* Posts by Busby

249 publicly visible posts • joined 19 Dec 2007

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Swedish watchdog: Google's chocolate cloud? Nej, not private

Busby
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If only UK authorities were as on the ball prior to the last census.

I still feel whoever was responsible for turning that data over to a foreign defense contractor and by proxy any branch of the US government that wants a peek should face treason charges.

Hopefully one of the positives from all the recent press attention will be that data protection will be far more seriously considered when outsourcing. Which from what I can tell should rule out any US providers due to the patriot act and its your data is now ours provisions.

What do you mean WHY is Sony PS4 so pricey in Oz?

Busby

Re: just 'cause

I wouldn't count on well just because we can being a valid reason for the tax. By no means an expert but fairly sure the various WTO treaties Australia has signed would prohibit it.

That's the sort of action which cod trigger some form of trade war which I wouldn't imagine is in the interest of the average Australian despite the amount of price gouging they suffer.

We're losing the battle with a government seduced by surveillance

Busby
Big Brother

Some good reporting from the Guardian on this and it's currently getting a lot of attention. However nothing will change and the acceleration to total surveillance will continue. There may be some lip service paid to reforming this type of data collection, maybe some independent hearings but I would be amazed if things changed.

Even if legally forbidden can you be sure that the NSA, GCHQ and the likes wouldn't continue anyway in secrecy?

Orange customer clobbered with SIX-FIGURE phone bill

Busby

Been a lot of years since I worked for them but the Orange billing system was always rubbish speaking to former colleagues who still do nothing has changed. In theory a bill this high would be flagged to security who would then bar the account. However data charges are not available in real time and depending where the customer was in their billing cycle it may not have been apparent even to Orange for some weeks that the bill was approaching these levels.

Busby

I like using NIP but wouldn't it actually be 2.6 kilo NIP's?

Busby
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Assuming a business solo plan with no data bundle then it's £5 for 250mb up to a maximum of £40 then it's £0.10 per mb. Giving a total of 1,631,600mb in total.

El Reg download unit is of course one download of "One Night in Paris" quick check on TPB gives an average file size of 630mb.

So the download is equal to 2590 downloads of that great home movie (give or take the odd KB) which I now suggest as the official download unit.

If you've bought DRM'd film files from Acetrax, here's the bad news

Busby

Good hope to see this happen with as many DRM encumbered services as possible. The more this happens the quicker people wake up and stop buying "licenses" instead of content.

As things stand you have zero rights when buying digital content. But if this happens enough then hopefully someone will challenge it in court and we will find out how fair the licensing terms are and hopefully see the media companies slapped down by a judge. Alternatively once enough people lose access to library's they have paid for word of mouth will get round and people just wont bother buying digital files with DRM at all.

You can stream using Netflix or similar or download illegally anything else is just throwing money away at the moment as you have no idea how long you will continue to have access.

Ultraviolet does seem a step in the right direction suppose time will tell. But it's not appearing consistently enough on all releases, the codes can be picked up on ebay really cheap though at the moment.

Irish deputy PM: You want more tax from Apple? Your problem, not ours

Busby

Re: Why can't governments use import duties to discourage this?

That probably can be done in certain parts of the world. But if its from one EU country to another then there wouldnt be import duty to pay.

Busby

Re: Rules, laws and more rules.

Apple may not have had a hand in writing the various nations tax laws but I assure you there accountants did.

As an example look at three major UK parties all had "unpaid" helpers from the big accounting firms working for them helping write tax policy. The situation in the US is even worse with various lobbying groups (meaning Koch employees) turning over laws they have written for the Congress and Senate to then enact as is.

Busby
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Re: I got an interesting idea

Always had the same thought whenever Bono starts whinging about aid from Irish/British governments not being enough. Why do they even speak with him? Tell him to Feck off and take it up with the Dutch/Swiss government instead of pontificating about how other peoples tax should be spent.

I know identity of Bitcoin's SECRET mastermind, says Ted Nelson

Busby

Presumably if this is correct the US Justice Department will already be working on an extradition request. Expect charges of money laundering, maybe criminal conspiracy charges etc. Since he's not as important as say HSBC then it really wouldn't surprise me.

Also waiting for the usual nutcases that pass for elected officials there to start mouthing off about how this is a threat to society and must be stopped.

That $1,000 the lad in Lagos needed? Just email it with Google Wallet

Busby

As things stand my kid has a play store account without a card associated. Once this launches in the UK will I be able to send him money this way from my account that he can then blow on apps?

What kind of pirate are you: Justified, transgressor or just honest?

Busby

Re: They missed "Impatient Bastard"

Same here, not so much for music but TV and Movies, typically high quality rips of films are available well before retail release here. Same goes foreign (read US mainly with the odd Canadian show for good measure) TV shows.

So I will usually watch once a high quality version is online but then buy once the boxset is available here. Spend more than 168 quid in six months on content as well I can tell you. Would have spent far less without piracy as I would not have discovered most of the stuff I buy without it.

Feds urged to probe four US cell big boys over Android holes

Busby
Facepalm

Re: Amazon and Facebook would be better targets

Agree to a certain extent but then on the other hand google could change the settings slightly. Something along the lines of allow xyz as approved sources and block the rest. Where now the situation is allow goggle only or allow everything, where they lump the amazon store and any other legitimate ones in with malware ridden apps downloaded from TPB for example. I'm pretty sure even the chocolate factory can see there is a more secure ways of doing it but the problem is while they may help users they would impact Googles bottom line.

Seriouslyy why not have the option of adding trusted sources and blocking the rest?

Brits, Germans, French, Dutch, Spanish and Italians ALL to probe Google

Busby

Don't worry I'm sure the Google lobbyists will already be arranging a number of liquid lunches with the relevant civil servants. After a suitable period of time it will be announced that the changes are fine and that they will keep an eye on any future changes. Win Win the lobbyists get well paid and the civil servants get plenty of meals out and tickets to Wimbledon etc the only people who will possibly not see any benefit are the consumers/citizens but who cares about them.

Music resale service ReDigi loses copyright fight with Capitol Records

Busby
Thumb Up

This could actually be a good thing in the long term. The more it's hammered home that you don't buy anything when you buy a digital item you just license it under terms that basically give you no rights whatsoever the quicker people will wake up and stop buying them.

Thought there was a chance they could have played ball with this service since it does ensure the original item was deleted. But instead by asserting their rights they only enforce the message that the consumer has none.

Smartphone running 'Facebook OS' said to debut this week

Busby

Who wants to bet sharing is not only really easy when you want to but almost impossible to avoid when you don't?

Now in some respects there's not a lot of difference between Facebook and Google they both want to own us much of your data as possible. However Google want to sell an anonomised version to advertisers Facebook want to do that but also plaster it all over your wall as well.

Can see there being a one click to post to wall icon which is very easily pressed when using your phone for something you would prefer to keep private. Especially if as expected its like every other phone out there which is a slab that's all screen. Far too easy to hit the wrong thing on screen and can see a lot of accidents happening this way. If nothing else expect to see the amount of posts on Lamebook increase dramatically.

Wisconsin man cuffed over Koch-blocking DDoS attack

Busby

Re: Anonymous

It is one of those situations where you feel both sides are pricks. But however much I think script kiddies should have it beaten out of them the bottom line is the Koch brothers are responsible for the Tea Party so deserve everything that comes their way.

Oz shop slaps browsers with $5 just looking fee

Busby
WTF?

Seems a great way to lose business.

How does this stand legally, can one of our Bruce or Sheila cousins comment? Just curious if someone refused to pay would she then be able to call the police or pursue them for the money in other ways?

All in it seems a great way to destroy a business I'm sure she will no longer have those 60 queries a week but she may find a lot of her paying customers also stay away. What happens if you only go in for one item and it's out of stock? What if you are with friends and only one of you wants an item would she charge everyone? If it was me I just wouldn't bother taking the chance and would be far more likely to go to the supermarket or shop online.

Not convinced she has thought this through properly. I'm sure it is a pain to help people in selecting something that may benefit them only for them then to leave to go buy it at a supermarket or online. Welcome to retail in the 21st century. The way to differentiate and ensure customer loyalty is good customer service and clear expertise in your area. Even then some people will just go where it's cheapest but that's human nature good luck changing that.

Only way I can think she can collect the money is if she does it nightclub style with doormen collecting an entrance fee which is then refunded with a purchase.

Voda: Brit kids will drown in TIDAL WAVE of FILTH - it's all Ofcom's fault

Busby

Re: About bloody time

Pricing for the Nexus 4 was a joke on contract with most operators wanting the same amount for it as they wanted for an iPhone.

I suppose subsidy is no longer the correct term but people still do benefit from it because they don't have to shell out for the handset up front and then have a predictable monthly cost for a fixed period instead. Gave up on that game long ago though because as you point out the cost of a contract is simply too high.

Bought my last few phones including my current S3 and then use a pay as you go service. Both 3 and Giffgaff offer similar packages to what you get on contract and in the long term it saves a fortune.

Busby
Thumb Up

About bloody time

They have all been getting away with this for far too long. This should have been stamped out a long time ago due to the way the operators market and sell these deals.

If they truly are unable to set prices over a two year period then the solution would seem quite simple don't offer contracts that long. Yes I understand it's to recoup the handset subsidy but it would probably be for the best anyway if the market went that way with cheaper contracts and people paying full price for their handset.

The current system is far too one sided with the operators seemingly able to increase whatever charges whenever they want and then consistently arguing it's not a significant change so you can't get out of the contract.

Doesn't just have to be an increase in line rental seen plenty of cases with things like charges for non geographical numbers jumping a few hundred percent for example and for some people it can have a massive impact but at the moment they are powerless to do anything about it.

Voda are obviously just trying any tactic to try and stop this but I would guess they aren't the mystery operator with the mass amount of complaints. My money would be on Orange/EE as they used to love ramping prices up whenever they thought they could get away with it.

Don't buy a Google car: They might stop it while you're driving

Busby

Re: Google are tightening the screws

Agree they seem to be making a real effort at cleaning house recently. Not just shutting down underused services but also censoring more and more things the most obvious one being the removal of adblock. No one can blame them for doing so adverts are what pay the bills for Android but it's not going down well with a lot of people me included.

The company motto has been a joke for quite some time but becoming even more so recently. The closure of reader isn't the only reason but has got me considering breaking ties with Google alltogether, including shifting from Android. Looking to change my phone soon anyway was assuming my next one would have been the S but underwhelmed by it after the launch. Obviously that down to Samsung not google but the two are pretty tied these days.

Currently use Reader on an almost constant basis across multiple devices once that goes the only thing tying me is email so seriously considering trying to do without the chocolate factory all together.

Just need to find an alternative to Android that I can live with as there is no way in hell I'm moving to IOS as to me it all seems fisher price kit.

While this only impacts a tiny proportion of Google users for me it's the straw that breaks the camels back. What's more irritating is it's a service I really value and would happily pay an annual fee to continue to use it.

Been getting more and more uncomfortable with their actions for months and starting to think I can't be the only one. They may soon reach a tipping point where more and more people try and end their relationship with Google. Stories have mounted up over the past few years that demonstrate a total lack of ethics which considering the power they have is quite troubling to some.

NORKS says USA attack took it offline ... as if anyone could tell

Busby

I'm guessing this is safer than attacking other countries

If this is true and considering the source it's a big if then it has to be safer than doing the same to someone else say China.

The Chinese have an army of cyber warfare agents ready to respond in kind. The North Korean's due to the local limits are unlikely to have a similar set up. I'm sure they have some form of cyber warfare specialists but the numbers must be on the low side compared to just about any other nation on earth.

Considering most of the country doesn't even have access to electric lights I'm guessing no one noticed anyway.

Samsung's new Galaxy S 4: iPhone assassin or Android also-ran?

Busby
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Not sure I'll bother

Current owner of an S3 previous model was also a Samsung was looking forward to the release of this expecting to buy one now I'm not so sure.

All seems a bit gimmicky to me. Sure the screens ability to detect and react to a hovering finger sounds good should help keep the screen clean anway but beyone that theres not a lot else.

The camera functions sound dreamt up in a coke fuelled brain storm session. The health and excersise functions don't interest me and can't see them getting a lot of use. Beyond that there's not a lot to appeal. Plus the names of the colours have to be some of the most pretentious bull I've seen in a while bet the marketing bod behind that one is feeling pretty proud.

Don't get me wrong I'm sure it's a good phone and will sell in the millions but they didn't make a compelling case on why I should upgrade from my current one.

Nothing actually wrong with my current handset just getting a little bored but not sure this is the answer. Since I want something with at least the same size screen as my current one my options are pretty limited at the moment, may hang on till the next note release/announcement and see what else is available then. Buy my phones sim free so not tied to a contract and can update at any time just was expecting to do it in the next month or two. Briefly considered the new Xperia but then remembered my last experience as a Sony Ericsson customer wait and age for any update and stopped supporting it almost immediately after release (or so it felt for us X10i users) so left a bad taste in the mouth.

Modder hacks SimCity for unlimited offline play

Busby

That's exactly what I was thinking, surely there has the be a limit on the bullshit EA PR can spin before trading standards should step in. Not sure if misrepresentation of a product in this way is against the law but it should be.

Not sure they will care but this happening so soon after the catastrophe that was the game launch paints them in an even worse light which I didn't think was possible.

Czechs check cheques, reject £680m 4G auction

Busby

Re: Completely unacceptable

"The limit to exceedingly high charges are the punters."

That's the theory that's often repeated but it doesn't often work that way in many markets. Surely it's time to do away with that as a concept along with other doozies such as trickle down economics.

Countless examples of competition making no difference to pricing, whether a Cartel arrangement or not businesses have a habbit of reviewing competitors pricing and then adjusting their own prices so very similar. For example take a look at the UK energy industry, increasing charges across the board shareholder dividends booming but next to no actuall competition going on at least not on pricing.

Busby
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Completely unacceptable

How can the economy be expected to function if the local authorities continue to put citizen's interests above those of corporations? Do they not understand that without the excuse of recouping the large license costs this limits ability to set exceedingly high charges?

Without the ability to price gouge then it limits the ability to pay out crazy executive bonuses and dividends. Time for the US to bring Freedom to the Czech's I think.

Ten serious sci-fi films for the sentient fan

Busby
Thumb Up

Two I consider modern Sci-Fi classics

Agree with most of the list but it's missing two I think are modern classics in the Genre. Moon and District 9. Bit strange as you can go years without a good true sci-fi film and these two both came out around the same time.

Very different films but I think they both fall into the big ideas category.

Amazon yanks SimCity download from store

Busby
Facepalm

So you see the solution to piracy as punish paying customers and release a deliberately crippled product?

Can you let me know who you work for so I can be sure to avoid at all costs?

Not my quote can't remember where I saw it originally "DRM manages digital rights in the same way that Prison manages freedom".

This sort of behaviour is only getting worse from the big media companies and at some point it's bound to bite them in the ass theres only so many times people will put up with this sort of experience before deciding future games aren't worth it. At that point expect EA executives to start shouting about how piracy killed the company.

Busby
FAIL

I find it amusing

Currently El Reg is plastered (Top of page and both sides) in adverts for this game. Already seen about 10 similar stories yesterday and today in my RSS feeds about this.

Really stunning way to screw up a game at launch and perfectly predictable after similar debacles. Did they really have no accurate estimate on pre orders or how many people were likely to buy this in the early days? If the servers weren't ready why didn't they dealy the launch untill they were? Oh that's why it's EA who don't give a shit about customers and just want to wring every penny possible out of them.

I wasn't planning on buying them anyway got pissed off with the crap they pull a while ago. Main thing that did it for me was buying Fifa for the PS3 I like to play it so does my son but if we both want to play online it's an extra £10 neither of us play it enough to justify that so instead of spending the extra ten I just don't bother spending the £40 on the game now.

Sim City no thanks haven't bothered with the series in well over a decade but all this publicity doesn't exactly make me want to check it out. No thanks I'll stick with Civ 5.

Congratulations, copyright infringers: You are the five per cent

Busby

Re: The elephant in the room..

There's something to be said for that. Current coypright laws rob us all of our shared cultural heritage. Of course an artist should be able to make a living but at some point doesn't the content then become part of something wider that we all share? If anyone does think the current copyright terms are fair and balanced just take a look at when most music and films from the 60's onwards will enter the public domain.

Busby

Re: OK, case study....

The problem is (in the UK at least) that dead tree versions don't have to pay VAT. But digital downloads do have VAT applied to them. Seems a little crazy to me if for no other reason than the enviornmental one. On top of this you do have some retailers doing serious price gouging. There should be no good reason for being able to pick up a hard back of a brand new release for less cost than the digital version. In some cases the digital version is £5 or more higher than the cost of the hard back with obviously far far lower production and distribution costs.

Busby

RE: Senior Ugli

I think that's because our government isn't quite as corrupt as the one in the US. Don't get me wrong we are heading that way but pretty much all US legislation is written by lobbyists and the corporations who stand to profit from it. It's not either party either big business give massively to both sides and they both know exactly where the money comes from and who they have to please if they want a chance of having to money to run for reelection.

Agree with buying direct from the artists where you can as well helps cut out the middle man and at least you know your cash is going to the creator. Not always an option with the big acts but the smaller and up and coming ones nearly always have their content for sale this way.

BT to slap overalls on 1,000 new bods in fibre broadband boost

Busby

Can't come soon enough

Recently moved home, after having infinity for two years dropping back to 16 meg is a nightmare. Entire family has got far to used to everyone using the net at once, downloads Netflix online gaming plus a couple of mobile devices browsing all at the same time. Feels like we have gone back to the 20th century at the moment. My current exchange is due to be done by the end of next year so anything to improve on that is welcome news.

Reg readers brew up the ultimate cuppa

Busby
Facepalm

What is wrong with you all?

Tea should always be brewed in a pot not a mug. You might as well serve in a styrofoam cup while at it if brewing in the mug. This is a (primarily) British website so I am very dissapointed in you all, bunch of heathens the lot of you.

Europe tickles Microsoft with €561m fine for browser choice gaffe

Busby

Statement that the EU decided to limit the amount fined due to Microsoft cooperating with the investigation.

Why should that result in lowering the fine? MS did not make the initial report that they had not complied for 18 months they have cooperated after this was pointed out to them. Surely legally they had to comply anyway so why is this relevant?

They should have made an example of MS to put other companies of ignoring any similar agreements made in the EU.

Euro watchdog bares teeth at Microsoft over browser gaffe

Busby

Keelhaul them.

They entered into an agreement as some form of plea to avoid further punishment. They then ignores the agreement made, whether thru error or deliberate choice is irrelevant. I hope they are stung with the full 10% fine. The EU really has to set an example here or appear utterly toothless.

Hea should roll for this but I imagine the only people to take a hit will be the stockholders and the EU customers who can expect to see their already ludicrous license fees climb even further to cover the fine.

Why is no one facing criminal charges. Surely someone signed a legal agreement that Microsoft would offer the choice en failed to ensure this was carried out?

Megaupload extradition bid - Feds WON'T have to hand in their evidence

Busby

Is this not e NZ court saying we are going to rule against you anyway so don't really care what "Evidence" you have? I think the local Government has already had enough embarrassment over this case and won't be likely to suffer any more.

All those details of how they bent over backwards for the US before the raid must have surely stung and if they have any spine would tell the Septics to do one, no?

AMD: Star Trek holodecks within reach

Busby

Re: From my understanding oh holodeck technology....

That was my understanding of the (fictional) technology. So it's a bit disingenuous to trumpt this as potential holodeck technology. They may have the processing power to come up with some pretty convincing VR environments but the holodeck technology went above and beyond that in terms of capability.

But you never know in 20 years time we may have replicator technology but I doubt it. As for transporters I think that one will likely remain in the realm of fiction.

Kiwi Coroner says Coca-Cola helped kill woman

Busby
FAIL

Coroner Cerar will issue recommendations to the effect that soft drink bottle labels should more clearly emphasise the dangers of excessive consumption. ®

Because of course if the warning was there then this idiotic woman would have consumed less. Be one of the first to admit that it's fizzy sugar water of no nutritional value and far too much sugar. But I don't think blaming the manufacturer is the way to go abusing any product to this extent (even tap water for that matter) is liable to lead to health issues. This woman obviously hard serious issues beyond the help of better drinks labelling.

iOS 6.1 KNACKERED our mobile phone networks, claim Vodafone, Three

Busby
Mushroom

Arrest the users

Correct me if I'm wrong but I was under the impression we had strict rules in this country governing the use of jamming equipment?

The users should all be rounded up and imprisoned immediately. All Apple stores should be raided and the staff arrested for selling illegal kit.

Or Apple could release a software update

Psst, wanna block nuisance calls? BT'll do it... for a price

Busby
Stop

Re: Shoddy builders

What did I do?

EU-wide mega-Leveson 'needed' to silence Press, bloggers

Busby
Big Brother

What could possibly go wrong

A European organisation to oversee limiting free speech across the continent what could possibly go wrong with that? Perhaps they could be called the Ministry of Truth.

Shh! Proxima Centauri can hear us!

Busby

Re: Now who lives there?

New Earth according to Asimovs Foundation and Earth

UK.gov backs away from ISP level filtering plan to protect kids

Busby

You know what would help? If the BT home hub let me use open DNS. That way me and the Mr's can look at everything we want as consenting adults on our devices but I can filter what my kid looks at on his tablet.

AssangeTM spins Oz Senate candidacy again

Busby
Paris Hilton

It's gonna take one hell of a telepresence set up for him to pull that off. Just hope the embassy has the bandwidth to manage. Wonder if he's doing it so he can then try and get sent a diplomatic passport se he can safely leave?

Guatemalan judge orders McAfee released from detention

Busby
Joke

I would assume a farce starring Randy Quaid. Since he also seems to have these sort of "adventures" so would easily slip into the role.

Record €1.47 BEELLION EC fine for price-fixing display cartels

Busby

Re: viable business plan

Exactly it's almost rewarding the behaviour as there is no real penalty not to repeat this in future. Like I say above criminal sanctions should apply to everyone involved with whomever came forward getting a reduced sentence but the company still paying a whopping fine ie much much larger than the ones levied so far.

Busby
WTF?

Woefully Inadequate Fines

Fines should total a significant amount of turnover for each year in which this took place. It's quite possible that they have all still made higher profit after paying the fines than if the market had actually operated correctly. Criminal charges should also follow against all executives involved. Once this happens a few times then we may see a reduction in this sort of activity but current punishment is a slap on the wrist and no disincentive not to repeat this in other areas in future,

BT to rent cheaper FTTP lines to ISPs - if they stump up £1k a go

Busby
FAIL

Not sure the infinity limits are described correctly. Had a line issue recently and the BT engineer showed me the results and I was getting 88meg assume I'm not the only person to get above the 80 limit mentioned in the article.

Still useless for anything other than the BT wholesale speed test website obviously some sort of traffic management going on there. Still see you tube and iplayer buffering regularly and don't even think about torrents as it's throttled to a riddiculous extent except from midnight to 6am. By riddiculous I mean about 20kbs.

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