Posts by Ross R

BT at last coughs to 'major outage' after broadband went titsup across UK on Sat

Re: Wasn't a DNS issue...

Same here. Was using google DNS and had problems on some sites. Traceroutes to said sites stopped in BT's core network.

Unrootable: Mash these bits together to get a CLASSIFIED spyphone

Are you sure?

"billions of units shipped each year"

Really? A quick search found that in the second quarter of 2012, only 419 million mobile devices were sold world wide.

Oracle offers tiny tools for pint-sized Java devices

Let me know when they get it to fit into 8KB of RAM. Until then , I'll keep using C.

NASA's nuclear Mars tank prepares for high pucker-factor landing

Updating parameters during the landing

Last minute changes are somewhat limited. If something unexpected happens, it will be at least 3 minutes before any earthlings know about it. It will then take at least another 3 minutes for any changes to be transmitted to the craft. From entering the atmosphere, to touchdown is less than 7 minutes.

Met bobbies get CSI kit to probe perps' mobes

" the amount coming off phones is doubling annually – but the stuff being pulled off PCs and other IT kit seized by the fuzz is growing exponentially"

Doubling annually is also growing exponentially.

Germans increase office efficiency with 'cloud ceiling'

What Mr Jones said.

A few days in far too short a time to see if there is a lasting effect.

Cruel new punishment for hackers: Twitter, Facebook bans

I'm just guessing here, but I think there may be a touch of sarcasm to the headline.

Boffins one step closer to Terminator vision

I don't see this working.

Try reading some text without scanning your eyes along it.

Unless they are also going to track the movement of your eyeballs and keep the image fixed?

Telefonica, Verizon ready VMware schizophones

Pile of phones

I don't see the idea of a pool of phones for a household working for two reasons:

1) Syncing data. Sure it can be done, but it doesn't come for free.

2) No real advantage. Why would the man of the house want to facilitate his daughter taking the best phone and leaving him with something cheap and pink?

Samsung demands iPhone 4S ban in Japan and Oz

Agreed, but the same can be said for pretty much all patents.

When was the last time you read a patent and thought "Ooh, that's clever!"?

Man charged in nude celebrity hacking case

Whatever the US equivalent of the Computer Misuse Act is.

Yes, there is some fail on the part of the celebs.

Yes, there is some fail on the part of the e-mail providers.

Yes, 121 years seems excessive.

An easy to commit crime, is still a crime though. Or are you saying that if you drop your car keys outside your house, your car is fair game?

Sutter: C++11 kicks old-school coding into 21st century

New Book

It's not by Stroustrup, but The C++ Primer Plus, Sixth Edition is due to be published next week and covers the new standard. It's 1200 pages!

Would you let your car insurer snoop on you for a better deal?

"wrong lane"

It depends on your definition of "wrong lane". In reality the answer is always "it depends" and that is the problem.

Often, arriving at the end of a motorway on ramp at under 50mph is downright dangerous. Sometimes it is entirely appropriate.

Perhaps the author should have chosen a better example. Here are a few suggestions of risky driving behaviours that this box will not spot:

Tailgating

Undertaking

Putting on makeup whilst driving

Driving at night with no lights on

Driving with insufficient tread on tires

Driving with a dirty or cracked windscreen

Driving the wrong way on a dual carriageway

Disobeying turning restrictions

Overloading your vehicle

Playing on your PSP whilst driving

Inappropriate use of indicators

Blinding oncoming traffic with full beam headlights

Using the wrong lane at a roundabout

Mounting the curb

Need I go on?

London 2012 Olympics: 17000 athletes, 11000 computers

The Hadid swimming pool from the side... "One of the most complicated engineering feats ever undertaken."

Whilst the roof might be a moderately complex structure I hardly think this ranks along side the Astute class submarine, the LHC or the Burj Khalifa.

Geeks chip in to fund nerd's space station gizmo launch

Meh

Why not just make it a smartphone app? Oh wait a minute - the official NASA app already tracks the ISS, and a whole lot more.

Whilst I can understand the appeal of a dedicated object, I wouldn't pay for it.

1-in-3,200 chance* that a fiery satellite chunk will hit someone on Friday

It would have had no where near enough fuel to do that. To escape our gravity pool it would probably have to increase its speed from about 8km/s to 11km/s. Don't forget, that kinetic energy is proportional to speed squared. It also had a lot of help to get to 8km/s, in the form of a much bigger launch rocket.

Irishman's coke-packed abdomen poses for police

Perfectly Believable

"Maria Full of Grace" is a rather educational film, especially the extras. Goes into intimate detail about this type of drug smuggling. Not for those with a week stomach. Some of the cast have even been involved in the industry.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0390221/

LOHAN to suck mighty thruster as it goes off, in a shed

The first phase of assent will be by balloon. The rocket is the second phase. So yes, the pressure drop will be pretty gradual. The whole point of the test is that the rocket will not be fired from ground level.

Malware burrows deep into computer BIOS to escape AV

"Because the BIOS is stored on a ROM, or read-only-memory chip, modifications have the potential to render a computer largely inoperable."

Thanks, but I know what ROM stands for. I also know what EEPROM stands for. I even know the difference between the two.

What I fail to understand is the connection between the type of memory used and rendering the computer largely inoperable. How would a BIOS stored in SRAM fare any better?

That's what they want you to think. NGSCB/Palladium's purpose is to save Sony the trouble of installing a rootkit on your machine.

Does Cameron dare ditch poor-bashing green energy?

It's even worse than that

It's not unusual for all of Europe to be without usable wind for a week.

I rather like the look of wind turbines. My only problem with them is I don't believe they can meet our energy needs. That makes them a non-starter regardless of costs.

Here lies /^v.+b$/i

Have you considered...

... Intercal or one of its variants?

On a (slightly) more serious note... you could use Whitespace* to incorporate two programs in one. The engraver might struggle though.

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitespace_(programming_language)

Explaining the Chocolate Factory's Patent Panic

Re: Satan

No, it's obviously a handbag!