Posts by thesykes

Suunto settles scary scuba screwup for $50m: 'Faulty' dive computer hardware and software put explorers in peril

Looks at list of affected models. Looks at dive computer. Bugger.

Samsung Galaxy A9: Mid-range bruiser that takes the fight to Huawei

Started reading at Mid range phone

Stopped reading at £549

I've had 3 smartphones and that's more than I paid for all of them put together.

In a race to 5G, Trump has stuck a ball-and-chain on America's leg

Local news

Got to love the local newspaper article linked in the story.

The nice big photo of a lampost, with the caption "A lampost" is quality journalism at its best.

'Facebook takes data from my phone – but I don't have an account!'

If manufacturers want to sell their souls to Facebook, let them, but the app should be installed as a normal app, not a system one. Not only does that mean they can't be uninstalled, but, it wastes storage on old versions of the app sitting redundant, if they are used and updated.

Hey, you know why it's called the iPhone X? When you see Apple's repair bill, your response will be X-rated

At those prices

It's a good job iPhone screens never break....

The award for worst ISP goes to... it starts with Talk and ends with Talk

Re: Sky

I couldn't get away from Sky soon enough. Was with them on ADSL for a while, and had constant problems with the crappy router they provided. There was a bug in its firmware that meant that connected devices were never displayed properly. I either got a list of the same device connected repeatedly, or, an incomprehensible list of devices in what looked like wingdings. I complained to Sky, who acknowledged that they were aware of the problem, and that Dlink had released a firmware update several years earlier. Sky refused to release that for their customers and also refused to give me my username and password, to allow me to use a decent router.

When fibre became available Sky offered up to 40Mbps, BT offered up to 70Mbps for the same price. We get well over the 40 offered by Sky, usually hitting around 60.

The process of leaving was painful, with quite probably the rudest call centre handler in history, who was shouting and refusing to listen, intent on going through her script of bribes to keep us with them.

Once we'd left, we received regular monthly offers, inviting us back, with the discounts getting bigger by the month. Strangely the offers stopped as soon as our 12-month contract with BT had ended and we could actually take them up on any offer.

One extra bonus in leaving was that we no longer received regular calls from some warranty company, saying our Sky box was out of warranty and we needed to pay them, just in case it broke. Complaints to Sky just resulted in denials that they knew anything about the third party. A claim that seems even less believable as we stopped getting them as soon as we left Sky.

BT aren't perfect, in fact the home hubs are pretty poor, although since we got the HH6, we've not had any problems. When we did, on HH4 & 5, BT sent engineers round quickly, provided replacement hubs and also sent a powerline setup to improve the wifi in the extension, all free of charge. Whenever we were having problems, we had regular call-backs from BT staff, checking if the new hubs had solved the problems, were the powerline hubs OK? At the end of the problems, a nice compensation payout was offered, without us asking, so, couldn't fault their customer service.

Jodie Who-ttaker? The Doctor is in

Re: Regenerate a few more fingers?

Peter Cushing?

How to leak data from an air-gapped PC – using, er, a humble scanner

I misread the headline as using a humble spanner.

Turns out it was much more improbable than that.

Cheap, flimsy, breakable and replaceable – yup, Ikea, you'll be right at home in the IoT world

Just buy their bayonet to screw adaptors. Raises the height of the bulb slightly so won't suit all fixings.

We had some small plastic pegs break on a storage box, customer services didn't have any, but, a week later a pack of them arrived at home, posted from Sweden. Not bad service that.

Official: America auto-scanned visitors' social media profiles. Also: It didn't work properly

Who's the dumbest here? Terrorists that post on Facebook that they're off to Merica to blow something up, or, so called intelligence agencies who believe that they do?

FAKE BREWS: America rocked by 'craft beer' scandal allegations

Re: REally @Ledswinger

Agree about the Lidl pilsener. First had it in Germany in the summer (not a Lidl snob, just isn't one near me), and had quite a few bottles of the stuff. Perfect for drinking ice cold on a warm summer evening by the Main. Think I still have a few of them left in caravan. Personally I preferred the "normal" pilsener to the premium one.

Would also like to see the idea of bottle/can deposits come back. The German shops charged 10c per bottle or can which you got back when you returned them the next time you shopped. Nice big machines in the Lidl entrance which took your empties and gave you a voucher to present at the till.

Re: Wallyworld and Craft Anything?

you've obviously not been to Asda, as they sell many locally produced items including beers from local independent breweries.

Apple joins one wireless power group, the other one responds with so-happy forced grin

Re: You can always be sure

Chosen? Didn't you know Apple invented wireless charging. Just now.

UK uni KCL spunks IT budget on 'reputation management' after IT disaster headlines

Re: Blame

You don't pay consultants to write a report that states that the fault lies with senior management who have repeatedly refused funding for a decent IT estate. They write reports absolving management of all blame, sack a few low ranking techies and say "lessons have been learned and you can trust that we will have policies in place to ensure this doesn't happen again in the future."

And nothing will change.

really?

The entirety of the IT Estate running on one RAID array?

I'm not a hardware expert but even I know that that isn't a really good idea.

Vendors flash smartphone storage in Vegas

The idea of a hard drive that also charges your phone sounds good, but, it appears to only do so when plugged into the mains. The shape also means (and the Toshiba product page confirms it) that this is designed as a backup device to leave at home. I can do that with a NAS and backup/access my files from anywhere in the world. I can also take a battery pack to charge my phone and an old laptop HDD in a portable enclosure that is powered by the USB port, for when there is no internet connection.

Sysadmin figures out dating agency worker lied in his profile

The clue is in the name.

CAPS lock. Locks the CAPITAL letters

IIRC some typewriter keyboards used to have CAPS and SHIFT lock keys. Similar in function, except the SHIFT lock also locked the special characters above the number keys.

Plastic fiver: 28 years' work, saves acres of cotton... may have killed less than ONE cow*

Re: Considering it's such a tiny amount

Perhaps because millions of the things have been produced and are now in circulation. Without a total re-design of the note, making it easy to spot which is which, how would anybody know which ones were full fat fivers and which were not?

Now excuse me while I go dip a few tenners in some bacon fat.

Vegans furious as Bank of England admits ‘trace’ of animal fat in £5 notes

Re: Tell you what then,

Peanut allergy - medical condition

Vegan - lifestyle choice rammed down the throats of every poor sod who comes into close contact with one of the bloody people who chooses to lead that particular life.

Sorry, iPhone fans – only Fandroids get Barclays' tap-to-withdraw

Re: From same brain trust that was 6 months late to the Apple Pay credit card party.

Not all that convenient for the majority of smartphone owners, who don't own an iPhone.

Reg man 0: Japanese electronic toilet 1

Google translate?

I just tried that using the camera and even drawing the characters.

I now have bidet, buttocks and muff as the last few entries.

Angry user demands three site visits to fix email address typos

Re: Ah Education

Computer Studies, CSE, Grade 3.

Bask in my reflected glory.

There are some really crap budget phones out there. Vodafone's Smart Ultra 7 isn't

Re: San Francisco

My OSF is still in daily use, sim removed as a nice little MP3 player with OLED screen for watching the odd video. With all the network stuff turned off, it lasts a few days on a charge. I had a look for a colour screen MP3/MP4 player that would take SD cards and have wifi etc and couldn't find one to match the OSF's original £99 price.

Forgive me, father, for I have used an ad-blocker on news websites...

Online adverts should be like magazine adverts: static text, an image, no video, no sound, no animation, and stuck where the printer put it.

If I read a car magazine, I expect car-related ads. If I then read a gardening magazine, I'd expect gardening-related ads, not car-related ones.

If I buy an item, I don't want to see adverts for the same thing for weeks after, it's pointless. If I have bought one, chances are don't I need another And if I do, I think I could find it again without seeing adverts plastered all over.

Until online advertisers become responsible and trustworthy, I'll stick to blocking ads. If a website insists I have to see them, I'll find another site.

Oi, Apple fanbois. Your beloved Jesus Phones are pisspoor for disabled users

Re: I really don't see the problem with the Apple attitude

If only everything was routed over IP, it would be easy to swap from phone to phone (and carrier to carrier) according to need.

Really? Take your sim out of old phone, put it into new phone. Job done.

Need a different size sim? Go to shop, ask them and (in my experience) they'll sort that out while your there.

Moving network? Buy your new sim, tell them you want to port your number, all sorted in a couple of days.

Need more than one network due to coverage problems? Buy a dual sim phone.

There are many reasons that swapping phones can be a pain, moving your number isn't one of them.

Re: complaining ... rather than picking something suitable in the first place

Instead of buying a new iPhone 7 and then writing to Apple to ask for the feature, stick with your old phone and write to Apple saying that if they don't add it, you'll buy a Samsung and tell everyone you know to do the same. OK, they may not listen, but the threat of lost revenue is usually a thing that all companies listen to eventually.

Try and get in there on launch day, raise the issue with national press. A headline of "New iPhone excludes disabled users" is not something Apple would appreciate.

With all due respect to the author and The Register, complaining here about Apple is pretty pointless, they're not exactly best of buddies.

If it's not missing due to mere oversight, then why is it missing? Apple are incapable of programming an auto-answer feature, or, they really don't give a shit.

Mobile review website MoDaCo coughs to data breach

"Irate fans air views on firm's forum"

5 comments so far, and one of them says they can't even remember using the site. Not exactly irate as far as I can see.

Brave telco giants kill threat of decent internet service in rural North Carolina

It seems obvious that laws that prevent locals from clubbing together and providing a service that big business won't, should be scrapped. Then big business should be told to compete with the locals, based on quality of service and low cost.

But, big business buys the politicians through "campaign donations", so it won't ever happen.

Land of the free? No. Land of the bought and paid for political puppet.

Microsoft thinks time crystals may be viable after all

Re: Buh?

Phew... not just me then.

Oculus Rift will reach UK in September – and will cost more than two PS4s

No porn?

That'll save on the groinal attachments, then.

Here WeGo! Google Maps rival drops Maps branding

Re: Download size

@Dan 55....Thanks... I think Here need to look at their UI. There's no indication that pressing Europe will do anything other than download all of Europe.. maybe a little + or arrow would indicate that there are more options. It's only when you then see some countries with the download option and others blank that you realise how it works.

It is clear why they've changed the name. It can't be used as a map! One of the functions I use most on Google Maps is just looking where something is, especially in foreign countries. Something on the news, a travel programme, etc. Just a quick search and I know where it is. Here doesn't do that. It only provides directions, something it simply cannot do where you have to fly to get there. New York? Sydney? Nope, can't find a route so won't show you where they are.

Download size

A little more granularity on the download options would be preferable. Lumping all of Europe together into a 10,337 MB file means that I can download precisely no maps, leaving Google's download-the-bits-you-want option as infinitely better for me.

Apple Watch exec Bob Mansfield 'gets into secret Apple car'

Quality

"Doug Betts, the lead for global quality at Fiat Chrysler"

Don't they continually rank bottom in American reliability surveys?

Here's an interesting snippet about Mr Betts...."Three years later, Betts would be gone. He left the day after the release of the Consumer Reports reliability survey in which Dodge, Ram, Jeep and Fiat finished 25th, 26th, 27th and 28th among 28 brands ranked."

Q: Is it wrong to dress as a crusader for an England match?

Re: It's possible

They remember it? How old are these people?

One ad-free day: Three UK to block adverts across network in June

can I opt out of this?

Just received the email from Three, it's opt in for the trial and works on network served stuff and not on wifi connections.

Re: move will "revolutionise" mobile advertising

It could, if the advertisers would follow a few simple rules, then most people would probably stop blocking adverts.

No animation or video.

No sound.

No pop ups.

Keep it simple, a static image, some text and a hyperlink to a product page, no tracking.

Do that, I won't block you.

Will it happen? Probably not, the advertisers will just try and find ever more annoying methods to irritate people, thinking they are really providing a useful service.

Dwarf planet intumesces before astronomers' gaze

Re: 1920x990

Pigs in Spaaaaaaace

Osbo slaps down Amazon and eBay – who'll be liable for traders evading VAT

@rhydian.. you don't get it, do you? Previously Amazon, Apple, Google etc didn't pay 18% on millions, now they won't pay 17% on millions. Therefore, the amount they aren't paying is reduced.

"What can I do," thought George, "to reduce the amount of corporation tax not being paid by those nice American chaps? I know... I'll reduce the rate of taxation! Oh George, you are a clever boy."

London cops hunt chimpanzee in top hat

How dare you insult monkeys.

Ofcom's head is dead against Three and O2's merger

Re: Easy fix

a "mobile signal from any operator is likely to be non existent." is probably the main reason "to be out on a remote walking holiday in a scenic but sparsely populated area of the UK"

Stop the music! Booby-trapped song carjacked vehicles – security prof

why?

"Vehicles typically run two main networks: a high-speed one for engine, brakes and transmission systems, and a lower-speed version running secondary functions like entertainment and climate control.

But the two networks have to talk to each other...."

Why do they?

One Ring to pwn them all: IoT doorbell can reveal your Wi-Fi key

Re: WTF?

To be fair, if you were fitting one of these, wouldn't you press the doorbell yourself immediately, to test that it actually works?

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

Re: It's official now.

If it was possible to do a factory reset, then surely it should be possible to get the to the photos by connecting it to a Mac? Or are iPhones designed to make it impossible to access the data other than with the phone itself?

Re: It's official now.

No, the court has made so that somebody with the job title of "genius" should have the intelligence to warn a pensioner that he may lose his photos, and to check that he's happy with that, and provide advice on how to back up anything important. Judging by the self-righteous,arrogant responses above, it's easy on an iPhone, so, shouldn't be too difficult for a genius to sort out.

Storm in a teacup: Wileyfox does Android cheapie, British style

Re: Wileyfox Swift

PAYG - have you looked at Three? Top up and you get to use all of it for data at 1p per Mb, with no expiry on that. You also get 150Mb free when you top up, although that lasts for only a month, and I think you need at a tenner top up to get it.

BYOD battery bloodbath? Facebook 'fesses up to crook code

Re: AVG Study

Nice to see that I don't have any of the 20 apps listed by AVG as being the biggest battery drainers.

Assuming that the messenger app is the Facebook one, that means they have 3 out of the top 10 auto-starting battery draining apps available for Android. Impressive.

Crash this beauty? James Bond's concept DB10 Aston debuts in Spectre

If you ever see a film where the action has been speeded.. sped... made faster, whatever... you can tell the difference. the cars bounce differently, turn differently.

Also, letting it be known that they wrecked so many Astons and Jags is far better publicity than saying they wrecked a dozen Mondeos in drag.