Killed by a budgie...
...no, but my aunt was badly hurt when it's cage fell on her head.
Posts by MrT
1359 publicly visible posts • joined 9 Oct 2007
Australia puts 300 sharks on Twitter
Snapchat: In 'theory' you could hack... Oh CRAP is that 4.6 MILLION users' details?
Coming in 2014: Scary super-soldier exoskeleton suits from the US military
Wednesday 1st January 2014 09:37 GMT
One beneficial spin-off might be...
...Graphene power cell technology will suddenly see a massive boost in R&D funding. And then we can all forget about the other stuff because our phones will recharge in the blink of an eye and high energy users like these suits or the next gen electric cars will juice up in less than a minute...
Regardless of the physics of delivering that much energy in such a short time, which would mean handy proximity to a high-power store or generator. Unless they also have plans for a Mr Fusion device, returning to the nearest nuclear-powered ship might limit things a bit.
KISS isn't where stuff like this is at. It's not the next AK-47 or Land Rover...
El Reg's contraptions confessional no.5: The Sinclair Sovereign
Monday 30th December 2013 18:46 GMT
I had one of that vintage...
... also red LEDs for the display, which took 6xAAA cells. Soon replaced those with a single PP3 (6xAAAAs internally) wired across first and last contact and stuck on the outside of the case with insulation tape.
It was a good job that it did the power distribution properly inside, instead of taking a line out of the battery at 4.5V to run the logic - the last time I noticed something like that was on an old robot arm for my BBC Master, and only because I was trying to sort out a 9V PSU feed instead of sacrificing another stack to the god of C-cells...
Saturday 28th December 2013 09:05 GMT
I remember the Executive...
... because oddly one guy I worked with still had one on his desk a decade later, but this one passed me by. It was the stories that others used to relate about the howling errors he used to make simply because the calculator gave a number, and this very experienced engineer forgot the basic "estimate before you calculate" rule. I guess he kept it like some sort of hunting trophy...
This design looks different but it limits the display size for further development. It does look like it could be operated whilst held in one hand, which was something that others of that era couldn't manage - but then they tended to stay on the desk or drawing board even though they were pocketable.
Odd, at a time this sleek design for a device that probably stayed on a desk came out, we had the first slab-like TV remotes that took two hands to hold (like the Grundig I had for a long while)
Note-jotting and mapapp firms VANISH into Apple's MAW
BT tweaks WORDING of sex-ed web block after complaints
Monday 23rd December 2013 19:52 GMT
Sometimes** the filters get it spot on...
... like one protecting the whole-region education network where I was based about 10 years ago that classified the HMRC site a "offensive".
But for most of the time they just annoyed everyone with spurious content analysis that leads to, for example, sites selling extreme Land Rover off-road suspension kits , being classified as "firearms" just because part of the system for older leaf-sprung vehicles involves fitting something called a 'revolver linkage'...
** 'sometimes' as in 'hardly ever'
Mosquitoes, Comets and Vampires: The de Havilland Museum
Saturday 21st December 2013 08:23 GMT
Depends what you want to see...
...because Tony Agar's been reconstructing a Mosquito NFII for years at Yorkshire Air Museum, which is amongst an amazing collection.
But then I'm a little bit biased in that respect since I was working on exhibits for YAM before it ever got going at Elvington, stripping Merlin XX's from JP165 for display/parts and picking mud from the rear fuselage section of HR792, both aircraft from 58 squadron, whilst YAM existed in the minds of Ian Robinson and Bobby Sage, but physically at a lockup at RAF Dishforth and a storage unit at Melmerby...
You've got $60k: So, 2013 sporty Corvette, or a year of AWS's new I2 beast?
NSA alleges 'BIOS plot to destroy PCs'
Sensation: Chinese Jade Rabbit FOUND ON MOON
Monday 16th December 2013 04:50 GMT
B&W...??
I know Bowers & Wilkins were used at Skywalker Sound, but I didn't know they had their own stage... ;-)
El Reg's contraptions confessional no.3: the Apple G4 Cube
Apple fanbois warned: No, Cupertino HASN'T built a Bitcoin mining function into Macs
Fragged, fragged and thrice fragged! 20 years of id Software’s Doom
Spinning rust and tape are DEAD. The future's flash, cache and cloud
Tuesday 10th December 2013 04:34 GMT
"Cloud"="Someone else's Computer"...
http://grahamcluley.com/2013/12/cloud-privacy-computer/
Graham Cluley was interviewed recently for Computing about file security and said this...
"Replacing all instances of the word “cloud” with “somebody else’s computer” might make organisations stop and think about the security implications of cloud computing."
Try that in every business proposal ever floated across the C-tier boardroom and see if the response would be different...
El Reg's contraptions confessional no.2: Tablet PC, CRT screen and more
When the lights went out: My 'leccy-induced, bog floor crawling HORROR
Friday 6th December 2013 23:59 GMT
Re: Oh yes, power cuts in the '70s
We got out the ornate toasting fork, took the safety grill off the living room gas fire, pressed a few rounds up against the fire blocks and marvelled in eating an almost warmed-through piece of bread that tasted of unburnt gas and was faintly back-woods style (crispy on the outside but uncooked in the middle - but at least the grid of burnt rectangles was different)...
El Reg Contraption Confessional No.1: The Dragon 32 micro
Sunday 1st December 2013 17:03 GMT
Re: Third-party ones were thermal...
That's the one! The paper didn't like fingerprint oil either. Faded like a Dixons receipt minutes after being "put somewhere safe" on the day of purchase. I even redesigned Speccy font sets to make things more legible, including one natty little handwriting script-style one. I even printed the memory dump of the font area to pass it on to somene else, but of course it faded the second it went through the postal system and arrived like a printed version of a Norman Collier transcript...
Saturday 30th November 2013 16:58 GMT
Third-party ones were thermal...
... I had one for my Spectrum, took paper rolls a bit like till roll paper, went blue with the heat. Can't remember the make, but it was a bit bigger than the ZX Printer.
Back in the 80's a friend who owned a second-hand shop acquired a Dragon and various bits - a nice computer to work on. He saw the potential for using it in his shop, so I spent a fun few weeks one summer ('89 or '90 IIRC) writing a stock control system for it. I'd already written a "Garage Management" system on a Beeb a couple of years before that emulated the normal treeware daily job cards, matching the job details with available time in a week - the drag in that project was creating the database structure on disk and digitising the standard job time guides from my dad's garage.
My collection of attic classics include a BBC Master 128, an unbuilt ZX81 kit (Spanish manuals though), and my trusty QL. My 48k Speccy was the only one I ever sold on, to fund the QL. Also have some later troopers from 90's and early noughties, including an iPaq 5550 and pair of Psion 5s (one UK standard and one US-model MX).
REVEALED: How YOU PAY extra for iPHONES - even if you DON'T HAVE ONE
Google claims MOOCs SOLVE code-for-kids teacher training problem
Monday 25th November 2013 05:55 GMT
Teaching "computational thinking"...
...sounds much more useful and broad-based than writing a mobile phone app, but to have a wider impact it depends on which teachers learn Scratch, for example. I seen interesting ways of solving problems using Scratch, but all stemming from STEM subjects, tending to be equation or solution based. Does this mean that the linguists, artists, historians and the rest haven't yet seen how computational thinking applies to their subjects?
Racing Post p0wned, accounts accessed and passwords pinched
Rotund dotcom copies Miley Cyrus on XBox Day!
Twitter fires up stronger, anti-snooping encryption for its millions of twits
Saturday 23rd November 2013 04:17 GMT
Keeping secrets...
...isn't exactly what Twitter is about.
They're protecting user account details with this move, and it would be good to see similar moves from others, but the way it's being reported you'd think Twitter was being used to transmit state secrets.
Now if regular email suddenly switched to using similar encryption for all traffic, regardless of provider, that would be far more significant.
Samsung pulls Galaxy S3 update as users moan: It's PANTS
Tuesday 19th November 2013 19:10 GMT
Turn off the Motion stuff...
... or at least the "shake to update" and "cover to silence" - my GS3 early morning alarms are fine but that's probably because the phone is open on the bedside table - I had noticed other audio notifications like diary reminders, messages and ring tones silenced early in with the case closed in my pocket, plus the battery drained about twice the speed as on 4.1.2. Then checking the Settings I found that the majority of the Motion options had been reactivated. Since turning most off I've not had any issues with audio notifications and the battery life is back up to nearly normal (still not perfect, but I don't have to charge twice a day unlike in the days after 4.3 arrived).
BIG, CURVY Apple models: Just right for SLAP AND TICKLE
Galaxy is CRAMMED with EARTH-LIKE WORLDS – also ALIENS (probably)
Tuesday 5th November 2013 05:58 GMT
Cosmos...
... brilliant book/TV series. However, my biggest recollection of watching it when it originally aired was feeling lost as Carl tried to explain the light speed barrier using a moped rider in an Italian village with a 30kph limit (IIRC). Unless by that analogy photons are desperately trying to beat lightspeed to either impress other photons watching in the village square, or just to make the delivery before the pizza cools too far...
The idea of balloon-like floating organisms in the skies of Jupiter was nice, which was something that Arthur C Clarke referenced in 2010: Odyssey 2 as the planet was condensed and ignited as a second, short-lived star.
All, of course, dependant on my memory not being rewired and befuddled in the mean-time ;-)
No, it's NOT Half-Life 3 – it's Valve's lean, mean STEAM MACHINE
How I BLEW my co-workers' HEADS OFF ... without going to jail
Is it barge? Is it a data center? Mystery FLOATING 'Google thing'
Money really does GROW ON TREES say boffins
Saturday 26th October 2013 18:04 GMT
If you polish a koala turd...
... it might just glint gold. Instead of examining the leaves, "check the poo"...
Is this the sort of valuable 'dark matter' that scientists seek...?
Microsoft store staff to hold all night vigil for Surface 2
Microsoft: We're nearly OUT OF STOCK of Surface 2 and Pro 2
Icahn to Cook: 'Buy back $150bn of Apple's stock, or tell me why you won't'
Multipath TCP: Siri's new toy isn't a game-changer
Our LOHAN rocket ship team exits Spain with a bang
Monday 23rd September 2013 18:39 GMT
CofG...
...my rocketry knowledge might be shown wanting with this comment - doesn't the CG need to be further back from the centre of thrust? If so, then that wing configuration is ideal. Reminds me of the Beechcraft Starship.
Disclaimer: knowledge gleaned from a few hours of cocking about with the TopGear Reliant Shuttle simulator - it might be completely bass-ackwards ;-)
Google smacks Surface with free Quickoffice for Android, iOS
Friday 20th September 2013 17:48 GMT
Re: @Office on Android recommendation
+1 for Documents To Go - I've used it since first switching from the older Windows Mobile platforms when the HTC Desire first came out, and got it direct for about £6 back then. Polaris looks all fancy, and shows a few things that DTG doesn't, like cell outlines on spreadsheets (but at least those that are there are maintained when saving). However, DTG is easily good enough to use in place of the Mobile Office apps on the old HTC Kaiser et al that T-Mobile use to rebadge as their Vario range.
Brits are world's most wired drivers, says fleet tracker CEO
Friday 20th September 2013 17:33 GMT 
"Brits are world's most wired drivers..."
... judging by the amount of them seen with devices plonked haphazardly across the centre of the windscreen, right in the way of their view, often lighting the inside of the car when it gets dark because they haven't found out how to set it to night mode.
Ex-CEO Elop's plunder to total $25m in voyage from Nokia to Microsoft
Rotten Apple iOS 7 fury: Glitchy audio or is today's music really that bad?
Thursday 19th September 2013 20:14 GMT
Re: Audio - Siri
Yeah, but some of the other nationalities sound j-ust as sti-ilt-ed. I've just tried the Aussie, Canadian and US versions of English and the best of the bunch seemed to be the Sheila, although the British bloke has a more authoritative tone. I wonder if there is any language where these synth voices sound right?
For my iPad Mini the process went smoothly up to the actual install, when it kept telling me that the software was unavailable at this time - this is after downloading, preparing and verifying it. Then I remembered to properly quit all the running apps that were lurking in the background and it went through fine.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
