Posts by Nebulo

Google Street View logs WiFi networks, Mac addresses

Don't be Evil

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ...

Mozilla blocks Firefox Java plugin

A bit tardy, surely

My FF gave me that message box early last Saturday morning, prompting me to update to 'u20' then. Think I managed to cut out most of the 'many bits of cruft' (thanks, AC 13:43 GMT - true!) this time, so back to being another lazy sod who'd chuck Java and half a dozen other things if he could be arsed.

Java, too, is made of badgers' paws.

PARIS hacked Canon: 108 minutes, 1,298 stills

Daniel Craig ...

is not relevant to PARIS.

But Paris is totally relevant. I know who I'd rather view 1298 stills of.

Radio lobby 'hides' 2m analogue receiver sales

Ah, so ...

"Gfk defines a "portable media player" as any portable music device that plays music and has a 3.5mm headphone jack."

Given that a digital radio can't work off batteries for more than five sodding minutes, so can't be used portable, this sounds like what we experts call a "self-fulfilling prophecy".

Lords: Analogue radio must die

Technology brings change? Ha!

Those of us who read the Reg know very well that change != improvement.

Weak signal performance: AM noisy, FM noisy, DAB shite.

Audio quality: AM comms quality, FM hi-fi quality, DAB shite.

Battery life if you want it portable: AM outstanding, FM very good, DAB non-existent.

Now back to listening to my FM radio, at hi-fi quality, while I still can.

Health records riddled with errors

The records contain errors?

Could this be the result of people trying to read doctors' legendarily illegible scrawl?

Home Office planning to brick version 1 ID cards in 2012?

CAC, eh?

Just add a 'K' for the perfect description of the whole scheme.

Net downloads cause 'millions of lost jobs'

Same ...

tired old bollix we've heard ever since the 70's "Home taping is killing music" bollix.

There is still music.

There is still also the fact that the people who copy the most are also the people who buy the most. Why don't these fools just shut up, go away and let people get on with enjoying thenselves? Life isn't all about commercial activity, you know, whatever the commercial activity addicts might think.

The icon's for the commercial activity addicts.

Peer 1 Hosting puts up for Reg space mission

Flycam?

For a horrible moment there, I thought the Reg had happened on a new form of insect-oriented pr0n ...

BTW, have you tried to get the real Paris (as per icon) involved?

Home Office, EHRC rap top cop knuckles

It seems an odd question, really.

'Whether the police need *more* powers'?

Funny, but I remember them being pretty darn good at their job when they had rather *fewer* powers. They, and we, knew what was OK and what not, and we trusted them to keep the peace, which they did. Good grief, you even got to chat with them occasionally without being made to feel like a criminal.

Now, they have thousands of new laws 'flexible' enough to allow them to do largely what they like, and we're forced to comply with that by, well, force, plus a bit of 'Crown vs Hitesh' (nice post). Whether you can really 'trust' somebody pumped up for instant action who's shouting and pointing a Taser at you is moot, and whether what is thereby kept is "peace" more so.

Progress? Not impressed.

'The LHC will implode the Moon or PUT OUT THE SUN'

Never mind the black holes

Just promise me they won't be making any more of that negatively strange antihypernucleic antimatter. I still haven't recovered from the first lot.

UK still lousy on electronic nosiness

@MZ - Superb post, alas.

You're absolutely right. It's like that ghastly slow motion feeling you get before your car actually hits something, when you can see the disaster inevitably developing but can't do anything about it. Throw in the time factor, such as the way we're all being primed for a "2012" disaster with movies, pop videos featuring armed, uniformed men strutting about, officials now allowed to "enter" your home "to ensure that unauthorised hypnotism is not taking place in the premises" (FFS, is this surrealism thrown in for the entertainment of the intelligent, or just to mock us?) ... armed police and Tasers deployed in the (once) "free" UK ... I tear my rapidly whitening hair out daily at the way people just don't see it. "Oh, no, I feel *so* much safer knowing there's cameras everywhere".

But like you, I'm damn sure they are going to see it before long. And it's not going to be pretty. And I wish to God that I could think otherwise, even though I don't believe in Him.

There's a flesh-crawlingly sharp piece on Global Research at the moment which I could have written myself and thoroughly recommend - "Prognosis 2012" (http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=17826). It's all in place. RIP Civilisation, it was nice while it lasted.

'Negatively strange' antihypermatter made out of gold

Reverse alchemy?

That's the sort of thing that makes me love El Reg!

Re "Negatively strange antihypernucleic antimatter" ... sod the new keyboard, you (or they) owe me a new brain.

NASA flying car engineer shoots down Reg coverage

Moore is less

and the Reg is more, after that little tirade. Splendid stuff!

As for "what gives you the right to spout this kind of opinion" ... you mean we now need someone like him to give us permission to have an opinion? Didn't realise the N.W.O. Takeover had progressed quite that far.

Photographers rue Mandy's copyright landgrab

@AC 11:46 GMT

They're already preparing for riots. Why else has the kleptocracy has been infesting the entire country with CCTV, databases tracking everything you do and everywhere you go, getting people used to the idea of being "electronically strip-searched" at airports, allowing practically anything in a uniform to enter your home on arbitrary pretexts, or stop and search you ... and ... and ... Let's face it, to them, *we*, the public, are the terrorists, particularly if we try to exercise our "rights" (hah!). By their standards, stealing our photos is practically a friendly greeting.

You're right, we need a whole new system. But there's an awful lot of money and corrupt power says we're not going to get it.

I (and they) know which side of the barricades I'll be on.

60 million Americans don't use the interwebs

Either offensive or dangerous?

Can't really argue with 'em there.

Like the idea of not paying for it, too.

Is that enough to call myself a technophone?

iPhone must-have crowd inflates UK gadget insurance claims

So, insurers -

Any chance of a discount for those of us who aren't insuring the very latest tat, then?

... Thought not.

New cig peril: Third-hand smoke coats puffers in poison

NOTICE:

This is a SMOKING AREA.

PLEASE SMOKE.

If you persist in not smoking when requested to do so, you may be required to leave.

DNA pioneer lambasts government database policy

Good man!

A pity You Know Who won't listen, any more than they do to any expert.

MS probes bug that turns PCs into 'public file servers'

But, ossifer,

... those porn flicks and warez must mean somebody's cracked my Windows peecee ... not mine ... onnist ...

Police have more than 10,000 ANPR cameras

I must be old fashioned

because I happen to think that, 'just maybe', these private companies, IF we mandate them to do it at all, should have had talks "to ensure that data retention is appropriate and proportionate" BEFORE they started stashing away millions of pictures per day. An activity which seems to have 'inappropriate and disproportionate' written all over it.

Big Bro icon - appropriate and proportionate for pretty much any story about the UK these days.

Michigan man in DIY rocket sled explosion

Brilliant!

As Viv Stanshall might have put it, "in his early sixties and still unusual".

@Lionel - No worries! I'm only a few years short of 62, and I feel just as stupid as I did at 18. :)

Exploding ciggie blows out Indonesian bloke's teeth

Just have to hope

that "New" "Labour" don't hear about this, or the beggars will pass a law that says all cigarettes must explode, to discourage (or kill off) the last few smokers left in the country.

Vote, vote, vote for Barbie the computer engineer

Well, really!

Now look what you've done. I wasn't going to vote, I really wasn't, then you mentioned that pink Barbie netbook computer and ...

Britain warns businesses of Chinese 'honey trap'

Sexual relationships and illegal activities?

Well, that takes care of sex and drugs ... is there no warning against rock'n'roll?

Home Office spawns new unit to expand internet surveillance

No title.

No comment.

Just the icon.

Kaspersky update slaps Trojan warning on Google Adsense

Another vote in favour

Google *anything* is malicious. Don't care how they get blocked - NoScript, PeerBlock ...

NASA pegs Noughties as hottest decade on record

Evidence

Evidence for a 'Medieval Warm Period' in a 1,100 year tree-ring reconstruction of past austral summer temperatures in New Zealand (Geophysical Research Letters, vol. 29, no. 14, pp. 12-1 to 12-4. 15 July 2002) - E. R. Cook, J. G. Palmer, R. D'Arrigo

Evidence for the existence of the medieval warm period in China (Climatic Change, vol. 26, nos. 2-3, March, 1994) - De'Er Zhang

Local to Europe and the eastern US?

Police arrest MD of dowsing-rod 'bomb detector' firm

Kudos undimmed (mostly)

It was still an 85 megabuck scam, as no doubt the Court will be reminded. It would have been a bit much to ask that he trousered the entire 85 as well. ("only" 12 million, btw? errr, *one* would do me very nicely ... ) The guy still has all the brass neck of a banker - well, almost all, as he did actually deliver some (sort of) hardware.

Quite agree with your other comments, though, especially the last. Hence the drink. Whom the Gods would destroy make very depressing entertainment for the sober.

Kudos to that man!

Eighty five million for selling a load of old sticks to government dipshits? Bloody brilliant! That man should be selling IT schemes to HMG, he could make even more. Total respect!

MPs frozen out of super-secret copyright talks

Open Government?

But this IS Open Government! It's wide open to any corporation who can afford to organise a lobby to influence it.

Just not to the people they like to claim it "represents". Us.

RockYou hack reveals easy-to-crack passwords

Site limitations

I have to agree with everyone who's irritated by sites limiting your password choice. For example, I really like one site's email (etc.) service, but for their max 12 character passwords. That might have been OK when the site was young, but it's in lookup table territory now. I use better than that on my Yahoo email, ffs.

You can strengthen your p/w (if you're not subject to such limitations) just by punctuating your passphrase, either properly or idiosyncratically. Those seaside lovers could try ...

Oh, I DO Like to Be Beside the Seaside!

or perhaps ...

Oh, do I like 2B beside the Seaside, theregister.co.uk? (for the artist who knows his pencils and is posting here.)

And yes, write them down, in a notebook with a lot of totally unrelated guff 'phrases' - you know which ones you've used (we hope). Twice, one in a secret place so you don't lose everything when it gets nicked.

Mine's the one with the ?N0t3b0Ok! full of guff in the pocket.

Is it art or is it pr0n? Australia decides it's ALL filth

Go, Australia!

At this rate, you might even pull ahead of the UK in the "Let's See Who Can Convert a Civilised Country Into a Disgusting Fascist State First" race. And it won't be because we're not trying.

Grenade because we're all going to need 'em, soon.

Star Trek to boldly go (again)

A title is not required.

On board Babylon 5, the meeting to be chaired by Jerry Cornelius?

'Google' crowned word of the decade

But ...

there may have been some small ones inside them ...

Dadaist user manuals - a call for submissions

From a low-budget memory stick

Greeting!! (smiley, as left)

* Wish you be happy when opening the parcel.

*China is far away; many thanks to allow us more considerable shipping time.

*Do not hesitate to contact us if any question or problem, give us a chance to help you solve any problem! Thanks (another smiley)

* Please value our services 5 stars by Detailed Seller Ratings. Our hard work needs your encouragement.

* Our website (---------) is also ready to be your best choice to retail and wholesale phone, games and accessories. Any other products please contact us for a better price.

Best wishes and have a nice day!

(the last line in a nice ornate font, and the whole thing on a small card.) It's probably more accurate English than some of our own youth could manage, and the meaning has no trouble getting through the eccentricities. Yes, I be happy when opening the parcel - cheered me up no end, and despite the low price the stick works just fine when whopped.

Italians take the 'p' to fight back against Big Brother

I wish ...

I could disagree with one word of that.

Doing the maths on Copenhagen

@Baying Lynch Mob

Well, quite. It says so on the internet, it must be true.

Consensus (especially among politicians) != scientific proof.

Hard evidence == scientific proof.

Hard evidence: There is no scientific link between carbon emissions and temperature change.

Merry Xmas, AC.

Chinese villager jailed for eating tiger

No title is required.

Tiger eats man: no news ... Man eats tiger: news.

Now, to satisfy worldwide curiosuty, could the Chinese gov ask him ... what did it taste like?

Home Office battles to make CCTV useful

And ...

That's not only three-quarters of the Home Office crime prevention budget. ...

That's three-quarters of the Home Office crime prevention budget FOR A DECADE OR MORE.

FOR NO CRIME PREVENTION.

Radio Society tries to beat back powerline networks

Quite right, unfortunately

This really shouldn't be necessary, but if the regulator won't regulate then hats off to the RSGB for standing up.

The short wave is the only part of the spectrum which can deliver international communications wirelessly, and when you're trying to receive femtowatts or less of signal you certainly don't want all and sundry splattering interference all over it. If you're not specifically using these frequencies for what they alone can do, kindly don't pollute them.

I shall be putting a few quid into the kitty, even though I can't really afford it.. Ofcom: Fail. As ever.

Gov slams critical database report as opaque, flawed, inaccurate

Slammed?

It reads more like a petulant, hissy fit to me.

UK air traffic control goes after Wikileaks

Why else?

So that when Wikileaks (whom God preserve) disregard this bollox, they can sic the undead Mandelson onto pulling the copyright noose a bit tighter around the internet's neck, perhaps?

Dodgy Avast update classifies multiple legit files as malign

Human error?

... but the avast! site says "We have highly automated systems and processes for testing and releasing virus updates ... "

This Artificial Intelligence lark is definitely getting a bit out of hand, if its errors are now human.

NHS hurls iPhone into booze abuse fray

WTF??

When I was happily mis-spending my youth, the rule of thumb was, if you can't remember what you've had, you've had enough.

I suppose this is going to make the modern equivalent, if you can't hit the keys of your mobile phone, you've had enough. You mean you /really/ need an app for that?

(And what other icon could I use?)

Titan has Earth-style 'climate change', says prof

Orbital Forcing?

Is that when your eyes pop out at seeing someone commenting on the Reg in _favour_ of the Anthropological Global Warming Theory, a.k.a. Discredited Debacle?

Cartoon smut law to make life sucky for Olympic organisers

Except ...

It's not the rest of the civilised world's fault that sexually obsessed authorities began seeing pornographic images in everything, including our cartoon collections.

_None_ of us should have to suffer from the delusional perceptions of these paedo-perverts, but that's the law now.

Probably most of us actually preferred living in a world where you didn't have to keep your every thought, word and deed under continual inspection lest some Common Purpose droid denounce you for some doctrinal heresy. But when you have laws like this, written and passed by the sort of creatures which run this show, their vile obsessions poison every aspect of your life, as the very existence of this story proves.

Oh, and I agree with you about the committee, and with everybody about the bloody awful logo.

Manchester united against ID cards, ID minister finds

A comedy career beckons

Hillier said: "But another real benefit is that once you have registered no-one can steal your identity" and "the databases will be very secure - think Police National Computer. No-one will be able to download information and it will not be on PCs on people's desks."

She'll have a slot on Radio 4 after the election, that's for sure.

(Thanks, El Reg - didn't even have to edit the quote!)

Gov targets boozers as Manc ID card scheme launches

Nice subtitle

"Gis yer face to get off your face innit"? :)

I'd have to be totally off my face to even consider it innit. Fortunately there's not enough beer in the Reg's icon to get me that way.

Federal boffins: 'Giant invading snakes' will soon rule USA

Plasticine

and a bit of artistic skill will surely be needed for a Playmobil reconstruction of this one.