Posts by Brew

Forget TikTok – Chinese spies want to steal IP by backdooring digital locks

I would be wary of any brand of electric lock. I make sales calls on an electric lock company in the Pacific Northwest of the US which has found illegal copies of its locks being made in China.

So, bye-bye mighty nerd haven Fry’s, took Silicon to the Valley... and now you must die

Fry’s Was Joke Even At Height

Used to go to the Campbell store in the 90’s. Fry’s somehow became the go to place for computers with a sales staff that knew nothing about computers. I remember store employees used to stand around the front entrance smoking cigarettes because that was their rest area... that place was a joke even at its height...

Space Force is go, go, go! Because we have a child as President of the United States

We don't need political diatribes by the Register. Sorry he's not going to be impeached. Looking forward to his second term.

Rejecting Sonos' private data slurp basically bricks bloke's boombox

Sonos Crack Needed

I wish someone would release a Sonos crack which would allow you to match a Sonos 3 with a Sonos 5 for stereo, make the new Sonos 5's work with the 1st gen Sonos 5's in Stereo and allow Sonos to keep working if the company ever goes out of business. Or maybe Sonos itself could jump on that bandwagon.

Coming to the big screen: Sci-fi epic Dune – no wait, wait, wait, this one might be good

Suck? What are you talking about the original movie was a classic.

Will Wikipedia honour Jimbo's promise to STOP chugging?

Re: If It Saves Your Bacon Appreciate It

BTW, if you don't want nagging e-mails send the contribution by snail mail.

If It Saves Your Bacon Appreciate It

Say what you want about their fund raising efforts. As a member of the tech community Wikipedia has saved my bacon more times than I care to admit. I make a small contribution every year.

From Watson Jr to Watson AI: IBM's changed, and Papa Watson wouldn't approve

I was suprised to learn while talking to a consultant who has worked for IBM that the average IBM employee has been there for less than 5 years.

Watson will be another Ask Cheeves or whatever it was called.

Samsung looks into spam ads appearing on Brits' smart TVs

Re: Happening In USA Also

To be more precise- In the menu there is Smart Hub>Apps Settings>(An icon of a gear with no name)>Samsung SyncPlus>Off. I have no idea if turning it off has stopped the ads, haven't watched enough since then.

In the menu Samsung defines SyncPlus as, "SyncPlus is the advertising and additional contents related to TV program using content-based video recognition."

And i know that I've already opted out of eveything that I could in the menu before, including such notices. Shouldn't opt outs remain when a new rev is installed??

When is this all going to end??!!

Happening In USA Also

I'm in the USA and have seen it 2-3 times over the past couple of weeks. Looked very closely through the menu to see if it could be turned off, nothing obvious, tried switching one item with terms that were so obtuse you'd need a marketing dictionary to figure out what they were talking about, hasn't appeared since. Seems like there used to be a more commonly worded opt out in previous revs.

FCC Republicans slam brakes on net neutrality, but this wagon ain't slowing

No need to worry about the FCC. In the mid 90's they decided that allowing pharmecuetical companies and lawyers to advertise on television would be a great idea, we've since been treated to 20 years of viagra and ambulance chaser ads. Somewhere along the line they realized that limiting the amount of commercials per hour was suppressing the freedom of advertisers so now that amount is unlimited. American television programs are advertising wonderlands complete with ads crawling across the screen as you watch your program. If I gotta be regulated, and I sincerely wish to be, I'm voting for big fat happy daddy FCC, accept no substitute.

Net neutrality: Someone WILL sue. So will the FCC's rules hold up?

FCC is Not The Answer

Letting the FCC regulate the internet is a huge mistake. It seems to me that not long ago most on the internet whould have been aghast at the prospect, now we are all supposed to be applauding it. Some targeted laws against certain practices are all that is needed.

30 years ago today, the first commercial UK 'mobile' phone call was made

North Rim of the Grand Canyon, summer of 1980. I'm sitting on the lodge patio admiring the view when I become aware that there is a man directly behind me with a New York accent having a LOUD conversation with someone while speaking into a walkie-talkie type thing. I can't wait until we can all listen to 6 hour conversations on airplanes.

Taylor Swift dumps Spotify: It’s not me, it’s you

Albums and Taylor Are Good

I've mostly bought albums after just hearing one or two songs. Yeah those two songs are what grabs you at first but after a few listens most of the albums sink in also. Out of 100's of albums just a handful that were bunk- it gives you more of the artist.

Taylor is cute and talented, cute enough for me to follow her from Country to Pop.

We've done it - we've gone and made LONG-LIFE BEER

What Was The Problem?

Once drank a 23 year old can of beer that had been sitting in a garage, tasted fine for an American lager, what is the problem??

US, Iraqi lawn chair balloonists blown out of sky

Correction

Although this subject has gone to static charge land I'd like to make a correction. The lawn chair apparatus was actually much more fragile than I described above. The problem was that here were so many ground crew around it you couldn't get a good view except as it was taking off. After reviewing the pictures we took it does indeed look very fragile. The ballast section with the lawn chair on top is made up of a few lengths of aluminum shaped into a rectangle, it hangs from a rectangle of 4 lengths of aluminum above, which hang from the balloons, there are no railings, the lawn chairs could indeed be called lawn chairs. Score two for amateur flight.

I was at the launch. Not exactly a lawn chair, it was an aluminum frame with water tank ballast below and substantial lawn chairs on top behind railings. Balancing that sophistication were the balloons and how they were inflated or overinflated. Between 5-10 popped on their own after being filled. Since the balloons expand as they go higher in altitude and popping balloons have been a problem on his previous flights and this one, score one for amateur flight. But the worst was an appalling lack of showmanship. Everyone knows, since the Wizard of Oz, that when one embarks on such a flight one stands up and addresses the crowd with stirring words of some kind, no such words here, just a bunch of milling around by the support crew and then they took off without a word. If you want true lawn chair inspiration see Danny Deckchair!

Microsoft revives flight sim by giving it away free

Yes Keyboard and Mouse

"...Worse still, the game is designed to be played with a keyboard and mouse..."

If they would have made past versions truly playable with a keyboard and mouse the game may have 'taken off' more than it did. Reaction time to keyboard and mouse inputs were pitiful from the 90's through the noughties.

Whinging Brits reflect on epic Oz road trip

I Understand Now

I anxiously looked forward to reading your daily reports on the race but noticed that focus was lost after the first day or two. The ordeal of empty space, dust and blank fondleslab screens must have been frightening. I understand now.