Posts by Bloodbeastterror

Apple's ultra-thin iPhone flops as foldable iPad hits a crease

I'm looking forward to the day when all Apple users subscribe to Louis Rossman's YouTube channel and finally come to their senses about how they're overpaying for shabby badly-designed equipment. Shiny, yes. Good value? No.

UK Home Office dangles £1.3M prize for algorithm that guesses your age

Ah yes, that old trope again...

"Will no-one think of the children?" A phrase so very useful to push through anti-democratic measures.

As the loathsome Kyle put it: "If you want to overturn the Online Safety Act you are on the side of predators. It is as simple as that.” Is it, though...?

Millions of age checks performed as UK Online Safey Act gets rolling

The eternal cry of the authoritarian...

"Oh, will no-one think of the children...?"

ChatGPT burns tens of millions of Softbank dollars listening to you thanking it

"Be nice to people on the way up..."

EOM

Body of IT tycoon Mike Lynch recovered after superyacht sinks

"same day, both of them"

Oh for god's sake... Grow up. Now we have the CIA conjuring typhoons? FFS...

Post Office slapped down for late disclosure of documents in Horizon scandal inquiry

Why...

... is Paula Vennells still walking the streets? I hope that this changes sooner rather than later but, as already commented, this is England and we have a poor record of banging up even the vilest criminals if they have the right connections in high places.

CEO of UK's National Grid warns of datacenters' thirst for power

More energy needed?

Better start building those windfarms now.

Fresh version of Windows user-friendly Zorin OS arrives to tempt the Linux-wary

Re: Coincidence...

I hear and I shall do my level best to follow... :-)

If indeed Zorin is a straightforward OS with a good package manager that gives me all the things I want to run, bonus. Anything that requires me to run a "get" command is straightaway out the window.

Re: Coincidence...

A good question for which I'm afraid I don't have an answer. I don't remember which packages/programs I wanted to install - it was several months ago and I haven't revisited Linux until last night.

Re: Coincidence...

"You may have to download and run the installer on it from the command line."

Exactly the point I was trying to make. I'm perfectly happy with Android Fastboot/ADB, so I'm not averse to the command line as such, but since Linux is hailed as the obvious alternative to Windows (I wouldn't touch Apple with a bargepole) my point is that to install a Linux program I shouldn't need to poke around under the hood downloading repositories and running six commands when a single click on a Windows .exe does it for me.

Maybe I'm lazy, but if Linux really does want to become more consumer mainstream then it will have to look harder at what new users want. Experienced propellorheads may find it a breeze, but even as an experienced computer user I struggled with the frustration to the point where I just gave up. Until Linux cracks this it's doomed never to have more than a small share of the consumer market.

Coincidence...

Please don't flame me - it's just a comment for discussion.

After swearing I'd never touch Linux again, I downloaded Zorin 17.1 just last night in the hope that it will be easier than Mint in terms of usability. Absolutely no disrespect to Mint, which looks great and performs very well - I suspect that my difficulty is not with any distro but with Linux itself. Specifically, the installation of programs. Packages where I can click and install are great, but I grew increasingly frustrated by the regular prompts to use the console with half a dozen "get this/get that" commands. Yes, I'm soft after so may years on Windows where a click on a .exe does the work, but I don't understand why Linux, knowing what it needs to install, demands that I spend time typing abstruse commands to get the job done.

I'm not sure what can of worms I'm opening here. It's just my opinion for comment and advice.

Robot mistakes man for box of peppers, kills him

Hilarious. Absolutely hilarious.

Re: Failure in the humour dept.

Well, as I said, my parents brought me up to respect integrity and decency. It's a real genuine shame, and somewhat of a shock, to see so many Reg readers falling on the wrong side of the line. I expect better from a crowd who I always imagined to be more intelligent than the norm. Sad.

Please do continue to flame me. I remain convinced that it's wrong to laugh at this man's death.

I have thought it through. As I said, dark humour is funny. But this isn't a suitable subject. Tell me how it is. What next? Laughing about a child buried under rubble in Gaza?

And I'm not offended. As I initially said, I'm cursed with a sense of decency. Unfortunate innocent deaths aren't suitable subjects for laughter.

Yes, I get that and I agree, but how would you feel if you were this guy's wife reading jokes about her husband's death? I love dark humour, but there's a time and place, and this isn't it.

I don't think that a man suffering a horrible death is any sort of source of humour, dark or otherwise. Yes, my parents did curse me with decency.

Grant Shapps named UK defense supremo in latest 'tech-savvy' Tory tale

Re: Nostalgia for times gone by?

Perhaps a bit unfair to Ben Wallace. All accounts I've seen of him have represented him as honest and competent, admittedly maybe only in comparison with the rest of the dross inhabiting the Commons "government" seats.

How much lower...

...can GB sink?

Fujitsu bags £142M UK government work since Horizon probe announced

Jail...

Why has nobody gone to prison for this Horizon outrage, in Fujitsu or the Post Office? Why are these criminals allowed to continue their lives untouched when so many have suffered directly because of their criminal behaviour?

Teardown shows Apple iPhone 14 Pro is not pro-repair

My response is...

...the same as always and a lot less reasoned than some earlier posts.

Why the hell do people continue to buy and put up with this overpriced and contemptuous garbage?

Start your engines: Windows 11 ready for broad deployment

Still stinging about my inability to "upgrade" because my HP 360 (£1500) has "only" an I7v7. Ridiculous.

Windows 11 growth at a standstill amid stringent hardware requirements

Re: Why move to Windows 11 ?

You can block W11 by having a £1500 HP Spectre with an I7 deemed too "old" for W11 to run.

What a disgrace...

Seagate claims it shipped its third zettabyte of storage in record time

Re: Easy to remember?

Say whut? Wow, you're a touchy guy. Calm down.

Re: Easy to remember?

Jake, no offence intended. It's just that Americans do tend to simplify some spellings for trade name purposes, and "ezy" (or "ez", as already commented) is the example which suits my mnemonic.

Easy to remember?

Our American colleagues' somewhat strange spelling of "easy" makes a mnemonic simpler to remember.

TPEZY

Terabyte Petabyte Exabyte Zettabyte Yottabyte

After that I don't bother... too big... :-)

The Huawei Mate 40 Pro would be the best Android flagship on the market – were it not for the US-China trade war

Re: F-Droid/Aurora/Micro-g

Thank you. I did try that, but it's only one facet among a host of missing functionality.

F-Droid/Aurora/Micro-g

Alas, not so simple. I tried this just a couple of weeks ago with my ageing but still 100% Nexus 6, and it really didn't go well. I expected the paid apps not to work, of course, since without Google there's no proof that I paid for them. However, even some free ones were also glitchy, and my final straw came when What3words (admittedly not a crucial app for me) simply repeatedly force-closed every time I tried to start it. Add to that the loss of contacts, Gmail, Keep, etc. (all of which have workarounds, but nothing approaching the seamless Google experience) and I decided that it just wasn't worth the effort. I'm sticking with my firewall & VPN as my best effort for privacy.

Did I or did I not ask you to double-check that the socket was on? Now I've driven 15 miles, what have we found?

I remember a similar story years ago which I'll cut short.

"Can you check the socket switch?"

"I can't see it. It's too dark."

"Switch the light on."

"I can't. We have a power cut."

One does not simply repurpose an entire internet constellation for sat-nav, but UK might have a go anyway

Re: Brexit sat-nav eh?

@disgustedoftunbridgewells

I repeat, stop digging, FFS. You're embarrassing yourself.

Re: Re assume...

@disgustedoftunbridgewells

Stop digging. You've already shown us your brains.

(If you're being ironic, it's way over my head).

Fasten your seat belts: Brave Reg hack spends a week eating airline food grounded by coronavirus crash

Re: Opportunity

"Who is using VPNs with local servers on both ends"

If you'd bothered to read my post properly you'd have seen that I worked for a major American financial corporation for which security is more important than cost.

Re: Opportunity

"all the TLAs listening in"

Ever heard of "VPN"? I understand they're pretty popular this year, especially among major American financial institutions.

I call troll, but I'll settle for idiot.

Re: We should retain only minimal flights; no 50-mile jollie

"who is allowed on a 50-mile jollie"

A jolly, actually.

I knew that my comment would draw responses like this - "What about the money?" No doubt you'd like to make the same argument about coal...?

We pay politicians to make these sorts of decisions, people who should(!) be taking advice from scientists and experts to make the best choices. The bottom line, however, is that plane travel is, in many/most cases, unnecessary, avoidable and vastly polluting. You appear to be boasting about your contribution to destroying my children's planet. Shameful.

Opportunity

Amusing article. Brave lad.

At the risk of being branded Off-Topic Eco-Warrior, I think it's disgraceful that governments are not taking this opportunity to thin the herd of planes. Instead they're squandering (our) billions on bailing out these polluting planet-killing monstrosities. We should retain only minimal flights; no 50-mile jollies for lazy CEOs, no unnecessary business world crossings just to use up the corporate travel budget. I worked for a large American financial corporation and occasionally took part in 5000-mile video conferences on triple HD screens with HD audio, and it was like having the other people in the room. There's 100 tonnes of CO2 saved right there.

This is an opportunity that shouldn't be squandered.

No surprise: Britain ditches central database model for virus contact-tracing apps in favour of Apple-Google API

Re: This is all complete cack

And there we have it. It's not the government's fault, it's the NHS's. And it's not Covid-19, it's The Chinese Plague.

Troll, posting of course as AC.

This is all complete cack

Once again the government is proclaiming that I.T. is the magic bullet that can cure all ills. It really isn't. The cure is the simple personal one originally trumpeted and now discarded - stay away from other people apart from those you live with. Instead, now we have "It's all fine, go about your business", which will inevitably cause another spike with or without a so-called T&T app. What a shambles.

For those who missed it (and correct my maths if I'm wrong) the UK has, on the government's own figures, 40,000 Covid-related deaths; worldwide we have over 400,000. The UK has a population of 67 million; the world has 7.8 billion. The UK has 1% of the world's population but 10% of Covid deaths.

Competent...?

Frenchman scores €50k compensation for suffering 'bore-out' at work after bosses gave him 'menial' tasks

Lazy?

Seems like an ideal opportunity to recommend Micky Flanagan's take on the French.

WARNING - NSFW.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEttOCXL1DE

Android 11 Beta 1 leaks on to handful of handsets days after official release postponed

Re: New Icons, wooiaaahhh

Well, if I need a changelog to see the differences, then the differences aren't in any way significant to my usage of the device, no? And as I stated, even after use of a new OS I've always thought "Meh! What changes?" The A/B partitions are a great idea but of minimal impact to day-to-day user experience, Dalvik-to-ART may have had a tiny (imperceptible) effect on app installation, black mode systemwide is nice. But overall, new version, same old same old.

The important thing is shouting "new, shiny" and selling more phones.

Re: New Icons, wooiaaahhh

"Superb, new icons"

I agree. Each time I've upgraded an Android version (my Nexus 6 was originally on L, I think, and is now on Q) I've thought "What difference is there exactly...?"

When you have a working system, all you can do is tinker round the edges. If icons are the stand-out improvement, then I think we've arrived at the end of the line. Still, gotta sell those phones...

So you really didn't touch the settings at all, huh? Well, this print-out from my secret backup says otherwise

Re: "the concept of saving face"

"Why did you drag politics in... dislike folks putting politics into everything."

Because politics *is* everything. It governs every single aspect of our lives. All I did was extrapolate from office-level to national in a (I hope) humorous way.

Re: "the concept of saving face"

"entire readership of the spectator"

I'm guessing that they didn't get the not-very-subtle (but funny, I hope) phrasing. "Duh, this idiot doesn't even know that our lovely Boris *is* the PM. What a dope!" Duh...

"the concept of saving face"

We could do with some of that in the UK at the moment with the Prime Minister and Boris Johnson.

Plus Gove, of course. People with a shame bypass.

Surprise! That £339 world's first 'anti-5G' protection device is just a £5 USB drive with a nice sticker on it

Ant-elephant paint

(Warning - oldies but goldies...)

I painted my roof with it and I haven't had a single elephant up there. Boom Boom.

You know this Land of the Free thing, yeah? Well then, why allow the FBI to trawl through America's browsing history without a warrant?

"1-hour Cleaners"

"The Land of the Free" trademark reminds me of the Monty Python sketch where one of them presents a coat for cleaning and is told it will be ready in a week.

"But this is 1-Hour Cleaners!"

"That's just the name of the shop."

We're in a timeline where Dettol maker has to beg folks not to inject cleaning fluid into their veins. Thanks, Trump

@cornetman

Yes, entirely correct. I thought that GWB was an appalling dunderhead and rejoiced when America overcame its inherent racism to elect Obama, a man of culture, elegance and thoughtfulness. Then Trump... Nuff said.

Then I saw an interview with GWB a couple of years ago and he had become the statesman I wish he'd been able to be during his presidency. Not of Obama's standard, but a whole lot better than the pressures of the presidency allowed (I'm trying to be generous here).

It's time to track people's smartphones to ensure they self-isolate during this global pandemic, says WHO boffin

Re: Naomi Klein

@NerryTutkins

"I think you'll find that unlike the terrorist bogeymen, this virus is 100% real"

I don't think you've grasped the meaning of "the shock doctrine". It doesn't imply that the events upon which power-hungry manipulators seize are imaginary - they are genuine events which the manipulators use in order to twist the knife a bit more into our freedom. "Terrorists and murders are at your gates. We're here to help. We just need you to follow these rules." And the populace, frightened by the hysteria whipped up by a docile press, say "Yes, ok then."

"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." Benjamin Franklin

Naomi Klein

The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism

I've commented here before - if you read this and your blood doesn't boil, you haven't read it properly.

And here we go again - the next opportunity to diminish our freedoms still further.

"We're doing this temporarily to increase your safety."

Time and the virus pass...

"Yes, I know we originally said it was temporary, but things have changed."

Like other tech giants, Netflix gets govt takedown demands – and impressively, none of them involve Adam Sandler

Adam Sandler...

How apt that the writer chooses him. The Mark of Quality. One that I avoid at all costs. I gave him the benefit of the doubt with Uncut Gems because of the rave reviews, but alas, as with all other Sandler films, it stinks like a skunk.

London's Westminster Council wins appeal against phonebooth-cum-massive-digital-advert

Lexus 430

I remember quite a few years ago that the Lexus 430 sports car with Mark Levinson sound system was advertised as "A great sound system with a car attached" (or words to that effect).

This is just a ruse to clog the streets with more unwanted furniture, distraction and adverts. Nothing whatsoever to do with erecting a useful-to-the-public amenity. A moving billboard with a phone attached.

Attention! Very important science: Tapping a can of fizzy beer does... absolutely nothing

The Beer Hunter

Six people, six cans of beer. One person goes out of room, frantically shakes one can. Each person chooses a can. Holds it to ear. Pulls the ring-pull. Hilarity ensues.