Posts by Steve Davies 3

If Amazon can have delivery drones, we want them too, says Walmart

Incoming!

Eggs being dropped .... by drone misses landing point, hits customer. Rescue services being scrambled....

Oracle's Hurd mentality: We (and one other) will own all of cloud by 2025

Who's he kidding?

Are Oracle going to Buy Amazon? Microsoft?

That's the only way they will get anywhere near the top.

Oracle are late to the game ... again.

Bacon can kill: Official

US anything Meat I agree

given the amount of drugs etc their livestock is given as a matter of course. Then their sausages (closer to Wurst) than our types are naturally heavily processed.

But frankly what food in the USA isn't heavily processed???? Just try to eat that rubber they call cheese...

I get my Bacon from an organic farm. No chemicals just natural salt curing.

Sausages are from my local butcher. No rusk or crap added. Nothing but minced meat and herbs (and the occassional dash of Marmite). If minced meat counts as being processed then..the world will truly end this Saturday (after the Rugby though).

TalkTalk attack: 'No legal obligation to encrypt customer bank details', says chief

Coming Very Soon to TV

droves of adverts from Ambulance Chasing Scumbags(Lawyers) offering class action suits against T-T.

It is a shame really. The T-T CEO could have done the right thing but no she didn't.

So, for once I am on the sides of these Shysters. Go on boys take the everything that they have got left once the ICO has finished with them

And for the rest of you ISP's out there. Get you own house in order and hey, who knows you might pick up a load more subscribers if you can prove that your systems are not subject to the same sort of vunerability as T-T. Encrypt all our data as a matter of normality. You could even use it in your advertising!

'Cancer-causing bacon would put a real dampner on processed pig sales'

Re: Cure for cancer...

But what about the dangers of the Sugar in said Maple Syrup?

Life is dangerous.

TalkTalk attackers stole 'incomplete' customer bank data, ISP confirms

T-T are refusing to waiver cancellation fees

for those who want to leave.

Shame on them. I fully expect a deluge of cases for breach of contract to hit the small claims court for .... the same amount as the fee they levy.

T-T really are the pits.

I really hope that other ISP's learn from this and sharpen up their acts and pray that it as'nt an inside job all along

Weasel Words from T-T

They can't hide the fact that they were hacked and lost a lot of data over hours, possibly days.

They have a duty of care for our data. End Of.

They failed that and the ICO + the Rozzers should be all over them.

The Class Action suit might even be enough to put them out of business.

They will haemorage customers even if the give a year's free everything to those affected.

The future is bleak for T-T. I would not want to be a T-T shareholder for all the tea-tea in China.

sorry for the rant but their actions just make me Mad.

We can't all live by taking in each others' washing

The last one?

Boo Hiss to the people responsible for this move. Your articles have proved to be very popular especially for those of us who draw the short straw and have to work over the weekends.

Have a thumbs up from me for the fine (if sometimes provocative) content.

American robocallers to be shamed in public lists

Learn some Indian swear words

The ruder the better.

Then tell the caller named John who has by some quirk of fate a heavy Indian accent what they can do with themselves in a language they understand (unless they are from the parts of India that speak say, Tamil).

It gives me a lof ot satisfaction but it is small payback for them interrupting me.

Any scammers out there please take note...

I do not and will not ever buy anything from a cold call. If I want a service or to buy something I repeat I will make the first contact. So just go into a corner somewhere and slit your wrists. You may have more success at that than trying to flog me something but somehow I doubt it.

TalkTalk: Hackers may have nicked personal, banking info on 4 million Brits

Re: Date of birth

And once they have done one what justification do they have for keeping it?

Perhaps they want to send you a Birthday email/text/song?

I'd like the T-T bosses to explain why all that data was so easily accessible via their webServer AND that it was in plain text. This is IMHO a criminal act. Jail time beconing?

Re: The Met

'Scrubber' eh?

That what we used to call (showing my age) teenage girls who slept around until their mini-skirts were so short you could see their knickers as they walked along the street and got a visit to the local nick via a Plod Wagon. An apt handle then?

Perhaps you might like to ... Nah, not possible.

Google's YouTube Red deal: Sign, or we'll make you disappear

Are they cleaning house

and pimping up YouTube ready for spinning it off for a few dozen gazillion dollars?

Just a thought

It is obviously past its peak and the only way is down. Cash in now before it goes TITSIPO

Laid-off IT workers: You want free on-demand service for what now?

What about HR?

They seems to have cocked up big time

Sack/Fire/K**l all those in HR who had even the most minor involvement with this!

Sadly, they will just get promoted or move to higher paying jobs without a thought.

HR == Highly Retarded , Hardly Relevant , Human Retards. etc etc etc

Is China dumping smartphones on world+dog?

Re: "moves those emissions to China"

Some valid points however (boo hiss) Apple seems to be trying to do something about it

http://appleinsider.com/articles/15/10/21/apple-says-china-operations-now-100-carbon-neutral-plans-to-expand-clean-energy-to-supply-chain

The Church of St Jobs is at least (on the surface anyway) trying to reduce emissions all round.

I am sure that the people who report on things like child labour in Foxconn will greet this expansion of their implied remit with welcome arms and very soon they will be reporting where the Fruity Company have gone rotten.

Watch this space (or somewhere else on the internet)

Got an Apple Mac, iThing? Update it right now – there's a shedload of security holes fixed

Plus they are not forced on you

unlike another supposedly popular OS that gets mentioned here quite frequently.

Windows 10 out, users happy, PCs upgraded, my work here is done – says Microsoft OS chief

Warning! Incoming

Big globs of Horse Poo detected heading for Redmond.

If MS thinks that it is 'Job Done' then I'd really like to have some of what they are smoking.

IMHO, they are living in a bubble of denial. A bubble created by their natural instinct to stick fingers in their ears and shout Na na na na na na I can't hear you.

Being serious for a moment.

No one I know will move to Windows 10. These are not IT experts but ordinary people who just don't want everything they do slurped and sent to MS (and god knows who else). Most are moving towards Mac's becasue they need to run tools like Photoshop.

This is all of MS's own doing. They don't seem to be inclined to even recognise that some people have issues with W10.

Of course you can text and call while driving – it's perfectly safe

Tin-foil hat time?

Use bits of it to block these devices from 'phoning home'?

Anyway, who pays the bill for all this data slurping? I certainly won't...

I saw the adverts for the On-Star feature for Vauhalls. That made me cross them off my ever shrinking list of possible replacements for my aging motor.

I am Not a Number

Microsoft enterprise licensing partners heading for extinction

Where does this leave the likes of SoftCat?

Bang goes their IPO?

Handy results put ARM on track for a muscular year

Powerful shareholders

If I remember correctly Apple (boo hiss) has a sizeable (5%???) holding in ARM. It is in their interests for ARM to remain independent even though the likes of Apple, Intel and MS could buy them with change found in the back of a sofa but for some reason they don't.... I wonder why that is eh?

While ARM remains separate from a big player then the likes of Apple can't be accused of being a monopoly/anti-trust. Besides, ARM supplies everyone equally. Just pay the license and away you go.

Mind you the fairy dust that Apple adds to the ARM core does seem to give them a edge over the likes of Samsung/Qualcomm in single CPU performance.

Millions of people forget to cancel Apple Music subscription

Re: Sign up seamlessly?

Do you really want to 'up' your Downvote Total that badly.

You are asking a question that has an obvious answer.... The folks here hate Apple/Crapple/Jobs and everything the Fruity company stands for even when they are doing the right thing (encryption on iPhones).

Apple is the new MS i.e. a figure of hate to pretty well all readers/commentards here. Get used to it.

Microsoft's top lawyer: I have a cunning plan ... to rescue sunk safe harbor agreement

Since when did MS move South?

Redmond, (last time I looked) was a good few hundred miles north of silicon valley.

Even their notional Tax HQ is in Nevada.

Not all US data slurping companies are built on top of a number of Geological fault zones.

Perhaps the best we can hope for is 'The big One' to hit and swallow them up whole but that still leaves Ms 'up north'.

Lotus F1: 38°C? Sand in your Vblocks? Must be building a data center in Bahrain again

Re: Repetition, hesitation, deviation.

Go watch Vintage Racing.

Go watch Autocross (Lydden Hill)

Go watch Touring Cars

go watch Banger Racing

Anything but F1 if you want excitement.

A heck of a lot cheaper as well plus there is overtaking as well!

Connected kettles boil over, spill Wi-Fi passwords over London

Re: No need for this tech?

Switched on remotely?

Nah. more like 'sorry, you have used all the power allocated to your home today. Please try again tomorrow!'

i.e. Controlling your ability to use said kettle at times of peak demand. viz end of Corrie or X-Factor.

Probably better to can those shows IMHO. Ok so I'm not the target market for them but...

Re: Nobody NEEDS a connected kettle...

Marketing speak says that you MUST, repeat MUST go out and buy a new connected kettle TODAY!

How else will you be able to boast about it to your friends on the internet from your Mom's basement? (ok, I'm kidding a bit here)

Even if every kettle on the market comes with a Wi-Fi connection actually configuring it to use your Wi-Fi router is another thing. An kettle of mine that has this feature can go whistle (wot boiling kettler are supposed to do ok!) until the cows come home before I let it connect to the internet.

Before you know it you will receive emails from the manufacturer saying

"I'm sorry Dave you have been using your kettle too much. Unless you pay us another £100 to unlock the device it will now take 20 minutes to come to the boil rather than two."

Or words to that effect heralding the advent of User CALS for domestic appliances.

Sorry, no no no no no no no no no and NO.

Samsung told to build bots who work for less than Foxconn staffers

Ah!

China knows manufacturing isn't its long-term ticket to prosperity, but will also hope these bots don't arrive in a hurry.

so all these Robots come in and make countless millions unemployed. What then for China? They have let the genie out of the bottle by letting the peasants (which many of these workers were) see what is possible, see the Shiny-shiny etc.

What then? Another Long March and Revolution?

So just what is the third Great Invention of all time?

Three things

The Wheel

Language (As mentioned already)

The joy of Sex. viz having fun and not just to procreate.

Steve Ballmer praises Twitter job cuts after buying 4% stake in ailing micro-blab site

Stock Manipulation

So man buys stock, tells the world, stock rises and he sells stock(possibly)

Profit!

I woner if the SEC might like to give Mr Balmer a polite slap on his wrist?

Post-pub schnellnosh neckfiller: Currywurst

The problem with most *wursts is

That they are pretty bland. Some regional variations are Vunderbar! but these are in the minority IMHO

The blandness means that some form of 'extra sauce' is needed. Hence the Currywurst and other variants.

The same applies to Sausages in the USA. Even blander than mass produced Wursts.

The best CurryWurst I ever had was from a small cafe just outside the Railway station in Hof. This was in the days before the Wall came down. Wonderful grub. Went back a few years later and the place had gone. bummer

Pimp your TV: Goggle box gadgets and gizmos

Re: Rant: Why so slow, and why such a rubbish UX?

And it boasts Android TV. I have the 50in version

The UI is total shite and my pet grope is that despite setting it in the config, it stll tries to switch itself off after 4 hours.

I gave up on the UI very quickly prefeering to use my Humax PVR as the primary device.

Self-driving vehicles might be autonomous but insurance pay-outs probably won't be

Flight simulators

Have a go with the real thing. Then you get the vibration, proper sounds and visuals that can be iMax quality.

Ok, I'm a bit biased as my first job was where the made the things in Crawley. Still involved with the Aviation industry 46 years later.

Even so, I can understand your concerns. I know that you would not have liked being on the flight I took from Denver back in June. As we took off I counted six different tornados in the area. Rather bumpy for the first hour or so as the pilot flow around more tornados.

Road Markings

as in the UK, the authorities simply haven’t bothered to retouch the flaking paint on its motorways for decades?

If you think that is bad then take a trip to the USofA. There the road markings are in yellow. Our white (no matter how faded) markings are a gazillion times better than those on the other side of the pond.

Sometimes (and even with LED headlights) it is hard to make them out.

If we as mere slabs of meat (a.k.a. Humans) have problems then at the current level of AI I really would not want to try out a automated vehicle in the USA especially at this time of year with all that leaf fall which .... seems to be very close in colour to the road markings said leaved inveitably obscure.

BSOD's in a flash methinks (or the ARM/whatever equivalent) as the poor computer gets horribly confused.

It might be ok for the likes of Google to test this kit in calm benign California Cities but try it in The Applachians/Rural New England at this time of year. I'll bet that the results are anything but a success.

Now Mr Dabs, would you care to explain about this £59 quid plug you have trouble with on Trains?

I guess that you are talking about the whole PSU including brick? Don't they come with pretty standard leads these days. Even an Apple laptop power brick will take a standard 2 pin Figure of 8 lead.

Down and out? Rimini's Oracle slap spells trouble – for Oracle

Re: Shirley

You know that there is another recent thread here (with over 200 comments) saying much the same thing about Microsoft.

AFAIK, they are simply copying the behaviour of the old IBM learnt by Oracle (as it originated on the IBM platform) and moved to MS.

This is basically.

"Screw you"

This behaviour makes other IT Giants seem like charities.

Microsoft now awfully pushy with Windows 10 on Win 7, 8 PCs – Reg readers hit back

This is just the tip of the Iceberg

It is clear that the new Microsoft is out to montize every PC user of their software.

They want annual subscriptions to keep the cash flow happy and (the important bit)

create a walled garden that is beyond Apple's wildest dreams.

Inside that garden MS will dictate your every move. Their telemetry will enable them to see (And think) what you are doing and are going to do. Then Cortana will burst into life even though you have disable it and shout 'I'm sorry Dave, I can't allow that'.

They seem to have this misguided idea that Mommy Sataya knows best and that we must not be able get up to the sort of antics we have done for years and frankly abused their OS. No more. You won't be able to do that. Big Bro Sataya is watching every move you make, every key you press. all to stop you doing anything that might be a bit risque (or worse).

I really fear for the future of MS. Users will only take so much. Oracle is doing exactly the same to its customers but their lock in is even worse (Sadly).

As has already been said,

BAIL OUT NOW. IF you wait it might be too late.

I am really glad that I am retiring sometime within the next 10 months. I will be able to leave the world of imploding world of MS behind me with a big smile on my face. I won't regret it one bit.

MS really have misjudged badly to alienate so many supporters.

Anyone else get the feeling that they just

'Don't give a Damm'?

Surely some of this negativity has got past their Happiness Filter and reached top management?

The question is...

Will they change anything?

At the moment, I doubt it.

Sad to see them have to resort to these tactics.

US Mobile Data Plans

Screw you as much as thie godforsaken W10 update

Here in the UK I pay approx $22.50 for 15Gb/month in Tax/Vat.

Why not Add your Cell Carriers to the Hate list?

It will make many feel a lot better you know.

Dell buying EMC: Is this the end times, or the road to salvation?

The enemy is Amazon

That is about what Walmart is thinknig at the moment as Amazon is apparently making huge inroads into their grocery business. Same day delivery and all that.

Amazon seems to have a finger in a huge number of pies now. They could have more of a stranglehold on certainly US lives than anyone ever imagined very, very soon.

how log will Apple remain the biggest company in the world? Not very if Amazon keep this up.

Fixing Windows 10: New build tweaks Edge, sucks in Skype

Re: Sorry, I've forgotten, why do I want this again?

So it is faster. Big Deal. The general feeling here is that because of the spying, forced updates etc etc it gets a thumbs down. (see Icon)

What Microsoft giveth, MS taketh away.

Now they are sending adverts to the Start Menu. How much more before even the most diehard MS Fanboi says 'enough already'.

Re: Default definition

In the Redmond View of the 'Wrold' no one has more than one printer... ever....

Then someone deep indside MS will decide that adding a second printer will require a CAL ($0.99 per page sent to the printer)

then adding a User will require another CAL costing $5.99 per month

Wanna add some non MS approved software (for example, Photoshop Elements) ? That will be $9.99/month

etc etc etc

UK drivers left idling as Tesla rolls out Autopilot in US

Re: "We’re not totally clear how the car intends to deal with being rear-ended"

Nah,

the rear number plate would fold down and device would appear. Then from hidden speakers a loud Dalek voice would say, 'Exterminate' and the offending car complete with driver would disappear.

Re: This seems like a bad idea

There you are with all this automation stuff enabled and cruising along I-15 heading for Vegas when an 18-Wheeler or worse a FedEx wagon with two trailers comes past you doing 85+ mph.[1] The slipstream sauses your 'automated' car to swerve out of lane and right into the path of another vehicle.

The US Ambulance Chasers will be out in droves. The damages will wipe out Tesla.

This is a good idea but in reality.... it leaves a lot to be desired in practice.

[1]Trucks in the US seem to do whatever speed they like and to hell with the others on the road.

During the extremely wet weather in North and South Carolina at the end of September it was not uncommon for 18-wheelers to blast past me doing 75+ in torrential rain. Those trucks have little or no spray reduction kit fitted.

If this sort of automation can handle those sort of conditions then it might work on non dedicated highways.

On Planet Italia

as soon as the get onto the autostrada they flick on their LH indicators and they remain on for hundreds of miles hoping that the mere instance of a flashing light will make other drivers move over.

IMHO the tailgating is far more effective....

As to UK Tesla drivers missing out. Who really cares? The only time I ever see one it is being charged.

Vodafone exceeds own upper broadband speed limit to hit 80Mbps

Perhaps

Voda wants to 'Embiggen' the figures to gain more biz?

Shirley not....????

Junk your IT. Now. Before it drags you under

The old 'Snake Oil Salesman' argument

That seems to be taught to MBA (and Apprentice Candidates).

Don't worry, the next module will cover things like ROCI.

But is something is working to spec, running withing predicted downtime levels and frankly 'doing what it is supposed to' then why the F**k would I want to replace it.

Try telling this gotta buy the newest Shiny-shiny to Airlines. Their tools (via Planes) have expected working lives of around 30 years. Just because the 787, 737-Neo, A320-Neo and A380 are in Service don't expect all Airlines to magically stop flying everything else.

Why don't we Tar and Feather this guy? After all that often happened to Snake Oil salesmen in the wild West.

An Internet of Things music thingy? What, you’ve already got one?

£119?

They must have been drinking the Apple pricing cool-aid.

Those are clearly Apple TV like prices. Don't need to say any more.

Devs ask Microsoft for real .NET universal apps: Windows, Mac, iOS, Android

Hmmmm.... Interesting

but two points come to mind

1) How many Mb is .Net 4.5? A couple of a Hundred ? Well thats what the huge numbers of security patches on top of patches seems to day. Never the less, I wonder how the patching of the underlying frameworkd go on IOS or OSX? Would Apple let such apps into their App stores? .Net apps on an Apple Platform? Is it even possible?

2) Has anyone given much thought about how XAML based apps would look on iOS or OSX? Would they follow MS rules or Apple Interface rules.

My feeling that this is a portential solution (but to what question) but there is an awful lot of things to be sorted out before it ever saw the light of day.

BLABBERGEDDON BEGINS! Twitter lays off 8% of its workforce

So?

The New Boss (Same as the old boss) is in line to get how much bonus this year? $27M perhaps?

Now that would be .... I'm sure that you can fill in the gaps

New cloud bookings are a thing for SAP in Q3

It's all Vapourware

Coat, waterproof naturally because SAP seems to piss all over you.

HP HUMILIATED by Dell's EMC buy

Why?

Because once the deal was done and dusted they wouldn't be shareholders in EMC.

NASA preps test of broadband-from-spaaaaace project

Re: Laser tag

I bet the US, Russian and Chinese military can already ....

There fixed it for you.

The incredible IT hulk: Dell + EMC - did someone say 'synergy'?

Re: Synergy schminergy

If I were IBM I'd be looking to make sure that OpenStack runs like shit off a shovel on 'P' Series. IBM has release a number of new 'P' Series boxes optomised for Linux. (S812LC etc)

Then they can tout that and give two fingers to VMware.

After all IBM have spent an awful lof of investment $$$ on Linux and Linux Products in recent years.

But will they?