Posts by John Macintyre

Moderatrix quits El Reg: Latest

after midday?

Well fooled none the less. nice one

G20 police demand ID as train staff ordered to spy on passengers

actually

It just reads like a bag o' shite, someone needs to shot or taught proper grammar.

On the plus side, having been told to dress down to work for the next few days I suspect based on this list that I fit the description they're looking for, should blend right in :)

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS7

impressive...

Shame there's no indoor/low light pics. I have the DMC-FX37 which is a nice little model but the noise in low light/indoors is appalling. I have to manually force the shutter speed and iso levels to get anywhere near a decent image sometimes. outdoors is ok if i don't zoom in too much but I'm not overly impressed. would be nice to see what this did in comparison so i might dig around for more sample shots...

Kraft puts foot in big pot of yoghurt?

well...

I agree the new logo is shit, but to be fair, the old one is incredibly shit so is there much of an issue? Anyhow I'm sure there's infringement going on here somewhere, or plagiarism. The logo company will make a nice bit of cash though.

Corporate gone mad... indeed, who cares what the logo looks like, won't make it sell more

Pratt changes name to Bruce Willis

well, it's asking for it really

What a Pratt...

PC World cuts off Capita call centre contract

@Matt

Blasphemy! Are you saying DSGi wouldn't know how to run a call centre? Codswallop! DSGi have excellent customer service and I'm sure they're more than capable to .... hold on, my bs monitor's just gone a bit haywire, I'll get back to you...

Zhao 'C' - Chinese police computer says no

reminds me of...

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/exploits_of_a_mom.png

MS coughs to hokey-cokey IE8 option in Windows 7

i never understood this one

I get that ie sucks big time, but apple ships safari with it's pc's, so why is this different? or is this just because ms has a bigger marketshare?

Sexy Namir sportster to rewrite fuel economy rulebook?

@Nigel Callaghan

er.. it looks like a car show, so that would car show hotty, not the owner. Car show's = hotty centrally, gets more notice that way. You can always tell the effort a company is putting by the 'staff' on the stand...

@ FlatSpot/Mike/Phil

Don't think it's rotating, the person taking the piccies just moved (check the background between the first two). I'm guessing moniker in pic 3 is another moniker, but i'm happy to take both, i'm not fussy. the Brunette in the background of the third one in the same top would make it all the more fun...

'World's Worst Banker' joins Lads from Lagos

you have to feel sorry for...

his pet dog 'wuffles', all alone in detention thanks to his big job/gob/knob. Won't anybody think of the [children and] animals?

Barclays heralds new wave of wallet-waving

concerning

"More concerning is the ability of the banks to collect usage information about all those cash transactions"

Or... you know... you could just use that thing... fangled tech and all... cash? It's not like they don't already collect debit card habits, so why is this any different?

I try to pay for small exchanges in cash anyway, using card for small transactions is asking for trouble since you never see what you have, so you're more likely to spend more than you expect, whereas you know where you are with cash. I know if my snack machines at work had this i'd end up spending way more than i want on them than when i check to see if have enough change or not

Conficker call-backs threaten to swamp legit domains

@So update it then

Bravo! Bravo! Finally a smart idea! I'm sure all those in M$ and Sophos and the hundreds of other virus tools out there are kicking themselves that they didn't come up with that one since it first appeared in November.

Perhaps it's not that simple? Reverse engineering a virus isn't like feeding a hamster. I'd imagine they've tried this and couldn't get the system to update, or they don't know how to disable it by doing so. Or the update tool might not be something that can be updated, so it always runs regardless of what each update is. The virus writer probably thought, just in case one or two cases get compromised, he can supply an alternate update on a later date to override this.

Or each time they find a way to 'update' it he changes it before they can fix it. It might only allow updates from that generated address, which isn't so easy since you'd have to wait for the timeslot, own the domain etc etc. It's a bit like tracking down WMD really, only without the ability to obliterate it without any real evidence of a fix being ready

Miley Cyrus hacker in MySpace spam ringtone scam

@Sarah Bee

lettuce? Cheese? Happy?

I don't even know what a bun is

Next time use some real and/or interesting food reference. Like say, Pot Noodle.

Next-gen Mac mini 'photo' surfaces

@ Ian

Dunno about the usb ports not being in line but what system would bother with 5? most motherboards handle 4 at most, why so many? Seems a bit suspect on that alone

Facebook does U-turn on eternal data grab

just a quickie

Not going to type it here since it's disgusting, but anyone who logs into facebook gets a message saying this at the top, and a link to a group setup by the main peeps called "Facebook Bill of Rights and Responsibilities". Owners are:

* Simon Axten (Stanford) (creator)

* Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook)

* Barry Schnitt (Facebook)

Scroll down to the discussion groups.... you'd think they'd be competent to make sure no racist shit ended up on this thing? What's the point of creating it if it's not going to be monitored in some way? Not going to help the situation.

Personally I use facebook for 1 reason, there's people who are on there who I speak to but don't have email details for, and as such it's easier to get a bunch of people together. But it's no different to email, if I had address for most of them I'd stick to email. The rest is just convenient crap that I don't even look at. But it was a nice concept till all this theft of copyright crap turned up.

Watchdog mauls billboard sex ads

what i don't get

is surely this stuff has to go via the ASA BEFORE it hits the billboards? Surely they'd have known it was an invalid advert against regulation and so stopped it after? Or can I make a billboard that says 'Gordon's a feckin t**t' and wait for someone to complain (assuming anyone bothers)? I don't really understand the process of the ASA, do they only do anything if there's complaints AFTER the fact?

Minister trashes ex-spook chief's liberty warning

joys of conspiracies

"Man tipped to replace Jacqui calls 'abject nonsense' on Stella" Well he's not going to say 'yeah she's right, screw you all you're totally f****d' is he, he's be out of the running quicker than a sneeze

Woman sues over Vista to XP 'downgrade' charge

ubuntu?

So basically she bought a pc knowing full well she would not want what it came with, and paid the money without complaining. So it's just some woman ranting and wanting money for it? Bloody litigation culture.

She says she didn't want Vista. Did she even bother trying it or did she assume it was shit because everyone said it was? Typical consumer.

Did she look at alternatives? Does she even need a pc?

No I'm not an apple/M$/Linux fanboi but I hate it when people get what they asked for then complain and explain monetary compensation. You know what you were doing when you bought the unit, don't want it? don't buy it!

I'm sure there's some validity to her statement but by immediately issuing a lawsuit it sounds like she doesn't actually care, she just saw dollar signs and went for it.

CERN Proton-smashers: We are economically valuable

will they ever learn?

let's hire a muppet who's persistently failed and how real track record to run things and make decisions, who cares if he screws people and the economy over...

Facial-recognition tech now used to greet hotel guests

wonder where they got that idea from

minority report perchance? When the day comes that shopping malls direct adverts to you personally I'll stop going to them :s I always thought hotels were great because they were personal, if you outsource the greet to some machine where's the fun and interactiveness?

Doors are ok? There's a reason the disney store got annoying. When you enter a posh hotel you don't have to get much interaction beyond a friendly nod to the concierge, the door loudly saying 'welcome back mr jones' would get annoying after a while surely?

Negativity aside though I'd be interested to see where this does work. Everyone slated microsoft surface but used in the right environment (ie hotels) it can work wonders. I'm sure there's a great use for this that doesn't intrude on people and at the same time provides an actual benefit but right now I can't think of it

Street View vehicle kills Bambi

with photographic proof

surely the rspcsa (or us equivalent) could get involved? this is animal murder! Burn them at the stake!

burn icon.... duh

Suffolk braces for 300mph winds

bah

at least the cows will be safe, probably won't feel it after all. but i feel the need for £2m to investigate anyway..

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/14/cow_earthquake_shocker/

ASA indignates prematurely over billboard sex ads

want longer sex?

I kept seeing these ad's, and just thought how they hell they managed to get an ad approved that had the word sex written bigger than a double decker bus.

I can see the issue with the prescription drug thing though. Everyone always complains about the americanisms that we have here like litigation culture and general attitudes, this is another americanism I believe where because they have no nhs, they talk people into asking their gp's for certain drugs instead of letting the gp do their job, thus making more dosh. Whether this is the underhanded intention or not i don't know, personally i never read beyond the 'sex' bit on the ad and didn't know it was a prescription only drug either, nor would I got to a doc and say 'this billboard said i could last longer in bed, give me the drug it advertises'.

oh and another thing: "Censoring ads that prompt men to take action about an important health issue they may be experiencing is a big decision that certainly should not be taken until a full investigation has been completed." The ad says do you want to last longer in bed, that's not an important health issue, it's not showing you a cancer drug, it looks like it's selling viagra!

Obama may militarise NASA to save money

probably heresay but

last i heard nasa was 70% military projects/funded anyway, so this simply extends that a bit more surely?

Confusion over Indian parliamentary rights-grab

so what's new...

a govt decides to criminalise it's people so it sounds like it's doing something useful that will gain valuable news-space, thus ignoring the people who put it in power in the first place.

so what's new? Since when did any govt give a shit about it's people? Next they'll pass a bill saying everyone has to pay them for absolutely nothing.. oh wait a minute...

Western Digital hits the buffers

a first surely?

"Pay for all its executives, board-level directors and other senior management is being cut"

Surely they normally just sack more staff so the board can keep there abusive salaries? I'm almost impressed with this company... until they say they've cut salaries in the millions by about 20 quid probably...

Microsoft Surface helps Earth stand still

bond?

I take it all that surface touch action in the latest bond with the treky style graphics wasn't a surface placement? Though there was no logo that time, just ironic unbelievable tech, this might have been a more ms focussed ad.

On a side, might just get the original movie and see that instead

Google gives Chrome spit 'n' polish treatment, says report

news just in

a random google app is suggested to be coming out of beta. No timeline as to when this will happen.

I appreciate that this is happening (personally I've never used it but people I know have and seem to think it's ok), but is it really news or is this just google trying to get in the papers again for chrome, since we haven't heard anything about it for a while now?

Man I must be bored :(

Apple to slash prices by up to 15% on Black Friday?

@ various

@ac - it's not just the us, check the site. it looks like it's everywhere

@Christian Legg - agreed, not a huge saving really apart from a few accessories, I'm wondering if they're doing it to see how people react to to the price, what with the uk change in vat

@Jean-Paul - agreed, people seem to be quick to blame the recession/credit crunch for everything. Take Woolworths in the uk, they've been going out of business for years, if we were in a high year like before they'd still go out of business. It's just bad timing.

Anyway it's nice they're doing it, but luckily i'm not in the market for apple products as i have a few already and don't need an upgrade just yet

Oxford student vote kyboshed by email

McCain

"And most of that 18 per cent said they would vote for McCain."

Over other leading brands of chip in the campus canteen. McCain representatives were said to be on standby to send a truckload of their delicacy over in the event of success

Company sues Facebook over somethingorother

er.. is it just me

I'm guessing they're summarising so I'd need to read up but...

"a common workflow layer that is automated with a scalable, relational database. The tool includes a relational database engine that facilitates many-to-many relationships among data elements, in addition to, one-to-many and many-to-many relationships."

So... basically any darn application with a relational database right? I'd love to see them prove facebook wrong, then go after every other bloody website on the internet who must infringe as well. How come bebo/myspace aren't targets, do they not make enough dosh?

Hotmail users bitch and moan about new interface

opera user no more

Alas I used to use opera to view my email, and nothing works in Opera now, links don't respond, pages don't change, it's like it's a picture of my mail. I like firefox, but I just used opera for my email because it was quicker to load and use. alas now my opera will sit quietly on the side. I wouldn't care so much if it actually worked, but it's M$ so they had to crap it up somehow.

Oh and having to scroll your folders when you didn't have to before, and not having the quick empty on your junk/trash folders unless you open them up first.. they haven't sped up hotmail so much as removed all the functionality so you can't do anything. maybe as people leave they can claim it's faster for the leftover users?

I'll stick with it for now but it's certainly one major I now have to switch email services, there aren't many left that I like though.

Lightning to thunder with speed-creep beating V8 roar

erm...

"Mind you, they could always look, of course..."

if you have a car doing 0-60 in 4 seconds, it could flatten you before you'd seen it turn onto the road you were crossing, looking with cars this fast isn't going to help in a lot of situations

London drum-maker dies of inhalation anthrax

terrorist

he brought anthrax into the country, must be a terrorist. as a precaution I pray the uk.gov protect it's sheep I mean citizens by banning animal skin imports. Safer yet, ban animal imports of any kind. Safer yet, humans are cattle, ban humans.

On a more related note, it's quite interesting that rare animal skins can contain anthrax. Presumably there are drums on the market that contain anthrax that the drum makers took precautions when fitting. Were the drums found in a flat used by a terrorist, would the maker have been arrested on suspicion of supplying deadly substances to terrorists?

Secret Service camera bought on eBay

@Ex-IT

Thanks, now I have to wipe the coffee stains from my monitor and keyboard again...

Daily Mail hacks get emergency bird flu jabs

disruption indeed

"It would also lead to significant and sustained disruption to our businesses"

kinda like the soon to happen collapse of most of the major world banks, you'll have mass suicide of people who've lost everything, better than any flu pandemic would do. the 21st century virus - Shares.

yeah it ain't funny, go be ill on some other chick(en)

Today be talk like a pirate day

@Edward

Then i guess ye should walk the plank....

New Yorkers to pay for RFID in driving licences

not bad price but...

probably not bad considering the cost of passport i guess, but considering they change every 10 years owing to the change in your photo, surely that's just a money making scheme? Do they really check that many state borders anyway?

Oz pub slammed over 'No Undie Sundie'

sounds awesome

no undies, midgets pouring drinks down your throat, sounds like a blast! Just need a pole in the center and it'll be like it's straight out of austin powers/Beverly hills cop :)

Could it be abused? ie the leave your undies on the bar - what if you brought a second pair? Do the bar staff keep them as a kind of payment? surely you could show a bra strap and no the actual bra, thus showing your bra without much exposure? And lets be honest - most women flash the back of their knickers when they bend down anyway so arguably they'd all get cheap/free drinks?

NB: Drink responsibly

Axon takes 100mpg wonder car for a spin

bbc video

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7620875.stm item 4

Oz woman sold mobe with preloaded smut

indeed

"We've asked the customer to bring us the phone to ascertain the nature of the images"

In private no doubt. They'll obviously take copies before clearing the offending items from the phone for re-sale

Typical they'd ask for compensation though, can't they just get a new one and love the world like a hippy instead? what would be really cool (think of the justice) if the man in the photos was her husband :o

Vehicle spy-cam data to be held for five years

"fully and strategically exploit"

<rant>

exploit being they key here, much like the 'exploiting' of terrorism laws to protect our citizens from people who breath in the wrong place.

And 5 years from when? the beginning of the tailing or the end? if they update the information (for the hell of it; lets assume they're crafty buggers trying to get around the law, new concept I know) every year, does that reset the 5 years each time?

blast it, let em store it. Lets give them so much bloody data that the incompetent bastards get lost in it and stop using it. They're clearly better now than they were before, they're more profitable, so that must mean they're doing good.

</rant>

<subrant>

bastards.

</subrant>

Pub toilet todger tiff ends in bloodbath

bunch of k**bs

guess they guy really did feel that his was bigger, and felt like proving it. one thing though:

"returned to the tavern where they opened fire on the five men. ... Things turned nasty very quickly"

Surely rather than turning nasty after they'd opened fire, the sheer fact that they turned up and opened fire on these people proves it was already pretty bloody nasty? (no pun intended there) or is the idea of people opening fire on other people in public places relatively normal these days?

PA Consulting begs for mercy after data loss axing

@It's just a shame...

I know it's common sense, but when the data protection rules in govt are deemed secure so are in passworded files, and the govt tries to stem unemployment by making them all civil servants you tend to find stupid things happen. losing a civil servant simple hides the blame from the real moron at the top who's too big a muppet to deal with the main issue, that their organisation sucks.

EU plans cross border database of rogue motorists

sounds useful but...

so did the terror laws until they got abused. What are these MEP's likely to authorise this system to be used for, tracking our every movement? Fining us for stopping mm's too close to a stop sign? for being mm's near a double yellow? for farting while in control of a vehicle?

Maybe i've just had my trust destroyed by our evil overlording bastard control-freak lying toerag politicians but hey

Hilton documentary reveals hidden side of Paris

talented?

talented for a 30 minute video me thinks...

at work on red carpets - cleaning them or walking on them? doesn't take a genius to walk straight though I'm sure she struggles with the concept (oh look this carpet doesn't match my nails, i can't possibly walk on that)

in her business dealings - night shot videos? What business, trying to make money out of muppets through pointless tv appearances? Or in buying new fashion pets?

taking about her image - that's all she ever does!

and relaxing at home - so doing sod all with her talentless ass, clearly.

paris, well duh!

Arizona pulls death certs from website over ID theft fears

er...

"There is so much personal information on them: A mother's maiden name, what they died from,"

Yeah, lets just ignore the obvious name, address, next of kin.. not sure if they put the burial location on there. Mothers maiden name is useful to a bank but not much use without the above.

Maybe they could have just added a filter to it? Kinda like looking up your flight details which isn't secure but pretty well filtered, all they need is ask for the deceased surname, date of death and postcode or similar and you'll be able to pull it up. It's not completely secure but then neither are flight details, just that the likelihood of guessing flight date, flight number AND surname are pretty slim

Women turn on to a throbbing Maserati

any other cars tested?

Otherwise that's like saying a crapped out ford transit picks up less checks than a brand new aston martin surely? According to http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/-hiscox-luxury-cars-really-get-pulses-racing-/2008/09/01/3627563.htm they used a maserati, Ferrari and lamba with a polo, not really a great comparison. What about a souped up vw golf or modded skyline?

Also it was a recording, what effect would a real car have? surely a much greater one? and no stats on the Ferrari effects either. if the maserati was tested using a real car, one could almost imagine a Lynx ad style chasing of the driver (in which case i feel sorry for the guy driving the lamba :o )

Amazon goes on Shelfari

The rain has stopped...

, the birds are chirping and the biggest news of all - we're making a mint of you suckers. eat that.

paris, cause she eats and makes a mint...