Posts by Phil O'Sophical

Silicon Valley digiterati to brainstorm at 30,000 ft

Positronic brainstorming?

One good dark lightning zap from a gamma-ray flash (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/06/12/dark_lightning_threat_to_aircraft/ ) and we could sink California. Anyone know if Zuck will be on-board?

Scientists investigate 'dark lightning' threat to aircraft passengers

Re: ISS?

> because these bursts are omnidirectional there is no inverse square law in play so distance is irrelevant.

Not so sure about that. A growing spherical 'wavefront' area expands according to a square law, surely the intensity for any given area must decrease accordingly with distance?

Whoever recently showed us the secret documents: Do get in touch

Re: Question

Or maybe it's not a large aerospace contractor at all, and they're just saying that to throw people off the scent while hoping that anyone who sent them secret documents recently will call back

Now you can use your phone instead of your wallet at the ATM, too

Re: Age related?

The term "millennial generation" (or "Generation Y") is used to describe people who came of age around 2000, hence born in the early 80's. It's the follow-on from the sequence of "Baby Boomer" and "Generation X".

Re: my wish

Any why do they put £50/50€ notes in those machines anyway? I want cash to pay for small things, like a coffee or a paper, and shops hate being given a big note for that. If I'm paying £50+ for something I'll use a card.

a six-digit code which can be entered in any compliant cashpoint

Sounds like a new lottery game. Just pick 6 numbers, type them into a cash machine near you, and you might be the lucky winner! You don't even need to buy a ticket.

Windows NT grandaddy OpenVMS taken out back, single gunshot heard

Re: VMS: The God of Operating Systems.

> Now, if only OpenVMS could be ported to run on the Raspberry Pi..

Shouldn't be a problem with SIMH, it's on my rainy day list but hasn't made it to the top yet :)

Ex-CIA techie Edward Snowden: I am the NSA PRISM deepthroat

Re: I grew up with the constant shadow of the IRA - but it never led to this, it was life as usual.

> So it was a policy of ignore the terrorists

Nonsense, they were monitored, infiltrated, and frequently stopped before they did anything. Sometimes at the last minute, because the police needed evidence that they were doing something so had to wait to catch them red-handed (an inappropriate phrase in the circumstances, I suppose) .

They weren't ignored, just dealt with without theatre, while people got on with their lives.

Re: Edward Snowden should get 2 Four Freedoms Medals

> provided the info from NSA

i.e. he took a position of trust, and betrayed that trust.

He can prate on about his principles, and how he doesn't want it to be "about him", but he clearly has no qualms about breaking signed promises when he feels like it, so his principles are somewhat flexible.

I might have had some regard for him if he'd dug this info up through diligent investigation, as it is he's just another "look how clever I am, I know all about the baaaaaad man" Assange wannabe. Was anyone really surprised by the information that the spy services are spying on us?

Internet pioneer Vint Cerf predicts the future, fears Word-DOCALYPSE

Re: This is not new

"ELO's Acid-Free Bits"

that would be Mr Blue Sky research, then?

Re: Cant beat ASCII

ASCII can't be UTF-8, it's a 7-bit code...

Re: This is not new

> Of course, this all assumes that you can read the file in the first place.

That is surely the real problem? Reverse engineering a document or file format is easy*, compared to reinventing an 5¼" floppy drive when the only storage you've ever seen is flash memory cards.

* For certain small values of easy, but even so...

Facebook's first data center DRENCHED by ACTUAL CLOUD

Deja vu?

IT systems, leaks, rubber raincoats? It's probably Julian Assange's fault ...

IT staff clamouring to pay for their own BYOD kit, says survey

Re: And in the same survey

And let's not forget that this survey was done by a company whose main product is designed to allow you to use your personal device while having the network costs charged back to your company

Reg readers tumesce as they get their tongues round 'podule'

Re: ...of podules

A podule of Playmonauts ?

Adjectival form?

So if something can be supplied as a podule, does that make it podular ?

Jack Vance: Science fiction’s master of magic, mischief and sex

Re: RIP

I have the Lyonesse books, and others, on my bookshelf, I shall reread them next week in memoriam. RIP indeed.

FreedomPop aims to gut US wireless oligopoly with free smartphone

Re: Expensive

> It is best to check your info before you go around correcting people...

FreedomPop aims to offer US users a smartphone for around $100 that gives unlimited texts, 200 voice minutes, and 500MB of data a month for free

...

Users will be able to buy a second-generation smartphone like the HTC Evo for $99 to get the service ... This gives access to the free calls, text, and data service.

FreedomPop is betting enough people will sign up for extra services – unlimited voice calls costs $10 a month,

It's best to actually read the article before commenting on it.

Re: Expensive

It doesn't say $100/month. It says $100, period.

The assumption is that people will pay for extras. That's an assumption that has failed for many other businesses, it will be interesting to see if it works for them.

My first thought is that $100 for a phone with some voice & data is a great deal for regular visitors to the US. I'd consider one, to use on business trips without paying roaming charges.That usage pattern won't make any money foir this company, though.

Microsoft parades Windows 8.1, the version you may actually want

Re: angry old codger rant

penables? Is that an alternative to a touchable, or a typable?

iPHONES and 'Pads BANNED in US for violating Samsung patent

Re: Waste of Space

> What a bunch of arrogant asshats.

No surprise there, Apple has always been like that.

Vodafone set to splurge £2.5 MEELLION a DAY building 4G network

£2.5m/day is peanuts. Way less than BT used to spend just doing routine network upgrades.

As to covering 98% of people that sounds like a crazy target to set/accept, how does it take into account that people are moving around all the time?

Google seeks to calm facial recognition furor with app block for Glass

I didn't see much indication of facial recognition with Tits&Glass, where's the problem?

Amazon faces its third strike in Germany

Re: @Tchou

The Amiens plant was loss making (60m euros in 2011), and every time the managers tried to negotiate layoffs the unions dug in their heels and refused. Titan had been discussing a possible takoever of the whole Goodyear operation in France, but the unions (mainly CGT) blocked that. When Goodyear decided to close the factory, the government (Arnaud Montebourg, the minister for the bizarrely named "redressement productif") asked Titan if it wanted to buy just the factory.

When the Titan CEO complained to the unions that the workers didn't work much and had long breaks they told him "yeah, that's how it is in France".

That is what prompted his very direct ("do you think I'm stupid?") letter of response. The CGT have shot themselves in the foot, yet again.

Drupal hacked, resets passwords after millions of accounts exposed

Re: Doesn't matter

> How would they know the salt, especially if it changes for every user?

It has to be stored with the password, so that normal password validation can work. It's not secret, just a way to make the computation harder.

Belarus becomes world's top country ... for SPAM

why not

unplug (figuratively speaking) Belarus until they get their house in order? Would anyone notice but Belarus?

CRUNCH: 'Drunk' chap cuffed in high-speed car nookie prang rumpus

attempting to hide in a cactus?

Presumably thought no-one would notice one more prick

Kettle 'which looks like HITLER' brews up sturm in a teacup

Re: Actually...

"I'm a little Nazi, short and stout". :)

Re: But ...

I'd guess it's more Flying Scotsman than Flying Dutchman...

Re: @ Jake

I think Thoreau says it better:

"City life: millions of people being lonely together."

Now beaming live from Pyongyang: NORKSCASTS!

Re: Getting their TV is actually comparatively simple

> where you can easily get it with just a 5 meter satellite dish.

I'd hate to see your idea of a dish for difficult-to-get signals...

Going under the knife? Avoid Fridays. Trust us, we asked a doctor

Re: I'd assumed that the increased risk at weekends was

> senior managers, Chief Executives, etc weren't around at weekends?

No, they were out on the golf course having heart attacks ready for the Monday slots :)

Ah, statistics

I caught a discussion about this on Radio 4 this morning. One of the participants commented that, as a heart surgeon, he had often scheduled his more serious cases for a Friday. He knew that intensive care units were less busy over the weekends and he would be less likely to be in theatre, and so available on call if there was a crisis.

Obviously, though, this meant that the patients scheduled for a Friday op were the ones with less chance of making it anyway.

cause/correlation & all that

Big Data is bovine excrement says Obama's Big Data man

Re: rumour has it

I've seen that suggested in both French and English websites/.blogs/papers, there was an article about it in Le Monde a few months ago. Most of the speculation is clearly nonsense, since it talks about tracking IP addresses, as if they were assigned permanently to a device as portrayed in TV crime drama.

I think the link you're referring to is:

http://www.quotidiendutourisme.com/site/transport-des-sites-vols-secs-soupconnes-d-augmenter-les-prix-en-fonction-des-recherches-des-clients-72528.html

although it says that the French authority in question, the CNIL, is going to investigate.

Cookie-based tracking is possible, but I've not been able to duplicate it myself in some fairly unscientific tests over a period of a few months. It seems more likely that it is simple yield management; if an airline website suddenly detects an increase in enquiries for a particular route, the prices will be bumped. It's the sort of thing that could happen if a pop group announces a concert in a particular city, or a sports team qualifies for a place in a competition. Supporters will suddenly start asking "hmm, I wonder how much the tickets are?".

Privacy

"Oldsters are uneasy with the notion that Facebook et al mines their data he said. Young folk have no such qualms, understand the transactions they participate in and are more familiar with the privacy controls of the services they use."

He has it pretty much backwards. Young folks are less concerned because of their lack of experience of how serious a privacy breach can be. They've not yet had their credit cards cloned, or their job prospects damaged by an unwise photo, etc. Anyone who has contact with teen and pre-teen kids knows that they have no idea of what personal info they should share, and what they should keep to themselves. They may know how to operate privacy controls, but don't yet see the need, hence the unconcern. "Out of the mouths of babes... etc."

Oldsters are much more aware of the risks, but react differently. The 70+ group is, in my experience, overly trusting. They come from an era when sharing of personal data just wasn't done, and have difficulty understanding that people can do so in a malicious way, just for profit. My grandmother was most distressed when a phone scam was explained to her, the general disbelief of "why would someone do that?" was hard to get past (fortunately no great harm was done).

It's the mid-life 'oldsters' like myself who are probably the most wary. We know what can be done, and have little trust in Google/Facebook etc. to behave in a decent manner. We are, in my view, rightly uneasy, and as the teenagers grow up they will learn from experience to be wary. They will not, of course, succeed in convincing their own children of that, as always. C'est la vie.

Better Place electric car outfit goes titsup

Re: Doomed idea

> The vast majority of potential customers in Europe will manage fine with current batteries for their daily commute.

So everyone needs two cars, one for commuting and one for trips to the family/airport/holiday ? That won't fly.

And don't try the "just rent a car for long journeys" idea, that only works while electric cars are in the minority. If 90% or cars were electric there wouldn't be any economical supply of IC cars for long journeys.

Serial hybrids, with an onboard very efficient IC generator, are a far more practical approach which requires little or no change to infrastructure or driving habits, and still offers electric car benefits for commuters.

Sky News Google Play page defaced

Karma

> They claim their Twitter account was hacked

They probably had the password in an email, and since that is now run on the much-hacked Yahoo they're getting bitten by the same crap that their customers have been experiencing for the past month or three. Isn't Karma great?!

Phones for the elderly: Testers wanted for senior service

Re: Great Idea - In Case of Emergency

I think it caught on pretty well, almost everyone I know has a couple of ICE entries. My Samsung (Android) phone even has a "ICE" contacts group as standard.

Re: Old ≠ Stupid and Usless

> rabid Facebook users

Is there another sort?

Peak Facebook: British users lose their Liking for Zuck's ad empire

Re: Never say never ..

Tha adults I know who use facebook only do so to keep an eye on their kids.

Re: gazthejourno

"Promise not to put popup crap, expanding/contracting DIVs and autoplaying videos anywhere and I might think about it."

That's exactly the problem, I don't use ABP to block ads, I use it to block twitchyblinky popup crap that gets in the way of reading the real info on a site. For as long as sites put animated ads up, I'll keep using ABP, even on El Reg. A plain small image to one side is fine, and I might even read it.

As for "we'll go bust, starve to death and get eaten by Reg the Vulture" that's a very valid point, but should be an incentive to choose ads that don't trigger an ABP knee-jerk reaction. The sad fact is that if you do go bust there'll be another web site popping up to replace you before you can say "Paris Hilton", and no doubt Reg the Vulture will still eat well over there.

'Catastrophic failure' of 3D-printed gun in Oz Police test

Re: @SuccessCase (was: "The point is it has now been shown these things ::are useless::")

> The threat is there is a greater likelihood of getting shot by some lazy arsed crim on the estate with the 3D printer service.

I doubt it. Odds are the printer service will be well known to the law enforcement agencies who will just love to have an easy central pont to perform surveillance. The chances are that the raw materials for this service will be black market sourced, and just like drugs the quality will be dubious. After a few of the local crims have ended up in A&E getting their fingers stitched back on before their trial the novelty will wear off.

Re: The Liberator - a bargain

> sneak a proper one on

Just improvise a slingshot, with a suitable hard projectile they can be lethal. Ask Goliath :)

EU boffins in plan for 'more nutritious' horsemeat ice cream

Re: Instead, feed it to the rich

Takes "eating your own dog food" to a whole new level

Gelato Fellatio ?

Irish deputy PM: You want more tax from Apple? Your problem, not ours

Re: What kind of screaming right wing loon are you?

> Problem: we're not raising quite as much tax as we'd like

> Solution: Declare war on a neighbouring country?

That's a tried and tested approach, but you'd have to be daft to pick on Ireland. If you won you'd have to pay to rebuild, and if you lost(!) they couldn't afford to take over.

Pick on France or Germany instead, at least you'd stand some chance of a profit.

COLD FUSION is BACK with 'anomalous heat' claim

Re: "Batteries included" Please pass the Fluke TrueRMS DVOM

It wouldn't be a catalyst if it got depleted...

Marks & Sparks accused of silently bonking punters over the tills

Re: Whoever thought security through proximity was a good idea.

> make life simpler for the retailer?

Or make life cheaper for the retailer. Like plastic bags, instead of getting free ones that you can use for your rubbish bin at home, you now have to buy plastic binbags from the shop, which is just "helping the environment", of course.

@Steven Roper

NFC cards have two chips. One for the standard chip&PIN, and a separate one at the other side of the card for the NFC contactless payment. A stripe reader will indeed refuse to read the strip on a chip&PIN card, it's a security measure to minimize fraud due to card copying. It has nothing to do with the NFC pay-by-bonk functionality.

If you "fried the chip" by zapping it in a microwave or something similar you probably fried both chips. All you really needed to do was cut the antenna strip for the NFC chip, leaving the chip&PIN one intact.

Re: Thought this might happen...

> Only if one is a racist.

Curious, I didn't realise that Albanians and Romanians were racially distinct peoples.

I think you may have meant 'xenophobe", but of course that isn't as damning an indictment, nor illegal.