* Posts by Ned Fowden

123 publicly visible posts • joined 18 Apr 2007

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Think you can solve the UK's electric vehicle charging point puzzle? The Ordnance Survey wants to hear about it

Ned Fowden

Hydrogen is the obvious answer

Given the rising interest and investment into hydrogen as a fuel source it's clear the advantages lie there.

The overall costs for changing the electrical grid infrastructure to install the charging stations massively outweigh the hydrogen fuel pumps.

UK judges quietly declare text chat can be obscene

Ned Fowden
Big Brother

laughable

to think that anyone still believes that freedom of speech exists anywhere

laughable to think that anyone is surprised that this wasn't inevitable

Lords call for the end of TV transmissions

Ned Fowden

one of the worst ideas ever in the history of ideas

The infrastructure for this is pathetically weak at best, I can barely watch YouTube video's now let alone watch live tv through the internet

oh wait ... I forgot, no such worries for people in major cities, as per normal town and village folk get screwed over

it would be a a decent idea IF, and only if, the entire country had access to cable or fibre connections

EC competition concerns stall UK's superfast broadband plans

Ned Fowden

before that roll out

They need to work on the already existing roll out's they're supposed to be doing, screw getting fibre into new places, how about getting fibre out of exchanges that are already enabled

it's just an excuse, yes they can get the exchanges enabled which means in theory xx% consumers could have access, but in reality very few actually do because they've only done half a job

yes, I am a disgruntled consumer, I hate it when I get better speeds on 3G than I do on ADSL

BT to fibre up another 98 exchanges, puffs 'FTTP on demand' offer

Ned Fowden
FAIL

I'd be more than happy to stump up extra cash to get my connection upgraded, I've been told that the exchange is infinity enabled but the FTTC rollout is still part of the plan to see 66% of the country connected by end of 2015, so I might get above 1mbs some time in the next 3 years but who knows for sure

Viviane Reding says imitate US and form FEDERAL EUROPE

Ned Fowden
FAIL

interesting ...

because the US version has worked so well for them

Sony 'fesses to Whitney Houston price hike 'error'

Ned Fowden
Trollface

to be honest ...

if your only reason for buying this is because she recently died then you deserve to be fleeced out of a couple of £$€

Think your CV is crap? Your interview skills are worse

Ned Fowden

its the written word people

Geez, trolls go away, this article is written with the intention of helping.

Whatever 'tone' you take from it is yours and yours alone

Personally I read it as intended, took no offence or was left feeling antagonised (really bigphil9009 ??) or patronised.

I'm on to a 2nd stage interview myself in the next week, I'll remember some of the points made here (most I already adhere to some anyway).

Apple's iPad not so shiny once you get it home

Ned Fowden

sounds like ...

A story of people with more money than sense ... the stereotypical new Apple consumers

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a hater, I actually own and use an ipad2 on a frequent basis

I bought it as an entertainment item rather than for it's work related functionality.

As Apple say, there is an app for just about everything, I can watch movies in almost any filetype out there with little fuss, music plays just fine (I couldn't give a hoot about FLAC files), the only issue I have is down to Flash/Java but my requirement for that is better dealt with by my laptop anyway.

Both myself and my children derive a lot of enjoyment from using it and I do consider it value for money based solely on that.

It is limited in what it can do, but why would you buy something when you need it to perform beyond what it is capable of ... that just baffles me

'Occupy Wherever' movement goes transgalactic

Ned Fowden

funny stuff

the whole Occupy movement is only being reported on because it is amusingly media friendly news ... i.e. not news worthy at all

it's a pointless exercise by mostly amateur activists loooking for something to do during lunchbreaks and early evenings

Can the iPad save newspapers?

Ned Fowden

Metro for free

I always enjoyed picking this up for free on the tube and now it's on newsstand too for the same cost

works for me

Parliament has no time for 100,000+ signature e-petitions

Ned Fowden

democracy sucks, it's a great idea in principle, just like communism & socialism and to be fair any political system is a great idea if the world was perfect, but not a single one of them will work as long as there are politicians involved

as someone else has already said, it surely can't be a surprise that anyone thought that any MP would listen to the voters via mediums like e-petitions ... it's self delusion

Film studios thrash BT in Newzbin site-block test case

Ned Fowden
Stop

oh dear

Well, there goes the neighbourhood ...

I can understand why the judge has come to that ruling, but you know the floodgates are going to open now to every litigious little creep out there

it's a sad day

WTF is... cloud gaming?

Ned Fowden

just won't work ...

Until suitable lines are available for the majority of users, i.e. cable or fibre optic AND ISP's provide consistent speed delivery.

and as has already been mentioned, there's no way prices would "plummet" ... although that said, I would imagine prices would drop on less popular titles ... so perhaps thats whats in their thinking, mainstream titles I would expect little change if any

BOFH: There's no 'I' in team, but there's a 'u' in suck

Ned Fowden
Thumb Up

thank you

so much time without an update, but it's quality .. .please don't leave it so long next time

thanks

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

Ned Fowden

umm..

I got the impression that the BBC story came across as 'how does the current technology stack up against expectations of what an EV can do'

Admittedly I didn't catch every piece they showed on TV of this journey but I thought it was quite a fair report.

It showed performance of what I would expect from something that needs to be plugged in for 4 or more hours to recharge especially considering the availability of electric charging points.

I think damnation of the BBC report is unfair, Tesla are just unhappy/bitter because Clarkson & co made them look silly

Lane Fox promises sub-£100 PCs

Ned Fowden

why ?

Why is there a necessity to get absolutely everyone online or get them a computer ?

LimeWire (finally) dies under judge's gavel

Ned Fowden

commentards

all your opinions are bs, including mine

personally i always download before buying, and I have bought many cd's that I woud never have done so if i had not listened to by downloading.

true, i could have used youtube or someother format, but how does that allow me to continually listen to them time and again, some of these take time to grow on you ... case in point for me, Metallica - Load, didn't really like it at first, gave it a few tries over a period of weeks, started to like it, bought it.

i can say the same for dozens more too

Texas Chain Saw Massacre declared top horror flick

Ned Fowden

Jaws is a horror movie

it includes gore and has enough terror moments to call it a horror ... i think some commentards are confusing slasher pics as the be all and end all of horror.

including Suspiria in the top 10 when compared to many others, does suggest that this was voted in only so that some "experts" aren't viewed as ignoramuses

IE9 strips to win Chrome fans

Ned Fowden

Internet Explorer

is an ok browser, already better than chrome without having to copy features

personally i'm sticking with pre-chrome Flock & Firefox browsers

(although I am stuck with IE7 at the office) :/

Half of UK road users support usage-based road charging

Ned Fowden

pointless discussion

@stuart 22 ... you got it right in one, it's a shame no-one else seems to have seen it

Taxing fuel (petroleum based) is inevitably pointless as more and more cars are being developed that don't rely (solely) on this, therefore the Govt. will be unlikely to go down the route of abolishing another form of taxation that currently gives more control over who they charge for road usage.

more likely, is that they will find a way to do both, raise fuel taxes and road usage

personally, i am in favour of the current system, although i think the sliding scale of charges for road tax should have a greater range

Vista-hating Microsoft throws poo at Apple's iPhone 4

Ned Fowden
FAIL

WOW

fanbois out in force today

*fingers in ears*

Apple are infallible, lalalalalala, can't hear/read what you say, lalalalalala apple products are perfect in every way lalalalalala nothing you say can sway my mind lalalalalalala

Is your office World Cup sweepstake legal?

Ned Fowden

a disgruntled anyone ...

could potentially take advantage of this knowledge.

hell I picked Algeria in our sweep, perhaps i'm disgruntled enough to report this activity so that the rules can be clarified and I get a re-pick or my money (£2.50) back :D

but seriously, I joke above, but there will be people out there who are just about gruntled enough to do it just for the kick it gives them.

£15 a month for legal P2P?

Ned Fowden

my own opinion

as a downloader, I would not have bought more than half the music I have done if it wasn't for the ability to download and listen to an entire album in the comfort of my own home, i never did like visiting HMV and standing around listening to pop crap on public headphones while other people stand around tutting.

plus, I have no plans to change my current buying routine ... listen, like ... buy CD ... not downloads, never downloads, always the CD or DVD.

as for the future, i think it would make sense for most artists to release online as downloads and through stores to ship CD's and other merchandise.

oh wait, that is happening already ... so, the recording industry is embracing the technology available already.

the same goes for movies ... if i like it, i'll buy the DVD ... i don't go to the cinema any more or less than I ever have (except maybe in my teens when i obviously had more time).

I can't be alone in doing that ... surely ?

I do believe in supporting the artists which is why I do buy what I like ... although i am questioning why I bothered to buy 30 seconds from mars' last 2 albums

Facebook forces users to expose or remove connections

Ned Fowden

it's simple enough

to create a group within your connections and add these to them, each connection group you make can have its own specified levels of access from blocked to full.

I have various settings for family, friends, work colleagues and groups/pages, it's easy to set up and control who gets to see what.

Two years later, Apple Safari still open to 'carpet-bombing'

Ned Fowden

what i don't understand is ...

why anyone uses Safari ... it's a bag of crap compared to every other browser, including ALL versions of IE

The commercial cuckoo hiding in the BBC's global mission

Ned Fowden

wtf are we paying for ?

why are we paying a licence based upon this

"The BBC World Service is paid for by a Foreign & Commonwealth Office grant, while everything else is commercial."

so we pay for the world service and nothing else ?

would be interesting to find out if there is transparency regarding how the licence fee is spent

BBC nicely summarises Gordon Brown's legacy

Ned Fowden

missing the point

democracy doesn't work, just like communism ... politicians serve none but themselves in the ultimate end and the electorate are as insane as a bag of smashed crabs

Bloke threatens BT with giant plywood cheque

Ned Fowden
Thumb Up

well done Sir

I applaud those efforts !!!

debt collectors usually do fall silent as soon as they're challenged (as long as you're honest anyway)

More people need to do things like this !

Mandybill: All the Commons drama

Ned Fowden

can they ...

revoke this following May 6th ?

it's gotta go through the Lords before finalising anyway, all they need to do is take their time on it or just refuse it based on the grounds that it's been rushed

or am i missing something ?

One in four UK schoolkids admits hacking

Ned Fowden

oh, now come on

now hacking is now beig described as "guessing the users password"

kids are mean little effers who mostly do this for kicks as it says ... there is no 'hacking' involved, it's simple guesswork

can't wait to hear about the first case of some 12 year old who has had his/her password guessed and has chosen to prosecute the villain !

Vodafone hands out free books

Ned Fowden

yeah right

all i get is error 503

as for e-books, i've been using Mobi-Reader on my N97 for a while now and i'm very happy with it as my main (=only) e-book reader :)

Former model sues Universal over 'x-rated prop' outrage

Ned Fowden

obviously

due to her "successful career as a make up artist" she felt the real need to make more money, ... sorry i mean defend her image usage rights

Carlos Slim is world's richest man, Bill Gates now number two

Ned Fowden

the thing about rich lists

they never say how much they actually have in cash, it's almost all virtual money .. shares, that could be worthless tomorrow

it's all bollocks !

Tories ask: Why BBC3, BBC4?

Ned Fowden

why bbc3?

well to be honest, every now and again it'll throw up a decent show, Being Human is one of those (don't ask me to name any more because thats the only one i watch)

as for BBC spending, i think everyone has pretty much given up on grumbling because nothing happens ... controversy is started but we rarely see anything along the same lines as the recent/ongoing MP expenses stories.

E-book buyers favour iPad over Kindle and co.

Ned Fowden
Unhappy

I want an e-book reader

but no way in hell am i paying ludicrous amounts of cash for one.

my Nokia N97 along with MobiReader does a darn fine job so far, and I have no intentions of buying a dedicated reader until the price has dropped to sub £50-75 for the current market offerings (which is what my belief for such a device should be valued at)

I realise this may be a couple of years in the making, but you should also take into consideration that the technology will have moved on by then and newer/better units will be available.

I may come across as a tightwad, but as a married man with 2 children, there is no way that i can justify spending what amounts to the same as an entry level laptop on a 'book with lights'.

Ballmer: One day, Bing will actually make money

Ned Fowden

@ Commentards galore

most of you are missing the point of the message, Google and Bing are only interested in the money generating area's, i.e. businesses, not your pathetic searches for Megan Fox or Angelina Jolie.

maybe get your head out of your MS hating arses before posting drivel with no relevance to the topic at hand

Microsoft stokes Google 'antitrust concerns' fire

Ned Fowden

@pot & kettle

good on them I say ... whats good for MS is good for the others too

lets have their dirtty laundry aired in full public view too

60 million Americans don't use the interwebs

Ned Fowden

15million americans think ....

noooooo, the ext line is't what you're expecting

"15million americans think..."

based on a survey of 5,005 people

statistics eh

bullshizzle says I

The myth of Britain's manufacturing decline

Ned Fowden
Thumb Down

smells funny to me

Statistics can be manipulated into whatever you want them to be.

Productivity and value may well be up, but the number of people out of work keeps rising .. so it seems that the 'other' jobs you suggest people can move into in reality aren't actually there.

and another bone of contention of mine, not mentioned here and slightly relevant, the statistics used by the government to tell us how many people are unemployed only counts those who are supposedly actively lookig for work, i.e. those claiming jobseekers allowance.

it does not take into consideration those on other benefits (or out of work and not claiming) but are more than able to work, giving us a very skewed figure to base our view on.

Personally i'm in favour of forcing all British companies providing services within Britain to employ people based in Britain (no outsourcing !) to provide those services.

French poised to seize Port of Dover

Ned Fowden

of course thwey can't afford it

they just gave £50m in aid to Haiti ... we can afford to let our tax money go out in aid but heaven forbid we should do anything to benefit our oqwn country

Apple vs the iPad Bedwetters

Ned Fowden

@ John B

"The only thing it does is provide a very fertile ground for feminine hygiene product jokes, and provide yet another way to may iFans cry."

The perfect reason to let (or take an active part) the hype roll on this device.

Extreme Pr0n - One Year On

Ned Fowden

@gun law commenters

I could be way off, but my understanding for the reasoning behind that law was to make it harder for such weapons to be made available in the UK.

and again, if my understanding is correct, the only success that it has acheived is in making it harder for weapons used in gun crimes harder to trace.

as for the topic at hand, i think the most important word has been pointed out several times already "yet"

Once impenetrable PS3 cracked wide open

Ned Fowden
FAIL

@ the nerd/geek critics

if not for people like this, technological advances would be even more repressed than they already are.

don't forget that it's nerds & geeks that gave you the technology to be able to come here and comment in the first place.

there may well be better things to waste time on, my suggestion is you go do them instead of irrelevantly criticising posts here

Lords mull Hail Mary penance for file sharers

Ned Fowden
FAIL

@Fraser

Sorry, I wasn't actually referring to most of the people you see on X Factor or pop idol., or whatever program is it you are watching this week.

musicians with talent, musicians with creativity, you know, the ones who actually make their music ... you will find that my statement holds up as true ... and i must not visit the same pop music forums that you do to see that statement questioned ... oh wait, i don;t visit pop music forums at all

Ned Fowden

couldn't give a stuff

if I were a musician, in all honesty I wouldn't give a crap about all this downloading malarky ... unless I were a superhuge star/band

the, never contested, fact is that most musicians in fact make most of their monies from touring

from actually performing.

Unless they have the power to negotiate with the labels for a huge slice of the royalties, thats how they make their £$€

having downloaders out there gives rise to allowing more people to actually hear the music and the chance of getting them along to gigs rather than into town to buy a CD from Tesco's, HMV or WHSmiths

I've always advocated downloading, for myself it has been because I have gone on to listen to more music than I would have normally and then gone on to BUY the music that I like.

thanks to downloading the record companies have gained more cash from me than they ever would have if I hadn't had that opportunity !

Air France offers two-seat deal for fatties

Ned Fowden
FAIL

@Brock

"What about people who are overweight because of glandular conditions,"

those are extremely rare, few and far between.

although i guess you could argue for those with big bones too (yes, they exist but are rare)

most fat people use glandular conditions as an excuse when in fact it's simply not true ... most obese people are like that because they're lazy and over-eat.

i've only met 1 person in my lifetime so far (33) that has a legitimate medical condition for being obese and it's not a glandular condition.

so yeah, tax the diseased, if thats what you like to call lazy fat types :D

Record labels seek DMCA-style UK takedowns

Ned Fowden

@Irish Donkey

VOTE ... yeah like substituting one politician or party for another is going to change anything ... they're all the damn same

when will people learn that democracy doesn't work, it's worse than communism in that democracy is designed to give the people the view that they are free to choose, when in fact that simply ain't true

Guinness to hit three quid a pint

Ned Fowden
Go

but, think of the advantages

Diageo are marking it up with the increases in tax on alcohol so they can continue making the same level of profits !

personally i don't give a stuff, guiness is a filthy foul brew anyway

mwuahahahaha, keep up the good work

on a side note, i don't like paying £15 for a 70cl bottle of vodka in Tesco's

Gambling boss gets three years

Ned Fowden

@AC

while i'm in agreement about the revolution thing (democracy doesn't work ok), i don't understand the reference to Puerto Rico ... the story mentions Costa Rica (being the base of ops for betonsports) who as far as i'm aware aren't a colony of USA.

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