Posts by Mike

Palm launches £399 Treo Pro

My brother stated it best..

True geeks run a mobile device with PalmOS. Others....well who cares about the others..

Microsoft slackens VM licensing rules

Too Little Too Late

Virtualization is just the latest buzzword for business, right along with green computing. However, most of the players who have opted to go down this road are realizing the the benefits do not outweigh the costs, and a great number of them are shelving their virtualization and green computing plans and are going back to work.

At my company we started down that road, then realized that we would never reach our stated virtualization goals, with software products on top of x86 systems. There are however two places in my company where virtualization is done properly. One is that big ass mainframe in the back room that I have been trying to get rid of for 5 years, and the other is our AIX server farm. I don't have many nice things to say about either AIX or IBM, but on this subject they are the only real player. Just a really obnoxious buy-in to play in their game.....

Pentagon hacker McKinnon earns extradition delay

IMHO

@tit for tat

Please do, and in that particular case, considering the breadth and depth of the crimes against humanity I believe an execution is in order.

@ everyone else

The people who should be on trial here is the military for allowing this kind of thing to take place. Heck, my home machine is probably more secure the machines this bloke supposedly hacked into. I say you guys should keep him and do what you will with him, but don't send him over here for what would surely be a biased and unfair trial. I would suggest a change of venue to a disinterested 3rd nation-state that has no stake in it either way. Or even better yet, is just give him his walking papers if it really matters (politically) that much.. (we have all heard it before, "we don't care where you go, but you can't stay here")

Filesharing teen gets damages reduced in ignorance claim

What about just buying a license

I just checked the other day and a broadcast license is only about $640/year. So what is wrong is paying for a broadcast license. It would be a lot cheaper, even if you paid a year or two retroactively....

Date bug kills VMware systems

Make me happy

VMware and all other virtualization "solutions" in the same category are nothing more than crutches for incompetent system administrators that can not properly load and/or tune their OS and applications. We have had their consultants in here, and sure, they found stuff to virtualize, but when pointed to the servers I am running, they just say "oh, well, those systems would not be suitable for our product " [insert excuse here]. The reason is that they were properly planned, and laid out ahead of time and are running at 75% load, right in the sweet spot where I like it ;)

Of course, that being said I should also point out, I don't do windoze ;)

Virgin Galactic to unveil tool to fling rich people into space

When is someone going to honor

all those PanAm spaceflight tickets that were sold in the 60's. If I had the cash I would do it just for the PR alone ;) Ahh, those were the days, for those of us old enough to remember them...........

US nuke missile crew falls asleep on the job

This is a red dash alpha message in two parts

break break. Prepare for authentication.

Usually that type of message coming through on the big red PA speaker would wake you up. Well, maybe not you, or me, I would sleep through WWIII (so my wife says), but surely it would wake one of them up ;)

No harm no foul. or we could just turn everything over to the WOPR.

Re-jigged Intel mobile Linux stack dumps Ubuntu

BOTH ARE WRONG

They should be backing Slackware and .tgz.

./configure;make;make install

lather rinse repeat ;)

ISPs laud their data pimping services but refuse to use them

Only the ads we want

That would be none, thank you. Where is the button for that. I didn't sign up for a fscking ad service, all I wanted was an ip address and a green light on my dsl/cable modem.

I never want to see my isp's website, use their e-mail, build a web page there, or any of the other fluff. Just give me an ip address, a decent connection, and leave me alone.

Bavaria sanctions police spyware

Bait OS

if your not actively using your terror OS, switch to a nice clean install of whatever OS the spyware works on. let them have at it. After they have broken into your house, installed all their software, totally violated what little rights you have left, you are then safe to boot to the REAL OS and continue your terror activities unmonitored.

This will only catch the "low hanging fruit" in any application they have for it. Sure alot of people are too dumb to notice extra processes on their machine, but I doubt these are the droids they are looking for ...

I have attached a card for you named happy99.exe....

what, no roflmao icon?

Sony touts weird multi-sensor handheld gadget tech

I am the device you want...

Nifty, here is the number one idea for this device. you grab it on both sides, thumbs in the middle, index fingers on top row, it a game or game controller. You grab it with one hand, like a tv remote, and presto its a tv remote, not touching it, its a coaster, or clock. Grab it with the other hand, its a phone. Change you finger orientation and its a palm computer, change it again and its a blackberry. the possibilities are finite, yet numerous.

Grand Theft Auto reportedly inspires teen rampage

Help! I am

trapped in a maze of twisty little cubicles all alike, I haven't however found any platinum, gold, jewels, or anything of the sort. Greasy little trolls, those I found. Anyone have a good cheat for this game called life, I would like to know how to get all the prizes without actually ending the game ;)

On a side note they did a CSI episode about something similar, maybe it was the well known evils of television that caused this mayhem....

MIne's the one with the kevlar and chainmail lining and the ceramic glock in the pocket.

Fired IT manager accused of venting spleen on organ bank

The lesson here is

totally discounting the "organ bank" part of the story.

Always install a deadmans switch, always hide it where is won't be found by most sysadmins. Have it delete itself if you leave on good terms, have it periodically check for the "not yet" command somewhere very public, wait for some internal strife at the company, then release the hounds. Bonus points if it auto replicates to new systems, also takes out the backups, causes a fire, and this happens months or years after you have left the company and they have forgotten about you. BTW the best method for taking out backups is to secretly encrypt/decrypt them through a program shim of some kind so when you take out the system running backups all the backups up to that point are then useless.

It's the least you could do to repay them for treating you so badly, I mean doing the bosses hot 16 year old daughter, on his desk, during working hours, after you called in sick for the day, isn't against company policy is it?

not that I have thought much about this ...

AVG disguises fake traffic as IE6

I support AVG

Mainly because I don't support web analytics and statistics, nor do I support targeted advertising. If this has the side effect of screwing the advertisers and their business model I am all for it. I love omelette's, break those eggs. And charging by the byte is wrong. Charge based on available throughput, use all that you pay for, you can't use more without buying additional circuits (actual or virtual).

Hyper-V climbs into Windows

Nice

so this new hypervisor stuff from redmond only supports stuff that don't belong in an it datacenter. Another swing and a miss from microsoft. And why isn't IBM suing their asses off for using the term hypervisor.

Science MPs horrified by UK bio-lab management

Spooky stuff

I mean underfunded bio-labs that let stuff leak out. I don't know what they are called in the UK, but over here on the fat lazy side of the pond we have something called class5 labs. You know, the ones that don't actually exist, really, we don't have any. If one of those were to spring a leak....well its really hard to type with what is the mushy remains of what were once fingers. Spend some money, keep the nasties in the jars. Think airborne ebola in a bacterial vector. But, hey, since they don't really exist, no worries, right.....

Let air passengers smoke dope, say Denver potheads

Sounds like a plan

a very good plan. At the least I should pack up and move to Denver...to fight the great twinkie war.

Staff internet policies must be Facebook-ready, warns expert

ITs wrong, just plain wrong

What I do in my own time with my own resources is none of my company's business. If give them cause for a slander/libel claim against me, well then ok, take action on that, but otherwise stay out of my personal life. I won't piss in a jar for you either. Damn, where do I have live to get away from this shite? What ever happened to personal freedom, free speech, the right to be safe and secure from unreasonable searches of ones person and property. Damn I just hate the way this is going, no wonder terrorists exist. This is how revolutions get started.

Pirate Bay bitchslaps Swedish law with SSL

@ IP rights fascists

How would I feel if something I spent the last ten years of my life working on, suddenly available on a P2P network? Well, provided that I didn't put it there myself, and it wasn't loaded with backdoors, or some other "bad things". I would probably feel about the same as the guy who goes to the patent office only to find out that his next door neighbor patented the exact same thing 3 days earlier. And that would be, screwed, shit out of luck, and cleaning my firearms for imminent use. That is why you keep these kind of things secret, off the net, and properly protected.

Sure, your users may complain that they can't make a proper "backup copy", of your software because you have crippled it in some way. But thats what you have to do. And yes, people will steal your idea, make clones, look alikes, work alikes and every possible legal and in some cases illegal variation of your work. Why would they do this? Because your work is good, took a long time and has value to them or others and they want a slice of your pie. This is basic human nature and no amount of legislation will be able to stop it. You should, as some more enlightened people do, compensate for this in your projected revenue stream.

Imagine a world in which this didn't happen. Where reverse engineering didn't exist and cheap knock-offs were not available. imagine a world where you have to pay royalties for anything based on a wheel, or pulley, or fulcrum, to the original inventor or descendants. How about paying for a right to use license for every PN junction in your new digital toy, or every transistor in you latest bit of kit. Would that be a world you could live in?

Instead we have accepted a world in which you can be sued if your "round thing that helps things move", provides a similar function to another "round thing that helps things move" or for figuring out that you can copy the "round thing that makes things move", and give it to all your friends, because they like things that move too.

Give up, get off your high horse, either put your stuff out there, get what you can for the few seconds that you can, and contribute to the forward motion of mankind, or stay in your dark little closet, muttering to yourself "ooo, look at me, I made a wheel, I will call it precious"..

Hummer glummer on high oil price bummer

@lardis

"(do the yanks actually know what a hummer is in the UK ?)"

I don't know what a hummer is in the UK, but Bill Clinton knows what a hummer is in the US....

US teen cuffed for disposable camera 'Taser'

@all

This is about the stupidest thing I have ever heard, no wonder the science scores in the US are dropping faster than the housing market. I wonder how much Jail time I should get for the little boxes I used to make in school?? They were powered by 5 9V batteries that charged about 6 5000mf caps at about 3kv. I would switch them on leave them sitting (and humming) and just wait for someone to try to pick it up. Heck, we used to have contests to see who could hold on to them the longest. Fun stuff. Sure, we used to get into trouble for that kind of stuff, a stern lecture from the dean, but jail time for weapons, gimme a break.

Shell says still 'undecided' on massive offshoring plan

H1B

It sure is nice to see that after all the H1B visa workers go home from the US they will have someplace to work....

Cambridge brain touts wind-n-server combo farms

ok, I've got it...

Solar cells on the wind turbine blades, with servers built into each blade, so each "windmill" would become a server cluster, and they could each have a little Plutonium backup power built into each server.

US Congress members push Gates's line on visas

What A Load

There are plenty of unemployed Tech workers in the US. No need to import any. There are plenty of people in the US that need jobs, instead of importing cheap tech labor, why don't they/we put some effort/cash behind training what you/we need. Take care of your own first, everyone else can wait in line.

Lonely Paris Hilton seeks new best friend

I gotta do this

I mean what would be better for Paris than a 45y old, married, white, 420, UNIX administrator with an attitude that thinks he is THE BOFH. A match perfect for TV!!

Japanese bank sues IBM over 'difficult' system overhaul

Someone owes me money...

"We are suing because we decided it would be difficult to implement the system they suggested,"

Damn, my boss and almost everyone I ever worked for could be sued for that. I dunno, can you sue for something being too stupid to implement, how about vaporware, can you sue for that too, where do they think they are, the US??

US.gov disappears European-owned Cuba websites

@ who owns the internet

Actually if you do a little research, or are old enough, you would know that the US does in fact own what is now called the internet. They/we allowed it to connect to other countries who thought the idea was "cool" and built out their own little version of it to connect to the original. Now everyone gets all pissy thinking they actually have anything to say in how this now retired military network should be run. Bugger off the lot of you. If you don't like it feel free to sever your links to it, or better yet, try it for a day, just filter out ALL US based ip addresses, routes, and links and see how much of the internet continues to work for you. I can probably live a day or two without the reg, can you live for that long with a non-functional network?? Helldesk operators feel free to chime in....

[obvious flame bait, partially true, the best kind]

Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 delayed

@AC bitlocker 3g card

use ndiswrapper for your 3g card. now go format that sucker and install a real OS, something with an X in it.

US Army struggles with Windows to Linux overhaul

Its not about OS security...

Its about Freedom (we love that word here). Sure it may be the freedom too crush all that oppose us. But its all about freedom. Microsoft is your basic dictatorship or monarchy, one man, or group of men decide what is best for you, without your input. Linux is somewhere between a complete democracy and a hippy commune, open free and happy, and everyone (no matter what kind of idiot they are) gets to have their say. And if you are going to crush all that oppose you, in the name of freedom, you should use a freedom branded OS.

(sorry couldn't help myself, I like the idea personally).

Off to the pub...

Dallas man accidentally shoots self in head

@ American with a gun..

"The only thing more dangerous than a loaded gun...An American with a gun."

Too true, but didn't we prove that sometime around the 1700's. So where is the suprise?? At least we don't wear red and line up as target practice.

RIAA wiped off the net

@self-Defeating

"Hacking the RIAA web site only makes them right. Hacking their web site only helps reinforce the idea that downloaders are criminals. Trying to imply an act of criminality is some kind of moral victory over the RIAA is just playing into their hands."

Kinda like saying that even though the Nazis are gassing all your friends, shooting them in the head is still murder. Well, it may be, but I'll take that up with the invisible-sky-farrie next time we speak. Acting in a "criminal" manner to achieve a moral victory is sometimes acceptable (especially against the RIAA). I sure that was said better, by someone more famous than I, but the point is still valid. Make the bad men go away.

(No A.C. here)

Microsoft offers $300m for web-washing ad campaign

How about

Windows live - crapping in the hand that feeds IT.

Windows live - now you can wipe with both hands.

Windows live - Lets shake on it.

Windows live - I promise I won't cum in your mouth.

Exploding mobile battery suspected in S Korea fatality

Family matter

Didn't anyone consider that a quarry is a nice place to dump a body, and that the crushing weight of a falling body could possibly damage your cellphone. Vinnie and Guido might see the humor in a cellphone being blamed for their work, or maybe they were just "advisor's" to the medical examiner...

Celebrity spam gang whips up a storm

@ outcast

A few years ago, during the code red days, I did something similar. I told my linux box to go ahead and answer all those windows IIS queries, and respond by contacting the originating ip address and issuing an delete *.com and delete *.exe.

Don't know how many machines probed for IIS on my linux box, but it made me smile every time.

Blu-ray discs outsell HD DVDs almost 3:1 in Europe

Would be nice

to see Sony win this one. I am still a bit miffed that the SUPERIOR videotape format (betamax) lost to that POS format dubbed VHS. All because of a little licensing issue (like Sony told everyone to sod off). Maybe Sony learned a little from that. Ever try to find a belt kit for a 20 year old betamax player. I still have a box full of tapes and the last time I checked they still played (after 10 years in a box).

So, if you are wondering what to do with all those old betamax tapes and equipment, just send them to the reg. and I am sure they will forward them all to me, gratis. ;)

My regular old DVD player works just fine so I won't be upgrading until there is a compelling reason (like I can't buy DVD's anymore).

Half of computer users are Wi-Fi thieves

Is it public access?

At my house I leave no doubt. I have two access points (on two different channels), one at each end of my property. I have the SSID set to public-node-1 and public-node-2. I knowingly share with a co-worker across the street, and unknowingly share with whoever is in range. If anyone were to ever get in trouble with the law for using it I would go to their defense. Mind you that they are both behind a firewall and separated from the rest of my network. I think everyone should take this stance and end this silliness once and for all.

Access Palm OS now available... for Nokia!

PALM

While discussing the relative merits of the various handled devices with my brother some time ago we came to this conclusion: "people who KNOW what they are doing and what they want have a palm computer, the OTHERS don't". We further narrowed down the statement to something like "if your primary OS is windows/mac, get a windows like device, if your primary OS is Unix/Linux get a palm". Palm computing platform is just not suitable for the non-techhead.

Also, I bought my current Palm TX at best buy last year and have never had a problem with it. The WiFi and bluetooth seem to work just fine and my battery lasts all day during normal use.