Posts by Mike Flugennock

Magic streaming beans? Sure, have my cow - music biz

"...the CD just wouldn't die."

You say that like it's a bad thing.

Hilton, Marriott and co want permission to JAM guests' personal Wi-Fi

"...give a little of your bandwidth away..."

"...Support openwireless.org and give a little of your bandwidth away, and lets march with our feet and wallets and make wi-fi ree eveywhere."

Y'mean, like, throw my house wifi wide-open to any stranger in the neighborhood?

Oh, yeah, what a glorious new day it'll be when any goddamn' rando on the street can logon to my house wifi, pwn all the computers in the house, sniff all our packets, steal our passwords and credit card numbers and just generally fuck our shit up.

Sure, that'll happen.

If at first you don't succeed ... Fire, FIRE again: Amazon mulls smartphone sequel

You forgot all the other fun stuff...

...about the Fire Phone -- the user-tracking features and other smelly spy-ish features in Firefly, and how it's basically designed for shopping.

Dealing with keeping my iPhone locked down (1, count it, 1 third-party app, Twitter) is tough enough. I'll take a pass on Amazon's full-on Big Brother in my pocket.

Feds finger Norks in Sony hack, Obama asks: HOW DO YOU SOLVE A PROBLEM LIKE KOREA?

"The FBI claims..."

The three most important words in this article.

Google bakes W3C malware-buster into Gmail

Re: AdBlock

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking, too. I know, I've heard all about the Gift Horse, and I know my skepticism here is entirely unfounded, but I can't help it, because IT'S GOOGLE, F'CRISSAKE.

Couch potatoes relax: Netflix scores big STREAMING TV PATENT win

Re: In other news...

"Another Franco/Grogan masterpiece of comedy available to all."

I'll have to assume you're being sarcastic there.

From all accounts, Jimmy Franco and Seth Rogen make Abbott & Costello look like Cleese & Chapman.

great, fine, congratulations

Now, if only Netflix offerings weren't generally the modern-day equivalent of the infamous "straight-to-VHS" movies.

Re: Wide Load?

Sorry, it's an American thing. Refers to someone who watches so much TV -- or is just sedentary in general -- that they've eventually gained weight and assumed the shape of a potato -- or something like that. At least that's what I heard when first heard the term "couch potato" in the early '80s.

NY premiere of The Interview cancelled after hackers' terrorist threats

Man, I sure envy those guys...

...as I've lost track of how many times I wished I could make shit movies disappear from theaters that quickly.

Now, if only Adam Sandler would make a movie about North Korea...

"THEY" won?

"Latest news is that it's been cancelled altogether... They won..."

"They" won, Sony lost.

Sorry, but I see no downside.

Re: Fight the war against terror!

Funny how the Americans and Brits characterize guys like Kim Jong-Un as "loonies".

Ever watch your own "leaders" popping off on TV? We've got no room to talk. From what I can see, the "leadership" of the US and UK are the goddamn' Olympic gold medalists in "loony".

Re: story un-folding in the press

"And the story unfolding in the media has a hell of a lot less Seth Rogen in it which automatically makes it better."

I think Seth Rogen is going to be the next generation's Adam Sandler.

Re: Digging their own graves ...

Hell, I can't even remember the last time I went to an actual movie theater to see a film. I think it was this one art-house cinema/brew pub downtown, to see some indie film three or four years ago.

Last film I saw was Truffaut's The Bride Wore Black, which the DW and I hadn't seen in a while, on Netflix. Yeah, that's right, Truffaut on Netflix -- but you wouldn't believe all the crap we had to sift through to find it. It's like going through the rack at Blockbuster (back in the day), plowing through endless piles of straight-to-VHS crap trying to find that one old Truffaut picture I wanted to see again.

If you ask me, I might feel a duty to score a leaked copy of The Interview as a "fuck you" to Sony. Honestly, I can't pretend I'm not enjoying this.

Re: Actually...

Oh, yeah, Israel's used to terrorism, alright. They've been doing it since 1948.

And, besides...

It's James Franco and Seth Rogen, f'crissakes, so who cares?

...and nothing of value was lost.

Re: Actually...

"Here's hoping that this doesn't (further) neuter creativity within the mainstream movie industry for fear of reprisal from someone somewhere who might get offended..."

Creativity within the mainstream movie industry has already been neutered for at least thirty years. You need to get out more.

Got an iPhone or iPad? LOOK OUT for MASQUE-D INTRUDERS

Re: Malware on my wife's iPhone

Pardon my asking, but are you British? I thought you guys were supposed to be really great at sarcasm.

Re: I hate to say it...

Good one, man. It bugs the hell out of me when I hear fellow Mac users brag about how their systems can't be infected. I remind them that one of the very first viruses to gain widespread media attention in the late '80s was a MacOS virus.

Re: I hate to say it...

Just threw you an upvote for that... and I've been a MacOS user since '85, and got a 4S a little over a year ago. I have a grand total of 1 (count 'em, ONE) third-party app, Twitter. I've also been blowing off IOS updates ever since I got the heads-up about the battery-murdering IOS7 update.

Not to say what these people are doing isn't vile and underhanded, but I long ago learned to be responsible for my own security, and not fall for lame bullshit like "social engineering".

Uber? Worth $40 BEEELLION? Hey, actually, hold on ...

Driverless internet gypsy cab? What could go wrong?

I wouldn't ride in a driverless internet gypsy cab if my life depended on it... never mind the whole issue of exploiting casual labor and driving down legit taxi drivers' wages.

Human drivers may be fallible, but let's not forget that the driverless cars are programmed by HUMANS, f'crissake.

Sacre block! French publishers to sue Adblock maker – report

Re: Couldn't the EU just wall off France?

"...Let us wall off thee feelthy roast beefs, with their bowler hats, aristocracy and zere tea and muffins with warm beer and crickets on the village lawn every dimanche..."

"I fart in your general direction!" --John Cleese

18 million iPHONE USERS HAVE NEVER BONKED to ApplePay

Re: Re the Need For Standards

"...Not sure why I'm having to spell out the benefits of technology to readers of the Reg."

Perhaps it's because, being El Reg readers, most of us can tell when a particular bit of technology has no benefits.

Re: Re the Need For Standards

"...A giant shift like this has to start somewhere..."

Shill much?

How HAPPY am I on a scale of 1 to 10? Where do I click PISSED OFF?

"Why was El Reg pushing a pop-up survey in my face...?"

Waitaminnit. A pop-up survey?

Damn. The things I miss by using NoScript...

Re: Survey results

Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! is certainly a helluva "B" movie, but the most famous? Depending on who you ask -- especially me -- that honor would go to Ed Wood's Plan 9 From Outer Space which, ironically according to a survey of critics, was officially voted the worst movie ever made. Mike Nelson, one-time host of MST3K, has referred to it as "the Citizen Kane of bad movies".

(Paris Hilton, because some would argue that her infamous sex tape was the worst movie ever made.)

Re: All You Need to Know aboutSurvey Results

"...People don't answer surveys honestly -- they give the answer they think the survey organiser wants them to give..."

...or, in my case, I give deliberately wrong answers -- or, I should say, answers which are the direct opposite of an "honest" answer -- in order to "pollute" the data. This was a trick I learned in the late '90s, from some activists who were organizing against the undue influence that "exit polling" has on elections.

Something else I learned from my activist work is that big corporate media polls -- such as by CNN, AP, New York Times and the like -- aren't so much an honest reflection of public opinion, but a propaganda tool used to promote a particular editorial position (or that of the State) and to demoralize dissenters; it's as if they're saying to us, "the majority opposes you, might as well give up now". The polling results aren't so much a reflection of public opinion as they are the results of a "final exam" administered to the public by the media after spending a certain amount of time pummelling the public with the official party line on a given issue.

Telephone "push polls" are the worst

During "election" years, our house is inundated with polling calls -- usually from the GOP -- conducting what's called "push polls", asking absurdly loaded questions like "do you think families are a good thing?". It's almost as if they're daring me to answer "no".

I usually hang up on these clowns, though I sometimes get the urge to answer "Hell, no! Have you met my family? My mother was a doormat for my Dad, and my sister is a stupid, diet-pill-addicted little skank who's shacking up with a coke freak and has been busted twice for embezzlement. I got the hell out of that goddamn' house as soon as I could after I finished college."

Needless to say, if the Caller ID displays the words "MARKET RESEARCH" I immediately punch it over to voicemail. Fuck 'em; let 'em talk to the robot.

'We're having panic attacks' ... Sony staff and families now threatened in emails

Re: Too far, on both sides

"...That said, you really have to wonder about a major studio making a movie -- a comedy, even -- about an assassination attempt on a living head of state..."

I was thinking that, myself. Perhaps whoever it was, was motivated by the old "everybody's a critic" principle... dear GOD, a COMEDY? Are they kidding us? What a piece of crap! Let's take 'em down, guys!

I can't pretend I'm not enjoying this.

Oh, for Christ's sake...

Did whoever this was actually expect people to be fear-stricken on receiving this message?

I won't speak for any Sony employees, but I personally would be laughing my ass off instead.

Seriously, man... "All your base..."

Re: Whoever wrote that sure sounds like...

BWAH HA HA HA HA HA HAHHHH.

I regret that I have but one upvote to give to that post.

SCIENCE LAB TERROR: MYSTERY of the MISSING BRAINS

Texas

...but hey, it was in Texas, so who cares?

Human DNA 'will be found on moon' – Brian Cox

I rather enjoyed James Burke

His series The Day The Universe Changed was picked up by PBS in the States in the early '80s, right about the same time that Sagan's Cosmos was becoming popular. We were also getting Attenborough's program(me)s about the same time as well; those were also excellent.

Re: Helium-3

Not that it casts doubt on the particular video you cite, but the "related videos" column on that page is packed to the gills with horsehockey about cold fusion and people building fusion reactors in their garages.

Re: Human DNA on Moon

Good point. Iirc, prior to LM liftoff, the crews dumped a bunch of unneeded stuff onto the surface, including used-up PLSS packs and other assorted trash including urine/fecal bags.

This Cox guy is supposed to be such a big-shot scientist; why doesn't he know about that?

Tenacious Twitter tries to topple terrible trolls

Re: this is all very well, but...

"For Android I use the Twitter website as the app is battery-munching garbage. This has the added advantage that the Adblock Edge extension with an EasyList filter subscription kills sponsored posts."

I'm using the Twitter app with IOS 7; it's pretty good on the battery, and it's lean and fast with no useless dross. It lets me shut off auto-displaying of images, which is a treat. I can't block out the sponsored posts, but I report them for spam and block their profiles as soon as I see them, so they only get one shot.

Re: Better maturity filter?

Good idea. Actually, the "age" of an account which follows me is one of the criteria I use when deciding to block/report an account for spam. I also take into consideration things like the number of tweets, and how much detailed info is listed under their profile.

I also consider the number of followers in an account that's just followed me. As a general rule -- there's always exceptions, of course -- if an account's followers number in five digits or higher, I assume it to be a spam/bot, a "celebrity" account obviously run by a bot, or one of those hucksters who's buying/selling fake followers, report it for spam and shit-can it.

"Quotes" accounts are the goddamn' worst. I tweeted a favorite clip from the Beatles' Ed Sullivan show gig on John Lennon's birthday, and less than an hour later got a bot follow from a "Beatles Quotes" account. OK, I really dig the Beatles, but I don't need a goddamn' Twitter spambot spewing quotes from Beatles songs at me every day, especially as I already own every goddamn' album, and then some.

Something more evil I've recently heard about -- and I doubt Twitter's doing jack about it -- is some flat-out evil SEO bots actually modifying peoples' tweets and/or inserting images that have nothing to do with the tweet in order to pump up the SEO clients' Google Juice.

Hell, with that shit going on, the trolling is the least of their problems.

this is all very well, but...

Hell, I can already deal with the troll accounts -- just block 'em.

I also already know how to deal with bullshit hashtags like #bringbackourgirls -- mute 'em in Tweetdeck.

What I want to know is: what are they going to do about all the friggin' mass bot follows? I came up here after spending the day at Thanksgiving dinner to find at least fifteen spambot follows from obvious spam/bot accounts having nothing to do with my interests or desired subject matter -- and for some weird reason, at least half a dozen of them were from tennis players, f'crissake. TENNIS PLAYERS. WT ever-lovin F?

Perhaps they should also find a way to stop themselves from flinging spam follows at me based on something I just tweeted; this afternoon I tweeted the Reg's report on Stephen Hawking's newly-installed comms system, and about an hour later, I got a bot follow supposedly from that one guy on Big Bang Theory. KNOCK IT OFF, willya?

I'd also really appreciate them giving me a way to automatically block/mute "sponsored" posts in the Twitter app on my phone, but I know that's expecting too much.

Men, Women and Children: Shows how crap the internet is via the medium of crap film

Re: I have a rule.

A rule of thumb that's never failed me: if the trailer for a movie opens with a voiceover declaring "Insert Title Of Movie is the Number One movie in America!" than it's pretty much guaranteed that the movie in question is a stinkburger.

Re: "Starring Adam Sandler"

Hell, Hermann Goering is funnier than Adam Sandler.

Re: "Starring Adam Sandler"

ADAM SANDLER...! Slooowwwwly I turned...

But, seriously... that jerk hasn't been funny since he left Saturday Night Live... and even when he was on SNL, he had a grand total of ONE (1) bit that was any good, and he beat it to death.

"Starring Adam Sandler" isn't a cast billing, it's a warning label.

Gangnam Style BREAKS YouTube

Hell, YouTube was already broken

Between the Google copyright nazis and rancid comment sections, and all the schlocky music videos, twerking chicks, plane crash porn, people throwing dry ice into swimming pools and dumping buckets of ice onto each others' heads -- I got fed up and started posting my stuff to Vimeo, where there's a better chance of actual quality content being seen.

Granted, YouTube has always been kinda' lowbrow, but in the past few years it's gotten to be a complete shithole.

Sony Pictures struggles as staff details, salaries and films leaked

Re: Is this Sony ``rootkit'' Corporation?

"...but somehow I can't help but think ``What goes around comes around''.

Damn' straight, man. Payback's a bitch.

I can't pretend I'm not enjoying this.

FCC bigwig grills Netflix: If internet fast lanes are so bad, why did YOU build them?

Never mind the internet "fast lane"...

Ask 'em why Netflix' movie selections are the modern equivalent of crap-ass "straight to VHS" stinkburgers.

Dropbox sees rival file-piles merely as dots in rearview mirror

Dropbox's competition may be "dots" in the rearview...

...but at least none of them have CONDOLEEZZA FUCKIN' RICE sitting on their boards of directors.

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

Re: Fitting

Damn straight, man. Payback's a bitch.

I can't pretend I'm not enjoying this.

Ah, there's good news tonight!

It couldn't have happened to a nicer greedy-assed, crappy movie-making, price-gouging, surreptitious rootkit-installing, fat, bloated corporation

DEATH by COMMENTS: WordPress XSS vuln is BIGGEST for YEARS

Good thing I disabled comments...

...from the day I first setup my blog.

I've been running a WordPress blog from a local installation for five or six years, and disabled comments and trackbacks almost from the beginning, after spending no small amount of time scraping spam out of the comment and trackback sections.

This news only convinces me even more that I made the right decision.

My HOUSE used to be a PUB: How to save the UK high street

oh, great, another one of these "the Market is God" clowns

"...This, of course, brings up that terrible bugbear: who should plan this change? To which I say we've another method to deal with such things. Get rid of much of the planning and let the market deal with it all..."

I don't know about your side of the Pond, but here in the Colonies, "letting the market deal with it" is why we're in so much trouble, why the cost of housing is shooting to the Moon, and why we have people working at full-time jobs -- including software developers -- living in homeless shelters or sleeping on friends' sofas. And, in pretty much all US cities and towns, urban planners and developers are totally in the hip pocket of the Market Is God crowd.

Yeah, the Market has really dealt with problems over here, pal.

It’s payback time as humans send a probe up alien body

Re: Nuclear RTG Battery

In all fairness, Philae was originally aimed at a flatter, more sunlit space, except that its anchoring harpoon failed to fire, and the lander ended up bouncing a couple of times and finally skidded into a spot that's shadowed by a cliff. If not for the harpoon malfunction, there'd have been no solar power generation issue. Shit happens. Who coulda' known?

Re: I had to laugh

Point well taken. Robert Goddard (US) may have invented the liquid-fueled rocket, but it took Von Braun's team to really make something out of it.