* Posts by dotdavid

1712 publicly visible posts • joined 28 Jul 2010

Hacker publishes tech support phone scammer slammer

dotdavid

Re: I'm getting stabbed...

What you really want is some kind of device that recognises the caller's words and phrases and replies with a realistic "old person" response. Then you could just leave the hacker tied up trying to explain what a window is to a virtual old person. With VOIP you could seed the internet with honeytrap potential victims.

dotdavid

Re: I'm getting stabbed...

I'm guessing these companies aren't likely to run to the police if you hack their machines, as face it they're likely to have evidence lying around that they've hacked thousands of people.

Slough isn't fit for humans now, says Amazon. We're going to Shoreditch

dotdavid

For a lot of companies it may make more sense to be in the middle of London than in one of its' satellite towns - it means you can employ people who have a reasonable commute from all directions around London, as opposed to just the people that live in London or on the road/rail to London that the satellite town is on.

Add the tax breaks that you no doubt get when setting up in Shoreditch, it's probably not a bad move for Amazon despite the increased rent/property costs.

Retailers toast welcome return of Back2School notebook biz

dotdavid

Re: win sans bling

Did a bit of Googling and apparently the user can switch the search engine to something else, only the manufacturer is forced to set it to Bing as a default.

Google swallows SMARTSPOON manufacturer Lift Labs

dotdavid

Re: Internet of toilets

"Why does it tweet the water use"

Yeah it should tweet something like "er, you won't want to come in here for a while"

Airbus developing inkjet printer for planes

dotdavid

"Airbus says the still-experimental printer “... functions much like a traditional model"

So it will be used irregularly and the ink will dry up and clog the nozzles resulting in streaks down the side of your plane. It will also inexplicably chew up the odd plane in its plane feeder tray. They won't provide a Linux driver for anything except Ubuntu 10.04 and the Windows driver will be 745MB for some reason.

Sounds great.

Google purchases petite pollster Polar, purloined ppl punted Plus-wards

dotdavid

Re: youtube?

Er, doesn't that description apply to most social notworks?

Found inside ISIS terror chap's laptop: CELINE DION tunes

dotdavid

Re: Proof of the gateway theory

I'm guessing the Celine Dion was a kind of last-ditch defence mechanism. You know, the SEAL team is busting your door down so you grab your earplugs, crank up the volume and blast it out to confuse, horrify and disorientate the attackers while you make your escape. Or something.

TROUT and EELS in SINISTER PACT to RULE the oceans

dotdavid

Re: ETA

"Ah yes, the most regular terrorists. Their bombs always go off when predicted."

Except the "Microsoft file copy dialog team" and "National Rail" cells, who keep pushing back the predicted time.

What the BLOCK? Microsoft to gobble Minecraft-maker 'for $2bn'

dotdavid

It'll be rebranded to Minecraft.net, then a couple of years later to Minecraft Live, then Bing Minecraft, then they'll shoehorn a completely new interface in that everyone hates (probably featuring a ribbon) and just call it Bingcraft.

dotdavid

Re: It was fun while it lasted.

"It's death knell (as in bells ringing to announce death), not death nail"

I'm pretty sure you could use a nail as a lethal weapon, would that not be a death nail?

TV techies proudly display their MIGHTY BENDERS in Berlin

dotdavid

Re: Bendy, why?

The point of bendy screens is that 3D screens failed to sell in sufficient quantities, so maybe bendy ones will.

dotdavid

Re: During the meanwhile ...

You'd better let Samsung, LG, Sony et al know you're not interested in their tellies before they spend all that money they'd been planning on getting from you.

Virgin Media hit by MORE YouTube buffering glitches

dotdavid

Re: You get what you pay for

Branson has very little to do with them. AFAIK the existing cableco (NTL) merely bought the right to use the brand, and occasionally get Beardie in an advert or two.

I think they were told to improve their customer service as a condition of the sale.

Snowden shouldn't be extradited to US if he testifies about NSA spying, says Swiss gov

dotdavid

Re: It's a long way

"Canada would not win a rerun of the 1812-14 war."

That depends. Would it be fought using period weapons for maximum realism?

Moto 360: Neat gizmo – if you're a rich nerd

dotdavid

Re: Features Vs [Power consumption and form factor]

"The Moto 360 is criticised for using an OMAP3 SoC that is believed to be built on a 48nm process"

I think most of the criticism for using such an old SoC (think Nexus One) is that more modern SoCs are much more power efficient and snappier. According to Ars Technica there is some lag swiping around the Moto 360's interface and the battery lasts half as long as the Samsung and LG Android Wear devices.

dotdavid

Re: Google Google Google

Motorola was indeed sold to Google who then sold it on to Lenovo.

But the Moto 360 runs Android Wear, a Google O/S.

General Motors to intro hands-free driving tech by 2016

dotdavid

Is there a defined standard for car-to-car communications

Indeed! Better still we have five of them!

Straight to video: Facebook to add 'view counts' to autoplay newsfeed vids

dotdavid

Facebook also has an option for smartphone and fondleslab users to set their devices to only enable the auto-play function over a wireless connection

Do many smartphone and fondleslab users use wired connections then?

Boffins hunch over steaming cups of coffee to find HIDDEN SECRETS of caffeine

dotdavid

Re: Did you know....

We don't mocha big deal out of it.

California blue whale numbers soar to historical levels, say boffins

dotdavid

Re: Ehhh..

IT angle?

An uncomfortable figure above the "potential biological removal" of 3.1 whales annually allowed by the US Marine Mammal Protection Act.

They use a computer to determine which part of the fourth whale counts as .1 and can legally be removed.

Jony Ive: Apple iWatch will SCREW UP Switzerland's economy

dotdavid
Coat

Switzerland's economy will PLUNGE after the iWatch launch

No they'll need to release the iChoc (maybe a Toblerone with rounded corners?) and the iCheese first.

Shitty what? Almost half of MPs have never heard of Tech City

dotdavid

"Blighty’s Silicon Roundabout will rival America’s Silicon Valley for job creation and maybe it will… in the next thousand or so years"

Silicon Valley has rather more space I'm guessing which will always give it a numbers advantage IMHO. Can't imagine Apple getting planning permission to build a shiny new GCHQ-style doughnut HQ in the middle of Hoxton...

Blighty's mighty tech skills shortage drives best job growth in years

dotdavid

It's competent yet cheap IT staff we're short of, I'll bet.

New Lumia mobes nudge Microkia ever closer to biz customers

dotdavid

Nokia was a bit like a dog chasing its tail.

Lenovorola TRIPLE-ola: New Moto G, Moto X and 360 wristputer UNZIPPED

dotdavid

Re: moto no no

I had honestly expected Motorola to refresh the G with a better camera and SD slot, plus 4G and leave the screen alone as it was quite impressive enough already. Very surprised they swapped the 4G for a bigger screen, I honestly haven't heard of anyone complaining the existing G is too small.

dotdavid

Re: Motorola website says new G is 4G (LTE)?

Must have been a mistake because they don't seem to say that anymore on your link.

dotdavid

Re: Was interested in the 360

"We're not talking Swiss made precision that will last on batteries forever, or have kinetic or light-absorbing charging, we're talking a bit of kit made in China."

But it's not really the same kind of device as a precision Swiss watch. Fine, they both tell the time, but the smartwatch is more of a notifications display and easy way to perform voice activated searches, and the watch is also partly a fashion accessory, so despite being similar prices they're very different things.

Also not sure how relevant the precision timekeeping part is anyway if the smartwatch can use NTP, and thus a remote atomic clock. And battery-wise as most people with smartphones charge them every day I doubt adding a watch to the pile of things to charge each night is going to change much.

Whether or not a smartwatch is worth £200 is of course up to you, but I think calling it a toy is a little unfair.

dotdavid

Re: Moto X Expensive!

Just guessing but the OP might also have had to sign up for a contract to get the phone for £150. The phone would probably be free up-front on a similar contract in Europe.

Apple promises iCloud security alerts, better 2FA after, er, NAKED Internet of Thingies flap

dotdavid

"Apple will alert users via email and push notifications when someone tries to ... restore iCloud data to a new device"

Probably better than nothing, but won't this just mean that the fanbois get alerted that their private data is now in someone else's hands but not actually prevent the data actually falling into someone else's hands?

Beer in SPAAAACE: Photographic PROOF

dotdavid

Re: An opportunity

Good idea. We could even recycle the PARIS name.

Pint of Ale Released Into Space

Vote NOW for LOHAN's arboreal avoidance algorithm acronym

dotdavid

Re: Been there done that...

Pixhawk Avoidance of Rocky Item System

Microsoft, eBay apps open to man-in-the-middle diddle

dotdavid

Re: Users could...

Not really sure what you're referring to. Uninstalling an app, on Android anyway, does indeed ensure it is "shut down".

Video: Dyson unveils robotic tank that hoovers while you're out

dotdavid

Re: I'm a slob...

This. We bought a Roomba a couple of years ago, not to be a main vacuum cleaner (it's basically just a motorised brush) but to sort of help out when it came to pet hair and stuff.

It had enormous problems with our cluttered British home; it was too wide to drive under the table between the chairs, it occasionally would drive onto some toy the cats had been playing with and get stuck, it got lost trying to find its charging station so would leave the job half-done and it had a very small dust-bin so you'd have to empty it frequently anyway. So now it's sitting there gatheri... no I won't go there ;-)

Judging by the Dyson demo video, they're also testing their version in large open spaces so I'm doubtful they've solved the problem.

I love the idea of a vacuum cleaner that is automatic, but I don't think they've really made much progress since my Roomba was released.

The BNP can rip off your works for ‘parodies’ – but only if it's not racist

dotdavid

Re: But the good news is......

I'm sure I can ignore parody Britain First posts in much the same way as I currently ignore other Britain First posts.

IMHO this news is therefore neither good nor bad according to your example.

PHABBA-DABBA-DOO! Samsung Galaxy Note 4, Edge, Gear VR – feast your eyes

dotdavid

Re: and on an unrelated note...

The other AC is referring to the fact that dual-SIM phones are indeed available in many many countries, and do not require network/carrier approval as pretty much all phones can work with any network/carrier* in those countries.

Of course they're less common in some countries because the networks/carriers are large customers of the handset-producing firms and the manufacturers are therefore keen to not annoy them too much by selling dual SIM phones which will cut network/carrier revenue. This isn't just the US by the way; you can also see the effects in the UK where it is difficult to get a dual SIM phone from mainstream websites and shops (and impossible from the networks/carriers directly).

* albeit sometimes they need SIM-unlocking

The IT kit revolution's OVER, say beancounters - but how do they know?

dotdavid

Re: That's not quite what my original said @Tim Worstal

> then we splurged way too much on dotcoms

but in a previous missive you said

> The first point to make is that no one can decide what represents value for other people. Other people get to decide what is value for them. I might well have decided, for example, that Facebitch is of no value whatsoever and I might even be right about that. The fact that 1 billion people disagree with me, however, means that it does have value for them

So which is it? Without consistency how can you possibly apply the word 'science' (dismal or not) to economics.

Didn't the markets decide that we splurged way too much on dotcoms by spectacularly crashing?

Or have I missed your point?

Govt waves stick at pirate-friendly Google search

dotdavid

Re: "Copyright infringement is theft, pure and simple"

Indeed

"We wouldn’t stand idly by if paintings worth hundreds of millions of pounds were being stolen from photographed inside the National Gallery"

Although I guess they're not standing idly by in the more relevant example either.

Uber alles... nein! Germany imposes nationwide ban on taxi app

dotdavid

Re: You mean the government bodies are feeling the heat??

You'd be annoyed if someone came along with a better booking system and cheaper fares because they side-stepped all the costs involved with dealing with the government.

I see your point about the fares, but what on earth does a better booking system have to do with side-stepping dealing with the government?

If local taxi firms provided a decent app/website showing customers where their taxi actually is (although granted it would probably default to "just around the corner") and allowed them to pay easily using that app/site they'd have 90% of what makes Uber good, I think.

Apple 'fesses up: Rejected from the App Store, dev? THIS is why

dotdavid

Re: Quality Over Quantity

Certainly being able to filter out the "free" (in-app-purchases) apps would be nice.

It's official: Brit parents want their kids to be just like Steve Bong

dotdavid

Re: Who the heck is Steve Bong? I never heard of him before!

He's some hipster; you probably won't have heard of him.

EE fails to apologise for HUGE T-Mobile outage that hit Brits on Friday

dotdavid

Re: Where???

"Where did they post them?"

To Rockall.

If you think 3D printing is just firing blanks, just you wait

dotdavid

Re: Actually... for once... I disagree

Bakers might have a use for it. People who can decorate cakes properly are hard to come by; if you can download a design off the internet and get a local baker to print it onto a cake that might be something some people would be interested in.

Ninja Pirate Zombie Vampires versus Chuck Norris and the Space Marines

dotdavid

Robots

Any chance of including Iain M. Banks' Culture Minds? Although granted there'd basically be no chance of them losing.

Software bug caught Galileo sats in landslide, no escape from reality

dotdavid

Soyuz

The Soyuz must use the same kind of sat-nav that Russian soldiers seem to use while patrolling the border with Ukraine.

IBM: OK, Watson, you've won Jeopardy. Now, CURE CANCER

dotdavid
Gimp

Cancer research complete

Result: meatsack oppressors appear to be vulnerable to cell mutation. Weaponised cancer implementing virus to be developed for future application.

Samsung Gear S: Quick, LAUNCH IT – before Apple straps on iWatch

dotdavid

To be honest I'm not that bothered about battery. As long as it easily lasts a full day (day and a half in case of a very early start and late night), it'd probably get charged overnight each night like my phone does anyway.

dotdavid

Not sure why you need a SIM in a smartwatch. Since most of us carry a phone around anyway (wouldn't like to, say, read El Reg on a tiny watch screen), why can't it just use the data connection of that phone like other smartwatches do? And (inspector gadget aside) is anyone really going to talk to their watch through a phone call?

Reg man looks through a Glass, darkly: Google's toy ploy or killer tech specs?

dotdavid

Glass vs Wear

I've seen discussions that people with both Glass and Android Wear (the "smart" watches) say that basically the latter does for a couple of hundred quid what the former does for a grand, i.e. easy-access notifications and access to Google Now. Does El Reg have plans for a Wear review?