Posts by Ole Juul

Super-heavy element 117 DOES exist – albeit briefly. Got any berkelium handy?

Re: How about...

Currently, that would be 118 and above.

Lost artworks by Andy Warhol found on 80s-era FLOPPY DISKS

Re: Not that easy

@Simon: Of course these are disks which should be treated with the utmost respect, and that requires great care. It is however not difficult to copy the disks in a safe manner on any number of machines. In any case, many people seem to forget that the Amiga is not gone. There are thousands of fans who live this stuff every day because it is fun to do so. A quick e-mail would have gotten results in a short time. The expertise is fresh and available. It sounds like you're not that far removed from it either. Thirty years is not much in the world of technology except for very young people who weren't there and chose to ignore, or don't have access to, some of the older stuff. There seems to be some people who think that this older technology has dropped off the planet. It hasn't. You can still buy new paper tape for goodness sake - although that is getting near the horizon.

Sorry Neil McAllister.

"But reading from disks that were almost 30 years old was no mean feat."

I'm sorry. It is actually a simple matter, and there are lots of Amiga machines around too. It is also no surprise that the disks were mostly readable. That's how it was, and still is. I have some stacks of various formats of floppy disks as well as three different drives right in front of me now. This stuff is neither rare nor difficult, and this being an IT site I don't expect articles written with a non-computer literate audience in mind.

Enterprise storage will die just like tape did, say chaps with graphs

Re: just like tape did?

Reality is so inconvenient when you're trying to make a point.

AOL Mail locks down email servers to deal with spam tsunami

Re: Those who still use this service...

I would personally never use any such service, but the people who do so deserve better. Many have had the same address for years and don't know a practical way to change. The fact that many of them don't have a clue doesn't mean that the company shouldn't look after them. In fact, quite the contrary.

Google to refund buyers of 'fake' anti-virus app

Developer needs a better excuse

"The developer of the app, Jesse Carter, defended himself to The Guardian by saying the app upload was a mistake."

So, he didn't notice that people were buying it? Come on, at least come up with something interesting. How about claiming it was a study of the placebo effect?

Mounties always get their man: Heartbleed 'hacker', 19, CUFFED

Re: Can't wait

"We are talking about Canada, not some third-world country."

There's two?

Record labels sue Pandora over vintage song royalties

Re: STARVING ARTISTS!

I keep checking the obits - hoping.

It's time for the RIAA to roll over again.

I remember when the RIAA was about pre-emphasis and a rollover of 500Hz. That was a good thing. The RIAA is no longer a good thing.

Arts and crafts store Michaels says 3 million credit cards exposed in breach

They should offer money.

"The company said that it will provide customers who were impacted by the breach with fraud monitoring and identity protection services."

Not good enough.

AWS bins elastic compute units, adopts virtual CPUs

Re: Has the definition of 'very interesting' changed while I wasn't looking

El Reg has moved from VIU (very interesting units) to VIU (virtually interesting units).

MtGox chief Karpelès refuses to come to US for g-men's grilling

Re: I wouldn't want to set one foot on American soil either...

I don't believe that Assange has ever been to my country. But yes, I agree that Britain does sound like a scary place if you read the news.

Re: I wouldn't want to set one foot on American soil either...

Yes, we forget that our own country always feels safer than another - presumably because we are OK with what is familiar. People in China feel safe there. People in Russia feel comfortable. I think that Americans sometimes forget that when someone in a foreign country reads all the stories in the news about the US violence, particularly by police and government, then they can feel apprehensive about going there.

I'm sure that the rule of law if frequently upheld in the US, but don't forget that the high profile and controversial rulings are the ones that people see around the world. The recent news stories about the release of torture reports doesn't look friendly either. I think a foreigner can be forgiven for not feeling that the US is a safe place to visit - especially if the government is already pointing a finger at you.

Did a date calculation bug just cost hard-up Co-op Bank £110m?

Re: Julian date

But they encountered the dreaded "transaction malleability" bug.

Russian deputy PM: 'We are coming to the Moon FOREVER'

Re: Could not have timed it better

This is also at a time when the US probably couldn't afford to join that race. I almost wonder if Russia isn't particularly serious about this but figured it would be a great time to bring it up.

FTC gets judicial thumbs-up to sue firms over data breaches

Re: What if this extended to Windows?

It could extend to a lot of things. Unfortunately the definition of "fit for purpose" usually depends on whether you're on the winning or losing side of the transaction. To many companies, once a product is sold then it has fulfilled its purpose.

NSA denies it knew about and USED Heartbleed encryption flaw for TWO YEARS

NSA credibility?

"It is far from obvious why one source should be considered more credible than the other."

You didn't mean that did you?

NORKS' own smartmobe pegged as Chinese landfill Android

That factory

It actually looks pretty modern. They even managed to get a couple of LCD monitors for the photo shoot.

Mt Gox's 'transaction malleability' claim rubbished by researchers

Re: "Only" [19.46% malleability attacks] were successful?

"The statistic chosen therefore states that Bitcoin crime is almost twice the rate of retail /shoplifting crime."

You and I probably read different articles, but the one under discussion here is about Mt Gox who is the one claiming the 'transaction malleability' problem as an excuse for 100% of their missing funds. The researchers are claiming that it could not have been that high. Note that this particular problem is not a Bitcoin issue.

"That is NOT a good statistic to quote."

Yes it is, because if true, it shows that Mt Gox is likely not telling the truth.

Hello Mt Gox

Your move.

Technology is murdering customer service - legally

Re: This will change

"Ole, which hosting company would that be OOI?"

That would be Superb Internet, based in Honolulu. I suspect there are others in that field who are catching on. It's a competitive field where it's often easy to leave if you don't get what you want.

The problem with a lot of things is that they are either a monopoly or they are part of an oligopoly.

This will change

As someone who remembers the 70s (and earlier), I too think that technology has murdered customer service. The first time it bugged me was when I ran head first into computer inventory. "Yes, we have one in stock and it is at our other warehouse. We can get it here in less than a week". Uh, ... so you don't have one, but you thought the computer would make a suitable excuse? It doesn't.

That said, I've seen first class customer service in recent years. People are going to start to demand it. My hosting company replies to trouble tickets (with real expertise) within 15 minutes, and if you prefer, they even answer the phone on weekends. I'm sticking with them and they know it. In fact, keeping customers was probably part of their business plan. We're going to see more of this.

USA opposes 'Schengen cloud' Eurocentric routing plan

Re: sigh

"Could care less" or "couldn't care less"?

Both are correct. One is a common expression, the other is grammatically correct. Take your pick.

Re: sigh

And the Merkin's are bashing back with their accusations that the EU and Canada are setting up trade barriers by even suggesting that they not give US access to their data.

Left swipe! That hot Tinder babe is a malware-flinging ROBOT

Re: Really?

You got it. A guy asking a woman to play a game on the phone? She'd probably think he was underage.

Torvalds rails at Linux developer: 'I'm f*cking tired of your code'

Re: coding

"Dismissing someone who is leading the biggest and most important software project in existence . . . "

Who's dismissing Linus? Certainly not me. I'm suggesting that someone of his stature and coding ability could apply a little of that skill to what is simply another language. Also please note that the repeated use of the lower case pronoun was by Kay Sievers. I have the greatest respect for both of these people when it comes to software.

Re: coding

My first language is Danish and I've RTFM for English. Swearing is inappropriate in a public venue, and the first-person pronoun has been capitalized since about the 15th century. I'm not perfect either, but anybody that doesn't know those two points is either not trying, or just plain rude. And don't try to tell me the errors are typos.

coding

Neither of these guys appear to be able to code proper English.

Why ever leave home? Amazon wants to turn your kitchen into a shop

What foods have a barcode?

Meat? No. Eggs. No. Potatoes? No. Cornflakes? Yes! OK, I'll just have that then.

ACLU launches user-friendly database of every Snowden doc

I'll wait for the movie

Just kidding . . . but maybe I'll go look to see if my name's in there.

Bank-raid ZeuS malware waltzes around web with 'valid app signature'

Re: Name and shame?

I wouldn't discount sloppiness in this case, but I'm sure some crook would offer money for a valid app signature.

Google's SWOLLEN WINDBAGS circle PLANET, dispensing INTERWEBS

Loonie

Article missed reference to dollars.

Organic food: Pricey, not particularly healthy, won't save you from cancer

Luxury item

I never thought about organic vegetables and fruit as being anything other than a better grown product which I occasionally buy because of the better taste. I'm not concerned about whether it's healthier or not, and in that regard this article is a red herring.

China's Bitcoin exchanges begin pulling down the shutters

Re: "... it received the instruction by telephone ..."

If your Chinese is anything like mine, whatever you say may not have the desired effect. Oh, and I do a great German accent too.

Google to Supremes: End this Street View fight once and for all

Re: Slight difference?

"The sysadmin who secures his/her own network is working within an organisational boundary, where a reasonable argument can be made for judicious oversight. In applying this logic (?) to its own activities, Google appears to tacitly assume a paternal oversight of _all_ computer communications . . ."

Google is the internet, and they should have no problem convincing a judge of that since that's probably what the judge thinks already. (sigh)

Tamil Nadu's XP migration plan: Go Linux like a BOSS

Silver Lining

End of XP is not all bad.

Bay of Tweets: US sought to disrupt Cuba with covert social network

Re: Why the hell does the US give a damn about Cuba?

Because then they'd have to say they're wrong to continue as they are. US politicians do not admit to being wrong. One interesting side effect of that is that they don't learn anything from experience.

ICANN boss: 'Russia and China will NOT take over interwebs'

Too late

The US has already set in place agreements with ICANN which ensure control. Those agreements are not currently on the table, so the whole idea of giving up control is a complete lie. Also, the U.S. say they will not accept a proposal based on a government-led or an inter-governmental organization solution.

Michael Geist has an interesting article explaining this, and notes that:

"That document included a commitment for the U.S. to remain involved in the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC), the powerful body within ICANN that allows governments to provide their views on governance matters. It also contained an ICANN commitment to remain headquartered in the U.S., effectively ensuring ongoing U.S. jurisdiction over it."

Control goes much further than that and the U.S. will remain in charge of .net .com. and .org.

Money? What money? Lawyer for accused Silk Road boss claims you can't launder Bitcoin

Re: What's the point?

You got that bit wrong. Bitcoin is most certainly traceable. Much more so than cash. It is however possible to make it very difficult.

Re: Excellent points

"Yes but there is no property laundering laws . . ."

There should be. For example: Thou shalt wash thine socks.

Dropbox nukes bloke's file share in DMCA brouhaha – then admits it made a 'HASH OF IT'

Re: well personally

@slim mcslim: One down vote for not bothering to fix your shift key before posting on an IT site.

Google confirms Turkish ISPs 'intercepted' its DNS service

Fallout

I bet a lot of Turkish people are much more educated about the internet than they were before this happened.

Google researcher says government hack attacks on journos on the rise

Re: Time for a big step back?

Perhaps just a step back in user convenience will do. How about journos start using OpenBSD (for example) and completely changing their computing style. Perhaps one day secure computing will become part of what they teach in journalism school.

Hardwired crypto certificate FAIL bricks Juniper router kit

It is only from the customer's point of view that this was a mistake. Juniper, no doubt thinks that all's good.

Mt Gox staff tried to warn CEO of Bitcoin loss risks – reports

Next

So far, I've generally felt that Bitcoin might just succeed. However, with these latest revelations I'm beginning to wonder if the apparent success of Bitcoin wasn't held up and fueled by false reports from Mt Gox. If that is indeed the case, we'll see a fall.

Still, there will be other cryptocurrencies to take it's place. My hopes are still up that eventually one of them will succeed.

Zuck: Web drones, not balloons (cough, cough Google) are way forward

Re: Drones or balloons

"You could have a drone with three/four small balloons attached along its fuselage. Has anyone tried this technique?"

Small balloons are useless. The other way around is 100 year old technology and still very much used, though with modern improvements.

Microsoft: Let's be clear, WE won't read your email – but the cops will

Re: Shame

@tom dial: I wish I could give you a couple more upvotes. That was a particularly insightful post that cut right through the smoke.

FTC: Do SSL properly or we'll shove a microscope up you for decades

Re: Uh, yeah

Well, what Paul suggested is simply to say exactly what is happening. There need not be mention of endorsement of any kind. I wonder though, does the FTC publish a list of all the companies they've checked? In not, we can never be sure about the "unmonitored" ones.

Re: Make Lemonade

You nailed it. I was actually thinking that these two companies could be a first choice because of that guarantee.

YouTube follows Twitter onto Turkey's block list

DNS?

Does anybody know how the education of the public to use 8.8.8.8 is going? It seemed like it was a great success before, but there's no mention here.