Posts by zb

It's 2016 and idiots still use '123456' as their password

I think I had better upgrade my password from password. How about Passw0rd Job done :)

Your taxes at work: Three hours driving to turn on politician's PC

Re: Really - there wasn't a cleaner or anyone else in the building...

You should try living in Brazil where pull is 'puxe' which is pronunced 'push'.

Ireland moves to scrap 1 and 2 cent coins

Two cent coin

I wouldn't give two cents for one of those

Just my 2c

Elderly? Disabled? You clearly need a .38" Palm Pistol

One for the doctors

I can see why they are trying to get this treated as a medical device: the doctors will be very keen to drum up a bit of extra business dealing with gunshot wounds.

EMC chief Joe Tucci to score monster pay-day in Dell deal – analysts

Yes, but every EMC product and service offering sold is paying for that.

That is a a very old chestnut and virtually without foundation.

The company will sell its products for what the market will bear and as long as the costs of production show a sufficient margin the product will be made and marketed at a price. If a company's overheads are so high or its turnover so low it cannot make an acceptable profit it is ready to be sold, reorganised or wound up.

It would have been much more accurate to say:

Yes, but every shareholder is paying for that.

Top VW exec blames car pollution cheatware scandal on 'a couple of software engineers'

Re: Somebody In Management Had To Know

"We'll happily take our 8Bn U$ as a fine since we made 20Bn U$ in sales we otherwise wouldn't have made"

That's what Ford thought when they did a cost/benefit analysis and decided that it would be cheaper to kill a few people than fix the design fault in the exploding Pinto. They were wrong.

https://users.wfu.edu/palmitar/Law&Valuation/Papers/1999/Leggett-pinto.html

Can you imagine an American jury deciding on punitive damages against a foreign company fraudulently selling a product (diesel engined cars) that American manufacturers don't make? How many zeros would you like? BP are handing over 50 billion to avoid the jury lottery and legal costs.

Time will tell but I very much doubt if VW are forced to pay at least the last ten years' profits earned in the US.

Assange™ offered 'plans for escape by flying fox to Harrods'

Re: Just the sort of objective «reporting»

"Everybody writes something so cringingly crawley about Assange or full of vitriol.

I have yet to meet anybody who doesn't hate him however"

I think of him in the same way that I think about Margaret Thatcher. Lots of good work done in the early years before they went mad

Indianapolis man paints his ball every day – for FORTY YEARS

Re: Well, a hobby is a hobby

Profit? hmm. Maybe the boffins posting in this thread can work out the cost of the paint. While they are at it calculate how long before it explodes/collapses/bursts into flames.

Is domain overlord ICANN the FIFA of the internet? We'll know this weekend

Excellent article which has opened my eyes.

Sadly not even El Reg readers seem to care much. So far 13 comments and none of them upvoted more than ten times. It is going to be very hard work to persuade anyone of any importance to take up the banner.

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

Re: Stick your 5.5"..

Spoken by someone under the age of 50. I recently started to collect my pension and for years have had trouble using small screens. They only reason for me to buy a 5.5" screen is because I cannot find a bigger one.

Incidentally I was all ready to order the Idol 3 based on this review until I saw the last paragraph. If I wanted a fixed battery I would have tried a iPhone. My wife is never without two spares for her Galaxy S3.

Your security is just dandy, Apple Pay, but here comes Android

Re: Convenience?

Yes, like all the tech love expressed here for Google Glass

Re: Convenience?

You forgot to mention taking finger off screen :)

I am NOT a PC repair man. I will NOT get your iPad working

Re: Jam...

I don't know about using Marmite as a lubricant but Vegemite has its good points when used as thermal paste

http://www.dansdata.com/goop.htm

Re: It wouldn't matter what you tell 'em...

Reminds me of a pal who is a consultant gynaecologist. His reply, when asked for free advice at a social event his reply is:

'I could not possibly answer without making a thorough examination, if you could loosen your clothes and lie down on the carpet I will do what I can'

TrueCrypt hooked to life support in Switzerland: 'It must not die' say pair

How about calling it

Crew Tripped

China puts Windows 8 on TV, screams: 'SECURITY, GET IT OUT OF HERE!'

That is ridiculous.

""The US has a law that requires anyone that has this data to report to the government ..."

Of course they don't, they don't need laws, don't need anyone to report anything the NSA, CIA and friends just barge in and take whatever they want. I doubt if China behaves any differently.

Spanish village called 'Kill the Jews' mulls rebranding exercise

OMG! They killed Kenny!

Oracle's Larry Ellison has the biggest public pay package

The really rich and cool bosses just take $1 pa just to show how trivial a few million is.

Buffet, Page, Bezos etc

Android engineer: We didn't copy Apple or follow Samsung's orders

In the words of mandy Rice-Davies

Well he would, wouldn't he?

Never mind the HORSE MEAT, trading standards cuts'll hurt IT crowd, too

Warm and cuddly

FAST should be congratulated for being so worried about protecting children against dangerous toys and horsemeat. It is a calumny to suggest that they are at all concerned about the revenue of its members.

Nominet bins Optical Express' appeal against 'It ruined my life' website

Re: Sarcastic Panel

It was a case of who blinked first.

Vint Cerf wanted to make internet secure from the start, but secrecy prevented it

Re: Irrelevant

I think they are happy with the current deadlock

Beat it, freetards! Dyn to shut down no-cost dynamic DNS next month

.... their service is no way worth $25 a month

Wow, that would be expensive! But:

Quote

Dyn offers a 14-day free trial, after which Dynamic DNS Pro costs $25 per year. ®

Unquote

Still, even at $25 pa there are alternatives.

Schoolkids given WORLD'S CHEAPEST TABLETS: Is it really that hard to swallow?

Teach a (hu)man how to fish and (s)he will eat for the rest of their lives.

I can be a pedant too. I think you meant to say:

Teach a (hu)man how to fish and (s)he will eat for the rest of (her)his life.

Even then it seems to imply that humans are female.

Can you tell a man's intelligence simply by looking at him? Yes

The quality of comments is depressing

I started reading full of enthusiasm expecting to find up some new dumb blonde jokes. Nothing, zilch, nada! The El Reg readers have disappointed me.

Returning a laptop to PC World ruined this bloke's credit score. Today the Supreme Court ended his 15-year nightmare

Re: A bit missing from this article that sheds a different light..

Here in Brazil it is standard practice when buying anything electrical to test it in the store. The salesman takes you to the cashier and you pay. He then takes you to the tester who opens the box, checks all the contents, plugs in the device and allows you to have a little play to make sure that it all works. You then have a 3 working day guarantee :((

I have never bought a Windows computer but guess there must be a different procedure when the licence agreement comes up.

Netflix needling you? BBC pimps up iPlayer ahead of BBC3 move

Monetised

As an ex-pat I pay for a virtual server in London purely for receiving UK TV via Linux and SOCKS. That costs £90 pa and I have the pain of keeping the server up to date and secure. I am queuing up for the right to hand over some cash to the Beeb.

And the other thing that really pisses me off is that I can get most BBC radio broadcasts via iPlayer in Linux, Mac or Windows without the proxy but nothing using Android. Again, if it was a matter of payment I would be the first in the queue.

Why don't they wise up and either let me in for free or let me in for payment?

Fee fie Firefox: Mozilla's lawyers probe Dell over browser install charge

Not my lawyer

If only I could get him to charge me only £200 per hour. I pay that for him to say good morning.

Zaphod Beeblebrox style third arm cyborg prosthesis unveiled

Huh?

Me eccentric? Never!

It is little known fact that in addition to the extra head and arm I also have a second penis

I NEVER DONE BITCOIN, says bloke fingered by new Newsweek

Free lunch

I would deny being the creator if there was a free lunch in it.

Delhi police forget passwords to corruption portal, ignore 600 crimes

The cat was fitted up

It was the dog wot done it.

Google will dodge EU MONSTER FINES by 'promoting' rival search services

Deja vu

Reminds me of when Microsoft propped up Apple to avoid accusations of a monopoly. I guess keeping a weak competitor's pulse beating will be enough of a fig leaf for the powers that be. Unless, of course, that competitor revives and outperforms its saviour.

This THREESOME is a HANDFUL: It’s the Asus Transformer Book Trio

I think this product is going to fall between three stools.

Hello Moto: Lenovo grabs Motorola biz for $3bn. But Google's KEEPING the patents

So I guess that's $3bn odd corporation tax advantage

Well, it would be, if Google actually paid taxes.

IBM's bailed out of the server market - will they dump Storwize next?

Or perhaps if they concentrate on software and services...

The rest of the article was padding.

Elderly Bletchley Park volunteer sacked for showing Colossus exhibit to visitors

Re: Nothing new here

I always wondered where Captain Mainwairing went after he left the bank.

Thanks for suggesting eBay should flog PayPal. It's not happening, CEO tells Carl Icahn

Re: Exactly

I used to buy eBay a lot but they made it so difficult to use without Paypal that I had to give up. Now I mostly use Amazon but do miss the auctions. Paypal is about as useful and safe as sending a fist full of fivers by post.

Good news: 'password' is no longer the #1 sesame opener, now it's '123456'

Re: a piece that is easy to play with only one thumb

I prefer Mike Batt's derivative work "A Minute's Silence" but it may be too short to provide a secure password.

Devs write 'film my shag' sex app for Google Glass

Why?

Why would a glasshole need a woman? Surely Glass provides all he needs.

High Court derails Google defence in Safari browser stalker cookie brouhaha

Re: Whataboutery

Nooo, Google can ignore anything because they are Google. They don't need any reasons other than that, by definition, anything they do is not evil.

Fanbois, prepare to lose your sh*t as BRUSSELS KILLS IPHONE dock

Give some credit where it is deue

This is a nice example of the EC getting things right. It happens more often than people think but it is only the absurdities that get any publicity.

Apple fanbois warned: No, Cupertino HASN'T built a Bitcoin mining function into Macs

Re: "4chan really have become a bunch of morons of late."

It is called terminal stupidity.

Munich signs off on Open Source project

Re: €30 million @Chemist 09:18

If they looked at all? Of course they wouldn't, they would neither know nor care. This is way outside the standard political debate.

How UK air traffic control system was caught asleep on the job

About time El Reg noticed this story.

If you want an IT job you'll need more than a degree, say top techies

Re: A time machine helps, too.

Don't forget the many years experience but age limit of 32

Ditch your boring iPhone for a hot Android piece, says Google's TOTALLY UNBIASED Eric Schmidt

Re: American-centric?

No, they don't celebrate Christmas in the USA. They do have something called the 'holiday season'

When three Linux journos go crowdfunding

I used to be a UK and then Spanish LXF subscriber for many years. When I moved to Brazil the subscription became too expensive and I stopped. They can put me down for an electronic subscription if the price is sensible.

Not so Saucy after all: Ubuntu reveals Mirless Salamander... and what, no Britney?

Re: The scopes aren't why I'm upgrading

I thought that 3.11 was Windows :)

Wanna run someone over in your next Ford? No dice, it won't let you

... object avoidance must look like a piffling production

If that were true my wife would hit a lot fewer objects,

MI5 boss: Snowden leaks of GCHQ methods HELPED TERRORISTS

Re: Details please.

OMG I just ticked the 'like' icon. Does that mean that they will be coming to get me?