I mean, is that new deployments of super-whizz-bang are slowing and legacy stuff prevails?

"poofing code" - teh interwebs luv u.

My main concern is that bloated self-congratulatory twonk Russell T. Davis (whatever) and his celeb mates are out. And something for the dads, of course.

Is the ISS toilet issue resolved?

Not as loony as Plutonium. Or Helium. Or shipwrecks. Or thunderstorms. Oh, and your magic water never has to go near the real substances because you can "program" the water with a Radionic Computer.

A lot of what NYR do is anti-science. Some folks believe that anti-science is damaging to society.

@Gilbert Wham - and me doggy. He called Natty Bumpo. Him offshore data ship should have a big trunk for eating methane clathrates. And der big turbines for spraying ocean into the sky. And him offshore ship - all da crew wear dataspex and farn algae.

@John - practical electric vehicle or not? And some of them have three wheels.

Power stuff is very nice but since Apple went to Intel, Nintendo is the big consumer of the architecture.

Indeed.

I would have thought that it would be against Microsoft's interests to make the online jobby too functional - otherwise it will cannibalise sales of the desktop version. It'll be crippleware. Unless you actually pay for the web stuff.

€49? As Tathan sez - I find it difficult to believe that this is the price sans contract. If it is, what sort of compromises are made?

"I'd buy that for a dollar!"

Scoot? ouch.

Why not use a mule to carry all that 200lbs of stuff?

I remember being told by someone who looked after mobile phone stuff for a large company that some of the sales force seemed to have a lot of accidents with their mobiles. The staged roll out of a new model was mere coincidence. As was the fact that the concerned individuals seemed to be scheduled towards the end of the roll-out.

A similar thing seemed to happen with laptops.

Ruggedised equipment sends out a strong message.

I thought that "berm" was a term that was rarely used outside of BMX circles. Obviously I am wrong.

BMX on the Moon sounds like a 8-bit game.

Nukes? No, use orbital mirrors. There's no atmosphere to get in the way. Vitrification.

Am I the only one to have read the strapline as involving a monk?

and space based lasers.

Dirigibles. That's the answer.

Isn't it actually a lost script for an episode of Dad's Army?

nuff said

Donna Dawson - oh her. http://www.donnadawson.co.uk - she looks very scary to me.

To be frank, this sort of shit is patronising and insulting. It trivialises mental illness.

But the Wii isn't HD.

How much dev has been done on Kangaroo? How close is it to the finished product?

I presume that a lot of license fee payers money has been spent on it so they might as well give what they've done to us folks to make what use of it we see fit. It's not as if they can sell the technology.

I'll set up a TV studio in my shed and make my programmes available to teh interwebs. It's got to be better quality that YouTube.

I've got iPlayer up and running on my Wii.

I know that if Kangaroo did come along I would be severely tempted to dump Virgin Media. Even more so because of FreeSat.

I'm not sure if I've ever seen that on Blue Peter - but maybe I missed it because it was one of those "dads and older brothers leave the room" type project.

I would quite like to make some people's phones explode. Is this a hidden feature? Can I access it via Bluetooth?

Dirigibles.

Oh, is this the same 3D techology that use glasses with LCD shutters? Or is it something different?

I really don't know why they bother with the tv. Why not just have the glasses?

And don't forget the other types of lubrication...

I get the feeling from some of the posts that there is a belief that somehow pornography is not connected to the "real world". That somehow pornography exists in a moral vacuum completely separated from the moral implications of the "real world" acts that are depicted.

Desensitisation anyone?

In reality, I don't have a problem with the BDSM community making pornography for their own comsumption and the consumption of interested others. I might not like the images, they may provoke a strong emotional reaction in me, but I can choose not to look at them. And there are things that can be done to ensure that looking at such pornography is a very deliberate act rather than an innocent stumble upon.

@Steven Jones - Yes, I agree. Forums related to products are the best place to find about about a particular product but not particularly useful when making direct comparisons between individual products. What I think particularly useful is that forum folks tend to use the product for real. Also, an active forum really adds value.

As for user generated reviews - it depends. Some of the sites I look at, I'll see some user names crop up again and again. You start to treat them like you would "real" reviewers. Some you trust more than others.

Dirigibles.

My initial thoughts that the article was stating the obvious. On reflection, I've seen plenty of people with the wrong laptop... My employer has a one size fits all approach and equips people with dinky ThinkPads. No use to me - if I couldn't have a pocket rocket desktop replacement I might as well stick with a desktop.

Oh sure, the right form factor for the job in hand but this does lead to profileration of the numbers of models that need to be supported. I think I'm right in remembering that some vendors produce pretty much identical desktops in different form factors? Is this the case with laptops? I don't think it is. There is no reason why different form factor laptops can't share, say, the same motherboard, or have the same sort of battery connection, etc.. This gets round some of the support issues.

Something else I've seen is companies handing out laptops when in reality they should have desktops and have proper hot desking. Or dish out USB drives with proper security that they can use if different offices. Another thing is that people don't also make the best use of desktop stuff that they bump into. They don't use external monitors, they don't use keyboards and mice. I don't know about you lot, but certain activities laptops are a bane to productivity.

I think that docking stations are a waste of time.

What about tablets?

Will Microsoft pass on savings to customers?

@John Young - I'm sure that you are right. I remember visiting National Grid control centre as a school kid and I think I'm right in saying that the big stuff uses aluminium.

However... Am I right in thinking that little stuff and underground stuff uses copper? My parents' house is supplied by a long underground cable and it was dug up and stolen. Telephone cables too at one point.

Isn't one of the Rolling Stones a metal-detectorist?

Why on earth do users expect any choice in the machine that they have to work with? To be more specific, why do some users think that they should have a choice?

One of things that seems to encourage users to believe that they have choice in pc is being given choice in the model of company car. Same with mobile phones. I used to have something to do with company cars and you would not believe how obsessive and anal some people were about them. And often ordered totally impractical vehicles only to be stung by increases in fuel prices. Or ordered some stupid vehicle with bucket seats only to develop back problems as a result. Or ladies not doing any forward planning - oh, I'll get something sporty with difficult access and forget about the fact that I am planning to have a baby soon.

With mobile phones - if you only use the core functionality of the phone for business purposes - i.e. calls & texts, model doesn't matter very much, unless you go for something flaky.

Some organisations are too conscious of status. Senior executives break rules all the time because no one has the cojones to stand up to them. In status conscious organisations, things like the size of your desk and the sexiness of your pc are important. I know that I've struggled to get a more grunty box (that I genuinely needed) whereas senior executives got essentially expensive consumer market toys. Worse still, the CEO got the company to buy this kids with consumer PCs and suck the support.

Here's the rub. Tools vs toys. Business stuff should be tools. No organisation should pay for people's toys.

@AC - you hit the nail right on the head. Bathtubs, yes. Top Gear is just Antiques Roadshow or Last of The Summer for a certain type of middle aged man. I find it totally incomprehensible.

William Woollard - we need you now.

Android.