* Posts by poopypants

419 publicly visible posts • joined 3 Sep 2013

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Sony's well and truly 4Ked with skinny TVs and cheap cams

poopypants

No rush

I don't own a TV. It suffered an unfortunate accident, and I haven't felt sufficiently motivated to replace it. In any case, we'll be waiting forever for decent 4K content to watch. By that time I should have high bandwidth internet, and might as well use the 2560 x 1440 monitor sitting 50 cms in front of my face. No requirement to buy a new TV that way. As usual, your mileage may differ. Feel free to stimulate the economy to your heart's content.

Three expat Brits explain their move to Australia

poopypants

Re: Grass always greener

The best place to stay is with your friends and loved ones, wherever that may be.

(No I don't write greeting cards for a living.)

Healthcare: Look anywhere you like for answers, just not the US

poopypants

Anecdotal, so obviously not important

A few years ago I had open heart surgery. Lots of procedures, lots of specialist care, lots of in hospital bed occupancy. The total cost to me was under $6,000. If I hadn't had cheap hospital cover it would have cost nothing, but I would have been put on a (shortish) waiting list.

That's how we do things in Australia, and I have no complaints.

Christmas Eve email asked Oz telcos for metadata retention costs by Jan 9th

poopypants

Question

Can anyone recommend a good VPN? I'm asking for a friend.

Reg man confesses: I took my wife out to choose a laptop for Xmas. NOOOO

poopypants

I have two PCs on my desk. One has 16GB RAM, two 2560 x 1440 monitors, a Titan graphics card, 10 TBs disk storage, etc. The other is a Chromebox. The one I use when I am not on Mumble or playing games is the Chromebox. Apart from games, it does over 90% of the things that I usually do - which is mostly browse the web, write fiction or read/write emails. Best of all, it powers up in seconds, and uses far less power than my high end gaming PC.

Does your partner play games or chat on Mumble?

Tragedy strikes Vulture News Central but details remain scrambled

poopypants

Re: If that's supposed to be funny...

That was eggscrutiating.

Gigabit-over-TV-cable spec DOCSIS 3.1 passes interop test

poopypants

Re: Key words her.... are

We couldn't afford it before, and now that the bottom has fallen out of ore and energy exports, we can afford it even less. Sadly, you can't always have what you want.

Is there ANOTHER UNIVERSE headed BACKWARDS IN TIME?

poopypants

Came here to be confused by science

Instead I was confused by a political discussion relevant to a country in which I do not reside.

Near enough, I guess.

Chrome devs hatch plan to mark all HTTP traffic insecure

poopypants

Every bit helps

said Google as it piddled in the ocean.

Microsoft whips out real-time translator for Skype calls

poopypants

My hovercraft is full of eels

This will be very useful for tourists.

Tourist: "Where is the nearest toilet?"

Local: "I'm sorry you just missed it, but there should be another one along shortly."

HE'S DONE IT! Malcolm Turnbull unites left and right with piracy policy

poopypants

How heart warming it is

in this Christmas season to see The Institute of Public Affairs and the Greens reaching such policy harmony. Enjoy it kids, for it is as rare an occurrence as Halley's comet.

Spanish scraper scrapped: Google axes Google News

poopypants

Google has done the only sensible thing

and withdrawn its news service from Spain. This should now be adopted as the prime example in Wikipedia of the "Law of Unintended Consequences".

Your data: Stolen through PIXELS

poopypants

The problem with this approach is that you only get to see whatever is displayed on a particular PC's monitor. In most cases that won't be very interesting. Also, you have no power to go fishing - you will need physical access to a PC that is going to display something important. For that to work you would need an insider with physical security access to the PC that you want to spy on. If the data going to that PC is important, it's probably sitting in a locked office, in which case why are you doing it the hard way? Just ask your cooperative insider who has a key to that office whatever you want to know.

Australia to block piracy sites if Big Content asks nicely in court

poopypants

ROFL

"informing consumers of the implications of copyright infringement and legitimate alternatives that provide affordable and timely content"

Over there, next to the unicorns.

Telstra's NBN boondoggle nearly set in stone: reports

poopypants

The real reason

Sadly, Telstra was privatised in three different stages, informally known as "T1", "T2" and "T3" in 1997, 1999 and 2006 respectively. T3 dropped public ownership from 51% to 17%. In 2009, another $2.4 billion worth of shares were sold, reducing the government's stake in Telstra to 10.9%. In August 2011, the remaining Telstra shares were sold, effectively completing Telstra's privatisation.

That is why we are in this current mess.

Tough Banana Pi: a Raspberry Pi for colour-blind diehards

poopypants

Clarification

The Banana Pi can run the following operating systems:

Raspbian

Android

Lubuntu

Scratch

Fedora

ArchLinux

OpenSuse

Bananian

from http://www.bananapi.com.au/software-download/

And the award for the world's most tech-savvy country goes to …

poopypants

Oh dear

I fear Australia has been harmed by our use of cheap string for our broadband network. Unfortunately we used up all the more expensive stuff wrapping food parcels to send to our less fortunate relatives.

Soon, however, we hope to start using copper wire, but only as far as the nearest gum tree. Plans to lay twisted pair all the way to the home have been abandoned due to spiralling costs.

The Nokia ENIGMA THING and its SECRET, TERRIBLE purpose

poopypants

I wonder

if it's bigger on the inside.

Facebook's plain English data policy: WE'LL SELL YOU LIKE A PIG at a fair

poopypants

I get that some people refuse to use Google because their bots scan your emails for keywords, but what puzzles me is why those same people continue to use Facebook, which is actually worse.

Microsoft warns of super-sized Patch Tuesday next week

poopypants

I'll be applying the patches on Thursday

after listening carefully for screams on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Australia's going to need a standalone metadata retention bureau

poopypants

@Thorne Re: Realisation

Actually, compared to the first past the post voting systems in the US and UK, our system does encourage the emergence of minor parties, and explains why the federal senate ballot paper looks like a tablecloth in some states.

poopypants

Realisation

Despite having a voting system that encourages the emergence of new parties, Australia has never given birth to a political party that meets all of the following:

- has sane policies

- is internally democratic

- is highly principled

- is free of scandal (by that I mean at the very least that none of them are under police investigation)

Quite sad really, but does rather explain the current state we are in, and why there is no hope of salvation.

Oz gov lets slip: telco metadata might be available to civil courts

poopypants

@P. Lee Re: I am somewhat comforted

It doesn't matter. As a result of any random person in your household coming under suspicion, they can seize everyone's computers and hold onto them for several months until a court case takes place, and you have no realistic expectation of getting all your equipment and data back in the same state it was in when it was confiscated. You may win the case, but you will still lose.

poopypants

I am somewhat comforted

by the thought that at my age I won't have to witness the state of this country 20 years from now.

I feel sad for my children, though.

BTW, after the secret TPP is rammed through, copyright infringements will be criminal offences.

Now, can anyone recommend a good VPN?

Google’s dot-com forget-me-not bomb: EU court still aiming at giant

poopypants

@ecofeco Re: Limted intelligence failure

The downvotes were probably because predatory pricing cannot be applied when your product is free.

Samsung says teaming up with mobe-maker Microsoft could violate antitrust law

poopypants

Oh goody

Time to buy some more popcorn.

Breaking records: Google exec in terrifying SKY PLUNGE DRAMA

poopypants

I wonder

how he managed to cram his balls into that suit.

Chipmaker FTDI bricking counterfeit kit

poopypants

Interesting coincidence: yesterday I read an impassioned plea from someone seeking help to recover 15 months of research work from his USB external sealed hard drive, which Windows had stopped recognising. Yes, he should have backed it up, but if that was the result of his hard drive manufacturer using fake components, I fail to see how punishing the victim is going to help anyone, or indeed punish anyone apart from the victim.

This reminds me of a briefly popular tactic of erasing the hard drives of people who ran pirated software. That did not end well. I imagine there will be a similar outcome here.

Microsoft promises Windows 10 will mean two-factor auth for all

poopypants

Just a cynic

Would it be overly cynical of me to assume that Microsoft's end game is to one way or another force companies to sell software through the Windows store, so MS can take a percentage?

Vanished blog posts? Enterprise gaps? Welcome to Windows 10

poopypants

Caution!

"...a single Windows Store including desktop and corporate apps as well as public apps"

Why would anyone release a desktop app into the Windows Store where it attracts something like a 30% fee from Microsoft?

ANSWER: The only reason anyone would do that would be if they had no choice, or Microsoft decided to make an exception and not charge store fees for desktop apps. Which do you think is more likely?

What will this mean for PC gamers?

One Windows? How does that work... and WTF is a Universal App?

poopypants

Right hand, meet left hand

Microsoft recently bought out the makers of UnityVS, a Visual Studio plugin that makes debugging Windows Desktop programs developed using Unity a lot easier. Unity of course also targets Windows Store, Android, iOS, OS X, Web browsers, etc. I would be interested to know how this fits in to their Universal App strategy.

Microsoft offers UnityVS free of charge to interested users.

NBN Co to launch commercial FTTN in Q3 2015

poopypants

So,

2020 then? I'll mark my calendar.

Vertigan hands Turnbull a knife, Turnbull carves Vertigan report

poopypants

I take heart

in the fact that the government didn't even have to pause before kicking the report under the rug.

I am confident that even with the current government we will end up with a national broadband network that is vastly superior to the one we have now. Not as good as it could have been, but still good enough to stream 4K movies and games.

Internet of Stuff: Chip rivals try to stop Cortex-M7 from flexing ARM’s muscle

poopypants

Atmel

I'm a big fan of Atmel. Started out with their AVR chips and more recently looked at their ARM stuff.

Nice gear, and their development tools are top notch. (No I don't work for Atmel).

Anyone who has played with Arduino would be familiar with them.

Microsoft on the Threshold of a new name for Windows next week

poopypants

I have no idea what it will be called

but I fear it will be the first stage in erecting a walled garden, with the ultimate aim of grabbing a 30% slice of the price any software sold to run on PCs. That is why Gabe Newell is spending so much time and money on developing a Linux based Valve games machine. Is he right? Time will tell.

'Trust ASIO': Australia passes spook's charter Part A

poopypants

Let us not forget

the operation at the Hilton in Sydney that resulted in the death of two garbage collectors, Alec Carter and William Favel.

Welcome the world's new Most Phished Country: Australia

poopypants

Yes, it happens

I've only seen a couple (gmail filters them out - checking my spam folder shows hundreds).

The most professional looking one that managed to slip through purported to be a delivery tracker from Australia Post for a parcel (coincidentally, I was expecting a parcel). Still, because it wanted me to click on something, and because the URL didn't look quite right, I did a lookup. The site was based in Russia, and owned by someone in Romania. I did not click the link.

Another claimed to be from a bank with which I do not have an account.

I can see how people without a good email service and/or a deficit of caution could find themselves in trouble. It might be safer for such people to have a mobile phone set aside for email, that has nothing of importance on it and runs an obscure OS (Windows Phone springs to mind).

Titan falls! Blizzard cancels World of Warcraft successor

poopypants

Well, at least they communicated their decision

More than can be said for Valve, who refuse to release any information at all about Half Life 3.

Divinity Original Sin and Wasteland 2 reviews: Turn-based gaming's not dead yet!

poopypants

Nostalgia

So far I have backed Wasteland 2, Elite Dangerous, Star Citizen and Shroud of the Avatar.

All blasts from the past. At the same time I have ignored most of the new AAA games that have appeared lately. I wonder if I am part of a trend?

Man buys iPHONE 6 and DROPS IT to SMASH on PURPOSE

poopypants

Function before form

Plastic cases are better at absorbing impact. I've dropped my plastic phone several times, and it has always survived. Also radio waves from cell towers and WiFi routers seem to propagate better through plastic than they do through metal.

Murdoch to Europe: Inflict MORE PAIN on Google, please

poopypants

Hmmm

Is it good PR for Google to be attacked by Rupert Murdoch?

JINGS! Microsoft Bing called Scots indyref RIGHT!

poopypants

Is Scotland too small to survive on its own?

Population of Scotland: 5.295 million (2011)

Population of New Zealand: 4.471 million (2013)

GDP of Scotland: 216 billion USD (2010)

GDP of NewZealand: 182.6 billion USD (2013)

Apple CEO Tim Cook: TV is TERRIBLE and stuck in the 1970s

poopypants

Nope

My TV was destroyed by an errant flying model car, and I have no intention of replacing it.

Brit telcos warn Scots that voting Yes could lead to hefty bills

poopypants

Fascinating to watch as an outsider

Especially the arguments that Scotland will struggle on its own.

Australia is doing quite nicely without England.

Canada is doing quite nicely without England.

Éire is doing quite nicely without England.

India is doing quite nicely without England.

New Zealand is doing quite nicely without England.

Still, it's not my battle. *fetches popcorn*

Be your own Big Brother: Monitoring your manor, the easy way

poopypants

Cheapest solution?

Probably a standard USB camera feeding into movement detection software (readily available, but you can write this yourself if you're keen - a good excuse to play with CUDA if you have an up to date NVIDIA card), dumping any snaps into a Google Drive directory on your computer. These will be automatically be transferred to the cloud when added.

Not appy with your Chromebook? Well now it can run Android apps

poopypants

Why not just make a browser version?

Then it should run just about anywhere.

Here's one way:

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/03/unity-game-engine-heading-to-the-browser-without-plug-ins/

Why Apple had to craft a pocket-busting 5.5in Plus-sized iPhone 6 (thank LG, Samsung etc)

poopypants

@Steve Todd Re: Unfortunate design choice

The larger 1920x1080 Apple phone is competing with the Samsung phablet that has a display resolution of 2560x1440, and has a swappable battery. You were saying?

poopypants

Unfortunate design choice

Apple's decision to make the 5.5in iPhone nice and slim has forced them to compromise on battery size, which in turn has forced them restrict the screen resolution to 1334 x 750, versus 1920 x 1080 in Android competitors with a similar sized screen.

That is a perfect example of form triumphing over function, and one of the reasons why I don't buy Apple products.

What the BLOCK? Microsoft to gobble Minecraft-maker 'for $2bn'

poopypants

Notch hasn't released it on Steam

Consequently I have never played it. I guess that's not going to change.

5.5in iPhone 6, iWatch hypegasm: What will Apple reveal - BE the rumour

poopypants

meh...

Less exciting than the next Doctor Who episode.

More ephemeral than the relationships that you cultivate with your co-workers.

Far more expensive than either of the above.

Those who care should in my opinion examine their lives, and ask themselves why something of such little significance is able to distract them from the important things in life.

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