Posts by Boothy

If you want a USB thumb drive wiped, try asking an arts student for help

Re: Encrypted drives

There needs to be a proper standard (ISO etc) that defines removable drive encryption.

Make it modular and extendible, i.e. ability to add/update/depreciate algorithms etc.

Add that to the OS, Win/OSX/Linux/iOS/Android etc. Probably as a 3rd party install initially, then as a core OS component later.

Then you'd be able to plug the drive into any machine, and as long as you have the correct credentials/key, you can access the drive.

Perhaps have a read-only option as well i.e. one key/credentials gives full read/write access, another key/credentials gives only read access.

Thinking of buying a Surface? Try a modular OLED Thinkpad first

1366 x 766/768

1366 x 766 <-- Typo in the article?

Irrespective...

<rant>

768 (or less) displays should be consigned to the bin. I've had issues with some standard Windows control panels (including Win 10), not fitting properly on a 768 display (OK/Cancel off the bottom of the screen etc).

And wide screen on a laptop, a BUSINESS laptop, just NO! Wide screen is passable on a laptop that has a separate numeric pas, as they are a bit wider, but not on a standard laptop.

I've no issue with wide screen monitors themselves, but only as a separate display, and only as long as the pixel hight is big enough (i.e. 1200, 1440 +). But in a laptop, it's just wasting lid space.

I've got an old T420 at work, with a widescreen display. and it has wide plastic bands above and below the display, as the screen basically doesn't fit the space available in the lid! Very poor design.

</rant>

Anyone up for a bit of crowd funding to send someone round to all the screen manufacturing plants to <see icon> to all the equipment used to build 768 displays?

Dutch govt says no to backdoors, slides $540k into OpenSSL without breaking eye contact

Quote: You know how the USA is NTSC while much of the world is PAL.

Not sure if you've noticed, but most placed had a bit of a digital switch over a few years back.

Most of the world is now using DVB-T, especially in the developed world, the remaining PAL countries are mostly limited to 2nd or 3rd world ones, with many of those in the process of switching, or at least planning to switch, to DVB-T.

The USA of course, decided to do its own thing, and now uses ATSC rather than NTFS.

Press Backspace 28 times to own unlucky Grub-by Linux boxes

Re: Bah, non-issue

Is that you Hudson?

Who needs CCTV? Get a terrifying slowpoke hoverdrone cam

Re: One step further

Add to that a heavy lift version with a winch, that could pick up the taser'd perps, and quite literally 'drop' them off at the nearest cop shop. :-)

I suddenly imagined local police stations with a chute on the roof, a motion detection camera on the way down to take the picture, and a Wallace and grommet type gadget at the bottom that pops a bright orange overall on them before they land!

Microsoft to OneDrive users: We're sorry, click the magic link to keep your free storage

Re: Gracias

Same here, no email, and I have the 15GB free,15GB Camera roll bonus, and from who knows where, a 10GB Loyalty bonus.

Nokia, ARM, twisting Intel bid to reinvent the TCP/IP stack for a 5G era

@ James 51

Yup, Technically 4G is just a tweaked 3G, and not actually a new generation.

Still running IE10? Not for long, says Microsoft

Re: I have no idea what IE I have

I use a Ninite installer on any new machines, with Chrome (or Firefox if that's your preference), Foxit Reader, and a few other 'default' items.

That way I don't ever have to use IE :-)

Facebook wants a kinder, gentler end for SHA-1

Re: Yes and No

Quote: " If you buy an Android phone that isn't rootable,..."

Or buy a Nexus device.

But otherwise, I think 'disgraceful' is an apt word to describe updating from many vendors.

I've got an LG Gpad tablet(v500), it's just over a year old, and still on 4.4 This despite a Google Play Edition of the same device, getting 5.1 back in April. :-/

Come on LG, extract finger and release 5.1 for the v500s! (or better yet, 6.0.1 which popped up OTA on my 2 year old Nexus 5 yesterday).

Like a version? JDK 9 will point out its own flaws the very first time

Re: Number of digits

Your suggestion has a flaw. Using leading zeros gives you a hard upper limit. 9999 in your case.

A version number is not an arithmetic value. Version numbers don't typically include leading zero's.

i.e. 1.001 is the same as 1.1, and 1.9 would be followed by 1.10

Using this method, without leading zeros, means you have no practical upper limit to minor revisions, therefore meaning that Oracle could release as many security fixes as required (and as we all know, they will be required!).

Google proffers plugs in Android MMS pwnfest

Re: ,or never,

The Android OS should be more like ChromeOS, the same OS irrespective of the devices origin.

You could then do the 'value add', by a simple 'branding on boot' process.

The 'branding' could be a simple zip file containing things like...

* wallpapers

* notification audio files

* manufacturers apps

* Bookmarks

* Device drivers

* Custom settings, including setting defaults, (i.e. use this background/ringtone/home page/app etc).

On first boot (or after a factory reset), the OS simply looks for a 'branding' file (or files). If there isn't one, you get a stock Android, (aka Nexus), if one exists, then during initial boot up, the branding items are applied.

Edit:

Forgot to mention, of course OS updates should be OTA and direct from Google, only the branding component would be produced by the Manufacturer/Carrier, and even then, generated via tools provided by Google.

Wow, what took you so long? Comcast bends net neutrality rules

Doesn't Sky do this?

Doesn't Sky do this in the UK?

Last time I looked, if you have their Broadband, anything you stream or download to your Sky box, isn't counted against your usage allowance.

Report fingers China for assault on Australian weather supercomputer

Why can they even connect to it

Why is this thing even connected directly to the net?

Shouldn't there be some isolation going on here? And not just a Firewall, something like an ESB.

All the users connect to the broker, and it then validates the security and the requests before passing on to the super.

Windows 10 lags 7, 8 … and even Vista in the channel race

Re: Buy 8 to upgrade

Quote: "'win8 with bing' may have severe limitations on what version of win10 you can upgrade to - check very carefully!"

It doesn't matter which version of Win 8.1 (non pro), you have, they all upgrade to Win 10 home.

With 8.1 Pro (inc Pro for students) going to Win 10 Pro.

A quote from http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows-10/upgrade-to-windows-10-faq

From Windows 8.1 edition : Windows 8.1 (Also applies to country specific editions, Windows 8.1 Single Language and Windows 8.1 with Bing)

To Windows 10 edition: Windows 10 Home

Sued for using HTTPS: Big brands told to cough up in crypto patent fight

Why sue the customers/users?

To use an analogy..

If Ford borrowed some tech from GM, and this was added to Fords cars.

Would GM then sue all the people driving those Fords? No, they'd sue Ford.

So why are software patents treated differently?

Shouldn't cryptopeak be suing the software companies that added the allegedly infringing functionality to their software, rather than the clients that are just using the software?

The courts aught to be able to throw these type of requests out, under the guise that the company being sued, is not the author, or the owner of the allegedly infringing software, but just a licensed user.

PS: Just to be clear, I know why cryptopeak doesn't do this, as those real targets could likely fight back, and smaller companies are more likely to just fold. I'm saying that they shouldn't be able/allowed to sue a user, when all they are doing is using software provided by someone else (and for it's intended purpose).

Who owns space? Looking at the US asteroid-mining act

Orbital conglomerates threaten Earth Govs....

Earth Govs, cease all assets of said Orbital conglomerates, including all launch facilities.

Orbital conglomerates attack.

Missile takes out Orbital conglomerates station.

Biggest problem with virtual reality: It can be a little too real for people

Try a different game then

I wasn't keen on 1st person games on the DK2, made me feel a little off :-/

But anything with a cockpit, car, plane, spacecraft and I was fine for hours.

Something to do with a visible cockpit keeping relative to what your brain, rather than sight, thinks you're doing.

We're not killing Chrome OS ... not until 2020, anyway – says Google

Re: Nobody likes change

Quote: "all Google have said is that they will continue to work on Chrome OS for the next few years, so it's clear the have plans to stop."

No it's not clear they will stop, it just means that Google are not willing to second guess what they might decide to do in 5 years time.

Microsoft's 'Arrow' Android launcher flies into Play store

Re: Not Potent

They probably borrowed the formula from the MS team that brought us progress bars in Windows.

10% done - 20 minutes remaining.

25% done - 45 minutes remaining.

50% done - 2 minutes remaining.

75% done - 1,375 minutes remaining.

100% done - (Sits at 100% done for the next 5 minutes!)

Pebble smartwatch finds its voice

..much thirstier than previous Pebbles..

Nope, it just has a smaller battery so they could make a thinner watch.

2 days is still better than most other rival watches.

Also anyone with a Time Steel, can do a straight swap to the new round version if they want style over battery life.

New Nexus 5X, 6P smarties: Google draws a line in the sand

Happy Nexus 5 user here, no plans on replacement any time soon.

It seems a little snappier since 6.0 came out, not that it was slow to begin with. And I like the new per app permission controls.

Microsoft now awfully pushy with Windows 10 on Win 7, 8 PCs – Reg readers hit back

So tonight's tasks once I get home

1. Unplug network from PC just in case.

2. Boot up and make sure my Win 7 updates, hasn't been switched to 'auto' mode (it's always set to notify with no downloading), and fix as needed.

3. Move a few files around, to free up one of the SSDs (the newest one only has about 10GB used on a 256GB drive in slot E: ).

4. Download Debian (or one of the other distribution, not sure which yet).

5. Write Debian to bootable USB, and then install to newly freed up SSD.

6. Set system to dual boot.

7. Grab Steam in Debian, and have some fun.

Hmm, probably add a step before 1, Open beer, or wine, depending on how I feel. -->

At some point later, I might Install Win 7 in a VM under Linux.

Re: Allow the upgrade

When Win 10 is installed over your existing Win 7/8.1, it backs up your existing Windows folder. (It just renames it to .old or something during the 'upgrade').

In Win 10, you just go to the Backup and Recovery options, and under Recovery there is an option to restore the previous OS.

You can only do this for 1 month after installing Win 10, as the Windows backup is removed automatically after 31 days. You'd have to recover from a backup, or do a fresh install of your old OS after that point.

Note, I'm speaking from experience, as I'd gone from Win 7 to Win 10, has some issues which got worse over time, and so restored my Win 7 via the recover route above.

Been back on Win 7 about a week now, and other than reinstalling a couple of things, including the graphics drivers, it's been rock solid, as it always was previously.

Not going to be trying that again any time soon!

AVG defends plans to flog user data as privacy row continues

Bitdefender

As an alternative, I switched to the free version of Bitdefender a while back, after Avasts constant nagging and steady increased bloat.

It seems to consistently scores highly in independent testing, and is very lightweight in installation and system impact.

Re: They lost me years ago

Even Avast is a resource hog now compared to a few years ago.

The constant nagging that can't be disabled finally drove me away about 2 years back.

Using Bitdefender (free) these days, seems to consistently come high in detection ratings, minimal hassle (ideal for the parents), and just gets on with it.

Windows 10 preview on death row, will be executed on Thursday

Win 7 user also (again).

Tried Win 10 on my home built desktop/game rig. (i7 3770k, GTX 780, 16GB RAM yada yada).

System was rock solid with Win 7 64 bit, can't remember the last time I had a blue screen, or needed to hard reset etc.

Tried Win 10 for a couple of weeks. No complaints during install other than stating I needed to reinstall VMWare, and booted up fine. Steam etc ran okay.

A few days later noticed the system would no longer shut-down. Selecting shut-down would start the process, you'd then be greeted by the shut-down screen with the spinning circle of dots, which would sit there for about 10 minutes. Eventually some time-out would kick in, and the system would reset itself, and so start the boot up process back into Windows! Once in Windows, no errors reported. Only way to shut-down was a hard power off, button of death move. Seemed to be some power management issue (unable to switch something off).

After that it was downhill, drivers failing to load properly, HDDs showing as failing (including a new 3TB one), despite being perfectly okay when view with appropriate tools. Constantly spinning up HDDs that were not in use (I run on SSDs, the HDDs are data storage only, with a few VM images that were not in use). Screen lock-ups, inability to recognise some devices on boot (like the keyboard or mouse), devices dropping out, and back in again as if being unplugged, and so on.

Hit the 'Get me the hell out of here' button under Recovery, to restore my Win 7.

Had to re-do a couple of drivers, and some apps that had updated to their Win 10 versions (which didn't play nice under 7). And of course removed and blocked the appropriate Windows updates, to get rid of the annoying Windows 10 branding that was added to Windows Update.

But once done, I'm back on a rock solid Win 7 system again. I have no plans to go to Win 10 any time soon. If I ever do (first time something comes out on Win 10 only, so maybe in 2021), I'll likely dual-boot.

Faked NatWest, Halifax bank sites score REAL security certs

Security Ratings

Places like financial web sites aught to have some form of mandatory security rating.

Something easy to understand for a regular (i.e. non techie) punter, i.e. something along the same lines as the food hygiene ratings you get in restaurants etc. Using a simple zero to 5 rating. That way it would be familiar to anyone who sees it.

The rules would require that this rating was shown nice and large on all registration and logon screen.

Clicking on it would take you to a break down, showing the details of the rating.

Something like that 'should' shame the banks into updating their security.

Add to that rules around dropping below a certain level depending on the services provided.

e.g.

Banks should always aim for a 5 rating.

If a Bank drops to 4, they have x amount of time to get back to 5. (i.e 1 month), before penalties apply.

If a Bank drops to 3, they are no longer allowed to take on new customers, until they are back to 4+, and any losses incurred due to the lax security, are automatically the Banks liability, and cannot be passed onto customers.

and so on.

LASER RAZOR blunted by KickStarter ban

Re: So what is it?

@ DropBear

Erm, nope, it isn't a near final version. By definition it's a first, or early version of a device/application etc.

Here's the formal definition (Oxford Dictionary):

* A first or preliminary version of a device or vehicle from which other forms are developed.

* The first, original, or typical form of something; an archetype.

Google and pals launch Accelerated Mobile Pages project

Re: Some Actual Numbers

@JLV

That's one of my pet peeves, web sites using 3rd parties to provide core functionality.

In my view, all core JS etc should be hosted on the same domain as the site you are looking at.

BAN the ROBOT WHORES, says robot whore expert: 'These AREN'T BARBIES'

Re: Prostitution

NFC surely!

Otherwise known as Pay by bonk!

Laminate this: Inside Argos' ongoing online (r)evolution

Re: Just checked their PC component prices.

and I'll stick with ebuyer or cclonline for components thanks.

API driven integration

Sounds very much like MuleSoft, which I'm currently evaluating to add to our portfolio offerings.

Create an API layer over your applications, thus effectively hiding all the underlying technology (file transfers, MQ, ODBC etc etc). (e.g. Add new employee to HR system, Add new employee to Finance system etc).

Then add a business process API layer over those, that pull your applications together into meaningful business functions (add new employee to all required systems (which then calls the App APIs).

Then your 'experience' (Mules terminology) APIs over these, which you expose externally (mobile apps, partners applications, web sites etc.).

That way you can change your applications (updates, tech refresh, replacement, move to cloud, move to 3rd party etc etc), and it doesn't break your business APIs or the externally facing experience APIs (changes should be transparent to these layers). Although this does mean designing your APIs properly to start with. (i.e. don't add constricting limitations into your APIs, just because that's how the current back-end application works).

These separate API layers are not mandated, just considered best practice (by Mule).

I've come from a more traditional integration background (IBM Message Broker, ESB and Gateway systems, file transfers, MQ etc). API driven integration seems like a refreshing change to me.

Google makes it official: Chrome will freeze Flash ads on sight from Sept 1

Mute!

Mute is your friend.

The only time my mute is off, is when I have headphones plugged in.

Roll up, roll up, as LG launches stealthy Bluetooth keyboard

Promo Vid of it in use

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BOmdKWrBrs

Looks quite nice, and the keyboard isn't bad either ;-)

You'll LITERALLY PAY for getting tricked into visiting these scam sites

Cool off period

Payment systems like these, and other similar type, aught to have a cool down period.

User 'pays', and money is deducted from 'account' by the processing company. User gets notified.

Money only transferred from processing company to service provider/scammer after x number of days.

People report the scam to the processing company (perhaps via phone company), they investigate.

If the complain is valid, the service provider refunds money, before it gets to the scammer.

If the investigation shows the whole service is a scam, rather than just one or two user issues, then all payments made to it are automatically cancelled, and all details used by the service provider to create the account (their bank details etc). are passed to appropriate authorities.

If the service providers don't agree to do this voluntarily, then bring in legislation.

Intel emits Skylake CPUs for gamers, overclockers (Psst, you'll need new RAM and a new mobo)

Re: 4k over HDMI 1.4?

Yup, 1.4 is limited to 24hz, it needs to be HDMI 2 for 60hz @ 4k.

Hopefully this is just a typo, as HDMI 2.0 has been out since 2013, so why would you bring a new chip out that only does 1.4, especially if you expect to support 60hz @ 4k, which needs 2.0.

Re: Cooling is going to be fun with 95W!

I've got an (now quite old) i7 3770k (77W), Corsair Hydro cooler, and happily running at 4.3GHz without issue (stock speed is 3.5).

The Hydro was easier to fit than an air cooler (compared to a larger 120mm one), and runs cooler and quieter than anything I've used previously.

Don't think I'll be switching any time soon, there doesn't seem to be any gain with these newer CPUs.

Microsoft Edge web browser: A well-presented mea culpa

Re: Google docs, what about Office 365?

Wonder what it's like with Sharepoint?

'Fix these Windows 10 Horrors': Readers turn their guns on Redmond

Re: No mention of Double Extensions?

One of the first changes I do on any Windows system I use/install is to switch of the 'Hide extensions for known file types".

It's a feature/option that to me, shouldn't even exist in the OS, let alone be enabled by default!

Re: 3D buttons

Would be nice if they could add a Skin/Theme option, that changes more than just things like font sizes, and colours.

Would be especially good if it was via an open API, so people could home brew, and add them to the Store, or as a direct download.

I'd be curious to see how popular the Win 7, or Win XP themes were :-)

Bloke cuffed for blowing low-flying camera drone to bits with shotgun

I did a bit of quick googling, as far as I can see, in the USA, normal private property owns all rights to the immediate airspace above the property, up to 500 feet.

So anything entering that airspace without permission, is trespassing.

He shot it with bird shot, which has quite a limited effective range,

In the US, 500 feet above your property is considered private airspace, if the drone was above 500 feet, it would have been out of range of the bird shot, so the fact it was shot down over his property, means it must have been under 500 feet to be in range, and so therefore was trespassing.

Re: Na Na Nana Na @ShadowDragon8685 PRIVATE AIRSPACE!

The airspace above a private property is owned by the property owner (up to a point, where it becomes public airspace).

Any aircraft, or drone etc. that is flying below the public airspace is technically trespassing, irrespective of their reason.

So when they flew the drone over the persons garden/yard, they were breaking the law.

Quote: "Actually, a homeowner normally DOES possess air rights to the space..."

If that's the case across the USA, then I guess the drone itself was trespassing, and so was effectively 'asking for it'.

Re: Let the arms race begin...

He apparently loaded bird shot, specifically because he was using it in a built up area.

Google turns cookie monster on AdSense, DoubleClick clients

Re: Cookies now non negotiable...

You should still be able to use the site without cookies, just some of the functionality (visible or hidden) might not work, or at least might not work as well as it should.

Speed freak: Kingston HyperX Predator 480GB PCIe SSD

Re: Smaller and cheaper

€40 is around £28, starting price for SSDs is around £25 for 30GB, so within your budget. Although I suspect a lot of these are probably old stock.

Although if you want better value for money (i.e. £ per GB), £50 will get you a faster 120GB drive.

Half the price per GB and I'll probably get one.

Still a bit pricey for use at home, at least for me (unless your a money bags of course).

The 480GB version works out at around 79p per GB.

Same size SATA SSDs are ~30p per GB range. (although of course limited speed to around 550MB/s).

So currently, these are 2-3 times the price per GB, to give you 2-3 times the speed of a SATA SSD.

As a comparison, SATA SSDs were around the same 79 Pence per GB in late 2011/early 2012. So hopefully these will drop to 25p per GB (or less) by 2018.

Get the price down to around 55p per GB (so mid to late 2016?), and I might be tempted.

BONK! BONK! Windows 10 whack-a-mole – Microsoft still fixing bugs

See icon.... -->

Same here.

I have a Laptop that will act as the sacrificial lamb guinea pig, for initial testing, see if it breaks access to my network shares (BSD box), or anything else first.

My main PC, a desktop (i7 gaming rig, Steam etc), will remain on Win 7 64 bit for the time being, at least until I've seen a few 'all clear' type forum and blog posts etc.