Posts by JohnG

Alec Baldwin kicked off plane for playing with his phone

I was under the impression that he was thrown off the flight because he refused to turn off his toy prior to takeoff and because he abused staff who wouldn't go along with the "rules don't apply to celebs like me" concept. This also means that a plane load of people had their travel delayed by one arrogant git - I hope he gets prosecuted.

HP douses firebomb printer hack threat

Empty toner

You beat me to it. My printer wouldn't use the colour toners which had reached "0 pages left". When I swapped the two "empty" toner cartridges, the other suddenly needed replacing, despite previously showing some pages left. Added to this, the printer refused to print B&W, once it had decided it didn't have enough of the colour toners. I'd love to have firmware that would allow me to continue printing until I decide the printouts are too faint.

Spanish firemen grapple naked stairs sex Brit

Brits in Spain

I assumed we acquired the right to do this sort of thing in the Treaty of Utrecht.

Hanging around

Given her age, maybe she is a Stranglers' fan

Huge PDP-11 in a lorry: How I drove computers into schools

I started with Hollerith cards and WATFOR Fortran. I can also remember the long wait followed by a syntax error or a problem with the job control cards. One of the saddest sights of that era was when someone dropped their stack of cards...

We also had teletypes which gave us access to BASIC, along with Lunar Lander and Star Trek. These also had paper tape interfaces,.which were used much as one might use a USB stick today (I had several paper tapes of ASCII art).

Clegg orders fresh review of UK extradition treaty

"The offense took place in the U.S. It was executed from the U.K."

So, you believe that US law applies to people anywhere in the world? By the same token, I guess the USA would be happy to extradite US citizens to Turkey (a US ally in The War Against Terror) for referring to a genocide of Armenians on Turkish Internet forums, in breach of Turkish law. Or people in the USA promoting freedom for Tibet on Chinese forums, against Chinese law. Or US Christians promoting their religion via the Internet in Saudi Arabia.....

Microsoft seeks patent on employee spy system

"All this kind of micromanagement will do is create a paranoid workforce, and completely destroy anything resembling morale and productivity."

Exactly! Management with so little trust in their employees that they deploy such a system shouldn't let those employees in the door to handle sensitive corporate data or take responsibility for activities which could determine the success or failure of the organisation.

Pickles plans curry colleges to halt Indian immigration

There has been at least one case where a restaurant have been told they cannot refuse to employ a local (with qualifications and experience) solely on the basis that the language of their kitchen is not English and that they would rather employ someone from Bangladesh.

I can't see the point of the curry course though - there are perfectly adequate catering courses, which also include the prerequisite food safety and hygiene elements.

The snag with that idea is that so many companies are in foreign ownership and jobs have been/are being exported. Which is why this engineer is writing this in Germany, having followed work here over a decade ago.

What we do know from recent statistics is that many of those skilled workers brought in (Tier 1 visas) to resolve non-existent skills shortages are now in catering, cleaning or other unskilled work.

Engineer sues Huawei for axing him 'because he's a Brit'

This is the evil of the ICT (Intra Company Transfer). Employ people using a company outside the UK, under terms and conditions not legal in the UK and send them to replace UK workers under a Tier 2 ICT visa. If you rotate them within the year, you can even reclaim the NI.

Google will ignore your Wi-Fi router ... if you rename it

"...a mass swap of routers to shift the macs..."

Some routers allow you to change the MAC addresses at will, depending on what software is running on the router e.g. DD-WRT

Cuba accuses US of sneaky Wi-Fi imperialism

Not so ironic

"...if it's true then there's a wonderful irony in American's spending money imposing a trade ban which prevents Cuba from getting decent internet access, while at the same time subsidising satellite access for individual Cubans."

I guess it comes down to who gets to do the monitoring and filtering of unacceptable sites/material - the US government or the Cuban government. It seems unlikely that either would encourage Cubans to have an unadulterated version of the truth.

Another new Russian nuclear powerplant comes online

"....selling all the fossil fuels to us dumb western Europeans."

...and the Chinese. Russia is currently building a gas pipeline to China.

I understand the Russians already use this in their price negotiations with Western countries.

World's first biz computer was British – and sold teacakes

The Ferranti Mk1 was another British computer of the same era as the LEO. It also had music generating capabilities and the BBC made some recordings of music generated in this way.

Prince Harry given free run of Arizona town's womenfolk

Not "a total fabrication"

Buss said it was the reporter who'd brought up the subject of "fornicating" in a chat with the trusting mayor. "The reporter started asking him things like, ‘Oh, what about if Prince Harry went chasing after one of your daughters?’”

...and there you have it - be very careful what you say to a reporter, especially when they start "a friendly chat". One would have thought that an old politician would have known that.

Airbus brews Scandium smackdown for carbon Dreamliner

How about recycling carbon fibre? Does it have a scrap value like aluminium or is difficult and expensive to recycle?

The Russians will have some data regarding the behaviour of Al-Sc airframes in crashes - Al-Sc has been used in both the MiG-21 and the MiG-29.

Activists tell gov to shove its net censorship plans

...and Hague has recently made another public statement about how important it is that the Internet should be free and open and how some nasty regimes around the world were censoring the Internet traffic of their citizens. Oh, the irony!

97% of Three's network traffic is data

*Their

Argentina stakes online claim on Falklands

It is all about oil and mineral rights in the Antarctic.

I read an article written by a women living on the Falklands but originating from Argentina. She mentioned showing groups of visiting Argentinians around (e,g, relatives visiting war graves) and their surprise to find that the locals speak English instead of Spanish and that they are basically, British.

Android 'stands on Microsoft's shoulders', says MS lawyer

Software patents

"So the question of whether software should be patentable is, in a sense, the same as asking whether a significant part of the technological innovation happening nowadays should receive patent protection."

No. It is down to the international treaties which the USA and many others signed up to. If the yanks want to bin those, I am sure the Chinese would be only too pleased to join in.

Now the world's population has reached 7 billion, we may need a cull - we could get by with fewer lawyers, especially IP and patent lawyers.

Samsung making over half its cash from its mobes

Apple doesn't have that much cash (AFAIK, they have about $77bn). Samsung may be bigger than you think.

Cloning?

Different aspect ratio, different icons, different OS, different apps, etc. If the Samsung devices are "clones" of Apple tablets, then the Apple tablets are clones of the Siemens SIMpad and the Apple patent is invalidated by prior art.

Windows XP and iPod: A tale of two birthdays

"Windows XP is dead"

Oh no it isn't! MS thought that corporates would drop XP if they announced that they would finish XP support. What they had not considered is that the costs of upgrading desktops from XP is not the cost of the corporate licensing - that's peanuts. The problem is the disruption and cost of migrating all the applications - including all the bespoke bits and pieces which would have to be retested and maybe, rewritten for a new desktop. Then there's the disruption to users, retraining, etc. Many corporates are still taking the "if it works, don't fix it" attitude.

Vegas man begs web for $1m to fix gigantic scrotum

$1 million?

I had two slipped discs, for which I had MRI scans, MRI-directed steroid injections and finally, surgery with a 10 day stay in hospital. This was performed privately in Germany and all the bills added up to about 12K Euros. How can it possibly cost $1 million to chop off someone's balls?

Leo DiCaprio slated to play Turing in biopic

Funny you should say that... When selecting their random six letter startup message key each day, some Enigma operators would regularly choose H I T L E R, thus making the code breakers' work considerably easier.

Engineers are not really regarded as professionals in the UK - which is probably why nobody cares about Tommy Flowers and why I have been working on Germany for the last decade.

Brit cyberwarriors, your country needs you

Pay

Another reason why people might work at GCHQ for such low pay is that they may also be getting some holiday money/perks from another country's security services.

Iranian TV claims royals ordered Ofcom to ban it

Russia Today...

...seems to be Russia's equivalent of Fox News - but even nuttier. Whenever there is some really bad stuff happening somewhere in the world, Russia Today always seems to hit the nail squarely on the thumb.

HP may NOT spin off PC biz

It might be interesting to know what sales and purchases of HP shares have been transacted by HP directors in the last 6 months.

Assange™ pens world's first unauthorised autobiography

Irony

It would be funny to see Assange and his lawyers go to court to say how wrong it is to publish other people's information, against their wishes.

RBS megahack maestro sells flats to pay fine

"If you get caught, you give back the money and start a new scam."

Maybe not. From the article: "Viktor Pleshchuk received a six-year suspended sentence..."

If he breaks the law now, he gets the original jail term - in a Russian prison.

Windows 8 secure boot would 'exclude' Linux

This idea will be about as popular as the Clipper Chip.

Microsoft milks Casio for using Linux

You haven't been paying attention! Microsoft says there are 235 patents being breached but won't say which patents are involved. As others have commented, were Microsoft to reveal which 235 patents they are talking about, it is quite likely that the world + dog would find prior art or other reasons why Microsoft's claims are invalid.

Feds probe naked Scarlett Johansson outrage

Re: Dreadful

"...the slightest bit sorry for this woman"

Ms Johansson is a professional actress near the peak of her profession, enjoying the fame and fortune that accompany her success. As such, she is likely to have number of people employed to help her maintain her fitness, appearance and public image - their advice and her own experience should tell her:

a) not to have any nude photographs of herself anywhere;

b) if she must have nude photographs of herself, keep them somewhere very safe.

No doubt there are many other attractive and talented young actresses who would like to have some of the opportunities enjoyed by Ms. Johansson and who would be prepared to take more care of their public image.

Google offers opt-out from Wi-Fi router location database

Why does it matter?

If you happened to be a dissident in a country with no democracy and a poor record on human rights and justice, you might be quite disconcerted that databases of Google, Skyhook, etc. could be used to determine your location. Your dismay might be heightened when men in balaclavas kick in your door and cart you and your family away, never to be seen again.

Anti-gay bus baron rages at being stuffed in Google closet

Re: Society doesn't need this...

"There's no room in society today for people who insist on peddling ideas contrary to those of the masses."

Such people would be guilty of thought crime and wrong speak.

"We need to re-educate people like this..."

...in Room 101.

Luckily, Articles 9 and 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights give us all rights to freedom of thought and freedom of expression.

Galaxy Tab remains illegal in Germany

This competitor's product is much better than ours so we'll get it banned. Once people hear all the bad publicity, they won't want to buy one - because that's what happens when you tell people that something is banned and they can't have it. Oh wait....

Amazon solves wait-at-home-for-deliveries problem

Packstation in Germany

The German post office has been running a service called Packstation for some years. It works in conjunction with their subsidiary, DHL.

The Packstations are located throughout Germany, either in the lobbies of post offices (you use any valid credit or debit card to enter the lobby out of hours) or outside. Each Packstation has a number which defines its address. You can choose to have items delivered to a Packstation of your choice for online purchases from almost any supplier. DHL email you to say when your parcel is ready for collection and you use a packet id and a PIN to open the relevant locker at your chosen Packstation and retrieve your parcel.

I haven't used it since I got married :-)

http://www.dhl.de/en/paket/privatkunden/packstation.html

Does Cameron dare ditch poor-bashing green energy?

Conflicts of interest

Miriam González Durántez is a non-executive director of Acciona, a Spanish company involved in wind power. She also happens to be the wife of our deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg.

Sir Reginald Sheffield enjoys a "modest" income (alleged to be about £350K) from a wind farm in Lincolnshire and is apparently in talks to build another one on his land. He also happens to be the father-in-law of our prime minister, David Cameron.

However, I'm sure that our upstanding politicians would not allow energy policy to be influenced by their families' earnings from government subsidised wind farms...

How are we going to search our hard disks now?

UltraFileSearch

I use UltraFileSearch and prefer it to the built-in search of Windows 7.

Galaxy Tab 7.7 pulled from IFA after new Apple moves

Form factor?

"Tablets have certain dimensions and characteristics that are dictated by the form factor."

Haven't we already established that in the "evidence" that Apple presented in the Netherlands court, they had doctored the photos to disguise the fact that the Samsung has a different form factor than the ipad?

Nobody has any idea about new pension thing happening

He's not necessarily an idiot.

"The boom times for house prices are over..."

Exactly - which means rental returns are actually very good at present. The housing market has highs and lows, much like the stock market. However, If you take a long term view, well maintained property in a popular location gives a reasonable rate of return and you always have the asset to sell.

My pensions funds are worth damn all because administrators didn't see the need to pass on high returns in the boom years and have had only excuses every time the stock market tanks. Gordon Brown's raid didn't help either. The drip feed of small sums seems to have mostly benefited the pension companies and the IFAs.

TomTom fights falling satnav sales with iPad app

@Robert E A Harvey

"I'll buy from somebody else.

good luck with that"

Navigon, iGo, Trafficmaster, .....

US judge tells Levi's to take its Euro problems to Europe

Re: The ECJ will stop them in the end...

Given that Levis already did this with Tesco and Costco at the ECJ, it seems surprising that they are now trying to get a court in the USA to make a ruling this time around. Maybe Levis reckon they would make more money from a case in the USA.

Google rolls out offline Gmail (for Chrome only)

"Old" Offline Gmail still there

The "old" offline Gmail still works in IE with Google Gears installed - but many browsers are not supported, including Chrome.

Sky makes iPad trolley for square-eyed shoppers

Trolley marshals

Does this mean the supermarkets will have to employ iPad support staff in place of their regular trolley marshals?

"That's not what I meant by "swipe"."

Free iPads

...or:

Several iPad trolleys + boltcutters = several iPads gone

Ten... budget Android tablets

Check the forums before buying

If you're going to buy a cheap tablet, it is best to check the forums first, to see what is being developed for tablet(s) you are looking at and what pros and cons others have discovered.

Many of these devices appear under different brand names but with identical hardware e.g. the P10AN01 tablets are identical: Advent Vega, Viewsonic Viewpad 10s, Mobii,.....

Modaco, tabletroms, xda-developers are good places to start.

Ten... outdoor gadgets

Re: The most dangerous thing you're likely to run into in the UK....

Yeah - it wouldn't be anything in the countryside. A handgun might come in handy if you had to hike through certain parts of UK's larger cities - but carrying a handgun, a taser or even a knife is out of the question in the UK.