Posts by PhilipN

Rip and replace is such a long Huawei to go, UK telcos plead, citing 'blackouts' and 'billion pound' costs: Are Vodafone and BT playing 'Project Fear'?

5-year plan

Perhaps someone who actually has an inkling can give us a heads-up as to where the technology will be in 5 years' time.

Frankly I haven't a bloody clue about anything in three months' time never mind 5 years. By then all of this will be irrelevant.

I already have 5G (not in the UK) and I do not care.

By the way, you do know that China - probably the most wired-up (i.e. wireless) country on the planet - is forging ahead on a number of fronts apart from 5G - A.I, for example? The domestic GDP per capita is now such that economic and technological advances are self-sustaining regardless of Trump's attempt to roll the clock back a hundred years,

Where is Ave when you need him

rip each piece apart --- -isn't that what the engineers are supposed to do before an order is placed?

The UK telco system is equipment taken at face value?

Social media giants move to defy Hong Kong's new national security law

Huawei non android

You mean Huawei non Google.

And if as reported TikTok closes in HK it will leave a vacuum that will fill up in around 0.01 of a second.

Beijing's tightening grip on Hong Kong could put region's future as an up-and-coming tech hub in jeopardy

Re: "we need clarity on what the laws will involve before we can decide anything"

Nope

Re: "we need clarity on what the laws will involve before we can decide anything"

You realise, do you not, that treason in the UK could be punished with life imprisonment.

In the USA - death sentence. Welcome to the Free World!

Re: "we need clarity on what the laws will involve before we can decide anything"

""If I recall correctly the protests were brought about precisely because Beijing interfered with the HK system making it easier to extradite people to the mainland."

Absolutely correct."

Absolutely incorrect.

The extradition law was promulgated for the purpose of extraditing from HK to Taiwan a HK citizen suspected of murder in Taiwan, which at the outset had popular support.

Its scope was expanded, fatally, by HK Government trying to be clever but which failed dismally.

The whole thing was misconceived because Taiwan had no corresponding rules to take extradited suspects. A complete joke and doomed to failure from the start.

Re: "we need clarity on what the laws will involve before we can decide anything"

Please do not rely on the Bar Association whose cartoonish and defective commentary on the extradition law last year missed a perfect opportunity to explain why the law would have been invalid and unenforceable for several reasons.

Yet chose this latest legislation to say it was potentially invalid when it is not.

Re: one country two systems agreement

Deng Xiaoping approved the concept only. The Margaret Thatcher Government leapt at it as an easy way forward. The Hands On Brain Off work was done by Chris Patten - who was given the gig in HK as a sop when he lost his seat in Parliament.

Re: "we need clarity on what the laws will involve before we can decide anything"

It matters a very great deal because the law will be a Hong Kong law with prosecutions managed by the Legal Department of Hong Kong Government and administered in turn by an independent judiciary steeped in and applying principles of the Common Law - which includes principles of parliamentary interpretation and "Innocent Until Proven Guilty".

It follows that there is no hijacking of the legal system - any more than - in fact less than - UK legislation once could be applied territorially to Hong Kong by Letters Patent and Hong Kong laws could ultimately fall to be interpreted by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

Then purporting to predict the future course of laws is losing the plot completely. This manoeuvre from Beijing is a direct consequence of violent protests last year, in the absence of which there is no reason why the PRC would want to interfere with the HK system - which is where the article is completely wrong - now or even in 2047.

Tossing out a mantra of "freedom" relates back to the first point. None of us is free to the degree implied by such a mantra. Freedom is knowing one's limits with a clear law. If alternatively a person wishes to be free to burn the flag and insult the sovereign power - not even relevant when most people are concerned about their livelihood and their families. As are the expats. Which is why there is no brain drain. Schools have reopened, Shopping malls are bustling - and nobody wants to go somewhere the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic was so ineffectual.

Blood? How silly. Tienanmen Square was more than a generation ago, China has changed. The World has changed Xi Jing Ping will NOT want to taint his legacy - as emphatically proven during the "protests" by the admonition that "Hong Kong's problem. Hong Kong fix it".

one country two systems agreement

That would be the agreement bequeathed to Hong Kong by Chris Patten which almost exactly replicated the previous colonial system of overbearing management from the Foreign Office --- including (cough! cough!) anti-sedition laws.

Re: "we need clarity on what the laws will involve before we can decide anything"

What laughable nonsense.

"the US response can hurt Hong Kong "

Called collateral damage. It would be nice if the USA did not support HK quite so much . Oh....hang on

Apple gives Boot Camp the boot, banishes native Windows support from Arm-compatible Macs

"...banishes native Windows support ..."

I am supposed to care why?

P.S. (Different point) Wanna know how CHEAP a Windows laptop is now?

Apple launches incredible features everyone else had more than a year ago – this time for the 'smart home'

Got it all

Lighting remote control : called a Wall Switch

Etc.

Australia's Lion brewery hit by second cyber attack as nation staggers under suspected Chinese digital assault

Re: Horses, races run etc

Given the form* of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute which couldn’t blame China fast enough it is almost certainly somebody else.

*Have a gander at their Wikipedia entry and the section headed Criticisms.

You. Yeah you, in the beret. Drop that media file right now unless you've patched Illustrator or After Effects

Missed the chance

Your resident music critic must have been sleeping:

"...You!!...Yes you!! .....Stand still, will you!! ...."

You know Facebook has an image problem when major nonprofits start turning down donations over political lies

Re: Render unto Caesar ....

Actually about the avoidance of hypocrisy, which was the point I was making.

Render unto Caesar ....

Doesn't work - sorry, J.C.

Need not only to be squeaky clean but have the appearance of being squeaky clean.

To sort of mix metaphors, it is not just any old shilling when it is the King's Shilling.

Ex-Dell distributor in Lebanon ignored ban on suing US tech giant. Now four directors have been sentenced to prison in the UK

Unable to find P.I. Firm

Pfff - bunch of wimps.

When I practised law in London you needed a P.I./process server prepared to serve divorce proceedings on drunken Bermondsey dockers come what may.

Huawei launches UK charm offensive: We've provided 2G, 3G and 4G for 20 years, and you're worried about 5G?

Re: The bigger issue is rising Chinese power

Yea, democracy!

Is that the democracy which the U.K. did NOT introduce in Hong Kong during a century and a half of colonial administration from Whitehall?

We have Huawei to make the internet more secure: Dump TCP/IP to make folks safer says Chinese mobe slinger

What do governments not control?

Paper money movements. In China some 7-11 style shops (for example) have no staff : the facial recognition system is so good and so extensive that anyone who scarpers without paying goes straight into the miscreant database. You can bet your bottom dollar that China is developing - I reckon already has developed - it’s own digital currency. So much commerce in China is transacted online and pay-by-bonk it is a natural next step to add a few more 1’s and 0’s. The state already controls the banks so there is no need for Bitcoin-like farms on every street : it is an exercise in data-gathering not financial security. It therefore comes as no surprise that they wish to change the plumbing for their own purposes.

Make sense or is one spouting buffalo spoor?

Pablo Escobar's big bro and former accountant sues Apple for $2.6bn over FaceTime bug

Spokesperson told The Reg?

Wow. After cosying up to Apple you are really doing the rounds.

Boeing brings back the 737 Max but also lays off thousands

Reservations outpacing cancellations ...

Because there are hardly any flights?

Linus Torvalds drops Intel and adopts 32-core AMD Ryzen Threadripper on personal PC

Re: $$$

P.S. Reminded me what motherboards and CPU’s used to cost 30 years ago.

$$$

Almost 2,000 just for the CPU. Nice .... but ...... **** me!

For the price tag, this iPad Pro keyboard better damn well be Magic: It isn't... but it's not completely useless either

Re: Because ... it’ll just work : Nope

"The same can be said" .... OK thanks for agreeing.

Because ... it’ll just work : Nope

Because it works for a damn long time.

I have almost every generation of Mac Mini filling up one cupboard and get one or other of them out occasionally to power up and play with. That’s just an example. On my experience you get at least three times the usage from an Apple machine/device, which will be years out of date before it breaks down. It’s almost frustrating that with all the latest backup systems available my ancient Time Capsule still bloody works!

Attorney General: We didn't need Apple to crack terrorist's iPhones – tho we still want iGiant to do it in future

Apple told The Register - ????

Go on - you’re making it up.

Beer gut-ted: As many as '70 million pints' spoiled during coronavirus pandemic must be destroyed in Britain

i need to get out more

Strange no-one mentions the occasions when he has been served a "bad pint". In fact its ages since I heard the expression. Must be something to do with publicans springing for refrigeration in recent decades. Or punters having got used to craft beers tasting like ditch water.

To put it another way, I very much doubt all the beer reckoned to have gone off will go down the drain.....

Serial killer spotted on the night train from Newcastle

**** me!

How about a Green Cross Code for vehicles going over a rail crossing??

Two drivers will be having nightmares.

Ex-Microsoft Office chief reflects on early malware and the 'global attack on the new Windows PC infrastructure'

No Shoes Steve

Steve J. too. He was intensely serious and driven. Hardly an acid head.

Microsoft puts dual-screen devices and Windows 10X in the too-hard basket

Re: Keyboard & trackpad location

My (Scots) grandfather waxed lyrical about drinking a bottle of Scotch from a long tube with a teat on the end. I wondered for years whether he said “teat” or ...... I was very young.

Re: Keyboard & trackpad location

I want the nipple!

(Registered by IBM but surely designed by a bloke. Bright red too!)

Pew-pew woo-hoo! Hong Kong reopens video arcades shut by coronavirus lockdown

Dense city

Where 99% have been wearing masks since January, not because the Government said so but because they saw the need. Not so dense.

And by the way the tangential effect was a foreshortening of the usual flu season.

Jeff Bezos tells shareholders to buckle up: Amazon to blow this quarter's profits and more on coronavirus costs

Yawn

Without exception every company will use bad news of the moment to cover up endemic problems.

Or to make harsh decisions which in better times management would not have the guts to implement.

So what else is new?

Oh yes..... "protecting employees"... of course....

Royal Navy nuclear submarine captain rapped for letting crew throw shoreside BBQ party

Radio 4 off the air?

Grounds to celebrate passing days pointlessly to The Archers and endless repeats. And the chance to get on instead with ..... hang on .... nothing would change, so scrub that.

In case you need more proof the world's gone mad: Behold, Apple's $699 Mac Pro wheels

Re: Re Cycle Wheels

Upvote for the mention of Halfords. I have one. Solid as a rock.

I just wish it was easier to find and fit a Sturmey Archer hub so I can get rid of that new-fangled derailleur nonsense.

Academic showdown as boffins biff-baff over when Version 1.0 of Earth's magnetic core was released

Positive <> Negative

How appropriate.

Microsoft to find virtual ways of 'absorbing interns' energy' as students told to stay home – and events off until next year

"absorbing interns' energy"

That's the most appalling euphemism ever to come from MS.

Huawei P40 pricing is in step with previous P-series efforts – but flagship lacks the apps punters have come to expect

Re: It's not really that hard

Quite so. I have the full monty Google on my P30 Pro after installing a utility, gmsinstaller, and then Google Installer apk from huaweiadvices.com. A doddle.

Vietnam bans posting fake news online

causing confusion ...

.... inciting violence etc etc

Good that seems to cover 90 per cent of social interaction.

The other 10 was already illegal.

Announcing the official Reg-approved measure of social distancing: The Osman

Re: 'Pointless' is OK,...

So have a gander at Haydn done proper

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBmCcSz6HWw

Seeing the (non-)fretwork of the lass in the dark gown a pity she doesn't take up a Stratocaster.

Cops charge prankster who 'corona-coughed' on aged officer and had it filmed

“Curl up and dye”

That’s either the best, or the worst, I have heard all year. Probably both.

Bad news: Coronavirus is spreading rapidly across the world. Good news: Nitrogen dioxide levels are decreasing and the air on Earth is cleaner

Re: May I ask.....

And the answer to my question is .....?

May I ask.....

where did it all go? You know, the grimy stuff which had been accumulating for centuries?

You mean the Earth is able to scrub itself clean in a matter of days? Surely not!!

Hong Kong makes wearable trackers mandatory for new arrivals, checks in with ‘surprise calls’ too

Re: What a time to be alive

An entirely different point from the one made by the article and in particular its final sentence (q.v.).

What a time to be alive

Unintentionally pithy. Emphasis on "alive'.

Or haven't you noticed the death toll?

Microsoft picks up Your Phone – unless you're an Apple fan – in a fresh Windows 10 build

Scottish Gaelic?

Just HAD to look this up. An alphabet of 18 letters.

Makes it the smallest keyboard in the World?*

* Unless you remember the Cykey thingy. 5 keys.

Microsoft's Bill Gates defrag is finally virtually complete: Billionaire quits board to double down on philanthropy

Browser Wars

Killing Netscape put society back 10 years. Worst thing is they did just for the hell of it, because they could. Then eventually accepted many, many years later - when they could make money out of it at the same time as protecting their monopoly - that we ought to be doing everything in the browser, by backing the browser into Office, and then backing Office into the Cloud.

None of it was Gates' vision. He was only ever a poker player.

Clearview said to be chasing every mugshot taken in the US over the last 15 years to paste into its facial-recog system

Could be worse .... actually no it couldn’t.

Already guilty without charge.

Friend of mine has been blacklisted by the international banking system because he has the same (not uncommon) name as a Mexican drug lord. No way in hell to convince the fresh-faced kid behind a desk that “it is not me”. Once it is in the database ......