* Posts by graeme leggett

2467 publicly visible posts • joined 6 Oct 2007

Star Trek saviour JJ Abrams joins the dark side: Star Wars VII

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: With any luck .....

Lawrence Kasdan who wrote (or contributed) Raiders of the Lost Ark, Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi is part of the writing team and Lucas is still retained as consultant.

Microsoft may be readying Outlook for ARM – or not

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: Surface RT Plus / Surface RT Home & Business Edition

Isn't it more like the difference between iPad/iOS and an Airbook/OS X?

You can't expect to do on the former what you can on the latter. But whereas one can tell the difference between the two Apple products, the Windows 8 on ARM and Windows 8 on x86 appear similar. Similar things are expected, but not delivered.

graeme leggett Silver badge

Differentiation/confusion/separation

I'm supposing as its the average domestic user version of Windows8-on-a-tablet, the mail app on the Surface RT is supposed to be simple and do a few things efficiently. Sufficient to enable you to keep in contact with your family, receive newsletters, forward links of youtube videos to your mates.

The mail app can connect to several different types of email accounts - ie presets to make it relatively simple to connect to the major email providers but in theory to any pop/smtp or imap account. It could be seen as a successor to Outlook Express/Live Mail.

By contrast, Outlook does many things for those who use email in a business (or other heavy lifting) situation and it integrates with the rest of the MS office suite and is best in tandem with Exchange. Working offline, it can take a couple of gig of email/attachments etc (all too easy to amass in a business environment) which would be a fair proportion of the RT's available storage if it was achievable.

From my limited experience setting up a Surface RT, it will interact with a home network of computers- particularly the MS homegroup kind - but not with a domain/business network (that might have been me though). Which makes it seem a poor choice for semi-business use in the UK, though given the absence of the Surface Pro for the foreseeable, there wasn't a lot of choice within the MS eco-system.

It may be that an RT can be used for work within a business provided the business can present its content through http (Remote Web Workplace, OWA etc). But then there's a loss of integration with the start menu/tiles (Mail, contacts, Skydrive) and you might as well have had some other device...

Tablets aren't killing ereaders, it's clog-popping wrinklies - analyst

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: Books aren't the Window to the World anymore

I'll agree that some of what you say is true. I remember three channels, the broadcast Shutdown overnight and such and the era before VCRs made it possible to watch films and programmes when they weren't scheduled.

I think there is a lost generation to books, I know (relative) youngsters in their early-late 20s who don't read. They didn't have the need to read as you say.

On the other hand, schools in the UK are trying to improve literacy in all its forms through encouraging reading.

My son's school base target is for every child to read to their parents for 15mins a day.

Public genome databases can leak identity

graeme leggett Silver badge

not anonymised - by definition

An NHS trust defines anonymised data as "data concerning an individual from which the identity of the individual cannot be determined"

"In practice, anonymised data should exclude the name [list of stuff], and any other information which when combined with other information....available to the recipent could allow the individual to be identified. "

Now if the public version of the data replaced every "Smith" and "Jones" with a number, there would be less of a problem. Up until individuals start making their DNA sequence and surnames available ( Genebook?) and inadvertently providing a new key.

As I haven't read the published article, is it the case with Dr Ventner , that there were only a few individuals in the database from Utah with his age?

'Op! Op! Op!' Gangnam Style earns Google $8m

graeme leggett Silver badge

It's called "popular music" for a reason

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: Why this video works...

YMCA - YMMV

graeme leggett Silver badge

i wonder

how many actually watched it to the end before clicking on something else

Kim Dotcom's locker may be full, but the cupboard is bare

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: The assumption seems to be...

The Greeks weren't in a position to knock off multiple copies of an item in the blink of an eye.

But they did have a word for re-using other ideas - mimesis

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: It don't work that way...

+1 for the first paragraph, but I can't support the second.

For a start, law is supposed to be society's rules reflecting its collective mores, and therefore is a form of majority opinion albeit one that changes and evolves with the actual alterations to legislation following in due (or much later) course..

graeme leggett Silver badge

Perhaps it could be possible to find a mechanism whereby you can charge more for safely storing a Porsche than an Astra - both take up roughly the same space but their value differs.

Rather than all your storage being the same flat rate, you could pay less for storing a software distribution package (recreatable content - albeit time and effort) and more for the photo's from a family holiday.

Further the access to the data could be differentiated, your music collection available at a faster download rate than an ebook.

The host system would have to know how you classify your data, or to automate giving you different rates from different data types inspect the data and determine its type.

Student claims code flaw spotting got him expelled from college

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: how did they get his phone number?

perhaps it had been supplied when he reported the flaw in the first instance.

Google files patent for eyewear that SHOOTS LASERS

graeme leggett Silver badge

Scenario

You are socialising after work and wearing your subtle laser-wielding glasses and meet a person (of either gender) who you find interesting and attractive.

"Can I have your number?", you say.

"Yes", they say - because they do mean it," its 07771 1231456"

"I'll just put that in my phone" you say (and think "this will wow them - or not")

Laser on, tappy tappy on your sleeve.

"was that 1456? or just 456?" you say looking up at them.

"My eyes!", they yell, as the half-finished input is projected directly onto their retina.

Top Gear isn't TV, not when it's on YouTube

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: ATVOD = death sentence for UK Porn producers

Are the fees extortionate? Is it more likely the move is to avoid the added burden of compliance than just the cost of the licence, or are margins that small?

£10,000 for companies worth more than £26 milllion it says in the article. the cost of regulation is £1 per £2,600 which doesn't look much at first glance. Providing extra services cost the company more.

The AVTOD cost for a sub £6.5 million company is £771

In either case, maximum licensing cost for a company is limited to £25,000

Non-profits and tiny commercial operations only have to pay £100 to £200.

On one hand, the rules seem to have been worked out to avoid splitting up providers into smaller, but linked units, to get lower fees and on the other to allow providers to group together to limit the overall cost.

http://www.atvod.co.uk/uploads/files/2012_13_Fee_Tariff.pdf

.

graeme leggett Silver badge

The registration fees are to fund the regulation? or part fund it, rather than all the money for ATVOD coming from central government.

Does OFCOM take licensing fees off broadcasters? I suspect so.

Microsoft to end Windows 8 discounts on January 31

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: @Dana

On the other hand - if they'd cut prices it would have been ascribed to the fact that they weren't selling enough

Google sinks millions into plush new £1bn London HQ

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: Why £1bn?

rental saved and earned aside, they don't get that £650 million back until they sell (or mortgage) the place.

Up til then they've spent a lot of money which would have gone a lot further if spent elsewhere.

Its not like they need to be in the centre of London, is it? I thought the point of all this techno-wizardry was that business was no longer tied to being next door to its customers.

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: Not Neasden

there and Milton Keynes.

graeme leggett Silver badge

design choice

are they going with the Weimar Republic brothel/Big Brother (Ch5 not 1984) crossover look for their new office too?

FAA grounds Boeing's 787 after battery fires on plastic planes

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: Certification authorities are no longer engineering experts. Nor are PHBs.

should have added that a lab is "Accreditated" to ISO 17025 not "certified"

the difference appears to lie in "formal, third party recognition of competence to perform specific tasks"

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: Certification authorities are no longer engineering experts. Nor are PHBs.

a quick search at ANSI shows "ISO ICS 49 AIRCRAFT AND SPACE VEHICLE ENGINEERING" as a category listing 530 standards.

I suspect many standards have content that is aligned with ISO9001 but my expertise is only in ISO17025 (requirements for technical competence in testing and calibration) which is a standard that requires one to demonstrate that everything you do is not only according to the manual but has sound technical reasoning underlying it.

Fans of dead data 'liberator' Swartz press Obama to sack prosecutor

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: Copywrite copyrite

From JSTOR's website

"Issues and Article Purchases

Approximately 850 journals also have single articles or issues for sale through JSTOR. Fees for those articles represent a price set by the publisher plus a flat fee to cover JSTOR’s costs for providing the service."

Wanna really insult someone? Log off and yell it in the street - gov

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: the tin foil hat wearer in me is deeply troubled

I'd accept the Stalin friend request, or close your facebook account, change your name and leave the country.

Amazon-bashed HMV calls in administrators, seeks buyer

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: Town and city centres

@MrXavia

"late opening every week" - that's one night late opening each week, and not every night.

For Norwich it's Thursday. I think that might once have been the half-day closing day.

I don't go down the city as often as I could/should but when I've been there on the weekend its generally busy.

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: What a shame

A commentator on the radio said that chains like HMV, JJ Sports, Comet gave a chance at employment experience in retail for those who didn't come out of school with high grades or go on to university.

One advantage that independent department stores may have is that being long established businesses they own the premises and therefore lease/rent on the shopfloor is effectively just internal accounting rather than a drain on the income

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: It was only a matter of time

They still have a lot of railway stations and motorway service stations stitched up.

Empire says ‘primitive’ Earth not ready for Death Star

graeme leggett Silver badge

Dissenting opinion crushed

Tarkin and Motti, no opinion from Taggi?

"Until this battle station is fully operational, we are vulnerable" - no I guess they wouldn't quote him.

Ex-Doctor Who babe Karen Gillan touts dodgy diet pills in twit gaffe

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: Only one diet works:-

for variety, in alternate weeks you should move more and eat less

( I think I nicked that off Tony Hawks)

Biz barons jumpy over EU draft data protection reforms

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: Oh dear

there's no reason the "dedicated data protection officer " can't be the owner.

The question for these small companies should be- Are the proposed duties of the dedicated data protection officer too onerous for a small company?

graeme leggett Silver badge

not too Complex to enforce

Company websites seem quite capable of enforcing me to type a number in the "telephone" part of a webform (though fortunately not all check to see that the digits after the area code aren't 000000), it shouldn't be beyond them to ensure that a customer has ticked either "Yes I enjoy receiving post, even if I have to throw most of it away" or "No, I don't want your mates to send me crap".

Presumably once clear consent has to be achieved with Data Protection, the next stop will be Pre-ticked insurance, and other add-ons to the purchase in web forms (mentioning no Irish economy airlines of course)

White House rejects Death Star petition: '$850qn too pricey'

graeme leggett Silver badge

that was a mis-reporting.

the Germans displayed a dead ray - it washed upon some beach somewhere.

Nothing to see here, move along bitte.

(hums German, German overalls )

Biz users, hard-up punters: Nobody loves Windows 8

graeme leggett Silver badge

another reason

Businesses aren't spending money and have just spent most of what they have transitioning to Windows 7 from earlier versions.

But if they weren't expecting to sell many, shouldn't this article be titled

"Microsoft sales of Windows 8 to business much as expected

- nothing to see here, move along, move along"

less punchy I suppose and less likely to draw attention and comment. But if the Metro-haters, or anti-Linux crowd want to express their opinions they will whatever the subject of the article.

British armed forces get first new pistol since World War II

graeme leggett Silver badge

testimony to design, or tradition

that, aside from the number of rounds and the safety setup, the Browning was still judged to be up to the job?

Why mergers LOSE money, but are GOOD for the economy

graeme leggett Silver badge

Mergers as genuine cost savers or to access markets

Didn't see that mentioned

take two companies in similar business

Company A has tatty old office block and brand new factory with room for expansion

Company B in the next town has office space but an ancient factory filled with new machines.

A merger should see that "A&B Ltd" has the latest equipment in a modern efficient factory and its combined head office staff working not far down the road. Being a bigger player they can tender for larger contracts. and they have two brownfield sites to sell off for redevelopment.

In theory......

Equally, the management merge the two business, lay off the workforce at one site while moving the machinery to the other where they get the factory floor to work twice as hard. Squeeze the office staff into a spare corner of the factory and sell off three sites for housing. Then it's down to the golf course for "a good walk ruined" before into the clubhouse and doubles all round.

Forget 3D: 13,000 UK homes still watch TV in black and white

graeme leggett Silver badge

"pay for it out of the other tax revenues received."

At which point it would dissappear into some sort of governement accounting type blackhole, and the public would have little to no idea what they are actually paying.

This way it's up front and known about - and you can write letters to the newspapers starting "is this what I pay my licence fee for...."

Texas schoolgirl loses case over RFID tag suspension

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: Sure sign of mental illness.....

Nice intro, where are the opening chords of Iron Maiden's "Number of the Beast"

'Leccy-starved Reg hack: 'How I survive on 1.5kW'

graeme leggett Silver badge

I'm surprised

while many comments have been helpful advice about how to get more power, few if any have congratulated the man on living frugally. Given that energy costs money, this is an example of living within his means (or more accurately his capacity) and one that others could emulate.

I'm not saying I fancy the idea of going without abundant electricity, but a week or two on limited kW through physical rather than monetary constraint might be a way for people to grasp what it means to live in the modern world. Might be a bit fun too.

Microsoft pats self on back over Windows 8 sales

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: I wonder how many installations are simply as the machine came?

you may not be a Windows 8 user, but you are a Windows 8 sale. That alone will have made MS some money, though not as much as if you had stuck with 8 and paid for some apps as well.

Security bods rip off Microsoft's 'sticking plaster' IE bug fix

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: obsolete versions of IE

how about "obsolescent" - in the process of becoming obsolete

First rigid airship since the Hindenburg enters trials

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: A few points

Another problem with WWI Zeppelins for the Allies was the height at which they flew compared to the wood, linen and wire aircraft of the time.

An Airco DH2 in 1915 took about 25 minutes to reach 5,000 ft. In the time it took to achieve an interception, the Zepppelin could have unloaded its bombs and be flying - even higher - for home.

As anti-submarine patrols, the British put a lot of non-rigid airships into the air. How about using an airship to as escort shipping in pirate zones.

Google wriggles out of FTC search smackdown. Now to Europe!

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: Proven not-guity

FTC say Google haven't been doing anything wrong, but Google decide to change how they operate.

Bit like Starbucks and tax in the UK?

Hm, nice idea that. But somebody's already doing it less well

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: But do we actually need all this progress?

My interpretation of the US and world wars is that in neither case was the US ready for the fight. Staying out allowed them time to organize the manpower and industrial resources.

In both 1914 and 1939, the US did not have either a sizeable body of men in uniform nor the equipment for them to use. The US Navy was smaller than the Royal Navy at the start of the Second piece of unpleasantness, their tanks were useless and there weren't many of them.

That said US industry (and Canada's) both benefitted from the large amounts of cash that the UK was prepared to hand over for war materiel. Canada's "billion dollar gift" part way through the war can be seen as an attempt to keep British orders with Canadian businesses rather than see them move them south of the border under Lend-Lease

Apple supremo Tim Cook's pay packet slashed 99% in 2012

graeme leggett Silver badge

Cook's salary written out in words

"wealth beyond the dreams of avarice"

Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet creator Gerry Anderson dies at 83

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: RIP Gerry Anderson

I hum (to myself) the theme from Thunderbirds when opening the roller door at work to take the van out.

The next time it will be a more sombre arrangement.

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: UFO sadness,

It seems about the only one left is Benedict Cumberbatch's mum.

One of the most entertaining characters from UFO is the sinister doctor played by Vladek Sheybal as the foreign accented Dr "Jackson"

Rampaging gnu crashes Microsoft Store, hands out literature

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: Missing an important point...

For the down voters.

i said "yet" "never" re open source desktop.

for what I do the software isn't supported on anything other than windows, and I don't have time to learn how to administer non-windows servers. that's the technical lock-in

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: Missing an important point...

downvote a calm reasoned suggestion? no, though I don't believe opensource desktops will take over yet and wouldn't get a look in at my door or server side for technical reasons.

Facebook tests feature to let strangers pay to message you

graeme leggett Silver badge

answer to spam is a higher hurdle?

Foreign spammers can only spam regular email addresses because the cost of spamming is so low.

In theory, a higher cost to deliver the message should limit it to "genuine" advertising. (Virgin media must spend about a couple of pounds on advertising to me each month - at least one A4 envelope with glossy brochure and a couple of DLs. licence mail around 30p per DL?)

And a few letters from financial services, but I don't get many letters inviting me to contact a Nigerian banker for my share of misappropiated funds.

What Compsci textbooks don't tell you: Real world code sucks

graeme leggett Silver badge

coder reactions to bad code

assuming you're an outside consultant brought in to look at a project, does anyone ever

suck in air through their teeth

shake their head

say "you've had some right cowboy install this lot"

graeme leggett Silver badge

Obviousness of bad code - some Friday thoughts

From what I've read here today, coders know what bad code looks like and that its something they have to write themselves due to the limitations of the situation. Presumably managers either don't know, don't care, or are also mindful of the limitations of "get it done now" and "no, there is no more overtime".

To a non-coder all code looks like a mess of numbers and letters, and bad code looks no worse than good code. Is there a parallel with mechanial engineering where it is said "it it looks right, it is right" ?

Perhaps I've got a "practical" mind, if you took the back off a piece of equipment I could (after some peering about) guess whether it was a bit of a lash up or a properly laid out mechanical masterpiece - a mix up of cables and gears or nicely routed and pinned wiring.

Are there tools that can represent code into a schematic form to make it easier to see how much of a lash-up they are?