Posted in WTF is... Li-Fi?
Doors
Too bad it doesn't work from one room to another, unless you leave the door open.
(Or it's between your kitchen and dining room, and you have one of those serving hatch things.)
Posts by Dale 3
268 posts • joined Tuesday 23rd June 2009 12:29 GMT
Tickets
They should have involved the people* responsible for London Olympic ticketing. Look how well that is being managed.
* Probably best not to mention the company name
Re: Unexpected error
In the old days, an "expected" error was, for example, the user ejecting the floppy disk prematurely. The error was "expected" in the sense that the designer or developer spent some time thinking about what sorts of things could possibly go wrong, and coded against them. The most likely response would have been an error message - hopefully one more meaningful than just a coded number.
An "unexpected" error, on the other hand, is one that they didn't think of. But they still had the good sense to catch it, and display a coded number which could be reported to customer support to aide diagnosing the fault, so that in the next release it could be turned into an "expected" error and handled properly.
Re: I'd worry more...
Well I was also expecting a paragraph announcing some new Big Government IT Project, and was astounded to see this instead:
"The Met is also considering adopting software currently used..."
Control group
So where's the control group of women who didn't watch the soap or the violent show before having their level of aggression measured?
"previews of a digital image on an LCD screen"
Which part of 19th century photography involved digital images and LCD screens? Just askin'.
Re: hm.
Perhaps requires an investigation that invokes use of words such as "antitrust", "price-fixing", "cartel" and perhaps even "racketeering" if one tries hard enough.
IPTV through EPG
Connecting to the IPTV services (especially catch-ups like IPlayer) through the EPG is basically what you want. A consistent user experience with just one place to go to look for programmes. If it is on now, switch the tuner over to that channel and watch it. If it is on later, set up a recording. If it was on earlier, stream it over the network.
No need for a huge SLOW website-like interface for old programmes, which looks different from the grid-like interface you use for future programmes, which is hard for mother-in-law to understand, which means phone calls to me. (Basically I measure simplicity - and therefore suitability for public use - on an inverse scale of number of phone calls.)
Re: Pre-Order
My mother-in-law bought an object in an M&S sale for the sole reason that it cost 50p. She had absolutely no idea what it was, but "it was cheap!" and she simply can't walk past a "bargain". (It turned out to be a USB hub, so quite a good deal theoretically if not for the fact I already have two.)
Re: Re: Balls
Well I DID invest, and I am the proud owner of 5 shares. If the rumours turn out to be true, £6.26 of that $7B dividend is mine! (Less 15% dividend tax, of course.) Drinks all round.
Posted in Intel 520 240GB SSD
Power consumption
I imagine most people are most interested in SSDs for their speed. The next most interesting number to me is power consumption. It's a shame that it doesn't feature much in these reviews.
My laptop runs continuously, mostly used as a desktop replacement rather than being lugged around. I was keen to replace the HDD with a SSD to increase reliability and lower power consumption, until I discovered that most SSD seem to have about the same power consumption as the equivalent HDD. That was disappointing. Would be nice if power consumption were included in the summary box.
Good
Just remember to hold it right.
Posted in Phone maker punts AA-powered blower
Talk time?
I wonder what sort of talktime you get with a single AA battery and a phone wanting to transmit at up to 2W?
The only way
"It is however on its way to become one by the nature of being the only way (or the only sensible no/low cost way) to do things."
Even if the internet did become the only way to communicate, that still wouldn't make it a basic human right. The human right would still be to communicate; the internet would still be simply a medium through which we could exercise the right to communicate (albeit a very important medium).
Posted in Punctured Google+ leaks bored users
Google+
I can't really be bothered to sign up. I'm probably not the only one.
Posted in iPad 3 to debut Q3 2012 as iPad 4
Subscribe
I'm surprised they don't just distrubute these products on a subscription basis. People are paying annually anyway, might as well do it with a standing order.
Coefficient, not unit
It's a coefficient, not a unit. You could determine it experimentally by measuring the length (or volume) of a piece of the material at one temperature, and then again at another temperature, and then divide the two measurements. Because you are dividing the same units the resulting ratio has no units. If you then divide it by the temperature difference you get the coefficient, whose unit is "per degree C". Hence "33.9 * 10^-7 / degree C".
iTV
What a shame ITV is already taken. Lawyers, on your marks...
"under their own steam"
I thought they were supposed to be solar powered?
Sorry :-(
The LCD cartel
Don't you worry about that. The EU is expecting to Fast Track the investigation into alleged LCD cartel activity in 2024. As soon as the laserdisk investigation is finished.
Fab article
A tremendous return to form. Too many of the new writers seem to have lost the writing style that makes El Reg such a delight to read. Thank you, Mr Haines.
Scan
Actually 644 people have bought it and are in the process of scanning it. I guess that accounts for the low sales; everyone else is waiting for the upload to finish.
Google Calendar
I use a Google Calendar to set up long range reminders on the dates that the various long term things expire, including contracts, savings account special bonus rates, energy fixes, credit card 0% deals, etc. Set it up to email yourself a reminder a few weeks before so you have time to switch. I would prefer not to have ARCs but if you have any that aren't subject to the OFCOM ruling, this is one way to cope with them.
DVD-R
Is there a CD-R or DVD-R capable version of these? The wife's netbook wants to create its restore media on an actual DVD-R and won't simply create an ISO, which would have been the sensible alternative. One of these to create an ISO would be really convenient.
My vote counts
Pay real money for a negligible vote in a choice that doesn't matter, for an outcome that makes no difference to anything.
It's entertaining, I suppose.
speak to live tellers via touch screens
If you would like to make a deposit, touch my nose. If you would like to check your balance, touch my left ear. If you would like to make a deposit, poke me in the eye...
The traditional model
@Mark 65 hit the nail on the head (so to speak). Retail tradition is having lots of different stores for different things. That's exactly what Intel's AppUp product is, and exactly what Apple's App Store isn't.
Everything the Intel guy said was "wrong" with Apple should in fact be applied to his own product. Maybe he should have another look at Apple's sales statistics before commenting how wrong Apple is. They seem to be doing rather well actually.
Posted in Mobee Magic Charger
Charging mouse mat
When I saw the headline I thought I would get an article about someone finally making a mousemat with a built-in charging coil. Nope. Looks like that patent is still waiting to be grabbed.
The possible advantages are smaller or lower capacity batteries making the mouse lighter, and it can be continuously charged. Or, thanks to USB to the mat, it can switch off the mat until the charge drops below 50%, to avoid running the charger constantly.
Sea borders
Hey, don't say they don't do security theatre at the UK sea borders. Last year while travelling out of Dover on a coach trip, our coach was randomly pulled out for screening, and 5 bags were randomly pulled out of the hold for X-raying.
Fair enough, I suppose, random searches for drugs and so on. But then the 5 owners of the 5 bags were required to get off the bus and also walk through the metal detector. Now what, do you suppose, was that meant to achieve? They didn't search the coach itself, so anyone with contraband on his person is surely just going to leave it behind on the coach.
Not surprising
This is not at all surprising. Do we put signs outside our houses saying, "please don't steal my stuff", or do we use locks and keys? If you don't want websites tracking you, you don't do it by asking them not to track you, you do it by preventing them from tracking you.
Posted in All aboard the flash array train?
CRT vs LCD
This is reminiscent of a few years ago when CRT monitors were standard and LCDs on their way. I remember looking forward eagerly to the day we all knew was coming, when LCDs would be the norm and nobody bothered with CRT any more. How far away it seemed. I guess it won't too much longer before we are thinking of spinning disks as somewhat quaint, but antiquated.
Health records with a social element
Sounds like a great idea. Status updates would be colourful to say the least. Who wouldn't want all their friends commenting on their latest illnesses and afflictions?
Fridge sized
Shirley all they need is to add a fridge-sized fridge to solve the cooling problem?
Version number catch-up
I presume they are just trying to get Firefox version numbers to catch-up with IE, to help out consumers who think IE11 is better than FF3 because the number is higher.
Typhoon
I think it would have been quite entertaining to witness a Typhoon attempting this job. Surprising for the cow, but entertaining for everyone else.
Creative profiles?
Ok, so here's the question, what other creative profiles can El Reg readers come up with? This should be fun.
I'll start with Coffee Pot Profile, which sends an alert to your Bluetooth enabled device to tell you how full the coffee pot is. (This crucial function, incidentally, is not without precedent. Webcams rose to their present prominence out of just such a humble beginning.)
Posted in Movie-goer punts 3D-to-2D cinema specs
Should've gone to a well known high street opticians
You can already get polarising lenses in prescription glasses. Eventually I expect they will start offering prescription glasses with polarizing lenses which match the polarisation used in cinemas, which is a logical progression from where we are at the moment.
Competitive salary
Lemme guess, 10000 people apply for the job, half of them receive "competitive salary" paycheques in advance but no-one actually knows who got the job, then a month before the event 4999 people receive demands to pay back the salary because - it turns out - it wasn't them.
I do like the competitive spirit though, it is in keeping with the games.
Oyster
Crikey, all that to pay for a cookie? Even if it is a one-off, how much market penetration are you going to get by making people jump through all those fiery hoops?
On the other hand, here's what it takes to top up an oyster card:
Tap card on the reader
Say how much you want to top up
Pay with cash/card + PIN
Tap card on the reader again
Basically, for any process you are trying to get people to use, if the number of steps reaches double digits your process is going to fail.
Perhaps they should have fitted big loudspeakers
Then if all else fails they could at least hurl foul language at the enemy.
linked to the indicator stalk
There is no point linking anything to the indicator stalk in a BMW.
Photos
You'd think they could tell from his photos, presumably.
Simple fix
There is no simple fix that will just "sort everything out". If there were, it would already be in place. This tax fiddle is performed by shifting numbers around and reclassifying them in ways that avoid the provisions of the letter of the tax law. If you change to a tax on income, those highly-paid, highly-intelligent accountants employed by Google and other big companies will simply shift the numbers around and reclassify them in a different way, so that they no longer look like income. Whichever bottom line you decide to target in your simple tax solution, there will be clever and probably-legal scheme to migrate the numbers away from it.
Which queue?
Now I'm in a pickle. Do I join the white iPhone queue or the royal wedding queue?
Setting two records
This is literally the first time I have had to stop listening to a song after 20 seconds because I couldn't bear it and then also stop listening to the parody of the same song after 20 seconds because I was laughing so loudly it was disturbing other people around me.
self-driving?
Hang on, in the absence of a link to the actual ITU statement, there is nothing in what was quoted from the ITU statement about self-driving cars. It just said they could navigate, much like the wife navigating when I'm in the driving seat, and foresee collisions, which is probably just a bit of obstacle detection. There's nothing to suggest "avoiding collisions" is anything more than automatic emergency braking. Is the lack of standards really the only barrier to self-driving cars arriving this year? I don't think so.
What would it cost
Dunno about gonads, but this would require money that our Government and Civil Servants don't have. We should perhaps not be encouraging them to buy stuff at the moment.
Request removal of their houses or cars
Wonder whether I can request removal of my rubbish too. Local council only does it every other week.
Oh, I see. Sorry.
Posted in Network Rail blames Atos for downtime
Commercially sensitive?
Who do Network Rail compete with?
Flash
Maybe they can update DAB to use a Flash-style codec. That way I can be prompted to update my radio every time I switch it on.
Opinion
David McLeman
My 25 years of comical IT buzzwords
Tim Worstall
Time to take a sniff at the coffee, perhaps
Chris Mellor
Will they have to drag him back like last time?
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