* Posts by Nick Galloway

137 publicly visible posts • joined 13 Apr 2007

Elite coder readies £15 programming gadget for schools

Nick Galloway
Thumb Up

Program, work better

In a distant moment of history having resisted the pointlessness of computing I took a course in business management, which was a code word for computing as no one else used such machines. I turned into a DOS addict and learnt to program in pascal, COBOL, SQL and use user unfriendly interfaces such as the vi editor. The lessons learnt allowed me at the time to get some excellent automation from Lotus Symphony, an interim stage for Lotus 123. Even now those lessons are being used to get Excel to make my job easier. I have worked with some extremely clever people who, despite their intellect, created charts in Powerpoint manually while having the data in Excel. With a little work I have been able to show them how to automate the process and get the machine to do the work.

A little of the old fashioned knowledge makes the shiny new toys really become productivity devices. At the same time as computing performance has become orders of magnitude more powerful, the sloppiness of coding has increased as there is no notable detriment. Let's get these little charmers into the hands of kids and exploit their creativity and let them enjoy that primal pleasure in being able to tell a machine to do what you want it to do, not what someone else has conditioned you to ask the machine.

I might get one just to indulge in my masochistic pleasure of debugging code. Got to love new toys!

Fujifilm Finepix X100 APS-C camera

Nick Galloway
Flame

Parallax what!?

Not wanting to be a pedant, but I will, I think you are looking for parallax error, not distortion. Parallax causes framing issues when you get into short focus scenarios (i.e. object close to the camera lens). Parallax does not cause distortion. You go on to note that the viewfinder displays only 90% of the image, which is a nice way to reduce the influence of parallax error. I suspect anyone who has the cash to indulge in one of these little lovelies will probably just use the rear screen when shooting up close and the whole parallax issue becomes irrelevant.

I want one but at that price I really need a seriously good reason.

Save the planet: Stop the Greens

Nick Galloway
Thumb Up

The new commodity

What an excellent, informed insight to the issues at hand. The carbon 'problem' is being addressed to reate a new market commodity, not to rectify climate. The climate is changing, that is what it does and the human community cannot stop it. We need to be ready.

The interesting issue not raised is that changes in land usage changes climate. Laying out a field with solar panels has surely got to do something different to local weather. I suspect a bit like paving a park in granite slabs!

The Thorium issue is one that real environmentalists will support but the raging, fundamentalist Greens will accept nothing short of the collapse of modern societies and lifestyles. About time they were being shown for their perverse intentions.

Google pours millions into wind power

Nick Galloway
Coffee/keyboard

Not Reg readers then...

Google clearly have failed to not the reports coming out that wind power is not going anywhere fast. Get into geothermal or Thorium reactors boys, then you might have something to talk about. No wind, no leccy regardless of how good (or expensive) the tech!

Apple sues Samsung over Galaxy look-and-feel

Nick Galloway
Pirate

Italians and the auto industry?

I suppose Italian car manufacturers can sue the auto industry for copying chariots as they had wheels, axles and body work, along with real horsepower!

Apple, you make too much money for shoddy 'fashion' products, stop being greedy and make the batteries user replaceable and allow for USB removable memory.

So, what's the best sci-fi film never made?

Nick Galloway
Go

John Wyndham

Given the Day of the Triffids has been made into a TV series and The Midwich Cockoos was made as the Village of the Damned, there are still a few of John Wyndham's works to be made into films. The books are very good and as they are generally very close to the real world, would be relatively inexpensive to make, requiring no ground breaking CGI.

Otherwise there must surely be a load of Michael Crichton material to be made into films. His material lends itself to transfer to the big screen given his history of writing TV shows and already having a few of his books made into film.

I can but hope!

Men at Work lose Down Under plagiarism appeal

Nick Galloway
Pirate

Where the law is about making money, ONLY

This is an outright cash grab by an opportunistic company that bought the rights to the original song well after the Men At Work song, all aided by some sharp but ethically vacuous lawyers. Is there not some statute of limitations on this sort of thing?

Has no one asked the question, why has it taken the better part of 30 years for Larrikin to push this case?

I must note that the EMI load of old tripe about 'barely recognisable' is stretching the friendship. Surely it was in there because what can be more Australian that a Kookaburra!?

I hope the Larrikin lot get nothing, EMI gets much the same, the lawyers fall headlong into the ethical vacuum in which the exist and the Men At Work boys get to enjoy the fruits of their labour. Then again, I migt be wrong,,,!

Teen charged for Facebook birthday hoax that drew 200,000

Nick Galloway

Social benefit?

So FaceBook and such sites are the saviour of the repressed peoples of the Middle East and Northern Africa?

Or is it just a very nice medium to cause social chaos, such as is the case in this instance. Let's all go back to email and allow the Zuckerberg's of this world to fade into being a historical footnote.

Assange ambushes Australian Prime Minister on live TV

Nick Galloway

Delusional

When is Julian Assange going to come to the realisation that he is not the messiah and by playing a criminal 'game' with some ladies in Sweden simply opened the door to the world realising he is just a naughty boy. Someone who thinks by 'liberating' government secrets in the interests of the public good needs removal from the gene pool. He is a dangerous crank and he should be locked up for the public good. Governments should protect the interests of the majority not maniacs like Assange.

Making sport of browser security, hackers topple IE, Safari

Nick Galloway

Symbian - Nokia?

I know Nokia has signed up with the boys of Redmond but has it suddenly become so irrelevant that it no longer rates in a hack fest?

Sounds like discrimination. Either that or Symbian is bullet proof!!

Welsh battle killer shrimp invasion

Nick Galloway
Coat

Caspian sea monster!

All this about a Caspian sea killer and you missed the opportunity for a tech angle by referencing the Caspian Sea Monster, more formally known as the Ekranoplan. This 'wing in ground effect' vehicle 'flew' only metres from the surface of the water at up to 500 knots, which by all accounts was very stressful for the pilot and decidedly dodgy if you were in a small boat in the flight path.

The Soviets are getting their revenge on the decadent West even decades after the fall of the wall.

Sheep as smart as humans: Official

Nick Galloway

This is science?

I don't know what form of hand rolled cigarettes these guys are smoking but the test is more to do with their fascination for Welsh Sheep (honestly guv, they wanted me to...) than to demonstrate the mental capacity of our ovine friends. If these sheep are so clever why do they stand around in the hope they will be spared while they watch their mates being dismembered by a butcher!?

These good folk need to get out more and stop playing with buckets and sheep.

Flying dildo downs Oz stag party bloke

Nick Galloway
Coat

Training?

There must be a school in Oz that trains these ladies in the mystical martial art of hands free projectile motion. I wonder if they conduct tours...

Ford Focus 2011

Nick Galloway
Black Helicopters

How soon?

For a tech site, what about discussing the computer security?

I mean really, how long before someone manages to hack open one of these things and wreak havoc with a virus or other random actions, such as flick the hand brake on when making a slight turn at speed along a nice straight section of road. Involuntary hand brake turns that you can blame of Ford, honestly officer!!!

No 'tipping point' for Arctic sea ice - latest science

Nick Galloway
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And if there was...

If a tipping point existed, what the hell are we going to do about it anyway?

Climate change is happening, that's what climates do. Just get ready for the changes that are going to happen, like food security, nuclear power, geothermal power and lifestyle changes (get that toasted Glaswegian off the Spanish beach!).

Italian white van man nudges sound barrier

Nick Galloway

He'll get off then!?

Even without the need to call on his Godfather, he is sure to get off. If he doesn't I can see him visiting Bonneville later in the year or selling the vehicle to Fiat for a good deal more than he paid for it. Imagine, a ferrari performance white van!?

Texting teenager plunges to his death

Nick Galloway
Coat

Did anyone check...

What was the message he was sending?

Perhaps it was a suicide note!?

Man stabbed to death by chicken

Nick Galloway
Coat

Two hours...

Is it possible to construe that the police conducted their investigation THEN had the repeat offender taken for medical attention. Justice at its very best. Is it possible the fatality can be regarded as work place accident or suicide with an unusual weapon of choice. I like the thought of man being nailed by his own cock...

BBC apologises for Top Gear outrage

Nick Galloway
Grenade

Revenge

Get the ambassador on the show and make his the star in a reasonably priced car and see what time he does. If he is fast, then he is used to being chased by the drugs cartels and if he is slow, he will provide evidence for the comments made. Either way, he loses!

Well done Top Gear and continue providing comedy that does not recognise the santised reality of political correctness. Viva Top Gear!!!

Mexican woman gets litigious on Top Gear's ass

Nick Galloway
Pirate

Humour?

Clearly the various traits levelled at the Mexican national traits do not include a sense of humour!

Top Gear have been taking the mickey out of the Germans, French, Italians, Swedes, Russians, Australians, English, Scots, Irish, Welsh, Americans and a broad range of nationalities for years. Therefore they cannot be accused of discrimination as they are willing to find all targets in any audience.

Interesting how none of the other nations took exception to the moments of mirth these boys bring to our lives!?

Norwegian MP nominates Wikileaks for Nobel Peace Prize

Nick Galloway
FAIL

Good company

Given that Yassar Arafat, leader of the PLO (terrorist organisation) was a winner of this prize, as was the IPCC with Al Gore, whose predictions of doom and desolation are looking questionable and the unlucky Barack Obama barely a mointh in to his first term as president. If Assange gets this award it will demonstrate the growing irrelevance of these awards. I think the people of Southern Sudan should get the award having conducted a seperatist referendum in a seemingly bloodless manner. Assange is just and egotistical grand stander who cannot take his own medicine, not a crusader of truth or peace.

Documents in Assange rape probe leak onto the net

Nick Galloway

Book sales

Come on guys, the man has an autibiography to sell. He has to keep himself in the news to help push sales!?

Julian Assange wins peace prize

Nick Galloway
Grenade

Piece prize

Nelson Mandela went to prison for advocating armed struggle and since the collapse of apartheid in South Africa the violent death toll in that country has escalated radically. Similarly the Nobel peace prize has been given to some lovely people like Yassar Arafat, the head of a self proclaimed terrorist organisation responsible for the deaths of innocent athletes at the 1972 Olympics.

Assange is a self appointed security risk who cares for no one other than his own profile. He has more common with Pol Pot than Mandela or the Delai Lama. I hope he feels responsible for having blood on his hands.

Piece prize for being destructive and divisive.

Mexico demands apology for Top Gear outrage

Nick Galloway
Thumb Up

Truth in journalism

Whilst the Mexican ambassador might object to the stereotype, does he have some good counter claims to demonstrate the statements are incorrect!?

Correspondingly, Top Gear specialises in offending people, so one should be proud to have been noticed by this unholy trio. I mean look at their 'stars in a reasonably priced car'. They tend to get derided in person by the carefully honed, openly offensive remarks by Clarkson.

The ambassador should remember, things you laugh at tend to get remembered fondly, even if for all the wrong reasons. I hope the 'boys' keep up the good work. I mean the next thing you know the BBC will be apologising to the Japanese for Stephen Fry's comments...!

Ten... wireless keyboards

Nick Galloway
Coffee/keyboard

Folding bluetooth...

Given the productivity ability in these new fangled tablets (no keyboard) and mobile phones (no physical or really small keyboards) could you do a review of bluetooth, folding keyboards?

Love a real keyboard, like the one on an IBM selectric typwriter. There was a machine sadly killed off by the computer, even though many had a digital interface to hook into a computer. Mains voltage for a keyboard does seem a little like overkill!

Gatwick Airport security swoops on 3-inch rifle

Nick Galloway
Alert

Train travel

If only the train went to Canada!

Now if it was someone from the USA, the bods a Gatwick might find themselves speaking with a lawyer, wouldn't that be just desserts!!!

Malawi poised to outlaw farting

Nick Galloway
Flame

Prison system, court time?

I can see this is simply a job creation scheme for the Malawi court & prison systems. What happens if you let one loose while in prison, get denied parole?

Clearly someone in their government have a great sense of humour!!!

Antique Nimrod subhunters scrapped – THANK GOODNESS!

Nick Galloway

Shackletons

What was wrong with the Shackletons. They did the job well enough and were not nearly as costly as these things. Speed is not essential in maritime observations. You want a limo not a sports car!

NYT casts Assange as 'arrogant' (with a little 'Peter Pan')

Nick Galloway
Coat

Human rights

So Assange is a bit of a fruit cake. I don't think I needed the NYT to tell me that!

Assange is supposedly trying to recreate himself as the Daniel Ellsberg of the digital age. Ellsberg didn't do too well as most people didn't care how wasteful and entrenched the US involvement in Vietnam was.

Human rights, do I hear?

Well freedom of speech isn't a human right. Imagine if the German government had managed to keep Hitler quiet, or similarly, do you want Charles Manson to start blogging and holding TV interviews?

Freedom of movement. See my previous to examples.

The only Human rights that should be available to everyone is access to clean drinking water and safe food. So a nice pint and a curry will do nicely, which might shut Assange up at the same time!?

Aussies demand Poms cough up first 'Australia' map

Nick Galloway
Coat

Modern context

As an Australian, even I can see the logic is truly warped and as others have pointed out, not in the interests of logevity for the document. To put this in a modern context, if I photograph someone's new house for the first time, THEY OWN the photograph?

Not bloody likely. Similarly, if there happens to be some really excellent satellite images of say an Icelandic volcano erupting the owners of the satellite have to hand over rights to Iceland for those images?

Australia has an insurgency movement at work called the Republicans who, though well meaning, don't understand that if you are going to change a system then it needs to be an improvement, not a retrograde step. The current system works rather well, aside from the fact it lets the bleeding hearts be given too much air time.

I'm off for now, just lucky I am out of the country at the moment!?

Crematorium to heat council swimming pool

Nick Galloway
Thumb Up

The Matrix

If Keanu can be used as a human electrical battery in the MAtrix, then why not use some surplus process heat from a crematorium to heat a public swimming pool, green house, air conditioning system, etc.?

When I am dead I hope to be a nice bit of blood and bone but I will have very little say in the matter. A dead body is meat, plain and simple. It is either worm food or heat for the pool...

Reg Hardware Reader Awards 2010 Winners

Nick Galloway
Black Helicopters

Nether regions

I have to concur with some of the other posters, the results seem a little odd for certain categories. Was there some BOFH involvement in the compilation (servicing) of the results???

Italy sues Microsoft for box-bundling bungling

Nick Galloway
Coffee/keyboard

Change vendor...

What if you wanted a Nokia and didn't want Symbian, or an iPhone and installed Linux over the top?

I don't fancy your chances on that one. On a different scale, if I bought a laptop, removed the existing RAM and HDD for more RAM and an SDD, is the laptop maker going to give me my money back for these 'surplus' items?

No. If you buy a machine and it advertises that it is preinstalled with all manner of sotware and you don't want it, don't buy it or negotiate with the hardware manufacturer/sales rep. Obviously the cosa nostra are struggling to cope with Windows 7 and want to know where to put the horses head!!!

Beeb say sorry for Stephen Fry A-bomb quip

Nick Galloway

A bit slow...

How long has it taken for them to see these and then complain!?

I would have thought they were pleased the man had achieved such celebrity outside his own country. As has been said numerous times previously, if you don't like what is on the television, then turn it off. I don't see any apologies required for those makers of documentaries about the Nanjing massacre. Comparably I don't see any apology for the deprivation of food, summary execution, application of torture and enslavement of captured allied troops during the war?

Quid pro quo please from the land of the rising sun. Celebrate your heroes and acknowledge the dark chapters from your past. I for one will continue in my enjoyment of Mr Fry's program and the band of merry makers who make it worth turning on the television, noting the television was probably made in Japan (or another country very near by!).

Man killed by own cock

Nick Galloway
Coat

So it's true...

... you shouldn't play with razor blades and too much with your cock will make you silly, fatally so!!!

Who are the biggest electric car liars - the BBC, or Tesla Motors?

Nick Galloway
Coat

The Stig!?

Surely the BBC type who 'staged this stunt' was the Stig of Top Gear. But seriously, the megapriced Tesla averaged at 20 mph. The Mini took 9 hours to recharge. I have never taken 9 hours to refill a petroleum fuelled vehicle, had better average speeds, didn't have to worry about a maximum payload of 195 kg and if the Tesla is expensive, well the modern Mini is not budget vehicle even in its conventional format.

Electric cars are not going to save the planet as the power for these little machines is generated in either nuclear or coal powered stations. Added to that is batteries do not last forever, so where are all these spent batteries, containing hazardous materials, going to be sent when they no longer hold a charge?

When battery technology can be replensihed as readily as a petroleum fuelled vehicle, then we have a chance. In the interim these novelty options are just going to put more strain on the exisiting electrical infrastructure, put more pollutants into the environment and will make no significant difference to atmospheric gas emissions, simply deferring them to power stations.

Right then, now I have that out my system I will get on my bike to the pub!

Microsoft sends Windows 7 SP1 to OEMs

Nick Galloway
Go

Almost but not quite...

I think the command you are looking at is:

FORMAT C: /Q/U

US air force has new scramjet hypersonic plane plans

Nick Galloway

Barrel roll...

There is a note of a barrel roll being able to be performed as being something quite remarkable. A barrel roll is a 1G manoeuvre and in the hands of a suitably skilled pilot, any aircraft can perform a barrel roll. Indeed in my training the reference book noted a RAF pilot specialised in being able to perform a barrel roll in a tiger moth (open cockpit) with his Irish wolfhound in the passenger seat (no seat belt application possible) and a poured pint opf ale. He allegedly was able to pull off barrel rolls without losing the dog or spilling a drop of the ale. I was amazed the dog didn't down the ale!?

Yank fires up iPhone-controlled beer cannon

Nick Galloway
Thumb Up

Restock

Aside from the lolly water 'beer' samples, this has got to be the single most compelling reason to buy an iPhone. Now if they could port the system to Symbian for Nokia owners and we can look at some ales worthy of such a system, we can realise nirvana like conditions while still being alive.

As an aside, what happens when you open the can after such shaking and jostling. I can only imagine it would be a very heady beer with little else. Nice proof of concept, now to tweak it for the real world!

As a further aside, is something of this nature likely to appear in a forthcoming BOFH chapter???

Coming soon: the girl with liquid eyes

Nick Galloway
Thumb Up

Replacements for spectacles

Although a developed technology, seemingly, further development might find a place to use these as implants to upgrade from the current fixed focal length lenses used in cataract replacement operations. Otherwise I am sure there is a place for these new liquid lenses in inductrial inspection devices and even CCTV applications. These are materials that due to their industrial application are generally highly priced and tend to get upgraded usually due to complete failure or the incapacity for them to be serviced.

Optics, like computers, are everywhere!!!

Italian bloke sneezes out .22 bullet

Nick Galloway
Grenade

If that's what comes out his nose...

...I can only imagine he has a bomb proof toilet!

Microsoft embraces ARM with Windows 8

Nick Galloway

I think he might be correct on this infidelity...!

Indeed those early versions of NT were simply tarts when it came to getting into bed with some of the boys not on the intel team. Interestingly the 'fidelity' only seemed to emerge with PnP on Win 2000 and later versions of NT. Slightly ironic, don't you think...?

Casio touts 'Bluetooth Low Energy' wristwatch with 2 year battery

Nick Galloway

Two year battery life...?

To give an indication of retrograde performance, I have a Casio digital watch that I bought almost 30 years ago that still works and has alarms, stopwatches and all manner of 'cool' gear. I get six years from each battery, despite the harsh handling I have dished out to it over the years. Somthing tells me they need to go back in time to go forward with the product, otherwise it looks very much like a disposable toy!?

Captain Marvell flops out mighty flash/disk hybrid controller

Nick Galloway
Go

RAM drive please?

If I read this correctly, the content of the SSD is also kept on the HDD. Can we then consider the possibility of a setup with the controller, a RAM drive and a HDD?

Fast and no problem with ultimate failure of the SSD with maximum write/read cycles!?

Please tell me it is possible!!!

Intel unveils itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny SSDs

Nick Galloway
FAIL

G not g

Being pedantic, g is the measure for gravity, while G represents a generic giga- whatever happens to follow. Anyhow an SSD must be relative immune from the influences of gravity?

I would like to see an array of these stuffed into a 2½ inch drive. 640 GB SSD sounds like fun?

Microsoft's Office nagware dead in icy water

Nick Galloway
FAIL

I want to upgrade for what reason...?

I am still using office 2003 and am unconvinced by all the 'improvements' to subsequent versions of office. The reality is the upgrades from office '97 have been superficial for most users. The open source alternatives are now reaching a level of maturity that could steer quite a few from the current Microsoft offerings.

Bugger it, I might just ditch the whole lot and go back to using a pencil and paper. The battery never went flat on them!!!

Mass mind control artist condemns El Reg to obscurity

Nick Galloway
Coffee/keyboard

Obscure tech site...

He is clearly wrong on both points.

Obscure, you are not and a tech site...

Well that is like saying 'Top Gear' is a documentary program about cars (as classifed by the BBC)!

Xbox modder prosecution dropped like white-hot potato

Nick Galloway

Better things to do...?

Given the levels of criminal activity in the US and other parts of the Western world, why is valuable court time being spent on one guy who modded 2 Xbox's?

Proportionate use of public resources people!!!

I mean he didn't rob a bank or commit mass murder. Make the Xbox flexible and the gaming & video industry should think about a revision to their respective pricing. If the genuine article is relatively affordable, more people will buy the material and will be less inclined to look for pirated alternatives. Not rocket science really.

Reg Hardware Reader Awards 2010

Nick Galloway
Big Brother

Apple iPad - lots of cash but short on change

The iPad is a great commercial exercise but no camera, no print compatibility, no removable media capability, limited USB connectivity, no phone function, non-user removable battery and no case included. Looks aren't everything. If I had paid for one I would have felt like I bought an early to market prototype.

I know I will get burnt for this one but I cannot believe how gullible people are these days when it comes to the little Apple logo.

Fox News outs Beatles as 'Manchester's favorite mopheads'

Nick Galloway
Coffee/keyboard

...New Zealand?

Being as much of a pedant as you guys, I enjoyed the 'New Zealand born Rupert Murdoch' note. Close but not quite, he was born in the less famed island off the West Coast of New Zealand, not called New New Zealand but for strange reasons of history and non-English languages, is called Australia. Not that it makes much difference as he is now a Yank!