* Posts by Tempest

387 publicly visible posts • joined 2 Sep 2010

Page:

Apple suppliers: Child labor, bribery, suicides

Tempest
FAIL

"even attaching large nets to the factory buildings to prevent impulsive suicides"

If any Western company boasted of this 'feature' their customers would shop elsewhere. This such a very sad commentary on the West's 'exploitation' of developing countries - and not by Apple alone.

That it happens in factories owned by Taiwanese Chinese entrepreneurs makes little difference.

Just so Westerners have an upscale electronic toy to play with. I hope people who use these devices manufactured by Foxconn spend a minute thinking about the implications.

I think the use of the word 'impulsive' is wrong as I suspect the urge to end ones life takes time to develop: a more suitable word might be 'opportunistic'.

There is NO excusing 'inadequate safety devices, lack of first-aid supplies, improper handling of hazardous chemicals' as Western countries often make the employer responsible for minimising chemical exposure and 'n-hexane' has long been recognised as having serious side effects - and used just to minimise fingerprints.

I hope Jobs feels appropriately guilty as he counts his filthy lucre.

Apple 'iPhone Nano' back in the game, says mole

Tempest
Unhappy

Apple doesn't do budget ...

and in trying to achieve this whilst maintaining margins it has become accustomed to will likely slash away starting with the screen.

The fruit logo will be likely devalued, too.

I’m not a Trojan horse: Nokia’s Elop hits back at neigh sayers

Tempest
FAIL

Elop seems to have forgotten that ...

without happy employees, he has no company.

Elop, born and raised in Hamilton, Ontario - the Pittsburgh-like steel town of Canada, obviously uses different criteria. That's a pity because a company that shafts it's employees will likely have as much loyalty to customers.

Israel's data protection laws given EU approval

Tempest
FAIL

Israel adopted the U.S. model of international diplomacy and behaviour ....

such as lying and cheating against 'friendly' powers, anonymous rendition, breaking undertakings not to copy passports again and again.

And yet the UK gives huge monetary grants to these freeloaders annually whilst denying it's ow citizens essential funding.

Just like the U.S.A.

EC parades common phone charger

Tempest
WTF?

The Australian configuration has the advantage that a two-prong plug ...

must be like US 2-pin plugs which are also polarised to ensure the line always follows through to the equipment.

China seems to have an eclectic mix of plugs/sockets now, at least in the newer buildings, as they accept US/Euro/Australian connectors. Pity they don't have a world standard.

Bradley Manning 'is British' – campaigners urge UK.gov to act

Tempest
FAIL

"That's part of why we Americans kicked the British out 200+ years ago ..."

Both Canada and the States were part of the same political creation and the States got impatient and broke away whilst Canada patiently waited whilst it matured as a country.

The differences, now, are stark.

On one side of the border you have mayhem, torture, imprisonment without trial, guns everywhere, mass tapping of telephones, etc. and on the other ... comparative peace..

That's what colonialism gave some of the world.

Equinux Tizi iPhone TV tuner

Tempest
Alert

Is the investment worth it given the trashy TV wasteland?

The programming on TV is pretty trashy and apart from the wasted time, is it really worth the investment?

The biggest drawback is a matter of physics - how can a wideband digital TV be received on such a puny antenna - the answer will always be a compromise.

Come to think of it, given this device is only for iOS, iPhans with Lemon 4's are used to antenna problems so it, and the programming, might just fit their bill.

Apple pressed to show succession plan

Tempest
WTF?

Three possible solutions for the disappearing Jobs connundrum

(1) Appoint a real, live replacement;

(2) Do a MOU, Tze-Tung or HO, Chi-Minh job on him and keep him in glass box for consultations;

(3) Get one of those UK holographic airport devices as an emulation of the real thing

Canada? The computer vendor says no

Tempest
Unhappy

Is Alberta a town?

I don't think @JaitcH actually referenced a town in connection with the Chinooks. did he?

Netgear CEO says 'closed' Apple is doomed

Tempest
Unhappy

"They design and sell luxury computers."

What is a 'luxury' computer?

Apples latest products are little different to competitors in the various fields they operate in by way of components, construction or appearance. The reason that many are made in the same Chinese factories and naturally a technique that's good for one product is good for another.

Home Office crime maps go to street-level detail

Tempest
FAIL

Plod is using Amazon cloud in Ireland

According to my reading, Plod has not followed a Buy British policy instead awarding their property devaluation system to Amazon Data Services in Ireland. NoScrupt users will have to permit several different websites before it works.

I searched for a couple of places in Sussex and nothing showed up although Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire has more anti-social activity than any other category.

And whilst it OFFERED "Stonehenge, Salisbury, South England SP4 7DE, UK" it subsequently responded with "Sorry, we couldn't find a policing area that matched your search."

Obviously another UK Government success story.

Apple iOS app hunger swells

Tempest
WTF?

Since iThings are so Passé, iPhans have a new unit of measurement ...

the number of apps they actually squeeze on to a unit and it still (just) functions.

Next will be the colour: "My case is skinned in armagnac, so much more tasteful than hopsack, my dear".

Tempest
WTF?

"old corporate type" using "Kayak for flights"

Shouldn't let too many of your customers know you are using the screenscraper Kayak to book your flights otherwise they will know you are 'old'.

Kayak can't even offer all the North American carriers!

Microsoft insists autistic Xboxer is a cheat

Tempest
Unhappy

Jeez so the kid cheated on his Xbox. Really?

I thought it was the guy in the other city.

Egypt switches off the internet

Tempest
WTF?

It's all to do with your Class of Service

Modern public communications all use Class of Service.

If you are pooh-bah who has serious connections to government your COS will be upped. Ditto with doctors, etc.

Ordinary grunts usually get the lowest COS and effectively locked out as the carriers reduce the facilities available to the lower COS.

Same with landlines.

Court orders seizure of PS3 hacker's computers

Tempest
Happy

Google comes to the rescue, again!

Check: < https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:30hHr5XIU2UJ:geohot.com/old_index.html+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&client=firefox-a&source=encrypted.google.com >.

This will no doubt be of interest to adventurous PS3 owners who are banging their heads on the bars.

Passenger cleared after TSA checkpoint stare-down

Tempest
Happy

I wonder which ...

watch list this guy is on now.

Use Canada to cross between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts - they're nothing like as crazy as TSA/Homeland Security ... although they do think peanut butter is a security risk.

Microsoft files US trade complaint against TiVo

Tempest
Unhappy

Given the trash that litters our screens ...

is it really worth recording.

My cable TV has hundreds of channels including a few tens of 'foreign' (English language) channels and few are worth recording.

There are wall to wall re-runs on Discovery and National Geographic, the same crazy is still teasing some lions on Animal Planet, and all the old movies about how the Americans won the second world war are on max.

Zombies and werewolves dominate the Murdoch channel, AXN is practically 80% CSI re-runs with the balance filled with America's worst.

Thank goodness for radio ... with your mind as the studio!

The cost of beating Apple's shrewd screws? £2

Tempest
Pint

Just shows a 1926 Canadian invention was a world beater

Messrs Robertson, of screw fame, the original designers and manufacturers, are located in Milton, Ontario about an hour west of Toronto.

The screws weren't that 'international' until the 1980's.

FAA to pilots: Expect 'unreliable or unavailable' GPS signals

Tempest
Unhappy

Won't affect Garmin users as it will ...

simply feel like an ordinary occurrence when using Garmin maps.

Who knows, this induced aberration might even correct the errors and make even Garmin more accurate.

Oracle limbers up for big storage surprise

Tempest
Unhappy

Oracle? Ellison? You must be as crazy as him to use this service

Ellison seems to have too much of a vindictive attitude, as well as unstable, for me to do business with.

Still, given his attributes, he might be an idea; home for Wikileaks - especially the dirt on SAP and HP!

Job application scam fleeces company of $150,000

Tempest
Happy

Never take offered or rounded amounts from ATM's

Most ATM scammers go for the maximum hit - I never take anything offered on the screen nor do I take, say $400, opting always for $390 which is easy to check off against a statement and help you prove any thefts using different amounts weren't made by you.

Opera in touchable tablet browser peep show

Tempest

Follow the leader

I get the idea that the OP is referring to the fact Apple is trying to patent all prior art referring to 'screen motion'.

Obviously his second remark implies that he thinks Chrome will copy Opera's moves.

Chinese crack down on 'money-sucker' Androids

Tempest
Jobs Horns

Apple gets you upfront ...

by selling a phone that doesn't meet spec, has the unique Grip of Death and cuts off all the time. At least they've fixed up the problem with the iP4CDMA - the antenna redesign is an admission of Lemon 4 GSM deficiencies.

Chinese knock-offs only defraud you a little bit at a time.

Man nabbed nude pics from women's email accounts

Tempest
WTF?

More, numerous victims of Facebook.

People can be such slow learners.

Anything posted to Facebook, and other 'social' sites, whether public or private, should be in the public domain ... especially with someone like Zuckerberg running the show.

Hookers have better morals than he possesses.

Tempest
Thumb Down

Why does enjoyment of the naked female form require a 'filthy mind'

Little wonder you posted as a Coward as I think your comment says more about you than anything else.

This implies that Rembrandt, Jules Pascin, Zhang Ping, et al had 'filthy minds', some they most likely wouldn't agree with.

Lawyers fear Assange faces death penalty in US

Tempest
Unhappy

I'm sitting in the sun in Cambodia enjoying a cool one whilst ...

reading Letters from Ha Noi and quite honestly, apart from the severe loss of face of face, are these e-memo's really worth the price of a bullet?

Some letters are really interesting - the Jamaican first lady and Clinton, but most are really run-of-the0mill stuff that essentially say: "I'm still awake".

So much for Internet filters, too!

EMC employee filched $1m worth of hardware

Tempest
Unhappy

Guess they never used ...

stock control. accountants or auditors.

Apple denies reported plan to deep-six CFO Oppenheimer

Tempest
Jobs Horns

Why would anyone believe anything Apple/Jobs says?

There is nothing wrong with iCrap/Lemon 4!

There is No Grip of Death!

There is no problem with iOS4nnn!

The moon is made of cheese (I made that one up)

Amazon expands cloud services support

Tempest
Alert

I'm running IP mania ...

and it shows Rackspace U.S.A.

I'm located in Cambodia but use a VietNam owned 3G system. Traceroute showed Cambodia > HCMC > Ha Noi > Seattle which is the correct routing for all U.S. url's.

Renault fingers three for spying

Tempest
Unhappy

Too impatient ...

They could have simply bought a car, next model year.

Google pinpoints bugs that send texts to wrong people

Tempest
Pint

Google's honesty a credit

Again Google, in detailing the bugs and their causes, demonstrates a more mature attitude than another smartphone manufacturer who pretends it is perfect.

Have they fixed the clock errors yet?

Apple slapped with iOS privacy lawsuit

Tempest
Thumb Up

User data held in trust

That might be a more realistically workable idea since it would make the big guys accountable as well as cutting all these hidden communication charges.

Microsoft's 2009 Uniloc patent victory overturned on appeal

Tempest
FAIL

Cheaper to steal than invent?

Reducing the fine will simply make it more economic to copy than innovate.

By the time the courts get around to it, the technology is old.

Dubai assassins used email trojan to track Hamas victim

Tempest
Alert

Israel promised Canada never to do it again, and again, and again

Because of the old system of registering births in Quebec, using the church registers instead of a central government registry, the Israeli's have repeatedly obtained Canadian in dead or disabled peoples names as well as altering passport Israel acquired / stole.

Every time they were caught Israel said sorry, never again, then turned around and did do it again.

Like a failed state.

Asus slips out keyboard equipped Android tablet

Tempest
Unhappy

ACER? Just make sure you get an extended warranty

It's not only me, but Acer has a really lousy track record with some things like rubber feet falling off.

Need a new foot - buy half of a new case. In any event, Acer claims rubber feet aren't covered ny warranty.

Creative people will realise the demo's found in Acer repair waiting rooms have feet. 'Nuff said.

Canon Pixma MG-5250 Wi-Fi all-in-one inkjet printer

Tempest
Unhappy

Psst ... Want a Fax/Copier/Printer - no Fax/Copy function. Going cheap!

I have this combo unit in my junk cupboard. Everything was great until the scanner went bad - now it's only a printer.

Never again!

Garmin tells iPhone users where to go

Tempest
Unhappy

Don't bring Garmin to Cambodia ... doesn't know it's head from the other end

We get great GPS signals here in Cambodia, being near the equator, but the Garmin mapping system is useless - most of the roads are way off the reality.

It won't matter what smartphone you use, with duff maps you are really lost.

British-born NASA astronaut Piers Sellers becomes OBE

Tempest
Pint

Peter Sellers ... his entertainments are still in demand, world wide

Peter SellErs, not to be confused with Peter SellArs (born September 27, 1957) - an American theatre director, left a legacy of programming that is still much in demand today. He was awarded the OBE. See: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Sellers >.

He made an LP, FOOL BRITANNIA, which was withdrawn only after a week following a release although copies float around on the Black Market. Of course, this EMI withdrawal was before That Was The Week, That Was!

Apple patent endangers unbiased product reviews

Tempest
Happy

Did you hear ... Apple invented the integrated circuit, too?

Even though the integrated dates from circa 1958 and Apple from circa 1976, Jobs' Time Machine running on iOS4 (we don't do Daylight Saving or New Year's) allows him to roll his mind back to any point in time so he can claim yet another U.S. Patent.

Since the Jobs' Time Machine permits this he can always file a patent for anything.

Pity that all the iPhans who missed flights, rail travel and on-time job starts don't appreciate the magic of yet another undocumented iOS feature.

Ungrateful ingrates they are

Wi-Fi hack threat man pleads guilty

Tempest
Alert

Life imitating TV? And what's with all these pornography acusations?

I thought it was only in TV dramas that the perpetrators (a favourite word in American cop vocabularies) broke down confessed.

The cops also seem to use 'child pornography' coupled with phrases intended to exaggerate the their extreme nature to besmirch both those charged as well as those convicted of many crimes seeking to confirm in the publics mind the person in question as being despicable.

They even used this technique in connection with the GCHQ decrypter on loan to MI-6 saying they didn't know he was into female fashion design and that he had women's clothes in his closet and, horror of horrors, even visited 'bondage' sites. This guy was the victim of murder - yet they paint him as a bad character.

BAA accused of banning passengers from filming travel chaos

Tempest
FAIL

BAA - upholding the history of British transportation incompetence

BAA should be congratulated on having learned little on running airports efficiently, and their incompetence in handling a few inches of snow and a couple of degrees of cool.

Next we'll be hearing about it being the 'wrong type of snow', just like the railways were brought to a halt by 'the wrong type of leaves' that impeded train movements.

Using the woman from Helsinki to detail their snow clearance techniques was appropriate - she was on several channels - as Helsinki airport is a gateway airport but not as large or wealthy as Heathrow. If they can keep the runways clear it only serves to highlight the continuing incompetence of BAA.

As for photography, even the idiots that mismanage Heathrow must recognise people take pictures, especially on their arrival in or departure from a country. Just because a facility is privately owned doesn't take away from the fact that it is a public facility, it's reason for being is to allow members of the public to board aircraft - therefore if a person has a ticket they have a lawful reason to be there.

Just because terms and conditions are posted n a web site doesn't infer sufficient notice has been given with respect to photography as it is not necessary to visit a web site in order to travel. If these conditions were printed on every ticket BAA might have better luck in claiming passengers should know about no photography.

However the chances that a court would uphold such conditions in non-airside areas of an airport are minimal and BAA would be very dumb to enforce such a rule to the point of litigation.

But given we are dealing with BAA the chances are good they would demonstrate their stupidity, just like London Plods have in the recent past.

Christmas shoppers hit by BT fire

Tempest
Pint

Wimax connected swipe terminals in use already; an ATM, too!

Credit card swipe terminals are ideal for radio. The message format is fixed and short.

Summer fairs have been provided with both CC swipes as well as ATM's, the latter in a muscular looking security vehicle complete with guards, all connected wifelessly.

Very practical applications they are, too.

Tempest
WTF?

For a small circuit, sure had a BIG FUSE!

I am surprised BT doesn't use breakers on it's power circuits along with Halon fire suppressors.

BA flights website grounded by snow

Tempest
Unhappy

Equipped for worst case scenario, not too gard

Even though there hasn't been any significant additions of snow, according to Bloomberg Biz TV, for 3 days, it was only today BAA managed to separate parked aircraft from the walkways.

BAA doesn't need more money, it needs competent management - and to concentrate of moving passengers rather than more stores.

As pointed out above, normal is not the goal - worst case is. If BAA's worst case is a few inches of snow and a few degrees below freezing they are unfit for purpose.

If you had studied runway clearance you would know that you first plough the runway using multiple blades running parallel; then you use rotating brushes followed by urea - not salt; then a final repeat brushing.

You said: "We don't know how to deal with these sorts of weather conditions" - that's the problem with BAA, ignorance. Other countries have no problem dealing with greater amounts of snow which means BAA has absolutely no excuse for the few paltry inches in London.

You CAN "realistically" expect any company to do this, if a company in Europe or Canada can do it; it's just that BAA is a cash cow for it's Spanish owners who don't care squat about this abject failure nor British travellers.

Tempest
Thumb Up

All SMART TRAVELLERS, who used a TRAVEL AGENT, need do is to ...

call or e-mail their travel agent, who can access their reservation on line, and all the modifications, etc. can be done simply on their GDS terminals. Including cancellations. Travel agents offer such a bargain for their fees in view of what they can achieve without worrying you, the passenger.

Those passengers who unwisely booked through BA directly are S.O.O.L.

Of course, if Wee Willy Walsh had any smarts he would have grouped all those cell numbers on the res screen by flight number and he would have his techies sending out SMS messages. But being BA .....

Tempest
Happy

@ hold on a second

The idea behind the 'retainer' is that whomever pays the most gets the equipment 'on demand' whenever, wherever, whatever.

Since Britain's construction sites seem to cool off a little in inclement weather the equipment is likely more available.

MPs shocked at Taser supplier overlap

Tempest
Alert

Why would you expect civil servants or politicians ...

to recognise conflict of interest?

LG whips out dual-core Android smartphone

Tempest
Jobs Horns

So how did my Palm II PDA have the rectangular form years ago if Apple invented the shape?

Sounds more than likely it is more likely a copy.

Pity they did't copy the flip-lid, too, I never had a broken or scratched screen.

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