* Posts by Keith_C

52 publicly visible posts • joined 23 Jun 2008

Page:

Apple iPhone X: Two weeks in the life of an anxious user

Keith_C

Re: New???

You do have to unlock:

https://support.google.com/androidpay/answer/6224824?hl=en-GB

VDI comes to the Raspberry Pi

Keith_C

Re: Woot

I used a VDI session on a Dell 'zero' client as my daily driver for about 9 months this year. Despite being on 'only' 100Mbit, it was perfectly usable and responsive in the majority of cases, even when driving *four* screens (2 x 900x1680, 1 x 1920x1080, 1 x 1920x1200).

Word was perfectly fine. Excel was perfectly fine. Visio was 'ok', but video playback was poor at anything bigger than 'standard YouTube size(tm)'; I imagine some of that was down to the total lack of GPU acceleration at the server end though.

I would also use a softphone client for the Avaya VoIP system through it, which also worked perfectly well.

For its next trick, Microsoft diminishes the iPad with just a driver

Keith_C

Re: Just one problem

Possibly - but the human element of 'Look at this cool new piece of tech I've got' could work in MS's favour here; iPad's are so ubiquitous that they're not nearly as effective as a show-off device as they used to be, whereas Surface's are very rare, and this is a class of person who is well accustomed to ignoring flaws if it means they can brag.

Pass the Lollipop: Google creepily warms to body contact with Android lock function

Keith_C

Lot of guesswork and supposition here - as someone actually using the feature I'll try to clarify.

Smart Lock is the term used, and it controls whether a *secure* lock is used based on certain criteria - these criteria are trusted devices, trusted locations, trusted face and now on-body detection.

Trusted locations means that when I am at home I only need to swipe to unlock, but out of the house I need to enter a PIN to unlock.

Trusted devices means that when I am connected to in-car bluetooth I again only need a swipe to unlock vs needing a PIN.

Trusted face means what it says - not actually ever tried this one myself so can't comment

On-body detection means that if you have previously unlocked the phone and then placed it into a pocket/bag, the PIN lock will *not* engage until it no longer detects that it's on-body. Swipe lock is still in play to minimise pocket dialling, but it means you can pull the phone out of your pocket and do something without needing to put a PIN in all the time.

I'm finding the whole smart lock very good - I have it secure locked when I need it without it being an inconvenience when I don't. It seems to fail 'safe' in that I occasionally need to put the PIN in when at home, but that's so far only been the case first thing in the morning after a night of charging - maybe it has a time-out to force a PIN entry after X hours of not being used?

Summer bust-up expected with new Apple TV and Roku coming onstream

Keith_C

Shame the UK Roku has been prohibited from running Amazon Prime Video.

Frontier promises it won't 'dumb down' Elite: Dangerous for Xbox

Keith_C

Obvious "joke" alert

>Won't that put them at a disadvantage?

You mean more than they are already for having bought an XBOne?

What's that, Microsoft? Yep, a Lumia and Surface SALES BOOM

Keith_C

Re: Fair play to them

> Well for £749 you get a macbook air with an i5 processor and 128Gb.

Surface Pro 3 has a bigger screen, a higher resolution screen, and is lighter.

>Ok it has no touchscreen but I can't think of any reason to use touch on a laptop.

The on-screen keyboard is very usable, and the design of the kickstand gives a lot of adjustability for comfort. You also get a proper stylus/pen. You end up using is as a best-of-both-worlds cross between a tablet and a laptop.

Must be said, while £850 for an i5+128GB seems a lot, it is an *excellent* piece of kit. You can also use it during takeoff/landing on a flight.

No sign of Half-Life 3 but how about FOURTEEN Steam Machine makers?

Keith_C

Re: forcing it in

I think you've just proven why 'rumours' should be taken with a massive pinch of salt.

Mind you, this 'rumour' is really nothing more than 'personal subjective opinion and uninformed speculation', given that HL3 hasn't even been confirmed as existing, let alone being specifically locked to an as-yet unfinished operating system.

You *did* remember that SteamOS can be installed on ordinary home-built PCs right, so even if HL3 was released for SteamOS only ordinary users could simply install SteamOS on their existing PC? No, because that wouldn't fit with your conspiracy theory...

Massively leaked iFail 5S POUNDS pundits, EXCITES chavs

Keith_C

No, I'm reasonably sure the 'C' is the initial for the type of person who'd buy one...

Google cursed its own phones with wacked Wi-Fi, say Nexus users

Keith_C

PEBNAC

Problem exists between Nexus and chair?

3 x Nexus devices in the house - Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 7 and the wife's Nexus 4.

None of these problems on any of them - and battery life seems improved on my Gnex and N7. The only problem I had was my replacement launcher - it was a bit unstable for a few days until the dev updated it.

Strikes me as people with shonky apps, badly rooted systems or just plain iffy hardware looking for someone to blame

British boffin muzzled after cracking car codes

Keith_C
Joke

Re: How to stop this happening again

Seems reasonable to me.

We could even take it further - if you were to be burgled then we should throw you in jail, not the thief, as clearly you didn't take security seriously enough. It's a flawless plan: deter people from owning anything in case it is stolen and theft will automatically drop to zero!

Give them a cold trouser blast and data centre bosses WILL dial up the juice

Keith_C

Re: Switch heat vets

*Really* decent switches will come with directional airflow options to allow the same device to work in either front-to-back or back-to-front airflow modes.

The biggest advantage of cold aisle containment (CAC) is that the volume of air to be chilled is reduced. This is because without CAC, as cool air leaves the vent and starts mixing with the warmer ambient air of the datacentre (which has been actively heated due to the exhaust of all the kit in the DC) it naturally starts to dissipate by the time it reaches the top of the rack. This means that in order to deliver a target inlet temperature at the top of the rack both the temperature and just as important the velocity of the air as it leaves the floor vent need to be that much lower and that much faster. With CAC you can cool to a higher target temperature and move the airflow more slowly, both of which save power.

It is also worth mentioning that low-voltage and high-efficiency components make sense at the datacentre scale - and from about 10 cabinets upwards. While the component itself may be more expensive, and indeed may not ever directly save more in power than the cost difference from the 'normal' version, if it's the difference between having to start building a new datacentre 6 months from now or 12 months from now that is a considerable saving.

Even little differences like tidy cabling can make quite a difference - if the hot air can exhaust without obstruction the fans have less work to do, again reducing power requirement. If you can go diskless and boot from SD you save the electrical cost of not just the drives, but also the disk controller you no longer need, as well as again improving airflow internally. All little differences that really add up over a datacentre.

Are you being robbed of sleep by badly designed servers?

Keith_C

Re: another advert for supermicro?

Just checking; are you referring to the full remote console iDrac/iLO, where you can see even a gui console (Windows), mount ISO's/floppy images, have mouse control, etc etc? I was under the impression that was an iDrac Enterprise set of features, which have a decent cost.

Build a BONKERS gaming PC

Keith_C
FAIL

Re: Bonkers?

Not had *any* of those problems with my Revo, nor has my mate with either of the ones he has, both original and Revo 3 (and he's running quad SLI in one rig), so I would suggest that perhaps the problem isn't with the Revo but elsewhere...

Keith_C
Facepalm

Re: Bonkers?

Good point. In fact, take out the SanDisk SSD and replace it with a 5900rpm SATA drive, or slower if you can find one. Sure, load times will increase to durations best measure in ice ages, but even though you've called your build 'bonkers' and gone as far as speccing a GTX Titan it's important to save those pennies and cut back on the storage.

Keith_C
Go

Bonkers?

That's not bonkers, not with such a rubbish SSD. SATA? Pah!

No, what you want is one of these:

http://www.ocztechnology.com/ocz-revodrive-pci-express-ssd.html

Review: Intel 335 240GB SSD

Keith_C
Facepalm

Re: 7% overprovisioning and a data protection nightmare

Or just buy drives that employ drive encryption. Change the encryption key (a 1-second job) and job done.

Cheaper, slimmer Google Nexus 7 rumored for Q1 2013

Keith_C

Re: lets just modify a typical Fandroid commentard on an iPad article

Nexus S is 2 years old and runs Jelly Bean.

Slideshow: A History of First-person Shooters in 20 Games

Keith_C
FAIL

Unreal?

That looks more like a Quake, not Unreal.

Apple adds Fusion Drive IO to iMac

Keith_C

Not a new concept

OCZ were doing this last year: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005J4P0JS

Fox to release movie downloads weeks before discs

Keith_C
Thumb Up

Re: endless rental

If you have an Xbox 360 you can do exactly this with the Zune service; 1080p (yes, p) downloads (and streaming with a >6Mbit/s connection) with 5.1 DD sound. Have to say it's absolutely fine for most of *my* viewing needs, and only costs ~£4 for a HD rental.

As a result, I have more Bluray drives in the house than I do discs - I just don't feel the need to buy films these days...

Android 4.1 Jelly Bean review

Keith_C
Thumb Up

My Galaxy Nexus got JB last week, and it's massively, *massively* smoother and slicker in comparison to ICS. The Gnex is 'only' dual-core too.

It's a massive improvement in every way over ICS - it has made what was already a phone I was happy with to one I am *extremely* happy with.

Orange San Diego Intel-based Android phone

Keith_C
Meh

Re: storage

To a degree, yes - and yes, it can be annoying, although phones these days seem to have simplified the process, some apps seem to install straight to SD anyway, and apps like App2SD can mop up the rest.

The exception to this appears to be the Galaxy Nexus - you have 16GB of storage, end of story, that can be used by anything - it's very iOS like in that behaviour, and I must admit I feel it's the better approach.

The catch is there's no 'block level' mounting the GN as a mass storage device and it communicates with the host via MTP - not a problem for Windows, but I believe Linux users have trouble. I have no idea at all for Mac users.

Gamers grumble over Steam outage

Keith_C
Go

Not entirely true

When I open my laptop on the way to work, sans internet connection, Steam tries to connect, quickly gives up, and asks if I want to start in offline mode, even if it was in 'online' mode last time I used it.

Apple iOS 5.0 downloads drive all-time UK net traffic high

Keith_C

Hmm, doesn't really seem to have made much of a difference in the LINX stats though:

https://www.linx.net/pubtools/trafficstats.html?stats=week

No new strings for Guitar Hero

Keith_C
Pint

Good laugh after the pub

This comic seems appropriate right now:

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/rock_band.png

BBC iPlayer iPad app out this week

Keith_C
Thumb Down

In fairness

That's not the BBC's fault - it's Microsoft's. MS want VoD services such as SkyPlayer to only be available to Gold subscribers, but the BBC cannot have a charge in place for access to iPlayer, as it's already part of the license fee.

All MS would have to do is make it available to *all* XBL subscribers and then it could be on the Xbox too, but they won't.

Passenger cleared after TSA checkpoint stare-down

Keith_C

Showing ID

Clearly that's not the case and he doesn't and didn't have to show ID.

1kW of sexy GPU love

Keith_C

Optional though

You don't have to make use of the realtec if you don't want to - the IPMI can share with LAN1 on the mobo. It also supports vlan tagging when sharing in this manner.

Amazon buys Lovefilm

Keith_C

Not just me

Someone else who remembers VideoIsland!

I signed up with them because at the time they were using our company to host their service with, and kept the account until about a year ago. The quality of service did seem to drop through each successive buy-out though, and after having some high priority items end up on Sky Movies before they were delivered was the final nail in the coffin for me.

Fire safety gaffe knocks out Webfusion data centre

Keith_C
Flame

Moon on a stick

So you want failover and DR and all that malarky, but you're going to a budget hosting provider like Webfusion?

If you're with them, accept the fact that you *don't* have these services available - certainly not without additional spend.

In my experience it's the ones who spend the least that complain the most - the people who were spending a proper sum for decent service in the first place already had and subsequently enjoyed the protection their spend gave them.

Apple Mac App Store to go live January

Keith_C
Joke

No big deal.

Why would Valve care? No serious gamer actually plays games on a Mac ;)

Toyota Auris hybrid e-car

Keith_C

Be fair...

...the IQ doesn't seat 4 adults *and* any amount of luggage. In fact, saying it fits 4 adults is a bit a stretch - 3 full-sized blokes is comfortable enough for shorter journeys, but you couldn't fit a 4th bloke in there without having to scoot the drivers seat forward a fair bit. 'Adults' applies only when said adults are of Paris-esque frame and bulk.

Paris, because she likes to have a number of full-sized blokes inside her.

Orange gives the green light

Keith_C
Stop

Spotty

If I leave it for an indeterminate amount of time, eventually when looking at the phone it might have a data connection.

I thought I'd bust something when I dropped it the other day, so was relieved to find out it was Orange!

First SMS Trojan for Android is in the wild

Keith_C
Grenade

It's a computer. Viruses will happen.

Untrusted .apks on Android, security vulnerabilities in iOS that means a PDF can pwn your iPhone. No-one is 'safe', but then again, life ain't 'safe'.

Engage brain before fingers. Good advice for some of the commentards too.

ISS cooling pump refuses to come quietly

Keith_C
Paris Hilton

Clearly...

...they omitted the stage where you soak everything you can reach in WD40 for a few hours. I have no doubts that something as insignificant as the cold of space isn't going to stand in the way of WD40's magical powers.

Paris, she understands the important of being well lubed before trying to get nuts off.

Android surges past iPhone in smartphone sales

Keith_C

What about...

...the iPod - Apple have pretty large share in that market, and seem very interested in keeping it.

YoYoTech Warbird i750CX

Keith_C

I might be missing something...

...but that article wasn't using hardware RAID controllers.

If you're going to use RAID, either use proper hardware controllers or accept the limitations of fakeraid.

Microsoft offers stickers to boost Windows 7 64-bit take-up

Keith_C
Gates Halo

32bit is only for the consumers

Server 08 R2 is the same kernel generation as W7, and that doesn't even come in a 32bit flavour. I suspect that W7 32bit will be the last 32bit OS they release.

Just wish the Linux crowd would get the stones to make future releases 64bit-only.

GM Volt to deliver three-figure fuel economy

Keith_C
Boffin

@Small Wee Jobbie

That's only an issue in backward countries that persist in burning stuff to make electricity - those countries that use nuclear power to provide massive amounts of cheap electricity can welcome the electric car with open baguettes.

If this rankles with you, have a word with all those NIMBYs that object to anything nuclear.

Microsoft cries foul over Google Outlookware

Keith_C
Gates Halo

To those who turn off search...

...try actually *using* it for a while first - and let it actually build its indexes before slating it for disk/CPU load.

It was one of the features I most enjoyed in Vista, and in W7 it has been improved still further. After you let it build, which can take a few days to properly settle down, it enables me to search not just my own mailbox in a couple of seconds, but also indexes our shared mailboxes - and will include results from them just as quickly. Just checked, and my index has some 160k+ items in it, the very vast majority of which are email items. It even looks inside recognized attachments in emails and indexes them too.

The load it places on a system while generating the indexes takes but a few days. The benefits give you value for months. Once it's built the indexes the load to maintain them is minimal, there's very little ongoing CPU or disk load.

Irish politico in Facebook jub-rub outrage

Keith_C
Paris Hilton

Stop this filth!

Shock pretty late-20's girl enjoying night out with mates horror.

Anyone who claims they haven't done similar is either a) lying b) so old they can't remember that far back.

Paris because she'll let anyone grab her funbags.

IBM bricking Seagate SATA disks

Keith_C

Not as big a problem as it seems

After chatting to a Seagate engineer, the deal is that this only happens when an event log on the drive itself reaches an exact figure. However if you reach this figure then the drive is probably fubar anyway. I recall that if the event log goes above this figure you're also safe - it's only if you cycle the power at that exact point you have an issue.

I am *not* a Seagate engineer, and the conversation was a couple of weeks ago, so I may have some details wrong, don't take as gospel, blah blah arse cover.

What is odd though that BB10 isn't a Seagate firmware code for those drives. Seagate firmwares start SN0x (SN06 is the latest).

AMD lifts veil on six-core Constantinople Istanbul

Keith_C
Heart

@still pointless

One of these would be very good in virtualisation environments to name just one example.

Mayor Boris backs McKinnon in extradition fight

Keith_C
Thumb Up

Good old BoJo

Once again he affirms his position as one of the very few politicians in the world I would willingly buy a drink for.

Brit porn filter censors 13 years of net history

Keith_C
Stop

Entanet

Seems that Entanet are filtering as well, although only for ADSL customers. Our leased line with them is fine, as is their transit feed.

BMW unwraps electric Mini

Keith_C
Flame

@Max Jalil

Ah, but that's because here in Blighty we get all up in arms as soon as anyone even mentions the prospect of a nuclear power station, with NIMBY nitwits ensuring that they never get any further than the 'Hey, I have an idea' stage without so many complaints, caveats, protests and mouth-froths in the Daily Mail that anyone involved just gives up.

Whereas in France for example where they have massives amounts of very cheap, very low emission electricity, they can all tool around in electric cars all day long with smug grins on their faces.

MS confirms European Xbox 360 price cuts

Keith_C

@Liam

No - the £170 Premium model also has a hard disk. It's only 20GB though compared to the 120GB HDD in the Elite.

The rule of thumb with this gen of consoles is ignore the fanbois and buy what all your mates have got, otherwise you'll be a lonely billy-no-mates.

Amazon flash mob mauls Spore DRM

Keith_C
Stop

@CD-checking is annoying but permissable, DRM is not.

CD checking is seriously annoying if, like me, you like to play games on the move on a laptop, and have to:

1) Take the DVD everywhere with you, exposing it to increased risk of damage

2) Take multiple DVD's with you in case you want to play more than one game - again, increasing the risk of damage and also making your bag heavier

3) In the case of Take2's Civilization games, the discs were so cheaply made that multiple clips/unclips from the laptop DVD drive caused the disc to crack from the centre outwards within 6 months. Didn't give me a free replacement though - I had to buy another copy of the game!

4) Use up valuable battery life powering the DVD drive, which in my case *also* prevents me from using the second battery in the modular bay thereby giving me a double whammy on the battery life.

It was Unreal Tournament that removed the CD check after a few months. An example of how it should be done.

Jeremy Clarkson tilts at windmills

Keith_C
Stop

@ John Curry

Expert body eh?

This is a 30mph road:

http://tinyurl.com/57ncgb

This is a 60mph road:

http://tinyurl.com/5lkus2

Page: