Posts by croc

Kiwi ISP 'Slingshot' stones geo-blocked content

Re: This is a serious issue

"I'm pretty sick and tired of paying 50% more than the US price for many Steam games simply because of publisher greed and their "Watcha gonna do about it?!?" attitude. it's not like NZ/AU incomes are comparatively higher."

\start rant\

Games? <font size="4">GAMES?</font> You Provencial Putz! I'm sick and tired of getting screwed for region-priced software that I DOWNLOAD FROM THE SAME SERVER AS YOU! I am sick and tired of not being able to send a mate overseas a DVD because of REGION CODING! I am sick and tired of not being able to PAY TO SEE A NEW MOVIE THE SAME DAY (MONTH?) THAT IT IS RELEASED (usually) IN THE USA! I am sick and tired of getting screwed on hardware pricing BECAUSE OF REGION PRICING! I SICK AND TIRED OF COMPANIES CRYING "<font size="6"> GLOBALIZATION!!!!</font> ALL OVER THE PLACE UNTIL IT COMES TO THEIR BOTTOM LINE, THEN WHISPERING <font size="1">regional...</font> \end rant\

Dotcom crypto keys not for the FBI: NZ High Court

Re: Getting desperate?

Gorilla-style tactics: Raid, rightly or wrongly, doesn't matter. Get 'evidence'. Claim to have enough 'evidence' to prosecute. Claim 'rico' statute applies, seize any and all assets that can be seized. Keep hemming and hawing so that court case get as drawn out as possible. Laugh behind closed doors as poor 'defendant' quietly goes bankrupt, or otherwise watch as defendant's life / business unravels.

Now that Mona has left him, I predict that Kim quietly goes away in no more than three years....

MPAA, meet the Streisand effect: Picture ass. slaps Reddit with takedown

BANNED IN BOSTON!!!!!!

OK, I'll go then...

Microsoft Cortana EULA contains the Greatest Disclaimer of ALL TIME

Re: Software ought to be goods

I just love it when co-workers is not hyphenated, I tend to read it as cow orkers. Which, given where you state you live seems to somehow make sense to me.

Cisco's Chambers to Obama: Stop fiddling with our routers

As a citizen of one or more of the five eyes group of spiers (Did I just coin a word???) I think I'd prefer to have my router / phone / whatever spied on by the Chinese, thank you. That new P7 looks pretty flash... And guaranteed no NSA backdoors. I also need a new router soon... And it will NOT be a crisco. Or a de-linked Or a nutgear. It will probably also be a Huawei.

A first-world problem solved: Panoramic selfies, thanks to Huawei's Ascend P7

Re: Truisms Spoken Aloud

Lessee... 'Merkans 300 million. Chinese, over 1 billion. Hmm... My focus group says that 'Merkans better start learning mandarin before their new overlords make it mandatory.

Microsoft to push out penultimate XP patch on March Patch Tuesday

Stock up on popcorn NOW! I plan to have quite a large storage bin of the stuff, come April 8th when all the stores run out I'll quietly make a smallish fortune. a quad Xeon, 16 Black Titan behemoth workstation's worth of a smallish fortune, I hope.

Q&A: Schneier on trust, NSA spying and the end of US internet hegemony

Re: Why all the fear?

The NSA has been gathering giggly-bytes of information for the last 13 years and ADMITS that they have not really stopped / prevented / even identified / any terroristic threats / plots with their catch-everything data dragnets. So what are they doing with those giggly-bytes of data? That's what I am worried / fearful of. If you are not, then I'd suggest you are the perfect person for me to sell a bridge to.

The UNTOLD SUCCESS of Microsoft: Yes, it's Windows 7

Re: The ENTIRE point ...

My win 7 PC boots from power off to ready-to-go in under 30 sec. If I wanted it any faster, I'd use 'hibernate', faster still - 'sleep' - instantaneous. Even faster than 'sleep', just shut off the monitor before going to 'sleep' myself. So boot speed is NOT the issue. 'Lean' is also not the issue for most modern PC's. Or most newer laptops, for that matter. So tell me again what Windows 8.x is supposed to do for my desktop PC? It sure doesn't strain my GPU, that's a fact...

(OK, I know that deep down the OS is a wee bit more secure. However, I am not entirely convinced that the Win 8 version of UEFI does not have an NSA backdoor baked in. That concern is enough for me to stay away for the nonce.))

What can Microsoft learn from 'discontinued operations' at Nokia?

Re: Dead Platform

OOooohhhh...I'm SOOOO 'LEET!

Apple plans to waggle iNormous 4½-incher in fanbois' faces

The proper size for a screen on your 'portable device' is based on the eye of the beholder. My eye is pretty bad, so they are ALL too small.

Lenovo shares in trading halt ahead of 'disclosable transaction'

Re: The server business

"Big Blue is really smart about such things. If they really do offload their server business it doesn't bode well for other server vendors. Remember they were quick to offload their PC biz in the run up to Vista, and making a PC hasn't been very profitable since."

Wasn't aware that Windows Vista was around in 1987...

MPAA spots a Google Glass guy in cinema, calls HOMELAND SECURITY

Who in hell is Halley Berry...? (And why should I care?)

Re: But... it is the USA...

What state doesn't allow gun ownership? (Are you sure that you are a 'merkin'?)

More to the point, what other nation would send around a glorified customs agent to shake down someone for a civil penalty? I mean, what was the guy trying to sneak into the country? Or out of it? I mean, it wasn't a how-to movie on terrorism, now was it?

Hey, G20. Please knock it off with the whole tax loophole thing - we're good guys, really

Re: Taxation and Business: CEO's Explain

OK, where do I apply for a job in this company? I'll sweep floors, if that's what's needed...

Obama reveals tiny NSA reforms ... aka reforming your view of the NSA

I think that you might've misinterpreted what 'two hops' means to the big O... As I understand it, that is 'person_of_interest ->you->someone_else, plus everyone that any of those three might have called, ever... Which is still down on the present anyone->anyone->anyone->anyone plus all associated calls made by any anyone to anyone else...

However, as these databases are classified so high that the president is not authorized to see them (well, if I were the prez, I'd surely want to be able to say that I didn't know...), supervised by a secret court, how will we know that they are really doing what they are supposed to be doing? How reliable are the watchers' watchers, when they are also sworn to secrecy-or-death?

Microsoft to RIP THE SHEETS off Windows 9 aka 'Threshold' in April

I'd argue that the priority for Microsoft right now is to get the leadership transition over with before starting to make the cart that the next horse will have to pull...

Antarctic ice shelf melt 'lowest ever recorded, global warming is not eroding it'

Re: *cough*

2126 miles or 3426 km, Hobart to Casey Station... NZ is a bit closer.

Google poised to become world's first TREEELLION DOLLAR company?

Re: Pha!

All right, SmartAzz (tm)... So just what IS a cubit?

How the NSA hacks PCs, phones, routers, hard disks 'at speed of light': Spy tech catalog leaks

September 11 2001 is a day that will go down in infamy.

Google BLASTS BACK at Apple, Microsoft, Sony in Android patent WAR

Hopefully (soon in the new year) the US senate will get off of its collective duffs and help the US house of reps pass a law with some teeth that says that a troll is a troll, and all trolls need to go to jail without passing go or without collecting $200 per device. Or, most likely, that they will get a slap on the wrist for their promise not to do that again... It would be nice to see companies competing for customers, for a change of pace.

Snowden to warn Brits on Xmas telly: Your children will NEVER have privacy

Re: video address is already available to watch online for those

You have a serious lack of imagination.

Re: Protection and Respect

Stating that "Right is right, wrong is wrong." is merely stating the obvious. What is NOT obvious, however, is whether or not you can be trusted to know the difference.

Is it just me or does that recording look a bit like something done in 3ds Max? Look at the obvious neckline, where white neck meets tanned body... I mean, let's make it glaringly obvious. OK, tin foil hats back on, all.

United Nations signs off on 'right to privacy in the digital age'

Re: That's a relief then

"Well they used one magic wish to ban smacking of children in Australia....."

Wrong country. You are not from around here, are you.

Online shopping tax slug not worth the effort: National Australia Bank

Could be worse, y'know... Last year I bought the parts for my new PC over in OZ, and paid for my return airfare with the savings over purchasing in NZ. I paid GST (in both countries), spent two nights in OZ (NOT the Hilton, but hey!), took a few Aussie friends to dinner and STILL had money left over. The Kiwi's REALLY know how to overcharge!

Julie Larson-Green: Yes, MICROSOFT is going to KILL WINDOWS

Re: Why Windows is doomed.

Remove the hibernation file. Remove the index file. Remove the System Protection files. Remove the installation files. That's a start...

Re: Why Windows is doomed.

Remove the hibernation file and the index... That'll buy you back a LOT of drive. Especially the hiberfile.... It takes as much space as you have installed ram (Duh...)

'Fatal flaws' in Google's revised search antitrust overhaul, says Foundem

Re: The best outcome for the general public

How do you get google shopping? I get many sites, including images and wikipedia... No google shopping. I feel cheated...

LG: You can stop hiding from your scary SPY TELLY quite soon now

Don't take it personally, but if you are naive enough to believe that anything that you connect to any public facing communications channel is 'private' then here's a clue... You are wrong. Corporations have no morals. Governments have no morals. Makes me wonder sometimes why I bother to even try to be nice. Or legal, for that matter... Corporations and governments can get away with (literally) murder, why not we plebes? Let anarchy reign on everyone's parade!

NSA, Microsoft, Apple et al... You started it. Make sure that you can finish it, mates....

Look at how many ways we ruin your life, Redmond boasts

Yes... Smartphones are SOOOOO empowering... to, as previously stated, your boss - NOT you. But at least your company buys your smartphone, right? Pays the telecoms bill, right? Buys the laptop / fondleslab that you need to get from work to home, right? Pays for your ISP so that you can do all that work from home when you are really supposed to be taking your daughter out to the movies... Right? Right? Oh... Wait... Don't tell me that they got you with that BYOD crap as well.... Poor sod...

MPAA, RIAA: Kids need to learn 3 Rs – reading, writing and NO RIPPING

Re: Mind control

"This is what used to happend in the dark days of SOviet Union.

Brainwashing and propoganda.

Since when did the USA go that way? What about the free will of the people and Democracy ?"

Ever heard the phrase 'American Exceptionalism'? Do you believe it? They gotcha. I suppose that you also think that you live in 'The Land of the Free, and the Home of the Brave.' They gotcha. Again.

Google patent: THROAT TATTOO with lie-detecting mobe microphone built-in

Re: @Steve Davies 3 - Removal?

Gives a whole new image to the question - "Honey, do I \ does this _____(fill in the blanks...)?"

KRAKOOM! iPad Air explose in fireball, terrified fanbois flee Apple store

"You do realize that Apple has sold a few hundred million iPads right? They experience very few fires, especially considering the quantities that are out there. You stand a better chance of being strafed by machine gun fire from a Zeppelin on a bombing run than you do of experiencing an iFire."

Actually, as things now stand I have an infinitely greater chance of experiencing an iPad burning. Several Vodafone Australia customers will back me up on my version, how many people can you dig up that have even seen a Zeppelin? On a strafing run? While dropping bombs?

HP CEO Whitman: We've built the PC that GOD wants

Re: Futility

""Whitman, a former Republican candidate for the governorship of California"...

Well the woman is certainly well versed in futile pursuits. The taliban have as much chance of getting a seat at Westminster as any Republican has of becoming governor of California."

Do you mean 'anymore', or what? It is kind of hard to dismiss the fact that the majority of the time since 1900 California has had Republican governors. Or are you just a Dem fanboi? I hate fanbois.

Wait for it, waaiiit for it: We update an Atom tablet to Windows 8.1 Pro

Does win 8.1 sideload the NSA buttdoor?

Apple's Steve Jobs was a SEX-crazed World War II fighter pilot, says ex

Re: Past lives

Wot...????? You got a day OFF????? Who'd you have to ....

Microsoft: Everyone stop running so the fat kid Win RT can catch up

Did Ballmer at one time fall in love with a Shopsmith? Nice idea, but look at the market share...

Valve uncloaks prototype Steam Machine console specs

"As for graphics, the prototype units will include either Nvidia Titan, GTX780, GTX760, or GTX660 components – and again, we don't know how many of each.

Each configuration will also include ... 3GB of GDDR5 RAM for the GPU..."

Something here does not compute. Methinks that someone sort of mis-read what Valve quoted as specs...

You put up with CRAPPY iOS 7. You can put up with Obamacare too, says prez

Re: Facinating

A 'free' society is an oxymoron. You, on the other hand don't need the 'oxy' part.

Snowden's email provider gave crypto keys to FBI – on paper printouts

My company needs a new router. Hello, Huawei?

Atomic clocks come to your wrist

Soooo... When you leave Hawaii and fly off to Europe how do you then adjust for the east-west drift?

All rivers flow into the sea: Apple holds TEN PER CENT of corporate America's dosh

Dear Chris McFail...

You said:

"This overlooks the fact that almost $100bn of apple's cash is overseas, and they cant bring it back without paying a huge amount of tax on it.

And the 10% is taking apples TOTAL cash (including overseas) as a fraction of other companies US ONLY cash, so its meaningless, if they were to include US companies overseas holdings, as they do with apple, then apple have between 2 and 3% of the non financial cash reserves.

a totally pointless report, hideously skewed by not comparing like for like"

I think the article says something like the quote below, doesn't it?

"In total, Moody's reckoned that corporate America holds about 61 per cent of its total dosh overseas, amounting to about $900bn.

“In the absence of tax reform, we expect overseas cash to continue to grow,” Moody’s analysts concluded."

'I don't trust Microsoft' after NSA disclosures says former privacy chief

Re: Australia does

'Thirrrddd verse - Same as the first!'

Apple CEO Cook: 'We're not in the junk business'

Re: You're right Timmy...you don't make junk. Just ask your cat.

"Cat paw prints are as unique as our fingerprints; here they registered a (unique) paw print and used it to unlock an iPhone 5S. There's no security problem at all with that, in fact it's a testament to the quality of the scanner."

Given that there are no uniquely identifiable features on a cat's paw to distinguish it from the next cat, this says two things about Apple's new iphone's security. 1. It works just fine for cats to be able to unlock it, and 2. it is stump dumb when it comes to security.

Oh yes... Your post says just one thing about you. You're a stump dumb apple fanbois of the worst kind.

Facebook strips away a bit more of your privacy – but won't say why

"So presumably a country such as Cuba, for example, will no longer be granted access to Facebook given that the US has maintained an economic embargo against the South American country since 1960."

???

Botched court doc outs Google as respondent in national security flap

"The Emporer ain't got no clothes on!"

"Hush! Do you want 'im to 'ear ya?"

"Well, why not! We can see that 'e's nakkid, surely he can see as good as us!"

"But as long as we don't talk about it, we won't go to gaol"

Microsoft warns of post-April zero day hack bonanza on Windows XP

Re: Wait, hear that?

If I were in your shoes, I'd make an 'air gapped' network for your 'CitectSCADA 6' type of support hardware / personnel and let them 'sneaker net' their way to the internet if they need that. This network would be really cheap to set up... Just a switch or two, some cat 5... No routers involved, no firewalls. OK, the Manuel Labour admin work might be a slight pain, but you DID mention some support for someone called 'defence', yeah?

Larry Ellison: Google is ABSOLUTELY EVIL, but NSA is ESSENTIAL

Hindsight is, indeed, 20/20, eh. Upon finally leaving the US Presidency, poor Ike must have felt the right fool for giving in to his corporate masters on the overthrow of the elected democracy of Iran. But he did get to put the verbal boot in, for all the good that would prove to be. Just goes to show that a brilliant General may not make an equally brilliant President. Don't get me wrong, he certainly did lead the US well in most respects, but I would bet that he died wishing that he had listened to his predecessor on that one wee thing...

NSA gets burned by a sysadmin, decides to burn 90% of its sysadmins

Re: Works for me

Mate, you ARE a crim, because we say so. And we have your emails to prove it. What's that? Those are not your emails? Prove it in court, crim.