Posts by Gordon 10

Study: Arctic warming at 'stunning' rate – highest temps in 44,000 years

Re: Oh My God !!!!!!!!!

Death, taxes and Nurses in my experience.

Open-source hardware hacking effort 'smacked down' by USB overlords

Lighting/Thunderbolt

Out of interest how much does it cost to go here? Definately more on the hardware side and knowing Intel and Apple more on the licensing side?

Re: Dead vendor squatting?

Take that one step further and find someone who had a VID and went bust/into admistration and buy them along with the rights to use their VID. With a bit of searching effort you could probably find one with no other assets for < 5k.

Locked into fixed-term mobile contract with variable prices? Not on our watch – Ofcom

OMG

Did I read this right. Ofcom acting in the interests of the consumer for once? I may drop dead of shock.

Now all they have to do is pass the operators details to the monopoly commision the minute each operator adds £1.50 to their tariffs "to cover the risk" in lockstep with each other.

We all know that "cover the risk" is a euphemism for "do some extra gouging" as for a good 10-15 years mid-contract price rises were always an option that they declined to use until one of them got greedy. Last time I checked one of an operators key metrics was customer churn - and Im willing to bet that none of them did a cost benefit analysis of the extra short term revenue versus the increased long term churn - probably since none of the idiot PHB's at the telco's intend to stay in the same role for more than the duration of an average mobile contract.

/rant

Rational part of me does feel obliged to point out that the longer relationship you have with most corporate entities the more likely they are to do something you percieve shitty - and the average joe buying a mobile contract probably couldnt even spell caveat emptor let alone know what it means.

Beak orders Yahoo! to get on with Microsoft Search rollout in Asia

Newsflash

"Mayer saying earlier this year that the deal hasn't brought in the money or the market share the firm was hoping for"

Yahoo execs discover something everyone could have predicted long before the deal was signed. Honestly what kind of koolaid were they drinking in the first place?

Were they hoping that some hitherto undiscovered phenomenon would transmute 2 piles of shite into a giant pile of gold?

Ryanair boss Mike O'Leary hits Twitter: 'Nice pic. Phwoaaarr!'

MOL

Anyone who has even taken an interest in MOL or Ryan Air knows he is a hard nosed b*stard that never misses an opportunity to promote Ryan Air and who believes in the adage "all publicity is good publicity".

I actually have a grudging respect for him and Ryan air who have proved there is a certain demographic who will permit people to treat them like shit and come back for more. Whilst Im not suggesting all Airlines should be like RA they and Southwestern proved there's a viable business model in there. Before those two it was accepted wisdom that the airline business was cyclical and no-one could make a profit in the bottom of the cycle.

Would I ever fly on RA for anything short of a critical emergency - hell no.

US Veep's wireless heart implant disabled to stop TERRORIST HACKERS

What about another attack vector?

Some implanted medical devices have known weaknesses with digital music being played in their vicinity.

Its known as a midi in the man attack.

Not so Saucy after all: Ubuntu reveals Mirless Salamander... and what, no Britney?

Re: Pedant

I presume of course you actually used the send corrections link before coming along to whine here?

Send dosh (insecurely) via email, Jack Dorsey's Square tells punters

Re: Completely unnecessary in the UK.

Kinda wondering what the USP is over and above paypal (apart from insecurity), the transactions are near instant and the only delay is getting the transfer to your bank account done. Since I would presume most *sane* people would only use these kind of services for relatively small amounts the overhead of having a paypal account as a slush fund is pretty minimal.

Behold, the MONSTER-CLAWED critter and its terrifying SPIDER BRAIN

Am I the only one

who thinks "great appendage" is scary from both a rapey and a crushy/choppy point of view?

Ubisoft's Watch Dogs muzzled by delays

Re: Let me translate:

Or alternatively. Our marketing droids insisted we come up with a obscure real world threat to publicise this expensive new business unit we have set up, and Ubisoft were the most likely not to sue us.

Screw Internet-of-Things: Boffins build Internet-of-Sound UNDERWATER

How do we know you're not a dolphin having a troll already?

Can you trust 'NSA-proof' TrueCrypt? Cough up some dough and find out

Re: Unnamed qualified professionals vs amateurs? @Brian

Whilst I understand your view I can help but point out that its flawed. Unless they pick someone you personally know and trust you are a still going to be in the same boat.

Even if they pick someone you approve of - the vast majority of people arent going to be to share or verify that view so as a criteria for funding the effort or not its largely meaningless.

Snowden's pal Greenwald QUITS Guardian to launch hush-hush news rival

Re: Even a broken clock...

Even if he is right and the new gig is Snowden related - its still a case of the pot (Assange) calling the kettle (Greenwald) a c*nt.

I suspect he's just worried about the competition.

Re: Perhaps the NSA have made him an Offer...

yea - either directly or via a shell company. Wonder if he will be rendered when he goes to one of those US hubs?

MS Word deserves DEATH says Brit SciFi author Charles Stross

Re: Word Perfect largely has itself to blame for it's demise

No - you are on drugs.

Vi is both obscure and has a very abstract interaction paradigm and whilst powerful for the cognescenti has an unbelievably high learning curve that is unacceptable to the average joe.

Canadian operator EasyDNS stands firm against London cops

yea funny that. If I gave the plod money in return for services I'd be arrested for bribery, but if organisations that are known for exhibiting cartel dare I say mafia-like behaviour do it - its ok.

21st Century Elite remake to support Oculus Rift virtual reality rig

Re: Wow. There goes a large chunk of my future,

Hmmm - getting excited about Star Citzen depends on whether its Wing Commander or Privateer based.

Boo to the former, yay to the latter - YMMV.

Although happily have anything with the Kilrathi/Orions/Generic Lion aliens or their lookylikeys in it.

Boffins spot LONE PLANET roaming interstellar void

Re: A planet?

Mixing your memes a bit there AC.

OCZ balances books, files results following 4-year omnishambles

What former execs have gone to jail for this?

None? Theres a surprise.

Brit inventor Dyson challenges EU ruling on his hoover's energy efficiency ratings

Re: I've never quite worked out the benefit of Dyson

Why didnt you get them fixed under warantee - afaik remember even out of waranttee Dyson have the best customer service I have dealt with - often just fling you out a spare part.

Dear Apple: Want to stay in business? Make an iPhone people can afford

Re: This report is complete and utter rubbish

Thats not necessarily true - when a product turns from a rising star into a cash cow companies can respond by offering a dividend if they have nothing else to drive share growth. Infact if you're a defensive minded investor you are likely to favour high dividend stocks over high potential growth stocks.

Like other posters have said this "analysis" rests on the assumption that Market growth doesnt have natural limits anyway.

Brit boson boffin Higgs bags Nobel with eponymous deiton

According to google he's already in - note the FRS after his name.

Alcatel-Lucent slashes 10,000 jobs worldwide

How is this news

I cant think of a year gone by where Lucent havent wielded the axe like Jack Nicholson in The Shining. My only surprise is that theres 10,000 workers left to fire.

If ever there was a Telecoms player that could be classed as "doomed to be mediocre" its L-A.

I would rather work for a c*nt like Ellison or Dell - they may be equally facile with the Axe but at least they seem to have a plan and some leadership qualities.

Microsoft watches iPads flood into world's offices: Right, remote desktop clients. It's time

Re: Which product to save?

Define "new owner" in an MS context. Outside of loony activists like Icahn or Apple spunking thier cash mountain name one individual or group that has the cash to radically change MS'es direction like that. It will be a few years if ever that MS can get Elopped. Although he is back there I suppose - so all he needs is a new evil Mastermind to serve and to get Balmers job.

The 90's called - they want their IPSEC policies back.

Brew me up, bro: 11-year-old plans to make BEER IN SPACE

Re: Stella

Not until married couples are allowed on the ISS. There's a reason they dont call it colleague-beater.

Snowden's email provider gave crypto keys to FBI – on paper printouts

Re: 40 000 subscribers to read *one* person's emails?

I suspect this wasnt a FISA court but a more normal one. When a judge's knee jerk reaction is to compromise the privacy of thousands to monitor one - they dont need a special court coz he's drinking the Govt's koolaid.

BOFH: Welcome to Helldesk, ma'am, may I take your bags?

Excellent

Raised a smile at the start of a long dreary Friday - roll on beer o'clock

US.gov - including NASA et al - quits internet. Is the UN running it now?

Googled my own answer 18 times with various permutations of Democrat vs Republican controlled House, Senate ad Prez, since 1976 accordingto Wiki including this one.

Do none of them have ANY shame? Cant anyone just pass a law forbidding the linkage of additional legislation to the budget. Then at least they could keep the disputes on funding issues rather than just a free for all.

Genuine question - have the democrats ever been in opposition to the incumbent Prez and help shut down the US Govt or has it always been a Republican House vs a Democrat Prez?

Scientists to IPCC: Yes, solar quiet spells like the one now looming can mean Ice Ages

Re: Bootnote

You AC dont know your Science History. Its far more accurate to describe it as an newly emerging consensus driven by hundreds scientists challenging the status quo

Add to those mentioned Hooke, Leibniz, Curie, Boyle, Millikan, Rutherford, Feynmann, and dozens if not hundreds of others. All of whom chipped away at the edifice of consensus to estabilish something new.

NASA's search for habitable planets maps ALIEN CLOUD-WORLD

Ignoring the eye

At low resolution dont the bands Jupiter appear to be tidally locked too?

ie the apparent locking could just be a artifact of the low resolution capturing process itself.

BlackBerry ripped itself apart wooing CIOs AND iPhone fanbois - insiders

Re: Astonishing account of the BB story...

Pretty daft last paragraph - if the company formerly known as lawsuits in motion had many credible patents left don't you think they would be frantically attempting to monetise them right now?

Report says PRISM snooped on India's space, nuclear programs

Re: Nukes, you say

"Even if that were true, which, at least for India, it is almost certainly not, what the hell would that have to do with America?"

Given that half the worlds companies that pay huge volumes of tax dollars to their respective governments (yes even in the US) have sites in India a reasonable case can be made for making it America's (and others) business.

Just consider what a set of tit for tat nuke exchanges would do to places like Pune, Chennai etc. Hell half the FTSE and NYSE infrastructure (IT, Finance etc) operations are in India these days.

And thats just the business dimension. As others mentioned the political dimension is just as significant. No-one wants to get dragged into another Asian conflict - but this time with Nukes. Then considering the people dimension - again how many americans are Asian Ex-pats or 1st gen US citizens - enough to cause some element of distablisation of the US domestic scene - even if only through tit for tat localised violence against each other - rather than something organised like terrorism.

Re: Spying on India you say

Cant say I blame the NSA for this one. Given that of all the nuclear players India and Pakistan are the most likely to actually find a rationale to use their nukes on each other I'd be keeping a close eye on them too. Allies be damned.

Dragons' Den star's biz Outsourcery sends yet more millions up in smoke

Huh?

Im not sure the Regs numbers are right.

As well as being the fuglyest press release I have ever seen I dont know why an investor would touch these guys with a barge pole.

EBITDA on the press release is £3.2m which is what I would have expected, and with £7m in the bank they are blowing through their cash pile at a rate that gives them a year more life.

WTF?

Circling the RIM: BB10 becomes chamber of horrors for BlackBerry

A sad but perhaps deserved end to the company formerly known as Lawsuits in Motion.

One has to wonder how it took them almost 4 years to build something useful from the QNX platform.

I would love to hear the inside story from one or more of their developers. I have a suspicion that there must have been some major management execution failures.

Bin half-baked Raspberry Pi hubs, says Pimoroni: Try our upper-crust kit

Wouldnt it make more sense

To make the case big enough to take a Pi - maybe in piggy pack config thus having all the components in one easy package?

Being able to power the Pi is a nice touch though.

NSA slides reveal: iPhone users are all ZOMBIES

Re: No surprise there.

Oh pulease. Can the hysteria. Just because they have the capability to conduct a "war" in your words doesnt mean they actually are. If we are to have a reasoned debate and get some of this idiocy stopped panic and hyperbole are the tools of them - not us.

Google Nexus 7 2013: Fondledroids, THE 7-inch slab has arrived

Re: Taking photographs on a tablet.

Indeed - we were at Longleat the other week - I was pleasantly surprised how good the pics taken on my wifes Mini were. From a composition and viewing results perspective it was far superior to any smart phone and as a result the taken photos were better chosen and therefore qualitatively better.

Apple spanked by judge in price-fixing injunction – but not too hard

Stop assuming

Suspect if you look at the details you will find those officers will have an obligation to report jointly both to the DoJ and Apples board. I also suspect you dont know much about corporate governance.

Additionally you do know that any board has a legal obligation to respond to allegations of illegal activity right? Do you really think they are stupid enough to risk jail by ignoring said officer? Since their job essentially involves given Cook and Co their orders they dont have to actually do much to be seen as responding. It then becomes Cook's responsibility to resolve the issue, again potentially on the threat of jail time.

IRON MAN MUSK: Elon reveals Tony Stark-style 3D design smarts

Re: I call bullshit @Holtsmark

Is that fear I smell - I see thousands of pink slips hitting CAD operators desk soon.

(followed by a hire back at twice the rate when the first PHB designed part exploded on launch)

Microsoft's VDI deals make Windows Server cheapest desktop OS

Re: Headline Misleading

You're right - it should have said cheapest useable desktop OS.

If you're gonna troll expect to be trolled fanboi.

Accident or Design

Is this MS looking to swap desktop license with sluggish sales to more lucrative (presumably) server license sales?

Or just a sales cock up driven by overly complex licensing regimes?

Knowing MS its the second but you never know....

Headmaster calls cops, tries to dash pupil's uni dreams - over a BLOG

inculcated

Any kid who knows wtf this means and uses it on a blog gets a thumbs up from me. I had to look it up!

Begs the question did he learn it in or out of school?

Reports: NSA has compromised most internet encryption

Re: Really?

Cool - the new party game. Six degrees of Al Qaeda. In your face Kevin Bacon.

Microsoft, Nokia and the sound of colliding garbage trucks

Re: This could be the best thing MS has done all year

if the MS and Nokia engineering teams are allowed to get together you could be right. Unfortunately I expect MS will let the Marketing and Sales droids in on the act and flush it all down the crapper.

Gov IT write-off: Universal Credit system flushes £34m down toilet

fixed this for you

penalising you for having an additional room in your the tax payers house

The sooner they abolish the "house for life" crap the better. The tax payer is providing those houses at highly discounted rates - why shouldnt they have some say in how many people are needed to effeciently fill it?

LinkedIn looks at bank account, thinks: We'll raise one Instagram*

It works ok for me

Yes you get some recruiter spam on it but its job search and recommendations are actually relevant unlike the joke that is the main jobsite searches these days.

They have some very good automated job search heuristics with no effort required from the user other than populating your initial profile.