Posts by Phil O'Sophical

Be real, Apple: In-app goodie grab games AREN'T FREE – EU

Re: See ...

There is a touch of the Tea Party about them

Yes, but probably Earl Grey

NXT: The first SPAAAACE cryptocurrency

light crypocurrency trading from the comfort of our spaceplane's cockpit.

Does the mean that LOHAN is (briefly) becoming an offshore tax haven? I hope the playmonaut's got a good accountant!

Quebec's latest bid to break away from Canada HALTED by a single dot

Re: Stop signs at junctions.

I don't buy your bit about foreign language shows either.

French law. Any TV programme that doesn't have a French soundtrack must be subtitled in French. The fact that it can be done digitally now, and the user can choose whether or not to have them, is irrelevant.

Dubbing obviously solves the problem differently, a dubbed programme no longer counts as "foreign language".

speaks french properly

You mean like "mon tire est flat." ??

Re: Stop signs at junctions.

Which all explain why, when French-Canadian programmes are shown on French TV, they are subtitled in French like all foreign-language shows.

Toyota to launch hydrogen (ie, NATURAL GAS) powered fuel cell hybrid

If we're going to assume an efficient, magic, carbon-free way to make hydrogen, why not just invent one that creates alcohol instead? Then we could use the existing engine and filling station networks largely unchanged?

It deals with rising sea levels too. What's not to like?

And if we collect the water produced by the fuel cells, through the roadside drains, we can divert it to reservoirs, solving the hosepipe ban/drought problem as well.

Blackpool hotel 'fines' couple £100 for crap TripAdvisor review

Hotels can do some strange things with credit cards. A few years ago my wife and I had a very pleasant stay and dinner for New Year at a small hotel. The next morning my credit (actually debit) card was, embarrassingly, declined. My wife was willing to pay but the manager wouldn't hear of it. He rummaged in a drawer for a special code, entered that into the POS terminal, and my card was accepted. The correct amount was duly debited from my bank account.

It was only a couple of days later that I realised why the card had been declined. It had expired on Dec 31st, and of course I was paying on Jan 1st. None of us had noticed at the time. Entirely my fault, and everything was above board, but I'm still surprised that a merchant was able to override an expired card.

Northern Ireland website leaves front door open, spills users' data

Re: Irish Government?

Not Irish Government website, but Irish government website, i.e. a government website in Irish.

There it is! Philae comet lander found in existing Rosetta PICS

we could estimate the top speed of a Clanger in an emergency

Martian or Venusian?

Re: Should have included some buttered toast on the feet

it would spend even more of its time in sleep mode.

But only after first performing a complete circle with its claws out, so it would be well attached.

Kindle, meet my partner. Darling, play nice with Kindle, please

Re: Xerox, anyone?

That's why when I buy a CD I do it through Amazon, to get the digital copy as well.

These days it's faster & easier to rip the CD yourself. Last time I tried to get an album as an MP3 from Amazon I had to turn on 1-click ordering, and then download a 38MByte application just so I could do the MP3 download. I don't need my PC cluttered up with more crap that just duplicates what I already have :( Their MP3s also seem to be 160kbit/s CBR, I prefer 320kbit/s VBR which work out about the same size but better quality.

Sarong it's right: Coining it in Thailand without a visa

Re: Sounds like a recipe for disaster.

Surely the inland revenue are getting interested in your bank account at this point?

He should probably hope it's only the Inland Revenue, I hear that Thai jails aren't nice places. For the pittance he's earning surely it can't be worth the risk? He will get caught eventually.

BOFH: An UNHOLY MATCH forged amid the sweet smell of bullsh*t

Re: that was an interesting twist

I can't wait to see how this turns out.

She'll never marry him. He might get two weeks of shagging in France if he agrees to pay for and take the wine...

...or he might find out later that she prefers her men a little younger, when the PFY returns exhausted and tanned two weeks later.

Mastercard and Visa to ERADICATE password authentication

Must be two VbyV schemes?

When I see VbyV it's in the form of a screen on the browser payment confirmation asking me to type in the code that has just been sent to my phone by SMS, a useful 2-factor system. What's all this password stuff people are talking about??

The SMS-to-phone is actually very useful. When my card was cloned a couple of years ago it was the flood of texts that alerted me to the fact, and allowed me to cancel the card before it was really hammered. The crooks still got 1600euros of stuff from sites that didn't use VbyV, but the bank reimbursed me for that.

If you don't have a mobile it can work to a fixed line, as I discovered when I made an online purchase when on a US business trip. The bank had my home landline number, and sent the text to that, where it was read out by a text-to-speech system. Would have worked fine had I not been in a Californian hotel, but my wife was not so amused to be woken up by the phone at 3am. She forgave me, the purchase was for her birthday :) That's when I gave the bank my mobile number...

Comet lander drill cliffhanger as last dregs of power used

Solar panels

I don't suppose Rosetta has any shiny surfaces that could be used to reflect some sunlight onto Philae (when they find it)?

VINYL is BACK and you can thank Sonos for that

Re: There is at least one upside to vinyl.

Macrovision couldn't do anything to stop it

Yes they could, and did. They started playing games with the colo(u)r signal as well. You got stable pictures with coloured stripes.

UK PM Cameron says Internet must not 'be an ungoverned space'

Re: Don't waste your breath, David

you would find a proposition to go to some godforesaken desert and live in shit without running water and electricity and proper food, all for the chance of getting your arse shot off from under you and possibly, just possibly, get a number of women to play with *after* you die - irresistively attractive?

I'm sure I've seen that on TV, something about celebrities?

US carder gets nine years in cooler, must pay back $50 MEELLION

Re: Wait - I don't understand

How in $deity's name did the cops manage to catch him before looking at his computer, email etc?

At a guess, by looking at the other computers that he used to buy/sell the stuff, and then using that evidence to get a warrant to search his computer.

A bit like finding a burglars fingerprint at the scene of a robbery, and then finding the stolen goods at his house.

Sky: We're no longer calling ourselves British. Yep. And Broadcasting can do one, too

History

This discussion prompted me to dig out old copies of "Television" magazine. It's easy to forget how things changed.

1981: The Home Office expecting 5 DBS channels by 1986

1984: Collapse of BBC plans to start a 2-channel service, decoder costs of 500GBP "beyond what the public would find acceptable".

1988: Quite a lot of equipment around, to find satellites they recommended the "World Satellite Almanac", at 30GBP :) Lyngsat.com wasn't even a dream!

1989: A BBC Basic program (two pages to type in yourself) to do dish alignment calculations.

February 1989 Sky TV started.

February 1990 Sky Movies in scrambled form, half of Sky users signed up.

April 1990 BSB started, first Squarials.

25 years on we have hundreds of channels, digital, 3D, Dolby sound, and 95% of the programmes are still crap.

Re: Pirate TV

You might even draw an analogy with some of the 'disruptive' tech startups like Uber, in that like them, Sky decided the rules didn't apply, and just threw money at the problem until the incumbents had to surrender.

You could also consider that Sky didn't want to throw as much money at it as the EU-mandated formats required, and went for a cheap'n'cheerful solution that satisfied the punters' idea of value for money.The same thing happened eleswhere in Europe. As usual quantity won out over quality.

Re: Pirate TV

broadcasting to the UK without a licence,

What licence do you think he would have needed???

Re: It used to be that...

And Murdoch and his ilk are to blame. Oh, and the politicians we voted in, who allowed it to happen.

It's still bloody disgusting.

Don't forget all those vulgar, disgusting customers who paid for it as well. If they had refused to cough up the pay channels would never have been successful.

Maybe this will finally encourage "Sky" to sell subscriptions across Europe?

(OK, it's a slim hope...)

Re: Does this mean

IIRC Murdoch owns somewhere around 7% of Sky, it's hardly "owned by" him. These days most things seem to be largely owned by pension funds. Retirement is coming...

Bible THUMP: Good Book beats Darwin to most influential tome title

Re: Don't Panic!

Yes, but it started out as a radio series.The book came later.

BOING, BOING! Philae BOUNCED TWICE on Comet 67P

Re: Dude, I'm a comet. Do you even have a landing permit?

Umm ... the word 'probably' in that sentence is slightly disturbing.

Since Philae reportedly sank 4cm into the surface, even at it's gentle landing speed, I'd be more concerned about the word 'anchored'. Ice-screws aren't going to get much of a grip if the surface is like dry ash. Still, they only have 3 days of battery life [insert iWatch joke here], so they'll have to get cracking with something, whatever the risk. Whatever happens, even getting this far is amazing, though.

ESA sends back PRE-LANDING COMET CLOSE-UPS

Re: Scale.

Cheops boulder is 45m across, 25m high.

Fridge-size probot headed for comet touchdown

Re: In space no one can hear your sonar

The trick is to stick your emitter and microphone right into the comet.

So Philae isn't so much landing on as mating with the comet?

Texas boffins put radio waves in a spin

Re: allow full-duplex operation of a phone on a single frequency

Circulators have nothing to do with circular polarization. They are three-terminal A-B-C devices where signals can travel from A->B and B->C but not C->A or A->C. You connect the transmitter to A, the aerial to B, and the receiver to C. Inbound signals go from Aerial to Receiver, outbound from Transmitter to Aerial, but the high power from the transmitter never gets to the receiver (where it would wipeout any simultaneous received signal and/or damage the receiver). That way the aerial can be used for transmit & receive at the same time.

'Tech giants who encrypt comms are unwittingly aiding terrorists', claims ex-Home Sec Blunkett

Re: Badge of Honor

I'm pretty sure I used to have a passport that declared me a "subject", and I most certainly do have right of abode..

If the passport was issued pre-1949 that could be the case, but things are different for any passport issued in the past 65 years, see https://www.gov.uk/types-of-british-nationality/british-subject

Few people today are in that category, and there's no reason that you'd want to be.

Re: Badge of Honor

I think you'll find that's "of me... a subject..." but that's another discussion.

You should read your passport, where it clearly says "citizen". British passports haven't said "subject" in decades, and even then the only ones that did were for citizens born overseas, without right of abode.

Agreed on the terrorist stats, though. Even during the most recent "troubles" in NI the average death rate from troubles-related causes still worked out at about the same as that from traffic accidents, ~100/year.

Security products: Best of breed or create your own monster?

cloud security

cf: oxymoron

If you're suing the UK govt, Brit spies will snoop on your briefs

Re: Picture the scene...

But what if, in mid mission, it turns out that he wears boxers & not briefs? They'll have to ban all un-British underwear first.

Amazon: Put our ALWAYS ON MICROPHONE in your house, please. WHAT?

Re: Apart from the inbuilt creepiness

if you've got kids, talk to them. Teach them to read and write. Answer their questions when they ask you. Don't rely on the technology..

Q: Echo - Where's Daddy?

A: GPS location, your father is in Miss Whiplash's house of fun

Million Mask March: Anonymous' London Guy Fawkes protest a damp squib

Would you have expected the usual rent-a-mob of right-wing sympathisers at an event like this??

Microsoft's TV product placement horror: CNN mistakes Surface tabs for iPAD stands

Re: bing it

Could have been worse. "Bing him, Danno"

HP's pet lizard is feral peril says wildlife group

Re: @Phil

Where there?

I usually only watch French & UK TV, so mostly there! Not a wide sample, admittedly

In Europe cars in adverts always seem to have registration numbers like "VOOM 888", which I'd always assumed was to allow them to reverse the photo/film left-to-right so they could alter the 'handedness' where required.

Met Office: 2014 was fifteenth warmest on record

Re: wtf is Palaeopiezometry?

paleo - "ancient", from the Greek

piezo - "press or squeeze", also from Greek

metry - "measurement". Greek too.

So, he never completed a PhD in measuring old Greek squeezes? WTF indeed.

Re: Name me one English summer

What are these "high-middling 20's" days you speak of?

Fahrenheit.

Spanish 'Google tax' could end up like Germany's everyone-but-Google tax

These sites just have to face reality

They need Google much more than Google needs them.

Japan tells operators: Put a SIM lock in a new mobe? You'd better unlock it for free

Re: Same here

France requires that operators supply an unlock code free after 6 months, but as other posters have noted that doesn't cancel any 12- or 24-month contact you may have.

The big advantage that I've seen is that when you travel you can then pop in a local SIM for cheaper calls. If more phones accepted two SIMs even that wouldn't be necessary.

Virgin 'spaceship' pilot 'unlocked tailbooms' going through sound barrier

Re: Why are these guys even in charge?

They know, very approximately, what happened, but they're nowhere near working out why it happened, or how to stop it happening again. Design problem? Mechanical failure? Software bug? Human error? So yes, there are many months of diligent work involved to sort out the details. Not their fault if that exceeds the attention span of newspaper readers.

Re: Why...

Attempt what? It's a test pilot's job to, well, fly test flights. The article makes no suggestion that either pilot did anything improper.

BBC clamps down on illicit iPlayer watchers

Re: Get_iplayer still working here

The BBC iPlayer will support offline listening to radio - some time in summer 2015.

But presumably only for 30 days after the most recent broadcast?

LOHAN test flight: Results in from Oz jury

Units

The GPS vertical speed and true airspeed do follow the same curve, but are offset by a factor of around 1.5.

You're in the US, land of imperial units. If one of these was recording in miles/hour and the other in feet./sec you'd see a difference of 1.46667x

Brazil greenlights $200m internet cable to Europe in bid to outfox NSA

Re: Basic encrption vs availability

Spain is the closest neighbour in that direction.

IP packets don't have to travel in straight lines.

What I meant was that if the aim is to prevent the US from blocking traffic to/from Brazil, then setting up a few redundant routes that sent packets via Uruguay, Venezuala, etc. would be more robust than giving Uncle Sam a single wire to snip. Cut a cable, nothing goes through, it's a lot harder to interrupt traffic that is zig-zagging around a bunch of other hubs, especially if the desire is only to disrupt one destination. So what if they go through the US, as other posters have noted encryption will deal with that.

Re: Its pure politics

Is having your data snooped by the Brazilian government really much of an improvement on having it snooped by the NSA anyway?

Re: Encryption is a good option

Open source is the only protection

Don't forget to write your own compiler as well. it's been shown that compilers can be made to insert malware into executables they compile, even when the program's source was completely safe. Are you sure that GCC build you downloaded isn't inserting NSA backdoors into your mail reader?! Of course, bootstrapping a compiler without another compiler isn't for the faint-hearted.

Where do you stop? When the tin hat is so big it slips over your eyes?