Posts by Tom 35

Aereo has to pay TV show creators? Yes. This isn't rocket science

Re: Abolish copyright? What an idiotic idea!

"Abolish copyright? Maybe we should have a very short primer on what copyright is. Prior to copyright, in England (and elsewhere), creators essentially owned their works forever."

Not quite. The publisher owned the works forever. In the case of England, Elizabeth confirmed the charter of the Stationers’ Company (1559) who where the only company in all of England allowed to print anything (except for a couple of university presses) and had the power to destroy any books or presses they could find.

Re: This makes no sense on multiple levels

First this has NOTHING to do with "creators should be paid" they don't see a cent of this money.

It's all about cable companies are getting money from our stuff and not giving us any, wah!

So cable companies now have to give the broadcaster money "to pay for the production of local content" (what local content? 5 minutes of news? infomercals maybe).

Now the broadcaster and cable company are owned by the same company so they can use the fees to kick competing cable companies (see CBS/ Time Warner in New York) and block new services (like Aereo) that might cut into their profit.

It's just about the same thing as ISPs expecting Netflix to give them money to deliver the packets the customer paid for already.

USB charger is prime suspect in death of Australian woman

Re: Sadly, I am not surprised this happened

They would only care if it said @pple on it. They need someone with loads of money to call up and whine at them before they move. When it comes to no-name crap there is not much budget to deal with it.

In Canada there are only a few people working on dangerous goods but an army working on fake DVDs and handbags.

Re: How?

I happen to have a set of iPod earphones here... Check with my multimeter and no, the grille is not connected to any of the three rings on the plug.

My Sony in ear headphones are all plastic on the outside.

My on ear Logitec headset is also has no exposed metal bits.

So we would need a defective charger that connects one of the USB lines to the live input.

A device (phone?) that connects that to signal ground.

A dangerous headset* that has exposed metal bits that connect to ground (spark gap at 220V is almost nill, much less then a mm).

She would need to touch something to complete the circuit like a tap.

How?

Short of being struck by lightning how would you get burns on your ears? I don't think I've seen any headphones that have metal parts that would touch your ears. Was she taking a shower at the time?

Strap-on cam pro GoPro in IPO share grow show

Wow

An IPO for a company that actually makes something, and even a profit. How old school!

Intel, Ford: Project Mobii will harpoon unsafe, unauthorized drivers

Re: That's ok

No it will be completely bug free like the current Windows for cars thing they have.

How long before the insurance companies offer to not double your rates if you let them watch?

What is ex-NSA spyboss selling for $1m a month, asks US congressman

Re: I would pay extra out of next year's tax refund....

That's why they are so upset with Snowden. He keeps giving away perfectly good merchandise for free.

Google adds 'data protection' WARNING to Euro search results

Re: Diff?

And at best this will never work better then the blocking of pirate bay. If people feel Google.___ is not as usefull as .com, they will find a way to use .com, even if they force google to hide the handy button.

ARRRRR. Half world's techies are software PIRATES – survey

Re: Complete... err... fabrications

And it's the "The Software Alliance" so I expect they just pulled half the data out of their ass, and fudged the rest to get the answer they wanted to get.

Apple wins patent to pump ads to your iDevice while you're watching TV

Re: @dan1980

It can be very effective...

Hawaii Five-O " why don't you bing it..."

Me "Oh for fucks sake you've got to be kidding" switch channel, never watched it again.

REVEALED: Google's proposed indie music-killing contract terms

Well they do clame to be independant.

Next you will be saying that Sony and the other big music companies should be forced to give everyone the same deal.

That guy that plays a great harmonica down in the subway is way better then Justin Beber so they should give him a contract and a fat advance too.

Snowden defends mega spy blab: 'Public affairs have to be known by the public'

Re: What has changed since

NAS and the rest don't care and don't think they can do anything wrong. So BAU as far as they can manage.

The only thing that has changed is companies that were happy to install a secret NSA tap in exchange for a bag of money now find that it's costing them money and even if they say there is no tap no one will believe them since that is what they would have to say if there was a tap. So we have US companies fighting the secret gag orders because it's costing them money.

Congress passes crackdown on NSA surveillance

Joke

So they are not saying That is bad, you can't do that.

They are saying you can't pay for it from this budget.

Have another budget, maybe some creative accounting, a little black money, knock your self out.

I have to wonder if they were even paying for the current snooping from that budget, or is this a total sham.

Microsoft hopes for FONDLESLAB FRENZY as Surface Pro 3 debuts

proceeded to review their samples based on their normal laptop usage

Why would they do that? Could it be because MS is saying...

Surface Pro 3—The Tablet That Can Replace Your Laptop

http://youtu.be/CTo5DfBtWkY

Price in Canada

I've seen that ad, and some print ads on the back page of one of the local free news rags.

Starting at $1049*

*keyboard and Office not included

Maybe a management toy, but it's not going to replace the $600 Dell laptops most people have round where I work.

Surprise Android 'KitKat' update fixes nasty OpenSSL vuln

I had about 2 weeks between my Nexus 4 and 7 as well.

US spanks phone-jamming vendor with $34.9 MEEELLION fine

Re: China: Figures

And from what I've seen of the football going on now, they would be the peak of current style too!

Re: China: Figures

China is not communist, has not been for a long time if it ever was. Texas is more communist then China.

Auditors blast Blighty cops over binned multi-million pound IT project

a zombi project

external circumstances changed = not my fault.

Agile = make it up as we go along.

SIREN we have a cool name with a made up backronym so what could go wrong?

World still standing? It's been two weeks since Cryptolocker, Gameover Zeus takedown by feds

use security software and keep it updated, make sure your systems are being patched

Not of much use for Cryptolocker since it seems to be updated faster then AV Software. If you are running the pro version of windows you can block appdata but no policy editor for home versions.

So it's down to don't click on crap... we know how well that works.

NHS slammed for MAJOR data blunders as scale of patient info sell-off is revealed

opt out

I bet that was the first data they lost.

AT&T: 'twas conniving contractors who nicked your info

Re: Bullcrap

Why are they making people jump through hoops to unlock a paid for phone. They should just need enough info to identify the phone. Should not require any personal info at all.

FCC launches probe into Verizon/Netflix spat

Re: Of Course They Did

You are forgetting another big reason they want Netflix to suffer. They are Cable Companies, they don't want to you watch Netflix, they want you to subscribe to a big fat expensive bundle of mostly crap and rent their PVR too.

Blame WWI, not Bin Laden, for NSA's post-9/11 intel suck

why is any body surprised?

Because the big bosses were saying (even under oath at times) they absolutely didn't do that. Would never do that... OK, would stop doing that.

The Force of tax breaks brings Star Wars filming to Blighty

Re: Meh

But they will not make any profit, so no Tax in the US anyway.

'CAPTAIN CYBORG': The wild-eyed prof behind 'machines have become human' claims

Re: "he installed a chip in his arm"

If you pull his finger, the garage door opens.

Apple is KILLING OFF BONKING, cries mobe research dude

Bank Bonking

My Canadian bank (TD) offers pay by bonk, but they use a sim, not the phone. So you have to be on one provider that they made a deal with.

I switched from that provider a few years ago when they got to be greedy bastards, so no interest in that. Even if they do support the pay by bonk in my phone I don't think I'd have much interest. Already have both a bank card and credit card that support pay by bonk. Think I have used them about 3 times.

Facial recognition tech convicts man in Chicago robbery case

One arrest a year?

What are they really using it for?

NSA: Inside the FIVE-EYED VAMPIRE SQUID of the INTERNET

Re: Lets not forget who is to blame

No it was all running before 9/11 7/7 to protect us during the cold war. They have just subbed in al-qaeda to keep the budget money flowing after the cold war died.

And we get to see how well it all works for the stated purpose when they can't catch a couple amateurs, with pots and fireworks, even when given tips from their old cold war friends...

Has Google gone too far? Indie labels say it's crunch time for The New Economy

Re: "Indie Labels"

I think it's kind of like how "No Name" is a Brand and registered trade mark for a food store in Canada.

Euro judges: Copyright has NOT changed, you WON'T get sued for browsing the web

an essential part of the technological process

Well you could turn off the browser cache and it would still work, just slow...

So PAY ME!.

Don't try and tell me some troll will not try that at some point.

Gunmaker finds KILLER APP for Google Glass

Hunting?

The dear are shooting back now? More sporting I guess.

Indie record labels to haul YouTube before the European Commission

ban hammer

Did youtube ban them, or did some rights holder group that claims to own the exclusive German rights send a take down notice.

Re: Old school here

"its not really YouTube directly but YouTube as a transport medium that is useful."

So just using YouTube as a free host. Could use one of the smaller competitors like Vimo just as well since your not counting on YouTube to find stuff. If your just posting your videos on your Facebook page for example.

It's not something Google has invented, not really and different then the big labels, iTunes, corporate Radio, Amazon...

Big guy steps on little guy.

Queen's Speech: Computer Misuse Act to be amended, tougher sentences planned

New Computer misuse act penalties

- Forcing a company to spend money to secure their system by publicizing a hole in there systems. 10 years.

- Making someone important look bad by guessing their email password. 20 years.

- Forgetting a laptop full of unencrypted personal data on the train. A brand new laptop.

Re: Shark Jumped!

"They're the things that used to be called family photo albums"

Department store catalogues?

'Inaccurate' media misleads public on European Court's Google ruling

Not buying this "often-cited"

"As the ICO told us, the often-cited example of a former student who committed an indiscretion a decade ago, but who today finds it featured at the top of the Google’s search results, was what the ECJ had in mind."

Do they have an example of the often-cited example?

Something you did a decade ago is not going to pop to the top of the search results unless people are actively searching for it. Or the press have dug it up and reported on it.

I expect this will end up like DMCA take down requests in the US.

There are rules, there are appeals, but it's a pain in the ass so they just take down everything.

YOSEMITE GLAM: Apple unveils gussied up OS X

So is Apple taking development cues from Google now?

"Safari with a streamlined interface and new Spotlight search options..."

Sounds like a yes to me.

US citizens want stricter CO₂ regulations by two to one – Yale poll

gigantic economics experiment known as cap and trade.

Not much of an experiment.

The trade part is just a scam to make the traders rich.

The caps generally end up a combination of arbitrary, political, protectionist.

US citizens want stricter CO2 regulations

But not the rich ones so screw you.

FAA: All systems GO for Virgin Galactic space plane to launch from US

Re: Comparison with SpaceX

It's possible there will be some useful tech spin off from his development of the worlds highest roller-coaster.

Could a 'Zunewatch' be Microsoft's next hardware foray?

Re: Zune still works for me

No, Plays for sure was the system before Zune for Microsoft partners selling music players.

MS screwed their partners by killing it and expecting everyone to switch to a Zune, but they switched to iPods or other non-MS MP3 players.

The Zune player hardware was not that bad, but the software was almost as shitty as the Sony software.

Re: not-metro

No it will not have any fans. Other then JDX maybe.

Congressman pitches bill to disarm FCC in net neutrality warfare

You say that as though it isn't the whole point.

That and most of the US/Canada ISPs also sell TV and Phone service.

Re: The answer.... or at least what one US Citizen sees it...

So was it a fat brown envelope, or a job offer that has given him the idea for this new law?

Re: It's spread...

Bell Canada already block anything they don't like. They just need the bit where they can charge extra for some stuff.

Amazon turns screws on French publisher: Don't feel sorry for Hachette, it's just 'negotiation'

Re: Other online book stores are available

You can thank DRM to a large extent.

Once you have a Kindle, and a few Kindle books you are locked in (Apple is trying to do exactly the same thing with iPads).

With a paper book people buy from Amazon because

- it's cheaper, or easier, or they have it in stock.

With an ebook people buy from Amazon because

- they have a kindle.

If there was a standard mp3* for books it would be different, people could just buy their books anyplace they wanted. But thanks to the publishers/authors insisting that they had to have DRM (that works for 5 minutes) now people who have a Kindle will buy your book from Amazon, or they will not buy your book. Publishers jumped onto the Kindle DRM bandwagon, now it's going to fast to get off.

*There is EPUB, that almost everything can read... except Kindle.

Using email? Text messages? Congrats, you're in the 'underbelly of dark social sharing'

They could even try something like the US health insurance companies who would give you a complex form to fill out. Take your money, and only check it if you make a claim.

What's that you have cancer? Oh dear it seems you missed one check box on page 7 of the forum so your insurance is invalid, here is your money back.

The British are coming! The British are coming! And they're buying Surface fondleslabs

Re: blackberry playbook anyone?

Not counting all the people where I work who got a Surface for free...

I know WAY more people with a Playbook then a surface (but they all bought the Playbook for $99).