Posts by simonb_london

Finally, someone takes a stand against Apple, Samsung for slowing people's phones. Just a few million dollars, tho

Re: Great! Now tackle App Store

See my original post regarding the age of IOS 10. Its the IOS version that determines compatibility with an App. July 2017 is not long ago.

Great! Now tackle App Store

I tried installing Garage Band on an IPad 2 only to find it wasn't there because the IPad can only support IOS 10.x and Garage Band isn't available any more for that.

They could at least have a fall back to the latest version of Garage Band for the version of IOS that I Have. At least with a PC you can install older versions of software that are compatible with the OS.

The latest IOS 10.x was released in July 2017 which really isn't that long ago.

Typed on my Ipad

I hope I can f-inn-sh th-is p-o-s-t be....fo......re.......................

Is this cuttlefish really all that cosmic? Ubuntu 18.10 arrives with extra spit, polish, 4.18 kernel

Re: "the system has a more modern and 'flatter' look"

"...but the first question I have is: with KDE* available, why does anyone use Gnome?"

Same reason Linux took off and BSD not so much. Because LibQT was open sourced just a bit too late.

Microsoft: OK, we have no phones, but look how much we love Android

Extortion

Android manufactures have to pay off Microsoft for use of patents, the identity of which Microsoft keeps under NDA so no one actually knows which patents.

Under this legalised extortion they probably earn a lot more from Android than Google do.

Crypto-jackers' best pal Monero resets the 'days since a critical bug' counter back to zero

So Monero is still alive

One definition I can think of for a failed cryptocurrency is when no one is left with enough skill or interest to fix bugs in the code. I can imagine this happening to a lot of the lesser-known cryptos quite soon.

Facebook sued for exposing content moderators to Facebook

Psychopaths

I hear that about 2-3% of the population are psychopaths who are not affected by gruesome images. Seems like an ideal job for them.

Flying to Mars will be so rad, dude: Year-long trip may dump 60% lifetime dose of radiation on you

Easy solution

Just make the spacecraft out of lead. Simples.

Linux kernel's Torvalds: 'I am truly sorry' for my 'unprofessional' rants, I need a break to get help

The cure

Nothing a good few doses of Aya can't fix.

Unpicking the Pixel puzzle: Why Google is struggling to impress

Reboot after a call?

I am totally relieved to only have a Samsung S8 where I have to tap the camera to get it into focus every time it powers up.

Es are good, Es are good. Xeon Es are good, says Intel: Entry-level workstation CPUs touted

Dodgy CPU

This workstation has gone really weird. I think its got a Xeon K in it!

They grow up so fast: Spam magnet Hotmail turned 22 today

I arrived too late

Apparently someone had already picked "[e-mail]" as a username. I did consider "[e-mail]" but I think someone had picked that one too.

Boffins quietly cheering possible discovery of new fundamental particle: Sterile neutrino

Yeahh!

This particle must think its something special... like a "HIggs Bozon". But it isn't. It's just a lousy old "Sterile Neutrino".

France building encrypted messaging app for politicians

Why don't they just use Tox?

That isn't controlled by the US or Russia, is open source and decentralised.

Crypto crackdown: Google bans ads for unregulated currencies

Here we go again

Something else effectively censored for our own "safety".

Fender's 'smart' guitar amp has no Bluetooth pairing controls

"Many modern guitar amps are designed in such a way that they blow up if the user fails to regard the spec with enough scepticism and tries to use full power for any length of time."

If the amp is run at full power then the output devices become more like switches than resistors and actually become less hot than they would running, say, at 2/3 power. Feel sorry for the speaker though....

Blockchain nears peak hype: UK politicos to probe crypto-coin

Re: Would regulation...

That's way to overreaching. It's like the US/UK government trying to tax every ruble to rupee exchange. It would only make sense if the exchange actually happened in an exchange operated and run in the US/UK. With crypto-currencies the exchange can be anywhere in the world.

Australia joins the 'decrypt it or we'll legislate' club

The government know that encryption is unnecessary

After all, their business interests and other conflicts of interest are in the public domain and we still go and vote for them. This proves that secrecy is not necessary.

Google slaps mute button on stupid ads that nag you to buy stuff you just looked at

And the stuff I just bought?

Can they can adverts for stuff I just already bought yesterday too?

You GNOME it: Windows and Apple devs get a compelling reason to turn to Linux

Re: Kubuntu ?

Especially since Mint are dropping KDE support. Killjoys!

Linux Mint 18.3: A breath of fresh air? Well, it's a step into the unGNOME

I _used_ to like Mint KDE...but now they've dropped it :(

You Wreck Me, Spotify: Tom Petty, Neil Young publisher launches $1.6bn copyright sueball

Technically, it doesn't cost much to make good quality music these days. What used to only be possible on a fully kitted-out studio is now possible on a laptop, Ipad or even a phone with a good mic and/or midi-keyboard plugged in.

The era of recording music as a business model by packaging it in some physical medium and tying it down with "copyright" is also over.

This isn't the end of good music, its just that the old rules of making it have become impractical and irrelevant.

O Christmas wreath, O Christmas wreath, thy potent skunk's in bunches

The perfect gift

For Peter Hitchens!

Boffins foresee most software written by machines in 2040

1997? Pah!

In 1987 I had a book for programming the Atari ST with the operating system (TOS) 68000 disassembly listing in half of it.

La La La, I can't hear you: FCC responds to net neut concerns

Packet radio?

Hey! Let's route around ISPs and create our own Internet!

Just an idea. Probably not very practical, but certainly in the spirit of the free and open Internet.

Munich council finds €49.3m for Windows 10 embrace

Where Linux can live on the desktop

Definitely not in organisations that centrally manage everyone's desktop and tell them what they will be using.

I guess places that are mainly full of technical people who can't be told what they will be using and are happy to manage their own environment are the places you will see the most desktop installs of Linux. Places like Microsoft, for instance :D

Fake news ‘as a service’ booming among cybercrooks

Fake news means

... Mainstream media's way of saying, "Oh ****! We lost our monopoly!"

Also a great excuse for super snoopers such as Teresa May to implement sweeping censorship and surveillance measures for our "protection".

What do Vegas hookers, Colombian government, and 30,000 other sites have in common? Crypto-jacking miners

Less intrusive than adverts

As long as the website is transparent about and doesn't try to use all available CPU cores it I don't see it as a problem.

I am fed up with JS jack-in-the-box pop-ups that take over the whole screen. Adverts seem to get past ad blockers, play video, make noise and generally make the user experience frustrating. We need to explore other non-paywall alternatives.

Coinhive crypto-jacking increasingly pops up in top 3 million websites

So regulate its use

I don't mind one CPU thread being used for mining as an alternative to annoying adverts.

Would be nice to have a convention of informing the user that this is happening and maybe giving the option to have adverts instead.

Vlad the blockader: Russia's anti-VPN law comes into effect

It's a cool way to ensure that most Internet users in Russia are smarter because more of them will have worked out how to circumvent really obvious restrictions. In the West censorship is more subtle ("Who will protect us from this EVIL fake news!") and it is more likely people will just accept whatever they are steered towards.

Feelin' safe and snug on Linux while the Windows world burns? Stop that

Re: about 12 per cent of servers run non-Windows OSs!?

"Not servers are they?" ..... unless they are .... hacked??!!

Murdoch's £11.7bn Sky takeover referred to competition regulator

Re: Why not just say NO?

Agreed the evil prune-faced slug must be stopped.

Heaps of Windows 10 internal builds, private source code leak online

Waste

What a terrible waste of valuable hard disk space.

Bye bye MP3: You sucked the life out of music. But vinyl is just as warped

Re: On air compression

Indeed. Radio music has become like a religion. People still do it that exact same way (over-compressed with a playlist of about five rubbish songs) but no one knows why anymore. Anyone wanting less compressed music they actually do want to listen to would go elsewhere.

Farewell Unity, you challenged desktop Linux. Oh well, here's Ubuntu 17.04

Re: Petition to make Plasma (KDE) the default DE

Signed the petition. If only Trolltech open sourced QT just a couple of years earlier.... sigh.

Skype shuts down London office, hangs up on hundreds of devs

Demise of Skype: best thing that could happen

I only use it because people I need to speak to use it. Otherwise having all the old chat and alerts I've already seen/read being regurgitated on every device is a royal pain. The sound quality is rubbish and people keep making Youtube videos out of it. If someone is going to address a remote audience and give a talk I wish they would just do a direct webcast and use a decent amount of bandwidth (latency doesn't matter so much if only one person is talking).

In a nutshell: Skype is rubbish and used too much for the wrong things and the only way to improve the situation is to just take it away.

FBI Director wants 'adult conversation' about backdooring encryption

This is great news for non-commercial open source projects

Only commercial entities can be forced to comply with ridiculous laws resulting in open source software that is far more reliable, versatile and capable than crippled, non-competitive rubbish from US companies. Party like its ffmpeg, VLC and mplayer all over again!

Microsoft to rip up P2P Skype, killing native Mac, Linux apps

Re: All you conversations

Yes. There is an open source contender. HTML5. Skype is really just a brand now.

Greenpeace leaks TTIP texts, reveals strained negotiations

Software patents

Anyone know if there is anything in TIPP that would ram recognition of software patents down our throat?

Linux fans may be in for disappointment with SQL Server 2016 port

Linux fans in for disappointment?

Really? Were any Linux fans waiting all these years for MS to release one database out of many alternatives on Linux? More like MSSQL needs to support more platforms for people to still even consider using it when there are so many other multi-platform alternatives that work just as well if not better.

From Zero to hero: Why mini 'puter Oberon should grab Pi's crown

Linux = difficult again

It's only as difficult as you want to get involved with it.

You boot up a Pi and you get a desktop with a start menu and applications that run with a mouse click. Too difficult? There's absolutely no need to dive in any deeper than necessary because it works fine without being understood.

When I learned computer science at school we hand coded basic programs that ran on a mainframe at the local uni. Don't ask me then how the mainframe OS handled mutlitasking and batch jobs and how many programming languages are involved in making the whole thing work because I didn't need to know. Same now.

Linux on the Pi is simple, versatile and functional enough for purpose. There's no point loading an OS on it that a student is unlikely to ever encounter again.

MACAQUE ATTACK: Monkey plunders Florida resident's box, gobbles contents

Just been to India

And one monkey in a neighbourhood isn't really news. Neither is a bull in the middle of the road, or a goat or a sheep or a snake....

Get 'em out for the... readers: The Sun scraps its online paywall

Nationalise it

Just nationalise News International in the UK. That'll fix Murdock. Or at least the prospect will make him panic...

Google and pals launch Accelerated Mobile Pages project

Janky performance on Android

I thought the main culprit was because the OS doesn't make sensible use of the kernel and give the right bits of the UI (especially the phone app, you know, the one that actually makes a phone a "phone") a higher priority. Nothing should ever stop the display and touch responding. Ever. An outcome that requires at least quad core for Android, but IOS did since 2008 on one core.

Hello? HELLO? Major Skype outage hits folk WORLDWIDE

If its any consolation, Bitchat and Bleep aren't "down".

Android Wear 5.1: A more enduring wristjob for your pleasure

Rash decision

Just looking at what the thing did to that guy's wrist I think I'll give it a miss.

GCHQ: We can't track crims any more thanks to Snowden

Re: Suggestion for law enforcement

"Personally I would cut the drugs with something useful e.g. cyanide...", or continue to support prohibition which has the same effect.

Huawei: 'Nobody made any money in Windows Phone'

The BeOS of mobile OSes

I actually like the look and feel of Windows Mobile. It reminds me of BeOS in the 1990s. It was super-slick, pretty and capable but sadly never got off the ground. If it was an open-source project like FirefoxOS or if Microsoft weren't so evil I'd be tempted to use it.

To me, Android is like the Windows 98 of the phone OSes. The only way I can get it to run smoothly is to throw more hardware at it, when IOS and WinOS have always run smoothly even on one CPU core, but, on the other hand, there isn't much you can't do with Android apps and the port/feature-laden hardware that runs it. The extra cores and memory just to make it usable is just like the cost of doing business.

Say goodbye to the noughties: Yesterday’s hi-fi biz is BUSTED, bro

Re: hi-res audio bullshit

"As has been discussed in these pages previously, the science *proves* that as a *playback* format 16 bit 44.1kHz can't be improved upon."

As with most science, there is always a possibility that there is more than meets the eye, or in this case ear...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultrasonic_hearing

Enjoy!

Amazon Zocalo rocks Box, socks DropBox, clocks Google Docs

Re: Sync: "Windows 7 only and Mac OS X 10.7"

Not such an "edge case" for a system that has to work company-wide. Without 100% coverage within a company its 0% useful compared to Dropbox.