Posts by Ashton Black

Pete Townshend condemns Apple as 'digital vampire'

""It would be better if music lovers treated music like food," he added, "and paid for every helping, rather than only when it suited them."

Yes, I'm sure that'd be nice for you. However, unlike food, with data copies can be made, with zero effort and isn't a consumable product. Want to try again?

BT gets 14 days to block Newzbin2

Pissing in the wind.

So to speak.

Apple gets patent for ‘unlock gesture’

Does the USPTO even look at Prior Art?

Groupon sues ex-sales heads for defection to Google

These are salesmen, for god(s) sake. Not engineers, designers, inventors etc.

Sales methodologies? Client lists? Sales leads?

I can't think of much that Google would be interested in, that they don't already have.

Could be just sour grapes.

MIT boffin: Salted disks hold SIX TIMES more data

@TooMuchCoffee

A sea change, if you will?

Hey Commentards! [This title is optional]

Oooooooo. Nice.

Activision rolled for too much avatar rock

Ego? Id say so.

Old muso joke:

Q: What do you get a lead singer for his birthday?

A: A tour bag to keep his f**ckin' ego in.

Activision need better contract lawyers.

Councils dole out social-care payment smartcards

Interesting.

As long as the 'customer' isn't the one who picks up the charges that APS and the bank charge, I'd be fine with this system for specified social welfare.

'Up to' broadband claims out of control, says Ofcom

No teef

Ofcom has no teeth and is not fit for purpose. I mean, appealing to ISP better nature (self regulation!) ? Come on.

Hungry bidders pick up Comet's blood trail

Circling the drain.

The VC handbook....

1) Buy a firm at a low price.

2) "Leaverage" to the hilt and pay massive 'management fees' to your VC company

3) Liquidate assets and make massive layoffs in the name of "restructuring."

4) Pay massive 'management fees' to your VC company.

5) Repeat until victim.. erm I mean firm... is a shell and declare bankruptcy.

6) Profit!!!

RUPERT MURDOCH HIT BY PIE

Impressed.

I did laugh.

'Wilful blindness? We've heard of it,' says Murdoch

Title.

"He said he wasn't, his father then interjected by saying he had heard of the phrase before adding: "We have never been guilty of that." - They knew EXACTLY what was going on.

Coalition renames GCHQ internet spook-tech plans

HP/EDS?

Good for contractors, not so good for taxpayers.

£2bn?

By the end it WILL be a bucket load more. Simply due to the changing nature of the threat.

(I am assuming that dephormation.org.uk means industrial espionage, blackmail & organised crime aimed at the UK and it's citizens.)

Facebook gets awesome with Skype

Not Impressed.

Meh.

Facebook's 'awesome' plan to hook up with Skype?

That's it?

Seriously... linking Skype to FB?

I think me and MZ have a different definition of the word '"Awesome."

Not impressed icon, ftw.

Star Wars fans want Sony sued over game shutdown

SWG

I played this in beta and for about 6 months after it went gold. Some fantastic ideas, some utter shite but it felt pretty good. Looking back I'm glad I dumped it when I did and returned to Eve Online. (Which I've since given up again!)

As to the OP, if people want to waste money on lawyers then that's up to them. Nil chance of it working, though.

Microsoft nails second Android device maker

FAT and patent longevity.

Assuming the commentators are right and it's a FAT dispute and given the fact that FAT (as a patentable bit of guff) has been round longer than 20 years how can it still be enforceable when patents are only applicable for 20 years? (extensions to this are VERY rare, apparently)

German chemical giant depending on biscuit-based security

Tempest

Many fully tested RF shielded boxes are available.

They're just being cheap asses and it might just bite them.

Has Steve Jobs killed the consumer hard disk industry?

Dear bloke wat wrote this article,

{{Citation needed}}

kthxbye.

Twitter cock-up confession deflates Weiner

It was da bigger boys!

'I wuz hacked' is the new 'It was witches wat done it!'

Trevor Pott's guide to pricing up the cloud

Yeps...

Great article. Thanks.

Facebook 'smear' shock: Journos aghast!

Nice analysis.

I tend to agree.

Shouldn't the actual content of the allegation be the test, rather than it's source? I mean if it's untrue, it's a smear if it's true then so what if it was a PR company hiring a blogger?

Paris, because there are certain things I'd smear.... etc

Boffins develop method of driving computers insane

I for one...

... welcome our mad silicon overlords.

Huawei smacks ZTE with patent and trademark lawsuits

..and so it goes

Anyone else bored of the X sues Y over IP stories? It seems to be normal business practice now.

OCZ shares trashed by short seller's research note

"... Capitalism just doesn't work."

Unregulated or laissez faire capitalism exploits the weak in society. Centralised planning stifles innovation. But surely a middle ground could be reached?

Apple smears Web2.0rhea across online support

Fanboi contest...

Dance... DAAAANCE!!!

iHate, well duh.

Free Android encryption comes to Egypt

New Headline....

I guess this will happen:

"Egypt bans Text Encryption."

"It's only used by terrorists and if you've nothing to hide, you shouldn't have to encrypt!" - said a spokesman." A minimum 5 year sentence will be given to those found with this terrorist software."

Nice idea, but totalitarian governments do as they want, in reality.

UN defends human right to WikiLeaked info

As if the US cares.

The US hasn't listened to the UN for many years.

Assange lawyers fume over leaked rape case docs

Even so...

Apples and Oranges. One is a government trying to be unaccountable, the other is a single citizen. One is trying to prevent embarrassing revelations, the other is attempting to go through due process.

Not ironic, but predictable.

Grand jury meets to decide fate of WikiLeaks founder

Not looking good.

Stitched up like a kipper.

Default judgement FAIL: ACS:Law muffs up in court

Nice work!

The most amusing story of the week!