Posts by Eponymous Cowherd

Simple solution for Andy Hudson

Be less crap.

I used to know a girl called Pandora.

Never did get to see her box, however.....

The next step.

I'm now waiting for the announcement that the General Election has been postponed (indefinitely) because of the need for continuous Government while the terrorist threat continues.

Microsoft caught with its pants down (again)

Yet again Microsoft has been caught with its pants around its corporate ankles.

Remember Bill Gate's opinion of the WWW? MS got out of that one because it really only had Netscape as a competitor when it finally woke up.

Then there was MS playing catch-up when Java came along and people realised there was something better than MS' offering of VC++ and VB. They dug themselves out of that one, too.

Now they have been caught with their trousers down *again*, but this time they are an also-ran with the offerings from the likes of Apple, Google, Palm, Blackberry and Nokia *far* in the lead and with the muscle (unlike Netscape, Sun, etc) to ensure they trip over them and fall flat on their face.

The project is being led by BT!?!

Its like entrusting a two year-old with a pile of hand grenades!

You know there's going to be a messy explosion sooner rather than later.

We are all clueless about some things.....

But that's what mates are for.

I'm good with tech. Its what I'm paid for, so I should be good.

However I'm crap at plumbing, building, general DIY and motor maintainance, but I know people who *are* very good at those things.

I fix and provide help for their computers, networks, etc, they return the favour.

No money changes hands and we all benefit from help and advice from people we known and trust.

Job done, and no semi-literate help-desk chimps needed.

Beer also accepted in payment.

Baby?

I wonder if said sprog will be enrolled onto ContactPoint?

Nothing to fear, Nothing to hide, Meg.......

Great!

Full steam ahead with my Dalek production line, then.

Weird idea of high end

How, in any definition of the phrase, is the Samsung Jet "high end"?

The defining feature of "high end" phones is the ability to install and run 3rd party apps (and I don't mean cruddy J2ME apps) and the availability of tools to allow them to be developed.

Neither are available for the Samsung, which places it firmly in the mid-range category.

Borderline FAIL

Only seems to work when the image contains text or barcode *and* it manages to correctly recognise it (which is hit and miss). Complete failure on any*thing* I've tried, including what I assumed to be easily recognisable shapes (cars, bicycles, telephones, cups, etc).The only thing it recognised was a (computer) keyboard.

Interesting idea, and fun to play with, but currently almost useless.

Infamy at last

I'm not poet.

And I know it.

***"I shall be dealing with all the numpties in that thread who can't cope with the 5-7-5 format in due course."***

Excellent. Always willing to learn. I'll let you know when Mrs Cowherd is out feeding the chickens.....

Dell Limerick?

There was young man from Dell

A computer he failed to sell

Made in Poland, said he

Can be yours for a small fee

And you get Windows 7 as well.

Idea for job application form question:

Do you have a voluntary UK ID card? (yes / no):

If the applicant answers "yes" then the application should be rejected immediately. They have no regard for their own security or privacy, so cannot be trusted with yours. They are also quite likely to be of below average intelligence as they fell for the Government's ID card bullsh*t.

Big Brother. He's useful for filtering out job applications from *really* stupid people.

Re:Welcome to Australia

***"Since we're about to get a Tory government in the UK, we make as well be used to emotionally adolescant, bullying, patriarchal idiots deciding what you can see hear, and think"***

Ah, irony.

Don't you just love it.

You *were* being ironic, weren't you?

Mine's the one with the No2ID badge on the lapel.

Web advertising is irretrievably f**cked.

Since shortly after the birth of the World Wide Web, advertisers have been falling over themselves to shove the fruits of their labours in front of us by any and every means possible. In-page ads, irrespective of how "eye catching" they were, weren't doing the job, so they came up with the idea of pop-ups. Unsurprisingly (unsurprising, that is, for anyone who *isn't* an advertising executive) people found these intensely irritating and, unsurprisingly (again, if you aren't an ad exec) started to block them.

Did the ad muppets get the message? Did they think "If we stick to *subtle* advertising people won't mind"? Of course they didn't. They just upped the ante and devised more methods of ramming their crap in front of our eyeballs and ad-blockers became more sophisticated to deal with them.

The ad-blocker is a kind of advertising atom-bomb. It was born of an inconsiderate and irresponsible web advertising industry and has been used, successfully, to nuke adverts whenever and wherever they appear. Like other "weapons of mass destruction", once invented (out of necessity) , it cannot, and will not, be un-invented.

The ad-blocker is here to stay. It has killed web advertising, and the ad men only have themselves to blame.

Paris, she looks dumb enough to be an ad-exec.

Re: funny thing

***"The problem was that the information was lost in a sea of irrelevance."***

And the real criminals / terrorists, knowing IMP exists, will take measures (encryption, darknets, etc) to ensure they cannot be snooped on, making the ratio between valid intelligence and noise even greater.

Re:Wii still has a problem

There is a large (100+ posts) thread on the BBC iPlayer message boards:-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/mbiplayer/F13735683?thread=6893890

The current BBC position on the Wii iPlayer was given by one of the "Hosts" on that forum earlier today:-

"We still aim to have an improved version of BBC iPlayer for the Wii this year so hope to have some further news soon."

No info on *what* this "improved" iPlayer will be (Flash, "Channel" or WiiWare) or what the current state of development is.

Which is, IMHO, taking the term "noncommittal" to ridiculous extremes.

Beyond 1984

We are now in Minority Report territory.

Big Brother.

Not only does he know what you are doing. He now knows what you are *going* to do, even if *you* don't.

Flickering screen.

Had the flickering screen thing on first reboot. Solution was to boot into recovery, switch to runlevel 3, and compile/ install NVidia's own drivers.

Not good.

the company must “take care of Windows Mobile”

That makes Windows Mobile sound like someone with senile dementia.

So, pretty accurate, then.

Gulity until proven, err, Guilty.

Or just plain "Guilty"

Because as far as these CRB checks go, it is impossible to *prove* your innocence, let alone have it assumed until *proven* guilty.

Braveheart

Don't you just *love" that bit where he's having his guts ripped out, but feel slightly disappointed that he's only acting.

So drop the price.....

If MS can stomach selling the much more complex XBox 360 Elite for £190 (only £10 more than the Wii) then surely the Wii could go for the magical £99 price tag. At such a "Stocking filler" price it would fly off the shelves at Christmas.

A seriously BAD move.

***"The software developer's kit for version two of Google's Android platform is now available, with handsets coming soon, but upgrades for existing users less certain."***

If existing Android handsets are "cast adrift" and won't be offered updates it will badly impact the platform's appeal. Many owners of 1.x Android phones bought them with the tacit understanding that the platform's deficiencies (Bluetooth, lack of multi-touch, etc) would be remedied in later releases. If those releases are not rolled out to G1, Magic, Hero, etc then it will certainly put off owners of those phones from getting another Android device.

I suppose the handset manufacturers might take the short-sighted view that this might encourage people to physically "upgrade" to a 2.0 phone and will have to learn the hard way that kicking customers in the teeth isn't a good way to gain brand loyalty.

Given that I can't change my Magic for another 12 months, the failure of HTC / Vodafone to roll out Android 2.0 to me will merely result in me rooting (with 2.0) my phone and moving to another manufacturer / network when my contract expires.

@Richard Wharram

The "biometrics" in an e-passport are merely an electronic version of your passport photo, and the rest is merely an electronic version of what is visibly printed. That's it. That's all it is. All that happens is Mr US Immigration Official compares the printed info and photo with the electronic version and your own live face. All three match and you're good to go.

This is *not* biometrics in the UK ID / NIR sense of the word, where your ID card is linked to the database and you can be *directly* identified by the ID card biometrics (fingerprints, etc). The information on your passport still just *confirms* who you are. The biometric information you will have to provide for your ID card can be used to *discover* who you are.

BIG difference.

@John Naismith

***"It was simply that back then it appeared there was no possibility of breaking some codes within the "suspect's" lifetime."***

Whereas today it would take longer than the age of the universe to brute-force "some codes"

I'm surprised.....

that 2000 people are *that* retarded.

Shouldn't a moving target......

be, erm, well, actually *moving*?

Reading betwwen the lines.....

***"civil servants working on the scheme will be able to apply for the cards early"***

Where "able" should be interpreted as "advised", "expected" or "required".