Posts by Conor Turton

Imagine things are bad enough that you need a payday loan. Then imagine flaws in systems of loan lead generators leave your records in the open... for years

Who the hell uses SSNs as proof of ID?

This is why using someone's social security number on an application as absolute proof of identity is stupid beyond belief.

Oi, Elon: You Musk sort out your Autopilot! Tesla loyalists tell of code crashes, near-misses

Ghost braking for overpasses

It isn't just Teslas that suffer from this. I drive a 44 tonne DAF CF that is fitted with Automatic Emergency Braking System and Adaptive Cruise Control. They're known throughout trucking for braking for no reason at all on a completely empty road as you go under a motorway bridge or overhead sign, day or night. The first truck I drove with these systems was from 2014, I currently drive 2018 ones and they do the same. DAF have altered the software, they've moved the location of the sensors over the last 4 years and they still do it.

It is for this and other things that I'm not worried about my job being automated away by self driving lorries any time before I retire.

Indiegogo lawyer asks ZX Spectrum reboot firm: Where's the cash?

Re: " We need to act before it’s too late and London’s success is threatened. "

Yes crowdfunding has its place but the dumbasses who invest in them seem to not understand that there is a risk they can lose their money BECAUSE IT IS AN INVESTMENT IN A STARTUP.

Elon Musk's latest Tesla Model 3 delivery promise: 6,000... a week

Re: " We need to act before it’s too late and London’s success is threatened. "

Are you high? Engines degrade over time with wear and tear on the drive train, on the valves, maintaining compression etc. Do you really think that when you stick a 10-20yr old car* on a dyno it will generate the same bhp?

Fifth Gear did that very test on an old VW Corrado. They gave it a service, ran some Redex through it, shoved it on a dyno and it was within a couple of BHP of its advertised power when new.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efIJHf7h5kI

Ubuntu 'weaponised' to cure NHS of its addiction to Microsoft Windows

Smartcard recognition, really?

Smartcard recognition has been the huge barrier.

No idea why it is a barrier. Where I work we've been running bespoke software written by the company using chip, RFID and magstripe for some time and the ability to encrypt the info on is there too. In fact it has been less of a pain in the arse than it has on Windows.

London suffers from 'sub-standard' connectivity - report

Re: " We need to act before it’s too late and London’s success is threatened. "

Well done. So you have found a spot where 4g works. It would work for me in Stafford too. But a consistent and reliable connection across a large swarth of the Northwest? Even in 3G?

As a truck driver I've never had an issue with any of the non-London locations you've mentioned on Three with the exception of one small stretch of the M6 near Shap where even radio stations drop out.

'Upset' Linus Torvalds gets sweary and gets results

Re: Wouldn't YOU be fucking pissed off ...

They're not professionals though, they're mostly volunteers doing it in their own free time at their own expense, something which tosser Torvalds seems to forget.

If Torvalds wants Linux to go the way that many of the packages included in distros are going where the contributors just call it a day and it no longer gets developed then he is going the right way to achieve that.

Slagging off those who do the vast majority of the legwork that keeps your little vanity project alive is a sure way to see it die.

Sky fibre down at breakfast-time across the nation

BT Fibre went down around 7pm last night and was on and off until midnight when I went to bed. BT Status line said no problems, website said there were network upgrades being done. Might be related.

Kent Police handed domestic abuse victim's data to alleged abuser – a Kent cop

And another teflon coated solicitor walks away from this scot free.

We’re so over Uber: Italy ponders slapping taxes on workers in the ‘sharing economy’

Re: Tax the lot

Here in the UK a Uber driver is required to apply for a Private Hire license and comply to all the laws and regulations of a private hire cab.

Uber drivers don't pay taxes that the taxi driver doesn't and I have no idea where you get that idea from. Uber drivers only need to cover corporate taxation if they register themselves as a Limited Company which I doubt any will other than those who are already operating as private hire taxi firms and adopting Uber.

Watchdog says yes to BT's EE takeover deal. Shrugs. No 'significant' harm in it

Re: g.fast is dead in the water (lit.floods) before its even got past trial.

If G.Fast is dead then why have they had two successful trials in the UK and are planning on starting to roll it out nationwide this year?

At least 10 major loyalty card schemes compromised in industry-wide scam

Re: I feel left out

" My last microwave was "free" with loyalty points,"

Tesco Clubcard Points have paid for three holidays in France, one in Spain and paid for RAC breakdown cover for the last half decade. Done right loyalty points can be worthwhile.

Budget UHD TVs arrive – but were the 4Kasts worth listening to?

Oh dear.

The author of this article has clearly never owned a TV with a decent picture any time in their lives. And it hasn't entered mainstream until there's at least a handful of channels on Sky. Currently there are none at all.

Microsoft releases free Office apps for half of all Android phones

Re: Alternative?

Ubuntu phones are as close as it gets.

The watts in a box that kept West London's lights on

"Nowhere else in the UK would this happen."

Yet it has. In Hornsea in East Yorkshire last week the power company stuck a massive generator in a pub carpark when a section of the town lost power. I found out about it when I went to my amateur radio club meeting to be greeted by the sight of this massive generator in the car park with massive cables going into a hole in the street and two workers sat in a van babysitting it.

Caterham 270S: The automotive equivalent of crack

Re: Not a word

Not a word

on fuel economy

If you're worried about fuel economy then you're buying the wrong car if you get this. You don't buy these cars to go eco-driving. You buy them to screw the nuts out of them on twisty B roads and the track.

Google blames Flash for hobbling Chrome, says it sucks (too much power)

Pot, kettle, black

Are Google going to do anything about how much power and RAM Chrome sucks up?

Wheely, wheely mad: Petrolheads fume over buggy Formula One app

Re: Hmmm?

What is really sad is that Sky have been doing this superbly on laptops and tablets for over a year.

Maybe they should ask Sky

They need to ask Sky Sports F1 how to do it or maybe even pay them to release a F1 branded version.

UK safety app keeping lorries on the right side of cyclists

Re: Well meaning...

The vast majority of times I've been cycling, the large vehicle has come up on the cyclist, not the other way around.

As a truck driver I've lost count of the number of times I've been stopped at a set of traffic lights, the tyres being barely 4 inches from the kerb and looked in my nearside mirror to see a cyclist with their bike leaning on a 45 degree angle scooting up the left hand side of my vehicle even as I'm sat there with FOUR indicators on the left hand side of the vehicle flashing because I'm going to turn left.

When they're not going up the left side, they're trying to prise their way through the gap in the middle between me and the lane of traffic to their right.

Re: 100M£

Not so long ago I saw a talking head on the box explaining that these lorries were designed for thrunning along all day on motorways, not negotiating city streets. So what are they doing on those city streets?

Delivering the shit that you buy.

Mobe network Three is the magic number for FreedomPop

Could be problematic for Three..

Numbers are allocated by the UK host network, Three

Imagine contract renewal time just how much of a bargaining chip you're going to have as a Three customer. They can hardly claim that giving you such an allowance for free isn't viable given they're hosting Freedompop.

Microsoft uses Windows Update to force Windows 10 ads onto older PCs

Beyond that, people who know better and can do without it are either on Apple or some version of Linux.

Would that be Yosemite which upgraded itself to 10.10.3 last night without asking me if I wanted to or not only giving me the option of updating now or later and which also installed Photo as part of the update whether I wanted it or not?

Re: Naughty, naughty

When did Google push Chrome through dubious methods?

Have you not experienced one of the many freeware installers which sticks it on if you don't select/deselect the appropriate checkbox in the installation?

Get internet access to those POOR country bumpkins, says UK.gov

Most would qualify for Tax Credits if they weren't self-employed.

You can get tax credits if you're self employed. The reason they don't is because despite their protestations of poverty, as they're buying yet another new BMW on the orders of their accountant, is that they earn too much to qualify for them.

Sony FINGERS DDoS attackers for ruining PlayStation's Xmas

Re: Wrong side of somebody

Sony tried to rootkit their entire music-buying public, plus they sold the PS3 with a mini-linux on it which they yanked -without notice- in an update

ALMOST A DECADE AGO and it wasn't like it was exactly an earth shatteringly fantastic Linux experience on it. I can only assume you never tried it. Technically skilled people were affected by both issues? Anyone technically skilled didn't bother running Linux on the PS3 because it was a joke and the DRM was a non-issue.

Stop trying to act all butthurt when I doubt you'd even entered puberty at the time.

El Reg Redesign - leave your comment here.

0/10, sack the designer.

Its a bit shit.

Sinclair is back with the Spectrum Vega ... just as rubbish as the ZX

Re: RCA? Pah. Young 'uns know nothing

ORIC-1 FTW. I had one of them and then the Atmos but after finding half the stuff for the Oric-1 didn't work on the Atmos I gutted the Atmos and stuck the Oric-1 board in it as the keyboard dug grooves in your fingers whereas the Atmos keyboard was a standard type and far better. IMO it was better than the other three however its problem was it was French so didn't do so well in Blighty.

Chromecast video on UK, Euro TVs hertz so badly it makes us judder – but Google 'won't fix'

Re: Meh.

How much it costs is irrelevant. We have laws on the quality of goods and they must perform as described. If it is described as suitable for the UK/EU market then it must support 50Hz.

Musicians sue UK.gov over 'zero pay' copyright fix

Want their cake and to eat it

They'll never be satisfied. They already got the copyright term limits raised so that they can continue to profit off their music half a century after its release or 70 years after its creation.

Then there's the "we sold our music to a record company for £250,000 but we don't make any money from sales" whingers. They weren't complaining when they got a £250,000 cheque were they?

It seems that for the performing arts, the more successful you get the more entitled you believe you are.

SHOW ME THE MONEY! Ballmer on Amazon: 'They're not a real biz, they make NO cash'

One thing overlooked by those who say Amazon are doing nothing wrong and Ballmer is just being bitter is that unlike Amazon, Microsoft now have many $billions to weather a storm. Amazon has virtually no reserves in comparison to operating costs. If it sees a prolonged drop in revenue and the banks refuse to finance them the only people it can go to for money are the shareholders. And what do you think will happen to the share value if it does?

Re-investing profit into the business to grow it is a good idea but at some point you have to build up some reserves to cover at least the annual running costs of the company. Amazon have not done this. They have maybe $8Bn which is barely 1/4 of what they need to run for a year and lots of governments around the world are eyeing that for tax as in many of the markets it trades in it pays next to nothing if anything at all - France already sent them a bill for $252m.

It wouldn't take a lot to bring Amazon down and it could be quite rapid.

Want a more fuel efficient car? Then redesign it – here's how

Re: potholes

They're spending a load of money on the roads. Here's a typical map of UK motorway and trunk road overnight road work closures. Its so bad I have to check every day before I go to work to see if I can actually do my job that night.

http://i.imgur.com/nAa6Rxz.png

Re: Replace anything with "Lucas" written on it

I don't drive mine like a nun. In fact I spend most of the time going to work overtaking people and I'm just about at the point of needing to replace the tyres after just 25,000 miles.

Re: Much as I loved the article

I do hypermiling, I stick to the speed limit wherever possible. A lot of the time on the motorway whilst hypermiling it means I'm in L3 passing everyone else.

Hypermiling =/= driving slowly.

Re: Replace anything with "Lucas" written on it

Funny, my turbodiesel Mondeo gives me a consistent 36MPG in France, but usually over 40 in the UK. I generally put it down to the lower M-way speedlimits

Is it broken? My turbo diesel Mondeo returns around 55MPG both in the UK and France. City/rural roads it returns around 54-55MPG and on motorway runs as high as 65MPG, that's driving to the speed limits, not dawdling around.

The only time I get down to 36MPG is when I'm towing my 26ft long twin axle caravan.

If you're only getting mid 30's to 40MPG you need to look at the way you're driving it. Its not a petrol so you want to be changing gear much earlier and using the low down torque of the motor. Cruise in a gear that keeps you around 2000RPM and back off earlier approaching junctions and traffic lights.

Many of the things in the article have been implemented.

Most things in this article have already made their way into production cars. Most cars now have smooth under trays covering the underside of the engine bay, electric power steering has been the norm for a few years. Ford used the flap design for the front grille in the Focus. My Ford Mondeo with all its electrical gadgets and a big heavy diesel engine weighs only a couple of hundred kilos more than my Ford Capri does despite being almost twice the size. LED lighting is now the norm in this year's production models and CANBUS has enabled load point switching.

This to me is an article which is about fitting modern current technologies in use in production cars, applying it to a classic car and seeing the improvement. You won't see such an improvement in a current generation car because they're already using most of the suggestions in this article.

One suggestion which hasn't been made is the use of a variable supercharger and turbo charger combination. Its what allows Ford's 1 litre econetic petrol engine to propel a car as large as a Mondeo, return over 50MPG whilst still having decent acceleration.

Apple's new 'iPad Air 2' sliced open, revealing (possible) A8X core

But maybe it's been a bit too long since Apple did anything really exciting and innovative.

Definitely. Put a 2009 unibody MBP next to a 2014 non-retina one and other than slightly different shaped ports on the side they're identical and its only because you're told in "About this Mac" that you'd notice any difference.

A SCORCHIO fatboy SSD: Samsung SSD850 PRO 3D V-NAND

Re: Real life testing...

...4GB photo.

Quite a common size file my wife ends up dealing with when doing large signs and saving the resulting image in an uncompressed format so there's no artifacting. 10MB JPGs look a bit crap when blown up to several feet in size..

'Windows 9' LEAK: Microsoft's playing catchup with Linux

About time Windows caught up.

Windows had multiple desktops in Windows 98. It was enabled by installing Powertoys which Microsoft made a separate downloadable. So few people bothered with it that they discontinued it.

Re: Windows had this back in the days of XP

It was one of the XP PowerTools.

Earlier than that Windows 98 had it with Powertoys from Microsoft.

Re: MS always bleeding edge ... not

First time I saw the concept of multiple workspace was early nineties

Windows had multiple desktops in the 90's....

Stupid author

Author is obviously completely unaware that Windows 98 had multiple desktops with the Powertoys addon

Smart meters in UK homes will only save folks a lousy £26 a year

British Gas tried to get me to have one

British Gas tried to get me to have one with the bribe of free weekend electricity which turned out to be free on a Saturday and Sunday from 11am to 5pm when nobody uses it in my house. They said it would cut my bills. I said that I'd had one of their realtime monitors before, the type with the clip on sensor that goes on the main wire going into the meter. "Did it save you any money?" the lady asked all excited. "No it just sat there being intrusive and eating electric. Yes I did know what I was using, no it didn't make me alter my usage."

They then did a cost check based on my annual consumption and when they came back saying this amazing deal would cost me 12% more than I currently pay even with free weekend electricity I politely declined.

Apple fanbois SCREAM as update BRICKS their Macbook Airs

Re: Warranty

"There is certainly no automatic European 2 year warranty for all goods."

Yeah actually there is and in the UK you can choose whether to pursue a fault through the Sale of Goods Act or EU Directive 1999/44/EC (which is the automatic 2 year warranty) whichever you think will get you the best result.

Chrome browser has been DRAINING PC batteries for YEARS

Chrome sucks the life out of a Macbook Pro

OS X may not be particularly affected by this specific bug but Chrome seriously puts a dent in battery life on a Mac to the point I use Safari on battery.

Freeview's rumoured '£100m YouView killer' is real – and it's yet another digital TV thing

Re: I need a Freeview HD box

Which is best for normal broadcast HD?

BT Humax Youview OR Humax Freeview HD?

The BT Humax box is a rebadges Humax box with customised firmware but otherwise the same. I doubt you'd notice any difference. However if you decide to go for bolt on channels you can't get them on the Humax box, only the BT branded one. I've got the old BT Humax box and I've been reasonably happy with it, the only downside being responsiveness when it was recording from the internet and also freeview simultaneously.

Toshiba's CB30-102 13.3in Chromebook – imagine a tablet with a keyboard

Re: Sadly

Of course a laptop designed to run browser apps is never going to have enough RAM or disk space to run a full blown OS

Its got 2GB of RAM and 16GB of HDD. The 2GB of RAM is pretty much what everything in my house is using apart from one Macbook Pro and they're all on Windows 7 apart from one laptop on Linux Mint 15 and the Macbook Pro. 16GB of HDD is a little tight but plenty to run XP or Linux on with 10GB or so of storage. Hell the PC at my radio club is an old Athlon 2600 thing running XP, has 768MB of RAM and only has a 10GB HDD in but manages to do what we need it to.

What data recovery software would you suggest?

Windows comes with its own back up software that can take both incremental and full backups, producing restorable image files.

NOT APPY: Black cab drivers enraged by Hailo as taxi tech wars rage on

Re: GPS is shite ....

Technology has largely made them obsolete

Really it hasn't. I've been a truck driver for 20 years. You and I could both do a 200 mile run to somewhere, me in my truck and you following your Satnav and I'd arrive before you despite you having a 15MPH speed advantage because quite simply despite all the IQ routing and all that rubbish, it doesn't beat years of experience of the characteristics of the road network.

I've been using Satnav for over a decade, first using Tomtom on a Nokia N70, and it is far from anywhere near capable of finding the truly quickest route given the time of day and day of week.