Posts by Alan Brookland

Sysadmin tells user CSI-style password guessing never w– wait WTF?! It's 'PASSWORD1'!

That was the work of Bill Tutte on the reverse engineering of Lorenz. Boggles the mind how they worked that one out.

https://www.codesandciphers.org.uk/lorenz/fish.htm

Amazon ports Alexa voice assistant to Raspberry Pi

Re: Button

I haven't looked in detail at them but the github build has companionApp samples directories for Android and iOS as well as the Pi java version, so could be that they have.

Button is annoying but that is only sample code. No reason you can't trigger it with something else connected to the Pi with a bit of development.

LastPass got hacked: Change your master password NOW

Re: YubiKey's Anyone

Get yourself the NFC version. Works fine on my Android phone so I assume it would work on an iPhone too.

How NSA spooks spaffed my DAD'S DATA ALL OVER THE WEB

I suppose it's possible the photo-credit is on one of the redacted slides. I'm sure if they just release the rest of the slidepack then they'll be able to clear their name.

IT pro to storm Everest in Bletchley Park cash quest

Paying for someone's holiday?

Bit concerned that the 'Join her' link implies that if you raise enough sponsorship then your travel and expenses costs for the exhibition are covered. Surely it would be better for people just to donate to the museum rather than paying for someone's holiday?

Hopefully I'm wrong and all the costs are being met elsewhere, but it would be good for that to be clarified.

Formatting broke in Google Chrome / Windows

Re: Formatting broke in Google Chrome / Windows

I'm getting a similar sounding problem, but with Firefox 7.0.1 and Windows 7. Layout seems fine in IE

HTC 'dismayed' by Apple's bizarre patent allegations

Smart Quill

Here's the original - very iPaddy...

http://www.scribd.com/doc/26185820/Smart-Quill

UK.gov uses purple-panted-berk to get 'young men' to do census

Deadline much more fluid than that..

According to the Census website[1]

"Census day is Sunday 27 March. Your answers should be about your household on this day. Please submit or return your completed questionnaire before, on or after this date."

So, whenever you like then basically...

[1] http://help.census.gov.uk/england/help/help-and-information/Gettingstarted/Returningyourquestionnaire/Topics/Whentoreturnthequestionnaire_F0008A.html"

Rugby Football Union scores 3D first

Event venue link

I love that you trakced it down, but still didn't post a link! It's here

http://www.o2blueroom.co.uk/3drugbylive

(Mind you i'll probably now find that the Reg commenting system removes links automatically and you actually did....)

Atheists smite online God poll

Figures are improving

They shouldn't be too downhearted. It was 99% No, to 1% Yes last time I checked a couple of days ago. That's a doubling in belief in only a few days - if that rate is sustained...

Gmail de-goodened by contact list glitch

Too soon?

Maybe it's time to slap that 'beta' tag back on there..

Woolies Pic'n'Mix goes for £14,500

Stating the obvious?

Bill, I somewhat doubt that the bag would have reached the same dizzying heights of pricing if the auction hadn't been for charity.

Calling the manager an idiot for seeing the opportunity to raise some money to potentially help out his ex-employees seems harsh.

Wacky Jacqui Smith says whole country crusading against CCTV

Well, she does say it's the reverse..

..although trying to figure out 'Quite the reverse' of that statement isn't not doing my head in.

Reg Hardware launches Twitter stream

Now unfollowed

Followed the feed briefly but if all you're going to do is just tweet new page headlines then RSS is a better way of getting updates, it's just clutter on the Twitter page.

I'd suggest either have someone responding to questions/comments about the reviews or adding extra content, otherwise it's not worth you bothering with.

US woman says Ubuntu can't access internet

Harsh comments!

It seems rather harsh to judge this woman as an idiot just because she doesn't understand the difference between Linux and Windows. I'd suggest that the majority of people if not selected from a poll on the internet wouldn't either. To many, computer = windows as that's all they've ever used.

Yes, Linux can do most things better but it's still not going to be able to cope with you putting in Windows software and 'just working' which is what she was expecting to happen. Not everyone is comfortable with computers - they are still a scary alien thing where hitting the wrong key will break the internet. That doesn't make them idiots.

Ok, she was trying to learn more about how they work from a course which was probably very application-centric and was based on Windows. That seems like the best place to start to me for using applications so why not. Once you've gained in confidence then you can start exploring options like Linux, but why make life more complicated initially. If someone wanted to learn to drive in an automatic are they an idiot for not demanding a manual?

I'd put the blame on the Dell technical support person personally. She phoned them to ask for a replacement and was told by the 'technical authority' that she didn't need one as what she had was better. In her case, it clearly wasn't.

(Oh, and you're all n00bs coz OS X is the only l33t OS anyway :-P )

MPs declare their ignorance on the web

Incorrect article citing

The link to the Westminster Hall discussion in the article seems to link to a debate on the Stern report on Climate Change - at least I hope it does. I really don't want to have to interpret remarks such as:

Mr. Lilley: It is for only one variety of groundnuts. There is another variety for which a 15 per cent. improvement will be produced.

in the context of inappropriate internet content...

Perhaps you intended to link to http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200708/cmhansrd/cm081113/halltext/81113h0001.htm ?

BBC's TV detector vans to remain a state secret

Self-fulfilling prophecy?

"After answering part of the request the broadcaster refused to give further details because if it did so it would damage the public's perception of the effectiveness of TV detector vans."

Isn't that just going to achieve the very thing that they were trying to avoid?

"We can't tell you that they're just full of old wire clothes hangers and cardboard boxes, because then you'd think they don't work..."

El Reg salutes ultimate shed anthem

Close enough to sheds..

I'd suggest the catchy anthem to the 2007 Sauna World Championships - possibly also the inspiration for the Irish Eurovision song contest entry?

http://k-systems.fi/www/saunaheinola.com/intro/

[Flame, for hopefully obvious reasons!]

Facebook takes a break

Helpdesk bounce

Works fine for me. Problem must be at your end..

Bletchley Park rattles tin for urgent repairs

Complicated donation methods

They'd probably attract more cash if they made it easier to send them money,

"How to join the Friends

Simply download the Friends of Bletchley Park application form, complete and return to us either by post or by fax on [phone]."

Post or Fax? I know the technology was limited in the 1940s but the world has moved on a bit since then!