Posts by Ian 62 228 publicly visible posts • joined 17 Jul 2009
So Oz, US and Canada got together and did something about it.
When I complained about my last call to the BT abuse number all I got was:
'Sorry nothing we can do about it, but did you wind them up while they were on the phone?'
Which I ALWAYS do, but they don't even seem to notice when you troll them. Maybe its a culture thing?
Yeah I had that 'shock' too.
Worked out that (at least in the UK) if you dont use the supplied 3 pin adaptor then you aren't earthing the casing. Also, if your home extension/cabling/circuit isn't earthed correctly then the same happens.
I even called trading standards about it, when I measured the leakage at about 100+ volts.
The response was pretty much : If it works with the OEM powersupply and correctly earthed circuit, TOUGH.
Which I suppose is a valid point, but still... Accidents happen.
+1 to TeeCee
I'd be a perfect customer for an electric car.
I live in the city centre, I travel about 30miles a day, I dont have a family. So a small electric would be fine for me.
However....
I dont have a parking space at home, most days I'm forced to park at least one street away.
As far as at work, as with most cities, the local council has dictated you get parking for about 30% of your office space. So its a battle to park at all, so I'd never get to park in a space with a cable at work either.
So I'm never going to get to re-charge it.
The solution? Move to somewhere I'd get a parking space? Spend more on the priveledge to park than the car cost? Move further out of town to get an affordable place with parking? Spend more time driving? Or end up with range anxiety.
In order to be able to use a lecy, I stop being an ideal lecy customer.
So does this mean the electric bandwagon/gravytrain can be parked up for a while until the technology catches up?
"The current capabilities of electric vehicles do not meet society's needs," said Toyota vice-chairman, Takeshi Uchiyamada, Reuters reports, "whether it's the distance the cars can run, or the costs, or how it takes a long time to charge."
@Nick
You're right, thats the point I was making. But head in the sand isnt an appropriate attitude. Sysadmins need to have the plan in place before the request comes in. Or you will end up in the situation of a lost BlackPadXFireZoom-ablet lost somewhere with next weeks stock price on the front screen. Because somebody decided they wanted the gadget, but IT werent providing it, so they went and did it themselves.
"At the end of the day it doesn't have a tangible effect on the landscape because Apple is a consumer electronics company, not an IT company."
I'd beg to differ.. Right or wrong, fanboi or not, the likes of Apple are driving the consumerism of IT 'stuff'. Users wont put up with being abused much longer. With corporate dictats on what they're allowed to have and not allowed to have. See the BYOD articles all over the place.
Apple and similar kit isnt for the likes of US, its for everyone else.. But we have to deal with everyone else every day to make stuff work for them.
So we'd best get used to the 'but at home I've got....' kind of attitudes, as they young trendy types who are 20something facebookers now will in short order be our CxOs of the companies we're still drones in, and they'll not want to understand why they shouldnt/cant have at work whatever shiny they have at home.
My thoughts about pretty much any tinfoil hatted government conspiracy.
Either
1) The noise/signal ratio is already so high with kittens, music, youtubing, stalkerbook, and inane twatting that any good inteligence is lost.
or
2) If they DID manage to build something that worked mining our data, we're growing our data so fast and shoving more and more of it into 'THE CLOUD!' that they're going to have to find a dyke to stick their finger in.
If theres a will....
He's complaining now that people pirate whole games, it wont be long before items in F2P games are hacked and unlocked.
"You gunna pay for that MegaBBQWTFPWN Gun?!?! haha lamezor.. Herez my hackzor code that makes me leetz!!1111!"
Then you're back to DRM, punkbuster, cheat/bot detecting rootkits to make sure your F2P platforms arent being hacked.
As I just found out. This isnt a 'new' install. As the lad in the t-shirt told me instore 'We havent sold our operating systems for years'.
You need to be on at least Snow Leopard to get this. Its a digital download.
When I asked how do I get to Snow Leopard? I was told... Go get it on eBay.
Yes. eBay. I thought he was joking.
So I believe if you're on legacy hardware...
1) Check you meet the requirements (thats Intel and 64bit bootable plus some other details)
2) Your on at least 10.6
3) Then I think, pay for 10.7, then pay for 10.8
So my 2009 MacBook Al (2.4Ghz C2D)
Will, if i do the full set, cost about £80 to get to Mountain Lion.
Really? 10years on and its still making a loss?
I have my doubts on that one. The 'hardware' division may well be, but thats never the point of a console, its licencing the rights to make games is where the real revenue is.
MS may make a loss per 'Surface' but the licencing of Windows, Office products, and whatever other killer apps they can come up with is where the money will be.
iPads havent (as far as I've seen) taken the Enterprise by as much storm as might be expected given the number of users that have bought one.
But if MS can pull of an Enterprise ready tablet, that works with all the domain secruity, runs the enterprise apps, then they can sell individually at a loss but make that back on the 'Surface Edition' versions of Office/Powerpoint/VB/etc.
Isnt the point of the judgement that it was biased/unfair?
Spredex were totally unliable, yet the customer was infinitly liable.
So imagining a bad person gets access to your account and does evil things, you'd potentially be held liable for squillions of squids. Spredex win-win. Infact, that would encorage them NOT to have sufficent security.
If however they'd limited the customer liability to 'something' then Spredex might have won.
TBH IMHO IANAL sounds like a judge with a reasonable answer.
It wasnt a complaint as such...I genuinely dont know if thats possible.
You're right that FB would most likely tell me to GTF, as I'm not a 'customer'.
But then, if I cant see whats in FB, how do I know if theres something I should complain about.
I'm nobody, so I doubt anyone would have anything interesting to say about me. But if I was a DD-List celeb and someone posted stuff in FB that 900mil people could see, but I couldnt, how would I know I needed to start a lawsuit?
Am honestly curious.. But I dont want to sign up to find out if it is possible.. anyone help?
As I havent opted-in to facebook I cant be sure... So maybe someone else can answer?
But can a 'non-facebooker' be tagged in images within Facebook?
I'm imagining a real-world friend posts photos of the embarrasing situation with the flying goggles and the wet celery stick. Can they then 'tag' me (a non-facebooker) in those pics?
So that other facebookers can search and identify me?
All without me being aware of it as I'm not inside the walled garden?
I think the key point with this thing is the fact that it is perfectly breakable. Then fixable...
Yes schools have lots of computers in them, old and new, used and un-used. But typically they are locked down. No admin rights, no nothing, because the kids will break them and the teachers dont have time to fix them.
Where as this thing can be used to do all the 'other stuff' thats not just about programming.
System administration
Roles/Privileges.
Security
Antivirus
Encryption
Malware
Networking
All the things even us geeky types would rather have an isolated machine to try it out on.
I didnt baffle him with science, and the why it wont work, and the how to get around any blocks... Because thats not going to win us any arguments. We'll get 'oh you're just not trying!' thrown back in our faces. 'We can put Men on the Moon, you must be able to deal with this!'.
So.. I took a differnt tack, one you've hinted at in this article.
I said, "why should I have to put my name on a list to access legal adult content? And when my name is on that list, and an annoymous hacker gang releases that list to the internet... People like teachers, nurses, politicians will be called PERVS!! Someone think of the children!!"
Scare them with their own game! Thats my thought.... Many of them think it'll be fine to add their name to the lists, because really its 'just harmless adult pron'... but when they're the one on the front page of the Daily Fail, they'll soon realise it was a bad idea.
I didnt baffle him with science, and the why it wont work, and the how to get around any blocks... Because thats not going to win us any arguments. We'll get 'oh you're just not trying!' thrown back in our faces. 'We can put Men on the Moon, you must be able to deal with this!'.
So.. I took a differnt tack, one you've hinted at in this article.
I said, "why should I have to put my name on a list to access legal adult content? And when my name is on that list, and an annoymous hacker gang releases that list to the internet... People like teachers, nurses, politicians will be called PERVS!! Someone think of the children!!"
Scare them with their own game! Thats my thought.... Many of them think it'll be fine to add their name to the lists, because really its 'just harmless adult pron'... but when they're the one on the front page of the Daily Fail, they'll soon realise it was a bad idea.
Well not 'today' as they've probably not been allowed to discuss User accounts and permissions on the locked down PCs. And the course materials probably dont cover it. They'll be discussing the 'finer' points of Office, Paint, how to 'tripe' with Mavis Beacon or whatever the current thing is.
But thats why the foundation was set up, to break out of that dreadful content.
Jumping kids into programming may only appeal to a small number, but some CSI style computer security and hacking? Or networking up with their mates? Skynet-eque grid computing?
Once someone else has built some tools, someone else has decided on a curriculum content, someone else builds some coursework and exams. It THEN starts to make real difference, today? Not so much. Next years new student intake? more so.
It's an entire, real computer. With all the features that entails.
So actually you can use it to teach the kids about;
Operating Systems
Users
Permisions
Priviledges
Drivers/Devices
Encryption
Networking
Security
All without worrying about bricking the Windows PCs that every other class has to use. You break one of these you swap the memory card for another one.
So, in each image that you complain about something being badly designed you post a hacked up image of an Apple Product.
Then for the image you use when you say you're happy with them, you use an image of an Intel Product.
Editorial slant?
</irony off>
For those of you missing the point..It's a joke :)
"Because you look like a fool when you spend 30min looking for a parking space for your proper car, driving past hordes of these things."
1) You mean these things ran out of 'leccy and your desiel keeps going.
2) You mean these things fit in smaller spaces and you are struggling to find a big enough space
So, you wouldnt want to leave it where any 'ner do wells' could do mean things to it?
So.... That means in the city I need
A) Somewhere safe I can park regularly to charge it up
B) Somewhere safe I can park regularly where it wont get vandalised.
So (again) its a city car thats not secure to leave somewhere in the city.
That it is true. :(
Maybe we've all missed the trick, we should be taking the example of the city bankers, we should be going out and partying everytime something gets done.
If we party hard we must be successful, so we need paid more, which means we can party harder.
Oh..Wait.. Then didnt go so well did it.
If it was 10pence to stream a show, I'd probably not blink.
But £1.89 to watch something I'd missed on the evening it was broadcast? I dont think so.
You said it yourself, its what? A fiver for a month of netflix? So why would I pay £1.89 for one one-hour show? A month of catching up on a soap you missed would be 20+ pounds?
Dial down that fee and we can start talking.
Potentially I can see this being the 'rebirth' of the WORKS style of applications.
The ones that were masters of none, jack of all trades.
Imagine the one application as your do-a-bunch-of-things-at-once-that-are-unrelated-but-you-want-side-by-side.
So in part of the full screen application theres a pane thats got an RDP client embedded, another pane thats got a browser, another pane thats got a chat client. Its ONE application but made of up different bits.
I dont like it...But that sounds like the only solution to me. Maybe an API that lets you tile them together?
What if your 'cloudy' SaaS/Paas/IaaS was actually just a nicely resold slice of someone like MegaUpload.com?
All those SLAs dont mean much when the FBI have walked in and switched it all off. How were you to know that the fantastic priced deal you got was because you were just buying some space on a dodgy bit of infrastructure that was hosting 'thinkofthechildren' content.
Sounds to me like a good potential honey trap.
So all those thousands of attempted hacks, social engineering and whatever else. How many of those attempts have they logged and reported to the relevant authorities?
I suspect the answer is probably none, not worth the effort, etc etc. But then, thats kind of the point isnt it. If you never report a crime, no-one gets caught, because no-one gets caught more people try it.
Lets face it.. Infront of your family, children especially. Seeing dad screaming in pain wouldnt be a nice lasting memory.
So, if you do have the abilty/presence of mind to be able to give them a warming last memory, its not a bad one to go with.
He was often quoted as looking forward to his next journey, so it would fit the Man.
If it's true, and was planned, good for him.
I have in fact driven a car at 70mph when the engine cut out (alternator failure led to dead battery).
The symptoms in this case were as i describe.
The power assisted steering did load up and become VERY heavy. Which could catch you out unexpectedly.
When I found a lay-by to stop in the braking was greatly reduced and required a lot more effort than normal.
And indeed the steering lock should not come on until the key is removed. But I find my current car impossible to restart without actually removing the key. If that is the case with a jaguar? I dont know.
Simply pointing out the risks in turning off the engine of a car at speed.
Maybe I've not quite read it right... But if its a consumer grade device being used out and about (4G or wireless) and you're worried about the load on your internet links, why are you streaming media through your corporate connection?
I'm assuming you're worried about folks, on their iPads, watching youtube, sky, etc?
If thats the case why not let them use whatever connection they are on, only route business traffic via on-off vpn to your core?
Full disclosure, I do NOT own an iPhone and can't afford one.
1) Fair point.. I don't NEED to change a battery but for some people it might be a nice thing to do.
2) It's in the cloud. Business models change. Not saying I trust my data in the cloud, but thats what theyre aiming for.
3) Walled garden as its pros and cons. Service, quality, security, reliability. But price, flexibility, ownership. Your mileage may vary, it depends what you intend to do with your phone. Me.. I dont want to think about finding the correct version of the correct app for the correct version of the correct OS for my version of my year of my phone. So if it tells me what version to install, and someone has vetted it first. I'm happy
4) We're not speculating on the performance of the previous model, you're listing reasons not to buy the model you havent tested yet. Its like saying dont buy this years titanic, the last one sank.
5) Everyone else has gone one? Everyone I know has a VW Golf, doesnt mean I shouldnt buy one if its good for my needs.
6) A celebrity endorsing a product puts you off? Hope you dont watch many TV adverts then, you wont have many products at all ever anywhere in the world to choose from.
7) A Ferrari has four wheels and an engine, very expensive for what it is.
8) The antenna was badly designed on the last one. Doesnt mean they wont fix it on this one.
9) Screen size, if I had a bucket of water I could figure out the volume of each device. I wonder if you make it thinner you have to make it fatter somewhere else? All that stuff has to go somewhere maybe in the last version Apple chose the screen bevel?
10) Wait.. Always Always Always wait. For the new car, for the new computer, for the new tv. Any gadget is overpriced and obsolete the day its made.
I'll give you 5/10. 5 'reasons not to buy', and 5 trolls.
"The price of calls for Joe Public won't be affected by either of the new measures"
Ok, clever enough that the exchange still knows that its a local call.
But if they are going to charge providers for pools of new numbers, umm.... that money has to come from somewhere. Its not going to be the shareholders or the directors golden parachute.
So I bet Joe Public will pay extra of the new charge for new numbers being allocated.
Those nice chemically battery packs that need replaced?
Those twirtly whirly things that generate at less than 20% efficiency?
That gas turbine plant thats cheaper to generate from? But oh, its fossil fuel?
That coal plant thats cheaper to generate from? But oh, thats fossil fuel too?
Or did you mean the internal combustion engine that is already taxed at: Point of sale & Per mile & Per year. (Not to mention import, and servicing)
I don't doubt that current hydrocarbon cars have got to go. But E-cars are not currently the answer, and most would agree not the answer for a long time yet.
Hydrogen is here, it works, its similar enough to hyrdocarbon that we can reuse lots of infrastructure. It can be produced in green ways if it must be. Doesnt require that a major component of the car is replaced after a few years.
Anyone see the Downing Street Memo?
They've only 'just' realised that green energy generation is expensive. More expensive than fossil fuel generation.
So, to charge up your E-car with green electric is more expensive than charging your E-car from fossil fuel electric.
Not to mention, if they want to build E-cars in the UK, the factory running on green energy will cost more. And so will the wages of all the people who work there.... Or, maybe they'll send the manufcaturing offshore, again.
And, with new gas extraction coming online, gas generation will (at least for a while) get cheaper. Already has in the USA.
So, not only do you get a more expesive car, with reduced range. But it also will get more expensive to charge, or it will be less environmentally friendly than they tell you.
How long before after much shuffling of feet and mumbling does someone imporant admit that E-cars are not the right answer?
Am sure I read somewhere...BBC? That in one of these cables was an admission from the MPAA that piracy was so high in Australia because they never release the movie/tv shows in the Australian DVD region.
A quick look at wiki... Region 4, Australia and South America go together. Which looks a bit odd, why include an English speaking country with Latin American countries?
Its their own fault. Your business is selling product, not lawsuit compensation.
When we dont need the 'leccy direct from the twirly whirly things why not use it to crack water to produce Oxygen and Hydrogen?
Dump the O to the atmosphere and store the H.
Doesn't matter if its 'efficient', as storing anything is more efficient than nothing. Storage tanks could be inefficient and bulky, who cares, it can sit inside the tower.
Either burn it on site in mini generators to provide power to the grid, or take a tanker round once a week to move it to a big generator.
You can refit Ford Focus engines to burn Hydrogen, nice little compact generator for when the wind isn't blowing.
Mines the patent.
Can we have this shouted from the roof tops please?
"Ideally, you need secure or off-road parking to charge but an extension lead running through the garden and joining the charge cable in a weather-proof housing proved more than up to the job. Luckily, I can park right next to my garden wall, keeping the charge cable more or less hidden from casual glances and felonious passers-by."
I live in a city, my usual commute would be ideal for a leccy motor, but most nights its a 5 minute walk from the 'different every night' parking space I can get. So re-charging is impossible.
The reason hydrocarbons work is that we can fill a tank of many hundreds of kW equivalents in a few moments. Until some boffin can fix that, they wont have mass market appeal. Its not 'range anxiety' thats the problem, its refueling.
At a guess... I would bet the RIM strategy is to make it a painless process for all the corporate droids to approve for use on their network.
If 'they' have already approved the BB and its security, got the infrastructure set up, and happy with it. Its painless to upsell them the playbook.
'Hey guys, your users can get this, no pain, no fuss, no extra stuff, all secure.'
Or its..
'iPad? well, we dont know if thats secure, and it needs itunes installed, and its too shiny'.
I believe the fact that a number of Lybians are driving around in pickup trucks with heavy weapons bolted to the flatbed could be considered a crime by the 'Lybian Government'.
But thats exactly the reason isn't it?
Or are you suggesting that an armed uprising against a Government is ok. So long as you do it without impact on commercial companies?
Sony get it twice from Microsoft.
"Microsoft has penned an exclusivity deal for publishing all downloadable content (DLC) first, but complaints say multiplayer doesn't function properly on PS3 anyway, so what's the point?"
Well if COD actually works on the XBOX, and MS are getting the exclusive deal on DLC. I'd say the PS3 version isn't going to sell much. So its an incentinve to buy an XBOX if you are on the fence but interested in COD
OR... Its a US hi-tech industry double bluff.
Lots of kit is imported from China etc, and there are already complains of the security risk this exposes the West to.
So.. To demonstrate the point, some western hi-tech industry developed it, unleashed it on Iran. And in a few months can say..
"Hey look, because Iran imported this kit from the west we were able to break it. That means the Chinese could do the same to the kit we import from them. Therefore, we should build and use all our own hi-tech kit in the west. Oh, and it'll cost lots too."
Ummm.... With all the nonsense of patent trolling and IP licencing and all the rest of it. Which lets face it, are people trying to cash in on not doing any work.
At first glance this looks like a copy of something that already exists and does the same thing. Someone somewhere has ACTUALLY made this, its prior art fairly clearly exists.
A patent for a 'multi-touch external GUI pointing device' actually might exist as a real patent. Far better than the patenting of a 'process' that seems the current trend.
You'd have thought patent lawyers would be all over this.
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