* Posts by DavCrav

3894 publicly visible posts • joined 19 Nov 2007

Rejoice, Russians! The annexation of Crimea is complete and legitimate – Google Maps proves it

DavCrav

Re: GOOD!

"This is why the Russians took action, because the US government were actively seeking to harm Russian interests by destabilising the elected regime. Imagine the response if Russia were caught re-handed trying to overthrow the government of Canada? As a form of provocation the US interference is sufficient that I think the Russian response has been positively laidback."

Can you provide us all with this evidence of the US sending troops into Ukraine? Because the BBC is reporting on proof that the Russians are in eastern Ukraine (i.e., Russia has invaded Ukraine) and Putin himself has confirmed that Russian troops were operating clandestinely in Ukraine before the election. These concerned locals that Putin talks about in Ukraine look an awful lot like the concerned locals in Crimea, and the concerned locals in Georgia.

Russia has violated the 1994 treaty. End of.

Virgin Media so, so sorry for turning spam fire-hose on its punters

DavCrav

Re: Call the Regulator

"Blasting out hundreds of private emails. Creating instant mailing lists. Exposing customers to spammers. Perhaps the ICO will take a view or if as normal they won't.

Strikes me as a good case for a monetary penalty"

After the first person hit reply all, it was clear that replying to this would have sent your e-mail address to the whole list, so it's not data loss, it's people deliberately sending out e-mails to many people themselves. Only one person's data (and then only an e-mail address, nothing really important) was unknowingly spread.

Borked Bitcoin bunker MtGox in administration: Lawyer seizes control

DavCrav

"But if a buyer can be found for MtGox, people owed money could have a slice of future earnings, it is believed."

Believed by whom? Who would take over the tainted MtGox brand *and* sacrifice a slice of any future profits they manage to carve out to the current creditors? Not to mention be the subject of significant Internet hacking/backlash/death threats from criminals?

Android engineer: We didn't copy Apple or follow Samsung's orders

DavCrav

Massive copying. These shops have walls, a floor and a ceiling. There are tables on which goods to buy are placed. Lights hang from the ceiling. On the walls are advertisements and promotional material. I think it's so blatant.

They'd better sue Bose as well:

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-S8TJAgCdsD8/UDc4HeDRFqI/AAAAAAAAC6k/OPAAwSd-Vwg/s690/image005.jpg

All the same features.

DavCrav

"Apple wrapped up its arguments on Friday with its damages expert Christopher Vellturo. The economist said that by his analysis, the alleged infringement of the five patents in the case had cost Apple $1.07bn in lost profits and it deserved the other $1.12bn as a "reasonable royalty"."

Isn't that double counting? If Samsung hadn't "copied", assuming it has, Apple would get the $1.07bn. If Samsung licensed it, they get the $1.12bn. There's no situation in which you get both.

USA opposes 'Schengen cloud' Eurocentric routing plan

DavCrav

Re: I can understand the potential foreign trade implications...

"This is why, through no fault of their own, _no_ U.S. company is trustable - the legal framework they are subject to simply precludes this."

Then if they want to trade in the EU then the US can change the law. Not that big of a deal.

Torvalds rails at Linux developer: 'I'm f*cking tired of your code'

DavCrav

Re: coding

"I am well published and have been researching, writing and doing formal presentations for the past few decades but believe me I have no idea what "first-person pronoun" is."

In that case you might be well published but you haven't published well. First person means the subject, generally 'I' or 'me', second is 'you' and third is 'he', 'she', 'him', 'her', 'it'. I (first person) learned that at school. What were you (second person) doing when we (first person plural) were taught that?

British trolls to face 'tougher penalties' over online abuse

DavCrav

"Let's be honest, there isn't a person on here who has not offended someone else."

Fuck you. I haven't.

Revealed: What the US taxman really thinks of crypto-cash Bitcoin

DavCrav

Re: Taxing Income is Immoral and counter productive.

"Taxing Income is Immoral and counter productive. Taxing consumption is both moral and productive."

Only if you enjoy grinding the poor into the dirt, which is the group that does the most consuming.

What price justice? 73 CENTS in book price-gouging case

DavCrav

"My understanding of the case is that Apple didn't set the selling price. They just said "Whatever you sell at, we'll take a X% cut" Which is why I don't understand why Apple are being fined."

My understanding was it included the phrase: "and whatever price you sell via us, you are not allowed to sell it *at retail* through anyone else at a lower price". In other words, because a book is sold at $10 through Apple store, it cannot be sold by Amazon for less than that, even though the amount the publishers get in both cases would be the same. It is literally price fixing.

Oxfam, you're full of FAIL. Leave economics to sensible bods

DavCrav

Re: Good Grief!

His point was that, as someone with a few thousand pounds in positive wealth, I am *also* richer than the bottom 10-20% of people in society, because they have negative wealth. And because they have negative wealth, adding them together makes an even more negative number. *Anyone* is richer than the collection of all people in negative wealth, including people in negative wealth!

DavCrav

"We don't 'tax the rich to provide pensions' - we pay pensions through NI into a fund, where eventually it's paid back."

Have you noticed how NI contributions are variable (percentage of salary up to a certain limit) but the pension is the same? That's the redistribution right there.

Slash tuition fees for STEM students, biz boss body begs UK.gov

DavCrav

Re: A new way

"Professors earn too much."

Rubbish. The average lecturer in the UK earns about £45k/year. This is after eight years of university education, a postdoc or two publishing in internationally leading journals, followed by a job and another five years experience or so. Find me another job requiring a PhD, eight years' experience and an international reputation that pays £45k/year.

DavCrav

All bullshit

There is no skills shortage: there is a skills shortage *at low wages*. What companies want is to pay a top-class STEM graduate £16k/year, and until we have enough STEM graduates for that to be the wage they will moan about skills shortages. A skills shortage is where there aren't enough skilled employees to fill the vacancies at any wage. If you cannot fill your vacancies at a low wage, it isn't a skills shortage, it's that you are paying shit wages.

Reporters without Borders confirms, yes, lots of nations are spying on their citizens

DavCrav

Re: Bit confused here....

"And the U.S. didn't try to shut Snowden down?!?"

No, not really. They said "you are a suspected criminal, please come back so we can try you in a court, where you might get off". In Russia they send a guy with polonium out and assassinate you. Should we put the two countries on the same list? Really? How about we have the list headed "countries that do bad things" and another list headed "countries that do *really* bad things".

Google facing $5 BEEELLION antitrust fine in India

DavCrav

Re: @DavCrav

"I think you may be confusing 'profit' and 'turnover'. It's quite difficult to massage turnover figures"

I wasn't, but Google somehow manages to have very little turnover in the UK despite clearly selling here. Since this is a story about Google, I doubt I'd trust their turnover figures either.

DavCrav

Re: This "annual turnover" business is really stupid

"How about using the annual turnover in India rather than worldwide?"

Because we know that companie lie and cheat about where the business is, so we cannot trust their turnover figures. Can't have it both ways, megacorp.

Fee fie Firefox: Mozilla's lawyers probe Dell over browser install charge

DavCrav

"Dell are sensible, just like the rest of use following this business model. You work out the cost to you, add on the profit you want to make and get the end price for doing the job once. You then charge this same amount whilst lowering your own cost however you can."

Which is expressly what they are not allowed to do. They cannot charge an installation fee. They might be able to get away with charging for actual time spent doing it, but not make a profit out of it, according to the T&Cs.

Hey, MoJ, we're not your Buddi: Brit firm abandons 'frustrating' crim-tagging contract

DavCrav

"Sara Murray, who is a member of business secretary Vince Cable's "entrepreneurs' panel", said in a leaked email to staff that the ministry wanted "the development of a product which does not yet exist"."

What, a mobile phone on an anklet? It doesn't even have to look particularly stylish either, so just take a Nokia and strap it to their leg. I think with £1bn I can develop such a system, especially as electronic tags already exist.

Triple-headed NHS privacy scare after hospital data reach marketers, Google

DavCrav

Re: What has it got on its serverses?

"Can you do that again as Yodo?"

Computerisation of health records leads to big data.

Big data leads to cloud.

Cloud leads to suffering.

Not quite as snappy as the original.

Woman claims she was assaulted in Google Glass 'HATE CRIME'

DavCrav

Re: meh

"I'm guessing the glasses were grabbed as a very standard ploy to distract from the real theft of the purse/wallet/phone. It worked."

Sure, except now there's video of the one suspect, and probably his friend lurking about in the bar at the same time. Should make at least one arrest pretty easy, and then the fun US justice system of 100 million years unless you plead guilty and dob in everyone else comes into its own...

Korean credit card companies hit with 90-day, $100m sales ban

DavCrav

"This is where it gets interesting. In my opinion, data loss must move into criminal law and a way must be found to identify the top person in the chain who takes the decisions - a bit like tax evasion eventually becomes personal. That way, you can eventually sling someone into jail if they're not paying attention."

So, do we sling in jail the head of the organization, who knows nothing about programming? The person who left the XSS vulnerability in the website design? Perhaps the head of the company that did the outsourced web site design? Somebody over at Mozilla and Microsoft for leaving the vulnerability? Much as it might seem fun to throw Ballmer in jail for all security vulnerabilities in Windows, you might find it difficult to get people to take on public sector work, particularly at the coding level, if you offer a nice juicy time in the slammer if they make a mistake.

Google's paid link settlement plan will lead to fresh wave of abuses, claims Euro rival

DavCrav

Re: Idiots

"They seem to moan, but they haven't yet said once why they feel that Google ("their rival") should be forced to give them unlimited free advertising?

Nobody else is allowed to jump up the search rankings for free so why should they? If they did allow them couldn't I claim it was anti-competitive that they are given a free advert at the top of the page and I have to pay for an adword campaign to get similar?"

But that's the point, isn't it? Google shopping is shite. So why is it at the top of rankings when other shopping sites are better? Could it be that Google is artificially inflating the ranking of its own services to the deteriment of other, better, services, and the consumer as well? Because that's pretty much the definition of abuse of monopoly powers, to use your monopoly power in one sector to attack rivals in another area.

Samsung flings sueball at Dyson for 'intolerable' IP copycat claim

DavCrav

"because the British company's accusation that Sammy was a serial patent violator hurt its image"

Shouldn't be difficult to find evidence of truth though. All we need to prove "serial patent violater" is two or more (for "serial") examples of Samsung losing patent claims (for "patent violater")

Patent violation number 1:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25842637

Patenet violation number 2:

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/apple-wins-290m-in-damages-from-samsung-in-patent-infringement-case-8956989.html

OK, I managed to prove the truth of Dyson's statement within five minutes of Googling.

Of course, many other companies are "serial patent violators", but that doesn't mean that Dyson has lied.

Your personal data is worth a measly eight bucks a month

DavCrav

Re: Not much different

I'll see what I can do:

> Another VERY big advertising company

Google

> has forked Linux

has made Android

> and is paying huge salaries for keeping it entertaining enough

and is updating it

> just to offer them free to the individuals in order to collect their personal info.

so that mobile operators install it and Google slurps your data from it.

FBI offers $10,000 bounty for arrest of laser-wielding idiots

DavCrav

Re: Profit!

"...and people will start building drones with an IR cam to track the suspect from laser beam detection until reaching proximity..."

Just wondering, what happens when you shine a laser pointer at a drone? Anything much? Because if you will be flying them at people armed with laser pointers, you should probably make sure they can cope.

'No, I CAN'T write code myself,' admits woman in charge of teaching our kids to code

DavCrav

"(HTML is NOT programming! Even Javascript qualifies, but HTML does not!"

A couple of points here:

1) HTML, together with CSS, appears to be Turing complete, so it is programming. It might be a rubbish language, but it can still be programming.

2) I think the major benefit of programming for children is that it can teach people to take a problem and break it down into small pieces, and then how to logically produce solutions to each small piece. I personally can't code something like Java and C++ beyond the kind of things these kids are going to learn, so had to get my experience with these concepts through abstract mathematics, but it might be easier for children to experience it through something practical like writing a computer program to emulate a set of traffic lights, or something simple like this.

Bitcoin value plunges as Mt.Gox halts withdrawals and Russia says 'nyet'

DavCrav

Re: Interesting

"I look forward to explaining my children why it's illegal to exchange messages consisting in large numbers."

It's already unlawful. See copyright law.

Jean Michel Jarre: Je voudrais un MUSIC TAX sur VOTRE MOBE

DavCrav

Re: Well, if he isn't happy with how much he's earning…

"2) Artists should be rewarded for their work. How do you suggest that we do that, other than by some sort of royalties payment?"

I don't really disagree with this, but actually, *why* should artists be rewarded for their work? There are lots of things that people do that benefit other people but they don't get paid for them, certainly not getting paid for decades after they did them. If they want to produce music then they can do, but I'm not entirely sure why they have an obvious right to protection for it. Since we have enough music in society to listen to a new track from the minute we're born, continuously, until we die, does society actually *need* any more music? Would there me greater benefit in deciding that all music should now be free to anyone who wants it than keeping the current system? Yes, much music wouldn't be made that currently is, and that might well be a good thing. People who want to do it as a hobby still would, if they find it enjoyable, it would just mean that people who can sing have to get a job that isn't 'singer', like people who are good at tiddlywinks.

Apple's nonexistent iWatch to bag $17.5 BEEELION in first year alone – analyst

DavCrav

So let me get this straight. She can somehow predict how many units Apple will sell of a product that, not only do we not know what it is, but we don't even know which sector it's in. Bullshit.

Hacktivists dish out DNS hijack to PayPal, eBay

DavCrav

Isn't this the on-line version of scrawling graffiti onto roadsigns? We don't have a news story each time that happens.

Edit: before anyone says "well, why did you read this then?", I'm procrastinating.

Eurocops want to build remote car-stopper, shared sensor network

DavCrav

Simultaneously stupid for two directions

1) It is meant to be an exploit that needs to work no matter what defences the criminal uses on the car.

2) It's going to have to be protected by a system that criminals cannot break to use to their own advantage.

If you think either 1) or 2) is possible, then I have a bridge to sell you.

DavCrav

Re: Hmm...

"I suspect that it would only be a matter of weeks before the criminal fraternity found a way to counter this technology.

Presumably the same people could clone the vehicle stopping transmitters, and generate a carriageway or two of stopped or slowing vehicles to assist their getaway.

That would make a good plot for a film - something with red, white and blue Minis comes to mind."

So high tech. Or, or, fake number plates. Steal number plates off same model and colour car, hey presto, impossible to stop car. And I had, ooh, seconds to work out how to defeat this system.

Stephen Fry rewrites computer history again: This time it's serious

DavCrav

"> Gates insisted that he could licence [sic]

Why the [sic]?"

In British English the verb is license, and the noun is licence.

Apple's Tim Cook: Fear not, worried investors, new product salvation is 'absolutely' on the way

DavCrav

Re: new products

"With the exception of Dick Tracy, who is still looking forward to strapping a shit phone to their wrist?"

Penny from Inspector Gadget.

A real life Romulan-Klingon alliance: Google, Samsung sign global patent pact

DavCrav

According to the kind of people who write large posts on Klingon--Romulan relations on the Internet:

"According to the Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Journal, the Romulan cloaking device was acquired by the Klingons as an exchange for several D7-class battle cruisers for the Romulans during the Alliance. In fact according to apocryphal accounts, in Seven Deadly Sins, Romulans required the power system of the D7-class ships to provide the power required to use the new improved cloaking device. "

See: this site

Vile Twitter trolls thrown in the cooler for rape abuse tweet spree

DavCrav

Re: Appropriate punishment?

"I've often wondered if maybe Singapore doesn't have it right. I may be a heartless fiend, but to me it seems a better response to minor-but-not-trivial crimes than short jailtime or high fines."

I'll answer that for you: no. Torture isn't "right". I thought this was a position that we could all get behind...

DavCrav

Re: It's trolls.

"Yes, the male pill exists but it transfers risks from another patient and thus is deemed too controversial."

Well, it exists, but the current ones are either hormonal -- and not the 'nice' kind that the female one is, but the ones that result in a drop in sex drive (thus negating the need for a male pill in the first place) and a "drop in masculinity" (read, breasts) -- or aim to kill sperm (read, birth defects, yippee).

There is research on a male pill that doesn't have horrific side effects, and then we'll see whether your statement holds true, but I think it is unreasonable to ask men to take a dangerous medication so that women can stop taking a largely safe one.

DavCrav

Re: Would it be too much...

"Do you know WHY there's such a disparity? It's not because there were so many less great women. It's because the people who write the history books have consistently undervalued, misattributed or in the worst cases, constructively obscured the contributions of women. Take for example Rosalind Franklin whose work provided the evidence for the structure of DNA. Watson and Crick's contributions, while not insignificant, could not have been achieved without her, and yet they are credited with "discovering" it. There are plenty more of these out there and if you give a damn about self improvement you'll find out about them and stop peddling this crap."

That is quite frankly bullshit. The reason there was such a disparity is that women were (almost always) not given opportunities to do great things. Hence, there are very few important women in history, and most of those that existed did so because of birth (royalty). You cling to your view, even though it fails a critical examination, because if your view is true then it's the fault of modern historians, and not the fault of people long dead whom we cannot point finger at. The postmodern rewriting of actual history is a fun intellectual exercise, but doesn't mean anything in reality.

Your example of Franklin is one, who did important foundational work, and as someone else on here said the results leading up to the breakthrough are often forgotten (see Einstein's special relatively, or should that be Einstein--Lorentz special relativity?), but you'd need to find thousands of others to back up your thesis.

'I don't understand why they feel like they own the word CANDY'

DavCrav

Re: the app name was what now?

"All Candy Casino Slots – Jewels Craze Connect: Big Blast Mania Land"

Every time I read that I think it's somehow related to the doge meme, e.g.,

All Candy Casino Slots. So jewels. Many big blast. Wow.

Feds cuff revenge smut site boss Hunter Moore on hacking charges

DavCrav

Get Godwin's law out of the way first

"Dubbed "the most hated man on the internet," by Rolling Stone magazine, Moore..."

I raise you a Hitler.

Google Glass driver told she CAN wear techno-specs while on the road

DavCrav

Re: Next time ...

"Maybe the cops will be waiting outside with a ticket for "driving with obstructed vision"."

They are glasses, with stuff on the outside. They aren't obstructive.

Boeing bent over for new probe as 787 batteries vent fluid, start to MELT

DavCrav

"The use of batteries is central to Boeing's 787 Dreamliner, which is touted as the most fuel-efficient airliner in its class."

Is that because it used zero fuel for the entire time it was grounded?

Intel shutters BRAND NEW chip factory as PC market storm rages

DavCrav
Joke

"They could always make ARM chips for people."

People already have two. How many more do they want?

Two websites you should show your boss if you want to be paid in Bitcoin

DavCrav

Re: Alternatively...

"[Alternatively] the day after they are paid staff could use the funds in their bank accounts to buy bitcoins."

But, but, innovation!

Furtive ebook readers push Hitler's Mein Kampf up the charts

DavCrav

Re: The bigger Question is :

"The state of Bavaria is the rights holder, as covered here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25346140"

Isn't it 70 years after the author's death? In which case, we only have to wait until the 30th of April next year before the royalty-free bonanza begins.

China ALSO building encryption-cracking quantum computer

DavCrav

Re: 42

"42

that's all"

Easy to factorize. That's 6*9.

NSA refuses to deny spying on members of Congress

DavCrav

Re: So what they are saying is:

"All of the American people (as well everyone person in the world) along with Congress are all suspected terrorists?"

They've watched Homeland.

Pinterest who? EU rules social network CAN'T trademark its own name

DavCrav

Re: Shakedown time

Why is it a shakedown though? I thought it's called Intellectual Property. Premium Interest owns some property -- the name Pinterest -- and an American company wants this property. So it has to buy it. Or choose a different name.

DavCrav

"i fear the EU would shy away from it due to the public who do like pinterest being outraged and crying censorship."

I don't think anyone would cry censorship over a website operating illegally being shut down for contempt of court. The most likely course of action though is that the company that wants to be known by 'Pinterest' will buy off Premium Interest.