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User: Ramble

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Comments · 205

  1. Re:3 Cheers for Entrepreneurs with Testicles. on London Could Soon Get Free Wi-Fi Everywhere · · Score: 1

    On the contrary Virgin Media is not run by Branson and their service is awful.

  2. Re:So by extension... on Windows XP Market Share Finally Falls Below 50% · · Score: 1

    What's the problem? Supporting old technology slows down the adoption of new technology for one but mainly it's the insanely massive security risks associated with XP.

  3. Re:decent phones don't need AA on Intel Details Handling Anti-Aliasing On CPUs · · Score: 1

    But it might be a better crutch - AA only takes a small amount of CPU time compared to rendering 4x the area. Also MS does have 4x AA in the Xbox 360.

  4. Re:Probably not a good consumer product. on Camera Lets You Shift Focus After Shooting · · Score: 1

    That's because small point & shoot cameras are crap, they have small apertures and wide angle lenses - this increases the focal plane quite a bit. This technology is for photographers where you may have a very small depth of field.

  5. Re:useful for movies! on Camera Lets You Shift Focus After Shooting · · Score: 1

    I don't think so - this technology significantly reduces the resolution and available light - these issues are only solvable by using a larger sensor, which is a problem since the industry is built around 35mm and 70mm formats.

  6. PMMA on IBM Builds First Graphene Integrated Circuit · · Score: 1

    The article mentions PMMA and resist for use in electron beam lithography, yet PMMA is THE resist used in e-beam.

  7. Bilayer graphene can do this on Graphene Won't Replace Silicon In CPUs, Says IBM · · Score: 1

    This is wrong and right - a single layer of graphene has no gap and one can only be produced if it lies on an appropriate substrate (one that introduces an energy difference between the two different basis point within the graphene lattice). However bilayer graphene exerts a tunable band gap with the application of an electric field - essentially the conductive state is gate controlled, the problem at the moment is the on/off ratio which is being hampered by a number of things including the cleanness of the graphene and the size of the electric field you can apply. I can assure you it's very possible to make transistors from graphene - I've done it.

  8. Re:Prions: Bunch of Hooey on Airborne Prions Prove Lethal In Mouse Studies · · Score: 1

    Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

  9. Re:And For The Record... on Bastardi's Wager · · Score: 1

    An engineer spends years at university learning how to build a bridge, he learns every detail from the behaviour of concrete to load bearing of steel, in the end he gets his degree and builds bridges. A physicist spends years at university learning how to learn, in the end it only takes a small effort for him to learn bridge building.

  10. Re:"Too fast to be true" on SHA-3 Finalist Candidates Known · · Score: 1

    Actually it is - if you have a fast hash algorithm it means attackers can easily hash a whole database, for example if they found a weakness in your system (e.g. you used the same salt for all your passwords) then he could very easily rehash his dictionary attacks with this new salt with a trivial amount of computing time.

  11. Re:Why Bother? on Ultra-Thin Alternative To Silicon · · Score: 1

    Because there is still quite a ways to go with graphene based devices.

  12. Single Atoms? on Graphene Can Be Made With Table Sugar · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Single atom transistors? Where are they getting this from? I do work with graphene and to introduce a bandgap (either in single or multilayer sheets) you need to introduce an energy difference between atoms - in the case of a single sheet you do that by using a substrate with a similar structure (e.g. Boron nitride) so the two basis atoms of graphene experience different energies or in the case of multiple sheets you can use an electric field ala FETs. In no way could you do this with a single atom as graphene has no band gap and is thus a metal normally.

  13. Re:first graphene production on Graphene Can Be Made With Table Sugar · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I'm lucky enough to actually do research on graphene, this method is still used (albeit carefully and in a clean room so it's not as flippant as it sounds).

  14. Re:Pardon me, but.... on World's First Voice Call From a Free GSM Stack · · Score: -1

    I don't think so, AFAIK the SIM holds keys and identification info but no actual 'code'.

  15. Re:Scare tactics on UK Banking Law Blames Customers For Insecure OS · · Score: -1

    I've already got one of these, it is extremely useful because it's also a hell of a lot quicker to login and you don't have to remember 16 different bits of information.

  16. Re:How silly on World's Most Powerful Rail Gun Delivered to US Navy · · Score: 2, Funny

    They added energy weapons to the Enterprise ages ago, they call them phasers.

  17. Re:I robot on Robots Learn To Lie · · Score: -1

    "Come on, what is it?"

    "It's a b... It's a b... It's a small, off-duty Czechoslovakian traffic warden!"
  18. Re:Waste salt on Molten Salt-Based Solar Power Plant · · Score: -1

    But NaCl is by far the easiest to find and has the melting point near what the furnace would operate at, so it is logical to assume that we are indeed dealing with common salt.

  19. Re:Socialism on Clinton Would Crack Down On Game Content · · Score: -1

    Because the OP was an American, the Uk is socialist with respect to American politics. It is by no means properly socialist but it's as close as we'll get. Free healthcare, the welfare state, high taxes all make us rather socialist in the grand scheme of things.

  20. Re:Socialism on Clinton Would Crack Down On Game Content · · Score: 2, Insightful

    How bigoted. I live in a socialist country, and I am surrounded by socialist countries (UK and Europe respectively), I can tell you this is not socialism, it is fascist control. As for socialised medicine, have you ever tried it? America has the worst healthcare system in the first world, and spends more on it than almost everyone (certainly more than the UK). Perhaps you should read more into socialism rather than commit it into the evil communism tray, your right wing Christian ideology isn't exactly first rate.

  21. Re:Huh? on An Acerbic Look At the Future of Reading · · Score: -1

    Reading is a city in Berkshire. Not exactly a paradise to live in, but at least it has a few Pizza Hut's.

  22. Re:who might slip the release date? on KDE 4 to Be Released on January 11th · · Score: 0, Funny

    Are you sure it wasn't Reiser?

  23. Re:No on Heavily Discounted Zune Outpacing iPod Sales · · Score: -1

    Then you use the Zune software, WMP or any other myriad of software that'll do that for you. Small features like that are nothing compared to the freedom you get.

  24. Re:How Did the DNA Strands Form? on Liquid Crystal Phases of DNA, Beginning of Life? · · Score: -1

    No-one knows yet but I do remember reading that some complex organic molecules present in dust clouds in space managed to form a helix through the action of the sunlight hitting it. You do also have to keep in mind that it's highly unlikely that molecules would have formed modern day DNA all at once, it would have probably been small steps, and you also have to remember that we're not heading for a target here, it's not like the molecules felt compelled to form this particular structure we recognise today as DNA.

  25. Re:One sad part about it : on Why the BBC's iPlayer is a Multi-Million Pound Disaster · · Score: -1

    Possibly, when I lived in germany I did most of my watching on the BFBS channels rather than the German channels (I don't speak German, so that's why).