Posts by diodesign

Tiny, invisible EXTRATERRESTRIAL INVADERS appear at South Pole

Re: Why didn't the writer explain the title?

Clue is in "originated from outside the Solar System".

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Huge horde of droids whacks code box GitHub in password-guess attack

Re: Actually, there are no unhappy SVN users because of this

"GitHub is a completely different source contrgol system to SVN"

Spoken like a true Git user ;-) ;-)

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Nvidia, AMD tout 12GB GPUs for supers ... But ONE question remains

Re: The word "ceepie-geepie"

Anyone who programmed on Acorn RISC OS will know the syscall OS_GBPB.

Aka "OS heebie-jeebie"

riscosopen.org/wiki/documentation/show/OS_GBPB

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'I'm BIG, I'm BALD and I'm LOUD!' Blubbering Ballmer admits HE was Microsoft's problem

Re: "Shy and retiring Ballmer "

We're here to entertain :-)

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Sony's new PlayStation 4 and open source FreeBSD: The TRUTH

Re: Another win for the open-source world

I appreciate the point. Yet, that's the licence FreeBSD has and its contributors must be aware of. I license my code under the 2-clause BSD agreement and it's just one of the things you gotta accept. People can and will lift your code, and you get a tiny credit. If don't like it, use something (IMHO aggressive) like the GPL or keep the code to yourself.

If I was a FreeBSD contributor, and saw my code in a machine that's likely to sell like hotcakes, I might well be a little pleased (and find time to update the CV). Maybe we should drop the FreeBSD guys a note..

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Cocky Microsoft strokes soft tool in public for 3D printing on Windows 8.1

Re: XXX title

"somewhat sexist"

Hi fairly new reader. No sexism here, headline has nothing whatsoever to do with the spokesperson - plus, we're equally rude about everyone and everything. Stick around and you'll see :-)

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True fact: Britain is losing its brains

Re: Talking of Brain drains

Considering just the staff reporters and editors... TTBOMK the UK office has 13 editorial staff, all Brits except two. US office has 6 staff, three of which are American. Oz has two Australians and there's two Brits in Spain.

So that's 16 out of 23. But I could be wrong because I (as non-HR) don't know for certain people's country of origin. So I'm just guessing. Plus we have plenty of freelancers who are mostly UK based and are probably British. So I don't know why I posted...

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Microsoft, Cisco: RC4 encryption considered harmful, avoid at all costs

Good question

Try using www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/, put in a URL, check the protocol and ciphers in list of preference. If your browser and the server can agree on a strong cipher, you're cooking on gas.

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POWER SOURCE that might END humanity's PROBLEMS: A step forward

Re: You can buy fusion reactors...

"Or possibly 'net power producing'"

Yes, yes. That's what we meant but did not say. I've tweaked the footnote. Don't forget to email corrections@thereg next time you spot anything, so we can take a look immediately.

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Google grants cloud servers IMMORTALITY (during maintenance)

Re: Sub heading is wrong...

Well, we meant if the data center under maintenance explodes... but if it's confusing, I'll change it to something sarcastic.

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Forget invisible kittens, now TANKS draped in INVISIBILITY CLOAK

Re: Why boffins?

"why does every article in the Register related to science (that I've seen) refer to the researchers as 'boffins'"

Because that's our style. And rather than quote some random thing off the internet, let's look at the actual dictionary (OED):

"a person engaged in scientific or technical research: a person with knowledge or a skill considered to be complex or arcane".

That's it. No scorn. It is a term of endearment :-)

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Facebook makes Adobe fans change their horrible, horrible passwords

Re: No salt?

More than that: plenty of gaffes by Adobe that made it easy to recover the plaintext. Then Facebook just had to run each plaintext through its own algos to check against its database.

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Martian MOM LAYS another EGG in SPACE - but it's not big enough

Re: That's not a slingshot!

I've tweaked the article.

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Oooh! My NAUGHTY SKIRT keeps riding up! Hello, INTERNET EXPLORER

Re: As a note

"a lot of anime fans have a weird hatred of calling anime cartoons"

I appreciate your point. I'll be the first to say, as a former print graphic designer, that every frame of a top-flight anime is a work of art. But hey, we're blunt about everything. El Reg is an equal opportunities sneerer ;-)

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Google 'fesses up: Yup, we're KILLING OFF IE9 support for Gmail, Apps

Re: Really? No choice but more MS products?

"IE 9 users have no choice but to upgrade to IE 10 or 11?"

Stop and think for a second. If you're using IE9, one presumes there's something beyond your control stopping you from using non-MS browsers.

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Microsoft in a TIFF over Windows, Office bug that runs code hidden in pics

Re: How? Why?

It'll be more complex than that. A specially crafted TIFF file will trigger a bug that causes the malicious code to be copied into memory. Then a series of techniques are pulled off to guide the processor into executing that code in memory - see the MS blog post for a bit more info on this.

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Galaxy is CRAMMED with EARTH-LIKE WORLDS – also ALIENS (probably)

Re: BOFFINS: BILLIONS OF EARTH-LIKE LIFE-FRIENDLY ALIEN WORLDS IN GALAXY

"proper English"

It is a proper word. It's in the dictionary. Do not pass Go. Do not collect...

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The Schmidt hits the Man: NSA spying on Google servers? 'OUTRAGEOUS!'

"Please find someone over the age of 12 to write your headlines."

First, bartenders, now readers wanna check my ID. Sheesh.

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HP 100TB Memristor drives by 2018 – if you're lucky, admits tech titan

Re: minor error

"7450 can have 240 SSDs / 96TB on the data sheet"

You're right [PDF] so I've adjusted the article. Thanks - but please, next time, use [e-mail] - we get those emails immediately to our desks, home machines and handhelds whereas there's no guarantee we can read every single comment :-)

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Cisco: We'll open-source our H.264 video code AND foot licensing bill

Re: Open source... binary only download. Hu?

"binary only download"

No one has said that. Cisco says it will release the source. If you use it, it'll cover the bill.

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Re: x264/FFMEG

And who pays the royalties on using that?

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Seagate: Fibre Channel? RAID? SATA? File System? All RUBBISH

Re: Re: What an F'ing stupid idea!

No harm done; you're welcome to post. We just encourage people to declare affiliations otherwise we'd be overrun in every story with PR folks posting anonymous comments.

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Re: Re: What an F'ing stupid idea!

"I think Seagate is not stupid and that Kinetic is absolutely awesome!!!!!"

Just as a point of order, this is Joe Fagan, senior director of Cloud Initiatives EMEA, Seagate.

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Surface Pro 2: It's TOOL-PROOF and ultimately destined for LANDFILL

Re: Don't be a shill for ifixit

"Why can't the Register do a bit more reporting and editorializing, rather than just rephrasing a press release?"

Hi, welcome to the website. Thanks for the wonderful comment. Maybe we just like gory pics of dismantled electronics. Oh, in fact, yes, that's the reason why.

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IBM thrusts mighty cloud erection at US gov after Amazon beds CIA spies

Re: Losers

Hi and welcome to the site: poking fun at tech is what we do. And no, life isn't about page views.

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OAR-some! 18ft SEA SERPENT discovered off US coast

Re: ENORMO 18-FOOT SEA SERPENT found DEAD by bio-boffin

"Your headlines have to be composed by some tabloid geek."

Yes, that's me. I'm paid to do it, and I'm proud of it :) Tabloid but brainy.

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All cool kids' phones run ALTERNATIVE alternative custom Android ROM

Re: footnotes

"Please stop. We are not idiots."

Thing is, we're not patronising our readers with these extra explanations. We're always seeking to expand our readership for obvious reasons, but it's a fine balance between making ourselves accessible while not dumbing down.

So if you find yourself reading something you already know, then brilliant, you're clever: but not everyone's the same and we want The Reg to entertain (and inform) as many people as possible.

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Ex-Sun journalist charged with handling a stolen mobile phone

Re: Usual stitch up then

"Right to a fair trial would be no information available to the public until after the trial"

PS: Read The Trial by Kafka. Proceedings shrouded in secrecy mean you'll never be able to guarantee your right to fair trial.

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Re: Usual stitch up then

"then going on to make the charge sheet and the name of the person charged publicly available and planting the seed of guilt"

In the overwhelming majority of cases, adult criminal charge sheets are a matter of public record (speaking as a former court press reporter who used them to fill in columns of space on newsprint). And it's made clear these are all allegations and, of course, as a right-thinking Briton you know that everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

It sounds harsh to run someone's details so early on during proceedings just because they've been charged, but without publicly available information our judicial system would dissolve into a Kafkaesque nightmare.

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Uh-oh Google Glassholes: Sugar daddy Intel strokes HUD goggles upstart

Re: make hopeless geeks look totally ridiculous

"You'd kind of hope a technology site would be a little more forward thinking"

I'm surprised that it's not completely apparent by now that we are, by and large, a collection of colossal cynics.

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Thorium and inefficient solar power? That's good enough for me

Re: I think you'll find...

Yes, Tim meant breakfast. It's been fixed. Please don't forget to email corrections@theregister if you spot something like this or we may not see it.

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BOOGIE BALLMER: Steve Dirty Dances at tearful Microsoft leaving do

I'd have actually paid money to see that leaving performance. What a mind-trip that would have been.

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Is this the silicon chip KILLER? Boffins boot up carbon-nanotube CPU

Re: Mistake?

"the CNT gates are around 9 mircons in size"

You're right, oops: the gates in this chip are about 8um but the tech doesn't have to stop there. As I understand it, 9nm CNT gates are possible. I've tweaked the wording to reflect this.

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Bill Gates: Yes, Ctrl-Alt-Del salute was a MISTAKE

Re: Confused

AIUI hitting the keys triggers a normal interrupt as usual (there's nothing special about it) but (at least today) the winlogin process is hooked low into the system (user32.dll) to pounce on the c-a-d sequence and do its thing before any other software can get a look in.

This last point is important: you want to know that stuff you're seeing on-screen (eg, username and password prompt) is from official, trusted software and not a bogus application pretending to be the winlogin process.

I've added some links if that helps.

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Look out, world! HP's found a use for Autonomy - rescuing Win XP bods

Re: I prefer my ads...

Not an ad. We'll leave it to readers to weigh up the merits of using Autonomy software and HP's own servers.

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Ye Bug List

Re: Server not found - Firefox can't find the server at forums.theregister.co.uk.

What's your DNS server/settings? What's your ISP? Is this all from the same internet connection, or even when you move between home/office/college/whatever?

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Shopping list for Tesco: Eggs, milk, bread, tablets (the £60 7in Android kind)

Re: The big unanswered question - Google Play

It has Google Play.

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New Layout of Data Centre/BOFH

Re: New Layout of Data Centre/BOFH

All our section pages are changing layout from the three-column grid to newer designs (although the columned look of time immemorial will still feature in some way, mostly).

However, associating images with articles is a new(ish) thing for us, so the majority of the BOFH archive won't have pictures (hence the default grey vulture). I've freshened up a few of the side teaser images on the BOFH page so they're not all the same.

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Douglas Adams was RIGHT! TINY ALIENS are invading Earth, say boffins

Re: Re: Journal of Cosmology?

"is this evidence of microbes from space? No, not even close"

Aw, and deny us our Douglas Adams headline? :-(

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It's Grand Theft Auto 5 day: Any of you kids remember GTA the First?

Re: HEAD RADIO

Absolutely. Techno and Dance were my favourite in GTA 1. All produced in-house; I had no idea they weren't 'real' tracks.

Start here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=NupUW9-l61s :-)

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Chap unrolls 'USB condom' to protect against viruses

Re: Pedant alert

> "minicomputers" are generally the size of a six-foot

> equipment rack.

Yeah, we know: a slip of the keyboard. Don't forget to email corrections@theregister if you want errors fixed speedily.

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Moderation gone mad?

Re: please review a rejection

"I think it should have been allowed"

I agree with the rejection because the comment pointed out a mild tautology in the article copy: I've fixed that now. Please email corrections@thereg if you spot anything slip through the proofreading net.

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Don't tell the D-G! BBC-funded study says Beeb is 'too right wing'

Re: What a Spin!

The study link was left out by accident: I've added it.

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BAN THIS SICK FILCH: Which? demands end to £1.50-per-min 'help' lines

Re: Everyone

"£1.50 for an 0845 number?"

No, that's not what Which? is saying. The campaign group says even the 0845 rate (at about 11p a minute tops, typically) is too much. The £1.50 comes from the very top rate (and forgive me for turning that into an attention-grabbing headline).

Having said that, BITD, an ISP charged me 8 quid for a helpline call to report a dodgy ADSL connection - that was quite a lot to be asked "have you retried rebooting your router?" That ISP's since changed its lines.

Anyway, I've tweaked the story to avoid any confusion.

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Anatomy of a killer bug: How just 5 characters can murder iPhone, Mac apps

Re: Windows 8 app

Hrm. Is that a reproducible bug? It may be one of the embedded objects on the page? Feel free to drop me an email: cwilliams@thereg

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TDK calls it quits on tape media thanks to 'difficult environment'

Re: Not "thanks to"

That's the joke.

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Xbox One launch date REVEALED - and it's on the 360's birthday

Re: Usual Microsoft BS.

"it launches the week before"

Not in the UK - Bong!

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Ministry of Sound sues Spotify over user playlists

Re: Do they mix?

Pretty sure the MoS CD sets I have mix tracks into each other.

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Apple Unicode of Death news embargo?

Re: Apple Unicode of Death news embargo?

"Tnx, and apologies for being impatient."

No worries :-) Hope it turned out OK.

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Twitter just got sh**tier: Natter emitter hit by code critter, fritters web glitter

Re: ByeLaw101

"when brought to Twitters attention they fixed it"

The fixed cock-up, at time of writing, was the egg problem. The missing website features was still an ongoing issue when we hit publish.

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