Posts by M Gale

Google's secret search offer to EU antitrust chief LEAKED by rivals

Re: Gumby physics fail

And those wires don't run as the crow flies, and your packets don't travel through routers instantaneously.

Re: I still have no idea...

fragmented joke of an operating system that has about 1% market share?

I hear Linux powers more than half the servers providing the porn that you use to wank yourself to sleep, sweetie.

Not to mention the router you're most likely using. You know I hear Microsoft have been having a little problem in the mobile market. Something about some green robot or other. I mean really it's a virtual machine, but the VM is running on the ol' Toy Unix kernel, and I'm led to believe it's rather popular.

Now wipe your mouth dearie, you're dribbling, and it looks most uncouth. Yes, total war. Whether it's successful or not, well. I see the penguin is still alive and kicking. I know, I know, it's so frustrating for your paymasters to not be able to steamroller over the mobile phone industry like they have done with PCs.

Re: I still have no idea...

Love it, the conspiracy theorist delusions of a freetard summarised in five words.

Love it. The clueless shilling of a fucktard summarised in a single sentence.

Or are you saying that MSFT haven't been engaged in total war with anything possibly involving open-source software for years? Are you saying that Microsoft have not been trying to lock Linux up behind a patent tax because they simply cannot destroy it no matter how hard they try? It's the antithesis of their entire business strategy, and news sites and articles are littered with examples of MSFT's arseholery.

But apparently I'm a conspiracy theorist, despite the evidence being in plain fucking sight. And apparently a freetard too, despite the money I've spent on software over the years.

Yep, totally delusional.

And what the fuck has this got to do with Google having an abusive monopoly or not, asides Microsoft being one of the ones just desperate to stick the knife in, despite being the worst offender of all?

I still have no idea...

...how the fuck Google is supposed to have a monopoly. Like I can't type in "yahoo.com" as easily as any other web address? If Google have a monopoly, it's because people want to use them. Because, you know, they're actually good at what they do. Unlike Microsoft, who are at best mediocre, and only continue in business because of the Windows monopoly. Don't forget that this whole complaints procedure has only been brought about because a bunch of "specialised" search operators - you know, those annoying bastards that think that the result you're looking for is Yet Another Search Engine - got pissed off that Google was ranking them down (well surprise fucking surprise). Oh and Microsoft, because Linux.

Seriously, Google have plenty of things you can criticise them about (fuck off, no I don't and will never want Plus), but pulling a Microsoft is certainly not one of them.

The CURSE of WHO: WHY has there never been a decent videogame with the Doctor?

Take a leaf out of Sonic CD's book

Multiple representations of "present" and "future".

Put some simple puzzles in that "The Doctor" can solve to change the timeline, put some baddies in that other characters can gratuitiously blast into smithereens, give it a Dead Space 3-style weapon (or screwdriver)-customisation setup, and I think the Beeb could be onto a winner.

Dodgy Kaspersky update borks THOUSANDS of NHS computers

Working perfectly.

It detected W32.NSA.Backdoor and removed it!

Google 'fesses up: Yup, we're KILLING OFF IE9 support for Gmail, Apps

Now I know that Google want to turn a browser into an OS for some fucked up cloudy reason, but that's no reason to confuse the two.

...Yeah okay, I'll be going now.

How Google paved the way for NSA's intercepts - just as The Register predicted 9 years ago

Re: Thank you for writing this

https://www.apple.com/privacy/

How we use your personal information

The personal information we collect allows us to keep you posted on Apple’s latest product announcements, software updates, and upcoming events. It also helps us to improve our services, content, and advertising. If you don’t want to be on our mailing list, you can opt out anytime by updating your preferences.

We also use personal information to help us develop, deliver, and improve our products, services, content, and advertising.

Sorry to burst your bubble, bub, but they're all in on it.

Fury as OS X Mavericks users FORCED to sync contact books with iCloud

Both have similar unknown quantities when it comes to your personal data.

It's not unknown. It's right there in their privacy policy, bullet-pointed under "How we use your personal information".

To the strange people here who think I'm calling Google some kind of saintly organisation: I'm not. I'm saying Apple are just as nasty and devious. In some ways, moreso.

At least they haven't blatantly lied to me yet.

Just been rather misleading and very careful about their words, yes.

Your personal information is being used to decide how best to serve adverts up to you, regardless of who you go with. And also most likely being used to decide whether you are a Person Of Interest as far as the NSA is concerned. Google just has the bad press for it, for now.

Apple made snarky comments about Google using personal information to provide advertisements, while at the same time being deliberately misleading about how they also use your personal information. They use it for the exact same thing that Google do, regardless of whether it is their "main" business or not. Apparently though, it's okay for a bit of data-mining on the side, so long as you make enough money on the hardware too.

To quote https://www.apple.com/privacy/

How we use your personal information

The personal information we collect allows us to keep you posted on Apple’s latest product announcements, software updates, and upcoming events. It also helps us to improve our services, content, and advertising. If you don’t want to be on our mailing list, you can opt out anytime by updating your preferences.

We also use personal information to help us develop, deliver, and improve our products, services, content, and advertising.

Looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck. Chances are, it isn't a chicken.

Re: Thankfully..

Apparently bidding up to 50p per click to show an advert when someone searches for "lolcats" is the same as selling on your data.

Yeah, I don't know how either.

So in other words, Google are not selling your data on to anybody.

Just like Apple aren't.

However, if you think both of them are not mining the shit out of every byte they can "to improve our services", and to provide you with "more relevant" ads (or iAds), you're naïve or blind.

And as I mentioned, this flies in the face of their snarky comments not even 48 hours ago.

And yet they still are collecting and collating masses of information, entirely unnecessarily, which flies in the face of any snarky comments they might make about the world's biggest advertisi^Wsearch company.

Google aren't selling your data to anybody either. They are selling advert space via keyword auction. How is that different to, or rather more "evil", than Apple's own platform, iAds?

Re: Are there any non-evil computer companies left?

Apple have always, always been Little Microsoft. Their antics with the iThings only confirm this.

And not two days ago...

Unlike many other companies dealing with requests for customer data from government agencies, Apple's main business is not about collecting information.

REALLY now?

(Hah, linked to in the article, but hey, have the link again anyway.)

Brazil makes it official: Gov email must be state-run and on-premises

"NSA's influence waxes"

Wanes, surely?

Or is that what THEY want us to think?

Google's Nexus 5: Best smartphone bang for your buck. There, we said it

"If you are an existing Android user you'd be happy if Santa dropped one down your chimney."

I'd be quite happy if an iPhone or even Windows Abomination 8 landed in my lap.

"For sale: One iPhone/Lumia/Blackberry, never used, pristine condition, box unopened."

Re: Slightly better phone?

One with the same CPU, RAM and flash amounts, but an SD card?

Of course, "better" is a value judgement, and different people have different values.

Re: OS Size

Because Android is only "based on" Linux. It's about as much Linux as OS X is a BSD or Mach: Its not.

On top of that Linux kernel is a gigantihuge Dalvik VM. And then you have all the various userspace stuff thrown in on top. Like all the Google apps.

Re: @ DijitulSupport

"SD cards use the FAT file system"

No they don't. That most come formatted as FAT32, does not mean you can't have them formatted to ext2 or whatever else you like. One quick driver install for the operating systems that still refuse to play ball with anything other than their own shitty filesystems (ohai thar Windows), and the problem is solved.

If it comes with G+ or nothing, I'll have nothing, thanks all the same. A bit like how I'll not be making any more app reviews (sorry devs, I'd give you five stars on top of the money, but you can blame Google for requiring a Profile and real name), or lately, Youtube comments (I'm sure that soon enough, the only people left commenting on Youtube will be the trolls and other arseholes that everyone thinks the Plus bullshit will prevent).

"If you're the type of rude git that like to play music on public transport you'll be able to irritate other passengers to your heart's content."

This is why I have a set of speakers of my own, and I have this tune ready for just such an occasion. I've had cause to use it a handful of times. Every single time, the nearby passengers tend to grin, nod and/or outright laugh, while the annoying oik who thinks we all share their taste in Happy Hardcore shuts the fuck up and buries their face in a now-silent phone.

We've invented the FONBLET, says Samsung

Re: Yes, Invented. @ M Gale

Oh I dunno. I've had 7" tablets before, and they always seem to fit perfectly in a jacket pocket. Ten inch tablets will always need an extra bag or backpack, unless you have pockets like windsocks. I say this as current owner of a (battered, old but still functional) Asus TF201, which sits nicely in the netbook-size padded compartment of a laptop backpack.

Granted, maybe a seven incher won't fit down the front or back of a tight pair of Levis (insert lewd joke here), but then who with any sense puts anything breakable in the pockets most likely to break them?

Plus a seven incher is still passable as a phone if on the very large side, whereas a ten incher really does start looking Dom Joly-ish. That's assuming it even comes with a phone chipset and dialler app.

Re: Yes, Invented.

5"-7" tablets are moronic? Ridiculous? And utterly so?

Explain.

Apple: How we slip YOUR data to govts – but, hey, we're not Google

Re: "...our business does not depend on collecting personal data..."

And yet they collect that juicy data anyway. Why?

Because money. They are a business if you hadn't noticed.

EYE-GASMIC: Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch with Retina Display

then wired ethernet is not the fastest solution around either.

It is, however, vastly speedier than any wifi solution. Also, Gigabit? That's pretty standard these days, to the point that any old budget PC has a 10/100/1000 port. What about 10 or 100 gig? Pricey to be sure, but this is an Apple device.

I'm pretty sure that a 100 gigabit connection would do for now, at least.

Thought you didn't need to show ID in the UK? Wrong

Re: That's Theresa May for you.

Hah, I think the best one I heard was over the plans to introduce a carrier bag tax. The plonker being interviewed said "Well, you don't have to buy anything."

Really? Does one get one's butler to shop for one? Or is this simply stating that you're right, you don't have to buy anything, including food, as survival is not legally mandatory?

Idiot in either case.

Big Beardie's watching: Alan Sugar robots spy on Tesco petrol queue

Re: Motorcycle Helmets

+1 for the pointers.

Open-face though? You brave bastard. There's a pretty infamous picture around of what happens when you hit concrete face-first wearing one of those things. Be very wary of clicking this link. What is seen cannot be unseen.

(To whoever's moderating this comment section: Call it shock therapy, and please don't zap this post.)

Re: Tesco, stock your shelves

and if they scan a card, I leave without my items and without paying, and don't return.

They are only going to scan a clubcard if you give it to them to scan.

Me, I've never had my Tesco Clubcard scanned, because I don't have a clubcard. The little bar code on the bottom of the receipt gets given to someone who wants the points. Tesco's database gets just that little bit tainted, someone gets 0.00001p off their next purchase. Win/win, really.

Late with your ransom payment? Never mind, CryptoLocker crooks will, er, give you a break

And this is why you keep backups.

For the small satisfaction of sending the crooks a 500MB non-compressed bitmap of your middle finger raised high, shortly after nuking the system and reinstalling from scratch.

Can't stand the heat? Harden up if you want COLD, DELICIOUS BEER

Re: Nothing to do with

(BTW this is why water-cooled PC systems should be filled with water which has been boiled, then cooled - no dissolved air to bubble out in awkward parts of the loop)

Dunno about yourself, but I use ethylene glycol. Antifreeze, basically. Cheap, widely available, nowhere near as corrosive as water, and tends to already come coloured in a nice shade of blue. You could use food-grade propylene glycol if for some reason you think someone might try to drink the coolant. The term "water cooled" is a misnomer when applied to PC liquid cooling systems. Using water (even the deionized sort) inamongst copper, aluminium and whatever differing metals are in a liquid cooling system is asking for trouble. Or perhaps a practical demonstration of the "sacrificial anode" concept.

See also this link. It may save you a lot of bother and no insignificant amount of money!

Nuke-whisperers stuff terabytes of flash into heretical 'Catalyst' super

Re: Flash Memory

I guess on something with the size and budget of that beast, you treat SSDs in the same way as the valves in ENIAC: Replace when blown. Carry on.

BETHLEHEM-grade SUPERNOVA possible 'within 50 years'

Re: It'll be cloudy, overcast, and foggy that day

Damn shame, because that one that tore over the UK in March (and another one later in the year, that a friend of mine told me about) was truly apocalyptically awesome to watch.

You just have to be looking in the right place during the right 20 second window.

IT'S patent WAR: Apple, Microsoft vs Google, Samsung, Huawei

Re: I hope

I imagine Google has quite the number of Search-related patents that would make operating Bing an entirely more difficult process.

Even more amusing if amongst their various recent patent purchases, they find something that Windows relies on.

I think software and method patents need to die and quickly. Hell, the entire patent system has already been fucked up because of allowing crap like this, and by allowing patents to be a transferrable asset. We just didn't hear the crash over the banshee-like wail of the lawyers.

Re: Patent trolls

Everyone who has any dealings with anything even remotely related to Linux, such as Android, has probably had a nastygram from Microsoft by now. That psychopathic company whose entire business model revolves around finding ways to tax whole industries, has been running scared of a free OS made by a student since its invention in the 1990s. Admittedly, their usual trick is to use a patsy company like SCO to do their dirty work, or spread a whole bunch of disingenious FUD.

Or, pay people to make trollish comments.

UK.gov forks out £250k to rescue EROTIC novelists and pals from PIRATES

Re: As UK courts will not enforce copyright in grossly immoral works...

porn, which by definition is grossly immoral.

I would like to see that assertion defended. It might be interesting to see the logical contortions necessary to reason that recording the act of generation (amongst other acts) is "by definition" immoral, especially grossly so.

'It seems that the OSes and devices are based on the Devil'

Re: Built in China per chance?

I'm thinking more "ammonia-based cleaning solution", but.. yeah, stray lolcats is a funnier idea.

I can has potty training?

Google barge erection hypegasm latest - What's in the box?

Re: New World Order prediction...

What, you mean you never saw those Milk Tray adverts years ago?

Hey, I think I just found the name for Android's "M" incarnation.

SR-71 Blackbird follow-up: A new TERRIFYING Mach 6 spy-drone bomber

"had its funding removed in 2008...."

You mean "was completed in 2008, but now we'll let you know what we've had flying for years, in case Snowden leaks it anyway, besides, we already have a better model"?

See icon.

'It's a joke!' ... Bill Gates slams Mark Zuckerberg's web-for-the-poor dream

Re: "helplessly watching a child die"

As an experiment, go home tonight, eat some raw chicken and prawns...

Anybody with an education, possibly obtained with help from the Internet, would not do something so fucking stupid.

Lenovo stands up rinky-dinky new Yoga tablet

Re: Idiot

Because all the cheapy stuff that got threw out to see what sticks over the last 33 years or so has really damaged Microsoft.

Except Amstrad probably did more to put a PC in every home than Microsoft ever could. Whups.

So many 'cyberspying hackers' about... and most of you are garbage

Re: There is good news however

Or a medal. Depends on which three letter agency you're hacking for, no?

Personally, I had no idea that turning a couple of old heatsinks and a peltier element into a bottle cooler could land me in prison. I hope the Judge and Jury look kindly on me. I was just being curious!

HGST pops out 1TB ultraportable travelstar drive

Re: Fondleslab Disc?

You want something portable, deal with less disk space :)

Or just plug the 500GB USB-powered spinning-rust HDD I have, into the USB port on the convertible Droidslab that I also have. Which doesn't have its sensor and screen glass glued together and is just a little bit massively more repairable than the Macbook Air, and rather thin. And also years old.

Oddly enough, it was the Applistas who were saying how using a smaller screen was a stupid idea when Samsung brought out the original Tab. Apparently now, whacking in a bigger screen is a stupid idea. Seems that you can't win unless you have a fucking gigantic glowing fruit on the back of the device.

Do+ you+ use+ Google+? Seemingly+ you+ DO+

Just so you know in future:

When you've done creating the Youtube account, and it starts with the "yay, now give us your real name so we can make a Plus profile for you", just close the browser window. You now have a Youtube account, minus the extra added unwanted shit.

No, I don't know why they do it like that either. Force me to make a Plus account though, and my "real name" will be Fuckmeister McFuck, and every post will be a Fuckwall, and every picture will be the most awful porn I can find.

Google tired of endless AGONY over alleged EU search biz abuse

Re: All this fuss

Its not as if it is particularly hard for anyone to switch to another search engine or maps provider.

This, and a thousand times this.

You can firewall the entire Google IP range out of your network and continue to use the rest of the Internet largely unimpeded. What happens to all that expensive Windows software if you uninstall Windows? Are there any Windows-compatible alternatives? Can you download Windows for free?

Yeah, didn't think so.

Wasn't the entire Windows API designed specifically to lock any competition out? To make the cost of switching to any alternatives so prohibitively expensive that people would put up with any old shit, so long as their software keeps working?

Thought so.

Moto sets out plans for crafty snap-together PODULAR PHONES

Re: Wow the scope for finger pointing when it doesn't work..

Quite a lot actually. Microsoft made loads of contributions to Linux for instance.

The most significant contribution I've heard of Microsoft dishing out to the Linux kernel has been something about Hyper V.

This wasn't through choice. This was through Microsoft breaking the terms of the GPL, being found out, and being told that they either cease to distribute their code forthwith, or release it as GPL, as per the terms of the code they half-inched. They then painted this as an exercise in generosity, rather than the truth of being caught with their pants down.

All while continuing to threaten anybody daring to use the toy Unix without paying them a tax over dodgy patents that they still won't disclose, and which still haven't been properly examined (because they haven't been disclosed). This is without getting into the ethics of even allowing software patents in the first place.

I'll ask again: What does Microsoft have to do with Open Source?

Re: Does Android Need More Fragmentation?

Swap out old CPU block, insert new CPU block, OS gets updated with the CPU? Hell, it might even promote a better chance of getting upgrades for the existing hardware, what with manufacturers not having the incentive to persuade you to buy a whole new device any more.

ALTHOUGH:

Really, after trying to use an older model iPad with a newer revision of iOS, I don't know whether having a bleeding-edge OS revision on older hardware, at least with locked down toys like smartphones and tablets, is a really good idea.

Tap.. tap.. fucking REACT YOU SLOW PIECE OF SHIT.. tap.. tap.. ah, there we are.

Seriously, don't ever listen to some iFan saying anything about Android glitches. An old phrase about stones and glass houses comes to mind.

Not just phones. Leave the 3G/4G or other radio chipsets out, and you've got a (hopefully cut price) Android powered iPod.

Maybe there could be options for D pads and button modules? Screen in the middle, D pad on left, buttons on right, instant handheld games console. Swap the D pad and buttons around if you're southpaw (or just like it that way).

Bloody big camera lense on back, screen on front, sack everything else off asides an SD card module, and you have yourself a "smart" camera.

This could really be an awesome development.

Re: Wow the scope for finger pointing when it doesn't work..

Lumia?

What on Earth does Microsoft have to do with open source? And what does that dongle linked to, from 2004, have to do with Phonebloks? Bit of a Chewbacca argument really.

And why are you trying to get wifi in a tunnel under the ground?

I think the idea is it's priced up to however many modules you want.

I thought this was a damned smart idea when I saw the kickstarter, and I still do. As far as locking mechanisms go, this was solved a long while ago with the ZIF socket, no?