* Posts by stucs201

1293 publicly visible posts • joined 20 Feb 2010

Microsoft's 3D Jedi phone explored

stucs201

You mean this bit?

"A loud clatter of gunk music flooded through the Heart of Gold cabin as Zaphod searched the sub-etha radio wave bands for news of himself. The machine was rather difficult to operate. For years radios had been operated by means of pressing buttons and turning dials; then as the technology became more sophisticated the controls were made touch-sensitive--you merely had to brush the panels with your fingers; now all you had to do was wave your hand in the general direction of the components and hope. It saved a lot of muscular expenditure, of course, but meant that you had to sit infuriatingly still if you wanted to keep listening to the same program. "

Since you love Flash so much, Adobe now has TWO versions for you

stucs201
Coat

Since you love flash so much...

Flash, I Love You! But We Only Have Fourteen Hours Left to Save the Earth!

Sorry, wrong Flash...

Smartphones aren't tiny PCs, but that's how we use them in the West

stucs201

Since you mentioned plastic cards

It seems the phone in this case is just being used to display a code. So there's actually nothing about this system that needs the customer to have anything electronic - it seems it would work just as well with the QR code printed on a plastic card.

I'm assuming here that the code is constant for a given account. Others seem to think it's a generated unique code for the transaction. The latter would be more secure, but the description in the article doesn't really make it clear which is actually the case.

Uber helicopter taxis

stucs201
Terminator

Get to the choppa!

I can see lots of people using this line when their ride arrives.

(Icon? Wrong film, but still Arnie)

Millions of 'must be firewalled' services are open to the entire internet – research

stucs201

I miss when not everything was TCP/IP

There was a time I used to set protocol bindings to configure local file and printer sharing to use IPX/SPX or NetBEUI only, leaving TCP/IP only for things that needed to connect to the internet.

Belgian brewery lays 3.2km beer pipeline

stucs201

XKCD...

http://xkcd.com/1649/

Unicode serves up bacon emoji

stucs201

Re: Surely the existing ≈ is close enough?

There's nothing wrong with having to turn your head on it's side to read an emoticon/smiley/emoji :-)

stucs201

Surely the existing ≈ is close enough?

Computerised stock management? Nah, let’s use walkie-talkies

stucs201

Re: Brannock device

That would be the 'ruler' referred to in the article.

The best ones though are not the standard brannock device, but ones with a tape measure for the width. The standard brannock device (like the automated floor-standing machine) doesn't account for the height of the instep.

stucs201

Re: Shoes

Having relatively short (but wide) feet there was a time I used to save quite a bit on shoes by having the 'kids' option (no VAT), from a retailer with width fittings and half sizes. That was back when there was much less of a styling difference between adult and kids shoes than is typical now - it's not something I can often get away with any more.

stucs201

Re: keep buying variations of the same

I did have several pairs of the exact same style in a row (the best fitting shoes I ever had). Then one year they discontinued them. I still wish I'd stockpiled a supply of spare pairs.

stucs201

I like the 'ruler' better than the automatic machine

Since I've got a relatively high instep the automatic machine which only measures width was useless at getting the correct fitting. The ruler does much better since the attached tape measure measures circumference (at least in shops that do 'width' fittings).

India launches hypersonic space shuttle precursor

stucs201

Model shuttle?

So basically this was somewhere between a real space shuttle and Top-Gear's Reliant Robin?

Typewriter for iPad review

stucs201

Re: Wrong side?

No, not the wrong side. Lever on the left is correct. On a real typewriter you need to get the left of the page back to the typing position to start a new line, which means pushing from the left.

On a side note these levers are why the use of CR-LF as a line separator bugs me. On every mechanical typewriter I've used the lever does the Line Feed before the Carriage Return.

Brit polar vessel christened RRS Sir David Attenborough

stucs201

Re: It's All Wrong

I could also be tempted by:

Floaty McBoatFace for the ship

Sinky McBoatFace for the sub.

stucs201

Re: It's All Wrong

Boaty McBoatface for the ship.

Boaty Junior for the sub.

SpaceX adds Mars haulage to its price list

stucs201

Re: Amazon Prime?

"Wait until Amazon adds Mars to their "Prime" free shipping list"

Well they'll already ship mars to you in bar form...

Hubble spots ice moon orbiting dwarf planet Makemake

stucs201
Coat

Re: Shouldn't it be

No, it should be Moony McMoonFace...

NASA saves Kepler space 'scope by turning it off and on again

stucs201

Re: Hoover

Ah, but is it a match for Mega-maid?

stucs201

Re: Hoover

Surely you mean vacuum cleaner? This is space...

FOUR Avatar sequels

stucs201

The worst thing is Avatar 5 will probably be released on blu-ray before The Abyss is.

Hackers giving up on crypto ransomware. Now they just lock up device, hope you pay

stucs201

Re: Isnt it time....

https://xkcd.com/1200/

Brits shun nightclubs and CD-ROMs for lemons, coffee and woman’s leggings

stucs201

I'd recommend an impact driver to accompany the drill. Not only are they useful, but it adds a percussion section for those considering the accoustic merits of their purchases.

Microsoft traps and tortures poor little AI in soulless Minecraft world

stucs201

Re: jumping into lava pits or drowning in water, learn from it, and just start over

Or perhaps you can. Evolution arguably involves that sort of thing, hence selecting organisms which have some sort of innate instinct (fear) of doing such things. The minecraft bots are just combining the evolution and individual organism learning.

HPE's CloudLine gains some weight – blows up from 72TB to 640TB

stucs201
Joke

Is this the last increase?

Noone will ever need more than 640TB...

No tit for tat, or should that be tat for tit ... Women selling stuff on eBay get lower bids

stucs201
Joke

But anyone who has seen Rocky Horror knows that Brad is an asshole, and therefore a perfect source of shit.

Microsoft patent filing confirms existence of 3D Jedi gesture phone

stucs201

A loud clatter of gunk music flooded through the Heart of Gold cabin as Zaphod searched the sub-etha radio wave bands for news of himself. The machine was rather difficult to operate. For years radios had been operated by means of pressing buttons and turning dials; then as the technology became more sophisticated the controls were made touch-sensitive--you merely had to brush the panels with your fingers; now all you had to do was wave your hand in the general direction of the components and hope. It saved a lot of muscular expenditure, of course, but meant that you had to sit infuriatingly still if you wanted to keep listening to the same program

Why Tim Cook is wrong: A privacy advocate's view

stucs201

Are there any precedents with other forms of security?

Take, for example, suspected evidence locked in a safe. Would the safe manufacturer be required to assist in opening it without destroying the contents? Surely safes are old enough that this might have occurred in the past, surely the same rules should apply here to breaking electronic rather than physical security (and I'll admit to ignorance as to what those rules would be).

Sick and tired of modern Windows? Upgrade to Windows 3.1 today – in your web browser

stucs201

I think it was just called 'gorilla'.

Who wants a quad-core 4.2GHz, 64GB, 5TB SSD RAID 10 … laptop?

stucs201

Re: Not a cool name...

Specs are wrong on that Amstrad. It wasn't an 8088 and didn't run at 4.75MHz. It was 8MHz and actually an NEC V30 (80186 clone).

How many Surface power cords are a fire risk? 2.25 million in the US alone

stucs201

For me it's not asking me to select a state, but does want me select a city from a list. There is no entry in that list which is a valid part of my address. Not sure if I can be bothered contacting them to get the cable another way or if I should just dig in my boxes of spare bits - there's bound to be a figure-8 power cable in there somewhere (which is the part being replaced, not anything Surface specific).

stucs201

True, but the surface cables are a little more prone to damage than most. Having seen pictures of the replacement cable (I've not got mine yet due to issues with address verification) the replacement cable is the one between the wall socket and the power brick. On the original cable the figure-8 plug is hard plastic, with the wire able to be bent sharply against that plastic plug. The replacement looks to be a more typical (and least in the UK, can't speak for the rest of the world) figure-8 lead where there is a semi-flexible rubber section covering the first inch or so of cable - making such bending less likely.

It's probably possible to damage both types (or to avoid damaging both types), but the original surface cable does seem more likely to be accidentally damaged.

Danish Sith Lord fined in Galactic Republic rumpus

stucs201

Re: unspecified techniques

Waved hand and said "I do need to see your identification"?

Land Rover Defender dies: Production finally halted by EU rules

stucs201

Re: Roll me over

If you're taking it where rolling is likely then you fit a roll cage. Problem solved. Bolting on extras is something Land Rovers are very good for.

stucs201

Re: Safety?

That's a Disco in that crash test. We're discussing the Defender and it's predecessors here.

stucs201

Re: Africa

Different mileage again in Kenya. Lots of Japanese vehicles in Nairobi, nearly everything on the road (I think I saw one VW). However out on the reserves (Samburo and Masai Mara) almost everything was a Land Rover of some sort (each camp customised them differently). Only one camp seemed to be using Toyotas - at the very least they were outnumbered by the mini-buses of the budget safaris (which had to be careful where they went, our land rover on the other hand the guide would happily park in rivers to watch hippos).

stucs201

Re: uncomfortable, slow

Neither of these things matter if it's being driven where it's supposed to be driven. Places where any vehicle is going to have a degree of discomfort, particularly if you try and do anything as daft as go fast.

30 years on from Challenger, NASA remembers the fallen

stucs201

Since Ron McNair never got to play it where he should have...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TkFCkHsvIM

El Reg mulls entering Robot Wars arena

stucs201

Re: Missing the important thing - What to call it?

Hugely Incredible Little Tank Of Nastiness

stucs201
Paris Hilton

Missing the important thing - What to call it?

I'll offer Powered Attack Robot Instruction System (PARIS) for the remote control. I'll let others work out how to name the robot itself LOHAN.

Boffins switch on pinchfist incandescent bulb

stucs201

Re: LED and CRI

Thanks Nigel, that's helpful. Looks like the halogen capsules are staying for the foreseeable future then - these fittings were chosen for looks and the styles I like tend to be G9.

stucs201

Re: LED and CRI

Has anyone found an LED G9 capsule with a good (90+) CRI with a 'normal' colour temperature? I maybe found one (on a site I was unsure about trusting) but it had a 'vintage white' colour temperature of 2200K - way too orange for my liking.

stucs201

Re: black body or not

I wonder how good the transmission of visible light is. Is it letting through all of the visible light, or only most of it? Hopefully it isn't interfering too much, it would be nice if these had a 100CRI the same as normal incandescent bulbs, but it's not clear if they do or if they're more like CFLs and LEDs in their colour rendering.

Anyone using M-DISC to archive snaps?

stucs201

Re: Can I find a 5.25" floppy drive and/or VHS player?

Yes on both counts. I don't even need to leave the house. Anything other obsolete tech you might be wanting? Parallel printer cable? 56K PCI modem? Gameport joystick? Audio cassette player? (I even tested that last one since it didn't involve getting out of my chair)

The designer of the IBM ThinkPad has died

stucs201

Re: Lenovo's latest ThinkPad design did him in. :-)

Did I read that right? They're considering a 16:10 screen instead of the usual 16:9? That alone will earn the retro model some fans around here.

Death Stars are a waste of time – here's the best way to take over the galaxy

stucs201

Re: The whole Starkiller thing was totally superfluous to the movie

You missed a key thing. 30 years on it's reasonable to expect a new senate of some sort to be in place and if present can't just be ignored. However we don't want another three films of politicians standing around discussing things in a committee. Blowing the lot of them up was definitely a good way to get them out of the equation fast.

stucs201
Mushroom

Re: I never understood this crazy about breaking planet apart...

It's all a matter of scale. On the scale of star wars blowing up a planet isn't any more a waste of resources than nuking a city is on a single planet. That's not a good thing, but it's still been done in a war situation.

Google chap bakes Amiga emulator into Chrome

stucs201

Re: "hyperspace glitch"

I always like to think of that one as being wormholes rather than an bug.