Posts by the idiotuk

Kaspersky, McAfee, and AVG all vulnerable to major flaw

You can add Sophos to the list too.

Apple Music: First three months for free? We lasted less than 3 hours

Apple vs Spotify

I can't see it taking many existing Spotify customers unless they come up with a way to import Spotify playlists; which users have painstakingly built up over years.

There's a kludgey way to do it via Beats but it's not ideal or even available as the Beats servers struggle under the weight of new sign ups.

Unless Apple is able publish a tool that let you compare the availability of tunes on your Spotify playlist and then import it, then I think they'll struggle. It also needs to fully integrate with the BBC's excellent Playlister service.

Until it does all of the above, Spotify gets my money.

SSL-busting adware: US cyber-plod open fire on Comodo's PrivDog

What about other adblockers? What about Adblock? How is it different?

So - you thought you knew all about the INSTANT COFFEE DUNES of TITAN?

FYI Brighton beach is comprised entirely of pebbles.

Help a hack: What's in your ultimate Windows XP migration toolkit?

This should cover almost all bases...

http://download.wsusoffline.net/ ..as mentioned.

http://drp.su/ Get the full version. Easy front end for DriverPacks. No more driver issues. Ever.

http://www.zalman.com/global/product/Product_Read.php?Idx=750 ..why more people don't mention this. I've had one since the first version and I wouldn't be without it. .Wave bye bye to Installation and live DVDs. This emulates a virtual ODD and in most cases will allow mounted ISOs to directly boot machines from the device (Some BIOS fiddling maybe required and Dell laptops can be a bit picky but apart from that). I've installed Windows 7 to an SSD in under 8 minutes using this.

That's my two penneth for what it's worth.

Sord drawn: The story of the M5 micro

M222

My dad used to import Sord machines in the late 70's. I had several of them in my bedroom from 1978 onwards. I had an M222. I can't find any info about this, but it was very like an M223 except it had a monochrome screen single, 5 1/2" floppy and was housed in a grey case. I played Othello on it. I also had an M100 Ace and an M223.

I believe he had a contract to supply Sord M223's to Admiralty House for use in automated lighthouses.

We also had a BCL Molecular 18 in our front room (no really) We had to have the windows taken out to get it in.

http://www.bcl-computers.org.uk/molecular.htm

iPads in education: Not actually evil, but pretty close

It's all arse about face..

The problem is not the fact that are no useful apps out there or that iPads are locked down. The problem is that most of the curriculum is delivered through the use of Word and Power Point. Still.

ICT needs to move toward platform agnostic solutions to educational tasks, not how do we emulate Word on this or that platform.

Identify the learning outcome and what skills and resources you'd need and then explore methods of achieving it. For example project work entails researching, collating, assembling and presenting material. Does it matter which platform this is achieved on? No not really. It should be possible to traverse platforms and environments, confidently, and produce the desired result.

In the school I work in we are moving toward platform agnosticism. I'm encouraging a mixed environment where no platform is dominant and work can be carried out on the best machine for the job. This is a big shift in the way we do things and conceptually is testing for teachers who struggle with the tech we already have. Children, on the other hand already do this without thinking about it, and can and do happily jump from phone to tablet to pc and back again. If we're going to keep them engaged and indeed keep up with them, we'd better get used to this, fast!.

Why do Smart TV UIs suck?

One word.

Mediaportal.

I just LOVE Server 2012, but count me out on Windows 8 for now

Very well said.

I find I agree with absolutely every single word of this article. As a sysadmin myself there is no way I'd roll 8 out as it is. I would, however, if Microsoft took the steps outlined in this excellent post. Again, very well said.

Six months under water and iPhone 4 STILL WORKS

Wet iPhone

I've just renovated an iPhone 4 for my son, that had spent some time in a swimming pool. When I opened the case both moisture detectors were pink and there were water stains on the motherboard and case.

Amazingly it all seems to still be working. Who'd have thought it!

New science: seas will rise due to CO2 ... but not for centuries

Busted were right all along. They really HAD been to the year 3000!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQn93YNHyR0

Codebreakers find evidence for hidden puzzle in GCHQ challenge

Gah! Don't tell me the answer!

I thought it was assembler code and I was building an environment to disassemble it. I was getting there. Might continue now I know the methodology. As an adjuct my grandad worked as a techie at Bletchley Park. He didn't tell anyone until he was in his 70's. Even his wife didn't know!

BT cheerfully admits snooping on customer LANs

Virgin Media too!

To my surprise after upgrading to the 100mb service and having a few initial problems, they did a remote scan of my network. They told me the speed of the lan port of my pc and the speed of the wireless connection. I had just changed the router password so assumed it was secure from probing. I was so surprised I let this go at the time. Maybe I'll follow this up with them now.