Posts by David Lewis 2

Customer data security is our highest priori- ha ha ha whatever, suckers

Re: Company law

... in the long term ...

What is this "long term" of which you speak? Pure fantasy!

For most Manglement, long term means "this quarter" or less.

Join the Q: British intel agencies seek tech-savvy apprentices

Re: CV?

An apprenticeship "could be a tempting alternative to a university degree – and a unique start to a career"

What about in the future when your CV won't get past the automated "Degree Required" filter and go straight in the "reject" pile.

While I applaud the reintroduction of modern apprenticeships I fear it may take some time for this "innovation" to percolate through the Recruitment Consultants & Human Refuse departments.

Elon Musk says SpaceX Falcon 9 fireball investigation is 'biggest challenge yet'

Re: calling the explosion an “anomaly”

I thought the correct term was RAD ... Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly!

The Rise, Fall and Return of TomTom

Mixed Feelings

TomTom is one of those companies that I both love & hate.

I have fond memories using their mapping on Psion (5 & netBook) and later on an iPAQ, with a collection of serial, CF card & Bluetooth GPS receivers. I still have all of them, gathering dust.

Then of course they entered the market with their own integrated hardware; and dropped support for the software product almost overnight. And, yes I do have a TT SatNav! :)

Then again there is their irritating habit of disabling obvious features and actively preventing workarounds with firmware updates.

Rant over ... time for a beer. =>

BT needs to ditch its legacy to be competitive, says chief architect

Re: "unfortunately that’s what makes the press"

"<10 kbps guaranteed !"

FIFY

Retired Philae lander slouches on Comet 67P

Look Closely

If you look reeeeaaaaaaally closely I'm sure you can see the clamp and parking ticket!

I wonder how much the fine will rack up by the time the comet comes around again and we mount an expedition to retrieve it?

Universal Credit: 'One dole to rule 'em all' on verge of recovery – report

New elReg Metric?

"Some 12 years later we might have a working IT system"

For some definition of "working" of course! What is the official elReg units of "working"?

Stop lights, sunsets, junctions are tough work for Google's robo-cars

"How would it go in Naples, I wonder?"

That's an easy problem. It would just need two rules:

1. Ignore all road signs.

2. Rely on collision avoidance!

MoD flings £800m at Dragons' Den miltech startup wheeze as post-Brexit costs bite

Re: Details here:

"... infantry in a real field can see - and respond to - simulated tanks and aircraft etc."

So that's MILSPEC Pokemon Go then?

Whitehall waste: Cash splashed on consultants and temps up 90% in half decade

Slow News Day?

In what way is this story remotely "News"?

GDS has no real strategy for £450m budget pot, internal plan reveals

The Panama Option?

They could always invest the money in a nice offshore tax haven while they make up their minds, and pocket the profit!

We wrap our claws around latest pre-Build Windows 10 preview

Re: Stay with 7

If they stayed true to form then Windows 9 would have been awesome!

IEEE delivers Ethernet-for-cars standard

Re: IEEE 802 for cars

No. BMW (drivers) don't do signalling!

US chap sharpens paradigm-busting scissors

No, no. These are only for cutting straight lines.

There will be a separate round of funding for V2.0 for cutting corners!

Drivers? Where we’re going, we don’t need drivers…

... we travelled from ethics, to robotics

I know where Essex is but Robotics?

Typo in case-sensitive variable name cooked Google's cloud

Re: irony

Does that mean I can create a company called "alphabet" or "ALPHABET" or "AlPhAbEt" & I won't get swamped by their lawyers as they are "obviously different"?

Part of the world's IT brought down by Azure Active Directory issue

Only if the previous outage was more than 365 days ago. Anyone know?

Laid-off IT workers: You want free on-demand service for what now?

+1 for the MIGE reference!

So, GDS saved Brits £1.7bn through 'digital transformation'. Sure about that?

Or In Simple Terms

So politicians lie?

I shocked. Shocked I tell you.

Financial Conduct Authority wastes £3.2m on unnecessary Oracle licences

Re: PostgreSQL

Simple. You don't get "Back Handers" for using free software!

Assessing the power of Intel’s SSD 750 … but check your motherboard before buying

Re: Does it work on AMD-compatible motherboards?

Yes it does. I can confirm the MSI A88XM motherboard does support this, as long as you update to the latest available chipset drivers.

Twitter CRAWLS to Google ON ITS KNEES, starts blowing content

Could be worse?

What if Google did a similar deal with Facebook? Oh crap, I hope I haven't given anyone ideas...

Screech! Grand Theft Auto V malware mods warning

Re: Obscure X-Men reference

Funny, my first reference was the "Doom" cheat. I must be showing my age.

TalkTalk unveils best results ever – and its share price dips

News is not good?

So 9 out of 10 incidents shown are attributed to "Openreach Cable Break", which are therefore outside TalkTalk's control, and could even be affecting customers of other ISPs, including BT!

But hey, don't let reality spoil a good story. Good to see The Register maintaining its standard of journalism.

CIOs: What tech will be running your organisation in 2020?

2020?

Why bother asking?

The standard business response will be "It will be someone else's problem in 5 years so why should I worry about it!

Atomic keyring's eerie blue glow lights SPB lab

Availability

Any update on when new stock will be available?

Wi-Fi beam-steering tech could KILL OFF fixed home networks

Bandwidth

The technology is excellent, it will help a lot in poor reception areas and improve battery life by reducing the RF power compared to using an omni-directional antenna.

Two thoughts:

1. So my router WiFi can support 3 30Mbps UHD video streams, but my ISP connection is only 5Mbps!

2. It will be useful in mobile phones, improving connectivity even if you are "holding it wrong"!

IT knowledge is as important as Maths, says UK.gov

"significant digital skills shortage"

So nothing has changed/improved since I first heard that phrase when I started in IT in 1975?

Fight back against illegal GCHQ spying with PAPERWORK!

Let me get this straight

Me: GCHQ, do you have any information on me that you obtained illegally?

GCHQ: No.

Me: OK, I trust you.

EE data network goes TITSUP* after mystery firewall problem

Don't Worry ...

This sort of thing won't happen once BT take over!

Come and Twiddle Tek Gear's one handed keyboard

Left Handed?

So the Velcro strap can be reconfigured for left handed use, but can the button assignments (and the key tops) also be reconfigured for left handed configuration?

I'm assuming the key layout has been optimised for chording and usage frequency. If they are not reconfigurable it would mean that a left handed user would be at a disadvantage.

Mind you, given that this is an entirely new device, a "lefty" could actually learn to use it with their right hand, leaving their dominant hand free for writing etc.

All that is required now is to incorporate an "air mouse" to replace two devices in one.

Don't use Charlie Hebdo to justify Big Brother data-slurp – Data protection MEP

Re: Can we ...

"Instead of creating an ineffective dragnet on all the POPULATION, security authorities should have been exchanging the data they already had on these suspects,”

TFIFY

Preserve the concinnity of English, caterwauls American university

Wayne State University?

Just WTF has the USA got to do with "English"? They don't even speak or spell it propper like wot we do!

Nvidia flops out teraflop X1 for self-aware cars

Upgrades Anyone?

Will cars then fall into the trap of not getting software updates because the manufacturer no longer supports that model, rather like mobile phones today?

You want the latest, greatest software? Sorry sir you will have to upgrade your car first.

Regin: The super-spyware the security industry has been silent about

Double Speak

"virtually no infections have been reported in the US, UK or other Five Eyes nations"

is NOT the same as

"virtually no infections have occurred in the US, UK or other Five Eyes nations"

Just because something hasn't been reported doesn't mean is hasn't happened.

TalkTalk's 'unbeatable signal strength' and 'fastest Wi-Fi tech' FIBS silenced by ad watchdog

"unbeatable"

So use a word like "unbeatable" gets a slap on the wrist.

But "unlimited" is OK?

Spaceplane fan sips sweet nectar from LOHAN's copious cup

I'm Jealous

Still no sign of my T-shirt & mug :(

Apple blacklists tech journo following explicit BENDY iPhone vid

Distortion?

Apple just need to turn the Reality Distortion Field "up to 11", so everyone will see that their device is, in fact, "Not Bent"!

Lawyer reviewing terror laws and special powers: Definition of 'terrorism' is too broad

Re: The definition of terrorism is too broad

Anyone who isn't me is a "potential" terrorist! TFIFY

UK mulls ban on tiny mobiles to block prison smugglers

Rather than a Jammer...

Why not install a cell site in every prison to ensure any calls are routed through it?

Then all the calls from the prisoners (aka potential terrorists) can be captured & sent directly to GCHQ/NSA!

Simples.

Plusnet's 'Everyone's a winner' claim is a plus-sized whopper

Double Standards?

So the ASA takes issue when "Everyone" doesn't mean everyone but has no problem when "Unlimited" doesn't actually mean ... well, unlimited?

Microwaves thrash fibre on speed... if you like two-nines uptime

Business Continuity & High Availability

In any such trading environment, where they have plenty of (our) money to burn, I'd expect any sensible business to deploy both simultaneously and just use which ever was fastest for each message.

So 99% of the time they would have the speed benefit of the microwave link, but would fall back to the extra 0.99% availability of the fibre link rather than being down.

BBC: Monster cargo ship delivers '863 million tins of baked beans'

18,000 shipping containers. Now that would make Microsoft a bl**dy big floating data centre!

Power & cooling would be OK. Network connection might be a problem though! Undersea fiberoptic cable?

Interestingly, if it was in international waters, who would have juristiction over the data and applications hosted on it? Maybe it will be a "Mega" ship!

CIOs: Don't listen to tech vendors on ICT skills, listen to US

Oh Really?

Would these CIOs be the same ones who take the advice of their own IT professionals over tech vendors?

No, thought not.

Apple's iOS 6 maps STILL muddle Mildura

The Correct Apple Response

To paraphrase another Apple quote ...

Just move the town. It's no big deal!

Apple updates maps to remove Australia’s ghost-city in the desert

To paraphrase another Apple quote ...

Just move the town. It's no big deal!

Apple's patent insanity infects Silicon Valley

Common Sense

Sadly common sense seem in short supply these days.

Remember the consultants/lawyers motto:

"If you are not a part of the solution, there's good money to be made in prolonging the problem!"