Posts by Dan 55

Office website hacked: Passwords, addresses, phone numbers slurped

I see what you did there

I want the Reg gravestone icon back.

For your next privacy panic, look no further than vending machines

If all you've got is a hammer...

Intel's PC-powered vending machines and PC-powered signage... Anything not PC powered?

'Hello? Hello? Yes, I'm calling you on my WEB BROWSER'

Hasn't this been done already?

http://appear.in/

Firefox already has WebRTC and I can't really think how it could be made simpler than this.

How to strip pesky copyright watermarks from photos ... says a FACEBOOK photo bod

Re: Probably only suitable for a thumbnail anyway

Too right. I'd be broke too after paying for Photoshop.

TrueCrypt turmoil latest: Bruce Schneier reveals what he'll use instead

There's a list of TrueCrypt vulnerabilities here, published on the 15th of April...

http://www.globalsecuritymag.fr/Vigil-nce-TrueCrypt-multiple,20140430,44667.html

Has that got something to do with it? Maybe it's unfixable, maybe the developer(s) decided to give up.

100% driverless Wonka-wagon toy cars? Oh Google, you're having a laugh

Re: Some things over-exaggerated.

A quick read of the EULA will answer that question...

What's up, Zuck? Facebook asks Brussels to probe its GIGANTIC WhatsApp deal

Not really, all that lobbying's got to pay back sometime...

It's Google's no-wheel car. OMG... there aren't any BRAKES

Eh? Didn't California change it's law mandating that driverless cars under test should have a human which can take over at any time?

Google clamps down on rogue Chrome plugins and extensions

Re: Just sanctioned malware

Seems like the Chrome Web Store has the same problem as Play, there's no serious vetting.

Re: re:Most use cases that required NPAPI are now supported by JavaScript-based technologies

Funny how out of the six currently whitelisted Netscape plugins, two are Google Earth and Google Talk, which shows you how good Google's amazing new replacement APIs/protocols/languages they're pushing on everybody else this week are.

Like SPDY which isn't that good after all.

http://m.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/27/googles_spdy_blamed_for_slowing_http_20_development/

Skype to become 'Star Trek' style real-time translator, says Redmond

Re: Less than one second?

Hope it's not the same AI as Google Translate.

Less than one second?

I'd like to see how it manages with e.g. German (where the verb is at the end of the sentence) to English (where it's at the start).

Sony Xperia Z2: What we REALLY thought of this Android fondleslab

Re: Meh

The battery is the same 6,000mAh Li-Po but it's thinner. It could have been less thin with a better battery. Is thinner than an iPad Air really necessary?

Meh

And so battery life is sacrificed once more for thinness.

Four-pronged ARM-based Mac rumor channels Rasputin

Re: ha!

It wasn't that difficult last time sound and is even easier now with an App Store. People could live with it if a MacBook Air had e.g. 20 hours battery life.

Microsoft Cortana EULA contains the Greatest Disclaimer of ALL TIME

Re: Well,

She's rather underdressed for the weather...

You've got Mail! But someone else is reading it in Outlook for Android

Actually it was pretty much invisible - settings files, caches, data like emails, and other things which there's no real reason to share between apps stayed in their own private directory on the SD card and photos, music, and so on were readable by all apps.

External SD cards formatted as FAT don't have to be encrypted, nevertheless the OS can still enforce access control on the files so only the app that stored the files can read them. Symbian managed it.

It won't help someone determined to get the files off (copy files off the card with a computer), but it will stop malware on the phone itself.

Apple plots HOME INVASION at WWDC

Re: Apple ditch vendor lock-in.. for user lock-out.

Presumably we'd have lo wait for the IoT equivalent of DLNA to come about if people are to avoid lock in. Something which in all probability Apple won't support either.

Tech that we want (but they never seem to give us)

A baby translator would be constantly saying this all day...

"Something suboptimal has been detected, the assistance of a primary caregiver is requested to correct it."

Re: Print dialogs

In addition...

Printer drivers that don't use metric tonnes as the unit of measurement for the file size, can cope with something exotic like changing the connection between USB, cable, or Wifi without having to reconfigure/reinstall everything, and don't pop up useless information often to people who aren't even printing at the moment.

Printer dialogs that use every print opportunity to decide that the user wants to go back to printing in colour unless they find where the checkbox is hidden.

Printers that don't get through ink like a fish gets through water.

Look, pal, it’s YOUR password so it’s YOUR fault that it's gone AWOL

Re: It's 2014 and websites still can't generate login certificates...

There's no real reason why certificates for just one website can't be shown in the password manager, only instead of a password in the password column there could be an icon of a certificate.

It's 2014 and websites still can't generate login certificates...

What's wrong with the likes of e-bay, Amazon, or banks generating a certificate to allow access when you first open an account, which the browser stores, and from then on no need for passwords at all because your browser offers up the certificate when you go to the website.

Then there's the problem of getting in when you've deleted your certificate or got another computer, which could be solved by auto-generating a 50 character password (hashed and salted of course) and telling the owner to print it out and file it away with other important papers. Just making people treat something in the same way as other important things usually means they end up taking it seriously.

Just about anything is an improvement on letting people using simple passwords because they can't be bothered to remember complicated ones or allowing any computer in the world infinite attempts to guess your password and get at your money or enough of your info to steal your ID.

French teen fined for illegal drone flight

I can't believe that there's more bureaucracy in France than in Spain. People might follow the rules more in France than in Spain, but that's something altogether different.

Google Fiber says it's happy to let Netflix onto its 'fast lane' for free

I wonder if they'll be as happy to come to the same arrangement with Apple, who are currently negotiating with ISPs.

Redmond slow to fix IE 8 zero day, says 'harden up' while U wait

Re: Good!

Intranets, Outlook and Help (using the MSHTML control) are attack vectors too. People shouldn't use them either on a server, but it happens.

If the EOL is July 2015, then it should be supported till then. Why trust a company which doesn't fully support its server platform?

Re: Good!

Could this be called supporting IE8 though? It's just a workaround to mitigate the attack, it doesn't fix the problem.

Unless MS unlink IE from the OS and make IEs9-11 available for Server 2003 and Vista, they should be supporting IE8 until Server 2003's end of line date. They've made their bed, now they should lie in it.

China to become world's No 1 economy. And we still can't see why

Employee share options

Not that I've had many opportunities to buy them at the companies I've worked at, but when I've had the opportunity I didn't and if I'd had had the opportunity at the other companies I wouldn't. I don't trust 'em enough, having a job for life ended years ago.

As for China not getting into debt, Fiat currency is Fiat currency, people are people, most people get loans if they can, and China's housing bubble appears to be popping if you believe what you read.

PC makers! You, between Microsoft and the tablet market! Get DOWN!

They already have, RT stands for Rubbish Tip.

Multiplayer Elite to debut on May 30th

Re: There is only one Elite

Not really, every port had its own peculiarities.

Blast from the past

The original Elites, including the Arch one, are available here to load into your emulator of choice...

http://www.iancgbell.clara.net/elite/game.htm

JJ Abrams and Star Wars: I've got a bad feeling about this

On the subject of lens flares, let's see if he can top his previous best of 826 in Star Trek Into Darkness...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIF14mwaSKI

Microsoft Surface 3 Pro: Flip me over, fondle me up

It's their 3rd try and I'm still not seeing what problem this is supposed to solve

If I need to consume media do I need an expensive device to do it on?

If I need to do productivity do I need to type on an unstable keyboard with an unstable kickstand?

A netbook still seems infinitely more practical.

'Microsoft Research slides' show touch-enabled Office - report

Re: I'm guessing whomever came up with this....

Upvoted for "shit-eating thunder-twunts".

Microsoft’s 'FIRST NOKIA' arrives at £89

Re: is it just me...

Certainly not the quality of trolling.

Silverlight finally becomes popular ... with crims

XP

Will Silverlight be updated on XP or will the XP version be left unsupported like IE just because it runs on XP?

Cisco reboots PC with $1500 'Scandafornian' Android fondleslab

Cisco late to the competition to build the world's most niche device

Unless you can watch it slide slowly out of your hands and shatter on the floor like Intel's effort then there's no way that Cisco can compete.

SAVE NET NEUTRALITY, urges Steve Wozniak in open letter to bigwigs

AKA LLU

He wants to see ISPs rent out internet connections as if the customers "own those wires" and can do whatever they wish with them.

I thought US commentards just liked to moan but that line succinctly illustrates for the rest of us just how behind the times the US is.

Cloud computing is FAIL and here’s why

Re: Sorry, but you are incorrect Alistair.

The point I failed to make was that instead of selling support to ordinary consumers, companies often release almost identical versions every so often (Adobe CSx, Office 2007/10/13) or switch to a subscription model (Creative Cloud or Office 365). The subscription model also locks people out of their files if validation goes wrong or they stop subscribing.

What they should do is throw in support for 2-3 years then charge, which would also have avoided the problems with Adobe's online validation (you always have the right to run the software but not downloading updates for a day if there's a problem which the authentication servers would probably have gone unnoticed) and Microsoft's XP EOL (it's up to the customer to decide if they want to stop being supported and they live with the consequences).

Re: Sorry, but you are incorrect Alistair.

The experts should go back to selling good old fashioned support contracts instead of nobbling everybody's local OSes and software and giving it a nice name.

XP's EOL came about because income from selling XP (nowadays 0) came up against the cost of providing support for it. If MS did offer support contracts for every XP owner (not just a select few enterprises), everybody would be happy. People who want to stay on XP but also want support would pay for it and people who don't want support and don't want to upgrade to something newer either would only have themselves to blame when their precious photos get cryptolockered.

If you tried to sue them for deceptive advertising, their lawyers would argue that even a broken clock is right twice a day.

Why all the complaining?

Haven't all the creative types got used to this already? After all, they've experienced .mac, MobileMeh, and iCloud.

(I am rather thankful that if you are an iCloud refusnik then the latest versions of OS X are still usable and unsullied, unlike, say, Windows 8.)

Users folder vanished after OS X 10.9.3 update? Here's a fix

Re: Looks like it was a cock up

Quite odd that iTunes can make the /Users folder disappear. It shouldn't really have rights to do that.

I didn't have the problem by the way.

GCHQ grants security clearance to Samsung's Knox mobe security

Now pay attention El Reg

Q's kit is an ordinary looking Sony Xperia with a few minor modifications.

Crypto-guru slams 'NSA-proof' tech, says today's crypto is strong enough

Re: he has a point

His cryptlib uses OpenSSL?

Who's going to look after the computers that look after our parents?

Me, I suppose

After all, I already look after my parents' computers.

It'll just be another part of looking after my parents when that time comes.

FSF slams Mozilla for 'shocking' Firefox DRM ankle-grab

Re: A partnership with Adobe

They did partner with Adobe for other plug-ins and this new plug-in is not different. Browser makers worked with each other and third parties to work out the several different revisions of NPAPI (which is what Flash uses).

Apple updates OS X Mavericks, iTunes, Podcasts for iOS

On the other hand it looks like the number of people who are suspicious of the cloud is so non-negligible that they've decided to put USB sync in. This is good news, isn't it?

Xiaomi launches Mi Pad fondleslablette – your (legal) move, Apple

Only half a photo

What does the bottom half of the tablet look like? If it's just got the three Android soft buttons I'll be very disappointed.