Posts by Adam Foxton

Do you know how much of your porn is extreme?

@Iain Fraser and the BBPC

How would one, and I'm just asking for a friend remember, apply for a job as a tester in such an establishment as the British Board of Porn Classification?

Could pen-sized GPS jammers paralyse UK shipping?

Lighthouses and Ter'rists and Bombs, oh my!

@Jerry

The problem with ground-based stations is one of line-of-sight. As well as the "probability it'll get hit by an RPG or car bomb" factor. Not to mention if there was a power-cut. You'd have half of the UK's GPS-navigated drivers ploughing headlong through pedestrianised areas and walls because their GPS hadn't told them to turn...

Orbital global positioning is the way to go. It's resiliant to attack, reliable (as they don't want to have to send another satellite up there!), and relatively simple to decode. Plus it's free to use and has all sorts of extra uses (New Scientist not too long ago had a short article about someone using the transmissions from the GPS satellites to find water)

Also, DGPS receivers (Which would be similar to what you're proposing) are a little too big compared to the tiny chewing-gum-packet sized GPS devices available today. Check out ARQuake from the Uni of South Australia Wearables Lab- that's DGPS based.

Finally, signals coming down the way are far better in urban environments than signals going sideways through buildings or relying on signal diffraction around buildings to provide signals to areas behind large buildings. Either that or the power rating would be high enough to cook birds and the occasional light aircraft...

@Mark_T

Lighthouses would be great unless the terrorists were armed with easily concealable spray paint. You can just imagine the headlines- "spray paint banned!" "Giving your car a new paint job- OF DEATH" "Paintball guns: The silent killer. Also they give out CO2 with every shot hence are evil."

eLORAN sounds like it's a good investment. Though it does need a better name- perhaps LORANe (as in Lorraine)? Nerds like techs with womens names so that should give it a better chance of succeeding!

US school cheat hack suspect faces 38 years jail

I wonder whether or not the head did actually shout KHAAAAAANNN

This sentence is ridiculous. Although did anyone say that it was 38 years? Could someone just have totalled them and assumed they're running in series rather than concurrently?

I mean that's only *fag packet* 6 months or so per offence they've charged him with. And if they were just hacking at school and didn't hurt the school caretaker who found them or even try to hack in from the outside then I think that'd be a pretty fair sentence.

3 years is also excessive but not AS excessive so clearly no-one's pissed off about that. Give 'em both 6 months behind bars for it.

He'd never get into another educational establishment, his employers would know of his little escapade and so he'd be punished for the same sort of length of time but as a far lesser burden on the state.

Also, what's the repercussions? Are any "convenient" precedents going to be set if he goes away for these crimes?

Yahoo! email! fans! get! more! domains!

Translation:

Yahoo opens up more domains for spam-bots to use. Thanks, Yahoo- what the world needed was more free email addresses.

I've already got about 3 free ones that I can remember, plus work and "family only" email...

Sweden ushers in bugging for all

"final nail in the coffin of democracy"

If used properly this could lead to a half-decent democracy. Assuming it's used properly, designed properly, maintained properly and policed properly.

It'd be a far lower-level democracy where people can be assigned a vote- or even better a number of votes based on their qualifications/experience in that field- for every little task/choice/law that will affect them.

Also where peoples wishes and beliefs can better be respected- for example people who've registered as being against GM foods being prevented from buying or using them and people against animal testing being prevented from buying or using any product that used animal testing or is derived from animal-tested knowledge / products.

Pacifist? You're automatically excluded from being called up to fight in a war. You may, however, be stuck with some of the "clearing medical waste", "carcass transportation" etc duties.

Don't want to see this "sick filth" of pr0n? Then you're immediately banned from buying it or going to registered "sick filth" websites.

Preaching Hate of the UK? Then you get a free aircraft or ferry ticket out of here to your next-nearest point of ancestry and a ban from ever returning. It's not an extradition, just a rapid and forceful "government-doing-what-you-wanted".

So everyone could be better catered for and not have to put up with things they didn't like. It would get rid of a lot of any perceived privacy outside the home but could respect your physical privacy inside the home. Not quite a utopia, but better than what we've got at the moment.

And then it'd be hijacked and screwed up and we'd be back in the mess we're in ATM.

Good for you sweden asssuming you're going to use these powers properly.

London hospital loses 20,000 unencrypted patient files

Who'd deliberately force open a filing cabinet

just to get a medical records laptop?

Seriously, government records you can understand. But medical records? Whoop-de-doo, you know who's got a bad heart and a few more details on their home address etc. There are easier ways of defrauding and ID-tefting people.

Then again, if they didn't lock the filing cabinet...

Gov claims 'password protection' OK for sensitive docs

"password protected"

Which means Windows log on.

In separate news, "hackers" are requested to avoid all Linux Live CDs not because they allow the bypassing of most windows security, but because there's... err... a virus.

You've gotta wonder who'd nick a desktop from an alarmed office. More amazing still is that with all the CCTV going about no-one noticed anyone who looked suspiciously pregnant or overweight- just in a very cuboid way...

Anyone with a rucksack or with anything shoved up their jumper should be tracked down using the top-notch (you'd hope, given that it'd being inflicted on the rest of us) security there and kept in cells for questioning. For up to 42 days on the grounds that "the PC they improperly secured contained information potentially of use to Terrorists". See how they like it...

Phorm failed to mention 'illegal' trials at Home Office meeting in 2007

@Watchdog Joe

That's not a bad idea. It's been on the BBC News so it's not entirely new (hence not entirely scary), and they've got a trusted source to refer to (rather than just el reg who most of the UK haven't heard of and hence is scary) and will be shown to vast swarthes of the sorts of people who will phone up and complain about just this sort of thing.

They've even got the press officer's less than democratic response.

Actually why not spread this out so that it's just a whole Watchdog episode on The Government and its godawful policies?

Thief swipes cabinet minister's laptop from Salford office

@Graham Marsden, Gordon Brown

Those would be the finger scans that are about as effective against hackers or anyone with a screwdriver (or, apparenlty, a ballistics gel copy (or even photocopy) of your fingerprint lifted from, say, the keyboard of the laptop you've just nicked).

Fair enough it'd deter most of the less dedicated thiefs on a fingerprinted Flash drive but again anyone with an ounce of dedication could get at it. Especially on ones with "password protected", i.e. non-encrypted, contents- crack case, remove flash ICs, get pinout from teh internetz/manufacturer (or find it out yourself), stick in eeprom-reader-like device that sequentially accesses every bit of data on it and feeds it into an image on a host PC. Mount the nice image on your trusty Linux installation.

This is to do with the government, so I've got to ask "where's the IT angle". Useless buggers that they are.

Crazy coders enable full-screen Crysis play on Eee PC

Even better...

... Streammygame has a Linux client- so you can have a dedicated games machine running Windows sat in a cupboard somewhere and just use Streammygame to give you quick access to your favourite games.

It'll even run on a PS3- and it can't be that long until a Windows Mobile version comes out. Combine that with HSDPA and you've got Bioshock on the bus!

You do need a LAN or a decent internet connection, though, if you're wanting a decent resolution... the VGA-only version's free, though!

Bosch, Siemens: Vorsprung durch kinder und technik

Just the line

"Meanwhile old Blighty, not to be outdone, has also revealed new plans to stem the similar decline" caused me to hold my head in my hands and think "oh joy, what've we come up with this time?". My suspicions were then confirmed.

@Mark_T: And what should we do about it? I mean it's all well and good to say "anything that can be done in China will be done in China" but how do we drag people back to our country's products and services?

Paying Engineers properly would be a good start, followed by limiting who can call themselves an "engineer" to at least those with a degree, if not to those with a professional qualification (chartership etc). Stop it being a catch-all term and replace that with "technician" or a similar term. Keep Engineer for those who've worked for the name (like we do with Doctors).

The British used to have a great Engineering heritage. We now have the Homer Simpson philosophy of "if it's hard to do, it's not worth doing" and the impression that Engineering's hard and boring.

What we should do is get rid of a lot of the pure theory, book-based learning and give pupils experience of real-world principles in a real-world environment. I didn't "get" the principle of moments before it was related to a see-saw. Bouyancy calculations weren't the easiest of things until I got a practical demonstration and a decent explaination of Archimedes Principle. An explaination of "The Bends" that divers suffer by way of an over-fizzed bottle of Coke really drove home what it was doing to you.

We pick things up faster with real-world frames of reference, so giving the Engineers of the future more experience of what they're learning would mean they could grasp it faster and learn more AND stop making schoolboy errors due to a lack of understanding.

*semi-rant over*

WooYaay for the Germans trying to get kids more interested in Engineering. Lets hope they do it properly!

Pentagon hacker vows to take extradition fight to Europe

@AC to me

Entirely the opposite- by their logic, if you hired a hit man in the US to kill someone in the UK you'd be committing an offence under UK law because it affects us rather than under US law (Where the actual offence was committed).

McKinnon broke the law on UK soil. So he should be tried and if neccessary punished in accordance with UK law. He'd be punishable under US law if he was on US soil (say, an embassy or in the US itself).

Alternatively if the US would care to ratify the no-evidence-required extradition treaty we could get around to extraditing anyone over there who's sold weapons to or trained the Terrorists. Or stirred them up in a way that affects us.

@Clare Montgomery QC

"as he hacked into American computers that he was committing an act that would have had repercussions in America."

So by their logic, things that the US do that may have repercussions in the United Kingdom can be punished under our local laws- such as rendition flights landing on our soil. That made us a more "legitimate" target for terrorists than ever and given that the threat is so grave- or at least that's what the Americans tell us- could be extrapolated to encouraging terrorism in the UK.

Or that they could be punished under the Iraqi laws they broke while still invading before they forcibly removed the legitimate ruler of that area. Which I can't believe is not against international law, misinterpreted UN resolution or not.

Gary McKinnon committed a crime, yes. And yes, he should be punished. But there appears to have been no malice in what he did and I cannot believe that he caused the amount of damage the US are claiming- not to mention the ridiculous levels of downtime they claimed at the time.

Should he be sent to the 'states (where the mayor of NYC iirc said he'd see McKinnon "burn for this")? Absolutely not. It's not safe and any punishment would be a political showcase rather than a fitting way of atoning for what he had done.

Should he be incarcerated? No- he poses no actual threat to society so it's not a suitable punishment.

Should he be fined and banned from the Internet for a set period of time (say 5 years), prevented from buying an internet-enable-able phone or taking a job where it would be necessary? I think it would be a good PR stunt and would probably be a better way of warning people that being a cracker is probably not the best career move.

And imagine the indirect fine and punishment he would face- a [former] sys admin with all of that experience and all of that skill going to waste. Not being able to get an IT job for years afterwards or even keep himself up-to-date with the world of computing (devaluing what skills he had). That would be the worst punishment of all.

And on principle we shouldn't hand him over to the Americans anyway as they're trying to shove us around. We should stand resolute and tell them "no more". This is another one of those things that I'd not mind some of my tax money going to.

Blackswift hyperplane hits trouble in Washington

@Thomas

I don't know about you, but if it was a choice between... well, pretty much anything our government's autonomously decided to do in the last few years... and a Hypersonic fighter/bomber/troop-carrier then I know which I'd choose.

The problem with long-term plans is that they never come to fruition within your term of office. So the chances are your opponents will reap the rewards of your good planning- not something a career politician wants to happen. The annoying thing is that the current UK gov has been in power for over a decade. They concievably COULD have done something impressive like this even without compromising their other schemes and plots.

To summarise, we could -and should- have got the Millennium Falcon. We got the Millennium dome. And as someone's already said, budget cuts are bloody stupid. They'll waste the half they've already got and then say "well, we could have done it with the other half. You've just wasted a few billion taxpayers dollars." very publicly to drum up support for their next project.

British pilot makes first supersonic stealth jumpjet flight

@Geoff Mackenzie

Isn't that already standard American practice? They're also fond of "donating" ordnance to us Brits...

@RE:RE:Drones AC

You could also have a quick, linear launch/recovery system- they'd launch, you'd have them flying a simple circuit around the aircraft carrier for all of 5 or 10 minutes and then they'd them return to the recovery point (more accurate short-range sensors in use for this bit...) and guide themselves onto a conveyor belt. On this conveyor belt their batteries would be recharged or swapped out, then off they'd go for another 10 minute run.

With Ultracapacitors and powerful inductance charging coils (or brushes that contacted against conductive bits on the wings) you could probably have them just fly through a tunnel running the length of the Aircraft Carrier to fully recharge themselves for their next run without even slowing down. Have 20 UAVs flying through this tunnel-scan cycle and you could have a helluvan accurate, long-range, high-redundancy radar system.

In related news, Lockheed Martin- who have rather a lot of experience with aircraft- have even got the contract for sole military provider for the eeStor ultracaps. So they may be developing this idea already!

US appeals judge shares porn stash with world +dog

@David Weirnicki

Its true- its all about sex and obscenity with these IT guys. Why, not two days ago the head of IT told me that if I wanted to get access to files he'd backed up for me I'd have to mount his hard drive!

A bloody disgrace, the lot of you!

Northrop scoops DARPA mindreader-helmet threat visor cash

Next phase:

Whenever the user sees anything scary, the binoculars turn completely black to let them keep their cool.

Paris because she'd assume that if you can't see the scary thing, the scary thing can't see you.

Ofcom swoops on caller ID-faking firm with... request for information

@Jon Lamb

"Bought some credit. Dialed my mobile and also presented it as the calling number. Straight into my messages. Nice, not!!"

Like others have said, this has been around for ages- and if "is it the correct phone number" is the only security your voicemail has I'd either not use it or expect it to be nicked and check/sort/delete it frequently.

If it's some sort of corporate system or even a company phone, then you should consult your boss (or IT staff if they're any good) about what to do. Perhaps get their phone number and use their deskphone/your mobile on speakerphone/etc to listen in to their voicemail (with them in the room, of course) to show just how dangerous it is.

This could lead to a lot of embarassment... anyone got a list of Tory MP's phone numbers to crosscheck with their friendly local dominatrices?

Paris because she knows what happens when phone details go public...

EU mulls intervention over BT's secret Phorm trials

Get _Hackers_ on their asses

As in the film, not the people. Though they could probably help as well.

Pretty much, fine the hell out of BT and Phorm, all profits going to the gov't (UK or EU, whichever one acts first) to encourage them to keep enforcing these laws (sort of a litigious pavlovian response- Data laws broken in a big way, you sue, you get more money).

Then ban Phorm-like systems from operating in the UK (setting an example for other countries and giving leverage to their local campaigns to ban it).

Ban the founders/developers of Phorm from any computer forever. Right back to forcing them to use mechanical timers on their microwaves/washing machines.

And to enforce this we should have them tagged with a random number- so it's annonymised :P- and shocked any time they make a typing motion with their hands or enter an internet cafe (or Dixons).

Samsung sneaks out snazzy 3G iPhone rival

Xperia X1

Not actually released yet, but when it is it'll trounce the iPhone. WM6.1 (so plenty software and full office integration), aGPS, HSDPA/HSUPA (so better than just 'normal' 3G), keyboard (hardware, so easier to type with), 800x480 display (so awesome for video compared to normal PDAs), pretty small for a smartphone, Excellent bluetooth, great WiFi, etc.

Also all of the features listed in @Wonderkid by Test Man.

The iPhone may have a user-friendly interface but it's nothing that couldn't be achieved by anyone else with a multitouch screen.

IBM fills chips with water

@George Schultz

40W for a processor? Newer AMDs are up at the 90W levels, the mid-age P4s topped 100W IIRC, etc etc.

So you're looking at- say- 100W over a 4cm2 area. That makes the power 250kW/m^2 by my reckoning. A 33cm x 33cm hot plate at 2kW would be 18kW/m^2.

So yes, processors are far hotter than hot-plates.

And for those wanting to check my figures:

4cm2 - say 2cmx2cm. 50x each side for a sq meter. then multiply by the power of each one of these 2cmx2cm cells you've just tiled.

So 50x50x100W.

Microprocessors are the new cigarettes

What the hell?

I read this as the guy saying "Okay, these companies have a successful business model. But they don't have our stagnant business model, so they should change."

Also, surely the worst possible time to try and calm the industry down is when it's in its "mature" phase- some new upstart who truely understands the market- the market where people want bigger, better numbers on their computers than the next guy and will pay for them rather than try to play off companies so they can buy shares easier- will come along and overtake them.

This guy is clearly a complete fool. Without R&D there would be no microprocessor manufacturers- and given that they rely on repeat customers (who ever heard of ad-supported AMDs or pay-monthly Pentiums?) they need the R&D to create the market for these new customers to buy in. Without it, they have no income but plenty outgoings and so they go bankrupt. Not necceesarily because they have crap products, but because everyone has one already and theres no change to buy into.

If I was any more cynical, I'd think he was trying to lower confidence in AMD/Intel just so he could buy shares at a deflated price before everyone realises what a prick he is.

Mine's the one with the pocket containing 7 microprocessor-based devices that wouldn't exist- and hence wouldn't have been purchased, so no money for intel et al- without R&D.

CSC cranks the whalesong up to 11

Focussed business plan?

What they mean is that there's no coherent thought behind it...

French court fines eBay for sale of counterfeit handbags

How does this work?

For a start how do they ascertain that it's a fake rather than a low-priced real one (I'm sure we've all thrown out things that later turned out to be more valuable than they thought)? I mean with all the divorces going on around the world surely it's not impossible that a guy would just want to get rid of the handbags his ex-wife was so proud of and get some cash back too.

Once they've determined it's a fake surely they'd just need to send an email to eBay's Vero people from a proper corporate address to get it removed? Do they contact the seller to let them know it's been pulled and give them a chance to say they it was their ex-wifes' hand-bag?

Pretty much if they emailed eBay about this through the correct channels I support eBay being fined, if not then it's just too bad. chance dure, frenchies- you should have gone through the proper channels and got it sorted out that way.

Also would it have been legal if they'd put "**FAKE**" or "**REPLICA**" in the listing title?

UK citizens' portal exposes edit kit interface

So more like...

... leaving one's chastity belt on display then, if nothing naughty could happen after exposure?

Blighty joins killer robot club with Afghan strike

Working on software to control multiple units?

Why bothering developing new stuff? Just use an RTS game! Thousands, maybe millions of potential young recruits in the event of the general populace being conscripted, a well-refined interface AND it allows a vast amount of information to be presented to the user in an incredibly efficient and concise manner.

Though things could get messy if they get the discs mixed up between that and a game- "Ooh, they've added a "Global Thermonuclear War" capaign to Red Alert 3!"

It's the one with "No, Comrade Premier. It has only begun" on the back

Boffins build self-replicating replicating machine

PCBs, Motors, etc

Can it print the above? Wouldn't need to be incredibly compact I guess- just a parallel port and a couple of transistors/relays, a battery holder, a couple of motors, a nozzle of some description, a wiring loom, etc- and you could probably print that out in a decent space on a normal printer in a few layers (with the correct materials)...

T5 Transformers t-shirt bust: Shock snap

We need more El Reg stuff in the media!

Think of how much better the world would be with a satirical diorama rather than Eastenders!

I suggest the formation of the Playmobil In Mainstream Papers campaign! Alternatively it could be known as PIMP My Read...

Heathrow T5 security tackles Transformers t-shirt threat

Because of this guy...

... T-shirts of trucks aren't allowed in case they're depicting things that may be weapons-weilding Transformers.

UK electricity crisis over - for now

@Anonymous Coward "Disaster Area"

Completely the correct solution- I bet that the people who complain about nuclear/wind/hydro power being generated where a small moth once lived or anywhere that could be described as "picturesque" are the first to complain about this and shout about it being Gordon Brown's fault. The sort of people who'd drive their battered old bus up the whole of the UK to complain about environmental issues.

Maybe this will make people sit up and think "sod the conservationists, to Hell with the protestors. We're building wind power on hills, hydro power in moving water and nuclear anywhere where the fuel-supply/waste-disposal logistics would work. They complain, we roll out the army."

I mean this- security of power- is one of the few points where I'd imagine Reg readers would be in support of a forceful government.

My icon was killed by a wind turbine. And you know what, no-one cares since they've now got heating and refrigerated food-storage.

Want a 1TB optical drive? Call/Recall me

They keep kicking up the frequency of those lasers...

... how long before we're talking about the 1Pb CD-sized disc drive that uses a new gamma/cosmic ray frequency laser?

Cosmics are about 1,000,000 times higher frequency than blue light- would this mean they could make an Exabyte capacity disc with [cosmic-ray]asers?

Also, @Denis Bergeron: It's hardly "normal" to have a 12mp camera _and_ 1080p movie camera. Maybe "possible" or "available on the consumer market" but not "normal". One or the other maybe. Anyway, you try storing that data on a DVD or BD-ROM and then see if you appreciate just hot much more capacity these'll have!

Japanese children warned off mobiles

Ban Data services on kid's phones?

Well that's just stupid. Think of all the good things that the 'net can bring schoolkids- information from the internet when they need it, the ability to call for help and know exactly where you are (with GPS and GPRS/3G, anyway), a camera to record interesting things to (Could also be useful if there was a cameraphone that saved straight to Bebo or Facebook or whatever), and all sorts.

And if you were going to limit them, surely you'd limit them to SMS rather than voice? That way the messages are stored (evidence in the event of bullying) and they keep the handset away from their face (which some believe can ba damaging to kids- especially primary school pupils). You can even have software on the phone/ISP to check for offensive language or Spam- stopping them from recieving that crap as well.

You could always limit them to SMS and a state-sanctioned "safe" educational WAP site.

Paris because she knows the trouble phones can cause...

Wireless links to be trialled in Gulfstream flight controls

As a backup

this makes sense. The problem is going to be figuring out whether the Wireless or Wired/fibered links have priority.

Give the fibre links priority and lots of random flashes as the split end flails in the open air could cause even more problems- or at least tie up the controls while the actuator figures out that its just noise it's reacting to.

Give Wireless the priority and you'd run the risk of laptop-armed Terrorists taking over a plane with Excel and a well-crafted VBA script.

Still, overall a good idea if properly executed. Thumbs up!

Electrosticky droid boffin in spider-gecko tech bitchslap

Does the strength scale properly?

Okay, 1600sqcm isn't really small enough to allow full on Spiderman antics in tight lycra, but if you racked up the wattage 1000x that's still only a few miliwatts- a couple of hours on a single AA would still be possible, and the area required (especially with the 3-points-of-contact model) becomes far more practical.

Also, another pressing concern: If it can be scaled up, could it be embedded in rubber? Allowing, say, greater traction in car tyres? Even on the ceiling?

If the answer to both of those is "yes", please point me in the direction of your sales department!

EMC: The age of high-end flash has begun

@Neil Davis

Flash and RAM chips use different storage techniques; RAM will last a lot longer as it's designed to run at ridiculous speeds and be non-volatile.

And SSDs and USB-sticks aren't the same either. An SSD is far, far more expensive but lasts far, far longer. I believe the eeePC's SSD will last for a good few years of constant reading and writing before it gets noticeably worse.

Boeing raygunship fires first blasts in ground testing

Chemical laser waste

is very dangerous, so surely they'd just dump it on the enemy? Worst case scenario they're left with the waste. Best case scenario it wipes out hundreds of them pretty quickly.

It'd also mean that the carrier plane would be able to have a faster/longer return journey due to the lowered mass.

They should mount one of these on either a spherical death-star-alike blimp. With a bit of plywood over the thermal exhaust vent. That'd be awesome.

World economy group gives IPv6 big push

Meanwhile at UK.Gov HQ...

They'll probably try to fix the problem by "reclassifying" all the Class C addresses as Class B to discourage people using them...

Legal experts wary of MySpace hacking charges

Isn't this manslaughter?

Or the local equivalent, at least? They maliciously screwed with her head with the intention that she kill herself, then tried to cover the evidence. Actually, this shows premeditation- it's Murder. Hang the fuckers responsible.

The case they're trying to put through isn't exactly watertight and undoubtedly carries a slap-on-the-wrist sentence.

Jihadis: We turned hacked killbots against US troops

Where's the problem?

Just make the cannons move about randomly when you've spotted a Jihadi group moving in to attack. Have the soldiers shout something about the Divine Will of Allah controlling it. The Jihadis will move in to attack, their hearts strengthened with false hope, and not notice the minefield/guy with a grenade launcher/sniper/etc sat directly in their path.

Alternatively dump lots of alcohol in their water supplies. Then explain to them that they've been drinking Alcohol- which is forbidden. They'll have to fight their way to the nearest clean water source, which will also be covered with snipers, unless they want the general populace to know that they're breaking their religious laws. Or just blame the booze on the Jihadis trying to stir up trouble in the area by getting everyone drunk- which makes them more violent and easier to tip over the edge.

RIAA ordered to shell out $100k for P2P witch hunt

@Geoff MacKenzie

What a brilliant idea!

The RIAA could acknowledge that the defendant had NOT illegally downloaded the tracks they were suggesting, and then be forced to cough up for every CD "owned" by an RIAA member company.

It'd make them look less monsterous (or at least make it look like they play fairer, sort of like a bluff in poker I guess), drive up CD / legal download sales as people would be "investing" in "protection CDs", while giving the RIAssA a good reason to NOT accuse anyone who's ever owned a computer. Or not owned one, or who is currently dead.

It'd also mean that their outdated business model could be perpetuated for a bit longer, which they'd be happy about.

DisplayPort to do DVI to death, analyst claims

@John Doe

Yes, but it had much larger cables! And large, properly screened cables are a problem... on the back of a 42" Plasma screen... that you don't move... or look behind...

Just for my information, and later gaming pleasure (all 0fps of it), which monitors support 4096x3072?

Also, why can't they just go the whole hog and stick 3G HD-SDI (through copper to fiber converter) connectors on TVs? It's fiber-optics, so uses lasers and hence is cool, and it's interference proof, smaller cables (even with armouring), longer cables possible, and it can handle ridiculous resolutions. AND would mean that the cable manufacturers would make a killing in the custom- cables market as Fiber is reputed to be a pain to shorten and re-terminate.

Samsung to demo next-gen, 240Hz LCD TV tech

Awesome!

240Hz update-capable LCD screens mean 120Hz for each eye if you're using shutter glasses!

Bring on the headache free, low-profile, ghosting-free, ridiculously high resolution gaming experience complete with depth perception!

"Stereoscope- the way it's Meant To Be Seen"

Mine's the one with the head-tracking HMD built into the hood...

Brits favour ASBOs for unruly mobile users

@Cube

I'm guessing you're just meaning through speakerphone? Having spent a small fortune on bloody good earbuds that I can play at above - comfortable levels without it annoying anyone 'cept the person next to me (and normally using fairly sparsely packed busses due to working hours so there never is anyone next to me) I'd hate to have to carry another gadget.

Which brings up another problem. The little twunts would just play music loudly through an MP3 player and crap speakers.

How about stopping them playing using speakerphone, and legislating about the quality of headphones (to remove the crap, more-noise-to-those-surrounding-than-the-listener sets people seem to get bundled with phones)? Or just give bus drivers the right to chuck people off the bus if they're being disruptive?

Taser gun usage soaring among UK cops

@two-way respect AC

The problem is that we're bombarded by these ridiculous laws that criminalize everyone. Which means that the chances are you ARE a criminal; we're cautious around the police because it'd just take one wrong comment and they could pull you in for _something_.

Also aren't you saying the same thing as Babz, or at least something complementary? If people actually respected the police and their ability to sort out problems- preventing further disturbances- their job would be far easier.

We should get rid of most of the ridiculous reactionary laws that have been added over the last few years. Also, a "Book of Law" that's available to all citizens and visitors would be a good investment for the government- showing exactly what is legal and what isn't. Complete with case studies where applicable... did I just re-invent the Bible?

Seriously, though, Tasers are a good thing. They mean theres less chance of damage to the police and their equipment, and less chance of some "I'm dead hard, me" twat getting away. And, of course, less chance of serious injury than a clobbering with a nightstick. Though being able to change it between "knock down" (single short shock) and "'til the balls crackle" (almost constant on) modes would be very, very useful.

Still gonna get the tinfoil armour out, though!

UK.gov torpedoes personal carbon credit plans

@Jim

I don't know about you, but as someone who works full time- I'm out of the house 10-12hours a day just with work- and sleeps, my TV isn't on that much.

And assuming 1W for 8 hours (while I'm at work), that's... ooh... all of 2 moderate AA batteries' power. Not exactly a lot- in fact assuming that the PC you're writing this message on is using 400W (tower, peripherals, monitor, modem, discounting the bits of the internet infrastructure you're using) that's a whole 72 seconds of power for your computer.

You'd have saved more power NOT writing those messages than I would have by not putting my TV off rather than on standby. And-interestingly- I'd "spend" more energy waiting for it to turn on and off all the time over a day than I would by leaving it on standby.

Also, your projector's bulb will pretty quickly burn out with decent use and need replacing. Which means manufacturing and shipping costs, transport to/from the shop, or running that PC of yours for longer.

The energy wasted trying to eek a few hundred mWh of power back from consumers would be far better spent removing wasteful legislation and letting traffic flow better around cities. Hell, with the amount of money spent by whining pseudo-greens (how much CO2 was given out getting to that whale to record it's song, BTW?) so far we'd have been able to give everyone in the UK an A4 sized solar panel- enough to power my gadget-laden house's devices (when on standby) with room for expansion.

Guilt sucks- people hate feeling guilty. And when you're bombarded with 100 trillion things to be guilty about every day it also loses its effect.

As a suggestion to the gov't if they're reading: why not just tax the individual barrels of oil produced in the UK a dollar or two each, then rid yourself of the other arbitrary taxes? The highest users (hence highest polluters, I guess) would pay lots, the lowest users would pay proportionally less. And it'd cover petrol, diesel, aircraft fuel, oil, gas, electricity, power for services, and all sorts. Then use that tax money to construct- and encourage the private construction of- less polluting renewable energy sources.

Normal man-in-the-street would see taxes falling and vote for you, power generation people would mysteriously find ways of making themselves cleaner, and more nuke plants would be created, meaning less fissile materials floating about for military uses. And the wells currently marked out for carbon sequestering could be used for storing nuclear waste- it'd be hundreds of meters below the sea, stuck in apparently gastight conditions, and would be so much more dense than oil that we could get the last few drops out of the well before it became uneconomical. And it'd never bubble to the surface if there was a crack, unlike CO2.

The consumers are already paying a green tax of sorts. You leave your TV on standby, you get billed a little at the end of the month for that TV being left on standby by your electric company. Leave it on with brightness turned up to full and speakers blaring all day every day and you'll get a bloody huge bill.

Surely then it's the energy generation/transmission people who should be legislated to make things greener rather than the consumer? And those who say Not In My Back Yard to Wind Farms, or "OMG! A beautiful display of Biritsh engineering (and employment) and far-sightedness will spoil the scenery in a bit of Scotland I've never been to!" should be ignored. Or burnt for power. Either's good.

Apologies for length. I believe I may have started ranting a few thousand words back...

Nvidia paid the right amount for 3dfx, court affirms

Back form the dead!

It must be some kind of Voodoo!

I bet nVidia's management were so scared of a $100M claim they were screaming like Banshees!

Maybe this guy was trying to make some extra cash on the SLI.

I'll get my coat. It's the one with "I'm here 'till Thursday" on the back...

Blighty to become old-time Inundation Nation

"same priority as terrorism"

So we're just awaiting the introduction of Sea-Sea-TV now then?

Canadian toddler dies after VOIP 911 call

Bill address

If the service kept working and they were billed the money every month I can't see many people breaking much of a sweat over missing bills. At least with the bills I get there's not much personal information- certainly nothing hugely useful if they've not updated their address- and no loss of service. So it'd be at best a "I'll do it later" task.

And when moving house, there's normally more pressing things to do than change your address on some online phone service thing.

If they HAD changed their billing address and the rest of the system hadn't been updated- including the potentially life-saving 911 address- then this is bordering on corporate manslaughter. And as it'd appear to be an interdepartmental communications problem that'd mean that the rolling head would be of someone pretty high up.

You can see Paris there, thinking "How could someone say this is a no-brainer?"

GTA IV PS3 fights off resolution woes in the UK

@A Baird

Not only the higher resolution and picture quality on the PC, but it'll have:

* higher frame-rate,

* faster loading times

* the potential for far better lighting/physics/AI (though this is a bit of an unrealistic dream)

* the ability to stream your game across the 'net to play it on a PDA, another PC (WooYay! GTA:IV at work!), or laptop,

* Stereoscopic gaming

* True multi-monitor widescreen views available

* User mods

* Potentially, better sound- or at least better surround effects

* Almost certainly, Microsoft-secured extra content from the 360 version

* To wait another year, 18 months to play it. But that's a trade-off I'm willing to make!

Yep, for e-penis size, the PC is still the John Holmes (without the Aids) of the gaming world. Hell, even a PS3-equivalent-price PC (especially built from parts) when this is released will be able to out-do the PS3 or 360.

Pirate logo because PCs also have DVD-R drives...

BOFH: The Boss gets Grandpa Simpson syndrome

Wow!

the BOFH is losing his touch and starting to ramble! He'll be joining Management and shifting paradigms in no time!