* Posts by Jeff Minter

30 publicly visible posts • joined 23 May 2008

We need to be first on the Moon, uh, again, says NASA

Jeff Minter

Re: Stupid

China hasn't claimed anything on any of their missions... indeed if you paid attention, they too are talking about for all.

But like with the US, its primarily for them.

Tracking cookies found in more than half of G20 government websites

Jeff Minter

Analytics IS spying. But let's turn a blind eye because they're the right sort of government, shall we?

China says it has photographed all of Mars from orbit

Jeff Minter

Re: Take it with a pinch of salt

It's interesting how the westerners take the high ground whilst still using the same spin they accuse others of

Jeff Minter

Re: It would be nice

My 20 year old Made In China laptop is still running. You get what you pay for, not where it's from

Jeff Minter

"China says it has photographed all of Mars from orbit"

they muttered in a disgruntled tone

Jeff Minter

Na it's only one way

Singapore's PM personally programmed C++ Suduko-solver

Jeff Minter

Re: Typical

I wouldn't admit to basically foreigners displacing Singaporeans of jobs in public.

Here's why the Pentagon is publishing its cyber-warfare rulebook – if China hasn't already hacked in and read it

Jeff Minter

why is the headline China, when Russia are the ones who actually successfully hacked the President's emails?

Students hack Tesla Model S, make all its doors pop open IN MOTION

Jeff Minter

Re: Retaliation!

Yeah, because democracy is the answer to all of China's problems...

Huawei: Inside the lair of the not-so-hidden dragon

Jeff Minter
Linux

Iran

Also I find it laughably hypocritical of you and others to mention doing business with Iran as another bad point - the US and UK has dealings with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, various Middle East, South American and African dictators and other dubious characters/borderline war criminals....

Jeff Minter
Go

Sinophobia

They do have an issue with PR, such is the virulence of the word communism that ANY successful company coming from China will have, at the very least, mutterings and speculation (most likely from anyone in the world wanting to block Chinese global success) of having help from its Communist government. It's ironic considering, in the early days of the great American and British companies we know of the world over today, they have had extensive government backing, whether it's funds or preferential treatment.

Of course this would be fine if it was tit for tat, the trouble is that Chinese consumers WANT western brands, whilst vice versa the opposite is true (Made in China is not the same as a Chinese brand, where the company takes the lion's share of the profits, unlike the poor slave workers in the factory)

Ssssh. Apple quietly mashes monster MacBook Pro

Jeff Minter
Angel

It's worth it when they sit down and talk to you though.

/Beingadickheadiscool

China makes human rights play ... but forgets the internet

Jeff Minter
Facepalm

The changes aren't apparent, as the writer suggests. Minimum wage has gone up by 40% in the past 5 years (obviously not much by western comparison, but a huge shift to account for so many workers). This is evident by news stories in business mags that companies are moving out of China to setup shop elsewhere e.g. Thailand, Philipines, India etc. where it is already knocking on China's doorstep regarding manufacturing competititveness.

ZTE and Huawei execs get ten years for bribery

Jeff Minter
WTF?

Re: Chinese morality is amusing.

"Could use the term a Leopard never changes his spots, once a Chinese spook always a Chinese spook, bribery is a way of life in Asia"

Once a white spook, always a white spook then? Explain why western (white) companies indulge in bribery in African and other nations then, in order to solidify a presence (e.g. Coca Cola) or secure an energy supply (Shell, BP etc.) in the region? Bribery is a way of life for businesses who have to deal with countries that are easily bribed.

Male, female Chinese 'nauts prep for trip to Heaven and back

Jeff Minter
FAIL

Re: boy oh boy

That's because that "odd Lamarckian view" is correct. Cosmic radiation that our atmosphere protects us from is exposed. And don't believe me, take it from NASA, who said that anyone on a proposed trip to Mars will suffer from increased chances of cancer and reduced fertility.

And what is up with that title? Male, female Chinese... could have just said Chinese...seriously, the editorial staff are rubbish.

Chinese confirm Beidou satnav system is operational

Jeff Minter
Childcatcher

Sarcastic bias in Chinese related articles

Explain how "global coverage" equates to world domination??? It's hardly the first time something like this has happened either. There's an undercurrent of "oh noes the Chinese, they're a massive monolithic group intent on warping your brains", when in reality it is us who are doing precisely what we accuse. Maybe that's the aim...

Jeff Minter
FAIL

Born in a different century

Are you still stuck in the Mao era?

Jeff Minter
Stop

Titles are crap

Yes, like with GPS and every other tracking device (cellular triangulation) out there. How else is it supposed to work?

China pumps CCTV into Freeview HD boxes

Jeff Minter
Holmes

Press Freedom doesn't equate to the Truth

This is one of the reasons why people in the West tend to be narrow minded. In China, everyone knows the press is state run and thus biased. So they look for other sources from foreign media - unfortunately realising that they too are biased. So they learn early on, not to place their trust in any one or group of media sources.

Here in the West, the model of free press has been mistaken for the truth. i.e no way can the press lie, speculate and take part in shady deals, because it's free! And therein lies the problem. We are so convinced that our favourite newspaper, channel etc. are impartial because of its freedom to say what it wants, that it can get way with "fair and balanced" stories that are anything but, creating reports that go along with what people WANT to believe, and not quite the hard truth.

Baidu apes Google with Chinese Chrome

Jeff Minter
Childcatcher

Meh

It is the education system and the watchful eye of the Chinese Govt that screws with innovation and creativity. Namely, everything is done by rote (the workings of Confucious - still taught in the system - actually promotes this), and even if one becomes a creator and inventor outside the system, the authorities monitor your success and worm their way in. Don't like it? Become an automaton.

It is for this precise reason that countries like America and Britain can easily take talented (potentially and realised) Chinese from the country to use for their own companies i.e. use the expertise of highly skilled Chinese for their own advantage, whilst simultaneously depriving China of those skills. A bit sad really.

As for the browser itself, I don't get this fascination the Chinese have with IE. Surely they know that it is easily hacked, thus allowing their computers to become bots? Or maybe that's their plan, feign ignorance through the instability of IE.

On counterfeits, fakes and Apple stores

Jeff Minter
Unhappy

Blah

Agreed. I despise these people (and that includes foreigners in our countries too) who make themselves home, short term or otherwise, yet bitch, mock and laugh at every single thing the hosts do different. Don't like it here, go home.

UK court dishes out 13 years' porridge to e-fraudsters

Jeff Minter
WTF?

We are weak

Porridge? This is a British jail you are talking about. Three full meals (nutritionally balanced) a day, free gym, education opportunities, books, TV, computer games in their ensuite room.

Canadian finance ministries closed off from web after cyberspy hack

Jeff Minter
Boffin

A bit obvious

First off, it's laughable to report this as something serious and scary as "commie hackers penetrate our systems OMGG!!" All businesses and government departments receive unknown attacks everyday, just block and move on.

Secondly, why on earth would they use the method of spamming/phishing for passwords? It's too obvious, and something I would expect Nigerian and other part time hackers from other countries to do for the money.

Lastly, there is no guarantee it is the Chinese government's actions, or even the people involved whose computers are affected. How many of our computers (obviously not us, we're geeks and too good for that... right?) in Britain and America are open to act as a bot due to zero security...we don't call it the actions of the UK government do we? Due to the number of lax security PCs in China, and the country being an easy scapegoat, criminals and other nefarious organisations would use it as a good way to shield their own activities...I wouldn't be surprised if American hackers (state sponsored?) are taking control of computers in China and using it to hack countries around the world that only China would e.g. Tibet, America, separatists etc... it would suit the US agenda well, because they are pushing Congress to pass increased budgets for their cyberwarfare activities.

BBC apologises for Top Gear outrage

Jeff Minter
Linux

Harmless vs damaging stereotypes

Oh come off it. Those stereotypes are hardly offensive. Englishman doesn't look football oh noes!!!

How about this - a white man in a far eastern country is labelled a paedophile. Not so harmless now, eh.

Stephen Fry cans Japan trip over nuke survivor quip

Jeff Minter
Paris Hilton

Comfort women

According to stats, there were as many as 200,000 comfort women - mostly Chinese and Korean - but a few westerners - raped by the Japanese. You will the western governments of such nations affected still petitioning the Japanese government to set up compensation funds.

But then you read about the subsequent occupation of Japan after the nukes by the Americans, British, Australians and Canadians -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_during_the_occupation_of_Japan

Have these governments set up compensation funds for them?

UK agrees copyright cooperation with China

Jeff Minter
Stop

Rightio

Yet everyone seems to be buying their goods, and their return rates are on par with the average. Still, don't let racial prejudice get in the way of facts.

Jeff Minter

Not forgetting...

everytime our "brave troops" fires a weapon or uses gunpowder. That will earn the Chinese 100x as much as we lose in piracy.

And btw, China has never had a stranglehold on software copies since the internet and torrenting took off... the people who buy fakes and copies in China never will have had the money to buy the real deal anyway... much like the record industry here keeps bitching on about lost revenue when no-one was going to buy their rubbish track.

El Reg insults 'millions of Irish Catholics'

Jeff Minter
Stop

The Red Machine

I have noticed that since The Register started, you have used the same Communist Red as the PRC uses in its flag. Are you a branch of the government of the People's Republic of China?

Heathrow T5 security tackles Transformers t-shirt threat

Jeff Minter

Blah

Hopefully this will make the Transformers Movie commercially nonviable and finally get that Michael Bay away from the director's chair.

China airlifts bamboo to quake-hit pandas

Jeff Minter

Oh, the humanity

Seems like the general consensus here is that the lives of Chinese people are worth less than pandas because there are more of them. And here I was, thinking human life was sacred, regardless of race, religion...or in this case, how populous the affected demographic were.

But then, that would require an ounce of humanity.