* Posts by Eddy Ito

4662 publicly visible posts • joined 27 Apr 2007

Blackberry Z10 sales fail to impress analysts

Eddy Ito

Re: Blame the Marketing Dept

That sums it up nicely. I just took a gander at the prices over the border in Canada and saw two models of Z10, one was about CA$750 and the other was CA$1,300. The extra 500+ smacks buys UMTS 900 and quad band LTE. I have to say, I'm going to pass with those prices even when it becomes available in the US.

BBC: Monster cargo ship delivers '863 million tins of baked beans'

Eddy Ito

Re: American Broadcasting Corporation?

Speaking as an American, I can honestly say I haven't a clue how big Times Square is. Judging from the pictures, it's a lot like being in an overfull elevator only outside, unless you're unusually tall of course then it's more like a large overfull open air elevator. They might as well make comparisons to Bowditch crater. As for the Brooklyn Bridge, I've seen it from afar but never picked it up. While we're on the subject I've actually been in the Eiffel Tower but didn't take the time to estimate its mass.

Now then, how big is a tin of beans? In sardines preferably, but I can convert from linguine and jubs.

Apple accounts for 20% of all US consumer electronics cash

Eddy Ito

"Companies often do better in their home market"

Then Apple should be doing brilliantly in China, Ireland, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands. The only thing Apple has in the US is a few fancy buildings and an HQ somewhere in Cupertino somewhere in Cupertino somewhere in Cupertino somewhere in Cupertino somewhere in Cupertino...

The universe speaks: 'It's time to get off your rock!'

Eddy Ito

Re: Um, Eddy....

Oh, I never figured it would be any particular individual and I certainly have no intention of hanging around until Sol's lights go out. I just don't see rock hopping in the near future but I do see a need to defend this rock as a shorter term goal than getting the rock out of here and moving to other planets like an Asimov novel.

For wiping out the species, I can't say for sure that folks making a long space journey and ultimately populating the next rock will much resemble Sapiens. It is likely that such stresses will force evolutionary adaptations that could be quite extreme and the critters that come out the other end may not look anything like the ones left behind on this rock and could easily be a different species. I guess it comes down to how you define the species surviving, e.g. does dinosaurs going the way of aves count as survival? Populating multiple rocks across the universe may produce multiple flavors of Homo, whether they are Sapiens and whether that matters, I don't know.

Eddy Ito

Re: Is it really a debate?

There is something else to consider. Even if we can find another rock to live on, there is nothing to say it will be in any less jeopardy of a species annihilating rock strike. It seems the best bet in space research is to figure out how to protect the rock we have rather than going looking for another one with greener grass that may or may not be destroyed before this one. We only really need to find another rock when our Sun goes out, well preferably somewhat before then actually.

Singaporean men in naked web cam extortion scam

Eddy Ito

Re: So, the jist of the problem is...

"A fool and his money are soon parted"

Wait, what's that?! Here in taxing California I thought it was 'A fool and your money are soon partners'.

Works both ways I suppose, I've been telling myself for years I was a fool to move here.

Obama says patent trolls 'extort money', pledges reform

Eddy Ito
Coat

Re: Grammar

I don't understand, what about Grampy? I learned at least as much from him as Grammy.

Satanic Renault takes hapless French bloke on 200km/h joyride

Eddy Ito
Joke

Re: @I ain't Spartacus Gold badge

"of course not, thery're really nice."

With fava beans and a Chianti of course.

Microsoft exec: No 'Plan B' despite mobile stumbles

Eddy Ito

Sounds familiar

So they're going to do the same thing over and over and expect different results. Certainly seems like a company defining plan to me.

Ask Google this impossible question, get web filth as a reward

Eddy Ito

Re: according to my parsing...

Strictly speaking, there are going to be four solutions with one in each quadrant of a plane with real numbers along the abscissa and imaginary along the ordinate. The solutions are (1,i), (-1, i), (-1, -i) and (1,-i).

Eddy Ito
Coat

Re: Bit of a disappointment...or relief

So you're saying it's no longer obscure?

Official: America now a nation of broadband whingers

Eddy Ito

Re: Population density quite different

Nylon! What a luxury! When I lived in the northeastern US we'd love to have something as resilient as nylon during snowstorms that would tear down every piece of copper hanging over head. If it wasn't the heavy wet snow then the heat of the sun would cause the thermal expansion differential to take down the connection. It wasn't only the ancient cable and telephone lines but also the power lines so on a perfect day either bad weather or really good weather all three would fail together and it would take weeks to get all three fixed because you wouldn't know the internet was out until the power came back on. On the upside, we could always move things from the refrigerator to the snow bank if the power was out for more than a few days.

Eddy Ito

Re: Is this what Americans really want?

Funny thing, being able to pick your monopoly means it isn't a monopoly and a cartel pretty much means your pick doesn't matter so maybe being able to pick the GOOG would more closely approximate competition than the current situation.

Eddy Ito

To be fair

It only makes sense to whinge since once you get past the edge of big city markets, it really isn't anything worth crowing about and in the fringe where urban and suburban overlap it's pretty much shite. The big (read only) players don't want to spend the money on infrastructure because the population density isn't high enough to totally clog the system but the current bit pipes are certainly overloaded for anything really high speed. It actually improves as you move to more rural areas where the infrastructure is newer and the population density is low enough to allow fairly decent speeds. Of course if you go too far you're looking at a choice of cable or a satellite to break dial up speeds.

The essence of Crawfordland is that it looks like a rich vs poor scenario. Consider that housing prices in the "big city" tend to be high and that price dips as you move farther away until you getting to the expensive suburban-rural areas with larger and more expensive yards and homes but still inside a reasonable commute radius then price falls off as you go further into rural areas where there are rusting cars parked in front of the mobile home. In general, in the expensive areas the broadband connections are better than in the less expensive areas. If you can afford to, why would you choose to live where only poor connections existed? If you can't afford to, you don't really get to pick and I'll wager two pints that is what Crawford et al. are whinging about.

Kiwi Coroner says Coca-Cola helped kill woman

Eddy Ito

What?

Let me get this straight, in her 10-11 kg of cola daily diet she put down of roughly 1 kg of sugar at roughly 4,000 calories. If I edge just over half of that for more than a few days in a row it shows immediately on the scale and that includes a 70-80 minute workout 3-4 times a week. Maybe the caffeine upped her metabolism enough to prevent her from becoming an oblate spheroid and I imagine battling a byte of brats burned off a bit as well.

#Forwhy: American Express lets you pay by tweet

Eddy Ito

example

"what specific security issues are there from knowing someone is buying something?"

In general there isn't a security issue knowing your buddy just bought a new 55" 3D TV, but it's an extension of the 'I'm off to Tahiti for two weeks' tweet that gets magnified by the combination since it effectively becomes:

'@peeps bought new 55" TV and tix to Tahiti with my AMEX. Off tomorrow, C U in 2 weeks'.

Zombie CISPA cybersecurity bill rises from Congressional grave

Eddy Ito

Thoughtless process

"It is time to... deal with it immediately"

In other words he doesn't want anyone to think about it before voting for it. How sad that it's the standard thought process in D.C. It really needs to stop unfortunately even when the clever folks across the country vote for gridlock there is always some crap that slips through.

Australian Parliament issues summons to Apple, Microsoft, Adobe

Eddy Ito

Gallons

1 gallon (UK) = 1.2 gallons (US). Not much point in converting each to metric measures just to do the comparison.

Eddy Ito

Re: And the net result will be?

That's probably true but if they do anything it will be raise the US prices to match.

Big Windows updates may ship this summer – and every summer

Eddy Ito

Big updates?

I've got an idea. Perhaps as a big update they could add a menu button to the desktop that could be a central repository for launching applications and controlling system settings or some such.

LinkedIn proves not all social IPOs were bubbly

Eddy Ito

Simple reason

LinkedIn is more business and the others, FB et al, are mostly fun and games. While many folks would like to see a potential monetary return for playing games and wasting time with "friends" it's a difficult thing to actually pull off. In short, the users see LinkedIn as a source and FB as a drain.

LibreOffice 4.0 ships with new features, better looks

Eddy Ito

Re: Slowly closing the gap with Microsoft Office?

Ten thousand column!? Somehow I get the feeling that anyone running near that many columns is using the wrong software.

British games company says it owns the idea of space marines

Eddy Ito

*"Bootneck"

How on earth did the Devil Dogs get one on? You know being Jarheads and all.

Eddy Ito

Too true

Even if they wanted to trademark "space marines" wouldn't a little game called Doom have been their first target way back in `93? Sorry, I'm thinking this horse has bolted long ago and the hinges on the barn door have rusted off anyway.

US diplomat: If EU allows 'right to be forgotten' ... it might spark TRADE WAR

Eddy Ito

Re: Quick, about face!

"I took great pride in doubling and tripling my up to downvote ratio"

Pardon me for saying but, unless you're intending to go into politics, you need another hobby. If you like, I've got some nice beverage recipes to get you started. You can start with a pale ale and work up to coffee porter.

Eddy Ito

Re: 404

You're forgetting the stubborn streak that won't allow us to stop until we've reached a convincing draw or at least close enough to walk away, declare victory and leave a bloody mess behind. Fortunately it won't be anything for the pols to worry about since the school boards across the country will only buy educational materials that parrot the official line that we were fighting for democracy and triumphed over the oppressed oppressors of the downtrodden.

Eddy Ito

Re: Dear USA: You make your laws; we'll make ours.

"So, yeah, it's possible to live a consumer life without the USA. Who knew."

Hell, that's what I do and I live in the USA. No I don't count taxes as part of a consumer life because all I get from my tax dollars is idiots like this and I could easily, even preferably, live without that.

That said, with the exception of meat even the food comes from Mexico or further south for half the year and when I lived up in the northern part of the US it was about nine months of imported veg. Frankly, it it weren't for the ag twins of subsidies and tariffs it would probably be cheaper to import most of our food including meat. After all, those are the only reasons why corn syrup is cheaper than sugar and also why Brazil has so much sugar which, IIRC, they turn into auto fuel. Then again, I'm fairly sure I'm not telling you folks in Europe anything new. One quick question, do your governments pay farmers to not grow produce that doesn't grow where the farm is to minimize surplus like our gubbermint does?

Eddy Ito
Pint

Re: Hmm.

Certainly a trade war is about the stupidest thing to threaten given the current global economy. This idiot may see the US as rebounding but his glasses are certainly a couple of shades too rosy but more likely it's just threats that our gubbermint may very will be stupid enough to make good on. I say, let 'em.

"Obama is already paranoid about having a Jimmy Carter type legacy and a trade war of any type would ensure that."

In all honesty Jimmy gets a bad rap but he actually signed a key piece of legislation that has probably created more jobs in the US than any other President since but he doesn't get enough credit for it. It was H.R.1337 of the 95th Congress and it eased the restrictions on the production of beer and wine in the home and ultimately opened the door for the craft brewing industry in the United States. Sure, it took time but would Jim Koch have been able to craft his Boston Lager and launch a company only six years later? So cheers to Billy Beer, nepotism and homebrew; Obama should dream of such a legacy.

Eddy Ito

Re: US has data protection

Actually we don't. It's more smoke / mirrors than real protection. The big fear this bureaucratic muck is worried about is that data has been so shabbily handled it would cost a fortune for companies to actually figure out who they sold, gave or otherwise handed off the data to. Oh, and they want to be able to go to companies like AT&T and say "give us all your data on X and don't worry about the illegality, here's your retroactive immunity card."

Fanbois rejoice: iPhone 5, iPad Mini finally jailbroken

Eddy Ito
Pint

Lovely

I do so enjoy these ch0wn to own stories. It's like the people who paid for the product finally get to take possession of it. Pints all 'round.

Ten 3D printers for this year's modellers

Eddy Ito

Re: No RepRap?

One of the best things about 3D printing is when you use a casting wax to print the model.

What do you mean everyone doesn't have a foundry in the backyard?

Schoolgirl's Hello Kitty catonaut soars to 93,000ft

Eddy Ito

Re: Hydrogen FTW

Would it be too cheeky to inquire if LMAO would require a snap of the entire arse disconnected or is a single free falling buttock satisfactory? Or perhaps could it have something to do with donkeys as well?

LOHAN teases with quick flash of spaceplane

Eddy Ito
Pint

Re: Will it scale?

You know what? You guys are half left regardless of that fella who says you're all right. Cheers!

Eddy Ito
Unhappy

Re: Will it scale?

Alright then, I'll just have to settle for the desktop model of Vulture 1 and not a matched set. heavy sigh

Eddy Ito
Paris Hilton

Will it scale?

You know, So it prints in a single go on let's say a 7" x 7" work area. Hypothetically, of course. Oh and you wouldn't happen to have a link to such an STL file would you?

First video inside thinking fish's brain captured by boffins

Eddy Ito

Re: Sorry that handle is already taken. Bronze badge

"But it's a great start and something to learn about and from."

That's the wonderful thing about evolution, one of the things we will learn in the long run is how to train our brains to mislead such things if it is used against us. They won't know if we're thinking of petting cute puppies or the slow satisfying squeeze just before dropping the ham... awww I love those cute kitties on UTooB.

Senators propose permanent ban on internet sales and access tax

Eddy Ito
Facepalm

Re: And nothing of value was lost

The one that kills me is Wally World. Why are items cheaper to buy from Walmart online than going to purchase at the local Walmart? If I walk into the local store to buy X it often comes at a higher price than buying X online and, get this, picking it up at the very same local store. Even the lass at the counter was flummoxed and couldn't explain it. When I asked about their price matching policy all she could do is say it was their own price so how could they match it. This is reason # 23 why I no longer shop at Wally World.

Apple to stop European shipments of Mac Pro on March 1?

Eddy Ito

Re: UL standards?

The UL version is based on the IEC standard. In the US, getting the UL certification is optional and it may be that the IEC certification is mandatory in parts or all of the EU.

Official: Fandroids are smarter/tighter* than iPhone fanbois

Eddy Ito

Re: HOWMUCH!?

"Lies, Damned Lies & Statistics."

It is a bit dodgy and sensationalist as things go. In short: < 60% of iPhone users pay > $100/mo and 54% of Android users pay > $100/mo. So in reality there is a maximum of 6% difference between iPhoners and Androiders. Give us something like median and mode which might prove useful.

I will say that $100 is a bit steep, the missus and I are paying $80 for two mobiles with unlimited (2 GB @ full speed) data on T-mob without a subsidy.

Nokia tries its luck with a sub-£150 Win Phone 8: The Lumia 620

Eddy Ito
Thumb Up

Re: Bargain

Yes SD cards up to 64 GB according to this page.

Help us out here: What's the POINT of Microsoft Office 2013?

Eddy Ito

Re: Name just ONE feature introduced ... in the 21st century ... regularly uses,

Yes but RedMon and GS, PDFCreator or any of the other add-ons also allow you to "print" PDFs from anywhere be it notepad, photo viewer, chrome or any application that has any printing ability for that matter not just new Office applications. I use it all the time too but just the add-on not the one built in Word 2010 since the add-on has better security and encryption options.

Apple releases iOS 6.1, adds LTE carriers, tweaks security

Eddy Ito

Re: I HATE THESE DAMN SECURITY QUESTIONS!

We have our fearless leaders in Congress to thank for a lot of this. Basically the whole roll out of this crap is the implementation of these "best practices" is one, read the cheapest and easiest, way to gain Sarbox (Sarbanes-Oxley Act) compliance. One more example of paving the road to a hand basket, or something like that.

Eddy Ito

"... what was yours?"

The real one was a '53 Willys P/U but as a security question the answer would be something like 'great wine shark cargo kebab.'

City heat leak can disrupt high-altitude winds

Eddy Ito

Re: So we want to reduce "hot air"

We could try to sink it into the Potomac River. Then again that quantity of hot air just might boil the whole of the North Atlantic even in January.

Apple, Google tumble off top 20 trusted companies list

Eddy Ito

Somewhat disturbing

So few banking and healthcare companies on that list makes me wonder why people do business with any of them.

Don't like your cell network? Legal unlocking ends TONIGHT in US

Eddy Ito

Re: American law does not acknowledge the existence of the phablet.

American law doesn't acknowledge the existence of lots of things since it's pretty much guaranteed to be constantly behind the times. I always enjoy watching the various state and federal legislatures playing vernacular twister to make new and undefined pegs fit into the existing square holes.

>"Phablet" == stupid, stupid, stupid word.

Really? Here I thought most pholks thought it was phabulous.

Eddy Ito

Ok, I buy most of my phones unlocked on the neutral anachromatic import market anyway. I suspect anyone who really cares will do the same unless five Supremes decide it's illegal to sell/buy something imported through alternate channels.

Pope: Catholics, go forth and multiply... your Twitter followers

Eddy Ito

In other news,

Woods: Bear, go forth and defecate.

Apple shares dive after quarterly report disappoints Wall Street

Eddy Ito

Agreed

My problem now is are they cheap enough. On one hand it is pretty clear that the ttm P/E says it's cheap but I have no way of knowing if that will be true going forward. As it is, the aftermarket is now down to $463.50 which seems a bit excessive to me so I'll have to set some overnight orders in the event it doesn't rebound in the morning. While I don't see a rapid bounce back, it shouldn't take long to come back 5-7% and I'd be happy with that for a month or so of sitting.

I expect that a lot of work will go into making the [5S,6] a lot cheaper to build to boost the margin back up and they may even quietly spin a 5 rev2 if they have the time, they certainly have the cash. One option that I've heard a lot about in the news, that I can't but question, is whether they will do an iPhone 'frugal' to compete on the low end but I wouldn't be surprised if they built the equivalent of an iPhone Air at eye popping margins with near shaving quality edges and a 3-3.25" screen.

Dead Steve Jobs' patent war threat to Palm over 'no-hire pact'

Eddy Ito

Re: "no-poaching" agreements

That's why they need an HR department. Someone has to go wading into the pool in order to pick a body to fill the latest hole and cut individual pay checks as it's more efficient than just tossing orts into the pool.