Posts by Dan 55

Thousands of NHS staff details nicked amid IT contractor server hack

Welsh Ambulance Services National Health Service Trust

They are one of the 48 government departments who can access your Snoopers Charter records.

I'm sure the Data Protection Act 1988 has got us covered.

BBC hooks up with ITV, launches long awaited US subscription VoD

Re: Umm, what about the rest of us?!

"We're sorry, BritBox is not available in your country."

Yeah, cheers.

Favored Swift hits the charts: Now in top 10 programming languages

Re: No increment/decrement?

Even if Swift has its own shiny iteration methods that renders everything else obsolete (I don't know), you have to admit that adding/subtracting one unit onto/from a variable is quite a common occurrence. Why wouldn't you want a simple way of coding that?

Germany to roll out €100bn gigabit internet network

Re: Surely not?

It's as if El Reg's headline writer has got a second job.

BT agrees to legal separation of Openreach

Re: Uh Oh...

Screw the vans, shouldn't you be worrying more about the work contract and pensions shenanigans they can get up to with the staff transfer?

User lubed PC with butter, because pressing a button didn't work

Re: abuse Excel especially creatively

In Samsung they use Excel for code diffs... link

Which explains a lot.

MAC randomization: A massive failure that leaves iPhones, Android mobes open to tracking

Re: food for thought

So you can relax that they are usually not interested in *you* specifically but be alarmed that they (or someone else) could use that information to target your movements specifically if they had such a desire.

Could the Snooper's Charter be interpreted in a way (or easily tweaked so) as to mean that shops or these kind of tracking companies that work on their behalf are considered communication providers and found MAC addresses are included in connection records and have to be made available to over to the 50-odd govt departments?

So turn WiFi (including Google WiFi location services which can be on even if WiFi is off) and Bluetooth off and when you leave home. I don't think my phone even offers the luxury of leaving them on as it'd flatten the battery anyway.

Brit ISP TalkTalk blocks control tool TeamViewer

Re: Sounds like an executive snit

I doubt the tech said anything apart from "OK, boss", judging by the technical fuck ups that they've made so far.

Self-employed bear the brunt of Spring Budget with additional National Insurance contributions

Re: Fairness

Self-employed already pay less but are entitled to exactly the same benefits.

Self employed people access to fewer benefits, hence the reason for the difference in NI contributions. They don't get sick pay for a start.

Softbank tears off chunk of ARM, feeds it to hungry Saudis

The Financial Times reported that the Prime Minister's office raised no concerns about the deal

That's the know-how and long-term thinking we know and expect from the current party in government.

And, what's worse, is that there probably isn't any other party who's any better, with the possible exception of the SNP.

Anti-TV Licensing petition gets May date for Parliament debate

"It should be included through your provider for free" - and remember, this has passed the MPs' sanity filter.

Given the current political landscape, I think the MPs' sanity filter isn't what it's cracked up to be. Unless I've misunderstood and its job is to filter out sane things in which case it's working very well.

Google to Chrome-plate our shops with creepy mood-sensing AI signs

Re: I had hoped to die before this.

"Hey dude, there's this old film that came out a few years just after I was born and it's got some great advertising ideas in it."

"Let's do it, bro."

FBI boss: 'Memories are not absolutely private in America'

"he issued a stern warning against companies hacking back against attackers"

That'll be because they're probably the FBI.

Rate this as five stars or we'll bombard you with pop-up ads

Re: Kill the app market, complain that app developers find other means of making money.

How do the unwanted apps harm you, other than taking up a little bit of storage?

Run in the background and send data to the mothership.

Remember, don't use alternative app stores

Stick with Google Play and their fantastic handwavery algorithms for a false sense of security. If you go to other app stores you could find something terrible like this:

F-Droid

NewPipe

Lightweight YouTube frontend

Lightweight YouTube frontend that's supposed to be used without the proprietary YouTube-API or any of Google's (proprietary) play-services. NewPipe only parses the YouTube website in order to gain the information it needs.

Firefox 52 kills plugins – except Flash – and runs up a red flag for HTTP

Re: SKY GO NO LONGER SUPPORTS FF

Furtle the about:config setting on the other page and you'll have it back, for a while.

El Reg is using a yank server. Say it ain't so!

Re: Installed.... they're all gone.

Argh, I've got an update downloaded and ready to install.

What's the about:config setting to stop this madness?

Edit: Found it, it's plugin.load_flash_only.

Re: Cookies...

Tools > Options > Privacy still seems to have a third party cookie option?

Shopping for PCs? Ding, dong, the Dock is dead in 2017's new models

Re: Or we can read this as

It's a business range one, I don't think the XPSes ever had a dock connector.

Re: Or we can read this as

The contraption that Dell are selling instead of their docks make me think we've gone full-circle to a Spectrum with Interface 1 and Microdrives.

Pity the person with their new flat wedgy MacBook Air-like Dell that I can't remember the name of. It won't even plug into Ethernet without the Interface 1 in the middle.

Aah, all is well in the world. So peaceful, so– wait, where's the 2FA on IoT apps? Oh my gawd

2FA for IoT?

You'll be lucky if you get 1FA.

Usually it's SFA.

Huawei's just changed the way you'll use Android

Nokia still have Swipe UI rights

If only it could find its way to HMD's phones.

However they've promised pure Android so it ain't going to happen.

Redmond's on fire, your 365 is terrified: Microsoft email outage en masse

Re: Xbox Live too

And this is why IBM wants their staff to stop working from home.

your 365 is terrified

Aren't we down to 360 by now?

Don't shoot the messenger, they set themselves up for that one.

Q: How many IBMers need to volunteer for corporate guillotine?

Re: I guess they'll be working from home a lot, then

That should read "a very clever way to reduce headcount".

I'll go and stand in the corner.

I guess they'll be working from home a lot, then

A voluntary redundancy scheme was more recently opened giving anyone that wants to leave the organisation with a statutory minimum pay-off the option to do so.

That's the only way I can see this working out for someone ("work from home", interviews, accept a job offer, accept voluntary redundancy).

Doesn't seem a very clever to reduce headcount.

Linus Torvalds lashes devs who 'screw all the rules and processes' and send him 'crap'

You've never heard of a USB WiFi adaptor?

Re: Grasshopper ...

The day I get a full spec will probably be the day after I retire. If I'm allowed to retire in the glorious future that awaits us.

America halts fast processing of H-1B skilled worker visas

Re: why was this called 'discrimination'

It's not the way to do it. First you say you guarantee EU citizens' rights after Brexit in perpetuity and the only thing that can change that is the EU (or other EU countries) not guaranteeing British citizens' rights in return. This makes EU citizens pressure their own governments.

But this prevents the UK using EU citizens' rights as part of a package deal, which I guess is why it wasn't done.

Palmtop nostalgia is tinny music to my elephantine ears

Re: Belt and Braces

Unfortunately over ear earbuds look like a My First Hearing Aid.

Nintendo Switch orders delayed: Dun dun dun... dundundun dundundun dadada!

The Register has asked Nintendo for a comment.

Don't waste your time, this is Nintendo we're talking about. You'll have more luck with Apple.

Java? Nah, I do JavaScript, man. Wise up, hipster, to the money

Re: Java is absolutely crap for web applications

At least Java is consistent. Consistently bureaucratic, but consistent. PHP is just pot luck.

Of course, neither of them are proper languages. We all know which one is. C++.

UK govt's £17.3m AI-boffinry cash injection is just 'a token amount'

Re: Sex Robots!

I wish my old university had a department of computing and sex.

I did put the comma back in the right place didn't I?

Queen May's yuge budgets

£17.3m and they're complaining? They should be glad it's not thruppence ha'penny.

Passport and binary tree code, please: CompSci quizzes at US border just business as usual

Surely the best language would be uncommented Whitespace? It would certainly take less time to write if down...

I'd go with Obfuscated C or Brainfuck.

I'd have to read up a bit on Brainfuck first though.

Re: No issues visiting India

"You're from a fellow Commonwealth country, you will be most welcome in Singapore".

Ah, exactly what happens when visitors to Britain call the British Consulate to check details about their visa before arrival.

Oh, they can't.

Google, what the hell? Search giant wrongly said shop closed down, refused to list the truth

What about the postcard thing?

To get an AdWords account started, a business logs onto their Google account and asks them to send a postcard with a code on it. Once received by the business, it is entered and their address is verified.

If a business is falsely marked as closed down on Google Maps, why not do the same thing to verify it's alive instead of relying on crowdsourcing, which won't work when it's marked as closed down because people will shrug and pick the next one.

Smart meter firm EDMI asked UK for £7m to change a single component

Re: Sore misgivings

They're still optional no matter how the supplier tries to word it.

Re: The pi-zero w is less than £10 and I bet it would do all they need and more.

Well that'll be hourly if the electric companies get their way. Nobody will know what they're paying.

Skype-on-Linux graduates from Alpha to Beta status

Re: What is the benefit putting a cloud in the middle?

I've always thought that P2P was an improvement on centralised servers, but there you go, it seems I'm not "modern".

In their defence there is some minor technical merit - for example you didn't want to end up as a super-node on the peer-to-peer network if you had a shortage of Internet bandwidth or cared about battery life.

If you had limited bandwidth you wouldn't have ended up as a supernode anyway.

Frustrated by reboot-happy Windows 10? Creators Update hopes to take away the pain

That horrible dialog box text

Who's "we"? And why are you chatting away to me like that?

Are people really unable to understand "Install operating system update? The computer will reboot while installing meaning you will lose unsaved work. [Now] [Ask again later] [Schedule time]"?

I also say dialog box but of course there is none, it's just plastered across the screen and it's modal. It's as if Xerox PARC never happened.

Silicon Valley tech bro's solution for homeless: Getting himself in the news. Again.

We don't know why Gopman craves public attention so much. But what we do know is that he loves hosting big public events, and suffers from terrible ideas. He is periodically overtaken by incredible self-belief and a drive to deliver some kind of huge program. For short periods of time, he is prolific. But then, when it falls apart, he disappears for months.

So he's a raging narcissist then.

Maybe he should get into politics instead, he'd fit right in.

Jesse Jackson to Apple CEO Cook: Hire black

Airport Express & Extreme, Time Capsule, Displays (they now recommend LG ones which have problems), Macbook Pro (the Macbook Air is the new Pro), Mac Mini Server, XServe, Pro software.

Dyson backs Britain plc with $2.5bn AI and robotics investment

Apart from customs, tariffs, VAT/other taxes, and compliance it'll be no different.

Onwards towards the cliff edge!

Re: Airblade, airfield, airware

Apparently across the room and splattering germs on other people.

Using a Dyson hand dryer is like setting off a viral bomb in a bathroom

The company also pointed to four studies suggesting that the Dyson Airblade hand dryers are hygienic. However, none of those studies looked at viral aerosols or the effects of using the Airblade to dry unclean hands, as would inevitably happen in real life usage.

It seems some real-life testing is good and some is bad...

Good for Dyson

It looks like he's "committed to the best possible outcome for the United Kingdom following its departure from the European Union".

Because if you're a company bidding on a government contract, it seems that this now counts as part of the bid.

Is it legal? Probably not. At least until the shackles of the EU are thrown off...

Firms bidding for government contracts asked if they back Brexit

Planned 'cookie law' update will exacerbate problems of old law – expert

Re: But...

BetterPrivacy extension.

CloudPets' woes worsen: Webpages can turn kids' stuffed toys into creepy audio bugs

Re: Grab the burning torches and pitchforks

About the webcam: the browser can get pwned meaning that the pop-up asking for permission might not appear.

About the Bluetooth API: As you can see here, a malicious web page can connect to remote devices and use them to obtain data. Obviously the paw pair confirmation thing was broken (it didn't do anything, and it takes a stupid kind of bastard to say that's OK, ship it, stupid because he's going to get caught out), but there are plenty of Bluetooth devices around where you can tell the product from its address and protocols and feed it the default pairing PINs or take advantage of exploits.

The browser needs to get back in its sandbox.

Prisoners' 'innovative' anti-IMSI catcher defence was ... er, tinfoil

I'm going out on a limb here, but I guess they get the foil from the kitchen.