* Posts by Thomas 4

1519 publicly visible posts • joined 11 Jun 2009

Bigfoot Networks Killer 2100 gaming network card

Thomas 4

Same problem as the gaming mice review

Yes, a lot of people do play MMOs such as World of Warcraft but online gaming takes on a lot of other aspects as well. In games of Starcraft, Heroes of Newerth, Team Fortress 2, amongst others, a delay of 50ms can make much more of a difference than in an MMO where a delay of 200-400ms often does not make a significant impact on raiding or PvP. I should know, I usued to play over a 3G dongle.

In future reviews, can you please try gaming equipment out with other games besides Warcraft? Not trying to be harsh but a variety of different perspectives helps.

Lone workers will like being tracked, says Orange

Thomas 4

Technology at its finest

"This new GPS system will help to monitor staff in potentially hazardous situations. Hmmmm, he seems to have stopped for a while in that back alley there....oh wait he's moving again now, rather rapidly, towards...the local landfill? What on earth is he doing there? And now he's heading off to the local market during work hours?! Somebody call him and tell him he's fired!"

"We have a problem, sir. The person answering says its a wrong number."

NHS Trust boards spew out oceans of paper

Thomas 4

Oh God

Please don't get me started on the amount of paperwork I have to go through in my job. Even as a mere hearing aid technician, the sheer number of forms, referrals, re-referrals, stock sheets, target plans...

To quote someone I once knew: "I don't know if it's making us more efficient but it's certainly scaring the shit out of a lot of trees."

Aussies face 10 year browsing lock-up

Thomas 4
FAIL

In another thread

....I recall saying that Australia's government might appear batshit crazy from an outsider's perspective. It also appears to have trace amounts of paranoia and control-freakery.

I feel really bad for the Aussies - when even your own laws and government is trying to screw you over, what the hell are you supposed to do?

World Cup stars by the numbers

Thomas 4
IT Angle

Did you see that ludicrous display last night?

The problem wiv England is they always try and walk it, dunney?

Sadville founder lays off 30% of staff

Thomas 4
Troll

@Gav - A shame

With a little more profanity and a little less English, this could have been a small but perfectly servicable FotW. Next you'll be asking Lewis to stop the development of the laser-equipped shark, Lester to stop doing things with Playmobil that would get other people arrested, or Mr Orlowski to open up the comments section on his articles.

iPhone manufacturer to shutter China factories

Thomas 4

Well, we can either invest in proper employee care...

....or we can move the whole factory to a country that gives even less of a damn about its workers than China.

Judge to movie studios: Why shouldn't I dismiss piracy lawsuits?

Thomas 4

One way of looking at it

I don't disagree with DeFex and maybe I'm naive in hoping this is true, but I think the judge is actually acting of common sense. A blanket judgement like this would give studios the precedent to go after whoever they wanted and just lump them altogether in a general "you were on Kazaa, therefore you must have downloaded 3 petabytes of film and we'll take every penny you have thanks."

If the penalty for such action is going to be in the tens of thousands of dollars, as we've seen in the past, I'd sure as hell want my case to be tried on an individual basis and not just stuck in the same dock as Captain Freetard.

(Just in case there are any money hungry studios reading, no, I don't, so save your breath and your lawyer fees)

US Navy dolphins, sea lions hunt rogue robo-subs

Thomas 4

Machines, pfff.

What we want to see is DOLPHIN COMMANDOS vs SHARKS WITH FRIKKIN' LASERS.

Washington cop tases naked lawn sex man

Thomas 4

Somewhat excessive force

...for someone ploughing his garden and sowing some seeds. Too bad the over-zealous officer didn't zap him mid-coitus, then he could have got two for the price of one.

Joking aside though, what on earth was the naked guy going to smack the dressed and fully armed police officer with that warranted a double hit of electric justice?

New laser raygun tech: Our sharks kick the tyres

Thomas 4
Boffin

A note of caution about water as a heat sink

Many sharks are only found within certain temperature ranges and that the pool is like to be pr-warmed anyway to suit the shark's metabolism. As for the solution to this issue, the article mentions that heat build up only becomes a major problem is the super-villan waffles on at length about his plans. The simple remedy is to have said shark carved up the super-villan with aforementioned skull-ray, thus allowing the plot to move forward and scoring points with the whole "ironic death" thing.

South African Bill to block all porn

Thomas 4

A point almost everyone has overlooked

Simply opening Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, whatever does not automatically take you to hotlesbiantwins.cum. You actually have to make a conscious effort to type with your own fingers the subject you want into the search engine. It is *your* decision to search for the stuff. No-one and I do mean NO-ONE is forcing you to look at porn. They are, however, forcing you to avoid porn.

Thomas 4
Unhappy

Do you realise what this means?!

SA Reg readers won't get to see any more Asus Eee PC stories!

Thomas 4

The march of the censors

They took away pornography and I didn't protest, because I didn't watch porn.

They took away 18-rated games and I didn't protest, because I didn't play games.

They took away my freedom of speech and I couldn't protest anymore.

From iPhone to iOS – Apple nabs (another) Cisco handle

Thomas 4
Coat

A Welsh Apple enthusiast

Rhys iFans!

Prisoner of iTunes - the iPad file transfer horror

Thomas 4
IT Angle

A question for you John

From what you've described, the file management on the iPad is terrible, which is a major strike against what I was (vaguely) considering one for. How would you rate the iPod Chunky as a means of producing documents, spreadsheets and powerpoint/keynote presentations on the go?

Search begins on seized Gizmodo journo kit

Thomas 4

A poor choice of word

....but let's suppose a tabloid newspaper got hold of intimate pictures of you and your other half making the beast with two backs and the newspaper said," Sure, we'll give them back to you, just *publically* confirm that they're yours."

And that's the keyword in asterisks. I'm sure that Steve Jobs has enough documentation to show the police that the item was his but that's just it - he should be showing it to the police, not some worthless hack. Because, you know, the phone *should have been turned in to the police*.

Proper extortion? Probably not but it sure has a whiff of blackmail and seediness to it.

Rave reviews at robotic robot-roaster raygun rollout

Thomas 4

Yes

"Extra Crispy".

Apple iPad

Thomas 4

Perhaps a less controversial subject would better

...such as gun law, abortion or the death penalty?

Although even then, I suspect people would trot out gems of wisdom like, "lulz Apple fans shud abortd" or "Id have all whiny apple haterz exercutted".

The internet is a tiresomely predictable beast at times.

Queuing for an iPad? Why?

Thomas 4

Hmmmm.....

"As opposed to the more common *technology-led* and *marketing-led* design philosophies prevalent in this industry stuffed with grunting, knuckle-dragging, user-hating imbeciles."

I have reason to suspect this man does not work with users day in, day out.

Israelis build floating electric hover platform

Thomas 4
Terminator

Not a bad start

If they could increase the carrying capacity to one or maybe two humans, this could have enormous potential for the emergency services for rescuing people from burning buildings and rivers, etc.

Not all technology advancements need to center around the destruction of worthless fleshings.

Apple's iPad resellers are revolting

Thomas 4
Flame

Oh dear

People really need to get a grip. It's not like it's the second coming of the iPhone.

IT Crowd gets fifth series run

Thomas 4
Thumb Up

That accounting team...

I had...every...last....one of them. *keels over*

Atlantis bows out with Kennedy touchdown

Thomas 4
Unhappy

A sad day for exploration

I fondly hope that at least one of the shuttles is kept intact as a monument to one of the most reliable and iconic symbols of space flight.

Oz government in filter paranoia meltdown

Thomas 4
IT Angle

From an outsider's perspective

One could be forgiven for thinking that Australia's government has gone batshit crazy.

3-million-km-long comet plunges into Sun

Thomas 4

Hmmmm.....

A very small object with a long tail colliding with a large, spherical object. Reminds me of something.....

Mass Effect movie deal done

Thomas 4
Flame

Video game movies can work!

Just look at the cinematic excellence of the Tomb Raider series, the celluloid glory of the Resident Evils, the chilling psychological horror of Silent Hill and the grand daddy of them all, Super Mario Bros - The Movie.

How could Mass Effect possibly fail?

Thomas 4
FAIL

Oh God....

This sounds a recipe for disaster. Why couldn't they have let Bioware do the script for this instead of some worthless Hollywood hack? Bioware games are *the* industry standard for good dialogue and plots. Saying "I did the dialogue for I Am Legend" is hardly something to brag about on your CV.

Dell to release first MID on 7 June

Thomas 4

MIDs....

Sound like something that needs a course of antibiotics.

Massachusetts man in vacuum marinade shocker

Thomas 4
Terminator

An honest to goodness RoTM after so long!

Although I hate this meme with a passion, I do indeed welcome our robotic, human devouring overlords. Let the uprising commence.

Arcam Solo Mini combo hi-fi

Thomas 4

I'm not an expert on sounds systems

...but I am an audiologist with a fairly hefty knowledge of the human ear and its auditory capabilities. Most people will struggle to hear anything above 16kHz, so anything above 20kHz is pretty much undetectable.

I Married a Monster from ISO 9000

Thomas 4

Great article

There has never been a more accurate representation of the loathsome process known as auditing.

Flaw lets hackers delete Facebook friends

Thomas 4
Troll

The cruelty of commentards

For many people, the internet offers a way of communicating with people that doesn't rely on face to face conversation, something which many people find intimidating, especially if they're shy or anxious in real life. Is it not unreasonable to assume that many of these shy people are smart, intelligent and witty?

Yes it is. Most of them are dumb f***s willing to whore themselves out, desperately reaching for a few seconds of internet fame.

Oz customs search lappies and mobes for smut

Thomas 4
Stop

This sounds like a fun question

"But officer, it's just me and my spouse together! It's not pornography!"

"To find out whether your telling the truth, I will need to examine the photos on the camera and then both you will need to strip naked for close examination."

2012 Olympic mascots cop a shoeing

Thomas 4
Flame

Fuck me

Someone *actually* sat down and thought that these would be a good idea?

This *has* to be some sort of secret strategy for winning the Olympics. We screen these things at the end of the track, along with our proud blowjob logo and the other competitors will be too busy pissing themselves laughing to run.

The London Olympic Commitee - A bunch of mindless jerks who will be first against the wall when the revolution comes.

Megan Fox exits Transformers 3

Thomas 4
FAIL

Recent comments from the other guy

...about how they had lost their way with the second one and were going to give the humans more screen time in third just go to show that this franchise was in entirely the wrong hands. I often described the first as being "American Pie with a few robots in" due to the unwelcome and unecessary human presence in it.

Transformers, from its glory days in cartoon form ot the festering CGI crap it is now should *always* first and foremost, be about huge robots beating the shit out of each other with huge explosions going on. Anything else is an irrelevance.

If they'd put in the hands of Roland Emmerich (he of Day After Tomorrow and 2012 fame), I think it would have done better. Granted, there'd still be a fairly crappy human story behind it but the scenes with the actual Transformers in would have been a billion times better.

Britons: iPhone eighth most important invention — ever

Thomas 4

Hmmm....

Research: Fanboism

Unlocks: Apple iPhone

Obsoletes all preceeding technologies and causes your culture to nosedive. First to discover unlocks "The Church of Steve Jobs".

Brussels declares war on web virgins

Thomas 4

Pointless war.

Like you're really going to find any virgins on the internet.

Sony Ericsson Elm

Thomas 4
Coat

Are Sony...

...branching out into the hippy market with these or just barking up the wrong tree?

Thank you, I'll be here all week.

Ball lightning is all in the mind, say Austrian physicists

Thomas 4

Awfully dismissive of them

There have been people admitted to hospitals with severe burns resulting from a hit by ball lightning and I'm pretty sure the doctors aren't hallucinating as well.

World's mightiest supercomputer to design new nuke plants

Thomas 4

So.....

Anyone else awaiting the obligatory "can it run Crysis" comment?

Oh wait.

O2 to release Palm pair on iPad day

Thomas 4

Pre shmee....

Bring back the Tungsten T3 already!

Siphon Wars: Pressurist weighs into Gravitite boffin

Thomas 4
Happy

This is awesome

Watching Gravity fanbois* and Atmospheric Pressure fanbois** duke it out, while a small minority of Surface Tension supporters claim it's all about them at the end of the day.

Completely unlike anything else on the forums!

* also known as gravitards

** ummm....atmosfanbois?...best I could come up with.

The iPad, news saviour? Murdoch may have something here

Thomas 4

Downrated the article

..because you made me realise how much I miss my Psion Revo.

As for whether iPad news will be a substitute for a newspaper, tough call to make. I could see the free papers like Metro and Evening Standard being quicker to adopt to this than the Sun or Daily Fail, as the Metro et al already get their income from advertising and if it can save them print costs as well, then its all for the better. However, I can't see this happening for at least 18 months to 2 years, even if the iPod Chunky and AndroidPad take off . Until over 80-90% of a newspaper's readership is in a position download e-newspapers, newspapers have little to fear.

Reg reader applauds World's Crappiest phish

Thomas 4
Dead Vulture

El Reg units

If memory serves, the standard unit of size and weight is the "Wales".

Pirate Bay resurfaces after German legal depth-charge

Thomas 4
Thumb Up

That was beautiful

Nice find, good sir.

US airforce shifts 30,000 troops to 'cyberwar front lines'

Thomas 4

Listen up, maggots

"Today, you become proud serving members of the finest cyberwarfare division ever seen on Earth and it will be our duty to protect the mighty U.S of A from terrorist hackers. As these tend to be thin on the ground, we'll go after guys with Asperger's Syndrome instead and haul their asses to Guantanamo. Any questions?"

"What's this thing with the screen in front of me?"

"That's a computer, son."

"Gosh, sarge, you're so smart."

Vodafone shocks data users with roaming price rise

Thomas 4
Thumb Up

Why are you so upset?

The article clearly states that this only affects a small minority of users, so it's perfectly acceptable to screw you rigid.

'Lost' iPhone 4G brouhaha: Jobs gets on the job

Thomas 4
FAIL

Well well....

What a cheerfully sordid little story this is. I feel bad for the Apple engineer and Martinson who tried to convince the idiot phone thief to do the right thing. The former is probably on his way to unemployment and the latter will soon be turfed out by her pissed off flatmates. Gizmodo have also shown themselves to be gutter journalists by not only handling stolen goods and blackmailing Apple but also by humiliating the careless engineer just to score points.

NZ spider objects to Canadian's todger

Thomas 4

Fear not!

They blur your face and body but leave your whangarei in crystal clear focus.