Posts by Nick Galloway

If tyou don't understand...

... you shouldn't comment. Having lived in Turkey I can understand the phenomenon and reverence held for Ataturk. His achievements and legacy are what holds this sizable country together as a cohesive entity.

A little bit of respect and common decency in the modern world would make everyone's life easier. If you poke fun at someone or something and it blows up in your face, well don't try blaming someone else for your own stupidity.

Melting Ice Caps?

What a man of tremendous insight. Perhaps the scaremongers/IPCC should look at the effect of solar flares and what it is doing to our weather. Not so much science fiction methinks...!

Wot, no 1394

...Or a floppy connector. I still want one ;o)

DOS works OK

I learnt many years ago how to copy files using DOS, that funny little 16 bit OS. Fortunately there is DOS/NTFS format access software available these days and you can have USB and Firewire access as well. I usually use XP but given the Vista archive of complaints I might just keep my DOS live disk handy should I need to help a friend...

Ban the fatty

I would be kicking up all hell if the bloke was sitting next to me on the flight, shoehorned into a single seat. If the bloke doesn't want to pay double for being more than double the average body mass (and size more than likely) then he might get a rude shock if he was told he couldn't fly at all. Maybe the middle ground is give him an extra seat and make him pay excess baggage. At 170 kg the bloke should be in a hospital getting treatment, not buggering up other people's flying experiences!

Facing facts

At last some science on the matter. The Climate changes, FACT. Why is another matter as this bit of research goes to show that the climate is a system so complex it makes a 45nm processor design look like something you could knock together in your garden shed.

The climate is doing what it always does, change. Get ready folks because here it comes, irrespective of you turning off your three bar heater or not.

But when...

... will we see them on the shelves?

Sounds interesting but will a silent, fan free version be released for those of us wanting quiet machinery?

Do they give the likes of nVidia a run for the money?

I think I want one...!

Surge!?

I bet there is a surge in enrolments next year for that college!!!

Consumer rights

If it doesn't work you send it back and either get a refund or a replacement that does the job. Straight forward and simple. If Vista doesn't meet the consumer needs then in the interests of client satisfaction I would have thought a reasonable offer would be a copy of XP. My father had a Dell machine that was pre-installed with Win '98 and a DVD ROM drive that was a bit dodgy when playing DVDs. After numerous hardware rebuilds by Dell they finally succumbed and coughed up for a copy of Win 2K, which solved the problem. It was advertised as being able to play DVDs and couldn't, so the option was a fix or the money back, thanks Mr. Dell. Sadly it needed some heavy duty conversations to get Dell to come to the party.

I hope the Dutch bloke gets XP or his money back.

So it IS true...

... that you CAN fool some of the people ALL of the time!

Climate...change!

Guess what folks, climate by its very nature changes. I seem to recall in the mid-70's a similar group of people with a similar bent to Mr Gore that the world was entering a new ice age based on the extreme cold weather. Thirty years on and it seems to have swung the other way?

As for CO2, it does need to be managed better but what about methane. That makes carbon dioxide look like rhubarb leaves compared with cyanide. Get into the farming and forestry world if you really want to keep the effects of climate change in check.

Alarmist is about right. Al Gore isn't a climate specialist, he is a washed up politician trying to create a niche for himself where he can gain massive support and accept no responsibility. This is the man who is so concerned about the climate that his monthly domestic power bill could keep a small village in power for a comparable period.

Climate change and Kyoto is all about creating a new economic commodity. It doesn't really have an impact and that is why the US and a few others didn't sign up to it. See through the facade and get your head around a few inconvenient truths!

Built in battery

One of the reasons I bought a (Creative) Zen Nano was user replacable standard AAA battery and the line in function. One of the reasons I didn't buy, and will never buy an iPod is because it has a user unfriendly battery. I like most of the features mentioned but with that built in battery I am going to stick with my lovely little Zen Nano. Next version might be interesting!?

Clouds

How this relate to the level of cloud formation?

More clouds, more shade, therefore global warming being kept in check by mother nature?

In reality if there is more rain in the tropics falling into the sea, what can be done about it?

There might be more snow falling in the Antarctic as well...!

DVD release

Will the 'cleaned' version get a DVD (standard & HD/Bluray) release. This is a classic story in a classic movie. The film includes some of the actual trails footage. If you haven't seen it then do so. Remember, it was all done without the power of digital computing!

A fool and his money?

If he has so much money and isn't perpared to follow the rule of law then he should lose the car. If it was some average Joe with an old mini or escort who hadn't paid their road tax they would get the full force of the legal process.

I bet if you were English and tried the same deal in Paris you would get no dispensations!

Singapore solution

If you want to clean up the streets use the Singaporean solution. Anyone caught having commited a crime with a weapon will have the self same weapon applied to them. If it kills them well sorry but that was their premeditated intention when they commited the crime. Going equipped with a tazer should have in the back of the possessors mind that it may result in it being used upon them!

There is that old Christian phjilosophy, do unto others as they would do unto you. No respect for those without respect.

Food & Water

This article hits the nail on the head. Why do the poor of the world want laptops for their children when they can't even get clean drinking water or safe food let alone a stable electrical supply.

I can see it now, a $100 laptop needing to be plugged into a UPS unit charged off a diesel (or wood fired) generator without a phone line.

I think there are a few of lifes little essentials come well before digital technology in the under developed world. Wanting to eat the dog is probably not too far off the mark.

Listing to the rescue?

Why didn't the good folk interested in keeping hangar one intact vote in the recent poll for the modern seven wonders of the world. Get a UNESCO heritage listing and the thing gets funded from the UN and the boys with wrecking balls have to take time off!

A bit of a no brainer I would have thought?

How about...

... a DOS boot CD that reads USB and Firewire HDDs & external CD drives?

Sorry that's real and the photo's aren't all that impressive.

Profit?

My levels of sympathy are not oriented toward the recording industry given I was around when the first format change from vinyl to CD happened. The home taping world was something everyone did because cars didn't have record or CD players.

The industry now wants to cripple the stuff the consumer pays for, downplay all the costs of album cover art creation, printing, pressing and distribution, charge more than what you would pay for a hard CD and then cry poor on the back of massive profits. Why don't they join the movement and release back catalogue recordings of artists they have already made a fistful on (e.g. Jimi Hendrix) as a high quality MP3 disk for the cost of a normal CD album.

New releases should be done at a price point that extracts the former overhead costs (e.g. printing, artwork, distribution) otherwise people will either not take on new artists or will rip them off by other means.

A price war with the pirates is the best way to put them out of business. As long as the price is perceived as being extortion then the pirates will flourish. The unofficial music trade is a direct result of the industry gouging the consumer. If you bleed a source long enough it will die. The music industry is commiting suicide by its own hand.

Vice versa

When will they allow the operation of a Mac VM on a windows box???

Competition

If this guy is writing something that is functionally or cost competitive with what Microsoft puts out then Microsoft should improve their products. If he has simply lifted the product to imitate what the full version does then I think Microsoft may have a point. If it is such a big deal I suspect Microsoft has the resources to either buy the bloke out or employ him. It has to be cheaper than lawyers!?

Lies, lies...

...and damned statistics. Maybe Bush isn't the only one telling porkies. All the media and the environmental lobby rattles on about is Carbon Dioxide but rarely do the other five gases rate a mention (exception made for El Reg!).

When will the environment lobby and the Kyoto signatories come clean on the commitments they have made or the monitoring being performed?

Talking about the impact of agriculture and lax forestry management isn't quite as sensational as the motorist and big business.

Climate change, is the data reliable or is it a selection of suitable statistics?

Keep the planet clean but don't lie about the reasons for doing it!

Trash journalism

I would have to agree with the princes' request on this one. The death was an accident of an individual known by millions, not a political leader assassinated like JFK, Martin Luther King or Trotsky. I hope the viewing public either switch off or watch something else.

If channel 4 wants to indulge in trash journalism then perhaps they should start running a few programs in cooperation with News of The World. At least they are funny!

Copyright hypocracy

When the Entertainment industry starts throwing it toys out of the pram Google pulls out all the stops to curtail access to this protected data but then turns around and lifts the intellectual property of book publishers and ignores them. Stick to scanning documents out of copyright, there must be loads of that to get through.

Love the publishers approach. If Google leaves stuff lying around without a great big sign saying 'Please leave the laptops where you found them' is truly justice. It could have been better if they lifted them and then sent them an email to tell them of the 'public donation'...

Literature?

If a program can't be patented then why not go the copyright route?

Surely programming could be considered a very obscure form of literature?

Patent worthy...?

Why don't they spend their resources coming up with an iPod that is voice activated and has a readily replaceable battery so you can have one on the charger with the other in the device.

Maybe I can patent that idea!?

What's it worth Apple???

Wire clippers

Given a DOS boot disk with the right configuration can access NTFS and both USB and Firewire, the only real solution is hardware mutilation, or the less extreme araldite option.

Piracy...?

surely by pulling XP when demand still exists is just going to motivate piracy, something that MS is supposedly trying to foil. As your other readers have noted, for those not willing to go the 'unlicensed' route then OSX or Linux become a growth market.

Very short sighted.