Posts by James 51

UK exam chiefs: About the compsci coursework you've been working on. It means diddly-squat

Re: CompSci without coursework

Once during my degree a program I wrote and another student's were put up on the projector and the lecturer asked the class which we thought was 'better'. Mine was half the size, faster (programs were demoed on another projector) and used more advanced language features. Even the person who wrote the other program picked mine. The lecturer then said no, the longer, slower less complex code was better as it was simpler, saving a small amount of time imperceptible to people wasn't that big a deal and six months from now it would be easier to maintain. Not quite the same situation as this though. I understand teaching particular concepts but if you have something that works you should never be given a fail.

Take notebooks: About those new Thinkpads...

I have seen SD cards which have micro SD cards inside them so that could work but I imagine it would be both fiddly and slow in transfering data (at least when it's camera -> SD -> micro SD).

FCA 'gold-plates' EU rule, hits BYOD across entire UK finance sector

Wow, this is going from taking back control and stepping in to the relm of (see icon).

GIMPS crack whip on plucky processor to find largest prime number

but has since been put to practical use in cryptography

So, how long before the FBI asks to ban prime numbers?

Security catch-up: Nigerian prince email ring cops collar ... Louisiana OAP?

Stay away from the bridge, kids.

https://www.wired.com/2017/01/feds-damning-report-russian-election-hack-wont-convince-skeptics/

UK security chief: How 'bout a tax for tech firms that are 'uncooperative' on terror content?

Facebook and Google do have operations inside the UK even if they aren't were the money technically flows through.

A tax won't work. It would have to be a direct charge or fine.

Oh good, half of Defra's Brexit projects involve IT

Re: RE: That was news to him.

Godwin's law doesn't apply when you're talking about actualy NAZIs.

UK.gov needs help getting folk to splurge on full fibre and 5G

Make the coverage/uptime/speed/latancy part of the license with massive fines that bypass any finanical structures if they fail to meet their commentment. Renationalise the equipment they can't come up with a plan to meet those comments (with no compenstation) and if they can't find a company willing, use the GPO model and invite MVNOs to do the selling to customers part.

Peak smartphone? iPhone X flunks 'supercycle' hopes

Re: Hmmmm...

There's a rather infamous headline from Fox Opinion to mark their hiring of Nigel Farage in that capacity.

Re: The "Horned One"

They'd better be careful or GW will look at your headline through a haze of legalise and sue them for copyright infringement (is that some festive warpstone falling from the sky?).

BlackBerry won't kill BB10 until 2020, pulls regular Priv updates

I think the problem with the priv is the chipset manufactures aren't supporting the chipset anymore so there isn't much they can do. As long as I can keep getting new batteries my Q10 will serve a my podcast listener and email/web browser of choice. Just a pity I can't get the microphone relibly repaired at a resonable price or it would still be my main phone.

Murdoch's Fox empire is set to become a literal Mickey Mouse outfit

Disney is going to have quite a bit of content now in its walled garden when it refuses to put any of its content on any other streaming service. Might free up some space for new innovative shows.

UK.gov delays biometrics strategy again – but cops will still use the tech

Classic civil service tactics, kick it into the long grass and when people get fed up searching for it and turn around they find out it's too late and organisations are doing what ever they want and the law will be created/changed to suit them.

New Capita system has left British Army recruits unable to register online

Seriously? I could understand spending a lot of money to secure the system but core functionality like this is something a small team in my place could knock out in a few months (assuming that the MOD/Armed Forces don't change their mind more often or are less cooperative than our internal customers). How do these firms keep getting these cushy contracts?

Yes, Britain has an urban-rural 4G schism. This is what it looks like

@Gordon, my parent's house is on the side of a hill and the nearest tower is on the other side of the hill. When you're in the half of the house that has line of sight to the tower, the phone reception is acceptable. Move twenty or thiry cm and place the hill between you and the tower and you get nothing.

Opportunity rover survives Martian winter for eighth time

Same on everyone for missing the almost reference to the late grate Mr. Adams and mention it was on year eight of a ninety day mission:

https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/48886/why-is-the-trilogy-made-of-five-books

Inside Qualcomm's Snapdragon 845 for PCs, mobes: Cortex-A75s, fat caches, vector math, security stuff, and more

No, but the processing requirements for the OS and many programs seem to expand exponentially.

A bit of a segway but it does put Samsung getting full fat linux running on the S8 and Note8 into perspective. Maybe the S9 and Note9 with the 845 will boot into Android, Windows or Linux.

It's a nice problem to have but there is always something more powerful or cheaper just around the corner. When are the Snapdragon 855 powered phones and laptops coming?

Muzzle our public watchdog much? UK.gov Data Protection Bill adds affect the ICO

Don't worry, the ECJ will save us...

Nokia 8: As pure as the driven Android - it's a classy return

Re: A thin slurping rounded rectangle

N900 would be a better template with the keyboard and stylus.

Netflix mulls using AI to craft personalized movie trailers for viewers

So, how many times will we get a Terminator Genesis style spoiler in the trailer? Or a five minute trailer which is essentially a condensed version of the movie and there's nothing new in the movie?

La La La, I can't hear you: FCC responds to net neut concerns

Re: Doesn't it just beg the question though...

@MH How did you make the leap from net neutrality to Brexit? That's some twenty-one league ideological boots you've got on there.

Investigatory Powers Act: You're not being paranoid. UK.gov really is watching you

Re: No surprise

Given that membership of the ECJ is a prerequisite for membership of the EU this was another obvious Brexit lie told by the leave campaign. The ECHR will be next.

Re: The cynic in me says it's academic ...

The problem with illegally obtained evidence being admitted is that it creates a perverse incentive. The police need to break the law to get the evidence to convict and make politicians, the public and the CPS happy. That ends up being much easier than doing everything by the book. How long are our rights suppose to persist in such an environment? Plus once you step over that line, why bother actually searching for evidence when you know they did it and you can find an encrypted data stick on them or some other swabs turned up some interesting substances. Or for that matter the confessions like those of the of the Birmingham Six. Yes, obtained illegally but also totally trustworthy. Honest gov'ner.

Re: Yawn

I wrote Mr. unwarranted triumphallicism as a troll (Putain or otherwise) some time ago. Of course he could be a very dedicated performance artist who's every gently trolling us all.

Huawei Mate 10 Pro: The unfashionable estate car wants to go to town

I like stuff like keyboards and stylus on my phones. You can't really say it's going up against the note 8 without something like that. The S8 plus would be a better comparasion.

Russia threatens to set up its 'own internet' with China, India and pals – let's take a closer look

Re: Kieren's credentials

They don't need to surrender, just stop viewing the world as a zero sum game and that by attacking and bringing others low they raise themselves up.

Re: Kieren's credentials

I might have more sympathy for Putin if it wasn't for the wars of aggression he has launched against Georgia and Ukraine. If it wasn't for the cyber attacks against Estonia. The meddling in US elections to weaken democracy and trust in institutions. As it is, the world has plenty of reason to worry when they see Putin making a power grab in internation instutions because when he needs a distraction and make the Russian people cling to him no matter how low he has brough their standard of living, he attacks a target of oppertunity. As for the Chinese, I don't have enough time to list how they use and abuse the internet. That Chinese intelligence or law enforcement officals broke their own laws by kidnapping people from Hong Kong, tortured them, forced them to sign documents before releasing them shows how much they can be trusted.

Re: ITU

Where CIS and China could threaten the freedom of not just their own people but everyone by buying or bullying other countries in the ITU. Yeah, that's an excellent idea </sarcasim>

Ex-Autonomy exec agrees to be a witness for HP fraud case

Re: mental

No, this is a bunch of HP execs trying to keep a hold of their positon and bonuses by trying to say someone else lied and cheated, they aren't in any way incompetent, oh no. This is the prisoner’s dilemma without knowing if anyone did anything wrong. If you can avoid the possibility of doing jail time and a massive fine by throwing someone else under the bus, what do you do? Person looking has whatever the circumstances are, has decided that someone else should be under that bus. I understand why plea deal are necessary but this person now has a massive incentive to lie to please their new masters.

That 70s Show: Windows sprouts Sets and Timeline features

Re: The ancestor of Timeline was surely...

Old man Van was required reading on my course.

Crown Prosecution Service is coming for crooks' cryptocurrency

Re: Legal may not be possible ...

The CPS would probably perfer putting people in jail over getting the money, no matter how teniously they are connected to anything.

Money is not a 'good'. Which does raise the question if bitcoin is money, lots of legal fees to be charged over that one.

Win 10 creators update offers new reality opportunity

What's the AR/VR equvilent of W.I.M.P.? Tracking cameras that let people see their hands and keyboards and mice might help VR but I can't help but think virtual displays while interacting with reality will give AR an advanrage.

Want a new HDMI cable? No? Bad luck. You'll need one for HDMI 2.1

Wired VR headsets might benefit but you'd hope the wireless options would be available by then.

You mean Google updated its smartwatch OS and nobody noticed?

Re: Any recommendations for a solid, inexpensive Wear watch?

I've had a pebble steel for almost three years now. The battery has taken a hammering, lasts about two or three days now compared to five when it was new but I still don't see anything else like it on the market (and I don't want any of that naff fitness stuff shoved in either).

ML fails: Loyalty prediction? Not really. And bonus prediction? Oh dear

I do eventually but the sales person rarely has anything to do with my decision. I might go in for info but the decision is usually made somewhere else after some though.

So those poor buggers on the phone or in the shops or street whom I tell I never buy something the first time I see it are buggered then.

Boffins craft perfect 'head generator' to beat facial recognition

Re: @James 51

Just a photo of someone who runs facebook or google, put it in and see what happens.

Nice one. Will there be an app for this?

Surveillance Capitalism thinks it won, but there's still time to unplug it

Re: It's all about choices...

Another completely sensible, logical and coherent post from amanfrommars1. That’s the third or fourth this year… (need a am I losing my marbles icon (or have I just found them?))

Re: Uh, "provides ... to any app that wants to measure your emotional reactions"?

The alternative is nanny-statism where you can't buy certain things because they're "bad for you".

You mean like illegal drugs? Illegal weapons?

China plots new Great Leap Forward: to IPv6

Perhaps it was an attempt to avoid a not invented here problem by claiming it was invented here, even if it wasn't. A little white lie to make the disruption more palatable. Of course removing identify obfuscation tools such as NAT is a bonus. Or perhaps it’s a building an artificial island on a permanently submerged reef to claim sovereignty sort of move.

Phone fatigue takes hold: SIM-onlys now top UK market

Blackberry have been good about getting security patches out (at least for as long as the component manufactures play ball but that affects everyone).

I'd love a note 8 but the battery is sealed and both samsung and google are spying on people who buy them with bixby and android. Not to mention that it costs stupid £££. I'll be sticking with my Q10 and S6 for a while yet.

Possible cut to British F-35 order considered before Parliament

No chance of using them a drone carriers with a small fleet of preadators and reapers? The movie Toys was worryingly far sighted.

Chainmail tires re-invent the wheel to get future NASA rovers rolling

Didn't Mark Whatney say something about how a big box of radioactive death could solve all your problems on Mars?

How about that time Russian military used a video game pic as proof of US aiding ISIS?

Re: Meanwhile, a group of Russia watchers calling themselves the Conflict Intelligence Team

Being AC does tend to cast doubt on your comments. Particularly as any AC can pretend to be you afterwards.