Posts by Goldmember

Matt LeBlanc handed £1.5m to front next two series of Top Gear

Re: arguably the UK’s most famous ginger man

Tim Minchin identifies as Australian, not British

Microsoft: We're hugging trees to save the 'world'

Re: slow off the mark

"For North America, it's trivially easy. Put the server farms in Canada."

It's not quite as simple as that. Data protection laws prohibit sensitive US data from being stored on servers which are physically located in another country. I know this as the UK-based company I work for is currently looking to set up a US DC for that very reason.

Apple wants to buy Formula 1 car firm McLaren – report

Re: That'll be MacLaren soon then...

"and how it keeps throwing bits of engine and such out (OK I know that's technically Renault rather than McLaren) "

Nope, McLaren is the only team in F1 that runs with a Honda powertrain, not Renault.

Yelp wins fight to remain morally bankrupt

Re: what he should have done

There's no racket involved. It seems this one has already been addressed and dismissed by the courts, as the systems are Yelp's own;

"As a result, it offers advertising to companies who may then find their negative reviews are relegated or discounted from the system – an approach that was supported by the Ninth Circuit of Appeals, which noted it is Yelp's own system and it can do pretty much what it wants with it (under the concept of "editorial immunity")."

Immoral, yes. Illegal, no.

SpaceX Dragon capsule lands in Pacific carrying 12 moustronauts

Re: good news/bad news

I was going to ask how someone would go about extracting mouse sperm.

But on second thought, I actually don't want to know.

Adblock Plus blocks Facebook's ad-blocker buster: It's a block party!

Re: @Dwarf

"Yes, they do. But my in my impression most of these ads are non-intrusive and don't disturb, so I prefer to not adblock El Reg."

Apart from the one embedded in an article yesterday which was chucking out malware...

The curious case of a wearables cynic and his enduring fat bastardry

Re: On the subject of daft remotes

I bought a device which connected to my phone via Bluetooth, then was supposed to transmit over an FM frequency so the radio could pick it up and play music (my car is 9 years old and the head unit has no Bluetooth connectivity built in). Cool idea but turned out to be an unusable piece of shit which couldn't get through a full song without cutting out, and the quality was shocking. It got binned after the first use.

Anyway, this thing plugged into the cig lighter. Which from my experience is pretty much always within reach of the driver. And it, too, came with a remote.

My thought was simply; huh?

Amazon launches its own plane line. Sort of

Re: Please remember this about Amazon

Amazon already has "Prime Now", which is same day delivery. I ordered a PS4 controller using the service, which arrived in a takeaway bag around 4 hours after I ordered it. You're obviously limited to ordering whatever they have in stock in the warehouse closest to you, but it's still pretty cool.

I doubt they'll open retail stores. But more warehouses of various sizes to give greater coverage, definitely.

Captain Piccard's planet-orbiting solar aircraft in warped drive drama

Re: @James 51

"Even if we don't jump straight to all solar planes, they might inform the design of the next generation of planes."

This is the best point about all of this. Large, fully solar-powered planes are way, way off, maybe even an impossibility. But hybrid planes are a more realistic concept. Current planes spend much of their time above the cloud layer and have a large amount of real estate available on which to place solar panels. I can certainly see a future where jet-powered planes take off and reach cruising altitude, where they begin to harvest solar energy. They could then use it to boost engine performance and power the in-flight entertainment systems etc.

Fear not, humanity – Saint Elon has finished part two of his world-saving 'master plan'

Re: Big dreams...

"a lot of what Elon Musk is talking about is relatively pie in the sky"

People said the same thing of SpaceX and cheaper, reusable rockets. Look how that's turning out.

Hats off to the guy. I'd like to think I'd do cool shit like that if I was a billionaire.

Microsoft Azure doubles up to $800m a quarter – and is wiped out by dying phone sales

Re: The writing should be on the wall

"and the Winphone never had a chance to change the game."

WinPhone actually had a decent chance to change the game. At one time market share in Europe grew to 11% or so. But MS botched the Nokia acqusition and botched OS releases/ upgrades, sadly. It created confusion and frustration, which pushed away devs and customers in droves.

I'd like to see it make a comeback as it's actually a pretty good platform, but it's looking less and less likely now.

Windows Phone users beg Pokémon Go creators for attention

Re: As an advert for *not* buying a Windows Phone

"but Windows Phone is not Win32, there isn't even a Steam client app for Windows Phone."

No, but Win Phone will happily run XNA games, of which there are many available on Steam.

Man killed in gruesome Tesla autopilot crash was saved by his car's software weeks earlier

Re: White truck camouflaged against a bright sky ?

"If the system drives straight into the sides of trucks because they're white, then it's not ready for prime time. Period."

That's why the Autopilot system is very clearly labelled "beta" and is disabled by default. Tesla drivers have to explicitly activate it, and are told to keep their hands on the wheel at all times etc.

We are currently heading for a dangerous time. In the future, the majority of vehicles will be autonomous, and the world's roads will be much safer as a result. But in this interim period, most vehicles on the road are controlled solely by meatsacks. The machines and their makers have to learn. We have to help them for the good of ourselves everyone else.

It's incredibly sad that this guy died. But for fuck's sake... use driving aids as just that; an aid. Don't become complacent and certainly don't rely on automation. Especially on a highway/ motorway, using software labelled as "beta." In his previous video, he states that he "didn't see" the boom truck. I was always taught that driving was 10% making the car move, and 90% observation. You should always know which vehicles behind, in front and at the side of you. Not just immediately around you, but further afield. And with experience you can spot telltale signs and can predict which types of drivers are more likely to do something stupid.

He really should have been paying more attention both in that video and during the accident that cost him his life.

Amazon slashes mobe prices to get more eyes on lockscreen ads

Yep, same. I have the screen lock ad-supported Kindle Paperwhite (£90 on one of the Deal days last year). Just swipe to unlock and the ads are gone. I couldn't even tell you which ads have been displayed on there since buying it. Would definitely take the discount.

Fact: Huawei now outspends Apple on R&D

Not surprising

Apple's ethos is pretty much this:

"September is looming. What are we churning out this time?

- New iPhone; same square design we've used for the last 10 years, same UI as the last iPhone, slightly faster processor, same extortionate price based purely on brand status. Check.

- New iPad; same square design as every other iPad, same UI as the last iPad, slightly faster processor, same extortionate price charged purely on brand status. Check.

- One curveball product we know won't make any money but will make us appear 'innovative'; erm, another watch? Same design, some new expensive wristbands, stick a faster processor in it, same extortionate price, same pointless featues? Call it the Watch 2? Check."

To be honest, it's hard to see where $8bn actually goes. At least Huawei have made significant progress with their product line in recent years.

Remember Netbooks? Windows 10 makes them good again!

Re: Madness

"but I can't see any reason why they wouldn't have run Windows 7 quite well."

My 2GB Atom NC10 (which I only bought around 18 months ago from ebay for £45) ran Win 7 like shit. But with a recent upgrade to a 240Gb SSD and Win 10, it's now a perfectly usable machine, and is great for travelling. I too run Visual Studio on it for occasional airport lounge/ plane coding, although it's mainly for films and email. It's knocking on a bit so it's not the quickest, but the weight and battery life are good, and it does the job well enough for now.

Fans demand 'Lemmium' periodic table tribute

Re: Yes, we do know why.,,,

I read on some site or other last week that it was 'lemmy a quid', as he'd developed an addiction to slot machines whilst still in school

US Marines kill noisy BigDog robo-mule for blowing their cover

Re: your tax money at work

So... new inventions and techniques should never be researched or attempted, just in case they fail?

If nothing else, seeing someone kick down a robot dog which is then able to get back up makes for a cool YouTube video.

How long until we can build R2-D2 and C-3PO?

Re: Before we get on to Rosé the Maid(bot)

Watch this recent Channel 4 series first.

THEN come back and say you want flying cars and holo TVs before your very own Gemma Chan bot (or "synth").

"it’s unlikely that we will see a full version of either of them in any of our lifetimes."

Awwww :-(

That's put a downer on my Friday.

Apply online to go to Mars. No, seriously

Re: Salary

"And no coming back either."

The Mars One project is a one-way trip to colonize the place (and funded by reality TV), but this is a different project. NASA want to go there and come back again:

https://www.nasa.gov/content/nasas-journey-to-mars

Tablet computer zoom error saw plane fly 13 hours with 46cm hole

Re: Errr..clarification

"baggage holds aren't (to my understanding at least) pressurised anyway."

Many flights carry animals in the baggage holds, which obviously need pressurisation. Depending on whether there are animals in there determines the need for heating.

JD Wetherspoon: A 'hacker' nicks 650,000 pub-goers' data

Re: The Cloud

Always assume every company operating a "cloud" or similar service (pubs, coffee shops, airports) is storing whatever info you put in there. That's why I've got a disposable email address, fake name and fake DoB I use for that kind of thing. All of which is easy for me to remember, even when pissed ;-)

Re: Beer Goggles..

Real food? You do know the story is about Spoons, don't you?

Remember Windows 1.0? It's been 30 years (and you're officially old)

Count yourself lucky... I had the misfortune of playing one. And then stupidly clicked on another.

How Ballmer ever became a billionaire other than being in the right place at the right time is beyond me.

At Microsoft 'unlimited cloud storage' really means one terabyte

Re: Bait and switch

"I agree, there always seems to be someone without manners or hesitations that tries to game the system and thinks it's cool."

No.

"On the other hand companies usually can very easily identify these cases and just terminate the contract without harming the rest of their customers."

Again, no.

"Unlimited" means just that; a service with no limit. If a company offers an unlimited paid-for service, it needs to realise people will use that service as much as they see fit. For me personally, 75TB is way more data than I've ever had a need to store (not counting my physical Blu Ray collection etc. of course). But if I had paid for an unlimited service with that intention and spent months uploading it, I'd be pretty pissed off if I suddenly had to find an alternative.

Taking advantage of such a service is not gaming the system, and has nothing top do with manners. Cancelling contracts on a whim because a user has used an "ill-mannered" amount of data is bollocks.

If MS (and others) don't want people using more than 1TB of space, then how about they just sell a capped 1TB plan? They shouldn't try to drag people in with an "unlimited" one which actually has limits, or gets revoked down the line.

Bacon as deadly as cigarettes and asbestos

Re: re-reporting the daily mail?

" So... there is no evidence, there is no WHO report yet and you are spreading this typical daily hate horror story. "

To be fair to the journos of El Reg, they're not usually in the habit of spreading Daily Fail horseshit (well, without laughing about it). But this is a subject very close to the hearts - and stomachs - of many readers, and I don't begrudge the rehash of it, as I may not have heard about it otherwise.

However, I'll not be saying goodbye to my occasional bacon or ham intake, even if the WHO raises its threat level. The "everything in moderation" ethos should see most people through to their timely dying day.

SAP CEO McDermott loses AN EYE, almost his life in horror plunge

Re: Mundane

"Keeping a bottle of water by the bed doesn't seem very eco-friendly to me"

Er, plastic bottles don't self-destruct after you've finished your first use, you know. They can be refilled and - gasp - used again!

Also, they have screw tops so don't spill in case a flailing arm wipes them out during sleep. And of course are not made of glass, so can't shatter and go through your eye socket.

Bloke clicks GitHub 'commit' button in Visual Studio, gets slapped with $6,500 AWS bill

Re: How about...

In this case it may not have flagged it up, as the repository it was supposed to go into was private.

But yes, if the plugin scans for AWS keys (full stop) then simply says 'don't do it' upon finding any, it would be a good idea.

On another note, the article doesn't mention who now foots the bill for this. Will GitHub be paying AWS for this cockup?

Bitcoin can't be owned, says Japanese court, as Karpeles sweats in cell

Er, you should probably look up the word 'tangible'...

Abort, abort! Metal-on-metal VIOLENCE as Google's robo-car nearly CRASHES

Re: A World's first: an Audi that aborts a lane change.

They'd have less dislike for you if you weren't driving a Prius.

BOFH: Don't go changing on Friday evenings, I don't wanna work that hard

Re: All of our updates are on a Friday

"we can spend all weekend fixing it"

And there's the kicker. And the reason all of our changes are done prior to Friday. As soon as my (and almost everyone else's) clock hits 6pm, the office ceases to exist, and doesn't reappear again until 09:30 Monday morning.

Just one of the reasons I'm a coder now and no longer a PFY :-)

Manchester car park lock hack leads to horn-blare hoo-ha

Re: Hanlon's razor

"So it is not necessarily a jammer. A mummy with a toddler driving a Toyota is equally possible."

Indeed it is. But the Fort is in the shithole that is Cheetham Hill, so a hopeful but ultimately incompetent thief is the most likely culprit.

ALIBABA Vs AMAZON: Let the Global Tat Bazaar war begin

Nah, ebay is on its deathbed. And as an ex ebay seller, I say good riddance.

SHOCK! Robot cars do CRASH. Because other cars have human drivers

Re: Chaotic California roads ?

"I also wonder how these cars are at passing. Getting behind some tourist who is scared *hitless and driving in the middle of the road at 30mph can get pretty tedious after 10 miles, and I do think that it takes a real person to figure out how to deal with that in a safe manner."

The safest thing to do in that situation is to sit behind them until they pull over or turn off somewhere. Passing them, especially if they are driving down the middle of the road, is certainly NOT the safest way to deal with the situation. Computers don't acknowledge tedium or frustration, so in this case the self-driving car would get its occupant(s) to their destination with much less risk than a meatbag driver would, albeit a fair bit slower.

AUTOPILOT: Musk promises Tesla owners a HANDS-OFF hands-on

Re: Speculation

"I suspect that in practice that would cause the driver to be less attentive."

Indeed. This is just what America needs, a further downgrade in the standard of driving. Why not remove the safeguards on the big ass touchscreen in the centre console and allow video playback whilst driving while they're at it?

I just hope the UK doesn't catch the Tesla bug if this is the way the cars are going.

Fanbois: We paid $2000 for full satisfaction but now we have SPREADING STAINS

In case you still don't get it AC, the clue is here: Windows.

Must try harder.

Crap employers banned from enforcing backdoor crim records checks

And how many people...

.. are going to rat out their new employer? You usually get these done on the commencement of a new position. If a company (which has just offered you a job) asks you to do an SA request as opposed to doing a full CRB check themselves (which costs 5 times as much and takes longer), it puts you in a very difficult position.

Shove off, ugly folk, says site for people who love themselves

Re: Tawnie Lynn (pictured)

"What is wrong with specialist dating sites in principle?"

Nothing, I suppose. Each to their own, and all that. Putting aside the comments of the girl in the picture and taking the view of the airheads who frequent such a site, she isn't all that hot. Sure, caked in makeup and with the professional (or decent amateur) shot plus possible retouching she looks moderately attractive in the photo, but take all that away and she's just plain. I imagine she's no beauty first thing in the morning.

But she talks of herself as though she's a stunner, and has completely set herself up for scrutiny. That's what I take issue with.

Snowden leaks LEGALISED GCHQ's 'illegal' dragnet spying, rules British tribunal

Wow...

I had no idea there was an alternate spelling of "judgement" without the "e" until today.

I'd rather not burst into fits of rage/ uncontrollable laughter/ tears of frustration at the ridiculousness of this ruling so close to beer time, so will refrain from further commenting on the article.

Alibaba's magic cave empties as it misses revenue target

Re: It aint just fakes.

It's aimed at wholesalers/ retailers, not consumers.

Although there are those on there who will sell singles, just depends on the product.

UK official LOSES Mark Duggan shooting discs IN THE POST

FFS...

... Not this again. And still using DISCS IN THE POST to send sensitive info? The ICO should issue the maximum fine for a data breach for that act alone, plus a fine for each case.

I really hope the discs were encrypted, but gov agencies have form for not doing so. And if not, then another maximum fine should be issued for each disk that failed to have this in place.

Top smut site Flashes visitors, leaves behind nasty virus

Re: Adblockers?

Wouldn't having all that in place block the actual video, too? Or would you need to add every video to the whitelist?

Grand Theft Auto 1997: 'Sick, deluded and beneath contempt'

Re: Memories

"Nah, the 18 rated was not official, that was a games industry self regulation recommendation."

Wrong. It WAS official. While most games of the time didn't require a BBFC games rating as they were under the equivalent of today's PEGI (I think it was called ELSPA), certain games which featured "gross violence" and other extreme content were referred to the BBFC for a rating. All GTA and Resident Evil games had a BBFC rating until a few years ago, when it was decided PEGI would be the universal games rating authority for the UK.

I was 12 when GTA came out and couldn't buy it in good old Electronics Boutique as I got asked for ID. When the next one came out and the same happened again, I did as another poster said and bought it from an indie shop. Good times

BILL GATES DRINKS 'boiled and treated' POO. Ah, 'delicious'

Re: Well..

"The amount of water estimated to have been drunk by all humans that have existed is a tiny fraction of all the world's water"

Indeed, but surely some bodies of water get recycled more often than others? For example, some bottled mineral water (such as that in Buxton) is estimated to have been sat underground for 10 000 years or more before bottling. Whereas I imagine shallow lakes, man-made reservoirs and the like will end up in the loop more often as rain will fall in the mountains and refill said shallow lakes etc.

I could be wrong about this, of course. Much sleep has been had and much beer has been consumed and subsequently returned to the planet since my Geography lessons of 20 years ago...

Well..

All water we drink has probably been consumed many times by people and/ or animals at various points over the last couple of hundred thousand years. But as for actually watching the process and drinking the results? Pretty brave, Bill, pretty brave.

Sony-blasting Lizard Squad suspects quizzed by UK and Finnish cops

Good

If he was part of it then I hope he gets the book thrown at him, the [alleged] little shit.

Mainly because I was unable to play my newly-received copy of Destiny on Crimbo day until Sunday.

Microsoft: Hey, don’t forget Visual Basic! Open source and new features coming

Re: No need to move away from VB

"I think the article author could have made a better job of pointing out that he was referring to VB.NET, not "proper" VB/VBScript/VBA."

If we're being pedantic, the '.NET' suffix hasn't officially been in use with VB since 2005. So the author was right in simply referring to it as 'VB'.

MP caught playing Candy Crush at committee meeting: I'll ‘try’ not to do it again

Bloody hell...

People in the wild still use Blackberrys?

Sick of the 'criminal' lies about pie? Lobby the government HERE

Re: Even worse

Ah, that would be one of those fancy "deconstructed" pies.

I've never understood how a flatpack pie costs more than a built one, but that's the world we live in I suppose.