Posts by Allan George Dyer

Happy 2nd birthday, Windows 8 and Surface: Anatomy of a disaster

Re: Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory...

@big_D - well, Nick De Plume's scenario was "a skype appliance on a shoestring budget, sans the budget", so I'd say any machine that could run skype when it was new, and still works today. For example, I've got a couple of AmazePC netbooks from about 2007 running Ubuntu 14.04 LTS here, could you install Windows 8 and run skype on them today? For additional points, explain how to do it without exceeding the budget ($0) or breaking the law ;-)

There is clearly a market segment that Microsoft is not addressing, though as the projected revenue is $0, perhaps that is to be expected.

Re: Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory...

@Nick De Plume - Two of your examples are a chicken-and-egg problem, with a cuckoo chick in the nest (have I tortured this metaphor too much?).

The exception is the Skype appliance - is there even a Windows alternative for that scenario? Good luck installing a new version of Windows on an old laptop (after magically extending your non-existent budget for the licence).

The other two are a problem of availability of 3rd party drivers. The manufacturers get the Windows drivers right, because that's where the biggest market is, and the non-techies don't move to Linux because the drivers are buggy or unavailable: chicken and egg. The cuckoo is Microsoft, making sure the non-techie Linux installation always has another problem to deal with.

RUMPY PUMPY: Bone says humans BONED Neanderthals 50,000 years B.C.

Re: Pääbo.

@Vociferous - "Pääbo, who isn't a taxonomist"

Sorry, I assumed he was. Do you have a guide on identifying taxonomists? ;-)

Re: Pääbo.

@cray74 - You did say, "why didn't we bring Neanderthal girls home to meet mom and dad?", which I took to be a way of saying "we didn't interbreed with the Neanderthal girls", was I wrong? What did you mean?

Yes, I was wrong about the mitochondrial DNA… I was confusing the date of MRCA (about 3000 years) and the matrilineal most recent common ancestor (mitochondrial Eve, about 100,000 years).

I'm not sure how the statistics play out… I wasn't suggesting that a single avalanche would destroy all Neanderthal mitochondrial DNA descendants in a single event, but that the total hominid population at the time was small, split into related groups, and random events in small samples easily give extreme results. How often do you roll three avalanches on three dice, or two avalanches and a mammoth stampede? I'd like more evidence before saying the "blitzkrieg" scenario is the most likely.

So, another possibility, as you hint, there could still be living groups with Neanderthal mitochondrial DNA that haven't been sampled by a passing geneticist. Ah, Vociferous seems to be proving us both wrong :-)

Re: Pääbo.

@cray74... You're arguing that the hybrid males were mostly infertile, and we didn't interbreed with the Neanderthal girls; so, tell me, where did that small percentage of Neanderthal DNA come from?

On the other hand, if you remember i) that the estimate for the most recent common ancestor of all today's humans is only a few thousand years ago ii) there is no mixing of mitochondrial DNA, then you'll realise that we'll all have either Neanderthal mitochondrial DNA or we'll all have homo sapiens sapiens mitochondrial DNA, and, by chance, it's the second alternative.

Also, we're talking about small wandering groups occasionally meeting, so a small disaster, say an avalanche, could have wiped out an "interesting lineage" (meaning one that would overturn accepted theories and cause endless academic discussions today), without any need to invoke a "blitzkrieg" theory.

Re: Pääbo.

At this point, taxonomists should be getting a little embarrassed, shuffling their feet and admitting their discipline is not entirely scientific. Instead, they become ever more strident about how the divisions should be made.

The Neanderthal must have been really drunk...

One thing is clear, fertile interbreeding is the definition of species so we are the same species as Neanderthals, and we're both human.

How to get $542m from Google: Dress as a SPACEMAN with dayglo dancers – Magic Leap

I didn't notice the gorillas, but the spaceman didn't pass the basketball, either!

And was that Ed Snowden on drums?

Sysadmin with EBOLA? Gartner's issued advice to debug your biz

Re: I love Gartner

"a warning label that a product contains nuts, on a packet of peanuts"

I've been wondering about that… peanuts are technically legumes, so they should be harmless to nut allergic people, but do many people with a legume-allergy incorrectly label themselves because they believe a peanut to be a nut?

Torvalds CONFESSES: 'I'm pretty good at alienating devs'

Re: Social skills and techies

@lotus49: they simply don't have the ability to behave like civilised human beings

"The wizards were civilised men of considerable education and culture. When faced with being inadvertently marooned on a desert island they understood immediately that the first thing to do was to place the blame."

Terry Pratchett, The Last Continent

Ancient Brits 'set wealthy man's FANCY CHARIOT on FIRE' – boffins

Re: Top Gear iron age? Intruiging

"Some say he slayed Grendal and nail his arm above the door"

Boewulf was his intro-speil?

Bird of HEY.... that's MY DRONE! Hawk attacks geek's quadcopter in nature v machine clash

ROTM

The hawks are taking no chances.

To Russia With Love: Snowden's pole-dancer girlfriend is living with him in Moscow

"worked as an occasional exotic dancer"

There are exotic dancers that can be hired for occasions? I'd love to see the adverts:

"For your next furneral, why not hire one of our exotic dancers!"

Judge nukes Ulbricht's complaint about WARRANTLESS FBI Silk Road server raid

Re: LMAO!

But it could be equally:

"Your Honor¹ the cops broke into my friend's flat to plant that smoking gun with my fingerprints, lifted from the water glass I used when they interviewed me."

The computers were hacked by the Police and who else; without chain of custody, what is the evidence worth?

1: Amercan spelling because UK Police aren't arrogant enough to break other countries laws to plantsearch for evidence... well, OK, here's the missing 'u'.

Facebook scammers punt fake 'sexy vid' of Emma Watson

Re: That talk

Achieving women's equality with men means changing women's treatment and status until it is the same level as men's treatment and status. And vice-versa for men's equality with women. So, the difference is between achieving equality by raising standards to the highest, or by lowering standards to the lowest. I know which I prefer.

Hey, non-US websites – FBI don't have to show you any stinkin' warrant

Who had control of the server?

The fact that the FBI could break in and collect evidence implies that anyone with the same skill could break in and plant evidence, or, indeed, could have run the illegal operation without the knowledge of the legitimate owner. This seems like an excellent opportunity for Mr. Ulbricht's lawyer to raise reasonable doubt.

Even if the US is arrogant enough to assume that only US law matters, are they stupid enough to ignore procedures for good evidence gathering?

Re-light my diode: Trio of boffins scoop physics Nobel for BLUE LEDs

Re: Curious

@dan1980 yellow LEDs were invented in 1972, and were available commercially long before blue LEDs.

Trio share 2014 Nobel Prize for cracking internal GPS of the brain

Re: I often thought that something like this was happening.

If this ability can be detected remotely, we'll know WHO to ask for directions.

Adobe spies on readers: 'EVERY page you turn, EVERY book you own' leaked back to base

This is the foundation of their future business model?

So they are planning to offer "pay per minute" and "pay per page" charging schemes to the publishers, betting the future revenue of their company on it working, and haven't considered that the data could be blocked or falsified?

Time to sell your Adobe shares, perhaps?

Re: No, really, I read it and I have proof...

@Mark 85, good idea, but you don't mind if I use your user ID in the data, do you? Especially when it's page 87 of "Paedophillia and Bomb Making for Dummies".

Our Vultures peck at new Doctor Who: Exterminate or, er ... carrion?

I was NEVER afraid of monsters under the bed...

until I watched Listen.

OMG! With nothing but machine tools, steel and parts you can make a GUN!!

Re: Objective? never heard of it

You mean using a CNC milling machine to turn that 80% lower receiver into an axe?

Anyone got plans for a ploughshare?

You dirty RAT! Hong Kong protesters infected by iOS, Android spyware

Call yourself a Newspaper?

So you missed the original Android RAT story two weeks ago, and try to catch the wave of HK news interest with this corporate publicity piece? Shame!

You've got no excuse, I emailed you the tip 2 weeks ago:

Fake Occupy Central app targets activists’ smartphones

http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1594667/fake-occupy-central-app-targets-activists-smartphones

Analysis fake-code4hk-app

https://github.com/matthewrudy/fake-code4hk-app

My own comment at that time is here:

http://articles.yuikee.com.hk/newsletter/2014/09/c.html

Shame! I want a 50% discount on my subscription - AT LEAST!!!

"Since the government has full control of the internet, DNS, etc."

Hong Kong is outside the Great Firewall. One Country, Two Systems (well, for the moment, anyway)

A moment of brilliance? UPnP for Internet of Stuff lightbulbs

Re: Making things simple

"Do you still get out of your chair to push buttons on your TV and DVD players"

Yes! Mostly when I can't find the bloody remote!

There will always be a need for direct, manual control.

Hong Kong protest puts mesh nets to the test in state censorship smash

What incitement? The protest leaders have been very clear about being non-violent, instructing protesters to show they are unarmed (hands in air) and retreat when threatened. Trouble started when the police surrounded protesters in a small area.

Now the police have retreated, the protesters are calm, peaceful and tidying up, recycling rubbish.

Inequality increasing? BOLLOCKS! You heard me: 'Screw the 1%'

Re: you might spend a million on another jewel-encrusted skull

@Tom 13 - re: the rich are "the ones who build and manage the factories where the middle class works"

Well, I'd say most of the jobs in the factories would be working class, and the middle class would be the factory managers, but that's a minor quibble.

What you're saying is that some rich people buy the luxuries and others do the investing, but I think that applies at any level of society. If people have a surplus, some will fritter it away on frivolities, others (or, perhaps, the same people at a different time) will invest it in the future - maybe a few shares, or a pension fund, or a tractor. We don't need rich people to provide investment if there is a surplus among the lower classes.

So, the problem is not a problem after all.

Re: Ditch the white cat, please

"If you want to stimulate the demand and economy, you make sure that the middle class gets money."

Especially THIS part of the middle class. I've got this compelling evidence that giving money to me is more effective at stimulating the economy than giving it to anyone else.

More seriously, if you're mega-rich, then you might spend a million on another jewel-encrusted skull (it's art, innit!), making a starving artist rich. However, that same million spread among the middle class buys 2000 fridges, keeping a whole factory of workers and their suppliers working.

iPAD-FONDLING fanboi sparks SECURITY ALERT at Sydney airport

Re: No controlled explosion?

"bill the lad for all the money spent" - It wasn't his fault that someone designed the security barrier with a hole in it. Bill the security officials who didn't put a guard there to say, "Oi, you! You're not allowed that way!" and give them a good talking too.

Welcome the world's new Most Phished Country: Australia

Re: I saw a (on the surface) farily well-branded 'Woolworths Customer Survey' phish.

"weeks binning the official internal bulletin"

and you only noticed when they congratulated you on your increased productivity?

Bruges Booze tubes to pump LOVELY BEER underneath city

Re: Infrastructure

I suspect some extension to RFC 1149 would allow beer to be transported, though you would probably need RFC 2549 for QoS to ensure the carriers were suitable for the packet size. I believe engineers at Monty Python have extensive experience in Cocos nucifera drupe loading of both African and European carriers that could be applied.

Sun of a beach! Java biz founder loses battle to keep his shore private

Re: Federal law from late 1800's applies

Good, but I guess that doesn't include the beach, or the road to the beach. Unless there are some really vicious rocks offshore, the water is still perfectly accessible by water.

London slaps down Salesforce's bid to rename Heron Tower

Re: The naming rights of an edifice.........

@AC, LCC -> GLC - Have an upvote for pointing out my name error, but Mayor Ken didn't abolish the GLC, Thatcher abolished it to get rid of Ken.

So, now the Greater London Authority is the relevant body. Why can't they just stick to one, sensible name… mutter, mutter

Re: The naming rights of an edifice.........

@AC, "Why do politicians…"

Well, this isn't ordinary politicians, it's the City of London Corporation, which is a sort of club for big business leaders where they can join Guilds and dress up as a medieval pageant. They only control the Square Mile; London County Council has responsibility for the whole London area.

Poverty? Pah. That doesn't REALLY exist any more

So, you're saying that the rich countries, as societies, have enough resources to eliminate poverty within their borders.

Yet, the distribution of resources is so unequal that some people within them suffer poverty: malnutrition, homelessness, disease.

Also, to say that inequality was extreme in William's time is misleading. Odo might have owned 11% of the wealth of England, but the difference from the poorest peasant in term of healthcare that bought him or his loved ones was minimal, plague and gangrene killed rich and poor, and Doctors hadn't a clue how to treat them.

The British Museum plonks digital bricks on world of Minecraft

didn't copy the UK? Re: @ MyffyW

Too right, the first one is called the Tube. It's really difficult to mis-type that as Metro.

Moon landing was real and WE CAN PROVE IT, says Nvidia

Re: about that International "Space" Station...

Hey, don't complain; you're still alive, aren't you? What more payment do you want?

Damien Hirst, eat your heart out - these guys chop up TAXIS

Pure Genius!

Not for recycling bits of old vehicles as furniture and whatnot, which, as illustrated by many other commentators above, is quite a common idea. Yes, it's creative, and can be quite cool, but not genius-level, blow-your-socks-off creative.

The real genius of the "100% Design" exhibitors is persuading someone that *their* creativity is worth a X00% markup.

Ten years on, TEN PER CENT of retailers aren't obeying CAN-SPAM

Who does the law protect?

Opt-out doesn't work. Proving that someone broke the rules is too difficult and time consuming, and they've already made a profit by selling the lists on to an "unconnected" company.

Responsible marketers follow the rules, irresponsible markets don't follow the rules and don't get (consistently) punished.

Credit card cutting flaw could have killed EVERY AD on Twitter

A Win for Users

Fantastic! A researcher discovers a vulnerability, reports it, the company concerned immediately fixes it and pays a reward. This is going to start a positive trend in responsible reporting, with security benefits for end users.

Oh, no, wait... nevermind.

Where's the cynic icon?

Got your NUDE SELFIES in the cloud? Two-factor auth's your best bet for securing them

NUDE SELFIES + 2FA

I'm proposing the nipple as a biometric. It has obvious advantages over other biometrics - you leave fingerprints on everything you touch, and every CCTV catches your face, but the nipple is far less exposed.

I'll need funding for an in-depth study into whether nipples are unique and unchanging, using online resources and selected focus groups.

Boffins: Searching for ALIENS is like looking for PIZZA among students

Re: Geological Sources

So, the presence of pizza on a planet will prove there is life.

Therefore... We should check the delivery schedules of all the pizza restaurants?

"So, you want one deep-pan Super Hawaiian delivered to Alpha-Centuri, uhh, can you spell that?"

Hacker publishes tech support phone scammer slammer

Re: I'm getting stabbed...

It's wonderfully ironic to use a flaw in your attacker's weapon to get them, but this isn't "reasonable force". It is more like you see someone with a knife trying to sneak up on you and, instead of stepping behind your knife-proof door, locking it and calling the police, you pull out your own weapon, saying, "come on, if you think you're hard enough". You have a safe choice: not "following" their instructions, but you take a risky choice with increased chance of damage on both sides.

If you try this, you'd better be damn sure you're better than the attacker, or you'll find they've planted some evidence to make it look like you infected their machine with the tool before trashing it.

Cops apologise for leaving EXPLOSIVES in suitcase at airport

If there is a spike in baggage thefts...

you'll know the terrorists are trying to source the explosives for their next attack.

No, I'm sure my coat was lighter.

City hidden beneath England's Stonehenge had HUMAN ABATTOIR. And a pub

Re: RE: what I would like to know.

"rituals associated with the dead and visiting the bones on feast days"

You mean like the Day of the Dead in Mexico and Grave Sweeping in China?

Next you'll be telling me about a religion that ritually re-enacts eating the flesh and drinking the blood of their god.

Re: what i would like to know

@bill 36 - they didn't say which religion. Pagan is just a generic term for a broad group of indigenous and historical polytheistic religious traditions. Anyone want to discuss whether they could have been atheists?

Forget silly privacy worries - help biometrics firms make MILLIONS

Re: " FINGERPRINTS"

And yet, you leave them on the handle of the shopping trolley, and the items you picked up and put back.

Like faces and ubiquitous cameras, they never were secret, but it is the combination of frequent reading and linking to other data for unknown purposes that is a concern.

Now, where's my shopping gloves and mask?

Thought that last dinosaur was BIG? This one's bloody ENORMOUS

Careful with that tagline...

"Weighed several adult elephants"

Now I have a picture of a group of dinosaurs, some bloody big scales and a queue of elephants.

Snowden shouldn't be extradited to US if he testifies about NSA spying, says Swiss gov

Re: Would the US risk a diplomatic incident?

Of course you don't scramble interceptors to force Snowden's plane down. All you need is a special ops team and a SAM, and you blame it on convenient locals… "There was a previously-unidentified separatist Russian-speaking Pole terrorist group…". Don't forget to liquidate the special ops team when you're done.

I really hope I'm joking.