Posts by MrZoolook 409 publicly visible posts • joined 28 Feb 2012
Interesting, and somewhat valid point, to highlight the difference between wants and needs of a connection speed. The only problem is that, while someone may only NEED a speed of a few kb to read a web sites text, because web sites consist of a few mb of picture, animation, advertising, flash, audio, 3rd party plugins... it needs some beefy speed just to get past all the cruft to get to the text in the first place.
For such an industrial city, and with an ever increasing student driven economy, Southampton is probably the worst place I have experienced for internet. Even now, I get less speed than I did in Rotherham over 10 years ago, and I'm paying 3 times as much adjusted for inflation.
Honestly, when (if) Virgin pull their finger out and actually offer my address fiber, I reckon I could probably get by with the lowest package they offer and still get a better service.
The headline seems to indicate an increase in average speed, but the article implies that the headline (advertised i presume?) "up to" speed has increased. I mean, sure, an increase in advertised "up to" speeds should naturally mean the actual speed has increased. But as we all know, an advertised speed of "up to" 80mb means jack shit when your actual speed hovers at ~0.4 - 0.8.
For those who's speed is practically zilch, an average increase of any advertised up to speed means nothing. And besides, what use is averaging "up to" speeds anyway, when there's STILL no requirement for companies to actually supply it. Unless it's suddenly become law to supply an advertised speed since I last looked, a company can advertise speeds of up to 150tb (terabytes), and not need to supply more than the speeds gotten via dial up. Sure, it'd be stupid because nobody would believe it or pay for the package if not getting it, but it certainly increases average headline speeds, just like OFCOM are harping on about here.
All in all, a pointless study exercise taken out by OFCOM to deflect from the fact they are toothless or incompetent.
And all those billions of pieces of torrented music, films and software contained a text file with a disclaimer saying that using such music, film and software without an appropriate license is unlawful... so I have been told.
Yet big business was able to get entire web sites taken down, change legislation worldwide, and successfully sue individuals for millions because of a single illegal distribution, just to protect their IP.
So I'm not sure a disclaimer absolving the online publishing of independant reviews is going to hold that much sway.
Having had no experience with Enigma OR Bleeping Computer, it seems to me that if the review is even remotely accurate, that SpyHunter deserves to be in the same boat as McAfee was at one point and probably still is... recognised as malware by other anti-malware vendors.
So, the gov, police force etc... want to introduce legislation to legalise the force, the gov, local councils, foreign law enforcement etc... to access anyone's personal data, whenever they want, wholesale and for any reason they want, yet they get uppity that one copper used the system already in place to access one persons data.
I'm sure there's logic in there somewhere. This seems less like them following their own code of conduct, and more like them trying to convince us they can be trusted with our lives at their fingertips. This officer did nothing that they wouldn't be legally allowed to do if May gets her way.
Sorry, but I see no justification where anyone, ever (short of volunteer or charity work) can legally be 'employed' by someone who gets away without needing to pay them. This is true regardless of if they take tips into account or not.
Indeed, the problem is compounded when you consider that many establishments pool the gratuities, and distribute them evenly between staff members, including those who do earn a decent wage and were not given those gratuities for the good customer facing service... which is generally what a customer tips for.
The fact you're even now STILL trying to justify the policy, or differentiate the effects of it between shifts, frankly, speaks volumes. One restaurant owner in New York changing their own policy is great for the underpaid staff in that restaurant. All thats needed is the rest of the nation to follow suit. If only there was a way to enforce a decent wage for all, maybe some kind of minimum wage law... or something.
And I might point out this isn't just about waiting staff, but pretty much anyone in the service industry.
Also, if you feel embarrassed by not giving tips to staff, then tip them. Sure, they'd appreciate it, but the point is you don't need to just to fulfill the minimum wage criteria the employer has to abide by. Because the food itself is a bit more expensive, you can rest your weary conscience in the knowledge that the tip is (for practical purposes anyway) included in the meal.
If this isn't to your liking, you could speak to the manager of the establishment, and offer to pay less than the advertised price and tip the staff the difference. Mind the door doesn't hit your arse on the way out though, because that's right where someone will be aiming for with their boot while escorting you out.
See. All thats offered here is a clarification that only tipped staff can be hired for free. Indeed, this is something I make specific mention of in my post anyway.
And, as I would have predicted had I not given El Reg posters the benefit of doubt, the replies offer no word of criticism against the policy itself.
Like I said, its an eye-opener!
I bet there are people on far less than her minimum wage job too. Americans have an odd relationship with some words and phrases.
I was involved in a debte recently on Quora, where I eventually questioned why someone (say a tourist) should be made to feel guilty or given worse service because they didn't tip waiting staff. The backlash I recieved was an eye opener.
Apparently, the minimum wage in the US accounts for gratuities. Thus, by not tipping staff, the customer is (according to some posters) responsible for them not having enough to live on.
In other words, the minimum cost for a employer to employ someone, aka the minimum wage, in the US is $0.00... so long as they work hard enough to get more generous customers than the other staff, and get them to pay above the advertised prices.
My suggestion that restaurants and bars should just increase the prices by a few % and pay the staff a decent wage, was met with posts arguing that restaurants 'overcharging' customers this way would lead to customers going to other restaurants or just staying home, putting outlets out of buisiness, mass unemployment, the ruination of an entire buisiness sector, the collapse of the US economy, global warming, the collapse of our sun, the eventual heat-death of the Earth...
Yeah, I'm the bad guy in this argument...
"If you ever find yourself in need of emergency, under the radar, restorative action, we want you to know that we are there for you. As a token of our thanks for your consideration, we have selected you, as one of only 100,000 people in your area to recieve an introductory bonus. If you hire 2 of our hairy tattooed bikers, we'll refund the hire cost of a blunt instrument of your choosing, and send you a knife weilding manic half price. This offer must be taken within 30 days, and is not to be used in conjunction with any other offer."
... with this I'll be offered a get out of my contract and go to a company who can provide me with more than the 0.54 mb downstraem rate that EE are giving me. Even though they use the exact same fucking hardware that TalkTalk used and never dropped me below 6.
And maybe, they'll even sack the idiots in customer services who argued that OFCOM give them 3 months to correct faults before I can leave my contract fee free, because they blanket refuse to acknowledge that the temporary fixes they have been applying over the last 5 months (actually just resetting the line) are a part of an ongoing problem, and actually represent different problems every time I report it!
It's patently clear the original comment was referring to DieDie Harding when they said boss. They even quoted her. So they are also incorrect in calling her boss. The reply was merely correcting the original poster that the person they were referring to is a woman, not a man.
I'm pretty sure most people wouldn't think the reply was indicating the gender of the real boss.
Quote: “I think something should be done, because we all think that passwords make the whole thing secure. I always thought that was the point of passwords. I am surprised and shocked"
Really? So if you thought passwords were that secure, why have you lot been pushing for biometric data under the guise of increased security if it wasn't needed?
I'm taking that statement as an admission, from her at least, that biometrics are being pushed simply for an alternative instead of personal security. Don't know about anyone else.
Seeing as MTM are that concerned, how about every MTM advert states very prominently, that thier items are only for sale from the MTM store.
That way, any customers seeing the advert and wanting only MTM products will know not to go anywhere else, anyone wanting an MTM but are open to other products can still search as per normal, and anyone wanting any other product won't need to type in an exact product name when any watch will do.
Or perhaps MTM want us to back to the days without search boxes at all, and when searching meant clicking through a huge text list of items you absolutely don't want.
Maybe people not wanting to buy MTM gear should lobby to prevent MTM adverts from being displayed irrelevantly. Maybe they should only send advertising mailshots to people who have already purchased from them before. That way people who don't want their trash, don't need to go through the trauma of having to see it advertised. Maybe it's time to file for a restraining order to prevent them from malicious advertising... or something. C'mon America, use those frivolous laws you keep passing to teach them a lesson.
"You're letting me write my own question?"
Sorry, your reply must not contain any spaces or punctuation, and must have at least one capital and one small letter, and must contain at least one number.
"5oY0uWan7Me2AskAQuest1onL1keThi5"
Thank you. Now please type in the answer to that question.
*clicks 'forgotten your question' button*
"What would be useful is for El Reg to provide a "block user" facility, then you could ignore them completely."
You mean, a facility similar to that provided by all major social online sites, that if a victim of "bullying" used, would negate them from being bullied online in the first place? A facility that shows why people may be unwilling to step in to stop online bullying?
Because its actually very easy to prevent in the first place... just click the button to block them... oh my head hurts now I'm the innovator of online bullying prevention.
USE THE TOOLS AVAILABLE, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!
"I am afraid this is the only way to make them stop."
So to clarify, you think an appropriate response to somone heckling you or calling you names online, is to beat them up, maybe scar them for life, and maybe accidentally cause brain damage if you land a punch wrong?
I think that would show everyone who the bully is.
"As a victim of on-line abuse, there's nothing I CAN do to stop it."
Awww, you poor little lamb. You could just unfriend them, leave the chat room, make real friends that you actually know outside of Facecunt or Twatter, or even *shock horror oh the humanity* turn off the computer. Any of those would help.
Quote: "even under English law that apparently still meets the definition of rape."
I read somewhere recently, that as far as the courts are concerned, you now need to fill out a form in triplicate, get that witnessed by a 3rd party, file it with a lawyer, and only THEN can you safely assume she meant "yes".
"Its not an exaggeration: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/woman-pensioner-jailed-for-not-paying-tv-licence-ridiculous-cost-of-jailing-fine-dodgers-in-northern-ireland-29221028.html"
Nothing there about anyone WITHOUT a television being jailed for TV license evasion, pensioner or otherwise.
Being in the UK, a 1500 watt vacuum cleaner will cease to be a valid unit of measurement come 2017. I propose a task force to carry out the job of proactively converting all published measurements based on vacuum cleaner wattage, into the newer 900 watt grade before then.
We don't need another millennium style bug causing all measuring on the vacuum cleaner scale to bring the world to its knees.
After all, it was (insert God of choice here)'s deliberate choice to actually CAUSE the catastrophe. The scientists merely acted on the available information at the time.
Fucking idiot court should throw this out with no right of appeal.
When I'm king... etc.
This is the same Lucy Koh who allowed Apple a settlement for patent infringement regarding public domain software solutions, such as swiping to unlock?
My, how the mighty have fallen. If I was a gambling man and you'd have asked, I would have guessed she would award Apple money on the grounds of "failing to disclose termination of a service, thus costing Apple storage fees for undeliverable messages." or something.
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
