Posts by VinceH

Drunk driver live-streams her slow journey home

Re: What a stupid thing to do ...

Disappointingly, I jumped straight to the last minute or two of the video in the hope of seeing just that.

Laser razor binned from Kickstarter resurfaces on Indiegogo

Ah, a little kudos for Kickstarter, then, because that (along with the requirement for a working prototype - the reason they kiboshed the razor) means they're providing some degree protection for punters.

"Kickstarter doesn't collect the money until the end of the funding period. If it doesn't succeed in reaching it's goals or is pulled before the period ends, no money needs to be returned as none was collected."

Indiegogo has the option of 'flexible funding' - whereby the money is collected and handed over to the people waving the collecting tin, even if they don't reach their target. (Though, obviously, that still only happens at the end of the funding period). It wouldn't surprise me if Kickstarter had a similar option.

(And I've just looked: The Skarp Razor is set as flexible funding on Indiegogo.)

El Reg keeps pushing Apple's buttons – its new Magic Keyboard

Re: "So, overall, an improvement."

As far as I'm concerned, you just have to look at it.

Start with the assumption that the perfect keyboard would get five out of five, and a very good one would get four out of five, and accept the latter as a starting point. No numerical keypad? Deduct one - so now it's three out of five. Ridiculously flat? Deduct another one - so now it's two out of five. Problems getting it working correctly/requiring a baseline OS for a keyboard? Deduct another one - one out of five.

It has to score at least one because you can (albeit uncomfortably and/or painfully) type with it.

Big biz bosses bellow at Euro politicians over safe harbor smackdown

Re: Uncertainty. What uncertainty?

Yeah, if we do it ourselves, there's nothing for them to destroy. That'll show 'em.

Google's .bro file format changed to .br after gender bother

Re: "entirely coming from them"

Yes, but sensible people who show signs of common sense* already know that. It's the ones that don't who make the noise.

^{* Well, sometimes, anyway.}

What's not up, Docs? Google Docs goes titsup in time for Friday beers

It's a shame about the timing - i.e. that it was after the close of business (for most) here in the UK.

There are a couple of people I know who need to suffer an outage to help them wake up and smell the coffee, and hopefully wean them off the Kool-aid.

Adobe to brick eight Acrobat, Reader flaws next Tuesday

Someone downvoted TonyJ? Do we have an Adobe employee reading El Reg?

NASA boffins on Pluto: We see skies of BLUE and... RED water ice

Tholins?

Don't let New Horizon get too close, or it may end up in a Tholin^* web.

^{* Yes, yes, I know it was a Tholian web in Star Trek.}

HP creates laptop for SITH LORDS

Re: I'd like a Klingon version

That, but also:

A Romulan version, so I can use the intertubes while using a cloaking device.

Google and pals launch Accelerated Mobile Pages project

Re: Some Actual Numbers

"Firefox Tools>Web Developer>Network>Network"

D'oh! I have it already, but never noticed that aspect of its features.

Ta.

Re: Some Actual Numbers

What tool do you use to get those stats? I have one which measures page load times, but the information it presents is very limited compared to that.

Talk revealing p0wnable surveillance cams pulled after legal threat

Re: Or just put it behind a firewall?

I know. That's why I used those words.

Re: Or just put it behind a firewall?

The problem is that while you and many others would be happy with that set up, there are people who would want to access their new security toy over the internet - so for those people the ports that need to be opened are the very ones that will leave them vulnerable.

Tiny Robot Smartphone: Invasion Earth 2016 – prepare to be facially recognised humans

Re: Almost

Not so much transform as have a normal shaped phone which slots into the robot case, so that it does all the robot gimmicky stuff when plugged in, and is just a normal phone when not. Best of both worlds - you get the gimmicky plaything, and the practical device.

Indeed. I see no problems it truly solves, I have no practical applications in mind for it beyond "because" - the whole thing seems utterly pointless.

But I want one.

Terror in the Chernobyl dead zone: Life - of a wild kind - burgeons

Re: I think

"it's the wolves we need to worry about. I mean they seem to be evolving to feed on radiation."

Not only that, but judging by the picture at the top of the article, the bastards have evolved an ability to walk on water.

We need sharks with frikkin' lasers to defend us against them.

Microsoft's big Tuesday reveal: New mobiles and slabs? Win 10 shock?

Re: Is this Satya's big reveal?

Nah...

"We've come to accept that Windows 8 and 10 are unwelcome, and we'll be giving everyone with one of those on their computers a free upgrade to Windows 7."

UK gets the Ashley Madison fear: Data privacy moans on the up

Re: "Consumer complaints about the way personal data is handled"

"Deal with it, idiots. You are the ones who released it due to your own ignorance."

A comment that strongly suggests you believe the problem is only about sites that give people something worthless "for free" in return for all that lovely personal information. It's not, though. Sometimes handing over accurate information is vital for a transaction to proceed.

Re: Problem is...

"fining companies who break the law could be a significant revenue stream."

And would also - if the fines are sufficient - become something of a deterrent. As it stands, companies who play fast and loose with the rules probably see the ICO much as we do, and know that the worst they'll get is to be told that they've been naughty and not to do it again.

Experian-T-Mobile US hack: 'We trusted them, now that trust is broken'

Re: PCI DSS?

"Au contraire. Everyone remembers the past."

Except those who forget it - which is what Captain DaFt meant.

Also, if you are suggesting that nobody remembers the future, I dispute that. I remember perfectly well that I made a nice cup of tea immediately after posting this. :p

AdBlock blocker biz bought

Re: AdBlocker?

"I wonder how appealing they would find curtains that allowed "acceptable" strangers to peer into their homes when they want some privacy?"

That's what IoT iOUT devices are for.

WIN a 6TB Western Digital Black hard drive with El Reg

Um, dad? Are virtual reality worlds supposed to be recursive?

Slander-as-a-service: Peeple app wants people to rate and review you – whether you like it or not

Re: Only "Positive" Reviews.

"Who the fuck is going to vet all the reviews to see which are actually positive? Oh, I know! They are going to implement an easily-defeated algorithm,"

Quite literally, yes.

The Washington Post article mentions that the "reviews" will be accompanied by a five star rating - and I can't see it now in that article, so I may have read it in the early hours elsewhere (El Reg's own Chris Williams tweeted some links about it), but the fools behind it said something along the lines of one or two star reviews would be considered negative (three presumably being neutral and four/five stars being positive).

If so, to get a negative review about someone instantly published, accompany your review with three stars.

As I said, the idiocy is strong with this one.

I'd also like to know what happens when a victim changes their mobile phone number. (One member of my family seems to do this on a regular basis.) Will it end up with multiple profiles for one person if that person doesn't actually create an account so it can track their number changes?

I note from the Washington Post article that if someone doesn't sign up for Peeple, only positive reviews will appear for them - which sounds like the developers have tried (and failed) to address the obvious objection.

The reason they've failed to address the problem is because like everybody that is publishing personal details online, they are undoubtedly 100% confident that their servers are entirely secure and will never be prised open and the contents spewed out for everyone to see, including those negative reviews that haven't appeared on the system - and they will continue to be 100% confident of that... until it happens. (At which point, it will only have "affected a small number of people")

Another problem: They're using people's mobile phone numbers as a means to ensure a "reviewer" knows the person they're talking about (and presumably the same for anyone checking out the reviews - else how does someone distinguish between John Smith, John Smith, John Smith, and John Smith?)

Which is great... unless it's bloody easy for random people to get your mobile number, which for some of us it (necessarily) is.

The idiocy is strong in this one.

Weird garbled Windows 7 update baffles world – now Microsoft reveals the truth

"We incorrectly published a test update and are in the process of removing it."

And what were they testing was whether anyone would actually notice. Now they know.

Web ad tried to make my iPhone spaff a premium-rate text, says snapper

Re: Weird..

Well it's not actually sending an automated SMS - merely setting up an SMS for the user to send.

I'd guess there is a mechanism to do this from within web pages for mobile phones - a kind of SMS equivalent to a mailto.

And a very quick search comes up with:

Making phone calls and sending SMS with HTML

That shows how to set up a link that has to be clicked (or tapped) - and seems quite a reasonable thing to want to [be able to] do.

So presumably what's happened in this case is that the bastard hard done by but generally very trustworthy advertiser has managed to find a way to make the phone think the link has been clicked, with a bit of Javascript or something.

Now you can be tracked online by your email addy. Thanks, Google!

I've just logged in. My browsing history appears to be non-existent.

* Only log-in when you need to - and log-out when you've finished.

* Adopt a sensible cookie-management policy.

* Adopt a sensible policy for limiting Javascript

* Use unique addresses for different sites/organisations

I can understand Joe Public not being able to do these things - but the type of people reading this site should be more than capable.

Is Windows 10 slurping too much data? No, says Microsoft. Nuh-uh. Nope

Re: Microsoft, NDA's and all that.

I've decided my policy will be that I'll allow them - but each time someone does bring a Windows 10 device, it will prompt a key change when they leave.

The pachyderm punch: El Reg takes just-over-a-ton Elephone P8000 to tusk

Re: bought site unseen

No, they put some masking tape on screen where the address bar should be, so they couldn't see the site they were ordering from. Simplest explanation and all that*.

^{* What do you mean, misuse of the language is the simplest explanation? That's just silly.}

NASA announcement of MAJOR MARS DISCOVERY imminent: WHAT can it be?

They definitely haven't found my secret underground base on Mars.

I haven't built it yet.

VW’s case of NOxious emissions: a tale of SMOKE and MIRRORS?

Re: Rolling roads don't work that way

"How do they test four-wheel drive vehicles?"

Can't say I've ever taken any notice when I've dropped mine in for its MOT test, but I would have thought that if the test rigs don't have linked front and rear rollers, they'll at least have independent rollers for front and rear wheels - that would cover all scenarios: Front or rear two wheel drives, four wheel drives normally driven on the road as two wheel drives (like most of the 4WDs I've owned) or permanent four wheel drive vehicles (like my current vehicle if a previous owner hadn't converted it to two wheel drive).

Re: I give up

What CAPTCHA? Is it perhaps a special bonus part of the comment form for ACs?

OnePlus 2: Disappointing Second Album syndrome strikes again

Re: Bizarre

"Finally, people need to get over the invite system."

Personally, no, I don't. If I have to be 'invited' to be able to buy something, then I don't want it. There's nothing to get over because it's a personal selection process, just like if I was to say "if it only comes in red, then I don't want it."

Also, if I received an "invite" that would be a second reason not to buy it, because I never accept invites, only invitations. True fact: If someone hands me an envelope and says "Here's your invite to <whatever>" I bin it and tell them I don't accept invites, only invitations.

It might be pedantic, and you might say it's pointless - but it's my choice. Mine, damn it, and if anybody tells me I need to 'get over it', they're invited to engage in coitus and then cease living.

WIN a 6TB Western Digital Black hard drive with El Reg

Ha! Those buggers at GCHQ won't be able to monitor my browsing habits all the way out here!

If you got Netflix for Miss Marple, you're out of luck (and a bit odd)

"For instance, when it comes to books, I buy the majority of them electronically now, but there are still authors for whom I'll buy a new title in physical form – and often in hardback – since I have their other titles in print."

Ditto, and

"This autumn, I'm really looking forward to The Martian. And if it's half as good as the book was, it is very likely I shall want to watch it at home, too."

Ditto.

There's no way the film's going to be a patch on the book - but I've only just read the book, and the film's due out here RSN I think, so I've probably made it a whole lot worse for myself.

KARMA POLICE: GCHQ spooks spied on every web user ever

Re: Having given this a lot of thought, there is only one way to stop them!

"as for the Canteen Staff, they're still getting fucked!"

Oh, I don't know. Have you seen what the canteen staff look like?

"Wow, back in 2009 every internet user totalled 200k users."

That figure comes from a three month sample of the internet radio interception, not the overall browsing data slurp.

Gold bugs, concrete bog roll holders and frolic-friendly furniture: What IS it with designers?

Re: Have to admit...

"The graph pad is clever"

Yeah, but quite a bit more expensive than a ruler and protractor etc. These tools also allow you to draw straight and angled lines. Add a compass, and you can even manage curves.

'RipSec' goes to Hollywood: how the iCloud celeb hack happened

Re: You're urging it wrong.

I didn't realise they didn't have a bug bounty program - until now.

Similarly, I didn't think my opinion of them could sink any further - until now.

So how do Google's super-smart security folk protect their data?

Yeah, when I read "So how does Adam make sure he's not taken for a ride? Not how you'd think" I was expecting some amazing revelation in the next sentence... rather than his approach being largely similar to mine.

SIX MILLION fingerprints of US govt workers nicked in cyber-heist

Re: Biometric revocation?

"What are we supposed to do when biometric credentials are hacked?"

Amputation, with prosthetic replacement(s).

iOS's infected app-list continues to grow, says Lookout

Re: All these developers using illegal XCode must be jailed!

@nsld

Upvote for twatspanner. Portmanteau word of the day. And highly appropriate use in this case.

Our cookies save you from TERRORISTS, Facebook thunders to Belgian judge

"Are there still people who allow persistent cookies ?"

Sadly, yes - just about everyone who uses the intertubes but isn't likely to read sites like this one.

Re: Apostrophes or apostrophe's

"Plurals don't get one, dudes. Regulator's - argh Register, I thought you knew better."

Looking at the sentence in question, I think it's valid - the sentence being:

"The regulator's set the rhetoric-rheostat to “high”"

I think that use of "regulator's" is short for "regulator has" (though, TBH, I'd have preferred the expansion used in this case).

AVG to flog your web browsing, search history from mid-October

Re: Thanks for the warning El Reg

"When I ran into people who didn't want to or couldn't pay for antivirus I always used to recommend AVG"

Ditto. I raised this question on Twitter at the weekend - but I only got one reply: Avast.

This might be an opportune time for El Reg to do a round-up of AV products - free and premium.

It's 2015 and a text file can hack your Apple Watch. IS THIS THE FUTURE YOU WANTED?

Re: Sounds like previous version was garbage.

"So the impression is low quality rushed software with too much effort into appearance"

But don't you get it? It's from Apple.

Apple.

That means it's wonderful, and perfect. Even if it has flaws, it's perfect. It's from Apple.

You don't understand*.

^{* And nor do I.}

China launches 'pollution-free' rocket

"Chinese media have reported plans for a more ambitious mission to the dark side of the Moon before 2020."

Do you mean the far side?

AWS outage knocks Amazon, Netflix, Tinder and IMDb in MEGA data collapse

Re: Eggs

More like:

Eggs, meet basket. Basket, meet eggs. They're your responsibility now.

<later>

Basket, I want a couple of those eggs.

"Your eggs are currently unavailable."