Posts by Steve Ballantyne

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  • Hard News: Put on the full armour of God,

    @ Graeme Edgeler

    Weren't those new testament quotes?

    Only two out of 11. One was from a letter by a guy who used to hang with Jesus, while the other was from from another letter by a notorious bullshitter and fast buck artiste who claimed to have seen Jesus in a vision years after he was dead.

    Nothing from Christ himself; of course, US 'Christians' don't have much use for that Commie faggy peacenik stuff he used to spout.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 27 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Siren song,

    What Morgan Nichol said – I vote for Vista 64 SP1 too, but if you install it you'll probably lose all your saved games (if they aren't gone already).

    I wouldn't go so far as to say I'm happy with Vista 64 Ultimate, though -- it still looks like crap and doesn't do that window-as-document thing that seemed so obvious back in the days of the Lisa -- but it does run games, download torrents and deliver movies to my TV by way of a PS3 without fuss. Things too menial for a proper computer.

    A problem I've had is that Vista's incredibly annoying security won't let me access files that were created with earlier versions of Windows. It tells me I don't have the necessary privileges, or something, to read the Word documents I imagined I had saved as backups. I should find out how to fix this, but life is too short.

    Luckily I learned long ago not to trust anything important to Windows. I suggest you back up stuff you really want to keep to a networked drive or the internal drive of a Mac before you repave your C drive. And then make sure you can read it with one of those proper computers.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 27 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Consumer,

    OS X isn't Windows, and it's not Unix.

    Yes it is Unix. In the Utilities folder you will find an application called Terminal.

    Plus, once viruses for Macs start coming out in a big way that TCO will shoot up.

    I've been waiting for viruses for Macs to start coming out in a big way since 1984. There was a flutter in the early 90s and then they went away again.

    The camera in the iPhone isn't too bad considering -- I've taken some sharp pictures with it. But all camera phones are shit really; Mind you, I'm spoiled -- I picked up a Kodak DCS 14n on eBay that uses proper Nikon lenses and takes 14 Megapixel pictures. That's not shit.

    The iPhone is beautiful, and beautifully made. And the applications -- I downloaded NetNewsWire and it's fantastic. And there are dozens -- soon hundreds, then thousands -- more to come. Another gravy train is leaving the station and once again I'm not on board...

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 27 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Improving quality by cutting service,

    The part about Fairfax's scheme to do away with numerous subs being accidentally leaked through Fairfax's intranet is wonderful -- where other organisations have been known to set up their intranets as portals to useful information, Fairfax's version is not much more than a corporate noticeboard coming between users and something useful like Google or Wikipedia or a decent on-line dictionary.
    And now it's a conduit for leaks? Goodness, these newspaper chaps really know how to manage information.
    "Sub-editors are a hugely valuable part of our newspapers and websites. They are responsible for quality and are our last line of defence against errors," Mr Thompson said. "We need the best sub-editors."
    Huh. They said that about proof readers once.
    Incidentally, I'm told Fairfax is also attempting to reduce staffing by introducing automated colour correction software into the plate-making department, which is fine until someone wants to run the traditional Christmas picture of Pohutakawa in bloom or any other scene with a large mass of a single colour, at which point automated colour systems generally choke. All part of Fairfax management's plan to remove human judgement from the news process, no doubt.
    That's one way to respond to the challenges of the information age -- when the public is turning to other means of obtaining information, hurry them on their way by reducing those qualities of your product that make it unique.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 27 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Cool,

    Singapore's inflight entertainment system would be a lot better if they didn't insist on playing two or three commercials before every movie.

    Air NZ, on the other hand, could do with a better selection of movies -- but I welcome the opportunity to catch up with popular rubbish I don't want to pay money to see. I used to be film reviewer, don't ya know, but I wouldn't want have liked watching crap like Pirates of the Caribbean 3 even in a little preview theatrette. Thanks to AirNZ I was able to see as much of it as I needed to feel informed, with fast forward ad lib.

    I always take my Blackbox noise cancelling earphones when I fly -- I reckon they're worth about half a class upgrade.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 27 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Some things you may not know,

    Ummm -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OUVC_xV79M is what you're after, surely?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 27 posts Report Reply

  • OnPoint: Send in the lawyers (+NGA),

    Yow! Game over!

    He's gone!

    Rejoice! Rejoice!

    As Mrs Thatcher used to say.

    Not that I'm really in favour of anything that makes the Nats more electable, but if there should happen to be a change of government I'd much rather it was a change to someone with at least the appearance of competence rather than a duplicitous old ideologue.

    Yes, the cocoa will be flowing like water at Ballantyne Towers tonight.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 27 posts Report Reply

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