* Posts by Spartacus

55 publicly visible posts • joined 17 Mar 2010

Page:

Who's who: 12th Doctor has been chosen, will meet you on Sunday night

Spartacus

Re: Me!

No you're not.

Moderatrix kisses the Reg goodbye

Spartacus
Unhappy

Get Stuffed.

One is left to assume that Ms Bee is now working for Domino's Pizza.

Tis sad news to be greated with on the return from my jollies... :(

ANU plasma thruster gets research boost

Spartacus
Boffin

maybe, but..

Still no reason not to chuck one of these on the ISS, it does need a decent engine afterall.

Living, biological raygun produced in lab

Spartacus
Alert

Sharks?

Wot no mention of where my sharks are?

Student geeks build Rubik’s cube solving bot

Spartacus
Meh

Nothing new...

Its been done in lego..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fAn5A0HbhU

And seriously too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaRcWB3jwMo

Tru unveils iPad local rate data-pricing for UK, US and Oz

Spartacus
WTF?

TRU

Toys-r-Us ?

Twitter vs Beeb in superinjunction nark shindy

Spartacus
Meh

Who are you calling common?

see title.

Bloke drives with knees while manipulating two mobes

Spartacus
Boffin

Driving uninsured

Means he is not a named driver on the insured vehicle.

Not that the vehicle was uninsured, which reminds me the new expensive continious insurance requirement Will NOT stop this, what a waste of cash.

New Mac scareware variant installs without password

Spartacus
Alert

give the game away to most users?

There's an old adage somewhere about underestimating stupid.

For any mac'er who thinks he is safe because he has NOT entered his password, this is D-day..

Media, industry and cops baffled as Qld Police return hack’s iPad

Spartacus
WTF?

placed spyware on his iPad

yeah that's right break a few more laws... not likely, a forensic investigation will copy data from a device only. You're confusing the QLD police with Mosad.

Boffins develop liquid crystal solid-state raygun turret

Spartacus
Boffin

78% −83% of a 100kW laser is erm...

~20kW Absorption...

Are they sure that is better then a mirror?

Arcam FMJ BDP100 Blu-ray Disc player

Spartacus
FAIL

"this scribbler knows nothing about Greek, and not enough about English"

Strictly the translation of 'hoi polloi' from Greek is 'the majority'.

But as an adopted loanword 'hoi polloi' does not have a translation, as it IS an English word, it is NOT two English words. Its meaning is 'the people' as rabble also means 'the people'. Hence if you are to use the rabble, you should also use the hoi polloi.

see also Alcohol, a loanword from the Arabic 'al-kuhl' where 'al' translates directly as 'the'.

SF fire dept lost computer password during massive blaze

Spartacus
Joke

Damn I'm too slow.

"We couldn't find the password, and the only person who knew it wasn't there"

Because they locked Terry Childs up?

Calling all readers: Want some new icons?

Spartacus

Sheep (in a vacuum) - Reg Standards Icon

Post complies with official El Reg standard units of measurement.

Dell flings Froyo tablet at Brits

Spartacus
Thumb Up

WTF

Agreed. I'm now concerned that it does not comply in some way with the 3.0 device compatibility requirements...

oh well I don't have to buy now.

A fifth of Europeans can't work out how much a TV costs

Spartacus
Badgers

Yet more confusion

My local S********s does this with vegetables.. you can buy loose [75p per KG] or in a bag of three 75p [25p each].. So how much does one weigh? god knows! they don't have a customer scales.

Hasselblad H4D-40 Stainless Steel 40Mp camera

Spartacus
WTF?

White balance isn't always perfect

I'm shocked that someone would use that court yard, for a white balance demonstration, what with the bottle green glass roof.. Whenever I walk in there its sooo green I instantly feel seasick. admitadly the brain is a funny thing and after ten minutes all feels fine, until that is you walk outside..

White Balance? Come off it!

Panasonic TX-L37DT30 37in 3D LED backlit TV

Spartacus
Stop

Panasonic

Have a known history with the Ad peddler Guide+ I dont see any mention here... have they changed thier ways? or is this just an instant no?

Apple Digital AV Adapter

Spartacus
Alert

Accseories...

£35 for a tv adaptor

£35 for a memory card adapter

£19 for a condom

£39 for a leather jacket

£30 for a charger

£49 for a keboard

So how much does an iPad actually cost?

MythBusters: Savage and Hyneman detonate truthiness

Spartacus
FAIL

IF they can't sort out the concave mirror focal point...

I call them Idiots... How embarrassing for Obama..

Every time (I believe its three times now) they have tried this with flat glass mirrors, whereas the original myth used metal which CAN be curved very easily into slight dish shapes, giving a specific focal distance, they dont all have to be the same either, just that each soldier needs to know his distance and maintain it.

What are they doing wrong? well they are failing to focus, all they do is use 1000 flat mirrors pointing 1000 incident rays, like a mirrorball.. whereas a single concave mirror will focus a billion 'rays' (ie every bit of light) into a point the genius is in the curve. they really should look at the "Bang goes the theory" Mirror Clip on youtube to see what a 2m mirror can do.

UK's Reaper flying hunter-killer fleet 'to double'

Spartacus
Pint

Wager Accepted..

The whole life costs of the watchkeeper are likely to be higher than the reaper, with no reasonable explanation, just like the initial costs, and as for easier to fly, well not likely, people need jobs! But this is acceptable as the purchasing descision is really a political decision.

Multimillion pound contracts are always political issues, and as a national decision you don't look at the cost you look at how much money is being exported. spending £15 million in the UK with only £1 going abroad is far preferable politically than spending £10 million abroad. exporting money in large chunks devalues our economy spending more money here increases our national spending and hence gdp, and increases the value of our economy.

Not forgetting that money spent and earned here goes around and around and keeps getting skimmed by taxes here so in the end it all goes back to where it started, but as it went around in circles it was someones wgaes, someones bonus and someones taxes.. all part of our gdp. the faster the money goeas around the more times it can be counted. Where as when that money goes abroad that is it game over.

The key factor that Lewis really should be writing about is where the money goes, because if the the powers that be decide to spend more with a company with British in the name but in reality said company is just a front for a US arms behemoth, and the money is really just being loaded on a ship and sailed away then the powers that be have really fucked up, and will be deserving of whatever comes their way.

Keeping British workers employed by British defence budgets is not such a bad thing. Even if it 'looks' like a more expensive aircraft on paper.

Wager placed. 1 Pint icon seems apt.

Artificial leaf produces electricity through photosynthesis

Spartacus
Boffin

Typos & Journalistic Errors.

Shall we take that quote from the original source:

"The key to this breakthrough is Nocera's recent discovery of several powerful new, inexpensive catalysts, made of nickel and cobalt, that are capable of efficiently splitting water into its two components, hydrogen and oxygen, under simple conditions. Right now, Nocera's leaf is about 10 times more efficient at carrying out photosynthesis than a natural leaf. However, he is optimistic that he can boost the efficiency of the artificial leaf much higher in the future. "

(http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-03/acs-dot031811.php#)

Note the lack of the word electrolyse, since in this case it is wrong. The word that should have been used is 'Photolsye' since the energy is being provided in the form of photons not electrons. So this is NOT electrolysis, no matter what the article states.

The general reaction of photosynthetic photolysis can be given as:

[H2X] + [2 photons] --> [2e-] + [2H+] + [X]

The chemical nature of "X" depends on the type of reaction. Both H2O and H2S are photolysed in Nature.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photodissociation#Photolysis_in_photosynthesis)

Whilst you are correct that a catalyst is not required to electrolyse water, This is not electrolysis.

It is also true that with very high levels of photons you can get Photodissociation of water without a catalyst but you are talking about the levels of light produced by say a Carbon Dioxide Laser. where two photons may simultainiously enter a reaction (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photodissociation#Multiple_photon_dissociation)

But where the level of light/photons is such that only one photon will enter the reaction at any time a catalyst MUST be used. And in this case a catalyst was used!

A catalyst is not inert in a reaction, it provides a middle phase of a reaction, in this case that middle phase is after one photon is absorbed, the second photon completes the reaction and returns the catalyst. Water dissociation is not possible with just one photon.

So going back to equations the overall excluding the catalyst should be as follows:

2[H2O] + 4[photons] --> [Photolysis Eq] --> 2[H2] + [O2] --> [Fuel Cell Eq] --> 2[H2O] + 4[e-]

Giving the key result: photons in electrons out.

Lindsay Lohan ditches her surname

Spartacus
Pint

Who needs a Lohan when WE have a....

Kinetic Experiment Into Rocket Altitude

Nikon D7000 DSLR camera

Spartacus
Joke

Refreshing change..

Have to say t's nce to see two competng companes share the letter D, makes such a refreshng change to that other company, who warm up the lawyers every tme someone uses ther letter.

Average Brit has three mysterious keys

Spartacus

common key...

One more reason why rfid tag keys are actually cheaper in the long run. Hotels have understood this for years....

EA blocks user from game after alleged forum outburst

Spartacus
WTF?

Purchase

So purchase is now an agreement to follow forum rules also ?

Good luck with making that stand up in court..

It's getting really silly now that you have to 'agree' to 32 contracts just to play a game you already paid for..

Down with this sort of thing!

Dim Brits think TARDIS IS REAL

Spartacus

That's Numberwang!

See title.

Texting teenager plunges to his death

Spartacus
Joke

Damn you!

must try harder...

Boffins hope for dimensional portal event at LHC by 2013!

Spartacus
Alert

No your not I am..

Oh... Errr... no... apparently I'm not..

Special Ops satellite-bitchslapping hydrogen strato cruiser flies

Spartacus
Boffin

Volumetric Verses Gravimetric

Possibly because weight is the limiting factor here not Volume.

Liquid H2 is 10MJ/Litre And 120MJ/Kg

Gasoline is 35MJ/Litre but is only 45MJ/Kg

And if you can swap to a very high efficency Fuel Cell in a year or two then your on to a real winner.

Flashy fists fly as OCZ and DDRdrive row over SSD performance

Spartacus

Looking at the graphs...

"you can't use an X1 dragster on the open road but you can use a Ferrari Vertex 2 EX. ®"

I'd say this was the wrong way around. its the Vertex 2 EX that starts out fast and after 7mins falls away whilst the X1 sustains for the duration. And as a result I'd say that OCZ are agreeing, but still pointing out that theirs is the fastest.

Thunderstorms found to squirt antimatter into space

Spartacus

I was about to ask that....

curious if the sprites (which also emit light) are the same wavelength as that detected by the sat.

Google dispenses first jackpot award to security bug hunter

Spartacus

Applaud Google for trying but...

$3,133.7 is peanuts compared to what proper vulnerabilities could fetch on the open market. just be glad this guy has morals and is not an 'American Capitalist'.

Google really should consider $31,337 as a small price to keep themselves out of the media storm that would ensue following exploit. It also starts to get into the realms proper fees for security consultants, so perhaps people could make a living from exploit hunting. rather than just the hobbiest collective.

Feds subpoena Twitter for info on WikiLeaks backer

Spartacus
WTF?

Mr Gumby, you are seriously in need. MkII

Oh Im sorry has me extended reading confused you. Twitter managed to get the subpoena unsealed because it actually IS that of an MP. If it were someone pretending to be the queen the subpoena would have remained sealed, and none of us would know about it.

The subpoenea was not restricted to the identity, and is for ALL the data of an MP, hence twitters ability/actions to request unsealing of the subpeona and allow a legal protest. My point is that the protest may be more than legal and could/should be a diplomatic issue.

does that make it more clear? Do I get it yet?

Spartacus
FAIL

re: Twitter is public you muppet

Except for the DM part. which is supposedly private (requires username and passwords) unless someone subpoenas it.

Spartacus
Alert

Diplomatic/Parlimentary Privilege

Surely there is potential for a bit of a diplomatic storm over this one. Whilst a lot of twitter is public the Private messaging system is just that, private. It could comntain private missives from constiuants to their MP, and hence could be subject to Privilege in Iceland, So should the US honor this? in my opinion if privilege exists in Icelend then diplomatically the US should honour it. as to whether they will or not time will tell.

Body of murdered cyberwar expert found in landfill

Spartacus
WTF?

Die Hard 4

haven't we seen this story before, only IIRC when they let him live, he was very naughty.

'Operation eMule' feds bust duo with 500+ eBay, PayPal accounts

Spartacus
Badgers

Verified by visa

is a complete waste of time.. and too easy to scam. afterall the verified box only appears after you have keyed in your card number... so it offers no protection of the number at all. and I never remeber the stupid codes for it, so have to reset it every time... which is far too easy!

and if the scammer is operating a man in the middle style scam then you dont see vbyv you see an identical passthrough so they can take you vbyv password too.

The authentication process must be independant of whichever website that you might be using and email or mobile app as suggested above is the best way to do that.

Courtney Love in court over 'Boudoir Queen' Twitter bitchfight

Spartacus

Five in the Hive.

Wow the collapse in Bee colonies really is getting serious. somethign must be done.

I demand a new Hive for the Queen...

Spartacus

No your not

I am.

Famous 'Silhouette' Flash illusion unravelled

Spartacus
Boffin

Proof...

if it were needed that eyes see only wavelengths (as three discreet bands defined by the three types of cones in the retina - RGB wavelengths only) and the brain sees colour. In reality colour just does not exist. as a result its assumed that everyones perception of colour is actually different, but as only you see your perception it is impossible to know for sure!

Senior Guardian hacks turn on Assange

Spartacus

Dog.

Would you still be saying that if your dog was Ug?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1339113/Britains-ugliest-dog-finally-finds-loving-home-unique-looks-make-hit-ladies.html

(yay I achieved a legit daily wail link, thats 7pts)

Bummed-out users give anti-virus bloatware the boot

Spartacus
Boffin

DPI at the router.

Nice idea could work, but what speed processor are you willing to pay for?

L - A - T - E - N - C - Y

Gawker tech boss admits site security was crap

Spartacus
Grenade

security woes

Thats what wikileaks is for, Publish the correspondance.

anyhoo a job that is not done properly is not worth doing. If you are asked to build a house you should always start with the foundations, you do not just build a house on the bare ground. I have to say its your fail, for just doing "what you are told" not what everyone (including those people whose data is at risk) expects of you. If you are going to do systems work do it properly.

Google Cr-48: Inside the Chrome OS 'unstable isotope'

Spartacus

Exactly

So is it a non-story.... and are we ready for it?

Spartacus
Boffin

Are we ready for a NOT-DOS?

What is a file system without files? more to the point are we ready for one? well maybe a six year old or my granny would be fine with that, but am I?

Do we need to know what is going on in our machines OS? do we need to access OS files? could we do anything with an OS file once we have accessed it? how long before we have an encrypted OS?

I certainly do not see an end to my documents and my pictures and my music and my other stuff.. but perhaps we really dont need to access the OS or program files anymore...

Windows 7 really was some girl's idea, rules ASA

Spartacus

Selling the dream...

or in MS's case selling the joke.

Electric forcefield space sailing-ship tech gets EU funding

Spartacus
Boffin

But...

when I exert a force perpendicularly on one end of a piece of string it bends... how is this different? what keeps the disc rigid?

Is there enough Coulomb electrostatic force to keep the fibres pushed outwards in a disc?

Page: