* Posts by CD001

925 publicly visible posts • joined 23 Jun 2009

Apple CEO: 'Amazon Fire didn't dent our sales'

CD001

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If you want something to watch video, read ebooks and browse the Web, something that I know some tablet (including the the iPad) users to pretty much only use their devices for, then the Fire would be a pretty good choice.

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Except it can come down to something as simple as being the first established presence.

For instance I've known people who've bought iPods because they didn't know what an MP3 player was but they did know what an iPod was and what it did. I strongly suspect these will be the same people that buy an iPad and not a tablet.

So whilst the Fire might be a good choice at a much better price I suspect it will be more seen, by many people, as a colour Kindle rather than an iPad.

The iPhone is slightly different as people know what a phone is - it was an established technology long beforehand - so people understand that the iPhone is a mobile phone and that not all mobile phones are iPhones.

Online ad body: Let's slather 'opt out' icons everywhere

CD001

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What they should have outlawed was the unauthorised accumulation of any form of communications data without consent (regardless of the method used).

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Ummm - that's kinda what they did ... the "cookie law" doesn't specifically relate to cookies but any form of tracking including building user agent/IP address fingerprints or whatever... essentially it's a kick to the Google Analytics nuts. Basically, you're not allowed to track people without their explicit consent unless it's within certain conditions (shopping carts for instance).

Virgin Media takes itself in hand after punter-package tickle whoopsie

CD001

because

The 20Mbs service is obsolete - it's the old mid-level package running on the older DOCSIS 2 modem... If you're "upgraded"* to the new superhub you'd be on the 30Mbs package for the same price (they actually reduced my monthly bill slightly when I upgraded as a "loyalty reward" since I've been with them since they were Blueyonder).

So the upgrade to 60Mbs will apply when, 1) they've upgraded your line and 2) you've upgraded to the DOCSIS 3 superhub.

* yes, yes - some might not see it as an upgrade - though it has improved recently and even supports "modem" mode so you can use your own, better wireless router.

Virgin Media to push out nimble new broadband speeds

CD001

on the 30Mbs

I'm on the 30Mbs since my own router died and it was cheaper to get VM to provide a new wireless router in the form of the Superhub than it was to buy a new one.

They seem to have got all the (obvious) glitches out of it now and the machine that's wired into it normally gets around the 30Mbs mark (maybe 1mb or 2 under) - my biggest problem is with the wireless bit... there are about 8 - 9 other wireless networks within broadcast range and the "auto-select channel" setting is, erm, rubbish on the Superhub.

Before I manually set the channel to one that nobody else was using I was getting only about 3Mbs on devices connected wirelessly, once I'd set it to a clear channel that went up to about 12Mbs ... still slower than I'd like, especially when downloading something from the PSN.

Woz's key to success: Burn the tie, wear T-shirts to work

CD001

While I agree that many people have got the wrong end of the stick about what he said, you get a -1 for not having stepped out of Mac-world for the past decade; you've probably never heard of Lian Li.

(as an aside, I find the greyness of OSX the perfect example of insipid, lazy design - grey goes with everything - and it's really, really boring - so there :P)

CD001

> To be counter, you would have to wear a 3 piece suit and address your colleagues as "Mr...".

... and is there a reason why you shouldn't, if you wanted to?

CD001

> how to persude an industrial robot to make stuff instead of going on a random killing rampage

... spoilsport :P

CD001

Ummm... not really:

Goth, punk etc are pretty damned big nets... do an image search on "Trad Goth" for instance vs "Cyber Goth" - both are still Goth but the styles are worlds apart (not to mention the whole Steampunk thing)...

It's all about accessorising darling; even the standard jeans/t-shirt combo can be make unique with the right accessories; hell, I make a shirt/trousers combo unique(ish) :)

UK is biggest nation of web shopaholics - Euro poll

CD001

"UK shoppers order more stuff online than their European neighbours - ...

...

That's according to Ofcom's latest International Communications Market study, which also determined that take-up in Blighty of broadband services with speeds of at least 25Mbit/s is lagging far behind other countries."

Uh-huh... I've never yet needed 25Mb/s a do online shopping so "buying more stuff online" doesn't really mean "must have faster connection".

It's when you game online or own a PS3 and suddenly find you've got to download 100s of MBs worth of patches that you need a faster connection; not web surfing, or shopping, or even streaming music/video (as they're usually heavily compressed).

World's biggest music streaming service launches - for tech idiots

CD001

Not quite - whilst I _could_ set up a private bit on my personal website from which only I could stream songs I'd uploaded... there are a couple of drawbacks that keep me using Spotify.

1: I own more than 500 albums on CD... most of which are ripped; but I don't really relish the prospect of uploading some 20+ gigs worth of music.

2: I often get the urge to listen to something that I don't own, normally inspired by a random conversation (ZZ Top the other day - I'm not a ZZ Top fan, I'd probably never buy one of their albums but I'd just had a conversation about "Smart dressed men" which put the song in my head)... and at least Spotify gives me a legal way to steam tracks like that.

CERN: 'New physics starts now'

CD001

You'll never get abuse from an Englishman for using the term "boffin" ... ergo anyone who gives you abuse for using the term is not English and can, therefore, on a .co.uk domain, be safely ignored ;)

Feds propose 50-state ban on mobile use while driving

CD001

TipEx little legs on the fish and write "Darwin" underneath...

CD001

Except of course _most_ chavs aren't armed either - so if it all kicks off it's normally just fisticuffs all the way down (and if it's gonna kick off it'll normally be outside a nightclub when everyone is far too pissed to do any real damage; they'll just flail around like idiots).

Now - if I get into a ruck with a bunch of chav muppets; the odds are I'm very unlikely to get stabbed and extremely unlikely to get shot. Still, if you want to be a pussy and pull a firearm on a bunch of chavs rather than have a good ol' fashioned thump-up...

Apple stores getting close to overload

CD001
Headmaster

To be honest

I'm not very surprised... how many costumers would one expect to find in an Apple store? Surely "makers of costumes" is a very specific demographic?

How did you know that they were costumers anyway? Were they wearing their wares? Back end of a pantomime horse buying an iDevice perhaps?

North America makes entry into dino fatty league

CD001

Welcome to the Internet; where the national online sport of England is Yank-baiting... well done, you managed to respond without exploding in a particularly entertaining and frothy fashion thus depriving us of the mirth that would otherwise have been induced when you "went off on one" in a semi-literate, deity-invoking fashion... spoilsport ;)

Small biz owners plan for stingy Xmas celebrations

CD001

I'm in the private sector - they shitcanned office xmas parties here some 5 years ago because they were too expensive.

Still, you takes your choice, private sector with (generally) higher pay but worse benefits - public sector with (generally) lower pay and better benefits... though if they fuck off your pensions like they're trying to they'll probably find it harder and harder going forward to actually find good people to hire for public sector jobs - with job security already gone, the reasons for taking a job in the public sector get less and less each year it seems.

UltraViolet: Hollywood's giant digital gamble is here

CD001

*coughs BBC*

Eyes on stalks: ancient predator a real monster

CD001

It wasn't discovered by Randolph Carter was it?!

Opera spruces up email client in 11.60 browser cut

CD001

Opera Turbo - it's hardly a show-stopper though is it? It's not like that's the single greatest feature in Opera; out of the box, for general web browsing, it's by far the best browser IMO ... and yet I still use Firefox probably 90+% of the time as there are certain "must have" extensions.

HTML2Clipboard, Colorzilla and the HTML validator (that runs in the "view source" window rather than just posting the data to validator.w3.org) have no real equivalents in Opera-land that I'm aware of... other extensions like the Web Developer Toolbar and Bugzilla are pretty much covered by Dragonfly, whilst other extensions like FoxyGestures aren't needed as they're built into the main Opera code (where they started).

Rainbow Islands

CD001

Ahhh...

... but does anyone remember Psycho Fox on the Master System? For a cute, yet surprising good platformer....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgJNaLo2uH4

Apple files avatar automation, emotion patents

CD001

DYAC

Hmmm - a whole range of new possibilities for damnyouautocorrect.com perhaps?

Boffin's bot spots red light jumpers before they kill

CD001

I seriously doubt there is an increasing number of kidiots ... it was the XR3i (Kevscort) when I was a teenager (often a 1.6 with spoiler - heh I doubt there's a teenager alive now who could get insurance on a 1.6i).

"... driving like demented chimps on LSD, that have apprently no conception of personal responsibility for their driving behaviour."

When has that ever _not_ been the case? I'd say the same of most Audi drivers. Driving ability hasn't drastically gotten worse in recent years but there are more cars on the roads... and therefore more idiots whatever the age or gender.

If you want safe roads - you need to remove the fallible organic component from behind the wheel.

Navy training mine washes ashore on Miami Beach

CD001

Oh goody! My illudium Q-36 explosive space modulator.

NASA confirms first Earth candidate in habitable zone

CD001

Ummm ... you realise they'll just be seeing the fluctuating light from a sun as the planet MOVED in front of it 600 years ago? You have eyes - you can see stars - most of which are far further away than a mere 600 light years... or did I miss something? Perhaps the bridge or the goats?

GCHQ code-breaking challenge cracked by Google search

CD001

Can't be bothered to look but there's probably a "+ benefits" note in there - that's the main reason people work in the public sector; it sure isn't for the pay.

Lord British: Games consoles 'fundamentally doomed'

CD001

hmmm, well my PS3 with 2 games cost over £400 when I bought it - and the games are £40 - £50 a pop (for new releases)... PC games are about £30 - £35 on release, generally £10 - £15 cheaper than the console equivalent and many PC games now don't actually require a top-spec machine to run (basically your PC has to just be about as powerful as the current-gen consoles) ... so you _could_ get away with a £600 - £700 PC for gaming.

If you buy more than 20 - 30 games over the lifetime of your console - it would in theory cost more than owning a PC ... well, apart from the fact that console games have resale value (atm) whereas PC games don't. If the publishers kill the second-hand console game market (DRM that requires online activation for instance) that'll certainly make the PC a cheaper option in the long run... especially since you can keep a PC running games, with say a £100 - £180 upgrade to graphics or RAM after 3 years or so, for about 6 or 7 years before a full system upgrade is required.

With a console you'd need a full upgrade when the next-gen comes out.

Thankfully I've not had to make that choice, I've got both a PC and a PS3, currently I'm chopping and changing between Anno 2070 on the PC and GT5 on the PS3... 2 totally different games, each better suited for the platform it's on *shrugs*

CD001

Anno 2070

On console ... methinks not.

I've been playing my PS3 a lot more recently; gunning around in GT5 and the amount of time I spend waiting for shit to load on the PS3 FAR eclipses any installing/configuring time I spend with games on the PC.

Not to mention the fact that consoles now have all the downsides of consoles (limited power, no upgrade route without a new system, potential backwards compatibility issues, long load times) COMBINED with all the downsides of PCs (having to install, patch, update and connect to the Internet)...

However, a modern console is no longer just a games device; the PS3, for instance, is a Blu-Ray player, internet connected 'whatever'Player (iPlayer, 4OD etc), movie/music rental/purchasing system (lovefilm, qriocity) and client for connecting to say a WMP server to play music/movies, good with a home theatre system.

So LB might be right, the "games console" is dead, but then it has been since say, the PS2; modern consoles are so much more than just gaming platforms.

Kinect 2 said to read lips, sense mood

CD001

It's called the "Mick Jagger" limited edition Kinect ...

Shock claim: Playing Elder Scrolls WILL MAKE YOU GAY

CD001

Christwire

... reading some of the comments makes me weep for humanity.

Punters even more dissatisfied by Virgin Media's package

CD001

Heh - they send the same crap (to "The Occupier") even if you ARE a customer :\

CD001

http://shop.virginmedia.com/phone/phone-line.html

http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerProducts/displayTopic.do?topicId=25512

Can't argue with you there ... not that I notice as I only use the landline to ring my parents at the weekend.

NHS minister's bombshell: I get emails from dead people

CD001

Politician holds electorate in contempt

... well colour me shocked :\

What should a sci-fi spaceship REALLY look like?

CD001

Why limit yourself to film/tv?

http://www.egosoft.com/games/x_rebirth/screenshots/x_rebirth_screen_014.jpg

http://www.egosoft.com/games/x_rebirth/screenshots/x_rebirth_screen_001.jpg

http://www.egosoft.com/games/x_rebirth/screenshots/x_rebirth_screen_004.jpg

CD001

I guess it's possible that that's the reason the "Saucer Section" is a saucer ... the inside rotates (maybe) *shrugs*

Fragged, fragged and thrice fragged! 20 years of id Software’s Doom

CD001

Doom3

Doom 3 ... the atmosphere was excellent and genuinely scary - my other half came to see if I was coming to bed late one night during a Doom 3 session, in the dark, with headphones on... to get my attention she tapped me on the shoulder - I swear I screamed like a girl and nearly had a heart attack O_o The graphics were great, sound effects excellent, solid level design and, though rather clichéd, I enjoyed the story.

The _only_ downside with Doom 3 was that it became dated very quickly; not the old atmosphere tricks like very low, flickering lighting and quiet spooky noises suddenly punctuated by bursts of RAAAAH as some demonic monstrosity pounced on you as you opened a door, those are fine ... but a couple of months after Doom 3 was released Valve released Half-Life 2.

Suddenly, playing Doom 3 and walking into chairs without being able to just pick them up and throw them away, just felt very, very old.

Microsoft to offer dual upgrade path for Windows 8

CD001

@Artic Fox

Oh - it IS quite possible to get BSODs on Windows 7; I used to get them regularly, probably 1 a day on average... almost always when running games.

You simply need to run an ATI graphics card and _seriously_ overclock the CPU; BSODs ahoy... though I can't really blame MS for making my system unstable on that front, was a combination of too much overclocking and the questionable quality of the Catalyst drivers.

Patched up Catalyst and turned the overclock down slightly and everything is fine now; Windows 7 is the best, most stable, OS MS have come up with so far IMO ... but is it worth upgrading from XP for anything other than games (since DirectX 11 isn't available on XP)?

New PC with Windows 7 great ... worth upgrading from a solid XP install for just running office apps; possibly not.

CD001

Clare (web specialist)

... web specialist ... seriously?!

"I have heard the only reason that companies use Ubuntu is because they are trying to save money, much the same reason as people who install Linux."

You are taking the piss, right?

IF you were a web specialist you would probably NOT be running Windows on your servers - you'd probably be running some variety of *nix (better yet FreeBSD for a web server).

Windows for workstations, fine, Active Directory is useful for office-wide control/updates, whatever ... but the only reason I've ever encountered for using Windows on a web server is for fleecing clueless clients for extra cash... "Yeah, we run industry standard Microsoft software, you've heard of Microsoft right, well, yeah - we use their web servers - it's a bit more expensive but you get what you pay for..." (or words to that effect).

I'm guessing you're one of _those_ "web specialists" - the kind that, if you were in the building trade, you'd be running down the street being chased by Dominic Littlewood.

Politicians call for Modern Warfare 3 censure

CD001

Games don't make me violent

Games don't make me violent - politicians do, especially Keith Vaz ... whenever he opens his mouth I get a string urge to kick him in the nuts.

Bethesda promises fix for Skyrim Xbox graphics glitch

CD001

The solution

... don't have kids then you can afford both a £2k PC AND a PS3 :P

Kindle Fire gets root access

CD001

The Gillette fusion _can_ be a loss leader though - or marked off as a marketing expense at least - as they sent me a free one through the post around about my 18th birthday.

Bishop to bless road salt supplies for added winter safety

CD001

We'll know it's worked if there's a huge increase in the number of fatalities, on roads gritted with "holy" salt, of say, gay people, Wiccans or other heretics...

CD001

http://www.tf2items.com/item/520515942

Cable broadband making more money than cable telly

CD001

8 bits to a byte, not 10 ... a 1Mb/s service _should_ provide 1.25 MB/s (maximum)...

Too rude for the road: DVLA hot list of banned numberplates

CD001

12 = R

Facebook boss-lady is up the pole on the glass ceiling

CD001

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I don't believe that a person is or can be complete without having children

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Then you are not, as an individual, a complete person ... I think you'll find the fault lies with yourself rather than anyone else.

I don't have kids and don't want kids ... thankfully neither does my partner of the past more than a decade - as she once said "... what are they for?!"

I'm perfectly happy in myself and don't feel any kind of need for validation through offspring; and if you had children just so you could feel complete ... isn't that a little unfair on your kids? More than just a little selfish on your part?

Valve says credit card data taken

CD001

Ummm whut?

Verified by Visa has feck all to do with it; the system works thus:

1: Website/whatever displays "enter your card information"

2: When submitted the website verifies the basic form data (does it pass Luhn validation etc) and if so passes that information off to the card processor

3: The card processor contacts the bank and verifies the transaction

4: The card processor then sends a response back to the originating website to say whether the transaction was successful or not.

The only difference with VbV (well, 3D Secure) is that there's an additional step between 3 and 4 where the customer has to enter their 3D Secure username and password to verify that it's actually them making the transaction and it's not a stolen/cloned card.

The originating website should never HAVE to store the card information ... ever. Doing so requires a higher level of PCI compliance and occasional audits.

Valve _could_ hold the card data as they have a "remember my card number" type bit but odds are they probably just hold the last 4 digits - the card processing company will hold the full number in that case ... or at least one would hope that's how it's set up.

World of Warcraft subscriptions slip

CD001

... and

I suspect it's not just people not wanting to pay but, after a while, the games get stale. No matter how much new shiny pixelcrack you pack the game out with it still just boils down to grind, grind grind...

Mind, I cancelled my WoW subscription after just a month or so after I worked out how much time you actually spent travelling from one place to another either by horse (well, nightmare like thing, I was an undead warlock) or by Zeppelin/Gryphon/whatever; you effectively spend about 30% of your time doing, well, feck all (and that's before you go into guild/graphical chatroom mode).

Though my biggest gripe with MMOs is, well, the multiplayer part of it... what I would like is a large, persistent world in which you can either go off on your own, mash up some mid-level monsters and get some decent loot (a la Diablo), or do mule work like crafting or mining, or get together with a group of people to try and take on proper big 'n' nasties... basically, something like Ultima Online from about 8 years ago (before they introduced Paragons to Ilshenar).

However most MMOs tend to assume you _always_ want other people with you all the time so they make most of the PvM either utterly drab and without reward or basically impossible for single play so logging on at 3am during a bout of insomnia is pointless as the rest of your mates/guild will be offline.

Since the games pretty much force you into guilds you then find you'll have guild events which you should probably attend ... and yeah, sometimes you just can't bothered or have better things to do and the "game" you're supposed to be playing for a bit of fun starts becoming more like, well, a job :\

Duke Nukem Forever dev slams unfair reviews

CD001

Half-Life

I actually played the original Half-Life (ok, technically, the version they ported to the source engine and bundled in the Orange Box) through again recently - for the first time in years... and, yes the graphics are dated, yes it has some questionable "platformer" moments and yes it's actually quite short (you can play through from start to finish it about 15 - 20 hours), but you know what, it's actually still a pretty solid game.

By modern standards it falls short in many areas but what they did well was playability - even more than a decade on it's still quite playable ... I'll admit, I've not played DNF and I suspect it's not as awful as it was made out to be; but comparing it to Half-Life ... I'd be very dubious about that claim. If it had the playability of Half-Life I suspect a lot of other flaws may have been overlooked slightly and it might not have got universally panned by every reviewer on the planet.

We like zombies… because we are zombies

CD001

@TimNevins

I like it - it's got just the right level of paranoia and conspiracy theory for the internet ... have you been contacted to write for any upcoming Deus Ex game yet?

Details of all internet traffic should be logged – MEP

CD001

> Is there an Italian word for 'ethical'?

Yes - but the literal translation equates to something like "slightly more expensive to bribe".