Posts by dervheid

Fraudsters pool data to beat plastic fraud checks

Where there's a will...

It seems there's there's more effort being put in by the crims to subvert the system, then there is by the banks / credit companies et al to secure electronic transactions. The current cross-checks would now appear worthless.

All customers are going to need to be issued with a card reader in order to be able to produce a unique transaction verification code for each transaction.

Now, I'm sure that someone will point out the security holes in that, but there needs to be a positive response to this problem, fast, or e-commerce is going to die on it's arse.

US bars ID refuseniks from planes - but not ID losers

Half -arsed!

Dumb.

Laughable.

But still more 'freedom' than here in UK, where No I.D. = No Fly, end of story.

BTW, David Wiernicki.

If you still really believe that " at least we can go about our lives without our license plates tracked, cars photographed, selves videotaped everywhere we go, and all manner of other monumentally repressive "for your own good" measures " then you ARE in that misguided mass of Mericans who haven't woken up to reality yet. Go do some research into just exactly what your Gov. Agencies CAN REALLY DO to keep tabs on 'subversives', like the people who post comments on forums like this!

Oh yeh!

Competition watchdogs urged to act on 'commercial iPlayer'

Insider trading?

Do all the donkey work whilst employed by the originators, then take off and set up your own outfit to "commercialise" the currently 'free' output.

All for personal profit.

Allegedly.

Surely Not?

Still, why should we be surprised by all the money grabbing.

The image of pigs with their snouts buried in the trough grunting greedily springs to mind.

Microsoft struggles to rid US shores of pesky pirates

Of course...

if they put this much effort into producing a bug-free product, and sold it at a reasonable price, this problem would heal itself.

NZ hydropower drought could see leccy rationing

Diversity 2

If, as the article states, "New Zealand normally draws three quarters of its electricity from righteous hydropower stations", then that's not exactly very 'diverse' then, is it?

As I said, "Eggs...Basket"

Eggs...Basket

Oh dear.

Whilst NZ are to be applauded for their 'green' stance on electricity generation, it would appear that all that 'renewable' energy ain't so renewable after all.

Lessons to be learned on;

1) Diversity.

2) Spare capacity.

3) Keeping your options open.

British workaholics win EU opt out deal

Hurrah!

Freedom to work ourselves / be worked into an early grave.

Ye gods, it's good to be British!

Whaling fraudsters harpoon 15,000 victims

Cream of the crop...

Just goes to prove that the top of the corporate ladder is indeed staffed by the cream of the crop.

Cream; Dense (thick) upper layer, s(h)itting on the layer below. Easily Skimmed using the appropriate tools.

Phoenix chokes on 'clumpy' Martian soil

@ Re: "Unless you were trying to be ironic"

So you get irony.

Maybe not sarcasm though!

@ Just need to wait for the water to evaporate.

At the risk of "stating the bloody obvious", that'd be defeating the purpose of the experiment!

Unless you were trying to be ironic, of course. which I'm sure you were.

Weren't you?

Remarkable...

lack of foresight there!

Who'd have thought that all that effort could be fucked over by a couple of 'lumps'.

They should be ashamed to call themselves engineers.

Labour isn't working for IT contractors

@ Oh stop Moaning

I'm presuming that you run your own 'small business' by the tone of your comment.

I'm also sure that like it or not, you're in exactly the same boat as the 'contractors' out there, like myself, running their own Limited company. We're ALL being screwed over by this government, and as we're all operating within the same framework, we're all going to get the same shafting. I'm all in favour of the flat rate tax system. And the Euro. The sooner the better. Then the financial parasites will have to fuck off and find some other poor saps to bleed dry. Unfortunately, that's likely to be the third world countries.

BTW, I don't believe that just because a small business employs a few people, it makes that small business any more important than mine. Still have to do the books, VAT, PAYE/NI, Corporation Tax, yadda, yadda, yadda...

Not just IT...

Without 'freelance' contractors, most engineering industries would just collapse.

Uncle Gordon has been hell-bent on making working as a freelancer so bloody hard, not just IR35, but the recent MSC changes as well. We must have the most convoluted tax system in the western world. Every time they identify a 'loophole' created by all the complexities, rather then try and simplify the loophole out of existence, they make thing even more bloody complicated.

Let's not even get onto the subject of the Child Tax Credits system. I'm STILL taking medication for the stress around that one <twitch,twitch>.

I'm not sure the Tories will reverse things either.

And they wonder why there's a shortage of people in engineering disciplines in this country?

US nuke boffins smash petaflop barrier with 'Roadrunner'

@ Mike & Dr. Mouse...

FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!

Keeping the rusty old sabres sharpened, just in case

I'm way more worried about the prospect of the good ol' US of A maintaining out-of-date nukes for readiness, than a piddling little 3 MW of power consumption.

The lead-lined, full length one.

Police probe pirate-DVD detecting dog's demise

O-kay...

but just WTF do pirate CDs and DVDs SMELL OF?

I'm presuming it's an odour released by one or more of the chemicals used in the disc production, but I could be wrong.

Or are the 'pirates' partial to a particular food/drink/aftershave?

City of London pilots national fraud project

See...

nine hours on the board

Four comments.

No-one gives a shit, this is why they get away with it.

Re-inventing the wheel?

Why should this require some sort of 'project'?

Bank uncovers details of 'e-crime'

Bank calls Inspector Knacker.

Inspector Knacker investigates crime, catches criminal(s).

<sorry, wandering into fantasy land on that last point>

Courts convict criminals and punish them to the fullest extent of the law.

<oh dear, done it again>

Or don't banks bother to report 'e-crime' at present, because it's somehow more acceptable than a couple of blokes going into a bank branch, brandishing a sawn-off and scarpering with a substantial quantity of cash.

Or is it that THAT scenario takes cash DIRECTLY from the bank itself (and its shareholders, of course), whilst 'e-crime' targets their CUSTOMERS individually, and has little direct impact on the bank. Nah, surely not.

I'd suggest that the banks should perhaps remember this;

No customers = No profits = NO BANK!

But as the G.B.P. are generally a lazy mob when it comes to taking any sort of direct action, like taking all their business elsewhere, then the banks will continue to treat their customers as cash cows.

Virgin Media and BPI join forces to attack illegal filesharing

Ooh, scary...

an "education campaign"

I wonder what exactly you do get with "PCGuard, our suite of security services"? (Phorm, by any chance?)

Just how many people that recieve this letter will give any consideration to installing that.

At a guess - zero.

Just another waste of trees, as the 'freetards' ain't about to give up.

German government approves plod-spyware law

Back...

beyond even the cold-war levels of paranoia and state snooping all round.

Anyone who still believes that the "War on Terror" is anything other than a convenient excuse for the governments of once 'free' states to engage in a stranglehold over an increasingly empowered (I hate having to use that word) and globally aware populace is living in cloud cuckoo land.

This decade will be remembered in future histories as the beginning of the second Dark Ages.

<Insert preferred deity> help us all.

Ofcom slaps MTV with £255k fine

Clearly...

a few minor vocal indescretions by a (fairly) minority TV channel warrants immediate action.

Whereas...

allegations of mass illegal telecommunications interception by one of the worlds biggest telco's warrants immediate hand-wringing and procrastination all round.

Priorities.

All

Wrong

Here

Ofcom.

(but not surprising really)

Ofcom asks ISPs nicely to stop mis-selling broadband on speed

Time...

this sad old watchdog was taken round to the back of the barn and introduced to the sharp end of a large shovel.

No Bite.

No Bark.

A waste of 'Watchdog Food', otherwise known as public money.

Scottish ex-Moto chip factory to close

Writing on the wall...

I worked at the EKB wafer fab plant 11 years ago, just around the time that Moto were talking about upgrading part of that plant and moving the older plant equipment out to one of the Eastern European Countries (can't remember exactly which one, not too important though). Unfortunately the vast majority of the 'highly skilled workforce' completely missed the overwhelming odour of coffee known as "Costa-lessa-wages", and the rest, including the now abandoned ex digital fab plant at South Queensferry, and the never kitted out 'white elephant' outside Dunfermline, is history. Sadly EKB appears to have followed suit now, and "Silicon Glen" is now all but closed.

UK citizens' portal exposes edit kit interface

Gov.uk

seem to have created a "perpetual IT f**k-ups engine"

Just like buses , there'll be another gov't IT f**k-up along soon.

New Microgeneration report - what it actually says

Dear John (Latham)

"In times of low demand...."

OK

But what do you propose to do with the CO2 during periods of 'high demand' then?

And just how much energy is it going to take to produce this, so called 'carbon neutral fuelling'?

Are you factoring in the energy losses involved in the transposition processes?

You could site a nuclear plant near a hydro station, then use the 'spare' energy to pump water back into the reservoir during low demand, but then we'd have to build a whole load of new hydro stations too. (Oh look, finally a use for the lake district, other than a pretty looking place to go for a ramble / walk with the dog. Lots of lakes & rain - not a lot of people)

If we do eventually crack fusion power on a viable level, then that'll be great.

Don't expect it in my lifetime, nor probably yours, I suspect. Unless you happen to be in possesion of the elixer of youth. (No. Not lager, silly people)

I do agree with point 'a' though John.

@ Anton Ivanov

"a solar installation in south england on a south facing roof to become a feasible investment with around 7 years of payback time "

FYI not everybody lives in south england with a south facing roof.

It's really not a viable proposition for those of us in t' north

On a lighter note, please can you justify your 7 years payback time with some figures.

Ta.

Not...

really any surprises there then.

Can't really blame the microgeneration industry for tagging onto the 'subsidies' issue, as they're down the tubes without it.

As for pellet fuel, what about all the carbon generated in production of and transportation of this fuel to domestic customers? Where do you install the storage silo around about your average semi then? Or a block of flats?

Once again, the 'sensible' option would appear to nuclear.

Let's get them built.

BTW, yes, I WOULD be quite happy for one to be built in my 'back yard', before anyone asks.

US imposes 72 hour pre-reg for Visa waiver travellers

The answer to this is...

is in our own hands.

They (or at least their government &/or it's agencies) don't want us there.

Let's not go there.

A few weeks without tourist dollars flooding in should focus their attention nicely.

Brussels wants eID cards to work Europe-wide

They can stork that...

where the sun don't shine!

This'll so never, ever, ever work.

Be the mother of all IT contracts though! Think of the possibilites!

Overstock and Patrick Byrne sue New York over Amazon Tax

@ Lee

I'm sort of with you, but I keep seeing reductions in "schools, hospitals, roads, police, my rubbish being taken away...those unable to support themselves not having to starve in the gutter or become prostitutes, old people being able to retire and so on"

As for "my country being defended", I don't see much reality of that, despite the effort of the troops. Unless you equate 'defence' with 'knee-jerk reactionary paranoia'

Coupled with what appear to be constant increases in taxes, the equation "more tax = less services" which in isolation may seem absurd, appears rather valid at the moment. Wrong, but valid.

Must have seemed...

like such a good idea (lots of easy, low-effort dollars) to the legislature at the time.

Wonder if it'll look that way once the lawsuits are dealt with?

Lawyers 1 Suckers 0 (yet again)

Lawyers = ;-(

No lawyers = :-)

Heathrow T5 security tackles Transformers t-shirt threat

@ Slaine

showing your age off there!

But yes, I do recall, very fondly.

I think "looking at them <sic> in a funny way" has been used already.

If not, bagsy it!

The New Order: When reading is a crime

Moderacy...

and yet you hide behind the A.C. posting!

Says it all for me!

@ Richard

"Unless we all start saying no to this we will end up with a totalitarian state."

Too fecking late, methinks.

I've used this one before but...

"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both. " Benjamin Franklin

"If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy." James Madison

No further comment required.

Summed up most elequently in the final paragraph.

Optical boffins cut the cost of quantum cryptography

Woosh...

sound of this level of sci/tech going over the head.

To quote Ian Dury "There ain't half been some clever b**tards!"

But will it be able to cope with a photon torpedo, that's the real question?

Phorm opponents to picket BT shareholders

It was nice to see the issue raised...

on 'The Gadget Show' on Monday Night.

Just a shame that this show is probably quite low down on the ratings, but any exposure of this issue in the mainstream media (ok, it WAS channel 5) can only be A Good Thing.

The PFY's obscenity filter would work nicely with Kent <slam>......

BOFH: Testing the obscenity filters

New anchors...

<SLAM>

the tears are running down my face.

9/11 an inside job, says Irish pop folkster

And the Corrs played...

"Believe it if you like"

Couldn't he at least come up with an original Conspiracy Theory after three years "studying the New World Order which the European Union is a part of".

Sorry, old news.

Not to say it couldn't be true though...

Naomi Campbell charged with assault

surely...

her "appointment with justice" isn't actually until 20th June?

Or will it be more like an " appointment with a smack on the wrist"?

DVLA, Tiscali, Barclays rake in phoneline cash

@ how about ofcom.

Not worth the bother.

A toothless, mange-ridden old dog of a 'regulator', barely able to bark, never mind bite.

UK electricity crisis over - for now

@ Paul Smith, Adam

Yes, basically.

BTW, where did you get your figures from?

"fifty to one hundred thousand years"?

That, I'm afraid, sounds rather like envirotardal shite.

Adam, rockets do not "invariably" go wrong, just seems that way, although I do think that the idea of launching rockets filled with nuclear waste is a tad insane.

Cospiracy Theories...

will no doubt abound.

(Nice to see the Scottish Parliament rushing through permission to use gas at the 'Gannet. Boiler Burner mods have been done there quite recently too. How terribly convenient!)

Having worked, albeit breifly, at Longannet a few years ago, it's a bloody miracle that this decrepit old plant is still functioning, LONG after it's expected lifespan, like a large proportion of our larger generation sites.

We need new generation capacity in this country NOW. And at the moment, if you want it to be relatively pollution free, then it'll have to be nuclear.

Phoenix prepares to flex its muscles

"the names of more than a quarter million Earthlings."

Who will be first to be enlisted as slaves upon the arrival of our Martian Overlords.

Let's just hope they're not offended by any of the 'art' either.

Wireless links to be trialled in Gulfstream flight controls

@ the oppressed mass

Cranes and mining tools generally speaking don't carry passengers. Plus the navigation can be backed up by radar and radio triangulation, not to mention the pilot and flight crew. Just as they used to do prior to GPS.

High reliability is one thing, I wonder just what level of redundancy they intend building into these systems. Would they be more expensive overall than wires? Would they be more reliable than wires?

If used as Gulfstream propose, I'd imagine that the'd have way more than 'loss of control' to contend with if they blew a rotor on one of the turbines. More like a loss of the majoriy of the tail section. Frankly, if they're worried about that, I'd say they had an engine reliability issue foremost, and I'd be concentrating on that instead!

NO,..

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, NO!

Please, stick to having things WIRED UP in planes.

You KNOW it makes sense.

Flight Data Recorder - audio analysis

"Ladies and genlemen, this is your Captain speaking. Is there an IT guy onboard? We appear to be having a little problem with our wi-fi here..."

(recording continues but all further conversation obliterated by continual screaming of passengers)

Japanese customs dish out free dope

142g?

That's one helluva lump of gear. And the dog(s) couldn't find it?

Dunno who's more useless, the guy or the dog(s).

Chances of getting it back. close to zero, I'd guess.

Let's face it, it's probably made somebody VERY happy. Maybe if they trawl the passenger lists and look for someone who's spending WAY more on grub than usual...

US firms use own staff to snoop on co-workers

sounds like...

US Firms are full of very unhappy cube rats.

Nothing like over here, eh!

Revenue admits another IT cock-up

let's just be grateful...

that the BOFH and PFY don't appear to work for HMRC.

Or DO THEY?

The heavily insulated one with the shielded pockets and additional ground strap.

BOFH: The Batcave

A joy to read...

and pure bliss in the mental imagery.

I can see this office move proving VERY fruitful.