* Posts by jason

126 publicly visible posts • joined 25 May 2007

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Orange Vegas

jason
Stop

7 days on standby?

Whats wrong with that? Even if it did only 5 days, thats pretty good going for phones these days.

I have a HTC with the expanded battery and I'm lucky if that goes for 4!

Bring back the days of old when a phone could go 10 days+

Last holiday I went on I took more charging equipment than clothes.

Home and Away star in 'Lewinsky' moment

jason
Stop

And this is IT news....how?

Why? Am I missing something here?

Is it because a device using electricity was used?

Acer Aspire One D250

jason
Stop

Finally got round to testing out a netbook at the weekend.

Nice kit (Samsung NC10) but boy oh boy is the vertical res of 600 a pain in the neck? Scroll scroll scroll on a touchpad not really up to the task (for me anyway).

More depth please!

Microsoft's Bing feeds you, tries to keep you captive

jason

Where in the world???

I've built three XP PCs this week in the UK and the PCs are all set to UK settings (natch) but everytime the IE8 setup runs through it defaults Bing to the Spanish version.

Donde esta UK version????

Shuttle X 5000TA

jason
Unhappy

Wrong application...

....with another £100/£150 to boost the spec, HDMI and a couple of optical/digital outs and it would be a really good living room audio/media box but as it stands....nope.

Like someone said earlier you have to wonder what on earth were they thinking when they designed this. It doesnt fulfil any role properly really.

Acer intros 'pro' netbook

jason
Thumb Up

Non-Gloss finish!!!! Thats worth the extra alone!

God I hate glossy finishes. Its just ...retarded...and dirty.

Gov spunks hundreds of thousands on mobe condom clip

jason
Stop

I've seen several of these....

....shown on TV in advert breaks. So I guess not all of the spend (ahem) was just for the mobile side?

Hasnt anyone else seen them?

Microsoft announces Zune HD

jason
Stop

Why the DRM comments?

The Zune has no more (probably less) DRM than the iPod.

Please read up about a product before making old tired generalisations.

As for Zune sound quality, take a look over at Head-Fi.org, probably the biggest portable audio forum on the web -

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f15/zune-any-good-425827/

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f15/any-zune-owners-out-there-348181/

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f15/ipod-touch-vs-zune-354029/

Remember this is a site with a lot of Apple users on it and generally the Zunes SQ over the iPod doesnt get challenged very often.

Toshiba Qosmio X300

jason
Stop

Hmmm Pull that laptop out of a bag......

....and it instantly makes a statement about you!

I dont know why they dont change the lid logo to 'Wanker"?

What an awful looking machine.

Rumor rubberizes iPhone 3.0

jason
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Will the rubber be silver and shiny?

Otherwise they wont buy!

jason
Stop

@James Hughes

Why bother with anything more than 1MP in a phone when you are still using cheap, nasty pinhole lenses? Its junk.

2MP is over specced in most cases.

Fox terminates The Sarah Connor Chronicles

jason
Alert

Good but they blew their chance...

...I think TSCC is a good example about how some shows run far better on a 12/13 episode season than a full 22 season. With just half the time you have to keep the plot moving and there is no room for filler, you just have to move on it.

The first short season of TSCC was pretty fast paced but then the second season whilst starting off well meandered all over in the middle. I doubt my Gf and I were the only ones cheering when the blonde girl and the aussie bird were killed off.

I think the writers may have been under the impression that a third season was a dead cert so got indulgent but then realised a little late that that wasnt going to happen and then only had around 5 episodes to try to save it. It picked up noticibly in the last 3 or 4 episodes and the finale was very good indeed. The idea of a Terminator civil war sounds fun.

I think it could do with about three 2 hour specials to finish it off. It could be done as the franchise/series is owned by the current T: Salvation production company.

I doubt they will if T:S is a big hit but if its a turkey...who knows, Miss Glau may yet get a call.

Zen and the Art of Laptop Battery Maintenance

jason
Happy

Interesting stuff.

I have a 3 and a half year old Compaq R4000 which is a desktop replacement laptop with a full desktop Athlon 4000 cpu in it (no sexy low power mobile CPU here).

It also has the standard 6 cell battery and not the bigger capacity which is available.

I use it on power regularly but I always make sure at least once a week I use it on battery till it hits around 15-17% battery left and then charge it up the next time.

After all this time I still get around an hour battery life. Not bad for its age and power usage.

I will get a new battery some time in the future.

Gov 'smart meter' plans: Sky box in charge of your house

jason
Stop

In years to come - Power rationing!

Yes its a new round of taxation and monitoring. 'Carbon Limits' will be set for houses and if you go over certain limits you'll be charged a carbon tax etc.etc. Thats a given.

And then when we dont have enough power for the country as a whole, it will then allow monitoring of power rationing to homes and penalties for those that break them.

Oh joy.

As for Economy 7, my parents swapped to that a couple of years ago. Why I have no idea as they knew full well the hassles my Nan had with it in the 80's. So yes they now have to 'live' at night rather then during the day to actually make any savings. Its a barmy system. I did tell them.

UK graduates face bleak future as teachers

jason
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The problem is....

....there are too many graduates and therefore the value is far less.

At one time being a graduate was a worthy title. Now to an employer a graduate means one of the many with an inappropriate degree and unrealistic job/salary expectations.

We really need to get back to just letting the most deserving go to university and the rest can learn a decent trade or get a job and work their way up.

Either that or give full grants to subjects that may actually put money on the table and lead to a proper worthwhile career and let those that want to study 'media studies' or 'the classics' for the 3 billionth time, pay full whack for the priviliege.

We may then end up with folks that are more worthwhile to society.

Obama pledges 3% of GDP for science

jason
Thumb Down

@ Andrew Fraser

Actually the UK was about the first western economy to enter the "we dont make anything anymore" scenario back in the late 70's.

We havent been an industrial nation for well over 25 years. Instead we went white collar economy of banking and commercial enterprises....which we've now also screwed up.

Thats one way Britain has always been 20+ years ahead of the rest of the western world.

I really dont know what else we have left to turn to. I feel so proud.

jason
Happy

Compared with defence spending at 4.06% GDP...

...I'd say at least some of this investment might put a smile on someones face rather than ripping it off.

My god what might the USA turn into??? According to all the right wing pundits -Sweden!!

They wish!

I guess the problem is that right wingers havent been investing too much in tech/science industries recently for fear of godly reprisals.

In the past it was better to invest in firms that killed, destroyed and then rebuilt (well at least said they would try) countries.

Lost laptops cost companies $50k apiece

jason
Unhappy

I loved the mention of 'investigation'!

If you work in a firm with more than 2000 employees then that just doesnt happen.

The firm I used to work for basically gave the damn things away for free.

Only about 2% of our workforce actually neeeded the damn things but everyone had one ( I refused, had a BBerry instead). I go round friends that have left the firm, to fix their 'PC' and what do I find...their old company laptop! No manager ever asked for them back, too busy, didnt even care.

We'd have £400+ a day contractors turn up, they would be given a brand new £900 Dell laptop and then they would leave as a matter of course a bit later.

Where was the laptop? Where was all the data they were working on for 4 months? What was his name again?

Oh well, havent got time to worry about that, got a project to deliver!

My suggestion to make all contractors work on a Citrix platform was considered far too expensive.

So there you go, companies dont give a fig if they lose kit. There was always money to buy more. Well there was, dunno about now.

Under-caution spam faxer fined over £6,000

jason
Happy

Excellent news......

....on the crushers then! And I do hope the fines are geting bigger.

However, as I see on these "Police! Action! Arseholes!" shows, often the culprits are under 25, drive a pile of crap and dont even have a license or cash to start with.

I always love it when on those shows they state "the driver didnt have a licence and was banned from driving for a year!"

Hang on?

Still back to fax spammers........

jason
Unhappy

Its pathetic, no deterrent at all.

Its like folks that drive their cars with no tax or insurance.

They get about £200 in fines and a slap on the wrist.

Car tax costs on average £150? Insurance for say a 20 year old £700+?

So still quids in if they get caught a couple of times a year. Bargain!

ZuneHD en-route to Blighty?

jason
Stop

Why the DRM?

The Zune doesnt have anymore DRM than any other 'popular' media device. In fact it has less.

Quit with the DRM FUD.

DRM hasnt stopped me doing anything on my PC or Zune. In fact my Zune has over 300 DRM free albums stored on it.

Only Freetards need fear DRM, some folks need to calm down.

Teens reject Microsoft's Zune

jason
Happy

ZuneHD

Well the 'leaked' ZuneHD details and pics have been getting rave reviews. I dont think its over by a long way yet.

The Zune is good solid kit with great sound quality, good software and user interface.

It has no more DRM (in fact probably less) than any other mainstream player on the market.

I think the issue here is, as other have stated, the term 'iPod' has become a generic term for MP3 players. It will skew such marketing results far and wise.

I dont see whats so cool or fun about being just the same as everyone else. I see a iPod user I see a 'drone'.

Think different...buy a Zune.

Oh and by the way they added 360 integration some time ago as well as loads of other regular FREE updates.

Brown pledges to make Britain's drivers greener

jason
Stop

Classic example of how Govt Project work

What happens is they have the initial brainstorming (ahem) session and the flipchart has the word - PROS listed in big letters and underlined.

Then the session begins but no one writes up the word CONS on another flipchart.

Four hours later, copious cups of tea, coffee and fine sandwiches (all supplied by UK Taxpayer) they decide its a great idea and much self congratulating takes place.

Students Union reps vote to ban cheap booze for students

jason
Thumb Down

Ahh well.....

....drinking expensive booze whilst getting a worthless degree.

Things arent what they were.

If the graduates that I get to meet are anything to go by, booze damaging their brains is the least of their worries. It appears that all graduates seem to undergo some form of lobotomy whilst at Uni.

Please can we go back to just having the bright kids going to Uni?

Firefox 3.0 ekes ahead of Internet Explorer 7 in Europe

jason
Stop

IE6 - Who is to blame?

Look to the large corporates who have such useless silo style IT depts that take years to roll out standard updates. That and all the testing corps have to do to make sure their and the customers web apps work ok in a new browser. Doesnt just happen overnight. Costs a fortune.

I bet a lot of corps have only just rolled out XP SP2.

Westminster forced to switch off digital CCTV cameras

jason
Unhappy

@AC "Why are they using 720?"

Probably cos some twat in a CCTV firm bought a load of non-standard 720 cameras that no one wanted and then managed to bribe/persuade someone in whitehall that their cams were the way forward.

In the same position its what I'd do. You know, prey on the thick and gullible.

Remember most civil servants/MPs/Councillors arent tech savvy..or come to think of it intelligent either.

jason
Stop

Christ on a bike!

Its crap like this, that we see day after day that will I hope lead to a countrywide revolution of average joe's saying 'enough is enough' and throwing these idiots out of their plush offices and into the streets.

We really do need a revolution of common sense.

That and more accountability/punishment for faliure.

Scientology spokesman confirms Xenu story

jason
Happy

I'm an atheist and I have very strong beliefs....

....as in

1. Dont f*** with me and I wont f*** with you!

2. You can believe in what you like, I'll listen and pretend to be interested, just don't try to get me involved (see belief 1).

3. Dont ask me to die in the name of something you can't catagorically prove (see belief 1).

Dell Inspiron Mini 12 notebook-not-netbook

jason
Happy

Sorry.....

.I was getting a bit bored by page 4....just wanted to cut to the chase really.

Its only a large netbook after all.

The review could just have been - A netbook same as any other but a bit larger with a 1280x800 screen.

Job done.

jason
Stop

And the big question is.......

....whats the screen resolution?

Cmon thats the one thing we want to know.

Apple 17in MacBook Pro

jason
Alert

Buy the 15"...

...and use the saving to buy a 22" screen to plug it into on your desk?

Either that or just pay the mortgage for a couple more months.

The next 12 months will be very interesting for Apple.

Toshiba Portégé R600

jason
Alert

Why? Just Why?

Would anyone spend more than say £1000 on any one item of PC gear especially a commodity item like a laptop?

More money than sense maybe?

BT reprograms biz customers as hotspots

jason
Stop

So time to change your router...

.....or ISP then?

Plus wouldnt it be so much nicer if they offrered a substantial discount for allowing your bandwidth to be used and also a 'get out of jail free' pass in case folks were pulling in kiddie porn over it?

Is the bandwidth/traffic so well differenciated that the business owner would not be liable? After all that kind of sh*t sticks.

Reg Reader poll on notebook quality: results are in

jason
Alert

Ermmmm....@AC

.....I've used PCs for over 15 years...but what exactly so the Home and End keys do?

I've never used them. So I guess I wouldnt miss them?

Maybe I should press them and see? I did use Scroll Lock once I think back in 1994.

Time for a 21st Century PC keyboard re-shuffle I think.

Obama says his new chopper is 'procurement gone amuck'

jason
Stop

Oh dear....

.....best thing to do on this one is just walk away. Really isnt worth the hassle.

Let him keep using the current ones.

Does it need a washroom? Doest everyone always have a wee before they go on a trip?

'No Office 14 this year,' says Ballmer

jason
Stop

Do we really need another version almost every year?

Its painful enough for firms to switch Office versions every 5+ years, most home users are happy with any version that will create a simple letter and spellcheck it.

I still know plenty of folks on office97/2000. I bought office07 last year and had to 'retard it' as most other folks I know that use Office thought I was Buck Rodgers from the 25th Century.

Does MS actually make any money on Office? Other then the home user copy I bought last year obviously.

Spy boss damns government's culture of fear

jason
Stop

Govt Questionnaires

Anynoe else noticed they are getting a lot more Govt questionnaires though the post from the NHS and the like asking lots of searching questions about ourselves? All lovely data that would sit nicely in a citizens info database.

All of them claim to be annonymous but you then see your name and a hulking great code number next to it. Hmmmmm.

Its good to shred and recycle!

Brits 'a bunch of yellow bastards', says irate Yank

jason
Happy

Right to defend yourself

I'm finding this all very amusing.

As to the right to bare arms, I'd love to see those very US citizens take up their arms against an 'oppressive' US govt. Why? Well as soon as they got anywhere near a civic building they would be classed as terrorists and blown away by the National Guard. Just try it, go on, excercise your rights. Storm the tax office or something!

Like us folks in the UK, you have the right to own a gun to hunt but to use it against the state...nope, they will be pulling your gun from your very cold hand.

Also as mentioned we never really gave up guns cos we never had them in the first place. I never knew anyone with a uzi, Ruger, Colt45, Galil, semi-auto, 9mm or otherwise. We had no use for them.

A few of my mates dads had shot guns (and still do). Its just after some nutjob in the early 90's decided to gun down about twenty 5 year old children that someone thought that it probably wasnt worthwhile folks having such things as handguns and military weapons. As most of the folks who had such items were a small minority of gun club members life kind of went on as normal. I havent met anyone bemoaning the lack of high powered handguns under their beds.

Read up here -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunblane_massacre

We just thought it wasnt worth the candle to let that happen again. You are welcome to yours of course, its your right.

jason
Happy

@paul bell

Well I dont go to the USA as I dont like to start a holiday guilty until proven innocent. I dont want to give your immigration my finger prints, iris scan, hat size and whether I dress to the left or right.

That sort of thing makes a bad first impression you know.

Thats why we go to Canada. Now thats a lovely bunch of folks. Immigration is a breeze, they even got concerned when we mentioned we were off to a certain resort, why? Well there wasnt any snow there and didnt want us to be dissapointed! Now thats a good impression! They smile too and didnt want us to pee in a cup or suchlike.

Far better food and beer too. Oh and you dont get treated like a heathen or a kid when you buy booze.

Yes if you want the 'ideal' American type experience then go to Canada.

Asus N50 15in laptop

jason
Unhappy

It was doing ok....

....until the weight of it was mentioned. I'm looking for a new laptop thats a bit lighter than my current old Compaq R4000. This isnt the one.

I too find 1280x800 fine for general day to day use. If you are a hardcore photoshop user then you'd obviously look elsewhere.

BBC seen to yield over website snooping

jason
Unhappy

I am getting concerned....

....when I click to go to websites that the number of other urls that flash up in quick succession down the botton right of the browser frame, ok some are ad links but some......well I'm not so sure.

Its also slowing browsing having to wait for some of those linking URLs to catch up. Its like you click on one link but have to wait for 15 parasite links to join in too.

Gimme some (more) money, demand Spinal Tap

jason
Happy

Break Like The Wind...

.....is actually quite a good album.

The Tap are always welcome.

Memo to Microsoft: Enough with the SKUed Windows

jason
Thumb Up

Home Basic is all most domestic users need!

Home Basic has all the functionality that XP has if not more. Plus it doesnt come with all those 'added features' that are mainly useless can find better for free on the web and help push up the price considerably.

I would consider myself a power user but have been using Vista Basic64 for over a year now. Not once have I felt that I'm missing something. Its a lighter install and feels slightly quicker to the Ultimate setups my friends and colleagues use. Works a treat for gaming too!

Its like the custom install option we used to get years ago, you know when you could cut out all the crap you didnt need. I just then add the apps I want to give me the functionality.

Really just dont bother with the more pricey bloated ones, you are getting ripped off.

UK.gov backs ISPs on charging content providers, throttling P2P

jason
Unhappy

Oh well....

....thats iPlayer use over for me. I thought I paid for that service already, not going to pay for it again.

US cable giant to throttle P2P

jason

I'd go with a company that did this!

I dont do much P2P stuff so obviously the hardcore P2P'ers wil move off their infrastucture elsewhere, leaving us normal users with more bandwidth. Updates can trickle down, no biggie.

Nice one.

Airbus A380 bows out of Air Force One competition

jason
Stop

Not surprising they pulled out.

Whats the deal on offer for Airforce 1 -

Supply maybe two aircraft that chances are will have to be mainly put together in the US, with US contractors etc. etc. A world of pain for any company.

Thats not much of a deal for Airbus as most of the money and effort would remain in the US.

On the other hand the Tanker deal -

Supply maybe a couple of dozen aircraft mainly built in Europe with final fitting/conversion to be carried out in the US.

I know which contract I'd concentrate on.

However as a tax payer I dont care anymore where they planes come from as long as its the best for the job and the best deal for the tax payer.

Time to axe Microsoft's Zune

jason
Stop

All the hate...

...seems to come directly from folks that havent seen one let alone used one.

Some basic points -

1. The sound quality is superb. Head to Head-Fi, most folks agree its one of the very best.

2. The UI is actually far quicker and easier to use.

3. The software is pretty damn good and (bizarrly) for a MS product isnt bloated like its rival.

4. The leap year bug was the fault of the Freescale chip, not any coding on MS part.

5. Sales will drop if your market is not world wide.

6. If you dont market it, sales will drop.

7. Zune gets regular free updates that include actual features that Zune users ask for!

8. The Zune Store is a far better model than the Apple Store.

9. The hardware is more robust and doesnt pull scratches out of the air.

10. If MS makes crap hardware, what are all those Mice/webcams and Kboards doing?

11. I havent seen ANY DRM on my Zune ever. My Gf has been infuriated many times by the DRM on her Shuffle.

12. I dont think MS ever regarded the Zune as a takeover product for the iPod. I like the competition, its good.

13. Due to the regular updates being for ALL models I dont feel obliged to buy a new one every new release.

14. After having a iPod, Zen, Archos 404, I've finally found the player that works for me.

The main problem for the Zune is the marketing folks. The hardware, software etc. is all there and its got good really quick. I just dont understand the marketing, or lack of.

User-generated reviews - blessing or bull?

jason
Stop

I always love MP3 player reviews....

..they go on endlessly about the features, the politics, the size, weight, colour, hooking it up, codec support blah blah blah.

As for the really important bit - how it sounds. Well you are lucky if that gets summed up in half a sentence if at all.

jason
Alert

Amazons legendary No.1 Reviewer!

Anyone ever looked into the legendary Harriet Klausner? Perfect example.

She is the No.1 reviewer for Amazon. She posts on average 30+ book reviews...a DAY! She says in interviews that she is a very good speed reader. One day I think 100 reviews went up.

However, yes it is too good to be true. Her reviews are now seen as pure comedy value as folks then rip her reviews to pieces. All the books she reviews get 5 stars but often the reviews dont even relate to the book or are just cribbed from the back of the jacket (and not that well either).

Its quite obvious she doesnt read these books at all.

The words fraud and hack spring to mind but its caused no end of publicity for her and just slowly destroys Amazons value as a consumer site. Why someone hasnt stopped her I dont know.

ING cuts jobs as exhausted boss quits

jason
Unhappy

Saving with banks is starting to get pointless.

A year ago I was getting over £100 a month interest with my Ing Direct account. I'm now getting £20 and falling.

And they keep sending me notes every month to say how pleased they are to be passing on the interest rate reduction. Oh I'm overjoyed!

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