to snoop on his ex-wife

Re: Predictable

Divorce rates are high in the Police.

One has to assume that this guy was particularly stupid to get caught and punished, even if he has escaped a criminal conviction.

That's cute, Germany – China shows the world how fusion is done

Re: 50 Million C?

It's close enough

Norks uses ballistic missile to launch silent 'satellite'

Re: God Save the Rocket!!!

Funny though

BTW "electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapon" sounds scary until you learn about what it is and how it works. Apparently it takes a sizeable thermonuke detonation above the atmosphere, to take out mostly VHF comms over a limited but quite large geographical area, for a number of minutes. If that helps to block out most broadcast radio I would welcome it, frankly.

Imagination Tech's chief Hossein Yassaie quits, shares slide

Re: Dead As Betamax

None of the several I bought do, and come to think of it that was many years ago now. Perhaps back then we really believed in it?

Dead As Betamax

I applaud almost everything Imagination have done, including showing how you can run a successful tech business in the UK that actually designs and sells things. But any CEO who bets on dead-end tech such as DAB will lose credibility and investor support, and rightly so.

Thirty Meter Telescope needs to revisit earthly fine print

Wan't this the one the US congress tried to stop funding because they considered it potentially blasphemous?

Agree with the whole casting out of superstition thing, BUT the world is a big place and its peoples are diverse. We have room for everything that is rational plus lots of stuff that isn't, and that makes the world a richer and more entertaining place to live.

Motorola-powered Mac from 1989 used to write smartphone apps

I have a Mac Plus gathering dust in my office. For some reason I don't feel quite so nostalgic about the win'98 machine that replaced it.

NASA preps silicon-photonic modem for space laser internet test

Re: Curious

I am guessing the downlink receiver is substantially more complex/heavier/more power-hungry to achieve the speed. Also the intended application for these things seems to be for getting data back to earth.

Can't upgrade, won't upgrade: Windows Mobile's user problem

Embarrassing

It's like a fat bald 55-year old white businessman in a grey suit and baseball cap trying to get down with the hipster kids. Time to give it up, Daddio.

How to build a starship - and why we should start thinking about it now

Please no more re-prints from "The Conversation"

Universal Credit: The IT project that will outlive us all

Still, it's good to know its not just us who are engaged on gargantuan fuck ups.

Waving Microsoft's Windows 10 stick won't help Intel's Gen 6 core

Fundamentally the Wintel PC is a business machine. That's where its heritage lies and that's where it will return to spend a slow and uneventful retirement, followed by a protracted death.

Will we miss it? Who gives a f---

As long as have some means of updating the firmware in my camera and the maps in my GPS.

Hortonworks shares plunge 22% after secondary IPO news

How can you have a second Initial Public Offering?

Murderous necrophiliac kangaroo briefly wins nation's heart

Re: Fifty shades of sand...

The activities of that fictional character are so lame as to provide titillation for bored housewives. The real thing happens behind the twitching net curtains of suburbia.

Boffins baffled by record-smashing supernova that shouldn't exist

That is tremendous

Video game retailer GAME in email marketing FAIL

Ha ha

I got this once from a recruitment agency. It listed all of my fellow contractors in the To: field. It soon became apparent how much the agent was creaming off all of our hard work.

What do Angolan rebels, ISIS widows, Metallica and a photographer have in common?

I think its still the case that cover bands have to pay royalties to perform songs in front of a paying audience. They go to the music publisher and the credited writers. Not sure if the costumes, make-up and hair are also covered in some way?

After-dinner Mint? Stylish desktop finale released as last of the 17 line

Sounds like its worth creating the bootable USB stick and giving it a go.

Did North Korea really just detonate a hydrogen bomb? Probably not

Re: This is why IT people and geeks should be feared.

What is it they say about the Devil making work for idle hands?

I just spent a couple of days reading about it online. The history of the test programmes alone is fascinating.

Re: the other questions to be asked:

"take out enough NK civilians to make a body count that WWII would whistle with respect"

Population 25 million - so your American scorched earth policy would fall short by factor of two.

Selectable yield is available from the boosted fission design, by way of selecting the amount of boost. I would guess this is what they've tried. Full thermonuke design is the next step.

Also I suspect our decadent western governments have underplayed the threat.

As someone pointed out its the delivery method that matters. Their working bomb is going to be at least dustbin sized and tonnes in weight.

Boozing is unsafe at ‘any level’, thunders chief UK.gov quack

Earned mine on Tuesday so I'm going to throw all caution to the wind tonight