Posts by Tommy Pock

I love the Linux desktop, but that doesn't mean I don't see its problems all too well

You're confusing fragmentation with choice.

UK.gov threatens to make adults give credit card details for access to Facebook or TikTok

Re: Dead Cat

They won't. Want to get hold of lots of people's unencrypted data? Run a VPN company.

Red Dead Redemption 2 on PC: Howdy buck do you get a solid 60FPS in Rockstar's masterpiece?

If you haven't finished it yet, or even played it yet, I highly recommend turning off the mini-map entirely, only bringing it up when absolutely necessary.

It's a beautiful and varied world and you'll soon learn to navigate by scenery alone.

If you leave the mini-map on, you'll travel everywhere simply staring at the satnav and it will ruin the experience.

Brekkie TV host Lorraine Kelly wins IR35 ruling against HMRC, adds fuel to freelance techies' ire over tax reforms

Clever.

You can avoid paying tax if you have a good accountant. And you can afford a good accountant if you avoid paying tax

*head tap meme*

Pre-checked cookie boxes don't count as valid consent, says adviser to top EU court

Everyone who needs to deal with the GDPR knows that explicit consent has to be given, and pre-checked tick-boxes do not comply and have never complied with the GDPR. I can't quite believe we're still having to deal with this

Users fail to squeak through basic computer skills test. Well, it was the '90s

I went to fix my mother-in-law's printer, after she'd bought one and tried setting it up herself. She'd done most things right, except for the USB cable - which she'd plugged into the PC's ethernet port (it does fit, try it)

Attention all British .eu owners: Buy dotcom domains and prepare to sue, says UK govt

Re: Don't worry, it's only money

They're looking out for the EU. That's their job. If we hadn't been conned into leaving they'd be looking after us, too.

Nobody is making it hard for us but us.

Huawei's Watch GT snubs Google for homegrown OS

I have a Huawei P20 and a Huawei Band II watch. You can't poo-poo these guys, they know what they're doing.

It's been 5 years already, let's gawp at Microsoft and Nokia's bloodbath

Huge shame, really. The Lumia 1020 is the best smartphone ever made.

Huawei Mate 20 Lite: A business mobe aimed at millennials? Er, OK then

It's a marketing ploy employed by cereal and toothpaste makers everywhere. Bring out an armful of almost identical products, filling the shelves in the shops, increasing your brand exposure. Shelf space you occupy isn't occupied by competitor

Linux 4.18 arrives fashionably late while Zorin OS shines up its Windows

Re: What they are for

Linux is for everyone.

The others are for people who haven't tried Linux yet

Boffin rediscovers 1960s attempt to write fiction with computers

Re: there is a science fiction story about this ...

https://lengish.com/texts/text-89.html

Xperia XZ1: Sony spies with its MotionEye something beginning...

What's wrong with it?

It's an Xperia. There will be something which makes it utterly unbearable. It it battery life? Does it stop and stutter? Is almost its entire memory taken up by the OS?

It's an Xperia. What's wrong with it.

EU court must rule on legality of UK's mass surveillance – tribunal

Fuck national security. Stop spying on me.

Got a Windows Phone 8 mobe? It's now officially obsolete. Here's why...

A shame. The Lumia 1020 was fantastic. Microsoft shat on it. It's nobody else's fault but their own.

Webroot antivirus goes bananas, starts trashing Windows system files

Oops.

LG, Huawei unwrap 'Samsung Galaxy-killers'

The P10's fingerprint sensor has been moved to the front? Why?! The P9's sensor location on the back is the single most useful unique feature on a smartphone since the 3.5mm jack

Unlucky Luckey: Oculus developers invoke anti-douchebag clause, halt games for VR goggles

Re: I actually feel for the guy

No, but we can choose simply to not fund idiocy.

Oculus' Ratner moment. There's no way back from this.

Cooky crumbles: Apple mulls yanking profits out of Europe and into US

Re: He can huff, he can puff, but he will pay

Really? In that case, he should refund his earnings from that comment.

You think the current backlash against Apple's tax avoidance is bad?

Wait until the public finds out that the iPhone 7 won't have a headphone socket.

Huawei P9 Plus: Leica-toting flagship gets a big brother

There's nothing wrong with the UI - it gets out of the way unlike the unholy mess of the standard Android UI.

Microsoft buries the bad Windows Phone news: Mobile sales collapse

It is a shame. I had a Nokia Lumia 800 which I loved, and a Lumia 1020 which was an improvement in every way. Then Microsoft killed Win8, lost Here Maps and when upgrade time came around they simply didn't have a viable phone for me.

Gone are the days of the sublime Lumia 928, now they have.. what?

I bought a Huawei P9 instead.

Don't use a VPN in United Arab Emirates – unless you wanna risk jail and a $545,000 fine

Re: Legitimate use of VPN fine?

"Sounds as though it's only if you're using it to commit or conceal a crime, that 'new language' doesn't seem to cover use of VPN for legitimate purposes."

Whoever uses a fraudulent computer network protocol address (IP address) by using a false address or a third-party address by any other means for the purpose of committing a crime ,or preventing its discovery

Yeah it does. Also, no, it doesn't specifically mention VPN but it covers any spoofed or otherwise hidden IP. So that includes Tor.

Nitwit has fit over twit hit: Troll takes timeless termination terribly

I'll let the downvotes speak for themselves.

One of his devotees called me a racist for saying #blacklivesmatter isn't a racist movement, and he then went on to call me a "limey wanker."

This is the level of interaction we're talking about, here.

#limeywankersmatter

Star Trek Beyond: An unwatchable steaming pile of tribble dung

Re: Nahh, the old Star Trek was for nerds...

Star Wars got there first

Empty your free 30GB OneDrive space today – before Microsoft deletes your files for you

"Google don't delete your files"

No, but it won't be long before they start embedding adverts in them

Microsoft's cringey 'Hey bae <3' recruiter email translated by El Reg

I saw this and assumed it was just a wind-up. You know when your dad turns up at a party wearing MC Hammer harem pants demanding that...

...look,I'm making this up. I was trying to think of an analogous moment which is comparable to that horrifically embarrassing email. There isn't one.

Microsoft have reached peak cringe, fam.

NASA's astroboffins spot the largest ever Tatooine planet

I think I saw one on Elite Dangerous

Twitter resets passwords

How would a strong password help in the event of a hack?

They may as well be 'mypassword'. Nobody guesses what passwords are anymore; they just find out for themselves.

MPs pass new UK spy law

Re: "Could you argue your case with a little more detail?"

Nice language you've got there. Where did you find it? :)

1 Introduce outrageously invasive investigative powers bill.

2 Outrage.

3 Scale back bill so it's only as invasive as you wanted in the first place.

4 The public breathes a sigh of relief as they're put under mass surveillance.

By the way, the Conservatives' own 2009 white paper - "Rolling Back Labour's Surveillance State" - has been removed from their website.

LinkedIn mass hack reveals ... yup, you're all still crap at passwords

If my password was 'blimeythisisalongpa$$word128bitsofentrOPy' it wouldn't matter a jot if a server has been hacked. I'd have been just as secure with 'passw0rd'.

Google tries social again

Myspaces

It can't fail.

Opera unleashes ad blocker

Remember about ten years ago when Opera wasn't shit?

Good times.

Your mother has a smooth forehead, Klingon language lovers roar at Paramount

Re: Reality check

This is my favourite thing I've ever written

Dear god, Trekkies are worse than Doctor Hueys or whatever they're called. Children's TV is really getting out of hand

The EU wants you to log into YouTube using your state-issued ID card

You might have it forced on you, but how are websites going to prove I'm accessing from Europe?

Dyson hair dryer

"Fights the seven signs of wet hair"

A perfect marriage: YOU and Ubuntu 16.04

Thanks, I will. Stuck in my ways I suppose. It worked so I used it, and it continued to work so I continued to use it

Re: Linux is good but boring as shit

I don't care about the OS, I don't sit there using the OS. I use sofware.

The more boring and unobtrusive the OS, the more mature, stable and useful it is.

"To be removed: XChat"

Shouldn't I get to decide that?

HTC 10: Is this the Droid you're looking for?

That downvote wasn't mine, I'm better than that. And you.

And an HTC M10.

It's a disaster. It looks like a Galaxy S7 ripoff but isn't as good as a Huawei P9.

I'll pass.

BlackBerry boss mulls mid-range Androids

I had a Lumia 1020 which I couldn't fault - except for its numerous faults (it went in for repair 7 times).

WinPhone is effectively dead in the water now - 8.1 had real promise. Someone at Microsoft needs shooting.

I bought a Blackberry Classic, which I can't fault. I really do love it - but Blackberry is effectively dead in the water now, etc

I don't want the fragmented, ad-filled mess of Android and I'm not mortgaging the grandmother simply to get this year's clone of last year's Apple.

So I'm stuffed.

Brilliant. Because what Android needs is another mid-range phone.

China's Great Firewall inventor forced to use VPN live on stage to dodge his own creation

You think we don't have internet censorship?

Look at Google (UK) autocompletes for

Labour is

Lib Dems are

UKIP are

The Greens are

And then

Tories are

Conservatives are

And this tells you exactly why Google paid about ten pence in owed taxes. Google is not your friend.