Posts by hokum

Using 1Password on Mac? Patch up if you don’t want your Vaults raided

I feel like 1Password vaults are pretty safe if leaked because they use a lengthy randomised secret key alongside the master password. Unless you possess both the password and key you prob ain't gettin in.

Yale Weds: Just some system maintenance, nothing to worry about. Yale Thurs: Nobody's smart alarm app works

Re: Not Surprised

Well, you can see when your door is opened and set up temporary access for visitors remotely. There are a number of scenarios where someone may find that sort of thing useful.

Though as someone who is otherwise all in on the internet of s**t, I don't trust smart locks just yet.

Man asks internet for $1k for pebbles. INTERNET SAYS YES

Any article about whisk(e)y

is inevitably going to have snobs in the comments declaring how others should enjoy their drink (though I do enjoy them revealing their ignorance along the way).

Have it however you damn well please. A small amount of water is perfectly normal (it's typical in Scotland to be offered a small jug of water, and as the anecdote above points out this is accepted by people who drink it for a job) and ice can be very pleasant, partly for the cooling and partly because as it melts you get differing flavours come through. And sometimes you want that throat-stripping blast of raw alcohol.

Still, I think we can all agree that these stones are a terrible idea. Unfortunately, anyone who is known as a whisk(e)y drinker risks receiving this crap as a gift at Christmas. Serving suggestion: smile, act grateful and chuck them in the garden when you get home.

FBI: We found US MILITARY AIRCRAFT INTEL during raid on alleged Chinese hacker

Good luck with that F35

Feel sorry for the Chinese if they try to copy the F35.

Perhaps the plane was made deliberately crappy so when they clone it a bunch of their pilots get killed.

Maybe next leave the blueprints for a top secret machine gun where the barrel points out toward the operater lying around on a public FTP server.

Say goodbye to the noughties: Yesterday’s hi-fi biz is BUSTED, bro

They want how much?

I'm not surprised at the age range of a typical multi room user. Look at how much all this stuff costs, setting up a Sonos system is damn expensive for a bunch of speakers with networking.

Top ten car gadgets: Get your motor running with new shiny-shiny

TomTom Go 40?

You heartily recommend Garmin in the previous page, but then your 'cheap' option for a satnav is TomTom?

The Garmin 2595 has a wide 5-inch display and Bluetooth for voice commands and hands-free, and includes free map updates and free traffic alerts. It's available for less than £130.

Star Wars Episode VII: The Ancient Fear of, er, a cheese-tastic title?

Hope it's another turd like the recent trilogy...

...because then we might get more Red Letter Media reviews, the best thing to ever come out of Star Wars.

BSkyB, CityFibre, TalkTalk pull clear of bigwig BT's bundles – plan to set fibre to York

Re: They're FibreCity

FibreCity in Bournemouth is now Gigler. They are still going and have a very small amount of FTTP coverage in the town. Nice if you can get it.

Yet another Brit mobe tower borg: Three and EE ink network-sharing deal

Vodafone

" Ofcom argues that this has been effective with the mobile network operators all having announced intentions to exceed the targets set and cites Vodafone's statement last week: “We remain committed to delivering 98% population coverage across 2G, 3G and 4G by 2015.” "

Vodafone's statement came after it narrowly avoided a fine for failing to meet OFCOM's target of 90% 3G coverage by June 2013...

Undercover BBC man exposes Amazon worker drone's daily 11-mile trek

@Evil Auditor

No chap, I did alright and have an okay job that I enjoy, but thanks for your concern.

It is, however, a sign of frustration at the udder idiocy of people like that moron above who take the attitude that people working in minimum wage positions are lazy, or stupid, or both. It's this kind of thinking that's led to the poor and unemployed being demonised as scroungers by the Tories and certain segments of the media, and it pisses me the fuck off.

I'm also kind of annoyed at you assuming that my defence of them means I must be in the same position, but not quite enough to insult you over it.

"There is a lesson there and it is this is what happens when you didnt pay attention at school."

What if you're still in school? What if you had a deprived childhood and never got a chance to finish school, or performed poorly because of your situation at home? What if you have learning disabilities? What if [insert any one of the many reasons people may want/have to take a job like this].

I'm not saying this Amazon thing is particularly horrendous, certainly doesn't sound much worse than restocking the freezer in a supermarket or working in an abattoir or something like that, but don't assume that the only reason anyone would take it is because they're lazy and didn't get 5 GCSE's.

Have a look at current unemployment rates, particularly among the young and recently graduated.

Here's your lesson: life is more complex than your black and white view of the world, you short-sighted arsehole.

Win 8 PC sales plunge as retailers, disties shave orders by HALF A MILLION in Q3

Re: PC installed base

This. PC hardware is now so powerful and (relatively) cheap that there's really no need to upgrade that frequently. I suspect more and more people are only adding odd components here and there to keep things ticking over rather than buying whole new systems, and there are probably a heck of a lot more self and custom builds happening too.

Would be interesting to see some numbers on component sales.

The growing popularity of PC gaming over the past few years would indicate that the platform is very healthy, but buying habits have changed. My last PC was built three years ago and the addition of an SSD and slightly better graphics card last year have allowed it to keep playing new releases. I cannot envision the need for a major upgrade for some time.

Virgin Media only puts limited limits on its Unlimited service

Re: Why the hell...

And it's not unlimited because there's only a finite amount of energy in the universe and eventually all the atoms will fly apart and heat death will occur!

You're choosing a very silly nitpicking definition of unlimited that nobody else uses. Stop being ridiculous.

Re: Why the hell...

Lots of other ISPs are unlimited though. Sky, TalkTalk and BT, for example, all now offer unrestricted services on their top-tier products: no caps, no fair usage, no traffic management.

I download and upload a ridiculous amount with my Sky fibre, never heard a peep from them.

Virgin have always been among the worst of the big name providers when it comes to traffic management and usage caps. They very much deserve a slap on the wrist.

New iPhones: C certainly DOESN'T stand for 'Cheap'

Re: A finger of fudge

There was a story a few years back about an unfortunate gent in South Africa who had his finger stolen by car jackers when they discovered he had a fingerprint security system on his shiny new BMW.

Microsoft to unveil new Surface slabs at September 23 event

Re: Pathetic

The public don't care. Do you work in Microsoft's Surface division? You seem to have a similar lack of understanding about why Surface has failed and why the iPad continues to be so successful.

ISPs: Relax. Blocking porn online won't really work

Change your DNS?

"The three big name telcos will use DNS lookup to help customers block the material they want to censor in their homes."

So, switch your DNS to OpenDNS or Google and this becomes ineffective? Good job.

Microsoft caves on Xbox One DRM and used-game controls

These DRM "features" weren't ready

There's a reason they were able to backtrack on this so quickly - it's because the family sharing and the cloud computation gaming servers weren't anything more than an idea on paper or an early prototype.

They had to say something to make the DRM sound good after gamers went into fits of rage, and that's what they came up with. But if they were able to turn around and just decide not to use those features - particularly cloud computation which apparently was going to be an integral part of games - then they were never that close to being finished.

Surely the family share could be implemented just for digital downloads? Unless it wasn't actually more than a they came up with in a damage control meeting.

Maybe devs and pubs weren't happy with the idea either. E3 might have been the first time many of them heard about it.

Orange is the new TalkTalk of the broadband complaints league

Re: Is there a GOOD broadband provider?

Sky are good...oh, wait.

Had never actually heard about them forcing you to use their router until now. Can see how that may be a problem for a very small minority but most won't care. Otherwise Sky have been excellent - top speeds, decent customer service and really cheap.

As others have said, you can go to the smaller firms like AAISP and expect outstanding customer service and a high level of technical knowledge, but it'll cost you.

O2 were decent a few years ago but they've dropped their unlimited packages now and since they're soon becoming a part of Sky that rules them out for you too.

ASA says 'unlimited' broadband can have 'moderate' limits on it

Re: Funny

How long ago did you "complain about the same thing with Sky"? Because Sky has been fully unlimited for a while - there is no traffic management or download caps.

Review: HTC One

Re: No microSD AGAIN

Thanks for telling me what I need. And all this time I've just been thinking for myself.

App data, offline maps, HD video, photos, misc useful files...all things I keep on my microSD. If the phone dies (as it did recently) I can just swap out the card. Plenty of us do not trust cloud storage, plus the 50GB Dropbox accounts are time limited.

We're in the 21st century now where components are cheap. HTC could have included a microSD slot at minimal cost.

No microSD AGAIN

I was well up for getting a One S or One X last time round, but the lack of microSD killed that. Realise it doesn't matter to everyone, but I need that feature. So my money went on a Galaxy S3.

Samsung under fire over copy-paste bricking

Samsung support

It is pretty shoddy of them not to have fixed this bug by now, but I've had to use Samsung support twice in the last few weeks and it's been excellent each time. Fixed rapidly without any cost.

3 million Freesat receivers now out there, and boxes to get YouTube

No Dave!

Used Freesat up until recently, and it is great, but it's shame you still don't get Dave.

BT.com blats small privacy bug, ignores GAPING HOLE

The Verge

The Verge is saying they did this and got an order email with the name of the account holder, so BT hasn't really fixed this at all.

Google stealthily coalesces UK music cloud into being

Re: Good idea, poorly executed

" I used Apple Lossless (ALAC) to rip my music, as I wanted to preserve CD quality"

"Back to Spotify it is"

Are you not very bright?

Spotify's max stream quality is 320kbps. Google Music converts to 320kbps.

Regardless of your ignorance of these facts it's hardly a good comparison anyway. Spotify has a massive library and makes it easy to discover new bands GMusic is a digital music locker for storing and streaming files you already have. The two work fine side by side as they fulfil different needs.

Dimwit.

Why I've got a sync'ing feeling about Amazon's new Kindle Fire

Contradiction

"Amazon is happy to run others' applications, and to have its applications (with their associated content) run on Kindles, iPhones, iPads, Androids, or other form factors."

"Every Kindle Fire comes deeply integrated into Amazon's retail experience, which is why I wasn't tempted by the release of Google's Nexus 7"

If Amazon is so happy for its content to be used on any device, why would you have a problem with the N7 or any other tablet?

I'm not knocking your choice of hardware, but this seems like a contradiction to me.

What is it about the Kindle Fire's "deep integration" that's so different to using Amazon apps on A N Other tablet?

Perhaps it's different for the US though. They after all get to benefit from awesome extras like unlimited movie streaming for having a Prime account, while all we get is free delivery.

Ten apps to install on your Nexus 7 first

Re: Apex

I've never been impressed with Apex. It was noticeably slower than stock on my SGS3 and N7. Nova Launcher is far superior IMO. Just as many options but much faster.

Apple wins US ban on Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1

Re: "Stealing Ideas"?

Not sure if you're being deliberately misleading or you just don't know anything about Android. Perhaps a bit of both.

The Tab in that picture is displaying the Android app menu, which being a menu for apps is naturally a screen full of icons. Press the home button and it'll go back to the default Android desktop which looks nothing like iOS.

It's the same thing Apple's lawyers tried to pull. Every time they show the devices side by side they have iOS on its normal (dull) home screen full of icons, but bring up the app draw on the Samsung hardware as otherwise the UIs look nothing alike. They also resize pictures to make them look more like the i-gadgets.

Nokia after the purge: It's so unfair

They're goners

12 months on the outside before MS takes over and guts whatever is left.

They're losing ground in emerging markets, which has until now been their strong point, and cannot be making any money off Windows Phone. Their admission that they've only sold 2 million Lumia handsets since the range was launched shows how much Nokia is struggling.

Windows Phone is going nowhere very slowly so focusing on that was a huge mistake. What was the last Windows Phone to be released which wasn't from Nokia? If there was any new hardware recently it didn't get any publicity. It's a dead platform.

Samsung 'Galaxy 4S' pic posted

Will Samsung...

...stop making their handsets out of plastic, though? The Galaxy S2 has a gorgeous display but it's a hard sell when it feels so lightweight and flimsy. If they want to charge a premium they should use higher quality materials.

Archos 35 Smart Home Phone

Seconding the why

I'd rather have someone come up with a universal cradle and/or interface which allows any smartphone to use PSTN...any smart arse engineers out there interested in a new business venture?

Of course, if we weren't forced to have a landline phone just to get broadband we could all just use a mobile as a home phone. Can get basic Android handsets for £50 that do more than this device.

Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime Android Tablet

Wi-Fi performance

Wi-Fi does not seem to have any issues, my Transformer Prime picks up a signal just as well, if not slightly better, than a laptop and smartphone in the same location. You'll read a lot about the wireless being poor but this seems to be something which affected the earlier models, UK release is just fine.

Avast buys Android thiefbuster developer

What about existing customers?

Will those of us who already paid for TheftAware continue to receive updates as normal?

Worth mentioning that the reset-proof feature is only available to rooted handsets.

Ten years after the Twin Towers: What's the Reg angle?

Conspiracy nonsense

"I guess im a conspiracy theorist for questioning how building 7 fell without being hit by anything."

Yep, and you're an idiot, too. It was hit by debris which knocked not-insignificant chunks from the structure, suffered seismic shock from the fall of the towers and burnt uncontrollably for hours before collapsing.

Engage brain, then post.

NotW 'targeted' phone of Sarah Payne's mum

@CaptainHook

They probably had been dialling into voicemail prior to Sara Payne, but this was probably a step down for most hacks. I would think it is almost inevitable that back when networks were analogue they simply used a scanner to eavesdrop on calls.

It could be an interesting experiment to recruit the power of the internet masses to trawl the online archives of tabloid papers searching for news stories involving call transcripts, texts and voicemails and log them in a database. Could help show the general public how widespread a practice it was (or is...).

Akira Blu-ray remastered disc set

Dubtitle

The subtitles on the Japanese audio version of this are 'dubtitles' ie a subtitled version of the English audio not a proper translation of the original Japanese script. Very poor.

NotW accused of hacking Milly Dowler's voicemail

Brooks was innocent

Honest guv. See, she wrote a letter explaining: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/05/milly-dowler-phone-hacking-rebekah-brooks-email

"I hope that you all realise it is inconceivable that I knew or worse, sanctioned these appalling allegations. I am proud of the many successful newspaper campaigns at the Sun and the News of the World under my editorship. In particular, the 10-year fight for Sarah's Law is especially personal to me. The battle for better protection of children from paedophiles and better rights for the families and the victims of these crimes defined my editorships"

See? It's totally inconceviable that the editor of the paper knew how her staff were getting their stories, or why they were paying thousands of pounds to people outside the organisation. It's also totally inconceviable that she could have campaigned for laws to protect children (definitely not a way to sell more papers, by the way) while also allowing her reporters to interfere with a police investigation into the murder of a child.

That would be like someone who campaigns against domestic violence getting arrested for beating up their spouse!

Hannspree Hannspad 10.1in Android tablet

No camera or 3G?

Sounds good. 3G is handy for some, but make it optional. Cameras on tablets are stupid.

Ten... Core i5 laptops

Moaning AC

"cheaper than an ugly Dell brick"

Haven't checked Dell's prices lately but wouldn't be surprised if you're wrong. However, I do know that you can get a very nice Sony Vaio S with superior spec for roughly the same price, or even a few quid less.

Try again, troll.

Remastered 4K, 3D Titanic steams towards cinemas

@Brian 6

So the cost of a movie should determine its ticket price?

Brilliant logic there, Captain Business. You go have a long hard think about why that's a stupid idea.

Vote now for the best sci-fi film never made

The Gap Cycle?

They're terrible books, be a waste of money making that garbage into a movie.

LG Optimus 2X dual core Android smartphone

What?

So the touchscreen isn't great (!), the camera average at best, the battery life poor and it has a largely pointless dual core CPU which doesn't even eliminate lag and just makes the UI and video recording a bit smoother.

And this is worth 80%?

Sort your scoring out, chaps, this doesn't make a damn bit of sense at the moment.

Btw, Android phone makers: dual core CPUs are stupid unless you've got an improved battery to cope, and touch sensitive buttons are shite.

Crysis 2

This week's epic comment fail

CLEARLY Killzone 3 is better.

Obviously.

In your own mind.

Some people still struggling with the concept of opinions, apparently. Still, I'm sure that massive company Sony are glad you're sticking up for them and their mass produced products against those mean reviewers.

Try to understand that while you like Killzone 3, someone else may not be as enamoured. Or, like a simpleton, you could continue to argue with anyone who doesn't give [latest AAA game] a score you think it deserves, as though that somehow impacts upon your enjoyment.

Android and iOS get a little Minecraft love

Why did you bother?

"The game itself is remarkable only in its lack of objective, primitive graphics and (critically) infinite variety that allows players to create intricate landscapes for no reason beyond their own artistic merit"

"Quite what drives players to spend hours creating intricate landscapes is a mystery to most of us"

"no doubt to the delight of Minecraft players and the continuing mystification of everyone else"

What a waste of your, and our, time. How about getting someone who has played the game, or at least likes videogames, to write this stuff?

RoboCop statue fundraiser hits $50k

The best part...

...when the human race is extinct this statue is gonna blow some future archeologist's mind.

Channel Five reborn as Channel Five

Scorchio!

eth eth eth, Chris Waddle.

O2 to raise broadband prices by up to 27%

re: Nope

"They reserve the right to change their terms and impose a 40Gb a month limit, even on old 'unlimited' packages as I had for 3 years. Going over this limit 3 times (53Gb for me on the third occasion) results in termination."

Maybe on the other packages. Someone at O2 itself told me they could not restrict older Premium accounts.

I exceed 40GB within a week, my usage is typically in the hundreds per month. Never heard a peep from them.

Forcing out current subscribers

The tiny price rises for customers on the new packages indicate what the plan is here: to force anyone on the old O2 broadband plans to leave or swap to the new packages.

The reason being, if you signed up before they had a fair use limit on the 'unlimited' packages, it really was unlimited. I had this confirmed by O2 tech support, who said they cannot impose any kind of traffic shaping or speed restrictions on customers with older accounts, no matter how much you download.

I suspect many current subscribers will now be looking elsewhere, relieving O2 of the burden of true unlimited broadband. So if you're with them at the moment and don't mind paying extra for a proper unlimited package, stay where you are.

Paris 'cos she's got plenty of capacity to handle heavy traffic.

HTC Touch Diamond

Nice

Very nice. But without a memory card slot it's a no. I'll consider an upgrade when they fix that.