* Posts by Greg J Preece

2481 publicly visible posts • joined 10 Jun 2009

Mozilla pushes out final Firefox 5 test build

Greg J Preece
FAIL

*Splutter*

"It seems that with every release they've done over the last year or so the browser has got slower,"

Did you just MISS Firefox 4 or something? Don't even begin to tell me that is slower than 3.6. When it came out I ran it through benchmarks and it was beating the then-current Chrome for JS times.

Ten... Premium Android smartphones

Greg J Preece

Lacklustre?

Sure, the OS got dropped immediately, but MeeGo is not Nokia's baby alone by any stretch. And how exactly is the N900 lacklustre? It's chuffin' Debian! It came with Flash long before Android did, the integrated chat/social networking kit is just brilliant, the camera is great, the multitasking is as good as it gets, and in terms of customisation and actually getting stuff done, it's hands down the best phone I've used.

Put it this way - bouncing an SSH connection off the office to sort a Tomcat installation on our test server whilst waiting for the train is 10 times easier on an N900 with an integrated Bash terminal and a physical keyboard than it is on my (admittedly nice) Desire S with a touchscreen board and a crappy SSH app.

Greg J Preece

It's a slider

There was a video on YouTube for a very short time before Nokia got to it, and it was a slider. Angled screen, too.

Greg J Preece

Nokia N9?

Read some rumours yesterday that the N9 might be announced next week running MeeGo. I'm also wondering where to go after my N900, and that caught my attention.

Greg J Preece

Desire S is a great work phone

Might not have some of the more advanced multimedia capabilities, but the Desire S is a good example of fixing the flaws with a phone. The battery life is vastly improved to the point where the phone is actually chuffing usable, and I don't have to worry about charge constantly. It's also fast, the touchscreen is really good, and I get better signal strength than I used to. Well worth fobbing my old Desire off on one of our users as an upgrade. ;-)

No Gingerbread snack for Desire owners, says HTC

Greg J Preece

Why is everything the worst thing ever?

Overreact much?

This is a bitch though, because if there's one thing the Desire needs, with its crap battery life, it's Gingerbread. I guess now it comes down to which is more important: Sense UI or better battery life. I have the feeling my Desire users will go with battery life.

Duke Nukem Forever

Greg J Preece

I apologise

I meant to say "most people with taste."

Greg J Preece

Way to trip yourself up

So it's not that bad, it's just in the same category as Die Hard 4?

Riiight. You know, for most people, "the same category as Die Hard 4" - and for Christ's sake stop with that point-oh bullshit - is "a collection of things I would like to ram up Piers Morgan's arse."

BT earmarks 66 more exchanges for fibre-to-the-cabinet upgrade

Greg J Preece
Thumb Up

Finally!

I'm on the list! Oh yes!

*Dance*

IATA: this iPad could BRING DOWN A PLANE

Greg J Preece

Well fuck me, that's convincing evidence!

"IATA admitted it hasn't actually verified that any of these were caused by electronic devices, instead highlighting that crew members thought they were."

Cabin crew are known for their expertise in electro-magnetic fields and the like.

The New C++: Lay down your guns, knives, and clubs

Greg J Preece

Proper language?

I thought most people hated COBOL.

Duke Nukem Forever rocks up on shelves

Greg J Preece

Sod this, buy Madness Returns instead

The demo for DNF was ball-bustingly bad. Everyone I know that had pre-orders cancelled them. Me, I'm more interested in Alice 2: Madness Returns. The first game was incredible, and unlike DNF, this sequel doesn't look like a total ruination. It'll help keep me going until the ridiculously delayed Child of Eden arrives on Move.

Phishers LAMP web hosts

Greg J Preece

What's that got to do with PHP?

"Its not difficult to spot a Joomla or Wordpress site so any known vulnerability in that software can expose all my servers."

See title. Surely that's just the fact that "known flaws in software can be exploited."?

Greg J Preece

That's a bit broad...

"between 76 and 82 per cent of respondents using one or more components of the LAMP architecture."

What, so 76 percent of websites use either Linux, Apache, MySQL or PHP within their system? Well duh! By that definition (unless I'm misunderstanding or the phrasing is bad) half these attacks could be Windows-based apps connecting to MySQL in the background, and that would count as an attack against the LAMP stack.

Maybe I'm misreading that, but something in there seems dodgy.

Nintendo coughs to using Xbox, PS3 footage at Wii U event

Greg J Preece

Sick of Nintendo

Oooh, another new controller. Big deal, you're still releasing yet another Zelda, yet another Metroid, yet another Mario. Innovation never sleeps at the big N, does it?

And finding out that they've been bullshitting people about the Wii 2's capabilities is hardly surprising. Too late though, all the fanboys and Guardian writers already believe them.

Apple 'spaceship' awaits landing clearance in Cupertino

Greg J Preece

Anyone noticed the centre?

Very Apple - a nice, ringfenced/walled garden, surrounded by something pretty and slightly impractical.

Sony unveils PlayStation telly

Greg J Preece

What would be cool...

...is if you could play multiplayer games without having to go split-screen!

Greg J Preece

That TV is genius!

And the PSP2 is going to be cheaper than a 3DS?? They must lose tons on each one, but I'm not complaining - I wanted one before, now I'm definitely pre-ordering one!

Apple uncloaks top 10 tools of iOS 5

Greg J Preece

Don't be ridiculous

How does acknowledging that traditional computers still have a strong role completely remove all other devices from the equation? I carry tons of gadgets, but I still need my PCs, and not just for work either.

Your nan might be able to get away with just a tablet if all she does is check her lottery numbers online, and that's fine, but try replacing all PCs with tablets rather than augmenting them, and you might run into a few...missing features. Like being able to put bold characters in your e-mails, for example*. Calling that a "post-PC" world is just daft, especially at an event where you launch your latest PC operating system.

Wait a minute - Rosco? Not Scottish by any chance, are you?

*When I saw that listed as one of the new features after reading their blurb on "the world's most advanced operating system", I nearly wet myself laughing.

Greg J Preece

Oh sorry

I forgot the upcoming model that isn't yet available, and was referring only to the previous 5 (is it 5?) generations of iPhone and 2 iPads.

Can you access the disk on the tablet yet to move files on and off, say via BT, wireless, or a memory card, or do you still have to go through iTunes - on a PC?

Greg J Preece

"We're living in a post-PC world"

See, it's when people say stuff like that, that I have trouble taking anything else they say seriously. For all the shiny gadgets you can sell to people, offices are still packed with PCs, as are homes. They're still needed for a lot of computing tasks - for example, activating a tablet that can only be managed via a bloated piece of media software...

Mac OS X Lion debuts in July as $29.99 upgrade

Greg J Preece

Some interesting stuff

I like the sound of LaunchPad, and as a developer new APIs are always welcome. Listing the App Store as a new feature is a bit rich though, given not only that it's in Snow Leopard, but that you use it to run the upgrade.

The touchscreen blah-blah was inevitable - it's one of the computing industry's current gimmicks, after all. In about 5-10 years Apple will bring out a device with amazing new tactile response technology, called iButtons, and everyone will go mental for them.

Overall, it's likely that I'll upgrade anyway for the new developer kit, but it sounds interesting enough to be worth £30. When it comes to software, you can pay a lot more for a lot less.

Sandi Toksvig puts the 'n' into cuts - on the Beeb

Greg J Preece
FAIL

It's a word, get a sense of perspective

A word on its own can't hurt you, you fool.

CUNT! Anyone's ears bleeding? Skies falling? Nope? OK then...

Words are given impact by context, not spelling. Restricting what someone can say, or even imply, based on some puritan notion of there being "special words" is ridiculous at best, and marks you out as being quite narrow-minded and fragile.

By the way, I take great offence at the usage of the word "respectful", in any context, when used in conversation with me. As a result, I demand you remove the above post from the forums. Wouldn't want to be disrespectful now, would you? Think of the children!

Gamers celebrate full return of PlayStation network

Greg J Preece

Uh...huh...

Not that I like the X-box much, but did you *see* the way El Reg laid into the RROD problem? You really do come across as a fanboy in your post. Someone had a go at PSN? Obviously they're X-box adoring shills.

Greg J Preece

It's not there yet

I read an article somewhere else - the PSN store is back but the Welcome Back package is yet to launch. Another couple of days to wait. PSN+ bonus membership time has been extended from 60 to 70 days.

Greg J Preece

Oh good, snobbery

Do only the poor, unfortunate proles play those silly video games, then?

Biodegradable products are often worse for the planet

Greg J Preece

Bollocks, you're talking it

Have a look at a modern landfill, before and after. California's got some good examples. Their horrible, unusable landfills are parks, housing estates, etc, and the methane is captured and used to power thousands of homes.

Not everything about landfill is evil, and what's the alternative? Incineration?

Acer Iconia Tab A500 10in Android tablet

Greg J Preece

D'awwwww

May I be the second person to ignore the point of the article and focus on the kitty being cute?

Looks like a good tablet though. Would love to see a review of the MeeGo one when it turns up.

Acer tweaks tablet with MeeGo move

Greg J Preece

Ooh, ooh, ooh!

A tablet I actually come close to giving two shits about! If the interface is like the demos we saw last year/earlier this year, I'd be tempted. Lack of a physical keyboard is still a bitch, but Linux without an abstraction layer will always get my attention. Say what you like about its predecessor Maemo - and I could - it's very capable for nerdier shut-ins like me.

Greg J Preece

Never heard of the Wii then?

Or the Pippin?

OK, scratch that second one.

Android Marketplace starts cleaning house

Greg J Preece

There needs to be a new Godwin's Law

For people mentioning Orwell in any context where they feel "oppressed."

Because an all-consuming totalitarian regime perpetuating a false war in order to maintain an iron grip on a deliberately undereducated populace is *exactly* like killing off emulators that illegally distribute Sega firmware (or rip-offs).

Perhaps we could call it Godwin's 2nd Law. Or the "Law of Get a Fucking Grip".

New Mac scareware variant installs without password

Greg J Preece

Deep, dude

Deep

Greg J Preece

The reality distortion field at work

Mac screws up, blame Google!

If I remember correctly from the original article, Safari will auto-open any file it recognises as being "safe", which is part of the problem. Wouldn't you call that a massive fail from Apple?

Greg J Preece

Oh don't say that!

"meaning they don't need to enter the administrator password to install software in the Applications folder."

When I pointed this out, a whole bunch of fanbois told me I was wrong.

Modern Warfare 3 teaser trailer reveals terror on the tube

Greg J Preece

@Miek - Sorry, but I call BS

1) Dual booting is normal. All of my machines dual boot, except for one that triple boots. Linux for work, Windows for play.

2) The Sony headset is nowhere near as good as the Speedlinks I have on my PC, nor is an equivalent headset available for less than silly money, nor would it be as easy to set up as: *plug*.

3) Fair enough, personal preference. My mouse and keyboard are pretty nice ones, and I prefer having more explicit control in game.

4) Sorry, no. This just doesn't apply any more. The race between graphics and their hardware has calmed down quite a bit. Aside from the fact that games are getting held back from being graphically stupendous by their inevitable console versions, I've had a midrange ATI card for years now, and it played MW2 with everything on max last night. Does the same with Crysis. Newer games require newer consoles, too. The fact that PCs allow for continual advancement is not a downside, and if you don't want to play the latest PC exclusive at max graphics settings...don't.

5) Again, newer PC components don't overheat nearly as badly as they used to. And what was that tiny, minor fault with the 360 down to again?

Greg J Preece

I'm the other way around

I rarely care about online play, so I'll be straight into the campaign. While the locations are a bit predictable (we're in England - it must be London!) it does look like fun.

Greg J Preece

PC or bust

Several reasons:

1) Online play is free, and I can use a high quality headset without it costing a fortune or being a pain to set up.

2) Mouse and keyboard > console controller, any day of the week.

3) PC version is already 10 quid cheaper (unless you're daft enough to order from Game).

4) PC version will look better (assuming your machine has the required beef)

Greg J Preece

Different developer

Black Ops == Treyarch

All the good CoD games == Infinity Ward

Apple admits scareware problem, at last

Greg J Preece

Much more like it

Pity they have to be bullied into favouring support over complete denial.

Steve Ballmer window-dresses Windows 8

Greg J Preece

Whut? No coat icon?

That was painful. Get your jacket, and get out!

Greg J Preece

W7 SP1

You know that's already out, right?

Greg J Preece

Nah, it'll be V7

You're forgetting, this is Windows, where on a 64 bit release, all the 64 bit DLLs sit in System32, and the 32 bit DLLs sit in a folder called WOW64...

Judgment Day prophet resets doomsday clock

Greg J Preece

What an absolute prick

Hopefully his followers won't be so deluded next time around.

Google slips open source JPEG killer into Gmail, Picasa

Greg J Preece

Suprisingly hostile reaction

I was thinking the same as the OP - GIMP's format support is pretty good. I imagine WebP will appear in time.

As for being "too complicated to use", I think GIMP's alright really. I'm not even a graphics guy, but I find it fairly straightforward to use when I'm doing the odd bit of editing. If the layout is too unlike Photoshop for you, try GimPhoto.

Apple to support reps: Don't confirm Mac infections

Greg J Preece

And I suggest you try it

As you could tell by reading my previous post, I generally use Linux. I do not like running as root.

I did a clean, fresh, completely by-the-book installation of Mac OS X Snow Leopard. All default, before later customisations. It logged me in automatically by default, and I could install apps without password by default.

You can tell me this didn't happen as often as you like, you can call me a "fucking idiot", but it won't change anything.

Greg J Preece

Bullshit!

The vast majority of installations on a Mac *do not* require a password. Some do, and these tend to be lower-level apps like file system/encryption drivers. Most just require you to drag an icon onto the Applications icon, and the rest is done for you. Very seamless installation, almost as good as DEB packages, but by default no password is required whatsoever.

Greg J Preece
Flame

Better solution

Use a proper browser. Safari is on this machine somewhere, but I treat it like Internet Explorer under Windows - update it for when it's needed, then hide it away somewhere and use something better.

For all Microsoft's faults, at least they do try to help out with this kind of thing. Defender, Malware remover and the like. They can be ridiculously slow to respond to alerts, but at least they respond.

Apple are a marketing company. They are interested only in selling you the latest shiny thing. Something wrong with your old shiny? There's a new one - that'll fix everything, and you'll be better than your friends for having the new one.

In my experience trying to sort issues with iPhones, Time Machine and even monitors, Apple don't give a rat's ass about after-sales. The "Genius bar" is all well and good, but the closest one to here is 40 miles away, and yes they did tell me to go there for help when I rang them up. When Time Machine tried to backup the backup drive it was copying to, Apple told me "it's supposed to do that!" When one of my users took in a Mac desperately in need of a RAM upgrade, they sold him Snow Leopard! I've pretty much quit asking...

Written, surprisingly, on a MacBook...running Linux. ;-)

Greg J Preece

Missed a bit

...while continuing to deny the problem's existence.

Microsoft replaces Xbox 360s after disc-format switch

Greg J Preece

Sony break the network

Microsoft break your console. ;-)