Posts by JeffyPoooh

Dev gives HBO free math tips to nail Game of Thrones pirate leakers

Obviously they forgot to include the Interpol warning

'Cause that's highly effective.

"4 episodes is a bit much for that..."

I would have thought that four of ten is precisely optimum to build the addiction. Who would dedicate time to watch four episodes, and then not be curious about the next six? Four is precisely ideal for an intentional leak marketing ploy.

Do these four episodes end with a cliff-hanger mystery?

Strange radio telescope signals came from microwave ovens

Speaking of Capt Obvious

Strange signal centered in the 2.4 GHz range.

Duh.

PHYSICS APPLECART UPSET as dark energy disappears, Universe slams on brakes

In The Beginning, there was nothing. Which exploded.

Feynman observed that anti-particles are just particles moving backwards in time. This explains why we only see very few more-recently produced ones; the original other half of The Ultimate Free Lunch went the other way in time.

Once one can hoist aboard the above, then extend it to other dimensions. Maybe something will shake out.

Re: RIGHT!

Ask 'Why?' about five times and you'll stump anyone.

In Cosmology, the five is three.

Videogame publishers to fans: Oi, stop resurrecting our dead titles online

Re: Expand this to all technology

Patents are not the same thing as "plans" (tech data package). Older patents were often useful, but more recent patents are deliberately obtuse. They push the limits on the requirement that the description be sufficient to one skilled in the art.

By the way, patents and even applications are already in the public domain. Including any embedded "plans" LOL. The info is already in public domain (freely available, no cost, help yourself), just not the rights.

FAA approves Amazon US drone flight just months after firm gave up and went to Canada

How does a drone knock on the door and get a signature?

Or will it simply drop your newest iThingy onto the front lawn and leave?

Anyone compared max range of such drones to the number of depots required? Maybe they could deploy the drones from a hovering mothership. Maybe they could simply put 3D printers on the Fusion Powered endlessly-hovering mothership, and simply 3D print your new iWatch in 15 seconds and drone-deliver it to you a minute after you ordered it. Maybe they could drone-deliver a new 3D printer and I won't need to buy anything from Amazon ever again. Except cartridges of 3D printer paste.

Eyes on the prize: Ten 23-24-inch monitors for under £150

27-inch for $200

It takes only a few minutes for a 27-inch monitor to feel perfectly normal, size wise.

Popular crypto app uses single-byte XOR and nowt else, hacker says

"Selectable Bit Inverter"

XOR is.

That is all.

Re: Unclear

"...Second, if the mask is reused for another plaintext..."

Yeah. Don't do that.

And in other news, the 'Number used once'; just use it once.

Nothing wrong with XOR. It's the core function to combine plain text with key.

Re: Unclear

Yep. As most know, XOR is how crypto is commonly done.

The key is the key.

There's a really good collection of videos on this topic on some hacker convention in Germany archive. Explains the concepts perfectly.

ALIENS ARE COMING: Chief NASA boffin in shock warning

Predictions...

Stofan said: "I think we're going to have strong indications of life beyond Earth within a decade, and I think we're going to have definitive evidence within 20 to 30 years."

Or maybe within a century, and within 200 to 300 years.

Precisely as valid a wild-ass guess as his.

Bell Canada pulls U-turn on super-invasive web-stalking operation

Re: @ Someone Else -- Customers

I doubt that the advertising revenue under this particular advertising program can match the income stream from their millions of $100/month ISP customers.

Which is why they're so willing to back away without a further argument.

Re: Boycott BELL and send a clear message

List of available high speed ISP options at my address:

1) Bell FiberOP at 150-200 Mbps

-end-

List of available medium speed ISP options at my address:

1) Bell ADSL at 1.4 Mbps

-end-

List of other options:

1) dial up - no.

2) satellite - no way.

3) mobile - no.

None of these are actually viable

Monopolies need regulation. End.

Re: bell tolls

Bell is my ISP. Depending on their understanding of things, they might believe that I have a deep interest in Asian Felines.

Saturn's rings, radio waves ... poetry? At home with Scotland's Mr Physics

Oliver!

Yep. Oliver Heaviside.

Choc Factory's king codec serves 25 BEELLION Tube hours

Wait until you see VP13

It'll just send the string "Terminator 7", and an entirely predictable 2 hour movie will be played.

HP Stream x360: Flippable and stylish Chromebook killer

Headphone socket EMI noise?

The HP Stream 7 tablet has electrical interference noise on the headphone audio. I sent the first one back, and bought another; same noise. Some sort of electrical interference. Occasionally goes silent, but then anything happens within the device and it's back. Makes it useless for even semi-serious headphone use.

How is *this* HP Stream?

Stress me, test me, vex me ... boffins seek Hall Effect in frustrated magnets

"...my copy on cassette somewhere."

Bad news I'm afraid... Some time ago, your wife was tidying up your old junk. She put the "magnets" game cassette tape into a box with all your other old magnets.

Sorry...

Well? Did they or not?

Well? Did the frustrated magnets exhibit the Hall Effect or not?

It's as if the author left out the answer to the question asked at the top.

Volvo V60 Polestar: Speak softly, carry a big stick, dress like a Smurf

Ah, you mean like yesterday...?

"When was the last time you went for a drive that wasn’t just about getting to where you were going?"

Yesterday.

In my son's lovely old $5k W211 Mercedes.

Heavy...

Edmunds car review clearly states that...

"Weight distribution, as tested, f/r (%) 60.6/49.4"

Crikey, that's like 110% of its own weight!!

What a pig!

"...dampers use a patented technology for ... individual wheel control..."

Yeah, I've always hated those cars that have fewer than one damper per wheel, and thus offer only group wheel control.

Streaming tears of laughter as Jay-Z (Tidal) waves goodbye to $56m

Re: Fairer system...

MrT "...holding onto royalties already earned and using 'advances' as leverage..."

So the music companies don't give the artists their money, but simultaneously the music companies do give the artists other money in advance.

Huh?

Jay-Z and $56M

In proportion to income or net worth, it's like you or me buying a TV.

I doubt he is terrified and kept awake all night by the financial risk.

Sony to PlayStation 4 gamer: 'You got hacked, not our fault. Now give us £50'

Is this possible?

Maybe the Sony servers are secure, but the Sony designed, built and programmed PS4 console itself isn't.

Perhaps there's a leftover Heartbleed style or equivalent security blunder in the PS4 itself.

Strike PS4 from the shopping list

One of my kidiots wants a PS4.

I'll be vetoing that now. Stupidity has a radius, and it's best to stay outside of it. Sony PS4 is demonstrating stupidity, so stay away.

Honda CR-V: SUV-lite that’s also light on the pocket

Re: 4WD vs 2WD

"...further from help..."

You assume one must be headed into the snowy woods. But if one already lives in the snowy woods, then 4WD might help one get closer to help.

My big Mercedes has 4Matic AWD and Nokian studded tires. I can drive up and down ice covered hilly roads very nicely. Driving has been the most relaxing aspect of a very tough winter. AWD is part of it. Studded tires is the other.

Re: I wonder at the longevity

"...especially at tickover..."

Diesel 'tickover'? Not (a tin can full of nuts and bolts being shaken)over?

"No, modern diesels are very quiet."

"WHAT?"

"I SAID, MODERN DIESELS ARE VERY QUIET."

Re: Names

Like the previous Range Rover Sport that was none of those?

Forum chat is like Clarkson punching you repeatedly in the face

Top Gear with other hosts...

It's been tried. It's called Top Gear the USA edition. Not nearly as good.

Appeal court bombshell: Google must face British justice for 'Safari spying'

Kinda blatant...

Any browser in 'privacy' mode (sic) still shows obviously tailored ads.

"Honest Mom, I was just looking for cat videos!"

Microsoft and Oracle are 'not your trusted friends', public sector bods

Re: So, give them the boot - use open source.

The Open Source threat is how you have the invoice for £50,000 reduced to £5,000. One does not pay such invoices without spanking them back with a "Not Worth The Future Risk - BANNED!!" boycott.

In any case, you then switch at least the Office Suite to something free while perhaps retaining Windows. Even my wee feisty children are now perfectly Office-agnostic (they hardly notice which one is running), but they still prefer Windows to Linux.

Ford: Our latest car gizmo will CHOKE OFF your FUEL if you're speeding

AI is hard

Re: Volvo reading signs in neighbouring roads

AI is hard.

As all the self-crashing cars are about to re-discover.

Audi TT: It's NOT a hairdresser-mobile, the dash is too flash

Re: What's the reliability like?

"I've got a mk1 TT..."

Condolences.

Wheeler Dealer (UK TV show, Mike Brewer & Edd China, recommended) explained how to have your missing Audi TT pixels repaired for £100. Worth looking it up.

How is your 1st-2nd shifter fork hanging in?

Re: I just want a dumb car

"...inherent modularity..."

Men have walked on the Moon more often than a car manufacturer has offered such retroactive technology hardware upgrades.

I'll call it as BS.

Re: LCD everywhere

Keep your head vertical and it's not an issue.

No, sunglasses are not circular. Pls read up on how they work. Geesh.

Lexus RC-F

I don't think it was that recent. Clarkson *just* savaged the RC-F as rubbish on one of the most recent episodes, one UK viewers might not yet have even seen.

I think it was the LFA, or whatever it's callled.

6 Speed gearbox? Soon to be 4 Speed (3rd - 6th)?

I used to own a VW. Most expensive car I've every owned. Thrice yearly expensive repairs. My Mercedes have been practically free in comparison. Better, faster, cheaper.

The 'Wheeler Dealer' TV show had an TT. The 1st-2nd gear selector fork had fallen off deep inside the transmission. Typical VW design fault. Edd China had to disassemble half the car for the £0.50 fix. Great TV show if you like seeing the insides of cars.

Standard General bids to save RadioShack from oblivion

Re: Radio Shack was useful at one time (And still is)

@Dan Paul

Arduino at RS: Only about 8x the going eBay prices.

IS 'hackers' urge US-based jihadis: 'Wipe yourselves out trying to kill 0.00005 of US forces'

Re: Lambs to ISlaughter

"...have 9mm pistols in every room of the house, two shotguns under the bed..."

36-to-1.

Ratio of one's own kids finding and playing with guns with tragic results vice shooting a house invader. USA. Ref. Can't remember where I saw this.

Odds may slightly shift in these circumstances. But still, manage all risks.

Dear departed Internet Explorer, how I will miss you ... NOT

Re: "what the world needs is a new and decent rendering engine."

How about a rendering engine that confines itself to putting pixels on the screen, and doesn't try to execute every single element that arrives in the buffer?

Re: Ahh, the old days...

"...get on the web in the 1990s."

Noobs. All we had was a NAND gate made from twigs, and two delay lines made from old thermometers.

Mono Magic: Photography, Breaking Bad style

"Knowing you only have 36 exposures at a time can impose discipline."

If this is a genuine ambition, then for digital equivalency...

Find an old memory card that has a capacity described in MB, not GB.

In fact, some digital cameras have a tiny memory built in.

Guardian: 'Oil reserves will soon be worth NOTHING!' (A bit like their stock tips, really)

The 80/20 rule, common sense vice religion

All that's required is a significant reduction in CO2 emissions. It doesn't need to hit zero.

Anyone that uses vocabulary that contains an assumption of Zero Carbon should have their forehead tattooed with the words 'Dangerous Moron'.

AUTOPILOT: Musk promises Tesla owners a HANDS-OFF hands-on

A.I. is hard

A self-driving car is real world A.I.

"A.I. is hard."

This is all going to end in tears.

A VERY VERY bad idea

A correct approach is to slowly build hardware (e.g. Google Cars) and they slowly emerge into the wild. Then, when things go badly wrong, there's only a few.

Pushing a software update out to hundreds or thousands of cars all at once is completely bonkers.

Stay off the road that week.

Battle for control of Earth's unconnected souls moves to SPAAAACE

"...poor fishermen. ...technologies such as land-line are skipped..."

The PSTN twisted pair wires kept snapping when the boats pulled away from the dock each morning.

Cubans 'get' 'free community' 'Wi-Fi'

"...an optical phone line."

Sigh... Anyway.

Until recently, Cuba had a total bandwidth of about 2x what I have to my house.

Big Data shocker: Over 6 million Americans have reached the age of 112

SSA has a new policy to address this issue

All newly-dead people will be required to fill out a form.