Posts by Tromos

Meet the man building an AI that mimics our neocortex – and could kill off neural networks

Risky, but..

...I'd much rather invest in something like this than candy crushing games or whatever. Good luck to him.

No, Minister. You CAN'T de-Kindle your eBooks!

Unacceptable

I've owned a Kindle for several years now and have a sizeable e-book collection. More recently, I also acquired a Nook as it was dirt cheap and had an illuminated display. I will not accept restrictions on my ability to move books between these devices (and any others I might subsequently purchase), nor will I do business with any publisher that prosecutes anybody for doing this. If I end up with Project Gutenberg as the sole supplier of my reading material, so be it.

YouTube follows Twitter onto Turkey's block list

Re: He can't win whatever he do

More likely he'll block access to the election results if he doesn't like them.

First pics: Comet-chaser Rosetta hurtles towards icy prey, camera in hand

"...took more than an hour to download"

May I suggest switching to an ISP that does less 'traffic management'?

ISPs CAN be ordered to police pirates by blocking sites, says ECJ

Court decides ISPs are piracy intermediates

Right, lock up all the ISPs, that should put a stop to it.

Revealed: What the US taxman really thinks of crypto-cash Bitcoin

I want quBitcoins

They use quantum effects to have a very low value when being observed by the taxman, but high value otherwise.

What price justice? 73 CENTS in book price-gouging case

If and when Apple are finally forced to settle, I do hope there is a punitive multiplier placed on the 73 cents for dragging things out and also interest to compensate for the delay. Even Apple might sit up and take notice if this were applied at pay-day lender rates.

Hey, Glasshole: That cool app? It has turned you into a SPY DRONE

Is there anything to stop Google themselves doing this? Seems to me they have a cheap way of getting Street View updates without the fleet of camera cars.

5 Eyes in the Sky: The TRUTH about Flight MH370 and SPOOKSATS

Re: Of course it's military... @Titus Technophobe

Who imposes a classification if not the military? Also, citation please for most government documents having a classification. Or are you just an opinionated loudmouth?

Of course it's military...

...why else would it have a classification (albeit that of unclassified) on it?

BLUE BIRD DOWN: Turkey wipes out Twitter 'scourge'

There are many reasons Twitter, Facebook et al. should die. Shielding a tinpot dictator from criticism isn't one of them.

Proof Apple is GOING BACKWARDS: It's trying to patent a Newton-ish touchscreen stylus

How sensible can you not get?

"Changing the tip heads could change the brush stroke size in an on-screen painting app, perhaps"

Great idea, and maybe add a receptacle to hold golf balls in order to change fonts in a word processor app.

Satya Nadella's first act may be to launch Office for iPad

"...taking Microsoft wherever users want to go..."

That would be best achieved by announcing the imminent release of XP2.

Australia doubts ICANN is ready to run the internet

Does this mean...

...that Google is no longer running the Internet?

Watch the MIT MER-BOT – half droid, half soft 'fish' – swim by itself

"...to function with and around humans..."

So, how well does it do out of water?

Candy Crush King plans IPO valuing it at $7.6 BEEELLION

Ridiculous valuation

I'm out.

Finally! Some actual, novel tech: Apple patent to revive geriatric gear

The concept of giving aging circuitry a helping hand dates back to WW2 and possibly beyond. Lots of valve based equipment (including many TV receivers) had the mains supply go through a wirewound resistor tapped at various points to allow for connection to 240/220/200/etc. volt supplies. When one of these was getting a bit long in the tooth and giving a dim, washed out picture, the cure was to move the tap down a notch. Yes, it shortened the life expectancy, but at least the TV was useable for a few more months. Important when a TV set was several weeks if not months income for most.

eBay rejects Carl Icahn's board nominees as 'inexperienced'

Blackberry, Dell, etc.

He missed out TWA

Dammit internet... you promised naked videos of my Facebook friends

"Fake Flash updates are, of curse, a favourite ruse for tricking users into installing malware."

So, not much different from real Flash updates then.

Not just for Glasswipes: Google to drop SDK for all Android wearables

The sandwich board updated

Would you trust a smart jacket from Google not to be displaying adverts on your back while you're walking along?

Why can’t I walk past Maplin without buying stuff I don’t need?

I must be cutting down.

So far this year, I seem to have only acquired:

16GB microSD

4TB External drive

Marble run game (half-price Manager's Special - couldn't resist)

A long standing addiction I'm afraid, started nearly half a century ago in establishments such as Henrys of Edgware Road and Proops of Tottenham Court Road. True caves of Aladdin they were.

Happy 75th birthday, Adam Osborne

I remember him more for being the author of 'An Introduction to Microprocessors'. The latter volumes were hefty tomes giving full technical details of all the chipper currently available in this field. If memory serves, volume 2 was microprocessor chips and volume 3 support devices. The best aspect was that these volumes came in large loose-leaf binders and update pages were available on subscription, truly useful in an area where massive changes came almost daily.

Blimey! ANOTHER Bitcoin bleed brouhaha

All this hasn't affected my faith in Bitcoin

Never had any to start with.

Apple 'hid AUD$9 BILLION' from Australia alone: Report

Wouldn't it be a shame...

...if Apple's cash pile got MtGoxed?

HTML is a sexually transmitted disease, say many Americans

HTML is a sexually transmitted disease

Is that so preposterous given the number of adult sites carrying various sorts of malware?

Ever get the impression a telesales op was being held prisoner?

One of the dangers of the prison system has always been that the newbies to the system fall in with some of the harder cases and learn antisocial ways. This would appear to accelerate the process and not require the hard cases.

Child sex abuse image peddlers dodge UK smut filters and demand Bitcoin payments

Re: Daily Mail headlines write themselves

Bitcoin users are drug-peddling pedophiles!

Fixed it for you.

UK.gov back-office battle may see British Justice offshored

We outsourced some justice a couple of centuries ago.

And look how that turned out - they trounced us at cricket

Anti Gmail data-mining lawsuit hits possible stumbling block

Lucy Koh again

Have they got more than one judge over there?

Bitcoin or bust: MtGox files for bankruptcy protection

Re: Opps

"I do not see a problem, just like a real bank, they loose all the money"...

I think the question many want answered is: Did they loose* the money or did they lose the money?

* As in 'make fast and loose with'.

Fukushima radioactivity a complete non-issue on West Coast: Also for Fukushima locals, in fact

Simple solution

If Maggy Hohle is concerned about radiation affecting her kids swimming in the Pacific, might I suggest kitting them out with lead suits. What could possibly go wrong?

HTC One grabs BEST SMARTPHONE gong

Re: Apple sucked their business out from under them?

"The consumer gets what they actually want and the cell companies have been selling vastly more phones (and charging extra for data plans)."

How wrong can you get? What this consumer actually wants is to be charged less for data plans.

NHS England tells MPs: 'The state isn't doing dastardly things with GP medical records'

Want my data? Limit the postcode to area code (first 3/4 characters only), no date of birth, just age range accurate to decade, and no NHS number or other unique identifier. And then make it opt-in.

Otherwise, I will not only opt out, but also encourage everyone I know (and anyone else I can reach) to do likewise and spread the word further.

Aaah-CHOOO! Brit boffins say WiFi can 'sneeze' malware

Re: Mainframe infected by nasties ..

Architectures such as the Control Data 6000/7000/Cyber range used to absolutely rely on code being modifiable. Subroutine calls were implemented by the return jump (RJ) instruction which planted an unconditional jump at the called location to perform the return.

Ghostwriter: Assange™ is NARCISSISTIC and UNTRUTHFUL

Snowden did what he did to improve his country.

So did Assange. He left it.

Re: That's who you need @Ian Michael Gumby

"One thing for sure, when this is all said and done... Julian will never be allowed back in to the UK or Sweden...."

I suspect you can add Ecuador to the list of countries that might not be keen to have him.

Sandisk breaks 128GB barrier with new $199 MICROSD card

Re: Is it just me?

It is ever the case that the newest and biggest initially commands a premium price. There are those that just have to have it (or convince themselves that they do) and it is only after this market starts dying down that the price adjusts down to mass market levels. Meanwhile it will also cause a drop in prices down the chain making the previous incumbents of best and biggest head for the bargain basement. In a couple of years time I expect I'll be reading a post along the lines of - "$250 for a 256GB microSD!!! WTF! I can get 3 of the 128GB and change for a beer for that!"

'Polar vortex' or not, last month among the warmest Januaries recorded

Re: Doing the Warmist shuffle

Skilled climate scientists? I'll believe in their existence when weather forecasting catches up with the accuracy of astrological predictions.

Magnets to stick stuff to tablets: Yup, there's an Apple patent application for that

I'd like to apply for a patent for the use of gravitation to secure laptops to laps.

Seagate's LaCie touts a 25TB (not a typo) box o' disks for your DESK

@Tannin

25TB in one go loses some of its attractions when it comes at a $1000 premium over 5 lots of 5TB, presumably using exactly the same drives from the same manufacturer. How on earth can this be justified? The larger box can't cost 5 times as much, the larger PSU likewise. When you also factor in a single PSU or interface failure depriving you of access to all 25TB, it loses every last vestige of attraction for me at least.

New Flash vuln exploited (again). Adobe posts emergency fix (again)

Infinite loop

while(adobe)

{

findbug();

fixbug();

}

Robots demanding equal API rights? It's just a matter of time

My pot wants to know the correct way to call the kettle black.

Zoom out for a view of malware, say boffins

Pretty much pointless

The malmongers will just adapt and enlarge their directory structures, add some JPG, PDF, etc. files to widen their range of filetypes and generally do whatever is necessary for business as usual.

SCRAP the TELLY TAX? Ancient BBC Time Lords mull Beeb's future

Re: Beeb

For me, Top Gear could be cut down substantially. I'd rather have adverts than 'nonentity of the week in a reasonably priced car', just so Clarkson can pretend he's Michael Parkinson every week.

Re: fund it from general taxation

Better yet, bung it on the leccy bill. Not many able to dodge that, so it should work out fairer than general tax which would penalise the hard worker with no time to watch the box in favour of the layabout with nothing better to do.

The UNTOLD SUCCESS of Microsoft: Yes, it's Windows 7

As a developer...

...I can only see one reason for developing for Windows 8 and that is to get into the App store. I'd rather do without that dubious pleasure and develop to Vista vintage which gives me Vista and 7 and 8 to sell into.

Google's SECRET contracts: Android lock-in REVEALED!

Re: I just wish I could remove the ****ing Facebook app

Can't blame Google for the Facebook (cr)app. I've got a Nexus 7 which comes with stock Android and gets all the latest upgrades - not seen any sign of Facebook or Twitter, and don't want to. Have not had cause to root, but would do so in an instant if either of these forced their way in.

It's the other manufacturers who add their rubbish and also throw in apps considered to be popular that are the bugbear here. All of these are available in the App store and are trivially easy and free to install for anyone that wants them, whereas baking them in to the product is an action much more difficult to undo. I like the looks of some of the Android kit coming on the market lately, but will only consider the Nexus range for the reasons stated at the start of this post.

Credit card of PayPal PRESIDENT cloned by UK crooks

...cloned by UK crooks.

Makes you proud to be British.

Boffins hose down fiery Li-ion batteries with industrial lubricant

Splendid...

...it also stops barnacles accumulating under your laptop.

Apple investor Icahn backs down on share buyback plan

Greed or stupidity?

"$GOOG @ 19x2014 est operating profit. At same multiple $AAPL=$1,245 per share. Ridiculous."

I agree, it's ridiculous. What is ridiculous is applying the same multiple to AAPL. GOOG can keep generating the 2014 operating profit year after year without having to do anything significantly different and have no problem with repeat orders. AAPL have to come up with new products that are sufficiently exciting to entice customers into replacing old shiny with new shiny. This also saturates the second hand market driving down demand/prices for older models.

So is Icahn greedy or just stupid? I'll leave that as an exercise for my fellow commentards.