Posts by Pierre

China slams Guns N' Roses album

Chinazis, hu? (@ b)

Slaves living in a ghetto, right? Please, b, tell us. How many hundreds of Chinese people have you interviewed? How many times have you been to China? Or is it just based on the usual Faux News / Daily Fail material?

China might well not be perfect, but have a look at what happens in the US, UK and most EU countries... free world, really? Could easily be presented as a bunch of slaves in ghettos, too.

"p.s. stuff and nonsense: http://www.[redacted]/[web2.0]"

I'll pass, your post here covered my daily needs of, erm, "stuff and nonsense" already.

And please, guys, you might consider China as a 3rd world country, but that's not a reason to dump your garbage faux-rock music on them! If you don't want it anymore, burn it or burry it, but don't litter the rest of the world.

iPhone developer stoops to straight bribery

ORLY?

Apple customers concerned about potentially deceptive viral advertisement? No way

Home Office team continue work on net snooping masterplan

Access? No way!

Too damn hard to handle. I say, all the data go in Excel spreadsheets (good thing you can put several of these in a single document). Then set a password (for obvious security reasons) and voila! Easy to mine, reorder, make graphs and such, you can even easily create terr'ist-finding macros using a robust and reliable programming language. As it's password-protected, and only authorized people will have the password (it will be "Dicky", after Jacqui's hubby name - it's not in the dictionary, that's what they call "strong encryption", right?) you can send the file by e-mail to the relevant administrations (like, local councils). Thanks to the "change tracking" and "share" features, these administrations can even add or edit entries and macros as they see fit, all you need is to do a merge from time to time. Secure and reliable. What could possibly go wrong?

Straw grants ICO half its wish list

@NB

"@4 destop computers? " "FOR FUCKS SAKE" "el regs readers"

FFS, if you're going go all teachey, avoid typos and cure your RGA (reverse greengrocer's apostrophe) syndrome. Also, "this mistake" might have been slightly more appropriate than "that mistake". But I'm just saying.

Hey, don't push, I'm leaving already

loose desktops

I guess the watchman was doing a loose job. He loosely kept an eye on them, and overall security must be pretty loose. Now there are 4 loose desktops.

Hope I didn't lose you here. Icon because she's quite loose.

Ballmer's bid to swerve 'Vista Capable' row comes unstuck

How fun is it to watch the fanbuoys squirm?

Very, very fun!

Thanks Gareth J and James C and a few shameful ACs for the show!

As previously said by me and others, some of the machines labeled Vista Capable are not able to run even the Home edition with all the bloat removed. None of them is able to run the high-end Fistas, which is _also_ a problem, but a different one. Try installing Vista on a machine with a 1 Ghz processor, 512 Mo RAM and a 32 Mo graphics memory (which are the official system requirements). Good luck with that. Now remember that some of the "Vista Capable" boxes had not even that.

Methink most "Vista Capable" stickers actually referred to the chassis and the power supply. Your box is Vista Capable, yessir. You just have to upgrade the processor, the RAM and the graphic card. And possibly the mobo too. After all, the sticker is on the box, not on the innards. It's not misleading at all. The chassis is clearly Vista Capable.

(not that anyone should want to run^H crawl Vista in the first place, of course. But MS, and Ballmer first, lied repeatedly and should be spanked hard)

Not even the home edition

Frankly, I have seen 'puters bearing the Vista labels despite being clearly unable to run even the most watered-down version of the OS (OS meaning, in this case, "obvious sh1te"). Ian's mom's laptop seems to be a good example too (MS specifies you need 512 MB RAM to run the Home edition). So it's not a matter of which version of Vista. They just tried to create some hype (and to please their OEM distributors) -and failed miserably. Let's take them to the nearest lamp post.

Lame Mac Trojan limps into view

David Kelly,

"Sure, so why did you say in your first message: "now that Macs are really Intel PCs, ... we'll see more and more [Mac malware].""

Because the article and my post are clearly and specifically about *new* malware. It's obvious that Safari is immune to MSWord macro viri, but it doesn't make it secure.

"No, the article specifically says it's harder to write OS X malware than Windows malware because of the UNIX underpinnings,, and the same applies to Linux."

The article you linked to ALSO says that. Which is a load of bullcrap anyway. Being initially, a long time ago, based on a BSD kernel doesn't make it more or less secure. All Linux distros are based on the same kernel, but some are tougher than others. Same for BSD distros. And re-read it, you will find a lot of the "Macs are more secure because there are no malware targetting them in the wild" flawed circular logic.

"Explain how OS X is gone "downhill" security wise? Leopard is more secure than Tiger !"

I do not know about specific felines, but I can assure you that all the OSX machines I've seen are in the single-user-with-full-admin-rights configuration. With auto-mount and auto execute for external media on. Good default settings, ain't it?

g00p

Your semantics is good, but there is an even better reason to say "Mac PC": Macs are now Intel-based PCs. Same as Dells, but with a different logo on the box. The Mac vs PC distinction is made for/by clueless people who really mean MacOS vs Windows but couldn't tell the difference between hardware and software to save their lives. Reminds me of this old lady from Morocco who despised Africans (it meant "black people" for her).

@David Kelly, and Dr Harkin

David, I really don't see what the, erm, collection of words you linked to has anything to do with my comment. In the middle of the laughingly inaccurate load of spin, I spotted a passage saying that the use of Intel CPUs wouldn't make the Macs vulnerable to specific, preexistant MS app-targetted malware, but that's both obvious and completely irrelevant. Repeating "Macs are safer because almost no-one cared to develop malware aimed at them" endlessly (which is what the POS you linked to does) might be factually correct for the end luser, but it's still flawed. *owning* a mac might be safer for now -against blind, bulk attacks at least-, but the machine itself isn't. MacOS' default security settings used to be a bit less moronic than Windows' ones, but M$ upped its game a bit and MacOS went downhill, so it's pretty much reversed now. And that's saying something. From up here, they look the same anyway. "BeasTux" is still smirking.

Dr Patrick J R Harkin, what word did you not understand? Frogs tend to jump on red rags, really. Though you might have to be from a muddy, froggy area to know that.

Red flames icon, grilled frog legs for dinner!

Notorious Mac viruses...

... also include, if my memory is anything to be relied on, the first computer virus. Ever.

Macs used to be somewhat spared by the malware developers because:

- no-one had a Mac (except for hackers in the Good old days of the Apple ][, but it would have been silly to aim at this target)

- it was a specific architecture

- and finally, the OS security settings by default were marginally better than on Windows

But now that the clueless crowd of yuppies jumped on Macs like frogs on a red rag, now that Macs are really Intel PCs, and now that security has been banned from the OS, we'll see more and more of that.

Now where is the "smirking BeasTux" icon when we need it?

Google Analytics — Yes, it is a security risk

Does anyone know

If the admin login page is not actually a honeypot?

Better article than last time

Same vuln, but with much less "the world is doomed" fud. Good. It's a little tiny (almost unexploitable) vuln on a "private" PR website, FFS. Hardly the end of the world as we know it. Yes, usin JS (any JS) on this page (and any page) is probably a bad idea. No, nasty black hats cannot use it to take over the US or kill your dog.

US rolls out 'Vicinity RFID' to check IDs in moving vehicles

Still some pork in the barrel

"Were they only kidding, then?"

No, they were pouring some serious tax money down the throat of their (and their friends') companies, while pretending to care about some invented threat. Now there is some pork left, so...

US couple sue over McNudes

Typical

Just because you can send nude pics of yourself by mms doesn't mean you should. just because you can lose your phone, unlocked, with said pics on it doesn't mean you should. Just because you can sue the hell out of... no, wait a minute, you shouldn't be allowed to do that last one. you can't sue people for you own stupidity, can you?

As for the address thing, if it's a "smartphone", the guy probably had his contact list on it, which may or may not include his own address (but likely does) and may or may not include his wife's address (but likely does, too). Not because he couldn't remember his own address, but because lots of people like to use e-business cards, and lots of people use e-mail signatures.

Moronic lawsuit by a greedy and/or moronic couple.

Parallels 4 users want their money back

Ha, people...

I always find it a bit funny when I hear of people using this kind of VMs for the desktop. In graphic mode. For work. Sounds like an awful lot of memory and CPU cycles wasted. You could probably buy two slightly lower-spec machines for the overall same price, and have more work done in less time. Bah.

Jerry Yang - Slugworth to Google's Willy Wonka

PHP...

... isn't even cute.

The Netbook Newbie's Guide to Linux

Nice BUT

Quite a good article, but for the line "the real hacker solution is to take the supplied OS off altogether and start again with a fresh full distribution like Ubuntu". There are words that should never be used in the same sentence, ever. "hacker" and "Ubuntu" are such a pair.

GeoCities 2.0 auctions self on eBay

Mwahahahahaha

Must be a joke, surely...

Sadly it might not.

Net pedants dismantle Quantum of Solace

Target audience

The target audience for this movie is the average midwestern American teenager, what do you expect? After the special effects are paid, there is no money left for research or advisors. Or even a proper scenario. But that's not a problem, as the target audience doesn't want one.

Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 planned for 2009

Fine,

Another broken browser that I will be glad to disdain then.

Also, "the release candidate will be final product".... heh, you have to stress the stong points of your product. I think he might have added that the browser is expected to be compatible with most recent versions of Windows, and could even allow the user to browse the Internet.

Spammers look east after McColo shutdown

Offshoring the spam?

"If we can keep spammers off low-cost, high-bandwidth US colo providers and force them offshore this will increase their costs and hopefully make it much harder for them to spam," said MessageLabs' Sergeant."

Is it just me or the above statement really sounds more-than-mildly stupid? Are there no cheap providers outside the US? Or does this guy think that the intarwub gnomes charge by the distance? Or is it just some self-serving spin?

Congratulations, Barack — Now fix your websites

Mwahahaha! (and @Ratelif or smtg)

This article is admirable in its commitment to the "absolute security" doctrine, but quite misleading on the real level of the threat, and on the nature of the websites. The, erm, "flaws" described here are risibly harmless. "Ho, look, the President-Elect of the Galaxy only have a standard personal mailbox, anyone with a blowtorch could open it and gain Complete Administrative Control on the Most Important bulk admail and pizza delivery coupons in the Universe!". Yeah, right. And?

At mister II,

"As well, Osama bin Laden was a threat for a long time. Name something that Clinton did during his administration that would have prevented the eventual assault on America."

I don't think the CIA and consorts would have allowed him to harm their beloved child anyway. And NO, I'm not trolling, go get some info if you doubt that. And maybe, just maybe, not being a reckless worldwide bully actually kept the terr'ists troops at a low level.

"We are still a young country, barely two and a-half centuries, and we are still going to make mistakes. But smart people in a smart country learn from those mistakes"

OMFG, the world is doomed, DOOMED!!!!!111!one

Re: Where has the money gone?

If Obama's sysadmins are worth their salt, the money has been spent on liquid lunches at the nearby Rehydratative Solutions Boutique, where it belongs. And on the real stuff, too, not this hog's urine-like Bud.

San Francisco enters Agassi's electric car dream

FAIL - EPIC FAIL

So now, all that California need is to buy enough oil to produce the leccy to fuel the cars. Oil consumption x5 to 10 as compared to oil-fuelled vehicles. Oil companies happy, mission accomplished. Or you could use (slightly, diy-modified) diesel engines running on crude colza oil, but it's not going to happen as there is no dough in it for the real masters of the US: oil companies. (and please don't begin the "food shortage" BS, it's mildly ridiculous when talking about ethanol, but it's completely moronic when talking about crude vegetable oil).

Promoter hunts stars for McKinnon benefit gig

Poor sod

Extradited to the US for a damageless "offense" committed in the UK, extradited and trialled using laws that didn't exist at the time of the offense, and all he gets for a defense is Marilion? It's clearly a job for Amnesty International.

Employees sue for unpaid Windows Vista overtime

@ non-believers and MS fanbuoys

I find it funny how people here write "15 min, no way, my 6 month old single-user PC boots Vista in 5 minutes, and I only spent 2 weeks tweaking the install". Most corps do not give new $800+ machines to the non-managerial crowd, and they have heavily-multiuser environments (based on M$ crap). And they usually can't afford to pay a techie to spend hours of tweaking on each individual system. Simply put: Vista does not work out of the box, and is clearly not enterprise-ready. But we all knew that already.

As for the couple guys who wrote "the morons should upgrade the machines", well, some companies might be a bit reluctant about forking a few million dollars in hardware in addition to the Vista licensing extortion, just to perform the exact same work as they did before. Don't you think?

To the couple fanbuoys able to boot Vista in under 30s (Yes, I read that in this thread), I suggest you unplug the box (or remove the battery) and see how your computer likes it. 30s boot cycle with Vista? Either you have the last Cray, or you just hibernate and wake up your machine, never actually shut it down.

Re If it's that bad (JC)

"If those PCs are [...] so misconfigured...."

The hell they are. The article clearly states that they run Vista. Read more carefully next time.

The madness of 'king cores

Me want Power6

And a few of them, too

eHarmony settles over same-sex dating

Stoopid merkins

I noticed that www.bluegayfuckboy.com does not offer a single product aimed at straight people. Shirley it is some kind of discrimination, I will sue them to death! Similarly, www.mydoggydog.mutt.com does not say anything about horses. I hate dogs as much as I love horses, and I feel very very very discriminated. Gimme da monnies.

Now for the real ideas that might actually work: the christiancafe.com website offers a dating service that is discriminative against me as a jew / muslim / hindu / animist / atheist / wuteva. Sue sue sue sue!

Man, I tell you, this country is so fucked up, I say we nuke them from orbit. Only way to be sure.

Regulators back Bell Canada choking indie ISP traffic

Gotta love the pic

Content-free body

Follow the Somali pirate scourge via Google mashup

Too many PC wargame players here

Killing pirates will never put an end to piracy. Sinking their "expensive" motherships might help though. The average pirate is desperate enough to take this kind of risk. As long as there will be people ready to pay ridiculous amounts of money and die while trying to immigrate from Africa to Italy, you won't be able to stop pirates by killing them.

One-eyed woman wants techno-vision

First step, heh? @AC

"It's the first step towards developing a functional, artificial eye."

I think not (If it's the aim, this is a very stupid attempt)

"obviously interfacing it with the brain/optic nerve is another big step"

Actually the real big step would be to know wtf kind of signal should be sent to the optic nerve (provided said nerve did not degenerate after being severed, which I doubt). By the time we figure that out, I suspect there will be an "off the shelf" solution that could fit in a PFY's large blackhead. And by the time we figure out how to regrow a degenerate optic nerve from scratch (or how to interface a cam directly with the visual cortex), there will probably be an "off the shelf" solution to grow an organic eye from stem cells or something. Not to mention grafts. So if it's supposed to be "a step towards [an] artificial eye", it's stupid. If, as I suspect, it's supposed to be a way to take advantage of one's disability, it's quite clever and amusing.

Ignorance, huh?

""Exactly why she wants this is a mystery, as she can still see perfectly well with her other, organic eye."

Spoken like someone with two functional eyes." and following

Well, excuse my ignorance, and yes, before you ask I have 2 (almost) functional eyes, but I don't see what it has to do with the problem at hand. She will not be able to *see* with the spy-eye, only record and watch later with her functional eye. So unless I'm really mistaken, it won't be anything else than a gadget to take advantage of her prosthetic eye for fun, not a handicap-mitigation measure. Number of functional eyes irrelevant (though the number of available empty eye sockets plays a role).

Idem for you second remark about motorization: no motorization would be necessary (and that's a good thing, given the space requirements of a cam, a storage system, a few servos and a battery). But the zoom would be meaningless if she cannot see what she is zooming on. So she'll need an external control screen. With some practice, she could probably do without the separate screen though. But knowledge of motorized prosthetics is irrelevant.

Anyway, I wish her luck with her gadget. But how long until the US custom officer pokes me in the eyes to check if I am a nasty photorrorist?

Geek Wheels touted as the ultimate tech scooter

@ AC about microwaves and metals

"metals are used in every structure of every cell in your body, including DNA."

Please re-read, get clues if needed, then be very ashamed.

"the abundance of metals in our skulls protect most of our brains once our skulls harden at adulthood"

Apply same protocol. Twice.

Also, the 30 db antenna is probably not a huge problem. Keep in mind that it's a receptor antenna, not an AP antenna. If you're still afraid, you can line your helmet up with tinfoil (tinfoil does contain significant amounts of metal, as opposed to bone, most human cells or -god forbid- DNA). Easier and better, glue a strip of tinfoil along the antenna, on the side you will be.

The part of your comment about the emergency response use of this set of wheels was interesting, though. Next time cut the pseudo-biology gibberish.

Screens and keyboards

So on the left you have the system status monitor ("health of computer, IM, email alerts, stocks, weather, ebay auction status, media player control, and more..."), to your right you have the main touchscreen, in the middle a laser keyboard. Plus headset. I sure hope all these eight-wheelers will be able to avoid me when I'm playing WoW while listening to Korn and chatting with my MSN friends (and checking my ebay auctions, occasionally). Provided I can avoid being checked by the pigs, that is.

Nice try, but there's no way this thing makes it to the streets. All these gadgets are way too dangerous (and way too visible) on a scooter. On the other hand, it just occured to me that I do have some spare space in my trunk...

Apple sued over Jesus Phone 'hairline cracks'

What, a less-than-perfect Apple product?

*stomp* *Stomp* *STOMP*

I can hear an interesting comment thread coming...

MS explains 7-year patch delay

Insecure by Design (TM)

"Fixing the bug earlier would have taken out network applications and potential exploits alike"

Meh.

DoS and distributed hacking tools finally criminalised

@ AC

As you say,

"(1) A person is guilty of an offence if he makes, adapts, supplies or offers to supply any article intending it to be used to commit, or to assist in the commission of, an offense under section 1 or 3."

Methink it's really easy to shoehorn custom-made pen tools in this. Meaning that just writing your own tools (even if you don't distribute, use, or even compile them) could put you in trouble depending on how good the adverse lawyer is at convincing the court of your intentions.

This brings down your whole "woohoo for the real hackers" stuff.

AC FAIL at English law

You say "Oh Pierre, it is not illegal to make the tools, it is just that if distributed and used for illicit purposes the author is liable." but I read in the article "The Computer Misuse Act has also been changed to make it an offence to make, adapt, supply or offer to supply any article which..."

You apparently don't need to ditribute it, m'dear. Be careful with these pen testing tools of yours.

AC about security consultants: epic FAIL

It is illegal to *make* the tools as well as to distribute them. 100% of the security guys (moronic or not) will be breaking the law. And, as stated above, arguably 100% of computer-owning people could be prosecuted, too. And the coffee/pizza companies will have to pretend they don't know their products are likely to be used during a DoS attack.

Way to go UK! Reminds me of the French law against piracy, which if enforced would get anyone running any non-MS software prosecuted.

US Dept of Agriculture rubbishes Amish anti-RFID push

"but the same could be said for most things proscribed by the various theological creeds."

Yep. So, as any other stupid creed-induced idiocy, it should be ignored. Not that I think any good of the RFID tags for sheeple. The feeble of mind just shouldn't be allowed to impose their fairytales on rational people. Don't allow more religious nonsense in laws and state affairs, scrape the religious garbage from existing laws and state affairs. Religion is a private thing, and should be kept private.

Sweden judges back Pirate Hunter Act

It once was the radios...

Then it's been audio cassettes copiers, then CD rippers, now P2P... the record industry has an impressive track record of ambulance chasing. The funniest thing is that they managed to get artists onboard this times. Even though said artists won't get any money out of it whatsoever. Actually they may even be made redundant. Once the records companies finish their conversion into lawsuit-spurting machines, they won't need those pesky musicians anymore. Why should the big label share their revenues with musicians anyway? The records industry looses hundreds billion of dollars every year in "artists fees". Them artists, they are costing the records industry way too much. Jail them. Or at least fine them. If they cannot play by the rules, they are not entitled to be in the street. That is why we have prisons.

Tens of thousands of kids need to be protected from ContactPoint users

In other news...

Did you guys know that visa-bearing people now need to provide a phone number and an e-mail address upon entry in the US? UK and US gov have far too much money and bought far too much storage and computer power, they now need to use these... even if it makes the societies depicted 1984, Brazil and the lot look like libertarian utopias.

Watchdogs decry Kentucky's 141-site net casino land grab

Steven Hunter

"This is clearly an interstate commerce issue (as the Internet crosses state lines and even failing that the servers in question are NOT inside of Kentucky's jurisdiction) and is therefor a matter for the FEDERAL courts to decide."

You know, though you might have the best intentions, people like you are the reason why the US of A are hated by more than half the world population, despised by a third and laughed at by the others. It is not something for any US court to decide, unless the websites are hosted in the US -which they are not.

Microsoft: 'Patents are gibberish - unless you're a patent lawyer'

The patents system is a shame indeed

But to see this piece coming from M$... priceless. One of the most aggressive patent-bullying entity that ever existed, advising to ignore other people's patents...

Not that this might surprise anyon. The surprising part is that the memo tells to research licences and copyrights -two things that MS has always been very happy to blissfully ignore in the past. Actually I would be surprised if any of their products was NOT violating several licences and copyrights.

Microsoft bets future on search bribery

Actually it makes sense

I mean, LiveSearch is kind of good for MS standards. It's a MS product that actually performs the task it was designed for (OK, it does it poorly, but it does it). And MS has the cash to subsidize it. Now, to the "pay me to use Vista" guys: even if I was paid for, I wouldn't let that crap anywhere near my iron (anymore -because I tried it). Or you would have to pay me more than the value of the wasted machine.

CRB database wrongly labels thousands as criminals

What about the ones who did not object?

Given that one doesn't have access to one's own checks, what about all the people who were wrongly tagged as criminals but:

-were not 100 % sure about what goes in the checks (who never broke any law or bylaw, ever?)

-didn't want the job after all

-complained, but due to a second error had their complaint dismissed.

A system like this is almost acceptable if proven 100% accurate. Any error can ruin one's life. Like, forever. Finish. Kaput. Any demonstrable inaccuracy should have the whole thing scraped. Period.

Guilty unless you complain and spend a lot of time trying to prove your innocence. Without knowing what you are accused of. Kafka anyone?

Webcast quango: One-third of UK teachers are creationists

Intelligent design

There is one, and only one, supernatural entity in this universe. All hail the Flying Spaghetti Monster, for He and His allmighty meatballs are the origin and the end of all and any physical or pataphysical entity. He created the universe, and He created man to serve and adore Him. Anything else is bullshit. Burn your idols, muslims, jews, christians, for they are leading you to an afterlife of endless pain and suffering in salted boiling water (and tabasco in the eyes).

That's what I demand be taught in science class. My religious freedom is not less important than yours, biatch!

The FSM bless you all.

More seriously, do we really want to turn science classes into endless discussion on which religion has the best cosmogony? If yes, I'm sorry christian nutters, but your fairytale is much, much less appealing that the Hindu one. You loose. Now can we get back to rational thinking based on facts and the understanding of causes and consequences? You kids can go play make-believe in the playground.

Windows 7: One compatibility label, no confusion

@ David

Debian, Slackware, Gentoo

Anyway, a novice user should pick whichever buntu flavor they want (based on the sound of the name, a screen caption, the position in the list, whatever). Because it's the same thing, only tuned for people who want a special set of package _because_ _they're_ _used_ _to_ _them_. If you're new to the penguin pick any, shouldn't make a difference. And you can change it if you don't like it anyway. So the "too many flavors, can't choose" is totally irrelevant. Like, moronic even.

And Ubuntu DOES offer a single primary "distro", using Gnome, which is, surprisingly enough, named "Ubuntu". The others are spin-offs, and are named slightly differently. Didn't you notice that?

And if your GF really can't make a temporary choice whithout any *ahem* logical argument, I'd suggest looking for the one that has "hardened" somewhere in the description. If there is one.