* Posts by WylieCoyoteUK

174 publicly visible posts • joined 22 Apr 2012

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Dine crime: Chippy sells deep fried Xmas dinner

WylieCoyoteUK

Belgians know how to cook them.

I fondly remember my Belgian grandmother's Brussels sprouts, steamed then tossed in butter with bacon and chestnuts.

Beautiful cabbagy flavours with a nice salty cultured butter and strongly smoked bacon.

In contrast my mother's were boiled to death, she never learned my nan's cookery skills.

The thing is Brussels sprouts today, due to an extensive selective breeding program, are far sweeter than they were in my youth, often lacking much flavour of any kind.

My wife blanches them, cuts them in half and fries them with bacon, fennel seeds,cumin seeds and finely chopped fresh red chilli. Yum.

Cheeky cheesemaker fails to copyright how things taste

WylieCoyoteUK

Every supermarket does it

The large supermarkets often bring out "own brand" versions of new products, copying the product and packaging, but seldom the quality.

They also often get sued for it when they make the mistake of imitating a big company's brand.

Microsoft: You don't want to use Edge? Are you sure? Really sure?

WylieCoyoteUK

Re: Dear Microsoft

Except I am not on the insider program, and it did that on server2016 when I installed Chrome months ago.

It also does it if you install Adobe reader.

Somerset boozer prepares to declare its inn-dependence from UK

WylieCoyoteUK
Coat

A pressing question (especially after a few pints)

Who will be in the privy counsel?

It may be poor man's Photoshop, but GIMP casts a Long Shadow with latest update

WylieCoyoteUK
Thumb Up

I use Libreoffice and GIMP a lot, also Scribus, which nicely integrates with GIMP, and Inkscape.

Nice to be able to work on the same files with the same apps across different platforms. My preferred OS is Linux, but I use Windows at the office, most of the competition are Windows or Mac only.

I actually like the multiwindow UI, great with multiple screens, I can work with the image on one screen and the layers and toolbox on another. But you can have a single window if you prefer.

Such a powerful image editor is never going to be simple, especially when some people try to use it as a drawing program, for which there are far better tools.

'Your computer has a virus' cold call con artists on the rise – Microsoft

WylieCoyoteUK
Devil

Automated calls

They are using Automated calls now.

"Hello I'm Shirley from ....Internet service provider...we have been trying to contact you.

Your internet connection will be cut off in the next 24 to 48 hours. To proceed, please press button 1 on your phone".

We have been getting these every couple of days for a fortnight.

Strangely, our internet is still working........

Electric cars to create new peak hour when they all need a charge

WylieCoyoteUK

Re: I've been pointing this out for years.

I have a hybrid with about 30 miles electric range.

I don't charge it as soon as I get home, I set its timer to be charged for 7:30 in the morning, at other times I charge as and when required, (at work for example).

I also got a free charge point from the electric nation programme, which is studying usage and management of smart chargers to minimise demand peaks.

One problem I can see is our company has about 20 company vehicles, (only 2 hybrids at the moment) but it due to physical and circuit limitations, we could only install a maximum of 4x 7.2KW chargepoints ( we currently have 2 on the building frontage) without a large investment.

At Christmas, do you give peas a chance? Go cold turkey? What is the perfect festive feast?

WylieCoyoteUK

Re: Follow that star (trek)

Yes, we also add fennel seed and chilli :)

London mayor: Self-driving cars? Not without jacked-up taxes, you don't!

WylieCoyoteUK
Holmes

Missing the point.

Driverless cars are the new version of public transport..

Once driverless cars are a reality, the need to own a vehicle will start to reduce.

Most of us own a vehicle that only spends a fraction of its lifetime actually moving, and is usually under occupied.

Our pride and joy spends most of its time sitting parked somewhere while we do other stuff.

Not to mention the cost of finding somewhere for it to depreciate quietly without being stolen or damaged.

Off-brand tablets look done, but big players are growing

WylieCoyoteUK

Re: Value for money?

Must agree, I find no need to replace my Xperia2 10".

Also there is a strong second hand market, just sold a 4 year old Samsung Galaxy tab2 10.1" for over £50 on eBay.

Tablets are not as relentlessly outdated as phones.

PCs are lasting longer as well.

Unloved Microsoft Edge is much improved – but will anyone use it?

WylieCoyoteUK

Re: And its only Windows 10?

And they made it the default reader for some files, including pdfs, which it still handles badly and fails to print, for example.

The Linux cloud swap that spells trouble for Microsoft and VMware

WylieCoyoteUK
Childcatcher

Cindy Lauper

Showing my age

It's been two and a half years of decline – tablets aren't coming back

WylieCoyoteUK

I agree, I have an Xperia Z2 10" tablet, still works well, does what I need, why would I replace it?

Today's bonkers bug report: Microsoft Edge can't print numbers

WylieCoyoteUK
Childcatcher

I'm actually quite impressed

....that they managed to get it to print a PDF at all.

Windows 10 S: Good, bad, and how this could get ugly for PC makers

WylieCoyoteUK

Re: For college kids Apple still has the better offer

Actually, quite a lot of schools in the UK now use Chromebooks, especially primary schools.

Those that don't use iPads of course, but some do use both.

Put down your coffee and admire the sheer amount of data Windows 10 Creators Update will slurp from your PC

WylieCoyoteUK
Mushroom

Re: BongoJoe

Aren't gamers already used to being spied on by games companies anyway?

Glad I don't game. I don't use windows either.

What a time to be alive: drone pooper-scoopers are a thing now

WylieCoyoteUK
Black Helicopters

Another example of automation threatening jobs

I was amused to see a guy in Dieppe, France, driving a silver scooter with a large pipe on the back.

He placed the end of the pipe over some offending dog poo and there was a sucking sound, then he drove off, leaving a neat circle of disinfectant on the pavement.

They are called Motocrottes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVC0mThS32o

'Clearance sale' shows Apple's iPad is over. It's done

WylieCoyoteUK

Re: I've said it before...

Bluetooth tablet keyboards do exist.

WylieCoyoteUK

Re: Education PC seller says Apple is no good in that market

Lots of schools these days have lots of iPads.

However the logistics of managing them and their installed apps is a pain in the butt, even with Meraki or Lightspeed.

They also fall short in many ways such as printing hires images over wifi networks, and the broadcast, non routable nature of most Apple protocols.

Chromebooks are a much better fir for the education market.

Mythbuntu busted as last two devs working on media centre distro quit

WylieCoyoteUK
Unhappy

Mythbuntu has been stable on my kit for years

Sad to see it go, I have upgraded without problems since the first Mythbuntu release.

I run Mythbuntu as a backend server with Kodi on a Pi and various Android clients.

My mythbuntu server also runs PHPmyadmin, Nextcloud, Motioneye, and a couple of other database apps, plus doubling as a general use pc and a digital photoframe.

MythTV is awesome, and I will probably move to Ubuntu with XFCE and Mythtv.

Mythbuntu just made it all a lot easier.

Microsoft to overhaul Windows 10 UI – with a 3D Holographic Shell

WylieCoyoteUK
Coat

Re: They have to be joking

I must admit I checked the date.

Nope, unless they have time travel sewn up, it isn't April1

'To read this page, please turn off your ad blocker...'

WylieCoyoteUK
Devil

Re: The ad supported Internet isn't sustainable

Actually, TV in the US (excluding subscription channels like Netflix etc, which have no Ads) is declining.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/e6c79d46-4104-11e5-9abe-5b335da3a90e.html#axzz4H0yYqgDR

WylieCoyoteUK

Re: What next

Yes, they have already considered TVs that can pause LiveTV if they detect the room is empty during an ad break.

WylieCoyoteUK
Megaphone

Re: I wonder if he has ever changed a TV channel

Just record in advance on a PVR and skip the ads on playback.

Or pause the live TV and make a drink, then skip forward.

This comment is brought to you by the makers of Humax Personal Video Recorders, Hauppuage PCTV cards and MediaPortal software.....

WylieCoyoteUK
Devil

Re: So, Ad Age thinks I'm a "thief" who's "interfering with business"?

And where does the money come from to pay for the advertising?

Out of the customer's pockets that's where.

I pay for unwanted advertising almost every time I buy something. Who's the "thief" now?

Milk IN the teapot: Innovation or abomination?

WylieCoyoteUK
Flame

Probably used boiling water too.....

Everyone Knows that scalds the leaves.

Flying Spaghetti Monster is not God, rules mortal judge

WylieCoyoteUK
Devil

It's never too late....

Blasphemy is an insult to his Noodliness.

We Marinarans should wipe out the Carbonara heresy.

Field technicians want to grab my tool and probe my things

WylieCoyoteUK
Coat

OOh missus!

Sorry to mess with your stereotype, but these days, engineers carry tool cases or even briefcases, not boxes, and rarely wear overalls. They may even wear a smart suit.

Except on TV of course, where an engineer always wears a stained boiler suit and a woolly hat and carries a clanking cantilever toolbox, even when working on advanced electronics.

German lodges todger in 13 steel rings

WylieCoyoteUK
IT Angle

tips and corrections

For some reason, I read that as part of the text and nearly choked on my coffee.

Icon: maybe it should be where's the IT angle grinder?

WylieCoyoteUK
Coat

Re: Did they first try using a thread?

"A penis is presumably more compressible than a finger since there's no bone."

That all depends, on whether the sight of a fireman excites him......

The paperless office? Don’t talk sheet

WylieCoyoteUK

The paperless office.

Apparently the best thing you can do to increase your printing costs is to install a document management system.

Supposedly promoting paperless working, in general printing actually goes up, because users print out a document and read it, then discard it. This happens multiple times.

By the way, printing from iPads, Iphones, Android, and even (shudder) Windows phones is pretty simple to set up actually, we do it all the time.

Why does the VR industry think 2016 is its year? It's the hardware, stupid

WylieCoyoteUK
Holmes

VR, 3D, Camera phones

They are all the stuff of 60s science fiction, yet they all exist now.

Just not in a form that many people want to use them.

And some people will not be able to use them without a bucket, because of purely physical variations and limitations of human beings.

About 15% of the population cannot "see" 3D, and even more end up with a headache after a short session of watching.

I expect the VR intolerant will be an even larger segment.

'Printer Ready'. Er… you actually want to print? What, right now?

WylieCoyoteUK
Mushroom

I actually manage a printer hotline.

And the calls can be very amusing.

WylieCoyoteUK

Re: The rest of us commute in daily from our hovels

Except to repair the printers, of course.

The monitor didn't work but the problem was between the user's ears

WylieCoyoteUK
Devil

Some times the spark is to blame....

New office, nice shiny pcs, UPS the size of a small fridge.

Plug in the new large colour photocopier, switch on, everything switches off.

Investigate the UPS, which was still charging up.....and plugged into a 13amp mains socket via a kettle lead with an 8 amp fuse in the plug......

Turned out that socket also had a 10 amp circuit breaker in the consumer unit......

DEAD MAN'S SOCKS and other delightful gifts from clients

WylieCoyoteUK

turkish delight

Once got a carrier bag full of various boxes of Turkish Delight from a grateful customer who ran an import business selling the sweets. Superb stuff.

These days if I do small favours for friends, I ask them to donate to charity.

So far solar aid are about a hundred quid better off.

An on-demand video subscription isn't just for Christmas... Oh. It is

WylieCoyoteUK
Holmes

Low long term value = churn

Just bought a chromecast2.

£30 from Pcworld, came with a £20 Google play movies voucher, and a 2 month SkyNow movies pass.

Will I be subscribing after they run out?

I doubt it, I have even struggled to use previous free passes anyway.

I do use Blinkbox or Play movies now and then, but I fail to see any value in a monthly subscription.

For older content, it is often cheaper to buy a DVD off ebay or a car boot than it is to rent it for one night.

Windows 10 keeps Microsoft's odd desktop-as-a-service rules

WylieCoyoteUK

Re: RE:PC/Laptop OEMs would revolt

I have seen customers with exactly that in place, Linux based units running RDP to a windows server somewhere on the internet.

Bacon as deadly as cigarettes and asbestos

WylieCoyoteUK
Devil

Re: Sea change in "allowed" foods

Apparently thou shalt not wear mixed fibres either:

http://biblehub.com/deuteronomy/22-11.htm

So eating pork while wearing a wool/linen mix is probably a guarantee of eternal hellfire.

Wonder if polyester and cotton counts?

Oh dear, Microsoft: UK.gov signs deal with LibreOffice

WylieCoyoteUK
Facepalm

Cue all the usual stuff about incompatibility etc

Funny how so many people on-line seem to rely on obscure macros, plugins and fonts.

Or is it just those that post comments?

To be honest, probably for 75% or more of users, LO is more than adequate.

NASA announcement of MAJOR MARS DISCOVERY imminent: WHAT can it be?

WylieCoyoteUK

A signature

Slartibartfarst's, perhaps, although he was best at doing fjords.....

WylieCoyoteUK

That will be a first.....

Maybe they found the ANY key

Thin client devices revisited

WylieCoyoteUK

I have seen two separate customerss recently running Linux thin clients using RDP to run a windows desktop with Office etc. the only problems were with a locally connected MFD printing and scanning

Google Adblock shock a load of cock – users mock post hoc

WylieCoyoteUK
Facepalm

Re: Simple solution for google

"Ad blockers are the very reason why this isn't happening. As more and more people use ad blockers, publishers need to show more and more intrusive ads to earn the same amount of money."

That argument is nonsense, like saying we get so much spam because we use spam filters.

Ad blockers are in demand because the ads are so intrusive.

Companies often demand flashier, more intrusive advertising despite the advice of the people who actually produce it.

It would be interesting to know what the clickaway rate is for some sites where the advertising is so bad you can't actually read the page.

Windows 10 now on 75 million devices, says Microsoft

WylieCoyoteUK

Re: pushing a free upgrade

I support MFP hardware and software from several manufacturers on customers' networks, and the phone hasn't been that busy.

When untrained users, who don't even know how to install a network printer, upgrade to win10, we have to fix the mess.

On these, we need to un-install the rubbish WPS and WSD drivers that Windows 8 and 10 insist on using, (they often end up with a multifunction printer installed as a standalone (not working) scanner).

Then install the correct drivers.

Next, fix the broken network shares, and get job management settings working.

Then fix SMB and email scanning.

The other big problem is the "modern" apps being made default, especially the terminally stupid windows pdf reader.

On networks with sysadmins, they probably do this themselves.

WylieCoyoteUK

Re: After all, despite the hype, it's really only Windows 8.2

Meep Meep?

WylieCoyoteUK
Holmes

After all, despite the hype, it's really only Windows 8.2

Really Windows10 is more like a service pack for Windows 8.1

So the upgrade from 8 or 8.1 should be smooth and easy, shouldn't it?

And as they've re-added some of the stuff they removed from 7, that should be good to go as well...

Free, what's not to like....until you see how much gata they can now slurp from your PC...."free"

WylieCoyoteUK
Joke

Did somone say FREE?

I'll take ten!

ahem

Typewriters suck. Yet we're infinitely richer for those irritating machines

WylieCoyoteUK

Re: Clement Freud

No, as any ex-Roneo engineer will tell you, we used to get that about twice a week.

How many pre-loaded Win 10 PCs did disties have 7 days after release?

WylieCoyoteUK
Holmes

Wow! that many?

Shall I sell windows 8.1 or 7 PCs, or load them up with an untried OS that my customers will get for free anyway, and I can say "sorry not supported on that machine" when it breaks ?

hmmmm....I'm sure there's an answer here......

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