Posts by ManxPower

Mozilla to whack HTTP sites with feature-ban stick

Re: why, why, why... what is the point?

If you only secure data you want to keep secret, then you are telling the bad guys exactly which data they should concentrate on. If you secure all data, then the bad guys will waste resources trying to decrypt your cat videos or e-mail to your grandmother. Most people won't stop using their debit cards, cell phones, etc to protect their privacy because it is too inconvenient . Using HTTPS when possible is one of the easiest ways to protect your privacy with very little hassle.

Snowden lawyer PGP email 'crack' flap: What REALLY happened?

Re: Laws

The NSA considers anyone on this planet to be fair prey. The FBI considers anyone in the USA to be fair prey. Local cops might be marginally better, but only because they lack the technical skills of the federal agencies.

AT&T and Netflix get into very public spat over net neutrality

Re: There are plenty .......

It doesn't matter how many ISPs are started, the telcos and cable companies still own the copper and fiber in the ground as well as the right of ways. Physics says wireless does not have the bandwidth needed. Google is willing to lose as much money as required to compete, in any other context this would be called predatory pricing. In telecom this is called "business as usual". Until the telcos and cable companies lose their government granted monopoly on the "last mile" (more correctly called the "local loop") nothing is going to change. I advocate splitting the local loop parts of the telcos and cable companies (and maybe electric) into a single separate company, require that company to sell access on a non-discriminatory basis, and heavily regulate that company. I also advocate removing the majority of regulation in the rest of the telecommunications industry. Once service providers and content providers are separated from the local loop a whole new generation of services will become available

Is your IT department too tough on users?

Re: Of course the users understand the risks.

I used to consult for a company which had a small IT budget because costs for most "traditional IT" items such as computers, software, internet, WAN, etc were paid for by the individual departments. It was amazing how different things were after that policy was put into place. Items which did not have an obvious relation to a specific location, such as e-mail, were still handled by IT. It wasn't perfect, but most of the ire of the users were directed at their manager, not IT.

Apple's GOLDEN BLING MOBE still the top selling US handset

Re: Total lack of any actual numbers noted

"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."

You can tell which platform a person likes by the question they ask. Android fans ask the question "Which has more market share, Android or iOS?" and Apple fans ask the question "Which has more market share, Apple, Samsung, Motorola, or <insert vendor here>?" The answer to the first question seems to be Android, the answer to the second seems to be Apple.

Regardless of which platform you prefer, competition between the two is good.

Brits won't have to pay for thieves' enormous mobe bills any more

Re: so everyone will get to pay then

Because usage costs of stolen phones are shifted from the customer to the service provider, maybe one of the mobile companies will realize reducing losses from theft will improve their profit margin. Currently theft actually improves service providers profits, that is not a good model.

NSA spied on 'radicalisers' porn surfing so as to discredit them, reveals Snowden

Re: @ thomas k. chickens coming home to roost

Are you saying "the ends justify the means" when the government is involved?

P2P badboy The Pirate Bay sets sail for the Caribbean

Re: Eventually...

Regardless of what you think of The Pirate Bay, playing whack-a-mole with their domain names doesn't prevent people from using their service or using other torrent services, gives Pirate Bay more publicity, and wastes money. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whac-A-Mole in case the term is an Americanism.

Smart metering will disrupt weather forecasts, warns Met Office

Re: yep... security is the key point.

In the USA "pissed" and "pissed off" means "angry".

Want to know if that hottie has HIV? Put their blood in the DVD player

Re: Lets see...The pregency stick came firts...

There is an FDA approved home HIV test kit available in the USA. It isn't actually a test kit, it is a blood sample collection kit which is express mailed back. The actual testing is done by the lab and you call in for the results. In the USA most health insurance does not cover HIV testing. Getting tested at your doctor's office often costs around $300. You can get free or low cost testing at various organizations, but can be a hassle. Personally I think lack of health insurance coverage for HIV testing borders on criminal.

Sprint, Softbank to swear off Huawei kit as condition of merger

I've been telling people that since the 1990's, but nobody listened.

Swartz suicide won't change computer crime policy, says prosecutor

Re: It was of his own choosing

Suddenly his story is now on national news and everyone is talking about it. Seems to me like it was a good for his cause.

Dutch operators: Ugh, we really overdid it on the 4G last night...

The monthly cost for my 3G service has not dropped since 2009. My overage fees have dropped from $50/GB to $15/GB, but I had to sign a new contract to get the lower overage fees. Yay USA cellular service!

Pocket Wi-Fi hotspots paralyse Chinese metro lines

Re: @fear^H^H^H^Hreadnothing

Apparently you've never been to the USA.

Super-thin iMacs WILL be here for Xmas, cram warehouses even NOW

Re: A super-portable desktop computer.

My laptop spends about 8 hours per YEAR with the lid open. The rest of the time it sits behind my nice 20+ inch monitor. Why would I ever want to use that little screen and cramped keyboard when I can connect a real monitor and keyboard to it? I travel often between my apartment and my cabin so I like the portability of the laptop, even if I just use it as a glorified desktop most of the time.

BYOD for our own staff? That would be 'embarrassing' – HP exec

Re: Security, security, security.

One of the primary jobs of IT is to balance the business technology needs with the business information security needs. Sounds like you want to remove the information security part of that and have anarchy, where users connect anything they want to the corporate network. This. Does. Not. Work.

Users don't care about security. If you expect them to care about security then you have already failed. The only way you will have a network which can be called "reasonably secure" is to not let users have anything to do with information security. You want to run your business network like the free wi-fi at the cafe.

Expert: EU Microsoft competition fine could reach $7bn

Re: And again...

"when are Apple going to be forced to comply with a similar measure for OSX?" I suspect around the time they have 80% - 90% market share and force you to purchase a copy of OSX with every computer, even if you run Windows ..er...Linux on the computer. Many of the things Microsoft gets in trouble for, as nasty as they are, would not be an issue if they did not have a monopoly on PC operating systems. Apple and Linux have eroded that a little in recent years, but Windows is still the dominant OS. Apple does some pretty nasty stuff too, but since it is a minor player they are allowed to get away with it.

Microsoft's Surface proves software is dead

Re: Software isn't dead...

I disagree. Outlook is not a great e-mail client. The only thing it seems to do better than others is group calendar functions.

Apple 15in MacBook Pro with Retina Display

Great

I'm not a huge fan of Apple products, I think they tend to be bit overpriced and not upgrade or repair friendly. However, they seem to push other companies to make better products. I hope the new display pushes other companies to make laptops with better screen resolutions.

FCC: Let's kill analogue early, fob diehards off with converter boxes

Re: Our cable already did

When my cable company provides digital service with at least the same channels at the same price as my current analog cable service, then I'll be happy to switch. They don't. I currently pay around $35/month for the basic 15 channel package + Internet that I have. Switching to their cheapest digital package would cost me about $70/month.

Americans stand against UN internet-tax plan

Re: Indoctrinated

I strongly suspect those people who are against health care/health insurance reform have always had health insurance (paid in most part by their employer). Part of the problem is these people don't really understand how much their employer spends on health care coverage. Maybe these costs should be considered part of peoples' income and taxed as income. THEN people will start to see just how much money goes into insurance coverage and might start to think maybe the way we handle this issue isn't working.

North Korean GPS blocking sparks cyber war fears

Lightsquared

Nice to see Lightsquared finally found a place to build their LTE network. 8-)

Pirate island attracts more than 100 startup tenants

Re: Seems a bit daft

See: situational homosexuality

The truth about Apple's mind-boggling low tax rate

Rate .vs. Actual

It is often repeated the USA has "some of the highest corporate tax rates in the world". This is true. It is also often repeated the USA has "some of the lowest corporate tax rates in the world." This is also true. In the first case, the tax rate they are referring to is the tax rate in the tax code -- before deductions, etc. In the 2nd case, they are referring to the tax rate after all the deductions. Dog Bless America!

100 EARTH-LIKE PLANETS orbit stars WITHIN 30 LIGHT-YEARS!

Re: Genocide

Humans are (sadly) very good at Genocide. See: Native Americans, New World, smallpox, blankets