Posts by Josco

VodafoneThree to offshore UK network jobs to India

Re: All the same...

They are.

That 'angry guest' email from Booking.com? It's a scam, not a 1-star review

Re: Booking sites

Not aways possible. I was at a large hotel in Leicester and for various reasons we required another room. I went to reception where the spotty youth said they were fully booked. In front of him I whipped out my phone, went to Booking.com and booked a room there and then for that night. Job done.

Apple hit with £3 billion claim of ripping off 40 million UK iCloud users

Who do I trust most? Cook, Bezos, Zuckerberg or Nadella?

Personally I am very comfortable in Cook’s walled garden. I knew when I moved all my own IT systems to Apple that my options would be slightly limited but I trade that for security and privacy (perceived or not). My IPhone, IPad and Mac all talk to each other, everything just works and iCloud for £2.50 per month is not expensive. Because of work I have to have Excel and Word on the system and they really know how to charge!

Basically who would I rather have looking after my data? Cook, Bezos, Zuckerberg or Nadella?

US actors are still on strike – and yup, it's about those looming AI clones

Re: Brand management

In my case it's 'how little are you paid?'

UK policing minister urges doubling down on face-scanning tech

LFR - RFR - FFS

Another step on our sleep walk to a police state.

BT confirms it's switching off 3G in UK from Jan next year

I thought they already had.

Judging by the woeful reception I get from 3 where 3G seems to be their default coverage but nothing works and phone calls are poor I assumed they had already removed it.

My mobile is not 5G compliant so I probably need to upgrade...

Largest local government body in Europe goes under amid Oracle disaster

Easy win but challenging keep.

What is it with governments, national or local? How do they bollox it so often? This looked like the win was easy for Oracle but the challenge is to come up with the goods.

China crisis is a TikToking time bomb

Dance with the Devil

I think that article encapsulated the issues well. I suspect that for most people it will be a case of "I have nothing to hide and there products are very good value..."

Brit MPs pour cold water on hydrogen as mass replacement for fossil fuels

Burn Water

Never managed to understand basic chemistry and why water doesn't burn (Hydrogen & Oxygen - bloody flammable!)

BOFH: Come back to the office. Your hotdesk is nice and warm

Christmas Bonus from BOFH

Always enjoy these sporadic offerings, this one is a bonus indeed.

Croatian EV maker Rimac claims 412km/h speed record

Not enough range.

I was reaching for my cheque book but I think that 205 miles (in optimum conditions) would induce range anxiety.

Microsoft hits milestone to replace datacenter generators with fuel cells

Hydrogen - Fuel of the Future

I believe the Hindenburg disaster in 1937 set the human race back decades. Possibly too late to save us now...

If you didn't store valuable data, ransomware would become impotent

Me.

I think it was aimed at me, I found it interesting.

Green hydrogen 'transitioning from a shed-based industry' says researcher as the UK hedges its H₂ strategy

Re: Might be worse than burning coal

Absolutely agree, nuclear is the only valid solution to our energy needs, SMRs more so. This is proven technology as used in submarines and you don't see many submariners with two heads or other radiation issues.

Then we can talk about nuclear fission...

Taiwan president pokes the bear by saying the nation needs to lessen its supply chain dependency on China

Re: Oh bother!

I see what you did there. Have a beer.

Move aside, Technoking: All hail the Sweat Master and his many inspirational job titles

#Me Too

It still reads as Tech-noking to me even after Dabbsy's excellent explanation.

So how do the coronavirus smartphone tracking apps actually work and should you download one to help?

Re: What's to stop...

...makes you monumentally stupid...

Lucky there aren't many people like that around!

Review of IR35 is in: Quelle surprise, UK.gov will forge ahead with controversial tax reforms in the private sector

Not really a suprise.

Thankfully no longer concerns me personally but it's still a buggers muddle.

Log us out: Private equity snaffles Lastpass owner LogMeIn

No one has mentioned Dashlane

I'm worried now that I may be missing something important.... Is Dashlane bad?

It's 2019 so, of course, this Wells Fargo employee accused of stealing customer cash posed with wads of dosh on Instagram, Facebook

How many trainers?

Had a shufti at the Instagram postings, how many pairs of trainers has he got? And they're all so clean, and expensive I shouldn't wonder.

How do you get 14,400 followers with only 20 posts? I've done nearly 30 and got 15 followers.

I really don't understand social media...

Beware the trainee with time on his hands and an Acorn manual on his desk

No one has mentioned Elite?

I am surprised that no has commented on the fantastic Elite game shown on the screen. I lost many hours to that game.

'Sophisticated' cyber attack on UK Labour Party platforms was probably just a DDoS, says official

Re: Interesting wetware hack

"Tax is for the little people."

I'm a little person; physically, financially and intellectually. I don't like tax either.

NASA trumpets Orion completion as India heads to the Moon

India is going to the moon with my tax.

The UK is still giving aid to India I understand, aid paid for by my tax.

With HS2, the NHS, MP's salaries and pensions and a myriad other costs I am going to have to work for the rest of my life to pay for it all.

if developer_docs == bad then app_quality = bad; Coders slam Apple for subpar API manuals

"But many people don't as Xcode itself isn't very well documented."

I agree with that. I am not a developer or code writer in any shape or form, just an inquisitive amateur, but I've had an idea for a (brilliant) iPhone app that I fancied having a go at. The help for the Xcode SDK is no help to me and I've got bogged down at the first hurdle....

Ah well, back to HTML, CSS and a little poorly written PHP. My plans for a money making app on the back burner.

Whatever you've got to say about Google, it can't hear you over the sound of it banking $85m a day in pure profit

Re: Who is paying?

Could I say that I have never been first to comment before?

Who is paying?

I use Google quite a lot, Gmail, Maps et al but I have never knowingly clicked an advert link nor responded to any of the adverts that are thrust upon me. I have a similar response to junk calls. So who is responding and making the advertisers cough up?

I could be willing to pay for email (an allowable cost against tax I should imagine) if that would prevent a lot of spam.

Forget your deepest, darkest secrets, smart speakers will soon listen for sniffles and farts too

It would be inundated in our house!

If it can record and note the sound of farts then they're going to need more storage for all the noises my family makes.

Want to hack a hole-in-the-wall cash machine for free dosh? It's as easy as Windows XP

Physical access is quite easy

A few years ago I had a temp job changing the signage on a certain banks network of ATMs. This required me to have unfettered access to the machines and all work was carried out during opening hours. Rarely was I questioned about what I was doing by members of staff, and there was never any check that I was certified to carry out the work and no ID was ever requested. On external machines I would await my turn to access the ATM with members of the public in the queue and then proceed to attack the machine with various tools to remove its outer coverings. No one questioned me, not even the two coppers who passed on one occasion.

I have to say that at no point was I able to actually connect to the inner workings because I had neither the knowledge or the tools, but I doubt any one would have said anything even if I had.

Amazing what a Hi-Vis vest can do.

Shift-work: Keyboards heaped in a field push North Yorks council's fly-tipping buttons

V.amusing but...

There's a cost here in removing them for proper disposal, this cost has now passed to me through the taxes I pay.

F***=off, Google tells its staff: Any mention of nookie now banned from internal files, URLs

Bus Heating?

Not sure why the heating system on a bus is relevant.

New algorithm could help self-driving cars scout out hidden objects

Could I have a little privacy please?

That rabbit looks like it’s having a poo, leave it in peace.

Britain ignores booze guidelines – heads for the pub

Look away Nanny

It's Friday and I'm going for a beer or two.

Might have another tomorrow too.

UK.gov not quite done with e-cigs, announces launch of new inquiry

Vape shops spring up like weeds

In my little town there are 4 vape shops all within sight of each other, they are each almost completely empty of both product and customers. I'm not sure what rent they have to pay, and I have no idea as to the cost of the product or the markup, but it doesn't seem economically viable as a business. Is it a front?

So thoughtful. Uber says it won't track you after you leave their vehicles

Pretty boring tracking me

Home - pub

Pub - home

Home - pub - 'nother pub - home pleesh

BOFH: Don't back up in anger

New technical terms.

I thought I was up to speed with most jargon, but I haven't heard of bitwise comparison of tesla signatures on the disk surface. Can it really detect as low as 3 or 4 micro-gauss?

Marvellous stuff.

Revealed: UK councils shrug at privacy worries, strap on body cams

Re: plastics

Our council refuse operators sort unsuitable plastic at the road side and leave it on the pavement to blow away. Now they are going to charge extra for garden waste too.

It is an immutable law of local councils/authorities that the more you pay the worse the service gets.

Tobacco giant predicts the end of smoking. Panic ensues

I know what's next...

"Perhaps it's dawned on the more fanatical Public Health campaigners that the end is in sight, and a new cause is needed. "

Beer! That's next on the list. (Oh how I hope I'm wrong).

Three outsources staff to Capita

Re: Currently a 3 customer

Me too. Not too much choice, so back to Vodafone we go. There is a slight upside though, 2 years ago no provider had any service round here, now they all have except 3.

The return of (drone) robot wars: Beware of low-flying freezers

Re: Street Cameras on every corner?

There are reckoned to be over 6 million CCTV cameras in use by the authorities in the UK, never mind the number of personal and business systems. By one estimate people in urban areas of the UK are likely to be captured by about 30 surveillance camera systems every day. That's systems, not individual cameras.

Big brother is in the house.

Prominent Brit law firm instructed to block Brexit Article 50 trigger

Vote Again and get it right this time

This is all part of the establishment's campaign to have another referendum and get the sheeple to vote remain.

England just not windy enough for wind farms, admits renewables boss

Create Gas then

Both wind and solar are intermittent, usually producing power when it is not needed. I recall hearing an interview on the radio where it was suggested that the power produced could be used to create gas, this gas could then be absorbed by the national gas grid which has sufficient elasticity to accommodate this irregular . When power is needed then a gas power station is fired up. Simples!

I also agree with those respondents who suggest river power. My local river (The Wharf) has never run dry in all the years I've been here.

Computerised stock management? Nah, let’s use walkie-talkies

Do you have any tea?

I was in a very good bread shop recently, they had a huge range of home made bespoke bread along with the usual white & brown stuff. In comes a customer, "May I help?" asked the assistant. "Some bread please." replied the customer.....

Investigatory Powers Bill: As supported by world's most controlling men

Re: To all at, and involved with the coalition...

I, too, have added a smidgen to the cause and am no doubt on a little list somewhere.

When customers try to be programmers: 'I want this CHANGED TO A ZERO ASAP'

Any chance of a solution?

Not all of us here are programmers and I could stare at that code for an eternity and not know what I'm looking for.

I do a little HTML, CSS and PHP and some aeons ago a small amount of classic ASP, all of it laughably simple. I've always thought of coding as a little like Shakespeare; I can read Shakespeare, I can understand (some) Shakespeare but I certainly can't write it.

Lincolnshire council shuts down all IT after alleged 0-day breach

Re: Dissapointed

Haven't got to the elasticated trousers yet, but I'm counting the days.

New open-source ad-blocking web browser emerges from brain of ex-Mozilla boss Eich

Re: Sounds interesting

Dr Dobbs Patent Nerd Sex Attractant Pills, do they work? Do they also do them as suppositories?

Cisco shocker: Some network switches may ELECTROCUTE you

Is this POE?

Is this anything to do with that new fangled Power Over Ethernet I've read about somewhere?

You want to DISRUPT my TECH? How about I DISRUPT your FACE?

TNT!

Turtled Necked Twat, brilliant!

Apple Watch is such a flop it's the world's top-selling wearable

Re: Who actually wears a watch anymore? And why?

I do. I like to know the time, quite easy with a swift flick of the wrist and a pretty face (analogue).

My mother always used to keep her watch an hour fast so as not to be late, didn't work.

£100 MILLION poured down drain on failed UK.gov IT projects - in just ONE YEAR

myBOL - How appropriate

Another usual bollox from those in charge. I did agree with Little Mouse though, I thought the figure a little low, but then we are not privy to all the information either.