julian commented on Chevy Volt Dashboard Looks Like The Future If The Future is White Plastic

"I'm praying to Dawkins that this is only a prototype, if it weren't bad enough that there appear to be at least 30 buttons, only a few of them look like they're actually going to be at all raised and therefore things you can actually press without pulling over/veering into another car."

julian commented on First Ever Hydrogen Vehicle 'Cross-Country' Road Trip Had a Lot of Help

"I'm all for getting off oil for vehicles, but as replacements for it go, hydrogen is a particularly stupid one."

julian commented on Apple MagSafe Replacements Are Now Free

"I'm pretty certain it's actually been official policy for a long time, though judging by the comments on here and the very angry reviews of Apple's MagSafe power adapters on the Apple Store, very few people have bothered to check. Whether your product is in or out-of-warranty, you can take your adapter (you don't need to take the computer) to an Apple-Authorized Service Provider or Apple Retail Store for evaluation and replacement if necessary. [support.apple.com] My Rev."

julian commented on Getting a Refund from the App Store Is Basically Impossible

"Maybe it was because I did it on the first day the App Store was available, but I accidentally bought an app I figured would be free, went through the usual "I inadvertently purchased something" route via the "Report a problem" link in my iTunes purchase history, and got a refund no problem. "I have reversed the charge for the accidental purchase you reported."

julian commented on MIT Thermoelectric Device Could Revolutionize Home Heating

""cogeneration plant," Cogeneration is also known as CHP, combined heat and power, which does exactly what it sounds like, providing heat and power from the same plant. CHP is so kick-ass because normal power plants (coal, nuclear, natural gas etc.) only tend to convert around 30% of the heat they make into actual electricity, throwing the rest away."

julian commented on Fisker Karma Hybrid Sports Car Gets Production Plans

"Aside from the Tesla lawsuit, which slightly unnerves me about Fisker as a whole, I find it a little worrying they still don't appear to have announced it's non-EV range, MPG, or charge times. @x23 and @swoyekr: While I do think there are a number of people who like having a hybrid that stands out as one (read: a Prius), if you look at the hybrid versions of most standard vehicles, they rarely get near the MPG that a Prius or Insight will get, I'm betting their aerodynamics (and therefore looks) are a big reason as to why."

julian commented on Behind the Xbox 360 Hard Drive's Insane Price

"Although I might be wrong on this, IIRC, one of the reasons it's so insanely priced is because it includes a licensing fee to NVIDIA for some of the backwards compatibility support (NVIDIA made the first Xbox's graphic chip)."

julian commented on Which Is More Thoughtful, Cash or Gifts?

"I quite like the hybrid approach of giving cash, but also some (hopefully) good suggestions as to what they might buy with it."

julian commented on Macbook Air is Here

"I'm with GIZMOMETER, how warm/hot it is, especially when it's been doing something CPU intensive, and also, how fast the HD is in tests?"

julian commented on Power Conscience Concept Keeps Tabs on Your Electricity Consumption

"We've got something a little like this for free from our energy company, minus the lights and flowers."

julian commented on ThinkGeek Umbrella Shows You the Weather

"@altus: As it gets it's data via a US-wide radio network, and therefore won't work elsewhere, methinks it's unlikely to be giving us UK residents any kind of lightshow that doesn't involve bitching over not being able to find a signal, any time soon."

julian commented on Leopard Disk Utility Format Issue Screws With Time Machine (But There's An Easy Fix)

"Wilson: You might want to consider filing this as a bug with Apple on either bugreport.apple.com (ADC account required, free ones work fine) or Apple's Mac OS X feedback page to help Apple can squish the bug."

julian commented on 3's Skype/Cellphone Phone Launches in UK

""SkypeOut and SkypeIn-which uses the Skype network for cheaper calls to regular numbers-is disabled" Sorry to be a pedant, but doesn't disabled kinda imply that it used to have them?"

julian commented on UK's 3 SkypePhone Gets Camera, Media Functions

"but we're certain that the calls won't be free and that they'll eat up your minutes. Why?"

julian commented on Apple Online Store Says Virus = Windows

"@Taime: I was using the Apple store search like the post says."

julian commented on Apple Online Store Says Virus = Windows

" If you go down to the Apple Online Store and search the term "virus," you will get one result; a smiley face, titled Windows No you won't, because that isn't a search of the store. If you really do search for the term "virus" on the Apple store, there are the results you get, no mention of Windows. Yes I'm being a little pedantic, but I really don't understand where the idea of this being to do with the store came from, especially as it's not even referenced in the linked blog post."

julian commented on Skype and UK Phone Provider Working on Skype Cellphone

"I'm kinda unsure as to where ExtremeTech got that press release, as Three have been offering phones with built-in Skype for sometime now: [three.co.uk]"

julian commented on Master Chief's Girl is Sexy, Shares Outfits With Master Chief

"@Lateral Thinking Experiment: It's not so much that the post only appeals to heterosexual men, moreso that it's only very slightly gadget related, and seems to be here mainly because it combines something geeky with woman's breasts. Also, only 10% of the proceeds go to charity, not all of them."