Posts by Jove

Not another Linux desktop! Robots cross the Uncanny Valley

If, after retirement, I had a choice between an obnoxious and ignorant NHS staff and a robot, I would go with the Robot thanks.

Nokia's comeback is on: The flagship 8 emerges

I don't take calls in the shower, so a GBP 150 discount on snowflake glitz is good enough for me.

Southern awarded yet another 'most moaned about rail firm' gong

That is what you get for being soft on the Unions.

Oh, wow, Canada: No more carrier-locked phones for Canucks

Quite a sharp shift from previous practices.

A bit tax is something we could do with in the UK to finance the likes of the BBC, The Sun, The Guardian, Channel 4 extra, in place of the existing BBC Tax.

Labour says it will vote against DUP's proposed TV Licence reforms

Re: Amazon and Netflix?

A world full of snowflakes.

Re: Speaking from NZ

They currently block films on iPlayer due to legal restrictions, and this is something they could do a broader scale offering alternative content as applicable.

Re: Speaking from NZ

Which is exactly one of the reasons they will be opening the issue again later this summer.

Re: News to me

It is the Window Tax (Poll Tax even) of the modern day.

Given that the Labour Party has become a religious cult they would not exactly be breaking new ground.

Re: The BBC: Crown Jewels of UK Broadcasting

You are living in the past - the BBC is long past it's peak and is functioning as a propaganda machine at virtual all levels.

Time to take it around to the back of the shed.

Trot's Propaganada Machine

The end of the BBC Tax and the adoption of a subscription model would be a healthy improvement to the BBC in the medium-term.

Tech can do a lot, Prime Minister, but it can't save the NHS

Repeatedly increasing taxes to fund an out of control system is not the answer, especially when the majority of younger generations are not capable of earning a living to the extent necessary to fund their aspirations.

- Cut the NHS back to core services,

- Charge for anything outside of the core services,

- Privatise non-core services,

- Vet customers - charge a premium for those who smoke, consume drugs, drink excessively, or do not exercise,

Legalise euthanasia/assisted-dying.

That will get things back into balance.

Cloud VMs without sane firewalls is nutty, right? Digital Ocean agrees

English?

Your contributors could do with some lessons.

BA's 'global IT system failure' was due to 'power surge'

Re: Really a power failure?

Rubbish. This is a global business with multiple DCs and no doubt redundancy built-in at all levels of such critical business systems. Any narrative trying to suggest otherwise must be originating from the BA PR department.

What is dead may never die: a new version of OS/2 just arrived

Open Source

Key question is; can it be made to run GNU s/w, say via mode to Cygwin? If not, it is still a micro-niche player.

Facebook is abusive. It's time to divorce it

That read exactly like the Women's page on a daily rag.

Sad fact of the day: Most people still don't know how to protect themselves online

It is not Governments and their Agencies that I am concerned about.

TVs are now tablet computers without a touchscreen

405 to 625 migration did not happen?

Those old "High Def" sets were not much use either after the 405 line signal was turned off - so what's new?

Spammy Google Home spouts audio ads without warning – now throw yours in the trash

I would not want to be associated with anyone that allowed this device in their home.

BT's Openreach to hire 1,500 engineers

Re: Will they stop sabotaging competitors lines?

Well that is your opinion, but where is your evidence?

BT agrees to legal separation of Openreach

Regressive

So the generation of fluff-balls undermine another national champion in the interests of aggrandisement of their superficial egos exposing BT to take-over by a foreign party such as France Telecom in the coming years and which not give tuppence to Ofcom's self-serving red-tape.

Cutting Hewlett-Packard Labs down to size

Echoes what happened to BT Labs about 20 years ago - there was lots of great work going on, but a large portion of it was not aligned with the business.

Shocked, I tell you. BT to write off £530m over 'improper' Italian accounts practices

The buck stops here

Clear a failing at the very top to allow such opportunity within the overseas operations. Given the size of the figure, further leading people will need to be invited to leave the business.

Oracle lied: Database giant is axing hundreds of staff – at least 450 in its hardware div

The author of this piece would n't be a former Oracle staffer by any chance? I detect a slight hint of bitterness and bias.

Why the UK is unlikely to get an adequacy determination post Brexit

Who cares?

It is only of interest to a minority, and in practical terms it will make the UK safer than the those countries that choose to remain subject to EU law. Of course; don't expect EU law to remain so liberal.

Screw EU! Apple to fight back over €13bn tax bill

The real target is more likely to be Ireland's Corporate Tax rate with Apple being the pawn. I also do not understand why Ireland does not just reject the interference of the EU in matters outside of it's remit.

Russia's bid for mobile self-sufficiency may be the saviour of Sailfish

Re: Market size?

So what are the actual numbers for Russia?

BT Yahoo! customers: Why! can't! we! grrr! delete! our! webmail! accounts!?

CriticalPath

What Yahoo accounts are they? I was under the impression that the mail service was migrated to CriticalPath sometime ago.

HPE crams unloved software down Brits' throats – then charges them $9bn to swallow it

Re: HP's """machinations"""

Well now that HPE has a half-bite it wont be long before MicroFocus is wiped out.

BT and Openreach: Splitsville or not? We'll not find out till Feb – at the earliest

Re: The important question...

In what way does it not work? Where is the substance to claims being made against it?

Telefonica has financial 'constraints' that are precipitating the sale of O2. Like Santander, it is has been relying on the UK revenues to to keep the parent company going to a large extent. External take over attempts are more likely to come from elsewhere.

The separation of 'BT' from the GPO postal services was that between to distinctly different organisations. In the case of Openreach, it is core to the BT business.

The argument being given by some parties is akin to a neighbour demanding access to your freezer because they have been too lazy to either or stock their own.

I'M SO SORRY, sobs Rosetta Brit boffin in 'sexist' sexy shirt storm

More than a year later he still looks like a prat, and is one of those that do not know how to behave in public.

Big Brother is born. And we find out 15 years too late to stop him

Why would you expect anything else

Well, be thankful that at least some people in Government are not swayed by by the mob.

Brazil gets a WTF WhatsApp moment

Bring me the head ...

Put a bounty on the CEO's head (Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia) of any such business. It may encourage a improvement in behaviour, and make great headlines along the way.

Hacked TalkTalk CEO: Dead as a Dido? Nope, she refuses to quit

It will also probably be a case of protecting their own backs from a potential spilling of the beans by Dido Harding. The reasoning being that the poor state of affairs at TalkTalk will have existed before she took on the roll.

Blood in the boardroom as Imation ejects from tape media business

Re: Piracy

Rubbish; It is a dead business, it is just the reading the last rights.

Yahoo! Says! Chrome, IE Users! Should! 'Upgrade'! To! FIREFOX!

Is this news worthy?

Is it really a big story? Did not Google push Chrome at every opportunity?

El Reg Redesign - leave your comment here.

Very stark; almost utilitarian.

The Great Unwatched: BBC hails glorious digital future for Three

Re: "a million Don't Tell the Bride, Sun Sex & Suspicious Parents and 'documantaries'"

Only if the viewers are paying for it, which is not apparent from the current model.

Speaking in Tech: Android 5.0 Lollipop is a TRAIN WRECK

Sounds very like commercial time for the under-employed.

Sony employees face 'weeks of pen and paper' after crippling network hack

Back to the Stone Age

I don't think I can use a pen for more than 30 minutes these days.

Google+ goes TITSUP. But WHO knew? How long? Anyone ... Hello ...

Google Maps

Google Maps was also affected: search, locations, and Google Earth images were all either seriously sluggish or non-functional for several hours yesterday at least up to mid-afternoon UK time.

Kids hack Canadian ATM during LUNCH HOUR

Re: Not an 'hack'.

Or rather 'Cracking'?

Re: how did they access it?

Or was it via remote access?

Either way I would think that the bank concerned has a few questions to answer.

A post-Snowden US had better not SQUEAL about Chinese cyber-spying

Deflection

If you wanted to justify additional funding for your agency, and deflect attention from your own activities, it would be convenient to nurture, even talk-up, the impression that a rogue foreign power was responsible for a significant proportion of digital eaves-dropping which was in fact largely due to your own crafted activities.

Ten... Apple iPad Mini alternatives

Kobo Arc

Good article.

Although it is not released in the UK until the 16th of November, the Kobo Arc looks like a good alternative.

It is close to the Acer A110 in terms of spec; it has a higher res screen, but with a dual-core chip. However it is more open and will get JB at some point, so I thought would wait until it was in the shops before I make a final decision.

Doctor amputates boy's arm using SMS instructions

Opps ...

wrong number.

Powerline Ethernet and ring mains

Low-pass filter

If you live in a block of flats, a low-pass filter at the fuse box/trip panel should minimise potential interference from neighbours that may also be using powerline network adapters. However I am not aware of such device existing, nor of it being available as an installation option for the wiring of home premises.

It is early days yet; at present not many people are using the mains for networking, but as in the case of wifi, as more people start using it, the signals from neighbouring premises (in shared buildings) may in some cases have a greater impact on through put.

Signal Leakage

I was advised by an electrician when asking the same sort of questions, that the signal will not be stopped at the Fuse Box/Trip Panel. So in addition to appearing on all of your internal rings, it will also be fed into the building supply if you are in apartment block say. I think the signal gets out on to the local supply connection, where it is attenuated by distance. So if you are in an apartment building, you may find yourself competing with a neighbour for bandwidth.

I would also be interested in other takes on this.