* Posts by jai

2310 publicly visible posts • joined 8 May 2007

Secret European project to battle online jihad

jai
Paris Hilton

but...

it's not _that_ secret then is it, if you've just told us about it

or are you confident that fundamentalist extremists do not read El Reg because their offended by the lack of IT angle in the playmobile articles and the obsession with Paris Hilton on the comments pages?

Apple Mac Pro

jai

but....

how pretty does EvE Online look and does it play the native client without crashing?

Android tethering app tossed

jai

but....

i thought the Android platform was going to be such a utopia where phone users were able to use their phones in just the way they wanted, free from the shakles of zealous app store management and network demands?

it seems like as more time passes, the more and more like the iPhone (in the restrictions) Android gets

what's that i hear? the drawing in of breath from all the Pre-lovers about to tell us how much better it will be when/if their beloved device ever actually appears in the shops?

G20 police demand ID as train staff ordered to spy on passengers

jai

noticable themed clothing

like a suit, shirt and tie theme?

there's hundreds like that on my train everyday! they must be some kind of sect - who do i report them too?

Slimline iPhone pictures unearthed

jai

that's damn sexy

obvious photoshop is obvious

why would they move the mute switch, that'd make the interior design and also assembly much more complex, wouldn't it?

if this is an actual apple product, it's much more likely to be the next ipod touch than iphone

Wags barricade Jezza Clarkson in portable loo

jai

i'd still vote for him...

...to be prime minister though

Indian boffins mull zero-grav bhajis

jai

space curry

Dave Lister's time has come

WD releases 2TB external HDDs

jai

but, 2x1tb is cheaper

I've got 4 of the MyBook Essentials now. they're on amazon for about 80quid each

so if the EU price for a 2tb is any more than 160 quid, it becomes a really expensive way to free up a usb slot

Game designers deconstruct their 'art'

jai

shadow of the colossus

one of the most incredible games of all time, the sheer scale (ha!) of the idea - such awesome graphics. no one knows much about what Team Ico are doing with their 3rd game, but with it being a PS3 title, it's going to be incredible. and judging on their graphics work on Ico and SotC, you'll be able to pause it, take a photo of your telly, and hang it on the wall

A Geeks Guide2 ...iPhone Development

jai

can recommend this

i've not done any Objective-C before, and though this book recommends that you should be a bit familiar with the language, i decided to dive right in and pick it up as i went along. and so far, it's going well. the book provides a nice learning curve and is quick to point out the differences between OS X coding and iPhone coding alongside the similarities. The writing style is very relaxed and easy to read - it reads more like being in a lecture than reading the textbook, if that makes sense?

Deadfish iPhones send users into deep freeze

jai

strange

2.2.1 has been out for ages though - you'd have thought the problem would have been more widely reported if it was the heat issue. it can't just be such a tiny proportion of the units were somehow built less heat-efficient than all the others, can it?

Apple sued over iPhone e-bookiness

jai

trouble is

the amount that they'll settle for is chump change to people like HP and Apple

but these patent trolls get more and more vauge and ridiculous. sooner or later someone is going to start suing all companies because they have a patent for "some thing, that does stuff"

BMW driver follows satnav to edge of cliff

jai

"Please turn left....

...when you have a great idea Charlie"

Blu-ray Disc added to UK shopping basket

jai

@ac re: I'd like to know who's making all these MP4 players

i think perhaps the point rather: who is making mp3 players now that are not also mp4s?

yes, i know you can get cheap players that don't do video, but if ipods carry such a large percentage of the market in portable digital music devices, and the only the shuffle being non-mp4, then it's fair to say the majority of people are buying mp4 players, even if they're only using them to listen to .mp3s

Palm bets the farm on WebOS

jai

a shame

thing is, if the iPhone wasn't around, i think they'd be alright

but in these economic times, i'm not sure the market is there to support both the iphone and the pre - and if Palm don't have the cash reserves to push the pre after launch, then i fear it'll be short lived. unfortuantely Apple are sitting on bags of money and will be able to out-market Palm without trouble. the only chance they have is if the Pre is absolutely flawless

Apple proves: It pays to be late

jai

re: @Yes, but

but how long did they take to dilute the ipod brand? there were many years were the only ipod was the form factor that we now refer as the "classic" model

and it's still only really 3 models - the Touch if anything is part of the iPhone brand, just with the pesky battery-draining phone options removed

jai

multiple iphones

I also can't see Apple producing multiple iphone models

they said they were only looking to get 1% of the market within 2008

they've done that, they're probably looking at getting 5% next, but not looking for total market control yet

and anyway - they're computer and ipod ranges aren't diversified. Apple don't like to be mediocre in all ranges, they prefer to be good in just one or two.

Pro tip: Don't include SEC lawyer in your $4.6m botnet scam

jai

re: And the question is.....

what money is left?

they ripped off 4.6m

but only 4.2m was recovered

2.8m of that is paying their disgorgement and prejudgement interest (whatever that is, i doubt it's going back to the victims)

and 1m is going straight into the SECs pocket

leaving only 0.4m usd

World's first proper flying car makes debut flight

jai

where we're going, we don't need roads.....

i'll wait for the deloren hover-craft, thanks

iPhone 3.0 adds cut-and-paste, search, new dev toys

jai

re: Crap software on overpriced crap hardware

keep telling yourself that if it helps you to sleep at night

jai
Jobs Halo

summer

seems like world+dog have suddenly become iPhone devs and are all trying to hit the download site at once. at this rate, us devs won't get to see it before summer either!!

Apple iPhone sales tally tops 17m

jai

of all the requested features...

....is tethering the only one they haven't delivered with OS3 ?

jai

nope, they hit that as well

just read, tethering has also been done, there's just issue with getting the phone operators to support the increased data usage

Skinny, curvy Asus Eee inspired by MacBook Air

jai

she sells seashsells.....

can't but help thing they missed a marketing trick by not having the lass in a bikini by the sea shore :-)

i like the inviisble trackpad - just wonder why they couldn't also vanish the buttons, that would be even cooler

(although, i wonder if the invisible trackpad will be more hinderance as you'll forget it is there)

iPhone 3.0 gossip lassos MMS, tethering, cut-and-paste...

jai
Flame

mms

i DO NOT want MMS

why should i have to pay a fortune to send a tiny low-res image to someone elses phone?

better to send the fullsize image via email for free

the need for copy/paste is much over-blown by sites like ElReg who hate Apple and by N95tards. in the last 18 months, i noticed it wasn't available once, when someone emailed me their address, and even then, it was faster to scribble the address on paper and then type into the addressbook than it would have been to copy and paste each line between the two apps

and personally, it's a damn good thing there's no txt fwding - this is a feature that's completely abused and only really used to pass on some crappy joke that you've just recieved. if someone does txt me something important that i want to pass onto someone else, i have more than two braincells and i am capable of remembering what the first message said and retyping it in a second one.

O2 to axe iPhone prices?

jai

re: There's a chance that .....

>> but these two issues simply rule it out for me as a phone.

you mean, they rule it out for you as a PDA

phones are for talking to people and you can't really use turn-by-turn navigation while you're talking to someone. get a printout from googlemaps instead

Apple preps netbook 10-inch touch screen thingy

jai
Jobs Halo

10inches?

i'm not i see the point of a 10" Touch (as it were)

and then again, a 10" screen isn't really going to be able to replace my macbook

so in a way, i'm hoping it's not an iTablet, because if it is, i'll be buying it, but i'll be wishing the screen was bigger the whole time

the announcement date for this item is blindingly obvious

it'll be when Jobs returns to the public world again - let the new guy do all the press stuff for a few months, and when there's a major new product, Steve will be back on the stage.

in fact, i can see them doing a Snow Leopard keynote, and the "one more thing" will be this tablet thing

Fanbois will abandon iPhone for Palm, says Wikisugardaddy

jai

um... 3G?

not sure this guy has a clue

of all of us who rushed out and bought the gen1 iphone 18 months ago, how many of us also then queued up last summer to get the 3G? how many more 3Gs have been sold than gen1 iPhones and who's contracts won't be ending in July??

and also, what are the odds that there'll be a 3rd iPhone out this summer that all us "fanbois" will pick up instead of the Pre?

Brit pair convicted for high-tech bank heist gone bad

jai

invalid swifts?

swifts aren't really that complicated - they're a bit odd to someone who's never dealt with them before, perhaps, but not rocket science

if you've gone to all the effort of planning this kind of caper, how could you possibly let such a fundamental part of the plan go wrong?

Apple Mac-sprucing bores fanbois

jai
Jobs Halo

it's like xmas morning

and you're all winging because Santa didn't bring you the toys you asked for on your xmas list even though you knew full well there was no way your folks were going to pony up the cash for such ridiculous items

you can't moan at Apple for not delivering the items that you read about on the rumour websites because, duh, they're just rumours thought up by overly optimistic Mac-fans and journalists with limited originality and nothing better to write about

i, for one, shall be buying a lottery ticket this weekend and if i win i'm spending 13k on a fully tricked out Mac Pro with all the toppings

Hollywood to totally recall Total Recall

jai

actually i like this idea

i'm usually against holywood rem(ist)akes but i think this one might be alright

the original film was an absolute classic, yes, but the f/x look soooo dated these days

it'd be nice to see the story told with modern f/x

that said, the cgi f/x will probably end up looking worse than the old animatronics

still - if this does well then maybe they'll get the idea to remake the Running Man and this time might stick even vaugely close to the original book

Blu-ray Disc sales to hit 100m by Xmas

jai

using recent market data?

did the analyst use recent sales as part of the prediction? because that might be mis-leading because i'm sure most of this years blu-ray sales were from Zavvi as they were selling them at a reasonbale price during their closing down sales

Grifters punt 'get rich quick' scams at Facebook users

jai

i'm sure

Mickey Bricks is behind it

Facebook downplays eternal user data grab

jai

re: @AC - 04:30

i quite agree

i assume this "life" that the OP was referring to involves lots of sitting in front of a computer posting anonymous comments on El Reg

Apple shares MacBook break-in tips

jai

different screw lengths OMGZnoes!!!

so there are different screw lengths - if you're the sort of person that is going to upgrade your ram/hd yourself, surely it's not beyond your mental capability to work out how to keep them seperate and identified as to which goes where

but if it is, then here's a tip - get a piece of A4 paper, draw a rectangle to represent the underside of the laptop. draw circles on the paper in the approximate places where the screws are - then when you take the screws out, selotape them to the paper in the correct location

Kensington Universal Notebook Dock

jai
Joke

re: Wot no serial...

no, you're the only one who does

MOVE OUT OF THE DARK AGES!!!

Apple fights iPhone unlocking (again)

jai

homebrew

annoyingly, after all the effort involved in jailbreaking the iphone, there's stuff all non-official apps that are worth installing or that are stable enough

Prof: Save up fossil fuel reserves to fight the next ice age

jai
Alien

the zombie apocalypse

will have arrived long before the next ice age so there's not going to be anyone left to care - in fact, the ice age killing you off may be far more preferable compared to having your braaaiinnzz eaten

Joker must retire, insist Heath Ledger fans

jai

good grief !!

yes, he was brilliant as the Joker, yes he brought the more evil and psychotic side of the Joker to life

but before him, i'd have said that Jack Nicholson's version was perfect.

i don't see why the character should be made to suffer just because the actor kicked the bucket

if you're going to retire the Joker from the screen, then retire Batman too - the whole point is that they need each other to define themselves, it's the way the characters evolved in the comics. as the previous movie franchise proved, if you kill the Joker off, the series is going to do downhill.

IF there is a 3rd and maybe 4th Nolan film, then yes, they shouldn't use the Joker as the main villian, but maybe a cameo at the start perhaps.

and then, in the 5th film, do the Joker/Scarecrow team-up from Knightfall, by which time all the fanatical fans will be fixated on some other poor actor and have forgotten all about Heath Ledger

We need cheap, abundant energy. Here's how

jai

warming planet?

there's still an inch of snow outside my home this morning!

if the planet is warming then it's going to have to be a friggen hot summer in the UK this year to compensate for the past week

Hacking the Apple TV

jai

re: Mac mini as alternative

it is a lot easier just to use a mac mini

but it's more expensive than an AppleTV too

i've got both a mac mini and an appletv hooked up to my telly, and i use the mac mini far far more (but then i am using it as a pvr)

Apple rethinks battery bondage

jai

180 degrees?

not really 180 degrees is it?

Apple have said that the current battery technology is insufficient and that providing user-changable cells is too inefficient (in terms of space etc).

all they are doing here is putting forward patents to possible answers to that problem, based on their new battery tech they've employed in the macbook pro 17

i'm not sure how the first 2 patents are part of this "180 degree about face" though - they just seem like extensions on the way that iTunes displays the capacity of your ipod/iphone when it's connected - now it'll also have a battery bar on the summary tab

Immortal Dr Who jellyfish poised to rule Earth

jai

yes but...

...will it blend?

Father of Playmobil dies at 79

jai

re: Re: RIP Herr Playmobil

hear hear!

tis a sad day indeed and there's no need for Mr Williams' flippancy.

while i was always a fan of Lego as a child, i like to think that El Reg's diorama's have given me a new found respect and even fondness for the Playmobil toys

Google mistakes entire web for malware

jai

and this is why

you can't ever let one organisation become the be all and end all of their field

always need a backup search provider for when they screw up

First 'fully accurate' totally voice-controlled phone unveiled

jai

voice recognition txt msg?

what the hell? if you've got the time to speak your voice message into the phone, then why don't you just call them and have a frikken conversation?

and how smart is the software really? can it tell that someone over the age of 20 is dictating a SMS and so dictate their message word for word, but if the voice is more youthful sounded, will it translate on the fly from "Hi, how are you, what's the latest news?" to "how R U? N E new bants? lolz raaarrrr kthxby" ?

Universal thaws out The Thing

jai

@Martin Lyne

Amen to that. the rights for the Kovacs movies are sitting in the grubby hands of some damn holywood producer and will be years (if ever) before it appears on screen, and yet they're willing to remake classics that they have no chance of improving upon

'Bart Simpson' punts Church of Scientology

jai

last time i'll ever watch the simpsons again

hang on, her dream before was to do voice-overs

and now she's a scientology-drone, she's famous for doing what? voice-overs

it doesn't occur to her that she's owes her fame to the show?

I'm a sceptic now, says ex-NASA climate boss

jai

re: How much was he paid to change his mind?

i don't think anyone disputes that weather is warmer, but the question is, has mankind caused it, or is it just part of a 200 year (or 300 or 400 or even longer) cycle?

the samples of data that we have to work with (before so-called "scientists" started adjusting the data to suit their theories) is not really sufficient because the time-scale that the tempreture could fluctuate over is so large

safe to say, in about 150 years, we'll be able to say for certain whether it was mankind that caused it - of course, if it was, then by then it'll be too late :-)

iPhone SMS error bug won't go away

jai

re: Forget the SMS problems.....

well mine came off change this morning before i left for work - i upgraded to 2.2.1 last night - according to the usage screen it's been on standby for 5hours 45minutes and in use for 2hours 17minutes.

that 2 hours has been pretty much constant music playing on the journey to work and the last hour when i went out for a walk at lunch

the battery indicator is at 90% - 85% at worst