[Ed P]

Get your teeth into this Ars report of the Oculus ‘Pacific, Keith.

[Ed P]

“Can hepatitis risks be reduced by modern heat treating, I understand that is part of the (expensive) treatment some blood fractions can undergo? ”

If you are thinking of the Mirasol method, that only reduces the nasties. If you search on irradiation research no-one appears willing to state that pathogens can be eliminated.

 

[Ed P]

I have found that any phone > 5.2 inches becomes a bit of a pain to carry around. Often they will only fit in a jacket or trouser pocket – the latter is now ruled out for me as two screens have become cracked while doing silly things with the grandchildren. Anything over 5.5 inch is even difficult to carry in a jacket. Shame really as a 6 inch screen gave it pad-like usefulness.

[Ed P]

Oculus recently commented on their use of developers being tied to Oculus.

link

Revive’s Patreon for the HTC/Steam might be a game changer that could affect the way Oculus does business.

[Ed P]

Spedley wrote:

I tried to give blood but they don’t want it, anyone who has had a transfusion since 1980 isn’t able to because of the slight risk of CJD.

That may be the official line but they were probably more worried at the time about Hepatitis. It costs quite a lot to screen for all the various variants and iirc Hep C testing has only become available since the 1990s. Before that date there was am estimated Hepatitis risk of 30% if you received US sourced blood.

Nasty range of diseases: they can lead to things like liver cancer many years later. Hepatitis reached endemic proportions in New Zealand and I remember having to be screened as part of a national campaign (only screened for A&B at that time).

[Ed P]

Thanks PM – I think the ‘higher contrast’ (brighter) screen and battery life gives the  Swift2 a big edge. I’m afraid that my eyesight no longer has the same sort of contrast adjustment that it had in the past.

[Ed P]

Thanks Bob that was helpful. The 144x72mm dimensions are just about at the limit of my shirt pockets!

[Ed P]

More details here. Still nothing very tangible on the pink screen of death for VM machines. Their Agesa update appears a really klunky and impractical way of dealing with the problem, but maybe they buried announcements of a fix elsewhere – hope they do something by year-end.

[Ed P]

Just in case it isn’t clear this is where the posts that were misplaced in Jokes were supposed to go.

My wife gave birth during that period and had to have a transfusion. Years later she was told not to give blood and told to immediately submit her blood for testing – then under questioning it all came out from the GP including the potential consequences for any sexual partners and children nursed during the period. A worrying time for the whole family, we were one of the lucky ones however..

[Ed P]

Thanks a lot!

[Ed P]

I now need a new phone!

What are the views on a Wileyfox Swift2 plus versus other 5inch choices and same ~£200 price range?

Afraid I have given up on Chiphones as mine will no longer update and the state of Android insecurity is becoming dire . (unfortunately I have not managed to root the old phone)

[Ed P]

I can see Alexa being connected to IoT equipment being very useful to the infirm but it would need a lot of money and setting up to be useful.

My eldest is a hardware geek and has spent quite a lot of time and cash in setting up his house so he can just yell at things. Has it been worth the money -no,, as 90% of the time he will do it the old fashioned way. has it been a useful learning curve? I really do not know, the jury is still out.

[Ed P]

Tbh I have looked at the released clips and I was not impressed with the ‘soft focus’ effect on all the scenes. It looked like it had been rendered with a film of Vaseline over the lens, but I guess that is an accurate representation of the much lower resolution of the Oculus headset.

[Ed P]

A massive security update that gave me some issues with the Microsoft wireless – seemed to reduce its amplitude somewhat and required me to reposition the M$ usb transmitter bit. Otherwise it installed just fine.

[Ed P]

Give up on the KFC Steve!. My wife quickly made these for the Grandchildren. Substitute  Harissa and/or Zaatar spices for the Cayenne and you have a pretty damned good substitute for Chicken Zingers at 25% of the price! (Baking also makes them a lot more healthy than greasy KFC!)

For a more sophisticated snack use the anchovy mayo recipe for a dipping sauce. You can also used crushed flavoured crisps to coat the chicken pieces. Yummy!

[Ed P]

I do not think it is ‘choice’. I would guess that they were able to reach agreements with Canonical ahead of Suse and Redhat. (The other distros that will come later). With respect to ‘why’ I think you would need to ask Dave, but as all that is offered is cli scripting my guess is that it is aimed at those running mixed server farms in which a Windows server acts as the main host in terms of maintaining the Linux (and Windows)  servers in the set up.

[Ed P]

There is an Ars report on the price drop which is worded in a way that suggests the taint of a fire sale in their pricing. I think Oculus may come to regret not having an open platform as they do not seem to be wooing many developers to their stable. Without devs it just becomes a large expensive  fugly eyeshade. I must admit I have not been in the least tempted, nor has anyone else in my friends or my family’s circle. Without a killer app/game it is a dead duck!

If you read through the comments section it appears that the Vive has an edge.

[Ed P]

Ars has a list of the top deals they have noticed.

[Ed P]

Richard wrote:

Dealing with the current rules is a game for those really in the know, no one else should try to play.

You are not wrong! The rules changed again some time in the ‘noughties’, as perfectly legal light fittings suddenly failed to meet the latest standards when I had a new extractor fitted!

Water-proof, shatter-proof covers required on a light that just happened to be in the shower-room. I would have had to grab the shower-head and step outside the shower cubicle just to get within soak range of the fitting.

Oh what a Nanny state we live in – bring back Darwin’s rules I say!

[Ed P]

Another way to look at it is that roughly 10psi (0/.7 bar) of water pressure will be lost between the ground floor and a typical attic cold water tank. 10psi will give you a pretty good jet of water from a hose.

There are ways of boosting the cold water supply pressure, but as Richard points out there are lots of rules and regs that must be followed.

[Author]

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