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* Posts by ph0b0s

276 publicly visible posts • joined 7 Feb 2010

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Hands on with the Apple iPad 3

ph0b0s

Love the comment-bombing

Love Apple fan comment -bombing / down vote bombing going on for any comment slightly negative to this new device.

The new IPad is a worthy upgrade with the HD screen, if you are already part of the Apple ecosystem or just want an Apple device. If not there are Android alternatives with HD screens waiting in the wings. As simple as that.

One thing I have to give Apple kudos for is getting to market with a high res screen first. When you consider that they don't make the screen, but buy them from competitors that have their own android tablets. It is impressive that they can buy them from competitors before those competitors can put them in their own tablets.....

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Punters are the real losers in BT, TalkTalk copyright court blow

ph0b0s

Impressed... Open to comment

Well not with the article, but more I am more impressed that Mr Orlowski has opened one of his controversial opinion pieces to comment. Good on you...

0 1

Workers can't escape Windows 8 Metro - Microsoft COO

ph0b0s
WTF?

U-turn Alert

Isn't this one heck of a U-turn. Haven't Microsoft for many years, been extolling the virtues of not needing applications to be full screen, but in 'windows' who's size you can control and stack to look at multiple things at once. Wasn't one of the touted features of Win 7 the ability to stack windows quick on either side of the screen just by dragging them there. If it was so bad for productivity why did they bother.

This is like Apple coming out and saying that having things that 'just work', is actually bad. Or stylish design is bad.

I am gob-smacked by this, gob-smacked I tell you. What's next keyboards are actually bad of typing.....

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Metro breakdown! Windows 8 UI is little gain for lots of pain

ph0b0s

Progress?

The complains about the Windows 8 preview maybe put down by some, as resistance to change. Certainly for myself this is not the case. I like change, or more accurately progress. I am happy for Microsoft to shake up the GUI in Windows in new releases. It's why I brought Vista early on, as despite the bugs the Aero interface with task bar thumbnail previews was progress. It made the experience to me more streamlined. That is what progress means to me.

After playing with the Windows 8 preview I have come to the conclusion that the changes are not progress. In fact for mouse and keyboard users the new setup is a step backwards. I now have to make extra clicks or wait longer to be able to do the things I normally do in Windows 7. This to me is not progress and therefore it is legitimate to be critical.

Don't get me wrong Metro seems like an interface with lots of potential, but on touch devices (as others have already said). With a mouse and keyboard, what's the opposite of streamlined?

It is a shame they cannot find a GUI that works in a streamlined way with both touch, mouse and keyboard.

The final issue for this version is that apart from Metro if you have a touch device, I see no killer reason to upgrade. At least Vista had Aero and DirectX 10 for gamers. What has Win 8 got apart from an interface most of the current install base are not interested in because they use mouse and keyboard.

Also you may say, 'well Microsoft are being clever becuase they know mouse and keyboard is on the way out and touch will be the prefered input method'. I have to disagree. I have used touch devices and always find the exprience better with mouse and keyboard. Touch is great for mobile while you are on the go, but as soon as you are not on the go, nothing beats the mouse and keyboard for input accuracy and speed. This control method is going nowhere and Microsoft devalue it, at their peril.

5 1

Windows 8: Sugar coating on Microsoft's hard-to-swallow tablet

ph0b0s
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Re: Need Start Menu back. Not much reason to upgrade

Yes, I fear most will not bother. There will be people saying that we are only complaining becuase we don't like change. For me they could not be more wrong. I love change, or more accurately progress. I have no problem with the Start Menu going, if it is being replaced with something better. The Metro Start screen and Charms area is not progress. If anything to get to various things it now takes more clickes than before. I am disapointed that even if you are going to spend all your time in 'desktop' mode, Microsoft still tries to force Metro down your throat.

I have been looking around at articles that give 10 reasons you should upgrade. They have really had to scrape the barrel to give reasons why you should upgrade. I love upgrades. I was one of the few to buy Vista when it came out because I liked the Aero gui and things like the thumbnails previews, etc. For all the bugs it was progress. Windows 8 does not feel like progress....

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ph0b0s

Need Start Menu back. Not much reason to upgrade

Once some enterprising person / company brings out a Start Menu replacement for Windows 8, so you don't have to go near the charms, or the Metro start menu, things will be fine. Just not much of an upgrade over Win 7 unless you want the Metro interface, which most mouse and keyboard users won't.

I know a lot are predicting problems with this release due to the dislike of the Metro interface, but that is a side issue. The main problem is for most users not interested in touch there is no killer features that will make them want to upgrade (as far as I am aware). This is what Microsoft should be most worried about. They are going to have the same problem getting people off Windows 7 as they did with getting them off XP.

*Written from the Metro version of I.E....

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New forum Wishlist

ph0b0s

link to your post in a thread

Can we have back the link, used to be a little arrow next to the post tittle (->), that would take you to your post in a thread. Rather than having to go to the thread and search for your post. This was the most useful (to me) upgrade these forums have had recently....

Does not have to be an arrow again, just want the functionality back....

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Feds unlock suspect's encrypted drive, avoid Constitution meltdown

ph0b0s
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Re: No one is losing their civil rights

"This will get confirmed by a contitutional decision."

If being forced to hand over a combination to a lock / safe has already been ruled out by the Supremes, it's anyone's guess how they will rule on this scenario. Certainly not the forgone conclusion you think it is....

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ph0b0s
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Re: No breach of constitutional rights

"Count on it."

Or not, in the case of the guy facing the same issue in Florida. The courts are conflicted on this issue. But of course you, with your arm chair law degree, know better? Please.....

The only place your 'Count on it works', is the UK, where the innocent do not have as many rights.

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ph0b0s

Alternatives

Well this just goes to prove that their are alternatives in gathering the evidence you need, rather than stepping on peoples civil liberties.

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ph0b0s
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Re: Re: Re: Ignoring the obvious

"It appears that what is happening, is we (in America) say that crime is okay as long as you're clever enough to cover your tracks in such a way that nobody else can speak against you."

No, what you in America do is put in safeguards to protect the innocent from prosecution. That means that some who are guilty are also spared. I and most prefer that to the opposite, where all guilty people are punished, but some of the innocent are as well.

The fact that some innocent people are still being prosecuted, is actually an argument for more protections rather than less....

8 1

Microsoft's free flight sim hits the clouds

ph0b0s
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Re: Free...

Unfortunately the game is only DX 9, so not so many graphical bells and whistles, that you will need massive graphics power to play. If anything after a quick play through the whole thing feels consolified. I expect a 360 version at some point.

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Irish ISPs urged to fit child porn filters

ph0b0s

Contradictions - Journalisum mode engage?

“In the UK, BT alone blocks 35,000 to 40,000 requests a day. That’s 58 million requests a year, just from one ISP.”

"An email sent out to members by the ISPAI and seen by The Register claimed that the given figures for material blocked in other countries was misleading, because they counted all URLs relating to an IP address, some of which might not have any illegal content."

The second quoted paragraph seems to put the BT stats into question. If only we knew some tech journalists, who could try to get BT to comment on this. I.E how they have came to these figures.....

If a file on a file locker site, like Rapidshare, is on the list. Does that mean that every file download request to Rapidshare, even if innocent, gets counted as a 'blocked' request? If so then these stats are completely useless, think how many files are downloaded from Rapidshare and other file lockers every day.

This is an important thing to find out as these potentially very exaggerated stats will be used to sow FUD and to push through a knee jerk blocking system. A blocking system which causes as much collateral damage as the IWF system does. Could really do with some journalistic investigation here, but maybe I am asking too much

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Wii workouts unlikely to improve fitness

ph0b0s

Kinect?

Not normal someone who has much good to say about Kinect, but I think that system would do a better job of giving some fitness benefits, due to it watching for full body motions..

It is too early to tell whether motion control systems in general do not give any fitness benefits. Just looking at the first system on the market is not really enough to reach this conclusion. At least Kinect watches you to makes sure you are actually doing the proper motion with your whole body. Unlike Wii and PS3 controllers which you can fooled with approximations of the motion, like flicks etc.

Do the study on Kinect and then I will be impressed if you find no evidence of any fitness benifit...

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Child abuse suspect won't be forced to decrypt hard drive

ph0b0s
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@Khaptain, one last thing on your comment

"The facts in this case are pretty damned strong in relation to this guy being guilty."

If the 'facts' are so 'stong' they should be able to convict on those 'facts' alone, without having to force him to cooperate in convicting himself. It's not the suspect's job, but the police / prosecution's, to gather good enough evidence. If they cannot due to technology etc, it is their problem not the suspects.

It may mean law enforcement needs their own versions of NSA supercomputers to break encryption. In the same way police needed faster squad cars to catch criminals in fast cars. They did not change the way the justice system works, just becuase criminals could literally out run the law. It is all a money issue where authorities would rather erode freedoms, than resource their law enforcement properly.

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ph0b0s
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@Khaptain

If they crack the HDD and find evidence why can they not arrest him again. Did not think double jeopardy applies if the charges are dropped, before the end of the case. It is only if a jury finds him innocent that you cannot retry him on the same evidence for the same charge. If you have new evidence, I am not aware of any reason not to charge him. Then you even add the charge of possession of child porn where at the moment he is charged, I assume, with distribution.

If there is not enough evidence the alleged criminal gets to walk, even if an alleged paedo. There is not one justice system for alleged paedos and one for everyone else, as much as people might wish that was the case.

And why you ass stand up for the rights of a alleged paedos? I do becuase I know these cases against paedos, are used as the thin end of the wedge, to set bad precedent that will be used against everyone else accused of a crime. This something most calling for blood seem to miss....

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ph0b0s

Paedo case = common sense / logic bypass

You can see why it is always crimes involving children or terrorism that are used to test case law. Nothing bypasses peoples facility for common sense and logic like cases involving these emotive subjects. These types of cases means people are happier for rights they have enjoyed, to be eroded, than they would be under different circumstances.

It is true that this 'dodgy' sounding person might get off scot free. In the same way that sometimes murders get away with it, due to lack of evidence. But out come the cries that letting a Paedo get way with it, can never be allowed to happen, even if the law has to be put aside to stop it.

If it was the Justice Dept trying to get a judge to force someone who allegedly broke a companies DRM, on a device they own, against DMCA to decrypt their hard drive so the hack can be discovered. Or a hard drive with evidence that someone was speeding / driving dangerously in their car. I know the reaction would be completely different, even though the same case law applies to both scenarios.

The idea that you have your liberty taken away (the result of contempt of court or defying a RIPA requestion in the UK), becuase you will not divulge something that will lead to your incrimination, is completely analogous to to a confession under duress / torture. In the US the Supreme Court already have ruled on this, as in you cannot be forced to pull a pass code from your head to unlock a safe. An encrypted hard drive is completely analogous to a safe with a combination.

The advent of encryption means investigators have to think of more inventive, legal, ways of gaining the evidence they need, rather than relying on the justice system to bail them out, by eroding peoples liberties. People's respect for the principle of innocent until proven guilty, should be no different whether the alleged crime involves children or speeding. Something quite a few commenting here seem to have forgotten.

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Will Windows 8 sticker shock leave Microsoft unstuck?

ph0b0s
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My point still stands

The concerns in the article are out of date, now that the re-name has happened. In the same way people do not expect a full Windows experience when buying a Windows Phone device, they should also not expect it on a Windows On ARM device.

That the rename has happened is good, the name they have picked is not though. It is a mouth full and not properly descriptive, as Windows Phone is also being run on ARM processors. It should have been called Windows Tablet (yes, I know it has been used by them before) or Windows Touch.

The article also missed that the same thing that was the complaint with Vista could happen with Windows 8, with multiple versions, from Ultimate down to another Basic edition.

What MS are guilty of is talking about the ARM version of Windows in the same breath as Windows 8. That has confused most of the world into thinking Windows 8 would be CPU architecture agnostic and you would get the same experience whether on ARM or x86. It was obvious that this would not happen and they should have made it clear that the ARM version was going to be a completely separate thing, a lot earlier on....

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ph0b0s
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Re: No dual boot on ARM for Win 8?

There is no more a Windows 8 version for ARM. It is now a separate product called Windows On ARM, that shares some GUI and code base with Windows 8. Also a similar launch date.

MS have also said you will not be able to buy Windows On ARM licenses to put on any device you want. Windows On ARM will only come on certified devices. Look at how Windows Phone is being sold, if you want to understand how it will work. Windows On ARM will be a walled garden like Windows Phone, hence dual boot or any useful / thing that will makes the device more open, will not be allowed. Windows versions running on Mobile / ARM devices will sit between IOS and Android as far as what it allows users to tweak. If you want the openness you are used to with x86 Windows on mobile devices, you will want to get something running Android.....

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ph0b0s

Confused by the confusion....

I don't get the confusion. It's called 'Windows On ARM' now, not Windows 8. Do people get confused between Windows Phone and Windows 7? Between Windows 7, Windows Home Server, Windows Embedded and Windows Server. No, Microsoft have always had different versions of Windows for different user with different features.

It will be simple, consumers ask what version of Windows the device has. If it is Windows 8 then you get the full PC experience. If the device is Windows On ARM then you don't. This is why they have changed the names so it is easier not to get confused as would have happened when you have Windows 8 x86 and Windows 8 ARM. I think they learned from the Vista vs Vista Basic issue and that is why Windows 8 and Windows On ARM have become two separate products that will launch around the same time and share a lot of the same code base. Now it is Windows 8 or Windows On ARM, simple as....

Also Windows On ARM will only be available on certified devices, like Windows Phone now. And yes if you want the openness of a Windows PC on ARM, then you need to go for Android. Go figure.

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Canadians revolt over draconian internet privacy bill

ph0b0s

Spreading like wildfire

Wow, similar bills are springing up everywhere. The EU, the US, the state of Hawaii and now Canada. It's almost like Government's have been negotiating / coordinating in secret without any transparency, but of course that would never happen....

Back to the standard argument of 'only people who have something to hide, want privacy', thanks Google CEO for that one.

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Blighty's PC market fell to its knees in Q4

ph0b0s

DYI market

This just covers buying PC's off the shelf, would have been interesting to see if the build your own PC market had also seen the same decrease or if it is the case people are moving away from the big names (Dell, HP, etc), to either build it themselves, or buy from companies that build it themselves.

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Google will swap you a box of crisps for your web privacy

ph0b0s

Some users

"Google has revealed exactly how little cash it thinks a user who is willing to "sell" their data to the search giant is actually worth."

No, that is what the think a few users are worth. They only need a few users to get this going and of course there are always some who are happy to oblige. Even if it was 1 cent, some would still sign up.

It like saying this is how much companies think it will take to get people to take their clothes off. Some are happy to take their clothes of for free....

0 0

Adobe adds Flash sandboxing to Firefox

ph0b0s
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No...

Aren't the amount of security releases proportional to the amount of vulnerabilities that are being exploited. I don't recall seeing anything about vulnerabilities in the latest version, that are being exploited ( sure someone will correct me). Each of the security releases recently have been in response to a vulnerability that people were using in the wild. They will not make new security releases if there is nothing to secure against.

So now they are not having to firefight vulnerabilities, instead they will focus those resources on building more and better functionality. New functionality like say, a sand boxing function.....

0 0
ph0b0s

I protect Firefox by using NoScripts, duh

After all the comments above I thought it worth pointing something out. That unlike other browsers, with the addition of one plug-in Firefox gives you full power over which websites are allowed to run flash and javascript (the actual main way people hack browsers thru webpages).

I love the way the thread has turned into a browser competition. All browsers use flash and all therefore have the same vulnerabilities to it.

Also good byline on the article, trying to dismiss how useful this will be.

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MPs rattle telcos to help kill extremist material online

ph0b0s

Great cheat...

Getting the ISP's to be responsible rather than a court is great. That they will probably be overzealous, so that they don't get punished by the government, is great for MP's. They get objectionable stuff removed from the Internet. And if it gets shown the ISP's have been overzealous and harmed free speech, MP's are clean as it was the ISP's responsibility.

I also read here: 'http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2144043/government-extreme-web-sites-shut', that the governments own research contradicted what the 'witness' said to the committee. Is it me does the UK seem to be legislating more on disgust recently rather than on evidence? The extreme porn, cartoon law and this, seem to be more about peoples disgust than on whether removing the said disgusting material will actual help the situation or not.

And if we are banning websites and media which expresses radical views, I propose the

Daily Mail be first on the list.

If we had had this kind of mentality a couple of hundred years ago, we never would have lost the American colonies, to those radicalized into Republicanism by John Locke, etc

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OnLive

ph0b0s

Great news for PC gamers

While this will not be so appealing to PC gamers who have a gaming rig, what it does is increase the user base for PC versions of games. That is unless there start being games made specifically for the on-live system. PC games with mobile device user base numbers, that's a good thing right?

0 0

Microsoft's RemoteFX is fab - but will it play Crysis?

ph0b0s
Thumb Down

Will it play Crysis?

Actually no, not fully as FX is only Directx 9. To play either Crysis 1 or 2 properly you want at least DX 10 or 11 (for 2). When this question used to be asked it was about playing the game with nothing turned down. Also when did 'can it play Crysis' become yes because the second console optimized game is used as the benchmark. Cyrsis 1 and 2 are completely different propositions.

Thanks for taking an interesting article about RemoteFX and ruining it with your, ineptitude when it comes to games. I think you have made yourselves look stupid to both your server and gaming audiences.

0 1

Videogame piracy figures show decline

ph0b0s
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Could not agree more

From the torrentfreak article.

"The data for these estimated download numbers is collected by TorrentFreak from several sources, including reports from all public BitTorrent trackers. "

What is it coming to when supposed journalists quote ESTIMATED numbers as fact. These figures have no source or methodology of collection documented, but are treated in the press as gospel. I won't even list the myriad ways that using bittorrent trackers is prone to giving completely erroneous statistics. I have seen this story being re-published all over the internet and not once did any of the tech journalists explain that these are estimates and the inherent inaccuracy in their potential collection method. For shame tech journalists.

They may as well be publishing the number of angels that could fit on the head of a needle, for all the good these stats are worth. Now these stats will be used by the industry as justification for more draconian DRM schemes that only hurt legitimate buyers like myself rather than the pirates, who could not care less.

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Channel 5 snubs Freeview HD again

ph0b0s

Analisis Fail....

"Given the government's absolute belief that we're all crying out for six new HD channels at 600MHz, not to mention desperate to watch local TV, one has to wonder why an existing HD channel isn't more desirable - surely it's not possible that we have enough television already?"

If there was not a market for HD, how come there are so many channels (including ones shown on freeview in SD) on Sky and Cable that are in HD?

What really happened here is that this slot was always reserved for 5, hence why they have had two bites of the cherry. Now the slot will go up for sale for everyone and will get snapped up pretty quickly.

The real question is about 5 and their finances rather than HD. And if the issue was with HD then it is with the price of the freeview HD Slot rather than HD in general.

The idea that people don't want more HD channels on Freeview is the dumbest thing I have heard all year.

3 1

Homeland Sec., RIAA Torrent lists published

ph0b0s
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Yeah, people seem to have missed that at least the RIAA take part in torrents. Where do you think they get peoples IP's from? The only question is do they do this with their own IP's or use 3rd party company's like 'media sentry' to do this torrent joining / spying.

I assume that the IP for YouHaveDownloaded.com will also turn up as they have to be part of a torrent, to see who else is.

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NotW didn't delete Milly Dowler 'false hope' voicemail

ph0b0s

Good job by the police again....

So all that heartache and acrimony for something the was not even true. How much of a technical secert and hard to find out, was this new bit of information? Thats the police of you, there to make a drama out of a crisis...

1 2

OnLive Game System cloud gaming console

ph0b0s

720p only...

The console may support upscaling to 1080p, but maximum resolution for this system at the moment is 720p, as is shown below.

From:http://www.onlive.com/support/performance

RECOMMENDED SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:

Internet Connection: 5 Mbps wired or Wi-Fi connection

Operating System: Windows® 7 or Vista (32 or 64-bit) or XP SP3 (32-bit), Mac® OS X 10.6 or later

Computer: Dual-core PCs, all Intel-based Macs

*Screen Resolution: 1280x720*

0 0

UltraViolet: Hollywood's giant digital gamble is here

ph0b0s
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Thanks for clearing up some stuff

Not sure I have seen an article author replying to a comment before, so kudos on that.

If this does not affect in any way, our current engagement with physical media, like Blu-rays and DVD's, but is just an added non-transferable feature with Ultraviolet enabled disks, then I take back most of my comments. My assumption on reading the article was that the movie industry was going down the same route as the games industry. There they make you lock games to on-line account accounts, even if brought on physical media.

If the physical and Ultraviolet licenses are treated as different items, then I can keep buying physical media without concern that I won't be able to sell it on when the inevitable extend cuts or higher definition versions come along. Also I won't have to worry about the industry killing my ultraviolet account (for whatever reason), as I will still have the physical media which will always work.

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ph0b0s

Not as optimistic as the author

This could be a good thing, but since the historically pro content industry author has been so optimistic, I am going to play devils advocate.

The main things I see wrong with it are:

-Does not inherently mean that you will never have to buy the movie again, i.e not a lifetime purchase. So if I buy an ultraviolet DVD, it means I get to download the Blu-ray 3D version? And when Blu-ray's successor comes along? I'm sure there will be upgrade pricing in the future, but not as cheap as selling a DVD used to upgrade to a Blu-Ray.

-Kills off the used physical media market. You can't sell on a disc if the license is now locked to your ultraviolet account. This locks you into the upgrade pricing discussed in the point above. Don't think you can lend a friends movies anymore.

-You will have no choice in using this as it will become that you cannot get physical media that does not include ultraviolet and require you registering it against your account. Lots of video games do this now, by making you use an on-line system like Steam, origin, GFWL or Yuplay even if you have brought the game on physical media.

-Risk of loss of your licenses. This is me at my most paranoid, but I would not be surprised to see a situation as with Nintendo's 3DS. It has a kill switch which renders it a paper weight if Nintendo decide that you are doing something on the device they don't like. Also multiple stories of people having their videogame accounts killed if they think you are doing something untoward. So I see once this system is in place, if any ultraviolet devices detect that you are say play a wrong region or pirated disc, your ultraviolet account is shut down and all of your media purchased on there is gone. I say this is paranoid, but I feel justified in fearing this when EA are killing peoples Origin accounts and their access to their games locked to this account, for something as little as using bad language in their forums.....

-This looks like more a method for the movie industry to exert more control over their content rather than an olive branch to consumers freedoms in the use of media.

I would hope to be proved wrong on these points once the system is properly launched, but I am suspicious. I think this may well be a trojan horse by the industry to be able to better exert control over the content they are selling. So I say be wary about this new system, but generally consumers are idiots when it comes to this stuff. They are normal fool by some shiny trinkets while the industry is taking their wallets from their back pockets.

5 1

Lord British: Games consoles 'fundamentally doomed'

ph0b0s

Comment only due to long console generation

The only reason that people think there is any true in a statement like this is due to us having had such a long console generation (longer than usual). If next gen consoles had been with us this year, the usual 6 years after the previous release, with current PC comparable processing power, no-one would be making this comment as they would look stupid.

The truth is that mobile devices have been being refreshed very fast recently, about once a year, where as consoles have stood still. So idiots believe that mobile devices are catching up to consoles at a rate of knots. They fail to understand that new consoles will be released in the next year or two. And unless the console makers are idiots themselves, the new consoles will make a massive jump, which will suddenly make a big divide again between consoles and mobile devices.

This is not to discount the power mobiles will have as a gaming market due to audience. These are people who don't care about having the best fidelity with their gaming and will are just happy to get it mobile. This will be a big community, but arguing the growth is due to the fact that mobile devices will be so close to the performance of consoles is stupid.

Also those saying that big end clients are no longer needed because the processing will be done in the cloud. Well since On-live can only do 720p and consoles are just about to move to 1080p I don't see the cloud as being able to compete either with big end client fidelity for a while. It might be the future at some point, but it is still a long way off.

0 0

The BBC Micro turns 30

ph0b0s
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What I most saw on my BBC

BBC Computer 16K

BASIC

> CHAIN "Elite"

Your volume control is now properly

set. Please wait while the first

program is loaded

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ph0b0s

Acron BBC Micro turns 30 and therefore so do I being a computer gamer

The BBC micro was launched 30 years ago. For many including myself in the UK, this will have been the first computer they ever owned (or had brought for them). We had an Atari 2600 before that, but this was the first computer. I have been a mainly 'computer gamer' ever since especially when Elite launched or I played my first flight sim about a spitfire gunning down UFO's. Yes, they both used line graphics to give the impression of a 3D world, but it was something I had never seen on a console of the time and was hooked. I moved on to C64's, Spectrums later and then finally PC's, but that is where my love affair of game on computers started.

So here's a glass raised to you BBC micro.

No mention about the connection with ARM the article. Acorn the people who made the BBC, well they had their issues, until they started (with others) what would become ARM holdings to sell their RISC chip designs. Yes, that ARM holdings, the ones that own the designs to the chips in nearly all mobile devices. So the BBC's innovative spirit live on in all IOS, Android and Windows smartphones / tablets and will soon be included as a CPU option for Windows. Not bad...

1 0

What should a sci-fi spaceship REALLY look like?

ph0b0s

What should a sci-fi spaceship REALLY look like? Still waiting...

So after reading 4 pages of sci-fi ship design history, the actual question that was asked in the headline hardly gets answered, except to say the ship for Avatar and 2001. Thanks for the time waste.

1 3

RIP mice and keyboards: Kinect for PCs incoming

ph0b0s

I do hope that headline was tounge in cheek...

..otherwise the journalism on this site has gone to the dogs.

RIP mouse and keyboard becuase Kinect is coming? The same Kinect that has done such a great job of RIP 'ing the joypad on the 360? Kinect who's super feature for next years triple AAA titles like Mass Effect 3 will be 'voice commands'. That's right for the 360 it's a hundred pound microphone allowing you to shout commands at your Xbox games.

Wow, the innovation of allowing you do something my PC could do when I brought the first Soundblaster card in 1989. This is the device that is going to have us chucking our mice and keyboards in the bin?

So sure Kinect is coming and my find some niche of usefulness in the PC market, especially with how much PC modders have already been able to do with hacked drivers for the 360 version, but as a mouse and keyboard replacement? Only an idiot would make that kind of a prediction without their tongue firmly planted in their cheek.

0 0

Punters hate copyright, says Steelie Neelie

ph0b0s
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Yes, seriously.

What determines right and wrong is governed by consent. If a majority of people think something is wrong, then a law making it illegal is valid as only a few don't comply with said law. A law that says something is wrong that most do not believe is wrong and has very low compliance to me is not a good and valid law. I admit I am not law scholar though. I would love one to weigh in on this.

In the example you used, it was a minority (RCMP and governing elites) that were breaking the law that a majority believed was wrong. This is why making it legal would not have worked.

This is the opposite to what I posted about where content companies and their brought and paid for politicians have push for laws that have, if you believe the stories they put out, very low compliance. As in a majority of society do not believe the action is wrong as they are doing it. This to me brings the laws invalidity into question.

This would also work for any of the other crimes you quoted "thefts (or burglaries, car jacking, muggings, or public urination)" if the amount being committed was so high that nearly everyone was doing it. Laws only work and are valid if there is a general consent to comply with them. This seems to be less and less the case with copyright laws and maybe the people who are our representatives in government should be taking notice of that fact, rather than getting their ideas about morality and what is good law from corporations...

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