Posts by Neil Robertson

Dell puts gun to Streak 5 tablet, pulls trigger

A shame, but not a surprise

I've got a 5" Streak and it's a lovely piece of kit, but there's no way I'd use it as a mobile phone - it's a pocket tablet. This works for me, but most people want everything in one device in their pocket.

Manchester's on fire for ID cards, claims ID minister

Baffled

I got my first passport when I was 30 and don't remember any social exclusion as a result - bought houses, rented flats, got drunk, visited nightclubs.

The passport has now expired and I'm still not excluded. It hasn't been renewed due to the current pricing structure - I would have to spend around £300 with the passport office if I wanted to holiday abroad with my family this summer!

VW unveils slippery four-seat hybrid

@Sean Bergeron

Perhaps you should go back and read the article. Unlike the Toyota Pious which combines masses of technology with a petrol engine to achieve the same economy as a decent turbo-diesel the VW has a small efficient diesel engine and offers over 115 MPG.

It sounds ideal for my daily commute to work plus the possibility of ferrying children to and from clubs, and the performance is certainly acceptable for everyday use. With such low running costs I can even afford to rent something bigger for the 2-3 weekends a year I would head off to the Lake District or North Wales if I really feel the need.

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@ Left Hand, please meet right hand, again

I'm sure there are a minority of parents who have done their research and have sought out the individual vaccinations required to legitimately avoid the MMR jab. However the vast majority have avoided the MMR and its associated bad press and done nothing to avoid the consequent risks - hence the growing risk of epidemics in certain communities.

HD DVD promo body dissolves itself

Out with the discs, in with the downloads

Mark: The only barrier to downloads taking off big time has been the accessibility. Personally I have no interest in filling my shelves with discs, VHS tapes or any other physical media.

About 30% of my viewing is now BBC IPlayer which is perfectly watchable (although I'd love it to be better), 65% is DVD rentals by post, and I can only see the balance shifting further to streaming media.

I also have no interest in filling my hard drives with movies etc, DRM encumbered or not. I want it on demand straight off the WWW at my convenience.

The Electric Car Conspiracy ... that never was

50mpg Volvo - no joke

V70 D5 2.4 Turbo Diesel - 163 BHP so it moves all right too. I've driven 90000 miles in the thing so it's not a one-off either, but with a gentle right foot and smooth driving at about 70MPH I get a steady 50mpg. I've ogled the XC90's in the showroom then looked up the performance & economy figures in disbelief and stuck with what I've got.

I seem to remember Americans have smaller gallons than the British, which would skew the figures somewhat - we have 4.55 litres in a gallon.

@Timbo

I have a 7 seater Volvo because I have 4 children and a wife to cart around - this stays at home with my wife while I drive a 55mpg Skoda to work (mainly bought because it was cheap and comfortable). I'd dearly love to work nearer home but I took the job because it has the best long term prospects.

You're right - I did choose both cars for features, safety and comfort - and economy was way up there on the features list.

Efficiency again

I don't know a great deal about the engine in the Hummer, but I do know that the EV1 made far better use of its Kilojoules than the Hummer ever could, because the electric motor wastes so few of them - if the EV1 can manage 100 miles on the little energy it did store then imagine the future!

Even my 7 seater Volvo can turn in 50 MPG consistently, but of course that wouldn't suit the American mass market either according the the Oil companies - and the few "electric" vehicles we do see in Europe are either complete crap or tied to using a petrol engine to produce their electricity - and a pretty poor one at that.

Why can't I buy a car for my wife which will cover the 20 or so miles she drives in a day by being plugged in to the mains for a couple of hours? In fact, why can't I buy an EV1 to get me to work 65 miles away - a journey I always travel alone and with minimal luggage?

Aussie gov anti-porn filter 'useless', says teen

I'd welcome some free filtering

Especially if it works.

However carefully I parent my 8 year old, he's still likely to type www.pussycat.com when he wants to know about pussy cats although he really wouldn't know where to start with getting round content filters etc if he was honestly looking for porn. I know I'll have to keep one step ahead if I'm going to keep porn off his screen, but for now something simple would suffice.

If only the Australian Government had managed to find something pea-shooter proof (since bullet-proof is obviously way beyond them!), or one of the commercial vendors could sell a product that did what it said on the box.

Contrary to popular opinion, not all men think that ogling pictures of women in compromising postions is a valid component of a free society, especially when most of the photos will only be there as a result of oppression of the women involved.

RIAA gets some class

TV Licence

I agree - the TVLA send incessant theatening letters no matter what you write back to them; however I've found that if you ignore them and wait for an inspector they will eventually update their records.

We had a perfectly civilised gentleman call and inspect our TV, DVD player and video recorder, along with shelves full of pre-recorded DVD's & videos. He tried several channels on our TV and found no reception and we haven't heard from them since.