Posts by Jagged

In case you need more proof the world's gone mad: Behold, Apple's $699 Mac Pro wheels

For that price I expect them to be carved from the bones of Steve Jobs

Brexit: UK will be disconnected from EU databases after 2020

My only concern is that they delete our data when we leave.

Typical cynical Brits: Broadband speeds up, satisfaction goes down

Talk Talk are the worst.

My father used to be a Tiscali customer who were taken over by Talk Talk. Its now impossible for him to speak to anyone because their systems can't recognise Tiscali customer accounts. Bunch of useless *****

Tech moguls dominate Oxfam's rich people Hateful 8

I doubt it because the reason so many are so poor is because they are in debt. Share a billion dollars with a billion of the poorest and they will probably still be in debt.

Better to spend the money on improving their conditions. Should the Gates foundation actually find a cure for malaria, that would be a real change.

Milk IN the teapot: Innovation or abomination?

Re: No milk-?

"Earl Grey"

- Victorian con trick

Non-US encryption is 'theoretical,' claims CIA chief in backdoor debate

Remember when the US tried this before?

'Merica band the export of anything above 48bit encryption back in the 90s.

Which was odd because 128bit encryption was already from Europe :/

Ad slinger Phorm ceases trading

"Not in the public interest"

Unfortunately "In the public interest" doesn't mean what it used to mean any more and now only means "things likely to sell newspapers" or "likely to drive internet traffic".

See extra marital affairs of celebrities.

Cinema boss gives up making kids turn off phones: 'That's not how they live their life'

"Not to mention the fun it will be with all those Siri/Cortana-enabled phones waking up at various times because some sound in the film triggered a response."

- That's an idea. Could the trailers announce "Siri Mute" just before the movie starts?

Flying Spaghetti Monster is not God, rules mortal judge

Genuine Believer

I suspect that Judge Gerrard is a genuine Pastafarian and just doesn't want the religion being besmirched by the criminal fraternity looking for an easy ride :(

Judge Gerrard should be made a noodle saint.

Re: This is the kind of nonsense

Have you been reading too many Scott Adams blogs?

While we are on the subject, I am counting down the days till he starts a religion. I will happily sport a curling up tie.

Windows 10 debuts Blue QR Code of Death – and why malware will love it

Rickroll

I bet every QR codes takes you to a video of Rick Astley.

Bundling ZFS and Linux is impossible says Richard Stallman

So *some* lawyers disagree, where as some *other* lawyers agree

A Universal Constant ...

The future of Firefox is … Chrome

<Vader>

NOOOOO!

</Vader>

Websites take control of USB devices: Googlers propose WebUSB API

Re: Where to begin?

The only thing I disagree with you here is the line "Your WebUSB api is a nice concept"

Other than that, big thumbs up! ;)

Bash on Windows. Repeat, Microsoft demos Bash on Windows

I presume this is all about Docker?

More freebies for Docker?

Checks Date?

Was this posted early? 1st of April is tomorrow :/

Hi! Up here! I'm your Amazon drone. Do you mind if I land now?

Re: Prior Art

"on the web" seems enough to validate many an existing piece of IP so ...

Speaking in Tech: Batman vs Superman... absolutely sucked

Re: Superman vs Batman

http://www.pvponline.com/comic/2016/03/29/stupor-man

Just leaving that there, thats all I am saying ...

Iain Duncan Smith's Universal Credit: A timeline

Re: "the project has been going on too long to be cancelled"

Have you ever worked in any organisation that doesn't believe "IT is the way to drive transformation" ?

They are all like that, rather than make the difficult decision, get IT to do it :/

Re: existing system and new idea

The system can't be changed because the minute someone tries, there will always be winners and losers. Which will in turn allow the media to find one of these losers and say "ain't this awful". Queue wailing and gnashing of teeth!

Stop! Before you accept that Windows 10 Mobile upgrade, read this

Re: Forced update, no going back, competition

I fully expect Microsoft to adopt the "Full Skype" approach to upgrading, and when we turn our PCs on (why would we ever turn them off?) we can lean-back, relax and have our experience upgraded :/

Snowden WAS the Feds' quarry in Lavabit case, redaction blunder reveals

Re: I wonder...

If you have to detain your prisoners in places where your own law courts can't touch them, then that should be a big indicator that you are the bad guy.

Slack smackback: There's no IRC in team (software), say open-sourcers

Re: No nesting = Technical use very limited

"Slack does not have nested discussions"

*pshah*

No one (who is cool) uses nested or threaded discussions any more. We are living in the Mobile Age and everything has to fit in your pocket, so there's no room to display all that unnecessary junk.

Just in case the sarcasm in the above post doesn't register, I completely agree with you but I suspect we are swimming against the tide :(

Millions menaced as ransomware-smuggling ads pollute top websites

Re: Simple Job Function

Unfortunately that doesn't work anymore. Ads are dynamically generate, ad space is sold down the line and there is no way you can tell that the adds served to your visitors are the same ads you saw when you tested.

There was a Register article fairly recently about malware ads that server up different content if they detect certain security tools :(

Re: Firefox and NoScript

"JavaScript: yes, it shouldn't be able to do anything outside the browser window it's in"

- This. Sandboxing things like script and flash and java plugins and plugins of any nature is perfectly possible. That some of the browser makers haven't done so, makes me think they have hidden reasons for not doing so.

Subjects! Speek your branes to Parliament on the Snoopers' Charter

"@a cynic, How were you to know the opposition would want exactly the same powers (or more) for the next time they were in power."

Because they wanted it the last time they were in power?

I think there must be something in the water that civil servants feed to new Home Secretaries, that tern them into control freaks.

Tech biz bosses tell El Reg a Brexit will lead to a UK Techxit

derisory renegotiations

The "derisory renegotiations" are another reason why I want to leave. Apparently Cameron's new deal means that if 54% of governments decide to vote against something, it will be stopped.

Prior to Cameron's deal I would have thought it just took the most votes. Foolish me. But now I know better.

Re: A false argument

"It's pretty clear that for most people wanting to leave, immigration is the key factor."

Not sure that's true. Immigration is one of the most talked about, because its the current example of the EUs inability to come to a decision about anything. A year or two ago, the big issue would have been the economic collapse of the euro zone.

Anyhow, the main issue for me is sovereignty and not wanting any part of a european super state.

Re: Freedom of movement.

" It's a real shame he never even pushed for and secured real reform."

- To be fair to Cameron, I think he did try but realised pretty early on that we wasn't going to get anywhere with EU reform and rolled back to just treaty exemptions for the UK.

Microsoft adds 'non-security updates' to security patches

Re: I'll jump in before everybody starts to state the obvious....

I think the issue here is that MS doesn't see them as "existing customers"

It sees them as "past customers" and wants to change them into "existing customers" in the form of regular monthly payments.

Outsourced Virgin Media techies botched this infosec bod's Poodle fix

That would mirror my experience too. When you get the "outsourced" service, its abysmal. When you get through to an actual UK technician, its pretty good. But nothing could be so great as to expunge the pain of the hurdles you had to go through to get there ;)

Brit firm unleashes drone-busting net cannon

It may be out of date, but I think the firearms definition is pretty specific. I used to sell "boat bits" and most flare guns didn't require a firearms licence but we sold one which did, that had a percussion cap mechanism.

Then there's the gas gun laws (paint ball etc) which is specifically mentioned in the firearms definition, that has a pounds per square inch definition, I believe. Which might be why this doesn't have such a great range.

Ad-blockers are a Mafia-style 'protection racket' – UK's Minister of Fun

Re: @ Cynic_999

Yes, their documentaries are "mostly" still good. I put this down to the fact they keep a number of older presenters around (like the great David Attenborough). Watch some of the newer intake of presenters on different subjects (dare I mention Click?) and it can be pretty awful.

And lets not mention the Humphries/Paxxman style interviewing which has taken over BBC1 and Radio4, which I consider an insult to the intelligence of everyone involved, interviewee and audience alike :(

Photographer hassled by Port of Tyne for filming a sign on a wall

Re: Both sides didnt help

I disagree. We should not have to tell these people in advance. That just feeds into their delusion that they have the right to prevent people taking photographs.

Re: Not all security is like that, I'm not

I am instantly concerned about the 1% you have no right to withhold.

Re: Who arrests the watchmen?

What offense has been committed and what exactly are you expecting the police officers to do about it?

As they tried to detain him, that could be assault. It is almost certainly a breach of the peace.

We really need to stamp on these frikkin' over-reaching Mall-Cops and they should most definitely have to appear in court.

PS: I bet they are retired police and are friends of the officers that "investigated" the incident.

Microsoft Office 365: You don't need 27 floppies, but there is desktop friction

I would assume the removal of Access would be seen as a positive side effect by most IT Depts ;)

US Congressman calls WIPO 'the FIFA of UN agencies' at hearing

Is there something in the air?

Have to wonder if running an IP organisation does something to your brain, because aren't we having similar issues with the president of the EPO?

Linux lads lambast sorry state of Skype service

Re: G+

Good sales pitch.

Its owned by Google though :/ Still might give it a try. I am feed up of the adverts and "having my experience upgraded"

This program can detect if you're bored – which is going to make annoying ads, articles so much more annoying

This can only be good for the adblocker industry

'Leave' or 'Stay' in the referendum? UK has to implement GDPR either way

Re: A better referendum

" those who wish to be out of the EU either have ulterior motives "

As do those in it. Which is ever increasing political union.

The desire of the EU political elite for an ever larger political institution is consistently their downfall. The inability to come to a unanimous decision about anything paralysis its institutions while political dogma makes it repeat the same mistakes again and again. We must have open borders despite all the evidence of the harm it is doing. The wilful blind eye turned to financial irregularities and human rights violations of new and prospective members. The Euro fails due to the intrinsic unsuitability of one currency for such a diverse economic area but the answer to that failure is more and stricter integration. All due to blind political ambition.

Small democracy good. Large democracy bad.

Totally agree. I've thought we should leave the EU for years so I find myself extremely surprised and delighted that we are actually going to be given the choice!

Far less delighted that Gove has stepped up to lead the out campaign. If you find yourself on the same side of an argument as Gove and Farrage then that can really undermined your confidence that you've made the right choice :(

Re: A better referendum

I utterly disagree with your conspiracy theory and would rather put my faith in British Judges than the European Court of Human Rights, based upon just about every decision they have ever made.

And as for your comment about the papers, well I hate to point this out but we ARE more right wing country than the rest of Europe. Always will be.

Re: A better referendum

"The EU provides oversight ..."

What?

Of all the claims I have heard so far, accusing the EU of providing oversight of anything is the most far fetched.

Re: The Tracer Bullet Effect

"When will England get a vote on Scotland and the Barnett Formula ?"

As bad as the Barnett Formula is for the English, far worse is the boundary issue and the disproportionate number of MPs Scotland returns to Westminster. Worse for democracy anyway.

Re: I want Scotland to be independent

"2, England gets regional councils with the same powers as the Scottish Parliament."

- I don't consider that practical as all the regions are not financially healthy enough to have pseudo independence. One English Parliment in Westminster please.

Re: The Tracer Bullet Effect

"I want Scotland to be independent"

So do I. Unfortunately being English and living in England I didn't get a vote. Maybe we should start a national "Independence Party" for England and Scotland? Just as long as the figurehead isn't Mel Gibson. Maybe Jeff Goldblum?

Re: LEAVE EU would actually STAY in the EEA

"Any hopes that the Eu will somehow compromise on this are unwarranted as the first country to leave will be made an example of so others do not get any funky ideas"

- Won't happen. German trade, Frances trade and others are all extremely dependant on selling to us. Which is why Merkel has been so uncharacteristically willing to agree to Cameron's wish list. The EU can't afford to get into a trade war with the UK any more that we'd want to get into a trade war with the EU.

NASA charges up 18-prop electric X-plane

First flight of hydrogen-powered drone with water vapour exhaust

More interested in this:

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2076536-first-flight-of-hydrogen-powered-drone-with-water-vapour-exhaust/

You've seen things people wouldn't believe – so tell us your programming horrors

"Don't call your variables 'a' and 'b' "

I once worked with a guy who always called one of his variables "bob" :(

Nice guy, though.