Posts by Zippy the Pinhead

Brit boffins print blinking booze bottle labels

Let me be the first to say

I'll drink to that!

Record flight is step toward HYPERSONIC SPACE AIRSHIP

generating power

NASA has already generated electrical power by dragging a long thin wire through the atmosphere. Maybe that's an option since no additional power would be needed to obtain lift?

Seems so easy

I've always wondered why it takes so much fuel for a rocket to obtain orbit and why something so simple as huge blimp couldn't be used to first get the rocket to a high enough altitude that wind resistance would be minimized.

Supersleuthing BOFHs could help crack cybercrimes

except that

Except that Sysadmin's are not law enforcement. Wouldn't any evidence they find be corrupted if they touch it? Also.. wouldn't they have to be trained to not "Fix it"?

Google explains 'why' ads target user's Gmail

@ Tom Wood

Maybe you should log out of of any sites that requires a signon. Quite a few sites (such as Google) continue to track you unless you sign out.

Cops should help us slay trolls, says Facebook wonk

Why not charge the criminals under the most appropriate charge that would already suit the crime.. Unauthorized Use, Theft of Property (identity theft), Criminal Mischief?, Breaking and Entering, or Felony Theft... Just because it's a new tech doesn't mean that existing charges wouldn't be appropriate.

Dozens of chemical firms hit in espionage hack attack

Couldn't be

This couldn't be a hack attempt from a certain large Country in Asia or a smaller one connected to it? No.. Couldn't be!

5 SECONDS to bypass an iPad 2 password

@ Confuciousmobil

"General consensus is that anyone who cares about security"

Obviously its not Apple or they would have tested this.

Tsunami Trojan: First Mac attack based on Linux crack

@ AC 16:51 GMT

"Holy Word of Jobs"

How long before Mac Fanbois start a movement to have Jobs made a Saint? LOL

@ AC

"As trojans go is was good for its time but a little out of date now"

How can it be out of date if the Mac shares the same type of vulnerability? Actually the Trojan is quite current... Its the Mac Security against this type of attack that is out of date!

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

@MacGyver

If the Law enacted by Congress is good enough for the rest of us.. then maybe Congress should be forced to join it as well!

6ft tall and 300 pounds

Ummm his starting weight of 300... he's so overweight it's not funny.. unless he's a body builder on steroids he shouldn't weigh no more than 180 or so.. My insurance company states I should weigh no more than 190 and I'm 6'3". And at his current weight of 450 he would be considered morbidly obese.

IBM fails to keep Oz harassment case under wraps

I notice that nowhere in the article did it state that she made the HR department of IBM aware of the issue. Did she inform them and they ignored her? The article states that the manager is no longer with the company... why is he no longer with IBM? Did they fire him because of sexual harassment?

Yes, I know they hired the manager but should they be sued if she didn't let HR know about the abuse going on? Should IBM be the primary defendant and not the manager who was abusing his employees?

I'm thinking that this article isn't quite complete and more details should have been provided.

Libel reform vows to slay anonymous trolls

What if

What if the article is true? What then?

Viacom appeals dismissal of $1bn YouTube lawsuit

Google/Youtube took down the offending files after being informed that were in violation. Also I'm sure it didn't help their cause that in many of the "clear violations" Employees of Viacom were the people uploading the content just to create the violation.

Trojan targets Mac's built-in security defences

"Malware coders have created a Mac-specific Trojan that is designed to attack anti-malware defences built into Apple's Mac OS X operating system."

Its actually targeting obscurity? Cool!!!

RIAA-led mob threatens innovation, Senator warns

a partial solution

""Citizens United basically took the doors off the democratic process. The idea that powerful special interests, across the board, doesn’t even have to identify itself when spending these huge sums is a moral blot""

Since Corporations and other Special Interest groups are actually the voice of the people leading them.. just make it illegal for these any and all of these groups to contribute politically. Likewise also ban lobbyist as they have access to the political process that the average citizen of the US does not have.

Why so shy on pay-by-wave, Nokia?

NFC payments

What scares me on any device if it has a user interface eventually it can be hacked. Why would I link a CC to my account and risk it? If I had this enabled on my phone I would feel like there was a huge target painted on my wallet.

Google takes buzz saw to Buzz, other appendages

@Oninoshiko

Anyone else thinking this might be the beginning of the end of Google?

Nope.. I would more liken it to Spring Cleaning.

Dennis Ritchie: The C man who booted Unix

Truly a man who revolutionized the computer industry

And one who had a much greater impact than anything Apple/MS related. Yet I don't see Obits on the news and no fanbois crying and lamenting his passing

RIM: 'Faulty switch took out faulty-switch-proof network'

Words like Redundancy and FailOver come to mind.

German states defend use of 'Federal Trojan'

So does this Trojan spread by itself or is it specific to the computer which the government is trying to access? If it spreads and can infect others then it's clearly an illegally placed piece of malware.

iOS update woes prompt gnashing of teeth for Apple fans

@ AC 07:55

"iTards don't have a sense of humor."

Apple retains ownership of it when you agree to the license to use the device.

Win 8 haters are just scared of change, say MS bosses

@ AC 16:14

It's a freeware app called Classic Shell... http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/

Hey Microsoft here's a great way to unclutter and group your programs

At least if you are using a keyboard and mouse on a traditional computer

Move the mouse to oh.. I don't know say the lower left hand corner of the screen and click on... Start and then move the mouse up to Programs and then select which program you want to launch.. you know like Windows 4, 2000, and XP did!

It's called the classic start menu! MS you keep saying your customers are afraid of change... I say when you found something that works then you stick with it.. especially when you are doing tech support and the person on the other end thinks that just because they are using Office 2007 they believe they are using Windows 7.

BlackBerry stumbles to feet, full of apologies

@dfgraham

You can do this on Android as well

Stallman: Jobs exerted 'malign influence' on computing

@launcap

AOL did have a walled garden approach to Internet Access however CompuServe gave you true internet access. and this was even after AOL bought it. Ever click on the internet button? If you did it launched IE. No sites or content were blocked.

German hackers snare wiretap Trojan, accuse gov of writing it...

"The screenshots and audio files it sends out are encrypted in an incompetent way"

I'm waiting for the government to issue a denial by stating.. Yes it was well written! lol

BlackBerry BBM, email downed in epic FAIL

I know some people love their blackberrys

But seriously... they seem to have more outages than all the other providers combined!

Ever wonder why most people are dropping blackberrys? Because companies that use their products are sick and tired of getting supports calls because of the crap blackberry service! Since companies are no longer locking employees to blackberrys they can chose a more reliable solution.

AT&T asks Apple to signal iPhone 4S is a 4G phone

Major Fail here!

If at first you can't compete the change the definition.

Netflix cans Qwikster

I'm about to cancel my streaming service. There is nothing new there, and delivered DVDs seem to be the way to go if I want to see something released in the last 3 years. Maybe streaming would be a better bargain if instead of raising only raising prices they added content and making searching for it from console devices as simple as the netflix website.

Patent troll lawsuits may be on thin ice

I can understand suing the company who makes a product that is legally infringing on a patent... However how can they sue someone who bought that product and is just trying to use it in its intended manner.. That would be like Ford suing the owners of GM cars for having a car built on an assembly line!

Mobile industry fights San Fran 'carcinogen' labelling

Major fail here

Did this warning come from the CDC? Nope!

Did this come from the EPA? Nope!

The FCC? Nope!

If I were a cell phone company I would sue San Fran for over stepping its powers.. oh and ask for triple damages!

What's not in the iPhone 4S ... and why

@ Bear features

And the opinion of the Baseball Hall of Fame who has also debunked the Urban Legend.

@ Sonicnights

Except with Verizon you don't use SIM card slots.. oh and the iphone allows you to open the device to change the Sim Card?

@ Ian

However I suspect you will be able to turn off NFC on a cell phone.. How are you going to turn it off on your CC? Now don't you feel more secure!

Mozilla to Firefox users: Ditch crashtastic McAfee plugin

the fix

Disable, uninstall, delete anything McAfee related and get a security tool/AV scanner that really works!

When Ellison goes, will he go gracefully?

hopefully when he goes

Oracle will implode!

The iPhone 4S in depth: More than just a vestigial 'S'

@ uhuznaa

A 4" screen is only about 2 3/4 to 3 inches wide at best.. meaning your hand only needs to 5" wide to comfortably hold the device.. pretty much anyone over 10 should be able to maintain a secure grasp.

@AC

"IT departments themselves are slowly but surely shrinking and slipping into irrelevance"

Which is why is this economy IT departments are the only ones still expanding? Put the pipe down.. or the koolaid.

Electric plane-flinger for US and Royal navies doing well

@Kev99

The Tech does work well.. when it does work. That ride however is down for a lot of maintenance.

I can understand why the navy wants to get away steam.. it's dangerous and highly corrosive.

Facebook's complexity will be its doom

freaking FB

I block notices for some app or game and a week later I get the same freaking notices.. I don't want or care if someone's farm needs water.. I don't wanna play games and I want no apps slurping my data on FB. I want to block them all!

I also don't care if my Sister likes her ex-boyfriend's roommate's cousin sister's half-brother wall post of a cat so now I have to unsubscribe all likes and comments from each and everyone of my FB friends. They need a global switch for these things

Drinking alcohol wards off asthma

Alcohol cures asthma

After the weekend I had, I shouldn't have asthma for at least 3 years then!

Google unfurls Dead Sea Scrolls

@Jai

Are you trying to rickroll us? lol

Apple sued for iPhone, iPad chip 'patent rip-off'

@AC 09:25

"Apple - whether you like to admit it or not - actually produce some things that some people want (you excluded).

Lawyers on the other hand, produce *nothing* that people want"

Apple produces nothing I want.. Lawyers jokes on the other hand are always good for a chuckle!

@Peter Gathercole

However no one can to force VIA to license to Apple.. regardless of price. Apple can walk up to VIA and say here's a check for 50billon dollars.. VIA can turn them away.

Facebook 'personal' news feed gets algorithm rejig

news feed

What I dearly love is if you walk away from your PC and you leave the new FB running.. If your internet connection even bogs for a moment you pretty much have to restart your browser! Thanks FB... You're making it much easier to switch to google+.

Boffins step closer to steam-powered Babbage computer

Steampunked computer

It's gotta have lots of brass! lots and lots of brass!

@lars

>> And beware of round corners too.

Too right.. cause everyone knows the steam powered ipad is prior art!

GM OnStar cars will upload all data unless owners opt out

First thing I would do

Remove the fuse!