* Posts by Matthew Robinson

14 publicly visible posts • joined 31 May 2007

Passenger cleared after TSA checkpoint stare-down

Matthew Robinson

IANAL

If it's private land so they can decide. If the TSA had a sign up they'd be able to switch his camera off too.

Nominet forgets what the first .uk domain name was

Matthew Robinson

2 letters

o2 was allowed because it was a letter and a number - not two letters. Two letters were reserved for cc's

I sat on the old UK naming committee :)

M

HP and Yahoo! team up to print ads in your home

Matthew Robinson
Coat

ePrint?

Surely that's a Yorkshire term?

Coat acquisition in progress....

Government still losing at least a computer a week

Matthew Robinson
Thumb Up

One a Week?

Do you think they could 'lose' one my way?

Half of Brits abuse apostrophe's

Matthew Robinson
Coat

@bugbear

You need an ' before 'tards to show the fact that it's missing letters!

The Internet: My god! It's full of 'tards!

And Internet is a name so it should get a capital :-)

*sigh*

Police collar kid for Wi-Fi pinching

Matthew Robinson
Flame

Surely he asked permission....

Since DHCP is a request for an address...

Laptop: "Hello base station can I play?"

Base: "Certainly, here's an address and here's a dns server and here's how to get to the world."

So, this is like finding a pie cooling on a widow ledge and asking "Can I have a slice?" to which the owner replies "sure, help yourself!" So NO CRIME HAS BEEN COMMITTED!!!

Any half decent lawyer could argue this out of court.

It's simple. If you leave a base station un-encrypted with dhcp enabled then surely you are inviting people to use your connection?

How Phorm plans to tap your internet connection

Matthew Robinson
Coat

Cookie Swapping

I'm sure that I remember a program under UNIX that exchanged your tracking cookies randomly with other users so that these tracking companies got rubbish not results? Anyone know what I'm talking about or should I be heading towards the coat stand?

Panasonic preps Wiimote-proof TV

Matthew Robinson
Coat

Physical Units

"For those without a physics background, a Joule is the energy expended by the force of one Newton moving one metre."

Surely, since Apple no longer make the Newton, this measurement should be the force of one ipod moving 1 metre?

Amazon's $399 folly book reader

Matthew Robinson

Promising

I liked the idea of the newspaper being 'delivered' directly to the device. The pricing may put people off. I notice that you're tied to Amazon, shame they didn't support Mobipocket - now there's how to do ebooks!

So when do we get it over here (UK)?

eBay employee 'torpedos' fraud trial

Matthew Robinson
Unhappy

@Neil

Go read your passport again:

The United Kingdom of Great Britain AND Northern Ireland

GB is England, Scotland and Wales

UK is GB and NI

*sigh*

Plan for 20mph urban speed-cam zones touted

Matthew Robinson

Shouldn't we all just get along?

I find myself agreeing with both the "speed doesn't kill, inappropriate speed does" and the "slow down" lobbies.

What I think all this boils down to is co-operation and consideration.

Example: There's a zebra crossing in our village, it's 100yds from the 60mph road out of the village. Consequently a proportion of vehicles seem to think that it's ok to do 35-50mph through village. Now the problem is that it's hard to stop for the zebra when someone walks out onto it (as it their right -see highway code) when you're doing 50. So a small proportion of these speeders simply don't stop, forcing crossing pedestrians to have to leap for their lives.

All that's needed is a little consideration, slow up a little. Be prepared to stop. Have a little patience for the old dear crossing the road. Remember - you'll be old and doddery soon enough (if you haven't been killed by a marauding, red light running, cyclist)

Apple slashes iPhone prices

Matthew Robinson

A good deal at the time?

Well at the time people thought that 'x' was a good, fair price for the product and paid up.

A short time later it's 'x-200' and those that bought it at 'x' should remember that they didn't feel ripped off at the time.

Those that bought it the day before should apply the above rule as well. I'd be more inclined to grumble at the shops that probably knew the price fall was coming and didn't bother to inform customers. I'll be some shops made an extra 200 on several of the items!

Plods to get helmet cams

Matthew Robinson

I can't believe it's not been said yet....

Will they be called iPlods?

Vodafone data bundle pricing slips out

Matthew Robinson

What's allowed as 'inclusive data'?

I've asked this of Voda several times. They don't seem to be able to tell me what is and isn't covered other than a vague peer-to-peer voip and IM. Now I've asked them how they identify this traffic so I can be sure I can plan in advance how much I spend on data.

The answer? They won't tell me!

Surely this is illegal? Surely they have to detail charges before I start to use their service. I have a wonderfull selection of emails from them should el reg be interested...