Posts by Danny 14

China wants encryption cracked on demand because ... er, terrorism

Re: Well, that didn't take long

How is this any different from RIPA? At least you know where you stand with the chinese.

Gaming souk Steam spews credit card, personal info in Xmas Day security meltdown

Re: But you read

Refunding a cc charge isnt an issue generally UNLESS you go over the CC limit. Then it become fun filing a note on your experian file and getting various flags removed. It is a fecking trawl.

Surface Pro 4: Will you go the F**K to SLEEP?

that's because the quality of small screens was poor. A good quality 10" screen is better than a poor quality 15" screen.

Dell with the keyboard battery pack will last 9 hours easily with quite some remaining. And 9 hours being USED in a classroom environment too. With just the tablet undocked you will get about 6 hours constant use.

Re: They aren't popular

that's great if your environment is mac friendly but on my (domain) network there wont be any macs joining (we don't have terminal services so no thin client access etc). We don't have any mac infrastructure so that will be pricey for us to change. Some of our users want a small tablet to "do stuff" out an about with but also want a keyboard to type at times, they also need to connect to the domain so that pretty much means something similar to the surface pro.

I'll give you that for "most users" they would be better with a thin and lightweight laptop but a mac isn't the answer to everyone.

I have found the dell tablet options to be a cheaper robust alternative.

Re: Win 10 Tablet mode

I bought a linx 8 last year on black Friday for £30. The specs are very underwhelming, its a dual core with only 1gb ram and 32gb of storage but it had a HDMI out and a micro USB (plus a uSD card). Turns out it runs 720p KODI very well and due to it being "slim" sits nicely behind a TV. As such it never gets switched off and runs as a media centre (rpi2 better "value" now of course)

As a tablet it is too slow (probably the RAM really) and hasn't enough storage (a uSD isn't really an alternative for installing apps onto) but I can see a more up-to-date version being very usable indeed.

Re: All quiet on the western front

So what had that got to do with the sp4? Are you saying linux runs well on a touch screen tablet? Ive never tried linux of a touchscreen keyboardless device.

Re: Hurray, Merry Christmas

Asus t100 runs windows 10 quite well and costs about 220. There was a 1800 version of the sp4. Holy hell.

No £160m for you: BT to receive termination notice from Cornwall before Christmas

How will it be a waste if they have a) reclaimed costs and b) brought staff back in house?

Drunk? Need a slash? Avoid walls in Hackney

Re: Missing the point

@Dadmin sounds like Glasgow on a sunday morning.

just pee at an angle then. Not really hard even when drunk.

At least 10 major loyalty card schemes compromised in industry-wide scam

Re: I feel left out

normally I would agree, except I have a Sol Melia card. You get points if you stay in the hotel chain and we pretty much always take a holiday in a Sol Melia hotel. Year before last we spent our accumulated 100,000 points (about 10k of holidays worth) on Christmas presents, we got about £300 of kit back. We would have gone to the hotels anyway so it wasn't like I went out of the way to get them (and Quidco cashback is compatible with the card as the points are added by the hotel when you get there not the purchase). The more points you get the more perks you get in the hotel too so we now get free late checkouts, free wifi, free bottles of water on check in etc - again nothing too heavy but little extras for what we would have gone for anway (late checkout is great for canary island flights for example and can save a hundred quid. Free wifi is also useful)

I don't bother with pub/subway/Tesco cards although I know many people who hoard Tesco vouchers and spend them on offers when they come out (brother in law got big discounts on Disney hotels) but you have to be fairly savvy to get those deals.

Not sure on airmiles/avios/whatever they are. I did register some a long time ago (did a one-world ticket around the world backpacking) but didn't do anything with the points - still registered to an address that is now bulldozed....

Re: But why

I do indeed. Many many years ago I used to be part of the Air Cadets. On the little book you have is your NI number and during the really boring times (usually waiting for your flight) you read your 3822 from cover to cover. I memorised my NI number many times (and pretty much the entirety of the 3822)

Re: My PI

PI2 is better, the extra RAM alone makes a difference.

Re: The Internet...

China has a great firewall, Trump is just jealous of it.

I for one welcome the US and its 80% of worldwide spammers being walled in.

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Star Wars Special Editions

Re: mneh

And stupid scenes such as someone falling off when they are speeding into mos eisley. Or the frog thing eating on the pan out of Jabbas palace. Idiotic music scenes in Jedi (complete with cgi closeups to hide the unfinished work in the background). Daft party at the end of Jedi (because the planetary governors went "the emperor is dead, better give up control now")

Stupid additions that have no reason to be there.

Congress strips out privacy protections from CISA 'security' bill

Re: Great Idea -- Cutting the internet, building a wall, etc.

secession for the forward thinkers? Not sure which states this would work for though. Washington? Boston?

Re: What fucked up approach to democracy

Veto and publically admonish those who tack the bill on. Give full support the for original and full disclosure - that's the way to get rid of things.

If it doesn't get passed then sit the blame on those who poisoned the original.

Press Backspace 28 times to own unlucky Grub-by Linux boxes

Re: Almost possible to use grub password

that's an awful lot of paranoia for some pr0n.

Hollywood given two months to get real about the price of piracy

Re: Reminds me of...

not quite the same thing. The limit was raised to help people with injuries as his incorrect bowling action was acknowledged by an independent medical panel. So whilst Hair was correct (and was supported by the ICC) the game was changed to benefit people in the future so not the same.

Hair didn't agree (personally) with the decision and called Muralitharan out publically, that got his knuckles rapped by the ICC.

In reality the rule change was a nightmare as it now made borderline "chucking" harder to umpire (it was previously "obvious") however, the rule change was originally in good faith.

It would be a shame if his family met an unfortunate accident whilst out hiking, walking, watching a movie. Now just take this briefcase and retire, walk away. Don't worry about the ongoing legal case, we have another judge lined up, ready and waiting.

Let's shut down the internet: Republicans vacate their mind bowels

Re: None of you morons

Actually Trump et al has put me onto US politics. Previously I couldn't have cared less, however the more I heard trump speak the more I wondered if this was commonplace in the US.

By Christ it frightened me.

Trump is not a stupid man per se, he is a very intelligent businessman and a showman. But he must have some sort of belief in what he says, and that is very very worrying. I can just imagine a briefing (if he was president) where "scientists" and academics are told to simply "sort the internet" or "break the encryption now" etc and simply fires them for academic team mk2 when they try to explain why it cannot be done.

It also worries me the amount of people who agree and believe in what he says; never mind his utterly medieval views on religion or womens rights.

Re: "Vacated their mind bowels" - a lovely phrase

reg might not be bashing the democrats but they haven't gone full retard yet. Trump just went full retard. Never go full retard.

Dixons Carphone CEO dances on rivals’ graves, swipes share from survivors

Re: Comet

I had a job thrown my way with an overheating laptop. Cleaned out the fans, vents and so forth but I needed some thermal compound and it was 7pm (wanted to get the job done). PC world had some for £5 on the shelf, sure it was more expensive than ebay but at least they HAD some at not TOO extortionate price (I wasn't paying anyway). I must admit I hadn't been into a PC world in years (didn't know they coexisted with currys now) and was surprised that what was on the shelf was worth a look - something I wouldn't have dreamed of in the past. Prices were more expensive but not ludicrously so (and good enough in a pinch or hurry).

For shit'n'giggles I also looked at HDMI cables, sure enough there were £20 ones but there were also "couple of quid" ones too - a massive change from previous years.

I wasn't harassed by salesmen either, sure they were about but I only got asked once, and to be honest it was when I had done a complete circle around the peripherals aisle so not as bad as a carpet shop...

Google chap bakes Amiga emulator into Chrome

Re: Can't run the emulator at the moment

I was wondering this. Do you have to source your own bios? That was the usual sticking point of the emulators.

Re: "The emulator ships with other apps, too."

Frontier, many hours wasted using the "hyperspace glitch" to get to the far side of the galaxy. If only the internet was around back then to stop me wasting my time on searching for elusive far out settlements....

Deuteros and Millenium 2.2 were other good timewasters.

EE recalls all 'Power Bar' USB batteries due to 'fire safety risk'

Re: Money back?

The EE powerbar was a free (I think you needed to send a text to order one that cost "something" - about 30p ish) service even for PAYG. You got a 2600mah pack and could swap it in a store.

So effectively if you got one you have a £20 voucher for your troubles.

After Death Star II blew: Dissecting the tech of Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens

Re: Blocking lightsabers..

mandalorian iron and cortosis are two "commonly" used methods from memory. Im sure there are more.

Indeed, the books span 40,000 years+ and technology from 20,000 years ago isn't that much different.

Re: It's not that unlikely

Its a JJ Abrams film, the tech is old because it has travelled through time. The occupants had no idea about the empire war in this timeline because the emperor is a Rotarian and works part time in a kitten orphanage back in their timeline.

The old XWings didn't provide enough lens flare so JJ tweaked the new ones. BB8 was the offspring of R2D2 and the deathstar when R2 "probed" the deathstar.

Kylo ren is luke skywalker (alternate) and the older luke skywalker is patting R2. They will need to meet and forgive/play pazaak over some blue drink.

Tickets are booked for Friday after work, cant wait!

Old jet bits, Vader's motorbike gear, sonic oddness: Hats off to Star Wars' creative heroes

Re: Nope, not gonna do it

Its an Abrams film so it will have lens flare. The millenium falcon travelled in time where ouke killed vader and the emperor before turning sith lord (Kylo Ren). Leia wasnt his sister in that one so they had kids.

R2D2 made the deathstar pregnant on episode 4 when he 'inserted' his probe. BB8 was ejected just before it blew up.

Makes it sound even more impressive.

Re: Sloppy research El Reg

Well hung junk was a different star wars themed film. It had more slave leia action.

Re: Sloppy research El Reg

There were some good parts in the "new" films. The bad parts usually appeared when they tried too hard. Too much slapstick (Jar Jar, R2 setting fire to things and overtly flying too much, wookie silliness etc etc). Ironically, if chunks were CUT from the films they would be better for it.

I wasn't quite old enough to watch the first one at the flicks but did watch empire a couple of years later (and Jedi). NOTHING else was talked about at school, playground was full of jedi, sith and tie vs xwing battles.

Even nowadays my kids are into star wars (through none of my fault honestly, it is just their friends etc). We have tickets for Friday when they finish school (as do almost all the class). Not many films (or series) can garner such interest across generations.

But it isn't just the films, there have been some epic computer games from XWing vs Tie fighter (and of course, xwing and tie fighter before that) - XWing alliance is still played to this day. Knight of the Old republic was a fantastic piece of work (HK-47 being a legendary part of the game). Kyle Katarn (cant remember the game name) was my first foray into FPS star wars (I wasn't bothered about dark forces), there were a couple of other FPS jedi games but their names escape me.

edit: I did watch the EP1,2 &3 at the cinema but haven't watched them more than once since, they were OK but in a way that "im thirsty and don't like Dr Pepper but there wasn't anything else in the shop" way.

Janet pulls open network info for good after DDoSers exploit it

hah yes, anonymud for us back in UMIST.

Ashley Madison blackmailers try again with snail mail

At 4167 dollars im guessing its his annual gas and electric bill.

Adobe: We locked our customers in the cloud and out poured money

Re: Legal extortion works!

Well they didnt get my money. Our 5k per year site license was going to work out at 19k due to the new model so we canceled it.

Hundreds of thousands of engine immobilisers hackable over the net

Re: why the mike?

bad guys ALWAYS spill their entire plan as soon as they can, so the microphone will pick that up! Columbo will use that recording later as he already knew the criminals identity and needed to pad for another hour.

Tablet computer zoom error saw plane fly 13 hours with 46cm hole

Re: Ground Control to Major Tom...

ATC wont have all the details of your load to hand. Sure then can look it up. I also doubt anyone was physically watching from the tower, approach is generally scrutinised more (if someone is to bother)

Re: "A tablet computer contributed to that misunderstanding"

The tablet isn't at fault at all, the pilot was unprepared and possibly not trained in using his EFB material. Books aren't at fault because a pilot spills coffee on them.

Re: Goooooooo Bill

adaptive zoom might add and remove information at various levels as appropriate. What is the point zooming out and getting a cluttered screen of garbage?

It is the pilots fault for not being prepared for the flight.

And the reasons for buying new IT gear are as follows ...

Re: if you want to see long life equipment...

bought 4 HP2300 when I started here over 13 years ago, 2 are still going, I needed to bin one recently as someone broke the top cover off cleanly and I couldn't find the bits to glue back on. Our HP 4000 is still going, I think the date on the back is 1999 (it is faded). The whole printer is brittle at the back as it sat in a window for years. The Ethernet connector is a bit iffy but it is a daily workhorse, toner is very cheap and still manufactured (PlanIT toner). I don't even buy service kits, I just rough up the rubber when it smooths out.

On the flip side, our M401DN has had a repair under warranty for a feed issue and our CP5525 is always breaking down (don't mention the bad design of transfer belt).

Re: That photo

We have a windows 98 machine that runs an ancient denford milling machine. Since it takes DXF files it has never been swapped as that would cost more money for a difference licence. Files are moved on floppy disk from a usb floppy on the network to the PC (obviously stand alone). I have deliberately not taken a backup of the 400Mb drive or even bothered to look at the internals as I want it to die. But it wont die. It does spend most of its time shut down and is powered up only when needed (it is a dell machine, one with a map of Ireland as the Dell logo)

Donald Trump wants Bill Gates to 'close the Internet', Jeff Bezos to pay tax

Re: pull the wool off his supporter's eyes

Not only that but when asked for clarification he also meant to include American born Muslims that were currently outside the country.

That would be fun for the family returning from Haj etc.

A nod towards Bush junior who advocates tagging and monitoring ALL foreign visitors.

Windows Phone won't ever succeed, says IDC

Re: Is IE still cack on it?

Apps tend to want more permissions than you would expect, certainly more than going to a website.

Putin's Russia outlaws ECHR judgments after mass surveillance case

Cornelius Fudge: Laws can be changed if necessary, Dumbledore!

Star Wars Battlefront: Is this the shooter you’re looking for?

I tried to use CDKeys once. They wanted me to send them a scan of photo ID or a passport.

Hahahahah.No.

They wouldn't refund so I claimed it back through paypal instead.

Facebook to Belgian data cops: Block all the cookies across the web, then!

Re: Block all the cookies

It wouldn't kill the web. Try surfing individual sites in privacy mode, the internet doesn't suddenly die. If I'm using cashback sites I spawn each search in a fresh privacy mode so I always get the cashback, impossible to do so if you surf normally.

Re: so...

but all the other sites that sold your data to facebook has been corroborated with your friends celebrating your birthday, anniversaries, holidays (with pictures so they identify you).