* Posts by Shak

29 publicly visible posts • joined 21 Sep 2010

Getting to the bottom of BMW's pay-as-you-toast subscription failure

Shak

Bolted Horses

It still baffles me how Sky+ subscribers are happy to pay money for the ability to record broadcast programming they can otherwise freely receive on a hard disk that sits under the TV they'll watch them on.

So I don't think it's a clear mistake on BMW's part - there's plenty of idiotic precedent set.

Free Wednesday gift for you lucky lot: Extra mouse button!

Shak

Multiple buffers hurt my brain

As hard as I try, I can't get my head around multiple buffers and the inconsistent ways in which they are used. This is both on the Linux OS level and within apps with their own buffers (eg vi). I find I have to use trial and error to see what is where.

In my ideal setup, there would only be one buffer, with a decent clipboard manager to rotate/reorder historical copy actions (be those that were done with a button or selection). Failing that, I'd much rather just have one buffer than two opaque ones.

Is there a way to disable/collapse the primary and secondary buffers in Linux?

Google adds account sync for Authenticator, without E2EE

Shak

And around and around we go

This fashion of converting our "what we haves" to "what we knows" has to stop. At that point you may as well just use a long password (which is all a seed is really).

But the fact that most 2fa apps now have cloud backup means I'm the one missing the point.

We have some sad news about Facebook. It has returned to the internet after six-hour mega outage

Shak

Obvious timing?

Facebook gets taken out via internal means of a level of plausible deniability the day a whistleblower gets air time.

Sounds like a shakedown to me.

Fairphone makes wireless earbuds less foul, by charging batteries carefully

Shak

But will it last?

This is great, but I'll only pay 650eur for open sourced SoC drivers (or whatever it is). What's the point of changing parts if the CPU isn't supported after 3 years?

It's disappointing that reuse is hobbled by the whim of Qualcomm.

It's the end of the world as we know it, and we should feel fine

Shak

Self-sabotage?

I've convinced that "most of the problems have been solved" is why software folk create new programming languages and frameworks to stave away boredom.

It's time to delete that hunter2 password from your Microsoft account, says IT giant

Shak

Re: There and back again

Both of which are things you have (vs something you know). But maybe there's some reduction I'm missing.

Shak

There and back again

So after pushing 2FA for yonks, the advice is to go back to a single factor again?

Or is this just a fancy system generated password in disguise?

Australian cops, FBI created backdoored chat app, told crims it was secure – then snooped on 9,000 users' plots

Shak

Didn't realise WhatsApp started whiteboxing

I suspect this will lead to a layman argument suggesting how backdoors do actually work.

The Microsoft Authenticator extension in the Chrome store wasn't actually made by Microsoft. Oops, Google

Shak

websync, extensions, ease of use

Considering that 2fa is supposed to be "inaccessible" to an extent, that customers choose these kind of extensions in the first place makes this firmly the responsibility of the user.

Google and Samsung merge their wearable OSes, tease Fitbit baked into the combo

Shak

Correlated?

Maybe it's not about apps. Maybe only those who purchase Apple products are interested in smartwatches, and this is a lost cause.

City of London Police warn against using ‘open science’ site Sci-Hub

Shak

Didn't know much about this

Until I watched this fabulous medlife crisis video:

https://youtu.be/PriwCi6SzLo

Scihub also covered, and I'm a little surprised that the article didn't lean more heavily into the published journal scam.

Pressure builds on Nominet as members demand to know leadership's contingency plans for when they’re fired

Shak

Re: Can we apply pressure to the big 10?

This is a good idea. Given the timeframes, I think it's unlikely that messaging the support staff would send a message though, so perhaps the publicbenefit guys could facilitate that messaging somehow?

Shak

How did we get here?

What was the process in which the current management got their jobs?

Uncle Sam throws Huawei CFO a bone in her extradition fight, but deal will require an admission of wrongdoing

Shak

Mixed messages

Surely the USA should be encouraging the use of backdoored, spy-accessible telecoms equipment in Iran?

Who among you can resist an eight-core, 2.9GHz mini-PC or thin client that drives four displays?

Shak

Price is key

After failing to find a sub £100 4k60 x86 thin client, specs matter much less to me than price. The only option right now is a second hand 4th gen i3 sff which isn't ideal.

Relying on plain-text email is a 'barrier to entry' for kernel development, says Linux Foundation board member

Shak

Re: "plain old ASCII text is a barrier to communications"

>And to stress: this sounds like an alternative interface to the underlying email-based patch system.

If what's being advocated is some kind of web interface to email that enforces plain text and decent threading then I'm sure most here won't object.

But personally I don't blame the suspicion that there's a different (misguided of not malicious) agenda.

Broadband providers can now flog Openreach's new IP voice network in bid to ditch UK's copper phone lines by 2025

Shak

Interestingly I noticed that new Virgin Media packages now provide "landline" services via the router. As a result there are warnings abound that it won't work during powercuts or when the internet is down. Much more acceptable in a world of mobile phones but will be interesting to see if the industry can get away with no true hard isolated landlines.

Spider-eyed Lite version of Huawei flagship flies out before actual P40 launch event

Shak

Re: Target market

I'm not sure where you are getting your figures from, but IDC say that Huawei have a much bigger market share than you imply. Perhaps it's not cut into the "high/low" classes you mention though:

https://www.idc.com/promo/smartphone-market-share/vendor

Anecdotally though, I felt that the P30 and P30 Pro (as well as the P20 equivalents) got more than enough mindshare to be considered viable high end purchases. And looking around my own bubble, I see more Huaweis than Samsungs and Apples.

You're always a day Huawei: UK to decide whether to ban Chinese firm's kit from 5G networks tomorrow

Shak

Loss of Sovereignty

For example by allowing another country to dictate who you can or cannot buy stuff from.

Android apps prove a goldmine for dodgy password practices

Shak

As a non Android developer: where exactly are these keys expected to reside then?

Intel admits a load of its CPUs have Spectre v2 flaw that can't be fixed

Shak

But how do we patch?

I'm no Intel expert, and all I really have is a model number of my CPU. So:

1) How do I know which family/class my CPU is in? Is there a look up table somewhere?

2) How do I apply any relevant microcode patch?

Alcatel Idol 3: Holding its own with a pretty decent 5.5 inches

Shak

The right way around!

I must be the only one who thinks this but:

1) Power/charge sockets SHOULD go at the top - so wires trail away at desk- or tabletop use.

2) Headphone sockets SHOULD go at the bottom - so that wires trail toward you correctly when using, and orientation of your phone is correct in your pocket.

Little big phone: Sony Xperia Z3 Compact, a toothsome hand-fulla Android

Shak

Re: Z2 Compact

Say again? I don't think there is a Z2C.

Backup software for HDD and Cloud

Shak

Crashplan and a good friend does it for me. The single app will backup to multiple targets, including local, external and remote drives. Windows, Linux and web clients (for remote file retrieval) rounds up what I see as a pretty complete solution.

Facebook: 'We should've been more clear' on face-scanning tech

Shak

On the other hand...

I actually *want* to know when somebody decides to upload a picture of me without my permission. Better than them being able to do so discreetly. Remember, you then have the option to de-tag or even report/request removal if you're concerned about privacy... but if you didn't know in the first place the latter options aren't available to you.

Angry Birds tweet fury at Redmond

Shak

Ironic...

... seeing as Angry Birds itself is a rip off.

Car wrecks rise after texting bans imposed

Shak

You can spot a phone user a mile away

Perhaps the reason why they don't cause accidents is because others tend to drive more defensively around them.

Regardless of the accident rate, they should still be banned if only to stop irritating road use.

Seagate rolls out 1.5TB external whopper

Shak

Correct

Yes, and that's the point. There have been mains powered (ie 3.5") external HDs for a while now.