Posts by Yet Another Anonymous coward

US plans crewless automated ghost-frigates

Alternatively

You could stop selling silent diesel electric boats to dodgy 3rd world dictatorships?

Free mobe map app 'shut down by' Nokia

Another vote for openstreetmap

If the value of your app is in the data it can access - the only way to have a business plan is to own the data or have it opensource.

Openstreetmap isn't as good - yet, but if everybody starts using it then it soon will be

If your commercial mapping can be taken away when the supplier signs an exclusive deal - then it's the only safe choice.

The same thing happened recently with Amazon, they cut off a bunch of iPhone apps from accessing their catalogue data,

Once impenetrable PS3 cracked wide open

@Sweet

You already can, the USAF has a cluster of 2200 of them.

Running Linux on the PS3 is allowed, but there is a hypervisor that blocks access to the stuff you need to get a game to run.

Why is this necessary?

I paid for a Wii (the wife wanted the fitness game)

Apparently I can't hack this model to play movies because they fixed the loophole.

Why? I don't want to hack it play pirate games - I don't really want to play any games!

But if you let it run XBMC/Mplayer natively I would buy another for the bedroom.

If you let it run skype I would buy one for my parents.

Why aren't the makers building this in?

Are sony afraid of undercuttign their DVD player business?

What are Nintendo afraid of, undercutting BT's international call business ?

Free postcoders bang on Ordnance Survey door

>The data is valuable

@when it is making millions for the post office already

Because the income from the PAF is tiny compared to the extra costs of processing un-postcoded mail.

It's like having an extra fee in a shop for having the correct change!

Interesting business model

Your customers using a post-code makes it much cheaper and easier for you to deliver mail.

So you charge them for the post-code data !

I think I'll try that. It will cost you £6000 for the phone number of our sales dept. that shoudl make us millions of £.

Of course the PO is a monopoly, and it's not like there is any alternate way of sending mail or instantly messaging someone than by printing them out and putting a stamp on them

Australia leaves the internet

Simpler solution

Obviosuly no objectionable site could exist in Australia, because Australians wouldn't do this sort of thing so all the filth and 'really bad stuff' on the internet comes from abroad.

Since there are only about a dozen cables linking the country to the rest of the uncilivsed world, half an hour with an axe could ensure that Oz could live on in it's own internet purity.

It's not like the rest of the world is going to notice or care.

Amateur goof makes Twitter account hijacking a snap

So what ?

Since nobody over the age of 8 uses Twitter (except Steven Fry)

This is going to have about the same effect as the security flaws on the Sinclair spectrum that allowed me to write

10 print "Dixons is crap"

20 goto 10

All those years ago

Google betas Flash-free YouTube sans open codec

Don't be - what again?

So instead of needing a proprietry Flash plugin we now need a proprietry plugin on a proprietry browser

.

Nominet appoints itself web policeman

labour.org.uk

"Britain's democratic socialist party led by Gordon Brown. The values Labour stands for today, social justice, ..."

Sounds pretty fraudulent to me - where do I report it again?

RockYou hack reveals easy-to-crack passwords

But they don't

>If users (as they often do) use the same login credentials for social networking sites and more sensitive accounts

That's the whole point, people use junk passwords for all those sites that insist on a password for no good reason - and keep the secure ones separate for important uses, like er' reg comments.

Amazon opens Kindle to third-party apps

Sounds desperate

>100kb a month is nothing.

But it's free. A text message is <128bytes but costs 10p / 25c (on PAYG)

So a kindle can send >100quids worth of free text messages/month - should make it popular with kids

And that's per app not per unit - so you can have a dozen different txting apps installed.

DVLA makes £44m flogging drivers' details

@Surely

Yes - just become an MP. Also works if you don't want your kids medical records to be shared by everyone at the local council.

PM: UK airports to get perv scanners next week

@Inevitable and unstoppable

Weren't the bombs in London on the tube and a bus?

Wouldn't it make more sense then to install scanners at all tube stations and on all buses?

Since that will rather slow down loading of passengers so you will need to do some pre-selection. Perhaps a separate door at the back of the bus with a scanner for people with the appropriate skin colour?

@Always an unhappy employee somewhere

That's ok cos they'll have ID cards - with the magic ani-terrorism features

Bob the Builder slapped with CGI rendering

Paddington

Have you seen what they've done to Paddington?

Microhoozon calls for un-Google ebook guardian

Exclusive license from who?

> US Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers...world's top research libraries.

So exactly what gives them the right to do a deal with Google over stuff written , outside America, or before there was an America?

Wii Balance Board good aid for doctors, study finds

No need for a WII

You don't need a Wii, the balance board is just a bluetooth device like the Wii controller.

There are free libraries for windows and Linux to use it directly, you can also use the hand controller as a mouse.

And it's only $70 with the old game - $90 with the new fitness+.

UK border database on target and budget, says Home Office

@Walking across the border

But it does record people coming from Northern Ireland to England - while keeping out the Welsh and Scots will probably involve building another dyke and wall.

The tricky bit is keeping those northerners out of the south-east co-prosperity zone. Probably checkpints and some sort of propiska.

Finally a solution

So this will stop illegal immigrants - except those that enter illegally.

It will stop people on tourist/student visas working illegally - unless they don't tell their employers.

It will stop terrorism. except those from Northern Ireland or Leeds

So 1.2Bn to count roughly how many people are in the country

Man Utd imposes social networking ban

So how long before.

This is standard in all employment contracts?

Stop people writing blogs, stop any letters to the local rag about the council's plans.

The only news you would get would be from officially sanctioned journalists.

US makes travellers go online, before getting onboard

@I like it

You still have to fill in the green form as well.

The odd thing about th eonline one is that it's valid indefinetly for multipel trips but requires you to put the flight number and address you will be staying.

Suggests a distinct lack of joined-up thinking.

One second-hand space shuttle: Yours for $29m

@Innovation:

Good point about Concorde/Harrier, a better comparison in terms of innovation in design and materials would have been the SR71.

The only really cleaver part of the shuttle is the main engine - which is still an amazing performance even today.

But a simple calculation at the time must have shown they would never get off the ground without the solid boosters. So simply lose the engines and the huge fuel tank and add a couple more boosters and you could build the whole flying brick in a fraction fo the time.

Secretive Brit millionaire buys Segway Inc

@ What a waste of money

As street transport yes.

Now what about the same technolgy in a wheelchair that can climb curbs but can't fall over?

Or a wheelchair that holds somebody in a standing position so they can live in a normal house and work in a normal office/factory, reach items on shelves etc?

Or a mini forklift that can fit in narrower aisles in a warehouse

False Moscow CCTV feed scam leads to fraud charges

>I'm struggling with this one

The expensive part of a CCTV system is running power out to each camera and then running miles of video coax back to the control centre.

Putting the cameras on poles and having a few video recorders in the office playing 24hour tapes is a lot cheaper.

Keep space station past 2015, pleads ESA chief

Money pit

>In view of its apparent value (i.e., why it's there in the first place)

Why it was there was to be a money pit.

It was a way of financing Boeing/Rockwell/Lockheed etc when it looked like they would be in trouble at the end of the cold war (and presumably the same for MIG, Sukhoi etc)

It also gave Nasa something to do when they didn't really have a role.

@How much does the rest of the world need USA?

>So if USA / NASA go home and abandon the party, can the rest of the world carry on without them?

Technically yes, politically a bit trickier. The Russians have been making noises that they want to carry on using it.

They could probably make some reasonable claim under maritime law that it was abandoned and so was salvage. Or they could simply have their people in the last crew not leave and be replaced by more Russian crew

.

Since it would probably be considered in rude for the US to deliberately de-orbit it or shoot it down with military personnel of a rival nuclear armed (ex)superpower on board - there will probably be some deal worked out where the Russians are funded by Europe/Japan to 'maintain' it.

The US legally can't use Russian services to get crew to the ISS because they are an axis of evil country (for supporting terrorist cuba).

@Tim Peake

The UK isn't allowed to spend any money on manned spaceflight.

So having a Brit on the passenger list is a bit tricky for ESA - somehow it has to show that none of the UK's contribution is being used for this guy, while demonstrating to all the other partners that they aren't subsidizing him either.

The ruling comes from an earlier ESA (cough French) plan to build an upowered mini shuttle on top of Ariane - called Hermes. This would allow a couple of european (cough French) astronauts to go into orbit to the greater glory of europe (cough France).

the project was known in the UK aerospace industry as <muppet voice>frogs .. in ... space'

The UK government cynically thought this obviously worthwhile project might be hijacked by other countries (cough France) for political gain and because they didn't trust the scientists to make the correct decisions on the project - they made it illegal to use British funding for manned space flight.

UK.gov moves to block Hamas kids site

if you read the article, they wouldn't _BE_ blocking it

No they are just adding it to a quasi-official list of sites to be blocked by schools, parents etc.

Of course schools don't have to use this list, the teachers can just explain to the Daily Fail why they are letting peado-internet-terrorists have access to the dear sweet little children.

It's like not banning games/movies, you just 'classify' anything you don't like as "XXX evil = only a deviant pervert would watch this" - you aren't a deviant pervert are you?

So you wouldn't be wanting to watch this would you?

Survey outs Britain as nation of tech twits

Sounds right

>Nine per cent of respondents believe Sir Tim Berners-Lee is the head of MI5.

Damn the secret is out.

>Another five per cent identified Sir Tim as the first British astronaut in space.

You're thinking of Sir Terrence Lambert-Simnel

http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/British_Moon-landing

>Six per cent think phishing is "an angling method used by Eskimos."

Obviously the eskimos moved to Nigeria because the ice melted

>Six per cent believe SaaS (software as a service) was an '80s pop band.

And Kraftwerk is a web framework

>Eleven per cent couldn't name a single social-networking website.

Good - thats a big vote for the inteligence of the British public,

>Three per cent identified Bill Gates as an American comedian.

It's just sysadmins don't get the joke.

E-book readers attract unwanted VAT

con

>Firstly I would argue that e-books are non-essential

All e-books just because they are electronic?

So a nursing manual as an e-book is non essential but a Jeffery Archer on paper is?

Or do we setup a dept to go through each book deciding if its essential or not?

The 'essential' test was the result of an early test case which greatly expanded VAT's reach. It is easier to include something in the VAT rules by showing it is not essential than it is to force something to have VAT by proving its a 'luxury'.

New Labour bring old Nuremberg Laws to Britain

@Only following orders, but admissibility...?

Inadmissible in court- only counts if it goes to court , if it only goes as far as a hood being put over your head and you being bundled onto a plane to pakistan/syria/etc then it doesn't really matter.

Of course that would only happen to terrorists, it could never be used against anti-war protesters, striking miners or anyone else.

Google may exit China after 'highly targeted' attack

'highly targeted' attack

They typed "dissident chinese name and address" into Google?

Is it art or is it pr0n? Australia decides it's ALL filth

no link to cherubs

Oh come on - it's not like people who spend their whole lives in buildings with naked cherubs everywhere are likely to go off and abuse children ....

'God help our smartphones,' vicar prays

OS/2

Can you get machines with OS/2 exorcised?

Disgusting

So you're happy with the CofE as long as it's a quaint village cricket / Vicar of Dibley setup with harvest festivals and parables about wine skins but don't want it getting near to real life

Police cuff citizens for videotaping arrests

I blame the advertizers

The superbowl is coming up.

Ads in the superbowl cost a $gazillion / minute

By removing the line "land of the free" from the nathional anthem they will have an extra 15secs of ad time which will earn a quarter-gazillion$ thus lifting the US out of recession.

Naked scans: Net cries nude-o-geddon

Get a grip

>it is a fact that Iqbal is more likely to be a threat than Granny from Grantham

What about a Gerry from Belfast?

Or a Richard (Reid) from Bromley?

US airport body scanners can store and export images

Boost for January gym membership

I fly a lot - if my naked body is goign to be flashed across airport display screens I'm going to have to lose some waistline and get some abs.

How long do you have to hold your guts in during this scan?

Gambling boss gets three years

Wait a minute...

Just arrest any americans arriving at heathrow for driving on the wrong side of the road while in America.

Waiting for the first American owner of an off-license to be arrested in an Arab country.

Endeavour stays toasty in Florida chill

The real problem

Some kid licked the frozon booster rocket and is now stuck to it.

Enormous raygun-on-a-lorry project acquires lorry

Title has it just right

They are 50% there - that's not bad.

Like my flying car project, I have a car - I just need to make it fly.

Will a service pack for Windows 7 rock up anytime soon?

I sometimes wonder

Vista was over hyped (winfs, .Net based OS?) ,had poor driver support , UAC confused or annoyed people and a lot of apps didn't work - not all of that was MS's fault.

They allowed Intel and others to certify HW as Vista capable and showed wizzy desktop animations when the HW was barely capable of running the basic mode - that was their fault.

If all MS did was turn off some of the toy desktop gadgets and wait a few years for apps and graphics (especuially on laptops) to catch up - then you could just rebadged Vista now and it would be a success. Some claim thats all they have done.

Never buy v1.0

Is the SP now just a marketing excercise?

So you roll it out when sales a re flagging or to companies that never install anything until SP1 is out?

Microsoft Windows 7 the director's cut, now on blue-ray.

ID card scheme for foreigns extended

Tell me why

It's a trick.

These are supposed to be highly skilled, high value workers (plus footballers), so if any of them can take time off to visit one of the border agency passport service offices (in delightfull places like Peterbrough) rather than fork out £8 they are obviously not high enough value and can be deported!

ps. If you think the other lot are going to get rid of a central database that links everything everybody does to the taxman. They might get rid of the id card (or just rename it) - but it's HMG getting informed everytime you buy anything, visit anywhere or pick your nose that is the real problem.

Footballers

Surely the reg could come up with some pun about them being shown the card, having to show the ref the card or having red/yellow cards?

I can't it's too early here.

Mobiles protect against Alzheimer's

The real question

How the hell do you tell if a mouse has Alzheimer's?

It wanders into the other part of the cage for some cheese and comes back with a cup of tea?

Airbus: We'll cancel crap A400M unless we get more £££

So what was the problem?

Politics aside, how exactly did Airbus manage to screw up a simple transport aircraft?

It's not like the Eurofighter (make it a fighter, no make it a carrier plane, now don't now make it a bomber, now make it ....) .

If you can build the A380 how hard is it to make basically a modern copy of a C130 ?

Ok the engines are complicated, but come on !!

UK prosecutors drop 'tiger' sex video case

Animated image

Doesn't matter - animated images create a demand for real tigers to be abused in this way.

Won't somebody think of the cubs

'Peeping Tom' caught on own camera

Official CCTVin changing rooms

Didn't tesco get into trouble when official CCTV from it's changing rooms ended up on the net?

Did this guy just forget to register with the DPA?