Posts by Version 1.0

Hold the front page: Spain's anti-Google lobbyists lobby for Google News return

In other news

I would how the Portuguese news sites will fair if they go ahead with this? I'm thinking that they could see a huge uptick in visitors from Spain.

Easy fix

The law appears to refer to the display of content from Spanish web sites so all Google - or anyone else - has to do is spider the site according to the robots.txt rules and then when someone searches for a phrase that generates a "hit" - you serve up a link directly to the page in a new window.

Of course - this approach could be abused to serve up just about anything since the user will have no chance to preview the page - but that's not my problem.

Re: Does anybody outside IT

"This is exactly how the World Wide Web works: the HTML files are the pithy descriptions on paper tape, and your Web browser is Ronald Reagan."

-- N Stephenson, "In the Beginning was the Command Line"

US Congress in cash freeze bid to DERAIL global DNS handover

Re: Isn't it about time...

... the best use for the US Congress would be to render them down and make soap.

Firms will have to report OWN diverted profits under 'Google Tax' law

Re: "simple, easy to understand, and hard to dodge"

Pick any two - you can only pick two.

Uber? Worth $40 BEEELLION? Hey, actually, hold on ...

Uber valuation

Essentially Uber et al. are in the taxi business that they are not competing with because of the regulations that the taxi companies comply with - and Uber ignores. I'd give them maybe 18-24 months before Uber (and other companies in the same market) are out of business once their users realize that Uber's making money selling their location data to the highest bidder.

The old fashioned Taxi business could easily change to put Uber out of business - it's just a matter of time ... and liability.

Mom and daughter SUE Comcast for 'smuggling' public Wi-Fi hotspot into their home

Doesn't BT already do this in the UK?

The last time I was in the UK it seemed that I could access Wi-Fi all over the place using the same BT access code that I was given at the place I was staying.

Most of the commentards here seem to be clue-free today.

So this Saudi Prince calls and asks why he can't watch movies ...

Re: exactly what do you expect me to do ?

There are ways to fix that - none of them pretty but it can be done. That's my job.

One year on, Windows 8.1 hits milestone, nudges past XP

Users hate change

Reading the comments here, I wonder why many of the commentards ever bothered upgrading from Windows for Workgroups?

WIn 8 /8.1 isn't a bad system and while it does work nicely with a touchscreen, it's very usable with a mouse - but it's different to Win 7 and older systems ... and that's what you all hate - the fact it's different.

Fact is, you put a young person in front of a Win8 system and they are very productive because they don't have the hate baked in like so many older folk do - change is inevitable, please try and get with the program.

Brit smut slingers shafted by UK censors' stiff new stance

Double standard?

So Watersports are out, but Waterboarding is still OK?

UK computing museum starts reboot of 65-year-old EDSAC

Bring back the old machines

There are lessons that can be learned when you program in that environment - lessons that many modern programmers never had to learn, such as how to write "Hello World" and produce an program image that's less than 10Mb ... or an operating system that's under 500Mb (hello Lollypop).

I came late to the art of programming but I can remember the challenges of writing bootstrap code that fit into a 1702 EPROM - and the joy when I succeeded.

Forget Hillary, HP's ex CARLY FIORINA 'wants to be next US Prez'

Re: It makes sense to have an ex-HP CEO as Pres.

I guess by that logic Obama is Windows ME then?

Re: Anyone can be president...

No - you have to be rich to be President, that's the unspoken requirement - but on the other hand, she's white and not Hillary so that's more than enough to get the GOP nomination.

When election time rolls around again over here remember the cardinal rule of American Politics - you never vote for anyone, you always vote against.

No more lies, T-Mobile US: Download speed caps magically vanished on speed test websites

Sirius Cybernetics redux.

That's just stupid on T-Mobiles part but doesn't that exactly illustrate the way that the corporate mind set works these days?

'Regin': The 'New Stuxnet' spook-grade SOFTWARE WEAPON described

Re: Fail

... have they been stupid enough to let any old traffic exit the building ...

Egress filtering is a nice idea but I would expect that this little demon would hide its traffic in with normal HTTP/HTTPS traffic and you're not going to stop that are you?

First in line to order a Nexus 6? AT&T has a BRICK for you

Re: Freaking NSA...

It's the perfect secure phone - the screen lights up black to announce that you have a call.

The next big thing in medical science: POO TRANSPLANTS

Gut ... er journalism?

Sorry - I couldn't resist that ... but this is old news - the practice is ancient and works well, why do you think mothers chew food for their babies? Sure, our "modern" world frowns on such simple medicine but the fact is, it works.

It would have been a more interesting story if you'd followed up on the resistance to this type of research from the FDA and medical professions in the USA and other countries. Another interesting angle on this is that a hookworm infection can apparently cure hay-fever.

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/may/23/parasitic-hookworm-jasper-lawrence-tim-adams

HACKERS can DELETE SURVEILLANCE DVRS remotely – report

The plus side of hacking

I saw a case some years ago where a system was hacked and then remotely upgraded because it was so old that the code they loaded initially wouldn't run.

The problem with "utility" devices is that the manufacturers never bother to update the OS so backdoors and the like never get fixed. You want that backdoor fixed son? Buy a new one.

George.Best walks into a sex.bar, spots a bearded dwarf sysadmin and thinks: Warcraft.cool

Re: I vote for resolving the lot of them

no, they wont, they'll just complain/sue/spit dummies until the media and politicians get hold of it and pass some ill thought out law that makes the whole lot unworkable

It's a sad reflection on society that you are probably correct.

The cloud that goes puff: Seagate Central home NAS woes

There are only two types of users ...

... those who have lost data, and those who are going to lose data.

Look on the bright side, you'll take precautions in future and this will not happen again.

Re: Server or backup?

NAS - Network Attached Storage. There's no "B" in there - it's not a backup strategy. A backup strategy assumes that your primary drive will fail AND your backup drive fails but because you have a backup plan you can still recover the data. A NAS is not a backup plan, RAID is not a backup plan, two NAS devices is not a backup plan if they are in the same location.

My NAS (RAID 1) backs up an image every night to a separate NAS (also RAID 1) which maintains the last seven images. The second NAS is in a another building and backs itself up to a cloud in another state. And I have spare drives sitting next to each NAS. That's a basic backup plan - active data on the NAS, seven daily backups locally and seven more backups remotely.

Re: Tim. Are you and other El Reg Journos

I figured that EL Reg was the training ground for journalists want to write for The Grauniad.

GCHQ and Cable and Wireless teamed as Masters of the Internet™

Re: which particular terrorist are you equating with Jesus?

At the time both the Jews and the Romans considered Jesus a terrorist - these days a "terrorist" is simply someone who opposes Government policy or fails to believe Government statements.

Who is out there waiting to spy on you or steal your data?

Luddites reborn as clouddites

If you don't want it to be public then don't write it on the toilet wall - or put it in an email on a cloud provider - other than that, my attitude is "who cares?"

If I want to do business with my bank then I walk in the front door and talk to them, it's no big deal.

Nexus 7 fandroids tell of salty taste after sucking on Google's Lollipop

Re: No surprise

My first reaction was "what a POS" but after using it for a while I really like it - the interface works so much better on a small screen than the original version + because it runs gmail they have a lot more incentive to fix the bugs - and active sync works well too - sweet!

Change is inevitable (except from a vending machine) - I've been looking forward to 5.0 (on a Nexus 5 phone) and it's a big improvement - on a system that I thought was pretty darn good to start off with. Yes, it's different, but that's not a bad thing.

Patch NOW! Microsoft slings emergency bug fix at Windows admins

ALL YOUR XP BELONG US?

You are a sheep running XP and the shepherd is walking towards you wearing gum boots ... are you nervous yet?

Now Uber can take EVERYONE for a ride

"Screaming Target" by Big Youth.

On repeat at maximum volume... It's worth joining Spotify just to annoy Uber ...

Sarong it's right: Coining it in Thailand without a visa

When I started working in the US I was very careful to keep all my visas and paperwork in order and spent an arm and a leg with lawyers to get residency - having been here some 40 years now, I understand how easy it actually is to stay completely under the radar and avoid almost all problems due to non-citizenship/illegal status etc.

The problem is that you have to really understand the culture - and David Green appears to have this sorted - to get away with it, and most newbies are wet behind the ears and thus run into problems of their own making if they try this on their own. Of course, corporations have been doing this legally for years, they have the political clout to get the visas and then just import the workers - the situation is the same, it's just that when a corporation does it you sit in a cubical at weekends instead of on the beach.

Want to STUFF Facebook with blatant ADVERTISING? Fine! But you must PAY

Re: Is Facebook still around?

Yup - my 16 yo and all her friends dumped Facebook for Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr last year. At this point Tumblr seems to be the big winner for them. She who must be obeyed still uses it to swap cat pictures and stay in touch with family.

Facebook is on the way to becoming myspace for cat pictures - perhaps they'll launch a bid for FARK and the rights to Caturday?

BOFH: An UNHOLY MATCH forged amid the sweet smell of bullsh*t

Re: Highly unlikely

Now a politician might do it for £2000 - they are cheap - but a professional would be asking for much more and not so directly in my experience. She's an amateur and she's going to get caught.

LARGE, ROUND and FEELS SO GOOD in your hand: Yes! It's a Nexus 6

Re: Pricing

I think that Google's strategy has changed a little - when you look at the cost of having a cell phone, the cost of the device itself is not that significant, so the higher price of the Nexus 6 doesn't put me off much. I have bought Nexus phones because I want a device that I control with apps that I want, not something stuffed with the service providers apps - that's my bottom line.

However, at this point I'll be sticking with my Nexus 5, mostly because it's the right size and a nice balance of features. I'll get the lollypop update soon enough and I've been running ART on the phone for a while - it definitely works as advertised! At this point it does almost everything that I want in a phone.

IMHO, Google hasn't really pushed the envelope with the Nexus 6, it's just another damn fat phone.

FCC: You, AT&T. Get over here and explain this 'no more gigabit fiber' threat

Yes AT&T - please cancel the fibre!

AT&T have been gaming the system for years - they have very little real interest in land line service of any kind - if you go to a store and ask about land line service (the store only deal with cell phones) then they give you a number to call. Call the number and it's a "reseller" who promises you cheap rates and signs you up. AT&T then install the phone lines and charge you a rate about 4 times higher than the one you agreed to because you are not on an AT&T contract.

You can spend days talking to them on the phone about this and eventually they will tell you it's been fixed. But it never is - every month the bill keeps coming in at the high rates. When you cancel the service they send you another bill for early cancellation of the contract ... WTF!

AT&T - please roll over and die.

Remember that internet sales tax? Wasn't that a great idea? It's dead

Re: Not dead yet

Purchased from Amazon via a vendor in Tennessee and shipped from China - so that was just a simple transaction and quite easy to follow. You lucky lad!

Re: complicated to tax @AC

You're forgetting "tax-free days" - locally we have several tax-free days every year (I kid you not!) when certain items are not taxed ... prior to hurricane season they have tax-free shopping for supplies like flash-lights, radios and generators, and before each school season we have tax-free shopping for school supplies - pencils, notebooks etc.

"I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever." - Thomas Jefferson

Ethernet patents claim smacked down by US judge

Pithy to the point of pointlessness

Come on Richard, can we have some more details please - this isn't the weather report. What were the claims and what's the history to this case? Sure, I could go and read through the patents myself but that's not going to give me any background to why anyone thought that this case might have had legs.

Is your kid ADDICTED to web porn? Twitter? Hint: Don't blame the internet

It's the parents not the kids

The problem is many homes in the US is the parents, not the kids. Families don't talk with each other, children are seen as a nuisance who need to be entertained all the time and bought off with toys to stop them bothering their parents. Americans almost never sit down with their children and talk about current affairs, a film, a book or in fact anything - and now that they have the Internet, why go to the public library?

Instead the kids are given a speak-and-spell toy to learn to talk and read, a playstation to entertain them, and an iPad to do their homework. Anything so long as they don't bother their parents.

SCREW YOU, net neutrality hippies – AT&T halts gigabit fiber

Re: Obama Plan for Internet?? - Nooooo!

"Now, pick any two of the above. You are not allowed by the laws of economics to pick all three, sorry. Unfortunately our quasi-president is selling the idea that people can pick all three, and much of the public is ignorant enough to believe him."

To get enough votes for the healthcare bill to pass they had to make compromises with the Republicans that effectively gutted the original design. The Republicans added many of the amendments at the behest of the Insurance companies and Doctors with the aim of sinking the bill eventually. Americans are greedy and self-centered with little regard for what happens to their neighbors so long as they are OK - what a pity the Mayflower didn't sink on the way over.

Re: Yeah, right

I have high speed AT&T service here (Baton Rouge, LA) ... all 6Mbs of it. They have been promising fibre service for the last mile since the 80's and have done sweet FA about it. But at least I have DSL, I've got relatives who are are still on 14kbs modem service with no hope of anything faster. Thanks AT&T

USA - most expensive Internet connection for the lowest speed.

USA - most expensive and least effective medical care in the world.

Land of the free, home of the brave - well you have to be to put up with some of this ...

Don't assume public trusts you, MI5. 'Make a case' for surveillance – Former security chief

What does "trust" mean anyway?

"It is a question of do you trust us, or do you trust Snowden or do you trust the Islamic State?"

In that list I'd "trust" Snowden more than the others ... because faced with the realization that he'd signed up to do one job and found himself doing another job that seemed to break several laws, he did the right thing.

Would you trust any organization when their basic business is lying? Or a group of people who would behead anyone who disagrees with them? Given the alternatives then Snowden's the obvious winner here although I'd +1 her for at least talking about the issue.

Printing Bad: Meth found in laser printer cartridges

Re: TSA probably nicked one

Not very likely - if they were like the TSA they would have nicked the lot.

Brit cops nab six in Silk Road 2.0 drugs sting

Re: I'm impressed

You'd have been even more impressed if you'd tried their "produce" - it was some of the finest sacrament available at the time.

TOR is compromised

Clearly TOR is broken badly and it's possible that since it was developed in the US, that it's always been broken as far as the NSA is concerned. This take-down suggests that all TOR activity is effectively transparent to the NSA.

I wouldn't trust any replacement for TOR that's developed in the US.

Dating website for damaged-stiffy sufferers suffers stiff damage: £10m bill for leak

T&C

Isn't the real problem that the users agreed to the Terms and Conditions and then discovered that they really should have read them first?

The real problem here is the general use of T&C to make an end run around decent behavior.

Eye laser surgery campaigner burned by Facebook takedown

Advert own goal

And right in the middle of this article Google serves up an advert for Lasik eye surgery!

HP's pet lizard is feral peril says wildlife group

A simple solution

1 Iguana - female

3 large sour oranges

1 garlic bulb

4 lg. onions

1 tsp. black pepper

12 c. water

1 lb. dry corn (powdered)

1 tsp. crushed red pepper

3/4 bottle of pork grease

Salt to taste

After the Iguana has been killed, open the stomach and below, take out the eggs and intestines. Clean the eggs very well with the sour oranges. Put the eggs in the arms with the Iguana in all its skin. Later in the day cook the eggs in salt water for 10 minutes, then let them sit in the water until they are cold. Store them in refrigerator.

Early the following day soak the Iguana in cold water. Skin it and wash it once more. Cut the Iguana into small pieces and cook it with 8 cups of water with salt, garlic, sliced onion, and black pepper. Grind it into a "Soft Mass" and mix it with the gravy. Cook the corn in water until soft, then brown it (not too darkly) and grind to a lumpy mass. Take 4 cups of this corn, mix with the gravy and Iguana and cook, stirring constantly until it is well cooked.

In 2 1/2 cups of pork grease, fry 3 onions (chopped fine) until clear and light brown. Set aside a few onions. With the rest, add the powdered pepper, Iguana mixture, more salt, sour oranges, and, if necessary, more pork grease. Do not let get too dry. Form a large rounded shape in a serving dish and create an indentation in the center. Garnish with onion and serve with a robust red wine.

KRAKKOOOM! Space Station supply mission in PODULE PRANG EXPLOSION CHAOS

Re: just like the good old days.

Or not. "It's brilliant and it only blows up sometimes" is not an acceptable value for the mission_critical key.

It might be if you were Russian.

FBI impersonated newspaper to finger school bomb threat suspect

Blade Runner mentality

During a recent traffic stop I was told by the officer that "We are the Law" - I attempted to point out to him that he wasn't actually the law, he was only an officer of the law - but that only dug the hole deeper. And my offense? I had not stopped long enough at a stop sign in my neighborhood to satisfy him.

Unfortunately this is only too common now - "You know the score, pal! You're not a cop, you're little people."

Unfortunately you see this everyday in America.

Hey, YouTube lovers! How about you pay us, we start paying for STUFF? - Google

Hippo Farts

I'm sorry, I just can't see paying to watch a hippo fart.

Painfully trendy: Someone just spent $200k on ebola.com

Just checking

It looks like www.marburg.com is already taken, as is www.hemorrhagicfever.com.