Posts by ElsmarMarc

FBI reopens Hillary spillery

Re: @Marketing Hack ... This article doesn't tell some important points.

The article is misleading in that the "investigation" has not been re-opened. Comey is a Bush carryover. As I read through articles like these I have to laugh remembering the Bush administrations "lost" emails (over 22 MILLION of them), Cheney's document shredding and all that went with 8 years of Bush.

It is also painfully obvious that few if any here have READ any of the Clinton emails. Most are totally mundane communications with no intelligence value, and the few that had any potential security issues ("classified") were some which were embarrassing but not "top secret".

As to Comey (Republican), senior officials at the Department of Justice told FBI Director James Comey ahead of time that his Friday announcement was not consistent with department policy. Comey made an "independent decision" to notify Congress - I wonder what his real motivation was.

The Clinton's have been investigated for years and what has come out of all of the investigations? Nada. Heck, how long have the Bengazi investigations gone on? When does it stop? Ever?

I'm in my late 60's and remember all the bull politicians have pulled over the years of my life, such as Iran Contra and Reagan's "October Surprise" colluding with Iran to ensure Jimmy Carter's election defeat. The stuff being complained about these days is pablem - Minor stuff by comparison. And why hasn't Bush been indited for war crimes? He lied the world into destroying Iraq. And that's not to mention Cheney.

I'm not a Clinton fan. Trump is a serial liar and extremely ignorant. The US has become "gun stupid". My retirement home in Thailand was finished about 2 months ago and I'll soon be there to watch as the US sinks into Idiocracy. I'll live out the remainder of my life in peace and quiet in Prachinburi and for medical issues there's Bumrungrad.

All this hyperventilating about Clinton's emails is by tinfoil hat nuts and Clinton haters like Julian "No Longer Relevant" Assange who is no more that another sexual predator.

Apple is making life terrible in its factories – labor rights warriors

Re: If you own an Apple product, then you are the problem.

Were that it was only Apple... Apple gets hit in the news, but really - From clothes to small appliances, to all sorts of electronics. "Sweatshops" have been around since -- Forever... And are all around us today in every country to one degree or another. They just rarely are in the news.

Not so very long ago, historically: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_Shirtwaist_Factory_fire

Internet of Car...rikey what the hell just happened to my car?

Re: operate the ignition

Actually, they do. They need a glowplug to start and it stays on for a minute or so until the engine is hot enough to carry on without it.

Facebook to forcefeed you web ads, whether you like it or not: Ad blocker? Get the Zuck out!

Re: I'm wondering

"If the website operators (and the advertisers) are so concerned about ads being blocked, why don't they just buffer up the ads at the website server and deliver them as part of the main page?"

Started doing that at least 10 years ago - Ads are small and I limit the number of them to keep them non-invasive. They are from direct advertisers who contact me about advertising on my sites. First I check out the company. If I accept it, they produce a graphic and email it to me, I check it and minimize it. Pages don't call scripts - I keep the graphics on the server.

I do hope adblock stays as good as it is. I use NoScript, Gohstery and AB+ with Firefox for almost all my browsing around.

As to Facebook - No account there. No interest. Some friends and family are on it, but they can call me if they have something to tell me. Same with Twitter - No interest, never go there. Waste of time.

Tight-wad Apple repair techs swapped our damaged iGear with used kit – lawsuit

Over the years, I have dealt with Apple Care several times and was always satisfied.

Almost all insurance is the same. If a car is wrecked the person doesn't get a new car. In fact, the person may not even get enough from the insurance company to get the car fixed. If "bluebook" is $8,000 and it would cost $12,000 to fix, you'll get $8,000 (and they *may* let you keep the remains of the car).

A fellow ran into the back of my car not too many years back. His fault. His insurance adjuster came and did his estimate. It was based upon used parts. He made it clear to me that my car was "used" so they would replace with used parts. I did threaten them with "diminuation of value" which rarely holds up in court and we compromised so as to not go to court. Parts such as the exhaust system (anything that can ware out) were replaced with new parts. Parts such as the bumper (essentially plastic) were replaced with used parts from a junk yard.

Re: They've been doing this for years

"I sent a 5th gen iPod back to them after a friend stood on it and broke the scroll wheel (didn't tell them how it happened)"

As if Apple couldn't guess. I'm glad my friends aren't like yours. Mine are the type that would apologise and offer to pay for it. I wouldn't expect Apple to pay. You cheat Apple and here you complain about them. Sad.

Tesla's Model S autonomous mode may have saved a life

Re: The exception that proves the rule

"Remember when seatbelts became mandatory and people argued about cases where people had been saved by being flung clear from their crashed vehicles, not trapped by their seatbelts. I'll take my chances and belt up. And I'll do the same if I can ever afford an autonomous vehicle, letting it save me if it can."

And the same with airbags. GM was really against them (reason was cost, of course) and even described them as "small bombs". I'm also a pilot, though I haven't flown for a number of years. Ground proximity sensors and warnings, stall warning technology, and other technology saves lives, yet I know there are still pilots out there who complain about "fly by wire" because they have no "real" control (no mechanical linkages) to an aircraft's parts (such as flaps, rudder, engine throttle, etc., etc.). I'm with you - Give me all the IA help that I can afford. Once you pass another aircraft flying VFR going across your flight path (pedestrian walking into the road, so to speak) and miss it by maybe 20 feet, just by luck, you realise the value of radar and transponders (not to mention the ATC centers and their employees). These systems are young. They are the future.

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

Re: Hardly a surprise

Apple user since 1986. MS OS user since 1987. Websites on freeBSD and CentOS. I don't log in here often but was sort of bored - Late at night. Logged in just to say it never ceases to amaze me how many people, and not only here, are so hostile against Apple. Not to mention how often Apple and its products are mischaracterized.

In this discussion, stuff like cracked screens and such - I see people with phones in their back pockets, hanging from their side, etc. I cringe because if you buy something like a "smart phone" it's a simple matter of buying for intended use. If I was a carpenter and need a "tough" phone that would get banged up because I hang it on my belt when I work, I'd buy a phone for that use - Android or whatever. Maybe just a cheap "burner".

I still have a perfectly good iPhone 4. One battery replacement about 2 months ago which I did do myself. Have never dropped it or abused it. If I had a child, I'd buy a cheap phone for the child knowing how some kids can be hard on anything. After I replaced the battery in my old iPhone 4 I decided to by an iPhone 6s+ (I'm in my 60's and my eyesight is not so good these days) and now use my old iPhone 4 as a desk clock, timer, etc. It's essentially an iPod now.

There isn't a person here who isn't technically savvy enough to be able to determine their use scenario and buy accordingly.

As to the article, I don't see anything except that it was repaired by a shop in Macedonia. Was it an authorized repair shop? Or Joe Schmo's Repair Shop? If it was an authorized repair shop there shouldn't have been a problem - Take it back to them and have them make good on it. If they won't, it was probably repaired by Joe Schmo's Repair Shop.

As to stuff like complaints about Apple's "walled garden" - Just don't buy from them. Flaming Apple over their business practices is just silly. If you are offended by Apple's profit model, don't buy from them.

I visit The Reg every day. I very rarely log in and comment very, very seldom. I like reading the stuff here. The biggest downer is the totally unnecessary flaming in threads like this. I have never owned an Android phone, but I have seen plenty of complaining about them so nothing is perfect. I can say I don't flame them. They are what they are, and I'm sure they are good for what they do.

Robots.txt tells hackers the places you don't want them to look

Re: It's nice to have regular recalls, but...

Yup - I have always seen robots.txt as a courtesy to "good" bots to say "crawling here is a waste of time". I have never seen it in any way related to security.

Ex-NSA security bod fanboi: Apple Macs are wide open to malware

Re: Serious question

"Perhaps some of the more techie guys here can show me where to look?"

Little Snitch does a great job at monitoring inbound AND outbound connections on Macs. I have a couple of Macs, one of which my girl friend uses, and I have LS installed on each. I have even taught her to watch for connections Little Snitch "asks" about. It has a very good GUI monitor so at any time I can see every inbound and outbound connection which is happening (and has happened), how many times each is connecting and when. It also shows network traffic (including the amount of data) and when each connection was made. And - You don't really need to be a total "techie" to use it. I have LS set up pretty well on each Mac. Every now and again my GF will get an "Allow/Don't allow" alert box and ask me, but if I'm not around the default is for her to take a quick screen shot and then click on "Do Not Allow". I will say it does take a while to set up its "Rules", but once that is done if Little Snitch "asks" about a connection which there is no rule for, you can decline it "temporarily" so you can look (such as Google) as to what the connection is, or block it permanently.

When the Flashback malware made its presence known on the Mac platform, one of the ways people discovered its activity was through warnings of outgoing connections from Little Snitch. Following these detections, future variants of Flashback and other malware that used similar modes of attack began searching target systems for the presence of Little Snitch among other security software and cancel their installations to avoid early detection. As a result, in some cases simply having the security software installed is enough to ward off potential attacks.

I also recommend browser plugins such as Ghostery, NoScript and AdBlock Plus for added protection. And, of course, NEVER open an email attachment or click on an email link unless you are expecting the email.

Snowden leaks lack context says security studies professor

Cable tapping is easy

"Tapping fibre at the bottom of the sea? With robots or in scuba gear, through an armoured cable, and all without being noticed? And they didn't fuck up once and get caught? "

The US has been tapping underseas cables for many years. Nothing new.

E.g.:

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/07/the-creepy-long-standing-practice-of-undersea-cable-tapping/277855/

http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/undersea-cable-surveillance-is-easy-its-just-a-matter-of-money

And before that, going back to the early days of cables for teletext, etc., cable tapping has been going on for many, many years.

Sacre block! French publishers to sue Adblock maker – report

Re: advertising are getting increasingly peeved

>>Good. This indicates the ad-blocking population is up. Hopefully this will, in the long run, stimulate other ways for website owners to earn their cash.<<

Of course the problem is most people want "free" on the internet. What would be interesting is if all browsers came with a built in ad blocker which blocked *all* ads of all types, including AdSense ads. Within a year the internet would be quite barren. I'm not sure whether that would be better or worse, but I suspect it would kill off millions of sites with good content, not to mention Facebook (a big plus in my opinion) and similar websites, including, probably, "El Reg".

The internet is no different than radio and television. You can get both without ads, but you pay for that option.

'We're having panic attacks' ... Sony staff and families now threatened in emails

Time to start cutting cables ?

Whose cables are you referring to?

What a pity: Rollout of hated UK smart meters delayed again

Re: assoles

A battery UPS would have prevented that hard drive crash when the meter was pulled. Anyone with computer equipment and data which they value should have protection against electrical outages.

Apple: Want a PATCH for iOS Masque attack? TOUGH LUCK, FANBOI

This site being what it is, I'm seriously concerned. I expect more academic replies. From getting the cert on - It's a non-issue. Sure are a lot of Apple haters here. This is little more than a proof of concept. The issue is FUD.

Bendgate backlash: Apple claims warped iPhone 6 Plus damage is 'extremely rare'

Apple haters abound at the Reg

Wow! Just wow! A lot of Apple haters here. "Apple does no field tests because they are so secretive about their precious new iPhad." Yeah - Which is why the hubbub a few years back when a couple that were being field tested were left in bars. I thought people here at Reg had more sense than I'm seeing in this thread. My bet is more iPhones will be bent on purpose than in actual use.