* Posts by Steve I

365 publicly visible posts • joined 29 May 2012

Page:

3-2-1... BOOM: Russian rocket launches, explodes into TOXIC FIREBALL

Steve I
Black Helicopters

And next month, if Russia still hasn't handed over Snowden/turned a blind eye to a US SEAL snatch squad, they'll be another 'accident'...

Sony Xperia Tablet Z: Our new top Android ten-incher

Steve I
Go

Re: "It's a Sony"

Yeah - down with Sony. Let's not forget the whole 'Pearl Harbour' thing on our trip down Memory Lane...

Unix luminary among seven missing at sea

Steve I
Go

Trending...

You're worried that there's a conspiracy to bump off "major contributors to the OS and networking world." and you're worried about Bill Gates?

I think Ol' Bill better start working on his alibi...

A simple SSL tweak could protect you from GCHQ/NSA snooping

Steve I
WTF?

Re: RE. Re. Acres of computers

"But the most secure method is a onetime key stored in volatile memory at both ends and deleted bytewise as the messages are sent."

Wouldn't you have to post each other the keys.

Steve I
WTF?

Re: Was this news?

Great - another "Why is this news? (*sniff*) I've known this obscure technical fact for years. sure everyone knows it?"

I'm just waiting for the El Reg article on how the convert-to-decimal instruction on the IBM Mainframe oddly has the usual order of source and destination operands reversed. then I can say "Why is this news? *sniff*. Doesn't everyone know IBM Assembler?". If this happens, please feel free to reply "No they don't and f#ck off".

The future of cinema and TV: It’s game over for the hi-res hype

Steve I
Facepalm

Re: Gold plated TOS (optical) connectors.

"Please tell me you made those up..."

Dear god, you didn't...

Steve I
WTF?

Gold plated TOS (optical) connectors.

Please tell me you made those up...

Steve I

Re: "disorientated"

Unless you're Asian, then it's "Disorientaled"...

Home Office boffins slip out passport-scanning Android app

Steve I
Joke

Re: @ac

"reading the article"

Never stopped anyone from commenting before.

Nuke plants to rely on PDP-11 code UNTIL 2050!

Steve I
Go

Re: ICL VME

"emulation tucked away in the corner of a SLES box".

Probably even a SNES would be enough.

Steve I
Go

Re: there are alternatives

"Wouldn't it be easier to make a hard/software PDP-11 emulator that was power plug and I/O plug compatible with the PDP-11? It would be a lot smaller for a start."

Brilliant idea. There must be a good use for the space saved, and if it wasn't 100% compatible, why - what's the worst that could happen?

Steve I
Go

Re: It just costs money

"the same reason why the computers and processors on deep space probes are frigging ancient by today's standards."

and they are difficult to get to for an upgrade...

EU signs off on eCall emergency-phone-in-every-car plan

Steve I
WTF?

Jeez - some of these "flaws". It's like complaining that the avalanche alarm for your ski kit doesn't work on the beach in the Carribbean...

Steve I

Re: Only a few minor issues to work through

"Only a few minor issues to work through"

Damm - you're right! So many insurmountable problems, all of which happen to almost every car several times a day and would make the system unworkable. Why, to get around these you'd have to:

1. Do nothing .- how often does any car get exported?

2. Why would anyone clone the eCall system and how would that affect *your* eCall system phoning in your GPS location with an accident report?

3. No GPS signal? WTF are you - In a tunnel? Use last known position.

4. You've just had an accident - you had battery power a few seconds ago.

5. Not sure why which side of the road you drive on is relevant, but see 1.

Steve I

Re: Define "crash"

"I will be out of the car beating the shit out of the prat who drove into me whilst talking on his phone.

On second thoughts, perhaps he'll be needing the ambulance."

I assume from your attitude that these injuries will end up being self-inflicted?

Young blokes blinded by video-game addiction: THE FACTS

Steve I
Go

Re: Cause and effect?

A friend of mine never understood the difference between 'causation' and 'correlation' until I lent him a book on statistics. Now he does and thinks the book is the cause, but I'm not certain...

Steve I
Go

Re: Actually ...

"...we tend to shun the video game set". Funny that - I tend to shun the "we actually fire real-life bullets" set, who think it's something special. (yes, yes . range firing etc - done all that. Just would never say "I actually fire real.life bullets").

Google inflates BigQuery AaaS

Steve I
WTF?

Where's the girl?

I clicked on her picture - that's the only reason I'm here.

Apple at WWDC: Sleek new iOS, death of the big cats, pint-sized Mac Pro

Steve I

Re: Well....

But if you don't need huge amount of external storage & silly amounts of CPU, perhaps a high-end iMac is more suitable?

Steve I
Go

Re: Well....

"As someone who does still need FireWire (for my film scanner) and a LOT of storage" - $30 for the TB<->FW adapter and a pro external RAID array?

Steve I
Go

Re: Mindbending

"no reception area" - reception for what? You mean someone where the wi-fi's being jammed? You DO know how AirDrop works, right?

Tech giants' offshore cash-stashing is only ever a delaying tactic

Steve I
Black Helicopters

Corporation tax seems silly.

After all, the money a company makes eventually gets distributed, either into dividends or salaries of the employees or by purchasing components etc. Each time it gets distributed, it get taxed.

What the governments want is for money to be taxed at every conceivable point - when a person ears it, when they spend it, (crafty one this, as tax ends up being paid twice in the same transaction - sales tax on the price of the item and corporation tax on the profit the company make by selling the item), and back to the beginning when the company pays their employee.

Author Iain (M) Banks falls to cancer at 59

Steve I
Go

I prefer to think that he has...

...sublimed.

It's a fiddle! Funnyman's Irish tax flashmob floods Apple flagship store

Steve I
Black Helicopters

Corporation tax seems silly.

After all, the money a company makes eventually gets distributed, either into dividends or salaries of the employees or by purchasing components etc. Each time it gets distributed, it get taxed.

What the governments want is for money to be taxed at every conceivable point - when a person ears it, when they spend it, (crafty one this, as tax ends up being paid twice in the same transaction - sales tax on the price of the item and corporation tax on the profit the company make by selling the item), and back to the beginning when the company pays their employee.

Paul Allen buys lovingly restored vintage V-2 Nazi ballistic missile

Steve I

Rocket Science...

Rocket Science is easy (put fuel in a tube closed at one end and set light to it), but Rocket Technology is hard...

Steve I
Go

Re: A question for rocket scientists on El Reg...

"Because making rockets is hard to do in any age, We understand the physics, but making the many components all work together properly so the rocket flies is hard."

This is why Rocket Science is easy (put fuel in a tube closed at one end and set light to it), but Rocket Technology is hard...

Yahoo! continues quest for youth with yet another acquisition

Steve I
WTF?

Where the hell is....

...the picture of the girl in the pool? that's the only reason I'm here.

COLD FUSION is BACK with 'anomalous heat' claim

Steve I
Go

If I invented a real cold fusion machine ...

...anyone who didn't believe me could just take a flying fuck at a rolling doughnut. I'd be busy flogging it to the energy companies for more money than I would know what to do with.

FLABBER-JASTED: It's 'jif', NOT '.gif', says man who should know

Steve I
Happy

I didn't know there was a debate...

...I've always pronounced it 'jif'.

If you've bought DRM'd film files from Acetrax, here's the bad news

Steve I
Go

A pain, but just go and DL the film from somewhere. You've already paid to see it so where you get it from is irrelevant.

Our new 1.5TB lappie drive isn't thick, it's just the densest - HGST

Steve I
Facepalm

Re: People who want to store this much want faster drives

Yes - your HD video stream will really struggle when the transfer rate is a mere 990Mbs....

Senators: You - Cook. Apple guy. Get in here and bring your tax books

Steve I
Black Helicopters

Seems bizzarre...

"You have $100bn which is non-taxable. Do something with it so we can take $35Bn off you".

Next they'll be demanding that anyone with savings goes out and spends them, so that the US government can benefit from the sales tax, whilst implying that not doing so is unpatriotic.

Steve I
Go

Ummm,

this is an article about Apple yet there are not enough downvotes. Was the link from the front pages actually phished and this is not El Reg after all?

Half of youngsters would swap PRIVACY for... cheaper insurance

Steve I
Black Helicopters

What was the question?

It'd be interesting to see which one of these the question actually asked was:

1. Do you mind being tracked

2. Would you agree to be tracked for a small insurance premium saving

3. Would you agree to be tracked for a large insurance premium saving

4. Would you agree to be tracked if it meant you could get car insurance?

Steve I

Re: Understandable

"even if they drive a 15 year old piece of shit Corsa or Saxo or something"

Correction:

even if they drive a shit Corsa or Saxo or something

Boffins find world's oldest virgin water trapped in Earth's crust

Steve I
Go

The corner shop near me...

... Has some brand-you've-never-heard-of cheap mineral water older than this.

Mobile tech destroys the case for the HS2 £multi-beellion train set

Steve I
Black Helicopters

I thought the economic benefit of HS2...

...was all the fees and payments made to the various consultants, upper-ranking engineering-company-bosses, technicians etc who are friends of the people spending the(our) money and who will, in return, invite said spenders to dinner, golf, holidays etc?

Not to mention that the consultants, architects, engineers etc will save an hour a day on traveling, which they will put to good use by spending an extra hour at home, rather than in the office earning the fictitious money on which the whole cost/benefit thing is based?

They could at least be honest about it.

Harassed Oracle employee wins case, cops huge legal bill

Steve I
Pint

I think the logic is..

...that because you've rejected their fair offer of compensation and then ensured that everyone has to incur yet more costs (which is YOUR choice), then these extra costs are your responsibility. And if they come to more than your compensation, then that's your lookout.

So your pint gets spilled and the offender offers to buy you 3 pints and pay to have your trousers cleaned (i.e. pay your costs). But no - you reject this and hire scientists and brewers etc to try to prove that your trousers are ruined and need replacing and force the offender to do the same. Eventually, when all is said and done, you only get awarded the cost of your pint but all the scientists etc need paying. The offender shouldn't pay as they offered to settle in the first place (and they weren't trying to weasle out of paying, as they offered more than you finally got), which would have avoided all this.

The brewers and scientists aren't to blame, either - you hired them.

Hardware hacker unifies 15 retro consoles in format frenzy

Steve I
Go

Now we want

the hand-held version.

Entangled matter the next big thing in qubits

Steve I
Paris Hilton

They what-whatted a what-what?

Logitech launches MEGA-PRICEY 15-in-1 remote

Steve I
FAIL

Re: Who are they kidding?

"A remote control for the price of a small TV."

Absolutely. So there you are, needing an advanced remote control, and you see this. "Ridiculous", you say,"I'm not paying that to control my £10,000 home cinema setup - not when I can spend the money on a small TV".

One small TV later....

"Bugger. I now need a remote control for my £10,110 home cinema setup which now has an extra, redundant, small TV and an extra remote control."

Roomba dust-bust bot bods one step closer to ROBOBUTLERS

Steve I
Go

Re: Needs to be housewife proof

"It was there! On the side! Just like I said!"

BBC: Monster cargo ship delivers '863 million tins of baked beans'

Steve I
Go

Beats me...

I couldn't picture that much baked beans, until I calculated that it was enough to fill one of the new breed of super-sized container ships.

iPad? Pah. Behold the EYEPAD, patented by Sony for the 'PS4'

Steve I
Go

Re: Well

But if the camera was EyeToy, then the tablet should be StrokeToy or FeelToy, not EyePad...

Ask Google this impossible question, get web filth as a reward

Steve I
Go

Shocked...

...simply shocked, that there's a search term that causes Google to return with links to porn...

Apple said to develop curved glass iWatch with Foxconn

Steve I
Go

Prior art...

I had a watch 40 years ago...

Electric cars stall in USA, Australia

Steve I
WTF?

Re: utter bollocks

Ummm, are you thinking that the used batteries get thrown away - i.e. they're used once? I don't think they're using lots of Duracells, but big battery packs that get removed, swapped and then recharged at the swap station, to be swapped for the empty battery o fthe next car that comes in. The only overhead that this would have over a 'conventional' recharging station is the battery-swapping facility.

Or was this just a ill-informed rant at electric cars in general?

Microsoft can't even shift Windows 8 slabs in the middle of a tablet frenzy

Steve I

Telling the customer what they really want...

...only works if you're right.

Wasn't it Heny Ford who said "If I'd asked the customer what they wanted, they'd have said a faster horse."

Space Shuttle Columbia disaster remembered 10 years on

Steve I
Thumb Down

The crew mustz have had several minutes warning - must have been terrifying as they would have known the only possibel outcome.

Greedy Apple told it can't triple Samsung's $1bn patent payout

Steve I
Go

"It's made Apple look like dicks for patenting a rectangle."

It's made other people look like dicks for thinking that Apple were patenting a rectangle...

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