Just remember...
...this is the government we're talking about, not some efficient organisation.
365 publicly visible posts • joined 29 May 2012
You misunderstood, didn't you?
This is "Yes, we have installed CCTV in the bedrooms of every citizen in the UK without them knowing and yes, the video feed from the CCTV camera in YOUR bedroom is available on the monitors in GCHQ, but only if you tune the monitor to the right channel and we ask our agents to not do that."
"I would guess that people actually working there are incredibly bright."
They are. You need to speak 2 languages for a lower-grade job and 3 to be a patent examiner. (out of the official english, French and German). You also need a decent degree from a recognised uni, but a lot of the examiners have PhDs.
I worked there as a z/Os & Linux contractor and would have loved a permanent role (just missed out due to the aforementioned restructuring) - it's a friendly, relaxed place to work, with no 'Rah! Rah Rah! We want profits!" attitude.
Espacenet (Google it) is a public gateway to the patent databases (there's over 130 but not all are public) and has some cool/funny stuff - try and find the patent for the foot-mounted dildo. It made me and my flatmates laugh when we read it...
I'm surprised that Apple haven't done this with the Macbook/Macbook Air yet - a machine that can switch between OS X and iOS modes with the ability to remove the screen for an iPad Pro experience. If the detached screen could also be switched into OS X when not joined, or perhaps paired with a BT keyboard then that would be nice too. (E.g. grab screen to take to work for some iOS fun/videos on the train. At work, realise you need to carry on some serious work so get the BT keyboard you keep at work, connect, switch to OS X, work on document in iCloud).
The Bank of England have been slammed that their new banknotes allow rampant fraud, banking experts are claiming.
The problem is that whilst the notes themselves contain various security measures and are hard to copy, banks are being lazy and not checking the notes presented to them carefully enough and consequently are allowing people to deposit Monopoly money.
"assembler on an IBM mainframe.."
You get an upvote for that alone. I thought it was just me.
When I realised that all this "Pass by reference or pass by value" bollocks was just a new way of saying "does the register contain the value or the address of the value?" I mentally slapped my forehead.
You know, it really isn't that easy to create lots of patents and then sue people for using them.
At the bare minimum, you have to invest a new best way to do something. If it isn't the best way, then other people will just do it differently and not infringe your patent.
"I mean when you buy something, it's your right to use it in any way you want.". The trouble is, you don't buy software - you licence it. And the licence says what you can and can't do with it. If you don't like the term of the licence, you return it and if you don't return it, your agreement to the terms is implicit.
Also - sue over what? Go ahead and do whatever you like with your iDevice - if you want to wipe it and install Linux on it, go ahead. It might be difficult but you can't sue for that. It'd be difficult to fly to the Moon on it too, but that's another thing you can't sue them over because you think they should have provided that option
You're getting confused over between Apple making it hard to modify the software on their iPhone (which is the reality and which they are entitled to do) and your fantasy of Apple having to provide an easy option for users to do/install whatever they like.
I'm not defending Apple here - I'm just clarifying your thoughts :-). Try it with an Samsung device - you bought it, so it's yours to do what you like with. And if you can't reverse engineer & customise their proprietary additions to Android and install them on your Nokia or sell them on the Google Play store then is that something you can sue them for too?
You can't sue someone because something you bought won't do something it wasn't advertised to do.
"the device is secure, both from hackers, and the NSA"
"You're naive. Dangerously so. No matter how ethical the company is, if they have any American legal attack surface whatsoever then they will be forced to give the keys to the kingdom over the NSA."
It was a rhetorical question and therefore correct. A device to access the entire Internet by voice that was totally secure and remembered everything you needed it to would be good. If someone said "Wouldn't it be great to have free, driverless cars that you could call when you needed one and could never crash?", then you can't reply "No - someone would charge for them and they would crash", because the proposal is that they are free and can't crash.
You can argue that these things can't be achieved, but that's all.
I know - very pedantic.
"I wonder which will still be working three years later and may have actually increased in value while the other is worth just scrap or £20 for spares on Ebay."
You can buy broken, solid-gold watches for £20 off eBay? That's amazing.
You know, you haven't chosen wisely by bringing future value into a debate concerning something made of gold. Unless you were actually dismissing the Omega.
"Doctor! I'm just going over here... Oh, I've been captured."
<Doctor rescues assistant.>
"Thanks Doctor!. Now I'm going..oh, I've been captured..."
<Doctor rescues assistant>
"Thanks!. Now I'm just ... Well what do you know,.I've been captured..."
You really should stop feeling so smug and superior. Some people genuinely prefer the Apple ecosystem and buy an iPhone after an informed choice. Why else would peopl buy them if, as you say, it's just a status symbol yet everyone else despises them thus robbing them of any status?
If switching to Android from iOS was so easy for you, then I'm assuming you have no investment in the iOS/Apple ecosystem (iPhone/iPad/MAx datasharing etc) nor any iOS apps, iTunes films etc.
Which begs the question - why have an iPhone? Someone at work asked me if he should get an iPhone or Android so I asked what apps he wanted. "Apps?" he replied. turns out he just wants email, web-browsing, phone calls, messaging etc so I told him it didn't really matter what he bought.
Is this just a random list of distracting things? Just, using an Apple Watch would be distracting but I didn't see the IAM issuing advice that the new Nerf guns would be distracting if small children were using them for a pitched battle in the back seat. Same for porcupines - a porcupine on the passenger seat is also distracting. Again, no warning. And that girl who I usually see walking up the hill near home - very distracting. Especially in summer.