Recent submissions

Comment · 15 days ago
It does but only to live content not catch-up/on-demand. Technically if you watch, for example, a live football match on Amazon Prime you are due to pay the licence fee. This is of course completely unenforceable even by the already low standards of the licence fee and as live content is a very small % of what the streaming services offer they can't blanket charge it.

Twitch streams don't count afaik as they aren't TV-like content.

Comment · 16 days ago
Yeah, I don't honestly know anyone who's even remotely happy with the BBC these days. There are different hopping off points, but no-one really respects them all that much any more and they don't exactly do a lot to keep people tuning in with the absolute rubbish they fill their schedule with.
Comment · 16 days ago
The licence fee is currently only due if you watch live content. Owning a TV is not sufficient as there are now many people who own a TV set but don't actually use it to watch TV broadcasts, and there's not really much distinction between a TV and a computer screen other than size (kudos if anyone reading has a 70" computer screen though) and having a TV tuner built in these days.

That's the root issue really. The BBC is a provider of media that's increasingly irrelevant, and even if approval of it hadn't declined precipitously over the last decade or so it'd still have a big issue with the youth mostly not being interested in that format at all. It's not the only reason for declining ratings (declining quality is a big one) but it's a bad sign for the future.

Comment · 16 days ago
That quote is incredible really. The current fee and its terms are just about justified because the BBC plays a big role in maintaining the transmission infrastructure and the relevant standards for the formats. What does it have to do with YouTube or any streaming service's material getting from A to B? Bugger all as far as I know. It has no role in the UK's Internet infrastructure. And if it's part of any of the consortiums that are responsible for the standards it's getting a cut of the patent fees already for that.

Might as well ask me to pay an OpenReach licence fee to support the national standard even though I'm using Virgin Media.

Comment · 1 month ago
I don't really understand this either. Mixer taps are just better, but I have separate taps in my bath tub despite the block of houses being built in the 2010s. Guess some people like the aesthetic.
Comment · 6 months ago
Those things are terrifying. Someone's little scooter's wheel base is definitely not stable enough for that sort of speed.

And that's before the battery fires.

Comment · 6 months ago
It's one thing when you're a fit adult male and get hit by an idiot cycling recklessly on the pavement, it's another if you're a small child or frail through sickness or old age. I've seen a couple of very near misses that would have ended very badly for the pedestrian through no fault of their own.

Saying this it's mostly teenagers in the idiot role from what I've seen and they are reckless by default.

Comment · 7 months ago
Getting my first SSD was absolutely the best computer upgrade I've ever bought. I didn't even realise how annoying load times were because I was so used to them and coming from C64s and Amigas even spinning rust seemed fairly quick.

It took a long time before I felt a need to improve my PC's performance again after that.

Comment · 1 year ago
It was alright in Quake, as I recall, but it really didn't cope at all well with Quake 2 and Jedi Knight.
Comment · 2 years ago
> Actually it was the Ati Radeon 9500 non pro that could be modded into a Radeon 9700.

Sometimes. At least some of those 9500s were binned parts that showed their broken bits when you modded them. I had one. The screen turned into a kaleidoscope when I tried to play a game.

Was definitely worth a try if you had one though!

Comment · 2 years ago
The post office was acting as victim, investigator, and prosecutor and simply lied or withheld evidence to ensure that the defence had nothing to work with and the jury had nothing to contradict that view. It's absolutely batshit levels of corruption and there must be severe consequences.
Comment · 3 years ago
The replies from blue ticks that get pushed up mostly seem to be braindead trolling and camgirl spam too. Twitter was always a bit of a cesspit but you could curate your way to a useful feed. Now it's just awful.
Comment · 3 years ago
There's been talk of replacing the natural gas used directly for heating in the UK with hydrogen. I have absolutely no idea how viable that will actually prove to be but it seems difficult.
Comment · 3 years ago
Yeah. That's where I've gone for all my Amiga nostalgia needs over the years.
Comment · 3 years ago
I've seen them listed anywhere between one and several thousand depending on condition, spec, accessories, etc.

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