* Posts by Kenny Swan

87 publicly visible posts • joined 17 Apr 2007

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Game stash truck lifted from cops' lorry lock-up

Kenny Swan
Thumb Down

Interesting change...

When I read this story for the first time, it was stated that it was only copies on Brothers In Arms that were loaded onto the truck. Once The Sun gets it's hands on the story, now there's copies of GTAIV in there too, is there? The Sun wouldn't have made up that detail in order to imply the behaviour of the thieves was motivated by playing this game, would they? Nah, The Sun don't make up facts...

Swiss strap-on jetplane ace flies Channel

Kenny Swan
Coat

Slightly pointless...

Why jump out and use this gizmo to fly the rest of the way when he was ALREADY in a plane capable of flying him there? Just showing off, that's all that is... What do you mean 'I'm just jealous 'cos I don't have one'? I'm not jealous. I'll show you jealous. *grumble grumble...*

Adobe cites bad blood for closed Flash

Kenny Swan
Linux

Fair enough, almost...

I guess it's Adobe's choice to keep flash closed source, but how about making the bloody technology work more efficiently then there's be little need for a community to get hold of it? When I gave Linux a try (Ubuntu) my browser would hang or quit every so often and every time it did, the flash plugin was doing something. A company that size full of talented developers and they can't get the flash plugin working smoothly? They deserve to have the code taken by community devs and be shown how well it could be working.

Ballmer gives Norwegian students free love

Kenny Swan
Pirate

Exactly

@Steve Sherlock

You're exaclty right. Anyone who wants to learn those languages and technologies using the expensive IDEs and can't afford it can just take a hop, skip and jump to some places on the internet and get it, and more, for free anyway. And forgive me if I'm wrong, but don't they offer the express editions of the visual studio components for students for free anyway?

Another London BT exchange hit by thieves

Kenny Swan
Paris Hilton

Misunderstanding

You know I completely misunderstood the line asking about the two being related. I now understand they mean the two break-ins, but I thought they were asking if a party thrown by Madonna next door could have been related in some way. I thought maybe the goodiebags at the party weren't expensive enough for some celebs so they decided to bag themselves some top-of-the-range networking goodies instead.

Net sleuths spot poker site cheat code

Kenny Swan
Stop

Everyone knows

I bet everyone who's played online for long enough has seen some suspicious activity. Like a player going all in a few times in a game with ridicolous hands that were astronomically unlikely to win only to have fouth street and the river win them the hand. Almost as if they knew the hands that would be dealt... They play conservatively then do this every so often and clean up. I know a few people who've noticed the same thing on a large UK poker site and that's exactly why I don't play anymore. It's not a level playing field. It's some simple software and who knows what exploits are out there in the underground of the internet.

BitTorrent crackdown cops fail to pay music copyright fees

Kenny Swan
Paris Hilton

Radio?

Can't the just pipe in a radio station? You shouldn't have to pay royalties for a public performance of those songs since the radio station has covered the fees for that. Or am I missing something?

El Reg drops in on Bletchley Park

Kenny Swan
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Such a shame

It's heartbreaking to see something like this get to this stage. Surely some large IT Corporations care about this and would like the publicity? Google? Microsoft? Where would you guys be without the IT industry? Get your hands in your pockets. As a side note, it's great to see the UK Government pissing money away on shite we don't want or need when they could take this over and fund it. Gotta love the UK's priorities.

Apple channels Pandora with iTunes 8

Kenny Swan
Jobs Horns

ah fuckles...

I've been holding on for the next round of iPod's, waiting for a bigger classic, and they go and give me 120Gb or nothing? Jesus Apple, you want people to 'carry their music collections around' but you think anyone with more than 120Gb is obviously mental? Harddrives are getting cheaper, give us more space, not less. I keep my music on an external 320Gb drive and would like it all on an iPod instead. According to Apple now, not without chucking half of it I can't. I've waiting long enough, time to go looking at other options now.

Glasgow tube gets phone coverage

Kenny Swan
Stop

Pointless

The glasgow tube is a tiny network. Nothing compared to cities like London. A typical morning commute on the Glasgow tube will take about 10 minutes or something for most people. People these days can't go that long without using their phone?

Wireless browsers shut out of the Olympics

Kenny Swan
Flame

Another reason why the BBC sucks

I spend half my time in the UK and the other half in Denmark. I still pay my license fee. Why don't I get a 50% refund for not being able to access iPlayer and such like when I'm not here? Why do the US get BBC America and Danish TV shows Top Gear and such like? Why do we pay for all this stuff and other countries don't? Get adverts on BBC and shove the license fee.

Pirate Bay evades Italian blockade

Kenny Swan
Stop

Where will this end?

When will countries learn that it's up to the individual citizens what they choose to do? I mean, you could get up to all sorts of nasty stuff if you hung out with the right people in Afghanistan, but is it fair for your country to block your access to getting to that country? Some people might use piratebay for legal, legitimate reasons (I hear it happens) so why be punished for what your government assumes you'll be doing there?

Obama critical of Bush regime's bioterror fearmonger gap

Kenny Swan
Stop

Sad, sad, sad

I hoped the US could turn things around. The sad truth is, and people need to accept it, that the US is a big country and as such has a good percentage of average or below intelligence in it. These speeches can fool those people and they vote. It's not about what you plan to do, it's about fooling the stupid majority into believing what you say and they'll vote for you. They've already had to endure Bush, as has the rest of the world, I hope they're not about to repeat the mistake.

UK ISPs agree to menace their filesharing users

Kenny Swan
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Oh, I get it...

So this isn't about protecting the legal rights of the artists, it's about the ISPs wanting to make money and get in on the music selling business but realise that people won't pay for what they can get for free? So they look like caring, helpful individuals to the general public and really are just looking after their own business and don't care about artist rights? Classy. It's times like this I'm glad I'm with a small, independent ISP who thankfully still do care about their small customer base and aren't a faceless, money sucking corporation.

Ubuntu man challenges open source to out-pretty Apple

Kenny Swan
Coat

I agree: missing the point

I've been arsing about with Linux for a few weeks now. I'm used the XP & OSX world but I thought I'd give Ubuntu a whirl. I think there's no end to fancy-schmany utilities I can install that make everything look very pretty. Sometimes overly fancy for no reason. Compiz let me have wobbly windows and all sorts of graphical wizardry. My only issue with Linux is the lack of a unified and easy installation procedure. If I look at installation instructions and they've got me buggering about with the command line and editing config files and downloading dependent files to make sure it works, then I simply give up and don't bother. I like trying things on XP & OSX. Double click, try it out, and either trash it or keep it. Linux is not user friendly in this way. I'd be 100 times happier if I could just download one file and double click to install. You can sometimes, but not always.

BAA 'invented green superjumbo' to OK Heathrow plans

Kenny Swan
Happy

Idiots

You can't move to somewhere near an airport then complain about the noise! Heathrow has been there a good while and it probably there when most people moved in, so get used to it. Don't like aircraft noise? Don't live near a f**king airport. The UK is a big place, move somewhere else and let us demolish your house to build a new runway. Less queues and cheaper flights all round. (Almost) everyone is happy.

BT starts threatening music downloaders with internet cut-off

Kenny Swan
Stop

Evidence?

Whatever happened to needing evidence of wrongdoing? So the BPI have some details of an IP address transferring copywrited data. I can't think of anything easier to fake. The idiots could just pick a filename, timestamp, come up with a random IP address and accuse that person of sharing music and that's all the evidence they need to get BT on someone's ass? I don't think there's a foolproof method of finding watertight evidence that someone was sharing music that would be inarguable in court, so I don't get why they bother. Oh, that's right, Money...

London store brews £50-a-poop cat-crap coffee

Kenny Swan
Stop

People will fall for anything

Posh, trendy idiots. Just because something is rare doesn't mean it's good or valuable. A fool and is money are easily parted.

Yahoo! formally! rejects! Microsoft! offer!

Kenny Swan
Paris Hilton

Don't get it...

What does Yahoo actually make money from? Except for advertising, that it. Everything I've seen from Yahoo seems to be free and apart from using an email address there, I don't deal with the company in an other way. Anyone shed light on what Yahoo make these millions from?

UK teen is world's youngest certified ethical hacker (maybe)

Kenny Swan
Paris Hilton

@Chris

I guess you don't study English at University either? It seems the entrance requirements have gone right downhill...

IT tackles benefit cheats

Kenny Swan
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Tarred with the same brush

We've all been there and treated this way by our 'benefits system'. If you're a single teenage, junky mother with 3 kids by 18 they'll throw money at you and probably help you get a house and make sure you never have to work again. If you're signing on between jobs, be prepared to be treated automatically like a thief, cheat and no-hope waste of time. I love our government. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside...

Canadian prof develops drunk-driving sim

Kenny Swan

Waste...

Wouldn't it be a better idea, more realistic and more fun to just drink 10 pints of Stella and then have a go on an Xbox or something?

RIAA hits paydirt: wins first music-sharing jury trial

Kenny Swan

Good god...

How the f**k can this happen? How could they win this case? Does the US even have a legal system anymore? There were so, so many holes in this case and so little clear evidence that the woman had actually done anything wrong.

I can't believe her lawyer didn't do a better job and I can't believe any judge, outside the US anyway, would have found her guilty. The RIAA had better stick to US cases because I hold onto what little faith I have in the legal system by believing that this wouldn't fly in the UK courts. I'm afraid to find out though.

The RIAA might be proud of having bullied this poor woman through the court system, but I find them even more disgusting than I did before.

Late, fast and pricey: O2 broadband is go

Kenny Swan

One ISP is still sane

I'm with a small ISP on the west of Scotland previously called WightCable and now SmallWorld. They offer cable net access and there's no throttling or FUP. They've been that way since I joined and they understand that customers don't want those things. It's made them popular and they've been the best ISP I've ever been with up to now. What we need is small regional ISPs that can manage a smaller network and better serve the customer.

Boy beats Reaper at 20,000 feet

Kenny Swan

Lucky boy

All the above mentioned possible causes of death are only the beginning. Someone also correctly mentioned crushing, but landing gear can still be spinning when retracted which is going to cause serious injury, and if you're worried about the low temperatures, the scolding temperature of the tyre rubber after takeoff will give you adequate heat to start with.

He's a lucky, lucky boy. Since he's committed numerous offences by doing this, he's also lucky he's getting away with it.

Venezuelan man survives autopsy

Kenny Swan

Free money

Imagine claiming your own life insurance policy? That's be a claim form worth reading. Reason for health insurance claim? Temporary case of Death. Also does he now have to declare it for future policies? Have you ever suffered from any illnesses? Well, I did die once, but I'm alright now...

Czech falls off motorbike, wakes up with British accent

Kenny Swan

Strange...

If this is true, maybe it's linked to 'previous lives'? People sometimes get memories or feelings that they've been somewhere before or recognise something new and the issues of past lives has been known about but never studied or understood, as far as I know. Maybe this guy was English in a past life and maybe the woman was French in a past life. It's amazing what we could have in our head that we don't know about...

Apple rings in changes with iPod Touch

Kenny Swan

Not good enough

I sold my 30Gb iPod and kept my iTunes library on an external drive because I outgrew the 30Gb. I was going to get an 80Gb but I held off to see the new models. Now that I see that the top tier iPod has HALF the storage of the last iPod I outgrew, it doesn't impress me. I don't want bells and whistles and useless utilities. I want an iPod to listen to music on the go and 16Gb comes nowhere near close to cutting it for me. If there's any consolation, it's that I might just pick up an 80Gb after all and get it nice and cheap now that new models have surfaced. Not a smart move Apple, IMO.

Another investigation into Pirate Bay child porn

Kenny Swan

Opinion

I guess it's each persons opinion which is more illegal or which has more moral ground from the things available on Piratebay. Piratebay is simply a scapegoat here. Child Porn is a horrible thing, but the internet makes it such that material, I'd imagine, can be gotten anywhere. If Piratebay removed it, it'd just pop up somewhere else. I'd agree that Piratebay should hand over IP data, but if they do it for that, why not any other illegal activity, no matter how less morally wrong. Companies should simply stop trying to police the Internet. I don't believe that will ever happen. Giving the growing and modular nature of the Internet, you simply can't keep up. I hope the child porn pervs are caught somehow though.

NBC to Apple: 'You're fired!'

Kenny Swan

Idiots

Just because people are buying a product, doesn't mean that if you raise the price, they still will. With TV shows available on TV and torrent sites easily for free, you'd think they'd be happy people are doing it legally and paying at all in the this day and age. Raising the price would be suicide and I think Apple are right to refuse the price hike. I'm sure the content is available elsewhere through other means. I'm also sure people would rather get them elsewhere than pay a huge price hike like that, it's simply not fair. What other products have you seen in the real world that move up in price instead of down? How would you feel if you went to buy milk tomorrow to find it had jumped almost triple in price with no explaination except that people were paying for it and they were sure you'd pay more?

NBC need to review these kind of ideas.

'Grim reaper' dog senses nursing home deaths

Kenny Swan

Alternately...

Dogs can sense when humans are in poor health or feeling down. Everyone knows that. It just so happens that when old people get ill, they're likely on their last legs. I'd say coincidence and nothing more. If it is something more, the dog better stay the hell away from me...

Deceased Malayan hit with $218 trillion mobile bill

Kenny Swan

Roaming rate...

Maybe his father tried to give him a call. Does anyone actually know the roaming rate for the afterlife? I mean, he is calling from way outside the cell coverage area. Maybe a few trillion is standard for a call from the great beyond.

'Portable' CD player puts MP3 into a spin

Kenny Swan

Hmmm

And the advantage of this over portable CD players that will play MP3 from a data CD are what exactly?

Oklahoma woman takes sue happy RIAA to the bank

Kenny Swan

Hmm

Can someone please explain the difference between these tactics and extortion? Seriously. I don't get how they can get away with legal bully tactics like this. They only evidence they have is IP data and we know how easily spoofed that is. They don't have a hope in hell of ever winning this battle and all they're doing is try to grab whatever scraps available. It's sad, desperate and alienates the public. Have they ever successfully convicted someone in court through the proper channels without resorting to intimidating someone into settlement?

75-year-old has world's fastest private internet connection

Kenny Swan

Gb or GB?

I assume it's a 40 GigaBIT connection and not GigaBYTE? If it's the standard Gb then I guess shifting a theoretical 5 gig in a second ain't too bad. How many servers out there are gonna serve data at a speed anywhere near fast enough to take advantage of that? Alright for peer to peer connections if you can find someone with a lightning upload speed.

Not sure I see the usefulness of this at the moment for anyone.

Canadian iPod user struck by lightning

Kenny Swan

Brilliant

Plays music in church, listening to religious music and showing his love for God, then gets struck by lightning. Ah the irony. You couldn't make stuff like this up. Fantastic. Glad the guy survived though. Still fantastic.

P2P pinball lawyers say ignorance is no defence

Kenny Swan

Making it up as they go along...

They may say it's an individuals responsibility to make sure their computer is secure, there's no way in hell that it's LAW that you do so. Therefor, that means nothing. There's many other sensible things people should do to avoid mishaps, but there's no legal requirement to. They have no legal evidence whatsoever and this is nothing more than bullying, or perhaps even extortion. I pray they pick on someone who can access the funds to fight this and I hope it gets attention.

it might put two-bit companies like this hoping people will be scared into paying up for this sort of thing.

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