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User: Goth+Biker+Babe

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  1. Re:What's the big deal with ID cards? on Where is the British EFF? Just Around the Corner! · · Score: 1

    No. I just don't have my purple passport to hand and only remember seeing it on the nice old blue ones.

  2. Re:Timing on Thousands and Thousands of Hours of PVR TV · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Insightful? Hah!

    Capture cards? 30 feeds? Don't be so analogue and old school. It only needs to save the multiplexes. Which on terrestrial digital is about eight including all the radio stations.

    Right assuming it's digital only, it needs as many 'frontends' as there are multiplexes. Modern day silicon (non can/discrete component) tuners are pretty cheap and rather small. You'll also need the demodulators to go with them. All of which would fit easily on a single PCI card. Then you just process each of the multiplexes' transport stream enough to remove the redundant data such as the NITs and record the rest on to the harddrives as a stream.

    Something like a Sky box already does this with two transport streams. One is recorded for the 'trick mode' pause live TV etc and one for recording a program. It will also play back a third stream from the disc. A more powerful PC based machine could easily cope.

  3. Confessions of a switcher... on Multi-booting Mac Intel Developer Machines · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I've owned computers for 25 years now. I've been through eight bit machines, UNIX machines at Uni, 16 bit Amigas and 32 bit Acorn/ARM machines. I bought my first PC in 1995 and that was because, by then Linux had become useable enough for me. Eventually I also put Windows 95 on that machine. That machine is still around. Like the preverbial axe it has had all of its bits replaced a few times but is still the same machine. It now runs Linux and Windows XP except that it's been hardly touched in the last few months. Why? Because I use an old Mac G3 instead.

    I used Macs at work between '88 and '93. I liked the hardware but thought it was expensive. Thought the software was okay but a little slow and sometimes unstable. So if someone bought one for me, I'd use it but otherwise I'd use something else. (RISC OS in the early 90s, then Linux/Windows).

    I dislike Windows for many useablity reasons (I'm not an evangelist and will use something if it does the job) and I dislike Linux because it's not finished. Open source coders seem to lose interest once you've got a 90% complete product or application. They either prefer to refactor or add functionality rather than fixing those remaining bugs. I spend all my time at work being techy and I don't want to do it at home. I just want a machine I can use.

    So when Apple anounced OS-X a couple of years or so ago I was interested. A UNIX foundation with Apple's useabilty on the top. But again the costs ruled one out. Not that long ago I got word of the availability of a cheap, second hand, Mac G3 so I bought it. Since I've had it it's done everything I need my home workhorse to do and the PC has not been touched. It may be a tad slow but I'm not worried about games as I use consoles for those (I decided a few years ago that I couldn't afford to keep a PC up to spec enough to play the latest games and so it was cheaper to pay the console premium on games and buy a Playstation 2).

    I've just bought myself an iBook as I feel happiest using OS-X. I'm not worried whether it's PowerPC or x86 as in the end that's just one component in many and the machine runs the same software. I've grown up and no longer care whether my machine has the latest Hibachi 10Ghz processor, just whether it fulfil's my needs.

    So the new machines will have an Intel processor in. So what? It doesn't mean I will put Windows on. I bought a Mac to get away from Windows. Apple will not stop producing OS-X because people don't just buy their hardware for the hardware, they buy a user experience and that requires OS-X.

    If I want Office, I can get it for Mac (Actually I use OpenOffice/NeoOffice when I need such an application). I don't need Windows for anything. I have everything on my Mac. The only thing I use my PC for now is Linux development and the one thing that an Intel Mac would give me is the ability to do away with my PC.

    You have an assumption that you cannot do without Windows and people want windows. You're wrong and I feel that actually what will happen is the complete reverse of what you describe.

  4. Re:What's the big deal with ID cards? on Where is the British EFF? Just Around the Corner! · · Score: 1

    Originally passports were there to proev you were a member of the nation you say you were to the local authorities. The old blue British passports had something in the front which basically boils down to ...

    "The person carrying this passport is a subject of Her Magesty and if you mess with them you'll have Britain to deal with." ...together with a disclaimer saying that if you're also a member of the local nation then tough.

  5. Re:Haven't we heard this before? on Band Invites Music Copying · · Score: 1

    The Grateful Dead, the biggest band that, if you live outside of the US, you will have never heard.

  6. Re:Will there always be an alternative? on Intel Cutting Linux Out of Content Market · · Score: 1

    What happens once all cable/sat/OTA decoder boxes start to come with Windows Media Center features

    I develop software in set top boxes for a living. We produce millions of the buggers. So far I don't think there's one that uses Microsoft software.

  7. Re:A simple question is warranted on Reminding Customers Patented by Amazon · · Score: 1

    So what changed their mind the sixth time?

    Some money?

  8. Re:Monopoly(TM) on EU Domain Registries & ICANN · · Score: 2, Informative

    We did. It was called JANET. It was also based upon packet switch networking which was invented here.

    I think you'll find there's no one *thing* that is an internet. Okay the US came up with milnet. Packet switch networking came out of the labs of the British Post Office. The various protocols came out of elsewhere. Who invented TCP/IP say? For example is the WWW (HTTP), which is what most people see as the internet, an American invention?

    It's like saying the Russians invented space flight.

  9. Re:WWW on EU Domain Registries & ICANN · · Score: 0

    Actually no it's supposed to be "The Internet". The WWW is a subset for techno weenies.

  10. Re:Lest we forget : May 17 1974 on Body Scanners for the London Underground · · Score: 1

    My country

    and

    And, before you lump me in with the cake eaters, I am a regular visitor to NI and Eire

    So are you Irish? Or are you American of Irish descent? If you're the later then 'your country' is in fact the USA. You may argue otherwise but I'd wonder what my Great Grandmother O'Reilly of County Cork would have had to say about it.

    it's unwelcome place in British colonialism.

    Compared to say, the Viking colonialism and the foundation of Dublin, or the emigration of gaelic peoples to Scotland, or the reverse emigration of those from Scotland to Ireland, or the invasion of the Ireland by the Normans from England...

    What you have to remember is that Union is a little over 200 years old. Union was signed in 1800 so technically the UK is actually younger than the US. Before that it was Great Britain being Scotland, England and Wales. Scotland and England combined when James VI of Scotland came down to rule England about 400 years ago. Wales came under English rule somewhat earlier than that. When does colonialism ceased to be colonialism?

    A little under 100 years ago the people of Ireland was asked to vote on whether they wanted to be part of the UK or part of Eire. Some voted one way and some voted the other. Are you saying that those who voted to remain were wrong?

    Did you know that citizens of Eire can still vote in UK elections under that agreement? Who has power over who?

    The basic problem with NI is that no trusts anyone enough to relinquish any control. So royalists are as bad as the republicans. They are all as bad as one another. In the past there were tit for tat bombings. The IRA bombed mainland Britain and the others would bomb the republic. At least that is no longer happening but there's still a long way to go.

    The main problem now is that they are criminal gangs and so still do not want to relinquish power. Add to that the catholic government of Eire. Government there is more religious than that of the UK and so people of NI would lose certain liberties if ruled by Dublin. They may not want to lose that.

    It is all very complex. It's not just about who rules who any more. It's about families who have lived in a place for over two hundred years and are used to certain rights and freedoms and feel they have as much right to be there as others.

  11. Re:Anti-terrorist recipe: on Body Scanners for the London Underground · · Score: 1

    What alternative reality did you fall in from?

    You could possibly argue that the royalist paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland may have had some links with the more dodgy aspect of the security forces but as far as I can remember in my life time Dublin has never been bombed.

    Actually if you ask any mainland Brit about Northern Ireland, most would say, give them their independence. Let them fight it out. It's one of the regions of the UK most subsidised by taxes from the rest of the nation. It would save us money not to have to look after it.

    The realities are that the fighting was between locals; residents of NI; and only a small subset at that. There are many many more law abiding civilians who just want to live their lives in peace and security and someone has to protect them. If it were Dublin ruled then it would be the royalist bombers doing the damage and in Eire.

    What I have never got is people who want to have their cake and eat it. For example Americans who are third or forth generation Americans but still also consider themselves Irish but have never been there and have some rose tinted view of say County Cork, leprechauns and Fred Astaire dancing the green fields.

  12. Re:The perception of security on Body Scanners for the London Underground · · Score: 1

    Bravo! In fact I would object to being scanned every time I had to use the tube. In the end the number of fatalities and injured was although regrettable, quite small, and *any* reaction to the bombers is a success on their part. London's seen this before and will see it again. Sensible precautions will reduce the probability of bombing but wrapping people in cotton wool is no way to win.

  13. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) on Real Wood iPod · · Score: 1

    You can plant new trees and harvest them in 20 - 100 years.

    Softwood yes. Hardwood takes a lot longer to grow. Using Pine etc is no problem. Using mahogany is destroying the rain forests.

  14. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) on Real Wood iPod · · Score: 1

    Rambling aside, I would think that chopping down an old hardwood tree would have less of an impact then producing the equivalent amount of plastics.

    Except that hardwood trees on the whole are much slower growing and older than softwood trees. Chopping down hardwood trees is what is causing the deforestation of the rain forests.

  15. Re:Geeks don't RTFM on the first attempt! on Star Destroyer Built Before Your Eyes · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I was given the Back Hoe excavator LEGO technics set. It's both technics and pneumatic. Even with the instructions it took several sessions and I got the piping wrong. Some of these big sets would be difficult unless you're a very experienced LEGO builder.

  16. Re:Cars aren't the issue on Britain to Pilot GPS Speed Governors · · Score: 1

    The stopping distances in the Highway Code (and for the matter on the safety advertisements) are based upon a 1960s Ford Anglia. Nearly every car on the road can stop *way* under that distance.

  17. Re:You may have posted AC... on U.S. Won't Let Go of DNS · · Score: 1, Informative

    What god? Oh you mean that figment of the imagination of those who need an emotional crutch.

  18. Re:Hogwash on Britain's First Jedi Member of Parliament · · Score: 1

    Christianity was founded on the basis of a "true" document

    Shows how much you know about the bible!

  19. Re:What IS podcasting? on iTunes 4.9 With Podcasting Support · · Score: 2, Interesting

    More importantly some of the major broadcasters are supporting it. There is one reason why I want to update iTunes to the one that supports Podcasting and that is In Our Time. A wonderful programme on BBC Radio 4.

  20. Re:Nice job injecting opinion into your review. on Second Indymedia Server Seized in UK Within a Year · · Score: 1

    I admit its left wing, and I agree its news for people who support universal healthcare, education and other social programs

    That is left wing? News to me. It all sounds perfectly reasonable and I didn't vote left last time.

  21. Re:This is the Internet Calling on 164 Million Broadband Subscribers Worldwide · · Score: 1

    Canada also has the highest Cellular/PCS penetration in the world, and the highest sattelite/digital TV penetration.

    Are you sure? Come on, lets see some numbers. If it's true, then it's marginal when compared with say, the UK.

  22. Thunderbird on Firefox Faces Trademark Issues · · Score: 2, Informative

    Is owned by Triumph Motorcycles both here and in the states. It's licenced to Ford (?) for use on automobiles.

  23. Re:interesting on Hybrid Fixed and Mobile Telephony · · Score: 2, Informative

    What do you consider little range? My phone and my Mac stay connected throughout the house and the phone's not particularly a long range device (I use my phone to control iTunes which is played via Airtunes and an Airport express).

    I bluetooth is good enough for headsets its good enough for phones, it uses less power than Wifi and so the battery will last longer, and its simpler to implement. I'm surprised that so many people from stateside don't get bluetooth.

    Finally this is BT we're talking about. Their business is telecommunications. They don't want to develop something that actually competes with their service so VOIP it wont be.

  24. Re:Yeah, so? on UK anti-ID card campaign Gains Momentum · · Score: 1

    Which is why I'm against the ID card. It's taking away rather a lot of our rights.

  25. Re:Yeah, so? on UK anti-ID card campaign Gains Momentum · · Score: 1

    We have something called the data protection act. It basically means that none of these databases you list can be integrated. I.e. if the tax authorities have me recorded they can't find out whether I have a driving licence. etc. At lot of what the US does with data would be considered illegal here.