Posts by BillG

Tossed all your snaps into the new Google Photos? You read the terms, right? ... RIGHT?

Re: Translation

The three biggest lies in the world:

1. The check is in the mail,

2. We're from the government and we're here to help you, and

3. At Google we respect your privacy

Google Google GOOGLE! Cloud cloud CLOUD! These prices are insane!

Crazy Eddie

Thank you for the headline.

Why are all the visual special effects studios going bust?

Re: there's plenty of people willing to see ads

there's plenty of people willing to see click ads.

I win. Sadly, for those of us with websites, the sentence was only true before my correction.

Android ransomware poses as FBI smut warning

How is it installed?

How is this installed? Does the user choose to install an APK?

South Korea mandates spyware installation on teenagers' smartphones

It's Already Here

Actually this is already on all LG phones. Last year I removed a hidden LG service called "MLT" from my LG phone that looks for words like suicide, porn, drugs, revolt, and a few others. It can only be disabled from the "secret menu".

http://forum.xda-developers.com/lg-g3/general/mod-mlt-service-disabling-t2904361

Reach for the popcorn: Obama opens personal presidential Twitter account

Re: POTUS

Sadly this is yet more political misdirection. By law, the President may not directly communicate on the internet without "internal review" and "proxy" which means Barry isn't really directly tweeting, it's an aide or the Secret Service.

There are many reasons for this, but the best reason is that the President might post something in all innocence, that might betray security and put his life or his family's in danger.

There was a great Discovery channel show that discussed POTUS security, even how the President wears a personal LoJack GPS locator strapped and locked to his torso enabling his location to be tracked even inside the White House. The lengths to which the President's life is guarded are extreme and almost draconian.

Why don't you rent your electronic wireless doorlock, asks man selling doorlocks

Re: Rent a door lock?

WTF? What if I stop making payments on it? Will you come take it out of the door? Or will you try to lock me out of my own house?

Well, look at what automobile dealers are doing. They are installing remote GPS kill switches with 4G on new cars. If you miss payments, they disable your car.

Re: IoT Doorlocks...

The problem is that smart locks are worse than the manual variety. More expensive, more fragile in operation, less secure. ... Does anyone think the IoT is a security dream? IT needs tending - no-one wants to read security advisories listings to see if their house is still reasonably secure. Look at the picture for the article - smartphone entry key? That would be the same smartphone running flappy-bird and a random "bejewelled" clone?

Smarthome aren't popular because they just make things worse.

This has been my argument against "smart" homes for the past 15 years. Inexplicably, suppliers think it's a matter of price and not security. I wonder what kind of insurance these electronic lock vendors provide - if any?

Re: Rent a door lock?

Johnson bemoaned how difficult it was to get smart tech into the home...

...because despite 20 years of hype, nobody wants smart homes, period.

Welcome to the FUTURE: Maine cops pay Bitcoin ransom to end office hostage drama

Re: And why isn't the first word of advice to be

"Backups?

You want backups?

We don't neeed no steenkin' backups!"

(famous last words of a former sysadmin I worked with before he was "deleted")

How Groucho Marx lost his voice and found his funny bone

Re: One of my favourites

Alan Alda proudly proclaims that he based Hawkeye's machine-gun style of humor on Groucho.

P.S. Why a duck?

Fancy six months of security nirvana for free? Read on...

Re: And just below this, in 'More from the Register...'

Last November we tested Bitdefender for our environment. The user interface was very non-intuitive. Also, if you look at the Bitdefender forums you'll see that once you buy a year's subscription to antivirus your credit card is automatically charged every year - you are automatically opted-in. In 3 out of 4 times, when you opt-out of autobilling you stay opted-in. Scary company.

Fondleslab deaths grounded ALL of American Airlines' 737s

Re: Now an intelligent design

Would have used pads from two different makers, different OSs, and with the software written by two independent companies. Otherwise they're a single point of failure, as demonstrated.

Smart. As I recall, the U.S. Space Shuttle has/had three independent & redundant onboard computers with three different hardware configurations and software written with three different compiler manufacturers.

Re: Now an intelligent design

Replacing the bulky 35lbs flight bags also allowed airlines to save fuel.

I don't see how 35lbs results in a significant fuel savings. Rather, I think a smart pilot would want to keep the 35lbs paper flight manuals on-board anyway as a backup. As a passenger, that's O.K by me.

Your new car will dob you in to the cops if you crash, decrees EU

Re: Gah!

The idea being that when you feel safer you become more complacent

Very true. How many people have encountered some idiot in an SUV who feels so invulnerable they wreak havoc on the road, making turns and changing lanes like a blind elephant on the highway?

LG slaps SIX CORE Snapdragon 808 in LEATHER G4 dog&bone – not overheaty 810

Compared to the G3?

If the LG G4 is the same size as the LG G3, then it's a clear upgrade.

Welcome, stranger: Inside Microsoft's command line shell

Re: 4NT for the win

Just think about how much better the world would be if IBM based the PC on the Motorola 68000 instead of the Intel x86.

Rand Paul puts Hillary Clinton's hard drive on sale

Re: the server was older

a quick look at the image of Hillary's disk (depicted above) shows the 40-pin IDE/Parallel ATA interface.

Looks like Nephew-ware to me...

Watch: FIRE-SPITTING time-lapse images of Sol showcase NASA's sun-gazing highs

Re: Beautiful...

Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow.

Google-Twitter hookup rumours pushes up babble blog site's shares

Re: Gootter? Twiggle?

I struggle to see how the profit-lite micro-blogging site would be folded into Google's empire. It's simply the wrong fit.

Kelly, I was thinking the same thing. I'm also thinking that maybe the FTC may want to consider rejecting this acquisition, it's such an expansion of The Google Empire (cue Darth Vader theme).

Chelsea Manning sets up low-tech Twitter account from prison

Re: health care costs

Easy, dmacleo, you'll burst a gasket, and that transphobia ain't doing your mental health any favors.

Easy, @skeptical i, you're missing the point, and your anti-Americanism isn't doing your mental health any favors.

Why should Manning get government paid elective surgery, when returning soldiers can't get government-paid life-saving surgery?

It's a matter of priorities. Which is more important? I could tell you the story of a veteran two blocks over from my me that died waiting for the bureaucracy to approve his treatments, but you don't really give a damn, do you? I'm sure you'd accuse his mother of having transphobia for agreeing with @dmacleo.

Dot-com intimidation forces Indiana to undo hated anti-gay law

Re: I wonder how they're going to know?

>The people agitating for this law are the r******d sorts that think their liberty >includes the right to oppress.

Um, @JEDIDIAH, that's a pretty bold statement. Most people seem to feel the law was just worded wrong. So you're going to have to supply some proof that what you ranted is exactly what the people wrote this intended, and this it isn't an "unintended consequence".

US Senate to probe the Obama-Google love-in

You Must Remember This

I'm shocked, shocked, that gambling is going on in this establishment!

SPY FRY: Smart meters EXPLODE in Californian power surge

Not fuses, but surge or overvoltage protection. Any halfway-decent engineer would have put in surge protection (costs less than a pound) or overvoltage protection (costs a few pence more) into the smart meter.

Ergo, the people that designed these things were not halfway-decent engineers.

Why Feed.Me.Pizza will never exist: Inside the world of government vetoes and the internet

Re: alt dns

Bet you never knew when you were ordering a Dominos pizza that you were not getting a real pizza, did you?

EVERYONE who has ordered a Dominos pizza knew they were not getting a real pizza!

AT&T, Verizon and telco pals file lawsuit to KILL net neutrality FOREVER

Re: Time for Lawyers and Hissy-Fits.

All this means is that the lawyers get rich, Congress will get lobbyists carrying brown envelopes, and customers will get screwed in the end.

All very true. But at the heart of the matter is this: Can the FCC issue "regulations" that have the force of law? Initially groups like the FCC, FTC, SEC, etc. would issue advisories. But now they are issuing regulations, which are suddenly treated the same as laws, effectively bypassing the legislature and President.

New Forum Wishlist - but read roadmap first

SSL, SSL, SSL

I'd like to see SSL added to the forum. At least for the username and login - DUH!. But I'd also like the option for SSL when posting and viewing comments. This is especially important for those of us that use this website from a place of business, which we all know are monitored more and closely these days. Web habits seems to be of intense interest to employers.

Monitoring software has the ability to flag an employee who is visiting a web page with too many curse words and SSL would protect us.

SSL

SSL

Same here - it's very strange that this site does not have SSL. Even the user login and password has no SSL and that is EXTREMELY disturbing!

It's not rocket science to add SSL to the entire site. So I'm wondering if the omission is on purpose.

NORK internet outage was payback for Sony hack – US politician

“There were some cyber responses to North Korea,”

That's all that was said, and @skelband thinks that means the USA shut down NORK's internet?

This Reg article has more guesses than a Wikipedia page.

Forget viruses: Evil USB drive 'fries laptops with a power surge'

Just that basic description is enough of a start to any real electronic engineer.

That's what I was thinking. You've got small SMPS chips today that don't need an external inductor, and high density supercapacitors that can fit inside a medium to large USB stick.

There's plenty of you software developers out there but it's us hardware engineers that keep the real secrets.

Mattel urged to scrap Wi-Fi mic Barbie after Register investigation

Mattel's servers don't hold the conversations Hello Barbie records, ToyTalk does, and the startup has stated explicitly that the audio will never be used for advertising purposes.

...adding, "We're a startup company, we don't need the millions and millions that advertising to children will bring us. Trust us, suckers! Muahahahaha!"

Network competition? Puh-lease. It's all about the Apple-Android Axis of Fondle

Re: In before the flame war.

Do we need a third OS? “Of course! Consumers and carriers want selection and do not want to be beholden to any one or two specific platforms,” IDC research manager Ramon Llamas told us.

While personally I like the idea, from a marketing point of view I have to disagree. For technology, for the BROAD-BASED marketiplace, consumers (sheeple) just want two choices. That's why there is PC and Mac, Apple and Android, Amazon and eBay, etc. It's unfortunate, but true.

Huawei preps to drop mobile & wearables lovebombs on U.S.

Re: Chinese Concerns

Meanwhile, Chinese PC giant Lenovo has been shipping laptops with American spyware...

You seem to imply that the nationality of the spyware is of consequence. Truth is manufacturers of spyware and viruses, like all criminals, have no nationality or loyalty. What's important is that Lenovo made the deliberate decision to include spyware in their computers.

From it's approval as inclusion of listed software, to it's passing pre-production QA, to it's final approval as the loaded software package with a security certificate signed as Bank of America, the Chinese company Lenovo made the deliberate decision to include spyware.

Chinese Concerns

Chinese comms kit giant Huawei plans to try to woo American consumers in a marketing blitz promoting its mobes and wearables in the US – a country where it has failed to expand thanks to national security concerns expressed by the President Obama.

Meanwhile, Chinese PC giant Lenovo has been shipping laptops with spyware since last year, signed with a security certificate that impersonates Bank of America.

Sick of Chrome vs Firefox? Check out these 3 NEW browsers

Article: Firefox, which seems to be sliding further into irrelevancy every day...

m0rt: "Will Firefox quite copying Chrome's "users are morons" approach and stop dicking around with the GUI?"

The first quote is a consequence of the second. It's a rude surprise when you update Firefox and find another useful feature is gone. The whole "we know better than our users" attitude from Firefox is truly annoying.

NXP snaps up Freescale to form new chipzilla

Re: "synergies"

NXP has seen unexpected loss of sales since they lost focus on 8-bit microcontrollers. Despite what you may have read, those of us in the industry still see 8-bit MCU sales growing faster than 32-bit.

There is some doubt as to whether the FTC will approve this buyout.

Would you trust 'spyproof' mobes made in Putin's Russia?

Re: Switching off phones does not disable built-in GPS functionality

What happens if the location services are turned off (assuming of course a clean phone).

Without GPS active, your location can still be determined by triangulation between three cell towers.

Superfish: Lenovo ditches adware, but that doesn't fix SSL megavuln – researcher

Re: @Halverflake

This validates all the paranoia some people felt when IBM sold ThinkPad to a company in communist China.

Samsung: Our TVs? Spying on you? Ha Ha! Just a joke of course

Re: Er?

But does anyone actually believe what Samsung are saying?

I don't believe any company that collects personal data.

$10,000 Ethernet cable promises BONKERS MP3 audio experience

Re: So Stupid

And who gets the stupid hat when not-a-single-person buys it?

C'mon, people will buy this. Poor stupid people buy pet rocks, rich stupid people buy $10,000 ethernet cables.

Remember, there's one born every minute!

Taking a look at Luna: the smart bed that knows your sleep secrets

Bassi is keen to point out that the raw data is stored on the local device and only aggregate, general data is encrypted and transmitted.

Ha ha ha ha ha!

Likewise, he assures us that the microphone is only able to tell if there is noise or not: it can't tell what you are saying

...he said with an evil laugh.

Plane crash blamed on in-flight SELFIES

Darwin Award

One for the Darwin awards...

'Bend over, Facebook' says EU, snapping on its rubber gloves

One Policy to Rule Them All

It's simple - because detection of most privacy violations are almost impossible, and past punishment for uncovered violations has been the equivalent of half a day's profit, every social media website has one, unspoken privacy policy:

"We will use your data any way we want to. Period"

Drunk on Friday night? Then YOU probably DIDN'T spot Facebook's privacy tweak

Re: Please, do explain

We receive information about you and your activities on and off Facebook from third-party partners, such as information from a partner when we jointly offer services or from an advertiser about your experiences or interactions with them.

Plain English translation: "We will do as we damn well please."

Super-cookie crumbles: Verizon vows to kill off hated zombie stalkers

Verizon takes customer privacy seriously...

The three biggest lies in the world:

1. The check is in the mail,

2. I'm from the government and I'm here to help you, and

3. We take our customer's privacy seriously

YouTube: Nobody needs to get hurt Zoe, just sign the Ts&Cs

"Anyone starting up a new video service?" she asked.

Rumor has it Twitter will be starting a video service. They are the only ones that can get away with it because they already have enough users, 280 million and counting.

'YOUTUBE is EVIL': Somebody had a tape running, Google...

Re: The new man

Not just music & video rights. Images, documents, personal information and your first born.

And more than that. Ever read the book 1984? Google wants control for control's sake. Power for the sale of power. People that think like that are the ultimate evil.

It doesn't stop until they can decide who lives, and who dies. Or being banned from the internet - forever.

'Boozed up' US drone spook CRASHED UFO into US White House

Re: I can imagine...

Because the White House radar is designed to spot larger threats, such as aircraft or missiles, the drone passed right on by.

Thanks for sharing this information with the Moody Drone Pilots of D.C.

Maybe instead of an investigation, the White House might want to upgrade their radar?

FROSTY MISTRESS of the Outer System: Pluto yields to probe snapper

Re: Billion

Russell Crowe made a comment about banking 'bail-outs' seven or so years, he said something like 'Why don't they divide it up and just give x thousand dollars to every member of the population.'

There's something to be said for that. Most of the bailout money did go directly to the richest 1%. When you do the math, for the total amount the U.S. Congress spent on "bailouts", you could give each household in the USA $14,000.