* Posts by stucs201

1293 publicly visible posts • joined 20 Feb 2010

Ten... Valentine's Day gifts for him

stucs201
FAIL

You've done these two roundups in the wrong order

Blokes might be looking for inspiration this late, but the women will have got things organised ages ago.

Why Amazon, eBay and Google are building bricks-and-mortar stores

stucs201

re: Phil O'Sophical

or possibly Argos

Life-size Portal gun to shoot onto shelves soon

stucs201
Thumb Up

This is a triumph...

...making a note here: huge success.

Spacemen urge NASA to build nuke ship for Mars trip

stucs201
Mushroom

Oh, its the tame nuclear engines they're on about.

I can't be the only one hoping this was about Orion.

(No not the capsule, the nuclear bomb powered one)

Colorfly Pocket Hi-Fi C4

stucs201

Er, how LITTLE?

"Uncompressed hi-res audio files take up a lot space, but thankfully there’s 32GB of storage on-board"

WTF? 32GB is a pittiful amount of storage for high quality and/or uncompressed formats. Stick another zero on the end and we're starting to get somewhere. The robustness and silence of flash storage might be good, but capacity really needs to catch-up with aging hard disk based players (and even there I've spent several years waiting for a 320+GB version of the iPod classic).

True in this case you could theoreticaly use multiple micro-SD cards in a similar way to the old swapping of tapes, but they're just too small to really label with their contents (and rather loseable).

I really wanted to like this. The styling is a little too retro for my tastes, but its nice to see some proper connectors and physical controls (though I too have doubts about the slider) instead of the usual featureless black slab and touchscreen. Failure to be able to hold my music collection (even in mp3 format) without swapping fiddly little cards is a dealbreaker though.

JEDI alliance: Jellyfish overlords won't rule Earth after all

stucs201
Coat

So is Cathy Lucas related to George?

(The brown robe, yes the one with the lightsabre in the pocket)

iPads propel Apple to PC market top slot

stucs201

re: transformer

ok, fair point. replace "rotating screen hinge" with "fancy screen attachment allowing tablet or laptop style uses". There's a handful of hybrid machines which blur boundaries (as there was with computer vs console distinction - e.g Amstrad's Megadrive/PC hybrid), but most machines fit into categories quite well. The main point was that including tablets as PCs makes no more sense than including consoles, and that for most machines the category is pretty clear - indeed as I pointed out above simple enough for a child to understand, its only pendantic adult arguments and edge cases that make it complicated.

stucs201

Why is the distinction so hard.

True tablets are technically computers (and PCs in the non-IBM clone usage). But so are games consoles. Have we started including those as PCs too? Certainly we didn't count them as computers when I was a kid: Speccy, C64, ST etc. were clearly computers, Atari 2600, SNES and Megadrive were clearly consoles. Tablets as a 3rd category doesn't really seem any harder unless we're dealing with a rare example of an actual Tablet-PC complete with keyboard and fancy rotating screen hinge.

Bill Gates' ass slams into iPhone

stucs201

I'm as nostalgic as anyone about old computers

But I really don't miss the cyan and magenta CGA colour palette.

Star Trek tractor beam to save Earth from asteroid Armageddon

stucs201
Mushroom

tell that to the dinosaurs, oh wait, they're not around anymore.

Boffins make graphene micro-distillery

stucs201

The BBC article explains things slightly more. Apparently water gets through because the gap betweeen layers exactly fits a single water molecule, whereas everything else is the wrong size.

Apple takes smartphone lead

stucs201
Facepalm

re: .... IBM sold X boxes....

Er, no. Thats Microsoft that sell them.

Scalextric restarts space race with Star Wars craft

stucs201

Stay on target

Only one thing to do with the x-wing/tie version:

Make a really long straight track and build a trench to put it in

Inspiration Works intros Android tablet for tykes

stucs201
Joke

I had a tablet as a kid too...

...it was called an etch-a-sketch.

Etailer punts steamy lace-up 24-port switch

stucs201
Paris Hilton

a bit bigger than a standard 19-inch rack

Well what size rack does it fit? Need cup size too, not just inches.

Toyota teases next-gen Prius styling

stucs201
WTF?

Touchscreen control on a car?

I'd consider this dangerous. While driving I want everything operated by proper physical buttons, knobs and dials I can locate by feel - keeping my eyes on the road.

1TB USB stick shoved into Swiss Army knife

stucs201
Facepalm

which is why they do a version without the sharp bits...

Former coder, NASA 'naut to lead DARPA starship dream

stucs201

Troi and Riker wern't the most irritating

You forgot Wesley.

Boffins demo time-warp cloaking device

stucs201

Yes, but its the *wrong* future. We were supposed to get flying cars and holidays on the moon before we got cloaking devices.

Pluto's blushing complexion riddle solved by boffins

stucs201

Re: Dwarf Planet

Dear Sol,

Can you ask your planets to keep the noise down?

Regards,

Proxima Centauri

Christmas headaches? We prescribe a year long course of BOFH

stucs201

Is it complete?

If so does this mean we could read the last one of the year, due on Friday 23rd early? Surely you're doing one last xmas themed one to round off the year and give your readers the xmas present they want. Ps post it a little earlier in the day than normal, we may well be heading to the pub once lunchtime arrives.

Comet Lovejoy survives brush with fiery solar death

stucs201

Mamba? Gas giant? Oh dear, you're on about Frontier not the original Elite :-(. Actually Thargoids, seems one of you at least means First Encounters. I took that one back as unplayably buggy.

NASA detects 'heartbeat' of pint-sized star-sucker

stucs201
Unhappy

Printers built ok, just need support

I've seen perfectly good printers (and other peripherals) be replace due to nothing more than lack driver support on current operating systems.

Google's Siri-a-like to be named 'Majel' after Trek actress

stucs201
Headmaster

No, not Daleks

Gave you a thumbs up for the K-9 bit, K-9 is a computer on wheels. Daleks though are cyborgs and don't count.

Definately agree a selection of voices/personalities would be nice though. HAL would be an obvious choice. Moving away from TV/Films GlaDOS would be great too. I don't think I could stand the one from the Heart Of Gold (Eddie) though.

'Flash Gordon' supercomputer powers up in January

stucs201
Headmaster

14, not 18.

stucs201
Coat

Flash, I love you...

....but we only have 14 hours to complete this calculation.

(mines the one with the keys to the rocket sled in the pocket)

Laptop display pixel counts to quadruple in 2012

stucs201

When are they going to improve desktop monitors?

Even just matching the pixel density of laptop screens would be nice. Its slightly annoying that my 24" desktop screen doesn't have any more pixels than my 17" laptop screen.

As for what I'm going to do with that resolution? Better display of those multi-megapixel images my camera has been producing for years. It'll also help bring MS's ribbon UI back down to a sensible proportion of the screen size. On the downside I'll need a new graphics card for Crysis.

CERN: 'New physics starts now'

stucs201

re: facetious

Fair enough :)

As for wormholes, I don't expect them either. Just the first thing I thought of which would be useful even if needing a big device and which we don't currently have.

stucs201
Go

Well that tells us what the new physics is

Its not the first time that poem has been used for particle physics. Star Trek did it with the Wrath of Khan (book version, I don't think it was in the film). So the new physics: Instant terforming device!

stucs201

re: two brief comments

>Secondly, “I can’t tell you what new things will come out of the completion of the Standard >Model, but they will be amazing.”

>Yes, just as soon as all of us can carry a TeV scale accelerator in our pockets

Why does it have to fit in a pocket to be useful? Unlike many articles around here this one isn't aimed at those who think technology==mobile phone.

I'd be happy with (for example, not saying its what we'll get or that its even possible) a wormhole generator that took about the same amount of space as Heathrow airport but let you go on holiday to Mars instead of Spain (with an added benefit of not having to eat the inflight 'meal').

Steve Jobs' last design: New Apple HQ pics

stucs201
Facepalm

Hmmm, Donuts....

< /homer>

Nokia to sell off luxury phone brand

stucs201
Paris Hilton

A yes, the concierge service

Who needs siri if you can afford that?

(Paris? Only icon that can afford one)

GCHQ code-breaking challenge cracked by Google search

stucs201
Facepalm

because...

...all that entering the password does it take you to another page. Knowing the url of that 2nd page is just as effective as knowing the code to enter on the first page.

Alternatively just go to GCHQ's normal jobs page, the same job can be reached that way too.

stucs201

Its an advert, not a competion

It leads to the exact same job as you get to just by going to their standard jobs page. If it was a test then it might have been a bit lacking, as an advert I'd say its been quite succesful at attracting attention.

Apple Thunderbolt Display 27in monitor

stucs201
Facepalm

Maybe I'm missing something, but...

...if the screen has a downstream port and the hub doesn't then whats to stop you putting the hub on the end of the chain after the monitor? The lack of a downstream port is surely only an issue if you have 2 devices without it? Here we're talking about only 2 devices, one of which has a pass-through port, so put it in the middle.

Alternatively if its just a lack of usb ports then I've got a feeling a standard USB hub that plugs into a USB port will be cheaper than a specialist USB hub that plugs into a thunderbolt port.

PROVEN: Violent video games mess with your head

stucs201

Another alternative

Caused by the games? Or just 10 hours a week less to socialise and interact with people. Is it the games or the time they take, would another activity to suddenly find 10 hours a week for have the same effect?

Word and Excel creator: How Gates, Jobs and HAL shaped Office

stucs201
Joke

How .... HAL shaped Office

Are you sure? I can see it now if they'd based Clippy on HAL:

It looks like you're trying to open the pod bay doors. Would you like me to:

Ignore your request?

Attempt to murder you?

Sing you a song while you dismantle me?

Keep the utopians out of my fridge

stucs201

Haven't we been here before?

Internet of things? Hmmm, maybe, but its not that long ago since the days of Windows for Toasters jokes and that didn't really get that far.

Slip of a lad to play James Bond's Q

stucs201
Headmaster

re: Paul 25

Not so much Deus Ex Machina. More Chekhov's Gun.

stucs201
Mushroom

I'm not sure there will ever be another Q as good as Desmond, but Giles may be a reasonable substitute.

Explosion icon? Do I really need to explain?

We talk to Moon designer about ULTIMATE sci-fi ship

stucs201

Nice link to the Eagle

Always did like that one.

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

stucs201

re: music and pc speaker

I'm not 100% sure, but my recollection was the internal speaker was sound effects only. If you wanted music I think you needed a soundcard - they weren't common back then but were starting to catch on.

SQUID calls 'virtual photons' into real existence

stucs201
Mushroom

Implications for interstellar space-ships?

Does this mean it might be better to make interstellar spaceships according to the Disaster Area school of design (*black*), rather than the Naboo school of design (Coversed in shiney mirrored chrome)?

BOFH: The day the office budget bombed – literally

stucs201
Flame

Obviously what they need to do now...

...is find an alternative way of fighting fires in the boss's office. I suggest connecting it to the halon system.

Star Wars 3D holo displays becomes a reality

stucs201

next on the wish-list

Lightsabre !!

Harry Potter director takes on Doctor Who movie

stucs201
Facepalm

re: Derek Jacobi

The same actor playing the master and playing the doctor? Thats not going to be at all confusing is it?

stucs201

Re: gotta be done

er, been done. Doctor who and the curse of the fatal death