Posts by qwertyuiop

User needed 40-minute lesson in turning it off and turning it on again

Re: Can you hold down the power button

It's an HP EliteBook 820 - about three (?) years old. Is that old enough?

(Chosen by my employer, not me.)

Re: Can you hold down the power button

...it's the big key with 'Enter' printed on it ...

Hmmm... I've worked in IT for longer than many of the readers have been alive so I hope I know at least a little bit about it. However I'm looking at my keyboard and I can't see a key with "Enter" written on it. Should I just continue using the big L-shaped key with a bent left-pointing arrow on it instead?

New measurement alert. The Pogba: 1,200Pg = NHS annual budget

Re: Value

And don't forget that as soon as Brexit is complete we'll have an extra 3.92 pogbas a week to spend on the NHS!

It must be true - Boris said so!

UK fintech firm reaches for Ireland Brexit escape hatch

Re: @johnaaronrose

...Or take it up to 1% of GDP for extra bragging rights...

So that's effectively a cut then given that the economy will probably tank.

(And, before somebody weighs in with "Oh there may be a few difficult years but then it will pick up", maybe that's true - but how long will it take to recover the ground lost in those "few" years?)

British jobs for British people: UK tech rejects PM May’s nativist hiring agenda

...from countries so poor... - so they're less likely to be from any of the other 27 EU states and more likely to be from ROTW, If that's the case then we already had the ability to control how many came into the country becuase they weren't covered by FOM.

I totally agree. The real problem is that if it turns out that staying in the EU really is the best option* then what government would be brave enough to go back to the electorate with that proposition?

@Tom I don't think it's as simple as that. The problem is that those who voted to leave had a huge variety of reasons for doing so and are therefore a disparate group. They wanted everything from "soft Brexit" based possibly on the Norwegian or Swiss models through to the hardest possible Brexit severing absolutely every kind of tie with the EU and setting up deals (eventually) with every individual nation in the world. There was also everything in-between. Those of us who voted to say had a pretty consistent view by contrast.

Given the huge range of views of the Brexiteers how do you possibly negotiate? Which particular constituency do you try to please? Go too soft and you'll alienate the hard liners, go too hard and you'll alienate the soft Bexiteers.

Roboats hunt 'mines' and 'submarines' on Ex Unmanned Warrior

Re: Machiavelli on troops

Broadly speaking I'd agree, but there are some notable exceptions. The Ghurkas have an outstanding record of service in the British Army going back almost 200 years, and the Légion étrangère (the vast majority of whose members aren't French) have an equally outstanding record in serving France.

Command line coffee machine: Hacker shuns app so he can stay at the keyboard for longer

Re: I feel inadequate

"...and two knobs.." fnaar!

Mine's the one with a copy of Viz in the pocket...

Astronauts on long-haul space flights risk getting 'space brains'

What problem?

Haven't they heard of tin-foil hats? Problem solved!

An anniversary to remember: The world's only air-to-air nuke was fired on 19 July, 1957

Re: @Phil O'Sophical

Ummm... the Panama Canal opened in 1914, so I doubt they were considering nukes as a way of building it!

Cycling paramedics in epic rush to save patient who ate stale sandwich

Re: Do you have a life threatening condition?

On a point of pedantry, if you are genuinely allergic to gluten (actually it's an intolerance not an allergy) then eating something that contains gluten is NOT life threatening. You ARE going to have an unpleasant 24 - 48 hours afterwards and will be unwell for another 3 - 6 months but you are NOT going to die. I speak as somebody who was diagnosed with Coeliac disease 25 years ago and who has been following a gluten-free diet ever since. (Don't get me started on hipsters who choose to follow a gluten-free diet...)

But otherwise, yes, I agree with you.

Linus Torvalds in sweary rant about punctuation in kernel comments

REM?

Surely the way to indicate a comment is with an asterisk in column 8?

Data protection, Brexit and campaigners: Privacy policy? Eh?

Re: Note to author

The article comes from Amberhawk Training's own website: the words "Amberhawk Training" in the title are a link and it's explicitly credited at the end of the article. Therefore in the original context writing in the first person is entirely appropriate. I've got no idea how it comes to be on El Reg - maybe they nicked it, maybe there's an agreement to share content.

I happen to know that it was written by Dr. Chris Pounder who is one of the UK's leading experts on UK Data Protection law. I've had the pleasure of being taught by him and of hearing him speak several times. Even if I hadn't known that it would have taken about one second to click on the title link or three seconds to Google "Amberhawk Training" and find out.

South Korea to upgrade national stereo defence system for US$16m

Time to get this out of storage

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-wall-of-sound

Bank in the UK? Plans afoot to make YOU liable for bank fraud

Why do you think an over the counter transaction is more secure?

Some years ago my wife had her bag stolen while we were in a restaurant. It contained all of her bank and credit cards, and a cheque book (don't ask!). We reported the theft to the police and to the bank as soon as it was discovered - which would have been 1 hour at most after it took place. Bank took all the details, sent a "Loss Questionnaire" to complete and said the card was cancelled. A replacement card arrived within a couple of days.

Imagine her horror two weeks later when she withdrew some cash from an ATM and checked her balance only to discover it was almost zero rather than the fairly healthy sum she expected.

Subsequent investigation showed that somebody - either the bag thief or whoever they'd sold the cards on to - had made repeated withdrawals by cheque made out to "Self" over the counter in branches of the bank. Each withdrawal had been for more than the card limit, which means that checks should have been made each time. Not only that but more than one withdrawal had been made each day which (in the case of cheques to self) is supposed to be impossible.

All of that in branches of the bank - so much for security!

Database admin banned from Oxford Street for upskirt filming

On the other hand...

Jimmy Saville

Dave Lee Travis

Paul Gadd (Gary Glitter)

Max Clifford

*NOT* immigrants

BIGGER perverts than this Bulgarian or does the fact that they're British make it OK?

SpaceX is go for US military GPS sat launch, smashes ULA monopoly

Re: Reassuringly Expensive...

...ULA has long traded on it's (admittedly very good) ability to use Russian rocket technology to achieve its launch-success record...

TFTFY

Universal Credit at high risk of cyber-attack, fraud from the outset

Re: One question : are those "responsible" still in place ?

"Had this monstrosity gone live..."

Ummm... it has gone live, albeit in a very restricted way.

Re: Why this does not surprise me

Hmmm... I'm reminded of a very old (WW2) joke about two former school chums who meet up in a bar. One is a Captain in the Army, the other a Wing Commander in the RAF.

They talk about their different "jobs" and the Captain says he would love to see a Spitfire (I told you it was an old joke!), so the Wing Commander arranges for him to visit his squadron.

When the Captain arrives the Wingco takes him out and shows him the beautiful work of art that is a Spitfire and they climb up and look inside the cockpit. He explains the use of the various instruments and controls. The Captain looks astonished and then turns to him and says "What? You have to deal with all of that on your own? In battle? And no competent NCO to help you?".

Domino's trials trundling four-wheeled pizza delivery bot

The end of an era

This could mark the end of whole "pizza delivery man" genre of pr0n...

UK plans robo-car tests on motorways in 2017

Re: Could be worse

"I've not read the budget..."

Ummm... apart from Gideon and staff in the Treasury nobody has read the budget yet.

Used a cell phone in NYC? The cops probably tracked you

Re: to protect and to serve

If I've done nothing wrong you've got no reason to track me!

Cash'n'Carrion restocks atomic keyrings

Re: I wish the NRC didn't suck. I'd love to get one,

If you could disguise it as a gun you'd have no problem getting it in the States!

Three-years-late fit-to-work IT tool will cost taxpayers £76m

Re: @<shakes head> Whaaat?

Brown is often castigated for selling our gold cheap, but few people understand why he did it. See this piece from The Telegraph (that well known supporter of Gordon Brown) - http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/thomaspascoe/100018367/revealed-why-gordon-brown-sold-britains-gold-at-a-knock-down-price/. So, it turns out it was yet another bail-out of the banks!

Swiss try to wind up Apple with $25k dumb-watch

Re: Dumb Watch?

dumb adjective

temporarily unable or unwilling to speak.

"she stood dumb while he poured out a stream of abuse"

synonyms: mute, unable to speak, without the power of speech; speechless, tongue-tied, wordless, silent, at a loss for words, voiceless, inarticulate, taciturn, uncommunicative, untalkative, tight-lipped, close-mouthed, saying nothing; informalmum; technicalaphasic, aphonic

"he was born deaf and dumb"

I think it probably IS dumb! (I say this as a fan of real, mechanical watches.)

'Hypocritical' Europe is just as bad as the USA for data protection

Re: The scum leading the dumb

I know I'm not the first to say it but it's true nonetheless - you don't find a needle in a haystack by making the haystack bigger.

One depressing fact that has emerged from almost every terrorist attack in the western world since 9/11 is that the bad guys were already on the radar of the security services. It's just that the data was overlooked or its seriousness wasn't appreciated. So what's the proposed solution to the problem? Hoover up even more data because obviously we'll find what we already had if we have to search an even bigger volume of crap.

Here are the God-mode holes that gave TrueCrypt audit the slip

But how do I know I can trust Veracrypt?

NHS site defaced with screed protesting Syrian conflict

Re: NHS?

Yeah, 'cos private sector sites are so efficient and never get hacked.

I mean, it's not like the Syrian Electronic Army hacked BBC News, the Associated Press, National Public Radio, CBC News, Al Jazeera, Financial Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Washington Post, Syrian satellite broadcaster Orient TV, al-Arabia TV, Human Rights Watch and sundry US defence contractors...

Oh... wait...

(Disclaimer: I don't work for the NHS or the public sector)

PINs easily pinched with iPhone-attached thermal imaging kit

Re: They won't steal my PIN

I'm with you on this one.

It seems to rely on the fact that it can recover the information for up to a minute after I've touched the keypad. Fair enough, but I don't touch the numeric keys just to enter my pin. I also touch them to enter the amount I want to withdraw, so in addition to the PIN there will also be the keys corresponding to the withdrawal amount.

Even if somebody photographed the keys over my shoulder (which I might notice!) immediately after I'd entered my PIN then they only have the four digits - they've still got to get them in the right order within three tries!

FAIL on all counts.

Apple's AirDrop abused by 'cyber-flashing' London train perv

Re: moralism and the bubblewrap generation

What does the victim's age have to do with this? Why do you find it so hard to accept that the incident genuinely distressed her?

In cases like this it's easy for us - men in particular - to laugh it off and say that it was only a dick pic, but that doesn't mean that the woman concerned wasn't genuinely upset by this. Maybe she was a rape victim; maybe she had been sexually abused as a child. There are lots of reasons why this could have been distressing for her. Nothing to do with moralism or bubblewrap.

Abort, abort! Metal-on-metal VIOLENCE as Google's robo-car nearly CRASHES

Re: Presumably...

One event is definitely insufficient data to go making assertions about randomness. In true randomness sometimes they'll do the same thing sometimes they'll do the opposite.

What you actually want - they always take actions that ensure they don't crash - requires cooperation, not randomness.

LastPass got hacked: Change your master password NOW

Re: Enjoying the thought...

Which leaves us with the painful question of where you store the password to your password store!

Apple store staffers probed like 'criminals', lawsuit claims

Re: what..

Yeah, but you have to remember what thin profit margins there are on iProducts and the negligible profit the company as a whole makes. That one iPod Nano could make all the difference!

Google to axe TXT reminders for Calendar events

Re: SMS messages on Android

What version of Android are you on? It certainly sounds a lots less functional than the one I use!

I just looked at my message log and picked one at random. When I "clicked" (touched?) to open it not only was the message displayed but at the top of the screen was a handy little telephone icon which enables me to call that person.

Seems pretty functional to me! (I'm on a Samsung S4 running Android "KitKat" (4.4.2).)

RAF radar station crew begs public for cash to buy gaming LAN kit

Re: *ULTRA* reliable!

<sigh>@TonyJ, it's my own fault for not using the Joke Alert icon. I didn't actually think that it was the same system...

*ULTRA* reliable!

came online in April 1939, and as the last operating example, claims to be "the world's oldest [continually operating] radar site"

Bloody hell! 76 years with no downtime - that's amazing!

Angry Austrian could turn Europe against the US - thanks to data

IANAL but given that Safe Harbor (sic) is an agreement between the US and the EU then the judgement will apply to the UK as well.

Crap employers banned from enforcing backdoor crim records checks

Re: And what about?

Which is fine until the government turns around and says "Oh, you were unemployed and turned down a perfectly good job offer? Your benefits will be sanctioned (ie. forfeited) for the next 3 months!".

Nowadays people don't always have free choice in accepting or rejecting jobs.

NO ONE is making money from YouTube, even Google – report

Ummm... no. You're NOT buying the tunes from Apple, at best you're renting them. If you don't believe me then here's an experiment:

Go to your favourite music shop and purchase some music on CD or vinyl. Now go home and listen to it. Listen to it in your car, your office, wherever. Decide you really like this music and your friend would appreciate hearing it at his/her leisure. Lend the CD/vinyl to them to listen to wherever they want. Eventually (hopefully!) they return the CD/vinyl to you. You listen to it some more. Eventually you die (sorry, but it's going to happen to all of us). In your will you leave thhe CD/vinyl to somebody you like so that they can listen to it as much as they want, or lend it to their friends. When they die they too can bequeath it to somebody.

Now repeat the experiment with music "purchased" from Apple. You can listen to it wherever you have the technology to get access to it - great. Now try lending it to a friend... or bequeathing it in your will...

Maybe I'm old-fashioned - actually I *AM* old-fashioned - but to me "purchasing" something means that it's mine to use and dispose of as I wish, not as the "seller" dictates.

HOLY SEA SNAILS! Their TEETH are strong enough to build a plane

Re: At the size of a human hair...

You're right, it's so exciting watching individual cars leaving at well spaced intervals so that they're effectively "racing" all on their own. I particularly enjoy watching the high-speed overtaking. Oh...

World's largest ship swallows 900 MEGATINS of baked beans

Shoe-rly shum mishtake!

we've calculated that 156 million pairs of shoes ... would stretch a mind-boggling 52km

Surely that would depend on what size the shoes are? 156 million pairs of children's size 3s aren't going to stretch as far as 156 million pairs of men's size 14s.

UKIP website TAKES A KIP, but for why?

Re: They arent a serious party..

And I suppose you think 60% of voters in clacton are racists/homophones/whatever?

I would infer from the view you express that you're a UKIP supporter or at the very least sympathetic to them. You therefore probably agree with Nigel Farrage's recently expressed view that people working in the NHS should be tested to ensure that they speak English well.

With that in mind I suggest you go away and look up what "homophone" actually means!

Re: Hey 123-reg

Ummm... the ICO deals with Data Protection Act and Freedom of Information Act matters.

UKIP isn't a government department, local authority or other public body and so FOIA doesn't apply here

The DPA relates to personal data. I would struggle to see how a domain registration is personal data when it is registered to an organisation not an individual. Even if the registration is in an individual's name then it is in the public domain anyway as the domain registration is a public record.

Don't really see anything here for the ICO to do.

Brit gun nut builds working sniper rifle at home out of scrap metal

Re: Funny sizes?

Really sorry if I'm being even more stupid than usual, but I still don't understand.

I appreciate that the conversion factor could result in some funny sizes in a different set of units, but if you're European (other than British) you work in metric by definition so why would you choose 7.62mm rather than 7mm or 8mm? Similarly, if you're a Brit or a Yank, you probably work in inches so why would you choose .203 or .303?

Funny sizes?

There are clearly a number of El Reg readers out there who know a great deal about firearms so I wonder if one of them could answer a question that has always puzzled me: why are gun calibres (almost) always such odd sizes?

For example, in this article we're dealing with .303"; why that "odd" 3/1000 of an inch? Wouldn't .3 be just as good - and surely easier to make? I can just about go for .45, but .44? Or .22? Why are standard NATO round 7.62mm or 5.56mm? Wouldn't 7.5mm or evn 8mm and 5.5mm or 6mm be easier to manufacture.

Please - no flamey answers, it's a genuine question.

Norks: We might be aggressive but we didn't hack Sony!

Norks? Probably not

I'm sceptical that it was the Norks, not because I doubt their capability but because a lot of the behaviours around the attack don't speak to me of a nation-state attack. Posting a picture of a skeleton to the company's machines? Posting stolen content to Pastebin? Sounds more like your avaerage hacker. Good piece in Wired about it - http://www.wired.com/2014/12/sony-hack-what-we-know/

TalkTalk email goes titsup FOR DAYS. Cheapo telco warns: Changing password WON'T fix it

Re: WISP (Which ISP)

...gas from Gas Board, electric from Electricity Board...

Whereabouts in the UK does your mother-in-law live? I thought that all of the UK had privatised gas and electricity companies ever since the 80s when Thatcher privatised them. Where is this little bubble that still has a Gas Board and an Electricity Board?

Pics in SPAAAACE!: Hasselblad sells for $275,000

Re: And they said

Send them to me!

Mastercard and Visa to ERADICATE password authentication

Re: Stop with the mobile requirement already

Yeah, but those of us who have friends tend to have far higher usage and therefore it's more expensive!