* Posts by Turtle

1888 publicly visible posts • joined 23 Jan 2010

Former Microsoft Windows chief: I was right to kill the Start button

Turtle

Right And Right. Or Right And Wrong. Or Wrong And Right.

"Former Microsoft Windows chief: I was right to kill the Start button"

And Microsoft was right to fire him.

SEC slams NASDAQ with $10m fine for Facebook IPOcalypse

Turtle

$10m.

"SEC slams NASDAQ with $10m fine for Facebook IPOcalypse"

... And everyone had a good laugh!

Stand by for PURPLE KETCHUP as boffins breed SUPER TOMATOES

Turtle

Purple Potatoes: Re: Carrots

I had purple potatoes once. And they were not purplish: they were a very rich purple. But I don't recall these purple potatoes tasting any different from the more common varieties.

China's 'human flesh search' hunts down teen vandal

Turtle

But how, exactly?

"Although the maximum penalty in Egypt for graffiti-ing ancient relics is 6-12 months in the slammer or a fine of around $20,000, the incident does raise questions about the morality of an internet mob hunting down a minor."

Well, how are they to know that someone is a minor before they find out who he is, and that he's a minor?

That's the part that seems kind of tricky to me.

AMD's three new low-power chips pose potent challenge to Intel

Turtle

Re: If it weren't for AMD....

"The absence of direct competition even with a monopoly doesn't automatically halt innovation or development. Yes, direct competition will force a faster pace of development, but to suggest that without AMD we'd be stuck with low power Pentiums shows a complete lack of understanding of market forces."

Since even you admit that direct competition "will force a faster pace of development", and since that direct competition is supplied by AMD, it should be pretty obvious that AMD's competition with Intel is what spurs Intel to invest the resources that "force [that] faster pace of development". Do you think that Moore's Law would be observed absent that "faster pace of development"? (Not that it's necessary for my position, as I did not mention Moore's Law in the first place.)

"... to suggest that without AMD we'd be stuck with low power Pentiums shows a complete lack of understanding of market forces."

It's like this: If AMD did not exist, then the only way that market forces could operate here is by providing an opportunity for other entities to enter the market (i.e. that pool of potential buyers for more advanced chips) and compete with Intel. So, i.e. if AMD did not exist, then the market would "cause" (or, better, create an opportunity for) an entity like AMD to come into existence, and supply the direct competition to Intel (along with its consequent effects) that AMD now supplies. (It is not the case, however, that the new AMD-like entity must be successful. It is also not the case that AMD must be successful.) The more successful the competitor is, the more resources will be invested into R&D. (Pro Tip: try to know something about "market forces" before appealing to them.)

As for your original post: "Not Moore's Law then, but AMD's Law has been driving chip development?"

The idea that Moore's Law "drives" anything shows a profound misunderstanding of the word "law" as used in this case: Moore's Law describes the outcome of investing resources (financial, engineering, etc); it does not cause that outcome, or anything else, in fact. The competition that AMD directs at Intel is, however, an actual *cause* with real-world effects. Moore's Law however does not cause resources to be invested or advances to be made. Moore's Law merely describes the outcome of the investments that won the advances, and, basically, postulates that the trend will continue.

Incidentally, I did recognize your first post as being sarcastic. And not only "sarcastic" but stupid - an attribute of that post that, possibly, you yourself did not notice!

(It is also unfortunate that you were not able to recognize my original post as a bit of hyperbole; some people are, sadly, too literal-minded for their own good.)

Turtle

Re: If it weren't for AMD....

"Not Moore's Law then, but AMD's Law has been driving chip development?"

Moore's Law describes the tendency of technological and engineering advances, which do not take place unless money is invested in the first place. Moore's Law could not operate in an resource-poor and investment-starved environment. AMD's competition caused Intel to invest more resources than they might have otherwise done and so contributed to a situation in which Moore's Law could manifest itself.

Clear now?

Turtle

If it weren't for AMD....

If it weren't for AMD, Intel would still be selling 233mhz Pentiums for $1000 per. All computer users should hope that AMD gets their house in order and gives Intel some real, serious competition, for all our sakes.

HTC woes prompts 'leave now' tweet from former staffer

Turtle

Can't figure this one out.

"Sales plummeted nearly 37 per cent in Q1 2013 to NT$42.8bn (£930m), with the firm making just NT$85m (£1.85m) of profit on that - representing a 98 per cent drop."

? Did they make £100m profit last year? Is that what I am to infer? And the lost 37% of sales accounted for 98% of their actual profit?

James Bond inspires US bill to require smart guns for all

Turtle

Re: Just political bullshit

"Most gun "accidents" that this would prevent (eg. the 6year old shooting the 4 year old) could easily be achieved by what we have in our house: a gun safe."

Trigger locks would probably work just as well and be less expensive.

Soylent Corporation prepares to DEFEAT FOOD

Turtle

Re: What? It isn't green?

The investors are green; isn't that enough?

Turtle

Case closed.

"We asked Soylent if this was an elaborate hoax and Rhinehart said it wasn't."

Well then it isn't. Case closed.

; )

BT Tower is just a relic? Wrong: It relays 18,000hrs of telly daily

Turtle

Yeah but....

"BT Tower is just a relic? Wrong: It relays 18,000hrs of telly daily"

Yeah but who watches 18,000 hours of television a day?

Computer use irrelevant to education outcomes, says US study

Turtle

It's only one study...

It's only one study but, because it pretty well reflects my opinions, I tend to believe it's true. It will be interesting to see whether further studies confirm this one, and what countermeasures the tech industry adopts in order to keep the computers-for-schools gravy train rolling.

Hold our tiny silicon spheres, say gravity wave detection scientists

Turtle

Nice Clean And Neat Apparatus.

"University of Nevada's Andrew Geraci with his proposed apparatus. "

Milikan's Oil Drop Experiment looks better:

http://chemistry.about.com/od/imagesclipartstructures/ig/Science-Pictures/Millikan-s-Oil-Drop-Experiment.htm

Four Anons cuffed in Italy

Turtle

Re: Postal Police? OK...

As a general rule of thumb, any government body with the word "police" in its name is not to be taken lightly.

Congress: It's not the Glass that's scary - It's the GOOGLE

Turtle

@Steve Knox

"Well, to be fair, he never said from which direction they're approaching the line..."

True. Too true.

*sighs*

Turtle

Creepy is as creepy does.

"There is what I call the creepy line. The Google policy on a lot of things is to get right up to the creepy line and not cross it."

The problem is, that what the clearly sociopathic Schmidt thinks is "creepy" is one thing, and what a normal human being thinks is "creepy" is another matter entirely.

Copyright minister admits: Google has better access to No. 10 than me

Turtle

Re: So what is the difference between No. 10 and 1600 Pennsylvania

It's like this: UK Prime Minister David Cameron's top adviser is Steve Hilton, whose wife, Rachel Whetstone, is "global head of communications and public policy for information technology company Google." (Wikipedia)

Hilton and Whetstone are godparents to Cameron's oldest child, Ivan Cameron. Who the fuck is "Viscount Younger of Leckie, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Intellectual Property"? Just some dumbass nominated to take the bullets for Cameron and the civil service IP cabal.... Go ahead, ridicule and mock him - that's what he's there for.

And when it says Whetstone is the "global head of communications" is there any doubt that the "communication" which Whetstone oversees, is the "communication" of Google's desires to Cameron, the UK government, and the civil service that actually runs the UK? Why do you think that Google even pays her a salary, ffs? For her tax-accountancy and -evasion skills?

Is there anything here that's unclear to anyone other than the willfully blind or terminally naive?

Things that cost the same as coffee with Tim Cook - and are way more fun

Turtle

Or...

"So what else could you have bought? About 248,980 extra cups of coffee without Cook, according to the average price given in these stats. This works out to about two cups a day for 227 years."

Or 20 cups a day for only 34 years.

So not so very generous, really.

Senators: You - Cook. Apple guy. Get in here and bring your tax books

Turtle

Probably.

"An Apple spokesman insisted the firm paid all its taxes."

Probably true. And therein lies the problem.

Android is a mess and needs sprucing up, admits chief

Turtle

Re: Torn between them all

"Why do I still have Android? Well iOS started boring the crap out of me, I felt like Apple just were not moving forward especially with the small screen sizes. Windows Phone had too few apps for me, so I bought the Galaxy note. So I guess the open, messy nature of Android actually meant that I could find a product with the general requirements that I have. But for some reason I still want to escape Android lol. Anyone got a cure for this confusion / indecision?"

Yes. Time.

NYC attorney seeks mobe-makers' help to curb muggings

Turtle

@Nicho

"'Cracking down on violent and dangerous cell phone thefts is important for New Yorkers .' Wow .. I always thought it was avoiding getting randomly stopped, searched and/or shot by police that was important. Oh wait, he means white noo yoikers .. sorry."

Just as a little technical note: "getting stopped and searched" and "getting shot" are not equivalent. Hopefully you will find this out by personal experience.

But as long as you've broached the subject, could you perhaps give me a few examples of people who were randomly stopped and shot by New York Police?

Your ignorance of the economic demographics of New York City is hopelessly racist - although it is in conformity with left-wing stereotypes.This is obviously connected to your idea that only white New Yorkers have smartphones; and your related idea that non-white smartphone owners either do not exist, or, if they do, then they do not or should not or would not mind having their smartphones stolen or that they are somehow immune from crime - and so only white New Yorkers need, want or deserve to have their property protected. That's also quite overtly racist.

PayPal security boss: OBLITERATE passwords from THE PLANET

Turtle

A Password.

" I don't have that problem with a password as its always with me in my head."

Most people don't have that problem with a password, either. But most people don't have "a password" - they have a large number of them - unless for example they use their bank account password for everything else, too. (My impression is, that most people don't do that, but I don't really know.) If people use strong passwords, i.e. those not subject to dictionary attacks, then remembering passwords becomes even more difficult if not impossible.

I don't think that carrying a security token should necessarily be more cumbersome than carrying an additional credit card.

Elon Musk and PayPal chum quit Zuckerberg's immigration gang

Turtle

"Innovation"

"'Our advertising decisions are being made by a very smart team of political operatives who know that passing major reform will require some different and innovative tactics,' said Fwd.us co-founder Jim Breyer, a venture capitalist at Accel Partners, in an emailed statement."

Evidently they think that "innovation" is some sort of magic word, the use of which instantly excuses any kind of self-serving,illegal, or merely dishonest behavior. They are not the only ones who think so, either.

Microsoft honcho pleads with media: 'Stop picking on us!'

Turtle

"Microsoft honcho pleads with media: 'Stop picking on us!'"

Stop whining, shut up, and ship Win 8.1.

Larry Ellison forks out over $200m to slurp up sexy Malibu strip

Turtle

@AC Wednesday 8th May 2013 14:45 GMT: Re: But does he ever use them?

You are just the dog shit that people step in when they go out on the street and don't watch where they're walking.

Turtle

To Recognize And See It.

""If you take the best section and the most prime property, that's inherently a great investment. That's what Larry recognised and sees." "

Well I "recognize and see it" too. But somehow, it doesn't do me a fuck of a lot of good.

Don't use Google+? Tough, Google Glass will inject it INTO YOUR EYES

Turtle

@DrXym

"They're probably more useful in a commercial setting - people fulfilling orders in large warehouses and so on where a HUD might be useful."

That's a good point; that sort of use hadn't occurred to me at all.

It will be interesting to see if their use is restricted to that, however: I personally would expect that there will be jurisdictions that will outlaw these things from being worn in public places, as being far too intrusive into people's lives and activities.And there will be any number of commercial establishments that will prohibit people from wearing them on premises.

(But on a personal note, I need not concern myself with any of my friends wearing them while at my house, or when being with me at all. Because I don't have any friends who would be interested in this sort of shitty little gimmick.)

Coke? Windows 8 is Microsoft's 'Vista moment'. Again

Turtle

@ForthIsNotDead: Re: Microsoft have a problem

The idea was that things like folders and file paths would become meaningless; you could just "query" the file system whith an SQL like syntax and get the files you need. Physical location would be irrelevant. But they never delivered on that on. I'm still waiting after all these years."

For the way that *I* work, and store and organize, and access my data, files, file paths, and folders will never become "irrelevant". (I understand that you are not necessarily advocating this and are only pointing out something that was supposed to happen.) What will become "irrelevant" for me is any OS that omits files and folders, that requires "cloud integration", that adheres to the "software as a service" scam, well, you get the picture, I am sure.

PLAGUE of SEX CRAZED MONSTER GRASSHOPPERS to hit East Coast

Turtle

Re: The cicada recipes linked to:....

Re: the recipes linked to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entomophagy

Adobe kills Creative Suite – all future features online only

Turtle

Re: Rip-off UK pricing

"The annual plan in the USA costs $49.99. In the UK, the same plan is £46.88 which equates to $72.84, an increase of 46%. Since everyone is access the same software from the same servers, in the same language, why is the UK being surcharged?"

Wouldn't VAT account for a heft proportion of the price increase?

NORKS powers down whole towns to find pirates

Turtle

What to buy, what to buy?

"Another alternative would be to buy a DVD player that had a manual release"

You don't seem to understand quite how things work under socialism. It's not like people can walk into a well-stocked store like you can and choose from a selection of similar but different goods: they buy whatever they can get and consider themselves very lucky. In other words, it's not that one day they said to themselves that they need a DVD player, it's that they got lucky and found a store, or a black marketer, who has a DVD player for sale.

Turtle

Re: Surely that's untrue?

"Err... Are you trying to tell us that Senator Joseph McCarthy was a figment of our imagination?"

Are you trying to tell us that McCarthy had anyone sent to Guantanamo at all? You do know - or maybe you don't - that the only people who went to prison for anything connected with McCarthy were people who perjured themselves, right?

Turtle

@jubtastic1: Re: Surely that's untrue?

"I think it's way more likely that this is simply propaganda, reported as fact in the Nork media..."

Neither the original article, http://www.northkoreatech.org/2013/05/02/dprk-moves-up-a-point-but-still-worst-for-press-freedom/ or this article in The Register say anything about this being reported by or based on information from the Nork media. The original North Korea Tech blog article simple states that their report is based on "information from the country".

"i'm pretty sure Mr Kim already knows that they're all dissidents."

That's probably not too far removed from the truth, but unlike the Nork regime, you seem to not realize that there is a distinction between those whose dissidence is strictly internal, and those whose dissidence has gone so far as to actually involved actions of some sort.

"probably intended to keep the state owned version of blockbusters in business". I'll assume that that was not intended as a joke. If the regime can starve their people to death in droves, then you surely can't expect them to care what kind of profit the culture industry aka the propaganda apparatus is showing, can you? The regime is concerned about ideological competition and the ability to define "truth", and about the control of information, and not costs and the profits and losses being rung up by the propaganda apparatus. I'd have thought that this would be painfully obvious to anyone...

Fraudster gets ten years after selling fake 'ionic charge' bomb detectors

Turtle

Extradition? No, sorry.

"I wouldn't be surprised though, to see extradition proceedings initiated by Iraq and other countries once his release date approaches, though. "

You know that he couldn't be extradited from any member-state of the EU to any country where he would be in jeopardy of receiving the death penalty, right?

In addition to the EU law, most of the member-states of the EU have had their own laws about this too. Because it is just so fucking important to the bourgeois conscience that the lives of murderers and their ilk be protected....

Plans for fully 3D-printed gun go online next week

Turtle

Match Grade Accuracy.

"With its ultra-short barrel, the Liberator looks about as accurate as a Fox News daytime TV presenter, but politicians are already worried."

The inference seeming to be that, because the ultra-short-barrel version is inaccurate, we needn't worry because any rounds fired will miss their target, and hit random bystanders instead.

Riiiiight.

Apple designer Sir Jony Ive holding up iOS 7 development: Report

Turtle

Re: @asdf Exacty The Kind Of Situation...

"Say the guys slagging off complete strangers of a trashy tabloid IT website. Class act, the pair of you."

Don't worry your little head about it. Jony and Timmy are big boys now; they can take it. Didn't your mommy ever tell you "sticks and stones may break your bones but names will never hurt you"?

If she didn't, then she was a negligent mother. And it shows...

Turtle

@asdf Re: Exacty The Kind Of Situation...

"Ive or Tim Cook?"

I was actually referring to Ive but now that you mention it, it might very well also apply to Cook. So that's a very good point right there. On the other hand, Jobs' position in Apple was kind of specifically tailored to Jobs and so anyone who took the job was going to be a poor fit at best. But it was necessary for someone to take his place - and Cook it was. Still, whether Cook is cut out to be any kind of CEO at all is a good question and time will tell.

But giving Jon Ive his new, expanded responsibilities does not seem to have been done as a result of the same type of iron necessity that forced the advancement of someone - anyone! - into the role formerly played by Jobs. So while the Peter Principle would apply in Ive's case, it might not really fit the "somebody had to replace Jobs and it might as well as have been Cook as anybody else" situation.

Turtle

Exacty The Kind Of Situation...

"Famed as the head of Cupertino’s product design devision, the recently knighted Ive was recently handed control of software design in a surprise move by CEO Tim Cook."

This is exactly the kind of situation in which The Peter Principle manifests itself.

App gap flap: New York's e-cabbies FOILED AGAIN

Turtle

Re: Hailo, is it me you're looking for...

Hai-la, Hai-la Hailo-a.

Guess!

Turtle

Foreign.

"Challenging the New York launch, the incumbent operators claimed smartphone-based services would permit drivers to reject hails from places they didn't want to go, or from people with foreign-looking names."

Perhaps they didn't notice but most of the cab-drivers in New York have "foreign-looking names" and in fact, not only do they have "foreign-looking names" but they look pretty "foreign" themselves - a fact that can be corroborated by anyone who had been to New York City in the last 30 years and who noted that a large percentage if not most of New York City's cabs are owned and/or operated by immigrants.

Thousands rally behind teen girl cuffed, expelled in harmless 'explosion'

Turtle

@I think so I am?: Re: ""I would like to point back to my post"

"I would like to point back to my post http://forums.theregister.co.uk/forum/containing/1712081 on the 31st of Jan."

I'd like to point out one of the responses to your post:

"They need to get a clue in the UK as well. For 8 weeks the area I live in was ravaged by 2 scumbags who burgled as many homes as possible. The police knew who they were but were powerless without any hard evidence. The reason they were doing this? They were awaiting sentencing on similar charges and knew they would get jail time. Since all sentences in the UK are concurrent they had a "free pass". If they were caught they would have it added to their charges and it would make no difference to the sentence they were going to get."

(http://forums.theregister.co.uk/forum/1/2013/01/30/fbi_arrest_sexploitation_hacker/#c_1712342 -

Anonymous Coward Thursday 31st January 2013 10:31 GMT)

Turtle

What I'd Like.

"Unfortunately an assistant principal called the police and ..."

I'd like to know a little bit more about that individual right there..

The UK's copyright landgrab: The FAQ

Turtle

Usng a work as ad-bait is commcercial use.

"the EU has ratified an Orphan Works Directive which strictly outlawed commercial use."

If "commercial use" does not include putting a work of any sort on a webpage to serve as ad-bait, that's a significant oversight.

NASA boffins: Space 'scope JUST missed dead Cold War spy sat

Turtle

Panic.

"Realising the two craft were travelling at almost perpendicular orbits and were predicted to come within 700 feet (213m) of each other, the equivalent of an interstellar hair’s breadth, McEnery immediately began to panic."

That's always the best course of action! Some people are just good at thinking on their feet, thanks to their quick reactions and ability to instantly size up a situation.

I feel secure.

Want to know what CIA spooks really think of spy movies and books?

Turtle

@TeeCee: Re: There is nothing new under the sun....

'"...spies have been scribbling reviews of books...' You mean just like Robert Redford's character's job for the, er, CIA in "Three Days of the Condor'........?"

To the best of my remembrance, that was not really the same thing. If memory serves, the Redford character was employed to read the books and write synopses of the plots, on the off-chance that this or that plot could be too similar to a real-life (in the context of the movie) operation. I don't think (and highly doubt) that Redford's character actually knew any details at all about any on-going ops; as that would have entailed far to much access to be given to a very, very low-level employee.

Turtle

Hiding in plain sight.

"John McLaughlin, who happens to share a name with who happens to share a name with a former director of the CIA, and, additionally with an English jazz fusion guitar player, wrote..."

Could the guitarist and the directory have been the same person? Could he have been using the same name as an example of "hiding in plain sight"? Has anyone ever seen them in the same room together? Now here is n riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma!

Red faces as Pentagon leases Chinese satellite

Turtle

Re: Congressmen, please keep it to d*ck-sucking, m'kay?

"Well, since most RepubliCLOWN lawmakers are chicken hawks who never served in the military themselves, they feel they're FULLY qualified to pass judgement on what the military needs..."

And where are you sources comparing to the number of Republicans and Democrats who served in the military? Here's mine: http://www.whoserved.com/congress.asp where we see that 21% of the members of Congress have served in the military, and that two-thirds of them are Republicans.

So you support the Democrats because they have even less personal military experience that the Republicans and you hope that they are simply going to rubber-stamp whatever proposals the Pentagon puts forth?

Also, at such times as we have a President who is not a armed forces veteran, who do you want as Commander-in-Chief? LeMay and Patton are dead, after all. And so is Custer, I regret to have to inform you.

And I know about a guy who served, with distinction, in the trenches, in the military and later, as a political leader, considered himself to be a gifted strategist. He wasn't. You can see some pictures of the results of his military insight and the effect that they had on his country by googling "Berlin 1945".

In short, the idea that having served in the military necessarily gives someone any real insight in military affairs is simply stupid. And that should enable us to see who the real "clown" is: it's not the Republicans, it's you.

Gaming app ENSLAVES punter PCs in Bitcoin mining ring

Turtle

In a word...

"Along with the prize pot, ESEA gaming is also donating double the value of the mined Bitcoins – $7,427.10 at current market rates – to the American Cancer Society."

Commendable.