* Posts by Am

32 publicly visible posts • joined 23 Nov 2009

Imagine being charged to take a lunch break... even if you didn't. Welcome to the world of these electronics assembly line workers

Am

Re: Join a union

Yeah, but the employer is taking 30 minutes a day. The union is going to be closer to 30 minutes a month (depending on salary and amount paid - mine's around 45 minutes a month I think). Plus the union is actually going to help you on other work-related problems that the employer has caused. So on balance, I'll choose the union.

*Spits out coffee* £4m for a database of drone fliers, UK.gov? Defra did game shooters for £300k

Am

As everyone else has commented on the costs, I'm just going to predict a sharp rise in the number of drones for sale that weight 249g

When virtual mittens sell for thousands, of course gamers are ripe targets for cyber shenanigans

Am

"That's like buying a trophy with someone else's name on it!"

Maybe more like sporting paraphernalia (footballs, shirts, what-have-you) signed by the person who scored the most goals/won/whatever. MVP is "most valuable player" - so the player who contributed the most to the win (most kills, goals, whatever).

I do think it's a ludicrous amount of money to spend on something like that, but then signed memorabilia isn't my thing.

Let's Pope mass upgrade of Vatican Library data centre is blessed with some of that famed infallibility

Am

>"eight of its Net-Access Type S server cabinets in a hot isle containment configuration"

So somewhere in the Caribbean maybe?

Key to success: Tenants finally get physical keys after suing landlords for fitting Bluetooth smart-lock to front door

Am

Re: Terms and Conditions and Conditions and Conditions...

Or manage to ring the doorbell.

I happened to spot a UPS driver heading back to their van from roughly the direction of my house. Raced downstairs, saw the card, opened the door and yelled after them and had a bit of a go for them not ringing the doorbell.

They sauntered over with my parcel, and said they had, and proceeded to demonstrate. By pressing the bit of plastic above the very obvious button. Their smirk disappeared when I pressed the very obvious button to demonstrate how to use a doorbell.

And typing that has just reminded me of another instance where the tracking app said the item had been delivered. No card, nothing in the usual places. I rang them up - got told no one had answered the door so they'd left it in a safe place. Asked what safe place. Under the white car on your drive. There was no white car on our drive, any of the immediate neighbours' drives, or the road. Turned out they'd left it at a completely different house that wasn't that close (in distance or number) to mine.

Personality quiz for all you IT bods: Are you a chameleon or an outlaw? A diplomat or a high flier? Vote right here

Am

Re: What about...

>and have the social skills of a fountain pen.

I object to that. My fountain pens have far more social skills than I do.

Oh dear. Secret Huawei enterprise router snoop 'backdoor' was Telnet service, sighs Vodafone

Am

Re: "We all want to see hard proof of espionage. This is absolutely not it"

That's a micro-nave. Naivette is a French dance from the, erm, 1700s

Hipster whines at tech mag for using his pic to imply hipsters look the same, discovers pic was of an entirely different hipster

Am

Yeah. When someone has a one of a kind thing that you desperately want, but can't get because it's one of a kind and the person who made it won't make another, and you can't find anyone to create a duplicate.

London's Gatwick airport suspends all flights after 'multiple' reports of drones

Am

Re: Why not kit out airports with anti-drone drones?

I'm sure I was reading somewhere about eagles being trained in anti-drone action...

Edit: OK - the Dutch tried it and it failed, and now the Swiss are trying it.

Dori-no! PepsiCo boss says biz is planning to sell lady crisps

Am

Use chopsticks

No more orange fingers!

It's not the orange fingers I mind - it's the forgetting my fingers are covered in the stuff and leaving orange dust forever glued on random surfaces.

Don't shame idiots about their idiotically weak passwords

Am

Re: Frequent changing of strong passwords

@Nick Ryan - thanks :-)

I might even remember it for more than a day this time...

Am

I'm pretty sure most sysadmins(*) wouldn't consider this best practice over, say, making sure no-one has admin access who doesn't need it.

Our auditors have no problem with this, either.

(* Source: myself and all the ones I know)

Am

Re: Frequent changing of strong passwords

Chicken flavour(ed)(*) pot noodle has always been suitable for vegetarians - well, at least from the 80s it has been!

(* I can't remember which one denotes it has been artificially flavoured to taste like the real thing, and which denotes it has been flavoured with the real thing. Which is annoying as we were having this discussion at work on Friday)

Roses are red, bugs make you blue, Patch Tuesday is late, because Microsoft loves you

Am

At least they caught it before it got rolled out.

I'm not a fan of their roll-up strategy precisely because I'm nervous about something like this not getting caught before it's released.

Milk IN the teapot: Innovation or abomination?

Am

Re: A warning from history

I used to work with someone who drank a mix of tea and coffee together, and said it was very nice.

I choose to believe they actually did like as I could;t stomach trying it myself.

Doctor Who's tangerine dream and Clara's death wish in Last Christmas

Am

Re: BBC propaganda

Have some upvotes from me, too. I am not sorry for laughing at the downvotes ;)

Hobbyist killed by home-made hovercraft

Am
Flame

erm

If I kill myself having an accident whilst riding a motorbike without a lid, assuming I die before the ambulance arrives, surely I'm putting less of a strain on the health service than if I am wearing a lid and have an accident and subsequently need lots of medical attention due to injuries?

(I am deliberately ignoring the effects either may have on friends and family, but I can think of siutuations where dying would place less burden on them than surviving, depending on the personalities of the people involved)

Google's Facebook: It rocks, but who cares?

Am

Akchully

>Google has no games

And that is one of the main pulls for this woman and the others on there I know ;)

German cops hunt HUGE ERECTION-inducing SPIDER

Am
Mushroom

13cm

Not 13" - so less than half a foot long, so not as bad!

But still, likely to have the same turn off effect.

Icon as extensive flamage is probably the best way to deal with them.

Apple to support reps: Don't confirm Mac infections

Am
Flame

Whiff of hypocrisy?

So, on the Mumsnet thread we have everyone saying that the users should take responsibility for their own machines, and on this thread everyone seems to be saying the OS provider should...

And on other Apple threads we have people berating them for their closed garden approach, and here we have people saying they're not closed enough...

The issue here shouldn't be that bad people do bad things, nor should it be that a company has failed to preventt bad people doing bad things to people who have bought that company's products (I mean would you seriously blame the company you got your windows from if a burglar gained entry and stole things because they smashed one of the windows?), but that a company allegedly tells it staff to avoid the question.

The solution is education, of course.

Mumsnet founder: Our members are 'very keen' on PORN ...

Am

Actually, maybe they should be paid more attention to

Especially by the various child protection agencies around the world - after all, they are publically declaring they cannot look after their children...although that probably wouldn't result in the parents getting a visit from the authorities asking pointed questions about their claims.

Pakistani IT admin leaks bin Laden raid on Twitter

Am
Pint

Was only able to add one more thumbs up

so have another beer

Fukushima one week on: Situation 'stable', says IAEA

Am

5 > 4 but < 6

Or less concisely, it started at 6, dropped by two to 4, and has only been raised by 1 to 5.

Catfish: A fanfare for Facebook fakery

Am
Pint

@John Dee

And as far as I'm concerned that is far more romantic than meeting on Facebook (stop looking at me like that, I'm being serious!)

Beer, for toasting

Monster iPad Case Test: Folios

Am

The Twelve South case

You can synch with the case on if you're only using a cable, and not a dock - the zip flattens just enough, and the bottom corners are far enough from it for the cable to fit without any problems

LOST Vulture One PARIS spaceplane FOUND!!!

Am
Happy

Congrats to all

Glad plane and playmonaut are found :)

Apple as a religion: How the iPhone became divine

Am

@adrianww

Aww be fair - Victorinox mostly aren't overpriced or overhyped. And they seem to be built well.

Google tells staff to snub Windows after China hack snafu

Am

TalkTalk

I saw that reported on an IT news site (not El Reg, might've been Silicon), but never bothered to check further than the headline.

Met launches net café spy operation

Am
FAIL

I realise you're probably trolling

Or maybe just being sarcastic, but in case anyone thinks you're actually being serious (or even actually are being serious) you really don't see anything wrong with asking group a (in this case internet cafe owners) to spy on group b (in this case, their customers) and reporting anything that group b is doing that group a think is dodgy?

Am
WTF?

Not just the spying angle but

"Café owners are asked to use their own judgement as to what amounts to extremist material"

I really don't know what to say (I've tried a few times to type my incredulity at this stupidity out, and can't find the words)

Large Hadron Collider in multi-magnet quench hiccup

Am
Pint

Am I the only one who read

"the titanic subterranean magno-doughnut particle smasher" as the titanic subterranean maNGo-doughnut particle smasher?

Anyone else?

No?

Ah well. My excuse is it's lunchtime

eBooks: What to read on which reader

Am

Banks ebooks

21 of his books are available on Waterstones website - do an advanced search for Iain Banks, format ebook.