* Posts by JDX

6847 publicly visible posts • joined 28 May 2010

Facebook turns 10: Big Brother isn't Mark Zuckerberg. It's YOU

JDX Gold badge

What a load of boring rot

No, not FB. All the "non conformists" who despite being unique have posted almost carbon copies of the same template "I don't confirm, I never use FB, it will fail". Ironic really.

I bet you all have blogs where you complain about the narcissism of posting on Twitter and FB too.

JDX Gold badge

It's good you accept your place is on the sidelines of society. I mean really, when a computer nerd LIKES a social tool that's the time the owner should be worried.

JDX Gold badge

Re: Stop it, Now!

>>I've never used it. I have no need for it. I don't get sucked into fads. I never follow the crowd

Other than the "I don't follow the crowd" crowd. Or the internet forum fad.

The revival of survival – the gaming genre that refuses to die

JDX Gold badge

Expensive

Paying for beta access isn't that new, and I don't mind the idea. But you should be paying a fraction of the full price and £20-26 is quite expensive even for a finished indie game. You're supposed to be incentivised to play pre-release by getting it cheap, or getting free life-access to pay-subscription features.

EVE Online erects mashed-up memorial to biggest space fight in history

JDX Gold badge

I never played Eve (or any MMORPG) but I've read a few stories like this over the years and they always make it sound fascinating.

I've no idea how it really works but I am choosing to picture this battle as being like something from an Iain M. Banks novel.

UK picks Open Document Format for all government files

JDX Gold badge

Re: "...Adobe make all the best software for creating PDFs"

>>Do they fuck.

Damn right, MSWord is awesome for making PDFs.

Not sure whether I'm serious or joking here, it's one of the best features even though PDF printers were around for ages before hand.

JDX Gold badge

OXML was at least a step towards open standards from MS - you can now actually create and edit DOCX files using standard libraries for instance - and of late they have been supporting more FOSS projects (where it suits them obviously).

I wonder if longer term MS might actually move to supporting some standard life ODF by default?

El Reg BuzzFelch: 10 Electrical Connectors You CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT!

JDX Gold badge

Re: BS 546

The US 2-pin mains plug is just horrible. I never understand how it isn't actively dangerous, you always seem to get sparking when you plug stuff in/out, and plugs just wobble rather than engage securely like the UK plug.

HARD ONES: Three new PC games that are BLOODY DIFFICULT

JDX Gold badge

@Ragarath

If you die so much that you have to do it that many times then you are obviously not meant for that game, choose an easier one

If the game mechanic has a health meter of some sort, then being able to respawn mid-level can be seen as making it overly easy. But if it's an instant-death mechanic, you're wrong. The fact I got to point X means I already proved I can do everything before X. If X is hard and I have to try it 10 times, why do I need to prove over and over I can do the bit which didn't cause problems?

JDX Gold badge

Less than generous respawn points ... rehashing whole swathes of levels again and again

And for that reason, I'm out. This is one way modern games HAVE moved on. Make me keep re-doing the bit that killed me, but not the whole bloody level.

Also, did he really say you lose ALL progress if you quit the game?

AAAAAAAAAAaaaarghhh.

Ditch IE7 and we'll give you a FREE COMPUTER, says incautious US firm

JDX Gold badge

inherent hatred ... will never disappear.

I think it will. Already, people entering into web-development this decade may never have to work with IE6 at all. Those entering the field in a few years will never have to work with IE7 or 8, and with IE9 things took a big step forward.

JDX Gold badge

Microsoft's own fault for thinking they didn't have to bother complying with standards

Back in the bad old days, nobody considered standards important. FOSS didn't really exist, not in the mainstream anyway, and everyone developed their own 'standards' as a matter of course.

JDX Gold badge

Re: Rare pragmatic response

The point is it doesn't cost much more if you plan on it up front, rather than design everything on Chrome and then try to make it work on other browsers later.

JDX Gold badge

Re: I ditched IE in 2000.

Which browser wasn't ugly in 2000?

JDX Gold badge

Re: Rare pragmatic response

I doubt it was really cheaper. More than likely, they designed their new site without proper thought and then realised "oh shit, it doesn't work on IE7 and all our customers use it". And now it's cheaper to do this than rework it all.

They probably let some bright-eyed graduates on the job, who were determined to do the whole thing in the newest web technologies just because they're new and cool.

It's a recruitment site. It doesn't need loads of HTML5 and a super-efficient JS compiler. It shouldn't anyway.

Reg reader crafts 3-axis GoPro 'Stubilizer' for skull-mounted cameras

JDX Gold badge

Why's it always KickStarter these days?

Firstly, wonderful project and well done on all the hard work.

But it seems like KS is obligatory now, and innovative companies have been growing all over the place for decades... did you already approach the more traditional channels?

I'd have thought this would also be a perfect thing to apply for Dragons' Den btw, if you're of that bent.

Murdoch's BSkyB stares down Microsoft: Redmond renames SkyDrive to OneDrive

JDX Gold badge

Why are you surprised?

Because ask anyone in th UK what they think of when you say "Sky" and they will say "Sky TV" not "BSkyB", and trademarks are supposed to be limited to a certain area. Cloud storage and satellite television would seem far enough apart in my mind.

JDX Gold badge

Shame

SkyDrive was a really strong name IMO. Surprised Sky won this one.

Fancy a little kinky sex? GCHQ+NSA will know - thanks to Angry Birds

JDX Gold badge

"but we don't seem to have a problem with Google"

Every second comment on El Reg is blaming Google for something, it sometimes seems to me.

JDX Gold badge

Tinfoil aside...

...I work under the assumption anything I do online could probably be linked back to me by governments if they could be bothered. The fact this is proving to be true doesn't really surprise me, it just shows all those silly computer films from the 90s were actually bang on accurate ;)

I do however find it fascinating from a techy point of view.

New Doctor Who's new costume newly REVEALED by Beeb

JDX Gold badge

it's slick and stylish and grown-up

Because he's an old man :)

Looks OK to me although his legs don't seem right. And I don't like trousers that don't match

What can Microsoft learn from 'discontinued operations' at Nokia?

JDX Gold badge

I'm waiting

I looked at upgrading my 610 to a 520 or 625 but was told new models are due out in 2014 on the back of a WP8 software update - which might also make the lower RAM on budget models a bigger problem.

Quivering, spine-tingling wearable tech: Strap it on and don't look back

JDX Gold badge

With the strap-on in place

Possibly that hypen is a little misleading :)

Cryptocurrencies now being pooped out by cartoon cat

JDX Gold badge

Re: I don't get it

Yeah but nobody is asking to buy LOLCODE. Doesn't the existence of a cryptocurrency mean at least come of the currency exists, and can be traded?

JDX Gold badge

Re: I hope we never ever EVER see.....

TwoGirlsOneCoin?

Which has the added benefit that "OneCoin" sounds rude if you say it right.

JDX Gold badge

I don't get it

Cryptocurrency is currency, and to be taken seriously - bitcoin is working hard to been seen as legitimate and secure. So why make some joke currency that is likely to disappear? OK, that might be fun, but why would anyone actually buy any of such a currency when it might not be here next week (like the Kanye one)?

Google sets $2.7m Pwnium prize for cunning cracks for Chrome OS

JDX Gold badge

Re: I'd like to see someone crack Chrome or Chrome OS the way I run them

They wouldn't be able to crack your computer if you unplugged it and buried it in a lead box either. Well done, you've metaphorically made yourself safe from athlete's foot by hobbling yourself.

Thanks for suggesting eBay should flog PayPal. It's not happening, CEO tells Carl Icahn

JDX Gold badge

Re: Have to agree with the board...

I rather think it is, actually.

JDX Gold badge

Re: activist?

"It gives real activists a bad name."

No worse than they have already.

Alcatel-Lucent and BT unveil super fat pipe, splurt out 1.4Tb per second across London

JDX Gold badge

Re: Great

"Maybe you should concentrate more on that rather than spending a fortune on headline grabbers."

Rather a lot of people live in London and the other big cities.

Facebook will LOSE 80% of its users by 2017 – epidemiological study

JDX Gold badge

Re: It's true but the time is probably off

a)You need something to move TO

b)Since when do we believe such theories?

LogMeIn: We're stopping our free offering from now

JDX Gold badge

Oh is that why the software store for both Apple and Google are making hand over fist these days?

Exactly - selling entire applications for £0.50 - £2.50 in most cases. You see reviews stating that "even at the high cost of £5 it's worth it" for software which is often a full-blown application that wouldn't be out of place on a PC.

JDX Gold badge

Re: VNC?

>>Oh like run most of the web servers on the internet, as is currently the case?

Well done for agreeing with me without realising it. The fact that FOSS exists for web servers stacks is one of the contributing factors to this notion that buying software is wrong, somehow. As someone who makes software for a living, the idea that people will look shocked at the idea they have to pay for my work is not great.

JDX Gold badge

Re: VNC?

Lots of these tools are based about VNC I think, but build extra stuff on top.

The timing is bizarre, but so is this attitude that people deserve free software to do important things.

HOT AIR-FILLED Apple fanbois SHUNNED iPad 2 at Xmas

JDX Gold badge

The whole point of it being a "subjective 5%" is that for someone else it's 25% or 50% or 200% or -50%. You're basically admitting in your own argument that it's just your personal opinion, so why bother telling us?

JDX Gold badge

Re: Is 2 or Air the only choice?

Can you point me to benchmarks showing the mini-retina is equivalent to the Air?

Also - are you sure the non-retina mini is packing the same punch as an iPad3? I was convinced the original mini was just an iPad2 in a smaller box with a different connector.

These figures show a confusing picture, that the iPAd3 and iPad2 are equally powerful: http://browser.primatelabs.com/ios-benchmarks

JDX Gold badge

The 2 is still a great device though. Underpowered for fancy games but otherwise very capable with great battery life. And of course the design is just as nice, if you want that kind of look - and/or you have an iPhone and want to stay in the same ecosystem - iPad2 is still a decent budget choice.

JDX Gold badge

Is 2 or Air the only choice?

I have a 2 and would quite like a newer one, but I was hoping they'd move to sell iPad Retina as the new low-end model. But I don't see Apple selling them. Although the new mini is like an iPad 3/4 inside.

Vultures circle to feast on carcass of free remote desktop service LogMeIn

JDX Gold badge

Re: Hell hath no fury

How long does it take to log into his PC using LogMeIn, and install something new?

IBM's top brass forgo bonuses after drop in yearly profits

JDX Gold badge

A bit. It's just how these things are worded, it's understood that part of your bonus is actually just part of your salary under another name. I don't know if that's done for tax reasons or because it's paid in stock, but it's more "how things are done" than anything untoward.

We see ya, Ouya, you tasty Android games console gear

JDX Gold badge

Re: Its competition

Sadly it's competition is also the PS3 and XBox360 and they smack it out of the park. The Wii beats it because of the motion controllers and they beat it on power and back-catalog. And of course you can get Kinect for the 360 too.

If people developed some awesome accessories for it I'd be interested, is that likely?

JDX Gold badge

Neat but pointless?

I just checked, and you can get a 12Gb PS3 for £150 on Amazon or £120 (new) on eBay. With the immense back-catalog of games - most of them very cheap other than new releases, the better spec and the built-in blu-ray player, as well as a big indie gaming store, saving £20 for an unknown device doesn't seem wise to me.

If I missed something big, happy to be corrected.

JDX Gold badge

It's hard to see how it would be at that spec.

Office 365 Microsoft's fastest growing business, ever - Microsoft

JDX Gold badge

Re: fuck off

If you must use "Crazy Dave's Discount Cloud Hosting" that's your own fault.

Pregnant? Celebrate your proudest moment ... by 3D-printing a copy of the foetus

JDX Gold badge

Re: Utterly repulsive

I'd rather look at a printed version than have the real think squawking in the office though...

JDX Gold badge

Re: More peace on earth

Printing chocolate embryos sounds like a very niche market.

JDX Gold badge

Re: Re 4D

4D is a typical term used in the medical imaging world, I think they do even talk of 5D at times. The extra dimension(s) can be time - a 4D heart scan could be a video of a single heart-beat where each frame is a 3D image - but could be other stuff too like ultrasound strength or x-ray frequency, etc.

To understand the true 3D structure from ultrasound, a 4D (3D video) scan might be needed, to help differentiate the tissue as it moves around.

Devs write 'film my shag' sex app for Google Glass

JDX Gold badge

Re: @JDX

If "nerd" was a gene then yes.

Many IT folk are fairly normal, but the El Reg forum community is decidedly at the deep end.

JDX Gold badge

Re: @Stephen Gray

Ah, nerds on an IT site making fun about how other IT nerds don't get sexy action.

Lenovo Yoga 10: Mediocre tech, yes, but beautifully fondleable

JDX Gold badge

Nice idea

Looks nicely implemented too, the design looks like something more akin to Apple. I was going to say it'd be cool if you could by this kind of stand as an accessory for an iPad (or other tablet) but possibly all the benefits would be lost and it would be overly bulky?