Posts by Flywheel

Amazon probes alleged bribery of staffers for data on e-tail platform

Reviews? What's the use?

I use Amazon a lot, but increasingly I've come to decide that the reviews are largely worthless. When you (for example) look for an iPad cover, with 4 stars and above rating and get 30,000 products of the original 50,000 it makes you realise what an utter waste of time it is. Amazon need to stop flooding their own market with crap, get some proper reviews and maybe I'll trust them again.

1-24 of over 30,000 results for Computers & Accessories : Accessories : Tablet Accessories : 4 Stars & Up :

"ipad cover"

The internet – not as great as we all thought it was going to be, eh?

As a transport mechanism/medium I feel it's superb. Reach, resilience, general accessibility.

What you drive on the Super Highway is up to you, but if you only ever use the WWW you're seriously missing out.

The grand-plus iPhone is the new normal – this is no place for paupers

Re: Typical Apple

"you could probably chart its decrease in value on a month-by-month basis"

There should be an app for that! It'd run in the background and occasionally advise you when your phone had depreciated and more importantly, when to buy its replacement!

Card-stealing code that pwned British Airways, Ticketmaster pops up on more sites via hacked JS

other company's code, being served from some other company's servers

Good grief! For some reason it didn't click that the idiots are actually running it off someone else's server - I'd always imagined that the 3rd party code had been downloaded, checked and installed. I thought that updates would be downloaded and checked before installation. But no...

Unbelievable!!

2-bit punks' weak 40-bit crypto didn't help Tesla keyless fobs one bit

Re: Problem-solution dichotomy

"we'll be reliant upon government action to get this weak crypto issue fixed rather than makers taking responsibility"

Well, that'll mean adding a GCHQ-approved crypto backdoor - and think of the children!

Generally Disclosing Pretty Rapidly: GDPR strapped a jet engine on hacked British Airways

Is the ICO up to it though?

I get the feeling that despite the increasingly heavy responsibility being heaped on them, they won;t actually have the time or resource to actually deal with GDPR issues, breaches and the usual stuff they do. Oh, and the p0rn checking later.. Will government realise this and actually spend some sensible cash, or will it limp along and fail?

It's a mug's game: Watch AI robot grab a cuppa it hasn't seen before

Re: "It takes about 20 minutes for the robot to train on a new object"

"it'll never manage to clean a teens' room before the teen has made a whole new mess"

..unless it's a Spot Mini with head-mounted laser. There'll be a slight smell of burning after the cleaning but probably not worse than the stale trainer smell.

Re: Meh

.. and dunk a chocolate digestive - not a chocolate hobnob - without it dissolving into the cup - that would be true AI!

British Airways hack: Infosec experts finger third-party scripts on payment pages

Re: GDPR in action

"but not passport information"... hackers applying data minimisation techniques

Unless they've already snaffled the passport info and that breach hasn't been discovered yet.

Activists rattle tin to take UK's pr0n block to court

Re: What could possibly go wrong,..

Is it really going to be someone's job at the BBFC to cruise for smut all day?

Probably, but they'd get better results if they crowdsourced it.

Brit teen pleads guilty to Minecraft-linked bomb and airline hoaxes

Parental Reponsibility

the parents of Duke-Cohan have exclusively revealed to The Telegraph that their son was targeted and “groomed” online by Apophis Squad because of his vulnerabilities and being repeatedly bullied at school

There seems to be very little mention of the parents in any of the media reports, which is unusual. It would be interesting to know if they actually exercised any Parental Responsibility to try and get him back on course. As he was living at home and had "already been released on pre-charge bail with conditions restricting his use of technology" it doesn't like his parents had a fecking clue!

PS .. yes, he's an adult in the eyes of the Law, but being an attentive parent doesn't stop at 18.

5G can help us spy on West Midlands with AI CCTV, giggles UK.gov

Re: Fortunately, I suppose,

there aren't enough police to respond to all incidents even now

No, and if the truth were known, some councils or their agents that allegedly provide a CCTV "service" are also understaffed. My car was significantly vandalised but was parked over the road from a CCTV mast. I contacted the Police who stated that they "didn't have time to look through hours of CCTV footage", and the council sheepishly admitted that "many cameras aren't switched, and those that are on only have the recordings stored for a couple of days, and they didn't have the staff to check for me". I offered to go in and check the recordings myself but was denied. The whole thing is a joke.

Data plan

Assuming that mere punters will get to use 5G (for looking at things rather than being looked at, I have to wonder how far the average data plan will go.

We're constantly bombarded with TV ads breathlessly proclaiming .. and you get FIVE WHOLE GIGABYTES for your £20. Well whooppee! That'll last around half a day at 5G speeds and no doubt you'll get the option to buy extra overpriced add-on gigabytes - no doubt as to who the winners and losers are!

VMware 'pressured' hotel to shut down tech event close to VMworld, IGEL sues resort giant

Scunthorpe!

TSB goes TITSUP: Total Inability To Surprise Users, Probably

Re: banks should charge fees like any other business

Nice try Mr Pester!

I know you have to make up your bonus losses somehow, but just NO!

Spies still super upset they can't get at your encrypted comms data

Re: governments can always legislate

If web sites can get your computer/device to mine cryptocurrency without your knowledge, I'm sure the spooks could easily dump a file on your device. The fact that you don't know what the file contains or where it came from would be of no consequence to the spooks. Frightening thought!

HTC U12 Life: Notchless, reasonably priced and proper buttons? Oh joy

Updates

Have HTC got any better with their software/OS updates? I still remember the time when getting an updated OS meant nipping out to Argos and buying a new phone.

US watchdog OKs robo-doc AI that spies eye disease all on its own

Trust

While this an amazing feat of several different types of engineering, the excitement could be somewhat tainted by those involved: several corporations including Google and DeepMind. Maybe my tinfoil hat is getting extra layers lately, but I'd want to know exactly who will be using my diagnosis data, and for what purpose.

ZX Spectrum reboot scandal: Directors quit, new sack effort started

Re: Levy fan club

Oh yes, the sex-bot thing. I started to read his research paper and stopped when I got to the bit where he'd dedicated it to his Mother !!!!

Cobbler feels the shoe-leather: An IP address is still not a human

Re: IPv4

Surely this is just another advantage of IPv4?

You wait until IPV6 really goes mainstream - they'll be able to tell which device you were using (your phone) and your location (the bathroom/loo) because your IoT toilet will confirm the details and snitch on you !

Re: what’s with Adam Sandler?

Haven't seen "The Cobbler"

It may well be cobblers for all I know

Fire chief says Verizon throttled department's data in the middle of massive Cali wildfires

Re: What do you expect?

They paid for unlimited data. In 99% of places this means "without limits". You and Verizon are obviously part of the 1% that don't understand that!

Security MadLibs: Your IoT electrical outlet can now pwn your smart TV

Re: It's Christmas!

old enough to like "Merry Christmas Everybody"

Nobody mentioned "like" - I'm old enough to remember that accursed ballad the first time round, but "like" is not a word I'd voluntarily use :)

Bloke hurls sueball over Google's 'is it off yet?' location data slurping

Re: well done Sir

Napoleon needs crowdfunding - if everyone that had a beef with Google gave just £1 we'd have enough left to tackle the other vampires as well.

US tech circles wagons as India reviews data protection proposals

"Not Secure"

Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology are not using HTTPS. Oh dear...

ZX Spectrum reboot scandal biz gets £35k legal costs delayed

Re: Horace goes to Epping forest

The bizarreness doesn't end there though! I downloaded David Levy's thesis via a link on Indiegogo. It's title is "Intimate Relationships with Artificial Partners" which is bad enough, but he's then added "Dedicated to the memory of my mother". I'm not sure what to say about that...

Beam me up, PM: Digital secretary expected to give Tory conference speech as hologram

Hologram you say?

But how will we notice the difference?

Google risks mega-fine in EU over location 'stalking'

Re: It is also wifi

"I also have this problem", as they say.

I have spent an inordinate amount of time trying to disable/pause as many locations as possible, and believed I'd finally achieved it. However, in looking up a retailer address, Google helpfully popped up a map and asked if I'd like directions, so I accepted, expecting to get the opportunity to enter a start point. But no, Google identified and auto-filled my exact location, presumably from my accidentally-collected WiFi info.

Put it this way - if I ever find out I'm to be terminated with a drone strike, the Android gets ditched immediately.

Mattel's parenting takeover continues with Alexa-like dystopia

"Aristotle will help purchase diapers"

Jeez, if you've reached the stage where you need help buying diapers nappies you shouldn't be having/managing children in the place! However, if Aristotle is actually paying for them that's a different matter...

Oomm-tsss, oomm-tsss, Oomm-tsss, oomm-tsss... it's an AI beatbox

Britain's Got Talent

Ok, California for now, but we'll get it sooner or later. It'll be all over BGT. Or "That's What I call Music 102".

*SIGH*

Britain's Got Talent

Ok,

Facebook insists it has 'no plans' to exploit your personal banking info for ads – just as we have 'no plans' to trust it

Re: Basic Common Sense

"One would hope that the financial regulators would have something to say about this"

They'll be as useful as the ICO. Chocolate teapot.

Hey, you know what a popular medical record system doesn't need? 23 security vulnerabilities

ONC certified

Oh dear Or, I want some of whatever they were smoking when they certified it...

IPv6: It's only NAT-ural that network nerds are dragging their feet...

Privacy implications

Ignore my tinfoil hat, but if every Internet/network-capable device I possess has a unique IPV6 address, it's going to make it very difficult for me to deny any alleged wrongdoings when the Authorities gather my location metadata together.

"Mr Flywheel, you claim you were in Manchester but your IP-toaster, toilet, and toothbrush all confirm you were in Neasden..."

With my currently heavily-NAT'd setup I can at least relax safely in the knowledge that my location is often wildly inaccurate!

Almost 1 in 3 Brits think they lack computer skills to do their jobs well

Re: I think I lack computer skills to do my job well

I am proud to lack certain computer skills, such as proficiency with Microsoft Office

Interesting that you should quote MS Office - I cut my teeth on Wordstar and early Excel, and I appreciated simplicity of the software and the fact that it actually enabled me to get the job done. Fast-forward to the bloatware that claims to be Office and we both know why we'll never be proficient at it.

This sums up the problem nicely ... http://wyorock.com/excelasadatabase.htm

Internet overseer ICANN loses a THIRD time in Whois GDPR legal war

Re: So, the WhoIs record should have contact info

There is however an Abuse Contact Email and phone number. Maybe I should give 'em a call...

Ever seen printer malware in action? Install this HP Ink patch – or you may find out

(and seriously, who the hell exposes a printer to the internet?)

A near-neighbour/someone within range of my WiFi router - the printer is an HP funnily enough. I haven't sent them the pictures of a black cat in a coal cellar.. yet.

Probe Brit police phone-peeking plans, privacy peeps plead

Re: How do these work?

As I understand it (and I need to clarify this), some police forces services are equipped with a portable unit that essentially clones your phone's contents (others need to take your phone down to the Station to be extracted).

What I'm not clear about is if the phone is encrypted, do they end up with an encrypted blob, as opposed to a mirror of a phone's data structure and contents? If so I envisage a trip to the nick to decrypt the phone.

PI's info page is very useful

https://privacyinternational.org/explainer-graphic/2211/mobile-phone-extraction-how-police-can-secretly-download-everything-your

as is the obligatory XKCD "meanwhile back at the nick" scenario

Think tank calls for post-Brexit national ID cards: The kids have phones so what's the difference?

Re: It's quite funny

I imagine that if we did have ID cards they'd have some sort of BLE/NFC chip embedded, and retailers of all shapes and sizes would be pressured into having a receiver/data-forwarding device inside their shop.

Re: FTFY...

Actually, There's low confidence in any UK government

Beam me up, UK.gov: 'Extra-terrestrial markup language' booted off G-Cloud

Wait .. tell me I'm not misunderstanding this?

So the Government, notoriously short of cash* and the apparent inability to figure out to set up a border in Ireland has been dealing with a company experienced in "interfacing with applications in the Clouds and beyond especially with highly mobile disc-based platforms flying bl00dy saucers", well at least until today?

Seriously? Is time to take my meds yet?

*except for projects like this

Early experiment in mass email ends with mad dash across office to unplug mail gateway

I had an Australian mate who need to get to Looga-baroo (Loughborough)...

Re: Reminds me of ...

Scunthorpe? Ah, those were the days. I also had problems with "sniggering" which was kindly autocorrected to "sblackpersoning"

All that dust on Mars is coming from one weird giant alien structure

something else is to blame for the large swathes of dust

I think we're missing the point here - it looks like a (potentially) extinct civilisation made so much pollution that the planet ended up being totally covered in it, and the inhabitants died out.

Hopefully our planet won't be found in millions of years covered by a "mysterious layer of plastic" and a single solar-powered soft-drinks machine still spewing it out.

Here's why AI can't make a catchier tune than the worst pop song in the charts right now

Now That's What I call Music 101

Well, that's sorted the tunes out for the next album of dross. Bring it on! next stop, Britain's got "Talent"...

Google Chrome: HTTPS or bust. Insecure HTTP D-Day is tomorrow, folks

Hard times head for the "family IT guy"

If you're one of those poor sods that provides IT support for the family and have to deal with Auntie's "if it winks at you, click it" habit, I predict you'll see an unwelcome increase in workload as panicking relatives start phoning you to say the Internet's not secure any more. Good luck!

How much do you think Cisco's paying erstwhile Brit PM David Cameron?

how much he's earning for the stunt - the subtle difference

It's generally not appreciated that when the media make a statement like "how much he's earning for the stunt", they should be saying "how much he's being paid for the stunt".

"Earning" implies that Cameron will have to do some real work of some merit to be paid, whereas he's undoubtedly going to be regurgitating hogwash while people throw money at him. Well worth a miss...

Taps running dry for Capita? Southern Water pens 5-year managed service

Re: NI WTF?

Obligatory link to "running out of sand" https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/why-even-arab-nations-are-buying-sand/articleshow/60492513.cms

'Fibre broadband' should mean glass wires poking into your router, reckons Brit survey

Bl00dy Southerners! We're so poor in't North that we just shout out each other from t'tops of t'moors! on a good day our Selwyn can whistle to t'next dale at over 1200 baud. Champion!

Hope for Hutchins, Navy sinks contractor, there's another Russian hacking scandal, and more

They're upset that internet-connected tellies could be used to spy on folks

Yes, yes, but why them and why now? Have some of the Good Ol' Boys been gifted some smart kit perchance?