Posts by mrjohn

Hacks rebel after bosses secretly install motion sensors under desks

Re: Bah!

So the guy damaged property and put people's health at risk to prove that they didn't check under the table for affixed kippers?

In Japanese we say "kudaranai"

Kentucky spies stricken: Ban on web snaps of horror accidents mulled

Sad that we have to consider legislation because people lack self restraint

Steve Jobs mural highlights plight of Syrian refugees

But he misses the point, we are not concerned with their potential value in dollars, though this is a persuasive argument for some, we are concerned with their rights as individuals. Everyone deserves a chance, and the world needs baristas as much as it needs spawners of global empires

Banksy and his shadow, drop shadow that is

Libertarian hero: 'Satoshi Nakamoto', government funds, the NSA and the DHS

Chiba City does exist but I'm not sure a gaijin living there would call it "Chiba City", Chiba-shi is more likely. After you have been in Japan a while mixing Japanese place names with English translations starts to sound weird.

UK's super-cyber-snoop shopping list: Internet data, bulk spying, covert equipment tapping

Re: "where life is at immediate risk"

Except

"So, if someone has visited a social media website, an Internet Connection Record will only show that they accessed that site, not the particular pages they looked at, who they communicated with, or what they said."

Which makes the whole thing seem kind of pointless, unless people are going to post their terrorist intentions on Facebook.

Blanket surveillance is an excuse to avoid leg work. M15. saving us from terrorism while eating donuts.

Prepare to be Thunderstruck: What if 'deuszu' ISN'T the Ashley Madison hacker?

I think we can conclude the hacker was Angus

Google will make you live to be 500, claims Ventures president

Google are obviously not fans of Douglas Adams

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4P3pvKmbsg

Ads watchdog: Er, what does woman in her undies have to do with ‘slim’ phone?

Re: How many...

From the ASA link

Kazam Online Ltd t/a Kazam Mobi

Beaver Industrial Estate

Unit A2

Ashford

Kent

TN23 7SH

Beaver?

Superfish: Lenovo ditches adware, but that doesn't fix SSL megavuln – researcher

Re: @Halverflake

You sure about that?

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/19/nsa-gchq-sim-card-billions-cellphones-hacking

"To be clear, Superfish comes with Lenovo consumer products only and is a technology that helps users find and discover products visually. The technology instantly analyzes images on the web and presents identical and similar product offers that may have lower prices, helping users search for images without knowing exactly what an item is called or how to describe it in a typical text-based search engine."

Because the only reason to own a computer is to go shopping?

Brit iPad sellers feel the pain of VAT-free imports

You do pay import duty on gifts if they are over a certain value.

How much for a wrist job? A tenner normally, but for this one, over $30k

Did Apple jump the shark already?

Google must free us from 'invisible web of our personal data' – DPA

or 10 years tax contribution

Google kills CAPTCHAs: Are we human or are we spammer?

Why does every Google video have a soundtrack featuring a ukelele?

Musicians sue UK.gov over 'zero pay' copyright fix

I'm going to license the note middle "C", and the key of D minor.

Planning to fly? Pour out your shampoo, toss your scissors, rename terrorist Wi-fi!

Re: Statistically speaking

yeah, but planes are expensive and you aren't

RUMPY PUMPY: Bone says humans BONED Neanderthals 50,000 years B.C.

"And after studying the genetic goop, the researchers have concluded that humans started interbreeding with their Neanderthal cousins about 60,000 years ago."

and made white people

Google: Hey kids, dump all your files over here with us!

How long before the kids sublet the space?

Are we there yet, are we there yet? Ballmer 'like a small child' upon buying basketball club

Good for him and I can't believe you guys writing him off before he starts.

It's Google HQ - the British one: Reg man snaps covert shots INSIDE London offices

Re: Where's the rest?

beyond the strip of yellow and black on the floor that says "no visitors beyond this point"

and the little signs on the doors that tell you which coloured pass you need to enter this room

you can't take pictures inside the Temples of Syrinx

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeVTkUUCwfo

Dungeons & Dragons relaunches with 'freemium' version 5.0

Re: Paper shortages

It was developed with collaboration by player testers, giving feedback periodically (my D&D group did this). It was fun to be part of the development.

The basic rules are pretty simple, the pace of play is much faster, combat is much faster, the dice are the same, it is suitable for groups but I think your group dynamics will dictate the numbers.

Characters have backgrounds which give extra skills & round things out, making it a more flexible system if you want to use your imagination. You can have a thief who used to be an artisan, a barbarian who used to be a mason.

All character classes are interesting up through the levels. In the previous versions magic users got more interesting as they leveled up but other classes kind of hit a plateau. Now with paths & skills each class gets some funky new abilities as they progress.

I played basic D&D in the 70s as a kid, then came back to it a few years ago at 4E, the first playtests were very much like winding back the clock to simpler days, but as it progressed it became more rounded but not more complicated. I think they have done a great job.

We'll be playing it tonight in Akihabara with the new rules, very happy to have helped develop them.

MAC MEN: Apple hiring 1,000 people for internal ad operation

"AdAge cited industry sources when reporting that the Cupertino giant was in the process of building a 1,000-person internal advertising operation that would compete with outside advertising agencies to produce the company's ads."

Who do you fire when the campaign flunks?

Surprise! Google chairman blasts EU's privacy ruling

Re: This is censorship, plain and simple

the freedom to be forgotten, the freedom to be unknown, the freedom to be anonymous?

nobody asked me if I wanted my minimal presence on the web searchable, my freedom to be unknown has been limited.

Can you tell a man's intelligence simply by looking at him? Yes

Re: Parenthood

who will look after you in your dotage?

Improbable: YOU gave model Lily Cole £200k for her Impossible.com whimsy-site

"She says she was inspired to bring a "gift economy" to the world while on the Thai-Burma border in 2010, and won support from Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales."

The good thing about being ugly is when you smoke weed people ignore your inane drivel

Re: In a nutshell

something he does quite well

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQCqNop3CIg

Facebook pays $19bn for WhatsApp. Yep. $45 for YOUR phone book

Re: Eh.. ?

yeah, well I don't have any mates either

IBM job cuts: Big Blue starts 'slaughter' of Indian and European workforce

"We'll acquire key capabilities, we’ll divest businesses, and we'll rebalance our workforce, as we continue to return value to shareholders," IBM's chief financial officer said recently.

The rentier class strikes again.

Snowden documents show British digital spies use viruses and 'honey traps'

Maybe Muammar Gaddafi wasn't so crazy when he insisted on using his own tent when he visited the UN.

Google invades videoconferencing market with Chromebox for Meetings

We just installed a new teleconference system, priority one : confidentiality. Google does not understand the meaning of this word, except when it relates to them.

Apple marks '1984' anniversary with iPhone-produced un-commercial

I quite like Microsoft's effort

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaOvHKG0Tio

and a little more depth

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JObFlEvc-Eg

END ALS

or they were holding it wrong

Good news: 'password' is no longer the #1 sesame opener, now it's '123456'

In Firefox, preferences>security>saved passwords>show passwords

It does ask if you really want to show your passwords

Google grabs slice of interwebs for EVERYONE (who speaks Japanese)

"Given the homogeneity of Japanese society and the herd mentality, it could prove a popular suffix, although like all new gTLDs, there’s absolutely no guarantee that the domain won’t be a gigantic waste of time and money."

Given that the Japanese are quite diverse culturally, and the herd mentality is no more prevalent here than in the minds of people who subscribe to out dated concepts of racial superiority/inferiority, I'll opt for the latter of the two options.

Web trends do not stem from domain names.

Two Brits face criminal trial for sending 'menacing' tweets

Re: So...

You could send them to their street address, publicized in the article.

Which is creepier, being followed and liked on SNS, or being told you are being followed & liked via surface mail?

Accused Glasshole driver says specs weren't even turned on for traffic stop

Her defense will be "I didn't realise I was doing 80, I was too busy watching Youtube"

Turkish TV presenter canned for flashing too much cleavage

Re: I really don't know...

It's a bit like Ireland, spend hundreds of years resisting foreign occupation, then suddenly deciding it's a great idea.

Google's Project Glass headman answers most pressing question: 'Why?'

"If we ever get there," he said of Project Glass' quest for instant answers, "this will fundamentally change the meaning of knowing things."

He's confusing information with knowledge

Knowledge requires experience to give information meaning

This is why we increasingly live in a reactive, not a predictive society

Irish deputy PM: You want more tax from Apple? Your problem, not ours

Re: What kind of screaming right wing loon are you?

good point, I seem to remember them needing "a few shillings from the English" a while back to help them with their cash flow issues

PayPal security boss: OBLITERATE passwords from THE PLANET

You can change a password, you cannot change your fingerprint, so what happens if the data used to recognise your fingerprint leaks?

Is this the first ever web page? If not, CERN would like to know

This bit it interesting, from the section on Ted Nelson

"and the Xanadu project will aim to attribute royalties to the author of a work whenever it is retrieved across the network."

Yahoo! chats! up! Apple! for! lots! more! iPhone! lovin'!

Re: Yah who?

Yahoo is the most used search engine in Japan

Half of us have old phones STUFFED in our drawers

I have two, the kids play with them.

Apple granted patent for ebook page-turning

The page turn effect was cool once, in about 1983.