Posts by Vector

Verizon is gonna axe its 'unlimited' data hogs

To all the wireless carriers...

Either your plan is unlimited or it's not! Period. Don't point me to all the crap in the fine print.

In this case with Verizon, apparently it's a 200Gb plan. That's a lot of data, but it's still not unlimited.

Why don't people secure their IoT gadgets? 'It's not my problem'

Re: @oldtaku - And consumers shouldn't be expected to

"... nobody is in the business of providing software upgrades..."

Make them responsible for the damage their lack of concern for securing the devices they put out causes and you might find that bottom line changing drastically.

Uber to Cali DMV: Back off, pal, our 'self-driving cars' aren't self driving

Uber's philosophy

Rules!? We don' need no stinkin' rules!

We're innovators!

Everything at Apple Watch is awesome, insists Tim Cook

Re: Just let me

Yeah, this does look a lot like a repeat of the Newton. Interesting product searching for an audience while being massively undercut by a "good enough" competitor.

Looks to me like History is slowly repeating itself and this time, there's no Saint Steve to come to the rescue.

US Supreme Court slashes Samsung's patent payout to Apple

@BigJohn Re: Yes, but it has FOUR corners!

I'm sorry, but since your corners cannot be discerned, your damages will be increased by infinity.

Renewed calls for Tesla to scrap Autopilot after number of crashes

Re: Maybe consumer groups...

"Maybe non pilots don't understand how little an autopilot does in the air..."

So, then, perhaps non-pilots shouldn't use a system called autopilot in their cars.

"Maybe they need to look at human vehicles for their standard, not to some vision of the cars of the next generation(s) expecting those to materialise without first passing through this generation..."

But do we really need to test this generation on public thoroughfares?

Re: 98%

"It's hard to legislate for the 2% of 'tards who can't be bothered to RTFM."

No...it's not. It's simple really. DON'T ALLOW IMPLEMENTATION OF BETA SYSTEMS IN VEHICLES USED ON PUBLIC ROADS!!!

I'm all for self driving cars but Tesla has jumped the gun in releasing this semi-autonomous system to the public. If even one person can misconstrue the name or significantly misuse the system, then that one person poses a hazard to navigation.

Much as I want a self driving vehicle, all of these semi-autonomous steps along the way to that goal are going to add up to a nightmare on the highways.

Mac book, whoa! Apple unveils $300 design tome

"Pure apple porn."

Silly goose! That's what the internet is for!

Software licencing gets easier in the cloud? Not if your name is Microsoft

Re: "How do I get what I'm getting today and pay the same?"

But, but, but..! They said you get More Features!

...so if you have everything you need, too bad, you're getting useless crap and a higher bill.

Oh joy. You can now buy a gold plated quadcopter drone

Re: I understand it is just a very thin layer...

Yet still enough to blind pilots when the idiots fly where they're not supposed to...

Four US states demand restraining order to stop internet power handover to ICANN

Re: They know what it is and how it works

That and also "who put them up to this?" and "why only those 4 states"?

I find it rather interesting that this is being spearheaded by the Texas AG, a post formerly inhabited by Ted Cruz, and the arguments sound amazingly similar to those he put forward in his little committee hearing on this contract.

User couldn't open documents or turn on PC, still asked for reference as IT expert

"Those who know a little - think they know everything."

Oh! You mean teenagers!

What says Internet of Things better than a Bluetooth-controlled smart candle?

So...a corollary to rule 34:

If it exists, there's a version with a network connection.

Samsung intros super-speedy consumer SSDs, 'fastest M.2s ever'

Sigh...

My poor laptop (which really isn't that old) only has mSATA slots.

Brave telco giants kill threat of decent internet service in rural North Carolina

Isn't it time...

So, this is yet another article which makes me wonder at what point we, in the US, come to understand that an internet connection is as important to modern life as roads are and proceed with nationalizing the infrastructure. There are too many examples like this where profits dictate access.

Want a Windows 10 update? Don't go to Microsoft ... please

"We shouldn't have to delve into the innards of the OS just to get it to obey our instructions."

Ohhh...you thought it was your computer. Silly boy...

Russia tells Google to cough up some loose change in Android monopoly probe

Freudian Slip?

"We are confident that the requirements pursuant will provide an opportunity for the development of competition in the mobile software market in Russia, which will benefit our customers."

Shouldn't that be consumers?

Hackers unleash smart Twitter phishing tool that snags two in three users

Re: Responsibility to train users

Here's your training in a nutshell:

Just. Don't. Click. On. Dodgy. ShortURLs. People.

URL's can be difficult for the average person to parse, but at least a full URL can be semi-reliably vetted by the domain. ShortURLs could lead anywhere.

Fun fact of the day: Network routers are illegal in Japan

Re: First Rate!

it "violates the law, but seems not illegal."

So...it's a quantum law?

Stop us if you've heard this one before: Telcos try to kill net neutrality

Re: Those poor innocent profits..

"Based on that, it's just not possible for Americans to have nice things."

We can have nice things. We just have to pay a not-so-nice price for them.

Bought a GTX 970? Congrats, Nvidia owes you thirty bucks

Re: Fucking lawyers:

Yeah, I hate these!

"We didn't do anything wrong, but have 30 bucks..."

I know, I know, no merit and too expensive to defend an' all, but it's become the standard corporate CYA. No big company seems to do anything wrong these days.

What's losing steam at Apple? Pretty much everything

"They want to lure us into "the cloud". Partly because it's all the rage right now, partly as a hedge against the slowing down of the hardware market. Lock in the existing customers even tighter. Offer more products "as a service", switch to subsrcription models. You may still own your device, but in order to make good use of it, you must use their services on their server farms."

I suspect it's far simpler than that. I think it's more a case of the Silicon Valley ivory tower. Around there, broadband internet is ubiquitous, so they forget it's not across many parts of the rest of the world. I've said before that all SV developers should be dropped into the middle of the Mojave desert on an annual basis to remind them what the "unconnected" world is like. I guess we need to load up the designers too!

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

Re: Well, here's your problem

"So you don't understand the benefit of ABS, traction control, cruise control (regular or adaptive), automatic emergency braking, automatic headlights and wipers etc.?"

All of these are assistive systems, not autonomous. They help you with the task of driving instead of doing the driving for you.

The problem with partial systems, such as the one being beta tested in Tesla models, is that they give a false sense of security. The theory is that, even though the car is doing the driving, you will still be attentive to the task, but the fact is even the best of us will have a hard time maintaining that focus with no active involvement particularly over long periods.

Re: Well, here's your problem

In a world where people will drive into a canal because the GPS told them to, "partial autonomy" scares the crap outta me!

Star Trek Beyond: An unwatchable steaming pile of tribble dung

I'd probably have been fine with that movie if they had called it anything except "I, Robot." Although the movie was ok, I seethed my way through it because it had nothing (and I do mean absolutely nothing) to do with Asimov's fine collection. Good or bad (and much as I enjoy Will Smith's performances), I refuse to ever watch it again.

Boffins unveil 500TB/in² disk. Yeah, it's made of chlorine. -196˚C, why?

Re: -196˚C ?

"...world’s smallest hard disk..."

...and world's largest hard-drive cooler...

Google's Nexii stand tall among Android's insecure swill

@Adam 1

I'm not crying, I'm laughing so hard it just looks that way!

Smartphones aren't tiny PCs, but that's how we use them in the West

Re: QR Codes are still around....

"...every reader I've used shows the data before letting the user decide what to do"

Which, often as not returns some shortened URL that's useless as a determining factor, so we're back to trust being an issue.

Tupperware vehemently denies any link to storage containerisation

@Symon Re: Tsk

"No, you don't have to defend it no matter what."

But you do have to defend against generic use, which is the case here. The reg article was using the trademarked Tupperware name as a reference to generic plastic storage boxes. Allowing that can lead to losing your trademark. The eff article referenced is a completely different case where the defendant was speaking specifically about the trademarked product.

You can see a list of common terms which were formerly trademarks here:

Wikipedia: List of generic and genericized trademarks

Samsung deals out microSD-crushing faster fingernail flash cards

Re: urrrr.

Yeah, and not that I've looked at the engineering specs or possibly would understand them even if I did, but this still seems like a massive fail for consumers. I would surmise that a little thought could have produced a physical format that was backwards compatible with microSD much as USB 3 managed to maintain compatibility with USB 2 by locating the additional pins required elsewhere in the shell.

Of course, that would mean consumers wouldn't have to rush out and get new devices...

Amazon slashes mobe prices to get more eyes on lockscreen ads

Re: Who's going to bother with that?

"...people who sign up for Pandora for free and take the ads..."

I don't mind Pandora's ads since I start the app and put it in the background (bye bye ads!). As to notification ads, see my post above. Pandora is one of the apps that doesn't get to display notifications on my phone.

Re: Lockscreen ads / Notification ads = Pox on Android

My policy is as soon as an app pops a notification that I consider inappropriate, that app loses notification privileges. It started with games ("come back and play me!"), then media apps started chiming in ("We've got a new show you simply must see!"). All of them have been notification silenced on my devices.

Bacon is not my vodka friend

Say wha...huh?

"Okie" was the derogatory term used during the dustbowl for migrants from Oklahoma to California. Folks there might like to be called Sooners, but they're far more likely to be called Okies.

The only term I've ever heard for folks from the Ozark Mountains (and I grew up 'round there) is "hillbilly."

Admins in outcry as Microsoft fix borks Group Policy

Re: Testing?

"Was this patch even tested?"

Yes.

In the field.

By the users.

It failed.

Re: Thanks for the heads up

I've just changed my policy to only install critical security updates from MS. If it says "critical" but doesn't say "security," it doesn't get installed. So far, that's saved me from the escalating Win 10 push.

I'm sure at some point MS will decide that the Win 10 upgrade is a security issue and I'll be borked.

(note that I'm only talking about my personal laptop. I'd be checking a bit further for business systems)

France POPs €800k fine on 'illegal taxi service' Uber's windshield

Re: How's that for "disruptive" ?

...in other times, would have been part of the Corleone family.

Naw, they'd just be peddling patent medicines.

Re: A piddling little fine?

A fine example of why corporations are not people (as the US Supreme Court wants to establish). You can't throw a corporation in jail when it breaks the law. You can only increase it's CoDB.

US computer-science classes churn out cut-n-paste slackers – and yes, that's a bad thing

Re: First learn the basics...

I think what the Think Tank is saying is that too many High Schools, in particular, are focused on teaching their students how to use Word instead of how to create Word, or any application.

World goes SIM-free, leaving Sony and HTC trailing behind

Re: You've got it backwards

I think it's more like: Crap customer service? who cares? The phone is a third of the price of the big boys.

Spying on you using fake social media profiles: One Scots council could

Re: and people ask why I'm not on any (anti-)social media site?

"That's because I'm a competent at security."

Grammar...not so much...

Lyft, Uber throw Texas-sized tantrum over Austin driver law

Re: Texas

We should have both, but background checks seem to be a Sisyphean task.

Official: Microsoft's 'Get Windows 10' nagware to vanish from PCs in July

That needs some editing...

Should read:

... the Get Windows 10 app that facilitates the easy tries to force the upgrade to Windows 10 will be disabled...

Microsoft: Why we tore handy Store block out of Windows 10 Pro PCs

Re: Same old, same old.

Oh, Heavens! No!

They can't be trusted with such power.

Re: Same old, same old.

"After all, it is the "proper" Windows to be using for a big(gish) company that wants total control over its Windows installations."

Yeah, because SMB's don't need control over their workstations. Perish the thought!

I 'spect the only reason it's staying in the enterprise edition is that otherwise big business might find the cash to migrate away from Windows.

Xiaomi takes aim at Apple, Qualcomm

Sounds like Newton vs Palm Pilot all over again

"...down from 63 per cent last year to 52 per cent this year"

I believe if Jobs were still around, he'd do to the Apple Watch what he did to the Newton shortly after his return. Namely, kill it, because it's under-baked.

The Newton was a pretty nifty device for its time; elegant user interface and competent recognition considering the tiny processors available then. The Palm Pilot, however, was smaller, cheaper and could do all the things early adopters wanted in a handheld device. Then, all the WinCE devices started coming out and the Newton got swamped. None of these devices were as well designed as the Newton, but they were designed well enough and were either far cheaper or had features (like color) that were not available on the Newton.

A lot of the same issues seem to plague the Watch. Devices like the Fitbit aren't as pretty but they do most of what the early adopters want at a third of the price (at minimum).

I hear that a lot of Newton technology made it into the iPhone, so the experiment was not a complete loss, but it should probably have stayed in the lab for another decade.

If you're appy and you know it, say five Hail Marys – cyber-Pope

...after his mom tells him to straighten his Pope Hat.

Oof! Acer suffers 25 per cent hit to PC sales in turbulent Q1

Sorry, should have referred back. Was speaking to Gis Bun's comment about Acer.

Sorry, but I've had far more trouble with ASUS products over the last 5 years than Acer. I've had 2 ASUS laptops (one a high end ROG system) that had bad power ports. The ROG laptop fried it's video card and the other laptop fried it's motherboard. I also had a Nexus 2012 tablet that wouldn't do an OTA system update and ASUS tech support was clueless (didn't buy it from Google so was forced to go to ASUS for support). The few Acer systems I've had to deal with, OTOH, have been fine middle of the road laptops, albeit with a bit of crapware that had to be eliminated.

PC market shambling towards an unquiet grave

Re: crying wolf

"The reality is that not so many are being sold lately and likely things are just levelling off."

No, the reality is they are being replaced. As productivity apps mature in the mobile space along with accessories such as bluetooth input devices and various display interfaces to make productivity possible, more and more people will find that their phone will do everything they need and abandon the traditional PC market altogether. This will take a bit longer in the business space, but they too will follow eventually and the PC will go the way of the VCR into antiquity.

I know many people refuse to believe it, but this is coming sooner rather than later.

Zombie SCO rises from the grave again

Re: Wish I could give you more upvotes

"This is like some bad horror movie where the monster just WON'T DIE"

It's not like a horror movie. Monsters in horror movies are scary. This is more like "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes."

Maybe someone should walk into SCO's offices with a copy of Puberty Love.