* Posts by Llanfair

94 publicly visible posts • joined 11 Dec 2007

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Susan Boyle joins Lads from Lagos

Llanfair
Grenade

Something you don't hear in the same sentence

Looks like they have photos of David Cameron and Harold Shipman next to each other.

Volvo demos automobile auto-pilot tech

Llanfair
Stop

I was going to say the same thing

I also think it gives a false sense of security if a vehicle wants to pull out.

Lane Fox promises sub-£100 PCs

Llanfair
FAIL

In the long run

You do realise this is a way to force everyone onto the Internet so then they can shut down many of the government and council offices to save money. They will no longer send letters by post, but make everything rely on the Internet.

Will they provide training for people? There are so many people falling for phishing scams, that they need to be taught. Also teach those who already have a computer. I sometimes wish there was something like a computer licence, so then those who passed a basic computer test will be allowed one with Internet access.

No need for speed, says Oz communications shadow

Llanfair
Stop

Getting rid of copper

The problem is that if you get rid of copper, and there is a power cut, then the phone lines will not work. With copper on, as long as the phone company has power, then the normal telephones will work. If everything is on fibre, as soon as there is a power cut in your area, then you have nothing.

This is why you MUST have copper for telephones and NOT move everything to fibre.

Ace Reg reporter in career suicide shock

Llanfair

Good luck

I am sad to see that you are leaving the Reg, but I do hope that at least on the Daily Telegraph, the readers will now be a bit more informed when it comes to technology.

Thunderstorms found to squirt antimatter into space

Llanfair
Boffin

Sprites?

Is this the same as sprites? Or is this just with normal lightning?

Doctor Who and the Stig become public speakers

Llanfair

Stig speakers

Surely they would be completely silent if they were true to form? That is before he stabbed everyone in the back.

Apache loses Java showdown vote to Oracle

Llanfair
FAIL

Oracle are really making themselves hated

I have a feeling that Oracle are making sure that no one dares to do anything to them. Java ME is pretty rubbish, why they bother with it, I don't know. I have a feeling that they are worried about competition. I am thinking of moving away from Java, despite having done so much. I am sure universities will also have to think of using other languages to replace Java.

Oracle, you have destroyed the reputation that Sun had. You ruined OpenSolaris, OpenOffice and now you are ruining Java. I am really worried about MySQL.

Brave new Boris-bikers banjaxed by broken boxes

Llanfair
Alert

Reminds me of this

It's about how consultancies design computer programs.

http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/The-Unmanaged-Stock-Management-System.aspx

Firefox: freedom's just another word for 'kerching!'

Llanfair
Happy

Do remember about open source

It is allowed to make a fork of Firefox that will disable all tracking. Although what this add-on is, I don't know.

Windows 0day allows malicious code execution

Llanfair
Gates Horns

How long

How long will it take Microsoft to make the updates and allow all to update their systems? Will they give it to XP as well?

Murdoch buys into education

Llanfair
Stop

Oh dear...

I am really worried about the Murdoch empire taking over education. They will indoctrinate children from a young age in schools to vote republicans and to watch Fox News.

I am glad that the bishops are opposing Murdoch taking over complete control of BSB.

Adobe (finally) adds security sandbox to Reader

Llanfair
Grenade

How big?

But how much extra size will Adobe X be compared to 9? How much extra junk is included?

Firefox 4 'feature complete' beta debuts after Jager shot

Llanfair
Flame

Maybe there is something that you forgot

It's a Beta. There will be crashes. Only complain if there are crashes in the final release version.

Phosphor World Time Curved E Ink watch

Llanfair
Flame

It's gross

It looks horrible and gross. If it was given to me, I'd want compensation because that person insulted me by insinuating that I like that piece of rubbish.

Netbooks: notebook evolved - or stunted throwback?

Llanfair
Unhappy

When they were popular

The price of netbooks was cheap back then. They were under 200 quid. Now they are so much more expensive and are trying to be as close to notebooks as possible. They used to run Linux, now that they are running Windows, they needed to be much more powerful and they have been given much bigger screens. The price has shot up.

This is why Netbooks are going down in popularity.

Top Ten Retro PC Games

Llanfair
Happy

The games I remember on the PC

Lemmings on the PC, especially when using the Soundblaster card :)

Gorilla in Q-Basic. That was a fun two player game.

Day of the Tentacle was ace, and I finally finished it :)

Hocus Pocus was a nice platform game.

I loved some of the Apogee games for DOS.

My all time favourites have to be non pc. Manic Miner and Chuckie Egg.

Ruskie teacher fired for objection to Microsoft Office

Llanfair
Black Helicopters

Anymore complaints, then one word and one number

Polonium 210

DfT to install new motorway tech

Llanfair
Flame

The way I see it...

I think it would be better to have cheaper trains that have more capacity. Also, if freight by rail was encouraged, it would be better for the roads. I am sure that if the number of haulage lorries reduced, the roads would be in better shape. Also, we would not need to have lunatic lorry drivers trying to ram into cars.

I am all for having cars, but I am sure people would take the train if it was cheaper and more reliable. I have noticed that it's sometimes cheaper to take the car than the train, especially if you did not plan the journey a long time ahead.

Facebook gets poked in latest privacy gaffe

Llanfair
FAIL

I removed all Facebook applications

I just removed every Facebook application. Why do the games and so on need my photos? In fact every application just wanted access to everything and did not let me remove the requirement. So, I have just removed about 20 apps. :) There must be a Zuckerburg with horns icon.

Mozilla foot soldiers unleash 'Army of Awesome' on Twitter

Llanfair
Go

Firefox and memory

How on earth did you guys manage to get 900 Megs of RAM used by Firefox? I currently have 20 tabs open and one of them is on the BBC's Chile Mine rescue page with the video running for 5 hours, yet my Firefox is using just 260Megs of RAM. I am on Windows XP.

Grocery terminals slurped payment card data

Llanfair
FAIL

This is why the banks are...

Banks have been brainwashing people into thinking that chip and pin is foolproof and the only way there could be problems is if you deliberately tell someone else your pin number, or if you don't cover your pin. They just refuse to accept that there could be dodgy terminals, or that it may be retrieved using some other special techniques. They come on the news when anything happens with chip and pin and say it is the customers' fault. They have deliberately refused to accept that there is a flaw in the system.

Bookeen debuts multi-touch e-book reader... with web browser

Llanfair
Go

Price

The blog says that it's €229.99, not €300. That makes it more useful. I want one!

Safari and Firefox updates plug critical holes

Llanfair
Happy

Painless update

That's the beauty of the Firefox updates, painless and automatic.

Samsung specs up 7in Android tablet

Llanfair
Happy

One advantage of a front camera

It can be used as an expensive mirror :-)

Doc develops RSI-reducing rolling mouse

Llanfair
Paris Hilton

Price

Why are there two prices? Both in pound sterling?

"Available now, the ErgoMotion Mouse costs £50 (£32). SmartFish said it will ship to UK-based buyers. "

Solar plasma aurora storm to hit Earth tomorrow today!

Llanfair
Unhappy

What if it's cloudy?

The weather forecast looks like it will be cloudy for most of the UK. I guess we will see nothing then.

Papal crackdown on bare-kneed tourists sparks hypocrisy claims

Llanfair
Coat

Someone had to do it

Head, shoulders, knees and toes.

Daily Star is sorry for Grand Theft Auto Raoul Moat blunder

Llanfair
FAIL

The Star is owned by

Richard Desmond who has just bought Channel Five.

Firefox update guards hen house

Llanfair
Thumb Up

It's automatic

That's what I like about Firefox. The updates are automatically downloaded and installed when you restart Firefox. :) There is no need for that much fuss. No need to reboot computers or install huge downloaders (I'm looking at you Adobe and Microsoft). Just exit Firefox and when you start it up again for the next browsing session, it installs the updates.

Daily Mail promotes 'the new Betamax'

Llanfair
FAIL

Title is required

However, you need to collect 60 tokens! Fail on many accounts. Reading the Daily Mail will seriously harm your health and the health of those around you. Also DAB is just utter rubbish.

Teletext licence holder fined for killing service early

Llanfair
FAIL

Not good enough

I am glad that Daily Fail was fined, however, the fine should have been much more. A fine is supposed to be a punishment rather than a quick way out. It should have been at least three quarters of what it would have cost to run till the end of the contract, preferably more than what it would have cost. Remember they got this contract because they managed outbid others and have thus not given them the opportunity to have a go.

Cisco bugs surrender control of building's critical systems

Llanfair

Do you mean?

Arthur C Clarke?

Windows 3.0 turns 20

Llanfair

I remember when I first used it

I was so used to MSDOS and command prompt. At my school the 386 PC had Windows 3.0 and I was totally stumped as to use it. I made a total mess of the interface and thought, "Maybe I can quit and it will sort itself out." To my horror, it kept the total mess that I had created and had not used Windows until 2 years later when I got a PC with Windows 3.11 for Workgroups. I think it was the Program Manager that caught me out. What I did like about Windows was the fact that I could get one set of printer drivers and also many fonts for all the software.

Facebook gives users' names to advertisers

Llanfair
Badgers

The problem is

I have a Facebook account because many of my old school friends from over 20 years ago are on there. I have placed privacy settings that means that photos and so on are only available to my friends and my profile photo is only available to friends of friends. Also I hid my name from Facebook search. The problem is that even though I set these things up, Facebook comes round and changes everything to be public whenever they have a new change of privacy rules. Those that do not check their settings regularly will soon find out that their photos and so on are in the public domain.

Apple kills 'Get a Mac' ad campaign

Llanfair

Maybe the reason is

I have a feeling that the reason they are abandoning the adverts is they are concentrating more on the iPhone, iPod and the iPad. They are becoming minted with these and iTunes. I have a feeling that the next version of Mac OSX will be more like the iPad with touch screen display and so on.

Google TV: Android and Chrome on your boob tube

Llanfair
Joke

Google Box

Also known as a goggle box

Dev goes 'Wild' with H.264 Firefox

Llanfair
Stop

Software patents

That's the problem with software patents. You have some ill defined statement that can mean many different things and then use that to stop anyone having a slightly similar idea. I also hate the way Microsoft goes after Linux to say it infringes a few patents without mentioning which one. That is what Apple and Microsoft are planning for Ogg Theora. I do hope that either Dirac or VP8 becomes available for HTML5.

Transit site coughs up private info for 168,000 passengers

Llanfair
Big Brother

Government IT

Remember this is government IT, so it was done on the cheap. They got some people to make the site. It's probably their first main site and since they just learnt about SQL and databases, they didn't bother to read about security. They did some code and saw it works and then just submitted it without bothering to learn about secure code. That's the problem with easy "programming languages" and those who do not learn secure coding or proper programming techniques.

Exam board deletes C and PHP from CompSci A-levels

Llanfair
Boffin

I did Pascal at BTEC

When I was at college many many years ago, I did BTEC and we did everything using Pascal. The lecturer also taught A-level Computing as it was known then. He would teach in Pascal because as he said it was very useful for learning algorithms and structured programming. I have used my Pascal knowledge to adapt to other languages like Java and C. I also used the knowledge that I learnt from algorithms in Pascal to other disciplines.

I say that Pascal is good and it introduces good programming habits. Remember, this is an A-level course in Computing, not a degree or just programming. They have one, or two exams on all the subjects regarding Computing, so they have to cover things like programming, social aspects of computers, databases, spreadsheets and so on. Programming is just a small section of what is taught at A-level computing.

UK hot-swaps leaders - Brown out, Cameron in

Llanfair
Boffin

Keys to Downing Street?

I thought 10 Downing Street could only be opened from the inside.

Asus R101 netbook quietly flies in

Llanfair
Linux

The main thing is

How much will it cost? Netbooks have been increasing in price in the past year. They seem to cost about £300 since they started having Windows on them. It looks rather drab as well.

Tories buy YouTube home page

Llanfair
Flame

If you want accurate...

How about saying David Cameron wants to get rid of Radio 1. David Cameron accepted free flights to hold private talks with Rupert Murdoch on his luxury yacht off a Greek island last summer.

Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/cameron-murdoch-and-a-greek-island-freebie-971470.html

Let's see if Lewis Page lets this comment to be posted.

Llanfair
Unhappy

Fair?

Are you sure you have been covering this election fairly?

You have a Tory guy to write a comment on how wonderful Conservatives are.

You have a piece by Lewis Page on how the world is doomed under Lib Dems.

Everyone has been having a go at Gordon Brown, so even if you put the most wonderful review about him, it's not going to wash with anyone as they have all become brainwashed by the papers. Also the fact that the economy went down due to bankers' greed.

Samsung ships phase-change memory for mobes

Llanfair
Joke

Waiting for jokes about prams

as above

Sun sat sends stunning solar snap

Llanfair
Joke

Shouldn't that be....

"full-disk multiwavelength extreme ultraviolent image", captured on 30 March?

Joking aside, the photos are stunning, although I do wish they used png for the images.

UK Gov, and privacy invasion without a safety net

Llanfair
Boffin

A possible direction for the solution

It may be possible to have access to the data by VPN into a server and each group (consisting of usernames) has an allocated access control list. They can only access it via VPN on a secure web browser and they must login via the web browser to view a restricted version of the list.

This is how I would implement it. This way, it will be difficult to have the data going on walkabouts and will restrict the information to what is really needed.

Facebook stands up to UK.gov's cyberbullying

Llanfair
Alert

What about the parents?

Something that is often overlooked is what makes a teenager. Teenagers are people who just discovered puberty and feel all funny about it. They want to see what this new experience is. So, what way than meeting up with the opposite sex? Also at this stage, their brain says "Don't let parents know about it." They go off and then get into trouble. The parents have absolutely no idea on what's going on.

What I would say is, from about 11 years old, teach then how to be safe on the Internet. Maybe let them find out that the people they "know online" is not who the person really is. CBBC had a decent attempt at getting children to understand the dangers of the Internet with their Newsround special "Caught in the Web".

The moral of the story is, teach them before they are teenagers about the dangers and what to do. Maybe the only way is to have a friend who you trust to act as a teenage of the opposite sex and get them to chat with the child in question. They will then find out they cannot trust anyone on the Internet and it's better to join the local sports club instead. :)

Chip maker to take on iPad with $99 tablet

Llanfair
Thumb Up

Could be a potential

I think there is potential in this, however, the main problem with school children is that they are rather rough and messy. The tablet ought to be really tough and manage more than just knocks. Also, children love to have their jam sarnies when using electronic equipment. Or they do at schools. I sure hope they have it in the UK.

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