Posts by Patrician

Ad blockers responsible for rise in upfront TV ad sales, claims report

Tivo/PVR

The only ever watch the occasional commercial TV such as F1 on Channel 4 and then on PVR/TIVO; I normally start watching around 15 to 20 minutes after the start and FF past all the ads. Most "live" TV I watch is BBC.

Gaming apps, mugging and bad case of bruised Pokéballs

Re: Journalism?

....."in which I talk bollocks"......

And long may you do so sir!

Smartphones aren't tiny PCs, but that's how we use them in the West

Advertising - QR Cosed

The problem was that QR Codes were only used by the advertising industry to try to get us to scan their posters and bill boards; why they think anyone would want to scan a QR Code that was on an advertising bill board I'll never know. But the upshot is that we mentally linked QR Codes with all the bad stuff that comes out of the advertising world and we're never going to break that connection now.

You can buy Windows 10 Enterprise E3 access for the price of a coffee

Re: you pay 7 bucks for a coffee?

I agree, as soon as there is any article that is about, or even mentions, Windows you see the Linux evangelists posing here about how wonderful everything in the garden is since they moved to Linux. How they never have to support anyone anymore, how they never, ever crash or reboot. How their Linux machines turn their water into Wine for them every morning, and how there's never been a rainy day since.

Windows Phone users beg Pokémon Go creators for attention

Re: the worm turns

...."The times they are a changin eh"..

They're changing but not very quickly even now; just 18% of Steams catalogue runs on Linux.

Tesla whacks guardrail in Montana, driver blames autopilot

Re: Idiots!

...."They need to rename it as such to stop people completely relying on it and turning off their own brains." ....

Leaving it as it is will eventually improve the general IQ of the human gene-pool though surely?

Microsoft's Windows 10 nagware goes FULL SCREEN in final push

Re: It's fine

"That would be why it bsods on me EVERY day"

If that's the case you have a hardware/driver problem

"Linux mint is far ahead of windows 10"

Opinion no fact

"The gui is better"

Opinion not fact.

"its more stable"

A GUI more stable? Proof please otherwise, again, an opinion not fact.

"it doesn't get viruses" *

It does.

"it doesn't need defragging"

Nor does a Windows PC on NTFS.

"it looks better"

Opinion not fact.

"its more configurable"

not sure about this; please elaborate?

"and it doesn't spy on you."

Are you sure about that?

* The number of threats goes way beyond getting a malware infection. What about receiving a phishing email or ending up on a phishing website. Does using a Linux-based operating system prevent you from giving up your personal or bank information?

And what about Heartbleed or Shellshock, or any other vulnerability of your choice? No, no system is invulnerable!

.............."Advantages to windows 10 ?"

I can install and run Fallout 4, Witcher 3, Forza Apex Beta, Star Citizen, Elite Dangerous, Photoshop (any version), Outlook, etc.

The above are all advantages of running a Windows OS; you may not use these programs and, therefor, Linux is a viable alternative and it's great that some can stick the finger to Microsoft, (although I will say support for new hardware is also much slower for Linux as opposed to Windows, the Nvidia 1080 cards for instance) but for many users, myself included, it just isn't an option. It's an option for *some* PC users but nobody can true fully say anything more than that.

Re: A final throw of the dice before

......."There are plenty of totally free alternatives you know. Ones that come with no strings like this....."

There are true, but none of them offer the user flexibility of use of their PC that running Windows OS's do; games are just one example but there are others.

Three non-obvious reasons to Vote Leave on the 23rd

Re: Fixed

"Fixed

I was 15 last time the vote happened, so i got no say. I can remember my dad voted to keep out and when the country voted in, he said i have not met one person who voted in. Let me be the first to say it has already been fixed and we will not leave, you heard it here first."

So if Brexit win it will be a fair and honest referendum; if "Stay" win it will be a "fix"? Wow, talk about sour losers!

Get ready for Google's proprietary Android. It's coming – analyst

Re: It isn't like Google has the only maps

"most people really wouldn't notice the different if their phone started using Bing search instead of Google Search, or Here Maps instead of Google Maps"

You've never tried to use Bing for searches if you believe the above.

EU referendum frenzy bazookas online voter registration. It's another #GovtDigiShambles

Lets be honest here; if you've left it tot the last minute of the last available day to register to vote you'v only got yourself to blame. It's not as if this referendum has been kept quiet now is it?

You've got a patch, you've got a patch ... almost every Android device has a patch

Re: Where are those monthly updates?

My Nexus 7 2013 is till getting Android system updates

Unprecedented number of customers swimming off to cloud, says Barracuda

"Not a lot of people know this but Moses 11th tablet was actually a surface pro with office 365. It had a notepad document open and it said thus "Thou shalt not be stupid enough to put all your eggs in one basket regardless of how upper management try to force you, thou must make them repent their sins for the BOFH knows the true path"

Does that also go for on premises servers? Surely all the eggs are in the same basket in that scenario, particularly if that server is an SBS?

Boring SpaceX lobs another sat into orbit without anything blowing up ... zzzzz

Re: "...angular velocity..."

Any satellite above or below 22k would need to burn fuel to hold a geostationary orbit; at 22k they wouldn't as orbital speed at 22k = the Earths rotation.

The Windows Phone story: From hope to dusty abandonware

Re: Not wedded to my winphone but...

Not wedded to my winphone but..

"I don't want an Android with all its forced apps, spyware, advertising and general exploitation"

Get a Nexus device then - pure Android

One ad-free day: Three UK to block adverts across network in June

Re: Google will be thrilled

Or it could encourage the ad community to get it's self in order and produce ads that don't interfere with the content...

90 days of Android sales almost beat 9 months' worth for all flavours of Win 10

Re: They are not comparable.

"I'd be surprised if there's anywhere near that disposal rate with Windows devices."

There wouldn't be as Microsoft haven't sold enough Windows Phones to get anywhere near that rate.

Android Pay debuts in UK

"I can't help but believe that this will provide Google with that missing piece of intelligence. Sorry but my privacy is worth way more than that!"

Do you use a debit or credit card to make purchases? If so there already 3rd parties that know exactly what you buy, when, how much you paid and where from.

Re: I really don't get it...

"Could someone who is excited for this genuinely answer the question "why?""

Because it could/will save carrying around a wallet with several different cards in it, is just one reason

Less likely to drop/lose phone than a card could be another

More secure could be another (okay reaching a little with this one I admit)

EU blocks O2/Three merger

The EE -> BT merger/buyout didn't reduce the number of mobile providers operating in the UK market; there is still four. The O2/Three one would have, that is the difference.

A UK-wide fibre broadband investment plan? Don't ask awkward questions

Re: It's just the how and when that's missing.

"Would you be prepared to pay realistic costs for your own installation? If not, who do expect to pay and why?"

I would expect BT to pay for it out of their profits in the same way that any company invests in their infrastructure. When my company buy new servers for our email hosting we don't expect the government or the tax payer, or even the existing customers, to pay for that investment; we do it out of operating profits, expecting to be able to recover the costs by selling more accounts and increasing our customer base. Isn't that how businesses are generally accepted to operate?

Can ad biz’s LEAN avert ADPOCALYPSE?

You're, to a degree, correct, however is did state further into my post a proviso along the lines of "in the main". yes, when I go make a purchase of course I'm aware of brands such as Dyson or Kellogs and yes the affect on us is subtle and subconscious. But these only really have any effect at the point of investigating for a purchase or at the point of purchase.

I don't know anybody that is watching a football match and after watching a half time add for Dysons thinks to themselves "I know, I'll just pop onto Amazon buy a Dyson"; that is what I meant by that first paragraph in my post. At the time of seeing the advert, in the main, human beings couldn't care less about product or brand that the ad is pushing.

The advertising industry has forgotten who their targeting their ads at, human beings; and human beings couldn't, in the main, give a rats arse about their "brands". We, pretty much, ignore advertising in our day to day lives, on TV we make a drink or go to the toilet during the ads, in new papers and magazines it's ignored, same on billboards mostly. We have become used to ignoring the ads, but on the internet those very same ads have been designed in such a way that we cannot ignore them, they are so intrusive that they have garnered a degree of hate and we, now, despise their creators; so we block them!

The advertising industry needs to learn this and make them so we can ignore them on the internet too, otherwise the blockers will continue.

Official: Microsoft's 'Get Windows 10' nagware to vanish from PCs in July

Re: Serious question

So you're proposing a Linux distro, specifically Mint, as a Windows replacement OS but at the same time stating that you need to run some software in Wine or in a VM?

Doesn't sound much like a viable replacement to me I'm afraid; a "replacement" would be an OS where all software is available, installs as easily as it does in Windows, and command line "voodoo prayers" are not required for day to day operation.

If I carried out a brand new Mint installation on a new PC how long would it be after the OS has finished installing that I would need to be using a command line and using such nice commands as:-

"sudo add-apt-repository xxxx" instead of simply double left clicking on "setup" and clicking "next, next, next" etc?

By the way, I know the answer as I've done just this over the weekend.....

Re: Serious question

Can you provide "proof" that all spyware is stopped in any OS?

Facebook image-tagging to be tested in Californian court

Re: How does this work?

It's very easy to stop Facebook app on a "customised" Android mobile - go into settings\apps and disable the app in question; job done.

We will end misleading broadband adverts, thunders ASA...

Re: Are you reading this Virgin Media....????

Getting in touch with Virgin Media is pretty easy; 150 on you VM supplied land line.

Netflix's $1.81 billion Q1 disappoints markets

Re: Want my money? Stop the geoblocks

Want my money? Stop the geoblocks

https://www.unblock-us.com/

Still working perfectly ...

Ad slinger Phorm ceases trading

Couldn't happen to a more deserving company.

UK competition watchdog gripes to Brussels about Three-O2 merger

Re: BT+EE

"Can someone explain why the BT merger with EE was considered acceptable but this is not?"

Because the BT/EE merger didn't reduce the number of companies servicing the UK mobile market; there are still four.

This merger would reduce it by one to just three....

Brexit: Leaving the EU could trigger UK science patent law rejig

The main thing I got from that was:- "Brexit will mean pharmaceuticals in the UK will become more expensive (making more profits for UK companies and their, mostly, Tory shareholders) so the cost of prescriptions will increase".

And how is this a good thing exactly?

Which keys should I press to enable the CockUp feature?

Re: ¿Puzzled?

No use what so ever, they're just fun to read; but the trick is that you don't have to read them!

Microsoft announces Windows 10 Anniversary Update coming this summer

Re: Give'em credit

"What I do not admire are some of the costs associated with running Windows 10. Forced driver updates are a big no-no for me. The last couple of NVidia WHQL drivers serve as an example that newest doesn't always equate to best. Unless the update positively improves stability or security, leave it alone."

You do know that this "feature" can be turned off?

Navigate to System and Security > System > Advanced system settings. Click the Hardware tab, click Device Installation Settings, and select the “No, let me choose what to do option. Select “Never install driver software from Windows Update

Let’s re-invent small phones! Small screens! And rubber buttons!

I have a friend who was constantly bemoaning smart phones, saying things like "I just want a phone that makes phone calls and send text messages" and "people only use their smart phone to access the web because they can, not because they need to" and others of that type. So I bought him a Nokia 3310 off Ebay for a fiver (plus another fiver delivery of course), and gave it to him to use, and his wife, who had also had enough of his smart phone speeches, took his smart phone off him at this time so he only had the Nokia. Guess how soon it was before he wanted his Sony Smart Phone back? Less than 24 hours! He doesn't bemoan smart phone any more.

AdBlock replaced blocked ads with ads for Amnesty International

I switched from Adblock+ to uBlock Origin as soon as Adblock+ "sold out"; I allow ads on the sites I want to support and who's ads are not intrusive. All others get blocked by default; one of the worst sites I know of, and visit, is www,pcgamer.com/uk. Twelve of the most intrusive type of ads run as soon as the page opens, needless to say, it's not "white listed".

Microsoft's done a terrible job with its Windows 10 nagware

Re: The Terrible...

Just wondering what you use for an email client/calender etc?

Alien studs on dwarf's erection baffle boffins

Re: Hmmm..

Craters are always round no matter what angle the strike hits at.

Microsoft wants to lock everyone into its store via universal Windows apps, says game kingpin

Re: Do bears shit in the woods?

For people needing a general use PC at home for home office, email, web and gaming, Linux isn't the answer and is even less so for business I'm afraid. Much as the penguin fans might shout, moving from Windows Linux does reduce the options available to a user; example needed? Try buying, installing and playing Fallout 4 on a Linux box, or the older Planetside 2?.

If you don't game Linux is an option but driver support could still be an issue with even the "big boys" such as Nvidia and AMD being somewhat lackadaisical on releasing Linux drivers for their hardware.

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

Adblock Plus's "Acceptable Ads Policy" (or something like that) only white lists ads that are within their guidlines as below:-

https://adblockplus.org/acceptable-ads#criteria

So they are trying to work with the advertising industry to reduce the intrusiveness of their splurge...

Google risks everything if it doesn’t grab Android round the throat

Re: Bad rep for new versions

An unwarranted reputation none the less.

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

Re: Stop repeating rubbish please

"Running a "Pro EU" campaign on the basis of threatening that the EU will collapse our economy if we leave doesn't go down well."

It might not "go down well" but it is a very likely outcome; I find that the "Outies" have no answer beyond "it won't happen", but with no actual economic examples as to why it won't. Much like the SNP's answers when asked about losing the pound in the Scottish referendum; they had no answer beyond "we won't" despite being explicitly told by the Bank of England and the UK parliament that they would.

40% of UK overseas trade is to EU countries; watch that disappear overnight if we vote to leave, simply because human beings are involved and we, as a race, don't like having our clubs criticised.

Bill Gates denies iPhone crack demand would set precedent

Re: Really?

No, they have not "cracked" the phone; they also don't want Apple to decrypt it. What they want is for Apple to disable the "10 attempts and the phone wipes it's self thingy" so they can hack it by a brute force attack.

Sir Clive Sinclair in tech tin-rattle triumph

Re: Hard to take seriously

I also remember the ZX80, ZX81 and ZX Spectrum all of which were hugely successful and, arguably, single-handedly kick-started the UK's home PC market.

Ransomware scum infect Tinseltown hospital, demand $3.6m

Re: And when they find them

Re: And when they find them

I count interfering with hospital equipment as attempted murder and should be punishable by the death penalty if it exists in that country, or 99 years in prison with no chance of parole if not.

AdBlock Plus, websites draft peace deal so ads can bypass blockade

Re: "Have a look at www.gotati.com"

What a horrible looking site.

Reminder: iPhones commit suicide if you repair them on the cheap

Re: Halfway

I would accept the "security" reason a little more if the phone bricked it self as soon as it detected 3rd party hardware; but it does it only after a firmware update which could be months after the hardware was changed. Time enough for any "security" breaches to be exploited completely.

Or, don't buy Apple devices.....