Posts by auburnman

Snowden 'ready to return to US', claims lawyer

Re: petur Fair trial

"All while the cameras are conveniently pointed the other way."

At least when the cameras are rolling they (sometimes) put the guns away and completely legally choke you to death on film.

Mummy, what's the point of Evgeny Morozov's tedious columns?

Re: motivation

Perhaps Worstall was due to submit a column to el Reg, and was a bit stuck for content?

£280k Kickstarter camera trigger campaign crashes and burns

Another problem with Kickstarter is the urge to tack on features that haven't been properly time/cost budgeted for to shore up a project that looks like it won't meet the funding goal. I backed a videogame way back in the mists of time that was initially to be iOS only after they pledged to do a PC version.

That PC version came out this week, months behind the mobile stuff and 'slightly' behind the projected ship date of Sep '13. Having said that I feel quite lucky that I got a product at all as I do acknowledge the risk of Kickstarted projects.

Hillary Clinton draws flak for using personal email at State Dept

If she really wasn't given a state.gov address, the one of the most senior Officers of the state would have been unable to do her job effectively; sounds close enough to an emergency for me.

Tinder Plus charges oldies MORE to ogle young hotties' pics

Re: NSFW

Perhaps el Reg are choosing the photos based on Lusty's browsing profile...

Chasing pennies, Sony, Microsoft and smartphone biz rivals retreat to mid-range

This crash was on the cards the second Quad-core processors and other properly tasty tech started appearing on the lower end handsets. Once 'settling' for a budget mobe didn't feel like settling at all, the 'high end' (non Apple) phones were bound to start piling up. Then retailers have to sell them cheap to get shot, meaning the average quality of cheaper phones goes up and there's even less reason to shell out big bucks for the latest Flagship products.

End in sight for Google, Apple, Intel and Adobe wage-fixing lawsuit

Is Lucy Koh the only Judge in the whole of California or something? She seems to handle every single lawsuit we hear about.

I, ROBOT ~ YOU, MORON. How else will automated news work?

Re: Automated News Works to XSSXXXX is a Novel HyperRadioProActive Market Weapon

I like how our resident robot has strong opinions on robots writing news. Can't tell what those opinions are, but I guess that's par for the course.

Revival of fortune: Mad Catz Mojo Android gaming micro console

Re: I like my Ouya... he says, sheepishly.

I used the Play store long before I gave my credit card details, because there are thousands of free and ad-supported apps and putting in credit card details is a step that you can skip if you want. This isn't the case for OUYA, and the mandatory cc (or other electronic financial instrument) was only revealed AFTER people had backed OUYA.

Anyone know if the OUYA has cleaned up it's act since the lacklustre launch? Mine has been gathering dust pretty much since the day they forced you to enter credit card details at setup.

NO ONE is making money from YouTube, even Google – report

Re: Give them a bit of time

I'd almost be tempted to pay them if I could just see a listing of decently time ordered new videos from my subscriptions as soon as I go there instead of whatever mental shit is trending/being pushed today.

Financial break even is still a win for Google. Every time someone searches Youtube it reveals something about their preferences that has the potential to increase advertising revenue, across all their platforms if the user is logged into a profile. It's not all cats and pratfalls, there are tons of product demos, repair instructions and the like that are being exploited.

Also I'm sure there are plenty of people making money on YT. Look at the new generation of gamers & game reviewers for a start. (Although how long they will stay on Youtube if Google keeps strong-arming the content creators is uncertain.)

C’mon Lenovo. Superfish hooked, but Pokki Start Menu still roaming free

Has El Reg tried to get the ICO or the Computer Crime Squad to weigh in with an opinion on this?

I hope this keeps kicking off...

Let's pray that this issue continues blowing up to the point that the corporates see bundling shiteware as a realistic threat to their market share. Ideally someone with deep pockets would sue Lenovo for aiding interception of communications or somesuch.

MP resigns as security committee chair amid 'cash-for-access' claims

Re: resignation

He hasn't resigned resigned, in the typically understood sense of the word. He's just stood down as head honcho of a committee (which he remains on.) Even though he is suspended from his party he will remain a salary drawing MP.

In fact technically speaking MP's can't resign from their jobs due to some outdated legal bollocks from centuries ago when being an MP was so unpopular people had to be press-ganged into doing it. There are a couple of Offices of the Crown kept specifically as get-out-of-job-free cards because holding such a position disqualifies you from serving in the House of Commons.

Burning Man hackers get burnt

Re: The burn

Ah, T in the Park. Where you go to Q in the Rain and P in the Dark.

The finest weird people in the world live here, and we're proud of it

"nature preserve built on a nuclear disposal site"

Some of the biggest natural areas on the planet are areas like these, specifically because we have fucked them up beyond human habitation which makes our interference almost inherently guaranteed. See this, Chernobyl, and the divide in Korea that has landmines up the arse.

So long, Lenovo, and no thanks for all the super-creepy Superfish

Re: What is it with advertisers?

The problem is, advertising DOES work. Granted, it doesn't work 99.9% of the time, but that inane bombardment is the price we all pay for the 0.1%.

The key is it only works where a decision was going to be made (or close to being made) anyway, e.g. I don't know what I'm having for tea tonight and I cannot be arsed making anything - oh hey, I've got a flyer from the new pizza place in my letterbox. Or - I really should invest in a new car soon - hey, the new VW Polo is under ten grand.

To put it another way, advertising is temptation trying to find a moment of weakness. But because marketers know practically nothing about you for all their profiling and demographic 'work', the carpet bomb approach is all they have to go with at the moment. Which is why Facebook and Google are frantically trying to get you to give up every last piece of data about yourself - they are convinced there is a 'Holy Grail' of advertising somewhere in that information that will allow them to deliver ads only to eyeballs that are most likely to be receptive.*

*Suddenly occurs to me this is why Google became one of the corporate Goliaths so quickly - you can't not tell Google about what you are interested in if you use their services because telling Google what you want is an inherent part of the search service. If I'm Googling around for a red bomber jacket, Google can't not discover I'm currently interested in clothes even if they wanted to.

Kyocera: Torque among yourselves on our unbreakable ruggedmobe

I read "Icons are designed to be used with gloves" from which I took 'The pictures will be nice and big'. If I'm missing something there please enlighten me.

Any word on whether it's expected to be bloatware free? To commit to the rugged route it would be nice if it was stock Android - no bottleneck on software updates and no processes that you never use constantly nickel and diming the processor/battery in the background.

Back seat drivers fear lead-footed autonomous cars, say boffins

Re: good distances between cars is just good for overall traffic flow

Can't see them 'not wasting road space' except if we ever get round to dedicated convoys/special lanes. Most of the safety gap is braking distance anyway, so why would the manufacturers take on the struggle of pushing for exceptions to the rules when they're already embroiled in getting them on the road at all? Driverless cars may negotiate routes and share information with each other, but I can't see them basing real-time (non-emergency) driving decisions on that just from a liability standpoint.

Re: Roller coasters

I can't see any autocar maker programming in safe distances that are less than the human ones. Even if it's demonstrably true that the autocars can handle it, this would likely mean fights with insurance companies, the Highway code authority (or regional equivalent) and ambulance chasers all at the same time. and regardless of the safety factor, good distances between cars is just good for overall traffic flow.

Keyless vehicle theft suspects cuffed after key Met Police, er, 'lockdown'

Re: Old-school tech

Weren't they as good as a sign saying "Please smash my window" if you parked in the wrong area? Could be wrong but I thought that and built-in immobilisers led to their decline.

Basic minimum income is a BRILLIANT idea. Small problem: it doesn't work as planned

Re: What about inflation?

"Seems to me the government pours money in because of the British obsession with property."

Why is wanting to own your own home called an 'obsession' by so many people? If you can afford the mortgage or get assistance via rent-to-buy etc it is lunacy to pay rent when you could instead slowly be buying up an asset that will be a great boon when you're older. Not to mention not being at the whim of a landlord jacking up the rent or selling the property when your lease comes up for renewal.

We'll ask GCHQ to DELETE records of 'MILLIONS' of people – Privacy International

Catch-22

GCHQ probably consider requesting the deletion of your records enough to make you a 'person of interest' and therefore your records can be retained.

Assange's cop chaperones have cost £10 MEEELLION to date

If plod seriously have spent that much on him someone needs to be fired for negligence. Methinks they've probably got a few bobbies on the beat on round the clock with maybe some CCTV backup exclusively assigned to him, and there's a crack London Rapid Response Team that would be on standby anyway being charged to the Assange case in hopes the government can be swicked into footing the bill for it.

Win! The Ultimate Cash 'n' Carrion Survival Kit

Said with love...

Do you mean "Come get the shite we couldn't shift in the 20% off Sale?"

Google gets my data, I get search and email and that. Help help, I'm being REPRESSED!

Re: Not so fast

"Hard to believe somebody could write that without irony."

With you there. When Tim got to actually using taxation as an example of a 'voluntary transaction' I had to wonder if he's trying to troll us. While I'm sure you could voluntarily dodge tax, I'm pretty sure there are consequences for not doing so...

Who's come to fix your broadband? It may be a Fed in disguise. Without a search warrant

The story not being covered here is that the FBI thought they could get away with submitting a warrant with "false and misleading statements" after the fact. How serious were the false statements, is there any body that has real oversight over the FBI?

Web daddy Tim Berners-Lee calls for net neutrality in Europe

“Imagine if a new start-up or service provider had to ask permission from or pay a fee to a competitor before they could attract customers? This sounds a lot like bribery or market abuse - but it is exactly the type of scenario we would see if we depart from net neutrality.”

I think I might have to try to memorise this quote - it's the most succinct and thought provoking version of the Neutrality argument I've heard so far.

Death becomes it: Grim Fandango Remastered

Re: Tank controls?

In traditional modern controls, pushing down on the controller makes the character walk toward the screen and up sends them into the background, left is left and right is right obviously. With tank controls, up and down are forward and reverse respectively and L and R rotate your character.

It's a pain in the arse because walking a complex path goes from left-right-down-left-right to UP-ROTATE-UP-ROTATE-UP-ROTATE-UP-ROTATE-UP

Obama's budget packs HUGE tax breaks for poor widdle tech giants

Re: Implement a 'Stagnation' tax

(@ codejunky)

Where did I say I blamed Apple? All I'm saying is I would have been interested in seeing what would happen with taking a loan to pay a dividend over time in a world where the government was in a position to stick to it's guns? Would the other corporates have followed suit? (Probably) How long would this be sustainable if there were no tax holidays?(Dunno)

I'm making no judgement about the cost of returning money home because frankly I don't know if it's too high.

Where is money hoarded?

Ireland

It also seems to me that Ireland is a recurring word whenever the discussion turns to dubious tax arrangements. Can anyone think of an incentive that could get the Emerald Isle to toughen up on tax?

Implement a 'Stagnation' tax

If the various governments weren't gagging for cash and could afford to wait longer, they could implement a tax that ticks upward by (say) 1% for each year profits sit in an offshore location doing nothing. It wouldn't be too hard to argue hoarding money weakens the dollar and the general economy and should therefore be levied.

Unfortunately the government(s) are clearly and publicly too poor to play brinksmanship. If they had the funds to stand their ground, I'd be interested to see what the big corporates did. Particularly Apple, I seem to recall they took out a loan to pay a dividend* so they didn't have to repatriate any money?

*Which in my opinion should have been stamped on before it was allowed to set a precedent.

Drunk on Friday night? Then YOU probably DIDN'T spot Facebook's privacy tweak

Re: Please, do explain

"What do you have to block specifically to get all of them?"

If you have a dig* through the 'El Reg Redesign' in the El Reg matters forum someone posts exactly what to add to adblock to hide the pictures.

*And I do mean dig, the thread has more than a thousand comments,** hence I'm not looking for you.

**Mostly pleas to rollback the horrible redesign to Classic El Reg

Microsoft 'showers gold' on anti-Google Cyanogen and its Android alternative

That'll please Google

Saves them from funding Cyanogen like they do with Firefox. Keeping another player in the game should help to keep the various competition commissions away for a bit.

'YOUTUBE is EVIL': Somebody had a tape running, Google...

Re: @auburnman The new man

Any competitor that has a UI that isn't total shit has a chance, but the tricky part is getting momentum. It would likely need marketing/backing from someone like Amazon or Facebook, or a load of content creators rebelling at once. I mention the last one as I can see it as a possibility in the not too distant future; many game reviewers have videos slamming Youtube's overreaching policies and automatic takedowns that assume guilt on the part of the Youtuber.

Re: The new man

The thing about Google at the minute is it's a dominant force in search - but it has very low lock-in for the average guy in the street. If they keep on this path of screwing content creators and burning goodwill they could be in for a massive disruptive shock.

To take Youtube as an example, there is nothing stopping a rival video service gaining massive traction overnight. If my favourite Youtubers were to rebel en masse and defect to some new service started by Amazon or NetFlix for example I'd follow them in a heartbeat - beyond the content it hosts there is nothing keeping me loyal to Youtube.*

*And even a fair few reasons that would push me to switch - the video player itself is good, but the rest of Youtube's layout can be a confusing PITA

The issue is not that copyright is weak; try telling that to Disney who still retain Mickey after god knows how long.

The issue is that it's becoming nigh impossible for a regular Joe/Jane to interact with massive international organisations on anything other than their terms. Whether it's cutting a deal you can live off for your music or suing them for just taking your stuff without permission, it will always be an uphill battle against an entity that can afford dozens of lawyers and scores of employees to deal with your case if they don't feel like backing down.

SamSUNK! Korean giant's electronics biz takes punch to the smartphone profits

5. Pull out of the anorexia wars and stop trying to make the latest model thinner than Apple's. Make it light enough to hold but hefty enough you don't accidentally fling it when moving. Make up the weight with a BIGGER BATTERY.

HMRC fails to plan for £10.4bn contract exit... because it's 'too risky'

Re: just remember...

~A corporation needs to be efficient to exist - unless their customer is a government.

Dark Fibre: Reg man plunges into London's sewers to see how pipe is laid

I was about to ask what a fatberg was; then I worked it out and immediately wished I hadn't.

Landlines: The tech that just won't die

I would speculate that because your mobile can go abroad there's a risk to the scammers of accidentally running up hefty international charges.

Is it humanly possible to watch Gigli and Battlefield Earth back-to-back?

I remember going to see the original 'Night at the museum' in the cinema. It was absolutely droll but I couldn't walk out as I needed to wait for a lift home. Halfway through I went to the bogs, on the way back I started checking the other screens to see if there was anything we could switch to. Unfortunately the only other thing on the go was some dire Jessica Simpson vehicle.

Re: Victor Meldrew

As a completely off topic aside, I liked my first mobile phone number because it ended in 4291 and was thus much easier to memorise.

Google spent record cash lobbying Congress in 2014 – report

You've had No Taxation without Representation, now it's time for No Representation without Taxation.

Tax Lobbying at 500% for companies, 1000% for companies with Parent company headquarters in an offshore tax Haven.

Pull up the Windows 10 duvet and pretend Win8 and Vista were BAD DREAMS

I have to say Microsoft's tick tock has been less Feature expand, consolidate than GUI replace, OH SHIT RETREAT over the last couple of iterations.

'It's NOT FAIR!' yell RICH KIDS ... and that's a GOOD THING

It's not necessarily spite to refuse a weighted split; it could be a matter of saving face, or the second person might place a higher value on having a reputation of rebuffing unfair deals than the trivial amount at stake.

Lloyds supplier payments TITSUP: What, you want money from a bank?

And you expect them to pay that? They wont. What's that? You'll take them to court if they don't? I hope you sent your invoices recorded delivery and had an independent witness verify the invoices were correct in the format you sent, because if you can't prove when you sent correct invoices you can't prove they were paid late. I would love if this was not the case, but reality isn't so kind.

Unfortunately that's more hassle than it's worth in the vast majority of cases. When you're desperate to get the cashflow in, tacking additional charges on is not a good idea as it WILL increase delays - the law being on your side doesn't stop them fucking you over.