Hottest newcomer should have been...
Christina Hendricks (Joan from Mad Men).
She's a good 15 years my senior, but oh sweet baby jeebus...
Posts by The Original Ash
617 publicly visible posts • joined 11 Jun 2009
Megan Fox not world's sexiest woman: Official
Sony sued for dropping Linux from PS3
Friday 30th April 2010 09:19 GMT
Don't sign up
Take them to small claims court. Either they'll not bother to show up and the default judgement will be in your favour, or they will and you can (at least in the US) claim for punitive damages and legal costs. It might cost you some time and money, but it's better than the "We offer you a $10 gift voucher for Sony products, without admitting culpability or liability, or any wrongdoing." out-of-court settlement this class action lawyer will accept, making himself a tidy couple of million dollars in the process.
5000 small suits sends a *much* bigger message, and hurts Sony more, than one easily dismissable case.
San Francisco's rogue BOFH is guilty
Ubuntu's Lucid Lynx stalks PC and Mac converts
Spotify adds Web2.0rhea
Ridley Scott talks up 'nasty' Alien prequel
Kent police bring obscenity charge over online chat
Virgin Media fires up movie streaming service
Monday 26th April 2010 11:39 GMT 
No thanks.
No packaging cost, no manufacturing of physical media, and you want to charge *more*than I would pay for a single Blockbuster rental, or the equivalent of *two* rentals per month (with no limit on when you watch them) from LOVEFiLM?
This will go precisely the same way as the music download service they launched, and the media companies will chalk it down to pirates and cheap consumers again instead of their own non-competitive business model.
DOOMED. TO. [Icon]
Jobsian drones shackle gamer with 'lifetime' iPad ban
Sky punts 'truly unlimited' 20Mb/s broadband
Workers scared to befriend bosses on Facebook
Brit astrophysical model scoops £1.1m at poker
Ten free apps to install on every new PC
Thursday 22nd April 2010 15:09 GMT
Rose tinted glasses, or good user experience?
I've deployed VLC across three schools that I've worked for to replace bundled DVD / media players, and I've received not one complaint. It loads fast, plays everything you throw at it, and is easy enough for the less IT literate teachers (typically the ICT teachers) to use.
MPC may be great, but saying that VLC isn't will win you no friends.
Epic Fail: How the photographers won, while digital rights failed
Monday 19th April 2010 14:31 GMT 
I wrote to my MP
I wrote to Lorely Burt, my local Lib Dem MP, regarding the portions of the DEB which were effectively only for propping up the artificial scarcity model of the major record labels. She sent back a letter detailing the important points of the proposed Act which made it worthwhile, but ultimately agreed with my points and said that she would follow the party line and vote against it.
She didn't even turn up.
UK Gov, and privacy invasion without a safety net
Monday 19th April 2010 12:47 GMT
Re@ 2.
It won't result in tedious checks, it'll result in a lack of confidence in the checks and data held by government.
When peole refuse to be a part of the broken system (investing in safety deposit boxes for cash instead of bank accounts for electronic money etc) the system will change, because those who monetise it will become bankrupt or face significant changes.
Monday 19th April 2010 12:47 GMT
Re: Copyright
Copyright, since 1710 when the first UK law regarding it was approved, has always been about the rights of the consumer. "Copy" "right" i.e. the rights of the consumer for the copy of the work whiich thety own. It's only recently that big media has forced a model of recycling old media and major political lobbying into the mix to turn the situation on its head, and turn copyright law into mandated artificial scarcity and outright abuse of all entertainment media.
Still, we're off-topic.
NHS IT misses another deadline
DIMENSIONAL PORTAL INCURSION AT THE LHC!
Google to digitize world+dog with People View
If internet had existed before we were born would we be here now?
Thursday 1st April 2010 09:09 GMT 
Errr...
So, the internet makes old media obsolete? Wow. Welcome to the dotcom bubble.
Allow me to don my berret and poloneck sweater, and sip a lightly sweetened double-skinny-upside-down-iced-cafemachilatechino with nutmeg sprinkles.
I'm sorry, but this "revelation" was insightful a decade ago. It's just that News Corp. and Big Media have billions of dollars stockpiled, and has been throwing it all at lawyers and congresscritters to keep themselves afloat. Plus, sheeple will buy anything you put honey glazing on, or drape scantily-clad women over.
Maybe we'll hear about that in the next installment though, eh?
LHC particle-punisher in record 7 TeV hypercollisions
Tuesday 30th March 2010 13:03 GMT 
Coincidentally...
... I started watching Fringe last night. Managed about 20 minutes of an episode from an online "cache" and decided it was worth a look. £20 later and I own the first series! Here's hoping there's some references to atom-smashing and other wonderful sciency gubbins to explain the 6th-sense style words in the intro.
(Psst... Hey, big media. Yeah, I saw 20 minutes of your show from an unlicensed source AND THEN BOUGHT THE WHOLE FIRST SEASON. Think about it...)
Legal high fire sale starts now
PS3 update to rid all consoles of Linux support
Monday 29th March 2010 13:11 GMT
Ah, yes... This makes a lot of sense
Unfortunately, Sony, you'd be disabling an advertised feature after an item has been purchased, and that's a big legal no-no! Expect to be sued by nerds, gamers, educational insititions, and the US military (who have used clustered PS3s in supercomputer scenarios).
For those US folks interested in joining a class-action lawsuit over this, consider visiting the following link: http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1598432&cid=31653602
Anybody want to start a similar thing up for the UK?
Orange to slash price of top iPhone plan
Brits still getting bull from broadband providers
Monday 29th March 2010 13:08 GMT
I'm not getting too enthusiastic
Ofcom: "Please be more honest with customers when telling them about broadband speeds."
ISPs: "No."
Ofcom: "... Ok then."
I like the way Europe did it with Microsoft over the browser integration: Fine them an exhorbitant amount PER DAY for not rectifying issues. £100k should do it. Don't give me that rubbish about smaller ISPs not being able to pay: They have smaller offices and distributed staffl; An email to all staff saying "Tell them that actual speed will degrade with distance from the exchange, amongst other factors, and that often this isn't the ISPs fault." Then they don't have to pay anything!
Why must big companies make things so difficult...
Third of UK students would strip their way through college
The Pirate Party is the shape of things to come
Friday 26th March 2010 13:38 GMT 
Oh wow...
On Slashdot, there is a popular phrase which is applicable here.
*WHOOSH!*
The Pirate Party *WILL NEVER* be a major political party. They *WILL NEVER* run the country. Not one of them thinks that they will, and in that sence they're very much like UKIP, Green, and the BNP; They each have a group of voters who they represent, who want to *INFLUENCE* legislation in which they, and their electorate, are interested.
The party needed a manifesto because without it they would just be aimless. With a set of published ideals nobody can say they're just a bunch of "freetards" who want music for bugger all money or effort.
In short, well done on completely missing the point of The Pirate Party. But hey, don't let logic stand in the way of a good rant! After all, that's what the Daily Mail^W^WThe Register is good for.
By the way, the icon isn't for my post.
Apple director 'disgusted' by Jobsian health secrets
Met launches net café spy operation
Heathrow security man cops perv scanner eyeful
Wednesday 24th March 2010 16:50 GMT
Psst... Ms. Bee...
"Berk" is an abbreviation of the phrase "Berkeley Hunt" which is cockney rhyming slang for... Well... I'm sure you can guess.
By the way, fair enough that you believe the term "female" to be daft PC twaddle, but unfortunately that's the world we now endure. Say something out of place, and someone will sue for emotional duress.
FWIW, I don't even let my g/f call a load of washing "coloured" anymore. I insist on "ethnically diverse" loads.
Nerd alert: First Lucid Lynx Ubuntu beta fun
Monday 22nd March 2010 10:20 GMT
Concerning your points above:
Firefox is not totally fucked (since actually running 9.10 since november last, using firefox exclusively).
I have never used Seamonkey, so I guess you can have that one.
See first point.
The MP3 codec is proprietary code, and more than likely cannot be included with Ubuntu by default. One quick download later and you're all up and running, if it doesn't do it out of the box.
I don't see Flash advertisments. Images yes, text yes, Flash NO. Flashblock is your friend. I've used iPlayer to watch movies (In The Loop most recently: 1hr40m) without issue, after a little tinkering (all detailed on the Ubuntu forums).
As for updates... Wow. God forbid, you've never experienced a power cut while installing a service pack. Or downloaded an AV update which downloaded several core DLLs. Drive-by virus installation? I reboot Ubuntu for kernel updates ONLY.
So, in short, by my experience you're wrong.
Virgin Media to demo 200Mb/s broadband tomorrow
Facebook warns over password reset scam
Dell bars Win 7 refunds from Linux lovers
One in four UK schoolkids admits hacking
Two jailed for smutty texts
Thursday 18th March 2010 13:00 GMT
Don't be so sure
In the UK you'll be put on the sex offender's register for sending pictures of yourself to your partner if you're under 18. Describing an act could even be seen as intent. Oh, and your partner would be on there too for posession of indecent images of a minor.
We're just as backward as any middle-eastern territory... We just don't chop pieces off the perpetrators.
Facebook faces Home Sec over lack of 'panic button'
Thursday 18th March 2010 11:48 GMT 
Ripe for abuse
Reasons idiots will press this button, resulting in massive increases in wasted investigation time and tax payer money:
- They said I look pretty
- They have shifty eyes / eyes too close together
- Their glasses are a little rapey
- They are wearing a trench coat
- There is a picture of them on a beach with children present
- I have a chip on my shoulder
- My friend said so
- I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE FUNNY
How about schooling kids about using the internet responsibly and safely, and keeping parents informed about ways to interact with their children regarding this technology?
As always, this is a problem solved by EDUCATION, NOT LEGISLATION.
Irate Aussies go after US website
Wednesday 17th March 2010 13:30 GMT
I don't quite understand this
A US citizen which runs a US website hosted within the US is charged with breaches of Australian law because Australian citizens have chosen to download information from that website? The bits only ENTERED Australia because an Australian citizen requested that them!
There's something wrong with all of this.
Incredible Hulk snared on Street View
Study shows gaming can hinder reading, writing progress
Wednesday 17th March 2010 11:06 GMT
Alternatively
Novelty value of new toy means kids spend more time with it than with older toys.
Kids who are not actively monitored and guided will spend more time playing games than working.
Parents should ensure children do their homework before playing games, study learns.
Seriously... Worst "science" ever.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
