Posts by wsm

Baying mob turns on miniskirted Brazilian uni student

Where?

Brazil? Really? Where is the PlayMobil recreation of this one?

Murdoch admits delays on paywall scheme

A fool's errand

Rupert wants the Internet to stop so can get off. It doesn't quite work that way, does it?

Mozilla aborted IE in Firefox clothing

Flash not right

I have to agree with the closing Flash comment. What is turned off most often by Firefox users? It's Flash and its intrusion into areas most IE-only users won't know about.

It's not your computer until you turn off Flash and deny it's data collection--which you can only do while on Adobe.com, by the way.

WarMouse pushes gamers' buttons with OOMouse

Who, how, what???

Design by committee, perhaps?

This is the first mouse I have seen that needs a mouse to operate it.

El Reg's LHC visit - Deleted Scenes

How long...

How long can this thing operate before The Doctor comes to turn it into a giant flower pot because it's causing Cybermen to return to the galaxy?

Mozilla plots Firefox interface overhaul

Change or progress?

Must be one or the other--don't see both when it's the same memory-leak browser.

Microsoft adds higher price to SQL Server's new features

Market share?

How does a greater cost for the phantom benefits equal greater market share? Microsoft employees must talk to each other, and only each other, before convincing themselves to raise prices.

This is doing less with what costs more.

Microsoft in Bing jingle kiddie vid outrage

Well, I think...

Everyone is taking this Internet thing too seriously. The kids will recover.

BTW, I thing the second video was much larger on the creepiness scale. I did have to watch that on Halloween!

China's The9 sued over Warcraft ditching

Fact checking

Amazing the level of naivete in some executives--all they need are assurances at board meetings before risking the livelihood of their stockholders.

About the only thing a lawsuit in China accomplishes is to alert the various authorities were the money went, for purposes of recovery of course!

Dell unveils exclusive Microsoft-branded Ubuntu OS

Monopoly power

Doesn't Microsoft make all operating systems? Isn't that what a monopoly is?

Why doesn't Dell tell me these things?

Next time I buy a computer, I am using the new Seven and forgetting about all of these other things.

Academics gripe about Windows 7 promo collapse

Early Birds?

Downloaded in less than 20 minutes, but immediately after the message arrived from Digital River. Early downloaders seemed to have no problem at all according to other forums.

BTW, the expandedSetup folder can be used to create a bootable .iso file. Any number of softwares can do that. One of the files inside the \Boot directory is used as the boot image and with a small change to the sector load specification, a Windows 7 DVD is made.

Japanese algorithm 'can tell if you're about to die'

Purpose?

I, too, question the purpose of this "tool." Is it so a dispatcher can so "No rush, they'll be dead by the time you get there?"

Maybe it's so they can determine candidates for terminal hold, like the tech support for major hardware vendors do.

SCO boots boss McBride

SCO and RamBus

A pox on them both.

Dell refunds PC user for rejecting Windows

Again?

There was a rash of these refunds a little over two years ago. The Linux fanbois were calling it a refund of the Windows Tax.

Nothing new, just another irritating round of pique.

http://www.linux.com/archive/articles/59381

Tabloid hack scum face jail

Responsible investigative journalism?

Is that the kind that tells on anyone but my friends in the department? Can't tell anymore--I've read The Guardian too often.

Apple plans turbocharged Mac Pro speedster

Not enough

It'll be outdated in two years. Better get started on the 128-bit code for OS XI

Man banished from PayPal for showing how to hack PayPal

The real news is...

that there is no news here. PayPal is a completely unregulated service which does arbitrary things with scrip accounts. There is no money in your PayPal account, there is only what they say is in it.

I won a suit against PayPal and I'm not going back . No more eBay, no more small-time scammers selling junk. It's quite the life.

Newegg hatches IPO

Going public?

It's the beginning of the end. Newegg has grown because of their unusually high level of customer service. Becoming managed by a board of directors will change all of that.

US Spec Ops operates psywar websites targeted at UK

If...

their sites work as well as their explanation of their tactics, no worries--more people will believe anything on YouTube.

AOL parachutes former Yahoo! exec into web and mobile unit

AOL, web, mobile

These three things should never be used in the same sentence.

Firefox 4.0 developers granted year of living dangerously

What this really means...

is that anything Mozilla releases between now and the said Q4 just won't be called FF 4.x. Sounds like some sort of marketing plan.

Microsoft pulls Windows 7 balloons from Euro 'launch parties'

DRM

I heard this all had something to do with the rights to 99 Luftballons.

UK Music secret data: 'Young people will pay for downloads'

95 times ignored

If I am ignored 95 times, and I know I will be, then I must take immediate action after 3 notices of any kind. Said action will surely be effective, as I will own anything I believe is appropriate to my needs.

Who am I?

UK media: 'Met Office computer will destroy the world'

Next on our list...

Let's see, any need for climate-control to preserve national treasures, conduct proper laboratory procedures, heal the sick--all of those need to go. After all, they just aren't energy efficient.

Four our next leap in logic, let's eliminate all nighttime lighting, keep ambulances from speeding, maybe even put everyone on bicycles.

It's Earth first, isn't it?

How to turn a world leader into a fourth-rate broadband economy

Faulty data

It's not just the size of the country and its varied population densities that seem to have confused the broadband report. Their approach to data analysis is naive.

Look at an obvious example like the State of Nevada. In the Las Vegas area, mediocre speeds abound. In an area north-east of Sin City, where only nearly deserted national parks and ranches are the norm, with a single town of 1,252 residents within hundreds of square miles, broadband speeds are extraordinary.

I say the sample size is remarkably poor and the map is wholly inaccurate. There may be those who want broadband everywhere, but it's not likely to happen where it's not needed. Though some communication abilities are beneficial for everyone, the Internet is not a necessity everywhere.

French govt to investigate immolating iPhone claims

Crack your screen?

Well, there's an app for that!

MS and Sophos incompatible over Win 7 XP Mode

Sophos?

Sophos can't manage to get its client software to work on Windows servers once IE8 is installed due to problems with reliance on URL files to do its updating. No amount of pleading with their tech people can get that through to them, that they are completely useless in protecting servers.

Now Sophos is complaining that a VM needs another licensed copy of its software? Does this mean they can't figure out how to scan another set of files on the same computer? Even if some configuration of a remote scan is needed, it seems that Sophos is completely lacking in problem-solving expertise if they can't offer something to help.

Interoperability eludes Office and OpenOfffice

Pictures and tables

Since the advent of Word and its initial competitive target, WordPerfect, Microsoft have not been able to convert graphics and tables with their content intact, let alone format either correctly.

Now OpenOffice and Word can't play nice. This is nothing new. Some ODF pre-loaders have been able to better convert Word documents before Writer reads them and Word can open files that OpenOffice saved into a .doc format, but that's as far as it goes.

Is anyone capable of creating a standards body that truly has neutral standards? Apparently not, not while there is software to sell and governments want to help regulate it.

Palm rejected Jobs's 'no poaching' Applers offer

Did you just say...

that Apple would be "Pre-occupied" with DOJ questions?

TheReg is my favorite source of puns.

Ads body cuts off Skype ad after pic quality complaints

As if...

no one on a home-based broadband connection ever expects the quality of any service provided to be anything but the best.

Like the quality we expect of telephone calls has declined since the advent or mobile phones, we don't really think that everything we get from an ISP will actually work as advertised--do we?

Blighty customers see some Windows 7 prices halved

Let me count the ways...

Windows 7 RTM is currently available (legitimately) through, at the very least, M\SDN, TechNet public and registered member offerings, OEM channels, Academic Alliance affiliated student groups, and the latest Microsoft roadshow giveaways.

When the pre-orders are released, many more installations will occur and MS will collect error messages leading up to the next service pack.

It's all part of the product life-cycle of an operating system. Isn't it wondrous?

BTW, the upgrade pre-order is less expensive in the states: $50.00 for Home Premium, $100.00 for Professional or Ultimate.

Windows XP customers positive but split on Windows 7

Most likely...

There won't be a stampede to upgrade for XP users, but there will be a lot fewer downgrade-to-XP customers.

Windows 7 runs better on lesser hardware but has the features that investors in good graphics cards and RAM will appreciate.

Translation: Windows 7 is what Vista should have been.

Arizona sheriff prefers jail to handing over server password

NCIC and ACJIS

The issue at hand isn't control of computers, servers, or networks as most people know them. It's a matter of controlling access to two criminal records systems. The law enforcement personnel must control the system under strict federal and state guidelines. The trouble starts when politicians think they can arbitrarily give themselves or their under-skilled relatives control over the systems.

The rules are so strict on the data from these systems that only certified operators can even look at the terminal screens that display the information, let alone touch their keyboards or print from the system.

The sheriff probably has a point, but the local media and the misguided judge aren't letting him get the point across.

Microsoft railroads little man with Office Live U-turn

Nothing new

I know a few small business owners who were suckered into this arrangement. Each of them has said they will no longer use their sites and will let them expire rather than deal with Microsoft again.

Since Dell pushed this "free" service on them whenever they bought PCs through their small business division, Dell may be losing a few customers also.

Apple and Google kept (unwritten) no poaching pact

Another common practice gets the big reveal...

When salaried under a contract with a large software firm (guess who) at the same time as they were opening a regional support center, several of us were contacted (supposedly by referral), applied, passed the technical tests, and were taking turns flying to the regional center for final offers.

After the first few made the round-trip, phone calls were made and the last man they sent for arrived only to be told he was "not qualified." All other arrangements were suddenly canceled and the rest of us notified we were also on the "not qualified" list.

An administrative assistant confirmed the phone calls were placed, but not a single corporate manager admitted making them. We were simply out of a larger paycheck. The company eventually lost the contract, but it was still difficult to get an interview with said software firm after the fact.

Microsoft signs off on Windows 7

Win7 RTM, but not complete

As much as I like Win7, I know it won't be complete until Windows 12 is released, some time midway into the next decade.

Security officer suspended over iPhone engineer's death

Chinese politics

"The case remains murky." In China? How is this possible?

Engineer commits suicide after losing iPhone prototype

Fail on who's part?

Good security secures whatever without overly restricting best practices. Bad security blames people for the system they have to work with.

If the young man lost a phone, it might have been at work. What part did the system play in that?

Office 2010 tech preview: Expect the expected

Tech Preview, or not

The invitation site for Office 2010, run by CRG Events, has crashed. No invitations are being processed and registered users can't login.

A precursor?

Dell accidentally sells 140,000 monitors for $15 a pop

All too often

Dell does this regularly here, with pricing at anywhere from a few percentage points discount to nearly a complete give-away. But in most cases, they simply apologize and cancel all orders. Nothing else happens.

Perhaps holding them accountable would cure some of their self-checking policies, or lack thereof.

Triangular buttons key to touchscreen typing success - inventor

Shapes on shapes

What the crocodile keyboard does is to put the largest part of the key where the largest part of the finger can contact it without overlapping onto another key. The triangle shape eliminates the lower part of the key where an overlap of the shape of the finger would hit the lower part of the key above the intended target.

True, there are differently shaped fingers and angles of attack, but the general idea of eliminating the contact area where there is none desired is done easily with triangles. Other shapes still put contact (or sensing) areas where they are not needed. Ovals between ovals or other shapes might do something similar, but triangles are easy.

US Patent Office backs Nvidia with Rambus rejection

Rambus, SCO

May the two be seen as equals?

'Thieving' sperm whale caught on CCTV

Serves them right...

Tease a whale with a fish on a line and it will find a way to make a game of it. It's the fisherman who are confused by it all. Boffins aren't much brighter than the fish on the line.

Boston dorm computer raid ruled illegal

Trouble

That's all college students are--trouble. Why does anyone let them come to university in the first place?

Microsoft: Don't rush to download Windows 7 RC

Amazing

Microsoft turning customers away? Well, they always did have trouble with "setting expectations" as their training manuals called it.

For what it's worth, I got the RC last week and, like nearly everyone on the forums who wanted it, I can say it's a success as a replacement for Vista. It puts all of the fixes in the right spots and works on just about everything from netbooks to servers.

The only stumbling block is the virtualization compatibility requirement for the CPU. But that's meant for newer boxes anyway.

Police want new remote hard drive search powers

I would like...

to get a contract as the supplier of tinfoil hats, specially hand-constructed to protect the evidence handlers from possible contamination by the dirty data on these drives. With the obviously already distressed way of thinking from which they suffer, they just might buy into the protective gear idea.

But seriously, they are concerned with someone in what passes for central IT being able to "look" at a drive in another location and still call the results "evidence." I am sure the chain of custody won't hold up even if this were written into law.

Imagine the testimony:

"How do you know you were examining the correct 'hard drive' then?"

"'Cause the local constable told me it was."

Steve Jobs: 'I wanted respect, not backdated options'

$1 a year...

plus expenses. I'd do it for half that much if I could have the expense account!

Windows 7 and the Linux lesson

What, no relevant figures here?

Comparing the needs of Linux user groups to the millions times more users of Windows, corporate, home and otherwise might be more useful than merely saying that one flavor of Linux gets a release candidate issued when the final code release is already planned.

What you may have missed is that the true LTS code won't be available for some time, with no firm date set.

Flames, because I will probably be seeing some...

BOFH: Defiling the profile

Finally...

all of the benefits of social networking explained at once.

So, what's the f**king difference between a Netbook and an ultrathin?

The diagram reflects...

my thoughts exactly. Now on to March Madness!