Posts by Turtle

Mozilla bins 'Tiles' ads plan in Firefox

@sabroni Re: As if these fuckers don't make enough money as it is.

In 2010, Mozilla's income was $123 million and in 2012 it was $163.5 million. (cf. Wikipedia). Then a billion dollars over three years (2012-2014) from Google for making Google the default search engine. That's a lot of money. I'm not sure how much they're getting from Yahoo but be sure that it's not peanuts.

But you can continue to think that they're living a hand-to-mouth existence, no matter how far from reality such quaint and naive notions actually are.

As If...

"Mozilla bins 'Tiles' ads plan in Firefox"

As if these fuckers don't make enough money as it is.

Work on world's largest star-gazing 'scope stopped after religious protests

Until I Read...

"But ecology concerns were cited by Operation Green Rights, which staged a distributed denial of service attack against the TWT website in April, claiming that "filthy money" was responsible for 'ecocide.' "

I actually had some sympathy for the Hawaiians' position until I read that line.

Revenge porn 'king' Hunter Moore sent down for 2.5 years, fined $2k

@Steven Roper Re: Sanctimonious much?

"Ok, he did a wrong thing. "

1) Well, I am impressed by how you don't even want to call what he did "criminal activity". Maybe you could stretch the concept of "a wrong thing" to cover the act of putting fraudulently-obtained intimate photos on the web - if he did it once and only once. But setting up a website as a business and putting up many such photos is not and then extorting money from the victim to remove them is not a "mistake". It's an "ongoing criminal enterprise".*

*"It was claimed Brittain broke the law by tricking women into sending him their nude photos – by posing as a curious woman on the internet and offering to swap private snaps. He then posted their compromising pics on his website, the FTC said" - from the Register story at http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/01/30/ftc_craig_brittain/ "To profit from his activity, Brittain promoted a separate takedown service: he would offer to get the pics removed if he was paid between $200 and $500, we're told.")

2) "Well, if social-media vigilantes like you are going to hunt him down, expose him and harass the hell out of him wherever he turns, even though he's trying to turn over a new leaf and start an honest business, what is he supposed to fucking do?"

What "he's supposed to do" is no one's problem but his own. And it is easy to see that your next gambit will be to tell us that not pretending that his past doesn't exist will be a reason for him to go back to his old line of work.

3) Pay particular attention to the fact that he's calling the facts about his past a "baseless rumor". But even if you don't care about what happened to any of his victims - and it's pretty clear you don't - pay some additional attention to the fact that he obtained his photos by fraudulently misrepresenting himself and his intentions to his victims. And that is an important bit of information for potential investors and users to know. So even if you really have a vindictive and resentful attitude for women, you ought to be able to understand that.

Google snoops on kids via Chromebooks, claims EFF in FTC filing

@AC Re: EFF losing credibility

"Indeed, I hope Google sue their ass for libel, along with anyone else peddling this horseshit."

Apparently you are unaware that "truth" is an absolute defense against libel.

"You can bet its either Microsoft or apple behind the scenes on this, both badly getting reamed on lost sales."

Apparently you are unaware that "truth" is an absolute defense against this kind of bullshit too.

Apple pays two seconds of quarterly profit for wiping pensioner's pics

@Bob Dole (tm)

"Deric White, 68, was awarded the cash after Regent Street Apple Store "geniuses" in London deleted photos and the address book on his iPhone while performing a factory reset during a repair."

He did not send the phone back to Apple for repair, he took it to an Apple store where the "geniuses" did a factory reset. The "geniuses" needed to warn him right then and there that he would, without fail, lose his data. If they did and he said okay, then he himself is culpable but if they didn't warn him, then the "geniuses" and their employer, Apple, are culpable.

Brazil reverting to paper votes amid budget crisis

Not Good.

Electronic voting is a bad, bad idea.

Galileo, Galileo, Galileo good two go

Meter.

"Galileo, Galileo, Galileo good two go. Magnifico! Another pair of Euro satnav birds come online for your navigational pleasure"

You kinda lose the meter there, towards the end.

Very disappointing. But you can practice along to this; it could help: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5pXSEzUry0

Mr Grey, the Russian hacker who helped haul in 1.2 billion logins

Thief.

"Mr Grey, part of a group dubbed CyberVor..."

"Vor" is the Russian word for "thief". It is amongst those Russian / Cyrillic words which can be written using letters from the Latin alphabet: "Bop". (Note that, in Russian, "B" and "b" represent different sounds: a "B" sounds as "v" and a "b" represents "palatalization of the consonant immediately proceeding this letter".)

Lights, power, action! Smartplugs with a twist

@Anonymous IV Re: Life's too short

Oh, I kinda liked the article. It was informative, and humorous - although most of that humor was inherent in the nature of the product, such as it is, and its, well, shall we say "peculiarities", and there were a few good lines in the comments here too.

So, for me, in my eyes, a good article.

Nest defends web CCTV Cam amid unstoppable 24/7 surveillance fears

Value.

"It seems that rather than being a privacy menace that ogles you even when powered down, the Nest Cam is an energy hog that sucks up electricity even when you don't need it, in addition to being a privacy menace that ogles you even when powered down, and that this is an example of how Alphabet is maintaining the tradition of Google innovations that add value for everyone."

FFY.

Fifth arrest in TalkTalk hacking probe: Now Plod cuff chap in Wales

@dcluley Re: Only half the problem

"Great effort seems to be taken to incarcerate teenage hackers. I wish a bit more effort was put in to incarcerating TalkTalk bosses who allowed such easily bypassed security."

The police only know their age after they've been caught.

I would greatly support incarceration for executives of any company so negligent with personal data but the police enforce laws, they do not enact them.

So in spite of your handle your are pretty clueless.

Google takedown requests mushroom as copyright holders play whack-a-mole

@John Lilburne Re: That's a hell of a lot of requests, but how many of them are legitimate?

"About 97% are legitimate and fresh..."

Google itself has said that 97% of all takedown notices are legitimate although the specific statement that I have in mind is from about a year or two ago. On the other hand, unless there are more recent statements with greatly changed numbers in them, there's no reason to think that the situation is much different at the present time.

Rdio's collapse another nail in the coffin of the 'digital economy'

@Mr Anonymous

By now we all know that there will always be, without fail, at least one comment from a freetard parasite who will seems absolutely determined to not understand that "the right to have an opportunity to make a living by not having one's work stolen on a massive, industrial scale" is not the same as being "owed a living".

@ The entire Radio 1 playlist commitee

"I do think the answer lies in some form of voluntary payment from consumers to artists."

I believe that the technical term for this procedure is "giving alms to beggars."

France's 3-month state of emergency lets govt censor the web

@James Micallef Re: They had this ready?

"I can only conclude that some right-wing totalitarian organisation already had this draft legislation ready to pull out at the first opportunity."

Ah! I see that you are taking all the lessons you learned from "Loose Change" and other 9/11 conspiracy theories and applying them to real life. Nice!

Also, perhaps you can explain why this had to be the work of a "right-wing totalitarian organization" and not a "left-wing totalitarian organization"? (Unless of course you are one of those naive and gullible political illiterates i.e. "useful idiots" who subscribe to the idea of "no enemies on the left" - and that you are is, I suppose, more than likely.)

"it's pretty much impossible for proper new legislation to have been drafted in 4 days ...the people with most experience in such matters would have spent the last few days doing actual anti-terror work rather than drafting legislation"

...because legislators who and draft enact laws and the people who actually carry out the field work in any field are the same people, right? Oh, I can just see it now! The mass exodus of French lawmakers as they leave the National Assembly for a few days and migrate over to the Ministry Of The Interior and local law enforcement agencies, in order to use their finely-honed criminal-investigation skills and experience to get to the bottom of terrorism in France!

I'd pay to see that.

California cops pull over Google car for driving too SLOWLY

@DaLo

At your link "http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/45578/is-two-cars-colliding-at-50mph-the-same-as-one-car-colliding-into-a-wall-at-100" we read the following note at the end of the thread:

"Thank you for your interest in this question. Because it has attracted low-quality answers, posting an answer now requires 10 reputation on this site."

So, not terribly helpful.

Aircraft laser strikes hit new record with 20 incidents in one night

Dangerous, stupid and highly illegal"

"Dangerous, stupid and highly illegal"

Right. Now what?

Drug-smuggling granny's vagina holds Kinder surprise

@x 7

"I guess it must be due to the KY Jelly coating"

Yes. And it helps make this a Kinder gentler world.

Microsoft rolls out first 'major update' to Windows 10

@Camilla Smythe Re: Can someone remind me...

Apparently you lead a very sheltered and isolated life.

TalkTalk boss: 'Customers think we're doing right thing after attack'

"Yesterday's security"

"Yesterday's security might have been good enough..."

It wasn't. That you think it was, is... disquieting.

Touchnote breach: Wrote a postcard with us? Thieves have your pal's name, address

@Martin Summers

"This must be the third or fourth service I've used that has allowed my data to be half inched recently so much so that I'm not sure I want to part with my details anymore!"

If you give your details to more online vendors, what does it matter? It would seem that your details have been stolen often enough that you have nothing left to lose...

Judge bins Apple Store end-of-shift shakedown lawsuit

Re: I wouldn't work at a place...

"I wouldn't work at a place that has so little trust and regard for their own staff."

Well it's too bad that they didn't know about this earlier, because if they did know, they would have changed their policy immediately.

Trident test-shot startles West Coast Americans

Orson Welles And The "War Of The Worlds" Panic.

That the broadcast of the Welles' adaption actually caused any panic at all is dubious.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds_%28radio_drama%29#Public_reaction

NASA photo gallery: How to blow $200m of rocket in seconds

Expensive.

Those are some very expensive photographs they've got there.

Scarface's explosive 'Little Friend' goes under the hammer

Very Hip.

There's nothing like watching someone firing a minigun or multibarrelled cannon from the hip. It gets me rolling on the floor every time.

Serious Sam lives!... in every action movie; even the ones that take themselves, uh, seriously.

Music lovers move to block Phil Collins' rebirth

A Stable Environment.

"The horse is out of the stable...."

... and soon the manure will be out of the horse.

Again.

Volkswagen: 800,000 of our cars may have cheated in CO2 tests

Re: A German lawyer acquaintance with a BlueMotion Passat diesel...

"A German lawyer acquaintance he'll sue to have the full purchase price is refunded upon the return of the vehicle."

He's probably not the only VW owner thinking this.

What happens if so many people sue for refunds that VW can not afford to pay them all back? The whole VW matter could end up in the bankruptcy courts of many different countries, provinces, states. Years and years could be required to determine how much should be paid to what class of claimants and over how many years those repayments and refunds should be spread, how much class-action and bankruptcy lawyers should receive out of the likely-insufficient funds available from VW's corporate corpse, and so forth - and this could need to take place in many different jurisdictions! Will those judgements need to be harmonized in some way, or will the judgements be satisfied on a "first come, first serve" basis?

And the available funds will certainly be greatly reduced by various government fines and penalties, from at least some of which bankruptcy courts can not shield a petitioner.

In the likely case that there are not enough funds to satisfy all claims, it would be surprising if the courts decided that the use gotten from the cars by the buyers had no value at all and gave the buyers all available funds to the detriment of other claimants.

If your friend wants a full refund, he needs to get his lawsuit started today.

Spanish town trumpets 'Clitoris Festival' thanks to Google snafu

Understanding.

"The mistake is understandable"

Only if you're Ed Gein.

Halo 5: Overhyped, but still way above your average shooter

Never Easy.

"Halo 5: Overhyped, but still way above your average shooter"

Well, we need to have some sympathy here; after all, it's very difficult to get the amount of hype just right.

Now VW air-pollution cheatware 'found in Audis and Porsches'

Parvenu.

"While it hasn't sold as many Porsches and Audis as its more mass-market VW diesels, purchasers at the luxury end are going to be more likely to sue the firm for lying about specifications and harming the resale value of the vehicles."

People who worry about resale value shouldn't be buying luxury items in the first place.

Lessig quits presidential race to spend more time with his idiotic ideas

He looks like...

Interesting that his choice in eyewear is such that it accentuates the beadiness of his beady little eyes.

Skype founders planning non-drone robodelivery fleet. Repeat, not drones

@John Robson Re: Mast Needed

"Yeah - because motorists can't see the white lines on the road, or the cats eyes between lanes, so how will they see anything taller than that?"

I'll explain the basis for my comment, the idea of which was not pulled out of thin air.

"The bid to sell the C5 abroad failed; the Dutch National Transport Service told Sinclair that the C5 was not suitable for Dutch roads without improvements to its braking system, the addition of more reflectors and the inclusion of the High-Vis Mast as part of the basic package. Most of the other ten countries that Sinclair inquired of demanded similar changes" and "AA (UK) suggested that the High-Vis Mast should be included as part of the standard package." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_C5)

" one of the accessories listed in the C5 brochure is a high and bright-red reflecting mast, said by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents [RoSPA] to be a 'must'. (Daily Telegraph, 11 January 1985.) The 'hi-vis mast' initially had to be purchased separately, but public pressure by the RoSPA and media eventually forced Sinclair to include it in the C5 package." (http://rk.nvg.ntnu.no/sinclair/vehicles/c5.htm)

So you might think that masts are a stupid idea but looking at the case of the Sinclair C5, there are people who seem to be knowledgeable and who think that masts can prevent accidents. By analogy I assume that they can be effective for this road-drone. Your objections don't really seem to me to nullify the opinions of the Dutch National Transport Service, Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, or the AA.

Mast Needed

Actually, if these things are going to cross roads, then they need to have some sort of attention-getting device rather higher of the ground than as shown in the picture. Anything that low to the ground is not going to be sufficiently visible to motorists - whether those motorists are law-abiding or merrily running red lights.

They'll need a mast kinda like the Sinclair C5 had; see http://rk.nvg.ntnu.no/sinclair/vehicles/c5.htm

Cute!

Very very cute!

Gonna get my girlie a pink one!

Google snaps Dutch woman completely taking the piss

Taste.

"It's a fun example of the way in which the tastes from different periods* respond differently to the same thing. George IV loved that kind of thing."

It might taste good to you and George, but, ugh...

* I'm ignoring this word here. Be grateful.

Wikipedia cracks the five-million article barrier, in English

@Chuq Re: But it isn't in English

"If there were two English versions of each article, 99% of each pair of articles would be identical - can you imagine trying to keep them in sync with each other?"

If it were done properly, with each article having an English and an American version, It would entail lots of pointless busywork. Which is basically what most of Wikipedia is, if you think about it.

So, yes.

Linus Torvalds fires off angry 'compiler-masturbation' rant

@boltar Re: God help linux...

"Linus might be an ass sometimes but he's the boss and if you don't like the way he operates or can't handle being treated like a functioning sentient adult rather than a baby who needs to be coo-coo'd to, then go play elsewhere."

There are plenty of bosses who would love to have an obsequious toady like you in their employ. Your idea of an ideal leader would be Stalin, right? Perhaps you'd feel more at home in North Korea, eh?

It is actually Torvalds who is acting like a child; that an (ostensible) adult would have these kind of tantrums is astonishing. And he can get away with acting like this because he is constantly pampered: see for example the very first post in this thread, where another lickspittle-in-waiting (one "Rol") wrote that this kind of self-indulgent tantrum signifies that "he still cares enough about his baby to kick ass when needed." One has to be quite emotionally / psychologically crippled to confuse these kinds of verbal attacks with "caring".

He has poor leadership skills, and shows an inability to control himself. And people who can not control themselves should not be in control of other people.

I recall reading something that lamented the fact that it was Torvalds and not Alan Cox who ran Linux. But then again, Cox left Linux for a long time because of Torvalds. How conducive to Linux's progress was that, do you think?

Third suspect arrested over TalkTalk breach

We've heard that before...

"TalkTalk says it is not accepting liability for other possible expenses customers may have to bear as a result of the breach because fuck you."

We've heard that kind of reasoning before.

European Parliament votes to grant Snowden protection from US

@AC Re: @ elDog

"... Officially."

Kinda like how you are not yet officially a pedophile?

@ elDog

"However, the agents of countries that may be upset at this do have means such as poisoned umbrellas and polonium to make anyone's life rather short and uncomfortable."

Rather bizarrely, the means that you mention - poisoned umbrellas and polonium - were used by the Soviet intelligence services, not the US.

Has Voyager 1 escaped the Sun yet? Yes, but also no, say boffins

@Anonymous Coward 101 Re: the "solar system"

"When does summer become autumn?"

On the autumnal equinox. Seasons change on the equinoxes and solstices.

@AndyS

I'd actually loaded that passage onto my clipboard and was going to ridicule it but not only did you get there first, you did a much, much better job that I would have.

Very nice!

Verisign, .xyz and the ABCs of a cutthroat domain-name industry

@ Mike Flugennock Re: On the upside...

"Seriously, I'd love to know -- out of all the domains .xyz has claimed to have registered, how many of them are spammers? ...because the only email I've ever gotten from .xyz domains has been spam."

Well, possibly because the .xyz domains that are not spammers are not sending out spam at all; so you would only get spam from... spammers!

Seems logical to me. Is there a flaw there?

Anonymous hack group plans to out anonymous hate group

@ Your alien overlord - fear me

"I thought in the southern states it was a job requirement of the police to belong. Or is that just from a bias press?"

You are as much of a bigot as anyone else. And you are not better than the people that you think you're better than.

Avira turns tables to launch lawsuit against ‘crapware’ slinger

More Lawsuits.

"That would mean fighting a lot more lawsuits; seems like the hard way to do it. And the developers might just about claim that they weren't fully away of what freemium.com would include in their wrappers."

I don't think that that's quite correct. A lawsuit or two with significant damages awarded would certainly put some fear into other software vendors either already using it or contemplating it. Seems worthwhile.

Cops use terror powers to lift BBC man's laptop after ISIS interview

@sabroni Re: Yes, go on kiddies, mod me down.

"The powerful need to be held to account otherwise they start to abuse their power."

The media's pretty powerful; are you including them amongst the "powerful that need to be held to account"?

No, seriously, NASA will fly a probe through Saturn's moon plumes

Or not.

"If 'they discover loads of life, bacterial or otherwise', it would be 'the most defining moment in human history.'"

Or maybe not.

Web giants, Sir Tim slam Europe's net neutrality rules on eve of vote

Interesting Proposals

"Fast lanes; Zero-rating; Class-based throttling; Network congestion"

I'm impressed because the way that these are defined will actually let the ISPs do whatever they want, whenever they want, to whomever they want, for whatever reasons they want.

So that's very efficient on the MEPs' part - they've been very thorough.

This will insure that "net neutrality" will never exist except by the benevolence, largesse, and grace of the incumbent ISPs.

Predictable.