Posts by Prichy

UK admits 'spy clause' can't be used for scanning encrypted chat – it's not 'feasible'

Unfortunately I don't think they have accepted it, only that this cannot be done *yet*. They still don't seem to understand the fundamental contradiction of a _secure_ end-to-end encrypted service, and one that can be scanned if necessary (but of course only by the good guys).

From a BBC article on the "U-turn": The Internet Watch Foundation - which finds, flags, and removes images and videos of child sexual abuse from the web said that in its opinion it was already technically feasible to scan encrypted messaging systems while preserving privacy. It said: "We know technologies exist, now, which can do this - with no more invasion of privacy than a virus guard or spam filter".

So because they can find images on the web, they've just made some wild leap that the same can be done for E2E encryption; after all, it's all just the interweb-thingy, isn't it?

The BBC article goes on to quote: "... [the Bill] will enable Ofcom to direct companies to either use, or make best efforts to develop or source, technology to identify and remove illegal child sexual abuse content - which we know can be developed," said a government spokesperson.

So although they've conceded this cannot be forced this time around - they really still do not understand how fundamentally flawed/stupid what they're asking is :-(

Bad software destroyed my doctor's memory

In my experience marketing can also screw it all up

I used to work in retail for a large chain of convenience stores. When I joined, many years ago, they still had non-GUI character terminals and keyboards. The keyboards were a custom design with some dedicated buttons for very frequent actions (.e.g Total, select payment type, open cash drawer, void item etc) and a numeric keypad to enter the six digit item code for anything that you couldn't scan with the barcode scanner. After only a couple of weeks a new staff member was incredibly quick on these things, knew the most-used codes off by heart (coffee, fresh items etc) and could conduct a conversation eye-to-eye with the customer without ever looking down at the keyboard. Then a new era arrived: a brand new system with touch-screen graphical terminals. Marketing went crazy! Great, they thought, now we can push the current special offers onto the "front-screen" with lots of other specials and other functions buried on sub-screens via menus. They would change the layout on a whim, as they implemented each new dazzling offer and pushed that front-and-centre on the terminal, completely re-arranging the GUI. It was a disaster of course; now all the 'buttons' changed weekly and the poor cashiers had to look to see which menu etc they were in. They spent ages searching for the items they needed and even when they found them, the position would change the next week. Moreover the touch screen wasn't anywhere near as responsive as it needed to be and of course it didn't buffer keystrokes like a keyboard does, requiring constant vigilance to ensure every 'button' press worked. It was never replaced of course, because my company had invested a fortune in these things and the incompetent management consultants (beginning with "A" and ending with "ccenture") who had led the project and, as usual, insisted the long queues now forming at every store were the fault of our staff and not the appalling system they'd implemented.

Tesla to disable 'self-driving' feature that allowed vehicles to roll past stop signs at junctions

Re: Not a "bug"

I agree - common behaviour is not necessarily a good way to go. Another feature of the more aggressive mode is leaving less space between cars when pulling out to change lanes. GOOD - because sometimes you simply won't be able to pull out otherwise because of the constant stream of morons who sit nose-to-tail in the outside lanes. But another feature of aggressive mode is then staying in those lanes and not pulling back in - because that's common practice. BAD - that's part of why our motorways are so congested. It may be common practice, but it's illegal and increases the level of stupid/selfish on the roads.

Latest patent brouhaha: Sonos wheels out Doomsday device in bid to block Google Home sales.... The Register

Re: Sqeezebox

I'm still running 4 Squeezebox units at home (OK - some are branded Logitech). Three are wireless, one is cabled. But yes, Squeezebox were doing this long before Sonos and IMHO it's still a far superior solution. It's open, flexible, supports numerous formats including online radio/podcast streams and allows you to choose the hardware to get the quality and price point you want. Your setup can be lower quality than Sonos, or higher, cheaper or more expensive - you decide what suits you. Thankfully, the one thing it doesn't provide - is microphones!

'Is this Microsoft trying to be cool? Want to go to the Apple Store?' We checked out London's new retail extravaganza

Feels shallow and a little claustrophobic

"... feels shallow and a little claustrophobic."

So truly reflects the MS experience then!

Apple fakes intimacy in our dead-eyed digital world with software fix

Re: Just what I don't want

To be fair - the article says you can turn this feature off.

Up close with the 'New Psion' Gemini: Specs, pics, and genesis of this QWERTY pocketbook

All about the software

I also agree that the hardware was great, but it was the software that was the killer feature. If they're simply going to put all the usual standard Linux/Android/whatever applications on this then they've completely missed the point. For me, the 5 was good but the 3mx was the best in terms of the UI. The stylus just slowed things down. Once you learnt all of the shortcuts it was far faster than using a PC. I wrote some not unsubstantial documents using it. Each style could be assigned a shortcut so you hardly ever needed to use the menus, let along point and click - it was incredibly quick. The Diary/Todo application was simply sublime and no PC offer has ever bettered it. It was expensive, yes - even had to bay a fortune for the separate spell checker (which I did), but it all worked wonderfully.

British car parks start reading number plates

Over-payment

What annoys me is that the currently improvements in technology only benefit the vendors. The old Pay-and-Display parks used to be pre-payment only; you inserted your cash into the machine, selecting how long you wanted and displayed the ticket in the car. Of course you always over-payed. Now most shopping centres have pay-on-exit so they know more accurately how long you've parked. BUT they still use half-hour or one hour slots for this. So if I pop in for 20 mins I still pay for an hour. But if they know exactly when you entered and left - why can't they charge you accurately? So will this new generation of ANPR machines be fairer - or will the companies still be collecting hundreds of hours more payment per day than their customers actually used?