* Posts by Rob

1524 publicly visible posts • joined 5 Apr 2007

AMD claims 'world's fastest GPU' title

Rob
Go

Curently experiencing that...

... with Star Wars the Old Republic, worked fine in Beta, release version though is terrible, best frame rate I can get is 18 on an ATI chip. Playable, but waiting for the driver/game update.

Apple wins skirmish in HTC-Google patent war

Rob
Trollface

Let me help you...

... this is the icon you were probably looking for......

iPad scammers pwn Lady Gaga's Facebook page

Rob
Go

10 for effort...

... well written

Lloyds TSB online banking, ATMs titsup in server crash

Rob
Stop

Indeed...

... god forbid kassy4 would have had to go into the Branch and request cash over the counter.

Win8 beta to surface in Feb 2012 - Microsoft exec

Rob

PC Makers

I think the PC Makers made a hash of it because they could do the hardware ok but probably took longer figuring out the minefield of implementing Android. If Microsoft had Win8 there and then, I think it could have been a slightly different story.

I get the impression from the tablets that appeared shortly after the iPad that they were thrown together to jump on that bandwagon and the logical choice for an OS was Android as they thought it was the easier implementation for lack of something better.

Iran displays video footage of captured US spy drone

Rob

It could well be...

... but a signal will not get through if it is being jammed.

Rob
Go

My 2 pence worth

I reckon it's the real deal, it looks like it's been sort of bolted back together again, so if they did take control of it, they might of only got control of he flight surfaces and maybe landing gear was not an option.

Judging by the Americans refusing to comment I think they are worried to say the least as I'm pretty sure the Chinese will end up being the highest bidder. These things would probably make a great stealthy nuke delivery system with a bit of modification.

Laptop bags: 15-inchers

Rob
Thumb Up

Yup that's it...

... I will definately buy another should I need to, although judging by the build quality I can't see that happening for awhile.

Also note they are perfect for carrying an xbox 360 and 2 controllers as well :) (gotta do something at the in-laws over xmas)

Rob

Bad memory...

... I have a laptop bag (sorry can't remember the manufacturers name and it's not with me today), they had a very roomy bag with lots of pockets and even an extra pull out pocket (A4 size) with more pockets on it. Padding around the laptop was good and also a combination of airpockets in the padding. The laptop slot also had soem adjustments on it so that you could make it a nice snug fit for 15" and lower.

I think the thing that got me about this one was that it came with it's own asset stickers that you could put on the laptop and then register on their site, shoudl your laptop every get lost at an Airport it could easily be returned, the company would arrange pickup and delivery. I will find out the manufacturer and post it here once I get home in case anyone is interested.

Apple preps TV enabled iMac ahead of own-brand telly

Rob

Xbox

I see microsoft rolled out it's dashboard update yesterday along with creating space for the ondemand and TV streaming services it has signed up with. I did notice that the Sky 'app' on Xbox now allows you to stream live TV, it also gives you the Sky Guide for selecting which channel you want in essence turning your Xbox into a more portable Sky box. Although I didn't check to see if they have gone that extra step by making it a Sky+ type system to record programs onto your xbox harddisk.

China pad peddler wins iPad name from Apple

Rob
Go

Contracts

That's why contracts have caveats, means you can say things like 'Global' but then add 'with the exception of Chinese Territories'.

I wonder if it was blind luck on the Chinese companies part, or some canny thinking that led to this moment.... "Yeah sell it for 35,000, cause we know we'll have a the ability to sting them later, once their product has gather momentum".

Snowbound Alaskan survives on frozen beer

Rob
Headmaster

Pandantic minor correction

Your mention of the string of bad luck, the first point wasn't bad luck it was stupidity.

Napster will live on in the UK

Rob
Go

Had to check...

... that RealPlayer still exsisted, I can't remember the last time I had to install that piece of bloatware, probably back in the day when they had their own proprietry video format that people were using on websites.

Carrier IQ VP: App on millions of phones not a privacy risk

Rob
Go

Log in the stream?

From what I've read about this I get the see a lot of people referring to 'logs' or 'logging' but that's not what is essentially happening as per the video. The CIQ app isn't creating that log that was shown in the video, that was the event 'stream' that the phone was producing and the app was keeping an eye on the 'stream' whilst using it's real-time filtering at the same time, when it's sees an event that it needs for analytical purposes it catches it from the stream and saves what it needs into this 200kb file for transmission. So the all of that event stream in the video is what the phone is producing the app is just dipping in to it.

It's the carriers that need to be taken to task over this not carrier IQ, just because someone makes a gun doesn't mean I have to use it.

Hands on with Star Wars: The Old Republic

Rob
Alien

This is WoW in it's early days...

... but in a galaxy far, far away. That was a sweeping generalisation so easy on the flames fanboi's.

I did enjoy the beta, after firing up a Sith Warrior on Friday night my aim was to get a starship before my last opportunity to play on Monday night. Although that was a bit of an anticlimax as I was expecting slightly more freedom with my ship, instead it's planet to planet travel and missions are 'on rails', still enjoyable though.

I know it's not exactly the same but the game engine is very similiar and the reason for that is probably because BioWare looked at successful business models for MMO's and what works and clearly thought Blizzard have got a majority of right as it's pulling the customers so lets do similiar. Also the fact that all the keyboard shortcuts being exactly the same will help any WoW player transition over to this one. (I'm looking at my budget to see if I can afford to run both together, I may have to play them alternate months).

The biggest difference between the 2 was probably that I found more drawn in by the quest dialogue but then you would when the camera locks you in, you can do nothing else other than watch and wait for your interaction point. Plus I know more about SW universe, despite the fact that I have been playing WoW for 7 odd years.

I wasn't worried by the graphics glitches and the fact that most of the character animations hadn't been enabled (WoW was the same in it's beta, along with a few other MMO's that have been in Beta).

I think a previous poster was right in the fact that a lot will draw comparsions with WoW, especially seeing as the game engine is virtually the same (including all the keyboard shortcuts) and the fact that WoW is currently the leader in monthly paid MMO's.

The End of Free: Web 2.0 will squeeze punters rotten

Rob
Stop

Your perspective...

..."Facebook is a piece of free trivia."

I know exactly what your saying but trust me there are people out there that think of it as life and limb, when they get to that state of mind, money is not as much of a barrier to them whether they have it or not.

I'm gonna do you all favour now and shut up, I seem to have got a bit passionate about this cause it's touched on socialeconomics and technology and it facinates me.

Rob
Go

breaking the bank...

Sorry I should have said I was only referring to those that would struggle to pay for a sub, those that won't struggle to pay it will probably quite happily fork out the cash if they aren't going to notice it.

I reckon honest budgeting is more of a priority for more than it was a couple of years ago. Chatting to a professor in socioeconomics said that these sort of economical times you see a lot of 'middle class' folk suddenly drop straight into the 'lower class' most folks who were comfortable a few years back with their lifestyle expense are now finding it a little harder with increased prices from fuel to food and the analogy of 'most people are only 1 paycheque away from living on the streets' seems a lot more real nowadays. I know a few people that have decided to drop a gym subscription or maybe trim their sky bill by ditching movies or sport.

I think the other point you made 'Even if they are breaking the bank, there's not much money there.' Corporates don't care how you will be able to afford it they just want you to pay it, if they can get you hooked how you keep your habit going is of no concern to them.

P.S. liked the typo as well ;-)

P.P.S From what I've read Second Life degenerated into a virtual fetish club by the sounds of it.

Rob
Meh

Forgetting a few factors...

... a lot of people seem to be forgetting a few factors.

If FB started charging, I can gaurantee it would be at a level that they knew would be affordable to the majority, because if they can keep the majority they already have then subscription can be based on economies of scale (e.g. 50million users at £5 or 25million at £2.50).

Also those that can't afford to budget for this expense might still try and break the bank to pay it as they have already 'invested' a lot of their time and effort into the platform (e.g. uploading images, posts, online games etc). It will take a hefty, uncomfortable subscription for these types of users to cut free from FB and loose all that net-estate behind.

Plus you have the addicts who can't leave it because they have now fully intergrated social media into their daily lives, which is what most social media platforms want, they want and market themselves as essential, once they are essential it's easier to but a price on it.

@Andrew, good article, I think you have highlighted the elephant in the room that everyone deep down wishes wasn't there, you can slap a horn on it if you want and call it an ellehorn if it helps fit in with your analogies.

Rob
Go

Are you sure

"...The first and most glaringly idiotic presumption is that any of these services are necessary in people's lives. They did just fine without any of these services 10-15 years ago and will do just as fine if they happen to be priced out of their want..."

You don't really understand human nature that well do you? I'm sure simliar arguments were made about the mobile phone in it's early days, you know that device, the one that is an essential part of the majorities lives today whether they can afford it or not.

Rob

But the game changes...

... so your comment doesn't make a whole lot of sense. If you're paying a subscription fee for one FB clone and some of your mates are on another, market forces dictate that the platforms will need to start competing with each other so interoberability should come into play. Just like some IM platforms are doing now. Back in the day if you were on MSN Messenger but your mate was on Yahoo, you had to have both platform apps loaded, that is no longer the case.

The other point you had about one being free and one being paid, today human nature is a funny thing. One comparing to identical services together where one is paid and the other is free, most (note the 'most') people will instinctively be wary of the free platform so they will compare the 2 offerings in greater detail, at which point if the paid service sub isn't too high it will usually offer more than the free service and the paid for service wins out. Plus the other caveat being that a paid service usually is stronger has they have the budget to throw at main stream marketing channels.

Chancellor to raid pensions, Whitehall to revamp UK broadband

Rob
Go

@John Smith 19

No, not unaware, fully aware that they were all privatised. I was merely considering the possibility of giving them a financial boost so that we could remove the arguement that they have to spent so much money on their infrastructure upgrades to comply with EU laws & directives and maybe that could translate into a financial difference to the customer as we will never win the argument about energy trading on the futures market, which at times really works hard against us.

Rob
Alert

Infrastructure...

... can I hope that when using that word they will bung some money to the Grid for water, gas and electric, prehaps helping these out, reducing leaks, out of date equipment might help with efficiencies that could save THE CUSTOMER (you know the public, the ones paying this dosh twice over already in taxes etc) some money.

oh hell, I might as well go the whole hog and say something unbeliveably ridiculous.... when is the Governement going to do something for us, the general public?

Bloke claims ex swiped his sperm to make twins

Rob
WTF?

?

You just couldn't make this shit up could you, nutters seem to be evolving faster than average humans as they are churning out a new breed a frightening rates nowadays.

Dragonriders of Pern author Anne McCaffrey dies

Rob

R.I.P dear lady

I loved the 'Dragon' series when I was growing up, they had a good balance. I still have a number of the original paperbacks kicking around (some books I keep cause I like the artwork). Makes me think I might buy a couple in Kindle format and relive the 'Pern' days.

Kindle Fire: An open letter to Jeff Bezos

Rob
Go

I second that montion...

... more so cause I said the same but it never got approved?!?

I think I used the word inane to describe Greg's writing though.

It's ALIVE! Broken Russian Mars probe finally answers calls

Rob
Go

What was the anser...

... 'Goodbye'

story gone

Rob
Joke

I doubt it...

... FB is never innocent ;-)

Why have VCs hosed down an obscure startup with cash?

Rob
Go

Sounds like the VC's...

... haven't really looked at the market. I think it's a bit optimistic as these sort of offerings are already present on the platform and they don't seem to be neck-deep in customers yet, prehaps it's a slow burn and ROI will come in a couple of years time. Although if I were a VC I would want a gauranteed ROI in a year seeing as it's in the Mobile sector which can be a fical beast.

Free the people from office chains and commuting pain!

Rob
Happy

The kit isn't the issue...

... it's the companies policy that's usually the problem, that and some untrustworthy employees who will doss around all day not doing much giving the rest of us a bad name.

Personally I'm all for home working, I do it once a week and because I've agreed to to my set hours and no more at some point in the day I get to mix working a bit and playing with my son before he grows up too quick and isn't interested so much in his Dad.

Punctured Google+ leaks bored users

Rob
Go

They need to...

... create a killer facebook app that pull data across, like posts and pictures etc and get it to interact with twitter. Give it an angle like hootsuite and they could wipe out the need to access Facebook directly.

Nobody like duplicating data especially when's that data is verbal diahorea about what you've been up to.

Star Wars 3D holo displays becomes a reality

Rob
Headmaster

I think I'm being pedantic

"...it is the world's first piece of kit to display images without the use of a screen..." really?

I'm pretty sure I saw many years back a device that projected a free floating image using water vapour/mist, from what I remember it was a German guy that developed it, I think he was even quoted as saying that he was developing 'hotspots' so that the image could be interactive.

(I may have even seen it on El Reg, clarification needed)

UK to big brands: Get off our Facebook, mate!

Rob
Go

@TeeCee

Worse than that, as a local authority we have even more reason to make sure our info is on the website first. With nigh on 160,000 residents not all of them will have internet access and those that do will not all want to sign up to Facebook or even look at it. But what do I know, I'm just the monkey that pushes buttons, it's not like I've been working in this field for the last 15yrs.

Rob
Go

I would have thought so...

... as it's forcing you to sign up with Facebook, this is the whole reason the 'No Purchase Nessecary' label was brought into play so as to not alienate anyone and make it fair and open to all.

(Hence why I'm constantly battling my manager who thinks everything needs to go on Facebook first and I'm always saying website first, that is and always will be our primary source of information).

Is Apple nobbling iPhones to avoid more patent misery?

Rob
Go

Too that effect then...

... surely Samsung can put a modification on their tablets case that could be sort of removed thus defeating any litigation, maybe some square corner clips that the consumer accidently confuses as packaging material and removes them on opening the box.

Mars, Moon, solar system could be littered with alien artifacts

Rob
Alien

More likely...

... that any space faring aliens that have seen us on Planet Earth have no doubt stuck the equivalent to a D-Notice on us and slapped our solar system with a Do Not Disturb sign followed by a bio-hazard and nuclear warning logos.

Secret US 'Jedi' ghost-copters kept out of bin Laden raid

Rob
Coffee/keyboard

My employer...

... will be sending you the invoice, that'll teach you to use the phrase 'wibble fields' ;-)

NASA tells Voyager 2 to save its strength

Rob
Joke

Back then...

... in the 70's it would still have been the zee'Germans from operation paperclip surely ;)

Japan develops powered armour suit for nuke workers

Rob
Terminator

Cyberdyne!!

Seriously?!?

Robbers steal £1m worth of Modern Warfare 3 packs

Rob
Stop

Seems to happen a lot...

... in France to tech-laden vans. They always seem to have someone on the inside and know exactly which vans/lorries to hit.

Belkin Chef Stand and Stylus for tablets

Rob
Happy

Nice...

... I can completely relate to everything in this article, this is definately going on my xmas list for the missus to buy me.

Got to be the first accessory that I have actually wanted.

Nude lady recreates Star Wars tauntaun scene in dead horse

Rob
Coat

Takes all sorts I suppose...

... horses for courses, one man's meat is another man's poison.

(That's the best I can do at this time in the morning).

Smart meters: Nothing can possibly go wrong, says gov

Rob
Go

Love the line...

... about those who miss a payment can be moved onto a higher tariff, I'm sure that will help most folks out of debt by increasing the tariff as a penalty.

Makes me want to start looking into the price of diesel generators and bio fuel, must be cheaper than solar panels?

Apple was OK to fire man for private Facebook comments

Rob
Go

Mixing it up...

...Linkedin is a social media channel based on businesses and colleagues and such like associations.

Facebook is not so much that but it has been used for that by various employees, just to make it worse you can now get your FB to feed into your Linkedin profile (talk about setting your own minefield).

So in short AC is bang on the nail, don't mention who you work for just be generic and refer to your 'employer'.

It is worrying that the judge isn't being challenged on this but you do have to feel slightly pleased as someone has just been liberated from a cult :-P

Steve Jobs named most influential game guy – ever

Rob
Go

That's the caveat...

... they are execs so it's not like they have a clue what's going on in their industry or what's going on with their workforce.

ASUS: 'We run out of hard disks at the end of the month'

Rob
Thumb Up

Smart indeed...

... also because their transformer has a very neat keyboard accessory that then makes it an ultrabook unless of course their are other requirements that stop it falling into this category.

Safe as Windows: Smartphones' security nightmare

Rob
Mushroom

LOL

I have exactly the same issue on a Wednesday, productivity slows down so much that a good day is considered as being able to read an item on the staff intranet and send a couple of emails. Good forbid I even think about firing up Photoshop.

Thankfully as I'm in complete control of my home network, all the kit gets checked last thing at night and on a staggered shedule so as not to interfere with my bandwidth more than anything else.

I see your point about the iUsers vs 'Droidusers when paying for apps, shame as I have bought a few droid apps (AV being one of them) and found the whoel purchase experience easy to use. I wonder if that will change over time as I have seen a lot more quality apps appearing on the Droid marketplace now compared to a few months ago when it mostly free crap not worth installing.

(Nuke icon as I think that is what happens to our network on a Virus Wednesday)

Rob
Go

Same old, same old

"Welcome to the new world of mobile, same as the old world of desktop?" I think that last remark says it all for me.

I have AV software on my PC and likewise I have AV software on my Android devices, none of these devices suffer from performance issues because of it and I treat my phone like I do my PC when it comes to security, downloading and installing what looks safe based on reputation and reviews and number of downloads etc. Bit of common sense from those wild west days of the PC.

I do wonder how long the market will react taking this into account, what with samsung shifting more units that Apple and general Android saturation being higher than iPhones, how long before there are less apps developed for Apple first (if at all in some cases) as developers concentrate on the higher saturated platform, only time will tell I suppose.

Samsung making over half its cash from its mobes

Rob
Go

At lot bigger...

... when you consider the asset value of all their manufacturing facilities scattered across the planet.

Apple has some cash stashed, some patents, a flash new office and some retail outlets which don't really compare in scale to Samsungs operations.

Rob
Flame

Too literal...

... I think every company wants their competitor out of their respective market, less competition means more sales for you business. So in essence yes Apple do want Samsung out of the market along with every other mobile manufacturer.

Don't be fooled the IP dispute is all about disrupting Samsung's business and revenues, it is the foremost reason for taking the action they have.

Google+ opens up to enterprises and apps

Rob
Go

Sorry what!?!

"...considering how well Facebook has developed business integration." I must have nodded off for a few months, has Facebook provided new tools and really understood how businesses want to use Facebook or is it still botching stuff together so that it looks like it knows what it's doing. I hate to say it but Facebook need to contract Apple to help with UI design.