Posts by The BigYin

Search engines...

...do not teach you about the world, they merely lead you to the opinions of others about the world. Those opinions are often not based on fact*, prejudiced or pushing some personal agenda.

The only way to truly learn about the world is to get out from behind the screen and go see it.

*No, Wikipedia does not count as a reliable source

Much easier answer

Recycling from households is pretty wasteful. If is a good social practice as it gets people to think about their waste, but all the trucks chuntering about picking up the recyclable waste pretty much defeats the purpose. Best thing is - remove it at source; tax the producers.

Lest waster generated is less waste to be dealt with. So tax those companies who using wrapping, upon wrapping upon wrapping for no reason other than to "make it feel luxury and boost the consumer mind share of our corporate value chain" or whatever.

And tax the living hell out of the companies who use mixed materials that are hard to recycle and, pretty much, out law non-recyclable packaging materials.

As consumers we can do our bit - consume less! It really is that simple. The less crap you buy, the less crap you have to dump. The one big waste that needs stamped out at home is food waste - we throw so much out that it is disgusting.

Battery life

Let's have a race. A Kindle, an iPad and my copy of "XML in a nutshell". Let's see which one runs out of power first. :o)

I still think, to a large extent, these tablets are an answer looking for a problem. I am sure some people will find them very useful and fnabois will wax lyrical about how they will save civilisation as we know it, but like the Segway, they will remain niche/luxury products for a long time.

Surprised this isn't all over the gutter press

<DailyHate>

So they won't stop the deportation of McKinnon (white), but they will stop the deportation of two terrorist suspects (non-white).

</DailyHate>

Seems just the kind of thing they'd like to rant about.

Why an iPad?

Surely as members of the EUROPEAN parliament they should by a EUROPEAN product. Like the "wePad" (I think that was it) and use a EUROPEAN OS like Mandriva (or something).

Or (and I like this idea better) we can give them a pencil, paper and tell them to ram the secret meetings right up their collective arse.

If they really need a portable computing device, they can use a laptop like everyone else (from a EUROPEAN vendor).

Whilst I may agree...

... with Sir Conran; I am still in shock that a country like the UK thinks it is fit to host the games.

Oh, wait.

Hosting games (at vast public expense) to distract the peasants from the fact the country has gone to hell in a hand-basket. That's been tried before, hasn't it? Did it work back then?

Careful

I think people have done that before. He best be careful that there isn't a patent on using a mechanical contrivance to traverse the length of a country.

And MS batter be careful there isn't a patent on the process of shifting tax burden to a not-for-profit cause up to a pre-determined threshold.

Gotta watch those patents! They're the only thing that keeps the economy spinning (apparently).

Autorun?

People still have that turned on? Kee-ryst! One of the first things I disable (thanks "Tweak UI" you can nail it properly too).

Sure, mount it. Let me know it's connected. But don't run anything until I tell you to!

The iPlayer was good...

...up until the Beeb screwed it up with the whole flash-player-block thing (is there a workaround for that yet? Can I view the content I have already paid for on the player of my choice?)

So long as I can get "a device" and plug that device into my network (or direct to a PC), the device transmits in an open, non_DRM format so I can time shift broadcasts how I see fit, then I am happy.

If the device turns out to be a sack of crap, then I shall just turn to other sources for entertainments. Simples.

Oh, FFS

Get two reservoirs.

Place them at different heights.

Get a tube long enough to connect the reservoirs.

Flood the tube in the upper reservoir.

Bung one end.

Carefully remove the bunged end of the tube (so the free end does not meet air).

Place bunged end in lower reservoir.

Remove bung.

Be awed at the might of GRAVITY! No sucking required.

Next week: Why an aeroplane on a tread mill does bloody well take off.

Standards

MS would not be in this mess if they had supported and followed standards back in the day. Instead they created proprietary flags, tags and interpretations that drove developers in-freaking-sane and locked application to particular versions of their software.

MS have, of course, not learnt their lesson and still do not support standards (e.g. the whole docx/odf hoo-hah). In a few years there will be a similar story about some other piece of proprietary MS tech and all the grief that is causing.

If you are sending out an RFP, you are a blithering idiot if you do not demand the use of open, free-to-use and patent clear standards (e.g. mandate CMIS for ECM).

Here, I fixed it for you

...26 per cent of all web video is now available for playback withthe HTML5 <video> tag and the H.264 codec. That means that 26 per cent of web video is now viewable on the iPhone/Pod/Pad. And, of course, Steve Jobs asserts that it's the most important 26 per cent."

should read

"..26 per cent of all web video is now available for playback withthe HTML5 <video> tag and the H.264 codec. That means that 26 per cent of web video is now at threat from future licensing demands and patent attacks from Apple, MS et al. And, of course, Steve Jobs asserts that it's the most important 26 per cent as he can really rake in the ransom money."

Does copyright not apply?

Whether or not they invaded her privacy, surely they breached copyright by using her photos without her permission?