Posts by Ted Treen

Acer to dump 3 million laptops onto European market

Sounds good for some...

My advice? - grab 'em while they're there.

I'm fully Apple - but if these are the right price then it's got to be god news (for once) for the poor beleaguered user...

Toxic Plankton feeds on Android Market for two months

I'm sure...

...that this will somehow end up in a diatribe of spittle-laden invective against Apple from the usual suspects...

iCloud: Big step for content management, but not for the cloud

Oh reallY

"...by allowing iOS devices, finally, to communicate directly with the cloud, it is hastening the irrelevance of the PC or Mac..."

So I'm going to continue my job as a heavy CS5 user after my MacPro becomes out of date by using my phone or tablet.

I really don't think so...

Apple purges drunk-driving apps

Yup...

Speed cameras have one, and only one purpose.

To extract even more cash from drivers.

Apple iOS 5 and iCloud examined

One IS somewhat peeved...

...by the pervasive Facebook and it's acolytes.

Everything I seem to look at has "like" buttons somewhere on it - and I have no desire/interest in becoming a Facebook member.

I have no intention of imitating the rabid spittle-laden invective of the anti-apple brigade:- I just ignore all such references and I'm quite happy for those who worship at the altar of Zuckerberg to continue doing so.

I'd just like them to allow me the freedom to NOT do so. Perhaps it IS that things are tailored for the majority but I, for one, would be quite happy for my Macs & my iPhone to continue to not constantly badger me with "like" and other Facebook references.

WW2 naval dazzle-camo 'could beat Taliban RPGs'

That's NOT a joke...

It's a PLAN !!

Apple opens iCloud to world+dog

Neither

was there the army of Ted Heath-alikes muttering "if they did it, I'm agin it!!"

Must be almost unbearable to have your razor-keen perception & wit.

So why...

...is there a proliferation of and extremely long history of this crud aimed at Windows users?

Surely it can't all have been so unsuccessful because of Windows' inherent security and the average Windows user's tech-savvy that the ungodly thought for years and years "I'll just keep trying...Just in case"...

OK

So you've described my local community. Lucky guess – or do you really know something?

Men pocket $1.5m in alleged ATM skimming spree

Won't happen for some time...

...all you'll get (at least from the big banks in Britain) is the by-rote repetition of the mantra "There is no problem with our system. Pin & Chip is infallible. You must have disclosed your pin,"...

Sandi Toksvig puts the 'n' into cuts - on the Beeb

If the Grauniad really has...

...it's odds on it meant to publish "aunt", "hunt", "punt" or anything else vaguely similar...

And might I add that I haven't read such snobbish patronising bollocks in one hell of a long time

Well said.

Well expressed and unfortunately true.

Pint?

You deserve one Sir (or Madam) for a succinct truism.

Entire London 2012 Olympics' cultural events database held on Excel

Maybe

they were, but were logged as "Coarse details" and have thus been held in abeyance awaiting something more refined...

Microsoft's patents shakedown betrays spirit of Gates

I'm having problems...

...thinking "Mr Ballmer" and "intellectual" in the same sentence...

Antimatter hangs around at CERN

Does that mean...

That somewhere there's an anti-matter Simon Cowell?

If so, can we get him to meet with the one we've got?

Please?

Ying?

It's a little-known Chinese criminal gang, as exposed & publicised by The Goons in "The Ying Tong song"...

Coat & Rickshaw, please

Virgin IT dept shocked by donkey-shagging Taliban

Oh well,

More PC posturing by management who have almost certainly committed far more heinous sins...

Par for the course these days...

Anyone remember common sense?

I believe it became extinct in the mid-late 1980's

Chinese army: We really need to get into cyber warfare

Soooo

Uncle Sam has discovered a chink in his armour...

New Mac scareware variant installs without password

Never overestimate users....

Security researcher finds 'cookiejacking' risk in IE

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-20066419-83.html?tag=nl.e757

And I quote:-

'From its point of view, Microsoft doesn't see much real-world risk to cookiejacking.

"Given the level of required user interaction, this issue is not one we consider high risk in the way a remote code execution would possibly be to users," Microsoft spokesman Jerry Bryant said in a statement sent to CNET.'

Natch, MS users are far, far too savvy to follow instructions from a mal-site...

Apple to support reps: Don't confirm Mac infections

I was tempted...

...to reply, but on reflection, I'd probably be better waiting until you have regained touch with reality.

Not sure I could face all that wild-eyed spittle anyway.

Oh I understand all right...

...it's because common sense is anathema to all the "Let's knock it 'cos it's Apple" brigade.

21 thumbs down...

...for suggesting that inexperienced users shouldn't be using an admin account?

Speaks volumes about the thumbs-downers.

Glad they have sod all to do with MY IT...

You'd be poor...

I bought a Mac Pro last summer, prior to that a G5 in 2005, prior to that a G3 in 1999. All of which I still have. RAM comes from Crucial, peripherals I buy cases off the interwebs & buy OEM drives & put them together myself.

I trust that meets with your approval.

Oh, and my iPhone came from Orange.

...and often not.

See my post above.

Hell,

I'd love to be your analyst/counsellor.

A job for life & I'd be rich...

Because...

Any excuse to have a go at Apple is greeted here as enthusiastically as a superinjunction is by a footballer.

Accuracy, veracity and lack of bias just doesn't come into it.

I'll say again - irrespective of whether you're on OSX or WIN XP/Vista/7, any newbie - or inexperienced user - should not be using an admin account. So even agreeing to install anything should result in an automatic "Oh no you don't - you're not allowed to" from the system.

I'm assuming an experienced user is unlikely to fall for such crapware.

This sort of slating is as inappropriate for Apple as it was for Microsoft. I', no great MS fan, but I don't see why they should be reviled for the actions of DFU's.

Just let Apple/MS patch as soon as possible whatever vulnerability is exploited - and if you do use Mac Anit-Virus s/w, use one of the trusted systems - Sophos etc., (Norton is not good news for Macs).

There has been so much publicity even in the non-IT media recently regarding fake anti-virus malware that most people should be aware of it.

Zuckerberg: Give me your children

Amen to that!

Agreed.

But having thought about it, I can see SOME people who might find Facebook useful:-

1) Party gatecrashers

2) Your friendly neighbourhood burglars.

Needs?

Ok, I'm the wrong side of 60, and have been involved in IT since the late 1970's. I'm not slow to pick up on new technology when I can see its benefits, but for the life of me I STILL can't see any benefit to Facebook

Apple admits scareware problem, at last

The problem is...

...not with the kit or OS.

It's with the user. And I've said the same thing regarding similar nasties on Uncle Bill's platform.

If you've a nice petrol-engined car, and you fill it with 14 gallons of diesel, would you expect the manufacturer to sort it for you, and fix it under warranty?

If you would, then you're not entirely reasonable.

Dear Dell and Microsoft: You're not Apple

Really?

So BMW, Jaguar, Bentley, Ferrarri & Rolls-Royce are all failures 'cos they shift fewer units than Ford/Vauxhall/Peugeot?

Hmmm...

GCHQ man: Powerline networks do interfere with radio

As the man said...

Never believe anything until it has been officially denied.

Claud Cockburn (1904 - 1981)

McKinnon battles renewed Obama-era extradition push

Pillock?

That's incredibly mild...

Bin Laden's porn stash: Too good to be true?

@Rob

Best form of hiding, me old Viking lad - not having any there in the first place.

Not something that particularly appeals to me - I love a good dinner, but pics of others eating don't do much for me, nor do pics/viddies of sumptous repasts.

I'm not prudish or offended by it, merely uninterested personally.

Still, as the froggies say "One man's fish is another man's poisson"...

Now Beer, that's a different matter...

Err...

Mine.

Tell that...

...to the (few) survivoirs of the Burma Railway, Changi Jail, Belsen, Sachsenhausen, Dachau, Sobibor, and many other instances too numerous to recall.

Or do you believe, like the Grauniad, that if we did it - it's automatically wrong & we should shroud ourselves in sackcloth & ashes?

99% of Android phones leak secret account credentials

I'm just waiting...

...for one (or more) of the usual suspects to claim it's all Steve Jobs/Apple's fault.

Par for the course these days.

Legal goons threaten researcher for reporting security bug

Pedantry alert

Is not the expression "Legal goons" tautology?

Royal Weddings, PCs and Cameron's brass balls

Wrong, wrong, wrong!

"...a Tory Chancellor insistent on cutting everything that is good and just from the government budget..."

A subjective view written as if it were an inalienable fact?

Everything "good & just" is NOT being cut. At times of personal financial difficulty I have had to reduce expenditure on leisure, treats, charitable contributions and a host of other things which I enjoy. This has been to:-

a) prevent a dire situation rapidly deteriorating

b) attempt to regain control of the situation

c) build a reduced but solid base from which I can once again grow.

It is NOT government expenditure which is decreasing - merely its rate of growth.

Reducing rate of acceleration in a vehicle neither means you're not increasing your speed nor does it mean you're beginning to slow down.

Socialists are always profligate with other people's money!

Foxconn staffers cuffed for leaking iPad 2 design in 2010

Selective Inconsistency

"...Chinese contract electronics manufacturer Foxconn..."

"...The Apple gadget factory was criticized over working conditions..."

The suggestion being that Foxconn are somehow purely working for/run by/influenced by Apple?

You know as well as I do that Foxconn labels are found in virtually ALL PCs, Laptops and bits & bobs...

It's a bit like slating Citroën (and Citroën alone) for the employment or operational practices of Michelin or Pirelli.

This is all getting about as "impartial" as the Beeb...

Behind Apple's record sales are signs of desperation

Agreed, Richy...

perhaps the headline SHOULD read "Behind Wireless Watch's analysis of Apple's record sales are signs of desperation"...

No, iPhone location tracking isn't harmless and here's why

Quite right, pcsupport.

or can I call you "pcs" for short?

I'm sure that when number plates (License Plates to the 'merkins) were first introduced there was an outcry, indignant letters to The Times claiming that the Okhrana was coming to England.

Pretty well ALL governments are skint through squandering our money on idealogical social engineering fiascos, and when you add their natural inherent incompetence, the idea of hordes of spooks tracking every iPhone user in detail through the day(s) is downright ludicrous.

No more likely than the DVLC keeping a precise location diary of every vehicle in the country.

Just another "It's Apple - let's knock it & FUD it" story.

EU Data retention directive 'flawed, unlawful'

@Heyrick

'Twas ever thus:

"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

Benjamin Franklin

It was true 250 years ago

It was true 150 years ago

It was true 50 years ago

It is true today

It will STILL be true in 50 years' time

and it will STILL be being used by whoever the ruling elite is then, to bolster their megalomania...

Yup

@Sam

That's a plan...

@AC

That's a better plan...

Watchdog sniffs Rihanna's 'gently thrusting buttocks'

@The Big Yin

Your last paragraph is absolutely correct.

Having once watched "X Factor" for a total of 5 minutes - the cat was comfy on my lap, & I didn't want to disturb her - I soon reached the stage where wading through crocodile-infested streams to turn it off would have been preferable to inaction.

I don't suppose any kiddywinks were corrupted beyond redemption by watching such drivel:- the chances are that because they have parents who are X Factor fans, these little ones have far greater long-term problems than seeing "sexually provocative" singers (?).

UK is fifth free-est nation on the internet

You realise, of course...

...that your having seen through them means there will be a knock on your door at 0330hrs, and a voice will claim "It's the postman!"...

Apple spits out increment iOS version

Maybe a huge assumption...

I would have thought that if the problem is "little reported", then although it might be big to a sufferer, it isn't widespread.

If it isn't widespread then it probably isn't an inherent problem, system or hardware.

Pls think first...

"If jailbreaking your idevice is LEGAL. then lcoking them in the first place should be illegal."

Complete non-sequitur.

Unfastening my case is legal. Does that mean fastening it is illegal?

Modifying my Mac is legal - even if it means modifying the case. Does that mean that providing an unmodified Mac in an unmodified case is illegal?

And about a thousand other valid analogies.

I presume the upper-case rant was followed by wiping of spittle from the screen.

In summary, I've never experienced any nasties in Mac OSX. I've seen lots in Windows' various incarnations. I'm quite happy that my iPhone only loads apps from the app store. I'm not sufficiently paranoid/outraged/insecure that I feel the need - or any just cause - to rant in a highly exaggerated manner about 1984, fascist control, or any of the other more colourful phrases found on any Reg forum which mentions the iPhone.

If you don't like the way the iPhone operates, then buy something else - or is common sense anathema to the rabid anti-Cupertino mob these days?

Hell, attacking (your own) Dell PC with a sledgehammer is perfectly legal (and may even be common sense)...

Is that nice Mr Michael the Son of Satan because he supplies un-hammered Dells?

RAF Eurofighters make devastating attack – on Parliament

Too narrow a comment.

"The story of bomber capability on the Eurofighter has been a cockup from start to finish"

In keeping with the story of MOD procurement, then?

Grenade? 'Cos that's what they need in their underpants!

Stock-trading teen hacker jailed again over 2nd scam

No?

It should, for SOME people...

Everything Everywhere stops plundering the charity box

You're so right.

For a definition of modern organised charity, refer to Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy.

For those who don't know, and can't be arsed to Google, Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy states that in any bureaucratic organization there will be two kinds of people: those who work to further the actual goals of the organization, and those who work for the organization itself.

Examples in education would be teachers who work and sacrifice to teach children, vs. union representative who work to protect any teacher including the most incompetent.

The Iron Law states that in all cases, the second type of person will always gain control of the organization, and will always write the rules under which the organization functions.