Posts by JohnG

Cabinet Office talks to Facebook & co about new ID system

Foreign companies

This is already going on in British embassies and consulates around the world. Passport renewals and visa applications are handled by one of two companies: Worldbridge or VFS Global. Employees of these foreign companies will collect and process the application forms and photos of British citizens renewing their passports. The situation is similar for UK visa applicants, except that their fingerprints are also taken.

When my wife applied for a visa at the British consulate in Düsseldorf last year, we did not come into contact with any British staff, only local Worldbridge employees. Even the person conducting my wife's visa interview was German and complained that my wife spoke English and not German - in the British Consulate! I assume my wife's details (and my details that were on her UK visa application) are now stored in some database in the USA.

3D-printed bikini goes on sale

Spray-on clothes

...or maybe some of this stuff:

http://www.fabricanltd.com/fashion.php

Has Steve Jobs killed the consumer hard disk industry?

Defective memory

If everyone had defective memory, then I guess they would all have forgotten about the various problems a few years ago with data lost by people using online disk/backup companies which went bankrupt. Any online storage, whether cloudy or not, relies on the company operating the service to remain in business and to maintain the service. If they get bored with it and move onto the next big thing, those who chose to keep control of their own data may have the last laugh.

Spot-the-fake site launched

Re: counterfiet car parts?

Last time I checked, there was no means of ensuring that generic car parts actually adhere to any standards (other than not containing hazardous substances, etc.). The difficulty is that when manufacturers used to be allowed to void warranties for cars fitted with parts not obtained via their dealer networks, they used to charge stupid amounts for OEM parts (even more stupid than they charge now). It is often tricky distinguishing between cheap sub-standard copies and OEM parts without the manufacturer's label.

Microsoft's patents shakedown betrays spirit of Gates

Windows Mobile

Microsoft already had their chance. Some years ago, in the days of PDAs and the XDA/MDA smart phones, Microsoft's PPC was the OS of choice for TomTom and others. Somehow, they managed to let it all slip away and Apple and Google are only too happy to step in.

Patents or not, Microsoft's continuing dominance is thanks to the lack of a viable alternative to MS Office in the corporate environment.

Student suspended for posting random satire on YouTube

South Park

Yeah - I immediately thought of South Park....and of the documentary made in the town said to be the inspiration - and that the local school declined to take part in the documentary.

'One size fits all' EU data law would undermine rights, says Clarke

Culture

I thought Clarke was referring to the culture of offshoring data to countries outside the EU and beyond the remit of European data protection legislation, where underpaid call centre managers can sell UK customers' data to anyone with some cash.

CEOP announces 'record results' in child protection battle

Record results?

I guess CEOP results are measured by the number of appearances on television or the national press by CEOP leadership or by the number of sites sporting the stupid CEOP red button, as a means to gain more budget and higher grades/salaries.

New Mac scareware variant installs without password

Standalone?

"...the majority of users at risk are on stand-alone devices whose main connectivity externally is probably syncing with their mobile phone or similar..."

Although one or two of them might connect to the Internet every so often, which some might consider to be their main external connectivity.....

McKinnon's mum applauds Obama extradition stance

Trial in the UK?

I don't understand why the Yanks haven't taken up the offer of a trial in the UK, It would give them a their day in court, the whole affair would be dealt with and everyone would start to forget how a number of US military systems were exposed to the Internet with woefully inadequate preparation. In any case, McKinnon was in the UK when he allegedly accessed committed various offences, so one might have thought that he would be subject to UK law, rather than that of the USA.

Brit expats aghast as Denmark bans Marmite

Personal use?

Are the penalties reduced if you smuggle in some Marmite for personal use? If so, I guess the wife and kids will have to smuggle their own.

Interesting law though: you can't import food containing extra vitamins but I guess they have not banned the import of tobacco....

Euro report slates wireless comms, recommends smoke and mirrors

Paranoid feedback loop

The Council of Europe report mentions public opinion regarding RF, but fails to mention that the same public opinion is influenced by newspaper articles - which are in turn, based on reports like that of the Council of Europe. It is like the dodgy dossier that was used to justify the war in Iraq - once enough people say something, it must be true, regardless of any inconvenient evidence to the contrary.

Blind tests

One of the UK cellular operators (I can't remember which one) had a load of complaints from residents about a new base station. People were complaining of headaches, nausea, etc - all purportedly due to the RF radiation from the base station. Then the operator told them that the base station had never been switched on in the several months since installation, due to the receipt of a load of residents' complaints.....

Who's nicked Vaz's fondleslab?

Socialism

As a socialist, not doubt comrade Vaz is happy that wealth is being redistributed from the bourgeoisie amongst the proletariat.

Google was 'warned repeatedly' about rogue drug ads

We're too big

it isn't a case of "we will not tell you how our ad-matching algorithm and search ranking algorithms work" - it's closer to "We're too big to bother checking to see if we are operating within every little piece of legislation - laws are for little people"

Playboy sneaks NAKED LADIES onto iPad

Handsfree

No doubt readers of Playboy's back catalogue will need a free hand so they might want something like the "iLuv Portable iPad Stand".

Iran accused of hacking nuke inspectors' phones, PCs

Permission

"They don't need a permission slip from Uncle Sam to run and operate nuclear plants."

True - but Iran has signed up to the NPT and therefore, has to abide by the terms of the treaty (like UN inspections) or suffer sanctions. India, Israel and Pakistan never signed up to the NPT and North Korea withdrew from it. No doubt Iran would do the same if they thought they could make viable nuclear weapons without Russian help/technology.

Welshman attempts to board train with pony

IT Angle

JPEG stills taken from networked security cameras?

Pony friend

I thought Welsh blokes were keen on sheep....

McKinnon battles renewed Obama-era extradition push

"...McKinnon should go to the US and work out a plea deal"

That would a deal like "We're going to hold you on remand in prison in a foreign country for years, until you agree to plead guilty to these charges."...like the NatWest Three.

Femtocells, not 4G, will solve spectrum crisis

But if I bundle together thirty or so 0.5Mb/s femtocells

"...that would give me a better connection than my Broadband!"

Not if all 30 femtocells are using the same 0.5Mb/s broadband. Even if the 30 are connected to different broadband connections which are themselves sharing the same low bandwidth connectivity to the rest of the wold, they are still useless. Femtocells are only of use where there is Internet connectivity available at sufficient bandwidth (and latency).

White van men swipe British black bees

Re: Details are fuzzy

You forgot to mention that the police station is a hive of activity.

Cable thieves cost UK rail £15m a year

Chemical markers

Some companies are already marketing technologies which allow assets to be "marked" for later identification. The chemicals use a specific tag for each client, which can be identified even at very low levels. Apparently, Network Rail has already signed a deal with SmartWater to protect the very cables discussed in this article:

http://www.smartwater.com/Media-Centre/Latest-News-2/January-2011/Network-Rail-Signs-Up-With-SmartWater.aspx

ACS:Law fined for data breach

Limited Liability

For both limited companies and LLPs, liability is NOT limited for directors/partners if they can be shown to have been negligent or criminal. HMRC has successfully extracted money from former directors of bankrupt limited companies on this basis.

Nude gardener's arse hauled into court

January 1-31 this year?

From the Daily Mail article: "The nudist pleaded not guilty to three charges of outraging public decency dates between January 1-31 this year, between March 1-15 and finally on March 20."

It was still damn cold in January. He must be a very keen gardener to be out in the buff in the snow and his neighbours must have a very powerful telescope to be able to discern his jiggly bits at 100m in January.

Skype bug gives attackers access to Mac OS X machines

Skype Privacy Settings don't work

"...this message would have to come from someone already in your Skype Contact List, as Skype's default privacy settings will not let you receive messages from people that you have not already authorized..."

...and this would be good, if it were true.

My Skype privacy settings are all set to "People in my contact list only" but every so often, I get an IM from someone not in my contact list (typically spam). When you check in Skype's forums, you will find that this is a known issue that has been around for some time and that Skype periodically claims to have fixed it.

Hacker pwns police cruiser and lives to tell tale

Just an appliance

"It constantly surprises me how large organisations seem to be quite happy to connect anything to their network without any form of testing."

It doesn't surprise me any more but I am old and cynical. In a few places where I have worked, the choice of words used to describe a device would determine what procedures would be required to gain connectivity in the corporate network: call something a "system" and there would be procedures, forms, etc. Call something "a device" or "an appliance" and nobody cares...

Apple breaks location-storing silence

What big companies do

Any company given an opportunity to gain revenue by selling their customers' location details to advertisers would be unlikely to ditch the idea for altruistic reasons (but they might if they think it will harm their reputation and their bottom line). After all, they have duty to make money for their shareholders. I don't see Apple, Google et al. as being especially bad or good in this respect - its just the sort of thing that big companies do. It is good for customers to remember that companies don't bring new innovations to market for fun or because they like you, they do it to make money.

Five amazing computers for under £100

NAS: WD My Book WE

I quite like the WD MyBook World Edition units - the 1TB models go for about 80 quid. Earlier models needed a hack to get ssh access but WD has now put this in their web interface. Then you can install Optware, which makes the installation of many interesting apps very easy : P2P clients, VPN, web servers, etc.

I guess there are many other cheap NAS devices or DSL routers that can be hacked in a similar fashion - I'm just used to the My Book.

Apple sued over iPhone location tracking

Ts and Cs

Isn't there something buried in the small print in which Apple mentions the use of geolocation to provide targetted advertising? If so, it will likely be a very short court case and the cash grab will fail miserably.

Samsung countersues Apple on new ground

Rounded corners - Siemens SIMpad

I've got a couple of old Siemens SIMpads which have rounded corners, with colour screens slightly smaller than iPads.

However, all Apple's ideas are completely original, like their Mac GUI, which they (and Microsoft) didn't just copy from Xerox PARC.

iPhones secretly track 'scary amount' of your movements

@John Smith 19

"... re-locating yourself near some sort of criminal event..."

Yes - and if this file were modified by some malicious third party who had gained access to someone's phone, the ramifications could be really severe.

Doctoring the file

It might be interesting to replace the location data in the file concerned with some made up locations and see if the flavour of any advertising changes.

Menorcan politician flashes substantial chesticles

It worked in Italy

This approach has worked well for some Italian ladies with political aspirations: Mara Carfagna, Ilona Staller, Nicole Minetti, etc.

Feds indict poker sites, seize domains

Foreigners

They only have a problem with online gambling when they aren't getting a slice of the action i.e. foreign companies.

H2O water-powered shower radio

Eco?

Wouldn't it be more eco-friendly to get on with washing yourself in the five minutes recommended for showering than fiddling with a radio?

A fifth of Europeans can't work out how much a TV costs

EU

It would be interesting to know how many of their survey respondents could name their MEP or any current EU Commissioner.

Google calls halt on German Street View

How tall?

"...what can I see on Google that I can't see from the street?"

If you are about 2.5m tall.

" The resolution and detail are crap, you could certainly do a better job of casing the joint just by walking past the house in question."

That depends on how close the house is to the street - some Streetview images have enough detail to identify the presence and type of window locks, the presence of alarm sensors, etc. Taking a good look at the security arrangements for a house in person is likely to attract attention from local residents.

Google have been fairly sensible in giving people the option to decide whether their own property should feature on Streetview.

Praying for meltdown: The media and the nukes

Hitchhiker's Guide

Could we take a leaf from Hitchhiker's Guide and persuade all the doom sayers that the Earth is irrevocably contaminated and that, as the important and useful folk, they all need to restart civilisation on Mars?

Stop sexing up IT and give Civil Servants Macs, says gov tech boss

Incentive

When Big Ben strikes "Bung!"

Nokia: Keep codin' for Symbian and Qt!

Killing the goose...

Maybe their new leader only just realised that they are the global market leader and that this was achieved using Symbian.

Dixons whacked by profit warning

Who the hell uses shops..

You're right, of course - but this is also why no responsible retailers have survived. Everyone gravitates to the lowest prices, so retailers of consumer electronics either die off or become box shifters with costs pruned to the bone = staff on minimum wage, not enough staff, staff not trained, etc.

South West Trains puts squeeze on commuters

IT angle

The IT angle comes from showing how computer-aided design can be used to maximise the use of available space. Back in the dark ages before computers, passengers had to travel on trains with larger seats between clean stations, some of which even had porters to assist with heavy luggage. All this in a period before nationalisation when train companies made a profit. Now we have the technology to compress more people into a carriage, whilst charging then a small fortune for their journey and the rail companies still need huge subsidies. That's progress!

Apple 'gay-cure' app severely slapped

Voting

A good way out for Apple might be to get shop users to vote for or against the exclusion of a controversial app. They could then wash their hands of the responsibility of censorship.

Judge OKs feds' access to WikiLeakers Twitter info

Double Irony

The Wikileaks side are arguing that information which the owners wanted to keep secret should remain secret and the US government side are arguing the opposite. I hope that both sides can see the irony of their respective stances.

Russia knocks back Soyuz launch

Russian space programme reliability

Why? The Russian space programme has a very good reliability and safety record.

Why Nokia failed: 'Wasted 2,000 man years' on UIs that didn't work

Market leader

Nokia globally outsells all other mobile phones and only faces any real competition for the top slot from Samsung and LG. What the fuck does Elop think he is fixing?

Google insists it couldn't have been British. Excuse me?

Copyright?

At the time that Google were starting out, UK copyright law required plaintiffs to demonstrate their losses if they wanted to win a case and was therefore, considerably more attractive to the likes of Google than that of the USA where plaintiffs simply pull large numbers from thin air. UK copyright law only became more stringent after US media figures entertained key politicians, who then cobbled together some crappy legislation.

Sinclair ZX81: 30 years old

Ferranti ULAs

The ZX80 and ZX81 achieved their small size, low component count and price due to much of the necessary logic circuitry being provided by a single Ferranti ULA (Uncomitted Logic Array) on each machine. The ULA had a whole load of gates which were not connected until the final stage of manufacture - the interconnection of gates could then be determined by the customer, in this case, Sinclair.

Ferranti have long since gone but it is nice to remember that Britain produced some significant innovations.

Charlie Sheen explodes onto Twitter

Lost custody of his kids

His ex-wife appears to have used his Twitter postings of an "epic party" lifestyle to persuade a judge issue a court order for her to take custody of their one-year old twins. The boys have apparently now been taken to an undisclosed location.