Posts by The Indomitable Gall

Android app secretly uploads GPS data, warns Symantec

Think like a user...

The "access to resources" is pretty obscure, and people will always assume that this is what it needs.

If you want proof, just look at Facebook viruses. They only work because most users don't understand the importance of "send messages on your behalf".

Moreover, even though the program asks for permission, this is not enough to fulfill legal criteria for "informed consent". The permission was gained while withholding the recipient's intent.

And if that wasn't enough, reread the article -- the app doesn't close when you exit. Without warning, it continues running in the background. Even if a user is happy with the GPS information being collected for whatever reason, he still has a reasonable expectation to opt out by closing the app.

Google's Inventor gets short shrift

Don't be so quick to judge....

I quite often find that when they try to make computers "user friendly", they do so by hiding the underlying logic from the user. However, the end product still requires knowledge of that logic in order to be used efficiently.

The problem is that the guys who program computer programs are computer programmers, and they have a biased concept of what's natural and logical.

The biggest problem with graphical programming interfaces in particular is that rather than make relationships between items more clear, they tend to draw a simple connection and leave it to the user to work out what the connection *means* (see also database schemas in MS SQL Server!).

This is a problem we all faced as spotty undergrads when dealing with arbitrary orders of arguments in C, but by the time we get to develop our own systems, we're so used to it that we forget how much of a problem it was... and still is (incorrect argument order still accounts for a pretty high percentage of code bugs).

The challenge for "layman programming" is to work out a way to make the code logic clear and intuitive, rather than sweeping it under a shiny carpet and saying "ooooh... look at the pretty colours."...

Prototype semi-hovership delivered to Commandos

Sea State 2

"Sea State 2" sounds like something from a post-thermogeddon-sci-fi... wait... you made me think of Waterworld. Have you any idea how much hypnotherapy it took to forget that cinematic abomination?!?!?!?

Survey scammers exploit Facebook dislike lure

The point of "like"...

The point of "like" is to allow Facebook to maximise the "interesting quotient" of their feeds. A note with lots of "likes" and comments is clearly interesting, so gets more widely seen.

Now, posts you might want to "dislike" are interesting and newsworthy, and increase the "information benefit" of Facebook, and I don't think Facebook would be opposed in principle to using it as a measure of importance. Instead, I think that the problem is more likely to be that it makes the interface less clean and potentially more confusing.

So I reckon the "Dave has broken his leg" posts are more collateral damage to the Gods of Simplicity and Usability than targets for assassination.

Police told terror ads too terrifying offensive

I heard that one...

...and I thought "who has lots of storage space, looks at photographs of houses and buys things in cash." I realised it wasn't a sophisticated international terror cell, but a professional housebreaker.

Also...

Other demographics fit this profile. The one that springs to mind is illegal immigrants. Didn't they want us to grass them up a wee while ago? It wasn't popular. Another one is benefit cheats and tax dodgers. Didn't they want us to grass them up a wee while ago? That wasn't popular either. I'm sure lots of other criminals are the same.

There was a second advert that mentions a guy who's looking for a new house using Google Maps/Earth, has three lockups full of "his mother's stuff" and bought a flight with cash. Sounds a lot more like a housebreaker and/or fence to me.

So are they just using anti-terror as a way to catch people involved in standard domestic crime?

Would the police do such a thing? No, it's not like they've used anti-terror stop-and-search to catch domestic criminals or anything that bad....

Hotmail still not working? Use Chrome to fix it, says MS

Overengineered UI.

When world+dog are starting to browse by Wii, smartphone and netbook, what posessed Microsoft to decide to make the Hotmail UI more reliant on fancy features? It's getting harder and slower to use on a reasonably current desktop machine, but the internet is no longer simply for the desktop PC!!!!

Apple iPhone exec falls on sword

Re: Not worth..

You may have missed the reference there....

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/05/26/foxconn_defacement_suicide_protest/

Clinton barrels in to BlackBerry brouhaha

And in other news...

US bootlegger William S. McCoy reckons there is a "right to free use and access" that could be infringed by countries banning home distillation of hard spirits.

Welsh former drug smuggler Howard "Mr Nice" Marks reckons there is a "right to free use and access" that could be infringed by countries banning narcotic substances.

ElReg flying car correspondent Lewis Page reckons there is a "right to free use and access" that could be infringed by countries banning the export of F22s.

The simple fact of the matter is that every country makes laws that balance security and public health against freedom of choice and privacy.

It's a bit rich to be slagging off Pakistan for supporting terrorists while simultaneously trying to force India into a position where they can't monitor terrorists....

Human hive-mind game whups computer boffinry ass

Crisp packet triangles

Folded crisp packets take up less bin space.

....but only if they're put in the bin.

Is it a phone? Is it a Taser? No, it's a cattle prod!

Not surprising...

Allegedly the stun gun was originally invented by a camera repairman. As the story goes, he knocked himself out when try to fix a flashgun and thought he could make that into a weapon....

OOXML and open clouds: Microsoft's lessons learned

Well duh....

" Ballmer & Co. were simply showing their affection by attempting to shaft everyone else "

Duh... what do you do to people you truly love *other than* shaft them?

It's this over-conservative society of ours that has made shafting seem like something unpleasant.

<-- Free love, man!

Zuckerberg: I'm 'quite sure' I own Facebook

Re: Yes and no

"Because the guy has waited 4 years to make the claim, there is certainly explorable doubt about his motives in producing it now and his reasons for sitting on it beforehand."

You know, even now there are plenty of people in the world who don't know what Facebook is.

It's entirely possible the guy just spotted it in the papers this morning and went "holy sh*t! That's my company!"

Zuckerberg had a duty to pay the guy, the guy didn't have to go asking for payment.

He's lucky that he just being asked for the guys contractual rights and isn't being sued over and above this for failing to report his earnings to his investor -- that would be seriously bad for him....

Frying pan -> Fire

If he said that Facebook was a rip-off, he'd still be snookered even if the inventors couldn't sue, because then he could be sued for fraud, because he would be admitting to *not owning* the thing he sold to Ceglia way back when....

Re: Title

Bullseyed, do you read the articles or just the comments? Cos I distinctly remember the article mentioning that Ceglia invested in a project of Zuckerberg's called "The Face Book". Does that name remind you of anything...?

iPhone customers lay into Apple after iOS 4.0.1 update fails to install

Re: no

"I have updated iPhones on both windoze and mac, and have been fine - suspect its just hype like all of the reporting so far."

I suspect it's a problem in tolerance and depends on the quality of the USB controller in your computer. Macs are more expensive than low-end Windows boxes because they use high-end components. Mid-to-high-end PCs use the same components as Macs.

If the iPhone USB slave chipset has a low tolerance to static (either in hardware on in the software config) and drops the connections too easily, it won't be an OS-specific problem but rather a hardware-specific incompatibility.

Many device manufacturers have shot themselves in the foot by taking liberties with the specs and producing items that aren't compatible with other devices operating on the same specification....

Blighty's stealth robojet rolls out a year late

Actually, it's not BP's fault....

The US system is, as you might expect, based on a series of subcontracts that aim to increase efficiency.

Unfortunately, "increase efficiency" is US English for "cut corners and pocket the cash". It was not BP that built the rig and it was not BP that operated the rig. The company that built the rig was American and the company that operated the rig was American. These are the companies that fouled up, and BP's getting a raw deal simply because it's "foreign".

The reason this is less likely to happen in the North Sea is because of our evil "Big Government". The UK has something called "safety regulations" that are backed up by law. On the other hand, the US seems to expect that the invisible hand of the market will sort it out... probably by threat of lawsuit. Aye right -- even paying off the bereaved is generally cheaper than doing it safely in the first place, so everyone's just gambling on not having a big enough accident to wipe them out in one go.

Seoul police crack down on Holy Water filter prof

Not "holy water"

"Holy water" is not the same as "Lourdes water".

Holy water is water that has been blessed by a priest for use in baptisms, blessings and the like.

Lourdes water is water that has been taken from a spring in the foothills of the Pyrenees. If it is to be used in blessings or baptisms, it still needs to go through the same rituals as any other water does in order to become holy water.

Pixel Qi releases sunlight-readable netbook screen

Hmm....

Almost makes me regret going for the 7" eee.

New surveillance-CSI method: Beverage hair-isotope trail

Ah but...

Shorry, but you forgot one minor detail....

There´sh hair on your cat too, and he alwaysh drinksh tapwater. And it jusht sho happensh that you take him wherever you go.

You won't get away thish time!

<cue US marine frogmen entering lair>

eBay sticks sell-as-you-go on mobile app

@Sarah Bee

OMG!! You hyperbole Nazi -- I bet Mugabe would say exactly the same thing! This is just as bad as falling through a rusted safety barrier over a 100 foot wall into a VAT of acid which is being rapidly heated by the lava flowing from Ejafjallajokull!!!!

Google: Flash stays on YouTube, and here's why

Point a browser at a video file?!!???!

You know what would happen, don't you? People would *gasp* DOWNLOAD THE VIDEOS! How would you get them to come back to your site then?

OK, sarcasm aside, it would mess up their licensing model for music videos if people could download them willy-nilly.

The 3G coverage picture that can't be published

Hmm....

"iPhones might be popular, they might even be good, but they hardly invented mobile data."

I don't think anyone said they did, but they've certainly increased its use -- apps downloads, streaming video, etc etc. They've also made it more mainstream and less geeky.

The iPhone may be all hype, but the hype is working and placing a load on the networks....

Russian spy ring bust uncovers tech toolkit

@Chris Williams

I'd tell a commenter who said that to RTFA, but I gather you were the one who WTFA. ;-p

"On one occasion in April, the Russian government official, who was based at the UN, rumbled his surveillance team, according to the court documents. He returned to his office and only one of the usual MAC addresses, allegedly belonging to Chapman's laptop, was observed trying to communicate."

Clever Russian official -- he spotted Netstumbler without even booting up his laptop! This Russian technology is incredible. Where can I get some?

...or perhaps he just spotted the person tailing him.

Secret ancient code, basis of all modern civilisation, cracked

Not my favourite source, but....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microtonal_music#History

The 12 tones of a modern instrument are the Windows of the music world. Buggy, never quite right, but everyone else uses it and you've got to be compatible, hey? Alternatives exist, but there's a lack of "software" (tunes) and there's not so wide a market for anyone considering developing any new stuff....

Penguin, because Linux is dodecatonic. Or something.

12 note scales and the Greeks.

While it is true that the Greeks mostly played with the various modes of the basic diatonic scale, Pythagoras was one of the first to investigate acoustics as a serious discipline. Pythagoras "discovered" the 12 note chromatic scale by calculating the ratio between the root and fifth of the basic scale, and noting that an octave was achieved by simply halfing or doubling the length of a struck pipe. As he completed the circle of fifths, he found he arrived on a 13th note that didn't quite match the 1st note of the scale. This slight discrepancy was known as Pythagoras's Comma, and wasn't resolved by instrument makers until more than two millenia later.

So while Greeks weren't in the habit of making music with a 12 note scale, Plato would likely have known about the concept.

The big problem that I have with the description given in the article, though, is this notion of only 12 notes. No melodic instrument I know of has that many notes without having a complete octave.

Even an instrument with a very restricted range (eg a bagpipe) can usually repeat at least one note in the high octave and low octave, so I would expect any Greek music to include a repeated high/low note, and the system described in the article seems to preclude this.

Beeb sends teaboy outside with iPhone

Getty's not that good...

Have another look at the picture in the first version. A nice bit of processing has resulted in good contrast and colour-balance, but it was initially taken on a chronically cheap camera, so there's all sorts of lens flare and internal reflections going on.

Why do Getty accept moderately crap pics from amateurs with cheap cameras? Because they're willing to sell them for less, which means more profit for Getty. It also means market rates drop considerably, and the pros have to charge less.

The dream of everyone with a stake who either archives or uses stock photos is a workforce of "incidental photographers" who give their work away for free or near free.

So wave goodbye to the professional photographer, peeps....

More iPhone 4 angst: fanbois howl over head sensor

Re: Some basic economics

"2) the cost price of an object is the cost to produce a new one. R&D, etc. are important but not when calculating the cost* though I'm not sure about the severance payments made to the relatives of terminated Foxconn employees."

By whose definition of cost?

None that I've come across ignores set up and development costs, which are traditional amortised across each unit sold.

More importantly, the *value* is in the configuration, not the components.

Which isn't to say that the iPhone isn't an overpriced piece of consumer tat -- it is. Just it's overpriced by the value of the configuration.

Spoof beer ad mocks England footie flops

England != Britain

That is all.

Dell Streak Android tablet phone

@Rattus Rattus

...and minus the "smart" part.

Bloody George's Budget: How bad is it really?

Long-term & short-term

From TFA

"And what we know about these different effects is that consumption taxes, ie VAT and excise taxes on booze and baccy, have the least effect upon growth for the money they raise. Then income taxes in the middle and the two taxes which are worst for the negative effects they have on growth compared to the amount they raise are capital taxes and corporate profit taxes.

(This is quite distinct from the obvious truth that while companies can collect taxes they can't actually pay them. Corporate taxes are paid by some combination of the shareholders, customers and workers: in the UK at present the best guesstimate is that 70 per cent of corporation tax is paid by the workers in the form of lower wages.)"

Now this I don't doubt, but here you're talking in absolute terms. Right now, we have a lot of pre-existing factors to take into account.

Put quite simply, most UK employers have instituted pay freezes. A change in corporation tax isn't going to alter that. So while next year's pay packets *might* benefit, this year the corporations will be pocketing the cash and the workers' outgoings will increase without any concommitant increase in income.

So while I can see why theoretically this *should* be the right thing to do, in practice it's a bit of a bugger for the overriding majority of the population.

Naked Cowboy wrestles Naked Cowgirl

Re: Re: Warning needed

"I bet none of you who claim to be running for the bucket hand clasped to mouth are golden gods."

And that's where you're wrong. I am the 24-carat winged deity Archithonrix, and I lay Fabergé eggs.

Antarctic glacier melt maybe 'not due to climate change'

Or looking at it another way...

...El Reg posts so many articles mocking climate change with very little substance that when they publish a decent report on a piece of proper science, everyone (both greenies and greenie-bashers) interprets it as greenie-bashing.

Leica M9 rangefinder camera

Ah but...

"I'd argue about the superiority of rangefinder cameras, too - I want to see what I'm photographing through the lens that's taking the picture, thank you - but I suppose that's horses for courses."

Well I want to see what I'm photographing too, and what I'm photographing should be what's in front of me when I press the button.

I don't even want a switchable lens -- my rangefinder has a fixed (moderately) wide-angle lens with a shutter in the iris. The short distance of travel for the shutter curtain gives me practically instant snaps. Much better for (eg) getting a picture of a dancer in which you can see his/her face mid-spin.

Want but can't have...

Too pricey for me sadly, and what with the general public's ignorance of the superiority of rangefinders, I can't see there ever being a digital rangefinder that's enough of a mass-market item to fall into my price range.

However, there's always a 35mm Russian or Far Eastern rangefinder or two on eBay for 20 quid of so, and I've already got one or two of those. Is there any kit out there that lets me attach a full-frame 35mm CCD to an old body? I realise I'd have to take the film door off, but that's cool -- I am talking about something without much value after all....

Facebook's critics 'unrealistic', says US privacy law expert

Uncommercial

My business, McKill and McCrazy Hitmen Ltd, is currently under investigation for certain illegal activities. I keep telling the Chief Inspector that his "laws" are all well and good, but they are completely uncommercial -- if I complied with these laws, my business would be unable to operate.

Does he listen?

No. Bloody plods.

Primate-phobic Brit attacked by crab-eating Macaques

And the monkey said...

"That woman fought like a dairy farmer."

Lightning bolt smites 60ft Jesus statue

Art critic...?

Well everyone knows Jesus can walk on water, so a statue of him half-submerged is a clear case of heresy....

Weights and measures...

It's traditional for the singular to be used with weights and measures -- using the plural is a relative innovation, and there's still plenty of people who will describe something as "3 pound 95" rather than "3 pounds 95".

And there's certain measures that never take a plural after a number: dozens, hundreds, thousands, millions etc may exist, but 24 is "two dozen", 200 is "two hundred", and so on.

Funny how "purists" are just as likely to defend neologisms as anachronisms. The only logic behind "correct" English is that it's whatever the person doing the correction speaks....

Easy-peasy science GCSEs binned

I refer the examiners....

I refer the examiners to Richard Feynman's account of his sabbatical in Rio de Janeiro in the book "Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman?" and ask them to look closely at whether or not they are actually teaching any science....

Lone workers will like being tracked, says Orange

Just what I was thinking...

"as long as someone is actively monitoring it or a system is in place that can recognise unusual behaviour and automatically notify someone."

Cos it's great they can retrieve my body after I've bled out, but it's no real use to me by that stage.

Just sell the (already well-tested) panic button tech that's out there.

Standards...

"Are kids to thick to use them these days?"

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. To [sic] easy.

Balinese lad seduced by bovine temptress

Ow, my heritage....

Thanks, Reg.

Please remember that many folk tales in many, many cultures revolve around animals that turn into men or women and conjugate with the locals. This particular story presents a rather unpleasant theory about the origin of these tales. I don't know if I'll be able to listen to a story about selkies or kelpies ever again....

Suspended-animation cold sleep achieved in lab

*sigh*

Scientific enquiry doesn't start with empirical data -- it starts with anecdote and observation, and someone asks "I wonder how that works?" and starts to investigate.

This story is about that very thing.

Man hears stories of unexplained phenomenon.

Man decides to investigate.

Man replicates something appearing to be the same as aforementioned phenomenon.

-->potential explanation.

Man performs further experiments on said potential explanation to see if it holds water.

Science starts with unknowns.

The discipline that starts with a bunch of knowns is called engineering, and it doesn't discover anything new.

Joke icon or not, that was a daft post.

Must have been relatively common in days gone by....

I'm guessing this wasn't unheard of in Ireland in days of old...

The tradition of the "wake" was to get lots of people in the room with the supposed corpse overnight and check whether he'd wake up. I mean, do you really want to warm up a room with a dead body in it? No. Unless you thought they might have just gone into "cold sleep".

I'm curious as to whether blood starts to settle out into component parts during cold sleep (do nemotodes have blood like ours?) -- the evidence the Romans took for Jesus being dead was that his blood had separated. Would make for an interesting bit of historical forensics.

World Cup stats fever - have you got the balls to win?

"hold the Jules Rimet Trophy aloft"

Nuff sed.

Sony 3D TV kit, PS3 games released tomorrow

You wot?

Buy a TV that can't be used for 3D yet and get a free game that you can't play in 3D yet? Where did I leave my wallet?

Links to blog in email made sender liable, says US court

Hmm....

""We conclude that section 230 prohibits 'distributor' liability for Internet publications," said that ruling. "We further hold that section 230(c)(1) immunizes individual 'users' of interactive computer services, and that no practical or principled distinction can be drawn between active and passive use. Accordingly, we reverse the Court of Appeal's judgment."

"No practical or principled distinction"... how so? The Usenet woman specifically chose that piece to upload, so she is (in practice and in principle) publishing.

ISPs are protected on the grounds that they are effectively functioning as printers and/or distributors do in the paper-based world, controlling the medium rather than the message.

In the physical world, a white van man who delivers boxes of magazines to local newsagents doesn't have to read every one to look for infringing content. He doesn't even have to know the titles of the magazines for delivery.

No choice, no editorial control, no volition.

The Usenet case had volition. Maybe the woman should have won on other grounds, but she spread the content of the article of her own volition, so she was not a mere "distributor".

Strippers hit historic Marconi HQ

Even worse...

Look at what ravers did to Mr Blobby's house!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1220390/Pictured-The-abandoned-ruins-Mr-Blobby-theme-park-ravers-trash-site.html

Do you think trees grow themselves? Hell no! You're looking at the effects of the raver's favourite plant-food, mephedrone.

Subscribers get $3 each in Classmates suit. How much did the lawyers make?

As I was saying the other week....

People keep talking about how the threat of law suits keeps companies in line. Like hell it does. These settlements are always insignificant in the grand scheme of things, and the perpetrator always comes off lightly because they've saved enough money through whatever shady or careless practice they're hauled up for that they're still in the black.

There's no out-of-court settlement against a statutory fine, and it doesn't stop individuals suing for damages. "Small government" fails its electorate -- any civilised country should be protecting its citizens better than that.