Posts by Ben Tasker

UK bungs £250m to factories stung by climate-change policy

@TeeCee Re: Back to the 70's?

is this an admission that the whole arrangement as it stands is a right, royal pig's ear

I did wonder that myself, I thought the whole point in the taxes were to encourage nations to use less energy or face paying a lot more. Rather than enforce that, a 'package' is instead being put together.

Not that I disagree with helping the industries, whilst the above may have sounded like a hardline green, my view is actually that the taxes are a ill thought out, knee jerk reaction to some heavy lobbying by a bunch of eco wack-jobs greens.

If they want to reduce energy usage across the country, they need to look more at what causes us to use so much. A holistic view is also needed, the car scrappage scheme a few years back was a complete failure when you consider the energy used in manufacturing the replacement cars and disposing of the old ones. Might have saved a few emissions, but it's almost certainly still a loss on the hug mother earth front.

I've no problem with trying to help the environment, and am more than willing to do my bit, but taxing everyone into the ground isn't going to work. There's a base-line of usage the average person cannot get below, and the taxes mean that using the minimum is costing more and more and more.

Not to mention, from a cynics point of view, we'll now be paying those taxes twice. Once on our energy bills, but a second time through other tax streams to help fund the package they are proposing. Why not just call a turd a turd and drop the taxes?

Lancashire man JAILED over April Jones Facebook posts

The guy is an absolute arse.

But, as others have pointed out, it's the pointy end of a thick wedge. Freedom of Speech and Expression is something that needs to be thought about without the burden of emotion clouding the issue.

If I was in that situation, and someone made similar jokes, I probably would want them locked up. It doesn't mean it's actually right to do so though. He's an absolute idiot for what he's done, but whilst I don't agree with what he's said, on principle I've got to defend his right to say it.

There are some very sensible areas where Freedom of Speech is slightly curtailed, the age-old example being shouting FIRE in a crowded theatre. That's a public safety issue and you should expect some repercussions. That, however, is an order of magnitude more harmful than simply causing offense.

Hell, I probably offend a few people quite regularly (although not deliberately), in fact we probably all do to a greater or lesser extent. It's not the same as going out of your way to deliberately offend someone, but that should be seen as a sign of a wazzock with an inferiority complex, not as something punishable by jail-time.

I can't help think that if the emotional link was taken away from this, those forgetting about freedom of speech would probably be in the minority. Condemn the guy all you want, he much of what he gets (and probably more), but don't make the mistake of thinking this justifies broad over-reaching laws that curtail freedom-of-speech. The only link here is they've been used to get someone you find particularly distasteful, it doesn't make them good laws

Right....... Coffee time

eBay frets as right to resell comes under scrutiny

Re: There is a difference...

An argument straight out of Economics 101. The problem is, the 'free' market only works when people (including the players within) let it.

Take this case for example, the publishers are within that market, but rather than letting the market decide what's right and wrong, they're taking legal action to try and enforce a stance that very few would agree is sensible or logical.

With software and other abstracts you purchase a license to use the product, not the product itself. It is completely reasonable for a publisher to have the ability to limit rights in the case of a license...

The problem with software licenses, is in many case it feels like you're buying the item in much the same way as you would a book. What's the difference between walking into WH Smith, paying for and walking out with a book when compared to walking into PC World, paying for MS Office and walking out box in hand?

The only material difference is the terms we apply. In neither case do you expect to sell it as your own creation (at least, not legally) but I think it's quite reasonable to expect to be able to sell either on once you no longer have a need for it.

Whether someone might sell it having made a copy isn't entirely relevant, as they could do the same with the book, it's just a lot more work.

My view is if you've bought a physical item, you are within your rights to sell it on, whether it be a book or an install CD.

Samsung claims Apple jury foreman LIED to get REVENGE

reduction in comprehension

inability to understand

Sorry, just making sure they can comprehend your post!

instructions that Samsung claims were "incorrect and extraneous" and "had no place in the jury room."

And Samsung would be right.

In another interview Hogan says that he believes that had he not been there, the deliberations would have taken longer and likely involved a lot of questions being referred to the judge. This, of course, being the way it's supposed to happen. What Hogan did was act as an expert witness in the Jury room, and it's not something that's permitted.

Take the source code for example, in an interview, Hogan stated that he was able to read it and so translated it to the rest of the Jury. What should have happened, is realising they couldn't understand it, they should either have asked the Judge for direction or simply dis-regarded it.

The thing that's funny about all this though, is it would never have happened in the UK. Or more accurately, would never have come to light, because the Jury aren't allowed to discuss deliberations at all. So, no media interviews for a start.

It's those media interviews combined with Hogan's apparent love of his own voice that have given Samsung the ammo for this motion. Had he stayed quiet, large parts of the issue would never have come to light. It's doubtful a lawyer would discuss jurors by name with his spouse, so I suspect it's the media coverage of Hogan (who's going to forget a name like Velvin Hogan?) that triggered a memory.

All in all, it's a bit of a fucker. On the face of it, this guy seems to have unfairly influenced (and I'm not speculating on his reasoning) what was touted as the most important patent case to date, and as a result that ruling is going to be viewed as a complete sham.

So not only as he possibly led the Jury in to deciding in a way that they may not have done beforehand, but there's now the delay and expense of a re-trial on the horizon.

Whilst the Judge could dig deeper in, I suspect she won't. Judge's often take the path of least resistance, if it looks like there's a chance a retrial might be needed anyway, she'll probably take the issues with Voire Dire as evidence enough.

Apple won't be happy, Samsung clearly aren't, the only ones who stand to benefit (as usual) are the lawyers.

BYOD cheers up staff, boosts productivity - and IT bosses hate it

Re: Undue optimism

If it's a largish company, it's probably fair to say that, given enough time, without restrictions you can guarantee that at least one of the staff will do something stupid.

Re: Responsability

Corp IT only provides a vendor-neutral, standards compliant back-end for all clients to be able to connect (IMAP, POP3, and the like).

Incidentally, companies have had this for years before BYOD even came up. It's not external connections in that are a problem, you can filter them to hell, restrict what they can access on the server etc.

It's when users want to plug their malware infested devices into the LAN or connect to the WLAN that's the issue with BYOD from a basic security PoV. Unless, of course, you think running a VLAN for each client is fun.

Reading your post has me thinking of the Corp. IT issued laptops that run outdated software (XP with IE6 anyone? Outdated Flash or Java...)

That does suck, no disagreement there. On the other hand, it is a work computer and if the business has decided IE6 is all you need then that's what you get. You should of course raise hell about it where IE6 is involved.

The web is filtered to protect staff from the likes of WebEx. IT Support are either a help desk of a dozen low qualified interns, or asleep when you call at 3 in the morning.

Budgets are often cut, perhaps if the helpdesk had a few less qualifications between them IT could afford to buy you the Alien laptop you'd prefer. Of course, the support would be worse, but you'd have better kit. Addressing a balance can be difficult, and very few businesses get it quite right.

The technology is ready - what needs work are the internal application policies that are compatible with law and the users' expectations.

Sorry but user expectations don't factor in, business needs do (and that includes the law and regulatory compliance). Users' expectations don't take into account things like law, budgets, scope for expansion, ongoing support costs, licensing costs etc. Nor should they have to, it's not their job.

Re: @djack

Just for the record, they also match quite closely to the specs enforced (by default IIRC) to a mobile device linking to Google Apps for Domains.

Re: Responsability

Your are not there to serve your interests but those of business and the users. IT is not a end, but a means.

If I as the user create more value for company using a BozoPad on my FanPhone, then I challenge IT to make this happen.

Bang on the nail, and in that situation you'd be correct. However, what IT also has to assess is the cost/benefit of BYOD versus the more traditional methods. If the extra measure that need to be put in place are going to cost more than the bigger bosses will authorise, then it ain't going to happen without a very good case being put forward - and "The users will be more productive on their own kit" does not make a strong business case.

Some businesses, BYOD works really well. Other's it doesn't. What some users seem to miss is that different businesses are, well, different. Just because it works for Company A, doesn't mean you in Company B are entitled to the same. Conversely it not working for Company B doesn't mean it can't work for Company A.

The web is filtered to protect staff from the likes of WebEx

Of course the web is filtered, you're on a work connection. The business wants to keep malware of it's network, and most will take steps to block 'offensive' content too. It's called being in the workplace.

field staff that are crippled because they are not admin

Only give users the privileges they need regularly. That's security 101 for fuck sake.

Did you perhaps get to use a PC in the summer holidays? Because you seem to know fuck all about security in a corporate environment. Hell the only reason I'm bothering to respond is because I'm an Insomniac so have a good proportion (if not all) of the night to waste

Re: @djack

Let's accept the superficially plausible bit of specious a minute. What was wrong about what he said?

The only area I can see is that possibly some users might be willing to submit to all those restrictions.

The rest of the post is just sensible security precautions when dealing with sensitive data, or will you not mind when your banking details are left on an iPad on a rush hour train by accident? Most companies deal with data that's sensitive in some form, whether commercially or under the DPA, so steps have to be taken.

Re: Responsability

@ A/C 101

That's the winning attitude employees expect from I fucking T. I put it to you that you just can't be fucked working out a solution to BYOD security implications? You'd be happier if computers were banned in your office wholesale.

Based on your attitude, I think you might be on the wrong site mate..... just saying

Just waiting for the day when someone with a grudge helps a co-worker install a dodgy copy of Office and then snitches on their employer to the BSA.

Logic would suggest that the employer shouldn't be liable for licensing of BYOD kit, but when has logic ever played a part for the BSA et al?

I'm not against BYOD as long as it can be effectively managed to ensure compliance with whatever local security policies are in place. It's not impossible to do this with a lot of devices, but that doesn't mean it would benefit from further simplification.

I'd still rather people were using work provisioned kit. Certainly in past employment there were elements of the network that BYOD kit (had the trend existed then) would never have been allowed near due to a near paranoid level of security.

Global action takes down tech support scam

Re: So how come BT arent interested when I complain?

Based on something different I received it's because the feckers were using hacked VOIP servers.

These 'scams' are quite nice compared to the one that targetted my parents house (just so happened it was me answering the phone though).

They ring and ask some questions, you tell them to go away

They ring back, again and again and again

Which in itself is fine, except that they get more abusive as time goes along. When I answered in a high pitched voice they asked what I was wearing, and told me they wanted to fuck me and my daughter (not that I have one mind), describing in detail what they were thinking about doing.

From what I gather the aim is to wear you down until you break and say "what will it take to get you to fuck off" at which point they helpfully take some banking details or a card-number to pay the 'administrative' fee to be removed from their list.

Of course, simply taking the phone off the hook for an hour or two is quite effective too.

Motorola's Germany Xbox sales ban castrated by US judges

Re: The judgement is here ...

But the point, surely, is that only a German court has the right to decide what the US court has taken it upon itself to decide. Germany being one of the many many countries not subject to US law.

After all, there's bound to be a few things where the legality differs whether youre in the US or the UK. The US has no jurisdiction here, so how is this different?

It is because of the initial suit being filed on US soil, and the fact that it relates to two American companies, that the Seattle court was able to intervene in the matter of the Germany ban

Whilst I can see the logic, it strikes me as stretching it to say that a US court has the power to overrule the decision of a court in another nation?

You could argue it's a case of the US Courts trying to keep their own house in order, of course, but if a German court has said "Can't be sold here" what right does the US have to say "Yeah they can"?

Or is it because Motorola would have to seek to enforce the injunction that they feel they can? After all, from that view I suppose they're not actually dealing with the German decision, more saying to Moto "You may have got the decision, but we're telling you you can't use it?"

All seems a little extra-territorial to me!

Mosley thrash'n'tickle vid case against Google opens in Hamburg

Re: Good...

Torrents are an entire category (or more specifically a file-type). It's a little more understandable asking for that to be blacklisted than results about a specific Individual.

I can see where he's coming from, I'm just not convinced it's necessarily the best route to take

Re: Good...

I've no idea to be honest, I guess it probably depends on the context, but it's him that's trying to set the rules.

Re: Good...

How about you read what he's after before commenting?

Google don't host the video (though I don't doubt a few keep trying to post to YouTube). What they do is link to it from Search results, which allows people to find it. He can have those links taken down if he points them out, but what he wants is for Google to auto-detect the links so he doesn't have to keep sending takedowns.

I can understand where he's coming from, takedowns are an uphill battle for something like this. I don't think, though, that he'd actually feel any better if Google complied anyway. The video will still be online (that's unlikely to ever change) and people will still find it and pass it round. If anything, by launching the lawsuits he has, he's renewed interest in it.

The thing about the online world is your mistakes never go away. It sucks, but really the best thing to do is just accept that, as distasteful as it may be.

Portugal’s prosecutor punts P2P case

Re: I'll bet money this decison is over turned.

By law the judicial system must prosecuted pirates when a claim of copyright infringement is made.

Only where it's claimed that the infringement was for commercial gain, there and here in the UK. That's the only time that it's a CRIMINAL offence, and so the only time someone will be prosecuted by the state.

Everything else is a CIVIL matter, and it's down to the copyright holder to bring the claim.

Not hard is it?

Re: Won't be sustained under review

@Chris

And why should that be the Government's problem exactly? If it's a civil matter then it's down to the copyright holder to bring suit. If they've any sense (as the previous poster just said) they'll sue the big fish. In your scenario it isn't exactly going to be hard to track down who to sue, if only one copy was bought then it must have come from them.

It's equally 'possible' that no copies would be sold, and everyone would download a torrent. Not particularly likely though. Most people have a sense of what they feel is right and wrong. Sometimes 'right' may be contrary to law, whilst 'wrong' may be something that's actually legal. Laws are there to protect society when people do wrong (in the eyes of the law) but very few people use Law as their sole moral compass. Those who think downloading copies of W7 is 'right' are going to do so even whether the law says you can or not.

Frankly it's a problem of the business model, selling goods in digital format means they can be easily copied and distributed. There's no reason Government should have to get involved with anything but commercial distribution (i.e. fraud) just because there's an issue in someone else's business model.

Re: My, my, I'll bite.

AC, for as long as they are 'taking use' of my car, they are depriving me of the ability to do so. It's a very different thing (though one could, I suppose argue that it'd be possible for both to use a wife at the same time).

I don't know Portugals law that well, but I do know that in the UK it wouldn't be contrary to law. Our law says that copyright infringement is only a CRIMINAL offence when done for commercial purposes, otherwise it's a CIVIL matter. To me, what Portugal have said sounds very similar to this. So in other words, if no commercial gain is being made, it's down to the rights holder to sue the infringer. Perfectly reasonable really.

Copyright law doesn't exist to protect art, it exists to foster innovation. There's a big distinction here, the idea was always (much like with patents) to give the creator control over the work for some time, so they could monetise it, but eventually (14 years later) that work would enter the public domain for the benefit of society.

The intended aim of copyright was to ensure that society would benefit by creating an environment where creatives could monetise their creations for a short while (and so encouraging them to create), but also ensuring that society as a whole would benefit (by the works entering public domain).

The situation now is very different, the term of copyright has been extended again, and again and again at the behest of some very large and rich copyright holders. Copyright now gives little benefit to society because in some cases it can be well over a century before the work enters the public domain. Frankly Copyright Law has been perverted to do the opposite of what was originally intended.

IMHO it's made worse by the fact that, if anything, we probably need shorter terms than the original 14 years. There's so much being made, and society moves on so quickly that even 14 years seems too long for some things (music and film for example), 10 years might even be enough (perhaps with the option to renew for a further 10).

Tim Cook: 'So sorry for Apple's crap maps app - try Bing or Nokia'

Just don't go there.

Not that big a deal

Firefox's birthday present to us: Teaching tech titans about DIY upstarts

Re: I think that's the point though...

that's a decision made by the platform incumbents to create an ecosystem that benefits them.

The problem is the developers have to work with this system too, and they're the ones setting the prices.

I completely agree though, would be nice to have something like web apps that could use native hooks. Never likely to happen though, as it means there's no reason to pay Apple/Google any commission if you don't need to sell through their App Store. End result, the browsers not likely to support the hooks

When I bought RogueTouch through Apple's App Store I didn't buy it from ChronoSoft, the developer. I bought it from Apple, and were I to move to Android I'd have to buy it again... from Google.

I understand what you're trying to get at it here, but I can't quite agree. Even if you bought direct from ChronoSoft you would still only be getting the iOS version. Unless of course you want the purchase cost to contribute to the costs of developing for every supported platform. To some extent it may be that they already do, but that's very different to 'buy once, run on anything'.

It'd be different if you could write something for iOS and it'd run on Android, or at least be cheap to port, but that's not going to happen for some time. Even if it did, how many companies would use the true cost, rather than going "this would be £5 per platform, we support 6 platforms so we'll sell for £30"

Most companies I know (there are exceptions) won't let me have the OSX or Linux version just because I've already paid for the Windows version. Can't see it happening in the mobile world either (though again, there'll be exceptions).

It'd be nice, but I think we'd all end up paying a lot more for it.

Icelandic town demands vulva museum

Re: All you filthy minded people...

Because some people like older vulvas, of course

Changing from an Animal to a Vulva museum?

What a load of cunts

Google spikes old MS file formats

You can download them, just not in the old format. How much use that is is another question...

Re: "something like LibreOffice"

I don't know if accurate file format documentation exists within MS

It does but they've forgotten how to open the containing file format so can't read it.

Re: xxxxOffice

more probably because I was being a pain in the arse than anything else

In the corporate world, sometimes that's the only thing you can do to get it done.

When one of my ex-employers switched to a network supplied/managed by an outside company, I found a few fairly gaping security holes in what was supposed to be (in the sense that it needed to be, but also that they claimed it to be) a very secure network. I did the proper thing and quietly reported it up their chain, having notified the relevant people within our org. Got a thanks we'll get it fixed, but the fix didn't come. So, I wrote a very slightly weaponised proof of concept (no harm though), passed it to the relevant people in our org and said "I reported this issue, they said they'd fix. Look at the code I've sent you, a) a 6 year old could write it and b) it should be clear that this PoC is harmless only because I've decided it should be". Sometimes highlighting the danger is the only way to get things done, after demonstrating just how easy it was to exploit, the hole was fixed quickly because our org started leaning on the supplier.

so when I pointed them to GIMP, which does what I need and is free, it was a case of "but if it's free how do we know it's not full of virus/trojan/STDs?"

If you pointed at a GIMP and asked if you could use him, I'd probably ask the same thing ;)

Seriously though, there is still a pervasive mindset that free == risky and expensive == safe. We all know that neither is accurate, but it does take some convincing to get those with the money to see that. The main thing, I've learnt, is not to put yourself at risk just to get the job done. You certainly won't get thanked, and it may even be used against you later!

Re: xxxxOffice

They've not locked that down too well have they? Used to work on a similar network, but it had a whitelist of executables, making it far harder to run 'naughties'.

Right, shower's on in preparation for what I'm about to say:

You could take the corporate approach, which would be to generate a risk analysis report stating that if the regulator were to do an audit, we'd be unable to open any documents created pre (insert year) leading to potential fines of fuckinghellthatshigh.

Mitigation: Use LibreOffice, provides support yadayadayaday

Licensing costs: Fuckall

Impact: None for most users

And then what they'll do is (probably) have a skim read, and bin it. But the next time you need one of those older documents, you adhere to IT policy (so don't load LO) and instead escalate the issue up the chain (can't open this document, told you about this etc).

I've found, through bitter experience, if you circumvent a policy to get your job done it's generally ignored. but if you get a boss who doesn't like you, or someone with a grudge, they're then able to use that as ammo against you. The more 'ammo' they get, the bigger a threat they become, especially as the buggers dealing with your grievance after you've been disciplined won't look at as "doing what he needs to do his job", they'll see it as "fair cop, was circumventing security policies" as I'd imagine would any tribunal.

As distasteful as it is, sometimes you just have to let things fail. Otherwise you're potentially risking your own employment for the benefit of the business, and making it quite easy for them to get rid of you ("We take security very seriously here"). It also lets the pointy heads continue to pretend they're doing a good job by only shopping with MS!

Re: Fear factor.

A their aim is to get (and keep) you using Google Docs, I suspect it'll be a very long time before they stop you from uploading in those formats, especially given the number of documents businesses will have floating around in .doc etc.

I'd guess that they are planning on doing some kind of tweaking to the export functionality, and decided they didn't want the overhead of doing .doc support for whatever reason. The age of the format gives them the perfect excuse.

Whether that's malign or malicious intent I guess is down to the individuals perspective though

Euro watchdog to charge Microsoft on web browser choice boob

Re: I'll remind you all again

And yet they haven't been taking them back......

Re: New anti trust case please

Look under c:\windows\system32 what do you see? Oh wow a directory called etc, and just like on *nix it contains - config files!

Not that there's any real relevance to the discussion except your claim that Windows doesn't have an etcetera dir

Re: New anti trust case please

The odd virus you may get (unlikely for most that dont surf beyond amazon,bbc etc.) is nothing, compared to the time wasted on the incessant, re-enter your password to change that 'gov.

Pretty much sums up the difficulty in melding good security and convenience really. The most efficient security will always be inconvenient in some way, but the masses don't want that. They want to be able to just click and it's done, the problem is they whinge about the low security when something goes wrong.

You may get your thrills from being in a terminal window and trawling through usr, lib and randomly named directories

I would say that Windows is the one with randomly name dirs to be honest. It's the only popular OS out there without the Unix file-structure. OS X, Linux, BSD all have /usr and so on. But I guess it's 'random' because you're not used to it (reminds me of people on forums asking where their C: drive had gone).

I do use the terminal quite a lot, but only where it's more efficient to do so. I don't actually have to use it though, you know, we have GUI's too.

My mother uses Kubuntu without too much difficulty, no training required. What's your point?

Re: New anti trust case please

Anyway, isn't it an established fact that BSD flavours are generally superior

I'm gonna have to run out and grab some popcorn for the discussion resulting from that comment I think.

I agree though, handing taxpayer money to one company (whether Canonical, Microsoft, RedHat or whoever) is a bad move. I guess really it needs to go into funding alternatives that people need, so perhaps look at some of the things that might stop people switching and fund projects to help bring software in that area up to scratch.

McFlurry McMisdemeanour costs Welsh lass McJob

Re: @VinnyR

I've a vague memory that it was about getting younger people into employment. If it costs less to employ a youngun then that's more attractive to some businesses (those that only care about how much they pay out). The idea presumably being that once you've got a foot in the door, you either make a career of it or at least have some experience behind you when you apply for other jobs.

Course, I could be talking shite.. I can't really be bothered to look it up though

Vandals break into congressman's office, install Linux on PCs

Re: Well yes of course it will be recoverable

Did you miss the part where he said it would be recoverable if you hadn't overwritten it.

Overwriting with zero's is, well, overwriting.

I quite like the stink this guy's kicked up, especially when you see the follow up story explaining that an 8th grader broke the window, and a member of staff accidentally formatted the drive by using a Linux install disc!

Populous

I'd forgotten about Populous

I used to love that game, though not as much as Red Alert

Eric Schmidt: Ha ha, NO Google maps app for iPhone 5

Re: Seriously though...

I think it's an exaggeration to suggest Maps is going to break them, but given the quality of Maps and the issues with lightning cables, it could be a sign that Apple aren't being as careful about quality as they claim to be. Their USP is ultimately that they're cool (what other differentiation do they actually have?), something that won't hang around if they become known as the Alfa-Romeo's of the smartphone arena (look cool, break too often).

I think it'll take a while to burn through those cash reserves though, in all seriousness if everyone stopped buying tomorrow, it still takes time to burn that much cash (assuming they don't go splashing it in an attempt to regain trade)

Re: iOS users don't need maps…

you'll be able to upgrade your 1 year old phone

Yep, was able to do that.

you'll get your upgrade on the day it's released

Generally install a custom rom, so not really accurate to answer this one myself

- Android is "open source" (except for all the technologies from other companies that we license... or don't ;-)

Android is open source. No-one ever said the other stuff was. Much like Ubuntu is open source, but the (official) NVidia driver isn't. Not hard is it?

Android is a "stable" operating systemv

Seems pretty stable for me, the only major fragmentation, really seems to be in terms of UI etc. You can still take an Android app and run it on any Android device (so long as the installed version is new enough). I'd call that pretty stable, especially given the multitude of devices it runs on.

Oh, and as we're poking fun, it goes without saying that we can still find where we're going!

@Christopher

The thing with a market cap is it's about what shareholders think it's worth, there may be no substantive link to the real world. Apple's a valuable company, that's a given, but is it necessarily worth that cap? Especially long-term?

I don't know the answer, and my suspicion is neither do you. For short-term profit (not necessarily a bad thing) you'd probably be best with Apple, but for a long-term investment I can't help think you'd be better off with a company that's selling greater volumes. Of course, it's swings & roundabouts as Google aren't actually selling Android, so it is a little hard to compare.

I guess it depends how you look at it though. Apple have far fewer users spending far more. What this means is that every single user that ebbs away, detracts from their future profit by a greater percentage. Sometimes it's far better to have a huge number of customers not spending much, than it is to have just a few spending loads.

Not that Apple's going to disappear any time soon, of course, but the point is it would take fewer users slipping away for them to have to fall back on their cash reserves (or discontinue the iPhone) than it would for Google's Android.

It's about whether you're looking for short or long-term profit. Sadly, too many businesses (read shareholders) concentrate on the now with no regard for the future.

I suspect, though, now that Apple's Maps has seen the light of day, they might choose to avoid censoring an app that resolves the issues for free. At least, that is, until they get their own house in order.

You think users are upset now? Imagine if the story was "Schmidt says they submitted Google Maps for iOS5 but Apple rejected it as duplicating functionality in the OS".

Last remaining reason to order an iPhone 5 disappears

Re: Is this a reaction?

Ah, sneaky El Reg - hiding things!

Good chance I'll never see some of those then as I tend to take a quick scan of the homepage whilst waiting for something, then read through my assortment of tabs when I get a chance. Doubt I'll find the time to scan the other landing pages to, but it does rather answer the question of "where's the content gone?"

Re: I'm confused...

NFC would be nice - but who actually uses it? Really?

Apparently it's good for free train rides ;-)

Re: Is this a reaction?

Also, I'd be surprised if we're publishing less. There's something like 40-45 articles a day most of the year. Forgive us if you can't love every piece.

Perhaps then, I'm mistaken. I tend to work backwards from the front-page until I find a story I've previously visited (obviously ignoring visited links if I've opened it from the featured section 30 seconds earlier) or until I see a headline I recognise. Of course, as the front-page is no longer strictly chronological (we've all noticed certain articles being moved back up ;) ) it may be that I've been missing a bulk.

Obviously with a story about, say, an IE exploit, you know programmers will read it so you can get down to the nitty-gritty. Really depends on the story. And there shouldn't be anything wrong with expanding the readerbase. How else will we pay the bills?

I've no issue with you expanding your readerbase, but as you say there's a (difficult) balance to be struck. If you post too many simplistic articles, those of us after a serious technical read will wander off. If you make it too complex, those less technically inclined will wander off. I don't envy the task of striking that balance, but my issue is it currently seems to be tipping more towards the less technically minded in many respects.

I love when the Reg gets satirical, and will find most things amusing (or at least see the humor), but there have been a few whether I've failed to see any humor and yet there's no indication of any other value in the article.

Re: Is this a reaction?

There will always be some skew, it's true. I don't generally rate the quality of comments based on whether they agree with my PoV though. Someone who makes solid points (even if I think they're wrong) counts as quality, as do those who make me spray coffee over my keyboard.

What I mean, is that I'm finding there are more and more stories published where I'm finding the comments far more interesting than the article to which they are attached. El Reg still does some great stuff, but it's beginning to get quite heavily diluted with some low quality drivel.

There's a definite skew in that a really polarising debate will draw me in, as you observe, but I do remember a time when there were decent comments on 99% of articles, largely because the quality of those articles inspired people to comment.

As an example, let's take Mr Pott. He tends to delve quite deeply into a subject, which tends to make people comment to say "Actually, you're wrong about that bit" or "Bloody hell, hadn't thought about it that way" or even "Feck, haven't seen one of those in years". Articles that actually make people think, or perhaps give them a hint of nostalgia.

Unfortunately, a lot of the content is starting to look like click-bait, or in some cases something El Reg is hoping to syndicate out to a less technically minded audience. There have been a number of stories in the past that feel the need to explain small details that surely everyone here knew.

I appreciate that writers have deadlines to keep to, and the pressure is high, but IMO El Reg is perhaps publishing less than it has in the past, yet the quality is slipping dramatically. Is it a case of can't get the staff perhaps?

Still, I'm not going to wander off just yet. Although the quality of the articles is abysmal in some cases, I do find the insights of other commentards can be quite enlightening from time to time, and there are occasionally some very good stories published.

Re: Is this a reaction?

Hate to tell you this, but people have different opinions. It might be the reviewer is the only one in the office who think's it's worth buying, hell Lewis could be the only one that doesn't.

This article was obvious clickbait, but one of the things I do like about El Reg is there's generally no 'Corporate line'. It's OK for one hack to love the iPhone and one not to. Do you really think media is made better when hacks are made to toe the corporate line (for example, The Sun is considered pro-Tory, so expect no real negative press regarding them)?

The issue, really, is the number of article's we're seeing that appear to be designed to attract clicks. Not readers, clicks and impressions. That sucks.

I'll generally read every comment posted when I read a story (bit obsessive like that), but the number of stories where the comments are of far more value than the piece itself is growing worryingly high. Sadly it's not all down to commentards posting some real gems, sometimes the 'story' is just pure shite.

A little while ago I removed my ad-blocker as most sites I was visiting had started being far more subtle. The Reg in particular is really beginning to make me regret that decision though, so I suspect any impressions/clicks I might have generated will be disappearing shortly as I'm going to have to re-enable ABP etc.

iPhone 5 sales curbed by lack of smashable screens – report

Any aluminum product may scratch or chip with use, exposing its natural silver color. That is normal.

Doesn't have quite the same ring as "you're holding it wrong", or my personal favourite re the iPad wifi "Try moving closer to the router"

A single web link will WIPE Samsung Android smartphones

Simple workaround

At least until a proper fix comes out (as the workaround is annoying) is install a different dialer, but don't set the default (hell install Skype it'll have the same effect). System will then ask which one you want to use, giving you opportunity to go "ooo shit" before wiping.

Someone did mention removing system/app/keystringxxx.apk files but they didn't exist when I ssh'd into my SG2 so couldn't try that.

Bit of a major fuck up eh?