* Posts by Toastan Buttar

806 publicly visible posts • joined 4 Jul 2008

Are biofuels Europe's sh*ttiest idea ever?

Toastan Buttar

Good back-of-the-envelope calculation here...

How much land mass would renewables need to power a nation like the UK?

http://www.ted.com/talks/david_mackay_a_reality_check_on_renewables.html

Paper computers: Not mere pulp fiction

Toastan Buttar
Paris Hilton

Wang

Huhhhuhhuhuhhhuhuhhhuhhuh. He said "wang".

Brit 2.5-tonne nuke calculator is World's Oldest Working Computer

Toastan Buttar
Stop

Re: re: AC @16:24

No-one writes jokes in base 13.

iPhone tops US market, but trounced by Android in world+dog

Toastan Buttar
WTF?

Re: Is this sales or shipped?

"My colleague was not impressed when he was without his Samsung for over 3 weeks when it developed a fault"

The thing with any non-iPhone is that you simply pop the SIM out and slot it into another device (like a simple mobile, feature phone, or other Android smartphone) on the same network. We've got about 6 or 7 eligible Orange (sorry, EE) devices kicking around at home which would accept the SIM from a Samsung without skipping a beat.

iPhone of any vintage - not so much of an option...

Rampaging gnu crashes Microsoft Store, hands out literature

Toastan Buttar
Linux

Re: less pranks, more apps

"I plopped a Puppy disc into into another machine, I was surfing the internet before he had finished booting!".

Puppy Linux is indeed a very quick way to get online and surf the internet. Is that all you do with your computer? Get an iPad or cheap Android tablet instead.

And SeaMonkey Navigator is an even weirder browser than Safari.

Use Windows Hibernate and you'll be back in action in 20 seconds from power-up.

It's official: Mac users are morally superior to Windows users

Toastan Buttar
Paris Hilton

Re: I think we missed the point

Yeah, I feel a wee bit dirty contributing to this thread.

Toastan Buttar
Paris Hilton

Re: Average salary of Mac vs Windows PC owner?

"Just wondering. I'm no Christian, but I do recall some parable about a rich guy putting a hefty chunk of silver on the plate, and a poor man giving away a few pennies.. everything he owned, basically."

Errrrrmmmm, I think you'll find it was a chick rather than a bloke.

Mark 12:44

Anonymous hacks Westboro Baptists over Sandy Hook protests

Toastan Buttar
WTF?

Re: "Protest the funerals"?

> Actually, all New Testament bibles have the line "Treat others as you yourself would be

> treated", and "Blessed are the peacemakers".

So all New Testament bibles ripped-off The Golden Rule. Job's a good 'un! There is a liberal sprinkling of other good advice in the Bible. Seriously, lots of good old-fashioned common sense.

Unfortunately for Jesus (and your apologist approach), there's also a shedload of batshit-crazy Judeo-Christian specific claptrap that makes even the Santa Claus story seem positively plausible by comparison. The Enlightenment happened /despite/ the best efforts of literal, fundamentalist Christianity - as typefied by the WBC - not as a result of it.

There is no excuse for any scientifically-aware adult to buy into the nonsense peddled by a mainstream religion. Theory and experimental data trump dogma every time.

The best tablets for Christmas

Toastan Buttar
WTF?

Re: iPads feeling expensive now

"my iPhone 3GS is still going strong after 4+ years and still supported / running the latest OS."

8th June 2009 is 4+ years ago???

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone_3GS

Samsung turns screws on Apple, hikes A6 processor price 20%

Toastan Buttar
Holmes

Re: This is a decade that will live in history..

"They pretty much own the MP3 player market". There IS no standalone MP3 player market any more. Anyone who wants mobile music players already has one on their laptop, tablet or smartphone (and pretty much any feature phone, too). There is no reason to own a 'Personal Stereo', now. Don't bother coming back with 'sound quality' arguments. Mobile music players are used in noisy urban environments, totally unsuited to audiophile conditions. The new ergonomic Apple earbud thingies don't change a thing.

If you want background music on the go, use your phone and a pair of earbuds. If you want a glorious celebration of the music you love, fire up the hi-fi through speakers whilst chilling on the sofa of your own home.

Toastan Buttar
Pint

@P-X-G

"it is not entirely unrealistic for Apple to build there own fab"

Yes it is. 110% completely unrealistic. Since when have Apple manufactured /anything/, never mind semiconductors? The other major semi manufacturers are so far ahead, Apple would have to headhunt the talent AND invest serious dollars in a plant before they were even in a position to think about catching up. They need chips NOW.

Beer is nice, but I wouldn't go making tech business forecasts after 10 pints.

Are you an IT pro? It's no longer safe to bet your career on Microsoft

Toastan Buttar
FAIL

SRSLY?

"Good scripts, the ones you are proud of, have Ifs and loops and other constructs that mean even a scripting ace will need time to make any sense of them and will be reluctant to change them."

A 'scripting ace', like a C++ ace, would have no fear in modifying another's work (if it made good sense in the grand scheme of things).

A script without Ifs and Loops is normally known as a Batch File. I mean.....SRSLY???

Apple axed Brit retail boss for doing his job well - TOO well, perhaps

Toastan Buttar
FAIL

Re: Disgusting...

Mainland USA has four time zones (PST, MST, CST & EST). If you want to be completely inclusive, then you must also consider Alaska and Hawaii (AKST & HST). No-one in their right minds would ever consider the USA to have only three time zones.

Skype for Windows 8 is coming: Always on, always in your contacts

Toastan Buttar

Doesn't drain battery?

How can any processor execute an application without draining the battery?

Kaspersky Lab to create new OS 'to save the world'

Toastan Buttar
Boffin

Prior art

Clive Sinclair promised the ZX80 could do "quite literally anything from playing chess to running a power station."

It's official: Apple will reveal 'a little more' on October 23

Toastan Buttar
Paris Hilton

Shurely shome mishtake

"We've got a little less to show you" on both counts, no?

Paris not interested.

Japanese boffins unfurl banner above newly-discovered Element 113

Toastan Buttar
Paris Hilton

Re: Bukakium ?

Ashamed to say, that was exactly my first thought.

iPhone 5 has 'laser keyboard, holographic images'

Toastan Buttar
Big Brother

Portable St. Jobs prayer booth app

"My time is yours..."

"Excellent...."

"Could you be more.....specific?"

"Let us be thankful we have commerce. Buy more. Buy more now. Buy more and be happy."

Nokia tears wraps off new Windows Phone Lumias on steroids

Toastan Buttar
Alert

Re: " Imagine that lense on an 808."

"..wouldn't do much for the kick drum sound, I fear."

But you could get MORE COWBELL!!!

Space Jam: stripped bolt bugs spacewalkers

Toastan Buttar
Pint

Re: CAMRA

...unless it's the CAMpaign for Relativistic Ale.

VMware desktop virt refresh lets you run Windows 8 everywhere

Toastan Buttar
Windows

'Sup Dawg???

I heard you like runnin' Windows 8, so I put compatibility into VMWare, so you can run Windows 8 while you run Windows 8.

Work for the military? Don't be evil, says ethicist

Toastan Buttar
Go

Re: Dear Mr Baggaley

Why isn't he recommending that engineers don't work on automobile engines? Thousands of innocent people die each year as a result of their use.

Toastan Buttar
FAIL

Re: Helping those who got in

"The methods of working, the project timescales, even the raw components of defence work are utterly useless in the rest of the industry."

I beg to differ. Worked for 20 years developing simulators and trainers for a well-known UK defence contractor. Now I use that simulation knowledge developing software models for a commercial semiconductor company. Your argument is invalid (yet you still got a handful of upvotes - weird).

I found the UK military to be incredibly professional, disciplined and also very courteous to we civvy engineers. I'd far rather our military branches were better equipped and protected as a direct result of my work than some enemy state. Sure, I'd like war to be eradicated and for the military machine to rust away as a forgotten relic of man's inhumanity to man. I'd also like every home issued with a cute puppy and free electricity. Dunno which will happen first.

RIP Harry Harrison: Stainless Steel Rat scurries no more

Toastan Buttar
Thumb Up

West of Eden

A very good excuse to take this paperback from my bookcase and stuff it in my work bag for the commute tomorrow.

Alleged 'Xbox 720' dev box eBay'd for $20,100

Toastan Buttar
Pint

Re: Durango Durango

The Durango '95 purred away real horrowshow. A nice warm vibraty feeling all through your guttiwuts!

Pint of Moloko Plus.

Curiosity success 'paves way for Man on Mars by 2030s'

Toastan Buttar
FAIL

Human mission to Mars

I think we should concentrate our efforts on making teeny-weeny little people who can be launched into the LHC to see sub-atomic particle interactions at first hand.

Sounds about as useful, science-wise.

Higgs boson chasers: Now only 1-in-300 MILLION chance we're wrong

Toastan Buttar
Stop

Re: Collapsing reality

Of course Monty had to open a 'bad door' (with a goat behind it). If he opened the door with the prize behind it, the game would be over and you'd have no option to switch.

The Dragon 32 is 30

Toastan Buttar
Boffin

Re: Superb

Funnily enough, the 6809 lab I worked in at Strathclyde Uni had Analogue to Digital Converters which consisted of a DAC and a comparitor. By doing a binary search on the DAC and reading the comparitor's one-bit output, you could 'home in' on the input voltage. I wonder how close that was to the Dragon joystick input configuration.

Toastan Buttar
Thumb Up

Re: Duncan Smeed

I too was taught by Mr Smeed at Strathclyde. I have fond memories of the microprocessor development lab. 6809 cross-assembler on a PDP-11/34 and 11/44. When there was a full class it would take 5-10 mins to assemble and download the binaries to your development system. But it was worth it to see your creations come alive via the attached terminals and I/O devices. Even though I was a Sinclair man (and thus Z-80 by default), the 6809 was my fave 8-bit micro by a long way.

I learnt structured programming with Dr Kingslake through Pascal on a PET in the Livingstone Tower, and later wrote up my final year project on the newly-acquired QLs in the same lab. I may even have the MicroDrive cartridge still in my possession.

Good times. Still working in the low-level world of bits and bytes, shift instructions and cycle times 25 years down the line.

Android 4.1 Jelly Bean review

Toastan Buttar
Joke

State which floor you would like.

"El-ev-en".

BIG BOOBS banished from Linux kernel

Toastan Buttar
Devil

Re: ...fewer

What if he punches someone and cracks all their teeth, whilst remaining seated in their sockets?

"Less teeth"?

Microsoft hires former Hillary Clinton adviser as top strategist

Toastan Buttar
Windows

Corporate neologisms

"An exciting pipeline" ???????

RBS IT cockup: This sort of thing can destroy a bank, normally

Toastan Buttar
FAIL

Re: A shame

I created a second bank account so that I had an autonomous 'pile of money' for my band. It meant we could take the proceeds from playing a gig and using it to contribute to pressing a run of CDs. None of this had an impact on my household bank account.

Until, that is, my wife signed a cheque from the band cheque book to pay a household utility bill. And the bank cashed it, despite my wife's signature being a different name and shape from mine, WTF is the point of all this security info, if it is all just lip-service at the end of the day? Surely CAPTCHA technology is good enough to automate signature recognition?

'Kindness of America' snapper shot himself in 'act of self-promotion'

Toastan Buttar
FAIL

Re: folks, this works :(

I think he was being a self-righteous teetotaler (or self-righteous non-beer-drinker) rather than a self-righteous non-commentard.

He's a knobhead whatever, given any of the above options.

Budget smartphones all the rage as punters look sub-£100

Toastan Buttar
Coat

Sub-£100 phones are more affordable to replace

I've seen a remarkable number of people soldiering on with an iPhone with cracked glass, because they can't justify the outlay to repair or replace it. I'm currently using an Orange San Fran 2, which cost me £90. If the screen was to get damaged as substantially as that, I would simply buy another (or perhaps a similar sub-£100 Android).

Putting my phone in my jacket pocket instead of my rear trouser pocket.

Average selling price of tablets drops 21% in three months

Toastan Buttar
Unhappy

User Interface

Nup, sorry. The best way to surf the web is with a keyboard, monitor and mouse. Fondleslabs (in particular Apple devices) are the best of the ultra-portable devices, but I'm always more comfortable sitting at a desk or table with a real computer and real physical input mechanisms than a touch screen.

I'll repeat that iOS got it as right as possible with smartphones and tablets, but the interface is less intuitive, and more clunky than a WIMP environment.

Facebook tears wraps off its own app store

Toastan Buttar
Joke

Challenge the statuesque?

Why not challenge Status Quo instead?

LucasArts unveils Star Wars game for grown-ups

Toastan Buttar
WTF?

An adults-only game

Based on a kiddies-only movie series. Yeah, that'll work.

Steve Jobs was top of the flops, says Apple's Tim Cook

Toastan Buttar
WTF?

Re: "It's not the voice recognition, it's the understanding, it's the AI."

"E....lev...en"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAz_UvnUeuU

Toastan Buttar
Linux

Re: There is no such thing as a "Foxconn rebranding company"

"All of their software is all Apple."

*cough* BSD *cough*

Nokia lights up Bat Signal for Lumia 900

Toastan Buttar
Happy

Text from Dog

IM BATDOG.

Pre-Pet Commodore micro up for grabs on eBay

Toastan Buttar
Thumb Up

Defo used an AIM-65

at Strathclyde Uni during the '80s. IMSC, the electronics club had a cased-up KIM, too. Didn't you have to hand-enter an interrupt vector before using the monitor ROM (for display refresh or something)?

Good memories from a simpler time.

Jolly rogered

Toastan Buttar
Happy

"I hope that wasn't the sound of eyeballs getting really big"

http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/1996-01-24/

Virgin Media cuts Pirate Bay access for millions of punters

Toastan Buttar
Paris Hilton

Re: CONGRATULATIONS!

Four of fish and finger pie?

Boy wrecks £22k worth of MacBooks by weeing on them

Toastan Buttar
Unhappy

Death by Electric Chair?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Stinney

BT missing from Pirate Bay High Court slap-down

Toastan Buttar
Thumb Up

I enjoyed 'Hugo'.

Toastan Buttar
Unhappy

Re: It's all about the service.

"No buffering issues as with streaming services."

Mind you, if a movie only has a handful of seeders, you could effectively be 'buffering' for 48 hours before you can watch it.

Uni plagiarism site buckles under crush of last-minute essays

Toastan Buttar
Happy

...or if you include references to work written by Little Bobby Tables.

Metallic Glass iPhone 5 to battle pottery Samsung Galaxy S3

Toastan Buttar
Terminator

Re: iphone liquidmetal

@Pierre: Whoooooosh!

Panasonic PT-AT5000E LCD projector

Toastan Buttar

> £3000???

To watch a film at home?

I could go to the local cinema and experience 300 3D films for that amount. On a fucking HUGE screen.