Posts by Peter Stone

Apple files 'Shake to Print' iOS patent application

Okay.....

Do you think Apple are ready for the rsi & tennis elbow law suits this might generate?

Doctor Who Sonic Screwdriver Universal Remote Control review

Re: Missed opportunity

You beat me to it. As I started reading the article I thought about putting a TV B Gone in one, it would be perfect1

Hypersonic Waverider scramjet in epic wipeout

Re: Sunk cost

I seem to recall seeing an RAF year book, just after Concorde had started flying, showing a drawing of a Concorde with RAF roundels carrying three nuclear bombs, with a caption pointing out that it could be our next bomber

Doctor Who gets one-off special to mark Time Lord's 50th year on telly

Re: "I remember the first transmission." Me too.

I'm another one who remembers the first episode, though at the time, I couldn't understand why the BBC were talking about postponing Dr Who, to show a programme about some guy who had been shot in America the previous day, then again, I was only 12.

(I've told this tale to younger people, & watched them fail to understand just how big & remote the world seemed back then.)

Why one storage admin fears Justin Bieber

Re: School I work at took another approach.

Funny, all the schools & colleges I worked at used a fixed size for user directories, & it took a very persuasive arguement on the part of the user, plus an examination of the current contents of thier user area befor the size ws increased. This was usually only done for year 11 & the sixth form. Worked a treat.

Home Secretary to decide on McKinnon extradition by October

Should he really be extradited? I say no.

I've always been slightly confused. As I recall the timeline, (from memory, & without consulting a pile of saved web pages), went something like this.

2000 - 2001 Gary McKinnon carries out the hacking.

2002 He's caught & confesses. The US government is asked if they want him prosecuted under UK law, (2 years inside and/or £5000 fine IIRC), they decline.

2004 - 2005 The treaty is signed by David Blunkit, to allow the extradition of terrorists to the US. The US immediately apply for the extradition of Gary McKinnon, amongst others, using this treaty. None of them terrorists, at least as I understand the term.

This is why I say he shouldn't be extradited, tried yes, but extradited for trial in the US, no.

My other "moan" over all this, is that according to what I remember, most of the breaking into the computers happened using the systems default passwords This is despite Clifford Stoll writing the Cuckoo's Egg, 10 years previously, in which he details how the break-in's occurred - using defaut passwords! Was nothing learnt in the intervening years? (Other than by me? :) )

Viviane Reding says imitate US and form FEDERAL EUROPE

Re: Here's hoping for your sake

I was under the impression that the first person to suggest a "United States of Europe", was Napoleon Bonaparte while exiled to St Helina

Steve Jobs' 'private Apple spaceship' seeks public love

Re: Typical Apple

Hang on, who said anything about rectangular shaped desks? surely all apple employees need is a chair & a space for their iPads.

Virgin Media mauls UK.gov for pumping millions into BT

Re: Cables

From what I can recall, a large amount of the original cabling, was done by Southwestern Bell

IP law probe MPs hunt for smoking gun, find plenty of smoke

Of course, taking photos, & having a newspaper to publish them in might help :)

(Someone who will be checking if he's being followed by a white van tonight!)

Solving traffic jams with maths

Re: Black rubber tubes

Was I the only child who used to jump on the strips to try & get the lights to change? (Traffic was MUCH lighter in those days! :)

Appeals court cracks open Google AdWords v Rosetta Stone case

Re: However

In the late1970s, I worked for the third biggest producer of ice cream in the UK. At the time Walls & Loyns Maid had around 80% of the market. Based on this, Walls tried to start a campaign to get people to start referring to ice cream as walls' , in the way that they referred to a vacuum cleaner as a Hoover, or a ballpoint pen as a Biro.

Printers SMASHED to bits in Office Space copycat revenge vid

Re: What?

I know, where are the Mythbusters when you need them?

The Register obtains covert snaps of Google's new London offices

The first pic,

On seeing the first picture, my inital thought was, that someone had scattered giant licorice allsorts on the floor.

Blighty's 'leccy power plant reform deals gas a winning hand

Ok...

I admit that gas is better. However, from what I've read in the past, We only have enough storage to last about two weeks with current usage. It would have been nice to seen some indication of forethought on this in the inital stages. Instead of what seems like undue haste in rushing things through.

Spider venom to be tested for pesticide potential

Re: Spider resistance

Doh!! twings == twinges.

(blame it on my laptop keyboard!)

Re: Re: Spider resistance

Regarding book plots, I thought the book "Web" by the same author, far more frightening with regard to spiders. I admit I'm not an arachanphobe, but I had one or two twings after reading it.

Jester hacker brags of mobe attack on Anonymous, baby-kisser

A Funny thing

In Wolverhampton there is a lampost I pass everyday, with an A4 piece of card fastened around it, which has a QR code on it & nothing else. I've often wondered just where it leads, (I don't have a phone capable of utilising it), & how many people have accessed it. Has anyone tried something like this? Thing is, it's scary just how gullable some people are.

Anonymous takes down Vatican website

Re: Burn in Hell

No way, Satan wouldn't want the competition!

Powerful, wallet-sized Raspberry Pi computer sells out in SECONDS

> Not to mention, there are millions of geeks out there for whom $35 is small change and they will want one even if it ends up in a drawer, having been hardly used.

I thought RS & Farnell were trade only organisations?

Kelihos botnet BACK FROM THE DEAD

The most obvious problem I can see is that your average user might think it's a pop-up screen from a piece of malware & do what they've been told to do so many times, & ignore it

Man recreates ZX81... in Lego

Simon Round and The Fuzzy Whatnot.

Hmm sounds like a good name for a pop group!

Kids should be making software, not just using it - Gove

And here's me thinking it was to make Britain great again by cracking the skasis paradigm

Boffins hack evolution, create SUPERSOLDIER ANTS

I prefer Phase IV

Samsung v iPhone 4S French entrenchment: 'TOTAL WAR'

Why are Apple's lawyers kicking up a fuss? They should be glad, as they're getting to travel to exotic places around the world for free. Us ordinary mortals have to pay large sums of money for the same privilege!

Domain registry touts dot-surnames for $500k

Simple, you'd most likely have a lot of interest from PC Plod & co, plus a lot of inquiries for prices.

Hurry up with webcams in courts, says Sky News boss

Why......

Did this article immediately bring a picture of the defendants wearing t-shirts/jump suits with adverts on them?

Sorry, time travelers, you’re still just fiction

Dont Clarke's 1st & 2nd laws apply?

1 When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.

2 The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.

European Council: Creating hacking tools should be criminal across EU

same old, same old

I seem to recall that we've been here before, fortunately things got canned then, so let's hope that they get cannd again.

Creationists are infiltrating US geology circles

Hmmmm

Every time I hear this argument, I'm reminded of Issac Asimov's short story, "The Last Question".

Windows 3.0 turns 20

Ahh memories :)

Actually I preferred Windows V2.0, on a hercules monocrome monitor. My Windows 3 experiences began with WFW3.11. Dead easy to install over a Novell Network by keeping a mirror of a standard workstation hard drive on the server, & keeping the room specific ini files in a separate directory - sigh

Teletext toddles off as licence taken

Eh?

Have I entered a timewarp? Teletext finished broadcasting around here (west Midlands) around the 12th Jan 2010, & had been announcing the fact since Oct/Nov last year.

They blamed the reason they were going on the fact that they where never allowed enough bandwidth to display all the content they wanted & this was not viable.

Someone mentioned Prestel. Anyone want a Tantel(?) adaptor? :)

Oh well!

ESA proposes ion drive Sun-dodge Mars commsat ploy

Fact copying fiction?

Wasn't this problem solved in the 18940's? In the Venus Equlaterial series of stories?

NASA probe scents crusty bonanza in dark moon bottoms

To get water......

The best way was suggested by Isaac Asimov in his story The Martian Way, if I recall things correctly.

BOFH: The London Underground vending machine conspiracy

I want one......

or failing that, can I suggest that anything to do with phorm is made a ligitimate target?

Pretty please?

BT and Phorm secretly tracked 18,000 customers in 2006

A thought......

If I've understood the article correctly, then this time BT are going to make this new trial an open one. This SHOULD allow people to opt out of the trial.

So, if you know anyone who uses BT as their ISP, then point them to the artices on Phorm here & elsewhere & suggest that they say no thanks if they're made part of the trial.

10,000 users saying no should drive the point home. :)