Posts by Mark 65 3439 publicly visible posts • joined 11 Jun 2009
I'd have thought the system stored [message, lifespan, location, range] and if you're running the app (no formal registration required if it's to be anonymous) the app on your phone polls [any messages for location X]. The system then matches up messages for which you are in the radius whilst all the time deleting expired messages. Not sure any more than that is required. Connection from app should use encryption then the main point of concern is old-mate's server setup and logging.
"In either case the apps could use encryption to secure the messages, but GCHQ has enough raw horsepower at its fingertips to make that a fairly htin layer of protection"
Do you have any proof of this? I mean, AES-256 would be pretty handy and, given plod has a law requiring you to reveal your password, I'd say they'd find it quite difficult to crack more basic encryption especially in any realistically useful timeframe. Let's face it, you're not going to redirect GCHQ processing power from hunt-the-terrorist operations to collar someone for stealing a f*cking TV from Currys.
PS I'm not into conspiracy theories that state things such as "they only have the law to mask the fact they can already crack encryption". The country's skint, I really doubt it.
What I was trying to get at is that, although the license fee is small compared to the litigation costs etc, they'd still be suing their own customers i.e. Samsung and HTC may use Android but they are also the manufacturers that MS would need onside to make sure their new mobile OS takes off. I think the MS lawer is probably a bit more balshy than the others (all mouth and no trousers etc) as it would seem like commercial suicide if those two joined together in saying no and MS then tried suing them - try shifting your poxy OS then.
"Oracle are looking for over $1 bill per year based on current sales!) ."
Perhaps Google are banking on the fact they don't have any "sales"? Your 3x damages cost is worked out against MS licensing fees - that seems a little strange to me given it's Google being sued and they aren't selling licenses.
I think a lot of people here are guilty of not reading exactly what was said...
"Learning to code in your bedroom will prepare you for the IT job market just as well as a three-year degree costing £27,000, professionals said in a survey published today by CWJobs.co.uk.
More than half the IT professionals polled said they would not do an IT-related degree today if they were paying the increased fees, which will come into force next year."
The first sentence is an incorrect inference from the second (the result). What IT professionals are saying is that they would not do *an IT-related degree* if they were paying the increased fees.
This is spot on from what I've seen. I've worked with Mathematicians, Physicists, Engineers etc as well as non-degree people (tough getting past HR without good history) who have all been up to the job. An IT-degree hasn't been a necessity for a long time but probably helps in those hardcore C++ architectural/leading edge positions.
"Sure full fat OS's are no longer in the cool school but they're still needed and as soon as someone comes out with a workable way for me to run *all* of my desktop apps on a lightweight slate the better."
Given the chasm in processing capability between a desktop and a lightweight slate, why on earth would you want to run all of your desktop apps on it? Get an ultra-portable for heaven's sake.
I believe, perhaps mistakenly, that the part you are quoting is given in the context of a slate/tablet machine and is therefore on the money. Would you want to use OSX on an iPad? Likewise I wouldn't want to start an app on my Windows slate machine and see the ugly-arsed impractical (*in this context*) desktop version appear. I would argue that the machine for a corporation remains an ultra-portable, unless it is just a consumption device in which case you don't need windows at all.
You don't want to hook the TV up for couch based browsing as:
1. It affects everyone else in the room
2. Tablets probably get used for reading/browsing with the TV as background noise and/or whilst others are in the room using it.
My PC is in the lounge of my house yet still I'm considering getting a tablet as I can then casually look things up/read without needing to crank up an i7 and move away from others in the room.
You need look no further that what you typically receive in capability living in a city. In the CBD yesterday my mobile (smartphone using SpeedTest.Net) connection managed 0.42Mbps down, 0.06Mbps up. These low speeds are typical and explain why most people would struggle to download much on mobile broadband connections. I've easily hit my 50GB cable download limit before however.
Errr, no. As part of the deal Telstra will be transferring my service over to the NBN - like it or not - and any of the ISPs with NBN deals (Telstra, Optus etc) have a contractual obligation not to slag off the NBN offering compared to any competing services (Wi-Fi, 4G etc) they offer. How quaint.
His point about creating an over-capitalised (i.e. fucking expensive) Government owned monopoly provider not being good for prices still stands. You will benefit in the short term - Telstra have been expanding their usage offerings and lowering prices over the last few years - but rest assured this is a future budget stocker. If you don't believe that then take a look at how the States have massively upped the transmission costs on their monopoly power networks to fill their budgets. Electricity in QLD has risen 50% in 4 years, mainly through this cost. Short term gain, long term fucked.
"The tax gap is the difference between the tax that in theory should be collected by HMRC and the amount that is actually collected."
Is this tax that should be paid in theory if everyone pays the maximum giving their income rather than using legitimate means to minimise their tax? I'm just wondering how realistic this supposed amount really is.
Do servers even count? I mean, wtf would a server vendor care given how many boxes are used for running VMs on top of ESX etc? The secure and fast boot part tells me this is desktop/device related - I don't tend to restart my servers all that often and I'm not convinced this will stop anything given just about every other cryptographic signing key used in this prohibitive way has been cracked. Blu-ray anyone?
Why should anyone who buys from a big box vendor get shafted? Should old people start building their own machines? Why shouldn't they benefit from Linux? Should I be unable to fix a relative's machine using a rescue disk/thumbdrive? Should all these PCs get dumped after 2-3 years as they're too slow to run the next incarnation and cannot be loaded with Linux?
Please think a little outside your own use-case before posting.
A great phone. No lock-in of apps if someone brings out a better model or you get the arse with this one. Google or someone just needs to sort out the marketplace/app store/music store/whatever you call it. Please don't tell me you can "use any app store" as, like most of the public, I don't care. One stop shop thanks - it's the only reason I can see for the iphone still selling so well in the face of devices like the SII.
For those hardware vendors intending that some hardware will not have this option I look forward to the EU court cases brought against them on restraint of trade or whatever the appropriate law is that covers this. If the hardware has the ability to have the on/off option then I believe it is illegal to remove it through firmware especially when such a measure prevents the free use of a machine by its owner.
"So some information on whether youve been wearing your seatbelt now additionally gets to sit in done company's database until a court requests it."
I don't think you need monitoring software to tell if a seatbelt was in use - tell-tale strap marks and/or your face decorating the windshield normally suffice.
The primary problem with cheap ink is if you wish to use the printer for photos. Unfortunately it is still the case that (unless you wish to profile the printer properly) manufacturer ink with manufacturer paper still gives the best out of the box results (essentially because the profile is already in the driver, and they were made for each other). Kodak paper is pretty good as they'll tell you on their website what changes to make to the printer settings for the best results. I've found third party ink to give awful results when printing photos despite trying all manner of changes to the settings. Print longevity can also be an issue.
"Something doesn’t feel right about the 348 Kbps average"
Remember that it is the upstream speed. I have cable internet and that is 17Mbs/1Mbs so it is entirely plausible for the average to be 384Kbps especially when you consider that, until recently, Telstra still had plans with 128Kbps and 256Kbps upstream on their site.
I wouldn't really call BT traded in London versus NY arbitrage as you are, say, short an NY stock and long a London one. You may have locked in this price differential but at some point you need to close out unless the NY share is fungible with a London one. Otherwise you are carrying fx risk until you close out.
A better definition of arbitrage is the future on an index being a function of the index and borrowing/discount rates. Even then risk-free is only theoretical as you have execution risk - the ability to get both sides of the trade on at the prices and in the sizes you need. Due to this prices vary by an amount reflective of this and the ability to borrow cheaply (close to the "risk free" rate)
A lot of what is listed as arb these days is just big basis risk due to playing around with proxies (gold mines/shares vs bullion) as true arb opportunities are thin on the ground.
"This means that this year's students of pure maths, applied maths, fluid dynamics, number theory, geometry, astronomy and theoretical physics will have to leave the country to continue their research interests."
Let's fund the bullshit/marketing side of mathematics and let other countries gain the benefit of some of our smartest minds.
I hope you were being sarcastic as all versions of Windows after 3.11 are fine with v1.02 of UDF, Windows 2000 onwards are fine with v1.50 (virtual re-write), and XP onwards support v2.0
UDF is the disk format of CD-R/DVD-R/DVD+R... in case you weren't being sarcastic.
I suggested it because it requires no drivers so would work (in theory) for plug-n-play devices whereas EXT2 could be used if you wanted users to use a "driver disk"
I'm guessing private ownership made the difference - personal loss vs. shareholder loss.
It also sounds like most of that "education" is based around a transfer of risk from the business to the individual for litigation reasons - "they knew what they were doing was wrong because we gave them XYZ training every year"
Yep. I've worked from back-office IT, through Risk IT to front-office desk development and backup everything Dominic says - from other things of his I've read he seems to be on the money in the industry. I can also vouch for risk paying poorly - despite doing a fantastic job (appraisals, peer review etc) I got paid shitty money and bonuses because "what you're doing is not high profile and there's another team we desperately need to prevent leakage from". I moved from there to a front-office desk role with a 75% pay-rise.
I can also vouch for the technology stack. Excel/VBA, SQL, and I'd also add a bit of C# these days. Perception is everything. It may be a laudable aim to write excellent flexible code using paradigm XYZ or pattern ABC but traders don't give a fuck. As far as they're concerned you took too long. I'm afraid it is the whims of these sometimes attention deficit seeming individuals that will decide your pay, bonus, and future. If perfection or moral high-ground is what you seek then the front-office is not for you. If high remuneration (with a side-serve of verbal punchbag) is what you seek then it is.
I think it is no coincidence that a lot of rogues seem to have worked their way through the business. This gives them a perfect insight into trade flow, procedures, and system visibility. The fact that their user accounts on these systems never seem to have their privileges corrected also helps.
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
