Posts by David 45

HGST floats helium for low power, MASSIVE capacity HDDs

Airless

Why helium? If it's drag they're worried about, could the innards not be run in a vacuum? Surely the same technology that's used to keep the helium in could keep the air out.

Health minister warns ISPs: Block suicide websites or face regulation

Nanny

I thoroughly resent all this alleged nannying, which is only censorship under another name. "They" will probably gradually ban just about everything else that's only slightly dubious on the net - all in the name of "think of the children". It's parents who should think of the children and regulate what they see, not some technically illiterate grandstanding politician. Why should any ISP be responsible for policing this? It's not THEIR job and the cost will doubtless be passes on in the form of higher subscription fees. It sounds as if UK MP's have been taking lessons in how to disrupt the net from their American counterparts. They just want control. I despair.

Broadband minister's fibre cabinet gripe snub sparks revolt

You want speed, already?

Ah yes. Typical NIMBY. They all want speed but don't want the gear that provides it or to bear the cost of alternative locations, like an underground cable joint-box, which would be my suggestion. Slap a surcharge on these folk, if they want super-fast broadband.

Apple to launch streaming online radio service?

Re: Not true Radio....

"apples version"......."Apple's version". There - fixed it for you (whilst some of us seem to be in punctuation, grammar and spelling correction mode!).

Pirate Bay founder arrested in Cambodia

Sounds familiar

Quote I read elsewhere:

"His arrest was made at the request of the Swedish government for a crime related to information technology," Cambodia's police spokesman Kirth Chantharith told the AFP news agency.

"We don't have an extradition treaty with Sweden but we'll look into our laws and see how we can handle this case," the spokesman added.

Hmm. In other words, we'll arrest him and then make up something as we go along that will cover it! Can't see as it's legal to arrest him if they can't extradite him.

UK kids' charity lobbies hard for 'opt-in' web smut access

Do-gooders at it again.

Methinks our Esther doth protest too much. She was always too much of a do-gooder for MY liking on her TV show. Surely the answer is good parenting? Why should the internet be different to anything else that kids see? There's enough "undesirable" stuff in every-day life and media news items that parents have to deal with that might disturb children and most handle it very well. I can see the "opt-in" suggestion that is being championed by the usual technically-incompetent group of politicians and grand-standers (as the colonists across the pond are fond of saying!) being used to deliberately block legitimate sites or just producing plain old errors. Who's to grade the "undesirability" of sites? Will we have a minus star rating? I strongly object to being nannied in this way. The government has much more pressing and world-shattering things to worry about, like the extradition or Julian Assagne, Richard O'Dwyer and Gary McKinnon. (Oops. Click! Sarcastic and cynical modes switched off).

Neil Armstrong dies aged 82

An inspiration

I was one of many who were glued to their TV, watching the almost unbelievable spectacle of a somewhat primitive craft (although we didn't know it at the time) taking a 240,000 mile trip to the moon and actually making a successful landing. Quite amazing what us humans can do if pushed and it's obvious that Neil Armstrong was definitely made of "the right stuff". How that man could have remained so modest is beyond me. A true hero and an adventurer to the final frontier. My sympathies to his family.

Cook's 'values' memo shows Apple has lost its soul

Cloud talk

This is total twaddle. The Jobs' arrogance and mind-set must have been well incorporated into the company before he died. Apple makes and sells some of the most over-priced kit on the planet and they seem to think they have a monopoly on things like "rounded corners". Most appliances or equipment designed to do the same job look very similar, Televisions and cars come to mind. I don't hear Ford suing Toyota for their cars having four wheels or Sony suing Panasonic because their screens are the same certain shape. So........someone produces a similar piece of kit at a lower price that does the job. Apple obviously can't hack the competition and throws its corporate rattle out of the buggy. I have grave suspicions about the jury in this complicated case. To come up with a verdict in such a short time seems to suggest that they just wanted to get the case out of the way in the shortest possible time or maybe there were more indoctrinated Apple fanbois in there than people realised. It all sounds rather Apple-biassed to me.

Police mistake reveals plan for Assange's Embassy capture

Similar

Somebody I know was side-swiped by another vehicle whilst driving. His car was badly damaged. The other car drove off and he didn't manage to get the number. He suggested to police that it might be on the street CCTV but they said they couldn't spare an officer to look at the footage. Er.......isn't this their job - to actually do these sort of things in order to catch criminals and protect the public? This is what proper police work is, not assigning stacks of manpower on some USA-alleged miscreant, harassing photographers or hiding up on roads with speed-traps, creating revenue.

China could penetrate US with new huge missile

Fiendish scheme

Off-shoot of their "peaceful" space program, no doubt. It's about time the lunatic, paranoid and oppressive Chinese government was overthrown in my opinion. Can't believe government members are all as chaste and squeaky-clean as they try and make out. Who controls the controllers?

Lawyers: We'll pillory porn pirates who don't pay up

Sounds familiar

Sounds a little like "speculative invoicing", as has been well and truly sorted in the UK courts and elsewhere. Either that or good ol' extortion under another name. Let's hope the German courts see sense and the victims realise it's little more than blackmail.

"Nice little business you got here. Be a shame if anything were to happen to it".

Google to skew search results to punish PIRATES

Re: Hang on!

A friend of mine does this all the time. He won't type the full URL in for a site, even if he has it. Can't be bothered. I've warned him he'll click on a wrong'un in Google search one day and end up with malware on his machine!

NASA’s new lander CRASHES AND BURNS

Blue screen

Run by Windows?

Hiccups in Apple's iCloud after yesterday's hack of hapless hack

The ultimate answer to the universe and life in general.

Don't use any product made or supported by Arrogant Apple. There you are - simple, eh? Fixed in a jiffy.

Google ordered to destroy Oz Street View data

A Google branch office?

"California based Google is completely out of their jurisdiction".

Google may originate in the USA but surely their "branches" (some might say "tentacles") in other countries are subject to that country's jurisdiction?

Cameron: We'll turn NHS patients into real-time drugs lab rats

A hacker's paradise

And, of course the government can always be trusted to keep all our personal data secure from hackers and other prying eyes.

Black helicopters circle Street View car crash

Re: The camera setup looks really similar

"But do StreetView cars have a Google logo on their side?"

Yes, they do, because, by the most amazing coincidence, I saw one in my home town of Maidstone, Kent, UK this very morning, although this area was covered some time ago. Perhaps they're catching up on all the new buildings, houses and roads that seem to be springing up everywhere. Looked about the same as the pic. - always a bit Heath-Robinson to MY eyes and obviously all held together with string and elastic bands!

Post-pub nosh deathmatch: Bauernfrühstück v bacon sarnie

Microwave (faints)

This will probably be regarded as sacrilege by many, but when I buy bacon, I freeze individual rashers and for a quick sarnie (or roll, come to that), I shove them in the microwave in a modified el-cheapo microwave dish (holes drilled in the bottom, so the fat can drain out into another dish underneath), and zap them at full tilt for about two or three minutes per. rasher from frozen, depending on thickness. Works OK provided you don't over-do them, otherwise they can go a bit rubbery. Arrange the rashers radially, thin ends in the middle. One advantage I've found of freezing is that most of the fat can be broken off before cooking, if you're not a fat person, if you get my drift.

Samsung tells Apple: Quit your 'frivolous' whining over court doc leak

Re: Playground stuff again

Is it contempt if the judge has not specifically ordered that Samsung keep it under wraps? If it's not evidence, then surely Samsung can release it and do with it whatever it likes?

Will Samsung's patent court doc leak backfire spectacularly?

More sour grapes

Surely if the judge didn't actually instruct Samsung to keep the information under wraps, then Samsung are free to do with it whatever they want? Apple are still on the bully-boy track, trying to keep competition at bay, it would seem. Not doing their reputation any good at all. I certainly wouldn't buy any of their pretty-boy, grossly over-priced kit.

Apple demands Samsung flogged for 'unethical' court doc leak

UK ruling

If you've seen Judge Birss' tongue-in-cheek UK ruling, it's fairly clear (reading between the lines) that he regarded the whole case as frivolous - which is how it should be. Apple are just trying to be bully boys and hate any competition that might undercut their grossly over-priced pretty-boy products. 8.8 billion dollars profit is obviously not enough.

More sour grapes

Surely if the judge didn't actually instruct Samsung to keep the information under wraps, then Samsung are free to do with it whatever they want?

Apple blacklisted by Chinese consumer watchdog

No money in after-sales service

There's nothing to be made from keeping a customer happy after selling an item - at least that seems to be the philosophy of SOME companies I've come acrosss. Never mind that the customer will probably go elsewhere to purchase something new. A very short-sited attitude of Apple and others. Never mind, me dears, Apple only made 8.8.billion dollars last year. Not enough to deal with dissatisfied customers, obviously.

U.S forces maintain fire against Megaupload

Theft?

So they're still "freezing" Megaupload's assets? Surely, this is almost tantamount to some sort of crime? Probably not stealing but surely the withholding of someone's money without just cause has got to be illegal on the statute books somewhere?

Twitter airport bomb joke conviction binned in common-sense WIN

Good show, chaps!

Wonder how much this has cost him (monetarily - speaking?). Did it not cost him his job as well? Should be compensated, without a doubt. Someone needs their sense if humour chip replaced.

AAPT confirms attack, through Melbourne IT

Always played down

Amazing the way these incidents always seem to effect "a limited number of people" or data just happens to be something unimportant, or whatever. Percentages seem to make them sound better but it could still be an awful lot of folk! Anything to down-play.

Apple seeks whopping $2.525bn Samsung patent payout

Re: "Innocent" Samsung

I repeat what has been said elsewhere, Televisions all look very much the same. Cars all look very much the same. I could go on and on. Bottles, kettles and fridges ALL look very similar. Such is the nature of manufacturing an item to do the same job. If Apple can't compete and has to resort to bully-boy tactics, then they should not be in the industry, full stop. They seem to think that their product is the be-all and end-all for that particular device. Ain't so. There's a little thing called competition and they obviously can't hack it. Rounded corners are exclusive to them? Just who are they kidding?

The hype and cattle excrement created when a new Apple product is released is unbelievable and calculated to put the fanbois into a frenzy - "I want one!" is the cry, when, in reality, the product is grossly over-priced and something cheaper would probably do the job just as well. I have no time at all for all this back-biting. Just get on and produce a better product than the opposition. Quite simple.

Skype: Nearly half of adults don't install software updates

Give it time

I usually try and wait a while before updating anything. Too many bugs and downright errors have emerged over the years in updates for my liking. Wait and see if there are any reports of nasties first.

Buzz: iPhone 5 arrives September 21, demand 'unprecedented'

Hype

Oh yes? The usual hype and cattle excrement preceding the release of an Apple product. Why do folk fall for this? "Unprecedented"? Who REALLY cooks up this blurb? I will not buy an Apple product - ever, especially after seeing their legal manipulations and cry-baby tactics when they couldn't stand the competition from Samsung and others, not to mention the dubious goings-on at their Chinese suppliers. Looks like the Jobs' mentality is still very much ingrained in the company's policies.

Rupert Murdoch legs it from British newspaper boards

Have to register to read.

FT.com articles are only available to registered users and subscribers.

Windows 8 'bad' for desktop users - Gartner's one-word review

Pain will ensue!

Surely constantly lifting one's arm up to touch an upright desktop screen will eventually take its toll? Can't see myself doing that for any length of time. Sounds incredibly awkward to me. What is MS thinking?

Microsoft 'didn't notice' it had removed Browser Choice for 17 months

Important busness, eh?

Well.....this IS a jolly important piece of business for the Brussels sprouts to get their teeth into. Shirley there must be better things for them to occupy their time? (And don't call me Shirley)

Mozilla shoots down Thunderbird, hatches new release model

Less is more

Perhaps they have been going a little too fast for comfort.

Breaking: Megaupload seizures illegal says NZ High Court

Keep at it

Good, good. Just keep whittling away at the case, finding more and more illegal moves. The man may have had a dubious past (allegedly, from some reports) but throughout the case, details have emerged that challenge the way things were done and the man deserves due process. It's just the good ol' boys of the US of A trying to rule world again. The country needs standing up to from now on.

FCC boss applauds moves to block UN internet control

If I ruled the world

"Don't let the UN or anyone else muscle in, 'koz we Yanks aim to run the internet and, ultimately, rule the world."

Trust fined £225k for leaving patient files in abandoned hospital

Lunacy

Fine the people directly responsible, not the strapped NHS. That just comes out of (our) public money and is just shuttled from one government section to another. Barmy.

Brussels could 'clash' with London over UK snooper's charter

Waffle

Anybody with just a modicum of tech-savvyness should realise that real villains don't communicate in plain sight, and that includes e-mail. This is just an excuse for more control over the populace. Wonder if government ministers and other illustrious members of our over-lords will mind also having THEIR communications looked at in the same way?

Voyager ticks one box for interstellar arrival

Contact

Amazing that communication is still there over such a vast distance and that the wee beastie is still working at all!

Reborn UK internet super-snooper charter to be unveiled today

Encrypt

Preposterous and outrageous scheme by another lot of non-technical politicians who haven't a clue. Total waste of time and money. As if savvy hardened criminals or terrorists are going to communicate in plain text and in sight over open connections! Those that don't are probably just petty thieves who don't pose much public danger anyway. This is just another way of snooping and spying on Joe Public. Will members of government object to also having THEIR communications intercepted? What's that? ........Eh.........Oh - they will be exempt or provided with encryption (I suspect). One of my favourite phrases is: "We're all living on the same planet" and there's way too much of a "them and us" culture everywhere these days. Incidentally, I thought that politicians were supposed to be serving Joe Public, not acting as big brother or nannies.

You know what Google needs? Another Street View data-slurp probe

Bluff and bluster

Sounds like what the Americans might call grandstanding - some little-known politician trying to make a name for themselves.

NHS fights record £325k ICO fine after clap records appear on eBay

Loads-a-money

It always seems slightly ludicrous to me to fine a public body like the NHS or a local council, as the money ultimately comes out of tax-payers' pockets anyway. Surely there should be a personal come-back against whoever caused the problem in the first place, as a deterrent, otherwise errors will continue. Admittedly, this would probably require additional investigation by the ICO but that's what they're for, presumably.

Terror cops hunt laptop snatched from retired MI5 spookmistress

Psst! Wanna buy a laptop?

If the thief didn't know who she was then, with this "opportunistic" swipe, he/she sure does now and will doubtless be flogging it off to the nearest sympathetic embassy to be cracked (if indeed that's what needs to be done) but my guess is that whatever is on there is probably in plain sight! Physician, heal thyself.

UK cookie law compliance takes effect today

ICO just a figurehead

I get the impression that the ICO just seems to be only interested in pursuing large companies and organisations in order to create a nice headline splash. I once reported someone that I used to work for as a driver, as he was in the habit of persistently passing on other drivers' personal details to other drivers and third parties without permission. Got pretty well nil response there from the ICO. He also passed on MY details (address, etc.) to one of the notorious, so-called private parking enforcement companies that got on the gravy train, instead of passing the paperwork directly to me to deal with. I reported this also and the ICO said is was OK to do this if the person concerned suspected that there may be follow-up legal action, which sounds distinctly vague and like some sort of get-out to me. Preposterous. Incidentally, I ignored the parking company's threats and allegations and never got any more correspondence from them. Just a try-on.

Crooks sell skint fanbois potatoes instead of iPhones

Greed

There's one born every minute and it seems the "one" is invariably greedy. More money than sense, obviously. No sympathy at all from this particular quarter.

BBC deletes Blue Peter from BBC One

Not the best

I always thought the Blue Peter presenters were rather too condescending and/or supercilious for my taste. Got the impression they were recruited to be that way. The opposition program, Magpie on ITV was the business as far as I was concerned, with the added plus of Jenny Hanley! She certainly added a certain something, which also made the dads watch as well.

NASA found filming August's Mars landing in California desert

Tricky stuff, eh?

Bloody good luck if all this complicated gubbins goes according to plan. Must say, the vid. did prompt me to think of part of a Rube Goldberg machine!

Queen unveils draft internet super-snoop bill - with clauses

Wedges, anybody?

Thick and thin available (for a price!).

BT outage kills phone lines in Eastbourne and Brighton

No volts or coulombs?

Hmm. Sounds a bit odd. When I was a BT man, back in the days of "clockwork" exchanges, there were stand-by 50 volt lead-acid batteries in ALL exchanges floating across the power plant, varying in physical size and capacity, depending on the exchange size. Main exchange batteries (we're talking about thousands of lines serving towns and cities here) were absolutely huge, with their own large dedicated room, each 1.5. volt cell measuring about a 2-foot cube, with thousands of ampere-hours available (not a good idea to drop anything metallic across the terminals or main busbars!) and were supposed to be able to run the exchange for 24 hours. Most (including medium-size exchanges) also had a later addition of a diesel generator, so battery power was hardly used in the event of a power cut. Rural exchanges with a few hundred lines had correspondingly smaller power plants (no stand-by generator - caused a few headaches in the 1987 hurricane!), each cell's physical size being about 1 ft x 6" x 6" but they were also supposed to be good for 24 hours. Therefore, with all this "belt and braces", I'm always puzzled whenever I see a report of a "power failure" causing problems. I'm guessing that maybe there is very little back-up in these days of truly electronic exchanges that use a lot less power or maybe there is a local supply for fibre-to-the-cabinet that has no back-up. Maybe a current BT employee would set me straight on current practice!

China shoots for 800 million web users by 2015

No entry sign

What's the point? Pretty much all of what they see is under draconian control by their so-called government anyway. There'll be even more demand for VPN's!

Cameron hardens stance on UK web filth block

Grandstanding

In a nutshell, technically pig-ignorant politicians, who know nothing about how the internet works (and would still probably know nothing, even if it was explained by Berners-Lee himself), should stop poking their noses in where they don't belong. Yes, Mr. Cameron, I AM talking about you! I am getting more and more exasperated by reading (almost daily) reports of various governments trying to regulate the net in one way or another or playing straight into the hands of BIG ENTERTAINMENT. Do we all not live on the same planet, for goodness' sake? What IS the matter with everybody?